Harmony Week

Harmony Week has been a wonderful way to celebrate our inclusive school culture through a huge array of activities. I am so proud of the way the students  showcased their heritage through song, dance and cultural clothing. I commend Ms Monique Riviere-Pendle, School Chaplain, for her leadership and initiative in putting together all of the Harmony Week events.

Aboriginal Artist

As part of our Reconciliation Action Plan, Year 10 Product Design students were commissioned to design and create an arbour to house indigenous artworks. The arbour is now built and is ready to be installed in the school grounds.

The RAP committee have commissioned an Indigenous artist to complete the artwork for the arbour. Last week, the artist conducted a very interesting session with Casey Grammar staff and student leaders (Year 6 and Year 12) where we learnt more about indigenous story telling through art. The students created their own artworks which told their unique stories. These stories will be used to inform the final works to be produced by our artist.

Pi Day

Congratulations to the Senior School Maths Department who provided lots of fun mathematical activities during Pi Week. On Pi Day (14 February), staff were treated to a variety of pies at morning tea. Meanwhile, students were invited to participate in the Pi Reciting Challenge. Congratulations to Nelson Quach from Booth 7 who recited up to 201 decimal places. What an incredible achievement.

Year 6 Beach Program

Our Year 6 students have enjoyed two wonderful days learning about water safety at the beach. In typical Melbourne weather, the students were treated to a 32 degree day one day a windy 23 degree day the next. Thank you to Mr Batey who organised the excursion and to the Year 6 staff who attended.

Farewell Ms Black

We have bid a fond farewell to Ms Black who has commenced her maternity leave this week. We are looking forward to meeting her little boy very soon.

Fiona Williams

Principal

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NAPLAN and Elephants

Most of you would be familiar with the parable of the six blind men and the elephant, but in short, here is how the story goes:

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said, “We must inspect it and know it by touch, of which we are capable.” So, they sought it out, and when they found it, they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake.” For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. 

As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, “The elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk.” The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant “is a wall.” Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant)

I would like to compare NAPLAN to this story in two ways. Firstly, although it is true to say that NAPLAN does tell us something about our students, it tells us only a small amount about our students’ strengths, passions and achievements. Like the blind men exploring the elephant, we do not get the whole picture by looking at these results. Placing too much emphasis on NAPLAN results risks defining our students by their performance on a computer-mediated test of a narrow range of skills at a particular moment in time.

Our students (and your children) are much more complex, nuanced and imaginative than that. Also, to strain the metaphor to breaking point (if NAPLAN itself is now represented by the elephant), like an elephant, NAPLAN tends to get an overly large share of attention in the media, which probably contributes to the pressure that some of our students feel to perform on this particular set of tests. In reality, their development in thinking and learning has much more to do with their consistent effort and engagement in learning every day than their efforts on these tests.

Robert Jacobs

Deputy Principal & Head of Wellbeing