Our MFG Newsletter

Principal’s Report

WELCOME

 

At the last whole school assembly I shared the following with the students and staff.

 

Recently I was fortunate enough to spend two days at a conference with many Principals around the State of Victoria. We were lucky enough to have world renowned leaders in education sharing their knowledge with us. One of those presenters, Dr Tammy Heffelbaum, talked a lot about making mistakes and the importance of failure in order to learn.

 

I have to say, as one who makes mistakes on a regular basis, I found this very comforting.

 

In fact these people have failed at things too:

 

 

  • Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team
  • Albert Einstein wasn’t able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would “never amount to much”.
  • Oprah Winfrey was demoted from her job as news anchor as she “wasn’t fit for television”.
  • Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for “lacking imagination and having no original ideas”.
  • Steve Jobs at thirty years of age was devastated and depressed after being unceremoniously removed from the company he started.
  • Thomas Edison was told he was “too stupid to learn anything” and to find a job where he might succeed by virtue of his “pleasant personality”.
  • ‘The Beatles’ were rejected by Decca recording Studios who said, “We do not like their sound… they have no future in this business”.
  • Dr Seuss’ first book was rejected by 27 publishers.

 

 

If we use our mistakes wisely we can learn from them. It is what you do with your failures that counts.

 

Learning from mistakes requires three things:

 

 

 

  1. Putting yourself in situations where you can make interesting failures– in other words, being prepared to take a risk
  2. Having the self-confidence to admit to them.  Sometimes admitting mistakes and failures is hard. The willingness to own up to failures and mistakes, whether they be learning ones or human ones is really hard, but fundamental to becoming a better person.
  3. Being courageous about making changes.  Sometimes we have to be prepared to make multiple mistakes or have many failures.  Thomas Edison, the man who invented the light bulb, actually had many failures before he succeeded. He actually reframed his thinking and I quote:

 

 

“I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”

 

For me, the hardest part of making mistakes is that other people tend to expect me not to make them and so I feel very embarrassed or that I have let people down.

 

Sometimes I feel like I have let myself down too. But you know what? I want to learn. And to learn, I have to be prepared to make mistakes and to fail. If I want to keep learning and become a better person and a better Principal I have to accept that I will sometimes fail.

 

I hope that you can take your mistakes and failures, treat them like lessons learned and continue to grow as people.

 

This is the way to keep looking forward.

STUDENT NEWS

Principal for a Day

 

 

 

One Wednesday 3 June 2015 I had three students join me as Principal for the day: Olivia Bustard-Hill, Bailee Adamson and Mihaela Radu . They have written a short excerpt about their experience and what they learnt. The girls were wonderful hosts for our visiting Principals on the day. They also made some terrific suggestions in our Executive Meeting about the toilets, the use of ICT for learning, painting of some seats on the Main Campus and garden spaces. 

 

 

GSODA "Peter Pan" Production

 

 

 

Three of our students: Eza Bakker-Graham, Matilda Hassall and Grace Robson, will be participating in the upcoming GSODA Junior Players’ production of Peter Pan. They will be performing on Monday, 22nd June , Tuesday, 23rd June  and Thursday, 25th June 2015.

 

 

Uniform

 

Thank you to the parents who have been actively supporting our uniform policy. We much prefer to have positive conversations with your daughters, rather than unnecessary ones around compliance with uniform. Most of the girls are in correct uniform and we appreciate that – so thanks!

 

A reminder to all Year 7 parents that the full uniform is expected in Term 3. Girls will need to wear their blazers to and from school, unless otherwise indicated by one of the Principal Team via Compass news items.

 

 

Michelle Crofts

 

Principal