BRAVE BERRY HOUSE SERVICE

Congratulations to the staff and students of Berry House for a wonderful House Service on Monday. Your theme of ‘Bravery’ was an excellent choice. The audience and I enjoyed plays, songs and quotes that related to this important theme. It was great to have our Senior School Berry House Captains, Margo Hocking and Will Merrin, in attendance, as well as many Berry House parents.

Young House will present the next House Service in Term Two.

OUR AMAZING PREPS

As we draw closer to the end of Term One, a big ‘shout out’ to Mrs. Kelly and our Prep students. Their transition to primary school life has been quite seamless. Seeing them confidently interact in the playground, contribute to House Services, compete in swimming and athletic carnivals and work diligently in the classroom, it is hard to believe they have only been at school for 8 weeks. Well done to all.

HARMONY WEEK

This week, schools across Australia, including the College, have been celebrating Harmony Week. It is a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, and the successful integration of migrants into our community. Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it.

Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country - from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live. An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions.

Some interesting statistics:

Nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was
We identify with over 300 ancestries
Since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia
Apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi
More than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 students who completed NAPLAN testing this week. The online testing went smoothly, and I want to take the opportunity to thank Mrs Milich, Mrs Keiller, Mrs Covill and Mr Clode for all their work in administering the Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy tests. Results will be available mid-year.

MEG PROGRAM

A small group of Year 6 students is embarking on an open-end and enthralling journey via the MEG Student Action Program. Meg's Student Action Programs develop students' knowledge and skills to take action on issues of importance to them in the local to global community. The aim is to prepare students to be active Global Citizens. Throughout this year, the focus will be on our Year 6 student ambassadors designing an action project to address an issue or problem in their school community which is implemented across the year and involves regular catch ups with other project groups in schools. The Year 6 ambassadors will initially explore and learn about core concepts linked to Global Citizenship to set their projects up for success. Project management skills will be explored and developed including Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy. I look forward to updating you on their progress.

EASTER EGG ‘MINDFULNESS’ COLOURING COMPETITION

We are running an Easter Egg ‘Mindfulness’ colouring competition for interested students. Prizes will be given out for the winning entries in Prep/Year 1/Year 2, Year 3/Year 4 and Year 5/Year 6 categories. One entry per student. Easter egg decorative templates can be collected from the small table in the Junior School office area. Entries are due in by Friday 31 March.

JUNIOR HOCKEY

Preseason training commenced this week for Division 4 and 5 players. The GRHA competition starts in earnest on the first Saturday of Term 2, April 29th. We are looking forward to a rewarding season and send out a special welcome to all those families new to hockey.

A reminder of training and game times for this season:

Division 5 - Training on Mondays at 3.30pm and Saturday games at 12.00pm or 1.00pm at Pedrina Park

Division 4 Training on Wednesdays at 3.30pm and Saturday games at 2.00pm or 3.30pm at College and Pedrina Park

STEPHEN NELSON

Head of Junior School

Parents and Friends