Grammar News

Middle School

HAYDN FLANAGAN

Head of Middle School

 

Education Week

Last week was National Education Week, and whilst every week is Education Week at Oakleigh Grammar, it would be remiss of me not to take the chance to promote the importance education at every opportunity.

When it comes to education, every minute counts! This means arriving punctually to school and class and utilising every minute of time in class to the best of your ability.

Parents can help in this endeavour by ensuring students get to school on time, that days away from school are minimised and by supporting the School’s efforts by promoting this message at home.

As lifelong learners, we should all grasp every opportunity to learn and further develop our skills and knowledge and to better ourselves in a process of continual growth.

 

Debating Success

Congratulations go to our Middle School debating team who are going from strength to strength in both their individual and team performances. Last week our Year 9s argued to abolish NAPLAN, a topical issue for them as all Year 7 and 9 students had sat the tests that day. Team 1 – Michael Kaniadakis, Finn Short and George Bitzios lost to Avila but, according to Mr Gridley and the debate adjudicator, put in a fantastic performance in “the strongest Year 9 debate, I and the adjudicator, both agreed we had ever seen”. Team 2 won comfortably, and Phoenix Shi of Year 8 won the Best Speaker award for Oakleigh in her first ever debate. Well done to all debaters, and thanks to Mr Gridley for his excellent coaching.

 

Representative Sport

We have also had some excellent representative sport performances from Middle School students in the last month, from students who have competed at the EISM Athletics Champions Carnival, and the Victorian All Schools Swimming Championships.

 

To compete in the EISM Athletics Champions Carnival, competitors must qualify as one of the top eight athletes from all EISM divisions, a huge feat in-itself. Not only did we have several students qualify for this event, but we had some outstanding performances at this high level of competition.

 

Ethan Brown from Year 9 placed third in the U14 Triple Jump, Angelos Zois, also of Year 9 placed 5th in the U15 Long Jump, and Vasileois Delichristos placed 4th in the U14 800m. The U14 Boys Relay Team, comprised of Vasileois Delechristos, Xavier Harpur, Ethan Brown and Nicholas Ghanakas also competed well. Nicholas Ghanakas also ran up an age group in the U15 800m, and in an impressive performance broke two, the U14 and U15 800m, School records in the one race.

 

To represent the EISM in the Victorian All Schools Swimming Championships is a remarkable achievement, meaning that as a competitor you are the best placed athlete to represent all three divisions of the Eastern Independent Schools of Melbourne. This year Michael Kaniadakis received this honour and swam in several individual and relay events, helping the EISM to 3rd place out of the 12 associations in the State, highlighting the standard of sporting competition the School is competing in weekly.

 

NAPLAN

As with all Year 7 and 9 students around the country, last week our students undertook NAPLAN testing in the areas of Language Conventions, Reading, Writing and Numeracy. For the first time this was conducted online using iPads and keyboards.

 

All students are to be congratulated for the way they conducted themselves during the examination period, and for the effort they invested. All we ask of students in any assessment is to try their best, and that is certainly what we saw in the Conference Centre throughout the week.

 

Uniform

A reminder to parents that students should be wearing the appropriate uniform both at School, and when travelling to and from School. As with all aspects of our student’s education, we have high expectations in terms of student presentation when in uniform, and your support in upholding these expectations is appreciated.

 

General uniform expectations are:

  • Full winter uniform is to be worn
  • Ties must be worn with the knot covering the fastened top button.
  • Shirts must always be tucked in.
  • Students must wear blazers to and from School.

Female Students:

  • The use of nail polish and makeup is not permitted at School.
  • Hair must be tied back.
  • Girls skirts should be worn at a length that is just above the knee or lower.

Male students:

  • Hair must be cut above the collar.

Again, your support in encouraging an environment of excellence at Oakleigh Grammar, and helping our students to be the best they can be, is appreciated.

 

Extra-Curricular Tours

Final preparations are being made for the upcoming Greece Cultural Tour, and the Blackheath and Thornburgh Exchange trip to Northern Queensland. Both trips boast an amazing itinerary aimed at showcasing life in a vastly different cultural setting to ours. Such opportunities promote international mindedness and intercultural understanding for those who are lucky enough to experience these tours, and we are very grateful to the staff who have spent a great deal of time organising both trips. We look forward to some amazing stories from our students when they return and share their experiences with the School.

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

Friday 7th June – Report Writing Day – School Closed

Monday 10th June –Queens Birthday Public Holiday – School Closed

Tuesday June 11th – Friday June 14th – Middle School Assessment Week

Friday June 14th – Year 9 Health and Wellbeing Day

Friday 21st June – Greece Tour Departs

Sunday 23rd June – Blackheath and Thornburgh Tour Departs

Friday 28th June – Term 2 Concludes

 

Year 10 Personal Project

The Personal Project is a culmination of all five years of the MYP, and is to be completed by Year 10 students. It is a project designed to allow students to be creative and dive deep into their passion for any given topic. While the parameters are quite wide, there are still key objectives that need to be met by the students. These include the completion of a Process Journal throughout their journey, a product showcasing the student’s new found skills, and finally a report, reflecting back on the whole process from start to finish.

 

This month we have had the pleasure of hearing from one of our Year 10 students, Marialena Loupo. Let’s see what she has to say!

 

What are you doing for your project and what made you decide to do this?

For my personal project I am doing a skin care travel kit. I decided to make my own travel kit because I am interested in beauty and skincare as a whole, so I thought that making my own personalised products would benefit me a lot. 

 

Where are you up to and what are your plans for the next two weeks?

At the moment I'm still doing my research. In two weeks time I'll probably be finalising my products and writing the difficulties I faced in my journal, so I can finalise that as well. 

 

What do you hope to gain from this project?

This project is a good way to learn more about things I personally love, which is beauty. I hope to gain the ability to master skincare products that match my skin type and actually work. 

 

Can you see some place in your future where this will help you?

In the future I think this is going to help me a lo