Once again, I extend a warm welcome to all our new students and families who are joining the community of The Illawarra Grammar School. I am experiencing the joy of this community for the first time too – I hope you feel as welcomed as I do!

Over the past few days, the staff at the School have been focusing on their academic preparation for the year ahead. We are excited to be proudly proclaiming our position as a grammar school with all the rigour and academic excellence that should accompany such a school. You will see a fresh determination among the staff to challenge our students cognitively without compromising the other offerings of the School. It is a joy to be involved in a school which is heading into the next stage of its teaching and learning journey.

The Calendars

As you may know, the School produces an annual calendar which, hopefully, contains dates which families can use for easy reference. The calendars for 2024 were posted out to parents over the Christmas break.

Unfortunately, the calendars that were sent home contain some errors, so I have made the decision to reproduce a new calendar which should be available to families in a few weeks’ time. In the meantime, the key dates for 2024 are listed below. Apart from improved accuracy, you will notice some other changes too, especially regarding the finish dates for Year 12 and the dates of the Staff Days. Please feel free to throw out the earlier version!

Key Dates for 2024

Term I

• Staff Days: Monday 29, Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 January
• Students return: Thursday 1 February
• Public Holiday: Friday 29 March, Good Friday and Monday 1 April, Easter Monday
• Term Ends: Friday 12 April
• Public Holiday: Thursday 25 April, ANZAC Day (Falls during holidays)

Term II

• Students return: Monday 29 April
• Staff Day: Friday 7 June
• Public Holiday: Monday 10 June King’s Birthday
• Term Ends: Friday 28 June

Term III

• Staff Day: Monday 22 July
• Students return: Tuesday 23 July
• Year 12 Finishes: Wednesday 25 September
• Term Ends: Friday 27 September
• Public Holiday: Monday 7 October Labour Day (Falls during holidays)

Term IV

• Students return: Monday 14 October
• Students finish: Wednesday 11 December
• Staff Days: Thursday 12 and Friday 13 December

Other Key Dates

• Year 12 Picnic – Tuesday 24 September
• Year 12 Graduation Ceremony – Wednesday 25 September
• Year 12 Valete Dinner – Wednesday 25 September
• Year 10 Formal – Friday 27 September
• A Christmas Celebration – Wednesday 4 December
• Infants Pageant – Friday 6 December
• JS Presentation Day – Monday 9 December
• SS Presentation Day – Wednesday 11 December

Attendance

Can I ask all parents to support the School in its mission to educate their children by ensuring that students attend school every day during term time, unless the student is unwell. Interestingly, attendance has often been shown as the main factor affecting academic success. Therefore, absence from school as a result of family holidays is unacceptable as it disrupts the learning of the absent student as well as the learning of the whole class. To maintain the integrity of assessments, we will be following NESA’s HSC guidelines in Years 7-12: assessments which are missed for reasons not associated with ill-health (and supported with a medical certificate) or school activities, will receive a zero result.

The school grounds are full of excited and enthusiastic students; we are in for a good term.