Consistent with our core philosophy of fostering the individual talents of students, we have been working deliberately to deepen and widen the range of activities that afford students the opportunity to grow. The existence of activities and experiences which engage and involve students is fundamental to achieving a sense of belonging, which in turn promotes well-being and self-worth.
We have been taking deliberate steps to build the strength and successes of our sporting programs. To that end, we have instituted more scheduled training time for teams within the school week as part of the Activity Afternoon format. Students and their coaches are reveling in the opportunity and outcomes of this format. Some of the individuals and teams against whom we compete are experiencing a more organised and formidable opponent. One such group on Activity Day is the weekly running group, organised by Mr Novakovic.
On Thursday last week, 24 students from Year 4–Year 6 competed against 10 other schools in the Primary District Cross Country at Bacchus Marsh Reserve.
Of our 24 students competing, six managed to qualify for the next round, including four students who finished in the top three competitors—one of whom finished in first place (Elisha S, Year 6). This is doubly significant, as this result is a first for our Melton campus.
Caleb Y (Year 5) also achieved a significant highlight when he was placed 3rd in the Year 11 boys’ event, after the disappointment of last year when he was also coming in 3rd during the race, only to accidentally be knocked over and end up finishing outside the top 10—and thus not get through to division. This year, he well and truly made amends—well done, Caleb!
These outstanding individual results propelled our school to our best result yet: 3rd place overall! Congratulations to all our runners who competed in this event, and to the runners who will now go on to race in the division event.