Prep School

Prep value of the week: understanding

Understanding is about thinking clearly and paying careful attention to see the meaning of things. An understanding mind provides insights and wonderful ideas, while an understanding heart fosters empathy and compassion for others. Understanding is the power to think, learn and also to care.

Attribute of the week: knowledgeable

When you are knowledgeable, you explore concepts, ideas and issues with local and global significance. In doing so, you acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.

Year 2

We have been investigating tools and units to help us measure length. We used the trundle wheels to help us measure The Flat quickly and accurately. We then measured some bark and ordered it from shortest to longest.

It was lovely to welcome the Year 2 dads to spend time with their sons decorating, constructing and flying a kite in celebration of Fathers’ Day. Our dads play a pivotal and crucial role in the development of their sons and it was lovely to see dads enjoying some quality time with their boys. How could the morning pass without a celebratory feast with the dads?

Year 3

As part of our second unit of inquiry this term into ‘how we organise ourselves’, the Year 3 boys have been inquiring into ‘how rules are designed and applied’ as one of our lines of inquiry. The boys had a very special visit from Old Boy, Olympian and Australian tennis superstar John Millman (2006). John explained the importance of following rules when playing tennis and how this has led to a successful career as a tennis player on the international tennis circuit, where competition is fierce. The boys were very fortunate to try on John’s blazers from past Olympic events and share in the memorabilia he has collected from various other sporting greats.

Book Week costume parade certificates and prizes

Certificates and prizes have been awarded to celebrate excellent costumes and enthusiastic participation in the Book Week costume parade on Monday 19 August and the magic show competition on Tuesday 20 August. Thank you to all parents for the support you gave your sons when preparing their costumes. The morning was a high-energy celebration of books and reading. Congratulations, also, to Charlie Green in Year 4 for winning naming rights to our library dragon, Fafnir, named after a dragon from Viking mythology.

Reception

• Joseph Aisthorpe – Fabulous homemade costume
• Max Allen – Fabulous homemade costume
• Max Heick – Excellent character movements

Year 1

• Ayrton Mitaros – Fabulous homemade costume
• Rey Arora – Fabulous homemade costume
• Ethan Yeh – Excellent character movements

Year 2

• Winston Farley – Fabulous homemade costume
• Carter Cheng – Fabulous homemade costume
• Zayd Hamze – Excellent character movements

Year 3

• Matteo Degiovanni – Fabulous homemade costume
• Alex George – Fabulous homemade costume
• Hudson Hawley – Excellent character movements

Year 4

• Fletcher Dacombe – Fabulous costume
• Alex Nieh – Magic Show Competition winner

Year 5

• Ferran Kairan – Fabulous homemade costume
• Louis Duvnjak – Fabulous homemade costume
• Charlie Johnston – Excellent character movements
• Keith Long – Magic Show Competition winner

Year 6

• Toby Alexander – Fabulous costume
• Harris Shonhan – Magic Show Competition winner

Camps in Term 4

• Year 3: Coolum, Tuesday 1 to Wednesday 2 October
• Year 4: Emu Gully, Wednesday 16 October to Friday 18 October
• Year 5: Tyalgum Ridge Retreat, Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 November

Use of school crossing

Please note that before and after school, boys should only cross Oaklands Parade at the supervised crossing near Gate 1. As these are very busy traffic periods, a crossing supervisor is provided to ensure the safety of the boys (and others using the crossing). When dropping off boys on the western side of Oaklands Parade in the morning, please insist that the boys use the supervised crossing. Please note that there is no parking in front of the Health Centre and the Churchie Shop on Oaklands Parade. Brisbane City Council has just replaced the signs in front of this building and will be regularly monitoring this area.

Class placements 2025

As we move towards the end of the year, planning for 2025 is well underway. Class placements for 2025 will be communicated to our parent community at the end of this year in preparation for the commencement of the academic year. Our staff are in the initial stages of looking at class allocations, and we are undertaking a thorough process to ensure we continue to have the boys at the forefront of our decision-making.

When allocating boys to classes, there are several factors we consider. One key priority is ensuring we have an even spread of academic ability levels across each of our classes and another is ensuring that the social structure of classes is conducive to both learning and the building of friendships. This sometimes means we need to separate boys when a friendship becomes a distraction to their learning and enables boys to further their friendship circles. Other factors that help determine our class allocations are the social and emotional needs of our boys, student interests and, if applicable, personal and family backgrounds.

As a school, we also need to consider our entry points and the impact this has on our class placements. The construction of class groupings is therefore a process we take very seriously and plan for carefully in collaboration with class teachers, specialist staff and the Preparatory School executive team. When creating class lists, we will consider all information about a boy that may have been communicated to the teacher, deputy heads and head of the Prep School throughout the year. Balanced classes are created according to the educational and social information we have about each of our boys. We do value these ongoing conversations; however, class placements will remain the professional and operational responsibility of the School and, as such, we will not be accepting requests for specific teachers.

As you can appreciate, the consideration of all these factors makes class placement a time-consuming but important process. We feel positive that the extensive time and care we give to this process, together with the talented and committed team of staff into whose classes we are placing each boy, means we can produce the best possible class combinations to benefit each and every boy.

We know you appreciate the careful consideration that goes into these decisions and the competence and dedication of every member of our team involved in the process.

Mark Wyer
Head of Preparatory School