This week I have been reflecting on excellence, and the value of aspiring to excellence in many different aspects of our lives and our work. On the weekend, I observed excellence in this year’s Senior School Production, Antigone, where girls and staff had invested time and care to ensure that the highest quality of performance was presented to the audience. I was impressed with the level of excellence demonstrated in terms of interpretation, choreography, delivery of lines, choral recitation and music – a credit to all involved! Girls have also been demonstrating excellence in music soirees and sporting competitions this week, with some outstanding performances on individual instruments, in cross country running and in netball. I am also delighted to announce today that Lowther Hall has been selected as a finalist in the Australian Education Awards for the category: Best Student Wellbeing Program. This is very exciting news! Our submission for selection contained a brief overview of some of the following aspects of the School’s programs, to explain how we strive for excellence to support student wellbeing at Lowther:

• Our cross-age activities and connections across K-12 eg. Gate greeters, playground buddies, reading buddies, classroom buddies, Year 1 celebration event in 2018, etc.
• Qualities of a Lowther Hall Girl.The House System.
• Year Level Coordinators and Pastoral Care Leadership Positions.
• Formally timetabled Tangara, Willarra, Yannergee lessons.
• Our Grant House year level strategies to prepare girls for life after school.
• Circle time.
• Check-ins with the emotion wall.
• Wellbeing week.Over 100 positions of leadership throughout the school.

There are 10 finalists in our category, representing schools from around Australia. We now have an opportunity to submit further, more detailed information about our programs, with the final winner announced on August 16.