Last Friday 16 September, Gawura K-12 attended a cultural excursion to the new Sydney Zoo at Bungarribee in Blacktown. The students were greeted by Indigenous Zookeepers at the zoo and given presentations in their new Culture Huts on Indigenous totems, traditional tools, weapons, bush foods and ochre painting. Our students were then taken on a guided tour of Sydney Zoo by the Indigenous Guides. A highlight was when one of the guides played the didgeridoo at the elephants’ enclosure and all the elephants came running over to the group. The zoo provided our students and staff with lunch and it was an overall truly, amazing experience. I want to thank Junior School parent Janet Chakar who managed to arrange all of this through her business association with Sydney Zoo. This was a truly wonderful event and cultural excursion for our students who will remember it for a long time to come. Thank you very much Janet!

On Wednesday 7 September Gawura School and Junior School participated in the annual Indigenous Literacy Day Book Swap. Our JSGS raised just under $1000 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Our Gawura Stage 3 students along with Mr Kirk attended the Indigenous Literacy Day Live Event at the Sydney Opera House where our students and Mr Kirk were delighted to meet Jessica Mauboy who spoke about the importance of reading and Indigenous Language.

This is our last week of school for Term 3. Students will commence their holidays from the afternoon of Wednesday 21 September. Staff will be having a PD day on Friday 23 September. School will return in Term 4 on Monday 10 October.

I and the Gawura staff team wish you all a very happy and safe September school holidays.

John Ralph 
Head of Gawura

Showcase 2022

Thank you to the 449 students and the many dedicated staff who worked with such commitment throughout the year to produce a concert of such excellence on Thursday 15 September. It was a moment of great pride for the music staff to see the many hours of rehearsal come to life on stage as our students brought the message of RISE UP! to audiences with such passion and polish. Thank you to all involved! We can’t wait to bring our Showcase concert to stage next year, on Thursday 15 June.

Dr Christian Watson
Director of Performing Arts

Online gaming

Who doesn’t love to play a good game?

Games are an integral part of human behaviour. It is normal and healthy for young people to engage in play as a part of their daily lives. And like most activities, playing games online can have both positive and negative outcomes. It can be intimidating and confusing for carers trying to understand a young person’s online experiences with many considering that staring at a screen is an unhealthy habit. However, the World Health Organisation does believe that as well as the risks, there are also many positive benefits associated with online gaming and these could be key in nurturing bonds with others.

During the pandemic, there was an explosive growth of gaming as people sought much needed connection during isolation. In the media, gaming often gets bad publicity because most coverage tends to concentrate on the minority of gamers who play to such an extent that it compromises all other areas of their life. However, online gaming can teach young people many skills including teamwork, concentration, communication and problem-solving. It requires a level of interaction and skill from the player; unlike watching television, which is more passive.

For older children, online communities can provide opportunities for young people to feel socially connected and have a sense of belonging. At healthy levels, gaming can increase their self-esteem and social acceptance. However, any behaviour, when taken to extreme, can also have a negative impact on a young person’s everyday life. Understanding what your young person experiences online and knowing the warning signs if they are at risk, will help nurture a more positive relationship with online gaming and help your family find the right balance.

If you are concerned about your young person’s online gaming habits, it’s important to consider a number of factors. SchoolTV provides information and strategies in how to respond to online gaming.

Another valuable resource for parents is eSafety, providing information about many areas for parents to be aware of such as building good habits and being aware of dangers such as grooming and gambling.

Mrs Bronwyn Wake
Junior School and Gawura Wellbeing Coordinator
 

"Too much too young"

On Wednesday 14 September, the School hosted renowned journalist and author Melinda Tankard Reist. Melinda and her colleague, Daniel, had a full day of seminars with students in Years 8, 9 and 11, and also talked with staff and parents. Melinda and Daniel talked about the many damaging media messages that our young people are confronted with online and through advertising. Her message aimed to bring awareness to these issues and encourage our School community to be discerning and wary of this content. At St Andrew's Cathedral School we care for the whole student and support them to be young people of good Character. Our tutorial sessions following the talk have debriefed students on these issues and some excellent learning and pastoral conversations have been taking place. Please see a link to the talk if you were unable to attend here. This link will only be available for a short time.

Mr Derek Champion
Head of Wellbeing and Character

A driving motivation for our big events in the library in Term 3, is the opportunity they provide to join with the important work of some key charities in Australia and the world. Once again, our community has jumped on that opportunity to generously support that work.

Today, I pass on thanks from Room to Read (the recipients of our Book Character Parade gold coin donation) and the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (for donations from the Great Book Swap).

"To everyone at St Andrew’s Cathedral School,

We were very touched to receive your recent donation! Your gift to Room to Read means more than you know, and we're so happy to welcome you into a community of people who believe that education is a human right.

The past few years have been challenging around the world, and for the communities in which we work, the long-term effects of the pandemic are showing no signs of abating. With historically low-income communities particularly vulnerable, millions of children are at risk of dropping out of school altogether. But we know that education is the great equaliser. For students, it is a pathway to curiosity, empathy, joy and resilience, and more than that, the opportunity to reach for their dreams.

By supporting education, you help solve so many world problems — from poverty to climate change to discrimination. Your support gives us hope for the future. Thank you for partnering with us on this journey."

This year we broke all precious records and raised $898.20 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation through hosting The Great Book Swap in the Junior School. Book stalls were set up in three different locations so that students could browse on their way to lunch. Your donations contribute to 35,000 culturally relevant books being gifted to children in remote Indigenous Communities across Australia.

Thank you! Grateful for your partnership locally and globally.


Nicole Cotter
Coordinator Information and Digital Literacy – JS&G

AMEB Examination success

Congratulations to Willem Paap who recently achieved an A (Honours) for his AMEB 1st Grade Cello Comprehensive examination.

Thank you to all students and families who participate in co-curricular Music for their commitment to our ensembles and performances over the course of Term 3. It has been a pleasure to work with students and to see them perform, whether it was in Madagascar, the Showcase concert or a solo performance. Congratulations to all who took part in a performance this term!

Ensembles – Term 4
A reminder that Music ensembles recommence on day 1 of Term 4, Monday 10 October. Students do not need to re-enrol, as ensemble membership continues throughout the year.

Ensembles Concert
On Friday 18 November, we will host an Ensembles Concert for members of ALL Junior School Ensembles. Please keep the date free for this performance. More information will follow early next term.

String players in K-6
All string groups will be performing on Tuesday 11 October at the postponed End of Term Awards assembly. 

Students should meet Miss Oh and Mrs Robertson at 8.20am in the Junior School Music Room on Level 6 for tuning and roll marking. A separate email will be sent regarding this.
 

Mrs​ Kate Robertson
Head of Music (K‑6)

Congratulations!

Click here for the latest Heart, Mind, Life & Uniform awards.

Sleep Tips for Children

July 2020 by Michael Grose

This is an excellent article and has many ideas that are critical for your child’s development. The suggestion of device free bedrooms, the no homework in bedrooms and shutdown off devices 90 minutes before bedtime are most helpful suggestions. A great read. I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

“Regularity and routine are the agents of sleep. It takes discipline to adhere to and commitment to making sleep a high priority. Helping children understand how their body clock works, assisting them to work out their optimal bedtime and putting lifestyle habits in place can help them get the sleep they need to maximise their learning, wellbeing, development and overall performance. Here are some tips to help:

Understand the body clock
Sleep is regulated by a 24-hour body clock that manages the secretion of melatonin to send us to sleep and cortisol to wake us up. This amazing body clock is reset every day when light first hits our retinas. Sleep in late and the clock goes out of sync. When your child works with the rhythms of their body’s 24-hour clock they will give themselves the optimal chance for sleep success.

The sleep-wake cycle for teenagers is delayed by up to two hours. That is, they are sleepy later and awake later than when they were children. Melatonin, which makes them sleepy, is secreted as late as 11pm for some young people, which makes the time before bed-time a sleepless zone. Cortisol, the chemical that wakes them up is released at close to 8am for many teens. If this is the case, your young person’s brain wants to be asleep when they need to be awake for school.

Stick to sleep recommendations
The Raising Children’s Network recommends between 11-13 hours sleep per night for young children, 10-11 hours for primary school children and 8-10 hours for secondary school-aged kids. As every child is different, you may notice that your child needs more or less sleep than is recommended.

Develop good sleep hygiene habits

• Start a regular bedtime routine at least 45 minutes out from bedtime to help kids get ready for sleep.
• Eat and exercise at the right time. Sleep likes a relaxed body and a calm nervous system, so schedule exercise and active movement before mealtimes.
• Create a sleep sanctuary. Restrict bedrooms to sleep and relaxation quarters and find other places in the house for time out and reflection, school work and active play.
• Keep bedrooms cave-like. A child’s bedroom should be cave-like – that is, dark, cool and free from electronic devices. Darkness encourages melatonin, which regulates sleep-wake patterns.
• Get up at a regular time. For optimal sleep, bed and wake up times need to be as regular as possible.

Lifestyle habits that promote sleep

• Teach your child or young person to put away digital devices at least 90 minutes before bed-time.
• Minimise weekend sleep-ins and limit them to an hour more than usual, to keep the sleep clock operating on a regular basis.
• Encourage your child to go outside every day – take a walk, meet a mate (subject to COVID restrictions) or do an errand.
• Keep homework out of bedrooms, or at least out of beds. The brain associates activity with location, so if children work while on their beds, it will be hard for them to mentally switch off from their schoolwork when the light finally goes out.
• Confine caffeine to mornings. Consuming caffeine in any form close to bedtime is like throwing a wrecking ball through regular sleep patterns. The brain needs to calm down rather than be artificially stimulated if sleep is to occur.

Sleep is a critical component of enhancing a child’s wellbeing, learning, development and overall performance. Helping your child to get enough quality sleep will ensure that their brain and body are being used at full capacity.”

Joy Rohrlach
Year 5 Leader

On Tuesday 6 September selected students from Years 1-6 had the opportunity to participate in G.A.T.E.WAYS Ignite. Students engaged with two workshops focused on literacy. G.A.T.E.WAYS provides highly able students with the opportunity to participate in workshops with specialist educators where they explore concepts outside of the curriculum. The workshops are exciting and fast-paced. The content is designed to ignite curiosity and inspire young people with passion for learning. These exciting workshops also offer a pathway for many of our high ability learners to connect with like-minded peers in exciting and hands on challenges.

In the first workshop students were required to envisage and create superhero characters. They then explored the weaknesses, strengths, obstacles and challenges of well known superheroes. Following this they created their own dynamic superhero story. The second workshop used drama to explore character and story in a science fiction setting. Students embodied space characters and used creativity to explore the greatest unknown of all – the future. Below are reflections from two students about the workshops.

Idelia C – Year 2

What did you learn in the workshop?
I liked learning about creating a superhero character. I had to think about their weakness, an obstacle and how to solve a problem. My character was a Japanese girl called Naoko and her obstacle was being separated from her family. Her family disappeared so she had to follow some other suspicious characters to find a solution.

What did you find challenging?
Writing stories about superheroes can be a challenge because you must think about how they fit into their setting and how the problem makes sense. There also must be a resolution that is interesting and creative.

Henry D – Year 6

What did you learn in the workshop?
I enjoyed acting out scenes with some of my friends. In the scene we enacted, there were space monsters who were no longer scary. So we were thinking creatively about how to make them scary again. We had to refine the scene and practise a lot before sharing with the group.

What did you find challenging?
I had to think about the different emotions of the character. I had to think about how to transform from an object to an interesting character. I think this requires creativity because I had to think about what it was like to be in the shoes of those characters.
 

Mrs Emma Clemens
Gifted and Talented Coordinator JS&G

2022 Public Speaking Competition

During Term 3, Junior School and Gawura participated in its Annual Public Speaking Competition. The aim of the public speaking competition is to provide students with the practical skills and knowledge necessary to express themselves clearly, with confidence and power, in a variety of speaking situations.

Congratulations to all students who prepared and presented speeches, with a particular congratulations to those who represented their class in the Public Speaking Grand Finals. The calibre of speeches and range of topics this year was outstanding and made for some difficult decisions for our adjudicators.

Well done to the overall winners of the 2022 Public Speaking Competition:

• Kindergarten: Harvey Kim
• Year 1: Mia Tan
• Year 2: Mairah Kharwa
• Year 3: Sophie Kent
• Year 4: Tara Loughry
• Year 5: Devon Olsen
• Year 6: Madison Dockery

A special mention also goes to Madison Dockery (Year 6) and Alec Chakar (Year 6) who will represent St Andrew’s Cathedral School at the next level of competition – the 2022 IPSHA NSW Speakers Challenge to be held on 11 November at William Clarke College.

Miss​​ Alix Vanny
Junior School Teacher

A much-anticipated event on the Gifted Education calendar returned this term in Week 7 as selected Year 6 students took part in the HICES Gifted and Talented Camp at Douglas Park, south of Sydney. Over a hundred and thirty students from Independent Schools across New South Wales joined together for a week of Masterclasses and Seminars on a myriad of subjects from entrepreneurship to Shakespeare, stop-motion animation to robotics, architectural geometry to cryptology, and more.

St Andrew’s students showed their enthusiasm and commitment to learning by fully involving themselves in all opportunities presented. It was a delight to observe how they confidently approached new experiences and forged new friendships with children from other schools.

Congratulations to the following students who attended the Camp and represented the values of our school so brilliantly:

Ili Karan, Siddy Krishna, Henry McDonald, Emily Wang, Mahe Ward and Adele Wong.

Donna Gibbs
Coordinator of Gifted Ed JS GS

TheirCare water fun day Friday 23 September

Friday 23 September, 7am-6pm
Slip and slide!

As Friday 23 September is a JS&G Staff Development Day TheirCare are having a water fun day. There will be sponge water fights, water balloons and ice cream! 

Be prepared to get wet. Bring a towel and spare clothes.

Tickets selling fast!

Are you ready for a night of laughter, dress ups, lots of fun and games and of course, TRIVIA?

It's time – grab your friends, book a table, put the finishing touches to your awesome dress up costumes and bring your knowledge of all things trivia to the highly anticipated St Andrew's Cathedral School Trivia Night! This year the dress up theme is "Musical Mayhem". Who will you be? Sandy? Danny? Alex the Lion? Corney Collins? Willy Wonka?

Win prizes including best decorated table, best individual costume and best dressed team. And if you need more excitement there will be some fantastic items in the silent auction.

So get in early to pick the table of your choice or buy an individual ticket and let us find a table for you. If you book a single ticket, let us know your year group and we can sit you together with other parents from your year. It’s a fantastic way to make new friends!

Please note: the only way to guarantee which team name you have is to book the whole table.

Price includes a welcome drink and food throughout the evening.
Don't delay – this event will sell out.

Saturday 15 October, 6pm to 11pm (Trivia starts at 7pm)
Heath Centre, Level 5, SAH
Cost: $65 a ticket, $650 for table of 10

Trivia Night Silent Auction and gift basket donations

This year Trivia Night is raising funds to support projects that are part of the rooftop renovation. Please consider helping by donating an item that can be included in the silent auction or an item that can be included in a gift basket.  

Silent Auction
For silent auction item donations please supply the following:

1. Your name as you would like it to appear on the donors’ list (personal or business)
2. Name of the item you are donating
3. Description of the item you are donating
4. Retail value of the item
5. Reserve if you have one
6. Any relevant conditions (eg an experience that is not available in school holidays)
7. Photo in a jpg format of logo or item. We can load several photos per item.

Any voucher donations should be emailed to community@sacs.nsw.edu.au. Alternatively, we can arrange for the collection of items at a time or date that is convenient to you.

We can upload company logos, relevant marketing information, description(s) of your item in our catalogue, and links directly to your website. Your generosity will be acknowledged at the trivia night, both in the catalogue and on screen, and in our School newsletter.

Gift Baskets
We are also asking our generous School community to donate new or unused items that can be included in a gift basket.  To make things easier we have allocated a gift basket theme to each year group - but anything you can donate is much appreciated.

• Kindy: Afternoon Tea – jams, teas, napkins, beautiful tea cups etc
• Year 1: BBQ – marinades, tools, seasoning etc
• Year 2: Relaxation – pamper packs, scented candles, incense, essential oils, hand cream etc
• Year 3: Hot Chocolate Enthusiast – mugs, hot chocolate, choccie biscuits, marshmallows etc
• Year 4: Outdoor Fun – pool toys, beach games, picnic items, citronella candles etc
• Year 5: Gardening items – gloves, seeds, gardening tools etc
• Year 6: Car Care Pack – products to clean and polish your car, black your tyres etc
• Year 7: Bath Pamper Pack – bath and shower gels, bubble bath, lotions, bath bombs etc
• Year 8: Sweet Tooth – chocolates, cookies, sweet treats, lollies etc
• Year 9: Rainy day Survival Kit – book/magazine, snacks, fold up umbrella, socks etc
• Year 10: Baking Pack – biscuit cutters, decorating items, measuring spoons, baking tray, cookbooks etc
• Year 11: Coffee/Tea Lovers – mugs, coffee beans, beautiful tea blends, chocolate covered beans etc
• Year 12: Gourmet – oils, cheese, biscuits, marinades, sauces etc

Please deliver Gift Basket donations to SAH reception, BBC reception or Junior School reception by Tuesday, 11 October. SAH reception is also open in the holidays.

Thank you for your generosity.

Jules Davies
Community Engagement Manager

Code Camp is back these holidays!

With DJ Camp, Code Camp, Drone Camp, Animation Camp and YouTube Creators, there's something fun for everyone at Australia's favourite school holiday programme!

Click here for details and special coupon code.

26-28 September, 4-6 October
9am – 4pm

To learn more and book, head to www.codecamp.com.au/sacs

Andrean Artist, Writer, Designer, Composer of the Year entries close Monday 17 October

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb, this year’s Andrean of the Year theme is 'Egypt'.

Click here for 2022 entry details and winners from past competitions.

Mr Brad Swibel
Deputy Head of School (Secondary)