Sowing the SEADs of Success

From the Assistant Principal: Wellbeing & Engagement

As this is our first newsletter for the year, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new families to Loreto. It has been wonderful getting to know you through the orientation process, at the welcome morning tea, the information night and at the P&F function last Friday night. I have to say, this year has been pole opposite to the start of last year when COVID was wreaking havoc and for that we are grateful. Even just seeing all our year groups in their classrooms and our boarders in the boarding house for the first night and day was welcome, as opposed to starting online.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Year 7 camp. It is always an exciting few days when girls are coming in from different places with different friends and experiences and by the end of the three days, all the girls are merged together as a wonderful community of Year 7 Loreto students. It was lots of fun, despite the wind and rain and we all had a great time snorkelling through Second Valley, climbing cliffs and exploring rock caves, building and racing go karts, kayaking at Myponga Reservoir, building giant rope courses and enjoying each other’s company in dorms, at meal times and through connecting activities. Thank you to the Year 7 parents for entrusting us with your daughter so early in the year. It was a wonderful way to bring the year group together.

At the start of the year, there are always some reminders.

School drop off and pick up – Junior school students are collected from Talbot Grove at 3.20pm, while Senior School students are dismissed from school at 3.30pm. We have deliberately staggered the time to reduce the congestion on Talbot Grove. As Talbot Grove is very short and cars are coming directly off the busy Portrush Road, can you please pick up your child as quickly as possible and consider parking in a side street if you know you need to stay at school for a longer period of time at pick up. The crossing on Talbot Grove is busy at this time, when the stop sign is put out by the teacher on duty, please observe it for the safely of our girls. This is the only crossing point on that road and girls or parents are not to be crossing closer to Portrush Rd for safely reasons. A reminder also that parents are not to drop off or pick up in the Acacias turn around or park in the car park – this is a staff carpark as well as where we have deliveries so it can get very busy in this area.

Uniforms – uniforms are looking great! I would appreciate your help with the wearing of jewellery to ensure that girls are only wearing one earing and if they wear a necklace, it is a crucifix. Nose rings of any kind are not permitted to be worn for any reason.

Felicity Café – it is wonderful to see so many parents using the café in the morning for breakfast and coffees. If girls are ordering their lunch, especially for a Friday it would be great to have the order as early in the week as possible. There is such a heavy demand for Friday lunches we want to ensure we are catering for every student. This is a great problem to have and we are all enjoying the new menu and café. We look forward to seeing you there one morning.

Absences – if your daughter is going to be absent for the day, please use the Loreto Connect app to report her absence. To download the App, go to your App Store and find ‘Loreto College Marryatville’ app then click on ‘Absentee’. You can find other useful information on the app including the school calendar, contacts of key staff member, your daughters classes and other College resources.

Update contact and medical details – please use Loreto Connect to update your contact details or your child’s medical details if they have changed over the holidays.

Upcoming events

Thursday 16 February – we have our Opening Mass from 12.20pm until 1.10pm and parents are invited to attend. Please fill out the link here if you would like to join us.

Thursday 28 February – R to Year 12 Athletics Carnival – please come along for the day to enjoy the fun of our Athletics Carnival.

Tuesday 21 March – Specifically designed for Year 8 parents - An evening with Dr Nicole Archard, College Principal, Anna Partridge, Assistant Principal Wellbeing and Engagement, Lydia Baccanello, Year 7/8 Leader of Student Wellbeing and Academic Care and Monica Bignold, College Psychologist discussing the joys, trials, tribulations, and developmental milestones of Year 8 and how you can successfully navigate your daughter through the year. Refreshments will be served from 5.30pm with the main session beginning at 6pm. Put it in your diaries.

Thursday 23 March – Year 7-12 Swimming Carnival

We look forward to seeing you at these events. Have a great weekend!

Anna Partridge

Assistant Principal: Wellbeing and Engagement

SEAD Across the College

Welcome to the new school year at Loreto College, Marryatville. We hope all our current and new Loreto families have enjoyed the first two weeks of 2023.

This year we have an additional College Psychologist R-12, Emma Keech, who has joined the Psychological Service. Emma recently completed her master’s degree in Educational and Developmental Psychology from Monash University and has experience working with children, adolescents and their families in both clinical and educational settings. Emma will be working four days a week, Monday to Thursday. Emma and I have been making our way around each class from Reception to Year 12 to say hello.

L to R: Emma Keech (College Psychologist R-12) and Monica Bignold (Lead College Psychologist R-12)

As it is a new year, I wanted to remind parents and carers about the online mental health resources available including the Loreto Connect SEAD pages and SchoolTV, a wellbeing platform that addresses the modern-day realities faced by schools and parents in raising safe, happy, and resilient children and young people.

The Psychological Service has many other exciting things planned for this year including parent nights, student presentations, and much more! Every two weeks I will be writing a newsletter article to highlight a pertinent issue for children and young people and/or highlight any initiatives run by the Psychological Service.

As always, if you have any specific concerns about your child or young person, please contact your daughter’s Classroom Teacher, or Head of Junior School and Early Learning Centre, or the relevant Leader of Student Wellbeing and Academic Care, or Mentor/Subject Teacher in the Senior School.

We look forward to supporting students at the College this year.

Monica Bignold

Lead College Psychologist R-12

Loreto Connect Update

Loreto Connect is our College’s learning management system, and is a place to find important information about student learning and College activities.

At the end of 2022 we were pleased to launch a significant update to Loreto Connect. This is the first time since Loreto Connect was introduced that a wholesale review of all content and structure has occurred. The revised structure is intended to make it easier to find information quickly.

If you haven’t already gone in to Loreto Connect this year, I encourage you to do so. Parent guides are currently in development and will be available on Loreto Connect in the next few weeks.

Mr Tim Bond

Director of Learning Analytics and Technology

Life in Boarding

Commitment weekend in 2023 has been labelled as “awesome” by your daughters! I think this might be the benchmark event for the year ahead. Each girl participated, was challenged, laughed (so much there were tears), made new connections, strengthened relationships and tried something different. It was a joy to hear the endless chatter, banter, squeals and singing throughout the weekend. Below is the Boarding Commitment Weekend Prayer that was led by our leaders during Liturgy.

Commitment Weekend Prayer

God of freedom,

give us the courage and confidence to live

referring all to You.

May we learn to know ourselves,

and be the face of hope for others.

May we grow in inner freedom,

and share this gift together.

May we say yes to the wholeness of life,

and choose the good each day.

Grounded in our Loreto story

and by the faith of Mary Ward,