150 Merchandise
Junior Primary Chapel Service
From the Educational Support Team - the Access Unit
Highland Gathering
Forthcoming Events

23 February 2001 No. 4

From The Head of the Junior School

150th Celebrations

The much anticipated Torch Relay has come and gone and all that is left are the wonderful memories of a terrific day. I trust that families who attended enjoyed the day as much as the staff and students did.

Every boy of the Junior School was a fine ambassador for his school and this was so clearly reflected in the positive way in which every boy participated in each facet of the day's proceedings.

I was extremely proud of our Junior School boys on the day and I again thank every boy of the Junior School for making our special day the day it was.

I extend hearty congratulations to our torch bearers and ushers, as each played such an important role ensuring the success of the day. The School Captain is also to be congratulated on the fine way in which he presented a salutation to past Headmasters and staff of the Junior School.

With many more celebrations still to come, it was great to see that our 150th year is finally and officially off and running. Fasten your seat belts, as we head into the rest of this exciting year!

On Monday 26th February 2001, Mr Bruce Lithgow (past Chairman of School Council) will be attending a special Assembly in the Junior School, at which he will present a representative from each class with a class set of commemorative ties, in celebration of our first 150 years. For boys in Years Three to Six, this will be their tie for 2001. It is then envisaged that boys and old boys all around the world will wear this tie on every Foundation Day that follows. This very special gift is being made by the 150 Committee and the Old Scotch Collegian's Association.

School Leaders

In an unfortunate oversight, I have not previously advised parents of our school leaders for this year. With my humblest apologies, I extend congratulations and best wishes to the following boys, who have already had such a wonderful start to the school year:

Tuckshop

Over the last twelve months I have been working closely with the Junior School Tuckshop in regard to the types of food available for sale. Concern has been previously been expressed at the number of inappropriate items, such as confectionery, with little, if any, nutritional value. These items, on the whole, have been withdrawn from sale.

Recently, some smaller items have still been for sale in limited quantities, in an effort to help educate boys about the food pyramid and what entails a healthy lifestyle, and to also enable boys with small amounts of money to responsibly purchase items with the consent of their parents, perhaps as a treat or reward. There are very few such items and these are regularly reviewed.

Difficulties and concerns arise when boys have large amounts of money to spend freely at the tuckshop, without parental direction and obviously so often, without consent. This is a very difficult situation for us to monitor, however, our Tuckshop servers will not serve boys with large denominations of money and they also endeavour not to serve the same boy on more than one occasion. However, I am sure parents will appreciate the variety of ways some boys will attempt to abuse this system. I am regularly appalled at the amount of money, often in loose change, that is presented when purchasing items and, as such, I urge parents to take an active interest in what their sons are purchasing from the Tuckshop. I also encourage that, where ever possible, purchases be made via the bag system. (Every item for sale can be purchased in this way.)

I will continue to work closely with the Tuckshop and trust that with the support of parents, sensible purchases across all food groups, and with parental consent we can continue in the current environment. It would be such a shame to see only a lunch ordering service being provided, which I feel may be the only alternative.

This Week

My theme for this week has been "Reliability."

Boys were reminded that being reliable means that you agree to do things that help others; you treat your agreements seriously; you do your best (not necessarily the best); you finish jobs on time and, if obstacles appear, you find new ways to get around them.

The Bible tells us in so many ways that we can rely on God to help us and that all we have to do is ask in faith. The second book of Corinthians tells us...."these things happened so that we should not rely on ourselves, but on God."

My thought for the week....

Life is God's greatest gift to man,
and what we do with our life is our gift to God.

Guy B. Mason

150 Merchandise

Anyone who would like to place orders for 150 Merchandise needs to place their order by today, Friday 23 February.

Junior Primary Chapel Service

Congratulations to all boys in Prep-Year Three on their participation in yesterday's Chapel Service.

Thank you to the many parents and other family members who attended.

Our next Junior Primary Chapel Service is on Thursday 5 April at 2.15 pm. This will be our Easter Service and the last Junior Primary Service for Year Three boys. As always, families and friends are very welcome and encouraged to attend.

Chris Robertson - Director of Junior Primary

From the Educational Support Team - the Access Unit

With most of the assessment throughout the Junior School nearing completion and the initial planning of many of the new support activities well on the way, the Access Unit is about to launch into this year's programme. Your Access Team, Mrs Jane Beams, Mrs Chris Robertson, Mr Rod Carson, Mr Brian Sampson, Ms Belinda Colaneri and Ms Marcia Bacon, have once again had a busy start to a very important and exciting year.

Our constant aim is to find the most appropriate way in which to meet the range of students' learning needs, as well as social and emotional considerations, across Scotch College Junior School. Many boys will be supported through the Access Unit and attend a variety of small group consolidation or extension activities predominantly in language or mathematics. Last year over 300 boys were in some way supported through the Educational Support Services. The coordination of the State and Federal Funding, which enables a Visiting Teacher to support those boys with hearing, language or visual impairment, is another responsibility of the Access Unit.

Following the success last year, the Educational Support teachers again plan to team-teach with classroom teachers. This strategy enables us to meet the needs of an even greater number of students, especially through such programs as the Maths Problem Solving Programme in Year Two, Year Three and Year Four. Many small group consolidation and extension programmes are currently being finalised in the area of language, mathematics and literature to be conducted in the Access Unit. However, the students' needs are also supported through the classroom programme, offering extension, enrichment or consolidation activities by the teacher.

At the closure of 2000, the Year Five boys in the Global Project thoroughly enjoyed the visit of their Global partners from Methodist Girls' School, Singapore. This brought to closure the original Global Project. The concept of the Global Project now encompasses all projects and activities involving students linking across cultures.

The aim of all 'Global Projects' is to promote the boys' understanding of cultural diversity through internet communication. The projects will change from year to year. However, currently under discussion, is the potential for a variety of such cross-cultural projects where boys link with students in Singapore, Canada and Germany. These may be in a variety of curriculum areas, whilst at the same time allowing for extension of IT Skills under the guidance of Andrew Murdoch, who leads our IT department. 'Meet the Press' - a consolidation project, will continue in Year Five as too with 'Writers of the World' another consolidation program in Year Six. At Year 5 an extension group will consider similarities and differences, in the 'Who are We?' project, linking with students at the Kaiserin-Friedrich Gymnasium in Bad Homburg, Germany.

The class teachers, with whom we work very closely, play a vital role in the education of your child whilst at school. The Educational Support Team is here not only to support the boys and the teachers, but also you, the parent. Please don't hesitate to mention to your class teacher, or myself, if you wish to here a group meeting regarding your son.

Ms Marcia Bacon - Director Education Support

Highland Gathering

On Saturday 7 April 2001, Scotch College is hosting the International Schools' Pipes and Drums Band Competition, to be known as a 'Highland Gathering.'

This is to be another exciting and huge event in the 150 Calendar.

The JSPA has been invited to hold a stall on the day and we have agreed to sell Scottish Produce. I have it on good authority that Scottish Food proves to be extremely popular at Highland Gatherings.

In the next few weeks, you will be receiving (via your son's bag) a Highland Gathering package - including cellophane, tartan ribbon (similar to the Family Day Cake Stall Package) and also a leaflet of suggested recipes, of course if you have your own tried and true recipes please, please use them.

In light of this wonderful 150 Year and all the associated functions, the JSPA will not be emphasising fundraising this year, However, this stall will be the perfect opportunity to raise some money, whilst we have fun and provide a delicious service.

We hope you can support both this stall and the day itself and keep watching this space for Working Bee times - these are always loads of fun and a great way for mums and dads to meet and chat.

Please ring me, Gabrielle Goldsmith, if you have any queries on 9822 9995.

Thank you very much,
Gabrielle Goldsmith -Vice President JSPA

Forthcoming Events