Last Friday 2 August our Gawura Kindergarten students along with Kindergarten students from the Junior School, celebrated 100 days of Kindergarten since they started school back in late January, this year. As has been the case in previous years, there was a theme of getting dressed up as a grandparent. Please see attached photos of Camira and Christian who did a superb job of this year’s theme. Congratulations to all Kindy students who reached this 100-day milestone. My rough calculations say there are just another 2,500 school days to go until they graduate from Year 12 in the year 2036!!

Our next GPAC Meeting will be held on Tuesday 6 August from 2.00pm to 3.00pm. This will be a special GPAC meeting where our Director of Strategy and Marketing will be providing an update and seek your comments on our draft Gawura Strategic Plan which we will put to School Council. Please attend in person or you could click the online meeting link that is in the calendar invitation that was also recently sent last week.

Our next Yarning Session With Parents will take place on Tuesday 20 August where we will be running an art workshop off site, that could represent the Gawura Strategic Plan. I will confirm an exact location for this, which will include morning tea, in the coming week.

Our next round of Parent Teacher Interviews will also be on Tuesday 6 August. You would have received an email from our school with a specific unique code just for you, that allows you to log on and select the interview time of your choice for that day. Unfortunately two staff members are unable to attend tomorrow and we have sent notification to the affected parents of these classes with a new date.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Mr John Ralph
Head of Gawura

Celebrating with colour and creativity

As part of our 140 Year Celebration next year, we invite all members of our School community – student, staff, parents, grandparents, Old Andreans – to participate in a special Community Yarn Art Installation. Help us wrap the pillar at the front of our School with vibrant yarn squares in our School colours of blue, white and gold. Whether you knit or crochet, we would love you to be part of this fabulous and fun collaborative artwork. We welcome all skill levels, and we encourage individual creativity. We are keen for everyone to get involved.

It needs to be acrylic yarn to survive outside, and each square should be 20cm by 20cm in size. For information on needle sizes, yarn thickness, stitch numbers and how to join this exciting project, please visit the link below.

Green and Gold: Building belonging

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!! Last Friday we had a wonderful day dressing up in our green and gold colours, showing our support for the Aussie Olympic team. You may wonder why we bother, why not just get on with the core elements of education that St Andrew’s does so well? There are a few reasons why we include activities like this in our School calendar.

Firstly, we love to have FUN! We want our School to be filled with joy and where students experience many happy times. In addition, we know that events like this help students to feel a positive sense of belonging to both our School and our wider community. Research from the OECD (2022) has highlighted that as we build belonging, we see improvements at school in:

• The quality of relationships between teachers and peers.
• Increased engagement in school activities and a sense of enjoyment at school.
• Increased belief in the value of school and the worthwhileness of school activities.

Essentially, the research shows that a strong sense of belonging at school results in better academic performance, including higher NAPLAN results, and improved engagement in classes. And it is a lot of FUN!!

Mrs Bronwyn Wake
Head of Wellbeing and Character K-12 and School Psychologist

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) is coming to an end! The cutoff for students to be able to log their books online is Friday 16 August.  

As of the 1 August 2024, we have 178 Junior School and Gawura students who have completed the Challenge.

Congratulations to the following recent finishers:

Kindergarten

Darcy Olsen

Year 1

Anders Beynon

Year 2

Sarah Poon

Year 3

Georgiana Beynon
William Crocker
Henry Dethridge
Tyson Happer
Oliver Salmon
Harlow Winston

Year 4

James Carroll
Henley Edbrooke
Viaan Salunke

Year 5

Patrick Bloxsom
Mikhail Dalati
James Davidson
Marcus Davidson
Olive Haoui
Annabelle Tee

Year 6

Berlin Buresti
Maxwell Buxton
Archie Davis
Evelyn Forsyth
Charlene Goh
Flynn Heraghty
Matilda Paget
Ned Robertson
Oscar Xu

To log books, please visit the link below and enter your username and password supplied in Term 1 at the beginning of the Challenge. If you are unable to locate this, please email me at: rcosentino@sacs.nsw.edu.au

Read More Challenge

Students who have completed the PRC are also eligible to enter our Read More Challenge. For every additional 10 books they read they have the chance to win a book of their choice up to the value of $25. Entry forms are available from the Library. 

We will hold our next draw on Monday 5 August. There are many more names in the draw now so it will be very exciting to see who wins in Week 3.

Teacher and Parent Reading Challenge

Modelling reading to our students and children is vital if we want them to grow up to be readers too. Our Teacher and Parent Reading Challenge is designed to encourage our children and students to see us as readers as well and take the time away from devices to learn something new or immerse ourselves in other worlds.

The Teacher and Parent Reading Challenge supports this aim and I am pleased to report that we now have five teachers who have completed the Challenge by reading 10 books and colouring in their bookmark.

Congratulations to Miss Sharp, 2S, who completed the Teacher Reading Challenge in the holidays. Well done Miss Sharp.

We would love to hear from parents who have completed the Challenge so we can celebrate them too.

Book Week: Reading is Magic

As reported in our last newsletter, our Book Week events are almost finalised and ready to go!

Please look out for the Book Week note that will go home shortly. This will again outline each of the events for the week, along with links for purchasing Tim Harris books for signing during his visit on Thursday 22 August.

It will also contain details for our Book Fair that will follow the Book Character Parade on Friday 23 August, in Upper Chapter House. Details for how to purchase books from the Book Fair if you are unable to attend will also be contained in the Book Week letter.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation Book Swap – 4 September

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s Great Book Swap is a fantastic way to celebrate reading locally, raise much-needed funds for remote communities and learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and languages.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Great Book Swap and St Andrew’s Cathedral School is thrilled to be holding a book swap once again. This will take place in the Junior School on Wednesday 4 September and in the Secondary School in Term 4.

How does it work? 

Students donate books that are in good condition but no longer wanted in their household to the Junior School Library. These books are then laid out on tables on Book Swap Day and students can purchase a pre-loved book for a gold coin donation.

Where does the money raised go?

The money raised goes to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation who is working towards equity of opportunity so that children living in remote communities have the same opportunities as those living in urban Australia. They provide children and families in remote Indigenous communities with books and other resources, giving them the opportunity to acquire one of life’s greatest skills and joys: the ability to read.

We hope that you will support this worthwhile initiative.
You can also make a donation on our Book Swap page linked in the banner above. 
 

Mrs Rachael Cosentino
Junior School and Gawura School Library Coordinator

World Scholar's Cup

On Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 July, 29 students from Years 5 and 6 participated in the Junior Division of the World Scholar’s Cup at Randwick Boys’ High School. Across the two days, students worked in groups of three to compete in four different events: Collaborative Writing, Scholar’s Challenge, Team Debate and Scholar’s Bowl.

Our teams worked exceptionally well across the two days and achieved outstanding results. Some particularly noteworthy achievements included 2nd Overall Individual, Vanessa Yang and 2nd Overall Junior Team, Koji Takamura, Isabelle Wood and Vanessa Yang.

Congratulations to Aiden Bhuyan, Berlin Buresti, Zac Collins, Esther Davis, Henry Dobbs, Aadya Dua, Lily-Rose Finemore, Aidan He, Bligh Jordan, Tristan Lau, Alexandra Lazaridis, Annie Liang, Claire Lou, Sam McConnell, Max Medina, Vivan Neelamraju, Carly Ou, Emily Ratilal, Koji Takamura, Jamie Tan, Prince Tashi, Madeleine Tran, Genevieve Williams, Isabelle Wood, Jonathan Wood, Declan Wu, Oscar Xu, Vanessa Yang and Hannah Zhang on their outstanding efforts at this competition.

Below are some reflections from four of the participating students about each of the events:

Collaborative Writing
“Our first challenge at the World Scholar’s Cup was to write a story from one of six subject areas: Art and Music, Literature and Media, History, Science and Technology, Social Studies, and Special Area. We had 20 minutes of planning time, 40 minutes of writing time and 15 minutes of peer feedback time. I chose the Literature and Media subject and reinvented the Trojan Horse story with electricity.” – Aidan He

Scholar’s Challenge
“The Scholar’s Challenge was a multiple-choice test with 120 questions and five different options for each answer. It sounds fairly standard, however, students were able to choose more than one answer! For example, you could choose A and B, and if one of them was correct, you’d receive half a point. If you chose A, B, and C, and B was correct, you’d receive a third of a point, and so on. The Scholar’s Challenge was a fun and educational experience for the St Andrew's scholars.” – Esther Davis

Team Debate
“At the World Scholar’s Cup, teams were pitted against each other in a timed debate. Once the topic had been stated, each team had 15 minutes to think of points and prepare their speeches. They can each talk for four minutes, and there’s one minute between speeches for the teams to prepare their rebuttals. I personally found the debates really fun, as you have to quickly scramble to think of ideas.” – Bligh Jordan

Scholar’s Bowl
“Multiple choice questions. 15 seconds on the clock. A halfway break including…alpaca adoptions? The Scholar’s Bowl contains many parts of a conventional multiple-choice quiz, however, there are many different factors in it as well. There’s short clips and films, answer clickers, and a unique celebration method – the Chauncey Roll. The Scholar’s Bowl is filled with laughs and was definitely a favourite amongst the scholars who attended the World Scholar’s Cup.” – Koji Takamura

Congratulations again to our World Scholar’s Cup teams.

Mind Quest

Enrolments are now open for a range of Mind Quest workshops on 21-22 September at St George Girls High School. These dynamic, two-day workshops are designed to engage and challenge students in a wide range of subject areas, including Chemistry, Earth Sciences, LEGO Robotics, Drama, Art, Writing and more. The courses aim to enhance critical and creative thinking and improve problem-solving skills, whilst also expanding student interests. For older students, many of the Mind Quest courses provide a special opportunity to learn advanced concepts typically taught at the high school level. For further information or to enrol, please visit https://mindquest.net.au/.
 

Mrs Rebecca Lord
Gifted and Talented Coordinator Junior School and Gawura

Sydney Youth Orchestra Winter School

In the winter holidays nine St Andrew's students participated in the Sydney Youth Orchestra Winter School. This programme involved a week of rehearsals, tutorials and fun sessions lead by Sydney’s leading string teachers and players, culminating in a concert at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Congratulations to Hugo Gilmovich, Nathaniel Iloski, Eliana Wong, Lucas Wu, Holli Sze, Hannah Yik, Annabelle Ikoski, Laura Wu and Carissa Wong for their hard work during this intensive period of music making!
 

Ms Sandi Oh
Coordinator of Strings

Bravo, Maestro!

Congratulations to Shuichi Matsumoto who has recently competed and placed in two eisteddfods for piano performance.

Shuichi placed Highly Commended in the Pre 20th Century Piano (8 years) and 3rd Place in the 20th and 21st Century Piano (8 years) sections of the Sydney Eisteddfod.

He also placed 2nd in the Open Baroque 8 years & under and 1st in the Open 3rd and 4th Grades  (Any Age) Division 4 sections in the St George Eisteddfod.

Music exam success

Congratulations to the following students who have recently completed Australian Music Examinations Board examinations:

Annabelle Douglas – Grade 1 Theory of Music – High Distinction

Emma Dowsett – Grade 3 Piano Comprehensive – Honours

Tyson Happer – Grade 1 Violin Comprehensive – Honours

Eleanor Ha – Grade 1 Violin – Honours

Mrs Kate Robertson
Head of Music (K-6)

Introducing supporter wear!

Who is it for?
Supporter wear has been designed for our parents, grandparents, alumni, even for our fur babies to wear with pride, especially at sporting events!

**NB: this range is not school uniform and will be confiscated if worn at school or school events by students**

How to purchase?
All items are available on the online Uniform Shop via the parent portal, or come in store to see the range Mon/Wed/Fri 8am-3.30pm. We have limited stock for our launch. To avoid disappointment please order now and then special orders can be placed for our next round once sold out.

About the range?
All items have been ethically sourced, custom made, with premium quality fabrics and sustainable cotton from an Australia owned and operated company.

We are delighted to announce our introductory offer for the month of August – spend $200 or more on the supporter wear range and get a cap for free!

Saturday Sport boys – Round 8

Term 3 sees the boys' Saturday sport carry on for the winter season with Rounds 8-10.

On Saturday 27 July, the U9 boys' footballers took on The Scots College and the impressive game saw our boys walk away with a 5-1 victory. The U10’s boys played against Mosman Prep School and we saw another great result in this game with our St Andrew's boys scoring eight goals and winning 8-0. 

The mixed Rugby 7’s teams also had a successful Round 8 with four wins across the four games. The U11 team was successful against Newington and Knox Grammar, with scorelines of 4-3 and 5-2 respectively. The U12’s played some impressive games against Cranbrook and The Scots College with wins, 5-2 and 5-0 respectively.

Saturday Sport boys – Round 9

The second last round of boys football was played on Saturday 3 August. Both the U9 and U10 teams played at home (The Domain sports field), the U9’s against Sants Sabina and the U10’s against Tutor House. The U9’s continued their unbeaten streak with an impressive 8-2 win. The U10’s played a strong game and came away with a 2-2 draw.

The final round of the IPSHA boys Saturday sport competition will be played on Saturday 10 August. We look forward to seeing the boys in action for the final time this season.

Saturday Sport girls – Round 1

This term the girls have transitioned to touch football for Saturday sports and we have two outstanding touch football teams playing in the IPSHA competition. Round 1 saw the Year 5 team take on PLC Sydney and come away with a 5-2 win. A special mention to Juno Ainsworth for scoring in this game. The Year 6 girls were against St Catherines School and they had a narrow loss 2-1 in a strong Round 1 performance.

Saturday Sport girls – Round 2

The second round of girls Term 3 Saturday Sport had both Year 5 and Year 6 touch football teams playing against Ascham, with both teams coming away with a win after two highly competitive games. These girls have been training for a whole term in the lead up to this term's competition. Well done girls – your hard work is now paying off.

Monty on ice!

Year 6 student Monty Norris recently took second place in the Free Skate 1 division at Sydney Figure Skating. Well done Monty!

Mr Oliver Denny
Head of Sport Junior School and Gawura

Do you want to know how to contribute to the conversation in a culturally appropriate and sensitive manner?

This P&F event is an opportunity for you to hear and learn from informed School staff as they share their expertise with the community.

The presenters on the night will be:

• Mr John Ralph, Head of Gawura and proud Gumbayngirr man.
• Ms Emma Walker, Aboriginal Education Mentor and proud Yuin woman.
• Ms Bindi Jarvis, Modern History and Aboriginal Studies Teacher.

This informative, welcoming and fun evening is for everyone who has ever been unsure of what to say or what to do when engaging with Aboriginal Australians. There will be a short presentation and plenty of time for discussion and questions. 

This event will also be available online via the Teams link below.

Tuesday 6 August, 6pm
The Community Hub, Level 4, St Andrew's House
 

Please RSVP for catering purposes.

What makes your child ready for school?

Join us at our information evening where you will have the opportunity to:

• Find out what the school readiness indicators are.
• Know what preparations you can make at home to support your child transitioning to school.
• Talk to Kindergarten teachers to find out what happens during a regular school day.
• Listen to experts, hear the latest research on what to do to give your child the best advantage to start their education.
• Learn the questions to ask your new school to determine whether it is the right school for your child.

This event will assist parents in deciding whether their child is ready to attend school or should be ‘held back’.

Any interested parents, pre-school directors and teachers are welcome to join us.

Wednesday 7 August, 5pm
Level 7, St Andrew's House

Please RSVP to the event by clicking below.

All new parents and carers to our School are welcome!

Parents and carers who are new to Junior School and Gawura in 2024 are invited to join us for morning tea to get to know other parents, meet a selection of staff, and have an opportunity to ask all the questions you have about school life, now that you are here.

Thursday 8 August, 8am-9am
The Community Hub, Level 4, St Andrew's House

Please RSVP by Tuesday 6 August by clicking the link below.

Book Week 2024

This year’s Book Week theme is ‘Reading is Magic’ and we are exploring magical stories and characters throughout the Term.

Our official celebrations begin on Monday 19 August with a week of magical storytelling before school and during Lunch in the Library. On Thursday 22 August all of our Junior School students will be visited by author Tim Harris. Tim is the best-selling author of several laugh-out-loud series for children including Toffle Towers, Mr Bambuckle's Remarkables and Exploding Endings. Tim will share his tips for creating ideas for stories and his approach to writing and refining stories.

Book Week 2024 culminates in our Book Character Parade on Friday 23 August starting at 9am in the Cathedral. Parents are most welcome to attend this event, along with the Book Fair that will follow in Upper Chapter House.

We look forward to seeing you at these events and can’t wait to see the wonderful costumes!

Friday 23 August, 9am
St Andrew's Cathedral