From the Acting Head
Senior School House Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to Jones House on winning the 2020 Sprit Cup at the Senior School Swimming Carnival and to Jenkin House for accumulating the most points in the pool to claim the overall winner’s trophy. Despite the event concluding earlier than planned because of storm activity, it was a wonderful and colourful display of teamwork, friendship and friendly rivalry at the annual Swimming Carnival. Students conducted themselves beautifully when cleared from the pool during storms, and I thank the student House Captains and teachers for their assistance on the day.
I look forward to hearing about the Junior School Swimming Carnival, which is underway as I type!
Student Success
You will see within this edition of eLink that six students have been selected to participate in the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) 2020 Season of Excellence. This is an outstanding achievement for these students who have been selected based on their exceptional VCE results last year in a range of subjects in Art and Performing Arts. Congratulations to the teachers and the students on this outstanding achievement.
Effort and Dedication Reports
The first round of Effort and Dedication reports for Senior School students are now available on Astra, and I encourage parents to view these reports and discuss them with their children. There have been many studies conducted that examine the link between student effort, tracking of academic progress and student achievement. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many studies show that higher-achieving students generally exert substantially more effort than lower tracking students. We recognise that this is an over-simplification of research findings. It does not account for the many variables that will influence a student’s propensity or opportunity to exert effort, nor the differing levels of effort that students apply to specific endeavour and learning goals, as opposed to simple compliance, for example. However, the Effort and Dedication reports are invaluable in highlighting how engaged students are in their school life, and this is an excellent starting point for meaningful discussion about every student’s academic and social-emotional development.
Year 7 and 8 Camps
I am pleased to confirm with Year 7 parents that the popular annual adventure to Camp Howqua will proceed as planned during our Senior School Camps week commencing on Monday 23rd March. A site visit has been conducted, and we have conferred with all relevant authorities regarding possible bushfire threat. The school is satisfied that the camp should proceed with all of the normal precautions that are in place for any of our off-campus activities.
Following this Summer’s bushfires, there is restricted access to the Falls Creek/Pretty Valley area where the Year 8 Camp usually takes place. We have decided, therefore, to postpone the Year 8 Camp to the last week of Term 3. This camp will now take place from 14th – 18th September, with Monday 14th being a packing day and students departing by bus on Tuesday 15th. Students will undertake a comparable experience to the usual High-Country hike, based initially at the Mount Beauty caravan park as normal, with expeditions and camping in the High Country pending weather conditions. Further details will be shared as soon as logistical arrangements are confirmed.
The Year 9 urban Camp in Melbourne will take place as normal in the week commencing 23rd March.
Year 7 and 9 parents and carers will be sent CareMonkey links on Monday for provision of the relevant Camps permissions.
Coronavirus
Advice from Government authorities related to the coronavirus remains the same as previously advised to the Girton community with one additional Federal Government measure in place, as follows: “…additional border measures will be implemented to deny entry to Australia to people who have left or transited through mainland China from 1 February 2020, with the exception of Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family and air crews who have been using appropriate personal protective equipment”. This latest advice does not affect any Girton students.
Annual Report to the Community
Finally, the 2019 Report to the Community is now available under “Publications” on the school website. The compilation of this report helps the school to meet annual reporting requirements, and any queries related to the report may be directed to my office.
Dr Emma O’Rielly
Acting Head