1978 School Magazine

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT SOTH NOVEMBER, 1977"

It is with much pleasure that I present the 'l02nd Annual Report of the Brisbane Girls' Grammar School and the first in my capacity as Principal. 1977 has been a challenging and rewarding year for everyone involved in the life of the school. During the year Mr. Cavaye retired from the Board of Trustees. He served the school for the past 13 years on the financial sub-committee and played an important part in the development of sound financial policies. For this we are very grateful. Dr. George Fielding has replaced Mr. Cavaye. The year began with 770 girls on the role including 70 boarders; this meant that we needed 6 Grade B forms and 5 forms in every other year. We eventually hoped to consolidate our numbers at 750 as unlimited growth is not possible because of the limitations imposed upon us by the shortage of land. Even so next year we wili begin the year with 780. Generally speaking the only new gills entering the school will be in Grade B and the boarding house. For the first time for a number of years we have been unable to offer everyone desiring a place at the school the opportunity to join us. To cope with the in- creasing numbers it was necessary to look closely at the administration so that our pastoralcare of the girl-s in our charge could be improved. Mr. Allan Faragher was ap- pointed the School's first Deputy principal. We said farewell to Mrs. Kugelman earlier in the year who had previously held the position of second mistress. She is to take up her appointment as Head Mistress of St. Margaret's School at Clayfietd. We wish her weil in the future and thank her for her many years of service to Girls'Grammar. A form Supervisor was appointed for each year group to help with the general organisation of the fornrs. Miss McNamara was responsible for 6th Form - Miss Greet for Sth - Mr. Bourke - 4th Mrs. Cooke - 3rd and Miss Forster - 2nd. I would like to thank them all for their time, help and encouragement throughout the year. Next year Miss McNamara will be relieved of these duties to allow her to develop the new Grade 11 English syllabus. Likewise -Miss Greet will be relieved so ihat Exiension Education Activities can be further extended. Mr. Bourke will become the 6th Form Supervisor, Mrs. Chowdhury the 5th, Miss Hatton 4th, Mrs. Cooke 3rd and Mis6 Forster 2nd. lncreased numbers have also meant the need for new classroom areas. Plans have been made to build a new multi-purpose complex to the present Gymnasium so that approximately 5 teaching areas will be obtained as well as a large Hail to seat approximately 800. Four other new teaching rooms are also envisaged for the beginning of the year. They will be obtained by making better use of existing facilities. These new deveiopmenti will eventually allow for the release of specialist rooms such as Laboratories and Art Rooms from doubling as Form rooms.

Mrs. Lynch has taken much of the respcnsibility for the organisation of Prefects and Class Seniors and for this we are grateful. We look to even greater participation from senior girls next year. I was very proud of the way the 6th form seniors accepted the challenge of the year and I would especially like to thank Lillian and Lynden for the loyalty and support they have shown throughout the year. The boarding house has seen an upturn in numbers. We have maintained 70 girls throughout the year - a very comfortable number for our limited facilities. Next year we look like beginning the year with 76 gaining B0 by term 2. This is the absolute maximum that we can hold and not everyone who has wanted to board has been able to be accepted. With the closure of a number of smaller boarding schools and a new interest in boarding schools being shown by the Commonwealth Schools Commission we are now discussing the feasibility of constructing a new boarding house. During the year the Board has updated the facilities for resident staff and a number of improvements have been made for the girls. These improved facilities have meant that we can now attract better qUalified staff to live-in permanently. Girls in the boarding house have been encouraged to look away from self and to understand the demands placed upon them when they enter boarding school. We often forget that girls and boys in boarding schools, particular- ly in Queensland have often come from isolated areas where they have had little contact with others. Suddenly we expect them to cope with the demands of domitory life and communal living. To this end a Seminar was organised at Girls' Grammar early in Third Term with the help of money from the Association of lndependent Schools of Queensland. Heads of lndependent Schools and their resident staff attended. This was the first time in the history of Queensland that such a Seminar had been organised. As a result a group that will help to upgrade the position of residents. This is just the beginn- ing of a realisation that just as much time must be put in- to developing a philosophy for boarding schools as that for day schools. Earlier in the year I asked the staff to answer a question- naire to discover what they felt the school stands for, Next year I hope to involve them in a school evaluation so that we can better achieve our aims and continue t0

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