NEWSLETTER TIGS Trivia Night - Best Dressed Table Winners ‘TIGS Tigers’
Headmaster’s Message The Future of the School Certificate Head of Senior School Head of Junior School Issue 7 Term II, 2010
Academic • Christian • Caring
Chaplain
The Future of the School Certificate The official school leaving age in NSW is now 17. At least I think this is the case because I have received no official correspondence to advise me of any change to the legislation that governs the leaving age. The advice given to Government schools on the NSW Department of Education website reveals that students under the age of 17 must be: 1. “in school, or registered for home schooling, or 2. in approved education or training (eg TAFE, traineeship, apprenticeship) or 3. In full-time, paid employment (average 25 hours/week) or 4. in a combination of work, education and/or training” How this requirement will be enforced is unknown to me. Squads of police (the age of the dreaded truant officer is long gone) rounding up wayward 16 year olds will make fascinating viewing in the media. Another story being covered in the media is the future of the School Certificate. The NSW Board of Studies (BOS) is currently reviewing the School Certificate and some are calling for it to be scrapped altogether. NSW is the only state that has public examinations in Year10. The education system in NSW is a highly centralised and regulated system governed by the BOS. It determines the curriculum and framework in which the curriculum is delivered for students from Kindergarten through to Year 12. For Independent schools like TIGS, the BOS is also responsible for Registering and Accrediting schools, a process not required of government schools. Every five years TIGS has to present itself to the BOS and its inspectors to determine that TIGS is compliant with BOS requirements. In 2011 TIGS will again undergo the process of BOS Registration and Accreditation.
Stephen Kinsella Headmaster
Will TIGS be compliant with the BOS requirements? I expect that the usual outcome will occur and TIGS will be found to be compliant. Does this mean that TIGS will be delivering quality programs that cater for the individual needs of students from K to 12? Yes, but not because of the BOS process. It is a sad commentary on the profession that teachers have the delivery of their expertise heavily controlled by a centralised bureaucracy. The thought of the Department of Health governing the diagnosis and treatment of patients by doctors, or of architects being directed by bureaucrats on how best to design buildings for their customers is absurd. Yet schools are given little scope to design learning programs that are appropriate for the needs of children. The BOS, for example, requires that between Years 7 and 10, students must study a minimum of 400 hours each of English, Mathematics and Science, 300 hours of PD/H/PE, 200 hours of Technology, 400 hours of HSIE, ….. and will not register a school that does not exactly comply with these and a whole manual of similar requirements. There is not much time left in the timetable for anything else which explains why our students are so busy off timetable. As professional teachers, we know that: • • •
students learn in different ways and at different rates intelligence has many forms, most of which are difficult to measure in tests skills for the 21st Century go beyond basic literacy and numeracy tested in NAPLAN and reported on My School, and include visual and information literacy as well as cultural literacy and global awareness
We also know that as students progress from Kindergarten to Year 12 the freedom we have to engage them in authentic learning experiences is diminished as the learning becomes more and more standardised. Parents of a Year 12 student burdened with assessment tasks and the looming HSC will know exactly what I am describing. Teaching and learning at TIGS is not limited to satisfy BOS requirements. BOS curriculum documents do provide the pathway for students to master the academic disciplines. The results our students achieve when they complete their schooling in Year 12 convince us that our teachers excel at teaching these subjects. However, our teachers also excel at teaching children. The BOS determined curriculum is complemented by comprehensive learning experiences in and outside the classroom, crafted to meet the individual needs of our students. These experiences build resilience and self-esteem, raise social awareness and empower students to be instruments of change in their life beyond school. The review of the School Certificate may provide the opportunity to free schools from some of the current Board of Studies requirements that fill the timetable and makes student centred learning more challenging than it should be. The prospect of students engaging in service, leadership training, outdoor education and skill development appropriate for the 21st Century alongside mainstream academic subjects on the timetable rather than as co-curricular activities is an exciting prospect. I hope the educators prevail over the bureaucrats. Stephen Kinsella Headmaster
Chaplain’s Connection According to Wikipedia, “Plausible deniability” refers to “the denial of blame in loose and informal chains of command where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs, and the lower rungs are often inaccessible, meaning confirming responsibility for the action is nearly impossible. In the case that illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such act or any connection to the agents used to carry out such acts.” We see it happen all the time. The businessman whose company has traded illegally, or the politician whose department has failed to deliver on policies, claims that he or she was ignorant of this; having been deceived or misled or kept in the dark by some nameless underling. The whole world may suspect that in fact he or she knew all along – but the evidence and the lines of communication are so murky that their denials have a degree of plausibility. The trick is to make sure that there is no smoking gun giving the lie to one’s denials. Let someone else (or even better, nobody) take the blame. Sometimes we try the same thing with God. We claim ignorance of our wrong behaviour, seek to rationalise it, or blame others. But God knows the truth. The Bible tells us: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). We may fool others, who see us only on the outside, but God sees the reality of our hearts. Nowhere in the Bible do we see this more clearly than with David the shepherd boy – about whom, ironically, those words in 1 Samuel 7 were spoken. Some years later, now as king of Israel, he committed a terrible sin, but sought to use his power as king to cover it up. But what others didn’t see, or chose not to notice, God did see. He sent the prophet Nathan to speak to David. Confronted with his sin, David wrote Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me ... Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow ... Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me ...”
John Reed Chaplain
David recognised that plausible deniability doesn’t work with God. Far better to humbly confess our faults to the Lord. Rather than seek to hide our guilt, we should throw ourselves on the mercy of the only one who is capable of wiping it away and giving us a fresh start.
Senior School Great things happened last week. The Tertiary Information Evening was a fantastic opportunity for our senior students to get personal and specific information from many different tertiary providers. It was also an opportunity for them to hear about a variety of tertiary pathways from a number of our recent Alumni who were all such confident and articulate speakers – that’s what a TIGS education does! It’s always such a delight when they visit: some wearing suits and ties others wearing jeans and ‘Uni’ gear. I know that the evening impacted on students from the number of Year 12s who have visited Mr Adams to discuss their predicted ATAR and how to improve their results. The Senior School Photos went well and we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day ........ it could all have gone horribly wrong if we had had to relocate to the IGC. There would have been no House photos because of OHS issues. But we had a day of sun, relocated to Senior Square because the Library Lawn was too wet and the Houses had their photos. They had their day in the sun. In fact Senior Square might be a better venue for future photos, we decided afterwards. Friday’s Trivia Night, organised by Year 12 as a Fund Raiser for their chosen Charity - Triple Care Farm - was outstanding. It was organised with military precision and mathematical accuracy. The best team won - well done Chris and Barbara Hatton - and the students raised $4,750 for their charity. It was an impressive performance and a great night’s entertainment. It was so heartening to see so many members of the TIGS community and members of the wider community having a good time helping others.
Monica Watt
Deputy Headmaster
So a BIG THANK YOU to Mrs Murphy and all the staff who assisted her on the Tertiary Information Evening, a BIG THANK YOU to our School Captains and all the Year 12 students who assisted in planning and executing the Trivia Night and a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all our students who scrubbed up well and looked fantastic in their photos.
Junior School Food For Thought
Our canteen does a wonderful job in making delicious lunches for the children here at TIGS. There is a growing issue with late lunch orders and we have now reached the point of needing to enforce a cut off time for lunch orders. All lunch orders must be placed in the “Lunch Muncher” before 8:45am on the day the order is required. These are sent promptly to the canteen at 9:00am to be sorted and food items prepared. If a student is later than 9:30, with their order they will be given an “emergency lunch”. This consists of a vegemite or cheese sandwich and a drink. Thank you for reminding the children to put their lunch orders in straight away.
Long Break and Short Break
We are almost at the end of our building program and I was very pleased to have shown some of our community through the new building this week on Wednesday. The bottom oval is really suffering due to massive over use and poor weather and for this reason we have decided to close it to playground use for the remainder of the Term. In order for this to work there have been a few slight changes to the timetable, most of which will not be noticeable to our parent community. What will be noticeable however, is a change to the long and short break times for Kinder to Year 2. Our younger children will enjoy an extended time on the infants play lawn and driveway between 10.55am and 11.35am. During this time, primary students are all in class so there is a lot more space for the little ones to play. There will be a special time for sitting and eating during this break. At 1.05pm Kinder – Year 2 will go out to the playground for a short break and then return to class at 1.25pm. Orders from the canteen will be delivered at the regular time (1.05pm).
Judi Nealy
Head of Junior School
Primary students will continue to go out to play at the normal times, however they will not need to share the limited space with the Infants children and will have some access to the basketball courts.
The Stage Co-ordinators and Teachers hope that this will make the last few weeks of term comfortable for the children in giving them space to run and play. We look forward with anticipation to our oval being open, our new classrooms for Years 1 and 2 and our fabulous new hall.
Junior School Sports
Uniform Notice
TIGS NETBALL CLUB RESULTS 5 JUNE
Under 8 TIGS Pearls v Wests Lollipops WON 13-4 Under 9 TIGS Sapphires v SS Avatars LOST 8-4 Under 10 TIGS Sparkles v Dapto WON 11-7 Under 11 TIGS Diamonds v Dapto Demons WON 19-9 Under 11 TIGS Crystals v Woonona WON 24-10 Under 12 TIGS Eliminators v Helensburgh LOST 29-7
The Uniform Shop will be open 10.00am – 2.00pm on:
School Production - Jesus Christ Superstar • • • • •
Hurry Limited Seating Left Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Saturday
16 June 2010 17 June 2010 18 June 2010 19 June 2010 19 June 2010
7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 2.00pm 7.30pm
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Thursday 15 July
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Friday 16 July
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Saturday 17 of July No appointments necessary
Adults $20 - Students/Concessions $10 Tickets available from TIGS reception phone 4220 0200
JUNIOR SCHOOL AWARDS
Gabriella Valenzuela, Faith El Homsi, Massimo Forte, Katie Gorham
3A
Zoe Kelman
4R
3Y
Emmanuela Franco
4B
Oscar Malouf
5/6W Jackson Dekker, Jack Mackenzie-Wood
1D
Dean Borbilas
4M
2A
Micah Sullivan
Celeste Bonaccorso, Anish Abey, Alexander Santos, Lucy Chester-Crowe
KH
6C
Morgan Jackson
Olivia Porcheddu
TIGS EXTENDED
TIGS Extended Vacation Care will be operating during the coming school holidays, this is only 2 weeks away.
Week 1 - 8am - 5pm Monday 28 June
“Wicked Wheels and Outdoor Sports”
Tuesday 29 June
“Tiger Putt Putt and Play Gym. KFC Lunch”
Wednesday 30 June
“UFO and Flying Creations Day”
Thursday 1 July “Laser Skirmish and So you think you can dance? Disco”
Friday 2 July
“Slumber Party / Scooter Wheels Day”
Places are filling fast. For further information please email the Director Karen Buckley kbuckley@tigs.nsw.edu.au Please go to the TIGS website for the information sheet, booking sheet and permission forms.
Tertiary Information Evening The Tertiary Information Evening was held on Tuesday 1 June for students of Years 10, 11 and 12 and their parents and guardians. While we welcomed local based exhibitors, many exhibitors travelled from Sydney and interstate. It was very pleasing to see past students representing some of the universities including William So, Alexander O’Donnell and Mark Rooney from the University of Wollongong and Gayani Gunasakera, Katie Patterson and Polly Yau from the University of Sydney. From many accounts from students, parents and other members of our School Community, the evening was an overwhelming success. A sincere thank you is extended to Margaret Biggs, teachers, administration and IGC staff for all their assistance with this Careers event. Glenis Murphy Careers Adviser
Monday 14 June Public Holiday
Tuesday 15 June
Barbara Mandelson Janice Ethridge-Brown
Wednesday 16 June Anne Kelly Alison Mc Kenzie Kim Gibbs
Thursday 17 June Teresa Marzano Alice Martin
Friday 18 June
Joanne Elliott Bronwyn Marvell
Creative Arts The Works Exhibition 2010
We are really pleased with the response so far to The Works Exhibition 2010 which will be held over the weekend of the 27 August. We will have work from many of the artists who exhibited last year and from some new parents and friends of the School. If you are an artist, designer or photographer and would like to submit some work for the exhibition or if you would like to help, please contact Wendi on wleigh@ tigs.nsw.edu.au. Pencil in the date of the opening night into your diaries - Friday 27 August, as this year’s The Works is promising to be a great night. Matt Hipsley, alumni artist 2006 will again be exhibiting his inspiring surfscapes
Exciting new competition for Photographers Please click here to find out more.
Year 8 Photography and Digital Imaging Workshop
Mixed media work by TIGS parent Anne-Marie Wharrie who will be exhibiting in this year’s The Works Exhibition 2010
On the 26 May and 2 June, 19 Year 8 students participated in the after school photography workshop. Students were introduced to the foundations of wet photography in the darkroom and digital photography using Photoshop. The first half of the workshop explored “photograms”, with an emphasis on Man Ray’s “Rayograms”. This led students to experiment with various materials and develop their own “photograms” using darkroom techniques and procedures. The second half of the workshop focused on digital photography, where students took portraits of each other using the studio and lighting, which were then manipulated in Photoshop. Students enjoyed using each of the mediums and had fun discovering new concepts. The students produced some excellent images. Ms Colville, our new Photography teacher, enjoyed meeting and working with these students over the two weeks.
Friday Film Night
Students in Year 11 and 12 enjoyed a fun Mexican Food and Film Night in the IGC last week. They have been studying the artist Frida Kahlo in the Visual Arts course and were able to view the dramatisation of her colourful life on the big screen. Many of the students entered into the Mexican theme of the night by dressing like characters in the film as they enhanced their classroom experience through film.
Art Events
Looking for an Interesting art experience for the July holidays and beyond? Please click here to view the updated Creative Arts Competition timetable.
Senior School Sports Senior School Athletics Carnival
The Senior School Athletics Carnival is on Thursday 24 June at the Kerryn McCann Athletics Field. It is a compulsory school event where all students compete for their House to win the House Shell Shield. If a student cannot participate it is important for them to come along and help with the various jobs that need to be done and assist their house patrons. Students can make their own way to the venue. Supervision will be available from 8.15am. Buses will also run from school down to Beaton Park from Western Avenue at 8.30am. The carnival is expected to finish at 3pm and all students must stay for the duration of the day. An Athletics Program for the day will be available on Narradan next week.
During the next two weeks at school the javelin events will be run prior to the athletics carnival.
Diocesan Netball
On Monday 7 June, the TIGS Under 13’s, Under 15’s and Opens Girls Netball Teams competed in the Diocesan Gala Day at Fred Finch Park Netball Courts in Berkeley. Despite the cold conditions and the threatening rain clouds, the day was incredibly successful, with all teams representing the School in a very positive manner. The results were as follows:
Under 13’s
Olivia Poate Brenda Tekkol Tahlia Jackson Susan Jah Olivia Day Shannon O’Brien Tegan Burt Stephanie Thomson
Simone Lindsay The under 13’s played very well, considering this was the first time they had played together as a team. They won 6 out of 8 games, showing a noticeable improvement in skill and teamwork as the day progressed. The team was coached by Melinda Sharpe and was placed equal 2nd overall, which was a fantastic result.
Under 15’s
Kailee Cross Zoe Wulff Cassandra Wallace Madeline Miller Sarah Long Georgia Roberts Stephanie Varcoe Elizabeth Dominis Helena Bonham The Under 15’s dominated their division, winning every game to go through undefeated. Not only did the girls demonstrate a high
level of skill to win all games by convincing margins, but they also showed great sportsmanship. The team, who was coached by Naomi Sullivan, was placed 1st overall, which was an outstanding achievement.
Open’s
Sarah McLeod Katerina Dominis Lauren Sheldon Emma Ramsey Tayla Brailey Emily Sotiros Gina Snodgrass Megan Wulff Beth Sweeney The Open’s demonstrated grit and determination throughout the day, always aiming to improve their game. The team lost 2 and won 6 games to finish in 2nd place overall which is a great result. A big thank you to Jenna Bell who coached this team on the day.
SAVE TIME, ORDER ONLINE! We now have a great new online system to make the ordering of lunches easier.
Order from home or in the office
Order at a time convenient to you. In the morning, the night before or even weeks in advance!
No searching for cash on the day, you pay online!
An exciting NEW and fun way to encourage healthy eating
It’s so easy! www.flexischools.com.au 1) Go to www.flexischools.com.au 2) Click “Register Now” to create account 3) Place your initial credit onto your account, using your Credit Card 4) Then, get ready to place your orders from our launch date, 15 June 2010
How Does It Work? www.flexischools.com.au and click “Register Now” in the Login Box. Then enter your student’s Go to www.flexischools.com.au
name, school and class, and add funds (say $50) into a pre-paid account. You can log into the website at any time to place orders, up until 9:00am on the day of the order. As purchases are made, the funds are taken from your pre-paid account. The account can be topped up again in the same way, or set to automatically top-up via credit card when the balance falls below a pre-set minimum. Each order is sent automatically to the kitchen, where an easy-to-read label is produced with the student’s name, class and order details.
To view a demonstration www.flexischools.com.au website and in the “Find Your School” box, enter our school name, Go to the www.flexischools.com.au “The Illawarra Grammar School” and click to proceed.
What does it cost? The online menu is the same price as the usual menu. However, there is a 20c fee for the online orders to help pay for the labels and the website system. So why not order your next lunch online!
What if I don’t have a credit card? If you do not have a credit card, you can still use FlexiSchools. Simply register as shown above and when it asks for your credit card, click the link that says “What if I don’t have a credit card?” and you will receive the instructions on how to top-up your account without a credit card.
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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