From the Head of the Junior School
Dear Parents and Friends of the Junior School,
The corridors of the Junior School Building are alive with art which will be complemented by extraordinary musical performances, as well as a scarecrow trail, and a robotics demonstration at tonight’s Junior School Festival of the Arts, commencing at 5pm. We hope that all families will join us and have no doubt that you will be dazzled by the creativity and talent of our boys. Musical groups are performing throughout the evening. For full details about parking and scheduling, please refer to the correspondence emailed in recent days. The art will remain on display in coming weeks to be enjoyed by boys, staff and visitors. It is so important to give boys opportunities to, individually and with one another, express themselves in positive ways. Events like tonight’s festival allow us to glimpse the potential for young men to express themselves in constructive, thoughtful and collaborative ways…such as the beautiful music, eye-catching scarecrows, creative art pieces and dancing robots which will surround us. We hope you enjoy the evening.
Arriving in your inbox next week will be details of how to book a conference with your son’s class teacher about his progress this year, and particularly the MAP assessments your son has undertaken each term this year. MAP testing has become one of the important tools that teachers use to monitor student progress and identify areas for development. In Week 9, class teachers will make themselves available to parents interested in understanding this process and the data it provides concerning your son’s growth in literacy and numeracy.
All boys will soon receive information on our Walk-a-thon, scheduled for the morning of Thursday 15th September. This is one of our major community fundraisers for the year and we would love every boy to seek sponsorship for this event from friends, family and neighbours (with your permission). The boys will do lots of moving and any who raise $25 or more will have the opportunity to overcome numerous inflatable obstacles as they lap the oval. It will be terrific exercise and a wonderful way to fund some additional resources for the Junior School and the John Maclean Foundation, who again are partnering with the Junior School to provide sports wheelchairs for students with a disability.
Our next Open Day will take place on Wednesday commencing at 9.15am. Since the Junior School will be spectacularly filled with the boys’ artworks, it is a great time to recommend prospective families to check out our learning environment. If you have friends who are potentially interested in enrolling sons at our school, please make them aware of this opportunity.
Next Tuesday, the Auxiliary will be running a Fathers’ Day Stall for boys who would like to take the opportunity to shop for a present for Dad. Boys will need to bring cash, with gifts raising from $5 to $20.
Also in a busy Week 7, we will be marking Science Week with lessons in STEAM and a Year 6 Design Thinking Challenge with the students at the Preparatory School campus, Years 3 and 4 will be opening their doors to showcase their learning in their latest units of inquiry, the Athletics Team compete at the IPSHA Championships, and fathers and boys in Kindergarten to Year 4 will gather for breakfast on Friday. There is lots happening for lots of boys!
This term’s ‘Cuppa’n’chat’ with the Junior School Executive (Mr Hoare, Mrs Ormes, Mrs Richards and myself) will be on Wednesday 7th September from 8:45am-9:30am. Parents are welcome to take up the opportunity to ask questions or raise matters, or simply enjoy morning tea with us and one another. Parents will be emailed a link for registration early next week.
Congratulations to the three Junior School representatives in the Trinity Snowsports Team who have been competing in State Championship cross-country events at Perisher this week. Darren Cai, Jason Lan and Jonathan Lan had some wonderful individual results and the primary team finished 5th overall which has qualified them to compete at the National Championships.
We wish our athletes all the best in next Monday’s IPSHA Carnival…run, jump and throw well!
Mark Dunn
Head of the Junior School
Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
