TAS Talks Term 2 Week 7
In this issue
01. From the Acting Headmaster
MR ALAN JONES
A Welcome Break – The long Weekend
Last weekend was one of the quietest of the year in terms of school activities and I know that this was welcomed by many. As I have commented before Term 2 is a hectic and demanding one as Eisteddfod, exams, winter sporting demands and other special events all come together over what seems just like a few weeks. So, as teachers settled into the happy task of writing reports, it was a chance for our students to take a deep breath and relax a little. Coming at the end of exams for Years 6 to 10 and the fact that so many of our students were involved in the Farrer fixtures last Thursday evening, I know that this was especially good timing for those students. With three weeks of important term time still ahead, I hope that the break has refreshed minds and bodies and that all are in good shape to make the most of the time through to the mid-year break.
I spoke to the students in Assembly with regard to maintaining the high standards that are expected of them and the first step is taking pride in the school uniform and adhering to the basic rules that apply to the wearing of the uniform. I emphasised the fact that our Year 12 must still set the example and how influential they are in setting the tone of the school. A discussion I think that is quite timely given these senior students have basically one term and a bit left in their school lives.
Our rugby teams travel to play Sydney Grammar this weekend and it will be an exciting round of fixtures as each of our teams is matched with the Grammar equivalent. It will also be another busy weekend for our footballers, netball teams, hockey players et al and I know they will be grateful for any support on the sidelines.
Mr Alan Jones
Acting Headmaster
02. Calendar of Events
| Week 7 | |
| Wednesday 12 June | P&F Meeting (7 pm) |
| Thursday 13 June | Fiji Parent Information Night |
| Saturday 14 June | Rugby vs Sydney Grammar School (Sydney) |
| Week 8 | |
| Monday 17 June | Inter-House Debating (all week) |
| Saturday 22 June | Rugby vs King’s (Sydney) |
Noticeboard
Year 8 Pencil Drive for FIJI
This term Year 8 students in Technology have been using their skills on the sewing machine to construct some colourful pencil cases in the hope of filling them with all things stationery.They would love your donation in our Pencil Drive to be able to fill these before sending them off with the Year 8 service trip to Fiji at the end of the year.
A box will be sitting in Middle School Reception for all stationary donations.
Miss Emma Channon
Student Services
End of Term 2 free rail and charter coach bookings are now CLOSED.Thank you to those that have made their bookings, your tickets will be issued once we receive the information from the booking agent. Please do not assume that your child is automatically booked onto the end of the term and beginning of term coach service. If you have any queries, please contact Mrs Veronica Lucas at travel@as.edu.au
*Reminder: School Drive Subsidy applications should be submitted now if not already. Eligibility criteria and application forms can be found via the link below.
APPLY HERE....
Exemption from Attendance
A reminder that a parent or guardian must apply for an exemption from school attendance if they wish to take their child out of school temporarily by completing an Application for Exemption from Attendance form (see link below).Students must attend school regularly until an exemption has been approved.
Exemption from attendance at school is often sought because of:
- Elite Arts or Elite Sporting Events (CIS, NCIS etc.)
- Family travel or holidays
- Medical or health appointments
- Employment
- Disability or behaviour problems requiring part time exemption from school
- Other circumstances that warrant an exemption eg. Work Experience, Political Rally, etc.
Exemption from Attendance Form
Round Square - Year 8 Exchange Opportunities
As is usually the case, Year 8 students are able to go on exchange to Round Square schools within our Australia and East Asia region. This is usually done in pairs for a period of two weeks but there is flexibility. A confident Year 8 student is welcome to exchange on their own.Currently we are looking for two boys to exchange with Scotch College in Perth from around 19 October to 2 November. Two of their boys will be coming to us the following two weeks.
We also have an exchange opportunity with Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School in Western Australia for boys or girls.
Of course, your interest may go beyond these schools and you should check out the Round Square website to see other Round Square Schools that are on offer. https://www.roundsquare.org/our-schools/
Please see Mrs Barnier or Mr O’Connell if you are interested.
03. From the P&F
MRS RACHAEL NICOLL
P&F ANNUAL FUNDING MEETING TONIGHT WEDNESDAY 12 JUNE
Come and help us spend the money you’ve helped us raise at the Funding Meeting tonight in the Maxwell Meeting Room at 7 pm.
If you would like to come along and help us determine where the money we have raised in the past year should be allocated we’d love to see you there. Meetings are open to all parents… but to vote you need to be a Voting Member – forms are available at the meeting or contact us on pandf@as.edu.au
CANTEENS AND BBQs FOR EVENTS
If you are thinking of holding a BBQ or canteen for any TAS sporting group, event or co-curricular activity the P&F may be able to help with organising this.
HOCKEY GAMES ON SUNDAY 16 JUNE
TAS has a lot of children, parents, teachers and OAU members that play hockey for the TAS Hockey Club. If you would like the opportunity to support our senior players then this Sunday is a great chance to do so. All of our Senior Teams (Men and Women) play this Sunday – Game times are:
- 9am – Women 3rd Grade vs Harlequins – Turf 2
- 10.30am – Men C Grade vs United – Turf 2
- 12noon – Men B Grade White (Boys) vs United – Turf 1
- 12noon – Men B Grade Blue (Teachers/Parents) vs City – Turf 2
- 1.30 pm – Women 2nd Grade vs Guyra – Turf 2
- 3pm – Men A Grade vs Ex-Services Club – Turf 2
Mrs Rachael Nicoll
P&F President
04. From the Director of Pastoral Care
MR AJ WHALLEY
Batyr is back!
We are excited to continue our partnership with Batyr that has been running since 2015. This year’s format, now including Year 9, offers programs for students from Years 9-12. Each year group uses key speakers, workshops and breakout sessions to focus on a different aspect of mental health and aims to empower young adults to make informed decisions about their own health. There will also be a parent forum on Wednesday evening, where TAS parents will have the opportunity to ask questions to a panel of mental health professionals.
- Monday 24 June: 8.45am to 3.45pm Batyr Standard Program with Year 10
- Tuesday 25 June: 8.45am to 3.45pm Batyr Standard Program with Year 9
- Wednesday 26 June: 9.30am to 11am Stressed Out with Year 12
- Wednesday 26 June: 2.00pm to 3.30pm Look Out For Your Mates with Year 11
- Wednesday 26 June: 7.00pm to 8.30pm TAS Parent Forum
All sessions including the Parent Forum will take place in the Hoskins Centre.
Mr AJ Whalley
Director of Pastoral Care
FIJI Service Trip - Pencil Drive
This term Year 8 students in Technology have been using their skills on the sewing machine to construct some colourful pencil cases in the hope of filling them with all things stationery.
They would love your donation in our Pencil Drive to be able to fill these before sending them off with the Year 8 service trip to Fiji at the end of the year.
A box will be sitting in reception in Middle School for all stationary donations.
Miss Emma Channon
05. From the Director of Studies
MRS SEONIA WARK
Library Extended Day and Academic Support
Mrs Seonia Wark
Director of Studies
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | |
| Year 6-8 | 4pm-5pm English/Maths/Science | 4pm – 5pm English/Maths/Science | ||
| Year 9-10 | 7pm-9pm Maths/Science/English | 7pm-9pm Maths/Science/English | ||
| Year 9-12 | 7pm-9pm Maths (All levels) | 7pm-9pm Maths (All levels) English (All levels) | ||
| Year 11-12 | 7pm-9pm Maths/Chemistry/English | 7pm-9pm Maths/Chemistry/English |
06. From the Development Office
07. From the Director of Co-curricular
MR WILL CALDWELL
Farrer Wrap Up
Last Thursday was the perfect preface to the Long Weekend, with many parents supporting teams in 22 games across nine activities. At the end of the day the fixture was drawn at 11 wins apiece; Farrer retaining the Dick Hodgson Shield but TAS coming away with the Guy Levy Challenge Shield after a well-deserved victory in the First XV clash.
The match, under lights, was the culmination of an afternoon of competition that also included basketball, chess, debating, football, table tennis, tennis, clay target shooting and mountain biking.
The first shots of the competition were fired at Loomberah Gun Club, with Farrer taking the points. TAS out-debated their opponents in both junior and senior divisions, won the table tennis, were narrowly defeated in chess, took out senior and junior Mountain Biking and shared the spoils in football after a hard-fought 1-0 victory by the TAS First XI. In a tight fixture, the opens basketball was won by Farrer whilst TAS won the senior tennis. The rugby fixtures were split with TAS winning the 13Bs, 15s, Thirds and Firsts.
Thank you to all the staff who assisted with managing the event and to Farrer for their organisation and generous hospitality. We look forward to hosting them at TAS in 2020.
Inter House Competition
Congratulations to Green House who took out the Inter-House Futsal last week, narrowly defeating Croft House in an exciting final. It was well contested by all houses and representative of just how close the house points score is this year – only four points separating all six Houses in the Hickson Cup and only seven points Overall.
Next week it will get serious as Houses argue their point in the Inter-House Debating. This is an opportunity for students to refine their skills or develop new ones and has been the foundation of a flourishing debating program at TAS. I would encourage students to either take up the challenge or be a part of the audience. A schedule for preliminary rounds will be emailed to students. The Finals will be held in the final assembly for Senior School (Tuesday 25 June) and in period 6 for Middle School (Thursday 27 June).
Armidale Eisteddfod
After four weeks of memorable experiences and entertaining performances, this Sunday 16 June sees the finale of this year’s Armidale Eisteddfod. Year 8 Acapella ensemble, Michael Harrell and The Rolling Oates will feature in the Gala Concert at NECOM at 2 pm. All are welcome to attend.
Congratulations to the many students who participated in this year’s Eisteddfod. We look forward to publishing the results in next week’s TAS Talks. If you haven’t done so already, could you please send through your results to redmonds@as.edu.au so we can recognise your efforts and achievement.
Grammar Fixture Information
CIS Representation
Mr Will Caldwell
Director of Co-curricular
POLOCROSSE
It’s that time of year again, and the North West Equestrian Expo at Coonabarabran is done and dusted! The students performed exceptionally well this year, some great team wins and some excellent individual results. Whilst it was freezing the 13 riders from TAS rode well and represented the school with great enthusiasm.
The Polocrosse finals were particularly exciting to watch. They were postponed due to lightning and thunder and were eventually played amongst a cloud of mist in freezing temps on Sunday night. Our Division 2 team came first, comprising Michael Paul, Darcy Heffernan and Sam Osborne. Old Armidalian Sam Finlayson was in the umpire’s saddle. Other highlights are listed below.
- Zac Finlayson (Year 7) played with the very competitive Division 1 team and managed an impressive 4th. Zac also placed 5th in the time trials.
- Michael Paull 17yr and over Age Male Champion and 17yr & over Reserve Sporting Champion
- Darcy Heffernan 16yr sporting champion, 2nd One Day Event 60cm, 2nd flag, 4th barrels, 3rd bend, 2nd keyhole, 7th overall dressage
- Harry Davidson 4th 80cm Showjumping
- Oliver Ledingham 3rd 115cm showjumping and 4th Combined training 95cm
- Jack Davidson 10th 95cm one day event
- Josh Armstrong 3rd Pentathlon
- Chloe Garcia 7th 95cm Combined Training
- Charlotte Pease 7th 80cm Combined Training
- Mary Flannery and Oliver Ledingham 5th pairs
- Jack Davidson 5th in pair
- Josh Armstrong, Jack Armstrong and Zac Finlayson 4th in team penning.
Michael Paull 17+ Age Male Champion
08. From the Creative Arts Coordinator
MR ANDREW O'CONNELL
09. From the Head of Middle School
MR MARK HARRISON
Farrer
Last Thursday I went to Farrer – and I really enjoyed myself. I saw fragments of 13s and 14s rugby, football, the Junior and Senior debates, and even one of the Opens games and, as I said, I enjoyed myself. Our people acquit themselves admirably in public and I’m grateful for this, particularly when you consider that they’ve just completed their mid-course exams, managed, with varying degrees of success, more than half a brutally busy term and had achieved the above without our having afforded them time to reflect on everything they do. We’re so good at keeping them busy, but we need to be better at giving them time to reflect on the busyness of their lives. A mid-term break is a step in the right direction, of course – but there’s more we need to do for them in this regard. This is something that has been discussed in Executive meetings – but seeing these people perform so well, because we expect so much of them, drives home the fact they are so young and so tired and rather than just discuss measures that will assist them, we need to actually do something more for them. So, I’ll keep you posted – we will do something more for them. I’m glad of the recent break: I didn’t do much (walked dogs, spoke to family) and enjoyed that fact that, in not doing much, I could reflect on this term. It’s been fabulous, this term – and the break has provided enough recharge time to enable reasonable enough ‘sailing’ to the end of the first semester.
Continuity and change
Again, at our Middle School staff meeting last and this week’s Town Meeting, I found myself saying that Middle School students can be simultaneously ‘fascinating and frustrating’. Here, I want to elaborate on the fascinating side of your children: one of the most challenging and, ultimately, enjoyable aspects of my job is student interview. I’m not referring to a formal interview either; rather, I refer to those talks I have every day with individuals who come to the office or to our staff room to speak to me. The fact that they often come of their own volition is encouraging for me. Also, one of the most affirming parts of this job is the increasing time lately I spend talking to our student leaders: while they are set down as formal meetings, they rarely are; in fact, they are as relaxed as they are informative and really helpful for me. These boys and girls are invested in the Middle School: they want ‘the best’ for their peers and it is encouraging for me to witness their unfettered approach to pretty much every topic we talk about. Last week the favourite, came up again. It’s the uniform of course, and the fact that a ‘few’ (their words) minor adjustments (my words) could help our people take greater pride in appearance. Regardless of the outcome (our SRC rep, Jasper O’Neil will take the gist of our discussion to the next SRC meeting) I actually got a ‘buzz’ (who says this, these days – the expression equates with quaint, I think) from the fact that they give enough of a damn about our uniform to want to discuss it. Well, back to the main point, these sessions enable me simply to be myself and it is as important for me to let them know me as a person as it is for them to be people who, at this age when critical thinking becomes ‘real’, want to question me, express views unashamedly and simply be heard. This critical thinking stage is fascinating, isn’t it: they are developing the capacity to speak and reason as we do, but what they lack of course is our life experience.
Why am I telling this to you? I am pleased that Middle School people can actually feel comfortable enough to want to talk to us. These people need to come to speak to me as a person, not just as a teacher. Our job, first and foremost, is to provide an environment that needs, as much as is practicable, to parallel the home situation. It’s an environment that must be characterised by trust; an environment that’s relevant and one in which young adolescents feel able to speak freely to us about issues that concern them. We must look out for the needs and interests of young people who, by virtue of age and inexperience, will make mistakes. I think mistakes must be a normal part of life here – the fact that they are daily occurrences suggests ‘normal’. On the proviso that they are confident enough to admit to having done the wrong thing and that they’ll do their best ‘not to do it again’, then I’m confident that what we’re trying to do in terms of assistance is succeeding.
As I indicated last week, despite the combined facts of the pace and length of the term and the mid-course exams, we’re continuing to make progress. Classes are, as a general rule, reasonably settled and happy places. I enjoy the Middle School: students can be silly and apparently thoughtless at times, but I’ve not met a bad one yet. In order to find their place in relation to others, especially their peers, they are going to make mistakes, they are going to learn from them (with our help, of course) and in time they are going to become better people as a result.
Expectations
We’ve reached that ‘pointy’ part of a term. After the Queen’s Birthday Weekend students remain very busy and this is as it should be, but, as indicated herein, they’re showing signs of term-weariness as well. Please, when speaking to them, would you acknowledge this fact and advise your children that sometimes when we are tired we say and do things to others that people, for whatever reason, take exception to… In fact, if there’s nothing pleasant or positive to say, especially, say nothing at all. This is one of those life lessons we all learn as we grow up and now’s the time for our students to start learning it by having the concept reinforced. I’ve indicated in Town Meetings and semester reports that one of the surest signs of increasing maturity is the ability to accept others for who they are, regardless of our personal opinions – on the proviso that those others don’t interfere with our enjoyment of ‘self’. There’s so much variety in the Middle School and, within reason, I want to keep it this way. Your job, of course, is to continue to help me help them.
Mr Mark Harrison
Head of Middle School
10. From the Head of Junior School
MR IAN LLOYD
Vacation Care – Available for the Term 2 holidays
TAS will once again be providing Vacation Care throughout the Term 2 holiday period. You should have been emailed the program this week so please let us know if you did not receive it. I have attached it to TAS Talks and it will be every bit as good as the Term 1 program. I would like to thank Jacinta Coates and her team for once again, putting together this fantastic holiday program. Organisation is greatly helped if we know numbers well in advance so please contact us at oshc@as.edu.au or junior@as.edu.au to make your bookings once you receive the program.
TERM 2 Program
Shark Tank
We have become aware that a number of financial deals are going down in the playground between students. While applauding the entrepreneurial spirit, money in the playground invariably causes difficulties in the long term. Given this, we are asking that no money is brought to school for use inside school time (other than when specifically requested). This includes the canteen where some students have been purchasing lollies during recess breaks and immediately after school. I have spoken to the canteen about this and I do not want children to be disappointed by being refused service if they are not accompanied by their parents or when their money goes missing. Unfortunately, it is far easier simply not to bring money to school in the first place. To that end, we have also simplified the Canteen Service whereby students have their lunches delivered to Junior School where they can be collected from Mrs Lasker.
School Spirit Awards
Congratulations to the following students for receiving School Spirit Awards at last week’s assembly:
Cooper Lacey, Eloise Leary, Pip Ogilvie, Matilda Polson, Layla Abu Assab, Rebecca Billingsley, Libby Ditchfield, Cameron Carruthers, Jack Wood, Xavier Stephen, Joe Fenwicke, Lucas Hu, Mitchell Evans, Angus Tydd and Sinclair Little.
Happy Birthday
We have two kids celebrating their birthdays this week so our wishes go to Eva Cook and Dominic Leary for their special days.
Mr Ian Lloyd
Head of Junior School
Junior School Upcoming Events
| Week 7 | |
| Wednesday 12 June | Year 3 Assembly including Dance Club Performance – Hoskins Centre (2.45pm) |
| Week 8 | |
| Wednesday 19 June | Transition Assembly – Hoskins Centre (2.45pm) |
| Week 9 | |
| Wednesday 26 June | Year 5 Assembly – Hoskins Centre (2.45pm) |
| Thursday 27 June | Classes conclude at 3.30pm |
| Friday 28 June | Staff Day – No students |
| Term 3, Week 1 | |
| Monday 22 July | Staff Day |
| Tuesday 23 July | Classes resume |
Scholastic
Thank you to all parents who have been ordering from the Scholastic brochures. The latest brochure from Scholastic (no. 4) is now available and orders should be placed through the Scholastic LOOP order website by Tuesday 18 June 2019, to allow orders to arrive back at school before the end of the term.
Please follow the instructions on the order page in the brochure, or follow the prompts on the website. Should you wish to pay by cheque, please place your cheque and order form in an envelope in the red letter box at the Junior School office. Should you need any assistance, please contact me at nramazan@as.edu.au.
Library Assistant
Junior School Sport
Football Round 6 ( 15 June)
| TEAM | PARK | TIME |
| U6 | ||
| TAS T-Rex | Rologas 4 | 10am |
| TAS Tigers | Rologas 5 | 10am |
| TAS Triceratops | Rologas 3 | 11am |
| U7 | ||
| TAS Tornadoes | NE Sportground 2 | 10am |
| U8 | ||
| TAS White | Rologas 16 | 9am |
| TAS Blue | Rologas 17 | 9am |
| U9 | ||
| TAS | Rologas 15 | 10am |
| U10 | ||
| TAS Blue | Dangarfield | 10am |
| U12 | ||
| TAS White | BYE | |
| TAS Blue | Uralla 8 | 11.10am |
Community Notices
