From the Head of Junior School

Last Friday it was wonderful to be able to celebrate Foundation Day. While it still wasn’t the celebration that we are used to it was great to be at the Cathedral again and to hear our Junior School Performance Choir singing in the choir gallery. We certainly hope that, as the year progresses, we can come together as a community as we would have pre-Covid. Our students have begun rehearsals for the Junior School Production later in the year. We have also begun planning our Ensembles nights, Art Show and Grandparents’ Day. We look forward to celebrating these events as a community again this year.

Thank you to those parents who attended the Junior School RULER Parent Information Evening on Thursday. Our students are taught the RULER approach from the moment they start with us. Each year level has a curriculum that builds on the previous year. Having our parents develop their understanding of the RULER approach that they can then discuss at home helps our students consolidate their understandings. Thank you also to Mr Flanagan and Mrs Fisher for giving up their time to present the course.

Junior School Parking

In our last eLink I discussed the challenges of parking and pick up, particularly at the end of the school day. MacKenzie St pick up has been especially difficult due to the volume of traffic and the number of students being picked up. As of next Monday we will be returning to a 3:15pm pick up for the whole of Junior School. Students will still be taken to the various gates at the end of the day by their teachers. We ask that parents do not park in the bays on MacKenzie St after 3pm. These bays are to be used as a drive through pick up zone. We realise that this is not as convenient as having spaces close to the gate where parents can park but we are limited by the spaces we have. A sincere thanks to those parents who park nearby freeing up space for the drive through pickups.

Unfortunately, we are still having parents park in the MacKenzie Street bays and walking into the school in the morning. These bays are strictly no parking before and after school. Parked cars impede the traffic flow, cause traffic congestion, frustrate other parents and, in some instances, create a dangerous environment for our students. Parents who need to walk into the school during drop off times must park elsewhere and walk their children in.

Mr Donald Thompson

Head of Junior School

Divisional Cross Country

Congratulations to our 40 plus students who represented Girton at the “Goldfields Sandhurst Division Cross Country Championships” at the Bendigo racecourse on Wednesday 5th May. Students competed in age groups from 9 year olds through to 12 year olds. Our students performed admirably on the day. We had students competing in all age groups in the BLUE section. The first 12 children from the BLUE section of the 10, 11, 12 years events are invited to represent their Division at the next level to be held at St. Arnaud. From there, 12 go on to the State Championships at Bundoora.

We had some outstanding running efforts on the day and the four students mentioned below will now represent Girton at the Regional Cross Country in June at St Arnaud.

7th 10 Year Girls: Maya Dhanapala

21st 10 Year Girls: Lucy Richards

A special mention to Hugh Casey (5 Frew) and Ruby Flanagan (6 Jenkin) on their outstanding first places. It has been a long time since Girton has achieved such outstanding running results like this.

1st 11 Year Boys: Hugh Casey

1st 11 Year Girls: Ruby Flanagan

Mr Paul Flanagan

Red Shield Appeal

Junior School SRC students are busy hosting their annual Red Shield Appeal fundraiser. Each classroom has been given ‘Red Pigs’ in which to put spare change. They are also promoting a colouring competition for all the Junior School students.

Mother's Day Stall

Thank you to our wonderful Friends of Junior School group for hosting the annual Mother’s Day Stall recently. The parents created beautiful gifts packages for the students to choose from for their mother, grandmother or special friend. It is lovely to see the students taking the time to choose the most special gift for their chosen special person. We do hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Year Two

Year Two has been developing problem solving skills in mixed groups. Students were asked to solve the problem above and show how to get one litre of water into the fish tank. Here are some of the ways in which the problems were solved.

Year Five: Persuasive Writing

Year Five students have been learning about persuasive writing in class and following are some examples of their work.

All Children should play sport

by Hannah Ching (5 Frew)

All children definitely should play sport for these three reasons – exercise, fun, learning new skills.

The first reason is the wonderful world of exercise. Exercise makes your child fit and healthy. In some sports, you can get a lot of Vitamin D because of the sun's powerful rays.

The second reason is if you want your child to have lots of fun. Why don’t you let your child have fun with friends, you could even meet new friends.

The third reason is that your wonderful child could learn new skills like catching, batting, shooting and more.

This concludes why your child should do sport to exercise, have friends and learn new skills.

All kids should play sport

by Charlotte Thomson (5 Aherne)

I believe all kids should play sport because it makes kids get exercise and gives parents a break and lets the child have fun.

Firstly, children get exercise. Running around develops leg muscles, sports like basketball and volleyball develop hand and arm strength making the children healthy.

Secondly, hard working parents with very high energy children need breaks too. A break to have a coffee, time to self or meet up with old friends.

Last of all, some children come home sad and depressed but if they find a sport they enjoy, they can become happier and meet new people.

That concludes my persuasive argument that all children should play sport because they get exercise, give parents a break and have fun.

Year Six: Bendigo Writer's Workshop: student reflections

One of the books they talked about was ‘Footprints on the moon’. It talked about the main character's older sister who was protesting, and it was set in 1969, the moon landing. Ariya Marwood's grandmother was the author.

The book ‘We are Wolves’ was written by Katrina Nannestad, an author I really like. It was about kids being left behind, and having to fend for themselves.

I am inspired to…………. Draw planets, space related things, research wolf kinder, do galaxy art.

Niamh Keane (6 Millward)

Chris Kennett was born in the mid 70’s. He drew from primary school. He drew a lot of books eg: ‘The Day my Butt went Psyco’, ‘Star Wars’ books and many more.

He moved to Australia in 1998 and lives in Bendigo with his two kids and two cats. He likes drawing monsters and animation.

I am inspired to…………. draw a soccer ball because I want to draw but can only draw soccer balls.

Jack Joynson-Baker (6 Millward)

When the festival started, the auditorium when dark and there was a hush around the place as Chris Kennett came up on the stage. The best part was when he drew in front of us and drew while kids gave him ideas. The next two people were Katrina Nannestad and Lorraine Marwood.

I am inspired to……………… read their books.

Zarah Chimundra (6 Riley)

Chris Kennett is a digital artist/animator. He brought two students to the stage to boss him around and tell him what to draw. He ended up drawing a disgusted sponge horse in a forest of stinky socks and a little evil pig hiding in the bush.

Lorraine Marwood said you have to have a passion to write if you want to be successful. She talked about the book ‘Footprints on the Moon’.

I am inspired to………………………….. draw a digital monster.

Lily Georgeos (6 Aherne)

Year Six: Photo Shoot

Thank you to Thomas Seipolt (6 Riley), Zarah Chimundra (6 Riley), Julian Boucher (6 Millward) and Phoebe Rathjen (6 Riley) who literally jumped in to film an advert for Year Six at Girton.

Congratulations to...

Student Achievements