As we approach the end of Term 1, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our Ormiston families for their continued support this year. I hope families are able to spend some quality time with family and friends throughout the Easter holiday break and I encourage our students to rest during this time to ensure they are ready for a very exciting and dynamic Term 2.

Welcome Back Event

The much anticipated annual Welcome Back Event finally came about last Friday. In previous years a similar event known as the Junior School Twilight Picnic was held during Term 1 and this has now been merged into the Welcome Back Event where families come along and take the opportunity to meet other families in a relaxed atmosphere.

With social distancing in mind, this year we divided our Junior School year levels into two sessions with the Early Learning 3 – Year 3 students from 5.00pm – 6.30pm and the Year 4 – 6 students from 7.00pm – 8.30pm. This strategy allowed for additional outdoor space for families to spread out across the campus. Also, it was great to see new families to Ormiston meet other families in their child’s year level.

I would like to thank Susannah Jepson and her Foundation Team for organising the event. Depending on the circumstances at the start of Term 2, we look forward to seeing more parents at Junior School throughout the year.

Foundation – Year 6 Easter Service at St Mark’s Church

It was a wonderful opportunity for the Foundation – Year 6 students to walk down to St Mark’s Church today to experience our annual Junior School Easter Service. As always, the Reverend Helen Creed took the special service and many students from different year levels took an active role in this important event. There were lots of songs and prayers and the story of Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the Maundy Thursday Story and the story of Easter Sunday were explained to the Junior School. Our Principal, Mrs Dunwoody read out the Easter Greeting and our School Captains finished off the Service by saying the Lord’s prayer.

Foundation – Year 2 Swim Carnival

On Wednesday our Foundation – Year 2 students put on a swimming exhibition at the CGGS Aquatic Centre at Senior School. Each student actively participated in three events on the day and two of those events included the strokes of freestyle and backstroke. The overall standard of swimming during the morning was of a very high standard and each student must be congratulated for doing their own personal best.

Our students were representing their CGGS House – Lawrence, Singleton, Taylor and Schofield where house points were allocated throughout the carnival. Thank you to our Junior School Physical Education Teacher, Miss Liana Kitsou for organising the carnival and Ms Kitsou received a lot of support from Lisa Williams our Swim School Coordinator. Ms Williams’ team helped in the pool during each swimming event, and this enabled the event to run smoothly. Additionally, the Year 6 house leaders assisted on the day with the recording of results and thank you to Samantha Lovell, Selena Chen, Alexandra Bartnicki and Angel Li for their excellent work.

I wish everyone a happy and safe Easter and look forward to seeing everyone back at Ormiston for our first day of Term 2 on Tuesday 20 April 2021. 

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Early Learning 4 Full-Time

EL4 full time children are connected to the wider world. Our journey to connect to the wider world began with our class examining their own identity. The children were encouraged to look at themselves and describe what they look like. We used a variety of mediums to help the children feel safe and confident to express their thoughts and ideas.

Connecting to grandparents and parents was the most effective way to affirm the children’s identity and connect to the wider world as well. We had grandparents share aspects of their cultural roots along with Mums share their stories of childhood connections to India and to a kindergarten in China. Many similarities and differences were identified as we connected to our own lives.

Children grew in confidence to express themselves as they used puppets and a variety of new resources purchased to explore their environment. Their contribution to enrich their own play is embedded in their ability to sustain reciprocal relationships that are respectful, caring and fun.

What is beautiful about this journey of identity is the children’s capacity to embrace the richness of diversity and celebrate their own unique sense of self. It has been a very rewarding term where the children’s growth and development is intrinsic to their own sense identity.

Ramila Sadikeen
Early Learning 4 Full-Time Teacher

Year 1 Incursion

Last Tuesday, Mrs Sargood from the National Trust transformed the Year 1 classroom and gave the students a taste of what school and life was like over 150 years ago. The students dressed as children from the past and took part in lessons using a dip pen and ink, listened to stories of what life was like in the 1800s and learnt about rules and expectations, as well as the consequences given to children who were disobedient at school! The students viewed photographs and images of Queen Victoria, Rippon Lea historic estate and Sargood family who built and lived in Rippon Lea in 1868. This engaging incursion gave the students the opportunity to further develop and apply their knowledge of our Inquiry unit, where they are investigating the question: “How do events, stories and objects from the past help us to understand our present?”

The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were keen to share some of their thoughts:

Isabella-Rose – I loved writing with ink.

Sofia – I enjoyed acting like a kid from over 100 years ago.

Olive – I loved it when Mrs. Sargood told us teachers would write silly names on the slate when they are being mean to kids. It was part of their punishment.

Evie – I found ink writing challenging, it was hard dip the pen in the ink and sometimes I had too much.

Nicole- I like the bell she used at the start of the lesson.

Olivia D. – I liked it when she showed us the black and white photos of her children.

Stephanie – Mrs. Sargood was very strict. She had 35 servants in her house.

Cathy – I liked the work Mrs. Sargood gave us.

Aryana – I enjoyed when Mrs. Sargood showed us pictures of her home in Rippon Lea and Queen Victoria.

Isabelle – I enjoyed going up the front and pretending to do the washing. 

Angela Columbine
Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 4-6 Digital Wellbeing & Technologies Parent Webinar

On Tuesday evening, a group of Year 4-6 parents joined our Head of Digital Learning – Micah Wilkins and I on Zoom to discuss the importance digital technologies and digital wellbeing within the home and school environments.

We revisited the Junior School Digital Wellbeing Guidelines (see image) and discussed how these could be implemented at home.

Parents also shared their own tips and experiences about using technologies with their children at home and we shared some examples of the ways in which our students are developing their digital literacy, citizenship skills and wellbeing at CGGS in both the Junior and Senior Schools. We hope to offer some on site opportunities for parents to have a go at using some of our technologies including our Spheros later in the year.

There was a strong interest from parents in the current screen time recommendations for children. There are currently no formal set time limits on this due to the proliferation of screens in our day to day lives these days, it is the quality and nature of the screen time that is most important. We encourage you to use the following recommendations from the Canadian Paediatric Society (2017) as a guide to develop good screen time habits at home.

Minimise screen time:
> Screen time for children younger than 2  years is not recommended.
> For children 2 to 5 years, limit routine or regular screen time to less than 1 hour per day.
> Ensure that sedentary screen time is not a routine part of child-care for children younger than 5 years.
> Maintain daily ‘screen-free’ times, especially for family meals and book-sharing.
> Avoid screens for at least 1 hour before bedtime, given the potential for melatonin-suppressing effects which can negatively impact on sleep.

Reduce the risks associated with screen time:
> Be present and engaged when screens are used and, whenever possible, co-view with children.
> Be aware of content and prioritise educational, age-appropriate and interactive programming.
> Use parenting strategies that teach self-regulation, calming and limit-setting.
> Conduct a self-assessment of current screen habits and develop a family media plan for when, how and where screens may (and may not) be used.
> Help children recognise and question advertising messages, stereotyping and other problematic content.
> Be reassured that there is no evidence to support introducing technology at an early age.

Adults should model healthy screen use:
> Choose healthy alternatives, such as reading, outdoor play and creative, hands-on activities.
> Turn off adult’s own devices at home during family time.
> Turn off screens when not in use and avoid background TV

This term in Year 4, we learnt all about Digital Citizenship and how to stay safe online. The students identified strategies for keeping themselves safe online such as: using age guidelines, keeping personal information private and how to deal with cyberbullying. This unit brought up many interesting class discussions around online etiquette and the responsibilities we have as digital citizens.

As a summative task, the students were placed into groups and took on the role as teacher by teaching the Year 3s about a specific topic related to digital citizenship. As a group, they planned, prepared resources and taught a mini-lesson for the students.

Here are some thoughts of what the Year 4s have learnt this term about Digital Citizenship:

“This term I learnt not to put your personal details online or you could get hacked” – Kathleen

“Something that I learnt this term is that even if a website looks trustworthy, it may not be” – Ruth

“I learnt how to stay safe online by asking a parent if that website is safe to go on” – Joyce

“I have learnt never to click on pop-ups that seem untrustworthy” – Ailey

Emma Hinchliffe
Deputy Head of Junior School

Year 4 – 6 Netball

The CGGS Junior School Netball Program commenced this term with many enthusiastic students wanting to partake in this team sport.

Year 2/3 Program – Thursday afternoon

The response to the program has been overwhelming currently with 43 registered players. The program is aimed at introducing the students to the game of netball teaching them the basic preparation skills in order to progress onto games.

Year 4 Opals – Friday afternoon

The Year 4 team participate on a Friday afternoon at the Boroondara Netball Association and currently have 9 registered players. So far, this team is undefeated although being a non- competitive competition, it is wonderful to see the smiles on their faces and most importantly having a lot of fun.

Year 5/6 Teams – Saturday

The Year 5/6 teams compete on Saturday mornings at the Boroondara Netball Association. We have entered one Year 5 team and two Year 6 teams. It has been a great start, although weather conditions were not favourable and commend the players for performing superbly in the rain and still managing to enjoy themselves.

We are still seeking additional players for the Year 6 teams so if your child is interested in joining any of the teams next term, please contact Kim Bailey at baileyk@cggs.vic.edu.au.

Kim Bailey
Netball Coordinator

Semester One Student Leadership Assembly

The opportunity to recognise our Year 6R school leaders and our new Student Council was very rewarding at our Semester One Leaders Assembly. The school community listened to our Principal Debbie Dunwoody speak about leadership and how she feels leaders should empower people around them by helping and supporting others through being a positive role model and giving everyone the opportunity to have-a-go. Mrs Dunwoody reminded our students that being a leader is not always an easy job, but it can be very rewarding.

Congratulations to the following Year 6R students:

Art: Melody Hu & Jasmine Li

Assembly & Events: Preesha Navaneetharaja & Anthea Vais

Technology/Digital: Natasha Oakley, Audrey Rees & Cosette Tsjin

Lawrence House:  Selena Chen

Schofield House:  Lexi Bartnicki

Singleton House:  Angel Li

Taylor House:  Samantha Lovell

Library:  Charlotte Chong, Aaliyah D’Rozario & Ashley Wang

Music: Emily Foo & Alina Johnson

School Captains:  Natasha Cameron & Chloe Lau

Sustainability:  Yuxin Chen, Chloris Ding & Charlie Russo

Social Service:  Elsa Cao & Natalie Knowles

Additionally, a number of Year 1 to Year 6 students were elected by their peers to represent them at our Semester One Student Council meetings this year. Congratulations to the following students:

Year 1: Akira Rajakulendran

Year 2: Alessandra Ronzani

Year 3L: Matilda Collins

Year 3R: Cynthia Li

Year 4G: Joyce Zhang

Year 4Z: Hanna Lindsay

Year 5G: Minaaz Kaur

Year 5S: Nicole Zhang

We wish these students all the best for Semester One and look forward to their contributions in the many weeks to come.

Swim Carnivals

It has been a very busy time for our swimmers at Ormiston. Over the last two weeks, they have competed in two Swim Carnivals and once again, our results have been outstanding.

North Balwyn District Swim Carnival

On Monday 25^th March, 16 CGGS students went to Boroondara Sports Complex to compete at the North Balwyn District Swimming Carnival. Throughout the day, many students performed personal best efforts in different events and as a result, we achieved third place overall against sixteen other schools. We came in third position without boys. We were easily the best performed school. This is the third year in a row that Ormiston has come in third place. Also, for the second year, Camberwell Girls won the trophy for the best performed Girls’ School. This trophy is currently located at Junior School Reception. Twelve swimmers qualified for the next stage at the Booroondara Division Swim Carnival.

Year 3 & 4
Joyce Zhang
Sienna Jack
Cecilia Yang
Ruth Whelan
Ailey Poon
Lauren Tang

Year 5
Olivia Yang
Jasmine Xie
Genevieve Khaw

Year 6
Scarlett Sim
Chanel Ghostine
Charlotte Lim

Jasmine Li
Emily Wong
Chloe Lau
Anthea Vais

Boroondara Divisional Swim Carnival

This week, the Boroondara Divisional Swimming Carnival was conducted at the Monash Aquatic and Recreation Pool Centre with some outstanding results for our 12 swimmers. At this competition, Camberwell Girls had their best-ever results. Congratulations to Cecilia Yang of Year 3, Olivia Yang of Year 5 and Jasmine Li in Year 6. These three students individually qualified for the next stage in their respective events. Also, Anthea Vais, Jasmine Xie, Genevieve Khaw and Olivia Yang qualified for their swimming relay. These 7 students will compete at the Eastern Metropolitan Primary Swimming Championships. Congratulations to these students who competed at the Boroondara Division level.

Year 3 & 4
Joyce Zhang
Cecilia Yang
Ruth Whelan
Ailey Poon

Year 5
Olivia Yang
Jasmine Xie
Genevieve Khaw

Year 6
Charlotte Lim
Jasmine Li
Emily Wong
Chloe Lau
Anthea Vais

I wish all our Ormiston families a restful weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Fivedation Program

One of the very special things about CGGS is the nurturing environment that enables all of the girls to feel known by staff and students across the Junior School. ‘Fivedation’ plays a big part in helping our students form relationships with others at school.

The ‘Fivedation’ program, Year Five and Foundation buddies, is a highlight for both the Foundation students and the Year 5s alike. There is definitely an excited buzz in the air on days when they will be getting together. So far, the students have met their new buddy/ies and have been participating in some sessions designed to help them get to know each other. They will continue to meet regularly throughout the year, enabling lovely cross-year level friendships to develop. All of the buddies get such a lot out of this initiative and it is lovely to see the program beginning again with another new year.

Selena Reedman
Foundation Class Teacher

Year 1 – Unit of Inquiry

This term Year 1 students have been exploring the question “How do events, stories and objects from the past help us to understand our present?” The students developed their understanding of milestones and how they are significant events in a person’s life. Students then identified milestones that have occurred in their lives and made timelines, sequencing their events in order.

Murrundindi visited the class and shared his experiences, explaining that knowledge can be passed from generation to generation through the sharing of stories and dance. He explained about traditional cooking techniques and showed the students photos of homes and clothing from the past.

The students also compared objects from the past and present, and considered how they have changed over time. Some of the objects they viewed included: telephones, books, toys, snow skis, torch and candle stick, kettles and sports clothing. Students observed and discussed changes in the use of materials and design, safety features and how the object was powered. They realised that although many objects are still used in our world today, there have been a number of changes and improvements in terms of ease of use and safety.

Angela Columbine
Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 2 – Literacy Learning

This term in Year 2 we have been reading the book ‘Flat Stanley’. The girls loved the adventures that Stanley experienced throughout the story. This led us down the fascinating track of letter writing. We investigated as a class and found the Australia Post Pen Pal Club.

Through this Pen Pal Club, we were paired with another primary school in Australia to send and receive letters. We were lucky enough to be partnered with Chapman Primary School in the ACT.

This week the students began to construct their pen pal letters. Our students were very excited to start writing and learning about their new friends. Pen pal letter writing is a fun, creative and rewarding way for our students to practice literacy and communication. The students will be learning a range of skills including how to structure a letter and address an envelope. By doing so, students will create very special and meaningful letters using interesting language and questions. We are excited to see the Year 2 students build connections with students from a different school, learn about what their life is like and make friendships through the art of letter writing.

“I’m very excited to write a letter to my pen pal” – Annabelle

“I’m looking forward to seeing what my pen pal did on the holidays. I also want to know what her favourite colour is and her favourite subject” – Yui

“I’m excited to meet a new friend and send him letters” – Faye

Mikaela Stanaway
Year 2 Class Teacher

Year 3 – STEAM (Living and Non-Living)

Year 3 students have begun to investigate the key features of living and non-living things through a series of hands-on sessions with Ms Penny Dumsday. We started our exploration in one of the Senior School laboratories by drawing, labelling and classifying a variety of living and non-living specimens. Students have also chosen to plant cuttings and seeds in soil or place them in cups of water. They have made predictions about the changes they think will occur over the coming weeks.

“I predict that when the beans grow, they will grow from the tip of the seed.” – Ivy 3R

“I predict that the seeds will grow into a small eucalyptus tree.” – Maddie 3L

“I predict that the plant will continue to grow more and more roots.” – Rava 3R

“I predict that after watering the seeds they will start to grow.” – Amellia 3L

“I predict that the bean seeds will grow into beans.” – Angela W 3R

“I predict the beans will grow beautiful leaves or a flower.” – Sabrina 3L

“I predict that the Devil’s Ivy will turn brown.” – Khusshnaaz 3R

Rebecca Leondidis & Liz Ruffles
Year 3 Class Teachers

Student Leadership Assembly Prayer

I wanted to finish off today’s Junior School CamNews with sharing Year 6C Class Teacher Katrina Cheong’s prayer that she wrote and read out to the school community at last week’s Semester One Student Leadership Assembly. This prayer clearly reflects our School Values here at Camberwell Girls Grammar School with a strong focus on participation. I hope everyone enjoys reading it.

Dear God,

We thank you today for the many opportunities that we have available at our school to develop our skillset. From Art Club to Sports clubs, Book Club and Chess Club, Music ensembles, Speech & Drama, Coding Club, Sustainability Squad and Student Council – there really is something for everyone. We are very grateful for these opportunities and for all the people who are essential to making these programs run so smoothly throughout the year.

As we commence in these positions of leadership and the responsibilities that accompany them, help us to uphold ourselves with integrity. This means to live out the values we say we stand for. Please give us courage to be strong role models not just in our words, but through our actions – especially when no one is watching and when it might be difficult to do in front of our peers. Encourage us to think creatively and support us when the situation calls for us to be flexible. Help us to know it’s OK to make mistakes along the way and encourage us to learn from these and try again. Please support us to do our personal best and to know that it is when we work together as a team, that we grow in strength and in what we are able to achieve.

In Jesus’ name we pray,

Amen

Katrina Cheong
Year 6C Class Teacher

Ormiston Spirit Awards

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded our annual Ormiston Spirit Awards for 2020. This prestigious award is handed to students that consistently display the school values of respect, integrity, commitment, hope and courage.

Foundation – Kayla Chen

Year 1 – Emma Zhang

Year 2S – Cynthia Li

Year 2Z – Serena Hu

Year 3L – Lauren Tang

Year 3R – Ruth Whelan

Year 4G – Stefanie Nguyen

Year 4C – Mo Lin Yu

Year 5D/W – Emily Foo

Year 5S – Aathana Sivapalan

Year 6C – Sophia Zeitoune

Year 6R – Zoe Lim

F-3 Music – Lu Year 3L

Year 4-6 Music – Jasmine Xie Year 4C

Library –Amber Chia Year 6R

Chinese – Aratrika Kadam Year 3R & Cathy Wang Year 4C

French – Samantha Lovell Year 5DW

Year 6 Graduation Ceremony

This year, our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony was organised differently due to COVID-19 restrictions, however many aspects of the ceremony remained the same as previous years. Each Year 6 student was awarded their Graduation certificate by our Principal Debbie Dunwoody and two students were awarded the following special awards: Millie Greenbank of Year 6R was awarded the Elizabeth Lockley Citizenship Award and Rithanyaa Prakash of Year 6C was awarded the Marjorie Shaw Award for General Excellence.

A special mention must go to 11 of our Year 6 students who started their educational journey in our Early Learning Centre. These students have spent either 8 or 9 years here at Ormiston and are ready to continue onto Senior School. The students are:

> Rida Cao

> Amber Chia

> Madeleine Huynh

> Usha Nadarajah

> Anika Selvaratnam

> Sharon Tjioe

> Penelope Petrakis

> Trinity Sideris

> Anneka Sinnappu

> Zoe Lim

> Sofia Giannicos

> Mara Vais

The Year 6 students performed a unique activity called body percussion and this performance signified the handover between Year 6 and Year 5 students. Specific videos were once again presented at the ceremony which gave our school community the opportunity to learn more about our Year 6 students.

I would like to thank our Year 6 class teachers Katrina Cheong and Nancy Robottom for all their planning and preparation in organising a very successful ‘live’ ceremony this year. Additionally, I would like to thank our CGGS Information Technology Team for all their help and expertise in making sure the event was ‘Live Streamed’ successfully into our Ormiston classrooms. A wonderful team effort!

Please click on the photo below to expand them.

Year 3 & 4 Extended Day

The Year 3 & 4 students thoroughly enjoyed their camp experience this year. Shane Maycock our Deputy Head of Senior School – Co-Curricular Programs organised an extended day that involved a number of educational outdoor activities such as:

> Group imitative activities such as the cup moving challenge

> Nature walk

> Extended play tasks such as giant chess, photo challenge, bombardment and scooter board races

> Movie night

Here are some Year 3 extended day reflections from specific students:

“My favourite part of the day was making the paper rockets – even though mine did not work. I liked this activity because it was clever using the straw to make the rocket fly.” – Sophie-May 3L

“Something I found challenging was trying to think of ideas during the cup challenge because you couldn’t touch the cup with your hands and you had to leave a few centimetres between the cups.” – Joyce 3R

“I worked well with Kathleen and Aaratrika because we followed instructions and cooperated with each other.” – Selinna 3L

“My favourite part of the day was when we were doing nature art because we created impressions of leaves in the air-drying clay. I put it on my Christmas tree and it looked stunning.” – Aaratrika 3R

“I found the photo hunt challenging because there were some pictures which we had no idea where they were. After we found them, we had to crack the code. My team could not figure it out.” – Ruth 3L

“I worked well with Sophie-May and Shreya because when we didn’t know where the pictures were for the scavenger hunt we helped each other out to find them.”

A big thank you must go to the Year 3 & 4 class teachers Rebecca Leondidis, Liz Ruffles, Jasvindar Gill and Craig Goodwin for helping organise the day with Shane Maycock. Also, I would like to thank Emma Hinchliffe for helping to make the day such a success. The Year 3 & 4 students are definitely ready to tackle camp in 2021.

Year 5 & 6 Extended Day

As the Year 5 & 6 students missed out on their camp experience this year, the class teachers and Mr Maycock organised an extended day of outdoor camp activities here at Ormiston. The students were excited to complete a number of different activities that included:

> NASA Mars Landing Mission

> Orienteering Photo Hunt

> Nature Art Sketching

> Talent Show

> Movie Night

Congratulations to all the students that joined in on the day. I would like to thank the class teachers Anjali de Quadros, Meagan Wilson, Fiorella Soci, Katrina Cheong and Nancy Robottom for all their work, as well as Emma Hinchliffe for helping with the organisation of activities and food and drink from Pinwheel & Co.

2020 Boroondara Literary Awards

It was a great pleasure to find out that two of our Ormiston students were recognised at the annual 2020 Boroondara Literary Awards that were conducted virtually on Webex on Thursday 3 December at 6.30 – 7.45pm.

Congratulations to Samantha Lovell of Year 5D/W and Victoria Mao of Year 6C who both received awards at this ceremony. Both students completed their written entries during remote learning earlier in the year.

The Boroondara Literary Awards are a joint activity of the Rotary Club of Balwyn and the City of Boroondara and we look forward to participating in this literary activity next year.

EL3 – Year 2 Little Smiles Dental Visit

We were pleased to have Jesslyn, an Oral Health Therapist, and Valerie, a Dental nurse, from Little smiles at Carrington Health visit on Tuesday morning.

Students in EL3 and EL4, Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 each received an education session about good dental hygiene and those with parental consent received a free dental screening and a bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste and a letter with the findings of the screen.

We encourage parents to read the findings and if necessary to make an appointment with your regular dentist for a follow up treatment if this has been advised.

Jacquie Little & Kylie McDonald
School Nurses

Year 3 Ormiston Prayers

Each week Junior School students lead us in prayer. Last week Amelia and Aaratrika in Year 3 prayed in this way.

Dear God,

We thank you for supporting us during this difficult time, especially when COVID-19 took over the world.  We are grateful for having such a caring and loving Father. We also thank you for helping us every step of the way this year.

We are very happy because of your kindness and your patience.  We ask you to help everyone live as long as they can, because everyone deserves to live a happy life. We wish that hope follows everyone through this new adventure. 

Amen

Helen Creed
School Chaplin

I wish all of our Ormiston families a safe and restful Christmas and New Year and may this festive season be filled with love, joy, peace and happiness for all.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

2021 Foundation – Year 6 Orientation Morning

Our annual Foundation to Year 6 Orientation Morning session will take place as per advertised in the Junior School Diary – Tuesday 17 November 2020. This session will occur from 9.00am – 10.30am and each Ormiston student will spend this time with their 2021 class teacher and classmates.

At this stage, no new students to Ormiston will be able to join us for the morning session therefore we are planning to connect with the new students via video conference later that day or during the week.

If you have any questions about the 2021 Foundation – Year 6 Orientation Morning, please contact Paul Donohue Head of Junior School on donohuep@cggs.vic.edu.au.

Foundation Meteorologists!

Our Inquiry during this term has involved learning about the different types of weather we experience and thinking about the way this impacts on our lives. The students have been very interested in discovering what happens in extreme weather events.

They have also particularly enjoyed some weather-related craft activities. In the photos included below you can see the students expressing their creativity as they make paper snowflakes. They had to use trial and error and adjust their work to achieve the design they wanted. Unbeknown to the students, they were also working on their fine motor skills!

Selena Reedman
Foundation Teacher

Year 1

This term we have been exploring how our foods and fibres get from farms and factories to our houses. We have looked closely at specific foods and their farm to plate process. The students have identified some common key steps in the process including: growing, washing, packing, transporting and buying different foods. Some of the foods we have explored include: mushrooms, wheat, cheese, chocolate, apples and blueberries.

The students also learned to create their own simple flow charts to show the production process and began to learn when to use diamonds to show choices: for example if food can be sold in the same form it is grown in or if it goes to a factory to be changed or combined with different products.

Students are now interested in the factors that affect how well different foods grow. We looked closely at our school vegetable patch using the “See, Think, Wonder” thinking routine to identify challenges farmers might face when growing foods. The students made some interesting observations and are excited to be planting their own seeds in different conditions this week. By following the planting and growing process the students are hoping to find out:

> Why are there bees on some plants and not others?

> Why are there so many snails?

> Why do some plants have holes in them?

> Why do snails like eating plants and flowers?

> Why are some sprouts different colours?

> How do bees collect pollen?

Below are some thoughts of the students:

Olivia –“I learnt that apples can be used to make apple cider vinegar.”

Aarna –“Chocolate can be made at home instead of in a factory.”

Alessandra–“Apples can be made into different things, such as apple cider, apple cider vinegar and apple juice.”

Ellie–“It is interesting that chocolate comes from trees.”

Aanya–“So many different machines used to process food like – apples, blueberries, chocolate and lollipops.”

Faye–“I learnt that chocolate comes from cacao beans.”

Annabelle–“I learnt that lollipops are made in a factory.”

We have been very impressed by the students’ curiosity and wonder, and the way they have embraced new learning experiences and opportunities.

Angela Columbine
Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 5 Virtual Author Visit

On Wednesday 4 November, Mark Greenwood, an award-winning children’s author met with the Year 5 students via a video call. Mark was at his house in Western Australia. He shared his journey about why and how he became an author. Mark Greenwood has written books such as “Simpson and his Donkey”, “Jandamarra” and “Moonwalkers”.

We learnt about Mark’s interest in rocks that eventually became a book titled “The Book of Stone”. Mark shared his fascination with history, especially Australian history. Mark talked about the History Mysteries series and explained how one single idea, thought, question, photograph – ‘ a treasure from the past’ – became the ‘seed’ that inspired these stories.

This was such an enjoyable and funny presentation. Mark Greenwood is an incredible inspiration for us to continue to write original, creative and exciting stories.

Fiorella Soci, Anjali de Quadros & Meagan Wilson
Year 5 Class Teachers

Virtual Author Visits

Although we were not able to have authors and illustrators visit us on site this term, students from Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 have all enjoyed participating in wonderful virtual author visits over the last two weeks.

Alex Miles is the author of many popular middle grade series including “Geek Girls” and “Olive Black” and on Tuesday 27 October she spoke with students from Year 3 and 4. Alex described her writing processes and showed the students her journals where she documents her ideas and plans. Alex also introduced the students to a wonderful story brainstorming model to help with writers block and encouraged them to be persistent.

Mark Greenwood has written many amazing books about fascinating characters, stories and events from Australian history. Mark visited with Year 5 and 6 on Wednesday, 4 November and had the students enthralled with his tales about the last Tasmanian Tiger, lost diamonds and hidden treasure buried at sea. Mark also detailed to the students how he finds his story ideas, explained how he undertakes his extensive research and encouraged the students to always be curious.

Sally Spencer
Library Teacher

Mountfield Maestros Zoom Concert a HUGE success!

It was wonderful to see so many enthusiastic participants and hear musically engaging performances in the Music Mountfield Maestros Zoom Concert on Thursday 5 November. The students celebrated the opportunity to share and showcase their performances to very appreciative audiences at both the EL4-Year 3 session with Mrs Adams and the Year 4 – 6 session with Mrs Byrne.

The diverse range of presentations illuminated the many and varied talents of our Ormiston musicians across all year levels. We congratulate the students on the courage and confidence they displayed in presenting their selected pieces. We thank our music staff for enabling their students to build individual performance skills and for encouraging them to explore ways to communicate their musical presentations.

Kate Savige and Rohan Mack
Directors of Music

Year 1 Art Club

Art Club provides space and time for creative thought, the exploration of interests and talents, and a chance to simply spend time doing something you really enjoy. During the first two weeks of Art Club, Year 1 students have been exploring the art element of line. Students were introduced to street artist Keith Haring and used his work as inspiration for their own art making. They experimented with various lines and explored the water colour resist technique to create bright celebratory artworks using symbols to communicate love, happiness and friendship. Keith Haring is currently showing at the NGV. The exhibition can be viewed online via a virtual tour.

Nicole Burnes
Art Teacher

Colour Your Threads Day

On Wednesday we celebrated the “Colour your threads” initiative, in recognition of the incredible strength that the CGGS community has shown over the last year, and in celebration of World Positive Education Day. It was fantastic to see all our students brightening up the school by wearing colourful clothing and reflecting on what they have learnt to do or about themselves over what has been a challenging year. Students celebrated their learning and reflections across the school and shared something they are proud of themselves for doing or learning this year.

Thank you to our Year 6 Wellbeing leaders and Student Council representatives who wrote some colourful messages of strength and hope on the basketball court to remind everyone how fantastic they’ve been this year. Our Year 6 Wellbeing leaders also set up a challenging letter scavenger hunt around the playground for students to participate in throughout the day. It was great to see so many students work together to find the secret message: “Strong together!”

Emma Hinchliffe
Deputy Head of Junior School

I wish Ormiston families a restful weekend

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Welcome Back!

This week has been very exciting for our Early Learning students. The students have been actively engaged in their learning and there have been many opportunities for them to play and socialise together whether inside the classroom, or outside in the playground. I would like to sincerely thank our Early Learning staff for transitioning the students so seamlessly this week after a long period of time of remote learning.

Our Foundation – Year 6 students will be returning to Ormiston on Monday. Class and specialist teachers have been completing their remote learning program this week on Seesaw while at the same time, getting their classroom and resources ready for face-to-face learning activities next week.

Below are the Foundation – Year 6 student arrival and departure times starting on Monday 12 October.

Arrivals:

Foundation – Year 2 /8.30am
Years 3 & 4 / 8.20am
Years 5 & 6 /8.10am

All parents are required to pick up their children using the Stop, Kiss and Drop procedure at the front of the school. Departure times are listed below.

Departures:

Foundation /2.55pm
Year 1 /3.00pm
Year 2 / 3.05pm
Year 3 /3.10pm
Year 4 /3.15pm
Year 5 /3.20pm
Year 6 / 3.45pm 

From 3.20pm – 3.45pm Year 6 students and their sisters will be able to go outside in the playground and then get picked up by their parents at Stop, Kiss & Drop at 3.45pm.

Celebration of Sport Assembly

At Ormiston each year in Term 4, we organise a Celebration of Sport Assembly to recognise the efforts of students across different year levels. This special assembly will not take place this term because of COVID-19, however at our weekly Foundation – Year 6 assemblies we will hand out specific sporting certificates for students that were involved in school and community sporting events early in Term 1.

Additionally, each year at this assembly, we hand out a trophy and an award for the Ormiston Sportswoman of the Year. Unfortunately, we will not be able to complete this task due to limited sporting opportunities throughout the year. However, we hope our Junior School students may be able to participate in some non-contact training at some stage during Term 4 depending on the Victorian State Government guidelines.

Early Learning 3 Update

Easing back to school in Early Learning 3 after remote learning for many weeks has been such a joyous occasion for us all. The children could not believe that they were able to come back to school and they walked into Early Learning Centre with beaming smiles and plenty of confidence.

Here is what some children had to say about being back at school:

Chelsea said, “I happy to see my friends I like playing with Eason and I like doing puzzles.”

Jayden said, “Me like playing with blocks and Lego.”

Sophie said, “I am so happy to play outside with my friends and I like going to Music.”

Ryan said, “I like seeing all my friends and playing with them with playdough and building with blocks and sitting on the mat.”

Melanie said, “I like playing outside and playing with Iris and seeing all the pictures of our families on the wall.”

Eason said, “I like playing with blocks and building things with Jayden.”

Scarlett said, “I am excited to play in the home corner and to see Kimi from EL4 and to see Sophie and Azalea back.”

We all look forward to a dynamic Term 4 in Early Learning 3.

Ramila Sadikeen
Early Learning 3 Class Teacher

Early Learning 4 Full-Time Update

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude in Early Learning 4 (Full Time)

This week it was wonderful to see the Early Learning 4 (Full Time) children return to school. They were very excited to reconnect with their peers after remote learning and spending time at home during the holidays. Throughout the week there were many opportunities for the children to engage with each other, both in the classroom and garden.

In the classroom we shared stories about the character strength gratitude and dialogued about those things that we are thankful for and are good in our lives. We wondered about the words ‘grateful’ and the positive emotion ‘gratitude.’

Calista and Rubyrose expressed their understandings:

“Grateful means that you be grateful that you have toys. In some parts of the world little kids don’t have toys.” – Calista

“My daddy said that you have to be grateful for what we have – for everything.” – Rubyrose

We paused to notice and appreciate the things in our lives both at home and school that we need to be grateful for, such as, family, friends, a house to live, food, clean water; and things from nature such as butterflies, flowers and rainbows. During our afternoon reflection time, we have been thinking about the day and expressing gratitude (thankfulness) to each other for positive actions and thoughtful acts of kindness that have been experienced both in the classroom and garden.

The children are currently expressing things they are grateful for through drawing and dialogue. We will be compiling these into A Gratitude Story that we look forward to sharing with you.

By cultivating an attitude of gratitude, the children are experiencing positive emotions and feelings of happiness and this is important for their wellbeing.

Angela Follacchio
Early Learning 4 Class Teacher

Early Learning 4 Part-Time

The Early Learning 4 (Part Time) children returned to the Early Learning Centre, excited to see their friends and educators and eager to explore new experiences. A group interest emerged from a book we started reading called ‘Mr Archimedes Bath’ by Pamela Allen.

In the book Mr Archimedes has a bath with a kangaroo, wombat and a goat. He is furious that the water keeps overflowing and blames each of the animals. We decided to explore the problem in the book using a tub of water and plastic toys to represent the characters in the book. The children helped act out the story and shared their theories about why the water rose. Through participating in teacher guided investigations, children learn how to participate in simple inquiry cycles. They explore, wonder, raise questions, share ideas and engage in deeper explorations.

Lilian Bishop
Early Learning 4 Part-Time Class Teacher

I wish our Ormiston families a restful weekend and we look forward to seeing all our Foundation – Year 6 students bright and early Monday morning ready for face to face learning back at Junior School.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School