On Tuesday 22 June the JSGS held our annual NAIDOC Week Assembly. This year’s theme is ‘Because of Her We Can’.  It was a wonderful morning with another full house in the cathedral to celebrate another significant event. This year’s theme celebrated the importance of indigenous female role models and our students led the way in their presentations.

Kindergarten students Zavier and Nyarla spoke about the qualities and endurance of indigenous sportswoman and athlete Cathy Freeman. Stage 1 students Tilly and Jenarose spoke about indigenous poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Stage 2 students Joshua and Peter presented their research on indigenous tennis player Evonne Goolagong and finally Stage 3 students Aliyah and Mariah  shared their knowledge of indigenous activist Joyce Clague.

We conducted an interview with Aunty Sharon Minniecon who along with her husband Ray Minniecon were the original founders of this Gawura School. Sharon shared her childhood background, the importance of education and the many knockbacks that occurred when they tried to originally get Gawura started. Aunty Sharon’s speech was moving and genuine and we could all emulate her feelings when she said that her and Ray are so proud that we now have record numbers of students attending Gawura and that 13 students have graduated from Year 12 and we are still counting with more to come!!

Aunty Sharon it’s because of you that we can be here at Gawura!!

Over 250 JSGS students sang a version of Prince’s song from 1995, ‘The Most Beautiful Girl in the World’ which he wrote for his mother. Our combined massed choir sang the verse in english and the chorus in Wiradjuri and were simply stunning.

The Semester One reports have been sent out this week. I encourage you to read this report with your child and celebrate the success that they have achieved and take on board the recommendations as well to further improve their capabilities.

This Friday is Gala day where all students from K-12 will be participating in events across several venues. Lunch will be provided on the day.

May you all have a safe and wonderful holiday ahead and a reminder that school will return for our students on Wednesday 25th July.

Mr John Ralph
Head of Gawura

Want more photos?

For more pictures of our NAIDOC Assembly please visit the Gawura Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/gawura.sacs/

Last week we said farewell to Lucy Crook who has been Gawura's number one supporter and fundraiser for the last eight years. We wish Lucy all the best (she has promised to come back and read!) and thank her from the bottom of our hearts for everything she has contributed to Gawura. We will miss you!

Lucy was presented with a beautiful painting purchased by local artist Jordan Arder. More of Jordan's beautiful work can be seen at https://www.instagram.com/jordan_ardler/?hl=en

Welcome Mrs Abbott

Mrs Nicole Abbott has joined the Administration Team for the last two weeks of Term 2, From Term 3 she will be working on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays each week.

For any enquiries to Mrs Abbott please email jsreception@sacs.nsw.edu.au

On Friday 22 July the Stage 3 School Representative Council organised a MUFTI day for all students across the Junior School.

The event was a fun way to start to bring the term to a close, as students donated $2 for the privilege of wearing their own weekend clothes to school for the day. All money raised will be presented to Anglicare, who are a Christian not-for-profit organisation supporting people at all stages of their life in the Sydney and Greater Sydney region. A huge well done to all students who participated and generously donated to help this very worthwhile cause.

This competition will recognise the top three entries from the Junior School for both writing and art, with the winners announced at the Evening of Celebration and Prize-giving in December.

Australian Bush Stories

Stories must be set in the Australian Bush. Student name and Year level clearly labelled.

Entries can be handwritten or typed and max word limits are as follows:

• Kindergarten – 100 words
• Year 1-2 – 200 words
• Year 3-4 – 400 words
• Year 5-6 – 1000 words

Please hand to or email: Junior School Reception jsreception@sacs.nsw.edu.au with the subject title 'Bush Story'.

Australian Bush Artwork

Entries must be A3 size, no more than 5mm thick, student name and Year level clearly marked.
Painting, textiles, drawing, printmaking, photography, graphic design, etc.

Artwork must be set in the Australian bush.

Please submit Year K-6 entries to Junior School Reception

Competition details and prizes

Winning entries will be judged on creativity, skill, engagement of the audience and originality in exploring the theme. Entries must be composed this year and no group entries are permitted. Plagiarism will result in disqualification.

1st Round:

Junior School and Gawura entries are judged by Mrs Robson (Stories) and Mrs Edwards (Artworks). Finalists will receive certificates.

2nd Round:

The finalists will be judged by Dr Collier

Junior Andrean Writer and Artist of the Year

• Junior Andrean Writer of the Year
  $120 voucher – Announced at Evening of Celebration and Prize-giving.

• Junior Andrean Artist of the Year
  $120 voucher – Announced at Evening of Celebration and Prize-giving.

Who will be your inspiration?

May Gibbs, Normal Lindsay, Banjo Patterson, Henry Lawson, Sally Morgan, Albert Namatjira, Mem Fox, Ken Done, Tom Roberts, Sidney Nolan, Fred McCubbin, Grace Cossington-Smith.

Level 7 Main School Building  (outside the Junior School ART SPACE)

From Wednesday 27 June until Friday 27 July.

Drop by and enjoy viewing a variety of exciting works from independent schools across Sydney and NSW – as well as work from some of our own students!

Don’t miss it!

As the semester concludes we will email your child’s Semester One Report for 2018. The teachers have assessed your child’s work across each of the Key Learning Areas of the curriculum.

The assessments have been guided by the New South Wales NESA syllabus documents. Students have made a great deal of progress academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually, and we trust you will see this reflected in this formalised reporting document.

Naturally, we encourage you to take a positive and enthusiastic approach and to peruse the report together with your child. Do take time to impart appropriate praise and recognition for efforts and achievements made, and to provide encouragement in areas where increased diligence may be warranted. Please remember, each child is precious and unique and rates of development and achievement will vary from student to student, across subject areas.

The five point grading scale of Extensive through to Elementary, an (A – E) equivalence, enables you to have a sense of where your child is in relation to NSW outcomes at this point in time.

Comparative Reporting information for this semester is certainly available from the School (Year 1 to Year 6) to individual parents upon request.

If you would like to know how your child’s individual results compare to the grade, please contact the Junior School Reception and this information will be sent directly to you after the holiday break. The email contact to request comparative grades is jsreception@sacs.nsw.edu.au.

Our recommendation to parents is that if Comparative Reporting information is sought from the School, that such information is not shared with your child. Should you require any further explanation, or details regarding your child’s progress, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher initially.

Thank you for entrusting your child’s education to the Junior School at St Andrew’s Cathedral School.  It is a privilege and pleasure to work with you and your child, and I thank you sincerely for your on-going and crucial contribution to our learning partnership.

Mrs Rhonda Robson
Deputy Head of School (Primary) and Director of Primary Education

Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) 2018

Congratulations to the following students who have completed their challenge:

Arthur Eidel, Eli Gajewski, Margot Stiles, Lilian Smallwood, Jeremy Reaidi, Kittiruj Somchit, Alicia Joseph, Eva Paku, Rishita Garg and Ezekiel (Zekie) Sujadinata.

Fifty-one students have completed the challenge already!  With holidays coming you’ll be able to borrow twice your normal limit so imagine how many more students we’ll have finished after the holidays!

Parent / Teacher Challenge 2018

Come on teachers and parents... Grab a book and read alongside your child/ren and complete the Parent / Teacher Challenge this year!

Requirements for completion:

Read any six titles (in any language). Email me spaul@sacs.nsw.edu.au the titles and I’ll add you to our wall of wonderful reading role models. The holidays are a great time to share a reading moment with your child/ren.

Finished the PRC for 2018? Well don’t stop reading!

The Junior School and Gawura library have a new challenge for you. Pick up an entry form, read any ten books, complete the entry form and return it to Mrs Paul for your chance to win a book of your choice. There are two draws this term and you can enter as many times as you’d like.

So, the more you read the more chances you have of winning! What are you waiting for?

The second draw will happen in Week 9, so keep your entries coming in.

Accessing the library as a parent

We are open every morning except Tuesdays and Wednesdays before school and it’s is lovely to see so many parents coming in and sharing a book before school. We welcome you all to come in, choose a book and curl up and read with your child/ren before the formal school day begins. You can’t do this enough and it doesn’t matter how old they are, they still love being read to… you’ll also be surprised how many extra children will join you and listen in.

Borrowing from the library

It really is wonderful how many of our students are regular borrowers from the library. We do ask that if, as parents, you are borrowing on your child’s behalf that you do so on days other than their class borrowing days. It’s very disheartening for them if they come in with their class and can’t borrow because their limit has been reached with books they didn’t choose themselves. If you are reading books faster than once a week or fortnight please do return them sooner and borrow more but make sure that all these in-between books are returned in time for their regular class browse and borrow time. Thank you for your support in this.

Write like an author

Need something to do over the school holidays? Always wanted to write like an author? Then sign up for the internationally acclaimed writing course for students in Years 5-8. The four-day, school holiday writing camp will take you on a journey of fun and discovery. You’ll learn how to create, develop and write awesome stories, with a professional author guiding you every step of the way. For more information http://writelikeanauthor.com .You can also pick up a flyer from the library.

"When I say to a parent, "read to a child", I don't want it to sound like medicine. I want it to sound like chocolate." — Mem Fox

Svetlana Paul
Junior School and Gawura Teacher Librarian

Performing Arts in the Junior School

What a busy term we have had and I would like to thank all the parents, students and staff for making me feel so welcome.

Friday 15 June was the K-2 Concert and all the children from these year groups provided a wonderful audience to our performers. Congratulations to Freddie Beck, Annabelle Douglas, Camilla Mao, Lucy Lin, Isabelle King, Blake Harvey, Joshua Ahn, Claire Buggy, Kai Taheri, Oscar Sanfilippo, Adele Wong, Ingrid Chin, Jaidyn Gonsalves, and Violet Bloxom who all performed so beautifully for our parents and friends. Some of the students made their debut performance and now know that performing is a wonderful activity to partake in.

AMEB exams

Congratulations to Chantilly Ho (Year 5) for receiving an A+ in viola Grade 4, Hiroki Zhong (Year 2) for receiving an A+ in piano Grade 3, Jonathan Liu (Year 2) for receiving an A+ in piano Grade 1 and to Jeremy Reaidi for receiving an A+ in piano Grade 3.

Showcase

Junior Choir will be performing in the annual Showcase. A note has been sent home with relevant information, so if you do not know what is happening, please email Mrs Turner at sturner@sacs.nsw.edu.au Parents are encouraged to feed their children before the event please and all children are to remain for the duration of the concert as they are singing in the final item.

Junior School End of Term Awards

Congratulations to all our award recipients – you have worked extremely hard and are deserving of the accolade. Thank you to Jedidiah Sam, Joshua Choi, Training Orchestra, Junior Orchestra and Junior Chamber Orchestra for providing such lovely music.

NAIDOC week

All children in years 3 – 6 learnt to sing a well-known Prince song “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” in Wiradjuri with the help of Mrs Williams. They have been working diligently in class, mastering the language and the music to ensure they do the song justice.

Musica Viva

This concert will be held on June 28 with K-2 attending from 10am and years 3-6 attending at 11am.

The following rehearsals will be cancelled in the last week of term:

Junior Orchestra
Training Orchestra
Junior Strings
Junior Chamber Strings
Junior Concert Band
Junior Rock Band
Infants Choir

Sarah Turner
Acting Leader of Learning – Music (K-6)

On Thursday 7 June we sent 42 of our strongest runners to the ASISSA Cross Country Carnival at Queens Park. This is a huge event for our young athletes, with over 100 runners in each race. Congratulations to all of those who competed and did the school immensely proud with their efforts. We also had three runners qualify for the prestigious CIS Cross Country Carnival, Claudia Wyatt (1st place), Harrison Bond (3rd place) and Emily Lin (9th place).

The Junior School and Gawura has also been competing throughout Term 2 in an IPSHA rugby 7’s completion. The teams have had very positive results on the field and continue to develop well as young rugby players and representatives of the school. From this John Cameron-Murphy and Brendan Bennett were nominated to trial for the CIS Rugby Union team. They went along with over 100 other young rugby players for a gruelling two day trial, with students from as far as the Riverina and everywhere in between invited to participate. Both boys obviously put in an outstanding performance, because both been selected to represent the CIS at the state tournament. This is extremely difficult to be selected for and both boys should be proud of their efforts – congratulations!

Tony Dunseath
PDHPE Teacher

Creating Momentum for Positive Family Change – By Michael Grose

This is a really interesting blog from Michael this month. It is powerful and inspiring. He has been talking about Sir John Monash, the first Australian-born general to command Australian troops in World War 1. I love History but didn’t know about this gentleman. “He is widely attributed with turning the tide of the war to the Allies’ way through his assiduous planning and attention to detail.” Michael comments “Equally pivotal to his success was his ability to change the mindset of the troops from defensive to offensive. The troops he inherited in 1918 hadn’t experienced military success of any note for over two years. Monash engineered a series of continuous mini-raids on the enemy so that his troops could feel success again.” Michael continues that Monash used the power of momentum. “The more they succeeded in battle, the more his troops wanted to experience success. He built a culture of success in his forces by starting small and then harnessing the power of momentum.”

Here are Michael’s suggestions for us as parents and teachers to harness momentum for positive change:

Developing independence

If a child is very reliant on others then consider creating opportunities for them to resolve small everyday problems themselves. Let them experience what it’s like to be a problem-solver. For instance, rather than resolving a child’s sibling conflict issues give him or her clues and ideas to help them get their own way with a sibling.

Building confidence

Self-esteem can be boosted in similar ways. If your child lacks confidence to mingle and meet new friends consider helping him or her experience social successes in smaller, more intimate settings. For instance, encourage him or her to invite one friend at a time to your place, as it’s easier to form friendships singularly in familiar territory. Self-esteem is usually built little by little.

Being cooperative

Cooperative behaviour can similarly be built through momentum. Often uncooperative kids receive a great deal of B-grade, negative attention (plenty of reminders, lots of nagging, being yelled at) for their lack of cooperation. Catch them being cooperative in small ways (cleaning away dishes without being asked, being kind to a sibling, using manners with an adult) so that they experience what it’s like doing the right thing.

Helping others

Help your kids experience the appreciation of others that comes from their small acts of kindness, generosity and help. Feeling appreciated for their small contributions (loaning a toy to a friend) and acts of selflessness (giving up a seat in the bus to an elderly person) can be just the tonic some kids need.”
A great article!

Joy Rohrlach
Stage 3 Leader

Winter uniform requirements for Term 2 and Term 3

St Andrew’s Cathedral School is one of the most visible schools in NSW with students moving between buildings throughout the day, seniors visiting the Town Hall Arcade during lunch and over a thousand of our students catching public transport all over Sydney and beyond as they travel to and from school. Parents send their children to St Andrew’s because of its high standards in academic, pastoral care, co-curricular and Christian education. In turn, St Andrew’s has high expectations of students. Literature also shows that good uniform standards lead to reduced discipline problems, an increased sense of belonging and higher academic engagement and standards. It also shows pride in the school.

Winter uniform is to be worn from the beginning of Term 2, students have been reminded of our uniform standards.

Below is an outline of the topics that have been discussed:

• Hair – to be neat and tidy. Hair cuts must be conventional and unlikely to cause comment. No shaved sections, no facial hair. Girls’ hair to be completely tied back; boys’ hair to be cut above the collar and eyebrows.
• Shirts & Ties –shirts must be tucked in, top buttons done up and boys’ ties worn correctly at the neck. Shirt sleeves not to be rolled up.
• Blazers – to be worn to and from School and between buildings. (If it is very hot, I will communicate to students a variation to this rule on the day)
• Jewellery – no rings, bracelets, necklaces. Only one pair of earrings for girls - small sleepers or simple studs only. No other piercings allowed. No earrings for boys.
• Makeup – no makeup or nail polish allowed.
• Sport Uniform – students to wear SACS tracksuit/sports uniform to and from venues.
• Shoes – black leather traditional school shoes. No casual style allowed. Please see student diary for allowable styles.
• Socks – Boys must wear grey or black socks. Girls must wear white plain socks that sit above the ankle. Socklets are not allowed.
• Skirts – skirt hems should be at the knee. Skirts must not be rolled.

Please be aware that these expectations and standards remain applicable to the very last day of the school year. For those who have winter uniform requirements, please contact Mr Ralph or the Uniform Store, on 9286 9547 for a fitting time.

• Please label all new (and old) items of uniform.
• The Uniform store normal Hours of Operation are:
• Monday – Wednesday – Thursday  |  8am to 3.30pm

Wiradjuri Language Nest – Gawura and SACS parent workshop

The parent Wiradjuri workshop has started for 2018. This is an amazing opportunity to support and contribute to the revival of Indigenous languages. I am delighted to say that the program is absolutely free. The weekly workshop is on Tuesday afternoons, 3.15pm-4.15pm and is open to all Gawura/SACS parents and family members.

Please contact Mr Ralph on 0411 040 193 if you are interested in joining the group.

Uniform Store

For those who still have 2018 uniform requirements please contact the Uniform Store, on 92869547 for a fitting time. Remember that students in Kindergarten to Year 6 wear the same uniform so please label all items of uniform.

Mobile phone use

Older students, who travel to and from school on public transport and have a mobile phone, need to ensure that they are switched off during the school day and kept in school bags or handed to your child’s/children’s teacher each morning.

Health Centre

Please send in a note detailing any daily medication needs. Daily medication is to be dispensed by the School Nurse at the Sick Bay. Any medication to be dispensed by the School Nurse must be given to the nurse in its original box (containing the prescription label and your child’s name).

Absences

If your child/children are absent from school, I ask that you text or call Neal on 0439 653 334 or the Reception on 9286 9500 before 9am to notify us. The school requires a note from a parent or guardian explaining any absence from school.