Welcome to the first edition of CamNews for Term Four, with many exciting events on the horizon, such as the VCE Art and Design Exhibition (this weekend), House Swimming and Christmas @ Camberwell, there is much to look forward to.
Term Four is also a period of growth, celebration and transition, with our students’ hard work and dedication, culminating in end of year exams, the completion of subjects and the transition to new year levels. In fact, as I look out into the courtyard and at the clocktower, I can see the Year 12 countdown reads “6 days to go”. It is hard to believe that our Year 12 students are entering their final week of classes next week and what an incredible journey they have been on.
Over the next two weeks, we look forward to celebrating the Class of 2024 at the upcoming Year 12 Celebration Day, the Leavers’ Service, and the Valedictory Dinner. Following these significant events, we will farewell our Year 12 students as they concentrate and prepare for their final exams, departing confident in their abilities and preparation, and with the full support of CGGS community behind them.
We wish all families a wonderful start to Term Four and are excited to celebrate the milestones that this term brings with students and families. All the best for the term ahead.
Kath Woolcock
Head of Senior School
Tom Clark
Head of Middle School
We are thrilled to share the news that the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) recently awarded Hannah L the LMusA (Licentiate in Music, Australia) for French Horn, with distinction.
The Licentiate in Music, Australia is a diploma awarded by examination to outstanding musicians. Candidates must perform repertoire from the prescribed lists of works and are tested on their general knowledge of the selected pieces. The “award with distinction” is very rarely given and reflects Hannah’s many hours of conscientious commitment to practice and her exceptionally high performance and artistic skills.
Hannah was also awarded the AMusA (Associate in Music, Australia) for Piano earlier this year and is to be congratulated on her dedication to learning a wide range of works, as well as maintaining her motivation to achieve specific music goals. Hannah memorised a significant collection of musical works in preparation for the two highly demanding performance examinations. Hannah will join a prestigious group of musicians who have been awarded diplomas on multiple instruments.
Hannah has continued to immerse herself in her music passions at CGGS as a Schofield House Music Captain, alongside completing VCE Unit 3 and 4 Music Repertoire Performance and involvement in many co-curricular Music groups.
Hannah is an inspiration for all our student musicians!
Kate Savige & Rohan Mack
Directors of Music
In the second week of the Term Three holidays, I participated in Tennis Victoria’s Future Leaders program to implement change into my local club, Doncaster Tennis Club. Together with 33 other like-minded future leaders, I spent three days and two nights in the city exploring a different side of tennis to help grow the sport to make it more inclusive for all.
We explored complimentary formats, padel and pickleball, while also understanding the challenges having a disability has on playing tennis, whether physical or intellectual. We learnt sign language, played wheelchair tennis, experienced what it is like to be visually impaired, immersed ourselves in Virtual Reality, and gained new skills in leadership, social media marketing and website design. These activities allowed me to gain a new insight into the evolving world of tennis and inspired me with new ideas of projects I can help bring to my club to make tennis a sport for all. The Future Leaders Program has allowed me to meet so many different people from across Victoria, who all have a shared goal to inspire more individuals to take up tennis.
I highly recommend everyone to sign up for this program in the coming years, as I believe it teaches crucial life skills, not just in tennis, whilst also bringing together like-minded individuals to create a bright future that will bring change and inclusion for not only tennis, but all sports. This short camp is a very worthwhile program to attend, as it has made me so many friends from across the state and taught me so much in making tennis a more inclusive sport for everyone to play.
Chloe W
Year 9
The last event of the Track and Field Calander is the Prestigious Finals Evening, where the top 10 students in each age group and event are selected from across all 24 GSV schools to compete. This selection is taken from the results in all Championship Carnivals held the week prior and is an incredible achievement.
The carnival is held at Lakeside Stadium, with all events taking place in the main arena. This is especially exciting for the “throwers,” who are normally situated outside of the main field and miss the atmosphere that builds as the track and jumping events are happening.
CGGS continues its long tradition of having an incredible number of students achieve qualification for Finals Evening and in 2024, we had students in 10 individual events and 1 relay. Of note was the spread of age groups represented, with students from Years 7, 9, 10 and 12 involved.
We are incredibly proud of all students who competed, and particularly congratulations must be given to our medallists of the evening. The way our students always represent CGGS and compete with integrity and respect for their competitors, whilst remembering to enjoy and savour the moment.
The following students were GSV Track and Field Finals evening competitors.
Year 7
Nawita D: Discus – Gold Medal
Year 9
Anthea V: Javelin, 4x100m relay – Bronze Medal (Javelin)
Harper D: 100m, 200m, 4 x 100m relay – Finalist
Emily L: 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay – Finalist
Millie M: High Jump – Finalist
Maya W-H: 4 x 100m relay – Finalist
Year 10
Ruby E: Hurdles – Finalist
Year 12
Bella F: 400m, 800m, 1500m – Silver medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal
Emma D: Javelin – Finalist
Sophia P: Javelin – Finalist
Emily P: Discus – Finalist
Liana R: Discus – Finalist
The 2024 Track and Field season was certainly successful, with many highlights, personal bests, learning and development and excellent results. The comradery, memories, cross age friendships and leadership skills on display were a credit to all team members and I thank every student, coach and staff member that was involved to make the season such a joyful one.
Nareen Robinson
Head of Sport
The Bionics Institute Girls in STEM Mentoring Program aims to inspire students in Years 10 and 11 to study science, technology, engineering or mathematics at university. This year, four students from Camberwell Girls (Ruby, Alice, Rithanyaa and Isuli) who all have a strong interest in STEM subjects joined the program. The Bionics Institute matched them with their mentor, Rachael Richardson, who is a Principal Research Fellow at the Bionics Institute and Associate Profession in the Medical Bionics Department at the University of Melbourne.
During Term Three, the four students worked closely with Rachael, learning about the use of new technology in limiting and curbing the effects of chronic pain. They learnt about how pain works, chronic pain (and what causes it), current treatments for chronic pain (including medication, transcutaneous stimulation and spinal cord stimulation), and Rachael’s current research of new treatments for chronic pain including optogenetics which is the future of targeted pain relief.
Each fortnight the students were assigned mini research projects to complete. In one of these mini assignments, they were able to analyse and interpret some of Rachael’s recent data. They also had the opportunity to visit the Bionics Institute and Rachael’s lab at St Vincent’s Hospital. At the Bionics Institute they learnt about the Institute which is a world leader in the development of medical devices and different science careers. At St Vincent’s Hospital they visited Rachael’s lab and were able to collect some real lab data, use a super fancy microscope and see how experiments are conducted in a real workplace.
Being part of the Girls in Stem program was truly a valuable and insightful experience for us all. Getting the opportunity to learn about pain pathways alongside a real researcher was super exciting and visiting her office at St Vincent’s Hospital really brought together everything we had been learning for the past couple of months. It truly opened our eyes to all the possibilities of a career in medical research and how far we’ve come in terms of managing chronic pain. Rithanyaa (Year 10)
I was very happy with my choice to participate in this program. Not only did I learn so many new concepts from the science side, but I was also exposed to the workplace of scientists. This provided me with great insight into the daily jobs and overall goals which will help me with my future decisions. Ruby (Year 10)
The Girls in STEM program at the Bionics Institute was a very memorable experience for me. Visiting the Bionics Institute and the program itself gave me a lot of valuable insight into the study of optogenetics and various methods for managing chronic pain. I really loved participating in this and have learnt so much from our mentor, Rachael Richardson. Alice (Year 11)
The Girls in STEM program was incredibly informative and fun, not only did we learn a lot about chronic pain and new treatments for it but also got to see professionals in the field. Getting to visit our mentor at the Bionics Institute and then St Vincent’s Hospital and seeing the lab inside was a highlight of the program! Isuli (Year 10)
Debbie Henson
Head of Science
Geography superstar, Sophie C travelled across the world to compete in the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) held in Maynooth and Dublin, Ireland, from 19-24 August. The International Geography Olympiad is an annual contest for the highest achieving 16-19 year old Geography students from around the world. Forty-six countries took part in this year’s competition, with the USA achieving the top team ranking, Australia achieving second place only one point behind them, and third was Indonesia.
Sophie earned her place on the Australian team through her exceptional performance in last year’s Australian Geography Competition and Geography’s Big Week Out, a five-day training/selection event held at Litchfield National Park, NT.
Australia’s team of four geography students, including our Sophie, achieved an outstanding second place behind the US team. We are also beyond proud to congratulate Sophie for being the only female to earn a gold medal, by placing 12thoverall out of 183 students from countries across the world. She also achieved the highest score on the fieldwork test, a credit to her passion for experiencing the real world and a great testament to all her years of excellent fieldwork at CGGS!
What an amazing, once-in-a-life-time opportunity to experience the world of Geography in another country. Congratulations Sophie!
Sophie described her experience: “For me, the real highlight of this event was meeting so many like-minded students from around the globe. It was incredible to connect with many students who also shared a passion for Geography – the conversations were endless! Another memorable aspect of iGeo was the Cultural Night, where I was able to learn about the many different identities and life experiences each student held. Overall, it was so rewarding to learn so much from my fellow iGeo participants – both Geography and non-Geography related things!”
Karoline Walter
Head of Geography
The Australian Geography Competition is a challenging competition that tests individuals on geographical skills and a broad range of knowledge on a range of topics and global events. At CGGS, all Year 7 and Year 8 students are entered in the competition to participate during class time, with students from all other year levels invited to compete during lunchtime sessions.
CGGS students continues to do well in the Competition, and we are again proud to recognise the exceptional achievements of several students this year.
Congratulations to the following students:
High Distinction
Sophie C (Year 12)
Allegra R (Year 9)
Beatrix F (Year 8)
Maddison OM (Year 8)
Iris H (Year 8)
Kealey L (Year 8)
Christine M (Year 8)
Marlo OR (Year 8)
Misaki S (Year 8)
Maryam U (Year 8)
Lillian W (Year 8)
Lily W (Year 8)
Ella Z (Year 8)
Amelia A (Year 7)
Lily H (Year 7)
Kira K (Year 7)
Madeline L (Year 7)
Lisa L (Year 7)
Shuyu R (Year 7)
Aanya R (Year 7)
Distinction
Hilary F (Year 10)
Sass L (Year 9)
Ashley W (Year 9)
Nini C (Year 8)
Eloise I (Year 8)
Zihan L (Year 8)
Angela N (Year 8)
Charlotte T (Year 8)
Zara T (Year 8)
Elsa W (Year 8)
Anni Z (Year 8)
Rachel F (Year 7)
Lydia H (Year 7)
Nicole L (Year 7)
Amelia S (Year 7)
Amelia W (Year 7)
Ruth W (Year 7)
Surie Z (Year 7)
Credit (Years 9 – 12)
Ashleigh W (Year 12)
Rithanyaa P (Year 10)
Anjali G (Year 10)
Charlotte C (Year 9)
Harper D (Year 9)
Samantha N (Year 9)
Karoline Walter
Head of Geography
Work Experience is a vital part of the CGGS Career Education program; it gives students an opportunity to work with experienced people offering insights into a number of different professions.
While most students completed their placement in June, some intrepid students also embarked on another work experience during the Term Three break. Students explored a range of industries including academia, library work, medical, education, business, biotechnology, and creative industries. Some students were trying something different from their June experience, while other students were trying to decide whether a particular sector was a good fit for them.
Apart from the obvious reasons of doing work experience such as gaining experience of a particular job and an understanding of the working world, it can also allow students to build on those important transferable skills that are useful in any industry. Skills such as communication, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, and time management are easily identified in retail, food and beverage or hospitality work environments. It is particularly useful for students to see how important they are in more professional workplaces also.
Planning for 2025 work experience is currently underway. Our current Year 9 students have already received information on a range of opportunities for next year including:
Victoria Parliament
Zoos Victoria
Parks Victoria
Seeing Eye Dogs Victoria
National Gallery Victoria
University of Melbourne ‘Life as a Scientist’
Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary
Exciting times ahead!
Trish Dolan
Careers Counsellor
