TAS Talks Term 1 Week 6

TAS Regional Tour

The TAS Regional Tour continues this week as the team head to Inverell today for our annual visit to centres around the NSW North West to meet with prospective students for 2021 and to meet socially with our current families and former students. This chance to meet away from the School and school events is special.

Douglas Shield

As the cricket season begins to wind up, our First XI continue their Douglas Shield campaign. They will play the semi-final game against St Philip’s Christian College in Cessnock on Friday. Reaching this level of the competition is a fine achievement and I wish our players well for their upcoming game.

Middle School Boarders Leave Weekend

As Mark Harrison writes in his Middle School report, with such a long term of 11 weeks, our Middle School boarders will have the opportunity to join their parents for a few days for a closed leave weekend, which includes Friday and Monday. While this initiative is new to TAS this year it is quite commonplace in other boarding schools and gives our youngest boarders the chance to have some time re-connecting with their families halfway through our longest term. I encourage our Middle School boarders and their parents to make the most of their time together and reflect on the term so far. For our day students there will be a modified classroom program and the expectations of normal attendance at school and at co-curricular commitments.

Year 7 Lunches

The first of our Year 7 lunches with the Head of School and Mrs Jones took place yesterday. I was greatly heartened by the willingness of these young people to speak openly with maturity and a real joy about their life at TAS. I was able to ascertain what has surprised them most about life at TAS, what some of their hopes for the future are and their ability to consume a large amount of food in a short period of time was very impressive. If yesterday’s lunch was an indication of what is in store when I meet with the rest of year 7 it is looking like an enormously rewarding time for both myself and Mrs Jones.

These interactions with students are the heart and soul of what TAS represents and we are in a very good place indeed.

Alan Jones

TAS Rugby Carnival - We need your help!

The TAS Rugby Carnival is coming up in the middle of the April holidays on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April. This is the biggest event of the year for TAS and the P&F and showcases TAS far and wide – we have well over 1000 kids, coaches and managers to feed each day – plus their families … phew!!!

If you can help or bake or both for this event it would be much appreciated. The Rugby Carnival is in the middle of the holidays so if you are going to be round we would love if you can help.

Helpers and Community Service volunteers can sign up using the following link https://signup.com/go/MhpvKJc

More information will be sent out through TAS Talks, emails and Facebook in the next few weeks.

There is no planning meeting tonight.

Our next planning meeting for the Rugby Carnival will be on next Wednesday 11 March at 5.30pm (please note the time change) in the Archdall Room.  If you think you can manage BBQs, help organise food and drink or generally would like to be involved in organising this event please come along or send us an email at [email protected]

KEY DATES FOR 2020

• Wednesday 25 March – Junior School Athletics Carnival – P&F Cake Stall
• Friday 27 March – Middle & Senior School Athletics Carnival – P&F Cake Stall
• Saturday 20 November – TAS@Dusk
• Friday 19 – Sunday 21 November – Art Show (TBC)

Other events will be advertised throughout the year via email, TAS Talks and on Facebook.

P&F Meetings

We have two main meetings a term – usually these are held in the Lower Maxwell Room at 7pm on a Wednesday night.  These meetings are open to all and we would love to see you there.

• Term 1 – 18 March
• Term 2 – 6 May (AGM) and 17 June (Funding meeting)
• Term 3 – 29 July and 9 September
• Term 4 – 21 October and 18 November

Mrs Rachael Nicoll
P&F President

Year 6 and 7 Parent Teacher Interviews

Years 6 and 7 Parent Teacher Interviews will be held Thursday 19 March (3.30pm – 6pm) and Friday 20 March (2pm – 5.30pm).  Interviews with teachers will be held in Memorial Hall. Parents will receive an email in by the end of the week containing a personal code and information on how to book times with your child’s teachers. If you do not receive the email please check your second email if you have one – otherwise contact Mrs Vickey O’Brien – [email protected] or phone 6776 5800.

Extended Day Program – The Hub

The School’s Extended Day Program continues to operate in The Hub (Library)  for those students who wish to use The Hub at the start and/or end of the school day to complete homework, assessments or extra study and revision. The Hub is supervised at all times during the extended opening hours.

*No cost to students.

Specific Tutoring

Boarders attending these sessions must sign out of the house in the normal manner and return by the required time. There is no additional cost for boarders as out of hours’ support is already part of the Schedule of Fees for 2020.

Mr Luke Polson
Director of Studies

The Armidale School Cadets: Bivouac 1 (12-13 March)

Bivouac 1 conducted by The Armidale School will be held on 12-13 March, Thursday-Friday of Week 7.
Cadets have received a full briefing on their activities and required equipment on Tuesday 3 March.

All cadets will camp overnight on the night of Thursday 12 Match in the vicinity of Mt Duval (B & C Company) or Copmanhurst (A Company).
A Company are required to assemble at TAS at 7.30am on 12 March for parade prior to departure.

All other cadets will assemble at TAS Adamsfield for parade on Thursday 12 March at 8.40am.

Activities will cease and cadets released on completion of the parade at 5.00pm on Friday 13 March.

The activities will be conducted as follows:

A Company

Kayak touring, mountain biking and trekking near Copmanhurst and on the Grafton River.

B Company

Night Harbour, fieldcraft, trekking, navigation and kayaking near Mt Duval and surrounding properties.

C Company

Night Harbour, fieldcraft, trekking, navigation and canoeing near Mt Duval and surrounding properties.

Cadets should note the below packing list as a minimum for overnight bivouac. There may be additional equipment required by platoon leaders for cadets. These will have been discussed at activities briefing held on Tuesday 3 March.

• Back Pack & Webbing(issued)
• Compass*
• Hootchie (issued)
• Spray jacket* / raincoat*
• 5m hutchie cord/rope*
• Kidney Cup* (issued)
• Pegs x 4* (issued)
• Ground sheet (issued)
• KFS set*
• Water bottles x 2 (issued)
• Sleeping bag & mat*
• Towel (small)
• Olive Green thermal or cotton undershirt*
• Jumper (issued)
• Notepad (in plastic bag)*
• Torch + spare batteries*
• Water gear (swimmers, shirt, shorts & shoes)
• Plastic bag for wet gear
• Bush Hat* (issued)
• Sun screen & insect repellent (tube or roll-on only)
• Change of underwear & socks
• Toilet bag  (toothbrush + paste, baby powder)

*Available for purchase from TAS Clothing Shop

All participating students will be issued with all required equipment by the TAS Q-Store. If this equipment is lost or damaged, it must be replaced at students’ own cost. Many items in the list above can be purchased from the TAS Clothing Shop and have been selected specifically for their suitability for TAS Activities use and reasonable cost. Clothing that has been outgrown can be replaced at no charge at Q-Store by arrangement with the School Quartermaster.

If cadets have questions about their activities, they should in the first instance approach their platoon leader for more information.

MAJ (AAC) Angus Murray

TASRC

On 18-19 April (middle weekend of school holidays), 52 visiting primary rugby teams will descend on TAS for the annual TAS Rugby Carnival. All members of the TAS community are encouraged to get involved in what is an amazing team effort. I guarantee that you will walk away feeling uplifted. If you are willing and able to help could you please sign up using the following link:

 https://signup.com/go/MhpvKJc

MS/SS Athletics Championships 2020

The Athletics Championships is a mass participation event and all students are expected to attend. Preliminary Events will be held in PE classes in Weeks 7 – 9 for Years 6-10 then after school and lunch times during Weeks 8 and 9 for all ages. The Main Event will be on Friday 27 March, commencing at 8:45am on Wakefield. A full program of events will be published next week.

Mr Will Caldwell
Director of Co-curricular

NSW All Schools Triathlon

A dynamic squad of 10 Triathletes took on the NSW All Schools Triathlon Championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre on Wednesday 26 February. This event is a selection trial for Nationals later in March.

The Seniors are always off first, covering a distance of 750m swim/20km ride/5km run. Clancy Roberts (Captain of Triathlon) and Sam Jones were in the main pack out of the water, with Toby Hall not too far behind, all desperately trying to chase down the leaders. They held solid throughout the ride, with Clancy taking a few scalps before commencing the 5km run leg.  This is where Sam and Toby showed their real talents, slicing through the field, moving up the leader board. For Clancy, it’s where his training paid off, maintaining  a steady pace on the run to achieve his best ever finish at All Schools. It was also wonderful to see Sam finish, and in doing so, becoming the first TAS Triathlete to compete at NSW All Schools for six consecutive years.

In the Intermediate division, athletes traversed a course of 500m swim/15km ride/4km run. In the males Oliver Griffiths, off the back of a terrific swimming carnival, hammered the swim leg and then charged out onto the bike. Even though his age group is amongst the most competitive, Oliver drove hard all the way, capping off his race with an impressive run. For Issy Gooch, the swim resembled a boxing ring, as she was pummelled throughout. Once onto the bike (and a flash one at that!), Issy started to find her groove, moving through the field and displaying the confidence that only comes from numerous long rides over the Christmas break. The run was an adventure, with Issy keeping her composure and pace together to record a solid finish.

The Juniors contest a 400m swim/10km ride/3km run Sprint Event, and a sprint it is! Harry Pennington exited the water with a pleasing swim and quickly mounted his bike. A good ride saw him off the bike with the main group and he then held his own during the run leg. Eryn Benham, Charlotte Tydd and Isabella Crawford were the’Terrific Trio’ of Junior Ladies. All within a couple of minutes of each other out of the water, once onto the bike, it was on! The girls were with the main group during the two-2 lap ride and then showed their true determination with all three blazing the run.

A massive thanks to Ms Gail Rogers, Mr Jeremy Jones, Mrs Renaye and Mr Andrew Benham for their help and support.

Mr James Pennington

Cricket

As the cricket season is nearing an end, it is important to note that our First XI players are through to the Douglas Shield semi-finals. This game is being played on Friday 6 March, against St Philip’s Christian College, Cessnock. The game will be live-streamed, and a link will be available via the TAS Facebook page for those who may be interested.

Mrs Rachel Piddington

Kayaking

On Monday night at Kayaking we had a guest coach come and join us in the pool. Andre Hemmerle has a long career in kayaking and was kind enough to come and coach our kayakers!

Andre started Kayaking at 8 years old on the Barrington River where he competed at All Schools Championships, National Championships and went on to represent Australia in Slalom kayaking in the junior division. From here he competed in the Austral Asian Cup at the age of 15. Andre has kayaked Kaituna Falls, and finally got into freestyle kayaking where he competed in Spain in the World Freestyle Championships. Andre has represented Australia in Sydney for World Championships where he placed 7th in his senior division.  Andre now travels the world coaching white water rafting in Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Chillie, Ecuador, Columbia, Norway and Nepal.

Andre was working in Armidale this week and decided to come and see how the TAS group are progressing with their kayaking skills. He ran a session that consisted of polo ball drills, paddling techniques and rolling practice with our students, sharing his years of experience and knowledge.

The session ended with a friendly game of canoe polo, which our students thoroughly enjoyed! Thank you Andre for taking the time to come and coach our students!

Miss Emma Channon

Creative Arts

There are just two weeks and two days until our opening night for The Wizard of Oz on Friday 20 March and boy are we working hard. This is our most intense week of rehearsals with the band also getting together to cover the songs and work alongside the cast. The set has truly sprung up out of the ground and this weekend most of the remaining costume pieces shall arrive as well. But to ensure we get there we have scheduled one more Working Bee for Saturday 10am – 2pm. As the cast are probably going to get a bit weary it would be great to have as many friends of the production pop along to help us and so if you could don some working clothes and be at Hoskins on the weekend it would be greatly appreciated. And of course, don’t miss out on your tickets to the show: https://www.trybooking.com/BIBTW

We’ve auditioned for Middles School’s play, James/Jane and the Giant Peach, and the cast announcement planned for this Friday. Once more the audition team was blown away by the enthusiasm and talent on show from our TAS actors and Mr Wheatley and I have had the truly wonderful (and challenging) job of choosing the cast. We’ll start the rehearsals gradually as many actors are still involved with The Wizard of Oz and once that production winds to an end we’ll jump on this one full-steam.

 

Mr Andrew O’Connell
Creative Arts Coordinator

Exciting things in the classroom

Students inquire into many things across the different subjects that they do. Here is a brief overview of their inquiries that students are doing this term:

Year 6

Year 7

Year 8

Mrs Rachel Piddington
MYP Coordinator

Lake Keepit and Excursions in Armidale

It is very pleasing to be able to report back after last week’s plethora of excursion both in Armidale and at Lake Keepit.

Our younger students were challenged and entertained at School, the town pool and at UNE undertaking a good range of physical activities that required an adventurous and often collaborative attitude. I know they loved the activities and it is clear that they had a great time. I thank all the staff for their time and organisation ensuring that it was a success for all.

For those who managed so well last week at Lake Keepit, I congratulate you. It is not easy to negotiate the many challenges there. For those of us who have experienced its complexities before, it was impressive to see the development of most students and it is a credit to them. Even the smallest hurdle can become a huge obstacle when in an unfamiliar setting; the food, the sleeping in dorms, relating to other adults, overcoming physical (and social) demands…. all of this creates a whirlwind of opportunity for learning. I am sure you have heard many stories and, on the whole they will have provided a rich tapestry of opportunity for learning. I look forward to talking to you all about your child’s time during the week and we will be posting photos on the School website in the next few days.

Congratulations to our Swimmers

I have always admired the strength of character displayed by swimmers. Swimming is one of those sports that requires a good deal of inner motivation and determination and I am really pleased to read that our swimmers are doing so well. We all wish them well as they continue to represent TAS laster this week at NCIS at Alstonville and beyond.

Parent/Teacher Interviews –Tuesday 10 & Wednesday 11 March

The Junior School Parent Teacher interviews for Kindergarten to Year 5 are now locked in and booking out fast. The information required for booking your interviews has been emailed to all K-5 families, so please follow the instructions to make your booking/s as soon as possible. If you have any difficulties, please contact either your classroom teacher or JS Reception.

Athletics Championships – Wednesday 25 March

I hope you have seen the date for our Athletics Carnival from various sources, including the request from the P & F for support for the canteen. We will run some of the field events on Thursday 12 March but the majority of events will take place on Wednesday 25 March. This is one of the big days in our calendar and it is great to have as many parents there as possible, especially those who know the right end of a stopwatch!  We hope to see you there.

Supervision in Junior School

A quick reminder please, that the daily supervision in Junior School begins at 8.15 am. If children are arriving earlier for clubs or other teacher-supervised activities, they must remain there with the teacher at all times. The school buildings are out of bounds while supervision is not provided and, once at school, we ask all students to move to the supervised playground areas (when weather permits) from 8.15 am onwards.

And after school, we have had a growing number of unsupervised students as well. It is important that this does not happen while they wait for other activities (sport, late collection etc.) and we will request that the After School Care service is used to minimise the risks. There have been occasions when unsupervised children at school have found themselves in difficulties and we do what we can to minimise these risks. You will have noticed increased fencing in Junior School as we continue to work to improve this area for all our students while they are in our care. Please let us know if this causes any difficulties and we will work together to promote the safety of all our children.

Mr Ian Lloyd
Head of Junior School

Junior School Upcoming Events

Year 2

Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are

Central idea: Connections people have with places

Year 2 have inquired into their personal connection to places and Indigenous Australian connections to places. They have used their research skills to map family connections to places in Australia and certain tribes in Australia. They are currently exploring the First Fleet and linking that to the geography topic of continents and Australia. They have focussed on mapping skills and location of places.

Throughout the tuning in phase of the unit many ‘Wonder Questions’ have been asked, which Mr Scott has been addressing. Questions have included: How was Uluru formed? How did the Indigenous Australians first get to Australia? Why was Australia called New Holland?  Why did the first explorers not find anything in Western Australia?  Why are only certain animals found in Australia and not in other countries?

Throughout the inquiry, the class has been using their research skills to find out information on each state and territory. This has included flags, capital city, natural landmarks, man-made landmarks, animals, population etc. As part of homework, the children needed to research a man-made and natural landmark and explain connections that people may have to these places.

The class have explored a variety of Indigenous Dreamtime stories. The children have particularly enjoyed the author Greg Driesse.  From this they have created a dot painting of lizards/ goannas using colours of the land for the paint.

Mrs Veronica Waters
IB PYP Coordinator / 

Mrs Grania Fawcett
Year 2 Teacher