City

Early Learning Centre

ELC Scooter program

As part of our specialist program, Reception and Pre-Prep children have started our Scooter program developed by Mark Reed, Chair of Athletics and Head of Girls Athletics at Haileybury.

The ELC Scooter program focuses on children’s gross motor development as they tackle different obstacles while zooming around the Level 1 Running Track. This program has also been embedded within our PE program to extend and enhance children’s learning, based upon their interests and capabilities.

Children have loved challenging themselves while developing balance and coordination. Children have enjoyed bringing along their own helmet as they understand the importance of keeping their bodies safe while riding the scooters.

Reception and Pre-Prep take part in this program every Thursday morning for 20 minutes.

Sun safety in the ELC

As the weather is warming up and the sun is shining, it is important to protect our children’s skin. Throughout the day, educators will support your child to reapply sunscreen, however, children should have sunscreen applied before they arrive at the ELC. A daily UV rating, as stated by the SunSmart app, is displayed in the ELC foyer to ensure sun safety is part of our daily routine.

Junior School

A fantastic start to Term 4

Although every day at City is one buzzing with excitement, this was particularly the case as we welcomed our Junior School students and families back for Term 4 on Monday of Week 1. Students from Prep to Year 4, seamlessly returned to learning, not only building upon their understanding of previously taught concepts, but also being introduced to some new ones as well. 

We would like to send a very big thank you to all Junior School families for a smooth transition back to regular school and homework routines. With the arrival of some much-awaited warmer weather, students are required to wear their full summer uniform, including their magenta cap or white wide-brimmed hat, to and from City campus. For all outdoor playtimes, students are also required to wear their black hat.

Welcome Ms Back

As our Year 1 teacher and Deputy Head of Junior School (Teaching and Learning), Ms Lizzy Gibney, starts her family, Ms Molly Back has stepped into the role of Year 1 teacher for the remainder of the year. An Old Haileyburian herself, Ms Back shared that the Year 1 students have shown tremendous kindness and empathy when explaining regular classroom routines. Ms Back looks forward to seeing more of our Junior School community at our upcoming special events.

Scrolls workshop success

On Thursday of Week 1, Years 3 and 4 Scrolls students took part in a workshop alongside their peers from all of Melbourne’s Haileybury campuses, hosted by Castlefield. With feedback from the day’s conductor, Mr Quinne, students developed their skills and understanding on how to perform as a part of a large ensemble. A popular moment amongst the students was playing ‘Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer’ and hearing all students sing along.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

We would like to congratulate all students who completed the 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge. During our Week 1 Assembly, these students were awarded with their Premier’s Reading Challenge badge, a symbol of their hard work, consistent dedication and love of reading. 2024 saw a total of 51 Junior School students participating in the competition. We look forward to having even more participants take part in 2025.

Term 4 special events

Throughout Term 4, there are a number of special events, assemblies and graduations taking place. We encourage all our City Junior School families to keep a close eye on the Term Dates document available on the Hub.

Middle School

Melbourne Zoo

As a part of their Science Ecosystems Unit, the Year 7s recently enjoyed a visit to Melbourne Zoo, learning about the classification and adaptation of animals. During their Fighting Extinction program, students examined the skulls of different animals to identify shared characteristics and to learn about how they have adapted to face varied threats in the wild and to survive in different conditions. While exploring the zoo, students heard from the true experts — the keepers of the elephants and lemurs — who shared insight into both the animals in their care and their own daily responsibilities. Ultimately, the highlight of the day was the charming family of otters who played, along with the delightful butterflies who landed on the students in the warm Butterfly House. 

Bee excursion

The Year 5s recently visited the Haileybury Hive at the Berwick campus as a part of their Science unit on Love food? Love bees! There, they suited up in their beekeeper costumes to adventure into the hives themselves. Opening the hive to examine a live bee frame, they got to study the whole colony — from the queen bee to the drone bees and worker bees — hard at work producing honey, which the students got to sample. In the lab, students took to the microscopes, examining the anatomy of bees in detail. Overall, students not only enriched their understanding of bees but also developed their appreciation of the vital importance of bees in our ecosystem today. 

Arts

The Arts have continued to thrive in Term 4 with House Arts returning. This year’s challenge tasked Elliot, Main, Na and Newton to create their very own mini musicals in just two hours. Each house divided into their own expert teams of dancer, actors, set designers and musicians, and worked collaboratively, judged not just on their final performance, but also on their empathy, respect, kindness, trust and honesty — the Respectful Relationships Pillars. 

Meanwhile, over the course of the year, the Years 5 and 6 City dancers have been working with diligence, determination and sportsmanship to develop their skills on stage. After first showcasing their jazz routine, Bongo Cha Cha Cha, at Display Night in May, they recently performed at their annual competition, the Spring Challenge, debuting their lyrical dance, Still.  

Caroline Merrick
Head of City

Springtime Party

Thank you to everyone who attended our HPF City Springtime Party on Friday night, which is our final HPF City event for the year. It was a great night with prizes, live auctions, silent auctions and even a bit of dancing with our DJ, Eliza. A special thank you to the talented students who performed as part of the City Vocal Ensemble. It is always such a treat to see these students perform and love what they do.   

As you may be aware, the Springtime Party is a big fundraising event, with funds raised from your entry ticket, silent auction, live auctions and the raffle tickets all going towards our students. In previous years the HPF City have purchased scooters, air hockey tables and even a fridge for the Senior School. 

These events take a great deal of organisation behind the scenes. I would like to thank the Head of Campus, Caroline Merrick for her help and guidance with organising the event, and Gabe, Teni and their team for the time and assistance to help with set up on the night. Michelle White, as always, does a magnificent job with organising all the donations for the prizes on the night. Thank you, Michelle, for the endless meetings, phone calls and hours spent wrapping everything up. Thanks also go to Tina Le for the beautiful flowers and assistance with decorating  and the volunteers who helped with set up, on the door and just helping the team out any way they can. It is really a team effort, and I must say we have a wonderful team. Thank you everyone.

In addition, a huge thank you to everyone who bought entry and raffle tickets and bid on the items during the night. It all contributes to us having a great night out. I hope everyone had as much fun on the night as we did organising it for you. Pictures will be posted in the next Insight.

HPF City Annual General Meeting

The AGM for HPF City will be held on Thursday, 14 November at 7.30 pm via Zoom. The AGM is a chance to celebrate the successful year that we have had with our three major events and the Second-hand Uniform Shop sales. We have had a wonderful year of fun and have raised funds to be spent on items for the students to enjoy.

Nomination forms will be posted on myHaileybury towards the end of October. All details will be on the app announcement. We have wonderful members for 2024, and I hope many will continue next year, however, we are always welcoming new HPF members to join our committees and share in our support of the City campus. Please feel free to email hpfcity@haileybury.com.au if you have any questions.

Second-hand Uniform Shop

Our final Second-hand Uniform Shop for the year will be held on Up Day,Tuesday, 19 November. We will be open from 8.00 am – 9.00 am and 3.00 pm – 4.00 pm. There will also be an additional opening in the ELC from 9.30 am – 12.00 pm. Last year this was our biggest day of sales — ever!  If you have items sitting at home ready to sell, send them in and place them with the form in the blue bins. Items that we particularly need include ELC items in good condition and girls summer dresses. Please make sure that all items are in saleable condition, as per the form.

I hope everyone has a lovely couple of weeks ahead and enjoys the springtime sunshine.

Melissa Fisher
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends City