Principal, Mr Graham Leddie
Great communities, great culture – respect, responsibility – shirts tucked, ties up, College cut
From the Deputy Principal, Students – Mr John Allen
In an address to the students last week I spoke about a feature of three unique communities. These were related back to respect, responsibility and consequence. The reflections were used to encourage our students about their actions and their impact on our community – good, bad and indifferent.
Below are some excerpts from the address.
Three unique community features that highlight respect and responsibility:
Tokyo, Japan: there are virtually no bins in public but there is also no litter. Why: respect (for others, the community and guests) and responsibility. There are consequences for non-compliance: social and legal.
Oxford University: students are required to wear a particular “uniform” called sub-fusc clothing to their annual exams. Sub-fusc is formal attire including an academic gown and, for men, a white bow tie. WHY: respect (for tradition and the institution) and responsibility. The consequences for non-compliance: excluded from the exam, failure to complete the degree.
New Zealand All Blacks: all players, regardless or age, position and level of seniority are required to buy into a culture that requires them to “sweep the sheds” (tidying their change room and training facilities) and treating others, coaches, players and the public, with respect and leading through service. WHY: responsibility and respect for others, the jersey, the privilege, the players past and for the legacy they aim to leave for the players of the future. Consequences of non-compliance: damages to the reputation (self and team) and non-selection.
How does this apply to the Waverley community?
It’s great to see our community at its best: on immersions, HSC students sharing resources, at CAS T&F, helping people in the public, demonstrating respect, humility, kindness and gratitude. Here are a few focus points for the term ahead:
- Respect your teachers, all members of staff, each other, and members of the public. Demonstrate kindness and respect in the way you listen, respond and interact. ⁃ In public: remember your interaction with someone on the bus, at Bondi Junction or at the beach, may be the only one a member of the public has with a Waverley student – they will remember what you did and how they felt, good or bad. Be your best. Act with good character and integrity, showing respect and upholding your responsibility to our community.
- Uniform: “Shirts tucked, ties up and College cut” especially upon entry and exit from school, formal settings the classroom and in the public.
- Haircuts: “College Cut”: not too long (collar, ears, eyes), not too short (below a 2 blade), no great contrast between short and long hair, required to be of natural colour.
- Put your litter, or litter your see, in the bin.
- As you enter the College: ear pods away, phones off and away into your locker.
I encourage you to bring your best, today and everyday. Demonstrate respect and take on your responsibility for yourself, others, the learning and the College. We will continue to encourage and remind you. But it is expected that you do your part, there will be consequences for those who don’t meet these reasonable expectations.
I wish you a great term and look forward to seeing you bring your best, here at school and in public.
Term 4 Literary Evening and Waverley Community Book Club
We are delighted to announce that we will be hosting our annual Literary Evening and Community Book Club on 25 November at Waverley College Library.
This year we will be joined by guest speaker, Gabrielle Mace, founder of ProReading Solutions and well-known literacy expert. Gabrielle is a literacy consultant and library services specialist who works with schools and communities across Australia and internationally to foster a culture of reading. In 2025, responding to the growing literacy crisis, she co-founded The Detective Experience – a global literacy initiative designed to bring young people and families back to reading through the power of story and mystery. The program is now shared worldwide at no cost to schools and families. Gabrielle has presented most recently at the International Boys’ Schools Coalition Conference in the UK and the World Literacy Summit in Oxford, and is a sought-after speaker on boys and reading, digital distractions, and student voice.
Our pick for Book Club is the wonderful novel ‘The Strange Library’ by Haruki Murakami. This is a fantastical illustrated short novel about a boy imprisoned in a nightmarish library. Readers will find themselves immersed in the strange world of best-selling author Haruki Murakami’s wild imagination. We will also have lucky door prizes and light supper.
Junior School Aladdin Production
Congratulations to all our Year 6 students, along with a number of students from St Catherine’s School, who performed brilliantly in Disney’s Aladdin JR., held in our Performing Arts Centre throughout the week. The level of performance, energy, and enthusiasm displayed by the students was outstanding, and the show was a truly magical experience for everyone involved. It provided our Junior School students with a wonderful opportunity to perform, step outside their comfort zones, and be part of something unforgettable.
A sincere thank you must go to Junior School Music Teacher and Director of Aladdin JR., Mr. Jonathan Bowden. His creativity, passion, and tireless dedication were the driving force behind this incredible production. Through his leadership, guidance, and inspiration, he brought this musical vision to vibrant life.
We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to David Thomas at Crystal Productions for his impeccable AV support, and to Peter Musserad for his phenomenal costume and set design. Our gratitude also goes to the Junior School staff, particularly the Year 6 teachers, whose hard work, flexibility, and positivity ensured that the production ran smoothly from start to finish. From coordinating rehearsals to managing costumes and supporting students both on and off the stage, their efforts were invaluable.
Finally, congratulations once again to the entire cast and crew of Disney’s Aladdin JR – a brilliant testament to the talent, teamwork, and spirit of our Junior School community. What a truly unforgettable experience!
Please feel free to view photos from Aladdin JR. HERE
Summer Co-Curricular Captains and Teams
Congratulations to the captains and teams who were presented at assembly this week.
View the full list HERE.
Parents’ Association Meeting and AGM – Monday 10 November
Our next Parents’ Association (PA) Meeting and Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Monday, 10 November.
As part of our annual process, we are now calling for nominations for PA representative roles, including Treasurer, as our current Treasurer will be retiring from the role at the end of this term. We warmly thank them for their dedicated service and valuable contribution to our school community.
If you’re interested in getting more involved or know someone who would be a great fit, please email Parents Association President Louise Lakomy at louisel@bdhl.com.au or Ms Robin Ball at rball@waverley.nsw.edu.au.
The Treasurer role is a vital part of the PA, supporting the ongoing success of our initiatives.
More information about the roles and nomination process will be shared at the upcoming meeting. All parents and carers are welcome to attend.
Waverley College 2025 Parent Impact Award – Recognising the outstanding contribution of parents and carers
A strong sense of community, service and faith has shaped the life of Waverley since its foundation. Each year committed families give their time and skills to consistently enrich, inspire and enhance our school community. Many individuals and families have made outstanding contributions through their voluntary support and participation in college life during and often beyond their sons schooling, enriching the lives of many students, and having an enduring impact on the Waverly College community.
The Parent’s Association is delighted to open nominations for the Waverley College Parent Impact Award. The award recognises the outstanding achievement of a particular parent/carer who has gone over and above in supporting the College through their commitment to our mission and values, and who is an inspirational role model within our Waverly College family community.
Nominations are open to individual parents/carers or families with sons currently or previously enrolled at the school (with the exception of current members of the Parents Association and selection committee)
We warmly invite nominations and encourage parent nominations across all year groups. Parents/carers and current Waverley College staff are eligible to make a nomination. See below link to the nomination form https://forms.gle/juFPZzjg9a28cjF47
The award will be presented after the AGM on Monday 10 November.
Research Project – Consent and Respectful Relationships Education Project
As part of the Phase 2 consultation process for the Consent and Respectful Relationships Education (CRRE) Project, our School and System Leaders completed a survey in March 2025. This survey was to gain a better understanding of the types of programmes being implemented in schools, as well as the goals these programmes aim to achieve. The next stage of this research is to gather insights from two additional stakeholder groups: parents and students.
Catholic Schools NSW (CSNSW) has commissioned the Australian Catholic University (ACU) to conduct the research on our behalf. The parent and carer survey is now live and will be open to complete until Friday 14 November. The purpose of this survey is to seek parent feedback about their experience of their child’s CRRE education, and to gain insights about the challenges they face. We also ask what support parents need to continue this important education at home.
The more parents who participate in the survey, the greater the insights we will gain, thus ensuring a strong parent voice contributes to this important work.
Parents can participate in the survey by simply clicking on this link.
As for the student engagement component of this research, we acknowledge that this is a more sensitive area due to the ethical considerations of research involving minors. We anticipate that this research will take place in Term 1 2026 and will only be made available to Year 10 to Year 12 students
The purpose of completing research with students is to give them a voice and gather insights about their experience of CRRE in Catholic schools. It will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their experience, as well as an avenue to recommend what they would like to see in a Catholic CRRE programme.
U16 Social Media ban – How will this impact the classroom?
As of 10 December the Australia government will empower social media companies to provide age verification before allowing them to login to their sites. This will mean that it is the responsibility of the social media companies to show they are taking reasonable steps to ensure that anyone under the age of 16 will be prevented from authenticating and potentially being exposed to inappropriate content. The initiative is being led by the eSafety Commissioner and is to “help protect young Australians at a critical stage of their development, through world-first social media age restrictions.”
Waverley College fully endorses this approach and any initiative that helps to protect young people whilst online.
More information relating to the U16 Social Media ban can be found on the eSafety Commissioner website. https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions
There are also a number of excellent resources relating to being safe online which can be found here:
What does the ban cover?
In essence the ban is at the point a young person attempts to create an account and login to a platform when they are under the age of 16, these platforms need to provide a method to identify the age of that person. It is not a block of the website or a web filter to prevent access to the site. This is important to understand in the context of YouTube.
Which sites will be included?
Whilst there is not a definitive list of the platforms covered by the ban, platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Snapchat are included with YouTube having also been recently added. This list is not exhaustive and the Commissioner has asked tech companies to self-assess to see if they meet the threshold to be included in the ban.
How will this impact us in the classroom ?
The biggest potential impact would be with the addition of YouTube to the ban, this platform has been used widely to provide resources to students for many years. Since mid-Term 3 we have been briefing our teaching staff on looking at alternatives to YouTube particularly in the younger years, we have been trialling a YouTube block in the Junior School since the end of Term 3 and this will remain in place. One word of caution is that the mechanics of YouTube mean that a student under 16 would still be able to view content from a direct link but would not be able to login to the platform and by not logging in they would be prevented from accessing age restricted content or inappropriate content.
We will continue our existing blocks on social media sites whilst students are in school and these will not change and that we will continue to explore options for teacher to deliver more content via providers such as ClickView etc
Waverley College 60 Year Reunion
On Saturday, 18 October, 30 Old Boys gathered at the Royal Automobile Club in Sydney to celebrate their 60-year reunion. It was a wonderful afternoon of laughter, memories, and reconnection. Special guests included Deputy Principal Lynsey Porter and Foundation Manager Billy Nicolas, hosted by Old Boys Walt Jervis, Peter McLean, and John Hilton. Lynsey shared updates on the College and spoke about the impactful Percy Watson Fund for Teaching Excellence, which invests in the professional development of staff. To date, 26 teachers have received this prestigious award, a scholarship that benefits not just one educator, but an entire generation of students.
The reunions are a great way for Old Boys to continue the connection with the College and we look forward to being a part of many more reunions in the future.
Cyber Awareness Month – October 2025
October is Cyber Awareness Month- a great reminder for our students and families to review safe online habits. At Waverley we want our students to be thoughtful, responsible digital citizens; together with parents and carers, we can help young people stay safe, secure and respectful online.
What you can do at home (quick wins)
- Use strong passphrases and a different one for each important account (email, banking, school apps). Aim for a simple sentence with spaces.
- Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) wherever it’s offered – especially for email, social media, and gaming accounts.
- Update devices and apps promptly to patch security flaws (set “automatic updates” on).
- Talk about phishing: remind children (and adults!) not to click unexpected links or attachments – even if a message looks urgent or “official.”
- Check privacy settings on social platforms and gaming profiles; keep accounts private and location sharing off.
- Back up photos and schoolwork (cloud or external drive) so a lost phone or locked device isn’t a disaster.
- Report scams and cyberbullying early. Encourage students to save evidence and speak to a trusted adult or the school.
On Wednesday Students will take part in an activity during Wellbeing encouraging them to recognise potential Cyber issues and promoting a conversation with their peers about how they can stay safe online.
Helpful resources for families
eSafety Commissioner (Australia): practical guides for parents and reporting tools
https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents
ACSC (Australian Cyber Security Centre): alerts and step-by-step security advice
https://www.actnowstaysecure.gov.au/
Protect your self online (ASD)
https://www.cyber.gov.au/protect-yourself
Scamwatch (ACCC): current scam examples and how to report them
