This week the School was visited by the Rev Dr Andrew Katay. Dr Katay has served as Chaplain to Sydney University and is currently the Senior Minister of Christ Church Inner West (a multi-site church in Sydney’s Inner West), as well as CEO of City to City Australia, a church planting and leadership development agency.  

Dr Katay spoke to our Year 12 students for the first of a four-part series we have titled ‘Life in Four Dimensions’. The series aims to show how right relationship with God sets the conditions for right relationships with others, the world, and ourselves; it is the path to a flourishing life.

Dr Katay fully engaged our Year 12 students with a challenging but accessible presentation. He spoke about his own spiritual pathway which has seen him come to appreciate and accept the answers to the big questions of life contained within the Christian story. Dr Katay discussed imposing topics such as the origins of the universe, the nature and necessity of worship and the appropriate grounds for justice. Throughout the seminar, students were given a range of thought exercises to help them engage with the learning. Afterwards, Dr Katay remarked on the astuteness of our students’ contributions and the boldness with which they expressed their thinking.

In the afternoon, Dr Katay led a seminar for staff unpacking the essence of Anglican education. Anglican education was shown to be a subset of Christian education which anchors the theory and practice of teaching and learning within the larger narrative of the Bible. We were reminded that there is no neutral ground when interpreting the data of the universe and that if we do not accept the Christian story, it is because we have adopted another story. Dr Katay suggested that the genius of Anglican education was an attempt to hold all elements of the Christian story together in its application to the business of schooling. It was a thought-provoking concept.

Both staff and students have commented on the value of Dr Katay’s presentations. We have been left with much to consider and discuss. 

The ‘Youth Mayor’ initiative provides young people from across NSW with the opportunity to create a campaign, identify their aims and to put themselves forward to be selected to represent the young people of their area.  Over the coming weeks, volunteers from the Electoral Commission and the Federation for Young Australians will be providing students from across the Illawarra with an authentic experience of taking part in a public vote for the Youth Mayor, Wollongong. On Tuesday 12 November, Illawarra Grammar will be a playing host. In readiness for their participation, students in Humanities classes this week have been discussing the importance of the democratic process – a particularly relevant topic in this week of the American elections.

We are particularly supportive of one candidate for Youth Mayor, Wollongong – our very own Deputy Head Prefect, Alyssa Jeffries! I look forward to sharing further updates about her progress in due course.

Charlee Ducat, Rena Hamut and Grace Russo – Year 10 Students

As members of the student body at The Illawarra Grammar School, we acknowledge the potential, ingenuity and range of perspectives from our fellow students and we are honoured to introduce ourselves as the founders and editorial team behind The Student Voice, a newly founded initiative, created by students, for students. This seeks to further incorporate the student body perspective and to develop students’ skills in editorial and literature work.

As a team of three from Year 10, our objective is to enhance student leadership, promote active involvement, and encourage collaboration across various year groups. Under the guidance of Ms Crombie, we are excited to bring forward a platform that allows students across our School to share school notices, showcase their talents, celebrate achievements, and feature inspirational interviews with the school community.

As the Student Voice continues to grow, we aim to expand our team across other year groups, broadening the perspectives within our segment. We look forward to collaborating with those interested in applying in the near future, to apply please email studentvoice@tigs.com.au.

We hope you enjoyed the brief introduction, and we look forward to the next newsletter.

Editorial Team – Student Voice

During Week 6 (18 and 19 November), Year 10 students will be spending two days focusing on their preparation for university and workplace interviews during two intensive days of learning.

Students will be hearing from experts in the field of HR and provided with tips and strategies to help make a strong impression and to differentiate themselves from other applicants in a positive way. They will also benefit from the wisdom and insights of a panel of local business and employment experts as well as Illawarra Grammar alumni who will be visiting to share their experiences of university and the workplace since graduating from our School. Students will also take part in virtual work experiences, undertake peer interviews and formal mock interviews with members of the local business community. The feedback they receive from these interviews and the learning throughout the two days should be most useful to these students over the important years ahead.

In recent weeks, our new House Captains have been put straight into action as they start to prepare their Houses for the hotly-contested Great Race 2024. Every Wednesday during the coming weeks these students, supported by their House Teachers and Patrons, are working hard to create what they hope will be a winning haka routine involving the participation of every student in their House. We are greatly looking forward to this last competitive House competition of the year, taking place on Friday 29 November.

At Illawarra Grammar, we have longstanding policies in place to ensure that mobile phones and connected technologies are not allowed to hinder student engagement. A year ago, the NSW government put in place policies that saw their schools following suit. The findings of a recent survey, reporting on the impact of this change, will not come as a great surprise to many: 86% of schools surveyed reported seeing an improvement in socialising and there were similarly positive impacts on learning and student engagement. At Illawarra Grammar, the absence of distracting technologies is foundational to strong learning and teaching; our warm and engaging community is built on the respectful and productive relationships and interactions that can be found in every classroom and corridor throughout any given day.

Any mobile phone or smartwatch a student wishes to bring into School is expected to be securely stored in lockers during the School day and this is inclusive of Recess and Lunch. In line with our policies and expectations on all students, mobile phones are not to be used for payment of food from the canteen. There are a range of payment options available, including bank cards, cash or pre-payment via Flexischools. Your support of the School in this regard is greatly appreciated.