News Around the School

Michael Daniel has made his 200 th blood donation!

Year 8 students have written letters to Junior School students to help with the transition from ‘at home learning’ to ‘back to school learning’. The letters, written in a positive manner, will help the junior students understand that they are not alone, and also might facilitate cross-age school relationships and activities. Mr Daniel has been a blood donor for a number of years, donating plasma regularly. He began donating whole blood as a university student, his initial motivation being a life-saving blood transfusion his mother received after being seriously injured in a car accident. A few years ago, Mr Daniel was recruited into the Anti-D donor program. As one of fewer than 200 Anti-D donors Australia wide, Mr Daniel’s plasma is used to save

Letters from Year 8

the lives of unborn babies.

Performance at St Johns

On 15 May, Joseph Pang (Year 11) and Arman Cakmakcioglu (Year 12) performed part of their VCE program in a live-streamed performance at St Johns Camberwell. They performed works by Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart (arr Fazil Say), Debussy and Rachmaninov on a magnificent Mason and Hamlin piano.

The pianists learnt a great deal from this experience, performing to an unseen and potentially extremely large audience.

Stefan Cassomenos Artist-in-Residence

Celebrated pianist Stefan Cassomenos worked with Joseph and Arman in May and June, observing strict social distancing rules.

During this time, the boys worked on phrasing, examined harmonic structure, articulation and dynamic range on their VCE repertoire. Having endured weeks of musical isolation, it was a thrill to hear Stefan play on our beautiful Steinway in the PAC.

Both students enjoyed success at the Boroondara Eisteddfod. Joseph won the 16 years and under Piano section. Arman came third in the Open Piano section and was awarded an Honorary Mention in the 18 years and under Piano section.

Friday Afternoon Academy Zoom Performance Class

Every Friday afternoon during Academy time, students gathered on Zoom and performed to each other. Feedback and encouragement was given by Ms Lisa Grosman, Mr Greg Roberts, Ms Esther Toh, Mr David Laughton and Ms Steph Dixon.

This gave the boys an opportunity to feel the pressure of a live performance in a supportive environment. Some students who encountered internet connect issues, chose to upload a performance from earlier in the day. This provided valuable experience also as they were able to observe and comment on their own performance.

While studying from home, students in Year 10 Visual Communication Design were asked to create a ‘Letter Art’ illustration by generating and manipulating type and colour in Adobe Illustrator. The results were stunning!

According to Teacher Mr Brian McManus, ‘Letter Art’ is a pictorial anagram, where the subject of the image is created from the letters that spell its name.