Junior School

Berry House Service

Our second House Service for 2024 will take place next Monday, 20 May, at the Uniting Church in Lonsdale Street.  The Service will commence at 10.15am.  Berry House will present the Service.  Their theme is ‘Curiosity’.  All Junior School parents are welcome to attend. 

2024 School Photographs

Students should have brought home a slip of paper this week from Arthur Reed detailing the steps to order the 2024 school photographs.  This year, we took advantage of Myrniong’s amazing autumnal colours and took the ELC 4 to Year 6 class photo outdoors.

 Portraits and sibling photographs were taken in the Refectory or in the Sports Centre for families across both campuses.  

Our ELC 3s took their first school bus trip to the Senior Campus for their class and individual photographs.  Feedback from the Arthur Reed staff was our students and staff were amazing and, they love coming to The Hamilton and Alexandra College. 

ICAS Reach Testing 

Our Year 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 students recently sat the ICAS REACH Mathematics paper.  The online benchmark assessment gives the College objective data on our students’ progression year on year, allowing staff to tailor their teaching and help fulfil the students’ learning potential.  The Mathematics questions are created by seasoned teachers, psychometricians and test developers.  The REACH assessments are run throughout Australia and New Zealand.  Later in the year, we will offer our top performing students the opportunity to sit the ICAS competition papers in Mathematics, Spelling and English.

Junior School Lost Property 

In my time at the Junior School, I have not seen a larger amount of misplaced clothing in our lost property collection!  It is overflowing with a huge range of shirts, blazers, P.E clothing, hats, drink bottles etc.  Much of it is unnamed or has the names of the previous owners who are no longer at the junior school.  We do not have space to house it all.  In an effort to reduce this increasing collection of clothing, in the coming weeks, we will be gifting unclaimed to our College Second-Hand Uniform Shop and local charity shops.  

Can I request that families check for lost items and retrieve them? Upper-year students should be the ones searching for their own misplaced clothing, not their parents. Where possible, all items of clothing should be named. Your cooperation with this is appreciated.

Hamilton Eisteddfod

The Hamilton Eisteddfod, now in its 60th year, will commence in Week 8 of term; not far away!  A number of our students have entered individual, duo, trio and quartet competitions.  We also entered our Pizzicato Strings, Chamber Singers and Year 5 class Tuned Percussion groups.  With the focus on ‘Frozen Jnr’ in 2024, we made the decision not to enter our Prep to Year 2, Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 Performance Arts Choirs.  They will return to the Eisteddfod in 2025.  The group competitions will take place on Thursday, 6 June.  Times will be published in the Week 7 College Newsletter.

Frozen Jnr Trivia Competition - Question 3

The winner of the third instalment of our Frozen Jnr Trivia Competition is Anika Nelson in Year 4. The correct answer to Who said, ‘Some people are worth melting for!” was snowman Olaf.

Hockey

Country Week

Best of luck to the following students who will represent the Glenelg Region Hockey Association in Melbourne at the 2024 Country Week Championships this coming weekend - Max Cameron, Hugo Cameron, Evie Templeton, Hazel Johns, Imogen Johns and Poppy Edgar.  A reminder there is no local hockey this weekend. 

Division 4

College Wolves had their second successive draw, fighting out an entertaining 0-0 match with Coleraine Maroon. In an open game, both sides had plenty of attempts on goal. Oscar Hawthorne was goalie and made some important saves. Henry Bufton and Abigail Henderson were the best on the ground for the Wolves.

The College Foxes edged out the Demons in a closely contested match with a 3-2 victory. Goals were scored by Hartley Johns, Hugo Cameron, and Max Cameron.  Ed Whinney was named Player of the Match for his solid runs and consistent defensive pressure across the half-back line, which were key in securing the win for his team.

Division 5 

The College Tigers showcased great skill on Saturday against the strong Dunkeld team, drawing 4-4.  All players showed good positioning and spread throughout the match, enabling passes and great teamwork.  Their hard work and dedication at training were fully displayed, and we couldn't be prouder of their performance.  The player of the match was Harriet Small, scoring 4 goals and demonstrating great confidence in dribbling through traffic.