Junior School 

(Years 7 and 8)

Meet the team...

                        Linda Palermo                                     Harley Motteram                

                        Director of Junior School                 Junior School Coordinator 

                        pal@cheltsec.vic.edu.au                  mmh@cheltsec.vic.edu.au

                         Teresa Peluso                                     Warren Wheatley                

                         Junior School Coordinator             Junior School Coordinator 

                         pel@cheltsec.vic.edu.au                 whe@cheltsec.vic.edu.au

Our aim is to create an orderly, safe and supportive learning environment for Year 7 and 8 students. We also hope to encourage Junior School students to participate in all aspects of school life including sports, music and the arts, clubs and, of course, our great tradition of The Avenues exchange.

We welcome our Year 7 students to Cheltenham Secondary College and hope it is the beginning of a successful and enjoyable high school career. Our Year 7s enjoyed three days of transition activities in their first week and have settled enthusiastically into home rooms in the B Wing. They are being closely supported by all members of staff, our lovely Year 12 students, and our amazing Year 10 Peer Support Leaders. 

We welcome our Year 8 students back to Chelt.Sec and have noticed a high level of engagement in the classrooms and beautiful smiling faces in the yard. 

Year 7 Welcome BBQ

We are looking forward to the Year 7 Welcome Barbeque on Tuesday 11th February 2025. This is a traditional event on school grounds where we will meet and greet students and parents and share a casual alfresco meal together! We will provide snags, bread, veggie burgers, salads and sauce. Please note it is ALCOHOL FREE; all family members are welcome!  On the night, our talented Music Department, led by Mr Adam Coad, will provide a selection of performances showcasing the different instruments and ensembles that we have on offer in our music program.  

Timely reminders for Year 7 and 8 parents

Uniform 

Please ensure your student is wearing the correct uniform, including black polishable shoes and plain socks without a logo. 

PE Uniform guidelines for timetabled classes:

• Periods 1 and 2 or 3 and 4 – students must wear their academic uniform to school and change into their PE uniform at school for their lesson and change back into their academic uniform at the conclusion of their PE lesson.
• Periods 5 and 6 – students must wear their academic uniform to school and change into their PE uniform at school for their lesson, they can then wear their PE uniform home (no requirement to change).

There is a full explanation of the uniform items available, and the college expectations in the school diary/planner and in the Uniform Policy on the website. Please email Linda Palermo, Junior School Director if you are experiencing difficulties securing the correct uniform for your student. 

School Diary/Planner

Every student in Junior School has received a named diary/planner with the expectation that it is carried to every lesson on every school day. The planner is used to record homework, due dates for assignments, test dates; as well as excursions and special events.

Very importantly, it is also used as a ‘hall pass’ when students need to go to the toilet or sickbay or Wellbeing appointments during class time. 

Laptops 

It would be greatly appreciated if laptops can be fully battery charged as a regular routine in the evenings so your student comes to school with enough battery to last the day. At home, please create a space for homework out in the open where laptop usage can be monitored to minimise harm and maximise cyber safety.

School Photos

Our school photo day is scheduled for Monday 11th February. School photo ordering is available through the school’s Compass portal.  There is a backup photo day scheduled for Thursday 27th February for any students that are not present on the 11th. Students are required to be in full academic uniform for photos.

On behalf of the Junior School Team…we wish our Year 7 and 8 students all the best for a productive and enjoyable school year in 2025. We are here to help. 

Linda Palermo 

Junior School Director 

Year 7 Transition Program Photos

Amazing Race

Egg Drop Activity

Spaghetti Activity

Spaghetti Activity - 7A Student reflections

The aim of the spaghetti activity was to use 20 uncooked spaghetti sticks and 4 marshmallows to make the tallest tower possible. – Charlotte 

The spaghetti task involves you getting 4 marshmallows and some strings of spaghetti. you had to get the highest standing tower to win. I thought this was very fun to do, and I really enjoyed it. – Harvey 

This activity was enjoyable, as we had a friendly competition to see who could build the tallest tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows. We had a great time seeing if the towers could withstand the wind. Overall I had a great time building with my friends and working as a team. – Olive, Heidi, Victoria 

The spaghetti activity was a fun and inclusive and great way to involve everyone and just get people to start talking! In the activity we use marshmallows as the glue to stick our spaghetti together and create the strongest tower! Overall I think everyone enjoyed the lesson (not the sticky marshmallows on our hands). – Henry 

I liked the spaghetti and marshmallow activity because it was fun and my team thought outside of the box. I was very surprised that my team got 2nd place, because we made a very simple design of just 1 spaghetti stick. We won 2nd place because all of the other towers except 1 fell over. – Ryan 

I think that the spaghetti activity was a great way to socialize and find good ways to make a good way to make a strong tower, and was a great activity overall, and to make the tower we would stick marshmallows as the glue for the tower. – Jaxon 

The spaghetti activity was a fun activity that didn't last that long but taught us a valuable lesson teamwork. Another thing that the lesson taught us was building frames for structures that can stand up on their own and endure their own weight. –Levi 

The spaghetti activity encouraged everyone to use their strategic thinking. It helped everyone get involved in their groups. I enjoyed winning. - Maggie 

I found the spaghetti activity to be a great team bonding activity! – Gigi 

I think it was a very fun and interesting activity that was very engaging. – Lucas 

The activity for me was interesting, and fun, involving thinking about how we go about building the tower and its structure. – Jackson

My teammates worked really well and efficiently and we managed to win the competition for the tallest tower at a height of just under three spaghetti sticks high. –Shane

The spaghetti activity that our class went through was a mix of teamwork, using your brains and observing. This was fun yet challenging as we were limited to very few marshmallows. The architecture was also a main part of the activity. - Daksh

I enjoyed the spaghetti activity as it let us work with other people as well as thinking outside the box and developing new ideas to make our tower stand up. – Gerber

The spaghetti activity was very fun and a bit challenging. We had to break the marshmallows apart for it to work. But it was fun because you got to work in groups and work as a team. We ended up winning the challenge by building an Eiffel Tower-like structure. – Ava

The spaghetti and marshmallow tower activity was very fun, I really enjoyed using the marshmallows to stick the spaghetti together, and my team ended up coming second because the other towers collapsed. – Alex

The Spaghetti and marshmallow task was really fun and exciting and also a great way to socialise because we were in groups and using these supplies to make a cool and funky tower we could share and talk about. – Spencer