Darwin Issue 17
As Victoria and NSW face the challenges of rising COVID-19 cases, Haileybury Rendall students are grateful for a relatively uninterrupted school year.
Campus News
COVID-19 Update
As I hear the daily news of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading through New South Wales and Victoria, I always take a moment to think about my friends, family and colleagues down south.
We know that Victorian schools have now been closed for around 220 days. In the Northern Territory, we have so far been fortunate to avoid these inconveniences and have only experienced two short lockdowns this year. The Howard Springs quarantine facility team has done a brilliant job containing coronavirus cases.
Our first lockdown occurred across the June–July school holidays. Then, our main responsibility was keeping our Early Learning Centre open for the children of essential workers and maintaining a skeleton staff onsite to keep the School running.
In Week 5 of Term 3, Darwin and surrounding regions went into a full three-day lockdown. The Territory locked down ‘hard and fast’ and, incredibly, there was no spread from the one case detected in our community. During this period, Haileybury Rendall School quickly and successfully moved to online learning for all students from Transition (Prep) to Year 12.
Since then, we have continued to enjoy our freedoms with no further community cases. School life has been largely unaffected.
Working Towards COVID-Normal
Medical experts across the country are now urging us to do all we can to get vaccinated against the virus. We are advised that the way to achieve COVID-normal will be strongly connected to population vaccination levels.
Northern Territorians are getting vaccinated at similar rates to the rest of the country and the NT Government is now providing the opportunity for children aged 12 and over to receive the Pfizer vaccine. Parents are able to book and organise this privately, but the vaccines are also coming to schools as a convenient alternative.
Haileybury Rendall School will be part of this school-based vaccination program. Middle School and Senior School students can receive two doses of Pfizer vaccine between September and November and we are currently seeking parental permission for this.
Years 11 and 12 students will receive the vaccine first, before the start of the VCE examination period. A team of local health professionals will oversee the vaccine process at the School.
We wish the very best to everyone across our country in these challenging times.
Andrew McGregor
Principal, Haileybury Rendall School
Discover more Insight updates
Arts
Some students return to campus to rehearse and talented musicians and performer are given the opportunity to build on their success.
Performing Arts
Face-to-Masked-Face at Last
It has been exciting and energising to have the Performing Arts Team at school rehearsing and refining their skills for the VCE examinations.
A big ‘thanks’ to our parents who have taken on board the extra constraints required due to this lockdown and who have helped get our students COVID tested. So far, everything has been going smoothly, with everyone able to find spaces where they can work.
Going back to the old gym with my Theatre Studies class was strangely reassuring after spending so much time there last year. Our students were positively beaming as they worked in the same space and, when it has been taken away from you, you realise how much happens just through proximity.
We are on a steep curve to catch up on our physical preparation but working steadily through the holidays will have everyone ready for action.
In sadder news, the Newlands musical has had to be cancelled after the cast and crew valiantly hung on for as long as they were able. Newlands was going to perform at Aikman Hall but with the stage soon being used for VCE exams, the venue is unavailable.
Plans for memorable moments are being worked on but everything still depends on our students being allowed back to school. We all continue to wait for news on that…
Stewart Bell
Director of Performing Arts
Music
Talented String Students Recognised
Musicians within the Haileybury community have been busy over the past fortnight.
Three of our String students, Campbell Wilson-Moran (Year 10) Elliot Guo (Year 10) and Abigail Xu (Year 8) were awarded places in the prestigious Melbourne Conservatorium Young Artists Academy (MCYAA) following recent successful auditions.
As part of the MCYAA program, these hardworking students will undertake comprehensive chamber music studies and study new repertoire, attend national and international masterclasses and, hopefully, take part in plenty of face-to-face rehearsals.
Well done to Mr Kieran Casey and Ms Myfanwy Bramble for their exceptional work with these outstanding young musicians.
Rhian Aoun Chosen for National Program
Last week, one of our senior VCE Music Investigation vocal students, Rhian Aoun (Year 12) was chosen as a finalist in the UNDSCRVD talent competition. The event will be hosted by internationally renowned artists The Veronicas.
The five finalists selected from across Australia will be mentored by The Veronicas in a documentary-style reality show broadcast on TikTok. You can see Rhian’s first post as part of the show at https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSJKepBHh/.
Thanks to Ms Fiona Mastorovic for her outstanding work with Rhian over the years.
VCE Music Students Prepare
Following a recent change in government restrictions, VCE Music students are now able to prepare for their upcoming Music Performance examinations onsite. While the conditions for attending rehearsals are strict, including a weekly COVID test, students were able to finally rehearse with their ensembles on the Aikman Hall stage.
I was so impressed by the amount of work achieved by our young musicians in lockdown— truly amazing and inspiring stuff. Of course, it was particularly special for students to able to see each other and work together once more.
Thank you to the Music staff who rehearsed with students for the Thursday and Saturday programs held over the past fortnight.
Joy of Music Concert Streamed
As part of the @ Home with Haileybury Program the Music Department recently hosted The Joy of Music. The streamed concert was a 30-minute sample of events from across the 2018 and 2019 concert calendar.
The show featured a Tattoo performance, a performance from the Melbourne Recital Centre concert, several performances in Aikman Hall, the Senior Choir contributing to an Aria Night presentation and a jazz performance held at St Kilda’s MEMO Music Hall.
1,500 students were captured in this snapshot of life within the Music Department in a normal two-year concert calendar.
Rod Marshall
Head of Haileybury Music
Creative Industries
Middle School Art Tells Stories
Middle School students are always encouraged to include personal interests in their works. Whether this takes the shape of a hobby or their identity, the students invest and take on great ownership of their final artworks.
We love hearing the stories that accompany these works, especially when they are as meaningful as the example below.
The earring on the artwork represents Zambia, which is where I come from. The ‘red’ stands for the blood that was shed during the British colony, the ‘green’ represents the vegetation and agriculture, the ‘orange’ represents the natural minerals and, lastly, the ‘black’ represents the peoples and tribes. Ultimately, I designed this artwork to recognise and appreciate all the tremendously brave women who have moulded who I am today. To conclude, the message for the viewers of this piece is to be grateful for all the women who are a part of their lives and to never underestimate what a woman is capable of doing. The woman does not necessarily have to be of African origin—it can be any woman of any nationality.
Faith Kauseni Year 8
Castlefield Students Make Art at Home
Year 4 students have been using a range of materials at home in response to their study of artist Alexander Calder. Calder is the inventor of the mobile and is famous for his circus of wire figures that he manipulated to perform.
We’re sure these performers below have brought lots of joy also.
Jaya Brown and Lucy Dunbar Year 4 Castlefield
Karl Sebire
Head of Creative Industries
Sports Report
AFL Draft Combine Update
Justin Davies (Year 12) will join fellow team mates Marcus Windhager and Connor Macdonald (both Year 12) in the 2021 NAB AFL Draft Combine.
Some 90 selected Australian Rules footballers from across the country will participate in the 2021 NAB AFL Draft Combine that will assess each player’s physical strengths through several tests including 20-metre sprint, agility tests and vertical jump. This provides critical data for AFL clubs as they enter the draft in October.
We wish these students all the very best.
Dance Nationals Cyber Competition
Due to the current lockdown and border closures, the TFT DanceStar National Championships are being held as a Cyber Competition. Qualifiers were asked to submit their video footage for judging and sections are being streamed weekly, with results announced at the end of each week.
This week our soloists performed and competed against dance schools and secondary schools across the nation. The results were:
Freya Stills Blott (Year 11) Third—Secondary Senior Hip Hop Amber Section
Michaela Davidson (Year 10) Third—Secondary Senior Soloist Contemporary Amber Section
Emily Peatman (Year 11) Third – Secondary Senior Soloist Jazz Amber Section
Melanie Nguyen (Year 11) Third—Secondary Senior Soloist Lyrical Amber Section
Laura Bellian (Year 11) Second—Secondary Senior Soloist Lyrical Amber Section
Ashlyn Scott (Year 7) Second—Secondary Junior Audition Jazz Section
Chloe Chung (Year 12) First—Secondary Senior Soloist Contemporary Red Section.
Congratulations to all our amazing soloists and their coaches on their outstanding achievements. Many of them filmed their pieces during lockdown and some competed with their VCE Dance solo works that they choreographed themselves. The sections were large and competitive—as were the scores. Well done!
We look forward to seeing how our Primary, Years 7–8 and Senior School Dance Teams go in their sections in the coming weeks.
Sean Allcock
Director of Haileybury Sport
OHA
The Haileybury Spark Series continues to explore the lives and fascinating career paths of Old Haileyburians such as Yannee Liu.
Spark Series Spotlight—Yannee Liu (OH 2019)
The OHA is delighted when alumni give back to their school and this year saw the introduction of the Haileybury Spark Series, developed and run by the Haileybury Careers Department.
OHA members volunteered their time to come back and speak to students about their career paths.
Yannee Liu (OH 2019) recently returned to the School to speak at the Science (Pharmacy, Health Science, Technology) session of the Haileybury Spark Series.
We had the pleasure of getting to know Yannee a little more through the Spark Spotlight Series available on the OHA website. View Article
Why not enjoy more of the Spotlight series while you are there?
Yannee Liu (OH 2019)
To keep up-to-date with all OHA news, subscribe to our Stay Connected Newsletter.
Hayley Denny
Development & Alumni Manager
Foundation
Two new scholarships have been introduced to support the educational aspirations of young people in Australia’s Afghani community.
Transforming Lives
The Haileybury Foundation is focused on transforming lives by providing opportunities for deserving students who would otherwise be unable to receive a world-class education at a school such as Haileybury.
Women in Afghanistan have faced many barriers to their education, not least the continued threat of violence and attacks on educational facilities in the country. We are committed to supporting students from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds and we are delighted to be offering the opportunity for two young Australian-Afghani students to join our community and complete their secondary education at Haileybury.
Through the generosity of our Haileybury Foundation donors, applications are now open for two fully funded scholarships for girls from the Australian-Afghani community. They will commence in Year 7 in 2022 at one of our four Melbourne campuses.
The scholarships will cover the students’ full tuition, uniform for all seasons and sports and laptop computer as part of the Haileybury Managed Device Program.
HOW TO APPLY:
Applications Open: 1 September, 2021
Applications Close: 30 September, 2021
Please visit the Haileybury Foundation Scholarships page for information on how to apply.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at foundation@haileybury.vic.edu.au.
Thank You
Donations to Haileybury Foundation continue to stream in. Our students are incredibly fortunate to be in receipt of such a high-quality education that would otherwise be out of reach.
All gifts to Haileybury Foundation are tax deductible. Our donors are having enormous impact and we have been delighted with the involvement of our community–from past parents, alumni and staff to current parents and former staff.
Donations can be made at https://www.haileybury.com.au/giving.
Social Media
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