From the Head of Junior School

The first day of the school year is one of my favourite times as a teacher. Our students come in the school gate full of energy and excited about what the year will hold for them. While the holiday period provided a great opportunity for us to get maintenance and planned works completed while the classes were empty, it is great to have the school buzzing with the energy and excitement young people bring. We are sincerely glad to have the children and families back and engaged in a new year of learning.

This year, we welcome 105 new students into our Junior School, including 52 in our Prep intake and 53 new students in other year levels. We currently have 434 students in Junior School, which is the largest Junior School cohort in Girton Grammar's history. Our growth has been steady over the last couple of years, which has enabled us to smoothly transition the students into the school while maintaining our strong culture of respect and inclusion.

Over the break, the builders have been working hard to complete the final elements of the undercover learning area. Some of you will have noticed that it is now named the Angus McKay Pavillion. Mr McKay has been a generous benefactor to Girton over many years, and his significant financial contributions have allowed the school to build this wonderful space, for which we are immensely thankful. It will be a terrific space for all our students, particularly in hot and wet weather. We are getting very close to completion and hope to have access shortly. Once the Angus McKay Pavillion is completed, we will move straight on to the renovation and redevelopment of the John E Higgs Hall.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all the parents who attended Junior School Meet the Teacher Evening on Thursday. I know our teachers appreciated your attendance and support of your child’s learning. For those parents who could not make it, there will be the opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers at Parent-Teacher Interviews over the next two weeks.

Next Friday, the Junior School students will travel to Bendigo East Swimming Pool to compete in the Junior School Swimming Carnival. In preparation, our students have been attending House Meetings over the last two weeks. Our Year 6 students gave speeches to their Houses, and the students in Years 3 to 6 each voted for the Year 6 students who they believed would best represent their House as House Captains and Vice-Captains. There was strong competition again this year, particularly as we have more Year 6 students. Congratulations to those students who were elected as Captains and Vice-Captains of their respective Houses.

Nut allergies

As the new school year begins, it is an appropriate time to remind parents that we have children in Junior School who will suffer from a life-threatening allergic reaction if they come into contact with peanuts or nut-based products. These students are also allergic to other nuts and a variety of other foods and need to have all contact with food closely monitored as they may also experience reactions from skin contact with these foods. Consequently, we ask parents to assist us by being aware of this when sending food to school.

Specifically, we ask that parents avoid sending the following where possible:

peanuts or other nut varieties
peanut butter and Nutella
yoghurt with nuts
peanut butter muesli and fruit bars
cakes, muffins or cookies containing nuts
tahini.

We ask children to wash their hands carefully after eating at recess, lunch or cooking sessions to help keep all our students safe at school. You would assist us greatly by discussing this with your child.

All of our teachers are aware of the allergies impacting their students and, along with their parents, we have established appropriate procedures. Naturally, we want them to experience school life as normally as possible, just as we do for all our students.

Please note that we cannot physically check all food items that are brought into the school, on buses or to school events. As such, we encourage parents of susceptible children to educate them about the risks.

Mr Don Thompson

Head of Junior School