Newsletter Term 1, Week 10 7 Apr 2022

Yes, schools are open, which is so fantastic for our young people. However, the isolation rules and COVID itself have meant that we are not operating normally, but rather we are online for those at home and working in real time for those who are present. Teachers, who pride themselves in excellence in what they do, are simultaneously trying to do both modalities well and feel frustrated and without that sense of pride that comes from their work when they can’t. At the beginning of each lesson ascertaining who is and who isn’t here makes for a somewhat chaotic few minutes, which good teachers hate as they just want the girls settled into a learning mode. In any case, we have developed routines to better manage that and this hybrid approach. Also, I have tried to communicate to teachers not to judge themselves so harshly if lessons don’t hum the way they usually do. They have been magnificent in how they have yet again adapted and coped, and I wish them a very restful break.

The students have expressed gratitude that we have offered the dual platform if they have had to isolate and they have been so supportive of their teachers. Particularly for the older students, being able to continue to learn has been very important to them and has led to less stress for when they return which is positive for wellbeing and confidence. For the younger students, our focus has been on habits of learning and ensuring that we are addressing gaps, which may have occurred as a result of the lockdowns. Not all schools have offered a dual practice delivery if COVID affected and some only for VCE students.

There have been staff shortages for the reasons of COVID and isolation this term across all schools which has needed to be dealt with on a daily basis which has presented another layer of challenge. Some staff have been quite unwell and others testing positive but feeling well enough to teach from home or some doing a bit of both as they recover but they don’t want their classes to fall too far behind. However, our Duty of Care responsibility means that students should not be in classrooms without a physical person in the room. This is especially so for those students who are younger. To say it has been challenging times is an understatement.  I do want to convey our appreciation and thanks from our school community to all teaching and professional staff, who despite their exhaustion have continued to embody all that is Strathcona, that is, to give selflessly and tirelessly committing wholeheartedly to the education of those in our care.

Strathcona remains committed to designing and collating the very best educational delivery we can manage to achieve for your daughters to keep her engaged, progressing and, of course, well, so that while we deal with this prolonged crisis, she will have the chance to grow through whatever developmental stage she is at as well as possible. The School will maintain momentum – we shall be unstoppable - and we shall move forward bravely, faithfully and as happily as we can.

I am sure that you join with me in thanking our outstandingly generous teachers and in celebrating our wonderful students for all they have done this term – whether it be adjusting to their first normal full term in two years; friendship building; learning; successes on the sports fields, pools, rivers and on stage in the performing arts – we are incredibly proud of all of it.

I wish you all a special two weeks of down time over this Easter vacation. A time of rest, recovery, reflection, and importantly valuable time together as families. I wish all our school community health and safety over the holidays and look forward to working together harmoniously and collaboratively in delivering the very best education and care to your daughter.

Our Values: Respect, Integrity, Compassion, Courage, and Empowerment.

Our Vision: To inspire and empower young women to live courageous and purposeful lives so they can contribute to the world with wisdom, imagination, and integrity

Marise McConaghy, Principal

I loved the Easter egg hunt and celebration of food and chocolate on Easter Sunday. Resurrection Easter Sunday is considered the biggest celebration of the year for Christians. This week at Strathcona we have focused on the idea “Easter is Coming”  at our Picnic day and Easter Services. It has been a hard term in many ways but Easter is coming – along with holidays.

The Easter Holy Days are of particular interest to us at Strathcona which is a school in the Christian tradition.  In both our Junior and Senior School Easter Services we will reflect on how Easter is celebrated in various families and traditions from both secular and religious viewpoints.

It was during the Jewish Passover, celebrating freedom from slavery that Jesus was tried before ruling and religious authorities, and then sentenced to death. Easter and Passover occur at a similar time of the year.

The Easter story of Jesus has had a huge impact on Western civilisation. We have Church schools, education, art, literature, music, and our justice system, all of which reflect values of hope and a message to “love one another”. It gives us hope in a world where there is darkness. The Easter events inspired people like William Wilberforce to work for the abolition of slavery. Martin Luther King Junior, a Baptist minister strived for equal rights for black and white Americans. At Strathcona, we celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ as something that was sad, followed by the glad- Death and Resurrection. We hope that you are able to use the time to re-create and “love one another” as we face the challenges surrounding us!  Easter is coming! Hallelujah!

Reverend Janet Costello

House Cross Country Carnival
Friday saw us hold our annual House Cross Country carnival for both our Junior School and Senior School.

It was fantastic to see so many of our students taking part, having a go and pushing themselves outside of their comfort zones. Congratulations to Arnold who won both the Junior School and Senior School carnivals. 

Rowing Nationals

Strathcona were represented by 3 crews at the National Rowing Championships held in Nagambie last week.

Our senior blues and inter blacks both made the B final, finishing in 4th and 6th place respectively which meant that we had 3 crews in the top 12 in Australia.

A huge congratulations to our senior blacks who raced in the A final and finished incredibly strongly to take out 2nd place in Australia in the coxed quad sculls. This is a huge achievement by all involved and a well-deserved medal by all.
Congratulations to all students, coaches, staff and families on the fantastic results at the National Championships!  

GSV Swimming/Diving Finals Evening

Last Friday night we had 17 students who qualified to represent Strathcona at the GSV Swimming & Diving Finals Evening at MSAC which included 16 individual swims, 8 relays and 1 diver. Congratulations to all who qualified, those who competed and those who medaled in their events. A summary of our results are below.

• Caity Murphy: Gold - Senior Diving
• Isabella Osborn: Gold - 50m butterfly
• Anna Orelli: Gold - 50m butterfly, Bronze - 50m backstroke, Bronze - 50m freestyle
• Natasha Kohlman: Silver - 50m freestyle
• Silver: Year 9 4x50m medley relay (Natasha Kohlman, Isabella Osborn, Mia Horskins, Olivia Giles)
• Silver: Year 9 4x50m freestyle relay (Natasha Kohlman, Isabella Osborn, Mia Horskins, Olivia Giles)

GSV Weekly Sport Finals
Congratulations to our Inter Tennis team who made the GSV finals, held at Melbourne Park on Wednesday. This was our first full term of sport since 2019, so it was wonderful to see our students being able to represent our school at the finals stage of the competition. 

Australian Track & Field Championships

Congratulations to Mariah Pezos who recently competed in the Australian Track & Field Championships finishing in 7th place in Australian in U17 discus. 

Upcoming National Championships

Over the holidays, we also have a number of students who are representing Victoria at National Championships. A huge good luck to –

• Isa White - Competing in the Under 19 Cricket National Championships in Adelaide this week for Vic Metro
• Lauren Phillips - Competing in the Under 18 Hockey National Championships in Cairns this week for the Victorian Development team
• Natasha Kohlman & Isabella Osborn - Competing in the Australian Age Swimming Championships in Adelaide next week
• Caity Murphy - Competing in the Australian Age Diving Championships in Adelaide in the second week of the holidays 

What an amazing term of Sport, we look forward to Term 2!

Keira Wills, Head of Sport

Items in the Career News include:

• VCE and Careers Expo 2022

• Victoria University: The VU Block Model

• Career in Naval Shipbuilding

• Freight, Transport and Logistics Industry

• Agriculture Degrees in Victoria in 2022

• Snapshot of Marcus Oldham College in 2022

• Snapshot of William Angliss Institute (WAI) in 2022

Joanna Buckley, Head of Careers and Partnerships 

At the beginning of the year, the Student Executive met for the first time for a planning day with the organisation Burn Bright. This was a great opportunity to get to know other members of the team and discuss what leadership means to each of us. The workshop assisted us in developing our vision for this year, and to determine how we might best follow our School Captains’ motto of ‘Lean In’. By connecting with and learning more about other leaders from different year levels, we were able to identify several common goals for this year. We discussed how we can encourage connection between year levels, given that unfortunately this has been limited in recent years. The Student Executive worked together to plan a picnic day for the senior school which we celebrated on Tuesday. The Year 11 and 12 House Leaders and Captains organised an Easter Scavenger Hunt that included solving riddles and collecting stamps from several points around the school. They also ran a fun dress-up relay and of course a house versus house dodgeball tournament. The Year 8 and 10 Leaders were filming the fun throughout the day and launched their ‘Big Sister Project’ which involved interviewing students who were sharing their stories about their Strathy experiences. We had a DJ set up on the oval and everyone enjoyed a dance. We are very grateful to the Strathcona Family Association for donating the food for the sausage sizzle and to the parents that volunteered their time to cook on the day. We also enjoyed pancakes cooked by the Faith and Mustard groups to celebrate Easter. It was a fantastic day and great to see all students enjoying the music, food and activities!

As the Year 11 representatives, we have really enjoyed getting to know the girls from other year levels and contributing our ideas towards all of the Student Executive projects. In the future, we are excited to work together with the team and teachers to organise activities, as well as welcome more connection between different year levels.
 
Maddy Couttie (Arnold Leader), Meg Harrison (Grenfell Leader), Issy Cao (Findlay Leader) and Georgia Snadden (Gilbert Leader), Year 11 Student Executive 

The term  Creatives classes finished this week with songs, performances, a chocolate souffle in Food Tech and a sculpture exhibition. Mr JB even composed his second song of the Term to farewell his media class. The five Creatives teachers are planning a showcase night at the end of the year for parents and friends to view some of the wonderful creativity inspired by topics such as sustainability, global connection and Melbourne food culture. You can see the Design Thinking approaches the Art students followed to create their unique sculptures.

Our visit to Invergowrie elicited a range of responses as students walked the grounds of one of Melbourne’s early grand estates. As evidenced by the photos, there was plenty space to explore and Stephen, the owner was extremely generous with the time he spent with each group, printing small booklets for each student to compliment their visit.

Another treat this week has been the entertainment by our own Year 9 rock band. Angie, Yolanda, Tina and Sandy entertained all of their classmates with some great music in Assembly this week. We congratulate the students who have practised hard this term. Other hard-working students have included our Swimmers and Divers, Mia who competed at the Australian Life Saving Championships and Louise who was the only Year 9 selected to play in the GSV Inter Tennis Grand Final. Well done to all involved.
Scott Sweeney, Head of Humanities spent time at TC this week speaking to students about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Using numerous visual images he spoke about the history of Europe, alliances and comedians who became Presidents and how the he believes the situation may or may not be resolved.  Students found a deeper analysis of this current issue quite fascinating, prompting many questions.

Finally, a few reminders for Term Two:

Camp2Campus Parent Information Night – 7-8pm Naplan – 10.12,13 May
Camp2Campus – departures on 21,22,23 May arrival home on either 26,27,28 May
Exam Day (English/Maths) – Tuesday 14 June.

Have a safe and happy Easter break,

Karyn Murray, Head of Tay Creggan

SFA Dad/Daughter Dinner – Sunday 1 May 2022 at 5.30pm

The Strathcona Fathers' subcommittee invite Strathcona dads and their daughters to dinner at Sofia restaurant, Camberwell. The dinner will kick off at 5.30pm, sitting down to a meal at 6pm. There will be shared platters of pasta and pizza and dessert to follow. Dietary requirements catered for. $55 per double (for additional daughters $20). To book please click here.
Book early to avoid disappointment!

SFA Sausage Sizzle/Stall – Athletics Day – Tuesday 3 May 2022

The SFA will be holding a sausage sizzle and stall at the House Athletics next Tuesday. There will be drinks, sausages, etc. for sale so make sure your daughters bring a card or cash.

The Strathcona Family Association would like to invite you and your daughters and sons to join them for a complimentary buffet breakfast on The Deck, Senior Campus to celebrate Mother's Day.

We encourage all mothers and special friends to attend.

A coffee cart and breakfast will be available.

For catering purposes, please RSVP by Wednesday, 4 May 2022 by clicking here and include your daughter/s or son/s year level.

You are warmly invited to this upcoming Parent Seminar Series Event. 

'Body image' has been named as one of the top concerns across adolescent age groups and genders consistently in a number of surveys and studies over the last decade. Far from being a superficial or harmless concern, body image worries can span across physical, mental and social aspects of health and life to have significant impacts on young people, their families and communities. Significantly, this topic has never been as important as has emerged over the last 2 years with the various challenges that have been presented to all of us. It's not unusual that we are concerned about our teen's body image, but we might be unsure what to do or say. Should we be concerned or not? What is 'normal' anyway?

The good news is that parents, families, schools and communities can play powerful and important roles in supporting young people to understand their own experiences and provide environments where they are more likely to take care of their bodies from a place of respect.

This Parent Seminar will be presented by Body Image specialist and Dietitian Fiona Sutherland and is for parents and caregivers who would like to understand how to support a body-positive environment at home. The aim will be for attendees to leave with a deeper understanding of how body image concerns show up, how to have constructive conversations and take timely action if/when needed.

You are warmly invited to this very special Strathcona Centre for Learning Futures event: Quantum Computing, Carbon Capture and Flying Cars. The talk will feature three guest speakers; Mithuna Yoganathan, Rebecca Phillips and Aidan Biggar.

ABOUT GUEST SPEAKERS

Mithuna Yoganathan

Quantum computers have been hyped to be the next big thing in computing, but will we really all have quantum computers in the future? If so, when? In this talk Mithuna will explain why the buzz around quantum computers might be missing the point. Quantum computers do hold a lot of promise- but probably not for running your laptop faster. 

Mithuna is from Melbourne and did her PhD research at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Her research was about whether certain kinds of computational problems could be run faster on a quantum computer. 

Rebecca Phillips ('17)

Increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere is a concern for many of us and affects or will affect us all in one way or another. Rebecca will introduce carbon capture and conversion as a technology that is expected to play an important role in future efforts to fight climate change. She will outline the approach a Monash student team is using to try and develop such technology and how being involved in student teams can be an enriching experience at university.

Rebecca attended Strathcona, graduating in 2017. She is now in her final year of studying Environmental Engineering and a Diploma of Chinese at Monash University. She is currently involved in the Monash Carbon Capture and Conversion (MC3) team. Their proposed solution of turning algae to biochar won funding in the XPrize student award competition, supporting their progress until the final submission in 2025. 

Aidan Biggar

Aidan will speak about what we can achieve with aerospace technology, where he thinks the future of the industry is going, and why he thinks we direly need more women to enter the field! He’ll share his  background of living in the US and Australia and what it was like to work in Silicon Valley before moving back to Victoria where he joined a small start-up. Aidan believes there almost always exist opportunities to work in your desired industry! 

Aidan was born in New Zealand before moving to France and ultimately settling in Australia. He graduated from Melbourne High School in 2013, before moving to California for university. He studied mechanical engineering at Stanford University and then worked for two years as a flight test engineer for the flying car company Kitty Hawk. His current role has him leading the flight test team at Swoop Aero, a drone start-up in Port Melbourne which focuses on delivering vaccines to hard-to-reach regions of the world.

Strathcona’s Wellbeing Workshop (for unstoppable girls and women).  Book now here: https://www.trybooking.com/BYT...

Who: Mothers, Special friends and their daughters from our entire community, school families, alumnae and the local community. The workshops are designed for Mums, special friends and daughters to participate together, from all age groups, fostering connection, and healthy lifestyles in line with Strathcona’s Wellbeing program.

When: Sunday 15 May, 9.30am  - 2.30pm

Day's activities include:

8.30am Yoga (optional) with Strathcona Alumna and owner of Light Space Yoga, Clare Monahan. 
9.30am Breakfast followed by Guest Speaker Jo Stanley, Founder and CEO of Broad Radio, TV host of House of Wellness and alumna of the School.

African Drumming

The wellness benefits of drumming are numerous; it helps to develop enhanced teamwork, leadership and communication skills needed to work together to create rhythms and music in unison. It is good for our state of mind, and will leave you feeling connected, energised and empowered.

Bracelet Making

Mindfulness can be practiced in a variety of ways. Typically people think meditation but there are many activities that can help us to become more aware of our thoughts and feelings, reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus and fine motor skills. The simple nature of bracelet making allows you to follow a repetitive pattern and helps to focus your attention hopefully resulting in slower breathing and feelings of calmness. This is a simple activity that can be done on your own or whilst chatting with friends.

Gratitude Journaling

Gratitude is one of the key pillars of good health and wellbeing. Numerous studies have demonstrated that gratitude journaling can increase one’s happiness. The benefits of practice gratitude include; increased positive mood, more satisfaction with life, nurturing of key social skills such as humility, patience and wisdom and less materialism. Gratitude journaling is an intentional way to reflect on the things, people or situations we are grateful for. It allows us to put these feelings into words and we are then more likely tell someone we are grateful for them!

Where: Our Senior School Campus 34 Scott Street, Canterbury

Breakfast and lunch are provided, as well as gift bags from our supporters.

Places are limited, please book quickly to avoid missing out and to assist us with catering.

Jo Stanley – Guest Speaker

Jo is a performer, writer, TV and radio presenter. She is co-host of The House of Wellness TV and Radio, and creator of the House of Wellness podcast. She writes a regular column for the Sunday Life Magazine, and is the creator of the Play Like A Girl kids book series. Her performance style, which is heavily influenced by her stand-up comedy roots, makes her a much sought-after MC and speaker.In between all these very rewarding roles, Jo has now turned her vast media experience into building Broad Radio – Australia’s first radio network for women, by women, and a platform that will amplify the full diversity of women’s voices and stories.Jo is passionate about mindfulness and meditation, and its profound benefits for mental health, life balance and happiness. She is also an advocate for women’s and girl’s health, gender equality and healthy, respectful relationships. In support of these issues, Jo is a patron for Lighthouse Foundation, a patron for Wellsprings for Women, and an ambassador for meditation app, Smiling Mind.

Clare Monahan – Yoga Instructor

Clare is an Old-Strathconian, Yoga Studio owner, and Mother of 4 beautiful boys. Graduating in 1998, Clare attending Strathcona from Year 3. After graduating, Clare completed a Bachelor of Business/Marketing and went on to spend over a decade working in commercial marketing for various international organisations.

In 2014, Clare left the corporate world to open her first Yoga Studio, Light Space Yoga, in Balwyn with her mother, followed by a second and third studio in 2015 and 2016 in Mitcham and Ivanhoe. In 2020, in response to Covid-19, came the creation of a progressive online yoga platform and app which now houses a growing library of over 3,000 yoga classes plus 36 live classes every week. Light Space Yoga is inspired by a fresh and contemporary approach to yoga, with over 120 classes every week to suit all levels and abilities. Each studio has been designed to feel like a sanctuary with natural light, tree-top views, and white bamboo floorboards.

We are delighted to invite you to join us in celebrating Mother's Day at a lunch at Georges restaurant in Camberwell. $80 per ticket which includes a glass of bubbles on arrival, a 2-course meal plus tea and coffee. Further drinks are available at the bar. Gather your friends and make a booking - numbers are limited! Please RSVP by Friday 13 May 2022 by clicking here.

Lucky tickets are available for purchase on the day and some great prizes to be won.

Junior School Disco – Saturday 21 May 2022

Save the date – booking and further details to follow.