Newsletter Academic Christian Caring
ISSUE 7
TERM II 2015 2015 School Production ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Tickets selling fast, Book your ticket now!
Headmaster One of the privileges that go with the role of Headmaster is to monitor the progress of students through the reading and signing off of each student report. I have just competed signing Year 10 reports and reports for Year 9 and all of the Junior School are not too far away. At this time each year I conduct interviews with Year 11 and discuss their progress in their important Preliminary HSC year. While the cohorts are different each year there are some consistent patterns that can be observed over time. My interviews commence with a simple question - “How do you feel about your Year 11 Half-yearly Report?” The responses so far this year are typical of every year and usually fall into three categories: 1.
Things are going well:
•
“I am happy with my report.”
•
“I thought I did pretty well for me.”
The many students that fall into this category usually can point to well-established study routines that develop in the Junior School years and become refined as they approach Year 11. It is so important that students establish regular routines of study in the younger years of schooling so that when the significant challenges of the HSC years arrive these routines form a solid platform from which to achieve success in the HSC. 2.
Things could be better:
•
“I was happy with it - there are definitely things to work on.”
•
“I wasn’t totally happy with it – I could have tried harder. There was a big step from 10 to 11.”
•
“Not too impressed – what I expected.”
Settling into the routines of Year 11 with new subjects, new teachers and new approaches to learning and assessment means, for some students, an adjustment is needed in their approach to study. This is not a bad thing and usually means learning to study in different, more productive ways. I advise students to consult with their teachers on how to approach learning in each subject and to take advantage of specialist help available at the school. Students from all years have access to the following: English Help:
Tuesday and Wednesday from 3.30pm to 5.00pm in the Library
Maths Help:
Tuesday and Wednesday from 3.30pm to 5.00pm in the Library
Science Help:
Tuesday from 3.30pm to 5.00pm in the Library
Essay Writing Help: Tuesday from 3.30pm to 5.00pm in the Library All reports, especially the Year 11 Half-yearly Report, are useful in identifying those subject areas where a modified approach to studying is required. The goal is to have all adjustments made and good routines entrenched by the start of the HSC year in Year 12
3.
Don’t ask
•
“Wasn’t very good – I was a bit upset about it.”
•
“Not great – a big slap in the face. The work load was a shock.”
•
“Definitely not up to scratch – I have since woken up.”
Sometimes it takes the actual experience of Year 11 for students to realise that the step from Year 10 to 11 is a big one and that the 3 terms of the Preliminary HSC year are gone in a flash. As a bench mark, my advice to students is that they need to establish effective study routines that include at least 15 hours of homework/study per week, whether they have work due or not, by the time they reach Year 12. Some students achieve this goal by establishing a regimented study time table. My advice is always to schedule desirable non-school activities first to ensure that the things that they love doing and that keeps them healthy physically and mentally are not discarded. When a student does not maintain balance in their life their ability to study and succeed academically is diminished. However, the exercise of then identifying time slots in the study timetable to achieve the minimum target of 15 hours per week can prove a challenge. In some cases students come to realise it is not possible to do the necessary study in Year 11 and play 3 sports, learn
Chaplain’s Message Q&A I am not a huge watcher of television. There are, however, a few shows I try to catch each week. One is Q&A on Monday nights. While the format can often limit the ability to give topics the sustained treatment they deserve, the show does at least give some airtime to many of the crucial issues of the day. An interesting question was asked at the end of Monday night’s show. The question sought to tease out the logic of a statement made by scientist and atheist, Richard Dawkins. The statement and question are below:
Rev James Rogers Chaplain
a musical instrument, maintain a part-time job, engage in social media and attend the local gymnasium. If the HSC experience is to be successful then something other than study has to go. Then of course there is the issue of actually doing the study that is planned. Students this year have referred to the distraction of social media and sporting commitments in particular. There are also a number of students that do not have the appropriate study facilities - it is essential that each student has a quiet place, free from distractions that allows them to study productively. I recommend that students establishing an effective study routine keep a tally of the hours they actually spend studying to ensure that their goals are met. (Day-dreaming, interacting on social media and computer games do not qualify as study just because the student is sitting at a desk). While the step from Year 10 to 11 is significant, there are similar challenges across K to 12. What is essential is that each student develops a regular and productive study routine that is appropriate for their age. The change from the minimal amount of ‘homework’ that Kindergarten students receive through to the onerous requirements for success in Year 12 is incremental. Students cope well when they increase their study time by a small amount each year. It is those that ‘wait until Year 11’ to ‘start working’ that find out the hard way that this is not a successful strategy. Students wanting assistance with organising their study routines and approaches should talk to their Teacher in the Junior School and their Teachers, Mentor or Dean in the Senior School.
Stephen Kinsella Headmaster
Dawkin’s Statement: “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason and no morals, no good, no wrong, no justice.” Audience Question: “Now, in light of this proclamation by the highly esteemed Professor Richard Dawkins, why should we care about the rights of other people when, at bottom, we are just a by product of matter and chance and there are no morals, no justice and they don’t exist.” What was interesting about the panellists’ responses to this question was how each tried to distance themselves as much as they could from Dawkins’ comments and the questioner’s teasing out of the logical implications of this worldview. To be fair to Dawkins, I think he too would want to distance himself from the questioner’s application of his theory of life. That’s not to say it is an incorrect application, it is just despairing. And who can cope with such despair. Better to fashion meaning for ourselves out of the ultimate meaningless of life than to stare too deeply into the abyss of futility and insignificance. This is exactly what Dawkins suggests in his television series, Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life, which aired recently on Australian television. In answer to the question, “Why does an atheist bother to get up in the morning?” Dawkins suggested that he or she wouldn’t without some sort of purpose. But that purpose is not a given in our world, it needs to be constructed by each individual. For him, it is the awe and wonder he derives from scientific inquiry. For others, it is something else. Whatever gets you through the night… But there’s a problem. For a worldview to be worthy of our allegiance it has got to accurately map the world in which we live (including the complex contours of the human heart and soul) and it has got to be able to be lived out with consistency in the world. Given that each of the panellists (and Dawkins himself) recoils from the questioner’s logical application of the atheist worldview, could we conclude that atheism does not present an accurate account of the world in which we live? I think we can. Rev James Rogers Chaplain
Senior School SERVANT LEADERSHIP
leadership”, based on Christ’s own model of leadership and evident throughout the New Testament. That is, leadership that is not primarily about self-interest but has at the heart of all decision-making, the interests of the group or the community that it serves.
Greg Lanyon Acting Head of Senior School From next Term, the current Year 11 cohort will commence the transition to taking over significant leadership roles within the school from the current Year 12, as they start their preparation for the Higher School Certificate. The new School Captains team will be selected and leadership roles will be offered in areas as diverse as House, Chapel, Sport, Subject areas, Community Service, and Student Wellbeing. For the students who are selected and who choose to take up a leadership role, it will be the culmination of a journey of preparation and training that commenced much earlier in their school career. The principle that underpins all leadership at TIGS is one of “servant
Many prominent and successful leaders have articulated the model of servant leadership as a key ingredient of great leadership. For example, Max De Pree, well know American businessman and author wrote, “The responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” My observation of student leaders at TIGS is that they do understand the difference between leading and servant leadership, despite this not always being well modelled by some of our leaders in the wider community. Another feature of leadership at TIGS is that it is inclusive and involves choice. That is, we encourage all students to take on some form of leadership during their time at the School, at a level and in an area where they feel they can make a real contribution to the life of the School. In order for this to happen the School creates opportunities for all students to take on some form of leadership and provide them with appropriate training.
In Years 7 to 9 students have the opportunity to take on leadership roles in the Student Representative Council (SRC), which meets once a week with the School Captains. They are also involved in various community service activities, House events and even the Great Fete where they may take on leadership roles. All Year 9 students attend a Leadership Camp where they may start to gauge their leadership interests and potential, through a series of challenges. Some students will also be trained in delivering Peer Support to the new intake of Year 7, the following year. During Year 10 students are able to choose from a range of leadership opportunities in the areas as diverse as Peer Reading, Outdoor Education, Student Hosts, Sport and Peer Support. In all these roles students will be encouraged to make a difference to others in the area of responsibility that they choose but at the same time maintain a balance with their academic commitments. It is an integral part of the school’s mission to allow students the opportunity to achieve their potential and encourage them to “be the best that they can be”.
Greg Lanyon Acting Head of Senior School
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 10 Year 9 Year 7
Monday 22 June Thursday 25 June Tuesday 21 July
We will be using the booking system Parent Teacher On-Line (PTO) to arrange all interviews. 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
P&F News YEAR 7 MUMS’ DINNER
I am organising a Year 7 Mums’ Dinner, a great opportunity to meet and get to know other mums from Year 7. Date: Friday 31 July Time: 7.00pm Venue: Murphy’s Bar and Grill Unanderra Cost: The cost is $50pp for a 3 course meal (pay on the night). Drinks to be purchased separately. I have booked a private room at Murphy’s to allow people to meet and mingle. If you are able to come, please RSVP me directly by Friday 17 July via email jsantos1@optusnet.com.au or text/phone 0422 995 509. Thank you Renee Santos
NSW PARENTS’ COUNCIL New Website
We have just re-launched our new website at www.parentscouncil.nsw.edu.au
New Location
We are now located at Suite 804, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Close to St James and Museum Stations; down the road from the buses at Town Hall and the Queen Victoria Building.
Annual General Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the 53rd Annual General Meeting of The NSW Parents’ Council will be held on Friday 12 June 2015, commencing at 6.30pm at the Adam Room, Masonic Club – 169 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. For further information please contact us on 0438 558 276 or at community@parentscouncil.nsw.edu.au Guest Speaker will be the Hon Catherine Cusack MLC, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier of NSW. You are invited to attend with your RSVP appreciated by close of business Thursday 11 June 2015.
Australian Parents Council
The Australian Parents Council is the voice of parents with children at independent schools across the nation. It plays an active and critical role with lobbying on issues of importance to parents. If you would like to connect with the Australian Parents Council (APC) online, you can do so by becoming a registered user by visiting http://austparents.edu.au/register
Sport SENIOR SCHOOL AICES Cross Country
8th – Brittony Smallhorn 14 Year Girls
TIGS took a strong team consisting of 25 keen runners to the AICES Cross Country Championships on Thursday 4 June. Fortunately the weather conditions were perfect and we were able to dominate a number of the events. Congratulations to the following students:
We now have a team of 15 students who have competed at NSW CIS on Thursday 11 June with results to follow next week.
1st – Maudie Skyring 18 Year Girls 2nd – James Seal 15 Year Boys 3rd – Elizabeth Martin 16 Year Girls 7th – Teagan Johnston 17 Year Girls 7th – Claire Smallhorn 13 Year Girls 7th – Rebekah Hutton 15 year Girls
NASSA Athletics Carnival The NASSA Athletics Carnival is Thursday 25 June at Campbelltown Athletics Centre. Students travel via bus as a team to the venue and will leave school at 7:00am returning at 4.30pm. We currently have a team of over 100 students competing for
our School across various events throughout the day. Permission notes are available through OLLE and Student Reception. Please ensure that your note is returned or see Mrs Lane if you cannot attend. We wish competitors all the best on the day.
CIS Football Congratulations to Lachlan Scott who was selected in the CIS NSW Football team to play again on the 15 & 16 June.
Junior School This week I have been surveying students in the Junior School to find out what learning looks, feels and sounds like. This is a part of the self-study process, which we undertake in preparation for our evaluation visit by the IB next year. The children have written and illustrated their ideas about what learning looks like at TIGS and the results have been insightful and helpful. Our students are able to identify that learning occurs in many configurations: individually, in pairs, in groups and in classes and grades. They were articulate in outlining their preferred configuration but also demonstrated that they can move between these configurations with confidence.
Judi Nealy Head of Junior School
MERIT CERTIFICATES Academic
Isabella Atkinson Ali Matar Yasmin Matar Jack Burrows Elizabeth Hoskins
The attitude of the week is Commitment: We strive to be creative and imaginative in our thinking and in our approach to problems and dilemmas.
They identified various sources of learning in their classroom experience, the teacher, the environment, each other, the internet and other experts. A real source of excitement to me was their identification of the fact that learning is enhanced by the contributions of others. Many students stated that working collaboratively and being able to listen meant that students experience ideas that they wouldn’t have thought of themselves. Another fantastic element of the data collected was the understanding of the individual’s responsibility for their own and other’s learning. Students mentioned being mindful of others, being focused on the task and being curious and always asking questions. They were very clear that they had a responsibility to each other and to themselves where learning was concerned. The children were also very definite about learning being interesting and fun. Finally the concept of effort was a consistent theme in what learning looks like in the Junior School. Our students reported that learning was accompanied by high levels of personal effort and care. The concept of personal best and striving to be the best learner each could be was well represented within the data collected. This information is important because it tells us how we are travelling as a learning community. It informs us as to whether we are actually living up to our rhetoric of developing internationally minded, engaged and authentic learners in the Junior School. Our students all mentioned their teachers as being important to the learning process, but they certainly did not see themselves as being dependent on the teacher as the only source of knowledge and instruction. This is great! Judi Nealy Head of Junior School
WEEKLY AWARDS KD
Aushada Ranamuka Rallage, Daniel Cox
2M
Isabella Perri, Fergus Dutch
3S
Kain Corrigan, Ethan Bywater
KH
Josie Lowe, Jude Lozenkovski
2Mc
Riley Grundy, Campbell Boardman
4Y
Thomas Kirby, Alissa Tonkin
KP
Damon Glynn, Kael Vroharis
2S
Jacob Murrie, Hamish Lepp
5G
Adelaide Thompson, Jack Burrows
1T
Andrew Neal, Elizabeth Hoskins
2T
Natasha Karakousis, Jocelyn Ayers
6C
Tanay Shrestha, Nicola Wright
1Y
Tom I’Ons, Jemima Bigirindavyi
3R
Ali Matar, Stephanie Fiorio
6K
Rory Swainson
Extend @ TIGS WEEK 9 ACTIVITIES Monday 15 June:
Lady Beetle Friendship Messages Soccer
Tuesday 16 June:
Forest Nature Walk Gilbert the Gecko is visiting Extend
Wednesday 17 June:
Buddy Week Friendship Beetles Soccer
Thursday 18 June: Mad Science Mini Olympics
Friday 19 June:
Movie (G) and popcorn Soccer on the Oval ONLINE BOOKINGS: www.extend.com.au CALL OUR OFFICE: 1300 366 437
TIGS Foundation TIGS COMMUNITY BUSINESS DIRECTORY`
Are you interested in advertising your Business within the TIGS Community? A new fundraising initiative of TIGS Foundation is the creation of an on-line business directory, which will enable TIGS families to promote their business/s by advertising their details on the TIGS Website. There will be an annual fee of $330 (inclusive of GST) per business each calendar year of advertising in the Directory. Upon approval, immediate applications for 2015 will receive a bonus of several months’ free advertising, expiring 31 December 2016. 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
Uniform Shop The Uniform Shop will be open for School Holiday trading on the above dates: 9.00am - 2.00pm 9.00am - 2.00pm
Thursday 16 July Friday 17 July
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UPCOMING
EVENTS
WEEK 9
Year 11 2016 Parent Interviews Monday 15 June
School Production ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Wednesday 17 to Saturday 20 June
WEEK 10
Year 10 Parent Teacher Interviews
4.00pm to 7.30pm Monday 22 June in the Goodhew Research Centre
Senior School NASSA Athletics Carnival Thursday 25 June at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Lumeah
Junior School Athletics Carnival Wednesday 24 June at Beaton Park Athletics Track
Year 9 Parent Teacher Interviews
4.00pm to 7.30pm Thursday 25 June in the Goodhew Research Centre
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Test Hike Option 1 25 - 26 June
Last Day of Term II Friday 26 June
HOLIDAYS
Pymble Snow Sports Competition Tuesday 30 June Knox Grammar
NSW Northern Region Interschool Snow Sports Competition Wednesday 1 July – Saturday 4 July