TAS Talks Term 2 Week 2

ANZAC Service

Thank you to all who joined us last Thursday for our 2019  School Anzac Service. Whilst this service for our school community was held more than a week after Anzac Day, it was no less important than ever and the sharp performance of our Ceremonial Guard and the reading of the names of those Old Armidalians and staff who were killed in service highlighted the solemn significance for us.

I offer congratulations again to the TAS Guard and particular thanks to our special guest, Captain Lewis Crothers for joining us and delivering an excellent and thoroughly pertinent message on the meaning of the spirit of ANZAC. Drawing on his own experiences both as a soldier and as a student at TAS his address was particularly relevant for our student body.

Rugby Weekend

The rugby season is beginning at pace in this first fortnight of term. With a round of fixtures against a well-drilled and sportsmanlike Kinross Wolaroi School behind us, TAS will remain in Armidale for the coming weekend for a much valued home game against St Gregory’s Campbelltown and then it’s off to Sydney to play Cranbrook School the following weekend. The season launch for TAS rugby has been timed to fit with this busy schedule  and will take place after the First XV fixture against St Gregory’s on Saturday afternoon. I am sure that a good number of parents will want to be with us for our first home game for the year and all are welcome to join us in the McConville Centre at 2:00pm to officially launch the season.

Canberra Excursion

As I mentioned last week our Year 6 classes are now in Canberra for the experience of our capital city that is shared by so many other students of this age right across the country. With tens of thousands of Year 6 students visiting Canberra every year, the city is impressively well set up for them and I am  hearing that after a day of travel on Monday they have embraced the activities organised for them thus far with great enthusiasm.

Junior School Mother’s Day Lunch

Finally a gentle reminder that the Junior School Mother’s Day lunch is on this Friday 10 May commencing at 12.25 pm. It is an invitation to all mums, grandmothers, aunts and all other significant women who look after the students in our Junior School.

Alan Jones
Acting Headmaster

UCAT

UCAT stands for University Clinical Aptitude Test. UCAT is one of three main criteria used by most universities in Australia and New Zealand to select students into high demand health related careers such as medicine and dentistry (the other two criteria being performance in final high school exams and interviews).

The UCAT is a two hour, computer-based test which assesses a range of mental abilities identified by universities as important to practicing in the fields of medicine and dentistry. It consists of five separately timed subtests which each contain a number of questions in a multiple-choice format.

Registrations for a Pearson VUE online account will close at 11:59pm AEST on 17 May 2019.  https://www.ucat.edu.au/

Testing will be conducted in July at various venues all over Australia.

If you were considering a career in the medical profession then you need to register ASAP.

UNE Open Day

All of Year 11 will be attending the UNE Open Day this Friday 10 May. The program includes campus, academic and residential college tours. There will also be workshops and demonstration as well as the opportunity to talk to current university students/lecturers about life at a tertiary campus.

The student leave school at 8.45am and return to school for periods 6 & 7. They will be required to wear full formal uniform.

HSC Careers Expo

Forty-five Year 12 students have put their names down for the HSC Careers Expo in Sydney on 30-31 May. As well as attending the expo we will be having guided tours of University of Sydney and the residential colleges of St Andrew’s, St Paul’s and Women’s.

The cost of the trip will be approximately $120 per person.

For more details please refer to the Career page on the TAS website.

Career Plans

I am currently offering interviews to all Year 12 students in the wake of their Mid-year report distribution. The emphasis of the interviews is to analyse their marks in comparison to their Year 11 reports and the marks they need for their desired ATAR as well as focus on career directions and options.

Students need to make an appointment with me by sending me a list of the study periods so I can match them with a convenient time on my timetable. Parents are welcomed at the interviews should they wish to attend.

Mr Mark Taylor
Careers Advisor

Meeting with boarding staff and wandering through the boarding houses of an evening over the past week, I was impressed by the sense of excitement for the term ahead from both the students and staff. I appreciate Term 2 presents many challenges for the boarders including reports, exams and parent teacher interviews but the enthusiasm to get started with their studies and co-curricular commitments particularly the winter sports of rugby, football, hockey and netball was pleasing to see.

Term 2 is a busy term with the boarders from Years 6 – 10 sitting Semester 1 Exams and the Years 11 – 12 students working through a number of assessments. The cooler weather, which is now upon us, often brings a positive change in focus during evening prep and I implore all students to take advantage of this time. Balance is always encouraged and weekend sport, whether it be a weekend trip to Sydney for rugby or a local netball fixture, is crucial in ensuring the boarders prioritise time to physical activity and time with friends.

It was great to meet a number of you on the Headmasters Country Tour late last term where a number of TAS staff visited Inverell, Glenn Innes, Scone, Tamworth, Moree, Narrabri and Gunnedah. It was a humbling experience interviewing such a large number of prospective students and to see a large number of parents and friends of the school gather for the social functions of an evening. I always enjoy the opportunity to meet the rural parents, friends and Old Armidalians on their own turf. Considering the difficult circumstances a number of you are currently experiencing there was much positivity across all the towns visited which gives me added confidence in the TAS Boarding Program. I am blessed with the staff we have working in boarding at TAS and I appreciate the team effort that goes into delivering a strong boarding program for all the boarders.

TAS will be closed for the upcoming Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend with boarders allowed to leave from 3.30pm Thursday 6 June. Boarding houses will re-open at 3pm Monday 10 June. Boarders can stay overnight in  their houses on Thursday evening 6 June but are encouraged to make plans to vacate their boarding houses early on Friday 7 June. Plans are currently being made to accommodate the international students over the course of this weekend.

I am pleased to announce that the 2019 Food Committee started meeting mid last term and will continue meeting every three weeks this term. This committee, which I enjoy being part of, comprises boarders across all five houses and year levels and plays an important role in ensuring the boarders have a voice, with regard to food, at the school. We are already seeing improvements across all meals, evening prep break and morning tea as a result.

Finally, please find below the Term 2 Recreation Activities Roster. The Term 1 Recreation Activities, which were primarily targeted to Middle School boarders but available to all, were particularly well received by students and parents alike. The Term 2 Recreation Activities reflect the increased demands of winter sport but still give the boarders ample opportunities to stay busy over the weekends. I must thank Mr Michael Baumgartner for all the work he is doing behind the scenes to ensure these activities are well organised and communicated to students and parents in a timely manner.

Saddler Jon Galletly has been giving workshops to Middle School boy boarders as part of the weekend recreation program

Mr David Drain
Director of Boarding and Head of Croft House

A busy start to the term for debaters

Debating has got off to a cracking start in what is the busiest term of the year for this sport of the mind.

Our Year 9/10 debaters on Tuesday evening met Canberra Girls Grammar School in round 2 of the National Virtual Debating Competition, arguing, as the Negative, against the topic ‘That the date of Australia Day should not be changed’. Rather than narrowing their argument to simply saying it should (and why), the team said there at least needed to be a discussion that included all parties and that the values of any country worth celebrating on a national day should reflect the way it treats its minorities. It was an extraordinarily close debate between TAS and the school that last year won three of the national grand finals – with the result being awarded to TAS by just one point! Congratulations Will Jubb, Hudson McAllister, Hugo Catterall and Charlotte Brunyee. On to round 3!

Next Tuesday is the turn of the Year 11 team which will also meet up against CGGS. Best wishes to them. The following day TAS hosts the first round in the annual Tri-Schools Shield, a debating competition for Middle School between the three Armidale independent schools. TAS will field two teams in each age group, each team debating either NEGS or PLC. Topics were distributed yesterday so its full steam ahead with their preparation.

Meanwhile we wish Debating co-captain Phebe Hunt, Year 12, all the best as she represents TAS in this year’s Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition for GPS/CAS schools at Sydney Boys High on Friday night.

Mr Tim Hughes
Debating Coordinator

The National Virtual Debating Year 9/10 team: Will Jubb, Hudson McAllister, Hugo Catterall and Charlotte Brunyee

ANZAC Service Week 1

We had the School commemoration and remembrance service early last week and it was really pleasing to note so many in attendance from Years 6 and 7. The Year 8s, as you probably know, were part of the Cadet Corps and they performed their role with characteristic ease. It was good also to catch up with a number of parents. Also good was the weather – well, it was amazing really because, in spite of the month, it was not cold in the least. Considering the light showers of rain over the weekend, I think the warmth will decrease at a reasonably rapid rate – in fact, as I write this I look out of the window and see multi-coloured leaves cascading everywhere (with some semblance of good grace) and most students in jumpers. I know that soon enough we’ll complain bitterly to others about the bone-chill days, but after that horrendous summer we should complain less because there were those despairing times when we thought that this kind of weather might not come again.

Rugby – Away and at Home (training with the Opens boys)

The winter season sports program has begun with the usual exodus on Saturday of rugby teams travelling to Coonabarabran. I believe those who went were excited and know that all felt the competition against Kinross was challenging. Regardless of final scores, it’s always encouraging to know that improvements can be made on both individual and team levels.

Will Swales, Josh Jones and the Opens rugby boys have done it again. In addition to the Year 12s coming to the Middle School more than on the odd occasion, as they’ve managed to run reasonably regular touch games since Term 4, last Friday afternoon the Opens group invited our 13s to train with them (as seen below) – and they didn’t do it to curry favour, because I found out about it second-hand. These older boys really deserve some good press, not just because they are fine players, but also because they ‘give a damn‘ about the younger students. Our young people were delighted: you, likewise should to be delighted – and I’m just grateful. A highlight of 2019 is the fact that there’s real synergy between the Senior and Middle Schools and this makes for a good time for all.

Exams, Organisation, NAPLAN

Despite the pace of any given term at TAS, and after our staff meeting on Monday, you will notice students and staff settling into the steady period of those pre-exam weeks so necessary to the establishment of a sense of calm and increasing confidence in order that the approach to them is serious, though not stressful.
Please be assured that students will begin to receive Study Packages containing information about examinable topics, ‘styles’ of questions, including, where relevant, marks values attaching to each of the ‘above’. I’m about to speak to a number of students about the wisdom of ‘Study Groups’. Those I’ve already discussed this with are receptive to the idea, too.

They’re necessary components of school life: exams. While people don’t look to them with the kind of enthusiasm that attends a sporting fixture or a cultural pursuit, the ‘new’ attitude that attaches to them is healthy challenge, or at least calm resignation. But it isn’t a kind of resignation that carries a negative charge; rather, it’s a resignation that academic testing is part of normal life at this school and, as such, something that isn’t to be feared.

I will speak to students at our Town Meeting Assembly next week, indicating the necessity of utilizing the Study Packages that will be received over the next weeks. I’m sure that they’ll give the exercise their ‘best shot’ and will advise again that we’re here to assist them – but that the day before an exam may not be the best time to do this. In other words, I’ll tell us them to determine problem areas as soon as possible, being proactive and alerting us to issues of concern over the next week.

We’ve introduced a measure that’s effectively unprecedented: I’m not especially proud of it, but sometimes we just need to give our people a ’helping hand’. Our intrepid Robyn Frost has bought, on the Middle School account, 10 fully ‘functional’ pencil cases: attendant pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, highlighters and glue sticks ‘people’ said pencil cases. Why? There are still people who don’t bring or have the right gear to function during the day and this can so easily frustrate the normal ‘run’ of any given day. So, in the interim, we’re going to give out these items ‘on loan’ for a day at a time: they’re numbered, have Middle School clearly (and frequently) written on each item and they’re to be returned at the end of each day. Any losses will need to be replaced through the pupil-pay system we have in the school. Repeat ‘borrowings’ will result in messages home because we need to have students take greater care of belongings and we need your support on this issue. As I indicated, I’m not especially proud about this situation, but we need to support some students to get through the school day. This measure (I daren’t characterise it as an initiative) was ratified in a recent staff meeting and it is my job to support staff and all students.

Please use this link to view all Middle School stationery requirements.  CLICK HERE

Week 3

A reminder about next week: for our Year 7 cohort NAPLAN will take place from Next Tuesday till Thursday and the New England Eisteddfod for all students will begin very soon, too.

Mr Mark Harrison
Head of Middle School

Junior School Cross Country results

Last Wednesday our Junior School students, including Transition, competed with great enthusiasm in our annual Cross Country event. This year we moved back to our original Cross Country course with staff and gap students assisting around the course during the afternoon. Some excellent sportsmanship was noticed during the afternoon as children applauded and encouraged our runners in each division. Below are the results from the afternoon:

Transition – all children received a participation ribbon

Kinder – Year 5 places:

5 year old girls

1  Philippa Ogilvie

5 year old boys

1  Daniel Mo

6 year old girls

1  Eva Cook
2  Eloise Leary
3  Neave Drain

6 year old boys

1  James Taylor
2    Hunter Crane
3   Edward Drainey

7 year old girls

1  Arabella Hodges
2  Lucy Stephen
3  Evelyn Brownlie

7 year old boys

1  Baxter Carruthers
2  Alexander Dell
3  Will Dennison

8 year old girls

1  Mila Nexo
2  Rebecca Billingsley
3  Layla Abu Assab

8 year old boys
1  Casper Cook
2  Oliver Robb
3  Josh Bourke

9 year old girls

1  Lucy Taylor
2  Sophie Brett
3  Minnie Chick

9 year old boys

1  Arthur White
2  Xavier Stephen
3  Saleh Alrdadi

10 year old girls

1  Chloe Dennison
2  Katie Hynes
3  Ani Anderson

10 year old boys

1  Hugo Broun
2  Harry Brownlie
3  Peter Thompson

11year old girls

1  Mila Downes
2  Mosie Wright
3  Peyton Slade

11 year old boys

1  Oliver Goudge
2  Blake Whitehill
3  Ted Chick