The conclusion of the Summer Sports season has been a time to celebrate, with a particular focus on our taller members of the school community, the 1sts Basketball. The boys took it down to the last game of the season to secure this well-deserved accolade. The trophy cabinet door had to remain open due to the addition of the school’s first Water polo title, with the driving force of Gabe Carmody and Tyler Krenkels being key to the team’s success. 

It was electric to join a strong number of our cohort in the Seniors Hall watching the likes of Joshua Collett, Joseph Hamson, Dylan Zhang, Toby Peknice, Michael Xenofontos, Euan Liney, Ben Rothery, Ben Shen and Tyler Krenkels in the pool last night. The Class of 2021 are truly the future of Australian swimming with no record being safe with our boys in the pool. Whilst the live-streaming didn’t replace the atmosphere of the chlorine filled arena of the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre, the cheering and well wishes projected from our home base in leafy Wahroonga to our Speedo clad aquatic heroes was awe inspiring. They cheered on every stroke, kick and tumble-turn right through to the lifting of the trophy to celebrate a fantastic Knox Team effort.  

In the midst of this sporting wonderment, many of the Class of 2021 have been breaking an academic sweat with a number of assessment tasks rolling through as the Year 11 Preliminary course powers relentlessly on. Moving into Week 8, the boys are encouraged to continue with their solid study habits and this is also a time to seek assistance from the staff at their disposal to stay on top of this rather busy time. 

Whilst the term continues to move at a rapid pace it is important to ensure a clear line of communication between all parties in your son’s Knox journey. Please feel free to contact your son’s teachers, mentors or Team Leaders if you have any questions or concerns about your son’s progress.  If you are unsure of who to contact, please use your son’s mentor as the first port of contact.

James Stubbs-Mills

Congratulations! to the very talented Year 11 band 'Scapegoat' on making it through to the finals of the Battle of the Bands to be held in Week 2 of Term 2. 

I would like to wish Jackson Young all the best this weekend as he competes in the National Mountain Biking championships in Bright, Victoria. This is on the back of a great first place for Jackson, and second place for Finn Kane, at the Seniors Mountain Biking event last weekend.

I am pleased to announce there have been limited extra seats released to the performances of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. If you would like tickets, please email me with the dates and number of tickets required. Tickets will be set aside to be purchased (cash and eftpos only) and collected on the performance nights at the box office. Unfortunately, we cannot accept credit card payments.

A reminder that School photos are now available to order. To download your son's portrait and year photo, please login to the Melba Studios website, select School Orders and enter password KNOX. You will require your son’s student ID number which is located on his student ID card.

Finally, what an atmosphere we saw in the CAS Assembly and then followed on by the Senior boys being allowed to view the event live streamed in the Seniors Hall. It is times like this when the Knox school spirit shines through and we can, as a community, support with pride the dedicated efforts of our amazing divers and swimmers that make up the Knox Swim and Dive teams. What a finish to win a fourth year in a row!

Debra Barnard Tel: 9119 0883

Our current Prefect Executive group and Prefect body have put a strong emphasis on mental health awareness and literacy. They established ‘Mateship, Service and Culture’ as their three focus areas for 2020 and have set about providing initiatives to promote these ideals.

To that end, we have been working with Gotcha4Life and Head Above Water to create a unique and meaningful Knox community event. The Knox Head Above Water 12 Hour Swimathon/Challenge, based on the original 24 hour version of Head Above Water that now runs annually at Collaroy, will take place on Sunday 29 March from 6am - 6pm in the Knox Aquatic Centre. We are hoping to raise awareness and some money for these wonderful organisations whilst proactively promoting our own Total Fitness model.

Our Total Fitness model and current emphasis on ‘Mateship’ is synonymous with the mission statement of Gotcha4Life:

"Gotcha4Life was established because we do not accept the alarming statistics surrounding suicide in Australia, with eight people taking their life every day.

We believe in the power of prevention through connection and champion the idea of proactively building mental fitness and the resilience required to deal better with the challenges that life throws at us.

We trust the concept of starting meaningful conversations by developing better social and emotional connections with mates, family and community."

Gotcha4Life is a not-for-profit Foundation raising awareness of the importance of identifying a close friend in your life, someone you can speak openly and honestly to when times are tough. We fund educational workshops and innovative training programs throughout Australia that build mental fitness in individuals and communities to activate strong, open and binding relationships.

The founder of Gotcha4Life is media personality Gus Worland (OKG86). Gus will be presenting to the School at Assembly on Thursday next week to speak to the values and desired outcomes of Gotcha4Life together with promoting this first time Knox event. Head Above Water is an activity based fundraising group which supports Gotcha4Life as a registered charity. Its founder, Andrew Ward, established this group as a result of having to rely upon others in order to deal with some extremely challenging and unforeseen issues in his own life.

We will be asking current Knox students, their friends and families, Knox Old Boys and other CAS/local schools to register and get involved with this fun and community oriented inaugural event. With the option to register and/or donate, we hope that all members of the extended Knox community will participate and show their support.

You can register according to your swimming ability and there will be relays for those interested between 1pm and 2pm, as per the registration portal. There will be a BBQ, music and other activities running throughout the day as well, with a short post event function at 6.15pm.

Registration is $20 as an individual (you register for a half an hour time slot) and $40 per relay team of four (team captains to register and pay for their team on the registration portal). Those that register will receive a Knox Head Above Water swim-cap when they sign in on the day.

To register or donate click here and please email me should you have any questions about the event.

Sam White

Thursday 19 March 

• Visual Arts Installation Excursion. Narrabeen Lake and Beach.

Thursday 19 March to Saturday 21 March

• 'The Importance of Being Earnest' performances.

 Tuesday 24 March

• Careers Presentation -Engineers Australia. WSA Lecture Theatre. Lunchtime.

Saturday 28 March 

• Earth Hour 2020

Sunday 29 March 

• Head Above Water Event 6am -6pm. Knox Aquatic Centre

Thursday 2 to Thursday 9 April 

• AFX Cadet camp

Saturday 4 to Wednesday 8 April 

• Years 11 and 12 Senior Academy Leadership camp

Sunday 5 April 

• Daylight Savings Ends

Thursday 9 April

• Term 1 concludes

Friday 10 April

• Good Friday

$5 Donation Flash Sale

The next flash sale will be the week commencing on Monday 16 March for one week only. This will include most second hand uniform items that have been donated by parents or have been in second hand for over two years.

If you have any uniform items you would like to donate please ensure they are clean and in good condition. Please drop items off to the Uniform Shop at 10 Borambil Street. Due to hygiene reasons we cannot accept socks, bags or hats.

All proceeds of items sold will be donated to the Rural Relief Program. This program offers financial assistance to families that live in rural communities that have been impacted by drought and bush fires. 

Julie Blackburn

Donations have starting coming in support of the Wesley Mission's gifts of Easter eggs and pots of noodles for the homeless. Please put a few extra pots of noodles or some Easter eggs in your shopping trolley this weekend. This small gesture brings a lot of joy to those in need. Please ask your son to drop your donations to me.

It was great to be part of the crowd in the WSA hall watching the live link of the events at the CAS Championships last night. What a fabulous result!! Congratulations to the teams and all the swimmers and divers involved.

With a tremendous supporter turn out last Tuesday saw the Worlds Greatest Shave participants become follicly changed.

Led by Headmaster Scott James there were quite a lot of students across the year groups who took up the challenge and together raised almost $27,000. What an amazing effort.

The following students from Year 11 raised a significant amount of funds though only two managed to have their heads shaved due to time restraints.

Thank you gents for your incredible support of this fundraiser: Dhruv Hariharan, Reeva Cahyadi, Nick Tanna, Tom Johnston and Ben Firth.

Last week I was privileged to listen to some of our cohort performing at lunchtime in the Wenkart Theatre- absolutely beautiful music! 

So thrilled to be there to witness wins for Basketball in both 1sts and 2nd divisions - well done!