Editor Marg Kimber +61 03 9262 7700 margaret.kimber@yvg.vic.edu.au Design Tandem Design +61 03 9576 0896 www.tandemdesign.com.au Front Cover Steven Song (Year 11, 2015)
Thank you to students, staff and parents for their contribution to and assistance with the creation of Levavi 2015.
LEVAVI
2015
Contents Yarra Community
2 – 35
Early Learning Centre
36 – 45
Junior School
46 – 89
Middle School
90 – 123
Senior School
124 – 161
Yarra Sports
162 – 210
Staff list
211
We Lift Up Our Eyes
212
School Prayer
212
2016 Calendar
213
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Yarra Sports Community
Yarra Community Contents From the Principal
4
From the Chairman
6
The way we were: 1975
7
Grand opening of the Science and Mathematics building
8
Student Leaders 2015
10
Class of 2014 Dux Assembly
11
School Captains’ reflection
12
From the Chaplain
14
From the Chapel Wardens
15
Community Links
16
Hearing Unit
18
Music@YVG 20 Drama 22 Student Wellbeing
24
IT and Digital Learning
25
Mathematics@YVG 26 ICT 27 Humanities 28 Science 30 Languages 31 Outdoor Education
32
Certificate IV in Design
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From the Principal As we farewell our Year 12 Class of 2015 the predictability of school life is about to close. It’s a time of mixed emotions as the new world beckons. Our newest alumni are understandably excited. Interestingly though, the jubilation is tinged with I suspect, a hint of sadness. Students and parents have spoken to me of experiencing something akin to loss as they face this time of change. So what’s going on here? I tend to think that what will be missed is less about schoolwork, study and the routines of school and more about relationships which we all share. The familiar faces we see each day might not be so familiar 12 months from now. I look back upon my own Year 12 fondly. That being said; I frankly cannot remember a single fact I was taught. What I do remember is how I was taught, who taught me and why these things were important at the time and why they are important now. Skills rather than knowledge have stayed with me…importantly the memories of the people have stayed too. There is a quotation over the doorway of the Language corridor which students and colleagues have walked beneath hundreds of times and perhaps haven’t paid much
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attention to. It’s one of those pearls of wisdom by Aristotle and it reads: “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” What he was saying and what I believe is, that how we relate to each other is just as important as what we are taught. I am proud of the teaching prowess of my colleagues but I am equally appreciative of the way they care for our students. Where possible amidst all the busy activity of teaching subjects; SACs, equations, essays, assignments and homework – a school should be a place which seeks to be a community. The word is derived from the Latin: communitas meaning common. So a community of people is a group who share things in common: shared experiences and a shared belief and celebration of what’s important. Now we get it wrong from time to time but we believe that this idea of community is who we are as a School. We ought not to take the idea of community for granted. The experience of community like courtesy on the roads or permanence in politics is fast disappearing. Once we all knew our neighbours… I’ve lived in the same home for 17 years but have got no idea about anyone else in the street apart from a Yarra family who live next door. Neighbourhoods, parishes, clubs have all become less of a priority as we become more and more stretched for time. Even that most important of communities our families have become stretched and barely
able to spend ten minutes in the same room together. So we get our taste of community where we spend much of our time, perhaps work, perhaps school. We are told that technology has created the global community. I believe this to be a myth. A hoax perpetrated by those that want to sell us the latest gadget. The web has allowed us to see more but not necessarily to relate more. Relationships can’t be about how many friends we have on social media, how many likes we get for the latest selfie. Indeed the use of the term friend on social media demeans the term and misses the power of friendship. These technologies were designed to augment relationships…not replace them. Leaving school can be a little sad. Sad for students, parents and we teachers…the sense of loss is because we know we are moving on from the positive day to day person to person contact that we all seek…we in effect, are about to disconnect. Three great films have touched on the concept of disconnection. Tom Hanks in Castaway, Matt Damon in Interstellar and again in The Martian all struggle with the greatest challenge. It is
not lack of food or lack of shelter, it is the absence of others.
community near and dear and the world becomes a much sweeter place.
One of my colleagues introduced me to a book recently by psychologist Susan Pinker called: The Village Effect. Pinker writes how face-to-face contact is critical for learning, happiness, resilience and longevity. From birth to death, human beings are hardwired to connect to other human beings. We need face-to-face contact. Not just any social networks will do: we need the real, in-the-flesh encounters that tie human families, groups of friends and communities together. Our brains communicate well by reading faces…this is why online communication so often goes wrong. Most of us have left the literal village behind, and don’t want to give up our new technologies to go back there. Pinker writes that we need close social bonds and uninterrupted face-time with our friends and families in order to thrive – even to survive.
The author of Les Misérables Victor Hugo wrote: “Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced that we are loved.” What he meant by that is ensuring that someone, anyone actually cares for and cares about us. It is the community characteristic of our School which we enjoy the most and I thank our students, our families and my colleagues for contributing to that community. Dr Mark Merry Principal
The great Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius wrote: “Very little is needed to make a happy life.” Making time for the most important people in the world; our families is a good start. Genuine effort to foster strong relationships and really keeping in touch with friends is also crucial. That means closing the laptop, unplugging the phone and walking, riding or driving round to their place to really keep connected. This is why our ensembles, teams, clubs and pastoral groups are so important…they happen in the real world. Keeping the concept of real
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A time for reflection As Yarra Valley Grammar prepares to enter its fiftieth year, it is worth reflecting on just how far the School has changed and developed over that time. The vision that the founders of the School had not only for the need of such a school but to have the School develop from the bare paddocks and dirt roads to what we see today is simply quite amazing. Without doubt Yarra has one of the most beautiful grounds and outlook of any school in Melbourne and it is this wonderful environment that encourages students to get involved in the many opportunities that the School provides to enhance their education and learning. The pristine condition in which the school grounds are kept is a credit to our grounds and maintenance staff. With enrolments consistently increasing year on year, the School Board is always monitoring the need to upgrade and improve existing facilities as well as planning and developing new and exciting projects to create the very best facilities for teaching and learning. New additions to the school in the past five years have included the Early Learning Centre, the Upper Primary Building, the Brooke Nicholas Sports Pavilion, the Food Studies Centre and the magnificent Science and Mathematics Facility. A number of outdoor areas have also been developed including the Junior School playground, the Junior School courts and the Secondary School playing areas. Significant improvements
Board members 2015 Mrs Sarah Tipping Chairman Mr Richard Nicholas Vice Chairman Mr Nicholas Brooke Mrs Charmaine Dunstan Mr Andrew Hirst Mr Hamish King Reverend Denise Nicholls Ms Laurice Temple Mr Craig Watts Mr Michael Fung Dr Mark Merry CEO/Principal Ms Jane Macneil Company Secretary
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have also been made to existing buildings including the redevelopment of Foundation Hall which has given the School an additional functions venue. The Board, together with the School’s Executive team is currently planning a number of building projects to cater for the increasing demand in enrolments and to improve current facilities. Whilst still in the planning stages, we hope to have news in the new year of a partnership with a professional swim school that would lead to an indoor aquatic centre being built on the School site that will not only benefit our students but will also be available to the wider school and local community. A major redevelopment of the John Pascoe Resource Centre would also provide greatly enhanced opportunities for research, study and resourcing in the Secondary School. There is very strong demand for enrolments at Yarra and the School has elected to include additional classes at Years 5, 7 and 10 to cope with the demand. There is ever increasing demand from areas outside of our traditional local areas and in particular from the Doncaster, Templestowe and Blackburn areas. 2014 again saw strong VCE results for our students and whilst Yarra continues to strive for academic excellence we are also committed to providing students with a broad based educational experience that will prepare them well for their life after school. As a part of this development, all students are involved in some form of out-reach program and with many achieving outstanding results in both fundraising and assisting others less fortunate than themselves.
The class of 2015 have completed their time at YVG and we thank them for all they have contributed in their time at the School and wish them the very best for their future life. We encourage every Yarra students to stay connected to the School and we look forward to welcoming all back from time to time at School events. 2016 will be a year of celebration for YVG as the School celebrates its 50th anniversary. Functions have been planned throughout the year with the aim of reconnecting with many YVG people from the past to celebrate the 50th anniversary and to show everyone how wonderful this great School has become. In particular, I invite you all to join us at the Chairman’s Ball which will be held at the Grand Hyatt on Saturday May 21st to celebrate the 50th anniversary of YVG. I would like to thank Dr Merry and his dedicated staff who have guided our School through another very successful year. I hear many stories of members of our teaching staff continuously going above and beyond their duties to assist in making sure that our students get all the help they need. Our School is very fortunate to have such dedicated and caring teachers. Members of the School Board give generously of their time and expertise and I thank them and their families for the outstanding contribution they are making to the School. As 2015 comes to an end, I hope that you reflect on the year and celebrate the milestones that were achieved and the good times that were shared. I wish you and your family joy and happiness together at this special time of the year. I thank you for your support and the contribution that you have made to YVG and to those families returning next year we look forward to welcoming you back in 2016. Mrs Sarah Tipping Chairman of the Yarra Valley Grammar Board
The way we were: 1975 School Council
Staff
In April, Mr Robin Clarke was elected as President of our School’s Council. Dr Brian Cuming and Dr Hugh Mackinnon were elected as Vice-Chairmen. Robin Clarke had previously been the initiator of, and a driving force behind, the School’s foundation in 1966. He was to remain as president of the Council until 1981. His photograph shows him in the garden of his North Croydon home, Jillingolo where much of the planning for the new School had taken place.
New teaching staff members this year were: Max Burke, John Cheetham, John Close, Marjorie Cooper, Bruce Howe, Warren James, Brian Keyte, Anne Mullett, Andrew Watson and Pat Woolmer. Bob Acford also returned to the School in 1975.
Headmaster A letter of resignation from Mr Ken Jago was read to Council in April. Mr Jago said the highlights of his time had been the expansion of the School, work on curriculum development and the building up of a staff with commitment. A major task for 1975 was to prepare a curriculum which would be applicable throughout the whole School. In November, Mr Jago announced that he would now not be taking up the position at Sturt University as he had been offered the position of Chairman of the new State Planning and Finance Committee (which concerned Independent Schools).
Responsibility for academic and pastoral care of students was taken by the following Groupmasters; Form 6: Bruce Brown, Form 5: Jim Sansom, Form 4: Peter Sansom, Form 3: Warwick Davidson, Form 2: Bob Acford. In Junior School, Mr John Lawley took the role of Form 1 Groupmaster, Mr Peter Carr became Maths Coordinator and Mr Jim Davis became a full time P.E. teacher.
Student Leaders and Awards School Captain: David Hayes Vice-Captain: Bruce Twentyman Prefects: David Agnew, Philip Cranswick, Peter Gillson, Andrew Mills, David Poulton, Anthony Reynolds, Peter Tonkin, Derek Watkins, Alan Wroblewski. Margaret Denniston Clarke Award: Derek Watkins Award for Academic Achievement: Henry Gardner The Student Advisory Council set up a broadcasting station which operated during lunch hours.
Buildings The new Preparatory School building was completed and occupied early in the year. Each of its three buildings was a modified version of a Merchant Builders’ Home. The official opening of the Junior School Resource Centre and of the Preparatory School was held on 1 June. The Resource Centre was named after Mr A B Carter, a
local estate agent, member of the School Council and Chairman of the Building Fund, and the Preparatory School was named after Mr John Harper, a leading company director and president of the School Council 1966-71.
The Bushwalkers’ Club Under the leadership of President Mr Warwick McGregor, this club was very active. Walks ranged from Sunday strolls through Sherbrooke Forest, to a weekend walk in the Cathedral Ranges, a four day holiday trip to the Warby Ranges, a trip to Wilson’s Promontory and a walk in the Otways.
Sport A report from Mr David Chivers, supported by Mr Neville Lyngcoln, suggested that the performance of our First Eighteen was such that Yarra should either leave the AGSV or recruit some footballers. Council discussed the Headmaster’s report on compulsory sport and the report from Mr Chivers and Mr Lyngcoln. They decided that sporting scholarships were not considered to be in the long term interests of School. Further discussion was delayed until the arrival of the new headmaster. However, a letter was sent to parents notifying them that School team commitment would take priority over local team commitment in 1976.
Drama The major productions, in combination with Tintern, were Senior School’s Kismet and Death of a Salesman and Superman staged by Forms Two and Three. Superman was a fun musical written by Messrs Peter Haines and Ian Lee. At the end of Term 2 the Fourth Form presented The Odyssey of Runyon Jones under the direction of Mr Neil Bechervaise. The Loner, a film and slide presentation produced by the Form 5 Drama class, also under the direction of Mr Bechervaise, was shown each afternoon and evening of the International Education Exhibition 17–21 June. Room H12 (opposite the library entrance and now a chapel) was developed into a workable theatrette and Ringwood’s Clocktower Theatre group presented Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit there.
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Grand opening of the Science and Mathematics Building In 2012 the Senior Science building at Yarra was destroyed by fire. In its place is a new state-of-the-art Science and Mathematics building that has been developed around collaboration, interdisciplinary enquiry and digital technology. His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC, the GovernorGeneral of the Commonwealth of Australia and Her Excellency Lady Cosgrove visited
Yarra Valley Grammar on Wednesday 18 February for the official opening of our new Science and Mathematics Building. The Most Reverend Dr Philip Freier, Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia and Archbishop of Melbourne was also in attendance to Dedicate and Bless the new facility. The ceremony commenced in the George Wood Performing Arts Centre which was at capacity as the Secondary School and guests filled all available seating. Our Junior School watched the ceremony live on the big screen in Foundation Hall. Both the GovernorGeneral and the Archbishop addressed the School and it was very clear the importance they placed on education and the great regard they both have for young people. Following the first part of the service in the Performing Arts Centre the guests joined students representing the Junior School at the building for the unveiling of the plaques.
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Our Year 12 Legal Studies Class by coincidence was studying the role of the Head of State in the law making and political process. The class was being conducted in the new building during the Vice Regal tour and the Governor-General stopped by and answered a number of questions regarding his role. This was a significant day in the life of our School and students and staff enjoyed the occasion. Our visitors enjoyed their time with the students immensely. We received the following email: “What a tremendous day! The GovernorGeneral and Lady Cosgrove have been singing your praises this afternoon and have almost instantaneously become the greatest advocates for the school. You have so much to be proud of, so much to look forward to, and so much to celebrate as a school community.� Mr Paul Singer Director Operations, Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General
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Student Leaders 2015 The first of three major assemblies for 2015 began with the Commencement and Commissioning of Student Leaders on Monday 2 February. Students, staff, parents and friends were there to witness the formal investiture of the student leadership body. Our student leaders are an outstanding group of young people who have led the School with energy and commitment in 2015. Congratulations to the following students on their appointment and their commitment throughout the year:
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SCHOOL CAPTAINS Nicola Anastasiou Lachlan McRae
MIDDLE SCHOOL CAPTAINS Xavier Fry Ishra Ranatunge
JUNIOR SCHOOL CAPTAINS Seth Cameron Sarah Lewis Congratulations also to our 2015 prefects, office bearers and House captains who will all contribute invaluably to the School community to build the Yarra Spirit.
Class of 2014 Dux Assembly Members of the Class of 2014 returned to the School on 10 February for the annual Dux Assembly, held in the George Wood Performing Arts Centre. This assembly recognises academic excellence and service to the School by our previous year’s VCE Year 12 class. We were joined by Mrs Sarah Tipping, Chairman of the Yarra Valley Grammar Board, parents and friends of the School to celebrate the outstanding academic results the Class of 2014 achieved. A third of the students in the class received an ATAR of 90 and above and was awarded certificates by the School.
Special awards and prizes went to the following students: Certificates of Exceptional Performance – Study Score of 50 Nitaya Nicholson
Further Mathematics
Liam Safe Indonesian Lachlan McRae Physical Education (Year 11)
Academic Prizes Erin Wilson
Art & Design
James Reid
Business Studies
Nitaya Nicholson
English
Alex Sendikas Health & Physical Education Bethany Peter-Budge
Humanities
Liam Safe Ossy Greulich Memorial Award for Language Other Than English Nitaya Nicholson
Mathematics
Kim Alford
Science
Lachlan Stuchbery
Technology
Margaret Denniston Clarke AwarD Kim Alford
Dux of School for 2014 Nitaya Nicholson Congratulations to 2014 Dux recipient, Nitaya Nicholson who achieved an outstanding ATAR score of 99.90. Congratulations also to Kim Alford and Liam Safe who both achieved results in the top one percent of the state with ATARs over 99. Some 31% of students in the class of 2014 achieved ATAR scores in the top 10% of the state and over 20% of students achieved results in the top 20% of the state. We are very proud of these results that are borne from years of dedication and perseverance in their studies; the leadership, guidance and commitment of their teachers; and the support of their parents and families. It is a powerful combination which contributes to these consistently excellent results. Congratulations to the Class of 2014 for their completion of their studies and for many contributions to the life of our School.
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School Captains’ reflection In a lot of ways this year has been like any other. We have shown up to School each and every day, walked through the rain, wind, sun and fog in order to bravely make it to our daily classes. Together, we have had a year of laughter, companionship, hard times and of extraordinary joy. But something about this year was different because, in honesty, there was something bitter sweet in its arrival. Somewhat like the blissful smell of a chocolate factory which washes over you only once it has passed by, this year has been fleeting and it’s only now with the advantage of seeing it all, that we can really comprehend the incredible journey. From all reports, we can conclude that our
schooling life is a journey unlike any other, and as our final days in the lead up to exams recede before us we realise this is, in many ways, the end of an era. Of course, there is the excitement that accompanies the prospect of entering the real world to study what we desire or enter the workforce, which is undoubtedly enticing to many. At the same time, however, there is a little voice in the back of our minds that yearns for just another month in the classroom with our friends. Typically a good education and having a genuinely enjoyable time at school do not coincide, but at Yarra the two go hand in hand. The dedicated staff who are incredibly good at their jobs and demonstrate a real care for their students are largely to thank for this. In fact, in recent years they have become more like friends than people who stand at the front of the classroom and tell us what to do. The year 2015 has seen many changes to our School, most notably the opening of the state-of-the-art Science and Mathematics building, which has been a
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brilliant addition to our already fantastic facilities. It is the changes that are not so easily seen, however, that have really impacted our lives. Perhaps what we will reflect on most fondly in the years to come is the growth of our year level, from scattered groups to a unified entity, captured perfectly in the image of everyone huddled together chanting the Yarra theme song on our final day of school. With the volume of this chorus comparable only to that of a jet, it is this memory that will echo and resonate within our minds for many, many years to come. As the largest chapter of our life thus far comes to a close, we feel a peculiar mix of relief, elation, sorrow and despair, because whilst we are well equipped to move on, a tiny part of us wants to stay. But, just like our first day of high school, it is time to take that leap of faith from the place we know so well into the unknown, the place where our future will be found. Nicola Anastasiou and Lachlan McRae School Captains
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From the Chaplain – I am grateful As I pause to think back on 2015, I am full of gratitude. Amidst the busyness of daily life, even when demands and pressure seem to be pushing in from all sides, it really doesn’t take long to realize that we have much to be thankful for. My experience has been that when I’m more intentional about being grateful, I see even more things for which I’m grateful! Things keep showing up in my life and, having developed an attitude of gratitude I can’t help but be thankful for that person, situation or opportunity. It impacts every area of my life; my family, my work, my play, my relationships, my faith. I have so much to be grateful for and so do you. Even those things which on the surface can feel more like a chore or a burden are things to be grateful for. Try switching your approach to some of these regular events and be thankful: Early mornings ... Thankful for children to love House to clean ... Thankful for a safe place to live Laundry ... Thankful for clothes to wear Dishes to wash ... Thankful for food to eat Crumbs under the table ... Thankful for family meal times Stuck in traffic ... Thankful for a car to travel in and somewhere to go Lots of noise ... Thankful for the people in my life It is no secret that I love my job, and for that I am grateful! I appreciate the opportunity to foster relationships with children, young people, my colleagues,
parents and families and to journey with you. I consider it a great privilege to be able to share in some of the joys as well as the difficult and messy seasons that life offers. You are in my prayers. We have such great teachers at Yarra Valley Grammar and I’m thankful for their dedication, inspiration and genuine care of the students they teach. Every day these committed professionals go out of their way to inspire and draw the best out of their students. Largely working behind the scenes, we have a large team of staff who keep things humming along day to day, which enables the rest of us to get on with our core business: Educating young people to achieve their personal best. We can be thankful for the community that we are part of; a School community that cares for one another and intentionally
makes an impact beyond the School gates. A School community that celebrates together and travels through life together. The Prayer Group is open to all in our community and we gather regularly to give thanks in prayer with and for one another throughout the year. This weekly prayer group is made up of ordinary people who are part of our School community and we welcome anyone to come and join us. We pray for our students and staff, for learning activities and experiences, for safety, for our School leaders, and for the vision and future of our School. We offer thanks. I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. (Ephesians 1:16) I am grateful for exciting opportunities and challenges that keep showing up. I know they’re part of your life too. Challenges that stretch us and lead to growth. Opportunities for adventure and experiences that create memories which shape us and mould us into the people we are becoming. I thank God for Yarra Valley Grammar; for the people, the programs and the potential that is nurtured every day. Mr Paul Joy Chaplain
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Taking a leap of faith Who am I? What am I passionate about? What are the most important things to me in life? How would I describe myself? What do I want to do when I finish school? How can I be the best me? Without doubt, one or more of these questions dawn upon us at some stage throughout our lives. For some this can be scary, daunting, or even unfathomable, and as Year 12 students we can tell you that such questions are constantly on our mind. So, when appointed as the 2015 Chapel Wardens, we set out to answer some of these questions for ourselves. Needless to say, we were both nervous in undertaking this role, particuarly when it came to speaking at fortnightly Year 7–12 School Assemblies. However, with the ongoing support of our Chaplain, Mr Joy, we overcame our fears and fulfilled our role to the best of our ability. We were thankful to have a solid foundation already set for us through the Christian discussion group, MERGE, which offers students from any background, faith or age the opportunity to meet, connect and discuss some of these ideas. With such questions on our mind, we both approached this lunchtime group with one
strong but simple question – What in life are you most grateful for? Throughout the year MERGE focused on this notion of gratitude and explored how reflecting on acts of kindness can bring profound happiness and satisfaction to ourselves and others. This played a key role in our vision for MERGE in 2015, as did the verse from Titus 2:7 which built the basis of our attitude towards the role. We believe that adopting an attitude of gratitude helps me become the best version of me that I can be. In everything, set them an example by doing good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech. (Titus 2:7) We kicked off the year by challenging each student to step out of their comfort zone. For many students this meant exploring their faith, and for others it was simply an opportunity to delve deeper into their beliefs and values. With the intention of shining Jesus’ light and love throughout our School community, each student was encouraged to say hello to four other peers through the course of each week that they wouldn’t normally say hello to. The names of these students were then recorded in our gratitude journals, which became a way to reflect on our weekly experiences through the lens of appreciation. Not only did students in MERGE find themselves connecting with more students within the School community, but reflecting in and
sharing our gratitude journals compelled students to be more Christ-like. This simple task soon developed into a regular lunchtime activity, where students were encouraged to scribe five things that they were grateful for each day. By implementing and monitoring these activities, we found that all students had become more positive and grateful throughout their stressful and often intense school lives. However, MERGE did not stop there. Once we had understood what it takes to be grateful and accepting, and just how much we, as a community have to be thankful for, the MERGE group were further encouraged to leave our humble domain of the Chapel, and spread this good nature onto others in the Yarra Valley Grammar School community. We would like to thank Dr Merry, Reverend Sharrock, Mr Hocking and especially Mr Joy for entrusting us with this role and for their valuable support. We conclude our time at Yarra Valley Grammar, inspired and grateful for Mr Joy’s leadership, hard work and enduring faith. 2015 was a fantastic year to be a Chapel Warden; the discussions enjoyed at MERGE and the friendships that have been formed have changed all of us through the way we think and behave in everyday life. I guess you could say, there truly is a lot to be thankful for. Georgina Rogers and Euan Burns Chapel Wardens
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Community Links 2015 The Community Links program at Yarra Valley Grammar continued to grow this year with increasing numbers of students selflessly giving up their time and money to support a growing number of people that are less fortunate than them. They participated in a wide range of fundraising activities aimed at not only raising the much needed funds but also at raising awareness of those in our local and wider communities that need our support. Yarra’s Big Three School-wide Community Links initiatives; the Good Friday Appeal, World’s Greatest Shave and 40 Hour Famine once again clearly demonstrated the wonderful generosity of the Yarra Community. The World’s Greatest Shave at the end of first term raised $14,000.00 and awareness of the work that the Leukaemia Foundation does to educate and support those with blood disorders.
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The 40 Hour Famine in third term generated $7,221.49 in funds which went towards funding solutions to fight global hunger like nutrition training for parents, child health services and better agricultural practices. It was the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, however, in which 295 students and over 95 parents, staff and past students helped out, that raised the School’s highest ever total of
any Community Links activity, raising a staggering $37,055.40. This brings the amount collected over the past eleven years by our School for the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal to a figure in excess of $272,000. It is important that we acknowledge the work of Ben Gaythorpe and many other Year 12 students who were regular contributors to the Toast and Tutoring Program we run in conjunction with Mitcham Primary School every Wednesday morning. These students, who were incredibly busy and committed to achieving their best in their VCE, found the time to regularly volunteer to help tutor students from ESL and Refugee status backgrounds. Ben was nominated for a My Education Award this year, where his services to the program and his generosity were acknowledged and celebrated. He also won the prestigious Community Links Award at the Year 12 Valedictory Presentation evening in October, in part, because of his involvement. Students in Junior School continued to learn about how they can make a difference in the lives of others in fun, thoughtful and creative ways. The annual Green Day event, where students learnt about how the way we live impacts the environment as well as the positive things we can do to tread lightly on our fragile
earth to ensure that it is left in a good condition for generations to come. Students from our Early Learning Centre and Year 1 cooperated to plant trees on the day to further help the environment. Staff and students also supported events such as the Lions Club’s Coins for Kids coin trail at a local shopping centre, Red Balloon Day to say Thanks to the Fireys, purchasing Butterfly Badges as part of Hearing Awareness Week, filled shoeboxes as part of Operation Christmas Child, and donated items for the Anglicare Christmas Appeal. In addition, individual classes and year levels ran their own initiatives and thus personalised the learning and extended the impact we can make.
garden and property maintenance, graffiti removal, lending a hand at Animal Aid, Sharing a Story at lunchtime in our Junior School, making gift cards to send to support our defence force service men and women or serving lunch to the homeless at St Paul’s Anglican Church.
The Middle School Community Links team is a group of students who regularly gather together to initiate and plan fundraising events to help the wider community. This student-led group sold chocolates, ran stalls, sold handmade crafts and clothing to support recovery efforts in Nepal, got behind National Red Balloon Day, the Miracle Loop and took part in large numbers in the three whole secondary event community links activities; the Good Friday Appeal, the Great Yarra Shave and the 40 Hour Famine.
One of the many strengths of Yarra Valley Grammar students is their willingness to be involved and to support others. In so doing, they fill their lives with meaning. This adds depth to their lives at school and continues to foster the positive culture and warmth that is evident at the School.
In Semester 2, all of our Year 8 students volunteered to participate in a community service activity organised by staff including
All Tutorial groups in our Secondary School initiated their own fundraising activities to support an organisation such as the Caladenia Dementia Clinic and Irabina. The opportunity to work together to support a worthy cause is fulfilling and our involvement with leadership programs facilitated by Cystic Fibrosis Victoria, World Vision and the Red Cross continued to strengthen this year.
Congratulations to all those involved in Community Links activities this year. Your efforts were greatly appreciated by the School and by those who benefited from your selflessness. Mr Damian Ellul and Mr Paul Joy Community Links Coordinators
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Hearing Unit – a successful year The year 2015 has been a successful year for the Hearing Unit. With 22 students from Prep to Year 12 there have been a myriad of activities that the Hearing Unit students have been involved in. Our students and staff are to be congratulated for their energy and dedication to ensuring that the students were fully engaged in all aspects of the School. This year we welcomed four new families to the Hearing Unit, three in the Junior School and one in the Senior School. At the same time, we said goodbye to our Year 12 Daniel Pigatto who has been with us for six years. We wish Daniel every success in the future. Our parent meetings in Terms 1, 3 and 4 were all well attended. In Term 1 our parents got a chance to see and experience the School’s new Science and Mathematics building and Term 3 we welcomed guest speakers, Diane and Emily Holland who spoke to the parents about their experiences as a Hearing Unit mother and student. This was a wonderful opportunity to hear their journey through the Hearing Unit from Prep to Year 12. They gave many insights to the current parents. Once again the Hearing Unit
parent dinner was very well attended where parents, staff and members of the Executive had a chance to enjoy a meal together. Hearing Awareness Week was again a very successful week for the Hearing Unit. In the Junior School our students conducted the whole assembly and in the Senior School we welcomed back Patrick Lane, (Year 12, 2007) who spoke to the students about his experience as a Hearing Unit student together with his academic and sporting experiences since leaving the School. Patrick had recently won an International award for Industrial Design which he has studied since leaving school. Together with this he was chosen to play in the Australian Deaf Basketball team, The Goannas, where he has represented Australia in many tournaments overseas culminating recently in the team winning the Asia Pacific title. Patrick’s is a story of persistence and dedication. Lakshitha Wethasinghe of Year 11 gave a piano recital in the Alison French room. Lakshitha has recently passed his Year 7 piano examination. During Hearing Awareness we also welcomed back Mr Bill Robinson and his wife Marie for morning tea with all of our students and the Executive. Mr Robinson was the original Head of the Hearing Unit
in 1972. Mr Robinson told stories of the early days of the Hearing Unit and how it operated. He and his wife enjoyed a tour of the School marvelling at the many changes over the years. During this week our students and parents raised over $1,700 for The Deafness Foundation from the sale of butterfly badges. Our Senior students also ran a sausage sizzle with the kind donations from many of the parents raising over $400 for the Hearing Unit. At the Senior School assembly Abbey Gartlan, Year 5 was awarded the Hearing Unit Citizenship Award for 2015. Hearing Unit students were also involved and excelled in many extra-curricular activities. These included sporting awards to Januda Uduwela coach’s award in Year 8 cricket, Joshua Randall Most Consistent player in football Year 8, Sam Rickard Year 9 AFL team of the year, MVP for basketball and a Best and Fairest in football, Hamish Adams Year 10 Under 17 Athlete of the Year, a colour for athletics, Sam McLarty Year 11, AFL team of the year, Boys First Basketball Best Team Player, AGSV representative for football and a Colour for AFL. Sam also played for the Victorian Metro side in the Under 18 National AFL competition and was a member of TAC Cup premiership side, Oakleigh Chargers. In addition, Naish Dare, Year 7 was awarded a Distinction in the ICAS Mathematics competition and James Webb, Year 9 was awarded a High Distinction in the Rio Tinto Science competition. I extend my appreciation and thanks to the Hearing Unit staff for their continuing commitment to the families and students of the Hearing Unit. Mr Ian Saynor Head of the Hearing Unit
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Music @ YVG 2015 has been a busy year full of exciting performances and great music-making in the Yarra Valley Grammar Music Department. As always, we began our year on the very first weekend of Term 1 with Music Camp at the beautiful Arrabri Lodge in Warburton. This enabled us to prepare for a most significant occasion, which was very early in the year – the opening of the new Science and Mathematics building in mid-February in the presence of the GovernorGeneral, Sir Peter Cosgrove. The musical contribution to this grand occasion was warmly received by all, none more so than Sir Peter himself, who spoke with enthusiasm of his appreciation for our efforts. Term one was brought to a conclusion in sensational style with the biggest concert of the year – the Food, Wine and Music Concert. Many colleagues from other schools regard us as slightly mad to attempt such a significant performance so early in the year, but once again the event showcased the ensembles of the entire music department, from Junior School through to Year 12s. The Food, Wine and Music Concert raises funds for Yarra Music to support the Music department and this year the concert was met with rave reviews and a packed house in the PAC.
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The seventh annual Concerto Competition was won by Year 10 student Julia Doupe, the first time the award has been taken out by a vocalist. Julia performed Voi Che Sapete, an aria from Mozart’s opera, The Marriage of Figaro in front of guest adjudicator Ms Debbie Haskell. Julia earned the right to perform an aria from Gonoud’s, Faust as soloist with the Symphony Orchestra at the Symphonic Showcase in Term Three, which she did superbly. This year music in the Middle School thrived, with fantastic performances from the Swing Choir, the String All Stars, and the Concert Band, as well as the introduction of the new Year 7 string quartet Accent and the new, younger wind band, known as Contraband. The All Stars represented themselves well at the Victorian School Music Festival held at the Hawthorn Arts Centre, in May, whilst the Concert Band did similarly in Ballarat for the famed Royal South Street Eisteddfod in September.
An event that has become an annual highlight for many of our student musicians is the Generations in Jazz festival in Mount Gambier, South Australia in May. This festival is the largest of its kind in the world, and sees nearly 4,000 students in 180 jazz bands and over 50 jazz choirs from schools all around Australia gather to perform, as well as hear some of the best performers on the planet. The whole festival is staged, believe it or not, in a paddock in rural South Australia. Eight marquees are set up to house all the performances, including the biggest marquee in Australia, which seats 5,000. The international guests this year included James Morrison’s multinational band, The Hot Horn Happening with players from Australia, Europe and the US, and the international acapella superstars, Take 6, who brought a rock concert atmosphere to the big tent with their amazing vocal harmonies and beatboxing. The focal points of the weekend for the YVG students were their performances in the competition. Our acapella group, Ballad performed in the Vocal ensemble division, the Zoned in Showband performed in Division 4 and the Big Band competed in Division 3. All our groups did really well, but we are particularly proud of what the Big Band achieved. YVG had four students selected in the Superband, which is made up of the best players across 44 bands in their division – Erin Upson on Alto Saxophone,
Brandon Appleby on Baritone Saxophone, Cameron Philipps on Trombone and Blakely McLean Davies on Double Bass. And then to top things off, the Big Band were awarded first prize in our division for the second year in a row. Many of the students weren’t sure how well they’d do this year after losing more than half of the band in Year 12 at the end of last year, but they were inspired by Mr Poynter to work hard and managed to achieve a standard of which they could be really proud! Towards the end of Term 2, both the Symphony Orchestra and Kreisler Strings participated in the Victorian School Music Festival at the Hawthorn Arts Centre, and both groups performed with distinction, earning Gold Medals for the School in their respective categories. An undoubted highlight of the year was the tour to Sydney in late June. 39 students travelled north to the Harbour City to perform in the Australian International Music Festival, and it proved to be an outstanding success. Highlights were numerous, but undoubtedly the biggest of them was performing in the iconic Sydney Opera House. Our students had the opportunity to hear and mix with ensembles from China, the USA, New Zealand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India and from right around Australia. The week saw a variety of performances in wonderful locations,
including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Sydney Town Hall, the cavernous St Mary’s Cathedral, a harbourside gig at Darling Harbour and an impromptu choral performance in a Circular Quay restaurant. This was mixed with a variety of enjoyable tourist activities and sightseeing, all conducted in consistently glorious weather. Most gratifying for the staff was not only the great performances of the students, but the wonderful way in which they conducted themselves, and the great camaraderie they shared throughout the week. Term 3 saw the Symphonic Showcase, where our senior instrumental ensembles Kreisler Strings, the Symphony Orchestra and the Symphonic Band presented extended and challenging programs to an appreciative audience. The Symphonic Band travelled to Ballarat for the Royal South Street Competitions and performed admirably, despite not being rewarded with any silverware this year. Chorally, the year was highlighted by the Choral Concert, with great performances from our vocal ensembles from Junior School through to Blue Harmony. Ms Storey’s departure mid-way through the year saw several new faces working with our choirs, including Ms Clancye Milne with the Swing Choir and Mr Lucas de Jong with Blue Harmony. We were fortunate once again to have
Mrs Rachel Schmidli bring her skills and enthusiasm to Senior Voices. Of course, all of this activity is over and above the core business of 400 students undertaking weekly music lessons and hundreds of AMEB examinations being sat throughout the year. 2015 was our first full year with Music Administrator Ms Anita Holman, and everyone involved in the department has appreciated her efficiency, warmth and good humour. Our student leaders Erin Upson and Jeremy Doupe in the Senior School, and Kaela Burchett and Elton Zhang in the Middle School have done an excellent job throughout the year, and have led their peers well. We wish our departing Year 12 muso’s a lifetime of enjoyable music-making and we thank them for their contribution to Music at Yarra Valley Grammar. As the year draws to a close, my thanks go to the entire hard working team of staff in the music department. The ongoing success of the YVG Music program is built on the talented and passionate team of staff we are lucky to have in the Music Department, and it is their enthusiasm, organisational skills and vision that enable our students to enjoy such wonderful opportunities in Music. Mr Scott Templeton Director of Music
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Drama – a year of firsts 2015 has the been the year of firsts; the first combined Musical; the first summer we have had air conditioning in the drama classrooms and the first Year 7 Musical Theatre evening. Middle School classes have been focusing on creating and devising. The Year 7s experimented with transformations and performance skills with a strong emphasis on collaboration and cooperation. The Year 8s performed strong monologues and explored stereotypes through the television scripts from Modern Family. The Year 9s delighted the Year 1 and ELC students with their own plays. The senior classes have continued to consolidate and improve their expressive and performance skills. The Year 10s produced interesting ensemble performances and delved into the structure of a solo while preparing their work. The Year 11s worked through a Solo task ensuring they are well prepared for next year and produced a short film for The YVG Foundation on the School’s history. The class also performed a challenging play, What is the Matter with Mary Jane? The production performed in the reverse stage of the PAC and received much praise as the students so skillfully and thoughtfully dealt with the challenging topic of body
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image and anorexia bulimia. The Year 12 students devised complex ensemble performances titled Someone Going Somewhere based on the idea of pilgrimages and journeys. They continued their strong performance work with excellent VCAA solo performances. The major show for 2015 was the Year 8–12 production of Seussical the Musical. This show encouraged friendships across the year levels while new skills were developed. The older students brought the leadership and the younger students brought the energy, creating a wonderful production. The show was a highlight on so many levels; from the cross age cast to the huge and quirky sets through to the colourful costumes all supported by strong singing and brilliant characterizations. The next exciting production was Year 7 Take a Bow. This evening showcased the work done in a Year 7 Dramatic Development class. Students worked together as a tutorial to perform two songs, which were linked by their acting. The
evening concluded with the whole year level singing When I Grow Up as the photos of their first day in Prep screened, bringing back lots of memories and a few tears from parents. The Drama Department has continued to open its doors to all students interested in the world of Drama and Theatre. Experiences have been offered and a sense of belonging extended as skills continue to be developed. Ms Jane Marshall Head of Drama
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Student Wellbeing Student Wellbeing is strongly linked to learning. A student’s level of wellbeing is indicated by satisfaction with life at school, engagement in learning and social emotional behaviour. The pathways to optimal student wellbeing are: 1. A supportive, caring and inclusive school community 2. Pro-social values 3. Physical and emotional safety 4. Social and emotional learning 5. A strengths-based approach 6. A sense of meaning and purpose 7. A healthy lifestyle. Student Wellbeing underpins all that we do at the School and the many programs, guest speakers, presentations and consultations provided by our staff contribute to this overall pastoral care of our students. 2015 has been a busy year for Student Wellbeing in the Middle and Senior Schools as the offices were relocated into the Student Services building and a Wellbeing Activity area was created. This space provided a designated area for many purposes including but not limited to: Year 12 Supportive Friends meeting; Year 11 Peer Support Leaders meetings; Yoga as
well as Mind Body Flow classes held for students and staff; Peer Support trainings; International Students activities; a quiet reflective space. Our Peer Support Prefect, Rachel Hocking, led an active Year 12 Supportive Friends team consisting of over 30 students. They helped enhance the camaraderie and support within their year level with a range of initiatives including a very successful Christmas in July and Kris Kringle for all the Year 12 students, tutors and coordinators. The cheery Christmas tree, decorations and lights lifted the spirits at a cold and wet time of year. Hot Cross buns at Easter, Hot Chocolate mornings, a Pyjama Day and a Movie Night were some of the other activities they were involved in. All of our Year 11 students were involved in a program led by facilitators from Stride to develop skills in the area of Peer Support. Following the program 17 Year 11 students volunteered to attend training to become Peer Support Leaders. These 17 leaders then participated in our Year 7/11 Peer Support program throughout Terms 1 to 3. This is a wonderful mentor type program where each Year 11 Peer Support Leader
is allocated to a specific Year 7 tutorial group. They attend one Year 7 Dramatic Development class per week for three terms. Many of the leaders also participated in the Year 7 end of Semester 1 Activity day and assisted with the Year 7 Drama Production. It is lovely to see the growth and development in each leader during the year as well as strong connections encouraged between the Middle and Senior School students. Student Wellbeing oversees a number of guest speakers and productions to address students, staff and or parents. This year we have had Brainstorm Productions present The Hurting Game to Year 7 students and Cyberia to Year 8 students. Paul Dillon was at the School in August presenting seminars and workshops for all of our Senior School students, our staff and the parent body. He was addressing research completed in the area of alcohol and drug issues for young people. Hugh Van Cuylenberg from the Resilience Project worked with our Year 11 students during Terms 1 and 2. Sonya Karras from Whole New World worked with our Year 12 students in Terms 2 and 3. Dr Craig Hassed from Monash University presented to our staff on Mindfulness and Mindfulness learning. Student Wellbeing also organised the availability of yoga and body flow classes to our senior students and staff. Mpower and Revved Up programs were delivered to our Year 6 students as well. Mrs Mara Vanderzeil Head of Student Wellbeing
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IT and Digital Learning 2015 was a year of implementation from an IT and Digital Learning perspective at Yarra Valley Grammar. This was the first year of a three-year plan for IT and Digital Learning. This plan sits under the 2015–2020 Teaching and Learning Strategic Plan. The new Science and Mathematics Building opened in February and the year has been spent bedding down new systems to promote contemporary learning. The Collaboratory learning space was constructed in 2013 and provided opportunities to test the innovations that were planned for the new building and elsewhere in the School. Large 84” touch screen digital panels, video conferencing, non linear furniture configurations and multiple screens in rooms were all incorporated into the the new building which also features a nine panel video wall and touch screen kiosk in the Foyer, hearing augmentation in every classroom and breakout spaces with wireless connectivity to digital panels. The Science and Mathematics Building is a contemporary learning space that represents many of the most up to date facilities for learning and teaching in the world. The renovation of the old Science classrooms was the opportunity to create a new state-of-the art area for Food Technology and this too has been commissioned and bedded down from an IT perspective. With Year 10 being relocated to the new building, Year 9 moved into the IT precinct and the area received a makeover to encourage social interaction and collaboration between students in the Open Learning Area. Classrooms in this area replicated the Collaboratory’s non-linear approach to learning space design.
Over the course of 2015, significant work was completed to ensure that power conservation was optimized throughout the site. This was important given the energy requirements of AV and IT resources. Professional Learning for teachers remains a priority to ensure that teachers are making the most of the opportunities to teach effectively in a technology rich environment that is student centred. After approval from the various committees in the School and endorsement from the School Executive, the Vision Statement for Digital Learning document was released in August and outlines the vision for digital learning at Yarra Valley Grammar. This coincided with the focus on Professional Learning in a series of workshops entitled Creating through Collaboration. With the introduction of Canvas Learning Management and Google Docs last year for teaching and learning as well as the Middle School’s iPad program in its third year and the introduction of class sets of iPads in the Junior School, the emphasis in Professional Learning included promoting the creative use of student applications
and trialling an innovative approach to assessment in a Year 9 English unit. Visual learning applications such as Adobe Slate and Voice, Twig and Binumi have considerable potential to be used successfully in learning and teaching. Given our digital signage throughout the School, students have many opportunities to display their work and provide relevant content. The coming year is the second year of the three-year plan for IT and Digital Learning. Some of the projects include a major renewal of the IT infrastructure, a new design for the external School website, a new Community Portal and a move towards real time reporting for parents by 2017. Our thanks is extended to Daniel Somerville and Peter Hull (ICT Service Managers), Surain Gamage and Cameron Anderson for their work in supporting Yarra Valley Grammar in IT Services. Mr Philip Callil Director of IT and eLearning
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Mathematics@YVG It was an honour and thrill to have the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove, officially open our new Science and Mathematics building at the start of the year. Sir Peter and Lady Cosgrove, along with the Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, and other dignitaries, were most impressed with our wonderful new facility and enjoyed visiting mathematics lessons in progress as they completed their guided tour on this auspicious occasion. The much anticipated move to the new building, like any move to a new home, brought with it excitement and a feeling of pride to have an entire floor devoted to mathematics. It was great to experience the newness of the building and individuality of each learning space. Students working on cluster tables, break-out spaces, class rooms with one, two or even three inter-active touch screens, sound systems and rooms without doors all became the new normal in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Teachers and students all came face to face with 21st century technology in this progressive building and adapted to the challenges with resilience. After the initial excitement, all classes quickly settled to effectively learning mathematics. VCE mathematics students resumed work from their Getting Started sessions and were soon completing School Assessed Coursework (SACs) in their areas of study. Unit 3 and 4 students
benefitted from the insight offered by past students in the VCE mentor program. Revision lectures in Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics were conducted in the September holidays in the new lecture theatre and this assisted students to summarise those areas of study. The Year 10 student body welcomed many new International students to the School. All students’ knowledge of mathematics was extended and enriched as the Year 10s incorporated Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) technology into their learning for the first time. In the Middle School, text books and HOTMaths on iPads were a major focus. Year 7 students worked hard to master new skills, including the use of technology in their learning. Year 7 and 9 students devoted some time to preparing for the NAPLAN numeracy tests conducted in May and achieved strong results. In Term 2, Year 8 students participated in a cross-faculty excursion to the MCG and the Queen Victoria Market. This excursion coincided with a unit of work on Measurement and students were able to apply their mathematical skills to practical situations. In Term 3, two teams of Year 8 maths students participated in the State-wide Mathematics Games Day organised by the Mathematical Association of Victoria. The event was an opportunity for students to develop their mathematical talents and thinking skills in a setting with
students from a diverse range of schools. The Games Day was intellectually challenging, competitive and fun. Students throughout the school participated in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) mathematics competition run by UNSW Global. The competition provides independent evaluations of students’ skills and knowledge in core learning areas as well as insights into students’ understanding. The competition was held in August and students attained some outstanding results this year. There were 100 students who achieved Credits, 51 students achieved Distinctions (top 10%) and four students achieved High Distinctions (top 1%). High Distinctions were awarded to Ben Kyval, Zitian Lim and Eric Liu from Year 7 and Peter Tong from Year 9. Several Year 9 students participated in the challenging University of Melbourne three hour mathematics competition and the Mathematics Challenge and Enrichment for Young Australians administered by the Australian Mathematics Trust. Again, these competitions enabled students to test and extend their mathematical skills in non-routine contexts. After completing both the Euler and Noethe enrichment stages, Year 9 student Peter Tong sat the four hour Mathematics Olympiad examination, which was an exceptional effort. Throughout the year, students demonstrated considerable determination to improve their learning and results in mathematics in each class. It has been pleasing to see their mathematical growth from the start of the year. Overall, it has been a busy, exciting and successful year in mathematics. Mrs Jenny Merrett Head of Mathematics
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ICT – exploring unique ideas We rely on technology every day, but very few of us understand exactly what we are using or how it works. If we understand technology, we can learn how to create rather than simply consume. We can explore new ways to tell stories and communicate a message. We can adapt and become more flexible. We can drive change and develop solutions. We can help individuals and we can help cities. At its core, ICT is not about technology itself, but about how we can use technology to empower people to make a positive difference. In 2015, students were challenged to explore unique ideas and push the use of ICT further which resulted in rewarding experiences throughout the year. Year 9 – Exploring ICT Year 9s were introduced to the fundamentals of ICT and digital media through the wide selection of subject choices available. In Basic IT, students explored the hardware that drives the internet and investigated future technology including artificial intelligence and 3D printing. In Multimedia, students developed skills in visual design, codes and conventions in magazine layout, photo manipulation and animation. Game Design and Development students discussed the impact of games within society and were introduced to basic concepts in programming and computational logic. These subjects provided students with a clear pathway into Year 10, VCE and beyond. Year 10 – Advancing Technology In Year 10, students built upon the foundation in Year 9 through more
advanced concepts in computer hardware and software, programming, animation, cinematography and video compositing. By using industry-standard software across the entire Year 10 curriculum, students were armed with professional tools and environments to push the boundaries of their projects. Students in Year 10 Information Technology worked with Raspberry PIs (miniature computers) and virtual reality development kits to explore the future of computing. Concepts including internet of things, virtual environment development and visual scripting languages were investigated. In Year 10 Multimedia, students explored new ways of storytelling using video compositing and animation techniques. The George Wood Performing Arts Centre transformed into a film studio over two days as students worked together to shoot their films. VCE and VET – Industry Experience Our VCE and VET program allowed students to continue to delve further into advanced concepts for both Information Technology and Interactive Digital Media. We were fortunate to have accomplished illustrator and animator, Richard Bailey, work with Year 11 and 12 students for a one day animation workshop. Richard’s experience working for Walt Disney Studios was of enormous benefit to our students who explored the finer elements and principles of character animation.
Year 9 – Programming Challenge In 2015, a number of Year 9 girls attended the annual one day international event at the University of Melbourne – The Programming Challenge for Girls (PC4G). The event introduced students to the fundamentals of programming at the Melbourne School of Engineering. They worked in pairs to compete against other schools to complete the challenge. Our students excelled, achieving gold, silver and bronze medals for their work in creating an animated story with the use of a programming environment. 2015 ICT and Multimedia Tour Undoubtedly, the highlight of the year was the inaugural ICT and Multimedia Tour to the United States. 32 students and four staff members travelled to San Francisco and Los Angeles, visiting a variety of tech companies and film studios. A particular highlight of the tour involved behind the scenes visits to Apple and Google Headquarters in Silicon Valley. Apple’s Chief Designer and former Yarra Valley Grammar alumni, Peter Russell-Clarke spoke to the tour group about the design process at Apple, complete with a sneak peek of the Apple Watch which had yet to be released at the time. Visits to Warner Brothers and Universal Studios in Los Angeles completed the 12 day tour as students explored the magic behind film, television and animation. This tour clearly benefitted our students in their ICT and Multimedia studies at school and beyond. Mr Mark Schumann Head of ICT
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Humanities – history comes to life The Humanities faculty shone this year from Year 7s displaying their military might on Ancient Civilisations Day to some outstanding achievements in the National History Challenge and UN Youth Diplomacy Conference and notable learning experiences at VCE level. Year 7 students competed for Caesar at the annual Ancient Civilisations Day in November, presenting their most effective military drills following the great feast. Year 8 students, besides participating in a mock Battle of Hastings on a windy Medieval Day, were challenged to research and present an aspect of History of their choice; presentations included many models, videos and essays. Each project was subjected to review by many prestigious judges from inside and outside our School (Mrs Hall and Dr Merry being two of them). After every Year 8 student had presented their work, a record 12 projects were chosen to proceed into regional judging. From that level, Alec Thomas and Ben Waddington were State Finalists with Aryan Ganjavi, Fionn Maguire, Jack Mitchell, James Robinson and Ethan Xu being State Finalists with Certificates of Commendation. Alise Anderson and Zoe Petropoulos were selected in this banner year to compete at Nationals. Alise Anderson and Zoe Petropoulos were both honoured on 22 October at the Menzies Foundation in East Melbourne for
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Outstanding Achievement in the National History Challenge, both winners of Certificates of Excellence at the National Level. Their entries were recognised for their high quality, effort that each entry demonstrated and the fact that the entries were entered into the highest levels of competition. Alise’s model and accompanying journal on Alan Turing were praised for their detail and skill. Interviewers noted her boundless enthusiasm for the topic. Zoe’s film on Oscar Schindler featured her interviews with Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler’s Ark, as well as Holocaust survivors. She was asked to speak at the HTAV Kids’ Conference in November on her sophisticated approach to the task. Whilst the Year 9s enjoyed the Humanities electives as usual, they were able to partake in three special experiences related to 100th anniversary of Gallipoli. In partnership with the Theatre Department, Year 9s watched an interactive one man show on the Anzac experience. Civics and citizenship week began with a touching tribute by a whole School assembly
performed by Unit 1 Drama students and dismissal in complete silence. The cohort then travelled to Flemington to participate in Camp Gallipoli, awaking before dawn for the service. Earlier this year, students from Year 10 through 12 held their own UN Conference involving discussion on Responsibility to Protect from of all UN representatives; students presented their arguments for and against the resolution under strict time limits replicating real UN Conference protocols. This real life scenario enabled students to evaluate critical issues facing the world today with all students believing that the day was of great benefit to their learning and understanding of compromise and research. Two Year 10 students, Finley Griffett and Alex Readman were selected to compete in an intense diplomatic competition against schools from around the state at the Melbourne Law School and Melbourne Town Hall. The Evatt Competition is a Model United Nations Security Council diplomacy competition for students in Years 10 to 12, with more than 2,000 students competing each year. It aims to educate young people about different countries and their place in the world and empower them as active citizens by developing public speaking, negotiation, teamwork, research, and diplomatic skills.
After being assigned the country of Guatemala in the preliminary rounds, they undertook extensive research on their country, as well as various global issues. This involved reading through countless articles and theses, and listening to many parliamentary debates. In the preliminaries, three resolutions were negotiated on: The Criminalization of Extremist Political Parties; The Question of Private Military Companies; and The Question of Slavery in Mauritania. Alex and Finley were up against many experienced debaters, as the majority of the 20 teams were Year 12 Global Politics students. However, they held their own, debating persistently in order to successfully pass amendments on behalf of Guatemala and were successful, being sent through to the Semi-Finals, which were held at Melbourne Town Hall.
Yarra Valley Grammar students were fortunate to attend lectures of great academics and explore areas outside of the School. Year 11 Psychology students travelled to the Junior School to complete psychological research in the area of childhood development whilst Year 12s went to the Melbourne Museum to see Enter the Labyrinth seeing how the mind works. The past Chief Assessor of Psychology also provided a lecture to the students twice in the year in the lecture hall in the Science and Mathematics building. Whilst the new Australian History course was privileged to have noted historians Jacqualine Rankine and Richard Broome come to their class to speak. Twentieth Century Students attended the Holocaust Museum and heard an amazing story from a survivor. In addition, they and Australian History were provided with a firsthand
account of the Vietnam War at home and in the field by Colonel (Ret.) Philip Kearsley, AM. Unit 3 and 4 Revolutions students attended the lectures of Dr Michael Adcock, author of one of the text books, and stormed the Russian Winter Palace at the Catherine the Great exhibition at the NGV. All of Year 11 and selected Humanities students were able to hear prize-winning author Clare Wright speak to them about academia, Australian History and the passion that be invested in research. The Stella Award winner then quickly tweeted about her great time at the School. We look forward to more challenges and achievements for our Humanities students in 2016. Mr Chris Hart Head of Humanities
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Science – a new beginning As 2014 came to an end, we anticipated with excitement our new home for the commencement of the 2015 school year. After three long years, we finally moved into the brand new Science and Mathematics facility. 2015 saw an augmentation of our already hands-on program with the possibilities seemingly endless as we became accustomed to our new surroundings. Our new TV screens, Soundfield technology and ELMO display cameras have certainly enhanced our delivery and made learning more interactive. Science Club 2015 ran throughout the year and from that club a group of students entered the RACI crystal growing competition with good success and an award for their endeavours. The Science Talent Search continued to be popular with our Year 7 students and the Rio Tinto Big Science competition was again conducted in the Middle School with great success. We introduced our Scientist in Schools partner, Professor Darren Kelly, who conducted an incursion lecture for our Year 10 science students. More involvement with Professor Kelly will occur throughout 2016. Experiments and activities were enhanced by our physical surroundings. With parachutes being dropped from the top floor for Year 7 science, the physics of motion being tested on ramps in our large break out spaces and students collaborating in teams in our many lovely
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learning nooks, our students have indeed been the beneficiaries of some wonderful learning experiences. Field trips and excursions continued to play an integral role in the collection of raw data which was analysed back in our laboratories. One very successful and popular field trip was Year 11 Physics to the Sandown Race track for one of the V8 sessions. Motion was definitely on display! Our future is bright in science and the new ideas of how to use our building spaces and technology continues to develop as we teach and learn in our stimulating environment. Mrs Wendy Hawking Head of Science
Leading with Languages This year the Languages on offer expanded to include Chinese First Language as we welcomed a number of international students to Yarra. The opportunity to participate in exchange programs and in country visits, excursions to the zoo and restaurants, film viewings and musical performances enhanced our wonderful classroom programs. Great success was enjoyed in a number of competitions. Another year of entertaining and diverse experiences for our language learners! Ms Anne Douglas Head of Languages
FIRST IMMERSION VISIT BY AN INDONESIAN SCHOOL GROUP From 29 August until 5 September, Yarra Valley Grammar had the exciting opportunity to host staff and students from an Immersion Program from Sekolah Tunas Mekar Indonesia, a school located in Bandar Lampung, Sumatera. The five students were accompanied by their English teacher, the Principal and a member of the Board from Sekolah TMI.
The students, ranging from Year 7 to Year 12, were hosted by Yarra families who volunteered their hospitality to allow the students to experience real life in an Australian family. During their week with us, the Indonesian students visited Healesville Sanctuary where they learned about our native animals, fed the emus and even got to pet a wombat. The host families also offered the students the opportunity to visit many of Melbourne’s iconic landmarks, experience a true Aussie barbecue, and have a 10-pin bowling competition. The staff were also able to reciprocate with teaching and learning experiences, both in observing our curriculum and in working with our Indonesian classes. This unique experience provided an opportunity for cultural exchange, as our students were able to practise their Indonesian language as well as learn so much about the Indonesian culture. The Indonesian students were able to live like an Australian for a week, as well as practise their English and share their music and customs with us. Mrs Linnea Donnelly Teacher of French and Indonesian
Alliance Française Competition Félicitations to the state finalists who scored full marks for their poem recitation for the judges. Year 3: Daniel Geng, Johnny Turner (2nd prize Winner) Year 4: Jemma Oakley-Slingsby Year 5: Asha Patel Year 6: Sarah Lewis, Zac Warton Year 7:
Mustafa Adamjee, Zac Duff and Catriona Stark
Year 8: Taylor Dykstra, Jemma Foster, Tom Kelly, Loretta Presta, Amy Stoltenburg, Adyn Young Year 10: David MacPherson, Yasmin North-Stone, Karinya Koehrer Year12: Aalishna Alag
YVG Sayembara Lisan Finals Congratulations to our Indonesian oral maestros: Year 10: Danielle Tait Year 11: Danielle Dana
Language Perfect World Championships Another huge effort across the School in this popular online competition. Gold Certificates:
Hannah Brodrib, Cody Chau, Ray Chen, Samir Gupta, Dulina Gunaratne, Jaidyn Marino, Amy-Jo Olley
Elite Certificates:
Kelsey Horton
Taylor Dyskstra: Winner of the Middle School Prize Matthew White: Winner of the Senior School Prize
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Yarra Community
Outdoor Education – providing challenges What a year it has been in the outdoors! From clear skies and sunshine right through to persistent cloud cover and rain, our Yarra students have braved it all to learn more about themselves, their relationships and the natural world. 2015 has seen the partnership between Yarra and OEG continue to strengthen as we delivered our suite of programs which start in Year 2 and culminate in Year 9, unless students choose to study VCE Outdoor Education in Years 10 and 11. Student comments post-program are endless: “I thought that it would be harder”, “I was worried, but I still had a go and I even made it to the top”, “I wasn’t going to try but my friend encouraged me, I’m so glad that I did”. In overcoming challenges students often surprise themselves and it can give them the confidence to believe in their capabilities in other areas of their lives. Students often talk about the funniest moment and these are the memories that are cherished throughout their later years as they embrace their Outdoor Education journey at Yarra.
Year 2 The Outdoor Education journey begins in Year 2 with an Adventure Day that included a ride on Puffing Billy, as well as a trip to a strawberry farm where the students collected their own tasty treats. The students’ excitement and energy was
palpable, however the biggest challenge was yet to come. After sharing pizza, more games and a movie we attempted to sleep! Sleeping over at school allows students to develop their confidence and independence in preparation for next year.
Year 3 At a new campsite called Iluka at Shoreham, Year 3 extended their knowledge of the deep sea by snorkelling, undertaking a beach walk and visiting the Dolphin Research Institute. This gave the students the opportunity to get up close and personal with the local sea creatures. On the last day, students were divided into groups and practised their knot tying skills in order to build a functional catapult! Needless to say, no students or staff were harmed in this activity, however a great deal was learnt about effective communication, leadership and followership. After three days by the water we returned home with a deeper understanding of the sea and team work.
Year 4 Year 4 Students returned to Yarra’s camp at Wootton Lodge near Lake Glenmaggie. A favourite of both staff and students, I was introduced to a game called Predator Prey in which students were grouped
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together as animals mimicking a local food chain. Our insect groups became masters at camouflage and our predators hunted. We re-enacted the First Fleet on the lake with convicts racing back to shore. Our first night out in a tent taught us a lot about living outside and other activities such as: building bush shelters, cooking jaffles and washing our own dishes further solidified this. On the way home we visited a working robotic dairy farm and a milking museum; a very interesting way to finish a big adventure.
Year 5 In 2015 the Year 5 camp moved from the Grampians to Camp Jungai in the Rubicon Valley for four days of new adventures, strengthening friendships and having loads of fun. The primary focus for the camp was to explore the cultural history of the indigenous Wurundjeri people. The Cultural Officer, Shawn Andrews, shared stories of his upbringing, guided a bush tucker walk and allowed the students a hands on look at Wurundjeri artefacts including traditional weaponry! In addition to this, students tried to find the resident platypus while canoeing in the lake, tested their fear of heights and team work in the Possum Pull. The four days away provides an excellent platform for both the Year 6 and Year 7 programs.
Year 7 With two thirds of the Year 7 cohort new to Yarra in 2015 this program is about connecting with Tutors and peers. The camp was conducted by The Summit in East Trafalgar and involved a myriad of activities from the Leap of Faith, Summit Window, Rock Climb, Wombat Hole, Laser Skirmish and Inflatable City to name a few. The program was high energy and moved fast; we were lucky with the weather and students even had a night in a tent and made milo on small cooking stoves. It was great to see the students setting individual goals and goals for extension too. Encouragement was the key and I was impressed to see the students work through their fear even if their goal was to make it to the top of a ladder. Students were not the only ones challenging themselves; there were quite a few shaky knees amongst Tutors facing their fears with a chorus of encouragement from the group behind them. The week culminated
with a Monster Course in which students completed group tasks while running between stages; it can be likened to a Tough Mudder course as students jumped into water, crawled under obstacles and completed push ups all while being timed. There were slips, laughs, words of encouragement and very wet, muddy and happily smiling students by the end! After five days of being challenged both as an individual and as a group, students created friendships that will support them through their journey at Yarra.
Year 8 The Year 8 motto of being positive and resilient was certainly tested by students throughout this week. A new program outline saw students venture into the Eildon area to participate in a range of activities from high ropes, mountain biking to bushwalking with a pack and initiative challenges. Each day, the weather forecast was the same; low temperatures and patches of rain. I was amazed at the students’ ability to remain positive, manage themselves and their equipment in difficult conditions and most importantly encourage and support one another from sun up to sun down. Students refined their skills at lighting fires and honed their tent set up and pack down techniques as they journeyed between campsites each day. Credit goes to the Year 8 students and all the staff for their positivity and
perseverance which saw them successfully complete the week while consolidating their outdoor living and travel skills.
Year 9 Step Up Step Out As the final instalment of Link @ 9, students had to choose between five different venues and activities which included: Murray canoeing, North East cycle, Mount Arapiles climbing, Eildon walk/high ropes/raft and Gippsland Lakes sea kayak. The decision making process was difficult; students were encouraged to consider what would be challenging while allowing them to Step Up and Step Out as young adults. Mr Frazer had the task of sorting through the application letters and assigning students to venues and groups. This is not an easy task as we have ratio requirements, medical considerations, student requests and friendship dynamics to consider! Regardless of this, students were asked to keep an open mind, check their attitudes and embrace the opportunities that lay ahead. I encourage all to chat with a Year 9 student to hear their highlights, challenges and how they were able to Step Up and Step Out. Ms Anny McMaster Outdoor Education Coordinator Senior Manager OEG
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Yarra Community
Certificate IV in Design – a defining year There is a long tradition of excellence in Art and Design at Yarra, which began back in the 1980’s with the introduction of the Fine Arts course that later became the Certificate IV in Design. This is its 20th year and a genuine highlight was the celebration evening in August to mark the occasion. Over one hundred past students attended, also bidding a fond farewell to Mr Laurie Hamilton and Ms Lindy Spreadborough who retire after thirty years of service to Art and Design at Yarra. Yarra Valley has always been known for its vibrant Art and Design department and the many offerings available; the Certificate IV in Design course is perhaps the jewel in the crown. It has a legacy that goes back beyond the 20 years, to the old HSC days, when the School delivered an alternate art based stream in the senior years called Study Structure X. With the introduction of the VCE and the demise of Technical schools, TAFE forged links into secondary education with their VET courses. Yarra became the first and remains the only school in the state to offer the Certificate IV in Design to its Year 11 and 12 students, and can boast many successful graduates. The August 20th anniversary celebration
was a very special event as more than one hundred past students and teachers of the course gathered to celebrate. There were some for whom this was the first visit back in thirty years, while others graduated only last year, with everything in between. The Mathematics and Science building made for a marvellous venue, ringing to the upbeat tempo of the Jazz Combo band, all who entered the doors broke into a big smile as they recognised old friends and shared fond memories. There was an exhibition of past students and staff recent art work that laid testimony to the talent the School has nurtured. Attendees were still actively involved in Art and Design, for many it was a full time career.
The event also marks the end of an era as Ms Lindy Spreadborough and Mr Laurie Hamilton are both retiring this year. In her speech to the group, Lindy said that her greatest, most enjoyable feature of teaching a specialist Art course at Yarra Valley over thirty years had been the friendship shared every step of her student’s creative journeys, at School and beyond. It is not uncommon for past students of the area to pop in from time to time, just to touch base with art staff and share their latest happenings, and they are always warmly received. In an age of instant and short term delivery – teaching represents a very long term investment, a trust fund of knowledge, skill and experience that can take many years to mature. The Skype calls from Holland and the UK, the many emails from interstate, the large crowd on the night – all reveal that the return on this teaching investment has been exponential. Mrs Sue Plumb Head of Art Design and Technology
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Early Sports Learning Centre
Early Learning Centre Contents Top level rating for excellence
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Engaging in our environment
40
Art display
42
Group photos
44
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Early Learning Centre
Top level rating for excellence In May this year the ELC was assessed and received the top level rating of exceeding national quality standards. A National Quality Framework (NQF) for Early Childhood Education and Care was introduced by the Australian Government several years ago. The NQF aims to raise quality and drive continuous improvement and consistency in education and care services. One outcome of the NQF was the development of a national quality rating and assessment process. Services are assessed against the National Quality Standard by Regulatory Authorities and provided with a rating from one of the five rating levels. The award of the top level rating is a significant achievement and is a result of dedication and passion from all those involved. The assessment process, undertaken by the Department of Education and Training was lengthy and meticulous; however, provided staff with the opportunity to showcase our excellent program and quality approach to early childhood education. The report included the following noteworthy comments highlighting what we offer to children and their families. • The programme was engaging and developmentally appropriate, maximising each child’s learning and development opportunities. • Each child’s learning and development was part of an ongoing cycle of planning, documentation and evaluation. It was an interactive process that drove the development of the programme.
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• The organisation of educators contributed to a high quality learning and care environment. • Collaborative learning opportunities were effectively facilitated and every child was consistently supported to work with, learn from and help others. • There was the establishment of clear goals and high expectations for teaching and learning at the service. Congratulations to all staff for this achievement of excellence. Mrs Nicky Callow Director, Early Learning
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Early Learning Centre
Engaging in our environment Situated within natural bush land and with views to the Dandenong Ranges it is no wonder that students at our Early Learning Centre are inspired to have a passion for caring for and engaging with the outdoors. The purpose built centre makes use of the natural slope of the land and the children’s play is often focused around a pivotal gum tree, complete with a resident owl. The children are able to access the wider School environment, where bush picnics and adventures often see them exploring and making discoveries for hours. It is their outdoor classroom where they are inspired by hands on experiences of the natural elements they encounter. They clamour over trees and make collections of natural objects to take back to the centre to use in their play, art work and literacy and numeracy tasks. The open spaces afford them the opportunity to run without stopping, slosh and splash in natural water forms or just be still as they listen to bush noises.
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The teachers at the centre make environmental issues part of their daily teaching and engagement with the children. Together they have designed and implemented practices for conserving energy and water. The centre makes use of water tanks for the general running of the building and tanks have been specifically installed for the children to access and use in their play both inside and out. The students take responsibility for composting their food scraps and using the bi-product from the worm farm on the vegetable gardens. They take delight in being able to actively participate in the maintenance of the gardens and enjoy tasting and cooking with the variety of foods they grow. Working collaboratively with families on the reduction of waste in packed lunches and using recycled .
materials brought in from home to pursue creative art interests has been successful in encouraging the children to be environmental ambassadors outside the Early Learning Centre. Animals and their care and protection play a central role in the program with class pets and visiting animal rearing programs encouraged. The children have often been inspired by discussions and stories about endangered species and with guidance from teachers, investigative projects and small fun raising missions have been pursued. The teachers focus on instilling the children to care for both their immediate environment and the wider community with an important aim being to develop the notion that they have the ability to make a valuable contribution towards a sustainable future. Mrs Nicky Callow Director of Early Learning
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Early Learning Centre Visual Arts
Art display
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Early Learning Centre
Group photos
ELC GREEN GROUP Teachers: Mrs Carol Thorneycroft, Mrs Michelle Dwyer, Miss Amorina Priestly, Mrs Amy Avery Back row: David Li, Gabriel Forcadell, Emily McLean, Joel Penaluna, Dylan Withers, Chase Smith, Isabella Hams Middle row: Mia Pateras, Lachlan Bourne, Kayla Ferraro, Jack Weimar, Tru Spittle, Alannah Nalder Front row: Alfie Turner, Sophia Chu, Jayden Yin, Eva Synnott, Alya Arora, Olivia Belshaw-Weir, Joseph Nad, Jack Robinson, Stefan Cardinale
ELC RED GROUP Teachers: Mrs Jacinda Hills, Mrs Viv Kendall Back row: Harriet Digweed, Lincoln O’Hare, Adam Withers, Max Fan, Amelia Balharrie Middle row: Anthea Zhang, Abbey Terrill, Violet Rayner, Xavier Foote, Luke Andrews, Alexander West, Mia Dawes, Alysha Veith, Matthew Sabey Front row: Harry Bourne, Lachie McKinnell, Zi Lin Wang, Kai Goodwin, Gavin Fu, Luke Cerritelli Absent: Levi Brown
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ELC BLUE GROUP Teachers: Miss Amorina Priestly, Mrs Carol Thorneycroft Back row: Mace Hannon, Jack Robinson, Zoe Keogh, Isabelle Hams, Cooper Davies, Ava Colaneri, Gabriel Forcadell Middle row: Alya Arora, Trinity Dobson, Sophie Kogios, Chloe Fox, Kayla Ferraro Front row: David Li, Tru Spittle, Joseph Nad, James Hyett, Ava Pauly, Erick Lu, Thomas O’Toole
ELC YELLOW GROUP Teachers: Mrs Nicky Callow, Mrs Heather Talbot, Mrs Joanne Rumian Back row: Remy Pertile, Olivia Frazer, Madeline Hooper, Chloe Taylor, Jemma Eade, Phoebe Freier Middle row: Bethany Van Lierop, Oliver Bradd, Alexander Howard-West, Richard Howard-West Front row: Angus Parker, Phoenix Campanaro, Ryder Redmond, Max Adshead, Lewis Leary Absent: Charlotte Ford-Binko and Max Rosler
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Early Learning Centre
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Junior School
Junior School Contents
From the Head of Junior School
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From the School Captains
50
Extending and challenging thinking
52
Pascoe Resource Centre
53
Junior Music
54
Art display
56
Fun sports
62
House swimming
64
House athletics
66
Prep 68 Year 1
70
Year 2
72
Year 3
74
Year 4
76
Year 5
78
Year 6
82
Class photos
84
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Junior School
From the Head of Junior School The work done by our ELC staff over the past few years has been excellent and, in fact, our Centre was acknowledged this year by independent assessors as providing a program which is exceeding the expectations of the National Quality Framework in all seven areas of assessment. The outcome of this is that the children who move through our ELC program should be better equipped in social and academic terms to begin their schooling journey in the future. Enrolment numbers for ELC next year will be the largest we have seen since the opening of the centre. Throughout the year, our staff have provided many opportunities for our students. From my point of view, I still see a blend of oral activities, bookwork, ICT and hands on learning, as a consistent feature at all year levels. The provision of iPads in all year levels on a shared set basis and then 1:1 from Year 5 has proved to be of benefit to our students and staff, although a good blend of learning experiences is still the key to a balanced program.
Special days and camps give me a fantastic opportunity to watch children at close hand. Recently, I was at the Year 3 camp and really enjoyed spending time with the students at Shoreham Reef and Point Leo. I can confirm that for many students, the thrill of seeing something new, of finding out new facts, of overcoming a challenge or of making new friends, will be a lasting memory. What a way to learn! Each year, we sit back as a staff and look at the data (student results etc.) and set targets as to what we will tackle in the forthcoming year. We set these targets in order to provide the best opportunities for our children. As a Junior School, and as outlined in the School’s Strategic Plan, we aim to provide core skills in Literacy and Numeracy as well as to provide for Creativity in our experiences. Providing children with a set of core skills is essential for them to move to secondary school. As such, we continue to place additional resources into ensuring that core concepts involving sound/symbol relationships, phonics, reading, number and the four operations are heavily drilled in the early years and reinforced as children move through our Primary section. At the other end of the scale, extension opportunities are provided for children who have mastered core skills and need a challenge to move them on to the next stage of their learning. Our School continues to have a reputation for its positive culture and this extends to the students, the parents and the staff. We are lucky to work in such a positive
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environment where mutual respect, care for our children and support for our programs is so obvious. Our School Board and Executive are supportive also, providing the resources we require to ensure the best possible programs for our children and I thank the many parents who take the opportunity to give us positive feedback about our School, or to make suggestions for improvements. Our new playground was a fantastic example of how our community got together to support an initiative through to completion. At times we have to deliver bad news and this may be in the form of advice about specific learning difficulties, recommendations for further student assessment or even how we have decided to place students into classes. I thank our parents for seeing that this comes from a professional point of view and for taking our recommended advice. We are, after all, a professional group of staff who take our role seriously. At the end of the year we farewell Mrs Gemma Whyte from full time teaching. Gemma has been at Yarra for over 16 years and has always worked hard to provide the children in her classes with the individual attention, hands on learning and the support they require. We wish her well for the future.
Dr Marie Karakis, our Junior School Psychologist, leaves us at the end of the year to move into full time private practice. Marie has provided invaluable advice and support to families in her six years here and we wish her all the best for this next stage in her career. Mrs Julie Seidel and Mr Ash Price leave us to move to new employment opportunities and we thank them for the care and concern they have shown our children during their time here. Ms Di Greenway is taking a year off to travel and we also wish her well. We look forward to welcoming our 2016 cohort back on deck in the New Year. Mr Chris Lawson Deputy Principal – Head of Junior School
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Junior School
Reflection from Junior School Captains We entered school on a Friday late in January with much excitement and ready for our final year in Junior School. The first thing the Year 6s were particularly looking forward to was receiving our personal sport tops however these would take a little while to arrive so we had to now focus on other things. Such as our first assembly together where all of the Junior School leaders were presented with their badges representing their leadership positions. The year was underway. Term 1 was busy and included for some the swimming sports fun day, camp for Year 5 and Year 4 and a major highlight for Year 6 – the Amazing Race. Added to this was meeting our Prep buddies who quickly settled into school life. We had great memories of our own fairy tale fiasco, we loved seeing this year’s Preps dressed up and they were VERY excited. As Junior School Captains we had the opportunity to represent the School at a special ANZAC Day service in Ringwood. This was a special time for us as several of us had the opportunity to be involved in the service. ANZAC Day was an early start for
us as were privileged to be laying the wreath at the Ringwood Dawn Service. Being the 100 year anniversary of the landing of Gallipoli, this was a very special service. We followed this up with our camp to Canberra where we also had the opportunity to lay a wreath at the War Memorial in their special Last Post Ceremony. We returned from this camp with a lot of knowledge about the history of Australia and how Parliament works. Back at school there was lots going on. Year 3 and 5 were getting ready for their NAPLAN testing and our Resource Centre Captains were preparing for the National Simultaneous Storytime. This was a great chance to work in our Cross Age Buddy (CAB) groups which were a new part of Junior School this year. Lots of stories came back from the various excursions held throughout the year including visits to the Strathmore Space Station, the Botanical Gardens, the City, the Immigration Museum, Healesville Sanctuary plus many more. We always loved seeing the pictures from these excursions as some of them brought back happy memories for us.
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There is always lots of sport happening and everyone always looks forward to Friday sport and inter-school sport. Some students love the cross country while for others, this is a big challenge. On Fridays there has been a running club for those who want to improve their fitness and this has been very popular. Competing against the other AGS schools has helped us experience what it will be like when we get to Year 7. In Year 6 we celebrated with Sam Norton, Caitlin and Harrish who made it into state teams in their personal sports. This year we had our first House Music Festival. This was lots of fun and we really enjoyed having the Year 9s come to help us. There is always a lot of music in Junior School and we had the chance to show our talents at various music nights and during assembly. We will miss Junior School and have loved having the chance to be the Junior School Captains. Now we are looking forward to the new adventures of Middle School. Seth Cameron and Sarah Lewis Junior School Captains
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Junior School
Extending and challenging thinking 2015 has provided many exciting and rewarding challenges for students participating in the Extension and Enrichment program in Junior School. The range of opportunities has been extensive and has invited the participation of students from many levels of learning and areas of expertise and interest. The year began with a talented group of Year 3 writers exploring the world of storybooks and the publishing process. The team of students worked collaboratively to design and publish a unique bookshelf of digital storybooks. The young authors thoroughly enjoyed sharing their stories with the group and also with their peers in the classroom. The collection received great interest and some rewarding feedback. Mathematics has continued to be a favourite of many of our Junior School students and a large number have participated with enthusiasm in weekly sessions offered at a variety of year levels. Programs have been designed to extend the students understanding and challenge their interest, with a particular focus on learning to explore and solve a range of worded problems and challenging scenarios. Our Senior Primary team has once again participated in the Maths
Olympiad program. This year the team extended an invitation to an enthusiastic group of Year 5 mathematicians. It has been impressive to observe the development of the groups as the year has progressed, exhibiting new skills in problem solving, mathematical ability and working collaboratively. The G.A.T.E.ways programs have been a highlight and a chance for students from each year level to spend a day engaging with new team members and investigating some amazing topic areas. Those who have attended have recounted rich learning experiences and an incredible depth of new knowledge and understanding. A highlight for this year was to invite students from Year 3 to 6 to take part in the G.A.T.E.ways Challenge. The program required the teams to work together to solve problems in a given time by employing a range of key skills. The commitment and maturity employed by the teams was admirable. This year, a group of Senior Primary students entered the Mercedes Pedal Car Design challenge. Our team spent a great deal of time planning, researching and building the entry. The design area came alive with creative thinking, engaging discussion and inspiring design. Involvement in the project was most worthwhile and provided the students with valuable learning experiences and skills.
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During Term 4, a team of students travelled into Federation Square to participate in the ACMI animation initiative. This wonderful opportunity provided a day of learning the skills behind creating a professional animation production. Students were asked to employ their creative script writing ability, to design scenery and ultimately construct a unique animation to express their ideas. So much has been achieved throughout the year, with Year 5 students involved in the Senior Primary Robotics initiative at lunchtime during the Term 2. A large number of students have participated in the ICAS Assessment program across a range of areas of learning; their achievements have been admirable. The Junior School students are to be congratulated for their enthusiasm and willingness to participate in new opportunities and to strive to always give their best. Mrs Nicole Rogers Junior School Curriculum Coordinator
Pascoe Resource Centre – 2015… the Year of Snail and Turtle (a.k.a the 13th sign of the zodiac!) “Hello Turtle!” “Hello Snail!” “It’s been a while since we starred in National Simultaneous Storytime. We were such a hit that we were offered movie roles in: The Adventures of Snail and Turtle, Snail and Turtle Reborn, Snail and Turtle Back Again……….” “Whoa, calm down Turtle!” “Sorry. It’s just that we have been so busy with our movies that we haven’t even caught up with the Resource Centre Captains to find out what’s been happening in the Junior School library!” Emma and Thomas suddenly pop out of nowhere.
“We can tell you all about what has happened this year in the Carter Resource Centre. Would you like that?” “We would love to hear that!” chorused Snail and Turtle. “The year started quietly with the main event being the organization of the Premiers’ Reading Challenge. This made us think that we would get to relax but boy, were we wrong! National Simultaneous Storytime was held in Term 2 and you two, Snail and Turtle, were the stars of that presentation! Adam Wallace, a very funny local author and illustrator also visited to launch his new book and show us how to create amusing drawings.”
“During Term 3 we had the Book Fair. We saw happy faces as many students got to purchase a new book. Our surprise guest this year was Garfield. We also started a Junior Primary Book Club for students from Prep to Year 2. Each week we read a story and completed a fun and creative activity linked to the book. During this term the Premiers’ Reading Challenge came to an end. Finally, we had the Children’s Book Week Awards with this year’s theme being; Books Light Up Our World. Many deserving books received awards.” “Our final term as Resource Centre Captains was less hectic. As part of their Community Service program, Year 8 students came to read and share stories with the younger students and we continued to help out in the library during lunch time.” “Well, thank you Emma and Thomas, we really enjoyed hearing about the year in the library.” On a final note, our journey as Resource Centre Captains for 2015 has been incredible. We had such a busy year and we have learnt so much. We would like to thank Mrs Andrews for her help and Mrs McAllister for making the library an amazing and creative learning environment. We will miss the Junior School library so much, especially our wonderful snail and turtle friends!” Emma King and Thomas McIntosh Resource Centre Captains
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Junior School
Junior Music – a joyful and musical year This year Music started with a bang! From the beginning of Term 1 to the end of Term 4 the Junior School Music year has been unforgettable! We have had many exciting performances. We started off with a spectacular concert, our all-time favourite, the Food Wine and Music Festival. We really enjoyed listening to all the musicians from Year 3 to Year 12. The Year 3 Choir sang, If We could talk to the Animals and they were fantastic! The Junior School Choir sang This Little Light of Mine which was amazing with all the candles. The second song was Siyahambe which was really different because it was sung in African. The rest of the night was simply music to our ears!
Music Festival was all about the four House groups working together and performing as a team. The theme was Australiana and each House was given a special song to prepare and make it shine. The winners were Hughes! The Choral Concert was a whole School event, Year 3 – Year 12. Everyone loved the singing, it was a great night!
Before we knew it we were in Term Two! Our next magnificent show was the Junior School Instrumental and Ensemble Concert. At this event we heard many glorious musicians. Some showed us their stunning talent on an instrument and others their magical singing voices. It was a delightful evening.
All year long we have enjoyed fabulous songs in the Choirs and performed on our instruments in the Junior School Ensembles. They have never let us down and are so special to be a part of. We think you’ll agree this year has been a very joyful and musical one!
In Term 3 we prepared for another two amazing concerts; The House Music Festival and the Choral Concert. The House
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In Term 4 we are preparing for our Presentation Night. The choirs will sing and our Junior School Orchestra and Junior School Band will feature.
Samuel Tribolet and Indianna Reynoldson-Ross Music Captains
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Junior School
Prep – Year 2
Aimaan Arora, Year 1
Ben Baulch, Year 2
Ava O’Hare, Year 1
James Sabey, Tegwen Rogers, Gabriel Norton, Year 1
Jules Daniel, Year 1
Jake Ferraro, Year 2
Allie King, Year 3
Freya Shepherd Year 2 Michael Korobitsin, Year 2
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Broc Taylor, Year 2
Ryan Zu, Year 2
Rockets, Year 2
Mia Morgan, Year 1
Sam Oakley-Slingsby, Year 2
Scarlett Foote, Year 1
Scarlett May, Prep E
Lolita Quinn, Year 2
Koalas, Prep E
Winter Birds, Prep E
Isaac Scott, Prep E
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Junior School
Year 3 and 4
Joel Glassborrow, Year 4
Matthew Killender, Year 3
Mini Me, Year 3
Zentangles, Year 3
Year 3 Paper Landscape
Year 3 Paper Landscape
Year 3 Name art and printing Prep–Cinderella and 3 little pigs
Name art, Year 3
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Bobble Heads, Year 3
Farms, Year 3
Jacky Xu, Year 4
Year 4 Sailing
Jemma Oakley-Slingsby, Year 4
Kami Dickins, Year 4
Sienna Manks, Sithma Uduwela, Jemma Oakley-Slingsby Year 4
David Broadbent Year 4 Isobella Grounds, Year 4
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Junior School
Year 5 and 6
Jamie Nance, Zoe Glassborow, Maggie Brewer, Year 6
Year 6, Dragon
Chelsea Dunoon, Samantha Gilbert, Sarah Lewis, Year 6Brewer, Year 6
Billy Smith, Year 5
Year 5 Mural
Jacob Hickling, Year 5
Seth Cameron, Year 6 Ben Grant, Year 6
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Nathan White, Year 6
Year 5 Aboriginal design
Andy Huang, Year 5
Brayden Gosling, Anthony Pellegrino, Nicholas McLarty, Year 5
Ashton Poppenbeek, Year 5
Bethany McCaffrey, Year 6
Jasmine Taylor, Year 6
Year 6 Collage
Nicholas McLarty, Year 5
Zac Warton,Year 6
Lauren Haydon, Year 5
Clare Grogan, Year 5
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Junior School
Fun sports
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Junior School
House swimming
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Junior School
House athletics
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Junior School
Prep – fun, laughter and learning Our 2015 year in Prep has been one full of fun, laughter, learning and personal growth. The prep year presents many changes, challenges and new experiences for our students. The Prep class of 2015 has used the You Can Do It program to develop the skills of confidence, getting along, persistence, organisation and resilience. The many highlights of the year include the 10 days of Prep, The Fairy Tale Ball, the Prep Restaurant, visiting McAdam Square, PMP, Healesville Sanctuary and Reptile Encounters. We hope these experiences are lasting memories for the children to share as they move through the School together. Mrs Tess Ellul Prep Teacher
When I grow up I want to be…… When I grow up I want to be a wrestler, because I like wrestling with my brother and my cousins. Zac When I grow up I want to be a firefighter, because I want to save people so they won’t get hurt by fires. Orlando When I grow up I want to be a gamer and a lawyer, because I like playing games on the computer and my Mum is a lawyer. Oliver When I grow up I want to be a pilot, because I like flying in a plane. Austin When I grow up I want to be a scientist, because I like finding out how life works. Matthew When I grow up I want to be a doctor, because I want to know some people’s names and fix them up when they are sick. Eva When I grow up I want to be a racing car driver and a long distance runner, because I am doing running at Little Athletics. Isaac When I grow up I want to be a firefighter, because you can help people get out of the fire. Hunter When I grow up I want to be a policeman, because I can save people and if baddies take our things I can come and handcuff them and take them to jail. Taylor
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When I grow up I want to be a doctor, because I can save people from emergencies so they don’t get an injury. Vihaan When I grow up I want to be a Healesville Sanctuary worker, because then I’d get to see all the animals there. Fletcher When I grow up I want to be a policeman, because I want to catch bad people. Oliver When I grow up I want to be a fireman, because I’d like to squirt the hose to put out the fire. Leo When I grow up I want to be a scientist who looks for sea dinosaurs and land dinosaurs, because they look powerful. Gordon When I grow up I want to be a doctor, because I want to help people and earn lots of money. Amara
When I grow up I want to be a horse rider, because I like horses and I like the feel of them. Lucy When I grow up I want to be an author, because I like reading books. Scarlett When I grow up I want to be a dancer, because I love dancing. Mia When I grow up I want to be a person who teaches people how to drive a car, because that means people don’t have accidents. Marshall When I grow up I want to be a player for my footy team, because I am a fast runner and I am good at jumping. You need to be good at jumping so you can catch the ball. Wyatt When I grow up I want to be a mum, because you get to work with babies. Gia
www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2015 | 69
Junior School
Year 1 – toys and carnival fun The Year 1s have had an exciting year of learning. It has been a year where expectations have increased and the students have embraced the challenges associated with this. There have been so many highlights from the year and special school memories created. The Toys unit in Term 3 explored the history of and the role of toys in our society. They also discovered how a toy works and constructed their own arcade game. The students enjoyed finding out about how toys have changed over time. Some toys from the past were introduced and the students were pleasantly surprised with the fun that they had. Who remembers playing elastics at school? Ms Jo McKneil and Miss Elisha Blake Year 1 Teachers
The Year 1s were asked to write about some of the activities that were planned during this unit‌ TOY INCURSION We liked using the saw because it was fun. We liked hammering because it is cool. We could keep our cars forever. Christian Li, Zane Adams and Ryan Pateras At the start we had to saw. It was fun. We had to saw both sides. We also had to hammer nails in the wood and it was tricky but really good to try. We made amazing cars and heaps of dads helped. There were some mums too. Will Dodson, Bailey Collins and Harry Brown We loved making cars with real tools. We used hammers, nails and saws. We had to use sand paper to smooth the wood so the car looked really good. We had to nail the car together. We loved making the cars. Mia Morgante and Mia Kelly It was so much fun using the saws to make the cars. It was hard hammering the nails into the wood but there were lots of dads to help us. It was so much fun playing with them afterwards. Samuel Redgrove and Shourya Singh There were cool cars to choose from when we needed to decide what type to make. There were hammers and saws and nails. We had to trace the car shape and saw it out. We had to wear glasses when we were sawing. We enjoyed hammering the nails. Harry Heath and Liam Dang
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MAKING OUR ARCADE GAMES Balloon Pop was the game we made for the Carnival Day. We blew balloons up. The balloons were in a box. The aim of the game was to throw the dart and pop the balloons. It was really tricky but people did have success. Elizabeth Nad and Lucy Bird Super Dooper Ping Pong was the game we made. We had to bounce the ball onto the table and into the cup. The materials we used to make our special game were ten cups, paint and a ping pong ball. It was really tricky to get the ball into the cups as they kept on bouncing onto the edges of the cups. Some people did it and it was exciting! Matilda Willson, Mehrnaz Shivaee Garryz and Sienna Hams The name of our game was Ring Toss. You throw the hoop onto the poles. We painted our game purple, blue and yellow. We used cardboard poles and a box. Our game was a lot of fun and lots of people wanted to play it. We loved making it. Aleesha Bourne and Dalia Ferraro Our Arcade game was called The Pizza Shooter. It was made out of boxes, pegs, string, plastic lids and a balloon as a tongue. The rules were that you needed to throw the pizza into the mouth. It looked really fantastic and we were proud of our game. Harry Gong and Jake Millar
Our game was called The Fantastic Soccer Player. We used green paper and a cardboard box. We used wooden sticks and pegs for people. We also used straws and string. One person would try to score a goal by getting the ball into the cup and the other person would try to stop the person by moving the sticks which moved the pegs. Not many people scored goals because it was very hard. It was so much fun to make. Gabriel Norton, Nicholas Leary and Jasper Marino
WHEN THE PREPS CAME TO OUR CARNIVAL The Preps had lots of fun playing the arcade games. There was lollies and music. There was lots of Preps lining up at each game. We ate so much popcorn and threw it up into the air for a fun photo. Carnivals are so much fun and it was so cool that we made our own at School. Tegwen Rogers and Christian Sabey When the Preps came into our carnival we were a bit nervous. When they started, it turned out to be good and really fun and exciting. The first person to play Aimann’s game was Isaac and he got twenty points. After the Preps, the parents came in to play our amazing games. It was exciting to play our friends games too. Aimaan Arora and Scarlett Foote
The Preps were the first people to play with our arcade games. Our games were popular with the Preps and some Preps were very good at it. We gave the Preps lollies and they were all smiling and enjoying themselves. James Sabey, Blake Withers and Evan Caddy
WHEN THE PARENTS CAME TO OUR CARNIVAL When the parents came to the arcade carnival it was fun. The parents played all the games and told us that we did a really good job. We had lollies and popcorn. Cooper Willson and Elliott Smedley We had a special carnival day at School. Both our parents came. Our mums played our games. Our games were called The Bowling Machine and The Car Game. It was loud but really fun. Jules Daniel and Harry Giffard We liked when the parents came for the carnival. There was carnival music and lots of people came to us. They had a lot of fun trying to get the small paper balls in the holes. It was great and the popcorn was yummy. Ari Pertile and Ava O’Hare
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Junior School
Terrific times in two Our 2015 year has been full of terrific experiences; small, understated and very familiar, as well as grand, hugely exciting and brim-filled with captivating ideas. All of which challenged us to explore further and discover more. Please enjoy the Year 2s reflections on their year which has managed to speed past way too fast. Soon they will be in Year 3 and appreciating all that this level has to offer them in 2016. We wish them well for their future. Mrs Gemma Whyte and Mr Stuart Ward Year 2 Teachers
Reflections for 2015
Ttt MUSIC is EPIC! We got to play the
xylophone and other instruments. We learned so many songs. I learned drums as well. Mrs Schmidli is a fun teacher! Hamish Dickens
Ttt “Bonjour tout le monde” This year we had three French sessions a fortnight. We learnt how to count to sixty…WOW! I now know lots of French names for animals like le chat et le chien and the French names for fruit and vegetables like la frais or la pomme de terre. I have Jolingo on my iPad. It me helps me learn my French. Noah Grundy Ttt Green Day is so much FUN! You get to wear free dress but you also have to make sure that you wear something green. We had to reuse (recycle) stuff if we made a costume. We also had to donate a GOLD COIN to the Wildlife Foundation to stop extinction happening to any of our wildlife! Emilise Nemeth Ttt It was COOL when we investigated rock pools and being safe at the beach. We made our own rock pools in Art. We even made our animals in clay. Seaweed Sam was ACE. I particularly liked being able to touch the starfish and the sea squirt. One squirted sea water in my face…YUCK! Sam Oakley-Slingsby Ttt Mmmm…it smells delicious. I made a tomato pizza. So many people liked it! My partner was Emilise, but she wasn’t there because she was sick. I had to do it with my mum’s help. Jacob Scott
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Ttt On Footy Day I wore my dad’s jumper . He was an A.F.L’er. He played for Richmond. In Winter I played football with the Year 4s during lunch break because I like playing football like my dad. Footy Day let us practise all our skills. Oscar Nalder Ttt Hi Peeps, I’m going to talk about MATHS! This Year we started with some simple Maths then it got HARDER! Live Maths in Mathletics was the hardest. We made Arrays, Number Lines and more. I love Maths! Mrs Whyte tells me I am a great mathematical thinker. Ashton Salmon Ttt The music played, the sun was shining. Outside…we danced together. We had lots of FUN! I was happy but very tired after it…ZZZZZZ Alexander Pateras Ttt The French Puppet Show was so GOOD! My favourite princess was in it. It was a production of Beauty and the Beast.
Some of it was in French and some was in English. I LOVED IT! Freya Shepherd
Ttt I had a fantastic day at the Royal Botanic Gardens. I loved everything but my favourite part was when we went into the green house. WOW, I had never seen so many interesting plants in my life. PHEW, it was so hot in there that I had to take my jumper off. Lochie Baulch Ttt You won’t believe this but I am a pretty
good swimmer. We do swimming in Term 1 and Term 4 at School. I practise in my pool. Joshua McLean
Ttt We had so much fun in R.E this year. Mr Joy is our R.E teacher. Sometimes Mrs Bowen takes us for R.E too. We learn about people in the Bible, we learn about being kind to each other and sometimes we talk about our holidays. Ana Kyval
Ttt Term 3 was so exciting! The whole term we learnt about Australia. My favourite thing was reading the Alison Lester book, Are We There Yet? Every week we would read a chapter of the text and then write and illustrate a postcard using information from the chapter that we were reading. We made a postcard book to take home. Patrick Zhang Ttt Last Friday we had our Adventure Day. It was s-o-o-o good. We went on a very new bus. First stop was at the berry farm. We picked a whole punnet of strawberries and then we were allowed to eat as many as we could pick at the end. The strawberries were super sweet. They were as sweet as! We went to Emerald Lake and did some activities and ate our lunch. My best part of the day was when we went on Puffing Billy. We were allowed to sit up on the ledge and dangle our feet over the side of the carriage. Broc Taylor www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2015 | 73
Junior School
Year 3 – learning inspires future ambitions Lachie Anderson
Troy Calverley-Downing
One of my highlights was going to Scienceworks. It inspired me to study different areas of science.
When I’m grown up, I want to play for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL. The House Athletics inspired me to run faster.
Charli Adams
Noah Cameron
I liked learning about notable people in Term 1 and what they did to help the world. I also learned a lot about the features of creatures in Term 2 and where different animals come from. I don’t know what I want to be when I’m older but I think I’d like to look after animals.
During the Everyone is unique unit, I researched a notable person who was an inventor. I have been inspired by him and our Scienceworks excursion to become a scientist who invents new things.
Chloe Bell
I really liked the Cities of the World Expo. It has inspired me to travel in Australia and around the world when I finish school.
Charli Collins
I really want to work with ocean animals and save their environment for them. The Year 3 Our Mighty Ocean unit taught me many interesting facts about marine mammals and the ocean habitat.
Ryan Dang
When I am older, I would like to help animals. When we visited the zoo I found it very interesting all the different types of animals and what the keepers needed to do to look after them. Alex Dean
When I’m older I really want to be a faster runner. I want to be one of the fastest runners in the world. The House Athletics inspired me to do running. Lawson Finnen
I want to save money to give it to people. I learnt how to save money when we had the Year 3 Money System. Benjamin Foster
When I finish school, I want to work at Scienceworks. It had loads of interesting things. I would like to work in an area using electricity. Isaac Freier
I liked the Cities of the World Expo because there were interesting facts and yummy food from around the world and when I grow up, I want to go to some of those cities and even more cities.
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Jake Galstians
Sarah O’Brien
Morgan Stevens
We learnt about the ANZACs and their experiences. I now find war history interesting. The ANZACs have inspired me to go into the army and serve my country.
When I’m older I would like to work in science. I learnt about this when we went on the Scienceworks Excursion. I think there are a lot of interesting things you can do with science.
I really would like to become a very good short distance runner. I really enjoyed the first time at House Athletics this year and it inspired me to become an athlete.
Dilan Patel
When I grow up I want to help the environment because I don’t want the animals to get sick. The Creature Features unit taught me that.
After going on our zoo excursion, I found the different types of animals interesting and would like to know how to look after them when I am older. I really want to be a zoo keeper and work with animals.
Cooper Patterson
Eden Taylor
I was inspired by the electricity area at Scienceworks to experiment with electricity when I’m older, most likely in the army.
I enjoyed the Year 3 class money system and learnt a lot. I’ll be better at counting money when I’m older and earning lots of it.
When I grow up, I would like to be an Olympian swimmer after swimming in the House Swimming Carnival for the first time this year.
Michael Quartermain
Harry Thwaites
When I grow up, I want to make machines because I liked the machines at Scienceworks.
I really want to own an aquarium when I’m older. The Year 3 Our Mighty Ocean unit inspired me to be an aquarium owner.
Andrew Liu
Elwyn Rogers
Cameron Turner
When I finish school, I would like to save ocean life and discover weird creatures in the ocean because Our Mighty Ocean unit has inspired me to do this.
When I grow up, I want to be a marine biologist and journey to the deep depths of the ocean and see what I learned about while making my Our Mighty Ocean project.
When I did District athletics, it inspired me to be an athlete. I would like to be in the Olympics.
Elise Mitchell
Lily Reynolds
When I finish school I would like to travel around the world and save animals like the Tasmanian devil. I would like to see the cities I learnt about in the Cities of the World unit and help save the animals I learnt about during the Creature Features unit.
I want to work with animals when I’m older and help save the endangered animals like the Tasmanian devil that I learnt about during the Creature Features unit.
I really loved Our Mighty Ocean unit in Term 4. When I grow up, I want to protect the marine life from pollution.
Josh Galstians
When I’m older I really want to be a runner. Scienceworks was the best excursion but I loved the cross country and athletics. Matthew Killender
When I grow up I’d like to be an Astronaut because in Term 1, we went to Scienceworks and I learned about what it would be like in space. Logan Kellet-Jackson
Grace Morgante
When I finish school, I would really like to work with ocean animals I learnt about during Our Mighty Ocean unit in Term 4. I want to help protect them and their environment.
William Solano
I was really inspired by the best teachers, Mr Allison (he was my Year 3 teacher) and the wonderful Miss Rosendale. They taught me so many things and helped me with every unit. I would like to be a teacher like them.
Harry Stoppa
Johnny Turner
Abbey Walters
When I’m older I really want to work with animals. I realised this when I went on the Year 3 Zoo Excursion. I really liked the monkeys. Ryan Zang
When I grow up, I want to work with animals because the Creature Features unit inspired me to care for animals.
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Year 4 – history and challenges Year 4 in 2015 saw the arrival of four new students; Rina, Luca, David and Jacky and they all quickly became a part of our Yarra family. It was exciting to see such happy faces in our year level and to get to know them all. And it was the first time that Mrs Argyle and Mr Bisset had worked together at Yarra and they were assisted by Mrs Rogers. First term had an historical flavor and we learnt about the convicts who came to Australia on the First Fleet. To assist our studies, we sailed on an actual sailing ship, the Enterprise and it was a fabulous experience. We learnt about navigation and felt as though we were back in the eighteenth century. It was also great to see the Docklands from the water. We finished the term by going on camp at Wootton Lodge and everyone had a wonderful time. A highlight was meeting Anny, the new Outdoor Ed leader and cooking marshmallows around a camp fire. The second term is always a favourite in Year 4 because we leant about the dinosaur age. All kids love dinosaurs and we each studied our own one in detail, even making a diorama to represent the environment in which each dinosaur lived. We visited IMAX and the Melbourne Museum and were blown away by the dinosaur skeletons that were made to actual scale. The next term Mr Bisset went to do Mr Lawson’s job in the office and we welcomed Ms Mariani into Year 4. She very
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really was a fabulous year and we’d like to thank the parents for allowing us to spend the year with such a wonderful group of girls and boys. Mrs Libby Argyle and Mr Phil Bisset Year 4 Teachers
REFLECTIONS FROM YEAR 4
quickly settled in and knew the entire group in no time. Term 3’s major study was about the seasons and the rotation of the Earth and to add to our knowledge we went to Scienceworks and the Planetarium. Term 4 had a focus on peoples’ abilities and challenges and we were given the opportunity to learn more about how people have had to learn to cope with a personal challenge. The visit by the people from Disability & Sport Recreation really helped us to understand and show empathy for others. Later in the year we were challenged personally by learning to skate at the O’Brien Arena in Docklands. It
Tall Ship During Term 1 we studied the First Fleet and the Year 4s went on a replica tall ship called the Enterprise and we tried to imagine what it would have been like in the convict days. When we set off it was a bit weird at first but once sailing, it was awesome. Some people helped to put up the sails and others watched fish swim past below. The captain told us what below decks was used for. Everyone had to duck each time the boom swung past. It was a really cool excursion. Hannah, Joel and Xavier Camp at Wootton Lodge Our camp was the very last week of Term 1! It took us 3 ½ hours to get there, but the trip was worth it, because the place was
awesome. I was so excited to see who was in my cabin group…Ayden, Jack, Tim and Adam (Dante). Anny had planned so many fun activities, but our favourite was Predator/Prey. The best part of the game was hiding and feeling the tension as people hunted us (Jack). Setting up our own tents and camping out overnight was the best (Tim). We also did rafting, bush shelter building and a whole lot more. I thought that the food was outstanding, especially the lasagne (Sienna). Dante, Sienna, Jack, Charlie, Tim and Charlotte Melbourne Museum & IMAX The Melbourne Museum is the most fantastic place we have ever seen. It has so many interesting features, such as learning about how scientists can tell what type of dinosaur it was by their teeth. Seeing the flying dinosaurs was a treat. We also liked the IMAX movie as the dinosaurs were in 3D. It felt as though the dinosaurs were going to reach out and get us, but Adam was not afraid. Issy thought that she was going to be gobbled up! After the museum and movie we went to a fabulous playground. It was a great day. My highlight was after this excursion. It was fun making my diorama which was based on the Muttaburrasaurus (Sithma). Jasmine, Issy, Luca, Sithma and Adam Scienceworks During Term 3 we went to Scienceworks and the Planetarium, which is a giant dome and projector to see the stars and planets, but we had no clues how they did it. Part of the experience was learning to think ahead. We saw a movie called Tilt about the seasons. Later we went to Alice in Wonderland and saw the Cheshire Cat booth. We also went to the sports section and could race against other people. Rina, Maddy, Jacky, Maxim and Kanhai
Cross Age Buddy System (CABS) My favourite CABS activity this year was the footy day, but all of the CABS activities were awesome. On the footy day I did handballing. One of the best parts of CABS was playing games, doing the activities and meeting a range of age groups. Aria Sport We loved Sport each Friday because we learnt to play all these different games, including some we had never heard of before. Some of us even got to play interschool sport against other schools and we were a bit nervous because we played against some Year 6 kids. We played footy and we managed to win two games (David). We had some wins and we had a few losses. I’m looking forward to playing with the Year 6 kids next year when we are in Year 5 (Zac). Maybe we’ll have more luck next year!
Special Times During Terms 3 and 4 we were lucky enough to miss some school and travel with our families. Fergus went around Australia, Fraser went to USA and Taj went to Port Douglas.
Some joined Mme Skudutis each Friday for running club and for me it was the highlight of sport this year (Byron). Jemma, Emma, David, Byron, Zac and Joel
Fraser: Central Park in New York was amazing. My favourite bit was the bike riding. I learnt that some rocks in the park were used on some of the buildings.
Choir Being a member of the choir is so much fun. It may be the beginning of a singing career for some of us. A highlight of this year was the Music, Food and Wine festival and we received a huge round of applause. The Choral Concert was brilliant, especially the Splish Splash song we sang. Kami, Rory and Zach
Taj: I could have stayed at the beach forever. Port Douglas is a beautiful place and the reef is so close. I loved it. Fergus, Fraser and Taj
Fergus: We went on the experience of a lifetime! We drove for about 15,000 km and saw some amazing places, like Coober Pedy.
On Behalf of the New Children Even though I started in Term 4 it feels so normal already. All of the other kids and teachers made me feel so welcome. Isabella K
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Year 5 – building confidence, resilience and empathy The Year 5 experience: What have I discovered about myself and others as learners and what kind of people do we aim to be? The passive me is gone and the selfmotivated me has arrived, making me the best learner I can be. I feel my social relationships have grown and that I’m a team player. I aim to be a person who is tolerant and accepting, as well as being flexible, confident and passionate towards my education. Camp Jungai was amazing, as it taught me a lot about the aboriginal community and it upset me when Shawn shared his personal story about his family, who mostly ended up in gaol. But when the elders allowed him to
make his own didgeridoo from a special tree that was inspiring. If there’s anything I have learned about other people this year, it is that people can change in a good way. They have more potential than you think – there is more than meets the eye. I feel very fortunate that I have come to a fantastic school like Yarra. In a fairly short time my confidence in my learning and communication has increased as my English has improved a lot. I have found the people in my class to be helpful.
This year I have learnt that life for the Aborigines was very hard and that exploring space is not as glamorous as it seems. Also this year, what I have discovered about myself is that I am a great speller, a friendly person, an enthusiastic reader and a good story writer. I have changed as a person this year, mainly in an empathetic way when I listened to some of the stories about the aborigines. When they told their stories, it was heart breaking. Since the start of Year 5, I have learned a lot about myself. First of all, I have been less shy and more confident in public speaking, I used to struggle to say words in front an audience. When I started Prep, I hid behind my parents when I went to the office. Now, I am grown up and can confidently ask questions and talk to the teacher. This year I have realised that I can push myself a little bit more, but in a good way. I have improved my confidence a lot. I am a lot more proactive and I understand more things. I have learnt to be creative, motivate myself and problem solve. 2015 at Yarra has been overwhelming. I have become more extensive in all of my studies and uncovered understanding and empathy into the world’s history. Throughout this year, I have discovered my improved flexibility and grown in confidence. I have changed so much since last year and matured dramatically.
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I believe that I have grown in my respect, especially after our Aboriginal and Immigration units. I think about the people who are doing poorly in their lives and I am very sympathetic towards those in hard times. I like that I am very confident and persistent with all that I do. I am always willing to give it a go. What I mostly like about myself is that I am organised and always believe in myself. From the very first day of Year 5, I have definitely matured a whole lot. I have discovered that I’ve gained more confidence and I have changed my ways of thinking. I learnt that people should treat the Aboriginal people with more respect. I aim to be a kind and considerate person. I want to set up a charity and help families all over the world in any way possible. Year 5 has been an amazing experience and I can’t wait until Year 6. What I think I’ve learnt this year is about real world events that have made me more empathetic and respectful. I have changed as a learner and have become flexible with my thinking. I have discovered that I have become more self-motivated. I like that I have an understanding and that I can make connections between information. Learning about immigration has made me be more compassionate and understanding, because the things that some people go through are terrible.
I have learnt I am a gracious loser and can accept defeat... I’ve also learnt that I am passionate about Space. I aim to be a NASA scientist when I grow up. I have learned that people who have been at Yarra with me since Kinder have grown up to be generous and kind towards others and are loyal friends. Everyone welcomes the newcomers who have all fitted in quickly and the whole year level gets on well. What I have learnt about other people is that even though we are so different, we get along just fine. The kind of person I would like to be is like Power Girl from Empower. She is selfless and a good friend and that is what type of person I would like to be. One memory activates another memory. It is what I think at school. School for me is a game. When you find a problem, you can always fix it. I think my brain makes millions of connections. I hope when I am older these connections will be like clues that will guide me and help me in the future. My life is unknown, but I know if I am at Yarra, my school life will be the best. This year has really pushed me to the top, in all my thinking. My problem solving has come a long way since the beginning of the year. I’m starting to understand deeper meanings in subjects at school.
I have learned many things about myself this year. I have learned about the aboriginal people and I have felt their pain which they would have experienced a long time ago. By doing this topic it has had me think more about the way we treated the aboriginal people and the way we took their land from them. Also learning about the migrants that had to leave their country because of war or to have a better life and how they may have been rejected by the government. I have changed as a thinker and a learner and understand real events that will happen in life. I have discovered about myself that if I put my mind to it and think out of the box, I can take on and complete difficult mathematical problems. I figured out that if I put in 100% effort that I can take on challenges that I have never done before and learn from them. This year I have enjoyed the Class Captain experience as it has been a lot more challenging and having to be a lot more independent and organised in order to be good leader. I have learned that people don’t need to be your friend, but you can still talk to them and be in a partnership with them. I aim to be the best person I can be, even in the most dire predicament I will try my best.
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Year 5 Poems The Eagle by Ishan Goel
The Suitcase by Arjun Gill
It was a peaceful, but depressing moment. Falling leaves touched the forest floor. There was intense pressure as the scrawny eagle’s claws alighted on the branch. The innocent squirrel jumped for its life because it knew there was danger. The vast beady eyes of the eagle stalked the frightened squirrel. The eagle’s pursuit petrified the squirrel while it was jumping from branch to branch. The squirrel jumps into its nest and hides, while the eagle lands on a branch and notices the nest. It soars through the air and pecks and tears the nest apart. The squirrel plummeted awkwardly and lay on the leaves. Wearily it scampers to survive. The eagle’s chase is still on but suddenly the squirrel jumps into a minute tree hole. Squirrel felt a sense of triumph and sneaks his head out. The eagle was outsmarted and ravenous.
The suitcase contained my life. It travelled where I went. It contained what I took. For me, all I could think about was fleeing the country, but the suitcase felt what I did. It was battered on the refugee ship and so was I. I was drenched by the water that pounced upon the ship, wave after wave, and so was the suitcase. The suitcase and I both suffered. As I grew old, I got wrinkles; as it grew old, it got cracks and ripped edges. It had all my photos in it, my memories. It held those memories and it still does.
The Symphony by Lauren Haydon Pressing the cold, hard keys on the massive grand piano, thoughts float by of how it used to be. I feel the keys under my rough fingers, when really, there is nothing there. I hear the clip clop of heals on the wooden floor. As I see my past friend walk by, our eyes connect and memories race through my mind. I remember sitting next to him, listening to his beautiful classical music. The teacher hums along with the tune like she is really enjoying herself. Then I play; I play freely, as I always thought music should be, joyful and expressive. I hear my teacher growl under her breathe–this is the sign of disapproval. My heart beats and her cold gaze reaches into me. I feel a stab of jealousness in my heart. Sadly, I leave the music room, never to return again. I walk behind the curtain and hear my old friend play. I uncover the piano from under the rag that is thrown over it. Dust covers the air. I start playing. I hear him playing with me. The curtains are raised. As I look into his sad eyes and I know that from this point on, we will never be separated again. We connect with our music.
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My suitcase also took in that we had arrived at a new place. For many years it contained what I used to live. It held all these treasures safely in its clutches that I used for my survival. After the years, it was as if my soul was half tipped into it. I could still see a smile creased on its leather showing that it would always be with me. Not many think of a suitcase as something very important, but for me, it was everything. When I got married I almost forgot about it. The leather straps weathered in the garage. The suitcase was dwelling in a pool of dust, but yet it still looked indulged in the memories that it contained. Even in the darkest of situations, it was content. It turned my life around in a good way. Without it, I could not have survived.
The Anzacs by Caitlin Osborne
Gallipoli by Charli Power
I wake to the sound of the Bugle. My eyes, still teary from mourning the death of my comrades. I now regret having volunteered for the army.
I step off the boat onto the sandy beach of Gallipoli, the most excited I had ever been, with the darkness of the night hiding the reality. My mates are beside me, getting ready to run, excited as I am. I hear the sound I was dreading to hear – the yells, the cries, the gunshots. We finally realise what war is really about. I call out to my brother. There is no answer. I keep on calling and calling and finally, I hear him. Just a faint struggling “help” in the distance. I see him lying there in pain, the high tide flowing over his legs. All hope in the world has suddenly left me. I am there by his side. But then, I am ordered to keep going. I say my final goodbyes and tell him I will no doubt see him soon as I bolt up a hill to the others. All I see are bodies of innocent Australians lying there, silent. Scared, I once again run as fast as I can, hoping for the best. But before I can do anything, I see the enemy standing in front of me, his rifle loaded, pointing it at me. There is no time. I suddenly feel a bullet hit me, right through my chest. The world starts to go dark. I try to keep going, but I can’t. I will soon see my brother. I say a final prayer that my family will be safe. This was the Battle of Gallipoli.
I hear the guns blow, another’s been shot. This war is a game of chance and we’ve drawn the short straw. Pacing the trenches, we are waiting for the order to run and shoot the enemy. Soon there will only be one ANZAC left and I have a feeling it’s not going to be me. We run and it’s the end for me. Goodbye my loved ones who are all the way back in our home country. I see a bright light, it’s not heaven nor hell. I am in hospital, missing my left leg. I am feeling guilty about surviving and my comrades not. I look up at the war memorial and back down to my badge. The other soldiers that survived are in hospital being treated for their wounds. The rest are marching proudly, wearing their badges. I wheel myself in my chair to the graves of my friends that died at Gallipoli and lay poppies next to them as I hear a child reciting the poem, Flanders Fields.
Slowly by Asha Patel Slowly, the lizard slithers away,
ANZAC Poem by Katrina Warton
Slowly, the baker put the pastries on the tray,
I stand there in shock not able to cry
I stand there watching them die
Slowly, the old lady picked up her purse,
To replace the souls that are now lost
Slowly, the wound became worse.
I hope they know the value and cost
Slowly, the couple took a walk,
Of a life wasted with one shot of a gun
Slowly, the girl put a pea on her fork,
As a new whistle blows and we start to run
Slowly, the lion devoured its prey, Slowly, it’s time to say goodbye for today.
The day is over and The Last Post rung It’s time to move off, we’re done I think when you’re out there, you’re caught in between We are the Australian army, brown and green.
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Junior School
Year 6 – crossing the finishing line What made us happy? • W atching the price of my shares increase during Schoolopoly and finally owning my property. Getting a good That’s life card also made me VERY happy. • Getting into district for cross country running and finishing 12th. Last year I came 29th so coming 12th was a huge improvement. I am someone who loves to improve on anything I do. • The Amazing Race because I love working in teams that I don’t usually work in and working through the tougher challenges. I loved how in the Amazing
Race the teachers grouped us because we got to know lots about other people. • When everyone was cheering me on during We Can Do It. • The camp because I got to finally visit Canberra and I had a really great time. My favourite day was when we visited Questacon which was incredible. • The year books – I absolutely loved the opportunity to get to have a hands on experience where we got to be creative and express ourselves. At the end of the year it will be a great memory from my time in Junior School.
• Getting to socialize with the Japanese exchange students. We did great activities and had a lot of laughs. • Making my first ever infograph – this was a really cool way to show what we had learnt. • Getting together as just the girls for MPower – it was one of my favourite Year 6 activities.
What excited us? • Schoolopoly – this really made me understand what percentages are. • I was really excited when I learnt how to succeed with worded problems. • When we were learning about natural disasters, I learned about earthquakes and when I got home I was able to explain it to my parents. • Using the Green Screen APP to explain about natural disasters. • Learning how to calculate the area of a triangle – that always puzzled me. • During the Great Asian taste test when everyone tried different foods and I realized that I didn’t like Korean Bean Curd. • Competing against the other Year 6 classes in challenges. • Going to the Year 7 Fellowship morning – I was excited, but very nervous at the same time.
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What was hard? • Getting a PB in the PB Maths Challenge – it just took time. • L earning to develop my teamwork skills during the Amazing Race. • Interactive Asia – because it was hard to get all the interactive links to work and getting the transitions to work smoothly. • There was a lot of homework and I had to work really hard with my organisation as I have so many other things after school. • R unning in the National cross country championships. It was hard not just physically, but mentally as I had to keep my nerves in. • The Amazing Race was pretty tough. Our team rarely won and so we learnt to be persistent and to not blame each other.
What won’t you ever forget? • I never want to forget how much I laughed and how safe and lucky I felt being around everyone in Year 6. • I loved my class this year because of all the people that were in it. I felt really comfortable with the people and how they respected each other. • The Canberra camp. • To never give up – quality work takes time. • B eing a House Captain – I loved the experience and responsibility.
What are you most thankful for? • The help in learning how to use the iPad. • Doing MPower with the girls. • The chance to visit places I had never been before like Canberra and Chinatown. • I loved the class that I was put it as it made me get to know lots of people that I didn’t know very well. I think I have more friends now and have still kept my ties with my friends in other classes. • All the help I have received from all of the teachers in Maths. • The combination of fun and hard yakka we have had in Year 6 – it’s been the best way to finish Junior School.
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Junior School
Class photos CLASS Prep E Seated Row: Gia Ferraro, Eva Paterson, Amara Crotty, Oliver Salmon, Orlando Campanaro, Lucy King, Mia Taylor, Scarlett May Second Row: Taylor Priestman, Matthew Layhe, Fletcher Stoppa, Hunter Downie, Vihaan Abbott, Oliver Dawes, Wyatt Thai Third Row: Austin Molnar, Isaac Scott, Gordon Chen, Leo Rayner, Marshall Sandford, Zac Lubbers Teachers: Mrs Tess Ellul, Mrs Dianne Holland, Ms Kathleen De Zwart, Mrs Jennifer Firz (Absent)
CLASS 1B Seated Row: Liam Dang, Aleesha Bourne, Mia Kelly, James Sabey, Lucy Bird, Mehrnaz Shivaee Garryz, Nicholas Leary Second Row: Jasper Marino, Elizabeth Nad, Harry Gong, Zane Adams, Sienna Hams, Elliott Smedley Third Row: Christian Li, Harrison Giffard, Ari Pertile, William Dodson, Cooper Willson Teacher: Miss Elisha Blake
CLASS 1M Seated Row: Matilda Willson, Samuel Redgrove, Bailey Collins, Harry Heath, Aimaan Arora, Christian Sabey, Mia Morgante Second Row: Scarlett Foote, Tegwen Rogers, Gabriel Norton, Harrison Brown, Ava O’Hare, Dalia Ferraro Third Row: Ryan Pateras, Blake Withers, Jules Daniel, Evan Caddy, Jake Millar Teachers: Miss Jo McKneil, Mrs Libby Davis
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CLASS 2S Seated Row: Lolita Quinn, Gabe Cameron, Aidan Nutting, Allie King, Ethan Manks, Jaydon Menezes, Cassidy Coetzee Second Row: Ryan Zu, Benjamin Baulch, Kit Howard-West, Michael Korobitsin, Jake Ferraro, James King, Kyle Pickering Teachers: Mrs Chris Begley, Mr Stuart Ward
CLASS 2W Seated Row: Hamish Dickins, Patrick Zhang, Emilise Nemeth, Ana Kyval, Freya Shepherd, Ashton Salmon, Alexander Pateras Second Row: Broc Taylor, Noah Grundy, Joshua McLean, Sam Oakley-Slingsby, Oscar Nalder, Lachlan Baulch, Jacob Scott Teachers: Mrs Gemma Whyte, Mrs Carol Thomson, Ms Kathleen De Zwart
CLASS 3a Seated Row: Alexander Deans, Joshua Galstians, Sarah O’Brien, Charli Adams, Chloe Bell, Lily Reynolds, Charli Collins, Harry Thwaites, Matthew Killender Seated Row: Dilan Patel, Johnny Turner, Isaac Freier, William Solano, Ryan Zhang, Morgan Stevens, Lawson Finnen, Cameron Turner Teachers: Mrs Julie Seidel, Mr Grant Allison
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Junior School
CLass 3R Seated Row: Andrew Liu, Lachlan Anderson, Daniel Geng, Eden Taylor, Elwyn Rogers, Abbey Walters, Noah Cameron, Jake Galstians, Ryan Dang Second Row: Elise Mitchell, Logan Kellett-Jackson, Harrison Stoppa, Benjamin Foster, Troy Calverley-Downing, Cooper Patterson, Michael Quartermain, Grace Morgante Teachers: Miss Emma Rosendale, Mrs Libby Davis
class 4A Seated Row: Charlie Heath, Cameron Lilagan, Isobella Grounds, Timothy Elsworth, Zachary Smedley, Sienna Manks, Kami Dickins, Sithma Uduwela Second Row: Maxim Tour, Jack Kennedy, Jasmine Hamill, Rory Finnen, Zac Hamill, Luca Di Nucci, David Broadbent Absent: Byron Shepherd Teachers: Mrs Libby Argyle, Mrs Carol Thomson
CLASS 4B Seated Row: Fraser King, Dante Forcadell, Jemma Oakley-Slingsby, Hannah Bradtke, Emma Xu, Charlotte Smith, Kanhai Patel, Jacky Xu Second Row: Fergus King, Adam Scott, Xavier Norton, Aria Finnen, Madeline Ralph, Joel Glassborow, Taj Chirnside, Ayden Ridler Absent: Rina He Teachers: Mrs Meredith Norton, Mrs Nicole Rogers, Mr Phil Bisset, Mrs Carol Thomson
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CLASS 5G Seated Row: Andy Huang, Orlando Vella, Kai Mariotti, Katrina Warton, Arjun Gill, Clare Grogan, Gabriel Stevens, Ashton Cummings, Ishan Goel Second Row: Madison Collins, Ethan Thwaites, Ashton Poppenbeek, Abbey Gartlan, Matthew Robinson, Keeley Marx, Kevin Li, Emma Solano Teachers: Ms Di Greenway, Mrs Jan Alderman
CLASS 5K Seated Row: Brayden Gosling, Nathan Randall, Asha Patel, Lauren Haydon, Nicholas McLarty, Charli Power, Caitlin Osborne, Rhonan Appleby, Alastair McKinnell Second Row: Anthony Pellegrino, Holly O’Brien, Brandon Williams, Jacob Hickling, Benjamin Green, Nathan Freier, Tia Fedden, Billy Smith Teachers: Mrs Julie Seidel, Mr Michael King, Mrs Libby Davis
CLASS 6H Seated Row: Maggie Brewer, Isabella Reynolds, Lily Chilver, Alice Reynolds, Chelsea Wilson, Christina Webb, Hannah Bird, Maddison Hood, Natalie Broadbent Second Row: Lachlan Turner, Jack Mathews, Brendan Mather, Lachlan King, Mason Appleby, Thomas McIntosh, Samuel Tribolet, Seth Cameron Absent: Harrish Kannan Teachers: Mrs Fiona Harper, Mrs Meredith Norton, Mrs Carol Thomson
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Junior School
CLASS 6p Seated Row: Samantha Young, Emma King, Caitlin Olley, Indianna Reynoldson-Ross, Emily Mitchell, Zoe Glassborow, Laura Elliott Second Row: Benjamin Grant, Asher Game-Lopata, Samuel Bryant, Mark Somerwil, Mitchell Dobson, Nathan White Third Row: Oisin Maguire, Max Askew, Zachary Warton, Trent Bell, Jamie Nance Teachers: Mrs Jan Alderman, Mr Ash Price
CLASS 6W Seated Row: Eloise Kelly, Jasmine Taylor, Sarah Lewis, Sophie Hirst, Tessa Mitchell, Samantha Gilbert, Chelsea Dunoon Second Row: William Davis, Benjamin Jesudason, Lachlan Jury, Samuel Norton, Amy Xiao, Edward Hentschel Third Row: Benjamin Stevenson, Felix Wilby, Gideon Fox, Brock Pellinger-Riley, Lucas Forcadell Teachers: Mrs Jan Alderman, Mrs Meredith Norton, Mr Peter Warren
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JUNIOR SCHOOL Staff Front Row: Rachel Schmidli, Fiona Harper, Nicole Rogers, Lisa Chioda , Phil Bisset, Chris Lawson, Peter Warren, Joanna McKneil, Nicky Callow, Maryanne King, Wendy Andrews Second Row:
Viv Kendall, Dianne Holland, Jeanette Walsh, Jutta Snyder, Leanne McAllister
Third Row:
Jacinda Hills, Jan Alderman, Amorina Priestley, Carol Thorneycroft, Emma Rosendale, Heather Talbot, Joanne Rumian, Gemma Whyte
Fourth Row:
Julie Seidel, Meredith Norton, Paul Joy, Elisha Blake, Libby Davis, Elise Graham, Chris Begley
Fifth Row:
Di Greenway, Carol Thomson, Tess Ellul, Kathleen De Zwart, Lisa MacLennan, Rachael Skudutis, Janicke Johansen, Rosalyn Duck
Sixth Row:
Stuart Ward, Amy Avery, Lani Phelan, Michael King, Ashley Price, Michelle Dwyer, Grant Allison, Marie Karakis, Elizabeth Argyle
Absent:
Anneke Flinn, Julie-anne May, Natalie Heuston
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Middle SportsSchool
Middle School Contents
From the Head of Middle School
92
From the School Captains
93
Oculos Extension program
94
Literature Week
95
Take a Bow
96
Festival of Arts
98
Food Dynamics
100
Artist in Residence
101
Star Portraits
102
Drama 104 Art display
106
Year 7
112
Year 8
114
Year 9
116
Student photos
118
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Middle School
From the Head of Middle School Any Middle School vision needs to dove-tail with the whole School plan and it also needs to be informed by what’s needed in Senior School and what’s gone on before in the Junior or Primary School because Middle School acts as the transition between the beginning of formal education and the secondary schooling end. One of the most important questions we continue to ask ourselves is: What makes a highly effective Middle School? because
these Middle School years have a crucial impact on a child’s later success. Middle School is a critical phase in a child’s cognitive, physical and emotional development. In our Middle School we aim to empower students to achieve their best outcomes in everything they do. Pastoral Care and relationship building are paramount because student wellbeing underpins a Middle School child’s academic and social performance. Teaching and Learning are of course, our core business and this year we have
continued to re-define our curriculum to offer a breath of experience so we capture everyone. The introduction of Food Dynamics as a core subject for all Year 9 students in 2015 is an example of this. Our aim has been to continue to oversee and develop a Middle School environment that: • Promotes positive relationships • Fosters a strong, dynamic and relevant learning environment that is engaging, rigorous and challenging • Emphasizes self-esteem and identity • Provides opportunities for empowerment, leadership and service. Both explicit teaching and inquiry-based learning are incorporated in the Middle School offerings and everywhere in our Middle School environment is a learning space; we are not just confined to classrooms. The continuing growth and refinement of our Middle School culture is a team effort with students, parents, Year Level Coordinators, Heads of House, Tutors and Subject teachers sharing in our vision for achieving excellence in a caring setting. Mrs Julie Hall Deputy Principal – Head of Middle School
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School Captains’ message The Middle School was not simply something that we had to get through in order to arrive at our VCE years, rather, the Middle School nurtured us and helped us to define who we are. How, you ask? Yarra Valley Grammar’s Middle School provided us and our peers with the building blocks to shape our character and our skills. We have been challenged, and that is exactly what was required. From the first transition camp in Year 7, to our first set of examinations in Year 9, we honestly could not have had a bigger growth experience in the span of three quick years. The Middle School student body know incredibly well just how important it has been to have these initial growth steps and foundations in place for our further years. The Middle School was not just a set of buildings and corresponding teachers; it was home. A place that harnessed our very academic and emotional selves to help us aspire and reach levels we could not have imagined.
Why Yarra Valley Grammar though? Confidence to achieve is what you see on the gates, but that is not the only place you will find it. Nurturing confidence is woven through the classes in a way that helps you feel safe to explore. It could be easy to take for granted the continuous support from our teachers, as they guide us to make the best decisions that we can. It is what makes Yarra Valley Grammar’s Middle School, the number one place to grow up in. Thank you to Mrs Hall, our Middle School teachers and our Middle School peers. Your guidance and friendship is treasured and we take it with us. Onwards. Ishra Ranatunge and Xavier Fry Middle School Captains
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Middle School
Oculos Extension program This year’s Oculos Extension program for students in Years 7 and 8 featured an investigation into nanotechnology. Students researched what nanotechnology constitutes, its benefits and the potential negatives of nanotechnology applications for society and warfare. To demonstrate their understanding, students created presentations using Adobe Voice, Slate, iMovie and were introduced to innovative cutting edge apps such as Binumi and Touch Cast. Student work was then displayed on the new Science and Mathematics video wall and various digital signage displays around the School. Professor Donnie Maclurcan (http://sou. edu/economics/maclurcan.html) is a brilliant young Australian working in Southern Oregon University. He is a remarkable person who is, among many things, a world expert in the implications for the use of nanotechnology in society. Our students were fortunate to participate in a 75 minute workshop with Donnie over video conferencing in the Collaboratory in which Donnie spoke at length about his considerable achievements and answered every question put to him by the Oculos Group students.
After learning about nanotechnology, Oculos students designed and created stencils using a computer application called Cutstudio with a Roland stencil maker. Stencils were then cut from a special plastic lining by a desktop computer. A nanotechnology spray was used to apply the stencil on concrete. The superhydrophobic nature of the spray repels water so when it rains, the stencil wording appears. While our results were mixed for various reasons, like all innovation, it was very much a valuable trial and error learning experience.
Students in the 2014 Years 7 and 8 Oculos Group were: Year 7 Stephanie Brennan Sarah Green Vanessa Hua Xavier Konyenburg Ben Kyval Zenting Kong Eric Liu Zitian Lim Gordon Li Nathan Miao Eric Van Den Hout Matthew West Felicity Xu
Students in the Oculos Program also participated in the $20 Boss program. Students were given the opportunity to create a project from a $20 seeding grant. Mentors from National Bank Australia also worked with students to develop their business plans.
Sophie Yang
Mr Philip Callil Director of IT and eLearning
James McIntosh
YEAR 8 Aryan Ganjavi Mirella Greco Jess Johnston Hannah Manning Jeremy Olsen Robert Ramsay Xander Reynoldson-Ross Shyan Sivaratnam Matthew Stevenson Adyn Young
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Literature Week – Café culture In the first week of August, we held our annual Literature Week celebrations. This year we paid homage to famous literary cafes that have inspired or stimulated the creativity of writers around the world. The reading area in the library was transformed each day to replicate a famous literary café where particular authors met or a significant work of literature was born. Complete with coffee machine, a feast of specially baked pastries and readings by members of the English and Humanities departments, each of our cafes captured a special place in literary history. Students who were quick enough to reserve a table were transported to La Rotonde in Paris, The Elephant House Café in Edinburgh, the Café Odeon in Zurich, Caffé Greco in Rome and the Literaturnoe Kafe in St Petersburg. Both staff and students thoroughly enjoyed a truly lively and literary café experience and special thanks must go to Mrs Innes and Miss Howard (PRC) for their outstanding displays and Mrs Jurgelait, from Food Technology, who delighted us all with her catering prowess. But Literature Week also hosted many other literature themed activities. In addition to the cafes and daily literature trivia competitions, we also held the inaugural YVG Middle School Spelling Bee, a hotly
contested competition showcasing the exceptional spelling skills of many of our Middle School Students. Although all our participants deserved a prize, ultimately there can only be one winner in any competition and this year’s worthy winner was Jerry Yang (9.6). Congratulations must go to Max Coutts (8.3) who finished a very close second place. Due to popular demand, we brought back the YVG Poetry Slam and the huge audience in attendance was both charmed and delighted by the passion of our aspiring performance poets. Whether performing poems they had written themselves, or by others or even by heart we were mesmerised by the breadth of talent on show and this event was testament to the burgeoning literary talent of so many of our Middle and Senior School students. So successful was this event that we decided to pencil in more Poetry Slams for the year. Not to be outdone by our spelling wizards and poets, our best Year 12 debaters joined forces with two of our most
charismatic teachers for this year’s Staff-Student Great Debate. Nicola Anastasiou, Lachlan McRae, Ricky Grounds and Jessica Planner teamed up with comedic and intellectual rivals, Mr Chris Hart and Mr Anthony Hay, to argue the topic: Studying Shakespeare is a waste of time. The debate itself was almost Shakespearean in flavour characterised by the exchange of piercingly personal jibes, colourful wit and sharp intellect. So popular is this annual debate that the library was filled to capacity and the audience was not disappointed. This event was a true celebration of the richness of language and how powerfully it can provoke and entertain. Congratulations to Mr Hart’s team, arguing in the affirmative, who emerged as the narrow victors and to Lachlan McRae, who was awarded the best Debater. Mrs Liz Montanaro Head of Library Services
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Middle School
Take a Bow In Term three this year all Year 7 students performed in their own production, Take a Bow. The aim was to showcase some of the skills developed and the themes explored in Dramatic Development. Each class learnt two songs from well-known musicals and performed dances and movements while singing. Short scenes highlighting their chosen themes connected the songs. The themes ranged from starting secondary school, making friends, changing schools, working together, overcoming problems, accepting differences and bouncing back from hardships. It was a challenging task and a wonderful reflection of how the students work in Dramatic Development classes with an emphasis on creating and learning together. The final number When I Grow Up was performed by all the Year 7 students and
was accompanied by a multimedia presentation of photos of the student’s first day in Prep. It was a poignant reminder to parents of how quickly time goes by. The evening was made possible by a number of YVG staff; from the Dramatic Development teachers, to the Music staff that assisted with the singing, to the Staff who made costumes and to the Year 11 Peer Support students who worked in class and supported the Year 7s on the evening. It was a night that reflected the combined efforts of many and I thank them all. Ms Jane Marshall Head of Drama
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Middle School
Festival of Arts This year’s theme for the Middle School House Festival of the Performing Arts competition was A favourite book series and each House presented a 20 minute performance depicting the story line of the series and delivering a message by incorporating the essence of the series by the incorporation of a famous quote from the series.
Each House also entered their House Choir into the Hymns of Praise competition. This is a separate competition where the whole House, conducted by a House member, was on stage and sang two hymns. Every House sang Shout to the Lord and their second assigned hymn.
2015 Hymns:
2015 Literary Book Series:
Annells – All Things Bright and Beautiful
Annells Lord of the Rings – it is not the strength of the body, but the strength of the spirit
Plummer – Servant Song
Plummer Harry Potter – It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities Hughes Percy Jackson – My fatal flaw is hubris; thinking I can do things better than anyone else Arnott The Hunger Games – May the odds be ever in your favour
Hughes – I vow to thee my Country Arnott – Lord of the Dance A huge thank you to Heads of House; Mr Briscoe, Miss McWaters, Mr Marden and Mr Frame, staff and students for the enormous amount of effort and enthusiasm for rehearsals and each Houses performance. Mrs Julie Hall Deputy Principal, Head of Middle School
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The results for the Middle School Festival of Performing Arts are as follows: Hymns of Praise
Cup for Music
Cup for Dance
Cup for Drama
Overall
1st
Arnott
Arnott
Hughes
Hughes
Hughes
2nd
Hughes
Plummer
Annells & Arnott
Plummer
Arnott
3rd
Plummer
Annells
Plummer
Arnott
Plummer
4th
Annells
Hughes
Annells
Annells
–
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Middle School
Food Dynamics Cooking is a vital aspect of life that needs to be taught to achieve a healthy and balanced lifestyle. During the course of the Food Dynamics subject, Year 9s participated to make simple, delicious and creative meals that ranged from making rice paper rolls to chicken parmigiana. Students were first introduced to food handling and hygiene in the initial lessons. Cooking temperatures, sharp objects and safety were among the introductory lessons. Students learnt about the causes of food poising and how to prevent it. The Year 9s were privileged to use the new industrial Food Dynamics Classrooms. The environment promotes safe and easy handling. The teachers that guide you through the food course are always easy to talk to and are willing to give assistance when required. Students learn many skills over the course of this subject. Many of the recipes that were created required skills to produce the food to the best standard. Some skills included how to properly use the
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equipment and techniques on how to mix, place, add the food ingredients. Students had to produce spring rolls at home and compare them to rice paper rolls made in class, for some this process was quite a challenge. The entire Year 9 population also had to create a gingerbread house designed to a particular theme. Students had to complete an investigation and design of their particular theme as well as a photo and evaluation of their complete house. Designs ranged from The Wizard of Oz to Pretty Little Liars to Sesame Street to Gossip Girl and to a traditional Christmas theme. Jasmine Reus Year 9
AiR 2015 Year Student 9
Amy Petts
9
Angelina Xu
9
Gemma Farrar
9
Emma Findley
9
Aimee Boston
9
Zara Nicholls
9
Nicholas Iatrou-Landgraf
9
Kaela Burchett
9
Nicola Grant
9
Phoebe Dare
9
Ellie Rogers
9
Ishra Vihari Ranatunge
9
Natalya Morris
9
Eve Norris
9
Sammi Faulkner
9
Alexandra Harland
9
Ellie Rogers
10
Lucy J. Smith
10
Alicia Kent
10
Piper Blake
10
Aleesha Gist
10
Aradia Young-Ekeh
10
Karinya Koehrer
10
Hannah Rothery
10
Elise Olsen
10
David MacPherson
10
Mike Chen
10
Finley Griffett
10
Bayley Lawrence
10
Tim Hodgson
Artist in Residence (AiR) This year’s Artist in Residence (AiR) project was a combined Year 9 and 10 collaboration.
discussion around global warming and the impact on our air quality and what this means to our own health, wellbeing and future of our planet.
The artist, Lisa Hass, is no stranger to Yarra having been a student here and completed the Fine Arts course (C4D) in 1986. Lisa is a qualified Graphic Designer and has always been passionate about Art & Design. Her recent focus has been on Porcelain jewellery and functional home wares and this lent inspiration for the final installation that now adorns the middle entry foyer of the new Science and Mathematics building.
This spectacular art work now hangs high up adjacent to the middle entrance and creates a wonderful balance between the hard lines of the impressive modernist architecture and the fine porcelain floating discs. This art work will remain a legacy for students and staff to enjoy for many years to come. Mrs Sue Plumb Head of Art Design and Technology
Over 35 Year 9 and 10 students contributed to the project over many weeks. Under Lisa’s guidance the students painted their own design onto hundreds of delicate porcelain discs; each disc representing an individual cell. Lisa’s aim was to generate interest, awareness and
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Middle School
Hannah Manning, Year 8
Star Portraits Participants in the 2015 Star Portrait competition were acknowledged during the Arts Week Assembly. Five finalists were chosen and Mrs Lindy Spreadborough, this year’s subject, chose the winning portrait. The winning Artist was Hannah Manning from Year 8. Finalist portraits by: – Sophie Yang (Year 7) – Amy Stoltenberg (Year 8) – Gemma Farrar (Year 9) – Zara Nicholls (Year 9) Thank you to Ms Kristy McWaters for overseeing this extension activity and congratulate all the finalists and other participants including Adem Goktepe, Zitian Lim, Jess Johnston, Januda Uduwela, Alise Anderson, Kaitlyn Kew, Jerry Yang, Sammi Faulkner, Allie Harland, Phoebe Dare, Ellie Rogers and Molly Crouch.
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Sophie Yang, Year 7
Gemma Farrah, Year 9
Sammi Faulkner, Year 9
Zara Nicholls, Year 9
Alise Anderson, Year 8
Phoebe Dare, Year 9
Jess Johnston, Year 8
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Middle School
Drama extravaganzas Drama at Yarra is not only an important part of the co-curriculum, but also the spirit of the School and 2015 has been no exception. Throughout this year in Middle School, Drama has had an influx of new ideas from the whole School production of Seussical the Musical to the Year 7s own soirée onto the stage in Year 7: Take a Bow. Another important item on the Drama program is the Middle School’s own Festival of Performing Arts, which challenges each house against one another on stage with an exciting variety of themes. Yarra prides itself on the quality of the
productions that take place, and not only the success of the show but the enjoyment and excitement that the cast and crew feel throughout. Towards the start of this year, Drama started with a bang as rehearsals for Seussical began. Seussical, or Seuss as it became fondly known, comprised of a mash of Dr Seuss stories and characters set to some familiar and some newly devised songs ranging from Alone in the Universe, to Egg, Nest, and Tree. The cast and crew all had a ball and can’t wait to see what is running next year. Year 7: Take a Bow was the Year 7s first opportunity to really become involved in Yarra’s Drama Department. All Year 7 students took to the stage to showcase their talents. Each tutorial performed a small skit, accented by show tunes, which focused on issues young students face. The Year 7’s did a fantastic job and made the night one to remember.
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This year the Middle School was once again challenged to create a 20 minute show in the Festival of Performing Arts. Mrs Hall (and a group of undisclosed staff) decided that this year’s theme should be one that anyone could get involved in: Favourite Series of Books. The House Captains stood on stage and drew their respective themes: Annells picked Lord of the Rings, Arnott picked The Hunger Games, Hughes picked Percy Jackson, and Plummer picked Harry Potter. Once themes were set out everyone rushed to writing scripts, designing sets, choreographing dances and many other tasks. It was a wonderful day with many highlights from clever narratives, fabulous dancing and strong singing. It was exhausting but a day where we were proud of all participants with Hughes being the overall winner of the Festival of Performing Arts 2015. Overall, the Drama department has had a very successful year, and we are looking forward to next year to see what excitement the future has to hold. Eve Norris and Connor Vaughan Drama Captains
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Middle School
Year 7 Art
Year 7 Portraits
Mollyrose Wilson
Aboriginal Mural 106 |
Aboriginal Mural
Eric Liu
Ceramic Creatures
Aboriginal Mural
Year 7 Portraits
Ceramic Creatures www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2015 | 107
Middle School
Year 8 Art
Forest
Nightscape 108 |
Riverside
Country Bridge
Seaside
Treescape www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2015 | 109
Middle School
Year 9 Art
Oliver Oglethorpe
Mr Harper caricature Year 9 ADT
110 |
Mr Frazer caricature
Amy Petts
Daniel Buchanan
Angelina Xu
Luke Cook
Blake Hayden
Wood Technology – Ipod Holders
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Middle School
Year 7 – new friends and experiences Start of the Year
Camp
The day that everyone arrived for their first day of Middle School was very a nerveracking, yet exciting day. Everyone was curious to know about the School and how Yarra Valley Grammar functions. There was a lot of nervous energy floating around and we were eager to meet new people, and to try out new things that the School provides. After the first few days, we all started to become familiar with each other and got to know our way around the School, which felt gigantic at the time! We became a lot more organised and develop skills that are required to succeed at high school. Thankfully having the advice and support of the wonderful Yarra teachers guiding and steering us in the right direction made the start of the year very enjoyable.
Camp in February was a new beginning for most and, apart from the first few weeks, it was one a crucial part of transitioning into the Middle School. We knew it would set us up for the rest of our school lives by making new friends, meeting the teachers in an outdoor setting and getting to know your fellow classmates. Camp was a fantastic way to really kick off the next amazing years of our secondary school journey. We completed many team building activities within our classes, working together not only to find out more about each other, but to help each other through some difficult challenges and overcoming our fears. Some of us were scared, others excited, but we all had something in common; we were nervous, we had
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butterflies in our stomach but by the end of it we were all so much more content. The Summit Window was the most challenging activity, leaning back from a pole 20 metres high! It was the perfect place to say You can do anything! My favourite activity and the one that made me laugh was abseiling. Once we got back to school we were more of a team than a class. The Summit Camp is definitely something we will look back upon fondly.
7 and 8 Project The 7 and 8 project was yet another opportunity to bond with our fellow classmates and to also build a connection with some of the Year 8 students as well. In the 7 and 8 project we looked at Truth, Conspiracy or an Illusion. We watched multiple videos that increased our knowledge and understanding of the topic and gave us the skills required to complete the task. After watching videos, reading articles, doing scavenger hunts, and having multiple class discussions, we decided on a topic as a group to investigate. Some created movies, other created posters, wall hangings, stories and many more creative ways to convince people through their research. My group studied and looked further into UFOs. At first we all were convinced that UFOs were completely made up and that they were fake, but as we got further into our research and looked at different videos and articles, we slowly started to get persuaded into believing that they really do exist!
Special Events 2015 was full of so many special events. Just transitioning into Year 7 was a special occasion in itself. We had a celebration at the end of Semester 1. On this day all of Year 7 left the School grounds with our Year 11 Peer Support helpers, to enjoy a fun and spirited day of bowling. Although not everyone was at a professional standard, we all had a great time. Later in Term 3 we enjoyed a trip to Melbourne Zoo to further our studies in Science and in particular, classification. We experienced wildlife up close and we even saw an Orang-utan painting, which was very exciting. Also in Term 3 was the Middle School House Performing Arts, where each of the Middle School Houses performed a musical number from a book/movie. My house (the best house) Annells performed Lord of the Rings. Other houses did renditions from Harry Potter, Percy Jackson series and The Hunger Games. Overall, everyone had a great time working with other Middle School students in older year levels. Everyone had an important role to play, even if they weren’t on stage. In Humanities in Term 4 we had some wonderful excursions including an Archaeologist who came and spoke with us and brought museum displays for us to see and of course Ancient Civilisations Day, which was definitely one of the many highlights of Year 7. Seeing everyone dressed up as an Ancient Egyptian, Greek or Roman was definitely something different to our normal school day. It certainly showed us how dramatically time has changed from then and how some things are still the same.
Year 7 Production Year 7s was lucky enough to get their own special production this year. Our production was called Year 7’s Take a Bow. Each tutorial group came up with a 12 minute ensemble to perform and show to everyone. There was a massive amount of work put into rehearsals and everything else that was needed for the night and this was not just by students. The night would not have been possible without the help of our wonderful drama teachers, as well as the encouragement of our Year 11 Peer Support students. The day of the performance arrived and there was a lot of nervous energy, as well as lots of excitement amongst the students and staff. Everyone was eager to get on stage and show the audience the final result of all their hard work paying off. It was fantastic to see the performances and to acknowledge what we had accomplished.
The best thing about Year 7 The long list of great events made it difficult to pick out one thing as the best, especially given the vast number of fantastic opportunities that the School provides. The standout would have to be the amazing the teachers – their capabilities, attitude, personalities, their passion, expertise and willingness to share
their knowledge with us. Above all it was the confidence to achieve that they instilled in us. The incredible amount of effort and hard work they put into bringing the best out of students and helping them succeed to their greatest potential was highly evident. From the first day to the very end, their warm and positive personalities have shone through. This is something that has had a significant impact on all of the students, and is something that we all cherish.
Thank You On behalf of Year 7 we would like to thank all the Year 7 Tutors; Mr Marden, Miss Pottage, Miss Armstrong, Mr Frame, Mr Coady and Miss Hogan as well as the fabulous Year 7 Coordinators Mrs Catania and Mr Lawrence for guiding us throughout the year. Without your support, encouragement, and willingness to teach, we wouldn’t have made it through the year as smoothly and successfully as we did this year. Also to our wonderful parents for putting up with us during the year, and I am sure for many years to come. It is evident that you’ve put so much hard work into making us be the best we can be and helping us reach our goals. Catriona Stark and Brandon Romeo Year 7
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Middle School
Year 8 – a triumphant year Year 8, 2015...what a triumph of a year it was! New building, new subjects, all new teachers, some new students, yet the same Mrs Hall and Dr Merry... at least there were a few constants in our lives! Having an entirely new tutorial, and I know I can speak for both of us when I say, our tute groups are more like on occasion, a non-cohesive family. Having been shaped in different aspects by the many challenges Year 7 provided, Year 8 seemed at first like an abyss of mentally repeating those first-day jitters everyday. Yet with the abiding strength provided from the 138 siblings in the exact same position as ourselves was most certainly a reassuring presentiment. The first priority of a Year 8 student that was quickly realised is if the rising of the flag is not in accordance with proper protocols, people in high places notice and remedial action is required. Mr Hay’s methods of ensuring duties like these were completed could certainly make one a little more regimented, if anything. Despite all of the changes we faced in our transition, we were quickly into our academic year and pursuing all of the challenges ahead. From our experience in last year’s Tute competition, we came into Year 8 knowing that dedication was required to earn
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ourselves a luscious pizza after each term. Each student fought in competitions at school to gain the most points for their class. To secure the title, bargaining was essential with such hard competition from the other tutes. Mr Hay’s rendition of the tute comp was a great way to interact with our own tute, other classes and make more friends.
“The Normans regrouped at the bottom of Senlac Hill and charged at the Saxons. Without the protection of the shield wall, the Saxons were helpless. Harold had kept his bodyguards close by, but they couldn’t stop the onslaught and Harold and his men were slaughtered by the Normans...” Well, how intriguing does that sound? Unfortunately, that’s not exactly the way Year 8 Medieval Day played out, but in our opinion, the battle in which we participated was so much more exciting than the 1066 Battle of Hastings could ever have been. Yet our interpreted war was only the beginning of this gripping journey down the timeline of warriors from years gone by. From our overflowing knowledge of medieval attire in arms and armoury to our persistence, competitiveness and supremacy throughout a couple of good old fashioned games, the Year 8s have now become fearsome to cross. Yet all these swashbuckling gladiatorial contests weren’t even the best part! All the Year 8s went to, shall I say, exceptional lengths to discover the costume that was fit for their past life in the Medieval World. All the many different trends and layers, and trust us, there were quite a few layers! This day was thought to be impossible to top, but we were blind to what Year 8 had in store for us further down the track...
A great opportunity that the Year 8s could participate in was the Whole School production, Seussical. Many boys and girls of Year 8 took up the chance to be apart of the performing experience in the weird and wonderful world of Seuss. After what seemed like an eternity of rehearsals, learning lines, making friends, laughing and having fun the whole School combined to produce a stunning result. The musical display was a truly memorable event as it left the audience amazed at the wonderful effort and expertise of the School. The trip to the Queen Vic Market was a fascinating day as each Year 8 student individually or in pairs purchased fresh ingredients for the Personal Development healthy eating assignment. Every student produced a shopping list with the ingredients that they had to buy in order to create a main meal and dessert. After purchasing lunch, we ventured out to the MCG and got shown around the magnificent stadium. Highlights included walking on the hallowed turf, exploring the museum and experiencing the full thrill of the activity centre. Later that day we all went home and turned our ingredients into masterpieces, some better than others. Term 2 ended on a high with the Year 8s second edition of the 7/8 project, this year entitled: Conspiracy, Truth and Illusion. This week, though a challenging task lay ahead, it was the Year 7s who were a massive help to produce displays after five days of hard work. From personal theories regarding the death of Princess Diana to a walk-through presentation on the subject of the mysterious disappearance of flight MH-370, a variety of works were certainly on offer. At the conclusion of this week, we were queried about our highlights, and though this task was evidently difficult, the close bonds formed with all the Year 7s were of more importance to us than our finished product. Following perhaps the most highly anticipated event of the year was our exploration to Camp Eildon. After this
experience, we say bring on Year 9 camp, because this year has prepared us for anything Mr Frazer throws our way. Many of us were quite apprehensive at the thought of no accessible hot water or showers for almost a week, so calling camp a challenge is definitely an understatement. The camp consisted of many physical tasks, all of which requiring the need for cooperation, leadership and teamwork. These core aspects strengthened the bonds within the class groups and taught us some invaluable lessons that aided us throughout the rest of the year. We specifically want to thank the tutors for their unconditional support from the get-go. They were our support base for the entirety of this whole experience, and for that we owe them a great deal. The conclusion of Term 3 following camp brought many tests and assignments but through all that was the excitement of taking another step forward together fast approaching Year 9. Saturday sport was a fun and friendly experience as each Year 8 got up early to play in their summer and winter sports. Everyone learned new individual skills,
tactics and teamwork while playing with their Year 8 buddys. Sport was also a pleasurable way to introduce us to new found friends. Some Year 8s also were also able to compete at the highest playing level in the boys and girls first teams. At the conclusion of this year, we can reflect on what a triumph of a year it turned out to be! Year 8 was certainly a rewarding year for all. A huge thanks must go to our coordinator, Mr Hay and all the Year 8 tutors; Mrs Meehan, Mr Turner, Ms Marshall, Mr Briscoe, Miss McWaters and Mr Treadwell. Taylor Dykstra and Liam Bambery Year 8
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Middle School
Year 9 – players in the game In life, the people that are present in the moment, the people who turn up when the hard yards are required, these are the people who really develop and grow, and ultimately, they will shape a positive future for themselves and their community. To spectate is nice, but to be a player in the game – that is what it’s all about. Growing Up In Year 9 We did a lot of growing up this year. Our students began as Year 8s in the Getting Started sessions of December 2014, and finished as Year 10s twelve months later. The Year 9 program incorporating LINK@9 offered a full schedule of experiences that have developed students’ opinions, values; character strengths, academic capacity, and ability to project manage. With our experiential learning style of year, and a trimester subject structure that allowed students to try out a number of subject disciplines, it was a concentrated year of building capacity. It has been a pleasure to share the journey with our students; their refined knowledge of self will now serves them well in their senior years. My final piece of advice to our students – remind yourselves that you are a team, and that your greatest support in these next few years will come magnificently from within. Supporting and succeeding, together. Warm Regards, Mr David Frazer Head of Year 9
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Features of our Year 9 journey: The Middle School Leadership Retreat – Physical and Psychological Challenges – City Experience – Travelling by train and tram–Lunch with a CBD worker – The ultimate CBD navigation challenge – Street Art in the Lanes–Civics Experience – Camp Gallipoli and the Dawn Service –The Melbourne Magistrates Court – 888 Monument and the Separation Tree – Trades Hall – LINK@9 Retreat – The Camp Out – Indigenous Cultural session – The Key Book – Spirituality session – Yoga – Mindfulness – Diversity Experience – Walkin the Birrarung – St Vinnies evening food van – Homelessness evening walk – Friday Live lunchtime musical performances – Leading the Festival of Performing Arts – Subject Selection phase – Career interviews – Helpful Thinking Strategies – Common Thinking Errors – Mindfulness – Growth Mindsets – Er You Buddhist Temple – Gudwara Sikh Temple – Step Up Step Out Outdoor Adventure Odyssey – North East Victoria Cycle – Rock Climbing Mt Arapiles – Eildon Multi Challenge – Murray River Canoeing – Gippsland Lakes Sea Kayaking –
The Year 9 Centre – Our Chaplain, Mr Joy – Mrs Hall – Mr Callil – Ms Walsh – Mr Dunbar – Ms Woodhouse – Mr Carlson – Ms Bonvicino – Mrs Westley – Mr Harper – Mrs Manning – Ms McKenzie – Ms Han – Mrs De Guzman – Mr Ratcliffe and Mr Frazer.
Extracts from Year 9 Friday Live Last Friday at lunchtime Zara Nicholls and Emma Jury launched a new Year 9 initiative called Friday Live. The girls performed in the Year 9 Centre, singing a number of popular songs whilst playing guitar and keyboards. They created a very comfortable and relaxed atmosphere and were well received by their peers who gathered to enjoy some music over lunch. Friday Live will continue on selected Friday’s throughout the remainder of the year, providing musicians from across the year levels the opportunity to perform a set in front of a supportive audience. Well done to Zara and Emma for making this creative idea a reality. Jerry Yang
Health and Wellbeing Day for Girls On Monday the girls had a full day incursion called The Butterfly Effect. Becca was our presenter for this part of the Year 9 Health and Wellbeing Day. Her bubbly and bright personality grabbed our attention immediately, and with these hilarious anecdotes and chants, Becca taught us some really valuable life lessons about being a powerful girl. There was a strong theme of banding together as a group of girls, highlighting the power of being friendly with each other, and how not to handle arguments. This brought out some of the common themes that we will be exploring on our year level Retreat next week. In the workshop Princess Diaries, we wrote affirmations to our friends and had an amazing time reading them. There were a few tears, but tears of joy. A group favourite was Stop! I don’t like it! which focused heavily on protecting ourselves as young women, and featured some hilarious stories and mantras. We definitely came together as a team of girls, and are looking forward to spending the next three years with one another. Eve Norris
City Experience What happens when you walk 15km each day for a week? Answer: you experience learning. Recently, the whole Year 9 cohort ventured off to the city for a week, to complete a number of activities and challenges. The first challenge for many people to overcome was getting up before the sun and making sure that we all caught
the right train, at the right time. The main objective of this week-long excursion was to find out whether Melbourne was bold, inspirational and sustainable. We pondered this question at each place that we visited within the city. The benefits of the whole experience were that we didn’t just look up the answers on the internet, we were able to learn and explore first hand. I’m sure everyone would agree it was rewarding to be completely responsible for getting to specific locations and for problem solving on the run. Of course there were errors along the way but that is how we learn and grow, by making mistakes. Whether we got on the wrong tram or miscalculated our travelling time, we had to trial a variation of new ideas to get from one point to the other. So what happens when you walk 15km a day? You find inspiration and innovation paved into the streets of Melbourne. It was a tiring journey but one that we each needed to experience in order to be prepared for the exciting challenges ahead of us, during this Year 9 experience. Ishra Ranatunge
LINK@9 – Retreat, Camp Jungai (Eildon) The Retreat has been a brilliant chance for Year 9 to get away from the fever pitched semester that we have had, to take some time to reflect and further our bonds with one another. Our Retreat focused on team building and our ability to rely on one another and help each other. It will be important for us to be able to tap into these strong connections, using ourselves as a great supportive resource over the course of the next few years in Senior School. We also focused on our spiritual selves, helping us think and speak on a deeper level, and feel okay to do this with our peers around us. We’ve had the chance to be physical with various games and initiatives, and a fantastic high ropes course that for many of us was a highlight. The whole idea of Retreat was to enable each student to grow as a person, and I believe we have all learnt and taken away so much from this experience. On behalf of Year 9, we extend our best wishes to you and your family over this upcoming holiday break. Enjoy your time to rest and refresh. Lucas Dickens
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Middle School Student photos
Year 7
Abbott, Vansh
Adamjee, Mustafa
Akan, Burcu
Arunasalam, Manisha
Bartusch, Jack
Bethune, Seth
Blackburn, Carla
Bradley, Teagan
Bradtke, Michael
Bremner, Caelan
Curtis, Harry
Cuthbert, William
Dare, Naish
Davenport, Nicholas
Duff, Zac
Dwyer, Mikayla
Ellard, Anikia
Evans, Cameron
Farrar, Sean
Game-Lopata, Charley
Grundy, Jorja
Gunaratne, Dulina
Gupta, Samir
Hardcastle, Sebastian
Heider, Lucas
Henderson, Lara
Hocking, Alexander
Ireland, Darcy
Irvine, Jordan
Jackson, William
Kong, Zenting
Konynenburg, Xavier
Koo, Matthew
Kyval, Benjamin
Lang, Derek
Law, Douglas
Leyh, Mitchell
Li, Adele
Lim, Zitian
Liu, Eric
Milne, Jordan
Morelli, Matthew
Mueller, William
Murphy, Callan
Nathan, Bailey
Nicholls, Dominie
Nichols, Jack
Niksic, Grace
Norman, Kelsie
Okalyi, James
Reynolds, Simon
Rickard, Kate
Ridler, Marcus
Rieschieck, Jake
Romeo, Brandon
Roszczewski, Eric
Scardamaglia, Bianca
Scheele, Jessica
Schipper, Declan
Smedley, Samuel
Trenery, Emma
Vagg, William
van den Hout, Eric
Walters, Darcy
Webber, Ellie
West, Matthew
Williams, Charlize
Wilson, Jarod
Wilson, Mollyrose
Woodall, Nicholas
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Brennan, Stephanie
Brown, Tarni
Chau, Cody
Chen, Kevin
Chen, Raymond
Choo, Brendan
Church, Kane
Clayton, Tomas
Cullen, Jack
Currie, Riley
Gandhi, Aditya
Gaythorpe, Matthew
Giffard, Emily
Gilling, Kimberley
Gist, Tristan
Goktepe, Adem
Gosling, Kiandra
Green, Sarah
Griffett, Jasper
Grover, Rohan
Jia, Tian Xiao
Johnston, Sarah
Jones, Naomi
Jones, Samantha
Kapoglis, Lauren
Kellett-Jackson, Morgan
Kennedy, Leo
Kepper, Dylan
Kew, Jocelyn
Koehrer, Sean
Male, Cooper
Malessiankos, Christopher
Martin, Alli
Massarotti, Marc
Maunsell, Erin
McAndrew, Joel
McCarthyNaidoo, Zen
McKinnell, Brooke
McLellan, Hamish
Miller, Jackson
Osborne, Nicholas
Park, Arlan
Pellegrino, Gisella
Perry, Patrick
Philipps, Rebecca
Prabhu, Lakshman
Ralph, Lachlan
Ralph, Lilian
Rath, Benjamin
Rennie, Jamie
Smith, Reidel
Song, Tony
Southwood, Charlotte
Stark, Catriona
Stark, Gus
Stubs, Tom
Sugden, William
Tait, Ashleigh
Tang, Hayden
Taylor, Josh
Xu, Felicity
Xu, Lily
Yaacoub, James
Yan, Justin
Yang, Andrew
Yang, Sophie
Yeoman, Oscar
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Middle School Student photos
Year 8
Aldous, Grace
Anderson, Alise
Ang, Stanley
Appleby, Lawson
Armstrong, Lachlan
Bambery, Liam
Beltrami, Jack
Bennett, Jade
Bennett, Melanie
Bhattacharjee, Samrat
Catt, Lachlan
Chester, William
Cormack, Joel
Coutts, Max
Crouch, Molly
De Waard, Madeleine
Di Giovine, Matthew
Duff, Keeley
Dunshea, Melanie
Dykstra, Taylor
Giffard, Lachlan
Goldsmith, Olivia
Grant, Jacob
Greco, Mirella
Grogan, William
Gupta, Kishan
Hall, Jonathan
Harris, Alice
Hatton, Jackson
Hay, Jasmine
Keys, Jessica
Kimm, Raf
Kinivan, Zoe
Kirk, Amelie
Lannan, Declan
Lappin, Chantelle
Legge, Zachary
Leis, Jarrod
Lewis, Christopher
Lewis, Montana
McKnight, Spencer
McNamara, George
McShanag, Ethan
Mevasia, Jamy
Mitchell, Jack
Morris, Mollie
Munks, Benjamin
Murphy, Isabella
Murphy, Nathan
Muthusamy, Alana
Randall, Joshua
Renshaw, Isabelle
ReynoldsonRoss, Xander
Ritchie, Ella
Roberts, Jeremy
Roberts, Kate
Robinson, James
Romas, Zachariah
Safe, Zoe
Sammann, Max
Thomas, Alec
Thwaites, Matthew
Uduwela, Januda
Vu, Nelson
Waddington, Benjamin
Walker, Nicholas
Weill, Ashley
White, Andrew
Williams, Ella
Xu, Ethan
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Bird, Lachlan
Bove, Justyn
Braunthal, Zac
Brodribb, Hannah
Bromell, Georgia
Brown, Gus
Bryant, Lachlan
Campbell, Hamish
Cao, Cathy
Carbone, Michael
Elliott, Jack
Ellis, Jack
Foster, Jemma
Gallucci, Lily
Galstians, Georgia
Ganjavi, Aryan
Garbett, Bailey
Gardiner, Jack
Gartlan, Chloe
Gawel, Lachlan
Heather, Sarah
Heymanson, Abbey
Hogg, Cody
Holah, Mia
Johnston, Jessica
Katis, Sebastian
Kelly, Thomas
Kenos, Bianca
Kew, Clinton
Kew, Kaitlyn
Maguire, Fionn
Makela, Tuomas
Manning, Hannah
Marx, Shaye
Mauger, Luke
Mazzei, Emma
McCaffrey, Dylan
McCreedy, Lucy
McGown, Jasmine
McIntosh, James
Oglethorpe, Charlie
Olley, Amy-Jo
Olsen, Jeremy
Pahos, Ryan
Pallis, Thomas
Patterson, Bianca
Petropoulos, Zoe
Prater, Casey
Presta, Loretta
Ramsay, Robert
Schwab, Claudia
Scott, Georgia
Shannon, Riley
Sivaratnam, Shyan
Stevenson, Matthew
Stoltenberg, Amy
Sun, Eric
Tao, Todd
Taylor, Isaac
Theodoropoulos, Alex
Xu, Jack
Young, Adyn
Young, William
Zhao, Mengfan
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Middle School Student photos
Year 9
Adams, Benjamin
Akan, Nazli
Benn, Mia
Bergamo, Kiara
Bidgood, David
Bird, Cooper
Boell, Ethan
Bogotto, Stephen
Bonaddio, Christopher
Boston, Aimee
Cheng, Man Wai Theodora
Chester, Jacqueline
Church, Darcy
Cook, Lucas
Cotela, Brayden
Cox, Cooper
Cummings, Tristan
Cuthbert, Isobel
Cuthbertson, William
Dare, Phoebe
Fei, Dezy
Fernando, Jared
Findlay, Emma
Fleming, Edward
Fox, Midajah
Francesca, Madeline
Fry, Xavier
Gandhi, Sarthak
George, Hayley
Gill, Timothy
Higgins, Matthew
Hocking, Megan
Holmes, Joshua
Horton, Jack
Huang, Bin
Huntley, Daniel
Iatrou-Landgraf, Nicholas
Ireland, Jake
Irvine, Alexandra
Irvine, Thomas
Lyall, William
MacLennan, Cameron
Malessiankos, Harry
Marginean, Richard
Marino, Jaidyn
Martin, Ruby
Mather, Claudia
Matthews, Josh
Mauree, Tejas
McAndrew, Luke
Ng, Darren
Nicholls, Zara
Noble, Max
Norris, Eve
Northwood, Ella
Oberg, Thomas
O’Connor, Max
Oglethorpe, Oliver
Overall, Lachlan
Papadakis, Michael
Rickard, Sam
Rieschieck, Alisha
Ritchie, Wade
Roberts, Matthew
Rogers, Ellie
Russell, Tayla
Sapardanis, Elise
Scardamaglia, Anthony
Schaper, Maddison
Scholz, Daniel
Taylor, Zahra
Taylor-Calder, Tyson
Teale, Joshua
Thiessen, Zachary
Thompson, Benjamin
Tong, Peter
Toskov, Jason
Trotto, Matthew
Vaughan, Connor
Walker, Kade
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Brewer, William
Brown, Dylan
Brown, Zakari
Buchanan, Daniel
Burbridge, Jessie
Burchett, Kaela
Carson, Olivia
Cecil, Callum
Chen, CK
Chen, Wenxin Catherine
Davenport, James
De Waard, Joshua
Del Tondo, Kristen
Di Nucci, Sienna
Dickins, Lucas
Dunoon, Campbell
Estrada, Tristan
Fairweather, Harrison
Farrar, Gemma
Faulkner, Samantha
Graham, Kaleb
Grant, Nicola
Greco, Antonio
Hall, Nicholas
Hardcastle, Connor
Harland, Alexandra
Harris, Joel
Hay, Tyson
Haydon, Blake
Hicks, Zachary
Jamal, Qaasim
Jones, Ethan
Judeh, Bassel
Jury, Emma
Keane, Daniel
Kent, Beau
Kovacs, Bence
Limon-Meehan, Lucas
Liu, Huayan
Liu, Zhen Yu Mike
McGinley, Benjamin
McGregor, William
McLellan, Angus
Milne, Taylah
Moir, Jack
Morkham, Sean
Morris, Natalya
Muirhead, Olivia
Nad, Andre
Nathan, Joel
Petts, Amy
Pratt, Lachlan
Purbrick, Elliott
Purbrick, Finn
Quartermain, Caroline
Ranatunge, Ishra
Readman, Sophie
Rennie, Madeline
Reus, Jasmine
ReynoldsonRoss, Lauren
Schultz, Jacqueline
Scott, Keely
Shen, Yichen
Shi, Harvey
Smith, Brendon
Smith, Charley
Somerwil, Timothy
Spencer, Byron
Sun, Fuchen
Tang, Matthew Xuhong
Webb, James
West, Alicia
West, Emily
Westwood, Elyse
Westwood, Lucas
Williams, Caylin
Williams, Rachel
Wilson, Cooper
Xu, Angelina
Yang, Ao Steven
Yang, Jerry
Zhang, Elton
Zhang, Flora
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Senior SportsSchool
Senior School Contents
From the Head of Senior School
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USA IT and Multimedia Tour
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French exchange to Bordeaux
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China Tour
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Drama 133 Music 134 Debating 136 UN Youth Diplomacy Conference
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C4D 139 Arts Week
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C4D/VCE Graduate Art and Design Exhibition
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Year 10
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Year 11
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Class of 2015
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Student Leaders
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Student photos
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From the Head of Senior School 2015 provided the Senior School students with many opportunities and great experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. While many of these opportunities were regular fixtures on the busy Yarra Valley Grammar calendar, there were also a number of exciting first time experiences and occasions for students to enjoy.
The 2015 school year began with a great sense of excitement, after having watched the new Science and Mathematics building develop over the past fifteen months, it was now time to see inside and learn in this wonderful new resource. It was more exciting for the Year 10 and 11 students who would be the first students to occupy the building as it would also be their new home. Their lockers, social space and recreation areas would be in and around this magnificent new facility. Students quickly utilised all the different areas and
spaces for small group discussions and study were as popular as the larger open spaces. The official opening by the Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove and the Archbishop of Melbourne, Reverend Dr Phillip Freier was a wonderful occasion and showcased brilliantly the talent, reverence and sense of occasion of all the Senior School students. The Year 12 students also settled efficiently and effectively into their final year of study and the Neville J Lyngcoln Senior Student Centre which now also housed the English, Humanities and Business Studies faculties. They took their responsibility of leaders of the School seriously and set a great tone for the rest of the Senior School to follow. Opportunities outside of the classroom were also embraced during the course of the year. The first Year 8 – 12 School musical to be held in many years, Seussical the Musical involved a great many Senior School students both on stage and behind the curtains. Their collective efforts resulted in four magnificent performances, including a Saturday afternoon matinee, another first. The musicians practised, rehearsed, played and performed diligently and impressively at the series of School
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concerts during the year. They travelled to Mount Gambier for Generations in Jazz, to Ballarat for the Royal South Street competitions and also to Sydney on the very successful Music tour in July. Our sporting teams trained, practised and played to the very best during the year in all their sporting endeavours with the Girls Basketball and Volleyball teams being premiers after a consistent and exemplary season together. Well done to all involved in the sport program over the year. The debaters also performed well in their DAV competition with a number of best speakers and Swannie awards presented at the end of their round of debates. The year level Socials and Formals were also great highlights of the year, as was the Year 11 Presentation Ball. The annual C4D exhibition at Burrinja Gallery and the VCE Exhibition in Foundation Hall showcased the great creative and artistic talent of our Senior School Art and Design students. And again in 2015, the combined fund raising efforts of not only the Senior School students, but all students across the school resulted in over $55,000 dollars being raised from our support of the Royal Children’s Hospital (Good Friday Appeal collection in support of the Pied Pipers), Leukaemia Foundation (Great Yarra Shave) and World Vision (40 Hour Famine). For the first time this year, the Senior School held a
Mother’s Day breakfast in May and a Father’s Day breakfast in September. Senior School students and the significant male or female in their life enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in Foundation Hall. Jade Rowarth, a Partner at Maddocks Lawyers was the guest speaker at the Mother’s Day breakfast which supported Breast Cancer Network Australia and Daniel Harford, former Hawthorn and Carlton AFL footballer and current afternoon host on SEN was the guest speaker at the Father’s Day breakfast with funds raised supporting Beyondblue – The Man Therapy Project. Both these great occasions will continue on the School calendar for many years to come. Sincere thanks to Ms Amber Kennedy and her team for their great efforts in arranging these two occasions. The opportunity to travel overseas was also on offer in 2015. The traditional French, Japanese and Chinese exchange programs saw over thirty students travel to our respective sister schools in Bordeaux, Hiroshima and Pinghu as well as visit other places including the respective capital cities. We welcomed students from Lycee Le Mirail in Bordeaux and Johoku in Hiroshima. For the very first time this year, 32 students from Years 10, 11 and 12 and four teachers travelled to the west coast of the USA on the ICT and Multimedia Tour.
Visiting San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Anaheim and Los Angeles, the touring party visited a number of computer companies, museums and places of interest and learnt more about the role and use of computers and multimedia. Among the many highlights were meeting Peter Russell-Clarke (YVG 1986) who gave us a tour of his workplace, Apple; Year 12 student Morgan Hill’s brother arranged for us to visit and look around Google and Noah Johnston, School Captain in 2011 who is a current student at Stanford University showed us around this prestigious private university. It was a very successful trip and while it was the first, it is unlikely to be the last. It has been another great year, and one with a number of firsts to add to the rich and varied opportunities and experiences for our Senior School students. Thank you to everyone in the Senior School in 2015 for your contribution to all that has occurred and special best wishes to our Year 12 students for their future endeavours. Mr Andrew Hocking Deputy Principal – Head of Senior School
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USA Information Technology and Multimedia Tour On March 28, an early Saturday morning, 32 keen students along with four excited teachers embarked on Yarra’s very first U.S ICT and Multimedia Tour which was a two week long adventure on the west coast of California. Throughout the trip we would visit many IT company headquarters and museums to help further our knowledge of ICT, animation and Multimedia. We began in San Francisco where we took the ferry to reach the infamous Alcatraz Island where we all took part in a fantastic self-guided tour of the former prison. Throughout the rest of our week in San Francisco we visited places such as the Walt Disney Family Museum and the Tech Museum of Innovation, which were all fantastic. On March 31 we began our first day in Silicon Valley with a trip to the Intel Museum where we learned about the history and development of computer processors and chips. We realised just how far people have developed new technology
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at Apple from Yarra Old Grammarian, Peter Russell-Clarke (Class of 1986). Peter is a top designer for Apple so it was an amazing opportunity to meet him.
in the past 50 years and it was breathtaking. The next day involved a visit to the Computer History Museum where we learned about the overall history of computers and game systems. A highlight of our trip came in the afternoon of the same day in which we visited Stanford University. During our visit we met up with former School Captain, Noah Johnston (Class of 2011) who is currently studying at Stanford. He gave us a tour of one of the dorms and arranged for two IT students from Harvard to speak to us about their course, their work in IT and plans for the future. The next day was spent by getting a private tour of Apple Headquarters and all of their facilities. We even got a sneak peek at the new Apple iWatch and new MacBook and gave us an insight to the design processes
Our next stop was at Google Headquarters where we were fortunate to have a tour of their campus. We were surprised by the sheer size of the Headquarters and there were people everywhere talking and socialising. It looked like an amazing place to work. After Silicon Valley, we travelled to Anaheim. The next few days were ones that we all were looking forward to as they would be our three days at Disneyland. Our first day was at the Disneyland Resort. The rides, which included Space Mountain and Splash Mountain, were amazing and thrilling. That night we enjoyed dinner at the Medieval Times restaurant where we were treated to a great performance of a medieval tournament between six knights. The next day we trekked through California Adventure Park, which was also amazing. In particular, the Hollywood Hotel of Terror and the California Screamer rollercoaster were our favourite rides. Our last day of Disneyland was spent going on all of the best rides finishing the day with a spectacular fireworks show.
Our last few days in California were spent in Los Angeles. After a tour of LA and Hollywood, we visited Universal Studios and Warner Brothers Studios. At Universal, we were treated to one of the best studio tours we had ever been on. Also the rides were great and exciting. On our last day before Warner Brothers we had to pack up in preparation for the flight home. However, we didn’t let the disappointment of having to go home stop us from enjoying Warner Bros as much as we did. We got to see the sets of several famous shows, such as the set from Friends. Although we were all sad that we were leaving America, we had enjoyed our time on the West Coast so much and had gained memories that we would never forget. Adam Braham and Riley Dunoon Year 11
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French exchange to Bordeaux On September 7, Mr Marden, Miss Peoples, myself and 11 other excited students studying French boarded a plane to begin our exchange to Bordeaux. After multiple gruelling flights we finally arrived in the heart of France, Paris. However, our travelling did not end there as we boarded a train bound for Bordeaux where our host families were waiting for us. As we approached the city we would call home and grow to love over the next two and a half weeks, the nerves kicked in as we all pulled our phrasebooks and began trying to memorize essential sentences to help us along the way with our French buddies. Each of the host families was extremely welcoming and we all quickly became accustomed to the French way of living. We began our days at Lycée du Mirail on our second day and were faced with the daunting task of understanding subjects that would be a challenge to understand in English, in a foreign language. However this task was made much easier by the cheerful teachers and the accepting nature of the students. It was amazing how many French students came up to us just to introduce themselves and attempt to string together sentences in English so to get to know us better. Scattered between our days at school were several excursions to the numerous monuments in and around Bordeaux. Some of the places we visited included St Emillion, Arcachon, Dune du Pilat, le Miroir d’eau and the Pey Berland with each of these an opportunity to bond with not only our own buddies but also the others that were involved in the exchange. One event that became a constant amongst our busy schedule was our daily trips to La Mie
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including the Notre dame, Eiffel tower, Sacré Coeur, the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre. Our stay in Paris was short and sweet but the perfect way to end our wonderful exchange in France.
Caline, a French bakery that had every type of French dessert, pastry and sandwich you could ever imagine. Before we knew it our time had come to an end with our host families in Bordeaux. It was tough to say goodbye to all the friends we had made during our stay and to the families who had looked after us. Only two things dampened our sadness of leaving the beautiful city of Bordeaux, the fact that we would see our buddies again in February for the second half of the exchange, and the fact that our next three days would be spent in Paris. During our three days in Paris we managed to visit many of its famous spectacles
The trip made for an unforgettable three weeks where we made countless new friends that we hope to stay in touch with for many years to come. It was an amazing opportunity to spend time in a foreign country and to be fully emerged in a different culture. Our years of learning French verbs had finally come to fruition and we were able to use our language as key to delve into another culture and converse with others in French. On behalf of all of the students involved, I would like to thank all of those who made this exchange possible and especially Mr Marden and Miss Peoples for accompanying us and making sure this trip a fond memory that will stay with all of us for a long time. Joseph Pitt Year 11
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China Tour – an amazing adventure What do you get when you send 16 enthusiastic students and two excited teachers to China for two weeks? You get the most amazing experience!
The Summer Palace and bargaining our hearts out at The Pearl Market! We took a chairlift up a mountain to a section of The Great Wall of China, walked along the wall, climbing the steepest stairs you could imagine, and then tobogganed down the mountain!
As we met at Tullamarine at 5:50am on the first day of the Term 1 holidays, we couldn’t begin to imagine the diverse and exciting times that lay ahead.
We trained from Beijing to Shanghai on the fastest train in the world, covering 1500km in just five hours. We then flew west to beautiful Zhangjiajie where we viewed the peaks and mountains that James Cameron based his film Avatar on, and explored peaceful lakes and beautiful caves.
Three days in Beijing visiting Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Heavenly Temple, The 2008 Olympic Precinct and
Returning briefly to Shanghai, we travelled by bus to Pinghu School where we were met by teachers, the Principal and 16 very excited Chinese students, many of whom had visited Yarra last August. The Yarra students spent three wonderful nights with their host families, visiting local sights, extended families and attending school...a 7am start! After a fond farewell to Pinghu School, we headed back to Shanghai for two days of sightseeing and last minute shopping. We spent time both during the day and night at the amazing Bund, taking in the diverse sights of colonial architecture on one side of the river and huge skyscrapers on the other. Views from the top of the third tallest
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building in the world were impressive...if not a little daunting for some, and we mastered the Shanghai subway system. We ate delicious Chinese food for lunch and dinner every day, sourced steamed pork buns and dumplings for snacks, learned to enjoy warm lemonade and shared some chocolate at Easter. We watched thrilling Kung Fu and Acrobatic shows, were amazed at the traffic and the crowds, took six plane flights, slept in five different locations, expanded our suitcases from all our shopping, then crossed our fingers at the baggage check in on the way home, all the time having the time of our lives!! We would like to sincerely thank Pinghu School for hosting our three day visit, and the wonderful Yarra parents who provided the opportunity for their children to experience some of the cultural sights and sounds of China...it is indeed an amazing place. Finally, a big thank you to the 16 amazing students who travelled with us. They were a credit to themselves, their families and the School. We were just like one big happy family! Mrs Leah Manning and Mr Will Harper Senior School Teachers
Drama – developing connections 2015 saw an exciting year for Yarra Valley Grammar’s Drama Department. From the Year 7 Performance Night, to the vast collaboration of Middle and Senior to produce Seussical the Musical, opportunities were endless for those who were interested in participating in Drama at Yarra. The Drama Department welcomed its students back at the start of the year with the exciting addition of air conditioners in all rooms, which was very exciting as it means enthusiasm was no longer affected by the heat! This year’s Drama Committee (now known as the Dramatic Development Squad) has had an extremely successful year. By implementing a Drama noticeboard specifically for the squad, it allowed for communication to all of those involved, about any activities or events that were occurring.
Seussical the Musical, directed by the Head of Drama, Jane Marshall was a very exciting and special production. Not only was the show a collaboration of all the Dr Seuss books into one brilliant story, it was also a collaboration between the Middle School and the Senior School. As productions are normally split and one given to each section of the School, this collaboration allowed students to meet and develop connection with others they would not usually have the opportunity to meet. Seussical was wildly successful receiving great reviews, and all cast and crew thoroughly enjoying themselves. As the demographic for this production was Year 8 to Year 12, the Year 7s were given an opportunity to show off their stage skills during Year 7 – Take a Bow. This night featured performances by each tutorial and included two songs and a short skit. Each student was given at least one character and line, meaning that all students were given the opportunity to
perform at Yarra. This night was also meet with great feedback and shone a light on the new and emerging talent within the younger years. During Arts Week, the Drama Department offered games and workshops at lunchtime that everyone in the School was able to participate in with prizes being awarded and fun shared all around. The friendships and relationships we have made throughout our years being involved in the Drama Department have been extremely valuable to developing our performance skills. We would like to thank all contributors, as we would not have been as successful in our dramatic endeavors without the help, support and guidance we have received from the students and staff in this outstanding department. Genevieve Underhill and Lachlan Wall Senior School Drama Captains
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Musical experiences and opportunities As 2015 comes to a close it marks the end of an era for the Year 12 students within the music department here at Yarra. The last six years have seen all of us furthering our musical abilities, sharing in incredible experiences and opportunities, and strengthening our friendships throughout the Yarra Music family. The year began with one of the highlights, Music Camp in Warburton. This music getaway is always such a great way to catch up with friends, dust some cobwebs off our instruments and get ready for the Food, Wine and Music Concert. The first time we were part of this camp in Year 8 it was a daunting prospect, but our fears were unfounded. The senior music students welcomed us with open arms and showed us the ropes, from then on Music Camp was always one of the most anticipated times of year.
Generations in Jazz. The weekend has always been filled with incredible concerts and workshops with jazz legends such as James Morrison, Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band as well as the incredible acapella groups The Idea of North and Take 6. Yarra has experienced ongoing success at this event with multiple wins and placings. In 2015, our Big Band again took first place in our division, an achievement of which we were extremely proud.
As always, Term 1 concluded with the Food, Wine and Music Concert, which showcased the talent of every single music student in the School, from ages 8 to 18. It has always been an incredible success and something to look forward to. We give our thanks to Yarra Music for putting together such an amazing night for us year after year.
Over the last six years we have also been presented with the opportunity to travel with the music school to both New Zealand and Sydney for music tours. Both these trips have been highlights of our time at Yarra, allowing us to see some amazing sights, strengthen our old friendships and make new ones as well as performing on some of the most amazing stages in the world, such as the main concert hall of the Sydney Opera House.
Another weekend that is always a major highlight for our Jazz students is the trip to Mount Gambier for James Morrison’s
Other annual performances that we have enjoyed participating in over the years is the Choral Concert and in 2012 getting to
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both workshop and share the stage with The Idea of North, performing at the Royal South Street Eisteddfod in Ballarat, enjoying both wins and placings, as well as the incredible Jazz in the Café each year. Finally, we would like to thank the unwaveringly passionate staff in the Music Department especially our Director of Music, Scott Templeton. Without the efforts of all the instrumental teachers, Heads of department, band, orchestra and choir leaders and also classroom teachers the Music Department at Yarra would not be the same welcoming, fun and functional place that it is. You have all made the Music Department feel like home. Our experiences in the Music Department will be held dear in our hearts for a long, long time, and we are so grateful for the opportunities we have received. We wish all our fellow Muso’s both in Year 12 and below the best of luck and we know we’ll be catching up soon. Erin Upson and Jeremy Doupe Music Captains
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A visionary year of debating 2015 ushered in a new age of debating, a program that has genuinely expanded in all aspects and broadened public speaking for the Yarra Valley Grammar community. Debating on the Debating Association of Victoria (DAV) level proved to be successful and enabled students from Year 9 through to Year 12 to extend themselves. Encouraging the inter-level cooperation and mentoring, the Year 9 students immersed themselves in their first year of Debating Culture. They are to be highly commended for such a bona fide approach to debating; giving us great hope for debating at our School. The success of the Year 10 speakers has developed a sensational appreciation for public speaking across the Senior School board. Their progression to the playoffs in the final days of Term 3 has been an incredible achievement, one that each member should be absolutely proud of. Of particular note was the individual achievement of Year 10 student, Blakely McLean Davies who received a Swannie for the Best C Grade Speaker in the Ringwood Region.
As the progress to their last year of debating, the B Grade, Year 11 team has shown us great promise and talent as they emerged as Ringwood Regional OctoFinalists. The new additions to the Year 11 team along with existing debaters showed flair are to be highly commended for their efforts and dedication in upholding high debating standards in 2015. This year’s reinvigorated debating program saw the largest Year 12 involvement in Yarra Valley history. The excellent results attained are credit to the exemplary manner in which Year 12 students managed to make each debate enjoyable, lighthearted and full of memorable moments. On behalf of Erin Thompson and I, Year 12 students who began our Debating journey in Year 9, we have relished our time in this program. We are grateful for the continuous potential to extend our knowledge about the world we live in and discover the power of speaking on an elevated platform. Aalishna Alag Debating Captain
Year 9 Debating team L - R: Nicholas Iatrou-Landgraf, Kaela Burchett, Ishra Ranatunge, Eve Norris, Sarthak Gandhi, Emily West, Sophie Readman, Emma Jury Absent: Darren Ng, Emma Findlay, Lauren Reynoldson-Ross
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Year 10 Debating team Front row: Finley Griffett, Blakely McLean-Davies, Alexander Readman, Miles Norris Back row: Matthew White, Piper Blake, Monique Quinn, Maddy Kirk, Bec Mauger
Year 11 Debating team Front row: Spencer Rich, James Harland, Sophie Manning, Linda Burchett, Ellen Cecil, Gabe Bethune Back row: Darcy Harris, Adam Chan, Aleisha Burgess, Carter Smith Absent: Danielle Wolff, Chantal Di Giantomasso, Joshua Farrugia, Tyler Fernando, Kanisha Farrell, Ben Raper
Year 12 Debating team Front row: Richard Grounds, Lara Blumer, Nicola Anastasiou, Aalishna Alag (Captain), Kelsey Horton, Erin Thompson, Jace Walker Back row: Jacqui Morton, Kyra Argyriou, Rebecca Marginean, Elise Sharpe Absent: Georgie Watts
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UN Youth Diplomacy Conference Fortunately, we were successful, being sent through to the Semi-Finals, which were held at Melbourne Town Hall on 23 August.
Earlier this year, two Year 10 students Finley Griffett and Alex Readman travelled to the Melbourne Law School and Melbourne Town Hall to compete in an intense diplomatic competition against schools from around the state. The Evatt Competition is a Model United Nations Security Council diplomacy competition for students in Years 10 through 12, with more than 2,000 students competing each year. It aims to educate young people about different countries and their place in the world and empower them as active citizens by developing public speaking, negotiation, teamwork, research, and diplomatic skills.
After being assigned the country of Guatemala in the preliminary rounds, Alex and I embarked on a process of extensive research on our country, as well as various global issues. This involved reading through countless articles and theses, and listening to many parliamentary debates. In the preliminaries, three resolutions were negotiated on: The Criminalization of Extremist Political Parties; The Question of Private Military Companies; and The Question of Slavery in Mauritania. Alex and I were up against many experienced debaters, as the majority of the 20 teams were Year 12 Global Politics students however, we held our own, debating persistently in order to successfully pass amendments on behalf of Guatemala. The day moved very quickly and we had to be on our toes, splitting up at times to speak in the chamber whilst the other was negotiating and making deals with other countries in a separate room.
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In the Semis, we were given the permanent member country of France, where the veto power was able to be used cunningly as a negotiation tool. In a much harder and fast-paced round, and against even more experienced Evatt competitors, we once again presented well and created a presence in the Assembly. The topics debated were The Question of South Sudan, and the secret topic of The Question of North Korean Refugees in China, which provided an added challenge and forced us to use our withstanding knowledge of current global issues. Unfortunately, Alex and I did not make it past the Semi-Finals; however, to make it through to the Semis in our first year is an achievement in itself. Regardless, the experience was incredibly rewarding and beneficial, as we both endeavour to pursue careers in the field of Politics and International Relations. We would like to thank Mr Marden and the Humanities Department for their ongoing support and for giving us the opportunity to extend our knowledge in politics and diplomacy. Finley Griffett Year 10
C4D – creative connections Camp in Queenscliff New and old C4D students came together in sunny Queenscliff for three days for an Art immersion experience. A packed itinerary kept students fully engaged sketching the historic buildings around the town. They had great weather for the ferry trip across to Sorrento where they captured the colour and light of the ocean with water colour and pastel. All returned home with a visual diary full of promise for the year ahead, and with new friends to accompany them on their creative journey.
Artists in Industry The Certificate course has a strong emphasis on links to Industry and a rich program of guest speakers gave senior students the opportunity to gain insights into the commercial reality of a professional designer. They heard form a diverse range including an Illustrator, Disney animation artist, Costume and Set designer, Interior designer, Jeweller and even a Tattoo Artist. Students also attended the AG Ideas Forum to hear from leading designers in Industry.
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C4D at Burrinja In July Burrinja Gallery in Upwey was once again the chosen venue for the annual Certificate IV in Design Exhibition and opening night saw current and past students come together in the main Gallery to celebrate the student work produced over the last twelve months. The opening speech was given by Patrick Lane, an Industrial designer and furniture technologist. Patrick is also a past student of Yarra and a member of the Hearing Unit. Since embarking on his tertiary schooling, he has won numerous awards and made reference to the importance of just giving it a go. He praised the teaching staff for their encouragement and said the School and the C4D course was indeed a portal to a place where student’s talent can develop and grow.
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Arts Week 2015 – Portals A Portal is a door, gate or entrance – and theme for this year’s Arts Week festivities. Art and Design is indeed a portal into another reality, the creative world of our imaginations where anything is possible. We began with our annual Art show in Foundation Hall that featured student art work from Prep to Year 11. Open Day visitors were able to view this broad selection of art work including indigenous murals, Latin American figurines, wooden eco amps, colourful landscapes, computer aided design, architectural models and photographic displays. During what turned out to be a week of glorious spring weather, the main courtyard was a buzz at lunchtime with live performances from our very own Middle School Arts Captain, Zara Nicholls and Yarra Music groups the Big Band, Combo and Zoned In. It was a collaborative extravaganza with Food Technology hosting the Colourful Cupcakes Competition, raising funds for charity, Drama students entertained with dress ups and games, ICT had its very own portal with the Green Screen in the Middle School Gallery – transporting students to strange and remote locations at the click of a mouse. The House Mural competition was in full swing throughout the week. Acclaimed artist Richard Bailey joined us capturing young faces on his sketchpad with
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astounding skill. Students took part in a range of other activities, a hot favourite being the Art ducks and frogs, a creative spin on the childhood favourite plaster fun house. Life size ceramic ducks and frogs were fired ready for a band of talented volunteers to decorate in the style of famous artists. The Mona Lisa and Rothko frogs, Mondrian, Picasso and Renoir ducks along with many other art world greats enjoyed a brief floatation in the School fountain each day. Other activities included T-shirt painting and badge making. Other highlights of the festivities were the staff face painting, as our talented C4D students took up the brush to paint teachers faces. The Art Captains, Ainsley Caulfield and Matthew Maida were wonderful ambassadors, working with students to
ensure each day went well. The Arts Week assembly featured the ever popular Fashion parade and the announcement of the Star Portrait finalists and winner, Hannah Manning with her wonderful painting of Ms Spreadborough. We also had lunchtime sessions with our Artist in Residence, Lisa Hass who has been working throughout Term 3 with a group of Year 9 and 10 students to produce large porcelain installation which will be unveiled in Term 4. The Arts enriches our lives and it was wonderful to see so many students involved. Mrs Sue Plumb Head of Art Design and Technology
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C4D/ VCE Graduate Art and Design Exhibition On Wednesday evening 21 October the 2015 Graduate exhibition which featured students work from Year 12 Visual Design and Communication, Product Design and Technology and the Certificate IV in Design.
Excellence was acknowledged with the annual subject area prizes. • C ertificate IV in Design Life Drawing – Madeleine Palmer • V isual Communication and Design – Trent Jackson • P roduct Design and Technology (Fashion) – Emily Wookey and Genevieve Underhill
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We were most fortunate to have Cameron Gough with us as guest speaker. Cameron is no stranger to Yarra, a past student who completed his C4D in 2000, after which he went on to undertake the Bachelor of Design, Digital Arts at Monash University. In 2007 established his own boutique driven animation company Dirty Puppet. He spoke of the importance of the friendships that he had made at School, not only in his personal life but also to his career. The power of these networks lies in the
exchange of ideas and the assistance on offer to one another. Cameron now has a studio space which he shares with a number of his peers and the mutual benefits are exponential. This year’s student work was most impressive and I congratulate them all on their efforts and wish them every success in their creative future. Mrs Sue Plumb Head of Art Design and Technology
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Year 10 – new independence Our first year in Senior School has been not only both memorable and enjoyable, but it has shaped and prepared us for our final two years at Yarra. Year 10 consisted of higher expectations than we had known in years prior, giving us valuable opportunities to challenge ourselves both in and out of the classroom. It could be said that we were thrown into the deep end but working hard to step up allowed us to feel proud of our achievements and we were all able to grow closer as a year level because of it. Our year began with the opening of our new Science and Mathematics Building, which would also be the home base for both us and the Year 11s. After much anticipation and excitement, the building was officially opened on 18 February by the Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove. Attending this monumental event in our School’s history demonstrated to us just what a special place Yarra is. The modern classrooms, open spaces and excellent facilities made Year 10 a unique experience and we were extremely lucky to be the first of many to make the most of it. Early in the year, all of Year 10 attended a study-skills workshop held by Elevate Education. It was presented by young people who, only recently, had gone through the VCE process. This was very beneficial because they were able to connect with the students. Because they covered a variety of study skills, everyone
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was able to take something from their advice that would help with exam preparation. During the year we were encouraged to move beyond our comfort zones at school and reach out into the community. Work experience was an exciting opportunity to gain a new perspective on where our lives could lead after school and assisted us to make the best choices in our all-important VCE subject selection. Each and every one of us looked forward to this week of Term 2 and we certainly gained beneficial knowledge which could not be learned from a textbook. This year we were also introduced to another aspect of our schooling which really challenged us to put in every effort to achieve our best in our studies. Our first set of formal mid and end of year exams, although somewhat confronting, were an opportunity to really make the most of our
classes and use our skills and knowledge to aim for our best results. A number of students also took on the VCE a year early, by completing a Unit 1 and 2 subject. Although this involved a heavier workload and significant effort, it gave us a taste of what is to come and put us in a great place for next year. Year 10 was defined by new experiences that would inspire, encourage and motivate us and which we will cherish as fond high-school memories for years to come. The Year 10 Social was a highlight of our year which was held at Linley Estate in Kilsyth. We were all very enthusiastic to dress up and celebrate the night which was different to what many of us had experienced before. It was a terrific way to celebrate the year that was, with plenty of photos and dancing with friends. 2015 was an exciting time for many students because they turned 16 during the year, which enabled them to get their Learner’s Permit. Although the thought of driving is very exciting for some, it can also be very dangerous if the drivers are not educated. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to listen to John Maher and Intelligent Training Solutions who gave a talk on safe driving. This talk was very educational and gave us a more realistic
view of the dangers of the road, if the driver is not careful. The House Athletics Carnival was very different for us this year because it had been postponed several times due to poor weather. This resulted in the Year 11s and 12s not being able to participate for most of the day because their classes had to take priority. Consequently, for the first half of the day, the younger year levels looked to the Year 10s for leadership and organisation. It felt good to be trusted with this responsibility. After the Year 11s and 12s came down to compete in the events they could, the atmosphere continued and the day, as a whole, was a huge success. Year 10 provided endless chances to grow and excel in areas that we were passionate about, whether it be in the classroom, on the sporting field, performing on stage or a huge variety of other areas in School life. Doing what we love and aspiring to achieve our goals gave us independence and character which we can draw upon in the upcoming years, even beyond our time at Yarra. Danielle Tait and Tom Brotchie Year 10
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Senior School
Year 11 – a whirlwind year 2015 has been a whirlwind of a year for us all in Year 11. With our final year of school approaching there has been a heavy focus on developing and consolidating study habits, whilst also allowing us to come together as a cohort and grasp the opportunities available at our fingertips. With the pressures of VCE having arrived, there has been a heavy focus on developing and understanding the concepts of mindfulness. We were lucky enough to have a series of speeches from Hugh Van Cuylenburg, the founding director of The Resilience Project. Hugh provided us with many hilarious anecdotes as well as pertinent devices to heighten our ability for mindfulness, empathy and resilience. From Hugh’s speeches spawned an important new development for Year 11 – tute presentations. Every tute was given a theme such as gratitude, kindness, switching off technologies etc. and an allotted tutorial session in which to present their display to the rest of the year level. This opportunity sparked creativity and inspired tutorials to develop ideas, show leadership and play to their strengths. Some of the most memorable presentations include Mr Schuman’s tute, who set-up a Gratitude booth in which to record messages of appreciation, Mr MacPherson’s who undertook an experiment on the year level involving marshmallows and self control as well as
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Miss Peoples’ tute, who performed a poetry slam relating to kindness and provided individual challenges on slips of paper for each student of Year 11. Year 11 has provided us with many fun and interesting classroom opportunities. With the seriousness of Year 12 quickly approaching, it has been incredibly rewarding for us to enjoy the experiences offered to us within our electives. The Literature class recently had their Gatsby Gala organised by Miss Peoples, which involved costumes, food, the Baz Luhrmann film and all things 1920s. On top of this, the Literature class had several theatre nights out and was lucky enough to see Melbourne Theatre Company performance of Jumpy, Endgame and North by Northwest. The Year 11 Business class visited Bounce to get an insight into the entrepreneurship and business skills behind the company. Physics visited Sandown to see the V8 Supercars and speak to some of the people working in the pits and the Psychology class visited the The Dax Centre in order to view their
collection of artworks by people who have experienced mental illness or psychological trauma. The Drama class was also given the opportunity to present an ANZAC Day performance at assembly, develop a play for the Year 11 play night as well as create a video for the Foundation Dinner. These activities within our respective classes has given us the opportunity to deepen the understanding of our subjects and get to know our classmates and our teachers in a way that prepares us greatly for the year ahead. Another incredible opportunity presented to us in Year 11 was the Peer Support program. This involved students from Year 11 participating in Year 7 Dramatic Development classes on a weekly basis, developing connections with the younger students and assisting them in finding their place within the Yarra community. We were there to help guide some of younger members of Yarra through what can be a difficult time of settling in. It was amazing for us as Peer Support Leaders to watch
the Year 7s grow throughout the year, seeing kids come out of their shells and muster the confidence to go out on a limb, strike conversations and develop friendships outside of their comfort zones, and in turn, reap the rewards. It has once again been a busy year for those of us involved in the Performing Arts, with a definite highlight being the whole school production of Seussical. Along with all the other drama and music enthusiasts, we all had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the nonsensical, yet wonderful, world of Doctor Seuss. Whether it was acting as one of the eccentric characters, dancing and singing as a Who, playing in the live orchestra or assisting backstage with the vibrant and imaginative costumes, there was an opportunity for us all to join in the fun. Things were no less exciting in the Music department, with our first performance for the year being playing for the GovernorGeneral at the opening of the new Science and Mathematics building in February. Soon following that, several Year 11s made the journey up to the Generations in Jazz Festival in South Australia, where we competed against other aspiring jazz musicians from schools all around Australia. Our Big Band was particularly successful, winning first prize in our division and several members of our band being
selected for the Superband. This certainly was a memorable and inspiring experience for us, especially as we continue our musical journeys as leaders next year. One special night unique to the Year 11 cohort was the Presentation Ball. After spending weeks in preparation at dance rehearsals and dress fittings, thirty beautiful couples glided elegantly around the dance floor, displaying their grace, poise and much-improved dance skills! Thanks to all the hard work of Ms Pottage, it was certainly an enchanting evening to remember. The last week of Term 3 saw several members of the French class excitedly embarking on a once in a lifetime trip to France, where we would spend three weeks immersed in the lives of the French. We all threw ourselves into the French culture, attending school with our host buddies, practicing and refining our speaking skills, soaking up the rich French
history and, most importantly, sampling the cuisine! The trip culminated in an unforgettable visit to the famous City of Lights, with the display of the Eiffel Tower lighting up the night becoming a particularly magical memory for all. As we get ready for the pressures and challenges that next year will present, the encouragement and guidance of our tutors have been an invaluable source of support. We would like to thank them all, along with our wonderful coordinator Ms Carvell, for all the time and effort they have put into preparing us for our final year of schooling. Once again, there have been countless opportunities available this year that have shaped and developed us. We have all embraced each one wholeheartedly and we are all eagerly anticipating the challenges and bonding experiences that next year will present. Scarlett Kennedy and Linda Burchett Year 11
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Senior School
Class of 2015 It is only natural to become just a little nostalgic as we draw towards the end of our final year of schooling. We start looking at everything we do in a different way, realising that this is our last sports training session, or our last morning tute. Our entire attitude towards school life changes, and before you know it, it is no longer just another ordinary day. It is our last day. It is only expected that the end of this year is bittersweet; while indeed we are all eager to begin the next stage of our lives, we do so with the sadness that we are leaving a place that has come to be our second home, a place in which we have formed friendships that will last our entire lives. This year has undeniably been stressful for all of us at times, but these 190 days have brought us all together in a way that nothing else could. We have become more than just another Year 12 in a state of 663. We have become a family. We didn’t have long to wait until practically every teacher in the School, let alone those we actually had a class with, was telling us how difficult this year was going to be. And sure, it didn’t take long to realise that, yeah, they were right. For some of us, the heavier work load was easy to adjust to, and for some of us, we are still trying to adjust even after our final exam! It was a year of thinking we were on top of everything only to be pushed under by four SACs in five
days. But these weeks only proved that in times of stress, Year 12s are always there for each other. Every member of the Supportive Friends program was worth their weight in gold, organising pyjama days and movie nights, where snuggling up in a sleeping bag and onesie at School was considered normal behaviour, hot cross bun breakfasts, Easter egg hunts, and even a Christmas in July, providing a much needed dose of holiday cheer and distraction in a heavy SAC period, pulling us above the tides of homework and revision just when we thought we were drowning. As the first Year 12 cohort to experience the Science and Mathematics building, and the consequent shift of the Year 12 space into the more broadly used Arts and Humanities building, we were clearly a source of envy for the class of 2014. The grand opening of the new centre was indeed a high point for our School, providing state of the art resources for those involved in the study of maths and science, which served no end of benefit to all those brave enough to take on subjects like Chemistry or Methods. The opening of such an amazing new centre only four years after the initial destruction of the prior centre is clearly a huge accomplishment for the School. Dr Merry can even be seen on occasion roaming the halls and patting the walls with pride. Despite work being thrown at us from all sides, there were many times (probably
more than teachers would like us to admit) when we dusted off our almost forgotten identities as something other than Year 12 students. Putting down the books, we picked up our dancing shoes for the Year 12 formal (in some cases, however, the shoes definitely were not designed for dancing!), or rocked up to enjoy pizza and cheer on those Year 12s brave enough to take on leading roles in Suessical. And where would we be without our two fabulous coordinators; Mr Ellul and Ms Kennedy? If Year 12 was a family, then they without a doubt were the parents of the cohort. Their constant concern for all of our welfare and willingness to let us chew their ear off, so to speak, with our study related issues pushed us through to our final days. Supplying a constant stream of motivation throughout the year through her window quotes, Ms Kennedy’s calming influence was often enough to reign in even the most stressed student, and Mr Ellul’s ability to magically re-arrange any SAC was an endless source of relief to most of us. Even beyond this, they provided a shoulder to cry on when, having just completed a three hour exam, we forgot our own names in mental exhaustion! And so as we move towards the end of our 2340 days of School, we look upon each day with a new perspective, knowing it brings us that much closer to our last. But we must try to remember that this is not an ending, so much as a new beginning. Admittedly, we cannot help but think about whether this is the last time Mrs Etheridge will bake us chocolate cake, or if this is the last time Mr Hart will beat us in a game of silent ball, but who knows what awaits us beyond the tremulous waters of VCAA exams? No one knows where we will all be in five years, and that’s what makes the reunions interesting. Lauren Davis Year 12
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Senior School
Class of 2015 reflections • E very morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them. James Buckley • I f you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Grace Collins • You miss all the shots you never take. Jacob Cook • Yarra doesn’t teach young people how to make a living but it teaches them how to make a life. Candice Fan • I’ve got 99 problems and they’re all due Monday! Joshua Hudson • When VCE is out of control, just keep calm and go grab yourself some bubble tea. Sarin (Arm) Kulmanochawong
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• Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. Madi Lacy
• Enjoy the journey not just the destination. Georgia Rogers
• Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up. (Alfred Pennyworth) Matthew Maida
• Be yourself, everyone else is already taken. Eva Sun
• Courage comes not always being right but not fearing to be wrong. Elise Obradovic • Without school it’s really hard to know what day it is. Ben Rennie • By far the most important thing Yarra has gifted me with is the opportunity to access anything I can dream of. It has given me the confidence to strive for my goals and has ultimately provided me with the optimal fundamental education to begin my life. Emily Roberts
• You can’t change the direction of the wind but you can adjust your sails to reach your destination. Tom Tsigaras • I barely recognise the person I was when I first started at Yarra. This School has helped me grow and develop so much into a person I am proud of. I am going to miss this place. Erin Upson.
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Senior School
Student Leaders School Captains Nicola Anastasiou and Lachlan McRae
Office Bearers Front Row: Ainsley Caulfield, Matthew Maida, Aalishna Alag, Erin Upson, Genevieve Underhill Back Row: Euan Burns, Candice Fan, Georgia Rogers, Kyra Argyriou, Sam Harper, Jeremy Doupe, Lachlan Wall, Kevin Lu
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Prefects Front Row: John Portwood, Rachel Hocking, Nicola Anastasiou, Lachlan McRae, Jacqui Morton, Erin Upson Middle Row: Sam Harper, Georgia Rogers, Aalishna Alag, Olivia Lewis, Laila Halim, Grace Collins, Jessica Planner, Abbey Thomas Back Row: Joshua Exley, Ben Rennie, James Buckley, Richard Grounds, Lachlan Wall. Aaron Leis, Euan Burns, Joshua Sewell
House Captains Front Row: Jessica Planner, Cassidy Quilty, Bronte Jordan, Jacqui Morton Back Row: James Buckly, Joshua Hudson, Aaron Leis, Richard Grounds
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Senior School
Year 10
Adams, Hamish
Andronikos, Basilios
Appleby, Brandon
Appleby, Luke
Baker, Josh
Bell, Byron
Blake, Piper
Bogemann, Audrey
Brotchie, Thomas
Buglass, Jack
Collins, Rebecca
Conlon, Jessica
Connell, Luke
Cormack, Ashleigh
Cui, Adrian
Cui, Rin
Cui, Stanley
Danese, Thomas
De Cesare, Nicholas
Di Giovine, Olivia
Gibbon, Luke
Gist, Aleesha
Griffett, Finley
Guo, Caroline
Halim, Ayman
Hamilton, Gemma
Hansen, William
Hawkins, Angus
Heymanson, Keeley
Higgins, Emma
Karamesinis, Dean
Karunathilaka, Nipuni
Keane, Alyce
Kearsley, Matthew
Kennington, Alycia
Kent, Alicia
Kent, Samuel
Kett, Alaina
Kirk, Maddy
Koehrer, Karinya
Liu, Kevin
Liu, Rosicky
Macpherson, David
Maida, Jacqui
Mariotti, Dylan
Marx, Cody
Mauger, Bec
McLean Davies, Blakely
Murphy, Casey
Napoleone, Max
Papadakis, Nikolas
Parker, Cameron
Petropoulos, James
Phillips, Olivia
Planner, Mitchell
Podolak, Zachary
Poppenbeek, Blake
Pythas, Christian
Quinn, Monique
Readman, Alexander
Sebire, Katelyn
Sesa-Ashton, Noah
Smith, Lucy
Stack, Georgia
Steiner, Sarah
Stoddart, Ryley
Su, Tony
Sun, Helios
Tait, Danielle
Tsigaras, Paul
Xue, Ervin
Yates, Matthew
Young, Allie
Young-Ekeh, Aradia
Yuan, Andrea
Yuan, Blanche
Zhang, James
Zhang, Rain
Zhu, Tracy
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Buxton, Ellie
Calladine, Tristan
Champion, Jake
Chapneviss, Tara
Chen, Ada
Chen, Leighton
Chen, Samuel
Chen, Timothy
Chen, Zachariah
Clayton, Harrison
Diamandis, Zachariah
Doreian, Mackenzie
Doupe, Julia
Dunnett, Cienna
Ellul, Isabel
Elsworth, Lucy
Faulkner, Alexandra
Gao, Stephen
Gaythorpe, William
Gelsumini, Lucas
Hodgson, Timothy
Hosking, Teagan
Hua, Andy
Jacob, Charles
Janes, Hayley
Ji, Callum
Jiang, Peng
Jiang, Victoria
Jones, Luke
Karakolis, James
Koo, Steven
Lake, Jemimah
Lam, Justin De Ming
Lawrence, Bayley
Lawrence, Tess
Leslie, Amy
Lewis, James
Li, Lily
Lin, Junan
Liu, Amanda
Newham, Ashleigh
Nicholls, Austin
Niksic, Michael
Niu, Maggie
Norris, Miles
North-Stone, Yasmin
Olley, Dylan
Olsen, Elise
O’Neill, Samantha
Pahos, Adam
Reynolds, Adam
Reynolds, Nicole
Rich, Felix
Rippon, Nicolette
Roberts, Jack
Rodgers, Jamie
Rothery, Hannah
Safe, Emily
Schumann, Claire
Schwab, Harrison
Turner, Eliza
Van Ravesteyn, Edwin
Walker, Lachlan
Weill, Sean
White, Blake
White, Matthew
Wilby, James
Wong, Wilson
Xu, Fiona
Xu, Jerry
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Senior School
Year 11
Allison, Rolaren
Anderson, William
Bambery, Kieren
Bates, Ally
Beltrami, Laura
Bethune, Gabriel
Boon, Elizabeth
Braham, Adam
Braunthal, Luke
Brewer, Samuel
Collins, Ryan
Crick, Bailey
Crouch, Brigitte
Cullen, Mitchell
Cuthbertson, Maxwell
Di Giantomasso, Chantal
Di Petta, Benjamin
Doueal, Kane
Drennan, Nicholas
Duncan, Daniel
Fernando, Tyler
Flewker-Barker, Thomas
Fuller, Cameron
Gallucci, Jordan
Gao, Claudia
Giangregorio, Marcus
Giannoccaro, Fabio
Giannoukos, Marie
Giannoukos, Stephen
Goldsmith, Ashley
Hyett, Holly
Jayawardena, Dilhan
Johnson, Bailey
Kakaflikas, Matthew
Kennedy, Scarlett
Kepper, Jake
Krishnamurthy, Milana
Langmaid, Abbey
Li, Jerry
Lin, Cheri
McKnight, Trevor
McLarty, Samuel
Miller, Bailey
Nathan, Tim
Nicholls, Leyton
Nicholson, Prahn
Orpin, Chloe
Palmer, Chloe
Patterson, Connor
Philipps, Cameron
Schultz, Jeremy
Scott, Laura
Shen, Kiki
Shi, Tony
Smith, Carter
Smith, Louisa
Smith, Mikayla
Somerwil, Amy
Song, Steven
Stainkamph, Madeline
Trotto, Jacqueline
Wang, Nick
Wang, Zach
Watson, Daniel
Wethasinghe, Lakshitha
Wolff, Danielle
Wookey, Emily
Xiao, Kaiyu
Xie, Iris
Yaacoub, Christian
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Browne, Jasmin
Burchett, Linda
Burgess, Aleisha
Burke, Eamon
Burns, Isabelle
Cai, Ethan
Catt, Jemma
Cecil, Ellen
Chan, Adam
Chester, Samuel
Dunoon, Riley
Dwyer, Matthew
Earle, James
Evans, William
Fairweather, Courtney
Fang, Penny
Farrell, Kanisha
Farrugia, Joshua
Feng, Xiaohan
Ferguson, Angus
Grundy, Erin
Han, Shawn
Harland, James
Harris, Darcy
Harris, Patrick
Hirst, Lachlan
Holmes, Matthew
Hu, Jack
Hu, Jeremy
Huntley, Nathan
Lyall, Paige
Malessiankos, Andrew
Manning, Sophie
Matheson, Olivia
Mazzei, Natalie
McCann, Bailey
McCreedy, Eloise
McElvogue, Sarah
McGregor, Anneliese
McInerney, Sinead
Pitt, Joseph
Punchard, Elise
Raper, Benjamin
Renshaw, Lachlan
Rich, Spencer
Ritchie, Lily
Romas, Keli
Romeo, Olivia
Rutherford, Abbey
Sammann, Jack
Stevens, Holly
Su, Qiren
Tan, Yasmin
Tang, Ailun
Taylor, Bronte
Taylor, Hayley
Taylor, Kobe
Teale, Jack
Telford, Chelsea
Tozer, Owen
Yates, Chloe
Ye, Steven
Zhang, Charles
Zhang, Fancy
Zhang, Mathew
Zhang, Ningzhuo
Zhou, Jennifer
Zhu, Jeremy
Zwarts, Ella
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Senior School
Year 12
Adam-Ohis, Samuel
Adams, David
Adams, Oliver
Alag, Aalishna
Anastasiou, Nicola
Argyriou, Kyra
Bakken, Callum
Bell, Blake
Beriman, Kirsten
Beveridge, Jake
Chappell, Mitchell
Choi, Stefan
Collins, Grace
Cook, Jacob
Cummings, Ebony
Dangerfield, Jesse
Davis, Lauren
Dobson, Elise
Donelan, Hilary
Douglas, Lucy
Gazeas, Stephanie
Glendenning, Lachlan
Grounds, Richard
Halim, Laila
Hand, Ethan
Harper, Samuel
Hartmann, Rylie
Hatton, Georgia
Hawken, Ashley
Higgins, Sarah
Karamesinis, Theo
Kennington, Stacey
Kulmanochawong, Sarin (Arm)
Lacy, Madison
Lander, Alicia
Leis, Aaron
Lewis, Olivia
Li, Frank
Liesting, Timothy
Liu, Tony
Page-Percy, Oliver
Palmer, Madeleine
Pascoe, Dylan
Petcopoulos, Alice
Pigatto, Daniel
Planner, Jessica
Portwood, John
Pratt, Laura
Quilty, Cassidy
Rath, Oscar
Shelton, Andrew
Smith, Rebecca
Stack, Aaron
Stewart, Christopher
Stoltenberg, Matthew
Strachan, Rebecca
Sun, Eva
Sung, Lachlan
Suttiwong, Yaya
Thomas, Abbey
Wei, Changyao (Charles)
West, Georgia
White, Chloe
Yaacoub, Peter
Zuccolo, Michael
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Blewonski, Alyssia
Blumer, Lara
Bogemann, Daniel
Bromell, Olivia
Brown, Maddisen
Brown, Mikaela
Buckley, James
Burns, Euan
Caulfield, Ainsley
Chan, Derek
Doupe, Jeremy
Emmett, Mitchell
Exley, Joshua
Fan, Candice
Ferrari, Michael
Foster, Jordan
Fox, Isobella
Fraser, James
Gardiner, Jay
Gaythorpe, Benjamin
Hill, Morgan
Hocking, Rachel
Horsburgh, Andrew
Horton, Kelsey
Horton, Thomas
Hudson, Joshua
Jackson, Trent
Jiang, Peter
Jordaan, Joshua
Jordan, Bronte
Lu, Kevin
Maida, Matthew
Marginean, Rebecca
McRae, Lachlan
Meadowcroft, James
Merry, Simon
Morton, Jacqueline
Mouratidis, Themi
Obradovic, Elise
Orpin, Georgina
Rennie, Benjamin
Reynolds, Holly
Roberts, Emily
Roberts, Michael
Robinson, Chloe
Rogers, Georgia
Sekoulidis, Madeline
Sesa-Ashton, Gianni
Sewell, Joshua
Sharpe, Elise
Thompson, Aden
Thompson, Erin
Thompson, Georgia
Tsigaras, Thomas
Underhill, Genevieve
Upson, Erin
Walker, Jace
Wall, Lachlan
Watson, Jade
Watts, Georgina
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Yarra Sports
Yarra Sports Contents Health and Physical Education
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Golf 165 Cross Country
166
Snowsports 167 Equestrian 168 AGSV Swimming
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AGSV Athletics
172
Girls Summer Sports
174
Boys Summer Sports
178
Girls Winter Sports
184
Boys Winter Sports
192
House Sports
198
Colours and Certificates
206
2015 Sports Awards
207
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Yarra Sports
Health and Physical Education – building life-long habits It has been another busy and exciting year in the Health and Physical Education department at Yarra. We have continued to offer a wide range of experiences for our students and have specifically focused much of our curriculum around promoting life-long physical activity and healthy behaviours. We have looked to change the focus of our PE lessons to expose our students to activities and opportunities that push the boundaries of learning the skills of traditional sports and sort to enrich our program with a diverse variety of experiences. In order to do this, we have offered classes sessions in Cardio Tennis, Cross Fit and Circuit Training, Spin Cycle, Zumba, Yoga and Hip Hop dance. These fitness base activities have been embraced and thoroughly enjoyed by our students and have complimented our team based
sports. We continued to integrate iPad technology into our PE classes, where the breadth of apps and possibilities they present, and providing exceptional tools for skill and performance analysis. The real time feedback the students received from using these apps was an effective way to inform their learning and improve. There have been several highlights this year to do with our Health Education programs across the School including our Year 8 trip to the Queen Victoria Market, where students had to plan, buy ingredients
and cook a nutritious meal for their families. Another was the Year 9 Health and Wellbeing Day which continued to foster the importance of positive self-image and resilience to our students and our Unit 3–4 Physical Education students participated in a sports science workshop at RMIT. Our VCE subjects continue to very be popular and our students worked extremely hard under the direction of their teachers to achieve their personal best. The focus for our teachers has been to build the necessary skills required for best practice in a Unit 3–4 exam. The students have embraced the Past Student Mentor Program and the various enrichment activities throughout the year. Health and Physical Education Week in late March was another highlight. This year the students were given the opportunity to attend a netball clinic run by the Melbourne Vixens as well as Zumba and Yoga classes. A very successful and competitive sports quiz was hotly contested in the Senior School and healthy treats were made and sold by our senior Health classes. A thank you must go the Health and PE staff who oversaw many aspects of this week. As another busy year draws to a close, I thank all students for their positive and energetic contribution to our programs this year. We look forward to building on your experiences in 2016. Ms Amber Kennedy Head of Health and Physical Education
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Golf – strong representation 2015 was an exemplary year for Golf at Yarra, presenting opportunities for many students to demonstrate their improving talents on some of Melbourne’s best golf courses. The season commenced with the AGSV Schools Cup, held by the prestigious Royal Melbourne Golf Club. As the wind whipped across the world-renowned layout the competitors battled through what ultimately became a wonderful day. Our team, consisting of Olivia Lewis (Year 12), Callum Bakken (Year 12), Cody Marx (Year 10) and Shaye Marx (Year 8) played some very good golf in the tough conditions to finish in 2nd place overall – a tremendous effort by all. The following tournament was the annual Yarra Valley Grammar Past Students’ Day hosted by the Huntingdale Golf Club. The same group of students from the AGSV Schools Cup represented the School along with a team consisted of staff including Jack Harper, Bryan Harper, Peter Warren and Jarrod Carlson. Whilst the students played well, they fell into the middle of the pack but the staff came agonizingly close,
placing third with a net score of 58.25. Everybody involved had a fantastic day enjoying the company of School Executive and past students alike. The final event of the Yarra golfing calendar was the 29th annual Yarra Valley Grammar Golf Championship. Eastwood Golf Club hosted it marvelously on a sunny and windy afternoon to cap off Term 3. The students played some immaculate golf in the tricky conditions, having the competition run all the way down to the final holes where Callum Bakken prevailed. Special mention to Cody Marx, Shaye Marx, Keeley Marx and Montana Lewis for gaining selection to the Golf Victoria Junior State Squads for 2015.
Keeley Marx represented Yarra and Victoria in the School Sport Australia 12 and under Australian Teams Golf Championships in Newcastle. For the first time in the 13 year history of the competition Victoria won the aggregate boys’ and girls’ 36 hole Craig Parry Cup. The girls’ team also won the Ambrose competition with an -8 par round and the outright girls’ event. Keeley won both her individual rounds. Congratulations! Congratulations also to all students who participated and represented Yarra throughout the golfing year. 2015 has been quite successful and shows promise for the years to come. Mr Russell Manning Golf coach
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Yarra Sports
Cross Country Following a strong year of cross country in 2014, our ever-enthusiastic coach Mr Champion and cross country veteran Dean Tromp were determined to replicate this form in the 2015 season. Excitement ran high throughout all the age levels within the team, not only to compete against other schools, but also to form strong friendships through shared hardship. It was obvious from the general positivity from entirety of the group that this season would be a highly enjoyable one. The AGSV competition gave us the opportunity to race regularly against other top athletes to hone our competitive edges and improve on personal bests. In the seniors, a variety of notable performances were achieved. An early string of top three finishes from John Portwood was rapidly broken by a season ending injury but in his stead, consistent results from Michael Ferrari, Morgan Hill and Lauren Davis ensured that Yarra could still compete strongly throughout the season. A return in the latter half from Lachlan McRae propelled the senior team to finishing at
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a very respectable sixth position, with Lachlan posting an impressive 14th place in the final round at Yarra. At the intermediate level, a highly motivated group of athletes combined to field one of the most well represented teams in recent years. Jake Champion continued his ascendency into his running career with several top ten finishes, whilst many including Justin Lam, Harry Clayton, Matthew White and Lucas Dickens proved their dedication to their sport to see Yarra finish at fifth. The junior team also showed a highly promising start to their time as cross country runners, posting a commendable sixth despite suffering from a number of injuries. Outside of the AGSV, Yarra entered teams into the Victorian Cross Country Relays and Road Relays. Both occasions saw some truly remarkable results, with the under-20
boys team finishing fifth and seventh respectively and the under-20 girls producing a top twenty finish. To all who competed throughout this season, I thank you for your determined attitude towards this gruelling yet rewarding sport. Your collective willingness to push yourself to their physical and mental limits made me feel truly honoured to captain. A massive shout-out to the tireless work of Mr Champion and Dean Tromp, whose passion and belief ensured that we all shattered our expectations of ourselves. Congratulations to all for this fantastic season! John Portwood Cross Country Captain
Snowsports Yarra Valley Grammar was represented in the 2015 Victorian Interschool Snowsports Championship by 18 Students from Year 5 to Year 12. The team was formed by snowboarders and skiers competing in Ski/ Boarder Cross, Giant Slalom, Moguls and CrossCountry Classic events. The Yarra students conducted themselves admirably throughout the program, working hard at early morning training and in their sessions on the mountain. This was reflected in our students’ competitiveness and composure during their Interschool events in late August. In addition to this, the Go Yarra spirit and eagerness to compete amongst our students was applauded by rival schools and parents on the Mountain. For the second year, all three of the Snowsports camps offered were held at Mt Buller and although we experienced marginal cover across the mountain, the consistency of terrain assisted our students in focusing on their technique and performance. The Development camp held in the June – July school holidays and the clinic and trials program over a weekend in late July provided our students with specialist race lessons and some tough drills that dramatically improved our students riding in preparation for the Victorian Interschool Championship.
in early September. Overall, our students’ efforts landed Yarra at 17th place amongst the Victorian Co-Ed Schools with 175 schools competing all together. The team was led well by Captain, Rebecca Strachan who also earned Snowsports Colours; an apt recognition for her leadership and hard work in setting the standard for the team. A number of outstanding achievement awards were presented this year for the first time ever as part of the larger School Wintersports ceremony. Lucas Heider (Year 7) was awarded most dedicated for his drive and determination throughout the season, Brayden Gosling (Year 5) earned the most improved medallion for shredding on his first year on a snowboard and Andre Nad (Year 9) achieved the sportsmanship medallion. This year, the Team cup was awarded to Dan Buchanan (Year 9); it is a holistic award that considers dedication, sportsmanship and results. Congratulations to all award recipients. I would like to thank our Spirit group and the Snowsports parents for their ongoing support which includes tasks such as standing out in the cold as volunteers for events; we couldn’t do it without you!
Snowsports in 2015 has been a lot of fun as well as a great success and I look forward to 2016 and a bigger, better program. Ski you next year! Mr Nathan O’Malley (Snowsports Coordinator) and Rebecca Strachan (Team Captain)
Yarra had some great performances in both team and individual events at Interschools; each team member achieved personal best times. Special mentions go to Ben Raper (Year 11), Rebecca Strachan (Year 12), Wade Ritchie (Year 9) and Jasmine McGown (Year 8) for their outstanding performance making it through to the National competition also held at Mt Buller
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Yarra Equestrian 2015 Over the last few years we have been focusing on building our team and encouraging as many young riders as possible to be out representing our School and the Yarra Spirit. Our team spans across the entire School, with competitors from Year 2 to Year 12 and of course, many dedicated parents who make it possible by attending lessons, competitions and clinics to support and enable our students to be there. In April we had two teams entered to compete at the Tintern Horse Trials which is one of the largest and most exciting competitions, hosted locally at Wandin Park. Our School was represented by Mirella Greco, Ella Williams, Nicolette Rippon, Charlize Williams, Kanisha Farrell and Scarlett Kennedy as well as Hannah Bird, Charli Adams and Maggie Brewer from Junior School. The horse trials are an annual two-day event which involves competitors riding dressage, show jumping and cross country. Overall, our teams did very well at a tough competition, in rather challenging conditions with heavy rains on the Saturday night. We also had a number of students competing at the Victorian Interschool Championships at Werribee in the June school holidays. This competition runs for
five days in the school holidays and provides students to compete in many disciplines from showjumping, dressage, showing and handymount. In 2016 the interschool competition will be hosted earlier in the year in the April school holidays, planning is already underway and we are looking to set up a Yarra Camp and encourage as many students to enter and compete. Throughout the year we have had a large number of students competing at various Interschool Show Jumping and Interschool Dressage Days. There have been many great results and ribbons won and I would like to take this opportunity to say well done to all the riders for embracing the Yarra Spirit and sporting the red, black and gold on the equestrian field! Equestrian is a sport that requires an incredible amount of
work, dedication, planning, organization and training and it is a great achievement to have this all come together at a competition. In the last week of the September school holidays we organized a training clinic for our riders with Chris Height, a past student of Yarra Valley Grammar and a highly skilled eventer and coach. He and his partner Sam took our riders in three different groups, coaching them in show jumping and cross country. Clinics are a great way to bring our team together and to continue rider development. Overall, this has been a great year so far for Yarra Equestrian, and all team members must be commended on their efforts. We are excited to see what is in store for our team in the future. Mrs Kylie Balharrie President of Yarra Equestrian
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The Equestrian Team for 2015 Equestrian Coordinator – Gayle Moore Year 11 Scarlett Kennedy (Captain) Year 11 Kanisha Farrell Louisa Smith Rolaren Allison Year 10 Nicolette Rippon Year 9
Zahra Taylor
Year 8
Mirella Greco Ella Williams
Year 7
Charlize Williams
Year 6 Hannah Bird Jasmine Taylor Maggie Brewer Year 5
Clare Grogan
Year 4 Isabella Grounds Kami Dickins Year 3
Charli Adams Eden Taylor
Year 2
Hamish Dickins
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AGSV Swimming The AGSV Swimming Championships was held at MSAC on Friday March 20. The girls performed extremely well overall winning six individual events and finishing in 3rd place just two points behind second. The boys found the competition extremely strong and finished in 8th place overall. James Petropoulos had a night to remember, winning all five of the events he contested in the U16 age group. Given the level of competition at the AGSV carnival, this is an absolutely outstanding achievement. James led out the U16 4 x 50m freestyle relay team and they came home to win for the 4th consecutive year. Congratulations to James, Cam Philipps (fabulous PB swim on the night), Sean Weill and Edwin Van Ravesteyn who teamed extremely well to win one of the nights best finishes and set a new School record. The girls’ team showed great depth in the U13 and U14 age groups winning multiple medley relay events. Morgan Kellett-
Jackson, Kim Gilling, Stephanie Brennan and Reidel Smith were successful in the under 13’s while Mia Holah, Ashley Weill, Ella Ritchie and Kiandra Gosling took out the U14 event. Mikayla Smith again swam extremely well and won two of the individual events in the Open age group. Mikayla won the freestyle in fine fashion but went one better in the breaststroke setting a new AGSV Record of 35.2 seconds. Mia Holah made it a double by taking out the U14 50m freestyle as did Reidel Smith when she achieved first place in the 50m breaststroke. Our thanks to Brooke Norman, Chris Petropoulos, Steve Treadwell, Elise Graham and Kate Horsburgh for successfully guiding the team through the season. Joshua Sewell and Rebecca Strachan Swimming Captains
NEW SCHOOL ALL-TIME RECORDS • J ames Petropoulos U16 100m freestyle 54.88 seconds • M ikayla Smith Open 50m breaststroke 35.2 seconds • R eidel Smith U13 50m breaststroke 39.78 seconds • B oy’s U16 freestyle relay winners: James Petropoulos Edwin Van Ravesteyn Cam Philipps Sean Weill • G irl’s U13 freestyle relay winners: Morgan Kellet-Jackson Kim Gilling Stephanie Brennan Kiandra Gosling • G irl’s U13 medley relay winners: Morgan Kellet-Jackson Kim Gilling Stephanie Brennan Reidel Smith • G irl’s U14 freestyle relay winners: Mia Holah Ashley Weill Ella Ritchie Reidel Smith • G irl’s U14 medley relay winners: Mia Holah Ashley Weill Ella Ritchie Kiandra Gosling
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AGSV Athletics As Athletics captains, it has been an honour to watch the individual and collective efforts of all involved in the sport this year. Nicole Reynolds has continued to shine in her favourite sport. She was again at her very best at the AGSV Athletics carnival; repeating her 2014 performance with another three individual wins. She then added to that by joining Sophie Manning, Jacqui Trotto and Ashleigh Newham in winning the girls U17 4 x 100m relay. Nicole took out the 100m in a new School record time of 12.86 seconds, won the 200m and set a new AGSV Record in the
U17 100m hurdles of 14.60 seconds. Simply an outstanding set of results that reflect the talent she has and the effort she puts into her sport. Mia Holah went one better in 2015 turning a 2014 double into a treble with fabulous wins in the U14 Discus, Shot Put and the 80m hurdles. Mia has had an outstanding year when you add to the tally her two first placing at the AGSV swimming carnival as well. Maddy Rennie was magnificent in achieving the Three-Peat winning the 400m for the third consecutive year. She also found the extra speed required to take out the 800m having placed second in 2014. Amy Leslie was on song with a double on the day. She performed to high standard placing first in both the Long and Triple jump events for U16 girls. Olivia Ryan and Abbey Rutherford joined the squad for the first time and both achieved outstanding wins in their events. Olivia in the U15 Long jump and Abbey in the U17 Shot Put. Jess Johnston was again running beautifully in the middle distance events and held on strongly to take out the U14 800m. Michael Niksic pulled out a personal best performance to win the boys U17 Shot Put with 13.58m. Michael has now won five events over the last four carnivals. Eric Roszczewski joined the squad this season and took out the boys U14 Long jump with a very credible jump of 4.99m. Sam Norton, currently still in Grade 6, came into the squad to compete in the boys U13 1500m.
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Sam enjoyed an outstanding run to smash the existing Yarra Valley Grammar record that had been set in 1986. Sam’s 4-39.70seconds was a massive 16 seconds faster than the mark set by Dion McIllree in 1986. On the day he was pipped into second place by 1/100 of a second. A number of our athletes can be extremely proud of their performance. In a tough sport, the coach can only ask for your best effort, and this was consistently shown throughout the day. On behalf of all those involved, we would like to highlight the significant contribution of all the Yarra Valley Grammar students who were involved in the program. Without your involvement, we have no team. It shows considerable fortitude to put up your best effort in such a high quality competition. To all those who did the training and contributed enormously by being an athlete or an emergency, we say congratulations and well done on your contribution. Lachlan McRae and Kyra Argyriou Athletics Captains
Allen Crawley Award Nicole Reynolds was named the Allen Crawley Award winner for female athletes. Nicole, a dedicated athlete has consistently performed at the highest level at the AGSV carnivals. Nicole won three individual events again in 2015 including the U17 girls 100m and 200m titles and then broke the AGSV record in the girls U17 100m Hurdles with a time of 14.60 seconds. She now holds the U14, U15, U16 and U17 Yarra Valley Grammar all-time records for hurdles. Nicole was also a member of the victorious girls U17 4 x 100m relay winning team. Lachlan McRae was named the Allen Crawley Award winner for male athletes. Lachlan captained the Athletics team this year and ran superbly on the day in a series of athletics most demanding events. He was a key member of the 4 x 400m Open relay team, ran superbly in the open 400m individual event placing 3rd and came home very strongly in the Open 800m to finish 4th in a quality field.
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Girls Summer Sports
Girls Volleyball – back to back premiers Through positivity and hard work, the girls won back to back premierships, regaining the coveted premiership cup. This fantastic result was due to our constant effort and persistence to improve throughout the season and made it all worthwhile. Well done girls! Of course, this would not have been possible without the tireless work from our outstanding coaches, Steve and Bec. Your commitment and devotion to helping us develop is to be acknowledged. Congratulations to Yasmin Tan for being selected in the Australian team this year.
On completion on a successful season this year, Yarra Valley Grammar once again entered a number of girls teams into this year’s Victorian Schools Cup. This event has become a highlight of the year for us all due to the atmosphere being a fun and enjoyable environment to be in. This year, our results showed a lot of promise and improvement reflecting the successful past summer sport season. A big thank you for the support of the teams, parents, staff and of course the coaches who endlessly put forward their time to make this experience possible! A big thank you also to Mr Wallace who once again organized the state and national competitions teams this year, without his continuous efforts the Volleyball program would not be possible. What a great year it has been across all volleyball teams, having many great successes and overall enjoyment. The girls are excited too for the upcoming season ahead! Cassidy Quilty Volleyball Captain
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Girls Tennis – a team on the rise With the loss of many of our senior players from the year before, the 2014/ 2015 season provided the opportunity for some of our younger girls to step up and get involved in development squads which saw the accruement of game strategy and improving skills. As the team now consists of a plethora of students from across all year levels, it will undoubtedly remain strong for years to come. A special mention goes to the younger girls, in particular Ellie Rogers and a new addition to the team, Jessie Burbidge, who stepped up and filled the shoes of last year’s senior players confidently. Over the course of the season, results varied with the girls exhibiting strong
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performances over Geelong Grammar and PEGS, in particular. All of the girls displayed excellent sportsmanship on and off the field and should be commended for their efforts. Across the board, despite having some disappointing losses, all teams were able to take away positives from this season. Whether it was having the opportunity to step up against a strong opponent, learn game strategy around the court, or make that spectacular volley on match point that wins your team the match,
each and every girl contributed towards the success of the 2014/15 tennis season. Many thanks goes to Nish, who was an enthusiastic and encouraging coach and assisted not only in each girl’s development across the season, but the entire team’s success. Overall, the summer season provided an immensely positive experience for all girls involved. It became a balance between learning and progressing from our losses, to celebrating our hard-fought victories. The girls should be eagerly looking forward to a competitive 2015/2016 season. Georgia Rogers and Lucy Douglas Tennis Captains
Girls’ Softball – striving for the top Yarra’s Firsts team had an enjoyable and challenging season, only just missing out on finishing top of the ladder, with just one loss. The girls worked hard in training throughout the season and this was evident in their performances on match day. Every player brought something to each game and every girl left with something to take out of it. From last year’s re-building season for Yarra softball, the team proved that they had grown together and performed to the best of their abilities, all showing positive attitudes and producing an exceptional representation of Yarra. We thank coaches, John and Nick Hollingsworth for their work preparing and developing the team. The younger teams did a wonderful job. The Junior team had fun, which has set up a good future for Yarra softball. The Intermediate team had a fairly even spread competition with some tight score lines throughout, keeping the games exciting and enjoyable for all the girls. There was much development throughout the team. Yarra Valley Grammar was lucky enough to have four team members selected as AGSV representatives: Alaina Kett, Monique Quinn-Santos, Erin Upson and Gemma Hamilton. Gemma Hamilton and Alaina Kett Softball Captains
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Boys Cricket – developing for the future For the First XI, the 2014/15 season began with a convincing win over Ivanhoe on the Patterson Oval (or as we call it, the fortress). However, the winning streak was short lived. A round 2 last over thriller was unfortunately the first of a few speed bumps in an otherwise successful season. After having a bye in round 3, we were able to re-assert our authority as a genuine contender for back-to-back premierships with another satisfying win over Camberwell at home. A well-constructed innings (99) from Sam Harper was the highlight from a fantastic away win over
last year’s runners up, Trinity, in round 5. We finished the season with three fantastic wins against Mentone, PEGS and Peninsula and a slight blunder against Assumption on a rain interrupted afternoon up at Kilmore in round 7.
Finishing the season with six wins and three losses meant we would again have a chance at the premiership but standing in the way was a trip to Marcellin. Despite having the luxury of experience in the big dance, the Grand Final was unfortunately never on our terms as we were totally outplayed in all facets of the game. We were bowled out for 108, and could only manage 5 wickets before Marcellin passed our total. Our coach, John Baxter, spent countless hours developing us physically, technically and tactically, leaving all players, especially those in the younger year levels, in a superb position for the future. This was mirrored through the results of the Seconds, Thirds and Year’s 8/9 teams. Overall, the Yarra Valley Grammar cricket teams enjoyed a successful season. Joshua Hudson Cricket Captain
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Boys Tennis – rebuilding our talent base We entered the 2014/2015 season on a high after successful back to back seasons winning the AGSV premiership. We were very excited and motivated to continue our winning streak with our new team after six valuable Year 12 players left last year; Jack Thiessen, Ben Zwarts, James Reid, Kieran Robertson, Lindsay Spencer and Peter Tantanis. With so many experienced players leaving, we knew we had to pull together as a team and we were up for the challenge. Despite having a shaky start compared to previous seasons, with our first loss in over two years, we ended the first half of the year with two wins and two losses. With some experience behind us with the standard of First’s level tennis, our teamwork improved along with our on-court results. After the long break over the holidays, the boys came back rearing and ready to kick start the 2015 second half in an attempt to go for a three peat. We
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managed to obtain fourth position on the ladder with five wins and three losses. I would like to thank all team members who put in a fantastic effort and showed great determination and strength throughout the season. We had outstanding contributions from everyone who had to step up in the absence of a few experienced injured players throughout the season. I am extremely proud of the boys for all their efforts and contributions to the team.
Congratulations to the Intermediate B and Junior B teams finishing the season undefeated as a result of hard work and dedication to their team. Thank you to all the tennis coaches and players who have shown their commitment to the tennis program, which has continued to develop over the years. A massive thank you and congratulations to our coach, Chris Guy who has coached us for three years and has lead us to two premierships. His enthusiasm, support and knowledge have been a guiding force in our success over the years and I believe through Chris’ program, Tennis Works, there will be more of this success in the near future. Peter Yaacoub Tennis Captain
Boys Volleyball – celebrating mateship and pride After a disappointing end to last season, finishing runners up, the Yarra First Volleyball team desired pure redemption. This season was a new opportunity, a second chance to prove our worth and ability in the AGS competition. While we had lost two honourable Year 12 members from last season, our squad was looking stronger than ever to give the other schools a run for their money. It was looking to be a glorious road to victory until a fateful plot twist tempered our dreams of success. Both Jordan Gallucci and Jake Beverage acquired horrific injuries to plague the commencement of the season; and our chances of taking the title had faintly diminished.
back into the line-up, to aid a late revival through the latter half of the season. Once again Yarra Volleyball found themselves in the semi-finals, facing Marcellin to secure a position in the all elusive Grand final; the stakes were high. Two sets into the fierce competition we were on top, looking for the final set to win the match however we were unable to run out the game against our Marcellin adversaries and were defeated by our foe.
However, the Yarra Volleyball Boys have spirit, and fought hard to secure a position in the middle of the table before the holiday break. When the new term rolled over, the squad had acquired both Jake and Jordan
The first Volleyball Boys ended up achieving bronze this year in the AGS competition, after defeating Trinity in a Yarra white wash, which all the boys were very proud of.
While our season was very much a roller coast ride, I realise now, looking back, that our journey to achieve redemption provided more pleasure and reward then any trophy ever could. Together, the Yarra Volleyball Boys First Team performed a quality of Volleyball that focused on building a brotherhood and culture that is inseparable to this day, through mateship and pride. Euan Burns Volleyball Captain
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Boys basketball – a bright future In the competition this year, Marcellin and Trinity Grammar continued to dominate however, we remained competitive, losing by minimal margins in particular losing by a couple of points after the buzzer to Trinity as they made three free throws to secure their win.
These teams once again played off in the grand final with Marcellin taking out the championship for another consecutive year. Heading into the summer break, we were confident that we could potentially make an appearance in the finals, dropping one game by a couple of points which situated us in the upper ranks of the ladder. Coming back from the break we remained positive minded and had the ultimate goal to defeat teams that we had previously struggled
against however, we had our fair share of serious injuries which sidelined some of our key players. Towards the end of the season we were unable to execute the way we would have hoped but as a whole, we were remarkably proud of how we went about our basketball and also having the opportunity and honour to represent Yarra at the highest level. The upcoming years are looking promising for our basketball program with strong performances from our seconds and thirds as well as our younger sides; 10A, and10B both registering six wins out of eight games and also our 8C side who went throughout the season undefeated. Best of luck to these teams in the future and hopefully Yarra can obtain a well deserved championship in the near future. Ben Gaythorpe Basketball Captain
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Girls Winter Sports
Girls Basketball – undefeated 2015 premiers Girls Firsts Basketball team had a ground-breaking 2015 season, going undefeated throughout all games and winning the AGSV premiership for the first time ever in Yarra girls’ basketball history.
From the very first training, the eight team members were exceptionally keen to improve on the previous year’s performance (third place). With some motivation from coach, Tim Mottin and belief that our team could possibly go all the way, we entered our first game of the season against Caulfield Grammar who was the early favourites, coming up with our first win. We continued on, defeating both Carey and Wesley by considerable margins until we met Peninsula in Round 4, seizing the game by just one point in the last seconds. After two more rounds and then another close win against Haileybury, we had two games left along with our aspirations of going undefeated for the whole season.
Our final game saw us with the home court advantage up against Ivanhoe who, like us, had a team of young, determined players. The Yarra girls were able to connect and work together as we had the whole year, which found us ahead at half time and as well at the end of the game, having the honour of being presented with the premiership cup by the AGSV. Overall, it was great to see some of our younger development players making it to trainings every week and even getting to hit the court near the end of the season, proving that girls basketball could be just as successful in the coming years. With no Year 12 players leaving the team, there are high hopes for another accomplished season and potentially back-to-back premierships. Thank you again to all coaches, team managers and parents for all their assistance and support for the girls basketball program. Ally Bates Basketball Captain
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Girls Hockey – Yarra spirit shining through Season 2015 saw the hockey girls entering an excited team into the Firsts division for the first time in a few years led by the wonderful Byron Walton, and together put up valiant efforts throughout the season. All the girls put in the hard yards from the very beginning, with pre-season training setting us in good stead for a fast paced season to come. In a round robin preseason tournament, we had a taste of what we could expect entering this new and
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experienced division. Continuing to train twice a week, Saturday games became much anticipated by the team as a chance to show off the week’s accomplishments, often walking off the pitch with the tick of approval for nailing sets of skills. Every one of the games or training sessions displayed that the girls had a fierce determination to improve both as a team and individually, and what an excellent feeling of accomplishment to look back at the conclusion of the season and know we’d achieved exactly that, while having a ball! The final rounds of the competition proved to be the most exciting for us, with goals
being secured and draws creating an extra air of competitiveness between teams we knew we would come up against once more. Joining the ranks of the hockey girls, both Junior and Opens, were many younger students who bought intensity and a look to the future for the sport. Although wins were scarce, spirits were high and the season enjoyed by all involved! Many thanks to key players in the hockey program, Byron Walton and Caitlin Ganeson for their coaching support. Sophie Manning Hockey Captain
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Girls Netball – energy, passion and gratification With new and familiar faces, Yarra Valley netball welcomed back Stephanie Puopolo and Shannon Eagland to be Head Coaches of what was hoped to be a promising season. This fresh team commenced in late February, where the girls attended a Friday morning session to provide a good base for when the season came around.
This year’s team was a young and relatively new group of girls, but this had no influence on our ability to work as a unit and give it our best when taking the court. We found our strongest form towards the latter of the season, putting up many strong performances coming away with three wins and a draw for the 2015 season. The girls shared a terrific bond both on and off the court, which continuously encouraged us to keep striving to achieve our best.
The girls are to be congratulated for a terrific season, where not only individuals improved but also team improvement and development over the course was shown. This would not be possible without the endless help from our amazing coaches, Steph and Shannon, and Team Manager, Mrs Donnelly, your dedication and commitment to the team did not go unnoticed. It was evident that netball across all year levels played with energy, passion and gratification. Well done to the girls involved and thank you to all coaches, managers and parents for your continuous support throughout the season. Cassidy Quilty Netball Captain
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Girls Soccer – bringing enthusiasm and commitment The Girl’s Firsts Soccer had an excellent season in 2015. All of the girls brought large amounts of enthusiasm and commitment to each game and training session. The close bond that the team shared meant that the senior girls were able to display high levels of leadership, which enabled the younger girls to further develop their skills and knowledge of the game. We were fortunate enough to be coached by Andrew Christie, whose passion and love for the game was infectious and inspired us to seek continuous improvement and put our all in for every game. We are also grateful for the assistance of past player Alex Blackburn and the unfailing support and organisation of Ms Rachael Skudutis. This year, the team consisted of seven Year 12s, who all stepped up and showed initiative in taking leadership and being role models for the younger girls, especially our vice captains, Hilary Donelan and Jacqui
Morton who brought large amounts of inspiration to the team each Saturday morning. Although we finished 8th on the ladder, the score lines rarely reflected the effort, determination and the heart that the girls played with. It is a credit to all the girls on the team for not dropping their heads after significant losses to both Carey and Caulfield, and being able to use such losses as motivation and to eventually secure three hard fought wins for the season. Throughout the age groups, Yarra Valley’s Girls’ soccer teams have shown improvement and promise for the upcoming seasons, coming away with numerous wins. Congratulations must go to the inter B team who didn’t lose a game all season. These girls are encouraged to continue working hard towards improving their soccer. On behalf of the Girls’ Soccer teams, we would like to thank all the coaches, team managers and parents for their support in making the winter season such a success. Alyssia Blewonski Soccer Captain
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Girls AGSV Cross Country – mud, courage and passion Congratulations to all those 73 girls who participated in the AGSV Girls Cross Country in Term 2, putting our sport before our lunches in a devotion to Yarra Valley Grammar. Running against a total of 243 competitors from Assumption, PEGS, Ivanhoe, Mentone, and Peninsula, having the home field advantage was little consolation for the prevalence of mud and a less than pleasant head wind. Little advantage was needed, however, as we managed to pull through with second place, our best overall result ever! While all the girls ran brilliantly and should all be congratulated for their efforts, special mention must be given to Jessica Johnston, who came in 9th overall and won a silver medal in the Year 8 division, Sarah Johnston, 11th overall, Mikayla Smith, 12th
overall runner, and winner of the silver medal in the Year 11 division, and Georgia Galstians, 13th overall. It was a truly wonderful event, and as we ran across the finish line, mud splattered and gasping for air, each one of us shared a smile and congratulatory high five, for there is nothing like the feeling of nearly dying (excuse the hyperbole, but I am sure the girls would agree with me) to elicit feelings of companionship and camaraderie. A special thank you must go to Mr Raftellis, whose enthusiasm and passion for running encouraged us throughout the season. Thank you again to all the girls who braved the mud for Yarra this year. Hopefully we can overtake Peninsula and bring home the trophy next year. Lauren Davis Cross Country Captain
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Boys Winter Sports
Boys Football – rollercoaster season When reflecting on the 2015 Firsts Football season it’s difficult to define it with one word because we had a rollercoaster season, experiencing both highs and lows. The highest of highs would be registering our first win of the season against Camberwell, winning in a five-point thriller. However, being plagued with injuries prior to the season had us starting on the back foot but setting specific goals and meeting them throughout the season allowed the boys to bond and improve as the season went on.
a very competitive competition. We were also very fortunate to have both Sam McLarty and Jordan Gallucci represent Victoria in the U18 carnival.
Although only registering one win for the season, we had many commendable efforts, one being played at our home away from home Doncaster, nearly knocking off a very successful Assumption team.
A lot of behind the scene work goes on to get the boys on the field every week, so it’s important to thank all of the coaches, managers and parents who helped make Yarra football as successful as it is. Good luck for next season. Go Yarra!
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Further promise is evident also with the Year 8B side following up a previously successful year last year, winning seven games for the season and only losing one game.
Oliver Adams Football Captain
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Boys Winter Sports
Boy’s Soccer – showcasing ability and potential Throughout 2015, the Firsts Soccer team enjoyed a competitive season. Primarily consisting of Year 11’s, the team experienced significant improvements in their performance. Much of this can be attributed to the commitment of coaches, Taylor Gillings and John Szabo as well as a strong team spirit and chemistry amongst the squad. The boys were able to put in consistent effort, and finished the year with two wins and a draw. However, this does not reflect numerous other honourable performances, including a tightly contested match against eventual champions, Marcellin. Although a 1–0 loss, this was an incredibly well-fought game which earned the team great admiration and respect. All of the players can be proud of their accomplishments this year, as they exhibited determination to accompany their skill on the field. Aaron Stack provided reliability and experience in defence and MVP, Thomas Flewker-Barker displayed versatility and composure on the ball. Special mention must also go to Nick Hall, who showed maturity beyond his years as the team’s highly valued goalkeeper.
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This year, the team showcased their ability and potential, and whilst the eventual achievement of 6th place leaves room for improvement, next year promises to be an exciting opportunity for the First XI to continue to develop and exercise their ambitions. Across the School, many other teams had positive seasons with strong results. Intermediate C Black completed their season undefeated with eight wins, a highly commendable achievement. Additionally, the Year 8 teams enjoyed successful campaigns, once again showing that the future of the sport is promising at Yarra Valley Grammar. Jack Sammann Soccer Captain
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Boys Winter Sports
Boys Hockey – a year of endeavour and commitment A very young playing group with the inclusion of many first year athletes saw the need for several changes in positional structure as well as youthful individuals stepping up and assuming leadership roles within their playing lines.
At the commencement of the 2015 season, the playing group all sat down and discussed exactly what we wanted to achieve as a collective. The answer was simple: a chance at finals redemption. After a well-structured pre-season training period that focused predominantly upon consolidating basic skills and game awareness, the team was eager to prove themselves in the lead up to first game. The opening match against long standing rivals, Camberwell Grammar culminated in a close 2–1 loss in the final seconds. However, we were able to take many positives away from this game and build upon them for the remainder of the season. Yarra was rewarded for their efforts and commitment to three weekly trainings with convincing victories against Marcellin, Ivanhoe, Mentone and PEGS along with a narrow 2–1 win over rivals, Trinity. The standout game for the season was undoubtedly the Semi Final against PEGS, a match that highlighted both exceptional team play and moments of individual skill.
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With a 2–0 lead in hand, goal keeper Josh Exley defied all odds in saving a penalty which spurred the team on to a 5–0 victory and a spot in the ever elusive Grand Final. Whilst the Grand Final against Trinity Grammar resulted in a 4–2 defeat, all players demonstrated admirable determination and resilience to play the game on our terms. Yarra Valley Grammar entered four boys teams and they all enjoyed success. All teams enjoyed at least three wins and the overall sport record of 16 wins, 16 losses and three draws indicated we were well placed within the AGSV competition. On behalf of the playing group, I would like to thank our coach, Josh Simmonds for his extensive knowledge and efforts and finally congratulate all involved on an outstanding year. Ben Rennie Hockey Captain
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House Sports
Arnott
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House Sports
Plummer
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House Sports
Annells
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House Sports
Hughes
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Yarra Sports
Colours and Certificates Colours SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
YEAR
SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
AFL
Colour
Aden Thompson
12
AFL
Honours
Oliver Adams
YEAR 12
AFL
Colour
Kane Doueal
11
Cricket
Honours
Sam Harper
12
AFL
Colour
Mackenzie Doreian
10
Cricket
Honours
Joshua Hudson
12
AFL
Colour
Sam McLarty
11
Cross Country
Honours
John Portwood
12
Badminton
Colour
Simon Merry
12
Golf
Honours
Sam Harper
12
Basketball
Colour
Ben Gaythorpe
12
Hockey
Honours
Ben Rennie
12
Basketball
Colour
Ally Bates
11
Soccer
Honours
Aaron Stack
12
Basketball
Colour
Keli Romas
11
Soccer
Honours
Alyssia Blewonski
12
Basketball
Colour
Yasmin Tan
11
Tennis
Honours
Peter Yaacoub
12
Basketball
Colour
Amy Leslie
10
Volleyball
Honours
Euan Burns
12
Basketball
Colour
Jacqui Trotto
11
Volleyball
Honours
Kyra Argyriou
12
Cricket
Colour
Aaron Leis
12
Cricket
Colour
Lachlan McRae
12
Cricket
Colour
Mitchell Chappell
12
Cricket
Colour
Adam Chan
11
Cross Country
Colour
Lachlan McRae
12
Cross Country
Colour
Lauren Davis
12
Cross Country
Colour
Mikayla Smith
11
Equestrian
Colour
Scarlett Kennedy
11
Hockey
Colour
Sam Harper
12
Hockey
Colour
Andrew Horsburgh
12
Hockey
Colour
Jack Teale
11
Hockey
Colour
Josh Exley
12
Hockey
Colour
Nathan Huntley
11
Hockey
Colour
Trent Jackson
12
Netball
Colour
Cassidy Quilty
12
Netball
Colour
Kyra Argyriou
12
Netball
Colour
Abbey Rutherford
11
Netball
Colour
Ashleigh Newham
10
Snowsports
Colour
Rebecca Strachan
12
Soccer
Colour
Jacqui Morton
12
Soccer
Colour
Matthew Stoltenberg
12
Soccer
Colour
Hilary Donelan
12
Soccer
Colour
Jack Sammann
11
Soccer
Colour
Thomas Flewker-Barker
11
Softball
Colour
Gemma Hamilton
10
Softball
Colour
Monique Quinn
10
Softball
Colour
Erin Upson
12
Softball
Colour
Alaina Kett
10
Swimming
Colour
Mikayla Smith
11
Swimming
Colour
Joshua Sewell
12
Swimming
Colour
Ben Rennie
12
Swimming
Colour
James Petropoulos
10
Swimming
Colour
Jeremy Doupe
12
Swimming
Colour
Josh Exley
12
Swimming
Colour
Kyra Argyriou
12
Swimming
Colour
Lachlan Sung
12
Swimming
Colour
Rebecca Strachan
12
Tennis
Colour
Dilhan Jayawardena
Tennis
Colour
Tennis
AGSV REPRESENTATION SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
AFL
AGSV Representation
Kane Doueal
11
AFL
AGSV Representation
Sam McLarty
11
Badminton
AGSV Representation
Elton Zhang
Basketball
AGSV Representation
Ally Bates (Vice Captain)
11
Basketball
AGSV Representation
Jacqui Trotto
11
Basketball
AGSV Representation
Keli Romas
11
Cricket
AGSV Representation
Adam Chan
11
Cricket
AGSV Representation
Joshua Hudson (Captain)
12
Cross Country
AGSV Representation
Sarah Johnston
7
Cross Country
AGSV Representation
Georgia Galstians
8
Cross Country
AGSV Representation
Jess Johnston
Cross Country
AGSV Representation
Mikayla Smith (Captain)
11
Hockey
AGSV Representation
Maddy Rennie
10
Hockey
AGSV Representation
Jack Teale
11
Hockey
AGSV Representation
Nathan Huntley
11
Hockey
AGSV Representation
Ben Rennie (Vice Captain)
12
Hockey
AGSV Representation
Josh Exley
12
Netball
AGSV Representation
Abbey Rutherford
11
Soccer
AGSV Representation
Alyssia Blewonski
12
Soccer
AGSV Representation
Hilary Donelan
12
Softball
AGSV Representation
Alaina Kett
10
Softball
AGSV Representation
Gemma Hamilton (Vice Captain)
10
Softball
AGSV Representation
Monique Quinn
10
11
Softball
AGSV Representation
Erin Upson
12
Georgia Rogers
12
Tennis
AGSV Representation
Owen Tozer
11
Colour
Owen Tozer
11
Tennis
AGSV Representation
Georgia Rogers
12
Tennis
Colour
Lucy Douglas
12
Tennis
AGSV Representation
Peter Yaacoub (Captain)
12
Volleyball
Colour
Cassidy Quilty
12
Volleyball
AGSV Representation
Yasmin Tan
11
Volleyball
Colour
Jake Beveridge
12
Volleyball
AGSV Representation
Cassidy Quilty
12
Volleyball
Colour
Tom Tsigaras
12
Volleyball
AGSV Representation
Euan Burns (Captain)
12
Volleyball
Colour
Keli Romas
11
Volleyball
AGSV Representation
Jake Beveridge
12
Volleyball
Colour
Yasmin Tan
11
Volleyball
AGSV Representation
Kyra Argyriou
12
206 |
YEAR
9
8
2015 Sports Awards SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
AFL
Team of the Year
Jordan Milne
YEAR 7
AFL
Team of the Year
Marc Massarotti
7
AFL
Team of the Year
Nicholas Woodall
7
AFL
Team of the Year
Charlie Oglethorpe
8
AFL
Team of the Year
Gus Brown
8
AFL
Team of the Year
Lachlan Gawal
8
AFL
Team of the Year
Sam Rickard
8
AFL
Team of the Year
CJ Williams
9
AFL
Team of the Year
Joel Nathan
9
AFL
Team of the Year
Lucas Westwood
9
AFL
Team of the Year
Adam Reynolds
10
AFL
Team of the Year
Bayley Lawrence
10
AFL
Team of the Year
Charles Jacob
10
AFL
Team of the Year
Mackenzie Doreian
10
AFL
Team of the Year
Zac Podolak
10
AFL
Team of the Year
Bailey Crick
11
AFL
Team of the Year
James Harland
11
SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U16 50m Backstroke
James Petropoulos
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U16 50m Butterfly
James Petropoulos
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U16 50m Freestyle
James Petropoulos
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U15 4 x 50m Sean Weill Freestyle Relay
10
AGSV Swimming
Coach's Award
11
AGSV Swimming
Outstanding Performance of Cameron Philipps the Meet - Relay Leg
11
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U16 4 x 50m Cameron Philipps Freestyle Relay
11
AGSV Swimming
Swimmer of the Meet
Mikayla Smith
11
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner Open 50m Freestyle
Mikayla Smith
11
AGSV Swimming
Open 50m Breaststroke AGSV Record
Mikayla Smith
11
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner Open 50m Mikayla Smith Breaststroke AGSV Record
11
Athletics Award
Ben Rath
7
Cameron Fuller
YEAR
AFL
Team of the Year
Kane Doueal
11
Athletics
AFL
Team of the Year
Sam McLarty
11
Athletics
U13 Athlete of the Season
Jordan Milne
7
AFL
Team of the Year
Aden Thompson
12
Athletics
Athletics Award
Kimberley Gilling
7
AFL
Team of the Year
Joshua Jordaan
12
Athletics
Athletics Award
Lachlan Ralph
7
AFL
Team of the Year
Oliver Adams
12
Athletics
U14 Athlete of the Season
Michael Bradtke
7
U13 Athlete of the Season
Sarah Johnston
7
AGSV Cross Country
Junior Champion
Brendan Choo
7
Athletics
AGSV Cross Country
Coach's award – Junior
James Okalyi
7
Athletics
Athletics Award
Abbey Heymansen
8
10
Athletics
Athletics Award
Bianca Patterson
8
Athletics
Athletics Award
Charlie Oglethorpe
8
Athletics
Athletics Award
Jess Johnston
8
AGSV Cross Country
Intermediate Champion
AGSV Cross Country
Coach's award – Intermediate
Justin Lam
10
AGSV Cross Country
Senior Champion
Michael Ferrari
12
Athletics
Athletics Award
Lucy McCreedy
8
AGSV Cross Country
Coach's award - Senior
Morgan Hill
12
Athletics
U14 Athlete of the Season
Mia Holah
8
AGSV Cross Country
Coach's award
Sarah Johnston
7
Athletics
U15 Athlete of the Season
Jake Ireland
9
AGSV Cross Country
Coach's award
Georgia Galstians
8
Athletics
Athletics Award
Lucus Dickins
9
AGSV Cross Country
Junior Runner of the Year
Jess Johnston
8
Athletics
U15 Athlete of the Season
Maddy Rennie
9
AGSV Cross Country
Coach's award
Maddy Rennie
9
Athletics
Athletics Award
Zahra Taylor
9
AGSV Cross Country
Senior Runner of the Year
Mikayla Smith
11
Athletics
U16 Athlete of the Season
Amy Leslie
10
AGSV Cross Country
Coach's award
Lauren Davis
12
AGSV Swimming
Coach's Award
Eric van den Hout
7
Athletics
Relay Team of the Year 4x100
Ashleigh Newham
10
AGSV Swimming
Coach's Award
Kiandra Gosling
7
Athletics
U16 Athlete of the Season
Cody Marx
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U14 4 x 50m Kiandra Gosling Medley Relay
7
Athletics
U17 Athlete of the Season
Hamish Adams
10
Athletics
Athletics Award
Hannah Rotherey
10
AGSV Swimming
Coach's Award
Kimberley Gilling
7
Athletics
Athletics Award
Karinya Koehrer
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U13 4 x 50m Kimberley Gilling Medley Relay
7
Athletics
Athletics Award
Mackenzie Doreian
10
AGSV Swimming
Coach's Award
Morgan Kellett-Jackson
7
Athletics
Allen Crawley Award for Girls
Nicole Reynolds
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U13 4 x 50m Morgan Kellett-Jackson Medley Relay
7
Athletics
U17 Athlete of the Season
Nicole Reynolds
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U13 4 x 50m Reidel Smith Medley Relay
7
Athletics
Relay Team of the Year 4x100
Nicole Reynolds
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U13 50m Breaststroke
7
Athletics
Athletics Award
Abbey Rutherford
11
Athletics
Open Athlete of the Season Ellen Cecil
11
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U13 4 x 50m Stephanie Brennan Medley Relay
7
Athletics
Relay Team of the Year 4x100
Jacqui Trotto
11
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U14 4 x 50m Ashley Weill Medley Relay
8
Athletics
Relay Team of the Year 4x100
Sophie Manning
11
AGSV Swimming
Coach's Award
8
Event Winner U14 4 x 50m Ella Ritchie Medley Relay
Athletics
12
8
Allen Crawley Award for Boys
Lachlan McRae
AGSV Swimming
Athletics
Open Athlete of the Season Lachlan McRae
12
AGSV Swimming
Coach's Award
8
Badminton
Number 1 Player
Jack Sammann
11
AGSV Swimming
Junior Swimmer of the Meet Mia Holah
8
Badminton
Number 1 Player
Sarin Kulmanochawong
12
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U14 4 x 50m Mia Holah Medley Relay
8
Basketball
Coach's award
Austin Nicholls
10
Most Valuable Player
William Gaythorpe
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U14 50m Freestyle
Basketball
8
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Jake Champion
10
AGSV Swimming
Junior Swimmer of the Meet Brendon Smith
9
Basketball
Coach's award
Josh Baker
10
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U16 4 x 50m Edwin Van Ravesteyn Freestyle Relay
10
Basketball
Coach's award
Dean Karamesinis
10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Luke Appleby
10
AGSV Swimming
Swimmer of the Meet
James Petropoulos
10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Charles Jacob
10
AGSV Swimming
Winner of Five events
James Petropoulos
10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Lachlan Hirst
11
AGSV Swimming
Event Winner U16 100m Freestyle
James Petropoulos
10
Basketball
Coach's award
Michael Roberts
12
Basketball
Coach's award
Marcus Giangregorio
11
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Matthew Kakaflikas
11
AGSV Swimming
Jake Champion
Reidel Smith
Bailey Garbett
James Robinson
Mia Holah
Event Winner U16 4 x 50m James Petropoulos Freestyle Relay
10
www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2015 | 207
Yarra Sports
SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
Basketball
Coach's award
Ben Di Petta
YEAR 11
Firsts Football
Runner Up Best & Fairest
Mackenzie Doreian
YEAR 10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Jeremy Schultz
11
Firsts Football
Coach's award
Ryley Stoddart
10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Michael Ferrari
12
Firsts Football
Best & Fairest
Kane Doueal
11
Basketball
Coach's award
Samuel Adam-Ohis
12
Firsts Football
Most Courageous Player
Matthew Kakaflikas
11
Basketball
Coach's award
Marcus Ridler
7
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Nicholas Woodall
7
Firsts Football
"Old Boys Award for Outstanding Contribution to Football�
Oliver Adams
12
Basketball
Coach's award
Isaac Taylor
8
Firsts Hockey
Coach's award
Nathan Huntley
11
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Zac Romas
8
Firsts Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Ben Rennie
12
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Jack Mitchell
8
Firsts Hockey
Best Team Player
Trent Jackson
12
Basketball
Most Improved Player
Zac Braunthal
8
Firsts Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Maddy Rennie
Basketball
Coach's award
Brendon Smith
9
Firsts Hockey
Coach's award
Sophie Manning
11
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Xavier Fry
9
Firsts Netball
Coach's award
Keeley Heymanson
10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Sam Rickard
9
Firsts Netball
Most Valuable Player
Abbey Rutherford
11
Basketball
Coach's award
Will Cuthbertson
9
Firsts Soccer
Coach's award
Nick Hall
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Dylan Brown
9
Firsts Soccer
Golden Boot
Matt Holmes
11
Basketball
Coach's award
Sean Morkham
9
Firsts Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Thomas Flewker-Barker
11
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Elyse Westwood
9
Firsts Soccer
Best Junior Player
Ella Northwood
Basketball
Coach's award
Karinya Koehrer
10
Firsts Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Alyssia Blewonski
12
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Teagan Bradley
7
Firsts Soccer
Best Team Player
Lucy Douglas
12
Basketball
Best Team Player
Amy-Jo Olley
8
Firsts Softball
Most Valuable Player
Gemma Hamilton
10
Basketball
Coach's award
Olivia Goldsmith
8
Firsts Softball
Most Improved Player
Nicolette Rippon
10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Claudia Schwab
10
Firsts Tennis
Most Improved Player
Dilhan Jayawardena
11
Basketball
Coach's award
Mikayla Dwyer
7
Firsts Tennis
Number 1 Player
Peter Yaacoub
12
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Sophie Yang
7
Firsts Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Euan Burns
12
Basketball
Coach's award
Erin Upson
12
Firsts Volleyball
Coach's Award
Oliver Adams
12
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Holly Reynolds
12
Firsts Volleyball
Best Team Player
Tom Tsigaras
12
Basketball
Coach's award
Justyn Bove
8
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Thomas Pallis
8
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Amy Leslie
10
Basketball
Coach's award
Alec Thomas
8
Firsts Volleyball
Olivia Phillips
10
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Lachie Catt
8
Undefeated Premiership Team
Basketball
Coach's award
Josh Matthews
9
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Ally Bates
11
Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Zachary Thiessen
9
Canoe/Kayak team
Most Improved Paddler
Luke McAndrew
9
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Isabelle Burns
11
Canoe/Kayak team
Paddler of the Year
Ellie Buxton
10
Firsts Volleyball
11
Most Valuable Player
Adam Reynolds
10
Undefeated Premiership Team
Keli Romas
Cricket Cricket
Coach's award
Dylan Olley
10
Firsts Volleyball
Coach's Award
Yasmin Tan
11
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Yasmin Tan
11
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Bronte Jordan
12
9
9
9
Cricket
Coach's award
Mitchell Cullen
11
Cricket
Bowling award
Adrian Cui
10
Cricket
Best Team Player
Andrew Malessiankos
11
Cricket
Batting award
Will Anderson
11
Firsts Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Cassidy Quilty
12
Cricket
Coach's award
Januda Uduwela
8
Firsts Volleyball
Cassidy Quilty
12
Cricket
All-Rounder award
Kishan Gupta
8
Undefeated Premiership Team
Cricket
Batting award
Michael Carbone
8
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Emily Roberts
12
Cricket
Most Promising Player
Ben Waddington
8
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Emily Roberts
12
Cricket
Batting award
Charley Smith
9
Cricket
Bowling award
Jake Ireland
9
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Kyra Argyriou
12
Firsts Volleyball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Lara Blumer
12
Football
Best & Fairest
Bailey Crick
11
Football
Runner Up Best & Fairest
James Harland
11
Football
Coach's award
Jake Beveridge
12
Football
Most Improved Player
Jordan Foster
12
Football
Leadership Award
Mitchell Chappell
12
Football
Runner Up Best & Fairest
Jordan Milne
7
Football
Most Courageous Player
Josh Taylor
7
Football
Best & Fairest
Marc Massarotti
7
Football
Coach's award
Nicholas Woodall
7
Football
Most Consistent Player
William Vagg
7
Cricket
Most Improved Player
Cricket
Junior Cricketer of the Year Joel Nathan
Cricket
Senior Cricketer of the Year Joshua Hudson
Firsts Badminton
Number 1 Player
Elton Zhang
9
Firsts Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Jack Roberts
10
Firsts Basketball
Best Team Player
Sam McLarty
11
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Amy-Jo Olley
8
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Madeleine de Waard
8
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Allie Harland
9
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Amy Leslie
10
Football
Best Team Player
Bailey Garbett
8
Firsts Basketball
Most Valuable Player
Ally Bates
11
Football
Runner Up Best & Fairest
Charlie Oglethorpe
8
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Ally Bates
11
Football
Most Determined Player
Gus Brown
8
Football
Most Consistent Player
Joshua Randall
8
Firsts Basketball
Best Defensive Player
Jacqui Trotto
11
Football
Best & Fairest
Lachlan Gawel
8
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Jacqui Trotto
11
Football
Coach's award
Jake Ireland
9
Best & Fairest
Joel Nathan
9
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Football Keli Romas
Football
Runner Up Best & Fairest
Lucas Westwood
9
Firsts Basketball
Undefeated Premiership Team
Yasmin Tan
11
Football
Most Improved Player
Bayley Lawrence
10
Football
Coach's award
Liam Lyall
Firsts Cricket
Coach's Award
Aaron Leis
12
Football
Best & Fairest
Charles Jacob
10
Firsts Cricket
Batting & Bowling Award
Joshua Hudson
12
Football
Most Consistent Player
Jamie Rodgers
10
Firsts Cricket
Coach's Award
Mitchell Chappell
12
Football
Runner Up Best & Fairest
Paul Tsigaras
10
208 |
William Brewer
9 9 12
11
9
SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
Football
Best Team Player
Antonio Greco
YEAR 9
Football
Best & Fairest
Sam Rickard
9
Football
Coach's award
Tyson Hay
Football
Runner Up Best & Fairest
Adam Reynolds
10
Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Dylan McCaffrey
8
Hockey
Most Improved Player
Jack Beltrami
8
Hockey
Best Team Player
Lachie Catt
8
Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Daniel Keane
9
Hockey
Best Team Player
Darren Ng
9
Hockey
Most Improved Player
Luke McAndrew
9
Hockey
Most Improved Player
Nikolas Papadakis
10
Hockey
Leadership Award
Christopher Stewart
12
Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Lachlan Glendenning
12
Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Manisha Arunasalam
7
Hockey
Coach's award
Naomi Jones
7
Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Tarni Brown
7
Hockey
Coach's award
Laura Scott
11
Hockey
Most Valuable Player
Paige Lyall
11
House Cross Country
Year 7 Boys Cross Country First Place
Brendan Choo
House Cross Country
Year 7 Boys Cross Country Runner Up
James Okalyi
7
House Cross Country
Year 7 Girls Cross Country Runner Up
Kimberley Gilling
7
House Cross Country
Year 7 Boys Cross Country Third Place
Nicholas Osborne
7
House Cross Country
Year 7 Girls Cross Country Third Place
Reidel Smith
7
House Cross Country
Year 7 Girls Cross Country First Place
Sarah Johnston
7
House Cross Country
Year 8 Girls Cross Country Runner Up
Georgia Galstians
8
House Cross Country
Year 8 Boys Cross Country Third Place
Jackson Hatton
8
House Cross Country
Year 8 Girls Cross Country First Place
Jess Johnston
House Cross Country
Year 8 Boys Cross Country Runner Up
Max Sammann
8
House Cross Country
Year 8 Girls Cross Country Third Place
Mia Holah
8
House Cross Country
Year 8 Boys Cross Country First Place
Thomas Pallis
House Cross Country
Year 9 Boys Cross Country First Place
Ethan Boell
9
House Cross Country
Year 9 Girls Cross Country Third Place
Hayley George
9
House Cross Country
Year 9 Boys Cross Country Runner Up
Lucas Dickins
9
House Cross Country
Year 9 Girls Cross Country First Place
Maddy Rennie
9
House Cross Country
Year 9 Boys Cross Country Third Place
Tyson Taylor-Calder
9
House Cross Country
Year 9 Girls Cross Country Runner Up
Zahra Taylor
House Cross Country
Year 10 Boys Cross Country Jake Champion First Place
10
House Cross Country
Year 10 Boys Cross Country James Petropoulos Runner Up
10
House Cross Country
Year 10 Boys Cross Country Justin Lam Third Place
10
House Cross Country
Year 10 Girls Cross Country Karinya Koehrer First Place
10
House Cross Country
Year 10 Girls Cross Country Keeley Heymanson Third Place
10
House Cross Country
Year 10 Girls Cross Country Tess Lawrence Runner Up
10
House Cross Country
Year 11 Boys Cross Country Bailey Johnson Third Place
11
House Cross Country
Year 11 Girls Cross Country Danielle Wolff Runner Up
11
House Cross Country
Year 11 Boys Cross Country Kane Doueal Runner Up
11
House Cross Country
Year 11 Girls Cross Country Mikayla Smith First Place
11
House Cross Country
Year 11 Boys Cross Country Nathan Huntley First Place
11
House Cross Country
Year 11 Girls Cross Country Scarlett Kennedy Third Place
11
House Cross Country
Year 12 Boys Cross Country Ben Rennie Runner Up
12
House Cross Country
Year 12 Boys Cross Country Lachlan McRae First Place
9
7
8
8
9
12
SPORT
AWARD
House Cross Country
Year 12 Girls Cross Country Laila Halim Runner Up
STUDENT
YEAR 12
House Cross Country
Year 12 Girls Cross Country Lara Blumer Third Place
12
House Cross Country
Year 12 Girls Cross Country Lauren Davis First Place
12
House Cross Country
Year 12 Boys Cross Country Morgan Hill Third Place
12
Netball
Coach's award
Emma Jury
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Audrey Bogemann
Netball
Coach's award
Ali Irvine
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Eliza Turner
10
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Emily West
9
Netball
Coach's award
Nicola Grant
9
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Alisha Rieschieck
Netball
Coach's award
Danielle Tait
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Ishra Ranatunge
Netball
Coach's award
Lucy Smith
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Emily Giffard
7
Netball
Coach's award
Lucy McCreedy
8
Netball
Coach's award
Ashley Weill
8
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Lily Gallucci
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Ellie Webber
7
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Kate Rickard
7
Netball
Undefeated Team
Kate Rickard
7
Netball
Coach's award
Kiandra Gosling
7
Netball
Undefeated Team
Kiandra Gosling
7
Netball
Undefeated Team
Sarah Green
7
Netball
Undefeated Team
Alana Muthusamy
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Bianca Patterson
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Chantelle Lappin
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Ella Williams
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Emma Mazzei
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Jade Bennett
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Loretta Presta
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Mollie Morris
8
Netball
Undefeated Team
Montana Lewis
8
Netball
Coach's award
Jorja Grundy
7
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Georgia Bromell
Netball
Coach's award
Bailey Miller
11
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Chloe Orpin
11
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Danielle Wolff
11
Netball
Coach's award
Georgia Thompson
12
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Kelsey Horton
12
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Jessica Planner
12
Netball
Coach's award
Olivia Bromell
12
Netball
Most Improved Player
Chloe Robinson
12
Netball
Most Valuable Player
Madi Lacy
12
Red Basketball
Coach's award
Timothy Hodgson
10
Snowsports
Sportsmanship
Andre Nad
9
Snowsports
Snow Sports Team Cup
Daniel Buchanan
9
Snowsports
Most Dedicated
Lucas Heider
7
Snowsports
Most Improved
Brayden Gosling
5
Soccer
Best Team Player
Matthew West
7
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Samir Gupta
7
Soccer
Coach's award
Zenting Kong
7
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Ben Rath
7
Soccer
Golden Boot
Christopher Malessiankos
7
Soccer
Coach's award
Sean Farrar
7
Soccer
Most Improved Player
Aditya Gandhi
7
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Lachlan Ralph
7
Soccer
Coach's award
Xavier Konyenburg
7
Soccer
Golden Boot
Jeremy Olsen
8
Soccer
Most Improved Player
Shyan Sivaratnam
8
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Tuomas Makela
8
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Christopher Lewis
8
Soccer
Coach's award
George McNamara
8
Soccer
Most Improved Player
William Grogan
Soccer
Best Team Player
Fabio Giannoccaro
11
Soccer
Golden Boot
Nick Drennan
11
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Andrew Shelton
12
Soccer
Best Team Player
Christian Pythas
10
9 10 9
9 10 9 10
8
8
www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2015 | 209
Yarra Sports
SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
YEAR
SPORT
AWARD
STUDENT
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Stanley Cui
10
Tennis
Coach's award
Rachel Williams
9
Soccer
Golden Boot
Tom Brotchie
10
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Catriona Stark
7
Soccer
Coach's award
Beau Kent
9
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Erin Maunsell
7
Soccer
Golden Boot
David Bidgood
9
Tennis
Coach's award
Gisella Pellegrino
7
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Harry Malessiankos
9
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Gisella Pellegrino
7
Soccer
Coach's award
Cooper Bird
9
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Lauren Kapoglis
7
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Byron Bell
10
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Lauren Kapoglis
7
Soccer
Best Team Player
James Karakolis
10
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Naomi Jones
7
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Adrian Cui
10
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Cathy Cao
8
Soccer
Coach's award
Basilios Andronikos
10
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Kaitlyn Kew
8
Soccer
Golden Boot
Peng Jiang
10
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Molly Crouch
8
Soccer
Most Improved Player
Samuel Chen
10
Tennis
Undefeated Team
Sarah Heather
8
Soccer
Coach's award
James Buckley
12
Touch Football
Most Valuable Player
Allie Harland
9
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Thomas Horton
12
Volleball
Coach's award
Maddy Schaper
9
Soccer
Golden Boot
Thomas Horton
12
Volleball
Most Valuable Player
Natalya Morris
10
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Naz Akan
9
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Alicia Kent
10
Soccer
Coach's award
Sophie Readman
9
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Allie Young
10
Soccer
Best Team Player
Erin Maunsell
7
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Aradia Young-Ekeh
10
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Gisella Pellegrino
7
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Georgia Stack
10
Soccer
Coach's award
Morgan Kellett-Jackson
7
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Isabel Ellul
10
Soccer
Most Improved Player
Isabelle Burns
11
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Jemimah Lake
10
Soccer
Most Valuable Player
Lily Ritchie
11
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Jess Conlan
10
Soccer
Best Team Player
Maddy Stainkamph
11
Volleball
Coach's award
Karinya Koehrer
10
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Beau Kent
9
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Karinya Koehrer
10
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Ben Thompson
9
Volleball
Most Valuable Player
Sarah Steiner
10
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Byron Spencer
9
Volleball
Undefeated Team
Sarah Steiner
10
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Connor Hardcastle
9
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Campbell Dunoon
Soccer
Undefeated Team
David Bidgood
9
Volleyball
Coach's award
Tristan Cummings
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Dylan Brown
9
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Stephen Giannoukos
11
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Elton Zhang
9
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Aden Thompson
12
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Harry Malessiankos
9
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Andrew Shelton
12
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Lucas Limon-Meehan
9
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Ben Rennie
12
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Nicholas Iatrou-Landgraf
9
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
James Scerrie
12
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Stephen Bogotto
9
Volleyball
Coach's award
Jeremy Doupe
12
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Thomas Irvine
9
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Jeremy Doupe
12
Soccer
Undefeated Team
Tim Gill
9
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Josh Sewell
12
Softball
Coach's award
Emma Higgins
10
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Lachlan Glendenning
12
Softball
Most Valuable Player
Laura Beltrami
11
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Lachlan Glendenning
12
Softball
Coach's award
Georgie Watts
12
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Mitch Emmett
12
Softball
Most Valuable Player
Hilary Donelan
12
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Morgan Hill
12
Softball
Coach's award
Angelina Xu
9
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Oscar Rath
12
Softball
Most Valuable Player
Elise Sapardanis
9
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Abbey Langmaid
11
Softball
Best Team Player
Keeley Duff
8
Volleyball
Coach's award
Linda Burchett
11
Softball
Most Impoved Player
Zoe Petropoulos
8
Volleyball
Coach's award
Aleisha Burgess
11
Table Tennis
Coach's award
Darren Ng
9
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Chole Yates
11
Table Tennis
Most Valuable Player
Andy Hua
10
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Ainsley Caulfield
12
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Aymin Halim
10
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Alyssia Blewonski
12
Tennis
Coach's award
James Karakolis
10
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Alyssia Blewonski
12
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Kieren Bambery
11
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Chloe Robinson
12
Tennis
Coach's award
Trevor McKnight
11
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Ebony Cummings
12
Tennis
Coach's award
Brandon Appleby
10
Volleyball
Coach's award
Jacqui Morton
12
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Felix Rich
10
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Jacqui Morton
12
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Ethan Xu
8
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Jess Planner
12
Tennis
Coach's award
William Chester
8
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Kirsten Beriman
12
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Matthew Di Giovine
8
Volleyball
Undefeated Team
Nicola Anastasiou
12
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Bassel Judeh
9
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Bailey Miller
11
Tennis
Most Improved Player
Sarthak Gandhi
9
Volleyball
Coach's award
Sinead McInerny
11
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Beau Kent
9
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Chloe White
12
Tennis
Coach's award
Harry Malessiankos
9
Volleyball
Best Team Player
Elise Sharpe
12
Tennis
Best Team Player
Tejas Mauree
9
Volleyball
Coach's award
Ashleigh Newham
10
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Ella Zwarts
11
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Samantha O'Neill
10
Tennis
Best Team Player
Lizzie Boon
11
Volleyball
Coach's award
Alycia Kennington
10
Tennis
Most Impoved Player
Elise Dobson
12
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Julia Doupe
10
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Rebecca Marginean
12
Volleyball
Coach's award
Maddy Rennie
9
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Courtney Fairweather
11
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Zahra Taylor
9
Tennis
Coach's award
Danielle Dana
11
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Amy Stoltenberg
8
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Georgia Rogers
12
Volleyball
Coach's award
Hannah Manning
8
Tennis
Coach's Award
Lucy Douglas
12
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Madeleine de Waard
8
Tennis
Coach's award
Jess Johnston
8
Volleyball
Coach's award
Melanie Dunshea
8
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Alexandra Faulkner
10
Volleyball
Coach's award
Claudia Schwab
8
Tennis
Number 1 Player
Alana Muthusamy
8
Volleyball
Most Valuable Player
Georgia Bromell
8
210 |
YEAR
9 9
Staff list 2015 Executive Dr Mark MERRY Principal B.Ed., M.Ed.St., Ed.D.
Mr Andrew HOCKING Deputy Principal – Head of Senior School
Mr Damian ELLUL
Mr Russell MANNING
Ms Lindy SPREADBOROUGH
Ms Leigh HOWARD
B.Ed., M.Ed. (Leadership)
B.Ed., B.Litt. (Hons) M.A.
Dip. Library & Info. Services
Mrs Tess ELLUL
Mr Benoit MARDEN
B.A., Dip. Graphic Art, Dip.Ed.,Grad.Dip. Educational Studies (Arts)
Dip.Ed.
B.A. (Hons) (History) (International Relations), Postgrad. Dip. International Relations, Grad Dip. Ed.
Mr Scott TEMPLETON
Dip.Info. Services
Ms Lisa EMMETT Mrs Jenny ETHERIDGE
B.A., Dip.Ed., Grad.Dip.Ed.Admin., M.Ed.Stud., MACE, MACEL
B.A., Dip.Ed., Grad.Dip. Career Education
Mrs Julie HALL Deputy Principal – Head of Middle School
Dip.Chem. Eng., M.Ed.
B.Ed. (H.P.E.R) M.Ed. (Leadership)
Mr Chris LAWSON Deputy Principal – Head of Junior School B.Ed, MACE
Mr Wayne FARRELL Ms Jennifer Fitz Ms Linda FOSTER B.Ed (Secondary) - Science
Ms Kirsten FOX B.A., Dip.Ed.
Mr Nicolas FRAME
Ms Simone Mariani Mrs Jane MARSHALL B.Ed (Drama/History)
Ms Dianne MCKENZIE B.A., Dip.Ed.Pysch., Dip.Ed.
Ms Jennifer McKinnon Miss Jo MCKNEIL B.Ed. (Primary)
Ms Anny McMaster B.A (Outdoor ed), Dip.Ed.
Mr Robert MCPHERSON
Ms Jane MACNEIL Corporate Services Manager
Mr David FRAZER
B.Com., LLB, CPA, MBA, ACSA
Miss Elise GRAHAM
Ms Kristy MCWATERS
B.Applied Science (Health Science), B.Ed.
B.App.Sc. and Training
Ad.Cert. Art & Design, B.Fine Arts (Hons), Dip. Ed. (Secondary)
Ms Alana INNES
M. Ed., B. Mus., B. Teaching (Hons), Ad. Cert. Mus. Perf. (Jazz)
Mr Greg IRVIN
Mrs Simone Thissen
Mrs Susan JACOBS
Mrs Carol THORNEYCROFT
B.Ec., Dip.Ed.
Dip. Teaching (Early Childhood)
Ms Kate Jurgelait
Mr Stephen Treadwell
Dr Marie KARAKIS
B.Ed., GradDip Sports Science
B.App.Sc. (Hons), Dip.Ed (Psychology), M.A.P.S.
Mr Matthew TURNER
Mrs Lizzy Kay
B.Ed. (Secondary)
Mr George VANAGS MA, B(Hons), Dip.Ed
Mr Adam WALLACE B.Ed. (Secondary), B.App.Sc.
Ms Ashleigh Walsh
Mrs Viv KENDALL Mrs Margaret KIMBER B.A (Psychology), B.Bus (Marketing)
Mrs Elizabeth LEE B.Comm, B.Teaching
B.A/B.Ed. (Secondary)
Mrs Melanie LEE
B.A. (Photography), Dip.Secondary Ed. (Visual Arts), Cert. IV Training and Assessment
Ms Jeanette WALSH
Ms Alison LIPKEVICIUS
Mrs Jenny MERRETT
Mr Stuart WARD
B.A., Dip.Ed.
B. Teaching, B.Ed.
Mrs Jan MACKIE
Dip.Art & Design (Graphic Design), Dip.Ed. (Art)
Mrs Liz MONTANARO
Mr Peter WARREN
Mrs Julie-Anne MAY
Ms Wen Zhu Han
B.A., Grad.Dip.Ed., Grad.Dip. Information Management
Dip. Teaching, Grad.Dip. Teaching
B.Ed.
Mr Bryan HARPER
Dip. Teaching (Primary), B. Ed. M.Ed.
Mrs Youla Argyriou
B.Ed.
Mrs Gayle MOORE
Teaching staff Mr Grant ALLISON Dip.Teaching (Primary), B.Ed.
Mrs Wendy ANDREWS B.Ed.
Mrs Libby ARGYLE
Ms Di GREENWAY Dip. Teaching (Primary)
Mr Laurie HAMILTON
B.Sci., Dip.Ed.
B.Ed. (Physical Ed.) (Secondary)
Mrs Debra WESTLEY Mrs Emilia WHITE
Mr Josh LYON
Ms Leanne MCALLISTER B.Bus.
Mrs Shilpa MEHTA
B.A., Dip.Ed.
Miss Anne MOREL
B.Ed., Grad.Dip.Ed. Administration, M.Educational Leadership
Mrs Kathleen Whitechurch
Mrs Jenny PETERKEN
B.A. (Hons), Dip.Ed., M. Teaching
Mrs Laura NEARY
Mrs Gemma WHYTE
Mrs Amorina PRIESTLEY
B.A. (Hons), Dip.Ed. M.Ed(Leadership)
Mr Christopher HART
B.App.Sc. (Physical Education) )(Human Movement (Hons))
Dip.Ed. (Primary), B.A. (History)
Mrs Chris BEGLEY
M. Teaching (Secondary) (English and History Methods), B.A. (History) (Theatre Arts (Hons))
Mrs Elissa NICHOL
B. App.Sc. (Physical Education), Dip.Ed.
Miss Lucy Armstrong B.A(History & Politics), Grad.Dip.Teaching (Secondary)
Mr John BAXTER
Dip. Teaching, Grad.Dip. (Spec.Ed.), Dip.Ed. (Admin)
Mr Philip BISSET B.A., M.Ed., Dip. Teaching
Miss Elisha BLAKE B.Ed (Primary)
Ms Nadia Bonvicino B.Sc./Arts, Grad.Dip.Education (Secondary)
Mr Todd BRISCOE B.Sc.(Hons), M.Sc., Dip.Ed.
Mrs Fiona HARPER B.Ed. (Primary)
Mr WillIam HARPER
Ms Lisa Hass Mrs Wendy HAWKING
Mr Oscar MORANDINI
B.A. (Hons), Dip.Ed.
Mr Simon O’BRIEN
B.Ed.Sc., Grad.Dip.Ed. (Policy & Admin)
B.Exercise & Sports Science (Outdoor Ed.), Grad. Dip Ed. (Secondary)
Mr Anthony HAY
Mrs Alithea PAGE
B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed.Leadership
Ms Shelley HEATH B.Ed., M.Mus., Dip. Teaching, Grad Dip. Special Ed.
Mrs Natalie Heuston
Miss Shona WOODHOUSE
B.A., Grad.Dip.Ed.
Ms Claire PEOPLES B.A (Hons), Grad Dip Ed. (Secondary)
Mrs Lani PHELAN
Support staff Ms Jan ALDERMAN Mrs Pam ARNOLD B.Sc. (Joint Hons)
Mrs Gagan Arora B.Architecture, Post Grad Cert (Bus Management)
Miss Amy AVERY
Cert III Children’s Services, Cert Ed (Integration Aide/Teacher Aide)
Mr Gary RAY Mrs Julie SEIDEL Cert. III Children’s Services (Early Childhood)
Mr Paul SHERRIFF Mrs Sony SIMANJUNTAK PHD Law
Ms Biserka SWANN N.D. Integration Aide, B.A. (Hons) Dip.Ed.
Mrs Carolyn TAIT
B. Early Childhood Ed.
Mr John BEHRENDT
Dip.IPSA.
Dip. Teaching (Early Childhood)
Mrs Sue PLUMB
Miss Ruth BIRD
Mrs Heather TALBOT
Mrs Asta HO
Dip.Art (RMIT), Dip.Ed., Cert IV TAA (Training & Assessment) Grad.Dip (Sustainability)
Mr Michael BLANCHARD
Mrs Jenny TAYLOR
Dip. Teaching (Early Childhood), B.Ed. (Early Childhood)
Miss Sarah HOGAN
Miss Stephanie POTTAGE
Mrs Rosie Brown
Mrs Carol THOMSON
BSC (Bus Admin)
Mr Jarrod Carlson
Ms Dimetria Holborow
B.SocialSc. (Psychology and Sociology), Grad.Dip.Ed. (Secondary)
M.Teaching
Mr Nathaniel POYNTER
Dip.Priv.Sec.Prac.
Mrs Dianne HOLLAND
Mr Ashley Price
Mr Vaughan CHALLIS
Dip.Bus.Advtg, Dip.Ministries, Adv.Dip.Theology, B.Theology, Gad.Dip Education (Primary)
Mrs Lisa CHIODA
Mrs Sharyn PRICE
Mrs Susannah CIARDULLI
B.A., B.Comm, Dip. SchMKT
B.Sc, Dip.Ed., Grad.Cert. Career Development
Grad.Cert. Careers Education and Development
Mrs Mara VANDERZEIL
Ms Suzanne PROSENAK
Miss Rachel Clark
B.Sc., Grad.Dip.Ed., Grad.Dip.Ed.& Dvlptl.Psych., M.Ed.& Dvlptl.Psych., MAPS
Mr Philip CALLIL Dip. Teaching, B.Ed., Grad.Dip.ICTE, M.Ed.
Mrs Nicky CALLOW
B.App.Sc. (Physical education) (Hons)
Miss Jo CARVELL B.App.Sc. (Home Ec.), B. Teaching (Primary and Secondary)
Mrs Kate CATANIA B. Physics, Dip.Ed. M.Ed.
Mr Phil CHAMPION B.App.Sc., Dip.Ed.
Mr Paul Cherry B.Teaching (Secondary), B.A.
Mr Shane COADY B.A (Archaelogy, Medieval Literature), Dip Ed.
Mrs Karen COLE Dip. Teaching (Primary), B.Ed. (LOTE)
Mr Simon CONLAN B.A., Dip.Ed., M.Ed.
Ms Micahl CREAMER
Ms Jacinda HILLS
B.App.Sc. (Physical Education)
Dip. Teaching (Primary), B.Ed. (Primary)
Ms Janicke JOHANSEN B.Visual Arts, B.Ed.
Mr Paul JOY B.Ed., B. Teaching, MACE
Mrs Emma KEELER M.Ed. (Language Intervention and Hearing Impairment), B.A. (Hons), Dip.Ed. (Hons).
Ms Amber KENNEDY M.Ed. Leadership, B.App.Sc. (Human Movement), B. Teaching (Secondary)
Mrs Maryanne KING Dip. Teaching, B.Spec.Ed.
Mr Michael KING B.Ed., Dip. Teaching., L.A.G.M., A.Mus.A.G.M.
B.App.Sc. (Human Movement), B. Teaching
Mr Joseph KOLES
Mrs Heather DE CASTELLA Dip. Arts and Music, Grad.Dip.Ed.
B.Sci., B.Ed. (Primary & Secondary), Cert. IV Multimedia, Postgrad.Dip.Deafness Studies (Hearing Impairment)
Mrs Emma DE GUZMAN
Ms Susan LAITY
B. Design (Communication), B. Teaching (Primary and Secondary), Cert. IV Training & Assessment, Cert. IV Design
Ms Kathleen DE ZWART B.A., Dip.Ed. Studies (Hearing Impaired)
Mrs Linnea DONNELLY B.A.
Ms Anne DOUGLAS
B.Mus., Dip.Ed.
Mrs Fiona LAKE B.A., Dip.Ed., M.Ed. (Hearing Impairment)
Mr Andrew LAWRENCE B.A., Dip.Ed., M.Ed.
Ms Mei Ling LEE B.Sc. (Hons), Dip.Ed., M.Ed.
B.A., Dip.Ed.
Mrs Ruth LEGGE
Mrs Ros DUCK
A.Mus.A, B.Mus.(Performance), Grad. Dip.Ed. (Secondary)
B.Mus.Ed.
Mr Cam DUNBAR B.Ed.
Mrs Michelle DWYER
Mrs Lisa MACLENNAN B.Ed.
B.A., Dip.Ed.
Mr Steven RAFTELLIS B.Sc., Dip.Ed.
Mr Benjamin Ratcliffe B.Sc (Hons), Grad.Dip Teaching
Mrs Adrienne CARR
Miss Suzanne CLARKE Mrs Sara CLERICI Dip. Library and Information Studies
Mr John CLOSE
B.A.Ed., Cert.III Children’s Services, Cert.III Ed. (Integration Aide/Teacher’s Assistant)
Mrs Bernadette TIBERI Div 1 Reg. Nurse, Grad. Dip (Critical Care Nursing)
Mr Peter TIBERI Ms Kim TREGANOWAN
Mr Marcus VISKICH B.A.
Ms Leanne VROONLAND
B.A. (Hons), B.Ed.
Ms Natalie WALL
B.Ed. (Secondary)
Mrs Krystyna DLUGOSZ
Mrs Denise WARREN
Miss Iva RONCEVIC
Mrs Michelle DWYER
Ms Kim Wolsley
Mrs Nicole ROGERS
B.A., Grad.Dip.Ed. (Secondary)
Miss Emma ROSENDALE B.A. (Psychology) (History), Grad.Dip.Ed. (Primary)
Mr Andrew SAVAGE
Mr Nick FRANKHAUSER
B.Comm., Grad.Dip Applied Linguistics, Dip Professional Writing & Editing
Mrs Alice FERNANDES
Mrs Judy YOUNG
B.A. (Sociology), B.Ed. (English) (Geography)
B.Sc., Dip.Ed.
Mrs Kylie FITZPATRICK
Mr Ian SAYNOR
B. Disability Studies, Cert IV Workplace Training and Assessment
B.Ed., Cert. of Tech, Dip.Tech. Teaching
Mrs Rachel SCHMIDLI B.Ed.
Mrs Megan SCHOLZ
Mrs Anneke FLINN B.App.Sc (Speech Pathology)
Mr Alexander FULTON
B.A., Dip. Teaching
Mr Surain GAMAGE
Mr Mark SCHUMANN
Mrs Sue GAMBLE
B.M. Media (Hons), Grad.Dip.Ed. (Secondary)
R.N.
Mrs Rachael SKUDUTIS
Ms Karen GLENN
B.A., Dip.Ed. (Primary), Cert III Applied Languages (French), Cert IV Applied Languages (French)
Ms Meredith Harwood
Mrs Jutta SNYDER
Ms Anita HOLMAN
Dip. Teaching (Primary)
B.Sc.(Ed), M.Ed. (Melb), MACE
Assoc. Degree (Social & Community Welfare)
Mrs Leah MANNING
Mr Sheunesu Hove
B.Ed.
CPA, CA(Z), B.Compt (Hons), B.Acc (Hons)
www.yvg.vic.edu.au | LEVAVI 2015 | 211
We Lift Up Our Eyes (Levavi Oculos) We lift our eyes and structure our plans Enlighten our minds for the future at hand. Founded in faith, with hope and inspiration To discover the spirit and our part in the nation. Chorus Fruitful lives we learn to live To take no more than we can give And in our school, Yarra Valley we trust. Together we work, and fairly compete All ready for vict’ry as well as defeat. Walking as one as kindred to all We talk face to face and proudly stand tall. Chorus Fruitful lives we learn to live To take no more than we can give And in our school, Yarra Valley we trust. Reflecting upon the years that have passed We find a collection of memories that last. Schooling is o’er but School is still giving A part of ourselves and a part of our living. Chorus Fruitful lives we learn to live To take no more than we can give And in our school, Yarra Valley we trust. Lyrics – Ceri Hann (Year 12, 1989) Music – Brian Hogg (Staff Member, 1990–1997)
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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2016 Calendar
TERM 1 (8 weeks) Tuesday 26 January
Australia Day holiday
Wednesday 27 January
All staff preparation day
Thursday 28 January
Secondary School student preparation day (Years 7 to 12)
Friday 29 January
Commence Term 1 All students commence formal classes and programs (Prep to Year 12)
Monday 14 March
Labour Day holiday
Wednesday 23 March
End Term 1
Thursday 24 March
Maundy Thursday
Friday 25 March
Good Friday
Monday 28 March
Easter Monday
TERM 2 (11 weeks) Monday 11 April
Commence Term 2 – All staff and students return
Monday 25 April
ANZAC Day
Friday 10 June
Staff professional development day
Monday 13 June
Queen’s Birthday holiday
Friday 24 June
End Term 2
TERM 3 (9 weeks) Monday 11 July
Commence Term 3 – All staff and students return
Friday 19 August
Staff professional development day
Friday 9 September
End Term 3
TERM 4 (11 weeks) Monday 3 October
Commence Term 4 – All staff and students return
Monday 17 October
Last day for Year 12 students
Monday 31 October
Mid term break
Tuesday 1 November
Mid term break
Tuesday 6 December
Last day for Year 10 and Year 11 students
Wednesday 7 December
Last day for Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 students
Thursday 8 December
Last day for Junior School students
Kalinda Road Ringwood Victoria 3134 Australia Telephone +61 3 9262 7700 Email marketing@yvg.vic.edu.au www.yvg.vic.edu.au ABN 44 004 584 552 CRICOS NO. 00356E