From the Principal

Welcome to 2025

It was an absolute delight to witness the excitement of our students as they started their new school year. Standing at the gate on the first day as our student leaders welcomed everyone back, the joy was infectious and made for a very positive start to the new school year.

A very special welcome to our new students and their families. We are delighted to have you join our school community. While moving to a new school can be both exciting and challenging, please remember that we are all here to make the transition as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

As with the start of any new year, we have a number of new teaching staff joining the School, including several who return to us after time elsewhere.

Melissa McMahon joins us in the Executive position of Head of Learning and Teaching. Mel was previously Director of Professional Practice at Trinity Grammar School, Assistant Principal Curriculum (Acting) at Oakhill College and Director of Teaching Excellence K–12 at Pymble Ladies College, making her extremely well qualified to lead our whole school learning improvement plans.

Sonia Weston takes up the role of Deputy Head of Junior School – Curriculum, bringing with her a wide range of professional experiences including Head of Curriculum and Head of Professional Learning at Ocre Education, Content writer and Subject Matter Expert at Inquisitive Education and Director of Curriculum K-6 at Queenwood School for Girls.

We also have two new roles in the Senior school which have been introduced to ensure that we have additional capacity and expertise to provide the best possible care for all students.

Alistair Roland returns to MLC School as Head of Students Year 7 to Year 9. Amongst his many leadership roles in schools, Al was previously Director of Boarding at SHORE and Secondary Principal at the International School of Busan.

Much admired and respected current staff member Fiona Pow has taken on the role of Head of Students Year 10 to Year 12. Fiona is known for her exceptional leadership, care for students and outstanding classroom practice and is looking forward to this new challenge.

To fill Fiona’s Head of Year role, we are thrilled that former staff member Penny Hewett will return as Head of Year 10. Penny returns to us from Danebank Anglican School for Girls where she was a Year Coordinator and French/Diverse Learning Teacher.

Helene Schmit has returned to MLC School after teaching at Marymount International School in London and Martina Stolzi rejoins the Science department.

Returning from long service leave are Monica Lee and Laura McDonald and returning from parental leave are Eddie Park and Megan Westwood.

We welcome new Junior School staff members Marian Doull (Visual Arts), Sasha Ross (Year 1), Bridget Woods (Year 5) and Anne Abbott (Year 6).

And joining the Senior School team we welcome Derek Truong (Acting Assistant Head of Department Mathematics), Michaela Bourbous (PDHPE), Samantha Cook (English), Megan De Souza (Mathematics), Julian Hannuna (French), Amy Lim (Science), Zoe Rawlinson (Visual Arts) and Anne Sinclair (History and RE).

Please join me in welcoming our new staff, students and families to MLC School.

And finally, a reminder about our Parent Welcome event next Friday. This event is a wonderful informal opportunity for new and current parents and carers to get to know each other, enjoy some great food and music and celebrate the start of the new school year.

– Lisa Moloney
Principal