We often say that education is a partnership between students, school and parents – it takes a village to raise a child. We are incredibly grateful for your support as we work together to raise young men of character.

Being a parent is often a stressful and challenging job. It is never easy and sometimes we need to have difficult and challenging conversations with our sons as we seek to make them better people.

As a school for boys, we have an essential role in developing well rounded young men with a strong moral compass. Indeed, surveys of our new parents consistently indicate that providing a balanced education with a focus on values is one of the main reasons parents choose to send their son to Knox.

Our school motto, 'Virile Agitur', is derived from St Paul's letter to the Corinthians. "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love."

At its core, this motto is about doing the right thing; acting with conviction and purpose as we seek to live out our school’s values – Faith, Wisdom, Integrity, Compassion and Courage.

At Prep, our boys in Years 3-6 attend camp each year. I am often questioned as to why we would do so.
Is it just something you’ve always done?
Is it one of the Knox traditions?

These questions are often accompanied by statements similar to:
Year 3 is too young for boys to go away from their parents.
It shouldn’t be compulsory until Senior School.
I don’t understand why my son has to go. I’d rather he not.

These questions and statements are asked each year by a number of concerned families struggling to understand why we would conceive of sending a whole cohort away together for a few days. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and have been involved in outdoor education for all of that long time, my first camp being a Year 3 Camp up to Springwood in the middle of winter in 1988. It’s not easy to plan and execute a camp for more than 100 students, but it is oh so worthwhile.

Camp is opportunity for boys to try something new, to live in community and have to think about others as well as themselves. It’s an opportunity to stretch themselves outside of their comfort levels, with their friends, tackling physical challenges, and overcoming fears. It is an ‘opportunity’ for boys to make decisions about the level of challenge they’re willing to take in physical challenges, and to try foods they’ve never tried before.

It’s an opportunity to sleep in a cabin, sometimes in a bunk bed, and to stay awake chatting to their mates, unpacking the adventures that have been had that day…sometimes pretending to be asleep until the teacher moves on from outside their door!

Knoxigations
Last week saw the end of our Knoxigations unit, ‘Families are the same and different’. The boys have been working on their Celebration of Learning and have created a beautiful masterpiece on the similarities of their own and their friends’ families. Further to this they have also developed a slide show which demonstrates the progression of their learning about their families and their culture over the past 7 weeks. The boys have integrated their emerging technological knowledge and their creative minds to develop a delightful Knoxigations Celebration. Well done to them all.

This week we will begin exploring the big idea ‘Communities work together’. Please click here for the curriculum overview.

Reminder: Premier's Reading Challenge
All the information on the PRC is in the K-2 Literacy Centre and 3-6 Library section of the Prep Magpie. Every day we celebrate your sons’ reading and this is another opportunity to discover some new titles. The challenge has begun and we encourage you to help your son explore the reading list and enjoy this challenge. The challenge concludes on the 20 August 2021, so the boys have plenty of time to complete the list.

Kind Hands
In Kindergarten our well-being focus is on Kind Hands. We have been working very hard to ensure we only ever use kind hands in the classroom and the playground. Parents please support us with this initiative by discussing with the boys that we will keep our hands to ourselves and instead use our words to communicate with others. We have caught many of the Kindergarten team being kind to their peers and we are so proud of our boys.

Please Read: Aquatics 1-2 Parent Letter

Last week saw the culmination of our inquiry unit on ‘Celebrations Connect Communities’. We are so proud of all the boys as they challenged themselves in their investigation and demonstrated creativity in presenting their findings, we cannot wait to share these with you. This week we begin our second Knoxigations inquiry, Global Changemakers. Throughout this unit, students will investigate the big idea, ‘I can protect my world’. The students will explore the Earth’s natural resources and ways we can work together to protect them. Click here for the Curriculum Overview for this Knoxigations unit. This will also be placed on the Year 1 portal.

We are looking forward to our swimming lessons next week. If you have not already done so we would like you to purchase the school poncho from the Knox Uniform Shop for your son to wear. This will enable each boy to dry himself and change with privacy. We also ask that over the next couple of weeks the boys practise getting dressed and changing by themselves. This includes putting on his underwear, pulling up his shorts and putting his shirt on over his head. We also ask you to spend some time practising putting shoes and socks on and tying shoelaces. These are all skills that help establish independence in our boys. It is also an opportune time to make sure all items of clothing (including towels, goggles and swimmers) are clearly labelled with your son’s name.

The boys should wear their PE uniform with their swimmers underneath to school each day. A towel, goggles, wet weather gear and change of underwear should be packed in their excursion bag.

If you are ordering recess or lunch, please note the vegetarian, hot specials or salads, slushies or ice blocks will not be available due to the swimming schedule.

Nadine Smith, Year 1 Team Leader

Please Read: 

Aquatics 1-2 Parent Letter

Year 2 Narrabeen Coastal Excursion Letter

On Friday, Year 2 culminated their learning in our Knoxigations unit exploring how, ‘Stories of the past shape our future’. The students moved through the phases of the inquiry cycle and took action by designing and constructing a Knox Classroom of the Future. The Year 2 teachers were blown away by the connections made by students linking the past, present and future. We hope you enjoy reading some of the student reflections on their learning;

“Technology from the past can be redesigned to help our future” - Phillip

“Some traditions have stayed the same but some have changed over time” - Eric

“Schools change over time” - Archie

“The background and history of a school changes the property” - Danny

“Knox land has transformed from when the Toohey family owned it, to now and it will probably change in the future” - Stirling

Please Read: 

NAPLAN Practice Tests

Point Wolstoncroft
This term our Year 3 boys have been busy ticking off many first-time events and there is none bigger than attending Point Wolstoncroft Camp. For many, this was the first time sleeping away from home, sleeping in a sleeping bag in a cabin with other boys and participating in an array of activities both on land and water. The ‘have a go’ attitude and constant encouragement from one another not only allowed boys to override any nerves and address any fears but ensured they all enjoyed their time. The boys’ ability to work together and persist in overcoming challenges was admirable and demonstrated a collective responsibility to each other. Our boys were well aware that they were representing Knox and subsequently their behaviour and manners throughout our duration at camp were exemplary. Congratulations to all our Year 3 boys who attended camp and accomplished so many milestones! Please visit Seesaw to view photos from Point Wolstoncroft.

Developing good habits
Good habits form an important part of living a happy and healthy life. The more a habit is performed, the stronger it becomes and the chance of it being performed with automaticity increases. Our habits can change, and they also can help us to reach goals and develop our character. In Year 4 we always promote good habits around learning and working with others. Some good habits that we ask you to encourage in your son at home include: greeting others with eye contact and interest, taking pride in the presentation of themselves and their work and using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.

Mindfulness
Given the rapid pace of the world we live in, mindfulness supports children (and adults) to develop the tools needed to build confidence, cope with stress, and relate to uncomfortable or challenging moments. The research suggests, the earlier they begin to practise mindfulness, the greater the opportunity to help them cultivate resilience.

Practising mindfulness as kids can also help shape three critical skills developed in early childhood: paying attention and remembering information, shifting back and forth between tasks, and behaving appropriately with others. These abilities are known as executive functions and they are essential for more advanced tasks like planning, reasoning, problem-solving, and positive social relationships.

Please Read: 

NAPLAN Practice Tests

Self-regulation
Self-regulation allows us to effectively engage in behaviour that is mindful, deliberate and considerate. Through self-regulating, our boys monitor and control their cognition and motivation to achieve certain goals. Overall, they build their own independence and sense of responsibility.
Before asking questions around daily habits, processes and routines, we are encouraging our boys to use a range of strategies: to see if they can remember the answer, to read directions or instructions, to quietly ask a classmate, to look around for clues or see what others are doing, to look up the information or to use technology to search for the answer where appropriate.
We hope to instil confidence in the boys’ decision making and sense of independence and we ask for your help at home.

Strategies for Home:

• Let your son seek out answers by applying the problem-solving strategies mentioned above
• Give your son responsibility and allow him to both recognize and accept consequences for his mistakes
• Teach the importance of controlling an impulse in order to reach a higher goal. The higher goal is usually about learning, empathy or social relationships. (e.g. you can’t talk while the instructions are being given because you then won’t excel at the task)
• Set clear expectations and articulate the higher goal
• Acknowledge that self-regulation can be difficult
• Encourage decision-making and plan-setting in daily tasks
• Play board games or card games that take time and don’t result in instant gratification
• Remember that self-regulation skills develop over a lifetime

PARENT ACTION REQUIRED:

Year 6 Musical Information

Costume Requirements Year 6 Musical

I thoroughly enjoyed supporting the students on Friday evening at the ISDA Debating here at Knox. The Year 6 team is the Primary A team, made up of Ryan Sun, Justin Wong, Mohammed Abdulghani, Joseph Keywood, Owen Dixon and Derek Zhu. Four of the boys debated the negative case for the topic ‘That playing a team sport should be compulsory in primary school’ and won the debate with some convincing arguments and rebuttal against the oppositions case.

On Saturday, I ventured to The Great Hall to see some of the Year 6 basketball teams play their final game for the summer season. It was wonderful to see the boys supporting each other and enjoying themselves, as well as demonstrating fine sportsmanship and teamwork. I look forward to getting out to support the boys at a variety of sports and cocurricular activities throughout the year

Doing da Vinci Day
Last Friday, there were over 150 boys from Years 5 and 6 who participated in Doing da Vinci Day. It was a dynamic day where the boys demonstrated a variety of skills, the most important being teamwork. The positive interactions between the boys were a pleasure to observe the students as they navigated their way through some very complex and challenging tasks.

Please note that we will be using last Friday's event to assist us to select the state team for the da Vinci Decathlon. The team will include boys from across a number of different teams. The State Decathlon team representing Knox Prep will be announced in the Prep Magpie next week.

This section of the newsletter contains recent correspondence to parents requiring action:

COVID-19 Student Attendance Guidelines for Parents

Aquatics 1-2 Parent Letter

Year 2 Narrabeen Coastal Excursion Letter

Years 3 and 5 NAPLAN Practice Tests

Costume Requirements Year 6 Musical

Year 6 Musical Information

With the Year 6 musical taking place next week, some year groups may be given the opportunity to attend a matinee performance which takes place during the school day.

CIS Swimming Championships
The CIS Swimming Championships last Thursday, held at SOPAC, were a flurry of success for not only our IPSHA team but also for our Knox representatives.

In Diving, all three of our Knox boys finished on the podium and will now go on to represent IPSHA at the PSSA Swimming Championships at the end of this month. Derek Zhu (Year 6) and Oliver Radford (Year 3), both placed first in their events and James Pritchard (Year 3) placed second to Oliver.

However, it was in the pool that our swimmers decided it was a day to break some records which have stood for many years. Firstly, it was our 12/13 Years Freestyle relay team of Christopher Montana, Finn Morton, Lukas Dunn and Freddie O’Hara who blitzed the field in both the heat and the final with a time that broke a record, set by Knox Grammar in 2012, with a time of 1.58.45.

Our Junior Relay Team of Adam Dunn, William Scodellaro, Declan McManus and James Conlon also made it to the final of the 50-metre freestyle relay and placed a very impressive 5th against a tough field.

The second record breaking performance was set by our Swimming Captain, Finn Morton, who carved through the water like a hot knife through butter in the 50-metre freestyle final, recording a time of 27.80, beating an 8-year record.

The Knox IPSHA representatives continued to break personal bests throughout the day. Some other superb performances were from; Aaron Huo who placed 9th in his 50-metre freestyle final; William Scodellaro who placed 5th in his 50-meter freestyle final; and Christopher Montana who placed 4th in his 50-metre freestyle final.

Musical Quote of the Week
Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens
Maria von Trapp

Easter Chapel Service
This Sunday 28 March all members of the Year 5 Rock Band, Little Lads, Knoxapella, Senior Vocal Ensemble and reduced Concert Strings Ensemble (boys in yrs 5-6 only) will be involved at this year's Easter Chapel Service. The Year 5 Rock Band will need to arrive at 8.15am for a sound check, Concert Strings are to arrive at 8.30 for a rehearsal, 3-6 Choir boys are to arrive at 9am and Little Lads are needed later at 9.15 am. Please note the Chapel service this year is at the Wenkart Theatre in the Senior School JAPAC. The service will start at 9.30 and parents are warmly welcome to come. Boys are to wear full summer uniform (No hats).

Year 6 Musical - Memories of Musicals
Let the Class of 2021 take you on a trip down memory lane and join us in a celebration of the last 10 years of Knox Grammar Year 6 Musicals. The Year 6 boys will performing ‘Memories of Musicals on:

Tuesday 30 March 7.00pm
Wednesday 31 March 11.30am
Wednesday 31 March 7.00pm

at the Wenkart Theatre, Senior School

Click on this link to purchase tickets to this fun-filled family event!

Rebeccah Morris, Ali Irwin, Ashley George, Lindsay Irik and Kate Paull, Prep Music Staff

Cans 4 Life
30% of people will have mental health challenges at some point during their life but only 30% of those people will get the help they need.
Cans 4 Life aims to fix this by raising money for Reach Out, an Australian youth mental health charity.
We do this by collecting cans and bottles and recycling them through the Return and Earn system and donating the funds raised to Reach Out.
Knox is supporting this initiative and, in order that we can make a meaningful impact, we are asking you to get involved.
You can bring in your empty drink cans and bottles (no wine bottles or food cans please) and leave them in the bin for your year group.

Bin Locations
K-2: Outside K-2 centre with other bins.
3-6: Inside 3-6 office.
We will recycle them and donate the money.

This is an ongoing initiative so get drinking and start sending your cans and bottles into school!

James P (Year 6 Student)

You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
Psalm 16:1

The Prep Easter Service will take place on Sunday 28 March at 9.30am in the Wenkart Theatre, JAPAC, Senior School.

Trading Hours
Monday to Friday: 12.30pm-5.30pm
Saturday (Terms 1 and 4 only): 9am-12noon



Term 1 Holiday Trading Hours
Thursday 1 April - Uniform Shop closes at 5.30pm
Friday 2 April through to Monday 5 April - Closed for Public Holiday
Tuesday 6 April - 9.30am-5pm (closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Wednesday 7 April - 9.30am-5pm (closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Thursday 15 April - 9.30am-5pm (closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Friday 16 April - 9.30am-5pm (closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Saturday 17 April - 9am-12noon
Monday 19 April - 9.30am-5pm (closed 12.30pm-1pm)
Tuesday 20 April (First day of Term 2) - 8am-5pm (closed 12.30pm-1pm) 

For all enquiries, please contact via us by phone 9487 0191 or email.

You may also visit the Knox website here for more information.

Julie Blackburn, Knox Uniform Shop Manager

We are so excited to be able to welcome parent volunteers back on campus to assist in the Tuckshop from the start of Term 2, 2021. The return of volunteers is subject to continued stabilisation of local and state health requirements regarding COVID-19.

We greatly appreciate our volunteers and their contributions to our School community.

Helping out in the tuckshop is very rewarding experience and a great way to meet and socialise with new friends. If you are able to volunteer in the Prep School Tuckshop, please click on the following link here.

Knox Community: 'Penguin Bloom' Private Screening
An Old Knox Grammarians’ Association (OKGA) Event

Sunday 18 April
3pm for 3.30pm at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace

To support Old Boys and their families who are doing it tough, the Old Knox Grammarians’ Association, in collaboration with Cam Bloom (OKG89), presents a private screening of the film, 'Penguin Bloom'.

To reserve your seats, please click on the session time of 3.30pm on the Orpheum website.

For any event enquiries, please email the OKGA.