A Message from Mr Holden

I hope you enjoyed some downtime over the recent break. Students have hit the deck running this term and have been fully engaged in a range of activities. A highlight this week was the participation of our boys, from Year 3 to Year 6, in the College’s ANZAC Parade. The occasion was solemn and dignified, as the College community remembered sacrifices made by our nation’s service women and men. In particular, the Headmaster’s public reading of the names of 175 Newingtonians who died in past conflicts, was especially poignant. The significance of the ceremony was certainly not lost on our Wyvern students.

This week we have also been enjoying Newington’s Bi-Annual Literature Festival. Mrs Barnes and Mrs Mann have organised an exciting program for our students, from the ELC to Year 6. We have enjoyed visiting author presentations, workshops, and tomorrow we look forward to the Book Parade, click here for further information. We are pleased to welcome parents for this occasion. Can I request that parents meet on the top playground where the P&F will be serving some refreshments. Students are to head straight to their classrooms on arrival at school. Finally, I thank the P&F for their generous financial support of the Literature Festival.

I am delighted to acknowledge some students who have displayed great tenacity and sporting ability in being selected to represent the Combined and Independent Schools sporting teams. Joe Everett has been selected for CIS AFL. Mateja Wong and Kiril Kukeski-Xipolitas have been selected for CIS Football. Mateja, along with Jimmy Reilly have been selected for CIS Cross Country.

A reminder that there are some optional before school sports training sessions available to students in Years 3-6. Details are indicated in this term’s Clubs and Extra Curricular Activities at Wyvern Schedule.

Finally, I wish our families with Greek heritage a very happy and special Greek Easter this weekend.

Ian Holden
Head of Wyvern House

Achievement Awards

 The following achievement award was awarded at Assembly:

Artist of the Week

K-2 Artist of the Week

Year 1 have been looking at how they can represent forces of nature in creative ways.  They have explored the work of Katsushika Hokusai and focused their attention on his use of line and colour before creating their own versions of a great wave.  Archie, Jack and Harrison used mixed media and a variety of paint and paper techniques to add interesting layers to their artwork. 

Yelena Rubie
K-2 Visual Art Teacher

3-6 Artist of the Week

Artist of the week comes from Year 5 this week. The boys have been working within the topic of’ Historical Selfies’. The boys researched people from Australian History and they were able to draw them within an Australian landscape or seascape scene. The boys used a variety of artistic techniques when completing this work.

The second part of this work was to make a phone cover. The original work was ‘shrunk’ down into phone size. The boys were able to make their own ‘phone cover’ using choices about their designs. These will be showcased at a later date.

Congratulations to Alessandro Pizzolato, Fintan Daly, Kyan Pavendranathan and Ross Tsaloukas for their beautiful work.

Meredith Buining
3-6 Visual Art Teacher

Meet Emilie Montusclat – our new French Teaching Assistant

Emilie Montusclat recently commenced at Wyvern as a French teaching assistant. Emilie thought it would be nice to introduce herself and decided to be interviewed by Richard Wilson, Andrew Buchanan, Marcus Tadros and Jack Cleary. Below is her interview and some background information about herself.

Entretien avec Emilie
Interview with Emilie

Question 1: Comment tu t’appelles? (Quel est ton prénom/nom?)
Je m’appelle Emilie Montusclat
TRANSLATION:
Question 1: What’s your name? (What’s your first/last name?)
My name is Emilie Montusclat

Question 2:  Quel âge as tu?
J’ai 25 ans
TRANSLATION:
Question 2: How old are you?
I am 25

Question 3:  D’où viens-tu?
Je viens de l’ile de la Reunion
TRANSLATION:
Question 3: Where are you from?
I come from the island of Reunion

Question 4:  C’est où
C’est entre l’ile Maurice et Madagascar dans l’Océan Indien
TRANSLATION:
Question 4: This is where?
It is between Mauritius and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean

Question 5:  Parle nous un peu de ta famille
Dans ma famille il y’a ma maman, mon papa. J’ai un grand frère Alexandre qui a 33 ans et une grande soeur Mathilde qui a 29 ans
TRANSLATION:
Question 5: Tell us a bit about your family
In my family there is my mum, my dad. I have a big brother Alexandre who is 33 years old and a big sister Mathilde who is 29 years old

Question 6:  Pourquoi voudrais-tu être professeure de francais?
Je voudrais être professeure de français pour partager ma passion du français.
RANSLATION:
Question 6: Why would you want to be a French teacher?
I would like to be a French teacher to share my passion for French.

MY BACKGROUND
Hi, my name is Emilie Montusclat and I’m the new French Teaching Assistant.

I’m originally from Reunion Island, which is located in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius. I decided to move to Sydney in 2013 for University as I always wanted to study in an English-speaking country and in 2016, I graduated with an International Tourism and Business Management Bachelor’s degree.

I worked mostly within the sales department in the tourism/hospitality industry. My last position was at Booking.com as an Outbound Sales Executive looking after partners who list their homes with us.

In October 2020, similarly to other people within the tourism industry my employment was impacted by COVID, however, I saw it as an opportunity to take a new risk and as a result in December 2020, I decided to go back to University and start a Master of Education, as I always wanted to become a teacher and share my passion of languages with others.

I joined Newington College Wyvern Campus in early March 2021 and work alongside Monsieur Chaveroux. I’m currently studying full-time while working four half days a week at the school.  I’m thoroughly enjoying my time at the school helping the students reach their full potential in French class.

I have a real passion for languages, and I believe that knowing another language provides amazing opportunities in life. For example, if I hadn’t learnt English at school, I would have never been able to move to Australia and call Sydney home.

I would love to be able to speak a third language; over the years I’ve taken beginner lessons in Spanish, German and AUSLAN.

Next Two Weeks

Replacement Student ID Card

Dear Parents,

By now all boys in Years 3-6 should have received their student ID card. Please ensure that your son only brings this to school when using the Tuckshop or travelling by bus.

As of Term 2 we will be charging $5 to replace lost Student ID cards and this will be charged to your son’s stage account.

Kind regards

Wyvern Office.

2021 International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS)

Dear Parents

2021 International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS)

Each year Educational Assessment Australia, a non-profit organisation operating out of the University of NSW, conducts a range of competitions in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific in the areas of Digital Technologies, English, Mathematics and Science called the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS). Competitions are open to students in Years 3 – 6.

Participation in these competitions is voluntary. ICAS provides an opportunity for students in Years 3 – 6 to gain a measure of their own achievement in an external testing situation. In deciding whether you wish your son to enter, you may like to consider the following:

• these are competitions (not tests) that are designed to highlight students with particular talents; ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills, and therefore are set at a high level, with certain questions being above the capacity of many students at a particular year level;
• the competitions are NOT normed to the Australian population;

In 2021 Wyvern students in years 3 – 6 can participate in the following subjects:

If you would like your son/s to participate in any of the subjects listed above, please visit the online parent payment system before Friday 30 July.

The web link is: https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

Unique access code is: UYK430

IMPORTANT:  Please enter your child’s name accurately into the system as it will appear on their ICAS certificate.

Please do not hesitate to contact the front office if you have any questions.

Term Dates 2021

Term 2 Schedule – Clubs & Extra Curricular Activities

Dear Parents,

Please find the Term 2 Schedule for Clubs and Extra Curricular Activities at Wyvern. For more information please click on the co-curricular activity you are interested in and it will take you to the the relevant page on SPACES.

2021 Term 2 Clubs & Extra Curricular at Wyvern

Please note that Music Ensembles, Sporting Skills and activities such as TOM, Debating, Young Scientists and Future Problem Solvers Club will still have their stand alone Spaces. 

Within this Space you will find information for the following:

Coding Club
Lego & Construction Club
Artist Club
Chess
Crafty Kids
Wyvern Story Lab
Yoga & Mindfulness
Dungeons & Dragons
STEM Club
Philosophy Club
Greek School
Martial Arts – Kung Fu Action at Wyvern

Year 2 Travel Bugs Incursion

Travel Bugs is a fun, interactive Minibeast Incursion featuring large, live and colourful Australian Invertebrate Animals. Year 2 enjoyed a visit from travel bugs Wednesday 28 April. This was to tie up the topic studied in Science and Technology last term. The boys handled the three types of stick insects; a goliath, tessellated and spiny leaf stick insects. Also visiting was a millipede and we were able to feel the hard shell of two types of beetles, a rhinoceros and stag beetle.  From a distance the boys spotted the well camouflaged huntsman spiders and got up close with insect specimens in resin. The boys really enjoyed the talk and then the hands-on experience of handling some of the insects.

“This grasshopper is found everywhere in the world.” Harrison McIntyre

“The spiders were cool – they had different features and some can bite and some cannot break our skin.” Salim Fodda

“I really liked how you could see how they acted naturally.” Hugo Mesley

“I held the millipede and it felt like little tickling sticky feet.” Leo To

“I loved holding the insects. I was brave enough to hold all of them.” Zain Taleb

“I have some of these insects at my house in my front garden – I loved getting to hold them.” Jacob George

“I liked feeling the insects on my hand.” Gus Peters

“It’s kind of ticklish but I enjoyed it even though I have held three other types of stick insects before.” Rowan Kwok

Lindsay Bosch
STEM Teacher