Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to the 2017 school year at MFG.

On our first assembly this year we had Norm Stanley and Corinna Eccles officially welcome the school community to Wathaurong Country. Norm played the didgeridoo and Corinna played the sticks and spoke about her ancestry and connection to the Wathaurong peoples.

I talked about the importance of the connections we have with the custodians of the land and that we as a school should not only respect but also seek to understand our Aboriginal peoples and their culture.

I noted that we will be sourcing the seed and planting three native trees that are used in smoking ceremonies in Victoria.

They are:

Wattle which represents the Elders of a clan. Wattle is a really important plant for Aboriginal people. They use the whole plant - the seeds, bark, gum and wood.

Red River Gum which represents the adults of the clan. It is the most dominant tree in Australia.

Cherry Ballart Tree which represents the children of the clan. It is a parasitic tree, which means it lives off the nutrients of other trees.

Aboriginal peoples use the smoking ceremony to offer access to the land. When different groups of Aboriginal peoples met they would first have a smoking ceremony before holding any important meetings or social events. It is an important sign of respect for the visitors as well as for the local people.

As a school we would like to plant and grow these trees so that they can be used in future smoking ceremonies conducted by the local Wathaurong peoples.

At the Assembly, we also formally greeted our new students, staff and parents/carers and reminded them that our first assembly symbolises our welcome of them into our school community.

Our new community members were welcomed with these words:

“You are accepted for who you are, just as you are. You need to know that your ideas, questions and contributions to our school will be valued by everyone. This is our expectation of each other as the sisterhood at MFG – that we accept each other (we are inclusive) and look out for each other (we are supportive). In addition, we strive to have our own original ideas, pose thoughtful and intelligent questions and be creative in our thinking (we are innovative). Inclusive, supportive, innovative. “

Year 7 Parent Evening

Year 7 Information Session

Thursday, 16th February 2017

From 4:00pm - 5:00 pm

New Year 7 parents and carers are invited to come to school to meet the other parents in your child’s Home Group and her teachers. In addition, we will show you how to access information on Compass.

Please put the date in your diary. There will be more information coming about this session.

Later Years Evening

There will be a Years 10 – 12 Parent/Carer information evening on Wednesday 22 February at 6 pm. This evening will assist parents and carers and students to understand how to be successful in VCE.

More information will come in an email home, but please keep the date free.

Leadership 2017

Staff News

The following staff are new in 2017. We welcome them to our school community.

Jacquie Watson (Science)

Chris Collins (Maths/EAL/English)

Annie Mullen-Walsh (English & Literacy)

Rob Dunne (English/Literacy)

Helen Purnell (Mathematics/Science)

Zak Constable (ICT Technician)

Tammy Hanson (Learning Mentor)

We also welcome back staff members returning from leave: Margot Cameron, Christine Fagan and Rose Maloney.

The following staff are on leave in term 1: Marg Macauley, Bruce Bauer, Kirsty Forsyth and Ross Kalla.

Ann Mitchell has changed roles and now assisting students in a Learning Mentor role, not in the wellbeing role. It has been wonderful to have Ann supporting some of our students and their learning in class this past week.

Year 7 and their start of school

Our Year 7s students have embraced their first few days enthusiastically. It was wonderful to see them in their new uniforms and so willing to be inclusive and supportive of each other.

Moving to Secondary school can be exciting for some; others are worried for all sorts of reasons and some students are rather laid back about the whole thing! One child may actually have all of these emotions in one day, perhaps even half an hour! Parents, too, may be feeling these emotions especially when it is your first child in Secondary school. This is perfectly normal and I encourage you to talk about this with your child at home and over their first few weeks of school.

This parenting information site has some ideas that you might find helpful: http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/secondary_school.html/context/1126

Year 12s Day 1

Day 1 for Year 12 was an ‘UBER’ day. The students established the traits they wish to promote in each other this year:

Unity
Balance
Encouragement
Resilience

They also had visits and advice from past students and from teachers regarding the rules and regulations around VCE/VCAL and how to achieve their best in 2017. Feedback from the students included: “Yeah, the day way great, it was fun!”, “It was a good way to start and to get united as a group” and “I now know I have to put in a consistent effort all year.”

School Attendance

One focus for 2017 is student attendance. The impact of student absence affects not only that particular student, but the learning of the rest of the class and the teachers who try to help students when they return to school.

I would like to draw your attention to the following excerpt of the Attendance Policy.

At VCE and VCAL we have a very strict attendance policy, part of which is included below:

Excerpt from the MFG VCE /VCAL Attendance Policy

Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College students are expected to attend ALL timetabled classes and remain at school all day. Students are not to leave the school during the day unless they have approval.

The total attendance for a Unit of Study is an important factor in determining satisfactory completion of the Unit. All VCE/VCAL Units require 50 hours of class time. The school has set an attendance requirement that means if students accumulate 10 periods of unapproved absences in a semester they will be unable to satisfactorily meet the unit requirements. This means that if unapproved absences exceed 10 for any unit, then an N (Not Satisfactory) result is the school policy.

Unapproved absences (e.g. not explained by a doctor’s certificate) may result in a disciplinary consequence as well as contributing to an unsatisfactory result.

Excessive unapproved absences of more than 5 days consecutively will be referred to the Department of Education and Training. This may put Centrelink/Youth Allowance payments at risk.

Approved reasons for absences are:

Medical certificate (to be provided within 5 business days to General Office) 
Bereavement–House Leader must be informed in writing within 5 days.  
School choice–anything (School activities including school sports representation) approved by the House Leader prior to absence. A Later Years (Year 10-12) Approved Absence Form must be completed.
Religious/Cultural Observance–One day only and House Leader to be informed in writing within 5 days.

Unapproved reasons for absences from classes are described as:  

Illness–Parent Approval without a medical certificate 
Parent Choice unauthorised - E.g. visiting relatives, going shopping, missed the bus,  family matters, religious/cultural observance (if more than one day), driving lessons/license/permit tests, extended holidays (Year 11 & 12 students), concerts, Deb Ball preparation or being a carer for a relative without appropriate documentation.
School Refusal/Truancy

Absences are to be explained upon return to school (approved) by a medical certificate ONLY.

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that absences are approved. All absences are recorded as unapproved until an acceptable explanation is received. Parents will be notified by phone and/or letter when students accumulate 3 or more days of unexplained absence.

Attendance data for students and parents is available and can be monitored by staff, students and parents in real time. Parents need to log onto the system via their details that have been provided when enrolling.

Students should also make it their responsibility to seek out work missed during their absence; where an absence is known in advance students should inform their House Leader and their class teachers so that work may be obtained for the known absence.

Class teachers will contact students who accumulate 5 unapproved absences in any unit per semester. The teacher will inform the House Leader and a meeting will be convened between the parent, student, classroom teacher and House Leader.

When a student accumulates 8 unapproved absences, the classroom teacher of the unit will again make contact with the student and parent in writing.

When the student has accumulated 10 unapproved absences the classroom teacher will contact the student and parent in writing and explain the consequence of an N result.

Where a student fails to meet the attendance requirements over a number of units, they will be required to meet with one of the Assistant Principals, their House leader where their enrolment and pathway will be reviewed.

The Principal has the option of making a discretionary decision regarding a student’s attendance, enrolment and pathway, within this process.

Medical Alerts

If you have a child with a particular medical alert, please contact the Administration Office to update any details and medicines that may be needed.

Payments

At Secondary school we set strict cut off dates for payments for excursion and camps. This is so we know if we are able to run an excursion/camp or not and then to plan for the staffing of the event. Because teachers are teaching across year levels, this is much more complicated than in Primary School.

As a result, we adhere very strictly to the cut off dates. However, we want to also be supportive of parents/carers who may have particular circumstances that make payments by due dates challenging. If you will have difficulty making payments please contact the Manager of School Services, Chelsea Bright, to discuss possible support options and flexible payment arrangements before the cut-off date. Any information about your financial circumstances, payment arrangements or status will be kept strictly confidential.

You can speak to Chelsea by calling (03) 4243 0500 or contact her by email: matthew.flinders.girls.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au.

There is also a range of support options available, including:

Access to State Schools' Relief Committee support (for clothing/uniforms).
The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF), which provides payments for eligible students to attend camps, sports and excursions.

Please contact the office for further information on eligibility and for application forms.

Please also note: If your child is absent due to illness and not at school to hand in forms and the payment, please ring the school before the cut-off date to organise alternative arrangements.

Contact Details

Your initial point of contact should always be with the Home Group teacher or classroom teacher. You can access their email addresses easily through Compass.

The Home Group teacher may inform the House Leader of a particular concern. The following people are House Leaders this year:

Lipson (Red) – Jenny Gibson gibson.jenny.j@edumail.vic.gov.au

Freeman (Green) – Bryce Baumgarten baumgarten.bryce.a@edumail.vic.gov.au

Beachley (Gold) – Julie McNamara mcnamara.julie.v@edumail.vic.gov.au

Gilmore (Blue) – Stuart Myers myers.stuart.s@edumail.vic.gov.au

Improved MFG Security

To keep staff and students safe as possible, we will be closing and locking areas of the school that have previously been walk-ways/through-ways/paths/doors.

Please note the following changes:

Our Myers Street Doors will be closed and students and staff will need to enter at the gates near the lights or from Fenwick Street (at all times)

The gate into the school from the car park on Latrobe Terrace will be locked (after 9:00 am)
The door near the main site Common/Staff Room will remain locked (at all times)
The front gate will be locked (after 9:00 am)
The gate near the garden will be locked (after 9:00 am)

Uniform

Please note that all students in the new uniform need to wear their blazers to and from school when the advertised temperature is below 25 degrees.

On Compass in the new items is a copy of the uniform requirements set by School Council. We ask for your support and request that you ensure your child comes to school in the correct uniform each day.

Buildings update

At the end of last term a group of staff, parents and students met with the architects to begin discussions around the use of funding allocated by the State Government for our school. This year will be a Master Planning Year, with the aim of commencing building/refurbishment in January 2018.

As part of the rebuilding process, our Helen Fraser site was identified as a suitable location for a stadium and for outside sports facilities. This may or may not be part of the initial building works, but it will form part of the Master Plan.

Student Leaders 2017

We have a large student leadership team again this year. Here are the student leaders and their roles for 2017.

Michelle Crofts, Principal

Important Dates

Parent Calendar Dates - Semester One