From the Head of Junior School

Term Four, ‘The Glitter Term’ as I lovingly refer to it. Throughout the term every event and occasion has a special sense of celebration like its sprinkled with sparkles, hence the ‘Glitter’. It is a wonderful time of year and entirely appropriate for us recognise and celebrate milestones for students and the efforts of people in our community.

There are numerous events across the whole school throughout the term to be mindful of in the calendar, however I’ll just highlight some Junior School specific events for families to note.

In Week Three, from Monday 25 to Friday 29 October, our Year Six students will be attending camp at Rottnest Island. This will be the first of many events for this cohort as they culminate their final Junior School year by leading a number of occasions including the ECC Beach Fun Day on 18 November as a component of their Anchor programme in leadership and service, then Learning Exhibition on 3 December where the cohort will share their final inquiry unit ‘Who We Are’ with family and friends. The Learning Exhibition is an opportunity for the Year Six cohort to share the experience about themselves as young learners and mark the significant milestone of their final Junior School year with family, friends and teachers.

Winding back the calendar a little to Thursday 28 October, the rescheduled Community Wildspace Walk with the ECC will be a terrific opportunity for our community to explore the natural environment around our campus, then enjoy an afternoon BBQ together.

In Week Four, on Thursday 4 November will be the Interhouse Athletics carnival for Pre-Primary to Year Six. More information will be shared through the Sports department regarding this event and a programme schedule. All families are invited to attend throughout the day either spectating or offering to volunteer in a role to support the event. Again, this is a brilliant community event to share together, hopefully with blue skies and warmer weather.

On Friday 5 November, Year Three will enjoy their very first camp experience with an excursion to Castle Rock during the day followed by a sleepover at school for the evening. This is an important milestone for our Year Threes, their first camp and also perhaps their first night away from families together. These special ‘rights of passage’ are important for their development as individuals and as a cohort group.

In Week Five, Thursday 11 November we will hold our final ‘Walk to School Day’ for the year, beginning from Coraki Park (Lower King Bridge Reserve) at 7.45am and finishing at the school Library at approximately 8.30am. A shuttle bus will be available to ferry school bags to school and parents back to Coraki Park after the walk is complete. This is a beautiful walk along woodland and foreshore of Oyster Harbour past the fish traps.

Also throughout Week Five will be the leadership speeches and voting for 2022 House Leadership positions from the current Year Five cohort. In the coming weeks, Year Five students wishing to nominate for a leadership role will prepare some promotional material and a speech to deliver before their House group. This is a valuable experience for all students who nominate, irrespective of the outcome, often this is their first experience at nominating for a leadership role and going through the process of an application. So much is learned through the process for them as young leaders and our community are wonderfully supportive through the experience.

In Week Six, Thursday 18 November, students from the ECC will enjoy a Beach Fun day at Emu Point supported by the Year Six cohort. More information regarding this event will be shared by ECC Coordinator Miss Claire Hard in the coming weeks.

Junior School Orientation Day, Friday 19 November is a great opportunity for all students to have an experience in the cohort above in preparation for 2022. Students who are new to the school in 2022 will also be invited so they have an opportunity to make connections with their classmates and become familiar with our campus and teachers. Class teachers will lead the orientation day, receiving the year level below whilst their own students progress up a year level. The experience of the day is designed to familiarise students with the learning environment, provide a ‘window’ into the type of learning they will be engaging with in 2022 and to welcome new students to the school. Class teacher allocations to cohorts will be communicated to families in the final weeks of term with a letter from the class teacher to their students. More specific details around this day will be sent to families in the coming weeks.

The In-Term swimming programme will operate across the final two weeks of term, Monday to Friday in one of two afternoon sessions. More information around this programme will be sent from the Sports department in the coming weeks, but the basic details are:

Students participating include Pre-Primary to Year Six
Students are bused to and from ALAC
Our swim sessions are split across two afternoon sessions, but all students will be back on campus before 3pm

In the final week of term there are three events families are invited to attend. On Monday 6 December our School Chaplain, Mrs Naomi Cooper will lead a Christmas Chapel Service for the school community in the Multi-Purpose Sport Complex commencing at 10.15am, our Year One students will be acting the nativity scenes in the service. The following day, Tuesday 7 December, the final day for Junior School students, we hold both the Junior School Awards Ceremony and Christmas concert as a fitting celebration to conclude the year together. All families are most welcome to attend these occasions, more details around the event specifics will be shared leading up to the event.

Whilst this does sound like a busy little term, hence the ‘glitter’ reference, we (teachers) consider Term Four a teaching and learning term still. Students will maintain their regular lesson schedules, routines, and homework programmes right up until the final two weeks were the swimming programmes do shift our schedules slightly but only in the afternoons. If you have any questions regarding your child's progress in their learning programme please feel comfortable making contact with class teachers as required, or if there are adjustments to workloads during this phase of the year you would like us to consider for your child/ren (in particular – homework) please share these details with us, we will be happy to support you where we can.

In the Junior School, we enjoy a bit of ‘glitter’ so it’ll be a fun term ahead to finish a wonderful year together. Looking forward to sharing our learning with you in the coming weeks and celebrating the end-of-year occasions later in the term.

With warmest regards, and thanks,

Mr Ken Raven | Head of Junior School

Careers at GSG

Teacher - Junior School