Term 3, Week 5, Tuesday 9 August 2022

Last week was a particularly busy week in the life of our school. School life was frenetic with the regular teaching and learning program, accompanied by the usual array of co-curricular activities, incursions and excursions. This busy time was further compounded with planning the 2023 timetable based on student subject choices, recruitment according to known staffing departures and the inevitable managing of staffing absence due to COVID and seasonal flu.

The tuck shop was affected by staff and volunteer absence due to illness, too. At a particularly busy lunch time, the Communication and Admissions Team noticed the student queues and lone tuck shop convenor trying to serve the hangry people. How wonderful that four staff from the Communications and Admissions Team jumped in behind the counter to help serve the students. This is truly a community effort and I was so happy to hear of the neighbourly deed.

Then there was another warm and fuzzy occasion that made me feel lucky to be part of the Somerville community. I was visiting Mrs McGuire’s office last Wednesday and was happy to meet the “Handy Helper of the Week”. Mrs McGuire explained that each week two Pre-Prep students are chosen to help with special tasks around the Junior School. On this occasion one handy helper was absent with illness, so the other Handy Helper was solo with the weekly Wednesday task of visiting the Head of Junior School’s office with the watering can. The watering can contained the magic water from the Pre-Prep fish tank and was used to feed the peace lily on Mrs McGuire’s desk. I can testify that the peace lily is THRIVING, (despite the fact that Mrs McGuire is not renowned for her successful care of indoor plants!) The bonus part of the visit is that the Handy Helper shares a joke – and my first hand experience of starting the school day with a joke was uplifting!

I could share many more stories of staff helping staff with marking loads, staff stepping in to cover the classes of an unwell colleague, students acting as sherpa to carry the school bag of a student on crutches. These sorts of actions and attitudes are what makes the Somerville House community a great place to belong. It makes me feel blessed to belong to such a culture and such a place. I am proud to experience the feeling and know this is the Somerville way, the way we do things around here.

These actions and the care for each other reminds me of the hymn When I Needed a Neighbour. I loved this hymn as a child and still enjoy singing (albeit badly) as an adult. I share two of the verses:

When I needed a neighbour,
Were you there, were you there?
When I needed a neighbour, were you there?

And the creed and the colour
And the name won't matter,
Were you there?

I was hungry and thirsty,
Were you there, were you there?
I was hungry and thirsty, were you there?

And the creed and the colour
And the name won't matter,
Were you there?

This hymn by Sydney Carter challenges us to have consideration and care for our neighbours. It reminds us of Jesus' words in Matthew 25: 44-45

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

I am glad that the members of our Somerville House community continue to care for their neighbours and each other.

Staff Updates

You may have read my SomerLink post at the end of last week, sharing the news that our Head of Junior School, Mrs Louise McGuire, will be leaving Somerville House at the end of 2022 to take up a position at an international school in China. We offer joyful congratulations to Mrs McGuire who will be joining her husband after navigating a COVID enforced separation since 2020.

Mrs McGuire joined Somerville House in 2020 and has been outstanding in her leadership of the Junior School. She is an inspiring educator who has made a great contribution throughout her time at the School. Mrs McGuire played a pivotal role in leading learning and student achievement at a time in the School’s history when we were forced to embrace a new way of delivering our pedagogy via the online mode. I know we will be sad to see Louise leave our school community at the end of the year. We congratulate her on her new position and know that she will bring much to her next school when she takes up her role in 2023.

Please join with me in congratulating Louise on her overseas relocation. I know we will be sad when she leaves Somerville House, so let’s make the most of working together for the rest of the year to achieve the best student outcomes and setting up successful futures for our girls and Pre-Prep boys!

Mrs Kim Kiepe
Principal

Technology in the palm of our hand is wonderful in so many ways, but there is no doubt about its addictive nature, especially if engaging in social media. The statistics are alarming, and adults pick up their smartphones between 150-344 times per day (that’s once every 4 minutes). Although we try to limit the use of smart devices for tweens and teens, daily smartphone usage has nearly doubled compared with pre-pandemic usage.

To assist us all in curbing this habit, Jari Roomer (published on Medium) suggests some healthy and fulfilling replacement activities.

Learning New Skills

As Richard Koch, author of The 80/20 Principle, said, “It is not shortage of time that should worry us, but the tendency for the majority of time to be spent in low-quality ways.” What if each day, you traded 30 minutes of mindless phone scrolling for 30 minutes of learning a new skill?

Watch a Documentary

I love documentaries. It’s not just a relaxing form of entertainment, but it’s also educational. A good documentary helps you understand the world a little better, broadens the mind, and inspires you to make some changes in your daily life.

Build An Online Income Stream

Rather than passively consuming content on your smartphone, use your time more productively and start creating content. Start producing valuable stuff. Build a side-hustle. Write on Medium. Create a digital product. Start freelancing. Because of the internet, it has never been easier to start a business or create an extra income stream. Never.

Read Books

If you read 15 pages per day, you’d finish roughly 27 books per year (as the average non-fiction book is about 200 pages).

Get Organized

All that time spent staring at a screen could’ve been spent getting organized. It could’ve been used to clean your home, prepare a few healthy meals for the coming days, or plan out your entire week. If you feel like you’re always ‘behind’ on the day, it might be worth spending fifteen minutes less on your phone and using it to get yourself organized instead.

Do Something Creative

Studies have shown that pursuing creative projects boosts happiness and cognitive functioning, while decreasing stress and anxiety.

Go For a Walk (In Nature)

Research has shown that most people spend about 90% of their time indoors.

Listen To a Podcast

Alright, fair enough, you might need your smartphone to listen to podcasts. But when you use your smartphone to make you smarter, you use it more Listening to a podcast can easily be combined with other activities, such as walking outside, cleaning the house, or doing your laundry. It’s a win-win.

Write In a Journal

Personally, I find journalling one of the most effective habits for creating mental clarity. Nothing gets your thoughts in order like writing them out on paper. Instead of reading hundreds of opinions, angry comments, and discussions of random strangers on the internet, take some time to look inward.

Identify Your Highest-Quality Leisure Activities

Make a list of your highest-quality leisure activities. I guarantee, for 95% of people, scrolling through a smartphone won’t make the list. As Richard Branson said, “Don’t become a slave to technology — manage your phone, don’t let it manage you.”
Jari Roomer

Mrs Jo Matherson
Deputy Principal

Mind the Gap

‘After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a voice like gentle whisper…’ (1 Kings 19:12)

When in London, you might have taken the Underground - where the beautiful tone of voice actor Oswald Lawrence reminds you to ‘Mind the Gap’. Margaret McCollum was married to Oswald. The duo happily lived in London together, with Oswald working as an actor and voice artist, while McCollum had a distinguished career as a GP. Among Oswald’s work was to voice the iconic ‘mind the gap’ phrase cautioning customers to be careful of the gap between the train and the platform.

Sadly, Oswald passed away in 2007. The loss devastated Margaret. However, she had a way of easing her grief, by visiting Embankment station each day to hear Oswald’s voice. However, after 5 years in December 2012 it suddenly changed. Oswald’s dulcet tones had been changed with a digital voice. Fortunately, Embankment station staff set about finding the original recording and pushing for Oswald’s voice to be restored.

In 2013, Margaret’s dreams were realised. Oswald’s voice was restored. Margaret had believed his voice gone forever. Embankment station remains the only station on the Northern Line which has Oswald saying, ‘mind the gap’. Oswald lives on!

When God speaks to us, it’s not always in dramatic ways. In 1 Kings Elijah is told that God does not have to speak with an ‘earthquake’ or a ‘fire’ but God can communicate just as effectively in a whisper or gentle quiet voice.
In the same way, when we ask God to ‘guide us’, or ask for God to ‘speak’ into a challenging or difficult situation – we might find God speaking to us in a very gentle voice, like that of a loved one.

Let us pray.

Lord when you are speaking to us - in a gentle, quiet voice - help us recognise what you are saying and draw us ever near to you to listen. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Mr Ian Loom
Associate Chaplain

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity and without judgement.

Why talk about mindfulness? Not only can it help our physical health, it can help improve a student’s ability to learn, attitude to learning, academic outcomes and social relationships.

It can help develop skills to:

reduce emotional distress, settle and calm students to reduce behavioural challenge. (This may be a strong motivator)
strengthen areas of the brain used in learning, thinking and memory.

Researchers at Deakin University and InsightSRC in 2016 conducted a very large study in Australian schools and found that it assisted student sleep, wellbeing, managing emotions, concentration and classroom behaviour.

How can you help at home?

Mindful eating – Try sitting down as a family around the table eating and enjoying the food, maybe identifying flavours and showing gratitude for the delicious meal, while chatting without distractions such as the TV or phones.
Mindful awareness – Encourage your child to join you in the garden, to watch a sunset, to listen to the birds, to walk and notice changes in the neighbourhood.
Mindful communication – Stop, turn and look at your child while you have a conversation and encourage them to do the same with their siblings and others, play a game together.
Download the Smiling Mind app – There are age specific meditations. They vary in length e.g. 2 minutes. Choose a quiet space. Choose a quiet time. Try it daily.
Ask questions: How was that? What did you notice? How do you feel now?
Please click here for more mindfulness tips and parent resources
Please click here for more information from Smiling Mind. You never know, following the ideas above may mean more help in the garden, few behavioural outbursts, more engaging family dinners and deeper conversations with your children. This, together with the academic and wellbeing benefits - it is worth trying!

Mrs Julie Brunckhorst
Dean of Student Wellbeing

The Value of Daydreaming

During our Junior School staff meeting last week, our wonderful teacher librarians enthusiastically shared with us details of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) shortlisted books and the exciting activities students will be undertaking in the lead up to Book Week. This year’s theme, Dreaming with eyes open….., prompted me to reflect on the value of daydreaming.

Studies show that letting your mind wander can increase creativity, stimulate better problem solving and lead to substantial improvements in responses to previously encountered problems.

Have you ever tried desperately to recall a word – a person’s name, a geographic location, a specific term – and frustratingly been unsuccessful? Has it been ‘on the tip of your tongue’?

Did you find that when you became distracted and stopped consciously thinking about it, the word you were trying to recall came to you seemingly miraculously? Have you noticed that some of your best ideas come in the shower or while out for a walk?

The brain uses two modes of thinking: Focused Mode and Diffuse Mode.

Focused Thinking is when you concentrate, focus on a problem and intentionally try to find a solution. Focused Thinking may come about as a result of such things as a conversation, reading, explicit teaching, observation and exploration. Focused Thinking purposefully and narrowly descends upon a specific concept or problem.
Diffuse Thinking involves inattentiveness. It takes place when you step back, take the pressure off and authentically relax or daydream. It’s through Diffuse Thinking that the brain unconsciously leaps from idea to idea and draws connections between concepts. Diffuse Thinking taps into strategic big-picture thinking.

Let us not underestimate the need for Diffuse Thinking in our everyday lives. Focused Thinking gets us started on our learning, but breadth of understanding is only realised when we allow our brain to move between both the Focused and Diffuse Modes. This is one of the reasons why those who laugh, play, wonder, imagine and daydream will often experience all-embracing and seemingly limitless learning, and produce more creative and ground-breaking outcomes than those who persist purely with intense and explicit learning experiences.

So, now that you have this information, what can you do with it? My recommendation is to value the importance of recreational time for and with your children. Take a walk. Fly a kite. Climb a tree. Explore mud. Dream silly daydreams and laugh about them. Allow your children to participate in entirely unstructured play. Don’t worry about the mess. Give your children every opportunity to let their brains be free from things they find mentally taxing. Know and trust that it’s in the downtime that the tactical big-picture learning inconspicuously takes place.

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. John Lennon

Year 2 Excursion to Miegunyah House - Friday 5 August

As part of their History studies, Year 2 visited Miegunyah House on Friday 5 August. Miegunyah, an Aboriginal English word meaning “my home”, was built in the 1880s. The excursion provided students with evidence of life in the 19th century, the opportunity to learn about the people who lived at Miegunyah and witness the labours of 19th century housekeeping.

Year 6 News Monitor Emily W (6A) interviewed Aaliyah R (2C) about her experiences of the day.

Mrs Louise McGuire
Head of Junior School

From the Director of Sport

ATHLETICS QGSSSA INVITATIONAL – SENIOR SCHOOL – MONDAY 15 AUGUST 2022

Due to the Interhouse Athletics Carnival being cancelled, we are holding a Year 7-12 Athletics QGSSSA Invitational competition which will be held in Week 6 on Monday 15 August. Each year girls use the Interhouse Athletics Carnival as a key event to gain selection in the QGSSSA Athletics team, in 2022 this event will take its place and will allow those girls an opportunity to compete against their age group under proper competition conditions in the hopes of gaining selection in the final Athletics team.

As any other normal school day if your daughter is ill or not able to attend on this day, please use the normal absentee procedures. Details of the competition are set out below.

N.B. this event is strictly an invitational event and not a ‘come and try’ competition.

Mr Andrew McCabe
Director of Sport

Tennis

On Friday night the tennis girls put on an amazing fight against St Margaret's. The Senior A and Opens teams dominated their competitions and the Junior B had a very solid win. Everyone played extremely well and we can’t wait to see the players development at the next game.

Ms Alexandra Roberts
Sports Co-ordinator

Netball

Round 4 saw Somerville take on St Margaret’s on an overcast morning at Fitzgibbon. Our Opens had a thrilling game and unfortunately just went down, with the final score 32-34. 10As had a convincing 39-27 win and our Senior As fought hard and took a 3 point victory, 28-25.

We continue to see improvement from all teams and look forward to a great Round against St Peters Lutheran College this Saturday!

Ms Lucy Bellinger
Sports Co-ordinator

Volleyball

A successful weekend for Volleyball, with our Senior As, Senior Bs, 10As, an 9As all recording victories. Our Opens game takes place tonight, so best of luck to the Opens girls! Looking forward to this Saturdays games against St Peters Lutheran College!