It has been a very tough fortnight in our school community in regard to the tragic events that have occurred in the past fortnight.

I want to give you all a very special thank you for the lovely texts and messages of your prayers and support over this time. The staff have appreciated this immensely. Thank you to our own SACS and Gawura school counsellors but also to the other 11 schools in total, who provided school counsellor support to our students and staff over the past fortnight. Their response, help and support – we will always acknowledge and be grateful for.

Next Wednesday 15 November our Aboriginal students from Years 5 to 12 will be attending the On Country Tour for 2023. We will be visiting Wiradjuri and Gundungurra Nations spending time in Lithgow, Mudgee, Goulburn River National Park and Katoomba. The students are very excited about this trip and the opportunity to participate in cultural learning which is being delivered by local Elders and Aboriginal Knowledge Holders who have the cultural authority to deliver content on the places that we visit.

Sadly, we had to postpone our planned Yarning Session With Parents last Tuesday 31 October but we are delighted that Aunty Barbara Simms has confirmed that she will be hosting us on a walking tour of La Perouse followed by a morning tea, early next year on Tuesday 27 February from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

Finally, our students in Year 5 enjoyed their annual camp at Kirrikee in the Southern Highlands two weeks ago and our Year 6 students enjoyed their annual camp just last week at Lake Macquarie in the Hunter Region. Sailing and kayaking were just some of the highlights. Please see the attached photos.

We wish you a wonderful and safe fortnight ahead.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Mr John Ralph
Head of Gawura

Supporting our children

During this difficult time a number of parents have asked for some simple parenting do’s and don’ts as they support their child. I hope these might be helpful to you.

Do:

1. Reassure them that they are safe.
2. Let them know it is ok to talk about how they feel about what happened.
3. Tell them they can ask questions, and answer these in plain language appropriate to their age – be honest but avoid details of the event.
4. Tell them that feeling upset is normal, and that talking with a trusted adult will help, and that with time they will feel better.
5. Be understanding – they may take longer to complete tasks, have problems sleeping, difficulties with focus or emotional regulation – be patient and reassuring if this happens – with support and care it will pass.
6. Give your children extra love and attention and prioritise time together.
7. Remember that children look to their parents and carers to both feel safe and to know how to respond – reassure them, share that you are upset too but that you know our community will all be supporting each other.
8. Try to keep to normal routines – mealtimes, bedtimes etc. – allow them to get out and play, to go to the park and other activities they enjoy.
9. HOWEVER, if a child’s distress is escalating, or they are displaying any worrying behaviours seek help early. Reach out to a School Counsellor or the external support providers we have shared with you.

Don’t:

1. Talk about the details of the event repeatedly, this can be harmful. Children may want to ask about many details, however, honest and broad responses are best.
2. If this is repeated try to refocus them on how they are feeling e.g. what happened is awful, it’s normal to feel upset or afraid, how are you feeling?
3. Don’t tell them “don’t be upset” – it is natural to want to protect them from fear and difficult emotions, however, it is important to acknowledge their feelings and validate these as a normal response.

Please reach out to myself or other School staff if you have any concerns about your child’s wellbeing at this time. We have a range of support services available both within the School and beyond which may be of assistance. Click here for further information.

Mrs​​​​ Bronwyn Wake
Junior School and Gawura Wellbeing Coordinator and Psychologist / Counsellor

Congratulations!

Music examination results

Congratulations to these students on their wonderful recent examination results:

• Matthew Ting – High Distinction Grade 4 Cello
• Taali Paku – Honours in Grade 4 Piano
• Mairah Kharwa – Honours in Grade 1 Violin
• Annabelle Tee – Credit in Grade 2 Violin
• James Yeung – Honours in Grade 4 Violin

Please continue to pass on any results for inclusion in our newsletter if your child has recently done an exam!
 

Music and Art Showcase

We are greatly looking forward to our Inaugural Music and Art Showcase, 16-17 November. Parents who have children in ensembles will have received the information note for this and we look forward to seeing you there. Please register to attend here – performers do not need to register.
 

Well done Annabelle and Aiden

Annabelle Douglas (Year 5) and Aiden Herman (Year 10) recently performed the national anthems of Australia and the United States at the AmCham Gala Awards Dinner at the ICC Darling Harbour. They were excellent ambassadors for our School. Thank you to Ms Szu Yu Chen for accompanying the students so wonderfully on the night.

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

Over the weekend, 3-4 November, Junior School sporting teams signed a card that will be added to the memorial for Lilie James. The Junior School Sports Department would like to pay our respect to the James family, remembering Lilie as a warm, loving and vibrant member of our community.

Mixed hockey

In the first game of the season, the mixed Year 5/6 hockey team played well under difficult circumstances. Being only down 1-0 at half time, the team showed positive spirit in the second half with a final score of 8-1 loss.

Boys Saturday sport Round 8 recap

Basketball: The boys basketball teams were away to Mosman Prep. An impressive display from the St Andrew's Cathedral School boys saw us walk away with three from four wins and one draw. The standout performance came from the Year 5A team who finished with a 45-6 victory. This team has shown great improvement from Term 1, highlighting their hard work in training all year long.

Cricket: Playing in the club competition, the boys went down to Marrickville. Building on a positive start the boys played well with a final score of 52/9 (20) - 53/4 (14). A special mention to Boaz Waterhouse and William Spring for some great bowling in the match.

Girls Saturday sport Round 2

Basketball: The Year 6 girls team had 14-14 draw against Meriden. This tight game was thrilling with both teams playing to a high standard. The Year 5 girls went down in their game 10-14 against Santa Sabina. Showing continual improvement, the girls did well to score against a well-structured Santa Sabina defence.

Cricket: The Year 5/6 cricket team lost 126/9 (18) - 185/5 (18) to Ascham. With huge improvement already evident from Round 1, we are excited to see how these girls progress this season.

Mr Oliver Denny
Head of Sport Junior School

Visual Arts Showcase

As a taster for our upcoming, inaugural K-6 Music and Art Showcase, take a look at some fabulous pastel drawings created by some of our talented Year 1 artists.  They demonstrate how toning, shading and smudging can be used to create a powerful and beautiful zoom-in effect in the style of American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.  

We’re looking forward to welcoming you to the showcase, 16 and 17 November in the Chapter House, where you can see more of these works… and more of many other kinds of works, including our Young Andrean Artist of the Year entries for 2023. Put the dates in your diary!

See further details in the What's On section at the end of this newsletter!

Mrs​​​​ Miriam Daly
Visual Arts Integrator Junior School and Gawura

Mathematical Games and Olympiad

Throughout the course of the year, selected students across Years 3-6 have had the opportunity to participate in the Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiads’ (APSMO) Mathematical Games (Years 3-4) and Mathematical Olympiad (Years 5-6) programmes. The Mathematical Games and Olympiad are designed to challenge students at the primary school level to think laterally and creatively when solving mathematics problems. They teach major problem-solving strategies and strengthen students’ mathematical intuition, highlighting that there may be multiple ways to reach a solution.

Students involved in this opportunity competed in four separate contests held roughly six weeks apart, starting in early Term 2. Each contest comprised of five questions which had to be completed independently in a 30-minute timeframe. Here are some example questions from the Mathematical Olympiad:

1. Jemma looks at the clock and sees that it is now 8am. She says, “Grandma is coming in 243 hours!” What time will it be when Grandma arrives?
2. A standard die has six faces numbered from 1 to 6. Three standard dice are rolled. How many different sums are possible for the three numbers on the top face of each die?
3. If the pattern continues, what is the letter at the top of the column that contains the number 221?

Answers: 1) 11am  2)16  3) E

Below is a reflection from Jesse Lo and Abigail Mather about their experience of the Mathematical Games programme:

This year, some students in Years 3 and 4 participated in Maths Games. Maths Games is a mathematical competition that involves five tricky maths questions which you must solve in a 30-minute time period. This competition required us to use our highest thinking skills. Some of the things that we enjoyed were cracking the challenging questions, learning new strategies to figure out the answers and embracing new ways of thinking mathematically. A few things that were challenging for us were beating the clock, not getting too distracted by the unnecessary extra information in each problem and equalising our time working out each question. This competition encouraged us to stretch our brains. We really enjoyed participating in Maths Games this year!

Congratulations to all the participating students who challenged themselves within this opportunity. We would like to particularly congratulate Joshua Ahn, Audrey Ash, Zaccary Chieng, Benji Gunning, Blake Harvey, Lucas Mao, Rafferty McGonigle, Taali Paku, William Spring, Koji Takamura, Oscar Xu and James Yeung for achieving a result in the top 10% of the Mathematical Olympiad, and to Archie Lo on his achievement of a Mathematical Olympiad medal for his placement on the 2023 Perfect Scorers List. We would also like to congratulate Bill Pan, who achieved a perfect score in the Mathematical Games.

Mrs​​​​ Rebecca Lord
Gifted and Talented Coordinator Junior School and Gawura

See the great music and art talent of our K-6 students

The inaugural K-6 music and art show brings together our talented artists and musicians from Kindergarten to Year 6.

All of our ensembles look forward to performing and sharing their music with you. Meanwhile our young artists are keen to see you engage and interact with their creative art exhibits and installations.

Art show – Chapter House
• Thursday 16 November, 3pm-5pm
• Friday 17 November, 2pm-6pm

Music concert – St Andrew’s Cathedral
• Friday 17 November, 6pm-7.45pm

A special way to come together as a community

The P&F Christmas Rooftop Markets will be going ahead on Saturday 18 November. We hope that the community comes together to enjoy the company of other parents, carers and guests while listening to student performances, visiting the market stalls and taking the opportunity to eat, drink and heal together.

The markets is an event for adults only from 5pm (due to the sale of alcohol). This year for 1 hour from 4pm to 5pm, the market will be open for all ages!  For parents who would like to continue to enjoy a child-free evening on the rooftop past 5pm, book your child into Movies@The Heath (Heath Centre) where your child can enjoy a movie with their friends, completely supervised, until you pick them up. This is still a ticketed event to cover costs but will no longer be a fundraising initiative.

Saturday 18 November, 4pm
SAH Rooftop, St Andrew's House

P&F AGM

The P&F are currently seeking nominations to join the 2024 P&F Executive Committee. 

The P&F work closely with the School and are committed to building a strong school community and supporting our School and students.

The Constitution states that all roles are made ‘vacant’ each year, although some of our current members are happy to continue in their roles unless opposed. There will definitely be a number of vacancies, as some existing members of the Exec will be leaving due to their children finishing at St Andrew's Cathedral School.

Voting will be in person so if you wish to nominate and/or vote then please come along.

The AGM will be followed by our final P&F General meeting for the year.

The AGM Agenda can be found here.

The 2022 AGM Minutes can be found here.

The roles in the P&F are:

President

• Act as a representative of the P&F.
• Establish good relationships with the School, parents and community.
• Plan and chair meetings in consultation with the Secretary and Committee.
• Follow up on actions from previous meetings and communicate decisions to the whole school community.
• Respond to correspondence and comments.
• Write the P&F newsletter.

Vice President

• Provide support to the President and committee.
• Share duties and responsibilities as agreed.
• Attend all meetings.

Secretary

• Provide admin support to the President and P&F Executive Committee as needed.
• Create all meeting agendas.
• Take and distribute minutes at P&F meetings.
• Assist with the management of P&F events.

Treasurer

• Maintain records of P&F finances, including receipts and expenditure.
• Present a financial report at each P&F meeting and a yearly report at the AGM.
• Arrange for an audited financial report for the AGM.

General Executive

• Participate in all decision making at P&F meetings.
• Attend meetings and vote on issues at hand.
• Provide ongoing support to the committee.
• Help organise and run P&F events.

Within the three ‘General Executive’ positions, ideally someone will take on the roles of Parent Convenors Co-ordinator, Events Co-ordinator plus a General support role.

If you are interested in supporting the School by nominating for a P&F position please complete the nomination form and return to the P&F p&f@sacs.nsw.edu.au before midday on Monday 20 November.

All parents who paid the P&F subscription as part of their Term 1 school fees can ‘Nominate’ and ‘Second’ the application. If you have any queries regarding the roles then please contact the P&F at p&f@sacs.nsw.edu.au

The nomination form can be found here.

P&F General Meeting

Please join the 2024 P&F Executive and other parents at the last General Meeting for the year. This will include a Head of School update, and update on sport at the School.

The P&F General Meeting will follow on from the P&F AGM. 

The P&F General Meeting agenda can be found here.

Join us for a farewell cuppa

Parents and carers of Year 6 students are warmly invited to Coffee in the Chapter House for a farewell event.

Come along and share a coffee with staff and other Year 6 parents to celebrate and reflect on your Junior School years and look forward to and prepare for the next adventure!

Thursday 23 November, 8am-9am
Chapter House

Please RSVP by Monday 20 November

Save the date!

Our 138th Evening of Celebration and Prizegiving will be on Tuesday 5 December in the magnificent Sydney Town Hall. Mark the date in your diaries and join our School community to celebrate this year’s highlights together.

More information to come soon.