Junior School Report
September 1, 2026 – Edition 11
Sport and Learning Success
Our Junior School students continue to shine as they embrace the many rewarding ways in which they can learn, participate, co-operate and achieve. I am always so proud to see the enthusiasm, determination, empathy and joy they bring to school each day.
Our sporting achievements were again a highlight. The Year 6 Netball teams recently competed in the Casey Netball Cup, where our students demonstrated impressive teamwork, maturity, skill and sportsmanship. Our girls team took home the win and the boys finished an impressive fifth. Congratulations to all our talented netballers and to Mr Byrne-Nelson and Mr Benham, who coached the teams.
We also competed in the Junior School District Athletics Carnival and I am delighted to share that Casey Grammar School was the overall winner. More than 50 students represented our school with pride, determination, teamwork and sportsmanship.
We wish our many students who have qualified for the Divisional Athletics Carnival all the very best as they take the next step in their Athletics journey. Sincere thanks to Mr Byrne-Nelson, Mrs Murray, Mrs Barnes, Mr Benham and Mrs Humphrey for their organisation and support.
Our Year 5 students have also enjoyed a memorable Log Cabin and Sovereign Hill Camp experience. Camps provide such valuable opportunities for students to develop independence, resilience, co-operation and friendships beyond the classroom.
I would like to sincerely thank Mrs Harrison, Mr Elliott, Mr Whalan, Mrs Saleeba, Ms Roffey, Mr Byrne-Nelson and Mrs Barnes for the enormous amount of time, care and energy they invested in making the camp such a success. I thoroughly enjoyed my overnight visit, despite the decidedly chilly temperature!
Our Foundation and Year 1 Swimming Program has commenced, providing students with important water safety skills and the chance to develop confidence in the pool. Ms Roffey has organised the program extremely well and we are grateful for the care and attention that goes into ensuring our youngest students have such a positive experience.
Our assemblies continue to provide wonderful opportunities for students to share their learning and talents. Year 6D presented its final Junior School Assembly centred on the power of persuasion. Students debated the highly important question of whether pizza should be enjoyed with or without pineapple!
Their arguments, counterarguments and rebuttals were so convincing that many audience members were persuaded to reconsider their position. Congratulations to Mrs Dunn and her talented students on a creative and entertaining assembly.
Foundation H students also hosted their first Junior School assembly and what a delightful occasion it was. Dressed in their adorable Book Week costumes, the students sang and danced their way through Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. They were sensational! Bravo to Miss Hames for preparing our youngest performers so beautifully.
Our Book Week Dress-Up Day and Parades were another fun-filled celebration of our love of reading. It was delightful to see students arrive dressed as their favourite book characters, with so much creativity and enthusiasm on display.
The parades were the highlight of the day, as students proudly showcased their costumes and enjoyed seeing their favourite characters brought to life by their friends. Thank you to our Library staff, Mrs Thompson, Ms Nettleton and Miss Birch for creating such a joyful celebration of books, stories, characters and the power of imagination.
These moments capture what makes our Junior School so special, including students who are willing to have a go, teachers who inspire and encourage them, supportive parents and carers and a school community that celebrates every achievement along the way.
Melissa Roberton
Head of Junior School
Early Years
Celebrating Science Week
Our Early Years students continue to thrive in their stimulating environment. During Science Week, they enjoyed a range of experiments and investigations. It was wonderful to see their curiosity and excitement as they explored, asked questions, honed their skills and made new discoveries.
Foundation to Year 2 students also participated in a St John First Aid incursion, where they learnt vital first-aid information. The students were engaged throughout the session and developed skills that they can use at school and at home.
A friendly reminder to please ensure that all clothing is clearly labelled with your child’s name, particularly jumpers and hats. This helps us return lost items to their owners and prevents belongings from being misplaced.
Our Foundation and Year 1 students have commenced their Swimming Program and are developing their water safety and swimming skills.
We were also very excited to celebrate Book Week! We love seeing our students embrace their favourite books, characters, stories and illustrations as we celebrate the joy of reading together.
Miss Bridgette Reale
Head of Early Years
Year 6 Poetry Slam
This term, our Year 6 students have been immersed in the world of poetry, exploring a variety of poetic forms and writing on a wide range of topics. They developed their understanding of figurative, emotive and sensory language and a range of grammatical sentence structures, including the use of subordinate conjunctions to create more sophisticated and engaging writing.
After drafting, revising and refining their work, each student selected one poem to perform in their classroom. From these performances, five students from each class were chosen as finalists to compete in the Year 6 Poetry Slam, which was held in the VCE Lecture Theatre on Thursday, 20 August.
The finalists presented their original poems to an audience of Year 6 students and teachers, showcasing their confidence, creativity, expression and public speaking skills. We would like to sincerely thank Mrs Torcasio, Mr Bell, Mrs Harvie, Mrs Riviere-Pendle, Ms Pillay, and Mrs Britton-Bird for generously giving their time to serve on the judging panel and support this special event.
After a lengthy deliberation, the judges announced the following results:
- 1st Place: Isabelle, Drought
- 2nd Place: Chenara, Before the Last Sunset
- 3rd Place: Anna, Mystery Key
Honourable Mentions:
- Brody, God’s Basket of Gifts
- Milla, The Alchemy of Seeds and Starlight
Congratulations to Isabelle, Anna, Chenara, Brody, Milla, and all our finalists for their outstanding achievements. We are also pleased to share that all finalist poems have been submitted to the ISV Poetry Competition, and we wish our students the very best of luck.
Reflecting on her winning poem, Isabelle shared:
“While I was writing my poem, I felt empathy for those who aren’t as fortunate as me, and I felt very grateful for what I have now. In class, one of the poems we wrote was about a natural disaster and I chose to write about a drought because it is a long and painful period of time. Once I started writing, the words just flowed out of my mind and onto the paper. When I read it afterwards, I made some changes and I am very proud of my poem now. I think I improved my rhyming skills, emotive language and creativity. I added a lot of lines that describe and emphasise what a drought feels like.”
Congratulations to every Year 6 student who participated in the poetry unit this term. Students should be extremely proud of the progress they have made as writers, particularly in their use of figurative and sensory language and their growing ability to craft more complex and varied sentence structures.
Their creativity and willingness to take risks as writers have been wonderful to see and the quality of the poetry produced across the year level was outstanding.
Mrs Vanessa Khvorostin
Year 6 Teacher
School Snowsports Success
Student achievement
Congratulations to Ethan (Yr 6) and Arizona (Yr 4) for their achievements participating in the Interschool Snowsports Championships. This significant event saw over 6000 students from more than 250 schools competing.
Ethan competed in the Division 4 Boys Giant Slalom Alpine event. As a first-time racer, he took on the most challenging and fastest course of the competition — the Mt Buller Summit Run. Competing against about 200 participants, Ethan delivered an outstanding performance and achieved a result of which he can be very proud.
Arizona competed in the Division 5 Multiclass Giant Slalom event. Despite extremely challenging weather, including near-blizzard conditions that led to the mountain being closed immediately after her event, Arizona skied exceptionally well to secure the gold medal.
Her impressive victory has earned Arizona a place to compete at the 2026 Subaru Australian Interschools Snowsport Championships, to be held at Perisher, New South Wales, this week.
Both students showed determination, resilience, talent and sportsmanship. We are incredibly proud of their achievements and look forward to cheering Arizona on at the Australian Championships.
Junior School District Athletics
Our students had a fantastic day at the Junior School District Athletics Carnival, with more than 50 athletes proudly representing our school across a range of events.
It was wonderful to see them competing with enthusiasm and great sportsmanship throughout the day. Their hard work and commitment paid off, with many students performing exceptionally well and progressing through to Divisional Athletics.
We are also incredibly proud to announce that our school finished in first place and took home the District Athletics trophy! This is a fantastic achievement and a strong reflection of the effort and commitment shown by our students.
Congratulations to the more than 55 students who competed and represented our school so proudly. We wish all our students progressing to Divisional Athletics on 14 September the very best of luck. We can’t wait to see them continue to do us proud!
Patrick Byrne-Nelson
Junior School PE Teacher
Junior School Production News
The countdown has begun! It’s now less than a fortnight until our production of Grossbusters – The Monster Musical begins. All our students from Year 3 to Year 6 have been very busy preparing their songs for your viewing pleasure.
The students will participate in a full-dress rehearsal this week, so please ensure that your child brings their costume (in a clearly labelled bag) ready to change into on Friday, 4 September.
Get set for the slime of your life!
To purchase tickets for either Wednesday, 16 or Thursday, 17 September, please click here.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Bronwyn Kyne
Junior School Performing Arts Teacher
