From the Principal, Mr Graham Leddie

Prayers and Thoughts 

Please keep respective students and staff members in your prayers and thoughts this week who have lost mothers and fathers. I know a lot of our community have lost loved ones recently and this is one of the hardest things we have to face as humans, particularly when life is cut short.

I know many of our students, parents/carers and staff are aware of an alleged hit and run in the local area where a 28-year-old man tragically lost his life last week. Please encourage your son to reach out to one of our psychologists, his favourite teacher or mentor or you if he is struggling at this time. And, please encourage him to look after those who have gone through loss of a loved one. 

Science and Engineering Challenge Winners

The University of Newcastle operates a nationwide STEM outreach program called the ‘Science and Engineering Challenge’ which gives students the chance to experience how science and engineering can help to solve real-world problems in a fun, competitive setting.

We congratulate the following students who competed in this challenge on Tuesday. Waverley came away with the win! We’re proud to say that we are now in the running to go to the next level once all NSW heats are completed.

Congratulations to Ms Gemma Brown and Ms Emily Pace and the following Year 10 students; Adam Curran, Aidan Carpenter, Alexander Tarasov, Archie Llewellyn, Ben Darcy, Charlie Carter, Christopher Wellington, Connell Corcoran, Ethan Ooi, Guillen Dela Cueva, James Grant, Jenson Mears, Mikayl Keshavarz, Oliver Brasic, Oliver Teh Howell, Owen Smith, Riley Joel, Ryan Murphy, Sam Altree-Williams, Sonny Bowcock, William Jacques, Xavier Kopsiaftis, William Lerche, Max Star.

Thespians in Action 

Two of our drama students both played senior roles in the Kincoppal Rose Bay (KRB) 2024 School Musical Legally Blonde, which opened last night at NIDA. Congratulations to Mackenzie Singh (Year 12) and Matthew Frost (Year 12) who both produced stellar performances along with their KRB colleagues.

Student Fox Stapleton (Year 11) is in the St Catherine’s musical which opens in early Term 2. And, we have a number of our boys, and girls from Ascham School and St Clare’s College in Week 8 of their rehearsals for our production Tartuffe (The Hypocrite), based in 1980s Sydney. This will be performed in the PAC Theatre at Waverley College from 18-20 June 2024. Details coming soon.

Year 12 Hospitality Students Excel 

Congratulations to our Year 12 Hospitality students who took over Pinocchio’s Restaurant on Monday evening this week. The boys prepared a variety of dishes from scratch across entrée, main and dessert to a very high standard. Both parents, carers, grandparents and staff were highly impressed with the boys skills across both front and back of house.

Thank you to Ms Beverley McCarthy and Mr Mark Neale for coordinating this experience which provided the boys an opportunity to display best practice in an authentic workplace setting. We would also like to thank and acknowledge the staff at Pinocchios for providing this valuable learning experience for our students.

Read more in Ms Lynsey Porter’s article HERE.

Harmony Day 

This week we celebrated Harmony Day in the Junior and Senior Schools. When we look at our student enrolment, the school has students born in over 40 different countries with representation across each continent, except Antarctica. This would broaden much further if we included parents’ countries of birth.

We are proud to be a school that reinforces the message each day that ‘everyone belongs’. We see strength in diversity and this is particularly relevant as an Edmund Rice community as one of our Touchstones is ‘Inclusive Community’. In light of that theme, our prayer on international Harmony Day was recited in Spanish and Gaelic, symbolising our cultural diversity and inclusiveness of all.

Waverley Council – NetZero Alliance Business Breakfast

Last Friday morning, I joined Mayor Paula Masselos along with other Net Zero Alliance members to hear from energy experts and share ideas of helping each other towards achieving NetZero 2035. Twelve new local businesses and community organisations signed the alliance last Friday and are seeking to reduce their greenhouse emissions and reduce waste.

Member for Wentworth Ms Allegra Spender MP and Member for Coogee Ms Majorie O’Neill MP were also in attendance and gave their support to increasing participation and building of partnerships between all levels of government, business and community organisations in working towards NetZero.

Earth Hour 

I encourage you and your family to support Earth Hour this Saturday which has grown to become much more than switching your lights off. Millions of participants around the world will switch off their lights at 8:30 pm local time on Saturday, 23 March 2024 to demonstrate support for the environment that is in obvious crisis.

This action is symbolic and is not an action to save power. It is about bringing awareness to the issue and demonstrates your commitment to help protect the planet. 

Harries needs you – Blue & Gold Ball 

We are thrilled to announce our annual fundraising event, the Blue & Gold Ball, which is set to take place on Saturday, 24 August 2024. This event holds great significance for us, as all proceeds generated will go towards the realisation of our Science & Innovation Centre – a state-of-the-art facility that will empower our students to excel in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

Please see the video below from Harries, seeking donations and sponsorship from the community.

The Waverley Walk

Another way you can help and make your mark in history and celebrate your connection with Waverley College is by purchasing an engraved paver on the Walk of Waverley. The Walk of Waverley leads into the oldest part of the College Campus ‘Airmount’ from the Carrington Road gates.

We urge you to join us on this far-reaching journey as funds from the sale of each paver will benefit current and future generations of Waverlians by going towards the state-of-the-art Science & Innovation Centre.

Learn more HERE.

Whole School Mother/Carer & Son Dinner

The College for a number of years has run a Year 12 Mother/Son Luncheon and this year we are trialling a whole school event, which the Parents’ Association are organising – the Parents’ Association Mother/Carer & Son Dinner. So far over 500 tickets have been sold and limited seats are now available. Act fast if you would like to secure a seat.

This will be held on Friday, 17 May 2024 at Randwick Racecourse, 6:30pm-10:30pm. The special guest speaker is Hugo Toovey, Founder of 25 STAY ALIVE.

For more information and to purchase your tickets please click HERE.