Program Highlights

Kilvington Concert and Stage Band Perform at Opening of Ormond Railway Station

The revamped Ormond Railway Station reopened on Monday 29 August to the exciting sounds of the Kilvington Concert and Stage Bands.  Forty students were involved in the performance which started at 7.00am and attracted a large audience of railway travellers, passers-by and proud parents.  It was a great opportunity for the bands to be seen and heard by the public who showed their support by their enthusiastic applause. The students not only enjoyed performing but also the free cup-cakes and drinks that were supplied for breakfast!

Senior Soiree Years 9 – 12

The Senior Soiree, Years 9-12, was held early in the evening in late August.  There was a great variety in the items presented.  The pieces ranged in style from classical to contemporary and featured some fine instrumental and vocal performances as well as a speech and drama presentation.  For members of the Kilvington community who enjoy fine entertainment and are interested in the many activities of the Performing Arts side of the School, these Soirees are not to be missed.

Ken McClimont, Acting Academic Dean of Performing Arts

Kilvington Guitar Success

We are all smiles in the Guitar Department given the success of our participation at the Royal South Street Eisteddfod.  During the last week in August, guitar students Josh Hickman and Mathew Pickthall entered the 16 and Under Solo Classical Guitar Competition. It is with much delight to announce that Josh received silver while Mathew took out the bronze medal. Both Josh and Mathew performed with a high level of sensitivity and technical strength, according to adjudicator reports.

A few days after the boys’ success, the Senior Guitar Ensemble headed out to Ballarat to compete in the Royal South Street Freemasons Festival of Bands Instrumental Ensemble Competition. It was an afternoon of very tough competition as nine other school ensembles, comprising of mixed wind ensembles, flute octets, clarinet choirs and other guitar ensembles, all performed at a very high level.

At the risk of missing the train from Ballarat back to Melbourne, we were unable to stay for adjudication making for a very nerve-wracking train trip back home. I am thrilled to announce that Kilvington was awarded 3rd prize with a score of 90! This is an outstanding result for Kilvington and for guitar ensemble performance in general. Well done everyone – Ashil Mohan, Blake Pfeiffer, Emily Zhu, Josh Hickman, Louisa Abbott, Mat Pickthall, Michael Stokol, Pat Nachar and Sarah Harding.

Ben Dix, Guitar Tutor and Ensemble Director

Gifted and Talented Program

Junior School Maths Masterclass

Kilvington Grammar School has a partnership with the CSIRO Mathematicians in Schools program and it is through this program that we have built a relationship with passionate mathematician, Scott Maclean. Scott has presented Mathematics Masterclasses to our Years 5 and 6 Maths Enrichment group each term this year, and at the end of each class, the students eagerly ask when the next one will be!

On Wednesday 7 September, Scott presented his third class and this time took the children through Pythagoras Theorem, the time dilation formula and the ‘Twins Paradox’. The material presented was challenging but the students engaged with it fully and asked some extremely pertinent questions during the session. Scott is always very impressed with the students’ mathematical and general knowledge.

Masterclasses in Maths have been introduced and eagerly embraced in Junior School this year, and we look forward to expanding into other subject areas in the future. They are an excellent way to bring like-minded students together in their areas of strength and provide them with the academic challenges that they are capable of, while introducing them to concepts and ideas that are outside the regular curriculum.

FPSP Success at Kilvington Grammar School

The 2016 Gifted and Talented program at Kilvington provided selected students from Years 7-11 with the opportunity to participate in the Future Problem Solving Program of Australia (FPSP). FPSP is a nationally recognised competition that requires students to research competition-set topics that may pose problems for society in the future. The students analyse the ethical, environmental, social, and economic consequences of these trends and develop possible solutions and in doing so develop the critical and creative thinking skills that are so necessary in a 21st century society.

The students have been meeting weekly since Term 1 in preparation for the final round of the competition that took place at the beginning of this term, and their outstanding dedication to the program has been rewarded.

The Kilvington community would like to congratulate Aimée Coquillat (10), Jasmine Fassoulis (10), Holly Haslauer (10), and Gemma Webb (10), who together have qualified for the National Final of the Global Issues Problem Solving (GIPS) senior division. This is a national competition and Kilvington is one of only three Victorian schools to be invited to participate at this level. Aimée, Jasmine, Holly, and Gemma will compete for the title of FPSP National Champions at Nossal High School in October. We would also like to recognise the achievements of Harrison Broughton (10), Aidan McShane (10), Jade Redman (10), Nicolas Socic (10), Ryan Harding (11), and Aaron Kale (11), who also made extremely valuable contributions to the program and produced highly competitive results.

Elisabeth Yeo (9) entered the Scenario Writing division of FPSP, and her short story that explored the issue of disappearing languages, called Identity, finished 4th in Australia. This is a remarkable achievement. A highly commendable effort also to Ethan Dharmawardena (7), Rosie Morrison (7), Stephanie Darvell (8), William Douglas (8), Kasey O’Connor (8), Martha Sands (8), Shreta Bala-Aiyer (9), and Johnny Barkoczy (9).

We would also like to extend a huge thank you to our accredited FPSP coach and teacher, Miss Laura Furze, who has guided the students and helped them thrive in the competition through her tremendous dedication and support.

FPSP will continue to grow at Kilvington as it provides students with the opportunity to extend their knowledge on prevalent societal issues and practice their problem solving and analytical skills. We wish our senior GIPS team the very best of luck as they commence their training for the national final!

Dee Broughton, Gifted and Talented Coordinator

Community and World Issues Q&A

In late August, our Year 7 students had the privilege of attending a Religious Education Q&A panel incursion at our School. Our guests from local community parishes answered students’ questions about local community projects, world views and theology.

We were delighted to receive our guests, who included our very own Rev. Janet Costello, Rev. Jerome Dias from St Paul’s Anglican Parish in Caulfield North, Kelly Skilton who is associated with our ‘Mustard’ Christian group at Kilvington, and Chiara Dogliotti who is a Youth Leader at Bayside Church in Cheltenham.

A big thank you to these people for sharing their time and knowledge with our students who thoroughly enjoyed this valuable session.

Kathleen Vergers, Religious Education Teacher