Principal's News 

Shelford Girls’ Grammar is committed to supporting every community member, as we grapple with the crisis unfolding in the Middle East and the many attendant issues that arise from this.

A reminder to parents and students that graphic content depicting acts of violence and torture, often against women and children, is being disseminated through social media, particularly targeted at young people. In addition, there is a constant stream of violent and upsetting images on the traditional media.  We would advise caution and close supervision, particularly of our youngest students.

We have both Charlotte and Edith (Counsellor and Psychologist) on site and working additional hours to ensure support for any student or groups of students who wish to access this. 

Our wellbeing team and all of our staff are aware of the potential impacts of the crisis on members of our community.

Our VCE team are accessing information about possible SEAS applications at particular tertiary institutions, to support our senior students and will provide this information to students.

We are continuing preparation for the examinations ahead in senior years and urge students to engage actively in all of the other programs and activities, including our final days with the Year 12 cohort, a traditionally sentimental and joyous period.  This focus on the activities and events at Shelford is, we believe, in the best interests of our students and helps support their wellbeing. 

Should there be circumstances related to individual families and students, that you wish us to be aware of, please do not hesitate to contact us.  My door is open to any student who wishes to de-brief and discuss any issue with me.

Our staff are supporting each other and accessing available individualised, professional support.

We know the devastating impacts of this crisis are felt by many and stand in support of all in our community.

To support parents in raising the news reports and managing at home, I suggest this article: https://www.unicef.org/parenting/how-talk-your-children-about-conflict-and-war

International Day of the Girl Child  

At Shelford, we work each day to empower our students to overcome self-doubt and ensure they make the most of the wonderful educational opportunities available to them, so that they can engage in the world in a positive and fulfilling manner.   

The United Nations Day of the Girl Child is an opportunity to draw attention to the needs of girls globally. I shared the clip below with staff this week, in which some prominent women explore the importance of empowering girls, and the challenges girls still face:

I have taken the opportunity here to share some insight from the United Nations about the work they are doing to progress girls’ rights. 

Invest in Girls' Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being 

This year, at a time when we are seeing a range of movements and actions to curtail girls’ and women’s rights and roll back progress on gender equality, we see particularly harsh impacts on girls. From maternal health care and parenting support for adolescent mothers, to digital and life skills training; from comprehensive sexuality education to survivor support services and violence prevention programmes; there is an urgent need for increased attention and resourcing for the key areas that enable girls to realise their rights and achieve their full potential. 

Responding to girls’ calls for change, the global community must move beyond reaffirming commitments and invest boldly in the action needed to make that change. When we pay attention, we see that, already, many girls are championing solutions and change in their communities. Together with our government and civil society partners, UNICEF envisions a world where girls have space to shape government policy and spending to inform the rules and norms by which businesses should operate, and to direct the priorities for new research and innovations. These examples should not be novelties, but the norm. 

Background 

In 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Beijing countries unanimously adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls. The Beijing Declaration is the first to specifically call out girls’ rights. 

On December 19, 2011, United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognise girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. 

The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights. 

Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders. An investment in realising the power of adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future, one in which half of humanity is an equal partner in solving the problems of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability. 

Girls are breaking boundaries and barriers posed by stereotypes and exclusion, including those directed at children with disabilities and those living in marginalised communities. As entrepreneurs, innovators and initiators of global movements, girls are creating a world that is relevant for them and future generations. 

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015, embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. 

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals will we get to justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining our shared environment now and for future generations. 

Did you know? 

• Nearly 1 in 5 girls are still not completing lower-secondary and nearly 4 in 10 girls are not completing upper-secondary school today. 
• Around 90 per cent of adolescent girls and young women do not use the internet in low-income countries, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online. 
• Globally, girls aged 5-14 spend 160 million more hours every day on unpaid care and domestic work than boys of the same age. 
• Adolescent girls continue to account for 3 in 4 new HIV infections among adolescents. 
• Nearly 1 in 4 married/partnered adolescent girls aged 15-19 have experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime. 
• Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 100 million girls were at risk of child marriage in the next decade. And now over the next ten years, up to 10 million more girls worldwide will be at risk of marrying as children because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Katrina Brennan

Principal