Newsletter Academic Christian Caring
ISSUE 5
TERM II 2015
Year 2 working on structures
Headmaster MANY STUDENT VOICES
I love this extract from the back page of the first TIGS Review for 2015. It says so much about the ethos of the School, the continuity in the school and vision for the School. •
“The Foundation looks forward to earning your respect and ultimately your involvement, as we partner with each other to achieve great things for this fine school – my school.” Craig Peden, TIGS Foundation Chairman and ex-student.
One of the Strategic Initiatives of TIGS’ Strategic Plan 2013 – 2017 is ‘The development of student voice in matters of student learning and wellbeing.” We have been forging ahead in achieving this outcome in two critical ways. The first is through the curriculum. By adopting a studentcentred enquiry model and the IB curriculum, teaching becomes more responsive to students and actively seeks their views and for them to become involved in the dialogue about their learning. The second is through the Student Representative Council, the SRC, through student leadership roles and through class, House, Year and Mentor groups where we actively seek input from all students on matters of their wellbeing. Currently we are involved in dialogue in both the Senior and Junior Schools of the Draft Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy and over the course of a year there are a variety of ways in which we gather and discuss student opinion and ideas. But in the course of such work I’ve become conscious of other versions of ‘Student Voice’ which lie outside our strategic brief yet are potent manifestations of the School and have become vehicles for shaping the essence of the School. It’s the voice we hear when one of our students represents the school in debating, or public speaking or when our students work as guides at Expo Day and talk with pride about their school to new and/or prospective students and their families. It’s a quote in the Review that gives a Year 7 student’s perspective of Artsfest “I loved seeing the House Captains and the teachers dancing and then we were all dancing because we were having so much fun.” It’s also the wall panels created by students at the Fete for “Beauty and the Beast” and that now adorn the northern wall of M Block. It’s the voice of the brother or sister or cousin or family friend
Monica Watt Acting Headmaster telling peers about what happens at TIGS. It’s often what excites new students about coming here and I’ve been hearing so much about those conversations this week as I interview our prospective Year 7 students for 2016. It’s a very powerful and potent voice. But the other Student Voice that I love is the voice of exstudents and their parents. Many talk with love about the School in the past. They speak of their desire for the very best for their children and their belief that that lies at TIGS. They know the School is different now but they know that our values, our community and our desire for the very best outcomes for all students are what drive us into the future. Monica Watt Acting Headmaster Mr Kinsella is currently on Sabbatical Leave. Mrs Watt is Acting Headmaster and will write about the experiences of 1975 in coming weeks while he is absent.
Chaplain’s Message THE LAW OF CHRIST
There are many times I am very proud of our School. Collett Smart’s visit to TIGS on Monday night to speak to parents about Gaming was an occasion that made me very proud. It wasn’t so much what Collett Smart spoke about – although this would have been enough in itself – it was the fact that we as a School were investing in our families to provide the assistance needed to build strong families. That’s what made me so proud. I have four children. Let me be more specific – I have four teenage children! I like to joke that this means I always have at least one big problem. The reality is I usually have more than one! Parenting is hard - very hard. I know I need all the help I can get to make any sort of success of parenting. I expect you are the same. No, I know you are the same. What made me so proud on Monday night was that our School leadership recognized this. By inviting Collett Smart to speak with parents our School leadership was saying that TIGS parents are as important as their children. It is a given that a school would do the very best for its children. It is not really required that a school invests in parents as well. But our School does. That’s what I am proud of.
Rev James Rogers Chaplain
There is a principle in the Bible that says we have a responsibility to assist one another to live successfully in the world. The principle is enunciated in Galatians 6.2. It reads: “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” This is exactly what was happening on Monday night. Our School leadership recognized that parents are struggling to know how to manage children’s Internet use, especially those children who have an unhealthy interest in Gaming. Many parents are really burdened by this issue; families are tearing at the seams. A regular school would say, “Sort it out.” Our School says, “Let us see how we can work together to help solve this issue.” The two approaches are poles apart. The “law of Christ” refers to behaviour that is modeled upon Jesus’ sacrificial service of us. When we were powerless to save ourselves, Jesus bore the punishment for our sins in his death on the cross. Any behaviour that helps another who can’t help themselves is designated “the law of Christ”. Collett Smart brought her great passion, experience and expertise to the issue of internet use and gaming. We needed her help and we were well served by her. Well done to our School leadership for modeling their behaviour on the behaviour of Jesus – for implementing the law of Christ. I am proud to be a member of a school community that provides this level of care not just for its children but also for its parents. Rev James Rogers Chaplain
2016 Enrolments We are now finalising placements for 2016 – particularly in Pre-Preparatory, Preparatory, Kindergarten and Year 7. Applications for Enrolment are now submitted online here or via our website: http://www.tigs.nsw.edu.au/enrolments/ enrolment-procedure Please contact our Enrolments Department on 4220 0216 should you have any questions.
Senior School EVERY TEACHER IS A LANGUAGE TEACHER Within the IB framework, one of the focus areas in all IB World Schools is that “every teacher is a language teacher”. The Illawarra Grammar School 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).
Greg Lanyon Acting Head of Senior School The International Baccalaureate® (IB) aims to do more than other curricula by “developing inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are motivated to succeed”. This overarching aim of the IB is one of the main motivations for The Illawarra Grammar School embarking on implementing the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Diploma Programme (DP). It provides a framework of teaching and learning which is internationally recognised as best practice.
In order to do this, all faculties throughout the Senior School will be responding to written assignments with a view to raising the profile of writing and the expectation that the quality of written work will be the best that it could be for the individual student. Striving to write well improves learning outcomes across all subject areas. This is why students are 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. Where a student has considerable knowledge and understanding of content, ensuring that their writing skills reflect the breadth and depth of what they know is vital to producing
a quality product. This process requires time and a preparedness to work with others, as they draft, proof read, re-draft and edit their writing. 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. In a practical sense, what can you do to help as a parent or carer? Firstly, encourage your son or daughter to read, proof and edit any writing they do. Secondly, show that you care about the quality of their writing by occasionally proof reading drafts or redrafts of written work. Making the time to do this is never easy and it shouldn’t be the expectation for every piece of work submitted. Nevertheless, a united approach to writing is likely to result in higher quality writing and communication in our students.
Greg Lanyon Acting Head of Senior School
Congratulations QUOTA INTERNATIONAL STUDENT OF THE YEAR
Very special congratulations to Ishara Wijesinghe for winning the Quota International Leisure Coast division of the 2015 Student of the Year quest last week. Ishara was interviewed by a panel of three from business, community and education sectors, as well as presenting a prepared and impromptu speech. Eight other senior students from Smith’s Hill, St Mary’s, Woonona, Keira and St Joseph’s competed. She will now go on to represent the Leisure Coast in the next level of the competition 22 August.
HICES DEBATING
Congratulations also to our Middle and Senior (Team 1) debaters who both won their HICES debates last week. Sally Briggs gets a special mention for bravely stepping up to debate in Ishara’s absence - thereby preventing a forfeit in our Open Division this round. Special thank you to Katrina Toland for her support, and accompanying our students to this event.
The TIGS Great Fete 2015! WHAT A FANTASTIC FETE The sun was (mostly) shining, the atmosphere was wonderful and there were lots of happy smiles. I’m sure you’ll agree this year’s Great Fete was a great day and fantastic event for the wider community. On behalf of the P and F, I wish to thank everyone who donated, visited, participated, performed, sponsored or contributed in some way. Behind the scenes, our fete committee, stall coordinators, school staff and volunteers (including extended family and friends) worked so hard to make the day happen and run smoothly. New parents and volunteers bravely put their hands up to run some of our regular stalls and new activities and did a fantastic job. The vast array of student talent was on display again and is one of the reasons why our Fete is so special - thank you to the Performing Arts Department and teachers for undertaking the challenge. Funds raised from this year’s Fete will be directed to continuing ‘green initiatives’ commenced with help of last year’s funds – in addition to water tanks installed outside Rees Hall, the school will soon undertake a waste audit that will inform a Sustainability Plan covering energy, water, transport, waste and recycling. We will also contribute to the installation of electronic informational signage for students throughout the school. Many thanks again for another great Great Fete! Benita Andrews 2015 Fete Coordinator P.S. Mounting the Great Fete is a huge undertaking that requires parent commitment and involvement to make it happen. To help understand why some people volunteer and some don’t, we’ll be sending out a parent survey I hope you can complete online.
The Arts CONCERTS IN TERM II Concerts start at 6.30pm, except the String Concert has two sessions with Junior School students from 4.30 to 5.30pm. All will be held in the Recital Room. Year 7 P – 12 String Concert Wednesday 3 June Year 8 P – 12 Piano Concert Wednesday 10 June Year 10 Guitar Concert Tuesday 23 June
Parents, staff and friends are invited to gather to pray for our School community
Wednesday 3 June 2015
7.30am - 8.20am In the
TIGS Goodhew Research Centre (Library) Academic • Christian • Caring
An International Baccalaureate World School
Breakfast and supervision is available for children
TIGS
Prayer
Breakfast
Please contact Mrs Moore on email nmoore@tigs.nsw.edu.au RSVP: Monday 1 June 2015
Book online www.tigs.nsw.edu.au
Junior School TIGS was proud to host Colette Smart this week at a teacher workshop and followed by a parent workshop on gaming. Colette shared with us her professional insight into the positives and negatives of gaming and encouraged teachers and especially parents to feel confident in their role of deciding what was appropriate content for their children, of not bowing to the “everyone else has it” argument and of monitoring both the usage and content of their children’s on line activity. A key finding she presented was that just by monitoring this usage, the time on line decreases, the access to inappropriate content decreases and the negative flow on behaviours also decrease. All through just monitoring!
Judi Nealy Head of Junior School Attitude of the week: Confidence - IB learners feel confident in their ability as learners, having the courage to take risks, apply what they have learned and make appropriate decisions. Look for opportunities to develop and affirm confidence with the children and to demonstrate it to them this week.
MERIT CERTIFICATES Academic
Dean Borbilas Payton Leitch Ashley Armstrong Spencer Newhouse Ashley Brewer Daniel Peden Keiran Reveley Oliver Johnson Maddison Tonkin Alexandra Da Deppo Ashwin Gogulan Rebecca Winn Callum Perrins Samarth Sirohi
So how do parents monitor? Computers in shared areas is a key strategy in monitoring, being able to see and walk past the screens being used is a simple strategy to monitoring what is happening. Colette also advocated that parents need to know their children’s passwords and be able to see their on line activity. Discussions about privacy were conducted, but the core message was that for children and parents, safety trumps privacy every time. Screens of any kind including phones in student bedrooms, was reinforced as a definite area of concern and to be avoided. Another of the take home messages for me from the Collette Smart session on gaming was “children need to feel bored”. That made me sit up and think! We spend so much of our time collaborating and planning to engage our students in authentic learning and this is central to designing excellent learning opportunities in the Junior School. How does allowing them to feel bored fit into this and is it relevant to our situation? Further reflection and discussion leads me to change the idea a little to that of “children need to have times of stillness and of non stimulation”. This is different to being bored, although when it is an unusual experience children can call it feeling bored. Much research points to the necessity of stillness, of quiet thought without stimulation for creativity to flourish. Time without screens each day is integral to developing creativity and other skills. The art of stillness is a lost one and one that is increasingly proposed as the solution to many issues experienced by both children and adults. Current theory on wellbeing for children, and adults, highlight the importance of mindfulness and stillness as part of a daily routine for general health and happiness. I have noticed in classrooms where teachers lead a very brief stillness routine at the end of recess and lunch before work commences, that the children are more focused, better behaved and produce better work. Quite often we can feel too busy to stop and be still and yet a minute of stillness can make our productivity and efficiency rise. Thinking more deeply still, I wonder if this could also be unpacked as a call to providing time each day for children to create their own stimulation rather than being mere consumers of it through screens and machines. When was the last time we threw a sheet over the dining chairs and allowed our young children to play? Creative play where children design the game and use items around the house or even no items at all provides wonderful opportunities for imagination, social interaction and fun. This is the reason why we do not allow Junior School children to use screens at recess and lunch and why we do not provide lots of toys in the outside environment. The children are more than capable of designing all manner of imaginative games with complex and changing rules to occupy their playtime. As the weekend approaches perhaps you will find a brief window of time to allow your children to be “bored”. I encourage you to allow them to design their own entertainment, using paper, paint, pens or open-ended toys. Even better perhaps, outside in a park or climbing a tree and grab a slice of stillness for yourselves. Parents need to feel “bored” also! Judi Nealy Head of Junior School
WEEKLY AWARDS KD
Addison Tarrant, Zara Clark
KH
Tobias Knight, Matilda Pead, Ambrose Nicolaou
KP
Naomi Fock, Darby Parrish
1T
Rhea Khanna, Yasmin Matar
1Y
Leonardo Attorre, Connor Hutchinson
1W
Samuel Williams, Calix Langton
2M
Alexandra Birch
2Mc
Annabelle Sheargold, Samra Tarrant
2S
Scarlett Ford, Lexi Mitchell, Ronak Jayswal
2T
William MacKay, Kayden Merritt
3WJ
Alexander Attorre, Georgie Lancaster
4M
Inaaya Kermali, Cody Maynes-Rutty
4Y
Sarah Partland, Angkit Jeyachandran
5G
Andrew Brown, Sophie Grasnick
6A
Hugo Parrish
6K
Harrison Kiteley, James Healey
Extend @ TIGS WEEK 7 ACTIVITIES: Monday 1 June: Nature craft Soccer
Tuesday 2 June:
Forest Nature Walk Jungle Gym
Wednesday 3 June: Nature Monsters Soccer
Thursday 4 June: Mad Science Mini Olympics
Friday 5 June:
Movie (G) and popcorn Soccer on the Oval “GILBERT THE GECKO” is arriving at TIGS on Tuesday 16 June at 4.30pm. ONLINE BOOKINGS: www.extend.com.au CALL OUR OFFICE: 1300 366 437
In the Community
TIGS Head of Junior School Judi Nealy will be sleeping out at Vinnies CEO Sleepout this June. Starting her campaign for support, Judi said ‘It is fantastic when communities get together to support a need or achieve a goal. I am very proud to represent TIGS at the Vinnies Sleepout in Wollongong. The 2015 Vinnies CEO Sleepout means CEOs from across the Illawarra will be joining St Vincent de Paul Wollongong Central Council president Denis Walsh on June 18, donning beanies and sleeping bags for a good cause. Since its humble beginnings 10 years ago, the national event has raised more than $24 million for homeless support services. This is the fourth year the Illawarra region will participate. ‘This program helps to resettle hundreds of people every year,’ Mr Walsh said. Vinnies Membership and Development Manager Teresa Harm believes the sleepout is more relevant than ever and homelessness is even greater now. Shelters, like the one in Coniston just a few streets away, are overwhelmed by the demand. Around Australia, more than 105,000 people experience homelessness every night and around 60 per cent of these are under the age of 35. These figures show why it is so important that leaders like Judi give up a night in the warm to help those need across the region. To support Judi in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout, please jump online and donate via Judi’s page https://www. ceosleepout.org.au/ceos/nsw-ceos/judi-nealy/. Thank you for your support!
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Sport SENIOR SCHOOL Students Success:
Congratulations to Ethan Dorrian-Nancarrow (Year 10) on his success at the All Schools Swimming Championships. 2nd 16 year boys 50m Butterfly, 2nd 16 year boys 100m Butterfly and 3rd 15-16 year boys butterfly. Ethan was selected in the Pacific School Games team to go to Adelaide later in the year. Well done!
JUNIOR SCHOOL Tennis Coaching
For any student interested in before school tennis lessons Parker’s tennis currently has vacancies. The currently have a lesson available on a Tuesdays from 8.30am to 9.00am and also Mondays and Thursdays from 7.00am to 7.30am.
NASSA Cross Country We had 57 students competing at Macarthur Anglican School on Friday 29 May for the NASSA Cross Country. We wish all of the TIGS students best of luck as they compete for a position at CIS.
If you are interested please contact Andrew Parker on 0407029731.
Parent Teacher Interviews Years 7-11 Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in the Goodhew Research Centre from 4.00pm to 7.30pm on the following dates: • Year 11 Monday 1 June • Year 8 Tuesday 9 June • Year 10 Monday 22 June • Year 9 Thursday 25 June • Year 7 Tuesday 21 July We will be using the booking system Parent Teacher On-Line (PTO) to arrange all interviews. Parents were sent their login details via email on Thursday, 21 May. Bookings will close at 10.00am on the day of the interview. Please ensure the School has a current email address so that your login details are sent to the correct place. Parents who do not have an email address listed with the School will be sent their login details via the post. If you have any questions regarding Parent Teacher Interviews please contact Courtney Brooks at: cbrooks@tigs.nsw.edu.au
UPCOMING
EVENTS
WEEK 7
Year 11 Parent Teacher Interview
4.00pm to 7.30pm Monday 1 June in the Goodhew Research Centre
Junior School Three Way Conferences Tuesday 2 June
TIGS Prayer Breakfast
7.30am to 8.20am Wednesday 3 June in the Goodhew Research Centre
Senior School AICES Cross Country
Thursday 4 June at Olympic Equestrian Centre, Horsley Park
Professional Learning Day/Pupil Free Day Friday 5 June
WEEK 8
Queen’s Birthday/Public Holiday Monday 8 June
Year 8 Parent Teacher Interviews
4.00pm to 7.30pm Tuesday 9 June in the Goodhew Research Centre
Junior School Three Way Conferences Wednesday 10 June
CIS Cross Country Thursday 11 June