Someone has just informed me that today is the last day of Term 2! How is that possible? Yet what a term it has been. There have been far too many highlights to mention in a brief article but how delightful it has been to enjoy three days of fierce competition and pleasant conversations at our athletics carnivals this week. The weather was a little grumpy on Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday provided perfect conditions for us to revel in being in the great outdoors for a while.

Many of you will be aware that the school was privileged to host the launch of Brenda Matthews’ powerful book The Last Daughter earlier this term. Brenda also spoke at our Mothers’ Day Morning Tea and both occasions were moving and memorable. The documentary outlining her story is now being released in mainstream cinemas and opened yesterday at Events Cinemas Robina. We received this communication from the filmmakers this week and I thought I would share it with our parent community. If you can manage to get along, ideally with the whole family, then I would urge you to do so.

Dear All Saints,

The day we've been waiting for is finally approaching!
The Last Daughter's nationwide cinema release is set for June 15th
And we're excited to invite you to be part of this important journey.
The opening weekend is pivotal; if the cinemas are filled, they'll keep the film for longer, and Brenda's transformative story can reach even more people.
Together, we can ensure Brenda's powerful story reaches as many Australians as possible. And together, we can heal.

Thank you for being part of this journey!

The Last Daughter Team

Below is a video recap of Brenda's book launch held earlier this term featuring powerful reflections from some of the students in attendance:

Last night we farewelled our Performing Arts tourists who are heading to Europe for the next three weeks and who will be seeing 16 live productions. What a treat! Our Middle and Senior School ski trips are also about to leave for the slopes and thank heavens there have been some decent snowfalls over the last couple of days. It was looking a bit bleak for a while, but they seem certain now to get some decent skiing in.

It only remains to wish all in our community a wonderful mid-year break; stay safe if you are travelling and try to make the most of your time together. We look forward to welcoming you back at school on Tuesday 11 July when we can delight anew in sharing our accounts of our various adventures.

Patrick S Wallas
Headmaster

FROM LITTLE THINGS BIG THINGS GROW
As we hurtle into some much-needed holiday time I am reminded that many folk are opting for holidays at home as the financial squeeze continues to make itself felt in so many homes at this time. It seems almost too much to send out a reminder that our Giveathon season ramps up between now and the end of Term 3. However, I find myself drawn again to the plight of those who are finding it even tougher than we are as we traverse this sparse plain, until we can find the shoots of a fiscal Spring offering us some relief once again.

Last week I was reminded, that from little things, big things grow (as Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly so beautifully reminds us.) The class of 7A, Mr Watkins, clubbed together and produced a hamper of goodies which they raffled at lunch and tea-time over the last week. How lovely to see this little group of wanderers collecting coins from students willing to forgo that Freddo for today, in the hope of receiving so much more. They raised $180 from their raffle. 

I received a small deputation of Senior School students on Thursday who asked if they could put together a small bake sale for the House Athletics Carnival this week. Permissions were sought and granted and, after a productive sleepover, containers filled with sumptuous homemade cookies were brought in for sale. Not even a short, sharp shower could dampen the enthusiasm of these young people, who sold every last crumb, and raised $440.60 for the Giveathon appeal.

This aligned with a Middle School Pyjama Day (who wouldn’t want to wear PJs to school on a cool winter day?) meant that the Giveathon boxes adorning each Middle School classroom began to be filled with the gold coins from which big things grow. We haven’t tallied those yet, but have faith that they will continue to fill up under the care of each class.

There is no expectation for our community to give what they cannot. For those who can, these little trickles soon add up, and I believe there is no greater gift to the wider community than for the smaller communities to open themselves to the possibility that life changing funds can be shared with the most vulnerable of all in our patch of God’s great world. It is the greatest gift of a loving community to support one another through the rough patches which life opens along its way, knowing that none of us are beyond the possibility of needing another’s help at some point in our journey. In the words of Anne Frank, 'No one has ever become poor by giving.'

Coinage is swiftly becoming a rare commodity, and to assist All Saints' families to give where possible, we will also have designated Giveathon eftpos machines installed at each sub-school administration office for your convenience.

Boxes will be sent out to all Junior School students this week. In fact, we have already had some in Year 5 and 6 tells us that they plan to spend some of their holidays doing extra chores for their boxes.

We will not send out boxes in Middle and Senior School, but a box is available on request should anyone wish to hold any number of home challenges. (A swear box comes to mind – how quickly would that fill up?) Together, let’s make some dreams come true.

In closing, I wish you all a beautiful break away from the routine of school. For those who are travelling, we pray for travelling mercies. For those who remain at home, I wish you many Godly Moments of peaceful restoration, and happy local adventuring.

God bless you all,

Mother Ann McGuinness
School Chaplain

During semester one at All Saints Radio, the incredible efforts of 45 student volunteers left a memorable mark on the school community. These enthusiastic individuals dedicated themselves to broadcasting engaging content and creating a vibrant radio experience. One of the notable highlights was the invigorating breakfast radio show that aired every Friday, providing an early morning dose of entertainment to kickstart everyone's day. What made this initiative even more remarkable was the diverse representation of students from Senior, Middle, and Junior School, fostering a sense of unity and collaboration across age groups.

The student volunteers showcased their exceptional interviewing skills by engaging community members in thought-provoking discussions. These interviews shed light on various topics, bringing the community closer and fostering a sense of understanding and empathy. Additionally, the lunchtime radio shows offered a platform for student expression and creativity. From music playlists to talk shows, these programs not only entertained but also gave voice to the student body.

The commitment, passion, and talent demonstrated by the 45 student volunteers during the first semester at All Saints Radio were truly awe-inspiring. Their dedication to delivering exceptional content and creating an inclusive atmosphere made a lasting impact on the entire school community. Their efforts exemplify the power of student-driven initiatives in fostering connection and showcasing the incredible talents that exist within All Saints Anglican School.

Michael Walkley
Middle School Teacher

Less than 100 tickets left! Don't miss out on the P&F Comedy Night with headline act Arj Barker in Week 3 of next term! 

Join us for a night of fun, friendship and laugher featuring three fantastic laugh-out-loud acts including Ellen Briggs, Jeff Green and Arj Barker!

• When: Saturday 29 July, 6.00pm
• Where: All Saints Nairn Theatre 
• Tickets: $60 (plus booking fee) per person

Food trucks and drinks will be available in the Kearney Forecourt from 6.00pm and during intermission. Show starts 7.30pm sharp.

Great raffle prizes to be won on the night. Be sure to secure your raffle tickets at the event.

Tickets on sale at events.humanitix.com/comedynight.

Please note this is strictly an adults only event.

All proceeds from the event will raise funds for the Parents & Friends Association who in turn support and sponsor many events and activities for our students and school community.

All Saints Parents & Friends Association

I am finding it hard to believe that we have come to the end of another term but in reflecting on all that we have undertaken and achieved I can see why those weeks seem to have flown by. A quick recap and, amidst the magic that happens in our classrooms every day, we have squeezed in:

• An amazing ANZAC Service
• The Last Daughter Book Launch
• Junior School Concert auditions
• Visits to the Farm by Pre Prep, Year 1 and our Sustainability Club
• Nairn Theatre incursions for Year 5
• Athletics and Cross Country training, carnivals and premierships
• Mother’s Day celebrations
• Many magical musical performances
• A sensational Celebration of Sustainability
• APS interschool sport
• Chess competitions
• Readers Cup and da Vinci Decathlon successes
• Messy Church
• Excursions to Currumbin and Numinbah Valley
• Partnerships with Parents inductions and Workshops
• Legally Blonde: The Musical
• Story Dog visits
• Surfing Science and Star Lab Incursions
• Our very first Junior School Academic Endeavour Assembly
• Learning, learning, learning

And much, much more. Our students are so fortunate to be able to experience such breadth and depth of learning opportunities. This is the priceless and unique All Saints gift. And it works perfectly when home and school walk together in unison. Teachers, parents and students working together towards a common goal ensure that the incredibly hard work that takes place every day in our beautiful school enables our students to continually become stronger, braver and ever more successful in their pursuits.

Thank you to our staff for their hard work and commitment to our kids this term and to parents who support and encourage all that happens at school. It really does take a village – and this is one awesome village.

Throughout this semester we have seen innumerable numbers of students stepping up, stepping out and stepping way beyond their comfort zones to achieve personal bests. Whether passions, talents or purpose lie on the sporting field, in the art studio, upon a stage or in the classroom they have been encouraged and challenged. And the results have been fantastic.

We have watched our young people be brave, resilient and determined in the face of adversity, and then humble, graceful and proud in celebration of achieving personal bests. Theirs and those of others. These are the qualities and strengths of character we strive to help flourish.

I encourage every family to sit and share the achievements recognised in the end of semester reports and portfolios which will be sent home this week. Take a few minutes to celebrate successes, to reflect upon how they were achieved and to consider learning goals for next term.

I wish every family a safe and restful holiday and look forward to welcoming everyone back to Term 3.  

Shelley Travers
Head of Junior School

Our amazing P&F are joining forces with the Junior School to bring an inspiring keynote speaker to All Saints.

Dr Justin Coulson is the co-host and parenting expert on Channel 9’s Parental Guidance and the founder of happyfamilies.com.au. He holds a PhD in Psychology and is one of Australia’s most trusted parenting gurus.

Over the past decade he has helped innumerable families with his nine books about raising children, his hundreds of media appearances and two viral videos that have been viewed a combined 80 million times.

Dr Coulson will be speaking in our very own Nairn Theatre on Wednesday 16 August (6pm for a 6.30pm start). Further details including how you can secure tickets will be shared early next term.

To learn more about Dr Coulson visit About Our Australian Parenting Resource Hub - Happy Families

We hope that Dr Coulson will be the first in a series of outstanding guest speakers, for our parent community, as part of our brand new EPIC (Engaging Parents in Curriculum) @ All Saints initiative. This initiative aims to build on the Junior School’s Partnerships with Parents program and, in collaboration with our dynamic Parents & Friends team, bring outstanding experts to our school to share their passion, knowledge and skills.

Shelley Travers
Head of Junior School

Year 3 and 5 students celebrated the end of a dynamic semester of music last week. Parents and friends looked on proudly as Year 3 students shared the great progress achieved throughout the first half of the year in their Strings Program Graduation Concert while the Year 5 students similarly showcased their progress through the spectacular Band Program Graduation Concert.

At All Saints, every student in Year 3 learns a stringed instrument with specialist teachers as part of their class Music lessons. This program, coordinated by the incredible Mrs Brie Ramirez, gives every student the opportunity to not only learn an instrument but to also experience playing together as part of an ensemble. The Year 5 Band Program, coordinated by Mr Owen Clarke, expands upon this learning platform to incorporate a much wider range of brass, woodwind and percussion instruments.

After just one semester of learning, the results speak for themselves as students in each year level excitedly perform an impressive repertoire in front of an inspired audience. Learning an instrument independently is well known to be excellent for brain development and neurological strengthening, but then to play within a band or larger ensemble brings a great range of executive functioning skills into the fold. In a nutshell, learning an instrument and playing music with others is like sports training for the brain.

Thank you to all of our very talented instrumental teachers. They are individually well recognised musicians and educators who bring out the very best in our young instrumentalists.

Shelley Travers
Head of Junior School

Congratulations to our recipients of the Values Award who were presented with their very special certificates at Chapel. 

The following students were nominated by their peers for their courage throughout the term:

• 1G - Alfie Webber
• 1H - Frankie Phelps
• 1L - Ashton Speirs 
•  2B - Noah Fradgley 
•  2C - Charlie Taylor 
•  2T - Carter Bradshaw 
•  3D - Giana McDougall 
•  3T - Nicholas Brandt 
•  3W - Roy Aucoin 
•  4A - Aria Comi-Howells 
•  4H - Amelia Beldham 
•  4C - Jack McIntosh 
•  4T - Naya Sabet 
•  5C - Maddalena Slaven 
•  5G - Bailey Brookes 
•  5H - Indie van Leeuwen  
•  5M - Emily Stevenson 
•  6B - Chloe Zhang 
•  6H - Kaid Healy 
•  6S - Nate Jin 
•  6V - Darcy Laing

Mrs Shelley Travers
Head of Junior School

We would like to wish the below students a very happy birthday and thank them for their wonderful Birthday Book donations to the Junior School Library.

• Bodhi Peters - Prep H
• Emily Margerison - 3D

Information on how to be part of the Birthday Book Club can be found on FIDO. 

The Junior School Library Team 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
On behalf of all the Middle School staff, thank you for your tremendous support, encouragement, and patience during this last, rather hectic term. We pray that you have travelling mercies if you are going away and whatever your plans may be, that you are able to reconnect as a family for some well-deserved R & R!

MID-YEAR REPORTS
Mid-Year School Reports will be available online as of the end of this week (as per emailed instructions) and parents also now have online access to any summative assessment results that have been published to FIDO. Please note that items completed in the last few days of term will be released at the start of Term 3. I do hope you will be pleased with your child’s progress; we are certainly proud of how many students have worked to their absolute potential … which is all any teacher or parent could wish for!

HOUSE ATHLETICS
Crowded House once sang of “four seasons in one day” … and Monday and Tuesday’s House Athletics carnival certainly explored the full meteorological spectrum. Still, our students and staff were magnificent and, despite losing a significant chunk of time to showers, we managed to complete the event in a blaze of winter sunshine! Congratulations to all the students who competed on behalf of their house, and particularly the Age Champions and record setters acknowledged in Mr Leslie’s Sport section.

“WE TRAVEL ALL OVER THE COUNTRYSIDE …”
(If you can complete the lyric of that jingle … well, you are clearly of a rather refined vintage!)
This Saturday, over one hundred Middlers will fly south to Mt Hotham for the Middle School ski trip. Our fearless leaders and ever-patient administrators, Mrs Karen Couch and Ms Michelle Hunter, have exercised extreme patience and persistence in order to put together such a huge undertaking and they both deserve a medal. Here’s hoping for a wonderful week down south!

Todd Harm
Head of Middle School 

On 6 June, the Year 7 Readers Cup Team took out the regional final of the competition at St Stephens College. They led from the start in a strong field of avid readers from 14 Gold Coast schools in Years 7 and 8. As one of the youngest teams, it was a very impressive win. They worked so well together, calm under pressure, and supportive of each other. We now have two champion teams! They will join the Year 10s at the State Final in September.

We congratulate:

• Liam Felsman
• Beth Swift-Hoadley
• Allegra Clarke
• Ella Liu Tan
• Avalon Terry

To win the champion’s trophy, the team read four novels chosen by the Children’s Book Council (Queensland branch), and worked collectively to answer five rounds of questions to show their comprehension and understanding. 

Approximately 15,000 books are read across Queensland as students combine their passion for reading and teamwork skills to compete in Readers Cup.

We wish them well in their preparations for the final!

Jo Ridgers
Teacher Librarian

As an eventful and enjoyable Term 2 draws to a close, we head for what I hope will be a restful break for all. I sincerely thank all our students for their efforts in creating what I consider to be a very productive and enjoyable term at All Saints. I wish all staff and students on the three tours departing these holidays, Performing Arts (Europe), Netball (New Zealand) and Ski Trip (Perisher) safe travels and the best of weather. To our staff taking these tours, and likewise to all of our amazing teachers, a huge thank you for their dedication and wonderful effort in making the term so successful. Finally, a thank you to all the parents who have worked with us to provide partnerships and hence opportunities for our Senior School students.

TERM 3 STAFF NEWS

• Ms Amanda Pacek is taking maternity leave. We will all miss her kind and positive presence around the School. We wish Ms Pacek and all her family the best of luck and health. Ms Pacek will be replaced Ms Raquel Fernandez. Ms Fernandez is an experienced Legal Studies teacher who will guide these students to continued success over the year.
• I am taking Long Service Leave for Term 3. I will miss you all, but thankfully there is an amazing team of teachers and leaders who will step into my role, and other roles next term. I have complete confidence that the Senior School will continue to run like clockwork, and I will return in Term 4 to see the success of the year and particularly the Class of 2023.
• Mrs Stacey Ward will be the Acting Head of Senior School for Term 3. Mr Craig Pascoe will be the Acting Director of Pastoral Care and Mrs Belinda Eckstein will take on the role of Acting Head of Reeves House. We already work as such a close team that these people will fit seamlessly into these positions and continue to support the students, staff and school community in the typical exemplary manner. 

INTER-HOUSE ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
The annual Inter-House Athletics Carnival was held on Monday and Tuesday. As always, it was an absolutely sensational event. I must congratulate the students for their outstanding efforts across the two days. Despite the 30 minutes of rain on Monday morning, the students stayed dry and otherwise, we were treated to two perfect days of athletics weather. It was great to see students supporting their house and building the teamwork and house spirit that makes our school so great. A big thank you as well to all the staff who ran the events across the two days in their typical great spirit. It could not be such a success without the expert organisation of Mr Fergus Leslie and Mr Michael Mathews. A huge thank you to these two committed staff members. 

YEAR 11 ROAD SAFETY
Young people continue to be overrepresented in road deaths and serious injuries. On Thursday, the Year 11 cohort attended the RYDA Road Safety Education workshop at All Saints. RYDA provides young people with the skills and strategies they need to stay safe on the roads. A special treat was RYDA honouring All Saints Anglican School for our continued commitment to driver safety and long association with this organisation. All Saints was presented with the Bridgestone School Award in recognition of our efforts to keep young people safe on the roads. The RYDA workshop featured highly engaging practical demonstrations, real-life narratives, videos, quizzes and interactive role play. The RYDA approach supports youth development in a number of areas including social resilience and anticipating and managing risk. RYDA gives students a unique opportunity to set road safety goals and build strategies alongside the friends they will most likely be riding with, as drivers or passengers. At the workshop, students attended six interactive sessions that have hopefully provided them with greater skills and tools to limit risk on the road.

Bryn Evans
Head of Senior School

YEAR 10 SUBJECT SELECTION INFORMATION (For Year 11 2024)
All Year 10 students were involved in a highly informative Careers Day on Thursday. Hopefully, this will assist students in choosing their pathways through Senior School and beyond. The Subject Selection Evening in Week 2 of next term will begin the formal subject selection process. It is Tuesday 18 July at 6pm in the Nairn Theatre. There will be presentations from a number of staff and subject coordinators will be available to give advice and answer questions. All families should keep this evening free in their diary. Subject selections will then be due in Week Four of Term Three 

YEAR 10 REPORTS
The Senior School reporting system at All Saints provides feedback to parents regarding student performance. The Grades tile in FIDO offers the most detail for students and parents. Teachers continuously report to FIDO upon completion of each assessment item and parents can access rubrics and results through this system throughout the term.

Through Parent Lounge, Year 10 students also receive a Term 2 report detailing their performance in their chosen electives this term.

The Year 10 Reports will be available through Parent Lounge on Friday 16 June.

You can print a colour version of the Report from Parent Lounge if you wish to have a hard copy. I also recommend saving the PDF version for future reference. Parents will not be able to access Parent Lounge after their child leaves the School, so it is important to save these reports in some format. At the end of each subject’s grades in the report, you will also find the distribution of grades for that subject. The distribution grid lists the number of students achieving each grade (A-E) for the subject cohort, so that students have an indication of their achievement in relation to other students taking the subject. Additionally, and of equal merit, are effort grades.

YEAR 11 AND 12 SUBJECT RESULTS
Year 11 and 12 students are progressing through Units 2 and 4 respectively at this time. They have not completed these units, so there is no formal report at the end of this term.

As always, the results for the most recent assessment items, and effort grades for these items, are available to students and parents through FIDO. The Grades tile in FIDO offers the most detail for students and parents.

Teachers continuously report to FIDO upon completion of each assessment item and parents can access rubrics and results through this system throughout the term.                                                                                 

Bryn Evans
Head of Senior School

Not even the day-one deluge could keep eager competitors from thundering across the oval to this week's Middle and Senior Inter-House Athletics Carnival. The grounds may have been damp but spirits weren't, as students competed proudly to earn house points and achieve personal bests across a range of events in the sprinting, throwing and jumping disciplines. Thank you to all teaching, grounds and administration staff who went the extra mile to provide a wonderful three days of friendly competition for students. All photos and results from the day are available for viewing on FIDO at the links below.

Fergus Leslie
Director of Sport & Activities (Years 7-12)

Last week, All Saints once again hosted the Daley Norton-Knight Cup (DNK) and the Gretel Tippett Trophy (GTT) sporting tournaments. Hundreds of students from Gold Coast schools converged to contest knock-out rounds in Rugby for the DNK Cup and Netball for the GTT. Our beautiful fields were filled with representatives from teams across the Gold Coast for this annual event. Both the DNK Cup and GTT are sponsored by, and played in honour of, alumni Ben Daly, Sam Norton-Knight and Gretel Tippett, who each went on to play as state and national representatives in their chosen sports after graduating from All Saints.

The day started bleakly but spirits were not dampened and our teams gave every game all they had. Congratulations to all involved, including the Junior School coaches who have supported and guided their teams throughout this term.

Students in All Saints' APS rugby and netball teams from Years 4 to 6 played a round robin of games throughout the day. The day itself was spectacular and the students had an absolute ball.

A number of our APS soccer teams also spent the day at Carrara competing in a local futsal tournament. It was a fantastic day of sport for the Junior School.

I would like to thank the many staff and parents who were involved in coordinating this huge, and memorable, event for our students. A particular thank you to All Saints parents Delia Bell and Nina Meyer and our very own sportsmaster Mrs Georgia Liussi, as well as the many parents who generously donate their time and energy to our P&F Rugby and Netball Supporters Groups. This fantastic event would not have been possible for our students without their incredible efforts. 

Shelley Travers 
Head of Junior School 

and

Georgia Liussi
Junior School Sports Coordinator

Congratulations to Year 6 boys Kai White, Jake Black, Jasper Campbell, Tahj White and Taz Traill on their success at the AFL State Championships. Kai was selected in the Queensland Team and Tahj was named MVP for the South Coast B team.  You represented All Saints amazingly!

GYMNASTICS

Congratulations to Imogen Jensen who competing recently at her gymnastics competition taking home the following; 

• Ist Place  - free hand
• 2nd Place - rope
• 2nd Place - hoop
• Ist Place - overall for her division

The All Saints Equestrian Team have had a very successful term.

Jessica Hewes (Year 9) riding her beautiful horse Malibu recently competed at the SEQ Interschool Regional Championships in the 70cm and 80cm show jumping classes.  After clearing all of the jumps in all 6 rounds she competed in she was awarded overall champion from 35 riders in both classes.

Sophie Shaffer (Year 8) also competed her beautiful horse Lyric at the SEQ interschool Regional Championships.  They Competed in the 1.10m Show jumping class where she placed 1st in the two phase and 4th in the AMS which then saw her awarded Reserve Champion overall.

Earlier in the term Sophie and her horse Lyric also represented All Saints Anglican School at Fairholme College Interschool Show jumping competition competing in the 1.10m secondary show jump.  After placing in every class, she was awarded overall Champion Secondary Show jumping 1.10m!

Sophie has also been receiving fantastic results at open show jumping competitions. Larapinta World Cup show she placed 6th in the 14 years and under 1.05m class against some of the best kids in Australia.

At the Pony Club Qld Official Jumping competition, she rode both of her horses placing Champion on her horse Carter in the combined 1m and 1.10m and Reserve Champion on Lyric, this made her the winner in all three classes on the 2 horses.
Congratulations to both the girls on their fantastic results.

Julianne Mutton
Equestrian Team Coordinator 

Three All Saints students achieved the top marks in the state for their recent AMEB Drama exams last year, and were recently presented their award at Parliament House in Brisbane. Congratulations to D’arcy Taylor (Year 11), Sienna Eddie (Year 8) and Ally Crawford (Year 11). 

Owen Clarke
Director of Performing Arts

EXCHANGE STUDENT DEPARTS AND ENSEMBLE REHEARSALS CONCLUDE
Despite the busy end of term with shutdown for seniors and athletics carnivals, most students were still reliable and diligent with ensemble rehearsal attendance. I appreciate this and thank you. Here are some photos of students in rehearsal in all sorts of attire!

One student, who has been an integral member of the Malcolm Arnold Wind Ensemble is departing next term to return home to Japan. Yu Mizobata, though just at All Saints for a short period, has performed on the trombone in two Twilight Concerts, on Academic Honours Assembly, in two Monday Concerts and has been a lively and valuable member of Band rehearsals. She will be missed, and we wish her best for her travels home and future in Japan. 

STUDENTS JOIN THE AUSTRALIAN HONOURS ENSEMBLE PROGRAM
A number of our students have recently been accepted into the Australian Honours Ensemble Program (AHEP) run by the Queensland Conservatorium of Music at Griffith University. AHEP is a high level instrumental and vocal course where applicants need to submit a video audition for selection. The following students have been successful in receiving a place and we wish them the best for the four-day program later in the year.

• Louis Gunter (Year 11) - bass clarinet
• Honor Nicholson and Georgia Ogge (Year 12) - voice
• Ayden Fell (Year 10) - saxophone
• William Fell (Year 8) - double bass
• Tristan Pofandt (Year 12) - trombone.

A number of our Middle School students (and even some Juniors) have also taken part in the State Honours Ensemble Program recently and will do so in these next holidays as well. I hope that all participants find these programs rewarding, despite the full-on days of playing and concentrating!

Owen Clarke
Director of Performing Arts

Performing is one of the highlights of learning music. It provides a motivating factor and goal that helps students be excited by their music learning and feel a sense of achievement. The past two weeks have seen many performance opportunities around campus including the Junior School Choral Twilight concert run by Mr Lange, Junior School performances by the Giant Steps Big Band and the Year 6 Copland Concert Band, soloist concerts, and our inaugural Ensemble Evening – where instrument groups performed in the Nairn Theatre.

Students sometimes don’t realise, but their performances inspire others. Younger students in particular look up to older musicians and draw motivation by seeing the different kinds of bands and ensembles in which they can also one day perform.

Owen Clarke
Director of Performing Arts

Last week over 180 students in Years 3 and 5 performed on the stage of the Nairn Theatre in concerts celebrating the effort, perseverance and practice put into learning their new instrument as part of our Year 3 Strings and Year 5 Band program. There was a mixture of nerves and excitement as they lined the stage to perform the few songs they had learnt in their groups and bands. Students (and parents) can now opt in to continue learning their instrument and form the Year 5 Superband and the Year 3 String Orchestra – both ensembles attending the Gold Coast Eisteddfod next term.

Congratulations to all students, and thank you to our instrumental teachers, and class teachers for their support of the program.

Owen Clarke
Director of Performing Arts

During this time of year, with many students opting to continue their learning in Year 3 and 5 programs, and others deciding to discontinue learning their instrumental or voice lessons, I reflect on the various reasons for both decisions. Parents, you may be interested in this article:

Which musical instrument should your child learn? - ABC Education

The article includes tips on how to encourage children to practise, as well as discussing the process of learning. The quote below is poignant as I know some students and parents struggle with the fact that sometimes music learning (and practise in particular) isn’t always fun – it doesn’t necessarily need to be - but it certainly can be interesting.

Think of learning the required skills to play a sport. You might love kicking the footy on the weekend at the local oval, but when you start to learn the skills of a sport like rugby or AFL, you're going to need to practise those skills over and over and over again.

The requirement to get the football through the same poles in the same way every time can become frustrating and take the joy out of just kicking a ball. But, as so many sportspeople say, it's the initial love of the sport that carries them through the times when it's frustrating, annoying and downright disheartening.

Learning a musical instrument is the same process.

We have a slight misconception that music is always a fun and enjoyable experience, because it's fun and enjoyable to listen to music. But the learning of music can have times of very little joy or fun, as a young music learner works to master the next new note or to combine notes together to successfully create a melody.

This process of try, fail, try, fail, try, success is exactly the process that promotes the skills of persistence and resilience to develop in every child. 

Below are a couple of resources you may also find interesting:

- The Power of Music by Susan Hallam

- Bridging The Gap In School Achievement Through The Arts (Summary Report)_by Dr Tanya Vaughan, Dr Jessica Harris and Professor Brian Caldwel

Owen Clarke
Director of Performing Arts