Year 11

We hope you’ve had a good week. One of the duties of the Captains in Year 11 is gate duty, when the girls welcome students onto campus, say good morning and play music. It sets a great tone for the beginning of the day and everyone is welcomed. Our image this week shows Lefki Papadopoulos (Vice Captain Year 6 – Year 9), Lara Bazzi (Wade Vice Captain) and Misha Behi (Sutton House Captain) at the gate on Thursday morning.

In Academic Care this week, Marianna Carlino (Director of eLearning) spoke with Year 11 about cybersafety – detecting deep fakes, digital reputation and eSafety awareness. The girls learned about how to detect a deep fake, their prevalence, the role of AI and its impact, particularly on girls and young women. While the information is concerning, our role at MLC School is to educate and inform our students to be aware and protect themselves from cyber harm. The role of the eSafety commissioner was reinforced with Year 11 and they were advised to report incidents of abuse online to a trusted adult first and via the eSafety commissioner website. (See link here: https://www.esafety.gov.au/) Marianna will continue working with Year 11 in 2025 on issues raised by the students which they would like more information about.

Some Year 11 students are in the process of changing subjects or levels for their senior programme in the HSC or IB. This is a very important decision and we advise students and parents to discuss the implications and seek advice. The process involves obtaining a form from the Deputy Head of Senior School – Academic office (Elisa Scala) and working through the people who need to sign off on the changes, including parents. An important conversation takes place with the relevant teacher, Heads of Faculty, Elisa Scala or Priscilla Quintana (IB Coordinator), Jo Cilia (Head of Futures and Pathways) and myself as Head of Year.  When the process is complete, we hope that students feel confident and supported in their choices. I would also advise that parents consult your daughter’s class teacher during the Parent Teacher Interview, to be held on Wednesday 30 October 2024 from 4pm-6pm, online. Following this is the Year 12 2025 Information Webinar and we look forward to meeting you online and hearing your questions.

Assessment Guides are now available for 2025. Please click on the links below to access:

2025 Higher School Certificate (HSC) Assessment Guide

2025 International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme

You can also access the guides in Omnia, under School Information / Year 11 via the link below:

https://omnia.mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au/school-information/senior-school/year-11/

For specific academic concerns, we recommend a phone call or email to your daughter’s class teacher and for pastoral issues, your daughter’s Luminary. I am available Monday to Friday as Head of Year on sconnolly1@mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au or 02 8741 9736.

As a reminder, your daughter’s Luminary is also in their House group. Here is a list of the Luminaries for Year 11 – Year 12:

– Sharon Connolly
Head of Year 11