From the Director of the Junior School, Anthony Banboukjian
Prayer for the Week
Loving God,
As we continue our Lenten journey this week, we ask for your help. We want to follow Jesus but we confess our reluctance to face the stress and temptation that the journey might hold for us. We confess that we are sometimes tempted to wish for miracles which would make life easier rather than more stressful.
We admire the difficult and risky journey that Jesus took, challenging systems which put conditions on God’s love, but it is sometimes difficult to cope when life is uncomfortable and we see human suffering. We ask you to bless us as we strive to have faith in you.
Let us now pray the Lord’s prayer together
Our Father …
Amen
St Mary of the Cross: Pray for Us
Blessed Edmund Rice: Pray for Us
Live Jesus in Our Hearts: Forever
Junior Open Day
Our annual Open Day was a great success with many families visiting the Junior School throughout the afternoon. One of the main reasons they left feeling good about the school was the terrific performance of our volunteer tour guides. Over 90 boys gave up their time after school to help show people around the school.
Many of the visitors commented on how well-mannered our students were and the great pride they had in their school. The following is taken from an email we received about two of our students:
Just a quick note about the open day yesterday. My husband and I attended the information session last year but our oldest son, Finn, couldn’t come because he was on his school camp, so yesterday we brought our three boys (aged 9, 6 and 4). We have been chatting to Finn about the possibility of changing schools next year, and he has been a bit nervous about the idea because he loves his current school and his friends, but after his experience yesterday he came away feeling positive and excited by the prospect of attending Waverley. The two Year 6 boys who led our tour, Connor and Alistair, were just delightful. They were polite and friendly and very detailed in their information. They introduced themselves and made a point of repeating my boys’ names back after Finn had told them, and throughout their tour they made eye contact with us all and smiled at our sons as they explained all the things they do at Waverley. So, I wanted to share our thanks to them for making us feel so welcome, and could I ask you to please pass along our appreciation to their parents? They were great ambassadors for their school (of which they clearly are proud) and also seem like fine young men. I know I like to hear accidental praise of my children that shows they put into practice the things we teach them at home, so I thought the boys’ parents would appreciate the same.
Many thanks, Claire
To all our volunteers – a big thank you. Special thanks to Thomas Glesson and Carter Steyn who spoke to all the parents on behalf of all the Junior School students – very impressive.
Inspirational words
Last Christmas Mr Gill and the Junior School organised hampers to go to local families who were in need or we felt could benefit from some goodwill. We recently receive a lovely reply and Sophie has given her permission for me to share her message:
Dear Anthony and the Waverley College Junior School,
Today is the first anniversary of the passing of my amazing husband Ash and I am reflecting on his life & death and how we have made it through a whole year without him.
I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by wonderful friends here in Sydney but it was your incredible act of kindness to my family, who is not known personally to you and is not even a part of your school community that has touched me most deeply.
I was moved to tears when Anthony rang me in December to tell me that he had a gift from your school to brighten our Christmas and was overwhelmed to receive your generous gift.
On tough days like today, it is a wonderful reminder of how much good there is in the world and how much I have to be thankful for.
My sons Owen (8) & Harvey (6) have talked about how kindness can make a huge impact and we plan to ‘pay it forward’.
Thank you so much and God Bless you.
Sophie Smith and Owen & Harvey
Library News
This year the first ever ‘Shelfie’ competition was run in the Library. Students could have a ‘Shelfie’ taken with their favourite book or the book they had currently borrowed. Over 50 boys participated in the competition for a chance to win a $30 iTunes card. Jack Kerves from 5 Gold was the winner of the competition. It was great to see so many boys participating and getting involved with Literacy activities.
Congratulations to the following boys who were appointed library monitors for their class:
- 5 Blue – Jack Tindale, Spencer Chavez
- 5 Gold – Jack Kerves, Oscar Melder
- 5 Green – Tom McIntyre, Hugo Schneider
- 5 Red – Zac Duane, Ben Ledingham
- 5 White – James Medland, Will Whitaker
- 6 Blue – Tom Hughes, Charlie Beck
- 6 Gold – Matteo Paolella, Will Perkins
- 6 Green – Rex White, James Fragias
- 6 Red – Zach Zanetich, Ethan Fernadez
- 6 White – Thomas Shahinian, Matthew Woods
IPSHA Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to our swimming squad who competed at the IPSHA swimming carnival at Homebush on Tuesday March 7.
- Tristan Lee
- Cooper Gee
- Will Sweetman
- Oscar Bennett
- James Dyson-Merwe
- Jack Kerves
- Jules Cibej
- Callum Penny
- Joey Harris
- Kane Doull
- Lucas Young
- Mackenzie Palmer
- Carter Hjorring
- Jake Walker
- Mitchell Gavin
The boys swam very well against some very good opposition.
Well done to Lucas Young who has made the IPSHA team (100m free, 50 free, back and fly) to compete in the upcoming CIS carnival. Lucas’s great effort saw him break two school records – his own butterfly record with a time of 33.39 and the backstroke record set in 1995 with a time of 35.58 taking a full second off the old record. An amazing effort Lucas.
Thank you to Mr Ghattas and Mr Ryan for their efforts and assistance with the swimming squad.
Well Done
Congratulations to Ryan Harper (Year 6) and his Coogee U/12 team who finished with a Bronze medal in the beach sprint relay at the State Nipper Championships. Two past Junior School students – Ethan Smith and Kane Sheppard also made up part of the team.
Notice – Summer Sports Photos
On Thursday March 16 we will be taking photos of our Saturday Summer Sport Teams. All boys are asked to come to school in their summer Saturday sports gear for the photos. Boys who do not have the right gear may not be in the photos.
Order for photos (please note specific times cannot be given)
Team
- Swimming Squad – PE Uniform (please bring your summer team gear)
- Touch Football – Touch Football Gear
- Prep First Cricket – Cricket Gear
- Prep Second Cricket – Cricket Gear
- Year 6 Super 8 Cricket A – Cricket Gear
- Year 6 Super 8 Cricket B – Cricket Gear
- Year 5 Traditional Cricket – Cricket Gear
- Year 5 Super 8 Cricket A – Cricket Gear
- Year 5 Super 8 Cricket B – Cricket Gear
- Year 5 Super 8 Cricket C – Cricket Gear
- Year 5 Super 8 Cricket D – Cricket Gear
- Basketball A – Basketball Gear
- Basketball B – Basketball Gear
- Basketball D – Basketball Gear
- Basketball C -Basketball Gear
- Basketball E – Basketball Gear
- Basketball F – Basketball Gear
- Basketball G – Basketball Gear
- Basketball H – Basketball Gear
- Basketball I – Basketball Gear
- Basketball J – Basketball Gear
- Tennis Squad – Tennis Gear
- Water Polo A – PE Uniform
- Water Polo B – PE Uniform
Names on all clothing and gear
Lately we have been faced with the problem of boy’s misplacing their uniform after getting changed for training. Can I please ask that your check your son’s uniform to make sure he has not inadvertently taken another boy’s clothing home with him. Thank you as always for your support.
