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Book week
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1 September 2000 No. 27
From the Head of Junior SchoolThey say the years go more quickly as you get older - with this in mind I have decided that I am in real trouble as we stare at the end of third term next week! I extend apologies to Year Four teacher, Mr Matthew Dickinson, as I omitted his name from my 'Thank You' list of staff for our Olympic Day celebrations. Mr Dickinson designed and created the stunning cauldron that 'burned' throughout our day and arranged for the release of the pigeons. Over the past couple of weeks, all boys have enjoyed their final Chapel services for the term. For boys in P-2, the theme of 'Caring for Others' was shared, and the boys of Campbell House led the Years 3-6 Service around the theme of 'Higher, Stronger, Faster', following up our Olympic Theme. Many boys were involved in the preparation and delivery of the services and I extend warm congratulations to all involved. Our upper primary boys have enjoyed great success over the past week. Firstly, our skiers brought home the Championship trophy for the leading Boys' Primary School at the Mount Buller competition last week. This is an exciting trophy to win, as it involves a team effort. Whilst boys compete at an individual level, their times are combined and as a result of every boy doing his best, regardless of his individual placing, the combined efforts resulted in this wonderful achievement! I congratulate every boy on his behaviour whilst competing and extend a huge thank you to Ms Pride and Miss Carney for their dedication and commitment throughout the lead up activities and actual events. Last weekend, School Captain Christopher Robson competed in the State finals for the German Teachers of Victoria Poetry Competition. Christopher was successful in the Year Six division, winning the event for the second year running. Christopher presented his winning poem during Assembly and we are extremely proud of this wonderful achievement. Book Week has been a major focus over the last week or so and many boys have made presentations in Assemblies. Book reports, reviews and dramatic presentations have concluded what has been a wonderful week of activity. Thanks are extended to Ms Hindson and Mrs Taylor in the Library for their enthusiasm. The Choir performed beautifully at the Foundation Day Concert on Tuesday evening. I am always impressed with the way in which our boys handle this daunting task at the Melbourne Concert Hall and I congratulate Miss Allen and Mrs Piggin for their hard work with the preparation of the boys. During the morning of Foundation Day, boys from Years 3-9 enjoyed a major Assembly in the Memorial Hall. These are always special Assemblies and we were fortunate to have met the Reverend James Forbes (Founder of Scotch, but possibly an imposter!) in an informative interview with the Executive Director of OSCA, Mr Leigh McGregor. The Chaplain then spoke about how everything at Scotch is formed with the Bible as our foundation and, with Father's Day approaching, I share the words from Verse 13 of Psalm 103, that were read during the Assembly... "As kind as a father is to his children, so kind is the Lord to those who honour him." Yesterday saw the turning of the first 'sod' for the James Forbes Academy. This project will commence in the vacation and is set to be the most exciting project that the school has undertaken. Junior School Music Captain, Tom Naughton, took part in this important ceremony, turning the first sod. He was a fine representative of our Junior School. Best wishes are extended to our 'Occasional Choir' who will be performing at the Ewing Memorial Uniting Church next Thursday. This has become an annual event for our boys and forms an important service role by Junior School boys for the wider community. This performance is a result of an on-going invitation from a previous Headmaster of the Junior School, Mr Garth Tapp. Many thanks are once again extended to our incredibly supportive JSPA for their organisation of three wonderful breakfasts for our dads! Each breakfast was sold out and over one hundred and fifty fathers and sons enjoyed a scrumptious start to each morning. The Junior School community extends a very warm 'Happy Fathers' Day' to all dads. This will be our final Newsletter for the term and as the end of the year rapidly approaches (someone mentioned yesterday that they have wrapped their first Christmas presents!!), I leave you with the following thought.... The world is moving so fast,that the person who says something cannot be done, is usually interrupted by someone doing it! I trust all families enjoy a very happy, but more importantly, a safe vacation. Guy B MasonJSPAThe Committee was delighted to welcome so many dads and sons to the Fathers' Day Breakfasts this week, over 150 on each of the three mornings. I know how excited the boys are to have Dad with them, and I hope the fathers feel more a part of the school community. Thank you to Julie Ackroyd who donated the ties for our raffle winners and thank you to Susan Ferres who organised for all boys to have a piece of art work for their dads. Next term we will be asking for help with Sports Day. We need volunteers to help out on the various stalls, and we will be asking you all to provide a cake for our cake stall. A 'Cake Kit' will be sent home in the school bags a week before. This is a fun day and a great opportunity to meet other parents. Mrs Susan Hughes - President, JSPA Swap ShopThe last Swap Shop for Term Three will be Tuesday 5 September from 2.30-3.45pm. Summer is not far away, so if any of you have any summer clothes you wish to sell/donate, please leave them clean and labelled at the Junior School Office. Mrs Helen Worth - Swap Shop Convenor Scotch Boys Defend Skiing TitleA group of 34 Scotch boys brought home the Victorian Interschool's Skiing Championship Boys Primary Division Trophy last week for the second year in succession. The event is held each year at Mt Buller and this year saw 4,400 competitors compete in the various divisions and events over the course of the week. The Interschools is the largest ski event in the Southern Hemisphere and, since its rapid growth over the last few years, has gained world recognition. This year we had teams competing in Cross Country Skiing, Alpine events, Moguls and Snowboarding. The Division 4 teams (Years 5 and 6) were faced with a particularly long and challenging course in the Alpine event, with many boys achieving outstanding results. Our 'A' team, consisting of Sam Henderson (5th), Andrew Earle (19th), Peter Earle (25th) and Angus Brougham (38th),,, came 5th in the overall team event, which earns them an invitation to ski at the Australian Championships to be held at Mt Hotham on 9 and 10 September. Oliver Hay, competing in Division 5 (Years 3 and 4) put in an outstanding performance to take out the individual silver medal and also gain an invitation to the Australian Championships. Oliver's team mates also performed extremely well, particularly a Year Three boy demonstrating exceptional talent in both the Alpine (33rd) and Moguls (18th). Our snowboarders braved the sleet, snow and poor visibility to represent Scotch in the races. Throughout all the events personal bests were achieved by many of our boys and the team spirit was particularly high as they encouraged one another through the gates. The closing ceremony was one of the highlights of the competition with a spectacular fireworks display held on Bourke street, where all the competitors were lined up behind their school banners. Congratulations to our ski team and all the best to the five boys representing Scotch at the Australian titles next week. Ms Jocelyn Pride - Ski Team Coordinator Book Week - AssembliesThis week, students and teachers from Years Three, Four, Five and Six participated in two assemblies, during which they presented their impressions of the short-listed titles in the Younger Readers' section of the awards. Teachers had read these books to their classes during the term. Presentations were exciting and varied, and included story maps, dramatisations, and analysis of the plots, themes and messages in the books. The winning title for this section is 'Hitler's Daughter' by Jackie French, while the Honor books are 'Captain Mack' by James Roy and 'Hazel Green' by Odo Hirsch. Additionally during Book Week, all classes enjoyed a performance or a visit by an author/animator/actor. Year Two visited the Royal Botanic Gardens and viewed the superb original art-work from Jeannie Baker's latest book 'The Hidden Forest'. They returned to school with some beautiful collages of their own creation! It was a varied and enjoyable week for all. Ms Alison Hindson - Coordinator of Resource Centre Book Week - PlasmoDuring Book Week, Anthony Lawrence (an animator) came to talk to us about Plasmo. Plasmo is a red alien creature. He has friends called Coredor, Brucho, Pastie, Nik-Nik and a professor called Professor Sashimi. Anthony Lawrence showed us a quick five minute episode. Then he told us about how he made Coredor. First he had to make the armature. An armature is the 'skeleton' of the puppet. Then he had to make skin using plasticine. He had to squeeze the plasticine together and cook it for two hours. After he put the skin and eye on the armature, he had to go to a costume maker and have a costume made. Then he showed us Professor Sashimi. She was made out of mostly the same materials as Coredor. Then he showed us Plasmo. Plasmo's head was made hollow because it was too heavy. Then he took out Pastie. Pastie is the same creature as Plasmo except she is pink. He also showed us Brucho. Brucho has armour covering his head and body. Anthony Lawrence told us that Brucho has armour covering his head, because one night at a disco a person told Brucho that he was very ugly. Nik-Nik is Pastie's pet dog. Anthony Lawrence said he was the hardest puppet to make because he is very small. Anthony Lawrence then showed us some other characters. Finally, after an hour of his spectacular and interesting talk, it ended. I really enjoyed listening to his talk. by Stephen Kyro - 4W Book Week - Guest Author: Mr Felice ArenaFelice Arena visited Years Five and Six during Book Week, on Friday 25 August. He is the author of four books called: 'Dolphin Boy Blue', 'Mission Buffalo', 'Wish' and the recently published 'Bravo Billy'. He answered questions and also got some of us involved in a play that was based on the first chapter of 'Bravo Billy'. He gave two people the chance to win one of his books if they answered eight questions correctly. He is also an actor who has acted in 'Neighbours' and he was a guest host in the British version of 'Saturday Disney'. He played Jesus in 'Godspell' and has many other acting achievements. He has written a screenplay for his book 'Wish'. The film rights are optioned to a London film producer. Everyone really enjoyed the experience and we learnt all about what you have to do to write a book. We are all planning to read the books. Charlie Morshead - 6P Forthcoming Events
ParentsA reminder to parents that boys should be wearing their full summer uniform on their first day back in Term Four, Monday 2 October.
Happy Holidays
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