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From the Head of Senior School
As we near the end of Term 1, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Senior School families for their support, and to wish everyone a restful break.
Looking back on the past nine weeks, there have been many highlights, from enriching excursions and exciting camps, to students being actively involved in House competitions and engaged in their studies. It has been exciting to see Buddy, our wellbeing dog, passing through the school and visiting classes, and we are looking forward to more of this in Term 2.
The House Visual Arts Competition is now in its third year, and this year’s theme focused on our School Value — Respect. Each House’s submission can be viewed in the display cases near the Casey Common. Those judging the artwork found it challenging to separate each House into their places, but the final results were:
1st place – Leaver
2nd place – Reid
3rd place – Trist
4th place – Booth
At our Week 8 Assembly, Chantelle S (Year 8) spoke of the significance of her artwork, describing her respect for, and acknowledgement of, her elders and of those who have migrated to Australia, often under difficult circumstances. Chantelle is one of hundreds of students in the Senior School whose grandparents or parents were immigrants, each with a unique cultural heritage.
Our Year 12 students also proudly shared their linguistic heritage in a huge range of languages, and some of these videos can be seen by clicking on the student’s name.
A translation is below:
- My name is Hannah. I speak Polish. My dad came to Australia from Poland 35 years ago and my mum arrived 12 years later.
- Hi. My name is Jay. I speak a little Dutch as my mum’s family moved from the Netherlands to Australia in 1979, 45 years ago, while my dad arrived from Mauritius in 2003. So, I speak a little French and Creole too.
- Hello everyone. My name is A-Fu (Ricky). My dad is Cantonese, born in Vietnam, so I can speak a little Cantonese, but from when I was little, my family only spoke Vietnamese, so I speak Vietnamese better.
Harmony Week
I would like to thank all our staff and students who contributed to the many activities across Harmony Week, with particular thanks to Mrs Riviere-Pendle for her vision and passion to make this week better and better every year.
Speak & Share
On Wednesday 20 March the Year 9 Students were incredibly lucky to have the team from Speak & Share come out to the school and impart their knowledge surrounding mental health and wellbeing, and how we can look after ourselves as well as our family and friends. The topics explored in the session aligned with what they have been learning throughout the term in their Health classes.
Speak & Share is a not-for-profit mental health organisation which encourages tough conversations, and challenges the stigma associated with mental health.
It was incredible to see how immediately engaged the students were and how open they were with each other. It is fair to say it was a real success and all the students took away the message of the importance of speaking and sharing when they find themselves struggling with their mental health as well as when they are in a positive headspace.
Kate Morgan
Head of Senior School
Women in STEM Event
On International Women’s Day, fourteen Casey Grammar School students were selected to attend the annual Women in STEM event. The purpose of the event was to inspire students to pursue career pathways in the fields of STEM.
This year’s guest speaker was Dr Morley Muse, who is the iSTEM Group Co-Founder. iSTEM Co. is a research, consulting and talent sourcing company that enables employment of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Her presentation focussed on the many career pathways that exist within the STEM space. She provided an overview of her impressive career and encouraged students to keep working towards their goals. It was an inspiring session.
After listening to the keynote speaker the students had an opportunity to chat to a current day scientist over morning tea. The scientists came from a variety of backgrounds working in research at universities all over the world, some working in fields that stretch well beyond our world!
Our students then had the opportunity to participate in a hands-on challenge where they designed simple crafts that either flew, floated, hovered, or sank in wind tunnels. This required students to improve their designs based on knowledge gained in previous tests. A true demonstration of scientific practice.
It was truly a great way for these students to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Michael Vandenberg-Head of Science
Sarah Blythman-Head of Careers and Student Pathways
