Issue 2 Term III, 2010

NEWSLETTER Daffodil Ball Sarah Moir - Alumni 1999

Headmaster’s Message Time to Decide Head of Senior School Head of Junior School Issue 2 Term III, 2010

Academic • Christian • Caring

Chaplain

Time to Decide Campaigning for the coming Federal election has been notable for the absence of a significant dominant policy issue typical of recent elections.

Clear policy difference and choice between philosophically opposed positions has not been a characteristic of this campaign. However, it would be wrong to believe that the outcome of the coming election will have little bearing on TIGS. To understand the importance of the election outcome for TIGS it is essential to understand how TIGS is funded. The budgeted cost of providing educational services and facilities at TIGS in 2010 is $17.8 million. Finance for this amount comes from three main sources: TIGS families (Tuition fees and other fees for service) Commonwealth Government NSW State Government Other Total

$12,576,437 $ 3,989,842 $ 1,524,195 $ 74,100 $18,164,574

(69%) (22%) ( 8%)

It is important to note that TIGS has no capital reserves or well endowed Foundation - it operates on the income generated from these sources each year.

The amount of funding allocated by the Commonwealth Government to Independent schools like TIGS varies depending on the level of perceived need of the families in each school. This is determined by using the SocioEconomic Status (SES) score which is calculated using census data. The higher the income level of TIGS families, the higher the SES score and the less income is received from the Commonwealth Government. As a guide, a school with an SES score of 130 would receive 13.7% of AGSRC (the average cost of educating a student in a government school) for each student while an SES score of 85 would attract 70% of AGSRC for each student.

Stephen Kinsella Headmaster

The SES score for TIGS is 108 which entitles the School receive 41.2% of AGSRC. If the average income of TIGS families increases then the percentage of AGSRC TIGS receives falls, and vice versa. It is not hard to notice that if TIGS closed its doors the recurrent cost to governments would be much higher than the current funding commitment to TIGS. If the capital cost of building new schools is added it is clear that supporting Independent schools is the cheaper option regardless of any philosophical arguments.

The SES system is currently under review in preparation for the next funding period which will start in 2013. Any change from the current system could alter the level of funding received from the Australian Government and have a significant impact on the level of fees at TIGS and/or the level of services provided for our students.

This is why the policy of the two major parties and the minor parties that may hold the balance of power in the Senate require careful consideration by TIGS voters. The Association of Independent Schools (AIS) advises that “it is reasonable to ask members of parliament and candidates to provide their commitment to supporting independent schools through appropriate funding. It is also reasonable to inform members and candidates that failure to retain a fair school funding system can result in supporters of independent schools registering their concerns via the ballot box.”

As a starting point, members and candidates from each political party could be asked to explain the following (quotes are taken from the AIS publications): The Coalition:

Committed to continuing the current SES system “with some minor adjustments”.

Q. What are these minor adjustments and will they change the level of funding received by TIGS?

The Labor Party:

The Education Minister, Simon Crean, said that following the current funding review “no school will be worse off. Not a dollar will be taken away”. However, he refused to guarantee funding in real terms. In a press release issued on 4 August, the Prime Minister said “we will extend the existing funding agreement, including indexation arrangements, by a further year to ensure certainty for Independent Schools until the end of 2013.” TIGS welcomes this commitment.

Q. Will the Labor party guarantee funding in ‘real’ terms for TIGS after 2013?

The Australian Greens: “Policy states that they would: • end the current non-government school funding arrangements by the end of 2010, • end funding to the ‘very wealthiest private schools’, • return the total level of funding for all non-government schools to the 2003-04 levels (this means TIGS would receive around $1,000 less per student than current rates or about $950,000 less income from the Australian Government),and • restrict the development of ‘new private schools’.”

Q. What is a wealthy school and how will funding for TIGS be determined after 2010?

The current campaign may be uninspiring but the outcome for TIGS and its families may be quite significant. I am interested to receive any information that members of our community may receive from our political candidates related to education policy.

More information can be found about Education Policy in general here and about the Education Policy of the Australian Greens in particular here.

Chaplain’s Connection I once lived in a house where we had constant water problems. Pipes backed up, leaks sprung from unexpected places – in general the plumbing did its best to make life a misery.

And this had apparently always been the case since the house was new. Eventually, the owners decided to bite the bullet and have extensive – and expensive – tests and scans done to find the source the problem. It turned out that the plumbing had never been properly connected. The original builders had gone bust, having just fixed all the pipes and taps in place, but not having finished the connections. The builders who finished the job didn’t notice the missing connections … and hence the ongoing problems.

I recently read of a similar, more dangerous situation, in a hospital in America. As you would expect of such an important public health institution, when it was built 35 years ago it had an extensive fire safety system installed, complete with pipes, valves, sprinklers, and so on. For 35 years the hospital had relied upon its water safety equipment in case of fire. Until it was recently discovered that the water main had never been attached to the city’s water supply. The pipe that led from the building extended four feet underground - and there it stopped! The costly equipment, the polished valves, and the well-placed outlets were all well and good – but without being connected to the water supply, the confidence that had been placed in that system to save the hospital in times of emergency was misplaced - it was a false security.

When you read what Jesus had to say about life and eternity, it seems that some people have a similar false sense of security. We have all the outward trappings of a successful life: home, food, television, clothing, iPod, and so on. But are we truly connected to the real source of eternal life?

John Reed

Consider some of the things Jesus said in his time on earth: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me Chaplain you can do nothing.” (John 15:5); “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) And see this echoed and fulfilled in what the risen Lord Jesus says from the throne at the centre of heaven: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” (Revelation 21:6) It seems we ought to do what nobody at the hospital in America thought to do for 35 long years – check that we are indeed connected properly to the One who is the source of true life and hope for eternity.

Senior School At the Coeducation Conference that I referred to in last week’s Newsletter, there were not only conference papers delivered but there was also a panel discussion on the topic of Coeducation. The panel comprised of ex-students from a number of Sydney schools who answered questions on their perceptions of coeducation and its impact on their learning and development. Many of the students had attended a single sex school earlier in their school career, so that they had a point of comparison.

Unsurprisingly most of their comments were positive and enthusiastic on the subject of coeducation but there was one matter which the girls raised which they saw as an equity issue for girls.

The girls from the Sydney Schools perceived inequality to exist in their access to, support in and formal recognition through Sport. The girls specifically referred to their envy of the formation of team spirit and the kudos that sprang from : • • •

Rugby and Cricket practice; the visible and vocal honouring of the teams and the enshrining of their achievements in the culture of the school.

The girls said that they felt excluded and not as valued because there was no similar vehicle for them through Sport.

When I thought of our School I must admit I could not see that as a feature of our culture.

Our girls appear to be on stage receiving accolades as much as the boys. There are as many items on Daily Notices for girls’ sport as there are for boys’ sport, girls’ teams Deputy Headmaster are mentioned frequently and boys and girls seem to be equally as successful in all sports. But I tested that perception by asking some of our more assertive girls if there was inequality in access to Sport at TIGS and their response was a resounding ‘No.’ A number commented on high levels of satisfaction with the range and visibility of lots of sports and their enjoyment of playing in both single sex and mixed teams. The boys too did not perceive that there was an equity issue for them.

Monica Watt

So, very well done Mrs Sharpe and your great Sports Department. Those Sydney schools maybe need to take a leaf from our book!

Junior School It is a wonderful aspect of my job that I am frequently in the position to feel very proud of our students outside of their regular school day. Last weekend at the Daffodil Ball our senior students were absolutely magnificent in their host roles. Many guests at this event commented on their welcoming and confident manner. It was also very obvious that they were working extremely hard and I do thank each of them for adding to a wonderful evening.

On the same note I received this communication for one of our parents early Monday morning and thought it also worth celebrating: “I just thought that you would like to know how magnificently all of our netball girls played at the Netta Gala Day yesterday. I believe all teams had many wins.

Aside from this, I was so proud to hear other teams comment on the manner in which our under 9 girls play their games. This has also been said of them during the normal netball competition. They are respectful of one another and the opposition, and always give their best even when up against stronger, older girls.

It is so nice to hear positive comments when sometimes you witness the more unkind side of competition.

Be proud of the way in which all of our teams represented TIGS and of the contribution made by our coaches and team managers.”

Certainly I am very proud of the students here at TIGS and our extended community but what I think these two examples demonstrate is that our students and their families are proud of themselves and their connection to their school. This is a wonderful aspect of a TIGS education.

Emails out this week: • Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection • P&F auction

Award KH

, Isabella Atkinson Temira Cowie

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KM

Eloise Malouf

1D

Brendan Law, Ruby Moore, Isobel Kinnear, Ella Vartazarian

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Ruby Tilden, Annie McLearie

4B

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William Young, es, Michael Kyriakoud Corey Read Benon Harris, Caleb Grace

oper, 5/6W James Co y Thomas Chadraw 6C

BELONGING

by Rory Swainson 1S

1S

3A

I am very pleased to share with you another sample of student work. This Acrostic poem has been written by Rory Swainson in 1S. It was done as part of their unit on ‘Where we are in Time and Place’. I was very impressed with Rory’s understanding of belonging and thought you would all be too!

Building friendships Environment is important Live Gods way Others come first Nature is cool Government said sorry Information is learning and changing Nothing is impossible Give love

Isabella Kane

Olivia Porcheddu

Judi Nealy

Head of Junior School

Right - Junior School Composting Bottom - English as a Second Language

Library News n Roster

Cantee

Leanne Windsor has joined our library as the new Library Director this term. You can contact her directly on 4220 0226 or via email at lwindsor@tigs.nsw.edu.au.

We are excited to announce that our Library now has a Facebook Page and a presence on Twitter. If you are on Facebook you can find and “Like” us by searching for “TIGS Library”. You’ll see what we are up to, be informed of interesting web links and great books, and learn about upcoming library events. Our Twitter name is @tigslib. We also look forward to launching a library web page and online library catalogue in coming months.

We always welcome comments, suggestions and questions regarding the library, please contact Leanne.

Book Week

The children in Prep and Junior School have been sharing the books on the Children’s Book Council Award shortlist for 2010.

There are some wonderful stories and picture books that we have loved exploring.

On Monday 9 August we are hosting the Tony Bones stage adaptation of one of the shortlisted Picture Books – “Schumann the Shoeman”. You can find out more about this production by visiting the Tony Bones website Students in Prep - Year 3 are attending this event to be held in Rees Hall from 9.00am until 10.00am. Parents are welcome to attend. Please contact library staff should you have any questions about this. Ph. 4220 0275 During Book Week, on Tuesday 24 August from 9.00am until 11.00am Karobran is hosting a Literary Morning Tea and Book Sale in the library featuring local author Mo Johnson, who will talk about her latest book Noah’s Garden, and our new Library Director, Leanne Windsor, who will speak about the importance of reading with and to your children. All parents are welcome and will have the opportunity to select and purchase books, with their children, at our Book Sale following the morning tea. Please see the Karobran advertisement for further details and RSVP information.

On Monday 23 August staff and students in Prep and Junior School are dressing up to celebrate reading. We are planning the day for the children to have fun celebrating and sharing stories, books and characters. Teachers and library staff are talking with students about how they might dress up.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge is fast coming to a close for 2010. We wish to remind our Junior School participants that all students must have their entries completed online before Friday the 27th of August to allow time for TIGS library staff to validate entries before the Challenge closing date of 31 August 2010.

Students can enter their books at the official website https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/logon.html by logging in with their username and password. These were issued by the Library staff at the beginning of the challenge with an instruction note. If your children are having any difficulties please contact the Library staff for assistance via phone on 4220 0275 or email at librarystaff@tigs.nsw.edu.au.

Creative Arts The Works Exhibition

After the success and wonderful support of The Works last year, we are hoping that the TIGS community will again get behind this event and attend with friends over the weekend of the 27th and 28th of August. We will continue to showcase the amazing final projects and bodies of works from HSC students but will also be exhibiting works for sale from past and present students, parents and friends of TIGS. The announcement of the winner of the Acquisitive Prize, sponsored by Westpac Bank will again feature on the opening night. Our companion exhibition TIGS @ Redpoint will be held after the The Works Exhibition at Redpoint Gallery, Port Kembla. We are pleased to be involved in this collaborative project with such a unique and vital community arts group. Enquiries about the exhibition should be forwarded to Sandra Esposito sesposito@tigs.nsw.edu.au or Wendi Leigh wleigh@tigs.nsw.edu.au

Student Art Competitions

There are so many wonderful art/ photographic competitions that students can be a part of at the moment. Please click here for the Term III Timetable.

Friend of TIGS Titane Koia

Parent of TIGS Anne-Marie Wharrie

Renee Simmons HSC 2010

Daffodil Ball 2010 A Thank You from the Cancer Council I would like to sincerely thank The Illawarra Grammar School for partnering with us at the Cancer Council in hosting the 2010 Daffodil Ball held on the 31 July 2010. There were many students involved in making this event a success including the String Orchestra, TIGS Tech and Student Hosts.

All students were wonderful ambassadors of the School and their support is greatly appreciated by the Cancer Council.

There were many highlights on the night, and a great night was shared by all. We raised $30,000 this year and this will be used to develop a Healthy Living Illawarra Schools Cancer Prevention Program. Through this program we will work with students to educate them on the dangers of smoking; the dangers of the Australian sun and the need to adequately protect themselves from melanoma; and to support students in understanding the importance of eating healthy nutritious food matched with a physically active lifestyle to reduce their risk of cancer.

Our goal is to educate the next generation which will hopefully mean the incidence of cancer in their lifetime may not be as devastating as in ours. Thank you for your support and we look forward to partnering with TIGS again for the 2011 Daffodil Ball.

Merewyn Partland Manager, Southern Region, Cancer Council NSW

TIGS P & F TIGS P & F September Dinner & Auction 3 September Wollongong.

6.30pm

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TIGS Tee Off Charity Golf Day Sunday 22 August 2010

All welcome – Teachers, Students, Family and Friends

Come along and join the fun with a great dinner, drinks and a DJ to entertain you, all for $80 per person. To continue in the proud TIGS tradition we are helping to fund the installation of shelters for the bus and car lines and for the road between the Junior and Senior Schools.

Payment can be made by cash, cheque or direct deposit to the TIGS P & F account. Click here for the Auction booking form. Please fill in and return the booking form to School with payment or payment details if using direct deposit facility.

For more information please call Sheridon Tregonning 0409822273 or Sheldri Hamilton Smith - 0417301108.

This is our only all School social function for the year.

To receive email updates of year specific social events please join the TIGS P & F Community Contact Register. Click here to download the registration form.

Wollongong Golf Club, 4BBB Medley Stableford Cost including lunch $50pp - General $25pp - Wollongong Golf Club members $20pp - Children/6-9 hole fun competition for non-golfers Social handicaps available Prizes, raffles, mulligans and much more All proceeds to support Triple Care Farm Enquiries/Booking - Email Leisl at leisl@eplaza.com.au or call 0414 258563 Also seeking sponsorship for individual holes and prizes for the trophies and raffles.

All support greatly appreciated.

Senior School Sports Equestrian Days

Can all Students wishing to compete in the following events please collect an information pack from student reception: Berry Public School Inter-school Equestrian Championship Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 September 2010 Tara Anglican School Dressage Competition Sunday 12 September 2010 Oxley College Equestrian Day Sunday 19 September 2010

Twilight Hockey

From the team that brought you Midnight Basketball and Twilight Cook Off we now have Twilight Hockey.

When: Saturday nights 31 July – 18 September (excluding 14 August) Where: Illawarra Indoor Stadium, Unanderra

Hockey

Time: 6pm-10pm Age: 12-18years Free registration For more details contact Rebecca Bell on 0413902919 or bec2bell@yahoo. com.au

NASSA Football Gala Day

Junior and Senior Girls On Monday 26 July the Junior (Yr 7 & 8) and Senior (Yr 9-12) girls football teams travelled to Crest Fields, Georges Hall to compete in the NASSA Football Gala Day. Both teams started the day with impressive victories over the two Thomas Hassall Anglican College teams. The Junior girls had a convincing 4-2 win, while the Senior girls fought hard to eventually win their game 1-0. Both teams followed these games with a loss, but the Senior girls were able to recover for their next two games with two 1-1 draws. In both games TIGS was able to come back from a 0-1 deficit to come away with the draw.

The Junior girls team finished their day with another loss and then a well fought draw.

The Junior Girls finished the day in 4th place while the Seniors finished in 3rd. All the girls thoroughly enjoyed the day and were fantastic ambassadors for TIGS.

II I m r e T Week 4, t 9 Augus Monday Donovan

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New Term III Menu

There is a new Term III menu which includs price changes. Please ensure you refer to this when you are placing an order.

This menu is also available on the School Web Site.

Online Ordering is Here!

Our School has now introduced a great new online ordering system for the canteen called FlexiSchools. This system allows parents or students to place orders from home, work or school at any time up until 9:00am in the morning.

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order online!

The payment is also done online, so you no longer need to send cash or write up a paper order.

As well as being convenient for parents, the online orders are much faster and easier for the canteen to process - so it makes everyone’s life a little easier. FlexiSchools is well established and tested, operating in hundreds of schools across Australia.

Getting online is easy and only takes a second to register. Simply go to www.flexischools.com.au and click “Register Now”. You will be sent an email with further instructions on how to complete the registration. Once registered, you can start placing orders immediately. If you have any questions, FlexiSchools provide a great help desk on 1300 361 769, or you can contact them via their website.

There are a variety of payment options supported, including Visa, Mastercard (credit and debit), Bank Transfer and Payclick.

The system operates via a pre-paid account, so you don’t need to scrounge for coins in the morning and can easily budget for your canteen spending throughout the Term.

The system is now available, so we look forward to seeing your next

If you have any questions please feel free to contact the canteen on 4220 0241 for more information.

National Self-Detection Program for Scoliosis (NSDP) 2010 In July and August, we encourage parents of girls in Years 7 and 9 to participate in the NSDP by downloading the selfdetection brochure. Click here to download more information.

There is also an online discussion where girls and their parents can obtain general advice from certified specialists who manage patients with spinal curvature. Click here to download more information.

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Senio r Girls Emily Debro t Sarah Baker Katrin a Chri stian Timia Os Phoeb man e Hanna Fraser h Bronte Muirhead Osborn Lara E dmon e ds Peita Ka Georg llinikos ia Bov in Caroli ne Ha gton milton Smith Eliza K ing Coac h: Mr Deck

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

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

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1990 TIGS STUDENTS’

High School Reunion 20 years If you attended TIGS during your primary years from 1978 - 1984 or in Year 7 1985 to Year 12 1990 you and your partner are invited to attend the 20 year School reunion Click here to view full invitation