Junior School News
From the Head of Junior School
Last Thursday, our Junior School students had a wonderful day celebrating a year of working hard and contributing to the positive culture of the school. They started with an excursion to the Bendigo Cinemas, where they watched a movie with their friends, and then came back to school for a community lunch. It was a great way for us to finish the year.
In our final eLink article for the year, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our students, particularly our Year 6s as they leave us for Senior School. As I said at our last assembly, we have a very special culture within our school that is never more apparent than at the end of the assembly, when our younger students stand quietly and respectfully as they await the departure of our Year 6s.
At the end of the assembly, we also farewelled Mrs Henery. There are not too many people in the Junior School who have not been helped by Mrs Henery. After 16 years of excellent service to our school, she is leaving. Our Junior School staff and many of our parents have been wavering between a state of denial and a state of mourning over the past six weeks but the time has now come to say goodbye so on behalf of myself and the Junior School staff, students and community, I say thank you Mrs Henery for your hard work, loyalty and friendship. Goodbye and we wish you all the best in your new position.
We also farewelled Junior School teachers Mrs Chambers, Mr Stewart and Mrs Kroschel, who have all accepted substantive positions at other schools. We thank them for their wonderful efforts in teaching a variety of classes over the last few years. We also farewelled support staff Miss Tunzi, Mrs Simmonds, Miss McKellar and Mrs Reade who have graduated from their teaching courses and will now go and take up teaching positions in classes of their own. Ms Tresize and Miss Finlay will also be leaving us to further their careers in Queensland and Melbourne respectively.
Our Junior School science and drama teacher Mrs Geyer is also taking 12 months of leave. Mrs Geyer has worked with us since 2016 and has held multiple roles during that time. Even when she was not teaching drama, she had a strong involvement in the Junior School Productions. We wish Mrs Geyer well next year.
At the beginning of 2024, we will welcome some new teachers to the school to fill the roles that have been vacated. Mr Justin Leske will join us to teach Junior School science. Mr Leske is an experienced teacher of science, having most recently taught science from Year 7 to 10. Miss Amy Stanton will also join us to teach part time in Year 2 and Year 4. Miss Stanton is a qualified teacher and speech therapist who has most recently been working in the Catholic Education Office Bendigo.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in our Junior School Speech Night last Tuesday. I would like to thank all the staff who gave up their time over the past few weeks and again on Tuesday to make the night run so smoothly. A reminder that the Award Recipient Booklet can be found on Astra and the recording of Speech Night is available on YouTube. Please note that there was an issue with the sound on the stream on Tuesday night, which was resolved at the 12:39 minute mark.
Finally, I would like to thank our parents for their support of their children and the Junior School throughout the year. We are certainly thankful that we work in a school that is so strongly supported by our parent body. I wish all of our students, parents and staff a safe and restful Christmas and look forward to seeing you all again in the new year.
Mr Donald Thompson
Head of Junior School
Friends of Junior School
Thank you to the Friends of Junior School (FOJS) for their wonderful ongoing support across 2023. FOJS worked tirelessly to host year-level morning teas, cook sausages, host parent and family functions, and be involved in the Girton Junior School.
At the end of the year, the FOJS and Junior School parents put on a wonderful luncheon to say thank you to the staff. Thank you to all the parents involved – the staff are truly grateful and appreciative of the gesture.
Not to leave out the students, the FOJS once again donned their aprons and cooked a sausage sizzle for all the Junior School students and staff in the last week of school. Students enjoyed a sausage in bread and a Zooper Dooper to finish off their excursion to the Bendigo Cinemas.
Musical Storytime
On Wednesday 29 November, the Year 10 VCE Unit 1/2 music class, led by Mr McGuffie, presented a musical storytime to our Prep and Year 1 students and some future students from the Prep class of 2024. The performance centred around a book called The Flying Orchestra by Clare McFadden. The book describes many varied situations where you might like to have an orchestra accompanying you, and the Year 10 students chose, arranged and composed all of the music to go along with the storyline. It was wonderful to have the book brought to life in such a way. The Junior School students asked some interesting questions of the musicians at the end as they learned about all the instruments they had heard performed.
Thank you to the music staff and the Prep and Year 1 teachers for being so willingly involved in this exciting annual event.
Mrs Cally Bartlett
Head of Arts
Christmas Giving Tree
As a final gesture of kindness for 2023, the SRC coordinated the collection of Christmas Table Goodies. These were donated by the generous families of the Girton community. The goods will go to Foodshare for distribution to local charities and will make a significant difference to many people at Christmas time. Once again, thank you to everyone for their generosity.
Cinema Day
Year 6 Graduation
Camp Australia
