Newsletter Term 4, Week 5 4 Nov 2021

Also important for our students is that they have opportunities for fun and to participate in the important rituals which have been scheduled, rescheduled and scheduled once again as we have tried to second guess restrictions and concertina what we can for the end of the year in line with current restrictions. I think everyone in Melbourne is inexplicably exhausted and somewhat discombobulated with all that has been thrown our way – particularly our teachers - but here at School we are hanging in there and trudging determinedly, one foot after the other, to give the girls the best experience we can to finish the year.

At the same time, planning for 2022 has been occurring – the calendar is being embedded, timetabling, staffing and all that is needed to prepare for a new year is underway. As challenging as it is in the current context to find the brain bandwidth, we have also been developing initiatives which we believe will strengthen teaching, learning and the wellbeing of our students and staff as we move further into this decade.

2024 and our Centenary loom are on the horizon and we have also been preparing for that. One part of that planning has led to a pivot from what was a Board Development Committee, which oversaw Marketing and Enrolments amongst other things, to a new Board Philanthropy Committee which is focused on the future and the strengthening of our giving culture.

Consequently, once again, Expressions of Interest are sought for Philanthropy Board Sub-Committee.

Board Sub-Committee members play a critical role in the strategy of the School. With the School’s Centenary on the horizon in 2024 and a School Masterplan underway, the Board invites Expressions of Interest from our community, preferably from people with governance experience and competency or interest in the area of philanthropy and community engagement, to become members of a new special-purpose Philanthropy Committee. Philanthropy involves the giving of time, talent information, goods, services and money to improve the wellbeing of humanity and the community. Last year this work led to the creation of the Family Fund which has been so important for some of our parents severely affected by lockdowns. This year we wanted to do something that fitted the current context so was understated but was also aligned to what our young people are passionate about – and that is the environment. The Green Evolution was a lovely expression of positivity, agency and hope in what, at the time, was a locked down, cold, dark strange world.

This Sub-Committee will be empowered to carefully and strategically build on the giving atmosphere at Strathcona to create an enduring culture of philanthropy. The strategic focus of this group will be to: practise stewardship (maintaining and growing relationships), assist in identifying fundraising priorities, look for potential revenue streams to support ongoing projects and campaigns, seek support for Annual Giving and Capital Campaign Plans and assist in providing advice on strategic direction for an ongoing philanthropic culture.
 
Becoming a Sub-Committee member is a prerequisite to Strathcona Board membership. All positions are voluntary and contribution and service of all Sub-Committee members is much appreciated.
 
Please forward expressions of interest and CV to the Board Secretary Jack Palumbo at jpalumbo@strathcona.vic.edu.au

I hope you enjoy being back in a more normal school routine, pivoting your home away from workplaces and school campuses and socialising with loved ones in favourite or newly discovered places. These freedoms have been so hard won.

Warm regards

Marise McConaghy, Principal

 

 

At the beginning of this year, Strathcona held a Well4Twelve Day, to encourage Year 12 students to maintain a healthy balance and to enhance their awareness of effective coping strategies so that they could manage their studies and wellbeing optimally this year.  It was anticipated that there would likely be challenges during the year, but students were encouraged to be aware that many factors are under their control. Making the most of the opportunities they have, to enhance how well they cope and reduce the impact of stress, was the main aim of this day.  Parents are also able to assist their daughters to keep a balanced approach to study.

Balance the basics

Sleep, nutrition, exercise, relaxation, self-care such as taking care of posture and body while studying, managing stress and making time for fun, contribute to enjoying school, studies and setting up positive practices for the future.  These activities often are pushed aside by young people when the stress of an assessment is pending.  Stealing sleep time to enable that bit of extra study, or not prioritising exercise so that more time is spent studying, are not necessarily effective strategies.  Parents can model and encourage the importance of balancing the basics.

Balance time

Along with a study routine, scheduling priorities within-subjects for study sessions, setting study session goals and planning to include basic self-care needs is important. Planned, regular breaks that are active can assist students to move their bodies, go outside and refresh their focus and concentration. Sitting in the same spot studying and then taking a pause to flick through social media is generally not the best break.  Similarly, fuelling themselves with caffeine or sugar is a short-lived strategy and does not support the long game of studying for success. Students need to feed their brains so it can perform at its peak and move their bodies.

Balance stress

Some stress is motivating and currently, after months of online learning, motivation may be waning.  However, too much stress can be debilitating.  When you can see the stress is building, recognise this and assist your daughter to take a ‘guilt-free’ break.  Breaks work best when they enable some distraction, relaxation and movement.  Assist in creating a workable study space, separate to where students sleep, to allow differentiation between spaces for focus and those that enable downtime. 

Balance expectations

Students can have extremely high expectations, can fear failure and then become overwhelmed with the enormity of the task ahead. If you notice your daughter is feeling overwhelmed, assist them to break down tasks into smaller more manageable chunks, set achievable goals with reasonable timelines and remind them of what they have already achieved.

Focusing on effort and encouraging your daughter to do her best, avoiding comparing with other students or focusing simply on grades, may help to reduce stress regarding assessments. Assist young people to keep the assessment period in perspective by recognising that the results are only part of the learning journey and there are many options and pathways, regardless of exam outcomes.  Students will be very aware of their parents’ expectations, even when they are not overtly stated, so managing our own expectations is also important (nobody likes to disappoint Mum and Dad, or waste expensive school fees!).

Balance behaviour prior to assessments

Depending on your daughter’s age, providing prompts about when socialising or part-time work is occurring a little too often can be tricky, especially as we empathise with how much young people have missed out on over the past months.  Again, prioritising and planning so that a balance is maintained in their study schedule can be important. Balancing family commitments and tasks may also be required depending on your daughter’s study load.  Maintaining some family involvement and responsibility can be reasonable but also flexibility may be required as the intensity of the assessment period approaches.

The night before an assessment is a time to prepare what they will need to take to school, time to go over any summaries or key points and to get a good night’s sleep.  Staying up late cramming is less likely to be helpful. On the morning of an assessment, getting up in plenty of time to eat a nutritious breakfast and travel to school without stress about being late is key.  Finding a quiet spot, away from pre-test angst and taking time to breathe will help many students to approach assessments with a calm mind.

SchoolTV features an article on exam jitters: https://senior-strathcona.vic.schooltv.me/newsletter/exam-jitters

Mrs Kerri Rhodes, Senior School Psychologist

Our wellbeing focus continues to be on providing as many opportunities as possible for the students to reconnect with each other, consolidate their friendships and re-establish some social norms within each year group. Over the course of next week, we will be collecting some data from the students about their wellbeing, specifically addressing the challenges of the pandemic and the effect this has had on them in a variety of areas. I will communicate our plan on this separately via email soon. 

During our Assembly period this week, several key staff addressed different year groups about some important events that will round out Term 4. Simone Boland addressed all Year 10 and 11 students about the purpose of exams and the important experience of completing these despite the challenges of the last 18 months to their academic program. Melissa Patel spoke with our Year 7s about the Middle School leadership process for 2022 with girls being given the opportunity to apply for positions over the next few weeks. Our current Year 8s were given a Duke of Edinburgh briefing by Liesl Woods in preparation for their exciting year at Tay Creggan. There is much to be excited about for next year! 

Lastly, I'd like to draw your attention to a recent alert posted by the Australian Council of Children and Media (ACCM) in relation to a program currently streaming on Netflix called Squid Game. The rating for this program is MA15+ and ACCM has deemed it not suitable for those under 17 due to extreme, frequent and graphic violence, sex scenes, substance use and coarse language.  It is a highly popular program, breaking the record for the 'most-streamed series ever' on Netflix but excerpts are also being filtered through popular social media networks such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and online games such as Roblox. If you would like further information about Squid Game and whether it is appropriate viewing for your child, please click here.  

Warm regards, 

Amber Sowden, Dean of Students and Head of Wellbeing

As with all boundaries and routines, tech-use needs to be revisited regularly, perhaps with expectations being tweaked and reinforced. It has possibly never been more important than right now, as we are coming out of a long period of lockdown where reliance on screens has been significant.

I thought I would revisit some of our ongoing tips for families:

Your house, your rules: regardless of the types of devices in the home, parents set the family expectations for screen use. Your knowledge of what your family needs to manage wellbeing, digital safety and online privacy is critical.
 
Active engagement with your child’s screen use is crucial to managing security, privacy and wellbeing in the home. Children can, and should, be actively supervised, even in the later teenage years.

Screens should not be allowed in bedrooms or bathrooms; we recommend devices only be allowed in communal areas of the house where you can check in with your child/teen and be kept in the loop of their online activities.
 
Know the risks: it’s important that families are familiar with the security and privacy risks that come with the use of internet-connected devices, including laptops, iPads and phones. The internet is a public place; there is no such thing as privacy or anonymity online, there is only the perception of it.

Finally, Jocelyn Brewer is a psychologist who is running a 90-minute webinar in December on the design of a family tech-use agreement. It may be of benefit as we come into the summer months and out of lockdown. A tech-use agreement is a fantastic way to manage screen time and support quality engagement with technology in the home, and Jocelyn is well regarded in her approach to this. Bookings here (around $50 per ticket): https://events.humanitix.com/design-your-family-technology-agreement-dec2021

Mrs Catherine Newton, Head of Digital Learning and Innovation
 

Event info:

Date: 11.00 am to 3.00 pm (AEDT) 19 January 2022 
Format: Virtual holiday program
Individual registration: $45 (non-member $155)
Group registration: $90 for groups of 3 students
Alliance discount: Use the code FLOURISH22 when booking individual registrations
Bookings: https://www.agsa.org.au/event/flourish2022/

Places are limited for this bespoke virtual program, bookings are welcome from schools and/or families, and a flyer is attached to share with your school community. If you have any questions please contact us at (e) agsa@agsa.org.au

Year 7

Elizabeth Lee (Equal top score for her team and in Top 10%)
Edilyn Wong (Equal top score for her team and in Top 10%)
Helen He (Top 10%)
Selina Li (Top 10%)

Year 8

Yolanda Mao (Top Score for her team and in Top 2%)
Cindy Qu (Top 10%)
Aaryn Chieng  (Top 10%)
Jessica Tang (Top 10%)
Charli Donaldson (Top 10%)
Olivia Xin (Top 10%)
Olivia Ma (Top 10%)

Mrs Christy Kertes, Head of Mathematics

Items in the Career News include -

• Reminder: VTAC Key Dates

• Links to University Clubs & Societies

• University Terms

• Park Ranger Courses in Victoria in 2021

• Snapshot of Holmesglen Institute 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.

At Tay Creggan we endeavour to balance enjoyable activities with solid preparation for exams and learning how to learn.  In the next week or two, our students will receive a timetable for exams, scheduled for 22 and 23 November,  in Maths, Science and English. We will explicitly teach study skills and provide advice and guidance in the process. This is an important milestone at Year 9. 

Another rite of passage at Year 9 is learning how to navigate tricky friendship dynamics. Today we ran a year level activity based on Values and how they shape us as a person.  Sadly Covid has prevented teenagers from having the time and space to improve their social and emotional learning and we need to develop these skills in our adolescents. In Health, students are studying drugs, alcohol and risk-taking behaviour, but they also need opportunities to reflect on kindness, empathy, and what values they judge to be important in life. 

On Friday afternoon, we were fortunate that Sheryl Thai, from the League of Extraordinary Women, set up a great online opportunity to hear from Rachel Vasicek, one of the sisters who founded Francesca jewellery.  Her story was inspirational as she chatted about her and her sister's entrepreneurial journey over 10 years to build a sustainable jewellery business in Hobart that sells throughout the world. Rachel spoke in detail about how the company uses social media and markets to different customers. 

In Wednesday's Envision class, Craig Monley, who normally runs our Dancing Classes, ran a dance workshop and taught many of the students how to Salsa, Cha Cha and Hip Hop.  Whilst it does not make up for the loss of Dancing Classes, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon for many students. Craig is going to appear on the 2022 season of Dancing with the Stars. 

As our calendars begin to fill again, Covid has reminded us that social connection is important. It is vital for all Year 9s students to recognise their strengths and the value they bring to their whole year group. We hope that the final weeks of 2021 are cohesive, happy ones.

Mrs Karyn Murray, Head of Tay Creggan

Wednesday 1 December 6.00pm.

Please join us for this virtual event to celebrate the girls and boys from ELC-Year 6 and their creative endeavours at the Annual Art Exhibition. Both collaborative and individual pieces on display exploring both two and three-dimensional forms and a wide variety of mediums for your viewing.

We warmly invite you to the 2021 Virtual Senior Art and Design Show titled Metamorphosis. The theme of this year’s Senior Art and Design Show ‘Metamorphosis’ represents the newly imagined future and symbolizes renewal and change. The art and design pieces showcase the talented work of Strathcona's Year 7 to Year 12 students. I hope you enjoy the show and are inspired by all of the dedication and aptitude of work produced by the Strathcona students, some at school and some in lockdown.

This event will be held virtually on Monday 22 November 2021, at 6.00pm.