Principal's Address

Karen Money

To the wonderful M.G.C. Community, 

 

It is with a sad heart that I have relinquished my principal role after almost seven years at Melbourne Girls’ College. It has been a privilege to lead this vibrant community at the heart of Melbourne life and excellence in education.

 

You have been in very safe hands since term 2, 2020 and I congratulate Brent Houghton and Andrew Arney for their exemplary leadership as acting principals, particularly as we are in the midst of the pandemic. Many thanks to our excellent assistant principals Sefija Demirova, Rachel Robertson, and Shaunagh O’Connell, our leaders and staff who teach and care for the students every day. 

 

We have worked together to ensure our College remained an exemplary state school. We have seen VCE results reaching a median of 34 in some years and in most, the school’s greatest percentages of students with study scores above 40. 

 

The excellent leadership team has ensured we have all been working on the most important areas for our students' learning, engagement, and wellbeing. I won't list each leader, past and present, as the email would go on forever extolling their talents. 

 

We worked together on the introduction of a Positive Psychology approach embedded in core curriculum as the Wellbeing Program. The excellent co-curricular programs in sustainability, rowing, aerobics, cadets, the arts supported wellbeing in exemplary ways.

 

We saw the introduction of a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.), to address the declining interest and participation of Australian girls in maths and science. Our S.T.E.A.M. program is now nationally recognised and drawing interest from many other schools, universities, and business organisations. This includes partnership with the major construction company Lang O’Rourke and the National Australia Bank.   

 

I will be taking up the role of Executive Director, Performance Division for Schools and Regional Services, Department of Education and Training. This role is central to statewide improvement in learning and teaching, an opportunity to further the “student at the centre” approach to the life choices and success that a quality education can provide.  

 

The process of appointing the new substantive principal of Melbourne Girls’ College will begin with regional support as soon as possible. 

 

Thank you for your lessons in kindness, respect, professionalism, and focus on the future, indeed, thank you for everything.

 

Kindest regards

Karen