Following the success of this year’s ‘After the Bell’ parent evening, the network of eastern suburbs deputy principals will again be coming together and presenting another parent event this time focusing on teenage mental health titled‚ “Getting Comfortable with the Uncomfortable”.
Please mark the date in your calendar as Monday, 1 April 2020. The event will again will be held at Waverley College.
To view the save the date flyer, please click here.
Over the Summer holidays, Year 12 students have the opportunity to access the facilities of the UNSW library which is a great place to study. The program will be available to students until Wednesday, 30 September 2020.
To access the UNSW library please complete an application form, available here.
For each form, the relevant section needs to be filled out by:
One fully completed the form can then be:
The Library card costs $35 and payment for this can be made at the ‘Print and Copy’ area at the Main Library. Please note that the Library does not accept cash payments, only credit card or EFTPOS payments can be accepted.
For more information about UNSW Library click here.
If you have any further questions, please contact UNSW Learning Services Specialist, Jane Campbell via email on LIB.LLS.Supervisors@unsw.edu.au or call 02 9385 5999.
Click here for the latest careers update.
Earlier in the year, Waverley commenced a trial of new technology that used facial recognition to identify and match students to images that were collected in the classroom. The aim was to see whether facial recognition could be used to streamline the attendance taking process and provide teachers more time to engage with students at the start of class. Initially, six facial recognition sensors were installed in the High School and the intention in 2020 is to broaden by adding six more classrooms and the teaching spaces in the Junior Campus. At the start of 2020, we will also be using mobile kiosks to register students into the system. There is also the potential for this system to help with recording student attendance at Music lessons, checking in/out of the Library or visiting the health centre.
Throughout this evaluation process, the privacy of our students has been a high priority. The following resources provide information about how the system works and how the data is handled.
LoopLearn Privacy – https://www.looplearn.net/privacy
How LoopLearn works (video) – https://tinyurl.com/r6kqksn
LoopLearn FAQs – LoopLearn FAQ – Parents
On Friday 22 November, Green House took part in the “Step Out, Speak Out” Walk Against Domestic Violence (previously Sydney‚ White Ribbon Walk) from Randwick to Coogee. It was overwhelming to see the students, parents and staff taking a stand and making their voices heard. Talking to the students in Green House during the walk, they mentioned they felt part of something bigger and that by taking part they were making an impact on social issues in the community. Each student in Green has been able to take part in an important social justice initiative and this will be the focus for Green House for years to come.
We also had quite a few parents that came to walk with their sons. Their involvement shows the importance of the students taking a stand on this issue and the support behind us from our parents at Waverley. It was inspiring to see parents taking part in such a significant event. We also had students take part in the walk from several other houses and years across the school. Thanks to all students for their involvement.
Green House Prefect, Patrick Smith, spoke passionately at the event about creating change in our community by speaking up, supporting those in need and making a cultural change by showing respect.
I would like to thank the following staff for their attendance and for taking part in the event, their involvement allows students to see the importance of these events in the college community. We are lucky to have such motivated staff at Waverley and again, these staff members went above and beyond with their participation.
Ms Gemma Brown
Ms Emily Pace
Ms Tessa Prior
Mr Richard Bryant
Mrs Kathryn Knowles
Ms Patricia Alborough
Ms Ashleigh Della Marta
Ms Belinda Buchan
Mr Patrick Darvill
Ms Sinead Kenrick
Mrs Phoebe Guirguis
Mr John McCoy
Mr Stephen Ghattas
Ms Gabrielle Bransby
Ms Katia Iturrieta (Currently on maternity leave)
Mr Graham Leddie
During Term 2, we collected roughly 100 kg‚ worth of e-waste in our school e-waste bin. There will be another pick up at the end of the year.
Parents/Carers and Students can bring in:
Congratulations to Nathaniel Phipps for being awarded 1st prize in the South Maroubra Art and Photography Prize. He won the 12-16 age group for his monochromatic self-portrait titled ‘Green Man’, 2019.
The South Maroubra Art and Photography exhibition runs each year in November, showcasing local community members’ work. It is recognised as one of the largest community based sponsored Art and Photographic Prizes in the East.
The Waverley College Counselling team is made up of three Registered Psychologists, Ms Tessa Prior, Mr Greg Cameron, and Ms Alex McCredie. Together we work with all students from Years 5-12 to support their mental health and wellbeing. As a team, we will be writing regular articles in the Nurrunga about topical or relevant issues each month with a link to a platform called SchoolTV for more resources. Our contact details are on the school website and linked on SchoolTV if you would like to get in touch please email or call us at any time.
This month we will be focusing on resilience. Resilience is one of those skills that all boys need and should have. It refers to their ability to cope and adapt in situations when confronted with challenges such as adversity, trauma, tragedy, or even stress. It is essential to their mental health and wellbeing as part of their journey to adulthood. It is a skill that can be learned from an early age through the support of an adult role model.
However, being resilient does not mean your son won’t experience any difficulties, but it will better equip him to manage those situations. Particular parenting styles such as ‘over-protection’ can be viewed as being unhelpful towards the building of resilience. Although this may be a natural instinct, potentially experiencing failure is all part of the process. Encouraging your son to take healthy risks will help them trust their capacity to deal with uncomfortable situations and increase their capacity for courage.
Please look at further information on the SchoolTV link below to gain an understanding of how to support your son’s brave behaviour, to assist them in adapting to situations, and developing resilience.
If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your son, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to this month’s edition https://waverley.nsw.schooltv.me/newsletter/resilience
In Week 3, Waverley students competed in the Matraville High School Surfing Invitational competition at Maroubra Beach. A tag team event and in tricky two-foot conditions, Waverley’s two teams made some good decisions and surfed well to allow both teams a berth in the semi-final round.
Waverley team surfers included Finn Filipek, Axel Runow, Liam Greggorio, Judah Miller, Alex Morris, Max Leedham, Zygi Mann, Riley Vidulich, Matis Jos-Roland and Duke Weiland.
Overall, it was wonderful to see the Waverley boys working together and proudly flying the College colours.
“There is no greater suffering than constantly measuring yourself and coming up short. But where do we learn these things? Because, really, they are learned. We don’t come crying out of the womb because of our birth weight or because we have no money in this brand-new world. We learn to measure and we learn to attach our self-worth to those measurements.” Author, Vironika Tugaleva
I like this quote which sums up our inclination to contrast ourselves against others. Students experience this, as evidenced in our Student Wellbeing Survey conducted earlier this year. This psychological phenomenon ‘relative deprivation’ is credited to sociologist, Samuel Stouffer. The quotation above refers to ‘learned relative deprivation’ – always comparing, and always paling in comparison to someone else. It’s pervasive, especially in Western countries, and especially since the rise of social media.
Your son has been hampering for a new iPhone 10 or the latest Air Pod Pro’s released this month. You eventually give in, and he receives this for his birthday. Showing it off to his friends, he is dismayed when a friend whips out his new iPhone 11. He is now disappointed with his new iPhone and considers ways to acquire a new iPhone 11. Similarly; he was very proud of his staged photograph posted on Instagram at Bronte Beach. His friend then posts a similar photo from a party last weekend in the latest ripped jeans he has been coveting.
This ‘learned relative deprivation’ impacts student opinion – their looks, studies, future direction, sporting prowess, performance presence, photographic images on Instagram… Does it have a similar effect on us as well? We encourage you to engage in conversations with your son about this.
We will continue to focus on the character strengths of gratitude, humility, self-worth, perspective, temperance, prudence, humor, and hope as part of our Positive Wellbeing programs, building skills, and mindsets for positive self-worth, growth, and resilience.
The House of Welcome’s Annual Christmas Party is coming up on Saturday, 30 November 2019. The House of Welcome works with people seeking asylum who are living in the community.
Their Christmas party is an opportunity for their clients to come together and share a day of food, fun, and friendship. For some families, this is their first Christmas in Australia and for many children, it will be their only Christmas gift.
The House of Welcome is currently in need of gifts for the following groups:
Please, help us to spread the love and joy of Christmas with our clients by donating a new, unopened gift. Gifts can be bought to the Wellbeing Centre before the end of the Term.
The Scientia Challenge Program features a range of exciting workshops taught over three days designed for gifted and talented high school students in Years 7-10.
Developed and led by practicing experts, the workshops follow a university-style investigative structure with intellectually-stimulating content. With the level of study aimed two years higher than the students’ grade level, these dynamic workshops offer gifted students a rigorous and challenging program.
The program is held at the UNSW Sydney Campus giving students exposure to university life to help reimagine their future study options and provide opportunities to meet potential role models and mentors. The program also offers a space for gifted students to meet like-minded peers with similar interests.
The workshops are confirmed for the January 2020 Student Programs. Scholarship and Equity Advanced Placement applications are accepted prior to main round registration.
Registration will open at 7AM on Tuesday, 26 November: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/january-2020-gerric-student-programs-tickets-72044520099
Three Year 12 students studying Engineering (Joshua Cornelius, Will Cooley, and Lachlan Foley) were given an extraordinary insight into the aviation industry, through an opportunity to view the newest aircraft in the Airbus fleet, the A220.
Our thanks and acknowledgment to Mr Gerhard Ramcke (Chief Pilot Air Baltic, and A220 pilot) and Ms Genevieve Laverdure (Airbus Canada) for their invitation and generous support of the experience.
Below, the students describe the day in their own words:
‘We departed the Pullman hotel in a luxury Mercedes van designated for VIPs. After a rundown of operations and the plane’s route and interesting facts, we arrived at Sydney Airport where we had to go through two security gates. Once through the gates, we got a security escort onto the tarmac where we traveled to the Airbus A220. On the plane, we entered the cockpit and were briefed by the chief pilot of Air Baltic on the latest systems that were developed new to the Airbus fleet’.
‘The Airbus A220 is Airbus’s flagship medium-range plane. We were able to see the bleeding edge of technology from one of the world’s leading plane manufacturers. As we toured about the aeronautical systems aboard the plane we were shown the innovative products which are currently being designed in the industry. With almost the whole plane being controlled by computers and having little human influence on the plane’s movements it shows the crazy things engineers are doing with their free time. The plane is designed to fly 150 passengers for a 6-hour flight, this opens up new routes from Australia to the Asia Pacific and Oceania. It just so happened that we were there the day that the Qantas team were looking at the plane, 300 business persons were brought in busloads to observe the brand new plane. This allowed us to see how the marketplace works for planes, this can similarly be applied to other engineered products’.
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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