Knoxonian - Week 9 Term 3 2020

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Mr Scott James

Farewell Year 12
This week we have celebrated with the Class of 2020 as they prepare to complete their schooling at Knox.

As a year group, their behaviours, character and positive attitude has safeguarded Knox from simply becoming merely a mirror image of what is happening in the world. Their faith, courage and absolute confidence ensured Knox in 2020 mirrored what society should be - safe, secure, optimistic and courageous.

The Class of 2020 has helped create this environment in which those ideals of safety, security, and hope exist. For this, I will always be deeply indebted to each and every one of them. This is the greatest gift they could have left their school.

As the boys commenced their Year 12 journey, they decided upon the words Mateship, Service and Culture to be their guiding principles.

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Handwriting Course


Ms Rebecca Papageorgiou

Each term, Knox holds a Handwriting Course designed to help improve the speed, accuracy and neatness of students’ handwriting, reducing tension and fatigue when writing for long periods of time. In 2020 the classes will be held by Ms Lisa Norton, an occupational therapist, who specialises in the development of skills necessary for handwriting and the remediation of handwriting difficulties.

We are now filling places for our Term 4, 2020 course.

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Social Justice


Mrs Helen Clarke, Head of Diversity, Justice and Stewardship

This week we celebrate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration was signed on Thursday 13 September 2007. Knox is proud to acknowledge our Aboriginal families and their communities.

Seeking shoes for children in Manila
For a number of years, the Knox community have donated school shoes and sport trainers to the British School Manila that supports many poor children who live on the edge of the city. Without shoes, they cannot attend school. The donated shoes can be school shoes, sport trainers, sandals and/or Crocs, for boys and girls.

Donated shoes must be polished and clean with the shoelaces tied together, where applicable. Please drop these off to the SAOs or to Mrs Clarke (Room 15). 

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Uniform Shop


Mrs Julie Blackburn, Uniform Shop Manager

Term 3 holiday opening times
Monday 28 September – 9.30am-5pm (Closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Tuesday 29 September – 9.30am-5pm (Closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Wednesday 7 October – 9.30am-5pm (Closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Thursday 8 October – 9.30am-5pm (Closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Friday 9 October – 9.30am-5pm (Closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Saturday 10 October – 9am-12noon
Monday 12 October – 9.30am-5pm (Closed 12.30pm-1pm)

Appointments are not required for summer uniform purchases.

From the Head of the Preparatory School

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Mrs Sue Floro

Technology use is an ever present cause of anxiety for parents and educators, seeking to balance its use by our young people. At school, within the classroom setting, we structure the technology learning so that it is purposeful and relevant to the units of work being studied. Indeed, in that platform, it is building essential skills for our boys to operate successfully in the world. However, it is the mobile phone usage that we are most concerned about.

We have noticed a definite increase in the number of boys who seem tethered to their phones both before school starts and at the end of the day. We do understand that many parents want their sons to be able to contact them on their way to or from school, if something doesn’t go to plan, which we both support and understand. What parents don’t see, though, is boys completely fixated on their phones, watching content that may or may not be appropriate for their age group.

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K-2 Happenings


Mrs Chris Gray, K-2 Coordinator

Love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort and keep on learning. Carol Dweck.

Working with little people gives you a new perspective on life and helps us appreciate the small wonders in the world. This is a time to celebrate our boys’ growth mindset.

Sarah Conway wrote an article for ‘Mindful Little Minds’ about the power of a growth mindset. Research has shown that children with a fixed mindset tend to give up when faced with a hard task, avoid challenges and put in less effort when something is difficult. If a child has the belief, “I’m no good at maths”, then they may give up when they find a task difficult because they believe they are unable to improve.

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Kindergarten News


Mrs Mary Mae Burton, Kindergarten Team Leader

The Kindergarten boys have shown great strength and perseverance as we head towards the end of Term 3. This has been their first complete term at school and we are incredibly proud of their efforts and stamina.

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Year 1 News


Miss Nadine Smith, Year 1 Team Leader

Year 1 have had another great week of fun and learning. In Year 1 we love reading, especially our favourite books. This week the boys were encouraged to bring in their favourite books from home so we could all enjoy some reading time out in the sunshine. Even the teachers were able to bring in a book from home to enjoy during our DEAR time where we 'Drop Everything And Read'. We encourage all boys to bring in a book each Thursday for this special activity.

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Year 2 News


Miss Sarah Beaumont-Jones, Year 2 Team Leader

Year 2 boys are working incredibly hard to develop their computational thinking and coding skills using the Turing Tumble and Grok Learning coding platforms. These programs integrate seamlessly with our ScopeIT Sessions providing students with opportunities to earn their Coding Drivers Licence by completing assigned tasks and continuing to persevere when faced with challenging open-ended questions.

The Year 2 Teachers and ICT Integrators couldn’t be more proud of the speed at which boys are developing their coding and problem solving skills! We can’t wait to see the fabulous Arcade Games they create next term featuring Micro:bits and LED lights to keep score - oh, the suspense!

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Year 3 News


Mr Glenn Stephenson, Year 3 Team Leader

The Year 3 students have been thoroughly enjoying the class coding workshops led by staff from the ScopeIT organisation and have greatly benefited from the expert support and tuition provided by the experienced instructors. The various coding skills which the boys have been developing will also be further applied across a range of key learning areas throughout the remainder of the semester as all students continue to develop their understanding of the fundamentals behind the technology that is rapidly shaping their future.

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Year 4 News


Mr Jared Rastall, Year 4 Team Leader

Year 4 Happenings in Art
In Art with Mrs LeCouteur, the boys have created these incredible animal sculptures, inspired by the artworks of the Tjanpi Desert Weavers. They twisted, scrunched and moulded newspaper (in place of spinifex grass) to create the form of the animal. They then observed how these creative Indigenous artists bind their sculptures with colourful raffia and then cover with brightly coloured wools. They applied these techniques with patience and dedication. It was a process that no one had explored before, but which resulted in these fun, colourful and extremely impressive sculptures.

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Year 5 News


Mrs Tammy Paterson, Year 5 Team Leader

On Tuesday, the boys in Year 5 met with an educator from The Jewish Museum to learn about the Holocaust. Staff and presenters were astounded with the discussion, depth of understanding and wonderings that our boys produced. It is clear that many of our students are reading widely and it certainly shone through during this virtual excursion!

Year 5 are completely engrossed in our current Knoxigations unit, Global Changemakers. We look forward to further exploring how lessons learned in the past help us to lead a better future.

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Year 6 News


Mr Liam Flanagan, Year 6 Team Leader

Another week has come and gone for the boys of Year 6 as we move briskly towards the end of term. We would like to acknowledge the hard work and the dedication the boys have maintained throughout the year and encourage them to continue to work diligently as we head towards Term 4.

This week in the Year 6 classrooms, the boys are continuing to work on their Sustainable Solutions project where the boys are collaborating to solve an issue of sustainability around the world. The boys have now narrowed down their sustainability issue and are in the process of further researching and delving more deeply into the data supporting their idea. We look forward to seeing what the boys produce as they continue to work through their project.

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K-2 Literacy Centre and 3-6 Library


Mrs Emma-Kate Smith and Mrs Jo Wheatley

Accelerated Reader and books in the 3-6 Library
Boys will no longer need to access a list to locate books within our Years 3-6 collection that are on the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. Boys will need to log on to our Prep Library page and type in their AR level in the search bar of Infiniti, our online electronic database. The database will list books within our collection that are on the particular AR level that has been searched. We have over 2,500 books that are on the Accelerated Reader Program in our collection.

For eBooks, boys will need to access the lists for Sora and World Book Online that are on the Accelerated Reader Program. These lists can be found on the Accelerated Reading List tab on our Prep Library page.

Musical Notes


Mrs Rebeccah Morris, Miss Ali Irwin and Mr Ashley George

Band Rehearsals for Weeks 9 and 10
As of last week, all Bands except Jazz Band and the Intermediate Band, will be rehearsing at school during normal band time. Boys are to come to band without their instrument, as they are working on a fun drum piece that we hope all ensembles will play together! All ensembles in Week 10 will be at school as we hope to record each ensemble performing their drumming piece! For the remainder of this term, sadly, there will be no Jazz Band. Rock Band is still rehearsing every Wednesday recess (note the change from Monday).

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From the Head of Knox Sports and Aquatic Academy

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Mr Martin Haywood

I hope everyone has settled into their summer sport routine and enjoying training so far. The boys are looking like they are keen to start trials and playing games.

Well done to all boys from Knox Prep and Senior School that participated in our modified Track & Field season. The coaching team could not be happier with the turn out. I personally enjoyed seeing the prep boys all enjoying Hurdles and flying along by the third week and cant wait to see the boys in years to come out at SOPAC in front of a huge crowd, under lights. Best of all, the boys looked like they were enjoying Athletics and that is great to see. Running and jumping can be fun - and not always hard work and boring. Well done to all involved.

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… nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:39