The Grammar Word - Ipswich Grammar School

TheGrammarWordMiddle School Junior School Family Matters Foundation18 FebruaryMiddle SchoolInfo Evening19 FebruaryYears 8 & 10Immunisation20 FebruaryWelcome Evening21 FebruaryCricket v TSSVolleyball v ACGS23 FebruaryPastoral Tracking25 FebruaryMiddle SchoolMums’ AfternoonTea26 FebruaryPrep-Year 2Assembly27 FebruaryYears 3-6AssemblyDebating v GT28 FebruaryCricket v GTVolleyball v NCAcer ScholarshipExam2 MarchMiddle SchoolInduction/MyIGS@MyIGSYour move, enrol now.Reduced fees for Prep – Year 3 from 2016.Contact us for more information.Reduced Fees for Prep-Year 3: This week we began an aggressiveadvertising campaign to promote a fee decrease for Prep to Year 3 in 2016.This is a carefully considered move designed to make an Ipswich GrammarSchool education more affordable. The tuition fee for Prep to Year 3 studentswill be $5,000 per annum in 2016. Our strategic focus for 2015 is based onacademics and affordability. The Year 12 class of 2014 achieved outstandingOP results with 98.6% receiving an OP of 1 to 15. We are now takingproactive steps to make an Ipswich Grammar School education affordable.By reducing fees in the early years we believe more families will be ableto join the IGS community. The tuition fee is lower than some of ourcompetitor schools in the region. It is also considerably lower than otherGPS schools and provides an opportunity for Brisbane families to considerIpswich Grammar School. Current and prospective families wishing tofind out more about this exciting development are welcome to contact meat the school.Welcome Evening: All parents are invited to our annual Welcome Eveningthis Friday, 20 February in the Staff Common Room. This will be a greatopportunity to meet fellow parents from Prep to Year 12 as well as IpswichGrammar School staff and management. The event will be held from 6.30pmto 8.30pm. Please RSVP via email info@ipswichgrammar.comMr Robert HendersonHeadmaster/CEOIPSWICH GRAMMAR SCHOOLwww.ipswichgrammar.com | (07) 3813 9600

Excellence - Leadership - Integrity - CommunityThe Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon: Thestart of 2015 has followed on from the greatacademic work of 2014. We have begun theyear recognising student academic excellenceat our assembly this week. Also in the pastweek teachers have been focusing on the wholeschool implementation of the ‘Art and Scienceof Teaching’ with combined workshops withIpswich Girls’ Grammar. These professionallearning opportunities continue to allow ourstaff to be the best educators they can be and provide your son with the best learning opportunities.Further developing the academic culture of the school reminded me of a story that I shared at theassembly, I hope you enjoy:In the 1950s an interesting animal experiment and observation was taking place in Japan. TheJapanese snow monkey was being observed in the wild. In 1952, on the island of Koshima,scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeysliked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant. An 18-montholdfemale named Imo found she could solve the problem in a nearby stream. She taught thistrick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers,too. This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes ofthe scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweetpotatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learnedthis social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958 a certain number of Koshimamonkeys were washing sweet potatoes – the exact number is not known. Let us suppose thatwhen the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learnedto wash their sweet potatoes. Let’s further suppose that later that morning, the hundredthmonkey learned to wash potatoes. THEN IT HAPPENED! By that evening almost everyone inthe tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredthmonkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough! Then a really surprising thinghappened – the habit of washing sweet potatoes jumped across the sea as colonies of monkeyson other islands and the mainland began washing their sweet potatoes!Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may becommunicated from mind to mind. Although the exact number may vary, the HundredthMonkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a newway, it may remain the consciousness property of these people. But there is a point at whichif only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that thisawareness is picked up by almost everyone! So what have monkeys got to do with who we areand what Ipswich Grammar is about. Our core values are Excellence, Leadership, Integrityand Community. Excellence – let’s focus on this word for the moment – we are celebratingacademic excellence.You may be the ‘Hundredth Monkey’, and your actions could well be the turning point for ourefforts to ensure that our school is always considered highly. For example, our commitmentto our studies, homework, respect to your teachers and the respect to the lesson they want toteach you, having the right attitude towards your academic work. We need a critical mass of

Excellence - Leadership - Integrity - Communitystudents who believe in our school and inthese qualities. This will ensure we remaina wonderful school. Your actions couldwell be the turning point – you could be theHundredth Monkey that makes us excellent.This week we honoured the followingstudents for their outstanding GPAs:• Year 5: David Araba, Zephaniah Behan-Howell, Zacharie Farmer, Oscar Giess, ThomasHurd, Alexander Laing-Short, Joel Rosenberg, Harry Sammut, Mackinlay Sturges.• Year 6: Abdul Arshad, Sebastien Carvolth, Hamish Cassidy, Cameron Cook, Oshadha Edirisinghe,Jack Fanshawe, Hamish Long, Hunter Osborne, Oliver Veivers, Brian Wakista.• Year 7: Ryan Stieler, Jared Wales, Isaac Bracker, Cooper Nichols, Archibald Horneman-Wren, EJHorsey, Darwin Reynolds, Gabriel Wolvetang.• Year 8: Jackson Cooper, Kyle Palmer, Jeremy Herron, Daniel Raleigh, Henry Dixon, Timothy Gibb,Dominic Stevenson, James Tully, Macleay Turner.• Year 9: Daniel Ive, Alexander Barnham, Keanan Barthelme, Liam Cassidy, Thomas Malcolm,William Neumann, Archie Owen, Visun Wijeyewickrema, Alexander Dobson, Yusuf Memon, RichardCarpenter, Isaac Irons, Antonio Onate, James Wood, Joshua Yoon, Lachlan Best, Thomas Birrell,Joshua Dalton-Peacock, William Gardner.• Year 10: Aaron Herbst, Brendan Richardson, Blake Smallwood, Harrison Bouckley, Jared Dowling,Murray Thistlethwaite, Declan Johnston, Giuliano Marconato, Karl Rosenberg.• Year 11: Christopher Fox, Nicholas Verrenkamp, Harrison Gregory, Jonathan Turner, Lewis Ainslie,Pranavan Kantharajah, Liam Martin, Jack Trace, Angus Mival, Cooper Nunn, Bailey Parsonage,Aditya Hebbani, Callum Hicks, Paul Godfrey, Blake Ellis, Domonic Molloy, Zac Teevan, Jack McKay.• Year 12: Alexander Leathem, Hayden Randall, Nicholas Piper, Thomas Butcher, Ricky Nguyen,Patrick Wilson, James Foddy, Nicholas Poniewierski, Jacob Sanderson, Alistair Snow, SebastianMcCullough, Oliver Pye, Matthew Haspels, Brayden Klimmer, Riley Mulheron.Mr Tony DosenDeputy Headmaster/Head of Senior SchoolMIDDLE SCHOOLPositive Education: I am pleased to announce that Ipswich Grammar School has launched anexciting pastoral care program encompassing the entire student population from Prep to Year 12.“Positive Education brings together the science of Positive psychology with best practiceteaching to encourage and support individuals, schools and communities to flourish.The Positive psychology movement was founded by Professor Martin Seligman of theUniversity of Pennsylvania. This movement is based on the belief that people want to leadmeaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves and to enhancetheir experiences of love, work and play. If students can develop healthy levels of personalwell-being, they are more likely to achieve their academic potential; establish supportiverelationships; make meaningful contributions to their community and lead a fulfilling life”(Meek, 2014; Seligman, 2012).

Excellence - Leadership - Integrity - CommunityThe course focusses on developing boys’ positive relationships, emotions, health, andindividual engagement to school, character strengths, resilience and achievements. Scientificevidence is showing that students who develop in these areas have a higher chance to copewith stress, anxiety, disorders and depression symptoms. In Australia, one in four secondarystudents and one in seven primary school students display these issues (World HealthOrganisation, 2014; Carr-Gregg, 2014, National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing).What programs will be implemented: Since 2014 the Junior School has been focussing on the24 Character Strengths that Martin Seligman and other psychologists have identified. Some ofthese character strengths include leadership, humour, gratitude and perseverance. The JuniorSchool has undertaken projects in which boys showcase these character strengths in a verycreative way. The Middle School has its designated weekly Life Skills lesson where topics suchas resilience, positive relationships and positive male role models are examined. In the SeniorSchool discussions and curriculum links are currently underway to reflect how positive well-beingis displayed. There are also weekly positive education tips for students and teachers in the dailynotices for perusal and discussion.Caring for Sons Evening: Last week Dr Mark Taylor and I presented to a large contingent offamilies on Positive Education and the resources currently available on Parent Lounge to assistparents. The issues of why mental health is a growing dilemma in Australia, the school’s PositiveEducation Program and resilience strategies were discussed. Please take the opportunity to viewDr Taylor’s resources on My – Support Services.Date claimers: Please mark the following events in your diaries:• Wednesday, 18 February: Middle School Information Evening. Includes timetables, homeworkexpectations, use of computers, programs and camps. Year 7 families will have the opportunity toview the new Year 7 rooms.• Friday, 20 February: Parent Welcome Evening.• Wednesday, 25 February: Middle School Mums’ Afternoon Tea. Great opportunity to catch upwith other mums without the children.• Monday, 2 March: Middle School Induction Ceremony.Mr John ChalvatzisHead of Middle Schooljchalvatzis@ipswichgrammar.comJUNIOR SCHOOLFrom the Head of Junior School: On Friday night, the Parents and Friends’ Association will playhost to the Welcome to Parents Evening for 2015. This will be held in the Staff Common Roomcommencing at 6.30pm. This annual evening is a wonderful and relaxed opportunity to socialise,meet and mingle with other parents and staff from the school. Continuing and new parents areall encouraged to attend in order to form further bonds and contacts which can come in handythroughout the year.House Captains: The determination of House Captains is in full swing. Shortlisted candidateswill be announced shortly and will then perform speeches to their peers. All Year 6 students thenwill rate the character and behaviour of each shortlisted candidate (1-5) across eight behaviouralstatements as listed over the page.

Excellence - Leadership - Integrity - Community1. Classroom behaviour is perfect.2. School uniform is worn correctly, neatly and with pride.3. Makes good, sensible choices.4. Assists other students.5. Tries hard to solve disputes and arguments.6. Forgives others.7. Is active in school activities.8. Listens carefully to staff and other students.This feedback, as opposed to ‘voting’, gives excellentinformation about how the peer group as a whole perceiveseach candidate in each of these criteria. It demonstrates theirstrengths and weaknesses and enables further scrutiny of both student data and staff feedbackin order to make careful decisions about these appointments. Congratulations to all studentsinvolved in this busy week of activities.Student Awards:Excellence: • Jacob Salih for working to the best of his ability on his number facts.• Wyatt Barrett for working extremely hard during class time and learning as much as he can eachschool day.• Sam Osborne for applying himself well during reading groups and persevering to ensure that allof his work is completed.• Darcy Wells for coming to school each day with a bright smile and being ready to learn.• Jamie Adams for writing a detailed recount on a book read in class. Jamie was able to identifythe book’s main events and write an in-depth recount within the time given.• Dhruv Sharma for working hard in all subjects. Dhruv wants to learn as much as he can and itshows when he completes activities in class. Keep it up, Dhruv.• Oliver Carter for using eye contact and an expressive voice when presenting to an audience.• Seth Barrett for an informative presentation about Black Holes.• Harrison Memory for writing convincing reasons in his persuasive text.• Harrison Drynan for using eye contact and expression when presenting to an audience.• Alex Gorman for leading discussions on the need for a ‘solar calendar’.• Sebastian Lacey for working hard during English lessons.• Charlie Burke for working diligently in English groups.• Jack Fanshawe for his excellent focus and concentration in class.• Brian Wakista for his fantastic reading efforts at home.• Ryan Wakista for writing a substantial response to our history questions.• Kyran Williams for an outstanding sizzling start during writing time.• Mackinlay Sturges for providing clarity, in his opinion, on which superhero is the bravest.• Oliver Finlayson for his speed and accuracy during Mentals.Integrity: • Madyson Rapmund for listening carefully to his friends, asking questions if he needshelp and not being afraid to try new things.• Dean Lausberg for giving his best effort at the swimming carnival and in class.• Jack Charman for his perseverance with challenging Maths questions.• Nathan Fraser for always displaying the IGS way through impeccable manners and his attitudeto work!Community: • Sebastian James for making sure that classmates feel included and comfortable.

• Blake Werth for looking around the classroom and tidying up after others without being asked.• William Fanshawe for helping the Year 1 and Year 2 community by organising the sports bageach day.• Timothy Penquitt for relating positively to all of his peers and teachers.Leadership: • Callum Pamenter for setting an excellent example for others by showing them howto line up, sit on the mat and work hard. Well done, Callum.• Lucas Burke for an excellent work ethic and positive communication with others.• Saxon Rawson for his accumulation of class ‘Awesomeness’ points.• Noah Balfe for helping his class members by leading creative discussions during group work.Reading Club: • Isaac Sandaver, Bradley Worboys, Alex Chalvatzis, Sharman Shan, BenChalvatzis, Xavier O’Donnell, Angus Skull (500 Club Reading Award).GPS Man of the Match (Cricket v ACGS):• Sheldon Moore: Year 5 for taking two greatwickets.• Isaiah Creed: Year 6A for a tenacious battingeffort.• Abdul Arshad: Year 6B for good batting anda tidy bowling display.• Brian Wakista: Year 6C for a strong battingperformance.Mr David MacknishHead of Junior Schooldmacknish@ipswichgrammar.comFAMILY MATTERSScreen Time Study: A recent study conducted in Norway with 10,000 teenagers aged from 16-19 revealed that more than 90% of girls and 80% of boys used a screen in the hour before bed.Throughout the day, girls’ average use of a screened device was 5.5 hours and boys averaged 7hours per day. Hysing and her colleagues discovered that any screen time above two hours perday affected the sleep patterns of the teenagers. The result of this poorer sleep was a decline inschool performance, in part due to the blue light emitted by the devices, triggering the body’snatural inclination to stay awake.These statistics are alarming. Teenagers have great difficulty in self-monitoring their usage so it isreally up to parents to monitor their teenagers’ screen time. Parents also have the responsibility tomodel appropriate behaviour and are not in a good position to tell their children what to do withscreen time, when they are also using screened devices to excess. Conversations about what isappropriate usage and when it is appropriate need to take place in the home. For instance, usingdevices at meal times may be determined to be inappropriate. Use of devices an hour before sleepmay also need to be one of the hard and fast rules in the family as the negative consequences oflack of sleep are not just visible in poor school performance, but also in a reduction in mentalhealth. If you have concerns please contact me.The Brave Program: If your child or teen has difficulties with anxiety or just seems to havetoo many worries, we would like to introduce you to BRAVE Self-Help – an interactive, onlineprogram for the prevention and treatment of childhood and adolescent anxiety. It was developed

y a group of researchers from the University of Queensland and now, with the support ofbeyondblue, this program is now freely available to all young people aged 8 -17 years old whoare living in Australia. BRAVE Self-Help provides strategies for children and teenagers to bettercope with their worries. There are 4 programs available, one for children aged 8-12 years, one forteenagers aged 12-17 years and one for parents of children at these ages respectively. The programcan be accessed as often as you like, from the comfort of your own home. For more information, orto register for the program, please visit www.brave4you.psy.uq.edu.au.Dr Mark TaylorGuidance Counsellormtaylor@ipswichgrammar.comACADEMICSArt: All classes have begun the yearkeen to explore and create. We welcomeespecially those parents and boys who areexperiencing dedicated Art lessons for thefirst time. As we all know being creativeis fun but there are skills and techniquesthat require concentration and practiceto master allowing our creative mindsto grow and expand.This year we hopeto keep you more informed with regularupdates on individual classes and therebybringing you into the inner sanctum of theVisual Arts.Year 10 students are exploring Portraiture.The initial stages encourage seeing andunderstanding the proportions of the face.Any feel that they see faces everyday butwhen faced with really looking at a face itis quite a challenge. We begin with Realismto get the basics before going into areas likeExpressionism and Simplification. At thisearly stage the goal is to see what’s reallythere, not what you think is there.SPORTS & ACTIVITIESQuote of the week: Courage doesn’talways roar. Sometimes courage is thatquiet voice at the end of the day saying“I will try again tomorrow”. – MaryAneRadmacherMr Nigel GreiveDirector of Sports & Activitiesngreive@ipswichgrammar.com

RED & WHITE FOUNDATIONTHE’

IPSWICH GRAMMAR SCHOOLMiddle School Mums’ Afternoon TeaWho:Mothers, grandmothers, step-mothers, fostermothers, aunties or a significant female in the family.When:Wednesday, 25 February from 3.30pm-5pm in TheGreat Hall.Cost:$5 per person, payable on the day, with proceeds tothe Middle School Council Charity Fund.RSVP by Monday, 23 February via emailstudentservices@ipswichgrammar.com or phone 3813 9611.Please note, this is a student-free function.- Excellence - Leadership - Integrity - Community -

Football TrialsSign-on for Football - Week 5Football Trials - Week 6Held at Brassall Sporting ComplexTransport to and from venue will be providedYears 7, 8 & 9 Mon/Wed TBCYears 10, 11 & 12 Tues/Thurs TBC* Any prior sports team commitments must be attendedSee Mr Fancourt for further information