Futurum Spring 2008

S t P aul ’ s futurum GRAMMAR SCHOOL

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith penrith, australia

No. 44 Spring 2008

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

William Tredinnick’s Phineas Barnum (centre) supported by some of the large cast

barnum: a glimpse of the miracle AN EXTRAORDINARY SPECTACLE produced by Mrs Josie Jones and Mrs Cathy Jarman, Barnum called for a vast range of skills from its cast of over 100. The principal characters, William Tredinnick and Cassandra Jennison, handled the complex characters of PT Barnum and his wife Charity with an amazing level of professionalism and maturity. Such high level skills were apparent throughout the cast, a small sample of such skills being presented in the five cast members interviewed here. First interviewed shortly before the June production at the Roxy Theatre Parramatta, then again afterwards, their enthusiasm was infectious. Jaimie Pendlebury of Year 10 was a member of the Sideshow Company in the production.

She had more skills than could possibly be used to their full in the production. She said: From Years 5 to 8 I did gymnastics at the YMCA Penrith, but I gave it up because it became too competitive – I was in it for the fun. I took up stilt-walking along the way which gymnastics had prepared me for because it gave me good balance. I’ve also been unicycling lately, partly in preparation for Barnum. I took up drama in Year 8, following my brother’s interest in it, and took up the school subject Drama in

Year 9 – I love it! I have been having singing lessons for a long time.

I decided to audition because Barnum is exactly the sort of thing I enjoy doing. I sang, recited a monologue and did some improvised acting. I started with my dances and did some unicycling at rehearsals, but stilt walking just isn’t safe on stage. People are now very tired and it is hard to focus, but I think it will come through in the end.

Stefan Hay of Year 12 is described by Musical Director Mrs Cathy Jarman as one who ‘adores performing arts’. He takes the role of Wilton, PT Barnum’s assistant on the Jenny Lind tour, and was a member of the ‘Black and White’ chorus and of the Barnum Ensemble: I started in a choir at my previous school, and joined St Paul’s wind orchestra in Year 9, playing percussion and specialising in drums. I am still in the orchestra and mentor some drummers. This year I have become involved in Voicemail at school at the time I got involved with Barnum because I wanted to do more singing.

My vocal range has improved and I love singing. I auditioned originally for the ensemble, but was offered the part of the character Wilton as well.

We started on the long road to the production with a familiarising camp last year, and with rehearsals early this year which were inevitably chaotic

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ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

Clockwise from top: the company in the second act number, ‘Come follow the band’; Luke Halasz juggling; William Tredinnick’s Phineas Barnham; and Cassandra Jennison’s Charity Barnham

when the 80 of us involved were not sure what we were doing. Once we had learnt our parts, each individual section was doing well, but fitting the whole thing together still required work, particularly in the speed of changing costumes and music coordination.

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The best thing is the social aspects: the production brings together people from across the school, something missing in most of our school activities. Also, being an introvert, it has forced me out of my shell and given me confidence both within and outside school. It has been good to get into acting – I get a lot of pleasure out of it.

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Cameron Spanner of Year 9 takes the part of Julius Goldschmidt, Jenny Lind’s manager, and is in the Barnum Ensemble. He came to the audition with some film experience: I had auditioned for a Tropfest film, The Ground Beneath, and been chosen as a backup person. In conjunction with this, I did an acting course. But I didn’t realise I had acting talent until my Drama elective teacher Mrs Jones told me. I did not actually decide to audition for Barnum, but was given a choice between detention or audition by one of my teachers!

The character I am acting, Julius Goldschmidt, is not me – he has interests unlike mine and he’s not really a joker. I’ve never had a chance to do anything like this before and I wouldn’t have thought I could have done it – it is a real confidence booster. I think we’ll be

ready for the dress rehearsal. My main challenge is putting on an American accent, but otherwise all is fine.

Mark Wotherspoon of Year 9 was the Concertmaster, he was the character Barker, he was one of the Principals of the Sideshow Ensemble and he was a member of the Barnum Ensemble. He brings a range of skills in gymnastics, amazing acting and singing to the performance: I became involved in gymnastics at the Springwood Boys’ and Girls’ Club in 2003 and competed at state level from 2005. My height is a real advantage. Gymnastics helps my fitness and I have established statewide friendships. I started acting last year and enjoyed it. I enjoy being someone else. I decided to audition because I had so much enjoyed my Year 6 musical and enjoy the thrill of acting. I sang ‘Rawhide’ at the audition and surprised everyone with the depth of my voice. At first, I doubted we would achieve our goal, but we rehearsed every Wednesday from 3.30pm to 6.30pm and some Saturdays from 10.00am to 3.00pm and were able to accomplish what at first seemed impossible. I am doing magic tricks which I want to give the wow factor! There are a few things to polish up, but I think the performance will be fine. |

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

Clockwise from top: Barnum company taking their final bows; Cassandra Jennison’s Charity Barnham framed by the chorus; the Barnum couple; and Alexandra Heimann’s Jenny Lind

There were worries – Jaimie hurt her leg in the second last performance and struggled with that injury from then on, Stefan found the improvisation in the second scene was at times chaotic, Cameron kept falling off the box between the stage and the apron, Mark was constantly concerned about the magic working and Emma was worried about the stage apron being too small. The real test of how worthwhile it was is how it has affected their future plans: Jaimie, Stefan and Cameron want to do musical theatre for fun, Cameron’s particular interest being acting; Mark would want to do acting as a hobby, and possibly professionally; and Emma now believes she would be interested in being a professional

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I auditioned for Barnum because I enjoyed doing a musical with the Penrith Musical Comedy Company last year in which my dance teacher was the choreographer. Besides, my parents are obsessed with musicals, so I had their full support. I was selected for the ensemble and as a main dancer. How is it shaping up? It is very professional – we are more organised and scheduled than the Penrith musical was. Everyone is scared they are not ready, nervous and shaky. But I know that on stage, everything comes to you. On stage it will be great. Everyone is in that moment, so they can share it.

Interviewed a few days after the performance, the five cast members felt it was an unqualified success: I really enjoyed it ( Jaimie), exceeded expectations – incredible experience (Stefan), awesome – probably the best experience of my life! (Cameron), stressful at first then brilliant! (Mark), and fabulous – a huge success! (Emma). The best thing about it was that people really mixed ( Jaimie), being on stage – doing what we enjoyed doing – seeing others derive such pleasure (Stefan), no major messups – all was pulled together the first night (Cameron), social benefits – acting was good – confidence-building (Mark) and getting on stage – closer relationships – cast amazing (Emma).

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Emma Jarman of Year 9 brought a wealth of experience in ballet and singing to the performance, is a professional dancer, has a surprising voice and is very reliable: At the age of seven I began flamenco Spanish dancing which led to ballet, my favourite. I have bad feet, like Margo Fonteyn, so these days (unlike in her time) I cannot be accepted in ballet school as a ballerina, but would like to become a dance teacher – and come back to this school to teach dance. I go to the Castlereagh School of Performing Arts four or five times a week.

It is hard to fit school work in, but I am managing at the moment. I began singing with the SBS choir when I was three, then with the Sydney Children’s Choir from ages eight to ten, but I had to give it up because it was too far to travel from Blaxland to Sydney.

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

St Paul’s at 25

The school’s many years of service to our community THE PRINCIPAL DR JOHN reflects on the school in its 25th year:

COLLIER

On our silver anniversary as a school, our overwhelming sense is of thanks to God for his equipping and enabling of the ministry of our school. We are abidingly grateful for the vision and commitment of our founders, led by the initial and longest serving chairman, Dr Michael Barratt. The biblical image of the mustard seed comes to mind. The founders, in purchasing the site of an abandoned quarry in 1983 to plant a Christian grammar school well beyond housing estates and transport hubs, could have had little sense that from their initial launch of the school (with 14 students) would grow a school of such substance and size, with currently more than 1370 students.

It is a tribute to their original vision that the school’s mission remains unchanged, well encapsulated in our mission statement:

and formal commissioning this year, of our Pre-Kindergarten.

Throughout this year, a number of events have been sequenced to commemorate and celebrate the school’s silver anniversary. These have included a thanksgiving service, the official opening of our Pre-Kindergarten unit, a 25th anniversary dinner and, in an acknowledgement of our core business as a Christian school, the extended visit of Dr Trevor Cooling, an international scholar in the field of Christian education. It has been a delight to see so many former students and staff return for aspects of these celebrations.

Their presence has been indicative of the strong bonds of community enjoyed by those associated with the school.

Like the cricketer who, having reached a milestone, takes fresh guard at the crease, the school is preparing itself for its next quarter century and beyond, making strategic plans with respect to the development of our site, and best practice service in meeting the needs of our students. We look again to our Heavenly Father for equipping and enabling.

St Paul’s Grammar School is dedicated to equipping its students to become people of discernment, who value Christian faith, integrity and excellence in all of life, and who will serve in the world as confident, competent and compassionate adults.

The initial intent of the founders was to undertake a difficult task: the creation of a Christian grammar school. Perhaps an internal tension could be thought to exist between the terms ‘Christian’ and ‘grammar’. In the ensuing quarter of a century, staff members have worked faithfully to weld these two aims into a coherent whole: a school which is deliberately and purposefully Christian on the one hand, and which continues to aim at academic excellence and the formation of the whole child on the other.

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This distinctive outlook has led to a series of innovations, new to this area. These include the introduction of International Baccalaureate programmes from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12; an emphasis on exemplary programs in the Visual and Performing Arts; a comprehensive commitment to the teaching of languages other than English, and a deep engagement with China, both through sister-school contacts and the enrolment of Chinese students in our matriculation courses. In fact, the school views these developments as a creative, and, at the time of their introduction, prophetic, recognition of the increasing importance of education for global citizenship, and the growth of an international outlook. In short, we don’t want our students to be myopic, but rather to have broad horizons and opportunities.

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Significant milestones have occurred through the school’s 25 year journey. One would certainly be the addition of a Junior School in 1993. The founders had not originally envisaged the presence of lovely little children in their bomber jackets and looking endearingly like mushrooms under their broad-brimmed hats. A further milestone was the adding, in 2003, of a university, as St Paul’s became formally accredited as a campus of Macquarie University, particularly for the conducting of ground-breaking Macquarie Christian Studies Institute courses on our campus. A further highlight has been the opening,

Dr John Collier (left) with his doctoral supervisor, Dr Catherine Sinclair

Principal’s doctorate conferred The photograph above shows the school principal, Dr John Collier, at the graduation ceremony at the University of Western Sydney on 25 September when he received his Doctorate in Education. His research areas have included Christian education, leadership, quality curriculum innovations and their monitoring, school ethos and culture, and the development of young schools.

This research has led to 26 publications, some in academic education journals both in Australia and overseas, and others in education journals aimed at the teaching profession and education community. Dr Collier believes that educational leaders should be readers and researchers in order to stay in tune with best practice and current developments.

Indeed, he feels schools benefit from the awareness that leaders’ research into successful initiatives across the education sector can bring to their schools.

When asked how he found time to complete the doctorate while in the very busy position of principal of one of the largest schools in NSW, Dr Collier explained that the school council had kindly given him two weeks annual sabbatical leave over a number of years to research and write his doctoral thesis. Indeed, his work has been largely confined to that time and holiday Mondays over ten years. This has led to a dissertation of 500 pages which, as he says, only averages a page a week over the ten year journey! His work has been very well received by examiners, both Australian and international.

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

The assembled guests celebrating the school’s 25th anniversary in March in The Centre at the school

Drawing together the threads of 25 years

Jenny Bounds and Jo Crooks in their discussion before those present focused on the high level of commitment by both council members and school staff. Rev. John Campbell’s two main recollections from the time when the Junior School started in 1993 were the extent of staff commitment that was demonstrated in their willingness to put up with considerable inconvenience and the planting of native flora, the greening of the school by the students. Dr Stephen Codrington focused on internationalism through the International Baccalaureate

Overall, Mrs Holland’s conviction was that a certain eccentricity and entrepreneurial spirit can be no bad thing if they result in such distinctive strengths in a school program as Year 7 Core, Mandarin Chinese, greening of the school from the beginning, the IB throughout the school, the Harbin Light of the World school and other sister school links, and the integration of faith and the curriculum. Not all have been equally successful, but all have contributed to the richness of what the school now is.

This edition of FUTURUM will explore some themes that, between them, set the school apart: integration of Christianity and the curriculum; planting and greening the school; a high level of commitment; academic excellence and creativity; internationalism; and community.

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I was particularly struck by former deputy Principal Barry Roots’ reflection that the school had been a place where God had used us in our very weakness to do something of strength, that it was obviously God who had done this. Founding school council chair Dr Michael Barratt brought out the huge school commitment of those early council members, parents and friends of the school and the cost this involved to their families. He believed then and does now that Christians should value both Christian thought and practice, and academic excellence. Julian his son, a former student of the school, saw the school as being committed to both qualities.

(IB), the sister school program and the school’s Chinese Mandarin program at a time when such pursuits were unfashionable. And it became apparent, in former students Cammie Webb’s and Hannah Gordon’s dialogue with Dr Michael Webb, that they were living proof of the value of the school’s emphasis on internationalism.

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Mrs Ruby Holland, now Assistant Principal – Curriculum, has had an association with the school going back to 1984 that includes two years as principal. Here she draws together threads from the thoughts of those who spoke at the 25th anniversary dinner in March about the school’s purpose and value and includes some of her own ideas:

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

Engagement with the world AT THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER IN MARCH 2008, former principal Dr Stephen Codrington gave this comprehensive response to Master of Ceremonies and former principal Mr Adrian Lamrock’s three questions on the school’s engagement with the world: Why did you decide that internationalism is/was important?

I didn’t decide internationalism was important. I simply recognised it. For me it is just one of those obvious things – it’s the reality of our world. Penrith is important, but it is not the centre of the world, and I thought the school would not be educating any of its students adequately if it didn’t develop a level of global awareness. If you look at the trends that have really mattered during the 25 years that this school has existed, they have all been international – global warming and climate change, the impact of HIV/AIDS, the growth of the internet, the emergence of China as an economic superpower, the collapse of socialism, the rise of Islam, the fall of apartheid – with the single exception of Penrith winning the Rugby League grand final for the first time in 1991, every significant event has had an international dimension. And the importance of international understanding is growing every day. We live in a world where the results of the US election will affect the interest rates we pay for our housing far more than anything our own government does for us, or to us.

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How did you decide on what you decided on in internationalism for St Paul’s?

I wanted to make global awareness so fundamental to our identity and our practice that no-one was really aware of it – it would just seem normal. Introducing the IB worked well in achieving that, although it was only one part of the reason we introduced the IB, and it took a long while for it to become the central learning framework that it is today, right through from Kindergarten to Year 12. When I was here, I unfortunately never expressed it as clearly as the author Thomas Friedman did; he wrote the book The World is Flat and he said that what the world needs is people who ‘combine a business school brain with a social worker’s heart’. I really like that!

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The other aspect of internationalism I pushed was the links with China. This seemed to me like a visible, practical expression of internationalism. It showed through the teaching of Chinese language (because the best way to understand someone else’s thinking is to know their thought patterns), and establishing the links with schools in China that in turn enabled student and staff exchanges to take place, and so on. It also showed in our opening of a branch school in Harbin in 1996. That was part of an ambitious plan to open several schools in China, but sadly the momentum faltered a bit later and others have now stepped in to fill that niche. But the Harbin school did show that St Paul’s was prepared to ‘walk the talk’ when it came to internationalism!

Why China?

The decision to emphasise China was a product of the times. You need to remember that all this was happening in the late 1980s and early 1990s when communism in Europe was collapsing, the Berlin Wall was falling, the Soviet Union was disintegrating, and so on.

China was opening its doors after a period of isolationism and an extreme model of socialism, it was the most populous country in our region, an emerging economic superpower, and it had a rich cultural tradition. In many ways, opening up to China was a brave move, both for St Paul’s and for China, but I thought China might be ready

Dr Stephen Codrington (left) responding to questions from Mr Adrian Lamrock (right) at the 25th anniversary dinner

for St Paul’s! I remember speaking to a parents’ meeting in 1992 when we had just decided that Chinese would be the compulsory language in the new primary section we were about to open. Some parents thought we should be teaching Japanese because of the stronger business links Australia had with Japan at the time. I remember commenting that EVEN IF business links were the reason you learnt a language (and I didn’t accept that), then if you wanted the relevant language for the previous quarter century, you would choose Japanese. If you wanted the relevant language for the NEXT 25 years, you would choose Chinese. And I think that has been shown to be correct. But if I were in the same position today, I think I would be looking elsewhere, probably to somewhere like Iran or North Korea.

Please don’t misunderstand me – I think China is still tremendously important. I spent the first half of this week in China to support a project my students are involved in with the Amity Foundation, a Christian charity, to build 100 medical clinics in poor, rural parts of Guizhou province. Every year, I take a group of students to do a week’s voluntary service work in a lepers’ village in Yunnan province, and this year we combined it with service in a home for Tibetan orphans. China is certainly very significant and it will be for many years, but our thinking should always be to move forward.

North Korea is opening up, and when it does so fully, it will be those groups that have already established a presence there that have the most influence. Islam has replaced communism as the great ideological challenge for countries such as Australia, and it is in seriously Muslim countries such as Iran that I would be shifting my thinking today. But can I also say: being globally aware is more than just building school-to-school links, especially if those links are with fairly affluent schools in Chinese cities. After all, most Chinese people still live in the countryside where conditions are poorer and the needs are immeasurable greater!

It is interesting that the IB and the Bible both have something in common that is very powerful and very important – they both call on us to be compassionate. Compassion does not mean feeling sorry for someone else’s situation; it means doing something about it. That’s the challenge we have before us today if we are going to take the concept of authentic internationalism seriously.

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

SILVER JUBILEE LECTURE

Dr Trevor Cooling speaking at the school’s silver jubilee Christian colloquium

Dr Trevor Cooling on the school’s mission

On valuing theological curiosity, Dr Cooling said: Young people should be taught to welcome and negotiate the challenging questions raised by the encounter of faith with modern culture. They should not see this as a threat, but as an opportunity to learn. In other words, the Christian schools should nurture theological curiosity. . . in contrast to an approach which seeks to re-programme young people to be Christian automatons.

On cross-cultural communication in a secularised society like ours, Dr Cooling said: [Christians in Australia] need to understand their own faith and the culture of those they work with well enough to be able to undertake contextualisation. Many young people in Britain wear a bracelet with the acronym WWJD on it, meaning ‘What would Jesus do?’ It is meant to remind of the importance of obedience in life. If we were to take seriously the implications of biblical faithfulness and contextualisation skills the bracelet would be changed to WWJDN – ‘What would Jesus do NOW?’ On the issue of religious diversity, Dr Cooling says: [There needs to be] an attitude of listening with respect whilst speaking with confidence when meeting those of other faiths. . . There needs to be an emphasis on developing young people’s knowledge and understanding of the Bible. . . [and] developing the skills of interpretation and contextualisation, not an amassing of biblical sound bites. The skill of developing dialogical friendships with people from other traditions needs to be cultivated. If this is not developed in school, it is unlikely to be cultivated afterwards.

There was, of course, a lot more in this lecture, and in the gems that flowed from other addresses by Dr Cooling and from the discussion that followed from them. The full lecture is to be found on the school’s website.

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He began by pointing out that the most important thing he wants to say about himself is: I’m a granddad! One of the reasons being a grandad is important to me is because it personalises the future. There are significant people in my life for whom the future is still open. I can dream dreams on their behalf. I can have great hopes for what they might become, for the difference they might make to the world.

And I have the privilege of contributing significantly to their future.

He then stated: Being a teacher is like being a grandad. . . Shaping people’s futures is one of the huge privileges of teaching.

Without attempting to summarise the rest of the lecture, some highlights were: The distinctively Christian contribution of a Christian school. . . [is to produce] disciples who will be kingdom builders through their life and work. . . Teaching and learning should contribute to this vision by nurturing the mindset that will enable pupils. . . to serve and transform their culture by imitating both Christ’s loving identification with culture and his costly counter-cultural stance which pointed to a better way.

On promoting faithfulness to the Bible, he said: How does one apply the narratives of the Bible in today’s world? . . . Imagine that a previously unknown Shakespeare play has been discovered, but where the fifth act has been largely lost. How best to complete this play? [English theologian Tom Wright] maintains that the biblical story is like an unfinished play with four acts and. . . that the task of the Christian is to immerse ourselves in these with a view to acting out our own fifth act that is faithful to the text but innovative in its application. . . being faithful to the Bible will often produce more than one response. . .

[Do we promote] the skill of being a fifth-act Christian?

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ST PAUL’S WAS ONE OF THREE SPONSORS of the visit in late September of Dr Cooling to Sydney from his base in Nottingham in England, where he is the Director of Transforming Lives Programs at the Stapleford Centre. He spent six days at the school, speaking to members of staff, school leaders and Christian Studies teachers. At the centre of his program was the silver jubilee lecture to the school’s Christian colloquium on ‘Go and Make Disciples: Education as Christian Mission’. Below are some excerpts from that lecture.

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

GREENING ST PAUL’S

Members of the school’s environmental portfolio inspecting the school’s new ‘green’ sewage system, (from left) Dean Astley, Ashley Cameron and William Bleads. Its filtration plant supports an abundant population of eels, a recognised ‘green’ barometer

Thinking globally and acting locally

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AMONGST THE STUDENT, STAFF, AND PARENT community at St Paul’s are many who, from many different perspectives, appreciate this fragile blue globe in the dark immensity of space and wish to protect it for our children and grandchildren. A valuable contribution to the putting together of this article has been made by both the FUTURUM compilers and Year 11 student Sarah Richardson. Here, five Year 12 students present their take on green issues, the first being Dean Astley, School Captain:

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I’m interested in making a contribution, however little, on the global front. Many of us hoped that in our last year at the school, we could make the whole school run green, but have backed away a little and tried to achieve as much as we can. Halfway through Term 1, we decided to get a move on and, with William Bleads and Callum McDonald pushing it, began bin recycling in the staff rooms. As School Captain, I felt this was a legacy we could leave the school.

It is going okay. I come from a position of seeing it, not just as an economic opportunity, but a moral obligation to do something for the environment. I see some people as acting as if we can rape the planet and move to Mars. I feel that God means us to stay here. Like our body, the earth is a gift, so we should take care of it. We start in a small way, one step at a time. But Al Gore gave us a warning: while it is human nature to wait and connect the dots, there comes a time when you wished you had connected the dots earlier!

William Bleads, along with Callum McDonald, Ashley Cameron and Brianna Walsh, are prefects who have been assigned the environmental portfolio. William says: As environmental portfolio facilitator, I organised a brainstorming meeting over the recycling bins proposal and the idea of having messages relayed electronically on screens around the school. These are not the full picture of what needs to be done; they are symbolic acts. My favoured option is an audit which is expensive, but it is the way to find out from someone who knows what we need to do to get going. It is difficult for us as students to promote such ideas because we don’t really know how the school works on the decision-making level. We talked to the grounds staff who were happy to pick up on the idea and took the bins around. As the school has trouble committing itself financially to the expense of extra bins, we’re looking at the possibility of a trolley to wheel them around. We do what we can, putting some strain on our studies; but this issue is important enough to me to carry that stress. I don’t come at the climate change thing from a stewardship perspective; I consider that using resources at an unsustainable rate to be short-sighted; rationally ridiculous.

Callum McDonald sees it this way: If we are going to win support from students, we must show progress. One problem is that many students are not using the bins properly. My perspective on the whole thing is that such exercises as turning lights off for an hour is actually counterproductive; it encourages a ‘feel good’ reaction which leads to nothing.

We need to tax the carbon footprint, such as in the replacement of

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

Year 7 students participating in the school’s tree-planting program as part of National Tree Day

Ashley Cameron has been actively participating in making our world greener: I try to raise awareness through my environmentally-based artworks, which show my objection to littering and pollution across the planet. In addition it’s easy to reuse old water bottles, or use waste

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Brianna Walsh took this view: Recycling can be done more efficiently.

I believe that more research should be put into how to create and dispose of materials in a more environmentally friendly way. These targets may seem out of reach as a mere student at school, but simple things can be done such as creating a recycling system at home. For example, my family owns chickens, and so the chicken coop also functions as the compost heap. Not only does this reduce the wasted food we throw out, but the chickens also love it. I think that raising a greater awareness of the impact on the environment as a result of pollution is important. Students who have this awareness can act upon it in simple measures such as picking up rubbish in the playground, or using both sides of the paper when printing assignments.

paper to take notes. It is also important that our school be involved in the process. We are currently investigating purchasing solar panels (plans are through government grants) as well as placing water tanks and recycled water within the toilet facilities, and using television screens to display the student notices each morning. Being a prefect within the environmental portfolio has given me the opportunity to aid the development of much-needed ‘greening’ within our school community, as well as expanding my own awareness of the issue both within the school, and in the wider community.

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plastic bags – people will then act out of self-interest for good climate change ends. We should not simply expect developing countries, who are resentful of the progress we have made in the past with fossil fuels, to take up the climate challenges; we should provide them with money to use solar energy. Such things as solar power should start in a small way – in schools like ours which provide models for the wider community. Climate-damaging sources of power are only going to be reduced when the demand for them is no longer there.

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

COMMITMENT

Mr Nigel Walker, Head of the Junior School, addressing students accompanied by Federal MP for Lindsay, Mr David Bradbury

Vision that costs something THE ST PAUL’S COMMUNITY IS CHARACTERISED by a strong sense of commitment. To Mr Nigel Walker, new Head of the Junior School, it takes the form of commitment to children and to certain values in education:

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Commitment was apparent to me the first time I met the Principal Mr John Collier. He was willing to spend two relaxed hours with me in the midst of an incredibly busy program, and I could sense very quickly the pride he felt for the school.

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Mr Walker, why did you go into teaching?

I always knew I would work with children. I led children’s camps, and was involved in youth groups when younger – I love spending time with kids. God took me on a journey which prepared me for my present position by developing my skills in different areas− a degree in education and Australian literature, my own landscaping business, and working in IT as a computer operator for five years while keeping the landscaping business going as well. All through this time, I continued my involvement in children’s work – the flame was never extinguished. I lived and worked at the boarding house at Barker College and later in a boarding house at The King’s School where I coached sport for two days a week and did Saturday sport. I was gradually moving more into teaching – I did a Diploma of Education, was employed full-time as a classroom teacher at King’s, was Head of the Junior boarding house there, did my Masters of Educational Leadership, and was appointed as Principal of Loquat Valley Anglican Preparatory School in 2003. All my diverse experience seemed to come together in this stand-alone independent Junior School, one of less than ten in NSW.

You became interested in the International Baccalaureate (IB) at this time?

Yes. I became passionate about it. I attended conferences and did a great deal of reading and research. I picked up on it in the process of trying to stay abreast of the latest thinking in the educational world.

It seemed to me that generally there were few common threads from classroom to classroom, and the Primary Years Programme (PYP) provided these.

So why did you choose to come to St Paul’s?

Firstly, I chose St Paul’s because it is a Christian school. The people in the organisation for whom you work, in my opinion, need to share your personal values, ideals and beliefs and I knew, having done my homework, that Christianity was not just treated in a token way at St Paul’s and members of the school community are genuine about their faith. Secondly, SPGS is a pioneering school, willing to be at the forefront of thinking in education. This is partly because it is independent and therefore has been able to innovate and respond to the latest educational thinking. The PYP is a framework for learning and I am convinced about its foundations. I came to realise that if I was to be true to myself and what I believe about teaching, I would have to be in a school that offers it. St Paul’s is still one of the only schools in NSW offering the PYP. The PYP provides a common language for learning across the school, making it easier for all, especially the students. It seeks to ensure the learning program is engaging, relevant and authentic.

What is your vision for yourself in the school?

I am first and foremost committed to sharing the message of Jesus with the kids, of giving them an eternal perspective, of giving them the opportunity to decide for a life of hope and security in a rapidly changing world. I am also committed to the guided inquiry model of education, one that is stimulating, relevant and authentic. I am

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

Mrs Margaret Fowler outside the century-old Wallacia Post Office, which she manages

RS MARGARET FOWLER WAS PREPARED to make the commitment to serve on the school council because the school’s vision coincided closely with her own Christian and educational convictions: I became interested in sending our eldest child to St Paul’s in Year 7 in 1991 because it was the only non-denominational school in the region that was committed to Christian education. I was also curious about the recently started IB in Years 11 and 12, although at that stage I knew little about it.

How did you come to serve on the school council?

In 1996, the new chairman of the council, Mr Adrian Fox, asked me if I would be interested in joining the council in 1996. As I had no background in education, I was a bit dubious, but he asked me to pray about it, which I did. The procedure was, and still is, that a prospective council member attends meetings initially as an observer before being invited to become a member. I became interested in the process of education from the first meeting and quickly developed a respect for educators. I realised it was one of the few work pursuits in which you could make a difference for the term of your working life. It was quite obvious I would need to commit myself to a lot of reading, finding out things outside my area of expertise, which has become an ongoing process.

Your three children went to the school: what did it give them?

A first-class education, equivalent to the best they would get anywhere.

They benefited spiritually; and they gained a good understanding of their place in society, an understanding of service to others; and empathy that could look at those outside their ambit and accept them, something I think they picked up from staff.

What have you been particularly involved in on council?

The financial arm. My business experience is useful, especially in allocating the fixed income we have, to ensure we get the best possible value for our dollar and to be good stewards in the process.

What has been your best experience?

My personal growth as a Christian. The council is close-knit, supportive, caring and kind and, as in well-functioning families, no one is promoting themselves. It is strategically exciting that such a good thing as this school is happening in western Sydney.

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M

What has the time on the council been like?

I have thoroughly enjoyed it. In my early years on the council, I was also running a real estate and stock and station agency as well as the local post office, but following the successful treatment for breast cancer in 2001, I decided to divest myself of some of those responsibilities and maintain only the post office. I stayed on the council because, not only was I growing spiritually, but also felt I was able to make a valid contribution to the governance of St Paul’s. My fellow council members are smart, valuable people with resounding intellects, who reflect Jesus’ model of servanthood. I believe as I’m sure they do, that it is a privilege to work with and for young people who are our nation’s most precious resource.

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also committed to doing my best by my teachers to enable them not only to survive, but thrive in an increasingly demanding and complex situation. I am hugely impressed with the commitment of staff; with the range of extra-curricular activities they are involved in, with the willingness of staff to work at both the government and IB curricula, with their commitment to the gospel and to each other, and I am already thoroughly enjoying supporting them in their endeavours.

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

A demonstration Chinese lesson to parents at the school’s Open Day

Learning well

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THE PRINCIPAL DR JOHN COLLIER here provides an overview of the school’s academic credentials:

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One of the consistent achievements of this school in recent years has been the culture of continuous improvement in high quality academic results. This has been manifested not just at the top end of the spectrum of Year 12, but also at other distinctly measurable points. Student achievement in the Higher School Certificate, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, Year 10 School Certificate tests, the IB Middle Years Programme results, Year 7 state-wide literacy and numeracy testing, and Year 3 and Year 5 NSW Basic Skills tests, has been excellent, even spectacular. St Paul’s students have performed wonderfully well across a whole range of national competitions in many subject areas over many stages of schooling.

An indication of these successes has been a St Paul’s state winner for each of the last four years in the National History Challenge. It appears that the school’s metacognitive skills programs − teaching students how to think, research and process information − are achieving good success. Our attempts to inject rigour across all the stages of the school program, including International Baccalaureate programs integrated with the state syllabus from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 10, and our efforts to teach, even from upper Primary, skills of independent learning, are important aspects of this initiative.

Extensive research and practical experience suggest that schools such as St Paul’s, which attempt holistic learning, are more likely to be influential in helpfully shaping children’s lives. Holistic learning includes the academic teaching of content and skills, supported by the teaching of a strong values base in the context of deep pastoral care, and amidst a strong sense of community. Each of these aspects assists the others, and helps to engage students in the core learning tasks of the school. We wish to support and encourage our students as they become increasingly sophisticated learners.

In the endeavour to best equip our students, the school is seeking to adopt, increasingly, digital modes of learning that resonate with highly technologically literate students. As well as adopting best practice as supported by current research, we wish to preserve the great learning traditions of Western civilisation and, in that respect, attempt an eclectic mix of traditional and proven excellence with creative innovation.

Extensive educational research indicates that the most critical factor in outstanding education is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. For this reason, St Paul’s continues to seek and employ outstanding teachers with a sense of mission. Further, the school aims to reinforce student learning with the engagement of a host of specialist teachers, including in library and information skills, gifted and talented education, learning difficulty support, counselling and pastoral services, careers and vocational education, and information and communications technologies.

We are proud of the learning achievements of our students, and seek to remain at the cutting edge of quality in schooling.

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

The students interviewed in this article (from left) Stewart Bishop and Vicki Capi; and Nicholas Heath and Shani Pathirana

Nurturing student inquiry in the Junior School

• What is the theme of the exhibition? To reflect on the world and try to make a difference in the world.

• What have you done so far? We’ve thought up this common theme and some aspects that go with it. The key concepts we’ve come up with are change and responsibility. We’ve had four meetings so far.

• What is different about this year’s exhibition from that we held last year? We looked at the environment last year, which we are not doing this time. This year we’re looking at our place in space and time. We’re looking at how our present can lead to future possibilities.

• What are some of the topics? Technology, lifestyle, media, government, education, achievements, inventions, sport technology, and achievement in sport.

• Are you looking forward to it? Yes; it is good that we are not confined to one thing.

• How will you learn? Through research, through listening to and emailing experts, through watching the media.

• What is the teacher’s role? To encourage, without actually doing the work. To organise. To test how much has been learnt.

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Mr W: What is your unit all about? NH: Space.

Mr W: What is the central idea? NH: To understand the solar system. SP: To understand the extent of it. NH: To look at a complex system.

• Mr W: What, then, have you been doing? NH: Studying planets and things in space – in sets; seeing how space can withstand the forces in it. SP: Looking at diagrams that compare other planets with Earth. NH: For example, how Earth compares with Mars, Mars having hot days and cold nights, and the search for life there. SP: Or comparing Earth with Neptune, where it is far too cold for life. Our classroom back wall has paintings of the planet on it. NH: The people in our class are painting comets, stars, meteorites and asteroids to scale – there are cards and labels with information.

• Mr W: What else are you looking at and what else will you look at over the next couple of weeks? SP: Black holes, worm holes.

NH: Space ships, space travel. We’ve visited a planetarium and looked at the constellations in the summer and winter skies, and how planets move and are made.

• Mr W: What about God? NH/SP: God made it all.

• Mr W: You have enjoyed it? NH/SP: Yes. Mr W: Why? SP: Ours is a tiny world. . . NH: It’s really interesting out there.

SP: It’s interesting when experts come and do displays. NH: I enjoy the research into the form and structure of space.

• Mr W: Do you have a choice in what youcan do? NH/SP: We all go in different directions, share our ideas and gain knowledge.

We then wandered down to Year 6, where Mr Wyatt interviewed two students, Vickie Capi and Stewart Bishop about the Units od Inquiry for the Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition night to be held on 5th November:

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‘UNITS OF INQUIRY’ IS A TERM USED to cover the wide range of topics that students cover as they acquire new knowledge, understanding and skills. Here, Mr Chris Wyatt[Mr W], Dean of Curriculum in the Junior School, interviews students about some of those Units of Inquiry ; first, two students from Year 4, Nicholas Heath[NH] and Shani Pathirana[SP]:

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Our international students in Term 2, photographed with teacher Mrs Catherine Corry (right rear) and Bishop Yong Chen Fah (centre rear) after the bishop had given a lively talk to them in Mandarin Chinese

in touch with our Chinese students

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THE SCHOOL’S PARTNERSHIP WITH international students goes back to 1993, when an educational delegation from Harbin China visited St Paul’s, leading to St Paul’s establishing a short-lived school in China and the coming of the first group of eight Chinese students to St Paul’s in March 1997. That link with China has been maintained and three of the 20 students from China now at St Paul’s here tell something of their story. Thomas Yu comes from Hong Kong:

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I was born in Taipei Taiwan in 1990 and at the age of two my parents moved to Hong Kong to pursue their trading interests. My father manufactures machinery and my mother works in the business with him. Our home is in Tu sen wan in the New Territories and I went to school at Tieng Yi where I completed five years of secondary schooling.

I then came to St Paul’s in September 2007 and joined the preparatory class. I found out about St Paul’s through a Hong Kong agent. My father wanted me to come to Australia to learn English – he believes that because English is important internationally a knowledge of it will help my career. I am now doing the IB in Year 11 and would like to go to university, though I have not decided on a particular course. My favourite subject both in Hong Kong and here is art; I love printing. My father would like me to do something that would be useful in the future – and I would like a stable job.

My homestay arrangements and hosts are really good. But I find things hard sometimes because the culture in Australia is so different.

I get homesick at times because I cannot talk to my parents. And my parents worry about me. I went home in December – it was good to go back and hard to return to Australia. I miss the food and my friends. I am shy, but I have been able to make friends here.

Antonia Feng comes from Shanghai: I was born in 1991. My father has a bicycle shop factory at Kun Shan about an hour’s drive west of Shanghai. He stays there and my mother and I used to travel there to see him once a week. I attended the Kun Shan International School from Year 1 to Year 5 which teaches English as a second language. I attended Shanghai Foreign Language School from Year 6 until Year 10 and then the English preparatory class run by St Paul’s at SISU Shanghai for the first six months of Year 11 last year, after which I came and joined the St Paul’s English preparatory class in Australia from September 2007. My father feels that if I come to Australia, I can get a good education, and I can get a good job back in China. My experience in Mrs Guest’s class at SISU in China led me to apply to come to St Paul’s. I found the English class in China very good because it was small enough to help my English.

I am now in Year 11 doing the IB. I feel the IB is good for me because wherever I decide to do university the qualification is recognised. My subjects are English B, Chinese A, Maths SL, Business Management

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

Daniel Pi Fu-Quan serving the St Paul’s community at Grandparents’ Day, April 2008

I asked my parents if I could come to Australia because I want a good future. I think I have lots of opportunities in Australia when I graduate from university. In China, there is too much competition for good jobs, so I’m thinking about staying here. I came to St Paul’s because it is a sister school and I was able to get a lot of information about the school from Mr Wang and my English teacher, both of

At university, I expect I will do engineering or accountancy – though my dream is to be a pilot. I miss my family and Chinese food, but my homestay is good and, after being in China at Christmas, I was happy to come back and follow my parents’ instruction to work hard!

Many new international students are arriving. By the end of September, there were 45 international students, most of the new ones coming from our sister schools in China.

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Daniel Pi Fu-Quan was born in Tianjin in 1989: I went to the St Paul’s sister school Teda No 1 from Kindergarten to Year 11 which is ten minutes’ walk from home. My father is a buyer of components for a company that manufactures bottles for a Coca-Cola company and my mother is sales manager for a company that manufactures bottles for Shell. I began classes in English in Kindergarten, but it was basic, with lots of grammar that did not make me fluent in English. Then in Years 10 and 11 we had English teachers from Canada or Australia once a week, which helped.

whom have been to St Paul’s. I arrived on 29 July and joined the preparatory class. School here is very different. In China we stay in the same class with no choice of subjects; here, lots of choice. In China, classes go from 7.30am to 9.00pm, on top of which is lots of homework which must be done when we get home – if not, our parents are called up to the school. In China, teachers are the source of knowledge which is handed down; there is little relationship or discussion. Here, if it weren’t for the school uniform, you could not tell the teachers from the students! Language is a problem – it is difficult to follow discussion.

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SL, Design Technology SL and Visual Arts HL. I particularly like drawing. What I would like to do at university is design or art, but my father wants me to do business. My homestay is good. I am not lonely. It was good to go back to China at Christmas – my parents miss me and I miss friends, food – and my dog. But it was easy to come back – I have friends here. It has been good here learning about another culture and meeting new people. The hardest thing has been understanding teachers and taking part in class discussion.

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

SERVICE LEARNING

Being confronted in Tanzania

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LAST YEAR, 11 STUDENTS went to Tanzania, and Emily Mills, one of those students, now in Year 12, provides these reflections:

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While I was in Tanzania I could look around and see people that needed help, all the time, and it really affected me. We all see the World Vision ads and we all know that these problems are out there. So why did it take a trip to Tanzania to evoke a passion in me? When I got home after three weeks of a completely different reality, I could see why. There is this filter that has blinded so many of us. I don’t know whether to describe it as an individual filter that everyone seems to have, or as a filter over our society in general that we all get caught up in. But basically we see and hear about all these terrible things that are happening in other places from a detached point of view. I know that before, I cared about social issues, I gave to charities and I considered myself to have a reasonably privileged life, but there wasn’t the deep understanding or comprehension that I now know is crucial to leading a life that will make a difference.

Sometimes I find myself slipping back into how I used to think and a comfortable existence, but so many people don’t even have that comfortable life to fall back on. The only complaint I want on my heart and on my lips is of the inequality I can see in this world, and the suffering of God’s people that could be taken away.

One of my favourite Bible verses of recent times is James 1:27, which says, Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. This expresses the need for us to both love the unloved and care for people in their need, but also for us to not conform to our immediate environment and the people around us. Inevitably, these two concepts overlap but we need to be conscious of both.

This year, a group of 14 students left for Tanzania on 26 July. Included were a four day safari up close and personal with elephants and lions and other wildlife, a trek 3,800 metres up Mt Meru, a genocide trial hearing at the International Crime Tribunal in Rwanda, an inspiring visit to a church and its adjoining hospital and a visit to the Amani street children’s home and the Upendo orphanage. But the prime focus of the visit was a week working in Msarange primary school. Four students were interviewed before they went. First, Marissa Georgopoulos became interested in going when she heard people like Emily Mills speaking about their 2007 Tanzania experience: After hearing them, I spoke to my parents who were very supportive of my going. I was inspired by the possibility of helping in Upendo orphanage, even though I expected it would be confronting. I think I can only understand the Tanzanians’ struggle by seeing it. I am struck by the happy, smiling faces of the Tanzanians, who have so little, which I contrast with us who are often unhappy, even though we have so much. We have had six months of preparation, dividing into smaller groups to look at various aspects of Tanzanian life – mine has been the economy. I

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

Year 11 students Amelia Smith (top left) and Marissa Georgopoulos (right) amidst smiling Tanzanian faces

Edmund found the service work at Msaranga primary school really satisfying: It was so fulfilling knowing I was helping in any way possible. It was awesome meeting the children; they have so much potential, a potential unlikely to be realised because of a lack of education. After Year 12 I’d like to go back and do some teaching there for a while.

Amelia found the service work a confronting experience: On that first day, I was not really ready for poverty. We had only just met the kids when we sat down for lunch. Some ten children put their hands through the wire grid window begging for food.

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Amelia Smith heard about the trip at Speech Night last year: I saw the DVD of the Upendo orphanage kids being held and thought: ‘I’d like to do that.’ Getting to Africa is very costly, but my family and I eventually decided that to simply hear about poverty is not necessarily to understand it; and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience life in Africa as it really is. We have had 15 meetings since we began planning at the beginning of this year and at three evening meetings my parents attended. The main things I learnt about at these meetings were facts and figures, health issues (44% of children are malnourished), corruption and war. I expect to be confronted by the fact that the world isn’t all sunshine, and we are to some extent sheltered from this reality.

Marissa, Edmund and Amelia were interviewed on their return from Tanzania, more thoughtful for the experience. Marissa said she was particularly struck by the gratitude of the Tanzanian children for little things that were big things for them: We arrived bearing gifts such as balloons, stickers, noise-makers etc. After giving a balloon to Fred (my little friend), he ran behind me, asked me to bend down and said ‘thank you’ whilst hugging me tightly. A gesture so simple brought tears to my eyes; the children were so grateful for something we see as so small.

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am excited at the opportunities to help others, but a little scared at being away from my family and exposed to such a different way of life.

Edmund Kirkwood also became interested when he heard from last year’s participants: I was particularly impressed by Reece Grogan’s music – and humour. I decided to participate because it is such a rare opportunity: when it was there, why not take it? I think an earlier trip to India I did with my parents will prove to be a good preparation for confronting conditions in Tanzania, though I expect Tanzania is going to be more challenging. I’d put my money on being torn to pieces by the conditions in the orphanage. But I’m looking forward to working in it – and to the safari – I’ve never seen animals in the wild.

I expect to come home with a solid appreciation of what we have here, and to value what has been a rare experience in Tanzania.

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

St Paul’s Ex Students’ News

Geoffrey Winter and Annika Lees meet up in Europe; fashion designer Allison Berger; and Jenny Galbraith’s wedding day Jenny Galbraith, who graduated from St Paul’s in 2000, was married to Jarod Pogson in July this year. Jenny is a journalist who has worked as a newspaper editor in Lightning Ridge and on The Hills Shire Times. She has recently returned from a five month trip to South Africa, Canada and the USA.

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Allison Berger, upon finishing Year 12 at St Paul’s in 2004, attended Raffles College of Design and Commerce from 2005 to 2007, where she obtained her Arts degree in Visual Communication. Early this year, her former teacher at college selected her to submit her work in a student fashion display at the Powerhouse Museum. Her teacher particularly appreciated her hand detail work. Allison says:

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I want to see things properly done. I use a lot of layering and applique. It’s the attention to detail that adds depth to the clothes. The Sydney Morning Herald picked up on Allison’s exhibits and featured them at the end of May: The exhibition ran until 14th September this year. In 2009, I hope to complete my Master’s course in fashion and film at London College of Fashion. I’d then be looking for jobs in Australia, but perhaps work overseas first. Why do I do this? ‘I guess it’s something I enjoy. I did well at this at school – it was the natural way to go.’

Annika Lees, who matriculated from St Paul’s Grammar School in 2006 with a score of 99.85, has this year received a scholarship to do a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies at the University of Sydney: The scholarship was awarded on the basis of my end-of-school results. The subjects I plan to do are World Politics, Economics as Social Science, Marketing and Advanced French.

I have spent 2007 doing a range of activities that will stand me in good stead in my chosen course – six months as an au pair with a lovely family near Lyons in France; eight weeks cycling through Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands and northern Germany which was challenging and a great cross-cultural experience; time in Switzerland with the family that former student Doug Wright is staying with; and, since coming back to Australia in October, part-time work and time with my family.

This was the course I had intended to do before going overseas. However, whereas before I had an idea of working with the United Nations eventually, now I am looking to a career in marketing, international business and management consulting. My 2007 experiences have shown me that I have skills in those areas. I see some of my school International Baccalaureate subjects as having a direct bearing on my university studies and

future career – French, History, English and Psychology in particular.

Three generations of the Barratt family have had connections with the school. Michael and Wilma Barratt were largely responsible for founding the school and, at the 25th anniversary dinner, Michael interviewed three of his sons, Damien, Ashley and Julian, about their time at St Paul’s. Two of their grandchildren who are living with them attend the school. FUTURUM interviewed Julian Barratt, and the interview started with Julian’s school experience: I joined St Paul’s in Year 7 in 1990, after having been at Kindalin from Kindergarten to Year 6.

The highlights of school for me were sport where we played indoor cricket and ‘illegal tackle’ football; the four or so friends I had; and the International Baccalaureate which ‘scratched all the educational itches that had never been scratched’. All the subjects had a big scope, classes were small and teachers very good. I particularly appreciated TOK, which affected how I thought. I had a strong encounter with God through a relief teacher’s influence who presented a picture of God as one ‘who will fight us in order to be found’, a perception of God which appealed to me as a teenage boy.

I carried with me from school my friendships; and ideas of knowledge and learning that were from school and my father. I came to realise that being a true person was what education should

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

From left, Dr Michael, Damien and Ashley Barratt at the school’s 25th anniversary dinner; Lily Harrison; and Ben Mills attired for a rugby match in China

A niece of Julian’s and a grand-daughter of the school’s founders, Lilienne (Lily) Harrison of Year 5, along with her brother Sebastian, started at St Paul’s this year and here she tells what it has been like: Last year I was at Henry Fulton Public School in Sydney. I like school. I like music and musical instruments. My Mum taught me the clarinet last year and I am now learning it at school and from my Uncle Alister. I have been playing The Pink Panther. It’s really hard – I need to take deep breaths. I sing and dance at school.

Ben Mills, after completing his schooling at St Paul’s last year, went to China in March on a language and culture scholarship from the Australia China Council. He is living in Hanghzou, a city 180 kilometres south-west of Shanghai and with a population of around four million. He has been teaching English to kindergarten classes as well as tutoring a Korean boy in English. He is also attending Chinese language classes where all communication is in Chinese. The language is explained simply with lots of actions. He is playing rugby with other expatriates in Hanghzou and has played friendly matches with teams in Shanghai and Nantong. He says: I am attending an English-speaking church in Hangzhou and I am really enjoying it. As far as I am concerned, there is nowhere else I’d rather be on a Sunday morning. I volunteered to teach Sunday School there and, after starting, I have been asked to continue.

Whilst I’m keeping busy, I’m also managing to find a lot of time to hang out with friends I have made here, as well as spending a lot of time with God. I’ve been thinking a lot about my life, especially the last two years and how I have changed and grown spiritually, and also about my future, and how I can spiritually change and grow. I’ve thought about the times when God

changed me the most. They were all times when I had been presented with an opportunity to do something really cool that was outside of my comfort zone. Many of these opportunities were presented to me during my time at St Paul’s. This year I have been presented with another opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone, and that opportunity was coming to China. I believe God has been presenting me with these opportunities over the past two years to shape me and mould me into the person he wants me to be. But how can you know what God wants from you if you can’t hear him speak to you? Only recently did I realise that one of the ways God has been speaking to me is through presenting me with opportunities that, if taken up, will shape me into the person he wants me to be. This is exactly what he is doing to me over here.

A number of former performing arts students are building careers for themselves in performing arts.

Ali Foster, an awardwinning conservatorium jazz graduate, is now a session drummer and professional musician, (http://www.jazz.org.au/features/2 63?regions%5BRegion%5D). Isaac Harvey, a former music scholarship student, was an apprentice piano builder with Stewart and Sons, innovative Australian piano builders, and is now working semi-professionally as a bass player. Tim Gannon did music to Year 12 and now works semi-professionally as a drummer.

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I have completed a double degree in Arts and Science and I did a two year Diploma of Christian Studies course at Cornerstone Community in Broken Hill and Dubbo. I am now on our family property at Rylstone with my wife and four children building my own mudbrick and straw-bale house. I have reached the stage where, now that my eldest is six, I have to think of their education. I’d like to bring them up to use, not bury their talents as Jesus suggested we should do.

People in my class are friendly.

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be about, and that education was a potent thing that was not naturally good – one needed to be discriminating about it. My schooling has integrated into my life and helped to form a bedrock for my thoughts. I was happy there; I have learnt from it; and I don’t run away from it.

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

SCHOOL COMMUNITY

At the launch of the Pre-Kindergarten

Launching the pre-K together THE YOUNGEST AND NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE school are ‘Little Saints’, those in the school’s beautiful brand new Pre-Kindergarten. Mrs Lisa Bonazza, director of Pre-K, explains her vision for the new project this way:

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I decided when I was seven that I wanted to be a teacher because of the good relationships I formed at school with my teachers and my fellow students. I have maintained relationships with my former principal, teachers and eight of my fellow students, and these friendships have remained strong despite the fact that during that time I have taught in five countries. I want children I come in contact with to experience the same relationships.

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I have always acknowledged the importance of relationships. It emphasised how important they are when I went around visiting other pre-schools. Many had great facilities and great staff; but it was the relationships that students had that made the best schools good. In more technical terms, what counts is what the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the Italian Reggio Emilia program have to offer: the social construction of knowledge. So when we were operating in Term 1 this year in demountables, it was a challenge. But the fact that we had to work together as a community of children, parents and staff meant we were alongside each other, building together a learning community.

We have plans to widen parental involvement and get parents to cover various portfolios. We hope that in the morning, parents can come and help not only their own, but other children as well. Already parents have helped – Kate Baker has made the pockets in the foyer and some parents are participating in morning activities and staying on for morning tea.

Mrs Bonazza, what has been your best experience?

The first day of the year in the demountables. For weeks, the children had been names on paper only. I couldn’t wait to put faces to the names. A second good experience has been the dedicated staff – Jill Munday, Dot Laughton, Lauren Kelly, Sarah Galea, Debbie Bennett and Lauren Collier.

Mrs Kate Baker has helped as a parent and teacher’s aide in the PreKindergarten: I became involved because I already have two older children, Declan (10) and Indiah (7) in the Junior School and because Indiah is friends with Lisa’s daughter, so I was keen to put my fouryear-old Callum in the Pre-K. I was particularly keen because Lisa is so dedicated. The facilities are amazing, but it is more the quality of the teaching staff and their relationships with the children that are impressive. The children are very fortunate. Four-year-old Callum was then asked what he likes about the Pre-K: I like the building, but the

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

Mrs Amy Moore’s four-year-old daughter Anna likes playing with her friends Sarah and Olivia: We play ‘Duck Duck Goose’ – when I say ‘goose’, they chase me. I come on Thursdays and Fridays. Mum brings me. I like Pre-K. Mrs Moore, a trained English teacher, appreciates what Pre-K offers her child: Pre-K opens the lid on learning for Anna.

Children that can be stretched in their learning are being developed by such life-learning activities as collecting tadpoles in the creek.

And the exposure to Chinese culture and language introduces them to a wider world, which is important. Although I have two younger children and am busy, I was not looking for a baby-sitting place for Anna; I wanted her to experience the excitement of learning with someone in the teacher role rather than the mother role. I have been thrilled with the excitement the teachers have about learning. I believe that if learning in these early years is not an exciting experience, it can be hard to turn it around later.

Another good thing is that, as we as a family are committed to God, it is good that the teachers are, too, because Anna idolises her teachers and we see them as good models for her. While the new building is a bonus, it is the learning experience that is most valuable, a worthwhile experience she was having before moving into the new building. Anna says to me,

‘Why can’t I come every day?’, to which I reply, ‘I’d miss you too much!’

Mr Steve Coote is Deputy Head of the Middle School. His son Lewis, who attends the Pre-Kindergarten on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, has just arrived one Wednesday morning and is looking at his beautifully documented portfolio as he makes these comments: What I like best are these wooden insect models that I have pictures of in my book. Look, they’ve got wings! Look at those Chinese numbers!

I like learning Chinese – I can say some things – nee how! I like that string painting. It has beautiful colours! Sometimes it’s hard getting up early to come here. But I like coming here. My friends are Lilly and Ben. Later, Lewis’ Dad told FUTURUM: My wife is a trained early childhood specialist. We are both impressed by the school readiness program that is used here – Lewis is getting familiar with such things as sounds and letters. And there is such an array of things done. What we want for Lewis is that he should engage in the learning process, enjoy learning things. I think that happens far more here than in other Pre-Kindergartens we have known. Another appealing feature is that the cost is so competitive.

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best things are the play equipment and my teachers Mrs Munday and Mrs Bonazza. I have some good friends too.

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A day in the life of the Pre-Kindergarten: a happy, busy place

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

CREATIVITY

Iconic cultural tourism: Pyramids, camels, desert sands, high rides

the world is a classroom

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WHILE THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION has the potential for students to access information from around the globe, the greatest learning experience arises when they gain first-hand knowledge of the people, places and artefacts that they are studying in the classroom. Language trips to China, Spain and Noumea; service learning tours of Tanzania; and cultural tours of Europe, Asia and Africa have put this conviction into practice at St Paul’s.

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On 5 April this year, 45 St Paul’s students and family members began a cultural tour across Europe and the Middle East for four weeks.

Travelling across England, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Egypt, they went to the Globe Theatre, the Somme battlefields, Renaissance Florence, the Acropolis, Anzac Cove and the Pyramids, just to mention a few places in this packed learning experience. To gauge the impact of the tour, FUTURUM interviewed some of the participants. Jonathan Wong first heard about the tour when he saw posters around the school: My parents and I went to the information night last year. I thought it would be great to see these places. Two of my friends also decided to go. There was not any one experience that was the best – everything was good, from the snow at Heathrow to Disneyland Paris to the great gelato in Pisa to the warm weather in Greece to the Turkish markets.

I didn’t build up expectations beforehand, so everything was good.

It was the first time I had travelled without my parents which gave me independence – but I had to pay for everything myself!

Daniella Johns remembers talking to her Mum about the trip: Mum said yes – she wanted me to buy a bag for her in Florence – I forgot to get it in the end! After our first meeting at the end of last year, I was really excited at the thought of going. Mum wanted me to have a big holiday. Going to Florence was wonderful – I had my birthday there. I liked the culture – everything had a good story behind it. The shopping was good and I enjoyed the freedom of walking around the city without being watched over by adults. In Samos, everyone was friendly – it was just like a tropical island in a magazine.

In England, the friendly people, Warwick Castle and the London Eye (the giant ferris wheel) were what stood out for me. The trip enabled me to discover cultures very different from my own; I became aware how monocultural many places are compared to multicultural Australia; it was good to go on holidays with people of my own age; and I have developed new friendships.

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St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

Rome: above, the tour group on he Spanish Steps; and below right, a few’ coins in the fountain’ - the Trevi Fountain - and a vow to return to the Eternal City some day

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Naomi Blakey first became interested when her teacher Mr Paul Humble began talking about the trip: I discussed it with my parents and, after thinking about it, they supported my desire to go – we’ll be putting off spending money on the back yard for a while! It was a once-ina-lifetime opportunity. The highlights for me were definitely Italy, mainly Florence, with its picturesque alleyways and friendly people; Egypt with its Pyramids and camel rides; and such places in England as Warwick Castle, Stratford-on-Avon, the Cotswolds and Bath. It has given me a respect for other cultures, the sort of learning you can’t get out of a textbook.

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S t P aul ’ s futurum GRAMMAR SCHOOL

ST PAUL’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL PENRITH

St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith penrith, australia

No. 44 Spring 2008

25 YEARS 1983 - 2008

CREATIVITY

Mr Kevin Weldon (right) just after he has alighted from his Squirrel helicopter (left) on the school grounds, to the delight of students (centre rear)

Being creative as an encouragement to learning MR KEVIN WELDON CAME TO ST PAUL’S IN HIS helicopter, the latest Squirrel from France, in April 2008 to speak to Year 3 at St Paul’s after Anastasia and Kalista Plummer from St Paul’s Junior School invited him to talk about his inventive life and work.

The girls’ Mum, assistant school chaplain Rev. Sarah Plummer, outlines what he spoke about: He published The Macquarie Dictionary, a task he undertook because of his love for Australia. Australia didn’t have its own validated language before that. It was the first dictionary to be put on database. Another interest he has is lifesaving. He has been a lifesaver since the age of 15 and was the first president of the Australian Lifesaving Association. He sees it as a case of taking what we can do in Australia – lifesaving – and using that skill to train those in other countries.

He also spent time working with Steve Irwin, at one time flying a crocodile from the eastern side to the western side of Cape York – the crocodile took four months to get back to where it had started!

The children were asked to write their assessment of the visit. Here is a sample of their responses: I like it how Kevin said you can do anything if you practice a lot.

Tia, aged 9 I learned that we should all try our best in what we do and try to help other people.

Elly, aged 7 I think Mr Weldon is a carer, open-minded, a communicator and a thinker.

Georgia, aged 8 Kevin Weldon published more than one million Macquarie Dictionaries.

Ashwin, aged 8

I think Kevin Weldon is a real hero.

Scott, aged 8

w:This edition of FUTURUM has been prepared by Ken Goodlet and Daniel Weatherhead for St Paul’s Grammar School Penrith

NEW HEAD OF SCIENCE AT ST PAUL’S Mrs Jennie Young and her Year 10 students fired off a rocket at the school’s Open Day this year. Behind this is an academic background that includes a Master’s degree of Science in Astronomy, a Caltex and Rotary Award for Innovation in Teaching, a Churchill Fellowship, a National Space Society Special Award for Excellence and an approach to science which she outlines here: There is a worldwide downturn in Maths and Science studies at school and university. And in some countries, Science and Maths consist not of learning to think, but of regurgitating wads of material.

Under a Churchill Fellowship, I visited schools in Europe and the USA to look particularly at how space education can be used to inspire students to study science and engineering in high school and at tertiary level. Andoya High School in Norway had an aerospace elective that was particularly rewarding, 90% of its students going on to study in aerospace-related fields; and there were useful programs in three schools I saw in the USA. I am convinced that if science is taught as problem-solving, it fires the imagination and gets around the idea that science is difficult.

Furthermore, I am convinced that space is a vehicle to unlock science.

Kids love space. We can use space to switch on reluctant learners.

In my previous school, I built and launched rockets; tested them; simulated a lunar colony, a zero gravity environment and flight conditions; and did a project to test safety glasses (it involved making a hole in a plastic garbage bin – the janiter caught me!). There was a space technology symposium and an academic conference for students who did these courses. Apart from the launching of rockets, which has already happened once, I’d like to have at St Paul’s a young astronaut program, a space club, a wind tunnel, and a continuation of Mr Brad Murphy’s astronomy program. (If anyone knows where we could get an industrial-strength fan for our wind tunnel cheaply, we would appreciate your telling us.)

Someone said, ‘Education is not teaching kids just what they like to learn - but enabling them to enjoy what they need to learn.’

More weight needs to be given to the role of secondary teachers to inspire kids to do this.

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