Junior School

November 1, 2019/in juniorschool /by Georgia Bennett

CamNews

Junior School

November 1, 2019

Foundation – Year 6 Celebration of Sport Assembly

Our Physical Education teachers Liana Kitsou and Dot Georgiou organised a very entertaining assembly to celebrate sport at Ormiston. A major highlight of the assembly was guest speaker Lauren Brazzale from the Carlton Football Club. Lauren spoke to the school community about her own hard work in achieving her own goals in AFLW. She encouraged our students to always give their very best. During the assembly, students that participated in District, Division and Regional, State and National events in swimming, cross country and athletics throughout the year were recognised for their efforts. Also, students who participated in our own swimming squad programs, swim school, snows sports, tennis, netball and basketball were recognised for their efforts in representing CGGS with Participation Awards.

Participation continues to be a key element of our sporting program and it has been very pleasing to see so many Years 2, 3 and 4 students get involved in more sporting activities this year. The amount of sport and physical activity at Ormiston is at its highest level and students have many opportunities to become fit and healthy with sporting activities available to them.

Ormiston Sports Woman Award of the Year 2019

Each year the above notable award is handed out to student who has contributed extensively to the sporting program at Ormiston during the year and reached a high level of sporting participation either at an individual or team level. This year, Anika Selvaratnam Year 5R was presented with the award. We thank Anika for all her efforts in participating in so many different sports and particularly for her individual efforts in cross country and representing Camberwell Girls Grammar School at the Victorian State and National Championships.

Year 5 & 6 Learning Enrichment – Science Talent Search

This year, 24 students across Years 5 and 6 competed in the Science Talent Search. The Science Talent Search is a National competition which seeks to engage students in Science. Our Year 5 and 6 students chose to explore Science concepts through Experimental Research, Working Models, Creative Writing and Science Photography.

> Fourteen students received Certificates of Merit
> Three students received Certificates of Distinction

The following seven students received Minor Bursaries, which were presented to them at an Awards ceremony at La Trobe University on Monday 28 October:

Alyce Law and Maddie Wood
Experimental Research: Which antiseptic or antibacterial is most effective?

Anneke Cook
Creative Writing: The Dark Side of the Moon

Suwedha Ranjith
Creative Writing: Destination Moon

Rithanyaa Prakash
Science Photography: Leaf Patterns

Amy Cao and Samantha Chua
Science Photography: Clouds

All the students are congratulated for the effort they put into their submissions. Thank you to the Years 5 and 6 teachers for their support as well as Ms Nima Reddy, the Lab Technician in the Senior School who helped with sourcing materials and Ms Belinda Kinnane, Senior School Maths and Science teacher and MakerSpace Coordinator who helped with Science concepts and scientific methods.

Thank you to all the parents who encouraged their child behind the scenes and made sure the students were able to attend the judging day to share their work.

Year 5 Beat the Box Event

Last Thursday, six excited Year 5 students competed in a Beat the Box challenge at Methodist Ladies College with students from five other Boroondara schools. Each team consisted of students from three different schools and the event provided opportunities to develop teamwork, critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Each team was required to solve clues to break into three different locked boxes as well as participate in an engineering challenge and trivia quiz. The main theme for the activity was the life and work of Edward Lear, a poet, musician and artist who is perhaps best known for his limericks and nonsense poems such as The Owl and the Pussycat.

The students were wonderful ambassadors for Camberwell Girls Grammar School, being considerate, creative and collaborative in their endeavours. Two of the girls finished the day in the winning team, however, all our students should be congratulated for their efforts.

Beat The Box Limerick:

Rivya Subramaniyan, Alyce Law, Maddie Wood, Rithanyaa Prakash, Emily Lioe and Anneka Sinnappu

There once were six girls in a car
Who didn’t have to travel afar
They puzzled over a box
Trying to solve all the locks
And were pleased to succeed, HOORAH!

Dr Charlotte Forwood
Director of Learning Design and Development & Learning Enrichment Teacher

Year 5R Lettuce Celerybrate Competition – Making Beewax Wraps

On Monday 28 October, 5R students went on an incursion to the science food technology laboratory at Senior School to learn how to make a beewax wraps. We got this opportunity because we were the winners of the Lettuce Celerybrate competition, which is all about encouraging students and their classes to eat vegetables every Wednesday throughout the year.

We learned to make beewax wraps and faced a few challenges along the way. They were sticky wax and hot surfaces. However, Miss Wighton made the lesson safe and friendly learning different tactics about being in a kitchen and cooking skills. We had to put wax on a coloured piece of cloth and heat the cloth so the wax melted and spread evenly. We then had to hold it up to dry, waiting for it to be stiff under our fingertips. We learnt that the wax is environmentally friendly, as is the wrap because it can be composted after it wears out. The session was interesting and exciting and we all ended up with our very own reusable wrap for foods, instead of using foil and cling-wrap! I hope this opportunity comes round again next year as I am ready to bring my vegetables!

Christina Weickhardt
Year 5R

Foundation – Year 6 Tabloid Sports

On Tuesday 29 October we had our annual Tabloid Sports Carnival. It was a very warm day, yet the sun did not stop us all from having so much fun! The carnival included athletic and skill-based activities that saw all students experience a variety of physical games. Well done to all of the students who participated and worked hard to get points for their houses.

A big thank you to all of the staff who supervised each activity and group and thank you also to the parents who came along to support their children.

Here are the final results of the day:

1^stPlace: SCHOFIELD – 744 points

2^ndPlace: LAWRENCE – 731.5 points

3^rdPlace: TAYLOR – 713 points

4^thPlace: SINGLETON – 573 points

Liana Kitsou
Junior School Physical Education Teacher

Digital Learning

As we start the month of November, we can look forward to the warmer weather and beautiful blue skies that are a part of the Spring season. It may be that your family’s routines change with evening meals enjoyed outside or perhaps you choose to make the most of the increased daylight hours by heading to the local park. Of course, there are many ways to enjoy the offerings this time of the year which is why it might be timely to consider how your family members are managing their screen time.

RaisingChildren.net.au states that screen time and screen use are a “normal part of life for most children and teenagers” (2019) and yet screen time is the number one concern for Australian parents (eSafetyCommissioner, 2019). Our recent CGGS Digital Wellbeing survey results correlate with these broader findings with screen time being rated as the top concern for our students and families.

Much has been published about screen time recommendations which is indicative of international recognition of the importance of this issue for children, teenagers and adults. The eSafetyCommissioner website at https://www.esafety.gov.auprovides a wealth of strategies for having positive online experiences as part of a balanced lifestyle. In particular, a downloadable resource with 7 screen time tips is available. Whilst it provides the following recommendations for parents of children, these also apply for parents of teenagers:

> Be involved

> Work with your child / teenager to set boundaries for screen use

> Be clear about the consequences for not switching off

> Set device free zones and times at home

> Ask your child / teenager to explain their screen use

> Use tech tools to help manage access (e.g. Screen Timefor iPhone/iPad)

> Lead by example

Visit the eSafetyCommisionerwebsite for further details on each of the above strategies. The guidelines provided by RaisingChildren.net.au complement these strategies as they focus on balancing screen timewith other activities and the use of quality digital media.

The next Digital Wellbeing article will explore the potential benefits from establishing a Family Media Agreement.

References

eSafetyCommissioner. (2019). Main webpage. Retrieved from

https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-06/EC-ESP-screen-time-tips-flyer_0.pdf

eSafetyCommissioner. (2019). Time online. Retrieved from https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/time-online

eSafetyCommissioner. (2019). eSafetyParents. Retrieved from

https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-06/EC-ESP-screen-time-tips-flyer_0.pdf

RaisingChildren.net.au. (2019). Screen time: checklist for healthy use. Retrieved from https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/play-learning/screen-time-media/screen-time

Paul Donohue & Felicity Carroll

Early Learning – Year 6 Service Learning (Nyasha Fundraiser)

On Wednesday 30 October, we had a fundraiser for our sponsored child Nyasha. Each class was asked to sacrifice one item that is often used so that we could develop our empathy skills for children that are learning with less privileges than us. Some of the things that classes gave up were electricity, sitting on the floor, whiteboards, tables, chairs and classrooms. Thank you to all of the students, parents and teachers for supporting this fundraiser and making a difference for Nyasha’s life.

Aliyana Rajakulendran & Sammantha Chua
Junior School Captains

Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

As mentioned in the Junior School Weekly, all ELC – Year 6 students are required to be back at School next Wednesday 6 November. Both Monday 4 November and Tuesday 5 November are student free days with Tuesday being a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup.

I wish all Ormiston families a restful long weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Junior School

October 18, 2019/in juniorschool /by Georgia Bennett

CamNews

Junior School

October 18, 2019

Foundation – Year 6 Ormiston Spirit Awards

During this week’s assembly, our Junior School teachers handed out the prestigious Ormiston Spirit Awards in front of the school community. These awards are handed to Foundation – Year 6 students who are consistently displaying our CGGS School Values of Respect, Integrity, Commitment, Hope and Courage in their classroom learning and participation in school co-curricular activities. Congratulations to the following students:

Foundation S
Kayla Yao

Foundation R
Cathy Gao

Year 1G
Angela Hu

Year 1J
Alice Xu

Year 2S
Ailey Poon

Year 2Z
Nan Cao

Year 3C
Eleanor Robertson

Year 3L
Cathy Wang

Year 4H
Charlie Russo

Year 4G
Ashley Wang

Year 5R
Grace Wan

Year 5 D/K
Abbey Marcou

Year 6R
Sarah Zhou

Year 6C
Lily Thomas

Art
Madison Hall

Physical Education
Madeleine Law

Music
Erena Zhu

Library
Mo Lin Yu

Chinese (Mainstream)
Sophie-May Ronzani

Chinese (Enhanced)
Jasmine Li

French
Lucy Ciro

Boroondara Division Athletics Carnival

Over one week ago, three students participated in the Boroondara District Athletics carnival and did a wonderful job competing against the best athletes among local government, catholic and independent schools. Congratulations to Anika Selvaratnam, Christina Weickhardt and Jessica Wu who were all very competitive in their events. Anika came second in her 1500 metre race and qualified for the Eastern Regional Championships, and she came fourth in her 200 metre race. Christina came seventh in her long jump event and Jessica came fourth in her 80 metre hurdles race. I would like to thank all three students for being excellent representatives for Camberwell Girls Grammar School.

Years 3 – 6 Author visit – Felice Arena

The Years 3 – 6 students began Term 4 with a fun and engaging visit from popular children’s author, Felice Arena. Felice shared his path to becoming a children’s author and his ‘sliding doors’ moment with J.K. Rowling. He introduced students to many of his books, including a Chinese edition of his picture book Sally and Dave, A Slug Story. Cathy from Year 3 read some of the story for us in Chinese while Felice read it in English.

In recent years, Felice has written three historical fiction novels – The Boy and the Spy, Fearless Frederic and A Great Escape. Felice captivated students with the stories behind his books, the fascinating research he has done to ensure his books are authentic and gave a valuable insight into his writing process. He had the Senior School Library ringing with laughter when he taught students and teachers how to do Morse Code in a fun and unique way! We could easily have stayed longer to listen to Felice who has definitely gained many new readers with his visit. Felice will be back again in Week 4 for the highly anticipated YABBA Awards where he has two books shortlisted.

Thank you Felice for reminding us of the joy and power of reading.

What I liked about this author visit is that there was a lot of humour and that Felice Arena had his eyes bursting out like he was so interested in telling us about his books and past. As well as that he made us move and stand up so we were not just listening to him, but we were having fun. – Rudra, Year 3

Kim Yeomans
Junior School Library Teacher

Year 4 Excursion

As part of their Inquiry topic this term of ‘who is responsible for changes to planet Earth?’ the Year 4’s visited Blackburn Lake Sanctuary last Friday to learn about the natural and man-made changes that have occurred over time. Students viewed maps of the area from the 1800s through to current day to understand how natural and human developmental changes to the landscape and surface of the earth have affected the local flora and fauna.

Students enjoyed walking through the sanctuary and learning how man-made changes such as the planting of vegetation and erecting barriers can have a positive impact on the environment. These include minimising erosion and attracting wildlife and creating ecosystems. It was also very exciting to spot various birds such as lorikeets and even a tawny frog-mouth.

Jasvindar Gill & Emma Hinchliffe
Year 4 Class Teachers

Year 3 – 6 Netball

Netball has kicked off at Ormiston for Term 4. The Years 2 and 3 Netball Skills is a huge hit, the students have been working on many skills and learning the rules of the game. A Year 3 team has formed and they played their first game last Friday afterschool in the Boroondara Netball Competition. The opposition came out strong, but the CGGS team were up for the challenge.

The Year 4 Rubies had a good game but went down 5-2. The Year 4 Garnets had a very close game against MLC, CGGS had plenty of opportunities but couldn’t finish it off.

The Year 5 teams both won their matches last Saturday. Opals were unstoppable down both ends of the court, CGGS kept Ruyton scoreless for the whole game and our students scored 10 goals. The Jets also played a great game, the ball flowed very smoothly down the court and the CGGS team defeated MLC 11-2.

The Year 6 Topaz welcomed some new players to the team and had great patches of play. Unfortunately, Genazzano defeated CGGS 10-5. Congratulations to all netballers on their efforts.

Lexie Joyce
CGGS Netball Coach

Digital Wellbeing

We have completed surveying the CGGS community about digital wellbeing. Thank you to our students, teachers and families for your participation. Your contribution has helped us gather current data about our community’s technology usage and perceptions, including any concerns.

Now we begin the process of examining this data. It will be used to help inform our next steps as we work together to promote digital wellbeing. Our teachers have begun this process, by looking at some data trends and considering their implications. We have also had initial student focus group sessions and will be running more of these as we look at refining our shared expectations of device usage for learning. We are grateful that many parents have expressed an interest in participating in digital wellbeing forums and focus groups. Details of these opportunities will be published in upcoming editions of CamNews as well as results from our student, teacher and family surveys. We look forward to continuing our community’s focus on digital wellbeing throughout this term and in 2020.

Paul Donohue and Felicity Carroll

Student Achievements

Years 5 & 6 French

We would like to congratulate two Year 6 students, Monique Desai and Samantha Chua.

Monique came second in the Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette poetry competition. This is a competition open to all French students in Victoria. She competed against 700 students in total and 76 finalists. Félicitations Monique!

Samantha received first place in the Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette drawing competition. Samantha illustrated her own representation of the Year 6 poem studied this year. Bravo Samantha!

Year 3 Asha Bhattacharjee – Eisteddfod by the Bay

On 8 September, Asha competed in the Years 8 – 9 section of the Piano category in the 64th Eisteddfod By the Bay (Piano Section). She played a piece titled “Two Little Birds” by Frank Hutchens. In a highly competitive group of 25 participants, Asha missed out on the top three prizes, but did tremendously well to have received an Honourable Mention in her category.

Recently, Asha also sat her Grade 5 piano exam in June and received an A+ (High Distinction) for her results. This is an outstanding effort.

As a school, we are extremely proud of Asha and her musical achievements this year.

I wish all Ormiston families a restful weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Junior School

September 6, 2019/in juniorschool /by Georgia Bennett

CamNews

Junior School

September 6, 2019

Year 4 – 6 North Balwyn District Athletics Carnival

On Thursday 5 September, 20 students from Years 4 – 6 represented CGGS at the North Balwyn District Athletics Competition at the Tom Kelly Athletics Track in Doncaster. It was a full day of events with 14 schools competing. It was such a great achievement to be chosen to represent the school and congratulations to all students who made the team this year. Special mention to Christina Weickhardt and Anika Selvaratnam who qualified for the next level at Division. This event will take place next term and we look forward to following their results.

Overall our students showed great enthusiasm when competing and were very proud to represent CGGS. Here were the selected students:

Year 4
Selena Chen
Anthea Vais
Allegra Reedman

Year 5
Sofia Giannicos
Selina Guan
Angel Quah
Madeleine Wood
Anika Selvaratnam
Anneka Sinnappu
Emily Lioe
Charlotte Hayes
Christina Weickhardt

Year 6
Sarah Zhou
Ency Chen
Samantha Chua
Mia Chapman
Jessica Wu
Monique Desai
Aliyana Rajakulendran
Chloe Liang
Debbie Guan
Amy Cao

Foundation – Year 6 Mountfield Maestros Concert (Music)

I would like to congratulate the students that performed in our annual Mountfield Maestros (Music) concert in the Junior School Hall. It was wonderful to observe so many talented young musicians playing a musical instrument or singing a song. There were so many highlights throughout the concert, congratulations to the following performers:

Foundation
Chelsea Wang – Piano
Annabelle Zhang – Violin
Emma Adel – Piano
Ellie Li- Violin
Gina Yu – Violin

Year 1
Elfie Fan – Piano
Audrey Nemtsas – Piano
Madeleine Law – Piano
Zoe Raspin – Piano
Angela Lin – Piano
Estella Ouyang – Piano
Irene Li – Piano
Cynthia Li – Piano
Elaine Li – Piano

Year 2
Iris Lu – Piano
Aaratrika Kadam – Piano
Georgia Papadopoulos – Violin
Ellie Zhang – Violin
Kathleen Lin – Piano

Year 3
Genevieve Khaw – Piano
Nicole Zhang – Violin
Alisha Lagana- Violia
Sophie Wong – Flute
Rudra Santhosh – Violin
Mo Lin Yu – Cello
Nina Gan – Piano
Zara The – Piano
Jasmine Xie – Piano
Asha Bhattacharjee – Piano

Year 4
Sophie Peake – Violin
Cosette Tsjin – Violin
Charlotte Chong – Violin
Emily Foo – Voice
Chloe Lau – Cello
Selena Chen – Piano

Year 5
Madeleine Huynh – Violin
Rithanyaa Prakash – Violin
Raina Gopal – Voice

Year 6
Isabel Chen – Piano
Suwedha Ranjith – Piano
Jasmine Rees- Piano
Deana Tang – Violin
Ency Chen – Piano
Coco Tao – Piano

Thank you to our Junior School Music teachers Nichole Adams and Penny Byrne for all their work in planning and preparing this important event. Also, I would like to thank our two student Music Leaders Ency Chen and Deana Tang for introducing and concluding both events. Finally, I look forward to watching the progress of the above students when performing in front of school audiences in the coming years.

2019 Ormiston Art Show a HUGE SUCCESS!

The 2019 Ormiston Art Show was a spectacular event, as it is every year! When it officially opened, it was cold outside and the rain poured down, yet inside the gallery was full of bright colours and an atmosphere of joy. Students from EL3 to Year 6 were able to showcase a range of artworks, from painting, drawing, printing, collaging, digital art, sewing, weaving, sculpture and ceramics, displayed across the Junior School. There were three collaborative pieces – Seasonal banners of Summer, Autumn and Winter, where students worked together using paints and images in colours to match each season. A hanging sculptural piece, constructed by Years 4, 5 and 6, hung between the walls of the Hall and which gently swayed as students ran underneath it. The most exciting part of the Art Show was the ‘dark room’. It was filled with enormous paintings of insects, painted in glow in the dark paint. The room was lit up with UV lights, making the insects glow. Excited squeals and slightly frightening screams came from the dark room, as students encountered the artwork inside. The students should feel very proud of their achievements and be inspired by the talents of their friends.

Fiona Gibson
Junior School Art Teacher

Foundation – Year 2 Sports Carnival

Last Monday 26 August, the Foundation – Year 2 students competed at the House Sports Carnival. It was such a fun-filled day and a spectacle for all the parents and families who came to support them. The students showcased their athletic skills in many events including shotput, long jump, running, sprints and hurdles, working hard to get points for their House. Well done to all of those who participated!

Liana Kitsou
Junior School Physical Education Teacher

What can you do in ten minutes?

Over the past few weeks through our Digital Wellbeing articles, we have brought you, the parents CGGS, on a journey with ourselves and the students. This journey is to help understand how digital technology is being and can be used in our school community to facilitate optimum learning for all. Recently, we promoted our Digital Wellbeing Survey and we are grateful to those families who have been able to complete this already.

We ask, if you are yet to take this survey, that you spend ten minutes to share information about your and your daughters’ technology use.

Your participation is encouraged as it will help us to develop a deeper understanding of our current community trends, concerns and needs. We are also surveying teachers and students after which point, we will conduct focus groups to help guide future CGGS Digital Wellbeing initiatives. It is our intention to work together as a community to support and encourage the discerning and positive use of technology.

The survey should only take approximately ten minutes to complete and is accessible for all CGGS parents via this link. It will remain open until Friday 13 September.

Felicity Carroll (Digital Literacy Coordinator JS & SS)& Paul Donohue (Head of Junior School)

Year 4 – 6 Netball

The netball season has come to an end, this saw the Ormiston teams compete in a finals series.

The Year 4 teams have learnt many new skills and have developed some tactics they can apply in matches.

The Year 5 Opals played their first semi-final last Saturday, CGGS came out very strong and scored the first 3 goals of the match. Genazzano came back and defeated CGGS by only 2 goals.

The Year 5 Jets are now playing off in the Bronze 5A division Grand Final this coming weekend, Jets have been working very hard and are wanting to take home the trophy.

A highlight throughout the season for the Year 6 Topaz team, was winning 3 matches in a row, the CGGS team was on a role and unstoppable.

Congratulations goes to all netballers on a terrific Winter Season.

Lexie Joyce
CGGS Netball Coach

Next Friday 13 September, Term 3 concludes for all students. I wish all Ormiston families a restful three-week holiday. I look forward to welcoming students and families back on Monday 7 October.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Junior School

August 23, 2019/in juniorschool /by Georgia Bennett

CamNews

Junior School

August 23, 2019

Junior School Disco

Last Friday over one hundred students attended our annual Junior School Disco which took place once again in the Senior School Anne Feehan Building (Year 7 Level). The first session involved students from Foundation to Year 3 and the second session included students from Years 4 to 6 to get together to sing and dance. The evening was once again very popular and well attended by students across all year levels. This Junior School event truly promoted our CGGS Strategic Pillar of a Connected Community. These special events throughout the year help bring our Ormiston community together. I would like to thank Susannah Jepson from the Foundation Office for all her planning and preparation in making the disco a very successful event. Also, many Junior School Parent Representatives gave up their valuable family time to volunteer at the event. I would like to thank the following parents:

> Meagan Healy
> Tammy Sim
> Jo Rees
> Rhian Hall
> Angelina Lagana
> Josie Mason
> Carolyn Russo
> Cecellia Zhang
> Helen Yue
> Priya Nadarajah

Book Week!

Happy Book Week!

This year the Book Week theme is ‘Reading is my Secret Power’.

In our weekly Library classes we have enjoyed exploring our reading powers and how reading empowers us. We have also shared some of the books shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council Awards and congratulate this year’s winners.

Book of the Year / Early Childhood –Tricky’s Bad Day by Alison Lester

Picture Book of the Year – Cicada by Shaun Tan

Book of the Year / Younger Readers – His Name was Walter by Emily Rodda

This year we had a Creative Book Week Challenge. Thank you to those students who accepted the challenge and unleashed their creativity by baking and decorating cakes, writing books and poems, making models and posters, painting, drawing and minecrafting. Their work is on display in the Library.

Book Week has been a fun celebration of the joy and power of reading. We began the week with Ms Ruffles, Miss Soci, Ms Hinchcliffe, Miss Zarfaty and Mrs Jackson reading their favourite picture books to eager audiences during lunchtime in the library. The library has also been a hive of creativity with students making reading superhero bookmarks, reading power glasses and book badges at lunchtime library.

The Book Week assembly was the highlight of the week and it looked as though the book characters in our library had come to life! The students’ reading powers of creativity and imagination were on display and it was a delight to see many popular book characters in our Book Week Parade. Thank you also to parents for your assistance with costumes and to those who came along to celebrate.

Reading is alive and well in the Junior School!

‘The greatest gift is a passion for reading.’ – Elizabeth Hardwick

Kim Yeomans
Junior School Teacher Librarian

National Science Week

National Science Week is an annual celebration of science and technology and was recently celebrated at Camberwell Girls Grammar School. Science Week provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge. It also aims to encourage an interest in science in young people.

Destination Moon: more missions, more science was the theme for National Science Week in 2019. Many exciting activities were on offer throughout the school, which provided an opportunity for students across all year levels to explore the theme.

Activities in the Junior School kicked off on Monday lunchtime with a group of students working with Mrs Lemanis and Ms Dumsday to make their own water rockets out of soft drink bottles. With much of the school watching and counting down (from a safe distance), we used the Science Department’s rocket launchers to show how the movement of gases provides enough force to propel a rocket high up into the air.

The Years 3 and 4 students were eager participants in a ‘Moon Rovers’ Coding Challenge, creating algorithms using Blockly to code a Dash Robot. Their mission was to program their ‘Moon Rover’ to travel across the surface of the moon, avoiding the craters to collect a rock sample for NASA. Some extra keen students repeated the activity during a lunchtime session, creating more complex algorithms.

The Years 1 and 2 students worked cooperatively in groups to create a LEGO Space Scene. The students utilised the School’s Space Mission LEGO kits to produce a range of creative landscapes, astronauts and space crafts. The activity promoted the development of fine motor skills, encouraged positive team work, communication and problem-solving skills.

Students in Years 5 and 6 helped map out the safe places for a spacecraft to land and the scientifically interesting places to explore on the moon with Moon Mappers. This project asked participants to partner directly with scientists – including NASA mission scientists to identify craters on the moon.

A group of Junior School students had the opportunity to participate in an exciting hands-on lunch time activity held in the Senior School MakerSpace. The students were challenged to construct their own telescope made from everyday materials.

Science Week culminated with a viewing of the landing of Apollo 11, the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. A number of the classes came to watch this momentous occasion and reflected upon the character strengths displayed by the astronauts and the scope of the Apollo 11 accomplishment.

Annabelle Vivarini
Junior School STEAM Educator

Victorian Interschools Snowsports Championships

This week Mt Buller staged the 62nd Victorian Interschools Snowsports competition which saw over 6000 students taking part from over 180 schools. Ormiston took an enthusiastic team of 13 skiers and snowboarders from Years 1 to 6 who competed in Skier Cross, Alpine Giant Slalom, Snowboard Cross and Snowboard Giant Slalom events. The participating students were Ivy and Jasmine Xie, Audrey and Annabelle Nemtsas, Rita and Raynee Wong, Mo Lin Yu, Ashley Wang, Anneka Sinnappu, Angelique Quah, Zara Chueng, Jessie Chen and Elysia Wang.

Our athletes proudly represented Camberwell Girls Grammar School and we were thrilled at the endeavour, sportsmanship and persistence each student displayed throughout the event. Many students were participating in Interschools Snowsports for the first time and they handled the conditions remarkably well, with many achieving personal best results.

The soggy, windy weather didn’t dampen the spirits of the students or their supportive families, and the opening ceremony gave them an opportunity to parade with gusto through the Village carrying the CGGS banner before enjoying a fireworks display. A wonderful three days were had by all and the students continued to develop their skiing and snowboarding skills, along with making new friends and seeing each other in a different and magical environment.

We would like to offer our sincere thank you to all the students and particularly their parents, for their valuable help, support, good humour and embracing Snowsports. Many thanks to Teddy Yu (Molin’s father), Henan Feng (Jasmine & Ivy’s mother) and Lynda Ea (Zara’s mother), who were volunteers and team managers and spent many hours standing in the cold, to support and enable us to take part in the competition.

We look forward to seeing you on the slopes in 2020.

Angela Columbine & Fiona Gibson
Year 3 Class Teacher & Junior School Art Teacher

NEXT BIT

Year 1 Science

Last Wednesday, the Year 1 students visited the Senior School Maker Space to work with Ashley from ‘Linked Excursions’ who helped us to investigate how we can use different forces to make movement.

After building our own LEGO car, each team explored the Design process to make changes and improve our creation depending on the challenge it faced. We removed the bunk beds and fancy steps from our vehicles when we realised they weren’t strong enough against the power of gravity! Our modifications let us add magnets to explore magnetism, propellers to explore electricity and even balloons when we explored the power of wind!

I learned that sometimes a magnet and gravity can fight. When the red bit of the magnet faces the other red bit, they repel each other. That makes the magnet float in the air. Gravity is pushing it down but it is being repelled and pushed up. – Elfie

My favourite part was building the car. We had to change it a zillion times! I learnt that some magnets are powered by electricity. That’s called an electromagnetic force – Molly

We had the most wonderful time before heading back to Junior School and watching footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing. What a wonderful way to celebrate Science Week in Year 1!

Miranda Jackson & Craig Goodwin
Year 1 Class Teachers

Year 2 Service Learning – Hedley Sutton Visit

On Wednesday 14 August the Year 2 students once again visited the residences at Hedley Sutton. Musical items were presented by Ruth Whelan who played Que Sera Sera and Ria Wong, who played ‘I’m A Fine Musician’. The residents loved these musical presentations and could be heard singing along.

The students introduced themselves to a number of different residents throughout the visit – asking questions about their past; about games they played when they were little children, memories from school days and the styles of clothing worn. All of these questions have come from our Inquiry focus and the answers from the residents have been extremely helpful for our learning.

The Year 2 students are commended for the caring and respectful manner in which they presented themselves during our time at Hedley Sutton. It was a valuable learning experience. Here are some thoughts from the students:

Student Comments:

“I learnt that my buddy Ivon used to be a piano teacher.” – Amelia

“I enjoyed talking to the residents about the past.” – Kathleen

“I liked how they listened to us and told us about when they were little.”- Georgia

“I liked how we get to talk to the residents about their families.”- Semaya

“It was good that we get to be interactive with the residents and find out about their stories.”- Ruth

“I liked going to Hedley Sutton because I got to learn about the peoples’ stories, and they were very interesting.”– Jade

“You don’t have to be old to remember.”- Ailey

“You are only as old as you think you are. Actually, we are all young.”- Shreya

“I enjoyed going to Hedley Sutton because I like to chat with people about their past.”- Nan

Fiorella Soci & Ellie Zafarty
Year 2 Class Teachers

Year 5 & 6 French – Alliance Française Poetry Competition

Our Years 5 and 6 French students participated in the Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette Poetry competition in May, reciting a French poem by heart to a French judge. The judges are very exacting and students must get full marks of 20/20 (100% correct and a perfect score) to be invited to the finals.

Congratulations to the following Year 5 and 6 students who received perfect scores of 20/20:

Year 5

Mara Vais

Sophia Zeitoune

Emily Lioe

Maria Lin

Alyce Law

Amber Chia

Madeleine Wood

Anneka Sinnappu

Year 6

Monique Desai

Lucy Ciro

Anneke Cook

Jenny Wang

This year has been our most successful year participating in this competition.

Melissa Drentin
Junior School French Teacher

Fire Fighters come to Ormiston!

Last Friday the Foundation students had their second visit from the Hawthorn Fire Fighters. They learnt many valuable tips for keeping safe in the event of a fire, discussed safe meeting places outside of their homes and learnt about the job of fire fighters. The highlight of the visits was getting to climb aboard the fire truck and spraying the hose.

“I liked it because we sprayed the hose at Stop, Kiss and Drop” – Emma A

“The Fire Fighters taught us that if you catch on fire you have to stop, lie down, cover your face and roll” – Lucy

“We went on the fire truck and we sprayed the hose, it was the best day ever” – Audrey

Selena Reedman & Mikaela Stanaway
Foundation Class Teachers

Year 3 – 6 Hoop Time Basketball Competition

Last week, a select number of students competed at the Hoop Time Basketball Competition at the Nunawading Basketball Stadium. The students were very nervous on the bus ride to the stadium, however, once they arrived the excitement kicked in. Both teams had a warm up game against a boys team, which fired them up for the day. The Year 5/6 team finished third in their division, and the Year 3/4 team finished second. Unfortunately, neither team will be progressing to the next level. However, the students are already super keen to start training now to come back bigger and better in 2020! Go CGGS! Congratulations to the following players:

Year 3 & 4

Allegra Reedman

Annabelle Nemtsas

Anthea Vais

Ashanti Rajakulendran

Natasha Oakley

Scarlett Sim

Genevieve Khaw

Madeline Mason

Year 5 & 6

Mia Chapman

Sarah May

Jessica Wu

Sarah Zhou

Zara Cheung

Charlotte Hayes

Madeleine Wood

Liana Kitsou
Junior School Physical Education Teacher

Year 4 – 6 Netball

The CGGS netballers are getting close to the end of the season. The Year 4 teams have been learning many game tactics and implementing them in the games. Whilst, the Year 5 teams have had some fantastic wins over the past couple of rounds. The Year 6 students are working hard and coming up against tough opposition. The Years 5 and 6 teams will compete in the Semi Finals next Saturday, and the Year 4 teams will play in a Round Robin to finish off the season.

Best of luck goes to all CGGS netballers in the coming weeks!

Lexie Joyce
CGGS Netball Coach

Student Achievements

Sabrina Bignold – Year 6
Sabrina had an amazing experience in Hong Kong at the Asian Grand Prix Ballet Competition. This was an amazing experience for her elite ballet level of training and competing. Hundreds of dancers competed in Regionals across twelve countries. Although Sabrinia didn’t receive a medal at the Asian Grand Prix, she was in the mix with outstanding dancers from Asia Pacific.

Sabrina was thrilled to receive a Gold Medal as well as Best Performance Trophy (for highest score) in the first week at the Asian Ballet Competition. She also received a full scholarship to attend the Ballet Intensive Program in 2020. Congratulations Sabrina on this outstanding achievement.

Lucy Ciro – Year 6
Lucy Ciro also participated in an inter-school chess tournament at Yavneh Leibler College in Elsternwick on Wednesday this week. She came equal third out of 164 students and was presented with a trophy for her achievement. Congratulations Lucy!

Erena Zhu – Year 3
Erena Zhu, came third with her dance partner Albert in the couples category for Waltz and Quickstep at the Tasmania DanceSports competition. Congratulations Erena!

I wish all Ormiston families a restful weekend. I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue

Head of Junior School

Junior School

August 9, 2019/in juniorschool /by Georgia Bennett

CamNews

Junior School

August 9, 2019

Year 1 – 6 Student Leadership Assembly

I would like to congratulate the students below who were awarded student leadership positions for Semester Two. Congratulations to our Year 6R students who are finishing their time at Ormiston being school leaders. The Junior School staff and I look forward to working with each student throughout Semester Two.

The Year 6R leadership roles are as follows:

Leadership Positions

Art
Chloe Liang & Debbie Guan

Assembly and Events
Isabel Sootoh & Sabrina Bignold

Digital
Phien Nguyen & Monique Desai

House
Sarah Zhou (Lawrence)
Yu Jiang (Taylor)
Jaslyn Chao (Singleton)
Coco Tao (Schofield)

Music
Deana Tang & Ency Chen

School Captains
Samantha Chua & Aliyana Rajakulendran

Library
Jasmine Rees & Anh Pham

Wellbeing
Sarah May & Hanna Wang

Sustainability
Mia Van Damme & Ruby Tu

Year 1 – 6 Ormiston School Council

Congratulations to the following students who were voted by their peers to represent their class at Student Council in Semester Two.

Year 1G
Estella Ouyang

Year 1J
Zoe Raspin

Year 2Z
Sienna Jack

Year 2S
Amelia Adel

Year 3C
Jasmine Xie

Year 3L
Zara Teh

Year 4H
Emily Foo

Year 4G
Annabelle Nemtsas

Year 5D/K
Madeleine Wood

Year 5R
Christina Weickhardt

School Captains
Ailyana Rajakulendran & Samantha Chua

Year 1 – 6 Sustainability Squad

Congratulations to the following students who were selected to represent their class as part of the Sustainability Squad for Semester Two.

Year 1G
Connie Yuan

Year 1J
Annabelle Teh

Year 2Z
Ellie Zhang

Year 2S
Sophie-May Ronzani

Year 3C
Rita Wong

Year 3L
Alisha Lagana

Year 4H
Charlie Russo

Year 4G
Sarah Lu

Year 5D/K
Abbey Marcou

Year 5R
Emily Lioe

Sustainability Leaders
Mia Van Damme & Ruby Tu

All Girls Chess Tournament

Recently, our annual All Girls Chess Tournament took place in the Junior School Hall with many Government and independent schools from across Melbourne in attendance.

Throughout the day, over 80 participants took part in the competition. Congratulations to the thirteen students that represented CGGS on the day. These students represented the school superbly and were all wonderful ambassadors for Ormiston. A special mention must go to Lucy Ciro, Christine Moi and Jessica Wong for receiving medals for being the top three performers for CGGS. The students who participated were:

Lucy Ciro

Ency Chen

Usha Nadarajah

Charlotte Chong

Selena Chen

Preesha Navaneetharaja

Zara Teh

Jessica Wong

Chrstine Moi

Irene Li

Ivy Xie

Cynthia Li

Estella Ouyang

Early Learning 3 & 4 – Afro Beat Drumming Workshop

Within our Early Learning community, we plan experiences and provide resources that broaden the children’s perspectives and encourage an appreciation of diversity. Last week, the Early Learning children participated in an African Drumming Workshop with Bouba. This was a hands-on interactive workshop in which the children had their own drum and Bouba taught them techniques to create different rhythms and sounds with their hands and fingers.

During the workshop the children discovered the importance of working together as a group as they cooperated to create specific sounds with Bouba. This involved their aural and visual skills as they discovered how to listen to and respond to Bouba by repeating specific sounds and rhythms on their own drum. This required an ability to observe, listen to and process information.

Throughout the workshop the children also developed skills related to coordination. They were required to use either their left or right hand or both hands at the same time to create sounds on their drum and the drum of the person sitting next to them. This was challenging and involved concentration and skill.

This was a highly energetic, fun and engaging workshop that was enjoyed by the children, teachers and parents. It was positive to see how the children enthusiastically participated and demonstrated their ability to be confident and involved learners. The workshop provided time for the children to engage in physical activity that impacted positively on their health and wellbeing – a time to be ‘present and in the moment’ so they could create and feel the music and respond to this through dance and movements of their body.

This experience provided another opportunity for our Early Learning children and teachers to come together and engage in shared learning. It is also through these types of experiences that we continue to create a sense of belonging and community as we build connections between children and teachers across the EL3 and EL4 classrooms.

Angela Follacchio
Early Learning Team Leader

Foundation 100 Days of School!

Last Thursday the Foundation students and teachers celebrated 100 Days of Foundation for 2019! Everyone enjoyed dressing up as though they were 100 years old! They participated in many activities throughout the day to do with the number 100. A highlight for the students was the ‘100 Party’ as they got to select 100 small items of food to eat. It was a great day and a lovely way to reflect on the growth in the students’ learning during their first 100 days of school.

‘Dressing up was fun!’– Annabelle

‘I am 100 days smarter at Maths because I can do counting in 10s’– Alis

‘I really liked eating the party food!’– Cathy

‘We wrote about being 100 years old. I thought I might have a walking stick and grey hair.’– Aurelia

Selena Reedman & Mikaela Stanaway
Foundation Class Teachers

Year 2’s Visit Como House

This week the Year 2 students visited Como House as part of their unit of inquiry into the past. We have been investigating the question: ‘How can looking at the past help us to understand the present?’

We toured the Armytage Mansion and saw many original artefacts in the dining room, the drawing room and the bedrooms. We followed the Mystery Trail to discover who broke Laura’s porcelain doll during her birthday party. We learnt about the life of the servants; experiencing life in the laundry and the kitchen. We also played 19^thcentury games such as Hot Potato, croquet and Drop the Hankie.

The students, teachers and parent helpers all embraced the spirit of the day and dressed up: some choosing to be young ladies or servants.

It was a truly wonderful experience and has added greatly to our understanding of life in the past.

Fiorella Soci & Ellie Zafarty
Year 2 Class Teachers

Year 3 Excursion – Eureka Tower & City of Melbourne

This term Year 3 are exploring the question, “What natural and human characteristics make Australia unique?” To enhance the students’ knowledge of local natural and manmade landmarks in the city of Melbourne, they took part in an excursion to the Eureka Tower. The students were educated about the features of the Eureka Tower and then participated in activities on Level 88 at the Eureka Skydeck, where they identified a number of prominent Melbourne landmarks. All the students braved the blustery and chilly conditions and stepped outside on to the Terrace where they gained a new appreciation for wild and windy weather! The students enjoyed looking at Melbourne’s features from a bird’s eye perspective, then they walked along the Yarra River making comparisons at ground level.

During the excursion the students learnt some fascinating facts about the Eureka Tower:

> It has 92 levels

> It took over 4 years and 2 months to build and cost $500 million dollars

> There are 1500 residents who live in the Tower and there are approximately 500 apartments

> It is 297.3m tall

> On a windy day the Eureka Tower can sway up to 30cm each way, so the glass windows do not break

> It takes 38 seconds to get to the 88^thfloor (Eureka Skydeck)

> If it’s hit by lightning, you won’t know as there’s a conductor and the lightning goes into the ground

> On the top 10 floors some windows are tinted with 24 karat gold

> There are two floors that have enormous water tanks to help with the swaying of the building

The students were eager to share their thoughts on the day:

Tiffany- “I liked how we could see all of Melbourne because I now know how a bird would see Melbourne! “

Rita – “I liked how when I went up the Eureka Tower, I wasn’t so scared because normally I don’t like heights. It was interesting because I didn’t know many places in Melbourne, and I could see the landmarks through binoculars.”

Maddy M – “I liked how we got to do a fun activity where we had a sheet and you had to look through view finders and spot the labelled landmarks.”

Asha – “I enjoyed going up really high and seeing all of Melbourne and I really enjoyed going to the Terrace because it was funny seeing everyone’s hair blow in the wind!”

Jessica – “I liked having the experience of going on an elevator that went really fast and made my ears feel funny. I also liked going to the city because it was really busy, and I liked seeing the Yarra River ferries and the Spirit of Tasmania at Station Pier. All in all, I loved the experience of being high in the sky!”

Maddie – “I liked the excursion because we got to look out of many windows from a high level and I got to look through view finders. My favourite landmark was Flinders Street Station because I have been there before, and it looks cool.”

Christine – “I liked today because I got to experience a place that I have never been to before and I also got to see many views and learned many new landmarks such as the Queen Victoria Market, Flinders Street Station and St. Paul’s Cathedral. I was also happy because I got to go out on the Terrace and see how that glass on The Edge slid out and went back in. I’d like do it with my family.”

Elise – “It was fun to go on the balcony area because I was really scared of heights, but it was so fun and I wanted to do it fifty times!”

Aekam – “I liked the activity where we looked through the viewfinders because it was fun to find them using the viewfinder and was really interesting finding landmarks.”

Preesha – “I liked driving to the city as we got to see some landmarks, and when we were walking back we got to recap what we had seen.”

Sophie – “I like going in the lift because it went so quickly and wasn’t like a lift in a shopping centre. I turned my back for a moment and then we were at Level 56!”

Jasmine – “I liked the walk to Federation Square and I liked looking at the buildings. I also liked working with my buddy discovering distances from one place to another.”

The dreary day didn’t dampen the students’ enthusiasm and they thoroughly enjoyed learning about features of Victoria’s capital city.

Angela Columbine & Rebecca Leondidis
Year 3 Class Teachers

Year 6 National Virtual Debate

This week the Year 6 students on the 2019 National Virtual Debating team participated in their fourth round debate. Each round has presented the students with a new challenge and this debate was no exception. The students had to consider their arguments for the topic: ‘That film classification should be removed.’

Cate Mead, Suwedha Ranjith , Sarah Zhou and Aliyana Rajakulandran faced the very strong Taree Christian College team from NSW. Both sides of the arguments were hotly contested. The Ormiston team presented strong rebuttals against Taree’s argument. They acted on the feedback given to them in previous debates about the importance of providing evidence to support their viewpoints. The strength of these rebuttals gave the girls their third consecutive win.

The student’s success in this competition is a result of the collaborative effort of the students. They have worked diligently to research topics and they have consistently written and delivered high quality speeches. We congratulate the team on their outstanding achievement in the National Virtual Debating Competition and we wish them well in the fifth round.

Nancy Robottom
Year 6 Class Teacher

Digital Wellbeing Article #3
Ring, Ring… does anyone ever call anymore?

The ABC conducted a survey about smartphone use as part of the 2017 Australian National Science Week and its results may or may not surprise you, depending upon your age!

Dr Kathy Modecki from Griffith University, states that “the way individuals are interacting with their smartphones across the day, and in their lives and relationships, is very, very different by age cohort” (2017). The younger you are, the more likely you are to use your smartphone as a “mini-computer”. It appears that using it for actual telephone calls and even texting is perhaps old fashioned, with these uses being favoured by the older members of our society. You might like to take a closer look at your family members’ smartphone usage to see how it compares with the survey’s findings.

It is not unusual to want to know what is considered to be the ‘right age’ to give a child or teenager their own smartphone. Whilst the trend is for smartphones to be adopted at an increasingly younger age, unlike driving a motor vehicle, there are no laws or even rules to follow. Having said that, the following guidelines from raisingchildren.net.org on promoting safe, responsible and enjoyable smartphone use may be of assistance to your family.

> Discuss and aim to agree on what responsible and respectful smartphone use looks like for your family, for example, valuing other family members by putting down smartphones when talking to each other.

> Value the importance of sleep by keeping smartphones out of bedrooms either all the time or at an agreed upon time, for example, an hour before children and adults’ bedtimes.

> Role model positive behaviour, for example, not using smartphones during family meal times.

> Find ways to share how different family members are using their smartphones, for example, listening to new music, editing photos, discussing newsfeed items etc.

You may wish to view these and other guidelines including safety, security and managing data costs at raisingchildren.org.au.

References

ABC. (2017). Smartphone survey: the fascinating differences in the way we use our phones. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-10-13/smartphone-survey-results-show-fascinating-differences-in-usage/9042184

RaisingChildren.net.au. (2019). Responsible mobile phone use for children and teenagers. Retrieved from https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/entertainment-technology/digital-life/responsible-phone-use

Felicity Carroll (Digital Literacy Coordinator JS & SS) & Paul Donohue (Head of Junior School)

I wish all Ormiston families a restful weekend. I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

Junior School

July 26, 2019/in juniorschool /by Georgia Bennett

CamNews

Junior School

July 26, 2019

Foundation – Year 6 Learning Conversations

This week, Ormiston parents had the opportunity to discuss their child’s start to the year and progress with their child’s class teacher. These sessions are very valuable as they continue to provide a strong home link with the school. It encourages parents to seek out feedback in terms of their child’s academic, emotional, social and physical development, and their strengths and weaknesses. I would like to remind parents that they are able to arrange a meeting time with their child’s class teacher and/or specialist teachers at any time to gain a better understanding of their child’s learning.

Great Success at State Primary Cross Country Championships!

Last week, Anika Selvaratnam from Year 5 competed at the State Primary Cross Country Championships at Bundoora Park. Throughout her previous cross country races at District, Division and Regional levels, Anika was very consistent with her running and had come in first place in each event. At the State Primary Championships, the competition was much tougher, however she ran a Personal Best coming in fourth place and competing against the best runners from across Victoria!

We are all very proud and excited for Anika and we wish her all the best for when she competes at the National Cross Country Championships in Wollongong, New South Wales from the 24 – 26 August.

Early Learning 3 and 4 Author Visit – Mark Carthew

The Early Learning children participate in a number of experiences that develop their capacity and confidence to use language in all its forms and actively engage with and share the enjoyment of language and texts in a range of ways.

Mark Carthew is an award winning Australian children’s author, poet, musician and educator. He is well known for his books celebrating language, humour and wordplay. During their weekly Library sessions and within the Early Learning classroom, the children have engaged with books written by Mark Carthew, in particular, The Gobbling, The Great Zoo Hullabaloo, A Stormy Night and The Big Sneeze. This week the Early Learning children walked to the Senior School Library and met Mark Carthew and listened to him tell these stories through images, puppets and songs. The children demonstrated much enthusiasm and were active participants as they responded to his chants, copied his actions, joined in the singing and discovered how his experiences and interests influence what he includes in his picture story books.

Angela Follacchio
Early Learning Team Leader

Year 5 “2040” Excursion

On Monday 22 July, Year 5 went to Balwyn Cinema for a very exciting excursion! We went to watch the film “2040” for our inquiry topic and question which is “How can we make informed choices as consumers to create a more sustainable world?” We decided to go on this thrilling excursion because 2040 is a documentary made by Damon Gameau that describes and predicts what the future could be like and how we can try to make life on Earth sustainable.

2040 was a very uplifting and inspiring documentary about the different solutions that already exist which could help solve some of the environmental and sustainability problems we have. One solution was taking the carbon emissions in the atmosphere and using it to make the soil healthier so we can grow crops. Another invention they investigated was solar panel microgrids that already exist in Bangladesh and help people to use energy more efficiently in a cost effective way. It was overall a fantastic film that taught us about our effect on the environment and gave us hope for the future ahead of us.

We are very excited to start exploring what changes we can make to create a more sustainable world!

Abbey Marcou & Vrinda Dhir
Year 5 Students

Year 6 Excursion – Parliament House & Old Treasury Building

Below are some reflections from two students who attended the excursion.

Last Friday, the Year 6s went on an informative excursion to the Victorian Parliament House, as well as the Old Treasury Building. It was extremely fun and educational, especially being able to hold our own debate in Parliament!

In Parliament, we visited both rooms, the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. The building itself was not only sophisticated and refined, but had visible accents of gold as well! We found out this was because Victoria was very wealthy near the end of the gold rush and this was when Parliament House was built.

We were led through the Old Treasury Building by two magnificent tour guides and learnt lots about the gold rush and how the building came to be. We found out the Old Treasury Building was first built to store gold, and that the Governor of Victoria, Linda Dessau, works there! We went through areas enclosed with double doors (for privacy) and old living rooms, reliving the Victorian gold rush experience and learning more about our country.

This excursion was a fun and meaningful experience for all of us, and we even got to say hello to the Google Street View car. See you next time, Parliament!

Isabel Sootoh

Year 6R

On Friday 19 July, the Year 6s had an excursion to the Victorian Parliament and Treasury Building. We learnt that the House of Representatives, also known as the Lower House or the People’s House consists of different representatives and a group called the Executive. In the Federal Parliament, the Liberal Party are the executive. This means that the Federal House of Representatives is mainly Liberal members. The Labor Party is called the Opposition. The Labor Party received the second most votes in the election and Bill Shorten was the Leader of the Opposition, until he resigned, therefore The Labor Party has to select a new leader.

The Senate, also known as the Upper House, they receive what is called a Bill, which is an idea for a new law. Once the House of Representatives has given approval, it is then sent to the Senate. This takes place in the Federal Parliament and all of the State Parliaments. If the Bill is approved by the Senate, it is then passed to the Executive. If the Bill is approved, it goes onto the Judiciary, from there it goes to the Governor-General, who is the Queen’s representative. The Governor-General ensures all parties have approved the Bill and once they sign it off, it then officially becomes a Law.

The next part of our excursion was The Treasury Building. The building was used to store gold from the gold rush, so no one could steal it. This was a very interesting part of our excursion. Our guide told us how Melbourne has changed from the gold rush days. We sat in the room where the Executive Council and the Governor-General meet. We had a look at different rooms in the building as well, such as the apartment of the caretaker’s family.

Overall, this was an interesting learning experience and I had a great time.

Anneke Cook
Year 6C

Anne Harvey-Nagl – International Violinist!

On Friday, the Music Department was honoured to host Melbourne-born internationally-renowned violinist, Anne Harvey-Nagl, for a day at CGGS. Anne is currently based in Vienna and has achieved much success as a performer in Europe. She has played with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, the Vienna Mozart Orchestra, Vienna Concert-Verein, Klangforum, Music On Line, and the Kammerphilharmonie. From 1999 – 2011 Anne was Principal 1^stviolin of the Vienna Volksoper and was appointed Concertmaster in 2011.

Years 3 – 5 Strings students were treated to an inspiring and extremely engaging lunchtime recital from Anne, who played many pieces, from Kreisler to Mozart. Students were extremely interested to hear Anne talk about her musical experiences, as well as some insights about both violin and musical performance technique. Many Music staff members were involved in the day’s sessions and special thanks goes to Nichole Adams and Rohan Mack who were instrumental in securing this opportunity for our students. Anne visits Australia regularly and always performs when she is here.

Jane Scott
Music Administrator

Oh sleep, oh gentle sleep… and digital wellbeing

Term 3 is well underway with students returning to their school routines. For many students coming back to school requires a reset of sleeping patterns to accommodate school, rather than holiday hours. It is recommended that children aged between five and eight years have ten to eleven hours of sleep a night, with teenagers needing nine to ten hours to function at their best (Raising Children, 2019; Treyvaud, Vowles, 2018).

Whilst each family’s schedule is different, our nightly routines often include at least some time either watching TV or using a computer or mobile device, all of which emit blue light. It is widely recognised that this blue light suppresses melatonin levels. Lower melatonin levels disrupt the body’s circadian rhythms, i.e. the body’s biological clock, which in turn delays sleep and has a negative impact on your sleep quality.

One simple step is to make use of Apple’s Night Shift or the Night Mode function for Android devices as these both reduce blue light exposure. An even more important strategy is to turn off mobile devices, computers and the TV at least one hour before bedtime. You may already be doing this, but if this isn’t the case, a conversation with your children / teenagers about the merits of quality sleep on wellbeing, and how to manage their night-time device usage, could be worthwhile. Refer to the Raising Children website for more advice on good sleep hygiene from newborns through to teenage years.

The previous article in this Digital Wellbeing series mentioned our intention to survey the CGGS community as part of our digital wellbeing initiative. This work has begun with all Senior and Junior teachers completing individual and team surveys. We will be asking for your assistance in upcoming weeks as we conduct surveys of our families and students. Survey trends will be shared with the community in future articles. The focus of our next article in this series, is the digital wellbeing of primary aged children, so make sure you look out for it in the next CamNews.

Felicity Carroll (Digital Literacy Coordinator) & Paul Donohue (Head of Junior School)

References:

> RaisingChildren.net.au. (2019). Understanding sleep. Retrieved from https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/sleep/understanding-sleep/school-age-sleep

> Treyvaud, R.,& Vowles, C. (2018) The parents’ survival guide to children, technology and the internet.Wangle Technologies Ltd.

Y4 – 6 Netball

Netball has re-commenced for Term 3, the Years 2 and 3 Netball Skills Program continues to run every Thursday afternoon and the students are enjoying learning many skills whilst having fun playing games.

The Years 4 to 6 teams competed in the Boroondara Netball Association Competition last weekend. The Year 4 Garnets came out strong in their game, they were more consistent than the opposition and shot some fantastic goals. Garnets defeated MA Butterflies 6 – 2. The Year 4 Rubies faced tough opposition but the CGGS team were still able to gain possession of the ball.

The Year 5 Opals were unstoppable against CSNC Blitz, the defensive pressure down the court caused many turnovers that were converted into goals, the CGGS team won 14 – 5. The Year 5 Jets were down at half time 0 – 5, Jets came out strong in the second half, took the lead and defeated KD Starbursts 8 – 6. Both Year 5 teams played their best game of the season and all should be very proud of their determination and efforts.

The Year 6 Topaz had tough opposition last Saturday, the team trained well this week and will come out strong next round.

Congratulations goes to all CGGS Netballers.

Lexie Joyce
CGGS Netball Coach

I wish all Ormiston families a restful weekend. I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue

Head of Junior School

Junior School

June 28, 2019/in juniorschool /by Georgia Bennett

CamNEWS

June 28, 2019

Articles

Principal

Senior School

Junior School

Foundation – Year 6 Choral and Instrumental Concert

Last night, every student from Foundation to Year 6 had the opportunity to participate in our Semester One Choral and Instrumental Concert. It was a wonderful opportunity for our 208 students to perform on a large stage in front of hundreds of people from our school community.

This year the Ormiston Music Program continues to go from strength-to-strength. We currently have 95 students from Foundation – Year 6 participating in private music tuition, this equates to 45% of our students. Over one third of these students learn either a second instrument or participate in our popular Speech & Drama program with Kath Buckingham or Lucy Mason. This is an outstanding achievement and we appreciate the ongoing support from our Ormiston families.

I would like to thank all our private music tuition teachers, the Year 2 Super Strings and the Concert Band teachers for all their work in preparing their students for this biannual event. I would also like to thank and acknowledge our Junior School Music teachers, Nichole Adams and Penny Byrne for their outstanding work in organising the successful evening. We look forward to the Semester Two concert towards the end of the year.

Early Learning 4 – Year 6 Speech and Drama Mountfield Maestros

Congratulations to the following students who participated in our Semester One Mountfield Maestros Speech and Drama event.

Foundation
Aarna Sharma

Year 1
Claire Zhang, Estella Ouyang, Lucinda Reedman, Audrey Nemtsas, Amelia Gu, Serena Hu, Zoe Raspin, Madeleine Law, Elaine Li, Angela Lin

Year 2
Ailey Poon, Shreya Swaminathan, Chloe Zhang

Year 3
Erena Zhu, Rita Wong, Nina Gan, Tiffany Lau

Year 4
Sophie Peake, Elise Orme, Melody Hu, Elsa Cao, Chloe Lau, Allegra Reedman, Sarah Lu, Ashanti Rajakulendran, Isla Stronell, Annabelle Nemtsas, Charlotte Chong

Year 5
Anneka Sinnappu, Vrinda Dhir, Yasmin Taghdir, Charlotte Hayes, Sharon Tjioe, Larissa Ma, Grace Wan, Sharvi Bansal

Year 6
Cate Mead, Anneke Cook, Sarah May, Aliyana Rajakulendran, Hanna Wang, Sarah Zhou

I would like to thank Lucy Mason and Kath Buckingham our Junior School Speech and Drama teachers for organising a very entertaining event for our School community.

Winter Warmth Appeal

Every year, one of Ormiston’s major Service Learning projects is the Winter Warmth Appeal. Over the past three weeks, students have been bringing to school products that can help families that are struggling at this time of year. This week, at our Junior School Assembly we celebrated The Winter Warmth Appeal. In the Junior School Hall, we had four tables set up, and one by one, classes placed their final items on the tables. It was wonderful to see so many students getting into the spirit of helping others!

I strongly believe that together we can help people in need. When we get hungry, we can easily just go to our pantry and get some food, however for people living in poverty or homelessness, it is very different. The Winter Warmth Appeal is about helping people that are going through a hard time.

I would like to thank the Ormiston Student Council, Miss Kalus and Mr Goodwin for all their work in planning and organising the Winter Warmth Appeal and all our wonderful families who donated items such as boxes of cereal, rice, noodles, nappies and tinned food to name a few.

Year 4 History Learning Exhibition

This term Year 4 have been inquiring into how our perspective influences our ideas about Australia’s past. During the elaboration phase of the inquiry, students worked independently to research an aspect of the settlement of Australia that interested them, linked to Convict Life, Aboriginal Australians, Environmental Impact or Notable Figures. They then had to decide how to create an interactive exhibit to share their learning with the school and parent community. It was fantastic to see so many of our families immerse themselves in the interactive displays and discuss key concepts with students. All students put a lot of effort in to creating an amazing range of exhibit elements that were highly engaging and informative. Some of the elements created by students included:

> Animations
> E-books
> Videos
> Quizzes
> Models/dioramas
> Games and chatterboxes

Some student reflections on the experience were:

I enjoyed how the parents came along and looked at our work and we got the chance to share our learning with others.– Melody

It was great how the teachers tried to challenge us to share our learning without being there, it made us think and use our time wisely.– Scarlett

I really liked how we were pushed out of our comfort zone by presenting to parents we wouldn’t normally see at school or in the classroom– Natasha C

I liked how we were given feedback on our stall because it made us think how to improve next time.– Elsa

I really enjoyed creating all the different elements for my display because it tied art into our inquiry topic– Elise

Everyone put in a lot of effort and it was interesting looking at all the different ideas and what everyone learnt. – Allegra

Emma Hinchliffe & Jasvindar Gill
Year 4 Class Teachers

The Ormiston Library – Scholastic Book Club

I would like to inform the school community that the Junior School has raised $1,462 for our Library through supporting the Scholastics Book Club. Ms Yeomans is ready to order some wonderful resources for students and staff. I would like to thank Anne Devenish and Catherine Daniel for introducing and organising this popular Book Club.

Eastern Metropolitan (Regional) Cross Country Championships

Two weeks ago we had Anika Selvaratnam of Year 5 compete in the Regional Cross Country Championships in Yarra Glen. She ran a very strategic race and came in first place in front of many elite runners from the Eastern region. Anika has now qualified for the State Cross Country Championships where she will compete against the best runners in the state. We are all very excited for Anika and we wish her all the best for this race which will take place early in Term 3.

Eastern Metropolitan (Regional) Cross Country Championships

Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6 Basketball – Hoop Time

In Term 3, Camberwell Girls Grammar School will be participating in the Hoop Time Competition. Hoop Time is a developmental program that brings together students from across Victoria for a fun, single-day round robin basketball tournament with qualified referees. It is not only a great opportunity for those with existing skill to showcase and act as role models to their peers, but also for those who are new to the game to learn and develop their skills.

Hoop Time trials were conducted over the last few weeks, with our Year 3/4 team being selected and our Year 5/6 team to be announced next term.

It was wonderful to see so many students try out for the teams. With such a successful turn out, we will be entering more teams in 2020.

Congratulations to the students who were selected for the team and will go on to represent the school.

For more information about this tournament, please visit the website below:

http://basketballvictoria.com.au/hoop-time/

Liana Kitsou
Junior School PE Teacher

Year 4 – 6 Netball

The CGGS Netball teams are half way through the Winter Competition.

The Year 4 teams have had many great wins and a few loses, both CGGS teams are still learning many skills and are improving each week.

The Year 5 Jets have come across some tough opposition, but have been working hard on improving their endurance and consistency for the full four quarters. The Year 5 Opals have had very close games, last Saturday the Opals went down by only one goal against MLC Silver.

Year 6 Topaz are working their way back up the ladder, the CGGS team have won the last two games and kept MLC Kestrels scoreless in Round 10.

Congratulations to all Netball teams on their efforts throughout the first half of the Season.

Lexie Joyce
CGGS Netball Coach

Digital Wellbeing: Ages, Stages and Statistics

There has been a lot of Australian and International media coverage about the changing role of technology within today’s society. This series of articles will explore these changes and their potential impact on our digital wellbeing throughout different life stages. Importantly, we recognise the interrelationship between emerging technologies and our behaviours as technology users.

This week we begin by examining usage trends and guidelines for the youngest members of our CGGS community, pre-school children. The ubiquitous nature of technology means its use by young children has been normalised. You may be surprised by the results of a 2017 poll that shows 36% of Australian pre-schoolers have their ownmobile touch screen device (Rhodes, 2017). We will be able to see how this statistic compares with that of our own community when we undertake upcoming CGGS surveys.

It is widely recommended that children younger than two years be discouraged from using devices other than for video chat, for example using Facetime to connect with family members overseas (Raising Children, 2019).Whilst there is limited research on technology use for pre-schoolers, there is consensus that they may benefit from:

> using the device with their parents, thereby encouraging social interactions

> creating and interacting with content rather than the sedentary consumption of content such as videos

Dr Kristy Goodwin advocates that parents become pilots of the digital plane at this early stage and during later stages of technology use (2017). Piloting strategies and a discussion of screen-time guidelines will be presented in future articles as we explore ways to balance and promote quality technology usage for different ages and life stages.

Guidelines provided within this series have been drawn from a range of authoritative sources, including those listed below:

> Office of the eSafety Commissioner, an Australian government resource

> The Australian Communication and Media authority, Australian government resource

> Raising Children, an Australian resource supported by the Australian government Department of Social Services

> Common Sense Media, an American leading non-profit organisation

> Family Insights Knowledge Centre, an Australian company in partnership with the research body, Telethon Kids Institute

> ThinkUKnow, an Australian website provided by the Australian Federal Police and assorted partnerships

References:

> RaisingChildren.net.au. (2019). Screentime: babies and toddlers. Retrieved from https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/play-learning/media-technology/healthy-screen-time-0-2-years

> Goodwin, K. (2016). Raising your child in a digital world. Finch: Lane Cove.

> Rhodes, A. (2017). Screen time and kids: What’s happening in our homes. Detailed report. Melbourne (VIC): The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.

Felicity Carroll (Digital Literacy Coordinator) & Paul Donohue (Head of Junior School)

I wish all Ormiston families a restful school holiday and I look forward to seeing all students back in Term 3 on Tuesday 16 July. I ask parents to please remember that Monday 15 July is a Staff Professional Learning Day with no students.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School

cggs.vic.edu.au