middle school
by Jennifer McGie
Important correspondence
Term 3 is a very busy time for the Middle School as we prepare for the expedition experiences in Term 4, look towards subject selection and the construction of classes in 2010 and allocate our Year 9 students to their term on King Island.
Important letters from the school, requiring your attention and response, have already started to be sent home. These letters include:
1 Castlemaine Secondary – A
Score 24
Players 9
2 Maryborough Education Ctr
Score 19˝
Players 9
3 Ballarat Grammar
Score 19˝
Players 7
4 Ballarat Clarendon College
Score 16˝
Players 7
5 Castlemaine Secondary - B
Score 15˝
Players 14
6 Damascus - Junior School
Score 14˝
Players 6
7 Sebastopol College
Score13˝
Players 13
Individual Scores
LITTLE, Damien
Year 7
Score 3.5
BICKERTON, Thomas
Year 6
Score 4
BOWMAN, Liam
Year 6
Score 3.5
GIBNEY, Tom
Year 6
Score 3.5
BLENKIRON, Angus
Year 4
Score5.5
COLLINS, Andrew
Year 5
Score 2.5
SAUNDERS, Jonah
Year 4
Score 2
The courageous BCC crew chessed it out with chivalrously calculated conviction in the western zone Secondary Chess Kids tournament held at Ballarat Grammar. Schools took the journey from as far away as Maryborough and Castlemaine to take part in the event, which was highly anticipated and eagerly contested. Local schools such as Damascus, Loreto, Sebastopol and traditional rivals Grammar also took part, giving the event a heightened sense of competition with an opportunity available for the winning school to take a team to the State finals in October. The atmosphere, while very friendly and almost casual in its fun-filled social joviality, contained a hidden vibrant intensity, a desire to push one's mental muscles to the limits and to do well while representing one's school.
Collectively the Castlemaine Secondary A team were the class act of the tournament, winning overall with a score of 24 from the close fight for second and third place, which was only decided on countback to Maryborough Education Centre from hosts Ballarat Grammar, both on scores of 19.5. The humble group of young lads from Clarendon College battled with valiant purpose and at the last round were a mere point behind third overall. Alas, however, we would have to accept fourth place out of seven with a combined final score of 16.5, which is nonetheless a very strong performance when one considers that this is only our second real tournament together! Players will have reaped valuable experience from the event and will no doubt be able to apply this in future endeavours.
Overall scores are decided by adding up the top four scores for each team. Thus, here is a short insight into the achievements of the individual members that made up our team:
While starting slowly at first in getting a feel for the event, quietly confident Angus Blenkiron came home like a proverbial steam train in scoring 5.5 out of 7. This was the top individual score for our school and earned the affable Angus a certificate of distinction. Anyone caught lingering on the black and white tracks when the 'Gus Express’ was rolling through with thunderous fury was irrefutably crushed and soundly checkmated as he demonstrated wonderful technical skills in winning the last five games in a row! This fine flourishing finish gave him 5th individually overall out of 65. An absolutely astounding effort, Angus!
In an early sign of his good form, experienced campaigner Thomas Bickerton soundly dispatched his coach in a warm-up game with a forced rook-and-bishop-mating sequence. True to that form, Thomas showed a classical tactical wit and a remarkable calm poise at the board throughout the day, scoring a gallant 4 out of 7, increasing his individual rating by 172 points and finishing 21st out of 65. Thomas proudly carried his book-like travel chess set around with him at all times, a prize for his recent puzzle-solving ability in class. His successes in this tournament are a tribute to such progress, emphasising the ability of chess to enliven young minds. A top-notch effort, Bickers!
Crafty captain of our class, Damien Little, won his first two games in a wild flurry of sacrificial and combinational might. This has always been one of the signatures of his game - the ability to break down defensive barriers quickly and burst through with surprising mating attacks against the enemy king. Although he found the latter part of the tournament tough in getting up to the higher boards, our aggressively focused captain still managed to improve his rating by 139 points and finish as one of our top-four scorers with 3.5 out of 7. Damien was visibly disappointed with this yet, despite these strong expectations of himself, still performed admirably. He carried the creed of "never give up" constantly, something which readily shows in his games. Don't be too hard on yourself Damo, you're still our captain!
Conjointly completing the top four scorers on 3.5 out of 7 was the ever ebullient Tom Gibney and the energetically eccentric Liam Bowman. Both players played in games that featured what looked like completely lost positions but fought on with keenly strong intentions. By being willing to face defeat and stare upon it, their efforts were duly rewarded with a draw. Tom was two rooks down and fought so hard that his opponent buckled with time pressure and blundered the advantage, while Liam, in the final round, steered his king jubilantly onward despite a larger onrush of attackers and cleverly confused his opponent into a stalemate. Tom's play is characterised by a dashing joyful kind of aggression, while Liam, an infrequent visitor to the club this year, has shown a genuine intellectual curiosity and likes to forward both his observations and questions on the game in an engaging manner. Both players add vital ingredients to the culture of the club and gave strong performances. Three cheers for both Tom and Liam!
Our most junior members Jonah Saunders and Andrew Collins, the former playing in his first-ever chess tournament, found the going quite tough but were both rewarded with richly resilient learning experiences that encompassed the entire day, with Andrew showing an enraptured steely-eyed determination and Jonah illustrating his shyly articulate creativity over the board of sixty-four squares. They scored 2.5 and 2 out of 7 respectively and represent the true foundations of our slowly growing chess club. Well done to both Jonah and Andrew - keep practising guys!
Missing from the intrepid group was aristocratic charmer John Kent and the consistently insightful and talented Roy Li. Both young gentlemen would be a dearly welcome addition to the team when Clarendon hosts a tournament of our own in September. Some of the winning schools, including Castlemaine Secondary College, will surely make a return journey and we yearn to once again face their challenge.
Look out for that one and support us if you can!
Rob Bailey – Ballarat Clarendon Chess Coach
Important correspondence
Term 3 is a very busy time for the Middle School as we prepare for the expedition experiences in Term 4, look towards subject selection and the construction of classes in 2010 and allocate our Year 9 students to their term on King Island.
Important letters from the school, requiring your attention and response, have already started to be sent home. These letters include:
- Year 7 and Year 8 T4 King Island experience information which alerts you to the dates that your child will attend King Island next term, provides a rationale for the week-long program and includes a gear list. The King Island Information Evening, conducted by Ms Cathy Marchmont-Barlow, will be held on Thursday 3 September in the new Senior Centre lecture theatre. This correspondence also includes a critical health information document which needs to be checked, amended if required, and returned to the Middle School Office by Monday 17 August.
- Parents of current Year 8 students also will receive correspondence relating to LOTE/ English Extension/Mathematics Extension choices as well as Visual Arts and Performing Arts selections for the 2010 academic year. Students will be receiving a briefing from Ms Ginelle Polanske, Head of Visual Arts, and Mr Steven Belcher, Head of Performing Arts, to ensure that students have the details required to make informed decisions about their subject selection. Students should take the opportunity to speak with their Japanese or German teachers about the Year 9 curriculum in order to ensure that they are clear about the direction they could take by studying a LOTE. These documents must be returned to the Middle School Office by Monday 17 August.
- Parents of Year 8 students also will be asked to indicate one of the three King Island terms in 2010 when their child is unable to participate in the King Island program. Obviously all families live busy lives and it is imperative that we allocate students to a term that is appropriate for their academic, social and emotional wellbeing as well as balancing the needs of the family. This form must be returned to the Middle School Office by Monday 17 August.
- Year 8 students also will receive a request for expression of interest in the 2009/10 Thailand exchange with students from the Harrow School in Bangkok. This very successful program has run over a number of years and we look forward to another rewarding international experience for both our students in November 2009 and the Harrow students in June/July 2010. Selection for this experience would also impact on King Island 2010 term options as students are expected to host the returning Harrow students in Term 2. Expression of Interest must be returned to the Middle School Office by Monday 17 August.
- Parents of current Year 7 students will receive correspondence requesting information about LOTE/English Extension/Mathematics Extension choices in 2010. Students should take the opportunity to speak with their Japanese or German teachers about the Year 8 curriculum to support their decision making. This information is required to be returned to the Middle School Office by Monday 17 August.
- Parents of current Year 6 students will receive correspondence requesting information about LOTE/English Support options in 2010. Students will be receiving a briefing from Ms Sophie Bingley, Head of LOTE, and her team of Japanese and German teachers, to ensure that students have the details required to make informed decisions about their subject selection. For some students the option of studying a LOTE must be weighed against their English/Literacy needs. These decisions will need to be fully discussed before allocating students to classes for 2010. This document must be returned to the Middle School Office by Monday 17 August
1 Castlemaine Secondary – A
Score 24
Players 9
2 Maryborough Education Ctr
Score 19˝
Players 9
3 Ballarat Grammar
Score 19˝
Players 7
4 Ballarat Clarendon College
Score 16˝
Players 7
5 Castlemaine Secondary - B
Score 15˝
Players 14
6 Damascus - Junior School
Score 14˝
Players 6
7 Sebastopol College
Score13˝
Players 13
Individual Scores
LITTLE, Damien
Year 7
Score 3.5
BICKERTON, Thomas
Year 6
Score 4
BOWMAN, Liam
Year 6
Score 3.5
GIBNEY, Tom
Year 6
Score 3.5
BLENKIRON, Angus
Year 4
Score5.5
COLLINS, Andrew
Year 5
Score 2.5
SAUNDERS, Jonah
Year 4
Score 2
The courageous BCC crew chessed it out with chivalrously calculated conviction in the western zone Secondary Chess Kids tournament held at Ballarat Grammar. Schools took the journey from as far away as Maryborough and Castlemaine to take part in the event, which was highly anticipated and eagerly contested. Local schools such as Damascus, Loreto, Sebastopol and traditional rivals Grammar also took part, giving the event a heightened sense of competition with an opportunity available for the winning school to take a team to the State finals in October. The atmosphere, while very friendly and almost casual in its fun-filled social joviality, contained a hidden vibrant intensity, a desire to push one's mental muscles to the limits and to do well while representing one's school.
Collectively the Castlemaine Secondary A team were the class act of the tournament, winning overall with a score of 24 from the close fight for second and third place, which was only decided on countback to Maryborough Education Centre from hosts Ballarat Grammar, both on scores of 19.5. The humble group of young lads from Clarendon College battled with valiant purpose and at the last round were a mere point behind third overall. Alas, however, we would have to accept fourth place out of seven with a combined final score of 16.5, which is nonetheless a very strong performance when one considers that this is only our second real tournament together! Players will have reaped valuable experience from the event and will no doubt be able to apply this in future endeavours.
Overall scores are decided by adding up the top four scores for each team. Thus, here is a short insight into the achievements of the individual members that made up our team:
While starting slowly at first in getting a feel for the event, quietly confident Angus Blenkiron came home like a proverbial steam train in scoring 5.5 out of 7. This was the top individual score for our school and earned the affable Angus a certificate of distinction. Anyone caught lingering on the black and white tracks when the 'Gus Express’ was rolling through with thunderous fury was irrefutably crushed and soundly checkmated as he demonstrated wonderful technical skills in winning the last five games in a row! This fine flourishing finish gave him 5th individually overall out of 65. An absolutely astounding effort, Angus!
In an early sign of his good form, experienced campaigner Thomas Bickerton soundly dispatched his coach in a warm-up game with a forced rook-and-bishop-mating sequence. True to that form, Thomas showed a classical tactical wit and a remarkable calm poise at the board throughout the day, scoring a gallant 4 out of 7, increasing his individual rating by 172 points and finishing 21st out of 65. Thomas proudly carried his book-like travel chess set around with him at all times, a prize for his recent puzzle-solving ability in class. His successes in this tournament are a tribute to such progress, emphasising the ability of chess to enliven young minds. A top-notch effort, Bickers!
Crafty captain of our class, Damien Little, won his first two games in a wild flurry of sacrificial and combinational might. This has always been one of the signatures of his game - the ability to break down defensive barriers quickly and burst through with surprising mating attacks against the enemy king. Although he found the latter part of the tournament tough in getting up to the higher boards, our aggressively focused captain still managed to improve his rating by 139 points and finish as one of our top-four scorers with 3.5 out of 7. Damien was visibly disappointed with this yet, despite these strong expectations of himself, still performed admirably. He carried the creed of "never give up" constantly, something which readily shows in his games. Don't be too hard on yourself Damo, you're still our captain!
Conjointly completing the top four scorers on 3.5 out of 7 was the ever ebullient Tom Gibney and the energetically eccentric Liam Bowman. Both players played in games that featured what looked like completely lost positions but fought on with keenly strong intentions. By being willing to face defeat and stare upon it, their efforts were duly rewarded with a draw. Tom was two rooks down and fought so hard that his opponent buckled with time pressure and blundered the advantage, while Liam, in the final round, steered his king jubilantly onward despite a larger onrush of attackers and cleverly confused his opponent into a stalemate. Tom's play is characterised by a dashing joyful kind of aggression, while Liam, an infrequent visitor to the club this year, has shown a genuine intellectual curiosity and likes to forward both his observations and questions on the game in an engaging manner. Both players add vital ingredients to the culture of the club and gave strong performances. Three cheers for both Tom and Liam!
Our most junior members Jonah Saunders and Andrew Collins, the former playing in his first-ever chess tournament, found the going quite tough but were both rewarded with richly resilient learning experiences that encompassed the entire day, with Andrew showing an enraptured steely-eyed determination and Jonah illustrating his shyly articulate creativity over the board of sixty-four squares. They scored 2.5 and 2 out of 7 respectively and represent the true foundations of our slowly growing chess club. Well done to both Jonah and Andrew - keep practising guys!
Missing from the intrepid group was aristocratic charmer John Kent and the consistently insightful and talented Roy Li. Both young gentlemen would be a dearly welcome addition to the team when Clarendon hosts a tournament of our own in September. Some of the winning schools, including Castlemaine Secondary College, will surely make a return journey and we yearn to once again face their challenge.
Look out for that one and support us if you can!
Rob Bailey – Ballarat Clarendon Chess Coach