Junior School – Week 6

Diary Dates

Please find below some reminders about upcoming events. For all of Term 4 events, please refer to the College calendar. 

• 18 November – Round 12 Summer Sport 
• 27 November – Semester 2 Reports published on Parent Lounge
• 28 November – Year 6 laptops return  
• 1 December – Year 6 excursion to Raging Waters 
• 4 December – Year 6 Graduation Mass, Mary Immaculate Church, 1pm
• 5 December – Presentation Day

Presentation Day (Years 5-8) – Tuesday, 5 December 2023

Time: 9am – 10:30am (students to arrive at school at 8:15am)

Location: Gym (Senior School)

Student Dress Code: Academic Uniform (no blazers)

Only the parents/carers of students who are receiving an award have been invited to this event. These parents/carers will be notified in a separate email.

Students who have parents/carers that attend the event, may leave with them straight after. 

There will be supervision as normal, however, there is the option for your son to leave after the event, with written permission. 

Each classroom teacher will send a Google Doc out on Monday where you may indicate if your son can go home and the arrangements, or if your son will require supervision until 3pm. 

Junior School Music Festival Delivers a Magical Evening

Over 150 Years 5 and 6 students took to the stage on Wednesday evening to perform at the 2023 Junior School Music Festival in our Performing Arts Centre.

The Waterford Concert Band, Junior School Guitar Ensemble, Stomp, Junior School Rock Band and Cantores all provided a fabulous night of entertainment for the audience.

Our Junior School music captain, Joe Madden performed a jazzy clarinet solo and our Wakakirri item provided a dramatic close to the program. 

Events like these do not happen without the support of many people. As such, the junior school would like to thank – all of the boys who spent many hours of rehearsal in preparation for the festival, all of the tutors involved in preparing these items, in particular ensemble directors Mr Dan Williams, Mr Nick Yavtsev and Mr Jesse Johnston, the Senior School music department and Ms Keiran Kossenberg for their continued support, the Music Supporters’ Club and Mr Bishoy Wasef for his technical magic. We would also like to thank all of the parents and carers of our performers for their ongoing encouragement.

 

Ms Gaby Bransby

Director of the Junior School

gbransby@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

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Year 6 Graduation

Dear Parents and Carers,

You are all invited to the Year 6 Graduation on Monday, 4 December 2023 to acknowledge the end of your son’s primary school years. Please see the invitation below.

Kids Giving Back Donation Drive

Kids Giving Back is a NFP – DGR-status charity who offer meaningful volunteering opportunities to young people 6-18 years. Our mission is to create the next generation of generosity. Our philosophy embraces the triple impact of volunteering: creating empathic and responsible kids, supporting charities, and improving the society in which we live by creating a civic-minded population.

Kids Giving Back partners with over 50 charities and would love our support. I appeal to all students to please bring in the following essential items. With these donations, we enable children in the school holidays to create care packages, which are then donated to victims of domestic violence and the homeless community. Thank you for your support!

Essential Care Packs

• Wet wipes – small packs
• Lip balms
• Sunscreen – small roll-on
• Bandaids
• Emery boards
• Pocket tissues
• Hand sanitiser – small bottles
• Travel-size shampoos and conditioners
• Men’s combs

Thank you to Noah Nunn (6 Indigo) for bringing this charity to our attention once again this year.

Donations for this charity can be handed in to Ms Sanchez at the Junior School front office. We will collect donations up until Friday Week 8 (1 December 2023). Your generosity and support is very much appreciated.

 

Mr Steve Ghattas

Assistant Director of Junior School / Identity & Student Formation

sghattas@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

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Summer Co-Curricular Sport

Round 12 Sport (Saturday, 18 November 2023)

We’ve made it to the final co-curricular round for 2023 sport. I wish all teams the best of luck this weekend, and especially our Year 6 students who will be competing in their final round of sport at the Junior School. 

Please click the link below to access the sports fixture for Round 12 this Saturday, 18 November. All adjustments to times and venues have been noted in red, please take note carefully.

>>>> Click here to view the College Website: Junior School Sports Fixtures and Season Draw.

 

Mr Jack Wachtel

Assistant Director of Co-curricular – Years 5-8

jwachtel@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

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Home Learning Club – Term 4 Week 7

We offer all students in Year 5 and Year 6 the opportunity to receive free additional support after school for the completion of home learning tasks. The afternoon sessions also provide a quiet, supervised study space for students who want to complete their assigned tasks.

Home Learning Club operates in the Learning Hub from 3pm – 4pm – Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays – during school term unless there is a scheduled Professional Development meeting and the club will be closed.   

Procedures

Click here to register your son

Only register his name once to allow other students the opportunity to attend. The session is limited to 20 spots. There will be a roll call to ensure attendance.

Students are required to stay for the full session unless there is a message in the student diary requesting early leave, a parent’s signature will be required.

Behaviour

As it is important to respect the rights of others to learn and work, all students are expected to settle to work in the Learning Hub and not cause a disturbance for others.

Teachers

• Monday and Wednesday: Ms Natasha Zivanovic nzivanovic@waverley.nsw.edu.au
• Tuesday and Thursday: Ms Gaby Bransby gbransby@waverley.nsw.edu.au 

If you require any further information, feel free to contact us.

An important note to remember, if afternoon training sessions are cancelled, unfortunately, you cannot send your son to Home Learning as an alternative plan, students are registered for the afternoon sessions in advance and the capacity is always reached.  

Try to avoid messaging your son during this period, unless it is urgent.

Drawing Club Final Sessions 

As we come to the end of a productive year of Drawing Club, I allowed the students to work on their mini drawings for the final sessions. Observing the students thinking critically about their drawings and watching them work creatively, is a highlight for me.

I have watched the boys make new friends, discuss and appreciate each other’s drawings. There are only two sessions left in 2023 and I look forward to seeing what they produce. 

Congratulations Toby Armson and  Ceilim O’Kelly – IPSHA Speakers’ Challenge

Toby and Ceilim did Waverley proud on Friday, 10 November 2023. These two boys represented Waverley at the IPSHA Speakers’ Challenge competing against 90 students from a variety of schools in NSW.

Both boys showed strong speaking skills, and their matter, manner and method were exceptional. I’m extremely proud of the growth both boys made since Round 1, the Junior School finals and now the challenge. 

 

Ms Natasha Zivanovic

Literacy & Innovation Teacher

nzivanovic@waverley.nsw.edu.au

 

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Junior School Performing Arts

Music

Boys in the Junior School have been exploring the musical concept of structure in Term 4. As a part of this topic, we have developed musical language to help us define and describe musical structure such as introduction, verse, chorus, bridge and coda. We used our listening skills to identify different sections of the music by comparing and contrasting melody, rhythm and instrumentation. We then used our knowledge of structure to develop a class performance of the theme from the TV series S.W.A.T. Once we learned the main melodies, we were able to experiment with different arrangements.

Music Tech

In Term 4 we have consolidated our skills into a final project including importing audio and video files into Garage Band, sampling sounds, creating loops and adding sound effects. Boys created a backing soundtrack for a small section of silent animated film. Students considered mood (tone colour), timing (duration) and sound effects (sampling). We are looking forward to sharing our work in class in Week 7, when every student will have the opportunity to show one of their 2023 Music Tech works to the class.

Drama

Term 4 is all about performing! Year 5 Drama students performed ‘Vulga the Vampire’ at the beginning of the Term. The characters were great fun and the boys developed voice projection, special awareness and teamwork.

As we come to the end of the year, our final play ‘Here comes the Judge’ is in rehearsal and is looking good. The boys will perform this play in Weeks 7 and 8.

Music Tech Works For Your Listening Pleasure

We hope you enjoy some of the Music Tech works below that were produced in 2023.

 School Blues by Leo Vigil, Charlie McKenzie and Freddie Fearon

Space Emergency (using genuine sound effects from NASA to create a soundscape) by Alex Banhidi

Dance Track by James Draper

 Dance Track by Benedict Vanzella

 

Ms Michelle Rollins

Music and Drama Teacher

mrollins@waverley.nsw.edu.au