Junior School News

Junior School Update

On Monday 29 March, the Junior School held the first combined Year 7 and 8 Values Assembly for the year, where the achievements of students were celebrated and acknowledged. Once again, our Year 8 students showed outstanding leadership and organisation, preparing the running sheet, PowerPoint slides and writing their scripts to lead the assembly with enthusiasm and professionalism.

Fadak and Winudi were the official MCs for the event, leading the cohort through the Welcome to Country and Australian National Anthem and the introduction of all speakers.

Mumtas and Mahbob spoke about the importance of healthy eating especially eating breakfast as it has been shown to help students to work faster and have improved concentration, comprehension, memory and learning. They reminded everyone of the Breakfast Club which runs in E Block on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We have noticed some of our students are not eating adequate amounts of nutritious foods during the day and are showing signs of tiredness late in the day as they don’t have the necessary energy to feed their brains.

Netasha and Chandrima reminded their peers to use their laptops appropriately during class time and to be organised with a fully charged and functioning laptop. They also shared information and key dates for the extensive Lunchtime Activities program which is available every lunchtime and includes activities such as Chess, Soccer, Basketball, Robotics and much more. Finally they spoke about the Student Learning Conferences which will be held early next term, on Thursday 6 May, which will give them a chance to showcase what they have been learning and to explain this to their teachers and families.

A highlight of our assembly was the amazing Year 7 Explore Dance students performing Hip Hop to a mix of current songs. Congratulations on your achievement in a very short term and for showing bravery to perform in front of your peers.

We also watched the final product of a collaborative project that all Year 7 Explore students participated in during their first few days at HPSC led by facilitators from Bunjil Place. The aim of this collaboration was to unpack our College Values of Respect, Learning and Working Together. The students wrote poetry, prepared drawings and spoke about these values. Their thoughts were captured and sent to an animator, who put together the following clip. Please take the time and enjoy the work of our Year 7 cohort. I acknowledge the fantastic work of Joel Evans from Bunjil Place for creating and managing this collaboration.

Monson Siliili shared his wonderful musical talent with us, playing the piano and singing “Wondering” by Olivia Rodrigo and Julia Lester. Keep a look out on Facebook soon to see his performance.

Congratulation to the following students who received Values Awards:

Respect:

Cody Winning (Year 7)

Mai Nguyen (Year 8)

Learning: 

Ferishta Rezaei (Year 7)

Kevin Thy (Year 8)

Working Together:

Lily O’Sughrue (Year 7)

Atohei Abela (Year 8)

Community:

Taniela Malaeulu (Year 7)

Leighton Williams-Semisi (Year 8)

Leadership: 

Joshua Jonassen-Hammond (Year 7)

Tihana Quinton Keldoulis (Year 8)

Congratulations to Huda and Nethasa for winning the draw for the Year 7 and 8 students with 100% attendance so far this year.

Finally, congratulations to Monica Chea who was awarded a Certificate of Participation for her involvement in the Victorian High Ability Program in 2020. This is an outstanding feat considering that she undertook this program while managing all of her studies online.

Year 7 Camp

We are in the final stages of organising the Year 7 Explore Portsea Camp which will be held from Monday 3 May – Wednesday 5 May 2021 (Week 3 Term 2). We strongly encourage all students to attend the camp. Students who do not attend camp will be participating in an alternative program at school.

In the first week of Term 2, we will be giving students a list of all clothes and other things that they will need to take with them. They will also be having a say in the students that they share a cabin with.

We look forward to seeing all Year 7 Explore students at the camp.

Year 8 Camp

Information for the Year 8 camp was distributed a few weeks ago. The Year 8 camp will be held at Alexandra from Monday 17 May – Wednesday 19 May (Week 5 Term 2).

We strongly encourage all students to attend the camp. Students who do not attend camp will be participating in an alternative program at school.

Please fill in all forms as soon as possible and return in the envelope to the Junior School Office.

• Compass Permission form (to be signed)
• CSEF Permission form (only for eligible families)
• Medical Form

Families who have a red ‘CSEF’ stamp on their Compass Permission form have been approved for the $225 Government CSEF funding and are only required to pay the balance of $65.00 for the camp, although many students may already have existing CSEF money. Parents/students who are unsure how much they need to pay for the camp please contact finance at the College office or speak to Ms Vanstan.

Have a look at the following video and we look forward to seeing you all at the camp.

Holidays!

Have a safe and relaxing holiday break.

Congratulations to our Year 7 Explore students who have completed their first term of secondary school. All of our Year 7 and 8 students have settled in and are working well in their curriculum programs. Next term will be very busy with Athletics Sports, Year 7 Camp, Year 8 Camp, Student Learning Conferences, NAPLAN (Year 7) and preparations for Course Counselling.

Take the time to relax, enjoy catching up with friends, getting outside to enjoy the final days of good weather and exercise. We look forward to hearing what you did over your holiday period when we return on Monday 19 April.

Junior School Team