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Welcome to the first Discovery newsletter for 2022!
I take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to all Senior School students and their families, in particular those who are new to Casey Grammar. We are also fortunate to be joined by a number of new teachers—all of whom have already made excellent connections with students and staff.
Our new teachers are:
Ms Carolyne Bennett – English, Head of Leaver House
Mr Chris Bucknell – Coordinator of Digital Technologies and E-Learning
Mrs Diana Bright – Mathematics
Miss Kylie Rose – Head of Science
Ms Louise Piva – Head of English
Ms Nicole Leach – English and English Literature
Ms Nicole Morphett – Economics, Legal Studies and Humanities
Mr Paul Atkins – Head of Health and Physical Education
Miss Sophia Lee – Mathematics
Mrs Sylvia Ponnusamy – English
Mrs Diana Thompson – Head of the Joan Reid Learning Centre
We have long awaited the return of uninterrupted face-to-face learning, yet we remain cautious due to the latest spike in COVID-19 cases in our region. Thank you to all staff, students and families for adapting to the routine of regular rapid antigen testing, and for following procedures when students have been expected to isolate. Classwork and homework tasks are posted on Seqta to ensure that learning can continue from home throughout this period.
School Photos
This year’s school photos are taking place on two separate days to allow all students to have their portrait taken. Families wishing to have sibling portraits will be able to make bookings through Arthur Reed Photos at their Keysborough studios. Information will be distributed to families once dates are locked in.
Year 9 Casey Challenge
The Year 9 Casey Challenge got off to a positive start with a three-day excursion to Casey Tech School in Week 2.
Students collaborated in groups, investigated real world opportunities, developed STEAM and Enterprise skills, engaged in design thinking, built prototypes and pitched solutions as part of the Enterprise Program. This will prompt students to conduct design thinking projects that they will follow throughout the year.
Year 12 Retreat
Students in Year 12 began their final year preparing to attend the Year 12 Retreat. While the overnight part of the Retreat had to be postponed, several elements could be delivered on campus and plans are in place for future opportunities to reinforce the connections established in Week 1.
Year 12 student, Rachel Sa, prepared this account of the activities:
‘On February 4, 2022, the Year 12s were packed and eager to attend the Year 12 Retreat at Mount Martha. After students arrived at school hauling bags of luggage, there was a sudden change of plan—we were no longer travelling to Mount Martha. The teachers had an eventful night planned for us nonetheless.
The aim of the Year 12 Retreat was to connect and unite the cohort and to build lasting connections to support each other through a stressful and hectic year. Moreover, the Retreat was an opportunity for the Year 12s to explore themselves and to learn the vulnerabilities of the cohort.
As part of the alternative agenda, we had guest speakers from Tomorrow People enlighten us and help curate discussions about topics such as gender stereotypes. The workshop created an environment to be vulnerable and share honest experiences about how our gender affects the way society treats and perceives us. The workshop helped us progress as individuals as well as a united cohort. Learning about the struggles and experiences of my peers allowed me to build new perceptions and respect for them. This urged me to connect with them on a deeper level, in a way that I had never desired to before.
To end the night, we had a chapel service to bless our final year of high school. We had a ceremony to burn our written worries in a pit of fire and a blessing from all our Heads of House. The chapel service provided comfort and reassurance in our teachers, peers and ourselves for the rest of the year’.
A Positive Start to Year 7
There were a lot of smiles and nervous energy and plenty of new things for our Year 7s to learn on day one—timetables, locker combinations, laptops, homework, new teachers, new classes and new friends!
The Year 7 students have made a positive start to the year and have already settled in to the busy Senior School. They are adjusting well to their new classes and look forward to all that 2022 has in store, including camp in Week 9.
Well done and congratulations to all Year 7s on this exciting milestone in your lives.
Ben Peake
Head of Year 7/Secondary Drama Teacher
Our Ballkid Champion
A big congratulations to Rajvir S (Year 11) who was recently a ballkid at the 2022 Australian Open Men’s Final. Rajvir lives and breathes tennis and was also a ballkid at the 2021 Australian Open Women’s Final. His work ethic and skills are so impressive that he was invited back to join the team for the Men’s Final—a 5.5 hour epic game!
The entire Casey Grammar School community is extremely proud of Rajvir and can’t wait to see what he achieves next!
Below, Rajvir has written about his experience at the 2022 Australian Open.
‘In 2021, I was fortunate to be a ballkid at the Women’s Finals and I received the Rookie of the Year award, given to the best ballkid in their first year.
This year, I was part of the Men’s Finals ballkids squad, which consisted of the 12 ballkids who had performed best during the two weeks of the Australian Open.
Knowing this was my final year as a ballkid, I knew I had to work hard from the start. Every time I went on the court during those two weeks, I gave 110 per cent. When I saw my name in the Men’s Finals Squad, I was relieved that my hard work had paid off and I was extremely excited—it was a dream come true.
As I walked on to Rod Laver Arena, I looked around and felt an amazing atmosphere. I could hear the crowd cheering in excitement as the players walked on. The world number 6, Nadal, was getting ready to battle it out against the world number 2, Medvedev.
Nadal dropped the first two sets but kept his head up and fought hard to win the next two sets and then won the deciding set. After this 5.5-hour thriller the crowd cheered with such excitement as Nadal had earned a history-making 21 Australian Grand Slams.
I remember the event like it was yesterday. From the start of the match to the end, the atmosphere was electric. Every time I looked around, it gave me goosebumps and I have no words that can express that feeling.
Ballkid training generally lasts a few months but ,due to lockdown, we missed a lot of training sessions, leaving us with less than two months to prepare. This made me put in my own time and effort outside of training. My friends were also in ballkid training and we went to the tennis courts to practice ourselves.
I picked up my first racket when I was 7 years old and now I’m 16. The eight years of playing tennis gave me the opportunity to meet many amazing people and visit many great places. Tennis is my passion and I am so thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given.’
Outdoor Education Studies Success
Our 2021 VCE students thrived in their Outdoor and Environmental Studies unit with ten students achieving a study score of 40+—including one perfect study score!
Many factors contributed to the outstanding results including student dedication and enjoyment and students striving for their best. They also set themselves personal and realistic goals and we set a class goal for an average study score of 36.
Students were interested in the practical and theoretical components of the course and they prepared for exams from day one. They completed 170 practice exams along the way and set up their own study groups outside of class. The class helped each other by questioning and challenging each other.
Learning was also fun and the content was real and relevant and designed around the students’ interests. There was a strong focus on challenging topics and students were given regular and meaningful feedback. As a VCE assessor, my knowledge and experience of what the VCAA are looking for also came in handy!
My advice to students who are thinking of studying Outdoor and Environmental Studies would be ‘Just do it.’
Most people who finish the course say it has been their favourite subject. It brings together excellence, mateship, camaraderie, excitement, life-long skills and challenges through experiences like dolphin swimming, caving, surfing, snow-boarding, rock climbing, bike riding, white water rafting and camping.
I always tell students not to choose other subjects because they believe OES is scaled down—scaling is irrelevant as it is designed to make all subjects equal. In fact, OES can give you a great head start to your VCE and ATAR and many OES students in the past have achieved ATARs well into the 90s.
Along with regular life skills, OES students learn transferrable skills that can help with exam techniques, collaboration and time management. So should you do OES in VCE? Absolutely!
Anthony Brown
Senior School Head of Reid House - PE, OED, PDT
Achieving more than Goals!
Student Reflection. Written by Emerson R, Year 11.
During the first weeks back at school our wellbeing classes have been focusing on our circles of resilient wellbeing or PROSPER which stands for Purpose, Resilience, Engagement, Positive emotions, Strengths, Outcomes and Relationships. We have been exploring these 7 elements together as a home room and determining what we can do this school year to fulfill them.
After developing our new PROSPER reflections we began goal setting. This task consisted of writing down three self-determined goals to achieve this term and providing a logical overview of the process needed to accomplish them. These consisted of targets that we will be monitoring, strategies used to achieve these goals and obstacles that may be considered setbacks or possible challenges. After we had completed our wellbeing tasks we began working on team building, we did this by heading down to the basketball courts and challenging ourselves as a group to score a certain amount of points in a row.
It was great to watch everyone get behind one another with an encouraging High-five, supporting each person when they did or didn’t make it. After many attempts to get the highest amount of points some began getting creative with their shots… backwards tosses, three pointer shots and even some attempting to shoot the ball from half court. All were unsuccessful until Mr Kearney decided to give it a go, on his second effort he scored from half court with ease. We were all stunned at first then soon followed with cheers of acclamation, some deeming it the ‘peak moment of the year.’
Mr Kearney’s remarkable efforts gave one particular student hope in achieving the same. Lincoln Langdon in year 8 decided to give shooting from half court one more try. As he approached the line he was met with a burst of applause. He slowly started to take his run up and shot the basketball. Soaring through the air the ball went directly through the net. Everyone was ecstatic, all surrounding and cheering for Lincoln.
Our wellbeing group have always had a close connection with one another. Regardless of the contrasting personalities and age differences we have the ability to enjoy each other’s companies as well as being able to discuss important topics such as our schooling, careers and futures. Our wellbeing group have learnt, supported and grown together throughout the years and we will continue to do so for the remainder of our schooling.
