Fahan School eNewsletter

Principal's Report

As part of the Capital Master Planning process that Fahan School has recently commenced, Term 3 began with big blue-sky thinking by our team of amazing staff at Fahan about our learning places and spaces. As a first step in to gathering information from the Fahan Community, Sophie Bence and Bek Verrier from Bence Mulcahy, and Edwina Hughes from Inspiring Place spent the day listening to, and collaborating with, all staff of Fahan School. The day was divided evenly between the various areas of the School with clear outcomes required by the architects.

The day was broken into two key parts. Part 1 (a group session) provided staff with an opportunity for a whole staff collective workshop to think about how the Master Plan can bring into being the School’s values, while Part 2 (one-on-ones) was a series of learning area sessions focussing on the specific needs of individual facilities within the school.

The whole staff workshop on Values and Culture, Pedagogy and Legacy was creative and interactive:

Values and Culture – the architects wanted to hear from staff on Fahan’s values and how they inform the day-to-day operations at the school. How do we do things at Fahan? What makes Fahan, Fahan? They also wanted to learn about school culture and traditions, and to look forward and think about Fahan’s future aspirations.

Pedagogy – the architects wanted to hear about how teachers teach? Does Fahan have overarching teaching practices? And, if so, are these school-wide or particular to junior, senior schools? What are Fahan’s pedagogical aspirations for the future?

Legacy – the architects wanted to learn about what we hope the girls take away from their experience here when they leave Fahan?

The one-on-one sessions were designed to hear from teachers and staff regarding their particular operational and pedagogical needs. Items discussed included:

What do you see as the current needs of the campus?
What are your aspirations for the future of the campus?
What areas work well in the school, and what areas are under-utilised?
Are there new types of learning environments the school desires?

As I write, today, Bence Mulcahy is running a 'Wishing Tree' session with girls from every grade in the School to hear from them about:

What do you love most about our campus? Both the buildings and the grounds.
Do you feel there is anything missing from our school?
For those senior students who study at Hutchins, are there any aspects of their campus that you would like to see at Fahan? (Year 11/12 ONLY)
What future pathways do you see yourself following?

These sessions with the girls are crucial to the process, and a form of legacy that our current girls can leave the girls who will follow then into Fahan School. Following these sessions, the School will offer an opportunity for parents to share their wishes for our beautiful campus, so stay tuned, and once gathered, the architects will use the quite fabulous information that has been shared to create a brief for the Capital Master Plan.

With every best wish,
Penny Curran-Peters

In French class the Year 6 students learnt a little about the history behind France’s national day, Bastille Day (La Fête Nationale du 14 juillet). Verity impressed us with her knowledge of the figures and events that led to France becoming a republic. The class then enjoyed a craft activity – making masks like those worn by (former Queen) Marie Antoinette and her friends at the masked balls she particularly enjoyed. Rachel’s mask, inspired by a peacock and a unicorn, was especially eye-catching!

Learning about NAIDOC Week

Weekly Library lessons in the Junior School provide an opportunity for students to share, discuss, reflect and imagine people and places similar and different to their own. Students regularly review books, prompting others to try a well-worn classic or a new release.

Library lessons are also a time to learn about and explore current events. This week, Year 5 and Year 6 studied the breath-taking design for this year’s NAIDOC week theme, Heal Country. The students shared what they knew about NAIDOC Week and why it is important for us to have acknowledge the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. We watched a Behind the News segment further explaining the reasons for NAIDOC Week and then listened to Paul Kelly’s well-known song, From Little Things Big Thigs Grow.

Afterwards, the students were invited to add to an ephemeral art work using natural objects such as shells, seed pods, sticks and stones.

Below you will find photos of student artwork, 2021, Photo of heal country, NAIDOC website 2021
Photo of paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, 2014, Image from National Film and Sound Archives, Gough and Lingiari, 1975 from ABC News website.

Meg Denman
Junior School Teacher Librarian

On Tuesday 27 July, Year 3 had a fantastic excursion to Rockit Climbing Centre. At the start of the day, everyone was bouncing with excitement about the prospect of climbing walls and navigating tunnels. Before we left we had a talk about how the day wasn’t just about whether we could climb the highest or tunnel the fastest. It was more about how we could work together to support and encourage each other. We know that everyone feels comfortable doing different things and that all of us had different levels of experience in rock climbing and tunnelling. Some of us were going to be taken a long way out of our comfort zone and we all wanted to look out for each other!

When we arrived, we were told the rules of the Centre and then split into two groups. Jayde stayed with the climbing girls and Mrs Steel cheered on the tunnellers. When climbing, we were told how to be safe and how to find the best places to put our hands and feet. There were a lot of different ropes we could use and difference challenges we could attempt.

There were six tunnels available for us to crawl through; some were very easy and others were ‘extreme’! Everyone stayed in pairs or small groups to help each other if needed inside the tunnels. Some of the tunnels had very twisty corners, some had alien pictures and one had a very steep slope to crawl up.

All the Year 3 students faced a personal challenge during the excursion and everyone agreed that it was a great experience:

When I was in one of the tunnels my torch stopped and Pixie let me use her torch because she was in the middle - Mia

In one of the extreme tunnels it was cool because there was the steep hill but it had rock climbing footholes on it to help you climb up and it was fun to hang off them on your way up - Maddy

When I was feeling scared, Eve supported me and she is a really kind friend - Saige

When we were in the tunnels we used teamwork to get up a really steep hill. Tose got to the top and then pulled me up and then we both helped pull Mia up and then we all helped pull Abbey up- Molly

When I was about three metres from the top of a really high climbing wall, Eve was just down the bottom saying “you’re nearly up the top, you can do it” And then I got there! - Scarlett

When we were half way through a tunnel we turned our lights off and saw the alien pictures and they glowed on our clothes - Maggie

When I was about to go in my first tunnel I was really scared and Rosie wouldn’t leave my side until I went. She was a really good friend to me - Olivia

When we went in tunnel six it felt like we were worms - Abbey

When I was climbing up one of the walls Catherine was supporting me - Gertie

When Catherine and I went climbing the walls we were trying to see who could come down the most gracefully - Emilia

When I was in the tunnel my shoe came off and my friends helped carry it for me - Pixie

Molly and I got lost in one of the tunnels so we came back and then Abbey went in front of us to help us find where it went - Rose

Mrs Kathryn Steel

Learning about Japanese Food and the Tokyo Olympics

Rin Japanese Restaurant

As part of the curriculum, the Year 8 Japanese classes have been learning about Japanese food culture and eating etiquette. They have learnt about many traditional foods, how to express what they eat and drink for meals, set phrases expressed before and after eating and how to use chopsticks correctly and politely. Students put their knowledge, skills and tastebuds to the test and enjoyed an obento boxed lunch at Rin Restaurant.

Some comments from the girls about the experience:

“おいしい！ I loved it”! Penny

“I loved that we had an obento box of a variety of foods, and that I could try new things” Nellie

すごい！Eliza

Tokyo Olympics

The Year 5-10 Japanese classes have enjoyed getting into the Olympic spirit completing various activities. Classes have been learning things like the names of the sports in Japanese, discovering the mascots – their superpowers and the meanings behind their names, discussing the broadcast schedule in Japanese and negotiating what to watch, and creating chants to cheer for Australia and Japan. The Olympics run until August 8 and the Paralympics from August 24 – September 5.

Clare Enright

Learning about Concours de l’Alliance Française

On Friday 25 July, 32 students from Years 6 to 11 travelled to Hobart College to participate in the annual Concours de l’Alliance Française. Students competed against other Tasmanian schools in Poetry, Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension and Conversation, depending on their age group. The top six posters created by our Year 5/6 students were also entered. This year the theme was La cuisine d’une région française (The cuisine from a region of France). It was wonderful to see the girls achieve these impressive results after many hours of creating and rehearsing:

Year 5/6 Poster
Honorable Mention: Ava Mignanelli

Year 6 Poetry
1^st Prize: Charlotte Greenaway
Honorable Mention: Imogen Milford
Hors Concours Prize: Sarah Berner
Hors Concours Honorable Mention: Lilie Von Savageri

Year 7 Poetry
1^st Prize: Tiger Sommerville
Honorable Mention: Chloe Groom

Year 8 Poetry
Honorable Mention: Nellie Cheek

Year 9 Poetry
3^rd Prize: Keala Hayes
Honorable Mention: Sophie Lang

Year 9 Reading
Honorable Mention: Grace Couser
Hors Concours Honorable Mention: Zoe Le Guilly

Year 10 Poetry
3^rd Prize: Roxi Padas

Year 10 Listening
2^nd Prize: Lucy Adams
3^rd Prize: Roxanne Padas
Honorable Mention: Jessica Sypkes

Year 11 Poetry
Honorable Mentio: Chloe Essex

Year 11 Listening
Honorable Mention:Lillian McShane

Mrs Holly Lutzow

Learning about Drones

This week, our Year 7 students headed down to the Oval to fly a drone and navigate a basic obstacle course to learn about the fundamentals of movement and test their skills. These girls are currently working on a packaging design unit and are developing a food container that is aerodynamic and allows for delivery by drone. During this unit, the girls will achieve their drone licence, learning to safely fly with consideration of aviation rules and regulations. It has been a fantastic opportunity to put all their learning into practice out on the field.

Mr Chris Summers

What a fabulous start to Term 3 with so much to be excited about! These first two weeks have given me so much to smile about. Having the parents returning on the campus for the Subject Selection Information Nights was a real joy, to connect again in person in this forum. The P&F have a stunning evening planned and it was really exciting to hear the committee discuss the upcoming Fundraising Gala Dinner.

As I write this, Year 8 girls are busily preparing for their Wildcare Fundraising Probability Fair, which is a stunning example of our school values in action, encompassing Learning, Spirit and Community at the highest levels.

It would also be remiss of me not to mention the Fahan Spirit shown by all girls at the Athletics Carnival. While it was a thrill to watch some incredible performances on the day, it was even more incredible and heart-warming to witness the strong participation and the enormous support that the girls showed their peers! Bravo to Mrs Banks-Smith, Sports Chair, Georgia McMullen and all the staff and students who made the day such an enjoyable event.

Jack Machin
Deputy Principal

Spirit - Q&A with Mrs Clare Enright, English and Languages Coordinator

What made you choose your career?

Since I was little, I knew I was going to be a teacher. I still remember playing with my little blackboard! My pop worked for the education department and, in Year 10, I chose to do my work experience in a primary classroom at Lauderdale. Then, when I was completing my Japanese studies at University, a friend and I helped set up a Japanese language program at Waimea Heights Primary school. After graduating, I spent a year in Japan as an assistant English Language Teacher on the JET program. This experience cemented my desire to follow my path to become a teacher.

Of what are you most proud?

Professionally, I am most proud of being the Co-President of JATNET for the past four years. The opportunities to travel to the Japan Foundation Sydney to represent Tasmanian Teachers of Japanese and work closely with a team of like-minded, passionate colleagues to facilitate professional learning for teachers and experiences for our Tasmanian students has been extremely rewarding.

What do you enjoy most about working at Fahan?

I love interacting with and inspiring my students to think globally, pursue their interests in other cultures and Japanese language learning. Ultimately, I’m a people person and, I love having fun in the classroom and developing connections with students. Over the years, the opportunity to facilitate and witness student’s ‘real-world’ learning and authentic development of cultural understanding on the Fahan School Japan Study Tour has been incredible. It has been so heart-warming when I receive feedback from students and their parents about it being a transformative experience.

How would you describe yourself in one sentence?

I would say I am someone who is loyal, cares deeply, enjoys having fun and that there is more to me than meets the eye...cue the Transformers music!

Spirit -Junior School Sport

Junior Basketball

The basketball roster gets underway in the Junior School next Thursday. Fahan will field two teams in both the 3/4 and 5/6 rosters. Numbers weren't enough to field three teams so a rostering off situation has been developed with the two teams to ensure girls are given a good opportunity to play the sport. Rosters will be distributed by the end of this week.

Please ensure that you are aware of the COVID protocols of each gym, especially the Uni Gym, where temperature testing is undertaken and a permission form will need to be filled out. Additionally, some games will require the girls to depart early from class. Whilst this is not desirable, unfortunately the number of available gymnasiums does not equate to the number of teams in the roster and hence often requires two timeslots. Information regarding these games and the temperature testing will come via Edsmart.

Junior Athletics
Term 3 sees the commencement of the Athletics season. Whilst it may not feel like athletics weather now, it will soon be upon us! Below are details of future carnivals. I’m sure the athletics clubs will soon also be advertising their starting dates, keep an eye out for that as well.

Junior House Athletics
Domain Athletics Centre
Thursday 16 September

JSSATIS Athletics
Domain Athletics Centre
Thursday 11 November

Mr Tim Dale
Junior Sport Co-ordinator
dalet@fahan.tas.edu.au

Spirit - Senior School Sport

Welcome to Term 3 Sport. We have many teams competing in a variety of sports. It is wonderful to see Fahan have so many teams playing sport!

Thank you to everyone who is coaching and managing teams. Your coaching, help and support are very much appreciated and our girls are very fortunate to have you.

Waterpolo

Best wishes to the Years 7/8, 9/10 and 11/12 waterpolo teams who play in their semi finals this evening.

Fahan Inter-House Athletics Carnival

The Fahan Inter-House Athletics Carnival was held on Thursday 29 July at the Domain Athletics Centre.

Congratulations to everyone for their participation and efforts. It was a chilly day at the Domain Athletics Centre and everyone ran, jumped and threw with a smile on their face!

The winner of the House cup and the age group champions will be announced next week.

Thank you to all parents who helped out on the day and a special thank you to Ben Essex and Bill and Pauline Essex.

The team for the SSATIS Athletics will be put on the Tree on the Senior Sport Online page and also on the sports notice board. A letter will be sent to all team members along with a training schedule. The SSATIS Athletics will be held on Tuesday 7 September at the Domain Athletics Centre. The SATIS Athletics will be held on Saturday 18 September at the Hobart Domain Athletics Centre.

Mrs Jo Banks-Smith
Senior Sport Co-ordinator
bankssmithj@fahan.tas.edu.au
0428 031 012

Dear Fahan Community,

Our Hollywood Gala is only 2 weeks away and I am excited to announce the event is a sell out! The response has been outstanding and we trust you have your tickets, your outfits (we have prizes for Best & Worst dressed) and that you are doing your arm exercises in order to raise your paddles high and often during our Live Auction.

We have some sensational LIVE and SILENT auction prizes this year - like off the charts! This year we have concentrated on heavily sourcing and promoting Tasmanian owned adventures, goods and services. We are still looking for additional silent auction prizes if you would like to contribute.

This year we also asked our Junior School classes to provide themed baskets for the night and we are super grateful for all the classes who are participating. These will be crowd pleasers for sure.

We also hope you enjoy taking a chance on our Wine Pull on the night. We are collecting wine bottles of different kinds and quality, wrapping them, and on the night, you can purchase a bottle at random for $25 (they are all wrapped the same). We are looking for donations of bottles of wine so if you would like to donate a bottle or 2 or 12 please drop them off at Fahan School Reception or contact me and I can collect them.

We sincerely thank our sponsors who are underwriting the event and helping to provide some awesome extras on the night!

See you on 14 August. I plan to dress swap on the night, so ladies feel free to bring an additional outfit - just like they do in Hollywood!

Catherine Matterson
President
Fahan Parents and Friends

Community - News from Nateby

Last term we were all about Masterchef. This term we are taking on a new reality TV show – The Block! During the holidays we acquired this beautiful dollhouse that requires a lot of attention. Our plan is to renovate the dollhouse over the next few months, then raffle it off towards the end of Term 4. The proceeds of the raffle will be donated to the Hobart Women’s Shelter, to support women and children in need of crisis accommodation.

The girls have already started to clean and prepare the dollhouse. We are now calling on the Fahan School Community to assist us in our venture. If you have any carpet or wallpaper offcuts that might be suitable we would love to have them. We would also welcome any odd pieces of furniture, or dollhouse miniatures that you might have hidden in a drawer at home.

All donations will be gratefully received and in return you will receive a ticket in the dollhouse raffle! Any items can be left at Fahan School Reception addressed to the Boarding House. Thank you!

Ms Fiona Short
Head of Boarding

Community - Alumna Library Visit

On Tuesday 27 July, Fahan Alumni and current P&F President, Ms Catherine Matterson, visited Fahan to talk to our Year 1 students about her time at Fahan and her love of reading.

By happy coincidence, Year 4, who are buddies to Year 1, were also available to attend. Year 4 students, Olivia and Zora wrote: “On Tuesday the 27 July, an Alumni visitor from America came to our School. Her name is Catherine Matterson. She shared some memories about Fahan from when she was a student. Catherine lives in California. She also has a daughter called Eliza who is a boarder at Fahan. Catherine not only brought some lovely books to share with us and our buddies but she also brought chocolates from America which tasted like heaven!!! They are called Hershey’s Kisses. They come in many different flavours. Overall we all loved Catherine visiting us.”

Last year, Catherine kindly donated some beautiful books to the TM Library and had few more to donate to us this week. The books are a wonderful addition to our collection of fiction and information books and will be well-read.

Year 1 student, Jade commented, "Catherine showed us a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Polly added: The Redwood trees are the biggest trees in the world! Nellie learned that in some places in North America, bears are breaking in to people’s homes, opening their fridges and helping themselves to butter! Edie was delighted to hear that when Catherine was in Hollywood recently she was staying in the same hotel as Lady Gaga! And Lady Gaga said hello to her! Wow!

The students were delighted by Catherine’s candid memories of being a Fahan student and boarder; her friends and teachers and then, Junior School Librarian, Mrs June Newman. The students were still chatting about Catherine’s visit at the end of the day. Chocolate, stories and discussion - what better way to spend an hour? It is connections like this that make Fahan so very special.

Meg Denman

Community - Pizza Making and Sharing!

In Art this week, Kindergarten and Prep made pizzas to cook in the woodfired oven at Hedgelands. The pizza oven was originally made a few years ago as a Year 3 class project and we enjoy using it whenever we can. As we created a pizza and listened to music, we laughed, talked about ingredients and the process of making pizzas, discussed our likes and dislikes, tried new things and of course had to be patient in taking turns. We also discovered that our Art Technician, Rosie, used to be a cheese maker!

For us, cooking and sharing food is always about making real world connections and celebrating being together in the Junior School!

Tania Gath, Rebecca Wiggins and Nic Goodwolf

Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets in the Year 12 Fundraising Raffle! We have been overwhelmed with your support of our two charities this year and are proud to have been supporting the Variety Freya Fund and Kamara’s Heart Foundation, both are very important to the Year 12 girls and the School Community.

We are excited to announce the winners of the 22 prizes are:

1st PRIZE WINNER
F Roger
Ticket Number: #1318

2nd PRIZE WINNER
G Crawford
Ticket Number: #1845

3rd PRIZE WINNER
A Grant
Ticket Number: #24

4th PRIZE WINNER
O Salmon
Ticket Number: #574

5th PRIZE WINNER
S Allison
Ticket Number: #1136

6th PRIZE WINNER
B Edwards
Ticket Number: #1230

7th PRIZE WINNER
G Crawford
Ticket Number: #1840

8th PRIZE WINNER
P Holmes
Ticket Number: #1388

9th PRIZE WINNER
A Slade
Ticket Number: #642

10th PRIZE WINNER
B Edwards
Ticket Number: #1236

11th PRIZE WINNER
R Norris
Ticket Number: #178

12th PRIZE WINNER
A Hansen
Ticket Number: #181

13th PRIZE WINNER
K Doyle
Ticket Number: #1370

14th PRIZE WINNER
K Doyle
Ticket Number: #1859

15th PRIZE WINNER
G Couser
Ticket Number: #1545

16th PRIZE WINNER
S Lambert
Ticket Number: #1559

17th PRIZE WINNER
S Young
Ticket Number: #532

18th PRIZE WINNER
S Stubbs
Ticket Number: #227

19th PRIZE WINNER
G O'Connor
Ticket Number: #1752

20th PRIZE WINNER
A Keogh
Ticket Number: #1411

21st PRIZE WINNER
S Kiely
Ticket Number: #893

22nd PRIZE WINNER
M Jones
Ticket Number: #1671

Prizes to be collected from Monday 2 August from Fahan School Reception. Contact Miranda Jones jonesm2@student.fahan.tas.edu.au

Miranda Jones
Head Girl, on behalf of Year 12

Community Notices

Fahan School Uniform Purchases

Fahan School uniform items can be ordered through the Flexischools website or App (Apple of Google). If a uniform fitting is required, please email Mrs Birgitta Browning at uniformshop@fahan.tas.edu.au

Canteen online orders are taken before school through the Flexischools website or App. A variety of foods are offered and healthy, nutritional choices are encouraged. Parents can also load money onto a student's ID card through the Flexischools App so that students from Year 3 may use their student card to purchase items from the canteen.

Flexischools Website

Fahan School Bus Service

For more information on the Fahan Bus Service, please click here.

A Fortnight at Fahan - Term 3, 30 July 2021