Sowing the SEADs of Success

From the Assistant Principal: Wellbeing & Engagement

During the Senior School Assembly on Tuesday this week, our Head Girl, Tahlia Warner spoke to the Year 7 to 12 students about the campaign, Run Like a Girl and the unconscious biases we place on women when discussing sport, although it can be . The video runs for about three minutes filming strong, independent women when asked ‘How do girls run?’ and women run with arms flailing and legs barely moving. The same question is asked to young girls and they run with vigour and passion. Tahlia spoke about when our biases and stereotypes form and how we can continually challenge the negative stereotypes against women. A powerful message for our girls. 

Here is an excerpt from Tahlia’s Assembly speech;  

Like a girl. Three words. Just three words that suggest someone is weak, or even laughable perhaps. So, what does it actually mean when we say, "like a girl"? It's just a joke phrase, right, a stereotype that’s been so normalised that it is used globally to tease a boy.  

I was shown the Like a girl campaign about a month ago and I had never fully understood the negative power that these three words can have….I hope after watching these videos you are empowered to redefine what it means to do something "like a girl.’ The phrase ‘like a girl’ should not be used as an insult or a put down but instead, should be celebrated as a symbol of strength, confidence, and empowerment. So shoot that goal like a girl, swim that race like a girl and even solve that maths problem like a girl because each one of you have these insane strengths and abilities that you should share with the world. 

Our Student Senior Executive Leaders are doing some amazing work. At the last assembly, Rebecca Lehmann, Deputy Head Boarder spoke about endometriosis, how to identify it and the impact it has on many women’s lives. Over the past few weeks, our Deputy Head Girl, India Lange organised a charity collection for women’s shelter, Catherine House. She worked with eight other schools to be involved with the drive and deliver it to the shelter on Wednesday this week. They were thrilled to receive the items. Last week, our Social Justice Captains, Meg Slade and Aysha Tran organised Purple Day to raise funds for Project Compassion and raised in excess of $1500 through a market stall. Our House Captains, Hillary Longstaff and Deanna Macolino organised 18 students and teachers to do the 100km walk (which equate to 1800km of running or walking over the month of April) to raise funds for Project Compassion and have some fun along the way. There are so many wonderful acts of service being driven by the Student Senior Executive and supported by all year levels.  

This is the last newsletter before Easter and before the school holidays. I wish you a wonderful break with your family over this time and I look forward to seeing students back in their full winter uniform on Tuesday 2 May 2023.   

Anna Partridge

Assistant Principal: Wellbeing and Engagement 

Parent Information Sessions - Black Dog Institute & Butterfly Foundation

Black Dog Institute: Thursday 11 May, 6-7pm, online

This presentation from the Black Dog Institute will educate parents and carers in supporting their young person to increase mental health literacy, reduce stigma and promote help seeking.

Link to the zoom presentation is in the flyer below. Password: 249 038

Butterfly Foundation: Wednesday 21 June, 5.30 - 7pm, PAC

Join Rachel Soderstrom from the Butterfly Foundation for a presentation on body image and self confidence. The seminar will provide knowledge, practical information and tips on promoting positive body image, the power of role modelling, reducing appearance-based talk and how to respond when a child expresses negative body image.

To register: https://events.humanitix.com/loreto-body-confident-seminar 

Life in Boarding 

We said goodbye to our Director last week! In true Kerry style last Tuesday, with a casual BBQ dinner out on our lawn, music on and a lot of laughter, we farewelled our Director. Our Head Girls, Scarlett and Bec did a wonderful job with their speeches, moving Kerry to tears. As Kerry left the building, the girls gave Kerry one more surprise - a guard of honour.

I had the duty as the incoming Director to wheel out Kerry for the last time. The love and respect shown by the girls and staff on Tuesday is a true reflection of the leader and Director Kerry has been at Loreto Boarding. I couldn't thank her enough, she should be very proud of what she has accomplished at Loreto. They are big shoes to fill, but I am excited for the challenge.

Have a wonderful & safe Easter and Term 1 break!

Mrs Tia Wiese

Director of Boarding

ChatGPT in Specialist Maths

Since November, ChatGPT has been a topic of intense conversation among teachers worldwide. The program allows for text to be procedurally generated using a highly sophisticated large language model. Concerns have been raised about students using the program to cheat, but the discourse around opportunities for learning using this tool has not been as loud.

At Loreto College, we embrace new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, as opportunities for enhancing teaching and learning.

In Year 11 Specialist Maths, students have started an investigation where they are using ChatGPT to help write a program in Python to complete a multi-step mathematical problem using matrices that will enable them to encrypt and decrypt messages quickly and accurately. Specialist Mathematics does not include any programming as part of its syllabus, but many mathematicians use programs to complete calculations efficiently. This task gives students in this class the opportunity to explore this aspect of mathematical work, without needing to climb the steep learning curve of a programming language. Importantly, they are learning how to break down a process into a number of clearly articulated steps - a key process for computational thinking.Can you crack the code?The following code was encrypted using a Hill cipher, with an encryption matrix [[1,1],[2,3]]: nbzdvjeshsqwcoiznlmflthsmqGood luck!

Mr Tim Bond

Director of Learning Analytics and Technology