The Way Weekly Recap I Friday 25 September 2020

Year 12 Prayer Breakfast 2020

As we close out the week we waved goodbye to our 2020 Year 12’s.

It was a special day which will culminate in a Graduation Event that is going to be held over at the conclusion of the HSC Examinations on the 12^th of November.

Regardless of the postponement of Graduation, the last week of term has been special. Modified basketball, soccer games and a 3 set grudge match in Volleyball finished the Student Teacher Cup with a clean sweep to Year 12. We held our very first P-12 House Relay which was a lovely event bringing to mind the fact that our Year 12's have travelled the P-12 journey.  They can now look back with real pride at the close of their time at Thomas Hassall.

Today we gathered at 7.30am for the traditional Prayer Breakfast. The event was a little different as the food was boxed and prepped according to the safe guidelines, the group was spread out, but the sense of God’s love and presence was evident. Students and teachers enjoyed breakfast together; a word from the scriptures was shared; teachers prayed; and students expressed their gratitude. It was a great way to start their last day. The culmination of the day was a short assembly followed by the whole College, ‘Walk of Honour’. Let’s celebrate with the students and pray as they embark on the last leg of their journey as they come to the HSC Examinations. Thank you teachers, staff and parents as we get alongside of Year 12 and cheer them on.

Prayer Breakfast.png

At last Fridays Junior School Assembly we launched a great service initiative.

We have partnered with Operation Christmas Child (OCC), which is a project of Samaritan’s Purse. Last year they sent 11 million boxes to poverty-stricken children, sharing the Love of Christ while providing them with a shoebox Christmas gift. Since 1993, more than 147 million boys and girls in over 150 nations have experienced God’s unconditional love. Each shoebox is a gift of love that tells a child they are not forgotten.

OCC is one of many great organisations that, not only give to the needy, but also share the good news about Jesus Christ to each child who receives at box.

As a family you can join in to teach your child about children of other cultures, write a card and incude a photo of your family, set a shoebox goal of how many you want to contribute to, go shopping as a family to pick out gifts and pray as a family for the children who will receive your shoeboxes.

We will be collecting these boxes until the 2^nd week of next term.

What an exciting way that we can all serve together.

This term, Year 6 are completing a unit focused on South East Asia called ‘Who Are Our Neighbours?’

This unit has enabled us to investigate different organisations that are currently running in South East Asia that provide aid for the surrounding community. We were lucky enough to interview with Ange via Zoom, who works for Mercy International.

She is currently working in Thailand giving aid to young children by providing them with health care, education and a safe place to call home.  It was fantastic to meet with Ange and hear about her work first hand.

Year 6 are now working on creating their own ‘mock’ organisation that provides aid to a country within South East Asia.

Mrs Lianne Brown
Assistant Stage 3 Coordinator - Year 6B 

Some students from the 3 – 6 primary school recently elected to sit the ICAS assessments for English, Science and Mathematics.

“ICAS Assessments are designed to recognise academic excellence, students are assessed on their ability to apply classroom learning to new contexts using higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills.” www.unswglobal.unsw.edu.au. We are delighted with the level of participation this year and with the many excellent results.

The students who achieved awards for these assessments are listed below:

ICAS Awards.png

Noah O from Year 5 received the highest score in NSW and ACT for the Science ICAS assessment. He has been awarded the ICAS medal!

Congratulations to all of our award winners. Congratulations to our other participants for attempting such a challenging task as well.

Mrs Alex Saville
Junior School Teacher - Stage 2 - Year 4M

Marching On!

As you may recall from previous Way articles, our Junior Concert Band have been training on Marching Band technique and skills. During Covid times, the Creative Arts Department are constantly coming up with various activities to continue student’s music education, and the Marching Band is going great! Watch the video to see students attempting the famous ‘criss cross’ marching choreography. Now that the students are developing their marching technique and understanding of commands, we look forward to putting music to the routines with their instruments once it is safe for all to play again. Watch this space!

Mr Byron Mark
Director of Ensembles

The House Program is a competition that allows students to take responsibility and achieve together.

Competition, responsibility, and achievement are all great things, but all of them can also be warped and misused. In light of Wilberforce’s House Cup win, this article will examine how we process and understand competition. Wilberforce students now need to reflect on why competition is a good thing, and how it can be misused.

Why competition is a good thing

Wayne Grudem writes, “God has created us with a desire to do well, and to improve what we are able to do. Competition spurs us on to do better, because we see others doing better and we decide we can do that too.

Competition brings many opportunities to glorify God, as we try to use our talents to their full potential and thus manifest the God-like abilities that he has granted to us, with thankfulness in our hearts to him.

Competition also enables us individually to demonstrate fairness and kindness toward others, even those with whom we compete.”

Wilberforce students, ask yourselves - is competition driving me to do better? Am I thanking God for the gifts and abilities He has given me? And I loving those I am competing against?

But we know competition can also be misused…

The 2021 House Competition started with a Bang! Well two bangs actually…

The starting gun sounded twice, once for the Girls All College Relay and once for the Boys.

It was the first time the College had hosted what is sure to become the annual ‘Hassall Gift’, a foot race involving students from Prep to Year 12.

All of the famous foot races in Australia are called ‘gifts’ - the Stawell Gift, Botany Bay Gift, Flash Gift, Macksville Gift, and now we have a race to add to that list - the Hassall Gift.

Congratulations to the Lewis Girls who roared to victory - a great start to the year for Lewis!

The Carmichael Cougars showed their pace as the Cougars pounced ahead.

Thanks to all the students who competed and made the event an amazing time for all involved.

The great carnival atmosphere was a culture building activity for the whole College, but we can only imagine how that will continue to grow in future years - maybe a band playing on the hill in the future? The winning teams singing the House Songs?

I am sure it will be an event to look forward to for many years to come. The Prep students who watched and competed today did so well, and will have something to look forward to as they celebrate the 'Hassall Gift' for the rest of their College journey.

Mr Nicholas Lindeback
House Patron - Wilberforce

Senior Drum Circle on THAC TV!

Drumming together always brings joy and happiness to those playing and listening to the beats. Two weeks ago, the Thomas Hassall Senior Drum Circle performed at a virtual assembly; showcasing a new piece inspired by rhythms from Guinea in North West Africa. It was exciting to perform again after such a long time away from the stage. 

The performance featured improvised solos from several students, and an overall super-fast display of rhythm.

Well done to all our drummers!     

Mr Byron Mark
Director of Ensembles - Creative Arts

This Semester 7.1 and 8.5 Technology Food and Agriculture classes have participated in planting a variety of vegetables and herbs to compliment the range of foods that they have been cooking with in their practical lessons.T

On Friday 18 September, 7.1 & 8.5 Technology Mandatory students attempted to create and cook their own Stir Fry recipes…. All we could say was WOW! We were so proud to see our students taking pride in their Food Technology skills and presenting such wonderful dishes.

This Semester classes have participated in planting a variety of vegetables and herbs to compliment the range of foods that they have been cooking with in their practical lessons. They have also been learning about how to record data and carry out objective observations by visiting the garden on a regular basis and measuring the growth and health of the plants.  The students have been learning about Food and Agriculture. Students have been focusing on the investigation of managed environments, such as farms and plantations as well as fibre production. They have been developing a knowledge and understanding of food safety, food preparation and making informed decisions about food selection.

Anyone hungry?

Mr Joseph Messiha & Mrs Helen Bull
Secondary TAS Teachers

You are guaranteed to love books by Jackie French, our next Awesome Aussie Author!  

Awesome Aussie Author!

Fast Facts

Name: Jacqueline Anne French, also known as Jackie French

Born: 1953 in Sydney

First novel: Rainstones

Latest novel: Clancy of the Overflow (The Matilda Saga #9)

Next novel: The Angel of Waterloo

Child Studies Incursion

On Wednesday students in both the Year 9 and 10 Child Studies elective classes had the opportunity to experience a real-life workshop of how to care for a 6-month old baby. This was carried out by Mr Weir’s wife Ashlee and her 2 daughters Daisy and Mila.

Year 9 Child Studies have recently been learning about newborn growth and development and nutritional requirements. The students were very excited and enjoyed asking questions and observing how to bathe, change and feed a 6- month old baby. This practical experience was very valuable to the student’s learning as it gave them some real-life experience.

Both Year 9 and 10 were very appreciative and grateful for the opportunity and expressed their passion for one day wanting to work with children for their careers.

HannahRose Stewart
Senior School Teacher - PDHPE