Student Voices: Who We Are

Camberwell Grammar’s student body consists of an array of individuals, artists, sportsmen, creatives, and musicians across the year levels, all striving to uphold the School’s values of Learning, Respect, Integrity, Courage, and Optimism. Here, three students share some insight into their life as a Camberwell Grammar student.

a Platoon Commander this year has enabled me to take on a leadership role and gain key skills in organising and communicating efficiently.

Some of the most fun I have had in school has been through Debating. Initially hesitant to sign up, I didn’t know what to expect. However, I almost immediately enjoyed it, regardless of the outcome. This enthusiasm grew and with it the drive to sign up for similar activities such as various interschool political conventions, mooting, and public speaking competitions.

In the end, opportunities brought forth opportunities, including, as of recently, the opportunity to be flown to Canberra for the National Schools Constitutional Convention. Over three days, I learnt, debated, and discussed the workings of the Australian Constitution with like-minded high schoolers. I also had the privilege of being able to meet various members of parliament and even got to meet the Governor-General himself. Fantastic opportunities like these are always open for students to get involved in, we just need to have the courage to seek out and take them.

Nicholas Lipscombe (Year 7)

William Lardner (Year 12)

Music has always been a huge part of my life, and I have spent a lot of time in and out of school developing skills and various musical instruments. I have been playing the trumpet for over six years at the School, where I have especially enjoyed learning jazz through activities such as the Senior School Stage Band.

I believe that it is vital that students strive to be open to getting involved in the wider school community. Being a part of clubs and extracurriculars can sound unfamiliar and daunting and, to a degree, they can certainly be challenging, but that’s what can make them so rewarding. I also believe that having the opportunity to partake in Camberwell Grammar’s extracurriculars is a privilege and that getting involved one way or another can really help build one’s skills and help develop a sense of community, inside and outside of the School.

I mainly focus my extracurriculars around Music, Cadets, and Debating. Cadet’s is a great space to learn things outside of the classroom that you wouldn’t otherwise learn. Being

I have loved my time at Camberwell Grammar because it has opened my life up to a bunch of different opportunities. I came to the School with a very motivated outlook in Year 4, and I think that really helped me to achieve my goals to this point. Camberwell Grammar has been different from my old school in a good way. The School has helped me achieve my sporting goals and my educational goals.

When I first started at the School, everyone was so welcoming and the teachers were so kind, and still are, especially when I introduce myself to new teachers.

In Year 5, I was introduced to fundraising for the RSL and the teachers assigned me to go around to classes and ask for donations. At the end of the fundraiser, I helped raise $1000 for the RSL. I thought I would do it again in Year 6, and by myself, I raised over $1000, which is the most the School has raised ever for the RSL. Last year, I also enjoyed raising funds for the Koala Kids fundraiser in Middle School.

Another one of the opportunities I have enjoyed is Archery. I am currently the State champion in Under 14 Recurve. My goal is to one day represent Australia at the Olympics. I originally started loving Archery when I was at school camp in Year 4, and the instructor told me that I was really good and recommended I join a club. At first, I didn’t think much of it but, two years later, I got a bow for my birthday and that’s when my journey started, and I knew I had to get to the Olympics. For Christmas, I got my competitive style bow and I have just excelled from there.

I have also been part of the School Chorale for three years and have absolutely loved it. It has offered me so much because I was previously in the Australian Boys Choir, and I have loved performing as part of this school musical group, including at Hamer Hall.

I have loved my time at Camberwell Grammar so far, and I am really excited for the future to come.

George Wu (Year 3)

I started at Camberwell Grammar in Pre-Prep and am now in Year 3. My older brothers Mark (Year 9) and Chris (Year 7) loved doing Triathlons, and when I was little I would go to watch. They have a kids’ course, and I liked the look of it so I tried it one day and really liked it. It was a good challenge, so I kept on doing it. I’ve now done many Triathlons with my brothers, although they do the longer courses. In my Triathlons, I swim 100m, cycle 3km, and run 500m. At the School, I am involved in the Basketball and Athletics Academy but my favourite is the Athletics Academy training on Thursday mornings. I really enjoy long-distance running. I can’t really explain it, but I’ve tried lots of different sports, and I found that I like them, so I just keep playing them. Even if I’m not good at them, I just keep trying. In the summer, I started to learn how to sail and, at first, I didn’t enjoy it because it was hard, but now I understand it much better and can enjoy myself.

This year I started learning the viola as part of the Year 3 string ensemble. We are learning how to practice our foot position and posture before we take our instruments home. Eventually, I want to learn how to play the saxophone and I’m enjoying the opportunity to learn more about music. I’ve been to lots of my brothers’ plays and concerts and, even though there are lots of different instruments, I really like the sound of the saxophone.

There is lots to do in Junior School at Camberwell Grammar, and it is filled with nice people and good teachers. When I move to Year 6 in Middle School, my oldest brother Mark will be in Year 12 and Chris will be in Year 10 and I look forward to sharing the year with them.

Ask Mr Allen…

Mr John Allen, like many of the School’s historic buildings, has stood the test of time at Camberwell Grammar School. With a career that began in 1969, John recalls a recent occasion when parents visiting the School asked how long he had been teaching here. A group of his Year 12 students overheard, smiled, and one replied, ‘Since around about the white settlement of Australia!’ John sometimes questions whether that was indeed an exaggeration.

With a wealth of knowledge and lived experience of the School’s recent history, both as a member of staff and as a parent, our Year 3 students decided to ask John a few questions.

Henry Wan and Patrick Rye: What has made your time at Camberwell Grammar so enjoyable?

John: I like to think of myself as one without prejudice. However, I have no doubt that Camberwell Grammar School is the finest boys’ school in the universe.

It has been my absolute privilege to have spent most of my professional life working here. What first attracted me to the School was the fine balance it seemed to have between a rigorous scholarly culture and a relaxed social connection between all present on the campus, especially the bond created between students and staff. That has not changed, and remains, for me, what is most precious about the School. I can talk forever about all the wonderful things that took place in the past, yet I have no doubt that over time the School has simply gotten better and better and, now it is, undoubtedly, the best it has ever been.

George Wu and Teddy Kemp: What subject do you teach?

John: I was initially appointed to teach English and History, and coach Basketball. After some time, I became Head of the English Department and held that position for 26 years. Now I teach part-time where my principal responsibility is teaching Year 12 Literature and coordinating the Parent Education program.

Tishan Jayalath: You obviously enjoy teaching. What makes you like it so much?

John: Quite simply, I love the subject I teach, and I thoroughly enjoy engaging with the wonderful students who, I am sure, teach me as much as I teach them. And then, there are my fellow teachers and all the other folk who make the School a place of frenetic activity. My colleagues are always lively and engaging company.

Teaching has become more complicated in some ways over the years, especially as a consequence of the IT revolution; however, in other ways, it is not nearly as demanding as it was in the past, when, in small dark classrooms we taught classes of 34 students where there was little heating, no fans or air conditioning. Yet it was all that we knew so we simply got on with it.

Isaac Huang, Ryan Zhong, and Xavier Deng: What is the biggest change that has happened at Camberwell Grammar since you started working here?

John: The biggest change since I first started teaching at Camberwell Grammar is simply the number of students. Now the enrolment is twice the size from when I first began teaching at the School. Then there were four Houses, now eight. Except for the Junior School, then called the ‘Prep’ or Preparatory School, there were hardly any female teachers too. Students were passionately involved in sport, but there were no outside coaches; the teachers did it all. Similarly, at school camps such as Bambara, the school camp near the Murchison Falls (where there was a father/son weekend every four weeks), everyone chipped in for the food preparation. Now we are blessed with some of the finest facilities of any school internationally.

Max Ma: Were you or your children a student at Camberwell Grammar? If so, what was something you or they remember?

My son Andrew (1989) attended Camberwell Grammar. In Year 11, an Art teacher introduced him to pottery which caught his imagination and indeed shaped his life. Since leaving school, he studied Art and Ceramics and has since worked as a professional potter with his studio down the coast at Lorne. He is the most impassioned of potters. This is one of the most important human qualities – to be passionate about what you do. I don’t really care what people do with their lives – as long as they’re nice to others – but I simply want them to be passionate about all that they undertake, and I think that is very much one of the key aims of the School.

Arnold Patel and Carlos Guo: When you retire, what will you miss the most about the School?

John: I don’t think I need to consider that question, as I may never retire.

Alex Ai: What is your favourite building or place?

John: Undoubtedly Roystead – the centre of the School, geographically and spiritually. When Camberwell Grammar moved from Burke Road to its present site at 55 Mont Albert Road, Roystead was the School. Upstairs the Boarding House, downstairs the classrooms. When I started at the School, the downstairs passage of the mansion, which passed the ‘Masters’ Common Room’, was the thoroughfare from one side of the School to the other. For many years, my classroom was upstairs in the grand old building.

Xavier Patamia: Do you enjoy being a Triathlon Coach or teaching English? Why?

John: My two favourite activities – teaching that fascinating world of language and literature; competing in and coaching the challenging sport of Triathlon. One is sort of from the neck-up, the other from the neck down, but in their weird way, complementary. That’s as good as it gets!

Owen Le and Arvin Aminazad: Can you remember a favourite class that you taught? Why were they so memorable?

In the Senior School, students do not have a form class but attend specialist classes, such as Science, History, Physical Education, Mathematics, and English, a compulsory subject at all levels. Usually, one has the same teacher in that subject for the year. Hence, I have usually taught four separate classes a year, which means that over my time at Camberwell Grammar, I have taught, literally, hundreds of classes. A favourite? Who knows? Perhaps all of them, at some stage.

My time at the School has always been, and continues to be, rich and rewarding. I imagine it’s much the same for all of us – fulfill your commitments to the best of your ability, and passionately undertake that which excites you the most.