Mr Richard Dobrenov | Deputy Principal and Head of Senior School

Ponytail Project: Our Senior Girls rock the chop

Last Friday was a momentous day in the Senior School, as 14 of our girls and the courageous Mrs George chopped off their ponytails to support the Cancer Council’s ‘Ponytail Project’.  Abby Brown took it a step further and sacrificed all of her hair and is now rocking a crew cut!

The team have been fundraising throughout the last 12 months and proudly reported that they’d managed to raise a whopping $8,500 as a group.  This is a phenomenal effort and as a College, we couldn’t be more proud of their efforts.

It was great to have a representative from the Cancer Council on site to witness the chop, as well as lots of family and friends to support the girls.  Taking part in the Ponytail Project in Year 12 has become a SCOTS PGC tradition in recent years, and one we are certainly looking to continue.

Congratulations to all of our brave senior girls (Georgie Malone, Bridget Hardy, Sophie Poole, Lilly Cole, Alana Gray, Abby Brown, Charlotte Kielly, Emma Bradbury, Niamh Ryan, Maddy Taylor, Elyse Peters, Gabby Sellick, Neitayah Prince, Mia Bischoff) and of course, Mrs George for their selflessness and commitment to such a great cause.  Thank you also to the team of hairdressers who were here to take over the haircutting process once the official chop was complete.

PARTY Program 

On Friday 6 November, 30 students from Years 10 and 11 attended the PARTY Program at the Toowoomba Base Hospital. The excursion gives students a real life insight into the workings of the trauma department of hospitals as well as the rehabilitation areas of Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology.

The Program is a dynamic and interactive injury awareness and health promotion program, that uses clinical reality to show participants the consequences that can occur when engaging in risk-taking behaviour. The program was established in 1986 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada (www.partyprogram.com), and now operates at more than 100 sites worldwide.  P.A.R.T.Y. aims to provide participants with information that will enable them to recognise potential injury-producing situations, make prevention-oriented choices, and adopt behaviours that minimise unnecessary risk.

Throughout the excursion, participants engaged with paramedics, doctors, nurses, allied health practitioners, patients, and their families in the hospital. Learning occurs through a combination of presentations by hospital staff including an Emergency Medicine Specialist, a Maxillofacial Specialist and interactive scenario-based learning demonstrations.  The aim of the P.A.R.T.Y. Program throughout Australia is to reduce the impact of trauma and burden of injury on society. Let’s hope that the messages of the day about safe choices remain with them.