Newsletter Term 3, Week 7 26 Aug 2021

Deputy Premier James Merlino, speaking in his capacity as Education Minister, has stated that “There will be very strong communication to all students and staff across all our schools in Victoria, but a particular message to our Year 12 students, and also VCE staff … We want them to be vaccinated”. He also confirmed that VCE students who are not vaccinated due to their parents’ wishes will not face any repercussions. “All students scheduled to perform their exams will do so”. (The Australian, August 25, 2021)

The Premier, Mr Andrews, today foreshadowed the Victorian Government was planning concrete measures to enable an accelerated program of COVID-19 vaccinations for Year 12 students, following yesterday's announcement by the Education Minister, Mr Merlino, that the government wanted to make this a priority. While Mr Merlino said the government wanted to encourage the students to be vaccinated by the time they start sitting exams on 4 October, he did not release any details on how the government would facilitate this. Mr Andrews was asked about this at a news conference today, including whether priority lanes would be set aside for students at vaccination centres. In response, he said the government was undertaking detailed planning and that priority lanes “will be a feature of the plan that we announce quite soon”.  Options included working with schools so that groups of students could be brought to selected vaccination centres at specified times in a 'sequential, logical way'. He did not say when details would be released, although it would not be tomorrow. (Independent Schools Victoria, August 26, 2021)

You can book vaccinations through this government site here.

We will continue to carefully listen to Victorian Government advice and directives in relation to vaccinations and all other aspects of managing this unfolding situation. The School is certainly supportive of the vaccination process in the hope that the young people of Australia can access the full educational experience to which they are entitled. While we understand the health and societal benefits of vaccinating against COVID-19, we also understand that each family’s views and circumstances are unique. It is therefore recommended that each family seek the relevant medical advice from their health adviser to make the decision on vaccination that is most appropriate for their circumstances. If you are able to do so, we strongly recommend that your child is vaccinated in accordance with the public health advice.

If booking for vaccinations during class time, please remember to contact our absence line; teachers will ensure that students are able to catch up on missed work.

This week’s ‘pivot’ of our Early Learning Centre to remote learning has occurred smoothly. Despite the late notice, the ELC used the weekend and Monday to prepare materials and a changed approach to delivering early learning to our littlest students. As with all staff, I am very grateful for their dedication to the children as they do their very best to engage and stimulate the children through rich experiences which spark their curiosity and interest in learning about the world.
 
My thanks also to those staff who are coming on campus to supervise the children of Essential Workers. They are certainly enjoying being with the children, but given that so many people are still unvaccinated, they are to be admired for their professionalism. They are, indeed, front line workers as are many of our parents.

We look forward to coming together on campus as a community, hopefully in the near future. Until then remain safe and well and please do not hesitate to contact me with any concerns.

Warm regards

Mrs Marise McConaghy, Principal

The 2021 entrepreneurial journey for our Year 9 creators has been incredibly authentic. Whilst we started the process at school, we have evolved into an online, collaborative business community. In addition to creating their business, students have had to make objective decisions about how their product can reach a consumer, about whether their product can compete in an open online marketplace, and they have had to be certain that their product achieves consumer standards. This should not be underestimated nor the learning be undervalued. 

For several groups, whose products have not reached market stage yet, it has been an incredibly frustrating experience. These moments also provide valuable teachings. We now invite the school community to visit our wonderful Envision Marketplace, browse our products and make some purchases if you like what you see. Credit must be given to this year's tireless Envision team, Ms Katie Harris, Mrs Michelle Holding, Ms Sam Ellis and Mrs Narelle Cameron, as well as Mr Tim Churchward who has assisted us in a multitude of ways to deliver a competitive, online marketplace.

https://envision.melbourne/
Password: taycreggan

I am so proud of the business acumen on display and the daily resilience needed - please enjoy browsing the merchandise!

This week the Year 9’s had the opportunity to develop both their netball skills and general fitness by completing a NETFIT session with Taylah Davies in their PE class. Taylah played Netball at an elite level, playing for the Giants. The session was amazing and got the girls working up a sweat! A fantastic way to lift the spirit of the girls during this lockdown. 

Mrs Karyn Murray, Head of Tay Creggan

Certified by the eSafety Commissioner, Project Rockit is a company, established in 2006, that has been working towards proactive strategies to keep students positive and safe online. Project Rockit will be visiting the students as an online incursion to support this concept of CyberKindness through encouraging respectful behaviours, inclusion, social leadership, empathy and acknowledging diversity. They engage students with young speakers, interactive and fun activities as well as suggestions of practical applications for safe skills in digital use, such as understanding privacy settings and how to report inappropriate activity.

It is difficult to imagine that any of our students could possibly experience or be instigators of cyberbullying activities, however the eSafety Commissioner reported 1 in 5 Australian students are being cyberbullied through acts such as hurtful messages or images, imitation, exclusion, humiliation or gossip. As we move through a time of isolation and impacted social connection, Qingyi et al (2020) highlight in their article Risk Factors of Cyberbullying Perpetration Among School-Aged Children, that “with certain peer and solitary activities [there is an] increased likelihood of cyberbullying behaviours.” As such, we need to be proactive in bolstering positive social behaviours and developing practical strategies that our students can readily apply.

Project Rockit have demonstrated success in reaching and shifting behaviours in young people, with 89% of participating students believing their involvement in Project Rockit has sparked positive changes for them, and a similar number noticing positive changes in their peers after participating in their workshops (Project Rockit, 2021). Of course, a single workshop is simply a catalyst for these changes, and it is realistically a collaboration of peer support, parental guidance and educational programming that will assist in developing these positive behaviours further. Tips from the eSafety Commissioner suggest that promoting respectful relationships, empathy and kindness among practical strategies, are effective ways of encouraging students to prevent cyberbullying. Project Rockit also share scenario-based advice that helps students to be confident in their responses should such instances occur.

Kindness and gratitude have been widely researched and supported through governmental and independent sources, demonstrating physiological benefits such as improved sleep and health, economic benefits such as increased productivity or minimised healthcare costs, and mental benefits such as increased motivation and happiness (Jackowska et al., 2016). In an attempt to maintain the health and happiness of our students at this time, we hope through this incursion and ongoing support from parents and teachers, that our students will continue to be both kind, and CyberKind.

Tips for students from Project Rockit:

Always ask for consent to share material of others
Block, mute, screenshot or report offenders
Be an upstander not a bystander
Enable strong privacy settings
 
Tips for parents from the Royal Children’s Hospital:

Set limits on time and content
Ensure adequate privacy settings are enabled
Supervise on appropriate use and content

Useful Links for Parents:

Project Rockit: https://www.projectrockit.com.au/what-we-do/

Reporting Cyberbullying: https://www.esafety.gov.au/report/cyberbullying

Practicing Empathy at home with the Resilience Project: https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/everyone/empathy/teenagers/

How to be an upstander not a bystander: https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/be-an-upstander-not-a-bystander

Ms Liesl Woods, Year 7 Coordinator

References

Cyberbullying. (2021). Retrieved 26 August 2021, from https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/cyberbullying

Dixon, A. (2011). Kindness Makes You Happy… and Happiness Makes You Kind. Retrieved 26 August 2021, from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/kindness_makes_you_happy_and_happiness_makes_you_kind

Jackowska, M., Brown, J., Ronaldson, A., & Steptoe, A. (2016). The impact of a brief gratitude intervention on subjective well-being, biology and sleep. Journal of Health Psychology, 21, 2207 - 2217.

Li, Q., Luo, Y., Hao, Z. et al. Risk Factors of Cyberbullying Perpetration Among School-Aged Children Across 41 Countries: a Perspective of Routine Activity Theory. Int Journal of Bullying Prevention 3, 168–180 (2021). https://www.stoppestennu.nl/sites/default/files/uploads/_risk_factors_of_cyberbullying_perpetration_among_school-aged_children_across_41_countries-_a_perspective_of_routine_activity_theory.pdf

PROJECT ROCKIT's Impact Survey Report - PROJECT ROCKIT. (2021). Retrieved 26 August 2021, from https://www.projectrockit.com.au/project-rockits-impact-survey/

Rhodes, A. (2017). Screen time and kids: What's happening in our home? [PDF Report]. Melbourne: Royal Children's Hospital. Retrieved from https://www.rchpoll.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ACHP-Poll7_Detailed-Report-June21.pdf

Dr Flynn has advised that for many of us the majority of our day is spent sitting at a chair. Given this we need to stop to consider the importance of our posture. If you are someone who is always wiggling in the chair and never able to get comfortable, or finding more and more injuries and issues popping up that don’t improve even with stretching or foam rolling, it’s time to take a step back and look at what you are doing for the majority of your day. Just a few postural and ergonomic adjustments can make a huge difference to how you feel and get rid of tightness and aches through the body. 

Online postural and ergonomic assessments are available, email amelia@yarraosteo.com.au to find out more!

Kerri Rhodes, Senior School Psychologist

Strathcona is a relatively small school compared to other high schools, which I like, as it gives us a chance to form stronger friendship bonds within our year level. We have plenty of opportunities to meet other girls outside our home class; such as House activities, Language classes, Maths class as well as at recess and lunchtime. One reason I wanted to come to Strathcona was because at an Open Day, all the girls looked genuinely happy and appeared to have a strong bond with one another. True enough, within a few weeks, I expanded my circle of friends beyond the ones from primary school and started to feel that bond.

One major difference between primary school and high school is the work standard. Primary school did not have much graded work or formal assessments and only had the occasional test. Initially I was concerned about the higher expectation of work however, the teachers did not assign homework for the first few weeks and even now, in Term 3, the majority of homework is simply finishing off leftover work from class. Strathy teachers are all friendly and nurturing, encouraging us to ask questions about anything we might feel uncertain about.

One of my worries about high school was getting lost or turning up late to classes. Strathcona is quite small, so it’s actually quite hard to get lost! Moreover, the teachers were very understanding, so my fears were unfounded. For keeping on top of things, I learned that to stay organised, it helped to have a timetable in your locker and at home, put reminders in a diary or on your computer, and ask your friends about homework and lessons.

Transition is different for everyone but it seemed harder than it actually was.
 
Janelle Cheok, Year 7

Items in the Career News include -

• Dates to Diarise in Term 3
• Engineering Australia: What is Engineering?
• Whitehouse Institute of Design
• Career as a Financial Planner
• Careers in the Equine Industry & Marcus Oldham College
• Pathways to Medicine at Monash University Video
• Australian Government’s Skills Priority List June 2021
• Professional Business Cadetships in Melbourne
• Law Courses in Victoria in 2021
• Paralegal Degrees in Victoria in 2021
• Snapshot of Victoria University (VU) in 2021

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

On Tuesday, all classes saw a performance by Meercat Productions. The Prep to Year 2 students saw “Your Birthday Was the BEST! While the Year 3-6 students watched “Aster’s Good, Right Things”.

Wacky Hair Day took place on Wednesday with the girls styling their hair with some amazing creativity. In the afternoon the girls completed a range of activities related to the Shaun Tan book, The Lost Thing. 

Ending the week, on Friday, students will be dressing in their PJs and bringing along their favourite bedtime story to share with their class. 

It has been a fantastic week celebrating our girls' love of reading and allowing them the opportunity to share their favourite books with their friends.

Here is a link to a beautiful video made by Mrs Anna Miller, Director of Junior School Music who has put together all of the photos from the week. 

Mrs Eleni Kyritsis, Deputy Head of Junior School

Planning Liveable Cities event is tonight 5.30pm - 6.30pm. Register now! 

You are warmly invited to the Strathcona Centre Learning Futures event – Planning Liveable Cities.Hear about urban planning and the impact it has on lives now and into the future. Madison Robb and Yang Bai from Plan Melbourne will share about their careers in urban planning. We eagerly await their presentation where we will learn something that will have enormous impacts on our futures - the future of Melbourne.

Read more about our guest speakers below.

Madison Robb
Madison has over seven years' experience in urban planning, project management and Ministerial roles in State Government, delivering high-profile, large-scale planning and urban renewal projects, including Docklands and Fishermans Bend in Victoria and Perth City Link and Scarborough Beach in WA. Originally from Perth, Madison moved to Melbourne 4 years ago and took a short break from planning to explore cities as cabin crew for Virgin Australia, before COVID-19 hit the travel industry. Madison now works on delivering Plan Melbourne 2017-2050, the Victorian Government's strategy to guide the growth of Melbourne until 2050, including where people live and work and how we connect people to jobs and services.

Yang Bai
Yang Bai is a strategic planner working on the 20 minute neighbourhoods project in the Planning Department of Victoria. Her passion is in understanding the relationship between people and urban space, and also how we can create quality spaces. She is also interested in spatial data analysis and visualisation to facilitate communication and decision making. She was an engineer before moving to Melbourne to study Urban Planning. She is now also studying Urban Design.

Click here to register for this event.

Tomorrow at 7.15am is Strathcona's Green Evolution Breakfast. We hope that you can join us for what is going to be a very informative event. 

Hear from our panel of experts about climate change and rising sea levels, and be inspired by stories of action from local sustainability heroes. Learn about Strathcona’s own "Green Evolution’’ and commitment to a better Earth for girls and families everywhere.

Click here to register for this event.

Dr Kathleen McInnes ('79) - CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere 

Kathleen McInnes leads the Climate Extremes and Projections group of the Climate Science Centre in CSIRO's Ocean and Atmosphere business unit. Her work deals with how climate change will affect severe weather and coastal extreme sea levels through numerical modelling and climate model analysis with a focus on Australia and small islands. She has developed climate projections for impact and adaptation assessments to assist local government manage and adapt to climate change. Her contribution to this work was awarded Eureka award in 2003 and 2009. She has published over 200 refereed publications and other reports and articles and was a contributing author on the IPCC second, third, fourth and sixth assessment reports. She was a lead author on the IPCC Fifth assessment report chapter on Coastal Systems and Low-Lying Areas as well as a lead author on the IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adapation in 2012 and the IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in 2019. She currently serves as a co-chair of the World Climate Research Program Grand Challenge on Regional Sea Level Changes and Coastal Impacts. In 2017 she became a Fellow of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and in 2020 she was awarded the CSIRO Medal for Lifetime Achievement.

Ninna K Larsen, Founder and Director - Reground

"Reground exists to help businesses help the environment and not let coffee, chaff or soft plastic waste end in landfill. Reground creates a community around waste resources to educate us all on how to make our future more sustainable.Reground changes our current waste disposal structure making it more resourceful for our pocket, people and planet.Reground exists to create positive change."Ninna is an expert in behavioural design, marrying her passion for sustainability and practicality to create real change in the waste and innovation space. She founded Reground in 2014 after experiencing the unnecessary coffee waste in Melbourne. Determined to see businesses stepping into the circular economy, she is creating a movement of businesses that puts impact over profit.

Matt Jones, Director - Mamachi

Matt owns and operates a number of Energy and Technology businesses and is driven to accelerate Australia's Energy and Carbon Transition. His passion and experience in Sustainability and Renewable Energy drives Matt to create impact and value for the Education Sector and other large organisations across the country. Through increasingly intelling and automated Building, Asset and Energy Management technologies Matt has delivered large scale programs and portfolio wide data management strategies nationally, achieving meaningful energy, emissions and building outcomes across most sectors.

Hollie Fields - Head of House, Strathcona Sustainability Team Leader

Hollie Fields has taught the Geography curriculum in schools across Victoria and Tasmania. She is committed to giving students on active role in sustainability education by providing them with knowledge and skills to foster change. Currently she teaches at Strathcona Girls Grammar where she leads the Senior curriculum for Geography (10-12). Alongside this, Hollie is a member of the School's sustainability committee, oversees the environment club and participates in the Boroondara Indigenous Network. Having presented at the Australian Geography Teachers Conference in 2019, Hollie engages with an Australia wide network of teachers to consider the best approaches for raising awareness for an ecological mindset. She believes everyone has a key role and that significant change is required to reduce the impacts of modern lifestyles on the natural environment. 

Dads, Daughters and Special Friends online trivia night: 6.30pm, Thursday 2 September 2021.

As we can’t celebrate Father’s Day in our usual way with the big breakfast we are running an online trivia night!
Thursday 2 September at 6.30pm. Dad/Daughter and special friends Trivia Night.
$25 per family. All money is donated to the A Brave Life charity.

Bookings can be made through Trybooking - https://www.trybooking.com/BTSXR
For more information please check out the Trybooking link.

We hope you can join us!

Get ready, the Dobsons annual Buy Early & Save Sale is about to begin! Save on selected uniform items when you shop with Dobsons from September 1st till October 31st, 2021. Beat the back-to-school rush and save on a range of selected items, including:

• Blazers

• Pullovers

• Summer Dresses

• Summer Shirts

• Bags

• Sportswear

With a pain free returns policy, now is the time to plan ahead. Whether your child finds a few extra centimetres over the holiday break or not as many as you’d thought, Dobsons has you covered with a quick and simple returns policy*.

Once Dobsons stores re-open they would love to welcome you in store but until then they look forward to servicing your uniform needs online. To shop the sale online go to dobsons.com.au

*Terms & Conditions apply. Sale available online from 1 September and in store once retail store services resume.