Student achievements

The Junior Debating team (Years 7-8) and Senior Debating team (Years 9-10) won their respective ACT Debating Union Grand Finals last night. Congratulations, girls!

Jessica (Y3) represented the ACT at the Australian National Oztag Championships recently. She was awarded MVP for one of her games after a stand out performance.

Congratulations to Amy (Y12) who was awarded a Ramsay Scholarship from the University of Wollongong (UOW), where she will study a double degree of a Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation and Law. The Ramsay Scholarship is awarded to students who demonstrate that they can contribute effectively and independently to discussion and debate while demonstrating self-awareness, a desire to empower others, and qualities such as empathy, humility and diplomacy. As a Ramsay Scholarship recipient, Amy as access to mentoring, small class sizes and a private study lounge.

Elsa (Y10) recently participated in the Australian Honours Ensemble Program 2022, which provides an opportunity for wind, brass, percussion, string and voice students to work in an environment of musical excellence under the leadership of several internationally renowned Australian conductors. Selection into the program is only via audition, which highlights how exceptional this achievement is for Elsa.

Recently, Equestrian Captain Georgia (Y11) competed at the ACT Interschools Equestrian Championships and was crowned the Reserve Champion for elementary dressage. She also finished third in show jumping. Georgia has been a great champion of the sport for CGGS and is very deserving of her achievements.

Congratulations to Sasha (Y12) who has been selected in the CommBank Young Matildas squad for the upcoming 2022 Pacific Women's Four Nations Tournament. The CGGS community will have the opportunity to watch Sasha in action, as the tournament will be held in Canberra.

In Term 3 several Year 10 students were invited to participate in the Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad (AIMO) run by the Australian Mathematics Trust. The four-hour contest is designed to stretch talented students and gives them an opportunity to participate in activities which enhance their enjoyment and knowledge of mathematics. Congratulations to all the students who participated. Particularly we wish to acknowledge Muntaha (Y10) who achieved a Certificate of High Distinction and Arya (Y10) who achieved a Certificate of Distinction.

CGGS had four entries in this year’s LitLinks competition. LitLinks is an annual creative writing competition open to all ACT school students in Years 7-12. At the awards ceremony, Aadhya (Y7) was awarded the Judges’ Choice prize in the Years 7-8 category for her story, “Memories Leave Scars, Not Wounds”. The judges noted that Aahya’s story “is moving, particularly the profound message of seeking help for mental health support, and of the healing power of talking things through.” You can read her winning entry here. Congratulations Aadhya! Achievement awards were also presented to Charlotte (Y7), Nissi (Y9) and Abi (Y11).

Several of our students were awarded certificates at the National History Challenge awards ceremony last night. The National History Challenge is a research-based competition for Australian students that gives them the opportunity to become historians and research particular topics of interest. Alice (Y4) received a silver certificate for placing in the top three in her age group in the ACT. The following students received gold certificates for winning the challenge in their age group: Sanara and Aditiya (Y4 – joint winners), Demi (Y8), Eva (Y9) and Lize (Y12). Lize was also awarded ACT Young Historian of the Year, a very prestigious title, for her entry on the significance of the Cold War in Africa. Lize will join winners from the other states and territories at the national event to participate in a series of activities. Well done, Lize!

Congratulations to Jemima (Y6) who received an Exceptional Young Person award during ACT Children’s Week in October. The Exceptional Young Person award is presented to a person under the age of 25 who shows courage, perseverance and generousity or makes an extraordinary contribution to other children or young people. Jemima’s extraordinary contribution to CGGS is her mature understanding that a diagnosis of dyslexia would not stop her from learning and succeeding at whatever she put her mind to. To help her peers understand dyslexia, she took it upon herself to prepare a lesson for her classmates in 2020. Her peers have since embraced Jemima as a role-model, and over the past two years Jemima has given her time freely to a multiplicity of problems faced by other students. She also mentored a younger student with dyslexia through the issues she herself faced, giving up her lunchtime and some class-time to help this student master learning strategies and peer issues. This year, together with her now Year 5 mentee, Jemima has established a small support group for dyslexic students across the School. Her calm and positive manner, her can-do attitude and her courageous determination to overcome each and every difficulty make Jemima a very deserving recipient of an Exceptional Young Person award. Well done, Jemima.

Photos
Jessica (Y3) at the National Oztag Championships, Elsa (Y10), Georgia (Y11) at the ACT Interschools Equestrian Championships, CGGS students at the National History Challenge awards ceremony, Jemima (Y6) receiving her Exceptional Young Person award