Newsletter ST GEORGE’S ANGLICAN GRAMMAR SCHOOL Edition Three 08 March 2019
St George’s Anglican Grammar School; an exciting, innovative co-educational secondary school based in a high-rise building in the Perth CBD. The School caters for local and international students in Years 7-12, and is a proud member of the Anglican Schools Commission network of schools in Western Australia. We are committed to child safety and protection, and expect all staff, volunteers, visitors to the School and contractors to respect and abide by all policies, procedures and practices developed and put in place by the Anglican Schools Commission (ASC) and/or the School in this regard.
Contents From the Principal .......................................................................................................... 1 From the Head of Curriculum .................................................................................... 3 From the Head of Pastoral .......................................................................................... 5 From the Head of Science and Mathematics ........................................................... 7 From the Head of Physical Education......................................................................... 10 Administration ................................................................................................................ 12 Community Noticeboard ............................................................................................. 13
From the Principal
• • •
Mr Gary Racey
Mid-term break
It is hoped families enjoyed the recent mid-term break and students have been able to regroup after a frenetic start to the year. A four-day break at this stage of the term is just what the students need, to take a breather and be refreshed for the second half of the term. We find this use of staff professional development days better for our students at this time, as compared at the end of the term when they already have an extended holiday break scheduled. Staff were busy on the Friday in Strategic Planning workshops, completing a mental health and pastoral course called the ‘Accidental Counsellor’, and a session on dyslexia awareness. A most productive and worthwhile day of professional development.
children. I am pleased when I reflect on our newly introduced Protective Behaviours Program (PBP) and Pastoral and Well-Being Session (PAWS) that we specifically target such issues. It is good to know we now, as a school, have a clear, explicit and nominated time within our weekly schedule to tackle and discuss such concerns that our young people are facing each and every day. Information on our programs can be found on the School website and within SEQTA.
Cultural Competence Program
Whilst on the subject of the PAWS program, we are including a program called the ‘Cultural Competence Program’. This is a program whereby SBS has partnered with ATOM to create classroom resources which complement SBS’s Cultural Competence Program (CCP). The program aims to build capability around cultural diversity and inclusion and consists of more than 60 short films (1-4 minute) on a range of topics including unconscious bias, cultural adaptation, cross-cultural communication and cultural differences and similarities. It is complemented by the Cultural Atlas – a free website which provides culture-specific information around practices, values, behaviours and communication styles for over 65 countries.
I read with interest an article in The West recently whereby Prime Minister Scott Morrison plans to announce a $10 million grant scheme to fund a range of programs designed to enhance online safety for our
Not only does the program have direct curriculum links and hence supplement learning areas/units such as Civics and Citizenship, English, Health and Physical Education, Media Arts and History it also relates to the following General Capabilities within the Australian Curriculum:
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St George’s Anglican Grammar School Newsletter
Cyber-Safety Programs
Personality and Social Capability Ethical Understanding Intercultural Understanding
Student Guild and Year 12 Commissioning Service
The inaugural Student Guild and Year 12 Commissioning Service was held at St A worthwhile inclusion I would suggest. George’s Cathedral on the morning of Monday 25 February. Whilst the students Strategic Plan – Student, Parent were inducted into their positions late last and Staff Workshop/Parent Survey year, this formal service highlights the important role and the levity of these We had such a wonderful parent response student leadership positions within our to the Strategic Planning Wine and Cheese Workshop held at the School on the evening school. Additionally, we have introduced a ‘Year 12 badge’ to acknowledge this cohort’s of 27 February 2019. Over 50 attendees certainly permitted extensive input from our final year of education at St George’s and the fact they are all role models and leaders parent body. A big thank you to those who were involved and attended – it makes such of the school. It will also help with our younger children to know who they can a difference to get a parent perspective to approach if they require support from one help guide our future direction. of our student leaders. Thank you to the parents and families who attended the Additionally, three student workshops have Service, and congratulations again to the been implemented, with representatives from every year group considered. We have Student Guild and all Year 12’s. run staff workshops with every single employee, so the range of opinions are broad. Dr Liz Pattison is very excited with the information from our community so far. A reminder that the Strategic Planning Parent Survey closes on 15 March 2019, so please take the time to have your say. Thank you to all who have participated in any element of our planning your voice needs to be heard!
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From the Head of Curriculum Mrs Angela Tanham
Staff Professional Learning
Whilst the students enjoyed a pupil free day on Friday March 1, staff spent the day involved in various professional learning events. Staff rotated through sessions on developing the School Strategic Plan, improving their understanding of students with Dyslexia in the classroom and a short course on being an Accidental Counsellor. The Strategic Plan session was facilitated by Dr Liz Patterson who has been engaged by the School to coordinate the development of the Strategic Plan. The Dyslexia Awareness course was an online course designed to empower teachers to understand dyslexia and its strengths and challenges, to gain knowledge in how to recognize and support dyslexia and how to create a dyslexia-inclusive classroom. The final course was presented by our Heads of House. Teachers often find themselves in situations where students open up and share their problems and ask what we think they should do. Teachers are not necessarily trained to deal with these situations. This course gave our teachers some tools to assist students when the need arises. In education, research has shown that teaching quality and school leadership are the most important factors in raising student achievement. Professional Learning days give teachers the opportunity to continually expand their knowledge and skills to 3
implement the best educational practices.
Save the Date – Parent Teacher Interviews
Family engagement is critical to a child’s academic success. By connecting with your child’s teachers, talking about school matters at home and being involved in school events promotes positive partnerships between home and school can support success at school. Parents and carers will have an opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher on Thursday 4 April between 1:30 pm and 6:30 pm. Information about how to book appointments will come out at a later date.
Angela Tanham
Head of Curriculum
Careers
UWA Year 10 – 11 Course Information Evening 18 March Alexander Lecture Theatre Faculty and Student life expo 6:00 pm Presentation 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Year 12 Course Information Evening 18 March Presentation 7:00 pm Faculty and Student life expo 8:00 pm 9:00 pm
Register at notredame.edu.au/events-items/ parent-info-evening Curtin University Medicine Information Evening and Webinar 27 March 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre Register at https://news.curtin.edu.au/events/ medicine-information-evening/
To register for either of these events visit https://study.uwa.edu.au/events Murdoch University Law and Criminology 13 March 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm Education 27 March 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm For more info and to register for these events, visit Murdoch.edu.au/FutureStudentEvents University of Notre Dame Australia Thinking Beyond Career – For Parents 13 March 6:00 pm Come to Fremantle’s West End to find out about future-proofing Gen Zs to be agile and flourish in our ever-changing world. We’ll step you through the transition from high school to university, our admissions process and university student life. This even is for students in Years 10, 11 or 12 and their parents/guardians.
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From the Head of Pastoral Mr Hilton Hardman
At times our students learn best through the voice and story of an individual who doesn’t fall part of our staff body. The PAWS program places a large emphasis on getting guest speakers in with experience in selected fields that will benefit our students. This year we have seven providers coming in to work on selected topics which are Year specific. Below is an outline of these providers and what talk they will deliver during the year. Armed For Life Armed for Life has worked with 225 schools across Perth and presented to over 600,000 students. Armed For Life workshops are designed to educate and equip people to be able to deal with the problems that we face in life. These workshops encourage and inspire people to make positive choices to build into their lives and their future. Each topic uses a blend of stories, humour, activities and information to engage high school students, ensuring that the message is communicated effectively. Armed for life will be providing guest speakers on the following topics: • Real men talk • Stress management • Resilience • Real Beauty • Self-awareness and managing emotions • Leavers talk 5
• Bullying The Youth Outreach Program The Youth Outreach Program primarily targets young people under 25; however, we do not exclude anyone based on age. Many locations are attended to promote harm reduction messages around sexually transmitted infection (STI) and blood-borne virus (BBV) transmission, prevention, testing and treatment. Workshops have been developed around STI’s/BBV’s and substance use harm reduction messages. Harm Reduction WA Harm Reducation WA will be providing guest speakers on the following topics: • Supporting friends using drugs and alcohol • Sex and healthy relationships Student Edge Safety Edge is a certified provider of online safety programs accredited by the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner. Cyber Safety program covers the following points, How Do I Deal With Trolling, How Do I Deal With Cyberbullying, How Do I Deal With Identity Theft, How Do I Deal With Digital Reputation and I Need To Know About Online Friends.
WA to provide young people with information about the criminal justice system and the laws that affect them. Legal Aid Legal Aid will be providing guest speakers on the following topic: • Consequences of breaking the law Men are learning too late what their purpose in life is, lacking the emotional capacity to deal with everyday experiences. Confusion, stress, anxiety and depression is building amongst men until a breaking point is reached. Past generational conditionings combined with expectations in social media has created a generation of boys and men who are expected to “suck it up” and labelled “weak” if they don’t. This is for young men who want to grow their leadership skills, for young men who want to be challenged healthily, young men who are inspired to learn and grown their understanding of what it truly means to be a man.
The Blokehood Project The Blokehood Project will be providing guest speakers on the following topic: . Being a positive young man. Our last two Guest speakers will be WA Police and past students talk. This is a key area of development for our young students to ensure they feel comfortable and aware of their surroundings. Our past students talk will be at the end of the year and will allow studetns who have finished school to address the topic of life after school, looking to pass on their own experience of the highs and lows of school and what strategies they used to get them where they are today.
Hilton Hardman Head of Pastoral
WA Police presenting as part of our PAWS program.
Student Edge will be providing guest speakers on the following topic: • Cybersafety R U Legal R U Legal is a program of free community legal education sessions and resources for young people between 10 and 18 years old. It has been developed by Legal Aid St George’s Anglican Grammar School Newsletter
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From the Head of Mathematics and Science Ms Charlotte Donovan
to visit the amazing animals that were on display. The Year 11’s were lucky enough to see one of the new female lions up close in the new enclosure. A perfect day for a perfect zoo trip.
Smart Cities Program: The Citizen Science Project
On February14. Jo (affectionally named ‘Rock Lady’) from Earth Science WA was once again invited to St George’s to help the Year 9 students learn about earthquakes and volcanoes using her real-world expertise in the subject. Using Mars Bars as an analogy to the Earth and its tectonic activity, the students were in for a Valentines treat as they expanded and consolidated on their knowledge of plate tectonics. I would like to extend my thanks to Jo and Earth Science WA once again for coming out and engaging our students with some of the most current information in Earth science research (and of course chocolate).
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We are proud to be hosting one of 150+ worldwide events and look forward to inspiring more women to engage in data science.
St Georges has been invited to be a part of a City of Perth initiative to gather environmental data using Smart Cities Sensor packs. A sensor will be installed at school to collect and transmit environmental data to the City of Perth’s Open Data Portal. Some Year 10 students, along with Mr Quan and Miss Donovan attended the launch on Tuesday and were interested in the innovation and collaboration with the City of Perth and other schools. Kate van Olden said “Some things I enjoyed included; the inclusion of students and universities, and the examples of how this technology is already being used” and Cosette Pachioli said “I believe that what they are doing is a great step of initiative for Perth and including students in this will increase the involvement of students within the City of Perth.” Already our students are thinking about how we can incorporate the data collected into our curriculum and for school and urban planning. This project will run until May, so stay tuned for further updates.
On Friday 22 February the Year 11 Biology students had the opportunity to visit the Perth Zoo as part of the course of study. Students had a one on one interaction with a zookeeper where they learnt the importance of classifying organisms. Students even had the opportunity to meet a few of the amazing reptiles including the Bobtail and Blue-tongue lizard. The trip would not be complete without a walk around the Zoo
The University of Western Australia is excited to collaborate with Stanford University to bring Women in Data Science (WiDS) Perth to WA. The 2019 WiDS Perth event marks the beginning of this initiative, delivered in association with Stanford University’s annual Global Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conference. WiDS Perth will feature an expert panel with leading WAbased data science experts, sharing their different perspectives on what it takes to build a successful career in data science, followed by Q&A and networking.
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Breaking Bad Down Under: Chemistry and Illicit Drug Investigations
From identifying an unknown tablet or powder sample to safely dismantling active drug laboratories or giving expert scientific evidence in criminal proceedings, the role of a forensic chemist is crucial to illicit drug investigations. Join guest speaker Hannah as she shares interesting case studies and examples that highlight the varied roles forensic chemists play in the investigation of drug crime in Western Australia. Date: Tuesday 12th March 6:45pm to 8pm Location: UWA Wilsmore Lecture Theatre Tickets: FREE! Just ask Ms Valentine, Mr Quan or Miss Donovan.
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St George’s Anglican Grammar School Newsletter
From the Head of Health and Physical Education Ms Jodie Scheele
In 2017 we joined the Associated and Catholic Colleges of WA (ACC) and currently there are 80 Catholic and Independent Schools in the association. In our inaugural year we were placed in the I-Division Swimming Carnival where we placed a close second. In 2018 we were elevated into the H-Division Carnival. We had a successful result and won this carnival which has elevated us again into G-Division Swimming Carnival in which we will compete in at HBF Stadium (outdoor pool) on Tuesday 19 March 2019. The following students are congratulated on their exceptional achievement of being selected to represent St George’s. They have been training hard twice a week at 6.30am and their commitment to the morning sessions is commendable. Thank you very much to the team’s families who also sacrifice some sleep to get the swimmers to training at Mercedes. I hope to see you all at the carnival on the 19th.
2019 ACC Swimming Team
Maya Hardley Res: Matilda Thetford William Owen Harry Joyner Cooper Zuideveld Nathan Mitchell Under 14 Milla Howard Bonnie Baugh Tara Sergeant Sydnee Gould Res: Niamh Bingham Alexander Brits Tristan Bow Austin Aggiss Harrison Flower Res: Koby Pascall Under 15 Ali Griffin Leah Italiano Chelsea Flavel Madeleine Taber Res: Olivia Flavel Harry Maude Jeremy Webb Harrison Ball Tamru Short Joshua Philips
Under 13 Zara Brown Arianne Lienert Meg Purser
Open Eliza Griffin (Capt) Cosette Pachioli Ashlyn Marriott
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Administration Enrolments
The School Enrolment Policy requires one full term’s notice in writing prior to the withdrawal of a student from the School. Where such notice is not received, the School will charge an amount equal to the tuition fees for that current term. To avoid fees in lieu being charged, notice of a student’s withdrawal must be received by the School before the first day of the School Term preceding the Term of the student’s departure. If this does not occur, families will be charged the remainder of the current Term, plus an additional Terms fee in lieu. Upon withdrawal of a student from the School, all fees and charges incurred for that student are payable to the School in full within seven days of exit.
Community Noticeboard Term 1 Tour Dates
If you know anyone that would like a tour of the school, please ask them to book one of these dates. Tours fill very quickly. Thursday 21 March Thursday 4 April
Uniform Shop
St George’s uniforms are purchased from Matrix Uniforms Showroom, 1 Hasler Road Osborne Park or online. Uniform fittings are available from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Monday to Friday.
If the account has been paid in full and a refund is due, payment will be processed for the full refund due within seven days of exit.
Please click on the images above for more information regarding the upcoming ATARGET Master Classes. These classes cover subject revision, OLNA and NAPLAN preparation, study skills and tutoring. You can find out more information by visiting their website at www.atarget.com.au
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