This issue’s Welcome article is by Oriana Constable Assistant Principal
Tintern Grammar is a place where students from all backgrounds come together to learn, grow, and thrive. Our school is a place where every member of our community should feel valued and respected, regardless of their background, culture or identity. To create an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone, it is crucial that we embrace and celebrate our differences. Tintern Grammar has long been committed to achieving this by ensuring we celebrate diversity and inclusivity in our community, and it is a key aspect of our Forward Strategy. In 2022/2023 we have looked to work with students to introduce a number of new initiatives to further recognise, educate and celebrate diversity.
In Term 1 we celebrated Neurodiversity Week. This week is dedicated to raising awareness and promoting acceptance of individuals with neurological differences. Someone who is neurodiverse may have a condition such as ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, dyspraxia or dyslexia. Across the school we held assemblies to help foster a culture of understanding and support for neurodiverse students, and to recognise their unique strengths and contributions to our community. In the secondary school, a student committee worked to create stickers and key chains, designed by students, and made in our STEAM centre, that were sold as part of our Neurodiversity Bake Sale.
In Term 2 the celebrations continue as we embark on our inaugural ‘Festival of Cultures’. Through the leadership of our International Captains and planning committee, we are holding a number of events including assemblies, food stalls and competitions with the aim to help students learn about and appreciate different cultures and traditions, and to develop a greater sense of empathy and understanding of others. A real highlight of this week was the Enya Ouyang’s beautiful performance at assembly on the Guzheng. Read the Music Matters report. It was wonderful to see parent volunteers and students working together to make dumplings and tacos to share with students.
We are now looking forward to upcoming events organised by our secondary Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) group members in the lead up to Pride Month; a time to celebrate and support our LGBTQI+ community. We hope that events and activities held will ensure that all students feel welcomed and valued, and that they have access to the resources and support they need to thrive.
Student voice has been at the heart of these events and we encourage all students to become involved through formal leadership teams and with the establishment of event committees. Over 50 students across Years 7-12 have volunteered to be involved in the planning committees for events held so far this year. Involving students in the process and enabling them to take an active role in the planning and execution of events has been extremely successful and rewarding.
Celebrating diversity is not just a one-time event, but an ongoing commitment that we make everyday as a school. Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in creating a welcoming and inclusive school community.
Oriana Constable | Assistant Principal
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Student Voice
Green Week
From 8 to 12 of May, the Green Team held a Green Week in the Secondary school. The focus of the week was to promote an awareness of environmental issues, encourage sustainable actions throughout the school and inspire the community to learn about ways to support the environment.
Throughout the week, the Green Team ran a variety of activities, including bee hotel and beeswax wrap-making sessions, as well as a movie screening and bake sale.
Our first activity, on Monday, focused on doing our part to help protect Australia’s native bees. Australia has over 600 indigenous bee species, which are under threat of losing their natural habitats. A group of students came together in the design tech rooms during lunchtime to make ‘bee hotels’ – shelters for our vulnerable bee populations in which they can rest and nest. The process involved sawing bamboo stakes into shorter lengths to compact them into various jars and tin containers.
The beeswax wrap-making session was definitely a highlight of the week! On Tuesday, students were involved in making their own beeswax wrap. The beeswax was grated and spread onto a chosen square of fabric and, finally, melted onto the fabric using an iron. The process was straightforward, simple, and fun! In just one lunchtime, all the students involved were able to make their own reusable beeswax wraps, which can now be used to wrap lunches, rather than using disposable zip lock bags, glad wrap, or aluminium foil.
During Wednesday lunchtime, 50 middle school students flocked to the theatre to watch a movie screening of The Lorax. Not only was the popcorn enjoyed by everyone, but the film also had an important message about individuals acting on environmental issues. As Dr Seuss said,
‘Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.’
Climate change and other environmental issues are overwhelming, and you may feel as if your actions are insignificant. However, we shouldn’t underestimate the positive impact of a small action. On the day, everyone was encouraged to bring a waste-free lunch – one zip lock bag may not seem like a lot, but if 800 Tintern Grammar students used a zip lock bag each day for a year, we would have sent approximately 300,000 zip lock bags to landfill!
Thursday’s theme was reducing electricity usage – ‘Lights Free Thursday’. As of 2021, 70% of Australia’s electricity comes from coal and gas. Minimising our energy usage is vital to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Students were encouraged to turn off appliances such as heaters, projectors, electronics, and classroom lights whenever they weren’t needed, but the day also served as a reminder to continue to be mindful of energy wastage in the future. Additionally, the Green Team took part in a lunchtime baking session where we cooked up a storm in preparation for the next day’s bake sale!
On the last day of Green Week, the Green Team held a bake sale to raise money for the Australian Conservation Foundation, an independent organisation combatting “two of the biggest challenges” we currently face, “climate damage and habitat destruction”. Deforestation is a huge issue in our country – regions of Australia’s native habitats that are the size of 26 Opera Houses are being bulldozed every hour! Students were involved in selling goods baked by the Green Team at home and on Thursday lunchtime. Thanks to the support of teachers and students we raised $461.80 dollars for this important cause!
It was so incredible to see the enthusiasm and willingness of everyone involved throughout the week. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to all the staff and students who helped organise these events and make this week possible.
Meleah Byth and Anika Mulemane | Green Team Leaders
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Faith Matters
Last Friday our Secondary Students and members of our community came together at St Paul’s Cathedral for our 2023 Cathedral Service with the theme ‘Blessings’.
Our students provided music from a mixture of traditional and contemporary pieces, including ‘Look at the World’ by John Rutter to Million Little Miracles, a song written in 2021. Our choirs and orchestra shone through their music, as we offered a service of praise for all the blessings we have and we have to share.
Our Year 12 Leaders and our Faith Captains led us through our service.
Our guest preacher was the Rev Tim Costello, AO, who wove a brilliant reflection based on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and our school motto, factis non verbis, ‘deeds not words’. His message spoke well to students, staff and community members and challenged us to think of how we respond to people we meet on the road of life. He spoke of the message of Jesus being, at its heart, an ethical perspective from the view of the vulnerable. And his challenge to everyone present was profound.
Rev Alison Andrews | School Chaplain
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Music Matters
Generations in Jazz
What happens when you load a group of jazz musicians onto a bus and haul them up a mountain for the weekend? Generations in Jazz!
Generations in Jazz is a weekend-long Jazz Festival, held in Mount Gambier, which aims to encourage and inspire young jazz musicians, such as we Tinternites in the Ron Trigg Combo, Intermediate Stage Band, and Senior Stage Band.
After months of preparation and hard work, we were all incredibly proud to be able to perform within our divisions, as well as get a chance to see performances by other schools. Most exciting of all, we had the privilege of attending three concerts over three days, where we witnessed incredible and unforgettable performances by professional musicians, who not only inspired us, but had us cheering so loudly, we feared we might lose our voices.
This year was an undoubtedly special year to attend, as it was the first time the event has been held in person since 2019 due to COVID restrictions. This meant it was something completely new to many of the younger students, and now that it’s back on (in full swing!), it means it is something they have to look forward to for many years to come.
Friendship and camaraderie between band mates is not rare at Tintern, and both were constantly growing and evolving across the entire weekend. If there’s one thing all the students who attended can agree upon, it’s that we couldn’t have done it all without the amazing and constant support of our teachers. Mrs Clarke, Blakely (McLean Davies) and Mr Veldman were certainly the pillars of the entire weekend, encouraging and guiding us throughout it all. We couldn’t possibly express enough thanks to all of them.
Generations in Jazz 2023 was a huge success, and we look forward to the next one.
Charlotte du Blêt | Year 11 Instrumental Captain 2023
Cathedral Service 2023
On Friday 5 May, Tintern Grammar held its annual Cathedral Service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Students and teachers were transported to the city by bus for the 10am service. For the processional, the Chamber Orchestra played the atmospheric Highland Cathedral with harp, as the Leadership team walked down the aisle. Our School anthem was sung, accompanied by the organ for the first time, which was an uplifting experience. Congregational hymns Here I am Lord and Honey in the Rock, were led by our 2023 Choral Captains, Liam Rosewarne and Emily Stokes and the Senior Girls Chamber choir performed an a cappella Call to Worship, A New Day which resonated throughout the cathedral. The combined Intermediate and Senior Choirs sang Look at the world and Million little Miracles which was led by our Year 12 girls Ellena Glenk, Natasha Gillam, Ella Jones and Lauren Spurr. This moving piece left many staff and students quite moved due to how beautifully it was delivered.
We were fortunate to have Reverend Tim Costello present the Sermon in such an engaging and passionate way as he spoke about the chosen bible reading The Good Samaritan, which was read by our faith captains Mimi Coghlan and Isaac Lin. Whilst the harp was played gracefully, the litany prayers were read by our School Leadership team. We are all so grateful to have the opportunity to visit this venue every year as it is truly a magnificent place to worship and raise our voices in song.
Emily Stokes | Year 11Co-Choral Captain 2023
Excursion to Olivet Aged Care Facility
On Tuesday 9 May, members of the Tintern Grammar Clarinet Ensemble and selected soloists headed off at recess to the Olivet Nursing Home in Ringwood to perform for the elderly citizens at this residence.
Solo performers on the day were: Millie Blank (Year 10), Ivan Chan (Year 10), Ruby Chen (Year 8), Bronte de Baux (Year 7), Sashenka Fernando (Year 10), Natasha Gillam (Year 12), Sophia Richards (Year 8), Daniel Sun (Year 10), Amy Zhang (Year 10)
The repertoire was very enjoyable for the audience, and the environment of the concert was very welcoming with a light informal atmosphere. The performance ended with the Clarinet Ensemble playing an outstanding piece to round out the program.
AMEB Examination results
Congratulations to the following students who passed AMEB Music examinations late in 2022 and early in 2023. Their certificates were awarded in Assembly on 12 May.
Lachlan Hsiao (Year 8)
Grade 1 Piano for Leisure – Honours
Anika Mulemane (Year 11)
Grade 4 Piano – Credit
Emily Stokes (Year 11)
Grade 5 Musical Theatre – Honours
Emma Jones (Year 12)
Grade 7 Popular Vocals – Merit
Festival of Cultures performance
In our Festival of Cultures Assembly on Friday 12 May, Enya Ouyang (Year 8) performed a beautiful piece on the guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument which looks like a zither. Enya has played the guzheng since she was 5 years old and is a very accomplished performer on this instrument.
Kelson Music Awards
In honour of the memory of Mrs Ilma Kelson, Music Director at Tintern from 1958 to 1973, the Kelson Family has provided annual encouragement scholarships to be awarded to support the tuition of students in the pursuit of their music education. In addition to the Ilma Kelson Music Scholar Awards, the Kelson Family also provide additional Music Scholarships in honour of Ms Penelope Thwaites. Ms Thwaites, who is a world-famous pianist, was a student at Tintern from 1953 to 1960 and was School Pianist during her final three years at the school. She attended Tintern during the time Ilma Kelson was Director of Music at the school.
The awards will be presented in a special assembly in Term 3, and this year’s recipients of the Awards will be as follows:
Kelson Scholar Awards
Outstanding Senior Performer
Natasha Gillam (Year 12) – Voice
Music Scholar Encouragement Awards
Toby Blank (Year 8) – Clarinet
Sophie Zhu (Year 7) – Trombone
Penelope Thwaites Music Awards
Best Performances of an Australian Composition
Amy Zhang (Year 10) – Clarinet
Scarlett Mackie (Year 5) – Viola
Congratulations to our Kelson and Penelope Thwaites Award Recipients for 2023.
Alison Bezaire | Director of Music
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Arts Matters
10 x 10 Exhibition
Have you created your 10 x 10 art piece? Be a part of this Tintern Grammar community exhibition.
Why not come along to a lunchtime workshop for inspiration and hands-on creation.
Upcoming lunchtimes workshops in the Art Department with Mrs Waud & Ms Scott
Tues 16 May – Years 7 & 8
23 May – Year 9
13 June – Year 10
18 July – Years 11 & 12
Students can attend Year level specific days or any/all workshops!
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Sport Matters
Volleyball Schools Cup
We congratulate our eight volleyball teams who competed last week in the Volleyball Victoria Schools Cup. The Year 9s and 11s played on Wednesday, representing Tintern proudly. Both Year 9 teams finished 3rd in their pool, which meant they just missed out on finals. The Year 11s were competitive in every match. On Thursday, the Year 7s competed, learning how to referee games as well. They won medals in a very impressive performance. The Year 8s were given the opportunity and challenge to play in Division 1. They represented Tintern very well and had a great day. The Year 8 Girls development team won their way through to the qualifying finals round. All teams had fun and built skills in preparation for the multi-day tournament held later in the year.
Ashley Viney | Head of Sport
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ELC News
This year the ELC children held a High Tea in the evening to celebrate and thank the special women in their lives. The evening began with sharing a High Tea, followed by the children and their special guests moving into their classrooms to participate in some activities together, making bookmarks, bracelets and working together on some construction.
In the last couple of weeks leading up to the High Tea the children had been very busy with a lot of pre-work preparing for the evening. The children shared different stories about their mothers, drew pictures and talked about what makes them so special. The children created a special gift and cards to share on this special day, wrapping them with love and care.
The TPG (Tintern Parent Group) also provided small gifts for the traditional Mother’s Day stall. The children visited and chose with such consideration and care the special item for their mother.
We have also been hard at work learning special songs to share. The special guests undoubtedly felt the joy, love, and thanks of the children as they shared a performance to end the night. Over the two nights it was lovely to see our special visitors engage in experiences with the children and meet families from their child’s classrooms.
The ELC children want to thank and celebrate the special women in their lives. We hope they all had a lovely day on Sunday.
Kristen De Vos | Director of Early Learning Centre
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Girls’ Junior School News
We are back for an exciting Term 2 and can’t believe it is already Week 4! It was such a delight to see all the Girls and their big, beaming smiles as we commenced the next part of their learning journey.
In our Literacy sessions we have continued to enhance our skills in reading and writing. For our Writing sessions, I introduced the Girls our Edit Method – a way to increase their independence as writers. Using different highlighters – ‘Pink to Think’, ‘Blue to Do’, ‘Green for Great’, the Girls can conference with me with their writing and take guided independent action. Now that we have our three coloured edit process, the Girls have demonstrated increased confidence to make mistakes or to alter their work to suit their intended audience. We have continued to explore narrative writing, thinking about how what we write has to be enjoyable for our reader. We used a picture of a door to explore all sorts of ideas for our story and we had amazing ideas such as fairy gardens, shrinking doors and candy lands.
In Maths we have explored time in the form of a timeline. We created our own timeline, showing the events, in order on what day they took place over the holidays. We have also been focusing on skip counting and number lines. We are working on our even and odd number patterns, skip counting not only from 1 or 2, but from a given number, either even or odd and to continue the pattern from there, counting forwards and backwards.
In our Integrated Studies ‘Plant to Plate’ sessions we created a list of all the plant foods we know and all of the animal foods we know. We discussed how we combine both plant and animal-based foods to create our different foods that we eat. We have also created our own ‘art piece’ showing an annotated diagram of a Flower. We used both art materials and our own drawing skills to complete our Flowers. We will be exploring how the food we eat gets to our ‘plates’.
Miranda Price |Year 1A Class Teacher
Mother’s Day Breakfast
On Friday 12 May Junior school parents gathered for breakfast and activities in their child’s classroom. Then headed into CM Wood for two special performances from our students. It was a lovely morning enjoyed by all.
We thank the many parents who attended, our catering team, led by Kylie Hutchinson, our Musical staff, led by Mrs Casey and Mrs Nyhuis, our admin team and our wonderful teachers all contributed in so many ways.
We also sincerely thank Danielle Kelberg, mother of Luke Collopy (Year 5) for organising and leading our always popular Mothers’ Day Stall, and to all those who came along and assisted.
Allison Prandolini | Head of Girls’ Junior School
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Boys’ Junior School News
Heritage Week
Our Prep-Year 6 boys gathered together for a special Assembly as we launched Heritage Week.
We spoke about Cultural Diversity recognising and celebrating our differences and watched a video of many of our Junior school families talking about their country of origin.
We then broadened the conversation to discuss the importance of diversity across many fields; race, character, identity, body size…and how diversity enriches our experiences, knowledge and skills.
It was a very rich Assembly and one during which our boys participated and engaged with obvious maturity and compassion.
Antartica Immersion Day
Have you heard the sound a penguin chick makes? Tamara, our intrepid IT colleague in the STEAM Centre has. She embarked on an adventure of a lifetime by visiting Antarctica last summer holidays. Tamara happily shared her experiences with very enthusiastic Year 3s who enjoyed an Antarctica Immersion Day. The boys dressed up as explorers and conducted science experiments, measuring temperatures down at the school farm.
Tamara shared insights gained only by a fortunate few. Did you know that tourists leave nothing behind…not evening footprints in the snow? This is to prevent injuries to penguins who fall into them. She told us penguins swim together like a ‘raft’ for protection and that icebergs come in many beautiful shapes, sizes and colours.
Mothers’ Day Breakfast
What a very special morning we all enjoyed last Friday at our annual Mothers’ Day Breakfast. My sincerest thanks to everyone who was able to join with us for another wonderful event. Our catering team, led by Kylie Hutchinson, our Musical staff, led by Mrs Casey and Mrs Nyhuis, our admin team and our wonderful teachers all contributed in so many ways. I was especially appreciative of the spirited and fun (and co-ordinated!) involvement of all boys and guests.
We also sincerely thank Danielle Kelberg, mother of Luke Collopy (Year 5) for organising and leading our always popular Mothers’ Day Stall, and to all those who came along and assisted.
Adam Kenny | Head of Boys’ Junior School
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Secondary News
The last two weeks in the secondary had an amazing community feel about them with many activities that has brought large groups of the community together in such a positive way. Events such as our annual Cathedral Service in the city, Generations in Jazz at Mount Gambier, Open Morning at school, Years7 and 8 Mothers’ Day bowling and our Festival of Cultures Assembly to name a few.
Cathedral Service On Friday 5 May we held our annual Cathedral Service at St Paul’s Cathedral in the city. This Service is one of my personal favourite days in our school calendar and this year was no exception. To have one of the most beautiful Cathedrals in our city dedicated entirely to Tintern, and then to fill it with our secondary school and other members of our community was a beautiful sight. The service itself ran for just under an hour and was filled with beautiful hymns and music from our choirs and individual vocalists, as well as a reflection from Australian Baptist Minister Tim Costello, AO former CEO of World Vision Australia. It is such a special occasion to have our entire secondary community together for such a service. Read the Faith Matters article
Open Morning On Saturday 6 May, the forecast weather was cold and very wet! It threatened to disrupt our scheduled Open Morning that normally provides the opportunity for potential new families to see our school and to find out more information as they begin to decide on the school for their children. Despite the weather forecast (it actually turned out quite good), we were overwhelmed with the number of families that attended throughout the morning. Over 400 people braved the wet and cold to hear from our Principal, Brad Fry, about our school’s commitment to quality education and to care. They also heard a number of our choirs and musicians before being taken on a tour of different parts of the school. What was most impressive was the participation and involvement of our current students throughout the morning. We had over 100 students who willingly volunteered to give up their own Saturday morning to help out on tours or in different sections of the school. This says a lot about the way our students feel about school.
Years 7 & 8 Mothers’ Day Bowling On Wednesday 10 May, our Years 7 and 8 mums were invited to join us at Forest Hill for our Mother Daughter/Mother Son bowling night. The night is a lot of fun and provides a great opportunity for the mum’s to socialise with each other and to also have some fun with their daughter and/or son. There was the occasional strike and a few very high scores, whilst also a significant number of gutter balls (and plenty of requests to put the bumpers up‼). It was such a positive evening with many families opting to take advantage of the time and venue to then go for dinner as part of an early Mothers’ Day celebration.
On behalf of the school I would like to express our gratitude to all the mums, and those who play this role for our students, for all the amazing commitment and effort that you provide your child/children. I hope you all enjoyed the actual Mothers’ Day on Sunday with the beautiful weather.
Festival of Culture Assembly Our Festival of Culture’s Week is this week (Monday 15 May – Friday 19 May) celebrating the amazing diversity and strong sense of community Tintern has. The weekly celebration includes an appreciation to the high number of backgrounds our students have (over 24 different countries), as well as hearing traditional music from different countries and some beautiful food. At our Principal’s assembly on May 12, our international captains Helen Tan (Year 12) and Nick Zhong (Year 9) led the assembly through some fun games and activities that highlighted our diversity, whilst also listening to Enya Ouyang (Year 8) play a traditional Chinese instrument called the Guzheng read the music report.
Over the coming weeks we have a number of key events approaching for different year levels:
Examination: Our Years 9 – 11 students have their examination in the week Monday 29 May – Friday 02 June.
Your Future Careers Expo Thursday 18 May. This event is in our CM Wood Centre at 7pm and has a large number of our Alumni and other volunteers providing time to talk to our students about possible careers and options that they have ahead of them.
Guiding your Future: On Tuesday 6 June we have our Guiding your Future evening for current Years 9 and 11 students and families. At this event we will be providing key information around VCE and VET including an understanding of VASS and VCAA. This will be followed with a Subject Showcase Evening in early Term 3 (Tuesday 18 July) in our Anderson Centre (Senior College).
Secondary Parent Communications Survey
We invite Secondary parents to take part in a survey on parent communications. This short survey will help us in a review of the frequency of communication to parents, from Pastoral Mentors, Year Level Co-ordinators and our Aspectus Newsletter. The survey will remain open until the end of May.
A significant focus of the Pastoral Program in Years 7 and 8 is endeavouring to help our students feel good about themselves, physically and mentally. These years are crucial for them as young people, both in terms of continuing to establish themselves as secondary school learners, and as confident young people preparing for their next stage in life. Topics such as use of social media, self-esteem, bullying and stress management are among those covered in order to help develop our young people. GEM Day (Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness Day) for this term fully supported these topics in the Pastoral Program.
Enlighten Education
Danni Miller – founder of Enlighten Education – presented to the Years 7 and 8 girls. Topics covered included decoding and evaluating messages we see in the media around a ‘perfect’ body, strategies to keep calm, journalling, gratitude, and healthy friendships. Feedback from our girls:
‘Everything about today was amazing and extremely excellent! I loved how nice everyone was towards each other today and I have learnt a lot of useful life skills. I now know about equality, to be kind, how to manage friendships and to take deep breaths. Thank you so much for coming to us all the way from Sydney!’
‘Today was so great and I really loved every part of it, it was so inspiring! I really liked writing and receiving the little messages in the amazing journals we made! I learnt about mindfulness, how to deal with friend problems and the impacts that gender aimed things can have on kids.’
‘Today was out of this world! I loved learning about your life story and more! It was all so interesting. I learnt friendship tips, about women’srights, the respect rules and how to journal. Thank you!’
Man Cave
Man Cave are a preventative mental health and emotional intelligence charity that empowers boys to become great men. They run a valuable program which was again of great benefit to the boys, encouraging them to communicate with each other and verbalise their feelings. The care, respect and compassion the boys showed toward each other throughout the day, and the feedback from the Man Cave facilitators, was heart-warming to observe. Both the facilitators and the boys were ‘buzzing’ at the end of the day and follow-up resources have been sent to further reinforce skills learned.
With confidence I can say this was a worthwhile day for our students, perhaps even more than they realise.
Anthea Watkins | Middle Years Leader
Virtual Reality Learning – exploring the body
Unit 1 Psychology classes immersed themselves in a virtual human body experience, using the six new VR Headsets and human anatomy software run in the STEAM Centre of the Senior Library. As a way of consolidating their understanding of brain structure and function, students donned the handheld joysticks with the VR Headsets, to dissect the layers of the brain piece by piece. The software allowed exploration and explanation of the right and left hemispheres, finding the specialised areas responsible for behaviours like speech production and movement. Incredibly, students were able to examine the many tiny structures of the brain, respiratory and nervous systems which are hidden deep within the body and commonly seen only as two-dimensional cross-sections in a textbook. Exclamations of joy were heard as they unfolded the complex systems in the software – “everything is in three dimensions Miss, I can touch it and turn it and see every angle of it – I’m literally inside it!”
The true power of digital learning tools will become more evident as their use increases, but students are hungry for and respond well to these incredible learning tools. Their understanding about complex structures like the human brain and the billions of neural connections involved in human cognition and behaviour can only be enhanced with next-level technology like this in our classrooms
Round 3 of DAV debating was a most successful one for Tintern teams. While the Tintern 3, D grade team were not able to complete their debate due to a shortage of adjudicators on the night (due to illness), our results for the other debates were most positive. This team will be awarded full points, as will their opponents, so this counts as a win. The A, B and C grade teams all had secret topics to debate and Tintern won in all three debates. In D grade the topic was:
‘That the government should prioritise funding the arts over sports.’
Tintern teams 2 and 4 defeated Yarra Valley Grammar and Donvale Christian College, respectively, and Tintern 1 was defeated by Catholic Ladies College.
Our next debate is on Wednesday, June 7th, with secret topics again for A, B and C grades, and the D grade teams will be debating whether the government should raise the retirement age.
Lanna Derry | Head of Debating
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Community Matters
Open Day 2023
Thank you to the incredible Volunteers who came and supported our 2023 Open Day on Saturday 6 May!
Volunteers on the day helped direct parking, welcome guests and ran the BBQ. For our attendees considering enrolling at Tintern, the opportunity to speak with a current parent or family member is greatly appreciated.
Footy Tipping Competition – AFL
Don’t forget to join our free AFL Footy Tipping Competition! Even though the season has commenced, it isn’t too late to join our free competition!
For those interested in joining, details are below:
You will then have to log into your own account or create one. When setting up your account, you might like to check the reminder email box so you don’t forget!
This competition is free to enter and open to:
Past students (18+) (Tintern Grammar students will not be permitted to enter)
Past Parents / Guardians
Past Siblings
Past Staff
Current Parents / Guardians
Current Staff
Please note that if those who place do not meet the entry requirements, they will be ineligible for the prize money. Prizes will then go to the next placing eligible entry.
Cash Prizes awarded for the winners of the AFL Tipping Competition:
AFL Footy Tipping Prizes:
1st Prize $250
2nd Prize $120
3rd Prize $60
4th Prize $40
5th Prize $20
Good luck and start tipping!!
Look out for our AFLW competition later in year.
Parent Representatives 2023
Thank you to the many parents and guardians who have volunteered to act as the Parent Representatives for their Class or Year Level in 2023.
We are still seeking a Year Level Parent Representative for Year 11. If you are interested, please get in touch with Di Lacey on 9845 7893 or by email to communityrelations@tintern.vic.edu.au.
Parent Representatives are a liaison between parents/guardians and the school. Informing parents about activities planned either by Tintern, our community groups or within the class or year level, such as social gatherings, fundraisers or events. We greatly appreciate the time and commitment given by our Parent Reps. Parent Reps also organise class or year level functions to provide parents with the opportunity of meeting and socialising in a relaxed atmosphere. It is a great opportunity for class groups to connect, while supporting our local community cafes and restaurants still recovering from the lockdowns.
If you would like to volunteer to be your Year Level’s Parent Representative or would like further information, contact us by email communityrelations@tintern.vic.edu.au or by phone 03 9845 7877.
Community Committee Dates
Community Group Meetings are now back onsite. Please check the information below carefully for details:
Tintern Parent Group (TPG) –Next meeting AGM: Thursday 1 June 2023 at 7pm President: Haidee Wallace Location: CM Wood Common Room
Friends of Music (FOM) – Next Meeting AGM: Tuesday 13 June 2023 at 7pm President: Debra Fryer Location: CM Wood Common Room
Don’t forget to book your ticket to meet with our Alumni at the Career’s Night this Thursday!
Bookings are now open for the 2023 Careers Night – ‘Find Your Future Self’ this Thursday 18 May from 6.30pm to 9.00pm in the CM Wood Centre.
This evening is a wonderful chance to begin or further exploration of careers and chat with past students who are working in careers they love, studying their favourite subjects at University or TAFE, or taking time out to explore different career options and gain work experience. There will be the opportunity to spend time with our Alumni Career Mentors who will share passions or may ignite new ones for our students. This event is ideal for Year 9 to 12 students and their parents/guardians. This year representatives from the tertiary sector will be in attendance.
A guide has been created to help navigate the Careers Night and learn more about our Alumni Career Mentors and the tertiary institutions. The format of the evening includes:
6.30pm – 7.00pm Exclusive time with representatives from the tertiary institutions.
7.00pm – 7.05pm Welcome from Mrs Ruckert
7.10pm – 8.10pm Alumni Career Mentor booked sessions including one option with the tertiary institutions.
8.10pm – 8.35pm Interactive Session with TOGA/TGA
8.35pm – 9.00pm Open sessions with no bookings required with Alumni Career Mentors
Step 1: Begin with the Event Booklet
Access the event booklet here. Please use the index to learn about our Alumni Career Mentors and the industries they represent.
Step 2: Make your Bookings using the following Link: https://events.humanitix.com/tinterncareers2023
Register your attendance and follow the process to book a maximum of three sessions with Alumni Career Mentors. Your free session can be used to visit one of the tertiary institutions and there will be an open session with no bookings required.
Please Note: Only one (1) booking is required for the student and this includes accompanying family members or guardians.
Step 3: Confirmation of Registration
After the registration is complete, you will receive an email listing the times you are meeting each of your Alumni Career Mentors. Please keep this as you will need it on the night.
