Australian Education Awards

It was a privilege to attend the 2022 Australian Education Awards last weekend!

Six hundred educators from all over Australia gathered to celebrate Australia’s finest teachers. CGS was incredibly well represented with Mrs Williams as a finalist for the Principal of the Year – Non government and Mrs Torcasio as a finalist for the Primary Teacher of the Year – Non government.

Congratulations to Mrs Williams for her finalist position and a huge congratulations to Mrs Torcasio for receiving the honour of being named Primary Teacher of the Year 2022.

100 Days of School

It was a joy to be involved in our recent Foundation Dress Up day that celebrated our youngest students spending their 100^th day at school.

Foundation students dressed up as 100-year-olds and their costumes were sensational. In fact, they looked so convincing that I had to ask them where all our Foundation students had gone!

They had a wonderful day playing games from yesteryear. I’d like to thank their wonderful teachers and learning assistants, Ms Hodgkiss, Ms Ingle, Mrs Laidlaw, Mrs Giles, Mrs Woolcock and Ms Doyle for embracing the spirit of the day and dressing up too.

Casey Cup Netball Competition

Last week, ten of our Year 6 students and Mrs Roffey attended the Casey Cup netball competition.

It was a very successful day that saw our team win four of their first five games! They then qualified for the semifinal but were unfortunately beaten by the team that went on to win the Cup. Well done to our students and many thanks to Mrs Roffey for attending the excursion.

Book Week Incursion

Mr Dunkley organized a terrific Book Week incursion last week for our Foundation – Grade 2 students.

The performance was a play based on some of the books that have been shortlisted for this year’s Book Week awards by the Book Council of Australia.

Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Mr Dunkley has also organised a Book Week incursion for our Year 3-6 students for tomorrow.

Author/illustrator Mark Wilson will run sessions with our students where our students may be learning to draw some cartoon characters themselves. Many thanks to Mr Dunkley for organising these wonderful incursions for our students!

Coal Creek Excursion

It was with great excitement that our Year 3 students headed off on their excursion to Coal Creek last Friday. Our students had a marvelous time experiencing what life was like in the “olden days”.

They particularly liked visiting the old school house to learn how to write on slates, practicing their cursive script using ink pots and pens. They were surprised to hear about the punishments of times gone that included the strap or standing in the corner for hours on end. Thank goodness things are very different in 2022!

Keep safe and well

Melissa Roberton

Head of Junior School

Learning, Exploring and Celebrating in Foundation

What a wonderful few weeks we’ve had in Foundation, with students learning new skills, exploring and experimenting with scientific principles and celebrating special milestones.

Chemical Science

Students in Foundation have enjoyed exploring science through our Unit of Inquiry, focusing on Chemical Science.

They have been learning the ways in which we use our senses, as well as using simple scientific principles and processes, to understand the world around us.

We have been asking questions, making predictions and conducting a range of experiments to help build curiosity and understanding. Foundation students have amazed us with their ability to make connections, ask questions and demonstrate curiosity.

We greatly enjoyed our recent hands-on Science Incursion, where students were able to build on their knowledge and develop their understanding of science through engaging activities and experiments.

We have also continued our exploration of solids, liquids and gases and it has been wonderful to see students sharing and building on their ideas.

100 Days of School

Last week, our Foundation students celebrated their first 100 Days of School. It was such a wonderful day, full of smiles and reflecting on memorable moments and how far they have come in their learning journey so far.

Students looked fantastic, dressed up as 100-year-olds and celebrating with special activities and fairy bread with 100s and 1000s.

We are so proud of how far our Foundation students have come. We look forward to many more engaging and enjoyable days of learning this year!

Vanessa Hodgkiss
Head of Early Years (Foundation – Year 2)

Come and Help With Our Vegetable Garden

Parents and Grandparents who meet the vaccination requirements and have a Working with Children Check are welcome to come along each Monday from 8:15 am – 10:30am to help with our vegetable garden Working Bees. If you are interested in participating, please email me at m.dunkley@caseygrammar.vic.edu.au. 

No gardening experience is necessary.

Mal Dunkley

Gardening Teacher

Toys Over Time Incursion

On Thursday, 4 August all Year 2 students enjoyed travelling back in time with Edwin from Supreme Incursions.

During an interactive hands-on experience, the students explored toys over time including learning all about how some toys came to be.

This included the world’s oldest toy - a spinning top!

During the 90-minute session, students had the opportunity to discover four different theme based lands: skills, imagination, construction and movement land.

They discovered the origins of the Frisbee, Matchbox car and the Slinky. It was a wonderful experience with a special inclusion of a toy museum. Even the teachers enjoyed playing with some childhood toys. What a way to learn about the history of toys!

Claire Harvie
Year 2 Teacher

Netball Cup

Last week, a group of Year 6 girls headed to Casey Stadium to compete in the annual Casey Cup netball competition. They did extremely well, winning their first four matches to make the semi-finals before going down in a close match. Thank you to Ms Roffey for looking after the team for the day, and Ebony Dale (Year 9) for being an excellent coach. Here are some reflections from the students:

Finally, the day had arrived, and for many of us, it would mark our first experience participating in actual netball matches. We dressed in our Casey Grammar Crystals uniforms and prepared for our first match. We beat every team early on, winning four of our five games to go to the semi-finals. We all gave it our all in the semi-finals but unfortunately failed to win. We were pleased with our overall second-place finish.

Johanna J – Y6

This year I was one of the students in Year 6 to be involved in the Casey Cup netball tournament. I really enjoyed playing netball but also improving my skills as well. Having such a great coach really made it so much better, thanks to Ebony. We all played so well for the little time we had to practice, and even though we didn’t win, we got to the semi-finals. We did such an amazing job!

Chrissy M – Y6

Jeff Batey

Junior School P.E Teacher