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18 February 2000 No. 3

From the Head of Junior School

I trust parents of boys in Years Four and Five enjoyed the Information Evening on Monday. These sessions are a vital part of our communication process and provide a great opportunity for teachers to outline the goals and expectations your son will encounter throughout the year.

This week saw the first of our parent Social Evenings and it was wonderful to see so many Prep families represented. These functions are purely social and provide an opportunity for parents and teachers to come together. All parents will have received invitations and any queries should be directed to your Class Representative.

I remind parents that staff are not permitted to administer medication to boys throughout the normal school day. Wherever possible, medications should be administered before and after school, however, should medication be required at other times, parents should make contact with Mr Carson in order to make alternative arrangements.

I am sure everyone has heard of the film, "The Never Ending Story". We have our own "Never Ending Story" happening right in front of the school in Callantina Road, everyday. Whilst I live in hope that parents will all obey the traffic regulations in place, I am astounded by the number of inconsiderate acts I have witnessed over the past weeks.

Signage in front of the school is more than adequate and clearly defines drop off zones; where parking is permitted; and that U Turns are not to be undertaken. I have also previously appealed to parents to refrain from parking in the driveways of our neighbours, from parking in the "No Standing" zones opposite the school; and from leaving cars unattended, let alone whilst double parked!! This week, I was stunned that a car was 'triple' parked with no driver and of course, a considerable backlog of traffic!

My concern is for the welfare of my students - your sons. Please consider your actions carefully in order that driving habits change before I have to report a serious accident.

I also appeal to owners of four wheel drives with tow bars, to refrain from reverse parking into parking spaces. It is an infringement of local laws for tow bars to extend over footpaths. A small child received a nasty leg injury from one such tow bar during the week and this was reported to the Boroondara Council, who have since informed us that their regular surveillance patrols will recommence shortly, with infringement notices being mailed to By-Law offenders.

Our theme for this week has been Tolerance. Whilst the frustrations described above have tested the tolerance of many people in our community, we have encouraged the boys to practise being tolerant by; being open to differences; to respect the opinions of others, even though they may be different from your own; to focus on looking at yourself when things are not right; to overlook people's faults and to ask for God's help to accept the things that cannot be changed.

St Paul tells us,

(Colossians 3:13)

My thought for the week;

Guy B Mason

From the German Department

A "Fussball" Term!

Last term, the Grade Fives learnt about the German "Bundesliga" (Soccer League).

All boys were given a team from the Bundesliga by having a lucky dip. Some kids were very lucky as they got Bayern MŸnchen for their team. Bayern MŸnchen was one of the best teams in the Bundesliga.

We had to research our team, finding the coach, stadium and writing a biography about a famous player in our team.

By finding the information, we logged onto the Internet and went to the Kicker Website

( www.kicker.de ). On the website, we found the latest matches as well as the latest ladder. We also found pictures of our team so we printed them out and stuck them on a fresh piece of paper. We wrote a sentence about the picture and that became a page of our Bundesliga book assignment.

Many boys enjoyed this unit in German and we were looking forward to this year when we were to learn about the game itself.

Now in Grade 6!

This term, we have started to learn some rules and skills of the game in German. Each class has been split into half for one lesson per cycle. "A" group working on research in the Resource Centre and "B" group outside on the basketball court.

Most of us are enjoying this fun and interesting unit and I hope we do an even better unit this year in German class.

By Benjamin Wong 6P

Junior Primary Social skills Programme

As part of our on-going Junior Primary Social Skills Programme, recent Prep to Year Two Assemblies have been the forum for discussions re 'Rules, Rights and Responsibilities'. Questions posed to the boys have included: What is a rule?; Why do we have rules?; Where do we have rules?; and, What are the rules we have in these situations?. The boys have concluded that rules exist to ensure that everyone is safe and treated fairly - these are 'rights' to which everyone is entitled, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, background or ability. Other rights which we have discovered include the right to be loved, to learn, to have shelter, to have adequate food, to free speech, etc. We have learned that the right to have these things brings with it responsibilities: the responsibility of seeing that others' rights are not diminished by our own behaviour; and the need to accept responsibility for, and the consequences of, our behaviour.

In an effort to reinforce these concepts, the staff have introduced two books: the first is a record of unacceptable behaviour (ie behaviour which prevents others enjoying their right to be safe, to be treated fairly, to learn, etc); the second is a record of 'Gold Star Behaviour' (acceptable behaviour which promotes the rights of others). The consequence of unacceptable behaviour (rudeness, acts of aggression, teasing, etc) is having one's name written in the 'Time Out' book. Boys whose names appear in this book lose the privilege of playing with friends for some of lunchtime. Any boy whose name appears in the book three times will have his parents contacted and a meeting will be set up with the relevant staff to discuss the matter. A boy who is 'caught' showing 'Gold Star Behaviour' (acts of kindness, helpfulness, generosity, etc) will be rewarded with a gold star and have his name entered in the 'Gold Star Behaviour' book. Boys whose names appear in this book will receive recognition for their commendable behaviour, at a Prep to Year Three Assembly. It is expected that by positively reinforcing acceptable behaviour, whilst negatively reinforcing unacceptable behaviour, boys will come to the conclusion that it is better to do the right thing.

During the course of the discussions, the boys were actively involved in devising a set of rules of acceptable behaviour for the Junior Primary School (a similar process to that which has been conducted in each classroom). As well as the ten basic rules, the reasons behind them and the consequences of breaking them were also discussed. In addition to this process, the boys revisited the Bible story of Moses and the Ten Commandments. The Commandments were presented as 'God's Good Rules' and a comparison was made between God's rules and the rules (laws) in existence today. The boys were encouraged to reflect on the Commandments and to incorporate them into their daily lives.

A summary of our discussions and a list of the boys' 'Junior Primary Rules' are currently in the Hall and parents are welcome to come and discuss them with their boys. The rules are also included below. You will note that the rules are framed positively (ie, they are stated in terms of what we do/can do, rather than as a list of 'don'ts').

In the Junior Primary School, we

1. speak nicely to each other
2. play together nicely
3. are helpful, caring and friendly to others
4. keep our hands and feet to ourselves
5. play in the proper area of the playground
6. share the equipment and the playground
7. use the playground and the equipment properly
8. throw balls, not, sand, sticks, stones or tanbark
9. walk quietly past the Prep rooms, using the path outside the verandah
10. leave our toys at home

Chris Robertson
Director of Junior Primary

From the Educational Support Team - The Access Unit

The Access Team, Mr Rodney Carson, Mrs Chris Robertson, Mr Brian Sampson, Mr Dean Gregory, Ms Michelle Harris and Ms Marcia Bacon have, once again, had an exciting and busy start to the New Year. With most of the assessment tasks now completed, and the initial planning of many of the new support activities well on the way, the Access Unit is ready to launch into the year's program.

Our constant aim is to find the most appropriate manner in which to meet the range of social, emotional and academic needs across the Junior School. The class teachers, with whom we work closely, play a vital role the education of your child whilst at school. One of the key strategies we are implementing more this year is for the Educational Support Teachers to team-teach with the classroom teacher. In this way, we anticipate meeting the needs of a far greater range and number of students whilst also supporting the classroom teacher.

Many boys will also attend a variety of small group consolidation and extension activities. The Visiting Teachers Support Program also supports the specific needs of individual students, their teachers and their families.

At the closure of 1999, the Year four and five boys in the Global Project participated in an exciting video conference link up with their 'email friends' attending River Oaks, Canada. This year the boys will continue to research and consider solutions as they discuss many global issues via the Internet. Other projects utilising I.T. will also be implemented.

The success of the Year Five and Year SixMaths Program in 1999 has ensured its continuation in the Year 2000. We are delighted to have Dean Gregory, the Junior School Maths Coordinator, joining this program this year.

We look forward to fulfilling our aims of meeting the needs of individual students and supporting classroom teachers and parents in this new year.

Ms Marcia Bacon
Director Educational Support
and the Educational Team

From the Music School

Scotch Families... Thank you for your kind responses.

Grug, who began life as the top of a grassy Burrawong tree, walked through forest and snow in search of a place to live. He finally emerged in leafy Hawthorn and from his warm, cosy 'Home, Sweet Home', crossed carefully at the lights and found his way up the brick stairs to Upper Shergold. He is a loved friend of William Brack (2C), David Sheldon (3T) and Andrew Jakubowicz (1M) and now through the generosity of these boys and their families, he has happily decided to stay with us too!

I will keep you up-to-date on Grug's Scotch Adventures, or better still, if Ted Prior reads this, could he please continue the series for us?

With appreciation
Julia Piggin

From the Physical Education Department

Junior School Tennis APS Championships

On Wednesday, 16 February, the Scotch Junior School 6A1 and 6A2 tennis teams completed in the APS Junior Schools Tennis Tournament.

The 6A1 team of Andrew Hardeman (Captain), Jamie Robertson, Adrian Ding, Alistair Gurney, Warren Lee and David Taylor won all four of its matches. The team's four wins won it the APS Junior School Doubles Tennis Championship and all members of the team are sincerely congratulated, not only for their excellent level of play and the result, but also for their fine sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct whilst at the tournament.

The 6A2 had good results also, winning two of its four matches.

Further congratulations are extended to Andrew Hardeman, who earlier last week, won the APS Singles Tournament and games selection as the APS representative in the Victorian Junior Schools Trials to be held at Bendigo, later in March.

A fine effort Andrew and congratulations to all team members who were representatives of Scotch College Junior School.

Dean Gregory

Entrance Scholarships 2001

A reminder for parents about the Scholarship Testing Programs as per letter sent out to parents.

Examinations will be held at the College on Saturday, 18 March 2000 at 8.45am.

A completed entry form and entry fee of $25.00 for each candidate must reach the Director of Admissions no later than 10 March 2000.

Forthcoming dates: