SCHOOL NEWS
Red Cross Blood Donors
Matthew Flinders senior students have been involved in blood donations again this year.
To date 26 donations have been made and this has potentially SAVED 78 LIVES!
To donate you must be at least 16 years old and healthy. Our next donation date is Wednesday October 7.
Students wishing to donate should see Mrs Kerry.
Year 10 Annual All Girls Government Secondary School Conference
Gemma Bird, Abby Christiaans, Lucy Schaeche-Priestley, Alannah Matchett, Emily Russell, Natalie Nguyen, Misty Hernandez, Ashley Langsford, Chelsea Van der Van and Sonia Kacprzak participated in the Year 10 Annual All Girls Government Secondary School Conference, hosted at Pascoe Vale Girls College on the 7th of August 2015.
They took part in two major activities: yoga and self defence taught by one of the best Jiu Jitsu women champions in the world. They heard from a range of speakers, and got to talk to other girls from all different government girls’ schools. Overall they had an awesome day, and learnt the importance of the empowerment of women and confidence.
Humanities News
Australian History Competition 2015
During Term 2, three 9L students took part in the 2015 Australian History Competition. These students were Brynnie Rafe, Lynette Sibayan and Gemma Watts. The Competition was based on the Australian Curriculum: History for Years 9 and 10.
Brynnie achieved a High Distinction for the second year in a row (putting her in the top 5% of students), whilst Lynette and Gemma also performed well, achieving a Merit and Participation respectively.
Well done to these three girls! It is fantastic to see you embrace the opportunities offered to you. We strongly encourage all students in Years 7 to 10 to take part in both the Geography and History Competitions in 2016.
Excursion to the Jewish Holocaust Museum
On Tuesday the 4th of August, 23 9L students along with Ms Morris and Ms Kabylakis caught the train to Melbourne to take part in an excursion to the Jewish Holocaust Centre. This visit coincided with the students’ study of World War II.
Upon arrival at the Centre, students took part in an information session for approximately an hour where they learned many facts about The Holocaust and World War II. They then had the opportunity to explore the museum, accompanied by tour guides, to learn more about the history of this time. There were many interesting artifacts including photos, artwork, clothing, models of concentration camps, and much more.
One part of the day that no doubt will be remembered by many of the students for years to come was the talk by a Holocaust survivor, Roza. Roza was 13 years old at the time the war began, and she spoke to the girls about her life in Poland at this time, including being forced to live in a concentration camp.
The girls were exceptionally well-behaved and represented the school beautifully. Congratulations, 9L!
Miss Kabylakis
Mock Court Competition
On Monday August 10 from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm, our wonderful Year 11 Legal Studies team of Abbey Billing, Maddeline Ayres, Karly Hogan, Jacinta Claxton, Monique Cotone and Audrey McQuillan participated in a Mock Court competition at Geelong Law Courts.
They “successfully prosecuted the crook and also won the moot” with a score of 25/30 to 22/30 against Oberon High School.
These excellent scores reflect the very high quality of the performances of both schools. The team coached by the inspirational young lawyer Kim Lamb (Cahill & Rowe Family Law), were so well prepared that they covered superbly for our barrister and our solicitor who were unable to participate at the last minute due to illness.
Further special recognition must go to Abbey and Karly for bravely stepping up on the night and performing so well. It was a terrific team effort at the Geelong Magistrates Court. It was also great to see the Cotone and McConachy families amongst others supporting our girls. Great work, great result!
Ms Kabylakis – Humanities Learning Area Leader
Mr Kelly – Legal Studies teacher
Year 8 Trisport Table Tennis Singles
After 4 weeks of practising their table tennis skills, the current group of Year 8 Trisport students finally got to play off for the titles (and medals!) of “Class Singles Champion and Runner-up” and for the trophy match “Singles Grand Champion” (the overall winner from the three Trisport classes)
The eventual winners were:
Grand Champion: Ruby Cannell
Mrs Hanna’s class
Gold Medal winner: Sara Chol
Silver medal winner: Rachel Kaiser
Ms Fagan’s class
Gold Medal winner: Jersyn Doh
Silver medal winner: Tabeta Khokhar
Mr Lehmann’s class
Gold Medal winner: Ruby Cannell
Silver medal winner: Latesha Fothergill
GET READY, GET SET FOR LIFE
To build on the skills that all of our students develop in their Food Technology classes at the school, some students were selected to participate in the weekly “Get Ready, Get Set for Life” program.
This program is designed to ensure students get to practise the life skills necessary to enable them to become independent individuals.
This term the program will focus on:
- personal hygiene
- cooking simple meals
- navigating the supermarket, shopping and money
- house hold chores
- using public transport
All of our girls practised making a healthy breakfast and they all passed the “Breaky Challenge”. Not only can they prepare the food but operate safely and independently all appliances and clean up after themselves.
Well done girls.
INTERMEDIATE SOCCER REPORT
What a skilful group of girls we had to represent us in the GSSSA soccer competition.
Emily Russell and Lucy Schaeche-Priestley were excellent leaders using their soccer experience to help with team selection and positioning of players. On competition day they were ably assisted by Megan Kaiser and Jessica Mitchell, who were able to direct the striking end of the pitch. All girls played with focus and endeavour.
We won our pool defeating Western Heights 4 to 1, with Megan Kaiser, Misty Hernandez and Jessica Mitchell all scoring goals. Let’s not forget our defenders who were vigilant in defence, backed up by our courageous goal keeper, Katelyn Murphy.
Unfortunately we lost the “knock-out” final after leading the whole game. In time on, Belmont scored a goal which took us to a penalty shoot out and then a ‘cut throat” kick out. Our girls swallowed their disappointment, shook hands with the opposition, trudged their muddy boots to the warmth of the bus and headed home.
Well done to all of our players:
Lily Dawson, Misty Hernandez, Lucy Schaeche-Priestley, Emily Russell, Aline Furaha, Megan Kaiser, Jessica Mitchell, Vanessa Marsh, Tylah Lee, Sonia Kacprzak, Ellamae Tanner, Katelyn Murphy, Tina Duong, Phoebe Maciejewski & Caitlyn Harrington.
Year 7 Hockey
A brand new hockey team has formed at Matthew Flinders. The Year 7 girls have practised their skills in PE and decided to try them out in the Geelong Schools Competition.
All girls showed courage and determination in our only match against Surfcoast Secondary College. At first the team had difficulty scoring as they did not really understand how to move the ball forward. Our defence was consistently under attack and they stood up admirably.
Some of the girls are hoping to continue playing in the Geelong Summer Hockey Competition in Term 4.
There were some special performances. Julia Brombergs stepped into the role of Goalie when no-one else was willing to try this key position. Molly Driscoll displayed natural talent and aggressively controlled the midfield. Lani Puttyfoot showed great promise as a fast and skillful forward.
Matthew Flinders was beaten 3-0 on the day but every player should be proud of her efforts.
The team consisted of:
Karla Beaumont, Julia Brombergs, Bridie Colla, Molly Driscoll, Kate Durran, Susan Goedegebuur, Samantha Hovey, Hannah Laws, Skye Marcus, Lani Puttyfoot, Shirley Solomon.
Year 8 Hockey Team 2015
Jemma Morrison 8D
Eza Bakker-Graham 8D
Matilda Ward 8I
Tanayah Nuredini 8D
Kunping Yang 8N
Paige Shepherd 8F
Chelsea Stevens 8D
Lily Retz 8D
Tabeta Khokhar 8N
Gendhis Saputro 8I
Talisha O’Connor 8I
Harper Dawson 8L
Chelsea Joel 8F
Caitlyn Sager 8I
Sapna Hussein 8I
Our Year 8 Hockey team showed flashes of brilliance and determination as they fought their way through three very competitive rounds in the GSSSA competition on August 3.
In the first match against Belmont High, the girls had most of the play, but were not able to score and eventually the match ended in a 0-0 draw.
Against Bellarine SC, Matthew Flinders scored 2 goals in the first half and played good defense, but a lapse in concentration saw Bellarine score 1 goal. The final score was 2-1.
The final pool game was against Geelong and a tired Matthew Flinders team continued their good form to win 1-0.
Belmont played Grovedale in the final (Grovedale won) and Matthew
Flinders played Oberon in the consolation final (0-0). Fitness was an issue for many of the girls and 4 matches in one day really pushed them to their limit. It was a great effort by all players.
Goals were scored by: Harper, Paige and Chelsea J but this was very much a team effort. Well done to you all!
Maddie Gore Story
Senior Hockey
Our team competed in the Geelong Secondary Schools competition on Monday July 20. Only 3 schools were involved in the event which was a little disappointing.
Matthew Flinders won their first game 6-1 against Nth Geelong. We were pleased as we had had very little practice as a team and this match allowed us to ‘warm up’.
Our second match was decided very quickly as several State league players from Western Heights ‘steam rolled’ our players in the first half, before losing interest in the second half. The score was a disappointing 17-0.
Western Heights then completed a similar demolition of the Nth Geelong side.
Congratulations to all players for their determination and bravery. Our team consisted of:
Caitlyn Alard, Sarah Clancy, Emmason John, Tahleah Lancaster, Allana Morrison, Sarah Tute, Victoria Atkinson, Miriam Ceff, Brianna Dennert, Molly Herd, Natalee Kerr, Helen Ramsay, Lily Wardley.
Z Club
The Z Club is now up and running at Matthew Flinders.
The Z Club is a junior service club established in secondary schools and is sponsored by Zonta International. The Z Club was established in 1948 and operates in 15 countries across the world. The Middle Years Captains, Maddy, Megan and Maia are the leaders of the Z Club. At our first we meeting had representatives from Years 7, 8 and 9. At this meeting we discussed ways of letting our school community know about the Z Club and what we are planning. We are setting up display boards explaining the Z Club and what projects we plan on doing.
At the general assembly, Maddy introduced the Z Club to the whole school. She also spoke about the Zonta Birthing Kit Assembly Day that was happening at Matthew Flinders on the 15th of August. She showed what was in a Birthing Kit and explained its importance in developing countries. Each Birthing Kit, which only costs $3, has the potential of saving both the life of the mother and baby. The Z Club publicised this event and some of them attended on the assembly day.
The Z Club is running a BBQ later on in term 3. We plan on using the proceeds to purchase items suitable for young teenage girls to go into toiletry bags. These bags will be donated to a local agency who support families who are experiencing domestic violence.
“FUTURE LEADERS BUILDING A BETTER WORLD TODAY THROUGH SERVICE AND ADVOCACY”
Z Club Leaders,
Maddy, Megan and Maia
Ski Camp
Yr 12 Outdoor and Environmental Studies Hotham Ski Camp 2015
On Tuesday August 4 we set off for our last ever school camp to Mount Hotham. A long drive finally got us to the little town of Harrietville that is located just at the bottom of the mountain.
Wednesday morning we were all quickly dressed and at breakfast ready to go up the mountain to the snow. As we drove up the mountain and started to see snow outside our windows, everyone started to get very excited. Finally when we arrived, we were straight into getting our boots, helmets and goggles on so we were ready to ski. After some playing around in the snow and attempts to ski, we finally got the lesson we desperately needed. After a few hours of learning to move, turn and stop, most of us were very eager to keep on skiing for the rest of the day, whilst others enjoyed playing in the snow, making snowmen, snow angels and drinking hot chocolates. On Wednesday night every single body in our cabins was aching and a lovely lasagne did the trick to brighten our moods.
On Thursday, despite the aching bodies, everyone was excited to head up the mountain for some more skiing. After another lesson, which improved us even more, everyone was confident enough to go up the chair lift and down the summit run. After that, some of us went off to go try some other runs and go up other chair lifts. We got to see amazing views, take pretty pictures and go down some awesome runs. Everyone definitely made the most of the it and enjoyed themselves.
Friday we sadly had to go back home, which none of us were happy about. Our last camp was definitely one we will ever forget. Thanks to Ms Pennington and Mr Dyson for making it happen!
By Bri Dennert
Staff PD Day
On Tuesday 11th August, all MFGSC staff attended a professional learning day with a focus on well-being of students and teams within their care and the well-being of themself as a professional teacher and part of the MFGSC community.
The day was hosted at the Pier and started with breakfast and a key note presentation from Dr. Richard Chambers, clinical psychologist and mindfulness consultant for Monash University, over 100 secondary schools Australia wide, the Australian Swim Team, Headspace and Reach. Richard is also the creator of the smiling mind app.
Richard Chambers provided an introduction to mindfulness and the benefits of mindfulness practice to our staff in their professional and personal lives. A focus was also placed on using mindfulness and other effective evidence-based interventions to treat a range of issues in both young people and adults, including:
• Stress, anxiety & depression
• Eating issues
• Addictive behaviours
• Sleep problems
• Academic/work performance
• Relationship difficulties
Staff members then chose workshops throughout the day. One of these choices included a presentation from Bethany on ‘engaging with young people affected by trauma’. Maryanne Foreman and her team focused on educating staff to obtain the necessary skills to hopefully enable students, so they are not limited by their past traumas in achieving their learning potential.
We were also privileged to listen to Brendan Murray, Principal of Parkville College in Melbourne. Brendan, along with his Director of Staff Capacity, Sally Martin, presented a workshop on how getting to know students and building positive, mutually trusting relationships in classrooms improves learning outcomes. MFGSC staff then learnt steps to take to create ‘unconditional positive regard’ focused classrooms.
In the afternoon, staff personal well-being was the focus. Research shows that well managed staff self care plans have a large impact on student learning outcomes, focus and positive behaviours. Each staff member, teaching and non-teaching, elected to participate in art therapy, health and well-being checks, yoga for mindfulness, bike riding and walking for fitness workshops.
The professional learning day has set the scene for further investigation over the next 12 months towards establishing a whole school community health and well-being strategy. The aim is to enable the girls we educate and our whole community to obtain the necessary skills to be resilient, positive, healthy, thriving learners in a professional setting.
Fiona Taylor
Assistant Principal