TAS Talks Term 3 Week 3

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Term 3 is a key term for so many of our students. Year 10 students are in the midst of subject selections for their final years at TAS and Year 8 will also be in a similar situation in a few weeks as they decide what electives they would like to study when they move out of Middle School. Year 5 students have started their IB Primary Years Programme Exhibition, a huge cross- disciplinary inquiry which will take them most of the term. Year 11s will shortly apply for leadership roles as Mr Pearson discusses this week, and Year 12 are a few weeks away from their trial exams and working hard, including taking advantage of a range of Sunday afternoon study sessions. I wish all of our students good luck this term, whatever challenges lie ahead of them.

At this time I have a few staffing items to share with you. Director of Studies Mrs Seonia Wark is currently on a period of extended leave. While she is away I am very pleased to announce that Mrs Gill Downes will be Acting Director of Studies. Mrs Downes is very well placed to step into this position, having been Assistant Director of Studies for the past three years. She has also previously been Head of English at TAS.

While the end of the year is a little way off still, Mr Mark Taylor has announced that he will retire from teaching and as PDHPE Coordinator. Mr Taylor has been at TAS for 24 years and will be greatly missed for his teaching, careers guidance and the wonderful work he has done coaching our senior netball teams in particular.

This week we welcome Mrs Kim Holstein as our new Medical Centre Manager. Mrs Holstein is a Senior Registered Nurse, joining us after a number of years at Walcha Hospital. My thanks go to Mrs Kate Kennedy for her willingness to step into this role briefly until Mrs Holstein was able to start.

Finally, Mrs Florence Champion de Crespigny will be leaving TAS at the end of this term. She has been a wonderful French teacher during her time at the School, bringing real enthusiasm to her classes. We hope to continue to see her is a casual capacity from time to time.

Dr Rachel Horton
Principal

Our Student Representative Council has commenced the term with two clear objectives for what they hope to achieve in weeks ahead: to raise awareness and engage student action on sustainability, and homelessness in Armidale. I thank Mr James Pennington for his work with the SRC group in coordinating the initial planning for a ‘Sleep Out’ event later in month. This will align with a non-perishable food can drive and mufti-day with details to come.  

This term, we undertake the process of selecting our 2023 student leaders. Current Year 11 students interested in a School Prefect position will be asked to write an application letter outlining how they would approach representing the student body, serving the School and building on the significant contribution of our current leaders.  Following this, the process will involve gathering feedback from each applicant’s Advisor and their Year Level Coordinator followed by a vote, shortlist and interview before we announce our 2023 leaders in the final week of term. Specific details of each step will be communicated to students in the coming days. 

All of our Year 12 students collectively play a crucial role in setting the tone and contributing to the success of any given year. The students who are selected and agree to be Prefects will follow a rich tradition of service based leadership at the School; they will need to go above and beyond. Collectively, the 2023 group have demonstrated that they have the capacity to achieve great things in their final year and successfully take on the baton from our current Year 12s who have led with distinction. 

Mr Ray Pearson
Deputy Principal

P&F Meeting

The P&F will meet this week on Wednesday 3 August at 7.00 pm. We will be face-to-face in Upper Maxwell as well as have a Zoom session running for those wishing to attend remotely. Zoom details are below. All are welcome with the added bonus of snacks and drinks for those able to attend in person.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://as-edu.zoom.us/j/2155172798?pwd=Z1VRMTRrcjZoVStLYlFKOG5CdVovQT09
Meeting ID: 215 517 2798
Password: parents

Contact the P&F Executive

If you have anything you would like to raise with the P&F Executive, please send us an email at pandf@as.edu.au

Mr Paul Gaddes
P&F President

Tanabata Exchange between Tezukayama and TAS

Both TAS students and the students at our Exchange School, Tezukayama Gakuin, recently celebrated the annual festival of Tanabata. Students make wishes for the year and tie their wishes to a branch of bamboo in the hope that their wishes come true. Last term, Japanese students at TAS in Years 4, 5, 6, and 7 sent their wishes in Japanese to Tezukayama and these were displayed outside their classrooms. For the first time, TAS received the wishes of the Tezukayama students and these are being displayed in Junior and Middle School. Our students have enjoyed reading the wishes as they are written in both Japanese and English. Find below photos of our wishes at Tezukayama and wishes from Tezukayama in Middle and Junior School.

Although we haven’t been able to meet the students of Tezukayama for almost three years, we are still in contact and hope to expand our links further in the future.

Mr Allan Moore
Languages Coordinator

This week in Assembly we heard from our Winter Sports Captains and Music Captains. A wonderful time to reflect on the achievements of our musicians at the Armidale Eisteddfod and receive an update on the many and varied accomplishments of our athletes and teams that compete in both local and school-based competitions.

Congratulations to our 15s and Open Netball teams who competed at the NCIS Netball Carnival at Tweed Heads last Thursday. Both teams performed exceptionally well with our 15s winning four of their six matches and the Open team winning three of their five matches. The following students have been selected in the NCIS teams to represent at the NSWCIS Carnival: 15’s Team – Charlotte Craig, Isabella Henderson, Maddie Simmons; Opens Team – Sofia Paris, Eve Muirhead.

As we move towards the competition final rounds and in many sports finals, I remind students of the importance of finishing strong, which includes attending all sessions and wearing the uniform well.

In addition, students who are unable to attend school on Friday, due to illness, are unable to play in Friday night or weekend fixtures, the emphasis is on getting well, and ready for the next week of school.

Please ensure that you communicate your absence from school with your coach or manager.

Mr Huon Barrett
Director of Co-curricular

MS Open Day - Postponed 

Please be advised that the Middle School Open Day scheduled for this Saturday has been postponed to Saturday 15 October. We look forward to welcoming current and prospective families into the school on this date. Stay tuned for further information.

Activities Day – Monday 15 August

The next activities day will be held on Monday 15 August. All students will attend a briefing during the assembly period on Tuesday where details of the activities and equipment requirements will be provided. If you have any questions about this day, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Further details will be provided in next week’s TAS Talks.

Assessment Calendars – Distributed this week

Assessment calendars will be distributed to students and families this week. It is important that students take the time to see when tasks are due and what the nature of the task involves. These calendars are provided early to allow students to manage their time and ensure that key academic deadlines are met. If students have any concerns about their assessments, they should speak to their classroom teacher or advisor in the first instance.

COVID-19

Please be aware that we do continue to have cases of COVID-19 circulating in Middle School across Years 6, 7 and 8. Whilst we do anticipate that there will be a steady amount of COVID-19 cases circulating and wish to keep case numbers low, it is important that everyone is following the protocols that are in place for the safety and wellbeing of all of our students and staff.

• Masks are strongly recommended when indoors for staff and students during the School day at TAS. At this stage, masks are not a requirement. We will continue to monitor this.

• Students and staff must not attend school if they display any COVID-like symptoms, even if they return a negative RAHT. More information on testing can be found here: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/self-isolation-and-testing.aspx

• Parents and carers must inform the School as soon as possible if their child/children test positive or if there is a positive COVID-19 case in a household and a student becomes a close or household contact.

• Close or household contacts (students, staff and parents) are able to attend school but must wear a mask while indoors and we also require a daily negative test which we will provide for these individuals. It is incredibly important that the School is kept informed and requirements are followed so that we can maintain low case numbers and avoid disruptions to learning and school activities for our students

Mr Luke Polson
Head of Middle School

Junior School Playground Developments – Thanks to our wonderful P&F

You may not have had the chance to see our new sandpit play area, but it has been a real hit. As you can see from the photos, making a mess in the kitchen is not age or gender-related and we can all join in the fun and thanks to our very supportive P&F, that is precisely what our children are doing! We look forward to improving other aspects of our playground and thank everyone for their support.

(L to R) Pippi Goudge, Leo Thavapalasundaram and Mila Nexo enjoying our revamped sandpit

COVID-19

Please be aware that we do continue to have cases of COVID-19 circulating in Junior School. Whilst we do anticipate that there will be a steady amount of COVID-19 cases circulating and wish to keep case numbers low, it is important That everyone is following the protocols that are in place for the safety and wellbeing of all of our students and staff.

• Masks are now being worn indoors by staff and for students elsewhere in the school, in Years 6 and above
• Students and staff must not attend school if they display any COVID-like symptoms, even if they return a negative RAHT. More information on testing can be found here: https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/stay-safe/testing

• Parents and carers must inform the School as soon as possible if their child/children test positive or if there is a positive COVID-19 case in a household and a student becomes a close or household contact.
• Close or household contacts (students, staff, and parents) are able to attend school. Adults and those over 12 years old must be asymptomatic and wear a mask while indoors and we also require a daily negative test which we will provide for these individuals, for the duration of the COVID isolation period. Isolation times for positive cases or guidelines for Household contacts are currently mandated by the NSW Government and can be found
here: https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/stay-safe/testing/self-isolation-rules

Information for Book Week – 2022

Book Week will be taking place this year from August 22 – 26.  Events will include D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) times throughout the week and the Junior School Book Week Parade which will be held on Friday, 26 August.  Scholastic will deliver their book trolleys again this year for our Wishlist Fair.  During Library visits, students will select a book from the trolleys that they think would make a great addition to the Junior School library.  Our points with Scholastic will be allocated toward the purchase of these books.  We will also celebrate this years CBCA shortlists collection, which we currently have available in the library thanks in part to the generous support of Mr Bill Roberts, a former TAS student and patron of the library for many years.  Students will also be invited to participate in our annual Book Week writing and illustration competitions, based around this year’s theme of: Dreaming With Eyes Open.

Mr Gordon Arndt

School Spirits

Congratulations to the following students that received School Spirit Awards last week:
Briyana Galpathage, Spencer Green, Sam Trevaskis, Darby Klabe, Rory Watts, James Gillman, Spencer Stone, Mishkah Alrdadi, Finley Boyce, Maddie Pearson, Casey Tighe, Sophie Colyvas, Josie Buntine, Paddy Bourke, Ted Draney, Levi Watts, Matilda Polson, Olivia Colyvas, Lachlan Mills, Sophie Banister and Hamish Molina.

Happy Birthday

Many happy returns to Florence Cook and Liam Hoad for your birthdays this week.

Mr Ian Lloyd
Head of Junior School

Upcoming Events

In last week’s report I introduced the new transdisciplinary themes and central ideas for all classes Pre-K through to Year 5 for the first 6 weeks of this term. 

As you may recall Year 5 are completing their PYP Exhibition this term. 

The Exhibition is the culminating, collaborative experience in the final year of the PYP.

It is an authentic process for students to explore, document and share their understanding of an issue or opportunity of personal significance. The exhibition is student-initiated, designed and collaborative.

This year we have 10 different groups, all with different central ideas and lines of inquiry.

The table below outlines the issue or opportunity each group is inquiring into along with the lines of inquiry for each group.

Mrs Veronica Waters
PYP Coordinator