Castlefield Issue 18
Two of our Year 6 students take part in a hair-raising fundraiser, the Junior School keeps on moving and everyone looks forward to a return to school.
Two of our Year 6 students take part in a hair-raising fundraiser, the Junior School keeps on moving and everyone looks forward to a return to school.
This week’s return to school of Year 12 students and of our Year 11s for their Units 3 and 4 subjects is most welcome.
The Year 12s have been outstanding in managing their way through their final two years of school that have obviously been quite different to what they would have anticipated. They have, of course, been assisted by the brilliant teaching staff who have committed to providing every possible support to help Haileybury students achieve.
The focus over the next three weeks is on providing as much classroom time with Units 3 and 4 students in the lead-up to the exams, and doing all we can to provide memorable end-of-school events for the Year 12s. We will be holding a full Graduation after the examinations have been completed in November.
We are looking forward to the rest of our students across all year levels returning from week three to week five. While we are very pleased with student progress due to the strong academic online program delivery, we are well aware that students have missed the social and co-curricular aspects of school. So, within health guidelines, we will be building the widest range of activities that we can provide to all year levels as students return.
During the past few months, we have been investigating a range of additional ways to protect and increase the safety of our school community as we plan for the return to onsite learning and working. The School has sought expert advice and investigated ways to reduce the potential for the indoor air in our buildings to contribute to the development or spread of illness. Key initiatives and changes you will see implemented during Term 4 will be:
We are fully committed to the health and welfare of our students and staff. It is mandatory for all Haileybury staff to be vaccinated and I have been delighted with the staff support for this. Similarly, we have been pleased to see Years 11 and 12 students getting vaccinated in large numbers.
Haileybury is fully supportive of the vaccination program. It is clear that it is the quickest way to open up our society and for us to provide a safe school environment for staff and students. We encourage all families with children eligible for the vaccination to have it done.
Derek Scott
CEO | Principal
While we have been in lockdown, Claire Leung (Year 4) and Sophia Leung (Year 6) have been busy fundraising and preparing to shave their heads for the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave.
The girls are raising money that will go towards providing families facing blood cancer with emotional and practical support. The girls also donated their hair to the clever people at Sustainable Salons who repurpose it into wigs for those who’ve lost their hair due to cancer.
We look forward to welcoming our students back on campus this term. The roadmap set out by the Victorian Government allows us to welcome our students onsite across staggered dates, commencing with our Preps and Years 1 and 2 from Monday, 18 October. Preparations are in progress to ensure classrooms and learning spaces are ready for our students to return.
For ELC students learning from home, there have been many opportunities to stay connected. They have seen each other on screen through daily Zooms and home learning experiences include Social Thinking, Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Music and Movement. The Specialist Program has also been maintained with Library, Creative Arts, Physical Activity with Mrs Crowe and Music with Mrs Jacob.
For students learning at school, there have been opportunities to spend time getting to know new peers and educators as classes have combined. Students have also discovered new spaces as different learning environments were explored.
During the last week of Term 3, the ELC students and teachers celebrated the end of a crazy term with Wacky Wednesday. For children learning at home and those learning on campus, it was a chance to be silly, crazy, wacky and just have a lot of fun.
Everyone was invited to wear a ‘touch of wacky’ as we enjoyed the Dr Seuss story, found all the wacky things on each page and joined in songs, dancing, experiments and games.
There was lots of fun to be had as our teachers ran a virtual camp for our Year 3 students in the final week of the term. Starting with a camp briefing and a whole group Anzac biscuit cooking lesson, students then moved into mixed groups to participate in astronomy, bush art, fort building, Minute To Win It games and a scavenger hunt.
Everyone was invited to have lunch and dinner together in breakout rooms and it was excellent to see so many camp set-ups in backyards and lounge rooms. I loved being part of the conversation in the rooms I joined!
PE teacher Miss Natalie Lath asked students to record how far and how often they have been exercising! Here are the progressive stats as we went into the holidays. My gosh! They climbed across the month!
We remind students that the challenge continues through the break and they can add their exercise to the form on their PE announcement page.
So far, the Junior School children have completed 1,497,924 steps, they’ve scooted for 101 kilometres, cycled 1,417 km, skated for 55.5 hours and completed 2,317 skips. They swam 18 km, have finished 89 hours of strength workouts and participated in 12,847 hours of sport. What a great result!
As our students and families enjoy a very well-earned rest from Term 3 that was spent predominantly online, the School is preparing for an exciting Term 4 and our staged return to learning. All measures are being considered to ensure that the safest, most seamless transition can occur for our Middle School students.
Our learning community has shown such impressive resilience in the face of online learning. However, the prospect of seeing the faces of our amazing Middle School students in our school grounds, in the classroom and in person, brings great joy and is something we couldn’t welcome quickly enough.
Our students are the core of the School. Their minds, attitudes, drive and their ability to form relationships with each other and with their teachers are the backbone of our Castlefield community. We eagerly look forward to Term 4 and all that lies ahead.
From Speech Night to Graduation, House events to year-level transitions, we aim to ensure our young students are provided with opportunities, a sense of purpose, a safe and encouraging learning environment and, most importantly, a community that embraces them…no matter what is thrown their way.
It is with great excitement that we look forward to welcoming our students back onsite in Term 4.
Katrina Manson
Head of Castlefield (Brighton)
We welcome our families and friends back to Term 4.
Hopefully everyone has had a chance to relax, unwind and prepare for the final term of the year. The end of the year is rapidly approaching and we are hopeful we can resume our in-person events soon.
Ian Green
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends Castlefield
Performing Arts and Music students finesse their skills in preparation for VCE examinations and VCD students complete their SAT folios.
Despite the lack of professional theatre happening in and around Melbourne, I have been lucky enough to watch some outstanding live dance and monologue performances as our senior students prepare for their examinations.
Our dancers are at the point where fine tuning and making sure the narrative is clear and matching their statement of intention are the focus. Our actors have responded well to a little bit of rest and have been able to come in to school to work with set pieces and props.
The challenge in Theatre Studies is to establish the world of the play—showing that you understand the context and what has gone before and what is to follow. It is always exciting to see an actor grow into a role as they grasp the language in action.
Stewart Bell
Director of Performing Arts
While our most senior VCE Music students complete their final preparations to take Unit 4 Performance exams next week, Year 5 Brighton students begin their instrumental journey. They are receiving Band instruments in preparation for practical instrumental classes that begin online this week.
At Brighton, Berwick and City, all Year 5 students now participate in a semester of instrumental tuition on Band instruments—trumpet, trombone, euphonium, flute, clarinet, saxophone and percussion.
Delivered as a classroom program, each student learns one of these instruments alongside their peers in a fun and engaging setting that features many smiles, giggles, discoveries and, of course, instrumental success. Following a semester in the classroom program, students are encouraged to enrol in individual tuition and to continue their music journey at school.
At the time of recording the video links below, in the last week of Term 3, most VCE ensembles had only been able to have three rehearsals together in preparation for upcoming October final exams.
For the exams, each assessed student is required to perform a 25-minute recital program. As always, students who take the formal VCE assessments will be brilliantly supported by their peers who are not enrolled in Units 3 and 4. Special thanks must go to these wonderful people!
In the first link below, Aaron Nazaretian (Year 11) is rehearsing the first movement of Vivaldi’s Mandolin Concerto (RV425). While you can clearly hear the complexity in Aaron’s guitar part, a significant challenge for the ensemble rests in keeping the timing together while carefully matching the changing dynamics across the work.
Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto - Rehearsal Link
Performers: Aaron Nazaretian (Guitar), Nathan Gu (Violin), Sam Koh (Violin), Sarah Tan (Viola), Elliot Guo (Cello) and Dr Christina Chao (Harpsichord).
In the second link below, vocalist/keyboardist Jacinta Bennett (Year 11) works through a Laufey Lin song, Someone New. Performing comfortably on two instruments simultaneously is a sophisticated skill that requires many hours of practice. In addition to focusing on coordinating her own performance, Jacinta must at all times lead the remainder of the ensemble in terms of phrasing, balance and intensity. Similarly, the ensemble must listen carefully to Jacinta to follow the nuances of her interpretation of this lovely song.
Someone's New - Rehearsal Link
Performers: Jacinta Bennett (Vocal/Piano), Harry Marshall (Bass), Fraser Elvins (Drums) and String Section (Alicia Robertson, Rowena Ng, Harry Sun, Nathan Su).
The final rehearsal video below is a work that will be used by two students in separate VCE exams. This complicated tune, Run For Cover, requires considerable individual skill as well as a strong understanding of ensemble cohesion—meaning the musicians’ ability to accurately perform their own part while focusing on the collective rhythmic and stylistic cohesion.
The extended performance techniques also warrant mention. Olivia Van Der Heyden (Year 12) performs much of the work in the upper register of the alto saxophone. In fact, many of the notes you can hear are technically beyond the range of the instrument! Olivia has also developed a contemporary alto saxophone sound/tone that is well beyond what would be expected of someone her age.
On the electric bass, Harry Marshall (Year 11) uses the slap bass guitar technique of hammering and thumping the lower strings while percussively plucking the upper strings. This not only contributes melodic content to the bass line but also captures that funky rhythmic quality at the heart of this contemporary performance style.
Run For Cover - Rehearsal Link
Performers: Olivia Van Der Heyden (Alto Saxophone), Harry Marshall (Electric Bass), Tommy Caspers (Drums), Marcus Beyer (Keyboard) and Mr Kim May (Electric Guitar).
Rod Marshall
Head of Haileybury Music
Visual Communication Design (VCD) students have finally completed the enormous task that is their SAT folio. This creative process has been well underway since Term 1. After creating a hypothetical client and addressing their needs through design, all Units 3 and 4 students have successfully produced a body of work that demonstrates a range of manual and digital skills.
Daniel Vereker (Year 12, City) has produced an architectural design of university standard, with a range of renders that address the needs of his Bayside client.
“I designed a home for my client, Fedagio, an architectural developer who also requested that promotional material be made using renders of the house. Since the home was to be situated among heritage listed properties in the Port Phillip area, it was essential that I incorporated Victorian era stylistic features such as arches into the contemporary design. These images are the result of the architectural design process where they’ll then be used in marketing material to promotes the build.”
Karl Sebire
Head of Creative Industries
An Old Haileyburian plays in the AFL Grand Final and students and families can stay fit and well with the support of the Sport Department.
Cody Weightman (OH ’19) played on the largest AFL stage of the year as he represented the Western Bulldogs against Melbourne in the AFL Grand Final. The former First XVIII Captain has already established a reputation as a dynamic player, although this year, the Premiership flag ended up with the Demons after a hard-fought game.
Students are encouraged to take a break from screens and to strike the balance between rest and activity. To support this, the Sport department is running initiatives to keep families active.
Students have been provided with a variety of wellbeing options including yoga, Pilates, strength training, information on sleep, cardio and mindfulness sessions. We are encouraging families to set goals and participate in these sessions together.
A suggested goal may be to complete at least two sessions per week from the available suite of instructional media. Students can register their attendance or their family’s attendance by scanning a QR code and they will receive a code upon completion.
Data will be collated and the achievements of families celebrated. Stay well!
Sean Allcock
Director of Haileybury Sport
Another Old Haileyburian discusses their professional and personal experiences so far and what they have learned along the way.
Join the OHA as we sit down with Christina Hewawissa (OH 2015) as she bravely shares her personal journey with depression, the tough decision to close her clothing brand and the exciting new opportunities that lay ahead.
#stayconnected #oha #alumni #podcast @theplantfamily_official
To keep up-to-date with all OHA News, visit https://oha.org.au/news/ and enjoy recent articles on:
Hayley Denny
Development & Alumni Manager
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