It was a pleasure inducting our Year 6 students as our Ormiston leaders for the whole of 2024. This year we have made many improvements to our leadership program. Each leadership role will now continue for the whole year, not just for one semester, and this allows each student the opportunity to experience being a leader for a longer period. In addition, we have also introduced a new leadership role titled Classroom Leader. The Year 6 students in this position will work closely with both the Foundation & Year 1 class teachers & students this year. We have also re-structured some leadership roles. The focus for our student leaders is to learn the skills to be able to work with a partner or within a team of 3 or 4 students, and as Head of Junior School, I am very confident that these new roles will be fully embraced by our Year 6 cohort.
I would like to thank our Year 6 Class Teachers Jasvindar Gill and Rebecca Leondidis for organising our student leaders from the start of the year. As a school community, we look forward to their valuable contributions.
Art Leaders
Anshika A, Annabel L, Stephanie L & Angela W
Assembly Leaders
Anna L, Sooki T, Yoyo Z & Sabrina Z
Classroom Leaders
Anjali C, Mia C, Serena H, Lauren J, Maddie L & Stephanie M
Events Leaders
Isabelle B & Ada L
House Leaders
Lawrence: Alice H & Chloe Z
Schofield: Zoe M & Lucinda R
Singleton: Quynh B & Yiyi L
Taylor: Matilda C & Teanna D
Library Leaders
Elfie F, Abigail L, Jade L & Gloria L
Music Leaders
Ivy X, Kyla C, Catherine C & Joiebella F
School Captains
Kaylee P & Alice X
Social Service Leaders
Lucy N, Annabelle T & Sara Z
Sustainability Leaders
Nellie E & Sherise T
Leadership Prayer
I would also like to share our Deputy Head of Junior School Emma Hinchliffe’s inspiring leadership prayer from the assembly. Our Year 6 leadership program is special as it recognises that each Year 6 student has the potential to be a great leader. The prayer (below) was a wonderful way to finish off this special event.
Dear God,
Thank you for providing our students with a safe and caring environment to learn, connect and play, when we know that not all children are so lucky.
Thank you also for allowing our Year 6s to have the opportunity to share their gratitude, enthusiasm, and skills with the whole school community through their new leadership roles.
We know that true leadership is not about receiving accolades but acting in the service of others. Grant that through the receiving of theses badges, each student is reminded of the importance of enacting our school motto “Utilis in Ministerium” useful in service.
Regardless of our roles in the school community, please support each of us to show leadership to one another through embodying our school values of integrity, commitment, respect, hope, and courage. Help us to overcome any challenges in our paths by remaining humble, trying our best and not being afraid to ask for support when needed.
We ask that you give our Year 6 leaders the confidence to share their ideas and opinions, and to use their voices to make each role their own. Watch over each of them as they strive to support others and challenge themselves to step out of their comfort zones.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Congratulations to Harper Zhao in Year 1 for her remarkable achievement at the Kyoto International Art Exchange Exhibition which took place in late 2023. Her art piece titled Sinking World was formally recognised with a certificate and trophy. At Ormiston, we have many talented students that excel in art, and we wish Harper all the best for the future.
I look forward to seeing all our Ormiston families at our twilight picnic tonight within our Junior School grounds. It is going to be an exciting night for our school community and thank you to the Parents and Friends Association (PFA) who are organising this special event.
Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School
It has a been wonderful to welcome returning students back into the Ormiston library this year, and very exciting to introduce our beautiful space to our new students from ELC to Year 6 who have enjoyed exploring and borrowing from our collections.
With our younger students, it has been such fun to share stories that are not only charming and engaging, but also highly relatable. Starting School, The Crayons Go Back to School and Our Library have been popular titles that detail shared experiences and help our students develop connections with each other and their new library space. We have also seen our Year 3 students enthusiastically embrace their new access to our Orbit library system and SORA eBook collection. This online portal allows students to interact with the library catalogue, search for desired titles, reserve books of interest and access eBooks and audio books.
Our Ormiston Book Clubs have commenced again, and we welcome students in Year 3 – 6 to join us each week. Book Club celebrates and strengthens our wonderful reading culture and provides students with opportunities to connect with others over a shared love of reading. Students can swap book recommendations and reviews with peers across year levels. Book Club offers our literature loving students a space to feel safe, valued, and knowledgeable.
Book Club begins with both teacher and student participants sharing what they have been recently reading with the group. Discussion prompts and questions help guide the conversations around plot, characters, setting, genre and themes and members are invited to ask questions and/or make connections to other texts they may have read. Book Club members will also have opportunities to participate in exciting book related games, quizzes, and challenges, engage in fun, visual art activities and create their own stories.
Sally Spencer
Junior School Library Teacher
As part of the literacy program, students were tasked with working collaboratively to reflect on the new experiences and opportunities in Year 5. One such activity is the weekly Interschool Sports program, where students participate in training sessions and sporting games against local schools to develop their sporting skills. The students were encouraged to think deeply about the purpose and benefits of the program and summarise their collective thinking in a concise paragraph.
Involvement in inter-school sport, is highly effective and beneficial for both physical and mental health. It greatly helps with developing some of the most important and helpful skills, such as teamwork, social skills, coordination and leadership. Interacting with new people from many city-wide schools can be extremely useful when working on social skills, which will prove vital for success in the future. Also, with our inter-school sport program, a different student is elected to be team captain for one game. This allows us to learn how to become a young leader, guiding us towards being more confident and responsible.
– Audrey C, Aanya C, Cathy G, Rachel D, Faye L
Inter-school sport is a challenge for many students because the sport is new to them. An example of this is when we went to MLC to play netball. We had to use teamwork and communication to get the ball in the ring, and a growth mindset when playing against a tough team. Also, the school values of commitment, courage, hope, respect and integrity were clearly demonstrated while we were playing.
Commitment was shown by everyone trying to display exceptional passes. Courage was shown by Janice when she stepped back up and kept on playing, even though she wanted to cry, after falling over. Hope was shown when students cheered their teammates on, and we scored a goal. Ecstatic, everyone was jumping like a kangaroo and they high fived their teammates and hugged each other. Respect was shown when we didn’t win, but still acknowledged MLC as winners. Integrity was shown when a CGGS student stepped with the ball, and admitted that she did.
We are now looking forward to playing our next game!
By: Annabelle Z, Janice P, Claire Z, Alis C and Jaslene N
Craig Goodwin
Year 5G Classroom Teacher
