Newsletter Term 2, Week 9 24 June 2022

At Assembly this week, I asked the students to take time in the break to reflect on this term and this semester. I asked them to think about what they have learned both in and outside the classroom; to think about the friendships they have nurtured or perhaps neglected for whatever reason; to think about the challenges that they have managed to overcome or just survive; to think of the things that they have not done so well; and the things that they have done well and for which they are quietly proud.

I asked them also to reflect on how they have managed this first ‘normalish’ term for over two years. I posited the question: have you fully adapted back to the old School rhythms and routines, or do you still have a bit of the hangover, if you like, of the lockdowns in how you manage and conduct yourselves, so you are not quite back in the groove yet (especially with all this illness and absences around)? I pointed out to the girls that their teachers have been working hard to assist them to adapt to being back so that learning occurs more smoothly, they know what the expectations are and that everyone works together so that classrooms are places where the values of respect, responsibility, engagement in learning and self-discipline are evident.

I told them that I think they are doing fairly well, but I think there is also more progress to be made in our migration to post lockdown school life. There are things we learned through the lockdowns and one important thing was that a great many of them can operate well as independent learners – especially those who are older. But we have also learned that for learning environments to work optimally and for students and teachers to feel that there is a good flow and positive energy, protocols of conduct and behaviour need to be observed. Some of this has not quite gone back to the standards of old – more in the younger years, particularly Year 7 and 8, where there is a missing two years where the kind of training we do to help them become more able to manage themselves and their learning occurs in very intentional, iterated way. A new casualness as emerged which is not exactly poor manners or conduct but a bit sloppy (I am not sure if this is the right word but something like that). I told the girls that next term we shall aim to retain the positives of what we have learned about schools, them as students, and us as educators, but also to strengthen what we know needs to be in place for productive, orderly classrooms with students who are excellent self-managers and collaborators. 

The girls know that the way many of them have been wearing their uniform has not been of an acceptable standard. Given that our focus was on getting them out of their pajamas or track pants, back to School, settling them into good work habits, used to exams and different schedules, co-curricular management etc, we chose not to make every conversation with them about their creative uniform combinations, jewellery, and startling eyelashes. However, we have done a semi-normal term now, the girls are more settled but uniform standards have dropped to a level where this needs to be addressed. We shall take on this battle once we have had a rest and a break! I learned in leading schools a long time ago that the way the school looked – how clean it is, how well maintained, how well run – was an indication of the school itself and the respect with which it is held. This in turn, influences the way students conduct themselves. The students know that they are respected and cared for to the extent that a quality environment is provided for them and they in turn behave accordingly. It sort of works like that with the uniform too. While I think the lockdowns have affected people’s attitude to how they want to dress, I know too well from managing adolescents that if you give them an inch, they will take a mile and that permitting deterioration in the standard of uniform wearing is not good for them or the overall culture. They will push back of course – teenagers will always test boundaries - but they feel safer with them in place and the minor uniform infringement is a safe way for them to test boundaries. However, as adults it is our role to pull them up and expect more. I ask your help as parents to assist us. Of course, the Junior School students are easier to manage regarding this.

As far as where we are now at this point of history, the School has shown understanding in consideration of the transition back to School from home and pyjamas and countless pivots and adaptations. Now it is the students’ turn to show consideration and respect for the School by lifting the standard in how they wear of the uniform. The students will find that teachers will be providing clear instructions about what goes with what and they will be picking girls up if there a strange combination of uniform items, jewellery, mega false eye lashes, long loose hair etc etc. I have seen so many ‘fashions’ in school uniform adaptation over the years I could write a book. My least favourite was when showing midriffs was the go – skirts rolled down to navels and blouses rolled up with lots of tummy showing. But maybe that was a Queensland thing. Then there was a time when wearing no socks and leaving shoes underdone was a cool way to be rebellious. We told them it was an OHS issue. Of course, there was much surreptitious (or not so surreptitious) eye rolling. And I wish I had a dollar for every piece jewellery I have been told is of religious significance or was given to them from a beloved deceased grandmother.

I finished the Assembly by wishing everyone a wonderful break (wearing whatever they like) and urged them to make sure they have a good rest. I would also like to wish this for you and to thank you for your strong positive contribution to School life - in so many ways in yet another challenging term. I look forward to seeing our community back together again next term.

I would also like to highlight the outstanding effort over the weekend of Rachel Glover in Year 11, who won the Rostrum Voice of Youth State Final with her speech titled "We need to change the narrative to empower women". She will be representing Strathcona and Victoria in Sydney next month at the National Finals! Her speech is excellent and I have shared it below for you to have a read. 

Kind regarsd

 Marise McConaghy, Principal

This type of fairy-tale has cursed us for too long. The prince's story, one we've heard many times before. The passive damsel in distress rescued by a strong handsome prince. Is this what the princess really wanted? What about her story? We need to change the narrative so that princesses can tell their own stories. Make their own decisions. So how do we do this? The first step is to challenge how we view ourselves as women. Additionally, we need to challenge the bias of those around us. So that together we can challenge discrimination.

The first step, questioning how we view ourselves as women. It is not enough to simply believe that all genders are equal. We need to reflect on the way we hold ourselves as women. We have to ask: Why do I notice a women's beauty before I notice her heart? Why do I cut other women down instead of admiring their successes? Why do women project insecurity while men exude confidence? To change the narrative, we first need to ask ourselves these questions.

Once we have challenged ourselves, we can begin to challenge those around us. You throw like a girl. be smaller, be skinnier, be quieter. Show more skin, but what was she wearing? These horrible stereotypes are not going to be broken down unless we break them. We need to challenge those who say these things and encourage instead saying: She looks kind, I want to hear your voice, do what makes you feel strong, you have the right to set boundaries. To change the narrative, we need to challenge these biases.
 
It is so hard to not interpret the world through this male gaze. To combat this, we need more women's perspectives in the media. We need more conversations, by women, about this topic. Listen to people like Grace Tame and Emma Watson. Sign up to petitions, use your voice on social media and in real life to inflict real change.
 
And when we return to our fairytales, the princess can tell her own story, and in her story, maybe she will become queen, maybe she saves herself, and maybe she doesn’t need a prince for her happily ever after.

Rachel Glover, Year 11 

On Maple you should find:

Grades and/or feedback in the form of comments, rubrics or annotated work each semester. You should find several pieces of feedback in each subject now. For rubrics or annotated work you will need to click into the item to view the feedback.

Learning Behaviours rubrics completed by the last week of each term, for all subjects. The Term 1 and 2 rubrics are available now. 

If you have any questions about the process of reporting contact me at rphillips@strathcona.vic.edu.au. For any questions about technical issues relating to reporting, contact parentassist@strathcona.vic.edu.au For questions about any of the specific tasks or feedback, contact the relevant subject teacher.

Mr Ross Phillips, Senior Dean of Learning Futures 

Items in the Career News include –

• Dates to Diarise in Term 3

• Melbourne ADF Careers Fair

• Cert IV and Diploma of Photography at RMIT

• Courses offered at the City Campus of Victoria University

• Undergraduate Studentships at CSIRO

• News from the University of Queensland

o European Double Degrees

o UQ Ramsay Undergraduate Scholarship

• Accounting Degrees in Victoria in 2022

• Snapshot of Monash University in 2022

• Snapshot of Monash University – Peninsula in 2022

We invite all of our community to come along to support our level 1-4 gymnastics as they perform their freehand routines. 

The competition will begin at 8am, and will conclude in the afternoon with various sessions occurring throughout the day. There is an entry fee of $10 per adult. 

If there are any gymnasts who have leotards that they would like donate or sell to the club, we would be happy to give your leotard a new life with another gymnast. Please contact Brihny Unwin, Rhythmic Gymnastics Coordinator - bunwin@strathcona.vic.edu.au 

We loved having Emmanuel and Anne Marie who make up Yimba Uganda tell us about their work with young people in Uganda. Anne Marie, who is from Melbourne, went to Uganda for a GAP year and is now married to Emma who is a well known Gospel singer and dancer in Uganda. We heard about their work in Uganda in training young people in trades, beauty therapy and music. Anne Maire spoke about how they support young women to attend school regularly as girls often miss out on weeks of school in adolescence.  Yimba Uganda was set up as a practical expression and way of showing the love of God to people through dance music and education. We had fun joining in with the singing and dancing and came away inspired that love and hope can never be cancelled! 

Here are a few youtube links to one of Emma's youtube videos: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeR_6zH-KqQ (What a Love) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSbGIIAdX84 (Unstoppable) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd2OKS0aABQ (Wakayima) 

Sophie Hall, Nicola Franklin, Sarah Le Get, Liza Griffin and Emily Harle pioneered this event and their passion and dedication meant it came to life in this last week of term. We thank everyone who donated to this event as it would have not been possible without all of the items you shared with us. Natalie Olver also supported us immensely and taught us about how to set up clothes and items to be sold. 

Proceeds from this event went to the Ukrainian Association of Victoria but also raised awareness about fast fashion and how much waste comes from garments that are made in mass production in factories. We hope that this initiative has raised some powerful discussions around preloved items.  

Hollie Fields, Service Coordinator

At the end of last week, all Year 9s visited two exhibitions at the Museum - the Dynamic Earth and 600 Million Years displays as well as the IMAX Theatre to watch "The Story of Earth". Groups then moved on to either Parliament House, for a tour and a meeting with Hawthorn Member of Parliament, John Kennedy. John spoke candidly about democracy and representation and students asked plenty of questions about the workings of the Parliament.  Another group visited the Old Melbourne Gaol which runs a simulated Court Trial for school students. There, our budding lawyers, jury members and judges ran a trial and learned how the court system operates. 

On Monday, to further enhance the Science unit "Earth and Space" students are currently studying, a huge Dome was erected in the Hall and each class visited the Planetarium. These interactive activities, visits to museums and class experiments all help us to engage our students and bring Science to life. 

Our PE teachers, Sam Ellis and Michelle Holding organised for Boxing training on Monday for PE classes. From all reports it was a positive and energetic activity. 

Most Envision businesses pitched to League of Extraordinary Women mentors and Co-founder Sheryl Thai on Wednesday to receive SEED funding to kick start their lean start up. Four of the mentors shared their own personal stories of entrepreneurship before we broke into separate rooms for the "Shark Tank" experience. They were: 

 1. Erika Garaerts, (Former co-founder of Frank Body) Founder of Fluff Cosmetics - vegan, cruelty-free, refillable makeup products https://www.itsallfluff.com/

 2. Marie Cruz de Vera, Co-Founder of Sans Studio. Founder of The Style Co (exited) a successful styling company used by many celebs - also co-founder of the League

 3. Pamela Yip, Co-Founder & CMO of Bubble Tea Club, an online store started during covid and crowd-funded $1 million last year https://bubbleteaclub.com.au/

 4. Mia Klitsas, Co-Founder & Director Moxie feminine hygiene products

Today we handed out roughly $400 of SEED Funding to our students. Mentors were impressed with many of the ideas and the thinking behind the products and pitches and asked to be linked to the Envision Melbourne website when it goes live with products for sale. 

Tay Creggan will also be the venue for tonight's Musical Soiree. Olivia Xin, one of our extraordinary Year 9 pianists, performed a Waltz on Wednesday in Assembly. We truly appreciated her musical talent in such a fine setting.  At the same Assembly, Claire Johns launched the Year 9 Play which will be Pride & Prejudice. It seems fitting in this Jubilee year and with Tay Creggan as our backdrop. We hope many students will join the cast and crew.

After such an active term, we hope that our Year 9 students and families have a rejuvenating Winter's break - travel safe, stay healthy!

Best wishes,

Karyn Murray, Head of Tay Creggan 

Boys in Years 9 and 10 are invited to Tay Creggan Inter-school social dance classes in Term 3.

The classes will be held at the Year 9 Strathcona Campus, Tay Creggan, 30 Yarra Street, Hawthorn, on the following dates :

Tuesday 19th July
Tuesday 26th July
Tuesday 2nd August
Tuesday 9th August
Tuesday 16h August Final Presentation
 

Each session will run for 60 minutes. Due to possible numbers and space in the Hall at Tay Creggan we will run two dance groups.

*Group 1 to 4pm – 5pm              *Group 2 – 5.15 to 6.15pm

 Afternoon Tea provided at 5pm for both groups. Year 9 & 10 boys are welcome to attend, along with Strathcona Year 9 girls.

The cost of the program is $110 which includes Afternoon tea, the hire of the dance instructors (including Craig Monley - Dancing with the Stars) from ‘Exclusive Beats Boutique’ and the hire of the venue for the Final Presentation Night.

Strathcona families who have or know boys in these year levels are welcome to pass on details and this booking link: 

https://www.trybooking.com/CAKZN 

Karyn Murray

I am most proud of the personal growth that I have observed in all of the children. From Prep right through to Year 6, each individual has achieved a personal learning goal and further developed their relationships with their peers and community.

Our SOUL wellbeing program focused on understanding others and over the past couple of weeks, we have worked together as a school to develop and share strategies that can help us solve problems. These have been displayed in the Junior School so that children can draw on the thinking of others when they need a hand.

Don’t forget the Team Kids Holiday Program, if you are looking for some fun activities for your children. Details can be found here - https://teamkids.com.au/venues/strathcona-girls-grammar-canterbury-oshc/

I wish you all a safe and enjoyable break with your family.

Kind regards,

Lisa Miller, Head of Junior School

Some of our hard-working and talented musicians have been out performing at some of the Eisteddfods taking place in Melbourne at this time of year.  Between them, these students have gained first, second and third placings, and a number of honourable mentions.  They have competed in piano, violin and cello sections against sometimes over one hundred competitors, in a range of age-groups; an amazing achievement and recognition of their effort and ability.

Congratulations Julia Rozenkova, Vanessa Liang, Thea Lukito, Sonya Markovsky, Yangyang Chen and Constance Cheng.

Year 11 Parents Evening

Thank you to our Year 11 Class Reps who organised a parent evening at the Running Postman Wine Bar in Camberwell. Our class reps make a wonderful contribution to our community.

You are warmly invited to the next Strathcona Centre for Learning Futures event with guest Speaker, Tay Pappas.

Tay Pappas will speak about her fascinating international experience helping to build a range of businesses, leading to her current role as General Manager at Kip&Co. This will provide participants with insight into what it takes to build a company’s brand and the kinds of opportunities young people can explore as they build their own careers. Tay is looking forward to questions from the audience.

Tay Pappas is the General Manager of indie lifestyle brand Kip&Co. She has deep experience in retail and strategy and a passion for building incredible Australian brands. Tay began her career as a Management Consultant at Boston Consulting Group, before taking on strategy roles with the Just Group in Melbourne and pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in Copenhagen. She joined Mecca Brands in 2012 to lead the four-person merchandise team, and in her eight years with Mecca helped to scale the business across strategy, store development and buying, finally returning to the Head of Merchandise role with a team of 45. In 2020 she joined Hairhouse Warehouse as Chief Commercial Officer, driving the merchandise strategy and Hairhouse’s private label brands.Pursuing her love of brand building, Tay joined Kip&Co in 2021 in the newly created role of General Manager, to work with the founders to scale the business, drive rapid growth and sustainably bring colour and fun to homewares and apparel for every corner of the home and every member of the family. Tay lives in Balaclava with her husband and three girls, and loves travel, food and all types of music.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event

Tay Creggan, our Year 9 campus, is proudly part of Open House Melbourne 2022. This event will now be held online.

Take a virtual tour of the magnificent heritage building, Tay Creggan, and learn about its interesting history narrated by a Strathcona Girls Grammar student.
You can also take a tour of Tay Creggan in Minecraft. This has been cleverly created by two of our Year 9 students.

More information will be available closer to the day on our website.