What is vaping? Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) heat up a fluid using a battery-powered device, turning it into an aerosol or vapour that users inhale directly into their lungs. The fluid usually includes propylene glycol, glycerine and flavourings. Many fluids contain nicotine as well as other contaminants, which may include heavy metals. Devices can look like a cigarette, a pen or even, as mentioned, like a USB memory stick. It is illegal for anyone under 18 to purchase or use vaping fluids containing nicotine, however devices are widely available on the internet.

There is extensive research into the short and long-term negative health effects of vaping, with the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Drugs and Alcohol Surveys showing exposure to vaping and the prevalence of vaping in the community is growing.

Advice from the NHMRC states that, “e-cigarettes… may expose users to chemicals and toxins at levels that have the potential to cause health effects. These include solvents… which may form toxic or cancer-causing compounds when they vaporised.”

A key concern is that, while many vape products include chemicals and flavourings that are considered safe when eaten, this does not mean that these chemicals are safe when inhaled as a vapour directly to the lungs.

We are conscious of our role in educating our boys about the short and long term health effects of vaping.

Over the last few weeks, a number of our Senior students have spoken with the boys about the personal, peer and community impact of vaping. The presentation addressed existing legislation, health effects of vaping, pro and anti-social peer influencing and the role of mates in encouraging one another to make positive choices.

These messages from our student leaders were coupled with the School’s position regarding vaping. The boys have been informed that students are prohibited from the possession and the use of e-cigarettes or vaping products.

Messages relating to personal and community health issues prevalent in the lives of adolescents will continue to be presented to the boys through their Mentor and PDHPE lessons.

I’d encourage all parents of boys, even boys in the later years of the Prep School, to have a conversation with their son about vaping and the serious health and wellbeing impacts.

Rob, a Chartered Accountant and Principal of a boutique professional services firm, Kellaway Cridland, opened the session with a 15-minute overview of his experience; first at KPMG, then running a retail business in Westfield before setting up his own firm as a trusted accountant and advisor to the leaders and owners of a wide range of businesses.

Lex, an entrepreneur currently managing four of his own businesses including PeriscoPe Digital and Chrome Temple, is the well-known founder of SurfStitch. Combining 'passion' with career was the common theme of his presentation.

To close out the session, Mat, a second-year student studying the Accounting Co-op Course at Macquarie University, gave a brief outline of the course he is studying and shared some practical tips on what students can do now to lay solid foundations for their future careers, including making the most of the extra-curricular activities available at Knox.

All three presenters agreed on the importance of building and maintaining relationships, by taking a genuine interest in other people and keeping in contact with and nurturing networks.

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.

This ensemble is open to all percussion, woodwind and brass students that are in the developing stages of their instrument and is conducted by our Woodwind Coordinator, Ms Jo Carey. The KFWE performs a range of Wind Band repertoire, in styles including jazz, rock, march and classical genres. The KFWE is often the first ensemble our members have participated in, beginning their journey to develop the skills to combine their own playing talents with other musicians. Members of KFWE will advance into our Concert Band and Jazz programs in their coming years.

Members
• Flute: Andrew Ying (Y8)
• Clarinet: Ryan Fitzgerald (Y7), Jeffrey Liang (Y9), Ashton Tran (Y7)
• Saxophone: Lachlan Baker (Y7), Chris Kim (Y7)
• Bassoon: Felix Palstra (Y7)
• Trumpet: William Maly (Y7)
• Percussion: Yuwen Jiang (Y7), Lachlan Richards (Y8), Arjun Singh (Y7)

If you are interested in viewing the CAS results this Friday, be sure to jump on the Knox Debating Board and hit 'Results' to see how our teams have fared in every round so far!

Knox Debating Cup (KDC) registration
This term’s KDC takes place on Wednesday nights from 6pm-8pm, and you can participate from the comfort of home! If you haven’t registered yet, go to the Knox Debating Board and follow the link here.

Mock Trial
On Tuesday 11 August, our new Mock Trial team competed in their first ever Mock Trial against Marsden High School. Despite being defeated in a close decision, the Year 10 students conducted themselves excellently for their first mock trial and we can’t wait to see them continuing to gain experience throughout the season!

School shoes for the Philippines
Later in the term, we will be seeking donations of school shoes. These shoes are life changing to many poor children and importantly, allow many to attend school. More information to follow.

The Knox Social Justice Club
The Club meets each Friday at lunchtime in the WSA Auditorium. Updates are available in the e-Club platform. Please email Mrs Clarke for more information on how to join or volunteer.

We collect a gold coin donation at each meeting to support projects for Youth of the Streets.

You will have all received information about the most recent update to the NSW guidelines for schools, with respect to COVID-19 restrictions. Unfortunately, this means the end of our official winter sport season but we are playing one more internal round, to give the boys an additional opportunity to play their favourite sports. We are grateful that we managed to get a season, however brief, and are now looking ahead to the summer sport season, with training soon to begin for these sports.

Finally, a plea to all of our families. Another aspect of the abovementioned guidelines is a very strict process for dealing with children who present with cold or flu like symptoms at school. We have no choice but to call parents, and ask that the boy be collected and not return to school until all symptoms have abated. We also strongly recommend that he be tested for COVID-19, and that evidence of his negative result and a medical certificate be provided to clear him to return to school. This is not a Knox only policy. It is state-wide and we are so appreciative of parents who respond with good grace in what is, I know, a difficult situation.

Today we held our Winter Gala Sports Day, where boys had an opportunity to try a new sport. Lacrosse, flipperball and hockey were popular, as were the old favourites. This is also an opportunity for boys to earn points for their House. As I type, our boys are out on the field and in the pool having a go, trying their best, and having loads of fun!

Play is their work. It is their time to process life through imaginative actions, and to build them into emotionally stronger people. The benefits of creative play should not be discounted or minimised as it provides opportunity for:

• Greater sense of self worth
• Problem solving skills
• Personal growth and learning
• Increase in creative thought processes (creativity builds upon creativity)
• Increase in emotional stability (children use play to work through complex issues)
• Leadership abilities
• Cognitive skills
• Communication skills (as they play with other children and express themselves)

Don’t rob your son of the benefits of creative play by having him busy all the time in scheduled activities. Allow time for him to play and be a child.

Kindergarten also researched the concept of buoyancy after reading 'Who Sank the Boat?', another picture book by Pamela Allen. The boys constructed boats, testing and analysing if their vessels floated or sunk. Thinking about what happens when boats sink, the boys considered what happens to rubbish in our oceans, especially plastics and looked at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

We posed the question 'What can we do to help?' and tried to think of what actions we could undertake. Some of our ideas were: we could recycle the plastic or try to reuse it and we could not buy products made from plastic. We also looked at how other people are helping and viewed a video about Seabins, designed here in Australia that helps collect rubbish from the ocean.

It was so much fun being scientists!

To begin with the boys had to identify a problem, then come up with a solution which allowed them to recycle certain materials into a new product. All our boys came up with some amazing designs and a new repurposed product. We had bird feeders made from milk cartons, toys made from cardboard boxes, face shields for doctors made out of recycled plastic bottles and terrariums made out of soft drink bottles. Week 4 also saw Year 1 completing Mr Fox’s Minecraft task. Again, all our boys came up with some very creative houses for Mr Fox whilst considering the types of materials they used for building.

This week we celebrated Science Week. The boys participated in a variety of hands-on activities which challenged them to think about our oceans and how they provide us with food. We have created our own sustainable ocean food farms, looked at how pollution can affect our food sources and used CoSpaces to create an ocean environment. The boys are adding to their journal and reflecting on our investigations - we cannot wait to share these with you. The boys have also come up with many wonderings as a result of investigating ocean food farms and this is a perfect lead into our big idea of ‘Foods from Farms to Factories’.

There is only a couple of weeks left to complete the Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC). We are hoping all of Year 1 can complete the PRC this year. If you need any support or assistance, please contact your son’s teacher or Mrs Emma Wood.

This week, students have been involved in various Science Week activities which are focused on the theme for 2020, ‘Deep Blue: innovations for the future of our oceans’. The boys have been given the opportunity to rotate through a number of different tasks specifically related to this theme, whilst also developing their STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) skills in the process. The fun challenges presented to students have been purposefully designed with our current Knoxigations unit of inquiry in mind, ‘Rivers Sustain Life’.

Dates for the diary:
• Monday 17 August - Friday 21 August – Prep School Science Week
• Thursday 24 September – House Cross Country Carnival
• Friday 25 September – Term 3 concludes

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

The world around us
The global pandemic has made our world a little smaller as our movements are limited and what were once exciting overseas or interstate holiday plans have been replaced with adventures much closer to home. Despite this, our boys’ curiosity about the world around them grows and we can continue to nurture it. The Kids News website has some great child-appropriate articles that are also levelled based on reading ability. In addition to nightly reading of fictional texts, this resource may be useful in both building an understanding of informational texts, but also raising interesting points of discussion.

Presentation of Work
It has been pleasing to see the boys take more responsibility and pride in the presentation of their work as the year has progressed. Most recently, they are being rewarded for this with a pen licence. This licence allows them to work in pen across many of the subject areas. We would very much appreciate it if you could support your son at home by ensuring that he works in an environment that allows him to write neatly and legibly.

Premier’s Reading Challenge
All Year 5 students have now completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2020! Thank you to Mrs Emma-Kate Smith in the library for her encouragement of our boys and to our Year 5 parents for your support at home. This is an amazing feat.

Today is Gala Day and we are so excited for the boys to represent their house and compete on the day. The boys always show such wonderful enthusiasm for this event and we are sure that as leaders of the School they will show sportsmanship throughout the day.

On Thursday this week the boys will have their Winter Sports photographs. Please ensure that your son has the correct uniform ready to wear on the day.

2020 NSW Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC)
Two weeks to go! Congratulations to the boys who have completed the 2020 PRC. We have had over 650 boys complete the challenge. What a mammoth effort!

Please see the staff in the Library if you need assistance with logging on and adding books to complete the challenge. The 2020 PRC concludes on 28 August. Certificates will be distributed at the end of Term 4.

Sadly, we will no longer have Band or Choir rehearsals physically at school. We will, however, be holding all before school Band rehearsals online. The online rehearsals will be from 7.15am-8am before school to give boys enough time to then get to school. If your son lives further away from school and is attending the online rehearsals, please email Mrs Morris so that she can inform the office of those boys who may be a little late to school. If your son travels to school via public transport and cannot attend the online rehearsals, please email Mrs Morris.

Below are the links for online Zoom rehearsals. All choirs and lunchtime rehearsals will be postponed until further notice.

All String Ensembles will still be on as normal before school including Concert Strings (Monday) String Ensemble and Year 6 Ensemble (Wednesday), Prep Orchestra on Friday (with no Brass or Woodwind).

Due to there being no band rehearsals, we have also cancelled the Band Workshop on 13 September. Those parents who have already paid will be given a full refund.

We understand how important Music is in the lives of your sons and where possible, we aim to continue offering your son the best possible musical opportunities. All individual lessons at school will remain as normal. If you have any questions in regards to the above, please don’t hesitate to email Mrs Morris.


Zoom links
• Performance Ensemble - https://knox.zoom.us/j/341024055
• Senior Band - https://knox.zoom.us/j/903529940
• Intermediate Band - https://knox.zoom.us/j/477183194
• Junior Band - https://knox.zoom.us/j/232427752

Congratulations to all boys and the coaching staff on the way this team were prepared.

We also congratulate the following boys selected in CAS merit teams on the weekend:

• Rugby – Romeo Bray, Luke Tucker, Tom Goddard, Tom Morrison, James Constable
• AFL – Dom Goddard, Will Blackburn, Liam Puncher, Kale Gabila, Ed Ogilvy, Pat Bolger
• Football – Harry Eland, Massimo Forlico, Coper Stormonth, Jonathan Cole, Jordan Segreto

Our Years 7-10 parents would now be aware that CAS sport has ceased but we will continue to offer many great options for boys over the remainder of Term 3 including:

• Internal sport this weekend – draw can be found on the Knox app.
• Start of summer training from Week 6 – schedule can be found on the Knox app for Term 3 only.
• Track & Field experiences each Saturday from 29 August. This will be a lot of fun so please encourage your son to get involved.
• Summer sport trials on Saturday 19 September.

CAS Cross Country Championships
On the very familiar course of North Ryde Common, Knox contested the CAS Cross Country Championships over the weekend. The timing so close to the trials meant that attendance for the senior boys was difficult - well done to all those boys that attended the particularly short season this year. Well done to Hamish Hart coming in second place, a fantastic result. There were also some impressive results from all age groups and I’m looking forward to a substantially longer season next year when Knox is able to showcase the talent we have in Cross Country. Well done to all those boys who attended the course this season.



Prep families would also be aware that this weekend will mark the end of IPSHA winter sport on Saturday and we will then look to start up the summer program from Week 7. The School could not be more proud of all boys and the way they have conducted themselves this winter. Well done to all teams on some incredible results.

Have a great weekend everyone.