PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

YEAR 9 CAMP 

Our Year 9 students braved the chill to attend camp at Campaspe Downs in Central Victoria this week. The campsite is set in a picturesque bush setting and is home to a variety of native fauna, including a flock of curious kangaroos who kept watch over the students during their stay. Students challenged themselves through exhilarating activities such as abseiling, canoeing, and high ropes. In the evening, they engaged in a fiercely contested trivia night as well as round robin sport challenges.

The camp's focus on building new friendships and strengthening existing ones, was evident in the laughter and the smiling seen all over the campsite for the duration of their stay. The McKinnon values of community and resilience shone through in the way each student took on new challenges with new friends. There is no doubt this has been the highlight of the Year 9 experience in 2024 and we are incredibly proud of them.

Thanks to the student management team and attending teachers for their tremendous efforts in running this camp.

WISDOM AND SERVICE

In 2021, McKinnon students Jack Graffeo and Wesley Mu (current Year 12 students), developed one of Australia’s most popular COVID-19 tracking websites, CovidBaseAU (https://covidbaseau.com/). 

Created to simplify and improve the communication of COVID-19 data, it quickly amassed nearly 55,000 followers on Twitter and has been acknowledged and celebrated worldwide, including by then-Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.

The Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at Melbourne University recently recognised these students. Jack and Wesley were also awarded the Wisdom and Service badge at the General Assembly. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!

TOMORROW MAN/TOMORROW WOMEN WORKSHOPS 

Our Years 10 and 11 students have recently participated in workshops facilitated by Tomorrow Man/Tomorrow Woman. These workshops aim to question and unpack the history, expectations and dynamics of modern-day masculinity and womanhood.

The sessions for our Year 10’s included various themes, including “breaking the man code”, which focussed on how we can look after ourselves, our mates and families better while carving out our own version of the Australian man. The Tomorrow Woman session’s theme was modelled around creating a new “Her code” where equality is valued as women continue to fight to rewrite the rules for themselves. 

The Year 11 students were broken into groups to explore 'The Middle Ground'. 

These workshops were designed to nurture empathy, build stronger connections with student cohorts and embed the principle of respect in relationships. Key issues included gender stereotypes, empathy and respectful relationships but discussions were based around so much more. Thank you to the student management teams who coordinated and staffed these events.

PARENT NIGHT 

On Wednesday 31 July, we held our parent event, Navigating Digital Safety: Fostering Kindness and Wellbeing Online. The evening began with presentations from our Junior School captains, Eden Sullivan (Year 9) and Mateo Capurro-Martinez (Year 9), who shared insights from our recent social media and screen time survey.

Our panelists included Dr Michael Carr Gregg, an adolescent psychologist; Dan Donahoo, the Digital Innovations Manager from Project Rockit; and Blake Seufert, our IT Systems Manager. Parents had the opportunity to engage in a Q&A session with these experts, fostering a dynamic discussion on the critical issue of digital safety.

It was wonderful to see our community come together to discuss such an important topic. Special thanks to Patty Etcell, our Head of Wellbeing, and David Machin for their organisation and planning of the event.

Throughout the evening, several key messages emerged. Parents were reminded of the importance of understanding adolescent brain development and the benefits of active monitoring, setting boundaries, and providing support to keep young people safe online. Open communication is essential; young people should feel they can turn to trusted adults if they encounter challenges online. Additionally, it is crucial to teach young people to stand up against hate, bullying, and racism, and to reach out when they witness such behaviour. As adults, we should model kindness, compassion, and self-care in our own social media and screen time use. Finally, setting aside device-free time to connect as a family, such as a regular family date night, can greatly enhance family relationships.

VICTORIAN SCHOOL MUSIC FESTIVAL

On Wednesday 31 July the members of Intermediate Stage Band travelled to Hawthorn Arts Centre to participate in the Victorian Schools Music Festival. The band performed very well, and then had a brief workshop with guest American clinician, Bethany Robinson, who is a highly regarded jazz bass player and educator. The students also had the opportunity to listen to bands from two other schools as well as the workshops those bands had with Bethany.

Thanks to Stuart Byrne for his ongoing direction of Intermediate Stage Band, to Dmitry Serebrianik for his assistance with organisation and to Martin West for his assistance on the day.

VOLLEYBALL 

The Three Days Volleyball Schools Cup was held on 24-26 July for our Years 10-12 students. This competition was an incredible success with such wonderful results reflecting our school community’s values. With five teams competing and at the completion of the tournament we had received 2 silvers, 2 bronze and one of our Year 11 students, Alma Segev was awarded MVP of the open age competition. This is an incredible achievement considering she will be in this same age group next year.

I am also very proud to announce that Volleyball Victoria also awarded us 'Best Female School' for our show of school spirit, kindness, and respect to all throughout the tournament. This is a wonderful achievement to be acknowledged for and just further congratulates our students on being wonderful ambassadors for our community.

Thank you to the coaching team who support our students in their success; Danielle Shmerling and Liam Adlington from the teaching staff, and to our graduated students who came back to help; Ariel Greenberg, Minja Zlatic, Stephanie Baker and Zoe Fischer. A big thank you also goes to Sandy Hope for her entire organisation of this tournament and providing our students with this opportunity.