Buckley House   

One of the most rewarding aspects of being involved in The Ivy Voice is working alongside the students at Buckley House. Through this partnership, younger students are able to share their writing across a variety of subjects, and we are excited to showcase some of their work in this edition.

Eliza Wavish, Year 6, Buckley House 

The More Than Words Concert is a singing and performing concert where performers come from different schools and have been selected to perform a certain song. In this article, there will be interviews with one of the performers from Year 6, Bella O’Sullivan, prior the show.   

Interview with Bella O'Sullivan On The More Than Words Concert: 

Eliza: So, Bella, how are you feeling about the More Than Words Concert? 

Bella: I'm feeling nervous, yet excited about the More Than Words Concert because I am excited to see all of the different performers including my choir. 

Eliza: Now, what would be the song that you will you be performing? 

Bella: The song I will be performing at the more than words concert is 'A Million Dreams'. 

Eliza: Who will you be performing with or will it be a solo? What are your thoughts on the song that has been chosen? 

Bella: I'm going to be performing with Scarlet and Alley from Year 5 and for my thoughts on the song, I think it's a really beautiful song. 

Eliza: Last question Bella. Do you think that you are fully prepared and are fully confident with your performance?  

Bella: Yes and I’m very confident for tonight! 

James Fisher, Year 6, Buckley House

The Buckley House Leaders have a lot of challenges to face and need to match solutions with innovative ideas. Each of our eight captains (School, House and Global) having their own set of experiences. I asked each of the Captains the questions 'What challenges do you face as a leader?' and 'What new ideas do you have for the School?' 

Lucas Pavlickovski (School Captain) has set a good example and worked fairly to try to resolve conflict and avoid favouritism. He is looking to introduce the attribute tree knowing classroom tokens are outdated. His aim is to promote positive behaviour. 

Quinn Brophy (House Captain) seeks to enhance House Spirit, specifically by encouraging more support for events, and planning a more extensive and entertainment-filled House Spirit Day. 

Jayden Wang (House Captain) has realised that in a group setting, students do not always encourage each other, so we are hoping House cohorts can help strengthen those connections where everyone gets to know one another! 

Chara Zapris (School Captain) has been learning to balance time perfectly and developing confidence, she made the thought of a public speaking competition to promote leadership. 

Evie Lacaze (Global Captain) shows global-minded leadership, promoting sustainability by introducing compost bins to the classrooms. 

Bella O'Sullivan (Global Captain) has worked actively to collect bottle caps and inspire people to do more for the environment. 

Addie Gibbons and Emily Torrington (House) have faced challenges in coordinating their respective houses. They both support the idea of public speaking competitions, which highlights the importance of communication and teamwork. These captains show that a leader grows by taking responsibility to solve problems and develop the School community. 

Jason Kassimatis, Year 6, Buckley House

In Buckley House, Maths is a big part of the daily curriculum. From measurement to statistics, everyone should feel challenged at whichever level questions, they are working with and solving. In Semester 1, every class will be focusing on the topic of ‘Number’ which is a good place to start the year off on. 

Our Maths organiser Mr McBain wants to make sure every student is working on what challenges them, based on their abilities. As he says, 'Maths as a concept will never change. How we do it will change with the evolution of AI and calculators, but the concept will never change.' Personally, Maths is my favourite thing to do in the classroom because of how well the teachers teach us and challenge our abilities. The curriculum includes ‘More Maths,’ which is awesome! We get to do fun activities and still learn; Maths is so much fun!  

'I like Maths because it makes my brain engaged with the task at hand.' - James Fisher 

Livia Liu, Year 6, Buckley House

In the Buddy Program the Year 6s have been working with the Foundation classes to teach them new skills. Every second Thursday the Year 6s and their buddies meet up to do fun activities such as teaching them games!  By having this opportunity at Buckley House, the Year 6s and their teacher believe that we can help young minds develop new friendships. Now we will hear some different perspectives from the preps and their buddies about the program. 

'I like the buddy program because I have the opportunity to teach them new things and learn more about leadership and responsibilities.'- Samantha Fisher 

Sophia Huang, Year 6, Buckley House

Recently, we got the opportunity to go to the Swimming Carnival, which was so much fun! 

Although some Houses did not get the result they wanted to, watching your teammates grabbing back ribbons is also something so amazing. On 4 March everyone walked into the Sports Centre with smiles on their faces, and ‘eager-to-win’ mindsets. I want to congratulate some amazing swimmers that made it to Divisions. Overall, we had positive feedback from our spectacular swimmers: 

'At Divisions, I felt mixed emotions, sometimes I was happy, while other times I felt nervous.

Something I felt we could have done better to improve for next year is practicing more with our medley relay team. But overall, I think we all did amazing.' - Evie Lacaze Year 6 

  Stefan Savkoski, Year 6, Buckley House

I will be writing about the assembly’s and guest speakers at Buckley Houses. First, I will be interviewing Lucas Gao our Technical Officer about what he does in assemblies and how it works. 

Interview With Lucas Gao (Technical Officer):

Stefan: Hi Lucas Gao, I have a few questions to ask you so let us get started. What is the time commitment? 

Lucas: The time commitment is almost every day of the week. 

Stefan: Who do you work with? 

Lucas: I work with Mr Coleman and the other leaders. 

Stefan: Who do you suggest this role for? 

Lucas: I suggest this role for my brother. 

Stefan: What is the requirements? 

Lucas: Requirements are checking the agenda frequently. 

Stefan: How were you chosen for this role? 

Lucas: I was chosen for this role because I was good at technology 

Stefan:Thanks for answering my questions!  

We have been fortunate enough to have guest speakers. They are Elizabeth Tan and Mr Foley 

Mr Foley: 

Mr Foley thought about being yourself, showing resilience, dreaming big, being balanced, using your team, and sharing the workload. He mentioned that being respectful, responsible, resilient, determined, influential, and impacting were crucial qualities. Mr Foley considers himself a contingent manager which means to use different leadership styles depending on the situation and needs. Challenges Mr Foley faced were dealing with grief in a community, dealing with people you do not like or agree with, and handing out consequences. 

Elizabeth Tan:

Elizabeth taught us about being yourself, how a badge does not define a leader, being observant of your peers, behaving in the way you expect others, taking all opportunities, asking for help, knowing you are never going to make everybody happy and leadership changes. Elizabeth considers herself a situational leader who adapts to the needs of the people she is leading. The crucial qualities she mentioned are respecting others decisions and staying determined. Challenges Elizabeth faced were losing connections, balancing, and sharing responsibilities, calling out friends on negative actions, and managing emotions for the good of others.