From the Head of Junior School

Recently our CGS students were involved in a House World Cup Soccer tournament. Reid played Trist and Booth played Leaver in the knockout round before our final playoffs. Congratulations to all our participants for great sportsmanship. Much fun was had on the day and I’d like to thank our Heads of House, Ms Bridgette Reale, Mrs Maria Ramos-Chan, Mrs Bronwyn Kyne and Mrs Sarah Nolan for organising this event. The House chants were performed with gusto and the overall results were Booth 4^th, Trist 3^rd, Leaver 2^nd and Reid 1^st. Congratulations to Reid!

It was a pleasure to attend 3S’s Assembly. It was great to learn about each class member’s family history and country of origin. All our students spoke confidently, and the cultural dances were a wonderful feature of their assembly. Special thanks to Eli’s dad, Adam, for playing the digeridoo live on stage which captivated the audience. Bravo to Mrs Black and her talented students.

Last week we were treated to another fabulous assembly which was hosted by 5R. The theme was Read, Grow, Inspire, in line with Book Week. The students wrote a sensational play, and all performed it with passion and confidence. Through visiting different books, we were taken on a journey alongside characters from different classic stories and made to believe that magic does come true. Well done to Mrs Ramos-Chan and her creative class.

Book Week culminated in our Book Week Dress Up Day and parade. It was wonderful to see all the original and unique costumes in addition to our old favourites. Thanks to Mrs Diana Thompson for organising this wonderful event.

It was a thrill for our Year 4 cohort to travel to Melbourne to see a live orchestra at Hamer Hall. The feedback was positive and Casey Grammar students, as always, were complimented on their wonderful behaviour. Sincere thanks to Mrs Bronwyn Kyne for organising this fabulous event.

Last Wednesday our Year 3 students stepped back in time when they visited Old Gippsland Town. The excursion was a huge success and students particularly enjoyed having a school lesson with the grumpy headmaster, having the blacksmith make a horseshoe for each class and having a ride in the antique fire truck. Thank you to Mrs Sarah Nolan, Ms Jess Burns and Mrs Sarah Black for organising this opportunity for our Year 3 students.

Our Year 2 classes headed off on their excursion yesterday to Berwick to complete the Historical Walk. They visited some of the oldest buildings in the area including the post office, courthouse and several churches. Thank you to Mrs Rachel Harrison, Mrs Virginia Duell and Miss Brittany Schulz on giving our Year 2 students this valuable opportunity.

It was with enthusiasm that our Years 3 and 4 Hoop Time teams set out to compete against other schools in basketball. They enjoyed the opportunity to show off their ball handling skills and represent our school with good sportsmanship and positivity. Thank you to Mr Jeff Batey for organising the teams and this sporting event.

Sincere thanks to our parents who have exercised caution and care in our car park during the road works that are currently taking place on New Holland Drive. Can I please ask that all parents collect their children at the correct dismissal time and not come early simply to avoid the traffic? As I’m sure you can imagine, this is very disruptive to our classes. Here’s to the road opening again before we return for Term 4.

Good luck to all our District Athletics participants tomorrow.

Wishing all our CGS fathers and grandfathers a wonderful Father’s Day. Please enjoy spending time with your children and grandchildren on Sunday.

Melissa Roberton

Head of Junior School

Leaver Fundraiser

This year, Leaver House is participating in the 2023 Great Book Swap, a fundraising activity that shows a commitment to social justice, and a belief in our vision that reading opens doors to future opportunities and choices. As a host of the event, we have been assigned to the language house LUNGKURA — which in Walmajarri translates to Blue Tongued Lizard.

2023 celebrates the second year of UNESCO’s Decade of Indigenous Languages and the Indigenous Literacy Foundation are thrilled to provide our students with the opportunity to learn more about First Languages and the diversity and richness of cultures from books created by remote community authors and illustrators. This year they hope to engage over 480 schools and organisations across Australia in the Great Book Swap. Their goal is to raise $180,000 to gift over 18,000 culturally relevant books to children living in remote communities in 2023. After all, how can you learn to read if you don’t have access to books?

If your child would like to participate in this event, we ask that they bring a book that they are willing to part with, as well as a gold coin, to school by 1 September. They will then get the opportunity to swap this book for another on 8 September. Feel free to scan the QR code below to see our online event page.

Happy swapping!

Bronwyn Kyne
Head of Leaver House – Junior School

Hoop Time Years 3–4

On 22 August, Casey Grammar was represented by six basketball teams at the Years 3–4 Hoop Time competition at Casey Stadium. They came up against some tough competition from surrounding schools and worked very well within their teams to win several matches throughout the course of the day. Thank you to the attending staff members, Ms Burns, Ms Black, Ms Parnall and Mrs Barnes for their assistance throughout the day, and an extra huge thank you to Ms Black, who took on the role of refereeing a large number of matches throughout the day to ensure they could go ahead.

Thank you also to our Year 9 student coaches, Ryan R and Manasa S, for coaching and scoring throughout the day, and the parents who attended to show their support.

Jeff Batey

Junior School P.E. Teacher