Junior School

Welcome Back to Term Three 

Welcome back to all in the Junior School learning community.  I trust you are refreshed, recharged, and ready to embark on another exciting chapter in our educational journey. The winter holidays are a precious time to unwind, spend quality moments with loved ones and rejuvenate.  I hope that each of you made the most of this special family time. To our students, I encourage you to approach this new term with curiosity and determination.  Take full advantage of all the opportunities available to you.  Term Three is always a ‘hectic and eclectic’ 10 weeks at the Junior School.  The exciting learning in the classrooms is complemented with a plethora of co-curricular opportunities and events.  

Term Three Dates for Your Diary 

19 July - Hockey 7s 

23 July - Ochre Mathematics Parent Information Session (6.00 pm) 

31 July - Netball Victoria School Championships 

5 August – Sheepvention holiday  

8-10 August - Senior School High School Musical production 

15 August - AFL Round Robin (Year 5/6) 

23 August - Book Week Dress Up Day 

26 August - 30 August - College Wellness Week 

30 August - College Has Talent (whole school event)

2 September - Learmonth House Service 

3 September - Year 3/4 Hoop Time basketball 

6 September - Year 5/6 Hoop Time basketball 

9 -10 September - Parent/Teacher Interviews 

12-13 September - Year 1/2 Grampians Camp 

16-18 September - Year 5 Sovereign Hill camp 

20 September - Final day of Term Three (2.15 pm finish) 

Farewell to Elizabeth Munro 

This week we farewelled one of our school nurses, Mrs. Elizabeth Munro.  Elizabeth has served the College for the past seven years.  Her days are never the same, with many and varied student and staff medical conditions to attend to.  She has carried out her role as School Nurse with diligence, professionalism, conscientiousness, and with a dose of good humour.  We wish Elizabeth well in her retirement and, thank her for many contributions to the smooth running of the Junior School.  

Assembly Message - Week 1 

 Tuesday’s Assembly message focused on wellbeing and the ways in which we can all work towards improving this pivotal aspect of our personal lives.  

Our Wellbeing can be enhanced by… 

• Being thoughtful 
• Being balanced 
• Being curious 
• Being active 
• Being grounded 
• Being connected 

We also discussed the quote ‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone’ and the importance of embracing opportunities in Term Three and at times, pushing our comfort zones to try new experiences and being comfortable with feeling a little uncomfortable. 

OCHRE Mathematics Parent Information Night  

 Parents are warmly invited to visit the Junior School next Tuesday 23 July at 6.00 pm for an information presentation on Ochre Mathematics. This year, we have implemented this explicit instruction program in Prep to Year 6 classrooms.  The session will focus on the how Ochre is being delivered to our students and the rationale behind why we have moved to this form of delivery.  There will be time for a question-and-answer session. 

Sport

Representative Hockey 

Congratulations to Hugo Cameron and Max Cameron who represented southwest Victoria at the Junior State Hockey Championships in Shepparton during the school holidays.  Both boys played well and enjoyed the experience of playing at a representative level. 

State Cross Country

We wish Grace O’Sullivan all the very best of luck today, competing in the State Cross Country Championships, as she makes her way around the Yarra Valley Race Course. Good luck Grace! We are cheering you on from afar.

Hockey 7s

Good luck to the Year 3-6 students competing in the Hockey 7s School Sports Victoria knockout competition on Friday. This is being held at Pedrina Park and is the Hamilton/Portland round. The winning teams will play in the Greater Western Region finals on Tuesday 13 August and the state finals are in Melbourne in late Term Three.  

Thank you coaches Doug Cameron, Heath Templeton, and Stephen Nelson and good luck players! 

Netball School Championships 

On Wednesday the 31 July, our Year 6 netball team will compete in the Netball Victoria School Championships held at Pedrina Park all day. Katie Pye is our very talented coach and we wish Katie and her netball team all the very best of luck on this day.

AFL 9s

All Year 5/6 Students will be entered into the upcoming HDSA AFL 9s competition to be held at Pedrina Park on Wednesday 15 August. This is a really fabulous, positive and safe opportunity to introduce all students the sport of AFL. PE lessons will have an AFL focus in the lead up to this event. More information will be sent home closer to this date.

Melbourne Renegades Cricket visit

We are very excited to announce that members of the Melbourne Renegades Cricket team are visiting us for a one-hour session with Years 3-6 students of the Junior School. They are visiting or region and we were lucky enough to get them to stop off at our school along the way. We look forward to meeting some of these players and staff at the Senior School Sports Centre on the afternoon of Thursday 22nd August.

Hockey 

Division 4 College Foxes and Wolves played a rescheduled match on Tuesday afternoon.  The cold and wet conditions did not impede a free-flowing match.  Foxes came away with a well-deserved 5-2 win.  Best on ground for Foxes were Hartley Johns and Max Cameron, and for Wolves, Lachlan Pickford and Anika Nelson.  

This weekend’s matches: 

Division 5 

Tigers v Coleraine Maroon - 12.00 pm at Pedrina Park 

Panthers v Dunkeld - 1.00 pm at Pedrina Park 

Division 4 

Foxes v Demons - 2.00 pm at College 

Wolves v Coleraine Maroon - 2.00 pm at Pedrina Park