Welcome back to Term 3 and a particularly warm welcome to families new to the Melbourne Girls Grammar community. I have enjoyed reporting the events and successes of the beginning of term to Dr Meath, who is currently undertaking her sabbatical studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr Meath is also residing at Newnham College, where MGGS’s founders Alice Taylor and Emily Hensley studied prior to journeying to Australia and founding the School. Prior to arriving in Cambridge, Dr Meath attended MGGS reunions in New York and London, reminding us of the connections our graduates enjoy across the world. We are looking forward to welcoming Dr Meath back on Monday 17 August.
During the Staff Days held at the beginning of term, teachers heard from Dr Tim Kitchen discussing uses and ethics of AI, and highlighting the Castlereagh Statement, released as a shared vision of stakeholders from education and training, industry, community and government, to outline the national effort needed to secure Australia’s social and economic prosperity in the age of AI. The statement, found at https://castlereagh.ai, espouses goals that Melbourne Girls Grammar endorse. I shared a condensed version of the Statement’s goals with students from Years 5 – 12 at our first assembly, highlighting the need for education to have a focus on “the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions that we want humans to continue developing and demonstrating” in the age of AI, along with the importance of “being capable of confidently, critically, and creatively engaging with AI”. Our MGGS use of AI in Education guidelines are built around key principles that value human effort in learning, and care for human connection. The staff valued the time to reflect critically on this area during the Staff Days, and we continue to work with students to ensure they understand the opportunities and limitations presented by emerging technologies.
The commencement of Semester 2 also provided the opportunity for many students to gather with other Anglican Schools at St Paul’s Cathedral for a service lead by the Archbishop of Melbourne, the Most Reverend Dr Ric Thorpe. The service celebrated the distinctive contribution Anglican education makes to the life of the Diocese. The service theme was “Awe and Wonder” and the experience of hearing the singing and prayer within the beautiful and sacred space of the Cathedral was indeed full of wonder. Our Chaplain, Dr Kirsty Ross, has recently returned from Perth, where she represented Melbourne Girls Grammar at the Anglican Schools Conference.
Kathryn Ye, our Year 12 Vice-captain returned to MGGS this week after representing Australia in the World Debating Championships in Kenya. Katherine sent an email reflecting on her experience: “I have also felt myself improve immensely in debating – competing in over 20 rounds – learning so much about the world and learning so much about how to analyse claims from every angle. We ended up 7th out of 74 countries in the preliminary rounds but got knocked out in the Double-Octofinals in a thrilling debate against Japan.”
In Chess, Year 8 student Ariana Fais has won the Under-18 Victorian Girls Chess Championships. We congratulate Ariana on her achievement and dedication to Chess. Year 5 student, Cindy Wang also placed highly in the Under-12 section of the Victorian Girls Chess Championship. We also recognise Eliza Sweeney Ramasundaram, who has been selected for Snow Australia’s emerging talent program in Alpine. We are immensely proud of the self-discipline and dedication of MGGS students who pursue excellence in their chosen fields.
The VCE Premier’s Awards was held earlier in the term and we congratulate Cecilia Xu (Dux, Class of 2025) and Grace Perrett (Class of 2026) who received awards, recognising their outstanding achievements in their VCE studies in 2025. Cecilia was recognised for excellence in both English and Music Repertoire Performance while Grace received a Study Award for her amazing results in Physical Education.
Thank you to everyone involved in the many events that marked the commencement of the semester, including Grandparents morning in Morris Hall, Middle Years Curriculum Morning, Senior Years Subject selection events, Open Morning, and more.
Lynda Wall
Acting Principal