Principal’s Report
Recent Whole School Assembly Address:
“The standard you walk by is the standard you accept.”
Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison
On Thursday 30 July 2015 I had the pleasure of attending a national symposium with some of our students and another staff member. It was the National Conference of the Safe Schools Coalition; a meeting of teachers and students from all around Australia to discuss how to make schools safer and more inclusive places for all young people.
The key message that came out of the day is the importance of creating a culture in our school where everyone feels safe and where behaviour that results in some people not feeling safe in our school is recognised by all of us as not acceptable.
The reason we went to this national symposium is because a few young people in our school decided to establish a Stand Out group to ensure every person has a right to dignity and to feel valued at our school. I would like to publically thank them for their courage to establish this group at Matthew Flinders and to encourage them in their on-going work.
A measure of someone’s character is their ability to treat others with dignity and respect as well as their willingness to stand up against any direct or indirect discrimination. So what does this mean? It means two things:
· Firstly, we need to respect others regardless of their culture, their disability, their sexual orientation, their religious beliefs, their gender identity or their family background.
· Secondly if we see someone being hassled because of any of these things, then we need to act. That quote above is extraordinarily challenging, but it’s absolutely right.
The discrimination or bullying we walk by – without saying anything, just minding our own business, pretending not to notice - that’s the standard of behaviour that we are saying we accept! We must not ‘walk on by.’ We need to stand up for what is right.
I would like to thank the students, parents and staff who do not walk past any bullying behaviour, but instead tell people “that’s not on!” I would like to thank the students who told someone they trust, so that there could be some positive action on this inappropriate and hurtful behaviour. I would also like to thank the students, parents and staff who nurture our young people who have experienced bullying or discrimination.
We have a very diverse community here at MF.
· 9 % of our students come from non-English speaking backgrounds – that is approximately 69 students
· 6 of our students are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent
· About 15% of our students have some sort of disability or impairment - that is about 110 students in our school
· Experts tells us that 10% of school age people experience same sex attraction – in our school that is 71 students
· Experts also tell us that 4% of school age people are questioning their gender – in our school that is 28 of you.
· A number of different religions are represented in our school, as are those who have no religion.
All of these people deserve the same dignity and respect as everyone else in the school.
So what can you do if you see, hear or experience any discriminatory or bullying behaviour at our school or at home?
1. Politely but firmly tell the person doing it that it is not on, that it is unacceptable
2. If you do not feel safe doing this, then tell someone you trust who can take some action
3. Let the person being bullied know that they are fine just the way they are
No matter your background, your age, your gender, your religion, your sexual orientation, your family circumstances, your health or how much money you have, you are a welcome member of the family here. Matthew Flinders must be a safe and inclusive space for everyone.
The standard you walk by is the standard you accept.
Let’s determine to work together to set a standard of respect and tolerance that we can all be proud of and which will make our school community a place of safety and warmth for everyone.
Staff Update
Ms Bartholomew is taking maternity leave and her replacement will be Mr Robert Dunne.
· Ms Virginia Miller is on leave for the rest of the term – she is being replaced by Ms Fleur Billing.
Student News
We are pleased to see Hayley Young who has returned from a 6 months exchange program in France.
We warmly congratulate Maddison Pearson, a Year 12 student in 2014, who not only won the prize for the ‘most exceptional School Based Apprenticeship trainee in Geelong’, but also an Australian Vocational Student Prize - one of sixty-eight in the State and one of three in Geelong.
Four of our Year 10 students (Lily Cowan-Benz, Isabel Etulain, Ashleigh Borgelt and Hannah Stoel) recently spent a week at Deakin in the Engineering department of the new CADET building. I would like to commend these girls for the mature and independent work habits they displayed over the week.
Uniform
Thank you to the parents who are actively supporting our uniform policy. We much prefer to have discussions about learning with your daughters rather than about uniform.
Uniform concerns at the moment:
· Some students are wearing other jackets and jumpers either under or over the uniform
· Students in the new uniform are expected to wear their blazers to and home from school
· Some students have school shoes that are scuffed and damaged and need to be replaced or repaired or polished
Staff Professional development Day
Thank you for making other arrangements while we had a professional learning day. Our whole staff was involved in learning about mindfulness, both for themselves and how this might be applied in the workplace or in classrooms. Mindfulness will form a key part of the Wellbeing Toolkit that will be established over the next few years. Here is a link to more information about mindfulness:
http://www.monash.edu.au/counselling/mindfulness.html
Michelle Crofts
Principal