Ask me questions about Mac.Rob!

aih So sorry everyone for not replying! I got locked out of my account so I'm going to do lots of answering now.
For everyone wondering "Should I go to Mac.Rob or not because I've got a great school at the moment" here is a pros and cons list (in my opinion) of why you should go to Mac.Rob.
Pros:

• Enrols some of the friendliest girls you will ever meet, no need to worry about judgy people here (with some exceptions!)
• Great & NUMEROUS extracurricular opportunities. Internal clubs, external sporting events (soccer, netball, cricket, cross country, athletics, hockey, ultimate frisbee + more), debating, volunteering, school plays etc.
• Strong music programs. (Don't participate in them myself but from observation, that is the case.)
• I find, even if the teachers aren't excellent, the resources that have been curated overtime definitely are! They really help guide my learning.
• The school wants you to succeed so they put lots of funding into giving you resources that will ensure this! Enough so to rival any private school (at least my old one, that is.)
• Location. The school is in the city, nestled amongst all the fancy private schools- what more could you want? Live out your gossip girl dreams!
  Cons:
• The commute, never is and never will be fun.
• Assessments are frequent but not too difficult.
• You may find aspects about the school that don't compare as well to your old one but not everything can be perfect! (Think facilities mainly.)

i_need_mental_asylum
Yes, definitely BYOD. Look for sales towards the end of the year as you can get some pretty good deals. Also please get warranty!!!
In terms of 'prettiness', the newer building (Lakeside) is quite nice especially the ground floor, the traditional building (Kingsway) not as much but they're both very well kept!

Anonymous_101
For sports, about any you can think of and all the conventional ones.
For languages, MacRob offers French, German, Indonesian & Japanese but you can study externally with VSL and take that into VCE.
So the school day typically starts at 8:30am and ends at 3:13pm. Homeroom (we call it connect) occurs every Tuesday & Thursday for 15 and 45mins respectively.

bitter
Connect is with your entire connect class of about 25 girls. Mainly it is about health & wellbeing so not riveting stuff imo.
You "can't" use a random bag but if you do, make sure it is completely black.
For textbooks, you can choose whether you buy hard-copy or online.

bingsu
Yes, we do!
Year 9s this year get two free periods. Usually they are at the start or end of the day so you may start at 9:24am or finish school at 2:16pm on somedays!

aru
No worries aru !

• Not that I know about but there is a volleyball club that runs in the morning (at least, I'm pretty sure it does) + there is a staff vs student match coming up this term!
• So, for any leadership roles, you have to fill out some sort of application to the current Year 12 leaders, they come out around the middle/late term 1 and there are all types of portfolios such as SRC, ICT, Social Justice, Debating + more.
  With regard to clubs, it really depends on your interests and level of committment. My friends and I just sit around mostly but I know some people in clubs such as kpop dance club that love it!
• The camp was pretty fun, I definitely think the general consesus was that people liked it and the food isn't bad.
• Unfortunately I don't however if you live on the west side, it is over a 2h+ commute so that pretty much rules it out. Otherwise JMSS is very much science/math based, and not just a little bit of bio and chem but forensics, engineering, computing (check out the school website), so if those aren't your thing, you'll struggle there, whereas Mac.Rob (of course) is a balance of everything. One other thing to note, (just from a cursory glance) JMSS seems to have really nice facilities so, if you're planning to puruse a career in STEM the school seems like a great place for you!

aru
Hey Aru,
No worries!
As for science & English I would say that a) they cover the year 9 curriculum in preparation for year 10 and b) have a focus on getting everyone on the same page due to students coming from all different types of schools.
Maths, however, is definitely 'accelerated' but still doable.
Teachers are generally approachable but they definitely have a strict approach to not emailing before/after hours (so from 8:00am-4:20pm)
With sport, athletics & swimming are held at Lakeside Stadium and MSAC respectively. Cross Country is non-compulsory and organised externally.
As you would be able to see from a map of the school, Mac.Rob is conventionally 'small'. So we don't have a playground or an oval which is a bit annoying but I can say that the library, while small (again) is nice!
Year 9s get 2x55 minute practical lessons for sport each week & connect is just about wellbeing techniques and mindfulness.

Random_Person_You_Happen_To_Be_Encountering_Now
Hey Sejal!
So by 'extension program' I assume you mean acceleration in Year 10.
Yes, in year 10 the majority of students may do one Unit 1/2 subject and some times 2 depending on your study habits etc.
There is a limited selection to choose from, mainly being the humanities domain and arts/tech domain with the exception of Physics U2 and Methods U1/2 (by selection, no one can just freely choose to do this).