Issue 8 Term IV 2015

Newsletter Academic Christian Caring

ISSUE 8

TERM IV 2015 2015 Infants Pageant

Headmaster The Christmas story has not changed in over 2000 years but how people celebrate Christmas certainly has. In previous years I have quoted this law passed in Massachusetts in 1659: “Whoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas and the like, either by forbearing labour, feasting or any other way, shall pay for any such offence five shillings as a fine to the country” It was passed to counter what were seen as the excesses associated with the celebration of Christmas. One wonders what law the Puritans would pass if they encountered Christmas as it is celebrated today.

I recently found further information about how the Puritans attempted to save the masses from the excesses of Christmas. To quote from the New York Times article: “Puritans detested these sorts of activities, grumbling that Christmas was observed with more revelry than piety. Worse, they contended that there was no Scriptural warrant for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Puritans argued (not incorrectly) that Christmas represented nothing more than a thin Christian veneer slapped on a pagan celebration. Believing in the holiday was superstitious at best, heretical at worst.

When the Puritans rebelled against King Charles I, inciting the English Revolution, the popular celebration of Christmas was on their hit list. Victorious against the king, in 1647, the Puritan government actually cancelled Christmas. Not only were traditional expressions of merriment strictly forbidden, but shops were also ordered to stay open, churches were shut down and ministers arrested for preaching on Christmas Day.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/ opinion/the-puritan-war-on-christmas.html?_r=0 There are times when the commercialisation of Christmas causes us to wish there was some protection against the advertising ‘angels’ who exhort us to spend and to indulge ourselves.

How different to the message of the angel who appeared to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

“I am bringing you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) In 21st Century Australia, the celebration of Christmas has many dimensions: remembering the birth of Jesus, holidays, family gatherings, shopping. My wish for our TIGS families is that, as we engage in many if not all of these enjoyable ‘Christmas’ activities, we take time to reflect on the gift of God’s Son, Jesus.

Last Saturday, along with many proud parents and grandparents, I had the pleasure of attending the Infants Pageant. The item ‘A Little Bird Told Me’ involved some confident acting by Year 2 students, supported by wonderful singing, dancing and musical performances by all our students from the Piper Centre through to Year 2. They were ably supported by our talented musicians from the Year 9 Music Elective Class.

We look forward to our Infants students being joined by students from the Primary and Senior School at the Christmas Celebration this coming Monday at 7.00 pm.

It always is a great occasion.

There have been many wonderful achievements for the School over the course of 2015. Congratulations to each student, parent, friend and member of staff for contributing to this success and for making TIGS so special. The achievements of our students are made possible because of the strong partnership and shared TIGS values of staff with parents.

Happy Christmas.

Stephen Kinsella Headmaster

Chaplain’s Message

BON-BONS AND THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS I love Christmas, as I’m sure you do. It’s such a special time of year. But let’s be honest: at Christmas time we do some strange things – most of which we don’t fully understand. For example, at Christmas we put up these odd looking trees; we add strange looking decorations to our trees; we add lights to our trees; we put presents under our trees. We do all these strange things – and many more - at Christmas and most of the time we aren’t too sure why!

But not everything we do at Christmas is strange and puzzling - like pulling bon-bons! There’s nothing like a bon-bon to communicate the full meaning of Christmas. I can sense your confusion as you read! Let me explain.

The way bon-bons communicate the full meaning of Christmas has to do with the paper crown that is contained within the bon-bon. At Christmas we celebrate the entrance into our world of a king - not just any king, but God’s king. Of course, I’m talking about Jesus.

But this crown not only says something about Jesus, it also says something about us. We put on our bon-bon crowns at Christmas (we feel a little silly but we do it just the same – it’s the Christmas spirit) but the truth is we never really take them off. By that I mean we run our own lives our own way, and largely ignore God’s good and rightful rule over our lives. The Bible calls this sin and it’s why there’s so much that’s wrong in our world. According to the Bible, sin is even the reason why there’s death in the world.

Rev James Rogers

The wonderful news of Christmas is that God sent his king Jesus into the world to Chaplain save us from the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. That’s what good kings do – they save their people from their enemies and lead them into victory. Jesus is a good king. He wants to be our king so he can save us from the awful effects of sin in our lives – especially death - and lead us into the victory of eternal life. He can do that because God has given him all authority in heaven and earth, even authority over death. And he proved that by rising from the dead himself.

Because Jesus is God’s king we are not living properly if we continue to run our own lives our own way. It’s OK to have a bit of fun and wear our bon-bon crowns at Christmas. But we’ve got to remember that it’s make-believe. Jesus is the only rightful king and God calls us to entrust our lives to him. Let’s make sure we do that this Christmas so we fully embrace its true meaning.

May God bless you and your family this Christmas season.

Rev James Rogers

r o d a s u t e l e O co m

m i eH

Senior School MY LAST EVER NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

I am so pleased to announce that in my Last Newsletter Article Ever I can report that The Best Year 10 Formal Ever took place last week. It was so gratifying to see our students dressed so well, behaving in such thoughtful and considerate ways with their peers and knowing how to behave when formality was required. They also knew how to dance with exuberance and excitement, sing with joy and how to laugh with each other. They danced with staff, had their photographs taken in groups and were not obsessed with ‘self’ or ‘selfies.’ They knew it was about their year group not the individual. That is what a TIGS education provides – caring, thoughtful and respectful young people and we should all be very proud of them.

I believe the pre-formal event was well attended and the parents’ dinner a great success. Thank you to the parent organisers for being focussed on and concerned that all parents be included and able to share in an event that marks a very significant stage of their parenting lives.

Monica Watt Head of Senior School Deputy Headmaster

I take my leave of you after 42 years of service at TIGS. I have been extremely fortunate to have shared my life with so many wonderful children, families, parents, grandparents and colleagues. To have secured a position at SCEGGS all those years ago as an English teacher just newly arrived from Scotland was like a dream come true, as I had been teaching in a very deprived area where a loud voice and a large belt were required to keep the 42 students in each class in order. I think I may have been a little too loud and scary for SCEGGS girls, but they survived.

To have been an English teacher, Aranda House Mistress, Director of Studies, Deputy Head and Head of Senior School has meant that my career has been rich and varied. I have worked with five headmasters and been Acting Head for extended periods on three occasions. It truly has been in the words of Bert Facey’s book (that I once taught, didn’t I, Craig Peden?)

‘A Fortunate Life.’

Thank you for your involvement in and contribution to the community that is TIGS which has made this all so special.

TOYS ‘N’ TUCKER We would like to invite the whole TIGS community to be a part of the Toys ‘n’ Tucker Christmas Appeal.

Here’s what you can give as part of a festive meal or Christmas gift • • • • • • • • • •

Christmas cake Christmas pudding Tinned salmon/ham Small packs of lollies Long-life custard Toys Sporting equipment Toiletry packs Board games Gift cards

All donations are to be new and unused, thank you. Donations can be accepted through Mentor groups in the Senior School and through the student reception in the Junior School. We will be presenting our donations to a representative from ANGLICARE at our Christmas Celebration on Monday 7 December.

Through Toys ‘n’ Tucker you can share the joy of Christmas with people in need. To learn more about the Toys ‘n’ Tucker campaign see http://toysntucker.org.au

The Arts 2016 SCHOOL PRODUCTION THE WIZARD OF OZ Planning for the School Production for 2016 is well underway!

Auditions for this exciting musical will be taking place Week 1 of Term I. All the details will be up on OLLE in plenty of time for students to prepare during the holidays. If you have any questions feel free to post these on the OLLE page blog or email Miss McIntosh or Mrs Hitchcock. We are looking forward to catching up with everyone at the auditions, especially our incoming Year 7s!

PRIVATE TUTOR PROGRAMME The Co-curricular Music Programme at TIGS provides an opportunity for students to receive tuition in a wide range of instruments on campus during the school day. In 2016 the following instrumental tuition will be offered: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone and other lower brass, Piano, Drum Kit, Singing, Guitar and Bass Guitar.

Please contact Mrs Melanie Douglas in The Arts faculty on mdouglas@tigs.nsw.edu.au to express your interest or request an application form.

Stage Coordinators and Deans for 2016 Parents should note the personnel that will manage the School’s student wellbeing programme in 2016.

Mrs Mrs Mrs Mrs Mrs

Narelle McRae Virginia Herraman Kathy McMahon Rebecca Young Kylie Cook

Mrs Naomi Sullivan Mr Brett Ferguson Mrs Amanda Lowe Mr Adrian Deck Mrs Di Goodman Ms Jane McIntosh Mr Brenden Parsons Mrs Jean Burton

Deputy Head of Junior School Early Stage 1 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Acting Director of Student Wellbeing (Senior School) Dean of Year 7 Dean of Year 8 Dean of Year 9 Acting Dean of Year 10 Acting Dean of Year 11 Dean of Year 12 Acting Dean of Senior Students

We thank them for the important role they will play in the care of our students.

Junior School This week we held our final Chapel for the year hosted by our Junior School Leaders. Our Year 6 Leaders have done a marvelous job hosting all of the formal events over the course of 2016. It has been very exciting to see their confidence and ability develop and grow over the course of the year and I know that they will again amaze us with their poise and skill as they host our Presentation Evening next week.

The Chapel service was a good indication of our year, we sang together and had fun, we acknowledged God and thanked him for the birth of his son, we watched the Junior School Dance Group and listened to the Cantilena Singers and we celebrated effort and achievement with the last round of awards and certificates for the year. We also welcomed the Prep children to our Chapel as they begin to prepare for their first year in BIG school in 2016.

As we rush towards the very busy end of the term please be aware of a few expectations regarding the children at various events. Our Christmas Celebration is a fantastic happy event for our whole extended community.

All of the Junior School children are performing at this event and I encourage all of our families to bring a picnic and come along and enjoy the concert.

We will have a picnic prior to the show and a sausage sizzle will be available if life is a bit too hectic to cook.

The Years 3 – 6 Presentation Evening is a compulsory event for all students in Judi Nealy the primary years. Every student will be performing an item for our community Head of Junior School to enjoy and they have been learning and rehearsing these events in preparation. Students need to be dressed in full school uniform for this event with hair tied back for girls and shoes polished for everyone. They need to report to their teachers in the IGC at 5.40pm and will be dismissed at the end of the proceedings.

On the final day of term, the Senior School is dismissed after their presentation day assembly and buses will depart the School at 1.00pm. This means that we will be dismissing all JS children at the same time and that the car line will operate from 12.45pm.

Your children have worked hard to deserve a well-earned break, I hope all of our families enjoy each other’s company and have a happy and safe holiday. Thank you for a wonderful year of learning and growing together in 2016. Happy Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all again at the start of 2016.

TIGS JUNIOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT 40 students from Years 4, 5 and 6 participated in the TIGS Junior Tennis Tournament last week at Beaton Park. It was an opportunity for them to test and improve their skills against their fellow classmates. It was a great day of tennis for all involved.

Results are as follows:

Year 4

1st Molly Buikstra and Jacobus Newhouse 2nd Pia D’Rozario and Oscar Ryan

Year 5

1st Mary Albert and Ben Giason 2nd Jade Hyde and Nicholas Chiaverini

Year 6

1st Emma Black and Harrison Kiteley 2nd Charlotte Tregonning and Rory Swainson

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES:

Monday 7 December Thursday 10 December Friday 11 December

Christmas Celebration Year 3 - Year 6 Presentation Evening Last Day of Term IV – 12.30pm dismissal

Senior School Sport 2016 CO-CURRICULAR SUMMER SPORTS TERM I AND TERM IV 2016 Sport choices are being finalised now and parents will receive an email confirmation with permission note to confirm your child’s summer sport for Term I and IV 2016.

The following sports will be offered in Term I and IV: DAY MONDAY AM 6.30am – 8.00am MONDAY AM 6.30am – 8.00am TUESDAY AM 6.30am – 8.00am TUESDAY AM 6.30am – 8.00am TUESDAY AM 7.00am – 8.00am TUESDAY PM 3.30pm – 5.00pm TUESDAY PM 3.30pm – 5.00pm TUESDAY PM 3.30pm – 5.00pm THURSDAY PM 3.30pm – 5.00pm THURSDAY PM 3.30pm – 5.00pm THURSDAY PM 3.30pm – 5.00pm THURSDAY PM 3.30pm – 5.00pm

SPORT SURFING City Beach Surf Club Wollongong STAND UP PADDLE BOARDING Belmore Basin SURFING City Beach Surf Club Wollongong STAND UP PADDLE BOARDING Belmore Basin TAP - CROSS FIT JAC By invitation only GIRLS FITNESS ReKreate Fitness HANGDOG CLIMBING GYM TENNIS & SQUASH Collegians BEACH SPORTS North Wollongong TAP - BEACH BOOTCAMP/AQUATHON (By invitation only at Belmore Basin) STAND UP PADDLE BOARDING Belmore Basin BOYS FITNESS Flagstaff Hill Wollongong

Mr Tregonning Mr Rodgers Mr Grieve Mr Dardanelli Mrs Lane Mrs Golding Mrs Stanford Mrs Murphy Mr Southcomb Mrs Lane Mr Vickers Mr Parsons

SPORTING SUCCESS

PACIFIC SCHOOL GAMES

Claire Rogers has recently placed 1st at the Australian Cheerleading Championships in Melbourne with her team Air Born Cheerleading from Woonona.

Congratulations to Ethan Dorrian-Nancarrow who has just returned from the Pacific School Games in Adelaide. Ethan achieved top ten placing in five of his swimming events and was 3rd in the relay. This is an amazing accomplishment competing at an international level.

CRICKET After a tough start to the cricket season, our Year 7, 8 and 9 Boys defeated Broughton Anglican 225 – 134 in the Wiburd Shield State Knockout. The boys united as a team and represented the School admirably and it is great to see students from a range of year groups and backgrounds mesh so well, reminding us what a unique and wonderful school TIGS is. A special mention to the efforts of Samuel Shalala and Samuel Okely who both contributed heavily towards the success of the team.

Year 9: Samuel Okely 75 runs, Samuel Shalala 79 runs not out, Noah Koder 45 runs, Joseph Daly and Nikhil Balaji.

Year 8: Prathamesh Agalgaonkar Year 7: Maxwell Okely, Rory Hanrahan and Luca Gibbs

LOOKING BACK ON 2015

At TIGS, we foster excellence in a caring, Christian environment and sport is no exception. All students across the Junior and Senior School are given every opportunity to shine and achieve their own personal best across countless sports.

Our School Motto, ‘From Strength to Strength’ (Psalm 84:7), encapsulates Sport at TIGS. Our students are encouraged and supported to thrive and transform as they travel along their own unique and personal sporting journey, day-to-day, carnivalto-carnival, year-to year. From the beginner to the elite, we cater for all learners and I would personally like to take this opportunity to congratulate all students who have engaged in sport in 2015, through participation in our carnivals, our constantly evolving co-curricular sports programme, our lunchtime competitions, the Talented Athletes Programme and our outstanding representative sports programme.

I would also like to thank Leonie Hinch, our coaches, teachers and the PDHPE team who are the backbone of Sport at TIGS and have been crucial to the success of our programmes throughout the year.

It’s been a wonderful year, I am so excited about the emerging talent and I cannot wait to see how 2016 unfolds.

Mrs Kylee Lane Head of Sport and Outdoor Education

UPCOMING EVENTS IN 2016 Australia Day Aquathon – 26 January WEEK 1 Year 7 BBQ and Camp Information Evening – Wednesday 3 February Year 7 Swimming Proficiency Test – Thursday 4 February WEEK 2 NASSA Hockey Trials – Wednesday 10 February NASSA Basketball Trials – Thursday 11 February WEEK 3 TIGS Senior School Tennis Day – Monday 15 February TIGS Senior School Swimming Carnival – Friday 19 February

Congratulations Congratulations to our Year 9 Debating team on their success at the University of Wollongong’s SWORDS Debating Tournament on Tuesday. Jana Massingham, Zara Winter, Daniel Dragutinovich and Noah Koder were undefeated in their three debating rounds on the day and runners up in the Grand Final against the Year 12 Smith’s Hill High School team. An outstanding achievement for these formidable young speakers!

Senior School Sport Continued...

TALENTED ATHLETES PROGRAMME

The Talented Athletes Programme (TAP) is in full swing with over fifty students from Years 7-9 participating in strength, conditioning and mobility training with Cross Fit JAK on Tuesday mornings and/or the Beach Bootcamp/Aquathon style training at Belmore Basin on Thursday afternoons. The response from students has been excellent, with many students already seeing considerable results through fitness testing and improved Aquathon times. Special mention to the following students who have been recognised for their outstanding contributions across the term: CROSS FIT JAK Mary Bul Alanieta Kennedy Samuel Okely Rebekah Hutton Ashley Dribbus Aiden Wingate

BEACH BOOTCAMP & AQUATHON TRAINING Griffin Spicknall James Pegler Nickita Peros Shelby Cresswell Kayla McNamara Kirby Golding

TAP students will be representing TIGS in the upcoming Australia Day Aquathon and NSW Interschool’s Triathlon in March and will continue the programme into 2016.

Next year they will be accessing the specialist services of SAVVY Fitness on Tuesday mornings and Swimming, Triathlon and Cross Country training at Continental Pools and Belmore Basin.

WATER SPORTS All students participating in any water sports for TIGS must be dressed in appropriate swimming attire. For girls this is the TIGS one piece swimming costume or a plain navy blue or plain black speedo/one piece style swim suit. Boys need to be in the TIGS swimmers, plain navy or black style speedos, plain navy or black board shorts or the TIGS board shorts. Our uniform guidelines still apply to all water sports. As we draw towards the end of the year, please ensure that your child has appropriate swimming attire for all water sports for 2016: • • • •

Swimming and all swimming carnivals Talented Athletes Programme Aquathon Training and Triathlons Surfing and Stand Up Paddle Boarding

AUSTRALIA DAY AQUATHON The Australia Day Aquathon has become an iconic part of Australia Day in Wollongong. In 2016 TIGS will be entering students in the following events across the morning: 6.20am 8.10am 7.00am 7.00am

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LONG AQUA (900m swim + 7km run) SHORT AQUA (400m swim + 3km run) TRY AQUA (200m swim + 2km run ages 13 and over) KIDZ AQUA (120m/200m swim + 2km run ages 6-12)

Students can enter individually or in a team of two participants. If you would like to join Team TIGS please return the permission slip below and Mrs Lane will register you.

Date: Where: Time:

Tuesday 26 January 2016 Belmore Basin Wollongong 6.00am – 10.30am

TIGS Tent: The TIGS Tent will be located at the northern end of the beach on Belmore Basin with fruit and water for students.

This is a community day and families are welcome. Please bring something healthy to share with our team.

If you have further questions, please contact Mrs Kylee Lane, phone 0438513245 or email klane@tigs.nsw.edu.au

Talented Athletes Programme

TIGS Foundation Have you been online recently to visit the new initiative of TIGS Foundation? TIGS Community Business Directory is enabling TIGS families to promote their business/s by advertising their details on the TIGS website.

There is an annual fee of $300 per business each calendar year for advertising in the Directory. Upon approval, immediate applications for 2015 will receive a bonus of several weeks’ free advertising, expiring 31 December 2016. Applications for 2016 are currently being finalised.

The Business Directory will provide an opportunity to strengthen and tighten the bonds between the School, parents and the businesses contained within the School Community.

If you are interested and would like to be involved please phone, Lisa Wilson on 4220 0264 or Joanne Danckwardt 0426 264 771, or email: foundation@tigs.nsw.edu.au TIGS reserves the right to decline any advertisement or request changes before accepting any submissions.

Student, Staff and Community Database Over the summer break, TIGS is undertaking a major update to its student, staff and community database. We are implementing a new system called Synergetic.

Synergetic brings together a number of functions that previously existed in separate databases – school admissions, student management, finance and TIGS Foundation.

This has been a significant undertaking for the School and will continue to develop over the coming months.

The impact on families should be minimal as parents will continue to login via OLLE to access information about their children.

From the beginning of 2016 parents will be provided with new login details which will consist of a username which will be the email that you have provided to the School and a new temporary password that can be changed to a password of your choice. This should allow for easier access to OLLE. Please be aware that we are working towards a more refined, elegant database solution. We appreciate your understanding and support during this time.

Important Information LAST DAY OF TERM IV 2015

FEES

Friday 11 December 2015

Last week the School Council ratified the fee increases for 2016. The Council considered the School’s requirements and acknowledged the financial pressure that our families face and agreed to limit the Tuition Fee increase to 3.6%.

Other ancillary fees have been increased to varying degrees to reflect the recovery of costs. The updated Schedule of Fees can be found on the TIGS website.

School will finish for ALL students at 12.30pm on the last day of Term IV, Friday11 December 2015.

Buses will be running as usual but at this new time.

CHRISTMAS CLOSURE During the Christmas School holidays the Office will be open from 9.00am until 3.00pm from Monday 14 December until Friday 18 December.

The office will re-open for business on Monday 4 January 2016 from 9.00am until 3.00pm.

In January 2016 The Illawarra Grammar School is migrating to a new Education Management System (Synergetic) that will impact on the internal processes of the School. The School is taking a staged approach to the rollout and the first areas impacted are Debtors Management and Student Administration.

Account holders should expect to see changes to a number of school processes and procedures in 2016 to reflect the different system requirements. The School’s Terms and Conditions have been updated to reflect the required changes. For the majority of families we expect that the impact will be minimal.

The Finance team would like to wish all members of the School community a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

TIGS P&F AGM The TIGS P&F AGM will be held at 4.00pm Tuesday 15 December in the Goodhew Research Centre (Library). Please join us as we discuss plans for the P&F in 2016.

MONDAY 7 DECEMBER 2015

5.30pm Family Picnic on Library Lawn 7.00pm Carols Service in the Illawarra Grammar Centre Bring your own picnic. Sausage sizzle and drinks available for purchase

UPCOMING

EVENTS

WEEK 10

A Christmas Celebration Monday 7 December 5.30pm Picnic 7.00pm A Christmas Celebration in the IGC

Year 3 – Year 6 Presentation Evening 6.00pm Thursday 10 December in the IGC

Senior School Presentation Day 10.30am Friday 11 December in the IGC

Last Day of Term IV Friday 11 December

P&F AGM

4.00pm Tuesday 15 December