ISSUE 1, 2010 SPRING, 2010 - Cranbrook School

SPRING, 2010
ISSUE 1, 2010

In this
issue...
1 Headmaster’s Note
2 Martin Pitt
4 School Council
6 Reflections
8 Teacher Profile
10 Curating Cranbrook
12 Senior School
26 Junior School
34 Dickins House
40 Pre-schools
48 Cranbrook
Community
53 Coming Events
On the cover: Micropets made
in recycled materials by Year 7
Visual Arts students
2 6
8 26
Headmaster’s Note
Martin Pitt, 1939 – 2010
In 1962 Cranbrook Headmaster, Gethyn Hewan, wrote
a reference for a young resident master who was ‘most
conscientious in the performance of his duties’, ‘a thoroughly
good influence on the boys’ and who, as a student at Cranbrook
several years earlier, was ‘one of the most enthusiastic young men
in every department of School life I have ever come across’.
It takes no time at all to realise that Hewan was referring
to Martin Pitt (OC 1957), born 1939, Head of Davidson
House, quintessentially Mr Cranbrook to multiple cohorts of
Cranbrookians whom he taught, coached, managed, motivated
and inspired, who with his wife Robin decided in 2003 to retire
to the farm at Braidwood because ‘it is time for the third half’.
But Martin never really retired from Cranbrook, remaining
friend and mentor to us all through Secretaryship of the OCA,
honoured guest at multiple OCA reunions, Acting Directorship
of the Foundation, and welcome visitor charged with firing the
starter’s gun at the Pitt Dash and inspiring the boys at rugby
pre-season camps as well as on the sidelines. He managed all this
in spite of the fact that the so-called ‘quiet life at Braidwood’
included raising cattle, commitment to the Anglican Church
as church warden and synodsman, fundraising for young
countrymen and countrywomen who could not afford to live
in Sydney to pursue tertiary studies, teaching as a casual at
Braidwood High, working as a labourer, managing the local
rugby teams and training as driver of the CFA fire engine!
Beyond Braidwood the ‘quiet life’ included governing body
membership of the Boys and Girls Brigade and St Paul’s College
within the University of Sydney.
Hewan’s ‘enthusiastic young man’ was someone we all assumed
would always be around … indestructible, positive and cheerful,
full of energy, emphatically challenging us to live the School’s
mission, and hugely loyal to the School, to his friends and to
Old Cranbrookians.
… indestructible, positive and
cheerful, full of energy, emphatically
challenging us to live the School’s
mission, and hugely loyal to the
School, to his friends and to
Old Cranbrookians.
Symptomatic of the man, his energy, his style, his influence and
his humility are some words he penned just last year to Cameron
Haynes, Head Prefect in 2003, and fellow fence navvy down on
the Braidwood farm:
I flew out to Ireland v Wales at Millennium and a three-week
Cambridge reunion 800 years old! We had a ball as you would
imagine. Hope you are well and in employment in these tough times.
We are pressing on here, cutting wood to keep warm, -8 today which
freezes everything ‘til lunch. I am labouring at $20 ‘hour which is
humbling but good fun and a reality check – my workmates have
to live on that income.
As Cameron added:
From Cambridge reunions, to labouring in Braidwood at the age
of 70, the man was irrepressible. He would never stand by and let
others carry the load.
Martin embodied esse quam videri more than any man.
We are the better for knowing him. We miss him; but his myriad
contributions and the strength of his example will never be
forgotten. The Pitt spirit will ensure that Cranbrook is a special
place for boys and young men for generations to come.
Jeremy Madin
Headmaster
Schola Nostra Spring 2010 1

We farewell
a Cranbrook
Legend
Martin Pitt, 1939-2010
A reflection on the man
Michael Parker
Martin Pitt was at Cranbrook for almost sixty years. He was the
heart and soul of the place, a remarkably genuine and caring man.
This is why so many of us find it hard to imagine that he is not
here anymore. I can’t think of another man more connected to
the School.
Martin knew everyone. I was with him at an Old Cranbrookians’
function earlier this year on the Central Coast and had a beer
with him at the end of the night. As the redoubtable gentlemen,
aged from 20 to 80, drifted away, he was able to tell stories about
each and every one of them. He told about their farms, their
careers, their children, their parents. He had anecdotes about
which boys in the group he had gated forty years earlier for
escaping from the Boarding House on a Friday night. And this
wasn’t a group of people that he knew particularly well; it was
just a representative sample of the Cranbrook community.
This is why he was such a stalwart at so many of the Cranbrook
reunions, including one in London in September this year.
His passion for the School was evident in other ways as well
this year. He very generously stepped in for a few months as
acting Director of Foundation at the beginning of the year. His
knowledge of people and families was staggering. The emotional
dimension to these connections was palpable; he cared about all
of these people. He wanted them to be doing well. He wanted
them and their children to be happy and he worried for those
who weren’t. He embodied, lived and breathed the web of the
Cranbrook community. He saw it as a giant family spread out
across Sydney, across Australia and across the globe.
His enthusiasm for boys’ education never waned either. In 2000
he did a stint as Acting Housemaster of Woodward for a term.
After forty years of teaching, you would think that his inclination
might be just to keep the place ticking along for nine weeks.
However, he got to know the boys like a long term mentor
and kept the spirit in Woodward flying.
He embodied, lived and breathed the
web of the Cranbrook community.
He saw it as a giant family spread
out across Sydney, across Australia
and across the globe.
Martin was still getting to know new staff members this year and
he also gave a rousing speech to all the rugby fraternity at the
beginning of the 2010 season. The Pitt Cup embodies his spirit.
The competition is vigorous and fun in the best tradition of
boys’ education.
The Cranbrook community will miss Martin. The whole School’s
condolences go out to his wife Robin, his son Angus, his daughter
Lucinda and his whole family.
A snap shot of Martin’s time at Cranbrook
1957
Cranbrook Prefect (front row, right)
2000
Director of Alumni
Martin and Cranbrook
1967
Coaching the rugby 1 st XV
2009
Awarding The Pitt Cup
1953
Martin started as a 13-year-old at Cranbrook. He plunged
headlong into sports and activities such as drama and filmmaking.
1956
– House Prefect for Davidson House
– Head of the Tuckshop
– Captained the 3rd XV for two years
1957
– Head of Davidson
– Martin rowed in the 2 nd IV. He became a cadet petty officer
in charge of the naval cadets. The whole unit, however,
was dishonourably discharged because of its scrapes and
misdemeanours, ‘largely due to lack of adult supervision’,
Martin recalled.
– He shared the Brian Holmes à Court Memorial Prize
1964
Headmaster, Mark Bishop wrote to Martin offering him a
position to help get an outdoor program running at Cranbrook.
1965
Martin took up a full-time position as a Resident Tutor in
Street House for three years.
1965 – 1968
Martin was coach of Cranbrook’s 1st XV and coach of the
CAS 1st and 2nd XV. He organised a number of rugby tours to
Victoria, South Australia, the Central West, the South Coast
and New England.
1969
Geography teacher
2010
Old Cranbrookians’ London reunion
1968
In Term 3, he was appointed as Housemaster, Chelmsford
House. Jock MacKinnon, Martin’s Housemaster, whom he
much admired, was the reason he became a teacher.
1976
He moved back to Cranbrook as Senior Master, teaching
Geography, coaching rugby, organising overland trips with
boys and generally being part of core School’s activities.
1976 – 1991
Served as Senior Master (later called Deputy Headmaster)
for fifteen years
1992 – 1996
Martin was the first Director of Foundation, raising money
for Cranbrook’s expansion.
1997
He was asked to be the first Director of Alumni, to forge
strong links between the School, individual Old Cranbrookians
and the Old Cranbrookians’ Association.
2003
Martin retired.
On the occasion of a wonderful retirement party for Martin
at the end of 2003, David Stone described him as: ‘providing
great inspiration. You know him today as energetic – almost
hyperactive, fully involved, and a go!go!go! person. Imagine what
he was like when he was 37 years younger! It was great fun
trying to keep up with him! ... Who will keep us up to
date with all the latest gossip and scandals? Who will we
laugh with at lunchtime?’
2 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 3

School Council
The Hon. Justice
Kenneth Robert
Handley AO
Helen Nugent AO
President of Council
Ken Handley has been an integral
part of the Cranbrook School’s
history for sixty-three of the School’s
ninety-one years. In 1998 his stellar
commitment to Cranbrook was
recognised when he was named
Old Cranbrookian of the Year.
4 Schola Nostra
As a student or Councillor, he has worked
with five of the School’s seven principals
and was President when Jeremy Madin was
selected as Headmaster. Ken was a member
of Council from 1976 to 2009, was the
seventh President of the School Council
and served in this capacity from 1999
to 2009.
As President of Council, Ken remained
resolutely committed to the School’s
mission of making the most of the talents
of every boy who attended the School,
academically and in areas of co-curricular
endeavour. He has been a strong supporter
of enhancing the facilities in which our
boys work and play. Ken was President
when the Carter Building was opened.
He has also been a strong advocate for
the development of the new Junior School.
More specifically, his prodigious legal
knowledge has helped the School steer
through the complexities associated with
the zoning and development application
regulatory process.
Just as Ken took an interest in the broader
sense of community as a student, so too
as President he has promoted initiatives
to forge links with Islamic schools and
welcomed students of all faiths, while
maintaining the School’s Anglican roots.
He has backed initiatives to increase the
number of indigenous scholarships and
wanted to see innovation in Cranbrook’s
approach to dealing with the environment.
Ken attended Cranbrook as a student from
1946 to 1951. He was an outstanding
student of History. He received the E C
Rowland Prize in Australian History and
in his final year, the L M Philips Prize for
European History. He was Proxima Accessit
three times and he achieved his Leaving
Certificate with Honours in 1951. The
School’s aspiration to bring out the most
of Ken’s academic talents was achieved.
Ken was passionate about the library and
became one of the student librarians in his
Senior Year. Indeed, it has been claimed
that his ‘overwhelming familiarity with
the School library’ gave him his academic
edge. Ken left Cranbrook as a well-rounded
individual with a genuine academic spike
who was passionately committed to the
endeavours in which he engaged.
Like many other Cranbrook boys, Ken
studied with distinction at the University
of Sydney. He completed his Arts Degree
in 1955 with Distinctions in History II
and Economics II in 1953. He went on
to finish his Law Degree with 1st Class
Honours in 1958. He finished seventh in
the class in first year Law, and second in
the two successive years. Forty short years
after the School was founded in 1918,
Ken demonstrated that Cranbrook boys
could hold their own with the best at
Sydney University.
Clockwise from top left: Justice Handley and Brighton
Grace (Year 2, 2009) turn the sod at the site of
the new Junior School; Ken Handley, 12 years old,
(centre, front row) as a member of the School’s
scout troop; Ken (right) with teacher and mentor,
Harry Nicolson
... what has distinguished
him most as
quintessentially Cranbrook
was his ongoing
commitment and loyalty
to the School
The leadership, teamwork and debating
skills developed during his years at
Cranbrook were demonstrated in his
distinguished legal career. He joined the
Bar, and became a Queen’s Counsel in
1973 and President of the New South
Wales Bar and Australian Associations
in the late 1980s. In 1990 he became a
Judge in the New South Wales Court of
Appeal. In that role he has been honoured
by the Chief Justice of New South Wales,
Justice Jim Spigelman, for the quality of his
judgements, for being a strong team player,
for his loyalty, for his prodigious work ethic
and for his unerring eye for the point.
Ken’s books on estoppel are definitive in
their field. Unwilling to lose the benefit of
his services, Ken has invited to continue as
a Judge in the New South Wales Court of
Appeal after formally retiring in 2006. His
has been a long and distinguished career of
which Cranbrook is justifiably proud.
However, what has distinguished him
most as quintessentially Cranbrook was
his ongoing commitment and loyalty to
the School. Ken sent each of his sons to
Cranbrook. David was here from 1975
to 1983, Duncan from 1975 to 1984,
Jonathan from 1978 to 1987 and Mark
from 1979 to 1988. David does Sydney
proud each year as the founder of
Sculpture by the Sea.
At the 2009 Prize Giving I thanked Ken
on behalf of the School community for
a life time of service to the School and
for the credit he brought to it in his
professional and personal life.
In recognition of the distinction with
which Ken has served the School and
the credit he brought to it, the Senior
School library, which will be enhanced
and extended in the near future, will
be known as the Ken Handley Library.
This is particularly appropriate given his
dedication to scholarship and his strong
historical association and passion for the
library. In addition, in recognition of Ken’s
ongoing commitment to the education
of boys at Cranbrook, the Old
Cranbrookians have determined that they
will name a scholarship in his honour.
Spring 2010
5

Reflections
nurturing
tHe groWtH
of individuAL
boyS
AcAdemic
LeArning
Support
In keeping with Cranbrook School’s
Mission Statement, we are committed
to nurturing the growth of all boys, and
supporting their needs and differences.
The School recognises that some students
require more support than others to cope
with one or more areas of the curriculum.
Some of these students may require
educational support throughout their time
in school; others may need support for
a short period to help meet temporary
needs. Special needs usually means
difficulties and disabilities, but children
who are gifted and talented also have
special educational needs, and many of
our students are identified as being gifted
and talented.
Mrs Fiona Bain, Coordinator, Learning
Support in the Senior School, and Mrs
Julie Johnson, Senior Teacher and Learning
Support Teacher in the Junior School, give
some insight into the way in which their
staff support boys from Kindergarten to
Year 12.
can you describe the special
needs some students have?
Julie Johnson: Needs differ from year to
year but can range from high support
needs, such as intellectual disabilities like
Down syndrome or global developmental
delay or autistic spectrum disorders, to
moderate needs such as reading disorders
or dyslexia, language impairments, specific
difficulties with spelling and writing, fine
or gross motor difficulties, and hearing
impairments, to mild needs such as
temporary support with reading/writing.
Fiona Bain: Yes, students may have an
educational disadvantage because of their
learning disability, or because of illness,
as well as mental and/or physical health
issues. We provide a range of supports
to students so that they have the best
opportunity to participate in all aspects
of School life and prepare for life
outside school.
What proportion of students at
cranbrook has learning difficulties
or disabilities?
Fiona Bain: Approximately ten percent
of the Senior School population regularly
accesses support classes and/or special
provisions for assessments, tests and
examinations. We also help a wider group
of students through our assistance in
mainstream classes.
How are students identified as
having learning disabilities and
difficulties?
Julie Johnson: Class teachers and the
learning support teachers identify students
who are not making the same progress as
their same-age peers in a particular subject.
Early phonics and early reading skills are
generally accurate indicators of a more
persistent difficulty later on.
We also use behavioural indicators
to identify if there are disabilities or
difficulties; this usually consists of
observations of behaviour over a period
of time. If we have ongoing concerns,
we liaise with parents and then refer to
either our School counsellor for further
assessment or to an outside specialist.
While waiting for the results of further
testing we respond to what we are seeing
and provide intervention immediately, and
then use the assessments to help inform
that intervention further.
Fiona Bain: In the Senior School we use
information from a variety of sources
to determine which students have an
educational disadvantage and how we
may be able to help them. For example,
students may be referred to us by School
staff, their parents or guardians, or outside
professionals. Students may come to
us themselves if they feel they are not
progressing well. We also look at reports
from outside professionals and various test
results including School reports.
How do you help these students
to feel included and supported?
Fiona Bain: To meet the differing needs
of individual students, class teachers make
adjustments to what they teach, how they
teach and how they assess students. We
are available to offer support and advice
to teachers about the range of adjustments
they too can make. We regularly use the
services of consultants to provide specialist
advice about particular groups of students,
for example students with hearing
difficulties. We may also provide modified
work for students to complete in class,
particularly if the student has difficulty
accessing class work, assignments and/or
assessments.
Support staff may attend mainstream
classes to help the students to access
the work, to assist with behaviour
management, and/or to assist with safety
concerns in subjects such as Science and
Design and Technology.
In Years 9 and 10 we offer Support as
an elective choice. Depending on the
group’s needs, we may offer literacy and
language support, as well as assistance with
assignments and homework.
In Years 11 and 12, students may book
in for supervised study periods with the
support staff and we are available to help
guide them with research and in the
writing process.
For students with intellectual disabilities
who are completing life skills outcomes,
we assist with their integration into as
many mainstream classes as possible but
we may also teach some subjects in the
Support area.
We provide special provisions to students
completing timed assessments, tests
and examinations who need them but
particularly to those in the senior years.
Julie Johnson: In the Junior School this
is a difficult thing to get right! In any
one classroom, there could easily be
students with reading ages that differ by
ten years or more. There can be enormous
differences between students in the same
class. In meeting these needs, all class and
specialist subject teachers are responsible
for each and every student in their class.
The class or specialist subject teacher is
primarily responsible for the differentiation
or modification of the curriculum to
meet the needs of all students. The role
of the support team is to advise and assist
teachers to do this, with the aim of
being as inclusive as possible within the
regular classroom.
In collaboration with class and subject
teachers, the support team assesses any
potential barriers to a student’s learning
and devise ways to overcome these barriers.
This may be overcoming a student’s
physical access to the school environment
or access to the curriculum through
additional lessons, modification of the
way the lesson is delivered or received,
modification of the expectation of the
outcomes or tools or resources … there
are so many ways to modify curriculum.
The other key thing is that we approach
meeting the needs of these students as a
whole School. While it is the class teachers’
responsibility to meet the educational
needs of these particular students, in the
same way it is their responsibility to meet
the needs of all their students, we adopt a
whole School approach to the philosophy
of inclusive education and to the way the
support team works in collaboration with
all other staff within a mainstream
setting. It is this team mentality that
underpins much of the success of inclusive
education.
6 Schola Nostra Spring 2010
7

Teacher Profile
Jacqueline Grassmayr Head of English
What makes a good teacher? Hard work, patience, dedication, and a gift for
communication must surely be prime contributing factors – but perhaps the most
important requisite of all is passion. A teacher with a genuine passion for teaching
will instil a passion for learning in children – and in so doing will open up exciting
new doors and opportunities for them to excel.
What first inspired you to choose
teaching as a profession?
I have always wanted to teach. From
a young age I sat my dolls around
the dining room table and conducted
lessons. Admittedly, my classroom was
not very interactive but my students
were spellbound. My passion for English
combined with a desire to help others
led me naturally into education.
Which teacher did you find inspirational
at school and why?
My Year 12 English teacher, Miss Naylor,
was my idol. She introduced me to Virginia
Woolf, T S Eliot, John Donne, Sylvia
Plath, Emily Dickinson, Edward Albee
et al. She was sophisticated, intellectual,
well-travelled and very witty. Not only did
I want to be like her; I wanted to be her!
Describe the experience of teaching
your first class.
My first full-time placement was as
an English and History teacher at the
co-educational, multi-cultural Fairvale
High School in the west of Sydney. I
remember walking nervously towards my
first class, juggling my textbooks, teacher’s
diary, class roll, lesson plans, box of chalk
and a duster. For the first half of the lesson
I referred frequently to my detailed, almost
minute-by-minute lesson plan. I was
conscious of the students assessing me and,
in an attempt to appear relaxed, cool and
composed, I casually sat on the edge of a
table. Unfortunately the top wasn’t properly
secured to the base and it flew up into the
air as I clattered onto the floor. It took me
a while to live it down.
What do you believe makes a
good teacher?
A good teacher creates a positive learning
environment in which students feel valued,
comfortable and safe. She knows her
students well and devises strategies that
cater for their different learning styles, their
individual strengths and weaknesses, and
their personal interests. A good teacher
facilitates learning through engaging,
dynamic and varied student-centred
lessons. She sets clear goals and provides
every student with opportunities to reach
these. A good teacher keeps abreast of
pedagogy, is open to change and is an
active and professional member of her
school community. Most of all a good
teacher exudes a passion for her subject
and her work.
What makes a good role model, and who
do you think is a good role model in the
public eye today?
The best role models are the people around
you who display qualities you learn to
emulate. Because they are accessible and
‘real’, rather than media generated images,
they can provide personal advice in a way
that public figures cannot. My role models
are my colleagues from whom I learn
every day.
What do you love about teaching?
I love the buzz of a busy classroom. I love
to see students working collaboratively,
discussing, debating, writing, moving and
discovering their capacity to learn. I love
the Eureka moments when students
suddenly grasp something they’ve found
difficult. And I love working with inspiring
colleagues who continue to make me feel
excited about teaching.
What are the challenges of teaching
today? What’s your advice to new
teachers?
In an increasingly busy work environment,
teachers are responsible for many areas of
a student’s education as well as their usual
load of preparation, marking,
CAreer HigHligHTs
report writing, administration,
co-curricular activities, pastoral care,
professional development, etc. My advice
to new teachers is to be highly organised,
well-prepared and fully involved.
Tell us the success story of one
of your students.
It depends on how you measure success.
I believe raising the self-esteem and
confidence of students is an important
element of teaching. Some of the students
I have taught have developed a belief in
themselves that has led them to careers
in fields they wouldn’t have previously
considered such as Medicine, Law,
Engineering and Business. Some years
ago, a reluctant reader in one of my
classes became a book lover when he was
introduced to texts to which he could
relate. Recently I received a letter from
a young woman I had taught years ago.
She enclosed her poetry which is
beautifully crafted and deeply moving.
Another girl emailed me after many years
to tell me I had been her inspiration
for becoming a teacher; so I guess I did
become Miss Naylor, if only for that one
student! I consider these types of successes
more satisfying than the particular success
of any single student.
1987 Graduated from University of Sydney and Sydney Teachers’ College and began
teaching English and History at Fairvale High School
1992 Appointed Deputy Head of English Department at Bishop Douglass School, London
1998 Owned and operated a tuition centre for English and Mathematics in Sydney
2002 Began teaching at Cranbrook School
2003 Appointed to the committee for the development of Cranbrook’s Teaching
and Learning Framework
2004 Presenter of ‘Managing Extension 2 English’ for English Teachers’ Association
Study Day
2007 Appointed editor of the Cranbrook’s literary journal, Benchmark
2008 Appointed Head of English Department
2008 Appointed member of the Mentor Team
8 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 9

Curating Cranbrook
Cranbrook’s Bi-annual Art Exhibition
sam Heiligers
Curating Cranbrook is the bi-annual art
exhibition where the works of students
from St Mark’s and St Michael’s Preschools,
and Kindergarten to Year 12 are
displayed. This event was in November
last year and the exhibition remained open
from the Wednesday until the Saturday.
The attendance over the four days was
gratifying and I was particularly impressed
by the number of parents and especially
boys who came to the Opening Night.
This was a demonstration of the significant
impact that the visual arts have on so many
students at Cranbrook.
Carter Hall was brimming with a huge
number and range of works. Visual Arts
teachers across the campus presented the
works in thematic sections rather than by
age groups, giving greater purpose and
meaning to the show. The chronological
value that many of us assume about
artmaking was thereby rejected. There was
a portrait and people section, an objects
and still life section as well as one that
focused on the natural environment. It
was a terrific achievement. The Visual Arts
staff are to be congratulated for the way in
which they put together an exhibition that
offered so much variety of media and ideas.
It was a great honour for
us to have Elizabeth Ann
Macgregor, Director of the
Museum of Contemporary
Art, officially open the
exhibition
It was a great honour for us to have
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, Director of the
Museum of Contemporary Art, officially
open the exhibition. It was an even greater
privilege to have her take the time before
the Opening to evaluate all the works and
present three Director’s Awards for work
that stood out to her. Mr Madin also
presented four Headmaster’s Awards, and
Dr Thomas was the judge for the inaugural
Bellevue Landscape Award. The recipients
of awards at this year’s Curating Cranbrook
are listed on the next page.
There was a splendid atmosphere at
the Opening. Food and beverages were
offered, while The Vagabonds played
on the mezzanine level. Elizabeth Ann
Macgregor was impressed by the band and
even asked for their CD. She also hoped
to have them play again at the Museum of
Contemporary Art. If you missed out on
the show this year don’t worry. It will be
back in 2011 with just as much gusto.
AWArD WiNNers
Director’s Awards
Adam Huban My Grandfather’s Journey of Survival
Maxwell Reed 3D Wire and Bead Crab Sculpture
Benji Jacobs Vestiges of Industry
The Martin sharp Artmaking Award
Sam Fishwick Events that Stopped the World
Nick Lonie Adolescent Apolysis
The Bellevue landscape Award
Austin Hupfau
People’s Choice Artwork
Zelimir Harasty We are Five
People’s Choice Film
Jake Brown Our Controlled Delusions
The Bronwyn Oliver Prize for sculpture
Aidan McCluskey Another Futurist Manifesto
Headmaster’s Awards
st Mark’s, st Michael’s and Dickins House
Kindergarten Green is for rainforest, orange
is for desert
Junior school
Nicholas Glass Shades of Rothko
senior school
Marcel Tabuteau Drawings of the Body
10 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 11

Senior School The
Matthew Mills
crowd is silent; a sudden hush fills the room.
Above, the lights dim. Darkness fills the room.
A light from above then turns on. It bathes the
musician beneath it with light. Then the performance
starts, first softly before rising. The music dances
across the room, ebbing and flowing, totally
immersing the audience. It then ends; a rise before
a fall. Silence again as the audience sits, allowing
everything to sink in. Not a moment passes before
applause breaks out farewelling one performance
and greeting another.
Perhaps now you may get a sense of the HSC Music
Showcase. A taste of what was on offer. It was a
veritable selection, from rock to blues, jazz to postmodern.
By the time this review comes out, each
musician will have performed his pieces to the judges.
As was said on the night, if each performer played like
they did at the Showcase, good marks were assured.
It was not about the marks though. You could see it
in the way everyone played. It was music that each of
the Year 12 musicians wanted to play, not music they
had to play. The distinction might be subtle but it
makes all the difference. The instruments may have
produced the sounds, but how the musician played
the song made the music.
What about the highlights? Daniel Ng was one,
playing a combination of blues and rock. First up was
a group piece. It was a rock piece, with a twist of jazz.
The main riff was played by a saxophone and this
gave a different dimension to what was otherwise
a rock piece. A solo piece followed, a quieter, more
thoughtful blues piece. The sum of it was a
performance that was very entertaining, with a
lot of contrast adding colour.
Breaking the boundaries of what most would call
music, Janis Lejins’ composition and video track were
out of the ordinary. Entitled Wind and Waves, it was a
piece that followed the rhythm of waves crashing onto
rocks. It was mesmerising: a dreamlike trip to an
ethereal place. To be honest, I am not sure whether
that was the intention or not, but that is how I felt.
When Sam Mangioni pulled out the ukulele, I did
not know what to expect. Along with Daniel Ng’s
and Tim Brown’s, his piece was stunning. The little
instrument fitted perfectly with the light tones of his
song. It literally bounced around and had a calming,
serene feel to it. Combined with his singing along
with backup from Tim, it was a blast to listen to.
To cap off the evening, we had Charlie Middleton on
guitar, voice and harmonica. Besides the juggling act,
he performed Piano Man. It was an excellent way to
end the night. Extra marks hopefully will be given for
playing two instruments at once, as well as singing.
After such variety throughout the evening, the dulcet
tones rounded everything off well.
So it ends, and another group of musicians cap off
their School music career in spectacular fashion.
12 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 13

Senior School
sOCiAl serViCe 2010
Along with significant records of achievement in
academics, sport and other co-curricular pursuits,
Cranbrook has a proud history of service to the
community. Each year the School is involved in
numerous events and charity programs. These
include the Cole Classic, Just Enough Faith
and Clean Up Australia Day. So well known is
Cranbrook for its commitment to social service
The red shield Appeal
Toby roberts
Never is the boys’ willingness to volunteer
their time more evident than on the
Sunday of the Salvation Army’s Red
Shield Appeal. The Red Shield Appeal is
the major fundraising drive for the Salvos
each year and door knocking makes up
the lion’s share of that appeal. Each year
hundreds of Cranbrook boys give a couple
of hours on the Sunday of the appeal to
14 Schola Nostra
really make a difference. A group of 216
Cranbrook volunteers headed out onto the
streets this year. The national target for
the appeal was $75 million. Although it
may not seem like much, knocking on a
few people’s doors has led to the collection
of tens of thousands of dollars for the
Salvation Army by Cranbrook boys. An
impressive total of $25,550.55 was raised
on the day.
Above: Theo Naoum and Jack McDonogh return
with a healthy collection
that it is often invited to assist at various events
like the City to Surf and the Sydney Running
Festival. In addition to volunteer work throughout
the year the School raises money for various
causes through Plain Clothes Days and barbeques.
Most recently funds have been raised for Prostate
Cancer, Beyond Blue and victims of the Victorian
Bushfires.
Clean Up Australia Day
Mr Paul slavin
100 volunteers, including Mr Vanderfield’s
three hard-working daughters, met down
at the School boat shed one Sunday
for Clean Up Australia Day 2010. This
was a tremendous show of support for
the program, evidence that Cranbrook
students are genuinely concerned about
their environment. A ute full of rubbish
was collected from the harbour foreshore,
Lyne Park, New South Head Road
and everywhere in between. The local
community looked all the better for it
and the wildlife, who calls that area home,
was also grateful.
Top to bottom: Boys helping out at Rose Bay;
Jack Jahn and Aaron Stern
The Cole Classic
Marcel Tabuteau and Matthew Mills
It was early, it was wet, but that did not
stop Cranbrook boys waking up at 5.00am
and going to help out at the Cole Classic.
Some caught the bus there, others were
driven and a few even caught the early
ferry. No matter how they got there or who
they were, all went to Manly enthusiastic
and keen to assist.
The Cole Classic is Australia’s biggest ocean
swim and has been held annually for 20
years, first at Bondi and then at Manly. It ZimsseF street
raises much needed funds for the Australian soccer Tournament
Surf Life Saving Society. This year, a record
7,000 entrants were there to take part in Mr Vanderfield
the 1-kilometre and/or 2-kilometre ocean One Sunday at the end of 2009 live
swims. Cranbrook has a long-standing African music, dancing, African food and
tradition of helping out on the day, and a Street Soccer Tournament provided a
this year was no exception.
wonderful atmosphere at Hordern Oval
at Cranbrook. The support from the
Everyone was given jobs to do. It poured
Cranbrook community and the generosity
with rain in the morning, but nobody
of spirit were fantastic.
really noticed, as everyone was too busy.
Drinks had to be poured and served. In December 2008 a group of nine
Medallions had to be given out and ankle young men from Zimbabwe travelled to
tags, used to monitor a swimmer’s time, Australia to play in a soccer tournament
had to be taken off. Most importantly, called the Homeless World Cup. These
we were there to ensure everything ran men resided in one of the poorest areas of
smoothly and efficiently.
Zimbabwe, a slum called Hatcliffe on the
outskirts of Harare, and all were witness to
Everybody contributed significantly. Even
horrific acts of oppression by the regime.
after all the events were over, boys stayed
After playing in the tournament the
back to help out with the packing up and
players made the drastic
to ensure that nothing was left behind.
and heart-wrenching
decision to seek
asylum in Australia.
They have now
gained permanent
residency and are
trying to build a
life in Melbourne.
Cranbrook Old
Boy, James Maiden (OC
1999), and his family set up the
Zimbabwe Street Soccer Education
Fund (ZimSSEF), a non-profit
charity to support the players from
Zimbabwe, and their families and
community. The fund also helps to
educate children in Harare by paying
school fees.
Cranbrook School supported the
ZimSSEF efforts by hosting the
tournament that Sunday. Teams
from Cranbrook, Scots, Queens
Park and Waverley as well as an Old
Cranbrookians team competed. The
semi-finals were between Cranbrook
1st XI and Zimbabwe, and Old
Cranbrookians and the Teachers
Team. The final was between the
Teachers Team and Zimbabwe. In
an exciting match the Zimbabwean
team proved to be highly skilled and
talented, defeating the staff team.
Top to bottom: Drinks being prepared; Rescuing a
failing finishing chute as the first swimmer arrives;
Will Bailey after his swim with his parents, Simon
and Michelle
left to right: Members of the Zimbabwe team;
Hordern Oval transformed
One evening in Term 3 this year
Cranbrook continued its support of
ZimSSEF and demonstrated the way that
football can change lives. About 60 parents
and students attended the ZimSSEF Film
Night. The Cranbrook Football Club and
the School hosted the evening. ZimSSEF
Committee President, Mrs Amber Maiden,
welcomed the guests.
The audience watched a wonderful
documentary about the journey of the
Zimbabwe Street Soccer Team whose
members now reside in Australia.
The documentary was produced by
James Maiden.
The highlight of the night was a talk by
Team Manager, Towanda, about how his
chance meeting with James changed
the lives of the team members and
their families.
Many in the
audience were
moved by
the stories
Towanda
recounted
of the
difficulties faced
by the members of the
team since being granted
permanent residency.
Towanda is now living in
Brisbane and is already
playing a part of the
local community. He
shares a house with
one of the members
of the Australia’s
Commonwealth
Games Wrestling
Team and often
provides practice for
his flatmate. Not many
Australians can lay
claim to assisting our
Delhi Commonwealth
Games hopefuls.
Spring 2010
15

Senior School
Top to bottom: Jacob Martin, Marcus Lee, Ziad Hindi, Elliott Ng and Benji
Kerslake at the Powerhouse Museum; Benji Kerslake photographing
Ziad Hindi under the direction of the Thinkspace educator; Benji
Kerslake photographing Ziad Hindi against the green screen; Elliott Ng,
Benji Kerslake, Ziad Hindi, Marcus Lee and Jacob Martin posing with the
green screen in preparation for the Sony ‘Vagas’ software
CSIRO Visit
Tom Whitaker
Early in Term 2 some scientists from the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO) visited
Cranbrook. They spent two periods during
the day with the Year 12 Biology students
discussing various topics such as transgenic
species. A transgenic species is one that
contains a new piece of DNA spliced
into a chromosome in each cell. CSIRO
undertakes research into various areas such
as energy, climate and manufacturing, as
well as the area relevant to the students,
transgenic species.
One of the experiments that we were
shown was DNA extraction. By using
equipment such as a magnetic stirrer and
a centrifuge, DNA could be separated
from dried peas. The strands of DNA
16 Schola Nostra
A Visit to the
Powerhouse
Museum
Ziad Hindi and elliott Ng
In June the Year 11 Visual Design class was lucky enough to
visit the Powerhouse Museum for a session in the Thinkspace
Studio. We were also able to spend time viewing the exhibitions
throughout the museum. During the term the class has been
investigating sustainability in design. Our practical task was to
design and make a ‘wastecoat’ using recycled materials. In scenes
reminiscent of Project Runway we designed, sewed and created an
amazing array of waistcoats from a range of sourced second-hand
material.
The Thinkspace Studio has an amazing
green screen for photographing and
transferring just about anything to
computers. We all had individual shots
taken before some group shots. It was
fun being both the photographer and
model. After the photo session we
moved to a computer lab. Using Sony
‘Acid’, we spent 40 minutes creating our
own sound tracks. We then worked on
manipulating our images using Sony
‘Vegas’. By dropping out the green
background we were able to insert
a variety of scenes and landscapes
which were further enhanced by some
amazing effects. We then combined all
elements into one masterpiece. The day was
productive and memorable. Future Visual Design students should
most definitely look forward to this amazing opportunity.
were visible within the plastic test tubes
that each student received at the end of
the demonstration. The scientists use this
process at CSIRO to extract DNA that
can then be used for the production of
transgenic species.
Next, the scientists showed the two classes
how transgenic species can be produced.
They used jellyfish as an example and
explained how the insertion of a gene
from the jellyfish Aequorea Victoria into
the bacteria E Coli will cause the bacteria
to become luminescent. The students
undertook this experiment with the help
of the CSIRO scientists.
During the day, we were taught many
other interesting methods that are used
in the production of transgenic species.
Techniques such as gel electrophoresis
were explained in detail. This day was
very interesting and relevant to the HSC
Biology course, and students learnt a lot.
Top to bottom: Richard Newell and Anthony
Del Vecchio; Marcel Tabuteau and Tom Whitaker
Year 8
Languages
Day
Joe Mclachlan
Year 8 Languages Day was an enjoyable
and memorable experience. There was a
Japanese drumming TaikOz performance,
a Roman weapons presentation, French
quizzes, t-shirt making and much more.
Two of the highlights, for me, were boules
and calligraphy. Boules is a French game
which involves two or more opponents
throwing a heavy ball across any surface
and getting as close as possible to a smaller
wooden ball called the jack. We played
a round robin divided into three groups
and the winning group went on to play
the winning team of the other class. It was
an enjoyable game which can be played
anywhere, anytime.
The second highlight was the Japanese
calligraphy, Shodo. I especially enjoyed this
activity because we were given a variety of
different Japanese characters and animals to
write and draw in special ink. We practised
writing them for some of the activity until
we were ready for our final work.
Languages Day was great fun and I wished
it were longer. I hope the Year 8s next year
find it as much fun as we did.
Above: Lining up for a Japanese lunch
Japanese drumming
Aaron Frumar
The Japanese drumming workshop,
TaikOz, came to Cranbrook to show us
the influence the Japanese had on the
musical world. After the drummers played
for us they introduced themselves. Their
next song involved some volunteers from
the audience. We chanted ‘Washoi’ as
each volunteer had a go at drumming.
For their next piece, one of the performers
played a Japanese flute which looked very
difficult. The last song also involved more
volunteers and this time, luckily, I was
chosen to participate. I had to sit down
and play small Japanese drums. A song
and rhythm was created by one of the
drummers and we played it with the help
of the big drums which kept the rhythm.
Everyone enjoyed it. Then off we went to
the War Memorial Hall for the Roman
weapons display and talk.
Roman weapons display
Battles, chain mail, swords and weaponry
are every boy’s favourites and luckily we
got to touch and feel the instruments
of warfare in the armour presentation.
The presenter was very funny. He told
us interesting stories and gave us a lot of
information. Volunteers were asked to
create battle scenes and wear chain mail.
The presenter told us about different types
of swords and the type of armour the
different ranks of warriors wore. He was
a great story-teller and all boys enjoyed
his presentation.
Recess and lunch
Charlie Henderson
For recess we had a choice of pain au
chocolat or snail, and for lunch we had
some Japanese chicken yakitori and
sausages. Everything was really delicious
and all boys enjoyed their BBQ lunch.
T-shirt painting
Clockwise from left: Max McGrath
and his design; Calligraphy
workshop; Roman weapons display
Joshua Frumar
T-shirt painting was a blast! We were given
a list of expressions in French, Japanese
and Latin to write as slogans and to use
in the design of our t-shirts. We used
our imagination to design our very own
World Cup t-shirts. It was fun. I designed
a t-shirt that said ‘Go the Samurai Blues!’
with a Japanese sword. When I looked
around the room I could see that everyone
was having a great time and were chatting
excitedly about what they had designed.
Pictionary
My group started the day with Mr
Hanson. We were given an object, symbol
or place to act out or draw in Latin or
French within a time limit. The first task
was to act it out within the time limit of
one minute. The next task was to draw it
on the board within a time limit of two
minutes. I remember that my team lost by
sixteen points. We were no match for the
other team! We then played a game on the
SMARTboard with Mr Savic. This game
was challenging but enjoyed by all. Sadly
my team came last with only fifty points.
Spring 2010
17

Senior School
Go Street go!
Mr Anthony slavin
Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,
engines pumping and thumping in time,
the green light flashes, the flags go up.
Churning and burning, they yearn for
the cup.
They deftly manoeuvre and muscle for
rank, fuel burning fast on an empty tank.
Reckless and wild, they pour through
the turns.
Their prowess is potent and secretly stern.
As they speed through the finish, the flags
go down.
The fans get up and they get out of town.
The lyrics from the American rock band
Cake set the scene. Twenty-five eager ‘rev
heads’ from Street House ventured out
to Western Sydney for an action-packed
afternoon of Go-Karting.
18 Schola Nostra
We drove nine horsepower karts, powered
by Honda motor bike engines. The karts
are designed to give you the closest real
racing experience that can be had indoors.
Being able to use the gears to slow down
and accelerate out of the tight corners
made these karts incredibly fun to drive!
We had the whole track to ourselves
which added to the excitement.
After a safety debrief and demonstration
on how to handle the karts, it was time
to put on our helmets and hit the track.
Toby Tang was in the first group and
quickly took control. His infamous fishtailing
out of corners received regular
applause from the gallery. Each group
consisted of five people and we took turns
racing around the track.
Victor Chiu was a man on a mission.
He seemed oblivious to the fact that the
karts had brakes. He was having so much
fun that he also ignored the amber or red
lights displayed on the track and it took
the attendants numerous attempts to stop
Victor when required!
Country boys James Stibbard, Jack Mort,
Tyson Williams and Oliver Hendriks
demonstrated great control. James and
Jack battled closely for the fastest lap
time and James just took the title from
Jack on the day. It was obvious that
Oliver enjoyed the various cornering
opportunities around the track and
he handled his machine well. Another
young and up-and-coming star was Tyson
Williams who was quoted as saying,
‘This has been the best day of my life!’
It was great fun flying down the back
straight and braking heavily into a
chicane. Some boys managed the turn
better than others as it proved difficult not
to spin. The more time the lads spent on
the track, the better their driving became.
The track has an average width of four
metres and has been designed to promote
racing with lots of overtaking. Boys who
worked out the best gearshift location on
the course were the most successful.
As I drove the bus down the M5 back to
School, I sensed this won’t be the last time
Street House ventures out that way.
Top: Jordan Turnbull and James Stibbard powering
out of the first turn
left: Jun Shen enjoying the day
right: Head of House Jack Mort out in front
Boys from Rawson came
together to farewell our friend,
Torsten Kalenda, who was
returning home to Germany.
We celebrated his farewell with
an excursion to the TaikOz
drumming studio in Ultimo.
The lesson on the ancient art
of drumming was run by Ms
Lock’s son Anton who is a
professional Taiko drummer.
The boys sweated profusely for
an hour and a half. The sore
arms and blisters were worth it
for the joy of beating a $75,000
Japanese drum. This was a
once in-a-life-time, culturally
enlightening opportunity and
a fitting farewell for Torsten.
Clockwise from top left: Jeremy
Sin, Patklao Thiwaphan, Adheesh
Ramani, Daniel Zheng and Ziad Hindi
(foreground); Anton Lock; Anton beating
the drum while the group looks on;
Rawson House (Torsten Kalenda centre)
Rawson
bangs the
drums
Terence sin
To: Cranbrook
From: Torsten Kalenda
I am back at my old school in Germany
but hardly a day goes by without
remembering Cranbrook. The time I
had with you was so special because
it was totally different from my life in
Germany. To be honest, I would like to
say that a part of my heart still belongs
to Cranbrook and when I left, I felt like
a real Cranbrookian.
Spring 2010
19

Senior School
Extreme Science
Experience
rupert Coy
Science can take you to all sorts of places:
Antarctica, the Moon and beyond ... for
me it was Melbourne.
Each school group was invited to write
an article about their experience for their
school magazine and submit the article
to the Clunies Ross Foundation to enter
the competition for the best article. I
wrote the Cranbrook article, published in
the Cranbrook Chronicle, and was lucky
enough to win one of the six prizes, a
sponsored trip to Melbourne for the 2010
Extreme Science Experience.
Accidental Death
of an Anarchist
left to right: Faris Hindi, Simon Elder
and Ziad Hindi
louise Arnott
Director
Dario Fo continues to reign as one of
Europe’s most successful yet controversial
dramatists. From his humble beginnings
as the son of a railway worker in Italy,
Dario Fo used his great skills as a
performer of the popular Italian masked
theatre commedia dell’arte to create
hard-hitting political satires. He has been
accused of being a terrorist, a left wing
activist and a fascist. He was considered
20 Schola Nostra
Dr John Nutt, one of the Governors of the
Clunies Ross Foundation and Professor
Hugh Durrant Whyte visited the School
to present the prize and speak at Senior
School Assembly.
Earlier this year I went to Melbourne for
the Technology, Science and Engineering
(ATSE) Clunies Ross Awards Ceremony
and the Extreme Science Experience
(ESE). The Clunies Ross Foundation very
generously flew not only me but also Ms
Khun, Head of Science, and my parents
to attend the ceremony. Ms Khun and I
were invited to participate in the ESE the
next day.
It was a wonderful opportunity to meet
many of Australia’s top scientists who had
applied their discoveries meaningfully
and successfully. A prime example of this
was a CSIRO team which used radio
astronomical methods, initiated by a quest
to find exploding black holes, to develop
Wireless Local Area Networks. Not only
was this an amazing invention, they sold
their company last year for about $600
million! Another fascinating innovation
was made by Tim St Pierre, who used
the magnetic properties of iron to
develop a non-invasive, risk-free and
painless method to test for liver diseases
such as thalassaemia.
such a dangerous extremist at one time
that the United States refused him a visa
during the 1970s and 1980s. It was not
until the American Reportory Theatre
invited him to perform in 1986 that he
was finally granted entry. At the time
of this appearance, he made a point to
thank Ronald Reagan for all the publicity
that had been generated by keeping him
out of the country!
It comes as no surprise that Fo wrote and
performed his plays as a voice for the
working class of Italy. In Accidental Death
of an Anarchist we witness a glorious
battle with officialdom that reveals his
The night also featured a magnificent
organ recital played on the largest organ
in the Southern Hemisphere by virtuoso
and former Chief Scientist of Australia,
Professor Robin Batterham. As President
of the Australian Academy of Technology,
Science and Engineering, he also gave an
inspiring speech about the value of science
beyond academia.
The next day all six winners (some were
individuals, some were teams) gave brief
presentations and answered the questions
of almost four hundred school students.
Guest speaker Alan Trounson made an
informative presentation on controversial
in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
In the third session, the students were
split up into groups for workshops: I was
involved in High Speed and Secure, run
by the CSIRO team. It was terrific to be
involved in some of the practical aspects
of science.
ATSE is an independent, non-government
organisation dedicated to the promotion
in Australia of scientific and engineering
knowledge to practical purposes. The ATSE
Clunies Ross Foundation aims to recognise
excellence in bringing technology to the
marketplace and encouraging students
towards careers in science and engineering.
adept political insight. The play is based
on events involving the real incident of
a student activist, Giuseppe Pinelli, who
died after plunging to his death from the
fourth floor window of a Milan police
station in 1969. Fo’s response to reallife
events surrounding the ‘accidental’
death of the ‘suspect’ terrorist was to
immediately write and stage this
stinging farce.
Almost 40 years later the problems
highlighted in the play are still so
desperately familiar today. Little did I
know when embarking on rehearsals the
concerns of the play would be making
our own front page headlines. Continual
enquiry into police corruption in three
states of our own country as well as
sordid details of misuse of political
power in our own politicians remind us
that Fo’s war against capitalism and for
democracy is still not over. However, Fo
encourages us to take the law into our
own hands with a broad smile and a
wonderful sense of humour. Accidental
Death of an Anarchist is one of Fo’s
greatest pieces of work and I thank the
talented and hard working cast for the
commitment, energy and comedy that
they have brought to the project and the
rehearsal room.
Site Specific
Art Day
Mr Michael Parker
Head of Senior School
Site Specific Art Day, the only day in the year when an Art
student is allowed to do almost what he wants to the Cranbrook
environment. The degree of liberty given to the Year 11 Art
students can lead to interesting results. This year, it has led to some
artworks that inspire, some that make you laugh and some that
just leave you nodding your head in agreement.
A day like this gives the boys a chance to show their hard work
and demonstrate their talents to the larger School community.
The first piece to catch my eye, as I am sure caught the eye of
many others, was the large gaping hole that was in front of Mr
Bower’s office. While it was not really a hole and was just drawn
with chalk, what it represented was far more important. According
to Lachlan Brown who drew it, the ‘chasm’ represents the ‘feelings
and emotions you feel when you have to go see Mr Bower, as it
normally is about being in trouble.’ The best part? When looked
at from the right angle, marked by an x, the drawing looked
3D. Impressive!
Joey Hunter’s audio art is a high-tech piece that satirises the
supposed typical speech of teachers. Set up as cardboard cut-outs
of human shapes stuck on the windows of the Felton room, the
centrepiece for the artwork was a row of headphones hanging
outside. Comical phrases included, my personal favourite, ‘This
cheese is delectable.’ The artwork would bring you in, but the
humour was what made you stay.
Top (l to r): Joey Hunter’s cardboard cut-outs; Mr Landers interacting
with Joey’s audio visual artwork; Zen Taureka’s Home Sweet Home; Daniel
Moran’s Arnold Schwarzenegger; Elliott Ng’s views of the city; Tycho
Hugh’s paper cranes; Daniel Scott’s hands out of the ground
Below: Jye Emdur’s Plastic Society
Hanging along the trees of Teach Street were large paper cranes,
rows of them all in different colours. By Tycho Hugh, the cranes
are there to represent the different intelligent behaviours that are
so keenly taught to students at Cranbrook. Intelligent behaviour
is represented by the stages of making a paper crane, representing
a student learning them. The colours too had significance. Each
colour represented an individual behaviour, allowing viewers to
pick and guess which behaviour was represented by which crane.
While not as flashy, and I use that word as mildly as possible, it
hinted at deeper thought, causing you to stop and think for a
minute to grasp the concept.
Thought is not often seen in modern day pop art. So it was great
seeing this in this exhibition. Inspired by similar events across
the world, Faris Hindi’s site specific artwork went beyond just
site specific. It applied to the whole School! The piece went like
this. At a certain time during the day, Faris started playing music,
as soon as the music stopped everyone had to stop what they
were doing and freeze. The final result was a spectacular contrast
between frozen bodies and animated backgrounds. Given that not
everyone was aware of what was going on, the expression on many
people’s faces summed it up.
Other honourable mentions include Daniel Moran’s Arnold
Schwarzenegger cutout, allowing everyone in the gym to pretend
to be the ‘Governator’ himself. Another included Daniel Scott’s
hands out of the ground by the War Memorial Hall, citing the
struggle of war veterans today as inspiration.
Spring 2010
21

Senior School
CAS Cross Country
Championships
James King
Top: James King and Tom
Whitaker at the start of the
Open event
Middle (l to r): Mark
Kriedemann, Nathan
Derriman and James King;
James King
Bottom (l to r): Joss
Deane, Harry Anderson
and Tom Hilburn; Alex
Capeli; Mitchell Scott,
Harry Anderson and
Christopher Byrnes
Opposite page from top:
CAS Champions James
King, Nathan Derriman,
Mark Kriedemann and
Matthew Whitaker; Edward
Pearce, Alex Capeli and
Liam Apter
Cranbrook is the CAS Champion for
the second year running – a fantastic
result for the team.
In the final race of the 2010 Cross Country season, the
Cranbrook team converged in force on the Macquarie Hospital
grounds eager to defend our title as CAS Champions from 2009.
Every CAS school was present with the best cross country runners
competing to take out the respective age championships. The
terrain was mainly thick grass complimented by an agonising
200m incline which proved to be the breaking point for some
athletes on the day.
The carnival kick-started with the U/14 CAS Championship
event which consisted of two laps of the 1.6km course. Kurt
Fryer led the Cranbrook charge early on with a great start against
strong Knox and Trinity competition. In a brilliant second lap,
Kurt gained massive metres on the leader and surged home for
a podium finish of 3rd place. Peter Harris excelled on the day,
running one of his best performances of the season to finish in
16th place. Closely behind Peter was Kim Gallagher who also
ran a superb race to place 21st . The true courage of the junior
team was exemplified by the spirit of Hamish McGregor who
competed regardless of his illness. Hamish is a promising
middle distance runner and earned a hard-fought 27th place.
The Cranbrook U/14 team finished with a very respectable 4th place in CAS.
The 16s CAS Championship consisted of a 3 lap/5.4km run
through the softening mud patches of the Macquarie course.
After a blistering start from Liam Apter and Alex Capeli, the lead
from a Knox competitor began to grow with every metre. Harry
Anderson and Chris Byrnes worked together well to establish
contact with a trail pack of runners. Midway
through the second lap, disaster struck for
Alex Capeli who was sitting prime in the
leading pack. He fainted, which cost him
many metres from the group of runners
he was with. Liam Apter, showing true
Cranbrook spirit, helped him up and
encouraged Alex to continue running,
also losing vital seconds. Liam then
took the reins of the 16s team and
ran a sensational 3rd place. Alex ran
the most determined kilometre
of his life to gain hundreds of
metres on the leading group of
competitors. Capeli finished in
an admirable 4th place after much
excitement. From then on it was a
numbers game with the results from
Harry Anderson and Chris Byrnes
vital to keep the Cranbrook cause
alive. The first two across the line
were Knox boys. However, their
third runner was trailing the chase
pack behind both Chris and Harry.
In the end Cranbrook secured gold
in the 16s CAS Championship
event with Harry in 9th place and
Chris finishing in 10th . Nick Pether
finished his season off with 16th place
despite being sick on the day. Nick
has proved to be one of the most
consistent runners of the season
with great results over the winter
competition. Edward Pearce finished his cross country season
with a determined sprint to finish 18 th . Mitchell Scott completed
three laps of the course with great intent placing 23 rd .
The Opens Championship Event is the title race for CAS, with
the winning team deemed CAS Cross Country Champions. Our
plan of attack was with the promotion of Nathan Derriman,
Mark Kriedemann and James King from the 16s team, backed
by the force of both Matthew and Thomas Whitaker. 7.2km
was the decided distance for the Championship which consisted
of a painful four laps of the course. After an intense team talk,
Cranbrook was set to defend our 2009 title as Cross Country
Champions. In a steady start, the first lap was led by a Barker
and St Aloysius’ competitor. The gruelling hill overwhelmed the
pace of the two leading runners and soon it was in Cranbrook’s
favour with Nathan, Mark and James sitting in the top three
positions. The Cranbrook trifecta stretched their lead to hundreds
of metres on the trailing Opens runners. Both Nathan and Mark
were eyeing out gold while James followed suit. In a brilliant
final surge, Nathan won the Opens event, Mark finished with
silver and James placed 3 rd . The top three runners in the CAS
Opens event were all in Year 10 and all from Cranbrook – a truly
amazing feat. Matthew Whitaker completed Cranbrook’s top four
place getters in an outstanding result
of 10 th place. Thomas Whitaker
ran a highly commendable 13 th
position with a season’s best
performance. Thomas Hilburn
ran a fantastic season finisher
with 21 st place. Joss Deane
enjoyed his debut cross
country season with
fantastic performances
across the season;
Joss finished in 23 rd
place after pacing
well throughout a
group of runners.
The enthusiastic
Michael Russell
completed the
7.2km event with ease,
running well following an
encounter with a muddy ditch
in the warm up and placing 24 th .
Liam Egan’s fitness ensured he had
a great race finishing in 26 th place.
William Gosse always runs strongly and
completed the course in 30 th place.
22 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 23

Senior School
24 Schola Nostra
House Swimming
Carnival
It was a beautiful day for the House Swimming Carnival
this year and the boys swam in multiple races to gain
points for their Houses. However, it was Hone House
that won the day.
A top result for
Cranbrook and
a battle royal for
the places
elliot scali
Captain of Sailing
In the final chapter of a dream
run for Cranbrook sailors in
2010, everyone stood up to the
pressure of the third, and final round
of the Tri-series Regatta but
with a surprise twist to the results.
The race conditions replicated those of the previous week, with
a light start building into a decent sea breeze. With the point
score tight for the first three places, anything could happen.
Furthermore, there was the added pressure for six skippers in
that the previous Saturday’s three races would also determine
the winner of the inaugural Waitsman-Banks Challenge, a new
internal competition fought out between skippers from Hone
and Wakehurst Houses.
At the start of the first race nerves were clearly affecting all
competitors: they were so keen to jump the start line, that a
general recall was sounded. The second start was more successful
and Ash Rooklyn and Peter Richardson led around the top mark.
However, using excellent boat handling skills, Nick Howe and Joe
Garcia managed to slowly but surely gain on and pass the leader
to take out 1st place, followed closely by Felix Grech and Andrew
Dixon who managed to pip Ash and Peter right on the line.
The second race proved to be more successful for Ash and Peter,
who used intelligent tactics to lead from start to finish. Nick
Howe and Joe Garcia finished in second place, and this put them
into a two-point overall lead with one race remaining. If Ash and
Peter were to snatch the individual 2010 Tri-series title they would
have to beat Nick and Joe by several places in the final race. Felix
and Andrew had slipped out of contention after being forced over
the start line and had to restart – they never really recovered and
finished 6th .
Sure enough the final race was a fitting finale to an impressive
series. After being over the line at the start Ash and Peter fought
back and by leg 4 were in the lead, two places ahead of Nick
and Joe. However, favouring the longer course, Nick came from
behind to round the last mark in first place and set up a true
battle to the finish. With only one second in it, Nick Howe
and Joe Garcia capped the regatta off with a win.
The overall point score was as follows: Nick Howe and Joe Garcia
1st , Ash Rooklyn and Peter Richardson 2nd , Felix Grech and
Andrew Dixon 3rd followed by a tie between Roy Harrison and
Luca Moretti, and Elliot Scali and Steven Christodoulou.
The winner of the 2010 Waitsman-Banks Sailing Challenge
was Hone House.
Spring 2010
25

Junior School
Music –
growing
admirable
hearts
Jane Holmes à Court
We teach music to children because it is good and
because of its immeasurable capacity and potency to
act on the heart, mind, spirit and soul of humanity.
We teach music to children because in so doing we
acknowledge that there is almost no civilisation on
earth without music somewhere at the heart of its
existence. We teach music because through it we can
learn many skills associated with social inclusion
and social interaction. We teach music because it
is unique and has its own integrity as a subject or
discipline.
Richard Gill SMH 2 September 2009
Singing is the basis of a serious music education. At
Cranbrook it begins in pre-school and should continue
in some form or another until Year 12. Through singing
a variety of songs and listening to a large range of music,
students learn to understand the importance of music in
their lives. Instrumental learning is consequently made
easier as students already have a sound vocal background
and know how to read and write music.
Creative skills are then further developed in the student
through his own composition; music interpretation and
original composition are creativity at its highest form. In the
21 st century we often forget that boys are highly creative.
Teamwork, social skills and sharing of creative ideas logically
flow and make for a better student and powerfully impact
the boy’s life. Most importantly, boys gain a considerable
academic and social advantage by singing or playing an
instrument to a high performance level.
It was Shinichi Suzuki the founder of the renowned Suzuki
School of Violin who reflected that, ‘Music exists for the
purpose of growing an admirable heart’ and so in the
Junior School we are working on growing admirable hearts,
hearts of boys that will make a difference, as we explore the
wonders of music!
Each boy sings, plays instruments, moves and dances; he
listens, reflects and, most importantly, creates and composes
his own music. Junior School students have sung in
classical eisteddfods, in a massed choir at Angel Place, in
the beautiful All Saints’ Church in Woollahra, at Goodwin
Retirement Village, at a corporate function and a wedding.
We have joined with five hundred thousand other students
around Australia to sing Music is Everything for Music
Count Us In … and we counted for more than the sum
of our parts.
We have played marimbas, eco cellos, wacky percussion,
recorders, pianos, claves, boomwackers, maracas, bubble
wrap and cardboard boxes. We have played in violin,
woodwind and guitar groups, bands and orchestras. We
have made up our own groups and bands and performed
for money, for charity and for fun.
We have hip hopped, square danced, tapped, jumped sticks,
jiggled and wriggled, worked in groups and the shy set has
been free to be brave and perform on their own. We have
watched, studied and sung opera when ‘Cinderella’ came
to Cranbrook, and reflected on the performance.
We have composed raps, soundscapes, lyrics and nonsense
and performed with enthusiasm and gusto.
We have expressed our joy, frustration, pride and hope as
we have performed. We have had the best time.
26 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 27

Junior School
School in a Park
Mr Michael Dunn
Head of Junior School
Our School in a Park is certainly
developing at pace and the shape
and nature of the new buildings are
becoming increasingly evident.
It is most exciting to see our dreams becoming reality.
The new K–Year 2 Dickins House building is well underway.
Walking through the new classrooms and adjoining indoor piazzas
one gets a real sense of how learning will take place there. The
emerging gymnasium and K – Year 6 library are not far away.
Dickins House boys will start there at the beginning of Term 1,
2011. The nine new classrooms will make it possible for us to have
three classes of 20 per year group rather than continue with the
current arrangement of two classes of 25 boys.
Boys in Years 3 to 6 are looking forward to relocating to Dangar
later in 2011.
28 Schola Nostra
Justice
Conference
Alex gall and Harley Koltai
Twelve Year 6 Cranbrook boys were eager to get on the road for an exciting day
at the NSW Parliament House. This was a workshop for eleven schools.
In May, a Justice Conference was conducted by the Harbourside
Gifted and Talented Network which exists to help provide
appropriately challenging learning experiences for gifted and
talented children in the member schools and of which
Cranbrook Junior School is part.
The day began with an opening address by Her Excellency
Professor Marie Bashir, Governor of NSW. She graciously took
time off her schedule to come and talk to us about how fortunate
we are to be living the lives we’re living now. There are children
all over the world suffering from poverty and hunger.
She stated that she was only a child,
but she knew the issues and knew
that we had to act fast. This really
inspired us.
The opening activity in the beautiful Jubilee Room, surrounded
by leather bound Hansard books with a large leadlight ceiling
above, was a role-play about majority and minority countries.
Minority countries are the very fortunate countries also known as
‘developed countries’. Majority countries are the less fortunate or
‘developing’ countries that cover the majority of the world. Every
student was handed either an orange or a green piece of paper.
The people with green paper represented the majority counties
and the people with the orange were the minority countries.
All the people with green paper were forced to share a small
confined box and all the people with orange were spread around
the room. The people with green paper received very limited
supplies while all the people with orange paper had everything
they needed. This shows how we all use more supplies than we
need and how lucky we are.
Some of us then attended a session given by young lawyer, Claire
Hammerton, who explained a lot about human and children’s
rights. Claire had spent time volunteering in an Indian village and
she told us a very sad story about an Indian boy who had many
disadvantages as a result of the caste system. He was treated worse
than the animals and there was no way he could get out of
this poverty.
Sue McKinnon, who was part of the Transformation,
Empowerment, Advocacy and Relief (TEAR) Company, led a
workshop which was an informative game that gave us an ID card
about an African Child. Everybody’s card either had full schooling,
one year of schooling or none. We really learned the importance
of education.
There were workshops on animal rights and the distribution
of wealth. It was a wonderful experience and we were able to bring
some ideas on how we can make a difference to our own unit
of inquiry.
At the end of the conference, we watched a video called The Girl
Who Silenced the World for Five Minutes. A twelve-year-old girl
stood in front of the United Nations and made a speech about
what was going on on our earth. She stated that she was only a
child, but she knew the issues and knew that we had to act fast.
This really inspired us. We are planning on making our own
speech to the School Council or the Senior Assembly to ensure
that they are as informed as we are about these issues.
Spring 2010
29

Junior School
Robocup
Junior State Finals
gail laird
Robotics Coordinator
Robocup NSW Open
On 26 and 27 August we took 20 teams from both the Junior School and Senior
School to the NSW Robocup competition. The wining teams in NSW Rescue were
Cranbrook, Cranbrook and Cranbrook! In fact it was all Cranbrook in the top six
places. 1st were Red Devils: Logan Philip, Casper Joseph Lewis and Gabriel Mills
Connolly, 2nd were Robot Maniacs: Jack Smith, Andrew Malpass, Tom Gibbs and
3rd were Mad Dogs: Alexander Cunio and James Parker.
We had one Junior dance team and two Senior teams. We came 1 st in the Senior
Dance Theatre section, with an hilarious rendition of Beyonce’s Single Ladies. The
team members were: James Hull, Jacob Davis, Nicholas Glass and Oliver Hendriks.
Our other dance team came 3 rd in this section. The boys in this team were Marlon
Schroeder, Kishain Pather and Robbie Berzins.
Australian Open
Cranbrook fielded the competition’s largest team, 20 students, at this year’s
Australian Open event held in Canberra. Day 1 saw the Rescue teams compete over
five rounds. The top eight teams go through to the finals and our top teams placed
9th and 10th . It was bad luck, but the boys were fantastic representatives of the
School and competed in a most impressive manner.
Our Year 7 Dance Teams competed in the Senior section and were very competitive.
Our team of Single Ladies were even more hilarious and entertaining. They won 2nd place. Remember this is an Open competition and all the best students in Years 7
to 12 from around the country competed. Our boys were beaten by Year 11
students from Queensland. However, they did qualify to go to Turkey in 2011 for
the World Cup.
World Cup 2010 Singapore
This competition was held in June 2010 and our team of Ben McGrath and Ben
Grossberg, having won the National title for the past 2 years, represented Australia
in the Rescue section. 65 countries competed. Singapore was very welcoming
and the experience was wonderful. The Cranbrook team was very proud of their
achievement to date but found the different rescue field and the level of the other
countries’ representatives a huge step up. Although the boys competed very well
we did not place.
Above: Marlon Moseley, Kishain Pather and
Robbie Berzins watch with concentration as
their robots perform
left: Red Devils: Gabriel Mills-Connolly,
Casper Joseph-Lewis, Logan Philip
right: James Hull, Oliver Hendriks and Jacob
Davis wait to perform in Single Ladies
Year 4
students
designed and
built their
own town
Marcus Trgo and Tommy Mansour
As part of our PYP unit of inquiry,
Sharing the Planet, we Year 4 students
designed and built our own town.
Our town was called Vibrookville.
We had to research all of the services
and facilities that a community needs
to be successful. We consulted some
experts and found out about what they
did in their jobs as architects, town
planners and Council workers. We put
in planning proposals and when they
were approved we built our town out of
Lego. We had a grand opening of the
town; it was very official and heaps of
fun. We shared our learning with our
parents afterwards.
Above: Christopher Dandalo
right: George Head shares his knowledge with his mother
Above: Mr Dunn, Mr and Mrs Franks and the winner, Oskar Poole
Ben Franks Biathlon
The annual Ben Franks Memorial Biathlon was held in
perfect conditions and many parents and friends who joined
us, contributed to the carnival atmosphere.
As always, the event was a thrilling one. A 300-metre swim
followed by a 1.7 kilometre run make for a gruelling contest
and that is exactly what the many spectators saw. Seventeen
boys participated in, and completed, the event which was
won by Oskar Poole by a clear margin. In 2nd place was
George Gibson and Charles Gill was placed 3rd . Mr and
Mrs Franks, parents of the late Ben Franks, were on hand
to make the presentations.
Student-led
Conferences
Student-led conferences are an integral part of the
International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme.
These conferences are strictly between the boys and their
parents, and provide a most effective way for the boys to
communicate their learning and goals to their parents,
and a wonderful way for parents to look into their sons’
working life at School.
River of Coins
Tom lamens 5H
In Year 5 our Unit of Inquiry has
been Sharing the Planet.
Our central idea is: our planet has limited fresh water
resources that are unevenly distributed. We decided to raise
money for our sponsored child, James, because he lives in a
community in Tanzania with limited access to clean water.
We asked all of the boys in the Junior School to bring a
donation so that we could make a river of coins. We raised
almost $700.
30 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 31

Junior School
32 Schola Nostra
It is my firm
belief that boys
are unteachable
unless they run like
mad, before school,
at recess and at
lunchtime.
Headmaster,
Mr Jeremy Madin
Spring 2010
33

Dickins House
Top: Justice Ken Handley, assisted by Brighton Grace (2F),
turning the first sod
Above: Special guests at the official ceremony
This is a world class project,
the completion of which will
help position Cranbrook as
school of choice for boys for
years to come.
34 Schola Nostra
Turning of
the Sod
Cranbrook School Council announced its
decision to proceed with the construction
of its new Junior School in July 2009.
The project includes a new Early Learning Centre (K–Year 2),
Junior School (Years 3–6), library, art and music centres,
gymnasium for Junior and Senior School use, tennis courts
and provision for on-site traffic and parking.
The first sod was turned by Justice Ken Handley, President
of Council, in December 2009 and construction began when
School broke up in December 2009. The Early Learning Centre,
gymnasium and tennis courts should be ready for occupation
by the beginning of 2011. The Junior School and the rest of the
project should be completed by the end of 2011.
Completion of the project will have an immediate and positive
impact on Cranbrook’s Senior School. Access to sporting facilities
will be enhanced and the relocation of Years 3–6 to Dangar will
provide much needed flexibility in the delivery of Senior School
curricular and co-curricular programs.
The Headmaster Mr Jeremy Madin, said, ‘This is a world class
project, the completion of which will help position Cranbrook
as school of choice for boys for years to come.’
right: Dickins House boys
assisting to turn the sod to
commence the building project
Vegetable Garden
One of the most exciting and beneficial
adventures for our boys has been working
in the vegetable garden.
In 2009, Rekha Arnott (Raj) and Annabel Murray (Alexander)
came to see to Mrs Marquet about the possibility of starting a
vegetable garden on the bowling green site. Green Options built us
four fabulous raised beds and Mr Fay’s wooden frames added two
extra beds.
Working in the garden fitted beautifully into Year 1’s final Unit of
Inquiry in Term 4 last year, which was all about plants. The Year 1
boys had the most wonderful opportunity to work with Brendan,
our Green Options horticulturist, each Friday. They dug, weeded,
planted, mulched, composted, harvested, watched, measured,
discussed and got their hands very dirty! Their involvement in the
garden has led to amazing conversations both at School and home,
a real interest in herbs and food, and a genuine understanding
about what plants need in order to survive. Many have discovered
the joy of growing things. The boys endured the disappointment of
someone one weekend picking the largest sunflower and the joy of
taking home all manner of fresh veggies and herbs. It was a sight to
behold when the parents also came to have a dig!
The Year 1 teachers and all the parents joined in the adventure
with gusto! The whole experience has been expertly chronicled by
Annabel Murray and so inspired are we all, that we are keeping a
temporary vegetable garden on Dangar until we move into our new
buildings, which naturally have vegetable garden beds included!
Spring 2010
35

Dickins House
What do you
want to be when
you grow up?
We often ask our children about
what they might do when they grow
up. Their answers frequently fill us
with laughter, surprise, tenderness
and sometimes fear!
As the boys and staff at Dickins House prepare for our
immediate future in beautiful new buildings in 2011 and
as we watch its growth before our very eyes each day, we
explored with the boys their own future plans and what
they thought the world might be like when they grow
up. The boys shared their ideas and painted images of
themselves in their adult work life. We would like to
share some from each class! Sometimes their responses
show perception beyond their years.
In our future, there will be no
paper and I will start work as
a scientist.
Dillion Bouchier 1K
36 Schola Nostra
When I grow up, I will be tall
and have a big brain. I might
be a vet.
David Harris KB
David Harris KB: When I grow up, I will be tall and
have a big brain. I might be a vet.
Dominic Buckley KB: When I grow up, I will be a
fireman or a school principal.
Jack Dawson KS: When I grow up, I will be a
policeman and the world will be safe.
Caleb Kim KS: When I grow up, I will be an artist
and the world will be cool.
Dillion Bouchier 1K: In our future, there will be no
paper and I will start work as a scientist.
Christopher Dandolo 1K: In our future, cars will fly
and there will be amazing technology.
Jack Jackson 1F: When I grow up, I will be an
adventurer and mine gold.
Robert Saidor 1F: When I grow up, I want to have a
library.
William Serafim 2J: In our future, there will be more
artists and more inventions.
Ned Swaney 2J: In our future, there will be more trees,
so more oxygen; less cities, so we can see the stars!
Paul Busch 2C: When I grow up, oceans will be cleaner
because we will be better at controlling pollution.
Oscar Guth 2C: When I grow up, the things I like will
change. I will feel older but stronger.
Spring 2010
37

Dickins House
Above: Daniel Groves, Patrick Blampied, Frederick Walton, Lachlan
McGregor, Harry Vasudeva and Jethro Chan with some of the items
collected and made
Toys for Shara
Dickins House students spent some time
organising educational materials
to send to Shara Pre-school.
This is the school Cranbrook raised funds to build through
CETOP (Cranbrook Explorers and Travellers Overseas
Partnership) in Ladakh, in remote Northern India.
The Dickins House project, called Kids in Action, is part of
the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme
which aims to develop caring, internationally-minded citizens
who will create ways to support children who may not have the
same opportunities as themselves. Through these experiences,
the boys develop a genuine understanding and appreciation
of other cultures and their richness.
The emphasis was on the boys
making or creating things
themselves rather than just
buying items.
After a visit from St Michael’s Pre-school teacher, Ms Jane
Kearins, and seeing a DVD of the most recent visit to the Shara
Pre-school, the students chose to make books and games, and
to collect Lego and Duplo to help with the children’s fine-motor
skill development. The emphasis was on the boys making or
creating things themselves rather than just buying items. The
boys who donated Lego, made models and photographed them
to inspire the children in India to create their own.
The items were transported to the Shara Pre-school in Ladakh
by Jane who travelled with the CETOP group in the July
school holidays.
Art Lessons
38 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 39

St Michael’s Pre-school
Curating
Cranbrook
40 Schola Nostra
Dots
The children read the book The Dot by
Peter Reynolds. The story focuses on a
child who felt he could not draw. The
text is a wonderful introduction into the
way one does not need to be good at
drawing to make beautiful art.
Under the guidance of our Atelierista,
Jacqui, the children used their ‘languages’
(see poem by Loris Malaguzzi) as a
meaningful language of expression and
of communication.
Through drawing and painting using authentic art
materials, modelling with clay, continuing investigations of dots, circles, ring,
loop, round sphere and ball the children explored this interest.
They worked on a large scale project with a collaborative canvas work. They
each interpreted their meaning of ‘the dot’ with this work. The highlight was
seeing it exhibited at Curating Cranbrook.
The children continue to view images in their world and reflect on the shape
they see.
left to right: Lincoln Rogers, Massimo Stillone and Jessica Gross
Above: Paris Ow-Yang
A highlight of the year was seeing
the children’s work exhibited at the
Curating Cranbrook Exhibition at
the end of last year. The childrens’
work revolved around their interests
of dots, spiders, super heros, turtles,
cars, birds and flowers over a period
of time and were exhibited with
other students’ work from all sections
of the School. The exhibition opened
with the sound of bells rung by Tom
from St Michael’s and Zara from St
Mark’s, and the children were greeted
with a visual delight in the Carter
Hall. Our children were excited
to find their pieces of work which
were professionally displayed in a
gallery environment. The exhibition
allowed us to immerse ourselves
in the children’s explorations
and understandings, reflections
and expressions. It honoured the
children’s work.
Il bambino The child
E fatto di cento. Is made of one
hundred.
Il bambino ha. The child has
Cento lingue a hundred languages
Cento mani a hundred hands
Cento pensieri a hundred thoughts
Cento mondi a hundred words
Da scoprire to discover
Cento mondi a hundred words
Da inventare to invent
Cento mondi a hundred words
Da sognare to dream.
Loris Malaguzzi translated
by Lella Gandini
Children’s
Interests
Art and craft are an integral
part of our children’s daily
activities. We will follow
their many interests and
integrate it into an activity
involving craft materials.
Lulu loves her garden and the flowers
that grow in it. So she decided to paint a
picture of her Mummy with the flowers.
Liam enjoys building and putting things
together. He was totally engaged in
hammering objects onto wood.
Lulu and Eva moulded animals from clay,
string and paddle pop sticks.
Jack spent all morning cutting, pasting and
folding to create a ship. He did some very
tricky problem solving to bend and attach
a sail to his structure.
Volcanoes
The children have
been hearing and
seeing quite a lot
about Iceland’s
Eyjafjallajoekull. There
was fascination with what
causes an eruption, the larva and
the aftermath. Over a few weeks, the
children looked closely at the images of
Eyjafjallajoekul, the lightning strikes, the
colour of the clouds and how it impacted
on their and our daily lives. The children
drew crayon images and made clay
sculptures to recreate a volcanic eruption
in our sand pit. In this way the children
Clockwise from top left: Zoe Moore and Sofia Calligeros building their
macaroon tower; Sienna Taylor in her dinosaur world; Clementine Macgregor
in her dinosaur costume; Harley Sergis placing his macaroons
gained a greater understanding of this
work of nature.
Master Chef
Who could have guessed the impact one
television show would have? Each day
the children would talk about the events
on the previous night’s show, from the
contestant chefs and what they cooked, to
the judges and their trade comments and
the race against the clock to complete the
task. The children replicated one of the
competition tasks by making a macaroon
tower using play dough. Who knows what
will be next, the V8 cake? It is wonderful
to see the children continue to love
cooking, explore foods and set their
own challenges.
Dinosaur Dig
Each year, even with a new group, the
children are naturally interested in
dinosaurs and the prehistoric era. We
had a dinosaur dig one day whereby the
children were scientists digging for bones.
The scientists had to identify the bone –
‘it looks like a leg bone because it is long
and big’ – and put the pieces together
like puzzles. This interest was extended to
the visual arts when the children made a
diorama using their clay sculptures. The
children would use torches to peer into
their diorama and discover the dinosaurs,
and imagined what it would be like to live
during that pre-historic era.
Ear Doctor
Today we welcomed Nicholas’ father, Phil,
to talk to us about his profession as an Ear
Doctor. He showed us many interesting
things which got our attention including
a giant replica of an ear, inside and out.
We also looked at some tiny, tiny bones
which are on the inside of our ears and
help us hear. He showed us some noise
makers, one of which was a tuning fork,
and told us that he uses these to see if
children have good hearing. He told us
that not only are our ears important for
hearing but also for balance. Sometimes
when our ears get sick we can take special
medicine, followed by a jelly bean if we’re
lucky, to make them better. Sometimes
children have ears that are so sick we can’t
make them better with medicine. These
children have a little operation and receive
an implant called a Cochlear implant.
We got to have a look and hold of one of
these and Phil showed us how children
wear it. We learned that these work using
magnetic force.
Spring 2010
41

St Michael’s Pre-school
Kids’ Disco
Finally after much talk among the children, the day arrived for
our Kids’ Disco with a Halloween theme. The children and
their families arrived at the War Memorial Hall at Cranbrook
School for their disco and were greeted with decorations,
lighting and a DJ who played classic hits to get the children
up dancing. The hall created the right setting for the dance.
The children got into spirit of the dance by dressing up in
unique costumes.
At one stage, the parents got
up and showed the children
their dance moves as they
danced to YMCA, some Abba
hits and other favourites. Now
we know where the children get
their dance steps from!
Will, a former student, now a
six-year-old, said, ‘This is the
best disco I have ever been to.’
Clockwise from top left:
Annabel Cox and Annabel
Peak; Tyler and River
Greevey; Dancing to
YMCA; Paris Ow-Yang;
Lucinda Fletcher; Xanthe
Carolan; The disco in full
swing; Brooklyn Teixeira.
Spiders
At St Michael’s Pre-school there are
lots of spiders that spin beautiful webs
in February. The children really like
looking at these webs and seeing all
the bugs that get caught. We actually
saw a Christmas Beetle fly into a web
and watched the three spiders try and
wrap him up. We were all amazed and
this sparked a great interest in spiders.
The children drew many webs, made
wire spiders, painted lots of spiders and
webs, and made spiders at the craft
table. We sang songs and read stories
about spiders and learnt which spiders
spin webs and which ones don’t.
The children decided that they would
make a large papier maché spider with
the Atelierista’s help. A lot of paper was
torn up and pasted on, legs were added
using sticks from a tree and then all
was painted in black. After discussion
with the children, red eyes were added
and we now had a very large spider
sculpture.
Laidley’s dad, Hugh, offered to make
a spider cage for the spider. He arrived
with large pieces wood and all the
children helped him saw, measure and
drill holes in the wood before using the
tools again to connect all the pieces.
The silver spray on the wood made it
all look very professional. Cameron
suggested that we put all the wire
spiders we had made under the large
spider in the cage.
Top: Laidley
Dowling painting
the spider black
right: Max
Gardener and Polly
Kirton helping to
make a big papier
maché spider
Above: Edward Lewin with his mask
Below (l to r): Enjoying a performance; Adam
Leach putting on the finishing touches to
his mask
So began the storyteller’s tale of her journey over the misty
mountains, the people, animals and creatures she meets,
and the stories she hears on her way. Bronwyn Vaughan is a
talented storyteller who captured the children’s attention and
imagination for over an hour. They were so spellbound that you
could have heard a pin drop as they listened to every word she
spoke.
The show is based on contemporary and traditional children’s
stories: The Robber Girl by Margaret Wild and Donna Rowlens,
The Paper Dragon by Marguerite W Davol and a well-known
favourite with our children, The Tiger Skin Rug by Gerald
Rose. Bronwyn used beautifully designed and crafted puppets,
props, sets and costumes, a wondrous array of exotic musical
instruments and culturally inspired movement, music, song and
dance to share the tales from Tibet, China, Nepal and India.
The Art of Chinese
Mask Changing
The children, extending their
interest in Chinese culture and art,
investigated Chinese mask changing.
This performance is a highly regarded
art form, where a magician dances
on to stage while magically changing
masks/faces. The children were given
the opportunity to watch some of
these performances by an infamous,
face changer in China, Bian Lian,
on YouTube. We painted the base
coats of the masks while watching the
performance and we couldn’t wait to
dance our own face-changing dances.
There were many different responses
to the performances we watched, many
hypotheses on how the magic was
achieved.
Brooklyn: This is just so freaky.
Max: Yeah, it is freaky. I think he’s just got
a mask behind his head and when you’re not
looking he spins it around.
Brooklyn: It’s scary magic.
Stefan: I’m going to paint a million of these so
I can just keep on changing.
Hugo S: Wow, look at him changing the mask!
William: He’s changing colours black and blue.
Adam: I think he’s changing now red and
black.
William: It’s magic.
Jamie D: It’s magic and a dance.
River: They just put their hand to the face
and change the colour.
On a Far, Far Away Mountain
The work on masks continued with some
children painting their lines to create
emotions onto the masks and others
reworking the painted masks with oil
pastels to accentuate the lines. Some
fabulous faces and emotions were created
and the children were eager to perform
with them.
Here is one story told by Jamie Dawson-
Damer who made three masks.
The Giraffe
The giraffe is eating leaves in the desert.
Jamie comes along and says, ‘Can I have
a ride on you?’
The giraffe says, ‘Would you like to go
on a boat?’
Jamie says, ‘Can we fish and can we pick
up somebody?’
The giraffe says, ‘Shall we go to the café
first in the desert.’
Jamie says, ‘We’ll pick him up after
lunch.’
Jamie and the giraffe go to the café and
have lunch. After lunch they pick up
William in the jungle and go for a sail on
the boat.
‘Can we sleep on the boat overnight?’
the boys ask.
The giraffe says, ‘Yes.’
42 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 43

St Mark’s Pre-school
Music for Little Ones
We were lucky to have a show at pre-school called Music for Little Ones. The
performance began by developing our listening skills. The performer played
the guitar while singing the Boom Boom Song. Several children were chosen to
sing the lyrics ‘boom, boom’ at various times during the song. The children
had to listen closely to the lyrics so that they knew when to sing.
We then began to work on the beat. Songs were sung as the children kept
the beat through tapping and this progressed to keeping the beat on drums.
Once we had all the basic music skills in place, the children had
the opportunity to play the drums
in an ensemble. The
importance of our
listening well was of a
high priority now, as we
had to drum in time to
the beat and along with
one another. Tribal beats
rocked the pre-school.
right: Jasper Oxley
keeps the beat
Easter Hats
We visited the Assistant Minister Dan in St Mark’s church today. Dan explained
that the church is a happy place where everyone is welcome. He asked what we
knew about Easter and then talked briefly about Easter, about rebirth. He talked
about hot cross buns and how they have a cross on them which represents the
cross of the church. He explained Jesus died for us and is now in heaven
with God.
Crusoe said, ‘I don’t know heaven.’
Eggs, rebirth, Easter time, like our duckling eggs.
He asked, Why do we have Easter eggs?’
Hugh said, ‘Because we are hungry.’ Grace explained to Dan how much the
ducklings had grown in their time with us. Lucia said, ‘Did you know that God
made all the people?’
We looked around the church at the place where children are baptised. We
looked at the lovely stained glass windows, heard the organ play, looked
in the crying room and chatted a bit about the bell ringing tower which
we will visit in the future.
We were thrilled with the crazy hats made for today by the children and
parents. They look fantastic and all were proud to wear them. The children
chatted to their friends about how they were made and when they would wear
them in future. We had an Easter hat parade marching to music. We were a little
worried about how the Easter bunny would hide our eggs because it was raining
but, as we were reading a book in the hall, he must have slipped in and placed
eggs on the children’s beds – what a clever rabbit! We ate two each and decided
to take the remainder home to share.
left: Crusoe Leddie wearing
his home-made Easter hat
Oceanworld
Excursion
In August 2009 a small group of pre-schoolers
went on an excursion to Manly Ocean World,
because they were interested in sharks. In
particular we wanted to discover more about
Megalodon sharks, extinct dinosaur sharks.
On entering the aquarium we stepped through
a life-size model of a Megalodon jaw. Using
ribbons, that we had come equipped with, we
made informal measurements of the dimensions
of the jaw. We took these back to pre-school for
further work on our Megalodon project.
As we continued through the aquarium we had
the opportunity to see the fish in the shark
tunnel being fed by SCUBA divers. Large sting
rays, Grey Nurse sharks and an array of fish
moved above our heads, competing for their
share of breakfast. We made sketches of the
animals as we sat in the tunnel and gained a
close-up look of the animals’ bodies and features.
To conclude our visit, we spent time observing
and inspecting a wide range of shark jaws which
we sketched to record our findings.
Dress as You Like Day
To celebrate Book Week in August 2009,
the children came dressed as a character
from their favourite book. They were
very excited as they arrived chatting
away to each other about their costumes.
Our play became a lot more dramatic
as we took on the role of our character
quite seriously. Outside Doctor Selwyn
operated on many of the children while
Wizard Toby took great delight in
turning many into frogs and the like!
We managed to read most of the books
the children brought in. The children
were especially interested in ‘reading’
at that time and so this was a great
opportunity, especially in rhyming
books, to point to the words as they
were read and then wait for the children
to add the predictable words. This helps,
as they think of themselves as readers
and take great delight in helping the
teacher.
Teddy Bears
Picnic
At the end of 2009 we celebrated the
graduation of the older children and the
end of the first year of pre-school for the
younger ones by having a Teddy Bears’
Picnic.
The children brought in their teddy bears
and spent the day with them being part
of the action! As told in the story of The
Teddy Bears’ Picnic we played group games
and sang songs. After lunch we enjoyed
some special treats before saying goodbye
to the younger children.
Below: Charlie Balderstone shares his lunch
with his teddy
44 Schola Nostra Spring 2010 45

St Mark’s Pre-school
Art Show for St Jude
Creating portrait canvases for
our gallery show
Iain Dawson is the owner and curator of a gallery
and was enthusiastic to support the exhibiting of
our children’s work in his gallery. He donated his
time and space for our St Jude School Drinks
Night Fundraiser. The older children engaged in
some studio photography-styled photo shoots.
Backgrounds were chosen and they were instructed
to just take the head and neck of their subject.
The younger children had their image taken by
their teachers. The children covered a canvas in
glue and they placed their portrait photocopy on
it. When dry, acrylic paint was applied to cover
their portrait. Three colours were offered and they chose which
block of colour would be placed in each section, making sure they
covered the whole picture plane. The idea of balancing colours
was introduced. It was evident in the way the children worked
with colour and line placement that they had embraced this idea.
The images were reworked again in oil pastels and on completion
these impressive works were ready to exhibit.
Opening night at Iain Dawson Gallery
We were thrilled with the number of people who came to the
grand opening of Faces of Children who make the World a Better
Place in. We had our largest number of parents attend the Drinks
Night and we were fortunate the rain held off so that the evening
could be enjoyed to the fullest. Angela Bailey shared some of her
experiences when setting up St Jude with us and also gave us an
insight into future planning ideas.
The silent auction was most successful and we were thrilled that
the evening raised $11,500 to build a much needed boarding
house for St Jude.
We were delighted that the gallery was busy on the weekend
receiving families who took their children to see their work hung.
46 Schola Nostra
Grand
Opening of
our Shed
We were thrilled to have the opening
of our long awaited shed. Even the
rain couldn’t dampen our spirits and a
lot of people joined us for the ribboncutting
at the Grand Opening. Cake
was shared by all. The shed provides
an extension to our playground storage
and we wasted no time moving in new
equipment.
Left: Finn Brownlow officially opens the shed
with Mr Madin
Police
In the playground we have had a lot
of children pretending to be police
officers. These police have been very
busy putting people in gaol and
directing the movements of their
peers. This interest was extended
as Dominic led a small group of
children to make police uniforms
from paper.
We engaged in several conversations with the
children to gain insight into their current
understanding of police officers’ roles
and responsibilities. Here are some of the
children’s ideas about police and what their
job involves.
Sean: They catch bad guys.
Max: They save the cars from crashing.
Lily: They get mean people and handcuff
them.
Mia: If children get lost, they help them find
their mummies and daddies.
Oliver V: They get naughty people and put
them in gaol.
Coco: Maybe they fix cars.
Oliver O: They trap people in gaol, who have
hurt animals or people.
Emma: They have black and white squares.
Dominic: They have a key to put naughty
people in gaol.
Nicholas: The police climb up cranes to get
the naughty people that have climbed up the
crane.
Archie: They have special boots so they can
get bad guys in the rain.
Jasper: You can call them if a cat is stuck
up a tree.
Kai: If a baddie shoots a goodie, the police
will shoot the baddie.
We also thought of things that we
would like to know about police
officers. To find the answers to our
questions we decided we needed to
speak to a police officer. Consequently
we wrote a letter to the police at Rose
Bay Police Station.
Several days after posting our letter,
we received a phone call from Rose
Bay Police Station, telling us that they
would love to visit us at pre-school.
The children kept a calendar and we
marked off each day in the countdown
to this visit.
We waited in anticipation and were pleasantly
surprised to see a police lady and two police
volunteers enter our room.
Senior Constable Catherine talked to us
about her role as a police officer and told
us about each part of her uniform. As lots
of questions started accumulating about
weapons used by police officers, Senior
Constable Catherine told us that the weapon
police use most, is their mouths. They go out
into the community and talk with people to
get to know their community, to find out
information, to calm cross people down and
to help us all stay safe.
The children had prepared a list of 18
questions that they wanted to ask the police
officers. One by one they posed their own
questions to Catherine all of which she
answered. We now know so much about
police and what they do.
Archie: Do you walk, go in a car, go on a bike
or ride a horse?
Gigi: Do you live at Rose Bay Police Station?
Dominic: What street is the gaol in?
Jacob: How do you get the baddies?
Coco: What work do you have to do?
Nicholas: Why do police have guns?
Sean: Do police give their uniforms to other
police?
Lily: What colours are your cars?
Sean: Why do you have to have handcuffs?
Jasper: Why do you sometimes have a dog?
Axel: Where is your police badge?
Oliver O: Why do you have the hat on when
you are outside?
Hugo: Where do you put your hats when you
don’t wear them?
Kai and Freddie: Where do you keep the
police dog?
Oliver V: Why do you have a siren?
Dear Police Officers,
Please can you come to our
preschool and tell us about
what you do.
We have lots of questions
for you.
From St Mark’s Preschool
Top to bottom: Oliver Oxley, Kai Sullivan
and Dominic Buckley
Spring 2010
47

Senior Cranbrook School Community
48 Schola Nostra
CETOP
Matthew swait
With over 1,200 patients seen in the space of six days the
CETOP Medical and Dental Camp, in Nepal last January, was
a very busy place to be to say the least. The CETOP team of 16
volunteers from Australia and the UK, along with 15 Nepalese
medical and dental professionals, worked tirelessly to provide
one of the most comprehensive camps ever seen in the district.
Clockwise from left: The CETOP Medical
Team at the end of a successful clinic;
British dentist Amreen Ahmed and her
assistant Renate Carius hard at work; The
pre-op and post-op crew, Natty, Caroline,
Mario, Sandy and Andrew; The Medical
Team being given a warm welcome in Deurali
Opposite page: Surgical team from Theatre
No.1, Jane, Kitty, Apar and Ish
As one of the least developed countries in
the world, Nepal has a doctor population
ratio of 1:21,000 and even fewer surgeons
and dentists. Rural Nepal suffers an even
greater lack of medical and dental services
as the majority of these professionals
choose to work in Kathmandu. As a result
there are a multitude of health issues facing
people who live in these rural regions.
Obviously many of their ailments are
curable given access to reasonably straight
forward surgical or dental procedures.
It was our job for six days to try and
provide some of these services! In total the
CETOP medical team saw 1,281 patients
with ailments ranging from sore backs
and tooth aches to hernias and abscesses.
The dental team alone saw 429 patients
and performed 551 different procedures;
including extractions and fillings and they
also provided oral heath instruction to a
number of patients.
The general and gynecological
practitioners of the expedition saw a huge
number of patients: 712 in total. These
for the most part had chronic conditions
such as joint pain, back pain and gastritis.
On the gynecological side there were many
patients with vaginal prolapse for which
Nepal has a doctor
population ratio of
1:21,000 and even
fewer surgeons and
dentists
the interim management is a ring pessary
supplied by the Nepali government.
On the surgical side of the camp the
team performed 92 operations including
32 cutaneous lesions, lipomas and cysts,
28 hydroceles, 20 inguinal hernias,
3 abscess drainages, 7 wound debridements
and 2 circumcisions. The team also helped
out in the delivery of one baby!
It was a great effort from all on the trip,
and especially those CETOP members
from Sydney, Sandy and Tony Middleton
along with Renate and Emilio Carius,
and our out-of-towners, Lewis and Breda
Thatcher, and their daughters, Fiona
and Kitty.
Personally this was one of the most
rewarding and worthwhile ventures I have
been involved with in over 20 years, and
it would not have been possible without
the support of Amanda Scheiff and the
CETOP community.
Spring 2010
49

Cranbrook Foundation
50 Schola Nostra
Annual Giving
Jeremy Madin
Headmaster
The Chapel sanctuary furniture has been installed
and Bishop Robert Forsyth dedicated the furniture
on Wednesday 28 October 2009. The carved jarrah
altar and lectern are superb. Their commissioning is
a direct result of the generosity of many people who
supported Annual Giving in 2005.
Finding the right craftsman, then consulting on
designs reflecting our brief, has been a long, but
rewarding, process. Along the way David Hayman,
Mark O’Hara and I have learnt much about the
best wood craftsmen in Australia, and about the
time necessarily involved in deciding whom to
commission and how to make certain the designs
and materials offer the right ‘fit’ for our needs, our
Chapel and the School’s ethos.
In November 2007, after following a number of
leads, Edwina Parsons and I visited the warmly
recommended Myles Gostelow at his workshop in
the bush at Cuppacumbalong, near Tharwa in the
ACT. As soon as we saw examples of his work for
churches and private homes we knew we had found
the right person. Myles could not start immediately,
as he was immersed in several other major
Clockwise from top: The jarrah lectern,
carved with the School crest and NSW flora;
The master craftsman, Myles Gostelow at
work; The jarrah communion table, carved
with NSW flora; Work in progress; Myles
carving out the book from the School crest;
‘Hidden’ under the communion table are the
southern cross and six words of character to
be discovered by curious boys.
commissions and was due to lecture and work in
Tasmania for many months mid 2008. However,
since visiting our Chapel, discussing our brief with
the Chaplain, and returning to Tharwa, he has
focused on our commission, indeed exceeded our
expectations by expanding the scope of the carvings
of native flora and adding words and an appropriate
biblical passage in crisp and elegant, incised script.
The sanctuary is transformed. The altar, quite simply,
belongs. Indeed, Mrs Noela Bishop, wife of past
Headmaster, Mark Bishop, said at the dedication, ‘It
looks like it has always been there’. And when seated
in the pews our boys can now look through the
sanctuary to the trees and harbour beyond. At last
the sense of place is properly honoured.
CSPA
Parents commit
to Teacher
Development
The Cranbrook School Parents’
Association has decided to support our
teachers by offering a generous grant to be used to further
their professional development. Mrs Crawford, Assistant
Head of Visual Arts in the Senior School, and David
Holmsen, a Grade 4 teacher in the Junior School, applied
for and received one of these grants.
Artist-in-residence
at Cranbrook
Mrs Crawford’s proposal involved the
employment of an artist-in-residence, Anne
Zahalka, to teach the Year 10 Photographic
and Digital Media students in their lessons
in Term 3. Anne is one of Australia’s most
recognised artists working in photomedia.
During her twenty year practice Anne
has produced some iconic images of
Australia. She works with familiar images
of our nation and subverts them in a
humorous and critical voice. Her work
has been collected by all major museums
in Australia. All the Photographic and
Digital Media teachers in the Visual Arts
Department have benefited from Anne’s
visits. They have been able to further
their knowledge by being closely involved
with Anne and the students both when
conceptualising, lighting and shooting in
studio conditions.
An Interview with Anne
Can you tell us a little about your work?
I’m a practising artist. I have taught at
various schools in the past and now I
generally do guest lectures at colleges. I’m
a full time art practitioner, I work with
photo media and I exhibit at a gallery in
Sydney. I have just had an exhibition in
Melbourne at Arc One.
I have recently received a grant from the
Australia Council to develop a new body
of work and I’ve been really fortunate
to receive several grants over my 25-year
practice. The grants have allowed me to
focus exclusively on the work rather than
having to rely on selling work or teaching.
Do you enjoy working with the boys?
I do enjoy coming to the School and
focusing each week on this project.
The boys are very attentive and polite, and
they are self-directed. I am getting to know
them but it’s a challenge, only having two
hours a week to really get to know them.
The boys are doing a tableau project where
they are basing a work on an existing
image, re-staging that and then trying to
make changes to subvert the meaning and
challenge the intent of the original image.
Of course, it takes time to set these things
up. The boys come well prepared to lessons
but we have to organise lighting, camera
and controls, and do the set up. We
achieve in hours what you really need
a month to do.
Did your studies in art when you
were at school have an impact on
your career choice?
I am always surprised I found a career
in art. I was at school during the period
when you were limited to learning about
certain media. You learnt about art from
prehistoric art through to modern art but
I always had a love of art history. I think
even within that limited way of learning
about art, I really responded.
The way students learn about art today
is very different. Now they have so many
possibilities. They can work with new
media to develop their skills and processes,
and they have a lot of choice. To be able
to be quite clear about how they should
express their ideas and what form that will
take, takes time and the wonderful teachers
here at Cranbrook guide them carefully.
Above: Jack Lin and Carl Elsass benefiting from
Anne Zahalka’s advice
A more
sustainable school
David Holmsen was able to visit a
number of schools in Hobart and
Melbourne which are similarly
committed to the goal of a more
sustainable school. Collectively, the
schools run whole-school environment
immersion programs and actively
reduce water and energy usage. The
schools have well-established recycling
programs and practise biodiversity
conservation through educational,
practical and community activities.
David said, ‘Visiting schools provided
a great way to cherry pick some of the
better ideas while validating what we
are already doing here at Cranbrook.’
The environmental perspectives gained
by David on his school visits are being
passed on to the School executive team
for consideration as plans are made for
the School’s ongoing environmental
programs and approaches. David
is also sharing his insights with
the Junior School Community
Committee, a group of enthusiastic
student representatives from Years
3 to 6 who work with David and
co-convenor, Miss Marianne Doble,
on social service and environmental
initiatives in the School.
Above: At Clarendon Vale Primary (Hobart), they
make planter boxes and deliver them free to the
local community for instant gardens.
Spring 2010
51

Old Cranbrookians
Remembering C. A. Bell
A Twentieth Century Schoolmaster
Cranbrook School 1932–56
Melbourne Grammar School 1957–73
Malcolm Dan, David Castle and Ian Rutherford
Top (l to r): Colin Bell and Brian Hone in front
of the Cranbrook Rotunda, about 1947
Above: Headmaster, Jeremy Madin with co-author
Malcolm Dan
Book launch
A biography of C. A. Bell was launched
by Emeritus Professor Miles Little, a
distinguished Old Cranbrookian, on 14
August 2009 at a well-attended function
of almost 40 guests in the Governor’s
Ballroom. The publication was funded by
Cranbrook School, the Old Cranbrookians’
Association and Melbourne Grammar
School. While the book covers Mr Bell’s
life from his birth and early education
in the Upper Hunter Valley to his death
in 1988, its main focus is his brilliant
teaching of English in the two schools
where he spent over forty years. He was
also the first resident Master of Rawson
House at Cranbrook and an outstanding
coach of rugby at both schools. The book
celebrates an extraordinary man and a
legendary schoolmaster. This is one of the
few biographies published in Australia
about a schoolmaster below the position of
Headmaster. It is also intended as a tribute
to the many outstanding schoolmasters of
Cranbrook and Melbourne Grammar who
have given so much to both schools over
the years.
Emeritus Professor Little, in launching
the book, said the authors had produced
a work of considerable merit that did full
justice to a remarkable schoolmaster and
an outstanding teacher of English. Bell was
an inspirational teacher who stayed in one’s
52 Schola Nostra
mind in a particularly vivid way. He spoke
at length of Bell’s many achievements at
Cranbrook, of his unmatched relationship
with the great Headmaster, Brian Hone,
during the period 1940 to 1950 and later
at Melbourne Grammer School, and of
his superb coaching of rugby union at
both schools, all of which he felt had been
covered in the biography in a particularly
effective way. He gave fulsome praise for
the biography and expressed the hope
that it would be read widely and with
considerable interest and pleasure. His
outstanding address was warmly received.
Book review
Since the book’s publication we have
received the following review by Helen
Penrose. Helen Penrose is a professional
historian with HistorySmiths and the
author of a number of school histories,
including Challenging Traditions, a history
of Melbourne Grammar, co-authored with
Weston Bate. She is currently working
on a 150th anniversary history of The
Geelong College.
Colin Bell, schoolmaster of legendary status
among former students and colleagues at
Cranbrook in Sydney (1932–56) and Melbourne
Grammar in Melbourne (1957–73), was a
man of few words, and so would perhaps be
amused by the publication of an entire volume
dedicated solely to the celebration of his life
and influence.
Remembering C. A. Bell has been compiled
carefully and lovingly. Although many different
voices and written styles take their place in
this book, they do so as one combined chorus
singing from the same score. The book’s simple
design and presentation assists in the blending
of the carefully structured set of contextual
chapters about Cranbrook, written by Malcolm
Dan, and Melbourne Grammar, written by Ian
Rutherford, which introduce and flesh out Colin
Bell. Each section concludes with many written
reminiscences provided by former students and
teaching colleagues, and Bell’s own writings,
mainly about the teaching of English, have been
collected too.
The book itself poses the question that will
inevitably be asked by some: does it suffer
from overt hagiography? No: its very intimacy
is its success. Although the appraisals of Bell
are hugely subjective, written by insiders from
each school who knew him well, they benefit
collectively from some distance. Colin Bell died
in 1988, and the spell he cast in his classrooms
at Cranbrook and at Melbourne Grammar and
on the rugby field dates from the 1930s until
his retirement in 1973. The combination of
these appraisals, most of them recently written,
affords the outsider a bird’s eye view into school
life at these institutions, adds immeasurably to
our understanding of boys’ independent school
education, and will complement both schools’
published commissioned histories. The chapter,
in particular, on Bell’s role in the English
Teachers’ Group in Sydney that wrote the new
English syllabus in New South Wales in 1953
is most valuable for the educational historian.
The publication of Bell’s own writings, some for
the first time, makes available some important
primary sources.
His is an outstanding example of that teacher
singled out repeatedly by students as having
greatest influence on them. This influence was
felt most keenly in his English classroom, but
also on the rugby field or as a Housemaster.
Cranbrook student Rex Morgan put it like this:
‘he trained young minds in a rigorous discipline
of English usage and encouraged the creativity
through osmosis which would later emerge in
some of us. No other teacher has ever surpassed
the influence of Colin Bell on my life. Just to
have been taught by this man for a few years
was why it was worth having been to Cranbrook
at all.’
Bell was a highly intelligent, well-read man who
was loyal and inspired loyalty in others. For his
students and colleagues, this book is mostly
for them. The rest of us, however, can draw
many lessons from the stories of his teaching
and coaching; of a life devoted to education; of
schooling at Cranbrook School and Melbourne
Grammar under the great Headmaster Brian
Hone, and of the extraordinary synergy both
men exerted at both places. This book is
evocative of all that, and the authors are to
be congratulated for it.
Coming Events
DATe eVeNT
2010
Monday, 11 October Term 4 commences
Tuesday, 12 October Prefects’ Induction Service
Friday, 22 October Dickins House Cocktail Party
Tuesday, 26 October Kindergarten, 2011 Parent Information Night
Friday, 29 October Rowing Opening of Season Function
Monday, 1 November OCA Golf Day
Friday, 5 November Senior School Composition Concert
Wednesday, 10 November Twilight Tour – Senior and Junior Schools
Thursday, 11 November Junior School Piano Eisteddfod
Friday, 12 November Fine Music Dinner
Tuesday, 16 November Clarinet and Saxophone Soirée
Friday, 19 November Rowing Ergathon
Wednesday, 24 November Junior School Thank You Morning Tea
Thursday, 25 November Annual Prefects’ Service
Monday, 29 November – Tuesday, 7 December Year 10 CITF
Monday, 29 November St Mark’s Pre-school Concert
Wednesday, 1 December Junior School Carol Service
Thursday, 2 December St Michael’s Pre-school Concert
Friday, 3 December ACER Scholarship Selection Tests
Sunday 5 December Year 6 Valedictory Picnic
Monday, 6 December Dickins House Concert
Tuesday, 7 December Senior School Carol Service
Thursday, 9 December Junior School Prize Giving
Thursday, 9 December
2011
Senior School Prize Giving
Thursday, 27 January Term 1 commences
Wednesday, 9 March Headmaster’s Reception – Inner West
Wednesday, 16 March Twilight Tour – Junior School
Thursday, 17 March Twilight Tour – Senior School
Friday, 8 April Term 1 ends
Sunday, 10 April Headmaster’s Reception – Southern Highlands
Tuesday, 26 April – Sunday, 1 May Director of Admissions in Shanghai/Hong Kong
Friday, 13 – Saturday, 14 May Boarding Schools Expo – Dubbo
Wednesday, 18 May Open Day – Junior School
Thursday, 19 May Open Day – Senior School
Friday, 27 – Saturday, 28 May Schools Expo – North Shore
Thursday, 9 June Headmaster’s Reception – Mosman
Friday, 17 – Saturday, 18 June Boarding Expo – Griffith
Friday, 1 – Sunday, 3 July Australian Schools Expo – Bangkok
Monday, 4 – Wednesday, 6 July Director of Admissions in Singapore
Thursday, 7 – Saturday, 9 July Director of Admissions in Kuala Lumpur
Friday, 22 – Saturday, 23 July Boarding Expo – Tamworth
Wednesday, 24 August Open Day – Junior School
Wednesday, 25 August Open Day – Senior School

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