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MHS students take the long way home in support of World Vision

The Melbourne High School student interest group Global Issues Education (GIE) joined thousands of Australians to lead global change. Last Friday, participating students challenged themselves to walk long distances home, to gain a better understanding of the realities faced by refugees and those living in poverty around the globe.

Staff co-ordinator for Global Issues Education (GIE) Ian Dowling stressed the importance of MHS students understanding their unique privilege.

Year 11 student Michael Wynne, who raised over $350 by walking 23 kilometres to Ringwood station, acknowledged that it’s upsetting that there are a lot of people out there who don’t get to experience life as we do.

David Chen Vice Pres (Year 12) and Aldon Vong GIE Pres (Year 12) made the twenty kilometre trek to Box Hill to show what students can do within their scope. David, Vice President of GIE, expressed enthusiasm for World Vision’s engaging community programs – “More than just standard charity work that distributes funds – they really engage and educate students and the community, which I think is a really important part of charity work.”

Aldon, GIE President, commented that “it’s really easy to get lost in everyday life as a student. I feel like doing this walk gives you the opportunity to reflect on what people have to go through just to get access to basic resources, like water for instance, which is the truth for many communities out there.”

Junior Executive of GIE, Brian Lee, committed to walking an incredible 60 kilometres and had some inspiring words for others thinking about getting involved with World Vision: “At the end of the day I know there’s an end to it…that after 60 kilometres I don’t have to walk anymore, after 40 hours I don’t have to live out of my backpack anymore, but that’s not the case for many refugees overseas. I guess I just wanted to do something to hopefully improve the situation.

Click here to view SBS News coverage of Aldon and other MHS Students discussing why it is important to stand with young refugees around the world.

To find out more about the World Vision Backpack Challenge CLICK HERE

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How the Scholarship Fund helped Tom get the counselling he needed

After his father died and his mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Tom took on the role of key family carer, often missing school and falling behind with classwork. Tom developed anxiety and depression and dropped out of school for a period of time.

The MHS Wellbeing department continued to support him and he eventually agreed to undertake counselling with external professionals. He was awarded an MHS Student Carer Scholarship which enabled him to meet the costs of counselling and also helped fund driving lessons, enabling him to take his mother to appointments.

With financial assistance and strong support from his Student Learning Coordinator, class teachers and the Wellbeing department, Tom was able to complete a modified academic load and returned to school to successfully complete his VCE.

He is currently hoping to study arts/media at Swinburne or Latrobe University. Tom credits his VCE success to all this support and he is determined to continue to improve his and his mother’s situation.

If you are interested in assisting students in need at Melbourne High School you can DONATE HERE

If you would like to find out more about the numerous MHS scholarships that support students in need CLICK HERE

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A generous donor provides support for young carers at MHS

In 2013, SBS’s Insight profiled young carers – or, in their words, “some awesome kids doing some pretty grown-up stuff”.

After watching this special feature, Susan Fincham felt compelled to support young carers and kindly reached out to Melbourne High School to see how she could help. She established The Susan Fincham Young Carers Scholarship, a bursary to provide recognition and support to young carers at Melbourne High School, a school very close to her heart.

Through her support, Susan Fincham hopes to assist young carers to increase participation in the MHS community through alleviating some of the financial pressures associated with their important role. If you or someone you know is balancing their studies at MHS whilst caring for a  family member there is help available. Two bursaries are provided annually and are used to cover expenses such as fees, uniforms, books, excursions and co-curricular activities.

Find out more about The Susan Fincham Bursary and other scholarships here.

If you would like to help MHS students in need you can donate to the Scholarship Trust here

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A night that spanned the ages -Old Boys Association, 2018 Dinner

220 Old Boys who graduated as recently as 2017 to as far back as 1949, filled the Langham Melbourne Ballroom. This night of celebration provided a wonderful opportunity for our school community to reunite.

The night commenced with a rousing rendition of the School Song, demonstrating that the skills acquired through participating in the House Choral Competition are lifelong.

Young entrepreneur and School Vice-Captain of the Class of 2003, Chris Edwards, provided an inspiring and immensely entertaining keynote presentation about his journey to build Melbourne’s leading suit tailor, Oscar Hunt. The take home message from Chris’s presentation was ‘fail as much as you can early on. The only condition is – ‘you can’t make the same mistake twice’. Chris was supported by a large group of family and school friends on the night.

A further highlight of the evening was the fierce auction bidding for a football jumper signed by every player from the 2017 Richmond Premiership Team. This jumper was donated by the most senior Old Boy at the event, Bill Meaklim OAM, from the Class of 1949. As Richmond Football Club historian Bill has spent much of his life documenting the history of the Richmond Football Club. He was awarded a Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in 2017 for his decades of service to the club. The jumper raised over $2,500 on the night. He personally gathered signatures from all the players.

Old Boy and School historian, Dr Allan Gregory AM, summed up the evening perfectly, ‘I thought the night was excellent, the speaker was first-class, an excellent meal and a great atmosphere.  Great fundraising too’.

If you would like to see photos from the evening or hear about upcoming events, please visit the MHSOBA website.

We hope to see even more of you at the event next year.

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New generation classrooms

Students, teachers and the MHS community formally launched the first two architect-designed and refurbished multipurpose classrooms in May 2017.

These state-of-the-art classrooms reflect Melbourne High’s commitment to the best learning environments for students. In terms of classroom design, this includes embracing the potential of technology and both individual and group learning. The classrooms are also in-step with how commercial offices and tertiary institutions are now designed.

This is reflected in the feeling of spaciousness, flexibility of furnishings, integration of technology and, a surprise to many first-time visitors, no fixed desk for the teacher. Biology and the increasingly popular robotics classes are taught in the new rooms.

According to recent Melbourne High graduate, Peter Drew, who is in his first year of engineering at Monash University, ‘The classrooms ‘accommodate how you want to work   – the rooms adapt to what you want, rather than you having to adapt to the room.’

The challenge now is to offer these new, advanced learning environments to more students. As MHS Principal, Jeremy Ludowyke, explained: ‘the older classrooms were designed for a style of teaching that will soon be 100 years old – those rooms simply no longer fit modern teaching.’

Melbourne High School has a vision of refitting all 50 classrooms by MHS 100th anniversary in 2027. This goal and timeline is ambitious but achievable, according to Melbourne High School Foundation Chair, Col John Wertheimer AM RFD. ‘I’m hopeful that support for future students will come from the current school community and the 20,000 former students, who simply wouldn’t be where they are without MHS,’ said the Chair.

The newly refurbished classrooms were supported by many generous donors, teachers, parents, students and friends of the school.  Our sincere thanks to those who made it possible.

We need your help to renovate more classrooms in 2018. Donate today!

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Helping an ‘old boy’ fulfill his dream of becoming a surgeon

HENRY has benefitted from an Undergraduate Scholarship, having completed his studies at MHS with distinction. He was Dux of his graduating year and wanted to become a surgeon.

After leaving school and enrolling at Melbourne University, he continued to support himself with a modest income from coaching in Chemistry. His supportive mother was suddenly diagnosed with severe cervical spine degeneration, and the family was plunged into financial difficulty, worsening an already difficult situation.

The MHS scholarship has made a significant contribution to his life and  he is well on the way to fulfilling his dreams as a surgeon. He would like to return to MHS and teach Chemistry when he retires!

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We are steaming ahead towards our goal of renovating 50 classrooms.

We are excited to announce that we now have six classrooms renovated with another classroom currently under refurbishment.

In June this year, fifty members of the Melbourne High School community gathered to celebrate the opening of our most recently renovated classroom. Representing the 80 volunteers and 1296 donors who helped raise $491,627 for new classrooms last year, there was an incredible sense of achievement in the room.

Event guests had the opportunity to visit old, under construction and new classrooms and hear about why the renovation was more than just new carpet, paint and upgraded technology. In his speech, Principal Jeremy Ludowyke advised that the school’s most valuable educational resource is not, as often assumed, its teachers but the student cohort who challenge and support each other to succeed. He went onto explain that the classrooms are designed to optimise this learning opportunity by moving away from the traditional teacher focussed classroom layout. Through flexible furnishings, the integration of technology and, a surprise to many first-time visitors, no fixed desk for the teachers, students can more easily work in teams.

Jeremy outlined how the new classrooms are in-step with the contemporary commercial offices and tertiary institutions of today because they are designed to facilitate collaboration. He advised that MHS is moving towards a teaching and learning framework more closely aligned with the university system and how the classrooms capacity to accommodate both individual and team-based learning was a key step towards this vision. The next key step is the establishment of the Centre for Higher Education at 669 Chapel St. This project received $27.5 million state government funding in the 2018 Budget and discussions are currently underway with Monash and Melbourne University about program delivery.

A highlight of the event on Monday night was the unveiling of the first of four donor boards recognising the community’s extraordinary contribution to the classroom renovations. With government funding only providing basic facility maintenance community support is the only way we will reach our target of renovating 50 classrooms by 2027. According to Jeremy the biggest hurdle this year in working to this target is not limited funds but logistics. The school does not have enough space to allow for more than one classroom being taken off the schedule at a time.

A highlight of the refurbishment is the bespoke colour scheme in each of the classrooms. We would like to thank Higgins for donating both the paint and a crew of professional painters to help with the painting.

To donate to the Classrooms of a New Century Campaign click here