On Monday evening, three of our Year 3 boys joined the Parent Information Zoom and positively wowed the new boys and parents with their enthusiasm, energy, and wisdom. Our boys are our product, and our product is amazing! Congratulations Ethan Gill, William Lipscombe and Harrison Luu for not only giving up your Monday evening, but for your generosity of spirit and for sharing your ‘on the ground’ experience with our new boys. Thank you!

We are running a similar event for the new Year 5 families on Thursday evening. Thank you to Harry McBride, Barnaby Walker and Mohammad Abdulghani -  I know you will be similarly impressive!

You are now in receipt of our plans for end of year events. We are just so excited to be able to welcome parents on-site for the Band Concert on Tuesday 1 December, and for Presentation Day on Wednesday 2 December. Of course, attendance will come with a number conditions, both for entry and during the event, but I have no doubt that we will all be happy to do everything it takes to be able to celebrate all of the good things that have been achieved in 2020. Further detailed information will be sent closer to the date. In the meantime, all of our fingers and toes are crossed, hoping that COVID-19 numbers remain low and restrictions remain eased.

As we come to the end of the year, we celebrate the growth of your beautiful boys and their application of the Knox Values which are such an integral element of their learning journey. Their courage at trying new things; their Wisdom and Compassion when helping a friend and showing kindness; their honesty and Integrity when they know what the right thing to do is and their growing Faith in love and kindness.

A Knox education is more than a grade. It is about developing relationships and celebrating the best person you can be. We have created a culture of joy and gratitude where our boys want to come to school and celebrate their individual achievements.

Today we commemorated Remembrance Day. The boys made a red poppy, an symbol of remembrance, to mark this occasion. It is a day to remember all the soldiers who have served and fought for our freedom.

It is a significant week, allowing us to reflect and acknowledge all that makes Australia such a wonderful country.

We are very proud of all our boys for the enthusiasm and energy they displayed when participating in the Lap-a-Thon last week. We had some very determined boys who ran, walked and jogged as many laps as they could to raise money for Headspace. A great team effort!

Junior Band registration opened last Friday with the Music Staff being blown away by the number of boys who are ready to rock and roll in 2021. Thank you to all parents for their diligence in ensuring they were online at 7am ready for positions to open - there were an incredible 47 students enrolled by 7.03am! Please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Morris if you have any further questions about this process.

The importance of quality education is a focus of our Global Changemakers unit this week with boys delving into the challenges and solutions facing inclusive education for all around the world. The stimulating questions and thought provoking discussions posed by the students throughout this unit have been incredible learning opportunities. It has been heart-warming to see the empathy and compassion displayed by our Knox boys.

With three weeks left in the term and the end of the year well and truly in sight, it is important to remind ourselves to finish well. The Year 3 students have been striving hard all year to uphold our School Values and the last few weeks of the year is the time where it is easy to relax a little and forget to do the 'little things' well. Maintaining pride in school uniform is part of this. It has been wonderful to see our boys arrive looking sharp in their blazers, caps, socks pulled up and polished shoes.

Thank you for all your support this year with The Dish food donations. A reminder that The Dish is welcoming any Christmas food items which can be left at Prep Reception on Friday mornings before 8.30am.

End of year events are fast approaching and contingency plans are in place for how these will be organised. Please keep a lookout for notifications regarding these events.

Remembrance Day
The boys reverently participated in today’s online Remembrance Service, acknowledging the sacrifice of both past and presence Australian men and women. The service was a fitting reflection on the character strengths of bravery, forgiveness, gratitude, hope, kindness, love, perspective and spirituality.

It was equally fitting that John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ formed a part of the service. Our boys have been analysing poetry and recognising tone and purpose in reading poems.

This week Year 5 celebrates NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The boys enjoyed a range of art activities, singing and some discussion in celebration of Indigenous cultures.

The Senior School Staff have asked that the Prep boys come to the Prep School prior to the day commencing in order for us to conduct health screening checks before they begin Orientation Day. The boys will need to come to the Prep at their normal time in casual clothes in order for us to conduct the health checks. We will then walk the boys over to the Senior School for a 9.30am start. At the end of the day, the Year 6 staff will pick the boys up from the Senior School and bring them back to the Prep or walk them to Wahroonga Station if they normally get the train home. If you would like your son to walk home from the Senior School or to remain there for swimming in the afternoon, please email your son’s class teacher.

Any items that are 100 days overdue will be charged to your son’s account. The 3-6 boys are able to access our Library Database System, Infiniti, from home, to check their loan records. Students will need to log in using their Knox email and password. 

Students in K-2 will be given an overdue notice at the end of Week 6.

Which camps will be running at Knox?

• Spark - Ages 7-12 years, new students. Learn the fundamentals of coding.
• Blast - Ages 8-14 years, returning students. A pure JavaScript camp.
• YouTube Creators, Ages 8-13 years, new students. Story telling and video editing.
• Animation Camp, Ages 6-10 years, new students. Create two movies from scratch using stop-motion animation.

Bookings may be made by clicking here.

Camp Summer Dates
Camp Information Flyer

Piping
The following boys participated in the piping competition:

• Cameron Bogle (Y7)
• Daniel Corbett (Y10)
• Aaron Erdstein (Y11)
• Hunter Hellen-Ford (Y10)
• Xavier Luzar (Y7)
• Gregory Onikul (Y7)
• Charlie Stammers (Y6)
• Lochlan Stevenson (Y8)
• Shiv Suresh (Y11)
• Mr Ainsley Hart

Congratulations to Shiv Suresh for placing 2nd in D Grade Air.

Snare Drumming
The following boys participated in the snare drumming competition:

• Nicholas Bull (Y7)
• Alexander Dunn (Y8)
• Lukas Dunn (Y5)
• Andrew Gladigau (Y9)
• Henry Pearce (Y7)
• Joshua Pritchard (Y11)
• Nicholas Sherlock (Y11)
• Matthew Taylor (Y11)

Congratulations to Matthew Taylor for placing 1st in both C Grade and B Grade MSR. Joshua Pritchard placed 3rd in C Grade MSR and Andrew Gladigau placed 3rd in both D Grade 2/4 and 6/8 Marches.

Tenor Drumming
The following boys participated in the tenor drumming competition:

• Oscar Atkins (Y8)
• Joel Belton (Y9)
• Thomas Hanstrum (Y7)
• Finn O’Regan (Y5)
• Justin Wong (Y5)

Congratulations to Joel Belton for placing 2nd and Oscar Atkins for placing 3rd in D Grade 2/4 March.

Congratulations to all involved. It was a very successful day.

Please register at www.knox.nsw.edu.au/pauldillon no later than Sunday 22 November.

This online presentation will look at the latest data on alcohol and other drug (AOD) use of Australian secondary school students and discuss the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on teens and socialising and what effect the pandemic lockdown may have had on teen AOD use. There are huge challenges ahead for parents as they acknowledge the importance of their sons’ socialising but, at the same time, ensure their safety by having age-appropriate rules and boundaries in place as restrictions are gradually rolled back. To assist parents through this difficult time, some simple tips around alcohol, parties and gatherings will be provided to help ensure their child's safety now and post-COVID-19.

The online parent seminar will be live-streamed, commencing at 6.30pm and running for approximately one hour.

For more information, please email Ms Elizabeth Ruff, Head of Knox Middle Academy.

The National Recycling Challenge
This week we launch the National Recycling Challenge for all year groups. The goal is to improve the use of our yellow recycling bins and the challenge is to see which stage recycles the greatest volume. There is a poster competition and all boys are invited to participate. Posters will be displayed at Year Meetings in Week 8 and a winner announced for each year group.

Wanted - items for Christmas hampers and gifts for families and children in need
Thank you to our Knox community for your continued support of families who find Christmas a particularly difficult time. For the last 13 years we have supported the following:

• Wesley Mission and Parramatta Mission through the Uniting Church Family projects will be supporting families at Christmas with basic food supplies and Christmas fare. Some examples of goods to donate include Christmas cakes, puddings, custard, serviettes, tins of ham, bon bons, long-life milk, cereal, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate.
• STARTTS helps children who would otherwise receive no Christmas gifts without our support. The social workers continually reinforce what a positive difference our donations make to these children and their parents. Christmas gifts to the value of $10 or more would be most appreciated. Please wrap and indicate the appropriate age and gender of your gift.

Donations of Rugby or Football shoes are still being sought for an outback community. We are also seeking shoes to donate to a school in the Philippines for children who would otherwise be unable to attend school. Please send in all your generous donations to the SAOs or to my office in Room 15. Thank you.

Finally, a reminder that the Social Justice club meets at 1pm each Friday in the KCC Auditorium. For more information, please email Mrs Clarke.

Year 10 student Berend (Ben) and Year 8 student Matthew, were two beautiful young men who were thriving members of the School community. Martin (OKG89) and Barbara were loving parents, caring friends and active members of the School and wider community.

The School wishes to acknowledge the generosity and vision of the Hollander family, and the cooperation and contributions of those individual and families, including Barbara’s family in the United States, who have assisted the Hollander family to fulfil their wish; and, the cooperation and support of the GO Foundation, with which the School has a strong relationship in providing opportunities for local indigenous students.

The first recipient of the Martin, Barbara, Berend, and Matthew Hollander Indigenous Scholarship will commence at Knox in 2021. A scholarship recipient has been found from our 2021 scholarship applications and we look forward to welcoming them to Knox in January.

Applications for Knox Grammar School’s Academic, Regional Boarding, Music, All Rounder and Sons of Old Boy Scholarships for 2022 will open in early November. For more information, visit www.knox.nsw.edu.au/scholarships.

On Saturday, our summer teams were up against Trinity Grammar in our toughest test so far across all codes. The sun was out and the boys put on their best performance for the summer with many wonderful wins and a few losses which is great for everyone. Best of all, our Basketballers got to play in front of a few eager Tartan Army fans and produced an amazing atmosphere which, as I said 12 months ago, may well have been the difference to winning or losing.

Each sport will go into much more detail on the school app in each sport’s respective section but in brief:

• Tennis Firsts won 7-1
• Water Polo Firsts won 11-10
• Basketball Firsts won 64-55
• 1st XI Cricket won by 7 wickets
• Volleyballers went down 0-3 – they were amazing against an incredibly gifted Trinity outfit.



Other sports in action on the day were our Sailing squads out on Pittwater, Surfers at Longreef Beach catching some quality waves, Weights boys smashing it in the Knox gym alongside some Olympian swimmers whilst our Fencing boys continue to refine their skills awaiting for some competitions to open up. Our Mountain Bikers also continue to pedal many miles up and down hills in preparation for a competitive season whilst the Squash and Table Tennis boys continue to thrive.



Such weekends don’t just come by chance or luck - the boys are extremely committed and trust our experienced coaches whilst having fun and keeping everything in perspective and striving to improve every week - win, lose or draw.

All staff in the Sports Academy love seeing your boys having fun. I hope you all enjoyed a great weekend as well. Your support makes all the difference and some of those chats in the car on the way home are critical to the boys' enjoyment of sport.

This week Knox hosts Waverley College in the Senior School whilst the Prep boys continue to enjoy the variety the IPSHA sport competition offers every weekend. It was great to hear of our recently formed Touch Footy team having a good win over St Pius X College. Their development in less then 12 months is sensational. Pius had a huge win over our boys in Term 1 and our boys turned the tables last week. Well done, boys.

Congratulations
Lachlan Swinton (OKG15) has become our 12th former student to be selected for the Wallabies. Lachlan was part of the team that defeated the All Blacks on Saturday night in Brisbane.



Have a great week! Go the Black and Blue.