Spring 2024

Welcome to our latest edition of the Yarra Old Grammarians Newsletter.

As the end of year festivities begin, it is good to reflect on the many great initiatives being delivered by YOG - both repeats and brand new. We are still focusing on generating great connections with the Year 10-12 student cohort, and this approach is generating some great feedback. We are seeing a high level of recognition amongst students not just of who YOG are, but their views on how YOGs are adding value to their school journey as they approach Year 12 exams. It’s nice to be appreciated, and becomes a much more rewarding experience for both students and YOGs!

This is very encouraging for us, and I want to thank all those YOGs that have donated their time and knowledge in helping students in preparing for life after school.

Some of the great initiatives we’ve delivered include:

Career Bytes - a brand new initiative helping our Year 9 students with career discovery
Pathways – a relatively new initiative where students can ask returning YOGs all about tertiary life and courses
Speed careering – continues to grow in popularity for both YOGs and students
Golf Day – once again, over-subscribed and a great time had by all
YOG Good Friday Appeal

Andrew Gaythorpe (YOG 1982), YOG President

We invite you all to our first ever Carols@Yarra!

Date: Monday 2 December

Time: from 5.00pm

Location: Patterson Oval, YVG

Registrations, hamper and blanket purchases: www.yvg.vic.edu.au/carols

This event will include a sausage sizzle thanks to YOG, pre-purchased picnic hampers, food trucks, beverages (both alcoholic and non!), bubble tea, choc tops, Christmas treats to buy, the ever-popular Yarra Foundation Silent Auction and even a very special visitor. Performances will be from students from ELC through to Year 11, with lots of singalongs!
All Yarra Community members are welcome to attend this FREE community family event to celebrate Christmas and the end of the school year. Register HERE to attend.

Yarra Foundation Silent Auction:
Starting late November and culminating at our Carols@Yarra will be another exciting Yarra Foundation Silent Auction, where our community can grab a bargain in the leadup to Christmas. In order to make this auction as successful as possible, we are looking for donations! We are looking for all sorts of items such as:

• Experiences: Do you have access to an AirBnB, pampering treatments, restaurant vouchers or sporting experiences? We'd love to add in some special experiences that our families can enjoy or gift.
• Items: Toys, hampers, chocolates, wines or sporting goods are always very well received at our auction with such a wide range of interests within our community.
• Services: A great way to advertise your business is to offer some of your services! This could include such things as physiotherapy treatments, legal or business advice, trades for the home and more!

If you are able to donate a prize, please simply email foundation@yvg.vic.edu.au to let us know.

We look forward to seeing you there!

On Friday 25 October we had a fabulous time at our inaugural Golden Alumni Luncheon. This event celebrated those that have been out of Yarra for 50+ years and was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect, reminisce and celebrate our shared history.

The luncheon was hosted on the school grounds and our alumni from 1971, 1972 and 1973 were able to connect and share many fond memories.

We invite all those from the 1971 – 1974 cohorts to set aside Friday 23 May 2025 for our next Golden Alumni Luncheon!