Staff Farewells

Jo Whiffin – Junior School Librarian

Jo Whiffin has been a staff member at Camberwell Girls Grammar School since 2008 and has been a Class Teacher, Physical Education Teacher, Art Teacher and our Junior School Librarian during these twelve years. The highlight of her time at Ormiston has been her time in the Junior School Library. Throughout her time as Librarian, Jo has always demonstrated a passion for literature and through this passion, our Ormiston students have quickly generated a love of literature.

A major part of Mrs Whiffin’s role as Librarian was to organise our annual Book Week activities for all the classes in Junior School from Early Learning to Year 6. Each year, Mrs Whiffin promoted this event and students were actively involved in recognising shortlisted books and award winners. Mrs Whiffin would put on special activities in the Junior School Library at lunchtime and students would have the opportunity to explore Book Week and its new theme each year. We say ‘Thank You’ to Mrs Whiffin for opening up the Library during lunchtimes and for promoting a love of books and literature at Ormiston over many years.

Kathryn Brandt – Year 4 Class Teacher

I would like to thank Ms Kathryn Brandt for her contributions to Ormiston over the last four years. During this time, Kathryn was a Year 4 Class Teacher for two years and a Year 2 Class Teacher for two years and one term. Some of our school community may know that Ms Brandt was a student of CGGS and spent six years from 2001 to 2006 at Senior School. In 2017, Ms Brandt became our Digital Learning Leader and her expertise was invaluable in establishing our 1:1 iPad Program and recommending numerous apps for students to experience. Her expertise extended to establish a CyberSafety program and specific units for teachers to utilise. Additionally, an important part of her role as Digital Learning Leader was to coordinate co-curricular activities and school relationships such as the Australian App Challenge, Code for the Future and Code Club with Bob Norton-Baker from Telstra. As a school community, we all wish Kathryn all the best as she moves to live full-time in the Mornington Peninsula region.

 

Foundation – Year 6 Ormiston Spirit Awards

It was wonderful to see so many parents attend our Ormiston Spirit Award assembly last Wednesday 27 March. At this assembly, we were able to recognise the efforts of our students from the start of the year. The Ormiston Spirit Award reflects students that have shown a Growth Mindset in all of their class learning and co-curricular activities, and who are willing to take risks, learn from their mistakes and demonstrate the school values of Respect, Commitment, Integrity, Hope and Courage in all that they do.

Each Foundation- Year 6 student that receives this award was given a certificate as well as a distinctive Ormiston Spirit Award badge. This badge is proudly worn by the student throughout the year. Only one student from each class and one student from a specialist subject are selected by staff for this prestigious school award.

Congratulations to the following students:                                              

Foundation S
> Chelsea Wang

Foundation R
> Lucy Wang

Year 1G
> Ivy Xie

Year 1J
> Elfie Fan

Year 2S
> Aaratrika Kadam

Year 2B
> Georgia Papadopoulos

Year 3C
> Eden Chia

Year 3L
> Minaaz Kaur

Year 4H
> Emily Wong

Year 4G
> Elsa Cao

Year 5D/K
> Christina Weickhardt

Year 6R
> Sarah May

Year 6C
> Cate Mead

Art
> Aurelia Poon (Foundation)

Physical Education
> Rachel Duong (Foundation)

Music
> Mia Chapman (Year 6)

Library
> Maya Waide-Hee (Year 4)

Chinese (Mainstream)
> Ashanti Rajakulendran (Year 4)

Chinese (Enhanced)
> Jade Wang (Year 2)

French
> Madeleine Huynh (Year 5)

 

Foundation – Year 6 Mountfield Maestros

Last week, many students from Foundation – Year 6 participated in our Term 1 Mountfield Maestros event. This event encourages students to play a musical instrument in front of a small and supportive audience of family and friends. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nichole Adams and Penny Byrne, our Junior School Music Teachers for all their planning and hard work in organising such a successful event. I would also like to say Thank You to our two Student Music Leaders Jessica Wu and Suwedha Ranjith for their introduction and conclusion at both events. Congratulations to the following students who did their personal best during this important school event:

Foundation

Gina Yu – Piano

Year 1

Lucinda Reedman – Piano

Estella Ouyang – Piano

Angela Lin – Piano

Claudia Huang – Piano

Elfie Fan – Piano

Annabelle Teh – Piano

Madeleine Law – Cello

Elaine Li – Piano

Zoe Raspin – Piano

Cynthia Li  – Piano

Irene Li  – Piano

Year 2

Ellie Zhang  – Violin

Joyce Zhang – Violin

Aaratrika Kadam – Piano

Amelia Adel – Piano

Iris Lu – Piano

Year 3

Asha Bhattacharjee – Piano

Rudra Santhosh – Violin

Maddison O’Meara – Violin

Sophie Wong – Violin

Zara Teh – Piano

Audrey Zhu – Piano

Jasmine Xie – Piano

Year 4

Preesha Navaneetharaja – Piano

Maya Waide-Hee – Cello

Chloe Lau – Cello

Cosette Tsjin – Violin

Sophie Peake – Violin

Year 5

Selina Guan – Piano

Anneka Sinnappu – Piano

Madeleine Huynh – Violin

Zara Cheung – Piano

Raina Gopal – Voice

Emily Lioe  – Piano

Year 6

Suwedha Ranjith – Voice

Jessica Wu – Piano

 

Foundation – Year 2 Swim Carnival

On Monday 1 April, the Foundation – Year 2 Swimming Carnival was held at the CGGS Swimming Pool. Instead of competing against each other for a place, the students competed against themselves to achieve their personal best. This encouraged them to perform strokes with correct technique and allowed them to have that warm inner glow of knowing they worked to the best of their ability, when presented with their certificate of congratulations. Events included Freestyle, Backstroke, Novelty and a relay to conclude the carnival. Well done to all of those who participated and congratulations on achieving your personal best.

Liana Kitsou
Junior School Physical Education Teacher

Year 6 Virtual Debating Team

This week four Year 6 students commenced their journey representing CGGS in the NGS Super National Virtual Debating Competition. The competition consists of 32 teams and provides the students with a unique opportunity to utilise the green room studio at Senior School using video conferencing to connect with schools from around the country.

Sarah Zhou, Cate Mead, Suwedha Ranjith and Aliyana Rajakulendran debated the affirmative arguments for the topic ‘That violent video games should be banned’. The students diligently prepared for their debate for a week, collaborating effectively to research the topic and seek evidence to support their viewpoints.

The Ormiston team faced Macarthur Anglican School in NSW in the first round. Both sides of the argument were hotly contested with the adjudicator awarding the win to the negative side.  The students were complimented on the strength of their public speaking and received useful feedback from the adjudicator on how to further develop their debating skills. The students are keen to put this advice into action in their next debate. We wish them all the best in round two.

Nancy Robottom
Year 6 Class Teacher & Numeracy Leader

The Virtual Debate is an experience of a lifetime and we are excited to be representing our school. The preparation was just as intense as the actual debate. Even though we were very nervous, there was also a spark of excitement. We learnt lots of valuable information and felt more confident afterwards. Although we had lost, we received some very helpful advice that we will use into future debates.

Sarah Zhou and Aliyana Rajakulendran
Year 6

 

Special Activity – Wednesday Wacky Walkers

This term a number of Ormiston students took part in an informal walking club called the Wednesday Wacky Walkers. Students from Foundation – Year 6 walked, ran, skipped and danced to complete laps of the netball court, energising themselves for the start of the day. The students tallied up their laps and a cumulative total was kept. Over the course of Term 1,1106 laps of the netball court were completed, and many future long-distance runners were identified! It was wonderful to see so many students getting fit and active and we hope this fun activity will continue to grow in Term 2.

Angela Columbine
Year 3 Class Teacher

 

Year 5 and 6 Netball

The CGGS Netball season has begun for the Year 5 and 6 teams. All teams have already embraced rain during their matches. The Year 5 Opals had a wonderful start to the season, the team jelled nicely together and drew to MA Bolt 4-4. The Year 5 Jets played a fantastic first game, the scores were even throughout the whole game, but CB Llamas scored a goal on the siren, defeating the CGGS team by 1 goal. The Year 6 Topaz welcomed new players to the team, the students have played well but were defeated by MLC Kestrals.

Congratulations to all CGGS Netball teams.

Lexie Joyce
CGGS Netball Coach

 

It is hard to believe that Term 1 is over for another year. What a wonderful term of learning it has been at Ormiston. I would like to wish all our students, staff and families a restful Easter holiday break. Thank you to everyone for all their support over the term and we look forward to starting Term 2 on Friday 26 April 2019.

 

Yours sincerely,

Paul Donohue
Head of Junior School