The following is a summary of my speech at the whole school assembly on our first day of school this year.

We were so fortunate this morning to have Corina representing the Wathaurong peoples, the Aboriginal people who belong to and are the custodians of the land upon which Matthew Flinders is built. Thank you for coming along this morning to support our school.

The purpose of our ceremony this morning is to pay respects to the local Wathaurong people and to indicate our gratitude and good fortune that our school is situated on their traditional land.

It is also to symbolise the acceptance of new people (students, staff and parents/carers) into our school community and an invitation to you to embrace our school’s culture.

Know that you will be 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. This is our expectation of each other as a sisterhood at MFG – that we are caring and respectful of ourselves and others.

So welcome everyone to our school.

To our returning students I trust you take the time to look out for our new students and staff. I know that you will help them to find their way and make them feel welcome in our school.

Today I would also like to remind you of another MFG trait, the first of our 11 traits: kind, compassionate and trustworthy.

This morning I will share with you an adaptation of a story from our Wathaurong peoples; the story of the three sisters.

A long time ago, there were three kind, compassionate and trustworthy sisters. They helped their parents – they were good gatherers and always helped with caring for the children.

One day a stranger came to their country; he was not a good man. He was a sorcerer; he wanted the three sisters. The Elders told the three sisters to ignore the stranger. This made the stranger very angry, so he used his magic to make the three sisters to do what he wanted.

The behaviour of the three sisters immediately changed. They became very nasty, unfeeling and dishonest. They would not help anyone, they spoke very nastily to and about everyone and lied. So the Elders decided to tell the stranger to go away and never return.

The stranger became extremely angry and decided to steal the three sisters and take them back to his country.

The Elders sent the young warriors after him. They caught up with him, speared him and brought the three sisters back.

Then the Elders held a meeting to discuss what to do with the girls. It was decided that they would speak to the Great Creator (Bundjil), and tell him what had happened.

He told them that the three sisters were bad. So the three sisters were reprimanded for their poor behaviour.

Then Great Creator (Bundjil) performed a magic spell and transformed the three sisters into three hills.

The three hills can still be seen today, they are the Wurdi Youyng (which means big hill), commonly known as the You Yangs; the three hills you see as your drive towards Melbourne.

When you look at the You Yangs I want you to remember that these three mounds remind us of our first MFG trait: to be kind, compassionate and trustworthy.

So everyone, I wish you a wonderful year full of learning and fun. I encourage you to embrace the challenges and to persist even when your brains hurt.

Speak often with your teachers and support staff; they really care for you and want to help.

And finally, as our school motto says, keep “looking forward”:

Top attendance tips for parents

We like to work in partnership with parents and carers to ensure your child attends school regularly.

Please act early if you have any concerns by contacting your child’s Home Group teacher and asking for advice and support

Remember that every day counts
There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes and their social connectedness
Talk positively about school and the importance of attending every day
Open and prompt communication with your child’s Home Group teacher about all absences is a good idea
Avoid making routine medical and dental appointments during the school day or planning family holidays during the term
Seek help from us if you are concerned about your child’s attendance and wellbeing.

Further information

For more information and resources to help address attendance issues, visit:

www.education.vic.gov.au/school/parents/behaviour/Pages/studentattendance.aspx

Academic Focus

How you approach studying matters.

Researchers have found that how you approach something matters almost as much as what you do. Being in the right mindset is important in order to study smarter.

Sometimes you can’t “force” yourself to be in the right mindset, and it is during such times you should simply avoid studying. Come back to it when you’re not focused on something else going on in your life.

Here are some things you can do to help improve your study mindset:

Make a choice to think positively when you study.
Avoid comparing yourself with others, because you usually just end up feeling bad about yourself. Your skills and abilities are unique to you, and you alone.
Remind yourself of your skills and abilities, write them down where you can see them and be reminded of them.
Avoid catastrophic thinking. Instead of thinking, “I’ll never get this done!” say to yourself, “I may be a little late to study as much as I’d like, but I’m doing it now, I’ll get most of it done.”
Avoid absolute thinking. Instead of thinking “I can never write essays,” a more objective view is, “I didn’t do so well that time, what can I do to improve?”.

School Review

In 2019 we have our school review and we also develop our next strategic plan. In preparation for the review we collected feedback from parents and carers, students and staff last year.

School Council have analysed parent feedback from the Department of Education and Training and the survey from School Council to our school community. This feedback is attached.

Our students have analysed the surveys they also completed through the Department of Education and Training as well as our MFG survey. This feedback is attached. Our students will share this feedback with the school community at our March assembly.

This feedback will inform our new strategic plan.

MFG Traits

One piece of work that we have completed from all of your feedback last year is the 11 traits we wish to foster in MFG students. The students, staff and parents have provided feedback on the icons we will use to promote these traits within the school community. These icons are shown below.

Buildings Update

The East wing demolition has come to a halt until Telstra come and remove their wires from under the building.

We have been planning for two “inclusive” gardens to be built. One next to the new hub and in place of the west wing of the Old Building once it is demolished. The aim is to have some quiet spaces for students to have some “down time” in. There will also be an outdoor classroom area.

School Council Elections

ICT

At MFG we have some guidelines around how we use our technology and social media wheth

Wellbeing