A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

DR MICHAEL CARR-GREGG PARENT EVENING

On Tuesday 24 November, McKinnon Secondary College and Compass Community Care partnered to sponsor a forum by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. Dr Michael Carr-Gregg delivered an entertaining and informative session to parents in our school community on what they need to know about the latest developments in adolescent psychology.

A celebrated child and adolescent psychologist, Dr Carr-Gregg works in private practice in Melbourne. He specializes in parenting adolescents and adolescent mental health. He appears on the popular television shows Sunrise and The Morning Show.

Dr Carr-Gregg spoke about what every parent needs to know about parenting, covering alcohol, online safety, sleep and other key issues. In the one-hour presentation, he provided an engaging ‘crash course’ in the developmental psychology of adolescents and how to understand and communicate effectively with young people. Dr Carr-Gregg explained that developmentally teenagers transition through three key stages. Firstly, early adolescence where teenagers will consider the confronting question “Am I normal?” This is followed by middle adolescence where adolescents are with faced with the development task of trying to figure out their identity and dealing with the dilemma “Who am I?” Finally, late adolescence is where young people need to connect with vocational direction in their life and consider “Where am I going?”

Dr Carr-Gregg’s ‘firm but fair’ message was that parents play a key role in helping young people transition through these stages and managing the risks of being an adolescent in the 21st Century. He expressed that parents need to carefully choose their battle grounds and to risk being unpopular sometimes. With some nice humour, Dr Carr-Gregg observed that he “does not know a single case where a teenager has died from an untidy room”. He stressed that “the real battle grounds are the internet, drugs, alcohol, sex and curfews.”

In summary, Dr Carr-Gregg explained that teenagers need the following:

Some good old ‘ vitamin N-O, NO!

Limits and boundaries

Parents to be parents, not best friends

Family rituals and traditions

Some opportunities to experience adversity

To volunteer

Good friendships

To be kept busy

Healthy opportunities to take risks

Time away from electronic devices

Sleep

In closing, Dr Carr-Gregg finished with some good news. “Parenting teenagers is not impossible” and that many teenagers transition through adolescence and arrive in young adulthood, happy, well adjusted, prepared and ready to deal with adult life.

TRANSITION

We are soon to play host to next year’s Year 7 cohort. On Tuesday 8 December over 360 Grade 6s will descend upon us for the start of the transition program. It will be a day of orientation and information but also a chance to instill excitement about the journey ahead. I look forward to this day as I meet new children and their parents. Every child is unique with his or her own special personality, qualities and skills that we aim to nurture and develop.

Transition is all about change. Our new Year 7s will be exposed to different perspectives on the world they live in. Many will find this exciting and respond to the challenge of examining their own perspective in the light of alternative viewpoints. Some will find the transition to secondary school difficult, even intimidating. We will do all in our power to ensure that every one of our new students becomes inspired at the possibilities that new learning opens up for them. We will also make sure that parents successfully navigate change along with their children.

As well as offering exciting opportunities in teaching and learning, McKinnon Secondary College has expectations of both parents and our new Year 7s. I will be setting these out for you on 8 December. Our behaviour as global citizens is integral to the success of our academic program.

As we expand, it becomes imperative to accommodate our students in classroom environments which promote learning. We are very excited to announce that a second double-storey portable will be installed at the end of the MERC building in the coming weeks. We are very grateful to the Department for the provision of this essential facility. The new portable will be up and running for the beginning of the 2016 academic year.

Next week is Orientation Week for students undertaking a VCE subject in 2016.

The journey to excellence begins with this important introduction to the high expectations of VCE. With regard to the 2015 Year 12 cohort, I am pleased to report that the exam period went smoothly and I trust that there will be some pleasing outcomes when results are announced in the second week of December.

In the meantime, we wish those graduates who are celebrating the end of their secondary schooling a safe time. Enjoy – but not too much!

Finally, we farewell our Years 8, 9 and 10 students on Saturday 28 November as they venture forth for their two-week adventure on the Great Victorian Bike Ride. Many enduring friendships have been forged on Great Vic over the years. We wish everyone a safe ride.

KWONG LEE DOW YOUNG SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Congratulations to Hazel Lee (Year 10) who has been selected for The Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program offered by Melbourne University. Hazel has been selected out of over 1800 applicants across the state and has not only been chosen for her strong academic success but also her qualities in leadership, engagement and involvement within the school and broader community.

Hazel is an exceptional student and we wish her all the best as she embarks on this exciting academic enrichment program.

VICTORIAN GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations to Tess Kettle (Year 10) who won the 2015 Victorian Gymnastics Championships held at Geelong on Saturday 14 November.

Tess has been doing gymnastics and training 12 hours a week for 10 years. This is the first time Tess has won the Victorian Championships. Well done, Tess. Your determination and hard work has paid off.

EX MCKINNON STUDENT IS DR WHO’S NEWEST FEMALE WRITER

Sarah Dollard, graduated as Dux of her year in 1997. Her screenwriting credits in Australia include Neighbours and The Saddle Club. In 2008 Sarah moved to the United Kingdom where her accomplishments include writing episodes of the BBC supernatural television series Being Human and The Game.

Her latest coup is writing Episode 10 of Series 9 of the long running series Dr Who. The episode titled “Face the Raven” aired in Melbourne on 22nd November on ABC TV. Sarah is the 2nd Australian writer and the 6th woman to write for Dr Who.

We wish Sarah continued success!

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