NEGS NEWS

Term 2 Week 9

It was super to see our junior school staff, students and parents enjoying the Junior School disco on Wednesday night.  Our senior students played DJ, kept the coloured lights and ‘smoke’ machine going, while our parents enjoyed nibbles and drinks around the Yarning Circle. Thank you to our parents and friends for making this a social and successful event.

The House Cheers in the senior school was also well received by staff and students Wednesday afternoon. The vertical house system certainly encourages and promotes new connections and friendships across year levels. 

All students and families in the Senior School will have received notification of the revised structure of the timetable occurring for Semester 2. The 10 minute daily pastoral care ‘check in’ will allow tutors, students, and their peers to connect and further contribute to the development of our positive school culture.  Chapel will be now be held on a Thursday to allow for a slightly earlier finish on a Friday.

Our Uniform Shop has been restocked with Blazers and plain NEGS caps. There are, however, limited sizes of kilts, tracksuit pants, and polo shirts. Please note we are still waiting on trucker caps, sports jumpers, and scarves. However, I am of the understanding they are not too far away. Be sure to check in with the uniform shop if you require assistance or are waiting on uniforms to arrive. 

A reminder of our NEGS Flourishing Appeal for 2022. Thank you to the families who have made a gift. For those yet to do so, please consider, as your gift will make a difference for our current and future students. It is time for us to renew our Boarding Facilities, Junior Playground, and continue to be able to offer Scholarships. We thank you for your support.

I wish to advise you that our PDHPE Teacher, Mr Christian Eisenberger, will be finishing his time with NEGS at the end of this Term, as he pursues other opportunities. We thank Mr Eisenberger for the time he has spent with us at NEGS.

Term 3 will also bring some changes in the role of Director of Teaching and Learning. Mr Tony Jones will be returning to his passion of being in the classroom with students on a more regular basis. We thank Tony for his work, and the passion he has brought to the role since he arrived at NEGS in 2017. The Role of Director of Teaching and Learning will be filled by Mr Ryan Caldwell.

WELCOME TO MR RYAN CALDWELL

Ryan comes to NEGS with many years of experience working in leadership roles in independent schools, most recently as Head of English at Ormiston College, and Head of Academic Operations at A.B. Paterson College. He is looking forward to once again working in a boarding context, having spent six fruitful years as a Resident Master at The Southport School, and to supporting the rich array of sporting, cultural, academic, and leadership opportunities that a girls' school like NEGS, can uniquely offer. Ryan was raised on the outskirts of Brisbane on the family ‘farm’ with all the dogs, cats, and horses you could shake a stick at. He studied at Anglican Church Grammar School, QUT, UQ, and has completed a Master of Learning Sciences and Technology at the University of Sydney. He joins his partner Pearl in town, who is currently engaged in a NSW Department of Education Scholarship Program, retraining qualified school teachers as registered Psychologists. Ryan is keen to get to know the NEGS community, so please feel free to reach out for a chat at any time!

Next term, the NEGS leadership team and staff will be working with team leaders from the Association of Independent Schools (AIS), Lisa Ridings (Student Services), and Katrina Mosten (Education Consultant, Teaching and Learning). The school has identified the need to ensure we continue to enrich the social and emotional learning for all students, and the broader school community. We also look forward to the professional learning for all school staff on respectful relationships and pro-social behaviour among the school community. I will keep you updated on this space and welcome your input and feedback.

We hope you enjoy the Term break with your children and families, and look forward to seeing everyone again for Term 3. 

Liz van Genderen

Acting Principal

Years 1 and 2 - Marvelous Mixtures!

This term, Years 1 and 2 have been learning all about mixtures!  

We started by reading ‘George’s Marvelous Medicine’ as a class, and laughed a lot when hearing all the weird and wacky things Geogre put into his medicine for poor old Grandma.  

In our Science lessons, we experimented with mixing different ingredients together, to see what happens.  Some of our mixtures included icing sugar, rice puffs, and cocoa powder; and oil, water, and dishwashing liquid. We also went looking for mixtures at home, which we brought in to share with the class. We found mixtures for eating, drinking, cleaning, and some that are just for fun!

To top it all off, we invited our parents and grandparents into our classroom to help us make mixtures of flour, water, yeast and salt, which we turned into… pizzas!

Emma Pracy

Junior School Teacher

Junior School 'End of Term' Disco

On Wednesday, 22 June, Junior School held the End-of-Term disco for all Junior School. All students wore their best outfits and danced the evening away, showing off their favourite dance moves. 

All parents were invited to the Yarning Circle, to share mulled wine, gifted by the Welder's Dog, and grazing boards, organised by the P and F. 

NAIDOC Incursion 

On 17 June, NEGS students had the opportunity to attend the NAIDOC Incursion, presented by the performer Dion Drummonds, who is of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent.

Dion is an experienced entertainer, who has travelled widely and performed for international audiences. During his visit, Dion gave two performances, one for Junior School, and the other for Senior School. In these performances, he shared stories and artefacts from his cultures, and taught our students about the different traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, through language, song, and dance. The performance coincided with our school’s NAIDOC Week celebrations, which commenced in Week 9.

We take this opportunity to celebrate our First Nations students and acknowledge their culture and history.

Amelia Bowman

Waratah Program

This term, the girls in Coding Club have participated in both Web.Comp, and its affiliated Design Tournament. These national competitions are hosted on the Grok learning platform. 

The competitions teach HTML and CSS, the languages behind website programming and design. For many of the girls, this was their first foray into coding, and they tackled each challenge with enthusiasm. 

For our seasoned coders, it provided them with the opportunity to hone their skills, by increasing the level of difficulty through the introduction of a UI. They also excelled in providing support to the less experienced students. 

The coming semester will offer some fun activities, such as drone programming, robotics, VR, AR, and more competitions! If your daughter is interested in coding, please email coding@negs.nsw.edu.au. The club runs from 3.30pm - 4.30pm on a Monday afternoon.

Belinda Stone

The North West Equestrian Expo has been on the forefront of everyone’s mind over the past month. Coona, as it is affectionately known, once again proved to be the highlight event for the NEGS students so far this term.

For Coona 2022, we took a huge team of riders, coming from all over Australia. Our 49 students spent the week riding, volunteering, and helping friends and fellow competitors from all schools. Supporting each other, true to the NEGS ethos of integrity, responsibility, and excellence.

There was so much fun and laughter around the camp, with many happy memories made.

Our EC Leaders and older riders took our younger riders under their wing and helped them all throughout the weekend. We saw time and time again, our girls working as a team to make sure everyone was involved and had a go. Our Head Prefect took part in the team hunt, to support our lesser experienced riders in the event, while some of our more experienced show riders rode with younger girls in the team of fours, giving them the opportunity to compete. Our Equestrian Captain showed true grit and determination to make it to Coona, after breaking both arms in a cross country fall only weeks before the event, and went on to lead the team to The Clarke and Cunningham Cup for best dressage school!

These are only a few examples of amazing resilience and sportsmanship shown from our girls.

Whilst we had many ribbons and rug winners, and a trophy to add to our cabinet, our greatest success was strengthening the bonds of everyone in our team, and the joy that is shared when a team of amazing people come together for a cause greater than themselves.

Here are a few of our girls who had some great results over the week:

CLARKE AND CUNNINGHAM CUP - BEST DRESSAGE SCHOOL

Lottie Jacobson

Allie Palmer 

Caitlin Croft

POLOCROSSE 

A grade - Division 1

2nd

Rosie Ross 

Emily Walmsley 

Bridget McKemmy

C grade - Division 1

3rd

Kaileia Seccombe 

Hallie Thompson 

Alice Murray

Allie Palmer - 15yr Show Riding Ring Champion

Sienna Robinson - Reserve Champion Show Hunter Hack

Eden Lochhead - Preliminary Dressage Reserve Champion 16+ yrs

Jess Taylor - Novice Dressage Reserve Champion 14+ yrs

Holly Jacobson - Novice Dressage Reserve Champion 15+ yrs

Lottie Jacobson - Elementary Dressage Reserve Champion (all ages)

Caitlin Croft - 4th Working Horse 17 yrs 

Bianca Turner - 5th Warrumbungle Way 16yr

Congratulations to all the girls!

On Tuesday, 21 June, NEGS was host to Lieutenant Abbie Thatcher and Chief Petty Officer Dina Mackay, from the Australian Defence Force. 

They spoke on opportunities for women in the Defence Force, before running the girls through some typical workouts they do daily. 

Our Seniors were very engaged, asking questions and listening closely, as well as working their best in the workout. 

Boarding Opportunity

Just imagine having your accommodation and living expenses covered, being able to earn a good wage, have school holidays off work, and be a part of an awesome ‘work family’ in the centre of Armidale. As a live-in supervisor you will be joining a vibrant boarding community, assisting in the effective day-to-day operation of a Boarding House and leading and supervising students when attending activities. This position plays an important role in the pastoral care of students in the Boarding House.

We offer your own room with ensuite and access to school facilities such as the gymnasium. Other benefits include internet, all meals and other utilities which are all provided for. We are seeking someone who would be happy to work weekends, from 2.30pm Friday to 9am Monday.

Hours of work are typically 38 hours per week during school term. This will allow flexibility to spend time with family during the week and on school holidays. Whilst you would technically be ‘on call’ during that time, the Head of Boarding would still be responsible for major health situations. It’s essential that the Boarding House always have staff on call in the unlikely event of a ‘mother figure’ being required.

This position would best suit someone who is happy to have their week days free, but who would like to be able to squeeze in regular weekly hours into a 2 1/2 day period of time.

If you would like to explore further, please contact our Head of Boarding, Di Kerr on diane.kerr@negs.nsw.edu.au

We ask you to consider your philanthropic support to further the mission of NEGS, through NEGS Flourishing Annual Giving. Your gift, either towards the capital development of our learning and boarding facilities, or through support of scholarships and bursaries, will have an impact on current and future students.

There is a clear vision for the future, and our school is preparing to meet the ever-changing educational requirements and needs of the NEGS community.

In 2022, with the help of the NEGS community, our priorities are transforming our boarding facilities, upgrading the Junior School playground, and to continuing to facilitate the enrolments of students, whom, without the offering of scholarships and bursaries would not be able to receive a NEGS education.