Junior School

Welcome to 2025

Welcome to the start of another exciting school year.  I hope that you have all had a restful and enjoyable summer break and are now ready to embark on a year filled with new experiences, learning, and growth.  To our returning students, we are thrilled to have you back, and to our 18 new Junior School students, we are excited to welcome you into our learning community. Together, we will make this year one of achievement and success.

My holiday reading included ‘Ganbatte -The Japanese Art of Always Moving Forward’ by Albert Lieberman.  Ganbatte is a Japanese word that means “Do your best, keep going and never give up!”  It is a concept imbued in the Japanese culture, and a word used for personal pledges and national crises. The intent of the word is to engender a sense of peace in a person.  Knowing they have done their best in a situation brings acceptance of outcomes.  I will be sharing elements of this philosophy in the weekly newsletter.

The dedicated Myrniong staff have worked hard to prepare a dynamic and engaging year ahead. We look forward to working with you all in 2025.

Parent Information Sessions

Prep to Year Six teachers will hold information sessions on the afternoon of Tuesday 11 February.  These sessions are an opportunity to learn about class routines, programs and teaching approaches.  There will be amble opportunity for a Q and A.  Mrs. Povey will send information out with times for each year level. 

Intensive Swimming

On Monday 3 February, the Intensive Swimming program will commence.  This will run for two weeks, culminating in the Junior School House Swimming on Friday 14 February.

Students may wear their P.E uniform throughout the duration of the program.  A good idea is for students to wear bathers under their P.E uniform. We will be using a combination of HILAC and the Hamilton outdoor pool. Students have temporarily been placed in groups, based on swimming records held by the Southern Grampians Shire Council. All students will be reassessed on the first day of the program. Thank you to Mrs Patterson for all her work in organising this important component of our P.E program.

Assemblies and Social-Emotional Learning

This year, Junior School Assembly will run fortnightly. Each alternate week, Prep to Year Six classes will focus on SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) lessons. We will use the Victorian Government’s Resilience, Rights, and Respectful Relationships as a base program. 

Units include the following:

• Emotional Literacy
• Personal Strengths
• Positive Coping
• Problem Solving
• Stress Management
• Positive Gender Relations