Building works on the new locker building are progressing well and we expect to be moving the lockers to the new space at the end of next week. Should work continue along the predicted timeline then, in preparation for the move, students will be required to completely empty their lockers on Thursday 7 November. Instead of attending School Assembly during Period 5 on Thursday, students will have this time allocated to cleaning out and packing up their locker. All their books and equipment will need to be packed in their bags and taken home on Thursday. We ask that students only bring essential items with them to school on Friday 8 November.

On Friday, their school bags can be stored in lockers until the end of lunch. For this day only, students will carry their bags to periods 6 and 7. We recommend that students attach their lock to the strap of their school bag on Friday, so they do not forget to bring it to school with them on Monday 11 November. Locations will be provided for students attending cadets to store their bags after school.

Lockers will be moved into the new building over the weekend and students will have full access to their locker again from Monday morning 11 November. There will be signage and staff on hand to ensure that students are able to quickly locate their locker in the new facility. Mentors and Team Leaders will be advising students in due course of their new locker number. Should your son be absent on Thursday, staff will be placing all contents of the locker in a bag which will be labelled with his locker number. The bags will be locked in a secure room and he will be able to collect his possessions upon his return to school.

14 members of staff will have offices in the new building, namely: Team Leaders, Assistant Team Leaders, Student Administrative Officers as well as Student Management Officers. From 11 November onwards, if you are coming to school to drop off items for your son or to submit forms, you will need to go to the new locker building (opposite the Great Hall) rather than Room 19.

We thank you for your patience and understanding at this time as we endeavour to make this transition process as smooth as possible.

Elizabeth Ruff

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Sir Winston Churchill.

We often encourage our boys to stand up and show leadership. We encourage them to be involved, interact and become a valued member of the community. This week in Year Meeting, we witnessed many examples of our most recent School value of ‘Courage’.

Each week this term Senior Portfolio Leaders have been presenting to the boys, demonstrating further ways they can become involved in the life of the School. The Portfolio team areas include: Community, Social Justice, Academic, Student Leadership, Sport, House and Co-Curricular. Our Community leaders spoke to the boys about a new initiative called the ‘Tartan Army’. This group of students from Years 7-12 aim to create a community of boys who share a common passion in supporting Knox sporting teams. It is built from the idea of the ‘Barmy Army’ who travel to many sporting events and support their fellow countrymen. The senior students encouraged our boys to show courage and sign up to become a part of the Tartan Army community.

A further key highlight this week during our meeting was a performance from Theo Ham. Theo demonstrated an amazing amount of courage and confidence to sing ‘Uptown Girl’ by Billy Joel in front of his peers. He was accompanied by Mr David Jenkins. A huge thank you to Theo and Mr Jenkins for sharing their talents and leaving everyone a little brighter and happier for the rest of the week.

During the week, you should have all received an email from your son sharing a reflection on his learnings in the lead up to the Yearly Examinations. In mentor groups, the students were led through a series of questions and given time to meaningfully reflect on how they allocated their time to the study timetable and nominate areas of strength and weakness.

This week and in the coming weeks, our mentor program moves into activities and sessions focussing on the Healthy Digital Diet. The program is designed to positively shape the students' digital practices and habits. Our Mentors will be exploring the boys’ experiences of digital technology and social media and assisting them with strategies to encourage helpful behaviours in line with our Knox values.  

If you have any queries regarding the Yearly Examinations, please ask your son to check in with his teacher or contact the teacher directly yourself.

Margie Raymond

Congratulations to the following Basketball Champions Round 1: Will Penn, Aidan Taylor, Sam Bourgeois, Dom Cole, Tommy Huang, Harrison Ribeira, Ian Palmer, Bill Hirst, Oliver Sved, Justin Hirsch and William Wu.

For those attending 'Oliver!' next week, please note that there will be no refreshments served in the Wenkart Theatre or foyer but cold water stations will be present on the terrace.

Kyh Samuelsson (Year 10) and Jarrah McLeod were absent today as they were chosen for a camp for elite Aboriginal rugby players. Well done, boys!

With the end of Term 4 holidays looming, please be sure to complete a Student Leave form for any leave of three days or more and submitted with a minimum of two weeks' notice.

An Illness and Misadventure form needs to be completed should your son miss an examination/assessment task due to illness along with submitting a medical certificate.

For ease, I have included the Year 9 examination timetable below commencing Week 5. For a larger, printable version, double click on the image.

Rebecca Smith Tel: 9119 0882

This year, both the Junior Academy and Middle Academy introduced a skills-based, research-informed program entitled Skills of Accomplishment to complement our rigorous academic program. Embedded within the mentor program, students developed their study skills, focused on personal organisation, investigated strategies for time management, and goal setting/reflection.

The program is scheduled to occur in the first 2-3 weeks of every term across Years 7-9. Our aim is for boys to adopt at least one new strategy each term and further develop their skills in the same domains every year.

This term, the Skills of Accomplishment focus was goal setting and reflection through the lens of exam preparation. A growing body of research consistently demonstrates that ongoing dialogue between parents/carers and their child has significantly positive impacts on wellbeing and a correlation to higher academic achievement. As such, you should have recently received two emails from your son; the first email included a personalised study timetable and the second was a copy of their reflection form, for discussion at home. You are encouraged to discuss these emails with your son.

Moreover, in response to recent statistics about young people’s digital devise usage, all boys were required to create a time management schedule in Term 2. Our boys considered how they spend their time outside of school (revision, sport, down-time, etc.) and what percentage of time was spent with or without a digital device – this may also be a great topic for conversation.

Thank you for your support of this program; please let me know if you have any questions about Skills of Accomplishment.

Jake Plaskett

The inaugural Careers Insight Evening held on Monday night was well attended by students across Years 9-12 and their parents. Students heard some great insights, inspiration, and advice from our presenters. Thank you to our Old Boys and staff who generously gave their time to share their knowledge and personal insights into their industry. Due to its success, this event will become a key annual event in the Knox Careers Program, highlighting the importance of career education for students. The key note presentation can be found here. Other presentations will soon be made available and can be accessed via the Careers Page on the portal.

Linda Gomez

Thursday 7 November

Maker workshop: Build your own snake game

Thursday 7-9 November

Knox Musical - 'Oliver!'

Tuesday 12 November

Year 9 dance program with PLC Pymble

Tuesday 12 November

Volunteer thank you celebration

Thursday 14 - 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

Monday 25 November

Paul Dillon - Parent seminar, Great Hall, 6pm

Thursday 5 December

Knox Presentation Day

Term 4 Concludes

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 boys are welcome to attend.

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

An exhibition of work by leading Australian artist, Jasper Knight, has been curated by the Young Curators (Year 8 - Alec Germanos, Adam Scott, Brandon Tan, Harry Gordon, Will Solomons, Year 9 - Justin Menso, and Year 12 - Mitchell Volk). It will be on display in the JAPAC from 12-29 November.

Raising boys in a digital world
An evening with Dr Kristy Goodwin

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

Dr Goodwin will provide practical and effective strategies to ensure your son’s online safety and healthy technology habits.

Please RSVP by 15 November here. For more information, email Amanda Pooley.

Parent seminar - Raising Boys in a Digital World flyer

The Knox Christmas Markets are being held on Friday 15 November from 4pm-8pm in the Great Hall.

Once again, Pudding Lane are kindly donating 40% of all pre-orders to the Knox Parents’ Association (KPA), so if you would like to pre-order a Christmas pudding or cake, please see attached “pudding flyer” for details. Pre-orders need to be placed by Friday 8 November.

Please click here to place your order.

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 this Christmas. 

Suggested items:
Tinned ham and/or turkey 

Long-life custard and/or cream

Christmas pudding/fruit cake and/or mince pies

Tinned tuna/salmon

Tea/coffee/Milo/hot chocolate/Nesquik

Canned fruit, savoury snacks, pretzels/chips (no nuts please), jelly lollies preferred as chocolate melts

Table trimmings such as bon bons.

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

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

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.

Freddo time. Happy Birthday (from left) Tianshou Jiang, Xavier Webster, Leo Harris, Bailey Dietz, Jack Parry, Dom Cole, Brian Lau and Brandon T Chung.

Theo Ham showed courage when he sang 'Uptown Girl' by Billy Joel to Year 9 on Monday morning. What a way to start the day. Congratulations and thanks, Theo. 

Kyh Samuelsson (Year 10), Thomas Horseman and Jarrah McLeod attended the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation mentoring program at PLC Pymble yesterday afternoon.

 A quick drawing before bedtime. Boarder, Brian Lau's, version of NASA. Woah; his work is detailed, thought provoking and clever.