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INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

This publication comprises articles written by senior staff for the Schoolâ€™s weekly newsletter, the BGGS News. As a collection, they provide the opportunity to reflect on the educational landscape of 2016 and the values, philosophy and direction of Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

Insights also provides a platform for the voices of our students to be heard through their Perspectives articles. The images in this edition of Insights are works produced by our creative and talented Visual Arts students in 2016.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Contents INSIGHTS 2016

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

AUSTRALIANS ALL, LOTUS REJOICE

MR STEPHEN WOODS

MILLENNIALS AND THE AGE OF OPPORTUNITY/ I GOT 99 PROBLEMS BUT THE FUTURE AIN’T ONE

MS ADELE CUMMINGS

MORNINGS MATTER

MRS ALICE DABELSTEIN

THE POWER OF STORYTELLING

MRS PAULINE HARVEY-SHORT

WHEN AM I EVER GOING TO USE THIS?

DR PETER JENKINS

NEVER MIND THE GAP – GRAMMAR GIRLS SEE A CLEAR PATH WITH STEM

MR SHANE SKILLEN

BUILDING RESILIENT, CONFIDENT AND CAPABLE YOUNG WOMEN

MRS HAZEL BOLTMAN

CONNECTING PLACES … CONNECTING PEOPLE

MR JEFF WHEATLEY

THE MAGIC CIRCLE

MR ELLIOT McGARRY 29

PAYING ATTENTION AND THE POWER OF DISTRACTION

MRS ALISON CARMICHAEL

HEARTS, MINDS AND HANDS: ENCOURAGING ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSETS

DR BRUCE ADDISON

ANZAC DAY ADDRESS

LIEUTENANT KATE CLARKSON

THINKING GLOBALLY ABOUT SPORT — AT GIRLS GRAMMAR AND BEYOND

MS SALLY NORTHCROFT

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S INTERNATIONAL AWARD — CELEBRATING SIXTY YEARS

MR JAMES McINTOSH 46

AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

MRS ANNE INGRAM

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW…

MRS VIOLET ROSS

LIVESTOCK AND LITERATURE: OLFACTION GUARANTEED

MR STEPHEN WOODS

THE BEAUTIFUL AND NECESSARY ART OF MAKING MISTAKES

DR RASHNA TARAPOREWELLA

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

PERSPECTIVES 61

Important perspectives

Ms Jacinda Euler, Principal

A mote of dust

Rosie Cavdarski, Year 12

A call to UNiTE the Brisbane Girls Grammar School community

Clair Fidler, Year 9

Climb every mountain

Amrutha Murali, Year 10

The soaring assassin

Caitlin O’Meara, Year 12

A reflection on gender bias in today’s society

Caitlin Wilson, Year 12

IS ALL LEARNING THE SAME LEARNING?

MR JAMES KEOGH

THE POWER OF SCHOOL SPIRIT THROUGH STUDENT OWNERSHIP OF STUDENT LEADERS

MS JAN O’SULLIVAN

HI, ANXIETY!

MISS TENNILLE CUMMINGS

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO [WO]MAN HAS GONE BEFORE . . .

DR SALLY STEPHENS

THEATRE-MAKING: ‘NOT MAGIC BUT WORK, MY FRIENDS’

MS JOANNE MARTIN

THE OLYMPICS, THE CO-CURRICULUM AND #BLUNITY

MS MAGGI GUNN

#BULLET_PROOF_SHE-PRENEUR

MS EMANUELLE JONES

SHALL WE DANCE?

MS JENNIFER FUKUSHIMA

MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD THROUGH HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING

MRS ROMY FRITZ

SUMMIT TO THINK ABOUT

MS RUTH JANS

IT’S THEIR STORY

MRS KRISTINE COOKE AND MRS JENNY DAVIS

MUSIC AND GALA

MS JACINDA EULER

100

ECONOMICS: THE GENE OF HUMANITY

DR SAM PENG

103

IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR PERSPECTIVE

DR ANN FARLEY

105

NAVIGATING FRIENDSHIPS AND FRIENDSHIP DIFFICULTIES

MISS CHRYSTAL GRAY

108

2016 REMEMBRANCE DAY ADDRESS

MS ANNE BYRNE

111

SHARING WITH DIGNITY WHILE MAINTAINING HOPE — WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SHARE?

MRS LYNNE MUNGOMERY

114

ARTY LIKE IT’S 1899 (APOLOGIES TO PRINCE)

MR DONALD PINCOTT

117

HOLIDAY BORED GAMES

MS EMMA LOWRY

120

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Australians all, lotus rejoice MR STEPHEN WOODS, DIRECTOR OF ENGLISH | 29 JANUARY 2016

am going to start my Australia Day Address in the most obvious place: ancient Greek mythology.

In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, the wise and indomitable hero Odysseus struggles against gods and monsters for years to make it home from the Trojan War. It was Odysseus’ idea to give the Trojans a gift of a gigantic wooden horse full of Greek soldiers, a trick which won the war for the Greeks. The journey home from Troy is long and perilous: man-eating Cyclopses attack them, sea monsters snatch men from the decks, sirens try to lure them to shipwreck. I am an English teacher, so you know what’s coming next: I am going to choose a small piece of this story, analyse its connotations, and then extrapolate to find its relevance to us today. Everything is a metaphor. Still trying to get home to their island of Ithaca, Odysseus and his men are blown off course for nine days, and land on the island of a people called the Lotus Eaters. Their island is isolated; it is beautiful. Its people are friendly, peaceful, and easy-going, spending their days grazing on the ‘mellow fruit and flower’ (Homer trans. Fagles, R. 1997, IX:96) of the lotus plants that grow everywhere on the island. The sailors who go ashore also eat these plants, and the ‘honey-sweet fruit’ (Homer, IX:106) has a powerful narcotic effect on them. They forget their purpose. They become completely satisfied, and care about nothing, not even returning to their families. They think their journey is over,

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

and give up thinking, questing, and striving towards their goal, and exist instead in a kind of blissful, mindless trance. Like Odysseus’ crew, we Australians have found ourselves on a beautiful island, isolated in many ways from the strife that afflicts the rest of the world, and, as we have just sung, our island ‘abounds in nature’s gifts’, and has ‘beauty rich and rare’. Around Australia Day, we hear a lot about how lucky we are, and how great our island home is. These things are true. The risk here is that — like Homer’s Lotus Eaters — we might slip into a kind of unthinking complacency. Satisfied with what we have, we might lose sight of our quest and purpose — where we are headed — and spend the day in a delirium, intoxicated not by lotus flowers, but by a flagwaving media and the delicious aroma of barbecuing lamb. I would argue that many of us can spend 26 January blissfully happy to be Australians, but that we should not lose sight of the fact that, as a nation, like Odysseus and his men, we have not reached the end of our journey. For many, life in Australia today is comfortable, peaceful, and fulfilling, but for many others, it is much less so. If we swallow the Australia Day hype about this being the best country on earth, like the lotus of Homer’s story, it could cause us to forget that we still have a long way to go. Odysseus’ landing party did just this; they forgot Ithaca. If we as Australians stop now and accept the way things currently are — no matter how comfortable that might be — we risk never achieving the happy future state in which we can ‘all rejoice’.

Yes, there is a risk that Australia Day could become an occasion for self-congratulation, where we all don thongs, green and gold zinc, and a flag-cape to chant ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’, but the good people in charge of Australia Day have done their best to make sure that we do not end up sitting around our beautiful island feasting on this kind of patriotic lotus. For the last four decades or so, the Australia Day Council has named Australians of the Year to be a kind of Odysseus for our nation. When he went ashore and found his stupefied, carefree men sitting around chewing on lotus, having completely forgotten their quest to get home, Odysseus dragged them forcibly back to the ship and tied them up until he and the rest of the crew had rowed clear of the island. The men who had eaten the lotus wanted to stay, but Odysseus forcefully reminded them of their ultimate — and higher — purpose. The Australians of the Year do this for us, and not just on the day, but for a whole year and beyond. Consider how profound an impact Rosie Batty has had in her year as Australian of the Year in 2015 in focusing our attention on the terrible cost of domestic violence. Most Australians are not affected by domestic violence, but Rosie Batty reminded everyone that we have to speak out and act if

we are to care for those who are vulnerable. The year before, Adam Goodes forced us to confront relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Most Australians do not have to deal with a traumatic history of colonisation and a present too often tainted by racism, but Adam Goodes reminded us that these are issues that we all have to confront, because if we don’t resist racism, we accept it. Patrick McGorry used his tenure as Australian of the Year to make all of us examine our attitudes towards, and treatment of, those who are suffering a mental illness. This year, David Morrison will no doubt strive tirelessly to have us think and act to make sure Australia gets closer to its destination as a diverse and inclusive home for everyone, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, or any other difference from the supposed norm. Each of these Australians, like Homer’s Odysseus, has had the wisdom and determination to wrench us from a comfortable present towards a better future. Australia Day is a chance to appreciate all the great things we have in this country, and to feel pride. But what the story of the Lotus Eaters, and the efforts of our Australians of the Year remind us, is that we also must resist feeling satisfied. Our odyssey — our national quest — is far from over.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Millennials and The Age of Opportunity/ I got 99 problems but the future ain’t one 1

MS ADELE CUMMINGS, CURRICULUM MUSIC TEACHER | 5 FEBRUARY 2016

ere we are, at the beginning of what is sure to be another busy year. It is a time for planning, goalsetting and list-making and with this comes the hope and optimism that we will see these good intentions through. Hope and optimism are words that have emerged during staff meetings and staffroom conversations during our recent preparation week here at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. In an era when we are faced with global change and disruption in every facet of life, they are two words that can easily be forgotten, but perhaps it is time to change the way we think about the future — not for ourselves but for the sake of the youth of today. Of course this topic is not new — there is so much literature at the moment on disruption (in particular disruption caused by technological advancements) and this era of change. If you have followed Insights for the last year you will have noticed more than one article about preparing our students for the ambiguity of the future. We talk about it in education; it is commonplace in business literature and increasingly in politics. The more you read on this topic of the future and the complex and global problems we face, you would be forgiven for wanting to crawl into bed, hide your head under

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

the covers and never come out. What seems to dominate this discussion is an overwhelmingly negative rhetoric — one of fear and of problems which are too big and too hard to solve. Although it is easy to become swept up in the negativity that surrounds the enormity of the global challenges and uncertain future we (and the next generation) face, there are people spreading hope for the future. The recent Australian of the Year Awards provided many welcome examples of hope and optimism. In particular, young role models, Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett (Young Australians of the Year), are paving the way for other young people to define their own future as one that is daring, optimistic, compassionate and successful. Similarly, the Foundation for Young Australians believes that young people are crucial to creating a better future and we need to prepare them to lead change within our communities and further afield (FYA Unlimited Potential, 2016). Opportunities for Millennials may look different to how they have in from those of the past but they exist nonetheless. Most of all, this generation has an opportunity to create significant change for the better. It is our job to develop the skills and confidence they need to rise to the challenge.

LUCINDA BLUNDELL / 10E (DETAIL) INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Frank Spencer, the creator and lead instructor at the Futures Institute at Duke University has defined the patterns we see emerging in the world today as a move towards the ‘Age of Opportunity’. In his article ‘Wicked Opportunities: 7 Shifts in the Age of Opportunity’, he defines ‘seven shifts’ outlining the move towards a time where we can harness our resources to solve some of our biggest problems (Spencer, 2015). Most importantly, Spencer (2015) believes that, by defining these shifts and providing an alternative mindset, people will aspire to a new tomorrow, to be optimistic and seek and identify new opportunities. Through an extensive service program at Girls Grammar, the girls are provided with an avenue to discover a sense of purpose, a human element that Spencer argues is becoming of utmost importance. This shift that Spencer (2015) describes as moving from mechanistic to organic, explores the notion that people now strive to work to leave things better than when they found them. In comparison with the industrial revolution and the ‘progress’ that we have experienced in recent times where consumption and creation equate to success, we as a people are now heading down a pathway that is more interested in solving grand challenges and building a more caring and compassionate world.

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Higher education for the Millennial might look very different from now. Spencer (2015) goes on to describe a number of shifts in the way we gather ideas, learn and interact. Gone are the days where knowledge is locked away in silos. Rather, many universities are moving towards degrees in trans-disciplinary studies as a way of fostering creativity and innovation. Linear, one-sided thinking is exchanged for openness and an interconnected, collaborative environment. In 2014, Stanford University ran a thought-provoking project asking students to develop four different projections for what university will look like in the year 2100. ‘Missions not Majors’ was one example, a model in which students would enroll in trans-disciplinary studies, opening their world to a vast array of knowledge and networks and later obtaining the opportunity to specialise in a particular ‘mission’ to solve a global problem. For some universities this is not just a thought exercise: Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles, has a trans-disciplinary studies programme which develops ‘transformative mindsets’ aiming to help students come up with creative solutions to complex problems (Spencer, 2015). The New School of Design in NYC also has a Masters in Fine Arts in Trans-disciplinary Design,

combining design thinking with social innovation. With these world challenges come new opportunities, and Millennials are perfectly placed to take advantage of these. Spencer (2015) describes this shift in our thinking as moving from a mindset of ‘scarcity to one of abundance’ — that this new era will bring with it new jobs, new food sources and new lifestyles. The Foundation of Young Australians runs a programme for 12–25-year-olds called Propeller Projects. Laura, a young Australian from Victoria, created the Propeller Project ‘Blessing Bags’ which puts together a few essential items that make life a little easier for the homeless (Propellerproject.com.au, 2016). These are then distributed through a network of shelters and crisis centres. They aim to provide support for the homeless but also combat the stigma attached to homelessness. This is one local example of a young person creating a positive change within her community and it is something she has created herself from scratch. We need to give Millennials the skills to be job creators rather than job seekers (FYA Unlimited Potential, 2016). This doesn’t just mean the skills for every young person to become an entrepreneur; what we are looking for are young people with purpose. In order to create a brighter future we need to encourage Millennials to grow an

interest in and knowledge of the challenges of our local community, challenges at a national policy level and also global challenges. The prominent Indigenous leader and activist, Noel Pearson, ( brought this issue to the fore recently by saying ‘The Prime Minister’s conversation is largely focused on business and product innovation and venture capital mobilisation rather than social and policy innovation’ (NITV, 2016). The opportunities will not be found in starting a new business selling miscellaneous commodities. In a publication from the Department of Planning and Community Development in Melbourne, the number of social enterprises is increasing in Australia and they are currently more likely to be set up by young people (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2013). The stereotype of the apathetic youth needs to be turned on its head — young people can create huge change. We must encourage them to care, to be compassionate, to listen, to search for opportunities and to have the confidence to make change. There are young people out there achieving great things — things that have purpose and contribute to the world and create a positive future for us all.

FOOTNOTE 1

99 Problems is a popular song by American rapper Jay-Z that was released in 2004.

REFERENCES (2013). IMPACT – Australia: investment for social and economic benefit. Canberra: Department of Education. Employment and Workplace Relations. FYA Unlimited Potential. (2016). Our future depends on young people creating a strong economy and civic society. Retrieved from http://unlimitedpotential.fya.org.au/future/ our-future-depends-on-young-people-creating-a-strong-economy-and-civic-society/ Myles, M. (2016). Noel Pearson: Indigenous affairs is in deep crisis. Retrieved from http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2016/01/27/noel-pearson-indigenous-affairsdeep-crisis The Propeller Project (2016). Blessing bags community project. Retrieved from http://www.propellerproject.com.au/Project/Details/6278 Spencer, F. (2015). Wicked opportunities: 7 shifts in the age of opportunity. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/product/wicked-opportunities-sevenshifts-in-the-age-of-opportunity/ROT257-PDF-ENG Vox Life (2015). 4 crazy ideas from Stanford about the future of college. Retrieved from http://www.vox.com/2015/2/28/8126777/future-college-stanford

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

SOPHIE MARTIN / 8O 10

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Mornings matter MRS ALICE DABELSTEIN, HEAD OF HIRSCHFELD HOUSE | 12 FEBRUARY 2016

ll over Brisbane, alarms go off each morning, prompting 1400 or so Girls Grammar students to sleepily shower, eat breakfast, brush their teeth, grab — or forget to grab — their lunches and school bags and head off to school. Stress levels rise as they realise they have forgotten to charge their computers the night before; they haven’t packed the text book they’ll need for lesson two; and their school tie has somehow ended up without the requisite two badges. Our mornings set us up either to be primed for creative insights and productivity, or to be numbed and mindless, merely trudging forgetfully through our day. Recent studies have shown that it is not how we spend our days that’s most important to our lifelong happiness and creativity, but how we spend our mornings (Nasser, 2010). Morning routines allow us to stay creative and engaged more consistently. By disconnecting from electronic devices and all forms of media, reducing our choices, exercising, being thankful, and thinking with intention, we can set the productivity tone for the day. Morning routines also set the mood and are an easy way to inject joy into the day. Improved mood improves performance and productivity, which improves mood, which … you get the picture. Positive mornings and days start the night before. Preplanning, prioritising, organising and streamlining routines not only reduces stress, it also cuts down on the amount of analytical thinking we need to do first thing in the morning, which frees us up to think more abstractly and creatively. Benjamin Franklin aptly stated, ‘early to bed, early to rise, makes a [wo]man healthy, wealthy and wise!’

Here is a compilation of morning routine tips: Plan something to look forward to Research shows anticipation is a powerful happiness booster. It’s two for the price of one: you get happy in anticipation of the good thing and you get to do the good thing. It could be as simple as getting up to watch the sun rise, drawing a picture, going for an early morning swim, or reading a good book. ‘People prone to joyful anticipation, skilled at obtaining pleasure from looking forward and imagining future happy events, are especially likely to be optimistic and to experience intense emotions’ (Lyubomirsky, 2008). If we start the day with an uplifting activity, it centres us and sets a positive tone for the day. Manage your mood — be mindful The mood a student is in when they arrive at school affects how they feel for the remainder of the day. Making time for mindfulness in the morning is one of the most important habits a person can form for the reduction of stress hormones, feelings of anxiety or depression, and as a boost for the immune system. It is important to stay disconnected first thing in the morning. This means no mobile phone or computer next to the bed, thereby eliminating the temptation to check emails or social media. For some teenagers this suggestion may seem life-threatening, but if emails or school work are time-sensitive, it’s worth getting up earlier so that you can focus first on calming tasks before devoting time to interpersonal communications. One way of nurturing a calm and clear mind is to develop a grateful disposition. Gratitude helps us live in the present

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

and this can have a positive impact on all areas of life. Expressing gratitude decreases stress levels and improves personal and professional relationships. Brisbane Girls Grammar School is a leader in this area, implementing mindfulness programmes which support the education of the whole student. As a part of the Year Eight Ethics programme, students create a Gratitude Journal. Writing in a gratitude journal for just a few minutes a day can double individual wellbeing (Emmons and McCullough, 2003, pp. 377-389). Calming music has a positive effect on mood and creativity. Switching off all other electronic devices and simply playing soothing music creates a place of peace and emotional balance. Eating breakfast It may be stating the obvious, but a delicious and nutritious breakfast will improve mood and focus throughout the day. This — coupled with a full night’s rest — are crucial parts of any routine. Students who miss breakfast will experience mood swings throughout the day. It is important to savour breakfast and take time to really enjoy it.

Trendy media images of busy people grabbing breakfast on-the-go are not helpful. By spending the effort to appreciate the positive, we experience a greater sense of wellbeing. Get up and move Exercise stimulates creativity and purpose, not only because it gets blood flowing to the brain but because it also helps break up monotony. It is a well-known fact that exercise has the power to make both mind and body feel healthy. Exercise and other physical activities release endorphins — the brain’s feel-good transmitters — which in turn relieve stress, allowing a person to start the day rejuvenated, energetic and with a clear and calm mind. Some of us identify as ‘morning people’ while others are anything but. Either way, it matters less what time we wake up than what we do with that time. Productive and happy students live life differently in a variety of ways, but perhaps none more importantly than what they do with their morning hours, when the universe is more likely to leave them alone.

REFERENCES Emerson, R.A., &. McCullogh, M.E. (2003). Count blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-389. Fox, J. (2014). The game changer. Queensland, Australia: Wiley and Sons. Lyuobomirsky, S. (2008). The how of happiness: A new approach to getting the life you want. New York. Penguin Press. Nasser, V. (2010). The psychology of happiness and well-being. Lulu.com

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MADELINE HORNE / 11M

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

The power of storytelling M R S PAU L I N E H A RV E Y - S H O R T, D E A N O F S C H O O L | 1 9 F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 6

he choice of a guest speaker at Speech Day or the Valedictory Dinner is an interesting challenge. It is not a simple choice. The right and inspiring speaker can provide the departing Year 12 students with a sense of purpose, hope, and aspiration while, hopefully, affirming their perception of the values of Brisbane Girls Grammar School. For the rest of the School on Speech Day, many of these women are the epitome of a Grammar girl and their dynamic lives can be beacons both in achievements and principles. They speak directly to the students with passion and commitment but their speeches are more than emotive language. Journalist, Mary Beth Marklein of USA Today stated that there were eight keys to a significant speech. Included in her advice: ‘inspire us … but lose the clichés; talk about yourself … but make it meaningful to us; make us laugh … but leave the stand-up routines to the pros; practise … but don’t sound practised; make us think … but don’t make us seethe; and do your homework … because details matter’ (Marklein, 2009). TEDx’s fundamental advice is ‘look for ideas, not speakers as the audience will remember the idea and not the speaker’. So, how has this advice been translated into the choice of speakers for Girls Grammar students? Historically, valedictory speakers, and occasionally, Speech Day speakers, are past students of the School. Is this a sound practice? Why select these women in particular? How do they convey their message? Is the message consistent with the School’s Intent? Many old girls have ‘an integral and inseparable connection to the institution’ (Singer and Hughey, 2002) from which they graduated. It is beneficial to the individual and the institution to nurture and celebrate this connection. Speech

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Day speaker, Ann Harrap (BGGS 1984), agreed to present the address in 2013 because she believed ‘my education at BGGS had given me a great foundation for my future career. So I saw that small commitment of time as an ideal way to give something back to the School’ (A. Harrap, personal communication, February 8, 2016). Her continued involvement in the School as a Trustee and within the student leadership program is testament to her connectedness to, and belief in, the School and its intent. Powerful connections to the School are evident in many ways where Grammar women interact with current students in the classroom, assist in the School’s archives, convene special interest groups, act as mentors and return as guest speakers. Kate Watson (BGGS 1986), 2015 Valedictory speaker, believes having past students as speakers accentuates in the Year 12 students’ minds that ‘once a Grammar girl, always a Grammar girl — that you’ll always be part of the Grammar girl family’. She believes that this choice reinforces the sense. of community — ‘something that I believe as women in the workforce we need to do better — mentoring; networking and supporting each other’ (K. Watson, personal communication, February 8, 2016). These beliefs have a profound impact on the current students when delivered by women who have gone before them. The selection process for these speakers is couched in presenting the graduating cohort with women who have, to different degrees, challenged themselves, perhaps taken paths less travelled, faced failure and emerged stronger, maintained a love of adventure and learning, and have a fundamental belief in service and community. It is an attempt to inspire, challenge, and excite current and graduating students.

How are these objectives achieved? By storytelling. ‘Storytelling has always been a powerful form of teaching and continues to be a compelling way to build and communicate theory’ (Fawcett and Fawcett, 2011). Past students bring a unique credibility to School values when they describe their experiences because, like the students seated before them, they, too, have worn the uniform, sat through hot, summer assemblies, walked the hallways of the Main Building and watched the clock on a Friday afternoon in W1.1.

Girls Grammar life lessons for Kate Watson (BGGS 1986) included ‘having a go — throw yourself into everything; following your passion requires resilience and hard work; keep learning; Girls Grammar gives you a voice — use it; and be thankful’. Each lesson was colourfully and engagingly illustrated with personal stories of failure and disappointment, hard work and success, relationships with international athletes, travel, teaching and learning. With her stories, Watson wanted to communicate the highs and lows of her experiences, to show the toil and the gratitude.

In her powerful and riveting valedictory speech of 2013, Melinda Taylor (BGGS 1992) espoused: know yourself; be true to yourself; and be responsible for your own actions. To illustrate this advice, she told the story of her arrest in Libya while defending Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi. The narrative described her eating portions of sensitive documents which exacerbated her predicament and extended her confinement. ‘I learned to appreciate fully the importance of having a support network of friends and family, colleagues and compatriots …’. Taylor concluded by encouraging the Year 12s to take time to help others along the way; to create a network, and she believed that ‘You are, however, equipped with friendship, curiosity, courage, and the knowledge that anything is possible’ (Taylor, 2013).

The School’s Intent speaks of developing young women to contribute confidently to their world with wisdom, imagination and integrity. The common thread throughout the valedictory and Speech Day speakers resonates with hard work, passion, compassion, resilience, caring and curiosity. I believe these speakers have inspired, told wonderful stories, provided humour, got the detail right, and communicated the clear values and virtues of Grammar girls. Do these women capture the intent of our mission statement? A resounding ‘yes’! Have the past students enhanced and enriched the Grammar community? Yes!

Angela Hirst (BGGS 1993) told the passionate story of her circuitous route from architect to a doctorate in food ethics and the birth of an inventive and generous concept of Wandering Cooks, ‘an incubator for food entrepreneurs’ (Hirst, 2014). To the girls, she stated: ‘You’ve been given the incredibly fortunate opportunity to be able to care about people and the world …. Follow your heart and bump into the world all over the place … look for lessons everywhere, especially in people that are different from you. Encounter it all with your heart open wide, and one by one, build your passions into a life you can be proud of’(Hirst, 2014).

In Harrap’s words, ‘It has been a very charmed and adventurous life so far. But many of the pathways I have taken and many of my achievements are attributable to what I learned at Girls Grammar in an environment that supported ambition and nurtured talent and drive’ (Harrap, 2013). ‘… But if things don’t go the way you imagined them now as you sit here, know that with the adaptability and resilience that you have — those characteristics that are so much a part of being a Grammar girl — you are still destined to prevail’ (Harrap, 2013). An organisation’s value and spirit can be conveyed effectively by storytelling. When the story is told by Grammar women, it is even more powerful, meaningful and inspirational.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

IMOGEN PLAYFORD / 8H (ANIMATION DETAIL)

REFERENCES Fawcett, S.E., & Fawcett, A.M. (2011). The ‘living’ case: Structuring storytelling to increase student interest, interaction, and learning. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 9(2), 287–292. Harrap, A. (2013). The Occasional Address, Speech Day 14 November 2013. 2013 Brisbane Girls Grammar School Annual Review, 34–36. Hirst, A. (2014). Valedictory Address, Tuesday 18 November 2014. 2014 Brisbane Girls Grammar School Annual Review, 37–39. Marklein, M. (2009). 8 Keys to a graduation speech with pomp and significance. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-05-12commencement-graduation TED Conferences, LLC. Select your speakers + performers / Speakers + program / TEDx Organiser Guide Organise a local TEDx event. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/ participate/organize-a-local-tedx-event/tedx-organizer-guide/speakers-program/select-your-speakers-performers Singer, T., & Hughey, A. (2002). The role of the alumni association in student life. New Directions for Student Services, 100, 51–67. Taylor, M. (2013). Valedictory Address, Tuesday 12 November 2013. 2013 Brisbane Girls Grammar School Annual Review, 37–39. Watson, K. (2015). Unpublished speech, 19 November. Yuan, M., & Chen, P. (2008). The influence of storytelling toward organisational memory. Journal of Educational Media and Library Services, 45(4), 479-482.

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

When am I ever going to use this? DR PETER JENKINS, DIRECTOR OF MATHEMATICS | 26 FEBRUARY 2016

athematics is undeniably useful. It is rightly referred to as both the queen and servant of the natural sciences, and its discoveries underpin the technological advancement of humanity. As a mathematics teacher, I often experience occasions that allow me to give students an understanding of the usefulness of mathematics in the ‘real world’, and I very much enjoy doing this. But when a student asks the question ‘When am I ever going to use this?’ (perhaps with the word ‘anyway’ appended) you can be pretty sure that no matter how good a response one gives, the student will be largely dissatisfied with it. When students ask this question, they are typically not curious about applications of the mathematics currently being studied; they are frustrated. Mathematics is often hard, and it is perfectly understandable that people question whether it is worthwhile persevering with something hard when they cannot see the benefit. Providing a distant situation or occupation in which the learning could be personally useful is almost never a strong motivator to persevere. Furthermore, a significant quantity of mathematical knowledge learnt at school is rarely ‘used’ by anyone, but is rather prerequisite knowledge for future learning. This then raises the question of why learning higher-level school mathematics is worthwhile for a student who is not interested in pursuing a career in science or technology. I have always believed that the primary goal of mathematics education is to teach students how to think.

Learning mathematics is not so much about acquiring a body of mathematical knowledge, but rather developing a powerful set of cognitive tools that can be used in a wide variety of problems and situations. The actual mathematical content just happens to be the ideal vehicle to deliver such skills. To illustrate, consider one of the most challenging units for students in our Year 10 mathematics programme: Circle Geometry. Circles have an extremely rich mathematical structure; when combined with lines and resulting angles, many patterns emerge, some of which reveal deep truths about this structure, while others may simply be coincidences. This provides a perfect environment for students to practise identifying patterns, developing logically sound arguments that prove the truth or falsehood of a proposition, translating between symbolic and diagrammatic information, and making a creative selection and use of specific tools to solve unfamiliar problems. While the actual knowledge of many of the theorems and basic skills relating to circles may never be used again, the thinking skills developed by doing such mathematics will have future benefits across all fields of study. It is also important for students to realise that, due to the rapid pace of technological change, the knowledge and skills required for various professions in ten years may be very different from those required today. Thus, students with a particular career path in mind may not appreciate how important particular thinking skills developed by doing higher level mathematics may be in their future careers.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Of course, I am not really doing complete justice to my field by reducing it solely to a sort of intellectual gymnasium, where students go to have their brains strengthened. The fact is that mathematics can be intrinsically interesting, irrespective of whether or not it is useful or good for us. Bertrand Russell, the famous English mathematician and philosopher, wrote that Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show (Russell, 1919, p. 60). Most people do not see mathematics in this way. That is why Russell was wise to include the phrase ‘rightly viewed’. Helping students appreciate the aesthetic quality of mathematics is one of the most challenging tasks for the teacher, but it is the best way to foster interest and deep engagement. If a student enjoys and appreciates an abstract piece of mathematics simply because she sees it as interesting, it will not matter if the mathematics has no obvious real-life application or apparent future use to her. Obviously, there is a significant difference between the aesthetic appeal of mathematics, and that of, say, music (which Russell refers to by comparison). The difference is that it almost always requires considerable intellectual effort in order to ‘hear’ the beautiful tones and harmonies of

mathematics. But this effort does not have to be painful. Intense concentration and perseverance is required to play a video game, yet the experience can be extremely satisfying. I think it is important that students understand this. The fact that mathematics is often so challenging and frustrating is part of what makes studying it so intellectually engaging and fulfilling. The key is to embrace the challenge, and further, to understand that the time spent persevering with challenging tasks is always worthwhile. This calls to mind John F. Kennedy’s inspiring comment in 1962 about aiming to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade, not because it is an easy thing to do, but because it is a hard thing to do (Kennedy, 1962). Only by doing hard things do we experience personal growth and make the best of ourselves. So, how should one respond to the question ‘When am I going to use this?’. I am afraid I am yet to develop the perfect response. I think the most important thing for teachers and parents is to continually help students to understand and appreciate the preceding ideas: that developing thinking skills is more important than the content, that so much of mathematics is inherently interesting and fascinating, and that the challenging nature of mathematics is part of what makes it so engaging and fulfilling. Then, if the question does crop up occasionally, a statement of reassurance that their effort is worthwhile will hopefully suffice.

REFERENCES Russell, B. (1919). The study of mathematics. In Mysticism and logic and other essays. London: Longman. Kennedy, J.F. (1962). Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Program. Retrieved from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkriceuniversity.htm

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Never mind the gap – Grammar girls see a clear path with STEM MR SHANE SKILLEN, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL PEDAGOGIES | 4 MARCH 2016

t’s 8:50 am: Year 7 students file eagerly in to their Technologies class. They place laptops on the work benches before donning their aprons and safety glasses. They have already tied up their hair, removed watches and jewellery and in a short time they will be filing, drilling, soldering and testing circuits. Some will be comparing their project with their 3D sketches digitised on their laptops, others will be checking dimensions and making note of particular fit and finishes of the various components. Next door, a group of Year 10 students are designing a ‘user experience’ for their own fictional startup business. They will be contemplating the use of the laser cutter or vacuum former to create prototype designs to showcase in a multimodal presentation that encompasses everything from video, web and print to pitching their ‘business’ through a crowdfunding website or to venture capitalists. These girls are doing what tech-savvy women have always done. The gender gap in technologies is a recent phenomenon, and the opportunity to address and fix it is there for today’s young women to embrace, just as it was for Ada Lovelace. Lovelace was a British mathematician who in 1842 documented the first algorithm intended to be solved by a machine (Wolfram, 2015). A hundred years later, the ENIAC machine (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was recognised as the first general purpose computing device, and the ongoing programming was

entrusted to an all-female programming team comprising four programmers and a trainer. Throughout the early days of computing, right up until the early 1980s, computer science was almost gender neutral with an estimated 40–45 per cent of the workforce being female. This is impressive when the workforce representation of women in the USA was sitting around 30 per cent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000) and in stark contrast to 2013 where it is estimated that women made up a mere 11 per cent of programmers (The Guardian, 2016). There are numerous stories from the early days of technology as we know it such as that of US Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, a computer scientist and mathematician. The Rear Admiral apparently coined the terms ‘bug’ and ‘debug’ after an incident which had confused the team involved in programming Harvard University's Mark II calculator. After inspection Ms Hopper found a moth (read ‘bug’) and promptly removed it (read ‘debug’) allowing the calculator to resume functioning as expected (Computerworld Magazine, 2011). It is little wonder that women gravitated towards these careers given the exemplary role models they could aspire to. This year the Australian Government has announced a significant policy focus on innovation. They are serious about it; it even has its own website: Innovation.gov.au. The policy is broad and endeavors to develop and foster start-up culture,

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

TESS BAKHARIA / 10L (SONG / VIDEO DETAIL)

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

entrepreneurship, business, research, growth and diversity in tertiary institutions, and investor confidence through incentives (Australian Government, 2016). The highlight for us is their focus on young Australians and, in particular, creating real opportunities for women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). On their National Innovation and Science Agenda Website, the Australian Government states that ‘only one in four IT graduates and fewer than one in ten engineering graduates are women’, and that women account for only ‘around one quarter of the STEM workforce overall’ (Australian Government, 2016). The government aims to support teachers through the implementation of the Digital Technologies curriculum; to develop digital literacies and lure STEM professionals, including ICT professionals, into our classrooms. This will be a boon for the youth of Australia. The Technologies Studies faculty at Brisbane Girls Grammar School has embraced this strategy for some time already. The Faculty has integrated professional presentations from industry, role-modelling best current practice relating to ICTs into its curriculum. The Faculty has had a long association with Cutting Edge (a content studio for postproduction VFX) and business communications and partnerships with River City Labs (a co-working community and startup/entrepreneurial hub for technology), Gulimba (an Indigenous creative agency which specialises in a diverse range of digital and design communication projects) and Joseph Mark (an Australian-founded international design company). The Faculty has also played a key role in

implementing design thinking methodologies into curriculum. The introduction of these methodologies into the curriculum evolved from work with the ‘Thinker in Residence’ program in 2014. Staff also presented on the topic of design thinking at key technology conferences in Sydney and Brisbane last year. STEM literacy in our schools is another key policy that offers direct and tangible benefits for young Australians. The result of this will be to place Australia in competitive standing with rival nations. One way it aspires to achieve this is through supporting academic competitions locally, and by helping Australian competitors travel to compete at international academic competitions. Again, Brisbane Girls Grammar School has significant representation and a rich history across a range of academic competitions such as Young ICT Explorers, Science and Engineering Challenge, QAMT Problem Solving Competition, International Young Physicists Tournament, Maths Challenge for Young Australians, Singapore Mathematical Modelling Forum, Australian Mathematics Competition, and the Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad. One exciting development this year is the evolution of eSports — a co-curricular activity previously offered by the Technology Studies Faculty — into two distinct groups with overlapping areas of interest. This year the Technologies Faculty is supporting the newly-established Coders and Product Design Clubs. It is an exciting time and certainly a sign of the changing attitudes to technologies of our young women.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Coders Club will focus specifically on the development of programming (coding) to solve a â€˜problemâ€™. They will also grapple with physical computing and explore the emergent practice around the Internet of Things. The students involved in Product Design Club will be creating using traditional hand tools, technical drawing, specialist workshop machinery, CAD drawing, and technology-driven machines such as a laser cutter and 3D printer. These are wonderful experiences for our girls and excellent ways of building confidence and capability. University programs related to engineering, architecture, product design and physical computing all involve practical elements which can be potentially confronting for those students who have not had prior exposure to that environment. The ability to be capable and confident in these environments at high school ensures a greater chance of gender equity in STEM-based

industries and associated pathways for our girls when they move on to the tertiary level. The diversity of curricular and co-curricular activities in which our students can involve themselves at Brisbane Girls Grammar School will provide them with the tools necessary to support their aspiration to assert themselves confidently in further study in STEM fields. The opportunity to apply practical skills in design technologies, physical computing, science disciplines, mathematics and programming will allow them to navigate a future which is increasingly technological. The next generation of young women will be looking to them to bolster the ranks of women in these industries, reduce the gender gap and mentor them in an atmosphere that is conducive to the development and celebration of the knowledge and skills they are eagerly practising today.

REFERENCES Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor. (2000). Changes in women's labor force participation in the 20th century. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ opub/ted/2000/feb/wk3/art03.htm Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2016). National Innovation and Science Agenda. Retrieved from http://www.innovation.gov.au/ Computerworld staff. (2011). Moth in the machine: Debugging the origins of 'bug'. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/article/2515435/app-development/ moth-in-the-machine--debugging-the-origins-of--bug-.html Wolfram, S. (2015). Untangling the tale of Ada Lovelace. Retrieved from http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2015/12/untangling-the-tale-of-ada-lovelace Wong J.C. (2016). Women considered better coders â€” but only if they hide their gender. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/12/womenconsidered-better-coders-hide-gender-github

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Building resilient, confident and capable young women MRS HAZEL BOLTMAN, HEAD OF GIBSON HOUSE | 11 MARCH 2016

ur recent Parent Seminar, a walk through Student Reception and reading an Insights article earlier this month have prompted a deeper look into some issues that students and parents appear to face on a regular basis. Mrs Alice Dabelstein comments in her article Mornings Matter (2015) that many students in getting ready in the morning forget to pack their lunches. A short trip through Student Reception is testament to this, where caring parents drop off their daughtersâ€™ lunches, as well as computers and a variety of other items. It is these observations, together with a natural parental desire to protect children from hardship that has prompted these musings. In his book Strictly Parenting, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg (2014) explores a variety of parenting styles and has developed some guidelines for parents, to help them in their parenting journey. This article will explore some of the tips he proposes, and investigate how we can help students build resilience. We need to help them to deal constructively with their feelings, provide them with opportunities to learn emotional and situational coping skills, and help them to develop a strong sense of selfconfidence. Looking at the key influencers in the lives of students, there is an overlap of four main areas: their parents, their teachers, their friends and their own selves. Each of these areas contributes to our studentsâ€™ resilience, and in working together we can help them to develop into less stressed and more confident young women.

Most educators aim to provide their students with opportunities to build resilience, both through explicit teaching and implicit learning. In Ethics lessons and Year Level Assemblies, we explicitly educate the girls on resilience, through initiatives such as the Year 7 Resourceful Adolescent Program. For general classroom teachers the learning is implicit in their teaching. They encourage all students to participate fully in their classes, asking them to do tasks in lesson time, as well as asking questions and giving them the opportunity to respond. This can be particularly difficult for some students, but with a respectful class environment, the teacher tries to get them over each hurdle, face their fear and ask or answer questions. Participating in this way, and perhaps getting an answer wrong, will help students to realise that they can participate with confidence even when they are not feeling certain of the outcome. Teachers assess their students in multiple ways, and this too provides an opportunity for growth. Failure, on many levels, can be a growth experience, albeit a painful one. Teachers are mindful of the impact on students of not doing as well as expected, and try to assist their students to learn from their assessment pieces. Most exams come back to the students with feedback or with a reflection sheet. Unfortunately many students look only to the grade, going over the paper with a fine-tooth comb to see if the grade can be improved, instead of reviewing the feedback with a view to steady improvement. The resilience that can be developed in this learning experience is all too often lost.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

As parents, the desire to protect our daughters is strong, and seeing them distressed and out of their comfort zone is something we are not comfortable with. Unfortunately, how we respond to their distress can often have the opposite effect to what we intend. Each phone call home, for a left-behind lunch, sports uniform or computer, can send an unintended message to our daughters. Don’t have lunch? Do we respond by dropping it off at school or do we encourage them to seek a solution — talk to their friends or enlist the aid of their Head of House. We can send them the message that we think they can manage this crisis on their own, or we can rush in to rescue, and inadvertently send the message that they can’t fend for themselves and need us as parents to manage for them. This is an invaluable learning experience. When girls receive their academic grades from their teachers and they are disappointed, the distressed phone call home shifts the distress from daughter to parent, and can cause the parents to become upset, girding their loins and preparing for battle. Such parental involvement can prevent their daughters’ development of self-assurance and confidence. Again, an unintended message can be sent. This smoothing of all obstacles does not stand them in good stead, and certainly does not help build their resilience. While it would be unwise to advocate that parents stand back completely, we do need to let our daughters start to take responsibility for themselves, and manage difficult situations as best they can. We need to provide them with experiences to prepare them for the adult world. As Dr Michael Carr-Gregg claims, ’If you really want your children to succeed then learn when to leave them alone. When you

lighten up, they’ll fly higher’ (Carr-Gregg, 2014, p. 71). We need to support them in building a stronger sense of self, growing in the knowledge that they are confident and capable and young women. The next sphere of influence that students rely on is their peers. Many opportunities for resilience-building come through their daily interactions with friends. Close friendships give the students a sense of belonging and connectedness and these feelings help in resiliencebuilding. However these relationships, as with all relationships, but especially in adolescence, are often difficult to manage. Research shows us that there are many factors that impact on a student’s resilience. Having multiple friendships from a variety of activities is a strong indicator of resilience, and, as such, students involved in a variety of co-curricular pursuits are often more resilient than their peers. Allowing students to manage their friendships and their squabbles is also empowering. Students need their friends there to stand up for them, to let them know when they are going wrong, to guide them, to harangue them and of course, to love them. All of these areas of influence — teachers, parents and friends — go together with the sense of self to build resilience. The ability to bounce back, reflect, examine and grow, as well as to weather difficult situations and not succumb to self-doubt are all signs of the healthy, resilient teenager. As our young women mature and prepare to take on the world with confidence, they should be able to look back at their journeys and know that each of us has made a meaningful difference to their lives.

REFERENCES Carr-Gregg, M. (2014) Strictly parenting. Everything you need to know about raising school-aged kids. Australia: Penguin Group. Dabelstein, A. (2016). Mornings matter. Retrieved from http://www.bggs.qld.edu.au/2016/02/mornings-matter/ Wicks, R. (2009). Friendship and resilience. The types of friends you’ll want. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-resilient-life/200908/friendship-andresilience

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

REBECCA JAK / 10W

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

EMILY HAWKINS / 11W (INSTALLATION DETAIL) 26

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Connecting places … connecting people M R J E F F W H E AT L E Y, H E A D O F G E O G R A P H Y | 1 8 M A R C H 2 0 1 6

‘It is place, permanent position in both the social and topographical sense, that gives us our identity’ (Jackson, 1984).

o many aspects of our contemporary lifestyle are taken for granted. As a society, we are more ‘connected’ to an ever-shrinking world than at any time in history. The rapid adoption of smart phones and other technologies has been astonishing. Where would we be without the navigational ability of these devices to locate a place or track the flight path of an aeroplane to its destination? Imagine not being able to take photos that automatically connect a place to its location or not being able to communicate instantaneously with a family member or friend, no matter where they are in the world, through social media. While the integration of technology in our lives has revolutionised our concept of place and space, how well do we really comprehend the world in which we live? Our screen-mediated access to the world is both a blessing and a curse. While it does truly shrink and link the world, it also presents us with a very flat, two-dimensional and thus somewhat superficial understanding of our local and global environment. It can be argued that, as a society, we desire a more meaningful connection with our fellow global citizens and it is geography that offers the opportunity to explore the multi-faceted dimensions of our world and the extent to which places shape everything or as it is often said,

‘geography is destiny’. This implies that geography entails so much more than the study of maps, the names of rivers and mountains and countries of the world. It is about the diverse range of social, cultural and environmental connections throughout the world. Furthermore, it provokes a sense of curiosity and comprehension of the complexities that occur when we explore interactions between people and places from a spatial viewpoint. Geography studies at Brisbane Girls Grammar School moves students beyond the textbook. The hands-on approach through the integration of field studies at all Year levels enables students to experience place in a tangible way. Year 11 Geography students, for example, have been studying the importance of water and the necessity of monitoring the use of such a scarce yet valuable resource. Recently, they spent two days at the Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre to determine the water quality of Yabba Creek. Standing sometimes knee-deep in water to conduct an array of tests fostered a strong appreciation of what they had learnt at school. During the evening session at camp, the results of the surveys were shared and collated for analysis. The girls also had the opportunity to engage with local landowners who were able to convey their

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

intricate connection with the land by explaining their current farming operations. This provided a practical application of concepts such as water management and sustainability learnt in the classroom to a tangible situation. In addition, students have benefited from the expertise of alumni, parents and tertiary lecturers in fields such as town planning and traffic management, who were able to demonstrate real-life connections to topics being studied throughout their course. Through the exploration of current environmental and social issues such as rising sea levels, increasing population densities in cities and loss of biodiversity, students gain insights into the world about them and the extent to which geography truly does shape destiny. This approach provokes creative and critical thinking about why certain relationships exist and, most importantly, how to devise innovative alternatives that may reduce the problem. It amazes the Geography Department that frequently, while investigating a topic in class, there is a direct link to events that are actually happening in the world. Currently in Year 10, classes are studying the management of coastal environments. While discussing how the action of waves shapes Australiaâ€™s coastline, it was possible for the classes to view live streaming of winds associated with former Cyclone Winston and then predict and record the effects, not only on Fiji, but also on the beaches along the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. These links with current events highlight the relevance of the studentsâ€™ geographical studies and emphasise the connection between places and people. Questions regarding our place in the world will also inherently involve students reassessing their values on a

personal and societal level. Showing a concern for the quality of the environment and demonstrating respect for human life by participating in activities that aim to achieve a sustainable future, accentuates the many connections that occur in our lives. As part of the wider School community, through the service component of the co-curricular programme, Grammar Goes Green, has put this into action. The event has been held over the past three years at the Rangakarra Recreational and Environmental Education Centre and has involved the selection and planting of native vegetation through consultation with the Cubberla Witton Catchment Network. This is an example of how a committed group of students and staff is not only working towards improving the natural environment adjoining the sporting facilities, but is also showing a genuine connection with members of the local community. To promote a mutual respect for human life, a number of the Schoolâ€™s service groups, support organisations such as Save the Children Fund, Care Australia and World Vision, encourage students to reach out and connect with other cultures through participation in a range of activities. Furthermore, the Antipodeans Abroad programme has provided opportunities for our students to actively participate in community projects and foster a connection with other young people from places in South America, Asia and Africa. The destiny of an individual is determined by the various connections made between places and people within the world. It is only when individuals look beyond their own world that they can connect with people and places in the local and global community. This will not only enrich lives but strengthen an appreciation of the wider world in so many ways.

REFERENCE Jackson, J. B. (1984). Discovering the vernacular landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press.

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The magic circle M R E L L I O T M c G A R R Y, T E A C H E R O F H E A L T H A N D P H Y S I C A L E D U C AT I O N | 24 MARCH 2016

ames have been a part of our lives for millennia. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century, stated in Book 1 (Clio) of The Histories that the Lydians were ‘playing with the dice and the knucklebones’, which were made from the actual knuckle bones (talus bone) of sheep, 2 500 years ago. In fact, according to Herodotus, they used dice games as a solution to surviving a famine. In her TED Talk, Gaming can make a better world, Dr Jane McGonigal goes on to further explain that the Lydians set up a kingdom-wide policy: on one day, everybody would eat, and on the next day, everybody would play games. And they would be so immersed in playing the dice games, because games are so engaging, and immerse us in such satisfying, blissful productivity, they would ignore the fact that they had no food to eat. And then on the next day, they would eat; and on the next day, they would play games (McGonigal, 2010). The Lydians survived an eighteen-year famine by playing games.

Adam Penenberg, author of Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking, has stated in an interview with Forbes Magazine that companies such as Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Deloitte, Sun Microsystems, IBM, L’Oreal, Canon, Lexus, FedEx, UPS, Wells Fargo and countless others have embraced games to make workers more satisfied, better trained and focused on their jobs, as well as to improve products and services (Schawbel, 2013). This gamification in business is linked to the way that games are designed and in what can be learnt by playing them. Dr Jason Fox, a global authority on motivation and design, states in his book The Game Changer that all games — whether they are puzzles, sports games, strategy games, role-playing games, simulation games, training games or video games — share the same essential three ingredients: goals, rules and feedback (Fox, 2014). By using these three elements, companies have found ways to motivate, stimulate, and better equip their employees. Goals, rules and feedback correlate with our modern understanding of intrinsic motivation: purpose, mastery and autonomy (Fox, 2014).

Since then, games have been used as more than just a way to save an entire civilisation from starvation. The Romans used gladiatorial games to honour the dead, the ancient Indians used Gyan Chauper (now known as Snakes and Ladders) to teach players about the levels of spiritual enlightenment, the Vikings used tafl games (board games) as a source of entertainment and the ancient Greeks used games to bring communities together, an idea that was taken by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to create the modern Olympic Games. And like de Coubertin, we are taking the idea behind these games and bringing them into the modern world.

Games can motivate us by being challenging; they also have a way of holding our attention for a long time. As a child, I would play Tetris on my Nintendo Gameboy® continuously for hours. Nothing captured my attention in the way that these different-shaped bricks did as they dropped from the top of the screen. The challenge is that, as the game progresses, you must get faster and faster at deciding how to align the bricks so that they disappear before they stack up and hit the top of the screen (Fox, 2014). It’s a very simpleby-design game, yet it provided enough of a challenge for me to play it continuously, stuck in my own little world.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

When we play games, the outside, or ‘real’ world often disappears, and this allows us to concentrate intently for extended periods of time. We are completely engaged in the game. In gaming parlance, this mind-space players go to is known as the Magic Circle. Often used in reference to video games, this concept can be applied to all types of games. The concept of the Magic Circle was first outlined in the book Homo Ludens by Dutch historian John Huizinga (1949) and used as a metaphor by Salen and Zimmermann (2004) for understanding the space where game-play takes place. It is a temporary place and time where the players of games establish, negotiate and maintain rules specific to that particular time, place and game — rules that do not necessarily apply outside of the Circle. This can make players feel separated from the outside world even though they are not. This level of engagement based on challenge, simulation and reward also creates a space of intense learning. Games can make you smarter. In Health and Physical Education we often create Magic Circles by coupling cognitive skills and movement patterns in games. Intense concentration within well-designed games allows students to develop cognitive skills such as problem solving, decision making, creativity, perception, visual and spatial processing, sequencing and anticipation. When we create Magic Circles

in class we allow students to feel safe and to take risks, as their engagement in the game creates the feeling of separation from the ‘real world’. They also create a space of incidental non-cognitive learning such as patience, discipline, resilience, teamwork and social interaction. Games are important to learning and we should all continue to play them. Whether card or board games on holidays, challenging goal-based games at work, sport before and after school, specific skill games in class, or games at lunch that are created by the imagination of the players, there are always opportunities to create Magic Circles. At Brisbane Girls Grammar School the opportunity to play games and learn is always present. The Student Care team at the School, working with the Year 12 prefects and the Health and Physical Education Faculty, have over the past year created the Come and Play initiative where students, particularly those in Year 7, are encouraged to access the Sports Centre and its equipment to play games at lunch. 2 500 years ago, the Lydians saved their culture and civilization by playing games. Today we are creating culture and enhancing our civilization by doing the same. When we play a well-designed game, we enter a Magic Circle that challenges, stimulates and rewards us with new knowledge and skills. When we play games we learn.

REFERENCES Fox, J. (2014). The game changer. Milton: John Wiley & Sons Australia. Huizinga, J. (1949) Homo ludens: A study of the play-element in culture. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. McGonigal, J. (2010). Gaming can make a better world [TED talk]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_ world?language=en Salen, K. & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. London: MIT Press. Schawbel, D. (2013). Adam Penenberg: How gamification is going to change the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2013/10/07/ adam-penenberg-how-gamification-is-going-to-change-the-workplace/#7274fbd439e5

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Paying attention and the power of distraction MRS ALISON CARMICHAEL, HEAD OF ACADEMIC SUPPORT | 15 APRIL 2016

t no time in the past have we had to cope with as many distractions to our work as we do today. Paying attention has never been as difficult as it is now. New skills and abilities are needed to cope with the plethora of distractions that life in 2016 entails. A generation ago, school students did not have to cope with technological distractions, web-based distractions and all of the social entanglement that arises from these innovations. A generation ago an instruction to ‘pay attention’ meant to stop day-dreaming or looking out of the window. These days it means to control or shut out the electronic input that buzzes around each person for most of their waking time. When was the last time you went to work or school without your mobile phone?

stages from perception to understanding, memory and action. When you do not attend, you are blind, deaf, forgetful and clumsy. Her research has shown that the impact of not paying attention and being distracted can be costly. She maintains that in an 8-hour working day 2.1 hours will be lost to distraction. Employees spend 11 minutes on a project before becoming distracted. Twenty per cent of all car accidents are caused by mobile phone distraction, but having children in a car can cause 12 times that distraction. In 21 per cent of trips, parents have their eyes on their children and not on the road for 3 minutes and 22 seconds out of every 60 minutes. Lavie provides frightening and thought-provoking statistics as to why we need to look after our ‘gift’.

William James’s 1890 definition of attention holds true still, well over a hundred years later. He stated that ‘it implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, and scatterbrained state …’ (James as cited in Johnson, 2011). I think that it is safe to say that in James’s day people had fewer distractions to deal with; however I think the gem contained within his definition is in learning to deal effectively with distractions so that we do not become too ‘confused, dazed or scatterbrained’. This has never been more necessary than in the classrooms and the workplaces of today.

When it comes to interruptions at work, some surprising research conducted by Gloria Mark, Daniela Gudith and Ulrich Klocke (2008) has shown that people who were interrupted, completed their tasks in less time and with no difference in quality. Apparently people are able to compensate for interruptions by working faster. However, this comes at the significant cost of experiencing more stress, having to put in a greater effort, escalating to a higher level of frustration, and sustaining the feeling of timepressure. This cost differs among people depending on their openness to experience and their need for personal structure. A suggestion from the workplace to combat this stress is for the customisation of systems to fit people’s preferred interruption tolerance. This may be possible in some workplaces, but is difficult to imagine in schools.

Professor Nilli Lavie (2015) has researched extensively into the concept of attention, and refers to it as a ‘gift’. She says that focused attention affects all information-processing

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Despite individual differences, attention is regarded as a mental muscle and, like many other muscles, it can be strengthened through the right kind of exercise. ‘Cognitive control’ is the term for maintaining attention when one wants to, and for keeping the attention there when distractions become tempting. The common name for this ability is ‘will power’. Mischel’s famous ‘marshmallow test’ that tracked over a thousand children longitudinally is compelling research about the benefits of will power (Goleman, 2003). This research involved children being given the choice between having one marshmallow right away and getting two by waiting fifteen minutes. The one third of the children who managed to hold out for the entire fifteen minutes were, in their thirties, deemed to be significantly healthier, more financially successful and more law abiding than those who had succumbed to the temptation through their lack of cognitive control. According to Mischel (Mischel as cited in Goleman, 2003) there are three types of cognitive control: the ability to voluntarily disengage focus from a distracting influence; the ability to resist distraction and not gravitate back to it; and the ability to concentrate on the future goal and imagine the benefits of achieving it. This focus or control can be developed and strengthened through a willingness to exercise the attention circuits of our brain, just as we exercise our analytic skills and other systems of the body. In her book Rapt attention and the focused life, Winifred Gallagher talks about ‘top down’ attention as when you choose what to take notice of — you are in control, setting the terms of engagement. ‘Bottom up’ attention is when something or someone else is dictating to you (for example, emails, texts, phone calls and other extraneous stimuli). To not become a victim, one must learn how to gainfully use one’s ‘top down’ attention and how to suppress the ‘bottom up’ stimuli. Mark et al (2008) maintain that forty-four per cent of interruptions are self-inflicted; this is the ‘bottom up’ stimuli dominating. Under the guise of believing that we are multitasking, we are actually switching attention back and forth and self-interrupting. With each switch, the brain has to adjust to where it left off, which slows down overall performance. Placing boundaries assists the maintenance of cognitive control which allows us to pay attention in an increasingly distracted world.

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Interruption-management strategies that have been recommended in the workplace include restricting email reading to certain hours of the working day, blocking out uninterrupted time in the day to think, not checking messages during meetings, using ‘no reply necessary’ in the subject line of emails, turning off social media, meditating and practicing mindfulness. Happy home environments would no doubt benefit from adapting many of these strategies as well. The list could look like this: restricting work emails from interrupting time at home, not checking social media and messages during family mealtimes, learning and practising meditation and mindfulness as individuals and as a family. Schools have the unenviable task of supporting the home in teaching children how to manage twenty-first century digital distractions, how to pay attention, develop cognitive control, deal with the stress involved in managing the onslaught from ‘bottom up’ demands and developing good habits of ‘top down’ control. This, added to the ever-expanding curriculum, is no easy task. Of course rules are applied — students are prohibited from using social media in class; certain social media sites are unavailable on the school network; protections are put in place. There is, however, still the pressure of interruption, whether allowed or illicit, that students need to learn how to deal with. This may be in the form of mobile messages, alerts and notifications, the very fact of having multiple screens open on the laptop and the constant intrusion of iMessages. Increasingly, schools must provide avenues to decrease stress and anxiety. Activities such as meditation, yoga, mindfulness, colouring-in, and knitting can be provided as voluntary, out-of-class activities in the hope of creating a more balanced environment. If we are to combat a ‘confused, dazed and scatterbrained’ state then such activities seem a necessary antidote to the distractions which have become an integral part of life at home, at work and at school. Learning cognitive control (going easy on the marshmallows) and dealing effectively with inevitable distractions are vital skills in today’s world that will allow us to use our ‘gift’ of attention in the best way possible.

ANGELA CHANG / 12E (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Gallagher, W. (2009). Rapt attention and the focused life. New York, USA: Penguin Group. Goleman, D. (2013). The focused leader. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/12/the-focused-leader Johnson, N. (2011). Attention in psychology. Retrieved from http://www.homeobook.com/attention-in-psychology/ Lavie, N. (2015). The gift of attention. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/the-gift-of-attention/5766756 Mark, G., Gudith, D. and Ulrich K. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: More speed and stress. Retrieved from https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf

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Hearts, minds and hands: encouraging entrepreneurial mindsets 1

DR BRUCE ADDISON, DEAN OF CURRICULUM AND SCHOLARSHIP | 22 APRIL 2016

e live in a world of change. The velocity of this change is both awe-inspiring and disruptive. Givens are swept away with unrelenting frequency. Uncertainty continues to fill the void while the twenty-first century’s fetish for immediacy grows unabated. The normalcy of twenty-four hour connectivity has altered our concept of what is important. The shadow of this is ‘information’s’ unrelenting banality. Information bombards us, consuming much, creating little while distorting reality often without rationale or forethought. All of this occurs in tandem with technological ingenuity’s ever-growing reach. Wondrous possibility is awesome, providing potential emancipation from yesterday’s impossibilities. The cost is that our social systems continue to be shaken to the core. As with all apparent binaries, they are nuanced, layered and far from simple. And-or thinking will not serve this era well. Binaries represent flawed thinking resulting in flawed outcomes. Our new frontier requires nothing short of and-and thinking and the ability to wrestle with paradox dynamically and comfortably (Malcolm, 2014). All of this presents those who work with young people with a myriad of challenges. What can we do as educators to ensure that our young people are imbued with the requisite ‘possibility thinking’ (Craft, 2005) to traverse this

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environment? Creating and seizing opportunity must by necessity become important mindsets for those wishing to succeed in a world characterised by such unrelenting fluidity. The verities of yesteryear are no longer. Work will continue to be ‘hollowed out’ and will continue to be fragmented (CEDA, 2015). The constancy of work as a conduit for a meaningful life will no longer remain a given. Creating opportunity amidst this fluidity and uncertainty will become a crucial mindset. Those who have a knowledge of introductory economics will be aware of the four factors of production. They are: land, labour, capital and enterprise. So often, enterprise is a presumed factor underlying the workings of modified market economies. The reality is that twenty-first century living, will, by its very nature, create a prominent role for enterprise and entrepreneurial thinking. At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, this is reflected in our new Strategic Plan. Under the pillar of Systematic Curiosity in Teaching, Learning and Research lies the strategy: nurturing and celebrating creativity, entrepreneurial thinking with a sense of possibility, wonder and awe. Its genesis lay in the belief that our students must be imbued with a way of thinking enabling them to recognise and seize opportunity with poise, confidence and determination.

Former Wallaby, John Eales, when writing about entrepreneurial thinking, notes the lesser known verse of Advance Australia Fair, calls for Australians to toil with their ‘hearts and hands’. For true innovation of self, and if we are to reap the benefits, business and individuals alike must engage their minds, as well as their hearts and hands, for us all to innovate towards a better future (Eales, 2016). How are we conceptualising the creation of such an entrepreneurial mindset? Organisational theorist, Peter Drucker (1985, p. 143), when thinking about entrepreneurship notes that ‘most of what you hear about entrepreneurship is all wrong. It’s not magic. It’s not mysterious; and it has nothing to do with genes. It’s a discipline and, like any discipline it can be learned’. While traditional curriculum models associated with business studies type approaches remain important, our approach has been to commence discussions aimed at distilling what we consider to be entrepreneurship’s fundamental essence. Our ultimate goal is to inculcate this thinking progressively and seamlessly across the curriculum. Such an approach is a continuation of the mindset of optimism underscoring so much of our educational practice.

Professor David Rae (2012), leader, innovator and researcher in entrepreneurial learning, has identified seven basic skills underscoring an entrepreneurial mindset. They are: Personality and social identity; Ambition, motivation and goals; Personal confidence and resilience; Self-discipline and personal organisation; Go beyond perceived limitations to achieve results; Tolerance of uncertainty, risk and failure; Personal value: ethical, social and environmental awareness. These skills are not mysterious. They can be pivoted and re-tooled to reinforce an entrepreneurial mindset across the curriculum. Encouraging our young people to use their hearts, minds and hands to assess a problem and design an outcome is very achievable. Our role as educators is to continue to celebrate and reinforce such an approach. Young people can become skilled in seizing and creating opportunity. They can learn the importance of taking calculated risks, exploring and-and thinking while wrestling creatively with paradox. This is how we intend to encourage our young people to engage in entrepreneurial thinking with a sense of wonder, possibility and awe.

FOOTNOTE 1

This article was written earlier this year for the current edition of In Alliance, the magazine of the Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia.

REFERENCES Committee for Economic Development of Australia. (2015). Australia’s Future Workforce? (Report) Craft, A. (2005). Creativity in schools: Tensions and dilemmas. Abington: Routledge. Drucker, P. (1985). Innovation and entrepreneurship: Practice and principles. New York: Harper & Row. Eales, J. (2016). Change starts with you. The Deal: Reinventing Business, p. 25. Malcolm, M.J. (2014). Resilient leadership amidst complexity. Paper presented at Australia New Zealand Third Sector Research Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand. Rae, D. (2012). Enterprise and entrepreneurship education: The new curriculum guidelines Ireland and the UK. ISBE Conference, Dublin, Ireland.

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Anzac Day Address LIEUTENANT KATE CLARKSON (2000), TROOP LEADER – A SQUADRON IN THE 2ND/14TH LIGHT HORSE REGIMENT (QUEENSLAND MOUNTED INFANTRY) | 29 APRIL 2016

9 August 1915

Found 150 patients lying on the ground — no equipment whatever … had no water to drink or wash.

10 August 1915

Still no water … convoy arrived at night and used up all our private things, soap etc., tore up clothes for bandages.

11 August 1915

Convoy arrived — about 400 — no equipment whatever … Just laid the men on the ground and gave them a drink. Very many badly shattered, nearly all stretcher cases … Tents were erected over them as quickly as possible … All we can do is feed them and dress their wounds … A good many died … It is just too awful — one could never describe the scenes — could only wish all I knew to be killed outright (Wilson, 1915).

he preceding diary extracts were taken from the Gallipoli diaries of Brisbane Girls Grammar Old Girl, Matron Grace Wilson (1897). Her contribution as part of the Australian Nursing Corps in WWI was made in the face of harsh conditions, landing as Matron in Charge on the casualty extraction island of Lemnos just hours after the major August offensive on the Gallipoli peninsula. Conditions were challenging, with extreme temperatures, basic facilities and limited access to equipment forcing them to show immense resilience and initiative. Many went as far as ripping up their uniforms and undergarments to create bandages to dress the wounds of the soldiers, at times having to go months without bathing and surviving

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on sparse rations. Among all this, Grace Wilson stood out as a leader and as champion for the rights of both her beloved nurses and the men she cared for. She made calm out of chaos; she knew what to fight for and what to ask for and she knew it was going to be an ongoing battle to get what her nurses needed. Grace Wilson, through her selfless action and exceptional leadership, helped to define what now epitomises the Anzac spirit. I am an Australian soldier and a proud bearer of that Anzac tradition, as is each of you within this room today. The Anzac spirit was forged as a nation and young and old, serving or civilian, must embody it and continue the tradition.

GEORGIA HOLLAND / 12H (DETAIL) INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Courage, mateship, resilience and honour are traits that we so often associate with the Anzac spirit. However, the truth is that while that spirit was forged as a nation 101 years ago on the beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula, as individuals you are developing and harnessing those traits right now. I am a proud old girl, thankful for the opportunities and lessons learnt within these walls, just as I’m sure Grace Wilson would have been all those years ago. You should be proud to call yourselves Grammar girls because the opportunities presented to you right now are shaping you to become extraordinary women. I didn’t realise this until long after I’d left those front gates for the last time, but reflected on it often going through my initial training in the military. I was able to accomplish things I hadn’t thought possible and was thankful for the foundations shaped by my time here at Grammar.

COURAGE As humans, we fear greatly what we cannot control or do not know, and having courage is the strength to face this unknown, sometimes against great odds. The men who first stormed the beaches on 25 April 1915 knew little of what they were going into. Most had never fired a rifle, except for a few times in training; fewer still had any concept of the devastation that an artillery shell could cause. Despite this, every man stormed that beach with immense courage. Many fell where they stood in the first few waves, but those who made the safety of initial cover of grass hummocks at the bottom of the cliffs now faced a new unknown. The battle plan had failed; what was to be a simple landing and capture of some lightly defended slopes, turned into a battle against some of the best defences ever seen in war from a starting position of almost certain defeat at the bottom of steep ravines and cliff faces. Disconnected from their companies, scared and injured, the men mounted the courage to face the unknown time and time again as they scaled the cliffs, even forcing the Turkish forces to retreat for a short time before finally establishing a tenuous foothold on the cliffs of the Gallipoli peninsula. There, the Gallipoli campaign began. Those men showed amazing courage, as have all the men and women who have served Australia in conflict since then. However, courage is not just reserved for those who face

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conflict. As I said earlier, each of us in this room today is charged with carrying on the Anzac spirit. Many times you will be asked to show courage for your actions while here at Grammar. It may be during a sporting final when months of hard work lead to that one culminating race or game where you do not know the outcome, when you do not know if you will win or lose but still have the courage to face that unknown and give your best for a desired result. Or it on your first day here at Grammar, walking through those gates for the first time, perhaps not knowing anyone, scared of whether or not you will fit in, but still having the courage to take that first step and start your journey as a Grammar girl. Seniors, you will need courage to face one of the greatest unknowns in your life to date when, in a few short months, you will walk through those gates for the last time into a world you have never experienced, one without routine or the security of knowing you will see your mates tomorrow at school. But have courage, because you are a Grammar girl; have faith in what you have learnt within these walls, from the mentoring you have received from some amazing scholars before you, and know that wherever the unknown may take you, you will always have your peers to call as mates.

MATESHIP This trait personifies the legend of the Anzac around the world. Throughout all the major conflicts in which Australia has served, mateship has been the binding trait every soldier reflects on as the reason they fought and what brought them home. Last year, I was fortunate to spend three months training in Thailand and Malaysia with their armed forces as part of a deployment rotation to Rifle Company Butterworth. While working with the Thai army, we spent some time visiting Hellfire Pass in Northern Thailand. Hellfire Pass is a hauntingly contrasting place in Australian war history, etched with stories of terrible hardship and loss of life united with unimaginable tales of mateship forged between men in order to survive in the face of insurmountable odds. Part of the Thai–Burma Railway, Hellfire Pass and the remainder of the 415-kilometre railway were one of the most arduous undertakings of any prisoner of war camp during WWII. Nearly 13 000 Australians worked as prisoners on the

railway with over 2 500 losing their lives either at the hands of the guards or to the desperate conditions they faced. Many more would have died were it not for the mateship shared by the men and women forced to build this railway. Countless stories exist of men giving up their meagre rations to feed a mate who was ill with dysentery, helping cover a mate from a brutal beating of the Japanese guard or carrying a load for a mate when he was too weak to carry it. For the survivors of the Thai–Burma railway, mateship was the binding trait that got them through and, although their numbers dwindle each year, those that can, still make the passage to Thailand most years on Anzac Day to spend the day remembering those mates no longer with them and to share time with those still alive. Mateship is formed from shared experience. With your classmates you share that common bond — common experience, and are forging mateship with friends that you will know and care about for many years to come. Every five years, you will come together and find yourself within a matter of minutes talking as if you were still sitting around the table at lunchtime, except now you are joking about the joys of motherhood and the demands of work instead of the upcoming formals or how much you really think Maths C is a waste of time. It will not matter how long since you last saw them or if they were part of your group, you are all Grammar girls and that is a unique mateship, one which you should cherish. Regardless of distance or time apart, that mateship will endure, and when you have hardship in your life, you will come to rely on that mateship to help you through.

RESILIENCE AND HONOUR From Australia’s first involvement as a nation in armed conflict during the Boer War through to the modern conflicts of East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, Australian soldiers are characterised as some of the most resilient and

honourable. Despite challenging conditions, desperate odds and terrible hardship, Australian servicemen and women have persevered time and again. When there is seemingly not a way, they will find one. Their ingenuity is applauded and their ability to see humour in the darkest of situations is the backbone of their resilience. At the core of it, Australian soldiers are some of the proudest men and women you will meet and demonstrate immense physical, mental and moral resilience in order to get the job done. They give their best in times of war because they have the honour of carrying the Anzac tradition and they fiercely defend it. As Grammar girls you demonstrate your own honour and resilience every day. Many of you in this room may have fought or be still fighting hardship in your life. But you are resilient in your resolve to overcome it. You demonstrate honour every time you put on the uniform as you honour every other Grammar girl who has gone before you. Honour is wanting to do your best because you are proud of who you are and what you stand for. By representing yourselves and this school every day as you do, you demonstrate honour. Strive to be the best you can be; be determined to put the extra effort in for an exam or a training session because that is the honourable thing to do. You don’t have to take up arms to demonstrate honour, you just have to be proud of who you are and represent it as well as you can. Courage, mateship, resilience and honour are all traits of the Anzac spirit and tradition for which you are developing the foundations right now as you make your way as a Grammar girl. I am proud to be an Australian soldier and a Grammar Old Girl, as I’m sure Matron Grace Wilson and the other Grammar girls who have gone into service before me. I’m proud and honoured to have learnt the lessons and had the experiences I did while I was here. I implore you to take heart from who you are and know that you have the potential to become an extraordinary young woman.

REFERENCES Wilson, G. (1915). In Bassett, J. (2012). Guns and brooches: Australian Army nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War (p.46). Oxford, UK: OUP.

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ANNABELLE TREACY / 8R (DETAIL) 40

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Thinking globally about sport – at Girls Grammar and beyond M S S A L LY N O R T H C RO F T, D I R E C TO R O F S P O R T | 6 M AY 2 0 1 6

n March 2015, I accepted the position of Head Coach of Women’s Field Hockey at my alma mater, Ball State University in the United States of America. Brisbane Girls Grammar School Principal Ms Jacinda Euler was generous to allow me to take leave to pursue this opportunity. Head Coaching positions in Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) universities are prestigious, demanding and complex. The job requires expertise in many areas other than the Xs and Os of the game; it is akin to the role of a CEO of a small organisation. In addition, much like teaching, the Head Coach is qualified in one particular area. However the demands require the leader to have skills in myriad domains. As the Head Coach, my responsibility was to lead the field hockey program in all aspects. First, to coordinate the budget within the Athletics (sport) department; which required liaising with marketing and fundraising departments in order to ensure the delivery of first class facilities for the athletes. Second, to hire the staff who assist with bringing the skills and philosophy of the programme to life. In addition, the very public role of networking within the sport and representing it in the wider community (including alumnae), is a demanding and high-pressure responsibility. Finally: the student-athletes. The job of recruiting field hockey players to commit to a university is a huge undertaking. Most NCAA field hockey teams will have between 16 and 24 student athletes on their roster. The recruiting process itself is one of the most

legislated areas under the NCAA and coaches have to adhere to these rules in order to protect the wellbeing of the high-school aged athletes who are pursuing a position on a university team. Once the players have committed to your programme and arrive on campus, the Head Coach and her staff can go about doing the job described in their title: coach! A great coach, like a great teacher, can combine years of experience to teach and coach athletes to become better performers as athletes, academics and future contributors to society. The opportunity to coach in this capacity was a great thrill and honour for me. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on the way in which teaching is such a fundamental part of the role of a coach. There is still a great deal that needs to be changed in the area of equity for women coaches, particularly at the elite level. The goal posts are unclear and continue to move, and greater expectations are being placed on female coaches in these roles in the USA (LaVoi, 2016). What has changed, however, is the outstanding (perhaps once-in-a-lifetime?) opportunity for girls to pursue an education and compete in their sport while at university. My greatest pleasure was to educate the young women on my team and develop their confidence and their curiosity through their commitment to the challenges of Division I competition and academia. Their success can be measured not only in the wins (and losses), but in the graduation rates, the employment opportunities and the confidence to, as is so astutely delivered at Girls Grammar: ‘… contribute to their world with wisdom, integrity and imagination’ (Brisbane Girls Grammar School, 2016, p. 4).

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The incentive to continue playing sport at a highly competitive level once girls leave high school is one of the reasons that more girls are playing sport in high school in the USA. The reason university scholarships and sport programs exist is largely credited to a law passed by Congress in the United States of America called Title IX1. In 1972, fewer than 32 000 women in the United States competed in intercollegiate athletics (National Women’s Law Center, 2015). Women received only two per cent of schools’ athletics budgets, and athletic (sport) scholarships for women were non-existent. The number of college women participating in competitive athletics is now over six times the pre-Title IX rate. In 2013–2014, a record number of 207 814 women competed, representing forty-three per cent of college athletes, nationwide. A similar change occurred in high schools across the country (Staurowsky et al., 2015). Mostly, the law provided girls with opportunities that overcame the reasons they stopped playing sport in high school, and required both high schools and universities to offer women’s sporting opportunities on a level equal to that of the men’s teams. Even though this law has its limitations, it has played a role in continuing to increase girls’ participation in both high school and collegiate sport. No such law exists in Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has collected data on the participation by young people in organised sport for more than twenty years. One continuing message has been the decline in participation rates of females as they enter adolescence (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). What is also clear is the widening gap between male and female participation in the fifteen to seventeen-year age group (eighty-five per cent and seventy per cent respectively). Organisations such as Women in Sport (UK) and Womensport Foundation (USA) have both released reports which highlight that girls’ participation in organised sport

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has decreased and that it declines at a greater rate than that for boys during adolescence (Staurowsky et al., 2015). Each of these organisations has identified that there is a variety of physical, social and emotional barriers that negatively impact girls and their involvement in sport. These same organisations have launched campaigns to try to change this trend, and in February this year, the Australian Government launched the ’Girls, Make Your Move’ campaign, designed to encourage girls to be more active and engage in sixty minutes of moderate to intense physical activity every day. Given the recent record-breaking success of the Australian women’s sport in cricket, netball, surfing and football, it is surprising that so many girls are dropping out of organised sport. It is reasonable to think that this success would encourage girls into sport. However, this does not seem to be the case; it appears that the women’s teams are successful despite the decreasing numbers of girls playing organised sport. Imagine if more girls heard/read/saw these successes in the media to the same degree that we see the reports on men’s sport! Unfortunately, the media still covers so little of women’s sport in the traditional formats. For example, less than eight per cent of women’s sport is covered in all televised sports news; print media lags further behind with less than five per cent of sports coverage dedicated to women’s sport; and only two per cent of the sport news on radio is about women’s sport (Australian Government, Sports Commission, 2014). Girls need to know what is possible and be inspired to dream about what they can achieve. If they don’t see the women who are making history in many mainstream and alternative sports, it is no surprise that there is a decline in the participation of girls. Add to this dilemma the fact that many girls who play sport for a club are often faced with having access only to poorer quality equipment,

resources or facilities because the club does not have the financial resources to update change rooms or purchase more equipment in order to accommodate the additional female club members (Richards, 2016). This discrepancy between boys’ and girls’ sporting resources has been shown to quickly turn girls off wanting to participate in their sport of choice (Australian Government, Department of Health, 2016). Finally, there is an obvious absence of women in senior leadership positions in sporting associations or committees, reflected in the Sydney Scoreboard index. This is a global index that documents the number of women in leadership positions on national sporting organisations and international federations. The minimal increases seen to date mean greater interventions are required to improve equity for girls who want to be involved in organised sport both as participants and as leaders. Girls Grammar has participation rates in stark contrast to the national average. More than seventy per cent of the student population participates in organised sport each year. The School is a founding member of one the oldest schoolgirl sporting associations in Queensland (Queensland Girls Secondary Schools Sporting Association) and its participation in competitions such as the Brisbane Schoolgirls Rowing Association, Brisbane Water Polo Inc. and the Queensland Fencing Association means the School can deliberately offer a wide variety of sports (eighteen) to choose from. More than 1 100 girls play sport for Girls Grammar throughout the year, with the School committed to continue increasing sporting opportunities. Girls have access to coaches, facilities and equipment of the highest quality, and access to Olympic-quality resources such as a Tartan track for athletics and a fifty-metre swimming pool are of utmost importance — as are the exceptional quality and experience of senior coaches. Transport is provided to overcome the inner-city limitations of our School and the

lives of busy families. The School’s newly acquired Rangakarra Recreational and Environmental Education Centre now has facilities that rival the best school sports ovals in the country. Grammar girls develop their academic and sporting potential simultaneously; the two are not mutually exclusive. This is the reason many girls from the School are now attractive recruits to the sporting colleges in the United States of America. Collegiate coaches are looking for athletes who are exceptional scholars and outstanding performers. Old Girls and rowers, Josephine Theile and Hannah Norris (2014), now compete for Harvard University and San Diego State University respectively. Rebecca Gardener (2014) competes on the cross country team for Clemson University, and three-time Brisbane Girls Grammar School Sports Brooch recipient, Christie Molloy (2012), is a multi-event track and field student-athlete on the Boston University track and field team. Sarah Tisdall (2015) has been offered a place on the Harvard rowing team, Isabella Franks (2015) will attend Marquette University for tennis, and Isobel Kelly (2015) joins the University of New Hampshire cross country team. Sarah, Isabella and Isobel will begin their studies in August 2016. It is no surprise that our Old Girls are seeking and receiving sporting opportunities similar to those they experienced at Girls Grammar. They pursue excellence and deliver on their performances. Not only are they well prepared to take up these opportunities, the universities they attend are benefitting from the high calibre student athletes that Girls Grammar produces. Perhaps these young women will be the generation to implement the changes so badly needed in the Australian sporting climate — changes that encourage and support girls by way of equal media coverage, access to facilities and resources, and an opportunity to play sport competitively in order to benefit as richly as their male counterparts and on an equal footing.

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FOOTNOTE 1

Title IX states that: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

REFERENCES Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012). 4177.0 — Participation in sport and physical recreation, Australia, 2011–2012. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/ abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/99571A92FB40E116CA257DEF001142E7?opendocument Australian Government, Department of Health. (2016). 2016 physical activity and sport participation campaign [Report]. Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ girlsmove/publishing.nsf/Content/940079ADC8FEB9D5CA257F660021CACD/$File/Insights%20Report.pdf Australian Government, Australian Sports Commission. (2014, April). Women in Sport Broadcasting Analysis [Report]. Brisbane Girls Grammar School. (2016). Strategic Design 2016–2019. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/brisbanegirlsgrammar/docs/432_bggs_strategic_design_ book_s/5?e=7488097/32842673 Fink, J. (2015). Female athletes, women's sport, and the sport media commercial complex: Have we really ‘come a long way, baby’?. Sport Management Review, 18(3). LaVoi, N. M. (2016). Minneapolis, MN: The Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. National Women’s Law Center. (2015). The battle for gender equity in athletics in colleges and universities. [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/ pdfs/battle_for_gender_equity_in_college_athletics_updated_2014.pdf Richards, R. (2016). Women’s Sport (Australian Womensport and Recreation Association report for the Australian Sports Commission). Retrieved from https://www. clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/knowledge_base/organised_sport/sport_and_government_policy_objectives/womens_sport#content Staurowsky, E. J., DeSousa, M. J., Miller, K. E., Sabo, D., Shakib, S., Theberge, N., Veliz, P., Weaver, A., & Williams, N. (2015). Her life depends on it III: Sport, physical activity, and the health and well-being of American girls and women. East Meadow, NY: Women’s Sports Foundation. Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (2012). Changing the Game for Girls — Policy Report. Retrieved from https://www.womeninsport.org/resources/changing-the-gamefor-girls-policy-report/

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PA R I S W U / 1 1 O ( D E TA I L ) INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award — celebrating sixty years M R JA M E S M c I N TO S H , D I R E C TO R M A R R A PAT TA M E M O R I A L O U T D O O R E D U C AT I O N | 13 MAY 2016

his year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award (The Award) which serves to promote the development of youth. Since 1956, The Award has developed and grown internationally and now operates in 144 countries, with over eight million participants having completed The Award (Hirt, 2015). Complimentary to its primary focus on youth, The Award also encourages adults to engage with the young people in their communities. Over 170 000 volunteers are actively contributing to this important mentoring and community-building enterprise! Brisbane Girls Grammar School became an Award Operator during the mid-1970s and has continued to provide this avenue for students to develop their personal abilities and character. While The Award is well recognised, in part, for its association with HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, the origin and formation of this important youth programme is less understood. Given it remains as relevant and engaging today (Clarke MacMahon & O’Reilly, 2015; Hanford, 2015; Hirt, 2015) as when it was conceived in post-World War II Europe, probing its origins and remarkable ability to accommodate the diverse needs of youth will undoubtedly yield some useful

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insights. What are the foundations of its success? How does the programme contribute to the education of the young women in our care? The Award had its origin in the deep thinking of Kurt Hahn whose political experiences, coupled with life circumstance and passion for education had many enduring outcomes. ‘I regard it as the foremost task of education to ensure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial, and above all, compassion’ (Hahn, n.d.). Hahn’s legacy continues today in numerous organisations and networks which bear his passion and commitment including schools Salem and Gordonstoun, Outward Bound International (1941), Atlantic College (1962) and the United World Colleges (1966), the International Round Square Schools (1967) and the International Baccalaureate (1968). These organisations share the common thread of convincing participating adolescents that ‘they are needed’ and second, that they ‘are able to achieve more than others think’ and that they themselves believe (Knoll, 2001). It was Hahn’s ability to synthesise the ideas of other educators into a coherent concept which is perhaps his greatest accomplishment.

It was at Gordonstoun in Morayshire where Hahn, as founding Headmaster in 1934, first met a young Prince Philip who attended the newly opened boarding school in the Scottish highlands. Gordonstoun charted Hahn’s evolving educational philosophy which was first introduced at his German boarding school Schule Schloss Salem. He was a great believer in noncompetitive physical recreation where young people were ‘invited to improve their own standards’. Hahn introduced the ‘County Badge Scheme’ which required students to achieve particular standards in one jumping, one throwing and one running event of their choice. As students progressed in their development they were presented with awards at one of three levels. This award structure parallels the Bronze, Silver and Gold levels later adopted by the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award. Through Hahn’s persuasive approach the award was extended to all schools within Morayshire and became known as the ‘Moray Badge’. As a result of World War I, his ambition to see the award scheme adopted more broadly, including other countries, would lie idle for over a decade. Hahn’s commitment and ability to garner influence through the compelling power of his personality meant that when he later approached HRH Prince Philip about an award programme in the early 1950s, the conversation resumed and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was realised. I was very interested in the idea, because I had become involved with several youth organisations, and I could see that some such ‘achievement-based’ programme, without requiring membership, might be

a valuable tool for all organisations involved in the development of young people including schools. I told Hahn that, while I agreed with his general idea, there was no way I could get it started on my own. Instead, I offered to chair a committee, provided he could find the members. He achieved this, and it was this ‘originating committee’ which decided that the programme should adopt the principle of no competition and no membership requirements, and to respond to Hahn’s four major concerns about the development of young people. He was concerned about the decline of compassion, the decline of skills, the decline of physical fitness and the decline of initiative (HRH Prince Philip as cited in Taylor, 2011). Hahn had identified six factors which he believed were causing societal decline and deterioration. They became known as the Six Declines of Modern Youth and were the decline of: fitness and physical health, initiative and the spirit of adventure, imagination and recollection, carefulness and thoroughness, self-discipline and renunciation, compassion and mercy. The relevance of Hahn’s Six Declines are not lost within present-day society and many would suggest that today’s fast-paced technological world has added another layer of complexity to the landscape which adolescents are traversing (Beames & Brown, 2016; Hanford, 2015; Wattchow et al., 2014). Fortunately, Hahn remained optimistic and in response to the noticeable declines, he developed experiential education programmes within his schools and later his youth development programmes around four enduring elements:

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

GRACE McLAY / 11R

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Fitness (physical) — to compete with one’s self in physical fitness; in so doing, train the discipline and determination of the mind through the body Expedition (affective) — to engage in long, challenging endurance tasks Projects (cognitive) — involving creativity and manual skills, honing a specialist skill, planning and executing an enterprise Service (social) — commitment to others and wider society These four elements were central to Hahn’s educational philosophy and featured as pillars within the schools he founded and the innovative organisations he both created and shaped. The same programme fundamentals of Service, Skill, Physical Recreation, and Adventurous Journeys have remained the operative sections of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award over the past sixty years. As education systems across the globe continue to grapple with reform,

we can celebrate the enduring simplicity which the Duke’s Award advocates. Through an unwavering focus on the needs of youth and connection to the real world, The Award continues to achieve positive outcomes. In a recent study conducted by Gaisce – The President’s Award (Ireland), eighty-three per cent of respondents reported significantly enhanced mental health and well-being from involvement in the award programme (Clarke MacMahon & O’Reilly, 2015). In Australia the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is available to youth aged from thirteen years and nine months to twenty-five years. The Award is entirely voluntary and empowers participants to take ownership of their programme through devising a plan which meets their learning and development aspirations. Allowing students this flexibility and responsibility is the keystone of The Award’s enduring success. In the words of Kurt Hahn, the ultimate goal of The Award is for participants to realise ‘there is more in you than you think’.

REFERENCES Beames, S. & Brown, M. (2016). Adventurous learning: A pedagogy for a changing world. New York, NY: Routledge. Clarke MacMahon, N. & O’Reilly, G. (2015). ‘It made you feel you had self-worth’ Does Gaisce – The President’s Award act as a catalyst in the enhancement of the psychological attributes of: hope, self-efficacy, self-esteem, happiness, and psychological well-being in its participants?. Retrieved from: http://gaisce.ie/wp-content/ uploads/2016/04/Gaisce_Research_Synopsis.pdf Hanford, E. (2015, September). Beyond the blackboard: Building character in public schools [Documentary]. American RadioWorks. Retrieved from: http://www. americanradioworks.org/documentries/beyond-the-blackboard/ Hirt, B. (2015). The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation. London, UK: Award House. Knoll, M. (2001). School reform through ‘Experiential Therapy’. Kurt Hahn - ein wirkungsmächtiger Pädagoge. Aus: Pädagogisches Handeln. Wissenschaft und Praxis im Dialog 5 (2001), Heft 2, S. 65-76. Retrieved from: http://mi-knoll.de/117401.html Taylor, L. (2011). The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award: 55 years of achievement. London, UK: Award House. Wattchow, B., Jeanes, R., Alfrey, L., Brown, T., Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & O’Connor, J. (Eds) (2014). The socioecological educator: A 21st century renewal of physical, health, environment and outdoor education. London: Springer.

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An attitude of gratitude MRS ANNE INGRAM, DEAN OF STUDENTS | 3 JUNE 2016

‘A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts itself to great things’ (Plato).

he traditional Japanese tea ceremony etiquette (Chado, or the Way of the Tea), calls for those who take part in the ceremony to express gratitude in words and actions for the environment in which they are drinking, for the beverage they are sipping and for their host. They may admire the design of the tea cup, compliment the taste of the tea and bow in respect to the host to focus the ceremony's participants on appreciating the ceremony and all that surrounds them. The Tea Ceremony captures all the essential elements of Japanese philosophy and artistic beauty, weaving in the four principles of harmony, respect, purity and tranquillity. Since deep respect and sincere gratitude are fundamental principles of the Tea Ceremony, the host is keenly conscious of this relationship, even in this simple process of preparing tea for his or her guest.

In Japan, this traditional tea drinking ceremony and Buddhist beliefs developed alongside each other. The ceremony, called Sado, involves a precise pattern of behaviour designed to create a quiet and inner peace. It is very much like the description that Kakuzo Okakura wrote in his Book of Tea in 1906. In it, he stated ‘Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order’. This interlude with tea can help an individual learn to live in the moment, to take time to enjoy the beauty of simple objects and to express gratitude.

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Until quite recently, in contemporary society, gratitude and its benefits were rarely discussed, often overlooked and usually dismissed. Instead, we tended to scrutinise other emotions such as anger, resentment, happiness and romantic love. Gratitude is a deep, complex phenomenon that plays a critical role in human happiness. It can be defined as the quality of being thankful, and involves a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Robert Emmons, arguably the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, reasons that gratitude has two key components. First, it can be seen as an affirmation of goodness; the recognition that good things exist in the world — the gifts and benefits that we have received. We then recognise that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. Gratitude involves a humble dependence on others. Interpersonal relationships and rich experiences often afford us the goodness we are grateful for in the first place. This social dimension is a relationship-strengthening emotion that requires us to see how we have been supported and affirmed by other people. This does not mean that life is perfect, without burdens and hassles, but when we view life as a whole, gratitude encourages us to identify the goodness in our life, to appreciate these gifts and also to pay them forward. Because so much of human life is centred around giving, receiving and repaying, gratitude is a pivotal concept for our social interactions. Famed sociologist, Georg Simmel declared that gratitude is ‘the moral memory of mankind’ (Simmel, 2015). Without gratitude, society would crumble.

The practice of gratitude provides the antidote for two core woes that pervade our human experience. The feeling of ‘insufficiency’ — of not having enough or being enough — is a fundamental sense of self-dissatisfaction that often leads to an incessant busyness, in an attempt to get more or be more, to somehow fill this inner feeling of discontentment and lack. Living with an inner attitude of scarcity invokes in us a sense that happiness and satisfaction will only be achieved if we seek inner satisfaction from external forces. This can keep us on a never-ending merry-go-round of pursuits and distractions, always waiting for and expecting happiness to come to us from the outside. The practice of gratitude reverses this pattern of looking outward for satisfaction, and instantly puts us in touch with all the many gifts and blessings already present in our life. ‘We shift from spinning in perpetual motion on the wheel of seeking happiness from the outside-in, to generating happiness from the insideout’ (Levey, 2011). Gratitude suffers from seeming simple — so simple that some of us might be tempted to discard it as trifling, unimportant nonsense (Lythcott-Haims, 2015). Research on the practice of gratitude over the past 15 years has shown that it has many benefits — physically, mentally and emotionally, and that these benefits are available to anyone who practises gratitude, even in the midst of adversity. Gratitude brings us happiness and boosts feelings of optimism while lowering anxiety and depression. Gratitude has benefits for our bodies — it strengthens the immune system, lowers blood pressure, encourages us to exercise more and to take greater care of our health. Grateful people can boast better sleeping patterns. Resilience and relationships are enhanced. Gratitude promotes forgiveness and engenders feelings of altruism and compassion. For adolescents, gratitude offers rich rewards — greater life satisfaction, more positive emotions and an enhanced connection to family and to the wider community.

The science of gratitude is linked to the release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, which plays a role in regulating the brain’s reward and pleasure centres, and specifically boosts our bonds with other people. Feelings of gratitude directly activate brain regions associated with dopamine. Dopamine assists in regulating movement and emotional responses. It enables us not only to see rewards but to take action to move towards them. Subjects who showed more gratitude overall had higher levels of dopamine in the hypothalamus. This is particularly important as the hypothalamus controls a wide array of essential bodily functions, including eating, drinking and sleeping. It also influences metabolic function and stress levels. This evidence of brain activity provides a plausible link as to how gratitude can exert such wide-ranging effects, from improved sleep to decreased depression. In 2008, artist and photographer Hailey Bartholomew designed the 365grateful project to explore the premise that the secret to happiness is based on reflection and gratitude. Her personal story about the extraordinary power of gratitude is uplifting. Each day for one full year, Bartholomew took a photograph of something in her day that she was thankful for and used these artworks to create a gratitude journal. Bartholomew credits her daily photoshoot with a re-programming of her emotional perspective. Reflecting on the good around her on a daily basis restored her happiness and wellbeing and enhanced her relationships with others around her. Simple acts, factored into our daily routines, can build positive momentum. Gratitude journals, gratitude letters, savouring the good in life and taking time to pause, reflect and recognise the positive in each day can cultivate an attitude of gratitude. And the good news is that the benefits we can receive through gratitude are not only available to people with a naturally grateful disposition. Feeling grateful is a skill that can be developed with time and practice, and we can reap its rich rewards along the way.

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ADELYNE NG

/ 7H (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Bartholemew, H. (2008). 365grateful project. Retrieved from http://365grateful.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/10-projects-ebook-2013.pdf Levey, J. (2011, August 31). Understanding the science of gratitude [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-michelle-levey/understandinggratitude_b_888208.html Lythcott-Haims, J. (2015). How to raise an adult. London, UK: Pan Macmillan. Okakura, K. (1906). Book of tea. Clarendon, USA: Tuttle Publishing. Emmons, R. (2016). What is gratitude?. Retrieved from http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/gratitude/definition

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What the world needs now… MRS VIOLET ROSS, HEAD OF WOOLCOCK HOUSE AND YEAR 9 COORDINATOR | 10 JUNE 2016

re we in danger of becoming an individualistic, self-absorbed culture, unable to give much thought to anyone but ourselves? Is our capacity for empathy diminishing? Our everyday lives have become saturated by media influences, relentless marketing and exchanges via email and social media. Much of this influence directs us to focus on the self, telling us how we should look, what we should fear, what we need to buy, how many ‘likes’ our photos have achieved, how many ‘friends’ we have. We are, after all, living in the era of the selfie. The reality, however, defies this appearance. Humans are social creatures neurologically hard-wired to be empathetic and to care for each other. We have an innate desire to belong and connect. It gives us a satisfying sense of identity and builds our emotional security (Mackay, 2010). At a time of year when we are typically tired from our work and school commitments, somewhat inward-looking and not our best selves, it is timely to redirect our focus from ourselves to others. The ‘hump’ in the year is a good time to consider the benefits of building our capacity in key social skills, like empathy, to strengthen our relationships and future-safe our young people in their professional lives beyond the white picket fence. Historian and author, Roman Krznaric, describes cognitive empathy as ‘perspective taking’, like stepping into somebody else’s world, understanding their views, beliefs, fears and the experiences that shape how they look at the world and how they look at themselves. He asserts that the ability to empathise results in creative thinking and improved relationships; it creates the human bonds that make our lives

fulfilled, and can also bring about positive social change (Krznaric, 2012, December 3). One of our most basic needs is to feel listened to and to be understood, yet it seems we are tuning in less to the needs of others and connecting less effectively with them. The trouble is that empathy thrives best in relationships that have depth, and when we can immerse ourselves in other people’s unique view of the world rather than a prefabricated online profile. Social networks … are not usually designed to facilitate making the imaginative leap into other minds. They are about the efficient exchange of information rather than the less easily packaged exchange of intimacy (Krznaric, 2014). Empathy is also a key skill for work. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report (2016), emotional intelligence will be one of the top ten job skills in 2020. Emotionally intelligent people are good listeners, they can understand, co-operate and collaborate with others, they are more open to feedback and make more thoughtful and thorough decisions (Deutschendorf, 2016). Empathy in the workplace informs decisions that are based on the reactions of others, and it allows the building of trust. Empathic workers also make better bosses (Jones, 2012). Highly empathic leaders are better able to build relationships with their staff, foster a sense of security, understand underlying reasons for poor performance, and help struggling employees to improve and excel. In our globalised business context, leaders ‘need to be more person-focused and be able to work with those not just in the next cubicle but those in other buildings and other countries’ (Goleman cited in Jones, 2012).

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Fortunately, empathy is a skill that can be nurtured and strengthened. The following are some suggestions as to how we might build our capacity for empathy: Name the emotion: Parents can role-model this for their children to help them express how they are feeling as they navigate the highs and lows of everyday life. Listen and open up: We need to be fully present and slow down when listening to each other and to ourselves. All too often during a conversation we are preparing what we plan to say next. Instead, listen intently, maintain eye contact, focus solely on what the person is saying and consider the life experience that may have led to this point of view before offering your own contribution to the conversation.

with us since childhood. Stereotyping inhibits our ability to see people for their uniqueness. Highly empathic people are able to see past the labels and empathise with people whose beliefs they do not share (Krznaric, 2012). Put the devices aside: This is not about being antitechnology but rather pro-conversation. Make it a priority for the family to stay meaningfully connected by establishing technology-free times during meals, when driving in the car, or on family outings.

Be supportive and helpful in your responses: We need to pay attention to our own reactions to other people’s emotions. Are we being judgmental? Acknowledge what has been said by paraphrasing and repeating it. Accept the feelings of others; just being concerned is helpful. Remember it is not necessary to solve the problem, just to validate the person’s feelings.

Empathy has been the primary focus of the Year 9 Ethics programme this term. During our first assembly, Mrs Anne Ingram, Dean of Students, revealed the science behind empathy and how the discovery of mirror neurons in the early 1990s has shown us that we are naturally empathetic beings (Ingram, 2016). The session which followed involved Peer Power, experts in ‘adolescentology’, outlining the three key stages of empathising with others: tuning in, interpreting and responding in an authentic or helpful way. They also explored the condition of narcissism in the context of its being what empathy is not.

Cultivate curiosity about strangers: Highly empathic people tend to be very curious about strangers. They might start a conversation with the person behind them in a queue or sitting next to them on the bus. Talking to people outside our usual social circles and learning about lives and perspectives that are different from our own builds empathy (Krznaric, 2012).

We can learn to become more empathic; the choice is ours. Understanding who we are cannot be achieved through introspection alone. As we discover more about others, we discover more about ourselves. The benefits are clear: strong, satisfying relationships, healthy, productive workplaces and a compassionate, inclusive society where everyone feels valued.

Challenge prejudices and look for commonalities: It is human nature to make assumptions about people and use collective labels — ‘boat people’, ‘extremists’, ‘computer geeks’, ‘greenies’ … the list is endless. We may even be unaware of some of our prejudices as they have been carried

If you learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it (Lee, 2010).

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Livestock and literature: olfaction guaranteed MR STEPHEN WOODS, DIRECTOR OF ENGLISH | 17 JUNE 2016

mong the ivy-clad port racks and cloistered demountables of my old alma mater, we enjoyed a multi-sensory educational experience long before these things were pedagogically trendy. As I close in on a significant chronological milestone, I have been reminiscing, Proust-like, on the smells of my Dalby High days. I intend to torture this smell analogy mercilessly to make a point about how English goes about teaching young people the essential skill of sniffing out the truth. In the days before photocopies, we used to get our handouts in the form of spirit duplications, also known as roneographs or stencils. It livened up a dull lesson no end when the teacher produced a freshly stencilled batch of these purple-fonted, fast-fading resources. It was not our appetite for instruction that gave rise to this enthusiasm; the key to their appeal lay in the ‘spirit’ used in the duplication process — they smelled wonderful and were always greeted by a collective inhalation from an appreciative class. But this was not the signature scent of my high-schooling. My school was and is located on the main highway, which meant a soundtrack of semi-trailers working through their gears having been stopped at the second of our four sets of traffic lights. But the growling engines were merely the sensory entrée. In those pre-mining days, most of the trucks were carting livestock, and these were the fragrances that occupied our olfactory senses as we diligently read our novels, pored over cos and tan tables, or got our trial balances wrong. Over the course of five years of high school, each of us — even ‘townies’ like me — became adept at

discerning by smell alone whether a truck was carrying cattle, sheep, or pigs. (‘PALER, that’s Profits, Assets — sniff: pigs — Liabilities, Expenses — sniff: cattle — Revenue’) I developed, through these daily exposures, a nose for manure, a latent skillset that has been put to the test mightily of late as we endure elections here and abroad, and a media and political landscape far richer in methane than my high school days ever were. Ekka Week aside, the girls of Brisbane Girls Grammar School are not treated to the same earthily instructive aromas as they attend their lessons. To fill this sensory void, English exposes the girls again and again to truckloads of language that has a whiff of cowpat about it, in the hope that they will develop a keen nose for hyperbole, flattery, obfuscation, empty rhetoric, and downright mendacity. The Year 9s, for example, rollick in the comical lies and duplicitous subterfuges of Oscar Wilde. The world of The Importance of Being Earnest is pervaded by lies and deceptions, so much so that Jack Worthing apologises, ‘it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?’. Jack leads a double life pretending to be his own fictitious wastrel brother, Ernest, while his friend Algernon invents a dependent invalid friend, Bunbury, whose demands excuse him from attending tedious social engagements, leaving him free to ‘bunbury’ as a verb. These genteelly entertaining lies are elaborate and risky, but undetectable to everyone but liar and reader.

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The beauty of literature is that audiences, from the vantage point afforded by dramatic irony, know that the characters are lying, and can — from this privileged position — feel either frustration, glee, or smug scorn for those who fall for their stories. Dramatic irony handily screens us from the risk of our own credulity, and lets us study liars and dissemblers like a naturalist does; learning the ways and habits of the mendacious (and the credulous) from the Attenborough-like safety of a literary ‘hide’. In Year 10, the lies get darker. This year, the girls have already encountered Squealer, the propagandist of Orwell’s perennially topical Animal Farm, and the Macbeths, tragic victims and wicked perpetrators of lies, half-truths, and equivocation. Again, the girls get to watch knowingly as Squealer fudges the Animalist Commandments from ‘All animals are equal’ to ‘but some are more equal than others’, and feel visceral frustration at the animals’ inability to see that they have been duped. We teach the girls to extrapolate from the books they are studying to today’s world, not Orwell’s or Shakespeare’s. The point of studying Animal Farm and Macbeth in 2016 is not to hop in the DeLorean1 to warn historico-fictional Russians and Scots that their leaders are gulling them, but to be on the lookout for demagogues and spin-doctors who are trying to do the same to us now. Several come to mind straight away. By the play’s end, Macbeth has learnt tragically late not to believe those who ‘palter with us in a double sense;/ That keep the word of promise to our ear,/And break it to our hope’ — sage advice as we endure a long, hyperbolic, promise-crammed, and metaphorically bellicose election campaign.

FOOTNOTE 1

Vehicle immortalised as time travel machine in the 1985 film Back to the Future.

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In Years 11 and 12, the girls continue their exposure to prodigiously talented and tragically influential liars, including most of the cast of The Crucible, and perhaps ruling over them all, Hamlet’s murderous and fantastically disingenuous uncle, Claudius, but they also get to try their own skills in demagoguery. The persuasive speeches in these Years are exercises in being creatively economical — or profligate — with the truth. The girls consciously slant their word choices so that GM crops become Frankenfoods and transplant tourists become vivisectors. They are tasked with slipping past our logos and plying our pathos with lashings of rhetoric and ‘sincerity’. The cloyingly truthful Atticus Finch was right: if we want to really understand how language is used to persuade, dupe, or control us, we have to climb into the skin of someone who does just those things. So, having learnt the art of cowpattery from literary giants, the older girls get to try it out for themselves. Perhaps disconcertingly, the grades for the Year 12 Persuasive Speech are consistently the highest of the year. There are lots of lists and taxonomies of ‘Twenty-first Century Skills’ doing the rounds in education now — a wise head opined to me recently that these are in essence the same skills that built the pyramids — but none of them mentions noses, even metaphorically. I would argue that the ability to sniff out bovine scat should be added to these lists if today’s young scholars are to become savvy citizens not persuaded by whiffy rhetoric, fragrantly delectable promises, or pungently vacuous hyperbole of the ‘there has never been a more exciting time’ variety.

OLIVIA BYROM / 11E (DETAIL) INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

The beautiful and necessary art of making mistakes D R R A S H N A TA R A P O R E W A L L A , T E A C H E R - I N - C H A R G E O F H I S T O R Y, YEARS 7 AND 8 | 15 JULY 2017

t is a truth which ought to be universally acknowledged that all humans err. A basic part of the human condition is that we stumble, we fall, we blunder. Yet despite the smattering of platitudes which we offer others in their ‘wrongtitude’ — after all, everyone makes mistakes, nobody is perfect — we insist on feeling privately ashamed of our own mistakes. In truth, we secretly imagine — quite naturally — that we are capable of accomplishing perfection in all areas of our life. It naturally follows that each slip is deemed a useless obstacle to our transformation into our ultimate, perfect, form. To be mistaken, therefore, is a state of which the ambitious have an understandable inclination to feel extremely scared. We ought not chastise ourselves too harshly for this fear. After all, ours is a performance culture in which outcome and achievement are emphasised over process, and in which mistakes are not valued, or worse, are punished. Encultured at school, we learn from a young age to equate high marks in tests with success in school. Mistakes can play no positive role if results are all that matters in education. The consequences of this line of thinking are concerning. As Alina Tugend, journalist for the New York Times, has observed: We’re raising a generation of children — primarily in affluent, high-achieving [schools] — who are terrified of blundering. Of failing. Of even sitting with the discomfort of not knowing something for a few minutes … They’re

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scared to raise their hands when they don’t know the answer and their response to a difficult problem is to ask the teacher rather than try different solutions that might, gasp, be wrong (2011). It is natural within an atmosphere such as this to come to the conclusion that mistakes are bad, and further, that to make a mistake reflects poorly upon ourselves. While the modern world permits only the smallest margin of error, not all societies have been so unforgiving. Through tragedy, the Ancient Athenians collectively explored the fact that humans are radically limited and prone to making mistakes. Each year in the spring, at large, city-wide festivals in honour of the god Dionysos, audiences composed of a wide cross-section of the citizen body (and their wives) would gather in an open-air theatre in the shadow of the Acropolis. There they would watch unfold stories of grave failure which made it ominously clear that serious mistakes are possible. Heroes (to whom shrines were dedicated all over Greece) break minor and archaic laws, make poor decisions in the midst of conflict, and sleep with the wrong person. According to Aristotle, the intent of such stories was to arouse pity and fear through the reversal of status of the tragic hero occurring at the moment when he realises the nature of his hamartia (flaw or mistake) (Poetics, 13–4). His misfortune is brought about not by any inherent vice or depravity, but rather by some error or frailty. Even the good can mess up.

The Japanese of the Muromachi period were equally philosophical in their approach to blunders. It was during the reign of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1449–73) that Japan saw the growth of Higashiyama culture, famous for Noh drama and the sado (tea ceremony). Porcelain teacups of the kind used in the sado were exquisite exemplars of pristine symmetry. According to tradition, when Yoshimasa broke his favorite teacup and sent it to be repaired in China, he was unimpressed by the ugly metal staples used to piece the broken fragments back together. The Shogun instructed his own craftsmen to mend the teacup in a more aesthetically pleasing way, and in response, the artisans developed the technique known as kintsugi (gold joinery) which used veins of lacquer flecked with gold powder to join the broken sherds. The technique approached repair as an opportunity to emphasise, rather than disguise, the breakage as an important episode in the history of the object. It embodies the aesthetic of wabi sabi, an acceptance of the imperfect and flawed. The result is beautiful, a piece of added aesthetic complexity, a ‘tiny moment of free jazz played during a fugue by Bach’ (Gopnik, 2009). In this way, kintsugi is a poetic way of insisting that mistakes do indeed happen, and should be embraced. Though we are only beginning to understand, in neurological terms, the importance of failure, recent studies of the neural mechanisms involved in our response to error confirm that the ancients were right to accept the human

capacity to err. It has been clear for some decades now that the synapses in our brains fire when we make a mistake. More recently, a group of neuroscientists, based in the Netherlands, established that the amplitude of this response, at the moment an error is perceived, is directly linked to our capacity to learn to avoid similar mistakes in the future (van der Helden, Boksem and Blom, 2010). What is more stunning is the finding that the synapses of those who view failure as potentially instructive feedback respond more quickly and at a much higher amplitude than those of people who avoid making mistakes altogether (Moser, Schroder, Heeter, Moran and Lee, 2011). This supports the work of Carol Dweck, whose model of implicit theories of intelligence distinguishes between those of a growth mindset, who believe that mistakes are an important part of the learning process, and those of a fixed mindset, who disengage from tasks when they perceive a potential for failure (Dweck, 2006). Science has thus confirmed that the Ancient Athenians and the Japanese practitioners of wabi sabi, well-prepared to admit to, and embrace, their capacity for error, were in a better position to learn from their mistakes than those less willing to accept failure so philosophically. In an age that insists upon perfection, it is the duty of both educators and parents to encourage young minds to eschew a fear of error and replace it with a more constructive relationship with mistakes.

REFERENCES Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Psychology Press. Gopnik, B. (2009, March 3). ‘Golden seams: The Japanese art of mending ceramics’ at Freer. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030202723.html. Moser, J.S., Schroder, H.S., Heeter, C., Moran, T.P., & Lee Y.H. (2011). Mind your errors: evidence for a neural mechanism linking growth mind-set to adaptive post-error adjustments. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1484–9. van der Helden, J., Boksem, M.A., & Blom, J.H. (2010). The importance of failure: feedback-related negativity predicts motor learning efficiency. Cereb Cortex, 20(7), 1596–603. Tugend, A. (2011). The role of mistakes in the classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/benefits-mistakes-classroom-alina-tugend.

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GRETA WYLLIE 60

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/ 10H (DETAIL)

PERSPECTIVES | 2016

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IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVES M S JAC I N DA E U L E R , P R I N C I PA L

or girls to be leaders in a modern world they must have the confidence and willingness to speak up, challenge the status quo and take direct action against injustice, and seek to exert positive change in the world. Encouraged to appreciate diverse views, girls enjoy the passionate, intellectual exchange that characterises the broad liberal approach to education at Girls Grammar. Girls are educated to engage in informed scholarly dialogue on ethical, social, political and philosophical issues. They understand that their arguments may be challenged, their logic questioned and their opinions tested, but always within a civil and respectful setting. Grammar girls learn to critically evaluate ideas and views expressed by others, responding with thoughtful and reasoned argument. They are encouraged to think for themselves, challenge assumptions and become comfortable with uncertainty in the pursuit of wisdom. As the wise woman George Eliot (1819-1880) wrote: ‘It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.’ The voices of our girls and young women matter, and as teachers and leaders it is our responsibility to ensure they are heard. I hope that you enjoy reading the girls’ Perspectives. Full articles are available at www.bggs.qld.edu.au/perspectives

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A mote of dust Rose Cavdarski (12W) artfully contrasts our mere ‘eighty or so allocated years of life’ against the eons of our earth, sun and seemingly infinite universe to show how each person’s life is indeed of vital significance.

A call to UNiTE the Brisbane Girls Grammar School community Claire Fidler (9R) believes that it is our responsibility to stand against violence towards women and girls and calls for united Girls Grammar community action, including the men and boys in our lives.

Climb every mountain Using other people’s stories as well as her own, Winner of the 2016 Junior Merle Weaver Public Speaking Competition, Amrutha Murali (10B), encourages readers to strive (and strive again) to pursue their dreams.

The soaring assassin Winner of the 2016 Senior Merle Weaver Public Speaking Competition, Caitlin O’Meara (12R) speaks of the ‘morally reprehensible’ impact of unmanned drone warfare and urges her audience to consider Australia’s involvement in its practice.

A reflection on gender bias in today’s society Caitlin Wilson (12H) presents startling facts and figures around societal bias against women, which remains particularly prevalent in workplaces and is a stark contrast to the support provided at Girls Grammar.

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A MOTE OF DUST ROSIE CAVDARSKI, YEAR 12 | 11 NOVEMBER 2016

hen the Voyager 1 spacecraft left the fringes of our solar system in February 1990, Carl Sagan, an astronomer, turned the spacecraft around to take a photo of earth from 6.4 billion kilometres away. That photo has become hugely famous despite the fact that it appears to be an image of essentially nothing. It’s a picture of space, so it’s mostly black, but through it runs a few streaks of faint colour, which are scattered light. In one streak there is a tiny dot, it takes up perhaps one pixel; that dot is earth. The picture rose to fame when it featured in Carl Sagan’s novel, Pale Blue Dot as it is followed by a particularly profound passage. Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering …every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization …every mother and father …every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. His words allude to the insignificance of humanity when compared to the universe, a universe in which our earth is only one of at least ten trillion planetary systems. A universe where there are five-hundred million planets capable of supporting life in our galaxy alone and where there exists a star, VY Canis Majoris, inside which one-thousand trillion earths could fit. We’re even insignificant in comparison to our own earth. Life on earth has existed for 3.5 billion years, while human history spans back only about 50,000 years, approximately 0.001 per cent of life-on-earth’s history. That percentage is even smaller if you think about the age of the earth; 4.5 billion years, and the entire universe; 14 billion years. Therefore, your life, if it lasts about 80 years, will probably take up 0.5 billionths of a per cent of all time that has passed since the big bang.

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So how do we deal with our insignificance? For some, religion imbues humanity with great significance, and in doing so provides security and purpose. For scientists, the expanse of the universe seemingly intensifies their curiosity and a sense of awe in the unknown. Others attempt to divine significance in lots of interesting and even weird ways. Stories of UFOs and aliens visiting earth do just that because they mean that we are important enough to warrant their attention. There are also those who fear that our lives of only eighty years are truly insignificant. But I think that there are two ways of looking at it: eighty years is either nothing, or it is everything. Statistics that illustrate how small we are support the former, but the reality of our lives supports the latter. For each person, their eighty or so allocated years is the only time they have to experience anything they possibly can. Every opportunity they have to be happy or sad, to succeed or fail, to prosper or to suffer is contained within those years. And the power we have to change the way someone else experiences their entire life gives ours enormous significance. By definition, something which is significant is something which is important enough to be noticed and have a consequence or effect, meaning that our significance does not have to be measured against the universe but can be measured in human terms, based on the ability we have to change the life of another. Our sun could be considered modest and insignificant in our own galaxy and our personal existence on earth may appear equally insignificant. However, in the same way that our sun is vitally important to life on earth, our own eighty years can be vitally important to the lives of others.

A CALL TO UNITE THE BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL COMMUNITY CLAIR FIDLER, YEAR 9 | 25 NOVEMBER 2016

n 2015, the United Nations (UN) released a shocking study revealing that one in three women globally are exposed to violence at some stage in their lives. In some communities it affects up to 70 per cent of women. Unfortunately, here in Queensland we are not exempt from this pandemic with 66,000 cases of domestic violence reported each year. There are several campaigns worldwide which aim to put an end to violence against women – one I am particularly passionate about is the UNiTE Campaign. This campaign begins annually on 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and is followed by 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Founded in 2008 by the United Nations Secretary General, the UNiTE campaign aims to unite women and men, across all cultures and nations, to work together to raise awareness and to end violence against women and girls. I believe this message is deeply connected with the Brisbane Girls Grammar School 2016 theme ‘unity’. As a privileged all-girls school, I believe that it is our responsibility to stand up for women and girls both locally and globally. This is why I believe that our school should recognise the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. I believe it is essential for all members of the Girls Grammar Community to UNiTE. We must understand, however, that women cannot fight gender-based violence alone. To make a change we must unite with men and work together to raise

awareness, initiate change and increase support for this cause. This is why I encourage the men and boys of our community to get involved in this campaign as well. At Brisbane Girls Grammar School we are educated to be strong and to strive to make a difference – this has allowed me to recognise our ability to instigate change if we involve the entire School Community. For this reason should stand up on behalf of women less fortunate than us and express our belief that violence against women should never be acceptable at any time in any society. Showing our support for the millions of women and girls who are constantly affected by violence proves that we will not be prevented from achieving what is right because we are women. As a community, we must be aware that violence can happen to our best friends, in our own neighborhoods, it can happen anywhere to anyone. Although progress has been made to reduce violence against women and girls, there is still much work to be done. By involving the whole community, we, as a group, can bring change not only on a local stage, and not only one day, but internationally and all year round as well. In the words of Julie McKay (2000), ex-Executive Director of the Australian National Committee for UN Women and Girls Grammar Old Girl: ‘We cannot merely be helpless in the face of violence. We cannot push the problem down the road or demand others to find answers. Women who have experienced violence have spoken. The experts have spoken. Now we must act.’

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CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN AMRUTHA MURALI, YEAR 10, PRIZEWINNING SPEECH OF THE 2016 JUNIOR MERLE WEAVER PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION | 16 NOVEMBER 2016

ndeed, life is full of hurdles and it’s important for us to understand that it’s not only about reaching the top, but also about the journey itself. The climb.

To examine this let us look at one climber who made it all the way to the summit. Who is he? The man behind the wonders of Disney World and Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney. As a young man, he was fired by a news editor because, apparently, he didn’t have a good imagination. But Disney was determined to try harder. He continued on to work at an animation company called ‘Laugh O Gram films’ but when, in 1921, the distributer ran out of business, Walt was forced to shut down the company. At that point, Disney couldn’t afford to pay rent and even considered eating dog food. Yet, he kept persevering. Initially, he struggled to release some of his movies – ones which are now classics. He was told that the idea of a mouse would terrify women; that The Three Little Pigs needed more characters and Bambi and Fantasia would be totally misunderstood by the audiences. But he kept climbing. Eventually, Disney purchased the ABC and the editor who’d fired him became part of the empire Disney created. Walt Disney was rejected 302 times before creating Disney World but he persevered. He climbed his mountain.

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Let me please now illustrate the story of how I came to the realisation that every mountain is worth climbing. A few years ago, I had to make a public speech. I was petrified. I was shy. I was very timid. Consequently, my parents decided to send me to speech and drama lessons. Now, it wasn’t an easy task for me. I was young, I knew no one in the class and I did not see the need to accomplish this feat. Yet, the journey and ultimately, the end objective, is something I now truly value. At those lessons, I was exposed to a completely new environment – and yes I made friends, I became a little bit courageous and I learned how to speak without throwing up. Overall, I learned that facing the obstacle was definitely worth it, because when we only do the ‘comfortable’ things then we’ll ultimately just become uncomfortable. This was a turning point for me. Soon after, I enrolled in netball, music, dance and I got involved in as many clubs I could at school. All of this because I faced my mountain. I climbed it. Speech and drama has given me the confidence to face more challenges as I know that no matter what – even if I do not make it to the top of that mountain – I have tried. And my journey cannot be taken away from me, by anyone. In life, opportunities, often look like mountains, but we must start to climb them even if we know the climb is going to be difficult.

GRACE TAP / 9W

It is without doubt that all of our iconic legends have struggled through tough climbs to obtain their high achievements. Facing each obstacle only made them better suited to face the next battle. Martin Luther King was not alive to make it to the top of his mountain but he began the journey. Similarly, Mother Theresa, despite limited funds was determined and her tenacity inspired others. J.K Rowling was divorced, penniless and raising a child on her own. Twelve publishers rejected her Harry Potter manuscript but if she had stopped trying at the first rejection or even the twelfth, she wouldn’t be successful like she is today.

So, ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to tackle life’s opportunities? Are you ready to climb? Are you ready to experience multiple failures? Remember, climbing a mountain and not reaching the top, does not mean that we have failed. For you see, in life, the journey is what makes the end point significant. So, as the famous producer, Walt Disney, once wisely stated, ‘All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.’ So pack your compass, put on your boots, grab your hiking gear and your lunch…. And just start climbing. It all begins with a single step.

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THE SOARING ASSASSIN CAITLIN O’MEARA, YEAR !2, WINNER OF THE 2016 SENIOR MERLE WEAVER PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION | 16 NOVEMBER 2016

elect player: you Begin game 16,000 feet in the air; you are in control.

Like a soaring eagle you command this machine from your controller, you are the king of the air. Thumbs on the joystick you swoop down. You spy your target. Or rather, group of targets down below. You lean back in your seat. This game is in your hands, there is no way of losing. Your targets are locked and without flinching you aim and fire. Mission accomplished. Targets exterminated. 6,000 points. But this is not a video game. This … is modern day warfare and you have just killed twenty-six innocent men gathering in a small town in Pakistan for a miners meeting. Husbands, brothers, fathers. This is the insidious power of unmanned drone warfare – a clandestine form of combat that most of the general public are not aware of. Today I’d like to expose the Australian Defence Department’s dirty little secret. While they rapidly build their army of robots, I plead for you to see that Australia's involvement in drone warfare is morally reprehensible. This is not a gunshot. This is a hellfire missile that not only kills one target but, as the New Matilda explains, everyone who is within thirteen metres of that area. If a terrorist was in this room, the entire building would be torn to pieces and the fatalities significant. Mistakes happen. In the plight of war, innocent people will be killed along the way. But where do we draw the line? How much is too much?

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The War on Terror is extremely frightening. Within the past few months we’ve seen attacks in Nice, Munich, Brussels, Turkey. And something obviously must be done to fight back. But terrorism is not just affecting the western world; citizens in the Middle East suffer from terror attacks every single day, but they also suffer from Western retaliation as well. Shockingly, the Reprieve recently identified that in an attempt to kill forty-one people, drone strikes have killed 1,147. But it doesn't end there. What is quite possibly the most horrific thing someone could do? To kill a child. As a soldier, to place a gun to a child’s head would be deplorable, discreditable and completely unforgivable. So it is absolutely terrifying that Des Ball, former head of the Australian Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, claims that more children have been killed by drone strikes than terrorists. Children. This is not a solution to terrorism. In fact, this is just as inhumane. Drone operators sit thousands of kilometres away; it is extremely rare that an operator will actually even see the face of their target. Instead they hone in on cars, houses or most often just a signal from a phone sim card. Drone operators are desensitised, their targets are dehumanised, and the effect is destructive. Without being able to put a face to the target it makes the task of killing that much easier. So let’s put some faces behind the ‘targets’. Take thirteen-yearold boy Zubair ur Rehman. In October 2012, Zubair was in his garden with his grandmother Momina Bibi and his nine-year-old sister Nabeela in rural Pakistan. Zubair can't recall much of this day other than hearing the sounds of drones above and the

screams of his grandmother as she was directly hit by not one, but two hellfire missiles. Two. These two children witnessed their grandmother being blown to pieces, both also being injured by shrapnel, Zubair having a large piece impaling his leg. This family had absolutely no involvement in any form of terrorism. In his testimony Zubair told of how he no longer wants days of blue skies because it is on these beautiful days that the drones come. At such a young age, this boy and his sister will forever be traumatised.

stands, drone strikes epitomise â€˜out of sight, out of mindâ€™. The Australian public has a right to know about Australia's involvement and I am asking you to start the conversation, to spread what I have told you and expose drone warfare. This exposure will not fail to prompt public outcry and a review of drone use. This glorified video game needs to be switched off. Help us to stop the game. Place down the controller. And expose the truth.

Just because the US have failed to be transparent about drone warfare, does not mean Australia has to follow. As it

EMMA MCSWEENEY / 12W

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ANNA BINDON / 12W (VIDEO/ANIMATION DETAIL)

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A REFLECTION ON GENDER BIAS IN TODAY’S SOCIETY CAITLIN WILSON, YEAR 12 | 4 NOVEMBER 2016

eing optimistic no matter the challenge is the most important tool for success. Here at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, no student is exposed to sexism, gender bias or any other challenge that could possibly hinder our ability to achieve what we want to with our education. While we are grateful for the protective shield that Girls Grammar has provided us with, we mustn’t be naïve or oblivious to gender bias in the workforce. I was lucky enough to have the experience of attending a Women’s Speed Mentoring event hosted by the Brisbane office of an established legal firm, which employs six-hundred lawyers (including one-hundred and twenty partners) across the globe; Corrs Chambers Westgarth. The Firm has recently launched its Diversity Policy with three main objectives: to increase gender diversity in senior management and partnership roles, to create flexible career paths for both men and women, and to broaden their diversity agenda to focus on culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation and age. The Women’s Speed Mentoring was a fascinating and informative evening where other mentees and I were introduced to leading professional women from many walks of life. Mentors I had the opportunity to speak with included a specialist technology, communications and commercial lawyer from the host Firm, a company secretary from an established mining service group in Australia, as well as a general counsel and company secretary from a major export logistics group. One of the most salient things I learnt on the evening through discussions with the mentors is that, regrettably in spite of enormous advances in government, business and the professions, gender inequality still exists. Defined at such a young age, gender stereotypes continue to remain a point of contention in our society. In general, most industries remain male-dominated, making it more challenging for aspirational

women to be able to promote themselves and be rewardingly recognised. Although many women in the workforce have successfully managed to overcome gender stereotypes, female numbers at the higher levels are still minimal in certain professions and often progression of their careers is halted due to opportunities not being available to women for them to be recognised. Statistically speaking, women at an executive management level earn on average $60,000 less per year than men at the same executive management level. Additionally, In the Workplace Gender Equality Agency report of 2016, it was reported that the national gender pay gap is 18.2 per cent and it has remained between 15 per cent and 18 per cent for the past two decades. Interestingly, one of the mentors mentioned that the startling reality is that, if men and women apply for the same promotion, men are always more inclined to apply for it without hesitation whereas women tend to hesitate and doubt their potential. The implications of this observation reinforced with me the importance of adopting a positive mindset towards our aspirations. One of the things that I believe is important for all Grammar girls to reflect upon and, more importantly consider, is that here at Girls Grammar we are all fortunate enough to receive unprecedented opportunities in an extremely supportive academic environment. Brisbane Girls Grammar School has fostered our love of learning and has prevented us from being exposed to contemporary issues such as gender bias in our society but I learnt that this will not always be the case. The significance of keeping this in perspective and being prepared to overcome gender bias in the workforce in the near future must be recognised. However, I suspect that there will be many opportunities available to us and, undeniably today, there are extraordinary employers who encourage and support all of their staff regardless of gender to succeed.

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Is all learning the same learning? MR JAMES KEOGH, DEAN OF STUDIES AND LEARNING ANALYTICS | 22 JULY 2016

t is almost without question that schools are ‘learning communities’. However, that one little word, ‘learning’, and how it is understood has profound implications for all in such a learning community. Despite the common use of the term, research has shown that learning is understood or conceptualised differently (Marton, Dall’Alba & Beaty, 1993) by participants within a learning environment and/or across different learning environments. The initial questions arising from this are: What are the different ways that learning is conceptualised and does it matter if there are different ways of conceptualising learning? Learning has been identified in a range of studies over a number of decades as being conceptualised in different ways, from Saljo’s work in the 1970s (Saljo, 1979), Marton’s work in the 1990s (Marton et.al, 1993) to the more recent work of Lin (2011). Although studies may have used slightly different descriptive wording, inherently the same range of understandings of learning has been identified over the years and across learning environments and can be represented by the following:

1. knowledge acquisition

2. memorisation and recall

3. utilisation or application of knowledge

4. understanding or meaning development

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5. interpretative process aimed at reality construction

6. changing as a person.

These six different conceptions of learning can be considered in a hierarchical format with the first three more focused on the ‘what’ and thus related to ‘surface’ approaches of learning, and the latter three more transformative, being focused on the ‘how’ and therefore related to ‘deep’ approaches to learning (Oxford University, Institute for the Advancement of University Learning, n.d.; Lin, 2011). An important aspect of these different ways that learning are viewed is that an individual is not pigeon-holed or defined by one category. Most people will operate over a range of these understandings in different circumstances. For example, being able to recite your phone number is very different from being able recognise, understand and explain the numeric coding system used to generate a phone number, including its country code, state code, and local region codes. However, a person may not operate across all of the identified categories if that category is not part of their understanding of what learning is. It is this last point that is crucial in a school and is at the heart of that question posed earlier: Does it matter if there are different ways of conceptualising learning? A classroom is a point of interaction of multiple understandings of learning. Not only are there students

with their own view of learning, there are also teachers with their understanding of learning and then there is the curriculum material and its associated assessment which is structured around a view of learning. Yet the question remains: Does this actually matter? In short, the answer is ‘Yes’. As noted by Goodyear, Asensio, Jones, Hodgson and Steeples (2003), the strategies and approaches a person uses to go about what they call learning is dependent on how they, as individuals, conceptualise learning. Consider two students, one whose dominant understanding and thus operational view of learning is of memorisation and recall while the other has a dominant view of learning of understanding and meaning development. They would approach their class-work quite differently. The former student may well spend time copying notes, looking for definitions, rehearsing or reciting from notes and trying to find THE answer to copy down. The latter student meanwhile is looking for problems to solve, wanting to explain and justify scenarios through predicting outcomes and analysing information. In fact these two students may well have very different expectations of their teacher ranging from ‘Tell me what you want me to know/do’ and ‘Where can I find the answer to this?’ to ‘Would you please show me how you worked that out?’ or ‘I’ve tried to make sense of this but I’m not certain. Would you explain it again?’.

Thus not only is a classroom a point of interaction between multiple understandings of learning, it can at times be a place of conflict between these differing understandings. The follow-on from the strategies that students use to support their learning is the link to the students’ academic outcomes. As noted from research by Alamdarloo, Moradi and Dehshiri (2013), in support of findings by Purdie and Hattie (2002), there is a strong relationship between the varieties of different ways an individual conceptualises learning and their academic outcomes. This relationship is, of course, dependent on the nature of the assessment items and the view of learning that underpins the assessment. Naturally, it is difficult to perform at a high level on an assessment requiring understanding and meaning to be displayed when your operational view of learning is one of memorisation and recall. Having dealt with the initial questions and now being able to identify different views of learning, and recognising that these differing views do matter in a school environment, the next obvious question is: Can people change or develop their conception of learning to one of a higher order and thus increase the chance of a higher academic outcome? Again, the simple and short answer is ‘Yes’. Some people will seemingly naturally build and develop their understanding of learning over time as opportunities

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to develop present themselves. Classroom work and assessment work in the younger years of schooling life are different in scope and depth (that is, in the underpinning view of learning) from those experienced later in schooling life. The challenges presented by the changes over the years at school offer the scope to change, adapt and refine one’s understanding of learning. There are times, however, when it seems there is a plateau. The learning demand of the work has changed yet the learner has not moved with it, and doing more of what one used to do no longer leads to improvement. As much as this can be a frustrating time for the learner, it is the time to

embrace the challenge of self-reflection and is truly when a school as a collaborative learning community comes into its own. It is the communication between teacher and student with a reflection on learning and helping to see alternative ways of working that are at the core of change — change to how learning is viewed, change to how learning is approached and a change to the way learning is displayed. As noted by two of the founders of this research area, Ference Marton and Roger Saljo (1984), in an environment of open communication and understanding between teachers and students, with regard to their experience of learning, it is expected to see improvements in the quality of learning.

REFERENCES Alamdarloo, G., Moradi, S., Dehshiri, G. (2013). The relationship between students’ conceptions of learning and their academic achievement. Psychology, 4(1), 44–49. Retrieved from http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=26582 Goodyear, P., Asensio, M., Jones, C., Hodgson, V. & Steeples, C. (2003). Relationships between conceptions of learning, approaches to study and students’ judgements about the value of their experiences of networked learning. Retrieved from http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/download/11264/12957 Lin, H. (2011). A phenomenographic approach for exploring conceptions of learning marketing among undergraduate students. Business and Economic Research 1(1), 1–12. Retrieved from macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ber/article/download/829/1602 Marton, F., Dall’Alba, G., & Beaty, E. (1993). Conceptions of learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 19, 277–300. Marton, F., & Saljo, R. (1984). Approaches to learning. In F. Marton, D. Hounsell & N. Entwistle (Eds.), The experience of learning, pp. 36–55. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. Purdie, N., & Hattie, J. (2002). Assessing students’ conceptions of learning. Australian Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 2, 17–32. Säljö, R. (1979). Learning in the learner’s perspective: Some commonsense conceptions. Gothenburg, Sweden: Institute of Education, University of Gothenburg. University of Oxford, Institute for the Advancement of University Learning (n.d.). Paper 3: Students’ conceptions of learning. Retrieved from https://www.learning.ox.ac.uk/ media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/oxfordlearninginstitute/documents/supportresources/lecturersteachingstaff/resources/resources/Student_Conceptions_of_Learning.pdf

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

BIDISHA ROY / 10R

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

The power of school spirit through student ownership of student leaders MS JAN O’SULLIVAN, HEAD OF GRIFFITH HOUSE | 29 JULY 2016

Open Day heralds the beginning of the Year 11 students’ journey towards leadership of the School in 2017

everal years ago, when I was Acting Dean of Students for a term, I was invited by the Assistant Principal of another Brisbane girls’ high school to speak to her senior staff about our Student Care/House System at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. This invitation came about because the Assistant Principal had a daughter in Griffith House in Year 11 at Girls Grammar and she had repeatedly made comments to her mother, since the middle of Year 8, about ‘the amazing school spirit’ at the School. This mother wanted me to outline details of the House system to her senior staff in an attempt to promote the same kind of school spirit at the private school where she worked. As well as outlining our House system with its fostering of House and School spirit, I spoke to the senior staff about the Girls Grammar Student Leadership programme under which girls nominate for specific positions and their peers take full responsibility for voting, with no input from staff in the voting process. I emphasised the fact that this ownership of School leaders begins in Semester 1 in Year 8 (now Year 7) and continues through to the very serious

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voting process at the end of Year 11 to determine the leaders of the School and of each House in Year 12. Our current Year 11 girls will have assumed responsibility for the nine House Stalls at Open Day, 2016, followed in early Term IV by the serious voting process for Year 12 leadership positions in 2017. The girls who nominate for these positions will need to be both resilient and tough as they will have to face the possibility of not being voted into the position they want. It is a big responsibility for them but they have been learning to lead for the last four years. Practising leadership and therefore learning to lead are so important for teenagers, elevating their thinking above the self, away and beyond the petty obsessions of day-to-day teenage life involving friendship groups and associated disputes, school dances, boys and clothes. Some girls seem to be born leaders but most are made through practising leadership. In relation to the philosophy of leadership, some people believe that the ‘heroic’ model which espouses the notion that leaders are ‘born’ rather than ‘made’, is out-of-date in

the complex modern world where leadership often involves a process of consultation whereby one person is able to enlist the help and support of others to accomplish a common goal or task. Both models of leadership focus strongly on the idea that girls need to develop their own personal leadership potential. The Heads of House are crucial in facilitating the School’s commitment to developing self-leadership qualities in all girls from their first day in Year 7. The School prides itself, from the beginning of Year 7, in fostering the capacity of its girls to learn to be leaders by providing clearly articulated leadership structures and myriad learning experiences that are designed to develop leadership skills within a caring, supportive environment. This is achieved by means of formal programmes, the House system and co-curricular activities. There are in fact, 360 leadership positions across all Houses each calendar year from Years 7 to 11, and over 150 official leadership positions in Year 12. We also acknowledge and promote the concept that every girl in Year 12 is a leader who will be asked to exhibit her leadership skills and, as a leader, behave as a role model for younger students. Very few Year 12 students fail to rise to the occasion. The fact that the student leaders are elected by the students is a key principle in ensuring the ultimate success of the leadership structure at the School because students are empowered by the selection process. Students know that the teachers trust them to vote for the most appropriate and effective leader for the specific group rather than the most ‘popular’ student. Most importantly, a collaborative approach

to leadership is promoted by means of a co-captains model, thus encouraging shared responsibility for leadership tasks and the capacity to teach others and learn from others at the same time. The election of student leaders by their peers is also a key principle in building House and School spirit. From Year 7, students accept ownership of programmes and events throughout the school year, ensuring their full support, commitment and advocacy. Why do parents send their daughters to Brisbane Girls Grammar School? In our Head of House interviews with families just before their daughters begin Year 7, we ask the question: ‘What are the main reasons for your decision to come to Girls Grammar?’. The most frequent responses are: ‘Its academic reputation’ and ‘Knowing or meeting Grammar girls who attend or have attended the School’. Incoming girls and parents often make specific mention of the girls who volunteer as Student Ambassadors at official functions throughout the year such as the Year 12 girls who meet and greet families at the gates on Open Night or the Year 10 Tour Leaders on Open Night, commenting that these girls are ‘articulate and confident but polite and friendly, with their enthusiasm for, and love of the School being so apparent and so genuine.’ As we move from Open Day towards the final term of another year, the now famous motto, ‘Blue Unity is Opportunity’, will become part of the history of 2016, replaced by another motto to build connections and inspire commitment, enthusiasm and school spirit in 2017. Best wishes Year 11!

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Hi, Anxiety! MISS TENNILLE CUMMINGS, DEAN OF ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION | 5 AUGUST 2016

ou feel sick in the stomach, that awful gut-wrenching feeling; you search for the nearest bathroom; your hands are sweaty; your heart races; your muscles tighten; and your mind goes blank. Can you hide? Can you go home? These sensations and questions often emerge when we experience different or new situations. Whether it is riding The Tower of Terror, performing before an audience, playing in a grand final, starting at a new school or job, or even waiting to sit an examination, the feelings of fear and anxiety are the same. There are people who enjoy these feelings and even thrive on them. They are able to turn their fears into excitement. We only have to ask people about how many scary movies they watch, or how many times they went on the roller coaster. They thrive on the rush of feeling fearful and excited at the same time. But why does this work for some activities and not for others? Can we turn some of our nonentertainment fears into excitement? Sports personalities and presenters turn anxiety into excitement to help increase their performance. Tiger Woods said: ‘The day I’m not nervous is the day I quit …That’s the greatest thing about it, just to feel that rush’ (Robertson, 2016). They use the energy from difficult situations and turn it into a positive and powerful experience. One way to reframe our fear is to verify whether there is a real threat attached to these experiences. If we can see that there is not, then we are free to convince ourselves that it is exciting to do something new, different or challenging. The difference is not how the body reacts but how the mind interprets it. As Shakespeare’s initially-anxious Hamlet

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eventually realises, ‘there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’. Fear and excitement feel the same physiologically and physically, but are different mentally and emotionally. Fear can be stressful and debilitating while excitement can be enjoyable and addictive. So the question is how we convince our mental and emotional state that some experiences are actually exciting rather than fearful. The first step in doing so, from my Mathematics/ Scienceteacher perspective, is to understand what these emotions really are, at a physiological and chemical level. Fear is simply a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with a release of chemicals that, in turn, cause physical symptoms. Sensory data is sent to the thalamus, which forwards this information to the amygdala. The amygdala informs the hypothalamus that its host is either safe or should get out. The hippocampus questions whether its body has experienced this before and thinks about what other options might be causing this fear. The hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system which sends out impulses to the glands and muscles, and to the adrenal-cortical system which releases epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine into the blood stream. The physical end-results of this process are familiar to all of us: increased blood pressure and heart rate, dilated pupils, blood glucose level increases, muscle tension, and difficulty focusing on small tasks. The problem — and the hope for positive change — lies in the fact that the physiological signs of excitement are almost identical to those of anxiety and fear, and the mind and body often cannot tell the difference between them.

What we all know, whether through positive or negative experience, is that there is a connection between how we feel and how we do. A recent Harvard study looked at the relationships between anxiety, fear, stress and performance. This study, by Dr Alison Wood Brooks, found that when people tell themselves to get excited they perform better than if they tell themselves to calm down. The reasoning makes perfect sense: ‘When people feel anxious and try to calm down, they are thinking of all the things that could go badly. When they’re excited, they’re thinking of all the things that could go well’ (Brooks, 2013). Anxiety and excitement are both felt in anticipation of an event and cause arousal in the brain but have very different effects on performance. Some literature suggests that reappraising negative emotions, like fear and anxiety, is more effective than suppressing them, as suppression merely hides the emotion as it continues to affect us. Suppression of emotion can even lead to an increase in the emotion (Hoffmann, Heering, Sawyer, and Asnaani, 2009). The subjects in the study by Hoffmann et al. took part in a singing performance, a public

speaking performance, and a mathematics exam. As they did these things, they were required to say either ‘I am anxious’, ‘I am excited’ or ‘Try to remain calm’. The ‘I am excited’ group did best. These subjects reported increased feelings of excitement and increased their performance. Despite what all those posters would have us believe, statements about staying calm had little impact on heart rates. Re-framing anxiety as excitement meant that the group felt better and did better. It is normal to experience anxiety both in preparation for and during examinations. Indeed, a moderate level of anxiety helps us to perform optimally. The Yerkes-Dodson Law states that elevated arousal levels can improve performance up to a certain point. Experiencing little or no anxiety can leave us feeling unfocused and unmotivated, while high levels of anxiety can tip us over into disorganisation. The challenge, as I have been arguing, is to recognise when anxiety levels have increased past an optimal level and then learn to manage anxiety so it does not hijack performance. The key to success in future examinations might just be to start by saying ‘I am excited’.

REFERENCES Brooks, A.W. (2013). Get excited: Reappraising pre-performance anxiety as excitement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, (143)3, 1144–1158. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-a0035325.pdf Hoffmann, S.G., Heering, S., Sawyer, A. & Asnaani, A. (2009). How to handle anxiety: The effects of reappraisal, acceptance, and suppression strategies on anxious arousal. Advances in Experimental School Psychology, 30, 1–46. Robertson, I. (2016). Feel the exam fear – but think of it as excitement. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/12/feel-the-exam-fear-but-think-of-itas-excitement

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

FREYA DAVIS / 10R (DETAIL) 80

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

To boldly go where no [wo]man has gone before . . . DR SALLY STEPHENS, DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE | 12 AUGUST 2016

like science fiction movies; not the scary alien ones, but the ones where people use a mix of science, technology, logic, common sense, a cool head and a good heart to win the day. That is why I enjoyed The Martian. But I liked it even more because it portrayed its female STEM experts in a very realistic, positive, multidimensional way. In real life the contributions of female scientists and other STEM specialists is often played down or overlooked, but Melissa Lewis, the mission’s commander and geologist, and Beth Johanssen, the systems operator and reactor technician, are characterised as knowledgeable, decisive, and brave. Fortuitously for stranded astronaut Mark Watney, back on Earth, NASA Satellite Communications Engineer, Mindy Park, adroitly uses the key scientific skills of observation, curiosity, and deductive reasoning to work out that he is still alive. The movie even passed the Bechdel Test — a not-veryscientific, but often employed, measure of cinematic female agency and independence. Movies have to fulfil three conditions to pass the test: there must be at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. They are trying to save a marooned male astronaut but the nature of the conversation between Lewis and Johanssen is one of two STEM professionals conferring on the logistics of preventing Mission Control from overriding the spacecraft’s navigation systems so that they can execute an unauthorised rescue mission. So, from my ‘science-centric’ perspective, it passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours because these female characters talk science.

You might wonder why I care so much about the way sci-fi films depict women. It’s because film is a big influence on how we see the world, ourselves, and our possible selves. Social Cognitive Theory tells us that people learn by observing others in the media; they take their behavioural cues from individuals they observe in movies. Cultivation Theory proposes that continuous exposure to a cultural message yields a long-term effect on viewers’ perceptions of that message (Rudy, Popova, & Linz, 2010). It is significant, then, that STEM professions are often depicted as traditionally male domains where women have either no place or ‘their’ place (Weingart, Muhl, & Pansegrau, 2003). The shows we watch can reflect these values but they can also reshape them. Films like The Martian, instead of perpetuating gender bias, are an asset in the fight against it. Other films and television shows also depict women STEM specialists in a way that would inspire young STEM aspirants. Rey, the young heroine in the latest Star Wars offering, is portrayed as an accomplished pilot with prodigious technical and engineering skills. Ellie Arroway in Contact faces bureaucratic meddling and condescension from her male superiors but remains steadfast in her search for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. Dr Temperance Brennan in Bones and Abby Sciuto in NCIS rock forensic science in the real world, while Dr Ryan Stone in Gravity, Dr Grace Augustine in Avatar and Lieutenant-Colonel Samantha Carter in Stargate-SG1 are sci-fi flagbearers for STEM. My personal favourite is astrophysicist Dr Jane Foster, from Thor, who experiences both a professional and personal

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

‘godsend’ when Thor falls to Earth through an EinsteinRosen Bridge she has been studying. In interviews after the release of Thor, actor Natalie Portman revealed that the opportunity to play a positive female role model was what drew her to the role of Dr Foster and that she read the biography of unheralded chemist and DNA pioneer, Rosalind Franklin, to prepare for the part and to do justice to this STEM trailblazer. The need for these inspirational and aspirational science women is clear. In 2015, at the same time as The Martian was depicting female STEM specialists as at least equal to their male counterparts, two other events shone a less optimistic light on the challenges facing real earth-bound women in these professions. At a lunch held for women science journalists in Seoul, South Korea, biochemist and Nobel Laureate Tim Hunt opined, ‘Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them; they fall in love with you; and when you criticise them, they cry’. Professor Hunt’s comments unleashed such an outpouring of anger that he was forced to resign his post of honorary professor at University College London. Later that year, Sharon Bell and Lyn Yates (2015) released a mixed report on the careers of Australian women in science, particularly those in scientific research. They reviewed literature that provided data-driven evidence of persistent patterns of horizontal segregation (by discipline) and vertical segregation (by level of seniority) of female research personnel using data from 2001 to 2011. In 2001, around 57 per cent of those graduating with bachelor’s degrees in natural and physical sciences were women. Ten years later, the data revealed a pleasing increase in females achieving doctorates in the sciences and an increase in female

representation at all levels of seniority of academic staff. While improving, the numbers were still nowhere near parity and the widening gap remained between men and women as professional rank increased. Bell and Yates concluded that horizontal segregation of women in STEM disciplines appears to be ‘based on perceptions regarding women’s innate ability in science and mathematics, societal attitudes towards gender stereotypes and gender equality, and job security and employability of graduates’ (p. 10).They also concluded that vertical segregation in STEM disciplines that are characterised by high female participation is triggered by ‘the organisational culture of the workplace through practices that disadvantage women such as workload, cultures of long hours, promotions policies and practice, lack of female role models and sponsorship, lack of accommodation of carer responsibilities, and sex discrimination’ (p. 10). Films and television shows can change these ‘perceptions’ by sending more progressive messages about who women are and the roles they can play in the traditionally male disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The STEM challenges we face both nationally and globally are such that we cannot afford to squander the talents of a large section of our population because of their gender. Media makers and outlets need to step up so that our young female STEM aspirants can walk out of a cinema and think that, in twenty years’ time, they could be commanding a mission to Mars. I am not arguing for propaganda; just that STEM professional be added to or replace some of the current futures the media imagines for our girls: ‘real housewife’, bachelorette, or a competitor vying for the attention of the bachelor.

REFERENCES Bell, Sharon, & Yates, Lyn. (2015). Women in the science research workforce: Identifying and sustaining the diversity advantage. Melbourne: L. H. Martin Institute, University of Melbourne. Rudy, R. M., Popova, L., & Linz, D. G. (2010). The context of current content analysis of gender roles: An introduction to a special issue. Sex Roles, 62(11–12), 705–720. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9807-1 Weingart, P., Muhl, C., & Pansegrau, P. (2003). Of power maniacs and unethical geniuses: Science and scientists in fiction film. Public Understanding of Science, 12(3), 279–287. Retrieved from http://www.claudia-muhl.de/weingart-muhl-pansegrau_film.pdf

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Theatre-making: ‘not magic but work, my friends’ MS JOANNE MARTIN, HEAD OF DRAMA | 19 AUGUST 2016

s Cate Blanchett attests (Darling, 2007), ‘theatre is a complicit medium’ in which the actors and audience enter into a temporary agreement to suspend disbelief. It is a transitory experience that lives for a moment and then is gone. And yet, when theatre-making is transformative, the imprint of voices, images and emotions remains long after we have left the performance space. I can still see and hear many beautiful, provocative, moving, elevating and electrifying moments in the theatre. The experience is both concretely visceral and elusively ephemeral. Nevertheless, it is the intention of our work with the students to disassemble the stagecraft and examine the acting so they can experience the thrill and challenge of this art form for themselves. It is powerful to be able to craft a moment that connects with an audience, and we want our girls to experience that joy and thrill. We also want them to dip their toes into the wonders of theatrical history that precedes them so that they can make choices as artists that are built on the traditions of others. For our students, this art form allows them to immerse themselves in the world of others and to understand the complexity of our shared humanity. So, it is our practice to build theatre literacy through the making of theatre, breathing new life into the written form. As our senior Drama students work with some of the great classics of the theatre canon, they seek to transport these from their original context to the world in which we live. This process allows the girls to see these works as rooted in

history but at the same time transcending it. It stirs in them a great curiosity about the breadth of human experience across time, as well as the socio-political context which they inhabit now. Our students come to understand that theatre can be an agent for change; that these seminal works still hold modern dilemmas, which is why they are still staged around the globe. Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, as one example, was written in the throes of World War II yet it has an urgent resonance which our Senior students discover as they work to apply a contemporary socio-political treatment that anchors it right here and now. However, the exploration has to be hands-on. Students can only really understand Brecht’s theory of alienation if they grapple with these conventions and make their own Epic theatre. The classics cannot survive beyond a niche sphere of theatre-goers unless they stay relevant and so the students must understand their original context, treat the works and reimagine them for a contemporary audience. And that is where the fun begins— and the deep thinking, and the pull and thrust of young artists battling with their ideas, choices and challenges. Then all this must be distilled into a cohesive, authentic and highly engaging piece of theatre that resonates in a twenty-first century global landscape. This is really hard work, and it is little wonder our Senior girls reach the holidays completely spent. And then there are the contemporary plays we explore … but that’s another story.

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

For our younger students, it is building their knowledge of the craft that dominates their time in Drama. It begins with scripts, blocks, simple props and the shaping of dramatic action. For the young actors in the rehearsal room, their experience of the different interpretations that can be found in — and made from — the same scripted scene, is revelatory. There is no manual for the shaping of any piece of theatre — there are only words on a page and a few stage directions, so, making decisions collaboratively is central to their theatre-making. The further they travel in their Drama studies, the more elements they need to juggle in order to deliver complex and engaging meaning. There is no formula to apply that will bring the students to the right way and this is both liberating and daunting. There is no static notion of the truth when staging a script — it is a temporal thing. It does not have to be a certain way which, of course, opens up a world of possibilities — and with that comes negotiation and a need for perseverance.

Bertolt Brecht’s poem, The Curtains, reminds us that theatremaking is ‘not magic but work, my friends’ (Grimm, 2003). Our students must learn to be actors, directors, designers and dramaturgs, often all at once and on the one project. Ensemble work ensures that they are not alone in this space, stretching to find the full potential of a scene, struggling with the theatrical possibilities and the staging challenges of a script. Feedback to the actors is often as much about stoking and liberating this exploration as critiquing the technicality of their work. This means another, fundamentally human, set of skills is needed as ‘theatre-making anticipates an all-inclusive collaborative process’ (Radosavljevic, 2013). The twenty-first century human needs agility, critical and creative thinking, the ability to work productively in cross-skill ecologies, and perhaps most importantly, the courage to work where there are no answers. In Drama, our girls are building these misnamed ‘soft skills’, while nurturing a rewarding and lifelong passion for an art form that has been placing the human condition in front of audiences for millennia.

REFERENCES Darling, I. (Director & Producer). (2007). In the company of actors [Documentary]. Australia: Shark Island Productions. Grimm, R. (Ed.) (with the collaboration of Molina y Vedia, C.). (2003). Poetry and prose: Bertolt Brecht (German Library, Book 75) (p. 124). London, England: Bloomsbury Academic. Radosavljevic, D. (2013). Theatre-making: Interplay between text and performance in the 21st century (p. 23). London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

ERIN McGRATH /7R INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

The Olympics, the co-curriculum and #blunity MS MAGGI GUNN, DEAN OF CO-CURRICULUM | 26 AUGUST 2016

am mourning the end of the 2016 Rio Olympics. With more than four hundred Australian athletes competing across 26 sports, there was always something to watch, and an Australian athlete or team to support. Even during the working day, staff and students managed to catch the occasional event, including a couple of girls in my Year 12 Mathematics class who were caught in the surreptitious act. From individual achievements to team performances, we have shared triumphs and disappointments with the athletes, and have been energised, entertained, deflated and inspired. The performances and achievements of the Rio Olympians have no doubt motivated many of our students to improve in, excel at, and enjoy their sporting endeavours. There is widespread awareness that the crucial component for expertise is not talent but purposeful practice — in fact, a minimum of ten thousand hours of deliberate practice has been advocated as the benchmark minimum for expertise (Ericsson, 1993; Gladwell, 2008; Syed, 2010)1. As a volleyball coach with a very competitive streak, I have thought about my Year 7 volleyball team who have 42 hours of purposeful practice under their belts and only another 9958 hours of training to go. At our current rate of three hours of training per week, these twelve-year-olds will not be world-class volleyballers until they are 75 years old.

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Before committing to significantly increasing practice sessions to achieve this ambitious target in a timelier manner, I thought it best to consider the School intent: Proud of our Grammar tradition, we are a secondary school that establishes the educational foundation for young women to contribute confidently to their world with wisdom, imagination and integrity. The contribution of co-curricular opportunities for learning beyond the classroom is widely accepted, and the majority of girls at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, like my mighty Year 7s, have numerous co-curricular interests and must balance their myriad co-curricular commitments — music, sport, drama, service, debating, interest clubs and often study or sport tours — with a sharp focus on schoolwork, homework, academic tasks and assessment due dates. The complementarity of the curriculum and the cocurriculum is manifest in data from the graduating cohort of 2015 which reveals that some of these Year 12 students participated in up to eleven co-curricular activities throughout their senior year. Interestingly, of the 28 Year 12 students who were engaged in five or more activities throughout the year, eight received an Overall Position (OP) of 1, 22 received an OP between 1 and 5, and 27 of the 28 girls who balanced the commitments of five or more

co-curricular commitments with their academic load received a single digit OP. Of the Girls Grammar students who received an OP 1 in 2015, more than 50 per cent were involved with more than three co-curricular pursuits throughout the year.

problem solvers, and conflict managers in their lives and careers beyond Girls Grammar.

Although world-class performance may be the domain of a select group of passionate and singularly dedicated individuals, skillful and accomplished performance can be achieved by those who are able to manage and balance their time, focus and commitments. I take comfort in the observation that Girls Grammar students are adept at managing demanding academic and busy co-curricular schedules.

Some tipping point at which it is not possible to compromise on concurrent co-curricular commitments is inevitable, however not all co-curricular activities are equal in terms of time investment or commitment and interest, and capacity for managing co-curricular participation is undoubtedly individual. The number of manageable co-curricular commitments differs between individuals and over time. Certainly, a general trend of reducing the number of co-curricular activities is noticeable and understandable as students progress through to Year 12 and academic intensity and load increase.

Balancing academic and co-curricular commitments is not straightforward. Constant monitoring, adjustment, compromise and communication are required — demands which obviously escalate as the number of co-curricular activities increases. For students wishing to balance multiple co-curricular commitments, it is vital that schedule clashes are not significant and that negotiated compromises are reached with co-ordinators of activities well in advance so that team goals are not affected and other participants are not let down. Aside from showing consideration and respect for others, practising this process of negotiation is just the sort of thing that will make the girls effective mediators,

As the motto of ‘blue unity is opportunity’ sees us through 2016 and beyond, no doubt I will continue to be in awe of the ability of Girls Grammar students to maintain the frenetic pace of academic and co-curricular student life whilst demonstrating such impressive achievements and performances in academics, sports, music, debates and performances. The Year 7 volleyballers may or may not end up on an Olympic court, but their organizational skills, balance, and commitment to excelling in their sporting, academic, and cultural lives will certainly help them to achieve their personal bests and contribute to their world with wisdom, imagination and integrity.

FOOTNOTE 1

more recent study from Princeton conducted a meta-analysis of 88 studies in which deliberate practice had been investigated in relation to various domains and found A that although deliberate practice accounted for variance on mastery and performance it was not as important as has been argued. Interestingly, the correlation between practice and performance was greater for games and music than for sports, education and in professions (Macnamara, Hambrick and Oswald, 2014).

REFERENCES Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesh-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406. Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. New York, NY: Back Bay Books. Macnamara, B. N., Hambrick, D. Z. & Oswald, F. L. (2014). Deliberate practice and performance in music, games, sports, education, and professions: A meta-analysis. Retrieved from http://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Macnamara-et-al.-2014.pdf Syed, M. (2010). Bounce: How champions are made. London, England: Fourth Estate.

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#bullet_proof_she-preneur MS EMANUELLE JONES, HEAD OF JUNIOR TECHNOLOGIES | 2 SEPTEMBER 2016

he bulletproof she-preneur stands on the precipice of a new era. Her iPhone facilitates her DNA-like encoded comfort with social media. She watches the sun rise while taking a ‘selfie’ in her own brand’s distinctive ‘#activewear’. This, she can upload to ‘insta’ for her hundred thousand followers to admire and potentially purchase through her visionary virtual store-front. The she-preneur is a versatile creature born of today’s digital reality. Her online presence is today’s normality for those who know nothing other than a world of screens, connectedness and online possibility. Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) are overloaded with Facebook feeds discussing political instability, soaring house prices, mounting debt and lack of job security. They decide to take a stand! Concerned about their future in the dwindling job market, a surge of millennials have created their own businesses. They are prepared to take risks in order to future-proof their finances. They know how to manipulate social media and utilise palm technologies to forge a source of income. Traditional career paths may not exist by the time our students graduate. Paul Nielsen, Chairman of the Council of Small Business (Christensen, 2016), said that the number of students studying law at university has outgrown the number of jobs available by a third. The question is: how do we prepare our students for the future job market? This question was at the fore when Brisbane Girls Grammar School was developing its Strategic Design 2016–2019. At our School, under the pillar of ‘Systematic

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL INSIGHTS 2016

Curiosity in Teaching, Learning and Research’ lies the strategy to ‘nurture and celebrate creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and a sense of possibility, wonder and awe’. Carving a niche out of uncertainty will be an essential skill of the future. We recognise that it is important to equip our girls with the ability to take risk given the possibilities that the ever-evolving digital world will present. The Technology Studies programme has been formulated to foster the technical confidence and independence that will be integral to preparing our students for a work future likely to require adaptive, entrepreneurial mindsets and approaches. The work context that the millennials will find themselves contending with will require them to embrace ‘the digital’ and harness it or pursue the dwindling number of enterprises that cannot be subsumed by the unrelenting automation revolution. Starting in Year 7, our course synthesises digital literacy and practical capabilities. Students work to real timelines for fictional companies whether it be fabricating an electronic product while interfacing with a laser cutter to create their own UX brand virtual store-front, User eXperience. Furthermore, our senior course offers opportunities to explore the world of interactive ‘app’ design and responsive Web design for real clients. Most teenagers have grown up with social media and smartphones, and some young people are turning their knowledge of the latest technologies to their advantage. Teen she-preneur, Izzi Dymalovski, launched skin-care business Luv Ur Skin at 14. The idea for her thriving

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business began at the tender age of eight, when her mother, Sonja, would not let her use adult make-up remover. Izzi said, ‘Use baby products? I’m not a baby; I don’t want to use baby products’ (Hanrahan, 2016). Her mother encouraged her to make her own products, but did not realise how seriously Izzi would take the dream.

of the process was being taken seriously by adults. ‘I go into meetings and the people there all underestimate me and direct their questions at mum instead of me’, Isabella said (Naughtin, 2015). ‘But then when I start answering the questions they kind of sit up and realise that I’m actually the one in charge.’

This month, the Year 9 student officially launched her range, her products now being sold in 370 Priceline Stores across the country. Featuring a variety of moisturisers, face washes, nail polishes and body lotions, the Luv Ur Skin range is targeted at teens and tweens. She says success has been a battle and a long time coming, stating that the hardest part

Our School is at the forefront of education, a leader in exceptional educational scholarship, but we are acutely aware that we must foster students’ ability to manage risk in changing environments. Confidence, independence, agility and well-developed digital literacy form the dna sequence of the she-preneur.

REFERENCES Christensen, A. (2016). Millennials start own businesses in wake of shaky job market. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/trends/ millennials-start-own-businesses-in-wake-of-shaky-job-market-20160630-gpvea4.html Hanrahan, J. (2016). Luv Ur Skin! Young entrepreneur creates her own skin care line for teens and tweens at just 14... now it is being sold in hundreds of pharmacies nationwide. Daily Mail Australia. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3676201/Luv-Ur-Skin-created-Izzi-Dymalovski-14-sold-Priceline-stores-country.html Naughtin, P. (2015).Teen Isabella Dymalovski focused on growing cosmetics business Luv Ur Skin. Port Phillip Leader. Retrieved from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/ inner-south/teen-isabella-dymalovski-focused-on-growing-cosmetics-business-luv-ur-skin/news-story/4ac82b4162220beb3e86948da852dc14

INSIGHTS 2016 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Shall we dance? M S J E N N I F E R F U K U S H I M A , H E A D O F JA PA N E S E | 9 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6

‘Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor’ (Jackson Brown, 1991).

s parents and teachers of children in this modern and constantly changing society we are frequently being told that many of the jobs our children will do in the future do not yet exist. So the question is how we make sure our girls are ‘on the dance floor’ ready for whatever music the future might be playing. It is a tricky proposition: how to provide them with opportunities to improve their skills, and encourage them to seize opportunities so they can adapt to an unguessable future. The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority has announced an overhaul of the Senior syllabus to come into effect in 2018. Each new syllabus’s slightly jargonistic goal is to ‘respond to the learning needs of all young people, and facilitate effective transitions to further education, training and employment’ (Queensland Government, 2015). Near the front of each new syllabus is a list of so-called Twenty-first Century Skills. The list includes critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, collaboration and teamwork, personal and social skills, and ICT skills (Queensland Government, 2016). Many of these cannot be taught directly or learned from a textbook; rather they involve the students being presented with certain situations and dealing with problems as they arise — a bit like life. As a language teacher, I found that three of these skills resonated with me — communication, collaboration and

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teamwork, and personal and social skills. I see a strong connection between these skill areas and some observations I have made recently in my classroom through visits from high school students from our Affiliate School in Japan. The Affiliate School Programme has given thousands of Brisbane Girls Grammar School students extraordinary experiences as both hosts and guests. I am an Old Girl and one who possibly owes her career in no small sense to the Affiliate School Programme. I cannot overstate the importance of taking some of the smaller opportunities that arise through interactions with our Affiliate Schools and visiting students. These provide experiences for Girls Grammar students to develop their Twenty-first century skills of communication, personal and social skills, and collaboration and teamwork. The fact that these opportunities are in another language makes them all the more challenging and all the more rewarding. For the first six weeks of Term III, my Year 11 Japanese class played host to Ayu Ishii from Seirinkan High School. Of course, her host ‘sister’ Navodhee Wijesundara had a wonderful opportunity to host, but it was also very beneficial to the entire class. Although our girls were initially shy to leave their comfort zone and try communicating in Japanese, it wasn’t long before several of them approached Ayu and started talking with her. Over the six week period, through their contact with the Japanese student, I saw girls having to

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problem-solve, make decisions, interact, become more culturally aware and display ethical and moral understanding. They had to cast off their nervous wallflower fears and stand ‘on the dance floor’, making the most of the opportunities provided to them not only in the classroom but also at lunchtime, and before and after school. Although initially their moves may have been static and a little amateurish, they soon learned to dance to the beat. As I prepare to escort my third study trip to one of our Affiliate Schools, I am also reminded of the extraordinary experiences about to change the lives of the girls who participate in these trips. It is one thing to welcome an international student into your home and classroom, but to travel overseas as a teenager, experience living with a host family, and attend school in another country could be likened (to extend the ‘dance’ metaphor) to performing with the Australian Ballet. I have no doubt that every one of these girls will find the experience daunting and difficult at first, but they will have to adapt, finding ways to interact, connect, and solve problems. I am confident that the girls will get out and dance, because they invariably progress from feeling apprehensive about their homestays to rating the homestay

experience as their favourite aspect of the trip. To me this defines success. The girls have successfully adapted, communicated, problem-solved and dealt with myriad emotions, and turned their study trip into one of the most significant experiences of their teenage years. Exposing the girls to situations like this, where they have to be brave and take risk, is vital to helping them transition successfully into tertiary studies and future employment. Although we may not be able to foresee exactly where they will end up, we can set them up as well as possible: ‘Fortune favours the prepared mind’ (Pasteur, 1854). Ultimately, we can have all the skills in the world, but if we lack the disposition to get up and have a go at what might seem at first to be difficult or uncomfortable, the skills will not help. The opportunities offered by our Affiliate School Programme may seem small and insignificant, but the skills gained in taking the plunge to communicate, socialise and collaborate with students from different countries are all skills that we know will be necessary in the future. It is about building into our programmes opportunities for the girls to get out and dance to whatever tunes the future might serve up.

REFERENCES Jackson Brown, H. (1991). The complete life’s little instruction book. Nashville, Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press. Pasteur, L. (1854). Lecture, University of Lille. Retrieved from http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2012/04/fortune-favors-brave-bold-and-well.html Queensland Government, Department of Education and Training. (2016). Advancing education: An action plan for education in Queensland. Retrieved from http:// advancingeducation.qld.gov.au Queensland Government, Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2015, November). 21st century skills for senior education: An analysis of educational trends. Retrieved from https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/publications/paper_snr_21c_skills.pdf Stobart, G. (2014). The expert learner: Challenging the myth of ability. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.

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Making sense of the world through historical understanding MRS ROMY FRITZ, HUMANITIES FACULTY | 15 SEPTEMBER 2016

as the world gone mad? In the last six months we have seen numerous events that paint a distressing and chaotic picture of the world. The sharp spike in terrorist attacks around the world set against a backdrop of seemingly incomprehensible wars and the resultant global flow of refugees has led many to retreat to the apparent safety of populist politics that offer simple solutions to complex problems. Brexit and the rise of Trump politics are perhaps emblematic of this bigger dynamic.

Statistics show that 88 per cent of Australian teenagers go online more than once a day (Australian Government, 2016). While they are surrounded by and seem to engage in a constant flow of information, the opportunity for a deep understanding to emerge out of this immersion is questionable. Brian McNair, Professor of Media, Journalism and Communication at QUT, suggests this media environment can have a destabilising effect not simply because there is more information but also because

As a teacher of adolescent girls, I sometimes wonder how my students make sense of the world around them. How do they ‘join the dots’ between what may seem like a series of disparate and disconnected events? The media environment that they, and indeed most of us, inhabit is largely one comprised of short information grabs; often decontextualised images designed to illicit an emotional response but lacking in explanatory narrative. The now famous image of the Syrian toddler washed up on a Turkish beach is a classic case in point. No one could fail to be moved by this image and there was an immediate yet short-lived global response. Missing from most reports was an explanation of why so many families would risk the treacherous journey across the sea in hope of a better life, or any analysis of the underlying causes of the crisis which might reach back 50 or 100 years; such explanations do not fit into five minute news stories.

‘…the speed of its flow has increased. The networked nature of the online media means that an item posted in one part of the world immediately becomes accessible to anyone with a PC and an internet connection, anywhere else — linked, signposted, rapidly becoming part of the common conversation for millions’ (McNair, 2016). When I consider the world into which my students were born, I wonder how they feel about their own futures and their capacity to be agents of change. The recent Brexit campaign may provide some insight into how young people more generally understand and engage with the world. Results from the campaign reveal that only 64 per cent of registered voters aged 18–24 went to the polls, in comparison to 90 per cent of those aged over 65 (Helm, 2016). These statistics suggest that young adults appear to be disengaged with the world, yet after the vote came in, many of them took

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to social media to express their anger and frustration at the older generations for voting to leave the European Union. Obviously this demographic does have an opinion and is anxious about its future — perhaps they misjudge the complexity of issues or do not understand the limitations of the media. Could it be argued that since 2001 when the World Trade Centre was attacked, ‘the unthinkable (has) become mainstream?’ (McNair, 2016). This is the environment into which our current Year 9 and 10 students were born. Their access to the bigger global picture is often not ‘driven by rational calculation but [through] the power of testimonies, narrative and images captured and shared on digital media’ (McNair, 2016). The challenge then is how we, as teachers, prepare our students to make the connections that the media often miss. This makes me reflect on my role as a teacher of History. History is crucial in helping students make sense of what they witness on news media. As a study of the past, history’s emphasis on depth mitigates against the often shallow and fleeting treatment of global events we see in the media. It seeks to understand the world not merely as a series of disjointed and disconnected events but rather as an unfolding interplay of reactions and responses that may have immediate causes or be the result of far-reaching developments in the past.

History is not simply about events (and their dates) but is an exploration of the impulses from which these events emerge. It provides the opportunity for narrative by ‘negotiating between the familiar and unfamiliar, and involves investigation, debate and reasoning about the past’ (ACARA, 2009). Essential concepts such as continuity and change, cause and effect, evidence, significance and contestability provide students with the tools with which to understand the complexity of our world and the relationships between societies, cultures and traditions. Students of History are able to make sense of what may seem like a very chaotic world; the understanding they gain is empowering. This understanding of the world comes as a result of being challenged to think deeply about the issues they are exposed to and having ‘the capacity to formulate problems in a manner amenable to informed reasoning’ (ACARA, 2009). Therefore, the study of History also provides students with the capacity to articulate their thoughts and develop empathy. While it may seem that the world has gone crazy, I find comfort in knowing that our students, through the study of History, are able to make sense of what they see and draw connections between events that seem so disparate. The challenge, though, is to ensure that what students learn in their History classroom is able to be transferred to their daily lives.

REFERENCES Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2009). 7–10 history. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-socialsciences/history/Curriculum/F-10?layout=1 Australian Government, Australian Communications and Media Authority. (2016). Aussie teens and kids online. Retrieved from http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engageblogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussie-teens-and-kids-online Helm, T. (2016). EU referendum: youth turnout almost twice as high as first thought. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/ young-people-referendum-turnout-brexit-twice-as-high McNair, B. (2016). When terror goes viral it’s up to us to prevent chaos. The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/when-terror-goes-viral-its-up-to-us-toprevent-chaos-62687

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Summit to think about MS RUTH JANS, HEAD OF MACKAY HOUSE | 7 OCTOBER 2016

s someone who abhors any form of exercise involving perspiration, I must ask you to forgive my use of the following analogy, but each year I find myself reflecting that the end of Term III feels like reaching the summit of a very high mountain after a very long trek. The point of reaching the summit is — I am told — the view, so I would like to take in the view by reflecting on the journey, the destination, and the road still to travel, especially as they appear to our 2016 Year 12s and their families. The first step of this reflection is to acknowledge what the Brisbane Girls Grammar School, under the leadership of the Seniors, has achieved: another spectacular Open Day, the much-loved Interhouse Athletics Carnival, the much less loved QCS test, a Blue Day, an Olympics Day and countless other landmarks. These, however, pale alongside the constant stream — or perhaps torrent — of curricular, co-curricular, and assessment tasks that characterise each school term. Then, of course, there are the often unshared personal trials many of us have had to overcome throughout this time. It is no wonder that at the end of such a busy period, a school-wide sigh of relief-tinged accomplishment marks the end of Term III. Summiting is important, not so we can give ourselves a smug pat on the back, but because it allows us to take stock of our journey thus far — what went well and what did not. Looking behind we can see what we have achieved, and looking ahead we can see how tantalisingly close we are to our year’s end — and for the Year 12s, school’s end. Making it to the end involves the second step in our reflection: identifying and preparing for the path ahead.

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Although Term IV is the shortest of them all, it can be treacherous indeed if we fix our eyes only on the holiday horizon. The last stage in this mountaintop reflection — and the key to success — is setting goals. Many of these will obviously focus on academic achievement, but for a great number of girls — especially our graduating class of 2016 — their attention will no doubt also be focused further in the distance, on friendships and making the most of opportunities. I have selected two key ideas from the many excellent goal-setting tips included in Rachel Gillett’s Australian Financial Review article titled, ‘25 of the best career and life tips ever given to graduates’ (Gillett, 2016):

1) do not fear failure; rather accept and embrace it; and

2) acknowledge privilege and opportunity and be grateful for it, while accepting that it also comes with responsibility.

In his 2000 Harvard Commencement speech, American television host and comedy writer, Conan O’Brien, picks up on the first tip. He proposes that success is like ‘a bright white tuxedo: you feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it’ (O’Brien, 2008). I suspect that this comparison may strike a chord with many Girls Grammar students, because although their determination to succeed and their experiences of success are admirable, the concomitant pressure they may feel in order to maintain such high standards can sometimes be overwhelming. If this is the case, perhaps it might be helpful to consider O’Brien’s advice about the importance of embracing failure as well as the need to recognise that our ‘mistakes are [simply our]

own unique way of getting to where [we] need to be’ (O’Brien, 2008). The second tip is from Salman Khan – CEO of the Khan Academy, a free online global education platform. Khan’s altruistic focus was on what really matters in life: ‘to better use the gifts [we are] given to empower others and make the world better’ (Khan 2012). This was also espoused by Rebecca Sparrow, a recent guest speaker in our Year 10 Ethics program, when she invited the girls to recognise that the opportunities afforded to them through their education were indeed privileges and that it was their responsibility not only to make the most of their learning, but also to do something with it. Her empowering message was that while they do not need to go out and change the whole world, they should try to do something that makes a difference to at least one person each year. The arithmetic is impressive: if each of our 237 Year 12s helps one person each year for the rest of their lives, they will have made a lot of difference.

For me, as Mackay’s Head of House, this year’s graduating class holds a special place, as these girls and their families are the first group whom I interviewed prior to their commencement in 2012. It was such a privilege to meet them in 2011 as excited Year 7 students full of anticipation and hopes for their high school studies. I have cherished watching them settle into the School community, establishing themselves academically, making friendships and learning how to be independent, proactive, thoughtful and judicious students. The Year 12 Formal was also a true highlight for me as it encapsulated beautifully the stage of this cohort’s growth and maturity from adolescents into young and gracious adults. I hope that all of our Year 12s as well as all students from Years 7 to 11 enjoyed the well-earned Term III holidays, taking the time to rest and refresh, to reflect on what they have learnt and also to set goals for what they wish to achieve before the school year finishes and further into the future.

REFERENCES Gillett, R. (2016). 25 of the best career and life tips ever given to graduates. Australian Financial Review. Retrieved from http://www.afr.com/leadership/careers/careeradvancement/25-of-the-best-career-and-life-tips-ever-given-to-graduates-20160615-gpk59z O’Brien, C. (2008). Conan O'Brien's Speech to the Harvard Class of 2000. (Pt 1 of 2) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cFY0-IFcwc Salman, K. (2012). Sal Khan’s 2012 Commencement Address: Alumnus, Khan Academy founder speaks to the Class of 2012. Retrieved from http://news.mit.edu/2012/ commencement-khan-address-0608

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It’s their story MRS KRISTINE COOKE, DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SERVICES AND MRS JENNY DAVIS, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIAN | 14 OCTOBER 2016

magine a brand new Year 7 student opening, like an historian or an archaeologist, the school ‘port’ of a Grammar girl from the 1930s or the 1960s. Inside are artefacts that provide clues and insights into that girl’s life — a life so far removed from 2016. It is like stepping into a time warp that allows genuine understanding of the significance of the items and what they can tell a modern student about how that earlier girl lived, what her school and schooling were like, even what she wore.

The whole publicised intent of Brisbane Girls Grammar School is to be a ‘leader in exceptional scholarship’, aiming to accomplish this through the provision of an ‘exemplary broad liberal education for girls’. The Beanland Memorial Library, under whose umbrella the archive sits, works to stimulate and enhance this learning ethos. Its professional staff members provide customised services, specifically designed to link the student with relevant and stimulating resources and experiences.

How much better this experience is if the items are real. How delightful for the girl to handle the actual items and how exciting for the archivist who assembled them to see the wonder and curiosity on the young students’ faces. This is partly the reason working in an academic archive is rewarding because sharing the history of an institution has such immediate rewards.

In addition, the Australian Curriculum requires an increased integration of relevant and appropriate primary resource material into the classroom. Of particular importance are primary source materials which have a strong local interest. When introducing students to such primary sources, it is apparent that a relationship to the source makes it easier for students to identify with the material and enables them to relate it directly to their own coursework and their own lives. This is why Girls Grammar Humanities staff decided to introduce Year 7 students, new to the School, to its own particular history by way of their first unit: Investigating the Past.

The guidelines of the Society of American Archivists advise that the special role of academic archives should evolve from the aspiration of the institution to which they are attached and have a particular role in ‘supporting teaching and enhancing the curriculum’. The aim is not to lock away the history but use it to inform the scholars of today.

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Students are introduced to the study of history and the Australian History Curriculum’s key concepts: evidence,

continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy, significance and contestability. And they experience these concepts by investigating their own school environment. They are taken outside the classroom, away from the idea that history is about old or boring people and irrelevant dates through an introduction to Girls Grammar’s archival and material culture. During the students’ ‘“hands-on’ archive session, they are given an overview of the collection and its purpose and are presented with materials pre-selected from The Mothers Group Archive Centre. Students are told what an archive is, the types of items it holds, and what it does, as well as archival etiquette: handling items with care and wearing gloves when touching precious documents and books. To respond to and explore the hypothesis: ‘life as a Brisbane Girls Grammar student was very different in the past’, digital school ports were made available to the students. These comprised genuine items from the School archive. The suitcase contains items from 1900 to 1922: a leather writing tablet, an early post card of the School, Beatrice Monteath’s book, an early newspaper article about trams, Doris Kennedy’s 1915 quarterly report card and a photograph of students seated in a classroom in 1922. Once students had studied the contents online, they were asked to decide the

accuracy of the hypothesis for themselves from the evidence provided. Pedagogical initiatives such as this inquiry-based learning task and document-based questions at all levels make primary resources an important teaching tool. The library staff, including the Special Collections Librarian, work closely with teachers planning and resourcing units. More and more, the School archive is able to offer information about the content of its collections relevant to units of work. The archive is able to allow students ‘to tell their own stories’ and it is not lost on the present students that perhaps, one day, future students may be opening 2016 school bags to glimpse their world. It would be remiss of the archive staff not to conclude with a plea for donations. It is important that any member of the School community, past and present, feel free to offer memorabilia, no matter how apparently insignificant. The aim is to develop a more comprehensive portrait of the life of the School and, especially, its students. Of particular interest, because the archive has so little, is work completed in class: workbooks, annotated textbooks, equipment, anything that adds to our understanding of the lives of those who spent so much time within our walls.

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Music and Gala M S JAC I N DA E U L E R , P R I N C I PA L | 2 1 O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6

omorrow night, Girls Grammar will host its 20th Gala Concert. The magnificence of the performances, the strength of our Music community and the quality of our music education at will be evident to all. For our Director of Instrumental Music, Mr Mark Sullivan the Gala will also represent the culmination of a twenty-year career at Girls Grammar, eighteen of them as Director; a turning point for staff, students and their families and certain to contribute to a particularly special evening. There was an excited and expectant air about the School today as girls rehearsed for their performances. Leah Shafer, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s article, Bolstering the Case for Music in Schools traces the links between musical training and executive function. Fortunately at Girls Grammar there is no need to ‘bolster the case’ for Music in our School but it is interesting, nonetheless, to remind ourselves why we value it so deeply. Quite apart from the obvious benefits of nourishing the soul, bringing joy to both the music maker and the listener, music education brings wider benefits, particularly within the context of exceptional scholarship. Shafer writes, ’If educators want to develop critical, creative thinkers who can set and accomplish their own goals — and who can use those skills to strengthen their math and reading skills — they may want to take another look inside the music room … For a child to play an instrument, she needs to stick to

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her goals, pay sustained attention, and be flexible enough to switch back and forth between tempos and styles’. These habits draw heavily on executive function skills and cognitive processes that include problem-solving, goal setting, and flexible thinking. Importantly, music doesn’t merely require executive function skills, it builds them (Shafer, 2016). To inspire life-wide learning at Girls Grammar we encourage girls to dare to dream, without fear of failure, and to test the unfamiliar through music education. Offering diverse opportunities and experiences enables broad participation, including through our Inter-house Choral Competition, now in its 60th year and this week won by Griffith House for 2016. Importantly, the music programme also ignites sparks of particular interest and develops rare talent, providing for the highest levels of expertise in musicianship. The soloists and our extraordinary String Quartet, for example, will make this abundantly clear at Gala. In The Story of Music (2013), Howard Goodall wrote, ‘Not that long ago, music was a rare and feeble whisper in a wilderness of silence. Now it is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. How on earth did that miracle happen?’ Tomorrow night we look forward to the miracle of music in some of its finest forms when our Girls Grammar musicians perform at the 2016 Gala Concert. It will undoubtedly be Out of this World.

MARGOT MARSHALL / 8W (ANIMATION DETAIL)

REFERENCES Goodall, H. (2013). The Story of Music. London. Shafer, L. (2016). Music lessons tracing links between musical training and executive function - and bolstering the case for music in schools. Retrieved from http://www.gse. harvard.edu/news/uk/16/03/music-lessons

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Economics: the gene of humanity DR SAM PENG, ECONOMICS TEACHER | 28 OCTOBER 2016

his is a perplexing time in our world, where economic reality departs from economic doctrine and the common aspiration to economic prosperity fails to evoke a commonly agreed path. As seen in the recent voting for Brexit and the backlash of the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), countries that have long benefited from trade, immigration and technological innovation, “suddenly developed a strain of anti-immigrant, anti-innovation protectionism” (Obama, 2016). Similarly, despite the proven and well-documented benefits of a more equal society (OECD, 2015), inequality has risen to an unprecedented level where the richest 1 per cent controls as much wealth as the other 99 per cent (BBC, 2016). The much needed economic recovery seems like a pipe dream, while priorities for economic reforms remain widely divided across the political spectrum. As an Economics teacher, I cannot help wondering how our students make sense of this topsy-turvy reality, and more importantly, how they view the purpose of learning Economics.

trajectory. To begin with, allow me to wind back time to what is commonly believed to be the first step in the process of becoming human.

Teaching junior Humanities alongside Economics provides me an opportunity to consider these questions in a much broader context. In fact, since we are studying human evolution this term, I decided to go back to the prehistorical times and examine our challenges today in the light of the bumpy evolutionary process. To my great surprise, the theory of economics, though not discovered until millions of years later, shines at every major turning point along that path. It explains why we are who we are today and casts light on how we can better proceed along this evolutionary

Phrased in economic language, the challenge faced by our early ancestors is a typical scarcity problem, and their response to economise use of energy – whether by accident or choice – undeniably increased their chance of survival. While acknowledging the risk of overgeneralisation, I am tempted to say that an examination of other milestones along human evolution conveys the same message: each step we make towards humanity is a step towards a more optimal use of resources. This can be seen, for example, in the use of fire for cooking which shortens

Bipedalism is probably the most important step that gradually distinguished us from other hominids. Walking upright on two legs freed our hands for making and using tools and allowed us to gradually develop bigger and more complex brains for communication and imagination. While the origin of bipedalism remains an unsolved mystery, it is believed to be a response to a sudden environmental change in Africa that occurred about five million years ago. When the lush rain forest was replaced by vast grassland, our early ancestors who had lived in trees, faced a huge challenge with the lack of food and natural protection. Many theories have been put forward to explain this posture change, ranging from the need for better defence to the need for long distance travel, but recent evidence suggests that walking upright actually uses less energy than crawling (Rodman and Mchenry, 1980).

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our digestion time and increases our energy intake; or in the development of language which facilitates the exchange of knowledge and reduces the time for repetitive research; or in the building of cities where resources can be shared and used more efficiently due to the economy of scale. The more examples you consider, the clearer the message. We are who we are today because of the ceaseless trials we make to optimise the use of scarce resources. In this sense, I would like to call this hidden rule of economics the gene of our humanity. To carry this gene forward, three important questions need to be clarified: what are the scarce resources; what does it mean by optimal use, and who makes the critical decision on resource allocation. During the vast time span of human evolution, resources are limited to natural resources, labour and small amounts of capital (e.g. lithic tools). Optimal use largely means to explore and use resources more efficiently and nature often acts as the ultimate decision maker by selecting the fittest to survive. Thanks to the development of human civilization, today the resources cover a much wider scope, including not only natural resources, capital and labour, but also human resources (e.g. ideas, enterprise) and social resources (e.g. education, healthcare, information). Accordingly, optimal use refers to more than efficient use of resources, but also equitable distribution of resources. Without efficiency, equity is harder to achieve; without equity, efficiency tends to suffer. Last but not least, the decisions on resource

allocation are less subject to nature or a small number of people. Instead, they are made through the participation of each individual through the market and a democratic system. Compared to our early ancestors, it is not hard to see that humanity today faces two interlocking challenges: the challenge to use resources more efficiently, as population growth and consumerism continue to push the limit of the environment; and the challenge to distribute resources more equitably. The recent resurgence of protectionism against free trade and innovation is a perfect example of how inequality and poverty can slow down or even reverse our effort to improve efficiency. Therefore, the solution to our challenges today lies in our ability to understand different perspectives in an ever-changing environment and strike a dynamic balance between efficiency and equity. This involves more responsible and informed participation of each one of us in the grand collective decision-making process. Viewed in this light, the purpose of learning Economics is more than to maxmise our individual interest, but also to become a responsible member of society, and to honour the gene of our humanity. Note: The fact that I have taught vastly different topic areas across a range of year levels has reminded me that ultimately all knowledge is interconnected and transferable, a lesson extremely crucial to our students.

REFERENCES BBC. (2016). Oxfam says wealth of richest 1% equal to other 99%. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35339475 Obama, B. (2016). The way ahead. The Economist, Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21708216-americas-president-writes-us-about-four-crucialareas-unfinished-business-economic OECD. (2015). In it together: Why less inequality benefits all. Paris: OECD Publishing. Rodman, P. S., & Mchenry, H. M. (1980). Bioenergetics and the origin of hominid bipedalism. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 52(1), 103-106.

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It all depends on your perspective D R A N N FA R L E Y, D I R E C T O R O F C R O S S FA C U L T Y I N I T I A T I V E S | 4 NOVEMBER 2016

ecently I watched the CNN documentary, We will rise: Michelle Obama’s mission to educate girls around the world. I heard young women from Morocco and Liberia tell their stories of what education means to them and the challenges that they overcome each day to get to school. As I continued to listen to these articulate young women, I realised how easy it is to take our many opportunities for granted. I was touched by their passion, their appreciation for the little they had and their determination to learn regardless of the obstacles they faced. This inspiring narrative resulted from a collaboration between Michelle Obama, Meryl Streep, Freida Pinto (star of Slum Dog Millionaire) and CNN journalist, Isha Sesay. It was easy to see why they had such passion for this project as each related a personal story about how their mother or grandmother had struggled for either her own education or that of her children. The importance of strong women sharing their passion for learning with following generations was an ongoing theme. Ensuring that a nation’s girls are educated unlocks significant human potential (Let Girls Learn, 2015). Since the early 1990s, there has been an ever-increasing appreciation of the potential resource that women and girls represent (Kristof and Wudunn, 2009). In 1992, Lawrence Summers, then chief economist of the World Bank said, ‘Educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment in the developing world‘. The United Nation’s

Sustainable Development Goals highlight the importance of quality education as being the foundation for improving people’s lives and achieving sustainable development. (United Nations Development Programme, 2016) We know that more educated women tend to be healthier, participate more in the formal labour market, earn more income, have fewer children and provide better health care and education to their children. To educate a girl improves the well-being of all individuals and lifts households and communities out of poverty (World Bank, 2013). ’Too often, a girl who could change her world for the better is locked out of that future by the circumstances of her birth or the customs of her community and country‘ (Let Girls Learn). We will rise highlights these issues through stories such as Raphina’s: Raphina lives in the city of Kakata in Liberia, a country on the West African coast. She is twenty years old. Her father died when she was nine. Her mother could have arranged for her to marry for the dowry or made her work in the home. Instead she made a huge sacrifice, both from a cultural and personal perspective. She sent her daughter away to live with relatives so that she could continue her education, but Raphina’s life is not easy. She does most of the housework, she goes to the market and cooks. Then she goes to school. When she comes home she does more housework, and when everyone else has gone to bed – from 9 pm to 11 pm –

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she studies in a narrow hallway where there is barely enough light to read. Despite her commitment, Raphina’s uncle questioned the value of paying her school fees but it was ultimately Raphina’s education that saved his life. Raphina’s favourite subjects are Biology and Chemistry and she wants to be a doctor. When her uncle got sick with Ebola, she recognised the symptoms from Biology class. Initially he did not believe her because she was a girl, but she persisted. Her uncle was quarantined, treated and he survived. ’Educate a girl and good things happen to the family‘(Sesay in Sexton and Gerber, 2016). When asked about challenges facing girls and education in her country, Raphina spoke about the Ebola outbreak and the fact that many girls were left without anyone to support or encourage them in their education. ’Those girls feel like they have no one in society‘, she said. The documentary was filled with young women telling similar stories as they shared insights into their homes and families, challenges, and hopes and dreams. It was impossible not to be touched by their love of education and the lengths to which they were willing to go to enable them to receive that education. They challenged you to consider the world through their eyes. These girls have so much to teach us about determination, confidence, courage, passion and leadership. Despite their enormous struggles, their commitment to education has given them a voice.

The documentary included two forums where Obama, Streep, Pinto, Sesay and a number of the girls shared their perspectives about the role of education in their lives. Their insightful discussions held something for us all. In response to a question about leadership, strengths and weaknesses, Michelle Obama replied, ’Confidence and pride, that’s the beginning of becoming a leader. It’s just starting to do things that you don't feel comfortable doing but you push yourself to do them anyway.’ She spoke of the importance of authenticity, ’One of my strengths is to just be me wherever I am. You don’t have to be someone different to be important. You’re important in your own right. People need to value you because of who you are, because of your story‘. In the final forum the conversation turned to self-doubt and maintaining confidence in one’s own ability. Meryl Streep commented that the young women she had met had ’such strength of purpose‘, stating, ’it all exists within each one of you. It is already there and you just have to reach in and access it’. When the documentary concluded I reflected on how important our perspective is in shaping our thinking and what we value in life. It is not what we are given but the value that we place on it that is important. Through their stories these young women had reminded me of the confidence and strength of purpose that can come from recognising education as the tremendous gift that it is.

REFERENCES Kristof, N., & Wudunn, S. (2009). Half the sky: How to change the world. London: Virago Press. Lawrence, S. (1992).The most influential investment. Scientific American. 267, 132. Let Girls Learn. (2015). Retrieved from https://letgirlslearn.gov/ Sexton, C., & Gerber, T. (2016). We will rise: Michelle Obama’s mission to educate girls around the world. USA, CNN United Nations Development Programme. (2016). Sustainable development goals. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html World Bank. (2013). Girls’ education. Retrieved from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20298916~menuPK:617572~ pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.html

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Navigating friendships and friendship difficulties M I S S C H R Y S TA L G R AY, S C H O O L P S Y C H O L O G I S T | 1 1 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

n conversations with girls, their excitement when they find a new friend who they genuinely connect with is unparalleled. Unfortunately, one girl’s new connection often feels like another girl’s loss. Friendships during adolescence have the capacity to provide a sense of belonging and security, bring joy, promote self-esteem, cultivate interpersonal skills, and build a sense of individual and group identity (Preuschoff, 2006). Friendship difficulties, on the other hand, can feel devastating for adolescent girls, and heartbreaking for those who care for them. The developmental and environmental changes that occur during adolescence almost guarantee that relationships will change and friendship difficulties often ensue. Friendship difficulties can be exacerbated by certain behaviours that are more broadly described as relational aggression. Ignoring, excluding, spreading false rumours, gossiping, taunting, and insulting are used to harm relationships or social status (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). Power, popularity, and a desire to fit in often underlie these behaviours (Pronk & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2010). While relational aggression is an insidious form of bullying, it is important to distinguish it from regular friendship fallouts that occur due to changing interests or decreased time spent together as a result of class allocations or other environmental changes. ’It’s the deceptively unhelpful piece of advice that every well-intentioned adult has at one point issued to a child: You should be friends with everybody!’ (Miller, 2016). It’s natural to be drawn towards, and spend

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more time with, a select group of like-minded peers. While this can be unintentionally upsetting for those who perceive they are on the outer, it is markedly different from bullying, which involves recurrent and intentionally hurtful behaviour that continues even after the issue is raised with those involved. Characteristics of children’s relationships with parents, peers, and school personnel are associated with their ability to respond to bullying (Bernstein & Watson, 1997). For students to be empowered, their voice and choice needs to be maintained during adolescence through participation in decision-making, critical reflection, and being heard (Nation, Vieno, Perkins, & Santinello, 2008). Empowering a friend, daughter, or student to respond effectively to bullying or friendship difficulties begins with taking time to listen and being a good listener. Talking allows for experiences and emotions to be processed before problem-solving can begin. A good listener does not interrupt, criticise, or invalidate what is said (Wiseman, 2004). Similarly, asking questions, rather than providing answers, empowers others by acknowledging that they have the answers. Questions can be used to promote critical thinking and gain perspective about motives for behaviour. In the wise words of Henry Ford, ’If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as your own’. The relief is clearly observable when girls discover that the reason their friend has been

avoiding them is because their friend has been feeling just as hurt as they have.

complete jigsaw puzzles, colour in, or just relax during their lunch breaks).

Without judging or offering advice, first empathise and validate. All emotions, pleasant and unpleasant, are natural and each person’s feelings reflect their emotional truth (Wiseman, 2004). It is, however, imperative to keep one’s own emotions in check when supporting others. Modelling a calm response promotes emotional containment.

Parents can also take a number of steps to decrease the impact of friendship difficulties. Non-intrusive monitoring of personal electronic devices can help promote good decision-making. Mediation through guidance is often more effective than more aggressive or intrusive forms of supervision. This might include parents having their child as a friend on social media accounts, having general conversations about the topics being discussed in messages, providing assistance when requested, and helping adolescents to assertively manage situations that they find difficult. Taking a break from technology as a family can also provide some reprieve from the advertising and social media that can foster insecurity and competition. While it’s important to provide adolescents with the opportunity to solve their own problems, if a student has been threatened or there is a risk of physical harm, or if difficulties are escalating or continuing after your daughter has attempted to resolve them, then it may be necessary to seek additional support from a Head of House or one of the School Psychologists.

Normalising regular friendship difficulties and discouraging relational aggression can also decrease the intensity of associated unpleasant emotions. Girls will always have those friends who they prefer to spend more time with. They don’t have to be friends with everyone – but they will be respected for being friendly. As Miller stated, ’It’s OK to not invite someone to your party, but don’t boast about the event in front of them. It’s understandable that you may not want to sit with a student you don’t have much in common with, but you could still smile at them when you see them in the playground. It’s natural that you might want to discuss someone who has hurt you with your mates, but be discreet.’ Once probing questions have been asked and regular friendship difficulties have been normalised, the foundations have been laid for effective problem-solving. The more independence that girls have in this process, the more confidence they develop in their ability to respond assertively. In order to be able to problem-solve and communicate effectively, it is important to be able to stay calm and manage stress and anxiety. Healthy coping skills such as exercise, journaling and mindfulness or meditation are vital. Brisbane Girls Grammar School provides many self-care opportunities for students including the .b Mindfulness in School Programme (a mindfulness course designed to improve well-being and resilience that is delivered to all Year 8 students), exercise in the form of yoga and strength training, and the Balance Space (a technologyfree zone where girls can engage in board games with peers,

Consideration of some of the abovementioned ideas may help parents and caregivers to empower adolescent girls to successfully navigate friendships and friendship difficulties. The ideas explored included:

1. Listening

2. Asking questions that elicit multiple perspectives

3. Validating feelings and empathising

4. Modelling a calm response

5. Normalising friendship difficulties

6. Problem-solving

7. Promoting self-care and healthy coping skills

8. Seeking additional support if needed.

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ABBEY ANSTEY-WALSH / 9E (DETAIL)

REFERENCES Bernstein, J. Y., & Watson, M. W. (1997). Children who are targets of bullying: A victim pattern. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 483–498. Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender and social psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710-722. Miller, D. (2016). Not being friends with everyone isn’t bullying. It’s life. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/. Nation, M., Vieno, A., Perkins, D. D., & Santinello, M. (2008). Bullying in school and adolescent sense of empowerment: An analysis of relationships with parents, friends, and teachers. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 18, 211–232. Perkins, D. D., & Zimmerman, M. A. (1995). Empowerment theory, research, and application. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 569–579. Preuschoff, G. (2006). Raising girls: Why girls are different — and how to help them grow up strong and happy. California: Celestial Arts. Pronk, R. E. & Zimmer-Gembeck, M.J. (2010). It’s "mean”, but what does it mean to adolescents? Relational aggression described by victims, aggressors, and their peers. Journal of Adolescent Research; 25; 175-203. DOI: 10.1177/0743558409350504 Wiseman, R. (2004). Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping your daughter survive cliques, gossip, boyfriends, and other realities of adolescents. Piatkus Books: London.

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2016 Remembrance Day Address MS ANNE BYRNE, SCIENCE TEACHER AND DEBATING COORDINATOR | 11 NOVEMBER 2016

ood morning Ms Euler, guests, staff and girls. At this Remembrance Day Assembly, a few years ago, Ms Hennessey spoke to us about the importance of story-telling. She reminded us that we use stories to make sense of past events; we use stories to help us understand who we are and we use stories to provide a guide for the future. Today I am sharing a story with you that helped me understand a little better the meaning of that rather quaint phrase ‘lest we forget’ and understand why it is even more important and more relevant today than it was ninety-eight years ago. It is a very simple story that begins with an ordinary young man who many years ago went on to do extraordinary things with his life. My story, like all such stories, may offer you something to think about and perhaps to act on as well as inviting us to reflect on who we are as a culture and a nation. The hero of my story went to St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace and in most respects he was just like many of you in terms of his background and experiences. He played a lot of sport, did well at his studies, and of course, was a great debater. But in addition, he was passionate about ships and the Navy so it was no surprise to his teachers when he opted to sign up for the Defence Force and head off to Jervis Bay, the Defence Academy for the Navy in those days. After four years he had collected his first two degrees, Surveying and Arts, and he was ready for his big naval adventure. He spent a few years as a navigator working

on patrol boats up in Broome, repelling Indonesian spy boats, and then later he headed off to Bass Strait for a while. And because he was clever and ambitious — and had collected the first of his Master’s degrees. He ended up as Aide-de-Camp to the Admiral of the Fleet — a sort of PA to the Navy CEO — and spent time in Hawaii. It was a good life which led to him being seconded to represent Australia, lecturing in the Indonesian Naval Academy in Jakarta; a very prestigious posting. But then in 1991, his story changed direction. Iraq had invaded neighbouring Kuwait and Australia sent troops to support the US in driving Iraq out of Kuwait. This was the beginning of Operation Desert Storm and was the beginning of what is now twenty-five years of Australian engagement in that region. The world saw for the first time, a real war played out on television in real time through the eyes of CNN. The hero of my story saw the same war in real time through his own eyes as Baghdad was bombarded. The following year our protagonist was sent to Mogadishu in Somalia (North Africa) to assist the UN with peace keeping in a vicious and never ending civil war. Then he went on to East Timor to assist the UN in peacekeeping during the rocky transition to independence. And eventually he was off to Afghanistan to take up the role as Australia’s Director of Military Intelligence in Kabul. In that fourteen year span of his life he served in virtually every hot spot and war zone in the world.

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Yet he was an ordinary fellow, who had never seen death before he left Australia. Suddenly he was being confronted by angry militants in Somalia. He saw the devastation wrought on civilians from the bombings in Baghdad and who knows what atrocities he witnessed in his three years in Afghanistan while confronting a resentful and violent Taliban. We do know his life was threatened more than once by Taliban supporters simply for organising a shipment of paper, pencils and sharpeners to be sent to Kabul for little girls who were allowed to go to school for the first time in two thousand years. It was about that time he started to break into little pieces. He had lost so much by then. He had lost a marriage, he had lost many good friends, he almost lost his life countless times, and he came so close to losing his belief in the inherent goodness of people. He had begun to view life through a black filter. In 2005, he returned to Australia with his mind in a dark place and his joy of life and his faith in humanity seemed extinguished. It took two years to heal with the support of those who loved him. In 2007, he spoke at the Terrace Remembrance Day Assembly about his life experiences and his beliefs. He delivered a remarkably powerful yet simple reflection on his interpretation of what ‘lest we forget’ meant to him. He began by setting out his belief that we all have the potential to do harm given the right circumstances, rather like a seed lurking underground waiting to be watered and warmed in order to grow. Then, he went on to propose that it is the good and ordinary, everyday people who are the ones most likely to provide the conditions for harm to be done. How, we have to ask, could that be so? Well, Edmund Burke, 250 years ago told us that ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’. In 2016, we will take that to include good women who do nothing! And this is what the soldier of my story believes is at the heart of ’lest we forget’. He sees this phrase as a powerful call to action for us all. He maintains that we are the guardians in our world and if we remain passive, ignoring

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what is around us then harm can flourish. He charged us with two whole-of-life tasks by insisting it is our responsibility as the privileged, educated and affluent of this world, to be vigilant and to watch for opportunities where we can make a positive difference. And so what exactly are we looking for, when we speak of ‘opportunities’? Sadly, we see instances and examples every day, large and small, of malice, of spite, meanness, greed, intolerance and envy. They are all old fashioned words, but they are none the less harmful whenever and wherever they appear. And most importantly, if left unchallenged, they grow in intensity and frequency. It is up to us, he maintained, to challenge these instances of harm. But I mentioned a second role he tasked us with. He reminded us that we must be the ones to provide shelter, support, strength and a helping hand to protect and empower those in need. Bullies need unprotected victims to flourish; greed and envy need a powerless opposition to spread their poison; meanness and spite thrive in the absence of a robust opposition. And so what happens if we forget to live up to the two tasks he set? We have Auschwitz, Hiroshima, genocide in Uganda, the killing fields of Cambodia, we have Syria and Isis, terrorism in France. We have desperate poverty and racial intolerance. The challenge my hero leaves you with then, is quite clear. There are choices to be made if we wish to make a difference. Australia is fortunate in that we are one of the very few nations to have never fought a battle in our own land. For most of the past 120 years our military actions have been in support of our allies or in extending a helping hand to those in need – in East Timor, in the Solomon Islands, in Fiji, in Papua New Guinea, to those who come to us from Africa and now from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is what we do. It is who we are. And he insists, it is who you can be. We were all there that day as he spoke, to show to my brother how proud we are of what he and all those like him have given to the vulnerable and unprotected,

SCOUT LEMAN / 12W (DETAIL)

regardless of the cost to themselves. But, as I reminded you at the beginning of my story today, this is not just a story of one person, my brother; rather it is a story for all of us.

remains clear. We must not forget because lest we forget we may permit harm to take root and spread. And that we cannot allow. Thank you for letting me share my story with you today.

He is in Mongolia at present, no doubt extending a helping hand to someone somewhere. But his message

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Sharing with dignity while maintaining hope — what have you got to share? M R S L Y N N E M U N G O M E R Y, D I R E C T O R O F S E R V I C E | 1 8 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

e have many busy days at Brisbane Girls Grammar School — days when students rush, with speech notes in hand, from assembly to classroom, from the café to the D (dance) Floor, often at a frantic pace with the desire to be involved in all of the excitement that the co-curricular programme brings. Naturally, there are those girls who choose to avoid the frenzy and contribute in other less visible and obvious ways. As an integral member of our school community, she might be the student who strives to walk 10 000 steps per day with her Steptember team after school or who cheers in support for the Year 11 nominees for Service Captain, having listened to the delivery of their speech to the cohort. One of the nominees for this position in 2017 summarised the unique place of Service at BGGS. ‘I find service to be one of the vital connectors between Year levels, allowing girls to form friendships based not just on age, but on mutual interests’ (McArthur-Dowty, 2016). Through the School Service Programme, students of similar interests and intentions come together to share for the betterment of others. An opportunity arises from the unity of those that are willing to give and to share. Such has been the uniting power of #blunity, created by the Student Council of 2016 and so willingly shared by our girls in photos, speeches and social media throughout the year. #blunity stickers can be

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seen on phone cases, lap tops and school bags. Not only has the sale of the stickers raised funds for the School Charity, Kids Helpline, but in buying a sticker the girls are showing their support for the goals established by the 2016 Service Captains at the beginning of the year. ‘For better unity support your community’ is a phrase that we have heard fortnightly on assembly from Service Captains, Lydia Gandhi and Phoebe Gibson-Dougall. The aim of the 2016 School Charity has been to acknowledge individuality as members of the Girls Grammar student body and in doing so, to support each other and the members of our community. Students have been challenged to identify who is in their community — Girls Grammar and beyond — and to consider how they might contribute to this community, while acknowledging their need to accept their own identity and the diversity of our population. Supported by the Student Care Ethics programmes, each Year level has had the opportunity to learn about and reflect on their mental health, personal identity and self-awareness. The School Service programme raises in the vicinity of $60 000 per annum. This is the result of much planning, preparation and promotion by the students involved. But, what do our students actually get out of this? Is the raising of awareness and deepening of understanding by our students as strong as the dollars that are raised? This is

certainly the intention of the programme and something that we continue to develop each year. The aim is to make a connection, through empathy coupled with action, to allow students to truly connect and share. To embed reflective practices as they meet the challenges, deepen understanding and contribute through service and model active citizenry, is essential to encourage Service Learning. Through participation in Community Service, students engage in activities to meet actual community needs as an integrated aspect of the curriculum (Cress, 2005). While the terms are often used interchangeably, Cress says that Service Learning is established when students engage in Community Service activities with intentional academic and learning goals and opportunities for reflection that connect to their academic disciplines. The value of the Community Service programme is measured by the reflection process. Reflecting on experiences lends new significance to what we are learning. It allows us to compare initial goals and objectives with eventual outcomes (Cress, 2005). It is a delight to hear students describe the thoughts, conversations and sharing of emotions following time spent in the service of others. This is a transformative experience as they express how their service has created a shift in their thinking, as they realise that they actually can contribute to a better world, be it on a large or small scale, enhancing their judicious and ethical engagement with the world. At Girls Grammar we strive to ‘cultivate an environment of judicious, ethical and purposeful engagement where the understanding that our actions should have a positive impact demands principled behaviour and doing what is right’ (Brisbane Girls Grammar School, 2015). Service is not about completing a specified number of hours just to get it on the resume; not just doing it so that the

students can say or record that they have completed it. The reason for participating in service is that they have something to give. By sharing their skills, our students realise that they can make a difference to someone else’s life. As one student wrote: ‘That is something that makes me feel truly special. I love helping people, animals and the environment and feel such a great sense of pride and personal satisfaction knowing that I have done my bit to help them the best I can’ (Kumar, 2016). Feed the people not the ego — to share empathy, kindness and compassion are more important than the physical things that we can offer. Lucas Patchett and Nicholas Marchesi (2016) founders of Orange Sky Laundry, express this so naturally when they describe the conversations that are shared while the clothes of those in need are being washed. ‘Orange Sky Laundry is a catalyst for conversation. In the one hour time it takes to wash and dry someone's clothes there is absolutely nothing to do but sit down on one of our 6 orange chairs and have a positive and genuine conversation between our everyday volunteers and everyday friends on the street’ (Marchesi & Patchett, 2016). The impact of the conversations that are shared while the clothes are in the machine has an immeasurable and overwhelmingly positive outcome for the person. Talk to the person, laugh with the person. Help to add some dignity and hope to their lives. For our Community Service students it might be the game of table tennis with the resident in aged care or the feeling of achievement shared upon the completion of a first reader in the Smith Family Buddy reading programme that allows the person and the volunteer to laugh, relax and feel a sense of elation together as a result of the special attention that has been shared. For Senior Service student, Abirami

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Somasundarum, it was the chance to play her flute and to break the routine at the Aged Care home where she has volunteered, that helped her realise that she was capable of making a positive difference to the residentsâ€™ lives (2016). A scholarship application that simply records a list of activities in Year 12 is treated as just that, an application with lots of padding and activities to make the application look good. Beyond listed experiences, it is the whole person that is the appeal to the potential employer. The development of a philanthropic mindset within students who graduate with the intention of continuing to give back to their community and their School is what we strive for. Several of our students have been acknowledged this week through the awarding of Speech Day prizes for service to their School. They have demonstrated a spirit of generosity and contribution through the giving and sharing of their skills, talents and time to causes for the improvement of society and to their school.

I have had the most fulfilling experience over the past five years, as I have been able to share the Girls Grammar journey with some very special young ladies. Today I am a somewhat emotional mother of a Year 12 student and also a teacher at this wonderful school. What a pleasure it has been to watch the class of 2016 find their niche at Girls Grammar and share the highs and lows of growing up together. While the tables outside the windows of the Main Building will seem a little quiet and empty over the next couple of weeks, I look forward to the day when these eloquent, dignified and confident young women return to our school to share with us the world that has opened up to them, and their personal contribution to it, since their graduation day, 18 November 2016.

REFERENCES Brisbane Girls Grammar School. (2016). Strategic design 2016â€“2019. Brisbane, Australia: BGGS. Cress, C. M. (2005). Understanding the learning-through-serving propostion: What is service learning. Virginia, USA: Stylus Publishing. Kumar, A. (2016). Service captain application. Marchesi, N., & Patchett, L. (2016). What we do. Retrieved from http://www.orangeskylaundry.com.au/what-we-do McArthur-Dowty, J. (2016). Service captain application. Somasundaram, A. (2016). Senior service reflective report.

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Arty like it’s 1899 (apologies to Prince) M R D O N A L D P I N C OT T, V I S UA L A R T H E A D O F D E PA R T M E N T | 2 5 N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 6

he study of art at our school has a long and distinguished history. Evidence for this in the form of a timetable from 1899 resides in the Brisbane Girls Grammar School archives. Close perusal of this handwritten marvel reveals that at Girls Grammar, girls in each form were exposed to art, studying drawing at least once a week as part of their set curriculum. At the same time as the girls were following this schedule, in fin de siècle Europe, art nouveau was first flowering; Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, and Aubrey Beardsley had only recently died; and Toulouse Lautrec was in an infirmary. In Australia, the plein air painters were celebrating the bush and capturing the antipodean light. Mrs O’Connor, the first Principal, was herself an artist, and was determined that art should be part of the curriculum. Unsurprisingly, the teaching of art at the school in 1899 reflected the wider approach to art education in the Western tradition at that time. Copying from plaster casts and instruction in water-colour painting were considered the correct approach in a girls school. Masters encouraged the girls’ skills in observation and their ability to manipulate drawing materials. Drawing was also considered a means of developing hand–eye co-ordination. As time passed, school art curricula followed changing pedagogical fashions. By the middle of the twentieth century, schooling reflected the then radical approach of the American educator John Dewey who promoted the need for discovery in learning and the cultivation of imagination and individuality. Art was seen as a vehicle for

developing such creativity. By the 1970s, Visual Art in Queensland schools was a respected accredited academic subject counting towards university entrance. Copying works by artists (or indeed the Art teacher) was deemed uncreative, and gave way to the study of art as a means of expressing individual ideas and exploring materials. The teacher was guide and facilitator. In our era, again unsurprisingly, the art curriculum echoes the practices of contemporary art, including digital media and processes as well as traditional approaches. Contemporary artists represent the world visually, but also create images which aim to educate, challenge and ‘conscientise’ the viewer. The biggest difference I see in art education today is the pedagogical emphasis on thinking and exploring ideas as well as the ability to manipulate materials and to show expert technique. This means that, although an art room may physically look similar to the one in our 1899 timetable, with sinks, desks, pencils and drying racks, what actually transpires in the classroom is quite different. Students of art develop twenty-first century skills that not only build upon core content knowledge, but also include information and communication skills, thinking and problem solving skills, interpersonal and self-directional skills, and the skills to utilize 21st century tools, such as information and communication technologies (Pearlman, 2010, p. 103). To inculcate these skills for the current and coming world,

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teaching strategies necessarily reflect what Pearlman calls a ‘move away from teacher-directed whole group instruction to create learner-centered workplaces for a collaborative culture of students at work’ (Pearlman, 2010, p. 102).

or the ‘guide on the side’, but ‘meddlers in the middle’ (McWilliam & Taylor, 2015) who collaborate with their students and enable them to collaborate with one another.

So what does this edu-speak actually mean for art education at this school? The art teacher is no longer just an expert demonstrator, but an active collaborator who explores ideas with the students, and whose job is to encourage deep thinking skills which apply well beyond and outside the subject of Visual Art. Because art is more than the creation of visual images, objects and experiences, Visual Art teachers must expose students not only to a wide variety of art works and artists, but to the philosophical underpinnings of the discipline as well.

The key to building this ‘collaborative culture’ is conferencing; questioning each girl to enable deep thinking and modelling skills and processes to express ideas. The contemporary art teacher is the meddler in the middle of a student’s work, challenging her to think and to see the work from new angles. This, of course, is nothing new. Socrates’ questioning technique and the philosophical inquiry method have always encouraged teachers to use open-ended questioning in order to encourage students to think for themselves and to arrive at their own solutions to problems.

What sits at the core of this way of doing art is conferencing. More than just a chat or a checkpoint, a conference is the teacher talking to students to empower them to think deeply about ‘how’ they do their work as well as the ‘doing’ of their work. According to Erica McWilliam, teachers are no longer the ‘sage on the stage’

The days of students copying from plaster casts and teachers demonstrating water-colour skills at the front of the room have passed, and modern art teaching reflects the 21st century world that awaits our students. An art classroom today equips the girls not only to ‘do’ and produce art, but to think artfully, strategically, and imaginatively.

REFERENCES Drapeau, P. (2014). Sparking student creativity. Alexandria, USA: ASCD. Mac Aulay, B. (1998). Educating through art. Unpublished manuscript. McWilliam, E. & Taylor, P. (2015). Expanding our teaching repertoire: why is it so important and so bloody difficult? Retrieved from http://www.ericamcwilliam.com.au/ expanding-our-teaching-repertoire-why-is-it-so-important-and-so-bloody-difficult/ Pearlman, B. (2010). Designing new learning environments to support 21st century skills. In J. Bellanca & R. Brandt (Eds.),.21st century skills: Rethinking how students learn. (pp. 101–128)]. Bloomington, USA: Solution Tree Press.

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Holiday bored games M S E M M A L O W R Y, A S S I S TA N T D E A N O F S T U D E N T S | 2 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6

School holidays represent long, unstructured days of free time. It's what every student dreams about during the busy school term, but it doesn't take long before some of us get to hear two of the most irritating words in summer: ’I’m bored’. As parents, it's easy to give in to teenage demands and jump to the rescue by filling in the days with scheduled activities of distraction. I want to suggest that this is precisely what we should not be doing. Allowing time for adolescents to be bored is one of the best things we can do for them. The stuff of boredom — being away from friends, obligations, and technology — is physically and mentally beneficial and contributes to cognitive development. Being bored is good for children, and for that matter, adults too. Scientists are still researching what boredom is exactly and how it is measured. Dr John Eastwood defines it in terms of attention, where we are: not able to successfully engage attention with internal (e.g. thoughts or feelings) or external (e.g. environmental stimuli) information required for participating in satisfying activity; focused on the fact that we are not able to engage attention and participate in satisfying activity; and attribute the cause of our aversive state to the environment (Eastwood, Frischen, Fenske, Smilek, 2012). In other words, when we say ’this is boring’ or ’there is nothing to do‘, we are blaming the environment because we have difficulty paying attention to our inner thoughts, feelings, or outside stimuli (Live Science, 2012). Psychologist, Thomas Goetz takes ‘boredomology’ further by categorising types of boredom which are good for us. Indifferent boredom is where one feels low energy, but in

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pretty good spirits. Calibrating boredom involves being aware of our low energy, not wanting to feel that way, but not knowing how to get out of that state. Searching boredom is characterised by restlessness, irritability and agitation that drives us to look for something to do (Hanessian, 2015). It is these types of boredom which psychologists recommend for children because of the impact they have on creativity and imagination, independence and self-awareness, and on mental wellbeing and functioning (Goldhill, 2016). The next time your daughter says that she is bored or has nothing to do, explain to her the following benefits of boredom and invite her to see boredom as an opportunity, rather than as a deficit. Boredom can boost divergent thinking skills, imagination and creativity Boredom is 'crucial' for developing internal stimulus which then allows true creativity. Dr Teresea Belton’s numerous studies have focused on the link between boredom and imagination (Goldhill, 2016), and have concluded that children who did not watch television scored significantly higher on divergent thinking skills — a measure of imaginativeness — than those who did watch television (Belton, 2016). TV stifled imagination precisely because child viewers rarely became bored nor learnt how to use their own imagination as a form of entertainment (McGuiness, 2009). Results showed that those children's lack of imagination was at least, in part, caused by the absence of ‘empty time’ without sensory stimulation. While teenagers today watch less TV, digital technologies provide similarly constant mindless stimulation to keep potentially beneficial boredom at bay.

For some of our girls, it may be a challenge to shift from the expectation that they should be constantly entertained, or on the go. But being unplugged and engaged in low-key, undemanding activity is more likely to have the mind wandering; and as a result, the brain is more likely to come up with imaginative ideas and creative solutions to problems. Boredom can have positive impacts on brain development Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have used brain scanners and electroencephalography sensors to monitor neural activity in people engaged in problem solving. They found the brain was working much harder in those people who solved problems by daydreaming, resulting in a 'brainwave' or a flash of insight, than in those who used logical reasoning. A new study suggests that our brain may be the most actively engaged when our mind is wandering; that is, when we are slightly bored and we've actually lost track of our thoughts (McGuiness, 2009). Holiday time is the perfect opportunity to lose track of thoughts, or daydream; a skill which requires practice, and one which — according to Belton (2016) — too many kids never get enough time to practise. When we think we're doing nothing, we're actually doing more inside the brain (Fernyhough, 2016) and just letting the mind wander from time to time is important, for everybody’s mental well-being and functioning.

Boredom can cultivate self-awareness and independence Time away from the bombardment of the outside word and time to ponder on one's own thoughts allows for the discovery of personal interests and gifts. Neuroscientist, Susan Greenfield said that, as a child, she had little to do but draw and write stories, the precursors of her later studies on human behavior (Belton, 2016). In the book “On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored: Psychoanalytic Essays on the Unexamined Life, Adam Phillips wrote that the”capacity to be bored can be a developmental achievement for the child … it is one of the most oppressive demands of adults that the child should be interested, rather than take time to find what interests him. Boredom is integral to the process of taking one’s time’ (Goldhill, 2016). The overscheduled child, or the child who never disconnects, or the child who demands constant engagement with peers, can unwittingly block their own sense of self-discovery and can miss the wonders of spontaneous discovery that arise naturally. Our girls have had a year of rigorous study and critical thinking in a vibrant learning environment. Their creativity has and will be challenged, and their curiosities ignited. All students, and Year 8, in particular have also been exposed to the practice of Mindfulness, and have been invited to incorporate reflection and gratitude into their daily routine. Holiday time offers another, different opportunity to reflect and to be thoughtful and creatively curious. Switching off, doing nothing and letting the mind wander can bestow the gift of boredom. And a healthy dose of boredom, is an opportunity for us all to embrace.

REFERENCES Belton, T. (2016). Being bored is good for children -and adults. This is why. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/09/being-bored-is-good-for-children-andadults-this-is-why Eastwood, J., Frishen, A., Fenske, M., & Smilek, D. (2012). The Unengaged Mind Defining Boredom in Terms of Attention. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 482-495. Retrieved from doi: 10.1177/1745691612456044 Fernyhough, C. (2016). What happens when your brain wanders? Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p048gx4t Goldhill, O. (2016). Psychologists recommend children be bored in the summer. Retrieved from http://qz.com/704723/to-be-more-self-reliant-children-need-boring-summers/ Hanessian, L. (2015). 7 exciting facts about boredom. Courier Post. Retrieved from http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/life/2015/01/23/exciting-factsboredom/22249963/ Live Science. (2012). Why We Get Bored. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/23493-why-we-get-bored.html McGuiness, M. (2011). Is the iphone killing your creativity? Retrieved from http://lateralaction.com/articles/iphone-creativity/

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Brisbane Girls Grammar School Gregory Terrace, Brisbane Queensland 4000 Australia Tel 61 7 3332 1300 Fax 61 7 3832 6097 admin@bggs.qld.edu.au www.bggs.qld.edu.au