Newsletter Term 3, Week 2 21 July 2022

We sought feedback from the whole community about its ease of use, perceived purpose and effectiveness at reflecting the high-quality learning organisation that we are. Did it meet their needs each day? Was the role that the LMS played in realising the daily mission of our community clear? Was it easy to use? Did it reflect our Teaching and Learning philosophy, providing transparency and connection between parents, students, teachers and curriculum?

We wanted to ensure our LMS was a framework that complements and elevates the experiences of our School community. The feedback we received confirmed that parents, students and staff highly valued the visibility of learning growth, teaching resources, and operational elements of the School, but that the user experience was often difficult. We began a project that spans three phases:

PHASE ONE:

We set out to restructure and refresh the back-end structures that determine how the end-user experiences the platform. We flagged with our community that we sought to launch a refreshed version in 2022, and asked for them to suggest a new name for the LMS. The community chose a new name which was symbolic, feminine, and reflected some significant aspects of our community in multiple ways.

PHASE TWO:

We launched Maple with some major changes to how our community would collaborate and experience their School journey, including dedicated year level, wellbeing and staff spaces, and streamlining of administrative areas.

PHASE THREE:

We are now in the final, longer phase of the project, and this will be deeply connected to our Teaching and Learning Strategy. It is the further refinement of our digital teaching and learning areas, and upskilling of staff in various areas of this.

Staff inhabit Maple daily, as it informs their world and we have tried to phase out so much use of email and make Maple - as much as is sensible and possible – the single source of truth. This development has been extraordinary given the other unprecedented challenges of the past few years. I must acknowledge the outstanding work of Ms Catherine Newton who drove this project through, corralling busy, distracted teachers as she went, to ‘clean up’ all the material that was there. Phase three has lingered, but we believe it is important to consolidate what we have, tweaking as we go. Now, most importantly, we need to focus on how this LMS supports our Teaching/Learning Strategy. This is interesting work which staff will enjoy.
 
I would like to thank Ms Newton and acknowledge her vision, talent, hard work and leadership and also staff who managed to attend to this project while also managing the constant pivots necessary through this pandemic.

Parents, if you have not already, I encourage you to hop online and have a look at what is there. If you do this regularly, you will find you really know what is going on in the School.

Warm regards

Marise McConaghy, Principal
 

“Listening and being listened to is one of the primary tasks of documentation, providing traces/documentation that testifies to and makes visible, ways of learning of the individual and the group” (Rinaldi 2006)

When entering the ELC classrooms, the walls speak of the children’s learning. Excerpts of theories and ideas are shared, whether it be spoken, drawn, created or dramatised. Investigations that are still developing are recorded, highlighting how learning continues on its own path, with teachers accepting changes and modifications, rather than predetermined outcomes.

The reasoning behind documenting children’s words, actions and ideas, is not to create a display, but rather to create dialogue. Something that is “sharable” between teachers, children and families. Documentation shows learning from both the children and teachers as we navigate through the learning process, and gives value to the richness of children’s thinking. It makes visible the child as an active participant in constructing and co-constructing knowledge in relation with others. Parts of this documentation is shared through the weekly class reflections that are posted on Maple.

Being in a class filled with curious and active children, there is so much learning taking place. Teachers cannot rely just on words as children use many different languages to represent their ideas. As such, there are numerous things to observe, note, photograph, video and record! It is in these moments, that teachers must take an active attitude towards pedagogical listening. This means being open to different perspectives, being attentive to the moment and observing, and looking for the threads or patterns that connect groups of children. What is it that brings them together? From these observations, we can extrapolate a concept, then design learning experiences that feed their curiosities and offer rich engagements and concentration.

As a team we explored what ‘Progettzione’ means in Reggio Emilia and how that translates in our setting. “Progettzione is an overarching flexible approach to learning where an initial hypothesis is made. It is a strategy of thought and action that supports the learning process and accepts doubt, uncertainty... It is subject to modification and changes of direction” Kerrie O’Neill (REAIE)

In preparation for our workshop component, each teaching team presented a variety of documentation from their own research project. Some of the projects we explored involved the concept of decomposition, with sunflowers and fungi offering provocations.

The most challenging part of our day was sharing these through the lens of progettazione. We worked collaboratively comparing notes, opinions and ideas with each other, viewing, reading and listening to all the observations and documentation. We looked for the threads, the pearls of wisdom that the children offered us, to show contexts of learning and concepts that were explored. We defined the intentionality in teaching, compared interpretations and processes undertaken and developed a synthesis/assessment of what children learnt. It was a difficult, but rewarding consultative process that has provided new insights, critical reflection, and clarity regarding the reciprocal process of teaching and learning.

Jo Dowling, Director of ELC  

Images below

Image 1: I Can See Black Inside There; They Are Seeds

Image 2: Setting Up Spaces For Different Perspectives

Image 3: Discussing Ideas Whilst Drawing Their Findings

Image 4: Documentation In Progress

Image 5: Teachers Recording Children's Sighting Of Fungi

Image 6: Sifting Through Documentation

Music Camp

90 students and staff enjoyed a “long weekend” of music making and creativity from Friday through to Sunday last weekend at the Lady Northcote Recreation Camp, just outside of Bacchus Marsh.  After the past two years, (and especially last year when we nearly got to camp), it was so wonderful to be able to enjoy playing, learning, rehearsing and spending time together. At camp, one of the other related Music activities was the Improvisation session on Saturday afternoon facilitated by three of the itinerant Music Staff, - Rohan Wallis, Joel Sena and Anthony Baker. Every student whether they sang, played a wind or brass instrument, strings or percussion was involved in the exploration of how to improvise together, with some students bravely venturing to “solo” or “trade 4’s” over the rest of the group and backing tracks. Miles Davis once said - ” there is no such thing as a wrong note in improvisation – just some notes are better choices than others” and students bravely took on that advice!

The fancy dress costume theme for Saturday Night was "Come as a famous iconic musician" which also proved a hit and a lot of fun and laughs. Lauren and Lili the School Music Leaders ran a fun and interactive music quiz and trivia night with prizes. Camp finished on Sunday afternoon with a brief “Works in Progress” concert for families which showcased sections of music that had been worked on during the weekend of intensive rehearsals and which we look forward to hearing completed and polished for the Annual Music Concert on Sunday August 21! See the events section for more details.

Strathcona Salon

On Thursday June 23 our very first Strathcona Salon event was held in the Hall at Tay Creggan, which was transformed into a Cabaret-style venue. Parents and staff enjoyed antipasto platters (and lemon tarts later in the evening), served around large round tables decorated with the help of members of Friends of Performing Arts (FOPA).  As with many other events that were planned for 2020 and 2021, we were very excited to be able to run this Music event which displayed the many talents of our Music Scholars, VCE Music Performance students and members of the Music Faculty. The evening was a sell out success with the variety and excellent standard of performance appreciated by all. Thank you to FOPA, Chris Johnson and the Performing Arts team. Photographs below by Lucy Mason. 

Jenny Meachem, Head of Performing Arts

Anna Walsh received a Premier’s VCE Award for being a Top All-Round VCE High Achiever, which is given to students who achieved outstanding results in five or more of their subjects.

Anna was delighted to receive the award and wanted to mention the amazing teachers she will never forget, in particular Scott Sweeney.  Anna, is now studying a double degree in Law (Honours) and Global Studies at Monash University.

Principal Marise McConaghy and the entire Strathcona Girls Grammar school community are exteremely proud of Anna’s outstanding achievement.

298 of Victoria’s brightest students were recognised by this year’s Premier’s VCE Awards.

To view the full Honour Roll and to read more about the Premier’s VCE Awards, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-vce-awards

The shop will no longer be open on Wednesday afternoons.

termSecond Hand Uniform donations are always welcome and can be left in the Donations Box at 35 Scott Street, Canterbury or at the Senior School Reception. Please ensure that any donated items are laundered or dry cleaned prior to donating them as the shop is run on a volunteer basis.

The Strathcona Family Association Uniform Shop has now moved many of our new stock items to an online “Click and Collect” service via the Flexischools platform - https://user.flexischools.com.au/home. Not all uniform pieces are listed as some items require fitting.

If you login to your Flexischools account, you will see there is now another window for our online Uniform Shop (directly next to the Canteen window).

To order items online please, Click Order, Select Collection Date, Choose the Uniform Item required (Select size if applicable), Confirm Order and follow prompts for payment using Flexischools Account or Credit Card.

The full list of “Click and Collect” stock items available for order has been included below and these items can be ordered anytime online. Once the order has been processed collection of the items will be available from the Business Office (after 10am on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday).

The Shop stocks new Strathcona badged items including:
Bathers
Swim Bags
Sports Bags
Hats
House Swimming Caps
Scarves
Football Socks
Umbrellas
 

Tuesday morning's activity for Literature Week was author and screenwriter Nova Weetman sharing with Year 9 about how she creates a character. Students enjoyed discovering Nova's writing techniques and also listening to her speak about writing TV shows and novels as a career. The Knowledge Exchange is also running a competition for budding writers to enter. 

Dancing Classes on Tuesday afternoon began well for those who opted to join the activity. It was a bit of a squeeze in the Hall and we are still trying to formulate a plan to ensure that Craig and Sriani have enough space to prepare students for the final night. A booking link for the final night will be sent out shortly - with a strict 2 person limit on visitors for each student. 

To complement the study of Romeo & Juliet this term, Complete Works Shakespeare Company, along with 4 Tay Creggan students, performed an abridged version of the play on Thursday afternoon. Watching a live performance aids in understanding the play and getting a sense of how Shakespeare imagined it to be performed. Great to see a large number of participants signing up for the Year 9 Play to be performed later in the year too.

Our two Debating teams competed at Camberwell Grammar on Monday night, debating the topic "That the ABC should only broadcast Australian content." Both teams won, with three students, Linh, Tyler and Elissa being awarded Best Speakers on the night.  

Envision businesses continue to work towards launch day. All 41 businesses have pitched and have been awarded their $20 SEED funding. This week, teams concentrated on understanding their customer, analysing ways to create an ethical and sustainable business and being taught how to complete an excel financial spreadsheet. Below are a few more business cards to give you a sneak peek. As we work through some of the theory of entrepreneurial business creation, it is rewarding to watch students solving problems and taking more and more initiative with each task. Staff are using this entrepreneurial unit to gather data on Design Thinking as part of our professional Learning. 

Stay warm and have a great weekend!

Karyn Murray, Head of Tay Creggan

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.

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