Middle School
HAYDN FLANAGAN
Head of Middle School
Welcome back to Term 2 to all our Middle School students and families. Term 1 finished with a flurry of activities, not yet reported in the Grammar News, but which deserve a mention.
House Athletics Carnival
On the last Tuesday of Term 1 our Middle and Senior students participated in the House Athletics Carnival at Duncan McKinnon Reserve. The event took place under a beautiful blue sky providing optimal conditions for students to put in personal best performances on both the track and in the field. It was great to see the level of participation, particularly from the lower year levels, and the friendly, but spirited competition between Houses. Well done to all competitors.
Year 6 Camp – Toolangi
Year 6 travelled to Camp Toolangi in the beautiful ranges behind Healesville to enjoy three days of adventure and initiative activities, designed to test and build their teamwork skills. The students enjoyed three days of cold, fresh mornings followed by warm blue skies, and threw themselves into all activities with enthusiasm and determination.
Activities at the camp included a challenging high ropes course, shelter building, an obstacle course, flying fox, raft building and canoeing. All students had a fantastic time and should be congratulated for the improvement in their teamwork skills over the course of the camp. All groups joined together well, working as a team to encourage and support each other towards achieving both team and personal goals.
Many thanks to the staff who attended the camp, and to Mr. Damatopoulos for his organisation.
Antipodean’s Vietnam Expedition 2020
During this week’s assembly, students were introduced to a fantastic new opportunity for current Year 8, 9 and 10 students, to undertake a service/adventure expedition in September 2020, to be organised and lead by Antipodeans.
An information evening will be held at School this coming Tuesday 14th May at 6.30pm for all interested students. Further information can be found here.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday 14th May at 6.30pm – Antipodeans Vietnam 2020 Information Evening
Tuesday 14th May at 7pm – Effective Parenting Session
Tuesday 14th – Friday 24th May – NAPLAN (Years 3, 5 7 & 9)
Friday 17th May – National Walk to School Day
Friday 24th May – Middle School Divine Liturgy
Friday 7th June – Report Writing Day – School Closed
Monday 10th June – Queens Birthday Public Holiday – School Closed
Tuesday 11th – Friday 14th June – MS Assessment Week
Year 9 Camp Blog
Wednesday the 3rd of April brought the Year 9s from Oakleigh Grammar to The Summit. The Year 9s were introduced to the Five Keys – Have Fun, Play All In, Make Lots Of Mistakes, Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable, and Don’t Go Home Wondering What If, with a focus on the first two. After meeting The Summit team, we got outside and played a game of Huckle Buckle. After a harness and helmet demonstration, followed by the goal setting technique of Target, Stretch, Super Stretch, everyone was ready to get into activities! The first round of four activities included Snake & Nails, Inflatables, Bush Challenge, and Sky Bridge. Two rotations of these activities saw out the first day!
Thursday began with the introduction of Morning Intentions and choosing who you wanted to be that day. Keys Three and Four were today's focus. A game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Chant got bodies moving. The morning started with the completion of the last two rotations with the first set of activities. The third rotation for the day saw the time to try the new activities: Abseil, Flying Fox, Rockwall, and Leap Of Faith.
After two rotations of the new activities, split by lunch, it was time for the Monster Course. The Monster Course had teams think they were racing against the other Tribes to get the fastest lap time. They were carrying tyres, throwing tennis balls, moving tyres on wooden sleds, dodging exercise balls, throwing frisbees, climbing across a big cargo net suspended over a lake, and getting head-to-toe covered in mud. Once at the finish line, after tribes had thought they had given it their all, the surprise of the second lap came! A few mixed emotions began but once the tribes rallied around each other, the energy was high and the Year 9’ were pumped!
Lap two was about testing your character and who you are when you’re already cold and wet, and tired, and how much more you can actually give. The teamwork shown in the second lap of Monster was just incredible to see!
Friday morning started with some bleary eyed students but after the introduction of Gratitude, the faces on some of the students changed from disinterest, to feeling the good feels. Friday’s game was a spin-off of the classic Egg, Tiger, Crane with new combinations of Construction Crane, Mixer being used. It was then time to complete the final two activities of camp! Before anyone could really bat an eye, it was lunch time!
Back up in the Stadium, the Year 9s had one last practice of Gratitude at camp, giving thanks to the catering team, their teachers, and then each other. The results were read out for the Bush Challenge and the Monster Course. The Values winners, voted by each Tribe, were also announced. It was then time to head down to The Summit’s Army Tank, get a group photo and then, the Values winners got a reward by having a hot-lap in the Tank! The buses were then filled with the students and back to Oakleigh Grammar they went! Thank-you all for the fun and laughter you all brought!
Results
Bush Challenge
- Levendia 28:39
- Vanilla Latte 2 Sugars 28:20
- 14 + 1 33:00
- Yftis 26:47
Monster Course
- Levendia -14:53
- Vanilla Latte 2 Sugars -5:20
- 14 + 1 -8:30
- Yftis -6:54
Values Winners
- Levendia - Micheal
- Vanilla Latte 2 Sugars - Zoe
- 14 + 1 - Emily
- Yftis - Maria
