PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

FAREWELL CLASS OF 2023

This week has seen many Year 12 events including dress up day, the Year 12 Assembly and the Valedictory Dinner, which was held at the Crown casino last night. So many celebrations which mark an incredible milestone for our Year 12 students.

Dress up day was fabulous - great to see the students put so much effort into their outfits!

Valedictory is such a heartwarming event, and it was lovely to see the parents attending, who are always so grateful to our teachers and our school. As we know, this connection with families is one of the secrets to the success of McKinnon.

I congratulate everyone who helped to organise these events and all the staff who were in attendance to support our Class of 2023.

Exams begin next week, and I wish the cohort all the very best.

NEW CALEDONIA SISTER SCHOOL VISIT 

Our new sister school agreement with the College de Tuband in Noumea, New Caledonia has been in place for a year now, with the relationship having started out with a penfriend exchange, then developing further with this visit that allowed our students at both campuses to meet French-speaking students from one of our closest Pacific neighbours.

The visit to McKinnon by 45 students and 6 teachers from New Caledonia that took place in the last week of term 3 was the first by this school and also the first international visit since COVID. 

It was a great success thanks in no small part to the generosity of our McKinnon families, who opened their homes to the visitors and provided them with some wonderful experiences.

Thank you to Jennifer Lynd, the language faculty, and everyone involved in making this such a fulfilling experience.

MEDIA NIGHT 

Our VCE Media Night was held on Thursday 5 October, showcasing the best short films created by our talented Year 11 and Year 12 Media students. The standard of films was exceptional, and the audience were able to enjoy a range of genres from thrillers through to action comedies. 

Congratulations to all students and staff involved for all of their hard work in making the event such a success. You can read more about Media Night here. Special thanks to Ms Lo Presti and Ms Portelli for organising this event and to Mr Williams, Mr Babidge and Mr Quinn for judging the films.

BACKFLIPS AGAINST BULLYING 

On Wednesday 4 October, the Year 7 cohort attended an anti-bullying program called Backflips against Bullying.  This program aims to teach resilience and practical tools to help victims of bullying, whilst delivering a fun, active parkour-based program.  

Students were given real world examples including cyber bullying, physical, verbal and social harassment and the consequences from these types of behaviours.  The overall goal was to empower the students to hold each other accountable and prevent bullying into the future.  

The program was very well received by the year level and follow up programs will be established moving into Year 8. Thank you to Pip Andrieux for organising this program for our students.

TOMORROW MAN/TOMORROW WOMAN

Tomorrow Man/Tomorrow Woman is an organisation who run interactive workshops which seeks to engage the emotional, social and mental health of the participants.

We are truly lucky at McKinnon that the management team of the school supports our senior students by engaging them in these workshops. They encourage the students to be vulnerable with themselves and each other, and to remove stigmas that may traditionally be associated with gender stereotypes.

Whilst this can be, and is, daunting for students at first, the sessions proved to be incredibly valuable for all participants and we hope these sessions to be of a more regular occurrence going forward to continue to allow our students to grow as individuals and as a cohort.

A big thank you to Kellie Felmingham and Krishna Fleming for their efforts in the organisation of the day, and to the wonderful facilitators from Tomorrow Man/Tomorrow Woman, we can't thank you enough.

ATHLETICS 

On Thursday 5 October our athletics squad represented the Kingston Division at the Southern Metro Region Finals. They had amazing success in the track and field with 12 students successfully qualifying for the State finals on Monday 16 October. A special mention to Allegra Orso (Year 10) who not only won two events but also beat the region's record for triple jump.  

All of the highlights from the day are in the sports report. Well done to all of the athletes and thank you to Mrs Pemberton, Miss Bell & Miss Owen for organising this event.

WELLBEING PARENT EVENING WITH DR MICHAEL CARR-GREGG

I encourage all parents and carers to attend the upcoming rescheduled event we are hosting titled "Raising Good Humans: Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids," which will be presented by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. Details below.

This is a free 1-hour seminar being held on Wednesday, 18 October at 7pm in the school hall at the main campus.

In order to secure your spot at this event, please RSVP using the link below. If you had previously RSVPed for this event, we kindly ask you to RSVP once more using the link below. As seating is limited, we strongly recommend securing your place as soon as possible.

I look forward to your presence at what promises to be an insightful and informative evening.