Book Week in the Primary School

In the lead-up to Book Week, all the primary students have been exploring the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s (CBCA) shortlisted titles during their weekly library lessons. Some classes voted on their favourite titles, while others examined how the language and form of these books varied according to purpose and intended audience. We discussed genre and how narratives set up expectations using familiar, real, and imagined characters, situations, and phrases.

The CBCA Book of the Year Awards Ceremony was watched live by the students in 4P, as their lesson coincided with the announcement on Friday August 16, at midday. Since being named the winning book in the Younger Readers category, Tristan Bancks’ Scar Town has been in constant demand in the library, especially among the older students.

The culmination of Book Week celebrations in the Primary School is the annual Book Character Parade. Hundreds of parents gathered in the playground, with some climbing onto the play equipment to catch a glimpse of their daughters dressed as their favourite book characters. With the 2024 theme being “Reading is Magic!”, we welcomed Harry Potters, Matildas, Cats in the Hats, Billie B Browns, Cat Kids, and many others. Year 6 students Claire Tesvic and Layla Hanley were the wonderful MCs of the event, and Emmy Rath-Mazzochi presented the Welcome to Country. It was delightful to hear students from Kindergarten to Year 6 being interviewed about their favourite books and reasons for enjoying reading. Mr. Lee-Lindsay made a surprise appearance as a bear from Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt!

Here are some images from the Book Parade:

The grand finale of the Book Parade was the announcement of the class with the greatest participation rate in the 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC). Out of 283 students in the primary school, 263 completed the PRC, with 6S and 4P each achieving a 100% completion rate! A huge congratulations to these students and their teachers for providing ongoing motivation and encouragement.

Karen McBride
Primary Teacher Librarian

SPAN Event – In Conversation with Petronella McGovern

Spend an evening with bestselling author and Old Girl Petronella McGOVERN (1986)

Petronella will read from her latest novel, The Last Trace, followed by a Q&A session hosted by fellow Old Girl and journalist Amy DALE (2005).

If you are a book lover, wordsmith or want to make it as an author, this event is for you!

Petronella McGovern (1986)

Petronella was a boarder at SCEGGS for six years, and always loved her English classes with teachers like Miss Hoddinott and Mrs Murray. In Year 12, she was a director in the House Plays competition, bringing home a win for Badham for the first time in decades.

Petronella is fascinated by what makes us tick, the lies we tell, and the secrets we keep. She is the bestselling author of four novels: The Last Trace, The Liars, The Good Teacher and Six Minutes. Her books have been nominated in the Ned Kelly Awards, the Davitt Awards and the Australian Independent Bookseller Awards. The Liars was selected in the Top 100 Big W/Better Reading list for 2023. Petronella has also co-written two non-fiction books – a travelogue and an Olympic memoir. Petronella has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and tutors in creative writing. She grew up in central west New South Wales and now lives with her family in Sydney, on Gadigal Country.

Q&A Host Amy DALE (2005)

Amy is the Content and Communications Manager for the Law Society of NSW, and the Managing Editor of the award-winning Law Society Journal.

She is the host of Lawfully Explained, a podcast explaining everyday legal issues produced in partnership with LisTNR, and co-host of the Law Society’s Just Chat podcast. She frequently hosts author talks for Northern Beaches Council, as well as facilitated book club events.

Amy has 15 years of experience as a journalist, including five years as News Corp Australia’s Chief Court Reporter, during which time her book on the murder trial of Simon Gittany, The Fall, was published by Penguin Books Australia. 

Prior to joining the Law Society, Amy worked as a Communications Director and Senior Policy Adviser for the NSW Government, specialising in social policy and the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Primary and Secondary Music

Cat Empire Project

Our SCEGGS’ choristers were thrilled to welcome nearly 500 singers from other schools to raise the roof in the Great Hall last weekend. These massed rehearsals were in preparation for performances  with The Cat Empire accompanied by Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Gondwana Chorale on this Friday September 6 and Saturday September 7. This exciting project is a wonderful opportunity for our singers to work with professional musicians under the baton of exciting young Melbourne conductor Nicholas Buc in a sold out Sydney Opera House.

Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival – Sunday, 15 September

Several SCEGGS ensembles will perform at the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival this year. The Festival is a non-competitive event where ensembles receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze rating based on their performance. This is a wonderful opportunity for our SCEGGS ensembles to perform on stage, hear other school ensembles, and receive valuable feedback from professional adjudicators. Please find more information here.

Please be aware that the Sydney Marathon is on the same day and significant road closures will be in place.

Find more information about road closure below:

• Road Closures & Special Event Clearways
• Transport NSW Information

Please refer to the above links when planning your trip and allow extra travel and parking time.

Please see the table below for details of the events occurring on Sunday 15 September

The Metropolitan Orchestra (TMO) Junior String Camp

The Metropolitan Orchestra’s TMO Junior String Camp is an exciting 3-day school holiday orchestral training program for primary-aged children (Year 2-6), playing at an AMEB Grade 2 standard or above. Creative Kids Vouchers welcome. Find more information here.

Beyond the Green Gate

We love hearing about ways our musicians are involved in music-making outside of school. Please send details to Heidi Jones.

Clipboard

All co-curricular music ensemble schedules are now available on Clipboard. If you haven’t set this up yet, please follow the provided instructions. For any issues with Clipboard set-up, contact our Music Administration Assistant Miss Alice Kotowicz.

Upcoming Events:

Term 3

Heidi Jones
Head of Music (Co-curricular)

Visual Arts

Congratulations to all students who have submitted works to the Woollahra Student Short Film and Photography Prize! We eagerly await the Exhibition at the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf from Thursday 24 October to Sunday 10 November 2024. We will share further details closer to the date.

Here is a preview of student’s works:

Watch the Short film Tomber to Fall  by Bianca Rozsa (Year 12) here!

Ashley Marie Marcos Award

Ashley Marie Marcos is an Old Girl (Class of 2004) who generously supports a Year 11 Visual Arts student in applying for a short course to explore, develop, or learn skills and techniques to assist with the development of their Year 12 artwork. This is usually undertaken during the holiday period between Years 11 and 12 so students can apply what they have learned in Year 12.

The value of this award is $800. This can be used to fund all or part of a course. Students need to nominate which specific course they will be attending in their application and how this will help develop and extend skills in relation to making the Body of Work in Year 12. The criteria and application form has been emailed to students.

We encourage ALL Year 11 Art students to apply!

Send your completed application to Ms Jackson by Monday or drop by the staffroom if you have any further questions.

Banner Acknowledgement: Year 8 student Gemma Shennan’s submission for the Woollahra Photographic Prize titled Aeons past and Aeons more. 

Heidi Jackson
Head of Visual Arts

Secondary Sport News

Cross Country

Well done to Nancy Newton (Year 10) who represented NSW at the recent Australian All Schools Cross Country Championships that were held in Victoria in the Yarra Valley.

Nancy Newton placed 14^th in the 16 years age group and won a Silver Medal as part of the NSW Team. Nancy has since had to withdraw from further competitions due to injury. We wish her a speedy recovery.

Annabelle Jessup (Year 8), Lily Cooney (Year 10) and Ruby Fry (Year 11) all competed at the Australian Cross Country Championships (conducted by Athletics Australia) in Launceston last weekend.

Annabelle Jessup competed in the U15s age group and placed 26^th overall in cold, wet and muddy conditions.

Lily Cooney competed in the 16 years age group. The race did not go as planned after she was stepped on 100m into the race by the runner behind her. The spike not only took a chunk out of Lily’s foot but caused her shoe to be ripped off.  Lily was still determined to finish the race and ran the 4km race with only one shoe in the rain and mud. She even managed to beat more than 20 runners. Whilst not the result she wanted it will be an experience of determination and grit that she will never forget!

Ruby Fry competed in the 18 years age group and placed 25^th overall.

We are so proud of all four competitors being selected to represent NSW and race against the best runners from across Australia.

Concussion – Australian Institute of Sport Guidelines 2024

“Concussion is a brain injury caused by a knock to the head or anywhere on the body, where the force is transmitted to the head. It can also be caused by a fall. Concussion involves temporary neurological impairment. The symptoms may evolve over the hours or days following the injury.

While all concussions should be assessed by a doctor, most will resolve without the need for specific treatment. A short period (24-48 hours) of relative rest, followed by gradual return to activity is the main treatment. All concussion is serious.”

(Source: Ape Medical)

The below resources have been developed for parents, teachers, coaches and students to help identify and manage concussion in sport. Children and adolescents may take longer to recover from concussion and should have a more cautious approach plan for returning to study and play. The official recommendation is that students should be symptom free for 14 days, and not return to full competitive sport for a minimum of 21 days.

Online Course for Parents and Students

We encourage all parents and students to take this short course to learn more about concussion.

For more detailed information please visit the Concussion in Sport website from the Australian Institute of Sport.

Find more information on:

AIS Guidelines for Community and Youth Sport

Graded Return to Sport Framework

SCEGGS at Play

Do you have any sporting news or photos to share in the Green Gate?

We love seeing our students being active and want to celebrate their passion and enjoyment amongst the SCEGGS community. Please send in any action shots from the weekend and any other interesting sporting highlights to Alison Gowan.

SCEGGS Training sessions before and after school plus Saturday Sport

Any cancellations or adjustments will be made in Clipboard and families will receive a notification or email when changes are made. Please ensure you have notifications enabled.

All Clipboard notifications will now come through the SCEGGS Mobile App too, so if you have been receiving notifications from Clipboard (eg when sport is cancelled due to wet weather), you will need to download the SCEGGS Mobile App to ensure that you continue to receive these push notifications.

IGSA Fixtures, Results and Wet Weather

The IGSA website and platform for accessing wet weather, and team results can be found here.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself on 9052 2721 or 0418 491 521.

Alison Gowan
Director of Sport

Primary Sport News

IPSHA Touch Football

IPSHA Touch Football Round 6 took place last Saturday. The 6A team had another strong performance, winning 4-2 against Danebank. This team keeps applying new skills and strategies to improve their game. The 6B team had a 3-1 win against St Catherine’s and are starting to move the ball around to find space to score touchdowns. The 5A team played without reserves and narrowly lost 3-2 against Abbotsleigh. This team showed great commitment to stopping touchdowns by diving for touches. The 4B team almost got their first win of the season in a nail-biting game, however the score ended 7-7. The girls then put their skills to the test and played against the parents in a friendly game.

All IPSHA AFL teams came away with convincing wins. The Year 4 team showed good teamwork to defeat Barker College 66 to 6. The Year 5 team displayed good sporting values by lending Barker players to ensure a fair game. Well done, girls. It is great to see you upholding the SCEGGS and IPSHA sporting values. The Year 6 team continue to be dominant in their division, beating Ravenswood 37 to 0 and it is great to see their passion and enjoyment of AFL.

IPSHA Athletics Carnival

Last Wednesday 28 August, the IPSHA Athletics Carnival took place at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre. 56 schools competed at the carnival with a total of 1589 individual competitors. 27 girls in grades 3 to 6 were selected to represent SCEGGS in track and field events. The girls were highly supportive of each other and there were many excellent performances. The following girls achieved a top 5 place in their event and now go on to represent IPSHA at the CIS Athletics Carnival being held on Friday 6 September at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre. We wish you the best of luck!

Stasia Serafin (Year 5)

Charlotte Willis (Year 4)

Rose Johnston (Year 4)

Emilia Laban (Year 5)

Beatrice Emanuel

Last weekend, Beatrice Emanuel had the most incredible weekend in Launceston competing at the Australian Cross Country Championships. She placed 5^th in the Under 12 division and her team placed 3^rd in the mixed relay. Both races were hard fought battles in very challenging conditions, with lots of mud, wind and rain. She was a gracious competitor; supportive team member and did a fantastic job. Well done, Beatrice. You should be extremely proud of your efforts!

Daisy Grice (Year 5) has had an excellent Football season. She is playing in the Performance Squad for Mosman in the Northern Beaches Football Competition. Her team remained undefeated the entire season and won the club award for Best Female Team. Recently they played Pittwater Football Club and won the season Championship with a score of 1-0. Daisy has been training with the team every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon since February and has been an integral defender in the team. Well done, Daisy. What a wonderful achievement!

Upcoming Dates:

Mr Adrian Hammond
Primary Sports Coordinator

Debating

Year 8A, Juniors, and Seniors make the Archdale Grand Final!

This Tuesday we had five teams competing in the Archdale Semi Finals – the highest number for any school. Congratulations to our three teams who have progressed through to the Grand Finals: our Year 8A team, our Junior team (of Year 9 debaters), and our Senior team (of Year 11 debaters).

All Grand Final debates will be held at Abbotsleigh next Tuesday 10 September. The start time for Grand Final debates is different to the usual times during the rounds. Teams will be emailed these details, along with information about where debates will be at Abbotsleigh. A bus will leave for Abbotsleigh straight after school on Tuesday.

Imogen Harper
Debating Coordinator

School Photographs

The School Photographs ordered from Advanced Life will be distributed over the next few days. 

Should you have any questions or queries in the first instance please contact Advanced Life.

Parents’ and Friends’ Association

Class Parent Events

K-6 Parent Information Session – Raising Your Child in the Digital World

You are invited to attend a session led by SCEGGS staff members on the important topic of how we can work together to support your daughter as she grows up in the digital world today.

Please use this link to RSVP your interest in attending.

Sarah Johnstone
Deputy Head of Primary, Student Wellbeing