Around the Grounds: With Gratitude

 
To Read: At Woodleigh, we want our students to achieve academically and to build adventurous, capable minds. Not one or the other – both. Read More Than Your Score.
To Tell Everyone: The nextOpen House event is coming up on August 22.
To Know: Playgroup is now at Penbank.
A Farewell Filled with Endless Gratitude: After 16 years, Vanessa Gabriel is stepping down from the Board.

Discovery Day at Minimbah 

Sam is a Woodleigh graduate (2008) and current Woodleigh parent.  He recently visited Minimbah to chat with the Foundation to Year 2 students about the very cool things he does during the day. Sam is an agricultural scientist and farmer on the Mornington Peninsula, but what makes it even better is that he is on a tech and data mission - to enable industry to make more, with less. The kids were intrigued because they know what it means to feel connected to their environment, to see it change with time and climate. He has a prominent voice in sustainable and technology-driven agriculture on the Peninsula; keep a lookout. 

Grandparents Day at Minimbah

Grandparents Day at Minimbah was a reminder of the connection between storytelling and learning. With perfect weather overhead, our grandparents enjoyed a morning filled with classroom visits, a joyful music performance and a delicious morning tea. 

Artist in Residence: Annika Romeyn

Annika Romeyn, recipient of the inaugural Threads of Belonging bursary, spent two weeks at Woodleigh, taking up residency in the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Gallery. The Canberra-based artist led workshops and classes, spoke with students, staff and families about her life and practice, met with our primary school students and shared her monotype printmaking process; a technique in which ink is worked and reworked on a surface like glass or Perspex before being transferred through a print press onto paper. Plenty more to share on this, soon!

During her second week, Penbank Art teacher, Kiri, took the Years 3 and 4 kids to Senior Campus to see Annika in action, ask lots of questions, and make some of their own artwork. One Year 4 described a particular piece as a blue world captured inside a bottle. Everyone, chuffed.

A Farewell Filled with Endless Gratitude: After 16 years, Vanessa Gabriel is stepping down from the Board.

Mapping the World

There's a world map taking shape on the glass doors of the Year 3 classroom at Penbank, and the map its become a living document of their learning. As students explore concepts like mapping, the equator and hemispheres, new details appear on the glass, a record of understanding, built incrementally.

Alongside the map, students have been diving deep into inquiry, researching explorers and trailblazers and writing diary entries from their subjects' perspectives. The cast of characters is eclectic: Lawrence of Arabia, Laika (the Soviet dog who became the first animal to orbit Earth) and Captain Cook, among others. Each student has found their own way into their subject, uncovering stories that genuinely interest and surprise them.

One particularly lovely connection has emerged with Hugo, who runs his own tomato-growing business outside of school. In researching his explorer, Hugo came across the story of one of the first scientists to grow tomatoes in space – a discovery that landed with real personal resonance and has spurred on his enthusiasm for the whole unit.
The plan is to capture the evolution of the map through a timelapse as the unit progresses, so WATCH THIS SPACE. Literally.

Senior Campus Assembly

Senior Campus assemblies are memorable. They're kind of special. Student-led, student-run, full of energy – think celebration more than administration, performance over pontification. These are not stuffy, staff driven occasions. Instead, they reflect the character and confidence of students – staff voices rarely take centre stage. Beau Miles spoke, a professional adventurer, who said 'You made me feel lucky to be here, and I know, from watching this, that you feel lucky to be here too'. Assembly led to the school's IDAHOBIT celebration at lunchtime, another meaningful expression of student voice and community.

To Read: More Than Your Score

Ethics Olympiad

For the first time, a Woodleigh team has competed in the Ethics Olympiad – and Isaac, Sam, Rufus and Connor (Y10) have come home with a Silver Medal in the Senior Competition. It’s an enormous result, placing them in the final of the international competition this July – one of only two teams from Victoria and Tasmania selected to represent our great nation. 

But what is the Ethics Olympiad, I hear you ask? It is a global competition that sharpens communication, critical thinking and respectful discussion. Students tackle complex real-world dilemmas – and unlike traditional debating, they defend the position they genuinely believe is right, winning through thoughtful, perceptive engagement.
This year, students wrestled with eight ethical cases, with topics including Salacious Gossip, Digital Afterlife Management, Lab-Grown Meat and Cloning.
Congratulations, gents – we can’t wait to see you take the world stage.

To Tell Everyone: The next Open House event is August 22

More Smelly Science 

Last time we showed you brains, this time we'll give you a look at lungs. You can't smell them, but they can. Learning their way around something only ever known as an invisible, automatic process suddenly becomes tangible and very real.  Cold, spongy, light – inflatable - which they saw for themselves, lung capacity is always a surprise. Thanks Mr Benton.  

To Know: Playgroup is now at Penbank!

SIS Cross Country

Woodleigh was on track in Division A at the SIS Cross Country at Casey Fields this week – and the team went hard, delivering one of our strongest performances ever.
Against much larger schools, an overall win is always a stretch, but our students rose to the challenge. Woodleigh celebrated two pennant wins – Under 17 Boys and Under 15 Girls – and claimed an impressive 5th place overall finish.

Of our 75 Woodleigh runners, 21 athletes (almost 30%) placed in the top 10 in their races – a remarkable team effort that speaks to both our depth and determination.
The Under 17 boys’ race was a Woodleigh highlight, with Alby and Barney running neck and neck, right to the wire in a contest best described as ‘thrilling’.
Well done, Team Woodleigh, on an incredible day of racing – you put the bit between the teeth, and all your courage, grit, and teamwork were on full display. Huge congratulations to all runners, supporters and coaches.

Now, who wants to go for a run?

Until we go Around the Grounds again next week...