Another term is well underway and as always, the School is buzzing with activity and excitement. Student leadership positions were announced at this week’s Year Meeting. Boys who were selected to be a Mentor Representative or on a Portfolio Leadership Team (PLT) should be proud of their achievement and I look forward to seeing their contribution to the school community over the next 12 months. I am sure that each boy will rise to the occasion and will no doubt develop the vital skills required in these leadership positions.

During the week each Mentor Group discussed how to prepare for the upcoming examination block and focused on the notion of self-discipline. Although the boys are still in the Junior Academy, this examination block is another opportunity for each student to develop good study habits for future years, when self-management will be imperative. I encourage boys to be proactive in preparing for these examinations. A good first step is to reach out to their classroom teachers and seek advice. Mentors have had one-on-one conversations with students about last term’s APAs and each student set individual goals to help them capitalise on their strengths and ensure ongoing improvements. During the Mentor sessions a study planner was also discussed. I know that many fruitful conversations were had once the boys wrote down how much time is spent on relaxing and socialising with friends, or on the flip side, how much time is dedicated to homework and revision. Perhaps this will make for interesting discussion around the dinner table this weekend.  

Each day I am inundated with positive feedback from members of the Knox community as to how impressive our Year 8 boys are. According to staff from the Knox Cadet Unit, the first Cadet Parade last week, was very successful and I’m sure it was an exciting experience for the Year 8's. The Geography excursion was another highlight this week, with top-notch behaviour displayed while travelling around Sydney. As the term progresses, we will continue to hold the boys to our high expectations, whether that be in regards to uniform, haircuts or effort in the classroom. I know that we can finish the year strongly.

Clare Yuan

I don't often say it but I am so proud to be the Student Administration Officer for our Year Group and hearing all the amazing feedback from other staff members around the School about them makes me even more proud. Well done boys for displaying such exemplary behaviour and for upholding the high standards that Ms Yuan, Mr Openshaw and Mr Milligan often remind you about in Year Meeting.

As the boys have now started Cadets it is important to note that if your son is absent on a Friday you will need to submit a Cadets Leave Form as well an Absentee form. In addition, if you are going on leave, you will need to complete both a Leave Application form as well as the Cadets Leave Form for the Friday that your son will be away during the leave period. Instructions on how to do the Cadets Leave Form may be found here.

Students are welcome to attend Computer club which takes place every Wednesday afternoon from 3.30 to 5.30pm. This term the focus will be the Grok Code Quest competition which starts Monday 28 October 2019. For further information, please contact Mr David McGowan.

Just a reminder that we have the Year 8 Parent Seminar on Monday 28 October at 7pm with Dr Andrew Campbell. Please RSVP here if you would like to attend.

Year 8 parents are also invited to attend the Raising Boys in a Digital World event for an evening with Dr Kristy Goodwin. Dr Goodwin will provide practical and effective strategies to ensure your son’s online safety and healthy technology habits. Please RSVP by Friday 15 November here. For more information please contact Amanda Pooley.

When: Wednesday 20 November 2019, 6pm-8pm
Where: Wenkart Theatre, Junior Academy and Performing Arts Centre, Senior School 
Who: Knox Prep, Wahroonga Prep and Knox Senior School parents of students in Years 5-9

We wish to thank those of you who have been sending your donations to Room 19 to help the children who live in the underprivileged areas of Manila. We encourage others to please look through their cupboards for unwanted school and sports shoes that your son might have outgrown. Let's help by providing a better future for these children.

Please note, there will be no after-school maths tutorial on Monday 28 October. Students are still welcome to attend the Study Hub in the JAPAC lounge after school on Monday from 3.15pm to 6pm.

Finally, please take the time to read the message from Mrs Janelle Charlton in the Director of Studies section as it contains some tips about the upcoming examinations and also the examination timetable.

Have a fantastic weekend. 

Crystel Hodgson, Tel: 9119 0881

The Year 8 Yearly Examination Timetable has now been published (see below). Examinations for Year 8 will take place in Week 6 Monday 18 - Friday 22 November. (Note that there is an additional Maths paper for da Vinci students only on Wednesday 13 November). During the examination week, the boys will have normal lessons/activities, including sport, PDHPE practicals and cadets for any periods not designated as a study or examination period. All examinations will be held in the Great Hall, except for the additional Maths paper for da Vinci students only which will be held in normal Maths lessons and classrooms.

Yearly Examinations notifications are being progressively posted on Student Café and all should be uploaded by the end of next week.

I spoke to the boys at Year Meeting this week about the need to be preparing now for the examination block and your son’s Mentor has unpacked various strategies to assist him in this regard during Mentor meetings this week. For further details, please view this summary of the information and suggestions provided and a weekly planner template which your son could use to schedule his study for each week in the lead-up to the examinations. Your son should consider studying for the next few weeks in the JAPAC Lounge, as we have appointed a graduate student to work as an academic mentor who is available to assist boys with their study on Mondays to Wednesdays 3.15-5pm. Study Hub, with Knox Mathematics teacher Mrs Elschen Coetzee, runs on Tuesdays 3.30-4.30pm.

A reminder that if your son is absent for any examination, you should inform Mrs Crystel Hodgson as early as possible on the day of absence. We will endeavour to administer the missed examination on the next or subsequent day, where practicable. An Illness/Misadventure Appeal (IMA) application together with relevant documentation (such as a medical certificate or parent note) must be submitted to Mrs Hodgson by Monday 25 November, to avoid a task penalty. As per our Assessment Policy, late completion of an examination without an approved IMA or leave form may attract a 10% reduction of marks.

 Janelle Charlton

For a larger, printable version of the Examination Timetable, double click on the above image.

Can you run?

Can you swim?

Why not give Triathlon a go?

For anyone who has ever wanted to get involved in Triathlon, but did not know where to start, Triathlon NSW are running a three day live-in camp with some of the state's best Triathlon coaches to teach the skills required for the sport. It is also timed perfectly for athletes looking for a competitive advantage at the annual NSW All Schools event, held in February 2020 or one of the other many junior events being conducted around NSW.

 The camp includes:

• Three day, live-in camp including food and accommodation.
• Mentoring and coaching from some of Australia’s best triathlon coaches.
• Held at Sydney Academy of Sport Narrabeen, utilising their high quality sporting facilities.
• Develop your triathlon skills and enhance your performance at the NSW All Schools Triathlon event.
• Culminating in a fully sanctioned race (included in your registration!) by commercial Race Directors, Mildren Events.

For further information about the camp, please contact Mr Hart.

Monday 28 October

Year 8 Parent Seminar by Dr Andrew Campbell. Wenkart Theatre JAPAC, 7pm

Tuesday 29 October

OKGA Special Event: Tomorrow Man - a Night with the Blokes

Wednesday 30 October

2020 Papua New Guinea Kokoda Track Trek Information Evening. KCC Auditorium, 6pm

OKGA 2019 Golf Day. Avondale Golf Club, Pymble

Tuesday 5 November 

Duke of Edinburgh Information Evening

Thursday 7-9 November 

Knox Musical - 'Oliver'

Wednesday 13 November

Maths da Vinci examination during lesson time

Thursday 14 November

Industrial Evolution Works by Jasper Knight opening night. JAPAC, 6.30pm.

Monday 18 to Friday 22 November 

Yearly Examinations

Friday 15 November

Knox Christmas Markets. Great Hall. 4pm - 8pm 

Wednesday 20 November 

Parent Seminar: Raising Boys in a digital world, Wenkart Theatre, 6pm-8pm

Thursday 5 December

Knox Presentation Day

Term 4 Concludes

Information for Parents on the Development of Teenage Males

Dr Andrew Campbell is a prominent adolescent psychologist whose seminars have always been well received and appreciated by our Knox parents. Andrew’s presentation covers areas including supporting your son through physiological growth change and social-emotional changes, giving strategies needed to guide young men through the teen years. Please note this is a parent only seminar and no supervision is available for children.

When: Monday 28 October 7pm

Where: Wenkart Theatre JAPAC

The presentation is free of charge. Please click on this link Parent Seminar rsvp to register your attendance. I strongly recommend all Year 8 parents attend this important seminar.

You are invited to join Alec Germanos, Harry Gordon, Adam Scott, Will Solomons, Brandon Tan, and the rest of the Knox Young Curators to attend the Industrial Evolution event below.

During the last school holidays 20 students from Year 9, 10 and 11 went to Papua New Guinea to participate in the Kokoda Trek. A wrap up of the 2019 trip may be found here.

Year 8 students who are interested in the 2020 PNG Kokoda Track Trek can attend the information evening on Wednesday 30 October at 6pm in the KCC Auditorium. For further information please contact Ms Lenore Kennedy.

Cadet Tech takes place every Thursday afternoon from 3.15-5.15pm in R33 and is a student run program.

Our focus is making electronic devices for cadets, for fun and for competitions. Everyone who joins is taken through a training program and gets to learn how to put together a variety of electronics projects. We also support cadets in making and maintaining electronics for use in activities, including the CMAPS GPS system.

All students are welcome to attend.

For further information, please contact Ms Melinda Valent or Ms Emma Douglas.

Students from Knox Grammar School will reprise the School's very first musical, 'Oliver', with a production of the much loved musical in the Knox Junior Academy and Performing Arts Centre from 7-9 November.

The production will be the first major show to take place in the new 750 seat Wenkart Auditorium.

Performances
Thursday 7 November 2019, 7.30pm
Friday 8 November 2019, 7.30pm
Saturday 9 November 2019, 7.30pm

Venue
Wenkart Theatre, Junior Academy and Performing Arts Centre, Knox Grammar School, Wahroonga

Tickets
All tickets $35 at www.knox.nsw.edu.au/oliver

The production will feature a cast of 170 students from Years 7 to 12 from Knox Grammar School, Ravenswood School for Girls and Pymble Ladies' College, with a live orchestra and sound and lighting by a student tech crew.

Contemporary research and trend analysis highlight the importance of young people developing enterprise and entrepreneurial skills in order to rise to the challenges of our rapidly changing world. As such, Knox is committed to preparing our boys to thrive as global citizens and aims to extend our boys' capacity to engage in a world that is being shaped by automation and emerging technologies.

Our Year 10 signature program, Agent of Change, serves to meet the needs of our boys through a project-based experience that both leverages from authentic partnerships and exposes students to design thinking.

We are looking to engage parents, carers, members of our broader school community and beyond as potential ‘clients’ or industry mentors in this exciting educational experience.

 
Program Logistics:

 ·         The Agent of Change program will occur at Knox on 26-27 November.

 ·         Each Year 10 student will work collaboratively to build a prototype, design a product, and/or make a pitch to an external client.

 ·         External ‘clients’ will provide an authentic problem from their life or job that a student could provide/pitch a solution to.

We are specifically interested in projects that would engage students in art, graphic or web design, data analytics, programming, urban spaces, research, and marketing/advertising. We also invite you to join us for our Meet a Change Agent speaker series at lunch time next term.

Please contact Mr Jake Plaskett (Director of Studies at the Knox Middle Academy) if you would like to be a part of this signature program or if you have specific questions about what types of projects might be suitable.

For many years the School has offered a ‘fees in advance’ program to enable increased flexibility of such payments. The program is attractive for many reasons, enabling parents to make lump sum payments for years ahead which attract discounts to the scheduled fees.

To qualify, upfront full year payments must be made for a minimum of one year and the payments must be made by 31 October in the year before your payment program begins. Payments will only be accepted by direct funds transfer or cheque (credit card or Bpay payments are not permitted for this program).

Details of the Fees in Advance Program can be found on the Knox website here. Alternatively, you might like to discuss this in confidence with Betty Fowler from the School’s Accounts Department on 9487 0442.

Each year the Knox community supports those in need in the lead up to Christmas. We ask the Knox community to donate food for families who will struggle to provide for their families at Christmas. 

Donations can be handed in to Room 19 or Mrs Clarke’s office (Room 15)

Suggested items:

Pasta and pasta sauce, breakfast cereals (no nuts), long-life milk, tinned ham and/or turkey, long-life custard and/or canned cream, Christmas pudding/fruit cake and/or mince pies, tinned tuna/salmon, tea/coffee/Milo/hot chocolate/Nesquik, canned fruit, cordial, savoury snacks (no nuts) and table trimmings (such as lollies, chocolate or Christmas bonbons)

In early December we will arrange to take all of the donations into Wesley Mission in the City for distribution to these struggling families.

For many years the Knox community have generously supported the STARTTS program. STARTTS is the acronym for the ‘NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors’.

The organisation provides a range of professional services to facilitate the healing process for refugees who have been exposed to torture and trauma, as well as access to health services for newly arrived refugees. The aim of the program at Knox is to provide your son with the opportunity to learn a little about the organisation and what it does, as well as to think about children of his own age who have had to cope with very real difficulties in their lives. It encourages the boys to think about demonstrating compassion in his life and how displaying that compassion is integral to our Christian compassion at Knox

The boys are asked to make a Christmas card for a child who is currently being assisted by the service. It would be wonderful if your son could provide a small Christmas gift ($10 in value) to which his card can eventually be attached.

The gifts should be handed to Room 19 by Tuesday 3 December. We intend to present the gifts to a guest speaker from STARTTS organisation that is coming to the School in the last week of term.

In previous years, the gift from our boys was often the only gift these children received. If possible, please wrap and label the gift indicating whether it is appropriate for a boy of girl.

We appreciate your support as always and hope that the boys will learn a great deal from their participation in this program.

For more information, please contact Mrs Helen Clarke.

Last week our Year 8 cohort had their first Cadet Parade which was thoroughly enjoyed by all of them.

This week a mixed group of Year 7 and 8 boys who form our Junior Theatresports team, competed in the Impro Australia Heats at Cranbrook School and tied first place! This means they will be progressing to the semi-finals.

Theatresports brings together representative teams from independent and government schools all over Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast, Bowral and Nowra. The five-strong Knox team (along with the support of the Reserve Team/cheer squad!) created 1, 2 and 3 minutes improvised scenes live on stage, judged and scored by a team of improvisation professionals.

The boys did Knox proud: they were confident, collaborative, creative… and beautifully behaved, making friends with competing students in a fun and supportive environment.

Well done to Horatio Ctercteko, Lucas Dale, Jack Farrall, Hamish Murphy and Lachlan Sherlock and their Year 7 counterparts who worked very well under the leadership of Ms Brigitta Anderson!

On Tuesday night 16 boys from Year 8 had a light photography workshop with Peter Solness. It was an amazing experience to work with Mr Solness as he showed us how to make our pictures look amazing with only the help of a torch. By the end of the night we were able to create pictures that looked amazing just because of the light we added. It was amazing how with just one or two torches we were able to transform a boring picture into something that was eye catching.

Samuel Stone