However, the best times for us as educators is when our campus is alive, students are all here, sport and co-curricular is in full swing and the hustle and bustle of school life, with all its face-to-face interactions, takes centre stage. Grounds and buildings are meaningless without people and the School is lucky to have a community of staff and students who make Knox alive and vibrant. We look forward to welcoming back our community when the School is safe and practicable.

At the forefront of my mind is the disruption experienced by our students, and in particular, our Year 12 boys. There are many experiences and opportunities that are now on hold or have been cancelled. I feel for our Year 12 boys for whom these changes are yet another challenge to manage; rest assured, we continue to work with and support all our students. Like all challenging times, this too will pass; there will be other opportunities ahead, some of which we are working on now.

Psychology Support
Please keep in mind that it is very normal for a young person to feel uncertain or overwhelmed during times of uncertainty, such as these. Whatever your child’s reaction, it will be important for many to stay in touch with friends, continue doing things that they enjoy, stay healthy, prioritise sleep and keep up some exercise.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all parents that during usual school hours, students have the support of the Knox Wellbeing Centre available, should a student or parent wish to talk to someone about how they are feeling and coping.

The Psychologist Team are now able to provide online counselling services via Google Meet or Zoom for students as needed. For an appointment to speak with a member of the counselling team - Knox Prep please contact Mr Peter Voysey on +61 2 9472 9372 or email him; Senior School and Wahroonga Prep call +61 2 9119 0828 or email reception.

Tips for Parents
It is very important to remember that children look to adults for guidance on how to react to stressful events. Teaching children positive preventative measures, talking with them about their fears, and giving them a sense of some control over their risk of infection can help reduce anxiety.

Term 2
At this stage, we don’t know exactly what Term 2 will look like for Knox. It’s fair to say that the information provided to the School indicates we may be continuing with online learning, but we will continue to heed the advice of relevant health agencies.

In conclusion
The world is filled with worry … we worry about our families and loved ones. The current global health crisis will undoubtedly test our principles, values and shared humanity. As we approach the season of Lent, we prepare for the Easter experience; a special celebration of peace, joy, love and hope.

This is what Easter is about; bringing focus and meaning to this world and encouraging communities to work together for the common good and empowering people to participate in protecting health.

In our community, the past few weeks have seen many changes to school routine, including cancellation of events and activities that are part of Knox life. The flexibility of students in adapting to changes has been impressive, and I am so grateful for the strength, resilience and hope that they have shown, and no doubt will continue to show, during this period.

On behalf of the School, I look forward to returning to the pleasure of an energetic campus as soon as we are able to.

Consider joining your local library, if you haven’t already, for access to more great online options for reading newspapers, magazines, ebooks and audiobooks.

Another great service is through the Audible website, where anyone, in any country, can enjoy unlimited streaming of hundreds of titles for kids and families for free. Listeners can access the site from a variety of devices and enjoy selections in six languages – English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese. There’s no login and no need to be an Audible member.

I hope these suggestions might prove useful in the coming weeks.

The Knox Social Justice Club - Help needed. Our work has just begun!
We had our first online meeting last Friday and the boys’ response and enthusiasm was overwhelmingly positive. We are working on some community engagement at this time which will include:
• Helping the elderly in aged care facilities via Zoom chats, shared movie gatherings and discussions
• Helping with some outdoor support for those who are vulnerable and isolated such as Meals on Wheels etc.

There will be service opportunities supported by the School and you will also have the opportunity to work on a project (with some help and supervision from one of your parents) following the completion of a Volunteer form. Note that online protocols of respectful relationships and language etc apply as per the school requirements to be part of the Knox Social Justice Club 2020.

Parents for Justice - Help your son maintain his service commitments
We have a group of parents who support our Social Justice initiatives. More than ever, we need to extend this support to all parents to help our boys give support to the isolated elderly in our community. For some of these tasks, the boys will need support from their parents. For example, if your son is completing the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and needs to increase his service hours, he may wish to consider helping others as part of the Knox Social Justice program.

Regional and boarding parents are encouraged to contact me as well as we have a number of organisations who need support in these areas too. Please email Helen Clarke for more information.

I wish you a Happy Easter and please be safe, keep in touch and stay well at this time.

This sense of community has been reflected in a group of boys making cards for the elderly who live in aged care facilities and who are allowed fewer visitors; it is reflected in boys helping other boys, and teachers, when things go wrong ... and of course many things have gone wrong! It is reflected in the joy of connection when teachers and boys connect each morning and share time together.

It’s not perfect! In fact, it will never be perfect, and for many it has been really hard. Our commitment to you, and to our boys, though, is that we will put your sons’ total fitness at the forefront of the decisions we make about what school looks like and feel like until we are back together onsite. We are grateful for the overwhelming messages of encouragement and support that we have received. We are also grateful to the parents who have reached out with queries and issues, as we’ve been able to work with them to solve challenges as they arise. Please do continue to keep in close contact with us.

I can also say with certainty, that I have never worked with a more committed and loyal team, who are so willing to do whatever it takes to stay connected to their classes. We are just so proud of the efforts of our boys, as they have worked hard to adapt to learning COVID style! As our families head into the Easter break, the staff are working to adjust and improve aspects of this new normal, to serve our boys’ needs even more effectively in Term 2. We look forward to welcoming the boys to Term 2 in whatever form that might be!

1. Take love and patience and mix thoroughly with faith.
2. Blend it with tenderness, understanding and add hope.
3. Sprinkle abundantly with laughter.
4. Bake this in the sunshine with fresh air.
5. Sprinkle with kindness.
6. Repeat

Special instructions: Take care to listen to your children and hug them everyday.

A community:
• Helps people.
• Loves and cares for each other.
• Shares and is kind to one another.
• Has people living together.
• Gathers together, talks together, plays sport together.
• Works together, using team work.
• Helps others when in trouble.

We have also started thinking about who helps us, how they help us and what equipment and tools they need.

As we navigate online learning, the boys are engaged and enjoying finding out about the many different roles of workers in communities.

We would also like to thank our Kindergarten community who have worked together to assist, guide, nurture and model to our boys the true value of community.

We wish you all a safe and restful Easter break.

When reflecting on the first term some of the boys answers included:
• Meeting my new teacher and having her care about me every day.
• Playing with my friends.
• Jumping in puddles with my class and getting soaking wet.
• Making a celebration up that made people happy.
• Making my Mum and Dad proud every day.
• Getting a rainbow brain and learning new things every day.
• Loving everything I do at school because it’s fun and I get to be with my teacher.
• Being kind to everyone.
• Learning how to be at school from home.
• Using technology to speak to and learn from my friends every day.

The Year 1 team wishes everyone a safe and happy Term 1 school holidays. We cannot wait to see your bubbly faces in Term 2.

The end of the term is fast approaching. On behalf of the Year 2 teachers we would like to thank all Year 2 families on their support and encouragement of the boys with their online learning. We wish everyone a safe and happy holidays - even if that may be inside. We look forward to seeing the boys next term.

The 2020 Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) recently commenced and students have now received their particular login details for this challenge. All Year 3 boys are expected to participate in this important initiative which aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and to enable students to experience quality literature. Students are reminded to ensure they log on to the 2020 PRC website in order to record the books they read and ultimately reach their target goal prior to the conclusion of the Challenge on 28 August 2020.

As the final week of Term 1 draws to an earlier close than normal, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect upon the many experiences the Year 3 boys have had the privilege of participating in throughout what has been a very busy, sometimes unusual, yet extremely rewarding past ten weeks.

From our exciting Camp adventure at Point Wolstoncroft, to the informative Global Commemorations presentations; not to mention the extraordinary range of diverse teaching and learning opportunities conducted both within and outside of the classroom, all boys can consider themselves truly lucky to be a part of the Prep School. The Year 3 teachers can only hope that the boys have enjoyed themselves this term as much as they have loved being a part of your son’s daily education.

Dates for the diary:
• Friday 3 April - Term 1 concludes
• Tuesday 28 April - Term 2 commences

The Year 3 team would like to wish all the boys, parents and extended family a safe and happy holiday break and we look forward to hearing about the many stories of fun and relaxation it is hoped everyone will be able to enjoy over the next few weeks.

Just Dance!
Yesterday, the Year 4 team and students practised their dance moves and worked up a sweat to some Just Dance clips. It was wonderful to share some time having a laugh, showcasing terrible dance moves and keeping physically active. Maybe you could try it as a family?

Premier’s Reading Challenge
In a discussion with some Year 4 boys on the purpose of reading, many felt that it was simply to ‘improve vocabulary’, ‘learn something new’ or to ‘sound better when reading aloud’. We know that reading is so much more. The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) aims to encourage ‘reading for leisure and pleasure’ and to enable young people to experience quality literature.

We encourage all boys to participate in the PRC. The greatest thing about the challenge is that it is attainable for all boys regardless of reading ability because the range of books is so broad. Please log in with your son when he has completed a book so that he can enjoy that sense of accomplishment. Most excitingly is that many of the books on the list are part of the Accelerated Reader program.

The Challenge concludes on 28 August and we will be working hard at school to encourage and motivate the boys to get involved. Please assist us in this regard and better yet, we invite you to model good reading habits as we know that the boys look up to you. Reading is a wonderful way for our boys to have high quality down time.

Interconnected Systems
We have commenced our second Knoxigations unit, ‘Colonisation: Impact, Change, Opportunity’ within the Interconnected Systems domain. For more information, please visit the Year 4 page on the Knox portal.

NAPLAN
I have had a few queries in regards to Year 5 NAPLAN. I can confirm that NAPLAN exams will be cancelled this year due to the disruptions to school caused by the coronavirus pandemic. As a Year 5 team, we are not concerned by this, as we obtain much rich data throughout the year on a daily basis that informs us about what our boys have mastered and what they are ready to learn next.

Online Learning
This week, we reduced the number of tasks in the online learning platform and created more live lessons. This is because it is important that our boys feel connected to school, our staff and each other. Zoom has been a welcome change, where we can now utilise break out rooms where our boys can work in small groups to complete a collaborative task. Based on your vital feedback, we have also created tasks and more opportunities that involved our boys being off their screens. We are looking forward to seeing what the boys produce for their Rainforest model. This task is quite open as we do not want to limit the possibilities.

Learning has changed so much in the last two weeks. The staff are excited by all they have learnt and are inspired to continue to provide a positive and effective learning experience for your sons. The Year 5 team would like to thank you for working with us at this time. We understand that we are asking a lot of you and of the boys, and we are really enjoying the collaborative approach between home and school where we are working closer together than ever before. We cannot tell how how much your emails of gratitude have kept us going. Thank you so much.

We are very conscious of your sons spending a lot of time online at the moment and we do encourage them to spend some time outside where they can and to also give them some 'brain breaks' throughout the day. Teachers may also give the boys small challenges or tasks to do outside of their normal school timetable to ensure that they remain mentally fresh as they take on the day.

We hope the boys do enjoy their holiday period and manage to get some down time in this tumultuous period. If there is anything that we, as staff, can do to support you throughout this period with your sons completing home learning please always get in touch. Thank you again for your support over the last two weeks.

The boys have now started their second Inquiry Unit on 'Interconnected Systems'. This unit focuses on government systems around the world and begins with a focus on Australia’s political system. We are very much looking forward to teaching this unit of inquiry and we encourage you to have open discussions with your sons about the political landscape in Australia.

David Walliams is releasing an audio story every day, for the next 30 days, free of charge! He is the New York Times bestselling author of 'Demon Dentist', 'The Midnight Gang', and 'Grandpa's Great Escape'. His novels have sold over eighteen million copies worldwide and have been translated into over fifty-three languages!

Visit his webpage to listen. 

Private Music lessons online
I am pleased to advise that private Music lessons may also continue through the Zoom platform or Google Meet, which both tutors and boys have been using. Tutors will be in touch via email with the normal weekly ROTA and your son can have a lesson via these online platforms from home at their set time. Please note that some tutors are also happy to give lessons throughout the holidays to keep up momentum and give the boys something to work towards each week and focus on, whilst stuck at home!

If you have any questions in regards to your son's lesson or setting up Zoom, please email Ms Morris or your son's tutor.

Stay connected online and keep practising boys! Music is food for the soul and will definitely help us get through these tough times!