1985 School Magazine

This year prov1s1on was made by Mr Cyrus Lee for an endowment bursary, which makes possible the entry of a girl into the school , who is being supported by a single parent, or who, through special circumstances, might not otherwise be able to attend. The bursary is in memory of Mr Lee's late wife, joan Lee (nee Armstrong) a former student of the school who attended in 1928 and 1929. Mr Lee has now set us a challenge for the future and if it is met, we hope to be able to extend the bursary so that other girls will be given the opportunity to attend the school. Another exciting provision was made by Miss Margaret Mittel heuser and Dr Catherine Mittel heuser, both Old Girls of the school, to enable the school to have an Artist In Residence Programme to commence in 1985. The first Artist to be invited to the school to spend some weeks with us working with students is Miss Virginia Cuppaidge, a well- known Australian artist presently working in the United States. This year I do not intend to itemise all the activities and programmes of the past year, as these are well documented in the Annual Magazine. Instead, I intend to highlight only those developments that will affect the future of the school. During the 1983 Christmas vacation, the main Computer room in the Humanities Block was enlarged and alterations were made to the Language classrooms to provide for additional staff accommodation and increased storage space. The main administration office was also re-o~ganised and an enquiry counter provided in the entrance hall. Other improvements throughout the year, have included the provision of extra Tandy computer terminals and the development of a classroom in the Eastern wing as a computer facility for the Mathematics department. The school now has 18 Tandy Colour Computers with printers and disk drives, together with eight terminals for student use from the Mini PDP11/23 Computer. As well as this, a number of terminals are available for staff use. Next year these facilities will be expanded still further to provide two fully-equipped classrooms.

In 1984 when so much publicity is given to the education of girls, it is most fittin·g that we are able to recall for students at Brisbane Girls' Grammar School some of the fine academic traditions of past students at this school, and particularly of those who attended in an era when th~? education of girls was even more limited than has been the case in more recent times. The obvious pleasure derived by so many from the display justifies the immense effort that the Old Girls' Association has put into raising the finance needed for the project. Each year we are reminded of the tremendous goodwill and fellowship that exists in the various associations within the school. The efforts of such groups provide the school with extra funds that can be used to improve the total school environment. The Parents & Friends' Association this year raised over $17,000, which was allocated as follows: $6,927.50 on the lmbil property; $2,836.30 on the landscaping between the Humanities Block and the Administration block and the completion of the barbecue area for boarders; $5,230.16 on computers and $2,100 .00 on 14 typewriters. The labour for the landscaping was donated by the active Fathers' Group, working on Saturdays and Sundays. The Mothers' Group has raised some $7,500 and has allocated these funds to provide new curtains in the Auditorium as well as a new Video Portapack for the Media department. This year there was no School Day and instead the Mothers' Group under Mrs Holmes organised a most successful Gala Family Day at Fig Tree ~ocket. The support forth is function surpassed all expectations and it will long be remembered as a most happy and friendly day. I am genuinely grateful for the way in which Parents, Friends and Old Girls co- operate and work together, not only to support the aims of the school, but also to help the Board of Trustees in its difficult task of maintaining a well-equipped and well-cared- for school. 3