A Message from The Head of Lindfield Campus

An Educated Person

As we consider the concept of an ‘educated person’ a lot of thoughts and images probably come to mind. You may think of a successful business person, a loving parent raising their child, a university graduate, someone interacting successfully with people from across the world, someone finding fulfillment in their work, someone playing in a band, someone gaining and maintaining fitness or something altogether different. Whatever image comes to mind, it seems consistent that the images are based on well roundedness or balance. They are typically images of people who have an appreciation for the world around them, a broad general knowledge and are well equipped with a range of skills.

At this week’s Parent Workshop we began by looking at what it means to be truly educated before looking at how the wide and varied educational opportunities available at Lindfield support this development.

As our boys grow up in an ever-changing world, the idea of a fixed or definitive base of knowledge or set of skills is quickly evolving. Instead, our boys will require an ability to interpret the world around them, to continue to adapt, to apply their skills to new and varied situations and most importantly continue to learn throughout their life. As a PYP school we are constantly seeking to support our boys as they develop these qualities, which are perhaps best articulated through the attributes of the IB Learner Profile; inquirers, thinkers, knowledgeable, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective.

Whilst understanding the big picture is essential, helping our boys to develop specific approaches to learning or skills is also very important. Our Class Teachers play a key role in this area as they provide specific learning opportunities to develop the boys’ literacy and mathematical skills. Beyond this is where our Specialist Teachers provide invaluable support as we seek to provide a comprehensive and well-rounded curriculum. Each week at Lindfield the boys engage in specific learning in Art, Music, Mandarin, Personal Development, Health and PE, and Religious Education. In addition to this, Library lessons provide specific opportunities to develop thinking and research skills. Our Learning Enhancement Department, consisting of Mrs James, Mr Watson, Ms Batrounian and myself, work with teachers to create a supportive and challenging learning environment for our students. These teachers also provide specific intervention for individual and small groups of boys as required throughout the remainder of the week.

The Units Of Inquiry are the final and critical component of the balanced learning program at Lindfield. These six units of work provide Classroom and Specialist Teachers with a vehicle or context for applying and further exploring the knowledge and skills developed through the other areas of the curriculum.

A good way to think about this is to consider the knowledge and skills you use on a daily basis at work or home. Next time you book a holiday or cook a meal, consider the wide variety of skills you use and the knowledge that you draw upon. I am sure that it won’t be confined to a single school discipline (e.g. Maths, English, Science, etc) but will draw on your ability to think and operate across the disciplines. This is the challenge of creating ‘an educated person’ – helping our students to understand the big picture and being able to apply a variety of specific skills and knowledge in order to solve real life problems.

Chris Wyatt

Term 3 Media Club

This term’s Media Club has had a wide focus, looking at news issues that interest the boys globally but also on a more local scale concerning school events such as concerts and athletics carnivals.

The boys have been working on various projects, often in small groups ensuring that each boy has a role to play. Often boys are keen to present or film their group’s work with a variety of props, but roles involving research, editing and script writing are equally as important, just as in real life. Some of the boys like to present a weekly sports segment, and have been lucky enough to interview ex-sportsmen (Brad Fittler, NRL) outside of school, which has then been incorporated into their news.

There has not always been a specific news focus, for example the boys are encouraged to use music programs such as Incredibox to compose themes, which could later be incorporated into a news piece.

As well as using the iPads and Macs the boys have started to experiment with a green screen set up in The Lookout, which can project a chosen image as a back drop. The Year 6 boys have enthusiastically taken on leadership roles for this, demonstrating how to use the green screen and helping some of the younger boys with their expertise.

The boys present their work as a group as often as possible, recognising the value of sharing what they have made and taking pride in their work.

Mr Sam Watson

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Kindergarten – Food Unit of Inquiry

Kindergarten have been inquiring into the central idea, ‘Food is essential for life and can go through changes before we eat it’. To start the unit the boys were given a provocation in which they had to try and group a range of food products. They then used iPads to take photos of the food groups and presented them using the Photo Mess app.

To gain a further understanding of how food changes the boys experienced a variety of hands-on activities such as damper making and going on an excursion to Pure Gelato to see how gelato is made. They also enjoyed observing the vegetables growing in the school vegetable garden and had great fun digging up lettuce, onions and potatoes. This produce was then proudly taken down to Mrs Nordstrom, in the tuckshop, to use in her cooking and she kindly cooked up the potatoes to make Kindergarten some potato wedges. They were delicious!

To investigate how different food items can be used to create a variety of food products, the boys looked at and taste- tested a range of food items that are made from tomatoes, potatoes and milk. They also categorised food as being processed or unprocessed and used this knowledge to think about healthy types of food that our bodies rely on.

The boys learnt to create flow charts to show the process food goes through from paddock to plate and they were also exposed to procedure writing. A range of picture books relating to our unit was used, with a favourite being ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Following the reading of this text each boy was given a ‘magic’ bean to grow and observe.

It was exciting to see the boys start to think about food and the process it goes through before we eat it.

Belinda Smallhorn – Kindergarten

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Inter-house Primary Athletics Carnival 2014

If you read my report from last year, this may sound familiar (or more like a broken record) but the Newington faithful were greeted by a spectacular day which was to be the most successful Athletics Carnival in recent memory. Well over 400 boys from Lindfield and Wyvern packed the stands for a new look and improved carnival program.

As usual, we started with the 800m and we were greeted with a familiar sight once again as young Bili Robertson scorched the track to win the Junior event, ahead of a fast finishing James MacGregor. Clearly hampered by illness, the young Wyvernite showed every bit of courage in the gruelling event. Matthew Torrible was first home for the 9 years, with Nicholas Venetoulis nipping at his heels.

In the 11’s race it was a classic finish with Fletcher Jakes leaving it to the last 50m to overcome Will Creighton, whilst in the 12’s it was Cross Country king Oscar Moody having to dig deep to pass a vastly improving Harry Bell in an all Lindfield battle.

With the 800’s finished and all the boys assembled in the stands, it was time for the fun and games to begin. With only four rotations to negotiate this year, all involved were very confident that relays would be the blue ribbon event for the end of the day.

On the track, the 8’s and 9’s showed why the future looks bright at both campuses with some stellar performances. In the 8’s it was Richard Hunt (100m) and Will Nicholas (200m) sharing the honours in the 100m and 200m respectively, with Cameron Davey-Webb closely behind in both. Cameron would then go on to win the Age Champion award in this age group, with both Richard and Will sharing the runner up title.

In the 9’s Alec Peterson (100m) and Mitchell Cope (200m) took out the sprinting crown with Harry Stuart and Matthew Torrible close behind. In the field it was Lipina Ata who starred, taking out the Turbo Javelin, Shot Put and Discus events, helping himself to the age champion crown. Sprint star Peterson was close behind in second, with Torrible 3rd.

In the 10’s young Bili Robertson did not have it all his own way, with new kid on the block Aiden Mostofi sprinting his way to victory in the 100 and 200m events, before taking out the long jump. Robertson hit back with victory in the high jump and a strong placing in the turbo javelin to take out the age championship ahead of Mostofi. Up and comer James Whiteing finished 3rd overall.

The 11 years saw multi-talented athlete Willem Rumi show he is not just a talent in the pool as he won the 100 and 200m double. But if he was brilliant on the track, young Atticus Bertrams was so in the field events, winning the shot put, discus and finishing 2nd in the high jump. This earned him the age championship, just ahead of Oliver Kleppich, with Rumi in 3rd.

In the 12 years it was a race between two, with Harry Bell and Anthony Papadimitriou jousting it out for the top honours. Harry finished 1st in the 200m and 2nd in the 100m, whereas Anthony’s 1st in both the High Jump and Shot Put, plus 2nd in both the Long Jump and 100m had him crowned 12 years winner, with Harry in 2nd. Ever improving Will Flannigan was 3rd.

The highlight of the day without doubt was the relays, and the buzz from the stands leading into the event was electric. First out of the blocks was the Junior 4 x 100m and Coates led from start to finish in a Jamaican-style victory with Bili Robertson crossing the line in first, ahead of Lucas and Howe. In the seniors it was a much tighter affair, with all 6 houses changing together at the last change. With Harry Bell and Sebastian Vardavas swapping the lead, it was the powerful finish of Vardavas that won out in the end. Howe were first, Kingswood 2nd and Lucas 3rd. A fantastic end to what was a spectacular day. Thank you to all that were involved and for the parents who ventured out and cheered on their budding athletes.

ATHLETICS RESULTS 2014

POINT SCORING

 AGE CHAMPIONS

Mark Caulfield

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Inter-school Chess

In terms 2 and 3 there has been a group of 8 boys going out to play competition chess against other schools every Friday afternoon after school. Newington entered two teams into the competition – one at a Rookie level and one in the Intermediate Level.

The Rookie team of Laksh Pande, Caleb Strawbridge, Eddie Timpson and Will Johnston (Connor Egiziano was the reserve and played one match for us). This team came third in their division.

Our Intermediate team of Justin Dai, Kalen James, Gabriel Dickinson and Alex Wang (Callum Sharp was our reserve for this team) also came third. The result for this group was extremely close – there was only one point between first and third. In the chess results there are also half points and second place was only half a point ahead of us!

This is a wonderful result for both teams.

Congratulations to all the boys!

Vanessa South

Faith Matters

Listen up!

Jim Carrey got himself in all sorts of trouble in the movie “Liar, Liar” when he had to speak truth. I suspect in real life if we all treasured integrity as much as we do other things, our world would be a much better place. Nowadays we question the promises of politicians, business can no longer be conducted on a handshake, and some parents have good reason to doubt their children.

In some cases the problem is those people who have little or no regard for the truth. However, more often than not many of our relational problems stem from poor communications. You would expect with the vast array of communication technologies at our disposal good communication would be on the rise but I fear this is not the case.

Undoubtedly, many people can put words together well to express a point of view, to debate, to argue or merely to respond. We are good with putting words into circulation. The question is, “are we equally as good at the other side of communication?’’ Are we expert listeners, as well as being expert wordsmiths? A lot of time and effort is put into teaching us to speak but I doubt that our society has spend an equal amount of energy and dollars on teaching us to listen.

One great piece of advice from the Bible that is, “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.” The old adage is true; God gave us two ears but only one mouth for a very good reason. If you are striving to be a good communicator then you’ll be striving to be a good listener.

Rev Peter Morphew

Investigating the Media

Towards the end of Years 5 and 6 investigation into how the media alters images and manipulates perspectives, the boys were privileged to spend time with some parents who work within different aspects of the media. Mrs Sally Carr, mother of Jonty in Year 6 and Charlie in Year 4, came and spoke to the boys about how The Australian newspaper decides how they report the news and what they consider to be important for us to know about.

The boys also heard from Mr David Middleton, father of Jack in Year 4, who works at Channel 9, particularly in the field of Sport. He is a regular contributor to The NRL Footy Show and provides information to the commentators during certain weekend games. He took us on a fascinating behind the scenes look at the studios of Channel 9 and shared with his knowledge and expertise of how TV can turn what has happened in life to something we can understand.

Mr Rod Prosser, head of Channel 10 Studios in Brisbane, father of Oliver in Year 6, also gave us an in-depth insight into how Channel 10 reports the news and how it gets from start to finish.

Finally, the producers of the latest Newington Lindfield Cinema Advertisement came and spent and hour with the boys sharing with them the process of advertising and what it means for us at Newington, Lindfield. The boys were fascinated by the processes involved and how much needed to be done to create such a piece of work.

All 5 guest speakers spoke eloquently with the boys about the legal and ethical responsibilities that each organisation has to their readers and viewers. The boys responded with some provoking questions and thoughts about the information presented before them.

Some of the greatest teachers about life are our parents. We are so grateful to all 3 parents for their time and generosity and we hope we can share more of our learning with future parent speakers in the future.

Mr Edwards – 5E Class Teacher

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Student Led Conferences are coming . . .

Student-Led Conferences form an important part of our Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the reporting of student learning.  As an authorised PYP School we will be conducting these conferences over the next two Tuesday afternoons/evenings – Tuesday 26 August and Tuesday 2 September.

“What are Student Led Conferences?” you may ask?

“Student Led Conferences involve the student and their parents. The student is responsible for leading the conference and also takes responsibility for their learning by sharing the process with their parents. The conference involves the student discussing and reflecting upon samples of work that they have previously chosen to share with their parents. These samples have been previously selected with guidance and support from the teacher and could be from the student’s portfolio” (taken from the IBO guidelines).

So . . . why should you attend the Student Led Conference with your son??? Well there are many reasons of which both parents and students will benefit from:

1. They provide an authentic opportunity for students to reflect as learners;

2. An authentic way to connect with your son about his learning, school and his thoughts about his work;

3. SLC’s give students responsibility for their learning;

4. SLC’s give parents’ pride in their child’s achievements;

5. They are enjoyable for all involved;

6. The students and parents feel it was worthwhile;

7. Gives you an insight into the classroom and what your son does on a weekly basis.

8. An opportunity to see not only 4 stations in each classroom but a station in each of the specialist areas.

We look forward to seeing as many parents and boys at this year’s Student Led Conferences and look forward also to enjoying seeing the boys get excited about sharing their learning experiences and reflections with you.

Please remember to book a time for your Student Led Conference – either using the Google Doc previously emailed to you or call the School Office.

Joel Weekes – (Teaching & Learning Team Leader)

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Young ICT Explorers Competition 2014

On Saturday 16 August, 14 teams (including 8 from our campus) of boys from both Prep Campuses attended the final judging event for the Young ICT Explorers Competition. This was our second year of entering this competition and without doubt the quality of the projects our boys presented and those of their competitors was high. The Lindfield teams consisted of a total of 24 boys from Years 3-6 who had collaborated on their projects at school and home during terms 2 and 3 and gave up the day to compete and share their passion with their peers and a multitude of interested adults and experts.

The event was held at the University of New South Wales and involved 145 students from New South Wales, in Years 3 – 12, presenting 78 projects. It was an exciting day full of enthusiasm as the students presented their projects to each other and the judges in an exhibition style format. Throughout the day our boys did a fantastic job at presenting and representing our school!

Overall, Newington did very well receiving a multitude of awards and praise for our two divisions (Years 3-4 and Years 5-6) and the boys can be very proud of their efforts and achievements throughout this competition.

It was a great day for our boys and they clearly enjoyed the experience! We’re excited about what we’ll have to offer next year!

Mr Pascal Czerwenka

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