Junior School News

Reconciliation Week: Colouring Competition 

Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to reflect, learn and show respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their rich cultures and deep histories. As part of this important event, the Junior School hosted a colouring competition for students from Prep to Year 6. The entries were vibrant, thoughtful and created with great care.

After much deliberation (and some very tough decisions for the SRC!), we're excited to announce our winners, each of whom received a certificate and a voucher to a local ice-cream shop. Congratulations to:

• Prep: Sukhtaajnoor Kaur Brar
• Year 1: Davin Hashemi
• Year 2: Hendrix Rofe
• Year 3: Anandita Alexander
• Year 4: Margaret Yau
• Year 5: Abigail King
• Year 6: Amelia Simes

A huge thank you to everyone who participated and also to our SRC members for their support. Let’s continue to learn, listen and walk together on the journey towards a future built on respect, understanding and unity. 

Mrs Catherine Stagg

Junior School Teacher

Year 2 Strings Recital

On Tuesday 3 June, Year 2s performed their strings recital. I played cello, my partner was Nora. I was feeling a little bit nervous.

Emma Li (2 Jenkin)

On Tuesday the 3rd of June Year 2s performed their strings recital. The songs were Willow Waltz, Jig, Manhattan Blues, On Top of Old Smoky, Clown Dance and Circle Madness. I played the violin, it was a bit hard to play but I was still fine. After the performance, I was so tired but it was Wednesday the next day.

Rohan Khan (2 Millward)

Year 2 Strings Performance was on Tuesday 3rd of June. I was very excited for the performance. I played violin. When I played my instrument I was a bit nervous, but I knew that it was normal. In the end, I felt proud that I performed. 

Pelagia Faganel (2 Jenkin)

Year 2 did their performance. I played double bass. It was so heavy. We did 3 by 3 warm up and Willow Waltz, Jig, Manhattan Blues, Sailing Home, On Top of Old Smoky, Circle Madness and Clown Dance. On the way home for a surprise we got McDonalds. 

Henry Beal (2 Riley)

Sandhurst Division Soccer Tournament 

On Thursday 5 June, 28 Year 5 and 6 students represented the school in the Primary Schools Sandhurst Division Soccer Tournament. Girton entered a team in both the boys and girls competitions. The teams were well prepared for the tournament, training together since the beginning of Term 2. The teams also played a practice match against Creek Street leading into the tournament. 

 The girls team played five games for the day, winning three and drawing two. The team finished second overall. Despite having many inexperienced players, the girls played brilliantly all day, only conceding one goal for the tournament.

• Game 1: 7-0 win against St Josephs 
• Game 2: 1-0 win against Maiden Gully 
• Game 3: 1-1 draw against Holy Rosary 
• Game 4: 4-0 win against White Hills
• Game 5: 0-0 draw against St Francis

The boys team had an outstanding day. They played six games – winning three, drawing two and unfortunately losing the final game 1-0, which resulted in them being awarded tournament runners up. 

• Game 1: 0-0 draw against St Josephs  
• Game 2: 4-0 win against Holy Rosary 
• Game 3: 1-0 win against Creek Street 
• Game 4: 2-2 draw against White Hills  
• Game 5: 7-0 win against Maiden Gully 
• Game 6: 0-1 loss against St Francis of the Fields

Well done to all involved and a special thank you to former Girton student Mac Hilson and Mr Jamie Tarrant for the training sessions during the term. Thank you also to Mr Hoyt and Mr Epps for their administration work behind the scenes.

Shamrock Division Athletics 2025

On a brisk, foggy but thankfully dry day, Girton Grammar proudly hosted the 2025 Shamrock District Athletics Carnival at the La Birpa Athletics Track in Flora Hill. Competing alongside teams from White Hills Primary, Kennington Primary and Strathfieldsaye Primary, our Girton Junior School Athletics Team put in a stellar performance across a full program of track and field events.

A dedicated team of 63 students from Years 3 to 6 represented Girton with enthusiasm, resilience and sportsmanship. The day was filled with impressive individual and team efforts, and we are thrilled to announce that many of our athletes have qualified for the Sandhurst Division Carnival, scheduled for 15 September.

A full breakdown of results and the announcement of the team progressing to the Sandhurst event will be shared in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

A huge thank you to Mr Flanagan, Mrs Matthews, Ms Bilkey, Mr Leske, Mr Robertson, Mr Doherty, Mr Hoyt and Mr Epps for their work in planning and running the carnival, as well as supporting our students on the day. We are also incredibly grateful to our Senior School assistants, whose help was pivotal to the smooth operation of the carnival. 

Congratulations to all involved on a fantastic day of athletics!

Junior School RULER News 

We are proud to share that Prue Milner (Teacher of Year 6M) and Vanessa Juergens (Teacher of Year 2D) were recently invited to co-present a global webinar hosted by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

As part of the RULER Implementation Support Series, the 'Learning and Growing from Conflict with the Blueprint' webinar highlighted how Girton Grammar Junior School is using the Blueprint to support students, staff and families in navigating conflict with empathy, understanding and accountability.

The Blueprint is one of the five key RULER anchor tools and is designed to guide conversations about conflict by helping individuals reflect on:

• What happened
• How everyone felt
• What caused those feelings
• How to prevent the same conflict in future
• How to repair relationships

In the webinar, Prue and Vanessa shared real examples of how we teach, model and embed the Blueprint in Junior School classrooms. They discussed how students are learning to approach conflict as an opportunity to grow, rather than something to avoid.

Their presentation showcased Girton's leadership in wellbeing education and the positive impact that emotional intelligence can have – not just on student wellbeing but on classroom climate and learning.

We are proud to be part of the global RULER community and to share our story on an international platform.

Ms Vanessa Juergens 

Teacher of Year 2D

Camp Australia Newsletter

This week at OSHC, we celebrated Healthy Eating Week, taking the time to explore and share what foods make us feel good. This week’s activities encouraged the children to explore the colours and wide variety of foods that are good for them through arts and crafts, group discussions and games.

Congratulations to Ida for winning our STEM week drawing competition, drawing what she would invent if she could invent anything! We also congratulate Parsa for winning our detectives colouring competition. He did a wonderful job colouring in his picture while also managing to hide some objects within it. Well done!