Prep Round-up! Term 3 - The Southport School

Prep Round-up! Term 3‘Tis the seasonfor campingIn this edition:Year Four Camp 2Thinking Skills 4Rogers Report 5Year One 6Sports 8Year Seven Canberra Trip 9Preppies 12Dear Parents,I hope you enjoy browsing through the Term Three edition of PrepRound-up. Another incredibly busy period in the lives of our boysand I think we can all feel a great sense of pride in all they haveachieved. Of course, the special events and activities included inthis edition represent just the tip of the ice-berg of all that occurs atTSS Preparatory and I thank all staff and parents for their supportof the boys and their aspirations. No wonder we are all soexhausted come holiday time.This term concluded with our first Festival of Workshops. Inassociation with GATEWAYS who offer programs for gifted andtalented students we were able to host just under 300 studentsover the last Thursday and Friday of the term. These boys andgirls from all over South-east Queensland and Northern NewSouth Wales had a simply brilliant time stretching their thinkingand imaginations. I am certain this is the start of what will be along and fruitful relationship between TSS Prep and GATEWAYSand that many further opportunities to support our most ablestudents will be provided.Congratulations to all boys. Term Three was very successfuland each person played their part. I have really enjoyed theexperience of seeing our boys grow and develop during thefirst very busy terms of the year and look forward to the specialoccasions towards the end of Term Four, at which we will jointogether to celebrate their achievements.I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday periodRegards, Mr J SymmsHead of Preparatory SchoolHolocaust Survivor Visit 13Year Seven Mentoring 13Year Two Art 14Public Speaking 15Reader’s Theatre 16If you face your fears,you can have thebest time so give ita go, have fun andlive in the moment.For me the Canberratrip was an incredibleexperience because Ifaced my fears.1

Time to test our canoeing skills!Year Four Camp –Hidden CreekOops – Do youthink our tent isgoing to fly away?This term the boys of Year Four took their firstteetering steps into the world of TSS OutdoorEducation. The boys experienced three fantasticdays at Hidden Creek under the watchfulguidance of their class teachers and the vastoutdoor education experience and exuberance ofthe camp instructors.First to go on camp was 4G, and they managedto endure and survive gale-force winds that nearlyblew a few tents and boys away! Next was 4L, ona mission to find the most agates in the creek andfinally 4P, who managed to get through two daysof perfect weather before tackling the obstaclecourse in pouring rain on the final day.The boys spent the days climbing ropes, hiking,exploring the creek for the elusive agates, tacklingtreasure hunts and building leadership and teamwork skills. We even met an injured echidna andspotted the odd platypus! The boys (and teachers)all arrived home exhausted and excited by theexperiences and can’t wait for the next OutdoorEducation experience at TSS, although the teachersmay need a year to recover from this one!Amanda Pemberton4P Class Teacher2

Look what we found in thecreek – Lots of tiny creepycrawlies, pebbles, tadpoles...3

Thinking Skills ‘in Action’ – 5PThe teaching of thinking skills may be includedin the curriculum in a variety of ways. They maybe taught as skills within their own right under thelabel of critical thinking. They may be taught as areflective exercise on how thinking occurs withinand across the subject. At the beginning of TermTwo, students were introduced to the Thinking SkillsFramework that details the thinking levels (RevisedBloom’s Taxonomy), the ‘verbs’ that suggest whatthe students are ‘doing’, the ‘starter’ questions thatenable students and myself to devise questions,and Thinking ‘tools’ that are used by the students to‘act out’ their thinking.Over time, I have seen students develop a commonlanguage of ‘thinking’ that now pretty muchembraces what we learn. I was impressed withhow quickly the students understood the actualframework. Below is a sample of how 5P haveused the framework in Term Three.1. What would we do if FOP gave 5P $5000.00to build a project for the School?Firstly, the students worked on their own andlisted eight (8) projects and placed their list in anElimination Draw to determine what their ‘winning’choice would be. They then shared their choicewith the rest of the class. This created anotheropportunity to complete a whole-class EliminationDraw. Eventually the class came up with threechoices: 1. Rugby Supporter Stands 2. MobilePutt Putt Course 3. Paved Bicycle Track. In groupsof four, the students completed a Decision Matrixwhich helped them compare, analyse and selectthe better choice. Common factors such as cost,safety, availability to all students, environmentalconcerns and supervision factors were allconsidered. After using a ‘points’ system for eachfactor/choice the students came up with theirFINAL choice. As a group, they then researchedsuppliers on the Gold Coast and sent emails tothem asking for quotes.2. Design a 2010 poster for this year’s Book Weektheme ‘Story Bridge’ (metaphor for movingfrom the known to the unknown..new horizons)Firstly, the students worked on their own for 15minutes to design a poster, using a design programwith this theme in mind. After the time limit wasreached, they gathered into groups of four (4)to share their individual designs. The group thencombined their ideas to come up with one design(30 min). Group members then chose a ‘GroupRepresentative’ to remain with their design whilethe other three walked around to other groups toask questions about what they had achieved (3min at each group). Group members then cametogether for one last time to share what they hadseen from other groups to Refine their group designand eventually share with the rest of the class.Thinking Levels: Design – Evaluate – Analyse –ApplyThinking Tools: 1:4:P:C:R (1=First draft asindividuals, 4=Share your idea with a group of 4,P=Publish a combined design, C=Circle the othergroups and gather further ideas, R=Refine ideas &understandings and generate FINAL design.)Now that the students have this common languageup and running, I recently advised their parentsthat they would be receiving weekly Thinking SkillsTasks using similar thinking tools. At least half of theparents have completed this homework task andsome have commented on how using thinking toolshas helped them make important decisions. Forthose parents who haven’t handed in this week’stask......you have a detention this Friday!Andrew Philp (5P Teacher)Thinking Levels: Evaluate – Analyse – ApplyThinking Tools: Elimination Draw & DecisionMaking Matrix4

Rogers ReportBusy Boys are happy boys and this is certainlywhat our young boys in Rogers House are! Thisterm we welcomed new Resident Masters Mr TobyTapscott, Mr Valentin Delangle from France andour new ‘Renta’ Charlie Carvelles from England.We also welcomed Mrs Judy Cronk as our newmatron. The boys are enjoying adjusting to hernew routines and fun competitions. For the pastfour weeks, Mrs Kathryn Barry has joined us toassist with homework supervision, as supervisingup to 18 boys doing homework is quite a task!We are certain this will help many of our boardersimprove their academic performances!Packing for the Canberra Trip was quite a task andthe House was rather quiet with the Year 7 boysaway. We certainly missed Mr Browne who alsowas away on the ‘Following the Footsteps of theFounder’ tour. Here he met many fellow Old Boysas well as some prospective boarders who welook forward to meeting. We also have had invitedguests join us at our formal dinner on Mondaynights.The boys have participated in many schoolsporting activities such as athletics and tennisacross the term and have enjoyed many variedweekend activities, either here at school, or whenother boys have invited them out for a weekend.We have had a few birthday celebrations in theHouse as well.Our activities this term have been as simpleas baking, swimming, climbing trees, tennis,basketball, fishing, walking to the shops andplaying in puddles. We have also supported manywhole-school activities such as Bastille Day Dinner,GPS rugby and basketball, Old Boys Weekendactivities, outdoor ed activities at the Dux Camp atStraddie and Hidden Creek. The boys also visitedthe beach, car shows and the Gold Coast Show.Boarding at Rogers is ‘heaps of fun’ and we evenhave boys who would rather stay in over theweekend as they do not want to miss out on doingsomething simple or exciting, but they are lucky asthere is always somebody to have fun with!5

Year OneThe Year Ones had a fantastic term learning allabout mini beasts. The boys were given theopportunity to learn about all interesting creepycrawlies in Australia. They discovered plenty ofinteresting facts about insects and arachnids andeven taught their teachers a thing or two. The YearOnes also were encouraged to use their thinkingskills and create a unique mini beast based on theinformation gained during the term. They wroteinformation books on the mini beasts and decidedon its habitat, life-cycle, diet and predators. Itwas amazing to hear the debates and thoughtprocesses that went into this activity.A highlight of the term was having Dr Lachlanarrive in his ‘bug hunting’ gear equipped withgiant bush knife and net. He was able to sharehis amazing adventures of collecting insects fromall around the world. The boys were particularlyimpressed with his tarantula. It is so lucky that TSSis fortunate enough to have a bug expert on staff.The boys also have completed an investigativelearning component this term. The boys chosea mini beast to focus on and researchedthat mini beast’s habitat, diet, features andpredators. During literacy groups, the boysused the information that they had researched towrite information sentences on their mini beasts.They then had their buddies help them create aPowerPoint presentation. The final stage was topresent their PowerPoint to an audience. It was afantastic learning experience for the boys.It has been a busy term with fireman visits, authorvisits, athletics days and presentations but it hasalso been a great term. It is amazing to see theprogress that the boys have made this year andit is fascinating to watch how they are gainingconfidence in their reading and writing abilities.We are looking forward to Term Four where wewill be exploring the wonderful world of dinosaurs.6

Term 3 Sports Round UpJunior Rugby (U6 - U10), CIC Tennis and CICAthletics were the three representative sports inTerm Three and it was very fulfilling to observehow much everyone appeared to enjoy theirinvolvement. The inclusion of five ‘family friendly’rounds of AFL on Friday afternoons was verypopular and enjoyed by all participants.On behalf of the Physical Education Department,thank you and congratulations boys for your effortsand contribution resulting in what has been a verysuccessful term.Physical Education lessons during Term Threeincluded a seven-week AFL Auskick program anda three-week basketball program that focussedon ‘re-establishing skills and memory wake-up’.Scheduled Term Four PE classes will encompassmore in-depth basketball skills development duringthe ‘odd’ week of internal netball games.The most encouraging result for the term was theAthletics team’s performance in the Gold CoastNorthern Districts competition finishing secondoverall. This was followed by a very strongperformance in the CIC Athletics championships.Well done to the CIC tennis teams who conqueredgreat heights with Teams 1 and 2 only losing onematch. They were narrowly defeated by one gameagainst Brisbane Grammar School.Junior rugby completed the 14-week roundcompetition in Week Three of Term Three withall 17 team coaches reporting a very positiveoutcome. Team members participated well andhad fun with definite signs that the boys’ individualrugby skills level had improved throughout theseason.The AFL ‘family friendly’ competition was a hugesuccess with Southport Sharks organising twoFriday fixtures during the term. Many thanksto Southport Sharks for helping our boys and,most importantly, providing our students with apleasurable experience.House Athletics was won by Dixon, House Touchby Mitre and House Soccer by Shepperd. MitreHouse currently lead the Howard Smith Trophy byseven points. Term Four promises to be anotherbusy time with basketball, AFL Auskick and MiloIN2 cricket. The basketball competition will beheld internally on Thursday and Friday afternoons.Please stay up-to-date with our Preparatory Sportswebsite where you can access the latest TSSPhysical Education Department sports informationand scheduled activities.Great term by all – well done!Robert HarrisPreparatory Sports Master8

The Year 7Canberra TripThe Canberra trip was an experience we willnever forget. Not only did we have a great time,we got to know our peers a lot better and welearned that supporting and encouraging ourfriends feels a lot better than laughing and makingfun of them. Everyone was amazed at watchingeach other thinking about things more and makingmore mature decisions. Everything we did on thetrip down south, taught us many positive thingsthat we will remember, and the great memoriescollected will remain with us, in our minds forever.By Alester Fleming 7BFacing your fears can sometimes be a lot ofwork….hard work. I learned that on this year’sYear 7 Canberra trip. To conquer your fears, Ilearnt you need to take small steps, stay steadfastand be persistent. The Great Aussie Bush Campwas great. On the second day, we had all thechallenges. The most enjoyable thing was TheGiant Swing….. I volunteered to go first and itwas awesome. The most daunting thing was theaerial course, Team Challenge, (the biggest in thesouthern hemisphere). All the other kids said it wasthe best thing there. If you face your fears, you canhave the best time so give it a go, have fun andlive in the moment. For me the Canberra trip wasan incredible experience because I faced my fears.By Mitchell Nye 7MIt’s freezing at the snow and my pants are toobig! They’re falling down; she said that theywould fit! I am only wearing shorts underneathand it is embarrassing! It’s cold, I’m goingwhite and I’m going up the lifts. I fall down; mybottom is freezing and I can’t pull my big skipants up because my gloves are too thick! MrsHenry says she is an embarrassment to the sportof skiing.. well she hasn’t seen me!By Jayden Benn 7PThe war museum in Canberra was great becausewe got to spend hours looking at things that wereused back in the war. The way it was set out,planes hanging from the roof, AA guns in thesandbag barriers and interactive activities reallydrew you in to learn about World War II. Theyhave all sorts of awesome memorabilia to buyfrom the shop to remember this great experience.So why not give it a try, have a great time at theCanberra War museum!By Max Beech 7B9

My favourite meal on the Canberra trip was thelunch at the snow fields. It was really cold outsideso I was desperate for something hot. I had a hotdog with salt and vinegar chips and a Sunkist.It was so good. The yummy food gave me thenutrition to carry on for the next couple of hours ofskiing.By Will Lloyd 7PThe trip was great!! I had the best time at theGreat Aussie Bush Camp. One of the latestobstacles is the Team Challenge. You have to workin teams of four. The best part of it was when youhave to swing across on a plank of wood to get tothe other side. You have to work together becauseit’s not so fun if you cheat. You had to problemsolve it.The best part of Canberra was the food. I cannotbelieve that we got to eat bacon, eggs, andsausages for breakfast! Then dinner, it was thebest! The only thing that I regret was that I didn’tgo back for seconds........ wait..... no .....thirds.By Sebastian Rosch 7PBy Luke Randell 7BThe Great Aussie Bush Camp was a greatexperience for any person big or small, oldor young. The things you do and you receiveexperiences so scary that you would cry whichsome of the TSS boys did. Things like The GiantSwing, Team Challenge and the most scary, TheLeap of Faith. It was a great experience but ascary one. On a personnel note my boundarieswere pushed and lost, then found again.My trip down south was great but the highlight ofCanberra was The War Memorial. As soon as weentered the door we were greeted and shown avideo of rules and instructions on how to behavein the respectful manner. Once the man finishedanswering some question we were allowed towalk into the memorial to look around, seeingall the tanks, cars, weapons and uniforms use inWWII. The exhibitions and the walls with namesof soldiers that died, made me think and alsofeel sad, yet proud, to be a part of this wonderfulcountry. I realised that these men fought for us tobe free.By Christian Behn-Katz 7MBy Jean Pierre Said 7H10

The 2010 Year 7 Canberra trip was sensational!For me the best part was the War Memorial, withmemories of fallen soldiers and being the Speakerin Parliament House, sitting in the real CabinetRoom where parliamentarians sit. I also enjoyedthe Commando activity at the Great Aussie BushCamp, with the mud and ticks and, of course,skiing at Smiggins Hole in a blizzard was anamazing experience, too. It was a brilliant time.By Steve Sandeman 7BI really liked old parliament, you could feelthe spirits off long gone politicians. The WarMemorial was also pretty special. There wereso many poppies beside peoples’ names,that if you put your face almost touching it onone end and looked to the other end, all youcould see was red.By Ben Smith 7MOn the second last day of our trip, the wholeof Year 7 went skiing. It was heaps of funbecause it was only my second time skiingand I love the snow! I went in the C groupbecause like I said it was only my second timeskiing. The C group start on the really smallslope which was still heaps of fun, but whenwe started to get better we went on a biggerone. At the end I realised how much I enjoyskiing........ can’t wait until next time.Our Trip Down SouthTurbines sound, we take off.A journey that will be a laughWalking outside the plane we find,A world that is cold and damp.Inside, nice and warm.Grab our bags and off we go.7.00pm at night, we arrive, an openfire.Dinner in a big red rock wearing a bluetracksuit.By Hamish Thompson 7BBy James Green 7PCanberra, what a wonderful place! No wonderthey call it the nation’s capital. Besides havingParliament House there, they have many otherAustralian landmarks. I had such a good time inCanberra I didn’t want to leave. But truly for meseeing that sign at the Sydney airport just openedmy eyes “McDonald’s”! That was the best MediumQuarter Pounder Meal I’ve ever had!By David Burey 7PThe AIS was very interactive and also quiet cool.We saw a foot bag player and I thought it wasvery rare to see a foot bag player. There was alot of memorabilia and sporting players at the AIS.Questacon was like a massive candy store whereeveryone went a bit crazy. The best thing for mewas the zero gravity slide and free falling. Whatyou do is you get into a suit and hang onto a bar,let go and drop. The store was where you couldbuy all of the little toys and cool things. There wasso much stuff like dry ice cream and many differentkinds of ear phones for sale.By Dylan Riley 7H11

Preppies Term Three– 2010What have we been up to this term?Well apart from all the amazing learning thatis going on during a normal school day, wehave had some extra special moments this term.PB and PS started the term with new interactivewhiteboards which was exciting for all!Walking into any of the Pearson classrooms thisterm you would have realised that the boys havebeen working hard at learning about animals,the wild ferocious ones as well as the ones thatprovide us with many products and uses, yes farmanimals. The boys have produced some amazingpieces of art through drawing, collages andpainting.We all had a wonderful day when we could dressup as farmers, wellington boots and all, and wereable to cuddle and feed the baby farm animalsfrom Barnyard Babies.Dads, granddads and some special uncles wereable to spend a morning with our boys playinggames, drawing and building things together andwere then presented with a scrumptious breakfastwhich was donated by and prepared by the PrepYear Class Mums, and a few other volunteers.Thanks to so many parents who so generouslydonated our raffle prizes, which enabled us toraise $1,030.00, which was given to the BuildingFund. Thanks to all for a wonderful morning!The boys worked hard with Mrs Goudy duringPE this term and our athletics carnival causedgreat excitement and certainly brought out thecompetitive nature of boys! It was a huge successand was well supported by the mums and dads.To end the term, parents were invited to watch theboys during their music lesson to see what theyhave learnt and they have certainly become littlemusicians this year!12

YEAR 2 ARTThe Year 2s have spent this term exploringcommunities from around the world.In Art, their focus has been on our own Gold Coastcommunity from the lush green hinterland to thegolden beaches and blue sea.Using a multitude of skills in drawing, painting,printing and cutting, the boys then had to design abalanced 3D layered project to represent the manylayers of our community.Many collaborative problem solving discussionstook place particularly when it came to addingtheir great beach activity ideas.AND WHAT GREAT IDEAS THEY WERE!14

Public Speaking 2010During Term Three, students from Years 3 to7 participated in the Prep Public SpeakingCompetition. Public Speaking is considered tobe the most common social fear, so the initialaim of this program was to provide all studentswith the opportunity to participate in a speakingcompetition in the safe and supportive environmentof their classroom.Following class-based competitions, finalists fromeach class were chosen to progress to the YearLevel finals. These finals took place from Weeks 8to 10 and the depth and talent of the participantswas astounding. Topics ranged from RecyclingWill Help the Planet to Australia’s GreatestWoman. It was no easy task for the adjudicatorsto make their decisions on final placings. Someplacings were only separated by half a point!Medals and certificates will be awarded in TermFour.At the end of the day, the real success of the PublicSpeaking program is not in the medals won, butin the enormous benefit this opportunity providesto develop and enhance students’ communicationskills and self-confidence.15

Reader’s TheatreReader’s Theatre makes reading come alive forstudents. It helps build oral fluency and strengthensreading and language art skills.It promotes teamwork and develops confidence inboth reading and public speaking. The studentslearn to connect deeply with a text.We’ve seen big improvements in reading throughthe inclusion of Reader’s Theatre.16