I would like to thank parents and students for attending our Memorial Service for Karen last week. Reverend Rex Everett, Chaplain of Canberra Grammar School, helped us to plan the Service and undertook a leading role for us. Rex has our heartfelt thanks and I know that Paul, Sophie and their family were appreciative of his efforts.

As members of our School Community know, during this semester we have mourned not only the loss of Karen, but the loss of two parents of the School. Each has been a tragic loss for their families and members of the School community.

I would especially like to acknowledge our Director of Music, Mary Tatchell, our Music staff and students who participate in our choirs. Mary and a number of our students have provided beautiful music for three funerals and the Memorial Service. Each occasion has been particularly sad for Mary and the students but they have never wavered in their desire to sing beautifully and leave a lasting memory for the families affected.

Mary has told me that while this has been a sad and emotionally draining semester for herself and the students, she believes that this is a contribution we can make to our School families and colleagues. She and the students are sharing their gift with others and hopefully, they will find solace in their music.

I remain in awe of Mary Tatchell and our choirs who have given such a special gift to our families.

As part of our funding obligations, we have prepared a report of the 2006 school year for Federal Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) which will also be published on our School website for parents on 30 June.

The report provides an overview of the 2006 school year, documentation of the ‘Value-Added’ activities and actions which the School undertakes for our students. There is also information about staff retention, staff qualifications and professional development activities. Parents will find information about standardised testing in Years 3, 5 and 7, Year 12 median results and post-school destinations. Parents and students also participated in a School Satisfaction survey in 2006 and a summary of the resulting data is offered.

We have followed the mandated areas which DEST has asked schools to report upon.

In 2006, I attended the Independent Schools Council of Australia’s Conference in Hobart and one of the keynote speakers was Richard Chait, Professor of Higher Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has researched and written extensively about governance in non-profit organisations. Our CGGS Board is currently reading Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards, which was co-authored by Professor Chait, with William Ryan and Barbara Taylor.

"The following piece is an edited version of the presentation Professor Chait made at the ISCA Conference in 2006:

The holy grail of governance strategies in the recent past has been to define a division of labour between management and board that would hold for all purposes at all times. With this end in view, the board’s role has been codified and its tasks classified so that boards might do their work better and have procedural accountability for it.

The oversight or stewardship function of boards and their role in the formation of strategy is readily recognised, yet when governance is structured around a division of labour between the board and management with an emphasis on procedures then micromanagement, disengagement and dysfunction typically follow. This lack of effectiveness is often diagnosed as a performance problem when in fact our research shows that the problem is more likely to be one of purpose.

The potential of boards as a source of leadership has been the absent element of governance. If we shift our perspective on governance and the role of trustees to embrace leadership, then the holy grail of governance is a fusion of thinking between management and the board and performance accountability.

Governance as leadership aims to harness the collective mind or intellectual capital of the board to issues of consequence to the school. It aims to retain the board as a strategic asset to the school and make the work of the board more meaningful and engaging so that trustees derive greater fulfillment from their service.

Modes are the ways we think that affect how we organize and interpret what we see. We work in multiple modes every day. Effective leaders in particular are cognitively complex, able to switch between thinking in visionary mode, bureaucratic mode, managerial mode, political mode, entrepreneurial mode and so on.

Most boards only work in two modes, the fiduciary and strategic, and work most often only in the fiduciary mode. It is our argument that if boards are to do their best, and if organizations are to get the best out of boards, then boards must work in three modes- fiduciary, strategic and generative- and that the more boards work in the right mode in the right moment, the better their governance will be.

The fiduciary mode is the traditional, most familiar role of a board. In fiduciary mode the board fulfils its custodial function as steward of the tangible assets of the school, monitor of its legal and financial integrity and overseer of regulatory compliance and the school’s fidelity to mission.

In strategic mode the board thinks and acts like a comprehensive management consulting firm. It views the school in the context of its external environment and is aware of market forces and competitors. In partnership with senior management it develops, reviews and modifies the school’s strategic plan and monitors performance against it.

When we think generatively we are sifting, weighing and stitching together lots of cues and clues in order to make sense of circumstances. We are in generative mode when we are asking, What is happening here? How do I understand the larger picture? Boards must operate in generative mode to engage in meaning-making and problem-framing when confronting challenges rooted in values, traditions and beliefs.

Generative thinking is not the answer to every question or crisis. It certainly does not replace fiduciary and strategic thinking, but nor is it just for special occasions. It is in the generative mode that the board gets to make meaning before strategy and has the opportunity to contribute before issues are framed. In generative mode the board gets to decide what problems to address, not what solutions to impose.

• Fiduciary: Stewardship of tangible assets. Oversee operations; deploy resources widely; ensure legal and financial integrity; monitor results.
• Strategic: Partner with senior staff to scan internal and external environments; design and modify strategic plans; strengthen comparative advantage.
• Generative: Source of leadership to discern, frame and confront challenges rooted in values, traditions and beliefs; engage in sense-making, meaning-making and problem-framing."

Susan Just
Principal

Next week all students in the Senior School will receive an updated Colours and Awards Booklet which contains three completely new sections and a revised Co-curricular Colours and Awards section.

The Co-curricular section includes criteria for the recently included activities of Touch Football, Mountain Biking and Technical Production and revised criteria for a number of other activities. We have also streamlined and reviewed the Appeals process so that students are fully aware of what they need to do if they feel they have not been treated fairly in the awarding of Colours, Half Colours and Recognition for Service.

The three new sections are House Colours and Awards, Boarding House Colours and Awards and end of year special prizes for students in Years 10 and 12. Each section clearly delineates the grounds and criteria by which an award is made and the timing for those awards.

I would encourage all parents to familiarise themselves with the booklet and encourage their daughter to seek to achieve recognition for her efforts in all facets of school life. It is anticipated that after this year a hard copy of the booklet will only be given to students new to the School and an updated version will be stored in the public area of the Portal.

Whilst we are cognisant of the benefits of family holidays and in particular overseas ventures, I would ask all parents to consider carefully the implications on their children’s academic studies when request for leave is made during term time. We are very fortunate to be able to offer an extended holiday period mid year, however, it should not be assumed that the last week of this term is unimportant and that an even longer holiday should be sought. I thank all parents for their support in this matter.

Congratulations to Lydia Dobson (11W) on passing her AMEB AMusA exam in piano performance and on achieving an Associate Diploma of Music (Piano). Pictured left is Lydia at the presentation ceremony held at the University of New South Wales with Hannah Donohoe (2005) with her AMusA for violin performance.

Congratulations to Madeleine Barnett (10K) on being selelected to represent the ACT in the Girls U15s State Squash team. The team will compete over the weekend in Orange at Green Shields - the NSW/ACT regional squash tournament.

Fiona Godfrey
Deputy Principal/Head of Senior School

Schools are busy places where lots of learning takes place. There would be few who would disagree with that statement. Most of the learning that occurs at CGGS is intentional because that is what schools are for. As the semester is drawing to a close, I have commenced reading the student reports which parents will receive during the holidays. This is such a pleasure. So much work, so much achievement, so much learning. Parents, you should not be surprised at this as you have watched your child as he or she has progressively developed over the year. It is interesting, however, to think about how much of this learning happens because of the people we work and play with - instead of where we are. Every day and every night, on weekends and in the holidays, at school, at home, on the sporting field and at play, we are all learning.

Although I shouldn’t be, I am constantly surprised by just how much learning happens outside the classroom and how much happens without the need of a school. Watching some of our younger students play with their older mentors or buddies, I see people learning what friendship is all about, what sharing is about and what role models are really for. Listening to the music groups rehearse, I see the art of listening being learnt, the importance of collaboration and the value of comparing experience. We learn to be who we become from other people - our parents, our peers, role models, and sometimes authors or even from actors.

Sometimes we learn quite passively, we watch and listen and copy what we see, hear or read. At other times, we learn actively. We become involved at a simple level, develop our skills, maybe we compete. We compare ourselves with the best by striving to achieve what they have achieved. In the process we learn what they have had to learn.

Our newsletter is peppered with the record of achievements of our students in a raft of different pursuits. Some of these are for academic achievement but there are also students recognised for their involvement in other areas- sporting, musical, cultural and service. Our school recognises that education is about growth and learning in all these areas.

We take learning seriously at CGGS. It happens all the time. It doesn’t stop and start at the classroom door or the front gate. It is happening at the bus stop and in the bus where we learn to present ourselves with dignity and discipline and to follow safety rules. It is happening when we are out in the community where we learn to respect the space and property of others and in the playground and sporting venues where we learn to work together as we experiment with our own physical abilities.

The end of the school day, or school week, or school term is a break but never from learning. Learning is a lifetime pursuit.

It was an exciting time this week when the Year 6 students from Queenwood School for Girls, Mosman, arrived for their annual study tour of Canberra. For a number of years CGGS students of Year 6 and their families have billeted the Queenwood students on this annual trip. Whilst the days are filled with a variety of experiences in the Nation’s capital, such as visits to Parliament House, the National Museum, the AIS, the Electoral Offices and Questacon, the Queenwood group returned to CGGS with their teachers each afternoon to meet and be taken home by their host families. This is a wonderful experience for all concerned and we thank the Year 6 families who so generously offered to billet students from Queenwood. Hearing the enthusiastic remarks from students from both schools, it was obvious that some more enduring friendships may develop from this experience.

We are especially grateful to the parents who organised afternoon tea at Old Parliament House on Wednesday afternoon. It was a wonderful opportunity for all Year 6 students to gather with the Queenwood visitors as we had many more offers than were needed for billeting.

Later in the year our own students will visit Sydney on our own study tour, where they will stay with the Queenwood families.

This week a number of interested parents attended an evening at the School which gave them some further insights into how CGGS approaches the teaching of mathematics in the early years. Parents experienced some hands on activities and were given information to show how critical it is to lay strong foundations in this area.

Thank you to Damaris Patterson and the Junior Primary Staff for organising this successful Information Night.

Heather Ablett
Head of Junior School

• 17 Jun Connections Choir, Oaktree Foundation Concert, CGGS Hall, 7.30pm
• 18 Jun Y7 Music Recital, Music Centre Recital Room, 7pm
• 19 Jun Y8 Music Recital, Music Centre Recital Room, 7pm
• 19 Jun Y3 to Y6 English Assessment
• 20 Jun Guitar Orchestra ‘Guitar Fiesta’, Canberra Grammar School, 5.30pm
• 21 Jun Prep excursion to the Canberra Theatre
• 21 Jun Y9/10 Music Recital, Music Centre Recital Room, 7pm
• 21-22 Jun Y12 Economics overnight excursion to Sydney
• 22 Jun Y6 excursion to Parliament House
• 25 Jun Blue Mountains Grammar School visit and concert, CGGS Hall, 6pm
• 26 Jun Around the World in 60 Minutes Modern Languages students performances, Drama Centre, 7pm
• 27 & 28 Jun Junior School performance, Alice - The Musical, CGGS Hall, 7pm
• 28 Jun Year 4 Convict Capers
• 28 Jun Visit by Annette Ellis, MP to Year 6 Students
• 29 Jun Red Nose Day - Junior School SIDS ‘Coin Line’ Fundraiser
• 29 Jun Junior School End of Term Chapel Service, Chapel of the Annunciation, 2pm
• 29 Jun End of Term 2
• 1 Jul Life to the Full Family and Friends’ Chapel Service, Chapel of the Annunciation, 9am
• 23 Jul Start of Term 3

JUNIOR SCHOOL NOTICES
Excursion / Activity	Date Handed to Students	Permission Slip Return Date / Date of Activity	Staff Member / Department
Snow Sports x 2	8 June 2007	Permission Slip return by Wednesday 13 June. Competitions Wednesday 25 – 27 July	Amanda-Jo Birchall, Snowsports Coordinator
Student Representative Council Fundraiser – SIDS	14 June 2007	Friday 29 June 2007	Student Representative Council
Yr 1 Mathematics Activity	15 June 2007	N/A	Year 1 Class Teachers
Excursion to the Canberra Theatre My Grandma Lives in Gooligulch	14 June 2007	Thursday 21 June	Prep Class Teachers

 

SENIOR SCHOOL NOTICES
Excursion / Activity	Date Sent To Students/Parents	Date To Be Returned	Staff Member / Department
Combined Grammar Schools’ Guitar Orchestra tour to Sydney – 23-24 August	18 June	22 June	M Tatchell, Director of Music

More articles on School news, activities and events are available in the section ‘In the News’ on our website.

http://www.cggs.act.edu.au/pages/page416.asp

Featured articles this week:	Junior School Art News
ELC News	Kidsmatter News	MindMax News
Year 3 News	Year 5 News	Senior School Sport - Teams of the Week

P&F ASSOCIATION

Much fun was had by all at our movie night. Thanks to all who came and supported the event; to Belinda Kenyon (organiser extraordinaire!), and to Karen Chester and Jann Carroll for their work on the night. While we did not plan this event as a large fundraiser, Belinda managed to negotiate a very good rate for us with Greater Union, and we will make approximately $1200 from the event.

Our next big event will be a trivia night to be held at the Elizabeth McKay Aquatic Centre on Friday 31 August. Details to follow, but please mark this day in your diaries now.

Our budget for each year is approved at the Annual General Meeting in February. I thought you might be interested to see exactly what it is that the P&F is contributing to this year, so I have put the 2007 budget up on our section of the School website (purchases of over $140,000 - including interactive whiteboards, dressmakers’ dummies, shade protection and paving). We will buy these items over the course of the year. Towards the end of the year we ask for submissions for items for next year’s budget. It is your support of the P&F which enables us to make these contributions.

With thanks for your support.

Juliet Behrens
P&F President
email: PandF@cggs.act.edu.au t: 6161 8140 (h)