A Picture of Success
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INTERNATIONAL A PICTURE OF SUCCESS CERTIFICATIONS The Class of 2014 continued our excellent record of VCE success. These results are a reflection of the hard work put in by students and their teachers over many years in all critical areas of learning. We are delighted when students achieve or surpass their personal expectations which are not always reflected in a test or ATAR score. Our results are particularly pleasing considering we are a non-selective entry school and welcome students of all talents and abilities. Through our personalised approach to learning, combined with our expertise in the education of girls, we help students build their self-confidence, achieve excellence and make a difference - these are the results that will last a lifetime. Highlights from the Class of 2014 • I00% of our students attained their VCE • The two top students achieved ATARs of 99.7 • 8.2% of the class achieved ATARs of 99+ COUNCIL OF • 24.6% of the class achieved ATARs of 95+ INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS • 42.6% of the class achieved ATARs of 90+ • 68.9% of the class achieved ATARs of 80+ Power of One, Strength of Many Welcome to the 2015 edition of well RED. Someone said to me once: "You can never rely on jigsaw puzzles. They always end up going to pieces!" Jokes aside, I do enjoy them and some of our students know that I once had a go at putting together a 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle - I started out enthusiastically and worked feverishly for many hours towards my goal, only to be frustrated by my adolescent cat who, with one poorly judged jump, sent the whole thing flying off the table. I learnt many lessons that day about managing frustration, resilience, dealing with 'failure', and working effkiently - all aspects of learning that we encourage in our students. Like the jigsaw puzzle on the cover of this edition, the picture of learning can always be expanded upon, revised, improved and it's vital to have 'the strength of the many' to bring the picture of the times, the bold vision, to reality. For our own life, we don't even know how many pieces there are 1 As our students grow up and go through school, they start putting the pieces together that shape an idea of what their life will look like - they choose subjects, volunteer for things, meet people, test out different identities. At our School and with their family, they start to figure out which might be the corner pieces and edge pieces of their life puzzle - the values, the moral framework, the expectations that they will have of others in their life, of how they will be treated, by men, by other women, the boundaries that will make their unique masterpiece. Sometimes, it's a real struggle. They can't find the right piece when they want it and can't make sense of the picture. But it is precisely those times of struggle and failure when the most learning occurs - when students go to the edge of their ability and a little beyond. What looks like struggle and failure is, in fact, an act of construction - the making and honing of new connections in the brain, that with effort and perseverance, lead to finding the next piece of one's unique life puzzle. In one famous study, Professor Carol Dweck1 and her colleagues offered four-year-olds a choice: they could either redo an easy jigsaw puzzle, or try a harder one. Even these young children conformed to the characteristics of one of two mindsets - those with "fixed" mindsets stayed on the safe side, choosing the easier puzzles that would affirm their existing ability, reinforcing their belief that smart kids don't make mistakes; conversely, those with the "growth" mindset - the ones who believed that you could get smarter - were mystified why anyone would want to do the same puzzle over and over if they weren't learning anything new. In other words, the fixed-mindset kids wanted to make sure they succeeded in order to seem smart, whereas the growth mindset ones wanted to stretch themselves, for their definition of success was about becoming smarter. So, we remind our students that through our enterprising, outward-looking education, they must not remain permanently on the 'safe' side. They have their unique 'power of one' as Mentone Girls to adopt a growth mindset where success is about learning. As you read through these pages, you will see evidence of how they have done this. The stories illustrate how our girls have learnt to better use their minds, to become smarte~ to believe in themselves, to serve others, to shape their future, to strive for gender equality; and as global citizens, to rise boldly to the challenges of their times. We trust that through the 'strength of many' - staff, family, and the wider school community - we are all helping them to see the 'bigger picture', the one that gives them the faith that with continuing effort, they can keep learning and create their unique life masterpiece. That picture is not always clear, but we keep encouraging them to put pieces together so that the puzzle will keep growing. It may not look like a masterpiece to others, but that's OK as everyone is different. And according to Dweck (p. 211 ), as parents, teachers and coaches, we are entrusted with people's lives; the best thing we can do is to teach our children to love challenges, to be intrigued by mistakes, to enjoy effort, and to keep on learning. I. Carol.S. Dweck (2006) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - How we can Learn to Fulfil our Potential. Ballantine Books. Pages 16-17. Principal's Message continues over... The Bigger Picture The power of one and the strength of many has propelled us to reach out further to our wider community. I am enormously As a school, too, we are acutely aware of the 'bigger picture' grateful to the many individuals, past students and organisations and the fact that it is never really finished. We continue to who are proud to partner with us and who contribute to strive to invest in providing the best education for girls. There our School's outstanding accomplishments. As part of our is no doubt that ours is a high performing school and that priority on Wellbeing, we've teamed up with local health clinic we are renowned for our students' academic achievements. mHealth to provide sponsorship for our Aerobics squad and On every external measure - NAPLAN and VCE results, other well being initiatives. We also introduced a very successful academic competitions, measures of quality, international Sports 'Dinner with Champions' where, through the generosity certification - for our students and for our School - we have of Acquire Learning, we welcomed female world champion a picture of success. Our ELC exceeds national standards, surfer and Australian sporting icon, Layne Beachley, as our and provides our youngest Mentone Girls with a program for guest speaker. The power of one of our Old Girls from 1931 - school readiness that is second to none in our area. Our Junior the late Aline Darke - left a generous bequest for us to provide School is in the TOP 3 girls' schools and our Senior School is a perpetual scholarship in her name, open to girls entering Year in the TOP I O girls' secondary schools in Victoria.2 9 or above who show great potential, passion for our School, and who are willing to recommend it to others, as Aline did, Through the ideas and initiatives of our talented staff, we and who one day might give back to our School to continue continue to develop our programs and to enhance our this virtuous circle of making a difference to young women. physical campus. We have enlarged the playground space It's this very real, practical way of saying "I'm going to fill in the in the Junior School by relocating our Sustainability Centre missing piece of your puzzle so that you can create a beautiful and kitchen garden, introducing 'the green' open space picture and, one day, help others to do the same"; to give the grassed area where students can run and play, and some life-changing gift of a Mentone education. Why did she do this[ high-end playground equipment to ensure our girls have the She was smart, compassionate, generous (not necessarily very opportunity for physical as well as intellectual challenges. affluent) but she gave almost everything she had because she We've completed Stage I of our Performing Arts area believed in what our School does for girls; she experienced renovations, commenced the relocation and upgrade of our it, appreciated it, and was grateful for it. These are just a few Media Design Suite with 3D printing, paving the way for our examples of how community members team with us, and give new classrooms to accommodate an additional class of Year of their time. talent and treasure for our Mentone Girls. 7 students in 2016. We are constantly improving and refining facilities to ensure they support our innovative educational At Mentone, we have been harnessing the power of one and approaches and suit the particular needs of girls, alongside the the strength of many, joining with you all. and with so many ongoing work of maintaining our beautiful bayside property. others in Australia and around the world, to do things outside the norm that make a difference; that provide a unique style We've achieved so much in developing our 'virtual' campus as of education to give unparalleled opportunities for girls.