Dear Parents/Guardians,
Remembrance Day
At 11am on Monday, the Junior and Senior students joined together for a Remembrance Day Service and a minute’s silence. Year 9 student, Shannon Bardou reflected on what Remembrance Day means to her whilst Jacob Payet led the school in singing the National Anthem.
Two of our elected 2020 School Leadership team members, Max Murphy and Swetha Kumar did a wonderful job representing Casey Grammar and laying a wreath at Greg Clydesdale Square in High Street Cranbourne.
Remembrance Day is as much about the future as it is of the past and it’s important that we come together to commemorate and pay tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives for us.
2020 Junior School Staff Update
Due to maternity leave and other staffing updates, including the introduction of an additional stream in Year 2 for 2020, I am pleased to announce the following staffing updates in our Junior School.
Brittany Testro who has been covering a maternity leave role will leave us to embark on an overseas teaching journey with her partner.
Belinda Roffey will take on a specialist role in the Junior School teaching P-6 Physical Education as well as Religious Education.
To continue to provide exceptional learning opportunities for our students I am pleased to announce that Melissa Lush and Samantha Parnall will join the Junior School as Teaching and Learning Assistants.
In our Library, Jess Burns will replace Mandy Horton as the Teacher Librarian. Jess began at CGS in 2016 as a casual relief teacher in the Junior School before taking on the role of Junior ICT Teacher.
In addition to the above, we will welcome the following Junior School Teachers:
Samantha Griffin - Samantha holds a Bachelor of Primary Education and her teaching practice to date has been in the upper year levels. Prior to teaching, she was an Australian National Taekwondo Team member and she was the 2010 champion in the Korean National Competition. Samantha designs learning opportunities and provides experiences that target the individual learning needs of all her students. She delivers a contemporary, personalised approach to student learning by encouraging investigation and application of learning. She is looking forward to joining our staff and is excited about the incredible possibilities ahead when working collaboratively with our staff in our new flexible learning centre.
Amy Mepstead - Amy holds a Bachelor of Education P-12 and will become a valued member of our Junior School team. She has held numerous leadership roles in her previous schools and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her new role. Amy is an enthusiastic, passionate and energetic educator. She believes that for children to grow, learn and achieve their potential, teachers need to explore a wide range of innovative teaching approaches and provide relevant learning opportunities that motivate and engage all children to develop the skills to become lifelong learners who are equipped for the future. She is thrilled to be joining CGS and looks forward to working collaboratively and creatively with fellow staff members.
Chloe Amantea - Chloe is a passionate, hardworking, creative teacher who has five years of experience within the Early Childhood and Education industries. Chloe holds a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and she forms strong, trusting, reciprocal relationships with children and their families. She believes that support and encouragement are paramount to ensuring students grow, learn and flourish. She uses her knowledge of child development and cutting-edge pedagogy to support her students’ holistic education. Chloe looks forward to creating a rich, inclusive learning environment in her classroom and planning learning experiences that cater for the diverse needs of her students.
Rachel Harrison - Rachel holds a Bachelor of Education and will complete her Masters of Clinical Teaching next month. She is an experienced Junior School teacher having worked across all year levels at schools in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Queensland including the well-respected Townsville Grammar. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise. She is a firm believer in holistic education, personalised learning and ensuring all student learning needs are met and that every student can reach their full potential. Her aim is to create a safe, stimulating classroom enriched by the cultural and social diversity of the CGS community that provides learning opportunities that are rich, relevant, engaging, explicit and collaborative where knowledge, skills and experience are obtained through exploration, research, planning and reflection. She is excited to become a member of our CGS community, not only as a teacher, but also as a parent of a 2020 Prep student.
Our recruitment process across both the Junior and Senior School has been very successful and I am confident our 2020 teaching staff will bring amazing opportunities to our students and provide them with the highest quality education. I look forward to welcoming our new staff members in the New Year.
Bushfires
As we enter a very busy time of the year, we can find ourselves caught up in how busy we are, how stressed we are and how hard life is. However, this week has been a timely reminder to stop and be grateful with the news of over 600 schools in NSW closed due to the possible threat of danger to students and staff arising from the catastrophic bushfires.
Today, 300 fires continue to burn along the entire coast of NSW and Queensland and 200 of these schools remain closed. Over 170 houses have been lost, four fire fighters have been injured and three people have lost their lives with some still unaccounted for.
These fires are not in remote areas, and the school students are just like ours. In fact the families losing their homes are just like us. There are a lot of people hurting, they are losing many precious memories and many of life’s comforts that people work their entire life to acquire.
Our prayers and thoughts go out to the students, staff and families of the effected schools.
Kind regards,
Mr Richard Baird MBA, B.Ed, ASAM, MACE, MACEL
Principal