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From the Head of Senior School
I am thrilled to welcome you all back to the 2023 school year, with a particularly warm welcome to our new families across the Senior School!
The first week of Term 1 was an opportunity to get involved, try something new and make new connections.
This started with the annual House Swimming Carnival at Noble Park Aquatic Centre on Wednesday, 1 February.
Below is a report from Sports Coordinator, Ms Carrie.
Students displayed fantastic House spirit and collegiality, cheering on their teammates throughout all races. The relay races proved to be the most exciting events of the day, with some close competition between Houses.
Congratulations to Reid House, who for the fourth time in a row took out 1st place. A special mention to Trist who placed 2nd, Booth in 3rd place and Leaver House in 4th place.
Congratulations also to all of our age group champions, who will be presented with their medals at the upcoming Senior School Assembly.
Consent2Go
The school’s online platform for the planning and management of events facilitates a paper-free, easy-to-use system for both staff and families. Parental permission for their child to attend an excursion can be done instantly, without having to re-enter relevant medical information and contact details for each event.
Consent2Go ‘invitations’ are generally sent to families a week or two prior to an excursion – timely responses are essential. For staff to adequately prepare for an excursion, late responses may not be accepted.
Please check that information provided through Consent2Go is up to date. Any changes should be communicated to the school to ensure that details are accurate in the case of an emergency.
Kate Morgan
Head of Senior School
Year 12 Retreat
‘Expanding Horizons’
Time to stop, think, reflect, plan and connect is a rare gift.
At the end of week 1 our Year 12 students were provided with an opportunity to do just that. A series of guided workshops and activities have helped prepare them for the year ahead.
Each student will have taken away different highlights and key messages, but all have the understanding that the year ahead will be full of support, connections and success. Looking out across Cape Schanck into Bass Strait gave the students a glimpse of the world beyond Casey Grammar and an opportunity to visualise what their future holds.
I would like to thank the staff who attended and facilitated the program, Mme Morgan, Mrs Riviere-Pendle, Ms West, Mr Vandenberg, Ms Bennett, Mrs Schreuder and Mr Brown.
I’d also like to thank the students for openly and honestly participating in the retreat and for preparing themselves so well for the year ahead.
Below is a reflection from one of our year 12 students.
The Year 12 retreat gave us all a chance to renew our mindsets for the coming year and attune ourselves to what was needed of us throughout Year 12.
Getting away from the routine of school life allowed us to take a break from a startling beginning of the year where we were confronted with the fact that we were closer to the end than we had ever been.
We laughed, danced and set goals for the year in a comforting and welcoming environment surrounded by peers and staff. – Holly L
Peter Shepard
Deputy Principal
Welcome to Year 7
Our Year 7 students had a fantastic first week of Senior School.
Excitement and a few nerves were in the air, but all enjoyed following new timetables, wearing new uniforms, meeting new teachers, learning new subjects, making new friends, organising lockers and mastering their combination locks!
Year 7 teachers were very impressed with their enthusiasm to learn and willingness to be a part of the Senior School. Well done and congratulations to all Year 7 students!
Ben Peake
Head of Year 7
Yondr Pouches
This year we have introduced Yondr pouches to support our mobile phone policy.
We are creating a phone free school, with flexibility, to increase student presence and engagement with each other and with their learning.
‘With flexibility’ is a key component of our Yondr pouch use. When learning is enhanced with the use of mobile phones, the teacher will enable the use of phones.
Should a student need their phone for medical support, such as diabetes or mental health management, they will have access to their phone. Furthermore, as students move closer to adulthood, they are given increased flexibility. For example, senior students can request phone use to contact their part-time work and Year 12 students are largely self-regulating their use of Yondr pouches.
In simple terms, if a student really needs access to their phone during the day, it can happen – but when they do not need their phones, the pouch, with phone turned off and secured inside and left in their locker, keeps them out of sight and, for just a little while, out of mind.
This break from their phones is likely to generate a number of benefits:
- Increased student verbal interactions and relationship development skills
- Increased student class engagement
- Increased student wellbeing and life satisfaction
- Improved student results
- Decreased negative behaviours associated with mobile phone use.
On day 1 of the school year, we explained the intention and flexibility to the students, allowing them to understand the purpose of the pouch introduction.
We asked for students to live and work within Casey Grammar’s values of integrity and respect by adopting the use of the pouch.
There was an interesting article in the news recently (see link below) about Yondr pouches and how students are working out ways to get around the pouch. Pleasingly, this article does not reflect the reality at our school.
We acknowledged to students that they could work around this system and damage the pouch to enable access, but asked them to instead use their integrity.
So far, we are seeing an excellent uptake in the use of the pouches and anticipate moving toward achieving the goals outlined above.
We have not created a ‘phone ban’ and have not created a school where students are ‘rebelling’. We are creating a phone free school, with flexibility, to increase student presence and engagement, with each other and with their learning.
We thank all students and families for getting behind the Yondr pouch introduction and look forward to the students benefitting from the use of their pouches.
Peter Shepard
Deputy Principal
