It’s time to check in with our children. As the school holidays start on Friday our families are excited about having their daughters home. Some girls are heading off to sports carnivals, some are working, and most of all they are looking forward to hanging out with their families. I urge parents to talk to their daughters and spend some one-on-one time with them. The trick is really listening to what they have to say. Strong relationships are built on time spent and conversations that are genuine and heart-felt. With young people spending so much time on phones and other electronics it is easy to waste hours not engaging with others in person. There is research that says the heavy reliance on devices and social media is contributing to the high levels of anxiety and depression in our teenagers. At Girls Grammar we make a concerted effort to give the girls time away from their devices and offer activities that get the girls interacting with others.
We have had a great week with most of the Girls Grammar boarders working at our annual Race Day. An impressive number of girls volunteered to set up and serve at this event. The boarders genuinely enjoyed the responsibility in such a fun environment. We celebrated Miss Kitt’s birthday as her new adopted family; now that she lives so far from hers. We had a dance party on Saturday and 50 girls went to the movies and shopping on Sunday. Saturday also had the Show Cattle Team compete in the Mt Larcom show.
We topped off a fabulous week with Athletics day on Tuesday. The boarders who will return in 2022 are keen to start training for next year’s tug-o-war competition.
Have a safe and enjoyable holiday with your daughters and we send love to our PNG families who again will not be able to spend time with their precious girls this break.
Take care.
Stacey McCarthy
Head of Boarding