Another term is successfully completed despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and students, parents and staff are congratulated on their professionalism, dedication and can-do attitude.
A big ‘thank you’ to our families, students and staff for an incredible term. It has been a challenging term, but one that demonstrated resilience and determination in our students and that filled me with gratitude for the families and staff who have cared for those children.
I am so proud of how our students have conducted themselves online and the learning they have achieved throughout the term.
Term 4 is usually jam-packed with celebrations as we draw to the end of the year. We have been working out how we can hold as many of these events as possible in line with the restrictions that may be with us for a while.
As the term progresses, we will provide you with further information about Graduations, Up Day and Speech Night.
Thank you to all the ELC families who joined us on Zoom to celebrate our amazing dads with games, dancing, stories and songs. It was lots of fun. Special videos were created and shared, with children expressing why they love their dad, what their dad is good at and what they love to do with dad.
Here, some ELC students share the reasons why they love their dad.
“I love Daddy because he’s my best friend.”
“I love my daddy so much because he is hard working.”
“He’s my favourite and he always plays with me.”
“I love my dad’s huggles.”
The ELC educators have been working hard on planning, preparing and delivering a Home Learning program, as well as being onsite for the children of permitted workers. Our Home Learning program offers children regular opportunities to connect with their peers and educators during daily Zoom sessions, specialist classes and Home Learning experiences.
Haileybury Playtime was also launched. This is a chance for students at home to connect with educators from across the School during half-hour episodes that feature songs, stories and learning experiences.
While we couldn’t hold our scheduled Athletics Day for the ELC community, the children were able to enjoy a physical activity online Specialist session at home and there was outdoor learning fun for children who were on campus.
Children enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and the open spaces and took part in running, rolling, climbing, ball skills, working in teams and exploring the Castlefield school grounds.
To reward our students for their hard work and commitment during online learning, we finished Week 9 with a Junior School Virtual Disco. Bop ‘Til You Drop had our students moving and grooving through an hour of fun activities and dancing.
It was pleasing to see our students demonstrate ‘Play’ after they have shown so much dedication to the ‘Care’ and ‘Learn’ parts of our philosophy.
It’s been a big term of assemblies and we would like to thank each contributor. From musicians and singers to presenters and award winners…THANK-YOU!
Our final assembly of the term congratulated students receiving a Head of Campus Award. Careful contributors, marvellous manners and thoughtful thinkers were acknowledged and congratulated.
It’s been great to see year levels coming together for activities. Science experiments, cooking, trivia, origami, escape rooms and wellbeing sessions have sparked the interest of entire cohorts.
Popping into different online classrooms with the touch of a tab has never been easier and students have loved working with teachers and friends outside their homeroom.
The tawny frogmouth has once again built her nest in East Quad and is currently sitting on an egg. Many of our students will remember this family from previous years and have delighted in seeing the fluffy chick when hatched. See if you can find her sitting in the peppercorn tree!
Construction of a new play space has begun adjacent to the basketball ring in the Junior School. We can’t wait to see children climbing on the ropes once we’re back onsite.
The Middle School students, staff, parents and wider community are to be commended on an excellent term. The way you have all conducted yourselves under ongoing challenging circumstances has been exceptional. Yet another pivot has been required from all of us in Victoria and, once again, we have all rolled up our sleeves and leant into the adversity.
The safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priority and we are investing additional time and resources to check in with each student and to inquire about their situations and any obstacles and challenges they may be facing.
Based on feedback from our students, parents and staff and our ongoing surveys, we have reduced screen time and adapted our classes without impacting Haileybury’s high-quality Teaching and Learning Program.
As parents, you may have noticed your child moving around the house more and more tasks being done away from screens. Thank you for your support in allowing this to happen.
We are hopeful of a return to face-to-face learning but we are also prepared for whatever is asked of us. Please ensure that the holidays are used for some rest and relaxation and some fun family activities. Together, we will weather the storm and ensure that we all keep safe and sound.
Katrina Manson
Head of Castlefield (Brighton)
The HPFC wish our families and friends an enjoyable break over the holidays. Hopefully, we will soon be able to see you again on School grounds during Term 4. We will resume our in-person events as soon as we can while maintaining COVID-safe practices.
Ian Green
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends Castlefield
Haileybury Tianjin (HIST) recently celebrated Teacher’s Day (China) across the whole School. Several student-organised events were held throughout the day, including a special flag-raising ceremony where students read a poem to teachers and gave them flowers.
Mr Glenn Scarffe spoke on behalf of the teachers and described his love of teaching and his dedication to improving all students. Throughout the day, teachers were treated to gifts from the Human Resources Department and students.
Primary School and Middle School students prepared and delivered special ‘thank you’ messages and Senior School students held House activities with their teachers and shared their love and gratitude through games, food and gifts.
Recently, we held two very important events in the Haileybury Tianjin Theatre Auditorium—the Student Leadership Induction Assembly and the Principal’s Year 12 Tie Ceremony.
During the Year 12 Tie presentation, we gathered together all Year 12 students and I had the opportunity to remind them of the extra responsibility they all have as the most senior students in the School. They role model excellent behaviour in all facets of their school life and have a big impact on other students.
The Leadership Induction Assembly was an opportunity for the Senior School to celebrate the School and House Captains. It also reminds students that their induction as Haileybury student leaders is a testament to the confidence that the School community has in their leadership capability.
In her speech to the student body, our School Captain, Betty Cao, gave three insights to help students thrive on their leadership journey: be passionate, model the way, and show relentless determination to succeed.
Our two Haileybury Tianjin psychologists, Ms Mia Su and Ms Shawna Sun, gave two workshops to our Years 10 and 11 students.
The Year 10 workshop focused on Boundaries and students were introduced to healthy relationships and why boundaries are important in healthy relationships. The Year 11 workshop focused on Inner Motivation and how students can use certain skills to improve their intrinsic motivation to have control over their learning.
During the summer break our Executive Principal, Mr Peter Rogerson, oversaw the design and implementation of our new outdoor playground. Located at the back of the Primary School, it has new spaces including mini-golf courses, basketball and soccer courts. It was pleasing to see Junior School students enjoying the facilities with smiling faces.
Yanni Galanis
International Principal, HIST
At City campus, we enjoyed creating memorable moments for our fathers and the significant men in our lives to remind them how special they are.
Our ELC children made a special bound book with reflections and thoughts about their dads or grandpas. They were illustrated by our ELC children through their Creative Arts Program which focused on line, detail and the medium of watercolour.
Our Junior School students had a great morning online with over 100 Zoom lounge rooms joining us with a BYO coffee! Mr Naughton and I shared why our dads are so special and what they have taught us about caring, learning and playing.
Throughout our marvellous morning, our fathers and special friends were showered with words of love from their children and were able to share what they had learned from their dads. We played some fun games, enjoyed trivia and finished with our inaugural sharing of ‘punny Dad Jokes’. Mr Naughton started the ball rolling and we had lots of laughs—and a few groans!
Middle School Dads and special friends made music and movement with Ms Pollard, Mr Williams and Mr Bonotti at our Middle School morning event. It was amazing to hear the kitchen band of Milo tins, saucepan lids and garbage bins accompanying music greats such as Paul Simon.
Special thanks to our community for Zooming in and to our great staff for creating such exciting events to celebrate the special men in our lives.
Although this is not the kind of holiday break we hoped for, we know everyone needs a well-deserved rest! We wish our staff, students and families a wonderful and refreshing break from their screens and hope you enjoy lots of extended PJ time!
We will return in Term 4 with renewed optimism and hope for being back on campus in due course, and being able to enjoy an end-of-year holiday beyond our neighbourhood.
Reception children have continued to investigate how healthy food choices support growing bodies. As the sun begins to shine more brightly on the terrace and spring is in the air, the change of season is the perfect opportunity to update the vegetable garden on Level 3.
Children have explored and chosen vegetables sown at the beginning of spring. These seeds were added to our garden bed with many questions—including ‘how did a snail make its way onto the Level 3 terrace?’
ELC friends engaging in our Online Learning Program have received seeds in their Home Learning Packs to support these investigations at home.
Reception students Sophie Gilham, Zheng Jaelyn Lai, Amelia Mann
Children in Pre-Prep have shown a keen interest in writing in recent weeks. This has led to a ‘letter corner’—a space for children to write and ‘post’ letters to family members and to each other.
Writing requires children to use many skills including fine motor control to move the pencil and understanding of phonics when constructing words. High-frequency words and sentence starters are just some of the exemplars available to support children in constructing their letters.
The sharing of written messages has brought great joy to the children and the ELC Post Box has been inundated with letters and cards that have been received by our grateful families.
Pre-Prep with James Bissland and Zakariyah Almosawi
Minute to win it. Thirty seconds of fame. Physical challenges. Sharing stories and dinner together. It certainly sounds like Year 3 Camp!
Even though we couldn’t physically attend, our virtual experience of camp was one of the highlights of the term for Year 3 students. After a camp debrief with leader Mr Marshall, the students moved into groups and engaged in four different rotation activities.
Mrs Bell inspired our students to present their ‘30 Seconds of Fame’ where they explained one of their strengths to the group. Mr Marshall then took the students through their paces by seeing how many times they could perform a certain skill in a minute.
Mr Williams increased the heart rate of our Year 3 cohort with some fantastic physical challenges and students told stories using Scratch with our CDT expert, Mr Schaepman.
After enjoying all the activities, students and families shared a virtual dinner and a bedtime story concluded the evening. It was a memorable night for all students and staff.
To reward our students for their hard work and commitment during online learning, we finished Week 9 with a Junior School Virtual Disco. Bop ‘Til You Drop had our students moving and grooving through an hour of fun activities and dancing.
It was pleasing to see our students demonstrate ‘Play’ after they have shown so much dedication to the ‘Care’ and ‘Learn’ parts of our philosophy.
The Middle School recognised RU OK? Day on Thursday, 9 September. This important day was an opportunity for us all to take a moment to check in with those around us.
During Homeroom sessions students learned about the four-step process of checking in with their friends—ask, listen, encourage action, check in. They also explored coping strategies for challenging situations and what to do when someone expresses that they are not ok.
We recognise that the current situation is challenging for many families, so please reach out to your child’s Head of School if you need some support. We hope that the upcoming holiday break provides an opportunity for students to refresh and recharge ahead of Term 4.
As a means of staying connected to our City community, Middle School students should have received a care package in the post. These packs include puzzles, competitions, colouring pages and a note from their Heads of School.
Our Girls Middle School students received some seedlings, in line with their 2021 message of ‘from little things big things grow’. Our Boys Middle School students received a pack of playing cards to perfect their magic skills with the help of resident magician Mr Street!
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” —Brene Brown
Caroline Merrick
Head of City
Warmer and longer daylight hours and September school holiday are upon us. We hope that everyone finds ways to 'spark joy' as Marie Kondo would say, with more time spent outdoors—and less time on devices!
Fire up the BBQ, potter in the garden, grab a cuppa, read a book in a sunny spot, head out for a bike ride, walk the dog and chat with your neighbours...How will you while away the hours?
Whichever way you choose to spend your time, we hope you find some quality R&R.
Nina Brooks and Nina Bissland
Co-Presidents, Haileybury City Parents & Friends
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.
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
A very big ‘thank you’ to our students, staff and families for the way they have successfully navigated the path through this term. The students have shown tremendous resilience and perseverance during another challenging time in their schooling.
I also wish to acknowledge the brilliant work of the teachers in not only providing for the students learning needs, but also helping them to stay optimistic and engaged.
Thank you, too, to the parents for their unwavering support—it is very much appreciated.
Congratulations to our students who received awards for the Maths Talent Quest. They are:
Year 4: Oviya Jeyatheepan (High Distinction) Thomas Haas (Credit) Athmeka Balamurukan (Credit)
Year 5: Seyara Munasinghe (Distinction)
Year 8: Gurnoor Sidhu (High Distinction) Movidu Gannoruwa (High Distinction) Dhruv Chadha (High Distinction).
Thank you to our wonderful Parents & Friends team for setting up a brilliant online ordering process so students to buy gifts for Fathers Day. The team braved a downpour to ensure the click-and-collect process ran smoothly. I know that many families were incredibly grateful for its efforts.
At our Edrington ELC, work has begun on creating our Indigenous Garden. For children, families and staff, this will become a new learning environment and place for discovery, reflection and connecting to each other and to the stories of our nation’s First People.
The design of the garden has taken inspiration from the traditional Aboriginal symbol of ‘Meeting Place’ with garden beds and paths laid out to represent this.
Our campus is on Bunurong land and programs across the ELC provide children with the understanding that before being a place for us to learn and play on, this land was looked after by the Bunurong people for tens of thousands of years.
During that time, practices in sustainability, agriculture and medicine were relied on to look after the health of communities and the health of the land. One of the main aims of our Indigenous Garden will be to explore these practices with the children. We will plant trees and shrubs that are used as food and medicine and to produce fibres, tools and utensils.
This new learning space has been much anticipated and demonstrates our campus’ commitment to reconciliation and embedding Indigenous perspectives into the Educational Program.
Below illustrates the Meeting Place symbol and a progress shot of our Indigenous Garden.
Our Term 3 House Event in Week 8 was the Haileybury Edrington Olympics! Our children had a fabulous time competing in the following events:
It really was a fun afternoon for our Houses and all competitors did an outstanding job!
Hannah and Liem Yie
We would like to thank all the families that attended our Fathers Day and Special Family Member Minute To Win It event.
There were adults and kids being wrapped in toilet paper, stacking cups and aiming to get the most Smarties transferred from one plate to the other. It was a lot of fun!
We are proud of the resilience and persistence that the Middle School students have shown in having to complete most of Term 3 learning from home. The long hours in front of a screen and maintaining focus has, at times, been challenging.
However, we have also witnessed students’ growth in independence, accountability, organisation, empathy and gratitude. We know that these skills will hold them in good stead in the future.
Recently, we celebrated the sporting participation and success of our students at the Winter and Summer Sports Assembly. Former Australian Swimmer and Head of Haileybury Aquatics Ms Kelly Stubbins addressed the Middle School about the physical and mental strength it takes to be an elite sportsperson.
Her story was interesting and inspiring and her advice about self-care, persistence and goal setting was relevant to all aspects of life—especially as we work through this extended lockdown.
This week, Middle School students were entertained by magician Alex Unexplainable who performed illusions while sharing some hints and tips with budding magicians. It was an entertaining and light-hearted way to end a challenging term.
We wish all Middle School families a restful and well-deserved break.
Jeanette Rawlings
Head of Edrington (Berwick)
Hello gorgeous Edrington community. The sun is out and we are teetering on the edge of FREEDOM! I can literally smell it!
It has certainly been a hectic term, but we made it through with the unwavering support of our teachers. To all of the Edrington educators, we send you thanks and praise. You have cooked with us, laughed with us, played dress-ups with us, endured our cats invading the kids’ screens and felt the highs and the lows with us—for that we are truly grateful.
It’s time for us all to reset and enjoy the September sun.
Be safe during the break and take care,
Kerry Ilic
HPFE President
We wish all our students, families and staff a wonderful break over the holidays. Take time to do some activities away from the screens, enjoy family time and, most importantly, stay safe and healthy.
During the holidays, several staff will be completing the Youth Mental Health First Aid Online Course. This teaches adults how to assist adolescents who are developing a mental health problem, or who are dealing with a mental health crisis.
Staff will learn about adolescent development, the signs and symptoms of common and disabling mental health problems in young people, where and how to get help when a young person is developing a mental illness, what sort of help has been shown by research to be effective and how to provide first aid in a crisis situation.
With the rise of mental health issues among young people during this pandemic, this will be a vital part of our School’s ability to provide much needed support to our students.
As we search for ways to engage our students during the extended lockdown period, students in ELC and Year 6 have been excited to visit Zoos Victoria who are currently offering free digital learning sessions for classrooms.
ELC children explored sessions such as Nature Play the Wurundjeri Way and Wild Explorers: Australian Animals. Students in Year 6 learned how animals adapt and evolve in their natural habitat and how to protect endangered species. Such programs are vital in keeping our students connected to the real world at this time.
Children who are attending the ELC during this period of lockdown can join their classmates at home each day through their lead educators’ live Zoom sessions. The lead educators onsite have access to Swivl technology that enables teaching to occur while remote learners Zoom in to the class.
Swivl allows for interactive learning to maintain connections within class. The technology was introduced to the School last year and enables Haileybury children overseas to join their classmates each day.
| Pre-Preps Faye, Vivienne, Eamon, Jayden, Cecelia and Levi | Vivienne and Levi assisting Mrs Candice Karam in delivering the lesson |
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Newlands ELC children have been intrigued by visits to their playground by two rainbow lorikeets which have created a nest in the hollow of an elm tree. The educators have discussed the habitat and diet of the birds as they visit the playground each day, adding to their nest.
The children’s interest has been extended with an introduction to an Australian native birds tally sheet where they have been encouraged to collect data on the birds they observe at the Keysborough campus. The children engaged in home learning also have a tally sheet to use while participating in their daily family walks.
ELC children are looking forward to participating in a very special incursion delivered by Butterfly Adventures. The children have learned about the life cycle of the butterfly and their distinctive features, how they adapt to survive and their natural habitat.
We are expecting the arrival of six mature caterpillars, with a food supply to last until the caterpillars reach the chrysalis stage. The children will be able to feed the caterpillars and watch the butterflies emerge from their chrysalis and will then feed the butterflies.
Children at home have seeds so they can plant a butterfly garden to attract butterflies to their home.
The Prep children at Newlands have been working hard online to prepare for the annual Teddy Bears Picnic. Throughout the week, they have made healthy jelly and fruit cups and tortilla pinwheels.
Everybody knows that, ‘if you go down into the woods, you need to go in disguise...’ so today, the Preps created their best teddy bear disguises ready for their virtual Teddy Bears Picnic on Friday.
| Jaden Fang, Elaine Lu and Ricky Meng | Miss Thao Pham’s Prep Week 9 schedule preparing for the Teddy Bears Picnic |
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On Friday, 10 September, Year 3 students enjoyed a Virtual Camp Day. They spent the morning involved in teamwork activities, participating in a trivia quiz and listening to camp stories.
In the afternoon, they cooked and created ‘bush art’ with leaves and flowers from their gardens. The highlight of the day was the Haileybury’s Got Talent show where students displayed their talents and had all their Year 3 friends enthralled.
Later that night, students finished off a fun filled day by eating a delicious dinner together online and then enjoying hot popcorn and a movie.
While the Year 3 students would have obviously enjoyed flying foxes and giant swings, it was still a unique experience and one they will always remember.
Year 3G Virtual Camp with Ms Gillian Gill
The Junior School participated in their Term 3 House event—the Junior School Online Olympics. Students wore their House tops and participated in activities such as The Wall Sit Challenge, Make a Turn and Book Brain. There were many activities and many laughs. Sangwell took first place and the Gold medal.
House Sport Olympics
The Junior School children were delighted when their dads and special friends joined them on Zoom last Thursday to celebrate Fathers Day. The children were grinning from ear to ear as dads joined in with trivia quizzes, Minute To Win It challenges, pizza making, drawing and listening to lots of stories.
Thank you, fathers and special friends. You made our day wonderful!
Year 1 Fathers Day
Prep T
Haileybury students have taken part in the Future Problem Solving Program Australia event that recognises that today’s students are the problem solvers of the future. The program develops critical and creative thinking skills and encourages young people to actively shape their future.
In the qualifying round of the event, students explored human environmental impact and the premise that ‘humans have always impacted the environment’. Over time, these impacts have increased with industrialisation, urbanisation, deforestation, the processing of natural resources, burning of fossil fuels and the introduction of more technologies.
Haileybury’s creative thinking students have been placed in the top tier of the teams in their division.
Global Issues Problem Solving team:
Year 8 students Harrison Green (LEAP Captain) Timothy Dang (School Captain) Judy Bo (Shum Captain) Vinay Raghavan.
Individual entrant Anay Ashwin (Year 6).
Two students have also been recognised in the Scenario Writing category. They each wrote a 1,500-word story set 50 years in the future.
Anay Ashwin (Year 6) wrote The Voice of Mars.
‘In the year 2067, the terraforming of Mars is well underway. The temperature is rising, the atmosphere is beginning to resemble that of Earth and the pressure has become more bearable. Since the arrival of colonists in 2039, as the first generation, the current generation comprises people born on Mars—known as Mars Indigenous Colony or MIG. Despite its achievements, the thawing of permafrost involved in the terraforming process is overshadowed by environmental issues due to mercury that is released into the atmosphere.’
Grace van Haaster (Year 8) wrote Practice Makes Perfect.
Grace’s story explores the future of youth in competitive e-sports and is set in the future where youth are funded to compete in gaming competitions.
These students will participate in the National Finals on Friday, 15 October, 2021.
Grace van Haaster and Anay Ashwin
Year 8 students Lucas Fennessy, Cyrus Vasuthan, Adithya Naron, Om Gupta, Jayden Jeyaweerasingham and Julian Rowse have progressed from the State to National competition in the Maths Talent Quest.
Their project researched and modelled quantum mechanics and teleportation. Called The Quantum Cake, it specifically looked at teleporting a piece of cake into your mouth! To progress to the Nationals is a fantastic achievement. We wish them all the best.
Jane Gibbs
Head of Newlands (Keysborough)
This year, our target is 900 Haileybury HPFK Facebook Group Members. If you would like to connect with our community, please join our Facebook page by clicking on this link.
If you have any queries, or would like to contact the HPFK, please email HPFK@haileybury.vic.edu.au.
Lenice Norris
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends Keysborough
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
A big ‘thank you’ to our families, students and staff for an incredible term. It has been a challenging term, but one that demonstrated resilience and determination in our students and that filled me with gratitude for the families and staff who have cared for those children.
I am so proud of how our students have conducted themselves online and the learning they have achieved throughout the term.
Term 4 is usually jam-packed with celebrations as we draw to the end of the year. We have been working out how we can hold as many of these events as possible in line with the restrictions that may be with us for a while.
As the term progresses, we will provide you with further information about Graduations, Up Day and Speech Night.
Thank you to all the ELC families who joined us on Zoom to celebrate our amazing dads with games, dancing, stories and songs. It was lots of fun. Special videos were created and shared, with children expressing why they love their dad, what their dad is good at and what they love to do with dad.
Here, some ELC students share the reasons why they love their dad.
“I love Daddy because he’s my best friend.”
“I love my daddy so much because he is hard working.”
“He’s my favourite and he always plays with me.”
“I love my dad’s huggles.”
The ELC educators have been working hard on planning, preparing and delivering a Home Learning program, as well as being onsite for the children of permitted workers. Our Home Learning program offers children regular opportunities to connect with their peers and educators during daily Zoom sessions, specialist classes and Home Learning experiences.
Haileybury Playtime was also launched. This is a chance for students at home to connect with educators from across the School during half-hour episodes that feature songs, stories and learning experiences.
While we couldn’t hold our scheduled Athletics Day for the ELC community, the children were able to enjoy a physical activity online Specialist session at home and there was outdoor learning fun for children who were on campus.
Children enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and the open spaces and took part in running, rolling, climbing, ball skills, working in teams and exploring the Castlefield school grounds.
To reward our students for their hard work and commitment during online learning, we finished Week 9 with a Junior School Virtual Disco. Bop ‘Til You Drop had our students moving and grooving through an hour of fun activities and dancing.
It was pleasing to see our students demonstrate ‘Play’ after they have shown so much dedication to the ‘Care’ and ‘Learn’ parts of our philosophy.
It’s been a big term of assemblies and we would like to thank each contributor. From musicians and singers to presenters and award winners…THANK-YOU!
Our final assembly of the term congratulated students receiving a Head of Campus Award. Careful contributors, marvellous manners and thoughtful thinkers were acknowledged and congratulated.
It’s been great to see year levels coming together for activities. Science experiments, cooking, trivia, origami, escape rooms and wellbeing sessions have sparked the interest of entire cohorts.
Popping into different online classrooms with the touch of a tab has never been easier and students have loved working with teachers and friends outside their homeroom.
The tawny frogmouth has once again built her nest in East Quad and is currently sitting on an egg. Many of our students will remember this family from previous years and have delighted in seeing the fluffy chick when hatched. See if you can find her sitting in the peppercorn tree!
Construction of a new play space has begun adjacent to the basketball ring in the Junior School. We can’t wait to see children climbing on the ropes once we’re back onsite.
The Middle School students, staff, parents and wider community are to be commended on an excellent term. The way you have all conducted yourselves under ongoing challenging circumstances has been exceptional. Yet another pivot has been required from all of us in Victoria and, once again, we have all rolled up our sleeves and leant into the adversity.
The safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priority and we are investing additional time and resources to check in with each student and to inquire about their situations and any obstacles and challenges they may be facing.
Based on feedback from our students, parents and staff and our ongoing surveys, we have reduced screen time and adapted our classes without impacting Haileybury’s high-quality Teaching and Learning Program.
As parents, you may have noticed your child moving around the house more and more tasks being done away from screens. Thank you for your support in allowing this to happen.
We are hopeful of a return to face-to-face learning but we are also prepared for whatever is asked of us. Please ensure that the holidays are used for some rest and relaxation and some fun family activities. Together, we will weather the storm and ensure that we all keep safe and sound.
Katrina Manson
Head of Castlefield (Brighton)
The HPFC wish our families and friends an enjoyable break over the holidays. Hopefully, we will soon be able to see you again on School grounds during Term 4. We will resume our in-person events as soon as we can while maintaining COVID-safe practices.
Ian Green
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends Castlefield
Haileybury Tianjin (HIST) recently celebrated Teacher’s Day (China) across the whole School. Several student-organised events were held throughout the day, including a special flag-raising ceremony where students read a poem to teachers and gave them flowers.
Mr Glenn Scarffe spoke on behalf of the teachers and described his love of teaching and his dedication to improving all students. Throughout the day, teachers were treated to gifts from the Human Resources Department and students.
Primary School and Middle School students prepared and delivered special ‘thank you’ messages and Senior School students held House activities with their teachers and shared their love and gratitude through games, food and gifts.
Recently, we held two very important events in the Haileybury Tianjin Theatre Auditorium—the Student Leadership Induction Assembly and the Principal’s Year 12 Tie Ceremony.
During the Year 12 Tie presentation, we gathered together all Year 12 students and I had the opportunity to remind them of the extra responsibility they all have as the most senior students in the School. They role model excellent behaviour in all facets of their school life and have a big impact on other students.
The Leadership Induction Assembly was an opportunity for the Senior School to celebrate the School and House Captains. It also reminds students that their induction as Haileybury student leaders is a testament to the confidence that the School community has in their leadership capability.
In her speech to the student body, our School Captain, Betty Cao, gave three insights to help students thrive on their leadership journey: be passionate, model the way, and show relentless determination to succeed.
Our two Haileybury Tianjin psychologists, Ms Mia Su and Ms Shawna Sun, gave two workshops to our Years 10 and 11 students.
The Year 10 workshop focused on Boundaries and students were introduced to healthy relationships and why boundaries are important in healthy relationships. The Year 11 workshop focused on Inner Motivation and how students can use certain skills to improve their intrinsic motivation to have control over their learning.
During the summer break our Executive Principal, Mr Peter Rogerson, oversaw the design and implementation of our new outdoor playground. Located at the back of the Primary School, it has new spaces including mini-golf courses, basketball and soccer courts. It was pleasing to see Junior School students enjoying the facilities with smiling faces.
Yanni Galanis
International Principal, HIST
At City campus, we enjoyed creating memorable moments for our fathers and the significant men in our lives to remind them how special they are.
Our ELC children made a special bound book with reflections and thoughts about their dads or grandpas. They were illustrated by our ELC children through their Creative Arts Program which focused on line, detail and the medium of watercolour.
Our Junior School students had a great morning online with over 100 Zoom lounge rooms joining us with a BYO coffee! Mr Naughton and I shared why our dads are so special and what they have taught us about caring, learning and playing.
Throughout our marvellous morning, our fathers and special friends were showered with words of love from their children and were able to share what they had learned from their dads. We played some fun games, enjoyed trivia and finished with our inaugural sharing of ‘punny Dad Jokes’. Mr Naughton started the ball rolling and we had lots of laughs—and a few groans!
Middle School Dads and special friends made music and movement with Ms Pollard, Mr Williams and Mr Bonotti at our Middle School morning event. It was amazing to hear the kitchen band of Milo tins, saucepan lids and garbage bins accompanying music greats such as Paul Simon.
Special thanks to our community for Zooming in and to our great staff for creating such exciting events to celebrate the special men in our lives.
Although this is not the kind of holiday break we hoped for, we know everyone needs a well-deserved rest! We wish our staff, students and families a wonderful and refreshing break from their screens and hope you enjoy lots of extended PJ time!
We will return in Term 4 with renewed optimism and hope for being back on campus in due course, and being able to enjoy an end-of-year holiday beyond our neighbourhood.
Reception children have continued to investigate how healthy food choices support growing bodies. As the sun begins to shine more brightly on the terrace and spring is in the air, the change of season is the perfect opportunity to update the vegetable garden on Level 3.
Children have explored and chosen vegetables sown at the beginning of spring. These seeds were added to our garden bed with many questions—including ‘how did a snail make its way onto the Level 3 terrace?’
ELC friends engaging in our Online Learning Program have received seeds in their Home Learning Packs to support these investigations at home.
Reception students Sophie Gilham, Zheng Jaelyn Lai, Amelia Mann
Children in Pre-Prep have shown a keen interest in writing in recent weeks. This has led to a ‘letter corner’—a space for children to write and ‘post’ letters to family members and to each other.
Writing requires children to use many skills including fine motor control to move the pencil and understanding of phonics when constructing words. High-frequency words and sentence starters are just some of the exemplars available to support children in constructing their letters.
The sharing of written messages has brought great joy to the children and the ELC Post Box has been inundated with letters and cards that have been received by our grateful families.
Pre-Prep with James Bissland and Zakariyah Almosawi
Minute to win it. Thirty seconds of fame. Physical challenges. Sharing stories and dinner together. It certainly sounds like Year 3 Camp!
Even though we couldn’t physically attend, our virtual experience of camp was one of the highlights of the term for Year 3 students. After a camp debrief with leader Mr Marshall, the students moved into groups and engaged in four different rotation activities.
Mrs Bell inspired our students to present their ‘30 Seconds of Fame’ where they explained one of their strengths to the group. Mr Marshall then took the students through their paces by seeing how many times they could perform a certain skill in a minute.
Mr Williams increased the heart rate of our Year 3 cohort with some fantastic physical challenges and students told stories using Scratch with our CDT expert, Mr Schaepman.
After enjoying all the activities, students and families shared a virtual dinner and a bedtime story concluded the evening. It was a memorable night for all students and staff.
To reward our students for their hard work and commitment during online learning, we finished Week 9 with a Junior School Virtual Disco. Bop ‘Til You Drop had our students moving and grooving through an hour of fun activities and dancing.
It was pleasing to see our students demonstrate ‘Play’ after they have shown so much dedication to the ‘Care’ and ‘Learn’ parts of our philosophy.
The Middle School recognised RU OK? Day on Thursday, 9 September. This important day was an opportunity for us all to take a moment to check in with those around us.
During Homeroom sessions students learned about the four-step process of checking in with their friends—ask, listen, encourage action, check in. They also explored coping strategies for challenging situations and what to do when someone expresses that they are not ok.
We recognise that the current situation is challenging for many families, so please reach out to your child’s Head of School if you need some support. We hope that the upcoming holiday break provides an opportunity for students to refresh and recharge ahead of Term 4.
As a means of staying connected to our City community, Middle School students should have received a care package in the post. These packs include puzzles, competitions, colouring pages and a note from their Heads of School.
Our Girls Middle School students received some seedlings, in line with their 2021 message of ‘from little things big things grow’. Our Boys Middle School students received a pack of playing cards to perfect their magic skills with the help of resident magician Mr Street!
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” —Brene Brown
Caroline Merrick
Head of City
Warmer and longer daylight hours and September school holiday are upon us. We hope that everyone finds ways to 'spark joy' as Marie Kondo would say, with more time spent outdoors—and less time on devices!
Fire up the BBQ, potter in the garden, grab a cuppa, read a book in a sunny spot, head out for a bike ride, walk the dog and chat with your neighbours...How will you while away the hours?
Whichever way you choose to spend your time, we hope you find some quality R&R.
Nina Brooks and Nina Bissland
Co-Presidents, Haileybury City Parents & Friends
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.
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
A very big ‘thank you’ to our students, staff and families for the way they have successfully navigated the path through this term. The students have shown tremendous resilience and perseverance during another challenging time in their schooling.
I also wish to acknowledge the brilliant work of the teachers in not only providing for the students learning needs, but also helping them to stay optimistic and engaged.
Thank you, too, to the parents for their unwavering support—it is very much appreciated.
Congratulations to our students who received awards for the Maths Talent Quest. They are:
Year 4: Oviya Jeyatheepan (High Distinction) Thomas Haas (Credit) Athmeka Balamurukan (Credit)
Year 5: Seyara Munasinghe (Distinction)
Year 8: Gurnoor Sidhu (High Distinction) Movidu Gannoruwa (High Distinction) Dhruv Chadha (High Distinction).
Thank you to our wonderful Parents & Friends team for setting up a brilliant online ordering process so students to buy gifts for Fathers Day. The team braved a downpour to ensure the click-and-collect process ran smoothly. I know that many families were incredibly grateful for its efforts.
At our Edrington ELC, work has begun on creating our Indigenous Garden. For children, families and staff, this will become a new learning environment and place for discovery, reflection and connecting to each other and to the stories of our nation’s First People.
The design of the garden has taken inspiration from the traditional Aboriginal symbol of ‘Meeting Place’ with garden beds and paths laid out to represent this.
Our campus is on Bunurong land and programs across the ELC provide children with the understanding that before being a place for us to learn and play on, this land was looked after by the Bunurong people for tens of thousands of years.
During that time, practices in sustainability, agriculture and medicine were relied on to look after the health of communities and the health of the land. One of the main aims of our Indigenous Garden will be to explore these practices with the children. We will plant trees and shrubs that are used as food and medicine and to produce fibres, tools and utensils.
This new learning space has been much anticipated and demonstrates our campus’ commitment to reconciliation and embedding Indigenous perspectives into the Educational Program.
Below illustrates the Meeting Place symbol and a progress shot of our Indigenous Garden.
Our Term 3 House Event in Week 8 was the Haileybury Edrington Olympics! Our children had a fabulous time competing in the following events:
It really was a fun afternoon for our Houses and all competitors did an outstanding job!
Hannah and Liem Yie
We would like to thank all the families that attended our Fathers Day and Special Family Member Minute To Win It event.
There were adults and kids being wrapped in toilet paper, stacking cups and aiming to get the most Smarties transferred from one plate to the other. It was a lot of fun!
We are proud of the resilience and persistence that the Middle School students have shown in having to complete most of Term 3 learning from home. The long hours in front of a screen and maintaining focus has, at times, been challenging.
However, we have also witnessed students’ growth in independence, accountability, organisation, empathy and gratitude. We know that these skills will hold them in good stead in the future.
Recently, we celebrated the sporting participation and success of our students at the Winter and Summer Sports Assembly. Former Australian Swimmer and Head of Haileybury Aquatics Ms Kelly Stubbins addressed the Middle School about the physical and mental strength it takes to be an elite sportsperson.
Her story was interesting and inspiring and her advice about self-care, persistence and goal setting was relevant to all aspects of life—especially as we work through this extended lockdown.
This week, Middle School students were entertained by magician Alex Unexplainable who performed illusions while sharing some hints and tips with budding magicians. It was an entertaining and light-hearted way to end a challenging term.
We wish all Middle School families a restful and well-deserved break.
Jeanette Rawlings
Head of Edrington (Berwick)
Hello gorgeous Edrington community. The sun is out and we are teetering on the edge of FREEDOM! I can literally smell it!
It has certainly been a hectic term, but we made it through with the unwavering support of our teachers. To all of the Edrington educators, we send you thanks and praise. You have cooked with us, laughed with us, played dress-ups with us, endured our cats invading the kids’ screens and felt the highs and the lows with us—for that we are truly grateful.
It’s time for us all to reset and enjoy the September sun.
Be safe during the break and take care,
Kerry Ilic
HPFE President
We wish all our students, families and staff a wonderful break over the holidays. Take time to do some activities away from the screens, enjoy family time and, most importantly, stay safe and healthy.
During the holidays, several staff will be completing the Youth Mental Health First Aid Online Course. This teaches adults how to assist adolescents who are developing a mental health problem, or who are dealing with a mental health crisis.
Staff will learn about adolescent development, the signs and symptoms of common and disabling mental health problems in young people, where and how to get help when a young person is developing a mental illness, what sort of help has been shown by research to be effective and how to provide first aid in a crisis situation.
With the rise of mental health issues among young people during this pandemic, this will be a vital part of our School’s ability to provide much needed support to our students.
As we search for ways to engage our students during the extended lockdown period, students in ELC and Year 6 have been excited to visit Zoos Victoria who are currently offering free digital learning sessions for classrooms.
ELC children explored sessions such as Nature Play the Wurundjeri Way and Wild Explorers: Australian Animals. Students in Year 6 learned how animals adapt and evolve in their natural habitat and how to protect endangered species. Such programs are vital in keeping our students connected to the real world at this time.
Children who are attending the ELC during this period of lockdown can join their classmates at home each day through their lead educators’ live Zoom sessions. The lead educators onsite have access to Swivl technology that enables teaching to occur while remote learners Zoom in to the class.
Swivl allows for interactive learning to maintain connections within class. The technology was introduced to the School last year and enables Haileybury children overseas to join their classmates each day.
| Pre-Preps Faye, Vivienne, Eamon, Jayden, Cecelia and Levi | Vivienne and Levi assisting Mrs Candice Karam in delivering the lesson |
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Newlands ELC children have been intrigued by visits to their playground by two rainbow lorikeets which have created a nest in the hollow of an elm tree. The educators have discussed the habitat and diet of the birds as they visit the playground each day, adding to their nest.
The children’s interest has been extended with an introduction to an Australian native birds tally sheet where they have been encouraged to collect data on the birds they observe at the Keysborough campus. The children engaged in home learning also have a tally sheet to use while participating in their daily family walks.
ELC children are looking forward to participating in a very special incursion delivered by Butterfly Adventures. The children have learned about the life cycle of the butterfly and their distinctive features, how they adapt to survive and their natural habitat.
We are expecting the arrival of six mature caterpillars, with a food supply to last until the caterpillars reach the chrysalis stage. The children will be able to feed the caterpillars and watch the butterflies emerge from their chrysalis and will then feed the butterflies.
Children at home have seeds so they can plant a butterfly garden to attract butterflies to their home.
The Prep children at Newlands have been working hard online to prepare for the annual Teddy Bears Picnic. Throughout the week, they have made healthy jelly and fruit cups and tortilla pinwheels.
Everybody knows that, ‘if you go down into the woods, you need to go in disguise...’ so today, the Preps created their best teddy bear disguises ready for their virtual Teddy Bears Picnic on Friday.
| Jaden Fang, Elaine Lu and Ricky Meng | Miss Thao Pham’s Prep Week 9 schedule preparing for the Teddy Bears Picnic |
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On Friday, 10 September, Year 3 students enjoyed a Virtual Camp Day. They spent the morning involved in teamwork activities, participating in a trivia quiz and listening to camp stories.
In the afternoon, they cooked and created ‘bush art’ with leaves and flowers from their gardens. The highlight of the day was the Haileybury’s Got Talent show where students displayed their talents and had all their Year 3 friends enthralled.
Later that night, students finished off a fun filled day by eating a delicious dinner together online and then enjoying hot popcorn and a movie.
While the Year 3 students would have obviously enjoyed flying foxes and giant swings, it was still a unique experience and one they will always remember.
Year 3G Virtual Camp with Ms Gillian Gill
The Junior School participated in their Term 3 House event—the Junior School Online Olympics. Students wore their House tops and participated in activities such as The Wall Sit Challenge, Make a Turn and Book Brain. There were many activities and many laughs. Sangwell took first place and the Gold medal.
House Sport Olympics
The Junior School children were delighted when their dads and special friends joined them on Zoom last Thursday to celebrate Fathers Day. The children were grinning from ear to ear as dads joined in with trivia quizzes, Minute To Win It challenges, pizza making, drawing and listening to lots of stories.
Thank you, fathers and special friends. You made our day wonderful!
Year 1 Fathers Day
Prep T
Haileybury students have taken part in the Future Problem Solving Program Australia event that recognises that today’s students are the problem solvers of the future. The program develops critical and creative thinking skills and encourages young people to actively shape their future.
In the qualifying round of the event, students explored human environmental impact and the premise that ‘humans have always impacted the environment’. Over time, these impacts have increased with industrialisation, urbanisation, deforestation, the processing of natural resources, burning of fossil fuels and the introduction of more technologies.
Haileybury’s creative thinking students have been placed in the top tier of the teams in their division.
Global Issues Problem Solving team:
Year 8 students Harrison Green (LEAP Captain) Timothy Dang (School Captain) Judy Bo (Shum Captain) Vinay Raghavan.
Individual entrant Anay Ashwin (Year 6).
Two students have also been recognised in the Scenario Writing category. They each wrote a 1,500-word story set 50 years in the future.
Anay Ashwin (Year 6) wrote The Voice of Mars.
‘In the year 2067, the terraforming of Mars is well underway. The temperature is rising, the atmosphere is beginning to resemble that of Earth and the pressure has become more bearable. Since the arrival of colonists in 2039, as the first generation, the current generation comprises people born on Mars—known as Mars Indigenous Colony or MIG. Despite its achievements, the thawing of permafrost involved in the terraforming process is overshadowed by environmental issues due to mercury that is released into the atmosphere.’
Grace van Haaster (Year 8) wrote Practice Makes Perfect.
Grace’s story explores the future of youth in competitive e-sports and is set in the future where youth are funded to compete in gaming competitions.
These students will participate in the National Finals on Friday, 15 October, 2021.
Grace van Haaster and Anay Ashwin
Year 8 students Lucas Fennessy, Cyrus Vasuthan, Adithya Naron, Om Gupta, Jayden Jeyaweerasingham and Julian Rowse have progressed from the State to National competition in the Maths Talent Quest.
Their project researched and modelled quantum mechanics and teleportation. Called The Quantum Cake, it specifically looked at teleporting a piece of cake into your mouth! To progress to the Nationals is a fantastic achievement. We wish them all the best.
Jane Gibbs
Head of Newlands (Keysborough)
This year, our target is 900 Haileybury HPFK Facebook Group Members. If you would like to connect with our community, please join our Facebook page by clicking on this link.
If you have any queries, or would like to contact the HPFK, please email HPFK@haileybury.vic.edu.au.
Lenice Norris
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends Keysborough
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
In the spirit of reconciliation, Haileybury acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
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