Newsletter Issue 7 Term I 2017

Issue 7 Term I 2017

NEWSLETTER

Beyond Bundanon Exhibition An International Baccalaureate World School

Academic • Christian • Caring

TI G S

The Illawarra Grammar School

HEADMASTER

Mr Stephen Kinsella Headmaster One of the most impressive people that I have met was Barbara Holborow OAM. Barbara served for 12 years as a magistrate in the children’s court where she gained a legendary reputation for her compassion and determination to speak out for the rights of children and families. Her determination to reform the judicial system saw the establishment of free legal aid for children in NSW, a care court that deals with cases of neglect and a special jail for first time offenders aged between 18 and 25. She passed away in 2012.

The importance of having shared values should not be underestimated. Just as conflicting views between parents is to be avoided, so a conflict in values between the School and the family is to also be avoided.

This is why the School places great emphasis on its values at the time of enrolment of students. Parents and teachers promoting a common set of values provides a consistent message for our children as they develop their own view of the world.

Her time as a magistrate and experience with the best and worst of human nature gave her valuable insight into the role of schools and the importance of families.

During our discussion she made two key points:

The School’s values are readily available on our website and I encourage parents to remind themselves of the values that define a TIGS education.

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We value Academic Excellence (not just a meaningless cliché that is used for marketing purposes). “Excellence is viewed as neither elitist nor exclusive and is accessible to all who aspire to be the best they can be”. We seek for every child, whatever their level of academic ability, to achieve at their highest level possible across the whole spectrum of their development from childhood to adulthood. We are especially interested in organising their learning so that their special interests and talents can be identified and nurtured.

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We value Christian belief and behaviour. We “are committed to developing and implementing a curriculum that reflects a Christian world view”.

We respect the right of the individual student to develop their own understanding of faith but want to ensure that this occurs with a proper understanding of what the Christian faith entails (this was the intention of the founders of the School and continues today).

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We value being a caring community. “As the School cares for each of its members, so it seeks for its students to be caring of others in the wider community.” A TIGS education empowers students to make a difference in our world. Academic success at TIGS opens many doors and the School seeks for its graduates to take these opportunities with an understanding and heart for the needs of others.

The importance of families in providing the stability that children need in their formative years. She cited many cases where children had come before her as a consequence of the poor influence of peers, the media and errors of judgement made by parents.

For many different reasons and to varying extents, all parents face challenges in raising children for which they are not prepared. She spoke of how parents need their families, friends and the community to educate, guide and support them in rasing their children.

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Schools play a vital role in providing support for families. In times past, parents could rely on family and churches to provide this support but in current times this responsibility falls heavily on the school attended by the children. Providing an education for children now goes far beyond traditional learning to include many social programmes that were previously the responsibility of others.

Schools now find themselves providing resources to support programmes as diverse as immunisation, counselling and even applications for tax file numbers.

The advice for parents is to find a school where they feel supported and where the values are shared. Raising children is hard enough without conflicting messages being given to children by parents and the school.

One of the great strengths of TIGS is the partnership that exists between parents and the School. The attendance of parents at school events is always a great source of encouragement to teachers who understand that attendance at a school function, often at the end of a busy day, is usually at considerable personal cost to parents. Meet the Teacher events, the Welcome to New Parents Evening, morning teas, swimming carnivals, concerts, and P&F events such as the Great Fete are well supported by parents and provide the opportunity for parents and teachers to strengthen the partnership that is so important for our children.

At TIGS:

Barbara Holborow said “providing an education for children now goes far beyond traditional learning to include many social programmes that were previously the responsibility of others.” The partnership between TIGS and parents is vital to the students’ journey in acquiring these values. Having a common message, at home and at School, is a strong determining factor in the wonderful young men and women that graduate each year from TIGS.

CHAPLAIN

Rev. James Rogers Chaplain Made to Serve

We value service highly at TIGS. We believe it benefits not only the community around us but our students as well. The reason for this is that when we engage in service we’re engaging in life as God intends.

God has created us to be other-person-centered.

Jesus made this clear when he was asked to identify the greatest commandment in the Law. Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22.36-40) Jesus plots here the orientation of our lives. It is outward looking. It follows that we are only ever truly alive when we are living with the best interests of others in mind. If our direction in life is toward the gratification of our own needs we will come up short.

If, on the other hand, we take Jesus at his word and live for the glory of God and the good of others we will experience life in all of its fullness.

I must admit this doesn’t seem obvious. Jesus’ teaching goes against so much of what we hear around us. We are often told to look out for our own interests first because we are the most important person there is. Don’t get me wrong; our needs do matter. But the teaching of the Bible is that God will see to our needs as we seek first his kingdom (see Matthew 6.25-34). We seek God’s kingdom first by living first for his glory and the good of others.

That’s exactly the direction our community service seeks to take. We direct our students to consider first the interests of others to the ultimate glory of God. It is not surprising, therefore, to hear our students say so often that their involvement in service has been one of the most significant sources of enrichment during their time at TIGS. What this tells me is that God is right. When we live his way – however unlikely it seems – we end up living the best life on offer.

I am delighted to be able to head up our service programmes at TIGS. My delight stems from my unshakable conviction that in leading our students to serve the interests of others in Jesus’ name we are directing them towards embracing the most satisfying life on offer. Thank you for allowing me such a privilege.

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Mrs Judi Nealy Deputy Headmaster, Head of Junior School Social emotional learning - how does it fit into our busy curriculum?

At school each day we are instructing and coaching in the following areas of social emotional skills:

Being smart, learning well and getting good marks isn’t a guarantee of success after school or university.

There is more to it than that, according to newly published research.

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Self-management

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Conflict Resolution

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Coping Strategies

A study ‘Early Social-Emotional Functioning and Public Health: The Relationship Between Kindergarten Social Competence and Future Wellness’- was published in the American Journal of Public Health recently.

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Group Participation

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Attentive Listening

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Relationship Management

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Non-verbal Communication

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Conversations

The researchers concluded: •

Kids who related well to their peers in Kindergarten, handled their emotions better, and were good at resolving problems went on to have more successful lives.

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There are statistically significant associations between social-emotional skills in Kindergarten and young adult outcomes in education, employment, criminal activity, substance use, and mental health.

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An increase of a single point in social competency score in Kindergarten showed a child would be: o

54% more likely to finish high school

o

Twice as likely to graduate from university

o

46% more likely to have a stable, full-time job at age 25

Success in school involves both social-emotional and cognitive skills, because social interactions, attention, and self-control affect readiness for learning.

Opportunities for social-emotional learning are inherent in everyday life at school, at home, at sport, dancing lessons - in fact all the time when we are managing our interactions with others and within ourselves. In fact, recent newsletter articles and even our focus areas for 2017 highlight the opportunities to develop social-emotional learning alongside cognitive learning in the Junior School.

Parents can assist by being on the look-out to discuss and practice how to: •

Identify others’ feelings

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Read non-verbal social cues

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Start conversations and stay on topic

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Become part of a group

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Understand the ‘hidden’ rules in social situations

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Sequence situations and predict what will come next

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Use ‘eye contact’ to figure out what to say or do in social situations

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Be flexible when things don’t go your own way

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Solve your own problems

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Try and try again

In the Junior School our learners are working hard every day with their classwork and curriculum, but also with the many opportunities for social and emotional learning that school life provides. It is great when research becomes available that says: ‘you are on the right track’. We know that our learners are more than just their academic results and that development in non-academic areas is crucial to a satisfying and productive life beyond school.

However, to also see the connection between social-emotional learning and academic success is a fantastic endorsement of the multifaceted approach to education offered at our School.

References: Peter Barnes (March 3, 2017) the learning success blog

JUNIOR SCHOOL SPORT NASSA Football

Our TIGS Junior Boys and Junior Girls teams travelled to Heckenberg Fields to compete in our annual NASSA Tournament. Both teams performed strongly with the boys making the semi-final and the girls losing the final narrowly to Penrith Anglican School.

Congratulations to Charlotte Palmisano and Molly Buikstra on being selected to trial for the CIS Girls Team and Christian Vujic on selection to the NASSA Boys Football Team, who will compete at the CIS Boys Gala Day.

CIS Girls Football

Congratulations to Charlotte Palmisano who has been named as the shadow CIS Girls Football Goalkeeper.

Holiday Tennis Parker’s Easter school holiday tennis clinic.

Farmborough Heights Community Tennis Club DATE: Monday 10 April to Wed 12 April (3 days) TIME: 9.00am – 12.00pm COST: $80.00 (Ages 4 - 14 years) Bookings are Essential For more information call: Andrew on 0407 029 731 Email: arparker@bigpond.net.au

BARBARA ARROWSMITH YOUNG

We were thrilled to host a presentation by Barbara Arrowsmith Young at our School on Saturday 18 March with around 150 people in attendance. Barbara spoke about the impact that the developing understanding of neuroplasticity brings to our thinking about learning. We are in our third year of delivering the Arrowsmith Cognitive Training Programme to students at TIGS and have seen wonderful growth for many of our learners in this programme.

BARBARA ARROWSMITH YOUNG

JUNIOR SCHOOL AWARDS MERIT CERTIFICATES Academic

Luca Attorre Victoria Di Martino Jessica Llewellin Diya Mehan Tahlie Oxman Jack Parker Alec Rix

Personal Presentation

Daniel Ushindi

Diya Mehan

Class: KM

Service Andrew Neal

Who are your friends and what do you like to play? Malik, Freddy, Soren and Mrs Pastro

Victoria Steward

KP

Aw As ard se s l mb iste ly/ d i Ch n t ap he el Ne the ws fol lette low r ing will Th be p urs da rese y a nte t1 da 2.1 t Raphaela Abreu, Neeti Boga 0p m Mihir Aurangabadkar, Bailey Kiang

1R

Arya Mahantesh, Lara Vujic

1S

Anushka Bartholomeusz, Thomas Binks

1Y

Luca Attorre, Scarlett Di Donato

2M

Gabriel Beebe, James Dalton

2S

Amelia Vartazarian, Tahlie Oxman

2T

Milla Threadgate, Addison Tarrant

3C

Callum Perrins, Subhaan Ul-Haq

3D

Riya Bahl, Annaliese Brunskill

4G

Victoria De Martino, Keiran Reveley

4J

Matilda Hughes, William MacKay

4R

Saif Jaber, Ronak Jayswal

4S

Fergus Dutch, Ava Santos

5C

Ishe Chibanda, Chloe Vickery

5M

Jessica Llewellin, Daniel Radojicic

6C

Laura Hunt

6H

Alissa Tonkin, Aditya Kumaresan

6Y

Amarah Banks

WEEKLY AWARDS KM

What do you like to do best in the classroom? Play games What are you really good at? Soccer and IT

What do you need to work hard at?

Maths

How do you do this? Try my best What do you want to be when you grow up? A famous soccer player

Assembly 4R will be hosting next week’s Chapel in Rees Hall from 12.10pm.

t s e F s t r A S G I T SHOWCASE 6.30pm Friday 31 March in the IGC

Presented by Aranda, Coligan, Kogara and Wolgal TIGS ArtsFest Showcase features highlights from TIGS Artsfest day including House Dance, Drama, Video Presentations, Pop Song, Original Music Compositions, Vocal Groups and Soloists

Entry $5 per person, $10 family

Academic • Christian • Caring

All proceeds going to Nganambala School (Emu Point)

An International Baccalaureate World School

YEAR 12 PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS Wednesday 5 April 4.00pm - 7.30pm Goodhew Research Centre Booking details will be emailed to parents in Week 8

SENIOR SCHOOL

Mr Greg Lanyon Head of Senior School Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally acclaimed educator and speaker who has been challenging, for some time, the paradigm of education in most schools, which he says is based on an “industrial model” of teaching and learning1. In short, he argues that 21st century learning needs to adapt to the changing landscape beyond school, where skills such as collaboration, flexibility and critical thinking will become increasingly important. One of the features of the International Baccalaureate (IB) approach, is that these skills will be explicitly taught as part of a student’s education. Ken Robinson believes, as well, that creativity skills should be an integral part of the education process. He argues that school should “incorporate teaching for creativity, where the pedagogy is designed to encourage other people to think creatively. You encourage kids to experiment, to innovate, not giving them all the answers but giving them the tools they need to find out what the answers might be or to explore new avenues. Within particular domains, it’s perfectly appropriate to say, ‘We’re interested in new and original ways you can approach these issues’”.2 Last Friday evening I had the pleasure of attending the annual ‘Beyond Bundanon’ Exhibition of student work in the IGC. This exhibition is a wonderful example of “teaching for creativity” as described

by Ken Robinson. The body of work was partially inspired by student experiences at an idyllic place on the Shoalhaven River, called Bundanon and the adjoining property at Riversdale. This unique and environmental asset was gifted to all Australians by the artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne. It was born out of Boyd’s often stated belief that “you can’t own a landscape” and the wish that others might also draw inspiration from this remarkable place”.3

The ‘Beyond Bundanon’ Exhibition, this year, included a wide range of arts media presented

by Year 11 students, having responded to the stunning environment and exposure to expert artists-in-residence, by participating in workshops at the riversdale complex. This was part of the Creative and Performing Arts Camp held in week two this year. Since that time, students have been working to complete a range of self-directed tasks, including painting, drawing, photography, film and mixed media. Students in the Performing Arts have produced dance and musical performances inspired by their week at Bundanon and Riversdale.

Congratulations to all the students who had work exhibited and the following students who either performed or had work showcased on the evening: •

Drama Performances: Molly Stewart, Lucy Chester-Crowe, Talitha Cannon, Byron Leitch, Madeline McRae, Matthew Savage

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Music Performances: Shelby Cresswell, Ashleigh Mill, Celeste Bonaccorso, Molly Stewart.

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Film: Matthew Savage, Byron Leitch (incorporating dance performance), Benjamin Ebzery, Ian Muhayimana, Aaron Bell, Eva Peacock.

The Showcase event on the Friday evening will feature a selection of performances from across the range of items. I hope to see many of you there so that you can have some sense of joy and accomplishment that this event generates.

RSA Animate 2010, Changing Education Paradigms: Sir Ken Robinson, online video, 10 October 2010, accessed 22 March 2017 1.

2.

Azzam, AM 2009, Why Creativity Now? A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson, ASCD, Pdf, accessed 22 March 2017 3.

Experience Bundanon 2017, Bundanon Trust, accessed 22 March 2017

BEYOND BUNDANON EXHIBITION

SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

Australian Inter-schools Mt Biking Championships

The Australian Inter-schools Mountain Biking Championships were held at Thredbo with over 470 riders representing 74 schools competing in flow trail, downhill, cross country and pump track events from Thursday 16 March to Sunday 19 March. TIGS had a team of five students entered in these events.

Harrison Webb (Year 8) 32nd Cross Country Brendan Hardie (Year 10) DNF Cross Country, 81st Downhill James Pilkington (Year 7) 16th Downhill

AICES Basketball

Congratulations to the following students making it to the AICES Basketball teams to compete at CIS. Blake McDougall (Year 11) in the firsts and Vincent Chauvet (Year 12) in the seconds.

AICES U/16 Hockey

Congratulations to Claire Smallhorn (Year 10) who made the AICES U/16 Hockey Girls Team to compete at CIS on Tuesday 28 March at Pennant Hills Park.

Upcoming Sport Events

AICES Boys Basketball – Thursday 23 March NASSA Netball Gala Day – Friday 24 March CIS Girls Football Cup – Tuesday 28 March AICES Swimming Carnival – Thursday 30 March AICES Tennis – Friday 31 March South Coast Surfing – Monday 3 April NASSA Touch Football Trials – Monday 3 April

TIGS Cross Country

TIGS Senior School Cross Country will be held on the last day of term on Friday 7 April at Kembla Joggers Cross Country Facility at Darkes Road, West Dapto. Students will also be fundraising for their House charity.

Students will run the following distances on the day: •

12 - 14 year boys will run 3km

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15 - 18 year boys will run 4km

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12 - 18 year girls will run 3km

All students are encouraged to fundraise for their House charity using the sponsorship form or seeking online donations through their House gofundme page.

Aranda will be supporting The Wollongong Homeless Hub. The Wollongong Homeless Hub opened in October 2003 and is a one-stopshop supporting people in crisis in the Illawarra. Clients are able to access multiple agencies and facilities from a single point and seek help with health, legal, housing and financial advocacy and support services. The Hub also offers Community Engagement Officers to support homeless people of all ages. http://www.wefh.org.au/ wollongong-homeless-hub

Kogara will be supporting Anglicare.

Anglicare exists to meet the material, social, emotional and spiritual needs of those who need support and assistance in our community. The organisation recognises that everyone has different needs and they offer products, services and professional staff to help people in need. https:// www.anglicare.org.au/ Online donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/wd653akogara-anglicare Wolgal will be supporting Crossroads Foundation. Crossroads Foundation is a Hong Kong based not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to connect people in a broken world. As their name suggests, they try to be a crossroad: bringing together those in need and those who can help, through their Global Distribution Centre, Global Hand, Global Experience and Global Handicraft. https://www.crossroads. org.hk/ Online donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/wolgalcrossroads-foundation Please get involved and support your House charity in this year’s Cross Country.

Online donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/arandawollongong-homeless-hub Coligan will be supporting The Sony Camp Foundation. The Sony Foundation Children’s Holiday Camp Program began in 1999. It is a unique respite program that sees students take on the responsibility for the care of children with special needs, allowing their families to have a valuable weekend off. The threeday camps pair children with special needs with their student companions.

Parents, siblings and carers are given valuable overnight respite and the students involved often go onto advocate for the program through fundraising, promoting awareness and volunteering their time to help people with disabilities. https://www. sonyfoundation.org/about/childrensholiday-camps/ Online donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/coligan-sonycamp-foundation

Sale of Quality Outdoor Gear & Clothing All below RRP Items Discounted by up to 45% Mont

Thermarest

Nalgene

Osprey

LED Lenser

Sherpa

MSR

Petzl

Scarpa

Exped

Kovea

RAB

16 May 2017 3.30pm – 7.30pm In the Multi Purpose Room

COMMUNITY

FOUNDATION Annual General Meeting

TIGS Foundation Annual Meeting was held last week. On behalf of the Foundation Board it is my pleasure as Chair to announce the following board members:

TIGS Foundation also assists disadvantaged students with a scholarship to attend TIGS and pursue their dreams so they may develop their talent both academically and artistically.

Chair

Mrs Olga Early

Vice Chair

Mr David Laing

The scholarship is named after our first Headmaster, Reverend Richard Bosanquet.

Secretary

Mr Craig Osborne

Treasurer

Mr David Laing

Member

Mr Kevin Donald

Member

Mrs Sandra Newhouse

Member

Mrs Usha Fernandez

Member

Mrs Joanne Danckwardt

Marketing and Events Coordinator Mrs Lisa Wilson TIGS Foundation Board was founded in 1986 as a fundraising arm of the School to assist and support the School Council by encouraging and fostering the interest and financial support of past students, parents of students, and friends of the School, with a view to preserving, improving and developing the School’s property and facilities.

Our Foundation Board is made up of volunteer members from a cross-section of our school community who work tirelessly and meet regularly to ensure that achievable goals are met. I wish to thank all our board members who were re-elected for their diligent and dedicated service to our School.

The Foundation looks forward to the years ahead working and partnering with the greater school community to continue our fundraising activities and to support our School Council in their endeavour to fund resources and ensure our children receive the very best educational opportunities.

Chair of TIGS Foundation Mrs Olga Early

P&F

Year Vacancies

The following vacancies still exist so if you can assist in any way, please contact Melanie Silburn on 0437 419 462 or the P&F President Joanne Danckwardt on 0426 264 771 or email pandf@tigs.com.au Pre-prep/ Vacant Prep Kindy Jenna Bottele 0406892346 Jacqui McKay - jac37noble@gmail.com Year 1 Andrea Binks - 0432856021 Year 2 Paula Knight - 0402851822 Libby Warren - 0409830001 Year 3 Danielle Attorre - 0423637580 Year 4 Rowena Harris - 0412159270 Year 5 Jessica Gnata - 0408281255 Karen Fock - karen.j.fock@det.nsw.edu.au Year 6 Tanya Edgerton - 0400472872 Year 7 Vacant Year 8 Lisa Wilson - 0414318745 Year 9 Tracy Fulton 0413 768 222 tracy.fulton@arcstone.com.au Year 10 Debbie Gibson 0419 612 487 debsotim@gmail.com Year 11 Renee Santos 0422 995 509 jsantos@optusnet.com.au Year 12 Vacant

TIGS FOUNDATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

UPCOMING EVENTS

Wednesday

29 Mar

Friday

31 Mar

Senior School ArtsFest Showcase 6.30pm in the Illawarra Grammar Centre (IGC)

Monday

Michael Grinder - Student Masterclass 9.00am to 11.00am in the Illawarra Grammar Centre Book NOW!

3

Apr Wednesday

5

Apr Thursday

6

Apr

Friday

7

Find us on Facebook

ArtsFest Competition 8.50am in the Illawarra Grammar Centre (IGC)

Apr

Year 12 Parent Teacher Interviews 4.00pm in the Goodhew Research Centre Book via the email sent to Year 12 parents Junior and Senior School Easter Service Junior School - 12.10pm in Rees Hall Senior School - 1.42pm in the Illawarra Grammar Centre

Junior School and Senior School Cross Country 8.45am at Kembla Joggers, West Dapto Last Day of Term I