Welcome Back

Welcome back to our fourth and final term at Casey Grammar School for 2024.

This term has kicked off with swimming lessons for our Foundation – Year 5 students. It is vitally important that children learn to swim to ensure their safety in and around water. Swimming lessons also promote physical fitness and boost confidence, making it a valuable lifelong skill.

Our official RAP launch was a wonderful event that was celebrated by our whole CGS school community. It involved a Welcome to Country by local Indigenous Elders to recognize the traditional custodians of the land and a Smoking Ceremony. We also welcomed an Indigenous artist, Ganga Giri, who performed for us. Our CGS RAP document was unveiled and the goals and specific actions the school will take toward reconciliation were outlined. Students representing each Year level at CGS ceremoniously passed the document from Foundation to Year 12 students who then delivered it to our principal, Mrs Williams. The event then concluded with an afternoon tea and activities that related to Indigenous culture.

Our recent Foundation excursion to the Melbourne Zoo was a huge success. It provided students with a hands-on learning experience about animals and their habitats. This fun and educational trip supported their understanding of the natural world while sparking curiosity and excitement for wildlife. Sincere thanks to Mrs Hodgkiss, Mrs Laidlaw, Miss Stephenson, Mrs Whitehead, Mrs Woolcock, Mrs Simonis, Miss Lynch and Ms Humphries for attending the event.

Year 1 students had an enriching excursion to Cranbourne Botanic Gardens where they explored native plants and learned about Australian flora and ecosystems. The hands-on experience deepened their appreciation for nature while connecting classroom learning to the real world. Many thanks to Mrs Black, Mrs Grech, Mrs Murray, Mrs Giles and Miss Lynch for ensuring the excursion was a huge success.

In our recent 6K Presentation assembly, our talented students brought the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches to life by acting out its powerful message about acceptance and equality. Through engaging performances, they highlighted the importance of embracing differences and treating everyone with kindness. What a way to conclude seven years of Junior School assemblies. Bravo to Mrs Khvorostin and her students!

The Junior School Art Show was a vibrant celebration of student creativity, featuring an impressive range of artwork from every year level. From colourful paintings to imaginative sculptures, the exhibition showcased the diverse talents of our young artists, leaving families and the school community proud and inspired. A huge thank you and congratulations to our extremely talented Mrs Searles who was simply amazing at pulling this event together. Thanks to all our teachers who assisted her.

Last week fifteen Year 5&6 students attended a Philosophy for Children program at the Melbourne Zoo. This event involved discussing ideas, problem solving, creative and critical thinking and lots of fun discussions aimed at developing students’ thinking and communication skills. Sincere thanks to Mrs Hodgkiss and Ms Trompeuse for escorting our students to this wonderful event.

Last Friday our Year 6 girls basketball team competed in the Divisional Basketball competition. Thanks to Mr Batey and Ms Parnall for taking the students to this prestigious event.

On Saturday 31st August and 1st September, Charli L, Emily P and Ruby L competed in the Metropolitan East Region, Regional Championships for Gymnastics. Charli and her team from Casey Gymnastics came 2nd overall and qualified to compete at the Victorian Championships at the end of October. The girls came 1st on beam, 2nd on vault, 3rd on floor and 4th on bars. Emily and Ruby also from Casey Gymnastics team came 4th overall, with 3rd on bars, 2nd on beam, 5th on floor and 5th on vault. Emily and Ruby will also be competing at the Victorian Championships at the end of October. This was a tremendous performance by all after a full-on year of training many hours a week and competing at 7 competitions since May. We wish the girls all the best for their first Vic Championship competition and look forward to hearing how they perform in the coming weeks.

Here’s to a final term of learning, friendships and fun.

Melissa Roberton

Head of Junior School

Junior School Sports

Divisional Athletics

Congratulations to the 12 Primary School students who recently competed at the Divisional Athletics carnival at Casey Fields. Making this level is a fantastic achievement.

Results:

Levi L – 2nd 1500m

Reet – 2nd 1500m

Olivia – 3rd Shot Put

Snaver – 2nd 800m

Saahib – 1st Long Jump and 2nd High Jump

Yoshara R – 4th Triple Jump

Sidakleen – 5th 800m

Cleo – 4th 200m

Zara – 1st Triple Jump

Tyler – 2nd High Jump

4 x 100m Relay Team consisting of Taj, Max, Snaver and Saahib – 4th

Huge congratulations to Levi, Reet, Snaver, Zara, Tyler and Saahib who will now compete at the Regional Championships in Term 4.

Interschool Sports

Well done to our Year 6 girls basketball team, who competed at Cardinia LIFE in Pakenham last week after taking out the interschool sport title. Against tough competition, the girls performed very well as a team and had a great day out. Thankyou to Ms Parnall for all her coaching during the year.

Regional Athletics

Congratulations to the 6 Junior School students who competed at Regional Athletics on Monday at Casey Fields. Reaching this level is a huge achievement. These students who competed were:

Zara M – Year 5 – Triple Jump

Saahib M – Year 5 – Long Jump and High Jump

Saahib M – Year 5 – Hurdles and 800 Metres.

Tyler M – Year 6 – High Jump.

Reet G – Year 5 – 1500 Metres.

Levi L – Year 4 – 1500 Metres.

Jeff Batey and Belinda Roffey

Junior School PE Teacher