Newsletter Term 1, Week 9 31 Mar 2022

The relationships students form with each other and with their teachers at school are critical to their ongoing development. They have an important impact on students’ capacity to learn and to socialise, and on their overall wellbeing. 

For our youngest children at Strathcona developing connections and a sense of community by being at school is critical to developing effective social functioning and the dispositions of optimism, openness, curiosity and resilience.

Whilst completing a learning task at home during my own family’s recent isolation period, my children and I talked about the importance of friendships but also spoke about the diversity of such relationships. We recognised the importance of family, friends at school and the importance of animals in our lives as a source of unconditional love.

History has shown that horses have played a large part in the life of humans and were first domesticated in around 3500BC.  Beginning with the ancient myth of Pegasus and Bellerophon, horses have been included in many of our most treasured stories. Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse is a touching story of humanity and friendship during World War 1. The timeless classic of Black Beauty first published in 1877 intimately describes the pain and suffering of Black Beauty before discovering a new owner who treated the animal with kindness and respect.

Horses have a unique ability to mirror a human’s feelings or emotions. A human’s capacity to form a positive relationship with a horse requires both vulnerability and honesty. Horses are keen observers and are vigilant and sensitive to movement and emotion which means a horse has the ability to mirror the feelings of its handler or rider.  This reflection gives immediate feedback and sometimes highlights an emotion the human hasn’t acknowledged or recognised.

As we move into the holiday break there is a feeling of upcoming space and extended time where one can reconnect with not only ourselves but those around us.

It is a special time to be with our families by enjoying the peace of stillness and the opportunity to interact with open hearts.

Best Wishes,

Lisa Miller, Head of Junior School

Our GSV Sports started in week 2 of term, where students across all Senior School Year levels could participate in Tennis, Softball and Indoor Cricket. We had strong teams across all age groups (Junior, Intermediate and Senior) and are looking forward to seeing our Inter Tennis side compete in the finals next week.

Apart from GSV Sport happening during and after school, there was also GSV Swimming and Diving which our squad was very competitive in. Both the Swimming and Diving teams showed great resilience, determination and sportsmanship at the GSV competitions, where overall we finished 1st in the Intermediate Prelim C Division Swimming and then at the Championships the Intermediates finished 1st for Division 2., overall the Strathcona GSV Swimming squad finished an impressive 3rd in Division 2.

Our Diving team competed very well over the Preliminary carnival and finished with enough points to be in Division 1 for the Championship carnival where they finished 8th overall. A great effort from all of our divers, who at some of the carnivals also competed in swimming events.

We had 17 students participate in the GSV Triathlon on an early Sunday morning down at Altona Beach, and with nicer weather this year than last the students competing gave it their all across the 3 triathlon legs of Swimming, Cycling and Running. A big congratulations to Gabby, Olivia and Erin who came 7th in the Junior teams division and Izzy, Sophie and Rachel who placed 12th in the Intermediate teams division. 

Rhythmic Gymnastics commenced at the start of Term 1 with lots of students getting involved within each of our classes. Our coaches Ellie, Bec, Zoe, Catriona and Lauren are enjoying coaching all the new and returning students

Our Rowers have had an amazing, strong season across all their regattas, showing that their hard work and determination paid off.

At Head of School Girls, it can only be described as a history-making weekend! There were so many highlights across the 3-day event, including many students making their HOSG debuts, Year 12s rowing their final races for Strathcona, our parent & supporter tent buzzing with enthusiasm and some huge results for our crews on the water.

Congratulations to our students, coaches and staff who put in a mountain of work in preparing for the event and across the entire weekend. Thank you to our Friends of Rowing volunteers for their assistance, coordination and overall support of our students and coaches. And good Luck to the crews who are competing at the National Championships this week (Wed 29th March-Sunday 3rd April).

We had large numbers of students participating in the Kayak Schools Championships at Lake Nagambie on Sunday, with several of our students placing across a large number of races, congratulations to all of our students and staff who took part.

When things look like they are starting to quiet down Friday/Saturday Netball has started for the Autumn/Winter season, there are over 220 students from Year 4 through to Year 12 participating across 26 teams on a Saturday. The first round took place on Saturday 26 March and it was such a joy to see so many players and teams back out on the court enjoying Netball again.

Term 2 is just around the corner and already it is gearing up to be another busy term of Sport. There will be the All School Athletics Carnival in May and Term 2 GSV sports including Netball, AFL 9’s, Senior AFL, Senior Water Polo and Hockey for the students to participate in. Students will have the opportunity to participate in GSV Cross Country events, with our own School Cross Country carnival happening on Friday 1 April, we wish all the students participating luck and we're hoping for nice weather.

We wish all our students the best of luck in their chosen sport for the term to come and congratulate all who participated in a sport or sports during Term 1!

Gayle Burgi, Sport Administrator and Netball Coordinator

Our teachers work hard to support our VCE students to achieve their very best. At Strathcona we subscribe to Edrolo to give our VCE students some extra support to complement the learning happening in class.

Our students are using Edrolo to:

-watch videos prior to class and get ahead on key concepts, so they’re ready to ask questions in class
-revise and revisit content taught in class (especially useful if they need extra time to learn a concept)
-catch up on content if they miss a class
-try VCE exam-style questions, so they’re getting ready for their exams

As a parent or carer, keep in mind that Edrolo is available and encourage your daughters to use the resources as a part of their study routine. They can use the theory videos to check their understanding of concepts, try practice assessments and flag any areas where they need extra support from their teacher/s.

Ross Phillips, Senior Dean of Learning Futures

Items in the Career News include:

• What is an Endocrinologist?

• ACU’s Talk with Industry webinars

• News from Monash University

o Discover Monash Seminar Series

o Campus Tours – April Holidays

• News from RMIT University

o Flight Training & Aviation

o Interesting YouTube Videos on STEM

• News from Holmesglen Institute

o Virtual Open Day

o Games Design and Development Courses

o New Outdoor Leadership Course launched at Holmesglen

• Architecture, Construction & Surveying Degrees in Victoria in 2022

• Snapshot of James Cook University (JCU) in 2022

The research indicated that reading for pleasure, visiting libraries, and discussing books conferred a benefit. This supports the evidence that we see in schools that parental engagement in reading encourages students to read and to enjoy reading. This involvement can be as simple as modelling reading, by reading at home and discussing books you and your children have read.

This year, Game of Loans will be running again in Term 2 as a house competition involving all students in the Senior School. Once again there will be a group prize for the Year 7, 8 & 9 groups who read the most, but there will be house points awarded to all students who participate and individual prizes at all year levels.

We would like you to support your child’s reading by encouraging them to spend time reading at home and by chatting about the books you are all reading. As Game of Loans is underpinned by research that shows all reading confers a benefit, we are encouraging students to read what they most enjoy, and hope you will too.

We look forward to sharing the results of the 2022 Game of Loans reading challenge in Term 2. 

Happy Reading!

Penny Roberts, Director of Library and Research

Read last year's article on the benefits of reading for pleasure below:

The benefits of reading for pleasure

Reading is generally regarded as a Good Thing in education, and there is a strong correlation between reading and academic success, but reading for pleasure has benefits that extend far beyond literacy and comprehension skills. Beyond the academic benefits of reading, research has also shown social and emotional benefits. This paper summarises some recent research on reading for pleasure and explains how this will be supported by Game of Loans in Term 2.

Reading for pleasure improves academic achievement.

The correlation between reading for pleasure and academic achievement is strong and recent research has bolstered the connection. The British Cohort Study has followed the lives of 17 000 British children born in one week in 1970 across England, Wales, and Scotland. When this group was 16 years old, the researchers tested children who had demonstrated similar academic abilities at 5 and 10 years old. Those who had read often at age 10 and had continued to read more than once a week at 16 years old had higher test results in vocabulary, spelling and maths. Whilst maths seems counterintuitive, reading exposed students to new ideas, encouraged them to explore and understand new information and concepts, and to learn independently, which supported their schoolwork (Institute of Education, 2015). Similarly, research across 31 societies demonstrated a strong link between having books at home, giving more adolescent exposure to reading, and improved literacy, numeracy, and ICT skills as adults. Dr Joanna Sikora, the lead researcher, said that these beneficial effects lasted over time (Sikora, Evans and Kelley, 2019).
Stories, reading, bibliotherapy and social benefits.

Telling stories is a fundamental part of being human and stories have helped us understand the world and ourselves for many millennia. The power of reading to inform, amuse, comfort, soothe and provide material for reflection has long been recognised. Whilst oral storytelling was a group activity, reading is also social, with readers sharing books and discussing the stories and ideas they have enjoyed. Reading enables us all to explore the world beyond our communities and to reflect on our own lives. In recent years, this social interaction has developed online with sites such as Good Reads and various Instagram reading influencers creating new, wider communities of readers spanning the globe. More formally, bibliotherapy as a specific field has been used to help support people with illness since the nineteenth century, but its benefits are recognised outside of the medical sphere. Over the lockdowns of last year, the State Library of Victoria developed a series of bibliotherapy podcasts where listeners were encouraged to use poetry and short stories to reflect on their circumstances (State Library of Victoria, 2020).

Reading affords adolescents the opportunity to safely explore new ideas and difficult topics. In reading about other people, teenagers can develop empathy for those whose lives are very different from their own. Genres such as fantasy and dystopia allow them to see people their own age as powerful in challenging and dangerous worlds. In following the fictional and non-fictional experiences and emotions of others, young people can learn about decision-making and find role models for their lives. They can explore ethical conundrums and feel validated in their own experiences. Reading for pleasure becomes a vicarious experience and supports learning about the world. Young Adult (YA) literature has exploded as a genre over the past two decades and many authors specialise in creating fiction for adolescents across a range of genres. These works are created by authors who respect their readers’ desire to explore the world but recognise the need to be accessible to teen readers (Wakeman, 2019). Carefully curated collections of Young Adult fiction, biographies and graphic novels allow students to explore a range of issues in an age-appropriate way.
Game of Loans

The Game of Loans reading competition for Years7-9 aims to leverage the social and wellbeing benefits of reading for pleasure. Having the program as part of the Wellbeing classes will emphasise this aspect, rather than running it in English where reading is often seen as work. Students will have time to read, recommend and discuss books with their teachers in their Wellbeing classes. The Wellbeing teachers will be part of the class team for the term, being part of the reading community. These group conversations should be relaxed and social with the readers being equals in the space. Other teachers can be co-opted by the classes to read for them, thus spreading the sense of the reading community across the school. Library staff will verify the reading through reviews posted on the Oliver LMS, replicating online reading communities like Good Reads, but within the online school community.

Unlike the Premiers Reading Challenge, there is no set list of books or target number. The students are encouraged to read for pleasure and follow their own tastes and interests, rather than selecting titles from a list. This is to underline the personal nature of reading and to encourage the idea that reading is fun. Ultimately, if students are encouraged to develop a habit of reading for pleasure it will be a success. Without a specified target, students can feel comfortable reading at their own pace and as they are reading as a team, every book counts. The student who reads one book, whereas before they would have read none, might be the difference between first and second place for their class. In the Game of Loans, a rising tide lifts all boats. All students enjoy the prize when their class wins. There will also be specific prizes for those who read a lot, or at a very high level and prizes for students nominated by the wellbeing teachers.

References

Institute of Education (2015). “Reading for Pleasure: Research impact case study. March 2015”. Retrieved, 25 March 2021, from:

https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Readingforpleasurestoppress.pdf

Sikora, J., Evans, M. D. R. and Kelley, J.  (2019). “Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies.” In Social Science Research, 77 (2019), pp.1-15.

State Library of Victoria (2020). Bibliotherapy (podcast series). Retrieved 11/3/2021 from:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/...

Sullivan, A. (2013). “Reading for fun improves children’s brains, study confirms.” In The Guardian. Retrieved, 28 October 2019, from:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/sep/16/reading-improves-childrens-brains

Wakeman, J. (2019) “Developmental Bibliotherapy in young adult fiction: Why teens need books now more than ever.” National Education Summit. Retrieved, 29 October 2019, from:

https://nationaleducationsummi...

My family, like some, are privileged enough to own a beach house. Ours is situated on the Great Ocean Road about 20 mins from Lorne, in a sleepy little town called Kennett River. Like most people, we enjoy getting away from the busyness of Melbourne and getting back into nature. While I've made some great memories down there, one that I'll remember the most was just after the summer of 2015. On boxing day that year, an out-of-control bushfire tore right through the Great Ocean Road. I vividly remember driving along the road only a short while after the fire had completely gone,  I'd never seen anything like the devastation that was created that summer. You see if the blaze had only gone another 200m south, our house, like hundreds of others, would have been destroyed. I share this anecdote with you because it was the first time I had really seen a natural disaster at play, but it was also the first time I truly saw the damage they can do to those communities. This event clearly created such an impact on me, given I was only about 10 years old, and as I reflect on this fact, it makes me consider the devastation that so many young children are having to face in our current climate. Schools arebeing shut down by the NSW floods, fires tearing through day-care centres, kids no different to myself, being faced with challenges that are only going to become more frequent as they get older.

As a Year 11 Geography and Economics student, I am beginning to learn more and more about our country, climate and the ways we work amongst it. However, with this knowledge, I've become more concerned for our land and our communities. A changing climate is upon us. And while I won't be eligible to vote for another 2 years, there is still an immense amount of change I would like to see now.

In my opinion, the greatest initiative for action is a positive influence, it's what's needed for that first step in the right direction. For many, this influence is Greta Thunberg and her outstanding actions taken to bring light to our world's current situation. For me, I find the biggest influence has come from those much closer to home. Ms Fields my Geography teacher who has not only recognised my passion for this issue but allowed me to pursue it through the leadership of our school's environment committee. The students currently leading Melbourne's School Strike For Climate group have also heavily influenced my passion for change as they've demonstrated how being a student does not equate to a lack of political influence. I hope to see change in the way we view climate change initiatives. This issue can't be fixed by federal government level plans alone, because it starts with the initiative of individual people and their communities, for when I'm influenced by my teacher or a friend that was doing something effective to better the environment, I start to change my mindset. It's a flow-on effect that will assist more people in bringing this issue to the forefront of their minds. As a young person in our community, I know that there are so many others who are just as concerned about this issue. To improve Strathcona's own climate capabilities we have initiated our own Op-shop inspired event, aimed to provide the students with not only an opportunity to get involved in reducing their impact on waste production but provide our school community with another reason to get behind this issue. And were not the only ones! Other schools across Boroondara such as Fintona and Camberwell Grammar are also working together to share and bring about change.

One of the best examples of community influence on climate change initiatives is the FOGO compost bins implemented by the Boroondara council. It was not a choice whether or not to compost our food scraps, but I saw as my friends and family began to get used to the idea of reducing our waste output, conversations were being had, and they were extremely positive. Climate change is terrifying, and the idea of being able to reduce this drastic change in our world through one simple movement may seem ridiculous to many. But as the Boroondara community was introduced to this initiative, opinions and more importantly, mindsets changed.

To kick off my geography studies this year we began learning about natural disasters, and the effects they have both socio-economically, and physically. During this time I completed a short study on the increase in drought frequency across Australia. Through data analysis and research, I found that drought duration and intensity have been severely underestimated, and will inevitably increase in the coming years. As I conducted my research, I was intrigued to find that the Australian Government had produced an extensive and effective plan, which outlined national, state and industry tactics used to deal with the aftermath of drought. However, the information on drought prevention was minimal.

We've all seen the devastating impact that extreme weather can have on local communities, both through drought, fire and in the recent floods across of East coast. Farmers losing almost everything they have, businesses are forced to close, and families losing their homes. While it's so vital for us to support these people during times of re-growth and rebuilding, it's equally important to produce ways in which we can slow the frequency and damaging effect that these disasters have on our industries, communities and people.

You may already know this by now, but young people are busy, we consume and engage with information and media, faster than ever before. News is so easily accessible, and we are informed on issues across the globe, and actions we can take to influence them. Such an influx of knowledge allows us to access the information and tools to have a positive influence on our communities, sharing our perspectives and assisting in the areas we are passionate about, such as tonight. For the power of even small conversations from a friend to a friend or a student to a teacher really creates the greatest impact.

One of the biggest mistakes I think we've made during talks of climate change action is the separation of generations. The only way Australia will be able to truly contribute to reducing our carbon footprint will be to see a generational overlap of knowledge. As you know, my generation has so much to say on this issue. We have hopes, and actions that we want to implement, but the older generations, the ones currently in power, have so much knowledge to share. And it's only through listening and learning from all parties, that we can continue the values of one idea, while additionally building on new ones. After all, we must be the change we want to see in the world.

Nicola Franklin, Year 11

On Tuesday, our Year 10 and 11 Leaders visited Tay Creggan with Megan Boyd, Head of Findlay and Amber Sowden, Dean of Students, to enable Year 9’s to contribute to a 2022 school banner with the motto “Lean In”. Whilst adding their thumbprints, the Year 9s we encouraged to lean into supporting each other, to be courageous and above all, to demonstrate compassion for others. This was a brilliant segue to our speaker on Wednesday morning, Jayden Batty from Servants Community Housing, a local Hawthorn organisation we support by the making of slices and cakes. Ironically, Jayden was raised at Tay Creggan, growing up in the upstairs rooms with his family, whilst his father Rob was Caretaker for over 20 years. Jayden spoke passionately about Homelessness and unemployment and how small acts can make a difference to the lives of underprivileged people. Whilst cooking a slice, biscuit or cake may seem commonplace for our students, it brightens up the resident’s day and indicates that someone cares for them. Speaking to many students after the talk, they felt inspired to find ways to make a difference – and our cooking team will certainly be invested in their culinary tasks.

Congratulations to Olivia X, Sienna Q, Mille G and Holly R who won prizes in our “How well do you know your TC Teachers” Kahoot Quiz.  There was a great deal of laughter and speculation about the previous occupations and activities of our staff – who knew that Ms Harris used to shear alpacas!

Next Tuesday is our Fieldwork/Excursion day. In the morning, all students will have the opportunity to visit ‘Invergowrie’, an incredible private home not far from Tay Creggan. Built in 1846, at the beginning of the colonial era in Melbourne, the house, originally called ‘Burwood’ still retains features of its indigenous and convict past.  We are the first group to be awarded the privilege of visiting the grounds, as the new owners seek to build stronger links to the community and restore much of the property to its original condition. Our Humanities Fieldwork focuses on predicting changes in the characteristics of places over time and identifying the possible implications of change in the future. A timely and important skill to have in 2022. Sarah Thom has been working assiduously on our afternoon City Scramble where students will use an App to complete tasks and visit locations throughout the city in small groups. The App keeps live score updates and students will use it to strategise and make decisions about where their group will go. It promises to be a fun-filled afternoon. A reminder that students are dismissed at Federation Square at 3pm to make their own way home, but are welcome to accompany teachers back to Tay Creggan.
 
Best wishes,

Karyn Murray, Head of Tay Creggan

It’s that time again to let you know about the amazing AUTUMN Holiday Program we have planned at TeamKids! The ELC flyer can be accessed here.

TeamKids have another amazing AUTUMN Holiday program planned!

•  Learn new skills and make new friends

• Qualified and REMARKABLE Educators

• Digital detox with our no screens policy

• Delicious and nutritious morning and afternoon snack

• CCS approved care

Head to teamkids.com.au to secure your spot! 

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.