It has been an exciting, but busy start to the year in the Humanities Faculty. This however, has been made much easier by the highly capable team of teachers that I work with. Each teacher brings their own specialist approach to the teaching of the broad range of subjects that make up the Faculty. I am fortunate to work with such a committed and professional team of teachers. We have welcomed several new staff in 2019. I welcome Ms Elaina Cortez, who is teaching VCE Business Management and Accounting, Ms Sophie Hardwick who teaches VCE Geography and Humanities and Mr Paul Gilby teaching VCE Global Politics, Legal Studies and Humanities. I would also like to congratulate Miss Elizabeth Ryan on her successful appointment as History Coordinator. Miss Ryan’s role is primarily to oversee the development of the History curriculum for Years 7 to 10 that is rigorous and engaging and, as well, encourages students to be critical thinkers and independent learners.

The Humanities Faculty has commenced the school year with a strong focus upon skill development, explicit Learning Intentions and assessment for learning through the development of success criteria.

The Year 7 Humanities cohort have been busy at work exploring the history of St Catherine’s by spending time with the School’s Archivist, Ms Melissa Campbell, while the Year 8 Humanities classes are studying Environments and Landscapes with a focus on coastal systems. To facilitate student understanding of the processes that operate in coastal environments and the negative and positive impacts of their use, each class has been on a Geography Fieldwork Excursion to St Kilda Beach.

On Friday 22 February, I was fortunate to attend the Year 12 Geography Fieldwork alongside Ms Hardwick and our very enthusiastic Geography students. The focus of the fieldwork was the Change of Land Use, so this excursion to the outer north of Melbourne provided a great example of how land that was once used for primary production is now used for the development of new housing estates. This is in response to Melbourne’s growing population and lack of affordability of housing in the inner metropolitan area. On closer inspection, the students identified that the development of infrastructure lags significantly behind the development of new suburbs creating some liveability issues for those people who already reside in the estate. This experience provided the Geography students with greater insight and understanding into the curriculum to enhance their learning.

Mr Gilby has shared a recount of the Unit 3/4 Legal Studies class and the current and last year’s Global Politics students ‘boardroom’ style meeting with The Honourable Julie Bishop MP during her visit to St Catherine’s on 22 February.

In the weeks leading to the meeting, students brainstormed questions to ask Ms Bishop and prepared for facilitating conversation, questions and answers. The quality of the questions developed and asked by students reflected their genuine interest in the subject matter and the value they placed upon hearing Ms Bishop’s views on these questions.

St Catherine’s Year 12 Global Politics and Legal Studies students participate in a boardroom style meeting with The Honourable Julie Bishop MP.

The students were well prepared to facilitate the meeting themselves, including Georgina Cottrill’s (Year 12) readiness as School Co-Captain to act as discussion guide, however, this was not necessary due to the manner in which Ms Bishop engaged with the students. Upon her arrival in the Dining Room, Ms Bishop immediately demonstrated her skills in putting a room at ease. Making it a priority to individually greet and learn the names of each of the girls in the room, an atmosphere of warmth and mutual interest was quickly established.

The opportunity to meet with Ms Bishop was timely for the Global Politics students, in particular, as they had only recently examined the power and role of the United Nations, but also the issues of state sovereignty surrounding contested borders. A flashpoint for the latter issue in recent years has been relations between Ukraine and Russia. The students were very interested to hear about Ms Bishop’s role as Minister for Foreign Affairs in general, but in particular her role as Chair of the United Nations Security Council in 2014 when a Malaysian Airlines plane carrying many Australians, among hundreds of other passengers, was destroyed by a missile over Ukraine. Ms Bishop provided invaluable insights into the reality of global political conflicts in her elaboration on these matters.

Additionally, Ms Bishop responded with candour to a range of topics from relations with countries in our region and also issues which continue to attract controversy in Australia, including the rights of people in Australia’s offshore detention centres. She explained Australia’s national interests in a range of contexts, but also a willingness to give something of her own views (beyond the party-political policy statements), which further developed the students’ level of engagement in the discussions.

Throughout her discussions, whether it was talking about her decisions to pursue a career in the law or politics, Ms Bishop was keen to emphasise her interest and role in encouraging women and girls to take a central role in political and economic decision making in all communities, whether in the developing world or in high-office in Australia and internationally. It was a fitting central message that clearly resonated with all the people present in the room.

I have no doubt that this unique experience will not only enhance the learning of those Humanities students who participated, but it will potentially be one of the highlights of their VCE year at St Catherine’s School.