2021 Levavi

Editor Lisa Dell’Orso +61 3 9262 7700 lisa.dell’orso@yvg.vic.edu.au Design Justin Ebbels Air Drawn Industries www.airdrawn.com.au Front Cover Designed by Emily Knight, Year 11

Thank you to students, staff and parents for their contribution to and assistance with the creation of Levavi 2021.

LEVAVI

2021

Contents From the Principal

2

Official opening and dedication of the Fine Arts Building 4 School Captains’ reflection

6

Community Links

8

Student Wellbeing

10

Early Learning Centre

12

Junior School

14

Middle School

24

Senior School

34

From the Head of Department

40

Sport

62

School psalm and prayer

68

2022 calendar

69

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 1

YARRA COMMUNITY

From the Principal I’m not going to mention COVID-19…

I would like rather to write about purpose.

Why does a school like Yarra exist and what are we hoping to achieve as a school into the future? These are very important questions as we hold on to some cherished traditions from the past and innovate and grow as a school into the future. Our School motto is a very important guide as to who we are and what we hope to achieve. Levavi Oculos worn proudly on the school uniform is taken from Psalm 121 “I lift up my eyes” and was chosen by the Founders for a number of reasons.

When they first stood looking out over the property they looked up towards the hills.

The first words of the Psalm immediately made sense to them. They saw inspiration in the view towards the hills, a view we enjoy every day. They also saw the importance of faith as inspiration and the need for us to look up and aim high in all that we do. This is an aspiration to have high expectations, to achieve, to be leaders in education in this part of Melbourne and instil these qualities into our students.

These things are still very important to school life today and will remain important into the future. If we truly hope to instil

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confidence in our students and to be a place where they can achieve, then there are some key things that we need to be doing. A crucial element of our School community is the quality of our teachers and our teaching program. When asked “What makes a great teacher?” I tend to think there are three key ingredients: • A great teacher knows their craft, they are passionate experts in their subject areas and they know how to instil this passion and expertise in their students.

• A great teacher has a genuine regard and interest in their students. Positive relationships in their classrooms are paramount and their students know this.

• A great teacher is someone who teaches because they truly see their work as a vocation. The word vocation comes from the Latin Vocatio literally meaning “A calling”.

If I was going to add a fourth it would be to have a sense of humour!

Each year we invite our students to give feedback to their teachers about their knowledge, their passion for their subjects and their ability to establish positive relationships in the classroom. Each year they endorse their teachers and their work.

There are some fine words

by Aristotle which appear in the Language Faculty which read: “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

Thousands of years later the Reverend Martin Luther King wrote that: “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

As with any educational institution intellect and the mind are central to our work at Yarra Valley Grammar. The intellect and intellectualism must remain an important concern for educators. An educational institution should not be shy of academic excellence.

But an education which neglects character and neglects matters of the heart is a poor substitute for the true purpose of education and educating. We educate to better ourselves. This means becoming more knowledgeable, more confident and more willing to place our skills at the service of

others. Yarra is a place of great opportunities. I love a school where every student is challenged to do their best in their studies, where every student can play music, debate, play sport and contribute to the wider community through the Community Links program.

Most students welcome opportunity with open arms. Some through lack of confidence, or lack of energy perhaps let opportunity pass them by. It is our job as teachers to make sure that Yarra is a place where opportunities exist for all our students. It is the job of our students to find the courage and find the energy to get involved and make school life truly exciting.

The final ingredient for the success of our School can be summed up by the term Yarra Spirit. There is a great spirit which is evidenced by genuine affection for the School. I see this amongst the many parents in the Yarra community groups who contribute in such a generous way to our School community. I see this spirit amongst the students who serve their school community in so many ways, I see this amongst my colleagues, those who teach and those who support them as they go beyond what is required to be of service to our students.

The word community comes from the Latin Comunitas meaning to share in common.

We share the experience of this school and share a belief that education is important. School Principals, above all are the custodians of this spirit and I am committed to continue to build this sense of community into the future.

Our goal is to foster confident and competent young people who will take these skills with them once they leave school to serve their families, their friends and the wider community in a meaningful way. So far, I have written about the people, the most important part of any school community.

I turn now to the place. Yarra remains a very busy place with the ambitious building program continuing to improve our learning spaces. This year we opened the very impressive Fine Arts Building on Kalinda Road which provides specialist learning spaces for art, design and technology subjects. The facility also houses our art gallery which showcases YVG and community art. From the beginning of next year, we commence work on the new Junior Primary Centre which will be a significant addition to our Junior School.

At the same time, we will be extending the Early Learning Centre by including an

additional classroom to cater for the level of interest in what YVG has to offer our youngest students.

So, the next few years will be exciting ones in the life of the School. We continue to build our community with a commitment to improve our teaching and learning as well as the facilities in which all this takes place.

We have strengthened links to the Yarra Old Grammarians and we continue to appreciate the roles the Foundation and our parents and friends play in supporting the community.

Committed staff, engaged students and supportive parents – that’s a particularly powerful combination. I thank all of you for your contributions to our School in 2021.

Dr Mark Merry Principal

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YARRA COMMUNITY

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Official opening and dedication of the Fine Arts Building On Friday 21 May, the Governor of Victoria, Her Excellency the Honourable Linda Dessau AC officially opened our new Fine Arts Building which sits prominently on Kalinda Road next to the Science and Mathematics Faculties. His Grace, Dr Philip Freier, Archbishop of Melbourne also joined us to Dedicate the building. The official opening ceremony held in the George Wood Performing Arts Centre and the Dedication was a great celebration as the new facility provides our community with many more opportunities. The visual arts are an important part of our school curriculum which values creativity and originality in student work.

Increasingly, education is about the student’s capacity for independent learning, and the new building provides both expansive classroom and work spaces as well as breakout areas where students can work singularly or in small groups.

The ground floor of the three-storey building is dedicated to Design and Technology in the area of wood with workshops and machine rooms. There is a fine tradition of wood sculpture and furniture making in the School.

Performing Arts Centre, the John King Sports Complex, the indoor swim centre and the playing fields are all made available to community groups during the course of the year attesting to the fact that Yarra Valley Grammar is not just located in Ringwood but is also an important part of the local community.

At the moment we have a show which celebrates the work of our young artists from each of the Junior, Middle and Senior Schools. Their artistic skills are quite extraordinary, including a large piece produced by all Year 7 students working with our Artist in Residence.

I acknowledge and thank our choristers and musicians whose skills have been evidenced once again during the opening service. It is uplifting to spend the day surrounded by the energy, enthusiasm, skill and creativity of our visual and performing arts program.

Dr Mark Merry Principal

The new facility also provides a dedicated art gallery for the display of student and community works. This is consistent with the School’s philosophy that we are a community resource enjoyed at times by the wider community. The George Wood

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YARRA COMMUNITY

School Captains’ reflection Our Year 12 experience in 2021 has been historic. Two years of VCE amidst a global pandemic brought some unexpected twists and turns – what an experience it has been!

Over our time at Yarra, the Class of 2021 has grown together in many ways. This year, academics have certainly been a focal point, but it has also been a year of new responsibilities, and chances to finish the adventures we had set out on during our time at school.

Experiencing our final swimming carnivals, musicals, productions, Food Wine and Music concerts, sports matches, Good Friday Appeal collections, debates and many other important final events we have been able to take part in, has really highlighted how much we have grown as individuals and as a group. Revisiting the photo of us as Year 7s in our old social space reminds us of all the physical growth we have had. Looking out on our beautiful campus has reminded us of how much growing our School has done; most recently, the opening of the new Fine Arts Building. It has certainly been a year of reflection, and there have been so many rich memories to look back on.

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The Chinese New Year celebrations, Easter egg hunts, Christmas in October (The 2021 reinvention of Christmas in July), Pyjama day, the group playing spikeball just outside the social space windows, the good mornings in the carpark as people began to drive themselves to school and the occasional hum of music in the social space all created a great sense of community amongst the Year 12s.

Some of the less widely known, but just as beautiful moments included the Share the Dignity initiative between the Year 12 girls, the new Year 8 Peer Leading program, the volunteer work of many Year 12s as refugee tutors, and the assistance from first language Chinese speakers to the Chinese culture and society class. 非常感 谢你们的帮助和支持!

We were certainly challenged by continual assessment, ongoing isolation and sporadic lockdowns. However, we did become increasingly familiar with online classes, rehearsals and meetings. While isolation didn’t get easier, year level kahoots and hat mornings were a fun and goofy chance to see more faces, and generous surprises sent to our homes contributed to an ongoing sense of support from Yarra Valley Grammar.

We offer our thanks to the people who have made our time at Yarra so enjoyable and rewarding. To all of our teachers, who have not only been incredible resources, but mentors in guiding us through challenges as they arose. Also, to the Yarra Parents and Friends, our Yarra Old Grammarian Mentors, our incredible peers and leadership team, and to Dr Merry, Mr Hocking, Mr Ellul, Ms Catania and Mr Hay for all of their help and support. Finally, we thank the rest of the Yarra community who have made such an immense contribution over the last six years in providing us with the best possible experience.

We leave Yarra assured that the time we have spent alongside our cohort has prepared us well for whatever our future holds. With such a talented group, it will be interesting to see all the amazing places people end up in. We will always be able to reminisce and relate to the experience of a COVID VCE, which is something unique to our cohort.

We have certainly been blessed with connections and memories that we will continue to cherish for a lifetime.

Blake Matheson and Lauren Dickins School Captains of 2021

“We leave Yarra assured that the time we have spent alongside our cohort has prepared us well for whatever our future holds.”

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YARRA COMMUNITY

Community Links – a positive impact to our community After a rocky and disruptive year in 2020, all of our Community Links captains were keen to launch into 2021 with energy and enthusiasm.

Renewed passion and fresh ideas fuelled our anticipation for the calendar of events we had been working on. Our goal was to help members of our School community make a positive impact in the local and broader community and raise funds and awareness for projects designed to help others.

The Middle School team met regularly, as we were able, to plan a suite of events including a food stall to support Breathe for India and Community Connection.

We were exploring the logistics of hosting a Ping-Pong-athon and were collaborating with our Senior School captains to plan a Yarra version of The Colour Run. Alas, like many of our plans, we had to keep refining and reworking and reimagining to comply with restrictions that impacted us all.

Unfortunately, not all of our plans came to fruition.

We were thrilled to help host our very successful annual event, Yarra’s Greatest Shave at the end of Term 1.

The atmosphere was full of energy and

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fun as students raised sponsorship money to shave or colour their hair in support of the Leukemia Foundation. With more than 160 staff and students involved, we were able to raise more than $21,000 to fund research and provide practical support for families and individuals fighting leukemia.

Shortly after, during the Term 1 holidays, more than 750 members of the Yarra Valley Grammar community signed up and showed up to collect donations as part of the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal. We contributed over $48,500 and were thrilled that Emily and Caleb, our Year 12 Community Links leaders, were able to present a cheque for $127,902.90 at the televised Good Friday Appeal on behalf of the Pied Pipers.

We also led a successful campaign to support Share the Dignity with bags and basket loads of female sanitary products donated by our School community. Plans for events to support Flicker of Hope, Fight MND, RU OK Day and Very Special Kids were all impacted by restrictions, however, it was wonderful to be involved in Yarra’s Gratitude Day during a brief period when our whole school was able to be attending school on campus. We enjoyed helping to bring hundreds of gratitude messages together on one big display in the main entrance foyer.

With face to face gatherings becoming less achievable, we got behind the World Vision 40 Hour Famine which became a self-directed online event towards the end of Term 3. More than 60 staff and students committed to doing their part to help people living in poverty around our world.

We also supported the Victorian Walk for Mental Health virtual event in October.

Through this event we helped raise awareness and funds to support mental health awareness.

Seeking to impact our own School community too, we sent out hundreds of postcards and chocolates to let our peers know that we were thinking of them and tried to be a source of encouragement during some of the challenges of this year.

We are proud of our efforts and are pleased with the positive impact we have made.

Antons Samulis and Ella Templeton Junior School Community Links Captains Aanya Chandra and Xavier Rowse Middle School Community Links Captains Caleb Bergamo and Emily Baulch Senior School Community Links Captains

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 9

YARRA COMMUNITY

Student Wellbeing – dancing in the rain As the saying goes “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain.” We are all learning to dance in the rain.

It has been another year of unprecedented change and transition, which has required much flexibility, lots of reassurance and maintenance to support the emotional wellbeing of students. Given these unprecedented times, staff have had to explore new ways to keep students engaged in their learning, keep them socially connected and support them in managing their emotions. As we have all adapted and adjusted to another year of uncertainty, students wellbeing has and remains a priority. It has been important to be aware of student’s emotional wellbeing and ensure students from all year levels were supported and given strategies to deal with these extraordinary times.

This was our fourth year of incorporating The Resilience Project (TRP) as a whole school approach from ELC to Year 12 and we continued teaching and developing strategies with the four pillars of Empathy, Gratitude, Emotional Literacy and Mindfulness (GEM).

The entire school was involved in Gratitude Day run by Ms Rosie Brown as well as participate in our gratitude wall and writing cards of thanks to relevant people.

All Middle School and Senior School students completed weekly wellbeing trackers enabling staff to monitor students overall wellbeing.

We were fortunate enough to have a number of guest speakers, programs, and services throughout the year to provide students across the School with opportunities to listen, learn, develop skills, gain knowledge and participate in many areas of their learning.

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SENIOR SCHOOL Senior students were fortunate to have Sonya Karras, from Whole New World, present to Year 11 and 12 students around safe partying and schoolies. Always informative; students learnt many ways to keep themselves and their friends safe.

Stride Foundation trained all Year 11 students to be Supportive Friends. Students who participated could then volunteer to become a Peer Support Leader (PSL). PSL’s had further training and developed skills in mentoring Year 7s. PSL’s attended certain Year 7 classes to engage, support and mentor the students. Year 11 students found this program a rewarding and enjoyable experience whilst also developing great leadership qualities. We also had last year’s Peer Support Leaders from Year 12 working with our Year 8 students in order for them to practice and refine their leadership skills.

“Being a Peer Support Leader in 2021 has been a wonderful experience for me. Not only have I contributed to Yarra but have also progressed my own leadership skills. I developed a sense of community and the fortnightly meetings became something to look forward to. It was a shame that there were periodic lockdowns through the year, but other than this disruption, it has been an exhilarating journey.”

Year 11 student Peer Support Leader Dr Chelsea Hyde and Ms Alison Lipkevicius conducted a 5 week program with international students discussing cultural differences, language barriers and the challenges and benefits of learning abroad,

whilst also supporting them to develop skills and strategies to manage schooling in Australia.

Moore’s lawyers presented to all our Senior School students and Year 9s about Respectful Relationships and Consent. It was an informative session. Parents were also encouraged to access all the information on our portal to stay ahead of the law in relation to these areas.

Mr Paul Dylan presented separately to Years 10 – 12, parents and staff on the area of Alcohol and Drug Consumption in young people. He had up to date information and statistics and students always seem to get a lot out of the presentations.

MIDDLE SCHOOL Year 7, 8 & 9 have had a productive and informative year. Each year level had a Wellbeing Day, in which male students attended an interactive seminar from ManCave. This seminar explored the journey to manhood incorporating how to have healthy relationships and maintain positive mental health. Female students attended an interactive seminar with Flourish Girls. The focus for Year 7 students was Flourish with Self, Year 8 explored how to Flourish with Others and the Year 9s discussed how to Flourish with the Community.

Brainstorm Productions presented Flipside to the Year 7s and 8s. The students enjoyed a live performance that challenged them to explore and reflect on cyberbullying, on line communication, online safety, values and responsibility.

Junior School Captain’s Messages

In addition, Middle School students had a Year 12 student speak to them about schooling through the years, with a focus on respect and friendship. Year 8 students delighted in hearing from a Senior student and embraced the opportunity to ask many relevant questions. Wellbeing Wednesday continued through this year, giving students the opportunity to identify how they are feeling and if they would like the opportunity to talk to someone on any issue.

There were lots of online activities to keep students engaged and connected – Tute competitions, Olympic fun, online footy, baking competitions, constructions, challenges, where am I fun and an online scavenger hunt.

JUNIOR SCHOOL In Junior School, Mrs Keshini Niles (Junior School Psychologist) and Mrs Anneke Flinn (Speech Pathologist) developed a Wellbeing toolkit, which was presented to all Junior School staff.

The toolkit looked at developing

resilience, social emotional learning, social competence, and practical tools to support students in the areas of emotional regulation, perspective taking and problemsolving. Project Rockit presented twice in Junior School. Students in Year 5 and 6 learnt about strength in diversity and the value of inclusion. Students in Year 3 and 4 explored online safety and strategies to promote healthy communication.

The Year 6 captains delivered inspirational video messages of encouragement and positivity to their peers. Mrs Niles visited the Year 2 girls social group to lead an activity where she discussed personal strengths and each student made their own strength bracelet.

Throughout the year students have been encouraged to develop a positive mindset.

Head of Junior School, Mrs Nicole Rogers ran a Making Your Own Headline activity, which encouraged students from Prep to Year 6 to write about a positive news story that had made them smile and share this with their classmates.

WELLBEING Wellbeing in the Yarra community includes staff and families as well as students.

Wellbeing staff worked closely with students, staff and Yarra families to provide ongoing support in these unprecedented times. Relevant information and support strategies were shared throughout the year with staff, parents and students via email, by presentation and in the school wellbeing portal – such as SchoolTV, which is a resource full of tip sheets, latest research, support strategies and other tools, which is regularly updated.

Despite the challenges (or storms) that were presented to us, the Yarra community continues to weather the storm with conviction, dedication and an incredibly strong sense of community.

Ms Alison Lipkevicius Psychologist and Acting Head of Student Wellbeing

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 11

EARLY LEARNING CENTRE

“Each child was valued as a unique, capable and competent individual and supported with a learning and developmental pathway tailored to develop their confidence as learners and sense of wellbeing within their community.”

(Assessment and Rating Report)

An exceptional program Another year of interruption to our learning onsite did not stop the ELC from accomplishing some significant events and achievements.

During Term 2 we underwent an Assessment and Rating from the Department of Education. This lengthy process assessed the culmination of five years of practices, programming and education. After interviewing key staff, reviewing all documentation and observing the Centre in action we were assessed on seven quality areas by the Department of Education. The seven areas included: • Educational Program and Practice • Children’s Health and Safety • Physical Environment • Staffing Arrangements • Relationships with Children

The report affirmed our approach to a play based curriculum where we aim to offer learning that is both developmentally appropriate and engaging.

“A balance of having fun with children and merging intentional teaching practices was a characteristic common to educators.

Scope for children to consistently explore and test ideas, extend roles and communicate their learning in meaningful ways was embedded across all classrooms.” (Assessment and Rating Report) Our Exceeding rating assessed against the national benchmark qualities is testimony to the excellent programs, facilities and education we offer at the ELC. The skilled and passionate ELC educators share a vision and attitude to early childhood teaching and foster a holistic approach to curriculum decision making for every child.

• Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities • Governance and Leadership We were thrilled to receive the highest rating for all seven areas and as a result our service has been awarded as Exceeding the National Quality Standard.

Our educational programs were assessed as being exceptional. The report noted the quality of relationships between our teachers and each child and how these relationships lay the foundation for integrating their interests and abilities into both planned and spontaneous learning experiences. The depth of our educators’ understanding of the curriculum and associated principles assures that all of the ELC children are acknowledged as involved learners and that quality educational experiences are consistently offered.

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This year our four classes have once again demonstrated their resilience and capacity for living and learning during a pandemic.

The ELC was fortunate to be able to implement an onsite program right up until the last weeks of Term 3, until suddenly we were directed to only be able to offer onsite learning to children of essential workers. This resulted in executing plans over a weekend to provide a hybrid model of learning to children both on and offsite.

Teaching staff were prepared with videos and met with children online for one on one and small group teaching sessions. Utilising

the driveway out the front of the ELC we had our own drive through click and collect where families were able to pick up packs of resources and games to support each specific program’s learning at home. We gratefully acknowledge the amazing support received from parents and older siblings in assisting the children to get online each day and complete the activities offered.

Our offsite learning was replicated in the classroom for those children of essential workers who were onsite. The installation of large interactive whiteboards in the classroom at the beginning of the year proved a timely and worthy investment.

They became a valuable teaching tool as videos and live streaming of teachers could be easily accessed and viewed. Highlights of the onsite learning included Book Character Dress Up Day, connecting with peers and a live mini beast incursion complete with scorpions and tarantulas.

This year we were mindful of the many changes impacting the children’s lives including being locked down, being unable to access playgrounds, having siblings remain at home for their schooling and the restrictions on celebrating birthdays. We took this into consideration when planning our programs and aimed to provide special days to ensure their wellbeing and create a general sense of fun.

We joined in with the School for Crazy Hat Day where on their arrival the children were able to select from a range of hats the teachers had sourced and to take on a persona for the day.

Wacky Wednesday was an initiative that quickly grew from its initial concept based on a Dr Seuss book the children had been reading. One Wednesday morning the

children arrived to find teachers having a beach party in the middle of winter, and the ELC in a wacky state. Classroom furniture was topsy turvy, funny stickers were on photos and the children embraced the ideas, and wore their clothes backwards and shoes on their hands. The day was full of hilarity, dancing and general wackiness, we even swapped to being collected from the front door to the back of the building at the end of the day. Affirmation of the joy the children received from the day came in the form of smiles, laughter and requests to do it again, and this was not just from the children.

Although visitors to the Centre and excursions beyond were limited we still managed to have Seaweed Sally and the Drama Tool Box attend. Both incursions complemented our learning and the children delighted in handling a variety of marine creatures with Sally and dressing

up and dancing as dinosaurs during the drama incursion. Our traffic school excursion was replaced with Bike Day where we made good use of the quieter campus and the hard courts and rode our bikes around and around all day. Both the chicken hatching and rabbit rearing programs provided welcome distractions as the children were able to handle, cuddle and play with the live animals.

They even affectionately named one very important looking rabbit Dr Merry who enjoyed meeting his namesake in the Headmaster’s Office.

Although 2021 was another year of adjusting quickly and being flexible, all those associated with our ELC community should be immensely proud of what was achieved.

Mrs Nicky Callow Director of Early Learning Centre

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 13

JUNIOR SCHOOL

From the Head of Junior School Our Junior School community rose to the challenges that 2021 presented. We built upon the experiences of 2020 and extended the learning and the skills developed to approach learning this year with a positive and confident mindset.

Junior School staff who have assisted our students in their learning continued to strive to provide them with a positive, supportive and engaging learning environment that has enabled individuals to achieve their personal best, master key concepts, and build vital social connections.

Ensuring a consistent approach and adhering to regular routines has greatly assisted in supporting our students and families to make the necessary transition from onsite to online learning smooth and successful.

Providing students with the varied ways to build valuable connections has been a focus and highlight. In support of this we have enjoyed the many benefits and opportunities that an ELC – Year 12 school setting provides. We joined together in celebrations of the Chinese New Year, provided opportunities for our Junior School students to be mentored in their learning by their Middle and Senior School peers, along with participating in a range of Community Links initiatives.

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Our digital skills continued to develop as we explored new ways to deliver learning to our classrooms, and in turn our students became increasingly skilled at demonstrating their understanding of key concepts in a range of engaging and informative ways. Whether online or onsite, this has been key to our model for learning and our teachers have continued to work collaboratively to plan and facilitate a quality differentiated program. We have explored new ways to improve our Junior School learning, fostering an approach that has encompassed inquiry learning methods, valuing curiosity and creativity, as well as presenting varied opportunities to challenge thinking and apply problem solving strategies in a local and global setting. We have seen this learning come to life in a range of experiences in 2021 including, our involvement in the National Simultaneous Storytime centred around the storybook Give Me Space by Phillip Bunting. We had the story read from the International Space Station, a highlight for our students. We acknowledged the tremendous efforts of our Australian athletes with a collection of messages displayed in the Junior School Olympic Village and spread positive news through the Making Our Own Headlines initiative.

Our Junior School student leaders have played an important role in serving our community, supporting and encouraging our students in many ways, along with

proudly representing Yarra in the broader community. Our Junior School Captains had an important role in the 2021 ANZAC Day service and wreath laying ceremony, as well as participating in the official opening of the Fine Arts Building. They have collaborated to design and share messages of support and encouragement for their peers and promoted school initiatives including the Virtual House Cross Country and Footy Day. Their role in buddying our Prep students has also been greatly valued.

We have benefited from their show of leadership and demonstration of service to our School community.

Brush with Joy has continued to be a highlight throughout the year, bringing to our screens in classrooms and at home important messages of encouragement and connection, linking with the values expressed in the pillars of The Resilience Project.

We have adapted to the changing times and whilst many of our planned camps and excursions have been able to proceed, there have been some that have had to be reviewed. We thank our students and families for their understanding and willingness to be flexible, ensuring that we work together to maintain our safe and healthy learning environment.

The Junior School production of Aladdin JR was impacted by the events of 2021, however this did not dampen the

enthusiasm of the cast and crew. Whilst rehearsals began onsite with a large number of students committed to the schedule of rehearsals, led by the dedicated team of staff, we soon moved to a creative schedule of online rehearsals.

This approach utilised Canvas alongside Microsoft Teams to enable a unique and effective virtual rehearsal space to connect on. The level of participation and enthusiasm by all involved was impressive and the quality of the performances incredible. This was a unique experience for all involved and reflected a willingness to strive to be our best in all situations. Thank you to our students, staff and families for their involvement, expertise and dedication.

It has been wonderful to see our Junior School students share in a broad range of learning opportunities throughout 2021, such as various music programs, sporting events, including the Junior School Athletics and Cross Country events, along with French Day and Lunchtime Club offerings.

Striving to achieve our personal best has been a goal for each of our students and this has been evident in many areas of achievement and our students should be proud of their efforts. Our NAPLAN results demonstrated a consistent and continued improvement in the key areas of Literacy and Numeracy assessed at Year 3 and 5.

Congratulations to our ELC team in achieving a rating of Exceeding Expectation in all seven areas of accreditation, an admirable and well deserved achievement.

We will be sad to see our Year 6 students leave our Junior School at the end of 2021.

We would like to take the opportunity to wish them well as they embark on their journey into Year 7, exploring the many new opportunities and initiatives that await them. We will look forward to welcoming many new students and families joining Junior School in 2022.

At the end of 2021 we would like to wish Mr Phil Bisset well for his retirement and acknowledge his valued contributions over his 25 year career at Yarra. Phil has been

a devoted member of the Yarra community and has demonstrated great care for his students and families over many years and we wish him all the very best for his future ventures.

It has been especially wonderful to have had the opportunity to congratulate Junior School staff who have welcomed new babies this year.

Thank you to our Junior School staff for their efforts in planning and implementing a rich and engaging learning experience for our students, wishing those who are moving into new levels, roles and responsibilities in 2022, all the very best for the year ahead. We also look forward to welcoming a number of new staff to Yarra in 2022.

Thank you to our families for their ongoing display of support, we are truly grateful and wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday break. We look forward to 2022 and the many opportunities that it will present.

Mrs Nicole Rogers Head of Junior School www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 15

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Captains’ reflection Being announced as the 2021 Junior School Captains was an exciting thrill of emotions. We felt like we had been provided with the exciting opportunity to support our Junior School peers and further develop our leadership skills.

It was a chance of a lifetime!

Despite periods of online learning, we were still able to show our leadership qualities and be of service to the Junior School, just not how we initially expected. The experience of learning from home definitely taught us patience, determination and courage, and provided unique opportunities to demonstrate support for our peers.

We are very grateful for the time we had at school this year, even if it was shorter than we anticipated.

Our experiences might have been different, although we still endeavoured to do our best to help and support the Junior School community throughout 2021.

It was wonderful to participate in the Junior School Hope Messages and the Footy Day video initiatives during Term 3, providing opportunities to connect and celebrate valuable moments. We believe that our fellow captains and student peers showed an incredible level of dedication and compassion for each other and this certainly assisted in keeping many Junior School initiatives and events alive and enjoyable during the year.

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During Term 2, we were fortunate to take part in the annual ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Ringwood Clock Tower, to represent our School and pay our respects. This was a great privilege and experience that will remain with us as a most memorable morning in 2021.

We also gave term highlights from the Junior School cohort at assemblies.

We are very grateful and proud of the Junior School for the amount of effort and courage that everyone has exhibited while learning from online at home. Our Junior School community were still able to stay connected despite periods of separation. The teachers, staff and students worked extremely hard to maintain an interactive and exciting learning environment. This included the amazing efforts in providing and participating in the online Aladdin JR production rehearsals, a first for our Junior School students. The music staff and volunteers made a huge contribution to the behind-the-scenes work that really made the magic happen. We also want to make a special note of the National Simultaneous Storytime book reading for

2021, this was brought to us from the International Space Station. This was also an exciting first experience!

After what has been a unique and exciting year in our Junior School experience, we want to thank all of our peers, teachers and families for helping us succeed in our role as Junior School Captains for 2021. As we are now coming to the end of the year, we wish the captains for 2022 all of the very best for their journey and leadership experience. Now that we are transitioning to the Middle School, we will take the skills that we have learnt over the past years with us to shape our next steps. We say goodbye to Year 6 and say hello to the future ahead of us.

Amara Crotty and Taylor Priestman Junior School Captains

Carter Resource Centre The Junior School library is an inviting and stimulating space catering to students from ELC – Year 6 for classes and recreational purposes.

Although some resources have not been available to students this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, many books and magazines have been borrowed and read, lunchtimes have been spent playing games or making Lego constructions and computers have been used for work or leisure.

The Library captains, Maggie Luan and Eric Wang, actively promoted and presented events during the year.

They particularly enjoyed organising the Bookwormz Club for Senior Primary students. Sharing and chatting about their favourite books was a highlight for this small, but passionate group.

National Simultaneous Storytime is always eagerly anticipated by Junior School students and this year’s story, Give Me Some Space, was read by an astronaut on the International Space Station. Students from ELC – Year 6 watched the story and participated enthusiastically in a CABS space activity.

Many students registered for the Premiers’ Reading Challenge and almost 2000 books were read as they worked towards completing the challenge. Congratulations to all participants!

Children’s Book Week, Rocks and Crystals, Paddington Bear, Steampunk, and Quokkas were some of the topics explored during Library classes both onsite and online. Reading stories and completing research tasks extended the students’ literature and information knowledge and understanding.

Mrs Wendy Andrews Resource Centre Teacher/Librarian

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 17

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Junior Art How lucky we felt to start the year on campus and have access to all of the wonderful art supplies in the Art Room. After our annual first lesson self-portrait, classes quickly went into using materials that students did not have access to at home.

Year 2 students started by painting portraits of all of the teachers and staff in the Junior School. These artworks were displayed on the big noticeboard and children and teachers had fun working out who was who. The portraits were given to the teachers afterwards and they were very well received.

how to sew a running stitch and the older ones weaving and tie dyeing. Even the Prep children learnt how to sew, and the Year 2s can now sew on buttons.

Years 1, 3 and 5 went right into working with clay. There were some amazing ceramic birds sculpted and decorated by the Year 3s, fish dishes made by the Year 1s and coil pots made and glazed by the Year 5s.

Once again, COVID-19 sent us home to lockdown and our students rose to the challenge of creating art off campus.

Sometimes this meant using strange and unusual supplies, and we have had artworks made out of food, tinfoil, flowers and shells.

Some very special poppies were sculpted from recycled soft drink bottles for ANZAC Day. They were so popular that Year 4 took the same task further and sculpted a variety of amazing and creative flowers for Yarra Valley Grammar’s four receptions, and were a feature in the opening exhibition of the new Senior School Fine Arts Building.

Term 2 brought the start of our textiles studies, with the younger children learning

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This year’s Art Captains Tuleen Badir and Annie Liu took great delight in choosing the Artists of the Week every week, and presenting their certificates at assembly.

2021 is the first year that the students in Years 4, 5 and 6 were invited to participate in the school’s Star Portrait competition.

The chosen staff member was Phil Bisset and many of his current students in Year 4 and past students in Years 5 and 6 took the opportunity to capture him artistically.

They should all be very proud of their efforts.

Whilst we were not able to have our traditional Art Show on campus in Term 3, we were still able to recognise and present our annual Paintbrush Awards to one student from each year level who went above and beyond in their Art classes.

This year we have the unusual situation in Year 4 where we have a complete tie, so two worthy recipients received an award.

The 2021 Paintbrush Awards went to: Prep

Violet Thompson

Year 1

Christopher Makris

Year 2

Lily Augustin

Year 3

Tim Cai

Year 4 Joel Penaluna and Suhani Srivastava Year 5

Chris Lin

Year 6

Wyatt Thai

Congratulations to these students.

Mrs Sacha Gough Junior School Art Teacher

Year 6 Art Captains Tuleen and Annie

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 19

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Junior Music Celebrations In the final week of Term 2, all the Junior Music Ensembles came together in the Performing Arts Centre and recorded the annual Junior School Concert.

Our Junior School students were fantastic in their rehearsals every week and despite all the challenges, we felt that it was important to celebrate all their hard work and effort.

With our expert Performing Arts staff, we were able to film our concert on one huge day with the support of our Junior School community and children coming and going in between classes. Although the performances may not have been perfect, you could really see the excitement and joy in everyone’s eyes, and how they played. Besides, perfection isn’t the most important thing!

The Art Exhibition that we usually hold as part of the Junior School Concert was also included in the video with a sample of the stunning music themed artwork the students had created with Mrs Gough.

Instead of the usual hot chocolate and cookies, we had a professional photographer come and take some magnificent photos of all of us.

What a wonderful day!

Nancy Ni Junior School Music Captain

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From making a Dinosaur Rap in Year 4 to Bucket Drumming in Year 6, my entire Yarra Music experience has been like no other. I have relished watching, playing and singing in concerts, rehearsing in a band and choir; every single music event/class has been filled with uniqueness and excitement.

I have really enjoyed watching and performing in all the concerts and festivals.

One of the concert highlights of my whole Yarra experience was performing with the saxophone for the first time. It was at the Junior Art Exhibition and I had so much fun. Another big highlight was performing in the Junior School Concert this year.

I performed in four different events: my saxophone solo, Junior School Band, Junior School Choir and Performers.

Since I first moved to Yarra, I have wanted to perform in the Junior School Production.

Fortunately, this year the Years 5s and 6s were able to audition for a role in Aladdin JR and everyone who auditioned got a part.

I was lucky enough to become the main character; Aladdin. Both the online and onsite rehearsals have been great fun and full of new actions, lines and songs to learn.

Joshua Hobday Junior School Music Captain

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 21

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Aladdin JR

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www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 23

MIDDLE SCHOOL

From the Head of Middle School 2021 has been a dynamic and interesting year and one which will live in our memory. I was delighted to witness the positive manner in which students in Year 7, 8 & 9 engaged with their school community in 2021.

As with last year, 2021 presented several challenges for students of the Middle School who met each hurdle with positivity, resilience and a determination to participate actively in all that was offered, and they continued to strive for their personal best.

The year started with all students onsite after enjoying a long summer. Upon arrival they interacted and engaged positively with their teachers and classmates and appeared thrilled to be back at school.

There was a palpable excitement on the preparation days to discover who was in one’s class and to meet the teachers who would lead them through their 2021

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journey. There was a genuine feeling of joy as students embraced the many facets of a Yarra Valley Grammar education. In particular, there was great anticipation from the Year 7 team as they welcomed new students to the School for the first time after an online orientation program in 2020. For many Year 7 students, this was the first time they had physically met their peers, teachers or even experienced their wonderful school environment. It was particularly impressive to witness how the Year 7 students were able to adapt to the Yarra way and embrace all that their new school offered.

There were a number of positive events that occurred that broadened the horizons of students in Year 8 including their involvement in the ESTEAM program, where they engaged collaboratively in engineering, robotics and café entrepreneurship. To witness the enjoyment and knowledge gained from their visit to Kryal Castle was gratifying as students involved themselves

in archery, apothecary, siege craft, battle tactics, jousting and a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings. It was exciting to visit Year 8 students at Camp Eildon and to view the way they worked as a team, tackled physical challenges, connected with each other while in the process of discovering a great deal about themselves.

Year 9 students have led the Middle School admirably and helped mentor other students through their middle years of education, including supporting embed the School’s expectations on all.

An example of this was the support and leadership shown at the House Swimming Carnival, which was exemplary and I would like to thank our House Leaders for their leadership on that day. There were a number of exciting events which our Year 9s participated in including the Smoothie Bar Challenge, I must admit some smoothies appeared more palatable than others; the Illuminate Challenge, where students continued to hone their

entrepreneurial skills they had developed in Year 8; and their excellent work on the Passion Project. I wish the Year 9s all the best as they make their way to the Senior School knowing that they have the educational toolkit which will hold them in good stead for the remainder of their secondary education.

I would like to commend our Year 9 Middle School Student Leaders and the service they gave the School throughout 2021.

I admired the way they conducted themselves at the opening of the Fine Arts Building and the respectful way they interacted with dignitaries and how impeccably they represented themselves and their school. I was also impressed with their ability to support fellow students, either onsite or online, making the Middle School experience a positive one.

In a year where caring for each other and ourselves has been critical I am pleased that our Middle School students have been lead and supported by a splendid group of tutors, teachers and year level coordinators.

In addition, organised Wellbeing Days presented by Man Cave and Flourish Girls, the ongoing lessons taught by The

Resilience Project and the skill of our Wellbeing Department have helped all in our community to grow and develop profound resilience skills and a better understanding of oneself. I believe this quote from Louis May Alcott aptly sums up how many of us felt about 2021 and our ability to show resilience throughout these times.

‘I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my own ship.’

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Middle School Leadership team for all their hard work and determination to present the best program to our students. The team of Mrs Harper, Mrs Lee (Middle School Administrative Assistant) Ms Lipkevicius (Acting Head of Student Wellbeing), Mr Marden, Ms Nalder, Mr Wylie and Mrs Whitechurch have worked tirelessly throughout the year and have been a great support. I thank them and the Middle School Tutors for a year of care, kindness, flexibility and success in guiding students through their Middle School journey.

Mr Andrew Lawrence Head of Middle School

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 25

MIDDLE SCHOOL

School Captains’ reflection Dominated by COVID-19, 2021 has demonstrated to us how crucial the Yarra community is. Our role as Middle School Captains has provided us with a front row seat to the development of not only our peers, but teachers as we work to overcome obstacles.

Our year began with possibly the most nerve-racking of engagements, greeting the new Year 7s. So many faces filled with optimism and some anxiety, we knew it was a daunting time. We introduced ourselves and now have the pleasure of being greeted by name whenever we take a trip past the Year 7 building. To see them develop confidence and make new friends has been enjoyable to watch.

This nerve-racking engagement was followed by another; presenting speeches at the year level information nights.

Standing in front of a full PAC with legs shaking was tough, but we had fun nonetheless. We are very grateful for all the support offered by the Year Level Coordinators.

As we began to settle in lockdown was announced, and that was how most of the year went. Short stretches of onsite learning, contrasted by lockdown. We had to adapt, giving less speeches and more one-on-one chats. It was only through the support of our teachers, coordinators and peers that we were able to maintain a positive outlook.

A special feature of being a Year 9 Middle School Leader was attending the annual 26 |

Leader’s Retreat. These two days of leadership activities allowed us to share ideas, collaborate and most importantly, have some fun whilst coming together as the Leadership Team. We attended a meeting with Dr Merry, went rock climbing and collaborated in an escape room.

A highlight of the experience was hearing from a panel made up of the School Captains and the former Middle School Captains. It was here that we were able to ask questions about their leadership journeys and learnt to tackle difficult scenarios.

As Term 2 began so did the ability to broadcast to screens across the School with the Media Team. From StudIO6 in the Year 9 building we were able to record messages and stream them to the tutorial rooms. We enjoyed informing the School about upcoming events and current happenings. As hosts, we tried our best at being news anchors, which was surprisingly hard.

Soon enough, the opening of the new Fine Arts Building arrived which was the landmark event of the year. It is hard to describe the atmosphere of the School in the build up. As Middle School Captains we were right in the middle of it. Meetings at the PAC discussing when we were to walk up the aisles, multiple reruns of the route to the building and reminders that it was going to be a big day. And a big day it was. From the multitudes of YOGs attending the ceremony and the anticipation for the arrival of the Governor, we had quite a day.

We were very proud to have been involved.

Another facet of being a Middle School

Leader was goal setting. After a meeting with the Head of Middle School, Mr Lawrence, we developed goals. These goals could be personal or for the whole school. Over the course of the year we worked towards accomplishing these dreams, learning and expanding our understanding of what it means to be a leader along the way. It was very fulfilling to see these ideas flourish into new skills or tangible events.

Term 2 drew to a close and so began Term 3, bringing with it an opportunity to see the future, in the form of the Year 7 2022 Fellowship Morning. Many of this year’s Leaders recalled the Captain who took their group in 2018, so we wanted to make sure that the incoming Year 7s remembered us, for all the right reasons.

The feeling of being in awe of the opportunities and experiences available was a key memory from our Fellowship Morning and we wanted to create a similar memory for the future Year 7s. Dancing in drama and participating in science experiments was a fun way to learn more about those who would be coming to the School and showcase how we were pursuing our own passions.

The final term rolled around in the midst of another lockdown. This time, we had a roadmap. Returning to school was like experiencing deja vu. Everything was familiar, yet different. This did not last long, as we went back to our old routine. It was like a lockdown never happened. As Middle School Captains we were busy helping our peers settle back in, while also preparing for the end of the year. Our year rounded

“We introduced ourselves and now have the pleasure of being greeted by name whenever we take a trip past the Year 7 building. To see them develop confidence and make new friends has been enjoyable to watch.”

out much as it began, delivering speeches at various events, lockdown a memory of an earlier time.

Being a Middle School Captain in 2021 can best be described as a journey along a bumpy road. With the help of teachers and mentors, some bumps were smoothed and pot-holes filled; however, many of the obstacles we had to overcome ourselves.

It was through this experience that we learnt to avoid potholes and deal with bumps. By facing these challenges, we have the opportunity to look back on our year with pride.

We would like to thank Mr Lawrence, the Head of Middle School, our Year Level

Coordinators, Mr Wylie and Mrs Whitechurch and the tutors and teachers of Year 9.

Without their guidance we would not have achieved half as much. We would also like to acknowledge our fellow Captains, it is through their collaboration that many ideas have flourished, and our peers, without them our role would have been extremely difficult.

As this year comes to a close, we reflect with gratitude for the Yarra community.

We look back with pride in our hearts and excitement for the future successes to enjoy.

Noah Cameron and Tilly Stoney Middle School Captains

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 27

MIDDLE SCHOOL

ESTEAM Program – designing, developing, building, creating and making ROBOTICS Despite this year’s lockdowns, Year 8 students had great fun completing the 2021 ESTEAM Robotics Program.

I especially loved this subject.

At the start of the trimester, classes were split into groups to build the newest generation of Lego EV3 Mindstorms robots. Our first task was to complete the unit plan in the EV3 Education Application on our computers. We documented our progress in a movie which was submitted as our first assessment task. The modules used block coding to teach us the basics of movement and use of unique sensors included on the robots. The groups used their movie to show teachers their understanding of their code.

Unexpectedly, Victoria went into a snap lockdown, causing the robotics teachers to rethink the final assessment tasks.

Students were introduced to Grok, a coding platform which teaches you the basics of many types of coding. We were set up with an introduction to coding with Blockly, Grok’s block coding program.

For the period of lockdown, each student completed five modules, learning about how to put together their own stacks of code.

When we returned to school, we were lucky enough to fit in an ESTEAM Expo Day. There were three challenges: beginner, intermediate, and advanced obstacle

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courses. The groups had four periods to compose a stack of code designed to guide our robot through each challenge.

I particularly enjoyed this aspect as the courses had multiple solutions. The final assessment task was a video portfolio similar to the first one, summarising our Expo Day. Overall, although it was a bumpy ride, we had successfully completed the 2021 ESTEAM Robotics Program. As well as teaching us the basics of coding and machine movements, we learnt valuable teamwork skills. Robotics and coding can lead to many career paths, and all students were very happy they were able to have this valuable experience.

Theo Ashe

FOOD ESTEAM Food involved a trimester full of delicious food and lots of fun. We began by trialing different recipes. Some of the recipes we baked were: chocolate balls, pizzas, oreo shakes and banana chocolate muffins.

Once we had baked these delicious sweets, the state of Victoria went into another lockdown. During online learning we learnt how to create a successful business, which helped contribute to our own Market Day held later in the trimester.

We were all grateful to be back at school and walk in the kitchen to see the shiny

silver benches and room set up and ready for us to begin cooking again. We got into groups and started to figure out what we were going to create for our Market Day. The groups began to work together with a deadline quickly approaching. Roles were assigned and potential recipes tested.

There were many adjustments to the date for our Market Day due to lockdown, this gave each team more time to develop their advertising campaigns. Once back onsite, posters were put up around the school to make sure that fellow students and teachers knew where and when our Market Day was.

After a lot of hard work and preparation our Market Day finally arrived. Everyone was very excited and I could not wait to start baking and selling products to raise money for Beyond Blue. The day started in the kitchen where each group spent the morning baking products ready to sell later that day. The kitchen was full of a variety of magnificent smells as everyone finished their baking. As soon as the class heard the school bell ring a swarm of students and teachers rushed outside to come and buy our baked goods.

The baking and cooking during this unit was lots of fun, and I’m sure has inspired many students to continue with Food Studies in the future.

Tahlia Grace

ENGINEERING During this trimester, we were able to engage in fundamental engineering tasks.

All the challenges were very enjoyable and stimulated each student’s ingenuity, innovation and collaboration abilities.

The first challenge was the Egg Drop.

Our teachers divided us into groups and gave each group a box of materials and an egg. Throughout the challenge, we were allowed to trade for each other’s items.

With the materials we received, we had to create a contraption for our egg with the aim of ensuring the egg remained undamaged throughout the challenge.

The challenge was to drop each group’s contraption with the allocated egg in it from a certain height, and to determine which group’s contraption kept the egg in the most pristine condition. This project required us to think outside the box and prompted our creativity.

We then completed a Rube Goldberg Machine in which we were divided into groups then used a range of supplied materials to make a machine. The Rube Goldberg Machine is a machine where multiple energy transfers would occur using marbles and at the end of the machine, the chain reactions of energy transfers lead to a task being executed.

This project was extremely fascinating and everyone had a lot of fun utilising their creativity and resilience to successfully create a unique machine.

The final challenge was a Bridge Building competition. Each group received elastic bands, one hundred popsicle sticks, PVA glue and the access to a hot glue gun.

We first did some research on the most effective bridge building methods, then we used the methods we believed would withstand the most weight and created a plan. Each group’s goal was to build the

most stable bridge that could hold more weight than all the other bridges. All the groups were gathered together for the competition and weights were placed on each bridge until they broke. There was a lot of excitement and trepidation going around, everyone was ecstatic but we were also afraid that their bridges wouldn’t hold. This challenge required us to work efficiently with the limited resources and ideas.

Overall, the engineering unit was an amazing experience and turned out to be both challenging and enjoyable. The Year 8s were given ample opportunity to work with their peers and to develop teamwork skills. In the end, everyone put their very best effort into the projects and we finished the unit with exceptional work and great memories.

Anya Fu

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 29

MIDDLE SCHOOL

“Their goal was to create a business that was able to make a profit while doing good in the community.”

LINK@9 The LINK@9 Program is a subject for Year 9 students that focuses on the different aspects of entrepreneurship and enterprise.

Throughout the year we were involved in numerous projects to develop our business, creative and entrepreneurial skills.

During the course of the Passion Project, we learnt valuable entrepreneurial skills such as marketing, pricing and financial organisation. Over the three days, we participated in an activity known as the Smoothie Bar Challenge where we were to create an original social enterprise in the

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form of a juice bar. We were able to create smoothies that were ethical and delicious, as well as design marketing campaigns, logos and revenue goals. In the next two days, we were tasked with forming a project with our peers aimed to address a need for society, known as the Passion Project.

In Term 3, we had a week-long city experience planned, where we’d travel into the city via public transport and do various activities. These included cultural experiences, art exhibitions, talks with professionals and nature walks. However, COVID-19 lockdowns meant that this event had to be cancelled for 2021.

In Term 2, we had the Illuminate Challenge, a five day incursion in which students created a business from scratch. With the help from the guests at Illuminate, the students were able to create and design their social enterprise and market it to the rest of the year level. The goal was to create a business that was able to make a profit while doing good in the community.

Adrian Leong and Abigail Bouchier-Jafari Middle School LINK@9 Captains

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 31

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Year 7 – a year of growth & resilience THE STARTING LINE

A CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT

YEAR 7 CAMP

On the first day of Year 7, excited students started pouring into the classrooms to begin their high school journey. The first half an hour felt like the most challenging time, as there were unfamiliar faces and routines. Due to the unprecedented events of 2020, it was the first time we were introduced to each other and the timetables. The journey had begun right there and then and we were all looking forward to the year ahead. Teachers and coordinators in particular helped us immensely and ensured everyone’s wellbeing. Their massive support and thoughtfully planned activities helped us to create friendships and become accustomed to routines. We were even given icy poles to enjoy with our new friends. By the end of the day, the timetables had all become second nature to us and we were set for the road ahead.

The Year 7 building was such a welcoming and colourful environment with many decorations and students’ work on display.

It was the perfect place to stimulate our enthusiasm and creativity. During Chinese New Year in Term 1, every class decorated their classrooms to celebrate the event (and win tutorial points). It was an awesome experience and it was really fun to work with our classmates on something not subject related. For other occasions like the Olympics and World Friendship Day, some tutorials decided to decorate rooms and walls with colourful ornaments or decorations. The teamwork that had gone into the decorations was outstanding and it was crystal clear that a lot of thoughtfulness was put into them. The Year 7 building and creative environment ensured that students arrived at school each day with beaming smiles on their faces, and felt right at home.

The first semester was filled with several exciting events that students enjoyed tremendously. The biggest highlight was the Year 7 camp at Marysville in Term 2.

Throughout camp we absorbed information on how to work effectively as a team, how to live without technology and more, all while completing activities and having tons of fun. There was a wide range of activities, such as abseiling, bike riding, canoeing, and we even did a bit of cooking. However, it wasn’t all fun and games. We had to learn to share a cabin with other people, wash dishes, clean up in a duty group and more.

These experiences helped us grow into better people, and learn to be grateful for what we can sometimes take for granted (especially hot showers and heaters), so it was definitely worth it in the end.

The memories we made at this absolutely incredible camp were unforgettable, and it was all thanks to (the equally incredible) teachers and coordinators.

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SPORTS In the first semester of 2021, we attended and competed in the House Swimming Carnival at Aquarena. The carnival was a window of opportunity for all of us to take part in an extremely fun, but intense competition. We were able to interact with students in our Houses that were not in our tutorials. Everybody participated in at least one event, and we gave it our all to win points for our respective Houses. In this carnival, we were able to experience the Yarra Spirit firsthand, and had an absolute blast cheering ourselves hoarse for our fellow House members and friends.

The House Swimming Carnival was a surreal experience, and we can’t wait to attend it again next year.

The official Year 7 sport season began in Term 2 and everyone was filled to the brim with enthusiasm at the thought of representing our beloved school. The Saturday Sport program gave us the chance to be active and experience playing against other schools, while also learning about teamwork. It felt amazing to play our part for Yarra Valley Grammar and take

home some wins. Unfortunately, we missed a few rounds mid-season due to lockdown, but we came back stronger than ever to play our final matches. We gained so much from the Saturday Sport program, and we cannot wait until next season.

REMOTE LEARNING Due to snap lockdowns throughout the year, we had no choice but to have quick transitions between onsite and remote learning and heave our school supplies back and forth with massive sighs. At first, the change seemed quite difficult, since we had to be staring at a screen non-stop. As we gradually familiarised ourselves with the daily online routine, teachers, coordinators and our SRC’s came up with interesting tasks that we could do without a screen, some which helped us to become creative with resources around our homes. The teachers provided us with engaging group activities as well, which allowed us to work with our friends, instead of by ourselves.

With resilience, we overcame the several challenges of remote learning and we were able to return to school smoothly and continue our learning with few difficulties.

GRATITUDE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY The Year 7 community is a place where we all acknowledge each other and show gratitude constantly. For example, we partook in The Resilience Project, which is a course with activities focused on empathy, mindfulness, gratitude and emotional literacy. In this project, we learned valuable lessons such as keeping a positive mindset and what we can do to thank significant people in our lives.

Throughout the year, we have done a wide range of activities to show our gratitude towards the people and things that make a difference in our lives. Activities we did included writing a letter to acknowledge the benevolence or selflessness that someone showed for us, and writing down what we are most grateful for in the School. Through these little tasks, we learned to appreciate and be grateful for everything we have.

Akshadh Nambiar and Samantha Harianto Year 7

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 33

SENIOR SCHOOL

“This year is now part of everyone’s history.

I hope everyone can look back and say that you made a good history for yourself and that you are proud of what you did and achieved.”

From the Head of Senior School It has been another year in which the Senior School community has been asked to respond to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students, families, and school staff were asked to be flexible and agile once again. Pleasingly, whilst we were tested, we as a community have risen to these challenges. Given everything that has happened, there is much to celebrate in 2021 as it has still been a very busy and productive year for students in the Senior School.

Our mission as a school is to provide a learning community that nurtures confidence to achieve. Students have the confidence to achieve if they feel connected and that they belong. Critical to this sense of belonging and connection are respectful relationships where each individual within the Senior School, and the School at large, is respected for who they are. This creates a positive school culture that engenders a sense of comfort and security. I believe that the school culture and student’s sense of belonging provided Senior School students with a stable base

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to manage the challenges presented to them again this year.

Senior School students have been Peer Support Leaders or Supportive Friends.

They have performed in the brilliant school production, Matilda the Musical, and they have participated in one or more of the many wonderful music ensembles or bands – Symphony Band, Symphony Orchestra and Senior Voices, to name a few. They have helped those less fortunate than themselves through collecting door to door for the Good Friday Appeal where

the School raised an astonishing figure of $48,693.79 for the Royal Children’s Hospital. Some students went hungry or without something they greatly value to raise much needed funds for the World Vision 40 Hour Famine and for young people who’ve been forced to flee their homes. A number shaved or colored their hair on the last day of Term 1 to raise awareness of and funds for the Leukemia Foundation, and others assisted through the Refugee Tutoring Program.

Students have yelled and cheered in Sport and House competitions and although the sports seasons were impacted by lockdowns students still had the opportunity to participate with their peers in a range of different sports. They have developed the confidence to perform in front of their peers and community, knowing that their peers will respect and appreciate the effort and talent. They have

acted as leaders and expressed their views freely, outlining how the School can be an even better place. Many danced and sang and laughed and dressed up at school events and debaters continued to debate in the online environment. Others planned, developed and filmed school activities and events through their involvement in the Media team. Art students designed, created and then exhibited their art in the new Fine Arts Building for Senior students.

This took place at the Graduate Exhibition in November.

Many Senior School events or activities were rescheduled multiple times, or sadly cancelled, due to lockdowns. Pleasingly we were able to hold some significant year level and school events. The Fine Arts Building was opened by the Governor of Victoria, the Honorable Linda Dessau AC, on Friday 21 May. For Year 10 students, Work Experience and the Illuminate NextGen Challenge took place as did the Social. For Year 11s, the Social went ahead as planned and was a wonderful celebratory occasion in between lockdowns. The 2021 Year 11 Presentation Ball will take place in early 2022 after being rescheduled multiple times. The 2020 Year 11 Presentation Ball took place on 6 March at the Ivanhoe Centre after it was rescheduled due to the pandemic.

The Year 12 Formal and Valedictory Dinner were celebrated on the one evening at the Year 12 End of Year Function in the Savoy Ballroom at the Grand Hyatt in December, this was a significant and

emotional occasion. And, we finally celebrated with the Year 12 2020 cohort at the 2020 YOG Cocktail Function at Marvel Stadium in December. This was another occasion to celebrate.

The academic pursuits of students have been pleasing this year given the additional hurdles that were presented. Year 10 students took greater ownership over their studies at the end of 2020 when they chose their subjects for this year.

Many chose to begin their VCE by studying a Unit 1 & 2 subject. Year 11s commenced their VCE in earnest, with most studying five Unit 1 & 2 subjects as well as a Unit 3 & 4 subject. For most, they also completed their first GAT after it was rescheduled five times due to lockdowns.

Many also completed their first Unit 3 & 4 examinations. Year 12 students completed their final year of secondary education.

A large portion of their VCE was undertaken during the pandemic. Year 10 and 11 students have learned many skills this year that will make their transition to Years 11 and 12 easier.

Year 12 students should feel confident that they have the necessary tools to help them succeed in whatever they pursue in the future and are commended for their flexibility and willingness to take up opportunities to enhance their learning through the Old Grammarian Mentor and After Hours Study programs.

Reverend Joy told the Year 12 students at the VCE Conversations that Count seminar

early in Term 1, ‘the pages of history are full of stories of people who worked together and sought help and guidance and wisdom and made things work, despite hardships.’

These are quite prophetic words given the challenges presented to Senior School students, families and school staff throughout the year. This year is now part of everyone’s history. I hope everyone can look back and say that you made a good history for yourself and that you are proud of what you did and achieved.

I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all Senior School students for your strength, flexibility, positivity, and willingness to be your best throughout the year.

I would also like to thank all Senior School teachers, tutors, year level coordinators, and administration staff for their absolute dedication to maximising the learning and positive experiences for students this year.

Mr Damian Ellul Head of Senior School

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SENIOR SCHOOL

Matilda the Musical

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www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 37

SENIOR SCHOOL

Jack Xu

Nick Scholes Jack Xu

Year 12 Art It was wonderful to see the high standard of work produced by the Year 12 Studio Art class this year.

A majority of the artworks were completed during our remote learning and although receiving advice through Microsoft teams was at times difficult, the students were still able to apply their knowledge and maintain focus and dedication to succeed.

A variety of medium were explored from miniature models, digital painting, pencil drawing, oil and acrylic painting.

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Nick Scholes

Ella Mutton

Samantha Gilbert

Jaya Palmer

Emily Shi

April Li

April Li Emily Shi

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 39

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Hearing Unit – together we are stronger “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Helen Keller Over the past year we have shown that by staying strong and staying connected we can achieve great things together.

This year we welcomed three new students into the Hearing Unit: Maya Thomson in Year 6, Harry Malone in Prep and Harry Muir in the 4 year old Early Learning Centre group. They have all settled in beautifully and have embraced the onsite and online learning environments.

Early on in the year we were fortunate to celebrate the Dux Assembly. We were so proud of our 2020 graduating students, Adem and Naish, not only for what they achieved learning online but also for both obtaining ATAR scores over 95. Naish is studying a double degree, Bachelor of Industrial Design and Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at Monash University, while Adem is completing a Biomedical Science Scholars Program at Monash University. An excellent outcome and a wonderful testament to the team approach from all the teaching staff in the Hearing Unit and Yarra Valley Grammar.

Senior School, teachers shared a visual display to promote discussion regarding hearing loss each day in tutorials. In the Junior School, there was a selection of fun activities to raise awareness. The Early Learning Centre received a visit from the Hearing Unit with two of our Year 8 boys, Ben and Lochie. They read the children Freddy and the Fairy and talked to the ELC 3 and 4 year olds about hearing loss. On the Thursday of that week, it was a free dress day to raise funds for the Deafness Foundation, an organisation the School has been supporting for over 10 years. All students were given a butterfly badge by the Foundation for participating in raising awareness of hearing loss. It was a fabulous week, wonderful to share across ELC – Year 12. Weeks like that have such a positive impact on the Hearing Unit students’ sense of identity and belonging within our School community.

Congratulations to a number of our students who stepped up into leadership roles this year. Emily was Community Links Captain, School Prefect and Swim Captain; Remington was Arnott House Captain; Amara was Junior School Captain (first female Hearing Unit Junior School Captain) and Matthew was Annells House Captain.

Just before the April holidays, we held our annual Easter celebration in the Hearing Unit. All the students completed a fun activity together. Easter eggs were shared and it was a lovely way to finish Term One altogether. On Good Friday of that week, many students participated in the Good Friday Appeal to raise money for the Royal Children’s Hospital. Emily Baulch, as Community Links Captain, was invited to present the cheque to Channel 7 that evening. In total, the School raised $127, 902.90, a wonderful team effort.

We held Hearing Awareness Week in the first week of March this year to coincide with World Hearing Day on 3 March. In the

In Term Two, some of the amazing experiences our students encountered were: school camps, Mother’s Day

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Breakfast, Paul Dillon Presentations, Respectful Relationships Presentations, Matilda Production, Opening of the new Fine Arts Building, Year 7/8 Project, Prep Fairytale Ball, Year 1 Superhero Day and ELC Pyjama Day. Some of the wonderful achievements to celebrate in Term Two were: Emily being elected Captain of the AGSV Swim Team and she also received a Colour for Swimming; Remington was part of the new Fine Arts Building opening; Indi, Maya and Amara all made the Cross Country Team and Amara also made it through to the third round of State Schools Netball.

The Hearing Unit 2021 Citizenship award winner was Emily Baulch of Year 12. Emily is a positive role model in the School and has achieved great success through her dedication and by embracing all that Yarra Valley Grammar has to offer. Even despite the challenges the last few years have given, Emily kept turning up to give her best.

Vale Jenny Rolleston. At the end of last year, one of our previous Heads of the Hearing Unit, Jenny Rolleston, sadly passed away. Jenny spent 24 years of her life as an incredible educator of Deaf and hard of hearing students in our Hearing Unit. Thirteen of those years were as Head of our Hearing Unit. She led and guided the students, the Hearing Unit staff and mainstream staff in the advancement of the students, in issues of deafness and in the latest teaching practices to enable the successful inclusion and integration of the students into mainstream education at Yarra Valley Grammar. After a long illness, Jenny passed away on Sunday 25 October, 2020.

We said farewell to two Year 12 students this year, Emily Baulch and Jaya Palmer.

These two students have been incredibly resilient and steadfast in their approach to school these last few years. The amazing strength of character these two students have reflected over their VCE has been admirable. Since Year 8, Jaya, who is based in Tasmania, has rented in Ringwood during the school term to access the support of the Hearing Unit and Yarra Valley Grammar. A tremendous effort given the uncertainty that lockdown has brought at various times the last few years and not knowing if she will make it home/make it back to school. Emily has been a wonderful ambassador for the School, over the years she has continually put her hand up in all aspects of her school life.

We are immensely proud of these two students and all they have achieved.

On behalf of the Hearing Unit, I would like to wish them every success for the years ahead.

I would like to recognise the continued unwavering dedication and support that the Hearing Unit staff have provided to the families and students of the Hearing Unit this year and acknowledge the challenges that we have all faced. We have overcome the difficulties as a team, as together we are stronger.

Mrs Rachel Wilson Head of the Hearing Unit

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 41

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Performing Arts at Yarra 2021 has been a momentous year for all of those involved in the Performing Arts at Yarra Valley Grammar. At various times it has been thrilling, at times triumphant, and sadly, at times heartbreaking.

The year began with optimism that the travails of 2020 were behind us, and that we could look forward with confidence to a year unblighted by COVID-19.

Music Camp kicked things off in the traditional way at Arrabri Lodge in Warburton in January, while in February, postponed rehearsals for the Senior School musical Matilda re-commenced after a 9-month hiatus.

The year’s major musical highlight was the Food, Wine and Music concert at the end of Term 1. A sold out George Wood Performing Arts Centre greeted the students, as the choirs, bands, orchestra and jazz ensembles of the secondary school showcased their talents before an appreciative audience. The buzz of performing, and the joyous feedback of an engaged audience was a welcome

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experience for the students, having been denied it for so long. Highlights included the duet between the Chen sisters, Samantha and Serena, the stunning vocal theatrics of Indy Reynoldson-Ross flicking between opera and jazz in The Girl in 14G, and over 300 performers on stage across the course of the evening.

In Term 2, attention turned to Matilda the Musical. The long awaited (as in 18-months long) production finally burst into life in early May, and the consensus was that it had been worth the wait. Featuring the quirky tunes and rapier-like wit of creator Tim Minchin, Matilda had laughs, pathos and some biting social commentary throughout the run of four performances.

Strong performances were plentiful, but the standouts were Meg Saunders’ Matilda, and Sarah McNamara’s devastating performance as the fearsome Miss Trunchbull.

During Term 2 a number of significant musical events were able to be staged. In late April, the annual Concerto Competition took place, with an impressive number of outstanding young musicians preparing

movements from various concerti. The winner, as adjudicated by our guest judge Ms Jayne Turner, was Jayden Chiu from Year 8, for a sublime performance of the Adagio movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. Also in Term 2 was the inaugural All State Jazz Championships, which was a locally based event in place of the cancelled Generations in Jazz. Our Big Band and Zoned In Jazz Ensemble travelled to St Leonards College in Brighton to perform alongside schools from all over Melbourne, and in doing so experienced the only external performance of 2021.

A significant occasion in the life of the School was the opening of the new Fine Arts Building in May, and our musicians were able to play a key role in these opening ceremonies with the Symphony Orchestra and Senior Choir on stage supporting the occasion, and performing with distinction in front of special guests including the Governor of Victoria, the Honourable Linda Dessau, AC. A most significant event for Yarra Performing Arts was the departure of our

Head of Drama Ms Jane Marshall in Term 2. Ms Marshall was a beloved figure among the drama students, and had forged a reputation for excellence on stage after a string of fabulous musical productions and plays across the course of her 7 years at our School. Ms Marshall will be missed.

In her absence I became Director of Performing Arts to oversee both Music and Drama, whilst Ms Berry took on the role of VCE Drama teacher, and Ms Mena stepped up to teach a larger load of Middle School drama.

Any reflection upon 2021 cannot fail to mention the lengthy lockdown that curtailed any performances in the second half of the year. In hindsight, we were fortunate to get both Food, Wine & Music, and Matilda the Musical in, falling as they did in between multiple snap lockdowns, and prior to the long shutdown that was required in July. It has undoubtedly been a challenge for all students, but it was certainly keenly felt by the senior Music and Drama students as they saw their remaining opportunities to perform fall by the wayside one by one as the year

progressed. The cast of our Middle School musical Tuck Everlasting are now looking forward to performing their show in February 2022, having gotten within six weeks of opening night before the pandemic brought any hope of performances this year to a stop.

In closing, I thank all students for their efforts across the course of the year, not only in the impressive events that were able to be staged, but also through their preparations for the events that had to be cancelled or postponed. Our Music and Drama Captains Sadie Mustoe and Nicholas Bell, and Sarah McNamara and Thomas McIntosh respectively, have been outstanding role models, and beacons of positivity in situations where they likely felt anything but positive. To our parent support groups Yarra Drama and Yarra Music, I thank them for their unfailing enthusiasm and support, despite at times suffering a lack of opportunity to contribute in the ways they normally would. Finally, I offer a vote of thanks to my colleagues in Music and Drama for their support and good humour throughout an at-times trying year.

Their energy and ideas have been what kept the wheels turning, even at times when it felt easier to give up. In the classroom and on the stage, our students have benefitted enormously from their passion and creativity.

We look forward to a brighter 2022!

Mr Scott Templeton Director of Performing Arts

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 43

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Art, Design and Technology FINE ARTS BUILDING This year was an exciting year for the Art, Design and Technology department with the opening of the Fine Arts Building. Staff and students were heavily involved in the planning of the new Fine Arts Building so it was with great anticipation that the building was officially opened in May. The space did not disappoint with its beautiful outlook and open spaces. It was designed to be a creative hub, a place where students can be inspired by each other and it has been wonderful to see the students use the space as intended.

TOP ARTS 2021 The Art, Design and Technology department was fortunate to have a student selected for the 2021 Top Arts exhibition. The Top Arts exhibition presents outstanding work by students who have completed Art or Studio Art studies in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). In 2021, 46 Students across Victoria were selected in the exhibition held at the National Gallery of Victoria. Sophie Yang (YOG 2020) was selected to be in the 2021 exhibition, an outstanding achievement and we are very proud of Sophie for her efforts.

Sophie’s artwork, Imagine how much more you could be, is a digital painting exploring the pressures of being ambitious.

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As part of the annual Top Arts exhibition, the Macquarie Group People’s Choice Prizes are awarded to those who feature in the exhibition and are recognised for their exceptional contribution. Sophie Yang received 3rd place in these awards, an outstanding achievement.

Sophie’s work is displayed in the new Fine Arts gallery and students often spend time admiring her work.

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE This year our Artist in Residence Alexandra Hiller worked with the Year 7 Art, Design and Technology students to create a series of coloured panels exploring colour, shape and line. The Year 7 students have been learning about the Art Elements and Principles and this was an excellent opportunity for them to demonstrate their knowledge in a practical way. The students painted their own panels exploring colour and shape. These individual panels were then joined together in class groups and connected through line and shape. The Panels are displayed in the Fine Arts Building and are a wonderful reminder of what can be achieved when students collaborate.

Mrs Ngaire Thomson Head of Art, Design and Technology

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 45

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Humanities – significance and lingering effects In 2021, the Humanities Department continued to face significant and enduring effects due to COVID-19. Students and teachers navigated this through pivoting activities, facing three lockdowns (of differing times) and making sense of our collective past and future.

Model United Nations had some success at Yarra this year. While the planned Middle School and Senior School Model United Nations Days, with record amount of students nearly got off the ground in July and then August and then September, lockdowns and restrictions sadly put an end to the activities for 2021. Alex Readman (YOG 2017) was excellent at preparing the teams of 132 Senior Students and 85 Middle School students.

Year 11s William Gu and James Sun were so inspired by Alex and the Model UN that they entered the Evatt Model UN Competition with assistance from the Humanities Department. They not only made it to semi-finals and then states, but they placed in the Top 5 and went to Nationals in November. This is an outstanding achievement for a first time team, and there is great interest to expand the Evatt program at Yarra next year. A new age of diplomacy is about to begin.

This year Yarra began preparing for the Historical Fiction Competition. While there were some entries, over time and with fewer interruptions, this is expected to increase. The Pascoe Library’s Heritage Room serves as its home base.

The annual Anzac Assembly was once again commemorated in the PAC, and as a first, the Junior School and even ELC were able to watch via a live link.

Representatives from each part of the School attended with the School Executive.

The School Captains, Reverend Joy, the

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Year 12 Drama class and Dr Merry participated in this Humanities Department initiative.

The Year 7 Humanities students investigated different aspects of the world. First, they explored geography and the importance of water. They learned about the United Nations and then explored different ancient societies.

The annual Ancient Civilisations Day again was organised by our Humanities staff, with activities ranging from Dining with the Gods to Olympic Games to the Roman marching drills.

Year 8 Humanities students consolidated their skills, continued to enjoy activities and learnt some interesting insight into pandemics. They began the year looking at Medieval Europe and then tested their skills in battle at the year level’s re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings at Kryal Castle under a wonderfully blue sky. For much of the day, they wore masks as Victoria was just coming out of a snap lockdown. When at Kryal Castle, students also participated in a mock spread of the Black Death, helping them learn about the rapid spread and element of surprise of pandemics. Researching the Black Death back at school took on a different level of interest this year. The National History Challenge’s theme ‘Significance: History Matters’ inspired the students. They overcame obstacles by using technology.

The studies of the Renaissance and Medieval Japan allowed Year 8s to delve

into deeper questions in History. The Civics and Citizenship unit allowed students to not only learn about civics but make their claims for how they would actively participate and make a better world.

The National History Challenge again ran differently due to COVID-19. This year under the direction of Mrs Meehan, the competition was opened up not only to Year 8s but also to the rest of the School. Two Year 10 entries (Brianna Holding & Jasmine Kinghorn as well as Antonia Mihaesi) joined seven projects from Year 8 to compete at States earning them a Bronze Historian Award. Projects ranging from the Australian Civil Rights Movement to the Russian Revolution to Genghis Khan were finalists. Some great projects such as those on the Titanic and Racism in Sport were honourable mentions.

Patrick Hoang was a Silver State Historian in the Year 8 category (ranking in the top three) for his essay on the Nuremberg Trials.

The Year 9s enjoyed decidedly different experiences in the Humanities electives.

Images of War went on patrol in laser tag after analysing graphics for the first trimester only. Yankees, Indians and Rebels were fortunate enough to celebrate Thanksgiving during a time with limited restrictions, so the Wampanoag and Pilgrims could partake in traditional foods and pumpkin pie. Larrikins, Losers and Leaders put Ned Kelly on trial in trimester 3. The Violent Earth students were able to make sense of the earthquake that rattled the Yarra community over the September holidays, the volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands and the hurricanes that battered the USA.

Year 10 Global Issues in Semester 1 travelled to the Melbourne Zoo and the Shrine of Remembrance with Mr Duncan to learn about the devastating impact of COVID-19 on tourism. War, Boom and Bust continued to study Australian History with the impact of Spanish Flu taking greater importance. Australia and the World and Flashpoints allowed students to make sense of our recent past to find solutions.

nature disasters but the pandemic. Unit 1 students were fortune enough to go on an excursion and note the management and recovery of Marysville, more than a decade after the devastating bushfire. Unit 3 Geography students went to Martha Cove and learnt about changing environments and encroaching human populations. Phillip Island was visited by Unit 2 Geographers on a virtual excursion.

Online learning did not stop Psychology students from carrying out practical investigations. They were able to complete taste test perception and understand differing views of reality. Students continued to revel in activities that engaged them with the material. Our Year 12 students carried out fun memory tasks in preparation to gather information for their poster assessment. Having guest lecturers come in via Teams was essential in Year 12 to prepare for examinations.

History students made the most out of the situation. 20th Century History students were fortunate enough to visit the Jewish Holocaust Centre in its temporary location.

They looked over sources, listened to the testimony of a survivor, and asked him questions over Zoom. Then they learnt more stories of resilience at the Budapest Restaurant whilst eating traditional Eastern European and Jewish cuisine. Revs students realised that timing is everything when they had five minutes to dance to Rasputin before being sent home and having ten minutes in October for their

Geography allowed students to understand the impact of not only manmade and

twice-delayed French Revolutionary leaders’ party. Marat was able to take his last bath! Tess Lawrence (YOG 2017) and Xavier Konynenburg (YOG 2020) were excellent mentors for History. Australian History students gained a deepened respect for our First Nations people and culture, from pre-invasion times through the gold rush and fight for Aboriginal land rights. One student even shared his modern gold mining licence. The History students attended online HTAV lectures to prepare for examinations.

VCE Global Politics students continued to make meaning of the changing policies of COVID-19 around the world, the end of the Trump Presidency, contentious decisions involving China and the submarine deal with France. Every day led to a new normal.

This year was certainly significant. History does indeed matter.

Mr Chris Hart Head of Humanities

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 47

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Food Studies – we teach more than cooking “Teaching food and nutrition might be viewed as the single most important educational activity of a society, if people do not learn to obtain and consume food so as to sustain themselves and their families, all other learnings are irrelevant.” Dr Joan Dye Gussow How true this is and Yarra takes their Food Studies very seriously. This was evident this year with our Grade 2 students involved in a Garden to Plate program. As part of this program, the Grade 2 students experienced practical skills in the Food Studies kitchen cooking alongside the Year 12 students preparing fried rice for lunch.

The Year 8 ESTEAM program over a trimester allowed students to enhance their skills in the technology area of investigation, generating, planning and managing, producing and evaluating the whole process. The end results being many successful Market Days. Each group designed and created irresistible products to sell at recess and lunch. A healthy profit was made from their sales and donated to a charity of their choice. The important skills that the students walked away with were teamwork, communication skills and accountability. Each group thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

The Year 9 students enjoyed being able to challenge themselves in the kitchen once a week producing recipes that are trending. Some of the tasty dishes they made included chicken parmigiana, fried rice, spaghetti bolognese and foccacias.

By Year 10 they are ready to expand on

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their knowledge and complete experiments that compare products on the market and analyse their nutrient content. Food Studies is very topical and the students create great debates when new diets or diet products are advertised on social media.

The VCE course delves deeper into the food systems in contemporary Australia and the students looked at what it takes to feed a city. During the lockdown period the Year 11s were still able to test their skills by adapting, modifying and improvising on both ingredients, cooking utensils and kitchen availability, all which is a focus

in the Unit 2 course. They researched and sourced a fruit which was in season and went through the processes of preserving the fruit in either a preserve, chutney or paste. Correct packaging and labelling of the product was completed so the preserve was ready for sale.

Great discussions emerged in Year 11 and 12 as we unlocked the issues that cause food insecurity globally. By the end of the year, the Year 12 students will be informed food consumers where they can spot a fad diet, analyse weight loss claims and can put the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating into practice.

Ms Elizabeth Redman Head of Food Studies

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 49

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

English – a stubborn sequel but a rewarding year At the beginning of the year, 2021 was heralded as a return to normal. We hoped that the screens we had grown accustomed to in 2020 would be remembered as yesterday’s story. We soon learned that 2021 would be a stubborn sequel to the trials and challenges of 2020.

It is a credit to our English teachers and students across Years 7-12 that the transition back to online was so seamless.

Despite the unpredictability of the academic year, our students were still able to produce exceptional work and that is to be commended.

This year, one of our chief aims as a department was to increase student engagement in reading, particularly in the middle years. I would particularly like to acknowledge the work of the Pascoe Research Centre staff who worked collaboratively with our teachers and students to develop a reading program across Years 7-9. This reading program

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had the primary aim of enhancing reading for pleasure. No assessments, no book reports, just reading for the sheer enjoyment of it.

To complement this work, we launched Book Chat, an opportunity for students to meet at recess to discuss what they are reading. I thank Ms Claire Wight and Ms Leigh Higgins for their work in this space.

We look forward to building on this work and have some exciting initiatives ready to launch in 2022.

We also encouraged students to get their writing out in the community more. The English Department launched a lunchtime writing club to encourage students to enter external writing competitions from organisations such as VATE, the Whitlam Institute, Write4fun and many more. A number of our students proceeded to the second round of voting which was very pleasing to see.

Despite restrictions, we welcomed back performance poet Joel McKerrow to inspire our Year 8 students and we were lucky enough to host Eagle’s Nest Theatre

Company who provided a lively and engaging performance of Macbeth to our Year 10 students. Our Year 9 students also enjoyed a purpose-made digital performance of Romeo & Juliet.

Alas, 2021 also presented some roadblocks.

Unfortunately, our annual Book Week events were postponed but we have exciting plans coming for next year, so watch this space!

2021 also saw the English Department farewell Russell Manning, who retired after having taught English and Literature at Yarra Valley Grammar since 1996. Russell has been much loved and respected by staff and students over his many years of service, and we wish him all the best for the future.

We look to 2022 with optimism, hope and excitement. There is no doubt that many elements of 2021 served up its share of unpredictable challenges, but it is to our staff and students’ credit that we have continued to persevere.

Mr Dale Hughes Head of English

Mathematics – exciting programs and prospects Students enjoyed great success in Mathematics this year, with many programs and activities providing students with an opportunity to further their understanding of mathematics and its usefulness in everyday life.

Term One saw the fourth year of the successful Maths Week. Students were given the opportunity to try different Mathematical activities, including Letters and Numbers, daily quizzes and challenges, the Rubik’s Cube competition and the always popular Pi-off. This year’s winner, Lachlan Hampton-Yep of Year 8, managed to recite pi to close to 200 digits! The highlight of the week was the school-wide Rock Paper Scissors competition, with every student competing from the ELC right up to Year 12. The winner was Lucas Fu in Grade 5, with the ELC representative Poorav Singh making it all the way to the semi-final.

Our Middle School students enjoyed attending Problem Solving Club each week, with former School Captain Ben Kyval leading them through challenging and interesting competition problems. Many students participated in the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition in Term One, with Daniel Lin in Year 8 achieving a perfect score. All Year 7 and 8 students were exposed to the Australian Mathematics Competition in Term Three, the largest school-based competition in the country.

2021 has thrown up many challenges and changes, but students can be confident that their Mathematics has developed in an engaging and rewarding way.

Mr Scott Kertes Head of Mathematics

Our Senior School students enjoyed the extra support on offer with Period Zero Maths Help sessions and the Old Grammarian Mentor program, as well as our themed based SACs at Year 12.

Among Us and The Hobbit provided an interesting story backdrop to the challenging mathematics faced.

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 51

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Debating – outstanding team performance Despite the troublesome year that was 2020, Debating for Yarra in 2021 opened with great enthusiasm, and with unprecedented participation from all year levels. Following the initial expression of interest meeting, we ended up with a truly remarkable total of 61 debaters from Years 9 –12.

Our Year 7 and 8s were also eager to begin the Debating season, with Middle School Debating Captains, Grace Goldsmith and Elizabeth Gorander, supporting what we are sure would have been an important and enjoyable season.

Our keen debaters were able to start the season, but due to consistent restrictions, were unable to continue it. We look forward to 2022 with (hopefully) a more ideal climate in which our younger debaters can truly progress their skills.

INTERSCHOOL DEBATING COMPETITION

• A Grade: Lauren Dickins, Blake Matheson (77)

Yarra’s interschool representation was at an all-time high, with 12 teams across Years 9 – 12 including five teams in Year 9 alone. Across the board, we put in fantastic performances throughout the year, in no small part due to the enthusiasm for Debating clearly evident at all year levels.

Of particular note was Round 2, where an incredible 11 teams out of 12 took home a victory.

• B Grade: James Sun (77)

In spite of our ongoing efforts, the mounting chicanery of 2021 posed difficulties for the DAV competition, and COVID-19 safety rules necessitated the cancellation of Round 4. Fortunately, such challenging circumstances did not pose significant issues for the Yarra teams and we produced one of the most successful seasons in a number of years. In A Grade, YVG 1 topped the ladder, with YVG 2 only two points behind. Unbelievably, our three B Grade teams tied for first place on the ladder, which meant all teams advanced to state finals. Moreover, YVG 2 placed first on the ladder in D Grade. Finally, in C Grade, both teams finished two points shy of first place. Well done to all teams across all levels of the competition!

Congratulations should go to these speakers, who earned the highest scores for their year level in the Ringwood region:

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• C Grade: Armin Ahmadian, Melody Zhang, Davey Webber (77) • D Grade: Grace Goldsmith, Michael Meng, Catherine Zhook, Noah Cameron, Adrian Leong (77) Our highest praise goes to those in each year level who won the Swannie Award.

Named after Alan Swanwick, a long-time member of the DAV and a pioneer of Debating in Victoria, the Swannie is awarded to one speaker in each region and grade who had the highest average score during the year. The Yarra winners were as follows: • B Grade: James Sun • C Grade: Davey Webber • D Grade: Adrian Leong Finally, to acknowledge their tremendous contribution to Debating over their time at Yarra, the following Year 12 students were awarded Debating Colours and Honours Colours at the conclusion of 2021: • Debating Honours Colours: Patrick Atherton and Lauren Dickins • Debating Colours: Abby Keenan and Blake Matheson

INTERSCHOOL DEBATING FINALS

PUBLIC SPEAKING

THANK YOU

This year was particularly special due to our outstanding representation in the state finals, a product of the consistently excellent work of our Debating teams.

After an interrupted and abnormal season, it was exciting to be offered the opportunity to test our skills against formidable opponents from across Victoria. Due to the unprecedented success of the 2021 season, one A Grade, three B Grade and one D Grade team all proceeded to the DAV state finals. Of these five teams, three reached the Octo-finals, and one of our B Grade teams made it all the way to the Quarter finals. What an exceptional outcome!

Despite many interruptions throughout the year, students from across all year levels continued to succeed in the many Public Speaking competitions and opportunities on offer. Led by our Public Speaking Coach, Mr Schillaci, the year started with the Rostrum Voice of Youth competition.

Noah Cameron, Smera Patel and Ishan Goel proceeded to the semi-finals.

It is important to acknowledge the vital support of everyone involved that led to our tremendous success this year. Our coaches, Ms Wight, Ms Frame, Mr Duncan and Ms Genever for A, B, C, and D Grade respectively, were indispensable for the preparation and coordination of our debates throughout the year. We also appreciate the ongoing support of our Yarra Old Grammarian Mentors, Xavier Konynenburg and Ben Kyval, who provided precious insights and encouraged us from the beginning of the year through to the state finals campaign. Additionally, thank you to Ms Lake, who facilitated the opportunities on offer for our Year 7 and 8 debaters. Thank you to Mr Schillaci, our Public Speaking coach, who provided the guidance and expertise for our students to truly thrive this year.

We commend the entire Debating cohort for their investment throughout the season that led to the incredible success seen this year. We look forward to observing our debaters build upon their exemplary effort exhibited this year and reap the rewards of their consistent improvement.

Our students also eagerly participated in the various DAV Public Speaking competitions this year, which offered a challenging opportunity to test and improve their skills. We would like to congratulate everyone who participated, as well as Gideon Tse who progressed to the finals of the online competition. Our students also had the privilege of competing in the VCAA Plain English Speaking Competition this year. After considerable preparation, James Sun and Ishan Goel presented both prepared and unprepared speeches in front of a live audience. Their dedicated preparation and outstanding performance during the state heats were an exceptional example of the strength of our Yarra students within the Public Speaking domain.

Above all, we would like to thank our Debating Coordinator, Ms Wight, without whom Debating would definitely not be possible. Her wisdom, support and countless hours devoted to all year levels have been invaluable.

It has been a privilege and pleasure overseeing Debating this year as your Debating Captains.

Patrick Atherton & Abby Keenan Debating Captains

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 53

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Languages Online After enjoying coming together in the classroom at the beginning of the year, once again we found ourselves meeting the challenges of communicating and learning online. After our experience last year, this time around we were experts and accustomed to role plays on Teams, quizzes on Canvas, conversation practice in Channels and assessments on Education Perfect.

It was a credit to our students for their fortitude and diligence in continuing to apply themselves to their studies and develop their language skills.

In 2021 some of our usual festive activities were curtailed, however, our students still managed to participate in Language competitions whether it be on Zoom or Teams to show their prowess and were rewarded with some amazing results. Congratulations to:

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE POETRY COMPETITION STATE FINALISTS Year 7: A imaan Arora, Dhruva Bezawada, Lijia Geng, Vivaan Srikanth, Isabella Zhao Year 8: Z aina Ahmed, Sachi Chivers, Othman Gharib, Lachlan HamptonYep, Josh Hardy, Kit Howard-West, Aditya Rao, Jason Zhou, Jamie Zhu

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE VCE COMPETITION STATE FINALISTS Year 11: Bailey Read (oral) Year 12: Thomas McIntosh (oral), Anya Cheng, Coby Deng, Emily Shi (written) Special congratulations to: Thomas McIntosh – 3rd prize in Victoria for the written exam

HUAWENBEI CHINESE SHORT VIDEO COMPETITION August Zhu in Year 11, Bella Zhu in Year 11 and Kiarash Markaziomidvar in Year 10 participated in the inaugural Chinese Short Video Competition with the theme of My Favorite Chinese Culture Element. The competition is organised

by The Australian Chinese Schools Association and its contestants are from all over Australia. Through stiff competition, all our three students received their awards for excellent performance.

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2021 VICTORIA HIGH SCHOOL CHINESE DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIP In April 2021, Jason Zhang and Irving Zhang represented Yarra in this competition organised by UELITE EDUCATION and won first place.

This is a debate encouraging International students to employ Chinese to inspire and persuade people with ideas.

Congratulations to Jason and Irving for their great achievement.

FAREWELL PAK SMITH After 40 years in the classroom, Pak Smith is looking to new adventures in retirement.

We thank him for his passion and tremendous commitment to the teaching of Indonesian and wish him all the best for his future plans.

Ms Anne Douglas Head of Languages

John Pascoe Library – our place I love to borr ow books from the libra ry. It is also a great place fo r me to play card games with my friends at re cess and lunchtime.

Lambert Zhu

Year 9

n ry has a The libra ooks b f range o e iv s n exte love to w, and I o rr o b to ff are . The sta s browse l, thank ly helpfu er ff o n extreme o sources to the re into new ntured e v e v a h I an’t put Now I c genres. n! ks dow my boo s Year 7 e Fould Charlott

I enjoyed using the library to read my book, and to do school work pe acefully.

Ashleigh Bilucaglia Year 8 The library is a place for me to ex plore my unknown ar eas of knowledge, develop my academics, and is a plac e with the feel ings of peac e and quiet.

Boyan Liu Ye

ar 12

I have foun d that the lib rary has given me a great space to be free to stud y and read whenever I need. It’s al ways quiet and ac commodatin g to everyone ’s needs.

Keeley Mar x Year 11

There’s a lot going on and somehow it seems so relaxing from my spot in the library. Look around and there’s robots being made, a cry of ‘check mate’, a reader snug in a chair, some mates talking politics, lego designers, an intense homework session, a browse of the shelves, a friendly debate, some high tech gadgets being returned, hands up high in a reading class, and a book chat at the circulation desk. I love this place.

library is a The Pascoe the ace which beautiful sp g in m co h lis students re d an warm into. It is a e, ysical spac h p g in welcom f af st g n ili , sm with caring a r re. If eve working the es in class is ar question r, le to answe we are unab of ll ca e th s ay there is alw the library ‘shall I go to they know and ask?’, as to d someone they will fin ht g ri e th in point them f he feeling o direction. T ts u p d calm comfort an at d teachers an ts n e stud ns. io st e qu k ease to as space in My favourite the school!

Genever Mrs Elaine her English teac

The Pascoe library has been the place where I have binge borrowed books to keep me sane throughout the lockdowns!

Ella Taylor Year 10

Lochie Baulch Year

I love ho w I can u se the library to have a q uiet space; s tudy, res earch fo projects r or grab a good read!

Sachi C hivers Ye ar 8

The library is an excellent place to calmly read a book, and there is an amazing selection of books to choose from.

I love to curl up in the fantasy section of the library with a good book.

Gracie Golinski Year 7

The library for me is a place where I can enter the world of book s and reading. It allows me to explore, discover and imagine. This is my second year of us ing the library and it really is a great part of my sc hool.

Olivia Mosley Year

The library is my mo st favourite place in the school because I lov e to read, play chess, and talk to my friends while sitt ing on the chairs.

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s the rary wa The lib e of g n a t ch the perfec or me; ment f me d e w environ s allo m o o r r y stud e mo e my tim r. to use an eve tively th produc Year 12 akolyris K y m Jere I have lo ved usin g the library th is year b ecause it meant that duri ng lockdow n I have always had a go od online book to sink into and forg et about everythin g else.

Kayley P eake Yea r8 Library onderful To our w u for thank yo staff, we er the v o s to disc helping u g, and in d a of re adventure ontiers ng new fr in explori e dg . of knowle gins, u Mrs Hig Thank yo Innes, han, Ms Mrs Mee lerici, rie, Mrs C Mrs Loch is &M s Ms Bird dge.

Muggeri

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 55

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

“Science is simply the word we use to describe a method of organising our curiosity.”

– Tim Minchin

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Science in Context Learning requires motivation and motivation requires rationale.

Context provides the rationale for learning by linking the physical world to scientific ideas.

In a school year that was once again ravaged by lockdowns and prolonged periods of online learning, our departmental focus was to find ways that we could deliver lessons that could spark motivation and interest in our students. Developing a curriculum that provides a familiar context as the basis of learning was implemented.

During the year it was found that using this idea of providing a relevant context improved: • student attitudes • clarifying the concepts • making abstract ideas more concrete • sparking curiosity • personalising the science

Some of the examples of this approach across our year levels were: - looking at the ecosystems present in our backyards - understanding the types of energy involved with everyday activities - recognising chemical reactions in our daily lives - promoting the importance of sustainability for future generations A few years ago, we developed a motto in the Science department of “experience and opportunity”, it was certainly another year that challenged our delivery of this.

Many of our normal extra-curricular activities were cancelled again this year to the disappointment of many, but some events such as the Science Talent Search and the REACH assessments went on uninterrupted. It was extremely pleasing to see a record number of students sit both the Junior and Senior Science Olympiads and we wait with optimism on the results of these competitions. Some of these students were also selected to compete in the International Chemistry Quiz.

There have been some individuals with standout performances this year that are worthy of mention in this article. The Australian Brain Bee Challenge (ABBC) is a competition for high school students in Year 10 to learn about the brain and its functions, learn about neuroscience

research, find out about careers in neuroscience and to dispel misconceptions about neurological and mental illnesses.

This year we achieved fantastic results with Calvin Zhu coming first in the individual competition and our team of Calvin Zhu, Emma Xu, Armin Ahmadian and Prabhneer Singh Marwaha scoring first place in the Teams section. One of our Year 11 students, Ishan Goel, was selected to attend the prestigious International Science School hosted by the University of Sydney.

Normally this event is an in-person activity but due to current circumstances this was held online. Another notable mention goes to two of our Year 8 students that were selected as finalists in the ClickView Invention competition. We congratulate Gideon Tse and Dinel Bomiriya for their efforts in developing a concept for a watch that can help people with diabetes.

The Science department would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the students for their resilience and perseverance during the ups and downs of the year. We would also like to thank the external providers that have allowed us to continue to create engaging and challenging experiences both online and at school. We look forward to a very different year in 2022, one where face to face contact is the normal and the practical side of science once again takes a primary role.

Mr Todd Briscoe Head of Science

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 57

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

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Digital Technologies As we have seen and experienced the impact of COVID-19 all too well, we have also been reminded that truth, facts and trust are essential elements of a healthy civic society. The importance of reliable information is underpinned by robust and independent journalism and strong and sustainable news businesses which form part of a healthy information ecosystem. The confidence we have in what we view, read and listen to is integral to our trust in our institutions. Students studying Digital Technologies subjects explored the importance of gathering and presenting reliable and authentic data and discussed the challenges society faces in the age of misinformation, algorithms and filter bubbles.

Our Middle School Media co-curricular students broadcasted live to Year 7, 8 and 9 students during morning tutorials on several occasions throughout the year.

They worked as part of the film crew or in front of the camera, investigating and sharing stories about the Yarra Valley Grammar community and events. They also recorded special features to cover school events such as the House Swimming Carnival and 7/8 Project. These students developed valuable skills in organisation, collaboration, AV equipment, file management, presentation and public speaking all within a live context.

In Term 3, students took on the opportunity to attend the virtual Go Girls, Cyber Edition web conference which was open to all girls in Middle and Senior School. This event provided students with valuable insights into career pathways and addressed many

misconceptions about females in STEM industries. Students were enlightened by the event, with a clear understanding of the importance of creativity and innovation through STEM in the face of current and future global challenges.

The VCE Media students had the opportunity to speak with Ahron Young, a journalist, broadcaster and entrepreneur.

He is currently CEO of Ticker News, a new Australian news service based in Melbourne which is seeing significant expansion. Ahron shared his story of building the company and associated challenges, and the importance of strong independent journalism. He discussed the changing global media landscape and consumption habits that have driven the need for on-demand news services.

Our Year 12 Media students were faced with logistical challenges due to gathering

and travel restrictions during their production period. As media production is often a collaborative process, students employed creative solutions to see their products through. They changed their locations, harnessed support from family members in crew roles, and adjusted narratives with great success. This culminated in a celebratory film showcase presented to students and their cast and crew in Term 4.

Our Graduate Exhibition was again held virtually in 2021 through a live video stream and exhibition website.

Congratulations to Toby Little for winning the Endeavour Award for Media. Families and friends were able to celebrate the significant efforts of our Media students by engaging with a range of products including short films, music videos, animations and photography.

Mr Mark Schumann Head of Digital Technologies

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 59

FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Health, Outdoor and Physical Education What a unique year it has been in our Health, Outdoor and Physical Education department. We have sought to improve not just the physical fitness and health of our students, but also to entrench habits that are compatible and sustainable within their ever-changing lives. This proved increasingly important due to the significant portion of this year being online delivery and the limitations imposed on the ability of our students to get out and be active.

This year our teaching team and students once again demonstrated an exceptional ability to pivot from the engaging plans onsite to the new world of teaching and learning from home. Consequently, all year levels became conscious of the challenge to be active and took steps to take control of their activity levels. Students were lucky enough to engage in a wide variety of practical units taught from afar, including unique Gymnastics and SEPEP units.

Specific Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics related lessons also enabled students to stay active whilst being inspired by athletes all around the world, including Yarra’s very own Old Grammarian Olympians.

In our middle years, Health and Physical Education provided a great opportunity for

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students to see the link between the two areas of study, by exploring the practical and theoretical components in several intertwined units this year. This enabled students to experience concepts explored in the classroom in a practical sense and practical activities such as fitness training and modified sports, to be investigated more deeply in the classroom. Our Year 7 swimming program had many students excited to use the indoor pool to develop their swimming capacity and explore water safety, with others given the opportunity to develop their racing strokes from a more technical perspective. Whilst in Year 8, our Queen Victoria Market excursion returned, enabling students to explore its offerings and design their own healthy meals at home.

In Body, Mind and Spirit in Year 9 and Active and Able in Year 10, students became aware of the importance of healthy physical activity levels and planted the seeds of forming lifelong habits. Students were lucky enough to engage in a wide variety of incursions in between the lockdowns of the year, from hip-hop dancing and choreography to gymnastics and yoga.

Our elective and Senior School subjects of Physical Education Studies, Health and Human Development, Fitness Leader, and Outdoor and Environmental Studies each provided unique experiences that enabled the development of theoretic content through hands-on activities. Many of our Year 10 and VCE students had their

learning fostered through many of these practical and engaging activities that ranged from VO2 max testing and biomechanics incursions in Physical Education to teaching Junior School students and exploring the beaches, farms and mountains of Victoria in other subjects.

As another busy year draws to a close, I thank all students for their positive and energetic contribution to both our face-to-face and online programs this year. We look forward to building on your experiences in 2022 and wish you all the very best in your lifelong health and physical activity journeys.

Mr Brendan Hodges Head of Health, Outdoor and Physical Education www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 61

SPORT

Funsports Carnival

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“The Junior Primary students practiced varied athletics skills over 5 weeks in PE lessons leading up to our annual Athletics Fun Day on Monday 29 March. A talented group of Year 6 leaders organised the enthusiastic student groups rotating through six athletics events on our blue court space. Lots of running, jumping and throwing activity was enjoyed by all, with students demonstrating their improved skills and knowledge in each event to their peers and teachers.”

Mr Cam Dunbar Physical Education Teacher

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 63

SPORT

Athletics Carnival All students in Years 3-6 participated in our 55th annual House Athletics Carnival this year.

Much fun was had by all competing in a range of novelty, track and field events. The program was busy and there was a wonderful sense of community and House spirit generated throughout the day.

Congratulations to Hughes who were the overall winners of the event.

Ms Jeanette Walsh SSV and Sports Coordinator

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www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 65

SPORT

AGSV Swimming The 2021 swimming season was set to be monumental after an interrupted year in 2020. For five of our Senior School swimmers in Year 12 it was there last opportunity to represent YVG, while also being a chance for the entire squad to compete in the AGSV’s Centenary (plus one year) event.

Following a promising second week of training, all sport was cancelled with the snap lockdown which meant the PEGS Friday minor competition wasn’t able to go ahead. This meant that most of us had to become fish out of water in order to complete a dryland component while away from the pool. Nevertheless, our fighting team spirit was not lost, with the resumption of school sport and school training aiding in our continuation of personal bests at the meets following.

Over the course of the night the swimming team had their best season in over 12 years, with major highlights including; 30 new personal bests, 1 AGSV record broken by Lachie Chan (Under 15 Male 50 meter Breaststroke), six 1st places, five 2nd places, twelve 3rd places and seventeen 4th places.

With the return to school squad training after 365 days without, for most of us, it was a complete shock to the system. The early mornings and quick changes certainly didn’t help, and was only compounded with the absence of Mrs Moore’s famous post-training toast and orange juice in the morning. However, over the course of the season training attendance quickly returned to its previous high standards, with more students training every week.

Throughout the course of the season the squad was able to see what the other AGSV teams had to offer, giving a good indication of what the season will bring.

Encouraged by coaches Sean and James to swim almost every event at meets, we were able to lift our game and compete at the high standards set.

• Chantelle Lanigan

Having now prepared, trained and competed as much as we could ahead of the AGSV finals night, we were all anxious to arrive at MSAC and begin our historic warm-up routine. This included appearances from the stretch captain Ethan Gooi leading the group through some unusual dynamic stretches before Emily Baulch and Harvey Lanigan ran through the standard pre-race routine. And, it wouldn’t be an AGSV swimming finals night without the ‘partner water bottle reaction test’, which made a significant re-debut after 2020!

At the end of the night, final team placings had the YVG Boys finishing in 5th position and the YVG Girls in 4th.

This year saw the swimming squad consist of 59 athletes, ranging across multiple year levels. With such depth this year, we were set to be a strong team for the Combined AGSV Swimming Championship competition against the other 8 AGSV schools.

Over the course of this season, the swimming calendar comprised 6 minor competitions, including our annual first meet at home and the culmination of the season, finals night at MSAC.

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The following students achieved personal bests on finals night: • Amelie Holah • Harry Heath • Harvey Lanigan • Indiana Clarkson • Jayden Chiu • Lachlan Chan • Olivia Mitchell

The swimming team would like to thank our coaches: Sean, James, Mia and Jake for all their continued encouragement.

A big thank you also to Mr Treadwell for his continued support, hard work and countless hours organising the Yarra Swimming Team and trying to marshal us onto the buses.

Harvey Lanigan and Emily Baulch Swimming Captains

www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2021 | 67

School Psalm PSALM 121 I look to the mountains; where will my help come from?

My help will come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let you fall; your protector is always awake.

The protector of Israel never dozes or sleeps.

The Lord will guard you; he is by your side to protect you.

The sun will not hurt you during the day, nor the moon during the night.

The Lord will protect you from all danger; he will keep you safe.

He will protect you as you come and go now and forever.

School Prayer O Lord of light and love, by the work of whose Spirit this School was founded, preserve it from all harm; prosper all its undertakings to advance Your Kingdom, guide its Board, inspire and rule the minds of those who teach and those who learn within it, and grant that it may ever send forth men and women steadfast and able to serve their day and generation with faithfulness and devotion; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

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2022 CALENDAR

TERM 1 (10 Weeks) Monday 31 January

Commence Term 1

Monday 14 March

Labour Day holiday

Saturday 26 March

Food Wine and Music Concert

Friday 8 April

End Term 1

TERM 2 (10 Weeks) Tuesday 26 April

Commence Term 2

Monday 13 June

Queen’s Birthday holiday

Friday 24 June

End Term 2

TERM 3 (9 Weeks) Monday 11 July

Commence Term 3

Saturday 30 July

Jazz in the Café

Thursday 4 August

Strings Showcase

Thursday 18 August

Bands Showcase

Thursday 25 August

Choral Concert

Friday 9 September

End Term 3

TERM 4 (10 Weeks) Monday 3 October

Commence Term 4

Friday 14 October

Last day for Year 12 students

Monday 31 October

Mid-term break

Tuesday 1 November

Melbourne Cup Day holiday

Wednesday 7 December

Last day for Senior School students

Thursday 8 December

Last day for Middle School students

Friday 9 December

Last day Junior School students