From the Principal – Who should you call?
As you have no doubt discovered, MLC School is a complex organisation. For this reason, I thought it important to outline some of the roles and responsibilities and to provide guidelines that will assist you to contact those who can resolve any matters as quickly as possible.
As a general guide, your first contact should be with the person closest to the concern.
For academic matters this will be your daughter’s class or subject teacher.
This is an important first step as the teacher will usually be able to provide solutions or suggestions to address the concern and may also have insight into the situation of which you are unaware.
In the Senior School, if an academic matter remains unresolved, the Head of Department should be contacted.
If you are concerned about your daughter’s wellbeing, in the Junior School the class teacher is once again your first point of contact. In the Senior School, the Heads of Year will be able to assist.
The Junior School and Senior School have Deputy Heads of School with specific responsibilities for Academic and Pastoral/ Wellbeing leadership. They are involved in managing more complex or unresolved matters and will provide support and expert advice to their teams and to parents and carers as required.
The Heads of School, Daniel Sandral (Junior School) and Joanna Graffen (Senior School), are responsible for the day-to-day management of all aspects of their respective schools and more serious or unresolved matters should be escalated to them.
There are also Executive staff with whole school roles. They include Deputy Principal Melissa Boyd who has responsibility for of all aspects of whole school operations (including co-curricular sport and music) and student wellbeing. Linda Emms, as Head of Learning and Teaching, is responsible for the quality of pedagogy and learning in every classroom and the associated operational requirements.
As well as being visible and available to members of the MLC School community, my role is to be focused on the future. Working closely with the School Council, I am responsible for ensuring that the planned strategy is realised; that our approach to risk and compliance are best practice; that we plan for the future by carefully managing enrolment numbers; that we are regularly reviewing our masterplan; working with the Business Manager to ensure that we have the capacity to build new facilities and upgrade our current ones; and to ensure that we are up to date with current research and understandings in education and school operations. Representing the best interests of MLC School, girls’ education and independent school education is also key and, for this reason, I serve on several boards and regularly attend meetings where this representation is needed.
– Lisa Moloney
Principal
As we begin the new school year, it is important to remember the role that connection plays in building a strong school community. Connection is vital for fostering a positive learning environment, where students feel supported, encouraged, and motivated to learn. This weekend, I had the privilege of attending our first Senior School Family House Chapel Services for Whitley and Wade. I was taken with the beauty of this tradition, hoping that each student and their families felt connected to the rich MLC School history, fostering a sense of continuity, and belonging.
This week saw the updating of the My School website with the 2022 NAPLAN data. The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Each year students in Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 9 participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
The wet weather this week has resulted in our school photographers not been able to complete all our group photos. Another day is being arranged and we will inform you as soon as possible.
Lucy Aurelius is a creative and dedicated primary school teacher from the U.K., where she has taught mainly Kindergarten to Year 2 for 15 years. Having recently relocated to Sydney from London with her Australian husband and 9-year-old daughter she is very excited to continue her teaching career at MLC School. Children’s wellbeing is at the heart of all she does, and this was the focus on her post-graduate studies at Kingston University. She firmly believes that children learn best when they are happy and strives to provide a welcoming, engaging environment in which her students can thrive. In her spare time, she enjoys singing in a choir (and has led school choirs), going to the theatre, reading (including a passion for children’s books; sharing stories with her class is one of her favourite activities) and being out in nature with her family. She is very much looking forward to exploring more of our beautiful country. 
No matter how young our children are, they are never too young to learn about good digital citizenship. Too often children have access to devices and use them in ways that we, as parents, are not aware. Young people today are often much more tech savvy than their parents. The issue of setting up rules around device use and supervising our children online is a serious one.
This year we have again allocated each Year 12 student with an academic mentor to assist them with support in managing their workloads and organisation. This support is in addition to the oversight already provided by Head of Year 12, Angela Renwick, teachers and key staff. Research has shown that mentoring and positive relationships can have a number of benefits including socio-emotional benefits, resilience and positive academic progress.
This week in Luminary time students worked together to come up with their top 10 rules for being in inclusive and respectful friendships. Some of the aims of this were to build on their sense of self, connections with others and to understand that being inclusive and respectful in and of all types of relationships is essential. I encourage you to speak with your child about what made their list, and what would make yours? In Year 8, particularly in Luminary sessions and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) we talk about values and priorities. We discuss how these vary between people and how ‘finding your tribe’ is about finding people who although they may be different in personality, likes and dislikes, they align on their values.
Across this week students have shown they are well and truly settled into their new routines. Excursions are running, assessments are being set or completed and students are starting to attend clinics across a range of subjects. As well as this, co-curricular activities and sports are back in full swing with students attending training in the mornings or workshops after school. It truly is fantastic to see the Year 9 cohort so committed to the experiences on offer at MLC School. 
This week has seen our Term 1 Luminary Leaders run both Luminary sessions, so thank you to the following students for their collaboration and leadership:
Often during the week before an examination block, I see the effects of the pressure building on the students which then begins to dissipate once examinations are under way. While some of Year 12 are discussing how they have self-doubts about their preparation, what I am seeing currently is a cohort determined to get through a challenging term. I have no doubts that a great many families are seeing and supporting a contrasting image at home. All these moments are building their skills, resilience and preparation for final examination and life beyond high school. If you have any concerns, please reach out to class teachers, Luminaries, or myself. I can be reached by emailing 
