Castlefield

Languages Week

Our LOTE staff are fabulous! Commencing Tuesday 11 June, the celebration of languages at Castlefield was in full swing. Students were immersed in many activities, including calligraphy painting, demonstration French and Japanese classes for our Years 5 and 6 students, French soccer matches, karate, Chinese opera, cultural trivia, flamenco dancing, Kung Fu, daruma. Thursday 13 June also saw our students engaged in our Cultural Dress Day, sampling international food and enjoying a vibrant Assembly.

Traffic and parking reminder

We have a fabulous roundabout system within our gates and encourage parents to utilise the South Road entrance for drop off and pick up. Some congestion is created when families are attempting to pick up along South Road, rather than at the roundabout within the School.

I remind families to avoid blocking both lanes on South Road when attempting to join the queue entering the School property and to please avoid double parking along South Road waiting for your child/ren to appear. There is a bike lane that is being blocked when this happens.

We thank our families for being considerate of the parking signs in our surrounding streets and respectful of our neighbours’ properties. The safety of our students is paramount and when they are unable to be picked up at the curb, as cars are parked, it can be dangerous.

The front of the School on South Road is a two-minute ‘kiss and go’ zone, hence parents should not be leaving their cars unattended.

Academic Scholarships

Applications are now open for Academic Scholarships at Haileybury, available to current students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement. Students currently in Years 3 (excluding current Haileybury students), 5, and 8 in 2024 are eligible to apply for entry into Years 5, 7, and 10 in 2026. Find out more here.

Early Learning Centre

Active citizens at work

Pre-Prep children have been developing a connection to the local park with regular visits during Environmental Learning and wanted to encourage the small birds to return to this area.

Working with Bayside City Council and Citywide, the children helped to prepare the Hampton High Reserve and plant seven different types of plants native to this area. The children will continue to care for the plants along with Citywide and observe the growth and impact this will have. Please visit this local park to view the great work our busy working bees have created for our local community.

Hip Hop is fun!

As part of the celebrations around Reconciliation Week, both Reception and Pre-Prep children joined a dance project with Indigenous Outreach Projects. The messages shared by these amazing hip hop performers are about inclusion, pride and respect. The children loved the dancing, as did the teachers and parents. It was such a fun day learning new dance moves and being entertained by the experts.

Junior School

Private music lessons

Some students choose to partake in private music lessons. These occur during class times and students are picked up and dropped back to their classrooms. Jensen has piano lessons with Mr Tom Samut and Madison with Ms Bernie Baker. Music lessons follow the Haileybury educational philosophy of ‘I do, we do, you do’, with the ability to listen to examples, join in the examples and then independently deliver the music. Students develop critical listening skills, which is so vital to musical development, and translates into the classroom.

'Play is training for the unexpected.’ Marc Bekoff

Does play come easily for your child or do they need an organised structure? Can they navigate the highs and lows of play and show resilience? Do they play to win at all costs? Do they love imaginative play, or would they prefer to use equipment? We ask our Junior School children to be great players as part of our ‘Care, Learn, Play’ motto. Under our Respectful Relationships banner, the values of empathy, respect, kindness, trust and honesty are all exacerbated in the play space. With emotions running high, our children need to follow the rules of the game, speak kindly, refer to teachers as needed and be aware of others around, all whilst the clock is ticking and they are trying to get in as much play as possible. It is tricky stuff.

Middle School

Dance and Aerobics success

Over Mother’s Day weekend, our Years 5-6 and 7-8 Aerobics teams dazzled at the FISAF Australia Super Series event, seizing the moment to shine and earn invaluable judge feedback ahead of next month’s State Championships. The dedication poured into their weekly training paid off spectacularly as the Backstreet Girls (5-6) clinched a thrilling third place, while the Unbreakable Hearts (7-8) soared to victory, capturing gold against fierce competitors. The energy, passion and commitment of our athletes set the stage for even greater triumphs to come.

Our Dance students also shone on stage as all teams worked tirelessly in the lead up to competition, and come Display Night, demonstrated just why they all deserved a place at Nationals in August. The Dance students exhibited talents and prowess in jazz and hip hop styles and now have an exciting few weeks ahead preparing for their next big competition.

Term 2 wrap

As we near the end of Term 2, we have many exciting celebrations and events for our community to look forward to and be a part of. From an activity filled Languages Week to our Cultural Dress Day, and even our Castlefield Middle School concert on Wednesday 26 June, It is an exciting end to the term. With these events, we are showcasing our students’ special skills, and acknowledge and celebrate our diversity here at Castlefield. We congratulate the Middle Students on a successful Term 2 and look forward to welcoming them back for Term 3 on Tuesday 23 July.

Katrina Manson
Head of Castlefield (Brighton)