Junior School update

JS Intensive Swimming Program

Over the past two weeks, all Junior School students participated in a nine day Intensive Swimming Program at Mentone Aquatic from Monday 8 –Thursday 18 August.

Each day, students participated in a 40 minute lesson where they were able to further develop their swimming survival skills targeting students individual swimming abilities, whilst also learning about water safety and awareness. Each student will receive a certificate of participation to identify their current swimming ability based on their participation in the program from either the Yellow Fin, Green Fin, Blue Fin or Red Fin levels.

It was great to see how much improvement the students had made over the course of 9 lessons, and they should be very proud of their efforts.

A big thank you to all Junior School staff for their assistance with supervising and running the program.

Shelley Porter

Head of Health and PE

A Touch of the Wild

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Moonlit Sanctuary fundraiser on Thursday 18 August. The Junior School, Service Learning opportunities and programs encourage student voice, and the processes followed ensure a well-rounded program, offering staff and students a range of opportunities to learn and contribute to meaningful causes.

The ‘Touch of the Wild’ fundraiser, supported by our wonderful students and families, raised the following amounts:

• Murray Darling Python – $55
• Swift Parrot – $55
• Dingo – $48.50
• Growling Grass Frog – $31.40

There is still an opportunity for additional funds to be donated this week. We raised just under $30 off from sponsoring all four animals! The excellent news is that Tania Kilbane and Petrie Bernard have kindly offered to make up the difference.

Thank you to London and Perrine for their fabulous presentation, sharing their passion for endangered Australian wildlife, and for initiating this worthy fundraiser. 

Walk-a-thon Winners

Celebrating their sensational fundraising walk-a-thon efforts, Clemmie D (Year 5) and Angela Y (Year 2) invited their friends, Ashleigh, Grace and Emma, to join them for a sumptuous morning tea, with treats of their choice. This took place on Monday 22 August in the Drawing Room with Ms Brennan, Ms Cutajar and the Heads of Junior School.

Mad Science Show

The Mad Science Show certainly was an exciting way to celebrate Science Week in the Junior School. Students were wowed by the giant smoke vortices, levitating beach balls, flying toilet paper and hair-raising electricity. We are excited to share the science fun will continue with an after school club being offered by Fizzics Education each Thursday. For more information, please click HERE. Expressions of interest to participate will be shared on Shelly next week.

Book Week Steams Ahead

Book Week (22–26 August) has leapt off the starter line with a week of activities to celebrate literacy, books and the immeasurable joy reading brings. There is something for everyone to choose from amongst the range of creative activities devised by our wonderful Senior School Captains, Zara and Grace:

• Monday: book cover re-design in the 'Book Nook' 
• Tuesday: Book trivia – friendly for all ages
• Wednesday: Bookmark making arts + crafts session
• Thursday: Book swap and brownies outside Helenslea (aka the 'Worm Farm')
• Friday: Dress up day with parade 

Students greatly enjoyed their workshops with Anna Zobel on Tuesday. She shared her journey as an author and led the students through an interactive illustration session. Below are some thoughts from our Year 6 students:

I liked the way Anna took contributions from everyone’s drawings and made them a part of her presentation. She was also open about how people didn’t like her work initially which helped me to see that getting published takes time but to never give up. Nihara P 

She made it interactive so that instead of just listening to her talking about her drawing we got to try it. Phoebe M

Vicky Gemmell

Head of Junior School – Student Wellbeing and Development

Jacqui Sidaway

Head of Junior School – Curriculum and Innovation