PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Three more weeks are left for the end of what has been another term mostly undertaken in remote conditions.
I know at times you must all feel overwhelmed and exhausted but I say thank you. Thank you for the patience you have all shown, the compassion, understanding and kindness.
I mentioned to staff earlier in the week how proud I have felt that despite the adversity we have managed to pivot the organization using many online tools, strategies and platforms that we had begun to explore.
I applaud their efforts but I also thank and acknowledge all the students who joined ‘meets’ and made the most of the opportunities presented.
They completed art projects, played musical instruments, undertook physical challenges and, of course, engaged in all the learning tasks set by their teachers.
I have really enjoyed visiting some classes, some clubs and seeing some students on line. Everyone has done their best under these circumstances.
ATHLETICS
Term 3 is normally the term that we hold our annual athletics carnival but with everything going back to remote learning this was postponed.
As a replacement to this event, the PE Faculty decided to focus Year 7 and 8 sport on the SSV virtual track and field initiative. This involved a range of different events including sprinting, jumping and long distance events that we'd normally run during our athletics day.
I would like to acknowledge and thank Liam Adlington for his hard work and determination in getting our students actively involved in virtual activities during this period of remote learning.
YEAR 9 BYTES
Our Year 9 BYTES students have continued to amaze us by demonstrating, not only incredible resilience, but ingenuity by producing some outstanding pieces of work while in lockdown. Some of my personal favourites included TAC style campaigns for school rules such as an ‘Anti Chewing Gum’ TV campaign by Emma Fischer and a ‘No Food in Class’ radio campaign by Hadyn Collier for the Law & Order module.
Not to be outdone, students in the CSI:McKinnon module created thrilling episodes of our imaginary forensic crime drama, with Frederik Rowe Hansen using Lego characters as stand-in actors, while Yael Greenberg wrote, directed, acted and produced a fascinating ‘who dunnit’ where a crack team try to unravel the murder of a local School Principal...!
Well done to all of our Year 9 students for their amazing attitude during these challenging times! I would like to thank and acknowledge Mr Pantelios for his coordination of these wonderful events.
MUSIC NEWS
Congratulations to the Year 8 Brass Ensemble for their second video instalment in the ISO Brass Ensemble Project series. Thank you Mr Serebrianik.
HEIDE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE
The relationship between our college values of resilience and creativity is apparent in the success of McKinnon students in the Heide Museum of Modern Art’s, ‘Heide at Home’ photography challenge.
Students in Year 7 Visual Arts quickly adapted to the challenges of working remotely, developing skills in the discipline of digital photography by experimenting with camera angles, framing techniques, lighting and focus to document a new way of living and working through the lens.
The post-covid art world has embraced the digital exhibition of work with gallery doors currently closed and it is wonderful to see our students at the forefront of this new way of experiencing art. Congratulations to Louis Sheard (7J),Nanoha Tsuchiya (7H),Megan Bai (7B),Minh Hoang (7B) and Amelie MacLennan (7J) who currently have their work exhibited on Heide’s website, FaceBook and Instagram.
Year 12 Studio Arts students attended in-depth, ‘behind-the-scenes’ virtual excursions to further their study of the art industry contexts outcome, facilitated by educators at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA).
This area of study is usually covered by gallery visits but due to the implementation of Stage 4 restrictions, this was no longer possible. While nothing beats seeing artwork in person, students were able to benefit directly by the creation of extra digital resources such as curator-led video in order to enrich their understanding of stunning current exhibitions Japanese Modernism and Samson Young: Real Music.
Year 11 student Tamar Zehavi, currently undertaking Year 12 Studio Art, also has her stunning portraiture series exhibited as part of the ‘Heide at Home’ photography challenge. Congratulations to all students on these wonderful results.
I would like to acknowledge and thank Ms Rogosic for working with students and overseeing the many opportunities that are available to them during remote learning.
CHANNEL 9 INTERVIEW
Our Deputy School Captain, Nick Paizis, was interviewed on Channel 9 about the loss of the milestone events for our Year 12s. Like all the Senior Leaders this year, Nick represented the school admirably.
We will do all we can to reconnect the Year 12 cohort and celebrate the year with them in some alternative way.
What is sure is this adversity has indeed bonded this year level and they have become a very resilient group of individuals.
FUNDRAISER
A couple of weeks ago Jordyn Freeman (Year 11) and Cody Freeman (Year 7) received the sad news that their Grandfather had a stroke. He is in hospital in Canberra therefore they are unable to visit.
They made a decision to raise money and awareness in support of the Stroke Foundation. Follow the link below to find out more:
Good luck with this initiative Jordyn and Cody and we wish your Grandfather all the very best in his recovery.