Bennies girl. Its two words but if you ask any girl who has walked through these halls, she will tell you it means everything. It means screaming your house cheers at carnivals. Tying your ribbon with pride in the morning. Smiling to a stranger in the hallway who never stays a stranger for long. Singing our school song with the girls beside you who have become your sisters. When these things add up, you don't just have a school. You have a family.

I still remember walking through the guard of honour in Year 7 wide-eyed, a little overwhelmed but excited. And now, in Year 12, I am so grateful to get to be the one holding the line, welcoming the next generation of Bennies Girls into something I know will shape them just as deeply as it has shaped me.

One of my favourite things about this college is our vertical homeroom, where a Year 7 and a Year 12 can sit side by side and genuinely learn from one another. It's a small thing, but it says everything about who we are. A school of connection and community.

Our school values of Pax, hospitality and stewardship are not just words on a wall, they are lived out every day in the way we greet each other in the hallway in the way we show up for our community through mission and service, and the way we are called to be peaceful, generous and responsible young women.

Which brings me to our theme for 2026: "Add your peace to the Bennies puzzle." To showcase that peace is not passive. It is something we actively choose, in how we treat one another, how we show up for ourselves, and how we contribute our unique piece to this community. Every single Bennies Girl belongs in this puzzle, and it is incomplete without her. I’m so privileged to have had the opportunity to involve myself in sporting, mission and so many other experiences at this college. The relationships, the values and the unwavering support I have found here will stay with me long beyond the red brick walls

Being a Bennies Girl is something I am endlessly grateful for, and I cannot wait to see what we build together this year peace by peace.

Imogen Hays
College Captain 2026