Melbourne Girls Grammar congratulates Merton Hall teachers Zoe Skeggs, Eleonor Palacio and Olivia Wilson – the School’s inaugural Teaching Excellence Program participants.
The TEP, Australia’s first advanced professional learning program, is an initiative of The Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. It’s a year-long, multifaceted professional learning experience designed for teachers with more than three years of experience who have demonstrated exceptional teaching in their selected discipline areas. It’s grounded in practitioner inquiry, teacher agency, reflective practice, contemporary research and the key discipline areas of the Arts, English, Health and Physical Education, Humanities, Languages, Mathematics, Science and Technologies.
The program includes specifically designed conferences and expert-led masterclasses, supplemented with learning communities, self-directed learning and support from Master Teachers. The TEP deepens participants’ discipline knowledge, skills, and dispositions by exploring big ideas, teaching demonstrations, examining new approaches, reflection, and dialogue.
Continuing to build the expertise of our teaching staff has multiple benefits. It helps drive excellence in teaching practice across the School, strengthens student learning and outcomes and creates influential role models amongst our teaching cohort. At MGGS, we are a community of lifelong, scholarly, innovative and future-focused learners. Like our students, we want our teachers to grow through learning experiences and continue their learning journeys.
Olivia Wilson
Commencing at MGGS in 2020, Olivia has been an invaluable Drama faculty member. Treasured by her colleagues and students, Olivia has brought to the department a wealth of experience in primary and VCE Drama studies. Olivia is an invaluable member of the VCE team; she exhibits generosity of ideas and is an innovator in implementing contemporary best practice for her students.
Beginning her employment during turbulent “Covid” years, Olivia has been a strong advocate for the Arts. She is adaptable and displays an admirable buoyancy when striving to create performance opportunities for students during unprecedented times, directing both digital and live productions. By doing that, she fostered opportunities for students to collaborate and to remain connected to their passion in the Performing Arts.
A humble educator, Olivia is a true asset to the MGGS Drama Department and wider School community.
Victoria Page, Head of Drama
Zoe Skeggs
Zoe Skeggs has been at MGGS for six years, and in that time, she has been an outstanding teacher and colleague in the Mathematics Department. Zoe has a deep knowledge of the Mathematics curriculum and has a student-centred approach when teaching. These two factors, teamed with her caring and friendly nature, Zoe is unsurprisingly greatly admired and appreciated by her students. Zoe is thoughtful and has well-considered opinions, but she is also a great listener, and these qualities make her such a valued member of the Mathematics faculty. Zoe’s energy and enthusiasm for what she does seem endless.
This year Zoe teaches Mathematical Methods 3/4, Year 10 Mathematics and Year 9 Accelerated Mathematics and she is enjoying the challenges of her new role as Mungo 11/12 House Wellbeing coordinator.
Robin Dunn, Head of Mathematics
Eleonor Palacio
Eleonor is an inspiring teacher who believes in lifelong learning and the need for ongoing practice and improvement. She has been teaching a language other than English (Spanish) for 15 years in various settings, from early childhood to adults. Through her experience, she has gained an understanding that evidence-based practice is the best way to ensure improved student engagement and outcomes. Eleonor is always developing her teaching ability to have a higher impact on students’ learning. She is very dedicated to her subject and has a passion for further learning. She is well appreciated by the students, as well as her colleagues, as she is always positive and willing to collaborate in many ways.
Eleonor is a literary translator with a love of languages developed early in her formative years. She was Founder and Director of Farolito Spanish Language School (classes for adults, children and teens), which ran from 2011-2020. She started at MGGS in 2015 as a consultant to develop the Year 9 curriculum, with Spanish introduced in 2016. She began as a teacher in 2016 and helped develop the curriculum for all Spanish levels (Years 9-12). She was Instructional Designer for Spanish courses (Year 9-11) at MGGS in 2017-2018, Remote Learning Coach for the Modern Languages Department in 2020 and a Personal Dimensions Mentor for Year 8. Since 2021 she has also been Year 9 and 10 House Wellbeing Coordinator for Clarke House.
Cecile Rouveyrol-Malod, Acting Head of Modern Languages