TAS Talks Term 1 Week 2

Junior and Senior Swimming Championships

During the Swimming Championships (Junior School – Thursday 13 and Senior Friday 14) the P&F operates a Cake Stall. Our sport carnival cake stalls raise a significant amount of money for the P&F and this money is used to make TAS better for our children so if you could support this worthy cause by baking or buying some yummy food and helping on the stall it would be appreciated.  Anything will be gratefully received and can be dropped off to the P&F stall near the swimming pool prior to the start of your swimming carnival. Remember this cake stall is mainly for the kids to buy things to munch on (so don’t forget some pocket money) and a little bit for the adults.

Suggested baked/food items include cupcakes, biscuits, cake and slices (cut into single serve portions), jelly cups, watermelon if it’s hot, savoury goodies, gluten-free and dairy-free items (with labelling and a list of ingredients).  However, please remember all items should be nut free.  If you bring in a container that you would like returned, please clearly mark it with your name and collect it after the carnival.

Stall times are:

Welcome BBQ on Warcries Night – Thursday 13 March from 5 – 7pm

On the night of the Middle/Senior School Warcries the P&F will be hosting a BBQ under the Junior School Covered Area from 5-7pm for all families that are not involved in the Middle School Introductory Evening. Sausage sandwiches will be $2 and soft drinks and water will be available so that you don’t starve during Warcries… Come and join us, meet some new people and prepare yourselves for the competition that is TAS Warcries…

TAS Rugby Carnival

TAS will be hosting our annual under 12 rugby carnival during the middle weekend of the school holidays (Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April).  The P&F is in charge of lunches for the 1000 plus players and coaches and providing a canteen for all the supporters.  It’s a mammoth job but heaps of fun and is a chance to showcase TAS and Armidale to people from all around Australia.  If you would like to help us organise this awesome event please let us know.

P&F Meeting Tonight!

Our first P&F meeting will be on tonight Wednesday 5 February at 7pm in Lower Maxwell Room – turn left inside the entrance to the Main School and follow the noise.  All are welcome and we’d love to see you there.  Drinks and nibbles are provided.

Mrs Rachael Nicoll
P&F President

Purchased at a Price 1 - Peter 1:18-19

Have you ever bought something and then not used it? Well, there’s at least one sort of product where that happens all the time, and the marketers know it. Home-gym equipment! This is the ‘tummy trimmer’, the ‘fat-fighter’, the ‘gut-gouger’, the Orbitrek, the Physitron, the Ab-cruncher, the Ab-slide the Ab-doer. In this wonderful world of television shopping, never have so many, paid so much, for something they will use so little. At this time of year, when new year’s resolutions are starting to fade, tummy trimmers sit in their boxes in the corners of garages while Ab-crunchers used once gather dust under beds. Bodyflex: “where losing is winning!”, “where results are now!”  Where you can do it all at home, right in front of the telly!”. But of course Bodyflex’s resting place is behind the telly….

This is another way that we are not like God. When God pays for something he really wants it. God never loses interest in something he’s bought. God has bought us, and the price of that purchase was the blood of his Son. Is God an impulse buyer, who has bought us only to lose interest in us? No! God cares about us, about how we live and he bought us for a purpose. The price was high—it’s one thing for you to pay $199 for an Ab-cruncher you’re never going to use but it’s totally absurd to think that God would pay for us with the precious blood of his Son and do the same. There are hundreds of unused Ab-crunchers sitting in garages—that’s a waste. But Christians sitting around unchanged by God’s mercy and love and forgiveness — that’s offensive.

God hasn’t just saved us from something, he’s saved us for something. This series is all about honouring God who bought us at a price. If you are a Christian, if we claim to be a Christian school, we need to realise that he didn’t just save us from something, he’s saved us for something— he’s saved us from the penalty of sin for an intimate relationship with him.

You’ve seen the Larson cartoon: first pants then your shoes? In the Christian life we must first put our trust in Jesus and be forgiven. Then we must put on the character of Jesus and be transformed.

Mr Richard Newton
Chaplain

Meeting the parents and boarders throughout the afternoon and evening of Tuesday 28 January I felt a sense of anticipation and excitement for the year ahead. I appreciate this can be a difficult time for both parents and students, old and new, but am confident that once all boarders settle into their daily routines, they will start to enjoy the many opportunities available to them here at TAS. I enjoyed talking to a number of parents at the Borders Welcome Drinks that evening and immediately felt a sense of collegiality and positivity amongst the boarding community.

I have spent time in all six boarding houses over the past week and left each house confident that the house staff will all do a tremendous job. We welcome three new Heads of House: Catey Curtin (Acting Head of Girls Boarding), Julie Crozier (Acting Head of Girls Boarding) and Doug Fawcett (Head of Croft House) and one new Deputy Head of House, Charlotte Mack (Dangar House) into their roles. I am excited to be solely in the Director of Boarding role this year and am extremely fortunate to be working with such inspiring and passionate boarding staff.

Evening prep started well last week with all Years 9 and 10 boarders, from this week, completing prep from 7.15pm – 9.00pm Monday through to Thursday in the Cash Building classrooms and for one hour of a Sunday evening in boarding houses. The weekday evening prep ensures consistency across the four senior boarding houses and allows students to engage in supervised group work with students from other houses. From this week Middle School boarders will continue to complete evening prep in the Middle School classrooms from 6.30pm – 7.30pm Monday to Thursday. Years 11 and 12 boarders continue to complete evening prep in their rooms. There is still the opportunity for all boarders to attend the library, for additional academic support, from 7.00pm – 9.00pm Monday to Thursday.

The annual Coast Weekend was another huge success with all boarders enjoying their time away at either Urunga, Sawtell, Coffs Harbour, Sapphire or Emerald Beach. The Coast Weekend is a great opportunity for staff and students, particularly those new to houses, to develop stronger relationships in a fun and relaxed setting. Feedback from both the students and staff was the weekend was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Please remember that you are most welcome to contact me or your Head of House at any time should there be any aspect of your child’s boarding experience you would like to discuss. We are all looking forward to a fantastic Term 1 and are very keen to assist you in any way we can.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the Warcries and Swimming Carnival during Week 3. For those new to TAS this is a great opportunity to see first-hand the unique spirit and camaraderie of the TAS boarders.

David Drain
Director of Boarding

Sports Cancellations due to Weather

Any decision to cancel or relocate sports due to weather will be made on a sport-by-sport basis. The decision will be communicated to students by the MIC (via email/TeamApp) one hour prior to training/competition – otherwise events will continue as normal.

Middle/Senior School Swimming Championships – Week 3

Tuesday 11 February, 6:45-8:30pm:
50m Butterfly and 200m IM events (competitors only)
Wednesday 12 February, 3:45-5pm:
Warcry Practice –There will be no sport on this day and all students are expected to attend a final practice with their House.
Thursday 13 February, 6:45-9:00pm:
200m freestyle events, Open Medley Relay and the House Warcries  Competition.
Friday 14 February 9:00am – 4:00pm:
All remaining events (see schedule attached below)

Event Schedule 2020

Students are encouraged to swim in as many events as possible. They need to be able to swim at least 50m to swim in the various events. Most students should be able to compete in the 50m freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.
The 50m butterfly, 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley are all more ‘specialist’ events and only those students who are reasonably capable of doing these events should compete in them.

There will be 160 seats on pool deck on Thursday night for the war cries. Forty of these seats will be reserved for parents of Year 12 students until 6:30pm, at which time they will be open to all spectators. Remaining spectators can view the events from the doors on the western side of the pool or the south western corner.

On Friday 14 Feb, competitors for the first event of the day (Boys U12 50m freestyle) should report to the marshalling area (southeast corner of the gym) by 8:45am. All remaining competitors and House members are to be seated by 8:50am.

Starts will be ‘over the top’. ie the swimmer in the pool at the end of the previous race remains in the water (and holds onto the lane rope) until the next race has begun whereupon the swimmer immediately exits.

There are a huge number of heats to get through so no false starts are allowed. 
If you ‘false start’ you will still be allowed to swim for a ‘time’ but will not gain any points for your House or age championships in that event.

BBQ Lunch will be provided for all parents & students.

Dress will be House polo shirts and blue shorts. Day students may travel to and from TAS in the above clothing (plus shoes). All competitors must swim in TAS swimmers.

All competitors will wear a House swim cap. These will be provided to all students to keep. This will make it much easier for spectators to identify which house each competitor is in.

Because of the chlorine in the pool water, competitors are strongly advised to wear goggles.

You may not colour your hair, nor write on your body with a texta pen (except on the House Warcries Competition night).
 Except for water, no food or drink may be consumed in the pool area.
 Students may not leave the Sports Centre area without permission from their respective Heads of House.

Times swum in these Championships will be used to determine which students will be selected in TAS teams to compete at NCIS carnival (plus PSSA for Year 6 students).

Tea and coffee is available all day at the P&F cake stall.

Active Kids and Creative Kids

The NSW Government provide TWO $100 Active Kids vouchers and a $100 Creative Kids voucher to parents/guardians of school enrolled children. The vouchers can be used for registration and participation costs. Please go to www.sport.nsw.gov.au/activekids to apply for your Active Kids voucher and https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-creative-kids-voucher  for your Creative Kids voucher.

The procedure for using vouchers varies across activities. Please contact the staff member in charge of your activity for clarification.

Tour de Rocks

Music Ensembles & Practice Times

Boarders’ practice times 2020

Music Ensemble Schedule 2020

Mr Will Caldwell
Director of Co-curricular

Middle School is off to a slightly revamped start in 2020, partly assisted by the wonderful opportunity for students to make new friendships and renew existing ones, at Pindari Adventures (Year 7) and the Park Beach Coast Weekend (Year 6 and 8 boarders). It’s important that students have as many opportunities as possible to be together – at the beginning of the year especially.

I travelled to Pindari, between Inverell and Ashford, with all of our Year 7 students and five other staff. Some activities they were treated to were really enjoyable and these, combined with the continued forging of new friendship groups, very reasonable food and the exciting opportunity of preparing same enabled people to work together in an environment as far away from classrooms as possible. The time away was simultaneously tiring and refreshing: we were fortunate to have it and it’s an orientation weekend we need to continue to have so that all have opportunity to work together as Middle School people. Thanks go to Mrs Jo Benham, Sr Jenny Murray, Mr Jonathon Woodbridge and Mr Allan Moore – for their assistance, forbearance and kindness – our Year 7s were so lucky to have your expertise. In fact, this could be the Middle School mantra at the moment for practically all matters Middle School-related. Thus far, your children are faring well and I’m both happy and relieved to be able to report this to you. For those of you who are boarding parents and, especially for those who have had some challenging calls, remember this: tears are normal, being a manifestation of the regard your children hold you in – simply they are being normal and they miss you and, as parents, you need to take comfort from the these combined facts. Remember though, we are here and, especially at the moment, we’re here for whole families. If you have queries just contact us.

We’ve done ‘firsts’ of pretty much everything now and as the weeks progress these new experiences will become routines that are familiar and, increasingly, easy to navigate. Be assured we’re keeping an ear to the ground and we’ll keep you fully informed of information you need to know. At our Middle School staff meeting, we’ll discuss your first afternoon with us in Hoskins next week prior to the swimming events. Our student leaders also have discussed your imminent arrival and how best they can assist you, particularly those of you who are new to TAS. Needless to say perhaps, but we are looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible, then. It’s more important in fact that your children see you at the carnival: the combined facts that you’ve not changed, rented out their bedrooms or found others to look after are important to these young people. As important for you, I imagine, is the fact that your children are not significantly changed – with the exception of being a little more resilient, perhaps.

Mr Mark Harrison
Head of Middle School

Junior School Welcome Barbecue

Many thanks to the large number of families that enjoyed the first social occasion of the year for Junior School. I was disappointed that it didn’t rain….we seem to be losing our touch and I was sure that I saw clouds gathering at one point. To see our school (and the New England) looking so green again, I guess we can be excused. With swimming and athletics carnivals on the horizon, I look forward to being able to catch up with many of you then.

The Three Steps

Showing empathy, compassion and respect for the needs and feelings of others requires awareness and at the end of the day, practice. As part of our PYP, we emphasise the ‘The Three Steps’ at school. I have covered this already in Personal Development classes and we would like you to discuss this at home and help all our students improve their understanding.

The philosophy is for the children to realise that they can make a difference themselves in some difficult situations, while allowing them to have the support they may need in others. We explain that it is OK to miss step 1 or 2 if behaviour is dangerous or very serious, but it encourages them to make a decision and take some ownership of the situation confronting them as well.

Rather than simply going to “tell” the teacher, we encourage children to say:

• Step 1 – “Please stop doing/saying that. I don’t like it.”
• Step 2 – “I’ve asked you to stop. If you do it again, I will go and talk to a teacher.”
• Step 3 – “I am going to talk to a teacher.”

We encourage students to talk to the teachers, rather than “tell”. In doing so, students have the opportunity to retain some of the responsibility for “fixing” the situation. Of course, this skill is a difficult one. So, please discuss this strategy with your children at home and perhaps let them have a practice with you when you have the chance. If we all develop a similar approach to such situations, I am sure it will pay dividends in the long run.

Prefect involvement in Junior School

I have been so impressed with our senior student leaders this year. Having met with the Prefect body last week, they were in Junior School yesterday introducing themselves and then working with Year 5, mentoring them as they make preparations of their own to nominate as House Leaders. They will be at each assembly throughout the year and have some very good surprises up their sleeves and I thoroughly look forward to their increased involvement.

Supervision in Junior School

A quick reminder please, that the daily supervision in Junior School begins at 8.15 am. If children are arriving earlier for clubs or other teacher-supervised activities, they must remain there with the teacher at all times.

And after school, we have had a growing number of unsupervised students as well. It is important that this does not happen while they wait for other activities (sport, late collection etc) and we will request that the After School Care service is used to minimise the risks. You will have noticed increased fencing in Junior School as we continue to work to improve this area for all our students while they are in our care.

Dogs in Junior School

While we understand and (mostly) enjoy the presence of dogs at school (and Mac, our companion dog is a great case in point) I have had a number of requests for the School to consider the wisdom of dogs being on school grounds. There is real difficulty in determining when dogs are safely at school and when they are not. And, as a regional school, we have many children who are comfortable with dogs but I know some are not. While in the past, there has been tacit approval for dogs to be brought to school, the Companion Animals Act prohibits dogs being on school grounds without the principal’s permission. To avoid any unfortunate situations and to minimse risks for both our children and our canine friends, we ask that dogs are no longer brought to school. We thank you for your understanding and support.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to Cecilia Price and Anna Trevaskis for your special days this week.

Mr Ian Lloyd
Head of Junior School

• Where: Art Room 1 of the Hoskins Centre at TAS.
• Children may arrive any time after 3:20pm. The latest arrival time is 4pm. Class finishes at 5pm.
• Commencement: Classes begin on Tuesday, 11 February and Thursday 13 February. We have six weeks of lessons, then a week off for firing, then a party on 31 March and 2 April.
• The cost is $ 160.  this includes materials, instruction, and firing costs.