Newsbites

ROCKIT WORKSHOP FOR YEARS 3 TO 6

In early March, students from Years 3 to 6 participated in the Project RockIt incursion on the theme of ‘Belonging: Building empathy and friendship’.

Throughout the day, students honed their communication skills through interactions with peers and developed and displayed empathy within these interactions. In particular, this session covered the ideas of fitting in and inclusion, fair play, effective communication, body language, and other social skills that are integral to the forming of positive peer relationships in later years.

Year 5 and 6 students attended a workshop on the theme ‘Unite: Standing together against bullying’ which saw the group being provided a unique interactive checklist to develop literacy around what is and isn’t bullying, as well as on the types of bullying including cyberbullying.

WELCOME REVEREND COATS

In early 2020, Reverend James Coats was welcomed to CGS as Associate Chaplain. He brings his warmth and wisdom to the community after almost twenty years of ministry in the Diocese of Canberra-Goulburn.

James and his wife Skye have four daughters, and they have recently returned to Canberra after eight years in Holbrook, where James was Rector of the Anglican Parish.

James has enjoyed immersing himself in School life and sharing the love of Christ with people of all ages and backgrounds CGS. His other interests include chess, badminton, and photography.

Welcome aboard James!

HALOGEN YOUTH LEADERS CONFERENCE

Earlier in the year, Primary School House Captains travelled to the ICC Sydney in Darling Harbour.

Joined by over 2,000 young leaders from all over NSW, the Captains heard keynote speakers including Rove McManus, John Coutis, and Erin Molan talk about the importance of perseverance, confidence, and compassion; the impact that the messages had on the student leaders was profound.

This was a great example of the School’s pastoral and learning teams collaborating to enrich students’ learning. The Year 6 Leadership Programme straddles both the Peer Support Programme and the ‘Who We Are’ Unit of Inquiry that investigates how life experiences influence our sense of self.

RIDE2SCHOOL

On Friday 13 March, several students, parents, and staff took part in the National Ride2School Day by riding their bikes to School in a safe manner.

Carolyn Luchetta chaperoned her daughter Sassi O’Brien (Year 3) and Vivienne Gaffey (Year 3) on their ride to and from School for Ride2School Day.

Carolyn commended the initiative, noting that several families from the Primary School participated in the event.

FIREWORKS IN THE MUSICAL BRAIN

In February, world-renowned speaker and CGS staff member, Dr Anita Collins, presented to the CGS community on how playing an instrument benefits a young brain and elaborated on what happens to the brain if music education is provided from birth.

Parents, students and staff were hosted in the Tim Murray Theatre where Dr Collins had her audience spell-bound by her unique area of expertise and study as she discussed at length the research and science behind why music is such a powerful and central part of education—as it is at Canberra Grammar School.

NEWSbites

SENIOR SCHOOL ANNUAL MOTO

The Head of Senior School, Mr David Smart, unveiled his Senior School Motto ‘Give time to what matters most’ in early March at the Senior School Assembly.

Over the last 11 years, the Senior School Motto has been a light-hearted and fun way of delivering important messages to those attending Senior School to focus on the year.

‘When we give time, it often comes at a personal cost and that helps it to mean something. When we give time, it involves a choice – rather than waving our hands in the air and saying I wish I had time or I don’t have time for this, you can choose to devote some of your time’ said Mr Smart.

EXPLORING THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS

Throughout Term 1, students from Year 5 explored their ‘How We Express Ourselves’ Unit of Inquiry and were fortunate enough to participate in an incursion facilitated by Perform Australia. The group explored expressing thoughts and emotions through theatre.

They learnt how to communicate without talking, how to use their body to portray characters and objects, how to project their voice and position their body on stage as well as some production terms such as ‘stage left’ and ‘stage right’.

The group built a freeze-frame picture and concluded with fracturing a known fairy tale or story to create alternate events or endings.

PRIMARY SCHOOL LIBRARY CLICK AND COLLECT

Recognising the importance of Primary School students having access to quality literature during remote learning, and at a time when public libraries are required to close, the Primary School Library came up with an innovative solution to continue book borrowing.

The Primary School Library Team implemented a ‘Click and Collect’ library service, where books reserved on the Library catalogue were packaged and labelled ready to be picked up in a contactless drive-through system. This successful service was expanded to distribute instructional reading and resource packs for students across the entire Primary School.

Mother of Tom and Alexandra Jowitt, Sian Jowitt, sent a raving review to the staff involved in this, especially Alison Kesby, the brains behind the idea.

‘Thank you so much for the beautiful note you and your team attached to the library books today. A very simple but powerful message to our little ones in this time of uncertainty and confusion. I was actually moved to tears when I saw it. Thank you for doing the drive-through library – it has been a highlight of the week’ said Sian.

YEAR 6 LEADERSHIP DAY

During the annual Leadership Day held in Term 1 Week 2 of all Year 6 students were trained in the facilitation of the CGS Peer Support Programme and gained exposure to opportunities to practise and enhance their leadership qualities.

The students inquired about several leadership domains (such as conflict negotiation, decision-making, and problem-solving) and defined what is meant by the term ‘leadership’ and ‘leader’, discussed the role of a Peer Leader, and learnt how to be a positive student leader and role model for their peers and students at the younger year levels.

Year 6 students Leo Nankervis and Lucas Hodgens reflected on the different ways in which they communicate and realised how important it is to actively listen to each other and be clear when communicating verbally to ensure that the message is conveyed accurately.