TAS Talks Term 2 Week 8

The much-anticipated production and performances of ‘Revolting Rhymes’ took place last week in the Hoskins Centre and entertained with great energy and a lot of fun. With a good number of Middle School students on stage or in support and technical crews, it was a big production and one that excited our Middle School as a whole. Producing a high quality show through hard work and commitment over a solid rehearsal schedule, a willingness to release the creative flair within and the confidence to perform with real energy in front of big audiences is an education in itself and this explains why so much is put into it by our creative arts staff and many others in support at TAS. Putting a school show on stage to give students the experience of performing is a good thing, but really committing to a program that makes sure it is a professional level performance is a character-shaping experience that alters expectations and the understanding of what can be achieved if a team really works together. I believe that was what was on show last week and I commend and congratulate Andrew Wheatley, Michael Cornford and all of the students involved in a most enjoyable production.

The P & F Funding meeting is looming, and this is the meeting that is set aside for making decisions on how P & F funds will be allocated to school projects that will directly enhance the experience of our students. Applications for funds have come in and there has been a preliminary meeting to discuss each of these proposals and I encourage all parents that can make it to the meeting to come and be a part of the decision-making process.

Last night was Band Night at the Eisteddfod and it was so pleasing to see many of our students not only engaged in Ensembles representing TAS but also offering willing support to get on stage to play with students from other schools. It is a huge credit to our Music Department that TAS was represented in nine out of the 21 performances and also a credit to our students and Tom Collett in particular, that there was joy and happiness in all that they were doing.

This week we have been very fortunate to have Kirra Pendergast, the CEO of Safe on Social, speaking to our school community. Kirra has over 30 years of experience in Cyber Security and IT Business Consulting. Over the past two days, she has spent time with our staff, parents and all students from Years 7-12. These sessions have explored online safety and social media awareness, respectful online relationships and what the laws say in this space. These sessions have been very informative for all who have taken part and we look forward to welcoming Kirra back to the school at a later date to continue this work.

These timely presentations to staff parents and our students should act as a reminder that this long weekend would be a good time for parents and their children to engage in conversation, to endeavour to spend time together, enjoy being outside and perhaps put technology aside and focus on each other’s good company. Any conversations can simply be initiated with three simple sentences like ‘Are you ok?’, ‘How was school this week?’, How are things going?

I certainly hope the opportunity arises for some of these conversations to take place because, in all that we do, it is our positive relationships that underpin our wellbeing.

Mr Alan Jones
Head of School

P&F Meeting - Wednesday 16 June

Our next general meeting is just around the corner. All are welcome and it would be great to see you there. Meetings are open to all parents.

Drinks and nibbles are provided for those attending in person, with Zoom operating for those who wish to join remotely (TAS P&F Zoom Meeting; Meeting ID: 215 517 2798; Password: 160621)

Funding Requests

Within next week’s P&F meeting we will discuss and decide funding request allocations. This is an important annual event as we look to allocate past money raised towards projects which benefits student life.

Sydney Boys’ High School visit

The Sydney Boys’ High School visit is in less than two weeks.

The P&F will operate a BBQ and Canteen on Saturday 19 June to feed the players, coaches and onlookers. Bacon and egg  rolls will be available to start the day, followed by hamburgers & steak sandwiches around lunchtime. The coffee van  and canteen will operate all day for drinks and nibbles.

For those who have already registered to volunteer – thank you. For those seeing their calendar with a chunk of free time, please email us at [email protected] and let us know your availability and preferences.

Save the Date

We are excited to announce the two upcoming events – save the date now to participate as they promise to both be highlights of your social calendar.

TAS Golf Day: Friday 27 August 2021 (also the first day of Reunion Weekend)

TAS Family Day: Saturday 20 November 2021

As we continue planning for each of these events, we welcome input and involvement to make them a great success. Stay tuned for more detail over the coming weeks and months.

Contact the TAS P&F

If you have anything you would like to raise with the P&F Executive, please send us an email at [email protected]

Mr Paul Gaddes
President

ICAS Assessments

TAS will be participating in the ICAS Assessments again this year. ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Science, Mathematics and Spelling. This year, parents will need to register and pay directly with ICAS if they wish for their child to take part in any/all of these assessments. TAS will then facilitate the sitting of these papers in late August, during the scheduled sitting windows. The schedule for these competitions can be found below. These assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the challenge of competing in an international assessment.

Please refer to the letter sent to all families today regarding ICAS for further details on how to complete these registrations. Please send an email to [email protected] if you require any assistance with these.

Year 10 into 11 Subject Selection

The process for Year 10 students to choose their subjects for Years 11 and 12 will begin later this term. Prior to the holidays, students will receive a subject handbook and will be asked to make the initial preferences for subjects over the winter break.

To assist with this process, there will be several Information Sessions held.

The dates for these sessions are:

• Tuesday 22 June – 7:30 pm for Prospective and new Families to TAS (via Zoom)
• Wednesday 23 June – 6:30 pm for parents of Year 10 students. This will be held at TAS immediately following Year 10 Parent-Teacher interviews.
• Thursday 24 June – 11:40 am. All of Year 10 will be attending this session and any parents are also invited to attend.

Mr Luke Polson
Director of  Studies

This week TAS engaged the services of Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social to upskill staff, students and parents on the ever-changing world of social media. The sessions were very well received and there have been plenty of further discussions around this space. We were able to record Kirra’s parent session which can be accessed via the Parent Portal by the end of this week.

Kirra has also kindly provided a number of ‘cheat sheets’ for parents to help navigate a range of topical cyber issues, which are available on the Parent Portal.

This Friday, there is a suicide prevention workshop in Uralla hosted by Roses in the Ocean, in conjunction with Healthwise. The flyer is attached to this newsletter. This may help parents generate a deeper understanding of the complexities of suicide, and give parents confidence in recognising and supporting individuals at risk. We are also working with an external organisation to facilitate a parent workshop on campus, to address the above topics and upskill parents. Dates are yet to be confirmed, but we are hopeful this important event will be before the end of term and if possible, recorded and sent to parents who are unable to attend in person.

Mr Adam Whalley
Director of Pastoral Care

The Eisteddfod continues this week, it was an absolute pleasure to attend the Band Night at NECOM on Tuesday evening. An entertaining night that showcased nine TAS Ensembles across the evening. A clear reminder of how talented our students and staff are at TAS. A special thank you to Ms Leanne Roobol and Mr Tom Collett and Miss Charlotte Low.

Continuing on the theme of creative arts I commend our students and Mr O’Connell for their outstanding results in the NSW Shakespeare Carnival last week. The Ensemble Scene group featuring Felicity Barton (10), Pierre Morcellet (10), Oliver Morse (10), William Nash (10) and Jasper O’Neil (10) came third in their section with a piece from Macbeth and the Music group of Emily Buntine (10), Jasper O’Neil (10) and Grace Thompson (10) performed their original composition inspired by Romeo and Juliet came first. In addition, the Middle School Production of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes last week was thoroughly entertaining and I applaud Mr Wheatley and his cast and crew for their performances last week.

The depth and breadth of sport at TAS was evident last weekend at the NSW U15 Boys Hockey Championships. TAS Hockey was well represented in the NSW U15 boys hockey championships on 29-30 May, with seven of our boys in the Hunter New England team that notched up four wins, a draw and two losses to eventually take the Division 2 silver medal. The TAS Hockey Club is the largest club in Hockey New England which hosted the event that brought around 450 players and parents to Armidale from across the state. Well done to the boys on their efforts and also to the parents who are such a backbone of the TAS Hockey program.

Due to the forecast weather for Wednesday and Thursday and current weather warnings, the Farrer fixtures for The Dick Hodgson Shield will be POSTPONED until next term. We look forward to hosting Farrer next term.

Mr Huon Barrett
Director of Co-curricular

Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes

Probably one of the most versatile, universally appealing writers of the twentieth century: Roald Dahl’s capacity to engage people of all ages is something I admire. His Revolting Rhymes collection was centre stage (literally) last week as our students performed them as part of the Middle School production. Mr Wheatley’s directorial debut at TAS needs recognition: it’s clear that the many hours of rehearsal time, so that all actors were on cue, were demanding, but his usual bonhomie and talent were not compromised at all – neither was the evident stage ease of our Creative Arts Leader, Samuel Krishnan. Together these two people need to be publicly acknowledged because the performance evenings last Thursday and Friday were as enjoyable as they were accomplished. The best part of the evening? It was the obvious enjoyment of all the performers, including the expert technical management of our exclusively Middle School lighting, props and audio support crews – under the watchful eye of Mr Michael Cornford, of course. On behalf of all members of the audiences, I thank everyone who helped to make the Middle School production so enjoyable.

School-issue Laptops

Since ours is a one-to-one laptop school, it’s our duty to advise and assist all students with their responsible use: these ‘devices’ are gifts to education and simultaneously they can be its impediments. Because of the unusual and fractured attendance nature of 2020, it’s been a few years now since we’ve had the New England Schools’ Youth Liaison Officer speak to Middle School students about what constitutes responsible use and best practice. In dereference to the sensitivities of this young age group, we are negotiating various year group meetings with Senior Constable Jaime Porter – hopefully beginning during the last week of this long term.

Long weekend break

There’s ‘something out there that’s watching over us’ – this next, longer weekend couldn’t be better placed this term. Take your children, feed them well, allow them to rest and then send them back for the final weeks of this otherwise very long term. Most of their time here is very busy (it needs to be) and more often than not they’re happy enough to do what they’re supposed to be doing; but they’re young and they need a break. We need this break, too. As Mr Jones’s most recent letter to families confirms, this last week has been a sad one for everyone at TAS. Our thoughts and prayers are with the wider Munsie and Bookallil families over the coming weeks. Our young people need to be with their families. When I spoke to the various year groups on Monday, the respectful, sensitive responses of our staff and your children reinforced the strength and calibre of all those people that we deal with in this school.

Until next week, then

Mr Mark Harrison
Head of Middle School

Year 6 in Space

Last week Year 6 had the pleasure of a Zoom meeting with Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist and cosmologist from Canberra. This tied in with their English unit, Exploration, which has seen them exploring aspects of space. They are also studying newspaper writing so have been looking at articles on space.com and they used the information in the articles to write their own newspaper articles. They were fascinated by the articles on the recent lunar eclipse so the zoom meeting was organised with Mr Tucker to learn more about space.

Safe on Socials – Online Safety Presentations

I hope you were able to attend the presentation last night hosted by Kirra Pendergast, an expert in IT Security and Online Safety. Like most other staff attending, it was clear to me from the outset that this has become one of the most important and challenging topics for each and every one of us in this ever-changing and complicated digital world. Kirra’s presentation was very informative and quite outstanding. I am writing to you here to ensure that you ask the school for the link if you were unable to attend on the night or view it from accessing our website.

The Eisteddfod rolls on 

I have been very pleased with the number of entries in this year’s Eisteddfod. I know that there are categories that do not appeal to some, but I am so pleased that so many of our students have taken it upon themselves to have a go. Well done and congratulations to you all. The following results have been reported through so far:

• Junior Strings –  1st
• The K-6 String Ensemble – 2nd
• Tom Loxley 1st String Solo (Novice Yrs K-4)
• Jack Wood – ‘Feed the birds’ (highly commended)
• Mila Wright – ‘Can you feel the love tonight’ – participation award
• Jack Maitz – ‘Bare Necessities’- participation award

Special congratulations to both William Minter and Daniel Mo (and to William’s mum who accompanied them both) as they performed to a packed  Middle and Senior School Assembly yesterday. It was an outstanding performance, from introducing the piece they played together,  to the wonderful combination they have become in terms of their musicianship. It was a very, very special moment.

No Sports training in Week 10

 Please note in your diaries that there will be no sports training in the last week of term, giving players and coaches a well-earned rest.

School Spirits

Congratulations to the following students that received School Spirit Awards last week: Lachie McDowell, Umraj Nirmaan, Elara Polson, Hassan Almokhtar, Sansa Ranawake, Hasadi Kodagoda Arachchige, Raymond Wang, Hunter Crane, Neave Drain, Cooper Lacey, Mehleen Sandhu, Matilda Polson, Levi Watts, Rupert Newton, Cecilia Price, Kaitlyn Baker, Mila Nexo, Leo Thavapalasundaram, Izzie Glover and Kevin Tighe.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to Kaitlyn Baker and Eva Cook this week.

Mr Ian Lloyd
Head of Junior School

TAS Tigers

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, get ready for ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. The crowd erupted at Rologas 7 on Saturday morning as the show began.

There were grandparents that travelled from as far as Wollongong, to see the under 6 TAS Tigers take on the Armidale City Westside Football Club Blue, or otherwise known as ACWFCB-U6. The spectators were not disappointed, as it was the week we performed feats of wonder and strength, to transform from felines to fierce sabre-tooth tigers. The Moscow Circus may have left town last month, but it didn’t stop their fellow countryman, Daniel Ivannikov, from continuing the magic. Daniel put on a fantastic show, by scoring 6 goals. He had some great support acts, with every player performing their own piece of magic.

The halftime break was greeted with disappointment, as the Tigers really found their groove, and wanted to keep playing. Not as disappointed as their parents, as the promised Lolly Snakes were handed around – sorry about that Mr Lloyd.

After the break, Heidi followed up with a magical goal of her own – Her farewell gift to Arendelle as she departs for a few weeks to snorkel with Nemo.  The team goal celebrations were on par with Sam Kerr’s aerial acrobatics – a fitting way to end an astonishing performance.

Well done TAS Tigers on your first win – you should be very proud of your efforts. See you when we get back.

Mr Ken Secker

TAS Tornadoes

On Saturday morning, the TAS Tornadoes ventured out to John Oxley Sportsgrounds in Walcha. The early fog brought about a deep sense of foreboding, but thankfully as kick off drew closer, the fog lifted and the sun shone down on the two teams as they did battle to gain the early ascendency. The Tornadoes have been working hard at training on positional play and working together, which really started to show as the game went on. TAS scored first goal through some fine lead up play, but the advantage was cancelled out at half time as the Wolves drew level. TAS dominated the early stages of the second half and their newfound enthusiasm for paying attention at training started to show as they passed the ball left and right to wide players. Ultimately, the pressure told and TAS scored two more goals in the second half. As the clock wound down the Wolves managed to peg one back but couldn’t deny TAS a very well deserved win. Well done boys and a good team effort!

Mr Darren Maxwell

TAS Torpedoes

This week the TAS Torpedoes had a trip to Uralla for another exciting game of football. After a slow start we soon settled into the game and by half time with some excellent work in goals by Edward, some impressive defence, and a fast breaking attack we found ourselves 3 goals ahead. The second half we continued to work well as team and were able to find the back of the net another two times with only one going against us. Goals this week went to Casper, William, Mohammed, and Toby.

Mr Christian Nexo

TAS Blue

Last weekend saw our U12s make a lot of progress, with our team for the first time, scoring the first goal. Spirits were high as we went into halftime drawing 1-1. However, the break gave DK a boost as they sorted themselves out and scored another 6 goals against us. Still a way to go yet for this team but they are definitely showing signs of improvement and always enjoying the game.

Mr Andrew Kirk

Hockey

U8s

The Under 8s Hockey team have made tremendous improvements in their game this week. They worked as a team and became more aware of their spacing. All players made a valuable contribution, and I was very impressed with their attacking and defending skills. Let’s keep this up team! Special thanks go to Jeanie Inglis and Jack Wood for their positivity and fantastic coaching skills during training. Jeanie, the children greatly appreciated your coaching on the sidelines during Saturday’s game and your words of encouragement gave them the added drive. Eva, you were superb in goal and have a natural eye for the game; Liam – Wow! Sensational defending and some superpower hits; Maggie – little ball of energy, you were involved in all elements of play and had some great passages of play; Bella – what a natural goalkeeper and your strong passes were noticed; Emi, you showed great attacking skills and got involved; Cooper your defending skills were incredible and finally Scout when you hit the ball you have lots of power and great accuracy.

Mrs Grania Fawcett