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The importance of the father-daughter relationship
 
Recently, I had a father in my office who was visiting the College for the first time and he looked me in the eye and asked, “how you do support the relationship between fathers and their daughters?” He then proceeded to explain to me that he wanted his daughter to be educated in a school that offers her opportunities but also one which fostered a relationship with him- her dad.

It was a very engaging conversation that probed me to consider this topic much more closely. Being a school for girls, much attention is often focused on the mentorship and role modelling provided by women for girls. While there is considerable research supporting the power of influential women in the lives of girls, more recently there is emerging literature about the role that influential men play in shaping the lives of young women.

Madonna King, author of Being 14 and Fathers and Daughters, explores this topic more closely and her findings indicate the father-daughter relationship can be strengthened by girls engaging in activities that bring them together. This can be as simple as engaging in a ‘special’ activity such an annual fishing trip together or, perhaps, working on a joint project such as repairing or making an object in the shed. Girls, according to King, are more likely to link their connection to their father with an activity. 

Navigating adolescence can be a tricky affair and positive bonding moments allow for shared conversations, jokes and a level of intimacy. The informality of conversations during these times of activity allow for connections centred on trust and shared beliefs.

Another factor that has emerged from King’s study into adolescent girls, is the power that the landscape or land can play in a relationship. I speak here especially of the bonds that are forged when people work on the land together. More often than not, I see the powerful connection that our country girls have with their fathers and grandfathers who work the land.

Our country girls return to their farms during the school holidays and engage in activities where they are often required to take on a share of the responsibilities on the farm. This ‘mateship’ relationship between a significant male figure, be it a grandfather, uncle or father, can resonate deeply with girls sharing responsibility for working the land together or tending to animals or crops. This notion of shared responsibility, and connection between ‘pulling their weight’ on the property, and trust in her capacity to do so, often supports that bond.

The final connector addressed by King in her study is the firm connection between girls, their fathers and sport. A father or significant male role-model in this scenario can do much to strengthen their connection to their daughters. Fathers who take on roles as coaches, umpires or simply fervent supporters on the sidelines are building connection with the girls who look to them for encouragement.

Our busy lives can often move us away from activities that are family-based, but I encourage each dad to look for a way that he can strengthen that bond by perhaps, taking his daughter out for an ice-cream, coffee or a walk around the block. Linking this activity to a set time or place can help girls appreciate that despite the frantic pace of life, her dad, grandfather, uncle, elder or significant man in her life has prioritised his relationship with her.

We are very fortunate to be hosting Madonna King at St Ursula’s College. She will be addressing the topic of adolescent girls and their fathers on Thursday 14 March at 5:30pm Bookings for this event are essential. I look forward to seeing you there.

A wonderful and life giving two weeks at St Ursula’s.

There is also a great deal happening in teaching and learning.  We are in Week 5, half way through Term 1. By now your daughters would have:

This is a valuable time to work with your children on scheduling study and assessment time to plan for success.

A key to doing this is to backward map assessment tasks. Using a 10 week schedule, students should enter the draft and due dates for all tasks. Each assessment task should then be broken in achievable chunks and time allocated each week to complete these sections. Scheduling time for study, assessment, social, sporting and family commitments can give students greater control over their time and reduce levels of anxiety. Working together to create this schedule provides you with another way of supporting your daughter and empowering her to direct her learning path.
 
Another strategy to enhance our girls’ capabilities is READING! How often are your daughters spending time reading books, either hard copies, ebooks or audio books? Reading is a powerful way of broadening vocabulary, sentence structure and opening minds to creative possibilities. Even as little as 10 minutes a day is a great way to start. There is a well-established link between reading and writing. (Hafiz and Tudor 1989). Justin Brown(2018) from Ideapod identifies 15 incredible benefits from reading; here are just a few:

This article is definitely worth a read and can be accessed by this link: https://ideapod.com/15-incredible-benefits-reading-read-every-day/
 
LAPTOPS – KEEPING THEM SAFE:

The History of the Serviam Badge
 
One their very first assembly our new students were presented with their Serviam badges. These badges are a symbol of our Ursuline heritage and the global connection we have with all secondary schools and colleges belonging to the Ursulines of the Roman Union.  Pupils of Ursuline schools all over the world wear this crest.
 
The Serviam badge was introduced in 1931 by Mère Marie de Saint-Jean Martin OSU Prieure Générale (Prioress General). It was her wish that all students wore this badge so that students all over the world would easily recognise one another, and unity of heart and mind would thereby be increased.
The badge was designed by two Ursuline sisters and has great symbolism linking us to our Ursuline heritage.

The Seven Stars –
The stars represent Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Bear, a constellation in the northern sky. Interestingly the symbolism of the bear is one of courage and loyalty to Christ uniting us to our Ursuline family. In the badge these stars symbolise St Ursula with the Pole star symbolising the ideal towards which we must advance.
 
The Cross
The Serviam badge bears a cross reminding us of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus was committed to serving the dignity and worth of others, even to death. The student wearing the badge should radiate in their life Christian joy and have courage knowing that Jesus is accompanying her on her journey.
 
Serviam-
Serviam – I Will Serve. Calls students to a life of service of God and others. Living our faith in practice.
 
Green and Silver-
Green is the colour of hope. It is also the colour for ordinary time, and that reminds us that the ordinary days are filled with hope and possibility. Silver invites us to thread sincerity through all we do and hope for.
 
(https://www.ursulines-ur.org/index.php/brochure)
 
The Serviam badge is worn across the globe to this day. Including Africa, Ireland, Wales, the Caribbean, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, USA, Slovakia, England, Poland, Ukraine, Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Franch, Belgium, Greece, Thailand, Indonesia, East Timor, China and Australia (https://www.ursulines-ur.org/phocadownload/userupload/Education/school_directory.pdf)

 
On February 14 we also celebrated as a College community the missioning of our College leaders for the year. Each Year 12 student was presented with their senior badge. This senior badge is a bar with “Serviam” engraved on it as well as a pair of sandals. The sandals are symbolic of each leader walking in the shoes of others in the true spirt of servant leadership.
 
Please be sure to see the College Facebook page for images of the Year 12 Retreat and the Year 7 Retreat held over the past 2 weeks.

Purple Poppy Day
Toowoomba Regional Council invited St Ursula’s College to remember our war animals on National Purple Poppy Day at the Animal War Memorial at the Queensland State Rose Garden, Newtown.

Toowoomba being the first to celebrate Purple Poppy Day in Australia, was a proud moment for three St Ursula’s College Boarding students who attended the event with Mrs Appleby and Mrs Pearman. Mia Woods from Cunnamulla read out a poem to commemorate the day and assisting Mrs Appleby, Tinat Xu and Joy Chiang placed a wreath at the memorial.

Toowoomba Regional Council Deputy Mayor Cr Carol Taylor said animals have served our nation in war and we should take the time to remember their centuries of service.

“The purple poppy symbolises all animals who have died during military conflict and throughout the world, there will be wreaths laid to remember these faithful servants", Cr Taylor said.

“While most people will know about Simpson and his donkey or the charging horses of Beersheba, the deeds of many other horses, camels, dogs, cats, pigeons, and even marine animals will be remembered on this national day of commemoration".
 
Home weekend
Our girls who stayed in for the weekend enjoyed a weekend of activities, movies and lots of ice cream.  On Saturday the girls enjoyed the movie “Instant Family”. On Sunday, the girls celebrated Purple Poppy Day before heading to Brisbane for a swim at South Bank, markets and shopping.

“Please help a farmer and pray for rain”
Late at night when one hears a beautiful girl upset in their private space, we are saddened to hear her story…….
“It is so dry at our place that Mum and Dad are bulldozing scrub to feed the stock, not a blade of grass” or "Mum turned on the tap today and not a drop of water in the house……..let alone to bathe that evening".

Swimming
Congratulations to all students who were part of the swimming carnival at Milne Bay pool last week. It was a fantastic day which saw many students participate in either A or B events. We had some fantastic results which will be announced on this week’s assembly. In the next Newsletter results will be published.

Congratulations to Isabelle Mason who broke a number of College records. Next week a number of students will attend the Darling Downs trials at Gatton. We then compete in the TSSS Swimming carnival against other schools in Toowoomba on Thursday 14 March at Milne Bay.

Mr Dan Ryan Teacher-In-Charge (Swimming) will announce the team shortly. Training with Di Mason continues on Wednesday and Friday afternoons from 3.30pm – 4.30pm until the end of term. We have had excellent numbers attend and are keen to see training maintained right up until the holidays.

Netball
Congratulations to the Junior A team who achieved 3^rd place at the recent Laura Geitz carnival. Special thanks to coach Caitlin Fry who has done a superb job with this team over a few short weeks. Caitlin will be arranging trials for the Year 7, 8, 9 and Senior C teams in the coming weeks.
 
Volleyball
A large number of students have attended trials. The season proper begins Tuesday 5 March at Harristown State High School. Training will be on Monday afternoons from 3.15pm until 4.45pm.
 
Futsal
Round three of the Futsal Summer Competition continues this week at Downlands College on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.

Six St Ursula’s College teams are competing in the competition with three teams currently undefeated. These teams include Ursie Year 8’s, Ursie Raiders and Ursie 3. The finals will be conducted in round 6. Good luck to all participating teams.
 
Fitness
Thanks to coaches Mrs Nadja Benkenstein and Mr Travis Brown who will run fitness running sessions at the College on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 7.15am – 8am.
 
Communication
Girls are reminded to check their emails daily. This is the only way I can pass on information regarding team sign-ups or district trial information and sign-ups on google forms.
 
District trials and charges
Any student who nominates for trials via the google form must complete a Toowoomba or Darling Downs medical form to take with them to the trial. These forms are outside my office and also on Firefly under Sport/ Medical forms.

I have to sign these forms before the students attends the trial. U 12 trials for West zone, need their forms given to me as I have to send them with the nomination. Other age groups need to take them with them to the trial. Some sports now require mouth-guards as well. No medical or mouthguard means no trialling in some cases. Girls need to read the information that I send out carefully.

Students who attend trials will be charged to compete in these as per Darling Downs or Toowoomba trials costs. These charges will be placed onto your account and are generally between $10 - $15. Girls who nominate to trial but fail to attend, quite often are still charged by the regional office. The only way to not be charged is to withdraw from the trial by the day before at the latest.
 
Basketball
We have played rounds 3 and 4 against Centenary Heights State High School and Concordia College. Our Year 7/8 team had a nail-biting win over Concordia College 19-18 last week and faced a strong Centenary Heights State High School team the week before. This team has improved greatly over the couple of weeks they have been together. The Year 9/10 team has also improved and had some tough opposition but have never given up in the challenge thrown to them. Our Opens continue to remain undefeated and scored 60 points against Concordia College last week! This Friday night, we play at home against The Scots PGC College from Warwick. Games are Year 7/8 - 4pm, Year 9/10 4.55pm and Opens at 5.50pm. We would love to see a big crowd come along and cheer on our girls this week in Salo. Next week we have the bye before teams for finals are worked out.

SSG

A big thank you to those parents in the Sports Supporters Group who have already assisted us with the BBQ at the swimming carnival and also the canteen at the basketball home games. It is very much appreciated. Anyone who would like to join and help us is asked to complete the google form below.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTwLeJwYTGl8YiuNSGbTsVxsFqAfIJvCabEq0SbgBxqywyxA/viewform?usp=sf_link

 
Student collection after training and games
I would like to remind all parents to please collect their daughter promptly after training or games each week please? We have already had to have staff wait up to 40 minutes after the scheduled finish time for training/ games for a student to be collected by parents. This is a little disappointing as staff also have families to get home to and I would appreciate if parents could please be on time. As always, the majority are collected on time and we appreciate your help in this matter.
 
Track and field carnival date claimer
We have moved the date of the main carnival at O’Quinn St from Monday 27 May to Wednesday 29 May. There will still be some lead up events before this day.

*|MC:TOC|*

Culture Club is thriving once again, offering students an opportunity to learn about other cultures by creating, tasting, singing, dancing, observing and playing. All students are welcome to join us in M7 on Tuesdays at lunchtime for our cultural fun and games.
 
In Week 1 we enjoyed playing some Japanese games, じゃんけんでんしゃ   (jankendensha) and  だるまさんがころんだ (darumasan ga koronda). We were fortunate to be joined by our three students visiting from Japan, Rina Murakami, Natsumi Imai and Hajime Tsuda, who helped us learn the Japanese words needed for these fun games. In Week 2 we looked to France and belatedly celebrated the French tradition of Galettes des Rois in recognition of the Epiphany. Our youngest student in attendance, Maddison Dolan, chose how to hand out the slices of the delicious French pastry. Three students, Yulita Khalil, Chloe Myers and Rina Murakami, found a fève (charm) in their slice and were crowned our queens.
 
We look forward to more interesting cultural activities in the coming weeks and invite all students to come along.

St Ursula’s College would like to introduce to you our Gifted and Talented Program, IGNITE. The IGNITE Program is designed to offer gifted and talented students in Year 7, 8 and 9 an opportunity to extend and challenge themselves through rigorous, relevant and engaging learning opportunities. The program will promote skills in problem-solving, project management and investigative research while encouraging gifted and talented students to employ creativity, time management, and critical thinking to complete self-devised Passion Projects.

To apply for the IGNITE Program students are asked to either write a formal letter, present a speech on a sound file or develop a media clip explaining why she would like to be a part of the IGNITE Program, identifying her interests and electing a specific subject that best reflects her area of passion.

To select students for the program, applications will be reviewed against a success criterion. All applications must be formal in nature and display clarity of expression. Students must demonstrate a highly developed ability to express their concept idea for a Passion Project and have achieved a high result in either the most recent MYAT or NAPLAN test.

I encourage students to challenge themselves, step outside their comfort zone and IGNITE their passions.

For more information or to receive a copy of the Parent IGNITE Booklet, detailing further information relating to the program, please feel free to contact me via email hjg@st-ursula.qld.edu.au or phone 4632 7611.

Ms Hayley Grabham
 

We thoroughly enjoyed having staff and students from Lycée Notre Dame le Ménimur join us at St Ursula’s College for two weeks in February. It is an invaluable experience for students learning French to be able to interact so freely with their French peers and gain a greater understanding of French culture. During their time here, the students and staff from our sister school in Vannes attended classes with their host sisters; enjoyed days out at Sea World and Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary; met with Mayor Paul Antonio; discovered aspects of Indigenous culture and art; enjoyed some local shopping; and learnt some Aussie slang.
 
We extend a heartfelt thanks to the host families who so warmly welcomed our French visitors into their homes and accompanied them on weekend adventures to the beach, the mountains, waterfalls, theme parks, zoos and many other locations. We appreciate all that you have done to help create many unforgettable experiences for the students and staff of Lycée Notre Dame le Ménimur. The tears shed at the airport as our visitors left for Sydney was a clear indication of the profound connections that have been forged over the past few months and the friendships that will continue into the future.
 
One of our students who participated in the France Tour and reciprocal visit, her family and her French host sister have shared some insights about the hosting experience.
 
Favourite parts of hosting a French student:

Ways the hosting experience has been beneficial:

What was learnt through the hosting experience:

What was enjoyed about the hosting experience (family perspective):

From the French student’s perspective:

We also sincerely thank Mrs Amanda Brown and Mme Véronique Gobin for their extensive work to make this exchange possible, as well as Monsieur Manuel Krzyzosiak, Mme Sandrine Krzyzosiak and Monsieur Louis-Marie Supiot who accompanied the French students to Australia this year.

 

Last Thursday we welcomed a group of 8 students and 2 teachers from The Ursuline School (New Rochelle) as part of our reciprocal tour.  The majority of these girls from New Rochelle had hosted our students during their stay in December last year, so it was a wonderful opportunity for our families to return the hospitality and show them around the local area.

Although only a short stay, the American girls spent a couple of days exploring Sydney before landing at Wellcamp airport.  They experienced life at St Ursula's including classes, tuckshop and our picnic style recess at morning tea and lunch.  

The Mayor of Toowoomba warmly welcomed the group with an afternoon tea and spoke of the important relationship between Australia and USA.  The Mayor explained how education and health are two of the largest sectors in Toowoomba and how the city is growing and expanding.  

On Friday the USA group were delighted to experience the Australian wildlife at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  Koalas were cuddled, kangaroos were well fed.

The girls were fortunate to explore many facets of the local area, including beaches at the Gold Coast, water sports at the local dam, shopping for Aussie treats and enjoying the Australian hospitality of our families.

We thank our families who have not only supported this exchange, but opened their homes to welcome the USA girls.  We appreciate the time, effort and thought that you have invested in sharing your family time.  Your support is invaluable.

If your child has missed their school immunisation last Tuesday and you want it to be given, please call OZcare for an appointment on 4639 7888.  (10 Pechey Street, Toowoomba)

Clinic Details:

Wednesday 6 March - 3:30pm-4:15pm
Wednesday 27 March - 3:30pm-4:15pm
Wednesday 10 April - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Tuesday 7 May - 3:30pm - 4:15pm
Tuesday 28 May - 3:30pm - 4:15pm
Wednesday 12 June 3:00pm - 4:00pm
 

St Ursula’s College tuckshop facility runs on a cashless card facility known as My Moneta.
 
We have recently been working with Monitor to improve the user interface for My Moneta, our cashless card facility. 
 
As such we have updated our instructions to reflect these changes in the attached document.
 
You can access My Moneta via the College website https://suc.st-ursula.qld.edu.au/mymonitor/.
 
If you require any assistance, please contact accounts@st-ursula.qld.edu.au or call the College on (07) 4632 7611.
 
Thank you!