From the Head of Junior School

Last week we were blessed with excellent weather for the Junior School Athletics Carnival. Thank you to all the parents, grandparents and friends who came out to support our students on the day. It was wonderful to see our students competing strongly and giving each event their best effort while also showing excellent sportsmanship.

Each student who attends the carnival earns points for their House in every event they attempt. While there are first, second and third places for each event, students also gain extra points for achieving second or third standards for their age groups. In this way, students are competing for a place but are also striving to gain the highest standard that they can for their age groups. The focus is on involvement and giving their best efforts.

Congratulations to Frew House who were House Cup winners and to the following students who were Age Champions:

8/9 year old	Lilly Smith	Dylan Dyer
10 year old	Hannah Jalal Thumpalasseril	Raffaello Griffiths
11 year old	Stella McIntosh	Hugh Lewis
12/13 year old	Alice McIntosh	Owen Barnes

Unfortunately, we were not able to complete the Spirit Cup on the day due to a clash with buses. Fortunately, we are flexible and were able to turn a problem into an opportunity. Our students regrouped this week, had another practice session and we ran the Spirit Cup at our Wednesday Community Assembly.

The Spirit Cup is an amazing event and one that we should, as a school, be very proud of. We watch the House Captains and Vice-Captains grow in confidence each week as they lead their respective Houses by developing their House chants and then practise with their Houses leading up to the day. On the day they stand proudly at the front of their Houses and conduct, sing and dance while their House members give everything to cheer for their Houses. It is a nice adjunct to the physical competition of the day and yet another way that all the children can show their support for their House and for each other. It is also great to see the parents and carers cheering on their children's Houses. Congratulations again to Frew House, who were judged the winners of the Athletics Spirit Cup this year.

Mr Donald Thompson

Head of Junior School

World's Greatest Shave

On Friday 22 March, 10 of our Year 6 students stepped up in front of the Junior School Assembly to have their heads shaved for the 26th World’s Greatest Shave (WGS). Our Junior School has been involved in WGS for 17 years and, in that time, has raised over $70,000 for WGS and research into leukemia.

This year we congratulate the following students for their bravery in shaving their heads and raising money for this wonderful cause: Rrig Sharma, Steel Austin, Zororo Tamangani, Sean Morse, Owen Draper, Elijah Willits, Milan Shetty, Peter Smith, Luka Krelle and Olive Lees. Thank you also to Mr Rick Bath for giving up his time to come and speak at the WGS assembly. To date, almost $24,000 has been raised by this year's shavers and the Girton Junior School students, surpassing our goal of $20,000.

Year 1 Rosalind Park Excursion

On Thursday 14 March, Year 1 had an excursion to Rosalind Park. The purpose of the excursion was to investigate and identify natural, managed and constructed features of local places and to look at the ways places change and how they are cared for by people. We were lucky to have Park Rangers Josh and Ebony talk to us and take us on a tour of Rosalind Park and the Bendigo Chinese Gardens Reserve. They explained to our Year 1 students how they care for and maintain the park, their daily challenges, and interesting facts about the park. We followed our talk and tour with lunch in the park and a play in the beautiful surroundings.

At Rosalind Park we looked at managed features like the rotundas and we learnt that bats are helpful to eucalyptus trees, helping to pollinate them. We found out the creek is stinky because of the sulphur from when they were mining gold. My favourite part was the walk around the Chinese Gardens because I got to see the koi fish.

Lachlan Purton (1 Riley)

On our excursion we met with two Park Rangers who took us for a walk through the park. We learnt about the jobs that the Park Rangers do to manage Rosalind Park, like watering plants and checking for injured animals and rubbish. I liked going into the glass house and looking at the plants and tiger statue.

Hector Sim (1 Millward)

Loddon Mallee Regional Swimming

On Tuesday 12 March, 15 Girton Grammar Junior School students participated in the Loddon Mallee Regional Swimming Finals. Each student was awarded a first place medal. Therefore, all 15 students advance to the Melbourne MSAC Swimming Competition in Term 2. The students are to be congratulated for their efforts in the pool and their encouragement and support for their teammates on the day.

Results

1st Boys 9-10 yr old Freestyle: James Davenport
1st Girls 11 yr old Freestyle & 1st Girls 11 yr old Butterfly (Championship record): Stella McIntosh
1st Girls 12-13 yr old Freestyle & 1st Girls 12-13 yr old Butterfly: Lauren Davenport
1st Boys 12-13 yr old Freestyle: Owen Barnes
1st Boys 9-10 yr old Backstroke & 1st Boys 9-10 yr old Butterfly: Billy Knight
1st Girls 11 yr old Backstroke & 2nd Girls 11 yr old Breaststroke: Sophie Lee
1st Girls 9-10 yr old Breaststroke: Maya Reid
1st Boys 11 yr old Breaststroke: Rrig Sharma
1st Boys 9-10 yr old Freestyle Relay: James Davenport, Billy Knight, Zac Brown, William Jackson-Stone
1st Girls 11 yr old Freestyle Relay: Sophie Lee, Maya Reid, Rae Anwyl, Aria Hendrix (Championship record)
1st Boys 12-13 yrs old Freestyle Relay: Owen Barnes, Joshua Ashby, Tyler Brown, Sean Morse
1st Girls 9-13 yrs old Medley Relay: Sophie Lee, Aria Hendrix, Stella McIntosh, Lauren Davenport

Gojo visit to Year 4

This week Year 4D had the pleasure of hosting our visiting Gojo students. We spent time using our Japanese language skills to converse and discuss the difference between our lives in Bendigo and Japan. Gojo students spent time teaching 4D origami skills and even performed a dance for us all. Thank you to Mrs Blanks for bringing the students over to visit. 4D thoroughly enjoyed using our language skills taught each week by Mrs Krelle.

Second Hand Uniform Shop

The Second Hand Uniform Shop will be open on Wednesday 10 April from 10am to 1pm.

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Insights: Issue 7

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