I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our families to the new school year – those returning and those joining us in 2022. We also welcome new staff to the school who will be introduced in the relevant Head of School section of this eNews and I warmly welcome them to CGGS. Together they bring decades of teaching experience to our classes and have joined us from overseas, interstate and within Canberra, adding to the rich diversity of our highly skilled teachers.
This week has been busy as the new school year commenced. It has been a pleasure to participate in a number of activities across the school, with highlights being:
- The sheer excitement and energy of the Year 7 students during the welcome day on Monday. This group of girls are clearly ready for the challenges of secondary learning and their enthusiasm was contagious. It was a pleasure to speak with many of these girls during the day and hear about the things they had learnt so far about the senior school. “It’s much bigger than I expected” and “the padlocks [for lockers] are really hard”. Of course, the one aspect they are most excited about when we spoke was the canteen. My wish for these girls is that they maintain this joy in the simple things and stay excited about the path they are starting on.
- Talking with Year 6 on their leadership day about what leadership at CGGS means and the role they play in being a leader every day, with our without a badge or title. The empathy, maturity and kindness of these girls was evident in their responses, stories and the insightful questions they asked me.
- The Commencement Service in the Senior School on Tuesday morning was a mindful way to begin the school year and allowed us to celebrate the Year 12 2022 cohort. It also provided the opportunity to induct the Senior Council and Election B leaders for the year, with their badges blessed by Father Chris, and all Year 12 students receiving their Year 12 badge and ribbon.
- Hearing from the 2021 co-Dux’s Ashwini and Abigail (Abbie) during the Commencement Service, as they returned to address the senior school students about their time at CGGS. Both girls had a strong message related to doing what makes you happy and staying humble. I was particularly taken with Abbie’s observations and asked her for her speech in order to include an excerpt in this article. This is important and timely advice as a new school year begins.
“I think there is a really strong hustle culture today, where being super busy is equated with being successful and having everything together. I think we all need the reminder that doing your best isn’t the same thing as working yourself into the ground, especially when you sacrifice vital things like sleep, downtime and time with friends and family. I think the most important thing I learned last year is that ‘you can have everything you want, but not all at once’ and what I mean by that is it's completely possible to achieve every goal you have, but if you work towards them all at once you will spread yourself too thin and not achieve anything.”
Thank you for your reflection and wise words, Abbie.
To all CGGS students in 2022;
- Stay humble
- Be kind to yourself always, and to others
- Get good sleep, and see your friends and family without feeling guilty about it
- Support one another – the power of collective wisdom
- Be patient and keep working, you will get there!
All the best for a new year where anything is possible.
Julie Jorritsma
Acting Principal