Term 1 I The Way Newsletter I Friday 3 March 2023

Year 7 students last week led their parents on a tour around the College in a special evening of connection and information for parents and students. 

They showed parents their classrooms, their sporting facilities and their favourite places. At the beginning of the year, the College grounds and locations were brand new and unknown, and now these young people know every place. It was a great time for parents and students, and the Year 7 students looked very positive and optimistic about their new Senior School adventure.

Over the last week both Junior and Senior School have had opportunities to meet with Parents on-site. In Junior School we have had two sessions of Parent Teacher Interviews. Please continue to reach out to teachers with questions or to share important information about your children and their learning. At the heart of our vision for excellence as a College, we talk about vibrant programs and positive partnerships, and in each of these areas we rely on good information sharing between home and school; we rely on effective learning relationships between the teacher and the child.   

Sport is such a valuable program for building skills and character, and we have many different sports on offer at the College. Our very successful Talented Athletes programs before and after school complement the representative sporting programs, and many students are finding these programs helpful. At the present time, we are in the middle of the representative Swimming programs, and we wish every representative of Thomas Hassall well as they compete at higher levels. Our Junior School Students participated in the NASSA Swimming Carnival on Tuesday Night at the Sydney Aquatic Centre, Homebush, and Senior School reps will compete later this month.  In our football program, both boys and girls teams have been successful in the CIS knockout competition against the Northern Beaches Christian School. The reports on our sporting achievements will be detailed later in this edition. Congratulations to all of our sporting representatives.

The College has been able to conduct some overseas study or exchange tours for Senior students, and in the upcoming Easter vacation, we will travel to Japan. The group travelling on the Cherry Blossom Music tour have held a fundraiser this week in a special event, with teachers performing to an audience of over 100, and with significant funds being raised.  Well done team. Future plans for overseas tours include a History tour to Europe in 2024, and perhaps a languages and Visual Arts Tour to France. We will keep you up to date on the plans. 

Please enjoy this latest edition of the Way. Thanks again for so much support of the College and the progress of our students and staff.

‘Look to Lord and his strength; seek his face always’.   1 Chronicles 16:11

Year 11 & 12 Music classes attended the Encore Concert on Monday 27 February at the Sydney Opera House. This concert showcases some of the top HSC Music performances from 2022.

The students enjoyed dinner together at Circular Quay before walking around to the Opera House. Here are some of their reflections from the evening:

One item that impressed me was…

the clarinet performance from Peter Chen. I enjoyed watching his runs and his incredible tone between different registers. - Matt P

the piano quartet with the double bass, cello and violin. The clarity of the tone, outstanding acoustics, and body expression helped to solidify it as my number one choice. I also enjoyed the oboe and clarinet pieces. - Ethan O

the second singer because she had control over her voice and was able to give dynamics in her performance especially in the higher notes. - Elliana C

the alto saxophone feature, accompanied by the tenor saxophone, double bass and drums because of the different techniques that he used such as breath tone, flutter tongue, growling and a general sophistication in phrasing and technique. - Petar L 

the final singer because she had so much stage presence. I am currently working on my stage presence, specifically with a mic stand as I am not as comfortable using one but would like to for one of my pieces. - Holly F

the first drummer, I enjoyed how he was able to keep that curiosity and high intensity of piece throughout the performance. I could tell that he created a large impact on the massive audience as everyone was cheering and in awe of his musical abilities. - Nicola M

the drum and electric guitar duo. This is because the drummer displayed an extensive ability to manipulate concepts such as dynamics and tone colour, which in turn helped to engage the audience. - Tom S

the composition for the choir because it exemplified a meaningful, skillful, and progressive piece of music that was created for the composer's Grandmother that passed away. - Elroy B

The guitarist… as he showed strong passion and an amazing solo. I also thought the Drummer who reflected on Foo Fighters was amazing too, in the way he showed the tones of the drum kit. - Sergio W

the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Duet because he (Joshua Blythe from Rouse Hill Anglican College) obviously put lots of time and effort into playing the piece and the drums are such a tricky instrument to play and it was very interesting to watch it being performed. - Magdalena C

Hannah Lee's (Knox Grammar School) performance of "Violet's Etude" on the Marimba. This performance had incredible use of dynamics and expressive techniques and was inspiring in using a slightly unconventional instrument for the HSC. - Eliza P

Lilliana Maree Davis from Gosford High School because of her flawless vocal technique and amazing range. - Despina L

I also enjoyed…

watching the crowd as everyone started doing the macarena, using their flashlights and playing scissors paper rock from across the room. - Alyssa M

the great memories made with our class, friends, and teachers. It was also my first time in the Opera House and I can confidently say that I had a great experience due to the people around me. - Keona H

the timing of the night, it never felt like we were in a rush and could enjoy dinner and the concert and then could relax and talk on the bus. - Josh

I enjoyed going to the opera house, it was my first time going. - Micaelah

It was important to go to this concert because…

I learnt how high the bar is for HSC performances. - Tiana P

I learnt what great small ensemble skills were, as well as how to engage yourself with the piece, and gain the audience's engagement also. It was really good to see the level of technical skill, with fingering on string and woodwind instruments, runs on vocals, and the dynamics of each performance. - Eowyn B

I learnt that there is a whole community who are in love with music, and I’d like to commit to that community more. - Oriana O

It was important to go to this concert because it was inspiring to see what other musicians that are in the same boat as us are performing. It was very important to see these performers as we can use it as a goal for us to try and achieve, motivating us to push ourselves harder. - Tahlia K

Mrs Elizabeth Ford & Mr Byron Mark

Last week, members from the Senior Stage Band volunteered their time to take part in a community church fundraiser – Pancake Night.

This event provided the students with the opportunity to put into practice managing their own time, organising their equipment and creating their own set list with songs that were fitting to the audience and environment.

The students did an outstanding job, the performance ran smoothly and had they audience singing along and tapping their toes. Well done year 12!

Haylee Moore
Administration Assistant

What a great start to 2023 we have had with sport at our College!

I have been so proud of the way our senior students have jumped straight into the year putting their hand up to not only represent the college in their respective sports but to do it so well!

Below are some of the highlights so far for Term One:

Senior School Swimming Carnival
Although the weather may have been a little gloomy, the Senior School Swimming was definitely not! With the highest rate of attendance and participation we have seen in many years, many records broken and every lane filled for most events, even our very own staff versus students relay, the day was definitely one to remember! Thank you to all staff and students who contributed to this wonderful event!

Congratulations to the below Age Champions!

12 Years - Jonah I and Eva S
13 Years - Aleks M and Elizabeth B
14 Years - Alexander A and Alice C
15 Years - Kryshtof P and Emily A
16 Years - Brodie V and Mia T
17 Years - Connor I and Faith W

NASSA Basketball Trial Day
On the 20th of February, we sent our Open Basketballers to the NASSA Trial Event. This was a very competitive trial with lots of our students being pushed to the limit. It was great to see their level of enthusiasm and perseverance on the day. We had four students selected to represent NASSA at the upcoming AICES Basketball Gala Day which was remarkable! Congratulations to:

Ashleigh K
Ana S
Liana M
Max V

Coming up this term, we have the following sport events so if there is something that interests you, please come and see me or another PDHPE staff member to learn more about how you can get involved.

Mrs Focas
Senior School Sport Coordinator