NEWSLETTER Issue 6 Term III 2017
Medieval Day
An International Baccalaureate World School
Academic • Christian • Caring
TI G S
The Illawarra Grammar School
HEADMASTER
Mr Stephen Kinsella Headmaster Congratulations to Titus Grenyer (Class of 2015) and Macinley Butson (Year 11) on their outstanding contributions at TEDx Youth@Sydney 2017. TED (an acronym formed from Technology, Entertainment and Design) is well known as a platform for presenters that have found solutions to contemporary issues or who are enriching the lives of others. Most people will have accessed some of the thousands of TED presentations available on YouTube. TEDx Youth@Sydney 2017 is a “TEDlike event” organised under licence from TED for presenters under 30 years of age. The venue for the event was the Sydney Town Hall with its magnificent pipe organ towering over the stage. I was delighted when our own Titus Greyner brought this magnificent instrument to life with a performance of Bach’s Fugue in A minor as well as some of his own compositions. Titus is a second-year organ student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and was recently awarded an LMusA with distinction. In 2016 he was appointed Organ Scholar at St Andrew’s College and St James’ King Street. It was wonderful to hear the Town Hall Organ played and even more memorable to hear it played by a graduate of our TIGS Music Programme. Macinley Butson was the youngest presenter at TEDx Youth@Sydney 2017 and from my perspective (as the eldest ‘Youth’ at the conference) the most impressive. The programme notes read “Macinley is a 16-year-old inventor from Mangerton, NSW. This year she became the first ever Australian to win first place at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair in its 67-year history. Macinley has also been the Wollongong Young Citizen of the Year and the National Youth Ambassador for Green Cross Australia. She relishes her role as an inspirational leader for her community and beyond, empowering them to achieve greatness by working in the field of science and engineering, and showing others that they can create and give back.” Macinley spoke about her solutions for the problems associated with radiation treatment for breast cancer patients and improving solar power generation efficiency, particularly in developing countries.
You can view Macinley’s and Titus’ presentations at the following link HERE. This recording is of the entire TEDx Sydney event, please skip to 1h 19m49s for Macinley’s talk and 3h 04m 18s for Titus’ performance.
You may also be interested in the ground breaking work we are doing in association with the University of Wollongong by engaging our Piper Centre students with learning under the banner of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This programme was featured on WIN News this week and can be viewed HERE
When viewing the excited faces of our Prep students in the WIN News item, I was reminded of the Proverb I cited in last week’s Newsletter: “God delights in concealing things; (young) Scientists delight in discovering things” (Proverbs 25:2) (The Message)
Mr Stephen Kinsella Headmaster
CHAPLAIN
Rev. James Rogers Chaplain Student Teachers This week I participated in one of my favourite learning experiences. It comes out of a unit for Year 7 on the overarching story of the Bible. After learning for themselves the storyline of the Bible, Year 7 students create a children’s picture Bible as a way of demonstrating their understanding at a basic level. I then took the Year 7 students down to the Junior School and gave them the opportunity to read their Bibles to Kindergarten children. They are also required to answer whatever questions the Kindergarten students have about the Bible story. I’m always so proud of how our Year 7 students conduct themselves in this task. They are so caring and nurturing as they read their Bibles to the Kindergarten students. They are also quite learned as they field their tricky questions. It is a wonderful learning opportunity for our Year 7 students. Not only does it consolidate their own understanding of the Bible’s storyline (a primary aim for all TIGS students) but it allows them to experience the quite demanding task of explaining it to others. We learn best when we have to teach others. We have been doing this unit for a few years now. This year had an unexpected outcome. After enjoying hearing the Bible stories read to them, Mrs McMahon’s Kindergarten students wanted to create their own Bible story books. Mrs McMahon immediately seized this wonderful learning opportunity and gave her students time to do that. Below you can see a couple of pages from the Year 7 Bibles, a couple of pages from the Kindergarten response and some photos of the learning experience. It was a very valuable time. Rev. James Rogers
JUNIOR SCHOOL
Mrs Judi Nealy Deputy Headmaster, Head of Junior School Information Fluency
“Information—there’s more than you’ll ever need out there. It takes special skills to navigate the online ocean of data we sail through every day. That’s Information Fluency; the skills you need to not only search for information, but to create useful knowledge that will help you effectively solve real-world problems.” (http://globaldigitalcitizen.org/21st-century-fluencies/information-fluency/) The Global Citizen Foundation suggests that there are 5A’s to digital fluency and alongside of each I have suggested a few easy and achievable strategies to use at home and at school to promote these skills and habits:
5As
How to at home...
Ask This involves compiling a list of critical questions about what knowledge or data is being sought. The key here is to ask good questions, because that’s how you get good answers.
Discuss what questions you could ask to find something out and who you could ask.
Acquire Accessing information is no longer as easy as going to a card catalog and getting a book or other paper-based resource. This stage involves accessing and collecting informational materials from the most appropriate digital and non-digital sources.
Look at different sources of information together to find answers to the questions, include books, digital/web-based and real people! Experts are a great source of information. Gather the information into a document, gathering grids are a fantastic tool that are used widely in the upper years of primary.
Look at the gathering grid together and sort Analyse With all the raw data collected, the next step is to navigate the information out so that it is helpful. Ask: through the information to authenticate, organise, and “Does this sound right? How can we check? Is arrange it all. This stage also involves ascertaining whether information is true or not, and distinguishing the good from the this helpful or not? Does it help me answer the questions we have?” bad. Use what you have found out! Apply Once data is collected and verified, and a solution is created, Discuss, how can we use this information? Make the application authentic and the knowledge must then be practically applied within the meaningful to the child’s real world. context of the original purpose for the information quest.
Assess The final stage is about thoroughly and critically revisiting both the product and the process. This involves open and lively discussions about how the problem-solving journey could have been made more efficient, and how the solution created could be applied to challenges of a similar nature.
Reflect on the process and the outcome of accessing and using this information, talk about what was really great and what you might do differently next time and why.
HICES G&T Camp Report By Angus Kiang - Year 6 28 August – 1 September 2017
On 28 August 2017, eight Year 6 students from TIGS travelled to Elanora Heights near Hornsby NSW to participate in. The HICES Gifted and Talented Camp. 140 students from various independent schools across NSW gathered on this site to participate in one of the eight core subjects; Sports Science, Robotics, Crime Scene Investigation, Problem Solving, Writing, Flight, Visual Arts or Theatre Sports. My core subject was Mathematical Problem Solving. Joining me in this topic was James Gardener and Jacobus Newhouse. Camp was a phenomenal experience and through shared passions, I created many new friends. Of those included are Jacob, Joel and two boys both named Alex. They kept me company as well as my fellow classmates from TIGS. As mentioned, my core subject was Mathematical Problem Solving where we had to go through several gruelling books to try and finish a maze called MUDDLES MIND MAZE. As one of the challenges we had to figure out how the maze works. In the end we figured that it moved along in rainbow colours, so then we set off on our journey. It was difficult but in the end I was one of the two to escape from the Muddles Mind Field. To solve the challenges we had to persevere and work together to perform the tasks. I worked with James, Jacobus and Alex. After lunch, (which was delicious), everyone had to choose a wild topic. Adi and I chose the Chess tournament and in the end Adi came 2nd with 64 points losing only by one point, I came 4th. Other wild topics included STEM, How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci, Breakout Challenge, The Red Piano and more. Overall, I think every school should participate in a camp like this because it teaches you to think from different perspectives and enriches your knowledge on your selected topic. It also teaches you many social aspects by combining you with people from other schools. This is a great camp and I would give a rating of five out of five.
Oscar Ryan Class: 6C
Who are your friends and what do you like to play? Terrance, Cody, Connor and Will. We like playing Soccer. What are you really good at? Soccer. What do you need to work hard at? Spelling. How do you Improve? Practise. What do you want to be when you grow up? A famous Soccer player.
JUNIOR SCHOOL
JUNIOR SCHOOL AWARDS Assembly 6Y will be hosting next week’s Chapel in Rees Hall at 12.10pm.
MERIT CERTIFICATES
Awards listed in the Newsletter will be presented at Assembly/Chapel the following Thursday at 12.10pm in Rees Hall.
Academic
Madeleine MacKay Wilson Makowski Naomi Fock Addison Tarrant Daniel Llewellin Alexandra Birch Archer Ryan Charlotte I’Ons Ava Santos Tania Kalsi Femke Duursma Daniel Radojicic
Service
Archer Ryan Tania Kalsi
WEEKLY AWARDS KM
Laura Hernandez
KP
Flynn Bottele, Madeleine MacKay
1R
Wilson Makowski, Rithanya Jeyachandran, Angelique McNeill
1S
Lincoln Hoskins, Rohan Manshani
2M
Om Kothari, Matilda Pead
2S
Naomi Fock, Aarnav Prabhu, Evelyn Sanzone
2T
Tobias Knight, Addison Tarrant
3C
Daniel Cox, Daniel Llewellin, Callum Perrins
3D
Yasmin Matar
4R
Odelia Aghmesheh, Charlotte Wall
4S
Ava Santos, Ellie Stokes
5A
Ethan Bywater, Victoria Steward
5C
Nicholas Hayward, Chloe Jackson, Cohen Sawyer
6H
Reid Gunther, Alissa Tonkin
6Y
Connor Burrows, Emily Sutherland
GIFTED OPPORTUNITIES Helping Gifted Children Thrive 6.30pm 12 September 2017
The Gifted Families Support Group Inc (GFSG Inc) is offering an exciting opportunity for parents to find out more about how their gifted learners can be the best that they can be. Rhonda Filmer is an educational consultant specialising in twice exceptional students. For more details please see the flyer HERE.
What’s Happening In The Junior School TIGS Trophy
The annual TIGS Trophy was held at Judy Masters Park on Thursday 31 August. The Boys and Girls teams played well and produced some excellent Football. The Boys won their pool and faced a quality St Luke’s side in the quarter final. The game finished 0-0 and TIGS won by penalty shoot-out. They then played Thomas Hassall Anglican College in the semi-final and a 0-0 score line resulted in penalties, which Thomas Hassall won. The Boys trained hard and to finish equal third out of 15 was an excellent result. Moriah college won the final. The Girls were undefeated throughout the day and won the inaugural TIGS Trophy. Brilliant decision making by their coach, Mrs Martin enabled the Girls to function as a quality team. The results were: quarter final (TIGS 1 - St Spyridon 0), semi final (TIGS 1 - Thomas Hassall 0), Final (TIGS 1 - Broughton 0). It was a great day (15 Boy’s Teams, 12 Girl’s Teams, nearly 400 children) and the feedback from other schools was positive. I would like to thank Balgownie Football Club, Wollongong Council, St John’s Ambulance, Mrs Grneski , Mr J Robinson, TIGS Senior School referees (organised by Mr Keating), parents and the Junior School coaching staff (Mrs Martin, Mrs Dribbus, Mr Agnew and Mr Yeo). Mr T Robinson
GIFTED OPPORTUNITIES iTAG @TIGS is proud to present Code Camp
These school holidays, TIGS is hosting a very special school holiday programme called Code Camp - Spark where your child can learn to code and build their very own iPhone or Android app! Code Camp has already taught more than 22,000 students in Australia and is a great way to spend time over the holidays. Kids have lots of fun with friends while learning important new skills such as logic, creativity, problem solving, app development and game building in a fun and engaging way, ready to take on the digital world of the future. Every child attending Code Camp will build incredible games on the software platform “Code Camp World” and walk away with their very own app, playable via the Code Camp App store that they can take home to share with family and friends!
The Illawarra Grammar School Spring Code Camp - Spark Date: Wednesday 4 October – Friday 6 October For: Year 2 to Year 6 (beginners and intermediate) Fun, engaging and challenging – Spark is a popular Code Camp that over 18,000 students have completed. Code Camp Spark is where every student in Year 2 to Year 6 should start their Code Camp journey. Enrol today and help your child become a coding superstar! For more information, visit codecamp.com.au/tigs or email hello@codecamp. com.au.
THE PIPER CENTRE
Mrs Taesha Duley-Smith Director of the Piper Centre French in The Piper Centre
The children in The Piper Centre have been progressing extremely well during their French lessons carried out every Friday. They know how to fluently greet, farewell, thank, give an answer and understand a range of questions enunciated completely in French. These questions are: ‘What is your name?’, ‘How old are you?’, ‘Are you a boy or a girl?’, ‘What colour is this?’ They can now count up to 10 and also know the name of some fruit and vegetables, and have started to express likes and dislikes: they can say “Me” when the teacher asks the children if they like a certain fruit or vegetable. With the help of Juliette the puppet, the children play games, sing songs, move around and have lots of fun while learning. The latest topic the children have started to learn is the days of the week and the seasons. Through this, like every topic, they have learnt a little bit about the French culture. For example, last week they heard that French children just went back to school after two months of summer holidays, and that autumn has started in France. This is one of the wonderful advantages of learning a foreign language: it opens your horizons and helps you see the world from a different perspective which compliments the PYP aspect of International Mindedness. Next term the children will start learning a traditional French Carol which will be incorporated as part of Christmas celebrations. It is just wonderful to see their enthusiasm and how quickly they pick up words, intonations and pronunciation. Engaging in these lessons has facilitated their awakening to a beautiful language. A bientôt! Bénédicte Henry
COMMUNITY
P&F P&F Gathering
Are you curious about the P&F? We are offering you an opportunity to share a glass of wine, nibble on some cheese and chat with other parents. We are looking forward to meeting some new and familiar faces. When: Wednesday 13 September Where: The Throsby 2/88 Kembla Street Wollongong Time:
6.00pm
RSVP:
Monday 11 September to Joanne at pandf@tigs.com.au
We invite you to also listen to Anna Chevalier talk about an opportunity to be involved in a road safety study offering a $200 petrol voucher to interested participants. Call Joanne (0426264771) for more information.
EXTEND @ TIGS
Introduction and Recap Dear Parents
Last Monday was a pupil free and day children enjoyed clay work for Father’s Day and a game of Dodge Ball outside. Tuesday, we had a visit from Gilbert the Gecko, together we played freeze, Guess Who, Sleeping Lions and Cats in the Corner. Wednesday, we enjoyed yummy cheesy pizza for afternoon tea that the children helped make. Thursday the children taught our new team leader Mrs Jo how to play Rob the Nest and on Friday the children created their own Paper Aeroplane then used it to fly through different sized holes cut out of cardboard to gain points. Jovica Taseska, Team Leader.
What’s on next week?
Monday: Creative Playdough competitions and Play Gym. Tuesday: Play back miming games and Free Choice Outdoor Play. Wednesday: Soccer and Cricket Games. Thursday: Making slime and Cats in the Corner.
If you would like to be a part of this dynamic group and have ideas you feel will make a difference, please call Joanne 0426264771 for more information.
Friday: Portrait drawings with mirrors and Dodge Ball. Book 14 days in advance to receive the lowest rate. Make your own DIY paints and have fun with Messy Art, participate in delicious cooking activities, learn all about persistence of vision by inventing your own spinning Thaumatrope and loads more!
To check out what’s on, visit our website at extend. com.au and book via the Extend Parent Portal.
SENIOR SCHOOL
Mr Greg Lanyon Head of Senior School Medieval Day Last week the Senior School was awash with the colour and spectacle of medieval Europe as students from Year 7 were immersed in the life and times of the Middle Ages. Students dressed in costumes from various social groups, ranging from Peasant Farmers to Nobility, demonstrating the Feudal system of the period, as part of a unit of work in MYP Individuals and Societies. The key concept being studied in the unit was ‘Change’ and the focus of learning for the day was developing an understanding of the changes that were occurring in life and technology in the Middle Ages. Students had the opportunity to interact with weapons, chainmail and other apparatuses used during this period, participate in medieval music and dance, and indulge in a medieval feast. During the day students could demonstrate the IB Learner Profile as they took risks by dressing up and parading their costumes in front of their peers. The students were inquirers as they were immersed in authentic reconstructions and in the roles of different social groups in the middle ages. The day also enabled students to understand the importance of balancing various aspects of the human experience by placing them in situations that replicated the social, emotional and intellectual life of the time. By understanding and appreciating other values, cultures and places, many students demonstrated open-mindedness, comparing their life to that of people living in the Middle Ages. The subsequent classroom lessons provide them with opportunities to reflect on their learning and encouraged them to be part of the process, improving the experience into the future. Special thanks to Mrs McPhate who organised this event and staff from the HSIE Department who supported the students by dressing up in medieval costumes and participating in student learning. There were two students this week who have
achieved outstanding success in quite different fields. The first was Year 11 student Macinley Butson, who has achieved a first for the school by presenting this week at a Youth TEDx event in Sydney (TEDxYouth@ Sydney). She spoke about the two projects that I have written about in previous newsletters. The low cost, solar powered water purifier and the radiation breast shield, both of which she has developed over the last few years while still at school. Macinley returned last week from Stockholm, where she took her water purifier to a world water symposium. Watch and listen out for Macinley in the media this week. She is an amazing young scientist and is also part of the first IB Diploma Programme cohort at TIGS. Another notable achievement this week was from Kayla McNamara, who was selected in the National Indigenous under 16s OzTag team, to play in the inaugural Big 4 tournament last weekend. Kayla enjoyed the experience of playing in this international tournament, against some of the best OzTag players from Australia and around the world. She also said that she was hoping the exposure might improve the chances of some of her team to make it to the Open National Indigenous side, which will field a team in next year’s Tag World Cup. Congratulations to both these outstanding students.
MEDIEVAL DAY
SENIOR SCHOOL
SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT Up and coming Sport Events TIGS Netball Club Presentation Tuesday 19 September CIS Athletics Carnival Wednesday 20 September Great Race Thursday 21 September
Parker’s School Holiday Tennis Clinic Where: Farmborough Heights Community Tennis Club Date: Monday 25 September – Wednesday 27 September 2017 Time: 9.00am – 12.00pm Cost: $90.00 (Ages 4 – 14 years)
All Schools Athletics Knockout Carnival On the evening of Thursday 31 August, TIGS competed at the NSW All Schools Knockout Athletics Championships. This is a competition where each athlete scores points for their team based on the time/ distance that they achieve for their event. Against two extremely tough fields, including many large private Sydney schools, theboys and girls teams for TIGS held their own and were extremely competitive. The highlights of the evening were the Boys 4x200m Relay team winning their race in a very exciting finish, and James Healey and Hugo Parrish both winning their 800m heats to put TIGS is a very strong position. At the end of the evening our TIGS Boys had placed 7th in the state, while the TIGS Girls finished 11th in the state, both fantastic achievements! The teams were: Boys – Benjamin Jones, Chittiz Maskey, James Healey, Hugo Parrish, Daniel Jiang Girls – Iluka Budai, Jessica Quilter-Jones, Victoria Summerill, Nina Segar, Eva Katkjaer
AICES Athletics On Wednesday 30 August, 30 TIGS students competed at the AICES Athletics Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush. There were many outstanding results for TIGS, culminating in TIGS finishing in 2nd Place on the medal count, with 11 Gold, 8 Silver and 7 Bronze. TIGS also won the medal count in the Boy’s competition, improving from 3rd place last year. By the end of the day, 18 of our students qualified to compete at the CIS Athletics Championships on Wednesday 20 September. Those students are: Dean Borbilas – 12-14B: 2nd Place 4x100m Relay Illuka Budai -14G: 3rd Place 100m, 3rd Place 400m, 2nd Place High Jump Koray Budak – 12-14B: 2nd Place 4x100m Relay Charlottle Gaynor – 15G: 3rd Place High Jump Ben Giason – 12-14B 3rd Place 3000m Nina Segar – 13G: 2nd Place Discus James Healy – 14B: 1st Place 400m, 1st Place 800m, 1st Place 1500m Daniel Jiang – 14B: 1st Place Triple Jump, 2nd Place 4x100m Relay Benjamin Jones - 13B: 1st Place 100m, 1st Place 200m, 1st Place Long Jump Cooper Kerridge – 13B: 1st Place 1500m Chittiz Maskey – 13B: 2nd Place 100m, 2nd Place 200m, 2nd Place 4x100 Relay Hugo Parrish – 13B: 2nd Place 400m, 1st Place 1500m Jessica Quilter-Jones – 13G: 2nd Place 400m, 4th Place 200m Renee Thomson – 17G: 4th Place Javelin James Seal – 17B: 1st Place 1500m, 1st Place 3000m Elliot Hutt – 17B: 3rd Place 1500m Harrison Taranto – 18B: 4th Place 1500m Brent Tekkol – 18B: 2nd Place 200m Age Champions: Benjamin Jones: 13 Year Boys – 2nd Place Iluka Budai: 14 Year Girls – 1st Place Jessica Quilter-Jones: 13 Year Girls – 3rd Place Daniel Jiang: 14 Year Boys – 2nd Place James Healey: 14 Year Boys – 3rd Place
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday
19 Sep
Wednesday
20
CIS Athletics Carnival
Sep
Thursday
21
Junior School Big Day In Senior School Great Race
Friday
Year 12 Graduation Ceremony and Formal Ceremony - 9.00am in the IGC Formal - 6.00pm at the Novotel Wollongong
Sep
22 Sep
Monday
9
Last Day of Term III
First Day of Term IV
Oct
Summer Uniform
Friday
Senior School Leadership Induction 2.00pm in the IGC
13 Find us on Facebook
Year 6 Handball Challenge Junior School TIGS Netball Club Presentation
Oct