Principal’s Report
Rockin in the Rose Garden – Summer Soiree
On Thursday 21 November, families and friends had the opportunity to listen to several music ensembles in various locations around the school including the Rose Garden. The garden, established in 2023 was designed to be an extension of the arts space and Thursday night showcased its full potential. A sincere thank you to the music staff for their leadership and the Parents and Friends for overseeing the catering.
On the night we also thanked retiring P & F President Zoltan Kokai and his wife Angela Franzone, retiring P&F committee member. Angela and Zoltan have worked tirelessly to assist the school. They epitomize the efforts that many of our parents put into supporting our educational programs and infrastructure projects.
Sustainability Forum
The Environmental Action Group (EAG) ran its first interschool forum on Tuesday 19 November at the Centre for Higher Education Studies. Over a hundred students from seven schools attended the forum – The MacRobertson Girls High School, Nossal High School, St Kevin’s College, Ave Maria College, Melbourne Grammar School and Albert Park College. The day consisted of various activities and guest speaker events including Dr. Judy Bush, an environmental urban planning lecturer at the University of Melbourne and Mr Warren Overton, Principal of Material Outcomes.
After I welcomed guests, forum attendees split into groups to discussideas on how their schools could be more sustainable.
The participants were fortunate enough to have Year 10 student Sri Karthikeyan present Bhojan App, an app designed to fight food waste. His work has been recognised by the ABC and local council, the City of Kingston.
The forum facilitated discussion amongst student representatives and provided ways in which they can drive change within their own schools and wider community. A special thanks to EAG teacher liaison Ms. Pearson for helping organise the event. We hope to partner with other schools for other environmental projects and to continue the sustainability discussion at MHS. Reference Link for Sri’s ABC article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-23/ai-food-waste-app-kingston-council-melbourne-school-student/103089438
Thank you to Jason Foong and Stuart Schreiber for being the official student photographers on the day. The photographs capture the forum participants; myself with Junior School Captain Jett Cheung and Mr Warren Overton; and keynote speaker Dr. Judy Bush.
Next steps will include working with Mr. Overton to establish a Vegetable Garden, ongoing work on the energy audit area with the support of staff member, Mr. Peter Drew, and new composting and recycling systems for next year.
An outcome from the forum was also establishing interschool relationships with their sustainability teams. We have had an invitation from Melbourne Girls College to participate in their Cinema Pedal Night and a teacher at Melbourne Grammar has suggested a joint clean-up effort with Melbourne Girls may be a possibility. This is exciting for the Environmental Action Group student team, and I will keep you updated if there are good ideas we can implement at MHS inspired by our interschool partnerships.
A sincere thank you to Junior School Captain Jett Cheung for providing the text for this section of the newsletter.
An opportunity to own something special – MHSOB Number Plate
Mark Williams, son of Old Boy Len Williams has inherited as part of his father’s estate a rare number plate. See below. If you are interested, please contact the school office and we can connect you with the seller. Asking price – 20K.
Principal
Dr. Tony Mordini
