Principal's Report

Student Leadership

On Tuesday, 26th February our 2019 Student Executive Leaders were inducted into their roles during a whole school assembly. I look forward to working with the Executive lead by our College Captains, Genevieve Cox, Meg Funston and Georgia Wolfe. The assembly highlighted women in leadership whether that be in official roles or leadership of self and kindness to others.

International Women’s Day (IWD)

On Tuesday 26 February, Richmond Rotary hosted “100 Women of Influence” in the Gillard Centre. Thank you Emily Miller, Brooke O’Callaghan and Nia Holdenson for ensuring this community connection stays strong for MGC.

The theme for International Women’s Day 2019 is balance for better, highlighting that gender balance in all areas of life is best for all. Thank you to Ella McDonald for all of her work on International Women’s Day activities. On 4 March Ella, Nancy Sandilands and I accompanied our students to the Alliance of Girls’ Schools annual IWD breakfast held in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House. The speaker, Catherine O’Sullivan, highlighted her leadership journey as a successful woman moving from a rural NSW childhood in to her new position as CEO for International Students at RMIT University.

On 26 February Ella accompanied Jade Leung, Grace Foa, Ruby Upfield, Cecilia Karlovic, Jade Frame Maryam Abdekhodaee, Jessica Bell and Ciara Walsh to celebrate the unveiling of Melbourne’s own sculpture of Fearless Girl in Federation Square.

International Women’s Day at MGC

Rachael Robertson was the speaker at our IWD celebration on 5 March in The Gillard Centre. Rachael is the bestselling author of “Leading on the Edge – Extraordinary stories from the most extreme workplace on the planet. Rachael was the youngest ever Chief Ranger who, at 32, led the 58th annual expedition to the edge of the world – Antarctica. As her introduction highlights,

“Imagine living in 24 hours of darkness for months at a time…

Imagine the temperature hovering around minus 35 degrees

You can’t get in or out…

You didn’t even get to pick the people you live with…

And… you’re stuck there for a year!

Antarctica in Winter is totally inaccessible – which means once the last ship leaves in February no one can get in or out of the place, ever, until the ship returns in November.

Our next speaker today did exactly that.

Rachael Robertson led an expedition to Antarctica and was responsible for the welfare and safety of the 18 members of her team for an entire year. 

Today she will share how she led and inspired her team through the long, tough Antarctic year."

Looking at Rachael’s career it can sometimes be difficult to remember that for wider groups of women Gender inequalities persist in all areas of social and economic life. At MGC the Education of young women is our inspiration, we know it is the doorway to success for women and girls across the world. In developing nations there are still 31 million girls of primary school age out of school. Of these 17 million are expected never to enter school. The disruption and distress of war and famine contribute to these figures.

 In developed OECD countries young women generally obtain more years of schooling than young men, but are less likely to engage in paid work. Gaps widen with age, as motherhood typically has marked negative effects on gender pay gaps and career advancement. Women are also less likely to be entrepreneurs, and are underrepresented in private and public leadership positions. IWD events celebrating inspirational women remind us that these problems can be solved with intellect and courage.

The United Nations also urges us “to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities”.

School Council Farewells

On 26 February the last 2018-19 Council meeting was held before the new Council begins in March.

We bid a fond farewell to parent members Geoff Coates (Dad of Isla Year 12 2018) and Elanthendral Ramasamy (Mum of Thirumagal class of 2017 and Thiruavani Year 10). Geoff has been a Councillor for six years and brought a wealth of legal knowledge, robust questioning and attention to detail. Elanthendral joined Council in 2016 with her love of the Sustainability Program. We also thank staff members Shaunagh O’Connell and Laura Allen who provided excellent educational insights into every discussion, Shaunagh and Laura make way for the 2019-2020 staff representatives, Darren Sellers and Andrew Arney. Sadly, we also bid farewell to our community member of 12 years standing, alumni and current President Maya Narayan. Maya is the epitome of a Melbourne Girls’ College student she has integrity, intelligence, kindness and respect in spades, always willing to advise and support between formal Council meetings. Maya’s schedule is increasingly busy as she is undertaking study for admission to the Victorian Bar. We wish Maya every success.

School Council Welcome

The School Council election process concluded on Friday 1 March. We welcome:

Parent Representatives

Ben Ball, parent of Ella in Year 8

Gary Funston, parent of Meg in Year 12

Heather Pritchard, parent of Elizabeth in Year 9

Sonia Sharp, parent of Thea in Year 11

Vicki Sharp, parent of Maddy and Lizzy in Year 8

Tracie Winch, parent of Ally in Year 12

Student Representatives

India Warren-Smith Year 10

Charlie Young Year 11

Community Representatives

Caroline Milburn, parent of Charlotte in Year 10

College Captains

Gen Cox, Meg Funston, Georgia Wolfe

Staff Representatives

Andrew Arney

Darren Sellers

25th Birthday Celebrations!

Our dedicated 25th Birthday Committee have been meeting to plan the Open House on Saturday 23 March and Cocktail party in the Library for 11 September. More details to follow but please keep the dates in mind.

Rowing

Former MGC students and rowers Maddie Carman, Skyla Froebel and Phoebe Georgakas have been named in the Victorian Womens’ Youth Eight in the Bicentennial Trophy crew to compete at the Interstate Regatta at the Australian Rowing Championships on 31 March. This is a significant honour in Victorian rowing.

We wish our rowing leader Andrew Beck, Paul Blanchfield, Jac Adamson, Ruby Betts, rowers, coaches and parents the very best of luck for the Head of School Girls on the Barwon River in Geelong from 15-17 March. A great deal of work is being done behind the scenes lead by Andrew, our coaches, Nancy and Bryony in the front office.