Issue 6 Term II 2015

Newsletter Academic Christian Caring

ISSUE 6

TERM II 2015

Headmaster It may seem a strange way to start a Headmaster’s newsletter item but I recommend that you read the Chaplain’s message in this week’s newsletter. The achievement of our students, and the families that have no doubt supported them, in raising funds for the 40 Hour Famine is astonishing. It is heartening to see that the care and concern for others by our students has not waned over 25 years, especially as ‘caring’ for others is one of the TIGS core values.

The half-yearly reporting cycle and parent/teacher interviews are underway. Parents and teachers working together in the education of our students is an important dimension of an education at TIGS - it is so important that there is a consistent message being given at home and school about learning and the opportunity to discuss the progress of a student is highly valued by teachers.

In the Junior School, ‘three-way conferencing’ has been used for the first time. It is not uncommon for students to attend interviews with their parents in the Senior School but this was a first in our Junior School. It is our intention that our students develop as independent learners who take responsibility and are accountable for their role in their own learning. All the reports that I have received are that the meetings were highly effective with students, parents and teachers all gaining a deeper understanding of the progress that has been made and what is yet to be achieved.

As previously advised, work is underway to install new classrooms in the Junior School (on the lower side of the oval) to bring Year 4 back to the Junior School Campus. The new facility will also house the music room, currently located in the Senior School Design building.

The vacated classrooms in H Block will be reassigned to the Senior School English Faculty and the vacated Music room in the Design Building will be transformed into a state of the art design facility, providing student access to equipment such as a 3D Printer, Laser Cutter and CNC Router.

I also signed off this week on the programme for the coming season of Beauty and the Beast. Last year’s season of The Secret Garden was a wonderful success with students learning to love the beautiful music and complex story line as they rehearsed and performed.

No such problem with Beauty and the Beast. It seems that every student has seen the video many times and loves the story and the music. It is no surprise that tickets are selling quickly. It is my hope that our School community will support our students and staff by attending one of the coming performances. The season runs from June 17 to 20 and booking can be made through the School website.

Our Statement of Mission and Values refers to the School’s commitment to excellence: “Excellence is viewed as neither elitist nor exclusive and is accessible to all who aspire to be the best they can be.”

This standard applies to all the members of our School community.

Our students’ progress in their studies, their participation in sport and co-curricular activities, participation in special activities like The Great Fete and the Musical all provide opportunities to be the best they can be in all they do, not just in academic study.

They also learn from observing and experiencing their parents’ commitment and interest in their education and the commitment of the TIGS staff in supporting them in their education.

A commitment to ‘being the best we can be’ defines us as a School and drives students, parents and staff to make TIGS an even better place to live and learn.

Stephen Kinsella Headmaster

Chaplain’s Message REPORT TIME

We are in report mode at the moment at TIGS. You may have received you child’s report already. If not, it will be on its way soon. I have received some reports of a different kind in recent weeks which I feel compelled to share with you. They are excellent reports.

In last week’s newsletter, Mr. Lanyon reported on our Community Service initiatives at TIGS. Community Service gives our students an opportunity to serve the best interests of others and in that way model the Great Servant of All: the Lord Jesus Christ. My aim in this report is not to repeat what Mr. Lanyon has already said but to share with you the good effect our students are having as they serve others.

The first comes from World Vision. We have been participating as a School in World Vision’s 40 Hour Famine for around 25 years. Year 10 head up our 40 Hour Famine initiatives. For many years they were led by Mrs Kerry Goonan and in more recent times by Mrs Amanda Lowe. I received a certificate recently showing the accumulated funds raised and donated by our School towards the 40 Hour Famine. I was staggered by the figure. It is $116,000. That is amazing. Imagine the lives that have been touched for good as a result of this generosity. What a great report card this was to receive.

Next I want to share with you a letter I received from Figtree Anglican Church acknowledging the service of our Year 11 students in their Manna House ministry. Manna House provides meals and friendship to those who are needy in our local community. Here is what the letter said about our students’ involvement in Manna House:

Rev James Rogers Chaplain

“The Manna Van team would like to express their gratitude to the young people from the TIGS programme that have blessed us each Thursday evening at Warrawong. Their dedication and resourcefulness has been unflinching and has been much appreciated, particularly by the “Grey Army” members in the Team. The two young men that accompanied us last night (Evan and Dylan) in particular did a great job in covering for regular Team members who were either unavailable or sick and fitted in as if they had been working on the Van for ages. This was on a night, that despite the inclement weather, was arguably the busiest night in terms of Guest numbers that we have ever experienced on the Van.” Another splendid report card. I trust you are as encouraged as I am by these reports on how diligently our students are working toward the good of others. Our students are bringing great blessing to others and growing enormously themselves in the process.

Rev James Rogers Chaplain

2016 Enrolments We are now finalising placements for 2016 – particularly in Pre-Preparatory, Preparatory, Kindergarten and Year 7.

Applications for Enrolment are now submitted online here or via our website: http://www.tigs.nsw.edu.au/enrolments/ enrolment-procedure Please contact our Enrolments Department on 4220 0216 should you have any questions.

Senior School at home

Monica Watt Head of Senior School Deputy Headmaster

Collett Smart’s talk to parents last week on Gaming reinforced many of the messages which Susan MacLean and Michael Carr-Gregg delivered to us at previous parent events over the past few years.

is associated with higher selfesteem, optimism, resilience, healthy relationships and social connections and functioning.

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Set time limits (1 to 2 hours passive time/day)

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Set content limits

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Set age restrictions for apps

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Play 1 main game at a time

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Discourage distributed play allow for binge playing

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Know all passwords

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Play video games with your children

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Encourage pro-social, active & educational game use

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Balance online with offline activities

And another very pertinent piece of advice for all of us is that the ability to multi-task is a myth.

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Talk, talk, talk

See the recent article in the SMH:

Collett updated us on recent research, but interestingly enough the core messages still seem to be the same.

She also reinforced Michael CarrGreg’s advice on sleep: that teenagers need 9 – 11 hours of sleep per night.

You are the parent. Your children have immature brains, which need to be nurtured and safeguarded in order that they can grow and develop into the best version of themselves that they can be. Our core value is your core value: to provide a caring, nurturing and safe environment for your children as they grow, learn and mature into adulthood.

And with regards specifically:

So what is Collett’s advice to parents regarding technology?

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Keep Current, Keep Communicating, Keep Checking

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Keep technology in public areas

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video

games

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Excessive video game play and technology use is not good for mental health and excessive play is associated with negative outcomes, such as anxiety and insomnia.

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Overall, researchers have found that parents restricting how much screen time kids watch, restricting what they watch and talking about the shows was linked to more sleep, better school performance and less aggression among kids.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/ digital-life-news/multitasking-makesyou-stupid-studies-find-20150527gh5ouq.html And check out these websites:

Decades of experimental, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have all found that exposure to violent games leads to increased physical aggression, a desensitization to violence and decrease in pro-social behaviors and empathy.

http://www.cybersafetysolutions. com.au/

Playing creative and welldevised video games positively influences young people’s emotional state, vitality, engagement, competence and self-acceptance. And that

Monica Watt Head of Senior School/ Deputy Headmaster

http://familysmart.com.au/ http://www.michaelcarr-gregg.com. au/

The Arts

Congratulations The Arts on the following successes: •

Senior Dance Troupe achieved first place on Friday 29 May at the city of Shoalhaven Eisteddfod in the High School dance section (Pictured above). Congratulations to all the students and to Mrs James.

•

Choral8 (a cappella Choir Group) performed at the Shoalhaven Eisteddfod and came first. This was extremely exciting for them as it was their first performance of the year as a group. Our feedback was wonderful and we were then invited to perform at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre ‘Stars of the Eisteddfod.’ Unfortunately the date of this clashed with the closing night of our production. Such a shame. Hopefully there will be other opportunities. Congratulations to all these students, their Drama teacher and Choir leader Mrs McIntosh.

•

The Senior and Intermediate Theatre Sports Team also competed at Smiths Hill High school for the past 2 consecutive Fridays against six other schools. The Senior Team came 4th and unfortunately don’t go through to the next round, however the Intermediate Team tied 2nd with Wollongong Performing Arts High. Smiths Hill came first. This sends us through to the semi final round at Newington College in 2 weeks time. This is extremely exciting as it confirms that Drama at TIGS is extremely competitive with other local schools…especially those that are Performing Arts schools and our direct competition in the area.

P&F News YEAR 7 MUMS’ DINNER

I am organising a Year 7 Mums’ Dinner, a great opportunity to meet and get to know other mums from Year 7.

Date: Friday 31 July Time: 7.00pm Venue: Murphy’s Bar and Grill Unanderra Cost: The cost is $50pp for a 3 course meal (pay on the night). Drinks to be purchased separately.

I have booked a private room at Murphy’s to allow people to meet and mingle.

If you are able to come, please RSVP me directly by Friday 17 July via email jsantos1@optusnet.com.au or text/phone 0422 995 509.

Thankyou Renee Santos

Junior School

PRINCIPAL FOR A DAY PROGRAMME

“More than 300 students from 176 schools across NSW will experience life on the other side when they become a ‘Principal for a Day’ on Wednesday 4 June”

Judi Nealy Head of Junior School

Hugo Parrish and Ruby D’Rozario our Junior School Captains participated in the ‘Principal for the Day’ Programme. The experience included participating in a webinar with other student principals, conducting meetings with various staff members including briefing the Headmaster on uniform and playground issues in the Junior School. Hugo and Ruby also addressed all of Stage 2 and Year 5 about uniform requirements at our School specifically outlining their concern about the coloured sports shoes that are creeping in to School. They reminded the students about the requirement for mainly white shoes. Ruby and Hugo assisted with a playground duty at lunch time and also met with Mrs Wallace for a curriculum update and Mrs McRae to discuss Pastoral Care in the Junior School. They started the day telling me that they thought they would mainly be doing paperwork and finished the day assisting with car line. I think that they had a few other varied experiences also! At the end of the day Ruby said ‘she was ready for bed!’

Judi Nealy Head of Junior School

Student articles

MERIT CERTIFICATES Academic Ella Vartazarian Aria Bacic-Johnston Cohen Sawyer Lexi Mitchell Cameron Davies Cate Giason Subhaan Ul-Haq Lillian Glover Marcus Smith

Personal Presentation Jessy Harman Samuel Robinson

Service Ben Harman Rhys Cheng

On Wednesday 3 June, Hugo and I were the principals for the day. We completed many jobs Mrs Nealy normally completes. Mrs Nealy cleared her whole day for us but it turns out she only got to spend a little time with us because of all the little pop up jobs she had to complete (3 parent meetings, meeting with Mr Kinsella, etc.). I thought being a principal meant drinking coffee and relaxing but to be honest with you school principals spend long hours working for our School, most of the time Mrs Nealy doesn’t get recess! At the end of the day I told Mrs Nealy her job is tiring and this is what she told me back “you have to love your job to always want to do your job”. It appears to me Mrs Nealy has to be spontaneous to the demands of her job.

You have to be very committed and love your job to do what a principal does. Being in charge of 400 students and over 20 staff members is a lot to be responsible for.

Ruby D’Rozario Last week Junior School students participated in NASSA Cross Country at Macarthur Anglican College. Throughout the day students competed in races for the School. By the end of the day TIGS got an outstanding result and came first and everyone tried their hardest.

A huge thank you to Mrs Dribbus and Mrs Martin who trained all the Junior School students.

On Tuesday afternoon many students had their Three Way Conferences. Parents, teachers and students were involved in it. At the end of the conferences students and their parents reflected on the experience. Here are some of their reflections: • • • • • • • •

‘It was good showing my dad what I had learnt this year’ ‘It was a bit scary talking to your parent about things you struggle in’ ‘Great idea to have the kids present all aspects of their schooling’ ‘It was fun and exciting’ ‘It was good to see your confidence during your presentation’ ‘Felt weird talking to my parents about my marks’ ‘He was great. I am proud of him’ ‘It was great sharing my learning’

Hugo Parrish and Ruby D’Rozario Student Principals for the Day

Extend @ TIGS We have heaps of fun activities planned these school holidays and we can’t wait for you to attend! Activities include a range of arts and crafts, sports, team games, science, cooking, and much more.

WEEKLY AWARDS

To check out what’s on visit our website at extend.com.au and book via the Parent Portal.

KH

Bridie Hughes, Harrison Stone, Jack Cleary

Extend@TIGS is fully operating from The Rees Hall this year onwards. We have a lot of exciting outdoor activities lined up since The Oval is open for play.

Please do not forget to check the Newsletter for our weekly program.

KP

Neel Shetty, Jannah Kermali

“GILBERT THE GECKO” is arriving at TIGS on Tuesday 16 June at 4.30pm.

1T

Subodh Parab, Summer Thomas

WEEK 8 ACTIVITIES

1W

Marcus Smith, Aston Di Donato

1Y

Lachlan Taylor, Subhaan Ul-Haq

2Mc

Myer Matyana, Saxon Parrish

2S

Wyatt Toland, Ava Santos

3R

Cohen Sawyer, Allegra Fock

3S

Lillian Glover, Jude De Araujo

4Y Cameron Davies, Grace Hilton,

Charlotte Palmisano 5G

Mathilda Hoy, Zachary Birch

5R

Grace Hobeika, Alison Guo

6C

Declan Saad, Nicola Wright

6K

Aria Bacic-Johnston, John Taiwo

Monday 8 June: Public Holiday

Tuesday 9 June:

Extend@Library (3:30pm-4:30pm) Breezeway Play

Wednesday 10 June: Creating Pinwheels Soccer on the oval

Thursday 11 June:

My Kitchen Rules: Minion Cupcakes Organised Sports

Friday 12 June: Movie (G) Mini Olympics

WEEK 9 ACTIVITIES Monday 15 June:

Lady Beetle Friendship Messages Soccer

Tuesday 16 June:

Forest Nature Walk Gilbert the Gecko is visiting Extend

Wednesday 17 June:

Buddy Week Friendship Beetles Soccer

Thursday 18 June: Mad Science Mini Olympics

Friday 19 June:

Movie (G) and popcorn Soccer on the Oval ONLINE BOOKINGS: www.extend.com.au CALL OUR OFFICE: 1300 366 437

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Sport JUNIOR SCHOOL NASSA Cross Country TIGS were the clear and decisive winners of the NASSA carnival, winning by an easy 200 points with students achieving such outstanding results. The team had been training exceptionally hard over the past several weeks where the top 15 of each race will go on to compete in CIS next Thursday 11 June. 27 students have made it through making this our biggest team competing at CIS ever.

A huge congratulations to the following students who made it to the next stage.

We wish you the best of the luck.

Girls 8-9 Years

11 Years Girls

Allegra Fock 1st Ella Fennell 5th Abbey Gow 8th Mackayla Hutchinson 10th Emily Sutherland 15th

Amelia Druett 5th Tamara Matar 6th Payton Leitch 11th Isabella Atkinson 12th

Boys 8-9 Years

Ben Giason 1st Hugo Parrish 3rd Daniel Grieve 9th

Girls 10 Years

Victoria Summerill 2nd Ella Vartazarian 4th Ruby D’Rozario 6th

Alexander Vartazarian 1st Christian Vujic 3rd Ali Matar 8th

Pia D’Rozario 2nd Sarah Partland 5th Rebecca Winn 10th Katie Gorham 13th Boys 10 Years Zachary Birch 10th Cooper Kerridge 11th Connor Burrows 15th

11 Years Boys

12-13 Years Girls

12-13 Years Boys James Healey 3rd Dean Borbilas 7th

Parent Teacher Interviews Years 7-11 Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in the Goodhew Research Centre from 4.00pm to 7.30pm on the following dates: • • • •

Year Year Year Year

8 10 9 7

Tuesday 9 June Monday 22 June Thursday 25 June Tuesday 21 July

We will be using the booking system Parent Teacher On-Line (PTO) to arrange all interviews.

Parents were sent their login details via email on Thursday, 21 May. Bookings will close at 10.00am on the day of the interview.

Please ensure the School has a current email address so that your login details are sent to the correct place. Parents who do not have an email address listed with the School will be sent their login details via the post. If you have any questions regarding Parent Teacher Interviews please contact Courtney Brooks at: cbrooks@tigs.nsw.edu.au

UPCOMING

EVENTS

WEEK 8

Queen’s Birthday/Public Holiday Monday 8 June

Year 8 Parent Teacher Interviews

4.00pm to 7.30pm Tuesday 9 June in the Goodhew Research Centre

Junior School Three Way Conferences Wednesday 10 June

CIS Cross Country Thursday 11 June

WEEK 9

Year 11 2016 Parent Interviews Monday 15 June

School Production ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Wednesday 17 to Saturday 20 June

WEEK 10

Year 10 Parent Teacher Interview

4.00pm to 7.30pm Monday 22 June in the Goodhew Research Centre

Senior School NASSA Athletics Carnival Thursday 25 June at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Lumeah

Junior School Athletics Carnival Wednesday 24 June at Beaton Park Athletics Track