MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Australian Schools’ Music Festival

I would like to thank parents, relatives and friends for joining with us on Saturday 15 September, to participate in the wonderful concert which was the culmination of the Festival. It was also a pleasure to have the Governor-General, Michael Jeffery, and Mrs Marlena Jeffery as our guests.

The Festival is held every two years and I would like to thank Craig Woodland, Director of Music, and the staff of Canberra Grammar School for their organisation of the 2007 Festival. My thanks also must go to Mary Tatchell and the staff of CGGS who provided a high level of support to Canberra Grammar School.

The Festival provides an opportunity for students from independent schools in Australia to work with conductors from Australia and overseas. It was pleasing to see that the chosen conductors for 2007 were able to inspire our students and challenge their skills as musicians. The audience benefited as we witnessed performances of such a high standard and watched students who were totally focused on the conductor and their performances.

I was fortunate enough to speak with some of our students and the staff from Sydney Grammar School, Brisbane Grammar School and Brisbane Girls Grammar School after the performance. They were excited about the Festival and the final concert, as well as being complimentary about the organisation of the Festival and the collaborative manner in which students, staff and conductors had worked together.

I felt an enormous level of pride at the end of the Concert for our students and staff, as well as feeling overwhelmed by the high standard of the performances I had heard during the afternoon.

We have now completed a lengthy search process and I am pleased to announce that our Head of Senior School from 2008 is Mr Bruce Handley. Bruce is currently Head of High School at Radford College. His previous positions include Head of Senior School at Shoalhaven Anglican School and Head of Mathematics and Housemaster at Frensham. Bruce has extensive experience in the education of girls and he has also enjoyed working at Radford College, where he has developed a strong understanding of the ACT education system. Bruce and his family decided to return to Canberra because they believed that this was the best environment in which to raise their children and become involved in the community. I am sure that you will join with me in welcoming Bruce the CGGS community.

From 2008, our Director of Staff Services will be Mr Rob Marshall who is currently Coordinator of Information Technology and BSSS Compliance Officer at St Edmund’s College. Before his move to St Edmund’s, Rob was a teacher of Information Technology at CGGS and I know that he has maintained his connections with staff and families of our School. Rob has demonstrated his commitment to CGGS and he is looking forward to the challenges which his new position will bring.

We received applications from around Australia for both positions and the process we took gave attention to ensuring that the successful candidates would meet our selection criteria. Our goal was to find the best person for each position and we believe that this has been achieved.

We have begun the process of staff selection for next year. We have a number of staff members who will be retiring at the end of this year and a small number of current staff who will be leaving. Last weekend, we placed an advertisement for some contract teaching positions in 2008.

The interview process for Junior School positions is almost completed and we hope to complete our interviews for the Senior School early in Term 4. In the next fortnight we will begin interviews for our second Chaplain.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: ‘A person is a person through other persons. I am because we are.’ I believe that the Archbishop was bringing attention to the power that can be generated when we work together as a group.

I am reminded of our Dragon Boat team which is about to compete in the World Championships (see photo below), our debating teams, our sporting teams and our music ensembles, orchestras, bands and choirs. These young women and men bring their individual skills and attributes to the group and hence the group can accomplish a great deal.

We can also apply this to our teachers who learn and share their experiences with others in order to improve their teaching and give attention to the learning outcomes of their students. Teachers do not work in isolation but understand the benefits of collaboration and sharing.The role of the Head of Faculty and Head of House is to gather a team of teachers or tutors and provide them with guidance as they work together to achieve a shared vision and set of student outcomes.

Susan Just
Principal

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL

Congratulations to all members of the Music Department who were involved with the 15th Australian Combined Schools’ Music Festival last week. The Festival, which was held over four days and involved students from Canberra Grammar School, Brisbane Grammar School, Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Great Southern Grammar School (WA), Sydney Grammar School, Radford College and Westminster School (SA), culminated in a magnificent concert on Saturday afternoon in the CGGS Hall. The Concert was played to a capacity audience and featured work by the Festival Band, Choir, Chamber Choir and Orchestra. While sitting in the audience soaking up the enchanting music, it was hard not to feel a sense of pride that a large number of the students in each of the performances were in fact CGGS students – but then maybe I am a little biased in these matters!

Last Tuesday evening I attended the annual Sports Dinner which this year was held at the Federal Golf Course Clubrooms. As is the tradition, the Sports Captain, Anna Willis (12R) and Vice-Captain, Helena Joseph-Hauser (11W), along with their parents organised the evening, which included speeches by each of the Captains of various sports and presentations to award winners. The speeches and presentations were punctuated by some fun games and trivia competitions. The night also allowed the students to thank the Teachers-in-Charge of the various sports for their dedication and commitment to their sport and enabled gave Anna and Helena to thank both Brad Griffiths, Acting Coordinator of Co-curricular Sports and Jenny Hall, Head of the PDHPE Department, for their support and guidance in their roles.

Traffic flow around the School continues to be a major cause of concern, particularly at the start and end of the school day. In the interest of student safety and respect for our neighbors and members of the School community I would ask that all parents follow the following guidelines:

• Keep vehicles clear of ‘No Standing Zones’;
• Refrain from parking across driveways (this is particularly prevalent at the Melbourne Avenue gates in the morning);
• Only allow children to alight from a vehicle when parked in a designated drop off area;
• Drive safely and within speed limits in the vicinity of the School;
• Refrain from using the Chapel Drive exit between 3.15 – 4.00pm.

Parents are also reminded that students should not be dropped off or picked up within the School grounds at the beginning or end of the school day. This includes times when students are running late for school.

During the month of July, Bethany Lee (12K) travelled to the USA to represent Australia in an International Air Cadet Exchange. Despite several hundred cadets applying for the scholarship, Bethany was one of only three cadets to be given this wonderful opportunity. While still reeling with excitement about the trip, Bethany was this week given another amazing experience. Bethany describes this week’s adventure below:

Student Achievements

Jessica O’Brien (12B) is this week representing the ACT in the Under 18 National Touch Football Championships.

Emily Pham (10D) has recently been selected to be a member of the new ACT Netball Academy team which will be competing against other state academy teams in Adelaide from 21-23 September. We wish her well.

Congratulations to Natalie Archer (7R) who was recently placed 31st in the Australian National Cross Country Championship.

Fiona Godfrey
Deputy Principal/Head of Senior School

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL

Prep Orientation Begins