JUNIOR SCHOOL

IMPORTANT DATES 

Wednesday 31 January

Year 7 students START

Thursday 1 February

Year 8 students START

Monday 5 February

School Photos Day 1

Tuesday 13 February

School Photos Day 2

 Lyrebird Youth Awards 

Congratulations to Oliver Bain (Year 7) for Best Comedic Performer in a Youth Musical Under $40k for Freaky Friday - 2023 LHS School Production!

Proud Sporting Achievement

Congratulations to Cerys Jones (Year 8) who recently represented Australia in the U18 Women’s Canoe Polo team at the ‘2023 Oceania Canoe Polo Championships’ held in New Zealand and the ‘Asian Cup’ in Kuala Lumpur.

Cerys and her team won BRONZE at both competitions.  Such a FANTASTIC achievement for Cerys and her teammates!

At Kuala Lumpur, Cerys team should have played in the Mixed Under 16s but played in the Under21 Mens! 

End of Year Program Activities

December 4 to 19

Following the conclusion of the Step-Up Program, students in Years 7 and 8 had the opportunity to participate in a number of enjoyable excursions and fun activity themed days held at school;

• Clay Target Shooting
• Laser Strike
• Tenpin Bowling & Movie
• Yarra Valley Trail - Bike Ride
• Barefoot Bowls, Tennis, Mini Golf
• Rock Climbing
• Sports Museum, MCG Tour, Meet an Olympian
• Rucci's Circus School
• Roller skating
• Rush HQ
• Gumbuya World
• Games with Fish and Chips lunch 

A special thank you to Ben De Pedro (Year 11) and Dylan Naylor (Year 10),  who gave up their time to explain to our first time clay shooters the safe use of the clay shooting guns.

During the excursion to the Melbourne Gun club, students were given 10 shots at the target.   

The release of the clay targets were voice activated by the student ready to hit the target.

The three boys in the above photo, showing how many successful hits they had, indicated with the empty shells on their fingers.  Amazing!

Year 7 SEALP English

 - A Christmas Carol -

This semester, the two Year 7 SEALP classes have studied A Christmas Carol, the well known novella, by Charles Dickens. 

On 15 November, a group of students were then able to go into the city, to see a live theatre performance at the Comedy Theatre! 

We caught the train from Lilydale Station to see the matinee session, and were accompanied by 2 English teachers - Miss Hudson and Miss Kilkenny. We were all so excited, and the show didn’t disappoint! 

Free fruit mince pies and mandarins were handed out before the show, reflective of Christmas foods in England and were a great way to set the scene. 

The show went for about 2 hours, including an interval, and we had a great view from our seats at the top. 

We soon discovered that it was an adaptation of the book Charles Dickens wrote in 1843, so there were some slight differences to the original (*I won’t give anything away, for those who plan to see it before it finishes on January 7)! 

My favourite part was towards the end of the show when the performers interacted with the crowd. 

We took the train back to school, after our epic adventure. Everyone agreed that the excursion was a success, and I definitely recommend it to anyone thinking about seeing it. 

Semester 2 

Awards Assemblies

Friday 8 December

Congratulations to all Year 7 and 8 students who received awards and certificates for their achievements in Semester 2 this year.

Year 7 Awards

• 2023 Year 7 Captains - Zac Woods and Ebony Peet
• 2023 Year 7 Vice Captains - Dylan Goschnick and Sigourney Crocker
• 2024 Year 8 Captains - Sigourney Crocker and Callum Eade 
• 2024 Year 8 Vice Captains -Tahney Mitchell and Axel Cove
• Instrumental Music Awards
• Instrumental Music Student of the Year Award -  Evie Nugent (clarinet)
• Language Awards
• Sport Awards - MVPs
• Male Sports Champion - Mason Agnew
• Female Sports Champion - Tia Crossland
• School Production 
• Bauble Design Competition Award Winner - Dylan Goschnick, Runners Up - Sigourney Crocker and Ben Seymour     
• Thriving in Community Award -Callum Eade
• Genaha Thompson Resilience in Life Award - Zahra Akinsanya
• 2023 Principal's Award - Summer Johnston
• Grade Point Average (GPA) 4.8 or higher 
• Academic Excellence and Endeavour Awards (in 8 to 11 subjects)
• 2023 Student of the Year - Sigourney Crocker and Daniel Hehir

Point Badges - Blue (100-199 points)

• Arkin Bennett
• Alex Bowyer
• Kirsty Hazlewood
• Drew Huxley
• Declan Kruize
• Tia Malcolm
• Brock Schubert
• Ebony Peet
• Deepan Santhosh Kumar 
• Jacob Attrill
• Lily Hartigan
• Natalya Rogers
• Chelsea Haley
• Charlotte MacDowell
• Lily Nash
• Evie Nugent 
• Jake O’Neill
• Isla Stubbs
• Harvey Baker-Flett
• Keira Kellett
• Keira Ellis
• Milla Thompson

Point Badges - Bronze (200-299 points)

• Ari Cooper
• Axel Cove
• Callum Eade 
• Mila Ilic
• Tahney Mitchell
• Jasmine Thompson
• Sigourney Crocker

Year 7 Awards Assembly Photos

Year 7 Captains' Speech

Ebony Peet:

Good morning, everyone the Year 7 captains and I are here to talk to you with a brief overview of the activities we have accomplished this year. Before we delve into that let's pause for a moment and acknowledge our progress. At this time last year, we were wrapping up Grade 6, preparing ourselves for the challenges of high school and now we have survived Year 7 finishing on a high and heading into Year 8. 

The first thing I would like to touch base on is this year's production Freaky Friday. The students and staff of LHS spent all year rehearsing and bringing to life this amazing musical over 3 days which was a sell-out. Congratulations to everyone involved in making it such a success.

Another one of our musical performances was the September Soiree where solos and small groups got to showcase their talents for friends and families. 

Finally, I would like to mention Lilydale’s very own “The Voice” competition where students compete in blind auditions and heats to make it to finals.

Thanks for listening and for the opportunity to represent you as Year 7 Captain. I'd now like to hand it over to Sigourney.

Sigourney Crocker:

The Year 7’s have taken part in lots of activities this year. First, we went on camp to Phillip Island for 2 nights. There we tried new activities such as the giant swing and flying fox, and we also went to the local lolly shop! Everyone enjoyed meeting new people, trying new things, and stepping out of their comfort zones.

Do any of you play a musical instrument? We’ve had lots of performances this year.  One of them was the Mid-year Melodies. The LHS Band, Funk Band, LHS Choir, Percussion Ensemble, Stage Band, NETA and the Year 7 Rock Band performed. It was a fun night to show off what you’d learnt so far in the year. We’ve also had an End of Year concert where the same bands played, plus the guitar ensemble, and ABC. NETA and the Year 7 Rock Band also performed a song together. If you’re interested in giving an instrument a go, you should definitely think of taking it up. Lessons for many instruments are offered at no cost, other than instrument hire.

Another highlight of the year has been the Health and Wellbeing Week! Activities ran all week long - we had a healthy food stall (we sold slinky apples, muesli bars and fruit lollies), art activities (such as mindful colouring), and games to play at snack and lunch (like giant jenga). 

We’ve also had some fun days out. Earlier in the year, for Health and Wellbeing Day, we were given the option to choose either an in-school activity such as the sports round-robin or an excursion such as Rush HQ or laser-strike. This week we’ve also been given the option to go on similar excursions, as well as others such as bowling and a movie, an MCG tour, roller skating and even a chance to go to Gumbuya World! There’s also been fun-filled themed days running at school this week, such as the Maths and Science day on Wednesday. 

Thank you to all the teachers and staff who have supported the students taking part in any of the activities throughout the year. We’ve had such a great first year at Lilydale High School.

Dylan Goschnik: 

The swimming carnival was on a lovely day, and it made the perfect weather for swimming races. It was amazing to see how many people swam one lap of the pool to get one point for their house; There was Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly plus the relays.

Cross Country was an amazing event as we ran around Lillydale Lake, even though it was not compulsory, lots of people decided to join in and give it a go.

The Athletics Carnival was a big hit for many people this year. Even though some people didn’t compete in any events they had an awesome day cheering on their friends. The events for the day included: Shot Put, Javelin, Discus, High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Sprints, and the distance running.

Zach Woods: 

Interschool Sports was a big and favourable time of the year for all the students where they competed in many different activities for our school such as basketball, football, baseball, softball, cricket, netball, table tennis, volleyball, soccer, tennis, mountain bikes and lawn bowls. Everybody had a great time representing LHS and competing against all the different schools. Most sports were very successful, some teams making it onto the next stages but all in all, everybody still gave it their best shot.

Year 8 Awards

• 2023 Year 8 Captains - York Newell and Layla Wotherspoon
• 2023 Year 8 Vice Captains -  Abbey Woods and Olivier Pacinotti
• 2024 Year 9 Captains - York Newell and Emily Allard
• Instrumental Music Awards
• Instrumental Music Student of the Year Award - Isla Canning (flute and piano)
• Language Awards
• Female Sports Champion - Georgia Gow
• Male Sports Champion - Mitch Upton
• Maths Probability Fair Awards
• Point Badges (100 or more points) - Isla Canning, Jasper Waite, Lauren Anderson, Georgia Gow, Georgia Murphy, Emma New, Cooper Thomson and York Newell
• Grade Point Average (GPA) - 4.8 or higher
• Academic Excellence and Endeavour Awards (in 7 to 10 subjects)
• Resilience in Life Award - Tanner Miles
• Thriving in Community Award - York Newell
• 2023 Principal's Award - Emma New
• 2023 Student of the Year - Hayley Phillips and Abbey Woods

Year 8 Awards Assembly Photos

Year 8 Captains' Speech

It is coming to the end of the year and I can’t believe how fast it’s gone. There have been so many great things packed into one year. First of all, this year started off strong with the swimming carnival and what a beautiful day it was to compete and spend time with friends. The athletics carnival also took place where we competed against each other and later other schools in all kinds of events. The weather actually turned around for us that day with the sun shining and no clouds to be seen. So many people came home with a ribbon and if not a smile on their face. Another large positive for this year was Year 8 camp. I know we all discovered something we didn't think we were capable of. From the mud run to the summit window it was a great experience. 

We all had a chance to help raise funds over the many fundraisers happening this year like International Women's Day, Idahobit Day and Reconciliation Week which all let us think about a world bigger than us where people struggle through problems we may not even experience. And to all the many more things we have done and will do in the future. 

We have had so many great times over the past year. Already we have gone through a third of our high school years and we only have 4 years till the rest of our schooling ends. Throughout these past 2 years we have built many friendships and connections forming stronger as a cohort. 

To think that if this year has been so great I can’t think to imagine what next year has to offer. As we go into the new year, use the holidays as a time to relax and take a break as next year is already coming up fast. And know that you have earned it through all the hard work we have all put in to live up to and further build our schools reputation. So in saying this I hope you all have the best Christmas, holidays and new year. Thank you, now over to York.

This year has been a pleasant one in the Arts. It has been great to see some Year 8 students get out and participate in the production, take up an instrument, or even enter art pieces into the October Arts Festival. The creativity and enthusiasm displayed by the cohort have truly enriched our artistic community, and I'm looking forward to seeing even more artistic talents thrive in the years to come. It also very exciting to see the AEP program running for Year 9 next year, I'm sure many people are excited to see where it goes.

We've had some other events like our Mathematics Probability Fair where students created games to display for other people to play, our Year 9 Humanities election where students voted for the best parties, learning sessions on cyber security and consent. Not to mention all of the other great times we've had this year. 

And, last but not least, let us express our appreciation to each and every one of you. Your dedication, hard work, and positive energy have made this year truly special. Whether it was on the field, in the classroom, or during various other activities, you all have shown incredible spirit and determination. 

We've learned valuable lessons, celebrated countless victories, big and small but also faced some challenges, losing 2 students from our school community. But, from the first day of the school year to this very moment, our bond has grown stronger, and the memories we've created will stay with us for a lifetime. 

As we say goodbye to 2023, let's bring in the festive season with open hearts and joyous spirits. Christmas is a time for reflection, gratitude, and spreading love. It's a time to appreciate the friendships we've forged, the knowledge we've gained, and the memories we've created together. So, let's take a moment to express our gratitude to those who have made this year extraordinary. Thank you for making this year at LHS one for the books. Merry Christmas, happy holidays and cheers to each and every one of you from the whole Year 8 Captaincy team.

Congratulations and 

Thank You!

To our Year 7 students, well done on completing your first year of high school.  To our Year 8’s well done on progressing through Junior School, we wish you the best of luck in your move up to Middle School.

A big thank you and congratulations from everyone in the Junior School Coordination Team.  We wish you all the happiest of holidays and look forward to seeing everyone return in 2024.

Elizabeth Nevins, Morgan Wyatt, 

Cindy Harris, Jayne Morrow, Katie Hunter, Steph McLachlan, Kristy Hudson, 

Andrew Rogers, Ashlee Dow and 

Kerri Skewes