From the Head of the Preparatory School
Poetry Recitation Competition
For the past few weeks, the Primary boys have been memorising poems to perform in front of their classes. Three boys from each grade were then chosen as grade finalists and moved onto the next stage in the competition. On Monday 23rd May the finals were held in the Gym in front of Year 3-6 students, parents and two adjudicators. The audience was treated to a variety of entertaining poems. Thank you and congratulations to all of the 2022 finalists!
The adjudicators Mrs Kamhieh (Head of English at Summer Hill) and Ms Joanne Gabbe commented on the extremely high standard of the finalists in the competition. The finalists’ own choice poems along with the compulsory poems were presented with great confidence that truly entertained the audience!
In the end they had the challenging decision of deciding on the Grade Winners and the Overall Winner:
Year 3 – Peter Arquila
Year 4 – Cayden Tsang
Year 5 – Josh Casamento
Year 6 and overall winner was Jack Brown.
Thank you again to all the boys in Years 3 to 6 for participating in the competition and all the parents who were able to join us for the Final Round of the competition.
National Simultaneous Storytime
On Wednesday the entire Prep School joined more than one million students from across Australia and the world to engage in this year’s National Simultaneous Storytime. The event is designed to bring an increased profile to the importance of literature and the enjoyment that can be gained through it. As a boys’ school, this is a critically important message…we want our boys to love reading!
Each year, a recently published picture book is chosen to be read aloud at exactly the same time across all participating schools in Australia. This year’s picture book was ‘Family Tree’ By Josh Pyke. This year Mrs Evans and Mrs Kang had the honour of reading the book to the Prep School in English and Mandarin respectively.
My thanks to the Prep Library Team for their organisation of Wednesday’s event and their constant encouragement of our readers.
APPA National Advisory Council Meeting
This week I have had the privilege of attending and participating in the Term 2 APPA (Australian Primary Principals Association) National Advisory Council meeting. APPA represents approximately 7600 primary schools across Australia and represents Government, Catholic and Independent Schools. APPA’s purpose is to present a unified voice on the importance and needs of primary education. Given the recent election result, this week’s meeting had a heightened level of importance as we discussed the agenda that should be presented to the new Federal Education Minister when that position is announced.
Open Classrooms – Week 7
As we have reflected on the return to normality at school, one thing has stood out – we still haven’t managed to have parents back in classrooms to see the boys in action. I am aware that last year provided a unique opportunity for parents to gain a window into classroom learning through the delivery of remote learning. Whilst it is impossible to provide this during a normal school day, we are keen to open our classrooms to provide parents the opportunity to gain a first-hand experience of their son’s learning environment and to get to know his teacher a little better. To make this happen we are planning an Open Classrooms week in Week 7 of this term (Monday 6th – Friday 10th June).
Throughout the week, each teacher will open their classroom to parents for one interactive session. I have asked teachers to try to make this session either first lesson in the morning or last in the afternoon to tie it into drop-off or pick-up. Parents should anticipate being able to join their son for a ‘normal’ learning experience and to get a chance to see school life through his eyes. Details of these sessions will be communicated with parents in the coming weeks. I look forward to welcoming parents back into school in a fuller manner and to share the joy of learning that exists in our classrooms.
Open Classroom Roster – Week 7 |
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| Class | Day | Date | Time |
| PKOC | Tuesday | 7th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| PKS | Monday | 6th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| PKY | Thursday | 9th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| KB | Tuesday | 7th June | 8:50 – 10:00 |
| KC | Tuesday | 7th June | 8:50 – 10:00 |
| KL | Tuesday | 7th June | 8:50 – 10:00 |
| 1I | Tuesday | 7th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 1K | Tuesday | 7th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 1S | Tuesday | 7th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 2C | Tuesday | 7th June | 2:10 – 2:50 |
| 2G | Tuesday | 7th June | 2:10 – 2:50 |
| 2B | Tuesday | 7th June | 2:10 – 2:50 |
| 3A | Wednesday | 8th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 3G | Wednesday | 8th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 3M | Wednesday | 8th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 4M | Wednesday | 8th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 4P | Wednesday | 8th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 4S | Wednesday | 8th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 5D | Monday | 6th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 5H | Monday | 6th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 5O | Monday | 6th June | 8:55 – 9:55 |
| 6G | Monday | 6th June | 2:00 – 3:00 |
| 6M | Monday | 6th June | 2:00 – 3:00 |
| 6S | Monday | 6th June | 2:00 – 3:00 |
Pre-K and Kindergarten parent session – Parenting your way…overcoming and debunking the parenting stereotypes
One of the challenges of having kids of our own is the absence of a parenting guide book. My personal reflection is that it is simply one of those things you learn on the run, often having to run faster than one would like.
For some parents, advice and encouragement is in abundance, whereas for others parenting can be a particularly lonely or isolating journey. Regardless of the experience, ultimately parenting is a personal responsibility and requires each and every person / couple to develop an approach that works best for them and their son.
Having set the stage, I want to assure parents that this parent session is not about providing a blue print or the ‘right’ approach to parenting. Instead, it is an opportunity to provide some thoughts designed to promote reflection about how our parenting might impact on the growth and development of our children. I encourage parents to join us for this session, particularly aimed at Pre-K and Kindergarten parents but also open to parents from other year levels.
During the session we will take a light-hearted look at parenting stereotypes and consider the strengths and limitations of each. We will then reflect on some key ideas and themes of child development and how parenting can help to promote the development of these.
The session will take place at the Prep School at 8:45am on Friday 3rd June. The specific venue will be confirmed based on rsvp. We look forward to seeing parents at this event and hope that the timing aligns conveniently with drop-off.
Parents are requested to RSVP for these events by completing this FORM.
Traffic Management
At the risk of appearing to be a broken record, I wanted to include a further reminder about the work we have done as a school community in recent years to minimise the impact of school related traffic on the local streets. These efforts are summarised in the Prep School’s Traffic Management Plan. We appreciate your ongoing partnership in this matter to ensure the Kiss and Ride continues to operate efficiently, safely and respectfully of our neighbours. A digital version of the brochure can be found at this link. Please also note that the Council Rangers have begun making irregular visits in the afternoons to ensure parents are respecting the road rules and this management plan.
Coming up in Week 6
| APPROVED Incursions | Excursions | Events | ||||
| Date | Time | Description | Venue | Teacher |
| 31 May | 8.55am – 11.30am | Year 3 Excursion – Delmar Gallery | Delmar Gallery | Alia Lynden |
| 31 May | 11.45am-12.45pm | Semester 1 Studio Concert
Alistair Wallis/Ed Schots |
Beethoven Room | Geraldine Campbell |
| 1 June | 3.30 – 4.30pm | Semester 1 Studio Concert
Dominique Guerbois, Mandy Santos, Lorraine Chan Accompanist: Jenny Swanton |
Mozart Room | Geraldine Campbell |
| 2 June | 11.15am-2.00pm | Gala Concert Rehearsal | SH Campus | Geraldine Campbell |
| 2 June | 3.30 – 4.15pm | Semester 1 Studio Concert
Matthew Harrison, Sam Kelson-Gray, Oliver Stanton, Concert Band Accompanist: Oliver Stanton |
Mozart Room | Geraldine Campbell |
| 3 June | 8.30am | Melba Photos
PK-6 Catch-up individual photos/sibling photos Music Photos |
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| 3 June | 2.15 – 3.15pm | Year 4 Forces Carnival | Year 4 Classrooms | Jess Newton |
| 3 June | 3.15 – 4.45pm | InterSchool Chess Competition (selected students) | Prep Library | Ashleigh Lopez |
Chris Wyatt | Head of the Preparatory School
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10
