2007 School Magazine

Giving from Grammar Time

Giving from Grammar Time

From the Service Captains

Amani

information about the group and our activities in an accessible and professional manner. Representatives from Brisbane Girls Grammar School attended the Moreton Bay College Activate! Amnesty Conference on 24 April. Caitlin Schimpf (10R), Tess Evans (11W), Alison Howard (12O), Rachael Newitt (12B), Eleanor Todd (12H) and Samantha Luck (11W), accompanied by Ms Parkinson, took part in the informative Conference. They attended workshops on topics such as Australian Law and Civil Rights, Refugees and Violence against Women. The passionate speakers inspired the delegation to become more globally aware and active and the students left eager to share their new knowledge.

Amani has been fundraising throughout the year for Amnesty International. The latest project was a stall at Open Day. Following tradition, people were again able to paint handprints on calico for peace. Amnesty International t-shirts, badges and pens were also sold, raising a substantial amount of money for the organisation. 2007 has been another year marked with instances of tragedy in various parts of the world. The increase in attendance at Amani meetings and the enthusiasm of the members of the group reflect the growing awareness of social responsibilities in Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

mentors. Grammar girls make a valuable contribution to this service.

Upon commencing the year, we were very excited about our roles as Service Captains, as community service within the School has always been an

Amani means peace in Swahili. As such, Amani is the School’s peace and human rights group, affiliated with Amnesty International. The focus this year has been on fundraising and discussions on situations associated with human rights. Each term has had a theme such as Guantanamo Bay and Child Soldiers to which fundraising and discussion efforts have been targeted. Amani has a dedicated group of over twenty members who are eager to gain awareness of global issues, and it seems that we are always growing. To help raise the profile of Amani in the School, Alison Howard (12O) took on the large task of designing an Amani website, which provides

The Year 11s were given the responsibility of running their House stalls on Open Day, the proceeds of which were donated to their House charities. Along with the girls from Year 12, the Year 11 girls also had the opportunity to get involved in the Senior Service Programme, which was not only beneficial to the wider community, but to the life experience of the girls. Our main fundraising event for the 2007 was the School’s annual Pink Day. This day was filled with a sea of pink-clad girls, music, sizzling sausages, fairy floss and the selling of breast cancer ribbons and raffle tickets. It was a fantastic day had by all and we raised just under $2000 for the National Breast Cancer Research Foundation. We’d like to thank every Grammar girl who was active in any form of Service within the School, and to Mrs Stubbington who has provided us with endless support and advice throughout the year. Thanks also must go to the School Executive for assisting us in achieving our aspirations and goals in this amazing year. Seeing someone smile and making a difference in their life merely by donating your time, is what we believe community service is all about.

enriching and integral part of any Grammar girl’s school life. Our central theme for the year was: Awareness, Involvement, Fundraising

We focused on encouraging girls across the School to become actively involved in Grammar’s diverse service programmes, whether that be by participating in a School service club or in the Junior or Senior Community Service Programme. In relation to our theme for 2007, we believe that the awareness behind and the interaction in any fundraising event is just as important as the funds being collected. This is a belief that we have strongly encouraged and shared with Grammar girls from all Year levels. This year, girls from Years 8 and 9 got involved with community service through lunchtime fundraisers for their respective Houses. Meanwhile, the Year 10 girls had the opportunity to undertake twelve hours of service in their local communities, a rewarding experience that provided the girls with an opportunity to develop maturity and responsibility as they approach their senior years. The Smith Family’s student2student initiative also operates in the Junior school. The Smith Family is a national, independent, social enterprise that supports disadvantaged Australian children to create a better future through education. Student2student is a telephone reading programme that pairs students who are behind in reading development with older student Year 10 Community Service The exciting thing about the girls from the Year 10 cohort of 2007 is the way that they have embraced the concept of Community Service and extended their comfort zones to help in challenging situations which now exist as a result of real world

Eleanor Todd (12H) and Samantha Luck (11W) Co-Presidents

Reading Group

Health Promoting Schools

fund for deaf and/or hearing impaired children and their families. Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea was held on Thursday 24 May and raised over $250 for the Cancer Council to contribute to Cancer Research. The Cookies for Cancer stall, which sold homemade cookies, was a very big success. The previous HPS committee introduced healthy food options to the café and various vending machines around the School and we continued to maintain their good work. Amie Chai (12O) and Angelina Kwan (12W)

The Reading Group has always been a small scale group of students who love reading and discussing books. However, this year the group increased in numbers. We jam-packed our meetings with books… books… and GOSH, more books! We celebrated the release of the final Harry Potter book by hosting a colouring-in competition on Open Day, which was a huge success. We also held a charity read-a-thon for Max’s House, which is a therapy clinic for children suffering from Apraxia of Speech, a developmental speech condition characterized by an inability to correctly position and sequence muscle movements necessary for speech production. The Reading Group raised over $100 for this amazing charity. Overall, this year has been very successful, a year the members will definitely not forget! Alex Markey (11G) and Amanda Wu (10R) Team Leaders

Promoting Health

Health Promoting Schools (HPS) is a student committee that aims to promote the importance of a healthy life style in the Grammar community. With the help of Ms Johnston, the HPS Committee participated in many fundraising events including Butterfly Week and Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea. The HPS Committee also assisted the Kirsten Jack Memorial Leukaemia Committee with a Jelly Drive on Open Day. During Semester 1, our first fundraising event, Butterfly Week, raised $1189.00 for the Hear and Say Centre, a charity

Stephanie Carter (12E) and Rachel Parry (12M) Service Captains

Equine Influenza virus; working in a café set up in the Valley to provide affordable food for the homeless; and providing homework assistance for Sudanese refugee children. Well- established programmes were also strongly supported and ranged from aged care and child care to The Smith Family student2student programme which trains a student to become a telephone tutor for a younger child with reading difficulties. In one way or another, all of these situations presented

challenges, as well as frustrations, that are not a normal part of a student’s daily routine. They test the mettle, help to develop insight and increase the maturity to think of others. The girls achieved an impressive level of commitment this year, the quality of which carries its

demands. Students were expected to find an appropriate area of service and negotiate how they would make their contribution. Commitments this year included helping children with disabilities to ride horses – suddenly curtailed by the outbreak of the

own intrinsic rewards. Mrs Anne Stubbington Community Service Co-ordinator

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