PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
2020 LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
Congratulations to both the Junior and Senior School Captains who were presented with their badges at the first General Assembly for the year on 7 February 2020.
SENIOR SCHOOL CAPTAINS
Captains: Clare Wever & Oliver Lopez
Deputy Captains: Genevieve O’Brien, Keisha Harcourt, Nick Paizis & Jeff Chum
SENIOR SCHOOL COUNCIL PRESIDENT
Jess Salisbury
SENIOR HOUSE CAPTAINS
CHISHOLM
Captains: Kaitlin Foldvari & James Liao
Deputy Captains: Kya Kahan-Taylor & Jacob Clough
FLYNN
Captains: Remi van Denderen & Marcus Sarra
Deputy Captains: Annissa Koletsas & Samuel Gorley
GILMORE
Captains: Genevieve O’Brien & Cian Ford
Deputy Captains: Emma Langley & Lachlan Waldren
MONASH
Captains: Zoe Fischer & Levi Scholz
Deputy Captains: Tayla Fischer & Kalia Torcasio
SENIOR MUSIC CAPTAINS
CHISHOLM
Captains: Sophie Sakurai & Lachlan Edis
Deputy Captains: Yi Jiun Chan & Jeffrey Chum
FLYNN
Captains: Naomi Kricheli & Nina Lopez
Deputy Captains: William Xiang & Talia Raman
GILMORE
Captains: Emma Langley & Mikayla Clemans
Deputy Captains: Doris Feng & Zayd Erasmus
MONASH
Captains: Joshua Sacks & Pheobe Lock
Deputy Captains: Roisin Lyon & Dustin Yu
JUNIOR SCHOOL CAPTAINS
Captains: Nadya Mapitiya & Om Wadhwa
Deputy Captains: Valeria Camacho Acevedo & Luc Georges
JUNIOR SCHOOL COUNCIL PRESIDENT
Seffra Tienstra
JUNIOR HOUSE CAPTAINS
CHISHOLM
Captains: Annabelle Sakurai & Max Wiseman
Deputy Captains: Victoria Polities & Alec Rae
FLYNN
Captains: Tilde Christrup & Frederik Rowe Hansen
Deputy Captains: Liam O’Neill & Charis Koletsas
GILMORE
Captains: Bella Bugeja & Tarkyn Isaacs
Deputy Captains: Kate McGlone & Oliver Ledger
MONASH
Captains: Caitlin Lyon & Zareef Zulkarnain
Deputy Captains: Amy Wilkins & Jasper Everiss
We wish them well with their responsibilities and know they will be terrific ambassadors.
SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS
Nomination forms for the School Council elections are now available from the General Office. Included in this newsletter is a link you can access which explains our School Council Elections. Nominations are being called for TWO parent representatives. Nomination forms are available from the General Office. Anyone with any queries regarding School Council Elections are welcome to contact me at school. Closing date for the return of nomination forms is Thursday 27 February, 2020.
SWIMMING CARNIVAL
Congratulations to the entire community on a very successful swimming carnival. Despite the very difficult weather conditions students and staff were enthusiastic and shared tremendous positivity. Our value of resilience was indeed developed!!
The Year 12s danced their little hearts out while the heavens opened above! They were outrageous and had much fun. I would like to congratulate Skyla Isaacs, Michelle Androsenko, Phoebe Lock, Josie Green and Kya Kahan-Taylor for their wonderful choreography.
All students had a lot of fun during rehearsals and it indeed has brought the year level closer together!
This year the precision of the staff dance troupe was difficult to overlook! I congratulate the staff on a wonderful competition and thank Brock Lynch and Lucy Angell for their choreography.
I want to acknowledge all the staff who were on duty and persevered despite the wind and rain!
In particular thank you to Jen Pemberton, Liam Adlington and Greg Hoskin who co-ordinated the event.
There were records broken and wonderful swimming efforts but also some gorgeous costumes: Benji Vella (Year 7), Alexander Rowe Hansen (Year 7) and Mark Serebro (Year 7) ‘the three little ducks all in a row’ were priceless as were the ‘Sumo Wrestlers’: Nicola Karavendzas (Year 12), Alex Noonan (Year 12), Isabella Bullas (Year 12), Audrey Sguario (Year 12), Alana Kam (Year 12) and Elana Mavropoulos (Year 12).
“JESS CHOOSES LIFE”
On Wednesday evening we hosted another parent evening with a play written and produced by Alan Hopgood – “Jess Chooses Life”.
As a school leader we sometimes feel it is best not to discuss teenage suicide as we fear ‘contagion’ however I feel this was a very important opportunity as a community to discuss a very difficult problem in our society.
Rates of teenage suicide are alarming and we must do all we can to protect our kids.
The panel discussion after the play was indeed informative.
Thank you to the many parents and students in the audience – please know help is always available.
In particular I acknowledge Patty Etcell, the Wellbeing Coordinator at McKinnon, whose leadership and guidance I find invaluable!
PARENT EVENINGS
Thanks to all the parents who have attended the Information Evenings held so far this year. Again a great opportunity to share stories, meet others in the same situation and reflect on our students’ journey. The support of our parent community is always very much appreciated and the Heads of Sub-school, Students Managers and teachers enjoy the strong partnerships that are built.
BYTES PROGRAM
The BYTES program has commenced with 9UP (Year 9 Urban Project) for 2020. This project, regularly identified by students as a highlight of their year, sees students travel into the CBD on three days to investigate a key societal issue of their choosing. Past topics have included homelessness, sexism in the workplace and racism. Students will work to collect data and interview experts in the city to create an in-depth analysis of the issue. The project concludes with a presentation of their findings on Tuesday 17 March and Wednesday 18 March to an audience of parents, teachers and peers.
Last week our Year 9s travelled to the city on the train. Within 20 minutes I received the following email acknowledging how good our kids behaved!
“I've just seen a group of kids from your school on an outing to the city. They got on the train I'm on going home after working last night.
I was very surprised how well behaved your students were, not rowdy or disturbing the other passengers on the train. I couldn't read the teachers name tag but he obviously had full control of his charges. He had a blue shirt and off white shorts”.
I congratulate the Year 9s on representing our school so well. Thank you to Mr Shaw and all the staff who participate in the Bytes program and helping to make it such a success.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Grant Sandler (Year 12) who has been selected for the Team Victoria 18 and Under Boys Tennis team to represent School Sports Victoria at the Schools Sport Australia Tennis Championships to be held in Perth, WA from 2-9 May, 2020.
This is a marvellous achievement and we wish Grant all the very best in his endeavours and we know he will be representing the McKinnon school community with pride.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Tara Bajan (Year 11) who has been featured in @girlfriendmag as one of the 25 Under 25 Most Influential Australian Females in 2019.
This is a wonderful achievement for Tara and we wish her all the very best for the future.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
McKinnon is a full uniform school. We consider our students ambassadors for the College and expect all McKinnon students to wear their uniform with pride. All students in Year 7 to 12 are required to wear a blazer.
For terms 1 and 4 the blazer is optional – however it is the only outer garment permitted if the students want something warmer than their dress or shirt.
Adherence to school uniform rules is about respect for this community and its traditions and culture.
Again, I thank parents for their support in implementing school policy. Anyone experiencing difficulties may contact the relevant Student Manager, Assistant Principals or myself.