A Message from Mr Holden

The process for allocating students to next year’s classes is thorough and starts in Term 4. As part of this, some parents may feel that they can assist by offering additional information about their son. Should you wish to express a view about the style of classroom management you think may best match your son (e.g. particularly nurturing or greater structure, etc.) I invite you to contact me via email before the end of this term. We approach each year as a new start for the boys, hence, we do not automatically consider requests made in previous years. However, should there be significant information from past requests, please do contact me again. Requests for particular teachers, or for a teacher based on gender, will not be considered. Whilst we do welcome parental input, the school has the final say in decisions regarding class placement for 2020.

A reminder that at the next P and F meeting on Wednesday 11 September at 6:30pm, Ms Belinda Martins (Wyvern Digital Learning teacher) and Ms Lindsay Bosch (Wyvern STEM teacher) will update parents about our approach to digital learning and science and technology, including the implementation of the new Science and Technology syllabus. There have been some significant changes in this area, so I encourage you to attend this workshop; please RSVP for this event at wyvern@newington.nsw.edu.au

Ian Holden
Head of Wyvern House

Achievement Awards

 The following achievement award was awarded at Assembly:

Artist of the Week

K – 2 Artists of the Week

Jakey Nalliah 2S

Geordan Kypreos 2B

Nicholas Paradise 2B

Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed working on their mixed media self-portrait sculptures. 

They carefully selected small pieces by exploring an array of recycled materials and bits and bobs.  Great conversations were had as the boys discovered interesting objects, arranged them on their canvas and bartered to swap pieces with each other.  Through this experience, the boys explored the idea of drawing the viewer into the artwork by the careful placement of objects, and by the layering of materials to create interest. 

We look forward to showcasing these sculptures at the Wyvern Biennale early next term.  Well done, Year 2!

Yelena Rubie
K – 2 Visual Arts Teacher

Book Swap

When: Week 9 (September 16^th – 20^th) during Library Lessons

How it Works:

• Students select ‘gently read’ books from their personal collection at home to bring to the Library from 8am on the day of their Library lesson.
• Books selected should be appropriate for the reading age of the year group of the student.
• Books may be fiction or nonfiction.
• Students may bring a maximum of 3 books to swap.
• During their Library lesson, students who have brought books to swap will be able to choose ‘new’ books from the swap books bought by other students.

Helpful Tips:

• Avoid choosing the more popular titles like Wimpy Kid, Treehouse, Weirdo, Roald Dahl books etc to swap as most students either own or have read them.
• Please make sure that the books chosen to swap are in very good condition as to not disappoint other students.
• Books for swapping should only be brought to the Library on your son’s lesson day, not before.

If you have any questions about the Book Swap, please contact me jbarnes@newington.nsw.edu.au

This is an event in conjunction with Australian Reading Hour in Week 9. We are hoping that the boys who participate will have ‘new’ books to read for the upcoming school holidays.

Mrs Barnes
Librarian

Clubs & Extra Curricular at Wyvern – Term 3

Dear Parents,

Please find the 2019 Clubs and Extra Curricular Activities at Wyvern – Term 3 below. 

Term 3 2019 Clubs and Extra-Curricular Activities at Wyvern

Kind regards

Wyvern Office

Donut Day Flyer

Full College Instrumental Stocktake

During week 8 of this term, the Music Department will be undertaking a complete stocktake of all instruments owned by the College. 

If you have a borrowed, loaned, or even think you have a Newington instrument, we ask that you bring it to the music department during these two weeks, to be sighted, have its condition checked, and cross-check it with our system. Boys are to bring their instrument at the start of the day and can pick their instrument up in the afternoon. 

For Wyvern, this stocktake will be taking place on Friday 13^th September. Instruments are to be taken to the Wyvern Hall.

Please bring your child’s instrument in at the start of the day and pick it up in the afternoon. If your child has a lesson during the day, please mention this as you drop off their instrument in the morning, and they can pick it up from the Music Department before their lesson.

If you have a Newington Instrument assigned to you on our system and do not bring it in, you will be invoiced the cost of a replacement instrument. Hire fees will be waived if the instrument is in arrears.

If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Isaacs – Performing Arts Administrator 

e: sisaacs@newington.nsw.edu.au ph: 9568 9324

Nude Food Day at Wyvern

On Wednesday 18th September 2019 we will be holding a Nude Food Day at Wyvern. We are trying to reduce the amount of rubbish we create by bringing lunches that produce no waste. In this newsletter we have included information to help families get prepared and you can also visit https://www.nudefoodday.com.au/resources/ for more recipes and ideas. We are encouraging everyone to take up the Nude Food challenge and reduce our Wyvern waste. On this day the canteen will also be providing nude food so boys are still able to order recess and lunch orders. We ask that boys bring their own reusable container to collect their food. Please get involved and help our community move towards a more sustainable future.

Tournament of Minds

On Saturday, the 31st of August, 3 teams of creative minds were fighting off their nerves, at the WSU Bankstown.

There are two parts to the challenge – the Long Term Challenge and the Short Term Challenge. For the Long Term Challenge, you are given 6 weeks to prepare, and a challenge. For our 3 teams, the challenge was to recreate The Wizard of Oz, but in an Australian setting (The Wizard of Aus if you will). Every team had a different response. Team 1, did ‘The Sizzler of Aus’, a humourous reimagining of the original, Dorothy, a determined outback girl who wants to be the greatest sizzler in Australia. We follow her as she meets some peculiar friends. Team 2 did The Wizard of Aus, but not as you know.Last Saturday, 31st of August, three teams of creative minds were fighting off nerves, getting ready to perform.

Tournament of Minds (or TOM for short) is a school competition where teams of students work together to solve problems in either The Arts, Language and Literature, STEM or Social Sciences. In the exciting world of TOM, wacky, weird and absurd ideas are encouraged. The Tournament is made up of 2 main parts – the Long Term Challenge and the Spontaneous challenge. During try-outs, each interested student was able to experience the TOM idea with creative activities. There were some familiar faces from previous years, but there were also many new boys ready for a fun new challenge. Eventually, we had 3 teams of 6.

At the beginning of Term 2, we worked on creative thinking tasks and spontaneous challenges. In the Spontaneous Challenge component, teams must work together to creatively respond to and present a solution to a problem that they have not seen before entering the challenge room. If that sounds easy, try doing it in a group of 6 with less than 5 minutes total!

For the rest of the term we worked on practicing the skills we would need to be successful in the Long Term Challenge. In this section, teams are given a detailed problem six weeks before the competition date. They then have time to prepare a creative solution to be performed in front of the judging panel on the day of the finals.

This year, all teams competed in The Arts. The challenge was to take The Wizard of Oz and turn it into an Australian version of the classic musical. Our first team, Team TOMazing (Also known as ‘Team 1’), did ‘The Sizzler of Aus”, which follows the adventures of Dorothy, who wants to be the greatest sizzler in all of Australia. Our second team, TOMmy and the TOMtastics (Also known as ‘Team 2’) did an interesting performance. Forget everything that you know about the Wizard of Oz, as they show you what really happened. And finally, TOMcalafragalisticexpialadocious (Also known as ‘Team 3’) did The Lizard of Aus, a humorous journey through song. With gripping acapella and the best song of the lot – Treehemion Rhapsody – theirs was Mr Baker’s favourite (ask him)! There were many creative interpretations of the challenge.

Our school competes in the South-West Sydney region, which draws the largest number of teams in all of the Sydney regions. It was a big day of competition from 9 am to 3 pm, then the award ceremony is at 4:30pm. Some of our squad members stayed to see the award ceremony where all teams ranked in the top 10: Team 1 in 7th, Team 3 coming in 5th and Team 2 impressively taking out 1st place.

Congratulations go to all boys, but especially the members of Team 2, who will now progress to the State Finals, a feat which has not been achieved by a team from Wyvern for over 5 years!

Excitement builds as our Team 2 TOM members prepare for the State finals at UNSW on Sunday, 15th of September, and we wish them all the very best.

Whether you are into short outside of “the box” ideas, or love creating props, sets, costumes, scripts or just live for performing arts. TOM is the best way to develop these skills. Be sure to try out next year!

Top 2 Highlights:

J.Latham:

1. Writing and performing original songs such as Treehemian Rhapsody, Happy Ever After and We Welcome You Here
2. Learning the skills to make costumes, wigs and props using simple and recycled materials with no adult assistance.

Z.Coull:

1. Logic puzzles and performing long term challenge at the competition.
2. Post competition party! It gave me a sugar high.

Well done to the following boys who participated in TOM:

A very special thanks to Mrs Kirk for stepping up to the position of facilitator in her first year at Newington.

This article was written by Zac Coull (6B) and Jeremy Latham (6J)

Team 3: Pictured (left to right): Michael Korompay, Tristan Holmes, Jeremy Latham,
Oscar Walsh, Will Gray, Andrew Wayling

Team 2: (Regional Winners) Pictured (left to right): Back row – Tommy Tweeddale,
Buddy Latham, Nathan Chong,
Front row – Adam Younes, Vishay Modi, Daniel Carter, Mrs Amy Kirk

Team 1: Pictured (left to right): Sam Gallant (seated), Zac Coull, Miles Jenkinson,
Hugo Young, Hugo Kilborn, Keaton Saggers

Sport

Sports Newsletter, Click here

2019 Sports Handbook, Click here

Investigating with Mathematics Competition

On Wednesday Nathan Chong, Sebastian Wong and Vishay Modi from Year 6 attended an awards ceremony for the NSW Mathematics Association’s Investigating with Mathematics competition. These three boys competed in the Year 6 small group category and placed 2nd in the state.

The Investigating with Mathematics competition was an external event where students explored, posed and solved ‘real-life’ situations and problems about Mathematics. This was the first year Newington participated in this competition.

Throughout term 2, students met once a week to design, create and solve their investigation. We had a wide range of mathematical investigations. Below are the investigations which were submitted this year:

• Ryan Low (Year 3) investigated different ways of spending $100 at Luna Park. He was even lucky to test out his findings with his family.
• Liam Sioutas, Deyan Nikolic, Bryant Diep, Marcus Taylor, and Frank O’Halloran (Year 3) explored how to power Wyvern with solar panels. They used rooftop measurements from above the Year 6 centre and researched the best solar panel for energy efficiency and power.
• Jacob Lim, Seth Bougradous, Bryn Hunt and Runjeet Khara (Year 3) conducted a data survey about the online Maths game ‘Prodigy’. They surveyed each boy in Year 3 and analysed the data to find out how much time Year 3 was spending on Prodigy.
• Carter Tocknel, Angus Baker Wood, Will Illiopolous and Alex Nicholias (Year 4) explored how much rubbish waste was created at Wyvern in Term 2 and used this information to calculate how many bins we need around the playground.
• Rhys Howard-Jones, Abbas Beydoun, Ben Macdessi and Ben Chau (Year 5) conducted an extensive analysis of Pascal’s triangle.
• Nathan Chong, Vishay Modi and Sebastian Wong (Year 6) researched the amount of sugar in popular breakfast cereals as well as common sweets.
• Patrick Jones, Jacob Haddad and Angus Thompson (Year 6) compared the prices of common items between big supermarket chains to local, independent stores and analysed the profit margin between the two.

Congratulations to all students. All other investigations received a participation for their efforts.

I look forward to continuing Newington’s participation in the Investigating with Mathematics competition. It is an fantastic opportunity to help build future mathematicians at Wyvern.

The integral role of Mathematics

Mathematics is an integral part of our everyday lives; therefore, our Mathematics teaching needs to be diverse and relevant to help set our students up for success in life. Authentic, real-world problems provide students with an opportunity to understand, analyse and propose solutions to current social, economic, environmental and health issues. I encourage all students to make links between the world around them and mathematics. It is this skill which will sustain and create a passion for mathematics and shape innovative, critical thinkers who can adapt to any situation.  

Ciara Harding
Year 6 Teacher

Next Two Weeks

Oshclub – Wyvern’s Before and After School Care Provider

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 Adam Vilimaa on 0428 131 700. OSHClub’s head office number is (03) 8564 9000 Click here for the OSHClub Information Flyer.

Newsletter, click here

Kind regards

Adam Vilimaa
Program Co-ordinator

Sausage Sizzle Flyer

Tuckshop Menu, Roster & Online Ordering

Term Dates 2019

Term Dates 2020

Uniform Shop

Dear Parents,

Wyvern Uniform Roster Term 3 Weeks 8 and 9, Click here

Nicole Williams
Uniform Shop Manager – Wyvern, Newington College

Mon & Thurs – 7:30am to 9:00am
Tues – 2:30pm to 4:00pm

wyvernuniform@newington.nsw.edu.au
www.wyvernshop.com

What is Australian Reading Hour?

On Thursday September 19th 2019, stop what you’re doing for one hour, pick up a book and head to Wyvern Library. We will be reading in Wyvern Library for Reading Hour from 7:15am to 8:15am. We want the Wyvern community to either rediscover or introduce themselves to the benefits of reading – mental stimulation, stress reduction, knowledge, vocabulary expansion, memory improvement, improved focus and concentration and better writing skills to name a few.

In children, reading has been shown to help with identity formation, setting them up for success in the future. Improving a child’s reading skills and cognitive ability is important to their success in school, work and life, “If you are going to get anywhere in life,” Roald Dahl is credited with saying, ‘you have to read a lot of books.”

In adults, reading has been shown to reduce stress by 68% more than listening to music, going for a walk, or having a cup of tea.

So please join us on Thursday September 19th in Wyvern Library at 7:15am for this year’s Australian Reading Hour. Bring your own book or read from a selection of books available in the Library. 

We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards,

Mrs Mann and Mrs Barnes

Winter Sport, Music and Co-curricular Photos Orders 2019

Winter Sport, Music and Co-curricular photos are now available to order from Advanced Life Photographers.  To view and order please go to www.advancedlife.com.au and enter the 9 digit online code Z4L MJR RWN. 

Please follow the 4 Easy Steps to Online School Photos Ordering:

Step 1: Go to www.advancedlife.com.au and enter your school code Z4L MJR RWN

Step 2: Select “GROUPS” and choose the images you would like to purchase

Step 3: Enter Your Students Details  

Step 4: Pay for the photos via the shopping cart (upper right corner of the page)

Photo orders will be delivered to Wyvern office for distribution to students.

Wyvern Office

WriteOn Winner – Ren Clarke

WriteOn is an annual writing competition for NSW students in Years 1-6 held by NESA.  It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to interpret an image and create text using their imagination. Using for inspiration a photo of coloured hats, students wrote a short, imaginative piece of up to 500 words. With over 400 entries, Ren Clarke in Year 2 won the Gold Award for the statewide WriteOn Competition and will receive a copy of The Best of WriteOn 2019, featuring his story. The ceremony was held on Friday 23 August where he received the award from Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning, Sarah Mitchell . We are very proud of his fantastic achievement.

Lulu  Sanderson-Green
Year 2 Team Leader

Wyvern Biennale 2019

The Wyvern Biennale Art Exhibition commences on Monday 21st – 26th October in Concordia Gallery.

Please come along and see the exciting Artwork on show from Kindergarten to Year 6. Every boy in Wyvern will have something displayed from their work this year.

Opening hours Monday 21st to Friday 25th – 8.00am – 9.00am and 3.00pm – 4.00pm and Saturday 26th – 9.00am – 12.00pm.

Opening night is Thursday 24^th. Our guest artist is Christian Bonnet, an award winning artist who has been hung in the Wynne Prize. Selected Year 5 boys will be creating performance art for us on the night. Please come along at 6.00pm for some delicious canapes and vote for your favourite Year 6 Portrait. Marvel at the Year 5 Venetian Masks. Our Year 1 boys have been working on self portraits and Year 4 have been working hard on traditional bird paintings.

It has been really exciting to see how the boys have embraced the work for the show.

Here are just a few of the works that will be on display.

Volunteers

Ms Buining and Ms Rubie would love some volunteers to man the show in the mornings and afternoons for a 1 hour block.

Please email Ms Buining mbuining@newington.nsw.edu.au if you would like to volunteer for one or more of these slots.

Monday – Friday 8.30am – 9.30am and or 3.00pm – 4.00pm.

Duties are light and easy……. mind the gallery, put out the sign, count the votes, take in the sign.

Many thanks in advance.

Ms Buining