Newsletter Term 4, Week 5 6 Nov 2020

Given that this is a short week, I thought we could just provide you with some recent research on girls’ schools and outline some very positive news that came in this week.

Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia: New PISA analysis shows girls’ school students outscore co-ed girls’ on all academic measures. Read more…

Mrs Rhiannon Ward (Year 7 Coordinator, English teacher) was chosen to be a member of the very selective Global Action Research Collaborative (GARC) on Girls’ Education’s in the 2021-2022 cohort. Her topic: Building Problem-Solving Capacity, Confidence and Skills in Girls. This is fantastic news for Rhiannon and for Strathcona. 

GARC is a partnership between the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia, National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (US), Girls’ Schools Association (UK), Girls’ Day School Trust (UK) and other participating organisations. Their vision will engage girls’ school educators from around the world in an action research program that will build a network of girls’ school educators, as well as a valuable and relevant database of research on girls’ education. Research Fellows will commence an 18-month program of training and action research in January 2021. This will include attending an action research training workshop with other global participants in June 2021 and presenting research outcomes at the Global Forum III on Girls’ Education in June 2022. 
 
Congratulations also to Mrs Karyn Murray and Ms Liesl Woods on being awarded the 2020 UpSchool Entrepreneurship Educators of the Year, for transforming how they implemented entrepreneurship in the curriculum in Year 9 this year. Read their story. 

Mrs Murray and Ms Woods also supported a group of their Year 9 students to take out the 2020 UpSchool Pitch Competition. The students’ remarkable Envision Marketplace was designed as a fully functioning online store which was used as a platform called to sell their own products.

On Thursday 12 November the Wade Institute have their Showcase Pitch Night and Mrs Murray, Ms Woods and our Year 9 students who won the award, Audrey Hillard, Meg Harrison and Kate Henry, have been selected to present their winning pitch in digital format. This night is designed for the Institute’s Masters of Entrepreneurship students to pitch their business ideas to a panel of Venture Capitalists. Mr Peter Wade, benefactor, was very impressed with the girls’ pitch and believes they have a scalable business. They have been offered support from several mentors, including the Director of StartUp Victoria and the founders of Girled World.

Mr Lynton Kemp (IT Systems Administrator) is a finalist in the Australian Not-for-Profit Technology Awards in the category of Technology Volunteer of the Year for his individual work with Servants Community Housing. The award recognises the very best in technology innovation and excellence by organisations and individuals in the Australian not-for-profit sector, and the improved product and/or service offerings brought to the not-for-profit and broader community sector through technology. We are proud of Lynton’s initiative and wish him all the best.

As we move inexorably towards the finish line of school life for 2020, we wish our students the very best as they undertake exams. I am sure after the year that has been, the girls have a more balanced, philosophical perspective of the importance of exams in the scheme of life.

Warm regards
Mrs Marise McConaghy, Principal

The kitchen has been in full swing with the girls cooking up pizzas and jam drop biscuits in class, whilst other students have been making polymer jewellery, creating creatures with dry wool felting and making stencils for graffiti art. 

Fours of our students, Meg, Rachel, Freya and Chloe T participated in a Global Youth Advocacy Forum this week. Hosted by the Asia-Education Foundation, the girls have spent time preparing for the day, interviewing students from other countries about their experiences and views on global education equality. Importantly, one of the themes discussed by the students was the need for tolerance and understanding and being able to view issues from multiple perspectives. Students ended the day by creating classroom resources to prompt discussion amongst their peers.

Today, Mr Scott Sweeney, Head of Humanities, ventured to Tay Creggan to talk to the Year 9's about the American election. As a self-confessed "election tragic" his knowledge and explanation of their voting system, as well as his commentary on what we are seeing play out is invaluable for providing a deeper understanding of world affairs. Our Year 9 students have returned from remote learning with an increased interest in global issues, and whilst this passion is commendable and encouraged, it is also vital to stress that every person has a right to form their own opinion. Tensions have escalated, and discussions have been had as a year level that we all need to work together respectfully, regardless of our views. 

Next week, information about the forthcoming Year 9 exam day on November 20th will be relayed to the girls. We will emphasise that these exams are heavily aimed at acquiring and practising new study techniques, preparing for exams, and feeling comfortable in an exam situation.We will be running a few sessions to teach explicit study skills.

Finally, we are following up students who have yet to complete their Safe at Work certificate as well as their Duke of Edinburgh tasks. A Camp to Campus replacement adventure is also being planned for the end of the year so that this requirement of the award can be completed and the Bronze Award attained. Further details about the Year 9 end of year program will be released soon.

Enjoy your weekend,

Mrs Karyn Murray, Head of Tay Creggan

David our crossing supervisor received a special award from the Boroondara Council last week. This award recognised his 15 year service as the crossing supervisor for Strathcona. It is a privilege to work with such a valued member of our community who ensures our girls are well cared for everyday. If you see David be sure to congratulate him on this wonderful achievement.

Please remember to check the parent portal for details regarding the booklists for 2021.

• Prep to Year 2 orders are due by Wednesday 2 December and will be distributed by the class teachers next year.
• Year 3 to Year 6 orders are due by Wednesday 9 December and will be delivered to your home in January.

Have a wonderful weekend

Ms Lisa Miller, Head of Junior School

In this week's edition, you will find the following information on:

Dates to Diarise in Term 4

• VTAC: Reminder Upcoming Key Dates
• Torrens University Experience Speaker Series 2020
• Low Income Healthcare Card for Australian Students
• News from Monash University
  • New Way to Explore Engineering
  • New Biomedical Engineering Specialisation
  • New Majors in Business and Commerce Degrees
  • New double degree — Bachelor of Global Studies and Bachelor of IT
  • New major — European Languages
• ANU Tuckwell Scholarship for 2022
• Useful summary of University Terminology

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

We hope they found the experience rewarding and were able to see an improvement in both their creative problem solving skills and confidence over the course of the year. This year the Special Achievement Medals were awarded to:

Year 7
Qianhe (Yolanda) Mao
Olivia Xin
Aaryn Chieng
Olivia Ma
Minqing (Theresa) Wang

Year 8
Runlin (Vinny) Liang
Katherine Ma
Caitlin Jong
Rachel Zhou

Mrs Christy Kertes, Head of Mathematics

Even though we could not celebrate Book Week in our usual manner, the Senior Library ran some fantastic competitions and hosted an online author visit. Renowned comic book artist Bernard Caleo guided the Year 7 students through creating a short comic story in a zine format, whilst the Year 8 students enjoyed competing in a Book Week Kahoot. The Library student group, Kaleidoscope, helped create three online lunchtime quizzes: Curious Creatures, Wild Minds, and Book Title Emojis. Our main competition was a week-long quiz in which students had to match a teacher to their favourite childhood book, which proved very challenging.

The Knowledge Exchange Team

I love to share this story from Katharine Hepburn’s childhood; in her own words. “Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.

Finally, there was only one other family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me.

There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. The way they were dressed, you could tell they didn't have a lot of money, but their clothes were neat and clean.

The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, animals, and all the acts they would be seeing that night. By their excitement you could sense they had never been to the circus before. It would be a highlight of their lives.

The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You're my knight in shining armor." He was smiling and enjoying seeing his family happy.

The ticket lady asked the man how many tickets he wanted? He proudly responded, "I'd like to buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets, so I can take my family to the circus." The ticket lady stated the price.

The man's wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, the man's lip began to quiver. Then he leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?" The ticket lady again stated the price.

The man didn't have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?

Seeing what was going on, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and then dropped it on the ground. (We were not wealthy in any sense of the word!) My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket."

The man understood what was going on. He wasn't begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking and embarrassing situation.

He looked straight into my dad's eyes, took my dad's hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied; "Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 that my dad gave away is what we were going to buy our own tickets with.

Although we didn't get to see the circus that night, we both felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus could ever provide.

That day I learnt the value to Give.

The Giver is bigger than the Receiver.

If you want to be large, larger than life, learn to Give.

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only with what you are expecting to give — which is everything.

The importance of giving, blessing others can never be over emphasized because there's always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy by acts of giving.”
— Katharine Hepburn

"You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God." 2 Corinthians 9:11, NIV

Mrs Kathleen Vergers, School Chaplain

Booklists are available through Campion Education and to access the lists use the four digit code of: J9U6.

The link is also available on the parent portal on MyStrathcona through clicking Learning, then Booklist.

• Prep to Year 2 orders are due by Wednesday 2 December and will be distributed by the class teachers next year.
• Year 3 to Year 6 orders are due by Wednesday 9 December and will be delivered to your home in January.
• Year 7 to 10 orders are due by Wednesday 9 December and will be available for booking following the close of the Early English and VCE orders next Monday.

Mr Ross Phillips, Senior Dean of Learning Futures

This service is very accessible, it preferences our school first and then provides access to buy and sell items with families attending other nearby schools, with many schools using this service. Access to second‐hand textbooks, calculators, stationery, musical equipment, etc is available all year.

More information about this service and what items you can buy and sell can be found here. Families will first need to register with the Sustainable School Shop before accessing what is available.

The Dobsons Buy Early & Save Sale has been EXTENDED! Continue to save on selected uniform items until Saturday 21 November when you shop with Dobsons.

Shop in-store or online with a $10 flat rate delivery or click and collect. Visit Dobsons to shop online.

*Terms & Conditions apply. Sale available online and in stores. COVID-safe policies are in place for all in store transactions including click and collect.