From the Principal

This week we have a special lead introduction from Rev Alison Andrew…..

As we enter Neurodiversity week at school, a week where we highlight the many modes in which students’ brains work and celebrate them, I cant help but smile. How far education has come in many ways over the past twenty years of my teaching career. Celebrating diversity is just one of the many things Tintern does very well and makes me proud to work in such a richly diverse school.

As we watch the world and the events unfolding in Ukraine, there is a sense in which we can feel a bit helpless, it seems so far away and yet our screens bring it so close. Throughout the school we have written ‘Notes and prayers of hope’, prayed and lit candles to help us remember the people who are living in fear and distress in Ukraine. And yet through all this we wonder what else can we do?

I have come to realise that one of the most powerful things we can do is create and nurture a community at Tintern which is almost counter cultural, one that does not place one group of people or characteristics above another, one where all people are embraced and celebrated and diversity is the normal. If we can do this and our students grow, play and learn in that environment, then when they leave school they will carry that set of expectations and way of seeing our world into the wider world. This will then seed communities and workplaces that actively encourage understanding and hope. Understanding and hope being the opposite of fear and oppression like we are seeing in Ukraine.

Jesus in his ministry demonstrated a way of living and loving that was counter-cultural, he and the everyday people he called to live and work with him, through actions, not words showed a new way, a new ‘kingdom’ where God’s love is seen and heard. Where people are respected and embraced simply because they are God’s creation. He called people to live their best lives, and this spread from Galilee to the world and we are still talking about him today.

So, my prayer as we approach Easter:

Loving God

May your kingdom be seen and known here at Tintern.

May we, through our actions, embody the love you have for us and for the world.

May we embrace our rich diversity.

Make us a people who seek to bring hope and understanding now and throughout our lives.

We pray this in the name of the resurrected Jesus. Amen

Rev Alison Andrew

School Chaplain

Head of Religion Studies

Curriculum Matters

Interim Reports

On Friday 11 March, our Secondary Interim Reports opened to parents in the Parent Centre of myTintern. These reports indicated to parents and students progress to date in each subject prior to recent Student Progress Meetings. The achievement levels indicated by teachers reflect a student’s performance in assessment tasks completed this semester.

Student Progress Meetings

This past Monday saw the second of three online Secondary School Student Progress Meeting sessions. Next week another Secondary School evening will be held online on Monday 28 March. Bookings for Monday afternoon will close at 10am on Monday.

We were very pleased to see many of our secondary students, from Years 7 to 12, attending the online meetings last week, to be part of a three-way conversation about their own learning. We find this is a great opportunity for students to feel a part of the reflection – goal setting – self-evaluation feedback loop and to ask questions about how they are progressing and how they can improve. This is a good way to build our students’ confidence, help them to accept responsibility for their learning and for students, parents and teachers to engage in open and honest dialogue.

Ongoing Reporting on our School Portal for Middle School students

For the past three years we have provided graded reporting on Assessment Tasks to our Year 7-11 students with staff progressively entering grades for major assessment tasks across the semester. These are published at regular intervals on the portal in the same place as our Interim and Semester Reporting and show the letter grade awarded for those tasks.

Last year we trialled a more detailed ongoing reporting system for our Year 7s through the Tintern Portal. Key tasks were marked and made visible to parents, as per our previous practice. Additionally, feedback and commentary on the tasks also was visible to parents and provided more detailed information for parents on their child’s progress in all subjects throughout the semester. These key tasks then became the main commentary which appeared on the end-of-semester report in June, along with summative grades for each subject. We now have expanded this progressive approach to reporting across all Middle School classes (Years 7 to 9) and trust that this will become a more valuable ongoing communication tool, ensuring parents are more fully aware of their child/ren’s progress without having to wait until the end-of semester for a complete picture of their progress.

Year 10 and 11 students will continue to have progressive grades lodged and updated via the reporting tab on the portal. The publication dates for Year 10 to 11 Progressive Grade Reports for Semester 1, 2022 are:

Friday 25 March at 4pm

Friday 8 April at 4pm (this date corresponds with the end of Term 1)

Friday 6 May at 4pm

Friday 20 May at 4pm

Friday 3 June at 4pm

Tuesday 21 June – with the publication of Semester Reports

The Middle School Ongoing Reporting System will be fully visible and updated as a ‘live’ communication tool for parents throughout the semester.

I trust that our reporting process and Student Progress Meeting evenings are proving useful in understanding your child’s progress to date and will assist in strengthening the partnership between family, school and student that is so crucial to effective learning and growth.

Tintern preparing for Online NAPLAN Delivery

In 2018, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) commenced the transition from a paper-based to an online assessment system. Tintern Grammar made the transition in 2019 which exposed our students to an improvement to the system as a result of the NAPLAN Online platform using an adaptive test design. This enables the system to present questions which better match student achievement levels and provide more precise results for teachers and schools.

As you may be aware, NAPLAN testing in 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19.

In order to re-familiarise our students with the online format, there was a mandated nation-wide Co-ordinated Practice Trial scheduled to be conducted at the school on Thursday 24 March. All of our Year 3 and 5 students will participate in the trial this Thursday. Due to the unexpected move to remote learning for our secondary school students this week, VCAA has approved that our Year 7 and 9 students will experience the trial sessions next Thursday 31 March. They will not, therefore, miss out on the opportunity to become familiar with the online interface prior to the actual testing in May.

These trials in March will not be graded or marked, and no data from them is being collected or supplied to us. This is purely a familiarisation process and an exercise in ICT readiness. As such, this is a low-key event, and there will be ICT and teacher support in the room during the trials to ensure the students receive assistance if there were any technical ‘glitches’ during the process.

Further information will be sent to parents of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 regarding NAPLAN testing in the weeks leading up to the online testing period in May.

Community Matters

Music Matters

Twilight Concert

On Tuesday 5 April, we look forward to the first in our series of Twilight Music Concerts for 2022. A range of musicians in Years 7 to 12 will perform in Area C in the CM Wood Centre, with the concert commencing at 5pm and concluding before 6.30pm. This is a free concert, and all members of the school community are welcome to attend to enjoy performances on piano, violin, clarinet, cello along with some lovely songs performed by our student singers. For further inquiries about this event, please contact music@tintern.vic.edu.au

Friends of Music Raffle

Head over to the Community Matters page of this newsletter for further information about the Easter Raffle being conducted by our fabulous Friends of Music. Their fund raising efforts over the years have supported our Music staff and students in a myriad of ways. Parents interested in joining this merry band of parents, who meet two or three times per term, should email fom@tintern.vic.edu.au for further information.

Little Shop of Horrors

Our production of “Little Shop of Horrors” was scheduled to hit the stage of the Karralyka Theatre in Ringwood this week. We are thrilled that, after the unexpected postponement of this event due to concerns around COVID outbreaks, Mr Fry this afternoon has announced that the performances will go ahead in the first week of Term 2. After the many months of work which have gone into this event, it will be great to see it come to fruition next month. We look forward to seeing you at our re-scheduled shows next term.

Alison Bezaire

Director of Music

Sport Matters

Congratulations to Emmy Horman in Year 11 for being selected  to play for the Victorian U18 Softball Team.  Emmy plays 1st base and will be travelling to Sydney in April to compete at nationals. 

House Athletics 

On Friday 11 March, Tintern Grammar held the annual House Athletics Carnival at Bill Sewart Athletics Track, in Burwood. With the weather being perfect for competition, the students were able to compete to the best of their ability for their house. The house spirit and participation throughout the day was high, with students and staff cheering on their houses. The competition remained extremely close for the entire day, ensuring results in each event were vital to the overall positions at the end of the carnival. There was only 145 points separating first from fifth in the overall standings. Congratulations to all students for a competing for their house. I would like to thank all staff for their assistance in making the carnival happen, especially Ms Vine, the P.E. staff, Mrs Derry and Mrs Wheaton, Mrs Healey and the facilities team for all of the work they did to make the day a success. The overall results will be presented on Friday at assembly. 

Neurodiversity Celebration Week

We are proud to support Neurodiversity Celebration Week at Tintern Grammar!

Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. It aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived. At Tintern we celebrate differences, strive to empower every individual and recognise the many strengths of being neurodivergent: creativity, innovation, ability to think outside-the-box, problem-solving skills, unique insights and perspectives, perseverance and resilience.

ELC News

Letterland 

During Term One at our Early Learning Centre all children have been participating in a phonics program called, “Letterland”.

Letterland has become a permanent exercise within each room’s timetable to ensure every child has the opportunity to explore the world of letters and phonics through the art of story telling, song, craft and conversation.

Each week we dive into the world of Letterland with the guidance of gleeful characters with delightful names like “Annie Apple”, “Bouncy Ben” and “Clever Cat”.

Recently we welcomed, “Dippy Duck” into our classrooms to unpack words beginning with “D”. A wide variety of activities provided for the children included a box filled with D named objects, dotting a dinosaur and baking Dippy Duck Donuts.

When looking through the Letterland box, children are encouraged to participate in group discussions about what’s in the box. When asked about the contents, our ELC children had some great responses!

“The Dinosaurs eat meat, and some are herbivores!” – Olivia.

“Dolphins dive in the water” -Nathan.

“Ducks swim in the pond” – Alex.

One class even attempted to make yellow Dippy Duck Donuts! Using donut baking trays and yellow food gel, everyone stirred and marvelled at their creations which took just as little time to eat and enjoy as it was to make them!

What amazing creations will we come up with next?!

Brooke Mitchell

ELC Teacher

Boys’ Junior School News

In our Boys’ Junior School we have commenced recognising International Neurodiversity Week.

In a daily Prep to Year 6 gathering , we speak about Neurodiversity, based on the idea that everyone has a differently-wired brain and their own unique way of thinking and experiencing the world.

Yesterday we focused on the learning variation of Autism. The following, 4 minute video was shown…it is a terrific explanation of Autism.

Today, we discussed ADHD.

We watched the following video and then spoke about how we can support those with ADHD, and the strengths of those with it.

Once again, I stressed that having some of the traits/nuances, such as daydreaming, being distracted, and having lots of energy, DOES NOT necessarily mean that one has ADHD!

Most importantly though we focussed on the need to respect, be compassionate and understanding of anyone in your class who is different or who is finding something difficult.

Each day we will be give the boys a coloured ribbon representing each Learning Variance.

Girls’ Junior School News

A day in the life of a Year 3 Tintern Girl

Many great learning experiences have taken place throughout Term 1 so far for our Year 3A Learning Community. Here are some of the highlights.

We have visited the STEAM Centre. Here we explored the central nervous system; how the brain sends messages to different parts of our body through the nerves. We traced our hands onto cardboard and using wool and straw we threaded the wool to create a nerve for each of our fingers and thumb and then combined them to create one nerve pathway through to the wrist. Each strand could then control the movement of the corresponding finger or thumb and pulling all could clasp the hand or bend at the wrist. It was a great session to demonstrate the beginning stages of design and technology, in this instance building a prototype.

Our Writing sessions how been focused on the Writing Process. We established that all Writer’s have a ‘toolbox’ with items such as a pencil, paper, dictionary, concentration, ideas and inspiration amongst many others for us to use. We have learned that there are a number of steps as part of this process; Brain Dump, Plan, Draft, Edit (using CUPS), Revise (Using ARMS) and Publishing. We use the acronym CUPS, which stands for Capital Letters, Understanding, Punctuation and Spelling and ARMS, which stands for Add, Remove, Move and Substitute. This is a helpful way for the Girls to work through the editing and revising phases.

In our Maths sessions we have been learning about Time; identifying the features of both an analogue and digital clock, explaining how the minute and the hour hand move and what they represent and understanding half past, quarter past and quarter to. We created our own analogue clocks using a paper plate and split pin to make rotating hands.

As part of our Integrated Studies topic I Strive, we have explored what inspiration means to us. We wrote our ideas on a post-it note and added to an anchor chart to share our thoughts. We had a great discussion about certain people who inspire us and the qualities that they demonstrate that make them inspirational. We agreed that doing something that you loved, working hard, it not always being about winning and never giving up were some of the qualities we saw in the people that inspire us.

And something that is unique to Year 3 is our Strings Program. We are all learning either the violin, viola or cello and experiencing what it is like to learn an instrument and play as an ensemble. We are preparing for a performance later in the year – how exciting!

Ms Miranda Price

Year 3A Class Teacher

Plant Your Feet

Throughout Term 1 students in Year 4 have been exploring the unit, ‘Plant Your Feet’. The girls have been developing a growing sense of wonder and appreciation of plants as they investigate the processes of pollination and germination, the parts of a plant, a seeds life cycle, environmental conditions that plants need for growth, the plants we eat and much more.

We have been integrating our unit throughout all areas of the curriculum. In literacy, we are reading The Secret Garden. One of the tasks we completed required us to visualise what the garden looked like. We created ‘key-hole’ artworks to present what we thought was behind the door.

We have had several hands-on activities the students have really enjoyed. We spent some time walking around the campus foraging for interesting plant parts and flowers – collecting and bringing them to the STEAM centre. After that, we examined them closely under the 3D microscopes. The girls identified the different parts of a plant or flower and took photos using the microscopes.

Early next Term 2, we are heading to the Royal Botanical Gardens and undertaking a ‘Bush Foods’ program. It will be a journey through the Australian Garden and discover a variety of indigenous bush foods. Students will learn Aboriginal knowledge of agricultural systems and food-related tools. They will become familiar with native Australian flora and the purpose each plant has in Aboriginal culture. This will link our Term 1 unit, Plant Your Feet, with our Term 2 unit Exploring the First Fleet – which investigates pre and post colonisation and the impact it had on Aboriginal communities.

It has been so much fun exploring plants and examining how they reproduce in a very similar way to humans and the girls have shown fabulous depth with their understanding throughout the unit.

Will Fogarty

Year 4 Girls’ Junior School Teacher

Secondary School News

The last 24 hours has been a busy time at school with a decision made to move all secondary classes to remote learning for the remainder of this week due to a spike in the number of COVID cases connected to our school musical rehearsals. We are very grateful to our students, staff and families who understood and accepted the decision to do so, and were able to pivot quickly into this mode for the remainder of this upcoming week. We certainly look forward to welcoming everyone back on site Monday next week.

The weeks certainly seem to go quickly when school is up and running, and the last two weeks have been no exception. Following on from International Women’s Day, this week we are celebrating Neurodiversity Week throughout the school with various awareness activities and events occurring, including at our upcoming assembly. Mrs Watkins, our Middle School Co-ordinator and Year 7 & 8 Girls’ Co-ordinator, has provided an introductory article to Neurodiversity Week that you can access by clicking on this link.

Secondary School Athletics Carnival
On Friday 11 March we held our Secondary School Athletics Carnival at Bill Stewart Athletics Track in Nunawading. It was a wonderful day that provided opportunities for all students to compete at a high level in some areas, and also enjoy plenty of fun and entertainment in another area. We have a number of very good athletes across both the track and field events, and in the coming weeks we will be finalising our EISM athletics squad to compete at the upcoming divisional athletics championship at Lakeside Stadium in Albert Park on May 3.

Training for our athletics begins this week on Wednesday 23 March at 3:45pm on our bottom oval. There are three sessions a week available to all secondary students (not just those in our athletics team) including Monday and Friday mornings at 7:00 – 8:00am and Wednesday afternoons from 3:45 – 4:45pm. This is an optional opportunity for every student, and a highly encouraged one, with four-time Australian Olympian Craig Mottram leading the training for our students.

Little Shop of Horrors
With a recent increase in the number of positive cases in both staff and students associated with our school musical, a decision has been made to postpone the show to later in the year. At this stage we are unable to provide the dates of the performances; however, we are absolutely committed to providing our students with the opportunity to be up on stage after all their hard work. A huge thank you to all the staff and students who have worked on the musical up until now and hopefully we can have the new dates out to you as soon as possible.

Big Brother/Big Sister
The Big Brother/Big Sister program continues to run through our Year 7 pastoral program and is providing a wonderful connection between our Year 7 students and their Year 11 Big Brother and/or Big Sister. It has been great to see the connection between many of the students continuing outside of the scheduled meetings with a number of our older students finding the opportunity to spend even more time with their Year 7 buddy. It is these types of opportunities that provide both the mentor and mentee with a great experience and level of connection within the school. Hopefully, it is something that they maintain through their schooling years and that our Year 7s see the purpose of returning this to other students when they reach Year 11 themselves.

Duke of Edinburgh – Yr 9
In Year 9 our students are introduced to the Duke of Edinburgh Program and are provided with the opportunity to participate fully within it, and subsequently fulfil the obligations to achieve their Bronze Award throughout Year 9. The program is aimed at empowering all young Australians aged 14 – 24 to explore their full potential and find their purpose, passion and place in the world. To achieve the award each student must learn a skill, improve their physical wellbeing, volunteer in their community and experience a team adventure in a new environment. Our Year 9 Pastoral Program has been developed to help our students achieve this using our camps program, the sporting opportunities at school as well as some volunteering experiences. It has been great to see so many of our Year 9s take up the challenge of the Duke of Ed Award this year and for so many students to be developing these great skills that will set them up extremely well for the future.

Elevate Education
Last week our Year 9 students received a workshop from Elevate Education around study skills and time management. Elevate are an external organisation that we work very closely with to help tailor a program across our secondary school that focusses on things such as study skills, exam preparation, organisation, time management, etc. The recent session for our Year 9s provided them with tips and tricks for managing heavy workloads, how to approach assignment effectively, how to use their time in a better way and the importance of developing self-organisation. Our pastoral mentors at Year 9 will continue to work on this with the students as the year progresses to ensure they are finding techniques that work best for them. This is also covered across all other year levels at Tintern, in an age-and-stage appropriate way.

Concerto Concert
One of the many aspects of school that we have missed in recent years has been the live music and performances of our very talented students. On Wednesday 8 March we were fortunate to have our first live performance for a long time with our Secondary School Preliminary Concerto Concert in our CM Wood Centre. We had 12 of our very talented musicians playing on the night with four of them being adjudged successful by guest adjudicator, Ms Debbie Haskell. The four successful students were: Sophie Qui, Amy Zhang, Bohan Liang and Kevin Wang. For more information, please follow this link.

Neurodiversity Week – Anthea Watkins

Little Shop of Horrors – Postponed

Our 2022 School Musical Production Little Shop of Horrors has unfortunately been postponed due to COVID-19. There will be no performances this week.

We were delighted to be able to swiftly reschedule the event to Term 2 with performances on the following dates:

7pm Wednesday 27 April

7pm Thursday 28 April

7pm Friday 29 April

If you have already booked tickets for this week’s performances, you will be contacted by Karralyka before the end of this week about re-ticketing. Ticketing will then open next week for further purchase of tickets by those not currently holding a ticket. We thank you for your understanding.

An update from TeamKids

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

A big warm hello from us here at TeamKids to you. Welcome to the first Team Kids newsletter for the year. My name is Alex, and I am the Director of Service here at Tintern Grammar.

We have had a busy couple of weeks here at Team Kids. It has been wonderful to have welcomed some new families, as well as our regular families.

At the beginning of the term, the children were able to vote on our Team Kids clubs for the term. The most popular ones were cooking club, S.T.E.M club and adventure club.

So far in S.T.E.M club we have build bridges using spaghetti and marshmallows, we have made slime, lava in a cup and gloop. The children have had so much fun getting involved in this club.

Cooking club has been a favourite at Team Kids. So far this term we have made cookies, muffins, mini pizza’s, pancakes and sausage rolls. The children loved watching some of their favourite foods come together and are super proud to show their parents what they have made.

In adventure club, we have enjoyed nature walks, making leaf crowns, discussing the different seasons, and going on a bug hunt.

Alongside our clubs, we have enjoyed several art and craft activities. Children have enjoyed making sun catches, painting using shaving cream paint just to name a few.

That’s all from us at Team Kids. Just a reminder to make sure you book in to avoid missing out. Due to Government ratios, if you’re not booked in, there is a chance we may not be able to accept your child.

IMPORTANT DATES

Wednesday 23^rd March

Rainbow party at after school care

Friday 8^th April

Last day of term

Contact us:

Service mobile: 0484 300 362

Service email: TinternGrammar@teamkids.com.au

Office phone: 1300 035 000

Office email: info@teamkids.com.au

Alex Bonney

Director of Service – Tintern Grammar

TeamKids