The Hamilton and Alexandra College Newsletter

Junior School

- Mr Stephen Nelson

Reminder - Labour Day Long Weekend

A reminder that Monday 10 March is the Labour Day long weekend and there will be no classes. Prep, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5 will have their usual P.E classes on Tuesday 11 March. 

 

Berry House Service

Berry House presented an excellent House Service on Monday in the Uniting Church. Their theme of ‘Acceptance’ was well presented via short plays, songs, a violin instrumental, Bible readings and presentations.  Rev. Peter Cook shared with us the Serenity Prayer.

 

‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.’ 

 

Well done Berry House students, Mrs. Milich and Ms. Winstanley.

Clean Up Australia Day

Thank you to the Junior School students and staff who contributed time and effort last Friday to cleaning up Myrniong and the surrounding streets as part of our small contribution to the Clean Up Australia campaign. They joined 22 million Australians who took part in this annual event. Unfortunately, we experienced a rather successful afternoon, with a plethora of assorted rubbish collected and disposed of.  We would hope each and every day is a day when all in our community make the effort to not throw rubbish into our amazing environment. 

 

Internatioanl Student Co-ordinator

Congratulations to Mrs. Penny Callinan on her appointment as the College’s International Student Coordinator.  Penny will continue in her role as Year 1 teacher and combine this with the new appointment.  We wish her well. 

NAPLAN - Years 3 and 5

Next Wednesday, 12 March, sees the commencement of the 2025 NAPLAN testing for our Year 3 and Year 5 students. Over a period of four days, students will sit assessments in Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language, and Numeracy. Catch-up days are scheduled in Week 8 for students who are absent on any of the four testing days. Results should be available in late Term Two.

Art Competition

The College’s Marketing Department are running an Art Competition for Senior School, Boarding House and Junior School students. The selected winners will have their artwork featured on advertising posters and banners.  Our five college values, optimism, compassion, gratitude, respect, and resilience are the focus of the competition. Students are invited to create an artwork that depicts one of our school values.  They are encouraged to think outside the square and to use different mediums to showcase what a value means to them.  It could be realism, abstract, crayon, paint, pencil, or photography.

 

The process:

  1. Use a standard piece of A4 paper in portrait orientation.
  2. You can submit more than one artwork.
  3. Don’t include the value in words or your name on the artwork. 
  4. Deadline:  Monday 17 March – hand the artworks in to Mrs. Povey at the Junior School Reception.
  5. The final designs will be unveiled at an Assembly, and they will be printed and on display for the Junior School Open Day on Wednesday 2 April.
  6. Prizes will be awarded to the winning entries. 

Best of luck to all Junior School students. 

Junior School Sports

Last Friday saw the Junior School send a very strong team to the SSV District Swimming in Warrnambool. It was a successful outing in the pool, with three swimmers - Johnny Fenton, Arlan MacDonald and Sammie Price all qualifying in the discipline of breaststroke, for the Division Swimming in Horsham on Wednesday 26 March.  Thank you to Mrs. Patterson, Mrs. Bell and Ms. Ridgeway-Faye for their excellent support and management of the College swimmers. 

 

Our attention now turns to House Athletics today at Myrniong. It is always a wonderful day of competition. Our Parents and Friends have again literally stepped up to the plate (barbeque) and we thank them for the efforts to feed the masses. Thank you also to the staff, parents, Gap and Year 10 students who assist us with all of the track and field events.  A big ‘shout out’ to Mrs. Patterson for her expert coordination of the day, and to Lachie Patterson and Senior Campus P.E teacher Ms Elly Dixon for their efforts in marking out our track.  As with each and every House sporting event at College, we will always value student achievement and more importantly, student effort. 

GANBATTE

The 4th principle of Ganbatte is Mental Toughness and Overcoming Obstacles. Adaptability as Strength - this metaphor emphasizes the importance of mental flexibility and resilience in facing life's challenges.  Instead of resisting change or obstacles, we should learn to adapt and flow with them.

 

Developing mental toughness:

  • Practise mindfulness and self-awareness
  • Reframe challenges as opportunities for growth
  • Cultivate a growth mindset
  • Learn from failures and setbacks
  • Develop problem-solving skills

Mental toughness is not about being unemotional or hard; it's about developing the resilience to bounce back from adversity and the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.  This quality is essential for long-term success and personal growth.