It took my attention. I considered how much this is relevant for this time, this season, and this point in history. We certainly have a weary world. 

I don’t know about you, but I certainly am weary, and greatly looking forward to the upcoming holiday break. It has been a very big year, for just so many reasons.

But this line means so much more than mere exhaustion.  You might recognize it as the words to the Christmas carol, ‘O Holy Night’ which tells of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

This song is about hope. It points to the dawn of a new era, the ushering in of the new kingdom; a kingdom where there is no sadness, sorrow, or death, where justice reigns and life is restored. 

How much do we need that?

How much is this world crying out for hope?

It seems to me that this weary world in 2020 needs so much more than merely the hope of a vaccine. 

I noted the words to verse 3:

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

In a manger, long ago, the answer for suffering humanity was given.

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore.

Isaiah 9: 6-7

Jesus Christ, answer to the weary world, is just as relevant 2000+ years ago as in the Year of our Lord, 2020. We still need justice and mercy, freedom, and forgiveness. We still seek hope and healing, equity and liberty. 

So, this Christmas, let us rejoice in celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What a magnificent gift to this weary world. I delight in this thrill of hope and raise my praise declaring his Lordship this Christmas time.  

A very Happy Christmas to you one and all!

It would be easy to use words like sad, difficult, complex, challenging because we have experienced all these things. For me though, the word that characterises 2020 is “grateful”.

As a school we experienced unimaginable tragedy for one of our families on the first weekend of the School year and yet despite everything they have gone through, they have held firm in their Christian faith and demonstrated God’s great love for us all in the manner in which they have cared for so many. I am grateful for the Abdallah family and for so many in the School community who have cared for them and for us and continue to do so as the year has gone on.

Shortly after, we had to deal with the realities of a pandemic and how Tara girls could continue to learn in the event of a school closure. As we know, all of this happened, and we needed to move to online learning very quickly which was no small thing for any teacher. It also meant that parents, especially those of very young girls had to assist with learning at home while trying to juggle their own working from home tasks. The unsung heroes in this have been the Tara ICT Department, led by Liz Brockliss. They worked with tight deadlines, supported staff, installed software and answered endless questions, all the while maintaining a servant heart and good humour. I am very grateful that we all got through this and that learning continued for the students. As the year has gone on, we have had to make many changes to the School Calendar in order to work within NSW Health guidelines. This has meant some events had to be cancelled and many replanned and provided in a different way. A real highlight was that we were able to stage the 7-10 Musical “Back to the 80’s” thanks to the creative genius and flexibility of Katrina Mann. This last week, Year 10 was able to have their Formal and Year 12 their Valedictory Dinner and Graduation with their parents. Both of these were very special occasions, and this was due to the dedicated work of the Year Coordinators, Mentors, administration and ICT staff and the girls themselves. I am grateful. Last week we welcomed Year 7 2021 to the Secondary School for Orientation and ELC and Kindergarten 2021 parents to the Junior School. Once again, this was a different event to previous years, but thanks to the efforts of many people, very happy occasions. In the coming week, Year 6 will have their Graduation Service on Friday afternoon, thankfully with parents now able to attend and in the evening, a dinner for the students. We then move to the Tara Annual Celebration Day on 2 December for both Junior and Senior Schools. There will be a great deal to celebrate and so much for which we can be grateful.

Mrs Denise Haywood, has been a leader in the Junior School for the last ten years and currently is our Deputy Head of the Junior School. Mrs Haywood has been appointed to the role of Head of the Junior School at Kinross Wolaroi School in Orange from the beginning of 2021. This is a very significant appointment in a leading regional NSW school and I warmly congratulate her. Mrs Haywood has been involved in the development of our programs for the tracking of student learning growth which has increased our knowledge of every girl as a learner. Mrs Haywood’s attention to detail, pursuit of current best practice, care for students and staff and capacity to work tirelessly to see the many aspects of her role through to completion has earned great admiration from us. While she will be missed, we are also very grateful that she has been a member of the Tara team and she is wished every blessing as she makes this move to her new role.

The end of any school year inevitably means that some staff will make changes in their life, some after many years of service to education and Tara. I look forward to thanking these people with you at Celebration.

The new Aquatic Centre will get underway this week. Junior School parents will see that the demountable room known as “The Queenslander” has been moved to elsewhere on the property and the builders establishing the site will begin from this week. It has been a long time coming and we are looking forward to an exciting year as we watch the progress of this project. We will send updates of progress from time to time throughout next year. 

Another project that has been underway since the beginning of the year has been the development of the new Strategic Plan for Tara for 2021-2025. The work has been undertaken by the School Council and the Executive over several months and has been informed by the student, staff and parent surveys undertaken in 2019 as well as research on  current thinking on the work of schools in preparing students for the world beyond Tara, the importance of wellbeing, the professional learning for staff as well Christian Faith as a foundational element of the School. I look forward to sharing our plans for the next five years with you at Celebration.

I pray you and your family experience a joyous Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus and a happy holiday over the summer break and I very much look forward to the new year and the return of the girls to Tara in 2021.

We began the year with the Crawford Service Learning Day by preparing to financially support our new sponsor child Martha. This was coupled with gold coin donations for our friends from St Peter’s Anglican College on the NSW south coast who experienced significant hardship over the summer. The students there were very grateful for our generosity.

Term 2 saw our girls create beautiful heartfelt messages of thanks to essential workers and politicians as part of the Hake ‘Thank You Project’. Girls were given agency to decide who they would thank and how they would share their messages. Politicians, doctors, nurses, members of the police, fire and ambulance services, our parents, and teachers were all recipients. Messages were crafted in the form of cards, songs on video, letters, paper craft and drawings. Since this day in Term 2, we have received many appreciation emails, letters and verbal replies from politicians such as Scott Morrison and Gladys Berejiklian as well as nurses, doctors and our parent community.

The Walker Service Learning Day and the Write a Book in a Day initiative brought more opportunities to serve others in Term 3. For the Walker Service Learning Day, students dressed in crazy socks and stockings in return for bringing a gold coin for Martha and an essential item to donate to Parramatta Mission who were in great need of supplies. Students also created lovely messages to send off to Martha. For Write a Book in Day, 30 students from Years 5 and 6 raised over $7000 in sponsorship for the Kid’s Cancer Project. This is an enormous effort! The participating students also wrote and published some wonderful books for our library and hospitals around the state.

We finish the year with one final Service Learning focus. Through Operation Christmas Child, we are preparing some Christmas shoeboxes filled with gifts, hygiene items, learning supplies and personal messages for children living in poverty around the world. It has been wonderful hearing of individual students who have been moved to participate wholeheartedly in this initiative. One Year 3 girl even got her neighbours involved!

Tara Junior School girls really have been girls of action in 2020! We look forward to learning and serving together again in 2021.

With support and kindness from Mrs Losco, the idea of our first ever Tara Christmas Markets came to light. On 12 November we had over 20 stalls that consisted of home crafted items that showcased both staff and students hidden talents. During the lunchtime Year 12 leaders sang Christmas carols to get everyone feeling festive. This community event allowed everyone to come together and enforce the strong presence of service learning at Tara.

We thank Mrs Middlebrook, Mr Baker and Mrs Kay-Browning for allowing us to put on this event. Your support and kindness is greatly appreciated. The support and grace that has been shown by Mrs Crawford and Mrs Griffiths also does not go unnoticed.  

It is a great honour to announce the Tara Christmas Markets were able to raise over $3000 (the final amount will be announced once all receipts by stallholders have been raised). This total amount will go hand in hand with the Cambodia tours funds from 2019, which amounts to almost $9000 altogether. This money will be used to help communities in Cambodia that have been severely affected by the recent floods and the global pandemic. 

Thank you to all staff and students who ran a stall. You have shown commitment, kindness and enthusiasm, none of this could of been possible without each individual involved.  

I am so grateful to be a Tara girl as we are all unified as Tara women that support and lift each other up. Thank you to everyone who supported the Tara Christmas Markets. Your love and support does not go unnoticed.  

I wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas!

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We are pleased to announce we had nine teams totaling over 30 girls who chose to attend lunchtime trainings and went on to compete in our heats. Our top five teams went through to our Grand Final and we are excited to congratulate our winning team The Bongo Cats made up of Matilda, Chelsea, Connie and Leila.

We must also acknowledge the three Senior School girls who came down to judge the whole event. Thank you Jordyn, Georgia and Alana. We appreciate your involvement and support. Bravo to all of the teams who entered and the students from Years 3 to 6 who came along to cheer them on. 

The fun filled morning consisted of all participating in team building skills, learning the correct rowing technique on the erg machines and watching an inspirational video. The girls also had the opportunity to ask the older students questions relating to the sport and personal experiences. 

A big thank you our rowing coaches and rowing team for inspiring the girls to try out something new. We look forward to the 'Come and Try' Rowing session taking place on Sunday 6 December. 

Origami has many benefits for children including developing their fine motor skills by using their fingers and hand movements to complete complex tasks. It also improves children’s hand eye coordination, mental concentration, memory, patience and spatial skills. 

It has been great to see the girls at ASC be so involved in a hands on task as well as seeing the older girls assist the younger girls or their peers who may be struggling with a certain paper fold. 

We are using some of the fabulous creations to decorate our Centre for Christmas. 

Walking into the gates of Lauriston House, we were instantly greeted by the joyful and exuberant atmosphere. There were many “oohs” and “aahs” amongst everyone as we praised each other’s beautiful outfits. As we took our seats, we were all in awe of the sensational setup of the venue; from the personalised candles on the beautifully decorated tables, to the dazzling dance floor. Additionally, as a grade we all agree that Lauriston House served us some of the best meals that we have had in a long time! The highlight of the night was on the dance floor! From our sensational dresses to Dr Jolly’s impressive dance moves and finally concluding the night with a cha-cha line as we exited the venue, as a grade we could say that this is a memory that we will forever cherish! 

We would like to extend a special thanks to the incredible people that made this night happen. First, a special thank you to Lauriston House for the brilliant food, music and lights. Secondly, a huge thank you to Mrs Morris, Ms Aitken, Dr Jolly, Ms Nicholl, Ms Parker, Mrs Calleya-Jones, Mrs Ambler and Mrs Williams. We are exceptionally grateful for your sacrifice. Thank you for taking time out of your incredibly busy lives to supervise, support and dance with us! Next, a big thank you to the brilliant Mrs Griffiths. We are so thankful for your coordination in organising our formal and your great dance moves! And finally, to the amazing Mrs Chaiban. You have had to improvise, adapt and overcome every single curveball that COVID-19 has thrown us this year - and this Formal was no exception. We would like to thank you for your creative ingenuity and the brilliant behind the scenes planning you have done. 

We are very grateful for the experience of our formal and incredibly thankful to everyone who worked hard to make it happen.

For the first time the excursion combined a surfing session for Year 9 & 10 PASS students. These girls proved themselves tougher than the waves they rode and it was very difficult to get them out of the water at the end of the day. ‘Hanging 5’ brought the girls together, resulting in grinning and exhausted participants. This was a great opportunity for PASS students to challenge themselves and have some serious fun. Well done!

We want to be there every day, to make ourselves available and to be present leaders - who when you see around you know you can have a chat to! We want to be on the ball as we were at Thursday Lunch with Leaders playing in Tara's Handball Competition, being proactive leaders who are consistently trying their best! We want to earn our positions, to have a really good year with everyone involved, no body left out and we seriously want to have some great fun and laughs.

But there is only one way for us to do this ….. For Y O U, the students to help us out. For YOU to tell us what you want from us, for YOU to use your individual voice to maximize what we do for YOU!  

That is because this year we are all about empowering you, joining from last year with their motto of being here for you, we now want to help you take the most of every opportunity and achieve your dreams and goals. We want to walk beside you!

The leadership teams’ vision for 2020-21 is that …

We aim to support and inspire Tara students by creating an authentic school environment that promotes opportunity. We strive to encourage personal growth by empowering girls through the Christian model of servant leadership.

We want the students to know that they can always talk to us, email us with a question or stop us when walking past to have a chat, we are super excited for the year ahead and we hope you are too!

Finally, we had one more message, keep the 19 March 2021 free for a very special event :) More information to come.

My passions and interests are associated with social justice, indigenous rights and humanitarian law. 

What do you hope to do post school? 

I would love to do a law degree and hopefully this will lead me in a specific direction of the law, which I am most interested in. At current, humanitarian law interests me the most, however I feel that this will change throughout my degree and can’t wait to see what I’m thinking after the four year course. 

What made you interested in law? 

Commerce in Year 10 opened my eyes up to a simplistic overview of law as a subject and I remember thoroughly enjoying it. When it was time to choose subjects for Years 11 and 12 Legal Studies was at the top of my list and I am so grateful that I studied the subject. I fell in love with the conversations and the controversies and how complicated situations can be, with life not always black and white. 

How has Legal Studies changed your perspectives/viewpoints? 

Legal Studies has made me think critically about everyday local and international issues. I have found that various legal concepts fit into almost every aspect of life and I have become more aware of the extent of issues such as discrimination around the world. Legal Studies is all about various perspectives and I have learnt to consider that everyone has a different moral compass guiding their decisions and choices. Due to this I have become more accepting of the way others view the world and instead of only considering my personal view, I have learnt to accept multiple opinions, resulting in a complex and multifaceted understanding of the world. 

They day was a success as the year 9 students stepped up to volunteer to lead each activity. From pizza to newspaper fashion shows each girl learnt about the importance of working together and the various individual skills that makes up leaders. Together with the guidance from current year 10 peer support leader’s year 9 engaged in all the activities and ended the day dancing and with a certificate of completion. 

It was another fantastic weekend of sport, with Tara teams winning the majority of their games. The Senior Firsts played a tight game against PLC Sydney's first team, they managed to score their first tries of the season and were able to hold a strong defensive line throughout the game. A highlight was Natasha G's sprint along the wing, where she scored a try. Tara 2 also played a tough game against PLC Sydney. Well done to Georgia M, who made an excellent touch, preventing the opposition from scoring a try. The Tara junior teams also played some exciting games. Both Year 7 teams won their games and the Junior firsts were not far off a win. 

Round 5

S01 Tara 1 vs Meriden 1, Loss, 2-10

S07 Tara 2 vs PLC Sydney 6, Draw, 3-3

S07 Tara 3 vs PLC Sydney 5, Win, 5-4

J01 Tara 4 vs MLC 5, Win, 9-4

J03 Tara 5 vs Meriden 5, Loss, 1-8

J05 Tara 6 vs PLC Sydney 10, Draw, 3-3

J07 Tara 7 vs Frensham 12, Loss, 2-3

Y701 Tara 8 vs PLC Sydney 13, Loss, 1-7

Y703 Tara 9 vs Danebank 5, Win, 8-3

For the first time this season, spectators were allowed to watch games this weekend. Their support from the sidelines certainly paid off as the girls were rewarded with some great results. The senior firsts played an exciting game against Meriden. Despite their loss, they were eager to hold their defensive line against a large team of 14 players. A special congratulations to Angela V’s fantastic touch, where she chased a player across the entirety of the field. Tara 2 drew a close game with PLC Sydney. Although they had no subs, they managed to prevent a win from the opposition. A highlight was Sienna E’s breathtaking try along the wing. The junior teams also played some fantastic games. Congratulations to the year 7 team who managed to achieve a 5 point lead against Danebank. Good luck to all girls for their final games in the weeks to come! 

Mia - Touch Football Captain

Water Polo

Round 4

S03 Tara 1 vs BYE

S07 Tara 2 vs SCEGGS 2, Win, 14-8

J05 Tara 3 vs Ascham 7, Loss, 2-14

Round 5

S03 Tara 1 vs Ascham 2, Loss, 3-10

S07 Tara 2 vs Ascham 5, Loss, 5-9

J05 Tara 3 vs Meriden 7, Loss, 6-17

MLC Regatta

On 7 November, the rowing squad competed at the MLC regatta, which was the first of the 2020-2021 season. This was the first race for the Year 7’s and an increase in distances for many of the girls. We came away with one medal in the end from Olivia D in Year 9.

The Year 7 quads of Jemima B, Milly D, Ella H and Holly M, coxed by Amelia J and Orchid Y, Sally P, Selina S and Arushi C, coxed by Georgia H had great first races. As the girls were not able to get race experience over winter due to Coronavirus, they should all be very proud of themselves for completing their first 1000 metre race! We all look forward to seeing great things from them over the summer season. 

As the first Tara race of the day, the Year 8 quad of Caitlin I, Eliza M, Charlotte O and Mackenzie N coxed by Amelia J had a fantastic race finishing 3rd. The other Year 8 quad of Suhanya J, Krishnaa P, Kaelyn D and Jaskirit K coaxed by Georgia H also had a great race finishing 4th. This quad had one new rower in their boat who has blended into their crew amazingly. 

Chiquita W and Caitlin I battled a tough race finishing in 5th place. Chiquita was new to rowing this season and Caitlin was rowing up an age group, so these girls did amazingly well and it was their first race together as well! 

Jemma S in Year 8 had a tough race in her single because the wind was starting to pick up, but she fought hard until the end. 

The senior girls had a tough race. Emma M and Sarah F’s single scull was cancelled due to the powerful winds. However, Elaine S and Piper H chose to compete in their race. Battling against huge white caps, wild winds, big boats crossing the course and other boats racing, these girls finished 4th. This race was one of the hardest of the day and it was an achievement to finish the race! Congratulations girls!

We are looking forward to doing it all again next week!

Emma - Rowing Captain

ISRA Regatta

Last weekend, the rowers competed at the Independent Schools Rowing Championships, (ISRA). We had a very successful day coming away with medals in almost every event. 

Holly M, Arushi C, Orchid Y and Milly D, coxed by Amelia J battled hard in their heat and went onto the C final where they pushed hard and fought until the end. Selina S, Sally P, Ella H and Jemima B coxed by Mackenzie N managed to secure a place in the D final. This quad had an amazing race coming first in their final! They also improved on their time by almost 30 seconds. Being the second race for both of the Year 7 quads, there were some amazing achievements and we can’t wait to see more!

Emma M had a hard race in her single competing against many of the best girls from across the state in a distance that was still not very familiar. Sarah F, had an amazing race, and held a commanding lead all throughout the race, securing her first place! 

Caitlin I, Eliza M, Krishnaa P and Charlotte O coxed by Amelia J, raced in the C final after rowing in their heat. This quad also managed to come first and improve on their heat time simultaneously! The other Year 8 quad of Jaskirit K, Jemma S, Kaelyn D and Suhanya J coxed by Mackenzie N, placed third in their race. You should all be very proud!

Olivia D raced a hard race and managed to come third in her race. This was her second time competing the new distance in her single. Chiquita W and Mackenzie N battled through the rising winds and fought hard until the end. 

Congratulations to all the girls who competed at the regatta. We came away with many medals and personal bests. You should all be very proud of yourselves!

Roseville Regatta

Over the weekend, the rowers competed at the Roseville regatta. Starting us off, the Year 8 quads of Charlotte, Suhanya, Krishnaa and Caitlin coxed by Amelia and Jaskirit, Kaelyn, Jemma, Mackenzie coxed by Georgia fought hard in their races battling many other crews from other schools. 

The double of Eliza and Caitlin who stepped into help had a touch race. These girls were competing against others who were older and more experienced. Even so, Caitlin and Eliza had a great race. Olivia held a commanding lead throughout the entirety of her race earning her a gold medal!

Arushi, Selina, Jemima, Milly and their cox Amelia had a great race coming fourth place. Holly, Sally, Ella, Orchid and their cox Georgia had a bit of a mid-race hiccup with one of the oars being caught under the boat. However, they recovered quickly and finished their race!

Piper and Elaine raced in their double and were able to come in third place. The last event of the day came from Emma who managed to finish in first place!

Well done to everyone who raced this weekend!