Director of Junior School, Ms Gabrielle Bransby
Diary Dates
Please find below some reminders about upcoming events. For all of Term 3 events, please refer to the College calendar.
August
- 8 August – The Great Big Science Show Incursion – PAC
- 8 August – Wakakirri
- 9 August – ICAS writing – selected students, 7:30am – 8:30am
- 10 August – ICAS Digital Technologies, 8am – 9am
- 15 August – 120 Year Celebration Feast of the Assumption
- 16 August – ICAS English – selected students, 8am – 9am
- 21 August – Book Week – Pop up Book Shop
- 23 August – ICAS Science – selected students, 7:45am – 8:50am
- 25 August – Wear it Purple Day
- 30 August – ICAS Mathematics – selected students, 8am – 9am
September
- 1 September – Father’s Day Mass, 12pm
- 13 – 15 September – Year 6 Camp
- 18 September – Allwell Testing Year 6
- 21 September – Classes conclude
Father’s Day Mass – Friday, 1 September 2023 – Mary Immaculate Church
The celebration of fathers, grandfathers and significant others in the lives of our Waverley College Students will be celebrated on Friday, 1 September at 12pm (Week 7, Term 3). This will be at Mary Immaculate Church followed by lunch at the Junior School.
Click here to view your invitation
Part of the celebration will include a slideshow. Can I please ask that you send through a photo of your son(s) with their fathers/grandfathers if you would like a photo included in this presentation.
Please send through all photos to liturgy@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Mr Steve Ghattas
Director of the Junior School
sghattas@waverley.nsw.edu.au
MindQuest Enrichment Opportunity
MindQuest is offering challenging, fast-paced two-day workshops designed to stimulate and extend your child across a broad range of subject areas. The programs will be held on Saturday, 16 and Sunday, 17 September 2023 at St George Girls’ High School between 9:30am and 3:30pm.
The courses are suited to high potential and/or gifted students, gifted underachievers and students of well above abilities with a special interest. If you feel this would be of interest to you son, please click the button below to register.
Click here to register for MindQuest!
Da Vinci Decathlon Success
On Thursday, 27 July, 16 excited students represented Waverley College Junior School at the annual NSW Years 5 and 6 da Vinci Decathlon, held at Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga. It was the first time since 2019 that students competed at the venue rather than being online, which made the day even more special.
What is Da Vinci Decathlon?
The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate the minds of school students. Students compete in teams of eight across 10 disciplines: Engineering, Mathematics, Code breaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative producers, Cartography and Legacy.
Years 5 and 6 teams competed with incredible team work and tenacity. This was acknowledged in the Awards Ceremony at the end of the day, with Year 5 taking out second place in the Cartography category—an incredible achievement against over 70 schools. Congratulations on an outstanding result and for representing Waverley College so proudly.
Ms Margaret Fitzgerald and Ms Deanne Edwards
Learning Support Teachers
mfitzgerald@waverley.nsw.edu.au
dedwards@waverley.nsw.edu.au
25 Years of Wakakirri at Waverley
On Tuesday, 8 August 2023, 100 Junior School boys will take the stage at NIDA for their Wakakirri performance The Right to Dream. Our story explores three of our basic human rights, the right to be free, the right to be heard and the right to be safe. We also highlight that these rights are worth fighting for when challenged. Our final message is that we should always protect our human rights and be excited for what the future brings – dream big.
Wakakirri at Waverley came from very humble beginnings, telling light stories of superheroes, knights, James Bond and even the Blues Brothers. Our casts were quite small in the beginning, with approximately 30 students involved each year.
It didn’t take long for our focus to change and we began performing social justice stories including Bye, Bye Bystander, There’s More Through the Door and Playing Hide and Sneak. As our stories grew in depth, our cast numbers grew until we reached the maximum allowed on stage.
To the thousands of Waverley boys who have been part of Wakakirri: congratulations – your stories have had a positive effect on each other, the College and the audiences who experienced your performances.
Ms Michelle Rollins
Music and Drama Teacher
mrollins@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Home Learning Term 3 Week 4
*No Home Learning Wednesday, 9 August 2023
We offer all students in Year 5 and Year 6 the opportunity to receive free additional support after school to complete home learning tasks. The afternoon sessions also provide a quiet, supervised study space for students who want to complete their assigned tasks.
Home Learning Club operates in the Learning Hub from 3pm until 4pm – Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays – during school term unless there is a scheduled Professional Development meeting and the club will be closed.
Procedures
Click here to register your son
Only register his name once to allow other students the opportunity to attend. The session is limited to 20 spots. There will be a roll call to ensure attendance.
Students are required to stay for the full session unless there is a message in the student diary requesting early leave, a parent’s signature will be required.
Behaviour
As it is important to respect the rights of others to learn and work, all students are expected to settle to work in the Learning Hub and not cause a disturbance for others.
Teachers
- Monday and Wednesday – Ms Natasha Zivanovic nzivanovic@waverley.nsw.edu.au
- Tuesday and Thursday – Ms Gaby Bransby gbransby@waverley.nsw.edu.au
If you require any further information, feel free to contact us.
An important note to remember, if afternoon training sessions are cancelled, unfortunately, you cannot send your son to Home Learning as an alternative plan, students are registered for the afternoon sessions in advance and the capacity is always reached.
Try to avoid messaging your son during this period, unless it is urgent.
Lunchtime Guest Speaker: From the Bedside to the Boardroom
Our first guest speaker for Term 3 was Nicole Draper, the mother of Charles in Year 5 and James in Year 6. From her early nursing days to her current position as the Director of Clinical Documentation Improvement Australia, Nicole gave an enlightening talk about her career.
Nicole has held a variety of positions over the years, including Registered Nurse, Nurse Unit Manager, Manager Length of Stay, Documentation and Revenue Optimisation and Director of Clinical Documentation. Her professional qualifications include a Bachelor of Nursing, Master of Health Administration, Graduate Certificate in Research.
The students hearing that you are always learning and shouldn’t be afraid of trying anything new, was brilliant. Your raw insight into your challenges and achievements captivated the students.
Your messages were strong and your life experiences – particularly your recent travels to the Middle East working with Saudi Arabians – were fascinating.
Thank you for taking the time out to inspire our Junior School boys.
Book Week
In Week 6 we will be celebrating Book Week at the Junior School. The theme this year is Read, Grow, Inspire…
All students from the Junior campus are encouraged to enter one or both of the competitions running for Book Week.
A huge thank you to the students who have submitted an entry.
Pop-up Bookshop
An essential aspect of supporting your son with his reading is to allow him to make his own book choices. The Pop-up Bookshop will be running in Term 3 Week 6.
This year I would like to introduce a new sustainable and cost effective Pop-up Bookshop.
If you would like to help this initiative I would like you to donate pre-loved books that will be sold at a very reduced amount.
The money raised will be donated to one of the Edmund Rice foundations.
Donations can be sent to the Learning Hub during Week 4.
Reader of the Week
Ms Natasha Zivanovic
Literacy & Innovation Teacher
nzivanovic@waverley.nsw.edu.au
News from 6 White and Mr Stanton
Science
While being dressed for our recent Men’s Health Day, students completed a Science task on the source of the materials we use in our everyday world. The boys had to come up with answers on a product/object that was used to make their computer bag strap. Some chose the nylon mesh strap or the metal clip or even the silicone mat.
Visual Arts
Students created their own pagodas over two lessons in Visual Arts. This is part of our unit this term studying Asian Art and is also tied to our Geography work. Boys drew a detailed Pagoda first. Then it was cut out and highlighted on its edges. Finally it was stuck on an inked background the students created, by wetting crêpe paper and letting the dye stain the paper.
Mr Stanton
6 White Teacher
mstanton@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Winter Co-Curricular Sport – Round 10
We’ve made it to the final round of the Winter Co-Curricular season for 2023. It has been a full winter season uninterrupted due to weather as the previous years have been. I would like to wish all teams the best of luck for their final home and away matches. This weekend is Round 10, on Saturday, 5 August 2023.
Please ensure you refer to the Waverley College app announcements each week, as I will continue to send out the weekly sports fixtures and scores for each round. All families can locate all relevant Junior School Co-Curricular information via the College website.
Click here to view all Junior School Co-curricular information on the Waverley College website
Post-Winter Co-Curricular Reminder
Students will have a break from sport between Weeks 4 to 10, Term 3. During this period, students who make it through to IPSHA Athletics, who were named ‘age champions’ or performed highly at the school Athletics Carnival, have now been invited to train with the Senior Athletics squads for their respective events. This will allow those students to prepare for both IPSHA and CIS Athletics later in the Term.
Extra Co-Curricular Activities
As a result of this time without sport taking place, there are still opportunities to sign your son up for various Extra Co-Curricular activities for this Term. These include Hip Hop and Judo.
If your son is interested in joining Hip Hop, please click the button below to complete the Google Form.
Click here to sign up for Hip Hop
Alternately you may email Ms Tweedie ctweedie@waverley.nsw.edu.au
External Sporting Achievements
James Draper and Cruz Peralta won the Division 1 Waratah Metro Junior League last Sunday at Bankstown, beating Norths 67-56.
Charlie’s Draper’s team won the Division 2 Waratah Metro Junior League beating Norths, also at Bankstown, 59-52.
A massive congratulations to James, Cruz and Charlie for their team’s achievements.
Mr Jack Wachtel
Assistant Director of Co-curricular
jwachtel@waverley.nsw.edu.au
