From the Principal - OGA eNews 4, 2023

The St Margaret’s theme for 2023 was ‘Flourishing Together’. This theme aligns closely with the philosophy of the Society of the Sacred Advent, which focuses on the education of the whole child and the current school strategic plan, which has the goal to ‘Strengthen the student experience’. Therefore, 2023 saw diversity in activity and achievement, as well as opportunities to ignite the passions of as many students as possible.

At St Margaret’s, there are many of signs of a flourishing school. Listed below are just twelve highlights, chosen from many in the 2023 school year and in no particular order.

Enrolments in both the primary and secondary departments are at an all-time high with 1390 students.

Our 2022 graduates had achieved outstanding results. 62.4% percent of seniors earned an ATAR 90 and above. Two students (out of a possible 33 in the state) received the highest score of 99.95 and over 10% received 99 or above. Our median ATAR was 94.05. In the portfolio pathway, 27 diplomas were awarded, and 28 certificate courses were completed.

St Margaret’s received Excellence Awards in the Australian Education  Awards for the Best Secondary school - Non-Government; Primary Teacher of the Year -Non-Government and one of our primary staff members was recognised as a Rising Star.

Our senior students led the whole student body to raise over $126,000 in the Ponytail Project. These funds support the Queensland Cancer Council and the Minotti Trust.

St Margaret’s had many successes in sport, but the highlights were in swimming, netball and rowing this year. Out of 31 club netball teams, eight secondary teams made it to the finals, with five victorious. One primary team also won their final; another primary team was runner up. Our QGSSSA open netball team won the grand final. In rowing, we won the percentage cup at this years’ final regatta and the second eight won their race at the Head of the River. In QG Swimming Championships, we placed second,  and in Andrews CupSwimming we held onto the Springfield Cup; Our primary school won the Andrews Cup Cross Country and the Noel McBride relay trophy.

Early this year in March, we had the Australian Council of Education Research (ACER) review our school against the National School Improvement Tool. It was an exhaustive assessment of the school’s operations, and we were referred to as a ‘lighthouse’ school, earning ‘Outstanding’ results in seven out of the nine domains and ‘Very High’ in the remaining two domains.

St Margaret’s was the recipient of a Educate plus QLD Summit Award ‘Recognising Excellence in Marketing and Communications’ for the ‘Imagine your Future at St Margaret’s’ campaign which features past students walking with the shadow of them as a student.

We also won the education category of the Queensland Government’s Reconciliation Award for the quality and responsiveness of our School’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

At this year’s Giving Day, we raised $360,000 thanks to the generous donations of so many in the community. These funds were directed to the Building Fund and financial needs-based bursaries.

This year was a musical year, and our students play to sold out audiences, performing Strictly Ballroom at a very professional level. There were many other options for our students to showcase their musical talent during the year, including the traditional Classics in the Cathedral, Open Day, and the Soaring Up Festival.

St Margaret’s was awarded the 5-Star Employer of Choice Award for the third year in a row. In our annual staff survey, this year, the whole staff’s overall satisfaction in the school was 91%, 13% above the average of other schools.

Work has begun on our Forest and The Canopy Café. This project transforms the Avoca Courtyard into a Forest with seating and creates a student café on the site of the present-day tuckshop and undercroft.

It has been a flourishing year in the history of St Margaret’s and, of course, there were many more achievements or celebrations that I could have mentioned. As I write this, we are about to graduate another 147 Old Girls!

Time for a well-earned rest. Merry Christmas everyone and, if you do have a holiday, I hope it is both restful and joyous.

Per Volar Sunata

Ros Curtis
Principal