I am delighted to extend a warm welcome to the celebration of our School's Centenary year!

I enjoyed catching up with colleagues during our professional growth and preparation days prior to the start of term and I am filled with gratitude for their unwavering commitment, our wonderful building, grounds and programs that create a nurturing environment as the School has once again filled with our amazing students. I look forward to sharing this year with you and reflecting on the 100 years that has shaped Gippsland Grammar.

To mark this significant occasion, we have a series of exciting events and activities planned throughout the year. These events will not only celebrate our past but also look forward to the future with a renewed sense of purpose and vision. From next weekend’s launch weekend to reunions and the return of STAGGfair in Term 4, we invite each member of our extended Gippsland Grammar family to keep a keen eye on our communications for announcements and invitations.

There are still tickets available for the Gala event next Friday (February 23) and this is an event that we hope will bring our current families and our Old Scholars together to celebrate both the Gippsland Grammar Foundation and this amazing year in our School’s history. So I encourage you to gather those you may chat with at the school gate and embrace this opportunity to socialise together out-of-hours with a drink in hand and the live music of teacher (and singer extraordinaire) Cara Schaefer as our evening’s soundtrack. A return bus from Sale and Bairnsdale is also included in the ticket price, which you can buy here: https://www.trybooking.com/eve...

In tandem with our Centenary celebrations, I am thrilled to reiterate that we will soon be launching our School's Strategic Plan. This comprehensive roadmap outlines our vision for the next five years and charts a course for continued excellence in education. It encompasses key initiatives focuses on five strategic pillars:
- Purposeful Learning
- Culture of Trust and Growth
- Integrated Wellbeing
- Financial Sustainability
- Operational Effectiveness

As we communicate this document, I encourage you to engage with the plan, provide feedback, and join us in realising the collective aspirations we have set forth.

In the spirit of inclusivity and reconciliation, we are also establishing a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) team. This team will play a pivotal role in promoting understanding, respect, and collaboration between our School and Indigenous communities. We are calling upon passionate individuals within our Community – parents, students and community members - to volunteer for this important initiative. Your involvement will contribute significantly to building meaningful connections and fostering a culture of reconciliation within our School. Please email info@gippslandgrammar.au if you are interested in participating.

As we stand at the beginning of this year, I am filled with gratitude for the unwavering support and commitment of our Community. Together, let us embrace our past, celebrate our present and shape an inspiring future for Gippsland Grammar.

Warm regards,
Michele Wakeham
Principal

Dear families,

It has been a fantastic start of the year, with our events and activities already up and running. Our students, teachers and families have adjusted well back into normal routines, and I commend everyone on their efforts thus far.

An aim for our campus in 2024 is increased connection, particularly for our families and providing them with opportunities to visit our campus and interact with our teachers and staff. We have already welcomed parents and carers to our House Swimming Carnival and Student Leader Induction Assembly, and we look forward to welcoming more families to our campus for the upcoming Year 7 Parent Information Evening, Centenary events, Parent/teacher interviews, the Garnsey Campus Open Day and our House Athletics Carnival. We strongly encourage our families to take advantage of these opportunities, to visit our campus and join us at the many events that will be taking place this year.

Another goal for Garnsey Campus is to re-embed the habits and routines we feel will lead to an improved learning experience, safer environment, and increased student standards. There are already visible improvements at Garnsey, with all students required to utilise locks on lockers, uniform guidelines being adhered to, and general classroom habits (such as arriving on time and prepared, not visiting lockers between lessons and moving quietly into classrooms). While there are still further improvements to be made in each area, we are already seeing tangible benefits including a cleaner campus, less disruptions to learning, reduced cognitive load for students and staff, and improved consistencies within our processes.

As we continue to focus on these goals in 2024, we acknowledge and appreciate the important role that parents and carers play within our collective success. We trust that our families value connection, as well as positive habits and routines, and will support us and our students in achieving growth within these areas.

Though we are only a few weeks into the term, we have already achieved so much. Please see below for a summary of key events that have already taken place at Garnsey.

Year 7 Transition by Head of Year 7 Tori Dessent
It is with great pleasure that I extend a warm welcome to all of our new Year 7 students and their families for 2024. As Head of Year 7, I am looking forward to working with you all this year. It has been a pleasure to watch all the students arrive to school with smiling faces, enthusiasm, and a readiness to learn and become involved in a new community. Year 7s have already started to form close connections with their respective mentor teachers and develop friendships with fellow peers in their classrooms. Students have been also able to start using their new laptops to elevate their learning and engagement in the classroom, with many interactive and engaging activities being led by their teachers. It was also fantastic to see so many of them participate with House spirit in the Swimming Carnival. We have Year 7 camp and a lot of other exciting events coming up this year, which will be discussed further on our Year 7 Parent Information Night on February 19. On behalf of the staff at Garnsey, we are very proud of the start our year 7s have made and have received great feedback from their teachers on how they have adapted to this new challenge and taken on the opportunities presented to them.

Leadership Induction Assembly
On Tuesday February 6, we celebrated our student leaders for 2024. This event is a wider recognition of our School Captains, Vice-Captains, Prefects and House Captains, and provided them with the opportunity to demonstrate a public commitment to their role within our community. In addition, we were fortunate to be joined by our Year 1 guest student, Lily Barbetti, who witnessed our Captains and Prefects signing our pledge book. The event was a wonderful celebration of our students, as well as acknowledging the importance of student leadership and student voice within our community. We thank our special guests and families that joined us for the occasion.

Congratulations to the following students:
School Captains: Andrew Crawford and Sienna Hill
Vice-Captains: Ivy Johnson and Rhys Bennett
Wellbeing and Care Prefects: Alex Hamilton and Zahrarose Beaty
Community and Culture Prefects: Abby Crozier and Henry Storer
Curriculum and Learning Prefects: Georgia Steel and Stella Mekken
Sport & Experience Prefects: Pippa Young and Zahra Hanratty
Creativity & Expression Prefects: Zara Tacey and Zara Clydesdale
Cranswick Dargo Captains: Isabella Godde and Blair Bain
Tisdall Hotham Captains: Ethan Davies and Tali Oates
Wellington Binks Captains: Ashan Keppitipola and Sophie McLeod
Blundell Bogong Captains: Rose Llewellyn and Alanna Magee

Garnsey House Swimming Carnival
On Wednesday February 7, our campus hosted the annual House Swimming Carnival. As always, this was a popular and exciting event for our students, travelling to Aqua Energy Leisure Centre to compete in a range of swimming events including: Backstroke, Butterfly, Breaststroke, Freestyle, House relays, the Tom Osborne Medley Relay and our Social House Volleyball competition. As always, it was a very close competition, and it was a pleasure observing the passion and pride demonstrated by our students. A summary of key results is below:
House Champions: Cranswick Dargo
House Spirit: Tisdall Hotham
Tom Osborne Medley Relay: Cranswick Dargo
U/13 Girls: Milla Said
U/13 Boys: Max Williamson
U/14 Girls: Tessa Newstead
U/14 Boys: Jay Davies
U/15 Girls: Aliesha Turnbull
U/15 Boys: Kody Said
U/16 Girls: Molly Dettbarn
U/16 Boys: Paul Ng
U/17 Girls: Scarlett Tavasci
U/17 Boys: Teddy Ripper
U/21 Girls: Grace Ng
U/21 Boys: Archie Treasure

In addition to our overall and age group winners, we also saw some new records set:
- Boys 12-15 Fly: Kody Said
- Boys U/15 50 Freestyle: Kody Said
- Boys U/16 50 Freestyle: Paul Ng

Congratulations to all students for their individual and team performances!

Debating by co-Head of Debating Rachel Patton
Congratulations to Samithri Kaluarachchi (Class of 2023) who was awarded the ‘Swannie Award’ for best speaker for the Berwick region at the Debating Association of Victoria (DAV) Awards Ceremony at the State Library on Thursday night.
Samithri was awarded the Swannie Award for capping off a sterling contribution to debating over the past six years with us. We were particularly impressed that she was able to pull out her Gippsland Grammar uniform one more time.
Year 12 students Zara Clydesdale and Debbie Husodo were also awarded Swannie Awards for B Grade (Year 11) which is also highly competitive and a fabulous achievement. 2023 was certainly a successful year for our Debating team!