It’s Time

Dear Parents,

As we head towards the end of the year, the Library becomes an even busier place. Gathering all book returns from Wyvern boys and teachers to enable a stocktake of library resources to take place, in an efficient and effective manner, takes time and commitment from the whole school community. Could I please ask that all Wyvern Library books be returned by Friday November 21st as stocktake will begin the next week. Please check your home bookshelves, bedside tables, in your car and yes, even under the bed (many boys have said books have been found resting there) for any books that have the Wyvern Library Barcode (eg W12345) on the back cover of the book. Please send these books to school with your son to be returned to the Library.

If by chance a book is lost and cannot be found or has been accidentally damaged, please let Mrs Barnes know (jbarnes@newington.nsw.edu.au) and arrangements for the cost of replacement of the book will be determined. For those parents who have already indicated that this case, I will be in contact with you shortly.

With sincere thanks,
Mrs Barnes
Teacher Librarian

Sport

Water Polo Camp Flyer, click here

Tennis Holiday Camp Flyer, click here

Oshclub – Wyvern’s Before and After School Care Program

Wyvern’s Before and After School Care Program is run by OSHClub. Enrolment for all students is recommended and allows parents to easily manage their before and after school care needs via an online account. Visit  www.oshclub.com.au to use the free enrolment service.

For all late bookings, please contact the Coordinator, Eleanor, on 0428 131 700. OSHClub’s head office number is (03) 8564 9000 Click here for the OSHClub Information Flyer.

For OSHClub Newsletter Term 4 – Week 8, click here

Kind regards
OSHClub Team

Term Dates 2015

Each year much thought goes into term dates to ensure the most appropriate balance across the year with a focus on the boys’ learning from Kindergarten to Year 12. This process, conducted by the College’s Senior Executive, takes many hours to ensure all options are considered. By now, you have probably realised that next year we have only a 2 week break between Terms 2 and 3 and a 3 week break between Terms 3 and 4.

Every year the calendar gets challenged by a number of factors. They include when Australia Day lands, when Easter lands, not wanting to start too early when it is hot, not wanting to finish too early at the end of the year with working parents, ensuring state school holidays coincide with our holidays, getting a balance of days between each Semester right (the aim is for 92 in one and 93 in the other), and finally getting maximum time possible for Year 12 for Terms 1, 2 and 3.

This balance is illustrated in the following summary:

2014 – Semester 1: 92 and Semester 2: 93

2015 – Semester 1: 93 and Semester 2: 92 (based on 3 week break between Terms 3 and 4)

2016 – Semester 1: 92 and Semester 2: 93

2017 – Semester 1: 93 and Semester 2: 92

Given the unusual situation of 2015, if we had a 3 week break between Terms 2 and 3 it would have resulted in 88 days in Semester 1 and 97 days in Semester 2 and Year 12 would have effectively lost a week.

It is important to understand that each school has different organisational and learning structures and requirements, thus the difference between other independent schools next year.

Please note that the change in holidays is only for 2015.  In 2016 we will return to a 3 week holiday break between Terms 2 and 3.

TERM DATES 2015

TERM ONE
Thursday 29 January to Thursday 2 April
Classes commence Thursday 29 January
10 week term followed by a 2 week break

TERM TWO
Monday 20 April to Friday 26 June
Classes commence Monday 20 April
Staff PD Day – Friday 3 June  – No students
Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday – Monday 8 June
10 week term followed by a 2 week break (for 2015 only)

TERM THREE
Tuesday 14 July to Friday 18 September
Staff PD Day – Monday 13 July
10 week term followed by a 3 week break (for 2015 only)

TERM FOUR
Monday 12 October to Tuesday 8 December
Classes commence Monday 12 October
Annual Prize Giving 3-6 – Tuesday 8 December

Seed Sports – Summer Cricket Clinics

Seed Sports – Multi-Sports & Activities

OSHClub Holiday Program at Wyvern

Dear Parents

Click here for the December School Holiday Program

Newington Crested Ware

There are a range of crested ware on offer at the Black and White shop. They range from memorabilia, clothing, keepsakes as well as an exclusive Sesquicentenary line which can be found on the Sesquicentenrary site. For more information about crested ware, please contact Kylie Ann Mayer at kylieann@mayhemcorp.com.au

To download the crested ware catalogue and price list  click here

To view the crested ware page on the public website, click here

Flyers in Bookstand

Seed Sports Camps

• Multi-Sports & Activities
• Summer Cricket Clinics

Tuckshop

• Everyday Tuckshop Menu

Martial Arts

• Kung Fu Action at Wyvern

Co-curricular

• Co-curricular (Before and After School) Activities at Wyvern

Speech Pathology

Robotics Engineering Group Excursion

On Tuesday the Robotics Engineering group visited Laing O’Rourke Australia to learn about Robotics in real life. This reflects on the challenge the boys are currently attempting where they can use robotics to solve a real life problem. Boys experienced Baxter the robot playing connect 4, Augmented reality and 3D printing. The highlight was oculas rift which simulated a virtual reality of a roller coaster. The boys had lots of fun and learnt lots of new things. We hope this experience will help them with their challenge and maybe inspire them to take on this line of work in the future.

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Uniform Shop

Wyvern Uniform Roster Term 4 Week 9 Click here

Wyvern Uniform Shop Order Form, Click here

Wyvern Uniform Shop Summer Price List 2014, Click here

Stuart Brown

After a long and highly successful career at Wyvern House Preparatory School, Newington College, Stuart Brown retires at the end of 2014.

Son of Mr Don Brown who was Head of Lindfield Preparatory School for 30 years, Stuart attended Newington’s Preparatory Schools at Killara and Lindfield as a student from 1960. He then spent his senior years as a student at the Stanmore Campus.

With education running through his veins, it was no surprise when Stuart qualified as a teacher in 1976. From here he worked in primary schools in the NSW public system and across 14 years took on a variety of roles, including Relieving Deputy Principal.

He joined Wyvern House as a Year 5 teacher in 1990 and quickly established a reputation for being a most capable and skilled teacher. Throughout his career at Wyvern he took on a range of senior roles including Sports Master, Computing Coordinator and Student Teacher Supervisor.

Fully committed to the students of Wyvern House, Stuart worked as a teacher across all grades and exhibited great empathy, respect and patience for his classes. As an upper primary teacher, Stuart prepared his students superbly well for life in the Senior School.

He is highly regarded by his colleagues, parents and students. He has shown unwavering dedication to the boys of Wyvern House for the last 25 years in the classroom and on the sports field, and has been a wonderful role model for all in the Newington College community. He will be missed by his colleagues and boys alike and we wish him well for his retirement.

Ian Holden
Head of Wyvern House

Year 5 French Breakfast

The French breakfast was delicious with lots of delightful French treats such as baguettes with butter and jam. The second meal was almost as French as it gets with crispy croissants and, of course, a sweet milky bowl of hot chocolate. And finally for our last meal tasty chocolate croissants which I am sure everyone loved. Overall the French breakfast was great with delicious food and drink, great music and lots of facts about France were learnt along the way.

George Papamanuel 5M 

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Wyvern Christmas Tree – Barnardos Gifts for Teens: 13 – 18 Years of Age

Every child deserves to feel the joy, warmth and happiness of Christmas!

This year we are supporting Barnardos Australia to reach their goal of collecting a gift for every child in care this Christmas. Our school can make a huge difference in the lives of many children around Australia and together you can bring smiles to kids in need this Christmas.

Each year Barnardos struggle to receive gifts for teenagers. Some suggestions of teenage appropriate gifts for 13 – 18 years are:

• sporting equipment (footballs, cricket set, soccer balls)
• baseball caps
• girls make-up
• perfume
• beach towels
• jewellery
• skin care products
• books/novels

Gift vouchers are the easiest for this age group, examples of appropriate gift vouchers include vouchers from:

• Rebel Sport
• itunes
• JB-Hi
• Hoyts Cinemas
• Sports Girl

By supporting Barnardos Gifts for Teens you are helping make a difference to these children at Christmas Time.

Why We Ask For Unwrapped Gifts

Please do NOT wrap gifts as we need to view the gifts to ensure their safety and to allocate gifts according to a child’s age, gender and individual circumstances.

Please feel free to donate wrapping paper for our centre staff to wrap presents once allocated.

Tuckshop Menu, Roster & Online Ordering

Dear Parents,

As a parent volunteer working in the Tuckshop can you please make sure that you adhere to the rules and regulations regarding appropriate footwear – closed in footwear with a rubber grip sole (ideally leather trainers). No sandals, thongs, open toe shoes or fabric trainers (fabric shoes may bring bacteria) may be worn.

If your son suffers from an allergy it is imperative that you advise the Wyvern Office and the Tuckshop so that we are aware of it. Click here for the ‘Alliance Catering  – Food Allergens Advisory Statement’.

Please click here for the Spotless Food Safety Information for Volunteers Guidelines

Tuckshop Menu and Roster for  Term 4 Week 9, Click here

Everyday Menu and Price List, Click here  Please note that there have been a few changes made to this for ‘Items from the Freezer’

Online Ordering Instructions, Click here

Online Ordering FAQs, Click here

Stationery and Textbooks 2015

Campion Education supply the book and stationery requirements for our students for all year groups Kindergarten to Year 6.

Please order books and stationery online at www.campion.com.au using the four digit code 77KX by 1 December 2014.

For students in Kindergarten to Year 2 – books and stationery will be delivered to Wyvern House prior to students commencing in 2015.

For students in Years 3 to 6 books and stationery will be delivered to your nominated address in January, 2015

State Transit Bus and Rail Passes for 2015

A reminder that all Year 2 students entering Year 3 2015 and all Year 6 students entering Year 7 2015 must complete a new Blue Application Form. Forms are available from Wyvern Office. All other year groups are not required to re-apply.

2015 passes will be issued to students when received early next year.

Sausage Sizzle Day – Friday 5th December

P & F News and Events

Hello!

It seems as though at this time every year, if you are like me, you are marvelling at how much our little men have grown and what they’ve been able to achieve in a just a year. Reflecting on this year and what our boys have been able to experience is so heart-warming. We all have much to be proud of and grateful for.

Big congratulations to the Year 6 boys! On behalf of the P&F Executive, I wish them all the very best and hope that they are as confident about their move to high school as they should be. They are lucky to have progressed through their primary years at Wyvern House and I hope they continue to be lucky in the pursuit of their dreams.

Christmas is well and truly on the way with the Christmas tree up at the front office and Carols on the Oval (at the senior school) happening on Saturday, 6 December from 7:30pm-8:30pm, marking the end of the school term and the school year.

This is a special time of year, regardless of your beliefs. The spirit of giving is contagious and if you allow yourself to be swept away by the wonder of Christmas and the joy of giving you will surely experience all the magic that comes with it.

When you’re shopping for the children in your life, please think about the many children who won’t be getting a Christmas present this year and who may have never had one. This year we are encouraging people to purchase gifts for older children who tend to get forgotten, but who would get the same pleasure from a gift as a young child would.

I hope to see you at the Welcome Picnic on Saturday, 17 January from 2:00pm-4:00pm, the Welcome Cocktail Party on Friday, 6 February from 6:00pm-9:00pm or perhaps both. Detailed invitations for both of our ‘new year’ events are available on SPACES. In the meantime, enjoy the opportunity to recharge the batteries and change the routine, which hopefully includes more sleeping in or at least staying in your pyjamas for just that little bit longer in the morning.

I’m going to repeat myself…once again, on behalf of the P&F Executive, a big thank you to every parent, carer, friend and family member who has been active in our school community this year. Wyvern House would not have the same community spirit without you, and of course, we all need to say special thanks to the staff of Wyvern House. We are blessed to have such caring and capable people looking after our children.

And, finally…the Uniform Shop will open before Term 1 2015 starts – Tuesday, 27 January and Wednesday, 28 January from 8.30am-12.00pm. These are very busy days so if you can spare any time to help out on either of these two days our Uniform Shop Manager, Kerry-Lee Foord, would really appreciate your help. Her contact details are 0423 928 420 or klfoord@me.com.

So, with a New Year full of promise ahead of us, I wish you a very merry Christmas, happy holidays and all the best for 2015.

Until next time, be well and happy

Natalie Mina
President, Wyvern P&F
natalie.mina@accenture.com; 0414 850 455

Next Two Weeks

Newington Private Bus Passes for 2015

Students who currently travel on the Newington Private Buses should re-apply for bus passes in 2015 at the following address http://www.newington.nsw.edu.au/payments/make-a-payment/

Faith Matters

Robert Louis Stevenson the famous author of books such as Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also penned many prayers. Here is a Christmas prayer that he wrote which you may wish to think upon and use over the Christmas break.

God, our loving Father,
help us to remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of angels,
the gladness of the shepherds and
the wisdom of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings
and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.

May Christmas morning make us happy to be your children
and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Peter Morphew
Chaplain

Artist of the Week

K – 2 Artist of the Week

Artists of the Week are Phoenix Thompson (KV) and Sam Gallant (KL)

Phoenix is to be commended on his care and perseverance in making an echidna from paper clay and found materials. The resulting sculpture is an impressive creation.

Sam listened to the story of Noah’s Ark. He imagined, then painted a scene with the ark floating in a vast, rainy, watery sea. His use of expressive line deserves special mention.

Final Artists of the Week for 2014 are Alan Li (2F) and Samuel Creighton (2F) for their intricately woven fibre mat in colours of the ocean, Jude Davidson (2S) for a creatively designed intaglio print of swirling water and Lewis Saupin (2S) for his neatly woven work using paper.

Alan Li

Samuel Creighton

Jude Davidson

Lewis Saupin

Debbie Bourke
K-2 Art Teacher

Achievement Awards & House Points

House Points

A Message from Mr Holden

The term is rapidly drawing to a close and as is often the case at this time of year, it is time to farewell a number of staff members who will be leaving Wyvern at the end of the year. Ms Malia Fineone and Mr James Morgan have made wonderful contributions as teacher interns this year. We wish them well in the next phase of their teaching careers. Mrs Melanie Bryden, our exemplary Year 5 Team Leader, will be on maternity leave in 2015. We wish Melanie and Alex every best wish over the exciting months ahead and look forward to seeing Melanie back at Wyvern later next year. Mr Sean Casham (Year 6 Teacher) leaves us after 3 tremendous years of service. We wish Sean every success in his relocation to Wollongong.

And finally, after 25 years of remarkable service to the students, parents and staff at Wyvern, Mr Stuart Brown will retire at the end of the year. Please see the article about Stuart’s wonderful career in this newsletter. Suffice to say, Stuart has made an outstanding contribution and will be greatly missed by the Wyvern Community.

New Appointments for 2015

After a rigorous recruitment process in which we had an exceptional field of candidates, I am pleased to announce the following appointments for 2015.

ICT Teacher/Facilitator

Mr Chris Patel: currently Head of Learning Technologies and Director of ICT, Thomas’ Clapham London Day School.

Class Teachers

Ms Meg Brown (Y3): currently Year 2 teacher at St Catherine’s School, Waverley.  Mrs Sara Ratner (Y6): currently CEO of The Prep School, Double Bay; previous roles include primary class teacher at PLC, Hale School and Head of Gifted and Talented of Middle School at Moriah College.  Ms Rachel Dillon (Y5) and Ms Aimee Parkinson (Y1): currently regular relief teachers at Wyvern with extensive experience in NSW public and independent school sectors.

Other Changes for 2015

Ms Cate Fryda and Mrs Debra Malkki will move into the Learning Enhancement Team.  Mrs Fryda will continue to take the lead on implementing our Building Learning Power strategies.

Annual Prize Giving

A reminder that this year’s Annual Wyvern Prize Giving for students in Years 3 – 6 will take place in Centenary Hall on Monday 8 December at 9:00am. Students are asked to meet their class teachers at the Senior School outside the Music Centre (next to Centenary Hall) no later than 8:30am wearing their summer uniform minus black cap. The conclusion of the ceremony marks the official end to the school year. Following Prize Giving we invite parents and students to join Wyvern staff for morning tea in the AJ courtyard area at the very end of the driveway.

Finally

Finally, I sincerely thank all parents for such strong support of your both boys and the staff at Wyvern this year. I also acknowledge and thank the wonderful staff team for a year of great energy and purpose. 2014 has been a year of many successes, achievements, gains, superb effort of students and teachers; our partnership with parents has been at the heart of this. I wish you all wonderful festive season.

Ian Holden
Head of Wyvern House