TAS Talks Term 3 Week 7

Last weekend was a wonderful opportunity for me to get out and about and enjoy some spring weather and attend a number of sports to witness the engagement and enthusiasm of all our students who participate. It underlines to me how important team sports are to the majority of our students and that training for competition during the week and then being able to play their chosen sport on the weekend is, and will always be, an integral part of The Armidale School education. It has never been our policy to wrap our students in cottonwool and the experience gained on the rugby field, the netball court, the hockey field and the football field relates more to having a ‘go’ than any expectation you have to be the best player. Of course the skill development that takes place in the junior years into the senior years should enhance the overall experience and I have been really pleased to have been able to watch all of our senior students representing their school this winter season demonstrating real passion and commitment as well as pride wearing the blue and white.

I now move on to some staffing matters – it is with the utmost regret that I announce the fact that Mr Will Caldwell and his wife Anna, (Head of Senior School at PLC), have decided to relocate to Sydney. All of you who know Will know that his service to the school has been exemplary, selfless and dedicated. I will obviously say much more about him we farewell him at the end of the year.

Our senior nurse Ms Jenny Murray has also resigned after 15 years of tireless commitment to her role in the medical centre and I take this opportunity to thank her in this forum for all that she has done for the school in her time here.

HSIE teacher, Miss Hannah Lo will be taking a sabbatical from The Armidale School to study an MBA at Oxford University from mid-September this year. This is incredible opportunity for Hannah and we congratulate her on being selected, from what I understand was a very thorough process, and she has indicated her desire to return to her teaching at TAS in 2022.

We welcomed Year 12 back to the classroom on Monday after 2 weeks of Trial HSC exams which, when they get their results, will hopefully point them in the direction they need to take to be able to make the most of the time remaining for revision and planning for their study. It is most important that they endeavour to make the most of the availability of staff and to utilise their time in the most practical way they can. This is no easy task given the distractions that always surround the final few weeks of their last term at the school. Hopefully the planned lunches with the Head of School will not be one of those major distractions and I am really looking forward to hearing about their plans for the future in a world that is very different to the one we all anticipated.

Alan Jones

Christmas Puddings

The famous TAS P&F Christmas Puddings are still going to being made this year – At this stage Covid-19 won’t be stopping TAS families from enjoying a lovely Christmas Pudding on Christmas Day.

The pudding bake is coming up at the start of Term 4 and prior to that we need heaps and heaps of brandy to soak the fruit in – this is what gives the puddings that spectacular taste!!  We have had an amazing number of bottles donated so far, but we these are exceptional puddings and we still need more.  If you can donate a bottle of brandy please either drop it in at Main Reception or contact Pudding Co-ordinator Camilla Dubois on [email protected]

The date for the pudding bake has been booked – if you’re free and would like to help on Saturday 17 or Sunday 18 October 2020 let us know.  Places are limited and Covid-19 restrictions will apply but we would love to see you there however you will need to register with the P&F beforehand.

We will be selling Christmas Puddings online this year (more to come in the following weeks).  However, if you want to get in first so that you won’t miss out, you can put your name on the waiting list now by sending an email to [email protected]

Contacting the P&F

If you want to know what’s going on in the P&F join us on Facebook!  We regularly post updates on what we are doing, what events are coming up and any other useful information that comes to mind.  We have our own Facebook page – use the keywords TAS Parents and Friends and then ‘like’ us.

Don’t forget each year also has their own Year Group Facebook Page… These are closed groups for parents to catch up on what’s happening… Please search for TAS Year 12 and then the year your class will graduate from Year 12. For example, this year’s Year 12 Facebook page is TAS Year 12 2020.

Finally, if you have anything you would like to raise with the P&F please either contact your Year Group Liaison Person or any member of the Executive or send us an email on [email protected]

P&F Meeting – Wednesday 9 September 7pm on Zoom

We have a P&F meeting on Wednesday 9 September and would love for you to come. Normally we would have this in the Lower Maxwell Room but we are hosting a ZOOM ONLY meeting next week instead. The meeting will start at 7pm and if you would like to Zoom with us please see the link below or contact us on [email protected] if you have trouble joining the meeting.

Items on the Agenda include Christmas Puddings and continuing to brainstorm some small friend and/or fundraisers for the rest of the year that will enable groups to get together within the constraint of Covid-19. Obviously, it’s BYO wine but we would love to chat with you.  Hope to digitally see you then!

Mrs Rachael Nicoll
P&F President

As I’ve previously indicated, these new look TAS Talks are more user-friendly and inclusive than their predecessors: of interest to you (and to all of our students) will be the Student Inclusions that appear below my brief comments.

Terms rarely slow down at TAS; rather, they characteristically tend to quicken. All students are busy, many continue to do assessments, and some, like our Year 8 cohort, are gainfully employed readying themselves for the Passing Out Parade in a fortnight. Overall, everyone is busy, and this is preferable to its opposite state. However, I’ve received some concerned comments about management of time. Regardless of the concern, we can address issues that we are made aware of – but we need to be aware of them so that students can avoid these issues from escalating into problems. Concerns can be pastoral, sporting or academic, so keep an eye out and let us know if you’re detecting possible ‘fraying of edges’ as the term moves closer to the holiday break.

I had one of my regular meetings with Mrs Wark earlier this week – we discussed general student matters. In particular, we are pushing the uniform issues again. While I think Middle School students are managing life pretty well in this regard, we did agree that we all need to focus on shoes. Shoes look better when polished. I expect day students have polish at home and I know that we have polish and brushes at school. Together we need to address uniform standards. I mentioned this matter at our most recent Assembly; we also mentioned the fact that chewing gum at school is ‘not on’. There, it’s done – it’s out.

I think this an appropriate time to mention positives, too. Again, Senior School staff have commented favourably on our Year 8s and their marching practices for the parade in two weeks. As well, our debaters have been very busy preparing to to acquit themselves well in the upcoming virtual debating competition.

We need to balance positives with negatives – always. Our people are young, they’re growing, the world they’re living in is fraught with challenges that ours never even conceived. For example, only last year the COVID news and consequent global spread was not on anybody’s radar – despite its effects impacting so much of our normal discourse. In a nutshell, we need to work together more now than ever. You’ve received advice from governments, letters from our school and recommendations from different states about restrictions. The bottom line here is that everything is different for us. If we, having the experience to cope with change, ever struggle a bit with it, then kids must have more of a struggle. However, obviously lacking our experience, their struggles can manifest themselves in ‘weird and wonderful’ ways – and I guess this is one of the reasons why we should be aware of their management of their worlds. I have meetings with individuals and small groups every day and I’ll continue to do this because I need to do it. I’m starting to have more one-on-one communication with families, too. As I’ve implied, this is a good thing because ‘together’ is the only way to go.

Now I’ll leave you to read the student contribution below.

Mr Mark Harrison
Head of Middle School

Football

U10s

Last weekend we played soccer at Harris Park. It was a warm, sunny morning which was a very nice change to the weekend before. It was so great because we won our first game of the season. Lucas, Cam, Josh, and Casper managed to score our four goals and they were all greatly supported by the rest of the team.

I think we played the best we have played all year. We passed well and went up the sidelines. We also crossed the ball from the sidelines back into our players so they could take a shot. Overall, I think we had a really great game. It was so much fun and we really want to thank Mr Newton and Mr White for their support. Mrs Hardin thinks Cam might have a future sponsorship with NIKE after this mid-air header.

 By Xavier Stephen (Year 4)

U11s

It was a tough game on Friday. We were two players down with our key players Sam Ford and Levi Watts away. Our two goalies, Cormac Downes and Saxon Muirhead defended the goal well but the opponent team was too good.

Harry Brownlie, Joe Fenwicke and Hugo Broun were exceptionally good strikers, weaving in and out of the City Blues players, the team that we were playing that day.

I think that I played defence really well, sometimes with Hugo Broun, but I need to improve on short/long corners and slowing the ball down. Though we tried our hardest, the City Blues won 3-2.

By Ryne Wilkinson (Yr 5)

Netball

Saturday was a perfect day for netball! Eva and Neave represented TAS fantastically in their Cherry Bombs team. The improvement the two girls have shown this season is astounding. Well done Eva on scoring a goal!

The TAS Go team were up against fierce competition but did not lose energy and commitment in the face of tough opponents. We spent this week at training practising creating space away from our defenders and then swiftly making use of it when it is our turn to catch the ball. Every game gives us something to celebrate and something for us to work on to improve our skills and the TAS Go girls have proven themselves to be committed players at training and on the weekends no matter what the scorecard says!

Mrs Anna O’Connor

Summer Sports Term 4, 2020

Please read the information here about Summer Sports for Term 4.