From the Deputy Principal
How good is it to be back!?
Today I had the honour of officially welcoming back our students to school at our Moama Anglican Grammar Commencement Assembly. We began with a couple of pieces from our awesome (and yes, I used that word to describe their performance today) Drumline, doing what they do best – playing the drums exceptionally well. The MAG Drumline, led by Kevin Kiely, is always a wonderful addition to any of our events or celebrations.
Today I spoke about our schools three core values, as did the Chairman of our Board, Dr Sydney Paul. I have included my introduction below and encourage parents and guardians to talk to their children about our school’s core values as much as possible, encouraging your child to tell you (or better – show you!) what they look like in action.
‘Compassion, Integrity and Respect. These are our school’s three core values. What does someone look like who lives these values in their lives everyday? I think one of the best examples is probably our current favourite Australian - Ash Barty.
Throughout her tennis career Ash Barty has shown the utmost respect for her opponents and always acknowledges them in her post game speeches. Ash Barty shows integrity in the way she stays true to herself and to her Aboriginal culture. Whether she knows the TV cameras are on her or not, her behaviour towards others always exhibits a sense of positivity and inclusion. Qualities of compassion are patience and wisdom; kindness and perseverance; warmth and resolve. Ash Barty is all of these. Granted, she has just won one of the most prestigious tennis competitions in the world so you might think it is easier for her, but you can’t help but get the feeling she would be living these values day to day even if she wasn't a world-famous tennis player. Let’s follow Ash Barty’s lead and live out our school’s core values in everything we do, at school and away from school. Wonderfully, I have already witnessed our core values being lived by all of you, in the way you participated in our Schools Swimming sports this week. Well done to all of you’.
Today we also officially welcomed our new students and teachers. It is great to see them settling in so well and the way our “old” students and teachers have welcomed and supported the new students and teachers so far.
One of our new teachers did our Acknowledgement of Country at today’s assembly. Mrs Amy Lane is a proud Ngiympaa (Nee-yam-par) woman and it is exciting that we now have our first ever Indigenous member of staff here at Moama Anglican Grammar since the school began in 2005.
School Captain, Dylan Scoble and Vice Captain, Jaymi Clancy, were our MC’s for the assembly and they did themselves proud. In this Newsletter you will see some of the wonderful moments from today’s assembly, including the celebration of our Kinder students beginning their school life and our Year 12’s finishing at the end of this year. We also celebrated our 2021 Band 6 recipients. Band Six scores are awarded to the students who attain a HSC result of 90 or above in a subject. In 2021 we had 18 Band six results across our student cohort and 7 students appeared on the NSW Distinguished achievers list and two students who were listed as NSW “All rounders”, a remarkable achievement by our small cohort of students and the hard-working teaching staff we have at Moama Anglican Grammar. Our 2021 Band 6 recipients were Faith Butt for Visual Arts; Abbey Champion for Mathematics Standard 2; Lily Charnas for Business Studies and English Advanced; Ashah Downie for Community And Family Studies, English Advanced, Food Technology and Mathematics Standard 2; Andrew Martin for Design and Technology; Lucy Nelson for Agriculture; Jenna Park for Biology, Chemistry, English Advanced, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Advanced and Physics; Alex Smith for Agriculture and Biology and Emily Zweck for Visual Arts.
After announcing our Band 6’s, Mrs Hayley Catt (Head of Teaching and Learning Secondary) presented Jenna Park with her 2021 Moama Anglican Grammar Dux Award. Jenna spoke to the students today, and with her permission I have included her speech below. Jenna had some great insights and tips to share with our students.
Here is Jenna’s speech:
‘Good morning staff and students,
First and foremost, I would like to say a massive congratulations to my fellow peers for excelling in the HSC. Every single one of them have done their personal best, showing incredible resilience, determination and perseverance, striving to achieve their goals. I honestly could not have asked for a more supportive, fun and amazing group of people to finish school with.
I would like to say a sincere thank you on behalf of the class of 2021, to all the staff at Moama Anglican Grammar who have been truly remarkable, we couldn’t have achieved what we did without your constant support and encouragement. In particular, I would like to say a special thank you to my year 12 teachers, Mrs Ford, Mrs Hughes, Mr Webb and Mrs Catt, who have all been incredible, going above and beyond. I could not have asked for better teachers and cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for me.
I was asked to give you guys some advice on how to achieve your best in the HSC. Honestly, I feel that everyone will have different strategies that work best for them, you just have to find yours.
For me, I found that it was really good to have a specific goal set in mind, mine was to get above a 90 ATAR to get into veterinary science. By doing this I found it kept me motivated to always try my best and helped me to reach the finish line even when the finish line kept moving, (thanks Covid).
I also found that a similar day to day routine during the school week was really beneficial. Go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same, eat at the same time, do homework at the same time. As you can see, the homework part easily fits into the pattern, and before you know it, doing it becomes a normal day to day thing.
Yeah doing a lot of study is important for doing well in the HSC, but I think that it is really important to keep doing the things you love- for me that was playing sport and catching up with friends and family. I found that maintaining a good study-life balance really helped keep me on track for when I did sit down to do some study. Now, our year 12 motto; ‘Quality over quantity’ should really apply here to your school work, maximising your study time is essential to allowing you time to do the other things you love.
So, what now? Finishing school seems like the end of what has been our lives for so many years.
But it is really a beginning. It is a beginning of the rest of our lives. Whether it be a fun filled gap year, starting up an apprenticeship, going back to school as a trainee or heading off for more study at uni. It is so exciting and inspiring to hear all the different paths that everyone is taking!
For me it is going to uni for 6 years to do veterinary science, I know, that is literally like starting at year 7 all over again. But I am super excited to start this next chapter where I will be doing something that I am really passionate about.
Before I go, I would like to leave you all with a little piece of advice that I heard a lot throughout the last two years.
‘The HSC is not a sprint but a marathon.’
I know I know, I’m sure the Year 12’s would have already heard this about a hundred times. I 100% agree with this advice in the respect that you need to treat the work load as a marathon- pace yourselves- slow and steady wins the race.
However, looking back at my time at school, it has honestly gone by as fast as a 100m sprint. These years of school have flown by in the blink of an eye.
So if you can take anything from what I am saying here today is that you need to enjoy every moment and make the most of all the opportunities that you have here at MAGs. Because once you are done you will truly miss all the fun, laughs, memories and friendships you have created while being here.
I hope you all have an incredible, normal-ish year ahead! And to the Year 12s, I’m sure you guys are gonna smash it this year and achieve some incredible things, not just at school but in your personal lives too.
Thank you!’
At today’s Commencement Assembly we were also delighted to have Ava Whitbourn share her reflections on commencing Year 7. Ava was one of our Year 6 Primary School Captains in 2021. Our Year 6 Leaders were then inducted. Well done to: Primary Student Leaders; Alexander Attalh, Zara Hensley, Toby Kennedy, Molly Webb; Primary House Captains; Chanter House is Sophie Jardine and Jack Millar;Martin House is Charlotte Moller and Finn Murphy; Meninya House is Benjamin Anthony and Darcy Mislicki; Perricoota House is Oliver Davidson and Hugh McDonald; Primary Music Captains; Kokona Koreeda and Grace McMaster; Primary Co-curricular Captains, Tyler Cox and Jencie Dunn.
Our Beacon Leaders were also inducted. Well done to: Steven Kirkpatrick, Mikayla Spiteri, Hirunya Kamarasinge and Michael Williams.
The final blessing from Reverend Phil Zamagias (our local Anglican Church Minister) was a lovely way to conclude our 2022 Commencement Assembly. It was great to have Reverend Phil and his wife Leanne join us as two of our special guests.
On a very different note, while we excitedly await the arrival of our new Head of Mathematics in the Secondary School, I have been experiencing a “blast from the past” in taking on the role of Head of Mathematics in Philip Campbell’s absence (I was previously Head of Mathematics here at Moama Anglican Grammar for a number of years). Teaching is one of my favourite things in life, so it has been an added bonus getting back into the classroom a little more to cover some of Mr Campbell’s classes until he arrives. One of the first events organised by the Secondary Maths department is a Maths Pathways information session for parents/guardians on Wednesday evening of February 23 at 6:30pm. This will be a virtual event and details will be sent home to all Year 7 to 9 families next week. We are doing Maths Pathways a little differently this year so we encourage all Year 7 to 9 parents and guardians to virtually attend.
Here is to a year that is “one of the best” for all our students, staff and families and for our wider community. Take care!
Kathleen Kemp
Deputy Principal