From the Principal

This week we have a special guest introduction from Sue Healey, Director of Information & Technology Services. 

Visitors to our school who come into The STEAM Centre will often ask me whether we have introduced a STEAM subject into the curriculum to give student access to the Centre and its resources. This is an interesting question and one that I believe reflects our 20^th century educational experiences which generally introduced new subject areas as separate standalone curriculums. The short answer is no – we have not taken this approach with STEAM at Tintern Grammar.

STEAM is about Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics coming together and offering new opportunities for all teachers and students. To create a new subject called STEAM or STEM at certain year levels with specific timetabled classes continues the subject solo experience which limits access to certain year levels and creative exploration to specific times each week. By supporting all staff to embrace the digital technologies curriculum within their subject areas we have seen an increase in the number of classes using a variety of digital resources to better understand key subject related concepts.

One of the many highlights this year has been supporting a number of peer-to-peer experiences using technology. In the Junior School, our buddy program has been used very successfully to engage students in the technology curriculum. In Term 3, our Year 3 girls teamed up with their Prep buddy to design and create a marble run as part of a technology challenge, while our Year 3 boys teamed up with their Prep buddy at the end of Term 2 to create a robot in Tinkercad as part of their Letterland focus on Red Robot. Our Year 3’s were passionate teachers offering encouragement and support to their buddies while the Preps loved the opportunity to work with an older peer.

We have an open door policy in relation to The STEAM Centre which allows students to explore ideas which are of interest to them and not necessarily associated with a classroom activity. Students from all year levels are welcome to explore any of the technologies available in The STEAM Centre during lunch breaks as well as before or after school from 7.30am until 5.30pm. During the recent term break, a father and daughter came in to look at some of the technologies available and went on to work together using a Brother ScanNCut machine to replicate an electric lamp using paper, circuit paint and a button battery.

If you are interested in doing something similar, the term breaks are a great time for parents to come along and have a look at what technologies are available. You may be interested in knowing more about 3D printing or how to create a design for the laser cutter.  If so, please email itservices@tintern.vic.edu.au to make an appointment with one of our IT/Library staff and we will take you through the steps to make your first 3D print or laser cut design.

The STEAM journey at Tintern Grammar is well underway. Much has been achieved this year in terms of engaging staff and students in the digital curriculum across all schools. This week, we have our ELC learners coming to visit the Centre where they will be assembling a 3D printed robot as part of the Treasure Time tour. We have our Year 7s exploring geometry concepts using Adobe Illustrator and the laser cutter as well as coding Ozbots to create Polygons. Our Year 8s & 9s are currently printing out their 3D designs designed in TinkerCad. Our students are truly making their own future.

What’s next? 2019 virtual reality tours!

We recently purchased a 360  camera to allow staff and students to make their own 360  videos. Videos taken while on an excursion would help students who could not attend or others that want to relive the experience when writing up their excursion reports. Our Farm Manager is also interested in using this technology to create animal husbandry videos to better support student learning. Our call goes out to any parents who may have experience with 360  filming to get in touch and support our journey into virtual reality.

Music Matters

Twilight Concert

We enjoyed a delightful array of musical offerings at our final Twilight Concert for 2018 last Wednesday afternoon. Students ranged from Year 7 to some of our more seasoned VCE level musicians and we heard a mixture of string, vocal, woodwind and piano pieces. Many thanks to our accompanist, Ms McKenzie for all her work working with these students and also with the many students who recently have sat AMEB examinations.

Sport Matters

Jess Van Bremen flies high at Warragul!

Congratulations to Jessica Van Bremen (Year 10) on a great outing at the recent Warragul Pony Club Show Jumping Championships. Jess and her mount, Fly, won both their AM5 and 2-round sections to take out overall Champion in Open D Grade. Jess rode Fly well, with no penalties, to end up with the fastest round and a perfect score!

Riders from across the school attending Equitana

Twenty of our riders from across the Junior, Middle and Senior Schools will be attending Equitana at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds on Friday 16 November. This four-day event features equine exhibitions and entertainment by local, national and international presenters. This is a wonderful treat for our students, generously sponsored by the Friends of Equestrian Committee and all of the riders are looking forward to taking in the many events at the arenas.

by Alison Bezaire, Equestrian Coordinator

Community Matters

Don’t miss out! Bookings close Friday for Oaks Day at Yarra Glen Races!

Celebrate Oaks Day with our community at the Yarra Glen Races. This event is open to friends and family from our parent, past parent and past student communities. 

Dress to impress and watch the races from the Tintern Grammar Marquee whilst enjoying a complimentary drink and canapés on arrival. Oaks Day is more than just the races with Eastland Fashions and live music all day.

WHEN: Thursday 8 November 2018 at 12:00pm

LOCATION: Yarra Glen Racecourse, Armstrong Grove, Yarra Glen, Victoria

COST: $35 per person
This includes race day admission, drink and canapés on arrival.

Book via Trybooking: www.trybooking.com/XPYI

ENQUIRIES: All enquiries can be directed to Di Lacey and Tegan Martin 03 9845 7877 or communityrelations@tintern.vic.edu.au.

Spring Garden Tour 2018 – A wonderful day out!

An incredible day was had by all at the 2018 Spring Garden Tour. A special thank you to Lisa Vecchio, who coordinated the entire day once again and opened her own garden for a guided tour.

Thank you also to George and Pat at Como Gardens who let us tour their wonderful property. Lunch at Mist @ Olinda was delicious, enjoyed overlooking the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Gardens.

Thank you to the following sponsors who made generous donations to the Garden Tour:

Munch with the Musos – Book your tickets now!

Join us for the 2018 Munch with the Musos on Sunday 25 November, 10AM – 12.30PM, in CM Wood Centre.

Select here to buy your tickets now!

Volunteer Thank You Evening

Thursday 29 November, 7.00 – 8:30PM, Year 9 Courtyard

Join us at this special evening on Thursday 29 November to celebrate and recognise the valuable contributions of our parent and community volunteers.  Book your ticket here!

Volunteers Needed – 2019 Giant Fair

The Fair committee are busily preparing for next year’s Giant Fair on Saturday 30 March 2019 and today we are looking for parent volunteers to be year level coordinators of the following stalls (please note: year levels listed are 2019 year level):

• Year 1 – Cappuccino
• Year 2 – Craft Activities
• Year 3 – Cakes
• Year 8 – Secondhand Clothes
• Year 9 – Plants
• Year 11 – Sausage / Hamburger Sizzle
• Year 11 – Ice Creams & Roving Choc Tops
• Year 12 – Devonshire Tea

Please email the Fair Committee fair@tintern.vic.edu.au to let them know you’re interested in being a stall coordinator.

The following stalls have already been allocated (thanks to our great coordinators!):

• Pre-Loved Toys & Sports Gear – ELC
• Show Bags – Prep
• Corn / Hot Dogs – Year 4
• Baked Potatoes – Year 5
• Fairy Floss – Year 6
• Hot Roast Rolls – Year 7
• Drinks & Snow Cones –Year 7
• Donuts – Year 8
• Rides Booth – Year 9
• Secondhand Books –Year 10
• Hot Chips – Year 10
• Year 12 – Chicken Skewers

If you are keen to be involved in any way, please email your expression of interest to fair@tintern.vic.edu.au, or contact Community Relations on 9845 7877.

Community Committee Dates 

• Tintern Parent Group (TPG) –Next meeting: Thursday 8 November 7.30pm Kennedy Cottage Co-Presidents: Haidee Wallace and Leeza Crowe
• Friends of Music (FOM) – Next Meeting: Wednesday 14 November 7pm CM Wood Common Room President: Tim Oldmeadow
• Friends of Young Farmers (FOYF) – Next Meeting: Early 2019 TBA President: Jonathan Cross
• Fair Committee – Next Meeting: Tuesday 13 November 2018 7.30pm CM Wood Common Room Fair Convenor: Amanda McKenzie
• Friends of Equestrian (FOE) – Next Meeting: Tuesday 13 November 2018 7.30pm Kennedy Cottage President:Henrik Qvist

Community Group Fundraising

Entertainment Book – Get yours now!

Remember it isn’t too late to purchase your Entertainment Book Membership! For a limited time they are offering free postage of the books.

Filled with up to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers for the most popular restaurants, attractions, shopping, travel and more. The book is current from purchase until the end of May 2019.

With many new offers and all the old favourites the value of this book is incredible!

Please click here to order your 2018/2019 Entertainment book from Tintern Grammar. Books can be collected from Main Reception, or instantly purchase and access a digital membership which can then be used on two separate devices.

Please contact Community Relations on 9845 7877 for further information.

All proceeds raised go towards the fundraising for the TPG for 2018.

Tintern Grammar Photo Albums – Protect your School Photos!

Protect your child’s school photos with a stunning Tintern Photo Album. The TPG is offering beautiful quality made customised ‘buckram’ binders for only $72. The albums are Navy, featuring the school crest and name printed in silver on the front cover and come complete with 10 transparent sheet inserts.

The albums are great for storing:
– The official school photos
– Certificates
– NAPLAN and ICAS results
– Sports and performer ribbons
– Artwork
– Programs from concerts, sports days and special assemblies
– Photos
– Newsletter clippings
– Your own scrapbook creations (as the pages are 30cm x 30cm standard scrapbook size)

In fact, if you think of it like a filing cabinet of memories, over the years it builds up into quite a treasure! Samples can be viewed in the uniform shop and all orders are now taken at this link through trybooking. 

Once you have placed your order, please take your confirmation to the Uniform Shop to collect your Album and/or extra pages.

Furniture Trial

As teaching and learning evolves so do the requirements of the modern learning environment, and with this in mind, we are pleased to share that SebelFurniture invited Tintern Grammar to participate in an exciting classroom furniture trial.

I worked with Sebel to design a classroom with furniture that is flexible, versatile, and comfortable, and will aid in facilitating 21st century teaching and learning. The final design incorporates a mix of tables and seating with differing heights, and informal and formal furniture. This design will allow students to move about the classroom and re-arrange the furniture to suit the activity they are engaged in. There will be opportunities for all Junior School students to experience the classroom design.

The overall aim of the trial is to create a space that increases student engagement, encourages collaboration and inspires students to learn. From time to time Sebel will visit the classroom to gather feedback from students and teachers on how the furniture is working. We will also share feedback with the School community as well.

Here are the students’ thoughts…

We all observe that with the variety of furniture tending to different people’s needs gives us a lot of choice and freedom. The colourful surroundings make us even more motivated, enthusiastic and engaged in our learning. Without an actual teacher’s desk, plenty of room is freed up which makes room for moving around. It also feels a bit less claustrophobic. This furniture trial is working really effectively for us.

Chloe Chiu, Charlotte du Blêt, Melody Ch’ng and Sophia Li

The modernised, new furniture we got this week is vibrant with colours and makes us all feel even more safe and at home. When we first walked into the classroom everyone immediately gasped in awe as we saw the variety of furniture. The furniture makes our learning more flexible in so many ways and makes us feel relaxed. Without the teacher’s desk we have more space and allows her to wheel around the classroom. The writable whiteboard tables are helpful with presentations and working out problems without wasting paper.

Emma Cooke, Ainsley Light and Rose Rostron

The furniture is really comfortable and at the high tables there’s lots of leg room. We also really enjoy the variety of chairs and tables. The orange and green stools are great for people who fiddle because it allows them to concentrate more. There is more variety for students who like to change around quite often and the tables are very clean and polished, ready for students to work on. The furniture keeps us engaged and gets us even more excited and enthusiastic to go to class.

Sarah Fisher, Audrey Tandori, Ava Cantor and Elsje Van Vroonhoven

Every day we walk into the classroom, a new, modern, colourful and vibrant classroom awaits us. We feel more motivated, excited, ecstatic and engaged, ready to learn and start a new day. There’s a variety of different chairs and tables to sit and work at. The colourful green and orange themed furniture makes us feel more relaxed and comfortable.

Sarah Zhu, Jade Dyason, Enci Chen and Joanne Ye   

The little couches are really comfortable and they are not hard to move around. The high desks are very spacious and you have a lot of leg room; the seats are all very comfortable. The wobbly seats are very easy to work on for people who are a bit fidgety and the chairs on wheels are very easy to move.

Abby Dunn, Charlotte Collins, Nesreen Taher and Aileen Zhang

Visit the Facebook post to see more photos.

Rosa Parks, Peter Norman and Equality

In our most recent Assemblies we are/have been focussing on two examples of courage and integrity; Rosa Parks’ Montgomery Bus incident, and Australian Peter Norman’s involvement in the ‘Human Rights Salute’ at the 1968 Olympics.

It can be challenging to speak up when injustices occur, and it is not easy, especially for children, to determine when they are allowed to do so, and when this is seen as being disrespectful and rude, and this is part of our discussion in Assemblies.

The importance of equality, regardless of colour, gender, sexuality, race and beliefs, is a message that we continue to discuss and reinforce.

There is a strong belief that Peter Norman wasn’t selected in the 1972 Olympic team, nor invited as a guest, to the 2000 Olympics, because of his support of Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ ‘salute’ during the Medal Ceremony following the 200m final, yet 9 October in America is designated “Peter Norman Day”.  Parliament issued an apology to Peter Norman on October 11 2012 that in part read:

“(Parliament) ….acknowledges the bravery of Peter Norman in donning an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on the podium, in solidarity with African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who gave the ‘black power’ salute;

….apologises to Peter Norman for the treatment he received upon his return to Australia, and the failure to fully recognise his inspirational role before his untimely death in 2006…”

News from Year 1D

Year 1 has been lucky enough to have Kella join the class in Term 4. The boys have made him feel welcome and from the way he has seamlessly slotted into the class, you would think he had been here all year.

This term our topic is Now and Then, is which we look back to earlier generations and compare the differences in things such as home life, toys, transport, communication and technology. For this technology-savvy generation, they cannot even imagine life without an iPad, let alone life without a television!

We continue to take our learning outdoors with our weekly visits to the farm where Farmer Wall assists us in learning about animals and the farm environment. We visit the farm with our Year 3 buddies and the boys thoroughly enjoy the time they spend with each other.

Up Up and Away- Year 6 Boys’ Flight Day

What a fantastic day we had for our excursion to The Peninsula Aero Club at Tyabb Airport last week. We were so excited when we arrived and saw all the planes lined up waiting for us. Dave, Sundeep and Amy were our pilots and their kind and caring manner with the boys quickly put the soon to be pilots at ease. The boys each took turns to actually co-pilot and fly the Cessna 152 aircrafts. I can’t begin to explain the looks on their faces as they crossed the tarmac to board their small plane. Upon landing the expressions on their faces were priceless.

Some of the comments were: AWESOME……..AMAZING………UNBELIEVABLE……BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE even a WHOO HOO!!! How lucky are our boys to have this experience and they were very grateful to have the wonderful pilots who flew with them. Congratulations to the boys on their excellent behaviour and impeccable manners at the excursion. What a special day it was for everyone.

Bandanna Day

Canteen is an organisation that supports young people living with cancer. It helps them to cope with their own cancer or cancer in their family. This year our Year 6 boys and girls “banded” together to sell bandannas to raise funds and awareness for Kids with Cancer. The response was overwhelming and we sold close to four boxes of bandannas. On Friday 26 October, which was National Bandanna Day, some of the Year 6 students led a wonderfully energetic and fun game of ‘Cops and Robbers’ involving more than 70 of our Prep – Year 6 boys and girls all sporting some very colourful bandannas!

A special thanks to Mr Kenny, who joined with me to assist the Year 6 boys and girls. Through our efforts, we raised a total of $1,010. It is always heartening to see the manner in which our Junior School Community raises an awareness of, and supports causes and Community groups, that are important to us all.

Term 4 Class Captains

Aston Scherer                                                Ryan Makkar                                                Lucas Chen

Congratulations to our Term 4 Class Captains.

Club Tinwood Amazing Race – Monday 26 November

Join your friends for our Club Tinwood Christmas Celebration!

Teams will complete a Tintern Trivia tournament before exploring the Tintern Campus for clues.

At completion of the Race, each Team will enjoy a Sausage sizzle and a soft serve ice-cream or Gelati for afternoon tea.

For catering, we would like you to indicate a preference and notify us of any food allergies. Please note our sausages are all gluten-free, however, the bread is not gluten-free. You are welcome to provide your own bread or vegetarian substitute if preferred.

All this for JUST $20   This includes a $5 donation to The Smith family. For those with more than one child attending a $5 per family donation is appreciated

For those who haven’t been to our Club Tinwood Christmas Party, every year we make a donation to The Smith Family.

This year we will give the donation in the form of a cheque directly to the Smith Family so as they can purchase gifts. We see the process of this as an important part of our community Christmas Spirit: children giving to someone less fortunate than themselves

The Smith Family is most grateful for the continuing support of Tintern Grammar students and families, especially at this important time of giving and sharing.

What is Club Tinwood?

Club Tinwood is an optional after-school activity group for girls and boys in Year 3 to 6 that meets throughout the school year. The club complements our Parallel Learning model by encouraging friendships across the Junior School and bringing our older Junior Schools’ children together outside of the classroom, providing an opportunity to mix and socialise whilst taking part in a range of fun activities, which are organised and supervised by our Junior Schools’ staff.

Girls’ Middle School News

Year 7: Night of the Notables

The halls are currently buzzing with our Year 7 students who are super excited about tonight’s Night of the Notables. They can’t wait to introduce you to their notable person, and from what I have seen it promises to be a wonderful night with a lot of characters, costumes and excitement.

Their Big Brother Big Sister program has now drawn to a close with our Year 12 students off to exams. There were a few tears shed at the final Big Sister session, which I think was a testament to the level of relationship that was able to be built between our Year 7 and Year 12 students over this past year. The program has continued to enrich our Year 7 students’ experience and provides them with invaluable perspectives from older students on how to navigate these complex middle school years.

Year 8: Days for Girls

As part of their pastoral program, our Year 8 girls have been gaining a global perspective and researching what life is like in countries other than ours. The Year 8 girls are working towards their Social Justice Project ‘Days for Girls’, which takes place on 15 November. This project believes that every girl in the world deserves an education, safety, and dignity. It aims to assist girls to gain access to quality sustainable feminine hygiene and raises awareness.  Our students will spend the day creating sustainable feminine hygiene packs for girls across the globe from local indigenous communities to remote areas of the Middle East. They will be packing, ironing, sewing, sorting and collating all day. They will also have Michelle Gates from the Days for Girls organisation coming to speak to them to ensure that they are aware of why they are making the packs and the positive impact that their hard work can have on the lives of other girls across the globe.  The Year 8 girls are currently fundraising in a variety of ways and are seeking donations of heavy cotton material (brightly coloured), dark flannel material, new face washers and soap. If you would like to donate goods or financially to this great cause, please contact Heather Ross (hross@tintern.vic.edu.au) for more details. If you would like to know more about this cause, the website is: https://www.daysforgirls.org/australia

Year 9: Year 9/10 Production

I had the privilege of attending the Year 9/10 production ‘Miami Melton’ and ‘Man on the floor’ earlier this week. It was outstanding. I was completely blown away by the calibre of the performances across the board from our musicians, to our dancers, to our lead roles! There was a high level of energy and humour used throughout the play which kept the audience engaged and the entertainment level high. Congratulations to Tiarna Byrnes, Lilli Holliday-Ryder, Olivia Dunkley, Freya Bryson, Alyssa Dunn, Catherine Gray, Nile Korphaibool, Laura Mitcham, Hannah Murray, Chelsea Regan, Lydia Tan, Charlie Victoria, Zoe Liew and Jeanette Yang for all their outstanding efforts and managing to fit this into their busy school term.

Boys’ Middle School News

In the last two weeks we have seen two of the more significant events in our school calendar: our Celebration Evening and our Valedictory Service. The Celebration Evening at Robert Blackwood Hall was a fantastic event that showcased so much of what is wonderful about our school. It was an opportunity to recognise individual achievements through academic success and other areas, as well as an opportunity for some of our very talented actors, singers and musicians to display their talents. The final medley of songs from Sister Act 2 was a real treat, but nothing compares to the way in which our students sang the Southwood Boys Song, especially the verse sung by our Year 12 boys on their own. This is always a special part of the evening and one that our boys really look forward to taking part in, having watched it happen in the five previous years.

The second significant event was our Valedictory Service where the Class of 2018 is presented to the whole school (Prep – Year 12), parents and special guests. This was our final opportunity to congratulate, farewell and wish good luck to this group as they venture into examination time and then life beyond school. Another tradition that happens is that Mr Kenny and myself join the boys to sing the song once more around the compass that’s embedded into the ground outside the library. Again, a very emotional and moving part of our school and one that I’m sure all boys look forward to doing when they finish Year 12 – it’s a favourite of many of the parents too!

Mental health and wellbeing is a critical part in the development of all young men and recently our Year 9 boys were presented with a session on this topic by an organisation called SALT. It was a fantastic session that gave our boys information and guidance for both dealing with their own mental health problems, should that be the case, or ways to assist their mates who may be struggling. Other organisations such as Lifeline or Beyond Blue were raised as places our boys could go if they felt they couldn’t bring it to their parents or a teacher at school.

This week now sees the beginning of our 2019 leadership campaign for our Year 8 boys. For those who are interested, there will be opportunities for leadership in our School Leaders’ roles, House Captains and three Co-curricular Captains. All positions will involve a written application, with School Leaders also required to make a speech at an upcoming assembly.

Our Year 7 Night of the Notables is happening this week and I know there is a lot of excitement within the boys around being organised, prepared and ready for their evening performance.

On Wednesday 31 October at 7PM, our Principal Mr Fry is presenting to our parent audience on the topic of ‘Young people and pornography – myths and facts’. Mr Fry presented part of this session to staff at a recent after-school meeting, with most staff being completely amazed by the alarming statistics around pornography and our young people. I highly encourage all parents to find the time to attend the session if possible. You can book to attend here.

As we head into the mid-term break of Melbourne Cup weekend, it is a time for the boys to regroup and refresh themselves for the last few weeks of term. In the week beginning 26 November all our boys begin their transition program by moving into their 2019 classes and beginning their new timetable. This is a two-week transition for our current Year 7 and 8s, whilst our Year 9 boys will spend one of these two weeks on camp. The end of this year classes will be upon us before we know it.

News from the Head of the Senior College

Celebration Evening 2018

A wonderful night of celebration was held at Robert Blackwood Hall on Saturday 20 October. This evening is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our secondary students as well as farewell the Class of 2018. It was terrific to have many students given the opportunity to showcase their talents as they performed in music, drama and dance items that were truly impressive. The massed singing item, a medley from Sister Act, saw all students and staff on stage singing together and was a wonderful final performance. All items will be long remembered, particularly the year 12 Leaving Song and our Class of 2018 singing the school songs before departing the hall. The inspirational speeches from our two School Captains, Tara McAsey and Jack Read were also a highlight.

Congratulations to all Year 10 and 11 students who received Subject, Academic, Compass and Overall Excellence Awards. I would like to recognise the recipients of the ‘Special Awards’ that were awarded at Celebration Evening; these awards are not listed in the program as they are announced on the night.

• The June Ward Trophy for Commitment to Girls Sport – Isabella Wright
• The Pinnacle Trophy for Commitment to Boys Sport – Victor Tran
• The Sylvia Walton Trophy for Excellence in Sport – Courtney Snowball
• The Mei Lyn Wong Award for the Dux of the School, 2017 – Brittany Read
• The Marisa Sibson Award – Eliza Allen
• The Elizabeth Ann Walker Art Encouragement Award – Gemma Bettess and Emily Bizley
• The International Student Award – Edward Li and Maria Ruan
• The Young Farmers’ Award – Amy Taylor and Ella Watt
• The Tintern Grammar Parents’ Group Awards – Yasmin Lobo and Jack Oberstar
• Friends of Young Farmers’ Award – The David Wilkinson Award – Ashlea Cross and Olivia Cross
• The Lyn Bartold Performing Arts Awards – Nora Scanlan
• The Friends of Music Award – Gerard Barclay and Holly Fryer
• The Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award – Annabelle McKenzie
• School Awards – Ruby Ameer, Stefan Bennett, Gavin Choong, Daniella Cosentino, Jimmy Cox, Ella Donoghue, Alex Eadie, Holly Fryer, Caitlin Howley, Siobhan Muirhead, Brooke Thompson
• The Caltex Best All-Rounder Awards – Mae Eadie
• The Chairman’s Awards – Jack Read and Ruby Wensor
• The Sylvia Walton Award – Victor Tran
• The Emma B Cook Award – Tara McAsey

Congratulations to the Year 12 students for the respectful and considerate celebrations held at the school during their final days before the ‘swotvac’ period. On Tuesday 23 October we held our Year 12 Valedictory Service. This has become an annual tradition as the final farewell to our Year 12 cohort. We wish all our Year 12 students all the best for the written VCE and IB examination period that commenced this week and we will look forward to seeing many of our Year 12 students and their families on Wednesday 21 November at our Valedictory Dinner at Leonda on the Yarra.

News from the Careers Department

The final list of Year 12 Change of Preference events has been uploaded to the Careers Page of the Portal and it has also been emailed to the students. Please select the following link and also families are reminded to check that students have a tax file number prior to enrolment in tertiary courses – https://portal.tintern.vic.edu.au/homepage/19818/. The Year 12 students have all our best wishes for their examinations as they work through this busy period.

For Years 10, 11 and 12 students in 2019, there is the opportunity to change their subject selections from Friday 2 November once they have received their subject allocations. Students may email Mrs Ruckert at hruckert@tintern.vic.edu.au to organise an appointment and they can access the Senior College reception area for these discussions in the Careers room during the Year 12 examinations.

UCAT Preparation Courses

The school has been notified that there have been some misleading advertising claiming to help prepare students for the new UCAT (former UMAT). The UCAT will be used in the application process to some undergraduate medical degrees including Monash University. Claims including extensive experience tutoring UCAT (it is new) and referring to a paper-based test (it will be electronic) raise concerns and families need to be careful if selecting additional support to prepare for the test.

Career News Number 31 is now available on the Portal at http://portal.tintern.vic.edu.au/homepage/14962/ and includes the following items:

Career News Number 31

• Dates for the Diary in Term 4
• Reminder: VTAC 2019 Key Dates
• Accessing VCE Results 
• The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019
• Diploma of Screen and Media (Radio & Television) at Holmesglen Institute
• Medical Reception Course
• University Terms

Accessing VCE Results [Excerpt from Career News Number 31]

 “VCE study scores, ATAR and VTAC Scaled Study Scores will be available to students via the Results and ATAR website and the Results and ATAR app in December – https://resultsandatar.vic.edu.au/results/applicants.htm. Students will receive a statement of VCE study scores from the VCAA, and those who applied for courses through VTAC this year and have paid their VTAC processing fees will be sent an ATAR statement in the mail.

Students who wish to receive their results online, will need to register at https://resultsandatar.vic.edu.au/results/applicants.htm  before results are released.

Registrations are already open and students are encouraged to register soon.  To register, students need their VCAA student number and will be requested to choose a secure password on registering”.

News from Year 10

The Year 10 students have supported our Year 12 students and shown flexibility, as they remain quiet in the Senior College building during the examination period. IB examinations commenced on Monday 29 October and the need for a considerable number of room changes will remain in the lead up to their own examinations commencing on Monday 19 November. While it is preferable for the students to remain at home during the study day on Friday 16 November, a space has been provided for them to work in the library.

A printed invitation to the Year 10 Social has been distributed to students. Thank you to families for the number of early responses but a reminder that replies are requested by 8 November. The event will be held on Thursday 22 November at Gardiners Run in Chirnside Park from 7.00pm to 10.30pm.

Congratulations to Mitch Isbel for undertaking his first Solo flight! He has been taking flying lessons weekly with Lilydale Flying School for the past year. Mitch is now only five hours away from gaining his recreational pilot license.

News from Year 11

As we close in on the long weekend, it is a good time for the Year 11s to take stock of what they need to do to prepare for their exams. With only two weeks to go until the end of classes, it is important that any questions for their teachers be communicated, and advice is followed up. The staff are always willing to help out and provide any guidance with preparing for their exams. For those taking a 3/4 exam, practicing with previous years’ exams (which can be downloaded from the course pages from the VCAA website) are an invaluable resource. The more familiar a student is with the types of questions asked, and the content in general, the better the chances of doing well.

Course pages can be found at this link:  https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/index.aspx

Very soon the students will be getting their Year 11 exam timetables, and as a large number of students are taking 3/4 exams, they may need to speak to me to reschedule any conflicts.

Enjoy the long weekend!

2018 Maths Talent Quest Awards Ceremony

In mid-September, we shared the exciting news that a number of Years 5 – 12 students had achieved wonderful results in the 2018 Maths Talent Quest. Read the article here.

Last week, some of the students attended the MTQ Awards Ceremony at La Trobe University. Enjoy these photos below from the event.

Congratulations again to all the students! 

by Julie Tillyer, Teacher of Mathematics

Community Celebration Day at the Yarra Glen Races – Thursday 8 November (Oaks Day)

Celebrate Oaks Day with our community at the Yarra Glen Races. This event is open to friends and family from our parent, past parent and past student communities. 

Dress to impress and watch the races from the Tintern Grammar Marquee whilst enjoying a complimentary drink and canapés on arrival. Oaks Day is more than just the races with Eastland Fashions and live music all day.

WHEN: Thursday 8 November 2018 at 12:00pm

LOCATION: Yarra Glen Racecourse, Armstrong Grove, Yarra Glen, Victoria

COST: $35 per person. This includes race day admission, drink and canapés on arrival.

BOOK: www.trybooking.com/XPYI

ENQUIRIES: All enquiries can be directed to Di Lacey and Tegan Martin 03 9845 7877 or communityrelations@tintern.vic.edu.au.

Important Parent Information Evening – Wednesday 31 October

News from Year 10 Science

Late last term, Year 10 Science was split into elective options; Astronomy, Structures, Health and Disease, and Evolution, to allow students to explore an area of science that interests them in more detail.

Last week in the Evolution elective, students have been exploring how new species arise through a process called allopatric speciation. To assist students with their understanding of this concept, they played a specially developed board game. The game simulates speciation with each player taking control of a population of organisms as it accumulates mutations and copes (or not) with a variety of selection pressures. Many populations became extinct, while others did not accumulate sufficient mutations to proceed to speciation.

Games based learning is a powerful learning tool that can immerse students in the theory while incorporating an element of fun and risk-free competition. At the conclusion of the Speciation game, students completed a task that explored the theory underlying the game and critiqued the accuracy of the underlying assumptions of the game.

by Claire Stanner, Science and Biology Teacher

Maths Report – ICAS, AMC and MCYA

Tintern Grammar students recently received results from the Australian Mathematics Trust for the Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) and from the UNSW, for the Maths ICAS Competition. Distinctions and High Distinctions recipients from both competitions were recognised at Principal’s Assembly on Friday 19 October.

Congratulations to all students for their efforts in these competitions. Particularly Junyi Li in Year 9 who obtained the School Award for Best in School for the Australian Mathematics Competition.

Distinction and High Distinction recipients are listed below.

Year 7 – Australian Maths Competition

Distinction

Jedid She

Amanda Huang

Jack Forbes

Zoe McKinlay

Yash Agrawal

Mia Qian

Nicole Xu

Sean Gao

Renee Liu

High Distinction

Annie Li 

Max Lalor

Mimi Coghlan

Felix Chen

Joshua Tan

Year 8 – Australian Mathematics Competition

Distinction

Michael Yuan

Olivia Dowling

Karen Ma

Zakariya Mohammed

Patrick Reid

Brinthan Mahadeva

Jasmine Boss

Lufan Zhao

Abby Chai

Millie Jensen

Colin Ming

High Distinction

Austen Humphreys

Katie Ma

William Zhang

Year 9 – Australian Mathematics Competition

Distinction

Freya Bryson

Holly Whitfield

Joshua Choong

Milly Kenny

Adam Choong

Marlin Ma

Zoe Liew

Sayani Kaluarachchi

Joel Dunn

Lydia Tan

Kiki Argyros

Emily Dodds

High Distinction

Junyi Li

Oliver Huang

Year 10 – Australian Mathematics Competition

Distinction

Ashleigh Dowling

Angelina Tully

Dylan Wild

Lance Ma

Year 11 – Australian Mathematics Competition

Distinction

Oscar De Jong

Reilly Collins

Daniel Boss

Jason Zhang

Kingsley Fan

Sean Chisholm

Nail Nurmambetov

Eddie Yu

High Distinction

Marco Jiang

Ron Chen

Year 12 – Australian Mathematics Competition

Distinction

Rita Chen

Leo Liu

Victoria Chen

Lily Li

Gavin Choong

Annie Zhao

Year 7 – ICAS

Distinction

Raphael Taylor

Renee Liu

Max Lalor

Annie Li

Dou Dou Zuo

Jedid She

Joshua Tan

Boyd Pearce-Schmidt

Mia Qian (Medallion Winner)

Elaine Sze (Medallion Winner)

High Distinction

Felix Chen (Medallion Winner)

Year 8 – ICAS

Distinction

Abby Chai

Olivia Dowling

Karen Ma

Katie Ma

Amber Wild

JoJo Yin

Austen Humphreys

Krisshnaa Kannan

Ben Winter

Michael Yuan

William Zhang

Alei Paul (Medallion Winner)

High Distinction

Brinthan Mahadeva (Medallion Winner)

Year 9 – ICAS

Distinction

Kiki Argyros

Sayani Kaluarachchi

Zoe Liew

Holly Whitfield

Adam Choong

Joel Dunn

Jonah Fleming

Alex Higgins

Oliver Huang

Marlin Ma

Raman Wensor

Victoria McKenzie

High Distinction

Freya Bryson (Medallion Winner)

Matthew Cobb (Medallion Winner)

Year 10 – ICAS

Distinction

Joshua Choong (Medallion Winner)

Ashleigh Dowling

Junyi Li

Clarisse Liew

Dylan Liu

Year 11 – ICAS

Distinction

Ron Chen (Medallion Winner)

Reilly Collins

Nicolani Susanto

Brayden Stokes

Oscar De Jong

Eddie Yu

Year 12 – ICAS

Distinction

Gavin Choong (Medallion Winner)

Lily Li

Annie Zhao

Rita Chen

Leo Liu

Maria Ruan

In addition to these fabulous ICAS and AMC results, Year 7 and 8 students who participated in the Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians (MCYA) were also presented with certificates to acknowledge their brilliant effort.

Year 7 Students (Distinction): Felix Chen, Jedid She and Yash Agrawal.

Year 8 Students (High Distinctions): Abby Chai, Olivia Dowling, Karen Ma and Millie Jensen.

Tintern Grammar is very proud of these results. We are so lucky to have many very able and hardworking mathematicians. Full credit also to our passionate teachers who teach Mathematics.

NCSS Challenge

The National Computer Science School Challenge is an online programming competition run by the Grok Learning section of the University of Sydney. The Challenge lasted for five weeks and students competed in one of four streams (Newbies, Beginners, Intermediate or Advanced) learning the Python programming language.

The NCSS Challenge was held during Term 3 this year and students from Years 7 to 12 were invited to participate. Particularly notable were two students who each achieved perfect scores in their respective competitions. They were:

• Abigail Chai                        Year 8 Newbies and Beginners
• Olivia Dowling                  Year 8 Intermediate

Both Abigail and Olivia are to be highly commended for their flawless performances in solving highly challenging programming problems throughout the duration of the five-week competition. Congratulations to all students who participated in the NCSS Challenge this year.

National Recycling Week MobileMuster

To celebrate National Recycling week during the 12-18^th of November, the Green Team will be hosting a MobileMuster. We will be collecting old mobile phones and other e-waste to recycle MobileMuster is the product stewardship program of the mobile phone industry and is accredited by the federal government. It provides a free mobile phone recycling program in Australia to the highest environmental standard. All data is destroyed and nothing is resold.

You may recycle mobile phones, mobile chargers, mobile batteries, wireless USB mobile devices, other mobile phone accessories (earpieces, car kits, cases, etc.)

Over the next two weeks please locate all your old mobiles and accessories that you have stashed away in your home office, garage and desk drawers. Send them to school with your child and the Green Team will collect them in form.

by Elizabeth Cain, Teacher of Geography, Science and Agriculture and Green Team Coordinator

Karen Roylance (Williams, YG 1973) discovers just how small the world can be!

Karen Roylance (Williams, YG 1973) recently discovered just how small our world can be when she and her partner purchased a Chateau in France sight unseen in June last year:

We came to France to inspect our purchase in August 2017 and were very happy with it. We had never visited the village prior to our purchase but happened to be there during the annual fete. We brought tickets for the communal dinner and the locals made us very welcome, sitting us beside some English speakers. Whilst talking with them they mentioned there was another Aussie renovating, and living, in a big house in the village. The next day we went and met her before returning to Melbourne to organise our permanent move in November 2017.

We are really enjoying our new life here and have kept in contact with the other Aussie in the village. She shares my passion for horses and we have been riding together and socialise frequently.

When I received your invitation to the 45 Year Reunion and was reading down the list of girls you had lost contact with from YG 1973, one name sprang out at me! It was the name of my Aussie friend in France. I texted her to see if she had ever gone to Tintern and you guessed it… the name on the list was hers!

My mother Mrs Marjorie Williams taught at Tintern at the same time I was there and she has also come to France to stay. It turns out my friend was taught by my mum and in her form… so we have since had many chinwags and moments of reminiscing about our school days.

So here we are in a small country village in South West France – two Tinternites both living in Chateau’s 1 km apart!

Above: Karen Roylance (Centre) and Marjorie Williams (R)

Pictured below: Karen’s home (L) and her friend’s home (R)

World Challenge Team’s Colour Run – A Great Success!

A very big thank you to the School community for their support of the World Challenge team’s Colour Run on Friday afternoon. It was a great success and we hope everyone had fun!

Our World Challenge teams are eagerly looking forward to their departure to Nepal in late November. Students participating in the World Challenge seek to expand their minds outside of the classroom, as well as participate in activities that give back to their host country.

Visit this Facebook album to see all the photos.

by Trine Ord, World Challenge Team Coordinator

Bimbadeen Blaze Netball Club Clinics