On Friday 11 October, it was International Day of the Girl Child which was set up by the United Nations in 2011. The aims are to focus attention on the need to address the challenges girls face, and to promote girls’ empowerment and fulfilment of their human rights.

Spotlight On: Hope

6 November 2020

Hope is a powerful thing and many would agree that it is an essential element in a good life. It should not just be a feeling that spontaneously overcomes us but something we intentionally practise. That can be hard to do, especially this year, but this is exactly why I feel so privileged to be a teacher.

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Kindness

30 October 2020

The messages I shared with staff were from parents who described girls who are happy, flourishing, growing in independence and confidence. There are so many of these girls… and it would be easy for me to stop writing here. But we need to be honest: at any given time there will also be a number of girls who are not feeling this way. They feel a bit lost, unconnected, uneasy with their peers. They worry that everyone else seems happy, while they don’t fit in.

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Why Debating Matters

23 October 2020

In early October, the second debate in the US Presidential election campaign was cancelled – at least in person – and when a virtual format was proposed as an alternative, it was dismissed by the President: ‘That is not what a debate is all about…It’s ridiculous.’

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Generosity

16 October 2020

Queenwood was founded by women with a commitment to service – service to their students and, through them, to the world. 

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Empowering Our Girls

24 September 2020

This morning I watched a special moment for your Kindergarten and Year 2 students. The Year 2 students wrote fairy tales earlier in the term and then read their stories to a delighted group of Kindergarten girls. It is an empowering process – the Year 2s, as little as they are with wobbly teeth and scuffed knees, become the grown-up in the room.

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Gratitude

18 September 2020

The emerging theme of 2020 is, for me, gratitude. Here are four things for which I am grateful.

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Why Children Draw

11 September 2020

I recently asked a group of small children to make a birthday card for their grandfather. I laid out crayons, markers, pencils, coloured paper, scissors and glue and reminded them that they needed to consider not what interested them, but what might interest ‘Papa’ and make him happy on his birthday.

READ MORE

Spotlight On: The Class of 2020

4 September 2020

While there is talk all around us about finding ways to have graduations and ceremonies to mark Year 12, and while we are doing all that we can not only to do these things in a constrained environment while making sure that we do recognise the very special achievements of the Class of 2020, their individuality and their specialness, there is more to the story of what will always be a storied year.

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Life Beyond Queenwood

28 August 2020

In the same way that an answer to the common question, “What do you do?” does not give a full picture of who a person really is, what our girls choose to study beyond Queenwood is not the whole picture of who they are becoming.

READ MORE

Spotlight On: Why History Matters

21 August 2020

In truth, history is a discipline that has the human experience at its heart. It examines the very substance and art of living. It introduces us to bodies of knowledge and powerful ideas that shape people’s values and understandings of the world.

READ MORE