Today we celebrated the 104th birthday of Mrs Pam Carey who left Hornsby Girls High School in 1935. Since her 99th birthday in 2019, Mrs Carey has visited the school every year for her birthday celebration. Mrs Carey was too frail to attend the celebration of her birthday at the school this year. Despite this, we sang Happy Birthday to Mrs Carey in the COLA which we filmed for her. We then distributed ice blocks to all students and staff in honour of this magnificent achievement of a life well lived. She has been an active member of Soroptimist International for many years raising funds and advocacy projects to empower girls and women. She is a wonderful example to our students of our school motto, ‘Faith with Fortitude’. I spoke with Mrs Carey on Wednesday to congratulate her. She thanked the school for her birthday card which included over 70 congratulatory messages from students and staff. Thank you to Mrs Joan Burke (HGHS Old Girls Union) for assisting Mrs Carey in preparation for her birthday. Happy Birthday Mrs Carey!

Congratulations to the HSC Class of 2024 who completed their exams on Friday 8 November with the final exam being Geography. There was much excitement at the conclusion of the exam. We wish them all the best and will see the Class of 2024 again for a celebratory morning tea on Friday 7 February 2025.

We hosted a meeting of the Hornsby Network Principals on Tuesday. Thank you to our school captain and vice-captain Lauren Wilson and Helen Bui for their Acknowledgement of Country and to the SRC who sang an inspirational song to the 25 Principals in attendance to start the proceedings. The Principals had a tour of the school during P3 and were very impressed with the teaching and learning, and most importantly the kindness of our students who were raising funds on Tuesday for Cancer Research.

On Monday we commemorated Armistice Day November 11 with a flag ceremony at 10:30am and a minute's silence at 11am. Our students were very respectful towards all those who died in wars and are very grateful to live in such a peaceful country. Thank you to Mrs Boden (Head Teacher HSIE) for organising the ceremony with our cadets, Leading CDT Minh-Nghi Chu (Year 11), CDT Kingkini Mazumdar (Year 8) and CDT Aimee Gao (Year 11).

Ms Heather Cleary (HGHS Teacher Librarian) has been informed by the University of Newcastle that her PhD thesis 'Beneath the Covers: Re-reading the modern Gothic Romance' has met the PhD academic standard and consequently Dr Cleary will be formally awarded her PhD testamur at a graduation ceremony early next year. Dr Cleary’s thesis focusses on the writings of Charlotte Bronte and Daphne Du Maurier and the 2nd wave of feminism. We now welcome Dr Heather Cleary to our staff. Congratulations and welcome Dr Cleary!

The Annual General P and C Meeting will be held at Hornsby on Wednesday 20 November from 7:30pm – 8:30pm in the Staff Common Room. At this meeting the P and C positions for 2025 will be determined by a vote of the P and C members. Thank you to all members of the 2024 P and C for their excellent support of the school in 2024 and to the P and C president Mrs Radhika Prasanna for her exceptional leadership of our parents.

Kind regards,

Justin Briggs (Principal)

Deputy Principals' Message

It has been an incredibly busy term so far. We started the week with a Remembrance Day flag ceremony organised by three of our students who are participants in the cadets program. Tuesday saw Year 9 hold their Charity Day and successfully raise over $500 for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. On Wednesday, Year 7 attended the mobile planetarium incursion organised by the Science faculty. Year 10 completed their Minimum Standards Tests and today Year 11 celebrated their new access to the Year 12 Cottage.

Our 2025 Prefects have commenced raising donations for Anglicare’s ‘Toys ‘n’ Tucker’. Students are encouraged to bring either a gold coin donation or food donations. If students would like to contribute there are baskets for each year group in the corridor outside the bank office. Suitable food items are found at the end of this newsletter.

On the 27th November, the Social Justice group and students who have signed up will be participating in the Hornsby-Kuringai Walk the Talk event to raise awareness of domestic and family violence. Students will wear orange and walk for 20 minutes before attending the PCYC to hear an address from Dr Hannah Tonkin, Womens Safety Commissioner. Thank you to Ms Guan for organising our school’s participation in this important event.

Building Works

The Department of Education commenced work on C block to remedy the roof this week. This includes removing and replacing the air conditioning unit and solar panels and installing a new roof over the top of the existing roof. The project will be completed by the beginning of the new school year.

We have quickly relocated library services to the Common Room and 300s corridors. Information about how to continue to borrow books and resources, access study spaces and specialist advice and print documents is published on the student daily notices each day.

We thank all students and staff for their patience while this project is completed and we are looking forward to the result in 2025.

Many classrooms in A Block also had new blinds installed this week. Combined with the large scale painting works finished in Term 2, these new blinds have freshened the look of our learning environments and we hope all students are enjoying this.

Examinations

Congratulations to the graduating class of 2024 for completing the final HSC examinations. We know the cohort has given their best and they can celebrate and enjoy a well deserved break before they embark on the next stage of their lives. We look forward to seeing them at the Year 12 Morning Tea on Friday 7th February. Please remember to RSVP to the HGHS office if you haven’t already done so.

Well done to Year 10 on completing their examinations this week. We hope you are looking forward to your end of year activities including Life and Resilience Week (November 25th-29th) and the Illuminate Enterprise Challenge (December 2nd-6th). Thank you to the Wellbeing Team and HSIE for organising these events.

Year 9 will have their assessment block in Week 6. Students are to swipe in at the start of each day and make their way to the exam venue or study period in the hall. Parents and caregivers were previously emailed these arrangements through the Hornsby Girls High email address. If you did not receive this please check your junk email prior to contacting the school.

Information regarding the first HSC 2025 Assessment Block was sent to parents on the 14th November. Please read the arrangements carefully and check the Year 12 Assessment Manual prior to contacting the school as in most cases questions regarding assessments are answered in the manual.

Well done on everyone’s efforts throughout these assessment periods.

30 Days of Kindness

Our students and staff have set themselves the challenge of completing an act of kindness every day for 30 days. We have set high expectations of ourselves and are aiming to reach 20000 acts of kindness if everyone participates! Ideas for acts of kindness are being placed on the Daily Notices and cards and craft materials are available at recess and lunch in room 312. We also have a drop off box for clothing donations outside the Common Room.

Kindness is one of our school values so lets see what we can achieve. Thank you to Mrs Lowe for organising the 30 Days of Kindness for our school.

Uniform Shop dates:

The uniform shop will be open on the following dates. Hornsby Girls High School uniforms are also available via the School Locker website. Shop online and choose to have your order shipped directly to you or collect it from the uniform shop during trading hours.

Term 4:

• Tuesday 10/12/24 1pm to 4pm
• Tuesday 17/12/24 1pm to 4pm

Back to school opening hours:

January 2025

• Wednesday 22/1/25 - 11am to 3pm
• Friday 24/1/25 - 9am to 1pm
• Tuesday 28/1/25 - 9am to 2pm
• Thursday 30/1/25 - 8am to 12pm

Ms Vanessa Gilmore and Mrs Amanda Wallwork Deputy Principals

P and C AGM and regular P and C Meeting Wednesday November 20.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Hornsby Girls High School Parents and Citizens Association will be held in the Staff Common Room at Hornsby Girls High School on Wednesday 20 November from 7:30pm until 8:30pm. All office holders will vacate their positions and elections for all positions will occur at the AGM. Once the positions are filled a regular P and C meeting will then commence. At this meeting members of the P and C will discuss proposed events and planning for these events, and the Principal Dr Briggs will request funds from the P and C to assist the school in the many teaching and learning activities that occur in the school and explain their importance to achieve the goals of the school. Members of our community are encouraged to attend and join the P and C in the vital work they do for our daughters.

Mrs Radhika Prasanna (P and C President)

Australian Mathematics Competition 2024

In early August, 2024, several hundred thousand students sat the annual Australian Mathematics competition. More than 90% of secondary schools took part in Australia and 470 students from Hornsby Girls High School entered the competition this year and have been awarded with

• 20 High Distinctions
• 164 Distinctions
• 234 Credits
• 46 Proficiency Awards and
• 6 Participation Certificates

The Best in School Award is given to the student with the highest score. This year, the Best in School is Abbie Qian of Year 7.

Students in the top 3% of Year 7-10 students and top 5% of Year 11-12 candidates from their year group receive a Certificate of High Distinction. Students in the top 20% of Year 7-10 students and top 25% of Year 11-12 candidates from their year group receive a Certificate of Distinction. The next 35% of candidates from each year group receive Credit Certificates.

High Distinction recipients were announced at a whole school assembly. Congratulations to all students who participated and especially High Distinction, Distinction and Credit Award winners who are listed below, in order of merit.

Year 7

High Distinction: Abbie Qian – Best in School, Sophie Lee, Hailin Lu, Esther Park, Reggy Wu, Elaine Cho, Ryana Reza, Claire Yang, Elsie He, Jolene Jackson,

Distinction: Zhiyao Xi, Dhiya Ranjith Kumar, Vanessa Peng, Yixuan Wan, Irina Wang, Charity Yan, Maggie Yang, Gemma Lee, Hannah Lee, Emilia Matthews, Alice He, Erina Hossan, Sarah Kim, Xinyue Wei, Chloe Chan, Teresa Han, Marrisa Yang, Kate Liao, Haiqi Lu, Matilda Warwick, Sophia Zhai, Ella Lee, Xin Yu Mao, Chanya Rupasinghe, Phoebe Fan, Niharika Garg, Evelyn Lee, Zoe Li, Angelina Zhang, Siena Fernandes, Emily He, Irene Park, Maitreyi Tere, Kelly Ha, Diyana Kariyawasam, Sivani Karthikeyan, Holly Park, Isabella Yuan, Eva Zhang, Ying Calamante, Rose Jung, Choi Yee Tsang, Saptorshi Datta, Jodie Setiawan, Angela Zhang, Mia Chan, Juliet Jennings, Michelle Jin, Ananya Kumar, Aanya Singh,

Credit: Samiya Gupta, Tara Iyer, Rhea Pillai, Adhithi Srinivasan, Xinyao Wang, Katie He, Aarika Bhatia, Lyra Lucas, Raavi Gujar, Elise Lee, Ivy Liu, Elena Oh, Jessica An, Erica Liu, Mithra Maheshbabu Karpagapriya, Akshara Murali, Emily Zhang, Sabrina Degros, Nethuki Hettiarachchi, Mugdha Kamat, Brielle Leong, Saanvi Mehra, Lucy Seo, Sehej Bhangu, Teresa Lu, Margaret Xu, Jemma Soukhavong, Meredith Tan, Yiru Wang, Rachel lee, Zihan Lin, Olivia Bai, Riyaa Thejaswi, Ashlyn Ho-Liu, Maggie Sun, Monica Liu, Anika Naidu, Jade Ip, Joanne Park, Mengling Yang, Mia Li, Gia Wasan, Erika Yang, Jasmine Liu, Nicole Teh, Claire Zhang, Prisha Gargeshwari, Summer Zou, Joelle Lee,

Year 8

High Distinction: Aarna Mayooran, Aerin Chien, Maya Otalora Caliman, Olivia Ryu, Jennifer D Qin,

Distinction: Eva Still, Kashfia Khaled, Viha Mithun, Violet Cho, Leyan Xu, Isabella Jiang, Abi Le, Elizabeth Hale, Chloe Huang, Shelly Chen, Amy Wang, Navya Patel, Aurora Goodwin, Ashley Vella, Zinat Abdullah, Elissa Fan, Susanna Lau, Clare Liu, Thanmaya Santhosh, Maggie Yin, Alisa Zeng, Ariel Zhang, Lucy Chen, Lindsay Low, Alina Chen, Sreenidhi Manickavasagan, Luting Peng, Cydney Tsai, Maggie Yuan, Beien Zhan, Sophia Zhou, Vasilisa Boag, Shivon Chakravarti, Tanya Singh, Sakura Tamezane, Sandy Wang, Stella (Seoyoun) Kang, Yunhan Liao, Jesselyn Tedja, Angela Zhang, Irene Bae, soomin eun, Luna Kim, Tinny Lo, Nessa Qiu, Hannah Croaker, Annette Kang, Meera Pudipeddi, Leila Zheng, Katelyn Jin, Katelyn Sirimat, Tanika Sivasuthan,

Credit: Molly Baek, Tara Gilkeson, Linda Liu, Ann Yu, Amanda Zhang, Atrin Bagherian, Leona Fang, Sophia Lee, Rose Liu, Ruixi Sun, Evelyn Wang, Phoebe Wu, Isha Balaji, Vanessa Chang, Allison Fan, Queenie Song, Suhani Duhan, Seah Yu, Addison D'Souza, Emily Liang, Anshika Sahay, Kaixi Yang, Jessica Chen, Vanessa Li, Alice Yang, Yuexi Zhao, Annebelle Kang, Sylvia Lau, Alexa Lin, Christine Yao, Casey Ahn, Maggie Hu, Maya Kikuchi, Ruiqi Pan, Ella Xiong, Stephanie Su, Chelsea Chen, Renee Tokura, Hayley Wu, Riyashini Gouthaman,Nandita Nair, Shania Guo, Divya Varathan, Bethannie Chen, Annabelle Djaja, Yeha Kim, Yasmin Wijayasinghe, Nusaiba Ayan, Zuhayra Azam, Lily Odams, Thenumi Hewafonsekage, Kingkini Mazumdar, Ritika Prasad, Myra Rangra, Mio Foley, Shubhavi Kanade, Chloe Lee,

Year 9

High Distinction: Melissa Zhou, Yuna Kim, Sophie Luo,

Distinction: Lane Chai, Aniela Knight, Sally Wu, Yuna Jung, Ella Chen, Jenny Xu, Jasmine Yuan, Ziqi Zhang, Roselina Zheng, Alice Yoo, Heeeun Kim, Shanning Mak, Keya Patel, Claire Su, Kylie Yu, Megan Yuan, Angela Wu, Cindy Liu, Zifei Chen, Manar Hasan, Sienna Samarawickrama, Jessica Tan, Tingju Zhang, Lilia Brown, Amy Diao, Sophia Kim, Hannah Moore,

Credit: Qing Foong, Samaira Krishna, Ayaana Sahni, Celine Ahn, Dulya Arukattu Patabendige, Summer Choi, Nethuki Karunatilake, Nimisha Kotoky Purkayastha, Amitya Palsani, Sidhya Sitha-Nanthan, Ivory Cook, Cynthia Liu, Yashita Mohan, Juliet Johnson, Nysha Riyadh, Holly Stamm, Sophia Xiong, Catherine Yuan, Siena Park, Amanda Xu, Arwen Zhang, Tya Dhayaparan, Yunxi Ji, Jina Kim, Isabella Li, Wendy Cai, Sriya Danda, Yuju Choi,Thinolee Gunasinghe, Sophia Jiang, Shreya Vasireddy, Zhixuan Chen, Grace Kim, Mysha Yasir Khan, Senuli De Alwis, Mia Pathmatheva, Ella-Rose Wu, Xiyao Chen, Xiyan Huang, Gracie Reid, Jaynee Vaghela, Yolanda Wang, Beixuan Wang, Sophie Chen, Cassie Jian, Claire Kim, Faith Lai, Merrian Liu, Yuna Choi, Abi Kim, Amanda Pan, Nina Zhou, Adithi Acharya, Amelia Aluthge, Emily Wang, Ananya Varma Amaravathi, Amie Joo, Vanessa Lin, Emily Lin, Ujjaini Mallik-Bansal, Janani Vijaya Raghavan, Erica Krivanek, Evie Li, Parigyna Lingareddy, Annalise Low,

Year 10

High Distinction: Aanya Chandel,

Distinction: Emily Wu, Sophia Ah Kit, Jessica Zhou, Chloe Phae, Hiya Ganatra, Ziqi Wang, Chloe Kim, Benita Shrestha, Olivia Trinh, Vivien Wu, Jessica Tung, Felicity Bai-yang, Isabelle Ho, Zhiqing Zhang, Winnie Harzenko, Isabel Yang, Hannah Doherty, Alaysha Garg, Lucy Wang, Hyunjeen Kim, Haewon Ryu, Sophie Li, Isabella Chan, Crystal Jin, Grace J. Ku, Alessa Lim, Sophie Wang, Pranavi Challagulla, Betty Fan, Hannah Kim, Veronica Su, Angela Yang, Aurora Ly, Victoria Tran,

Credit: Lucia Jiang, Ishani Sri Ganeshwaran, Olivia Baek, Sienna Conybeare, Olivia Gouw, Daun Jung, Nanditha Kaimal, Michelle Kim, Yena Lee, Sidhi Saxena, Zoe Thompson, Catherine Baik, Dorothy Hu, Tanvi Marathe, Amelia Mow, Ruoyin Gan, Porah Hyun, Yvette Huang, Zoey Jiang, Solomiia Koreniuk, Alice McIntyre, Isabella Yao, Mikaela Gao, Annie Hu, Pahanya Jayasinghe, Ella Xie, Elyse Chow, Elizabeth Kuo, Yasaswini Mandava, Alexia Ng, Angelina Chen, Judy Chen, Melissa Huang, Elaine Liu, Lucia Yoon, Ananya Dixit, Rena Seo, Caitlin Chung, Himasha Fernando, Olivia Lu, Aggie Fan, Elise Reynolds, Chitrakhhi Banerjee, Hannah Lee, Sarah Tan, Katia Castrisos, Ozanna Chan, Chloe Gana, Emma Hong, Dhaarani Loganathan, Risa Narsinh, Rian Son, Simran Pandey, Rashi Shree, Cindy Wu, Hansa Yarlagadda, Selina Au, Landri Huang, Sanemi Mishra, Areej Sabih, Elysia Zhao,

Year 11

High Distinction: Lena Pham,

Distinction: Xin Yue Hu,

Credit: Isabella He, Claire Hwang,

Congratulations to all students who participated in the Maths Competition this year and I look forward to your continued involvement next year.

Ms Kathryn Murray

Head Teacher Mathematics

Ethics Olympiad

Hornsby Girls High School won the Bronze Medal in the 2024 Middle Schools Ethics Olympiad on Friday November 4!

Well done to Atrin Bagherian (Yr 8), Maya Otalora Caliman (Yr 8), Mio Foley (Yr 8), Abigail Kim (Yr 9), and Nimisha Purkayastha (Yr 9)!

On Friday the 1st of November, Mio Foley, Atrin Bagherian, Maya Otalora Caliman, Nimisha Purkayastha and I competed in the 2024 Middle School Ethics Olympiad. Our team explored many different ethical and moral dimensions of issues and challenges facing our world today including the use of AI in schools, geriatric parents and moral obligations to donate to more important causes. We discussed these cases with other schools and judges who provided very insightful knowledge and at the end of the competition our team received a bronze award!! A highly successful day for our ethics olympiad team.

A Kim

The Ethics Olympiad was just as engaging this year as I remembered, bringing together students from across different schools to tackle complex ethical issues. What I loved most about these competitions was how they pushed us beyond textbook answers - we dove into real discussions about current issues, and everyone brought their own perspective to the table. Getting to interact with the expert judges was always a highlight, as they challenged our thinking and helped us explore angles we hadn't considered.

The discussions were particularly interesting this year, with topics ranging from current global conflicts to the ethics of AI. It was great seeing how much our team had grown since last time, confidently taking on each new challenge and ultimately securing third place. I'm already looking forward to next year's competition.

N Purkayashtha (Year 9)

What does the Ethics Olympiad involve?

Well, one of the special characteristics is that it's not a debate. It is not adversarial, but a way that the participants can demonstrate their ability to have conversations on controversial topics with people they don’t know, to actively listen to each other, to appreciate another’s point of view, and to use that in building an interesting discussion.

There were over 12 teams registered, representing both state and private schools. They went through 4 heats of ethical debates, with the most popular cases discussed being AI in Schools (teachers being replaced by bots), and geriatric parents (two famous actors, Robert de Niro [79] and Al Pacino [83] becoming new fathers).

HGHS has registered for the 2025 Middle Schools Ethics Olympiad, so if you want to be involved in this challenging but enjoyable experience just contact Dr Turner or Dr Royce and indicate your interest. There is also the 2025 Seniors Ethics Olympiad!

Dr Terry Royce, Careers Advisor, Ethics Co-ordinator

English Extension 2 Young Writers Showcase Nominations

The English Faculty at HGHS would like to recognise the creative and hard-working students who completed the English Extension 2 course and their independent Major Works in Term 3 this year. We are excited to announce that three of these Young Writers and their respective Major Works have been nominated for the NSW HSC Young Writers Showcase as exemplary works from across the state. The English Staff, on behalf of the whole HGHS community, congratulate the following students on their nomination:

• Xenia Belthikiotos
• Rachel Crandell
• Saachi Singh

For more information on HSC Showcase nominations for subjects with practical exam components, please visit the Department of Education website linked here: https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/hsc-showcase-hub/hsc-showcase-nominations

English Faculty

Nichidai Buzan Girls High School Visit

The exchange day with the Year 11 students of Nichidai Buzan Girls High School was a very fun day for our whole grade.

In period 1, Dr Briggs and the principal of Nichidai Buzan Girls High School, Mr Toshiyuki Mayuzumi, gave speeches and exchanged gifts marking the start of an exciting day. I and some Nichidai Buzan Girls High School also gave speeches where we showed our enthusiasm for the day. We were treated to wonderful performances by the band Marchpocalypse, consisting of members; Carina Quizon, Simran Pandey, Sophie Wu, Selina Au, and Lucia Yoon and our Year 10 Japanese Class who performed a medley of Japanese and Western dance trends which had everyone laughing.

In period 2, we had a scavenger hunt around our school where we solved some clues in Japanese and English to get to certain iconic places around our school. This activity helped us foster communication and create close relationships between our new friends and upon its completion we were awarded candies.

In period 3 we had a dance session where we and some dancers from Nichidai Buzan Girls High School taught us the Nutbush. Soon we had everyone in the hall, giggling and dancing to the Nutbush. We did a few Just Dances that us Australian students have been doing for an exceptionally long time, and it had the Nichidai Buzan Girls High School constantly laughing.

It was a ridiculously hot day so after the dancing we took a break where everyone socialised and took some pictures with a frame personalised for the day, everyone got memories that they could keep forever.

The Nichidai Buzan Girls High School students were treated to some Paella which they liked very much, and they spent their lunch chatting with us Hornsbies.

While everyone was finishing their lunch, we did some karaoke where we sang some extremely popular songs that both grades knew and we were all singing and showing off our dance moves.

Unfortunately, the day had to end, so we took a whole group picture and bid our friends farewell as they boarded their buses.

It was such a fun day that many Hornsbies were sad that it was over and that they had to part with their friends. We made promises to come to Japan one day and for them to visit our school once more.

Despite the day being in the middle of our exam week it offered us a welcome relief from the stress. The exchange day had allowed us to connect with students from across the globe, people who we surprisingly had a lot in common with despite vast cultural differences, it allowed us to learn a bit of Japanese and for them to practise their English, and very importantly it allowed us to create long lasting friendships.

I would like to thank Dr Briggs and Lawson Sensei for organising the day for us, our Year 10 Japanese Class for helping to ensure that the day ran smoothly, and Marchpocalypse for their amazing performance.

Yasaswini Mandava (Year 10 Japanese student)

elegance of expression

In an extraordinary display of persuasive rhetoric, logical thinking and team work, the HGHS debating team secured their place as the second best team in all of NSW at the Premier’s Debating Competition State Finals, losing to James Ruse by a narrow margin. This was made possible through the sheer hard work of the team: Catherine Yuan, Aditi Sunder Rajan, Yashita Mohan, Ishani Sri Ganeshwaran, Amber McLean and Pranavi Challagulla, and the continued support and advice of Thinolee Gunasinghe, Aanya Chandel and Simran Pandey.

In another impressive achievement, Amber McLean, after presenting an impressive speech at the UN Youth Voice Public Speaking competition, aced the semi-finals, and will now be presenting her speech at the NSW Parliament House for the Grand Finals of the UN Youth Voice.

A brilliant year for HGHS Debating and Public Speaking teams.

Anupama Bhattacharya - English Teacher

Year 12 Visual Arts Body of Work

The Visual Arts class of 2024 are an incredibly unique, talented and creative group of young women who genuinely thrived when creating their Body of Work. During critical and historical studies, the class never failed to engage in robust conversations and debates about the artists and artworks that they were studying. It has been a privilege teaching them in stage 6.

The artworks they created were conceptually strong and materially refined. Expressive forms included painting, photomedia, sculpture, drawing and graphic design. All students created a series of works, however, in this edition of the Torch not all images have been included.

The HSC Showcase was a celebration of this. Rachelle Wu won the People’s Choice Award, Nelly Zeng was awarded Excellence in Artmaking Practice, the Eckersley’s Award was won by Clara Yang, Sophia Lau won the Principals Award, Elizabeth Vizor was awarded the Conceptual Artmaking Practice prize and Talise Xu won the S&S Innovation Award. Talise Xu and Fiona Yee will have their work hung at the Grace Cossington Smith Gallery in the exhibition Art North in March 2025.

Water Polo

Four students from our school—Hannah Croaker (Y8-U17), Charity Yan (Y7-U14), Erica Liu (Y7-U14), and Eva Zhang (Y7-U14)—represented Ryde Water Polo Club at the Canberra Cup Water Polo competitions, held from 8th November to 10th November. Competing against teams from Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, the Southern Highlands, and the Hunter Region, they showcased exceptional skill and teamwork, earning impressive second-place finishes in both the U17 and U14 categories. This remarkable achievement is a testament to their dedication and sportsmanship. Congratulations to all involved!

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