Teaching Excellence

I am extremely proud of the talented teachers at Casey Grammar School. Thanks to our wonderful school culture, we continue to attract outstanding educators who are keen to work here. I highly value each and every teacher for their dedication to our students’ academic, social, emotional and moral growth. Our teachers are lifelong learners themselves who continue to learn and grow as educators.

Our teaching staff recently completed four days of training in the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM). This is an educator-designed, evidence-informed framework that equips teachers with practical tools to create classrooms where every student feels safe, engaged and ready to learn. Our students will be the beneficiaries of the knowledge and skills their teachers have honed through this training. Learn more about BSEM here.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognise some of our outstanding educators.

Monica Ghoebriel, Senior School Commerce Teacher
Earlier this year, Monica’s VCE Industry and Enterprise teaching resources were published in the Victorian Commercial Teachers Association (VCTA) teacher resource publication, COMPAC.

Ella Clifton, Senior School Economics Teacher
Ella’s VCE Economics unit of work was published in COMPAC during Term 1 this year. She has also been invited to join a Monash University educational research team to support teachers in implementing the Cross Curricular Priority of Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia. Ella’s contributions to the research have been so valuable that she has recently been invited to participate in a reciprocal teaching exchange in Hong Kong and Hangzhou next year. 

Naomi Weiler, Senior School English Teacher
Naomi is currently completing the Teacher Excellence Program, run by the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. She has attended two discipline days and two Teaching Excellence Learning Community days over the last semester. Through this program, Naomi has enhanced her knowledge and skills in English teaching, learned collaboratively alongside colleagues from across the state and brought back new understandings of contemporary teaching approaches and strategies to our school.

Shane Bell and Melissa Roberton, Junior School Leaders and Teachers
Shane and Melissa have been recognised as Most Influential Educators in Australia in 2025. Most Influential Educators are lauded for their innovative approaches, commitment to student wellbeing and contributions to positive change within the education sector. There are 50 educators on the 2025 list from across Australia, and Casey Grammar School is the only school to have two teachers appear on the list.

LEAD Survey

Casey Grammar School will participate in the LEAD survey again this year. The survey links will be sent to all families next Monday, 18 August. I strongly encourage you to complete the survey. The more people who complete the survey, the better informed we will be. Here are a few points to note:

  • The survey will take approximately 15 - 20 minutes to complete
  • Either or both parents can answer the questions
  • Parents should answer the survey thinking about their eldest child at the school
  • Parents can redo the survey, answering for siblings who attend the school
  • The survey asks for parents’ opinions on a range of aspects of the school
  • Parents will be asked to indicate how much they agree or disagree with various statements
  • Participation in the survey is anonymous, and all information is treated confidentially
  • Only aggregated results are provided to the school, meaning parents cannot be identified. However, open ended comments are reported back verbatim
  • The report will give the school information that can be used to help make decisions about what’s working well and what might improve the school

School Exclusion Periods

We have created the infographic below to provide an easy guide for you to know when you should keep your child at home if they are unwell. It is important that children do not attend school during infectious periods. Please use this guide to reduce the spread of infections at school.

Download your copy here.

Helping Our Young People Disengage from Social Media

Australia has passed legislation banning many social media platforms for young people under the age of 16. These bans come into effect in December this year. Casey Grammar School supports this initiative. We have witnessed the negative effects of social media on our young people since smartphones were introduced. The article below provides some insight into how the social media ban may be implemented, although there may be further changes over the coming months. I also encourage you to read Dr Jacob’s article below and the information provided in the eSafety Commissioner’s website. I encourage you to attend our Cybersafety Parent Night on 26 August.

How will the federal government's under 16s social media ban work? Here's what we know - ABC News 

Fiona Williams
Principal

Social Media Ban

Many of you will be aware that Australia is enacting world-first legislation to restrict or delay social media use for young people until the age of 16 in December this year. This legislation has been driven by the harm we are seeing in society through social media use at a developmentally critical stage of life.

Virtually all social media platforms advise that use of platforms is only for children who are 13 or over, but many much younger children access these services with or without their parents’ agreement, and the platforms themselves have few reasons to restrict the access of younger students. As a school, we strongly support this delay in access to social media because we believe it is in the best interests of healthy child development and harm reduction.

Criticism of the legislation is focused on three areas:

  • A fatalistic belief that it can't possibly work and is therefore a waste of time
  • That it is unfair because of the helpful, benign or fun material on these platforms
  • That it restricts free speech

To the first point, it is certainly possible that it will prove too technically difficult to stop all children under 16 from accessing the social media platforms. However, even if some young people are waiting longer to access social media, or the legislation makes it easier for parents to delay this access for their own children, we would argue that this has been a worthwhile effort.

Secondly, it is indisputable that there is a lot of fun, benign and educational content available on these platforms. What is also indisputable is that together with this sort of content, these platforms are awash with sexist, misogynistic, toxic, discriminatory, violent, homophobic, pornographic, erroneous, unhealthy, hurtful and otherwise unhelpful content. Not only that, but the platforms are driven by algorithms which deliberately promote more extreme content because it garners more engagement and therefore more money to the platforms.

In terms of free speech, this argument has been advanced by right-wing media in a cynical and disingenuous attempt to argue for the status quo.

What the Australian Government is attempting is difficult and groundbreaking. We may be the first in the world, but we are being watched by several other jurisdictions, notably the EU, and will not be the last to attempt this. The evidence of harm is quite large and our children deserve protection. I am sure that our young people, especially those already using social media and those looking forward to joining will not thank us, but sometimes parents, schools and governments need to make hard decisions.

Cyber Safety Project - Parent Night

We have partnered with Cyber Safety Project, who will be running workshops with our students later in the year, to provide a Cyber Safety Information Night for parents on Tuesday, 26 August, commencing at 7pm. 

This evening will provide parents with up-to-date information about how to keep your children safe on the internet, as well as providing a compelling insight into how young people engage in the digital world. This will be particularly valuable for parents of children in Years 3 -12 but is open to any parents who would like to learn more. 

Parents can register for this event using the link.

Robert Jacob
Deputy Principal