Celebrating our many talents

Part of my role is to interview students who will commence in boarding in the coming year. Over the past few weeks I have met some truly lovely young people who shared with me their excitement about starting in boarding at GSG. When I ask the question about what they are most looking forward to, without fail the response is: 'All the opportunities'.

Our assembly on Monday was a great showcase of these many opportunities. We heard the Jazz Band play At the Woodchoppers Ball, the Year Ten Contemporary Music class play Come Together by the Beatles and Year Eleven VET Music students playing Black Dog. This was a showcase of so much musical prowess!

We also heard about fundraising efforts from our School Captain, Ellie Slatter who shared these words about our Crazy Hair Day and World's Greatest Shave:

We had eight very brave students and one amazing teacher cut and shave their hair in order to raise awareness and provide funding for the treatment and diagnosis of blood cancer. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone for your amazing spirit on the day, it truly would not have been such a special day without all your fantastic hairstyles and your attitude towards those up on that stage.

While I was sitting up there getting my head shaved it was such a fantastic experience for me as I could see just how involved everyone was with all their crazy hair and chanting for their friends and teacher, and I was filled with a sense of pride to be part of this amazing school where everyone is so incredibly supportive of one another. We have such an amazing sense of community here at Grammar and I would love to commend each and every one of you, as this is not something that comes from a single person, it really does take everyone. I would also like to extend a massive thank you to those who participated, as we raised just over $8000 from sponsor pages alone.

We also awarded Middle School students Academic Merit Awards for Semester One elective subjects in Semester One and shared reflections from our Music Captains, Aksel Wesley and Ruby Fasolo about their experience of learning an instrument and performing.

You can ask your child why Ruby's 'froggie fingers' are so very special! It is so wonderful to be able to gather as a school again and share student success across such a broad range of areas.

Signs of civilisation

During the week I heard a story I felt compelled to share at assembly on Monday. It's about how a community works and where our civilisation starts.

Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilisation in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fish hooks or clay pots or grinding stones. But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilisation in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed.

Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilisation starts, Mead said. We are at our best when we serve others.

Mental Health First Aid – Year Eight

We are very pleased to be able to offer Teen Mental Health First Aid (teenMHFA) training to all our Year Eight and Year Ten students, led by our School Counsellor, Ms Sheryl Moncur. We recently received very affirming research findings about the efficacy of this program, which I encourage you to explore on the 'From the Counsellor' page.

Keeping safe

In line with recent government advice, wearing masks indoors is strongly encouraged. We ask that your child wears a mask at school to keep our school as safe as possible. A reminder that masks remain mandatory on public transport, this includes all school bus services, along with buses for school excursions.

We ask for your support to explain to your child the importance of wearing a mask to reduce the risk of transmission in schools and the community. Parents can support GSG to be COVID-19 safe by:

wearing a mask indoors when visiting the school;
ensuring your family stays up-to-date with COVID-19 and flu vaccines;
testing your child for COVID-19 if they have symptoms or are a household close contact;
keeping your child home if they are unwell; and,
maintaining good hand hygiene.

An additional allocation of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) is being provided to students (20 per student) which will be distributed this term. In line with government directives, if your child is a close contact and does not have symptoms, they must return daily negative RATs to leave isolation and attend school, and must also wear a mask when outside their home (usual exemptions apply), as per the testing and isolation protocols. Further information can be found here . Close contacts who have symptoms should not attend school. Please click here to read a cross-sectoral letter with further information. If you have any queries, please contact me.

Mrs Emma Franklin | Deputy Principal

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