Executive Director's Welcome

In our last newsletter I wrote about the commencement of construction works on our newest boarding house at 371 Church Street.  Over the past two months work has been progressing at an incredible pace, and today the ground floor slab is being poured, with the basement already completed.  Soon, the building will rise above the ground as we approach completion in April 2023.  Once complete, this new boarding house will provide another 40 beds to MITS alum, completing our “connected community” of young people living and learning together on Richmond Hill.

Excitingly, this is not the only major project happening at MITS.  Earlier this year we made the decision to expand MITS’s school program to Year 8, commencing in 2023.  This move will allow students to spend two years with MITS, before transitioning to their Partner Schools at the start of Year 9.  It will allow our students to make even greater strides while at MITS and to step into their Partner Schools with even greater confidence.

We have made this change following a survey of our students, alumni and parents in 2021, which demonstrated overwhelming support from our community for a two-year MITS program.  The teaching team has developed a fantastic Year 8 curriculum that will engage, extend and inspire our students as they continue with MITS.

For 2023, we have partnered with Richmond High School, who have generously offered their Gleadell Street campus to our Year 8 students.  From 2025, our Year 7 and 8 classrooms will be located together, at the William Cooper Centre within the Richmond Football Club’s redeveloped Punt Road Oval precinct.  This new space will provide two classrooms, a science, art and cultural exploration lab, generous breakout spaces and access to the Traditional Meeting Grounds of Yarra Park.  We are thrilled that this new space will extend our partnership with the Richmond Football Club long into the future.  We have, and will continue to rely on our generous MITS donors to make these important projects possible.

Our students sit at the centre of all of this exciting growth.  We aspire to provide them with the best educational and boarding opportunities available in Melbourne, and to ensure that while pursuing their aspirations they feel not only culturally safe, but culturally strong.

Edward Tudor

Executive Director