Deputy Principal

My inspiration for this week’s newsletter contribution comes from Dannielle Miller OAM. As CEO for Enlighten Education, she is an advocate for women and girls and a parenting author:

“The way to capture a teen girl's heart and mind, and build belonging in the year group, lies in the use of humour and skilled storytelling (rather than shaming and lectures), actively teaching conflict resolution skills, and in developing a sense of sisterhood (or as so many girls write on their feedback forms, "showing us how to be girl's girls”)….once young women experience how much better connection feels (and  let's be honest, all that division and cliquishness is exhausting and dull) it's hard to want to revert to old ways they realise no longer serve them.”

So, I am reminded of the work of the Educational Wellbeing Team at Mt A and our Personal Best Program.  Our purposeful approach to ensure that every student receives a lesson every week expertly designed by one of our Heads of House (each Head of House manages the activities of a year level) to ensure our students are offered lessons on the science of learning and lessons of life. We have covered every topic that is appropriate for the age of the cohort.  We workshop what good friendships look, sound and feel like in Year 7.  We workshop respectful relationships and consent with Year 10. We deepdive Year 9 into their future careers to prepare for SET Planning. We partner with Padua College in Year 8 with dance lessons and a social. We develop the leadership skills in Year 11 in preparation for their senior year. We provide life skills workshops in investing, budgeting, meal prepping and car maintenance in the senior year. Our offerings here go far beyond curriculum.

I am also reminded of the many ways Mount Alvernia provides the ‘humour and skilled storytelling’ that Miller suggests are vital for capturing the attention of young girls.  Our vertical House system provides a ‘home within the home’ for our students. In their Homerooms, House Assemblies and Interhouse competitions, students are encouraged and challenged to connect with other students, be vulnerable and act courageously. Greccio House asks their members to get ‘1% better every day’. Spoleto asks their members to ‘find their spark’. Each House encourages and inspires their members to thrive.

Listening to the voice of our students is a priority.  This is evidenced with our Student Representative Council that commenced this year and has been re-named ‘Consiglio’ in 2025.  In November, all students in Years 7 – 11 were invited to participate in the Tell Them From Me survey during their Personal Best lesson. This is an anonymous survey from a third party for students to report on life at school with academics, friendship and culture. 75% of our students participated. The report was released 48 hours ago and we are still trawling through the results. The aspects we are most pleased about are:

• 51% Students have rated Mt A as 4 or 5 out of 5 and 81% have rated Mt A 3 to 5 out of 5. The highest score was 4 out of 5. This means most of our students would recommend or highly recommend Mt A to other students!
• MyMtA is the #1 place students go when they need academic help and junior/senior study is #2. This affirms our investment in this platform – of which we are very proud – and I am so grateful to the teaching staff who volunteer their own time after school to assist our students with their academic needs. I hope this statistic motivates them to volunteer again in 2025.
• 82.6% of our students have friends they trust at school and encourage them to make positive choices.
• 55% of our students are in the top domain – high skills and high challenge (the TTFM benchmark is 36%). This means students feel challenged in the classroom and confident in the skills being taught by their teachers to meet that challenge for English, Maths and Science. The bottom domain – low skills and low challenge – is only 2% with a TTFM benchmark of 8%.
• 80% of our students consider their physical health to be good or excellent. This means 80% of our girls are feeling good about their physical bodies and what their body allows them to do. For girls, this is a significant statistic.

I look forward to sharing more of the survey results in 2025.

I am excited and energised by the first term of leadership from our newest College, Portfolio and House Captains. They launched their motto for 2025 at our final assembly and this will be heavily promoted across the College next year:

Mount A really is a joyful place. I have seen so much growth in our spirit and culture in my two years here. It is comforting to see our students are encouraging each other to find the positives in life  and to strive in all they do.

As I look forward to 2025, I ask our families to pick up the phone or write an email that expresses concern but offers us the opportunity to investigate and offer a range of perspectives. A productive partnership.  If we call, please listen with an open mind and heart. I witness firsthand how hard our Heads of House are working to ensure your young people are given authentic and engaging experiences within their Homerooms and Houses. They monitor attendance and engagement. They write the programs that become our Personal Best lessons. They are constantly reading, studying and upskilling to improve their craft. All amongst their teaching. We often hear the saying ‘the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.’ Our staff have high standards of ourselves and our students.  They are the same standards our students’ future university or workplace will expect. Aggressive tones impact the wellbeing of our Heads of House and teaching staff – the very people who are charged with the care and development of your young people.  It is not unpastoral to live our mantra of ‘high challenge and high support’. In 2025, our year of ‘joy’ and the preparatory year for our platinum jubilee in 2026, we look forward to productive partnerships to allow our staff, families and young people to create positive connections with each other.

To all in our Mount Alvernia College community, I wish you every blessing for the Christmas season. Enjoy the moments with family and friends.  We cannot wait to have the students back in 2025.