Melbourne Girls Grammar

Principal Toni E. Meath

Principal Dr Meath believes that learning is for all. Education is about developing the whole person. Dr Meath and the school share a vision, mission and values to create an excellent learning environment.

Merton Hall (Year 5 – Year 12)

86 Anderson Street, South Yarra VIC 3141

Morris Hall (Prep – Year 4)

100 Caroline Street, South Yarra VIC 3141

Early Learning Centre

63 Clowes St, South Yarra VIC 3141

MGGS is a school where challenge and choice create opportunities for every girl to discover and pursue her strengths, passions, and goals. We believe that an exceptional education is not only about academic skills, but also emotional and physical wellbeing.

We have always been a future-focused community and are innovative in our approach to preparing students for life in an increasingly complex and globally connected world. We focus on reinforcing strong values and lifelong skills like resilience and independence, instilling in our Grammarians the courage they need to excel in life beyond school.

Students engage in experiences that develop their learnings in a way that suits them, individual passions are encouraged as we support each and every student: the Early Learning and Junior Years provide the foundations of positive learning, reinforcing that anything is possible, and where imagination, curiosity and inquiry lead to discovery; the Middle Years (Years 5-8) provide the opportunity to dive deeper into key learning concepts with real-world experiences to assist understanding; the Senior Years (Years 9-12) provide the launching pad for self-motivated learning. Graduates of MGGS are bold, dynamic and courageous leaders who develop the resilience, persistence and confidence to achieve their best in any path they choose.

THE BASICS

Enquiries

+61 3 9862 9200 mggs.vic.edu.au enrolments@mggs.vic. edu.au

Years

ELC – Year 12

Denomination

Anglican

Gender Girls only

Fees

Please visit mggs.vic.edu.au

Boarding \ Yes

Scholarships \ Yes

ATAR \ Information about VCE results can be found on our website

INNOVATION

With a focus on personalised learning, students collaborate and solve problems while thinking critically. Students enjoy authentic opportunities to engage with emerging technologies as we arm the next generation with skills for the future.

ENTERPRISE

We champion the development of enterprising mindsets. Students interact with companies and industry sectors solving real-world problems, attend internships, attain micro credentials and meet visiting entrepreneurs to share experiences.

WELLBEING

Holistic wellbeing is an essential component of a healthy life. To support and extend every girl’s capability, we provide dedicated staff, facilities and programs.

CREATIVITY

Project-based learning tasks enable students to explore real-world problems and develop creative solutions. We foster budding futurists who explore new ways of thinking and are empathetic and conceptual in their approach.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNITY

A key lesson from the lockdowns of 2020 was that resilience can be learned.

BY JESS GABITES

ADAPTABLE AND AGILE MINDSET

The challenges of 2020 have helped nurture resilient students and taught valuable lessons in how to be adaptable and creative.

“Living and learning through a global pandemic required a whole new level of adaptability,” says Diana Vernon, Principal of Methodist Ladies’ College in Kew. “Teaching is all about building relationships with the students in your class and, suddenly, to find yourself engaging with a computer screen is enormously challenging.

“Similarly, for our students to have to adapt from attending school with the endless social interactions to being based at home engaging through their computer screens required enormous adaptability from everyone.”

When Melbourne went into its first lockdown in March 2020, school campuses were shuttered and teaching moved online. It was a challenging and unprecedented time for teachers, students and their families as they were forced to navigate a new way of learning.

Despite the difficulties, many lessons were learned. New-found resilience, flexibility and creativity were just some of the takeaways, which are now helping students and teachers navigate a new school year.

Vernon says that, among other things, 2020 reinforced the school’s strong relationships across the college community and the importance of established information technology systems.

A focus on sustaining engagement through classes, departments, teams and community online events meant the school community remained connected in a meaningful way.

“Relationships are a key focus for learning at MLC, and our experience over the year reinforced the strength of the relationships that we have across the entire community,” she says.

“Additionally, the technological systems we already had in place through Microsoft Teams, class OneNotes and our learning management system meant that our staff and students made the

shift to online delivery very swiftly and very successfully.”

To support student wellbeing, as an integral element of good learning, the school, which has approximately 2000 students, developed the MLC Continuous Learning and Wellbeing Program.

The program included scheduled timetables, albeit with shortened live lessons and increased break times.

“The core of our wellbeing program was to have regular one-on-one wellbeing check-ins with every student, which focused on building relationships and providing an easy avenue for students to seek help and engage one-on-one.”

Feedback from students and families helped the school to refine its online learning program.

“The survey results from our community were extremely positive. While a limited measure, year 12 VCE, VCE VET and IB results at the end of the year were among the best in the college’s history.”

For year 12 student Ally Spain, online learning had its benefits, including the chance to try different co-curricular activities online.

“Online learning gave me an opportunity to discover more about myself as a learner, and I gained a lot of resilience – I had to,” she says. “One of the biggest positives for online learning was gaining more confidence in asking questions because it was easier and not as much pressure as asking them in front of a class.

“My teachers also understood how hard it was and were very receptive if you needed help.”

Vernon believes 2020 gave students authentic learning experiences in being resilient and responding to changing circumstances.

“I was particularly proud of the way that so many of our students responded to disappointment, thinking creatively and being positive to ensure that the online alternative to whatever event was cancelled was memorable and engaging.

“We have the confidence that we can adjust and adapt quickly when needed.”

‘Relationships are a key focus for learning at MLC, and our

experience over the year reinforced the strength of the relationships that we have across the entire

community.’

DIANA VERNON

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH