Newsletter:
PRINCIPAL'S NEWS
A warm welcome back to Term 3. As I write, the sun is out, the sky is blue and the Schoolbox rollout is well underway. You should have received a Digistorm/PIPPS welcome email at 11am on Wednesday of this week. If you did not receive this email, please let our IT department know (helpdesk@lakes.nsw.edu.au). This email is needed to facilitate your login to Schoolbox.
As we settle into Term 3, please note that Mr Beecroft (K-12 sports coordinator) is on some well-deserved long service leave. Mr Sewell (greg.sewell@lakes.nsw.edu.au) is managing junior school sport and Mr Hurst (john.hurst@lakes.nsw.edu.au) has oversight of senior school sport. Please contact them directly if you have any questions. It was lovely to see Mr Hurst and our athletics students at the HRIS carnival yesterday and we had some great successes.
I would again like to welcome our new Head of Junior School, Mrs Kylie McPherson, (kylie.mcpherson@lakes.nsw.edu.au) and announce our two new coordinators in the junior school. Mrs O’Donnell (april.odonnell@lakes.nsw.edu.au) is our K-2 coordinator (and a wonderful Kindergarten teacher!) and Mr Worrall (our new Year 5C teacher: edward.worrall@lakes.nsw.edu.au) is the Year 3-6 coordinator. I would also like to welcome our new admin staff in the junior school, Mrs Rhiannon Gentle (administration) and Mrs Rebecca Kain on reception. I am sure you will make them welcome.
Year 4 and Year 5 have enjoyed the excitement of camp this term, and our Year 12 students are getting ready for their trial examinations. We held our junior and senior tours this week and our student tour guides did us proud. So many of the visiting parents commented on their maturity, their presentation, and the confident manner that they were able to lead the tours.
I would like to remind parents that we do ask that students wear the correct uniform each day. The fleece jumper (while I acknowledge it is warm during these cooler days) is part of the sports uniform, not the day-to-day uniform. We are in the process of collating a uniform ‘what can be worn and when’ guide to make it clearer for both students and parents. I would also like to remind parents that our students (K-10) are not to use phones during the day. Years 11 and 12 may use them at recess and lunch, but no other phones should be out or visible during school hours. If your child needs to contact you, they are asked to go to reception to ask one of our staff to call you.
Lastly, as we move into Schoolbox, we are keen to hear your feedback. You are more than welcome to email us, and I would suggest in the first instance – feedback (both positive and not!) could be sent to Mrs Smith (deputy principal) at michelle.smith@lakes.nsw.edu.au. We will be continuing to develop and roll out more features in Schoolbox over time, including live reporting and access to your student’s assessment results. We will also review the newsletter over the rest of this term in light of the information that can be accessed on Schoolbox.
Have a lovely and blessed weekend.
Mrs Deborah Clancy
Principal
KEY DATES FOR THE DIARY
Week 3
- Monday 1 August – Education Week
- Monday 1 August – Year 7 Tut show (history)
- Wednesday 3 August – K-6 curriculum evening (2nd session)
- Wednesday 3 August – HRIS cultural festival
- Wednesday August – Secondary oztag gala – day 2
- Thursday 4 August – HRIS primary boys soccer gala day
- Friday 5 August – Jeans for Genes Day fundraiser - mufti day. Bring a gold coin
- Friday 5 August – Write a Book in a Day
Week 4
- Monday 8 August – Junior school author visit - Gus Gordon
- Monday 8 August – Year 9 science excursion - Awabakal field trip
- Monday 8 August – HSC trial examinations commence
- Tuesday 9 August – NAPLAN practice test - Years 3 and 5
- Tuesday 9 August – P&F Meeting via ZOOM, 7pm
- Thursday 11 August – Primary touch football gala day
- Thursday 11 August – HSC drama evening
CHAPLAIN'S CHAT
Welcome to the second half of the academic year. It is hard to believe that we are more than halfway through the school year and winter too. Many of us during the mid-year break were affected by the flooding and it seems like COVID-19 has ramped up its activity as well. Hopefully, your family was able to find some time together and be refreshed for the second half of the year. There is much to be thankful for and expectant about despite some of these difficulties.
One of those activities is our Lakes Grammar Prayer Gathering which meets each Wednesday in our senior school. At 7.30am in E1, parents, staff and students are invited to gather and pray, warm up with a tea or coffee and be encouraged to commit our school community to God’s loving care. Annette, my beloved wife leads us, and we have been greatly encouraged as we gather to share our hearts for our school community. Know that each Wednesday we are praying for you and if you would like you are most welcome to join us.
Something else that is new that is worth reporting on is the change to the time slot for our senior school cru group. This is now on Fridays at 8am in the food technology room where pancakes are supplied for breakfast and then we do a short Bible study that encourages our students in their faith lives wherever they are at. We wanted to free up their lunchtimes and our regulars all thought pancakes were a great motivator to be there. All our senior school students are welcome to be a part of cru group. In our junior school cru group will begin next week which is something to look forward to. With Year 4 and Year 5 on camps in week 1 and 2, Mr Oates and our students will be around to enjoy cru again.
If you want to know more about our Prayer Gathering, cru groups or anything else to do with faith and how we approach this at Lakes Grammar then please feel free to reach out to Mr Oates or myself. We love to hear your story, share with you our story, and see where God’s story intersects with both. Make sure you check out our faith page on Schoolbox too. We are here for you!
Bless ya!
Reverend Matt
Chaplain
WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS
ACADEMIC CARE
Week 4
On Friday 5 August 2022 (Week 3) students in K-12 will be invited to take part in Jeans for Genes Day 2022.
The day will involve a Jeans/denim-based mufti day with a gold coin donation, and some class time to raise awareness through educational activities.
Jeans for Genes day is a global awareness campaign. In Australia, the campaign is run by the Children's Medical Research Institute based at Westmead Hospital NSW. One in every twenty children faces a birth defect or genetic disease, like cancer, cystic fibrosis, or life-threatening metabolic disorders. That's 12 children born every minute worldwide.
Your donation on the day will help raise funds to further research genetic diseases and conditions, with an aim to find cures or enhance diagnosis and treatment.
Date: Friday 5 August 2022
Venue: Lakes Grammar – An Anglican School
Time: All day
Dress: Come dressed in jeans or denim clothes
Cost: Gold coin donation
Mr Rick Hampson
Director of Academic Care (K-12)
ACADEMIC DIVERSITY
Celebrating NAIDOC Week
This week at Lakes Grammar we celebrated NAIDOC week. The message Get up! Stand up! Show up! was delivered by the NAIDOC committee who shared their experiences as proud Aboriginal people at this week’s NAIDOC week assemblies. It was also timely that the Ngara AECG Message stick was handed to Charlotte and Rujeko by Aunty Marilyn and two student representatives from MacKillop Catholic College during the assembly.
The ‘Message Stick’ is an AECG initiative that starts at Kanwal Public School and continues its journey into many schools. It then finishes at Wyong High School for the Ngara Assembly of Excellence. An Aboriginal Message Stick is a form of communication traditionally used by Indigenous Australians. Message sticks were passed between different clans and language groups to send messages. They were often used to invite neighbouring groups to corroborees and games. The carrier of the message stick was granted safe passage across the other Aboriginal nation’s land.
NAIDOC week ended today, with the Lakes Grammar Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community coming together to share morning tea and to have a yarn in the senior school campus sunshine.
Personalised learning plans (PLPs) for junior school Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will commence next week. Teachers, students, and parents will come together, virtually, to develop goals to improve the educational outcomes of their students.
The Ngara AECG meeting is at Wadalba Community College on Monday 15 August at 4pm. The Ngara AECG welcomes all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and carers to attend.
I will leave you with the following poem read by Elora, Liv, and Taleah at this week’s NAIDOC assembly:
Walk to the Future
A poem by Nola Gregory
Let me walk to the future
In the footprints you leave
Be my life’s inspiration
Be the Culture I breathe
Wherever I may tread
I will learn of your ways
And carry it forward
Your legend I will raise
It is in you my Elders
I find wisdom to learn
In your presence I am honoured
I will listen and discern
For I am the future
Of this my beautiful race
I take what you teach me
And our Culture I embrace
Mrs Kristy Gorham
Director of Academic Diversity (K-12)
ACADEMIC CHALLENGE
Year 12 trials are fast approaching with students sitting exams in weeks 4 and 5. HSC students can maximise their results by developing a study plan, attending study hall and master classes. The subject specific master classes are an in-depth seminar presented by our expert senior school specialists to motivate and inform our Year 12 students as they prepare for their trial examinations and complete major projects.
Year 11 students are coming to the end of their courses and will sit their yearly exams at the end of this term. They can greatly benefit by developing their study routines and take advantage of the extra academic opportunities offered to support their success. Our dedicated teachers are available to answer specific questions outside of class time and can offer extra support via emails.
Study hall: senior school library, Monday to Thursday, 3.30pm – 5pm
HSC master classes presented by senior school specialists during week 3 between 4-5pm
Cornel Study Notes
Video: How to take Cornell Notes
Template: Cornell Notes
Mrs Anne Hobden
Director of Academic Challenge (K-10)
PARENT SEMINAR
DON'T PANIC! Parenting in the age of anxiety
We can’t avoid it – everyone is talking about how stressed out we are. As parents, we are not immune to it, and neither are our kids. It seems there is no end of things that young people worry about, from coping with schoolwork, to getting on with their peers, to what they are going to do beyond high school. Data from the 2021 census has just been released. Not surprising, the most common mental disorder is Australia is anxiety, with a staggering one in five females reported having an anxiety disorder in the previous 12 months. Prevalence rates for young people is double that.
The message in this seminar is . . . don’t panic! There are things we can do to minimise the impact of anxiety in the lives of our kids and to equip them to embrace the challenges of their world without excess worry. Clinical psychologist and Lakes Grammar counsellor John Burns will outline some evidence-based practices that all parents can implement to help their kids cope with the stresses of life.
About Dr John Burns
Dr John Burns has spent over 25 years helping families and children wrestle back control when life gets tricky. His professional passion is ‘heading off’ emotional and behavioural problems in young people before they can really take hold. Before coming to Lakes, he worked in a variety of roles in Sydney, including The Children’s Hospital, a large independent school, and a children’s residential care facility. He has a PhD in clinical psychology and is an Adjunct Fellow at the Department of Psychology at Macquarie University. In his spare time, he is a tragic Wests Tigers rugby league supporter.
If you would like to attend this parent seminar, please register here.
CANTEEN HELPERS NEEDED
Our junior and senior canteens always need helpers. Any parents, caregivers or grandparents are more than welcome if you can spare a day once a fortnight or once a month.
If you can spare time to help, please email canteen@lakes.nsw.edu.au
JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWS
HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL
Welcome back to Term 3 – it has been so lovely to see students back on-site. Schools are very quiet places without the vibrancy of students and staff.
Classes are back in full swing, and we have been fortunate to have both Year 4 and Year 5 attend their overnight camps to Sydney and Bathurst respectively. Many thanks to the staff for planning wonderful learning experiences for our students and taking time away from their own families to do so. Year 4 excursion to Sydney encompassed visits to the Maritime Museum, Cockatoo Island, Hyde Park Barracks, The Rocks Discovery Museum and Luna Park. It certainly sounds like a fun time was had by all. The trip to Bathurst for Year 5 included gold panning, a visit to Carcoar, a lap around Mt Panorama in the coaches and a stop in at Scenic World on the way home.
Based on feedback provided from staff, students, and parents, the Junior School lunch break will return to a 40-minute session from Monday 1 August, between 12.50pm and 1.30pm. Recess will remain 30 minutes long starting at 10.50am, with a ten-minute fruit break in the morning session.
Students continue to be strongly encouraged to wear face masks to school, should your family choose for them to do so. NSW Health is expecting the next two to three weeks to continue to be high transmission rates before we move into spring and the cold and flu season is behind us.
We were very fortunate to have had our NAIDOC Week celebrations on Wednesday morning. We heard the National Anthem sung in the Eora language as well as English and had student speakers inform us of some of the Darkinjung traditions, dress, and dwellings. Students also had the opportunity to explore some of the NAIDOC Week activities in classrooms.
Congratulations to the under 10s boys and under 13s girls Futsal teams, who travelled to the Hawkesbury on Tuesday to participate in the NSW Football Futsal School Championships. The teams improved in their skills since their last games and both teams finished third in their pools. Many thanks to Mr Lawson and Mr Herbert for facilitating this opportunity.
Mr Summers accompanied a team of eight chess players to compete in the Interschool Chess Challenge through the Sydney Academy of Chess. Zaella -Year 6 and Mac -Year 4 both achieved equal 5th individuals and our primary team placed 3rd overall and will head to the semi-finals.
I look forward to meeting some of our parents at our second K-6 Curriculum evening on Wednesday 3 August at 6.30pm in the senior school hall. If you haven’t registered already, please do so via the barcode in the image below.
Mrs Kylie McPherson
Head of Junior School
DON'T FORGET TO BOOK IN - SCAN THE CODE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE
YEAR 4 CAMP
Year 4 had a stellar visit to Sydney to explore our indigenous and first contacts history. We measured history with wool, solved a murder mystery, heard stories of our First Nations people, dressed up as convicts and held Aboriginal artefacts. We slept in convict hammocks, viewed 200-year-old dead rats, discovered isolation cells, and played historical detectives in the dirt. We rode on buses, ferries, roller coasters and ferris wheels. We ate so much and slept so little! Everyone came home more knowledgeable, a little more grown up and a lot braver.
Mrs Bronwyn Lusted
Year 4 Teacher
You can see more photos of their exciting trip to Sydney here
GETTING READY TO SING
On Wednesday 20 April, the Years 5 and 6 choir attended an all-day incursion to rehearse their songs for the upcoming IPSHA Performing Arts Festival on Thursday 8 September at Sydney Town Hall. They had a fun and productive day.
Mrs Esther Albert
Junior School Music Teacher
COCURRICULAR OPPORTUNITY
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
ACTING HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL
Term 3 is always a busy term, especially for our Year 12 students as they begin their last 10 weeks of schooling (I am being told daily not to remind them!). Students from our senior school have already been off campus representing our school in several activities including HRIS athletics, oztag and chess competitions. School tours were conducted by our Year 10 students who were fantastic ambassadors for our school as they showed new families around our school, including seeing many classes in action. Congratulations to those students, as our visitors spoke very highly of their tour guides. Year 10 ran their focus day for their passion project and were able to raise money for the Beanies for Brain Cancer organisation. The day saw lots of beanies in the senior school, including Mrs Clancy’s very colourful one! Year 10 students, with their academic care teachers, devised some fun activities including a guessing lolly competition and congratulations to Mrs Nicholls for guessing the right amount! They also organised a scavenger hunt, BBQ, and upending buckets of water on some brave volunteers (lucky the sun was shining!). Some extra money was raised when some Year 12 students nominated a larger sum of money to upend two buckets of water on the Year 10 advisor, Mr Hurst. Lots of fun and great support from Years 7-12 to make the Year 10 passion project a success.
We have just celebrated NAIDOC week including displays in the library, including a piece of artwork from our very own Miss Langley. Activities through the week have been planned and carried out by Mrs Nicholls in the library. Several of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students very capably ran our NAIDOC assembly on Wednesday and an enjoyable morning tea was held in the senior school to wrap up NAIDOC week with some indigenous parents and students, hosted by Ms Gorham and Miss Langley.
We are very excited to roll out stage 1 of our planned Schoolbox schedule this week. Please refer to your email with instructions on how to access Schoolbox and the school app. This is where you will find all the communication for your child’s activities. Students can access their timetable, activities and messages and are encouraged to look at it each morning for updates and other organisational items. We know this will be an effective way to get up-to-date information to you and we hope you find this communication tool effective and informative.
Mrs Alison MacLarty
Acting Head of Senior School
