Responsible risk taking through the camps programIssue No. 3: March 1 2019 Responsible risk taking...

Issue No. 3: March 1 2019

Responsible risk taking through the camps program

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

French writer Andre Gide

It’s easier to operate within our comfort zones rather than feel the discomfort that comes when we

stretch the boundaries. This is just as true for a child as it is for an adult. At King’s, we strive to

provide an environment where the boys are urged to stretch their boundaries, to experience situations

where they need to take risks within a safe and supportive community.

Risk taking has been one of the PYP Learner Profiles in focus within the Primary School over the past

few weeks. The IB learner profile describes risk takers as people who “approach uncertainty with

forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and

innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenge and change.”

At the Prep we help our boys to understand that in life we need to take risks to explore possibilities;

to discover new information about the world around us; to learn more about ourselves and to develop

more self-confidence by overcoming challenges. Not all risks are sensible and responsible. Some risks

can place ourselves and others in unsafe situations. However, if we are open to learning from our

mistakes, and we are able to use what we already know to make wise decisions then we approach

new challenges with greater confidence and clarity.

Within our classrooms and our outdoor programs, teachers look for opportunities to encourage

students to take greater risks with their learning, to stretch the boundaries into those zones that can

sometimes bring a sense of discomfort. It is only by gently being encouraged to take on greater

challenge that growth occurs and boundaries are expanded. I encourage parents to support the

endeavours of the school and look for opportunities in the home where calculated risk taking can be

experienced and discussed.

The outdoor education camp program is an important strategy used by staff to encourage students to

understand about responsible risk taking. Each camp places boys into new environments where they

undertake both individual and group challenges which test physical boundaries. This week all boys

from Years 3 to 6 spent some days out in different locations involved in a range of activities

coordinated by Anglican Youthworks.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others” 1 Peter 4:10

PREP NEWSLETTER ISSUE 3: 1 March 2019

The Year 3 boys enjoyed a two day, overnight experience in the Blue

Mountains. The boys enjoyed field trips into bushland locations learning

about early indigenous communities living in the area, participating in

bush cooking, bike education, building catapults, and abseiling.

For the Year 4 boys, the Royal National Park was the perfect location for

their outdoor adventures. Alongside the Christian education sessions,

the boys enjoyed participating in bush navigation activities, pool rafting,

fishing, a low ropes course, exploration of the mangrove area and bush

survival skills.

The Year 5 camp was also located in the Royal National Park at another

Youth Works site known as Deer Park. After an early morning Bible discovery session, the students

participated in a range of outdoor activities designed to provide physical challenge and the

development of team work. The activities included sailing, abseiling, rock climbing, pool rafting,

archery and canoeing. The afternoon waterslide activities were a real highlight for many of the boys.

Our Year 6 boys ventured to a new location for King’s at Toukley on the Central Coast. Much of the

activity for the senior boys revolved around beach activities with instruction provided in surfing and

paddle boarding. The boys participated in a range of initiative building group challenges and quad

biking, alongside the Christian Discovery sessions.

There’s no doubt, these camps are fun! However, the camping program also enhances relationship

building amongst the boys, improves self-esteem and self-efficacy, improves socialisation skills and

facilitates group bonding and co-operation. These opportunities also reduce the formality of the

relationships between students and staff and allows for the development of closer relationships that

can transfer with positive results in the classroom. For our new students to King’s this year, it was a

great way to build and strengthen relationships with their new peer group.

Prep School Swimming Carnival The cooler, wetter weather moved in for this year’s annual Prep School Swimming carnival held last

week. This called for a change in arrangements which meant that not all boys could be together on the

pool deck to contribute to the usually strong House spirit that surrounds competitors at previous

carnivals.

However, the day still heralded some stunning performances in the pool, including the breaking of a

1990 Open relay record time of 2.30.83 with a new record time of 2.17.72 shattering the old record by

some 13 seconds. The boys achieving the new mark included James Napoli, Luke Fleet, Lucas

Ivankovic and Monty Basten from Stiles House.


By afternoon, the conditions had improved and all classes were able to head down to the pool to

watch the final events including the relays which promoted enthusiastic chants and tremendous

House spirit.

Our thanks are extended to Darren Lawrenson, the Director of Sport, Brett Pickup, our new PDHPE

teacher and Lisa Sayer, the Sports Administrator who assisted behind the scenes in all the

organisation for the day.

The Age Champions results are recorded below:

U 9 Champion Harry Fleet

U 9 Runner Up Sebastian Le Claire

U 10 Champion Lucas Hay

U10 Runner Up Finn McDonald

U 11 Champion Joshua Jia

U 11 Runner Up Matthew Thompson

U 12 Champion Roy Ma

U 12 Runner Up James Napoli

Congratulations to Thomas House who finished the day as the champion House for the carnival.

Year Dinners – Saturday 16 March

Parents should have received information from Fathers’ Association Representatives in their year

group about the Year Dinner to be held on Saturday 16 March. This is a terrific opportunity to meet

parents from across the year group and enjoy building connections and relationships with others.

Parents are encouraged to join a great evening and book tickets on line through the Trybooking link

shared by year level FA Representatives.


Headmaster’s Distinctions

Term 1 Week 1-5

Peter Allison

Head of the Preparatory School

Fathers’ Association Year Dinners The first major social event for the Prep community, organised by the Fathers’ Association, is the Year

Dinners. The dinners will be held on Saturday, 16 March. The Fathers’ Association has booked a

restaurant for each year group and more information will be forwarded to parents in the near future.

This evening is a great night and a wonderful way to meet the parents of boys in your son’s year

group and I encourage all parents to attend.

Year 3-6 Camps The Year 3-6 boys had their camps this week. The camps provide a wonderful opportunity for the

boys to bond with each other, especially with our new boys. It also provided new experiences that

push some boys out of their comfort zone, which helps build resilience. I attended the Year 6 Camp

and there were a number of boys who were apprehensive about trying some of the activities, but they

“had a go” and to their surprise, they loved it.

I want to sincerely thank all the staff that attended the camps and were away from their families for

the two or three days.

Pre-Kindergarten

Year 1

Year 3

Year 5

GUPTA, Vihaan

MORRISON, Charlie

FLEET, Harry x 2

GIANG, Arthur

JAYASURIYA, Keshon

MARTIN, Lachlan

RACE, Bodie

SALGADO, Saviru

SINGH, Arjan

Kindergarten Year 2 Year 4 Year 6

FODOR, William x 2

LEUNG, Austin

NGAI, Joseph

ROY, Karan

ZHAO, Luxiao

FODOR, Thomas x 3

INDRAJIT, Ariya x 2

AIKMAN, William

CAO, Anton

DOHNT, Lex

GREGSON, William x 2

KNIPPERS, Willem

NGUYEN, Ryan x 2

SAWHNEY, Ryan x 4

WEBSTER, Jack

ZLATANOVIC, Luke x 2

DEPUTY HEAD


Prep School Dads v Senior School Dads Cricket Game

One of the annual fixtures on the School calendar is the Prep School Dads v Senior School Dads

Cricket Game. We play two 20-20 games on the White Oval and it is a very popular event for those

involved. The games takes place on Sunday, 17 March from 9:30am on the White Oval. The Prep

School Dads Cricket Captain, Mr David Guazzarotto, would like to invite any interested dads to

contact him for more details and to express interest in playing –

[email protected] or 0414 415 645.

mailto:[email protected]


Road Safety and Parking at the Preparatory School

I have written to all parents this week about the Turning Circle, road safety in the Prep School and

driving across and parking on the Gowan Brae lawn. I ask all parents to read this letter and follow the

guidelines outlined to ensure the safety of the boys and parents and to make the process of collecting

boys as smooth as possible.

Upcoming Events

Week 6 Sunday, 3 March 2019

Monday, 4 March 2019

Tuesday, 5 March 2019 IPSHA Swimming Carnival

Indigenous Performance – Year 3

Snowsports Club Meeting - Prep (7:00 pm)

Rugby Club Meeting - Thomas Memorial Pavilion (7:30 pm)

Wednesday, 6 March

2019 King's Fest Meeting (7:30 pm)

Football Club Parents' Information Night - Thomas Memorial Pavilion

(7:00 pm)

Thursday, 7 March 2019 Dalleywater Auxiliary - Lower Dalleywater Centre (8:25 - 10:25 am)

Friday, 8 March 2019 CIS AFL Trials

Old Buffers Cricket game

Music Soiree 3 - Strings

ISDA Debating - Home

Saturday, 9 March 2019 Summer Sport Round 5

Prep School Tour (9:30 am)

Week 7 Sunday, 10 March 2019

Monday, 11 March 2019 Composer in Residence(Paul Jarman) working with Year 6

King's Bullying Awareness Week

Cricket Club Meeting - Harrisford Room (7:00 pm)

Tuesday, 12 March 2019 Composer in Residence(Paul Jarman) working with Year 6

TKSOBU Meeting (7:00 pm)

Wednesday, 13 March

2019 Literacy and PYP Seminar – Lower Dalleywater Centre (7:30 am)

Composer in Residence (Paul Jarman) working with Year 6

Football Club Committee Meeting - Thomas Memorial Pavilion

(7:00pm)

Thursday, 14 March

2019 Author in Residence (Tim Harris) working with Year 5

Headgear Presentation to Year 3 boys by Senior School 1st XV

Football presentation to Year 3 boys by Senior School 1st XI

Staff Meeting (3:30 pm)

Friday, 15 March 2019 National Bullying Awareness Day

Cricket Club Lunch - Parramatta Park Royal

Music Soiree

ISDA Debating - Home

Saturday, 16 March 2019 Summer Sport Round 6

Prep School Year Dinners


RESILIENCE

A poignant message on the boatshed wall at

Deer Park on the southern shore of the Port

Hacking River, where Years 4 and 5 enjoyed

camp this week, reminded us all that life is not

best lived with ease. Resilience development is

a complex journey, best scaffolded with

understanding adults. Our boys were taken out

of their comfort zones in a number of activities.

This was a good thing.

I share with you recent research conducted by

Fuller and Wicking with Resilient Youth

Australia, on resilience of boys and young men

in Australia. The areas of risk and vulnerability

cannot be understated in terms of mental

wellbeing and emotional good health, as well as

classic success factors in school and at home.

Over 18,000 males from Year 3 to Year 12 were

surveyed.

The areas of strength determined for young

Australian boys are their connectedness to the

adults in their lives and the understanding of

boundaries and expectations. A strong sense of belonging to families and schools was identified as a

strength. This sense of belonging is significant in terms of risk factors and antidotes to violence, drug

abuse and self-harm.

The challenges for boys and young men include building a personal set of values, a strong sense of

personal identity and engagement in learning. Resilience levels were determined from this research as

only 39% with excellent or good levels. This is not a good thing.

Michael McQueen, in Raising Resilient Kids, Building Inner Strengths and Character into Tomorrow’s

Leaders, asserts that one of the most common questions expressed with regards to contemporary child

raising is, ‘Have we raised children who are just too soft?’ He states that children have been and are

being raised who lack the skills and character to persist despite setback, failure, disappointment or

criticism. That is, children who lack resilience.

Resilience is defined as:

The ability to stand firm despite challenges, setbacks and delays

The ability to be undeterred by external circumstances and events

The ability to rebound

DIRECTOR OF STUDENTS


Our children need space and

opportunity to take risks, make

mistakes, and cope with the

consequences. You may know of the

terms ‘bubble wrapped children’ and

‘helicopter parenting’. Those parents,

who in good faith, do a disservice to

their children by not allowing healthy

social and emotional growth to occur,

are in fact thwarting their children’s

development. Time is wisely invested

in essential agreements about growing

strong, being prepared, hanging

tough, bouncing back, and emerging

renewed.

The harnessing and development of resilience, ie the ability to recover from adversity and move on, is

high on our agenda in the engagement and pastoral care of our boys. In order to promote resilience, a

team approach is imperative. We are very able and available to work with families in this area and

have had significant success in assisting parents to both model and facilitate resilience for their boys.

The School climate plays a significant role in the development and application of social and emotional

wellbeing and a flourishing student. A systematic whole school approach best achieves these

outcomes. As Director of Students, I chair the Wellbeing and Character Development team with

Housemasters - Annie Reuben, Patrick Ell, Jordy Wickham and Jo Usher, Counsellor David Hegarty

and Associate Chaplain Stuart Tye. Here we engage in strategic planning to promote the values of the

School, the attributes of the Learner Profile, resilience, and Christian character. We talk about our

boys, those who are struggling as well as those who are flourishing, and determine paths of support.

Along with the Executive and teaching staff, we cast our net wide, and resilience of boys is an area of

particular focus. Traditionally it has been referred to as bouncing back, but we prefer to promote a

bouncing forward. We saw this at camp; boys who took risks, failed sometimes, succeeded

sometimes, bounced forward.

It is our goal to facilitate social and emotional wellbeing, and resilience in partnership with families.

This requires explicit, consistent and systematic delivery of common goals embedded in curriculum

and daily practice. This is an exciting and essential journey. I am happy to meet and speak with

parents who have any concerns, or who require support in this regard.

Best case scenario is that we are all in the same boat, heading safely into port, with the wind having

whipped up a bumpy and exciting ride.

Belinda Baxter

[email protected]


TAKING ACTION IN THE HOME: BEING A PYP PARENT AND

FAMILY

The IB learner profile is at the core of the PYP, infusing and shaping all

parts of our curriculum framework. PYP students aim to develop these

ten attributes as they move through the school. Here at King’s we refer to

the Learner Profile daily with our students and we encourage student

action by linking the IB Learner Profile to classroom units and activities. The Learner Profile helps us

develop internationally-minded young people, a concept at the very heart of the PYP.

However, student action can be encouraged, identified and celebrated in the home with your family,

by focusing on the IB learner profile. The table below shows some examples of action in the home.

IB LEARNER PROFILE EXAMPLES OF ACTION IN THE HOME

COMMUNICATOR Engaging in respectful conversations with your child

RISK-TAKER Encouraging your child to try new activities and face challenges

PRINCIPLED Being consistent and modelling family beliefs and values

THINKER Asking your child deep questions – get to the ‘why?’

OPEN-MINDED Exposing your child to a variety of cultural experiences and viewpoints

BALANCED Discussing the importance of balance in diet, play, exercise, sleep and work

REFLECTIVE Taking the time to look back on mistakes and successes

Discussing learning each day

CARING Taking on tasks around the home to help each other

INQUIRER Learning alongside your child, asking critical questions and encouraging

curiosity

KNOWLEDGEABLE Finding items/objects/articles linked to current inquiry units

Date for the diary

I encourage you to attend the Parent Education Seminar next Wednesday morning, 13 March. This is

an opportunity to find out about our teaching and learning in the Prep, specifically looking at how we

teach boys to read. It is relevant for parents in all year groups. Please RSVP directly to me:

[email protected].

Sonia Weston

PYP Coordinator, Director of Learning

DIRECTOR OF LEARNING

mailto:[email protected]


Swimming Attire

Please note that the school uniform shop (Braeside) only sell speedo style swimmers for boys at the

Prep School. Any boy who has been selected into the school swimming team receive a special pair of

‘Jammer’ swimmers by Mr Lawrenson.

Grammar St Ives Football Cup:

On Saturday 23 March, King’s will be competing in the Grammar St Ives Football Cup. All boys from

Year 3-6 playing football this year are eligible to trial for one of these teams. Trials are being held on

Thursday mornings on the Price fields, commencing at 7:30 am.

Armidale Tour Rugby Training:

Training for boys interested in the Armidale Rugby Tour is being held on Thursday mornings on

Price 1 commencing at 7:15am.

Darren Lawrenson

Director of Sport

Preparatory School ISDA Debating News Debating is not just telling people that what you think, what you feel or what you know is true and

correct. Debating is also listening very carefully to the other side of the argument and engaging with

the Opposition’s points through rebuttal. This is what the Year 6 King’s ISDA Junior Debating Team

did well last Friday evening at Round 1 of the ISDA Debating Competition, as they debated against

some very fine speakers from SCEGGS Darlinghurst. The result was a win for King’s as they

rigorously defended their case against the statement, ‘that homework has no value’. Congratulations to

the team on a successful start to the season!

Fiona Khoo

Year 1 Teacher & Prep School Debating Coordinator

Steggles Broiler Meat Bird Competition – Royal Easter Show On 19 February, fourteen Year 6 boys travelled to the

Showground at Homebush to pick up the Steggles

Broiler Birds for the Royal Easter Show Competition in

April. The boys returned to King’s with fourteen day

old chicks ready to feed, water, weigh and fatten up

over the next eight weeks. The boys are tasked with

looking after the chickens and getting them ready for

the competition, along with collating the data and

creating a PowerPoint presentation.

We are looking forward to keeping you up to date on

their growth and progress. Regular updates will be

available on iLearn.

ENRICHMENT

DIRECTOR OF SPORT


Ag Club – Year 5 boys Monday afternoon We have had a wonderful start to our Year 5 Ag Club this year. Over

35 boys expressed interest in joining Ag Club, so they have been

divided into groups and they will participate throughout the year.

Our focus this term will be building up the nutritional content in our

garden beds, planting some vegetables and herbs and of course,

looking after our 14 Prep chickens.

Thank you to all the boys who have shown interest and a willingness

to get dirty and work hard in the heat with the shovels and

wheelbarrows. Our Prep Agriculture iLearn page be updated regularly with photos and information.

Mrs J Wickham

Prep Agriculture


Book now at www.kings.edu.au

http://www.kings.edu.au/

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