Founders Day 2023
Happy 15th Anniversary, St Peters Springfield! On 29 January, we celebrated 15 years of St Peters Springfield with a very memorable Founders Day service. Sitting together as one school on the Concourse, it was clearly evident that our school has continued to grow from strength to strength over the years. On Day 1 2008, our school comprised of 96 students and 14 staff; last week, the Concourse was filled with over 700 students and 80 plus staff!
A fun fact: the names of each Founder student and staff member appear in ‘stars’ on the wall behind Curnow House on Founders Way, the long path that stretches from Curnow House past the Junior High Precinct Building and down to the Kindergarten and Performing Arts Building. We still have some of our Founding staff members here – some never left and some have come back, a testament to the connected and nurturing community we have here at St Peters Springfield!
This year, Miss Stephanie Chettle has started as our Year 3 Teacher. Miss Chettle is in fact the first teacher of St Peters Springfield who is also a St Peters Springfield Old Scholar (2012). Miss Chettle was presented with a golden lanyard; this coloured lanyard is worn by staff members who have been Old Scholars of St Peters (keep an eye out!) Miss Chettle delivered an address at our Founders Day service, wearing her Founder badge given to her in 2008, and remarked that a memorable moment for her and her 9S class was constructing the stunning sandstone entrance to Ironbark, St Peters’ residential, outdoor education and agricultural facility at Crows Nest. Miss Chettle asked our Year 9 2023 students to take the time to look for the ‘9S’ carved on one of the blocks at the entrance during their time at Ironbark.
One of the key focuses of a St Peters education is on nurturing the whole child, providing life-wide learning through our exceptional cocurricular program. This year, our Year 12 Student Leadership Team has already had the opportunity to travel up to Ironbark where they bonded as a team and refined their goals for 2023. We are excited to see how they contribute to our community and lead in their different portfolio areas of academics, wellbeing, cultural diversity, sport, faith and service and house over the course of this year.
This week, our Year 9s headed to Ironbark for their 5 week outdoor educational experience. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! It is indeed an opportunity fondly remembered by our Senior School students and Old Scholars who say the experience significantly changed them for the better and that they came back more confident within themselves and their identity, with a greater focus on serving others. We look forward to hearing about the life-changing experiences of our 9S and 9T 2023 students!
Ironbark is but one of the many life-wide learning opportunities here at the College. I ask that you talk to your children about the vast array of cocurricular, life-wide learning opportunities offered as lunchtime clubs and as after school activities start up, and to encourage them to get involved. We look forward to another year of positively challenging your child to grow spiritually, academically, physically and in terms of their character at St Peters Springfield. In working with you, we know that our fine young people of St Peters will be empowered to lead, serve and make a difference in our world.
Natalie Houston
Principal
