Our MFG Newsletter

Principal's Report

The following is an excerpt from my speech at a recent whole school assembly.

 

Today I am also going to talk to you about football - not just any footy, women’s football. I am so pleased to see the progression of women’s football and that some AFL clubs are embracing the idea and developing their own teams.

When I was young, I loved to play footy. But I was not able to play – there were no girls or women’s teams. In fact, girls were not expected to play footy or even to be able to kick a football!  I would be told time and time again: “Footy is not for girls, it is not a girls’ sport!” In fact, I was rejected by boys who lived in my street for even wanting to play kick to kick. I had to secretly practise in my back yard.

By the time I was in my early 20s, so many girls wanted to play footy that a footy league was established in WA and in Victoria.  In 1996, two women started a national footy league.  Those two women were Lisa Hardiman and Barb Hampson. Some of you may know Barb – she is ‘Bob’ who does some emergency teaching here from time to time.

In 1996, there were still people ridiculing the idea of women playing football and the girls who did play at the time were often called names and ridiculed by both men and women for wanting to play. It seems strange, doesn’t it, to ridicule others for doing something healthy, that is not hurting anyone and is something they enjoy.

Well, in the past 20 years women’s footy has come a long way.  I am very grateful for the women who chose to play and who persisted with something they loved and believed in. Because of their stickability, in the face of criticism, lots of girls can now play competition footy.

So why have I told you about this footy story?

Well, achievement or success sometimes takes a long time. It often takes some people having the courage to challenge stereotypes or fixed beliefs. It requires people to be prepared to persist because they really believe in something. It needs people to be prepared to be resilient in the face of criticism and negativity. It takes people who will put in the effort to create change.

  • Patience
  • Courage
  • Persistence
  • Resilience
  • Effort

These are the qualities needed for success in anything we do.

I encourage you to make a conscious decision to develop patience, courage, persistence, resilience and effort – for these are the qualities we require for success.

Visit from the Premier

We were delighted to receive a visit from the Premier, Daniel Andrews, on 15 May 2016, along with the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, James Merlino and our local MP Christine Couzens. They were greeted by our school leaders and taken on a brief tour by two Year 7 students, Lucy Bethune and Anneliese  Anello.

 

The Premier was pleased to see so many of our girls involved in the learning of Science at our school, thrilled at the digital technology learning class and impressed with our community links and the learning that is taking place in the garden.

$7 000 000 State Government Funding

As a school we are very grateful for the strong advocacy of our local MP Christine Couzens and the $7 000 000 grant that the State Government has allocated to our school. We have received some feedback from parents, students and staff as to how they think we should use this money. Thanks to those who have provided that feedback already. Parents and careers are invited to provide some further input by means of an on-line questionnaire.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/buildings_parentscarers2016

Digital Technology @MFG

At MFG we have been working hard to develop a digital technologies curriculum.

 

The following links will show you some of our work.

 

Making Digital Postcards includes video of Matthew Flinders Maker Event

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/events/Pages/edweek2016postcards.aspx#making

 

 Making DigiPub: Maker Event video

http://www.digipubs.vic.edu.au/pubs/maker/case_study_Matthew_Flinders_Girls_SC

 

 Digital Technologies DigiPub: Creating new learning video

http://www.digipubs.vic.edu.au/pubs/digitaltechnologies/matthewflindersgirls_case_study

Student News

Four Year 9 students: Morgan Wood, Chloe Burgess, Eden Bacon-Hall and Caitlyn McCaffery, have attended the Leadership Camp this term. They have just returned from a trip to China as part of this program.

Mia Sheppard in Year 10 represented the Vic Country Team in the 2016 AFL Youth Girls National Championships last week.  Well done, Mia!