Principal, Mr Graham Leddie
End of Term 4
It has certainly been a challenging year for everyone and with less than two weeks to go, the boys are looking forward to their respective summer holidays. Please encourage your son to enjoy his last days of schooling for 2021 and finish in good spirits. There is value and important lessons learnt in finishing a job well, and hanging in there until the very end.
I am certainly grateful for the way our community has supported each other throughout the year. I am also grateful to frontline workers who have kept our society as safe as possible, and able to operate as best it can during these difficult circumstances, including putting their own health at greater risk. Thank you to all of our police, first responders, health workers, nurses, doctors, and hospital workers.
When you further unpack what roles are important to keep our society operational and safe, you realise that so many industries play an integral part — education, food and agriculture, manufacturing, corrections workers, postal service workers, public transit workers, grocery store workers, transportation and logistics, food service, shelter and housing, finance, information technology and communication, energy, media, legal, engineers, water and wastewater workers etc.
COVID-19 Update
In a large community where social distancing is nigh impossible, a multi-layered approach is our best option in reducing risks, which is why we continue to strongly encourage vaccination, for all staff and students who are eligible, against COVID-19. The staff at Waverley College are all proudly vaccinated. Vaccination is one of the most effective ways in minimising the spread of COVID-19. These vaccines will protect you from getting severely ill if you get COVID-19.
If your son has been vaccinated against COVID-19, could you please send us their COVID-19 Certificate or Immunisation History Statement in the form of a PDF to email address healthcentre@waverley.nsw.edu.au
This will be stored confidentially on your son’s medical records. Thank you to all of those parents, carers and students who have already sent these through to us. It is fantastic to see the continually rising numbers of fully vaccinated students across the College.
Woollahra Photographic and Short Film Prize
Congratulations to the students who entered the Woollahra Photographic and Short Film Prize for 2021. The competition calls all young photographers or film makers to submit work within a range of categories. This year, the competition introduced a new section showcasing ‘inclusivity.’ Special congratulations to Luke White in Year 10, who on Wednesday night, won First Prize in the Mayor’s choice awards for his entry ‘Street Mirror.’
>>> Click here to view more information in the article by Ms Natalie Oates, Head of Visual Arts.
Ethics Olympiad
Congratulations to the following Year 9 students who represented the College in the Ethics Olympiad today. They had a variety of tasks and decisions to grapple with, and performed very well — Lachlan Miranda, Campbell Porteus, Declan McAuliffe, James Medland, James Birbas and Oliver Malzard.
Amazing Swim
Congratulations to Old Boy Ned Wieland (2019), on his remarkable achievement last weekend in breaking the record for most number of laps swum of Bondi Beach. Ned completed 62 laps, some 48km, and was in the water for just under 12 hours. An amazing effort on the back of only seven weeks of training! Ned also raised over $24,000 for charity RU OK? which is close to his heart.
Inspirational Old Boy Ned Wieland (far right)
Old Boy Assistance Request
Old Boy Geordan Bates (2017), is approaching the end of his university studies in media and psychology at UNSW. With two friends from Cranbrook, they had the idea to make a short documentary on the Australian icon, Don Ritchie. Ritchie lived near The Gap at Watsons Bay, and was responsible for saving 160+ people from suicide. He made it his life’s mission to dissuade as many people as possible from suicide, by offering them his calm words and a warm cup of tea in his nearby home.
The documentary concept has received positive feedback on the script from Hugh Jackman and Emile Sherman (Academy-award winning producer), and Hugo Weaving has agreed to come onboard as the voice of Don. The group has partnered with mental health charity, Gotcha 4Life and are seeking to raise $50,000 over the next two months to complete the project. All donations are tax-deductible through the Australian Cultural Fund (ACF) website.
>>> Click here to view the ACF website.
I commend the group as this project has the potential to impact lives far beyond our local community. The expected completion date is in September 2022. You may like to support this cause or know a corporate sponsor that would be interested.
Year 11 Assembly
Unfortunately, the rain caused us to postpone our Year 12 (2022 cohort) leadership assembly today, that was going to be live-streamed to parents. It will now be held on Monday, 22 November at 11:50am, and a link will be emailed by Ms Walsh.
