Teaching Respect

As a child, I belonged to the Brownies. I distinctly remember being expected to stand proudly and still during the singing of the National Anthem. To this day, I automatically stand straight, arms by my side with my eyes looking forward as soon as I hear the first notes of “Australians all let us rejoice”.

At Illawarra Grammar, I am very grateful to the staff who go out of their way to teach respect to our students. Students wear their blazers to Chapel and Assembly, the students are directed to pull their hands out of their pockets during services such as our Anzac Day service, they are asked to stand still during the Acknowledgement of Country, all staff and coaches must be addressed by their names rather than a nickname, and so on.

I hope our young men and women recall these important lessons and continue to demonstrate respect in these little but important ways when they are older, and thank their teachers.

C Block

Each holidays, our Property team does work around the grounds so that students notice an improvement when they return to school. At Christmas time, it was the renovation of the IGC bathrooms and, last holidays, it was the establishment of a new garden outside Rees Hall.

These holidays, the C Block is being renovated to make more efficient use of the building’s space, and to allow the Senior School students more ready access to the executive staff.

As well as wanting to increase the ease with which students can communicate with their senior teachers, these renovations mark the beginning of our attempt to make better use of space in the school buildings. More details about upcoming building work will be available in the next newsletter.

Year 12 Trivia Night

Thank you to all parents who supported our Year 12 cohort in their fund-raising efforts for the organisation, Women Illawarra, last Friday night. As a result of much hard work from students and staff, $12,830 was raised by our students. Well done to all involved.

Production

The Senior School production, Strictly Ballroom, is well underway. The Senior School was given a sneak preview in Assembly last week, and the music is clearly going to be sensational.

After much thought and discussion with the relevant staff, it has been decided to make the production in 2025 a “hybrid” production that will include some students in Years 5 and 6. We have so much performance talent in our Junior School that it seemed appropriate to give these younger students an opportunity to be included in the School’s annual production.

But in the meantime, please purchase your tickets for this year’s musical.