In this issue

To celebrate Stuartholme’s 2022 Art Show –  Exposition des Beaux – Arts hosted by the Stuartholme Sacré Coeur Association we will be running a Junior Art Competition

We are encouraging young girls to create self-portraits that convey who they truly are. It could be drawings, paintings, digital art or photography – Make yourself.

All works will be showcased and prize recipients announced at the Stuartholme Art Show – Exposition des Beaux – Arts on Sunday 14 August 2022.  The finalist’s work will be shown in an online gallery for parents and family to share.

For more information please visit https://stuartholme.com/makeyourself-artcompetition2022/

Years 10-12 parents and daughters are warmly invited to the upcoming Parent Daughter Breakfast

This morning provides a special opportunity for the parents of daughters in Years 10 to 12 to get together and mingle with their daughters and friends. Please join us for a stand-up breakfast outside the Joigny Cafe before hearing from our guest speaker Romi Jensen, Class of 1995.

Date: Friday 17 June 2022

Venue: Stuartholme School Cafe and Theatre

Time: 7-8.30am

This is a complimentary event, however, for catering purposes can you please RSVP below by 10 June 2022 by clicking here. 

Your example, even more than your words, will be an eloquent lesson to the world. – Madeleine Sophie Barat

Building Respectful Relationships

Last Friday at our assembly, I asked our students to make a special effort during this busy time of assessment, to look after each other.  Building respectful relationships is a key focus in our Wise Wellness Program delivered across Years 7-12. To support our work at school through our partnership with parents, I am delighted to revisit advice from our school psychologists Ms Eloise Conrad, Ms Sally Blight and Ms Natalie Morgan who contribute in a significant way to the creation of the ‘Stuartholme Village’.

It is critical that young people develop the skills to build healthy, respectful relationships with others. The adults in their lives play a key role in modelling and teaching young people what a respectful relationship looks like. This includes fostering supportive friendships and managing conflict situations appropriately.

The following are some key indicators for the development and maintenance of healthy relationships with others:

• Active listening skills: Young people seeking to understand their friends’ needs, wants and points of views as well as looking to support and care for that person. Active listening involves not only providing time to stop and pay attention to our friends but also to aim to understand what they are thinking and feeling. One simple way this can be achieved is by repeating back what our friends tell us and check we’ve understood, rather than rushing to fix a problem.
• Empathy: A young person’s ability to empathise assists greatly in the building of relationships with others. Contemporary researchers often differentiate between two types of empathy: “Affective empathy” is the feeling we get in response to others’ emotions; this can include mirroring what that person is feeling. “Cognitive empathy,” sometimes called “perspective taking,” refers to our ability to identify and understand other people’s emotions.
• Careful use of humour: A common defence of young people is “it was just a joke”. When using humour, it is important for young people to understand that they need to be sensitive to others’ feelings when telling jokes to avoid embarrassing their friend or making them feel small.
• Communicating directly: When there is a conflict, it is critical to approach the person directly and having an assertive conversation after everyone has cooled down. This is often one of the most difficult skills to build and action for young people (and adults!), and it becomes easier to speak behind the other person’s back. A simple template for an assertive conversation: “I feel____when you___in the future I would like____”.
• “The vault”: “What I share with you in confidence, you don’t share with other people” – Brene Brown. Trust is a fundamental part of respectful relationships and is made up of small moments. The more often young people can show their friends that they are trustworthy by avoiding the temptation to gossip, the more that they will be able to display honesty and behave how they would like to be treated.

If your daughter is unsure whether her friendships are healthy ones, here are some questions she can ask herself: “Do I feel safe?” “Do I feel appreciated?” “Have they got my best interests at heart?” “Do I feel supported?” “Are they willing to listen when I have a concern?”.

For further information or support, please contact our school psychologists, Eloise Conrad (econrad@stuartholme.com), Sally Blight (sblight@stuartholme.com  and Natalie Morgan (nmorgan@stuartholme.com) or your daughter’s Leader of Student Wellbeing.

References: Kids Helpline (https://kidshelpline.com.au), ReachOut (https://au.reachout.com/), Greater Good Science Center (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/) and Brene Brown (book “Dare to Lead”).

Helpful contacts over the break

As the term wraps up and your daughter embarks on the holiday period, it is an ideal opportunity for some rest and restoration of balance.

You may enjoy this clip that Sr Carroll recommended to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmtZ_gBMyrc  It is a wonderful reminder that like nature, our minds have cycles – we can’t be permanently productive. The winter break is certainly a wonderful time to allow ourselves to rest and recharge.

I encourage you to visit the Wellbeing tile in the parent portal on My Stuartholme where we have established a range of helpful contacts for parents to access if you require further support.

I will leave you with these wise words from Pope Francis: “The perfect family doesn’t exist, nor is there a perfect husband or a perfect wife, and let’s not talk about the perfect mothier-in-law! It’s just us sinners. A healthy family life requires frequent use of three phrases: “May I? Thank you, and I’m sorry” and “never, never, never end the day without making peace.”

Elizabeth Foxover
Acting Dean of Student Wellbeing

The ‘Exposition des Beaux – Arts’ show is Stuartholme’s own Art Show.  Tickets are now on sale for these ‘in demand’ tickets.  Please purchase through this link

Follow the artists and their work with this Instagram link.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2022 Stuartholme’s Art Show, remember this show only comes around every two years!

Please contact dlaw@stuartholme.com if you would like any further information.

Hi everyone,

Happy Week 8!

As per usual, here is a selection of opportunities, events and important tips that you might find helpful.

Year 10

This fortnight, we have continued to prepare Year 10 students for their upcoming SET planning meetings with:

• a session from Mrs Lacey on the QCE and ATAR
• a session from me on post-school options, including all the options available and important things to know if you’re interested in pursuing further study after school
• an advice session from senior students who have studied a range of VET courses during Year 11 and 12

Students and families will shortly receive more information from Academic Services about upcoming events, including the subject selection information evening and SET planning interviews, and the release of the 2023 Curriculum Handbook.

The Stuartholme Careers Expo

Year 10, 11 and 12 students are warmly invited to the Stuartholme Careers Expo, 3-5.30pm on Tuesday, 19 July. We will be joined by many wonderful guests who can help students to explore their future options.

Year 12 – MOCK UCAT session

Any Year 12s who will be sitting the UCAT in the holidays are invited to a practise UCAT next Wednesday, 1.30-3.30pm, in the Library.

Please bring your laptop. We will be using UCAT ANZ Practise Test C. Erasable pens and laminated pages will be provided.

Warm regards,

Mr Tom Lillyman
Careers Counsellor

OPEN DAYS

Interested in further study? Open Days are a really great way to check out the different institutions you could study with.

Here are the 2022 dates for Open Days around Queensland:

Sunday, 12 June – Griffith University, South Bank campus

Sunday, 24 July – University of Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay campus (at Petrie)

Sunday, 31 July – QUT, Gardens Point & Kelvin Grove campuses

Saturday, 6 August – TAFE Queensland, Southbank campus

Sunday, 7 August – The University of Queensland, St Lucia campus

Sunday, 7 August – University of Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast campus

Sunday, 14 August – Griffith University, Nathan & Gold Coast campuses

Sunday, 14 August – University of Southern Queensland, Ipswich & Springfield campuses

Sunday, 21 August – The University of Queensland, Gatton campus

Sunday, 21 August – University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba campus

EXPLORE

Celebrate International Women in Engineering Day with ADP Consulting

On this year’s International Women in Engineering Day, ADP will be celebrating the amazing work female engineers are doing as inventors and innovators – those who dare to be part of the solution and are helping to build towards a brighter future!

If you would like to join ADP for a free panel discussion and networking morning tea in their CBD offices from 9.45am, 23 June, please RSVP to Penny Benjamin (p.benjamin@adpconsulting.com.au) by Friday 17^th June.

ADF Open Day

The ADFA Open Day gives you the opportunity to get an insight into the experience of studying at ADFA. Register for the 2022 Open Day on Saturday 20 August 2022 where you will find out about:

• Life at ADFA – Find out what it’s like to live and learn at ADFA
• Hear from staff and students – Get an insider’s perspective on everything from classes to military training
• See what you could study – Discover more about degrees on offer: Arts, Business, Engineering, IT, Science or Technology

TAFE Queensland Diploma of Nursing webinar

On 15 June from 10 – 11am and then repeated at 7 – 9pm, TAFE Queensland, Gold Coast is hosting a Nursing webinar. This online information session is an opportunity to:

• Learn about their new clinical wards and state-of-the-art simulation labs
• Hear about their flexible study options and how they can work for you
• Chat to staff about Residential Schools at the Southport campus and ask their experienced educators any questions you may have
• Facilities
• Graduation pathways

Click here to find out more and to register.

Thinking of Science and want to know more

UQ has put together some short videos highlighting what studying Science might be like and where it could take you. Click here to access the videos on topics including:

• Opportunities for high school students
• Study science at UQ
• Tips for new students
• Agriculture and Food Sciences
• Biological Sciences
• Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Mathematics and Physics
• Veterinary Science

Virtual tours of QUT

You can explore QUT’s faculties and facilities through their 360⁰ videos and 3D tours. You can do a video tour of Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses as well as individual faculty areas including:

• Creative Industries
• Design
• Fine Arts
• Communication
• Health
• STEM
• Education
• Business
• Law
• Library
• QUT College
• Self-guided campus tours

You can explore QUT’s faculties and facilities through their 360⁰ videos and 3D tours. You can do a video tour of Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses as well as individual faculty areas including:

• Creative Industries
• Design
• Fine Arts
• Communication
• Health
• STEM
• Education
• Business
• Law
• Library
• QUT College
• Self-guided campus tours

EXPERIENCE

Griffith University Year 11 and 12 Experience Days

Designed for Year 11 and 12 students, Griffith’s July Experience Days offer high schoolers the chance to explore our lecture theatres and labs and learn about different fields of study. These will be held:

• Tuesday 5 July and Thursday 7 July 2022, Nathan
• Wednesday 6 July and Friday 8 July 2022, Gold Coast

Students are also invited to get hands-on at interactive experiences throughout the day and get a taste for study areas they want to learn more about. Find out more here: Griffith Experience Days

USQ Year 10-12 Experience Days

Years 10-12 school students are invited to USQ campuses to experience a more in-depth perspective of study options through academic-led experience sessions. The experience days will be held across their three campuses on:

• Toowoomba   21 June 2022
• Ipswich            22 June 2022
• Springfield       23 June 2022

Click on the links above to find out more information about the different sessions available and how to register.

Get a taste of ACU before you enrol at Discover ACU

On 29 June ACU will be hosting their Discover ACU event. It will give you an insight into life as a uni student. You’ll be able to:

• participate in interactive workshops related to your degree of choice
• meet staff and current students
• explore your local ACU campus
• learn about industries and careers
• get helpful tips on preparing for university
• soak up the campus atmosphere.

Choose a workshop from a range of study areas, including nursing, midwifery, paramedicine, sport and exercise science, speech pathology, occupational therapy, biomedical science, law, criminology, business, arts and education, as well as student panels and campus tours. To sign up for the events that suit you, register here.

COMPETITIONS

Careers of the Future competition

To celebrate myfuture’s 20th anniversary, they are holding a fun, future-focused competition so you can tell them what you think the careers of the future will look like. Get creative and share your ideas for a chance to win a $500.00 Prezzee Gift Card for the school. The competition is now open and entries will close at 5pm (AEST) on Friday 24 June. Terms and Conditions apply. Find out more information and how to enter here.

STUFFit Student Film Festival competition

Stuffit Student Film Festival competition is a high school student film competition. There are eight Australian and two international categories and the competition culminates in a festival which will be held on 15 October 2022 at Majestic Cinemas Nambour. Closing date for entries is 5 July so visit the Stuffit website and click on Entries for details.

UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing 2022

Are you an aspiring science writer in Years 7-10? You could win a stack of great prizes and be published alongside Australia’s best science writers! This year’s UNSW Bragg student Prize for Science Writing theme is What is Science? Science, technology, engineering and maths are part of everything around us, from our response to the pandemic, to the tech we use for play. In 800 words, you need to explain what is Science and why do we need it. Applications are now open and close on 19 August 2022. Find more entry information and entry details here.

Entries now open for the Stuartholme Art With Heart’ competition 2022!

Students from all years are invited to flex their creative muscle by collecting a blank heart-shaped canvas from the Stuartholme Art Department by 17th June and filling in with their interpretation of what it means to ‘Love the Village’ of Stuartholme.

Completed hearts are to be handed back to the Art Department by Friday 23rd July.

The artwork will be on display at Toowong Village from Thursday 28th July until Thursday 11th August and will be voted on by the public as part of the Toowong Village People’s Choice awards.

The People’s choice runner-up award winner will be announced at the Stuartholme Exposition Des Beaux Art on Sunday 14th August.

Last week, Stuartholme launched the Year 7/11 Mentoring Program. This new initiative encourages a greater connection and formalises the buddy system we have in place between Years 7 and 11  Big/Little Sisters.

Year 11 students explored their individual leadership styles which led to a structured mentoring program with Year 7s.  The program will also enhance our Year 11’s leadership qualities.

As part of the program, the students have also examined what it means to be a Sacred Heart student and how they live these goals in their daily interactions.

Click on a photo to start gallery

AFLQ Schools Cup

Our Junior AFL Schools Cup team had an amazing day last Friday! With interrupted preparation, training cancellations, and juggling other commitments, all the girls played and represented STU with pride coming 3^rd overall for the day!

Yesterday, our Senior team played in the semi final against Cavendish Road SHS. Unfortunatley, the girls were beaten, but they put in an incredible effort.

Congratulations to our amazing players!

During a recent lesson, the Year 11 Geography students visited West Village, a new retail, commercial and residential development in West End, to evaluate what makes a successful place.

We were lucky to be addressed by Megan Barron, Project Executive Director, and a parent at our school.

The presentation was well received by the girls as it provided much thought for their investigation into planning for Public Spaces.

We would like to thank Megan for making the time available from her busy schedule to speak with us. It was much appreciated.

Mrs Wendy Bolton
Year 11 Geography teacher 

Every year the Communication, Speech and Performance Teachers Association (Qld) holds a concert at Parliament House to acknowledge the students who achieved ‘Top of the State’ awards for Speech and Drama examinations undertaken in the previous year conducted by AMEB and Trinity College London.

Stuartholme Year 8 student, Jasmine Tupicoff, achieved this award for her Grade 3 Speech and Performance exam. The requirements of her exam involved poetry and prose recitations and dramatic performances. Jasmine competed against hundreds of candidates across the state.

This is an outstanding achievement. Well done, Jasmine.

The DaVinci Decathlon is conducted by Knox Grammar School. In the Queensland event our Year 7 team against over 30 other schools, which includes 10 high-level academic events.

Our Year 7 team finished 1^st in the Engineering, Cartography and Creative Producers categories, 2^nd in Code Breaking and 3^rd in Legacy (History) and English.

As a result of being the top Year 7 team in Queensland, they have been invited to participate in the National finals competing against other State winners. The National finals will be conducted on 27^th June.

Congratulations!

As announced at the beginning of the term, Stuartholme has introduced a photo management system, GeoSnapShot.

GeoSnapShot provides a platform that allows schools to manage and distribute photos. The school currently takes photos to showcase the wonderful activities and achievements of our students.

We are pleased to advise that GeoSnapShot is now live and parents are able to view photos of their daughter/s through our secure school portal – MyStuartholme.

On your parent homepage, you will now see ‘View photos’, where you can see all photos of your child/ren taken this year.

Just a reminder that you can update your child’s photo permission at any time through Consent2Go. Permission for your child/ren’s photo to be visible includes use on the school’s social media platforms, inclusion in the newsletter, website and school publications, ie Cor Unum. Please note that the permissions do not extend to the School Yearbook. The Yearbook is not available online and is only provided to each student who attends Stuartholme that year.

If you do not want your daughter’s photo to appear in the Yearbook, or if you have any other questions about GeoSnapShot don’t hesitate to get in touch with me via kgilmore@stuartholme.com

We have once again been able to access the services of a milliner who can re-block and clean school hats.

Can you please check your daughter’s hat and if it is in need of cleaning please place it in a plastic shopping bag with your daughter’s name and class on the outside of the bag. Please then have your daughter drop it into the Mission and Student Wellbeing office on either Wednesday 15 or Thursday 16 June.

The cost will be $25.00 and is to be placed into an envelope accompanying the hat.  If your hat needs a new trim as well the cost is $35.00.  Hats that require further mending or is extremely stained will be charged slightly more and the money will be collected once the hats are returned to school.  Hats will be ready for collection at the beginning of Term 3.

The Honour Pocket Committee wishes to advise that the 2022 initiative will proceed in Term 3 Week 4.

Students will be notified of pocket eligibility via email from the Student Wellbeing Office upon meeting the criteria for General Awards. Students are invited to apply for Special Awards regarding any co-curricular sporting activities not recognised through the District (Northern Eagles), Regional (Metropolitan West), State (Queensland School Sport) pathways.

Special Awards form should also be used to notify the Sports Department or other co-curricular areas of three years’ service award pockets. If your daughter is eligible for a Special Award (which includes service awards), she needs to complete the Special Awards application form after it is emailed to her by the Student Wellbeing Office and have the teacher-in-charge sign the form and return it to Mrs Gilchrist by 9.00am on Monday 8 August 2022.

Blazers need to be handed into the Uniform Shop on Monday 15,  Wednesday 17, and Friday 19 August 2022.   Also, for your convenience your daughter’s blazer can be dry cleaned at the embroiders for the sum of $16, which can be charged to your school account if you prefer. You will be provided with this option on your daughter’s Honour Pocket form which you will need to complete before handing it in to the uniform shop.

HONOUR POCKET COMMITTEE 2022

Stuartholme is back on the road this month to Emerald to attend the Ag-Grow Field Days from Thursday 23^rd to Saturday 25^th June.  If you happen to be in the area during the holidays pop by to say hello or join us for our joint Families Function with Marist College Ashgrove on Friday 24^th of June. Register to attend online.

We are then heading south in July to attend the Boarding Schools Expo in Moree on Thursday 21^st of July. During our visit, we are hosting a Family Evening for our current, past and prospective families and warmly invite everyone to attend. Register to attend online.

REGISTER TO ATTEND stuartholme.com/boarding/regional-tours/

Buses 1-4 will finish for Term 2 on Friday 17 June, with a 12.15pm departure from school.

In Term 3, the buses will operate from their usual start times on the morning of Monday 11 July.

If your daughter used a Term pass in Term 2, please now consider her needs for Term 3, and purchase either a new Term pass for $340, or a Casual 10-trip Pass for $93.  If her bus route and stop remain unchanged, you do not need to re-register; just pay here: https://stuartholme.com/our-community/pay-online/.

Please help us to track your daughter’s bus usage by checking that she has her Student ID card with her each day.  This enables us to see where she is getting on and off the bus, and may be important for her safety.  If she has lost the ID card, she needs to advise the Student Wellbeing Office; a new card will be ordered (for $10) and she will be emailed in about a week to collect it from the IT Dept.

Also, a reminder that you can track your daughter’s bus location by installing the free TransportME app; this can be particularly helpful when the bus may have been delayed by traffic and you just want to know that it is still on its way.

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of Stuartholme,

“Great hearts, generous hearts are required in the family of God’s heart” – St Madeleine Sophie Barat

Celebrating and officially farewelling Kristen Sharpe

Next week, we look forward to coming together as a community to celebrate Kristen Sharpe’s principalship at Stuartholme and officially farewell her through a special mass and acknowledgement. Kristen has been Principal of Stuartholme School since 2016 and accomplished significant growth for our community. It is important to note, her journey with us has been just one highlight of her substantial 40 years of service to Catholic education. On a personal level, I have thoroughly enjoyed serving alongside Kristen over the past few years and have benefited firsthand from her example of courage and confidence that has been a pillar of her tenure and a true example of Sacred Heart leadership, leading with a great and generous heart.

As a school we pray that Kristen will continue to give witness to the love of the heart of Jesus in these years of retirement, and we look with pride and gratitude on a career that has given service to Catholic education across many years.

Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association

As I write this newsletter article, I am attending the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association State Conference in Blackall with our Dean of Boarding, Jane Morris. The work of this conference is transformational and continues to strengthen our relationships in this space so that we can advocate strongly for our young people and their access to quality educational options. Jane and I feel incredibly humbled to be able to connect with our community and witness firsthand those in our parent community who contribute so richly to this important work. In addition, we were able to catch up with some of our families in Longreach prior to the conference and continue our relationship with our families who are further afield. We look forward to further opportunities across the year.

Blessings for the break

As we come to the end of yet another semester, I am reminded of the generosity of hearts and strong community spirit that sustain Stuartholme. Whilst we have been challenged a great deal over the course of the year through elements beyond our control, we have had much to be grateful for and to celebrate as we continue to enflame our focus goal for the year ‘A personal and active faith in God’ and our Cor Unum theme – See the Rainbow, Be the Light.

It is the strength of our community that ensures we continue to grow together in partnership to achieve the best outcomes for our impressive young women who progress from strength to strength. It is this approach that ensures relationships remain at the core of our mission.

As we move into the mid-semester break, I always like to provide a reminder to not only our staff and students, but also to our parents to ensure that, where you can, time is spent on restoration over the break. We certainly acknowledge the crucial and challenging role our parents play and how as we come to the end of the semester there is importance in embracing family time and enjoying a circuit breaker to ensure we come back refreshed and ready for peak performance on our return.

I have thoroughly enjoyed walking alongside the community in the role of Acting Principal this term and to continue this journey next semester. I thank the outstanding work of our Leadership Team and staff during this period and I wish you all blessings for a wonderful break.

Yours in Cor Unum,

Danny Crump
Acting Principal

Gratitude for a wonderful retiring Principal

Next week we celebrate the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the retirement of our Stuartholme Principal, Ms Kristen Sharpe. In my last newsletter article before this momentous occasion, I wanted to pay a tribute to Kristen on a personal note and thank her for her unwavering support of me, particularly in my substantive role as the Dean of Student Wellbeing at Stuartholme. I loved how, at Open Day, Kristen would always share with families that we achieve educational excellence but never at the cost of a student’s wellbeing. I found the way that she always placed students squarely at the centre of her leadership and decision-making inspirational. I wish her God’s blessings in her retirement and am grateful to have worked alongside her for some small part of her stellar 40-year service to Catholic Education.

Driving the national conversation in education

One of the aspects of my current Acting role of which I am most proud is the recognition of Stuartholme as a key driver of educational conversations, both nationally and internationally.

Towards this end, and to address future challenges, we have developed alliances with leading educational experts and organisations to build the capacity of our staff and optimise success for our students in the experiences that we shape.

There is a range of partnerships Stuartholme has built with renowned educators, researchers, and leaders from across the globe. Below is a small snapshot of these endeavours to support our students to flourish.

Sharing professional practice on the national stage

On Saturday 18 June, Ben Hegerty Leader of Learning – Humanities; and Jarod Costantini – Director of Staff Development will model visible thinking routines for educators as a powerful tool to deepen student learning. As guest presenters at the 2022 Thoughtful Educators Conference, classroom teachers and Middle leaders nationally will benefit from their workshop and generous professional insights and sharing.

Influencing educational practice through alliances

Tom Lillyman, our well-known and valued Stuartholme Careers Counsellor, is Vice President of the Career Development Association of Australia (Queensland) and an active leader on the Independent Career Advisor Network.  We are proud of Tom’s efforts in these associations to connect with QTAC and give feedback on refining the systems and accessibility for tertiary admissions. Tom has played a valuable role as a sounding board for QTAC and paved new future pathways for all Queensland students.

Building partnerships to bolster educational outcomes

Many rich strategic partnerships have been established between Stuartholme staff, industry and university providers for the benefit of our students. Mr Michael Elliott, our Director of Enrichment, is working closely with Re-engineering Australia to support our high potential learners in Years 7-10 to continue to grow. This connection affords our students the chance to participate in high calibre external competitions with professionals and enrich their knowledge and skills in the STEM field.

In addition, our Leader of Learning Technologies, Leigh Ferguson has been instrumental in fostering a relationship for the school with the ICT Gateway to Schools Partnership program. As part of a small select group of schools, Stuartholme students and staff are gaining the benefits of working with industry professionals and The University of Queensland ambassadors to foster future learning and promote this burgeoning field.

So, we are a small school, however, with our innovative learning and renowned staff, we are maintaining a global outlook that is certainly setting our students up for success well beyond the gates of Stuartholme and influencing the educational conversation.

I wish you and your families a wonderful Winter break and look forward to seeing you in Term 3.

Deborah Lonsdale-Walker
Acting Deputy Principal

One of the pillars of our Growing to Great school improvement initiative is Spirituality. At Stuartholme, we believe that the integration of learning, wellbeing and spirituality optimizes the success of our students. In the wake of our St Madeleine Sophie Day celebrations and the Feast of Pentecost, the staff and students in Year 11 have taken some time to reflect on the spirituality of St Madeleine Sophie and how it forms the foundation of Sacred Heart Education. 

Spirituality 

When we speak of spirituality, what is it that we’re referring to? 

 Innate to all of us, spirituality speaks to our intuition that there is more to life than what we encounter on the surface, to our urgency to connect with a larger universe or truth, and to our intuition that this connection for which we long is with mystery or transcendence. It is a way of expressing our search for meaning and encounter with Beauty, with Ultimate Truth, with Mystery (₁).

Sophie’s Spirituality 

For Madeleine Sophie, her spirituality and relationship with Mystery was experienced as the Risen Christ. Her quest for meaning and truth became anchored in her relationship with Christ in and through whom she experienced the tenderness and warmth of God. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus best conveyed to her the depth of God’s love for all – a love that she felt compelled to share with others. 

Sophie’s Spirituality and it’s Connection to Sacred Heart Education 

Sophie grew up in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Consequently, her life was a journey experienced during a complex, volatile moment in history. Over time and amid successes and failures, Sophie came to see that ultimate truth is encountered through relationships and in prayer. Her life demonstrates how a life lived in relationship with the Risen Christ allowed her to see the world with new eyes, eyes of compassion and hope. This is the perspective from which Sophie envisioned Sacred Heart education. This experience of love given and love received developed her vision of education – an education to carry on the mission of communicating the love of the Heart of Jesus to the ends of the earth, and one which would rebuild our fractured world through intelligent faith, compassionate action, and courageous hope. 

Sophie’s vision of education is timeless, and continues through the lives of you and me at Stuartholme. Today, her vision is expressed through our Sacred Heart Goals of Education: 

1.  A personal and active faith in God. 
2. A deep respect for intellectual values. 
3. Building community as a Christian value. 
4. Social awareness that impels to action. 
5. Personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom. 

Whilst we live in our own era of complexity and volatility often referred to as VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) (₂)2, an education inspired by Sophie’s spirituality and vision will equip our students to navigate these challenges with minds and hearts formed in intelligent faith, compassionate action, and courageous hope. 

Justin Golding
Dean of Mission

References:  

(1) Conference of Sacred Heart Educators (2019). Sacred Heart Educators: An Orientation to Mission, found here: https://sacredheartusc.myschoolapp.com/ftpimages/1148/download/download_6290188.pdf 

(2) Bennett, N. & Lemoine, G.J (2014). Harvard Business Review: What VUCA really means for you. Found here: https://hbr.org/2014/01/what-vuca-really-means-for-you