On Monday, we ran a very successful Geography Pilot Program for a collaborative teaching initiative involving Waterford Year 6 students and Senior School Year 7 Geography students.
The Year 6 students completed foundation Geographic Skills work in the field at Waverley Park, supported by the Year 7 students who consolidated their Stage 4 learning. The students undertook activities focused on mapping, distance, direction, and bearing.
Given the positive feedback from both teachers and students, it is anticipated similar collaborative learning will be undertaken in the future.
Last week over 200 educators from across EREA nationally and our associate schools in South African gathered in Sydney. I was very fortunate to participate in this three-day event alongside Ms Suzanne Walsh, Ms Gabrielle Smith and Mr Patrick Brennan.
The conference involved a variety of workshops and presentations focusing on contemporary and future issues impacting on teaching and learning. There were Regional sessions to explore Futures Thinking and build capacity to create alternative and preferred futures with Professor Sohail Inayatullah.
There were many opportunities for networking between Deputy Principals, Leaders of Learning and Identity and Mission Leaders to work collaboratively on a shared vision. We heard about the great work of the Edmund Rice Foundation Australia and their commitment to Liberating Education globally and the worldwide movement of promoting Girls education.
There was a strong focus on student voices and students across NSW EREA schools were invited to participate in the discussion. Ben Elder and Jim Waterhouse represented Waverley College on the first day and their insightful and wise contributions not only served them and the College proud but were a catalyst for continued conversation throughout the conference.
After an extensive interview and consultation process that included both peers and staff, it is my pleasure to announce the Term 4 2019 and 2020 College leaders. Congratulations to the following boys:
College Captain: Ben Elder
College Vice Captain: Liam Andrews
College Vice Captain: Will Baker
College Vice Captain: Jim Waterhouse
Aungier
House Captain – Zac Wotherspoon
House Prefect – Emile Stephenson
House Prefect – Sam Markert
House Prefect – Ryan von der Heyden
Brennan
House Captain – Reid McNamara
House Prefect – Ryan Abbott
House Prefect – Jake Lewis
House Prefect – Valentius Wirjana
Conlon
House Captain – Mitchell Eyles
House Prefect – Charlie Barber
House Prefect – Emmanuel DiBartolo
House Prefect – Joshua Conacher-Smith
Green
House Captain – Ullhas Dey
House Prefect – Conor Evans
House Prefect – Patrick Smith
Lacey
House Captain – Nikita Strbac
House Prefect – Declan Punch
House Prefect – Luke Fadel
House Prefect – Jacob Fadel
O’Connor
House Captain – Ethan King
House Prefect – Maksymilian Klimczak
House Prefect – Ollie Rinder
House Prefect- Brock Preston
Quinn
House Captain – Chris Salem
House Prefect – Finn McLean
House Prefect – Jake Torsellini
House Prefect – Andre Bonanni
Tevlin
House Captain – Charlie Tindale
House Prefect – Noah Ratcliff
House Prefect – Luca Paolella
House Prefect – Alex Talbot
As we congratulate our new Year 12 leaders who start their journey into leadership, we acknowledge, celebrate and farewell a leader who has served with great distinction for over 50 years as a teacher and as a Cadet Officer in the Waverley College Cadet Unit for 60 years.
Mr Peter Frost will retire from Waverley College at the end of the year. Last year at a special dinner he was acknowledged by his peers, the former Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove and Captain Peter Collins, AM, CstJ, RFD, QC, Royal Australian Naval Reserve, along with friends, colleagues, past Headmasters and family. The consistent theme was his dedication, strength of character and service to others.
As you are aware we are currently in the process of transitioning to our new uniform. All new Year 5 and 7 students will be in the new uniform from 2020 with the remainder of the College in the new uniform from 2021. For families that need to purchase current uniform items to get them through 2020, we have added further discounts to make this more affordable. Please click on the following links to view the discounted uniform options: Year 5-6 and Year 7-11.
Thank you very much to all parents that donated baked goods to the RUOK? Day stall and to families and staff who supported the cause via purchasing. A big thank you must go to Mrs Christine Kite and Mrs Donna Drew-Morris for coordinating this event. With anxiety and depression levels rising in our youth, charities such as RUOK? are doing essential work to help create awareness and prevention around this social issue.
Congratulations to Sebastian van de Hoek and Bradley Marzol who have been awarded the prestigious Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award. Both boys were presented at College Assembly this week by Able Seaman, Jay Harley, from the Royal Australian Navy.
Congratulations to Oliver Ruse and Luke Harris for receiving their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award presented by Prince Edward at Sydney Town Hall on Friday. You can read more about the prestigious award in the article by Gemma Brown below.
Drama students’ Group Performance has been nominated for possible inclusion in OnSTAGE
The following Drama students’ individual performance have also been nominated for possible inclusion in OnSTAGE
The students have done extremely well and are now required to perform these pieces once more where they will be filmed and sent to NESA for review and to make the final selection for OnSTAGE, the exhibition held in early February 2020.
Congratulations Will Durkin, Year 12, who received the prestigious Archbishop Award for Excellence for his volunteering work on Friday, 6 September. The annual awards were started in 1999 by Cardinal Edward Clancy to honour leadership qualities and service to school and parish communities.
Congratulations Will Cooley and Ryan Abbott, both Year 11, who were awarded positions in the prestigious Australian Olympic Change-Maker program. Both students were selected for demonstrating the Olympic spirit through leadership and driving positive change in the community.
Congratulations to the following four students who won awards at the prestigious Woollahra Youth Photographic Award and Short Film Prize last Thursday night.
Congratulations to Noah Pearce, Year 12, who was successful in the recent V-Fest selection for 2019. Noah’s film ‘The water, My Religion’ was one of ten films selected in the Senior Section of the film festival screened at the Chauvel Cinema on Monday, 16 September.
Congratulations to The Waterford Concert Band (Year 5-6) combined band, who played on Sunday afternoon at UNSW. In the Robert McAnally Primary School Concert Band Event, the boys received a Silver Award.
Congratulations also to the Cliff Goodchild Concert Band for performing last week at UNSW, and receiving a Silver Award for their efforts.
In preparing my graduation speech for 2019, I congratulate our Year 12 Seniors on a job well done. They have led the College very well throughout the year. They have led by example, role modelled excellence in their academic studies and pursuits, been inaugural Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award winners, represented at the National Schools Constitutional Convention, Inaugural AFL GPS & CAS winners, reached a professional standard with the musical Guys and Dolls, visited and made their mark on foreign shores, assisted with on-campus and off-campus community and social justice initiatives, represented their state and country, supported cohort members who lost loved ones, checked in with each other to ask RUOK?, and they have left a cultural legacy by leaving the College in a better place. Well done Gentleman and thank you.
I have been selected along with Ms Antoinette McGahan, Principal of St Clare’s College, to join a study tour with twenty other Catholic Principals from across Australia. The study tour is being led by:
This week I have travelled to Glasgow and then onto Rome where I will visit and meet with schools, universities and religious institutes. The program aims to inform and transform the minds and hearts of experienced leaders in Catholic education so that our schools can become more innovative places of learning. I am enjoying the learning experience thus far and am looking forward to participating in the Scottish Learning Festival next week. While I am away (18 September – 10 October). Mr Patrick Brennan – Deputy Head Student & Staff, and Ms Elizabeth Watson – Deputy Head Teaching & Learning will be acting Heads of College in my absence. I wish all boys a great end to their respective Term 3.
On Tuesday 30th July a group of Applied Philosophy and select students from Year 10 participated in a Cluster Day focussing on Artificial Intelligence held at Rosebank College with other participating schools, supervised by Dominic Hearne and Stephanie Boyce.
The students were immersed in an engaging presentation from Wise Tech Global who provided them with a company perspective on job opportunities and the future of Artificial Intelligence in society. Students also participated in a ‘Community of Enquiry’‚ which opened up many questions and discussion points including the ethical issues surrounding data bias, and whether or not AI Robots would eventually be eligible for human rights. All students who attended had their eyes opened to the many possibilities their future studies in various subject areas could take them in regards to the future of AI and beyond.
The Visions of Leadership Seminars provide Waverley boys with an opportunity to engage with professionals and academics in areas of expertise that may be applicable to their studies at school.  It is run through the Applied Philosophy course, but is also open to students from other subject areas and grades who may be interested in a specific career path or pattern of study.
In previous years, students at the College have had the opportunity to liaise with high profile people including The Hon. Malcom Turnbull, Her Excellency Marie Bashir (Governor of NSW), Andrew Denton, Dr Charles Teo, and Dr Stella Cornelius.
The speakers for 2019 are:
27th August – Pierre Issa – Also known as ‚ ‘Pepe Saya’, Pierre has developed a cultured butter unlike any other in Australia. Products can be seen across artisan markets and supermarkets like Harris Farm, alongside corporate partners such as Rockpool and Qantas. Pierre’s dedication to quality product and business alike allowed students to establish links between other industries such as Hospitality, to the concepts of leadership.
30th August – Ita Buttrose – Ita Buttrose has held executive and editing roles for major Australian media companies including Australian Consolidated Press (now Bauer Media), News Ltd and Fairfax and has run her own media company, Capricorn Publishing.¬† She has served on the boards of Australian Consolidated Press, News Corp, and Television & Telecasters Pty Ltd., (Network TEN).¬†¬† She has worked in print, radio, and television and has written 11 books. She was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2017.
8th August – Assistant Commander Rodney Smith – Working down at Goulburn Police Academy for many years, Smith gave students insight into what it means to be a leader in a very tumultuous career path. Smith was able to give students a brief glimpse into the world of a police worker, and many students gained valuable industry links to further their interest in police work as a career path. Students were not hesitant in asking all the controversial questions surrounding police work, to which Smith answered in an eloquent and informative manner.
5th August – David Gonski – David is Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, President of the Art Gallery of NSW Trust, and Chairman of the UNSW Foundation Ltd. He is also a member of the Sydney Airport Corporation board and the board of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, a Patron of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation and Raise Foundation and a Founding Panel Member of Adara Partners. His work in the Gonski Report was paramount to discussing findings related to how our education systems are funded.
18th September – Louise Herron was appointed CEO of the Sydney Opera House in 2012, having previously been a lawyer and corporate adviser. She was chair of Sydney‚ Belvoir Street Theatre for 10 years. Louise has led the development of the Opera House‚ Renewal program to ensure this World Heritage-listed icon and one of the world’s busiest performing arts centres meets the needs and expectations of 21st-century artists, audiences and visitors.
Thank you to Dominic Hearne for your tireless effort in organising and promoting these wonderful events.
It has been another productive fortnight in the Junior School.
On Monday 26 August the College welcomed Yasmin London from YSafe who spoke to the boys about how to be a smart digital citizen and the different ways to stay safe online.
One of the biggest challenges for today’s youth is the responsible use of technology. Yasmin discussed the importance of protecting the information they share, making use of the privacy settings, exhibiting empathy for others when commenting/posting online (remembering there is a person at the other end) and remembering to talk to an adult if a negative cyber incident arises.
Last Tuesday, the Junior School opened their classrooms to showcase the amazing learning that has taken place this year. The whole school was buzzing as our students presented their learning outcomes to their parents and families. It was wonderful to see so many parents and carers attend, it created such a positive atmosphere as students proudly explained what they had learnt.
Our Year 5 students showed off their amazing light up dioramas, and wonderful Scratch animations. We were able to see the Makey Makey’s in action, playing songs composed in Music.
In Year 6, we saw innovative sustainable designs for areas within our school that need refurbishment or are unused. They created detailed scaled drawings and budgets to go with their models.
The Learning Hub showcased its newly refurbished area with 21st Century furniture and learning spaces. If you were lucky enough you would have seen the amazing bird art showcased around the Learning Hub which is part of an illustrator study.
Music was well and truly alive with Mrs Rollins conducting a lesson with boys and their families on how to make musical codes based on their name.
Thank you to everyone who attended our Open Classroom afternoon and for all the positive feedback.
On Friday the 30th September, Year 5 were lucky enough to be visited by Grant and Latoya from Kadoo Tours. As part of their Earth and Space unit in Science, they had the opportunity to learn about astronomy from the Aborigonal and Torres Strait Islander perspective. The students listened to dream time stories, learnt about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders use the sky to navigate and gather food, touched artefacts and even got to eat bush tucker. This was a wonderful experience that the boys will remember.
An impressive end to a wonderful debating season in the Junior School. The boys’ final round of debating against Cranbrook was a double success, with both teams winning. The topic for debate was ‘Should parents be punished if their children commit crimes?’
Over the past 14 weeks, I have witnessed the boys work as a strong team. Their skills of speaking, listening and collaborating were of a high standard. Thank you for your dedication to each debate.
The boys will participate in an IPSHA Debating Gala Day on Tuesday 24 September.
Rugby: The NSWPSSA Rugby championships were held in St Mary’s last week and three boys from Waterford were involved: Archie Godby, Brooklyn Heath and Henry Parkes. The boys had a great week of rugby and were only beaten in the final on Thursday by Sydney North. A huge congratulations to all the boys and a special mention to Henry who was selected into the NSW team to compete in the National Championships.
Athletics: A very successful IPSHA athletics carnival was held last week at Homebush. The boys from Waterford were always amongst the placegetters and achieved some very positive results. The following boys will represent the college and IPSHA at the CIS Championships next week. We wish them all the very best of luck.
U10 relay team: Julian Minto, Felix Kelly, Bailey Gosbell and Darcy Parkes.
U12 relay team: Jack Johnson, Luke Newrick, Henry Parkes and Charles Coughlan.
Felix Kelly: 100m, 200m
Jack Johnson: 1500m, 800m
Henry Parkes: 100m, 200m
Ricky Meyrick: High Jump
Julian Minto: 200m, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Put
Luke Newrick: Long Jump
Thursday 12th September is National R U OK? Day. This is a national day of action dedicated to reminding people to ask family, friends and colleagues the question, “R U OK?”, in a meaningful way, because connecting regularly and meaningfully is one thing everyone can do to make a difference to those who may be at risk.
Waverley College has a very close connection with R U OK? Day and we would like to continue to support and raise awareness for this charity in 2019.
The boys at Waterford will be encouraged to wear mufti clothes (something yellow) on Thursday 12 September (Week 8) with a $5 donation. This will also entitle them to a sausage sandwich and a drink at lunchtime (courtesy of the Old Boys).
In addition to this, there will be a cake stall on Wednesday 11 September. Boys from Lacey, O’Connor and Tevlin will be encouraged to bring either a slice, cupcakes, cookies, muffins or bite-size snacks to sell on the day. These can be dropped on to Ms King’s room on the morning of the cake stall.
We truly appreciate all your support.
Click here for the latest career update
The Sustainability Group have been making ECObricks.
Students are aiming to make as many ECObricks as possible to build the barriers of a small vegetable patch to help create awareness about the issues around soft plastic.
The ECObricks consist of soft plastics collected at recess and lunch around the school and milk bottles collected from the staff rooms in Term 3.
The ECObricks project was inspired by the Timor-Leste Immersion. This project will also help a small business in Timor-Leste to build awareness of the importance of waste management in the community.
The Hunting is an Australian mini-series which went to air recently on SBS television. Much has been written about the four-part drama series that relays the consequences of a nude photo-sharing scandal. I was interested to read Rebecca Sparrow’s‚ recommendation that The Hunting should be mandatory viewing for every parent and every teen. Rebecca hopes that it will start a national – or even international – conversation.
For those parents not familiar with Rebecca Sparrow as the author of Find Your Tribe and Ask Me Anything, I strongly recommend you follow her blog. Rebecca shares her life’s purpose of guiding teenagers as they traverse that tricky path from childhood to adulthood.
So what is The Hunting about and why am I writing about it in this weeks Nurrunga? SBS outlines the mini-series as a program that, intimately and dramatically imagines the lives of four teenagers, their teachers and families throughout the lead-up, revelation and aftermath of a nude teen photo scandal. When two high school teachers discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online, the revelation has devastating consequences for the students and their families. Tackling themes of misogyny, privacy, sexuality, and sexualisation, online exploitation, masculinity and gender, the series uses this singular event as a way of exploring some of the most pressing issues of our time and offering a vital portrait of modern, multicultural Australia.
Interestingly, in 2017, of the 4,274 Australians aged sixteen to forty-nine years surveyed, 20% said that someone had taken or created a nude image of them without their consent. According to the survey conducted for the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, one in ten Australian respondents had experienced a nude or sexual image of themselves being distributed to others or posted online without their consent.
We are in the business of educating young men at Waverley College, so it is relevant that our students and parents have an awareness about the reality of this problem in our current world. As an educator and parent, I hope to gain further insights into the vagaries of the selfies, Instagram and Snapchat world, through watching The Hunting on SBS or if you missed the start on SBS On Demand.
The College will continue to educate our students by increasing their cyber literacy through our wellbeing program, guest speakers and our PDHPE programs. The College also works closely with the Association of Independent Schools (New South Wales) wellbeing team and other schools in the eastern suburbs through our foundation membership of the Eastern Suburbs School Leaders for Youth (ESSLY).
For those families living in the Shire, the College has received an invitation from one of our fellow EREA schools, Edmund Rice College, Wollongong for parents to attend a community forum on student resilience and wellbeing.
Guest speakers include Tripple M‚ Gus Worland who has a passion for mental illness prevention along with Dan Haesler who works with individuals and organisations in business, education, elite sporting organisations and The Black Dog Institute around issues of leadership, engagement, mindset and wellbeing. He is passionate about equity and social justice and supports the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
All of the Waverley College parent community are welcome to attend. Bookings are essential.
In 2020, the College will be hosting a parent evening on building student resilience on the 27th April, more information about this will come in the new year.
Following a review of national policy, EREA have launched their updated Child Safeguarding Standards Framework this week. This is accompanied by monthly updates to ensure Waverley and all EREA schools are in a strong position to respond proactively to issues of safety and wellbeing of our students. There are eleven standards which can be further explored in the attached document.
EREA launched their updated Child Safeguarding Standards Framework this week.
Last Wednesday, the College was privileged to have a wonderful group of alumni come and talk to current students and parents for Careers Night 2019. Old Boys Matthew Davies (2010), Richard Zhang (2010), Andrew Weetman (2011), Glenn Ong (2008) and Dean Jones (2004) discussed the various study and career paths they’ve taken, including Medicine, Architectural Engineering and Entrepreneurship. These speakers exemplified the qualities of tenacity, creativity, ingenuity and humility. They discussed, in brief, the logistics of how they managed their study and workloads, the pros and cons of the choices they’ve made and their desire to help others and improve the world around them.
Our sincere thanks go out to the speakers and those who came along to make this a great event. Our current students came away from the evening feeling inspired and motivated, and I was personally awed by the calibre of presentations delivered by these young old boys. This event followed on from a successful 2018 VET Old Boys Career evening and I would like to thank Venettia Miller, Ms Jaimi Walker and Ms Kath Knowles for organising this event.
Each boy in years 10 and 11 have been given access to a new careers app called Career Planet. The App allows the user to simply scroll down a list of careers or categories on their smartphone. By using technology they are comfortable with, it presents the many careers in a manner that is not confronting and the links provide more detailed info on the careers that interest them, from the resources they have been avoiding such as career websites, job guides, Universities and TAFEs. Please ask your son what has been of interest to him thus far.
Yesterday the College hosted students from Bethany College, Champagnat Catholic College, Marcellin College, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Brigidine College Randwick, St Scholastica’s College Glebe, Southern Cross Catholic Vocational College Burwood, St Ursula’s College and St Clare’s College in the VET Hospitality Worldskills Cooking Competition. It is a master chef style event and the room was abuzz with energy, pressure and culinary skills in operation. Students William Mazor and Jed Turnbull competed on behalf of Waverley and while they didn’t receive a place, it was a great experience for them.
Thank you to Ms Stephanie Boyce and Ms Anne O’Loughlin for organising and supporting this event.
Congratulations to the following boys who competed in the Tournament of the Minds competition held last Saturday.
The Arts Team: Hugh Mc Donald, Ewan Mc Donald, Deuchar Dezarnaulds, James Medland, Lachlan Miranda, Tom Hughes and Achilles Zanapalis.
The STEM Team: Finn Stranix, Ben Ledingham, Campbell Groves, Jack Tindale, Cillian Treanor, Kit Armstrong and Jake Perks.
The boys performed well and enjoyed the experience.
Thank you to all Dads, Granddads and significant male figures that found the time to make last week’s Father’s Day Mass. Although the weather made the day a testing one for logistics and the BBQ, there was a great spirit in the room and I know many boys appreciated your presence. Thank you to Fr Bernie Thomas, Mr Steve Ghattas, Ms Sue Walsh, Mr Richard Bryant, Ms Michelle Rollins, the Marketing and Development Team and the Campus Team for organising and serving at the event.
Last Saturday evening, I attended the annual Holdsworth Ball which is organised by both Waverley College and St Clare’s College Year 11 students and is a social justice initiative of Brennan House. The Holdsworth Community supports children and adults living with intellectual disabilities; older people who may be frail, ill, lacking mobility, experiencing social isolation or living with dementia. Many hours of planning and work go into the evening and I would like to thank the following boys for their support in providing an inclusive environment and social connections as well as an amazing evening for all involved: Reid McNamara, Kai Moonen-Narita, Lachlan Foley, Jonathan Chen, Declan Punch, Joseph Simonella, Valentius Wirjana, Liam Andrews, Ben Elder, Alexander Woods, Brock Preston, Connor O’Neill, Jasper Anderson, Sam Tsaousis, Luca Paolella, Oliver Blackett, Patrick Smith, Emile Stephenson and Will Cooley.
Thank you to Ms Tracie Ryan, Ms Rebecca Gair, Mr Richard Bryant, Ms Sue Walsh and Ms Jaimi Walker for assisting with the evening, and thank you to Mr James Horrocks for coordinating this event.
As part of our Beyond Borders Program, where we aim to develop relationships with other schools and staff across the globe, we will be hosting three teachers from: St Boniface, South Africa next Monday and Tuesday.
St. Boniface High School (formerly St. Boniface Mission School) is an independent Roman Catholic high school located in Galeshewe, Kimberly, Northern Cape, South Africa. It was established in 1951 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and today serves nearly 1,000 students.
As part of our Visions of Leadership guest speaker program. Philosophy students and prospective prefects have heard from two amazing speakers in the last fortnight, Ms Ita Buttrose AC OBE, Chairwoman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Mr Pierre Issa founder of Pepe Saya Butter Company.
I always enjoy this time of year as we get to see the amazing talents of some of our students with their final pieces and performances of work. In the last newsletter, I wrote about the amazing art on display at our Art Exhibition and the HSC Music recital evening. Earlier this week the HSC Drama Showcase performed their final individual and group performances and the major works from Design Technology were on display. The quality and creativity of these works and respective performance were impressive and I congratulate all boys and staff for their fine work.
Congratulations to our inaugural Junior School Debating team who went through the season undefeated competing in the IPSHA Debating competition. Well done to the following boys and staff on their fantastic performance: Ms Natasha Zivanovic, Lachlan Marzol, Zoltahn Szabo, Fox Stapleton, Finlay Wilde, James Peate, Nicholas Zanapalis, Oscar Wilson, Yannick Hott and Archie Godby.
Special mention to the two Year 10 Debating Mentors that worked with the boys every Tuesday morning: Luke McLellan and Patrick Hoggett.
Congratulations to Ricardo Zanapalis who recently broke the U13’s Long Jump College record that has been held since 1983. This college record has stood for 36 years at 5.51m. Ricardo has set a new U13’s record of 5.59m. (+8cm). I wish all of our Track and Field athletes all the best as they build towards the upcoming CAS championships. Last weekend I witnessed many impressive efforts across the team at EJ Marks Athletics Track.
We recently farewelled both Ms Terese Kielt and Mr Paul Stack from the College.
Terese has worked as the College registrar for the past seven years and been responsible for enrolments across our Pre-school, Junior and Senior Schools. We thank Terese for her service to the College and wish her well as she looks to travel overseas with her family and her future endeavours. Ms Kylie Anderson has stepped into the Acting Registrar role and we welcome Ms Pri Patel to the marketing and development team.
Paul has worked as the TAS technician for the past 16 years and has assisted many students and colleagues perform to their best. Many Year 12 students, in particular, have appreciated his expert skills in assisting them with their senior project. We thank Paul for his service to the College and wish him all the best in retirement. Mr Perry Stanbrook has taken over from Paul ensuring a smooth transition.
As we are approaching the end of Term 3, I remind parents that if your son is not returning to Waverley College in 2020, we require one full school term’s written notice (or one school term’s fees in lieu of notice) when withdrawing a student from the School. We are currently formulating the 2020 timetable, staffing and rooming allocations, so it is important to have accurate enrolment numbers. In some year levels, we have waiting lists and we need to be able to contact those on the list who are hoping to secure a place at Waverley College.
TOM offers teams of students the opportunity to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence and teamwork.
Challenges are set in the following disciplines: The Arts, Language Literature, Social Sciences and STEM.
This year Waverley College participated in TOM for the very first time – entering teams into The Arts and STEM disciplines. All students showed dedication to their teams by committing to three sessions per week in between all their other Co-Curricular commitments. They put together some fantastic performances and problem-solving solutions, and whilst we did not place in the finals, the foundation has been set for a fantastic opportunity to continue TOM as an amazing extra-curricular opportunity for high-ability students and creative minds alike. Well done to the following participants:
The Arts:
Hugh Mc Donald
Ewan Mc Donald
Deuchar Dezarnaulds
James Medland
Lachlan Miranda
Tom Hughes
Achilles Zanapalis
STEM:
Finn Stranix
Ben Ledingham
Campbell Groves
Jack Tindale
Cillian Treanor
Kit Armstrong
Jake Perks
Mentored by Xavier Scally
On Thursday 22nd August, the Year 12 Marine Studies and Hospitality cohorts participated in an all-day Market Masterclass. Beginning at Pyrmont Fish Markets, the students were immersed in a cross-curricular experience that tied together two years of studying VET Hospitality and Marine Studies with their supervising teachers Gemma Brown, Kyte Gawman and Davina O’Hara, assisted by Garth Aird and Anne O’Loughin.
Students learnt about the quality control aspects of purchasing different types of fresh seafood, and participated in a ‘Masterclass’ at Waverley College, assisted by Darren Elmes, a parent of one of our students who works in the industry, preparing a variety of seafood-based dishes including BBQ octopus, marinara, smoked salmon, and battered fish.
All in all a wonderful immersive day was had, with thumbs up all round for the food!