On Tuesday, our School Captains Aaratrika Kadam and Joyce Zhang organised a special day in Foundation to Year 6 called Kindness Day. Aaratrika and Joyce involved many groups of students in writing messages to other students that congratulated them on something they did very well. The School Captains read out a number of messages at our Junior School Assembly this week and this reminded every student from Foundation to Year 6 to be kind to others around them through helping and supporting each other when needed. At Assembly, Ormiston was reminded that it does not take much effort to be kind to others.
It was wonderful to see so many Ormiston families at our first-ever Moonlight Movie Night. Building a close connected school community continues to be one of our goals at Camberwell Girls Grammar School and this whole school event was a very successful way in bringing families together. Families were snuggled up together to keep warm and watch the movie Shrek. The movie was enjoyed by not only our students, but siblings, parents and CGGS staff as well.
This is our last Junior School CamNews for Term 1 and I would like to wish all our Ormiston families a safe and enjoyable school holiday break. Early Learning 3 to Year 6 students are required back at school on Wednesday 26 April.
Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School
Over the past 2 weeks, children at the ELC have been exploring identity, diversity, Country and community, in light of Harmony Day and the United Nations International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Delving deeper to understand what it meant to be a ‘global citizen’ when it comes to our everyday interactions.
Broadfoot and Pascal (2021) highlights “Early Childhood Education (ECE) in particular is considered a key context for fostering compassion to empower children as rightful global citizens to lead peaceful, sustainable lifestyles that support collective well-being and promote a more just and healthy world.” When understanding what harmony meant, children used words such as belong, together and respect.
Working collectively, each child has represented their ideas through a collaborative art installation, titled ‘We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands’. This exhibition captures children’s developing awareness of the diversity in our community and its interdependence.
The connected elements depict the exploration of ‘ways of being and doing’ within our school and natural community. The underlining thread to this inquiry has been the deep respect held for the traditional custodians of the land, upon which the children live and learn, and their demonstrated understanding of the shared responsibility students have to each other and when caring for the environment.
To generate this work, children created a series of symbols, items, and interactions to form the many ways in which we live, learn, and play together. Whether it’s between people, plants, and place – every pathway leading to and from our minds, hearts and into our actions.
Broadfoot, H., & Pascal, C. (2021). An exploration of what conditions facilitate experiences of compassion in one early childhood community. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 29(6), 910–924.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2021.1985558
Esther Wong
Early Learning Centre Coordinator
Our first House Event for this year, the Years 3-6 Athletics Carnival was held on Thursday 9th March at Doncaster Athletics Track. This is always a big event and a much anticipated House competition for the year. All students in Years 3-6 participated in a range of track and field events to earn points for their houses. The competition and race events also gave the students the opportunity to showcase their skills and hard work that has gone on in the lead up to the carnival in their P.E lessons. It was a fabulous day, and it was wonderful to see many parents there as well, supporting our students and cheering them on.
The Athletics carnival is not just a fun day for students to compete, but also an opportunity for the students to learn valuable life skills and demonstrate our important school values. It was so wonderful to see everyone cheering each other on, supporting each other and offering encouragement and positive feedback to their peers. One of the much anticipated awards, The Spirit Stick, was awarded to Lawrence House for their encouragement, outstanding sportsmanship and team spirit. Congratulations Lawrence House.
All the students should be extremely proud of their performance and later this year many of them will move on to compete in the District Athletics and GSV Track and Field competitions being held in Term 3.
The winning house on the day was Singleton with 598 points, second was Schofield with 498 points, third Lawrence with 492 points and fourth Taylor with 479 points. Congratulations to Singleton!
Kim James
Physical Education Teacher
Music education is part of the Australian Curriculum; however, its definition and practice can vary considerably. We believe theory of music is fundamental to becoming a competent musician, and our approach to teaching the fundamentals of music is through a Kodaly inspired program. The connection between music and literacy development can help students build a strong foundation for learning through study.
The Kodaly method uses a simplified method of rhythmic notation without the noteheads known as stick notation. Our Foundation and Year 1 students focus on rhythms and by removing the heads of the notes, the students can write and recognise rhythms faster.
In Year 2 we return the noteheads and learn how to read and write notes in the treble clef. We also introduce the Alto and Bass clef to further support our students in the Super Strings program learning viola and cello.
In Term 1, Year 2 students learn to count the lines of the stave from the bottom to the top. They are introduced to intervals of steps, skips and leaps; and learn to place stems in the correct position on the note heads.
Below Alexandra can be seen adding stems to notes on the stave.
Year 2 students Alina, Ting Xuan and Anna demonstrate ‘leap’ intervals on their staves.
In Year 3 our students have been learning about time signatures, adding bar lines and transposition. Time signatures determine how many beats there are in a bar. Bar lines are used to divide the bars into equally measured beats, and transposition is the process of moving the pitch higher or lower on the stave without altering the relationship of the notes. This allows a work to be written in a different key without altering the tune. Dr Anita Collins, a researcher and writer in the field of brain development and music learning says “….teaching children to clap a beat , recognise changes in rhythms, not only improves fine and gross motor skills; but creates a body-brain connectivity”.
Notation of music might sound very complex, but one thing is for certain, our students absolutely love their music!
There’s time for some fun as well. The above picture was taken recently on St Patrick’s day. Here we see the Year 2’s enjoying some interactive music making of ‘Simple Gifts -Lord of the Dance’ on various tuned and untuned percussion instruments.
Nichole Adams
Early Learning 3 – Year 3 Music Teacher
A Mountfield Maestros Music Concert was held last week to a well subscribed and appreciative audience. Students from Foundation to Year 6 had the opportunity to perform solos and duets on their instruments.
The environment for performing was very supportive, and students were able to express themselves musically and artistically in a nurturing and positive environment for their first School Concert performance this year. It was a wonderful evening with many students sharing the joy of music making.
A very big thank you to the Junior School Music team, Penny Byrne and Nichole Adams for their organisation of this concert and guidance of Ormiston students.
Congratulations to the following students:
Foundation
Tiffany Cheng
Michelle Zhang
Jane Liu
Year 1
Iris Qiao
Ruby Lim
Eugenie Lin
Chelsea Gu
Jessica Yu
Hailey Yong
Audrey Su
Olivia Li
Emilia Zhang
Year 2
Theresa Wang
Caroline Chen
Yolanda Ma
Rubyrose Giannicos
Lena Li
Alexandra Law
Chloe Gu
Crystal Wu
Year 3
Cathy Zhang
Alice Lin
Aryana Perera
Olivia Ding
Elsa Lu
Year 4
Jaslene Ng
Aurelia Poon
Kenolee Hatangala
Neesha Navaneetharaja
Alessandra Ronzani
Audrey Cheung
Aanya Chopra
Ellie Li
Annabelle Zhang
Aadhya Talpa Guruge
Year 5
Anshika Anand
Lucy Nguyen
Kyla Chan
Anna Liu
Annabelle Teh
Year 6
Aneira Paul
Aanya Richharia
Charlotte Thompson
Rhea Gu
Ava Pao & Amiya Rajakulendran
Isla Kang
Alysa Zhang
Alina Hou
Iris Lu
Rachel Franco
We look forward to our next Mountfield Maestros event in Term 2.
Rohan Mack & Kate Savige
Directors of Music
