Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2015

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CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER

These are profound words which encapsulate the force which is Girls Grammar sport. They are also an elegant fit for our guiding principle of life-wide learning where we aspire to have girls dare to dream without fear of failure and to test the unfamiliar while developing skill sets in leadership and resilience. Sport is perceived as an integral aspect of the Girls Grammar landscape in which all girls are encouraged to participate. This participation has always been a priority, even when the School has been challenged by the limitations of numbers within the QGSSSA schools in competitions. Traditionally, to compensate for this imbalance, the School enters club and other schoolgirl competitions such as the Brisbane Schoolgirls Rowing Association (BSRA) and nominates extra teams in the QGSSSA competitions when spaces are made available by smaller schools’ inability to field teams. There has been a steady increase in the numbers involved in sport at the School from 1984 when the first participation survey was completed. In that year, forty- seven per cent of students were involved in sport; in 1997, sixty-four per cent participated; and this grew until in 2015, sixty-seven per cent of the cohort (Gunn, 2015) donned the royal blue and represented the School with pride. These statistics are impressive as the national averages in 2012 for girls 12–14 years of age, suggest that the participation rate is fifty-three per cent and an Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015 media release states that ‘there has been a decrease in the number of Australians participating in sport and physical recreation’ (ABS, 2015). For Girls Grammar, the percentage for this age group also exceeds the national average.

AUTHOR Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short Dean of School

SARAH TISDALL (12O) IS OUR CURRENT PIERRE DE COUBERTIN AWARD RECIPIENT. The recipient must submit a treatise on the Olympic Games and produce an artwork, as well as have represented the School and exhibited initiative, teamwork, and sportsmanship in school-based sports, which are also Olympic sports. Sarah qualifies in three sports — rowing, basketball, and athletics. Brisbane Girls Grammar School has participated in this award since its introduction by the Queensland Olympic Council in 1995. This participation acknowledges the importance sport can play in a student’s life and how closely the Olympic message aligns with the Girls Grammar philosophy. Sarah summarised her insightful view of sport in her submission, excerpted below: I realised that sport is so much more than a game you win or lose. It is so much more than building physical strength. In fact, I now realise that sport is about learning values and life lessons, which can be applied in our everyday lives for the greater good. Of the many valuable lessons that I learnt … through sport, three stand out to me: to focus on the process rather than the outcome, to embrace failure, and to give it everything you’ve got. All of these lessons can be learnt and developed in a safe environment in sport, ready to use every day (2015).

2015 Pierre de Coubertin Award recipient Sarah Tisdall (12O) is a strong advocate for girls’ participation in sport.

GRAMMAR GAZETTE