The Sentinel (MHS)

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The Sentinel is Melbourne High School's student magazine. It has been recognised numerous times on the front pages of Melbourne's The Age, Herald Sun, and The Australian

The entire student body has the opportunity to submit writing to The Sentinel, and the student editorial committee produces each of the four to five editions per year, which are distributed to students free of charge.

[edit] Controversial articles

Social commentary articles are often critical of events outside the school. In the first edition under a new editor in 2004, a front-page article entitled "Influx of Anglo-Saxons Threatens Schools" was published, in response to an article in The Age a few weeks prior reporting on an increase in Asian students at the school.

The Sentinel has been the source of much controversy in the community as the magazine undergoes no internal school censorship. A 2002 article entitled "Chick school analysis" ranked female students from Melbourne schools out of ten for "looks" and "personality". One comment about the students from an independent Melbourne girls' school was that, "You can look and you can touch." The magazine received numerous condemnatory letters in response to the publication, and the article was mentioned in the Herald Sun on April 30, 2002.

The first issue in 2005 published a front-page article, "Breaking issues - Condom use at MHS." The article had reported "calls for condom vending machines in schools". The front cover featured pairs of male students lined up in front of a digitally edited machine with "Enjoy Condoms" written on it.

Following on from their lack of success in instilling fear into the greater Melbourne public about rampant teenage sexual addiction, the team's second edition for 2005 stayed in similar territory: women's magazines. Controversy had again surfaced, as the cover was adorned with the image of a seductive student wearing nothing but his school blazer. Articles included:

• A letters page to a sex doctor.
• A selection of staff photos adorned with such accessories as hard hats, power tools, phallus-like palm branches, strategically placed top hats, and the odd pair of Calvin Klein underwear.
• An analysis of women's magazines that deemed them as popular for men as for women, even though "eight out of the ten [prolong my climax tips] were completely irrelevant" to men.

The Sentinel received feedback from the editor of the Australian Cosmopolitan Magazine, who said that, "It brings great joy to my heart that such strapping young blokes are taking time to read what young women are into and what gets them fired up!"

Edition 4, 2005, under the new editorial team also sparked outrage with a depiction of the Virgin Mary with a glowing MHS logo in the middle of her torso. This religion-themed edition was the subject of many complaints from teachers, parents and students alike - even some stipulating that they were offended despite their lack of religious belief.