MIDDLE SCHOOL 

IMPORTANT DATES 

Thursday 1 February

Year 9 and 10 students START

Monday 5 February

School Photos Day 1

Tuesday 13 February

School Photos Day 2

Semester 2

Awards Assemblies

Friday 1 December

Congratulations to our Year 9 and 10 students who received awards, certificates and badges for their achievements in Semester 2.

As part of the Assemblies, we celebrated students who are excelling at Lilydale High School and continually demonstrating our values of excellence in learning, resilience in life and those who are thriving in the community. 

Year 10 Awards

2023 Year 10 Captains

Taylah Mae Gundry and Jacob Baldacchino

2023 Year 10 Vice Captain

 Ashleigh Dye

2024 Year 11 Captains

Jed Tatnell and Taylah Mae Gundry

VCE Subject Awards

Legal Studies

Jadon Aloysius

Health and Human Development

Charlotte Comport

Outdoor and Environmental Education

Akira Giddings-Hall

Instrumental Music Awards

Avril Blanksby

Mackenzie Grant

Ashleigh Dye

Cailie Rigg

Instrumental Music 

Student of the Year Award

 Avril Blanksby

Female Sports Champion

Tasha Holly 

Male Sports Champion

Caleb Uerata

Academic Excellence and Endeavour Awards

(in 5 and 6 subjects)

Grade Point Average (GPA) Awards Outstanding 4.8 or higher

Point Badges - Blue (100-199 points)

• Cailie Rigg
• Darcy Hitchens
• Savannah Thompson
• Shayla Jones
• Scarlett Cameron
• Lewis Player
• Sophie Leech
• Aastha Sapkota
• Chloe Porter-Moss
• Talia Stephens
• Cohen Beriman
• Alexis Jackson
• Amber O’Keefe
• Xanthe Honeycombe
• Eleanor Muchmore

Point Badges - Bronze (200-299 points)

• Jenson New
• Jadon Aloysius
• Ruby Davis
• Cohen Verstraten
• Mackenzie Reid
• Madison Westh
• Jacob Baldacchino 

Resilience in Life Award

Alexis Jackson

Thriving in Community Award

Mackenzie Reid

ADF Future Innovators Award

Jenson New

Long Tan Youth Leadership Award

Taylah Mae Gundry

Kwong Lee Dow Award - Jadon Aloysius

2023 Student of the Year

Zoe Pike and Azuki Nakahara

2023 Principal's Award

 Lani Rigg

Long Tan Youth Leadership Award 

The Battle of Long Tan occurred at the height of the Vietnam War in 1966.  It is considered one of the defining moments in Australian military history.  The Australian Government announced an award as a tribute to the Long Tan veterans who displayed leadership, determination, teamwork and mateship.

The Australian Defence Force Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award started in 2006 and recognises students who demonstrate leadership and teamwork within both the school and the wider local community. 

At the same time, they also recognise those that display similar values to the veterans, such as doing one’s best and showing respect for others and mateship, characteristics which are integral to Australian society.   

The Year 10 recipient of this award for 2023 has displayed these qualities throughout the year. This prestigious award does come with a monetary value.

We are thrilled to announce Taylah Mae Gundry as the Long Tan Defence Award recipient for 2023.

Kwong Lee Dow Scholars Award

Each year the Melbourne University Kwong Lee Dow Scholars Program is made available to the Year 10 students who have achieved at a high level academically, and shown leadership potential in school activities and community work, as well as cultural, environmental or sporting activities. 

The program allows successful applicants the opportunity to participate in dedicated academic enrichment events with like-minded students from around the state. 

Entry into the program also offers a guaranteed place at Melbourne University in Arts, Biomedicine, Commerce, Design or Science if the student achieves an ATAR score of 90 or above. It also allows access to the libraries at Melbourne University that will no doubt assist them in their VCE studies. 

Entry into this program is highly sought after and valued, and we congratulate all our nominees this year. 

We are very excited to announce Jadon Aloysius as Kwong Lee Dow Scholarship recipient for 2023.

Year 10 Captains' Speech

2023 was an amazing year. We have loved to see people grow throughout this year. Some great events happened this year such as the swimming carnival, athletics carnival, Year 10 Formal and to end the year on a high, Year 10 Central camp.     

Hopefully everyone has been enjoying the start up program and has found the insight into our next year useful to feeling more prepared for having met any new teachers and classmates. Merry Christmas!!  And please everyone have a safe and fun time over the break.

Some things to look forward to next year are the new uniform, being the leaders of the school, Deb, and the Year 12 Retreat at the end of Year 11. 

It been a privilege to be your Year 10 Captains for 2023, and we can’t wait to see you all return for Year 11 in 2024.

Year 9 Awards

2023 Year 9 Captains

Alannah Peet and Niina Lazarus

2023 Year 9 Vice Captains

James Leheste and Luci Johnston Atkinson

2024 Year 10 Captains

Tayla Allan and Alannah Peet

2024 Year 10 Vice Captains

Coby Cox and Luci Johnston Atkinson

Instrumental Music Award

Matthew Whittaker 

Instrumental Music

 Student of the Year Award

Oliver Hardy

Language Award

Peter Bouw

Science Awards - Erudition 2023

Female Sports Champion

Gemma Kerr

Male Sports Champion

Ewan Hills

Academic Excellence and Endeavour

 (in 7 to 9 subjects)

Grade Point Average (GPA) Awards Outstanding 4.8 or higher

Point Badges - Bronze (200-299 points)

• Andrew Makowski
• Tabitha Young
• Ewan Hills
• Rachael Elderhurst
• Cooper King
• Coby Cox
• Amy Weatherhead
• Charlotte Jacobs
• Jack Ritchie
• Cottia Sikhali
• Peter Bouw

Point Badges - Blue (100-199 points)

• Jett Bateman
• Alyssa Brennan
• Nykeeta Taylor
• Lucinda Meilak
• Riley Scott
• Jade King
• Oliver Hardy
• Nathan Matthews
• Sophie Emmerich
• Jaiden Tatham
• Brodie Petrie
• Annaliese Bouw
• Max Sheen

Thriving in Community Award

Riley Scott

Resilience in Life Award 

Hannah Retschlag

2023 Student of the Year

Nathan Armstrong and Jaymie Makin

2023 Principal's Award

Charlotte Jacobs

Year 9 Captains' Speech

Hello we are your Year 9 Captains for 2023, Niina, Alannah and Luci. Unfortunately, James could not make it today. But we would like to give you a recap of our year for now.

This year, we have participated in many different in and out of school activities.  To end off this year, all of the Year 9 Humanities classes went head to head in an election. Together the classes would agree on a name, colour and three policies. From there, they would design posters and go around to classrooms to try and gather as many votes as possible for their campaign.

We had our first exams, Book Week and many different interschool sport activities.  We had our Health and Wellbeing week, with many different activities, and speakers who came in. 

Our Year 9 camp was an amazing experience for everyone. We got split into 2 different groups, Group A and Group B. Group A took the plane to Tassie, and took the boat back home. Group B took the boat over, and then took the plane home. We did many different, amazing activities, such as going to see the Unzoo, Cataract Gorge, Port Arthur and getting to go on a creepy ghost tour. 

The October Arts Festival also took place in Term 4.  Students had the opportunity to submit pieces of their artwork from either classes or their own personal time. There were awards available for each winner.

Currently, we have just finished our 2 weeks of our Step-Up program. We have started our new Year 10 classes, and some even started doing VCE subjects as well. 

Thank you for listening, and congratulations to everyone who has received awards and achievements.

Xmas Decorations

Some of our lovely Year 9 students - Niina, Alannah, Luci and Abigail enjoyed making Xmas decorations as part of the End of Year Activities Program!

Merry Christmas 

The Middle School Coordination Team would like to wish all Year 9 and 10 students and families, a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year. 

 Riana Asta, Madalene Ignatiadis, 

Narelle McGrotty, Dave Feeger,  Zoe Younger,  Andrew Box and Lauren Kelso