On Monday we commemorate Remembrance Day by holding our annual Knox Grammar School Remembrance Day Commemoration and OKGA Honouring Service between 10.30am - 11.10am. The service takes place on Knox 1 and students will be seated in the Knox 1 stand.

Please remind your sons that:

• Cadets involved in service are to wear their bush hat (wide brim).
• All other students wear a Knox hat or cap.
• All students should apply sunscreen prior to coming to school and bring sunscreen to school to re-apply at recess.
• Drink plenty of water at recess to remain hydrated.

Your assistance in encouraging your son to be ‘sun smart’ is greatly appreciated.

Phil O’Regan

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the musical production of 'Oliver!' Sitting in the new Wenkart auditorium and watching the performance was simply outstanding. I was not only in awe of the talent on offer but also had a deep sense of pride and respect for the amount of time invested into rehearsals, on top of still managing their school and sporting commitments. It was evident that those on stage were having a great time and the memories of being involved in a school production will live with them for a long time to come. Congratulations to all the boys who were involved either on the stage or in the support crew behind the scenes. It was incredible!

This week we finalised our Peer Support Leaders for 2020. Our cohort were presented with the opportunity to be leaders and form a vital part of the new Year 7s transition into the Senior School. We had over 70 applications and with only 38 positions on offer, some boys will naturally be disappointed they missed out. Whilst it might seem like a disappointment now, there will be many more opportunities for the boys to be involved in leadership in the upcoming year and I would encourage them all to keep applying. For those who were successful, I hope that the responsibility and opportunity to be role models is one that you carry with a great sense of maturity.

Finally, the transition to the new locker facility is nearly complete. Over the weekend boys will be emailed with their new locker numbers and will arrive to School on Monday morning ready to move in! I would encourage each parent to check with their sons and ensure that they know their new number to make the transition seamless. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Vicky Cowell

To the cast and crew of 'Oliver!', congratulations on a superb show last night. Knox's first Senior musical in the Wenkart Theatre and the evening went without a hitch. All those hours of training, rehearsing etc. certainly paid off. The 750 strong audience were clapping and singing along to all the favourite ‘Oliver!’ songs. Well done, team.

The NSW CIS Team Triathlon Championships were held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith last week and our boys were brilliant. Knox entered 13 teams across the three divisions of Junior, Intermediate and Senior. Each of the legs was keenly contested as qualifying spots were available for the NSW All Schools competition early in 2020 and our boys raced extremely well. Congratulations to all of the boys who participated especially to our fit Year 9 boys, Will McDonagh – Swim (400m), Matt Pearson – Bike (15 km) and Will Constable – Run (3 km) who came 3rd place in the Intermediate division.

Come along to the Social Justice stall at the Knox Christmas markets on Friday 15 November. We will be supporting our drought impacted farmers via Drought Angels and the Uniting Church- Everything in Common. We are after cupcakes, slices, biscuits to sell at the SJ Stall.

Given next week is National Recycling Week, we are doing a recycling challenge for all stages across the School. We want to impress upon the boys to put all plastic bottles (not just Return and Earn bottles!) in the yellow recycling bins and see which of the year Stages have the largest amount of bags of uncontaminated recycled bottles next week. Talk with the family regarding the importance of recycling. Every little bit helps.

Farewell to Room 19, it's been fun. Looking forward to moving into our new space on Monday. 

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

Monday 11 November

Remembrance Day service

Tuesday 12 November

Year 9 dance program with PLC Pymble

Tuesday 12 November

Volunteer thank you celebration

Thursday 14 November

Young Curators Exhibition, 6.30pm

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

Saturday 30 November

Knox in Concert, Great Hall, 6.30pm

Thursday 5 December

96th Annual Presentation Day, 1pm

Term 4 Concludes

Join us for the opening night of an exhibition of works by acclaimed Australian artist Jasper Knight, co-presented with the Knox Young Curators and 3:33 Art Projects. The evening will include a Q&A with Jasper Knight and art curator Max Germanos. 

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.

Proud South Africans - from left Lawson Henaghan, Ms Cowell and Kade Watt. Winners are grinners and what a game the Springboks played! That's it for another four years, bring on the next World Cup in France.

The Boarders' Dinner was held on Wednesday evening. Well done to the following boys/from left:

Term 4 2019/Term 1 2020 Boarder Leadership Team, Zach Green

ConneXions Award, Tommy Huang

House Manager's Award, James Jones

Congratulations to the following Year 9 boys who performed in the Senior Ensemble - Parsia Abedini, Tom Donnelley, Shervin Erfanian, Angus Haddow, Hugo Boulden, Theo Ham, Oliver Hilliard, Ben Cairns, Bill Hirst, Seb Cook, Alex Hutchinson-Smith, Josh Darley, Matthew Ifield, Matt de Meyrick, Harrison Ribeira, Benji Schroder, Farnell Lu, Angus Murphy, Leo Pacca, Patrick Wagner, Justin Wang, Xavier Webster, Lachlan Wilson and Brin Yeowell. 

And to the following boys involved in Stage Crew: Callum Haddow and Will Twyman.

Callow Haddow was also the Design Assistant and involved with Program Design.

And Ethan Talwar who played the Trombone/Euphonium in the Orchestra.

Will Denton performing at the 2019 NSW Juvenile Drum major’s Championship last weekend and won. Well done, Will.