From the Head of Junior School

What a wonderful two weeks we have had with our students’ laughter and joy once again filling the air, bringing CGS back to life. The return to school for our Prep to Year 2 students has been made even more exciting with the very special ‘Rainbow’ themed day today.

School drop offs have been so smooth with parents using the Kiss and Go area effectively and dropping off students within their given timeslots. The pickups have run like clockwork and I would like to thank all our parents for your support in ensuring you are there at the given time and that our students are collected in the safest and most efficient way.

I’d like to thank Miss Reale and Miss Griffin who have both worked incredibly hard to ready their new classrooms for the return of our Year 3 students. Their learning spaces look amazing. Both teachers are very excited to welcome their students into class this Tuesday. The Year 3’s will be joining the Year 4 – 6 students in the new Upper Primary building.

We are looking forward to Tuesday when we will have all our Prep to Year 6 students back on campus. It will be wonderful to have our CGS Junior School back to running at full capacity.

It is of the utmost importance that all parents follow the carpark clarification guidelines emailed to them by Mrs Williams on the Wednesday 3 June. Clearly, the changes that we have been required to make before we return to school are, as always, to keep our students and staff safe.

The most important changes are as follows:-

• Unfortunately, but understandably, due to our current circumstances, parents will not be permitted on school grounds until further notice.
• Parents will need to follow the new process when dropping off and picking up your children despite the fact that this may take additional time. Please be patient and extremely careful in the car park.
• Please temperature check your child before school and keep them at home if they are ill.
• Please trust that we will be taking every precaution to keep your children healthy while at school including regular hand washing, frequent use of sanitiser and extra cleaning of toilets, tables and high touch areas throughout the school day.
• Please pack only the following items in your child’s school bag: lunch, snack, drink bottle, reader pouch/reader/homework book and rain jacket. Please do not send any other items to school with your child. All correspondence with your child’s teacher will now take place electronically.

I would again like to thank all CGS students, parents and staff for everything that has been done in the past eight weeks to ensure our Year 3-6 Remote Learning Program has been a success. That said, I simply can’t wait to get back to our ‘new’ normal and have everyone back at school doing what they do best.

My hope is that our entire CGS community can enjoy the long weekend. It is certainly well deserved by all.

Mrs Melissa Roberton

Head of Junior School

Rainbow Day

The Prep – Year 2 classrooms were full of colour and excitement as we celebrated our return to school. The Preps began to wonder if all the rainbow colours on all of the children, and all the rainbow balloons plus the rainbow teachers would be a recipe for magic and were on the lookout for proof in the form of sparkles and glitter!

In Year 1H I am sure I saw a magic carpet … so maybe … just maybe there is magic in the air!

Ms Charlotte Bouman

Head of Early Years

Casey Grammar's 2020 Junior School Production - The Show Must Go Online!

We are very excited to announce that some of our Casey Grammar School students will be performing: The Show Must Go Online! A Virtual Children’s Musical Book by Jessica Penzias Lyrics by Dave Hudson Music by Denver Casado Presented through special arrangement with Beat by Beat Press ((www.bbbpress.com). The musical was written to be rehearsed remotely, performed virtually, and then shared with the school community online. The storyline is linear, made up of monologues and songs intended to be performed as solos. When these scenes are video recorded and played in sequence, it presents a complete musical theatre experience!

Stay tuned for our Casey Grammar School Youtube Premiere Performance date!

Congratulations everyone - The results are in!

Mrs Bronwyn Kyne

Junior School Performing Arts Teacher

French Remote Learning

Students in Years 3 and 5 have been working very hard in their remote learning for French. They were given a task to research and cook French food. I have seen the most amazing and fantastic work from students, many of whom really enjoyed this project. Students submitted such a variety of work, ranging from beautifully coloured and translated recipes, pictures and even YouTube videos of themselves cooking!

Mrs Ruth Grant

French Teacher

Acrostic Poems

The chilly season is here! This week 3R wrote acrostic poems about winter. In their poem, they needed to include some facts they have learnt about winter. They are very cool! (pardon the pun).

3R Reflections

Year 3R is getting very excited to return to school on Tuesday. In preparation for their return, they have reflected on some of the positives of Remote Learning and what they have been grateful for this term.

"I am very grateful for the extra time that I have spent with my family. We have spent lots of time playing board games and exploring nature together on our evening walks. We are always so busy, but during this pandemic, we got to slow down to do things we wouldn't normally get to do. I am also grateful for the support we have all given each other during online learning. Especially from my classmates, who have always encouraged each other with their tasks." - Luca Mattheisz

"I’m grateful that I have a home and money to buy food for me to eat. I'm also grateful I am safe and that I am not sick. I’m grateful that I go to a nice school so I can learn new things. Also, I am very grateful I have my parents who helped me with remote learning." - Adriana Papageorgiou

"I’m really excited to go to school because I will be able to see my friends and be able to play with them. The things I am grateful for are my family, friends and teachers. They have been helping me do my work when I need help. It has been fun at home but I'll be happier when I’m at school with my friends and teachers. I am grateful that I don't have COVID-19 and that my friends and family with my teachers are trying to keep people safe from this horrible virus." - Saanvi Sharma

"I am grateful for my parents helping me do online learning every day. For example, if I didn't know how to spell a word they helped me sound it out and helped me with every subject." - Dylan Pham

"I am grateful that I have been able to stay at home and spend lots of time with my family. I am also grateful that my parents could stay with me during remote learning so I felt safe. Another thing I am grateful for is that we have enough money to buy lots of food that we needed during the Coronavirus pandemic." - Vrinda Sharma

"I enjoyed being able to have a lot more time to play Monopoly and Pet Hunt with my family and have more time to play because I don’t have to get driven to school." - Jacob Mackley

Miss Bridgette Reale

Year 3 Teacher                                                                                                                                                                                

Junior School ICT

During the Remote Learning Program, Year 4 to 6 explored programming in Scratch. They used videos and tutorials to follow a sequence of instructions and are beginning to experiment with their own coding ideas. The students below were very active participants in this unit. Click on the links to view one of their Scratch projects.

Murphy Hancox, 4N https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/392340301

Ayaana Arora, 4N https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/395532482

Abaraj Karunathasan, 4N https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/394305233

Charlotte Hall, 4B https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/398524749

Theekshana Talapareddy, 4B https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/396465546

Lucas Trainor, 5D  https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/393944946

Esha Shiju, 5H https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/395162305

Ari Damjanovic, 6N https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/399441826/

Ms Jessica Burns

Junior School ICT Teacher