Junior School
Recently we have seen some of our Junior School students embodying our School’s motto Per Adua Ad Altiora – Through effort to higher achievement.
Combined Independent Schools (CIS) Swimming Carnival
Last Thursday, 18th March, had two representatives in the HICES team for the CIS Swimming Carnival, the last representative stage before state championships. Lucas Rutherford (S2 Geebungs) smashed his PB (Personal Best) for the 50m butterfly in the Junior Boys final by 2.43 seconds. Noah Erne (S3 Fuji Apples) also swam PBs in all of his five strokes and finished first in each of his multi-class races. He established new CIS records in four strokes: 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke and narrowly missed setting the new 50m butterfly record – only one second off the mark! Noah now goes on to represent CIS at the Primary Schools Sports Australia (PSSA) Championships in two weeks. Good luck Noah and well done boys!
da Vinci Decathlon
On Wednesday this week two very invigorated and talented Junior School teams headed off in the dark downpour to represent Blue Mountains Grammar School at the Central West Region da Vinci Decathlon in Bathurst. Prepared to face extreme challenges in each of ten categories, they knew that careful collaboration, supporting each other, and being tenacious would be vital in bringing about their best performances.
Our Year 5 and Year 6 teams both demonstrated outstanding higher order thinking in responding to a range of questions and tasks. For the Ideation category, teams were required to develop an innovative plan to address threats to the iconic archaeological site of Pompeii, balancing a range of objectives for the site, including research, conservation and tourism. For the English challenge, both of our teams showed excellent grammatical awareness and wrote sophisticated analytical responses to literary texts to be awarded First Place in this category.
Our Year 5 team excelled in their creative interpretation of the challenge provided in the Creative Producers category, finishing first in that particular challenge and our Year 6 team rose to the challenge of a complex Science conundrum to also finish first in their division. Placing well in other categories across the day our team awaited the announcement of final results with excited anticipation.
In an enthralling outcome, our Year 5s were awarded bronze medals in their division, and our Year 6 Team won gold in their division and will now progress to the State level of the da Vinci Decathlon.
Dr Drew and I were immensely proud of our team members’ attitude and application throughout an intense, demanding and exciting day!
Per Adua Ad Altiora!
Mr Nigel Cockington
Head of Junior School
Year 6 Team: Xavier Stephens, Declan Thomas, Keeden Harrison, Zariya Janine, Hunter Costigan, Henry Laurie, Audrey Smith and James Klein.
Year 5 Team: Angus Joseph, Graciella Olmos, Simeon Gee, Charlotte Smith, Clare Stewart, Emerson Drew, Elise Lowe and Lorence Hampartzoumian.