2019 TERM 2 NO 3 Wednesday 29 May 2019 FROM THE DEPUTY HEAD CONTENT FROM THE DEPUTY HEAD > I was asked recently whether team sport was compulsory at Frensham. My response was no, it’s just that everyone plays! BOARDING > I think most parents in our community understand the wide-ranging health and TEACHING & LEARNING > fitness benefits associated with playing team sport. But what is less STUDIES > commonly talked about are the immense mental, emotional and social benefits that playing a team sport can bring to a teenage girl. DRAMA > There is now a growing body of research focusing on these benefits and they ENGLISH > highlight many advantages that your daughter will enjoy by being involved in HSIE > team sports. The research would suggest that it doesn’t really matter what sport they play or their starting skill level. It’s the mental, emotional and JAMIESON PROGRAMME > social skills, and lessons that they will gain by playing any type of team LANGUAGES > sport that is important. MATHEMATICS > The last four weeks of Term 2 include the Birthday Weekend, the June Long Weekend (Queen’s Birthday) and the final Closed Weekend. All girls are MUSIC > looking forward to the start of the Hockey and Netball seasons, with team SCIENCE > selections for most girls beginning during the last three weeks of term, and major selections scheduled for the Saturday afternoon or Sunday of the last AGRICULTURE & LIVESTOCK Closed Weekend. TEAMS > PDHPE > Year 10 students will spend the last week of Term 2 participating in the Work Experience programme. Before leaving for Work Experience they will be SPECIAL PROJECTS > involved in a Careers Testing programme. SPORT > The Term 2 Sports Dinner, which is normally held in the last week of term, will EQUESTRIAN > be held on the Tuesday night of the second last week (18 June) so that Year 10 can attend. VISUAL ARTS / DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY > With the Year 11 Parent Weekend scheduled for 10-11 August, Year 11 students will soon begin preparations for this event which is also the weekend of the Year 10 Senior Studies Seminars. Mr Geoff Marsh Deputy Head of Frensham Deputy Head of Frensham Schools BOARDING The Friday Night fun continues, from fast and physical activities including Mario Kart in the Parker Gymnasium, to a general knowledge quiz in the form of a Kahoot in the Dining Room (just ask the girls what this is), covering topics such as Music Trivia, TV shows and classic Disney themes and bringing great entertainment and enjoyment! The Year 12 students work hard to plan and oversee these events which are a weekly highlight for many girls. Equally valuable are the carefully considered Weekend Activities as part of the Weekend Programme for the junior boarders. Last weekend on Sunday, after participating in the Salvation Army’s Red Shield Doorknock Appeal, Years 7-9 were entertained at Bowral Cinema with an engaging viewing of the newest release of Aladdin. Travel Long Weekend and End of Term travel bookings are now closed. [Please note that we are unable to accept any requests for changes to travel.] Weekend Planner Below is our weekend schedule for the next three weeks to assist with planning visits to the school or Exeats for your daughter. Should changes need to be made, we will communicate this in advance via email to the girls. Week 5 Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 June: School Birthday Celebrations - see separate programme Week 6 Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend Week 7 Sunday 15 2.00pm-5.30pm Wollongong Trip Years 7 to 9 Mrs Tanya Vaughan, Director of Boarding Ms Amanda Graham, Deputy Head of Boarding TEACHING & LEARNING Last Thursday, Australian author Melina Marchetta visited Frensham and worked with Year 9 students and members of Pen & Ink in two workshops. Melina is best known as the author of the multi-award winning novel, Looking for Alibrandi, which was studied by Year 9 students as part of their wide-reading programme in English in Term 2. Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road have also been enjoyed by many of the students. Melina has twice been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004. For Jellicoe Road she won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognising the year's best book for young adults. In 2000, Looking For Alibrandi was released as a feature film, adapted by Melina, winning an Australian Film Institute Award, an Independent Film Award for best screenplay, as well as the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award. Melina's work has been translated into 18 languages and published in 20 countries. Her latest work, The Place on Dalhousie was released in April this year. In the one-hour session with Melina, Year 9 students learned about the craft of writing and the countless hours Melina spends coming up with realistic storylines and settings, ‘getting inside her characters’ heads’, editing and rewriting. She also revealed that she has had to accept that 80% of a day’s writing may end up ‘cut’ by her editor. The students were inspired by her personal story of hard work, resilience and persistence to continue doing what she loves and is passionate about – despite the fact that there were no overnight successes in her writing journey. On Thursday evening, over 20 of our best young writers from Years 9-12, members of Pen & Ink, spent two hours developing their creative writing skills under Melina Marchetta's guidance. Through a variety of short writing exercises and with explicit strategies for success suggested by Melina, students scribbled away creating vivid characters, interesting plot lines and settings and ‘dialogue that matters’ – all of which they will continue to work on over the next few weeks and in the next evening meeting. All agreed that having Melina’s input and expertise as a published and highly successful author, truly inspired them to continue doing what they love doing – writing! Pictured below – left: Melina Marchetta with Heads of Pen & Ink, Harper Northam and Imogen Senior; right: with Year 9 Pen & Ink members, Yusra Chalak and Isolde Cochet. : : 2 : : Ms Kate Chauncy, Director of Teaching & Learning, P-12 and Coordinator of Gifted & Talented Programmes STUDIES Years 11 and 12 students are currently undertaking Term 2 assessments across their various courses. For these students, the raw marks achieved in assessments completed to date will be available to parents via their Schoolbox page. Information as to how this can be accessed and interpreted will be available within the coming weeks. Year 11 reports were sent last week and contain comments from subject teachers on academic progress to date, as well as details about co-curricular and wider School involvement. Additionally, interim RoSA (Record of School Achievement) grades were attached, based on the NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) standards used at the end of the year for state-wide grading of student achievement in each course. Next term, Year 10 students will begin considering their subject choices for 2019. Most important in determining subject choices is an understanding of their passions and strengths. This process will be supported by a comprehensive Careers Testing programme conducted prior to the end of term. Ms Janene van Gogh, Director of Studies – in Residence DRAMA At the beginning of Term 2, Year 12 Drama students participated in a workshop conducted by Jena Prince as an introduction to the final unit of work, Group Performance. Jena is a theatre director and performer who is experienced in a technique of devising called Viewpoints. The students found the workshop particularly useful as a way of exploring their ideas with a new range of tools to help them in the play-building process. ‘I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop as I learnt how to consider my spatial awareness in terms of my surroundings, audience, and other members on stage. We also learnt how to effectively create obscure and spontaneous shapes with our bodies through the use of negative space and different angles. I absolutely loved it!’ – Lillian Ives ‘The workshop was extremely productive and assisted our group in constructing different ways to work together and generate ideas for our GP.’ – Ella Pernice On Thursday 30 May, the Birthday Play, Noël Coward’s outrageous comedy Present Laughter, will be performed on the Clubbe Hall stage. A comedic high note of this backstage comedy features a hilariously self-obsessed actor named Garry Essendine. Juggling his considerable talent and ego, Garry—the theatre’s favourite leading man—finds himself caught between fawning ingénues, crazed playwrights, secret trysts, and unexpected twists. Written in 1939, Present Laughter is the last of Coward’s five great comedies and the last in which he wrote a central character for himself. There is a strong psychological sub-text in this play – not least how difficult love is! : : 3 : : The School performance of the Play is on Saturday 1 June. (Current students and families.) Congratulations to the cast and crew on the success of the Play, directed by Mrs Sally Hannah, with assistance of Ms Fiona Shannon. Mrs Sally Hannah, Head of Drama ENGLISH 2019 will be the first HSC examination of the latest NESA Stage 6 English syllabus. Although the primary focus on language and literature in the study of English is unchanged, the new syllabus has placed additional emphasis on some different skills. An important skill that receives a lot of attention in the new curriculum is student writing, beginning with the Common Module, Reading to Write, for Advanced and Standard English students at the beginning of Preliminary Year 11.