Welcome to our latest newsletter!

The City Edge conference, 2020 planning, Book Week, a National Parks Scheme initiative, many activities and student success have all been at the centre of our work for the past fortnight.

Book Week Celebrations

Congratulations to Sylvan Dorney, Beth Barrass, Paul Carter, Emma McCowan, Lisa Rosos and Shaunagh O’Connell for leading a magnificent week of celebration in reading, writing, publishing and Harry Potter quizes! I was fortunate enough to hear our MGC Dad and Council member, Ben Ball, discuss the publishing world. Ben’s kind and self-effacing manner engaged the students in his career story and the myriad possibilities for working in the publishing industry. Ben is a well loved publishing director for Tim Winton and many other prominent Australian authors.

City Edge- Learning for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The City Edge Conference on 15-16 August, 2019 saw Melbourne Girls’ College, The Mac Robertson Girls’ High School, Melbourne High School, University High School, Princes Hill Secondary College, Albert Park Secondary College, Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and Richmond High School come together to learn with and from each other.

This year’s biennial conference is focused on the age of technological change we are entering which is more profound than any before. Acting now, we have an opportunity to prepare students to shape this vastly complex process and guide its outcomes for the better. All of our City Edge Network Schools are effective leaders of learning, build student leadership capacity and create pathways for students. We also aim to challenge students’ thinking and prepare them for the future. The professional learning activity ‘Educating for the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ has enhanced our collective capacity in this area.

The conference began at 2 pm Thursday 15 August 2019 with a keynote address from Associate Professor Mathew White who is the Program Director for the Master of Education in the School of Education at The University of Adelaide. His research focuses broadly on character education, international education, leadership, and wellbeing education.

From 9am – 3.30 pm Friday 16 August each school hosted a symposium on an aspect of preparing young people for the fourth industrial revolution.

Thank you to our Business Manager, Nancy Sandilands, who lead all City Edge education support staff in their professional learning- Educational Leadership as Educational Support Staff - Understanding and Leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution including its impact on our professional learning and work. MGC education support staff Natasha Walsh, Jeilei Cui, Anthony Keen and Louise Excel all presented brilliantly.

Thank you to Lisa Rosos, our Visible Wellbeing Learning Specialist who along with Leading Teacher, Brooke Sandilands facilitated the MGC offering for teachers on the program:

Visible Wellbeing - Thank you to Lisa Rosos, our Visible Wellbeing Learning Specialist who along with Leading Teacher, Brooke Sandilands facilitated the MGC offering for teachers on the program:

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is forging exponential change in all areas of human existence and impact. To equip young people with the character strengths and agility to negotiate the future educators have a responsibility to equip them in emotional management, awareness, relationships, coping, habits and goals. This professional learning program developed by Professor Lea Waters has been a springboard for the development of a wider Wellbeing Program at Melbourne Girls’ College. The session will be an introduction to the key aspects of the comprehensive wellbeing program developed by the College since 2016.

The principal class offering from MGC was- Leading for the Fourth Industrial Revolution with Karen Money, Principal Melbourne Girls’ College: Developing STEAM and Visible Wellbeing Programs to equip young women for active participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

National Youth Science Forum sponsored by Richmond Rotary

Many congratulations to our Year 11 students, Ashley Monaghan, Sabriah Peterson, Anais Herbaux, Kimia Mehrkanoon, Margaret Xu and Alice McGinty who have all been selected to attend the National Youth Science Forum! It is a credit to every students as the Rotary selection process is rigorous and highly sought after. Thank you to Emily Miller, who, as Rotary Liaison ensures every opportunity is accessed for our MGC students.

International Students Public Speaking Competition

Congratulations to our international students, Eva CHEN (Yr11) and Anna CHEUNG (Yr11), who took part in the International Student Public Speaking Competition at Northcote High School on Thursday 15 August. Both students were outstanding and Anna came second overall from all contestants!

Our International Student Program (ISP) Leader, Jielei Cui is outstanding in all areas of the IS program and this is yet another example. Many thanks to the amazing coach Hamish Thomas and judge Sefija Demirova for all of the support for the evening.

2020 Planning

Congratulations to the following appointees to key leadership roles in 2020:

Paul Carter, Literacy Learning Specialist

Bec Irvine, Differentiation Learning Specialist

Sandor Kazi, Data and Analytics Learning Specialist

Wendy Keen, STEAM Learning Specialist

Alison Lam, Numeracy Learning Specialist

Lisa Rosos, Visible Wellbeing Learning Specialist

Pat Sklavakis, Year 12 Leader

Brooke Sandilands, Year 11 Leader

Anna Crosswhite, Year 10 Leader

Rachel Robertson, Year 9 Leader

Shaunagh O’Connell, Year 8 Leader

Bridget Tellefson, Year 7 Leader

Sefija Demirova, Brent Houghton and Andrew Arney Assistant Principals.

National Parks Scheme (NPS) Waste Plan

Last Friday I sent a newsfeed to all staff and students supporting the Environment Team and Sustainability Collective National Parks Scheme (NPS). We tackle the world’s “wicked” problems at MGC and the environmental team are working extremely hard to change how we treat our waste. The concept is that, similar to entering a National Park in Australia, the waste you take in, you are responsible for taking out. The proposal is that there will be no more rubbish BINS at MGC and the plan is being adopted with the ambition of becoming a zero waste to landfill school by the end of 2020, massively reducing our environmental impact. We hope that this will encourage everyone - students and staff alike - to reduce their waste by bringing less waste to school and, in d

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