Principal's Message
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Dear Parents and Carers
Over the past six months, teachers have spent considerable time introducing our four core values (gratitude, kindness and empathy, inclusiveness and critical and creative thinking) to our students. We want our values to be embedded in all that we do at Clifton Hill Primary School.
As we embark on our mid-year holidays, I would like to draw your attention to our value of critical and creative thinking. We want our students to question and analyse the world, and look for new and innovative ideas and solutions. To be able to do this, we need our students, our teachers, and our families to be curious. Reseach shows that those who are curious learn more than those that are not and that we learn more when we are curious than when we are not. It is also documented that curiosity seems to diminish with time, with an observable difference between 5-year-olds and 12-year-olds.
My personal project over the holidays is to read the book, The Hungry Mind by Susan Engel. This book explores what curiosity is, how it can be measured, how it develops in childhood and how it can be fostered in schools. As you plan your holidays, I encourage you to look at how you and your family can be curious - explore, question, seek answers and try something new.
Jessica Law and Haydn Tan, Clifton Hill Primary School Hill alumni, are certainly examples of teenagers who have kept their curiosity alive as they strive to problem solve and investigate the unknown.
Happy and safe holidays.
Megan
CLIFTON HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL ALUMNI
Last week it was wonderful to meet up with two past Clifton Hill Primary School students. Jessica Law and Hadyn Tan are about to represent Australia at the International Biology Olympiad in Teran and International Mathematics Olympiad in Romania respectively.
We wish Jessica and Hadyn all the best during the competitions. We hope their achievements inspire our current and future students. Below is a profile on Jessica and Hadyn that was written for the International Olympiad booklet.
JESSICA LAW - Year 12 University High
Learning biology and all the intricate systems that allow our bodies to function fascinate Jessica. She would love to become a biomedical engineer and work in developing new systems to help cure diseases. She is passionate about basketball and currently coaches at her club in the Access for All Abilities program, which gets children with disabilities involved in the sport. She looks up to Rosalind Franklin who discovered the structure of DNA but missed out on the Nobel Prize after dying at a young age from ovarian cancer. When asked about her expectations of the competition she said, "The preparation will be very intense but it will be worth it so that our team is ready for the tough competition against other nations. I'm really excited to go to Iran and think it will be an amazing experience that I will never forget".
HADYN TAN - Year 9 Trinity Grammar School
On the back of last year's honourable mention, Hadyn is looking forward to the mathematical challenges this year's IMO will present and being able to meet more people that share his interests. Hadyn has been captivated by puzzles and patterns ever since he was little, saying "I am fortunate to have teachers, family, and friends who have been extremely supportive in encouraging me to pursue my passion for numbers". Hadyn enjoys playing piano and double bass, orienteering and strategy games. Further ahead he is considering further study in mathematics or infomatics, but would also like to explore physics and chemistry.