Name: James Whiteing
Nickname: To be discovered (surprisingly)
Favourite Food: Fruit
Favourite Sport: Rugby
Favourite Sportsman: Lachie Turner
Favourite Sporting Team: Wallabies
Best Personal Sporting Moment: Sportsman of the year at previous school
Best Sporting Moment: Quade Cooper’s kick in the Tri Nations against Sth Africa
In 10 years I will be……….. I’ll let you know when I’m there!!
The Prep Shop is open on Mondays from 3.00pm – 3.45pm and Wednesdays from 8.00am – 8.45am
Week 7 Roster
Monday 10 June 3.00pm – 3.45pm
Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday
Wednesday 12 June 8.00am – 8.45am
Sing Sing Wan
Hayley Rose
Week 8 Roster
Monday 17 June 3.00pm – 3.45pm
Susan Gerahty
Brenda Cumarasingam
Wednesday 19 June 8.00am – 8.45am
Maria Dickinson
Linda Hardyanto
As with last term, new faces have joined both our ongoing and returning students in jujutsu classes on Friday afternoons. It is always wonderful to see the boys grow in confidence while they enjoy themselves learning how (and when) to protect themselves and keep safe.
As you may know, we award patches to students who show consistency with doing their best in class. During the last few weeks of Term 1, Freddie Bourne and Tristan Henry demonstrated that young Newington students can take care to watch and listen to a teacher while still having a lot of fun. The boys were awarded their Leopard patch, with Will Fisher being awarded his Tiger patch.
At the end of Term 1, the following boys were awarded their level 1, Red belt: Logan Gradinscak, Freddie Bourne, James Stevens, Jamie Kerr, Marcus Burghen. Sadly, Max Clarke was absent for grading though I look forward to being able to award him his Red belt in the future.
Tristan Henry, who returned to training after a short absence, was awarded his level 2 grade, Red belt with stripe.
Will Fisher has been working toward his level 4 grade, Orange belt with stripe, which he achieved at the end of Term 1.
The higher grade levels require more effort to achieve, since in addition to new skills, we build on what students already know and work on developing more awareness of technique. Alex Wang, working towards level 5, Gold belt, was awarded his Tiger patch in recognition of this effort.
In Term 2, we continue with our ‘Homework’ activities which include saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ to parents and caregivers for things such as cooking dinner or taking them to fun activities, and doing good deeds without having to be asked.
In support of parents, our Silver Stars programme (included in the syllabus books), encourages good behaviour and habits. I have mentioned before that feedback about the Stars programme is consistently very positive and we are confident parents will find it valuable.
Evolution Jujutsu is open to all boys in Kindy through to Year 6. If the Friday afternoon timeslot does not suit, Newington boys are welcome to join us in our studio at Level 1, 346 Pacific Highway, Lindfield. Please see our website http://www.fitevolution.com.au for class times, including classes for teens and adults.
Marice Knapman
Senior Instructor
On Tuesday 28 May 2013 the boys invited their Grandparents, older relatives and friends of the family to come to school for the morning. Our special visitors were able to see what the boys have been learning in the classroom. The morning concluded with a wonderful morning tea provided by our Kindergarten and Year 4 parents.
No wonder we want our children to listen, they can learn so much from listening well. But often we as adults fail to truly hear. Our views, our desires, our agendas simply get in the way of us really hearing what others have to say. The Bible gives good advice when James writes … “Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak.”
Someone quipped, ‘God gave us two ears and one mouth because we need to listen twice as much as we talk.’ Learning that means being ‘quick to listen, slow to speak.’ Good listening builds relationships. But good listeners aren’t born, they’re trained! So here are a few suggestions to improve your listening:
1) Listen without interrupting. Resist the temptation to jump in and finish the sentence, or hijack the floor. Rein yourself in – just listen. 2) Listen to understand. Try to understand their point of view, feelings, thinking and needs. Good listening is hearing what they actually think, mean or feel, not what you imagine they do. Instead of guessing, ask, ‘Am I understanding you correctly? Do you mean…? Are you feeling…?’ In other words, don’t assume – verify. 3) Listen without judging. Don’t rush to conclusions. If what they say doesn’t quite add up, keep listening. ‘He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him’ (Proverbs 18:13). When you hear more, it may make sense. 4) Listen without correcting, countering or devaluing. Saying, ‘That’s not the way it was,’ or, ‘What did you expect? If you hadn’t…’ or, ‘You’re just being too sensitive,’ puts people on guard and stops real communication. 5) Validate the speaker. Accept their perceptions and feelings as valid expressions of a valued person. ‘If I understand you correctly, you’re thinking…feeling…Am I right?’ Ask them to help get you on the same page with them. ‘Given what you’ve told me, I can see why you’d feel what you feel,’ is very validating and will increase their confidence and willingness to consider the solutions you may offer.
At first this approach may feel a little awkward or even contrived but give it a go; you’ll be surprised at what you actually hear and how your relationships are enhanced.
Mr Peter Morphew
School Chaplain
Week 5 |
No Assembly | |||
Week 6 |
||||
Effort |
Excellence |
|||
| Aidan Chandler | Kindergarten | William Johnston | Year 2 | |
| Max Clarke | Kindergarten | Matthew Newham | Year 2 | |
| Jack Ireland | Kindergarten | Cooper Stewart | Year 2 | |
| William Lane | Year 2 | Ewen MacCulloch | Year 2 | |
| Jarrah Ronan | Year 4 | James Potkonjak | Year 2 | |
| Richard Wan | Year 4 | Benjamin Fitzgerald | Year 3 | |
| Ethan Wyatt-Smith | Year 4 | Amedeou Hardyanto | Year 3 | |
| Reuben Chippeck | Year 5 | Alex Peterson | Year 5 | |
| Thomas Williamson | Year 5 | Alistair Shaw | Year 5 | |
Improvement |
Oliver Haig | Year 6 | ||
| William Fisher | Year 1 | James Moore | Year 6 | |
| Harry Forsyth | Year 1 | Bevan Tsui | Year 6 | |
| Tristan Henry | Year 1 | Harry Quinn | Year 6 | |
| Thomas Hooke | Year 3 | |||
| Nathan Ma | Year 3 |
Friday 7 June Chapel in Don Brown Hall at 8.30am all welcome
Saturday 8 June No Sport
Week 7
Monday 10 June Queen’s Birthday Holiday
Tuesday 11 June School Assembly – Year 6 Item and Hip Hop Performance in Don Brown Hall at 2.30pm all welcome
Wednesday 12 June Newington Walkathon, Maths Olympiad 2
Thursday 13 June Year 6 Experience Stanmore Day
Friday 14 June Chapel in Don Brown Hall at 8.30am all welcome
Saturday 15 June Winter Sport Round 6
Week 8
Monday 17 June Semester Reports distributed, ICAS Writing
Tuesday 18 June Coffee and Chat with Mr Wyatt from 8.00am, School Assembly – Kindergarten Item in Don Brown Hall at 2.30pm all welcome
Tuesday 11 June
9.00am – 12.00pm Leearna Plank
11.00am – 2.00pm Help Required
Thursday 13 June
9.00am – 12.00pm Jennifer Gripton-Corbett
11.00am – 2.00pm Help Required
Friday 14 June
9.00am – 12.00pm Help Required
11.00am – 2.00pm Lisa Munckton
Tuesday 18 June
9.00am – 12.00pm Help Required
11.00am – 2.00pm Help Required
Thursday 20 June
9.00am – 12.00pm Rhoda MacCulloch
11.00am – 2.00pm Kate Bell
Friday 21 June
9.00am – 12.00pm Briony Short
11.00am – 2.00pm Rachael Ashley
Thank you to the Choir for performing at St David’s Church for their Education Sunday Service. They performed very well. Many people came up to me after complimenting them on their performance and their good behaviour.
A quick reminder about notifying teachers of up-coming events. It is important that you let your son’s instrumental teacher know if your son will not be able to make a lesson due to school activities.
It is important to pay the instrumental teachers promptly. Their invoices usually contain the contact numbers so if you have any issues or wish to talk to them, please check the invoices.
Mrs Vanessa South
Music Teacher
As we implement the PYP (Primary Years Program) at Newington College Lindfield, we are continually refining teaching and learning to promote an inquiry-based, student-centered learning environment where each boy is enticed to take their learning beyond the boundaries of the four walls of each classroom.
As we teach, we are also driving a concept based curriculum. So, what does this mean? Well, throughout our six units of inquiry each year, the teachers use the following 8 concepts to drive the Units of Inquiry. You will notice the questions next to each concept are open-ended to assist the direction of the unit.
Only two to three concepts will be a focus in any one Unit of Inquiry, however, all eight will be covered over the six Units of Inquiry throughout the year. Some of the concepts, therefore, will be covered more than once.
So . . . what is a concept?
At a PYP workshop I attended in January, the distinction between a concept and a fact was clearly defined. A fact is something real, tangible and describable. A concept is an abstract way of thinking which can be applied in a variety of contexts. If you review the above concepts you will see that they can be applied to any subject area and to other facets of real world experience. These concepts aid in the boys’ conceptual understanding of a unit as opposed to just learning content. Our vision is to see boys developing a more profound understanding of a unit rather than regurgitating facts and figures. We want our boys to be able to offer and justify an opinion.
Why do our boys need a concept-driven curriculum?
Having our teaching and learning supported by concepts is crucial to creating connections across subject areas (being transdisciplinary). Concepts lead to more than just remembering facts which in turn creates a deeper level of understanding and application of knowledge. Concepts offer the opportunity to look at learning from different perspectives, not just different opinions.
I know that when I attended school, I was taught a plethora of facts and figures. To be honest, there is not many of them that I am still able to use today. If we teach thinking and inquiring, our students will be able to find the answers to questions about things which are not even yet invented and solve problems we don’t even know will exist in the future. I know that I would rather a son that can use his ability to think and use his application of knowledge rather than a son that can tell me a range of facts. What is going to be more useful in their adult lives?
Joel Weekes
Teaching and Learning Team Leader – PYP
Sport at Lindfield
Sport is an important aspect of the education that all of the boys at Newington experience. Our commitment to Sport is based on the importance of physical activity, developing gross motor skills and sportsmanship, and being a member of a team.
Since I joined the College I have been inundated by parent feedback about our sporting programs; good and bad. Due to our size, the management of our sporting teams and programs is a constant challenge.
To support our boys in their ongoing skill development in the sports of Basketball, Cricket, Football and Rugby, we have made a decision to change our training sessions from the beginning of Term 3. The plan is to replace the Additional Skills Session on Monday afternoon with an in-school training session after lunch on Monday. The Monday session would take the same format as the Wednesday training session and would allow us to consolidate skills, teamwork and develop the boys’ fitness throughout the week in readiness for Saturday games. The support coaches (Rugby Coaches from Sydney Uni and the Football Coach from the Football Factory) who currently assist would also be involved in the Monday session.
As expressed above, Sport is just one component of our educational offering and therefore we are very conscious of this change not impacting on other areas of learning. To ensure this, we will simply take two timetabled fitness sessions and replace them with this focused training session. Ultimately, we believe that the educational value of this initiative is more beneficial than the two fitness sessions.
Whilst we don’t believe this will solve all of the challenges that we face as a small school competing in the IPSHA competition, it will certainly provide our boys with regular and consistent high quality coaching throughout the week to develop the boys skills, fitness and teamwork.
As part of this change, the Select Choir will now be starting at 7:45am on Monday mornings (previously 8:00am) so that the boys can be ready to start their learning at 8:30am. Previously they missed part of a fitness session.
Boys will be required to bring their PE uniform and training gear to school for these Monday sessions.
Farewell Mr Findley
It is with much sadness that we farewell Mr Findley, our School Counsellor at the end of this term as he and his family relocate to Victoria. He has served the College, both here and at Wyvern, since 2010. Mr Findley has provided great wisdom and insight into the needs of our boys. Whilst Mr Findley leaves officially at the end of term, he and his wife are also expecting the imminent arrival of their first child and he will be on paternity leave towards the end of this term. We are in the process of interviewing for Mr Findley’s replacement.
Coffee and Chat with Mr Wyatt – Tuesday 18 June
Communication is an essential part of any learning community to ensure that we are all on the same page as we support the boys in their learning. To support this I am planning to run Coffee and Chat morning twice a term to provide parents with the opportunity to come and ask questions, talk about school matters and to share stories of success and progress. At this stage there won’t be any particular structure or format; simply a chance to have a cup of coffee and to chat about school related matters. I look forward to seeing you there.
Part-time Bus Driver wanted
We are currently advertising for a part-time (5 days a fortnight – 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon) bus driver to share the role with Norm Madden, our current driver. If you know anyone who might be interested, please encourage them to contact me in the next week.
PALS (Positive Attitudes and Life Skills)
This week our Year 6 boys led the other boys in the second instalment of the PALS program. The boys introduced the concept of ‘looking on the bright side’. This is a really important social and emotional skill for all young people as they face a multitude of social interactions on a daily basis. Whilst the vast majority of these interactions are positive, occasionally they can be negative. ‘Looking on the bright side’ will help them to not let individual occurrences to get them down and to maintain a healthy and positive outlook on life.
Please join us in using this language with the boys as we support them in developing this valuable skill and coping with the realities of life.
Enrolments
Due to the addition of an extra Stage 3 Class in 2014 we are in the fortunate position to have vacancies for next year. We are currently enrolling boys for Year 5 2014 as we seek to gain the necessary numbers to make the additional class a straight Year 5. Limited vacancies also exist in Kindergarten for next year. If you know families that might be interested, please encourage them to call the School Office on 9416 4280.
Earn and Learn Points – Vouchers will end this weekend
Over the last couple of years our community has taken part in the Woolworths Earn and Learn scheme which allows us to purchase additional resources for the school. We feel very blessed to be supported by such a generous community.
This year, with your support, we will once again participate in this scheme in a slightly different manner. Given how well resourced our school is we thought this would be a great opportunity to support another school community that is in greater need than us. Given our connection over the years with the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children we thought it was appropriate to donate our school tokens to ‘RIDBC Garfield Barwick School’ at North Parramatta.
Please send any tokens to the School Office so that we can make a difference to another school community.
Kindergarten had a fantastic time at Calmsley Hill City Farm. We loved patting the baby farm animals, milking a cow, looking at the sheep dogs rounding up sheep and seeing a sheep being shorn. One of the highlights was the tractor ride. We loved going over all of the bumps! After the farm visit we thought about all the products that people can get from farms. We had lots of fun using some farm products to make damper.
Belinda Smallhorn
Kindergarten Teacher
Our Newington Walkathon now less than a week away!
The boys (as well as their teachers and parents) will enjoy a fabulous morning.
Remember, house points are on offer … will Rydal or Kingswood prevail?
Your Sponsorship Form is due today!
Dear Newingtonia echoed through Doltone House and across the waters at Pyrmont, as 670 Old Boys sung their beloved school song at the ONU Sesquicentenary Dinner on Saturday 25 May. Guests were entertained by; MC His Honour Magistrate Greg Grogin (ON ’76), the Headmaster Dr David Mulford, James Jordan (ON ’81) President of the Old Newingtonian’s Union; and special guest after dinner speaker, comedian Jean Kittson (pictured above), who is married to Old Boy Patrick Cook (ON ’67). As well as enjoying the company of school mates and past masters, the celebratory milestone of 150 years of Newington College was applauded and acknowledged in a toast by The Hon RN (Angus) Talbot (ON ’53) Chairman Newington College Council.
As part of the Sesquicentenary Celebrations, the Headmaster hosted an Afternoon Tea for more than 80 past Newington Senior Prefects, Deputy Senior Prefects and Senior Boarder Prefects on Saturday 25 May in Prescott Hall. Spanning the decades from 1945 to the present day and travelling from far and wide, Newington’s past student leaders joined the Headmaster and the Director of Development – Archives, Alumni and Foundation. A commemorative group photograph of Newington’s former student leaders was taken in front of the Founders building to celebrate the occasion.
