A key message for all of us is to spend less time in our online communities and social media networks as both technology platforms reduce our time for actual social interaction. As Mackay writes:

“At the moment the pendulum has swung a bit too high in the direction of using social media as a substitute for face to face and good eye contact which generates feelings of empathy and connection to people. Exchanging text messages or social media posts just don’t have the same emotional force.”

So, is it worth persisting with your children about the amount of time they spend on their devices? My answer is ‘yes’. The positive effects on young people’s physical, social and academic performance make all quarrels worth it in the long run.

Our course will run on either a Tuesday or Wednesday or both mornings, starting at 7.30am, once minimum numbers are confirmed.

The Introductory seven week course includes a tub of theraputty, that is designed to improve hand muscle strength and fine motor skills. A minimum of seven students, and a maximum of ten, ensures individual attention. The course costs $300 for seven sessions of 45 minutes.

We will also run a five week refresher course for students who have participated in a seven week course previously. This course will cost $200.

Availability of places is dependent upon a first come first served basis. All students who miss out on a place in Term 4 will be placed on the waiting list for Term 1, 2021.

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

A hugely successful night, one where students and parents heard some great insights, inspiration, and advice. Thank you to our Old Boys who generously gave their time to share their knowledge and personal insights into their industry.

Video can be found here as part of the new Careers Showcase on Vimeo (password protected – ‘careers’).

Has your son outgrown his Football or Rugby boots?
We are supporting a community in the outback who have no access to any sporting equipment. They are particularly keen to receive Football or Rugby boots as most cannot play as they have no boots. Donations may be dropped to the SAOs or to Mrs Clarke’s Office. Any clean Football socks would also be appreciated.

Christmas Hampers and gifts for children
This term is a time when the Knox community generously supports families for who Christmas is a particularly difficult time. For the last 13 years we have supplied Christmas Hampers for struggling families for the Uniting Church Family projects.
Our focus this this year is for the Wesley Mission and Parramatta Mission. Both organisations aim to support families at Christmas with Basic food supplies and Christmas fare( Christmas cakes, puddings, custard, serviettes, tins of ham, bon bons, biscuits etc. as well as staple goods such as long-life milk, cereals, pasta , sauces etc.) Your support us again this year  will be most appreciated.

Christmas gifts for children to the value of $10 ( or more if you wish)
This has been a long-term project at Knox to support children from STARTTS who receive no  gifts  without our support. The social workers continually reinforce what a positive difference our donations make to these children and their parents.

Seeking shoes for children in Manila
For a number of years, the Knox community have donated school shoes and sport trainers to the British School Manila that supports many poor children who live on the edge of the city. Without shoes, they cannot attend school. The donated shoes can be school shoes, sport trainers, sandals and/or Crocs, for boys and girls. Donated shoes must be polished and clean with the shoelaces tied together, where applicable. Please drop these off to the SAOs or to Mrs Clarke (Room 15).

The Knox Social Justice Club, 1pm each Friday in the KCC Auditorium
The Knox Social Justice Club is Meeting as a group again each Friday at lunchtime, although there are still important updates in the e-Club platform.  We have been meeting in the KCC Auditorium as we can socially distance.

Encourage your son to come along as there are also opportunities for volunteering as well. If your son would like to join in, please ask him to email Helen Clarke. 

We collect a gold coin donation at each meeting to support projects for homeless young people Youth of The Streets.

Our Year 6 boys had an absolute ball at camp last week – apparently, even the food was amazing! Camping out in tents in remote locations around the property, one boy to a tent as a COVID safe measure, meant there was far more sleeping than in previous years, which the staff were thankful for. The activities were challenging and enjoyable, and the entire experience was a really lovely way for our Year 6 boys to begin their final term at the Prep School. My thanks to all of the staff who accompanied the boys, and to the Year 6 boys for their outstanding behaviour and spirit of enthusiasm and resilience with which they approached all of the experiences they had there.

COVID can’t stop our debaters! This coming Friday evening, our debating boys will be competing in a new virtual competition against schools from Australia, Asia and even Canada. We wish our boys all the best for a rigorous first debate, and for a successful competition over the next several weeks.

Tuesday was the Book Week Character Week Parade which was a marvel to behold. There were so many creative costumes and much excitement as we paraded around Ireland Field admiring the boys’ inspiring costumes.

The celebrations continue as we look forward to listening to Aura Parker speak with us about being an author. We hope to pick up some great tips as young emerging authors!

Kindergarten is so happy to be celebrating Book Week. It is a fantastic festival of reading and a great way to participate in the pleasure and treasure of books.

Thank you to all the boys who have already sent in photos of their micro-greens in a meal. We have some amazing gardeners and chefs in Year 1! If you have not done this yet there is still time to prepare a meal and send in your photos to share with the class.

We have been busy working on our Interconnected Systems inquiry task. All boys have completed their ‘Foods from Farm to Plate’ flow charts and are in the process of coding Ozobots to represent the process. The boys will then video these and we cannot wait to share them with you.

In Knoxigations, the construction phase of our Arcade Games is well underway with Year 2 boys thrilled to be presenting their games to their classmates on Friday. Students will have opportunities this week to work with the Knox Prep ICT integrators and the ScopeIT team to finalise and modify their code in order to facilitate flashing lights, scoreboards and sound effects in their games. What a wonderful learning experience this has been for students to see forces and energy in motion within real-world products. Keep an eye on Seesaw next week for a video update on the final products created by each team!

 


Knox Film Festival
We look forward to entertaining you through our Knox Film Festival online showing this Thursday! Please see the letter for further details.

Aspiring Leadership Course
Last week our Year 5 boys completed a form where they nominated for the elected positions of School Captain, Social Justice Captain and House Captain and they gave three preferences for their Year 6 Leadership Portfolios. We also began our Leadership talks with Mrs Sharon Dewar and Mrs Sue Floro, who spoke about their experiences of leadership and had some helpful advice for our boys as they embark on their own leadership journey. Please enjoy these student accounts.

As part of our Inspiring Leaders Course for students, Mrs Floro presented a speech to Year 5 about Leadership and what it means to be a leader. Mrs Floro explained that being a leader is not only making speeches on stage. It is about making choices that might take a lot of effort but will have an amazing outcome. She used an iceberg to represent leadership. With an iceberg, you can only see the very tip and most of the iceberg you can’t see. The tip of an iceberg are the outcomes of the choices you make. While the part of the iceberg below the surface of the water, is the preparation and effort you put in to have that outcome. People do not often see this and as a leader, you do not look for recognition of this. Mrs Floro also explained how our school values are closely aligned with leadership and integrity, in particular, is a key part of leadership. She said that when you are doing a good deed, you shouldn’t think about the prize you get. You should think about how your good deed influenced someone or something in a good way and when you think about that you get a good feeling inside of you. That’s what great leaders do constantly.
Chris Montana 5P

Mrs Dewar is a great leader. She told us her story about persistence, leadership and courage. She was set back as a young child because she was a girl and they thought that the girls couldn’t play soccer with the boys. She thought this was unacceptable and decided to make a change by showing them that girls can play soccer by training endlessly for years and when she was 23 years old she finally made it into the Matildas. I did not realise that she had played for Australia! She was then offered captain by the coach, which surprised her as she was quiet and shy. She accepted and she then led them to glory. We learnt about never giving up and that leaders aren’t always the loudest but being quiet and considerate of others can be valued too.
Jacob Turner 5F

This week the boys have had a wonderful time celebrating Book Week. The boys looked magnificent in their outfits on Tuesday with their favourite book characters on show. The boys also had an author visit from Tristan Bancks, who shared some knowledge with the boys about how they can become better writers. A big thank you to all the library staff for their hard work in organising such a special week for the boys.

The Knox Giving Tree
As part of our Knox Service Learning Program, we will be donating this year to St Lucy’s School. Parents can elect to donate a monetary amount via the online bookshop which will be used to purchase resources for St Lucy’s School Library.



A leaf will be added to our Giving Tree for every donation to help the boys visualise Knox Service in action.

Click on the Knox Prep Literary Day tab here to make a donation.

Introduction to Band
In Week 4 this term on Wednesday 4 November, our Prep Performance Ensemble will be performing for all of Year 2 boys. The concert is a fun and exciting concert to show the Year 2 boys all of the instruments available in Band and what they sound like! Boys will also be given information to take home in regards to the Instrumental Program from Years 3-6. If your son is interested in joining band next year, definitely email Mrs Morris. Further information in regards to 2021 ensembles will be emailed out to all parents later this term.

At this stage we are only selling seedlings to our Prep Community. If you wish to purchase some seedlings, please order here.

Once you have indicated how many seedlings you wish to order, you will need to pay through the school’s payment portal (see link at the top of this newsletter), select the ‘Prep Seedling Sale’ activity and make your payment.
After payment is made, please record your receipt number on the order form before submitting.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to sharing our progress with you.

 
On the beach our Surf Life Savers started in overcast and choppy conditions to prepare for their various awards and train for competition events coming up next term.  With the boys split into three groups there were plenty of opportunities for them to earn points towards the Life Saver of the Year, as well as the various other trophies to be awarded at the end of the season.  George Schmude (Year 9) finds himself in the Top 5 in his first week in the sport while Lochlan Stevenson (Year 8) retains the Number 1 spot even after facing the Senior boys in the Flags, Swim and Board events.  Ben Rothery (Year 11) proved his all-round dominance gaining the most points from the weekend (19) and moving up to 2nd place.  This Saturday looks to be another gloomy day with rain forecast from start to finish but hopefully the surf is calm enough to get some much-needed board practice before the SRC and Bronze Wet Assessment on Saturday 21 November.

This week the Senior School boys will be playing Barker College in many sports; this has traditionally always been a great weekend playing local friends. Our basketballers and tennis teams will be excited to play on a Friday night and start their CAS season.
Covid update – no changes around Knox venues for this weekend. 

• Two spectator parents/guardians per player at our outdoor venues
• One spectator parent/guardian per player at our indoor venues
• QR code registration will be in place across all facilities at entry points, with standard health checks and questions
• Players in all teams should turn up ready to play – no change rooms will be available
• Canteens will be closed. Players should bring their own labelled water bottles and snacks, if required
• Players should leave immediately after completion of their fixture
• Standard 1.5m social distancing on sidelines for all spectators

Any variation to this will be communicated immediately. It is really important to check the weekly draw and know the venue and school where your son is playing, then understanding the school/venue’s own protocols.

The Barker College protocols for this weekend can be found here.

If anything changes, we will be in touch and also communicate everything via the Knox app.

Good luck everyone for another wonderful weekend of sport.