Headmaster's Column
Term 1 is always one of the busiest terms of the year, with so many activities and opportunities on offer.
Over the last few weeks we have seen our boys take part in Years 4, 5, 7 and 8 Camps at Port Hacking, Lake Macquarie, Arcadia and the NSW South Coast.
There has been a flurry of excursions and incursions including a Chinese New Year celebration for Year 1, a Religion and Ethics visit to the Sydney Jewish Museum and even a Geography trip to a chocolate factory to learn about sustainable and ethical cacao production.
This weekend is the final round of the Senior School summer sports season, with one more week left for our Knox Prep students.
Team Leaders
As we edge past the halfway point of Term 1, the Class of 2023 are continuing to thrive. This week has seen some exciting events including the Geography excursion and the da Vinci Decathlon.
Last Friday, Year 10 participated in Elevate sessions that focused on learning, organisation and study. It has been great to see that, throughout this week, there has been an increasing number of Year 10 students using their new found skills after school in the Academy of Global Competency. With subject, assessment, homework and organisational help, it has been pleasing to see so many the boys using this space so positively in preparation for their upcoming assessments or for routine study.
Student Administration Officer
In readiness for the upcoming week and assessments that are due, we have created a new Upcoming Assessment section in our weekly newsletter. Please use this section to confirm what assessment your son has coming up as it will be updated weekly. Just a reminder that if your son is absent the day prior or the day of an assessment, an Illness Misadventure Appeal form must be completed and returned to the school together with a medical certificate.
AFX Camp
Students who wish to apply for an exemption from the Cadet AFX Camp are required to apply for school leave using the form here. They are also required to apply for leave from Cadets using the Cadet Leave form on the Knox app. Both forms need to be submitted in order for leave to be approved.
Year 10 Challenge Camp Leave
Students who wish to apply for an exemption from the Year 10 Challenge Camp are required to apply for school leave using the form here. They will also need to complete a Year 10 Camp Exemption form which may be found here. Should you require further information regarding the camp, please contact Mr Tom Waterhouse via email.
Director of Co-Curricular Operations
CAS Swimming and Diving Championships 2021
This event will be held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Thursday 11 March.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions the CAS committee has limited the number of seats available for each CAS School.
The prefect body have spoken to each year group and asked for students wishing to attend to enter their submissions via a Google Form.
Students who have completed a submission to attend and have been selected will be invited through the school system and parents will receive an email requesting acceptance for this opportunity. Please note that if you are the recipient of that email, you will also be asked to confirm your son's medical details. Boys will be provided with a mask.
Sports News
Head of Knox Sports and Aquatic Academy
As we charge towards the end of our summer season, I cant help but feel proud of all of our Year 12 boys playing their last summer game in the Black and Blue. Some boys have been playing summer sport for more than six, seven or eight years for Knox and no doubt will enjoy Saturday but with many mixed emotions. Perhaps a memory of the day they were moved from the d team up to a c or b grade team. Perhaps their first ever win for Knox, first ever goal or even the day they met their new best mate. I hope our Year 12s have a great day this Saturday and wrap the season up with their 'best game ever' - Im sure their Year 11 team mates and spectators will help them enjoy a great day.
Congratulations to all teams across all levels and all age groups on a wonderful summer – one could only wish we had some more sun and our outdoor sports were not so interrupted through Term 1. There are too many teams to list here that will celebrate premierships this weekend – those teams and more details can be found on the Knox app under their respective sport reports.
Knox Wellbeing Centre
The importance of modelling
In Week 3 of the School Newsletters, the Headmaster wrote about the importance of stopping to “pause” before reacting and how challenging this can be in the fast-paced world in which we find ourselves. In our role as school psychologists, we often see the impact when the ability to “pause” was somehow skipped, and young people land themselves in situations which could often have been avoided. There are many things we can do as parents to teach our kids how to stop, think, and, reflect before reacting. As Mr James mentioned, one core component of this is our important role in modelling these behaviours for our children.
Upcoming Assessments
Geography
Monday 8 to Tuesday 9 March - In Class Task
Languages
Monday 8 March - Hand In Task
Science
Monday 8 March - In Class Task
Mathematics
Wednesday 10 March - In Class Task
Drama
Tuesday 16 March - Performance or Practice component
Friday 19 March - Hand In Task
A copy of the Year 10 Assessment Schedule and Policy 2021 as well as the Illness and Misadventure Appeal form may be found here.
Upcoming Events
Thursday 18 March to Saturday 20 March
Musical Performance - 'Beauty and the Beast'
Thursday 11 March
CAS Swimming and Diving Championships
Tuesday 23 March
Maggie Dent Webinar - 'Unsticking' an unmotivated teen boy
Thursday 25 March to Thursday 1 April
Cadets AFX Camp
Saturday 27 March to Wednesday 31 March
Year 10 Challenge Camp
Thursday 1 April
Term 1 concludes
Tuesday 20 April
Term 2 commences
Thursday 22 April
Maggie Dent Webinar - Helping teen boys manage anger and failure
Tuesday 25 May
Knox Careers Night
Text for the Week
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5: 7 & 8
Community Notices
2021 Student Residential Address and Other Information Collection
Each year, all Australian schools are required to report specific school-based data to the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills & Employment (DESE).
The Address Collection data is used to:
• calculate Australian Government recurrent funding to non-government schools, specifically the capacity to contribute score (CTC score)
• inform school education policy, particularly non-government school funding
The Address Collection data (collected under sections 52 (1), 52(3)(c), 52(4) and 58B of the Australian Education Regulation 2013), will source the following data from Knox Grammar, relevant to each campus:
• Student residential address (excluding student names)
• Whether the student is a primary or secondary student (education level)
• Whether the student is boarding or a day student (boarding status)
• Names and residential addresses of students’ parent(s) and/or guardian(s)
The school reporting requirement specifically requires reporting of a physical residential address, not a PO Box or the mailing equivalent.
If your family has recently changed its residential address, and you have not yet provided these details to the School, we seek your cooperation to update your family details via the Knox Parent Lounge, Parent Details Update function – by Friday 5 March.
The DESE has provided a 'Collection Notice for Parents' for your reading and reference. Please click here to view.
Damian Ferguson, Chief Financial Officer
Beauty and the Beast
A Knox Drama and Theatre Production
Disney's Beauty and the Beast
18-20 March 2021
7pm in the Wenkart Theatre
Box Office now open! All tickets $30 (+ booking fee). Click here to book your seats.
Masks mandatory for all audience members. There is a limit of four seats per booking with seating gaps automatically assigned between groups to adhere to distancing requirements.
Please note that the Box Office reserves the right to relocate your tickets, if required, and will advise accordingly.
For ticket enquiries, please email here.
Knox Prayer Meetings
Our informal prayer meeting for Term 1 will be held at 10am on Friday 19 March, at the home of Prue Feather. Morning Tea will be included.
There will also be an evening meeting at 8pm on Wednesday 10 March, at the home of Fiona van Horen.
Please RSVP if you plan to attend so that we comply with the gathering limits prescribed by the government’s Public Health Orders in place at the time.
A warm welcome is extended to anyone from our Knox community who would like to attend.
Any enquires to Prue Feather.
Knox Uniform Shop
Trading Hours
Monday to Friday: 12.30pm-5.30pm
Saturday (Terms 1 and 4 only): 9am-12noon
Phone (02) 9487 0191 or visit the Knox website here for more information.
Julie Blackburn, Knox Uniform Shop Manager
McKenzie Library News
McKenzie Library
Many students are encouraged to visit the library for research help and to borrow resources. It is great to see the enthusiasm of all students as they develop the skills of researching and submitting work using their own voice and acknowledging sources.
Boys, why not add the CiteMaker extension to your laptop tab and add the information as you go about your studies? This is a great tool to record all resources you have used and, if required, create a Bibliography. This valuable tool is found through KnoxNet or through the library portal then you simply select Create a Bibliography tab.
Week 7 Term 1 2021 Menu
Photo Galleries
Geography Excursion
This week, Year 10 students went on a Geography fieldwork excursion to Collaroy Beach and Dee Why Beach to study coastal management.
