Junior Sub-School has closed out the year with a flurry of activity.  Whilst the weather has generally not been kind to us, students have shown resilience and persistence to achieve their academic and well being goals.

Students across years 7 and 8 recently competed in a downball competition.  This great game is played in school yards all around the world, but sadly might not receive the recognition it deserves.  We ran a round robin format which pitted student against student and then students against teachers.  After some intense competition and the emergence of the now famous ‘fireball’, the winners were Steven and Hassan in 7E and Cassandra and Hawa in 7H.  Special mention should also be made of Mr Brown, Mr Beagley, Ms Decker and Mr Buddhadasa who wiped the floor with the students to become undefeated champions.  Here at Junior Sub-School we are considering making an application to the IOC to get downball admitted as an Olympic sport in 2024! 

During Term 4, JSS were focussing on reducing the number of late attendance for class.  Every week the number of late notices were tallied and the results were posted outside the JSS office.  It was great to see students gathered at the results sheet to check on how their class was performing.  Subtle and maybe not so subtle pressure was being applied to class mates, to ensure that they made it to every class on time.  Mid-term, an intermediate prize of a Zooper Dooper were given to the members of the classes with the least number of lates.  Then at week 10 the winners were announced, with 7B and 8I able to enjoy a delicious pizza lunch.  Whilst the competition and the pizza lunch was a bit of fun, the real message is that attending every class on time is critical to achieving the best academic outcomes.

Junior Sub-school is bidding farewell to Mr Winduss and Mr Lac at the end of the year.  Both Mr Winduss and Mr Lac have worked hard in Junior Sub-school over many years and are now moving into new roles at St Albans.  We thank them for their help and wish them the best with their new roles.

Finally congratulations to all our students.  The first year back from COVID has thrown up some challenges, but we have witnessed outstanding academic achievements and huge amounts of personal growth.  It has been a pleasure to work with the Junior School students.

 

Mr Craig Moore – Junior Sub School Leader