Over the break, I read a research paper which investigated the association of various types of screen time and depression in adolescence. The study of 3826 adolescents (47% females, 53% males) identified a direct link between social media use with the symptoms of depression in adolescence. Longitudinal research in this space is scarce so this study, where data was collected over the six-year period between 2012-2018, provides us with a rare insight into the extent of this relationship. Results concluded that each year an adolescent is engaged in social media, depression symptoms also increased. In addition, the study showed that for every increased hour spent using social media, many adolescents showed an increase in depressive symptoms.
Whilst we cannot ignore the role that social media plays in our children’s lives, we can, however, develop media literacy which gives our students the ability to deconstruct the often skewed messages they are bombarded with on social media.
The College develops these skills not only through our PDHPE programs but also during Wellbeing time. Parents too can support these messages by reinforcing that the world seen through the lens of social media is often highly curated and manipulated.
Last term the College was visited by groups from the Diocese of Broken Bay, St Joseph’s College – Hunters Hill and Edmund Rice College – Wollongong who looked at our facilities, wellbeing structures and PDHPE Programs.
Waverley College continues to strengthen its reputation as a leader in boys education. Schools in the Broken Bay Diocese are looking to replicate our wellbeing structures whilst Edmund Rice College is moving from a traditional horizontal model to a vertical structure, the same journey we took several years ago.
Fran Grant and her boys at the recent Reconciliation Week Assembly, held in Term 2.
Waverley College began its partnership with the GO Foundation in 2019. Each year, GO and the College will co-fund the enrolment of Indigenous students. Founded by Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin, the GO Foundation began its focus on education in 2014.
Last week, Federal Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Ken Wyatt announced GO as the recipient of a $4.5 million government grant, to be provided over the next three years which will further cement the ongoing partnership we have. GO has always said that they will not be reliant on government funds and that is still the case. This funding will allow GO to build capacity and internal strength for the next stage of their growth.
Waverley College remains a vital part of the GO Ecosystem. The access and opportunities and the scholarships the College provides to Indigenous students remains integral to the GO program.
When Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlan established the GO scholarship program they wanted culture at its heart and a commitment to support students who lived at home, on country, and in community. They wanted to expose students to Indigenous success stories and raise students’ expectations of themselves. This ‘wish list’ was based on their own lived experiences and it continues to form the central tenants of who we are as an organisation.
For further information on a GO scholarship at Waverley College please contract our registrar, Ms Terese Kielt on 9369 0600 or tkielt@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Download the careers guide here
On Wednesday 12 June, a group of Year 11 Studies of Religion students, accompanied by Ms Binyamin and Mr Boumelhem, attended the prestigious, annual interfaith conference hosted by Moriah College. It consisted of followers of the three Abrahamic faiths, engaging in controversial topics about their religious practices. Waverley College students represented Christianity, Moriah students Judaism and Islam was represented by Auburn Girls High School and The Australian Islamic College. This allowed the students to converse with peers in a dynamic learning environment, breaking down social and cultural stereotypes.
The day began with an introduction to the three religions, starting off with a personalised prayer from each tradition, showcasing the various ways that each attains spiritual guidance. After the prayers, the participants had the opportunity to interact and communicate with others, learning about their heritage and spiritual backgrounds.
Following this, students were broken into eight different groups to explain and discuss significant religious symbols and practices. This allowed students to interact and collaborate to learn about symbols that they might not have understood before the conference. This activity was then followed by a panel of experts who answered pressing questions regarding each of their faiths in a contemporary context. The day concluded with a tour of the synagogue with an opportunity to reflect on the day and construct new questions.
Overall, it was an engaging and rewarding experience.
Sophie Smith (NSW Local Hero and Running for Premature Babies charity Founder) will be speed walking at this years’ City2Surf alongside Heather Lee, the 2019 NSW Senior Australian of the Year and a 92 year-old world champion speed walker. Sophie and Heather would love as many people as possible to speed walk the course with them.
We would love as many students, staff and families to join our Waverley college fundraising team in the City2Surf on 11 August.
To register go to https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/RegistrationType.aspx?E=33914&Charity=au-6233
If you would like to walk with Sophie and Heather, rather than run, please choose the ORANGE, or Back of the Pack start wave. If you would like to run please feel free to start in a wave nearer the front.
After registering you will be sent an email from Everyday Hero asking you to activate your fundraising page.
Please do this and personalise your fundraising page with a photo and edit the copy. Feel free to write whatever you like, or just copy and paste: ‘I am taking part in the City2Surf as part of the Waverley Team to raise funds for a lifesaving humidicrib for the Royal Hospital for Womens Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. All donations are tax deductible, and will give premature babies a better chance of survival’.
On the right hand side of your page you will see ‘would you like to create a team or join a team’. Choose ‘JOIN A TEAM’. Here enter ‘Waverley College’
This will link your fundraising page to the Waverley team page (https://city2surf2019.everydayhero.com/au/waverley-college) and all our fundraising dollars will be collated to our grand total.
Thank you so much!
Monday 22nd July saw 170 of the Waverley College staff take part in our annual Staff Spirituality Day. This year the day was divided into two sections. Firstly, Fr Richard Leonard SJ addressed the staff on seeing God in all things, even at the darkest times in our lives, through an inspirational and engaging presentation.
All staff then participated in a variety of service activities. These ranged from volunteering with the Holdsworth and Charingfield communities, the Matthew Talbot Hostel, Rough Edges, Cooking for Good, Kadoo indigenous tours, cleaning up beaches, assisting those in need within our own Waverley community and still life art and baking activities here at the College.
It was a privilege and humbling experience to be able to interact with so many amazing individuals throughout the day. Building relationships through these activities is something that we will continue to foster throughout our social justice and advocacy program. Many thanks to those staff who facilitated these activities, especially here at school, and to everyone who entered into these new experiences so enthusiastically.
The highlight of our term was the House Mass and Supper which was a great success with all the boys joining in to create a reverent and sacred environment for this important occasion. The following is an excerpt from Billy Deluca’s introduction on the night.
“The Lacey House community is a significant part of our education here at Waverley and allows us as students, to interact with our mentors, peers, and boys in different years, invoking a communal bond between all ages in wellbeing time, meetings and carnivals.” Billy Deluca
Lacey House at the Swimming Carnival 2019
The big news of the term was that Lacey House won the Athletics Championships in 2019 and were led by our middle distance champions, Jack Banjo Studholme and Joshua Grant. There were many great performers on the day with the Waterford boys adding an enormous amount to our House spirit and points tally.
The Gold Award winners for this term were Ryland Short, Matthew Brock, Bobby Morris, Finn Stanix, Jacob Fadel, Luke White, Tobias Malzard and Max Valentine. Congratulations to these lads on the concerted effort they have made to always be at their best. Leading by example is one of our key messages to the boys in Lacey House.
Year 9 line up for NAPLAN
In the key academic Year 10 group, Harjot Mand has produced another term of outstanding academic work and achieved straight As for completion of work, behaviour and attitude towards learning. There were also a large number of commendable performances from Max Valentine, Tobias Williamson, James Simpson, Daniel Malone, Max Hooker, William Gibson and Massimo Di Napoli. This hardworking group of Lacey Legends have a high ‘A’ grade average with no ‘C’s’ in their reports. The focus on improved application by our boys is one area that has been stressed by their Mentors and many conversations have been happening around wellbeing groups on how the senior boys ‘get it right’. Joey Lyons (Yr 12, Catherine Stewart’s group) gave an impressive talk to his wellbeing group on how to achieve success in exams.
Nikita Strbac
Congratulations to Nikita Strbac who was selected in the Under 20’s Australian Water Polo team and Massimo Di Napoli who starred in the College production of Guys & Dolls. The following boys are all playing in 1st teams for the College and I applaud them for their dedication to make this level. AFL – Xavier Slezak, Stephen Morrisey, Charles Longmire, Noah Mitchell and William Mazor. Football – Carter Killigrew and Alex Robertson. Debating – Matthew Brock. Cross Country – Matt Antulov and Chess – Billy Deluca.
Farewell to Kieran Hozack (Ms Stephanie Boyce’s Group) who is off to Singapore at the end of this term. He has made an outstanding contribution to our House Spirit over the past two years by always being ready to beat the House drum at every event.
Term 2 has been a Term full of celebrations, appreciation and relationship building.
Big Brother, Little Brother
Year 10 students spent the afternoon with their Year 5 and 6 Little Brothers in Week 7. This was a brilliant opportunity for students to develop their friendships with each other. Quinn played a round-robin of Basketball, with some of the Year 5 and 6 students out-maneuvering to take possession of the ball and shoot goals against their senior counterparts. The senior students were encouraging and supportive throughout each game and ensured each Waterford student felt comfortable and competitive.
We then moved on to participate in a Diversity Walk. This was an opportunity for students to put themselves in the shoes of others less fortunate. A selection of students were given role-play cards that describes the life of a student. They were asked to close their eyes and imagine that they were the student on their role play card. Each participating student stood in a line across the Centenary Quad to represent an ‘even playing field’. The students were then asked questions and were asked to take a step forward if the questions affected them favourably and asked to take a step back if the question had a negative consequence for their scenario. By the end of the demonstration, students were spread across the Centenary Quad. Students then revealed their role play card to the rest of the group and spoke about how the questions affected them. The purpose of the activity was to demonstrate how each student’s life is different and we are never fully aware of everyone’s backgrounds, how they might be feeling, their role within the family, their sporting or academic ability or their mental or physical health. One Waterford student summarised the purpose of the activity incredibly well and made the comment that “it is always important to…be kind to our friends, and boys who aren’t our friends, because sometimes they need help”.
Quinn at the Athletics Carnival 2019
Week 9 saw Quinn participate in the House Athletics Carnival at ES Marks. Despite the wet start to the morning, the day turned out to be warm and provided the perfect weather for everyone to get involved. Quinn placed 4th overall in the Carnival and took our 1st place in the House Chant Competition. Congratulations to all the boys who participated on the day, placed in their events and got involved in the House chants. It was wonderful to see such energy, encouragement and organisation from the House.
Congratulations to all the boys who were involved in the College Musical. It was a fantastic production that saw so much energy, involvement, talent and enthusiasm on stage and behind the stage. Congratulations to Cillian Treanor and Jed Turnbull for their contributions to the production.
Contributing to the Flag of Hands for Reconciliation Week.
The College also celebrated Reconciliation Week. The assembly was a wonderful display of acknowledgment and appreciation for our Indigenous students, families and history. Thank you to Fran Grant who spoke of her experience, students from Riverview who performed traditional dances and Ms Sue Walsh and Mr Richard Bryant for all their efforts and contributions to the assembly.
Congratulations to Aidan Korpar, Xavier Scholfield and Sam Stewart who were also presented with Academic Awards for their involvement in the Da Vinci Decathlon and academic success in the classroom.
Quinn House will be celebrating Mass together on the 1st of August at 6pm in the College Chapel. The Mass will be driven by the students, with all hymns, prayers and readings chosen by the boys themselves. We will also include special recognition of our current Year 12 students, therefore it is important that the parents of our Year 12 students can attend.
Wishing you and your family a safe and happy break.
I look forward to seeing you in all in Term 3.
As Term 2 draws to a close I find myself reflecting on how lucky I am to be looking forward to Term 3 with the young men of Green House. As a staff group we are blessed to be able to work with respectful young men who have a desire to learn. It is also great to be able to work in leading educational facilities and for the young men of Waverley to be able to learn in these spaces provided to them. It is very pleasing to see the students making the most of the opportunities at Waverley College in Term 2 and I am looking forward to a productive and positive second semester.
5 a side football competition – Congratulations to all our boys involved in the five a side football competition. Our senior boys came second and our junior boys came sixth. All students should be congratulated for their engagement in the event.
The Inter-House Athletics Carnival took place during the last week of term. Congratulations to all the boys that participated in the event. It was so great to see so many young students participating actively in the events of the day, in particular, our Year 5 – 9 students.
In addition to the events above, Green House held our Term 2 assemblies at the Junior School this term. This was a huge success thanks to Junior School staff Mr Stephen Ghattas and Ms Gabrielle Bransby. Our Junior School students were wonderful in their support this term and we thank them for welcoming us to the Junior School throughout the term.
The 109th May Day procession took place in May this term. Despite most students not having to attend due to the inclement weather I would like to thank all Green students and parents that did take part in this special occasion.
I would like to thank again our prefects for their contributions to Green House again this term, even as their assessment and study expectations continue to grow.
Green House at the Athletics Carnival 2019
The following students received Head of College Awards this term, an achievement that requires 15 Merit awards and 3 Gold awards. These students exemplify consistent effort in the classroom, ongoing excellent behaviour and go above and beyond what is expected of them on a regular basis. It is wonderful to see students achieve so well. Congratulations to the following students:
Maddox Grebert
Aiden Pascoe
Will O’Connor
Benjamin Stirling
William Lane
Lachlan Muir
Finn Harley Whitney
Each year Waverley College collects data about its wellbeing program. As part of this data, students are allowed to nominate students that are upstanders. Students who stop bullying from taking place in the playground. Green House student Max Court was nominated as one of these students in 2019.
Congratulations to the following students for their nominations in 1sts teams or as Sports Captains:
Alex Bayas – Football Captain
Andrew Di Blasio – 1st XI Football
Noah Burgess, Tobias Renshaw – 1st XVIII AFL
Remi Defina-Sperando – Music Captain
Thomas Deakin-Bell – 1st Chess
James Tzavaras – 1st Volleyball
Finally, I would like to thank all teachers in Green House for their continued support this year. The time and effort provided by our mentors each morning is one of the many positive aspects of belonging to Green House.
To the Green community, I wish you all an enjoyable, safe and restful break. To those travelling on the The Timor-Leste Immersion or the Red Earth Immersion, I wish you a wonderful trip. l look forward to seeing all Green House students back next term for the second half of 2019.
As we come to the end of another busy, yet rewarding term, it seems like it was a long time ago that we kicked the term off with a School Assembly, acknowledging the Winter Co-Curricular 1st Team Squads and Captains. It was great for the school to gather and show our support and celebration of these students in their chosen sporting endeavours. Congratulations to Andrew Tinellis, Noah Pearce and Marko Dundovic who were selected as Captains for their Sport/Activity. All students have worked hard for a number of years to reach the pinnacle of their chosen sports at Waverley.
The 2019 College Musical ‘Guys and Dolls’ certainly did not disappoint. Audiences were treated to a fantastic array of music, song and dance – with a number of members in O’Connor House displaying their vast musical talents and dazzling us with their onstage performances. Special mention to Roman Kotecsky who played a lead role in the musical. O’Connor also had on stage two Year 8 students, Pierre Bourel and Mitchell Cahill, whom I am sure will have learned a great deal and they are sure to have a big role in future musicals.Part of the Production crew to help ensure everything ran smoothly backstage included: Brock Preston, Eddie Williamson, Riley James Cebokli, Oscar Rowson, Jordan Hulme and Patrick Chan.
Mid-Year Prefects were announced to assist our leaders for the remainder of 2019. Congratulations to Patrick Kite and Grayson Thomas on their promotion into this position, we know that you will lead with willingness and positivity. Great reward for continuing to be positive and leading by example after missing out on initial appointments.
Year 12 receiving their candles at the O’Connor House Mass
O’Connor House Mass was held in the College Chapel in Week 5, it was a night of reverence, prayer and community gathering. It was fantastic to see so many parents from both the Senior and Junior schools in attendance to celebrate our Catholic faith. The new format of a night-time mass followed by a supper seemed highly valuable in parents, teachers and students continuing to build links and embrace our sense of community. I would like to thank the House Prefects for organising and special thanks to Father Bernie Thomas for leading the mass.
Constructing Solar Buddies
Once again O’Connor House raised funds and constructed the Solar Buddies for energy for regions of poverty. This year our students will take them on the upcoming Timor Leste Immersion to donate to students and families. The students constructed the Solar Buddies during House Assembly time and this allowed the students to work together to create the finished product.
Indeed a highlight of this Term has been the support of a first time College initiative, Running for Premature Babies. O’Connor students Riley James Cebokli, Sebastian Richardson, Nickita Hatjinikitas and Andrew Tinellis all raised funds and participated in the SMH Half Marathon. Andrew raised nearly $1000 towards the charity which was a great achievement for a very worthy cause.
The College Athletics Carnival at ES Marks was during the last week of the term. It was fantastic to once again have the Junior School as part of the carnival. Highlights of the day were winning the House Relay and Tug-o-War with a representative from each year group contributing towards the victories. It was a wonderful display of House spirit and teamwork.
To cap off the end of term we congratulated the following students at the Head of College Assembly. Luke Mclellan, MacKenzie Flitcroft, Patrick Healey, Julian Tee and Jake Perks all received Head of College Awards for continual high standards across all subjects and attitude towards their learning. Well done boys.
As we move towards the midpoint of the school year, I would like to wish everyone a restful and recharging break and especially wish those Year 12 students preparing for their HSC Trial examinations strength and motivation to stay focused on the task at hand.
A special mention to the students attending the Timor Leste and Red Earth Immersions during the holiday break and early Term 3, may the experiences bring you much growth and reward in your personal journeys.
I look forward to continuing to build on the strong start made by everyone and thank the O’Connor mentors and students for their support and hard work during the First Semester.
Tevlin House has enjoyed a positive and rewarding second term of 2019, with students highly involved across our wellbeing, academic and co-curricular programs. The term began with all Tevlin boys participating in a highly successful May Procession, and concluded with Tevlin adorned in yellow and having a fantastic day at the House Athletics Carnival and a podium finish!
House Sporting Achievements
Tevlin has enjoyed some further success across numerous sports activities in Term 2. Tevlin boys have a highly enjoyable day at the House Athletics Carnival on our last day of term, with a great opportunity to also welcome and involve our Junior school members to continue to be integrated into many of the great Tevlin experiences. Tevlin came in 3rd place out of the 8 Houses – a great result reflecting strong participation across both the track events, but also great to see so many boys pushing hard in the shot-put, long and high jumps.
Tevlin also continued its Fantastic Football culture, with the House Football tournament seeing The Senior side take out 1st place and Juniors Equal Third. Congratulations to the Senior team of Oliver Tamsett, Marcus Cowan, Leon Palacio, Alex Talbot, Will Jensen and Marco Arambasic who scored a cracker of a goal in the final!
Leadership and Academic Achievements
Pedram Biazar and Levi Milford from Year 12 were inducted to the Tevlin House Prefect Body at an assembly early in the term, strengthening this group with his demonstrated leadership throughout the year. They showed great resilience and the ability to lead in their humble but proactive manner, role-modelling many important virtues to younger students.
All year groups have been challenged to rise up to a higher level of academic focus and achievement, and we encourage boys and families to discuss their Semester One reports and for boys to reflect on how they compare to the goals and targets they established for themselves at the beginning of the year (these are on page 3 of their school diary). There may be areas for boys to be proud of in their academic development, while also identifying key aspects to address in Semester Two. All boys had a variety of half-yearly assessment tasks, and it was highly encouraging to see how well Year 5, 7 and 9 Tevlin boys worked through their NAPLAN tasks. Year 10 have been highly engaged in Allwell testing and Waverley’s Career Profile interviews, Study and Senior Subject seminars. Boys derived much benefit from these subject-specific sessions as they plan pathways for their future learning goals. Carl Waterson was also presented with Head of College Academic Gold Award, recognising significant achievement, effort and leadership throughout the year.
Tevlin’s Wellbeing and Social Justice Involvement
The Tevlin House Mass was certainly a highlight for the Tevlin community, with all boys, mentor, teachers and so many families coming to share Mass together. The supper afterward was a fantastic opportunity to socialise for all. I wish to thank Father Bernie, Ms Walsh, Mrs Fahy and all the Tevlin prefects and students for such great leadership to take the first evening Mass to such a meaningful place, and we look forward to building on this as a house.
Year 12 receiving their candles at the Tevlin House Mass
In the upcoming holidays, five Tevlin students from Years 9-10 will engage in the 2019 Red Earth Indigenous Immersion, including Jack Rigg, Daniel di Francesco, Carl Waterson, Hugo Roles and Cameron Lin. In addition, Charlie Tindale and Barney Wilson are travelling to Timor Leste on their Immersion, and we look forward to all these boys sharing their unique experiences with our House on their return. Both Reconciliation and Refugee Week this term also presented many opportunities to better understand the issues surrounding the significant challenges in contemporary Australia; with it so great to see students like Tevlin’s TJ Speedy-Coe and Dane Towns beginning to take leadership at school and Tevlin events and activities and share their cultural pride – well done boys and we look forward to this continuing.
Strong and positive relationships continue to be a high focus in the Wellbeing Program for all boys. Years 5, 6 and 10 boys had a further Big-little Brother session with some great games and laughs shared between these groups. Year 7 had a successful social Dance with St Clare’s and St Catherine’s schools, while all boys participated in key College events for the May Procession and ANZAC Day. Congratulations to Sam Tsaousis, who continues to perform the Last Post and Reveille with musical distinction.
Individual Term 2 Achievements and School Involvement
Collectively, Tevlin boys have been involved in significant Waverley events, with the School Musical Production of Guys and Dolls at NIDA showcasing both Waverley and Tevlin House’s talents. All boys and staff can be congratulated with the high quality of the production. Many key characters, played by Tevlin’s Riley Klotz, Remy Crompton-Lamb and Perri Quirk were outstanding in their character portrayals and were backed up by very clever and often comical performances by Jack Lynch. The hard work in preparation by these boys is to be commended, while Tevlin Mentors Ms Jinga (Producer) and Mr Lamb (Director) were amazing in their coordination and direction of such a fantastic production. Well done to William Woodward and Jake Smith in the stage management, sound and lighting as part of their entertainment competency for the production.
A number of boys have made notable contributions and had some excellent achievements in Waverley sport, including:
I wish all boys and their families a great term break and look forward to seeing everyone next term.
Term 2 has been another very busy, but, again a very rewarding and productive term for the young men of Conlon. The boys continue to embrace our House motto – Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam – I’ll either find a way or make one and take advantage of the many opportunities the College offers to them; be it in their academic, co-curricular, community or spiritual pursuits. They continue to distinguish themselves by their positivity, have-a-go attitude, and by their willingness to support and encourage each other.
One of the highlights of the term was definitely the College Musical – Guys and Dolls. This was an amazing joint production with St Clare’s. I was totally blown away by the incredibly high standard of performance by the entire cast and crew. Special mention, however, should be given to our very own talented and versatile Conlon performers – Andrew Badger (Yr 12) Toby Rabinowitz (Yr 10), Zach Straker (Yr 9), Saem Goffe (Yr 9), Evander Hudson, Tom Hughes and Alistair Isaac (Yr 8). Oliver Ruse (Yr 12) played in the orchestra and Mitchell Eyles (Yr 11) and Finbar Warren (Yr 12) were members of the back-stage crew. Every boy should feel extremely proud of their performance and contribution to making the musical such a great success.
During Week 5 we celebrated Reconciliation Week. The theme this year was – Grounded in Truth, Walk together with Courage. Various activities were held during the week which engaged students in activities which helped develop a deeper understanding of the need for reconciliation. During our house assembly, we were able to contribute our hand-prints to the ‘banner for healing’ and write messages for the cut-out hands in the ‘hands for healing’ garden. During the College assembly Fran Grant (mother of Lachlan Yr 8 and Charlie Yr 6) spoke honestly and from the heart about growing up in a family who were directly affected by the Stolen Generation. Fran spoke passionately about loss, love and forgiveness. First Nations students from Christian Brothers College Lewisham and St Ignatius’ College Riverview also came and performed traditional dance. Thank you to Fran, Ms Suzanne Walsh and Mr Richard Bryant for making this assembly so moving, relevant and unforgettable.
During the term the boys have continued to focus on their studies. Years 7 – 10 completed their half-yearly examinations. Early in the term, our students in Years 5, 7 and 9 also completed the nationwide NAPLAN testing. Next term the Year 8 and Year 10 students will be making important decisions about the subjects they will choose to study in 2019 and Yr 11 will be completing their final examinations in their preliminary course for the HSC. Our Year 12 boys are continuing to work towards their final assessments and will spend a large part of these holidays studying and preparing for their trials, which they will complete early next term. We wish them well with their preparations.
Congratulations to Joshua Cornelius, Patrick Hoggett, Hayden Wild and James Medland who were members of teams who competed in the da Vinci decathlon. This is an academic challenge designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of students across a variety of disciplines including engineering, mathematics, code-breaking, art/poetry and cartography.
At our final assembly for the term James Hoggett, James Privett, Hayden Wild and Patrick Hoggett all received Head of College certificates in recognition of consistent application and motivation towards their studies. The award is the culmination of a boy receiving at least three Gold awards.
Year 7 Dance 2019
Many of our Year 7 boys attended their first senior school dance with the young ladies from St Clare’s, St Catherine’s and Brigidine. The boys looked extremely smart and displayed surprisingly great skill on the dance floor.
Our Year 10 students completed their Career Profile testing and interviews, and, together with their Semester 1 results they will now be making important decisions about their pathway and subject choices for their senior years. Year 10 ‘big brothers’ also spent an afternoon with their ‘little brothers’ from Years 5 and 6. It was a great opportunity for the boys to meet up with their ‘little brothers’ again and have a fun afternoon playing games – dodgeball was a particularly popular game with the Conlon boys.
The Waverley College cadet unit once again led the College in a very moving ANZAC day commemoration service. Hugh Marshall (Yr 12) and James Privett (Yr 10) had the honour of being members of the V.C Guard. James and Year 9 student Zachary Straker also represented the College later in the term competing at the CAS cadet drill competition.
Many Conlon students continue to give their time, voice and skills to some important Community initiatives:
Conlon men continue to demonstrate their strong school spirit by participating whole-heartedly in their chosen winter co-curricular activity. Congratulations to the following boys for their selection in First or representative teams;
In the Inter-House indoor soccer competition, our Junior team comprising Christian Dos Santos, Luke and Liam Kraljevic, Thomas Holroyde, Hardy Mears, Harrison Lee and Oscar Medler had a great win in the final against Quinn. Our senior team; Max Johnson, Lachlan Manastirovski, Angelo Di Bartolo, Hugh Johnson, Reeve Smith and Darcy Sullivan were very unlucky to be defeated by O’Connor in their semi-final.
Junior School Athletics Carnival
Conlon boys performed extremely well at the House athletics carnival. It was great to see the enthusiasm, encouragement and ‘have a go’ attitude demonstrated throughout the day. Our Year 5 and 6 boys certainly brought a lot of energy and depth to our team. Conlon came a very honourable second place. I would like to especially thank our Prefects; Ryan Smith, Lachlan Manastirovski, Oliver Ruse, Sam Johnson and Hugh Marshall who organised competitors and teams throughout the day. One of the memorable highlights from the day was watching the teacher verse Yr 12 relay race and seeing Max Johnson overtake Mr Roff on the final lap – this certainly brought the crowd to their feet.
Nikita Nikitenko (Conlon 10) will be taking leave from the College for 12 months to attend a tennis academy in Florida, USA. We all wish Nikita well and hope that he has a wonderful and enriching experience whilst he is away.
Mr Nick Brophy (Conlon 02) will be taking some well deserved Long Service Leave during Term 3. Nick will be heading overseas with his family and we wish them safe and happy travels.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful Conlon mentors who never fail to support myself or your sons.
Finally, I wish all Conlon families a safe and happy mid-year break and I very much look forward to the second half of 2019.
Term Two started at a fast pace for the boys of Brennan House and certainly has not slowed down throughout the last 10 weeks. We have seen the beginning of the Winter Season of Co-Curricular activities and the opportunity for boys to show all the hard work they have been putting in over the summer to try and earn sought after positions in a number of sports and activities. It has been great to hear about boys being selected in teams higher than they played in last year after working hard over the summer.
Term Two has also seen the commencement of the Holdsworth Ball planning for 2019. This year’s group has begun meeting every Monday afternoon to start planning the flagship event of the Brennan House Social Justice calendar. Always a huge undertaking, the boys in Year 11 and girls from Year 11 at St Clare’s have already been hard at work putting together a great night of food, entertainment, prizes and dancing. This year’s theme is ‘Barn Dance’ and will surely be a night to remember! Part of the preparation involves the students looking to collect donations from members of the local community to use as prizes on the night. In saying this, if you or anyone you know would like to make a prize donation for the night we would love to hear from you. We are looking for any vouchers, experiences or products that we could use on the night itself. If you are interested, please feel free to email me directly for further information. We will also be looking to involve all mentor groups and our Junior School Brennan House members in the fundraising and preparations when we return for next term.
The Holdsworth Community is an incredible organisation who do some amazing work in our local community. Their primary goals are stated as: “being to support children and adults living with intellectual disabilities; families with young children; older people who may be frail, ill, lacking mobility, experiencing social isolation or living with dementia; and their families and caregivers. We aim to build a community where all people have the support and services they need in order to build their personal capacity; have a voice and make choices, and make the meaningful social connections needed to live an active and happy life in the community.” The chance for our students to work with them is such an incredible opportunity and the young men involved learn a great deal about some topics of great significance to all Australians. If you would like more information about the Holdsworth Community and their work, feel free to visit their website at: http://www.holdsworth.org.au/
This term also saw the hard work and dedication of one of our Year 12 students being rewarded by selection as a Mid-Year Prefect. Max Curry was just one of a handful of students that were chosen, after demonstrating excellent leadership throughout the first have of Year 12. Despite not being named a prefect in Term 4 last year, Max has shown a consistent commitment to a wide range of activities across the spiritual, academic and co-curricular spheres of the College. Since taking on this role Max has continued to work incredibly hard to make the most of this opportunity. Congratulations again to Max on this well-deserved appointment.
In addition to this there has been a great range of achievements that students in Brennan have experienced over the course of Term 2:
The spirituality program has also been at the forefront of Term 2, with the celebration of our 109th Annual May Procession. Even though the day was hampered by rain and had to be moved to the chapel, it was still able to go ahead and recognise an important aspect of our College’s identity.
Last Wednesday saw the running of our House Athletics Carnival which is always a great day for house spirit and a chance for all boys to show off their athletic skills. While we didn’t get the result we were hoping for on the day, it was still a fun day full of excellent house spirit from the Wolf Pack! One area that we can look to improve on for next year are our chants and participation levels throughout the day. The eventual winners of the carnival were able to achieve this result through an outstanding level of participation in all events. Generally, this is something that Brennan excels in and we need to make sure we build this back up for next time. A massive congratulations to everyone who took part in multiple events across the day and represented the Brennan Wolf Pack with pride! Our prefects did a great job of building house spirit throughout the day. Special mention should also go to Year 12 students Charley Howell, Kyle Goulding, Alex Rice and Nat Yarrow who helped out in any capacity they could and were excellent senior leaders of the house.
Other events that took place over the course of Term 2 included students running the SMH Half Marathon to raise money for premature babies. The Year 7 Social Dance run with Waverley, St Clare’s, St Catherine’s and Brigidine raised valuable funds for our Red Earth and Holdsworth Ball initiatives. The Student Wellbeing Survey allowed students to have a voice in what is going on in their school and it was great to see members of Brennan House listed as being recognised by other students as someone who stands up to bullying behaviour when they see it. NAPLAN testing took place in the middle of the term and our Year 7 and 9 cohorts should be commended on how they conducted themselves during this period. Our Year 5 and Year 10 ‘Big Brother Little Brother’ program continued with an afternoon of sports conducted on the Senior Campus. This term also had the running of our College Musical ‘Guys and Dolls’ at NIDA, with two of our Brennan mentors, Mr Balkizas and Ms Fahy being key leaders in the running of the entire event. This was a stellar production and all who were involved did an amazing job in producing a highly professional and thoroughly enjoyable production for thousands of spectators over the course of its run. Congratulations to all involved in this huge production.
Academically, Term 2 can be a stressful and busy time for students, with half-yearly exams taking place and Semester 1 reports being distributed. I hope all students were able to achieve results that they can be proud of through hard work and planning. If you fell short of your targets then I encourage you to use it as motivation to revise your approach to your study and keep working hard towards your goals for next term. Falling short of your targets, should never be a reason to give up on your goals. As Winston Churchill said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts”. When you receive your Semester 1 reports, I encourage all students to read their feedback carefully and use it to plan for Semester 2.
For those in Year 12, the conclusion of Term 2 marks the eve of their final full term of High School. When they return for Term 3, they will be beginning preparations for their Trial HSC Examinations which will begin in Week 3 of Term 3. I would like to wish them all the best in their studies over the holiday break.
As with every term, I would like to once again thank the wonderful wellbeing mentors of Brennan House. These mentors work very hard every day to ensure that they are there to support the members of their wellbeing groups and I am blessed to work with such a great group of professionals. The success of all house activities relies upon their hard work and support. Thank you for all you do.
Finally, I would like to wish all members of Brennan House, and the wider College community, a safe and restorative holiday period. Good luck to all students taking part in the Red Earth and Timor Leste Immersions. I look forward to seeing you all next term for the start of Semester 2.
We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation who are the traditional Custodians of the land on which Waverley College is located. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We are committed to honouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique cultural and spiritual connections to the land, waters, seas and sky and their rich contribution to society.
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