The School has embraced a start to the year that has seen staff and students back on campus, together with a regeneration of programs that have been compromised in recent years. We are coming to the last of the Year 7 Toonallook camps, the remaining fixtures of the secondary summer sporting competitions are concluding and we look forward to a full season of the Senior School musical, Mamma Mia!, this term.
While we have been forced to postpone some programs, including the Donvale Year 6 Canberra trip, there remains an energy across all campuses that speaks of hope and optimism. This sense of hope is found in the way students embraced the recent poetry evening, with various performances all captured under the banner, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates’. It is an optimism also found in the student voice leading the Carey Community Student groups. The four groups – Pride, Environment, Gender Equity and the Social Justice Action teams – initially expressed their collective voice in 2022 through Carey’s participation at the annual Pride March in St Kilda. Students across these groups are now looking at a way to respond to issues emerging out of the Ukraine and the domestic floods in the north of Australia.
The School continues to explore pathways that enable students to express their hope through actions. One such initiative is a two-week pilot program based out of Townsville that has been offered to 45 Senior School students over the mid-year holidays. It is a program that invites students to consider the environment, working closely with ecologists from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy; learn more about the First Nations culture during a time at the Mungulla Station; and explore parts of the Great Barrier Reef with a heightened understanding of the vulnerability of the reef and potential affirmative future action. As a pilot program, the Year 11 students will also have the opportunity to co-create future programs based at the top end of Australia, and assist with planning the roll-out of these programs more broadly.
Carey Community Forum Event – Growing up in a Climate Change WorldOn Thursday 31 March, the Carey Community Forum is hosting another useful event for parents across the whole school. You are invited to join Dr Susie Burke as she shares her expertise and strategies to help us to educate and empower young people about the future of our climate.
Find out more information about the event here.
Peter Robson
Deputy Principal – Wellbeing
