Finally, we often define how successful a school is by looking at the key elements that may give a school a competitive edge, such as its academic standing, its performing arts program, or its sporting prowess. But there is so much more.

I believe it is “character” that determines how effective a school really is. The degree to which school-character reflects its mission and philosophy is a better gauge to judge success.

At Knox, our five values are faith, wisdom, integrity, compassion and courage. We must ask ourselves; are these words just a marketing gimmick or does the character of our school reflect these five words? As I reflect on Term 2 and consider the way staff and students have adapted to changes to routine, I am confident our values are embedded into all that we do at Knox.

Whether it was……
• Students assisting the Ku-ring-gai Neighbourhood Centre by packing food parcels for local residents
• Kindergarten sending thank you cards and letters of appreciation to health care workers
• The incredible Year 3 ‘virtual choir’ performance of ‘We Are Australian’
• The large number of boys who took part in the Anzac Service commemoration and supporting the wider community by playing ‘The Last Post’
• Our Year 12 students writing 350 cards of encouragement to students in Years 5 and 6

The above are just a few examples that exemplify our school’s character in action this term and demonstrate how our community has been living out our values.

Enjoy the holiday break and the opportunity to share quality time with your children. I look forward to seeing our community return invigorated, enthusiastic and ready to tackle new challenges in Semester 2.

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

A minimum of seven students, and a maximum of ten, ensures individual attention. The course costs $300 for seven sessions of 45 minutes.

The Introductory seven week course includes a tub of theraputty, that is designed to improve hand muscle strength and fine motor skills.

Availability of places is dependent upon a first come first served basis. All students who miss out on a place in Term 3 will be placed on a waiting list.

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

 
Growing Traditional Native Bush Food - Student Volunteers Wanted
An area near the Borambil Gates has been developed into a traditional bush food garden.

Volunteers note:
• A roster will be developed
• Guidance from the Agriculture Department
• Instructions given for the use of tools and the project
• Social distancing for all Knox students who participate
• Working with schools in Walgett, Hawaii, Liberia and Kenya - all via Zoom and One Planet Education

Please email Mrs Clarke if you are interested. 

The Knox Social Justice (SJ) Club
The Club is meeting as a group again each Friday at lunchtime in the WSA Auditorium. Updates are still available in the e-Club platform. Please email Mrs Clarke for more information on how to join or volunteer.

A new initiative is being rolled out to the boys during Term 3, titled 20 - 1. With the catch cry of ‘Stomp out waste’, boys from K-6 have contributed to a series of short videos, encouraging our boys to reduce the quantity of waste on our campus. A campus audit revealed that in one day, our campus waste comprised:

• >8kg of organic waste in the bins (full sandwiches, sushi rolls, chicken schnitzel rolls, Tim Tams and full pieces of fruit)
• 104 bottles, cartons and juice boxes (which we will now take to return and earn)
• 2 full paper bins of paper and cardboard
• A significant amount of waste that was soft plastic packaging (which can be recycled)

We would appreciate you discussing this with your sons over the coming weeks, and working together to help us to reach our targets. It is a fabulous initiative and we look forward to sharing the results with you during next term and beyond.

Best wishes to all of our Prep families for a relaxing winter break.

Art Gallery of New South Wales
Situated just off the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Art Gallery of NSW houses priceless artworks from Australia and afar. The gallery is the perfect sanctuary for families hoping to avoid the crowds and instead inspire a little creativity.

Website: Art Gallery NSW 

Sydney Park
Spanning an incredible 40 hectares, Sydney Park is situated to the south of the city and offers kids a plethora of activity choices. They could play in the playground which features a number of slides, swings, tunnels and bridges; bring along their bike (or hire one) and ride around the children's bike track that even features traffic lights, or take a walk around the park with its wide space, running creeks and rolling hills. The hills are pretty spectacular and perfect for rolling down!

Website: City of Sydney 

Street Art - Wander the Suburbs
Sydney’s inner west has some of the most incredible street art in the country. The kids can touch, they can run, they can be themselves around these great artworks without anyone asking them to tone down. Better yet, suburbs such as Newtown also boast some of the best coffee and bookshops!

Website: Sydney Expert

Harbour Bridge 
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of Sydney's most iconic sites. A pedestrian walk way spans the length of the eastern side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Cockatoo Island
Cockatoo Island is a world heritage site with buildings spanning right back to the convict era. A trip to the island is quite an adventure. You’ll be able to explore each precinct from the convict times through to the times when the island boasted a thriving dockland. You can even walk through a number of tunnels that have been cut through the island. Exploring the island is free, however, you will need to purchase a ferry ticket to get there.

The Kindergarten teachers are grateful and extremely proud of all the boys. In many ways, it feels like we have been at school longer than one semester! We wish the boys and parents alike, a restful and relaxing break. We look forward to another action-packed semester upon our return.

Children fall in love with books

because of the memories created

when they snuggle up and read with someone

they love.

As part of our Knoxigations inquiry this week Year 1 will be participating in a Masterclass on Fantastic Mr Fox Minecraft with Mr Milner. The boys will be exploring and learning new skills which will allow them to create man-made and natural materials in Minecraft that can be used to build a house.

The Year 1 Teachers wish all our students and families a relaxing and restful holiday. We are looking forward to a great term of learning together in Term 3.

At the end of the term, students will receive their Semester One reports. Whilst it is important to celebrate their academic achievements over this period, it is also important to reflect upon the effort and persistence many boys have shown throughout this time. The report is not only an opportunity to celebrate all that your son has achieved in their first semester in Year 2 but to also look at the ways in which they can show improvement moving forward. As a teaching team, the focus for all Year 2 teachers is effort; if the boys complete each and every learning experience to the best of their ability, they will always work to their potential and this is something each and every student should strive to achieve.

On behalf of the Year 2 team, we would like to wish all families a happy and safe holiday break and leave you with this prayer as a symbol of the term that has come and gone.

We thank you Lord, for this term. For the challenges, the successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt. Be with us as we spend our time with family and friends. These holidays, help us to appreciate what others do for us, to give time and effort to help others. To be peacemakers in our family. Keep us safe in our activities; give us good rest and good fun. Bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term. We thank you for all those who care for us; our classmates, teachers, parents and the Knox community.

May we always be conscious of you in our lives
Amen

Parents will be notified when Semester One Reports are published at the end of the first week of the holidays. Parents are encouraged to read through the report with their sons and discuss the comments provided by teachers, remembering to place equal importance on both the effort and achievement indicators given. Parent/Teacher Interviews are scheduled to be held early next term using Zoom. We are looking forward to speaking with you about your sons.

Despite the various social distancing measures which have been put in place across each of the Year 3 classes, the sense of connection between the students and teachers has never been stronger. For all the challenges we have faced this term, it is hard not to appreciate the unified sense of purpose which stemmed from the experiences we shared and the collective drive we developed to overcome any obstacles encountered.

Date for the diary:
• Friday 26 June - Term 2 concludes
• Monday 20 July - Term 3 commences

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

The Year 3 team would like to wish all of the boys, parents and extended family an enjoyable holiday break and we look forward to all students returning safely (and happily!) to School for the commencement of Semester Two.

Uniform
Please assist us by checking that your son is appropriately dressed for school each day. There are a number of boys who are regularly forgetting to wear their varsity cap to and from school or their school sports bucket hat when playing outside. Establishing good morning routines will be helpful in supporting your son develop both independence and responsibility, which are much valued skills for the years ahead.

Wishing all our families are relaxing and enjoyable school holidays. We look forward to seeing all the boys back at school on Monday 20 July.

Year 5 Poetry Recital
Next term, as part of our inquiry, we begin our poetry study. Before the end of this term, we are asking boys to choose a poem written by a famous Australian Poet which they will recite and ‘perform’ in front of their peers next term in Week 4. The holidays are a great time to learn their poem. The boys do not need to learn all stanzas in the poem. This will form the majority of our assessment Talking and Listening grade for Semester Two. The boys are encouraged to take time at home to learn these. We are also providing time in class to refine their presentation skills, focussing on:

• Eye Contact
• Voice Volume
• How voice can be varied to engage an audience
• Pace
• Pause
• Hand gestures

Please see the marking rubric on the Knox portal for more specific details.

The Poetry Slam will be a virtual event this year.  Further details will be provided.

What a term this has been! It has certainly been one like no other and the boys are tired. We would like to wish all our Year 5 families a wonderful holiday. 

Over the coming week, students will receive their Semester One reports. Whilst it is important to celebrate  their academic achievements over this period, it is also important to reflect upon the effort and persistence many boys have shown throughout this time. The report is not only an opportunity to celebrate all that your son has achieved in their first semester of Year 6 but to also look at the ways in which they can show improvement moving forward. As a teaching team, the focus for all Year 6 teachers is effort; if the boys complete each and every learning experience to the best of their ability, they will always work to their potential and this is something each and every student should strive to achieve.  At the beginning of Term Three, your son's teacher will sit down and complete goal setting with your son, focusing on some areas of development over the next semester. This is also a chance for the boys to reflect upon their own learning and think about what areas they could improve in.

On behalf of all the Year 6 Team we want to wish you all a happy and safe holiday period, we are looking forward to having the boys back, raring to go, in three weeks time. 

2020 Book Week
Book Week has been postponed until Term 4, Week 2.

The Book Week theme for 2020 is ‘Curious creatures, wild minds’, and as part of this celebration of Book Week, the Children’s Book Council of Australia NSW, have created a book trailer competition called ‘Collide’. Book trailers are created in order to inform and convince an audience to read a particular book. This competition offers students in Years 3-9, the chance to create their own book trailer, using either a 2020 CBCA notables book or an Australian title on the 2020 PRC booklist. Our prep students are able to enter either the Year 3-4 or Year 5 &6 category.

This is not a compulsory competition and is not to be done at school. This is an opportunity for students to share their passion for books and filmmaking.

All competition details and entry form can be found on the CBCA NSW website -www.cbcansw.org.au/collide-book-trailers The CBCA notables booklist can be found here -cbca.org.au/notables-2020 and the 2020 PRC lists can be found here -  online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

With school holidays around the corner, what a great opportunity to showcase and ‘Collide’, creativity and a passion for reading. Library staff are happy to assist students in selecting a book of interest for the book trailer, however, the book trailer will need to be filmed at home, rather than during school time.

We look forward to watching the creativity of our buddying Knox filmmakers.

The newsletters this Friday will provide families with details of how Saturday 18 July (the last Saturday of holidays) will look for spectators and for our students who have fixtures. Again, please understand we must take all measures and advice to ensure the students, officials and spectators and their safety is not compromised; please expect some changes and inconveniences.

Thanks and well done to all boys that attended our athletic fitness sessions at Gillespie over the last four Saturdays. The attendance numbers have been outstanding and the boys have really committed to the sessions and built some great fitness whilst having a lot of fun.

Have a safe and enjoyable break, and please take every opportunity to stay fit and healthy. I cant wait to see everyone enjoy our modified Term 3 winter season.