Friday night offered a dazzling showcase of the creativity of each of our Junior School students at the P&F Art Show. The Jane Barker Hall was transformed into an art space and parents, visitors and staff excitedly viewed collaborative class artworks. From enchanting pieces such as Kindy’s toy-themed artworks to Year 1s stunning representations of birds varying from the realistic to abstract expressionist, the diversity and creative flair expressed through the works was impressive. Other artworks reflected the imaginations of our students: in the case of Year 4, ‘futurist’ pieces such as Funky Future Fashion and To the Future and Beyond, while Year 2 celebrated the wonder of animals. Year 5, who have so successfully been the first year group to welcome a new intake of students with the introduction of a third Year 5 class, created magnificent quilts that hung like banners from the upper levels of the Hall. Many students commented that the process of making quilts together represented the connectedness and the cohesiveness they feel as an ‘extended’ year group. The Year 6 art was conceptual and engaged with the symbolism of maps with thought-provoking titles such as ‘A Journey into Ourselves and ‘Amaze of Our Ways’. The Art Show also featured a vast number of high calibre entries by the Senior School students who inspired us with their creativity, initiative and sophisticated expression of ideas.

As educators, we are always looking to enrich our practice and highly value collaborative professional learning opportunities. Currently we are pleased to have the benefit of a leading speech language pathologist visiting us for a couple of days from Queensland. Karyn Johns, has a passion for sharing the importance of oral language development and aspects related to literacy learning development with teaching staff. Karyn has worked alongside many schools in South Australia, ACT, NSW and Queensland. She currently has a private practice on the Gold Coast and worked previously with Mrs Ollerenshaw at Somerset College. Karyn is spending her time here working alongside teachers to help them optimise skill development for all students in the areas of language and literacy. In doing so, she has been sharing with us her vast array of resources and evidence-based strategies to compliment our current teaching programmes and practices. Karyn has been impressed by our staff and their ‘openness, enthusiasm and commitment to participating in effective professional development’ and she looks forward to a continuing dialogue with St Catherine’s.

Anne Johnstone

Head of Junior School