Principal’s Update | March, 2023
Welcome to the first Principal’s Update for 2023.
Start of the School Year
We have had a magnificent start to the year with students and staff returning and rekindling that warm, welcoming sense of community that defines Mac.Rob. Our new students are feeling very settled after having received a proper orientation and induction for the first time since 2020. We opened school with a moving Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony led by Bunurong Elder, Uncle Shane Clarke and proud Bunurong man, Josh West. I enjoyed learning from Josh as he explained the significance of the plants used in the Smoking Ceremony - the wattle, manna gum, and cherry ballart. We also had another opportunity to meet with the parents of our Year 9 students at the meet and greet on their first day of school. I was delighted to see that the neighbourhood groups we instigated on orientation day, helped families to connect and socialise with each other.
New Buildings (mostly) Open
In exciting news we have moved into the new ground floor of the Lakeside Building and the new Theatre in the Gym building. While all the building works are not yet finished, the classrooms and library are open and we are enjoying them immensely. The open, quiet, collaborative and beautiful environments are very supportive of great teaching and learning, and student agency. So many students are working together in groups to support each others’ learning and development, or they have their head down in the quiet spaces when they need time to concentrate on their own.
School Council
We are looking forward to welcoming our new School Council Members at our next meeting on March 21st, 2023, at 6:00pm. At the meeting we will present our 2022 Annual Report to the School Community. I sincerely thank Ruth Murphy who has been School Council President for 3 years. She has been a great contributor to our school community, always providing us the right amount of support and encouragement, and when required the appropriate amount of challenge. We also thank and congratulate Jeeti Gill, Phyllis Fu, Cam Cac Than Trong, and Sally Ng for their contribution to Council over the last few years.
Mac.Rob IB Expansion
Mac.Rob is proud to announce that we are hoping to increase our student numbers in the IB program from 2024 and beyond. If student numbers increase, we will be able to resource a wider range of subjects from different Subject Groups, and be in a position to allow for greater flexibility for subject choice. This will mean students in Year 1 in 2024 will have the option to select music. Further, students in Year 1 in 2024 will have the option to not select group 6 and instead choose two Languages, Humanities, or Sciences.
International Womens’ Day Breakfast
There was a sellout crowd at the Mac.Rob International Women’s Day Breakfast at Greenfields on Friday, February 24th, with students past and present, parents, and friends of Mac.Rob. We were privileged to hear from Dr Jennifer Tang, Shanika Galaudage and Margaret Webb AM. Jennifer spoke passionately about her exploration and application of artificial intelligence in the field of medicine, and also contributed to the panel discussion with Shanika and Margaret. The take home message from Jennifer was that artificial intelligence is only as good as the data it received, and the data comes from our current online use. She made the case for us all to strongly consider how we use online environments, because it is through positive use that we can all positively influence the development of future technologies.
The panel had a great discussion responding to questions such as what a gender equal future looks like to you; the qualities of great innovators; and tips for addressing gender bias in society. Last year we renewed our collective vision for the school; it is this vision that sets our direction and articulates our aspirations. Our vision is: Honouring diversity. Inspiring curiosity and creativity. Transforming lives. On a morning like the IWD breakfast, joined by our beautifully, diverse extended community, with tangible examples of curiosity and creativity unlocking new and improved ways of being, you could truly see how being a Mac.Robbian can transform, not only the lives of those who attend Mac.Rob, but also the lives of others through the impact of our work and our influence. The breakfast exemplified us living our vision.
Student Highlights
In addition to the articles included in the first newsletter of the year, students have also provided us snapshots on a number of student events, activities, and highlights from Term 1:
IB Art Excursion.
“On February 10th, Ms Tobias and Mr Archer took the year 1 & 2 IB art classes to visit the Glen Eira Town Hall, which was exhibiting previous IB alumni Artwork. The gallery was made up of different mediums, representing multiple stories and journeys of Victorian IB students. It was very inspiring to see what we can achieve and possibly be presenting in the near future.” - Amrit and Maggie, Year 11
Student Leadership Portfolio Exhibition.
Tuesday, February 7th marked the 2nd Student Leadership Portfolio Exhibition, run exclusively by our 2023 Student Leadership team! This event was an opportunity for students to find out more about our 19 exciting leadership portfolios and to learn how they might contribute or become involved. Our student leaders set up stalls with booklets, trinkets, photo booths and more, all to create opportunities for students to learn more about their peers and what the Mac.Rob student community has to offer. We had excellent attendance, with over 150 students coming to the hall at lunchtime, asking clarifying questions, getting involved in quizzes and activities, to find out more about our student leadership culture. Our student leaders are to be commended for their excellent organisation, their friendly and approachable nature and their passion and energy towards enhancing our tight-knit Mac.Rob family.
Swimming Carnival.
“Our annual swimming carnival was held on February 15th this year, with all our students participating in the costume parade, novelty and swimming events. This year’s parade was filled with nostalgia, highlighting the trends of the decades, with hip fitness instructors from the 80s, the spice girls from the 90s, mean girl references from the 2000s and smurfs from the 2010s, along with some fairies, book characters and pac-man references. Congratulations to our age group champions, Jowdy Moh (U14), Olivia Tan (U15), Yeju Lee (U16), Ivy Li (U17) and Sienna Shepherd (U18)! A special shout-out to Sienna Shepherd for not only breaking school swimming records but also achieving a new PB!! Well done to Naiads for taking home the cup this year. Get excited for an amazing year of sport, with Athletics Carnival coming up on May 17th!” - Phoenix S, Naiads Co-Captains
Shinwa Japanese School Visit.
“From March 13th, Mac.Rob will welcome 13 Shinwa exchange students from Japan. As part of their welcome, the Mac.Rob Japanese students along with Mori Sensei helped set up a Hina display at the front office. The Hina display is part of a festival that is celebrated in Japan on March 3rd. This festival is also known as Doll’s Festival or Girls’ Festival which is dedicated to pray for good health and happiness of girls in Japan. We encourage everyone to stop by the front office to have a careful look at the display! After three years of not having the exchange program, we are very excited to have these students come to Mac.Rob and experience life in an Australian high school. - Issy W, Year 12
As always, our community is warmly welcome to contribute to our two major school funds at any time throughout the year: The Building Fund, which contributes to the upkeep of our buildings and facilities; and the Library Fund, which helps provide our LRC with the resources students need to succeed in their studies.
All donations over $2 are tax deductible.
I hope you will enjoy reading about the latest news from Mac.Rob in 2023, as we explore all the ways we are working towards our vision and living our values.
Best wishes,
Sue Harrap | Principal
Read more from the start of Term 1:
Annual privacy reminder for our school community: Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.
Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website. We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages: Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Gujarati, Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese