Junior Primary Swimming Carnival

28 degree weather, 26 degree water and 57 very keen young athletes looking to impress in their first competition for their houses for the year and what a competition it was! With the Year 6 boys filling each lane, the parents finding their seats outside the library and the golden voice, Mr Wyatt, clearing his lungs for some pearls of wisdom, it was time for the noodle races.

It was young Benjamin Allan winning the first event of the day in his first time in the pool of dreams. This was followed by the very talented Sam Stewart, Aiden Chandler and super cool Diesel James in their noodle events. Sam, Diesel and Aiden would then feature heavily in the freestyle and backstroke events respectively.

In year 1 it was the Harry Forsyth and Freddie Bourne show in the freestyle and backstroke events. Newly-found noodle kings Hamish Hunter, Max Tian and Toby Ashworth took out their events, with Ted Walker also putting in a strong showing in his freestyle race. Rohan Fourie finished things off with a great swim in his breaststroke event.

Year 2 saw IPSHA representative Angus Rowe continuing his dominant swimming, with surprise packet Ewan MacCulloch a very close second. James Blakeman, James Bradford, Cameron Davey-Webb and Harrison Stuart were also very strong throughout.

The blue ribbon event of the day as always was the relays, with Rydal sweeping the pool in all three events. The Kindies were dynamite on their second attempt at the noodle race, and year 1 and 2 showed their style and determination in two freestyle relays to remember.

When the last swimmer had finished and the waters had calmed, it was Rydal who prevailed victorious, led by their junior captains James Blakeman, Ethan Hardwick and Cooper Stewart. A great day had by all, and a big thank you to all the teachers that assisted on the day, the year 1 parents for an incredible spread of food, and of course the parents who made it such a great spectacle….until next year!!

Mark Caulfield
Sports Coordinator 

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A Message from Mr Wyatt

At this week’s Staff Meeting we discussed the idea of Flow and workshopped how we might better create these moments for our boys. A key element to doing this is knowing their learning needs and interests and creating a learning environment that has a fine balance between challenge and support. Over the coming weeks and months this will remain a key focus for teaching staff as we further explore concepts relating to meeting our boys’ learning needs.

May the Flow be with you!

School Driveway

Our School Driveway is a hive of activity before and after school as boys, parents and staff walk up and down. Whilst the sign at the top of the driveway indicates specific times when vehicles are prohibited, we request that no parents drive down the driveway (at any time) unless specific permission has been sought by contacting the School Office. This request is purely in the interest of the safety of the boys and other adults within our community.

Pastoral Positives – Detective DoRight

Last week Detective DoRight visited our Assembly to highlight the positive behaviour of Harry Stuart. Harry was ‘caught’ congratulating and encouraging another boy in his class during an activity. It is great to think that our boys are aware of the efforts of their classmates and keen to support them in their learning.

It is nice to hear that this notion of celebrating positive pastoral moments is catching. I have been approached by several parents over the last few weeks to tell me about things they have spotted in the playground, at sport and at home. We hope that the boys continue to learn from one another as we seek to grow the positive pastoral culture within our school community.

IBAP Conference

Mr Weekes and I will be travelling to Kuala Lumpur this Thursday for the International Baccalaureate Asia Pacific Conference. Each year this conference provides fantastic professional development and opportunities to connect with other PYP Schools to learn from their experiences. During the conference we will also be presenting a workshop on ‘iPads and Inquiry’ to share our recent learning journey.

After the conference I have been invited by the IB to lead an evaluation school visit at an International School in Guangzhou, China. These types of opportunities are a privilege and also provide a great chance to see how other schools are doing things that might work in our school. I look forward to sharing my learning with you in future editions of Prep Talk.

Enrolments for 2014

We are currently interviewing Kindergarten, Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 students for 2014.  If you know of anyone who might be interested in enrolling their son in these grades, please encourage them to contact the School Office on 9416 4280.

Sports Shorts

Match of the Round – Open A Cricket v Grammar Edgecliff

It was a beautiful sunny day at Queens park as the Open A’s played their last game of the term against Grammar Edgecliff. Grammar won the toss and elected to bat first.

Ethan Nemeth and Liam Wyatt-Smith opened the bowling, and both took wickets in their opening spell. Throughout the bowling innings, the Open A’s showed great enthusiasm and urgency in the field. At drinks, Grammar were 2/48 and Mr Caulfield gave us a quick pep talk. Grammar went on to score 8/93.

There were two run-outs by Charlie Timpson and Harry Bell. The key wicket takers were Ethan, Liam, Harry Bell, Hugh Holm and Harry Quinn and a great catch by Charlie. The other coach noted Harry Quinn was bowling with great speed by the end of his third over.

Charlie (8) and Harry Bell (8) opened the innings making 15, the best opening partnership of the season. After hitting 2 fours, Harry Bell was caught for 8 to a beautiful diving catch. Callum (11) and Luca (11) put on an excellent patient partnership picking up lots of singles. At drinks, Newington were also 2/48.

Some quick wickets followed the drinks break before Julian Burrows and Harry Quinn steadied the innings. It was a day of singles and Newington got themselves close requiring 10 runs from the last over. Newington scored 8/86, so close but not quite there.

Man of the match was Harry Bell for his all-round contribution. A game played in good spirit and an encouraging way to finish Term 1 Cricket.

Written by Harry Bell – Year 4

IPSHA Swimming and Diving Carnival – SOPAC

After a long day of waiting, with his event one of the last on the programme, Anthony Gestakovski capped off a successful IPSHA swimming carnival for Newington with a fighting 3rd placing in his 12 Years 50m butterfly. Throughout the day of competition, Newington’s representatives swam admirably. The boys recorded many PB’s in the pool at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, and matched it with some of the best swimmers in the state.

The day started with Tom Alscher, Jarrah Ronan, Gaelen Dorigo and Flynn Leung Nicholson providing a fantastic Jnr relay result of 9th overall. This result surely inspired the Snr relay team of Keiran Corcoran, Tom Ball, Miles Parhash and Eden Horne to finish 7th in a super fast heat. Jarrah, Miles and Eden then took to the pool in the 200m individual medley. Jarrah narrowly missed CIS selection in this event with a fantastic 6th overall in the Jnr division. Miles and Eden also swam well in the Snr division with Miles finishing in the top 10 overall.

Freestyle was next to occur with the Newington young guns Nicholas Venetoulis and Angus Rowe competing in the 8 Years heats. The future looks bright, with the boys swimming an almost identical time in the same heat finishing 11th and 9th overall respectively. Lachlan Hull (2nd in heat) Thomas Kennedy (2nd in heat) Flynn Gannon (1st in heat) and Angus Bourne (5th in heat) all made great efforts in the 9 Years division. The Jnr relay team then competed as individuals in the 10 Years division. Jarrah Ronan (1st in heat) just missed CIS selection once more in finishing 7th overall. Tom Alscher, Gaelen Dorigo and Flynn Leung Nicholson continued the impressive relay performance with placings in their respective heats. Eden Horne led the way in the 11Years division with a 3rd in his heat. Sebastian Wyatt flew down the pool to finish 2nd in his heat shortly after. Marc Mardini followed with one of the performances of the day. Missing the start by many lengths, Marc displayed great tenacity by gathering in many opponents to finish a remarkable 3rd in his heat. The 12 Years division saw Miles Parhash finish 10th overall with a 2nd in his heat. Kieran Corcoran (7th in heat) and Tom Ball (6th in heat) swam great races. Louis Pidcock in an outside lane, swam an outstanding race to finish 2nd in his heat beating many more fancied rivals.

Backstroke saw Ronan, Dorigo, Horne, Parhash and Pidcock back in the pool. Once again Jarrah Ronan just missed a top 5 overall placing which would earn CIS selection. Newington’s disappointment for Jarrah was somewhat relieved shortly after, with Swimming Captain Miles Parhash finishing 5th overall, thus gaining selection in the IPSHA team for the CIS carnival.

Jnr Breaststroke saw Jarrah Ronan continue his outstanding day with 7th overall, Gaelen Dorigo finished 4th in his heat. 11 Years saw Eden Horne and Alexander Rumi swim well. Alexander was especially impressive recording a fast time finishing 2nd in his heat, before unfortunately being disqualified for a small technical error. Miles Parhash finished 1st in his heat and 10th overall and Tom Ball 4th in his heat both represented in the 12 Years division.

100m freestyle open division once again included exceptional performances from Miles Parhash and Eden Horne with the boys finishing 2nd and 1st in their heats respectively.

The programme finished with the butterfly events. The Jnr butterfly gave one more opportunity for Jarrah Ronan to earn a place on the IPSHA team for the CIS carnival. After a long day of near misses, Jarrah pulled one more unbelievable performance out to finish 4th overall and gain a deserved place on the rep team. Fallon Fotaras then swam a PB in his butterfly heat just missing a place on the podium. Eden Horne completed his butterfly and an immense day of competition in his 7th event. Sebastian Wyatt continued to improve with his butterfly swim in the 11 Years division. The 12 Years division saw Miles Parhash finish with another overall top 10 finish and as mentioned prior, Anthony Gestakovski’s performance was well worth the wait!

Mark Caulfield 
Sports Coordinator 

Sports Star of the Week

Name:  James  Bradford

Nickname:  Murray

Farourite Food:  Pizza/Fanta

Favourite Sport:  Soccer

Favourite Sportsperson:  Roger Federerer

Favourite Sporting Team:  Waratahs beating the Sharks in 2012

In 10 years I will be……….With my brother

From the Archives – Newington’s First Advertisement

On 12 March 1863, among the shipping notices, entertainment advertisements (‘Signor Ohio: the inimitable SWISS WARBLER, whose imitations of birds and animals are unrivalled’), and personal notices (‘Notice to the public: I, JOHN BURNS of Botany, will not be answerable for debts my Wife, JANE BURNS, may contract after this date’), the Sydney Morning Herald published an advertisement placed by ‘J Allen Manton, Principal’ of the ‘Collegiate Institution, Newington House (late Blaxland’s), Parramatta River’.

The advertisement announced that the ‘spacious and beautifully situated premises’ were now undergoing thorough repair and would be opened as a school the following July. The same advertisement would appear each week until just before the school’s opening.

Because of its location, the new school would initially be entirely a boarding school. The fees were to be 50 guineas ($105 in today’s currency) per annum, to cover ‘Board and education’, plus 4 guineas ($8.40) for washing and a guinea ($2.10) for medical attendance. Fees were payable quarterly, in advance.

The advertisement set out the articles that each student was expected to bring with him: a silver fork and spoon, two pairs of sheets, two pillow cases and six towels. Each was to be marked with the student’s name in full.

Six weeks’ notice was required for the withdrawal of a student; otherwise half a quarter’s fees would be charged.

Despite the new school’s connection with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the advertisement noted that it would be open to the sons of parents of all religious denominations.

ONU Golf Day

The recent ONU Golf Day at the Lakes Club was a great success, despite the challenging weather conditions. Old Boys, current parents, grandparents and staff engaged in friendly yet competitive rivalry on the greens contesting one of Newington oldest trophies, the H.S. Rofe Trophy as well as the Alumni Challenge Trophy to raise funds for the ONU Depression initiative.

After presenting the Alumni trophy to the team from 1978, James Jordan (ON ’81), ONU President said “Not only did we get to play at the prestigious Lakes Golf Course but we are exceptionally fortunate to have the support of generous sponsors who enable us to make a contribution in a very real way and I thank them sincerely.” He also thanked the ONU Golf Day organising committee, Ian Mayer (ON ’81), David Gillard (ON ’92) and Nigel Watson (ON ’93) for their exceptional contributions.

With generous donations of prizes and auction items from current parents and Old Boys, including Martin Wright from Srixon Sports Australasia, Con Dedes (ON ’87) from Dedes Group, Richard Spira (ON ’81) from Agressor, Ian Mayer (ON 81) from Chatswood Toyota and Adam Peruch (ON ’81) from Channel 9, over $17,500 was raised.

Mylee Angelo
ONU Officer 

L-R: Dr David Mulford, Headmaster, Winners of the Arthur H.S. Rofe Trophy, Chris Johnson (ON ’93) & David Royal (ON ’93) and Nigel Watson (ON ’93)

Faith Matters

Stop complaining

Two groups of psychology students were wired for recording purposes, and assigned a period to socialise freely. One group knew the experiment would measure the level of complaining in normal conversation; the other group did not. Afterwards, both groups were shocked by how frequently they complained. The group in the know complained almost as much as the group unaware of what the experiment was aiming to achieve. It’s the oldest response in the book-literally! Confronted with our choices and actions, we spontaneously start complaining: ‘It was their fault, not mine; if they hadn’t…I wouldn’t have.’ Adam needed no lessons in the art of complaining. Caught red-handed, he told God, ‘The woman whom You gave…me, she gave me…and I ate.’ (Genesis 3) Eve said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ Neither accepted responsibility for their choices. It may be difficult, it may take a lifetime to master but Paul’s advice is something that can change our families, schools and society … “do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God …”

Mr Peter Morphew
School Chaplain 

Prep Shop

The Prep Shop is open on Mondays from 3.00pm – 3.45pm and Wednesdays from 8.00am – 8.45am.

Second Hand Uniform Sale

The Prep Shop held a very successful Second Hand Uniform Sale yesterday. Don’t worry if you missed out, second hand uniforms are available throughout the year, just ask at the Prep Shop. A very big thank you to all the volunteers who helped out, it was a fun afternoon and the money raised goes back into the school community. Well done!

Stephanie Danks

Week 9 Roster
Monday 25 March  3.00 – 3.45pm
Rebecca L’Orange
Lisa Munckton

 Wednesday 27 March  8.00 – 8.45am
Joanne Nelson
Collette Middleton

Week 10 Roster
Monday 1 April
Easter Monday Holiday

Wednesday 3 April 8.00 – 8.45am
Sing Sing Wan
Hayley Rose

Dates to Note

Friday 22 March Chapel in Don Brown Hall at 8.30am all welcome, Book Parade in Junior Primary Playground at 9.00am, Sesqui Sport Lunch 

Week 9

Tuesday 26 March School Assembly in Don Brown Hall at 2.30pm all welcome, Parent Teacher Interviews 3.00pm – 8.00pm

Wednesday 27 March Combined Preps Cross Country at Stanmore 9.30am – 12.00pm

Thursday 28 March Easter Hat Parade 11.45am – 1.00pm

Friday 29 March Good Friday Public Holiday

Saturday 30 March Easter Saturday

Sunday 31 March Easter Sunday

Week 10

Monday 1 April Easter Monday Public  Holiday

Tuesday 2 April School Assembly in Don Brown Hall at 2.30pm all welcome

Evolution Martial Arts

As anticipated, the start of this term brought many new faces to join ongoing students in our jujutsu classes, now on Friday afternoons.

It is wonderful to see the boys grow in confidence while they thoroughly enjoy themselves learning how (and when) to protect themselves and keep safe, and already, Logan Gradinscak and James Stevens have shown outstanding focus and consistent good effort to be awarded their Leopard animal patch in recognition of this. They demonstrate that even very young Newington students can take care to watch and listen to a teacher while still having a lot of fun.

‘Homework’ consists of activities such as saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ to parents and caregivers for things such as cooking dinner, and doing good deeds without having to be asked, which the boys will be asked to report in each week.

Included in our syllabus is the Silver Stars programme, designed as a support tool for parents, to encourage good behaviour and habits. Feedback about the Stars programme is consistently very positive and we are confident you will find it valuable.

Please note that Evolution Martial Arts is open to all boys in Kindy through to Year 6. If the Friday afternoon timeslot does not suit your schedule, Newington boys are welcome to join us in our studio at Level 1, 346 Pacific Highway, Lindfield. Please see our website for class times.

Marice Knapman

Certificates

Important Notice for Families regarding Overdue Tuition Fees

If you have chosen to pay the Stage 1 fees by instalments and you have not yet paid the account in full, your account balance is overdue. Kindly note that the final instalment was due by 18 March 2013 and the entire Stage 1 account should have been paid either in a lump sum or by instalments.

If you have an overdue account, please pay it without delay to avoid further action.

Peter Yates
Head of Corporate Services 

Tuckshop News

Week 9 Roster

Tuesday 26 March
9.00am – 2.00pm  Tracy Ayres

Thursday 28 March
9.00am – 2.00pm  Fiona James

Friday 29 March
Good Friday

Week 10 Roster

Tuesday 2 April
9.00am – 2.00pm  Jody Burrows

Thursday 4 April
9.00am – 2.00pm  Jo Stewart
11.00am – 2.00pm  Kate Bell

Friday 5 April
9.00am – 2.00pm  Briony Short
11.00am – 2.00pm  Tamsin Timpson

Literature Festival

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School Zone Road Safety

Please keep our boys safe by following the Road Rules for School Zones.

Roads with direct school access points (including multi-lane and high speed roads) must have a 40km/h school zone.  40km/h school speed zones operate across New South Wales at all school sites on gazetted school days (including school development days).

The majority of school zones operate between 8:00am – 9:30am and 2:30pm – 4:00pm on gazetted school days.

Motorists are required to drive at no more than 40 km/h through school zones.

 

Dragon’s Teeth

The Dragon’s Teeth markings further increase the visibility of school zones for motorists and provide a constant reinforcement to keep to the 40 km/h speed limit around schools.

Combined with the existing signs, flashing lights and painted ‘40’ pavement markings on the road, the dragon’s teeth ensure motorists know when they are driving through a 40km/h school zone.

Most school zones operate between 8am and 9.30am and from 2.30pm till 4pm.

Children are often unpredictable and do not always act safely around traffic. The visibility of the Dragon’s Teeth road markers help remind motorists to slow down to 40 km/h during school zone times to protect children and keep them safe.

The slower speed in school zones lessens the risk of crashes. Where crashes do occur, they are less severe, especially for children. For example, a car travelling at 50kmh is twice as likely to kill a pedestrian than a car travelling at 40km/h.

Watch for the Dragon’s Teeth, slow down in school zones and help us keep children safe.

Pedestrian Safety

 

 

 

Don’t worry – all children complain about holding hands at one time or another.Sometimes they don’t understand how this will keep them safe or they may just want to do it their way. By making family rules about safe walking, explaining them and then sticking to them, you are helping your child learn how to become a safer pedestrian.Use these road safety messages:

• “Whenever we are out walking, we hold hands.”
• “If we can’t hold hands, you can keep close by holding onto me, the bag or the stroller.”
• “There’s no running ahead.”

When holding your child’s hand, use the opportunity to talk with the child about:

• Where it is safe to walk and cross the road.
• When it is safe to walk and cross the road.
• The need to stop and wait at the side of the road before crossing.
• What to look for.
• What to listen for.
• Why they have to keep checking until they are safely across the road or the driveway.