The Way Weekly Recap I Friday 26 June 2020

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From the Principal
Principal Ross Whelan

The end of term has come quickly and with the issues of COVID still impacting the nation, the vacation will be appreciated. 

Importantly, NSW measures have been working with minimal positive cases in the last few weeks.  Schools have been able to operate effectively given that the virus is not transferring among children, and even the large Sydney protest march, has had no transfer of the virus.  We have all appreciated the efforts of the NSW health authorities and decision makers. 

At the College, our health and social distance practices have improved.  A priority has been for staff gatherings and staff room measures and we need to complement all students, staff and parents for the manner in which the community has adapted to the measures required. 

It is not possible to say that the COVID virus has ceased and we will return in Term 3 with the current measures still in place.  Parent Teacher Nights will be conducted on ZOOM and while after College activities are fully underway there will still be impacts on programs and events.

This week we made the sad decision to cancel the 2020 South West Festival and as yet the College musical Peter Pan, is not in rehearsal.  Student assemblies are being conducted online and while we have achieved great things with the Thomas Hassall TV productions, it is different without a live audience. 

Thanks for your patience in regards to the traffic flow.  We have managed to streamline the most difficult time in the peak afternoon student exit time, and will continue to make the small changes required. 

We have learnt a lot during this time.  Improvements and innovations have occurred and will continue to be developed throughout the year. 

Thank you on your behalf, to teachers and support staff for their best efforts during this time.

Please enjoy the news in the articles that follow, and please enjoy the break. 

Psalm 34:8  - ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.’

Mr Ross Whelan
Principal
From the Deputy Principal - Senior School Development
Roger Young

The close of the term has arrived and I know the teachers will now take a well-deserved break.

The past few months has demanded a huge adjustment to everyone’s thinking and work practices and that has been for all of us. However, there has been a really creative response to delivering both the curriculum and the services across the College that has included: virtual assemblies and chapels, on line parent/ teacher interviews, interactive webinars, on campus and off campus adjustments in all areas of our College program. For the most part I have seen a very positive and flexible community response as they have adapted to a brave new world.

This has been a time when our patience and our commitment to one another as a community has been tested. I am proud, in the most part, of how the community has come through.  I would especially like to thank our student leaders whom have worked really hard to gather students and encourage them along the way. Yesterday I saw groups of students lead the College in worship as part of our Chapel presentation. On the same day another group of student leaders’ were involved in sorting through the recyclable bottles in readiness to reclaim the refund. This money will go towards supporting Miracle Schools, our adopted sister school in Pakistan. In the same week I had our captains come and share ideas for the broader student community to improve relationships.

So, at the close of the first half of this year, despite the challenges, I have been very grateful to the Thomas Hassall community in all that has been accomplished. Also I want to thank our great God who is so powerfully blessing us though the challenges; providing new opportunities for us to advance and grow as a community. I feel so grateful!

I wish all of our staff and students a great time of rest and peace as we take a breath and enjoy the next few weeks.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him." Psalm 28:7

Mr Roger Young
Deputy Principal - Senior School Student Development
From the Deputy Principal & Head of Junior School
Sandy Wheeler

Today the Junior School participated in a Mufti Day raising money for the Food Bank.

We raised over $1000 dollars towards this very worthy cause to show service and compassion to the wider community. Students have enjoyed the day with their friends and are keen to start their holiday break.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Junior School families for all your support over the term.

We are all looking forward to returning in Term 3. Have a well-deserved break with your loved ones.

Mrs Sandy Wheeler
Deputy Principal & Head of Junior School
From the Assistant Chaplain
bible

Where has the year gone? How are we already halfway through the year?

Over the past 2 terms we have been looking at the theme ‘Loving relationships’ for Chapel and devotions. We have seen how people were made to be in relationship with each other and with God. We have also seen the great lengths Jesus went through to bring us into perfect relationship with God.

On Wednesday the Senior School had their final chapel for Term 2 where I spoke on the final talk for loving relationships.

Mr Matthew Richards
Assistant Chaplain
Open Letter ‘Dear Australia’ 

You may have noticed the Australia Post, 'Dear Australia' TV ads encouraging families around the nation to compose an open letter about this unique time in history.

Our wonderful English teachers have been encouraging students to get involved and use this as an opportunity to share their thoughts about life during a pandemic.  We see this as an excellent way for our students to contribute to recorded history for future generations who will, no doubt, study the complexities of the last few months that stopped the world.

Many students have spent some time in class drafting the handwritten letter, but may like to work on it a little more at home. We have encouraged them to have this completed before the end of term and return the letter to their class teacher for mailing. Some may prefer to mail it from home. As your child is under 18 years, a permission note will need to be completed by you and included in the envelope or the letter will not be kept for the archive. The address is Dear Australia, Locked Bag Australia 9999. Make sure you and your child sign the permission note and include their name. Letters need to be submitted by 18th August 2020.

Hopefully, they will enjoy capturing the positive, negatives and firsts of the experience. You might like to contribute a letter as a family! 

FAQs and more details on the Australia Post 'Dear Australia' initiative can be found on the website: https://auspost.com.au/dear-australia

Link to the permission note: https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/dear-australia-permission-form.pdf

Happy writing,
Vanessa Refalo 
English Coordinator 

Junior Assembly Performance

Last week the Junior School hosted its first virtual assembly.

As part of this event, the Junior Strings Ensemble were able to perform two pieces. The first was one of their favourite pieces, called ‘Big Ben Boogie’; a fun jazzy number. Their second performance was an arrangement for the 1980’s Pop Hit ‘The Final Countdown’, which despite the age of this song, all the students love to play. The ensemble is conducted by Mr Ehab Ibrahim, and the students rehearse every Wednesday morning. They look forward to being able to perform for a live audience again real soon!

If your child is interested in learning a string instrument and would like to join the Strings Program, please contact Mrs Hobbins at: musicadmin@thac.nsw.edu.au

Mr Byron Mark
Director of Ensembles

Book Review

Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a classic novel which we should all read.

A pop culture misnomer, due to an influential film version of the novella, is that The Strange Case’s main theme is schizophrenia, where Dr Jekyll is portrayed having “multiple personality disorder”.  In the novel however, Dr Jekyll is dealing with his inner desires which he is afraid to pursue in fear that someone would slander his name if recognised and be rejected from polite and respectable Victorian society. So he creates a substance that splits his good and evil personas apart, thus creating the mysterious and sinister Mr Hyde. The true beauty of the novel is the execution of it and the “slow burn effect” it uses. The ‘slow burn effect’ is a sequence of strange and often unrelated events that the reader goes through, which builds up the suspense for the climax where the secret is revealed and ties up all the loose ends of the story. 

“A Catcher in the Rye” Book Review

J D Salinger's “A Catcher in the Rye” is full of multiple relevant ideas and themes which promote teenage morals, as well as growing up, and generally living life well.

Multiple individuals stress that the book is outdated and does not support themes present in today's society, however I have to disagree with this statement. This is evident through the lack of motivation portrayed by Holden in which is extremely relatable to teenagers today who don't utilise their opportunities. This book has taught me that the world does not centre around one individual but can often be insufferably feckless and indifferent, as seen in the world experienced by Holden Caulfield. Holden’s intellectual side has also imposed challenges and made me curious as to why he feels the need to protect innocent children from the corrupted society, so that he doesn't become a “phony”. This statement proves ironic as Holden himself is corrupted by societies ideals and has exposed himself to the ongoing corruption.

Toy Making

This term, Year 1 have been learning about the science of toys.

We have learnt about what kind of toys they had in the past, the kind of toys we have now and have dreamed of the toys we hope will be around in the future. To complete our unit on toys, students were given the opportunity to design and create a toy.

This week students put their designs to the test and created a toy of their own. The students had a great time creating and the toys look fantastic!

Miss Ashleigh Hackfath
Year 1 Team Leader 

From the Careers Advisor

There are now many Careers Services and Resources available to our College community. 

It is vital that all of us learn how to access these if we are going to work as a team to encourage each student to develop several possible Career plans to guide them into the future.

There are five main areas to consider when beginning to use our services:

VET Student Finalist of the Year

The NSW Training Awards are conducted annually by Training Services NSW to recognise outstanding achievement in the vocational education and training sector.

The Awards honour and reward the achievements of student studying Vocational Education and Training (VET) and the award is open to full-time Year 11 or 12 school students undertaking accredited VET as part of their HSC studies.

We celebrate the achievements of Dejan Miljusevic for achieving VET in Schools Student Finalist of the Year in the area of Automotive Engineering.

Dejan was also selected to compete in the World Skills competition that was due to be held in Western Australia but this event has been deferred due to travel restrictions.

Well done to Dejan - we are very proud of what he has achieved and wish him well.

Mr Stephen Moyan
Director of Vocational Pathways

Intermediate Stage Band Performance

The Intermediate Stage Band re-ignited the JUNIOR HUB event to close off a fun mufti-day for the last day of term.

The HUB is an event where students perform live music in the playground to create a fun atmosphere for their peers whilst they eat lunch and play. The sun was shining and the weather was perfect for the band to play their first concert back from the Covid time away. The students performed a range of classic funk, pop and jazz hits; including Van Morrison’s ‘Moon Dance’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ by Queen.

Thank you to all the parents for supporting their child’s music education, with music lessons and after school rehearsals. The band sounded great, and it was very nice to see many students dancing and enjoying the music too. There was even a conga line running for some of the songs too!

Happy and safe holidays everyone.

Mr Byron Mark
Director of Ensembles

2020 Spelling Bee

 

The 2020 Spelling Bee was enjoyed by students across the College who tuned in from their Pastoral Care Classes.

Mr Lindeback and Mr Street, aka, ‘the BackStreet boys’, hosted the live event which was broadcast across the globe. 

The College’s technical expertise was on full display as House Captains participated in a game of ‘Wheel of Literacy’ with Liddell correctly guessing the phrase ‘Get out of my swamp’ and Wilberforce expertly guessing ‘Onions have layers’. But it was Carmichael who had the most points at the end of the round, with a few lucky spins from Ms Raft and some well chosen letters. When asked about their letter selection strategy Carmichael representative Isabella said “we choose popular letters”, which was evident in their choice of the letter ‘V’.

House Chess Tournament

Our House Chess Tournament took place over multiple lunch times last week. 

Players from Years 7 - 12 represented their Houses and competed in games to earn House points. Well done to all the students involved. 

The winner will be announced at the next assembly!

Book now for the 5 day School Holiday Football (Soccer) Camp

You can now invite friends and family to the Kinder - Year 9 July Holiday Football (Soccer) Camp

Date:   Monday 13 - Friday 17 July 2020

Time:  8.30am - 2.30pm

 

The College is excited to have the July Holiday Football (Soccer) Camp running in the upcoming school holidays.  The camp is open to students at Thomas Hassall Anglican College, their friends and family.

The camp will run in the last week of the July school holidays, from 13 – 17 July and students from Thomas Hassall can invite their friends along to join in the fun!

Students will be involved in activities that develop soccer skills and promote understanding of the game.  The daily training will be designed to improve the skill level of each individual. 

Our Football Director, Mr Sonny Makko will be leading the program and it is offered to boys and girls in Kindergarten to Year 9.

Details and enrolment information can be found on the flyer


Save the date and invite your friends to join in the fun!!

For more details please contact Mrs Evans sevans@thac.nsw.edu.au

Mrs Sharon Evans
P-6 Sports Coordinator 

 

2020 Talented Athletes Programs and Development Programs

We still have some positions available for Term Three and Four afternoon Development Programs.

To find out more information, please read the individual brochures below:
Dance
Sport Speed - Sprint and Agility sessions.  Expression of interest for TERM THREE program.
Basketball
Football Seniors (soccer)
Football Juniors (soccer)

The overall daily schedule is found on the book page.

How to book:
Enrolment applications must be completed online using the Thomas Hassall website.  The booking link is found on the Events booking page.
If you have any enquiries regarding the programs please email: sevans@thac.nsw.edu.au

Mrs Sharon Evans
P-6 Sport Coordinator
Talented Athletes Program Coordinator

Year 9 Food Technology

Year 9 Food Technology have completed a unit of work titled Food for Special Needs.

During this unit, year 9 have learnt about a variety of reason as to why people require different foods in their diets.  They have also participated in a wide range of practical lessons. During these practical lessons, Year 9 Food Technology students have created foods that meet the different dietary requirements of people with conditions such as Coeliac Disease, Diabetes Type 2, Coronary Heart Disease and Diverticulitis.

They also learnt to cater for people who select a Vegan or Vegetarian diet due to religious reasons or because of ethical or personal preferences.  During practical lessons, Year 9 students learn to safely and hygienically handle and prepare food as well as develop their presentation skills. 

Mrs Helen Bull
Secondary Teacher - TAS & Year 7 Advisor