Weekly eNews

Thursday 23 October 2025

It was wonderful to witness our Athletics boys competing at the APS Finals at Lakeside Stadium last weekend. Congratulations to all students participating (particularly our Year 12s), and to our dedicated staff and parents who contributed to and supported the team. It was a fantastic showcase of high performance in action and a testament to the strength of our community at BGS.

I am also very pleased to share some exciting news that marks another milestone in the sports arena: Tennis.

As part of our ongoing commitment to providing exceptional opportunities for our boys and the wider community, BGS has entered into a long-term partnership with Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club (RSY), which also manages Dendy Park Tennis Club, to oversee all aspects of Tennis coaching and development at the School.

This collaboration will open the doors to a broader range of community-based programs from junior development to adult cardio Tennis, squads, and private coaching.

From Monday 27 October, APS Tennis coaching will also commence using the guidance of the RSY Dendy Park coaching team for the 2025/26 APS season.

The partnership also enables the use of our new three-court rooftop facility atop The Duigan Centre, which will now serve as the official home of the St Andrew’s Tennis Club.

This initiative represents an exciting new chapter for Tennis at BGS. I invite you to read the letter from Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club’s CEO, with further details to be shared on how members of our community can also get involved.

Finally, it was a truly special occasion to farewell our Valedictorians – the Class of 2025. We wish them every success in their upcoming exams and future pathways. Monday’s Valedictory celebrations were enjoyed by all across the school, from ELC to Year 12, and especially by me, as I had the privilege of experiencing the day not only as Headmaster, but also as a father.

Have a great week.

Over the last week, we celebrated our Valedictory Days with the Year 12 boys. Highlights included the Valedictory Assembly and Beating the Bounds, where Year 12 students walk the grounds for the last time together.

We commemorate the people, places and time spent at various points around the school, culminating in a farewell from all of the Secondary School boys in the Quad. It is always a highlight for the students and their families as they remember and reconnect with events that shaped the boys’ time at BGS. 

A big thanks to all Year 11 parents involved in providing the morning tea. The day concluded with the formal Valedictory Dinner; a wonderful evening of celebration hosted at the MCG. 

Congratulations to the Valedictory prize winners and good luck to all students for their upcoming exams. 

The APS Athletics final took place on Saturday, combining both boys’ and girls’ competitions. Congratulations to our squad on securing 5th place overall, and a big thank you to everyone involved in training, facilitating, and managing the team.

Today was another big day in the Secondary School with our first Transition Day for the 2026 Year 7 students. The boys enjoyed a day of orientation and fun activities, while parents had an opportunity to enjoy a coffee and connect with each other. We look forward to having the boys join us in Secondary School in 2026. 

Meliora Sequamur.

Happenings & Reminders

• 24 October – Wear it Purple Casual Clothes Day
• 28 October, 4.30pm – Semester 2 Concert Chamber Music, GB Robertson Hall
• 30 October, 7.00pm: Year 9-11 play, Romeo and Juliet, at Rosstrevor Hall.
• 3 November – Mid-term Break

Melbourne Zoo visit

Last week, the Unit 1/2 Geography class went to the Melbourne Zoo. The weather was warm and sunny, which made it a great day to walk around and collect data.

As part of Unit 2 – Tourism, we look at how the zoo manages the relationship between visitors and the environment, focusing on sustainability and conservation. We evaluated different enclosures – how the zoo uses its space and how visitors interact with the environment.

We used maps, surveys, and observations to collect information which will be used to write a field report. Overall, the excursion helped us better understand how Melbourne Zoo promotes environmental awareness and manages its site in a sustainable way. We thank the Melbourne Zoo for allowing us to visit and making us feel welcome. 

Oaks De Zeeuw
Year 11

APS Athletics

Brighton Grammar School proudly celebrated a strong showing at the Associated APS Athletics Finals, securing fifth place overall with a total of 433.5 points. The team finished just nine points shy of third place (Caulfield Grammar) and two points behind fourth (Melbourne Grammar), marking the School’s best result in recent years and highlighting the continued growth of our Athletics program. Standout performers included:

First Place Medallists

• Teddy Bowen – Under 15 Long Jump (6.41m), 100m Hurdles (14.24s), High Jump (1.88m), Triple Jump (11.79m)
  Archie Sideridis – Under 16 800m (2:00.15), Under 15 1500m (4:24.31)
• Hugh Kabengele – Open 100m (10.80s)
• Mitchell Carney – Under 17 Triple Jump (13.79m)
• Leo Reeve – Open Multi-Class Shot Put (9.14m), 100m (15.20s), 200m (32.77s), Long Jump (4.20m)

Second Place Medallists

• Jackson McPherson – Under 14 Shot Put (13.35m)
• Mitchell Carney – Under 17 Long Jump (5.94m)
• Ned Lowe – Under 14 100m (12.45s), Long Jump (5.18m)
• Jesper Bignell – Under 16 1500m (4:19.98)
• Teddy Bowen – Under 15 Shot Put (11.69m)
• Arki Butler – Open High Jump (2.00m)

Third Place Medallists

• Teddy Bowen – Under 15 Discus (36.47m)
• Ned Lowe – Under 14 200m (25.55s)
• Jasper Williams – Open Discus (41.51m)
• Max Reeve – Under 17 1500m (4:11.15)
• Hugh Kabengele – Open Long Jump (6.36m)
• Under 15 4x400m Relay Team – Archie Sideridis, Ariel Friedrich, Oliver Cole, Ben Pendreich (3:42.29)

Well done to Teddy Bowen for his outstanding contribution to Brighton Grammar’s success at the APS Athletics Finals. Teddy had four first-place finishes, along with second and third-place medal. We wish Teddy success at the State Championships over the next two weekends.

Thank you to our coaching staff, teaching staff and Team Captains Ethan Miller and Hugh Kabengele. Your support, leadership and effort throughout the season makes our program so strong. A special thank you to Tom Morehouse who always goes above and beyond for the program and Athletes.

Well done to all of our students who participated in Athletics throughout this season, it was fantastic to see so much personal growth as the season progressed.

We extend our best wishes to all students participating in the All-Schools Championships this weekend and next, confident they will represent the School with pride and determination. We look forward to next year’s season, our program has been increasingly gaining momentum over the past few years, and we look forward to this continuing in the future.

Lachlan Connell
Head of Athletics

VCE Drama 

On Sunday, our Year 12 Drama students took to the stage at Darebin Arts Centre for their official Solo Performance Exam, marking the culmination of months of hard work, creativity, and dedication.

Each student wrote, directed, and performed their own original seven-minute solo piece in front of a panel of assessors, showcasing their ability to bring complex characters and stories to life.

Their achievements were also celebrated a couple of weeks ago at our Solo Performance Evening, where they performed for friends and family in an incredible display of talent and confidence.

Congratulations to all of our Year 12 Drama students on this outstanding accomplishment!

Drama workshop 

Creative Arts Showcase 

This year’s BGS Art Show will be held for the first time in The Duigan Centre, providing a wonderful new setting to celebrate the creativity and imagination of our students.

The exhibition will feature a range of works from across our creative faculties, including Visual Arts, Design, Media and Photography. Each piece reflects the skill, curiosity and unique perspective of our young artists.

Guests can also enjoy a live performance from our student rock band, sample delicious catering prepared by Food Technology students, and take part in an Art Auction featuring a work donated by our Artist in Residence. RSVP essential.

BGS Business Breakfast

Join us for this term’s Business Breakfast on Wednesday 29 October, with Troy McKinna (OB 1993), as he shares insights from 25 years building some of Australia’s most iconic brands.

From professional triathlete to corporate marketer and now start-up founder and innovation consultant, Troy’s journey is packed with stories: From presenting Mars Bar plans to John Mars, to launching the global Snickers “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign, and sponsoring BGS mates to kite surf Bass Strait for a PR stunt. He also works with his wife, Evette, at Agents of Spring – an insights and innovation agency that dives deep into consumer lives to uncover frustrations that spark breakthrough ideas.

Don’t miss this inspiring and entertaining morning.

From Reverend Waterhouse

This week on Wednesday morning, our twelve Secondary School chapel servers for 2026 were inducted, in preparation for their service amongst us in our regular chapel gatherings.

By way of both inspiration and consideration, in my homily, I spoke briefly on the ministry of the Anglican cleric Richard Johnson, the first Christian minister in Australia, who travelled here with his young wife, Mary, on the First Fleet.

Johnson had a largely difficult twelves years during his time of ministry in New South Wales. He performed an absurd number of funerals – mostly for infants. He had to manually build his own church. After a series of robberies at his house, he took to sleeping with two loaded pistols by his bedside. He was also essentially a one-man show when it came to ministering to the sick and needy.

In one journal entry, he speaks casually of waking up on a Sunday morning at 4.00am, in order to catch a boat and perform a church service, as well as expressing his deep sadness that some convicts were selling their Bibles in exchange for rum!

What kept Johnson persevering was his conviction that there was invaluable importance in God’s people, meeting at God’s place, around God’s Word, for the purpose of God’s glory.

It is our prayer that our new chapel servers have a maturing spirit of servanthood, as they seek to prepare the Secondary School community for worship, imitating Jesus Christ himself, who came ‘not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ [Mark 10:45].

Diary Dates

• Friday 24 October Wear it Purple Casual Clothes Day
• Thursday 6 November BGS Creative Arts Showcase Opening Event