Issue 7 Term 1, 2010

NEWSLETTER

Headmasters Message Thank you Head of Senior School Chaplain Junior School Issue 7 Term I, 2010

Academic • Christian • Caring

Thank you Over 500 people visited TIGS on Expo Day last Saturday. They were able to speak to staff, students and parents about what it means to be a part of the TIGS community and to hear first hand about learning at TIGS. The most frequent comment heard from our visitors was that there was a lovely ‘atmosphere’ about the School. This could not be achieved by the action of any one person. It is the outcome of the combined efforts of everyone striving to do their best and being proud of our School. 88% of our visitors said they were referred to TIGS by members of our community.

Thank you to everyone that made it such a special day.

Special acknowledgement is due to the teachers and students of Year 11 Creative and Performing Arts for their wonderful presentation ‘Beyond Bundanon’ at Expo Day. This special exhibition was inspired by Arthur Boyd and his beautiful property on the banks of the Shoalhaven River where the students spent several days at the beginning of term.

The works of art on display were inspiring, as was the original composition by our Music 2 students. However, the thing I appreciated most was the creative energy released by students when they collaborated with students gifted in other disciplines. Artists, photographers, and performers in drama and music combined to explore the theme of ‘A Special Place’, inspired by Arthur Boyd’s special place.

Teaching and learning at TIGS places great value on the academic disciplines but does not limit the understanding of our world to potentially disconnected subjects. This is at the heart of our approach to learning.

Stephen Kinsella Headmaster

The academic disciplines provide the framework from which effective learning takes place. They provide rigor to learning which can occur at a deeper level when students can draw on the thinking and accumulated wisdom of all those that have thought, researched and published in each subject area.

A fascinating and revealing exercise for students is to have them describe a flower from the point of view of a particular academic discipline. Typically, Biologists describe petals, stamen and stigma. Artists describe depth of colour, sensory stimulus and aesthetic appeal, while Economists describe unit costs, the benefits of economies of scale and utility. All three correctly describe the same flower and would pass any test on the subject but fall short of fully understanding the richness and complexity of the flower without the benefit of knowledge of the other disciplines.

Students at TIGS demonstrate consistently that they can ‘pass the test’ given the outstanding results they achieve in public examinations. However, as our Statement of Mission and Values suggests, learning at TIGS goes beyond the academic disciplines: “Individual academic disciplines provide a knowledge base and framework for understanding the world. The School is also committed to students achieving an enriched understanding that comes through interdisciplinary and transdiciplinary learning, building on the academic disciplines.” (1.4) ‘Beyond Bundanon’ provides just one example of how this is achieved. The Transdisciplinary Themes being explored in the Junior School under the Primary Years Program (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) is another. Under the PYP, students study units of work through six transdisciplinary themes: • • • • • •

Who we are?

Sharing the planet How we organise ourselves?

How the world works?

How we express ourselves?

Where we are in place and time?

We value the academic disciplines and the greater understanding that comes when the boundaries between the disciplines are removed.

“It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated” (Alec Bourne)

Stephen Kinsella Headmaster

Chaplain’s Connection

‘Lost?’

Some people are wonderful at finding their way around. Show them the route once, and they never forget it. Mention a street name and they not only remember where it is, but can visualise where your house is on it. It’s as if, like homing pigeons, they have some in-built direction-finding or self-orientation mechanism. Others are more directionallychallenged. These are the people who thank God for the invention of GPS navigation devices Douglas Corrigan could have used GPS. He was an American aviator who flew from Long Beach, California, to New York; and from there to Ireland. The problem was that his flight plan had specified that from New York he would return to Long Beach. He had not been cleared for a flight to Ireland! The amiable Irishman claimed it was a “navigational error” and bad conditions caused him to misread his compass. He earned the nickname “Wrong Way Corrigan.” To be fair, some historians claim that actually there was no “error”, and that he had deliberately set out to visit the land of his ancestors without first seeking the appropriate authorisation. I guess we’ll never know for sure.

What causes some people to get lost more than others? Some recent research into Williams Syndrome may have found a cause. Williams Syndrome occurs in one in 7,500 people and results from the lack of a small amount of genetic material from one human chromosome. Individuals with the syndrome tend to have strong language skills and to be extremely social, but struggle with tasks like doing puzzles or copying patterns.

John Reed

They also have trouble navigating their bodies through the physical world, according to a new study conducted by researchers from three Universities in America. They Chaplain compared the navigation skills of normally developed adults and children with people who have Williams syndrome. Lead author Laura Lakusta said: “We found that people who suffer from the genetic disorder Williams syndrome have trouble reorienting themselves ... Our finding that individuals with Williams syndrome show this kind of impairment suggests an important link between genes and the system that is used for reorientation.”

Whether or not getting physically lost is a result of a genetic flaw, it is true that getting spiritually lost is a trait we all share.

‘Lostness’ is a recurring theme of the teaching of Jesus: he told stories about lost coins, lost sheep, and lost sons (see Luke 15).

Those stories were about us being lost, far from God and unable to find our way home. And Jesus described his mission with these words: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10).

Senior School Last Weekend’s ‘Beyond Bundanon’ was an exhibition of works created in a unique setting at Arthur Boyd’s beautiful Shoalhaven property of Bundanon. An experience such as this at the beginning of Year 11 really awakens students to diverse creative possibilities and again in the words of the Strategic Plan ‘extends each student’s understanding of themselves and their capabilities.’

That sense of creative inspiration and wonder was reflected in the works themselves and for many students these beginnings will grow and develop into Major Works for the HSC so that we can see in the final works the rich and complex research, revisions and refinements that take place in their journey to the final works. Please mark the date in your diary to see this Year 12’s Major HSC Works at The Works Exhibition on August 27th and 28th. You will be amazed by their journey.

Monica Watt

Deputy Headmaster

This week I reflected on another aspect of the School’s great tradition of development in the Arts when I was photographed in front of a beautiful painting entitled ‘Solitude’ which was the Major Work of a student from the HSC Class of ’77, Leanne Shead. The photograph was for a Mercury article called “My Favourite Work of Art” which appears in their Weekend Magazine. In those days before Art Express, Leanne’s painting won a prestigious Regional Acquisitive Award sponsored by Wollongong Art Gallery, was displayed in the Gallery and then took its place in the Gallery’s Collection.

The painting was offered to the School three years ago when the Gallery was rationalising its collection. We were delighted to be able to re-connect with this work. Leanne now lives and paints in Tuscany and when I told her about our acquisition she was happy to have her work as part of the permanent TIGS collection.

It’s wonderful to know that a number of our ex-students do continue on their creative journey and that at TIGS, in the words of the Mission Statement, “each child is given the opportunity to identify and develop their gifts and talents to the fullest extent.”

Last year Ben Edols referred to this in his address at The 50th Anniversary Works Exhibition. In years to come – maybe even thirty years - perhaps some members of the Class of 2010 will return to the school as accomplished artists and reflect back to their experiences at Bundanon and ‘Beyond Bundanon.’

Junior School It was a wonderful day last Saturday in more ways than one. The weather was beautiful, it was TIGS Expo Day and we had many members of our Junior School community here proudly displaying their talents and giving up their time to show visitors around our School.

Service Leadership is an important focus in our School and it was encouraging to see this in action on the weekend.

Thank you to all the staff, students and parents who were involved.

International mindedness and open mindedness were also in action last week at the Korobran Parents Luncheon. Our old, outdated TIGS uniforms will have a new home in an overseas country where they are desperately needed in a local school. It is a great opportunity for the TIGS community to put into practice some of the values and attitudes emphasized in the PYP. Please donate to this worthy cause by dropping your old uniforms at the Junior School Office. The funds raised from the luncheon will go towards posting the uniforms overseas.

Our Year 2 students had their own unique experience last week. They have written a report for your enjoyment.

Judi Nealy

Traditional Aboriginal Culture

Head of Junior School

Incursion - Year 2 Last Friday 2A and 2Y had some Aboriginal people visit their classrooms. These people were from the National Parks and Wildlife Service and had come to teach us about the Aboriginal culture of the south coast.

Firstly, we learnt about women’s business. The role of the Aboriginal women was to collect bush tucker. They collected the bush tucker in a bag called a ‘dilly’ bag which was worn around their head. We tasted some of the bush tucker they had collected, such as sarsaparilla leaves that were different shades of red and were very sweet. The Aboriginal people used this plant to ward off colds. The female Elder, named Diedre, showed us how the Aboriginals used the Banksia flower to brush their hair. She combed Micah’s hair with the Banksia flower and he looked very handsome!

After recess, we learnt about men’s business. The role of the Aboriginal men was to hunt for food to share with the whole tribe. The Aboriginal boys told us it was very important to the Aboriginal people that plants, animals and the environment were respected by only taking from the bush what was needed. Then they showed us a variety of awesome-looking spears and some of us had a go of holding them.

Before lunch we all had the opportunity of throwing boomerangs and having our faces painted. They used red and grey ochre on our faces; even Mrs Ash and Mr Yeo had their faces painted.

After this we walked down to the bottom oval to watch the men start a fire by using kindling sticks and grass. Making fire looked like hard work as you had to rub the sticks really quickly without stopping just to make one tiny ember. Next, we listened to the Aboriginal boys play the didgeridoo. They then chose some girls to play the clapping sticks while the rest of us did the ‘emu dance’. We all enjoyed dashing about the oval imitating emus in the bush.

After lunch the women showed us how to weave. Weaving was important so the men could use the rope they made to make nets and fix tips to the spears. It was really tricky as we had to twist the reed then wrap it around itself. I thought it was a bit like plaiting hair. We all made a lovely patterned bracelet to take home. Weaving takes a long time, imagine how long it would take to make a basket or a ‘dilly’ bag!

2A and 2Y learnt a lot about Aboriginal culture and how Aboriginal people separate roles and responsibilities but worked towards a common purpose. It was an exciting day. Both the students and the teachers had a great time with our visitors.

Zander Curren

KM

Jude McCann

KP

Ben Giason, Mika Treverrow

JUNIOR SCHOOL AWARDS

KH

1S

Isobel Kinnear, Rory Swainson

1W

Harrison Webb, Megan Ashford

2A

Annie McLearie, James Gorham, Shay Harper

2Y

Annabel Malouf, Nathan Bridge

3A

Sarah Jansen

3Y

Hallam Roberts, Benae Kuiper

4M

Daniel Dragutinovich, Joshua Shalala

4B

Ethan Jackson

5S

Patrick Li, Anton Lopac

T I GS

E x te n d e d

Mical enjoying targeting maths for fun Uno is a fun card game

5/6W Lucinda Paine, Meg Kunkler 6M

Mikhail Nathoo, NathanNagaratnam, Ho Cheol Cha

6C

Jessica Evans

No hat no play

Moveable Easter bunny

Benon playing Uno

Miss Indy with the children playing Uno

Australian Commonwealth Games Trials

Congratulations

n

eo K c M Emma of Year 10

Recently in the media there have been updates of the Australian Commonwealth Games Trials for Swimming. On the second last night of competition one of our own TIGS students Emma McKeon of Year 10 swam her way into the Women’s 50m Freestyle final. To earn her spot in the final she had to swim against 62 swimmers in the heats where she finished 4th, behind swimmers like Sweden’s Alshammar (World Record holder and Olympic medalist), one of Australia’s young up and coming super stars Yolane Kukla and Olympic medalist Cate Campbell. Later that night Emma swam in the semi-finals and placed 6th out of the 16 swimmers. The next night she had to back her performance up for the final. Realising that in a 50m race the difference from 1st and 8th is normally less then a second her parents, Ron and Sussie McKeon, and brother David and sister Kaitlin knew Emma had a shot of making the Commonwealth Games team.

It was a long nervous wait; Emma swam a great swim with a new personal best time. The winner swam 25.08 and Emma went 25.53. Although Emma missed out on being selected on the team she has now been given a NSW Institute of Sport Scholarship. Currently there is only a hand full of swimmers privileged enough to have these scholarships – well done Emma.

One of the other scholarship holders is training partner and exTIGS student Robert Hurley, who has made the Australian Pan Pac and Commonwealth Games team based on his dominating performance at the trials. Robert won the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events.

What is in store for this young swimmer? Currently Emma is in an Australian female target squad, preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games. How she swims at the upcoming Australian Age titles these holidays will determine if she makes any Junior Australian Swim teams for this year. At the moment however, Emma is focusing on catching up with friends and also all the school work that she has missed.

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Junior School Sports Regional Futsal

Last week TIGS participated in the Regional Futsal competition held at Berkeley sports stadium.

The under 10’s boys and under 12 boys and girls teams represented the School admirably and demonstrated great sportsmanship throughout the day. All teams performed very well in the group stages of the competition and each made it through to the semi-finals where they narrowly lost each of their games. Congratulations to each of the teams on a great day.

Chick here for a list of the team

NASSA Gala Day

On Monday 24 March TIGS participated in the NASSA boys and girls gala day in Penrith.

Both teams played very well and again demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship in all of their games.

The boys’ team only lost one of their six games, but unfortunately missed out on winning the competition.

The girls’ team were undefeated and went on to win the competition convincingly. Congratulations to Louis Parsons-O’Malley, Harrison Taranto and Peter Kyriakoudes who were selected into the NASSA team which will go to CIS in term II. Thank you to both teams on another great day and well done.

Chick here for a list of the team

Senior School Sports Billabong Surfing Camp for Illawarra Region

Senior Cricket

Date: Friday 9 and Saturday 10 April Venue: North Wollongong Surf Club For more information on the event please visit http://www.supersurfcamps.com/ billagong.aspz or the local Billabong Surf Shop to collect a enrolment form.

South Coast Regional Championships

Futsal

Please click here to read about the South Coast Regional Futsal Championships

Disability Sports Calander

Please click here to view the Communities Sport and Recreation Monthly Disability Sports Calander.

NASSA Netball Trials

With our win over Penrith Anglican TIGS were awarded the NASSA Championship for 2009/2010.

TIGS batted first and after a strong display by most batsmen the team compiled 192 from 35 overs. Benjamin Toussis (68) was the backbone of the innings and was well supported by Rahil Verma (26) Ross Sharpe (22) Matthew Scararelli (16). In reply some excellent bowling restricted Penrith to 147. A number of bowlers shared in the wickets: Hamish McIntosh (2-21), Mateya Tomii (1-17), Alec Adams (1-8), Rahil Verma (1-22), Robert Gyngell (1-16), Bradley Burt (1-15), Nikil Verma (1-25).

On Wednesday 17th March, the following girls travelled up to Minto Indoor Sports Centre to represent TIGS at the NASSA Netball trials.

The girls enjoyed playing a number of games with and against players from Broughton Anglican, Penrith Anglican, McArthur Anglican, Bankstown Grammar, Thomas Hassal and St Lukes Grammar.

Congratulations to the following girls who were selected in the NASSA Netball Teams.

Click here to veiw.

Congratulations to Rahil Verma who was selected to trial for the NSW Country Schools Cricket Team.

Study Skills & Strategies Course For Students In Year 7 Please click here for more information on study skills & strategies course for students in Year 7.

TIGS EXPO DAY Thank you to all those wonderful parents, friend, staff and students who made our TIGS Expo day the huge success that it was.

jesus christ

The cast of the 2010 Senior School Production Jesus Christ Superstar will be performing a selection of songs at the Rotary Music in the Rainforest Concert on Sunday the 28 March. Also playing at this event will be the Lamplighters Choir.

The concert begins at 2.00pm and will be held at the Mt Keira Scout camp and is open to the public.

Come along and experience a little snippet of what is to come.

Important message

Pizza Dates on the menu should read 1 April 2010

NEW MENU COMING FOR TERMs 2 &3 For Canteen Menu, Roster Information or Junior School specials, please access the Canteen Link under School Community on the Web Site.

If you would like to join our friendly team please click here to download a canteen volunteer request form and return it to the school, attention the canteen.

Alternatively you can ring the canteen directly on 4220 0241 7am – 2pm or email canteen@tigs.nsw.edu.au

Monday 29 March

Monday 19 April

Tuesday 30 March

Tuesday 20 April

Wednesday 31 March

Wednesday 21 April

Thursday 1 April

Thursday 22 April

Jan Osbourne Linda Edmund

Clare Barber Tracey Jansen

JS & SS Cross Country

Marie Mc Corquodale

Rose Dragutinovich Lauren Cunio Susie Wynn Jones

Barbara Mandelson Janice – Ethridge Brown Anne Kelly Allison Mc Kenzie Kim Gibbs Susan Cooper

Friday 23 April Kylie Mill Christine Flint Chris Bridge

Visitors to this exhibition were anon d n delighted by a range of fascinating u B artworks, which included a huge collaborative sculpture made from natural materials. As the title of the exhibition indicates, many of the artworks were influenced by the students’ visit to Arthur Boyd’s properties on the Shoalhaven and in this installation piece the students were able to work together to recreate a piece that Year 11 student Harry Reid developed on the Creative Arts Camp.

A group of Year 11 Music students also performed a beautiful ensemble piece that was inspired by one of Boyd’s landscape paintings. It was conceived on camp and developed back at School with their teacher Miss Zink.

The exhibition was opened by Mary Preece, the Education Officer at The Bundanon Trust. She noted in her speech that our program of collaboration between Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Photography was unique within NSW and that the results were outstanding. The Exhibition continued the next day during Expo Day where it was well received by the many visitors who attended. Congratulations to all the students involved in Year 11 Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Photography and for the tireless work of their teachers Ms Green, Ms Colville, Ms Zink and Mrs Hitchcock in setting up the exhibition and working with the students this term.

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Olivia Wa llace

Olivia Painting insp Wallace and her ired by her hom town Dunm e ore

Beyond Bundanon

Opening

night cr owd

Music 2

Performing a

Piece Boyd Inspired

TIGS GREAT FETE

DO F OR NT If yo u ha GET colle ve plac ed a ct o fr

nM om th on curr y scho e Schoo day 29 order p leas Mar l Ca ol ( after betwee nteen e ch 201 e 0 n ithe scho r be ol (b 8am an f o d9 re e and tween 3 am) or 4pm :10p ). m

To understand and learn more about The TIGS Great Fete please click here to read the full Fete newsletter, brought to you by the TIGS P&F. The newsletter details interesting information about the fete and all the ways in which the community can help.

If you can contribute in any way shape or form please don’t forget to return the reply slip found on page 3 of the newsletter to Junior School, Senior School or Main reception.

Creative Arts Please click here to view the updated Creative Arts Competitions timetable and here to view the Bowral Young Artists Prize 2010.

Uniforms Please note that Year 7 students who require a winter uniform should visit the Uniform Shop for fittings from Week 7 until the end of term.

The Uniform Shop Holiday Opening Times will be Thursday 15 April, Friday 16 April and Saturday 17 April 9am - 2pm.

Appointments necessary please phone 42 200 230.

To keep up-to-date with the latest news and events that are happening in and around our School, we encourage you to subscribe to the email Newsletter.

Simply visit our website: www.tigs.nsw.edu.au and sign up on the home page.

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