We are so pleased in the response from the community so far in preparing for our Ride with Richter Cap Day on 24 November. Students from across the year groups are getting behind the initiative and many others have asked to extend the opportunity to purchase a cap. So, the online form remains open for parents to purchase a cap for their son until Wednesday next week. Boys will also receive a sausage sandwich on the day.

Boys can come to school on 24 November in casual clothes and will be asked for a gold coin donation either on entry to school or during their mentor lesson. Through the day we will have activities for boys to be involved with.

For more details, please refer to the Ride with Richter Cap Day flyer here.

Senior School Campus – Tuesday 17 November
Please be aware that the Senior School Campus will be closed at 5pm on Tuesday 17 November, unless students are catching the 5.30pm bus.

The Boater Café will be closed and no students will be on campus in preparation for the Year 12 Farewell Event.

Phil O'Regan

It has been another busy week for Year 9 with the start of the Yearly Exam period yesterday. The boys are to be commended on their conduct and I have no doubt they will be busy studying this weekend!

On Monday 23 November, Paul Dillon will be talking to Year 9 students in Periods 3 and 4. Paul will also be running an online parent information session on the evening of Monday 23 November. The session will commence at 6.30pm and will address the topic, 'Parents, sons, parties, alcohol and other drugs: What's happening now and what can we expect in a post COVID-19 world?' A link to access this online session will be emailed to parents on Monday 23 November. Should you wish to view the parent session, please register using this link.

Elizabeth Ruff

Week 5 marked the start of the Yearly Examinations with Electives on Thursday and Geography on Friday. There was an excited buzz around the Middle Academy and Year 9 Locker Area as students busied themselves with study and preparation in the first part of the week, and then flew into action in the latter. I have been so impressed with not only the majority of the cohort’s effort and diligence in preparing and being organised for these exams, but also their behaviour and compliance whilst in the exam hall. During Year Meeting this week, I spoke to the boys about four main pillars they should be focussing on during this exam period:

• Studying Hard
• Getting enough sleep
• Eating well, and
• Exercising regularly

It is a relatively short period of time and whilst exams results are not the be all and end all: for this weekend and week-to-come, time should be spent on ensuring their personal best efforts are maximised.

I know this is a hectic time for both students, staff and parents and the reality of fatigue is certainly a factor. The increased trend of stress and emotionality is totally understandable after a challenging year for all – so I would like to encourage us all to be kind and gracious to one another through these last few weeks of term. The holidays are imminent but there are still a few more exams to go, so self-care and a balanced approach to this examination period are vital to the short- and long-term wellbeing for all. If you feel your son is struggling, please reach out to one of our us here at school – Mentor, Team Leader or one of the counselling team in the Knox Wellbeing Centre – we would be more than happy to help and support your son at this time.

The boys were able to hear from some senior students at Year Meeting this week about some really exciting school initiatives: Nicholas Weickart (Year 12) spoke to us about an Eco Bin Recycling Competition and Andrew O’Brien (Year 10) spoke to us about a social justice initiative called Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs. I encourage all boys to consider participating in these initiatives wherever possible.

Craig Milligan 

It feels like it was just yesterday that our cohort were here for their Orientation day to join the Senior School. Today I was very proud of the Peer Support Leaders from our cohort who welcomed boys coming into Year 7 2021. They were true leaders who were there to guide and support some nervous students and they had numerous activities that kept the students engaged. Some photos of the boys in action can be found further below.

Just a reminder that as examinations are still taking place if your son is absent the day prior to, the morning of or on the day of an examination then an Illness and Misadventure Appeal form is to be completed and returned to the School by no later than Wednesday 18 November 2020. 

Campion Books 2021
Last week Mrs Yager provided the Year 10 book list. As stated by Mrs Yager, please be aware that decisions regarding da Vinci placements and Mathematics placements for Years 8 to 10 are made in Week 8, the last week of school. To avoid the need to swap texts please hold off submitting your order until you are notified of your son’s placement. The Campion deadline for orders is the 9 December 2020.

Fees in Advanced program

Just a reminder that if you want to take part in the ‘fees in advance’ program offered by the School then today is the last day for the payments to be received. Further information about the Fees in Advance Program can be found here on the Knox website. Alternatively, you might like to discuss this in confidence with Betty Fowler from the School’s Accounts Department on 9487 0442.

Social Justice - Items for Christmas Hampers and Christmas gifts for families in need

This term is a time when the Knox community generously supports families for who Christmas is a particularly difficult time. For the last 13 years we have supported these organisations.

Our focus this this year is for the Wesley Mission and Parramatta Mission. Both organisations aim to support families at Christmas with basic food supplies and Christmas fare. For example: Christmas cakes, puddings, custard, serviettes, tins of ham, bon bons, biscuits, cordial as well as staple goods such as long-life milk, cereals, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, canned meats, pasta, sauces etc. Your support this year will be most appreciated.

For a number of years Knox has worked with STARTTS to support children who received no gifts without our support. The social workers continually reinforce what a positive difference our donations make to these children and their parents. Please send in a wrapped the gift with a card to indicate the suitable age and gender of the gift to the value of $10 (or more if you wish).

All donations can be sent to my office or Mrs Clarke's office.

Finally, I hope the boys have some rest this morning and keep up with their study plan so they can complete the remaining examinations that are coming up next week.

Have a great weekend. 

Crystel Hodgson, Tel: 9119 0881

Knox utilises the ACER Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT) data to compare our boys against the state and national standards; moreover, it helps inform us about what topics our boys are particularly successful at and where we may find areas of opportunity in our teaching and learning programs. Please note: PAT testing results are not published and your son’s performance does not impact his academic reports nor his class placement for Year 10.

All Year 9 students will complete the PAT tests for Reading, Writing, and Numeracy in the coming weeks during one of their Science, English and Mathematics lessons. These three tests provide powerful data that – combined with our internal assessment program – assist with student tracking and year level academic interventions.

Your son will be emailed a login and specific details about his test session; a fully charged laptop will be required for all three tests as they are administered electronically. Moreover, for the numeracy test, your son will need a calculator in addition to his laptop.

Should your son be unwell and miss one of his yearly examinations due to absence, he will need to sit it immediately upon return unless instructed otherwise. Mrs Hodgson will have emailed all parents/carers of students who were marked absent; the email indicates (1) that an Illness Misadventure Appeal application is required on or before next Wednesday, 18 November and (2) which lesson(s) we are hoping to have your son complete the missed tasks. Due to markbook closures at the end of Week 6, make up examinations may compound depending on the period of absence and require your son to sit many tasks one after the other. 

Jake Plaskett 

Parenting in the holidays
With only a few weeks of the school year left, many of us are thinking about and planning for the holidays. For our boys, the school holidays present wonderful opportunities for relaxation and rejuvenation, quality time with the family and important social time with friends.

Holidays also bring large amounts of unstructured time, opportunities for greater independence, and a range of social activities, including parties - and for some, this may include an increased exposure to risky situations. Neuroscience tells us that the wise decision-making parts of the brain aren’t fully developed until young people are in their 20s. With that in mind, now is a great time to think about parenting your teenager over the holidays. Plan in advance for potentially difficult situations.

Remember that children of all ages require limits and boundaries - and that these should be adjusted as your child grows older. ReachOut has some great points about balancing trust and freedom with your teenager which may be accessed here.

As always, try to work on maintaining a strong, healthy relationship with your son - as the basis for all parenting. Find a way to keep the lines of communication open, and coach them to make healthy and helpful decisions. Discuss the expectations, and know that it is important and reasonable for you to know where they are when they go out.

For those parents wanting more support with managing parties and teenagers, Maggie Dent and Paul Dillon are presenting an online masterclass, 'Alcohol, Drugs, Parties & Teens' on Tuesday 8 December at 8pm. More details here.

Maggie Dent’s ‘Common Sense Parenting’ website also has other helpful resources on a range of parenting topics.

Thursday 12 - Wednesday 18 November

Yearly Examinations 

Monday 23 November

Paul Dillon Talk to students

Paul Dillon Online Parent Seminar - 6.30pm

Tuesday 24 November

Ride with Richter Cap Day - please click on the image below to enlarge

Thursday 3 December

Term 4 concludes

The Hollander family, with Knox Grammar School, is proud to announce the Martin, Barbara, Berend, and Matthew Hollander Indigenous Scholarship.

Established in memory of the Hollander family, tragically killed whilst on holiday in New Zealand as a result of the White Island volcano eruption of 9 December 2019, the scholarship, working with Knox Grammar School and the (Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin) GO Foundation, will help provide the opportunity for local indigenous students to attend Knox Grammar School.

New Reads

Some latest additions to the collection include;

'Butterfly Song' by Terri Janke

'When the Ground is Hard' by Malla Nunn

'Ghost Bird' by Lisa Fuller

'The Light Between Us' by Andrew Fukuda

'Poison Study' by Maria V. Snyder

'Wild Born Book 1 of Spirit Animals' by Brandon Mull

Reminders

Magazine Giveaway in Week 8: come to the library for the free giveaway of this year’s magazines. 

Holiday Borrowing: you are welcome to borrow for the school holidays. Books will be dated to return the first week of Term 1 2021.

Returning Books: have you received an overdue reminder? Do you need more time to read your selected book? Just come along and speak to the staff in the library or email us to extend your loan.

Enjoy your reading.

Sally Thomson

Senior School Years 7-11 Presentation Day will be held on Thursday 3 December in the Great Hall, Senior School. Senior School Presentation Day will be structured into three separate events:

• Year 11 - 11am-12pm
• Years 9-10 - 12.30pm-1.30pm
• Years 7-8 - 2pm-3pm

Students will be dismissed at the conclusion of their Academy Presentation Day ceremony. Knox buses will run at 1.45pm for Years 9-11 students and at 3.30pm for Years 7-8 students.

All Senior School students are expected to attend on Thursday 3 December. Due to COVID-19 protocols and indoor venue capacity limits, we will only be able to welcome parents of prize recipients on-site. However, the service will be live streamed. The parents of prize recipients will be sent an invite to attend their relevant Presentation Day ceremony no later than Friday 27 November (prize recipients can only be finalised once exam marks have been collated). Parents of prize recipients will be required to pre-register to attend and register by QR on arrival.

If you have any questions about Senior School Presentation Day, please email Zsa-Zsa Monardo (Senior School).

Parent seminar - Parents, sons, parties, alcohol and other drugs: What's happening now and what can we expect in a post COVID-19 world?
Knox parents are invited to register for a webinar with Paul Dillon, Director of the Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia on the topic, 'Parents, sons, parties, alcohol and other drugs: What's happening now and what can we expect in a post COVID-19 world?”.

When: Monday 23 November, 6.30pm
Where: Online seminar (livestream only)
Who: Aimed at parents of students in Years 9, 10 and 11 (Year 12 2021) – other Knox parents welcome to register.

Please register at www.knox.nsw.edu.au/pauldillon no later than Sunday 22 November.

This online presentation will look at the latest data on alcohol and other drug (AOD) use of Australian secondary school students and discuss the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on teens and socialising and what effect the pandemic lockdown may have had on teen AOD use. There are huge challenges ahead for parents as they acknowledge the importance of their sons’ socialising but, at the same time, ensure their safety by having age-appropriate rules and boundaries in place as restrictions are gradually rolled back. To assist parents through this difficult time, some simple tips around alcohol, parties and gatherings will be provided to help ensure their child's safety now and post-COVID-19.

The online parent seminar will be live-streamed, commencing at 6.30pm and running for approximately one hour.

For more information, please email Ms Elizabeth Ruff, Head of Knox Middle Academy.

2021 Applications
We would like to invite students who have competed at the state/national level to apply to join the PEAK program for the next intake. We understand that COVID-19 may have impacted some state/national championships, so PEAK eligibility criteria has been extended to include the last 12 months, or the last state/national championship event that was run.

What is PEAK?
PEAK will be going into its third year of operation and is designed to support high-performing student-athletes who aspire to have a career in elite sport. We aim to develop healthy, resilient and capable students by supporting the holistic wellbeing of each individual, whilst assisting them to achieve their academic and sporting potential.

The PEAK program includes:

• One on one mentoring with Knox high performance coaches, including the development of an Individual Performance Plan (IPP)
• Keynote speakers focusing on the Knox Total Fitness pillars, including:

  • Academic Fitness – covering themes such as time management, goal setting and habits for academic success
  • Physical Fitness – covering effective nutritional practices for athletes, sleep for recovery and effective rehab/prehab
  • Spiritual Fitness (Personal Development) – covering communication, mental preparation and leadership
  • Social/Emotional Fitness – covering resilience, performing under pressure and respect and responsibility

• Small group workshops to further enhance each student-athlete’s skills and learning capabilities.

Please see the PEAK website for more information about the program, including a copy of the prospectus.

To apply, please complete application form here. Applications will close on Thursday 3 December (last day of Term 4), with successful applicants to be notified before school resumes in 2021.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email here.

Kieran Donohue, Director of PEAK

Each school has a different policy with regards to the number of spectators, so it will be important to carefully read the information below.

1. Check the team list to see your son’s team - see the Knox app (download instructions)
2. Check the sports draw to see where and when your son’s team is playing - check the Knox app
3. Is he playing at a Knox Grammar School venue? If yes:

• 2 spectator parents/guardians per player at our outdoor venues
• 1 spectator parent guardian per player at our indoor venues
• QR code registration will be in place across all facilities at entry points, with standard health checks and questions
• Players in all teams should turn up ready to play - no change rooms will be available
• Canteens will be closed. Players should bring their own labelled water bottles and snacks if required
• Players should leave immediately after completion of their fixture
• Teams due to play in Great Hall, MacNeil and Lawson court will need to wait on Boulevard until they may enter the facility. This will depend on finish time of previous fixture
• Water Polo players will need to wait in JAPAC rec area for clearance to enter the pool area
• Standard 1.5m social distancing for all spectators

4. Is your son playing away? Which School is he playing against?

Barker College
• Indoor venues – 1 spectator parent/guardians per player
• Outdoor venues - 2 spectator parent/guardians per player

Waverley College
• Indoor venues – 1 spectator parent/guardians per player
• Outdoor venues - 2 spectator parent/guardians per player

Newington College
• Indoor venues – 1 spectator parent/guardians per player

Please ensure you follow social distancing guidelines at all times and leave immediately after your son’s game. As always, any sports cancellations due to wet weather will be announced via the Knox app (make sure you have subscribed to alerts for your son’s summer sport).

If you have any questions, please email the Sports and Aquatic Academy here.

Thank you and best wishes to all our students this weekend.

Martin Haywood, Head of Knox Sports and Aquatic Academy

Photos courtesy of Judah Limantono.

Last Sunday 8 November, the Knox Pipes and Drums boys participated in the Pipe Band NSW Solos at Blackmore Oval in Leichhardt. Andrew Gladigau participated in the snare drumming competition and Joel Belton participated in the tenor drumming competition.
 

At the competition Andrew placed 3rd in the D Grade Snare 2/4 March and 3rd in the 6/8 March whilst Joel places 2nd in the D Grade 2/4 March.

Congratulations, Andrew and Joel, for doing so well.

Year 9 Agriculture were raising broiler (meat) chickens. This week the Boarding kitchen kindly cooked the final product, roast chickens and chips. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all the boys who gave the meal a big 'thumbs up'.