Agile Response to Snap Lockdown

After the Premier’s late announcement on a Friday afternoon about the recent Stage 4 lockdown, the first three days of Week 3 certainly weren’t what we had expected. As always though, our Casey Grammar School community came together to ensure our students were able to access their learning from home.

Our teachers worked diligently, with little notice, to prepare content for their students. Our parents ensured their children completed as much of the suggested work as was appropriate for their unique situations, and our students got straight back into learning from home.

Staff and Families Play their Part

I’d like to sincerely thank everyone for the part they played during the short lockdown, with special mention to our Prep students and their families who had only been in attendance at CGS for two weeks. I’m sure everyone was as thrilled as I was to be back on campus on Thursday.

Thanks to Mr Jeff Batey and Mrs Belinda Roffey for running our Junior School swimming trials at Casey Race recently. The session kicked off early at 7.30 am. From all accounts it was a great success, and we were able to create our CGS swimming team for our Junior School District swimming competition.

Thanks to every participant and our dedicated teachers who were also present to lend a hand. Congratulations to our competitors and all the best of luck for the upcoming competition.

Junior School Commissioning Service

I look forward to our upcoming Junior School Commissioning Service which was postponed due to the lockdown and is now scheduled for Thursday, 25 February, when our Year 6 cohort and our Junior School captains will be commissioned as the leaders of the Junior School.

Here’s to the remainder of Term 1 running smoothly and without interruption.

Melissa Roberton

Head of Junior School

The Amazing Casey Race

Year 6 students had an incredible time during their Recent Amazing Race. Here’s what they said:

All up the Amazing Casey Race was an incredible and exciting experience! The teachers worked really hard and it was really worth it. The Amazing Race made me realise the importance of teamwork, encouragement and supporting your team. Everyone had a great time and I hope other Year 6 classes in the future get to have a go at this truly Amazing Race! Elora Pratt – 6N

In the afternoon we all did the egg drop, but we were still in our teams. We had two eggs and we had to drop it from the top of the stairs without it breaking it. I must say, it was rather ‘eggcellent!’ I think the whole point of The Amazing Casey Race was to develop our teamwork skills with people we have never or hardly worked with. It was a fun team building experience and it was the highlight of my year! (so far…) Esha Shiju – 6N

We all participated in various challenges to challenge our core values and build new skills. My team had the biggest tower, clocking in at 2.20 metres, this was certainly a challenge. One of the highlights was the scavenger hunt. There were multiple riddles that we had to solve to get to the next clue with ANOTHER riddle. Each clue had a letter attached, which we had to collect and rearrange at the end into a secret word. It was where the first amazing race took place - Sydney! I loved solving the riddles and the puzzles with my teammates. Alma Theodorakopoulos – 6M

The amazing race was a perfect way to get out of the classroom and learn useful skills and teamwork with several challenges ranging from indoor to outdoor activities. One of the activities, we had to make a large tower from cups, paddle pop sticks, tape, and straws. Another task was building a tent with your team without having the instructions. We struggled with this task because not many of us had built a tent before and we ended up not completing it but we gave it our all. Zac Foster – 6M

The amazing race was truly amazing! There were multiple activities to put our teamwork, cooperation and creativity to the test. There was the scavenger hunt, obstacle course, paper planes, tent test, photography time, tower of cups challenge, puzzles, Lego challenge, team name chant and mascot and the egg drop challenge! Most of them were fun but a few only made you sweaty or frustrated or even both! Ava Curtis – 6M

Generous Donations Making a Real Impact

While Term 1, 2020 seems so long ago, many families will recall the Ronald McDonald Book Drive that Trist House organised, as part of the Good Friday Appeal, acknowledging and supporting the work of children’s hospitals.

Trist House students brought in many beautiful brand-new books for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald Houses. Some of the books include children’s stories, novels, colouring activities, crafts and adult activity books. I was blown away by the amount of incredible donations we received and the generosity of our families. We are now finally able to donate this very special collection of books to the Ronald McDonald House, where they will be greatly appreciated.

As I head off on maternity leave, I would like to sincerely thank the Trist House students, families and teaching staff for their support over the last 2 years. It has been an absolute pleasure being the Junior School Head of Trist House.