Riverside Currents

From the Principal

Dear Parents/Caregivers, I hope you have had a wonderful week. Week 7 at Riverside has been another outstanding week. Peter Pan – High Potential and Gifted Education opportunity How could I begin the newsletter with anything other than news of the school production. What a privilege to the principal of a school that produces such a high quality piece of performance year after year. The talent and dedication of the actors and sound and lighting and backstage crew is such a testament to the value that our students place on the show. It also reflects the commitment to excellence of our staff and students. I am proud of the HPGE opportunities that our school provides in all domains; academic, physical, creative and socio-emotional, and the production is just one wonderful example of our commitment to providing growth and extension opportunities for all students in the creative domain. As I always say to the girls, success looks different for everyone. Confident, independent, creative young global citizens, empowered to face challenges with resilience and positivity is what we strive to build at Riverside, through our rich classroom, co-curricula and extra-curricula program and by and large, judging by the calibre and quality of the students that we work with every day, I’d say we are pretty successful at doing so. A big thanks to Mrs Young and Mr Young and all of the teachers who have supported them along the way, as well as giving up their time to supervise the students over the last few nights and coming to watch the show. A production that captures such an extensive representation of students from Years 7-12, with differing degrees of background and experience in the theatre, is a mammoth event and one that makes our school so extraordinarily unique and special. The performances, script and song choices were exceptional and showed a supreme understanding of stagecraft and audience engagement. We are very fortunate to have two such dedicated teachers who have brought 16 productions to the stage at Riverside! It always makes me so happy to see students on stage, ranging in age from Years 7-12, all clearly having the time of their lives. It certainly takes talent to write a play where everyone gets a part and where Metallica and Queen are woven into the script of Peter Pan - that was quite the surprise! If you haven’t seen it, I’m sure there are tickets still available for tonight’s performance. You can even buy them at the door. Show starts at 6:30pm.

Elite Dance Team – DanceStar Competition Congratulations to our Elite Dance Team who participated in the DanceStar competition last Saturday. The nineteen items made up of groups, solos and duos, achieved some outstanding results, including every Riverside entry qualifying to progress to the State Finals in a month, with their eye beyond this on a place at Nationals in August. As a team, they came away with 14 first places and 4 second place. This is a huge achievement by our newly formed team and a special thanks goes to Ms Mitchell for her dedicated work with our talented, passionate dancers. Big Science Competition – Academic enrichment A huge congratulations to Olina L (Year 8) and Evie W (Year 9) for achieving High Distinctions in the Big Science Competition, a global competition that tests science knowledge, critical thinking and problem solving skills, aligned to the Australian Science curriculum. Olina and Evie have now been invited to compete in the Junior Science Olympiad exams, a staged science enrichment program for highly motivated students in Australian high schools in Years 7 to 10. Congratulations, also, to our Science teachers for inspiring and extending these talented young scientists and encouraging them to put themselves out there to test their knowledge and skills in such a high level, high pressure global competition. Ignite program test We had 48 wonderful young students attend our Ignite program test last Saturday. It is always a privilege to meet our prospective new Year 7 cohort through this rigorous academic testing process. I admire the fortitude and confidence of these young women, fronting up on a cold Saturday morning to sit a 3-hour test in a hall full of committed scholars, all aspiring to be accepted into our Ignite program. If the calibre of these students is anything like the calibre of previous students, we certainly have a world of rich academic and extra-curricula success coming our way. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.   Louise McNeil Principal

Public Transport Announcements

Ripple Study Mentor Program

We're launching something new for our Year 7 and 8 students: the Ripple Study Mentor Program. This isn't about catching up. It's for students who want to become stronger, more independent learners. It's for students who are willing to sit with hard work, ask better questions, and grow. Sessions run every Tuesday after school from 3:10–4:00 PM, starting Week 6. Places are limited, so please complete the Google Form on Sentral and register your interest. 📚 Become a Better Learner.

Mindfulness Mondays

Faculty News

English

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Excursion

While the magic of Peter Pan was the highlight of Riverside’s calendar this week, last Wednesday 27th May, Year 7 went to the Seymour Centre, to watch the Sport for Jove Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Our students were on their best behaviour travelling to and from the theatre and indeed were thoroughly amused and inspired by this modern adaptation which had some very humorous and entertaining performances. The actors who played Puk and Bottom were especially impressive with their physicality, expressive movement and voice in bringing to life some very funny and memorable Shakespearean verse. We were very proud of our Year 7 students as they asked lots of intelligent questions during the Q and A session, and in turn listened intently as the actors shared insights into the world of theatre and the craft of staging a modern Shakespearean play. The set design, costumes, music, lighting and performances all worked seamlessly to immerse the audience into the magic, romance and mayhem of love in the heart of an Athenian (Australian) forest. Congratulations to the entire Year 7 cohort for outstandingly representing Riverside during their first English excursion. Ms Turco, Ms Philpott, Ms Campbell, Mr De Bres, Mr Hossain, Ms Peterson and Tara C Student Testimonials

I found the play exciting and original. I think adding a twist to the story to make it less boring and more understandable, made it unique and interesting. They made the play constantly engaging by using different acting techniques, and I thought (overall), the play was amazing. Keira J

All the actors emphasised their words and truly played each of their characters very well when it mattered most. They each had an important role in allowing the play to work, and you could see that when they were acting. Every time a character would enter through the audience, it felt as though we were in the play ourselves, making it even more magical for us all. I would happily see this play again as it was a fun experience for me to be a part of… Anabel L R

I really enjoyed the play because of the whimsical and free nature of it. The actors leant into the characters they were playing so that you forgot that were acting at all. I loved how they put a modern twist on it so that it was easier for modern school kids to understand. The costumes were also not too old-timey but still fitting for the characters. Felicity C

I really enjoyed watching A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was funny, entertaining, and easy to understand. The actors did a great job expressing their characters and made me laugh a lot with their performances. Watching the play showed me how important characterisation is in drama and encouraged me to focus more on developing my own characters when performing. Emily C

I really enjoyed the performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The actors put their whole effort into the performance making it so much fun to watch. It was also super funny even though sometimes I couldn't quite understand all the words. I liked all the different elements that they used like the lights and costume changes. It made everything more fun to watch. My favourite scene was the play within the play. It was absolutely hilarious and I love how they did it with confidence and no hesitation even when it might be a little crazy or weird! It was an enjoyable experience, and I would love to do watch it again. Pippa W