Mr Scott James

It has been a truly exciting and momentous time for our School over the last few days, with the move to wholly remote learning for all of our students.

I’m absolutely in awe of the incredible boys and the way they have adapted to and embraced this new way of learning. We are so grateful to our wonderful teachers who have been agile and true professionals, putting in so many extra hours over the last few weeks to build and expand our online capabilities.

I’m pleased to share a short video update with you.

 Once again, thanks to each of you and the students for your commitment to the School and our community at this challenging time for all of us.

Mrs Helen Clarke, Head of Diversity, Justice and Stewardship

Shoes for the Philippines
Thank you to the many families who have contributed old school shoes, joggers and football boots to this important appeal. The shoes are sent to the British School in Manila where they are sorted and distributed to various needy groups.  One of these is the PCF School in Tondo, which is a school set up by a UK charity to school the poorest families who live around the rubbish dumps in this area.  https://www.p-c-f.org/about-pcf/ 

Soccer boots went to needy soccer clubs in Manila, school shoes to the Fair Play Foundation and crocs and runners to very poor children in the Dumagat tribes who live in the rainforests outside Manila.  

The whole school response has been marvellous and we have 6 full shipping boxes (each with about 90- 100 pairs of shoes in each box) See the photo below - the O'Brien family helped pack the shoes last Friday afternoon.

Year 7 Week 8 Term 1 2020

Year 8 Week 8 Term 1 2020

Year 9 Week 8 Term 1 2020

Year 10 Week 8 Term 1 2020

Year 11 Week 8 Term 1 2020

Year 12 Week 8 Term 1 2020

The School is greatly appreciative of the support and effort demonstrated by students, parents and staff in getting the School up and running in the online environment.  If you would like to offer any feedback please click here.

Mrs Sue Floro

What a week! We have launched into full online learning this week and what an adventure it has been. At the parent information nights earlier this term, I showed a slide of a cartoon depicting a smooth ride from the Starting Line to the Finishing Line, and another version that was less than smooth…tornadoes, gullies, giant ferocious bears…I think this week has been a combination of both plans, to be honest!

There has certainly been more good than bad – more positivity than negativity; but for us all (boys, staff and parents), it has been a very steep learning curve. We are so grateful for your kind messages of encouragement and support, as well as your feedback. We’re learning to temper high levels of expectation with equally high levels of tolerance and kindness. I am so impressed with the quality of the learning that is happening, and the interactions that are taking place.

Mrs Mary-Mae Burton, Kindergarten Team Leader

What a week!  Congratulations to boys and parents alike, in taking this huge leap together of online learning.  It is exciting to be working together, learning together and helping each other.

The boys are showing remarkable resilience and perseverance. The Kindy teachers are extremely proud of them and are grateful for all your efforts, patience and understanding.  It only confirms that working together we are stronger.

Mrs Emma Donaldson, Year 1 Team Leader

Obstacles, of course, are developmentally necessary: they teach kids strategy, patience, critical thinking, resilience and resourcefulness
Naomi Wolf

What an unusual week that has just been! All the teachers are so proud of the boys for having an open mind and exploring the online environment that has been created. Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who have been helping the boys and guiding them while they develop skills online.

Year 1 have begun exploring some of Earth's Treasures during the second Knoxigations Unit of Inquiry. When introducing the big idea, ‘I Can Protect My World’ to Year 1 they made connections, used their prior knowledge and discussed solutions as to how we can protect Earths Treasures. How do you protect living things, air, soil and water every day?

Mrs Alicia Baldry, Year 2 Team Leader

The Year 2 boys have really embraced the online learning platform this week. The Year 2 teachers are extremely proud of the way that the boys are finding the resources they need for the day and completing and submitting the tasks via Seesaw.  We have started looking at Ecosystems and the features of each as part of our Knoxigations unit. One of our tasks this week will look at backyard ecosystems from home, we can’t wait to see the boys' responses. On behalf of Year 2 we would like to extend our thank you to all parents for your continued support and flexibility with the boys' online learning.

Mr Glenn Stephenson, Year 3 Team Leader

The Year 3 boys recently took part in an incursion to conclude their inquiry of the Big Idea, ‘Commemorating Significant Events Connects Us To Our Past’. During this informative event, Knox Grammar School old-boy, Mr Angus Hordern, visited the Prep to speak with all of the boys. As part of this, each Year 3 class was invited to the Prep Office foyer where various war items are proudly housed on display. Many of these have been personally donated by Mr Hordern, who having served for over a decade with the Royal Australian Navy and Army Reserves, spoke passionately to the boys about the items and his experiences, including those of his family members who also fought for their country during times of war.

Mr Jared Rastall, Year 4 Team Leader

Online Learning in Year 4
It has been an enormous two weeks for our Year 4 boys and we have been so impressed with their maturity and constantly evolving organisational and technological skills! We have also been humbled and grateful for the continuing support of our Year 4 parents. It has been a big learning curve for everyone and we certainly know the added pressures all our families are facing at this time.

Please contact your son’s home teacher or Mr Rastall should you have any questions or concerns.

We are committed to ensuring that we maintain a positive and meaningful connection with our boys, so in our morning meets, you might hear us talking about favourite movies, songs, foods and what the boys have planned for their recesses and lunches. Where possible, we really encourage our boys to spend break times engaged in physical exercise or activity. Feel free to email your son’s home teacher pictures of your son engaged in learning or play; we’d love to share these with the class.

The Year 4 Team extends their best wishes and good health to all our families.

Mrs Tammy Paterson, Year 5 Team Leader

What a week! It is hard to believe how quickly things are changing. The Year 5 team have been overwhelmed with how the boys are coping with our new online learning platform. The boys are sharing links and ideas with each other and learning the importance of following instructions! We understand the enormity of what we are asking the boys to achieve in this time. 

Now that all of our learning is online, the boys will use our online learning link to access tasks. In Year 5, we start each day with a whole Year 5 grade meeting online using the access code Y5_2020. We are then in our daily class meet at 8:45am where the class teacher will then get the boys started for the day. It is important that the boys all have their diaries on hand to write down their live lesson times for the day. When they are not required for online lessons, the boys will be given a variety of tasks to complete through their online learning platform. Each activity has clear instructions on where to complete their work. All classes will then check in at several times of the day with their class teacher. 

Mr Liam Flanagan, Year 6 Team Leader

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the boys for their outstanding efforts in being so flexible in regards to their learning over the past couple of weeks. The boys have been excellent in their start to working online and have been able to stick to their timetable and follow information successfully. A reminder to your son to always check the whole Year 6 Google Classroom for information each morning to start their day. This will also provide any whole grade reminders or messages that may require their attention.

Whilst it is difficult in the current climate, I encourage you to ensure your son gets plenty of brain breaks and time away from screens. If they can get outside to spend some time outdoors during their breaks from online learning that would be ideal. If you do have any questions please contact your son’s teacher. We thank you greatly for your support as we transition to online learning.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Year 6 staff for their wonderful effort and flexibility in working hard to ensure your son remains learning whilst spending some time at home.

Ms Rebeccah Morris, Miss Ali Irwin and Mr Ashley George

Online rehearsals via Google Classroom and ZOOM
The School is committed to ensuring the continuity of learning as we move into an online learning environment.

A Google Classroom has been created for each individual ensemble group. If your son has not yet joined his Google Classroom Ensemble please email Mrs Morris for the Band Google Classroom codes. These will be used for our online learning environment. Please note that if your son is coming to School, currently, all rehearsals will be online. For boys at home, they have tasks, music and play-along tracks in Google Classroom for them to continue practising. Each conductor will also have a ZOOM meeting open at the start and end of each rehearsal for boys at home to participate in online rehearsals. The ZOOM code for each ensemble will be emailed out to individual ensembles by the conductor. The ZOOM meetings will be held during the normal rehearsal time and day each week until the end of term.

Mrs Emma-Kate Smith and Mrs Jo Wheatley

Sora, online eBook database

Our new eBook database, Sora, went live last week. Sora is an online eBook database available for our students in Years 3-6. Access is available via our Library Home Page. Alternatively, install the Sora app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store on to your device, or go to soraapp.com. Select our school and sign in. All boys in Years 3-6 have been shown how to use this database.

Students can borrow one book at a time and the loan period is for 3 weeks. Books can be returned back to the database before the 3 week period, or it can be renewed if the student is still reading it.

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
1 John 3:18