Welcome to Term 2 2023. This week we hosted our AGM. As an independent college which operates as a company, we are required to have an AGM to report to the Company Members on the operations of the previous year. My thanks go to our Directors and our Company Members who continue to show great loyalty and support for the College and the difference it makes to the lives of all in our community. We were able to showcase some of the abundant student talent we have at the College in an assembly on the day and had a very constructive and informative meeting discussing the 2022 year.

Over the course of the week, you will receive an overview of the results of the AIS Perspectives survey that was conducted in September 2022. Overall, the results were very strong, showing a positive College culture and community that is working together for the good of the girls. As in all surveys, there are areas of strengths and areas that have been highlighted that we will continue to develop over this year. For many of these, we have made some headway and we will continue to work on improving our processes and opportunities for you and the girls. Thank you again for your contribution to the survey. The parent responses were very strong and very affirming of the staff and the College.

This week we had photo day. This is always a very important day for the girls and invariably there is preparation prior to them having their photo taken. This year, the photographers only took individual photos and will digitally bring them together to recreate the full class and even year group images for our records. In the past, photo day often brought some difficult conversations with girls as teachers debate the evidence of thick makeup, eyeliner etc that look far from natural. One year, I even had a conversation with an interstate father debating whether his daughter’s exceedingly long lashes were in fact natural or fake. The irony of the whole experience is that the artificial adornments and touch-ups detract from the natural beauty of the girls.

It is concerning that for many girls they feel they are not good enough. If they watch the clips on Facebook and the images on Instagram and Tiktok, they are constantly told they are not good enough. They are bombarded with messages on how to improve their complexion, how to improve their eyes, how to improve their lips, how to reduce this or increase that. Multimillion dollar industries have profited on making our girls feel they are not good enough. Yet, you as their parents and our staff know they are more than good enough. How do we get that message across?

During the break I listened to a Madonna King podcast on Raising Girls. She made some very good points. Boys are rarely told they look handsome or affirmed for their physical presentation but will be affirmed for the job they did or the skill they acquired. Girls on the other hand are more regularly affirmed for their beauty or their physical presentation and not so much for their completion of a difficult task or the competency of a skill. Her suggestion is not to affirm girls purely on their beauty or presentation but on intellect and capabilities.

I have seen ample evidence of girls being good enough across just one term here at the College. Our Year 10 competitors in the J.A Thompson History Debate were good enough when they won the state championship, Abigail was good enough to be the state runner up in the Catholic Schools Public Speaking Competition, Caitlin was good enough when she gave the student address at the recent Anzac Day ceremony in Campbelltown, all of our MISA grand finalists last term, Charlie and Vivienne who won awards at the Rotary Youth Excellence Awards this week, and every girl who worked hard and improved on her results over Term 1. Our girls, your daughters, ARE good enough and we need to constantly reassert that message to them so they have permission to be confident with the gifts and the talents that they have.

I will leave you with a short poem on Beauty Tips from Audrey Hepburn.

Blessings,

Sue Lennox - College Principal

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anybody.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows.
And the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.

Author: Audrey Hepburn