RUST & NAVY

As many of you are aware, over the past two weeks I had the privilege of attending a conference in Manila that brought together school leaders from around the world who share a commitment to Character Education.

It was reaffirming to see that many of the best practices highlighted by global experts are already embedded in what we do at Tangara. At the same time, it was a valuable reminder to focus on what truly matters in forming young people, rather than being distracted by non-essential tasks.

The conference was also an opportunity to collaborate with our fellow Pared schools in Sydney, Melbourne, and internationally, including Kenya, Taiwan, and the Philippines. A special thanks to PAREF, our Filipino counterpart, for hosting such an enriching experience.

A key takeaway was that character education is central not only to our work at school but also at home. As Dr. Thomas Lickona, a leading expert in the field, reminds us: “The single most powerful tool you have to impact a student’s character is your own character.”

This challenges us all to reflect on how our words, actions, and attitudes shape the most important people in our lives - especially our children. How can we use this season of Lent to make sure we are setting the example we hope they will follow?

Want to find out how to be a better Dad?

At Tangara, our goal this year is to be more engaged parents, recognising the profound impact this has on our children’s growth and wellbeing. Fathers play an irreplaceable role in their families, providing strength, guidance, and love. Growing Hearts for Fathers - a day of reflection is a wonderful opportunity for dads to reflect on their role and reconnect with what truly matters. We encourage all fathers to take part in this initiative - because being present is the greatest gift you can give your family. Learn more here.

Laela Bou-Samra to Represent Tangara at National Constitutional Convention

From 25–27 March 2025, Year 12 student Laela Bou-Samra will join 120 students nationwide at the 30th National Schools Constitutional Convention (NSCC) in Canberra. This event allows students to engage with key constitutional issues and debates. We are incredibly proud of Laela for being selected to represent Tangara on this national stage and wish her all the best for this exciting opportunity!

Congratulations to Tangara’s Athletes

Congratulations to our talented athletes for their outstanding achievements in sports! A special mention to Nicole Gao for her selection in the CIS Primary Basketball team and to Lucia Assaf and Olivia Siau for setting new HZSA records in swimming. We also celebrate our Age Champions - Lucia Assaf, Isabella Assaf, and Olivia Siau - and the many students who have progressed to CIS and AICES across various sports. Your dedication and hard work are truly inspiring, and we wish you all the best in the next stages of competition!

Next week, we look forward to our Cross Country event. We encourage all our girls to give their best effort, push themselves, and focus on achieving their personal best. Good luck to everyone participating!

From the Chaplain

"As we suggested in the last Rust and Navy issue, Lent could be a time to do with deeper meaning what we already do. In order to do that, we would like to rediscover the sacrament of Penance as a personal encounter with Jesus.

Another essential feature in our Christian life is Sunday Mass. Saint John Paull II encouraged us, many years ago, to deepen in our experience of the Sunday as a day of rest and worship:

“Do not be afraid to give your time to Christ. Yes, let us open our time to Christ, that he may cast light upon it and give it direction. He is the One who knows the secret of time and the secret of eternity, and he gives us “his day” as an ever new gift of his love. The rediscovery of this day is a grace which we must implore, not only so that we may live the demands of faith to the full, but also so that we may respond concretely to the deepest human yearnings. Time given to Christ is never time lost, but is rather time gained, so that our relationships and indeed our whole life may become more profoundly human."

It could be a beautiful way of living this Lent to look after our attendance to Sunday Mass. It is a matter of small things: arriving some minutes before, trying to follow up the rites with love and spending what our generosity dictates to us in thanksgiving after the Mass."

Fr Paul Muller
Chaplain

From the Infants School

Mrs Sharon McAuliffe, Head of Infants

Last week we had a special visit from Camp Quality, who presented an engaging and age-appropriate puppet show to help explain childhood cancer in a way that children could understand.

‘The puppets were so nice and friendly, and I liked how Tom tried to make his sister feel better.’ Year 1 Student

‘Tom the puppet is a good brother to Ariel.’ Kindergarten student

Pancake Tuesday

Infants have been preparing for the season of Lent, beginning with Shrove Tuesday—also known as Pancake Tuesday. The children learned that “Shrove” comes from the word “Shriven,” meaning to seek forgiveness. They also discovered the origins of pancakes and, of course, enjoyed the tradition of decorating and eating them!

Ash Wednesday

On Ash Wednesday, we welcomed Fr. Paul and Fr. Frank, who shared the significance of this special day and distributed ashes to the children. We were reminded that without Jesus we would not be able to go to Heaven.

Project Compassion

As we enter the Lenten season, we are encouraging students to take part in an initiative by Caritas Australia. Students are invited to bring in $5 to buy a water droplet, which will be added to our large “Tapitas Wall Display”. This money will be donated to communities who are without clean drinking water.

We are also having a Gold Coin Colouring-In competition for our ‘artists in residence’. This competition will close on Friday 4 April and our Prep, Kindergarten and Year 1 winning artists will be announced Wednesday 9 April. All money raised will go to Project Compassion.

St Patrick’s Day

On Monday 17 March, Infants will be celebrating St Patrick's Day. Children are invited to wear their full sports uniform with a ‘Splash of Green’. This could include green play hats or green hair accessories.

We will be learning about the life of St Patrick and how he taught the Irish people about God. We will hear how St Patrick helped to explain the mystery of ‘The Blessed Trinity’ using the simple shamrock.

The Big Vegie Crunch

As we enter March, we are focusing on healthy eating and the importance of packing a nutritious lunchbox filled with vegetables and fruit. We’ve started this initiative with a “crunch,” encouraging children to make great food choices for their growing bodies!

News from 1 Rust

This term, 1 Rust has been reading a variety of picture books. We are learning new vocabulary and the different features of fiction texts. We have been trying very hard to recall the events of the texts, as we write a story recount. One of the stories we read was “Edward the Emu”. We were very excited to present this story at our Assembly.

From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

Mrs Mia Dineen, Head of Junior School

Collaborating with the Senior Students

We have been busy working with our Senior School leaders to create more opportunities for Senior and Junior School students to collaborate. We’re excited to expand the Big Sister Program into the Primary School later this term and are laying the foundation for additional opportunities to learn from our Senior students. Stay tuned for more details!

Motto Café

As part of this month’s Motto Café, Mrs. Suzan Smith will be discussing a new program that is running in the Primary School. The Rock & Water program focuses on increasing self-awareness, helping students identify their personal strengths and abilities and teaching them how to collaborate, play and live harmoniously with others.

Lenten Offering

Our Senior Captains led an insightful Assembly on Friday, where they shared information about Caritas, Project Compassion and the significance of Lent. The students are exploring the meanings of Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving during this season. We encourage students to engage in conversations with their families about meaningful ways to observe and live out Lent. Each class has a Project Compassion Collection Box and the class who raises the most money each fortnight will be awarded the Cup of Kindness.

Congratulations

Well done to the students who represented Tangara at the HZSA Swimming Carnival last week. These students represented our school beautifully and achieved some wonderful results. More details later in the Rust and Navy.

St Patrick’s Feast Day

Wishing all our families a fabulous St Patrick's Day on Monday!

GIVE Grow In Virtue Every day

GROW IN VIRTUE EVERYDAY

The virtue we have been learning about in the Junior School is, Helpfulness.

Helpfulness (service) means to do something for another person or group, even though you may not get anything in return. This assistance can be voluntary, a paid skill or a simple act of kindness. Helpfulness reflects a conviction that others are always important and selfishness is always wrong.

I am practicing helpfulness when I:

· Notice when someone needs help

· Do a service without being asked

· Give people what they need, not always what they want

· Listen to someone who needs to talk

· Ask for help when I need it

How does Helpfulness fit in with outher virtues?

Hard Work

· Citizenship

· Leadership

· Community Spirit

· Teamwork

· Helpfulness

· Service

· Generosity

For older students:

😊When was the last time I helped someone without expecting anything in return?

😊How can I make a difference in my classroom this week?

😊Are there any school or community groups I am interested in helping with?

STEAM in 5 Navy

In primary classrooms from weeks 4-10 this term our Stage 3 girls have been enthusiastically engaged in ‘hands on digital tasks’ in STEAM for Science and Technologylessons.

STEAMstands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.

Our Sammat Education teacher, Mrs Corrine Harvey-Phillips, teaches us to be creative, engaged, inspiring and enthusiastic learners. With the power to excite our inner selves within the realms of coding and design.

This week in lesson 4 the Year 5 students have used a website called micro bit make codewith chrome books in our classrooms. So far, the Year 5 students have designed a flashing red heart, sound activated lights, motion fans for their SMART home designs. The girls have been using block coding to create their mini projects. They must use the colour-coded blocks to create a program and problem solve or "debug" their code to allow their lights and fans to work.

Years 5 and 6 have been working towards making their Smart Homes this term. They have created a set of voice activated lights and a temperature-controlled fan. Beginning in week 7, they will begin constructing their Smart Homes using the components which they have been learning about and using recyclable materials to design and create their projects.

When creating their Smart Homes, Year 5 girls will use this coding knowledge to design and make a home with their group that will showcase their coding skills and knowledge of the Smart Home Kit that they have been using throughout the term.

In period 4 each Monday for 5 Navy girls there is a definite and enthusiastic buzz in the air. For the next hour girls are hands on coding, designing and creating a multi-disciplinary approach to learning. Which goes beyond the constraints of exercise books and recording their learning in the printed handwriting domain. Each week a new learning skill is taught, designed and created so the students’ ideas reflect the contemporary and digital world we all live in.

Quite possibly we may have some future engineers and architects plus designers in our midst.

Watch out world!

These photos are quick snippets of scenes from learning together as a TEAMin our STEAMlessons this term.

Mrs Jayne van Koeverden
Year 5N Teacher

From the Secondary School

Happenings in the Secondary School

Mrs Fleur Wilson, Head of Secondary School

We are now more than half way through the term and our Secondary girls have been busy both in and out of the classroom over the past fortnight. Our Co-Curricular Sport and Music programs are in full swing, our Debaters have shown a great improvement in their skills with a number of convincing wins now on the board, our Mock Trial team are busy preparing for their first case and we have also had success in the sporting arena with a large number of girls from numerous year groups representing Tangara in Basketball, Tennis and Swimming, all within the last two weeks! It has been fantastic to see so many girls involved in the wide range of activities in which we have on offer.

Some highlights and events from the past fortnight for Secondary have been:

HZ Swimming Carnival
Ash Wednesday Mass
UNSW visit
HZ Rep Trial Day
First Friday Vigil
ISDA Debating - Rounds 3 and 4
AICES 16's Basketball
Year 11 and 12 Art Express Excursion
NAPLAN for Years 7 and 9
Year 10 Ethics Olympiad Training Day

Congratulations to all of our Secondary students who were awarded Merits at our Assembly last week and we continue to encourage each student to achieve her personal best. We also congratulate our newly appointed 2025 Secondary Class Leaders, who were also announced last week:

7N - Marice D and Penelope W

7R - Sienna N and Vanessa S

8N - Sonya S and Sohana S

8R - Therese K and Clara M

9N - Chelsy B and Madelyn G

9R - Olivia D and Abigail M

10N - Mary-Jaclyn G and Ruby S

10R - Elizabeth A and Ellen A

11N - Grace F and Isabelle S

11R - Claire C and Sarah M

We look forward to celebrating many more achievements in the coming weeks!

University of New South Wales Visit

Mrs Kathryn Mitchell, Senior Geography Teacher, ICT Curriculum Coordinator and Careers Advisor

Last week, our senior students had the exciting opportunity to engage with representatives from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) during an insightful school visit and talk. The event was a tremendous success, providing students with valuable information about university life, course options, and pathways to higher education.

Creative and Performing Arts

BUY TICKETS NOW

We are excited to announce that tickets for our upcoming production of High School Musical are now available! This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to showcase their talent and hard work, and we hope to see all of you there!

We encourage you to book your tickets early, as we anticipate a high demand for this popular show.

We look forward to an unforgettable performance!

BUY TICKETS NOW

Sports

HZSA Primary and Secondary Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to the following students who represented Tangara at the HZSA Primary and Secondary Swimming Carnival on Monday 3rd March. There were some brilliant performances across all age groups.

Primary

Lucia Assaf
Joy Bowen
Eva Eckersley
Sienna James
Mary Kazzi
Lydia Kim
Maria Kim
Jane Kim
Catherine Kim
Yustina Kwak
Isabella Nisbet
Leanne Park
Lottie Sebire
Taixi Zhang

A special congratulations is extended to Lucia Assaf who was 12-13 Girls Age Champion Runners Up and whom also broke the HZSA record for the 12-13 Years 50m Backstroke!

Secondary

Alanna Abouhamad
Isabella Assaf
Amelie Assaf
Anya Dudson
Taylor Jane Haifa
Emily Kwon
Georgette Limbers
Clara Mulkeen-Suarez
Olivia Siau
Amelia Ting
Emma Zagari

A special congratulations is extended to Isabella Assaf (14 Years) and Olivia Siau (17 Years) who were both Age Champions. Olivia also broke the HZSA record for 17 Years 200m Freestyle!

Congratulations to all swimmers who have progressed to CIS and AICES. Good luck at the upcoming carnivals!

Cross Country

The Tangara Cross Country will be held on the school grounds on Thursday March 20th.

Please see the schedule below. All welcome!

SECONDARY
Distance	Age	Year	Time
6km	18 years	12	9.00am
3km	12 & 13 years	7 & 8	9.00am
4km	14 years	8 & 9	9.15am
4km	15 years	9 & 10	9.35am
4km	16 & 17 years	10, 11 & 12	10.00am
PRIMARY
2km	10 years	4 & 5	10.35am
3km	11 years	5 & 6	10.55am
2km	7 & 8 years	2 & 3	11.20am
2km	9 years	3 & 4	11.40am
3km	12 years	6	12.00pm

CIS Primary Girls Basketball

Congratulations to Nicole Gao (Year 5) who was selected for the CIS Primary Girls Basketball Team.

This is an outstanding achievement and we wish Nicole the best of luck at the NSWPSSA Girls Basketball Championships in June.

HZSA Representative Trials

Congratulations to all students who attended the HZSA Representative Trial days.

A special congratulations to the following students who were selected:

Yumin Oh (HZSA 16's Basketball)
Anastasia Limbers (HZSA 18's Basketball)
Mary Vieira (HZSA 18's Basketball)
Jaime Saliba (HZSA Open Netball)

The basketball teams competed at AICES on Tuesday 11th & Wednesday 12 March with both teams finishing in third against very strong oppositions.

Congratulations!

Lucianna's work selected for Art Express 2025

Art Express 2025 has officially opened and Lucianna B’s work was selected as part of the 214 artworks selected in NSW ( from more than 8000 HSC submissions and 500 nominations) to be exhibited in this year's HSC Art Express Exhibition. Lucy’s work is currently on display at the Hazelhurst Art Gallery in Gymea and will remain on display there until 13th April this year. https://hazelhurst.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/exhibition-calendar-event-assets/2025/artexpress-2026

This gallery will receive thousands of visitors during this time, including hundreds of school groups from around NSW. We congratulate Lucy for her wonderful work and for making Tangara proud.

Community Notices

Fatherhood isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being present.

Every dad wants to be there for his family, but it’s not always clear how to do it best. Take a day to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what truly matters.
Fatherhood isn’t about being perfect—
it’s about being present.

Find out more: Growing Hearts for Fathers

BOOK NOW TO ATTEND

Extend

CDS NSW Hills Bus Changes

Changes to school services for Tangara School for Girls will commence Monday 24 March 2024, and include;

Route 3138 will start 8 minutes earlier from West Pennant Hills

Please find attached the updated school bus advice.

Announcements

Engage Quick Links

Click here to access Engage

Click on the links below to complete the relevant forms in Engage:
● To update your contact details
● Submit an Absentee Form
● Submit an Extended Leave Form(for holidays, weddings, etc.)
● Submit an Exemption From School Form (for external activities, medical appointments, funerals etc.)
● Submit a Report a Positive COVID Test Result

For more information on using the Engage Parent Portal please go to our Parent Portal Resource Site

Parent Handbook

Click here to access helpful contact details, procedures and school policies for parents during your child's education at Tangara

Topics include:
● Student Attendance and Travel
● School Uniform Guides
● Carline Drop-off and Pick-up Procedures
● Academic and Co-Curricular Programs

2025 Term Dates

● Term 1: Monday 3 February - Friday 11 April
● Term 2: Tuesday 29 April - Friday 27 June
● Term 3: Wednesday 23 July - Friday 26 September
● Term 4: Tuesday 14 October - Wednesday 10 December

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In This Issue

From the Principal

From the Chaplain

From the Infants School

From the Junior School

From the Secondary School

Creative and Performing Arts

Sports

Congratulations!

Community Notices

From the Principal

From the Principal

From the Principal

From the Chaplain

From the Chaplain

From the Chaplain

From the Infants School

From the Infants School