Issue 4 Term II 2016 by The Illawarra Grammar School

Newsletter Academic Christian Caring

TIGS GREAT FETE

ISSUE 4

TERM II 2016

Headmaster It was a day to feel proud to be a member of the TIGS community. From my perspective it was an outstanding success. The financial outcome of the Great Fete this year is still being calculated but is likely to be around $43,000 which will contribute to the construction of the covered area for students near Drummond Drive at the bottom end of the campus. Mrs Dianne Bryant retired from her long and distinguished career as an educator last Friday. This may come as a surprise to some who remember her standing down as Head of Junior School at the end of 2008. Since that time Mrs Bryant has served the School in a part-time capacity in a variety of roles, including curriculum development and most recently in teaching students as a member of our Integration Unit for children with special needs.

Stephen Kinsella Headmaster Thank you to everyone that supported the Great Fete, which was held last Saturday. The general consensus was that it was the best attended fete in the history of the School. There was certainly an ‘Easter Show’ feel about the day. The day started with our youngest students on stage performing before their many admiring parents and grandparents and ended with the announcement of the winner of the wine raffle. In between, every food stall sold out and the volunteers at the specialty stalls were running out of goods to sell. Thank you to Melanie Silburn and her P & F Committee and the many volunteers and staff that set up, cleaned up, spent up and ate up - you made it a great day. Special thanks to the retiring volunteers on the Country Fare stall – you have served us well for many years. To all ‘retiring’ volunteers we say thank you - there is always a need for new volunteers. Was the Great Fete a success? The work of the volunteers and school staff has never been more generous. There has never been more people attending.

Mrs Bryant established a reputation as an experienced and capable educator and administrator during her career spanning 39 years, the last 18 years at TIGS. Her acknowledged expertise and understanding of the educational needs of children and her standing in the profession are a testament to her years of devoted service to children and the support of their parents. The strength of our programmes and the wonderful outcomes that our children achieve are a fitting tribute to her years of dedicated service. We particularly acknowledge her skill as a caring leader of students, parents and staff and her commitment to doing what is best for the children under her care, even at the expense of her own personal interest and wellbeing. We have been fortunate to have had such a capable and devoted person as a member of the TIGS community and we offer her our sincere appreciation and thanks for her outstanding service to our school. Congratulations Mrs Bryant on a wonderful career and thank you for the positive difference you have made in the lives of the children and families that have crossed your path. Change is underway in the Uniform Shop. The TIGS Uniform Shop will be operated by Perma-A-Pleat from the end of Term II. Perm-A-Pleat is an

independent family owned company that has operated for over 35 years and have over 30 uniform shops in schools across the country. PermA-Pleat are committed to quality and customer service and will bring some improvements to TIGS such as improved buying power leading to reduced prices and improved online capabilities. The decision to engage Perma-A-Pleat was made to coincide with the decision of our current Uniform Shop Manager, Mrs Olga Early, to move on from her current duties. Mrs Early has offered to be the School’s representative during the changeover to ensure that the quality of the TIGS uniform shop services are maintained. Mrs Early has been an enthusiastic supporter of the School since 2000, the year her son James was enrolled at TIGS. She took on the responsibility of Uniform Shop Manager from Mrs Baird and has served in this position for almost 9 years. She will not be lost to School, as she will continue in her new role of Chair of the TIGS Foundation. I would like to thank Mrs Early for her service and dedication over the last 16 years and I look forward to her continued association with the school through TIGS Foundation. For those who want to contact her personally, her last day of work will be 16 June. The Uniform Shop will close at the end of Week 8 (Friday 17 June) for stocktake and minor repairs/refurbishment. The Uniform Shop will then reopen in the week commencing 18 July (the last week of the school holidays). Stephen Kinsella Headmaster

Chaplain’s Message SACRED SPACE I am reading a book at the moment called ‘Christians as Teachers’. It is by Geoff Beech who works with the National Institute for Christian Education in Sydney. The book is a robust analysis of Christian Education as well as an assessment of what it means to be a Christian Educator. One of the chapters begins with a quote from Wendell Berry’s poem How To Be a Poet. I found the quote enlightening: There are no unsacred places; There are only sacred places And desecrated places. We are often prone to carve life up into sacred and secular domains. The sacred concerns those practices that are explicitly linked to God such as church, prayer, Bible reading and the like. The secular concerns the normal everyday stuff of life such as marriage, work, entertainment and so on. Christian educators have been working hard over the years to dismiss the legitimacy of a sacred-secular divide. The usual line of argument is that God has pronounced all of creation good so that all enterprise is worthy and valid. I wholly agree with this line of reasoning; it is one we stand firmly behind here at TIGS. But there is something it does

not account for. That is, the damaging effects of sin in our world. Sin will often lead to our misuse or even abuse of the good things God has given us. How do we articulate this without falling into a sacred-secular divide where some activities become more legitimate than others? I think Wendall Berry shows us how in the above-mentioned quote. This is a wonderful affirmation of the goodness of all of life but also an acknowledgement of how we can often defile the good things God has given us. I especially like how Berry puts it in terms commensurate with the Bible. The Bible has a lot to say about holiness. The Greek root for the holiness/sacred language of the Bible is hagios. It denotes something or someone which has been set apart for the service of God. The Bible’s vision is that all of life ought to be dedicated to the service and glory of God. In other words, all of life is to be holy. Too often, however, we set things apart (and even ourselves) to be self-serving. We fall short of our true purpose in life. I like how Berry describes this activity. It does not necessarily involve us pursuing illegitimate activities. Instead, it is a desecration of what is good and right and proper – what ought to be holy. Berry reminds us that a full engagement

Rev James Rogers Chaplain in life is legitimate, as long as it is directed to the right end – the service and glory of God. In this way he helps us appreciate the full sense of what we read in 1 Corinthians 10.31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Rev James Rogers

Parents, staff and friends are invited to gather to pray for our School community Breakfast and supervision is available for children

Tuesday 7 June 2016

7.30am - 8.20am In the

TIGS Goodhew Research Centre (Library) Academic • Christian • Caring

An International Baccalaureate World School

TIGS

Prayer

Breakfast

RSVP Friday 3 June 2016 EMAIL mdouglas@tigs.nsw.edu.au Any enquiries, please contact Mrs Douglas on 4220 0284

Junior School SAFETY AFTER SCHOOL Our School campus is a busy place with multiple things happening every afternoon. We need the support of all parents and our whole community in ensuring that the children are supervised and safe. Recently I have noticed children playing around campus whilst not under the direct supervision of an adult (either teacher or parents). This is a difficult situation for both the staff and for other children whose parents are either in car line or not on campus. This week, staff have been directing and reminding students of the dismissal procedures that apply to all children in the Junior School. Thank you to our parents who support us in reminding the children of these rules and the reasons why they must be implemented. For your information, the requirements are as follows:

Judi Nealy Deputy Headmaster, Head of Junior School

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES Wednesday 1 June Prep - Year 12 Brass & Woodwind Concert Recital Room - 6.30pm Monday 6 June Prep - Year 12 Piano Concert Recital Room Junior School - 4.00pm Senior School - 6.30pm Tuesday 7 June Junior School 3-way Conferences Thursday 9 June Junior School 3-way Conferences Friday June 10 PD/Pupil Free Day

After School Activities

Students doing after school activities must wait quietly on the amphitheatre for the activity to commence. They are not to play handball or any other game. At the conclusion of the activity, they are to be collected by parent/s and if not, will be escorted to TIGS Extend.

Car Line

Junior School students can only be collected from Drummond Drive Car line. Students are not permitted to walk up to the Powell Street car park or to Western Avenue to wait with older siblings. All Junior School students being collected by car must sit in the supervised area and be escorted to the car by a staff member. Parents are also asked to check for people walking behind their cars before opening car boots and tailgates.

Buses

Students travelling on the TIGS buses must wait on the amphitheatre until the teacher on duty collects them to walk to the TIGS busses. Students catching buses from the Princes Highway sit in the supervised car line area until their bus arrives.

Library Access Students in Years 5 and 6 may access the School Library in the afternoon for quiet study or homework. These students meet on the amphitheatre and are directed to the library at 3:10pm when Senior classes conclude. They must sign in at the Library reception and be signed out when they are collected by parents. They must remain in the Library until they are collected.

Students Walking Home

Students who walk home of an afternoon are to wait on the amphitheatre until 3:10pm when they are dismissed by a teacher to walk home.

Access to Playground Equipment

Students are not permitted to play on any play equipment unless directly supervised by a staff member or their parent. This is an important safety rule and any students noted doing this will be escorted either to the car line waiting area, the amphitheatre waiting area or to the Junior School office.

Prep Siblings

Siblings of Prep students are provided with a supervised waiting area in the 4M classroom.

Before School Arrangements

Supervision is provided at the amphitheatre from 8:00am until play commences at 8.20am. Children arriving early to school are to come straight to the amphitheatre with their bags.

Music Lessons

Children having music lessons before or after school are to be under the direct supervision of their tutor or parents. Siblings are not to play near the music tutor rooms during the lesson, they are to follow the procedures outlined above. That all sounded awfully bossy didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it?!! However, it is very important that we have routines and processes to keep our students safe before and after school. I appreciate the assistance of all school families in making sure we know where the children are before and after school and in keeping them safe at school each day.

Extend@TIGS WEEK 5 ACTIVITIES

Weekly Awards KD

Tyler Little Anushka Bartholomeusz

Evie Rahim Justine McGuire

Isabella Nicholson Gabriel Beebe

Samantha Cowie Naomi Fock

2MC

Grace Russo Elizabeth Hoskins

Alexandra Da Deppo Leonardo Attorre

Samuel Robinson Mackenzie Pead

Geraint Dodd

ONLINE BOOKINGS: extend.com.au

Abha Mundada Jocelyn Ayers

CALL OUR OFFICE: 1 300 366 437

Eloisa Tresidder Alexander Attorre

Glory Obinwanor Jude De Araujo

Rebecca Winn Sarah Partland Jack Parker

Molly Buikstra Euan Christopher

Ryan Jinks Zoe Turner

Monday 30 May Craft: Dream Catcher Sport: Soccer Tuesday 31 May Activity: Paper Chains Outdoor sport: Dodgeball Wednesday 1 June Science: Marshmallow Challenge Activity: Soccer Thursday 2 June Craft: Paper Mache Bowls Sport: Soccer Friday 3 June Craft: Recycle Craft Sport: Hide and Seek

Merit Certificates 1Y

Jude Lozenkovski

Tahlie Oxman

2MC

Grace Russo

Jocelyn Ayers Abha Mundada

Christian Vujic

Rebecca Winn Sarah Partland

WINTER HOLIDAY PROGRAM BOOKINGS ARE OPEN! Book by the deadline to take advantage of lower rates! NSW booking deadline: Friday 24 June

We have heaps of fun activities planned these school holidays and can’t wait for you to attend! Join in on Extend’s own mini Olympics tournament and aim for gold! Have fun with science experiments, come along in costume and join in on our party afternoons, and participate in a bunch of craft activities and team games. Join in on all this and more at Extend’s Winter Holiday Program. To check out what’s on visit our website at extend.com.au and book via the Parent Portal. Extend@TIGS has a lot of different and exciting upcoming events organised. Last week we had heaps of fun creating Marshmallow Towers, Story Books and Bubbles. We also played dodgeball, soccer, assorted ball games and handball. This week we have a range of exciting science, craft and cooking activities planned so please come along and join in on all the fun.

Senior School

FOCUS ON WRITINGwrite a story about what happened to

a character after reading a sign. There were pictures of four alternative signs to choose from and the writer was asked to consider the characters, the complication and how the story will end. As you may have guessed, the aim of this exercise was to allow our teachers to feel the emotions and difficulties associated with constructing a piece of writing from scratch and completing it in a set time frame. Teachers then formed groups to peer assess each other’s writing, using a set of criteria considering audience, text structure, character, setting, sentence structure, ideas and vocabulary.

Greg Lanyon Acting Head of Senior School

A number of students were quite bemused on Monday afternoon after school when they observed their teachers in the IGC, sitting in rows of desks, engrossed in what appeared to be an examination. In fact, all staff P-12 were engaged in attempting to write a timed narrative from a recent Year 9 NAPLAN test. The task was to

The discussion that followed this activity provided an insight for all of us into some of the frustrations that our students feel when asked to do such tasks. A sample of the comments that I heard during the debrief were; “I wished I had planned this before I started”, “I was enjoying writing but I didn’t finish” and “I should have paid more attention to the task instructions”. The task allowed teachers to better empathise with the students they teach and understand the difficulties they sometimes face. The follow-up will be on the next Professional Learning Day when this insight and understanding will be embedded into the teaching and learning programmes of each of the faculties within the Senior School. This is part of an ongoing approach to achieving excellence in writing across the school.

This approach fits well with the International Baccalaureate® (IB) framework, where one of the focus areas in all IB World Schools is that “every teacher is a language teacher”. TIGS has, as part of the MYP implementation, selected Communication, in the area of Writing, as a whole school focus for the implementation of the required “Approaches to Learning Skills “(ATLs). The aim is that this will flow through to the final years of school when students are required to really extend their writing in both the HSC and DP courses. Striving to write well improves learning outcomes across all subject areas. This is why students will be explicitly taught the skills of good writing in all subject areas and will be asked by all their teachers to attend to their writing and to reflect on the quality of their work. Empowering students to feel confident when approaching a written task, improves their sense of control and their general wellbeing. As most parents would appreciate, promoting the value of writing requires a partnership between parents, students and teachers. MYP Approaches to Learning Skills, enable us to claim that we all value writing at TIGS and will continue to strive towards achieving excellence in writing across the whole school. Greg Lanyon

TIGS Foundation BUSINESS DIRECTORY Have you been online recently to visit the new initiative of TIGS Foundation? TIGS Community Business Directory enables TIGS families to promote their business/s by advertising their details on the TIGS website. There is an annual fee of $300 per business each calendar year for advertising in the Directory. Applications are currently being taken. The Business Directory will provide an opportunity to strengthen and tighten the bonds between the School, parents and the businesses contained within the School Community. If you are interested and would like to be involved please phone, Lisa Wilson on 4220 0264 or Joanne Danckwardt 0426 264 771, or email: foundation@tigs.nsw.edu.au TIGS reserves the right to decline any advertisement or request changes before accepting any submissions.

Senior School Sport YEARS 9 & 10 ALL SCHOOLS & NASSA GALA DAY

TIGS students have been extremely active in a range of touch football competitions during the last six weeks.

comprised of Year 10 students, were competitive in every game and achieved some pleasing results.

At the end of last term, TIGS entered a boys and girls team in the Years 9/10 NSW All Schools regional qualifier at Dalton Park. Both teams were very competitive with the boys achieving third place and the girls reaching the final, only to lose by a solitary try.

All players are to be congratulated for their efforts and sportsmanship throughout both carnivals.

Congratulations to both teams for your outstanding effort throughout the day. Two weeks ago, TIGS entered an U/15 and OPEN girls’ and U/15 and OPEN boys’ teams in the NASSA Touch carnival at Dalton Park, Fairy Meadow. The U/15 Boys finished runners-up in their division losing the final by only one try. The boys were outstanding in their efforts with three players, Michael Kyriakoudes, Trent Ledwidge and Austin Pallone being rewarded with selection in the NASSA team to compete at the AICES carnival last week. The U/15 girls’ and OPEN girls’ teams also performed exceptionally well finishing third after losing close semifinals. Zoe Dribbus, Emma Franco and Cartia Taranto are to be congratulated on their selection in the U/15 NASSA team that competed last week at the AICES carnival. The OPEN boys displayed great commitment in their respective divisions. The boys, despite being

CIS CUP GIRLS FOOTBALL

On Friday 20 May, the TIGS Open Girls Football team travelled to Croydon to play against Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) in the quarter final of the CIS Football Cup. TIGS started the game quite slowly, conceding two early goals, to go down 2-0 after ten minutes.

U/15 BOYS – RUNNERS-UP

Austin Pallone, Nick Peros, Michael Kyriakoudes, Giovanni Nassau, Henri Richards-Palk, Trent Ledwidge, Samuel Aubin, Luke Wilson, James Healey, Dean Borbilas. Coach: Mr Chamberlain

U/15 GIRLS – 3RD

Cartia Taranto, Ashley Dribbus, Zoe Dribbus, Sarah Kingsman, Kayla McNamara, Claire Nguyen, Amy Gibbons, Emma Franco, Claire Smallhorn, Amy Logan. Coach: Mrs Cassidy

OPEN BOYS –7th

Samuel Shalala, Blake McDougall, Joshua Shalala, Harley Martignago, Christian Kyriakou, Nicholas Grozdanov, Ethan Hennessy, Elliot Hutt, Aiden Wingate, Vincent Chauvet Coach: Mr Southcombe

OPEN GIRLS – 3rd

Alexandra Lavalle, Alexis Hubble, Ailish Manners, Caitlin Chadrawy, Sarah Mammone, Isabel Bodey, Klara Zecevic, Brittony Smallhorn Coach: Mr Edgerton

After that, TIGS began to take control of the game and scored a goal to go in to half-time 2-1 down. The TIGS girls showed great character in the second half, dominating possession and were rewarded with three unanswered goals to win the game 4-2. The team was Isabel Bodey, Iluka

Budai, Emilia Bujaroska, Margaux Chauvet, Zoe Correa, Ashley Dribbus, Zoe Dribbus, Emma Franco, Anastasia Grozdanov, Milli Haber, Grace Hennessy, Rebekah Hutton, Carys Jenkins, Lilly Sands, Cartia Taranto.

RUGBY 7’S

TIGS took three teams to the annual South Coast Schools Rugby 7’s at Kiama last week. All teams were competitive across the day and we had some close games with all players making positive contributions to the team. The U/15 and Open Team made it to the Semi-finals. The U/14s, led by Year 9 student Giovanni Nassau, played three games, narrowly losing their games against Nowra Anglican and Edmund Rice College. Improving each game, the team won their final game against a second Edmund Rice team. The U/16s, led by Blake McDougall, successfully made the semi-finals after winning two out of three games in their pool. They lost the semi-final to Edmund Rice College who eventually went on to win the day convincingly. The opens team, led by Evan Jenkins in Year 12, were also successful in making it through to the semi-finals after beating Nowra Anglican and St Joeseph’s of Albion Park in their pool. They narrowly missed out on the final after going down to Nowra High School in the semi-final. The teams consisted of: Samuel Aubin, Vincent Chauvet, Sebastian Di Noro, Mitchell Ferguson, Joshua FullertonHarvey, Luca Gibbs, Noah Gibbs, Benon Harris, Ethan Hennessy, Elliot Hutt, Eli Ireland, Noah Ireland, Ethan Jackson, Evan Jenkins, Henry Jenkins, Isaiah Kennedy, Thomas King, Christian Kyriakou, Daniel Laing, Dylan Lees, Harley Martignago, Max Mason, Blake McDougall, Kai Middleton, Dylan Miles, Tiger Miles, Tayib Muttaqi, Giovanni Nassau, Jonty Negus, Maxwell Okely, Samuel Okely, Hugo Parrish, Nicholas Rogers, Joshua Shalala, Samuel Shalala

NASSA ATHLETICS

Please note the correct date for NASSA Athletics is Wednesday 15 June 2016 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. The top two athletes from each event will represent TIGS at the Carnival.

UP AND COMING SPORTS EVENTS

Tuesday 31 May CIS Touch Football Thursday 2 June AICES Cross Country Wednesday 8 June AICES Netball Thursday 9 June AICES Rugby

“Lions, tigers and bears...oh my!”

23 - 25 June 2016 FOR SESSION TIMES AND TO BOOK TICKETS VISIT

www.tigs.nsw.edu.au

Academic • Christian • Caring

An International Baccalaureate World School

UPCOMING

EVENTS

WEEK 6

Year 9 Camp P-12 Brass and Woodwind concert 6.30pm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Wednesday 1 June in the Recital Room

WEEK 7

P-12 Piano concert

Monday 6 June in the Recital Room Junior School - 4.00pm Senior School - 6.30pm

TIGS Prayer Breakfast

7.30am Tuesday 7 June in the Goodhew Research Centre (Library)

Junior School 3-way Conferences Tuesday 7 June and Thursday 9 June in Rees Hall

Year 11 Parent Teacher Interviews 4.00pm - 7.30pm Wednesday 8 June Goodhew Research Centre (Library) Pupil Free Day Friday 10 June