ci pal
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the first edition of Jigsaw.
I trust that you will enjoy this magazine and look forward to future editions. We aim to provide a forum for all the wonderful stories and photographs that reflect daily life at IGS. In the past, much of this type of material was published in our fortnightly in focus newsletter This new colour format will provide a much improved facility to fully reflect school life.
The beginning of 2004 was an extremely busy and exciting time as we celebrated 20 years of learning at IGS. This is a very significant landmark in the school's history. Our founders showed great foresight and tenacity which was fed by a passion to create an environment where all students could learn languages in the one school from the age of 3. Languages have continued as a vehicle for experiencing and appreciating difference, while at the same time creating the skills and the desire for unity across a wide variety of cultures and people.
On 4 February we recognised this occasion with a special assembly and were thrilled that Reg St Leon, the school's founder, could be our special Guest of Honour. It was an unforgettable day with music, colour, excitement - and lots of birthday cake! One week later
we photographed the whole school in Wentworth Park as a special memento for our archives.
Of special significance was the wonderful Birthday Party at Le Montage, Leichhardt in May. What a night! Approximately 600 staff, parents, ex-students and special guests enjoyed a tasty 3-course meal and were serenaded by international musicians Diesel, Jenny Morris and Mon i ca Trapaga. The live auction drew plenty of action , including spirited bidding for the sword from the motion picture Lord of the Rings , and the silent auction was ext r emely successful too Thanks must go to our major sponsors for their support - 7 Network, Resi Mortgage and Sarah Lorden Real Estate
Growth over these past years has brought us to the position where we are now a full three-stream school, from Preschool to Year 12, offering a broad curriculum. It is significant that during this semester we have signed the contract for the purchase of further space that will enable us to create a Senior Annex for our older students. This facility will ensure we offer high quality teaching in an even better environment. There will be a number of classrooms in the new comp lex where students in Years 10-12 will have lessons. They will return to the main campus to use the specialty facilities for lessons in Music, Art, Drama and Science. The new facility will also house one of our High School staff rooms
The semester has been busy w i t h camps, excursions, swimming and cros s-country carnivals, information evenings and parent interviews, examinations, a musical production , and Open Night How did we fit it all in! The energy and involvement of our community in all these activities is evident throughout this magazine Enjoy!
Kerrie Murphy Principal
Mountain Street premises: Signing the contract for the new p r emises are Kerrie Murphy. Princ ipal, David Baker; Chairman of t h e Board of Directors and Ron Spinner; Business Manager.
The inaugural Bard Fest, a celebration of the works of William Shakespeare, was a great success The ambience of Shakespearean times was cleverly invoked with a medieval feast, musicians and jugglers, and Years 4 and 5 treated students and guests to a wonderful performance from Twelfth Night. All performers involved worked extremely hard to present amusing and insightful interpretations of Shakespeare's plays Thanks must go to all those who attended and took part!
The performances were of a high standard and the competition was fierce, but unfortunately there could only be one winner i n each category. In the Duologue category, Anna Peck and Ella Maple of Year 8 were elevated to the Regional
Adler-Ryan and Meta Cohen (Year 4) joined in with the medieval crowd in the Wright Courtyard
Competition with their presentation of 'Puck's Plan ' from A Midsummer N i ght 's Dream. The scene category was also dominated by performances f r om A Midsummer Night's Dream The w i nning group performed 'The Mechan icals' and consisted of Harrison Grima , Ale xandra Soderlund, Athena Vlotis, Georgia Tsambos, Luciana Smith , Lucie ReevesSmith, Charlotte Wesley of Year 8 Lily Newbold's (Year 1O) costume designs for Twelfth Night were also elevated to the Regional Level.
The Regional f i nals of the Shakespeare Festival will be held at St Ignatius College, Riverview shortly We wish thes e students the best of luck!
Meghan Cockburn Drama
preschool
Preschool had an incredible first term. We welcomed 96 new 3-year olds at the beg inn ing of the year, with a small intake of just-turned 3's startin g in second term.
They have adapted and settled into the IGS way of life very quickly! Socialisation and the establishment of routines have been of fundamental importance, along with some exciting learning opportunities all around.
The Transition children have contributed and participated fully in their class programs and are thoroughly enjoying their myriad of learning opportunities. There have been many highlights - the first excursion for the year was Transition visiting the Opera House for a Baby Proms concert It was a highly interactive and fun day- they virtually recreated Alexander's Outing and visited all the mentioned attractions
Harmony Day was a series of very special events, especially the Preschooi!Transit ion performance, with a sea of orange and the happy faces making the hours of practice all worthwhile The children were superbly prepared by the Language and Music staff. The experiences the children had clearly showed us that they appreciate the diversity of cultures that are represented in their immediate environments, and the sensitivity they show for one another is touching
The planting of our mosaic pot that adorns the Preschool playground was an event not to be missed. With the help of some wonderful parents, the children planted a magnolia tree, strawberries and basil. They are taking great pride in looking after the 'real' nature that they have in their outdoor environment.
Ann-Kathrin Kiehn Head of Preschool
Phoebe
A report on my visit to our exchange school partners, December 2003
Bad Salzgitter Gymnasium (Germany), Lycee Jean Monnet, Montpellier (France), Liceo Linguistico, Siena (Italy) and Shonan Technology High School, Kanagawa (Japan) are four very diverse schools offering different exper i ences to an IGS exchange student. But the core experience across the world remains one of family, language, school and personal growth
Bad Salzgitter, Germany Bad Salzgitter is a small town within the larger area of Salzgitter. The exchange is run by a mathematics teacher Brigitte Zuhlsdorf, with whom I stayed for 2 nights. Brigitte is enthusiastic, a perfect English speaker herself, and committed to the continuation of the exchange The Salzgitter students go on exchange to England and the UK quite frequently, and there is a positive culture of hosting students. I spoke with Principal Frau Richter about Salzgitter and the school culture Being a Gymnasium type school means it has a strong selective academic standard, remov i ng it a little from some current social problems. Our
exchange student, Asher Polgar, was doing famously when I saw him Although at that stage only in Year 9, he was very comfortable, confident and happy, and coping extremely well with his speaking/ listen i ng language skills, attributable, of course, to International Grammar's long term language acquisition program
The school has the buzz of a big busy high school, has good facilities and teaches bilingual History for top stream English students
Montpellier, France Montpellier is a lovely town with a mixture of architectures from many different periods. It has a rich cultural life, a re laxed atmosphere, is less 'stressed' than Paris and appears to have fewer social problems. The school, Lycee Jean Monnet, on the developing outskirts of Montpellier, is huge and new, of spectacular architectural design and with excellent facilities. It is a senior high, with many parallel classes in the same grade. A class in France sticks together, as they do the same subjects in the same 'stream type', so French students usually know only the other students in their class As anywhere, it is important that our students understand the importance
of making the effort to socialise, talk and speak up in class The French love to talk and debate and dispute, and this appears to be important in cracking the social network there For the same reason, I reflected that they may enjoy more discussion groups and debates when they are i n Sydney.
1 spoke with the Principal, who was very supportive of the program. The teacher in charge is Catherine Coucoulle-Nemport Chris Peck stayed with Catherine and her family, and her son Arnaud will come to Sydney this July. Our three Year 10 exchange students (Chris Peck , Sofia Lokhanova and Hannah Belnick) were all happy and enjoying the experience, according to their own personalities and language use
Siena, Italy The Liceo Linguistico is a very small pr i vate Cathol i c school housed in
At the Licea Linguistico, Siena, Italy - Oskar, Carlo and Orin Rosina Tortorella and Robyn Moloney, and Caterina Rademolr from Srena
In the area of Salzgitter, Germany
school
connections
a renovated monastery in 13th century medieval Siena. There are only 70 students in the whole school, 15 students in each year. It is a 10 year old specialised language college, where students study English/ German/Spanish plus the other academic subjects necessary to sit for their final exams. They are all aiming for multilingual careers in business and tourism, and take group trips to the country of the language they are studying nearly every year There is a big emphasis also on Drama and Music, and they specialise in theatre productions of foreign classics, in the original language, in their own 'theatre space' These productions are of such a good standard that they are publicly advertised, and their 2004 show has been listed as part of the Siena Theatre Festival.
Our 3 students (Oskar Wheatley, Carlo Chiavaroli and Orin Davids) all perceived the smallness of the school as a strength. The atmosphere is relaxed and informal, with obviously good relationships between teachers and students, and close relationships between the students themselves. There is a strong culture of exchange and of welcoming foreign students, and our students were all doing extremely well. Their host brothers were all good friends and did a lot of things together
The Shonan Institute of Technology High School, Kanagawa (Tokyo), Japan is a new addition to our exchange program This private coeducational school is part of a big complex, including a un iversity Kanagawa is a prefecture outside of Tokyo, one hour by tra i n from the centre of Tokyo. The school is big (Years 10, 11 and 12 only), very well resourced and particularly good at sport The teacher in charge is the lively Ms Yuki Maehara, a senior English teacher The Shonan group, which will visit us briefly in July, will be led by 2 English teachers, Mr Noro and Ms Kanazawa , and the Principal. They will come to IGS host families for 4 nights, and will participate in a program of activities with IGS classes
for 3 days as organised by Lucy HowardShibuya and other Japanese staff Our group will then travel to Japan in September/ October and spend 5 nights with Shonan families, in addition to other touring.
While group tours are excellent for younger students, and for motivation and cultural knowledge, it is longer term individual immersion exchange that offers the greatest language i mprovement to our senior students As we get to know Shonan better, Yuki Maehara will consider the
possibility of sending a small number of students to Sydney for four weeks IGS homestay, in exchange for us sending our students to do the same thing. This model is less common for the Japanese, but Yuki was enthusiastic and hoped to work on this for 2005.
Despite this being a brand new exchange link, I was invited to introduce myself formally to staff and at the school assembly, and I was warmly included in their activities.
It was wonderful being able to see the various different schools that make up our exchange program, and to meet the teachers at the 'other end ' who reciprocally do the work which enables students to exchange for 6 weeks for the price of an airfare This personal connection w i ll now continue every year, with an IGS language teacher visiting all the IGS students in their exchange settings, and the teachers from the four schools visiting Sydney when their students come in July.
Robyn Moloney Director of Languages
Asher Polgar with his new brother in Salzgitter
Chris Peck and Hannah Be/nick in the library of the Lycee Jean Monnet, Montpell i er, France
carn1va s 2004
The 2004 carnivals were once again very colourful affairs, with competition just as intense out of the pool as in.
The Primary School Carnival was held at Heffron Pool in Maroubra. This year saw a record number of entrants compete in the Butterfly and Individual Medley events, a credit to the Primary School swimming program Kuyal House finished the carnival as the champions for 2004.
From the results of this carnival, 20 Primary School students qualified to compete at the CIS Carnival in late March. They were: Sophie Kelly, Griffin Hall, Adele Kozak, Taylor Gray, Andreas Richter, Adrienne Lim, Jody Potter, Rommy Pettersen, Georgia Gravanas, Sam Brewer, Talei Mangioni, Charlotte Warden, Eleanor Kozak, Analise Bauchinger, Ennes Mehmedbasic, James Mitchell, William Mitchell, Max Nimmo and Jakson Gray
Under glorious skies at the Drummoyne Olympic Pool, the theme for the 2004 High School Carnival was Pirates. In an array of costumes and colour, the High School students competed in the traditional races as well as novelty events including the Body Board relay and the 'Dive for Sunken Treasure' relay. Kuyal commanded an impressive lead throughout the day yet were caught in the last events, and Baado were eventually named 2004 champions Nicholas Fewster and Katinka Day were named fastest boy and girl of 2004 respectively.
Swimming Age Champions were Claudia Devos & Daniel Herbert (12 yrs), Luciana Smith & Ryan Hancock (13 yrs), Anna Peck and Eamon O'Connor (14 yrs), Frances Beasley & Harry Greenwood (15 yrs). Alice Beasley & Nicholas Fewster (16 yrs), Katinka Day & Maxim Pisarenko (17 yrs & over) Overall results were Baado first with 1214
and Erin McDowell
points, Gura second with 1203 points and Kuyal third with 1195 points.
The High School representative teams also achieved great success with six students representing CDSSA at the AICES Carnival. Of particular note are the members of the Senior Girls Medley Relay team who broke the record at the CDSSA Carnival, the first record to be set at this carnival by IGS students! The team consisted of Carmel O'Connor, Angelica Thompson Butel, Erin McDowell and Katinka Day.
Marcus Caton Head of PD/H/PE & Sport; and Emma Chipchase Head of Primary PD/H/PE & Sport
Andreas Richter, Age Champion 11 yrs
Oliver Burnett and Marina Saggers accepting the House Cup for Baado from Kerrie Murphy. Principal
The record breakers! The Senior Girls Medley Relay team - Carmel O'Connor. Angelica Thompson Butel, Katinka Day
Snow White was based on the poetry of Roald Dahl and involved 70 students from the Primary School Choir who danced, sang and acted for the 2 evening and matinee performances, keeping the audience amused with witty lyrics and one-liners. The cast rehearsed after school and on weekends. The end result was a series of performances that demonstrated amazing professionalism from these young performers. Also performing were many of the IGS ensembles including Sarasate and Paganini Strings, The Edwards Ensemble, Training and Senior Bands, West Winds, The Flute Ensemble, Jazz Band, World Music Ensemble, and included Rosie Henshaw of Year 12.
The Stage 5 and 6 musicians performed music all over the school for the High School Open Night Thomas Layman and Hendrik Vogelzang, both from the HSC Music One class, provided acoustic guitar music at the front gate, while the elective musicians filled the third floor with rock music. The World Music Ensemble summoned the visitors to the Hall with the call of African drumming and their rendition of the Scottish folk song Wild Mountain Thyme.
The Year 11 music classes went to see the highlights of the top HSC performers of 2003 in the Encore concert. This concert is always a great source of inspiration for our students and shows how hard work
and a belief in yourself can create amazing results.
The newly formed Primary Chamber Choir had their first performance at the Sheraton on the Park in March. The students sang a selection of typical Australian numbers to welcome Japanese guests attending a conference there. We look forward to hearing more from the sweet sounds of this ensemble which is for upper primary children who have sound vocal maturity.
Music Camp was again the highlight of Term 1 for all the ensemble musicians at IGS, with 140 musicians attending the camp at the Merroo Conference Centre in Kurrajong. Under the direction of their conductors, with guest artist Gerard Van de Geer, the students sang, danced and played for 3 days. Gerard is an experienced Orff practitioner currently lecturing at the
University of Tasmania He taught the students a variety of tunes which they performed on xylophones, while the older students were able to incorporate improvisation on their instrument of choice
The camp Talent Quest unearthed yet more talented composers, singers and instrumentalists, and of course the evening wouldn't have been complete without the teachers performing an Ode to the IGS students to wrap up!
Michele Ellis Director of Music
The
wonder of childhood
Sol Libesman and Yiorgos Vlotis (Yr 6) performing at the Music Camp
Tending Preschool's new garden
IGS 20th Birthday: Pictured with Reg St Leon, the school's founder and first Principal, are Kerrie Murphy, Principal, Rita Morabito, one of the original teachers with future student Jamison, and David Baker, Chairman of the Board of Directors
During Term 1, a group of students took part in a Theatre Sports course "A collaboration of hilarity!" cried one of the students through gales of laughte r following a hilarious Britney Spears impression All of the students involved thoroughly enjoyed the ex perience and were pleased with the knowledge and skills gained The same students also took part in the Belvoir Street Theatre Sports Carnival one Sunday evening where a group of professional players represented International Grammar School and gained third place
A special thank you to all students of Year 12 Drama for their hard work this semester The students performed some outstanding pieces of political drama as an assessment task for their HSC examination In groups of 4, they devised a collaboration of drama based on the Australian plays The Seven Stages of Grieving and Gary's House All 16 students performed ins i ghtful and thoughtprovoking work that questioned the values of Australian contemporary society. Elaine Evans Drama
The Primary School childre n were very active in helping othe rs in the community during Term 1.
Early in the term we celebrated 'Sunnies for Sight' Day by wearing dark glasses to school and donating a gold coin. The children wore their glasses during the day and tried to imagine what it must be like to be partially blind- it didn't take them long to appreciate how important this cause is! The school raised over $200 which went directly to supporting the International Centre for Eyecare Education which runs blindness prevention programs in East Timor and the Western Pacific. The money will assist people in poorer countries gain better vision.
A group of children in 5 Gold eagerly volunteered to sell lavender bags to raise money for disadvantaged young girls. They did a fantastic job and raised $400. The money raised went to LIFE Changing Experiences Foundation to help disadvantaged girls break the cycle of poverty and abuse.
Celine Zammit Year 1 Green
Slade Butler and Gemma Palmer of Year 5 with Principal, Kerrie Murphy
Year 1 children wearing their sunnies for a good cause
Language and Culture
visiting author
How do you keep 150 Year 7-8 students interested and enthused for an hour in the Senior Library?
On 15 March we invited Phillip Gwynne, writer and screenwriter, as our Term 1 V isit i ng Autho r. Phillip's lively presentation included anecdotes from his childhood in rural South Australia and an entertaining account of his diverse path to becoming a full-time author.
Later in the day, Phillip spoke to Year 10 on writing fiction and writing for the screen. His first book for teenagers, Deadly Unna?, was made into the movie Australian Rules, released in 2002. Recently Phillip won an AFI award for co-writing the screenplay for Australian Rules To finish the day, the Year 9/10 Craft of Writing class engaged in a writer workshop, and showed great interest and a warm response.
The first to admit he doesn't fit the stereotype of 'children's writer', Phillip will be a hard act to follow for the authors to come later this year
Neryle Sheldon Head of Learning Centre
ngara
The Ngara Group at IGS was formed to foster reconciliation and encourage an Indigenous perspective within the curriculum. Th is year we aim to introduce a range of activities which will enable students to learn more about Indigenous culture from within our own school community and our surrounding inner city community
On Harmony Day, IGS hosted students from Ale x andria Park Community School and took part in an invitation Volleyball match The participants were Years 9 and 10 girls from both schools. After the match and afternoon tea, our girls took the Alexandria Park students for a tour of the school. It was an enjoyable afternoon and the girls all commented on how much they enjoyed meeting students from another inner city school.
Alexandria Park Community School is a K-12 school which has a large percentage of Indigenous students. The school promotes cross-cultural understanding , so we are hoping that in the near future our friendship with Alexandria Park w ill help our students learn more about Indigenous culture and the importance of reconciliation
Jane Raeburn PD/H/PE
year 12 camp
For the final two days of Term 1, the Year 12 student group took part in a 'Time Out' Camp. This was a chance for friends to be together and reflect on their collective journeys towards the final part of their time at school. It was also a time to make new friends and reconnect with those lost along the way
Another purpose for the Camp was to recover from the first of the major exams
this year, and to develop study techniques and ways of dealing with future exam stress. Some of the workshops included Memory and Learning with Louise Donnelly, Creative Meditation w ith Jacki Short and Yoga with Kerrie Murphy
The general feeling from the students was that it was an enjoyable and beneficial experience at this time in their life at school.
Rosina Tortorella Year 12 Advisor
up my life!
This term Year 6 Gold have been investigating energy.
Students were required to construct a working model that demonstrates a renewable energy source or an electrical circuit
WOW! The students came up with the most amazing things an electronic game pow e red by lemons, a working lighthouse, a bubble blowing machine, traffic lights, model houses, a motorised dinosaur made of ready- made materials and much more The level of engagement and participation from the students went far beyond expectation!
A spec ial thank you to Louise Donnelly and Sue Gearie in the Science Department for their constant supply of materials and patience!
Kelly Wilkinson Year 6 Gold
Students working in one or more of the Enrichment Programs that are offered to students with special abilities have been working on a myriad of challenging and complex activities, crossing all key learning areas
Year 10 students visited MLC School at Burwood fo r a SYMPOSIA which addressed the topic o f Body Image Our students were cohere nt and i nformed , and were ab le to di scuss this topic in great depth Al so in the High School, the Years 9 and 10 Music el ecti ve students have been working on an enrichment/e xtension un it involving t h e use of te chnology in Music. They ha ve bee n working with an ex pert in elect ro nic music compos ition and have devise d the i r own specialised rubrics to produce a piece for performance
The ann ual Brain Gala Day held at Kno x Gram mar School saw our Years 5 and 6 team s competing This competition takes th e form of a Decathlon, with comple x
and abstract questions and activities to be answered, performed , constructed , argued, or presented within a time l i mit Both of our teams did extremely well. Students with special abilities i n Maths from Years 5 and 12 have been working on the Australian Maths Challenge as well as students in Years 5-8 participating in the Austral ian Maths Olympiad.
Meanwhile Year 3 ILC students have been studying and observing crystals and Year 4 have been working on a var iety of 'thinking skills ' using graphic organisers. Certain ILC students from Years 3-6 have also been working on a unit of work based on William Shakespeare 's comedy Twelfth Night. This unit was devised specif ic ally for younger children and has prov ed to be highly successful in inspir i ng Pri mary children with a love of 'the Bard'
Anne Moss Enrichment Coordinator, Years 3-10
