Newsletter Term 1, Week 6 5 Mar 2021

It has been interesting in recent months, coming back to Klaus Schwab’s 2017 text, The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Founder and executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Schwab drew on his work from the WEF and argued that we needed to create new narratives to guide us through this revolution, as with extraordinary technological advancements would come monumental shifts in how we work, how we communicate and how we live together. These huge changes, he contended, would all be commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions.

Given our experiences with the corona virus in the last year, these words have become prescient. The pandemic is causing great disruption and seismic change to all geographies and peoples across the globe, only comparable to those of the Second World War. It has definitely accelerated the adoption of the fourth revolution and its technologies. We have all seen this in our own workplaces, as people and companies work to near-real time tasks, rely on cloud computing, artificial intelligence, the speed of 5G network, big data, and more. Reports tell us that through lockdowns, organisations have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in the span of two months. Some other activities once only seen in sci-fi movies such as self-driven cars, robots for manual activities, digital twins and holographic work collaboration are now our reality.

So, the challenge of education systems is how do we deal with this new chapter in human development as well? How do we reimagine learning for students in this Brave New World but at the same time make the world both human and humane?

We know that students will still require traditional literacies but also capabilities such as complex problem solving, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility. At the same time this world needs our young people and citizens of the future to have even more emotional intelligence, grit, perseverance and the capacity to empathise with others, to deal with a complex and fast-paced world and workforce.

In the late 1990s, educators began discussing and championing the need for 21st Century skills which could be categorized into the 4Cs (Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity) as being essential for student learning and which are now an important component of the Victorian Curriculum.

However, Professor Michael Fullan from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and the Global Leadership Director, New Pedagogies for Deep Learning argues that students need to develop Six Global Competencies or the 6Cs rather just the four, to include Citizenship and Character Development.  These are all critically important if we hope to prepare students for their future and the acceleration of technologies and changes to life as we know it, taking place in this fourth revolution.

Fullan defines these traits as deeper learning competencies and the development of our understanding of these will reinforce deeper and richer learning experiences for our students; ones that are engaging, relevant and authentic.

The key aspects of Deep Learning are:connecting learners to their real world

• helping build new and stronger relationships with all learners
• through inquiry it builds skills, knowledge, self-confidence, and self –efficacy
• it increases self and other expectations
• it feeds a desire among most children to contribute to the common good (which we call helping humanity)
• creates citizens of today, for tomorrow

So, for schools, it specifically entails the work of defining what each of these 6C skills actually means, in conjunction with examining their interrelationships. Identifying and developing what deep learning would actually look like in the classroom, and assessing the learning outcomes therein, also becomes an important focus moving forward.

In this way, we are continuously evaluating how well we are preparing our students for their life both inside and outside of the classroom and evolving our pedagogies to keep up with the rapid changes of the fourth revolution. Thus, we will enable all learners to successfully navigate the complex technological, economic, environmental, social and cultural challenges they face in today’s working world.

As Klaus Schwab noted in his most recent book COVID-19: The Big Reset, ‘the Pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine and reset our world”.

We could say exactly the same about teaching and learning.

Ms Simone Boland, Dean of Teaching and Learning

The Learning Conferences will be held over two days at Main School on Monday 29 March (Day 1) and Wednesday 31 March (Day 2) from 1.30pm - 7.00pm. We will send out more information and a booking link next week.

Importantly, please be aware that:

• Years 7, 8, 9 and 10
  • All students will be dismissed from school at the beginning of lunch time on both days.

• Years 11 and 12
  • Students undertaking a VCE subject are welcome to stay and work in the Knowledge Exchange which will be open until 5.30pm on both Learning Conference nights.

We encourage all students in Years 7 to 12 to attend these Learning Conferences to join in the conversation about their learning.

David Montgomery, our crossing man, has now come out of hospital and is still not 100%. He will be away for another two weeks. Some groceries have been delivered to him on behalf of Strathcona and David wanted to pass on his thanks to the school. Thank you to everyone who has asked after his wellbeing, he is an important part of our community.

Finally, all families are reminded that students who are unwell should be kept at home. The government and School’s position on illness has not changed as we continue to manage the ongoing COVID risks. A student who presents to the Health Centre and is assessed as not being well enough to remain at school, will need collecting in a timely manner. We appreciate your understanding regarding this. The students this week have been reminded that there is still a mandate to wear masks on public transport. Please ensure your daughter is leaving the house with a mask each morning if she is commuting to School on the bus, train or tram. A reminder to advise us via email (therft@strathcona.vic.edu.au) when your child is undertaking a COVID test and that they must stay at home after the test has been done until you receive the results. When you receive the results please take a screenshot of these and email these to therft@strathcona.vic.edu.au.

Ms Tracy Herft, Deputy Principal

On Monday we were thrilled to welcome Cybersafety expert, Susan McLean to Strathcona to address our Year 8 and Year 10 students. Susan’s workshop focused on helping the girls to understand their digital footprint. She posed thought provoking questions about the way young people portray themselves on popular social media apps and the impact this can have on opportunities they may wish to pursue in the future. Her messaging was centred around kind use of social media and responsibility the girls have to be a good friend and community member in this space. It was an excellent opportunity for our girls to reflect on the time spent learning and socialising online last year and our Wellbeing staff are following up in this week in class to unpack further.

On Wednesday, several of our Year 12 leaders spent time in the Junior School supporting the SOUL program. Developing whole school connections is an important theme for our leadership group in 2021 and the invitation to spend some time with our younger girls was warmly embraced. I am not sure who enjoyed the experience more! Feedback from all girls involved and the Junior School staff, has been overwhelmingly positive. Our senior girls loved returning to reminisce with some of their old teachers and spending time doing activities with our junior girls. We look forward to creating more opportunities in this way throughout the year.

After a busy start to term, the long weekend provides a short circuit breaker for all girls who have worked hard to immerse themselves back into a full onsite program. This weekend is also the prelude to a very full Week 7, with the School swimming carnival, Head of School Girls' (HOSG) rowing regatta and a busy SAC schedule for our VCE students. I do hope that this weekend can be one of rest for girls and their families as we make the final push toward the end of term.

Wishing you all a relaxing long weekend.

Ms Amber Sowden, Dean of Students

Well done to our Swimming and Diving teams who competed in the GSV Preliminary Diving and Swimming Carnival on Monday at Melbourne Sports Centre (MSAC). There were some outstanding results across the board and it was fantastic to be back competitively diving and swimming again. Our swimming team have now qualified for Division 2 Championship Carnival and our diving team has qualified for Division 1 Championship Carnival. Both of these competitions will take place towards the end of the term. Congratulations to our Junior Swim Team and our Intermediate Dive Team who both finished in first place in their respective divisions.  

Round 4 of GSV Weekly Sport concluded this week with some great results across the board. We have multiple teams still in with a chance of making the finals with three rounds left to play.

Miss Keira Wills, Head of Sport

We meet on Thursdays at lunchtime, in the Knowledge Exchange, to discuss books, media and technology. Last week the topic was 'Books you would like to throw against the wall'. This led to a lively discussion with many students passionately defending books that others had disliked.

This week the group discussed 'Women authors who have made their world better' in anticipation of International Women's Day next Monday.

Ms Penny Roberts, Director of Library and Research

This week contains the following information on:

• Engineering Heroes Podcasts
• News from Monash University
  • Bachelor of International Business
  • Find your Fit in IT – Quick Quiz
  • Interesting Double Degrees
• Studying Climate Law at Bond University
• New Bachelor of Data Science at RMIT University
• Courses offered by AIM – Melbourne Campus
• Games Design Courses in Victoria in 2021
• Aviation Courses in Victoria in 2021
• Snapshot of Deakin University in 2021
  

Please click here for this week's Career News. To visit the the Careers page or view previous versions of Careers News click here.

On Monday afternoon, three teams of debaters stayed after school for round one of Debating, under the watchful direction of our two Debating teachers, Mrs Cathie Waldron and Ms Lana Goldstone. You can read Amy, our Debating Leader's report in this newsletter. It was a fabulous opening to the DAV competition.

Tuesday's Assembly had a Geography flavour, with Ms Hollie Fields, Head of House (Years 10-12) for Findlay presenting a number of prizes and certificates to students who entered two Geography competitions in Year 8. Special mention must go to Sarah Wansborough who proposed changes to her local suburb which were selected by the Minister for Environment and Planning. She is congratulated for being a Victorian finalist. Other awards for the Mapit competition were given to: Chelsea Tribe, Holly Lewis, Holly Humphries, Isabella McCrohan, Emma Prest and Ruby Laughlin.

Sheryl Thai from the League of Extraordinary Women joined us in Envision on Wednesday afternoon to share her story, which saw her transition from an IT consultant to the owner of Cupcake Central and now, after 10 years of baking and selling cupcakes, to the CEO & Co-Founder of The League of Extraordinary Women. Her tale was one of hard work, taking risks, learning how to 'fail well' and overcome challenges along the way. Sheryl also managed to wow us with some Cupcake Central treats. We will continue to work with her, and other League mentors this year throughout the Envision program.

An important aspect of Year 9 is learning how to manage friendship changes and resolve conflict. We focused on learning new tips this week from Rebecca Sparrow, including learning the SEAL technique, whereby you stop and assess the situation, think about what you would like to resolve, affirm the right to have positive friendships and take action. 

Finally, today we journeyed along the Yarra River, from the Leonda Jetty into Southbank. During the boat ride, students were encouraged to scrutinise the human impact on this important waterway. We also stopped at Herring Island and had the opportunity to stretch our legs whilst looking at the sculptures.

Next week will be another busy, short week with both the Swimming Sports and the Head of Schoolgirls' Regatta. 

Enjoy the long weekend,

Karyn

The topic was, 'The Government Should Subside Tourism in Regional Victoria'. Two of the teams were arguing for the affirmative side and the other was the negative team. Overall, our three teams did an amazing job and worked well together to debate with such short notice. 

Team 1 (Affirmative) included the first speaker, Cynthia, second speaker, Jayna and third speaker, Vinny. They spoke clearly and received praise by the adjudicator for their clear understanding of the topic and arguments. They won against Trinity College Colac by four points and the best speaker was awarded to Vinny (third speaker).

Team 2 (Affirmative) also won. This team included Arya as first speaker, Teagan, second speaker and the third speaker, Sarah. They were given positive feedback by the adjudicator on their clear detail and information in their rebuttals. Along with their win, third speaker, Sarah, was awarded best speaker.

Our final team (Negative) unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to debate due to a forfeit by the other team. This is still however counted as a win and all three speakers; Heidi (first speaker), Liza (second speaker) and Kate (third speaker), got to present to the adjudicator. They were praised for their clear signposting and consistent timeline.

Overall, the Year 9 debaters did extremely well with the short time frame and collaborated together to pull off three out of three wins!

Amy Johnson (Debating Leader)

The preface reflects all that we know and love about our 10 year old girls. It goes on to say that, 'a ten year old girl is precious. Wide-eyed and willing to learn. Wanting to help. Wanting to please. Wanting to fix the environment. Wanting to be heard. She’s likely to be more worldly than her parents were at this age, but less independent. She’s well read and the music she listens to and the television programs she follows are full of good things, mostly. But how she listens and watches- and the persuasive influence of the online world and the messages it carries – is more challenging'.

The challenges our daughters face are somewhat different to the ones we faced when growing up. In an age where technology is an important part of our lives our children are having to navigate a world that is sometimes conflicting with their natural development and maturity. Dr Kristy Goodwin is included in a chapter about smart phones and social media and she challenged my thinking as a parent. Are we a pilot or a passenger of the digital plane? A question I will continue to ask myself.

Ms Lisa Miller, Head of Junior School

The girls in Years 5 and 6 connected with the Year 12 mentors as they each attempted to draw portraits of each other with the Year 1’s and 2’s. The Year 3 girls created positivity rocks to place in the ELC garden for their buddies and the Year 9 girls hand wrote letters to their 'Soul Sisters' in Year 4. The joy as the Year 4 girls opened their letters, many of whom was their very first letter, was amazing and demonstrated the power of connection.

Mr Matthew Lander, Deputy Head of Junior School

Our first Junior School Music performance event is approaching, the Junior Music Soirée, for musicians taking individual lessons in their instrument or voice. Solo Soirées are afternoon concerts which take place once per term, from 4pm for about 45 minutes. Musicians who take lessons inside or outside school are welcome to play; your piece must be performance-ready (please check with your teacher) but it doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an advanced musician. Short beginner pieces are as welcome as 5-minute concerto movements.

If your daughter is interested in performing, please contact Mrs Anna Miller (amiller@strathcona.vic.edu.au) by Tuesday 9 March; you will then receive an Edsmart incursion notification which must be completed. Parents and friends are welcome to attend this event (maximum two audience members per performer).

If you have any questions, please contact Anna Miller, Director of Junior School Music.

The Strathcona App is a good way to stay in touch with what is happening with news and relevant notices from the School, keep track of parent and school events, absences can be recorded on the app rather than having to call the School if you child is away, access your daughter's reports and also the parent details and payment portal and much more!

The App can be downloaded directly from Google Play or Apple store depending on where you normally access your apps, search for Strathcona.

Once you have downloaded the app, here are some instructions to help you get started which includes logging in, customising your notifications and key features from the home page of the app.

If you have any problems with logging in then email parentassist@strathcona.vic.edu.au

MyStrathcona is the School’s primary communication and feedback tool where you will receive real-time alerts through notifications and experience collaboration between teachers, parents and students.

We encourage you to activate notifications to ensure you never miss out on a newsletter release nor other important information. To set your notifications download the instructions.

For our new families, it is important you have created a MyStrathcona account, our IT Department will have provided you with temporary LogIn Details, if this has not been received please contact parentassist@strathcona.vic.edu.au to enable you to create your account.

For easy access I encourage all families to download the MyStrathcona App (free) from the Google App store or Apple Play to enable you to access all key features of MyStrathcona within the palm of your hand. You will receive real time alerts through notifications. To help get you started and set up your notifications please download this information sheet.

The Second Hand Uniform Shop will open on Wednesdays by appointment only at the following times: 

• Morning: 8am - 9.30am
• Afternoon: 2.30pm - 5pm

Customers will need to book using the below link. Please select 15 minute appointment Uniform Shop to see available times. Please note that a maximum of one student and one parent/guardian will be allowed in the shop at the allocated appointment time. Appointments will be for 15 minutes.

Card payments preferred please.

If you have any queries please contact Fiona White by email fwhite@strathcona.vic.edu.au.

Second Hand Uniform Donations can be left in the Donations Box at 35 Scott St Canterbury.

Please note there are no second hand Senior House Polo Shirts in stock. Dobsons are waiting on a delivery of the House Polo Shirts.

To find out what sport camps they are providing please refer to the flyer below.

If you book one of their 3 Day Camps Strathcona families will receive a 40% discount. When making the booking for a 3 Day Camp please use the code STRATHCONA40 at checkout, please refer to the flyer for more information on booking.

THIRD PARTY DISCLAIMER The services provided from International Sport Camps Australia is supplied from a third party that is independent from Strathcona Girls Grammar and it’s curriculum. It is important that all users understand that the service is not provided or endorsed by Strathcona and your legal relationship is with the third party supplier. Please be aware that Strathcona has no involvement in the program and has not checked the quality of the service.  Any enquiries or complaints should be directed to International Sport Camps Australia.

Thursday 18 March 2021, 7.00pm-8.30pm, Auburn Hotel, 85 Auburn Road, Hawthorn East

Strathcona Family Association Fathers' Subcommittee invites all dads and male carers to join them for their annual Pub Night.

This year our guest speaker is Andrew Stark, a serving member of the Australian Federal Police for 21 years. Throughout this time he developed expertise in several dimensions of security and risk management including diplomatic protection, counter-insurgency, surveillance and criminal investigations. Acting as Security Adviser, he has consulted for numerous foreign Heads of State including Nelson Mandella, Tony Blair and George W Bush. He also spent six years as Security Adviser to the Australian Foreign Minister and worked with each Australian Prime Minister dating back to 1990. Andrew is the founder and managing director of Stark Corporation established in 2014 and a past Strathcona parent.

Cost is $20 for finger food and drinks at bar prices. Book your ticket through Trybooking https://www.trybooking.com/BPDLJ

The Strathcona Family Association is delighted to invite parents to join them for an evening of laughter and fun.

Scrumptious and bountiful catering with a complimentary drink on arrival (then drinks at bar prices).

There will be a DJ, live entertainment, and a delicious dessert bar!

Cost: $45 per person Dress: Smart Casual

Please ensure you RSVP by this Sunday 22 March 2021 at https://www.trybooking.com/BOYWZ

Wednesday 12 May, Featherstone Hall (Senior School Campus), 34 Scott Street, Canterbury, 6.30pm-7.30pm

Guest Speaker: Sarah Davidson, Lawyer turned Funtrepreneur

You are warmly invited to the Strathcona Learning Futures event – Seize Your Yay!

Our guest speaker, Sarah Davidson, Lawyer turned Funtrepreneur will join us to share her experiences and how she has achieved a life that is happy and fulfilling. Sarah is an engaging and effusive podcaster, entrepreneur, author and former lawyer and sums herself up with her overarching life philosophy – ‘seize the yay’.

Sarah was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer in an international law firm, which taught her a lot, gave her exciting travel opportunities and an intellectual challenge but she was lured away from this by her passions of health, wellbeing, nutrition and creativity.

She founded the organic matcha green tea company, Matcha Maiden, with her partner in late 2014, which quickly grew big enough to draw attention from giant US retailer, Urban Outfitters. From there, Sarah along with her friends founded a trailblazing café, Matcha Mylkbar. Sarah also has a forum called Spoonful of Sarah where she talks about her entrepreneurial journey from a distance and how exciting life can be when you ‘seize the yay!’.

Please register for this event on Trybooking.