Term 2 I Friday 14 May 2021

It has been wonderful to see all of our students embrace winter uniform so well and be wearing their College blazers around the campus.

It has also been a very successful and settled NAPLAN period. Year 8 and 10 Mid Course exams are next week, so it is a time of studying, preparing, marking and report writing at present which is part of the natural rhythm of education. A little outside of the norm, was a recent visit to Unity Grammar for the College Captains, Vice Captains and I.

It was our pleasure to accept an invitation from Unity Grammar to attend their Multi Faith event on Wednesday evening of last week. We got to meet with Jewish students from Masada College in St Ives, Catholic students from St Patricks Marist College in Dundas, Islamic students from Amity College in Prestons, members of the hearing impaired community and staff and students from our hosts Unity Grammar in Austral. Guest speakers included Federal Member for Werriwa Anne Stanley, Ryan Epondulan from the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim relations, Jeremy Jones President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and Unity Grammar Year 11 student and NSW Women of the Year Finalist Daniya Syed. It was a great opportunity for our students to share in fellowship with students of different faith backgrounds. They gained an insight into the purpose of fasting in the Jewish and Islamic traditions and heard about the different customs and practices of the young people in these communities and schools. Discussions around topics such as kosher food, boys and girls playground areas, subject selection and social media were taking place in a friendly and inclusive environment.

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Here is what our students had to say on the experience.

Sreya: The students at Unity Grammar were very hospitable and easy to talk to, which personally helped me understand a bit more of the lifestyles of the students in different communities and different faiths within our area. It was an amazing experience, and something I would suggest we continue attending and perhaps could even consider hosting in the future. 

Tino: Attending Unity Grammar's Multi Faith Iftar was an amazing privilege, giving the fellow Captains and I an insightful opportunity to converse with fellow students who contain different religious backgrounds and customs which we do not often encounter.

Thomas: It was an incredibly fun and intriguing experience, in developing our understanding of a school so close to ours, and of a culture that despite its importance in modern Australia remains so different and unfamiliar to many. Of course the food was great too.’

Nashita: The Iftar event with Unity Grammar was very heart-warming and insightful as the students and staff were very welcoming and it was truly beautiful to see everyone unite as one, sharing and embracing bits of their faith and culture with us.

It was great to be able to represent Thomas Hassall Anglican College in this way. When farewelling some of our Year 12 host students, I wished them all the best for their HSC and they corrected me to instead say all the best for life. It was a timely reminder that there are indeed more important goals than the HSC and we should be encouraged ‘to set our eyes on things above, not on earthly things’ at it says in Colossians 3:2.

This term stage-based chapels have started up in the Junior School.

Chapels are a time where students have the opportunity to pause and reflect on the glory of God as they listen to God’s word (The Bible), sing praises to Him and have a time of prayer.

Chapels have started off with a bang. We are going through the book of Mark and are looking at the questions ‘who is Jesus?’ and ‘what has he come to do?’. Here we see that Jesus proves that he is the Son of God who has come to save us from our sins, with the many miracles that He performs.

This week at the Year 3 and 4 Chapel we had the privilege of the Junior School Chapel band leading us in music. The Chapel Band consists of Year 5 and 6 students who have been practicing every Friday morning.

These are students who have used their gifts to serve everyone at Chapel as we sing praises to God. The Chapel band is led by Mr Howard. He has done a terrific job getting the students ready to serve us at Chapel.  

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If you have any questions about Junior School chapel, please feel free to ask Rev Oliver or Mr Richards.

Study Centre

It was my pleasure to employ another one of our high achieving graduates this week, Amy Milne, into our Study Centre as a tutor for History and Geography. We are so blessed to have such talented alumni to call upon to assist our current students as they prepare for examinations, work on their assignments or seek assistance with their homework.

Study Centre has been such a valuable resource for so many of our students over the years and it continues to be well staffed with highly competent and friendly tutors. I would encourage you to engage with your child about how Study Centre could be of benefit to them in their academic walk.

Study Centre is available for all students in Years 7-12 on Monday – Thursday afternoons from 3 – 5pm. The expectation in relation to behaviour is that students will be respectful and cooperative. Students who attend Study Centre must arrive on time with work to do or a book to read. Parents, could you ensure you collect your child via the J Block carpark pick-up area. The Study Centre operates Monday-Thursday from 2.40pm – 5.00pm.

Mid Course Examinations

In Week 5, Years 8 and 10 students will sit for their Mid Course Examinations. Students are expected to be in attendance for all exams unless they are unwell. Students should ensure that mobile phones and any other electronic devices are placed in their lockers and not brought into the examination room. Teachers have been working hard to revise with all their classes and join with you in encouraging your children to do their best. It can be helpful to point out to your child that exams are a great way to identify areas and topics that are well understood, in addition to identifying the areas that need more work, so they should look forward to demonstrating all of the wonderful knowledge they have learned and can apply! Best wishes Years 8 and 10.

Miss Kelie Munro
Academic Dean of Students

In 4S we have been preparing and presenting book talks.

Book talks are a small talk about a book that we have been reading recently. We find out the main characters, themes and setting and then we write and practise a presentation at home and show it to the class when we are ready.

We were allowed to bring a copy of the book and show it to the class. We were also allowed to have a theme for our presentation. Some people used puppet shows, interviews with the author, scratch projects and some even pretended to be the main character!

Book talks helped me to understand the book better because it made me slow down and think about the book more instead of just rushing through and reading it.  They have been really helpful at making me a better reader.

Written by Tahlia D - 4S

Towards the end of last term, students in Years 3-6 had the opportunity to participate in the Bebras Challenge.

It is a computational thinking challenge organised by the CSIRO. In order to complete the challenge, students were required to work through a series of steps to solve some tricky, multi-part problems.

150 Junior School students participated in the Challenge and we had some fantastic results. Our students achieved 6 High Distinctions, 21 Distinctions, 33 Credits and 55 Merits. Congratulations to all participants!

Year 3 

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Year 4

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Year 5

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Year 6

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Miss Claire Donaldson
Team Leader - Year 5

The students of Mr Mills’ Modern History class have been learning about the murder of Rasputin in 1916.

To do so, the class have performed a crime-scene investigation and examined the available evidence in an attempt to solve the case like Historical Detectives.  

They had a lot of fun! 

Year 1, 2 and 3 students participated in a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta as part of their Spanish Language Program. 

Cinco de Mayo is an annual celebration held on May 5, which commemorates the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Renowned Mexican artist, Victor Valdes, took our students through a musical journey to Latin America with traditional costumes and a range of instruments including the Mexican harp. Students learned some dances from Mexico and sang along to some famous tunes from Latin America.

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They were all very excited to perform 3 pieces at the P-6 assembly last Friday.

With over 50 students in the ensemble now comprising of students in Years 5 & 6, it is the largest ensemble in the College, with all students being successful graduates of the Year 4 Band Program. The 3 pieces they performed were Cayuga Lake Overture, Algo-Rhythms, and the Beach Boys classic hit, Surfin’ USA. In a few weeks’ time, these students will be visiting the Sydney Opera House to enjoy a live music performance as part of the opera house education program.

Mr Byron Mark
Director of Ensemble