Headmaster's Column
Mr Scott James
An article was recently published in the Sydney Morning Herald titled ‘Buttrose says Millennials lack resilience, need hugging.’
The ABC chair was asked to reflect on what makes a good leader, and while she criticised the current political leaders, she said the biggest change and challenge was the makeup of the current workforce – in particular, Millennials. “Younger workers lack resilience and ‘almost need hugging’ for regular reassurance.” Whether you agree with the comments, studies have supported the view that resilience in young Australians is in decline.
Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity. It is a necessary skill for coping with the ups and downs of life and one of the key ingredients of success. It is directly related to wellbeing; it is about having the ability to cope with and adapt to new situations. Being resilient and positive, with a sense of wellbeing, enables a person to approach other people and situations with confidence and optimism. This mindset is especially important for students given the enormous changes and challenges they are facing now, and of course, in the future.
Senior School News
School News
2020 Non-Government School Census
Knox Grammar School provides student and staff information annually to the Australian Government, via the Non-Government School Census, assisting the government in calculating and distributing funding to all Australian schools.
Knox Uniform Shop
All students will be expected to wear their summer uniform on the first day of Term 4.
Please be aware that due to social distancing measures, we only have two changing rooms available at the Uniform Shop and we are also in the process of sizing Year 8 Cadets. To avoid long waiting times, we would advise checking your son’s summer uniform now and, if you require new uniform, please order early. Alternatively if you know their new size, orders can be placed on Flexischools.
Prep School News
From the Head of the Preparatory School
Mrs Sue Floro
100 days – that is how long our gorgeous Kindy boys have been at School, and what a 100 days it has been; it is certainly like no other first 100 days at school that others at Prep have experienced. Despite the hurdles these fine young men have faced (if you thought remote learning was hard for your son, imagine how hard it was for these boys who had been at school for just a few short weeks!), they are strong, resilient and loving their life at Knox Prep. Congratulations to our youngest Prep boys – may there be many more hundreds of days of fun and learning for you at Prep!
Kindergarten News
Mrs Mary Mae Burton, Kindergarten Team Leader
On Monday, Kindergarten celebrated ‘100 Days of School’ and there was plenty to celebrate! It has been with delight and pride that the teachers have witnessed the boys settle into Knox school life, filled with curiosity and wonder, participating to their fullest, to learn so many new and exciting concepts.
Year 1 News
Miss Nadine Smith, Year 1 Team Leader
We would like to thank all our Year 1 parents for making the time to meet with us for Parent/Teacher interviews this week. This was a great opportunity for us to have the time to share with you your son’s achievements and celebrate his successes so far this year. It was also an opportunity for us to work together as a team to set some goals for the remainder of the year. We feel very lucky to have the support and enthusiasm from our Year 1 parent community as we work together in partnership as part of your son's Year 1 journey.
Year 2 News
Miss Sarah Beaumont-Jones, Year 2 Team Leader
Another busy week in Knoxigations, with boys continuing to develop and modify their sustainable solution to single use food packaging. I encourage you to speak with your son about his prototype and reasoning for designing the product.
Year 3 News
Mr Glenn Stephenson, Year 3 Team Leader
On behalf of the Year 3 team, I would like to thank the many parents/guardians for their online attendance during the Parent/Teacher interviews held yesterday. Despite the change in format, the interviews presented a valuable opportunity to discuss your son’s overall progress and goals for the remainder of Semester 2. For those parents who were unable to attend, if you would like to see your son’s classroom teacher please make an appointment for a mutually agreeable time to do so.
Year 4 News
Mr Jared Rastall, Year 4 Team Leader
Persuasive Writing
This term we are focusing on persuasive writing. ‘Persuading’ involves moving someone to act whilst ‘convincing’ simply means moving someone to agree. No doubt you have experienced the ‘convincing’ arguments of your son before, but it is that call to action that is essential to the argument. Critical thinking is an essential aspect of persuasive writing and so we encourage you to engage with your son through questions such as, ‘Well, what should we do?’ supported by ‘Why should we do it?’ when considering problems, scenarios or events within our world and even our families. We encourage our boys to think of at least three arguments (reasons) when producing a persuasive piece of work.
Year 5 News
Mrs Tammy Paterson, Year 5 Team Leader
This week our Year 5 boys continue their inquiry into how gold changed Australia. The boys discover inequity through the different perspectives of life on the goldfields. Next week, the boys will create an E-book as a culmination of the different perspectives we have learnt about in this unit. Identity continues to be a focus through our novel ‘Wonder’ for the boys in our core classes and ‘Yong – The Journey of an Unworthy Son’ in 5P and 5F. We continue to explore how the Australian identity is expressed through poetry and how we can utilise a poetry recital to tell a story.
Year 6 News
Mr Liam Flanagan, Year 6 Team Leader
The boys have continued their excellent start this term and should be commended on the effort they have shown. Over the next two weeks, the boys will be completing their end of unit task for their 'Stories of the World and its People' unit. Throughout this process the boys will focus on one particular human rights activist who they have learned about throughout this unit. The boys will then write a biography on this particular person and use CoSpaces to recreate a pivotal moment in this person’s life. We are looking forward to some of the wonderful work the boys will produce as a part of this process.
K-2 Literacy Centre and 3-6 Library
Mrs Emma-Kate Smith and Mrs Jo Wheatley
COVID-19 resource for children
World Book Online eBook have published a new book for children called 'COVID-19: What can Kids Do?' It is available on the eBook platform in the Health & Human Body category. Students will need to visit the Knox Prep Library Page to access this resource.
Sports News
From the Head of Knox Sports and Aquatic Academy
Mr Martin Haywood
I hope everyone has had a chance to discuss summer sport choices with their son over the last few days. Boys have been asked to complete their registration by next week and we ask that the choice is made carefully as it impacts on the number of teams and coaches we organise and commit to various competitions. One of the many benefits of sport is teaching the boys about commitment – so we rarely allow boys to change sports after our deadline of Friday 14 August. Your help with this is greatly appreciated.
This coming week, the School is celebrating NAIDOC Week and sport will play its part to promote this important event. A smoking ceremony on Friday morning will commence the round with our 1sts teams to be presented with a special Indigenous designed jersey that they will wear on Saturday against Waverley College.
Text for the Week
So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
2 Thessalonians 5:12