Success for our A’Capella Choir Congratulations to our A’Capella Choir, led by our expert singing teachers Ellyce Calder and Susan de Jong, who performed at in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 12 June. The girls sang Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” and Irving Berlin’s “What’ll I Do” beautifully at the Department of Education Regional Leadership Conference.

Cross Country Congratulations to all students who participated

Andrew Kovassy, our Sport Leader, does a stellar job organizing hundreds of students representing their respective sports every week. One example of our sporting success is in the cross country. Twenty-six students participated in the District Cross Country event held on Wednesday May 30th .The day was highly successful as the MGC U13 and U14 teams qualified for zone. We also wish our individual participants well in the U15 and U16 categories. Regionals will be held on Wednesday June 20th, I am sure Andrew will have details of further success.

Year 9 STEAM Careers Day

Congratulations to Wendy Keen, Catherine Walkear, Tony Keen and the team who led a highly successful STEAM Careers Day on 14 June. The presenters were drawn from our parents, alumni and community stakeholders illustrating the highly talented MGC community we enjoy. The varied expertise, passions and life stories ensured our students now have 47 new role models to utilise for inspiration.

The key note was given by Sheree Marris, an experienced environmental ambassador who is passionate about promoting women in sustainability. Other presenters included the Superstars of Stem – Dr Linda McIver and Dr Karen Lamb. Superstars of STEM is committed to smashing society’s gender assumptions about scientists and increasing the public visibility of women in STEM. Linda started out as an Academic with a PhD in Computer Science Education. When it became apparent that High School teaching was a lot more fun, Linda began a highly successful career at John Monash Science School, where she built innovative courses in Computational and Data Science for year 10 and 11 students. Karen is a biostatistician and researcher at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne. Originally from Scotland, Karen completed an Honours degree in Statistics at the University of Glasgow. It was here that she became interested in applying statistics to medical research questions. Her Honours research involved developing a scoring system for doctors to use to assist in the diagnosis of stroke. She completed a PhD in Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, examining the effectiveness of a vaccine for preventing childhood infectious disease.

Welcome and congratulations to our new Community Member elect of School Council, Mr. Andrew Day parent and City of Yarra Executive. Andrew’s expertise in governance and business will be invaluable to our work. Andrew’s first meeting will be 21 August. Andrew is the Director of Corporate Business and Finance at Yarra City Council. He has a Bachelor of Speech Pathology, Masters of Business, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Associate Member, Institute of Internal Auditors Australia.

Netball Courts

A meeting with the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA), ARUP, Department of Sport and Recreation and the successful company took place on 16 May to plan the next stages of the project, we anticipate the project commencing on 26 June when the Minister for Sport and Recreation, the Honorable John Eren MP will perform the “turning of the sod” ceremony. Weather permitting the courts should be completed in three months. Thank you to Glen Holland, our Facilities Manager who is liaising with the contractor and on-site project manager.

STEAM Centre Stage One- Performing Arts and refurbishment of level 3 in the main building

A series of planning meetings have been held to discuss the “dreams’ of the performing arts and visual arts staff with our architectural consultant. We will keep you posted on our progress.

Year 12 Formal

Many thanks to Pat Sklavakis, Sandor Kazi, Jen Roep and all of the staff who supported our Year 12 students attending their last MGC formal on Friday 15th June. This type of commitment to the girls over and above normal working hours makes MGC the great school we enjoy.

Kind regards,

Karen

Important Dates

June/July