From the Head of Senior School

Rather than winding down before the holidays, the Senior School has taken things up a notch with a flurry of activities to keep everyone on their toes!

We welcomed back our intrepid explorers from the Year 9 camp to the Otways, many of whom used this opportunity to complete their Adventurous Journey as a part of the requirements for their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Term 3 SIS Sport competitions have come to an end, and the SIS Chess Team spent a day competing against students from other SIS schools. Many thanks to the coaches and staff who have attended these events and supported students in these activities.

There was fierce rivalry between students and staff in our first ever Great Debate last Monday. This is sure to be a hit in the coming years as the passion and skills of our Debating Team continue to grow. We are looking forward to finishing our House competition this Friday with the Public Speaking finals.

A reminder to VCE students that the timetable for revision lectures and trial exams during the non-teaching period has been distributed and that punctuality is expected for each session.

Finally, with the beautiful spring weather, now is a timely reminder to families to ensure that the CGS hat is ready to bring to school on the first day of term. Hats are required for all outdoor activities in Terms 1 and 4.

House Charities

Throughout this term, each House in Senior School has focused on raising awareness and arranging charity drives for their chosen organization; The Salvation Army (Booth), The Lost Dogs Home (Leaver), Very Special Kids (Reid) and MND Victoria (Trist).

From Carolyne Bennett, Head of Leaver House:

This semester, Leaver House Leaders were given the challenge to look beyond themselves and think of how the House could make a positive difference in the community by contributing to a charity. The charity chosen was The Lost Dogs Home Cranbourne and during Term 3, each Leaver Wellbeing Group had the challenge to collect donations and raise awareness about this charity. The House Leaders also organised activities with an animal theme, including a colouring competition, trivia, 4-square competition and a Frisbee challenge. By the end of this term, Leaver House had seven huge tubs of goods to donate. On Friday 8 September, House Captain, Holly L, accompanied some students from the winning wellbeing group to hand over the donations. Mr Steve Kearney, Emerson R, Naaz C and Finley H accompanied Madame Morgan to the shelter and despite the arctic weather, it was a wonderful afternoon and they even got to meet some of the animals. It is reassuring to know that these donations will help animals as they wait for their forever homes.

Titration Competition

On Monday 4 September, over twenty VCE Chemistry students participated in the RACI Victorian Titration Competition. Their goal was to accurately determine the concentrations of sodium hydroxide and ethanoic acid via volumetric analysis. The students eagerly await their results which should be published in October. Many thanks to Mrs Standish, Mr Selfridge and Mr Meehan for supporting the students in their quest for titration perfection!

Kylie Rose

Head of Science

Sport News

Congratulations to a talented swimmer, Billy B (Year 9) on his performance at the recent Victorian Stage Age Short Course Championships. His day consisted of six races, in five of which he achieved personal bests. He also had an incredible three top 10 finishes.

Billy finished an impressive 1^st place in the 1500m freestyle. Fantastic work, Billy! Good luck chasing down a national time for next year!

Year 11 Leadership Conference

Year 11 students, James and Anika, write about the recent Leadership Conference, hosted by Ecumenical Schools Australia:

We recently had the opportunity to attend a leadership conference at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, where we learnt much about the importance of staying true to our values and making proactive, positive change. There were two notable presenters for the event.

Tim Cope is an Australian adventurer, author and filmmaker, whose most prestigious accomplishment was a three-year, 10,000 kilometre horseback journey from Mongolia to Hungary. The majority of Tim’s address revolved around the challenges he faced during his journey. Among them were the multiple occasions his horses were stolen by nomads, when his dog, Tigon, got lost, and when he caught frost bite in his feet, and had to undergo an emergency surgery deep in Russia.

Despite these unfathomable challenges, he also managed to make deep connections with a great number of people that he came across, many of whom showed immense generosity and kindness, and taught him a lot about life and the world around him.

Ultimately, Tim’s story highlighted the sheer mental endurance, mutual trust and, above all, the importance of, to quote Tim, “rushing slowly”, that is required to succeed. By the end of his talk, he left us with the inspiring quote “mountains don’t meet, but people do”, exemplifying the importance of cooperation and togetherness when faced with adversity and challenge.

If you would like to read more about Tim’s story, you can find a copy of his book On the Trail of Genghis Khan in our school library.

Our day also involved a couple of workshops hosted by Project Rockit.

Project Rockit is a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on supporting schools and students with the confidence to react against bullying, prejudice and injustice, in an empathetic and skillful manner. The first workshop, ‘Level-up’, illustrated the key steps each and every one of us can take to unlock the confidence and resilience needed to produce long-lasting change in our school environment. ‘Rewrite’, our second workshop, delved deeper into the importance of challenging prejudice and discrimination, in order to have a positive impact at school, in the community, and in the wider world.

These workshops involved everyone splitting up to different tables, where we got the opportunity to meet and speak to many different people from a wide range of divergent schools all over Victoria and even New South Wales. We learnt a lot about people’s unique school experiences and values, which sparked inspiring conversations about personal beliefs and ideas for positive change within our communities and the world around us.

This workshop also encouraged us to aspire to foster positive development with things that we are passionate about. It focused on the importance of student voice and staying true to your ideas, values and goals, especially those that are in the best interest of necessary progress. By the end of the event, the 170 student participants left the room with a renewed sense of the mark they want to leave on the world, and the importance of persistence, resilience and individuality.

Kate Morgan

Head of Senior School