TIGS Review, Issue 1 2010

TIGS

TI G S

The Illawarra Grammar School

TIGS Review 1 2010

From the Headmaster The community of TIGS congratulates the teachers and students of Year 11 Creative and Performing Arts for their wonderful presentation ‘Beyond Bundanon’ at Expo Day. This special exhibition was inspired by Arthur Boyd and his beautiful property on the banks of the Shoalhaven River where the students spent several days at the beginning of term.

The works of art on display were inspiring, as was the original composition by our Music 2 students. However, the thing I appreciated most was the creative energy released by students when they collaborated with students gifted in other disciplines. Artists, photographers, and performers in drama and music combined to explore the theme of ‘A Special Place’, inspired by Arthur Boyd’s special place. Teaching and learning at TIGS places great value on the academic disciplines but does not limit the understanding of our world to potentially disconnected subjects. This is at the heart of our approach to learning.

The academic disciplines provide the framework from which effective learning takes place.

They provide rigor to learning which can occur at a deeper level when students can draw on the thinking and accumulated wisdom of all those that have thought, researched and published in each subject area.

A fascinating and revealing exercise for students is to have them describe a flower from the point of view of a particular academic discipline. Typically, Biologists describe petals, stamen and stigma. Artists describe depth of colour, sensory stimulus and aesthetic appeal, while Economists describe unit costs, the benefits of economies of scale and utility. All three correctly describe the same flower and would pass any test on the subject but fall short of fully understanding the richness and complexity of the flower without the benefit of knowledge of the other disciplines.

Students at TIGS demonstrate consistently that they can ‘pass the test’ given the outstanding results they achieve in public examinations. However, as our Statement of Mission and Values suggests, learning at TIGS goes beyond the academic disciplines: “Individual academic disciplines provide a knowledge base and framework for understanding the world. The School is also committed to students achieving an enriched understanding that comes through interdisciplinary and transdiciplinary learning, building on the academic disciplines.” (1.4) ‘Beyond Bundanon’ provides just one example of how this is achieved. The Transdisciplinary Themes being explored in the Junior School under the Primary Years Program (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) is another. Under the PYP, students study units of work through six transdisciplinary themes: • Who we are?

• Sharing the planet • How we organise ourselves?

• How the world works?

• How we express ourselves?

• Where we are in place and time?

We value the academic disciplines and the greater understanding that comes when the boundaries between the disciplines are removed. “It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated” (Alec Bourne) Stephen Kinsella

Kindergarten Visit the Headmaster As part of the structured orientation program for Kindergarten each of the classes ventured ‘up the hill ‘to meet the Headmaster in his office. This proved very exciting as not only did the kinders see inside the Senior School, but they also had story telling and a performance by Mr Kinsella on his trombone, with the hope that one day many of them will eventually join the Senior School orchestra and jazz band.

2009 Presentation Day The 51st annual presentation day marked not only the end of the academic year for 2009 but also the close of an historic year in the history of TIGS as we celebrated 50 years of Academic excellence in a Christian and Caring environment. The Golden Jubilee had been the focus of the events for 12 months and as the academic and co-curricular achievements of students from Years 7 - 12 were detailed and applauded, there was a strong sense of being part of both history and future. To quote the Captains and Vice Captains of 2009 “TIGS Year 12 will hold together against the expansion in our world. It is the relationships we have made during our time here which will hold us together.

The connections we have made at School will enable us to face a wider world with confidence, as we know that we will always remain part of The Illawarra Grammar School’s Year 12 Class of 2009’’. The house competition for the Shell shield was fierce and whilst Coligan were victorious in 2009 there was strong opinion that the 60 year celebrations would see Aranda , Wolgal or Kogara as the pre eminent house in the next ten years!.

2009 Presentation Day

Watermelon Day Happy watermelon day!

A strange greeting, but one that was exchanged on the first Wednesday of Term 1 in the Junior School as the children celebrated our School “birthday� by sharing watermelon at recess. This was to remember what happened on the very first day of School at TIGS 51 years ago when the boys were given a present of watermelon to go with their morning milk. We were not daunted by the threatening sky and managed to all come together to celebrate this event before the rain pelted down sending us all indoors again.

Babies Prom The ‘babies’ of Pre Prep and Prep went to “ The Prom” in Senior School and enjoyed wonderful musical presentations from the Senior Choir and Orchestra – a great time was had by all!.

Junior School Prefect Induction The Junior School community joined together in a formal celebration to induct the 2010 prefects in the Junior School.

Congratulations to all as they commence the next phase of opportunities in servant leadership!

CAPTAINS - Jack Mackenzie Wood and Jessica Evans VICE CAPTAINS - Peter Kyriakoudes and Stephanie Shalala COLIGAN CAPTAINS - Thomas Chadrawy and Natasha Shalala

COLIGAN VICE CAPTAINS - Louis Parsons O’Malley and Georgia Wallace KOGARA CAPTAINS - Grace Hennessy and Mikhail Nathoo KOGARA VICE CAPTAINS - Tessa Ferguson and Harrison Pearce ARANDA CAPTAINS - Jacob Hall and Mikayla Smith ARANDA VICE CAPTAINS - Kai Middleton and Mackenzie Roberts WOLGAL CAPTAINS - Sally Briggs and Jeremy Harrison WOLGAL VICE CAPTAINS - Cameron Mitchell and Zoe Morrell

Royal National Park Year 3 Excursion Exploring the theme ‘what lies within’, Year 3 ventured to the Royal National Park for a day of discovery. The park rangers gave them the opportunity to role play and encouraged the students to ‘fossick for creatures’ on their bushwalk. After picnicking by the river, Year 3 returned home to show their families the discoveries they had made.

The Junior School swimming carnival provided a great opportunity for all our students to test their swimming abilities. The level of participation was again extremely high with many students achieving well beyond their expectations.

Congratulations to Kogara house on their strong winning performance while Wolgal finished in a tight second place from Aranda then Coligan.

It has been a long time coming and in 2010 we have finally achieved a goal set six years ago for our TIGS Swim Team.

TIGS won all shields in the Senior School, Junior School, Intermediate and Senior Shield and Overall Shield.

Such success is a true testament to the swimming program available at TIGS, from the ‘Learn to Swim’ program, stroke correction and development and squad training. Several TIGS students progressed to CIS representative swimming which was a fine result both for the individual swimmers as well as for our School.

Junior School Swimming Carnival

Peer Reading Peer reading has achieved enormous acclaim in the first term with Junior School students enjoying the benefits of reading to their Year 10 peers. The numbers of children wanting to attend has increased to the extent that the program is now open to all Junior School students. Now a ‘reading club’, there is lively discussion about books and the merits of the different authors. A great success every morning!.

Traditional Aboriginal Culture Year 2 had Aboriginal people from the National Parks and Wildlife Service come to teach them about the Aboriginal culture of the South Coast.

Together the children and their visitors investigated Aboriginal culture and how Aboriginal people separate roles and responsibilities but always work towards a common purpose. The visitors explained that it was very important to the Aboriginal people that the plants, animals and the environment were respected by only taking from the bush what was needed. A great day of learning was achieved in this culminating activity for the year 2 unit of inquiry.

Triple Care Farm Curry Drive

Year 12, led by the captains, held a very successful curry drive in aid of this year’s chosen charity Triple Care Farm. Taking orders for the delicious butter chicken, vegetable or beef curries was not hard but the cooking was an enormous task. However expertise and help was willingly volunteered by two TIGS parents, Khatoon Wootton and Usha Fernandez who, according to the students ‘did heaps of work and deserve most of the recognition!’ Congratulations and many thanks to all involved!

Senior School Leadership

Leadership

The School Captains arranged to have a representative from Year 12’s selected charity Triple Care Farm speak about their programs and to enlist the whole School’s support for both fundraising and resource provision. Unbeknown to the Captains Michael O’Halloran, Director of the Program who came to address assembly had been a student of TIGS from Kindergarten to Year 12 (The Class of 2002.) So not only did he speak about the great work that is being done at Triple Care Farm but he also spoke about his education and the Christian guidance he had received here at TIGS. In this wonderful way, he exemplifies our aim, again found in the Mission and Values Statement: “3.6 As the School Community cares for each of its members, so it seeks for its students to be caring of others in the wider community. Through the knowledge and understanding of Christian love, compassion and justice, students will be supported to become active participants in society and wise architects of the future”.

Refugee Picnic A keenly anticipated event on the School Calendar is the refugee picnic where students from Year 11 volunteer on a Saturday in March serving recently arrived refugee families. Working in partnership with Illawarra Multicultural Services, a day of good food, fun and games is held in Stuart Park in Wollongong . The Burmese and African families are able to relax whilst the ‘fairies’ and ‘ soccer stars’ entertain the children in activities as diverse as facepainting, drumming, egg and spoon races or giant bouncing castle. The success of the day was measured not only by all the smiling faces but by the students’ requests about ‘how soon can we do this again?’.

Friends from Japan

Sapporo Nichidai

TIGS again welcomed our friends from Japan and they much enjoyed spending time in the Junior and Senior Schools and seeing something of the Illawarra. They were very puzzled by the Kiama blowhole and enjoyed a trip behind the scenes at WIN TV.

Skiing Congratulations to Jack Millar of Year 10 who has qualified for the Australian National Children’s Ski Team and will be competing for Australia at the Whistler Cup from April 9 - 11, 2010 in Canada.

This competition is the largest and most important international race for 11-14 year olds and this Squad represents the first step towards representing Australia at the highest levels. The School wishes Jack all the very best in his preparation and performance at this event.

Twilight BBQ Prep Twilight BBQ The twilight BBQ was a lovely informal evening held on the IGC lawn. Senior School students volunteered their time to entertain their little peers so that families could relax.

New Parents’ Evening New parents from pre prep through to Year 11 were warmly welcomed for an informal evening and as always the volunteers from TIGS P&F gave up their time to ensure that a wonderful evening was enjoyed by all.

Year 7 Camp

Year 7 Camp In Week 2 of Term 1, Year 7 went camping at Wedderburn Christian Campsite which is about 45 minutes north of Wollongong. We spent 2 nights in cabins and 2 nights in tents.

There were lots of awesome activities such as pool wrestling, rock climbing, abseiling, archery, flying fox, BMX riding, where some of us fell off our bikes (on purpose) onto the muddy tracks, and a bush walk that ended at a beautiful waterhole. Camp was a wonderful experience and a great way to get to know each other and learn skills that will stay with us for the rest of our lives!

Beyond Bundanon

Beyond Bundanon Visitors to the exhibition were delighted by a range of fascinating artworks, which included a huge collaborative sculpture made from natural materials. As the title of the exhibition indicates, many of the artworks were influenced by the students’ visit to Arthur Boyd’s properties on the Shoalhaven and in this installation piece the students were able to work together to recreate a piece that Year 11 student Harry Reid developed on the Creative Arts Camp.

A group of Year 11 Music students also performed a beautiful ensemble piece that was inspired by one of Boyd’s landscape paintings. It was conceived on camp and developed back at School with their teacher Miss Zink. The exhibition was opened by Mary Preece, the Education Officer at The Bundanon Trust. She noted in her speech that our program of collaboration between Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Photography was unique within NSW and that the results were outstanding.

Senior School Swimming Carnival The Senior School swimming carnival was a great success. Participation was excellent and the house spirit was encouraging.

Fourteen swimming records were broken on the day. Congratulations to Aranda house for winning the first Shell Shield event for the year.

House results: 1st Aranda 2nd Kogara 3rd Coligan 4th Wolgal It has been a long time coming and in 2010 we have finally achieved a goal set six years ago for our TIGS Swim Team.

TIGS won all shields in the Senior School, Junior School, Intermediate and Senior Shield and Overall Shield.

Such success is a true testament to the swimming program available at TIGS, from the ‘Learn to Swim’ program, stroke correction and development and squad training. Several TIGS students progressed to CIS representative swimming which was a fine result both for the individual swimmers as well as for our School.

Easter Hat Parade Junior School finished the term with a whole community day of participation and worship. Parents and families visited the classrooms to assist the completion of the Easter hats and then joined together to see the magnificent creations paraded in the IGC . After refreshments many families stayed to share in a quieter time of worship and reflection during the Easter service.

TIGS 2010 Great Fete Saturday 22 May, 10am and 3pm With the planning well underway for this year’s Great Fete we now need your support to make this year’s event even more successful than the last.

If you are interested in playing a part or would like to know more about the Great Fete please call TIGS P&F President Barbara Mandelson 0409 969 044.

We would ask that you support the Great Fete by purchasing/selling the enclosed guessing competition tickets and returning them to either Senior School or Junior School reception by Thursday 20 May.

Performance Times Wednesday 16 June 7.30pm Thursday 17 June 7.30pm Friday 18 June 7.30pm Saturday 19 June 2pm & 7.30pm

Tickets on Sale 29 March 2010 Cost $10 and $20 For more information please phone 4220 0200

TIGSFOUNDATIONLIMITED WHAT IS THE TIGS FOUNDATION? The Illawarra Grammar School Foundation Limited is a corporate body limited by guarantee established in 1966.

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE FOUNDATION? To provide support that will allow the School to preserve, improve and develop its property and facilities.

HOW WILL THE FOUNDATION ACHIEVE ITS MISSION? By inviting past students, parents and friends of TIGS to become members and supporters of TIGS Foundation Ltd.

WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED?

HOW CAN I BE INVOLVED?

The IGC, Junior School, Goodhew Centre, Design and Technology Centre, Princes Highway entrance gates.

Members make fully tax deductible donations to TIGS Foundation to maintain the School as an outstanding education facility.

To contact Foundation phone: 4220 0200 fax: 4220201 email: foundation@tigs.nsw.edu.au or post: The Illawarra Grammar Foundation Limited PO Box 225 Figtree NSW 2525 Australia.

TI G S

The Illawarra Grammar School

The Illawarra Grammar School ABN 88 023 426 543. PO Box 225 Figtree NSW 2525 Australia phone: 02 4220 0200 fax: 02 422 0201 www.tigs.nsw.edu.au CRICOS No. 02300E