Junior School News

From the Head of Junior School

Thank you to all of our parents who came and supported our 2019 Junior School Production of Disney’s Mulan Jr.  Our staff and students appreciated the positive support and encouragement after the hours that they have put into learning their lines and choreography. Thank you also to the parents who came in and assisted with set construction and pack up after the show. One of the highlights for me every year is seeing those students who have never performed in a show before but who embrace the experience and shine on stage. For some of our students, the Production will be the first of many years of involvement in theatre and performance. 

Mr Donald Thompson

Head of Junior School

Fighting Spirit of Mulan on Stage

The curtain rose last week on the Girton Grammar Junior School performance of the legendary tale of Fa Mulan, the hero of the ancient Chinese legend as depicted in the stage adaptation of Disney’s Mulan Junior.

The annual Junior School Production was performed over three evenings at the Capital Theatre, with a special fundraising matinee performance for pre-school students from kindergartens around Bendigo. The funds raised from gold-coin donations at the matinee performance have been donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Director of the Junior School Production, Ms Georgiana Rice, said that it had been a delight to direct her first Girton Grammar Junior School production and that the students had grown in confidence each week.

“The students in the production are as young as eight years old, and they have done a wonderful job of adopting the personalities of their characters.

“Mulan is an epic story with strong characters of moral integrity and great spirit, and I think the students have enjoyed being transported to a different culture.

“More than 190 students took to the stage over the four performances of the show, and I am immensely proud of every one of them.

“Everyone has worked hard to make this a fun experience for the children and to bring out the best performance in each child. For many students, this was their first time on the stage in a production.

“Many students have theatrical potential, which I know they are looking forward to developing further in the Senior School.

I have had wonderful support from my Senior School Drama colleagues, my teaching colleagues and parents, and it has been a huge undertaking but a terrific learning experience for me to direct this show,” Ms Rice said.

Please click on the images above to view the gallery

State Athletics

On Thursday 24th October, Axel Drummond (5 Jenkin) and Luke Johnson (6 Jenkin) represented Girton at the School Sport Victoria State Athletics Championships.  Axel competed in the 800m while Luke competed in the Triple Jump.  The boys had to progress through the stages from school Athletics to District, Divisional and Regional Athletics to be chosen to compete at the State Level.   Congratulations to Axel and Luke who did a terrific job coming top 10 on their respective events. 

The School Magazine Writing Competition

The School Magazine is Australia’s longest running literary publication for children.  Congratulations to Thomas Brain (4 Millward), Heidi Webster (4 Riley) and Phillipa Meadows (6 Millward) who short stories were selected to be published in ‘The School Magazine’ November edition of Blast off and Touchdown.

Cybersafety

Each year we incorporate cybersafety into the classroom curriculum in an effort to educate our students in how to stay safe online. Many of our students have access to a multitude of platforms and devices and the reality is that the majority of their access time is outside of the school setting. I was disturbed to read an article recently that described how paedophiles were using YouTube as a source for videos of children, in fact YouTube was aggregating the videos for them! Some of you will have children who are searching YouTube videos in areas of personal interest. Some may have children who are using YouTube as a platform for sharing their hobbies with family and friends. Unfortunately, this puts them at risk of unknowingly being exploited. Earlier this our Year 5 and 6 students had a presentation from Mr Brett Lee, former police officer, who now helps run Internet Safe Education, a training and consultancy firm that specialises in digital compliance, internet safety and cyberbullying. Brett spent 16 years as a detective investigating child exploitation so his expertise comes from first hand experience. I have included a link to the Internet Safe Education website for those parents interested. https://www.internetsafeeducation.com/

https://www.internetsafeeducation.com/blog/safety-resources-every-guardian-should-bookmark/

On Brett’s recommendation I investigated Family Zone, a cyber safety package that parents can install on their home and mobile networks to limit what their children can access from the home network or on their mobiles. So far I have been impressed with the filtering capability and the level of control that it allows me as a parent to limit the time spent online and what can be accessed. The link is below for those parents who would like to investigate this package. It is one of many commercial packages that are available in the market place for parents who want to keep their children safe online and limit time spent online.

https://www.familyzone.com/au/families

As a starting point Brett has 5 principles for parents to enact to keep their children safe when they are online.

1. Set rules and boundaries.
2. Stay up to date with what technology can connect online and what children are accessing.
3. Take charge and control the technology that your child is using.
4. Use management controls.
5. Create an environment of open communication.

Donations Needed

Whilst in Pattaya, Thailand visiting and volunteering their time at the Father Ray Foundation, along with eight of our Year 12 students, Mr Robertson and Mrs Fisher will be visiting several schools and Child Care Centres. At the Father Ray Foundation, the children have the chance to finish their schooling and are also given the opportunity to go onto college or university.  The Year 12 students are hoping to take some resources to assist the schools and centres. If you would like to make a donation of a packet of coloured pencils, sharpeners, stickers, exercise books, pens or textas anything would be gratefully accepted and presented to the schools on behalf of our very generous Girton Grammar School Community.

The children, particularly the little girls and teenagers love “pretty things”. If you would like to make a donation of some nail polish, hair ties, costume jewellery, hair ribbon, stickers etc these items would also be gratefully accepted.

Donations need to be with Mr Robertson or Mrs Fisher by Friday the 15th of November.