Newsletter Edition 2, 2020

Newsletter

ST GEORGE’S ANGLICAN GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Edition Two 21 February 2020

Contents From the Principal ......................................................................................................... 1 From the Head of Curriculum ................................................................................... 3 From the Head of Pastoral .......................................................................................... 5 From the Head of Science and Mathematics ......................................................... 9 From the Head of Year 7 ............................................................................................ 11 From the Head of Music ............................................................................................. 13 From the IT Manager .................................................................................................... 14 From Head of Health and Physical Education ......................................................... 15 School News ..................................................................................................................16

St George’s Anglican Grammar School; an exciting, innovative co-educational secondary school based in a high-rise building in the Perth CBD. The School caters for local and international students in Years 7-12, and is a proud member of the Anglican Schools Commission network of schools in Western Australia.

We are committed to child safety and protection, and expect all staff, volunteers, visitors to the School and contractors to respect and abide by all policies, procedures and practices developed and put in place by the Anglican Schools Commission (ASC) and/or the School in this regard.

From the Principal Mr Gary Racey

As the old saying goes, ‘the honeymoon is over’! It never fails to amaze at the speed in which time passes at the beginning of the academic year and to think we are already at the end of Week 4, Term 1.

The calendar is certainly keeping everyone on their toes and students are well and truly back into the school routine again.

Year 7 Parent Night and New Parent Sundowner It is always such a pleasure hosting the Year 7 Parent Night and New Parent Sundowner and to see the enthusiasm and excitement of the families who have only recently joined our school. As always, we had a fantastic turn out to both events, which sets the scene for high quality relationships and engagement between our various community members. Thank you to Mrs Karen Van Rooyen for her coordination and preparation in presenting such a wonderful night, and to all who attended.

Year 12 Ball What a spectacular way for the Year 12 student body to begin their final year at St George’s. The School Ball is a rite of passage that goes back many years, but one that is so very special to the students and their families. Mr Peter Quan, Mrs Katie Fassom and Mr Vincent Lim (Heads of House) organised the event, along with the members of the Year 12 Ball Committee. All should be commended on their commitment to ensuring everyone who attended had a safe and enjoyable time, creating life-long memories. Thank you to the students for behaving in a manner befitting such an event.

Student Guild and Year 12 Commissioning Service The Student Guild and Year 12 Commissioning Service was held at St George’s Cathedral on the morning of Monday 10 February. Whilst the students were inducted into their positions late last year, this formal service highlights the important role and the levity of these student leadership positions within our school. All Year 12 students’ received a ‘Year 12 badge’ to acknowledge this cohort’s final year of education at St George’s and the fact they are all role models and leaders of the school. It will also help with our younger children to know who they can approach if they require support from one of our student leaders.

In my address to the new leaders, I discussed the importance of breaking down the barriers that may lie in the way of developing ourselves as leaders who

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practice the School Core Values. I challenged the Student leaders to take a close look at the student culture; to identify and fix the things that aren’t working and better leverage the things that are so they can best serve their peers and teachers. I then spoke of performing leadership tasks using various lenses to view their work as leaders, depending on the need at the time.

I also addressed the school community and what their expectations are in supporting the leadership group and how positive interaction and communication is key to shared success in achieving set goals.

Thank you to the parents and families who attended the Service, and congratulations again to the Student Guild and all Year 12’s.

Fringe Festival The School’s Electrocity ensemble once again amazed and delighted at the 2020 Fringe Festival. The two gigs held in East Perth at the Actors’ Hub Studio were both full houses. This group is a shining light for the innovative approach our music department uses to create original pieces and I offer an acknowledgement and thank you to our Head of Music, Mr Michael

Newton, and his team for the preparation placed in getting these young musicians ready. We now work towards performing in the PIAF event – Highway to Hell!

Swimming Carnival Our annual Swimming Carnival held on 20 February was once again well attended and demonstrated the spirit of participation that we are so proud of at St George’s, whether our athletes were in point based events or in novelties. It was so lovely to see the younger and older students intermingle and support each other as the Houses battled it out for glory. The Sync Swim did not disappoint and generated smiles and delight from all. Well done to all who participated on the day and thank you to Ms Jodie Scheele for her coordination, and to the staff for their enthusiasm throughout the whole day.

Child Protection It is hoped that all families took the time to read the separate communication I forwarded regarding the Child Protection Framework that the School works within and the associated Protective Behaviours Curriculum. Child Protection is an absolute priority in our organisation and it is important parents/carers understand the policies and programs we have in place to keep your child/children safe. The documents can both be found on SEQTA within the Parent Handbook and on our website https://www.stgeorges.wa.edu.au/ parents-students/child-safety-and-wellbeing/

Gary Racey Principal

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From the Head of Curriculum Ms Victoria Kelleher

Motivating Teens Thank you to the families who were able to attend our recent Year 12, 10 and 7 Parent Information Evenings. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to get to know our families a little better. It’s obvious that St George’s values and promotes a strong sense of community and after all, we are all working together to provide the very best educational experience for our students.

One point that was raised at the Year 10 Information Evening was the concept of motivation. Almost everyone can give an anecdotal example of how two siblings, raised in the same home, where one is extremely academically driven, and the other doesn’t seem to care about school at all! This was certainly the case when my children went through high school. There could be many reasons for this difference in achievement, however, one fundamental reason is the motivation to learn.

Motivation can affect how a student approaches their learning, how they connect with their teachers, how much effort they put into their schoolwork, how much feedback they seek and how they act on that feedback. In short, if a student is not motivated to learn, achievement will prove very difficult.

without understanding the meaning of the concept? Research suggests that there are two main types of motivation, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to achieve because you truly want to, and you see value in doing so. Extrinsic motivation is the desire to achieve something because it leads to a particular result. As parents, we’ve all been guilty of trying to motivate our children extrinsically, “if you clean your room, you can have another hour of screen time”, “if you get an ‘A’, I’ll buy the shoes you want”. They may not have a desire to clean their room, or to get the ‘A’, but they might be motivated by the reward. There are, of course, many other influences when it comes to our teens and the concept is a lot more complex than what I’ve presented. If it were simple, our children would have perfectly clean bedrooms and reports with all A’s. Sadly, this is not the case!

A great deal of research exists that explores the concept of motivation, however, most of this research agrees on four main factors students need in order to be motivated: competence, autonomy, interest and relatedness. These factors are simplified in the following: Four Main Factors of Intrinsic Motivation Competence (Am I capable?) The student believes he or she has the ability to complete the task.

What is motivation? How can we understand how to motivate our children,

Autonomy (Can I control it?) The student feels in control by seeing a direct link between his or her actions and an outcome.

The student retains autonomy by having some choice in whether or how to undertake the task.

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Interest won’t motivate them to clean their rooms!

(Does it interest me? Is it worth the effort?)

The student has some interest in the task or OLNA (Online Literacy and Numeracy sees the value in completing it.

Assessment) Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 who have Relatedness (What do others think?) not achieved a Band 8 or higher in reading, Completing the task brings the student writing and/or numeracy in Year 9 NAPLAN social rewards, such as a sense of belonging must sit tests of the corresponding to the classroom or approval from a components this semester. There are online person of social importance to the student tests in writing, reading and numeracy. The (i.e. parental involvement) writing test comprises of an extended response of up to 600 words and students Each one of these factors are crucial in will have 60 minutes to complete it. The curriculum planning and development. As reading and numeracy tests comprise of 45 teachers, we plan, create and develop lessons multiple-choice questions and students will that support our students’ intrinsic have 50 minutes to complete each of them. motivation. The staff at St. George’s are adept at providing learning experiences that Round 1 testing dates at St George’s seek to create this positive learning Anglican Grammar School: environment for our students and as a community, it is important that our families Writing: Tuesday 3 March are also part of this learning journey.

Reading: Thursday 5 March Numeracy: Tuesday 10 March Last week, your child’s Term 1 Assessment Schedule was sent out via SEQTA Direct If you require further information please do Message. There are several benefits for our not hesitate to contact me. staff to have such a schedule, however, its main purpose is to support your child’s motivation through the notion of Victoria Kelleher relatedness. It’s important that our students Curriculum Coordinator feel supported by a person of importance to them and parental involvement is one of the factors that can facilitate this motivation. Positive support, and involvement in your child’s learning, can influence their motivational profiles.

Providing an overview of your child’s upcoming assessments, will hopefully give you more information of the workload ahead for your child and help you to support them during peak times this term. Sadly, it 4

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From the Head of Pastoral Mr Hilton Hardman

The 2020 Students Guild have hit the ground running and tackled one of the focus areas they set themselves for this year, which was Community.

student by putting up Valentine’s day cards on each locker in the school which they had personally designed.

Parent Guest Speaker Wednesday 4 March will see our first provider, Anglicare WA, offering a talk to parents on: Anglicare WA: Who we are One community education initiative Within this Community focus, Why focus on primary prevention and they would like to healthy relationships? play an active role in supporting those in How can you support your child to develop need not just within the school community healthy relationships but also in the greater Australian community. Support in schools and your community A clear emphasis was on the bush fires that had taken place and the need to support The talk will start at 6:00 pm and have a cap those impacted by the fires. of 80 parents due to venue size.

During week 3, the Student Guild promoted a Valentine’s themed free dress day and ran two raffles. Students made a gold coin donation in order to wear their free dress and the Guild sold raffle tickets throughout the day. The Guild students set a goal, and that was to sell a 1000 raffle tickets, and if successful, I would have to shave my head. A standard school raffle at St George’s usually sells 100 – 200 tickets, so they set the bar high, and I accepted their challenge.

This group of seven students have a potential future in sales and marketing because they did a great combined pitch to students and staff of supporting the bush fires and making Mr Hardman shave his head.

The day was a huge success, over $1600 was raised and 1110 raffle tickets were sold, and unfortunately for me, a deal is a deal. The Guild students also went out of their way to make the day special for each and every

Those parents intending to come for this talk, please reserve your spot by contacting Sharon Gamble by email on sgamble@stgeorges.wa.edu.au to indicate how many will be attending.

Each term during week six we will be providing speakers for parents, and I am happy to confirm Dr Jane Genovese who ran a session last year on Study Hacks will be returning to cover another area of study, exams and academics. At the start of each term, an outline of the Guest speaker and topic will be provided in the newsletter.

School Socials The schools second Junior school social for Year 7 - 9 will be taking place on Friday 6 March. This event will offer food, soft drinks, karaoke, Silent Disco, access to unlimited pictures at the photo booth, and activities between Level 3 as well as the Rooftop.

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These two venues will be transformed into appealing areas where students will be able to relax, dance or catch up with their friends.

Our Senior Social for Years 10 – 12 will be taking place on 27 March on The Crystal Swan. The Crystal Swan is a highly sought after school formal cruise venue with quality dining, exceptional service, stunning views and overall unique experience.

The River cruise on the Crystal Swan will include; DJ fully enclosed upper deck, fully enclosed lower deck with large dance floor, magnificent panoramic views from both levels of the City Skyline, spacious upper and lower deck for mingling.

As a school, we always encourage our students to get involved in such events; it allows them to develop friendships, make memories and experience something new.

Students have been encouraged to hand their forms in if they plan on attending these events.

Hilton Hardman Head of Pastoral 6

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From the Science and Mathematics Department Ms Charlotte Donovan

News from Science and Mathematics Two weeks down and it has already been jam-packed with exciting events from Science and Maths!

Our Year 9 students had an incursion from Earth Science WA. The presentation looked at plate tectonics and continental drift. Our students always love the presentations from ESWA, as they usually involve chocolate! Thanks to Mr Lim and Mr Quan for organising this event.

The Year 7’s have been learning about the order of operations – check out their page for more information and some great photos of our students.

The Year 11 Psychology class has been studying the structure and function of the human nervous system. This included making models of neurons – the nerve cells that make up the brain, spinal cord and nerves. We were able to show the structure of a nerve cell using pipe cleaners and demonstrate how our brain can be creative as well as functional. Coming up next week they will be dissecting a brain!

This Friday, the Year 11 Biology ATAR and General students will be heading to Perth Zoo. This excursion allows students to engage with Zoo education officers into the importance of Classification and Biodiversity.

They are then able to use their observational skills on a walk around the zoo. We hope they have a good day and 9

look forward to hearing about it on their return.

The annual RACI Bayliss Lecture series is back for 2020. This year the presentation is on...

Shining a light on crime: Applications of spectroscopy to forensic science Paint, cosmetics, ink. All of these can be forms of forensic evidence that can help detectives to make links between individuals, objects and locations – a critically important part of a criminal investigation. But how to get the most useful information from these types of evidence? This is where chemistry plays an essential role. Join Dr Georgina Sauzier as she explores a key tool of analytical chemistry and how it can be used for analysis of forensic evidence. Dr Georgina Sauzier works in the fields of forensic science and analytical chemistry at Curtin University.

Date: Tuesday 10 March 2020 Time: 6:45 pm - 8:00 pm Location: UWA: Wilsmore Lecture Theatre Tickets: See Miss Donovan or your Science Teacher - ONLY 20 FREE tickets are available

Happy Science and Mathematics!

Charlotte Donovan Head of Science and Mathematics

From the Head of Year 7 Mrs Gaile Racey

The Year 7 students have not stopped since they walked through the doors at St George’s on day one, with endless amounts of energy and passion.

They have shown they are ready and willing to take on any new challenge being thrown their way.

Enjoy reading about a few of their recent adventures.

Anyone for Golf?

Unity, team spirit and a touch of healthy competition was on the menu at Wembley Golf Course during their PAWS session in Week 2. The entire cohort spent time out of school getting to know each other over a few friendly rounds of mini golf. There was laughter and smiles all round and of course many of the golf balls landing in the various water traps (using the mini fishing scoop was also a highlight for many). The afternoon’s events rounding out a fantastic end to their first full week at SGAGS.

School) with the Year 7 students swapping school uniforms for lab coats and medical credentials.

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The Maths Doctors performed 6 different complicated surgeries and demonstrated great skill and perseverance with their applications of the ORDER OF OPERATIONS. All surgeries were a success and all patients made a full recovery. The future is in good hands at St George’s AGS. City Safety with the WA Police Department On Friday the Year 7 students were visited by Sergeant Warren Ameduri from the Western Australian Police Department to learn about City Safety. The students were able to share their own experiences and learn some new actions they could adopt to keep them safe in different scenarios in and around the city.

Science and Mathetmatics It was a great day to save lives at St George’s Hospital (St George’s Anglican Grammar 11

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From the Music Department Mr Michael Newton

In The Music Department This week in the music department Electrocity Ensemble performed their shows in the Perth’s FRINGE WORLD Festival.

FRINGE WORLD is the 3rd largest fringe festival in the world, and it was an amazing opportunity to be involved. Electrocity performed original songs written by St George’s students in the Fringe Writing Workshops at the end of last year.

Both of Electrocity Ensemble’s shows were sold out and went really well. If you missed out, don’t worry! You can buy Electrocity’s CD “Voices” from first floor reception for $10 – 10 original songs recorded by Electrocity in the St George’s Music Department.

Stay tuned for electrocity’s next upcoming performance in the Perth International Art Festival closing show “Highway To Hell”!

What’s the best thing about Music at St. G’s?

The opportunity for anyone to go out and perform at many events and places that you thought you never go to, which other schools don’t have that opportunity. And the fact at St George’s we have a welldeveloped music department where we can just go in the room and start playing with new instruments and the feeling being there is great.

Why should other people do music?

Doing music helps you a lot.You learn many new things such as learning new skills on an instrument and music gives a lot of performance opportunities that you get to experience, and most importantly music helps express yourself and understand your feelings.

What’s your advice for anyone learning Music?

If you’re learning music just have fun with it and don’t worry about making mistakes it’s part of it!

Kate van Olden Music Captain

Muso Profile – Bilal Akhtar What instrument(s) do you play?

Bass Guitar What first got you interested in Music?

I took piano lessons when I was young, then started to enjoy learning how to play any song I wanted. Then I decided to do the same but on a different instrument and the more I learnt on the instrument the more I got interested in music.

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Coming Up 1 March – Highway to Hell Electrocity Ensemble performs at the PIAF closing “Highway to Hell”. Find them in the Valley Zone near Melville Plaza in the evening.

19 March - On The Roof concert

St George’s Anglican Grammar School Newsletter

From the IT Manager Mr Jason Wakefield

Spare Computer Loans From time to time computers will fail and require hardware repairs causing the students to go without a notebook for sometimes a couple of weeks.

The School now has the facility to loan out used school Windows notebooks for student use for absolutely no charge.

Should parents require one, please request a loan computer via SEQTA Engage here: https://parent.stgeorges.wa.edu.au/ Scroll down the page until you find information under the heading “Computer Rental Agreement”.

The IT department manager will co-sign the form when a computer is ready to go.

Once the parent/guardian have received the completed form, the student may come and collect their temporary notebook for the allotted time specified on the agreement.

Battery Recycling The IT department recycles your household batteries.

Please use this FREE facility to dispose of all your expired batteries

(not including car and phone batteries). The bin can be found in the IT Manager’s office on level 1.

More info on the battery recycling program here.

Let’s reduce landfill together!

Jason Wakefield IT Manager

From the Health and Physical Education Department Ms Jodie Scheele

Term 1 Swimming Fridays Swim Meet where the students are put into competition conditions against Trinity College. They swam really well and should be very proud of themselves.

Thank you to families for making sure they arrive on time and ready for the pool. I will be excited to report about the Interhouse Swimming Carnival in the next newsletter. Student enthusiasm and participation was outstanding. Thank you to all the parents and families for attending.

Jodie Scheele Health and Physical Education Department

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School News Student Term Dates - 2020 Term 1 30 January - 9 April New Student Orientation 29 January Students Mid Term Break, Friday 28 February Term 2 30 April - 3 July Students Mid Term Break, Friday 29 May Term 3 27 July - 25 September New Student Orientation 24 July Students Mid Term Break, Friday 21 August Term 4 13 October - 9 December Enrolments The School Enrolment Policy requires one full term’s notice in writing prior to the withdrawal of a student from the School.

Where such notice is not received, the School will charge an amount equal to the tuition fees for that current term.

If the account has been paid in full and a refund is due, payment will be processed for the full refund due within seven days of exit.

SEQTA The St George’s Anglican Grammar School SEQTA account is not assigned to a staff member and, therefore, is not monitored.

Please contact the staff member directly to ensure prompt action to your message.

Science Department Request

The Science Department is still after any plastic icecream containers that they could use in the laboratory. Any donations greatly appreciated.

To avoid fees in lieu being charged, notice of a student’s withdrawal must be received by the School before the first day of the School Term preceding the Term of the student’s departure. If this does not occur, families will be charged the remainder of the current Term, plus an additional Terms fee in lieu.

Upon withdrawal of a student from the School, all fees and charges incurred for that student are payable to the School in full within seven days of exit.

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St George’s Anglican Grammar School Newsletter