Principal's message

Dear Parents, Carers and Students

The MGSC school community has been receiving regular updates from me via Compass Newsfeeds over the past week in relation to how the school will function given the current pandemic of COVID-19. I hope this has been informative and not overwhelming. My reasons for sending out the information in instalments is to make the information clear, concise and targetted. 

I am aware that there is a level of disappointment in relation to the cancellation of local and overseas camps, excursions and, for the Year 12 students, the Formal. Some parents and students may have preferred that a meeting was called or a personal phone call was made. However, there is simply not the time to add these personal touches. Ultimately, the priority is that the MGSC community know as quickly as possible.

At the time of writing this Principal’s message, there are no plans to close government schools in Victoria. That being said, we are well prepared to deliver curriculum to students should this occur. Prior to the ban on whole school assemblies, we celebrated International Women’s Day where over 100 of our students were presented with leadership badges and certificates. Our guests for the day were the Hon. Mark Dreyfus (QC, MP, Shadow Attorney-General, Shadow Minister for National Security, Federal Labor Member for Isaacs), Lisa Grant (former student and Bayside Community Hub convenor) and Alicia Gilpin (2019 Dux). 

International Women’s Day is particularly important to our school, given that we are one of the six remaining government girls’ schools in the State. Our mandate is to provide high quality, affordable education to girls that will prepare them for careers in an ever changing world. Back in 1955, the likelihood of girls studying beyond Year 9 in this local area was slim. Many schools from around the local area came together to discuss how they could address this problem. That solution was Mentone Girls’ High School, as it was known back then.

But there is a bigger backdrop to the educational attainment of women that we need to be mindful of. It is hard to believe that women did not have the vote until 1894 in Australia with South Australia leading the way. The Women’s Suffrage Movement was a key achievement of the first wave of feminists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

Historically, some societies have allowed some women to vote, but the first independent, self-governing nation to give all women citizens the vote was New Zealand in 1893. Before women were given the vote, many men believed that women did not want to vote, and were not educated or intelligent enough to hold an opinion. Many believed that women should focus on raising children and doing housework, enabling men to decide on the policies that affected women. Obviously they were misinformed because women are as intelligent and capable as men – we only need look around our student population and the wider community to see that this is the case.

So fast forwarding another 62 years from 1894 and we find ourselves here at MGSC in 1955 where the issue relating to the education of girls was not just a local one.  There were many more government girls’ schools created in Victoria each with a common purpose – preparing young girls for careers they had previously not considered possible.

Now let’s fast forward again to today and here we all are – 65 years later. Thousands of students have graduated from MGSC and are out in the world taking on a wide range of careers in various industries.  

MGSC is a vibrant and dynamic place. Last week we celebrated Multicultural and Harmony Week and we hosted the Year 9 My Migrant Story evening. Both of these events rely on the goodwill of staff to run. I would like to thank the staff who supervised, ran workshops and assisted in the set-up of the displays.  

All the best and thanks to Bronwyn Moline

Bronwyn Moline shared some sad news with our staff last week and now I share this with you all. Bronwyn’s battle with her breast cancer has not quite finished yet and she will be taking leave to focus on her health. Following this Bronwyn will retire.

You may remember that Bronwyn worked steadily throughout terms 1 to 3 last year whilst undergoing her initial treatment. She only took leave in term 4 to rest and recover. It has been terrific having Bronwyn back as part of the Principal team this year. Sadly, Bronwyn will finish up at the end of this term and we are currently advertising for her replacement within MGSC.  

I am sure that many students, parents, staff, School Council and Parents and Friends’ Association (PFA) members have felt informed and supported by Bronwyn over many years. Bronwyn has had a key role to play in the area of curriculum development, the guidance of Leading Teachers and Domain Leaders and supporting students in general. Bronwyn is also an outstanding teacher of the highest calibre. I thank Bronwyn for her dedicated, kind, positive and cheerful demeanour and wish her all the very best for the future.  

Best wishes

Linda Brown