PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
SOCIAL JUSTICE ART AWARD
Congratulations to Lucia Roohizadegan of Year 10, whose artwork “The Crying Dove” won the major prize of $2000 at the Inaugural St Vincent de Paul Society 2016 Just Art Competition. This exhibition makes advocacy accessible to all people, of all ages, through creative representation of a contemporary social justice issue.
The theme for 2016 was Asylum Seekers – Stories of Humanity, which attracted over 260 works from primary students, secondary students and open age entrants from across the state. The works canvassed challenging, emotive and diverse views of people seeking asylum and the stories at the centre of this complex issue. Just Art entrants were challenged to explore this issue in its many shades, in context with the Society’s values of compassion, respect, empathy and courage.
Lucia’s artwork, The Crying Dove delivers the message of asylum seekers through symbolism. The dove conveys the idea of hope, freedom and spiritual enlightenment as opposed to the bars with the innocent children trapped behind them. A beautiful golden wattle in the beak of the dove is a symbol of inspiration drawing the conclusion that the freedom and safety will be found “down under”. Colours are complimentary to the way the picture makes us feel from sadness and melancholy towards more positive emotions. Lucia’s artwork has received media attention and two interviews can be viewed on the following links.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/08/26/students-use-art-advocate-asylum-seekers
https://www.facebook.com/CatholicArchdioceseofMelbourne/
NEW BENTLEIGH TRAIN STATION
A group of McKinnon students were lucky enough to be invited by local member Nick Staikos to take a sneak peak of the new Bentleigh station last Friday, ahead of the official opening on Monday. They were all very impressed and look forward to using these new facilities.
LOCAL PRINCIPAL MEETING
Last week I attended a breakfast meeting with Nick Staikos along with other local school Principals to discuss issues affecting us, and sharing ideas about possible improvements for all of our schools. It is pleasing to have a supportive local member.
YEAR 9 CAMP
Congratulations to our Year 9 students who participated in their Year Level camp to Campaspe Downs in Kyneton. These activities provide tremendous learning and assist in the development of problem solving and communication skills for students.
They partook in all activities enthusiastically and worked together to ensure the camp was successful. The students were a credit to themselves, their families and their school. Thank you to Ms Jobson and Mr King for their tremendous efforts with organising this wonderful opportunity.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUMMIT
In August, 300 students from all over Victoria participated in a two day summit on climate change. This was organised by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. McKinnon was represented by Siobhan Halford, Hagar Eren, Lisa Winkler, Nadia Harari and Amy Bulman.
They heard speeches and participated in workshops that discussed the ethical and political issues with the aim to keep our global temperature below 1.5°C.
The students will be well equipped to hold discussions with the environment committee here at school. Thanks to Mr Lynch who accompanied the students.
PHILOSOTHON COMPETITION
Our philosophers achieved 1st place (above PLC and Scotch College) in the Philosothon event held last Wednesday. Our team of philosophers were Joel Olesh, Jedd Stein, Skyla Isaacs, Hayden Aizicowitz, Sarah Tritt, Avinash Thandaoori and Gideon Stein.
In total, eleven schools were involved with only three being Government schools. What an excellent result for McKinnon!! Thank you to Ms Rocca with all she does for philosophers at our school! Thank you also to the parents that came to support the team.
CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING
On the morning of Friday 26 August, twenty Year 10 students undertook an online Creative and Critical Thinking task on behalf of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
With the introduction of the new Victorian Curriculum in 2017, tasks like this have been completed by students from all around the state in order to provide baseline data for key thinking skills. As a result, the VCAA will be able to support both students and teachers with these new curriculum initiatives. Thanks so much to the students involved - they showed diligence and were great ambassadors for the college.
The students were: Ariel Abramov, Gabi Basman, Hayley Beaumont, Riley Begg, Cate Bell, Preston Bodsworth, Tahli Edwards, Francesca Fallace, Angela Jin, Gemma Jones, Allan Keogh, Patch King, Michael Koletsas, Rony Olesh, Jonathan Papageorgiou, Leeza Parthenios, Kira Percival-Cobb, Elinta Sen, Erica Stavrinos and Peter Tomaras.
PHILOSOPHY AT MCKINNON
Professor Laurance Splitter is our Philosopher in Residence. He has many years of international experience in educational reform and is one of the pioneers of the educational movement -- Philosophy in Schools.
We openly embrace a philosophical approach to enhance the learning which takes place in our classrooms and we believe this will serve our students very well. Professor Splitter will continue to support our students within the Philosophy extension program which includes weekly Philosophy Club lunch time meetings as well as enhancing student learning experiences in their participation in the annual secondary level Victorian and Australasian Philosothons lead by Ms Michelle Rocca.
As our first Philosopher in Residence, Professor Laurance Splitter’s role is multifunctional. Together with Michelle, the two will offer “Thinking Seminars” to meet the goals of our in-school teacher professional learning.
Michelle has been seconded as a Specialist Teacher with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority to support teachers and schools with the implementation of the new Victorian Curriculum in 2017; specifically, the Ethical Capability in a Global Context, one of the four General Capabilities.
STATE SCHOOLS SPECTACULAR
It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Kate Collier (Year 10) and Stuart Higham (Year 11) who have been cast in the Victorian State Schools Spectacular. They are currently rehearsing for two performances at Hisense Arena on Saturday 10 September, which will be broadcast on Channel 7 in October.
Kate and Stuart are commendable ambassadors for our school and we wish them all the very best for their upcoming performances.
THISTLELONIAN REUNION – CLASS OF 1966
We invited the Class of 1966 back to school on Sunday 21 August in recognition of the 50 years since their Graduation. An afternoon tea was arranged by our Year 11 Food Technology class. The following students made the day possible: Jakob Barden, Lauren Cardwell, Daniel Chen, Linus Cheung, Hamish Doutre-Hicks, Bethany Evans, Bella Fletcher, Chai Foreman-Sim, Tayga Goldin, Tess Hoenig, Amie Johnstone, Joseph Keats, Ella Maitland, Kane O'Donnell, Nick Rayson, Cassandra Samiotis, Jason Schwarz, Henry Sinnott, Elyse Stavrou, Sevi Stefanou, John Stragalas, Kevin Sui, Macmillan Winston and Jessica Zivin.
The Thistlelonians do a wonderful job in keeping in touch with annual celebrations. I cannot thank enough Ms Moloney, Ms Wilkin, Ms Gamble and the students who all worked tirelessly! They also demonstrated so many of the McKinnon values. I would also like to thank Clare Bugeja's ensemble and Tracy Videon who oversaw the group, and the string quartet themselves: Zoe Bartholomeusz, Daniel Lee, Kate Collier and Gary Xia for their musical performance on the day.
As for the Class of 1966 itself, I have received some lovely emails and cards thanking us for giving people the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and the school itself:
"It was wonderful to catch up with old school friends and celebrate the 50 years since leaving McKinnon High. From being greeted by Principal, Pitsa Binnion, to then have the string quartet playing, and to be served by the Food Technology students who had prepared a delightful and extensive afternoon tea, was a real treat. The tour of the College highlighted the major changes since our time at school and it is with pride that we are still able to call McKinnon - Our School. Congratulations to all involved."
“I would really like to congratulate you and everyone involved in making Sunday such a very relaxed and pleasant occasion. From the real charm of walking into live music, to the principal’s warm welcoming speech, to the very impressive spread prepared by the food technology students and to the glimpse of the school environment – such a change from fifty years ago – I really appreciated the opportunity and the experience.”
Click here to see the full set of photos on Facebook