Principal's message

I will be travelling to Japan on Sunday 23 February to Monday 2 March for an Educational Leaders Tour funded through The Japan Foundation, Sydney. The aim of the tour is twofold. Firstly, it is to support and encourage school leaders to experience Japan in order to deepen their understanding of the country, give them a chance to visit the Japan Foundation’s facilities and to learn about the Japanese language education support programs. Secondly, it provides a collective opportunity for educational leaders to experience Japan and contribute to an interstate leaders’ network to facilitate discussions surrounding Japanese language education. The group consists of 20 school principals from every state and territory.  I look forward to developing a greater cultural understanding of Japan through this experience. In preparation for my trip I dropped by Ms Witt’s Year 7 Japanese class where they gave me a quick lesson in greeting others, writing my name and etiquette.  So, let’s hope I can put their tips into action. Whilst I am away in Japan, Carol Duggan will be Acting Principal.

As you would have noticed from my previous newsletter items, I do enjoy a good building or upgrade project. In the last few weeks of last year we upgraded the furniture in the Junior Learning Centre and it is our intention this year to recarpet the space and upgrade the wet room facilities/kitchenette as well.  Further painting also took place over the holidays both inside and outside of the main buildings and it is envisaged that we will continue to carry this throughout the VCE corridor this year. We are currently out to tender for the construction of the STEAM Centre and we hope that we will be able to commence the work sometime before the beginning of term 2. The oval is looking luscious with the grass receiving some much needed rain over the past week and we hope to be able to fully utilise it in the next few weeks.

 

The issue with the coronavirus outbreak has caused all schools to make adjustments for any students who are overseas or in Melbourne in self-imposed quarantine.  As the updates have come through the Department of Education, I have been sharing these with you all via Compass.  I hope that this information has been useful.   I would like to thank our Sub-School Directors and the International Student Team headed up by Si Feng and supported by Yinang Zhang, who have been caring and diligent in their support of our international students in particular.  We, along with many other schools, are doing our best to provide the students with work via the internet and for this I thank our teachers.  I wish to also thank our homestay parents who have been very supportive during this period of time.

 

As I write this Principal’s message the swimming sports are in progress. With the weather being so unpredictable of late it difficult to predict whether we would be showered with rain or sunshine on this day.  Luckily, we have experienced mild weather and the swimming sports have gone ahead.  It is one of the highlights of the year for our class of 2020 as they get to dress up in their house colours, wear imaginative costumes and lead the younger students in their house chants.

 

Kind regards 

Linda Brown

Letter from Sri Lanka 

We received this email of thanks from a student in Sri Lanka. As part of the library refurbishment, there was a stocktake and books excess to need removed from the collection. Neelika Kottachchi, our Librarian, donated these books to Sri Lanka. It is touching to know that the printed word has made an impact on at least one individual student that we know of. I am sure that there are many more who have benefited from receiving the books. Thank you to Neelika for organising the transportation of the books and other items. This was a personal gesture of Neelika’s and it is only one example of how one individual can make a difference to the lives of others in many ways.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Some time ago, my cousin (Barana) got in touch with you to appreciate the books you've donated to Nalanda College, Sri Lanka some years ago. As I now have the access to our school's Senior Library, I have seen and cherished the books. I want to formally thank all the student body and the teachers at MGSC.

During my short years of "bibliophilism", I have never run into Australian books. I would have never found out about Robin Klein or Victor Kelleher. I have begun to love the "Bush" and the mysterious "blackfellas"! 

Recently, I saw the alarming incident of the bushfires. I was very heartbroken to see many trees and beautiful animals razed and charred. I am doing a small effort in the restoration process of the trees led by https://www.ecosia.org/ . I hope MGSC wasn't harmed in any way.

So, I'm ending my short email. Please do keep your amazing contribution of sharing books. The world needs more of great literature from the "outback"!

Your country's admirer,

Uda Bhagya