What a fabulous week of camps.  Years 3 to 6 students had the opportunity to attend overnight camps this week; for many student this was their very first sleepover. From the moment they arrived, students enthusiastically participated in team-building activities that fostered collaboration and problem-solving. Whether navigating outdoor challenges, testing their courage to try to rock climb or abseil, or working together during orienteering challenges, students demonstrated resilience, bravery and an encouraging attitude towards their peers. 

The camp was an opportunity for personal growth and connection. Students gained confidence as they stepped outside their comfort zones and built stronger relationships with peers and teachers alike. Many commented on how the experience helped them discover new skills and the opportunity to build more friendships. A heartfelt thank you to our dedicated Stage 2 and 3 staff who made this adventure possible.  A special thanks to Mrs Young (Stage 3 Coordinator) and Mrs Grace (Stage 2 Coordinator) for their careful organisation of both camps.

Current Year 5 families are invited to attend our upcoming Year 7 2026 Information Breakfast on Saturday 30 November, from 8.00am – 9.00am.

As you look ahead to a Senior School education for your child, we invite you to learn more about Year 7 and beyond at The Illawarra Grammar School.

Breakfast will be provided, followed by a presentation from our Principal, Dr Julie Greenhalgh, and Head of Senior School, Mr Nick Hackett

Students are welcome to attend also.

REGISTER HERE

As the holiday season approaches, we encourage families to promote safe and balanced use of technology at home. With extra time available during the break, children may spend more time online, making it vital to ensure their digital activities remain safe and age-appropriate. Consider setting clear boundaries around screen time and encouraging regular breaks to engage in other activities.  

Additionally, we recommend reviewing privacy settings on devices and platforms your child uses, ensuring they’re appropriate for their age. Encourage your child to use technology positively, whether it’s exploring educational apps or learning new skills. Open communication is key. Please talk to your child about their online experiences and remind them of the importance of respecting others and protecting their privacy in digital spaces. It is our hope that the holiday period provides a lovely balance of varied activities.

Marci Davis-Cook and Saxon Parrish (Year 12)

We’d like to congratulate Grace Russo, Charlee Ducat and Rena Hamut on the launch of The Student Voice. It’s an initiative that creates a fantastic opportunity for student collaboration and the celebration of achievements within our community. 

As your Head Prefects for 2024/2025, we want to encourage everyone to support fresh ideas like this and create new ones of their own. It’s about being involved, and there are some amazing opportunities for this coming up in the closing weeks of the 2024 school year. 

One of the highlights has to be The Great Race. This will bring the entire Senior School together in an extremely fun and competitive house environment at Jamberoo Action Park. Your new House Captains will aim to engrave their names in history as the winners of The Great Race 2024, with an emphasis on creating the best and most intimidating House chant. We are really excited to see how creative everyone can be. Given the enthusiasm we witnessed a few weeks ago, at the first-ever meeting of all the School’s leaders which included House and Academic Captains, the competition will be fierce. 

Your Houses will also need involvement and support in Term I of next year for a new initiative known as The Great Bake Off – a fundraising event, with money going towards the Year 12 Charity (soon to be announced). A huge congratulations must be given to the 2024 Year 12 cohort which raised $20,550 for their charity, Women Illawarra. It’s an achievement we will strive to surpass. On behalf of the Head Prefect team, we’d like to thank the previous School Captains for their guidance and support as we look forward to the next year of leaders at Illawarra Grammar.

Grace Russo (Year 10)

The Student Voice is a fortnightly segment in our school newsletter, showcasing talent across Years 7 to 12. The platform is designed to foster skills in writing, journalism and leadership while simultaneously promoting teamwork and creativity. Team members will play an integral role in creating content that informs and engages readers in 2025 and beyond.

Why Join the Team?

Being part of The Student Voice Team provides more than an opportunity to write. It allows students to hone their communication skills, build confidence in expressing their ideas and develop leadership capabilities. This experience offers practical knowledge of journalism and collaboration, helping participants grow both personally and academically.

What does the role involve?

As a team member, you will:

• Attend regular meetings to discuss and plan newsletter content
• Produce high-quality, original pieces that meet deadlines
• Collaborate with peers, sharing and receiving constructive feedback.

How to Apply

Applications are open to students in Years 7 to 10. To apply, submit the following:

1. A Letter of Interest (maximum 200 words): Introduce yourself, explain why you want to join and highlight your strengths.
2. A Sample Paragraph (maximum 150 words): Write on the topic: My involvement in ___ at TIGS and how it impacted my life. This could incorporate experiences such as school camps, sports or public speaking.

Email your application to studentvoice@tigs.com.au with the subject line: Application for The Student Voice – FULL NAME: Year __ (e.g. Application for The Student Voice – Charlee Ducat: Year 10). The deadline is 5.00 pm Monday 9 December 2024 (Week 9), no applications will be accepted after this date, due to tight time constraints. Applications open today (22 November 2024).

For any further questions, email the Editorial Team at studentvoice@tigs.com.au.

Jemima Hemmes and Charlee Ducat (Year 10)

Recognising that Stage 6 students do not have physical education included in their curriculum, Year 10 students, Charlee Ducat and Jemima Hemmes, under the guidance of Mrs Panozzo, have founded The Female Fitness Program. 

Launching in 2025, this initiative seeks to promote health and wellbeing while providing a positive and supportive environment where girls can learn safe and effective fitness practices.

Exercise is essential for maintaining a high quality of life. Research, such as the Harvard Health Publishing article from August 2024, demonstrates how exercise can enhance memory and cognitive function. This combined with studies displaying that female participation in sport significantly declines from around 15 years old due to barriers such as time constraints, other commitments, cost, fear of judgement, and concerns about body image and physical ability, have led to a need for an initiative that targets this demographic and offers an accessible option for Illawarra Grammar Senior students.

The Female Fitness Program aims to address these challenges by encouraging senior girls to engage in physical activity within an inclusive and supportive space. We believe that providing this opportunity will significantly increase physical activity participation among older girls.

Utilising the school gym, The Female Fitness Program will offer one-hour sessions every Thursday morning from 7.30 am – 8.30 am, starting in Term I 2025. The program will include guided activities designed to teach participants about gym safety, proper equipment use, and how to train specific fitness components. It will also offer participants some freedom to choose areas of focus, creating a personalised fitness experience.

If you are interested in getting involved, please email jpanozzo@tigs.com.au to express your interest.

Oliver Ducat (Year 7)

Toys ‘n’ Tucker is a 20-year-old Anglicare initiative that helps share Christmas joy and reflect God’s love by offering food and gifts to those in need. This year, the 2024 Year 7 cohort has connected with Anglicare, aiming to raise donations from across the School to support those in need in our community, celebrating Christ’s birth.

We intend to raise donations for items such as tinned ham, instant noodles, Christmas pudding, and preschool books (additional suggestions can be found below). You can donate these items during Mentor time, and they will be collected at the end of each week by Year 7 students. 

We hope to bring The Illawarra Grammar School community together to support the less fortunate in our area. 

Together we can make a difference.

We are asking students in each Year Group to bring in the following:

Prep: Christmas pudding, tinned ham, tinned soup, preschool picture books

Kindergarten: Lollies 200g (not chocolates),Cup of Soup, small tinned fish 95g, age appropriate games/toys

Year 1: 2-minute noodles, jelly packets, muesli bars, craft packs

Year 2: Christmas pudding, tinned ham and tinned soup, infants picture books

Year 3: Packet biscuits, tea, coffee, games for children

Year 4: Dried pasta, pasta sauce, toys for children

Year 5: Long-life milk, long-life custard, tinned fruit, tinned vegetables, sport equipment for children

Year 6: Tinned tuna, tinned salmon, sport equipment for children

Year 7: Christmas pudding, tinned ham and tinned soup, preschool picture books

Year 8: Packet biscuits, tea, coffee, games for children

Year 9: Dried pasta, pasta sauce, toys for children

Year 10: Long-life milk, long-life custard, tinned fruit, tinned vegetables, sport equipment for children

Year 12: Tinned tuna, tinned salmon, toiletry packs, sport equipment for teenagers

Rena Hamut (Year 10)

Whether you are already keen to join the technology industry, are beginning to show an interest or are firmly against it, one thing is indisputable: technology is impacting the future of careers for all of us. From software development to innovative start-up businesses, technology influences every career path. It’s not just about coding; fields like healthcare, education and entertainment are noticing significant changes due to technological advancements.

On Monday of Week 6, Year 10 students had the valuable opportunity to hear from a guest panel of experts who shared their personal journeys in the workforce and their firm’s recruitment process. Among the panellists was one of our own Illawarra Grammar School alumni, Ken Kencveski, whom Charlee Ducat and I had the privilege of interviewing.  

Ken Kencveski graduated from The Illawarra Grammar School in 2007 and went on to study at the University of Wollongong before joining his family’s automotive business, where he began his professional career. During a trip for his family’s business to a community of tech companies in Silicon Valley in the United States, he was introduced to a new world, giving him an insight into the potential of technology in the future. Inspired by this newfound information, Ken left the family business and launched the Devika Group to create his own technology-focused start-up.

Devika Group collaborates with experts in their field and leading technology organisations to facilitate transformations and develop solutions that leverage technology to build and grow companies. One of the key initiatives they have developed is the ‘Baseline Project’, an open-source software that is now freely accessible, without any copyright restrictions or costs. This software enables individuals and companies to readily access technology to grow and build their businesses.

When asked for advice on pursuing a career in the technology industry, Ken emphasised the abundance of online resources available, such as UDEMY, which offers $0-$100 courses. These courses teach you how to code and much more, to enable individuals to start learning right away without waiting for a tutor or university.

Kencveski took a business degree from UOW and developed it into a career in IT and software development which has culminated in his vast success including founding and running his own business. His story serves as an inspiration and a lesson for current students who want to take advantage of our technological age through their careers by learning from his story and the resources he has mentioned such as his own software Baseline Project and UDEMY.

Lucy Bernie (Year 10)

During the past two terms, Year 10 Drama has worked on the play adaptation of Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein. The story follows a young girl, Erica Yurken, from a middle-class Australian family, who are a bit quirky but filled with love. She meets the new girl in her grade, Alison Ashley who seems perfect: pretty, smart, and rich. Erica immediately hates her. As the play continues, Erica realises that she has more in common with Alison than she once thought and the two eventually become good friends.

As a group, we have been in charge of all aspects of producing this play: sets, costumes, lighting, stage management, and even blocking. We spent Term III designing and painting sets, collecting props and making costumes. With these aspects, it’s important to keep in mind the practicality of set pieces and costumes in particular. For example, many of us, myself included, play multiple characters and need costumes that are easy to change in and out of in short spaces of time. So, we chose costumes that could be layered like dressing gowns or loose-fitting shirts to make the transition between characters quick and efficient. 

In Term IV, we spent all our lessons and afternoon rehearsals honing our characters and perfecting scenes to create a smooth and seamless performance. This sometimes entailed running a scene over and over again to refine our performances. An incredible amount of time, effort and energy went into putting on this play and witnessing it finally come together during our two shows last week was such a fulfilling experience and filled me with much pride. We came together as a class and poured our hearts into Hating Alison Ashley and it, in turn, gifted us all with memories and skills we will cherish forever.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Mrs McLean and Mrs Panozzo for being such incredible mentors throughout the production of this play. Without them, this play simply would not have been possible and we are all so grateful for their support and faith in us as a class.

Aubrey Koll (Year 9)

Among the various opportunities at The Illawarra Grammar School, FISH (our Senior School Christian group) stands out as one of my favourites. Held on Tuesdays at lunch time, it provides a time for encouragement and fellowship, offering not only a deeper understanding of the Bible but also a stronger Christian faith.

I have been attending FISH since Year 7, and it has been truly inspiring to witness its growth over the years. It’s encouraging to see students from all year groups, both Christians and non-Christians, joining together to explore God’s plan for the world.

A typical meeting includes a lunch of chip sandwiches, followed by either a Bible talk or a small group study of a selected passage. We conclude with a light-hearted game and a time of prayer. What I value most is the opportunity to engage with God’s Word in fellowship with a diverse group of students from across the School.

Our team is also deeply involved with the Chapel leadership group, which is responsible for the planning, preparation, and leadership of many Chapel services throughout the year. We work closely with our three Chapel prefects – Claire Spicknall, Jack Carroll, and Harrison Deck – as well as Reverend Binggeli and Mr Williams, alongside other Year 9 and 10 students. Our roles include writing prayers, reading Bible passages, and preparing a segment called Chapel Spice. This segment is designed to engage the audience more interactively and can include a game, a video, or an interview. In the past, we have organised activities such as a head or tails competition, short videos and even sibling trust falls.

With the introduction of The Student Voice segment, our team plans to share insights from our weekly FISH gatherings and Chapel, along with Bible passages that we hope will inspire and encourage others. We look forward to sharing these in the upcoming newsletters.