Faculty news

Debating 

With the Year 9, 11 and 12 students out on camps and Adventures, we were ready to cancel Round 1 debating, but the two Year 10 teams immediately committed to making their way to Wesley to represent the school. It was a great feeling, with two classrooms full of parents in support, as well as Mr Ryan and I. The topic was “that the Victorian Government should financially incentivise people to move to regional Victoria”, and we had one team on affirmative, the other on negative. Archna, Nathanael and Lazarus debated well but were beaten by Caulfield Grammar, while Elena L, Melissa Longo (in her first debate) and Elena D defeated Avila. Elena D was best speaker with a clearly highest score of 78. Their matching hair ties must’ve brought them extra luck. 1-1, not a bad start to the season. If you see the debaters today, please congratulate them, especially Melissa.

Round 2 is soon: March 13.

In additional exciting debating news, our Year 10 student Lazarus Athanasopoulos was awarded the 2023 Swanny Award, as last year’s best Year 9 debater in the region. He received this prestigious award on Thursday night at the State Library of Victoria. This is Oakleigh Grammar’s second Swanny in as many years, with Noah Peoples winning the Year 11 Swanny in 2022.

Leigh Gridley 

Year Level Leader (Years 8 & 9), Debating Coordinator

LOTE Greek

Learning a language strengthens the area of the brain which is responsible for memory, speech and sensory perception.  Bilingualism, or being fluent in two languages, is a special skill that has numerous benefits.  Knowing how to speak a second language can lead to more career opportunities, many advantages when travelling and better communication skills.

Oakleigh Grammar students have the opportunity to learn Greek from Prep up to VCE.  Greek remains a language which greatly enriches international scientific discourse.  More than any other tongue, it is the language which developed, shaped and expressed most of the scientific theories, philosophical thoughts, and literature in most of the modern-day languages of the Western world.

On Friday 9th of February, Oakleigh Grammar celebrated the International Day of Greek Language.  The day also honoured the memory of the Greek national poet Dionysios Solomos, who wrote Greece’s National Anthem “Hymn to Liberty” (Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν). 

Students in Junior School had the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities including singing, games, puppetry and presentations. Students in Middle and Senior Greek classes talked about the benefits of learning such a beautiful and rich language. Also, they did a research and found out how many words have Greek and Latin roots.  According to one estimate, more than 150,000 words of English are derived from Greek words. These include technical and scientific terms but also more common words.

Natasha Spanos

VCE Academic Leader LOTE