A new parent portal will be ready to be released to the School community in the coming weeks. I would like all parents at St Ives to sign up for access to the portal when you receive the invitation. The School will then add a link to the portal on the website. It is done this way for security reasons as we want parents to create accounts using two factor authentication.
The Sydney Grammar School website will continue to provide information about the School and its activities but the parent portal will personalise and enrich the range of information available to current Grammar families. You will be able to check your personal details, see your son’s reports, activities and access your fee statements. Security is paramount and you can click here for technical tips about logging on. This will be helpful when you receive your invitation to the portal.
Newsletters (School, Sport and Parents’ Association) will still be sent home via email and text alerts concerning Sports information will not change. In time, most of this information will also be accessed by the portal.
It is important that the established methods of communication remains. Your son’s Form Master will still be your first point of contact with the School and you should use the Diary, School Email or telephone the School when there are matters to discuss. You will not be able to reach them via the Parent Portal.
This platform will develop and grow according to the needs of the School community and I do hope that this service simplifies communication in our busy school.
Mr I Stephens
On Tuesday this week, the Buddies programme began across Years P-6. There was much excitement around the boys meeting their buddy for the first time and a range of activities were conducted to start building the relationships and connections across the School. Please speak to your son about his buddy to help further build this connection. In the coming weeks, the name of your son’s buddy will appear in his diary. Buddy classes this year are; 3ST & 5M, 3SL & 5A, 3E & 5R, 2W & 4BU, 2K & 4BE, 1E & 4P, 1G & 6T and Preschool and Kindergarten are with Year 6.
Mr P Derrin
All boys who catch a School bus service met in the School Hall on Tuesday morning. Expectations for travel on the bus were discussed with safety highlighted as the priority.
Managing the safety of your son on the bus is a responsibility that we all share. Please read this letter from the Headmaster addressing the School Bus Code of Conduct with specific relation to the acceptable use of technology. Please discuss the Code of Conduct with your son and what the safe use of technology is so that together we can embed why these expectations are important in supporting him and those around him.
If you have any queries about the bus please contact me at any time.
Recently the School has received a few reports of unsafe incidents regarding driving and the drop off and pick up of boys in both Ayres Road and Mawson Street.
I remind all parents to drive slowly, carefully and appropriately according to the conditions when travelling to and from school.
At no stage are boys to be let out of a car and allowed to cross the street by themselves. Parents are to park and cross the road with their sons at all times preferably holding their hands.
Boys are also not to enter the School through driveways at any time and must use pedestrian gates.
The bus turning circle at the lower end of the School in Ayres Road is not a drop off zone at any time. Do not stop here to drop your sons off as vehicles will be driving through to return to Ayres Road.
I also ask parents to be considerate of other road users when the road becomes blocked and allow drivers exiting driveways to merge to maintain a steady traffic flow.
Thank you for your co-operation in ensuring a safe travel experience for all drivers and pedestrians around the School.
There will be limited parking on the School grounds for tomorrow evening’s PA Welcome Drinks. The carpark at the top end of Ayres Road will be open from 6:00pm for about 60 vehicles. Please enter via the first gate once you enter Ayres Road. This gate will act as both the Entrance and Exit gate for the evening. All other on-site parking spots are for staff, as they are during the week.
If you are parking in the surrounding streets, please park with consideration for residents and do not block driveways at any time. The Hillcrest Estate at the top of Ayres Road is a private area and not for school parking.
There will be gates open in Ayres Road for access. The Lower Mawson Street gate (near the Tennis Courts) will also be open for the evening.
A reminder that due to the prevalence of boys with nut allergies, it is extremely important that boys do not bring any food that contains nuts to school, or possible traces of nuts.
Could we also ask that boys have washed their hands thoroughly after eating breakfast each morning, to reduce the possibility of any accidental contamination.
Mr D Fraser
At the moment, Mr Fraser, Mrs Fraser and myself are team teaching with the Year 5 and Year 6 teachers and their cohorts to build writing skills in terms of setting, object and character descriptions. I’ve got to say I love team teaching – such a wonderful way to combine strengths, utilise a visual model of collaboration for the boys and having another set of eyes and hands to work individually with boys is an amazing intervention teaching tool!
Setting, character and object description are therefore very much on my mind at the moment. I subscribe to a wonderful blog called BrainPickings (for anyone looking for a great read) and on the weekend Maria Popova (the writer of the blog) shared some footage from a poetry event she had just run. One of the poems, ‘At The Fishhouses’ by Elizabeth Bishop, did a phenomenal job of describing setting, character and object. It’s an amazing poem and I’d like to share it with you all not just because of the object, character and setting work but because, at its core, the poem is about what we “imagine knowledge to be”. Wow. To read more click here.
Our quote of the week for next week comes from Angus Windeyer (Year 5). He has chosen a section out of ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley. Thank you Angus – I’m loving our quote focus from books for this term!
“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
William Ernest Henley
Words of the Week for Week 5
Year 1 observe
Year 2 precise
Year 3 extreme
Year 4 guarantee
Year 5 infusion
Year 6 treacherous
Mrs C Greenup
On Tuesday mornings, boys are asked to leave their violins and celli in the Foyer of the Assembly Hall, neatly up against the white wall. Please do not leave instruments inside the Hall.
Next week, Friday 1 March, Mrs Fane will be unable to take School Choir. Rehearsals will return to normal the following week, Friday 8 March (Week 6).
Click here for the Week 5 Music Timetable. Parents please note this is subject to change.
Mr M Smith OAM
Summer Sport fixtures continue this weekend. An up-to-date Fixture List is on the Sports Fixtures website and can be viewed by clicking here. Teams Sheets are accessed using the website and can be viewed using the password Sport2019.
A printable version of the Fixtures can be found by clicking here. Please note the printable version will not automatically update if there are changes during the season. Any changes will be notified by the Sports Fixtures website.
Please access team sheets, uploaded to the Sports Fixtures website on Thursday, by clicking here. Team Sheets provide you with the most up-to-date information regarding your son’s fixture and detail your son’s game location and match time, team members and non-playing reserves.
Please note: All boys in the “A” teams are to arrive 30 minutes prior to the start time and all other teams 20 minutes prior to the start time for a warm-up.
In preparation for the Cross County Carnival in Week 7, Barefoot Bandits training sessions will be held at school. These will be held in Week 5 and 6 from 7:30-8:00am on Fridays. This will not replace Ball and Boy sessions. Boys in Years 2-6 are welcome to attend.
Families who are interested in improving their running over distance or have a love of running can use the website www.parkrun.com.au to join in the fun. Parkrun is a free running event held throughout Australia and can be done mainly on Saturday’s to record a time over 5km. Many suburbs in Sydney hold an event, so please visit the website today.
On Friday 8 March, all P-2 boys will be participating in their Year groups' Cross Country race. Each race is at a distance suited to their age and is a great way for boys to show House spirit and support for their peers. Parents are welcome and encouraged to come and cheer their sons from the hill outside the Hall.
Boys are to remain at school for the remainder of the day and can be collected at the usual time after assembly. Presentations will be made at Assembly on Friday 15 March at 2.00pm for boys in K-2.
We hope to see you all there to support your son.
Mr C Cook
Last Monday, the much-anticipated pirate ship arrived.
It looks splendid in the Library, proudly representing adventure, fantasy and history.
On Wednesday at our Lunchtime in the Library session, Mrs Scott and Mr Germaine encouraged boys to solve scientific problems, with terrific hands-on activities. Next week, Mr Stephens will talk about his passion for History.
The Library Lion and his cub Leo, represent Carrington’s Code in the Library. This week in library lessons, our focus was empathy. Reading fiction is a powerful way to develop empathy in children. Discussing the thoughts and feelings of characters, helps children to walk in another’s shoes and experience a world different from their own.
Fiction, is important in all our lives. In his pictorial essay on the importance of reading and libraries, author Neil Gaiman writes,
‘I hope we can give our children a world in which they will read, and be read to, and imagine and understand.’
On Monday 4 March, 1:45-3:00 pm, all parents are warmly invited to join me for a reading information session titled ‘How to Change Your Child’s Life Through Reading’. The session will commence in the Library, then move to the Hall.
Happy reading!
Mrs R Lee
This year our School production is a new version of Hansel and Gretel re-imagined by our guest director, Tonya Grelis.
So...what do you think you know about the story of Hansel and Gretel?
There is a horrid step mother who forces the woodcutter to leave his children in the forest...a dark foreboding forest, a sumptuous gingerbread house and a wicked witch!
What I am sure you don’t know is that it was Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson who investigated the case of Hansel and Gretel. While holidaying in the Black Forest, the famous duo happen across the little village of Shove-it Back. They stumble into the famous Shove-it Back Inn - famous because it is owned by the amazing Olympic German wrestling twins - Helmut and Fritz Groober. It is here that Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson meet famed Dutch vampire hunter Dr Abraham Van Helsing. Together they discover that Hansel and Gretel are missing and that the forest is infested with a vampire horde. The race is on to save the children and keep the town safe from the Vampire Witch!!!
How much time do they have? How will they find the children deep in the dark forest?
How will they catch and kill all the vampires?
You will need to come and be part of the adventure to find out…suspense, surprise, vampire folk lore…what a production!
This production will be presented at school on the 16 and 17 August. Last Monday I launched the show and an audition pack was sent home with Year 5 and Year 6 boys. Auditions will take place on Monday 11 March (Week 7) from 12.00-4.00pm in the Drama Studio. Please note, if your son wishes to audition for the show, he must fill in and return the audition form to the School office by 3.00pm, Monday 25 February (Week 5).
Don’t waste any more time!!! Sign up and audition and be part of the spine-tingling race to vanquish the vampires running wild in the woods.
Mrs Grelis and I look forward to seeing you then. Break a leg!
Mrs M Wheatley
Chess coaching began in earnest this week. The boys have arrived at the sessions focused and ready to learn. Well done! Please click here if you need to confirm the time for your son’s lessons.
Also here is an application form for the 2019 Inter-School Competition which is held during Terms 2 and 3. These forms are due back to Mr Palethorpe or the Office by Friday 8 March.
This week Year 1&2 began Chess coaching.
These sessions are short and give the boys an insight into the skills and strategies needed to play chess.
We ask that boys arrive promptly, at the allocated time for their 25 minute lesson. Please click here if you need to confirm the time and day for your son's lessons.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs P Flaherty
Welcome to Typing Club for Semester 1. The first group of boys enrolled will commence in the Computer Room from 7.45am (not 8:45am) next Monday 25 February. The session will finish in plenty of time to prepare for the excursion to College St.
Mrs J Fraser
