Illalong Newsletter 2 December 2021

From the Principal

For the first time in almost two years, we filled our DMPC this week to farewell Mr Ian Taylor. The sense of occasion was profound and a somewhat emotional experience for everyone - suffice to say that those special guests, staff and students who spoke on behalf of their colleagues at this assembly communicated their heartfelt thanks to Ian for his almost thirty years of service as well as reminisced about the impact he had on our entire College community.

I know that over 300 of our current and past parents, staff and students also surprised Ian at running club this morning - Ian will be missed by everyone at our College.

This week also saw the culmination of our Gala Honours evenings with students from our Academic Academy presenting their projects on both Monday and Tuesday across the day and into the evening, but also our 2022 new students joining us with a day dedicated to the transition to A.B. Paterson College, our P-3 Christmas concert, and the announcement of Year 6 student leaders for 2022.

We also have a number of staff who are retiring this year; Cathy Tauranac, Tony Bradford and also Susanne Ginnane – we wish them all the very best in their retirement and thank them for their service to our College. Further Charlotte Brook will be starting her maternity leave and will return to the College in Term 3, 2022 with Simon Edgar acting as Head of Senior School in the interim.

All my best wishes for a wonderful Christmas holiday and I hope that everyone has the chance to relax and unwind, and I look forward to seeing you all return to the College in 2022.

Joanne Sheehy
Principal

Congratulations A.B. on another Incredible Year!

As always, the year has been filled with a wide variety of events for the College community to celebrate the growth and development of our students in both academic and co-curricular areas. With the recent Speech Night Awards, Colours and Academic Awards being presented, students can reflect on the progress they have made, whether in the classroom or in their co-curricular endeavours and can begin planning how they are going to achieve their goals for 2022.

This semester has been filled with exciting opportunities and a huge variety events to take part in; the inflatable fun run, the multitude of camps and our first whole College Drop Everything and Read Outside. The College musical, Guys and Dolls, was a roaring success and each and every student, member of staff and parent volunteer must be congratulated for the dazzling production. I continue to be astounded each year by the efforts and talents of all involved.

There have been successes on and off the sporting field and I continue to be amazed at the achievements of our students. Witnessing our Honours students presenting their projects earlier this week and hearing stories of students being pushed outside of their comfort zone to overcome their fears whilst on camp are just two examples of the exceptional perseverance and determination our students exemplify. I am excited to witness what 2022 will bring!

In looking forward to all the opportunities that lay ahead, it is important that we rest and recharge over the upcoming holidays; reflect on the achievements and challenges of the year and spend time with our families and friends. I would like to thank every member of our College community; students, parents, friends and staff, for their ongoing support of the College. The opportunities available at A.B. Paterson College simply would not exist without everyone working together, and this is what makes our College so special. I wish you all a wonderful break over the holidays and an exceptional 2022!

Charlotte Brook
Head of Senior School

Celebrating Ian Taylor!

After 29 years of dedicated and extraordinary service to A.B. Paterson College, our legendary Director of Activities Mr Ian Taylor is hanging up his Running Club shoes and finding his sea legs, to sail off into the sunset for a wonderful and well-deserved retirement.

This video presentation was part of a special whole of College event on Wednesday 1 December 2021, involving past and present students, staff and parents, to honour this very humble man who has made such a difference to the lives of so many.

Mr Taylor - from the bottom of our hearts - thank you!

News from the Japanese Classrooms

Year 9 Japanese Advertising Unit

Increasing sales is a goal for many companies internationally. This term, Year 9 Japanese classes looked at advertising strategies employed by both small businesses in rural Japan and massive world-wide campaigns distributed by multi-national companies based in Tokyo and Osaka. A strategy employed by the Japanese, that we haven’t really seen much of in Australia, is the use of drones to ensure delivery in a COVID-safe manner. Japan has hosted one of the largest international drone expos annually from 2015 in Tokyo and this week, some of the Year 9 students tested their ability to fly a drone to an agreed location.

Students were asked to ensure they did not fly above 2 metres, below 30cm and that they did not hit any walls. The teachers set up landing points around the Elderslie Theatre and the students were required to make a safe landing. Those who managed the delivery, were paid with a modified Japanese yen note and then able to request a Japanese sweet Pocky (using the target language) in exchange for the money. Some students were superstars, while other are going to have to look for a different type of part time job.

Sue Walduck
Director of Teacher Development & Effectiveness/Languages Teacher

Year 5 Japanese Manga Unit

Learning about Japanese comics and cartoons has always been popular. When I started teaching 20 years ago, the concept of a reverse opening book and watching and anime was almost impossible to do in classes. However, today, this is really easy. The College library has many authentic Japanese manga (reverse opening books) and the students are not just limited to American/Disney cartoons on their television. So while resources are easier to find, extra academic requirements are required as the base-level knowledge is already high before the unit starts.

This week, the students in Year 5 picked up an authentic manga and practiced reading in the reverse tile and page order. Most students were confident with this, however a few students felt “weird” and “strange” when reading this way!

Sue Walduck
Director of Teacher Development & Effectiveness/Languages Teacher

Year 1 Japanese Festivals and Celebrations Unit

Year 1 Japanese students have been learning about Japanese festivals and celebrations this term. To finish off our year we had a festival dress-up and festive Santa origami making. At first, we were a little hesitant on whether we could successfully complete the task, but when we all remembered our key character strength of resilience, we persevered and made our own original Santas in no time! Well done Year 1 class of 2021. You should be so proud of yourselves for all that you have achieved this year in Japanese!

Barriga Sensei

Prep to Year 3 Makerspace

Term 4 saw a new batch of eager Prep to Year 3 students join our Makerspace program on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in the Lilly Pilly Learning Centre. We had fun creating together and worked on several different projects that use S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) to make each product purposeful and useable.

With Term 4 bringing warmer weather, students first set out to create water bottle holders from repurposed, insulated bubble wrap and duct tape. The results were outstanding – with one Preppie even creating a Pokémon inspired water bottle holder. We then made slime – which most students love, and mums and dads hate, but are thankful it’s not being made at home!

It was then onto Halloween and students got in touch with their artistic side, doing Sharpie pen tie dye to create cloth bags strong enough to hold all their lollies from Halloween night. We also enjoyed using the Virtual Reality equipment to travel to the Borneo rainforest, underwater and to space. We used the iPads and an app called Quiver to convert 2D artwork to 3D.

To help celebrate Diwali, students created colourful sand-pouring vases. Students were amazed that they could shape the way the sand poured into the vases to make different patterns. They also loved blending colours together to make new shades. Continuing with more colourful creations, students also made seasonal snow globes by gluing small trees and ornaments to the lids of small jars, then filling the jars with water, glitter and clear glue – students were mesmerised by their lovely new projects. By holding the jars to the light, the glitter sparkled and got everyone in the festive mood.

As is becoming tradition, we always end our Makerspace term by making ice cream. Cream, vanilla and sugar in one sealed plastic bag and ice and rock salt in another – students put the cream bag into the ice and use their energy to shake. Everyone is always impressed to discover they have made creamy delicious ice cream, and we celebrate by loading it with sweet toppings. This session had an extra level of excitement due to some heavy rains – but this didn’t stop us – and our giggles were still louder than the rain on the rooftops.

Thank you to all the families who have supported our Prep to Year 3 Makerspace program this year. We had a lot of fun and hopefully we can create together in 2022!

Stephanne Siberry
Acting Coordinator of Library Services - Prep - Year 4