Exciting Things Happening in Junior School

Our annual Book Fair took place recently and similarly to pre Covid days, it was a huge success. Students visited the Book Fair to choose books for their wish lists before returning, often with their parents, to purchase some of their favourite titles. The Book Fair would not have been possible without the incredible commitment of our library staff, Mrs Diana Thompson, Miss Rebecca Birch and Mrs Vicki Mueller. Sincere thanks ladies!

Excitement was at its highest level when our very first Maths Olympiad competition at Casey Grammar got off to a flying start with a fabulous Opening Ceremony. Passing our Olympiad torch around each class was a huge thrill for our students and they were extremely motivated to start their maths challenge. 

After a wonderful week of maths learning, I’m proud to announce that as a school we came 4^th in Australia and 6^th in Australia and New Zealand, and completed tasks with an average accuracy rate of 83.57%. During the week our 500 students remarkably completed 48,567 tasks. In the individual class section, the competition was tight to the very end. 5R took out the honour of 1^st place, followed by 3N in 2^nd place and 2D in 3^rd place. Congratulations to all our students for the huge effort they put into supporting our school, their class and their individual mathematical learning through the Maths Olympiad.

Thanks are due to both our ever-supportive parent body and our dedicated, professional teachers for our recent Parent–Teacher interviews. These interviews are an opportunity to promote communication between school and home. They enable both the teacher and the parents to work together to achieve the greatest outcomes for student learning and wellbeing.

Huge congratulations to our RoboCup soccer teams who competed at the Eastern Region RoboCup competition. In RoboSoccer, we took out 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place in the Simple Simon division and 1^st and 2^nd place in the Standard League division. Bravo to Ms Elody Trompeuse, Mrs Sandra Torcasio and Mrs Sharon Willett for accompanying our talented students. Special mention to Ms Roxanne Levett who was instrumental in assisting Ms Trompeuse in preparing our students for the competition.

It was a joy to visit our Foundation classrooms last Tuesday as they celebrated their first 100 days at school. Each of the students were dressed as 100-year-olds and the costumes were simply amazing. We had grey hair, old-fashioned clothes and walking sticks aplenty. 

The activities that included hopscotch and fairy bread making were such great fun! Sincere thanks to Ms Vanessa Hodgkiss, Mrs Fi Laidlaw, Mrs Anna Brown, Mrs Rachael Woolcock, Miss Maddie Kaldi, Miss Ella Nicholl and Ms Bridgette Reale for ensuring the day such was a huge success.

Last Friday our Year 2 students excitedly boarded buses for their fabulous Scienceworks excursion. Students attended the Energy Lab — a Light and Colour Variety Show at Scienceworks. This was a show where students learn and uncover the science behind light and colour. What is light, what can we do with it and how do we see? There was also an opportunity for exploring the many exciting, interactive science exhibits in the general viewing areas. 

Thanks to Mrs Virginia Duell, Mrs Rachel Harrison, Miss Brittany Schulz, Mrs Marie Badar and Mrs Anna Giles for organising and attending this excursion.

As a school, we are eagerly awaiting our annual Book Week Dress Up Day that will take place on Friday 25 August. Best of luck to all our students and teachers as they begin the exciting task of organising costumes!

Melissa Roberton

Head of Junior School

Junior Sports

It was a busy week in Primary sport. Monday saw five basketball teams from years 5/6 head to Frankston Stadium to compete in the much anticipated Hoop Time competition. The students competed well and had lots of fun against what was some incredibly tough competition. Congratulations to all students on their participation, and particularly to the All Stars girls team, and Future Stars mixed team who made it to the Semi-Finals, only to be knocked out in tight matches. Thank you to the attending staff and parents for their support and also to our Year 9 sport coaching students who attended to coach the teams and score throughout the day. These were Harrison W, Shamita A, Riley G, Finn W and Calvin M. We now look forward to the Years 3-4 Hoop Time competition on August 22.

Tuesday saw three netball teams from years 3-6 head to Casey Stadium to compete in the Casey Cup netball competition. The girls had lots of fun and competed well against some very talented teams from surrounding schools. Thank you to our two Year 10 students, Ebony Dale and Millie Mepstead, for coming along to coach the teams, to Ms Roffey, Ms Willett and Miss Sutherland for attending and to all our parents who came to show their support.

Jeff Batey
Junior School P.E. Teacher

Celebrating 100 Days of School

What a wonderful day we had yesterday celebrating our 100 Days of School. It was such a memorable day, full of smiles and reflecting on memorable moments and how far they have come in their learning journey so far. Students looked fantastic, dressed up as 100-year-olds and celebrating with special activities and fairy bread with 100s and 1,000s. We are so proud of our Foundation students and how much they have grown in their 100 days. It was a very memorable milestone and we look forward to many more engaging and enjoyable days of learning this year.

Trist House News

One of our talented Year 3 students created a beautiful indigenous artwork to represent Trist House. Eli and his father designed this meaningful piece and wrote a story to explain the symbols and colours. This special artwork has been framed and hung in the reception for everyone to admire.

Below is Eli’s story:

This piece displays the dominance of Trist House at Casey Grammar School.

There are animal tracks in each House colour marching forward with the emu tracks. Emu only move forward, and their tracks are a sign of progress and forward trajectory.

The waterway represents the whole school, and each House has a campsite along the waterway, but Trist House (the blue one) is at the top of the stream because they are smart and now they catch the fattest fish before the stream gets to anyone else.

They were already the smartest (based on where they placed their camp) but now they are also strongest because they have been eating fat fish.

There are kangaroo tracks which represent a mob of Eastern Grey Kangaroos together. Eastern Grey Roos are rarely seen alone, and this is a sign that they work brilliantly as a team and focus on protecting and supporting each other. This is Eli and CJ and their Trist team mates at House events, generally sticking together and acknowledging the power of teamwork.

The large boomerang with dots in the colours of all four Houses shows that everyone has access to weaponry and that all you need to bring is the courage to compete. The other two boomerangs show that Eli and CJ have the courage to battle if required.

The three blue spears are weapons for Eli, CJ and their father to battle with, if the House needs them during any physical battles. These also represent that Trist isn’t just supported by students that wear blue but also their families are strong supporters.

The yellow, green and red spears are gifted to the other Houses by Trist in an attempt to try to even up the battle, so Trist does not dominate, and a level of fairness is promoted.

The story told as a whole is one where Trist is both strongest and smartest but enjoys the competitive nature of its rivals.

A special thank you goes to Eli, his family and Mrs Searles.

Bridgette Reale

Head of Trist House (Junior School)