Acting Principal’s Report

Year 7 Orientation Day 2021

One of the highlights of this week for me has been the Year 7 Orientation Day this past Tuesday. After many changes in COVID rules, in the end it was great to be able to have students on site for them to make connections with one another and some of their new teachers. We’ve sought feedback from families through a survey and the responses already received have been overwhelmingly positive. Our newest students benefited from being able to learn from our Junior Ambassadors, who led students on school tours during the day. These students have been trained in these roles over the past four weeks, being expertly led by our 2021 Public Relations Captains, Hannah Benhassine & Jessica Bell. Our JAs were awarded their badges at a morning tea on Wednesday. Well done to everyone involved including the 2021 Year 7 Leader, Bridget Tellefson, and Assistant Leader, Emily Miller. 

End of Year Assemblies

Another highlight has been attending the final Year 7 Assembly of the year. As someone who usually works as an Assistant Principal at Years 7 and 8, one of the things that I have really missed this year has been getting to know our Year 7s, but it was great to see what they’ve been able to achieve in a most unusual first year of secondary school. This final assembly with the Year 7s was filled with student performances and of course awards. My thanks to Rachel Robertson, the Year Level Leaders, our Student Captains, Trevor Howlett, Beth Barrass and our Performing Arts staff for all their work in putting together these assemblies in lieu of Presentation Night this year. Please see last night’s newsfeed to gain access to the performances and awards.

In my speeches to these final assemblies, I paid tribute to our students for their contribution to Victoria’s pandemic response: 

My final message today is to all students here. 2020 has been a year of challenges like no other. You, our young people, have made enormous sacrifices this year to protect the health of others, particularly older people and those with underlying health conditions. As we celebrate the continued donut days of zero new cases in Victoria, I say well done for following the lockdown rules and putting on hold many simple things – like catching up with your friends - this year. We wouldn’t be in the great place that we are today as a state, without the sacrifice that you have made, so thank you. 

Acting Principal 2021 – Jackie Knight

It has been an absolute privilege to lead MGC through the last nine months through a variety of challenges. In this, my final report as Acting Principal, I want to take this opportunity to thank three outstanding people in Andrew Arney, Sefija Demirova and Rachel Robertson who have assisted me, and us, on every step of this journey. 

Jackie Knight, an Assistant Principal at Glen Waverley Secondary College, has been appointed to lead MGC throughout 2021. I welcome Jackie to MGC and I look forward to working with her to continue to make MGC the best possible version of itself in 2021.

Brent Houghton

Acting Principal