I’m writing to advise you of an incident which occurred earlier this week and ask you to please speak to your son about the importance of staying safe when travelling to and from school.

We were notified one of our Senior School students was approached one afternoon by a man in a car and this incident was reported to Police. We will be reminding the boys in their mentor or year meetings about safe behaviours when travelling to and from school.

When discussing these matters with boys, we reference the NSW Police Keeping Me Safe information kit. Below is a section relating to before and after school travel.

When you are out or walking on the street:
• If you can use a phone call 000 and say you are scared
• Don’t let anyone see if you have money or a purse, keep them in your pocket or bag
• If a friend is frightened or hurt get them help from an adult right away
• Know where safe places are - Doctors surgeries, schools, churches, shops etc

In Cars:
• Never get in a car with someone else unless your parents have told you to or is in the way you usually get home from school - a car pool
• Don’t talk to people who pull over to the side of the road in cars
• Remember many drivers can’t see people who are small, especially out the back of the car

On the train:
• Always travel in the guard’s compartment identified by a blue light if it is late in the day
• Travel in groups of friends if you can

Walking:
• Stick to major routes and roads and don’t take short cuts
• Use footpaths that are well lit and not closed in by bushes or obstacles
• Stay in groups of people
• Don’t talk to people you don’t know and go straight home or to wherever you are going
• Don’t take short cuts especially around rail tracks etc or when other people tell you to especially if you don’t know the way
• If you are frightened find a shop, school, church or ‘professional’ place like a doctors and tell them you are frightened and ask them to call the police, or if you see a police station go there

Phil O'Regan

In response to the current situation with only students and staff allowed on campus, our Years 8-10 Parent Teacher Interviews will be run virtually via Zoom or phone (depending on any bandwidth and internet connection issues).

The interviews will commence from Thursday afternoon on 4 June until the last week of school. As per our face-to-face interviews, five minutes has been allocated for each interview.

We would normally have had all day on Friday 5 June as a student free day for the interviews, but we have made the decision to keep the Friday as a teaching day taking into consideration missed face-to face teaching time. Your son’s teachers will be making a range of times available during the day and after school over the three-week period. They are not expected to be available every evening.

We are using PTO for all bookings. You will have received an email regarding this today. The Zoom link will be provided when you book a time slot.

Our normal practice is to run the interviews as a Student Led Conference; however, this is not feasible in the virtual world when some of the available times will be during the day. Therefore, in preparation it would be ideal to go through the Learner Protocol questions with your son provided in the recent report.

Karen Yager

It has been wonderful to have the boys back on campus this week to recommence face-to-face learning. The buzz, excitement and general enthusiasm around the grounds has been infectious. Having the boys back has reinvigorated the campus and they have done a fantastic job adjusting to the new norms on-site. One of these new norms has been temperature checking in the morning. This has been a great way for the Middle Academy team to catch up with the cohort and I have really enjoyed hearing stories about their learning at home, home-made breakfasts and dogs featuring on Zoom! 

It has been particularly great to see the boys showing a renewed sense of appreciation for their school, their friends and their teachers. I hope that this continues as we start our transition period into the Senior Academy. Part of that transition period has been the HSC subject selection process. During Mentor and Year Meeting the boys are being exposed to a variety of videos, presentations and Q&A sessions that will enable them to make an informed decision. There is no rush on these decisions. The boys still have a lot of time to consult widely: speak to teachers, mentors, friends, siblings and cousins and ultimately work out where their passions and strengths lie. Subjects will be presenting during Week 7 and Week 8 and I would encourage all boys to attend the online Zoom lectures of all the subjects they are considering.

Finally, we have done such a great job this week at adhering to the new guidelines at school, but it is important that we continue to maintain our high standards in social distancing and hygiene. Just a few reminders below:

1. Personal hygiene. It is so important to remember to wash our hands and not to share food and drink with others.

2. When boys enter school grounds, they need to have their temperatures checked before proceeding to the locker room. Boys will need to have their student card with them to register their attendance. If they are late to school, they need to go to the clinic first to be checked.

3. If your son is unwell, please keep him at home.

Finally, thanks for all of your continued support during the past few months and especially the way you have embraced the changes we have made to keep the community safe!

Enjoy your weekend! 

Vicky Cowell

So lovely to see all the boys back this week and settling into their school day. I just want to express the importance for all boys to be health screened as they arrive to school. Sanitiser stations and temperature checking - you all know what to do as we've been doing the health screen for a number of days now. Should a boy arrive late to school and miss the health screen process, they are to go straight to the clinic. Let's all do our bit to keep the Knox community safe.

Students should all have their Student ID card - if they've been misplaced, please come and see me where a new card can be printed. It makes the Health Screen process a lot smoother when the boys have their Student ID card with them.

All students have received a Meningococcal ACWY vaccination card. Please sign, complete and return to me as soon as possible.

Please see below the Week 6 Recharge canteen menu located in the AoGC. Note that no cash will be accepted at Recharge so please ensure your Student ID cards are available and have been recently topped via the Flexischools site. An EFTPOS card can be used as well.

Have a great weekend.

Rebecca Smith
 

Report FAQ document and assessment tasks in the coming weeks

The FAQ for the Academic Reports have now been uploaded to the Portal. Thank you again for your attendance in our Parent Zoom sessions about the new reports and for offering some great questions for our comprehensive review document.

Please find the upcoming assessment tasks for Weeks 6 and 7 below for your convenience. Please refer to the assessment schedule and specific task notifications for more details.

WEEK 6: 1-5 June

Agriculture – Task 2
• No changes to this assessment task and will be finalised on Thursday 4 June.
• The task will be administered online or face-to-face, where appropriate.

Visual Arts – Task 1
• Currently there are no changes to this assessment task.
• Please refer to the assessment notification two weeks prior to the task for specific details.

WEEK 7: 8-12 June

Science – Task 2
• The research assessment task will take place in regularly scheduled science lessons either online or face-to-face on Tuesday 9 June.
• The syllabus outcomes assessed in this weighted task have changed; please refer to the assessment notifications in Week 5 for specific outcomes and the date for the task.

Mathematics – Task 2
• This task has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday 10 June.
• The task is likely to be modified into an online multiple choice assessment task.
• Please refer to the assessment notification two weeks prior to the task for specific details.

History (Elective) – Task 1
• Currently there are no changes to this assessment task.
• Please refer to the assessment notification two weeks prior to the task for specific details.

Visual Arts – Task 2
• The task is due Friday 12 June
• The task has been modified to allow for an online submission.

Jake Plaskett

Please download the PDF document here for all the information for students to continue to be involved in these important and beneficial programs.

For any questions or concerns regarding the co-curricular program offered in Term 2, please feel free to contact me via email.

Chuck Ardron

Friday 5 June

School day replaces pupil free day

Monday 8 June

Queen's Birthday - Public holiday

Wednesday 17 June 

Meningococcal ACWY Vaccination

Friday 26 June

Term 2 concludes

A reminder for everyone to check a revised training schedule for Weeks 6-9 on the School app. There have been some changes to the current schedule as buses become available at 5.30pm.   

Whilst there will be no Saturday sport or competition through to end of Term 2, we have taken the opportunity to run a speed and fitness session at Gillespie each Saturday from 8am. This session holds many opportunities to possibly gain some speed, build fitness, enjoy a healthy start to the weekend, dusting of the 'cobwebs' and put your name in front of Knox Athletic selectors for Term 3 selection. A great opportunity so please encourage your boy(s) to come along and enjoy a good workout. Everyone is welcome. Enquiries should be directed to Mr Matthew Fowler. 

ATLAS HUMANOID TEAM LIVE Q&A

What: The Atlas Humanoid Team at Boston Dynamics have agreed to a live Question and Answer (Q&A) video chat with 20 students about their work. Selection of students is based on three criteria; a question you would ask the Atlas Humanoid team about their work, your involvement in co-curricular and further interests and subject involvement.

You will need to register here to be part of this unique opportunity.

When: Wednesday 24 June at 7.30am

Where: WSA Lecture Theatre

Contact: Melinda Valent

Click here for further information on Boston Dynamics.

Would you believe…

Knox Flix 2020 registrations are now open!

This year we have two versions of one theme, and two versions of one competition.

The theme is either

'I Believe!' or 'Would you believe…'

Tell us a tall tale, or a deep truth.

Similarly this year for the first time you have the option of submitting a narrated story board, or a film.

All film entries will need to be accompanied with an outline of how you worked within the isolation rules as they existed at various times of filming.

Please read the attached information and register here. A hype reel for Knox Flix can be viewed here.