Reconnect
Term 3 has been an incredibly busy term. I encourage you and the boys to take some time to slow down, rest and reconnect as a family.

All students return to school on Tuesday 15 October in summer uniform.

Head Prefect Academics - Oliver Weeding

Head Prefect Co-Curricular - Adam Barnes

Head Prefect House - Ed Watts

Head Prefect Boarding - Jeremy Dunn

Head Prefect Faith & Spirituality - Luke Marinaki

Head Prefect Social Justice - James Gray

Head Prefect Community - Camden Watt

Head Prefect Sport - Mitch Westhuizen

Head Prefect Cadets - SUO - Finn Cameron

Head Prefect Academies, Chairman of Year 12 & Prefect Executive Secretary - Omar Khan

Academic Prefects - Jason Lin, Xavier Singarayar, Timothy Allan, Justin Kim, Adam Soonius, Daniel Lum, Will Choi

Boarding Prefects - Charlie Slack-Smith, Hamish McMaster, Glenn Hui

Faith & Spirituality Prefects - Richard Hildebrand, Will Fernandez, Micah Zhao, Nicholas Wijaya

Co-Curricular Prefects - Oskar Loofs, Will Gibson, William Papantoniou, Sivamsam Senthilvasam, Kevin Fan, Evan Gauci, Henry Barnes, James Wainwright, Tom McKernan, Nick Browne, Maxwell Evans

House Prefects - Michael O'Day, Charlie Hennessey, Dominic Singarayar, Alec Cook, Hamish Quigley, Michael Drever, Henry Daunt

Community Prefects - Mitchell Volk, Zach Zibaee, Richard Xue, Alex Stuart, Allen Chen, Henry Roberts, Toby Kellaway, Justin Nelson, William Stammers

Sport Prefects - Kale Gabila, Angus Menzies, Nicky Lake, Luke Parmenter, Will Bondy 

Social Justice Prefects - Samuel Biggs, William O'Sullivan, Cameron Mitchell, Rishikesh Deshpande, Sean Choi, Patrick Hogan

Academy Prefects - Ryan Berlee, Jack Bunce, Ian Tay, Hamish O'Reilly, Michael Yoong, Elliot Heys, Oliver Penn, Oscar Wu, Morgan Singleton, Billy Candrick

Our course will run on a Wednesday morning, starting at 7.30am, once minimum numbers are confirmed.

A minimum of seven students, and a maximum of ten, ensures individual attention. The course costs $300 for seven sessions of 45 minutes. The Introductory 7 week course includes a tub of theraputty, that is designed to improve hand muscle strength and fine motor skills. Availability of places is dependent upon a first come first served basis. All students who miss out on a place in Term 3 will be placed on the waiting list for Term 1, 2020.

Should you be interested in pursuing this option for your son, please contact Rebecca Papageorgiou in the Learning Enhancement Department.

Social Justice Award
Congratulations to James Gray who was honoured by the NSW Governor Margaret Joan Beazley, AO, QC last Friday for his committed action for Social Justice. James was one of 25 students from around NSW who received this Service/Social Justice award.

Just Parents - Thank you!
Thank you to the parents who have supported Social Justice initiatives this term. The baking, packing and spreading the network of help is most appreciated and I look forward to further support as we move into our Christmas initiatives – the hamper drive and the Christmas gifts for STARTTS and contributions to toiletries etc for The House of Welcome.

If any parent is interested in being part of Just Parents, please email Helen Clarke. We aim to have the role as hands-on and interactive, as we provide supplementary support in the community for both parents and our boys.

Shoes for the Philippines – Don’t throw out good school shoes!
We will be restarting the shoe collection to help needy children in The Philippines in Term 4. Please have a look at home over the holidays to see if you have any shoes that are still in good condition that you can donate. These can be school shoes, sports shoes (runners/football boots), sandals or crocs both for boys and girls. These shoes really make a difference to many poor children and importantly, allow many to attend school. Andrew O’Brien (Y9) and I are coordinating this initative. Please send donations to the SAOs in Room 19 or Helen Clarke’s office in Room 15.

The Justice Conference - an open invitation to Year 11 students
The Justice Conference is on 15-16 November in Melbourne. Boys will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in big world issues such as poverty, human trafficking, Aboriginal reconciliation issues, the ethics of aid funding and impact of gender inequality in the developing world. We stay in a local hotel and the boys participate in a number of workshops throughout the conference. Expressions of interest to Helen Clarke.

Social Justice Club
The Social Justice Club meets each Friday at lunch time in room KCC101 and nearby classrooms. The Club is both social and proactive for all boys who want to serve others and make a difference. There are opportunities to participate in outback and overseas immersions as well as many school and community based activities. This is important work that leads to important social change and transforms the lives of others in need. For our Social Justice boys, this provides many opportunities for leadership and advocacy.

National Recycling Week
Over the past two years we have developed a student-led recycling and sustainability program. The boys are passionate about furthering commitment to this program. We are working towards a week of recycling events for National Recycling Week.

Speak to your son about the importance of recycling and being mindful of reducing individual waste.

We will be adding to the committee, so please encourage your son to contact Helen Clarke to join the Recycling Committee.

To qualify, upfront full year payments must be made for a minimum of one year and the payments must be made by 31 October in the year before your payment program begins. Payments will only be accepted by direct funds transfer or cheque (credit card or Bpay payments are not permitted for this program).

Details of the Fees in Advance Program can be found here on the Knox website. Alternatively, you might like to discuss this in confidence with Betty Fowler from the School’s Accounts Department on 9487 0442.

Congratulations to Chester Swaffer and Maks Saravanja for their outstanding performances last Thursday night at the CAS Track and Field Championships. It is a mammoth ask for two Prep boys to represent the School on this significant stage, but to perform as well as they did is a testament to their confidence in their abilities and their training and preparation. Congratulations boys – I look forward to hearing more great things of you in the years ahead!

Congratulations to all of the boys who performed at Knox Factor on Monday. It was such a celebration of not only our boys' talents but also their courage. A truly fabulous afternoon of comedy, music and magic!

The Band Tour leaves on Friday morning for three days of performing in Lithgow, Dubbo and Bathurst. We know these boys will represent us well and will impress all who come along to hear them play. My thanks to the Music Team for all of the preparation and planning that has been done in the lead-up to this event.

Finally, may I wish you all a restful break – our boys are tired and are all looking forward to some down time. I look forward to seeing you refreshed and renewed and ready to tackle all that is ahead in Term 4.

Studies have shown that sport has psychological benefits for all children, teaching them important life skills. Development from sport goes beyond learning new physical skills. Sport helps children develop better ways to cope with the highs and lows of life.

When they’re playing sport, children learn to lose. Being a good loser takes maturity and practice. Losing teaches children to bounce back from disappointment, cope with unpleasant experiences and is an important part of becoming resilient.

Playing sport helps children learn to control their emotions and channel negative feelings in a positive way. It also helps children to develop patience and understand that it can take a lot of practice to improve both their physical skills and what they do in school.

Enjoy a fabulous holiday and the break from routines.

The Kindergarten boys have had many wonderful opportunities to explore and participate in special events this term such as 100 Days of School, Fathers' Day Breakfast, Mini Rugby World Cup, Book Week Parade and vists from authors. They also showcased their shelters in our Celebration of Learning, presented at the end of term Chapel Service and shared in the Year 12 students' Back to the Prep Assembly. Not only has it been exciting, it has been enriching and fulfilling, and to be honest, a little bit exhausting! So on that note, allow your son to rest and relax these holidays - lounge about, read books, cook, make things, play outside and get dirty.

We would like to congratulate Kindergarten on another outstanding term of dedication and application in their journey of being a responsible learner and Knox boy. Thank you, parents, for your continued support and we wish you all a restorative break and safe travels. We look forward to seeing everyone return, fresh-faced and ready for an exhilarating Term 4.

As part of our Knoxigations, Year 1 will be promoting and running a ‘Day without Speech at Knox Grammar School’. This day will be on Monday 28 October and students from Kindergarten to Year 6 will participate in the event.

What is Day Without Speech?

Day Without Speech is a fundraising challenge where students give up talking for part of the day to experience what it is like to have a communication difficulty, while also raising funds that will support the development of professional speech therapy in Cambodia.

All funds raised from Day Without Speech support the important work of OIC Cambodia who are working hard to create better futures for thousands of children affected by speech and communication disabilities who are unable to go to school or participate with their peers.
Why is this important?

This cause is important because we live in a world where there are endless ways to communicate and connect. We use our body language, written words, pictures and most of all, we use our voices.

However, what if, through no choice of your own, you couldn’t use your voice? How would you feel? And what difference would this make to how you live your life?

For many of us being able to speak is something we take for granted, and we don’t really understand the difficulties that we would face if we could no longer use our voice. Yet, this is a reality that children who have speech and communication difficulties face everyday.

Day Without Speech offers pupils the opportunity to place themselves in this position, and experience how it feels to be without a voice, just for one day, or a duration they choose. It's a challenge that many have found hard, but ultimately rewarding, and fulfilling as all funds raised go to support the work of OIC Cambodia.

Having stressed the importance of the partnership between home and school all year, it was only fitting that Parent/Teacher Interview Evening was held early in Term 3 in order to reinforce this crucial connection. Only a few short weeks later, the Year 3 classrooms were open to all parents and guardians who joined in our student ‘Celebration of Learning’, as the boys shared their knowledge of key skills and concepts related to the Knoxigations inquiry unit, ‘Sustainable Solutions’.

All students were also given the opportunity to participate in two fantastic excursions to the Powerhouse Museum and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, both of which supported the learning taking place inside classrooms across various key subjects. These days allowed students to deepen their own knowledge and understanding of the units of work being taught, whilst also providing a range of hands-on learning experiences which would otherwise not be possible.

Service Learning is an important feature of what it means to be a Knox Prep boy, as students discover the importance of putting the interests of others  before their own, whilst acting with a sense of awareness and empathy for those members of the community who are in much greater need. This was clearly highlighted by the continued contributions made by all boys towards our own Year 3 initiative, The Dish. Students also knowingly supported Jeans For Genes Day in order to raise important funding for the 1 in 20 Australian children who are born with a birth defect or genetic disease.

Finally, for many of the Year 3 students, our annual Book Week and Science Week festivities were obvious highlights of the term. The boys eagerly participated in a wide range of activities in order to recognise these two fun-filled events on the school calendar, celebrating the importance of each with enthusiasm and engagement. From challenging practical experiments to outrageous costume choices, it was truly wonderful to see students embrace these opportunities, proudly upholding the Prep School’s unofficial motto, ‘have a go’.

Dates for the diary
• Friday 27 September - Term 3 concludes
• Tuesday 15 October - Term 4 commences

If you have any queries with upcoming events, please do not hesitate to contact your son’s classroom teacher or Mr Glenn Stephenson.

The Year 3 team would like to wish all of the boys, parents and extended family a safe and enjoyable holiday break before we eagerly commence the final term of the school year in Term 4.

This term we have been experimenting with new features in expositions. The boys have really taken this in their stride and the Year 4 team is excited by a lot of their writing. We want to motivate the boys to always show courage in their learning; our experience suggests that sometimes they can revert back to what they did last year in writing assessments, but we want them to show and celebrate what they’ve learnt this year, which only adds to what they’ve learnt in previous years!

We can’t wait to share your son’s writing with you.

Happy Holidays!
The Year 4 team would like to extend our thanks for your ongoing support throughout the term. We look forward to seeing the boys return refreshed and recharged for what will be a busy final term.

Congratulations to all the boys on their excellent behaviour at our Grandparents' Day celebration last Thursday. It was fantastic to see how enthusiastically the boys led their special guests on a tour around the School and shared with them the work they have completed throughout the year. The musical talent on the display was also exceptional with outstanding performances from the Year 6 cohort, Jazz Band, Year 6 String Ensemble and the Pipe Band during lunch time. A big thank you to all the staff who assisted throughout the day. I hope the grandparents and special guests enjoyed the day as much as the Year 6 staff and students did. The boys definitely enjoyed having their special guests with them at school for the day.

On behalf of all the Year 6 staff, I would like to wish the boys a very safe and happy holiday break. We look forward to seeing them all back and ready to go for their last term in the Prep School. Have a great holiday and stay safe!

Are they in ‘gently used’ condition?
Then, you’re in luck...

The Year 6 Library leaders will be hosting a ‘Book Swap’ at lunchtime on Tuesday 29 October (Week 3).

All funds raised will benefit the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), which aims to increase literacy levels and develop a life-long love of reading, providing books written in both indigenous languages and English.

You can start to bring to the Library either one, two or three books to swap, along with your diary, so that we can record how many books you have donated. Your diary will be stamped with one stamp representing one book.

3-6 Book Swap
When: Tuesday 29 October, 1pm-1.40pm
Where: 3-6 Library
Cost: Gold coin donation

Scholastic Book Club

The closing date of the latest Scholastic Book Club is October 25. No cash or order forms are to be returned to school. Please order online using the LOOP payment system.

Dates for Term 4

WEEK 1
• Thursday 17 October, 6pm-7pm. Instrumental Concert Series - Woodwind

WEEK 2
• Monday 21 October, 6pm-7pm. Instrumental Concert Series - Piano

WEEK 3
• Monday 28 October, 6pm-7pm. Knox Instrumental Concert Series - Trumpet
• Thursday 31 October, 6pm-7pm. Knox Instrumental Concert Series - Lower Brass

WEEK 4
• Tuesday 5 November, 7.30am-9am. Year 2 Band Introduction involving Performance Ensemble

WEEK 5
• Tuesday 12 November, 4.30pm-7.30pm. Knox Band Festival in Senior School involving Performance Ensemble 1
• Friday 5 November, 4pm-8pm. Christmas Markets involving boys in choirs and Year 6 String Ensemble

WEEK 6
• Thursday 21 November, 6pm-7pm. End of Year Choir Concert involving all choirs.

WEEK 7
• Monday 2 December, 6pm-7pm. Instrumental Concert Series - Piano

WEEK 8
• Tuesday 3 December, 5pm-7pm. End of Year Band Concert involving all bands
• Wednesday 4 December, 8.30am-11.30am. Years 3-6 Presentation Day rehearsal
• Wednesday 4 December, 1.30pm-3pm. Years 3-6 Final Day Assembly
• Thursday 5 December. Presentation Day

Private Instrumental Lesssons
There are still a few vacancies for all instrumental/voice lessons with our talented tutors in the Prep School. If your son is interested, please email Miss Morris.

Note: if your son is already learning an instrument at school and he cannot attend his lesson for whatever reason, 24hrs notice must be given to the tutor directly or you will be charged for the lesson. Please do not assume that because something is in the calendar (which means your son cannot attend his lesson) that your tutor will know about it. It is the responsibility of the parent to always inform the tutor of any absences.

When donating, a gold coin donation would be greatly appreciated to help fund shipping.

Thank you to Connie Hansen and Shoaleh Baktashi for organising the Parent Trivia Night a couple of weekends ago. Everyone had a wonderful evening.

Among the many highlights include the two boys that represented the Prep School and were simply amazing. Chester Swaffer and Maks Saravanja performed remarkably well and we are all really excited about the future of this Knox Track & Field team. Well done everyone. A more comprehensive report can be found on the School App.

Well done to all boys that participated in the Summer Sport trials last weekend - from the sound of leather hitting willow by our cricketers on Gillespie Fields, to our boys working hard in the Water Polo pool, and to our basketballers playing against Oakhill - it was a great day and it appears we are in for a great summer ahead.

An important reminder - no sport this weekend.

Prep School news
Spring Challenge AFL Cup: over the past three Fridays, we have had four Prep teams play in the NSWAFL Spring Challenge Cup. For some of our boys this was their first experience at playing the game which they thoroughly enjoyed. It was great to see the improvement in their skills and game sense over the time.

Woolworths Cricket Blast: on Monday, our Years 3 and 4 cricketers played in the Woolworths Cricket Blast held at Koola Park. It was a fun day of Cricket with our Knox Stars, Knox Thunder, Knox Renegades and Knox Sixers being challenged by Wahroonga Fire, Redfield Tigers, Waitara Scorchers and Hurricanes in their limited over games. The Knox Sixers went through undefeated.

Summer Sport
A reminder that all summer sport trainings commence in the first week back next term. Please ensure that you have subscribed to your son’s sport on the Knox Grammar School app as this is where you will find training schedules, fixtures and any messages. eg: Cricket - subscribe Prep Cricket.

Fixtures
The game fixtures will be posted on your son’s sports group during the holidays.

Have a great holiday break -; and please don’t forget to consider and take up one of the many opportunities at the School over the break. There are Cricket camps, Tennis tournaments, and sessions for Basketball and Water Polo – just to name a few. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to email the Sports Department.

Go the Black and Blue!