Key Dates
- Friday 6 September, Father/Son Camp
- Friday 6 September, Year 10 Formal Harbour Cruise
- Tuesday 10 September, WCCU Ceremonial Rehearsal, Cadets
- Thursday 12 September, RU OK Day
- Friday 13 September, Year 11 Examinations Commence
- Friday 13 September, Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award Ceremony
- Wednesday 18 September, Team Photo, CAS Track & Field Team
- Thursday 19 September, 90th CAS Track & Field Championships
National Child Protection Week
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.
Careers Evening
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.
Career Planet App
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.
Worldskills Cooking Competition
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.
Tournaments of the Mind
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.
Fathers Day Mass
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.
Holdsworth Ball
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.
Visitors
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.
Guest Speakers
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.
Fine Works
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.
Special Mention
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.
Staff Farewell
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.
Term’s notice of withdrawal
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.
