Principal's Report
Have a Safe and Rewarding Term Break
We look forward to seeing the students back on 17th July for the beginning of Term Three. Please have a safe, rewarding break from routine. Term 3 will be busy with 2018 planning, finalising the Strategic Plan, preparing for the VCE exams, rowing season and aerobics competitions. Melbourne Girls’ is always so vibrant and busy so take the two weeks to rest, reflect, enjoy and study!
The New Media Consortium (NMC) Horizon Report 2017 K-12 Technology
This Horizon Report http://www.nmc.org/publication/nmccosn-horizon-report-2017-k-12-edition/ highlights the growing emphasis in K-12 education on deeper learning approaches, defined by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as the mastery of content that engages students in critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and self-directed learning. In order to remain motivated, students need to be able to grasp how new knowledge and skills will impact the world around them.
Pedagogical approaches that shift the dynamic from passive to active learning allow students to
develop ideas themselves from new information and take control of how they engage with a subject.
These approaches include problem-based learning, project-based learning, challenge-based learning and inquiry-based learning, which encourage creative problem-solving and actively implementing solutions. As the enabling role of technologies in learning crystalizes, educators are leveraging these tools to connect the curriculum with real-life applications.
The report identifies a number of long-term trends in rethinking how schools work in order to bolster student engagement and drive more innovation.
This type of work is reflected in our current project with Professor Yong Zhao, work on Curiosity and Powerful Learning and S.T.E.A.M.
Reminder: City Edge Network Professional Learning 16th and 28th August
Every two years the City Edge Network of schools conduct professional learning as an inner city Community of Practice. This year the Twilight Session will be held at The University High School on Wednesday 16th August, 2pm - 4 pm.
All students will be dismissed at the end of period 3 on this day.
The Student Free Day endorsed by School Council for 18th August will see City Edge colleagues congregate at one of our seven schools to discuss pedagogy and curriculum, particularly related to our schools, performance development plans and Key Note speaker who is Adjunct Professor Erica McWilliam discussing “High Impact teaching for collaborative learning: What great pedagogy looks like.”
In her presentation, Erica will address the issue ‘why collaborate?’ before exploring what highly effective teachers do build, sustain and ‘normalise’ collaborative learning. Drawing on recent classroom research, she will share a range of useful pedagogical techniques for directing, supporting and sustaining collaborative learning in the context of a virtual ecology of digital disruption and distractibility and high stakes assessment. Insisting that all learning environments function best around facilitative routines, Erica will elaborate on pedagogical protocols for placing dynamic peer-with-peer collaboration at the centre of the inquiry-oriented learning environment.
International and National Success for Emily Cuddy
Congratulations to our dedicated student Emily Cuddy who is recognised internationally as an elite gymnast after competing in the highly regarded International competition, the Maia International Acro Cup (MIAC) in Portugal. Emily and her team mates came tenth in a field of forty-six in their first routine (Dynamic), followed by a first place in the beautifully performed second routine (Balance). The team came 11th overall which is a great achievement at such an elite level.
On the 3rd and 4th of June Emily and her team competed at the Australian National Gymnastics Championships here in Melbourne at Hisense Arena, where they came first in all three routines and have been crowned National Champions for their level of 13-19 International Trio. With the scores they achieved they have become a part of the Australian International Acrobatic Squad and are now eligible to trial for a position on the Australian Team to attend the World Games next year in Antwerp, Belgium.
We are very proud of Emily's achievements and look forward to hearing of future successes.
Kind Regards,
Karen Money
Principal