Lacey House Report – Term 3, 2018

From the Head of Lacey House, Damien Thompson

Lacey House Report Term 3

2018 has seen the introduction of the House group as the basis for our Year Nine outdoor education experience.  I could not resist the opportunity to get to know our boys more deeply so I joined them on their Somerset camp. Four days of trekking, canoeing, cooking and involvement in the myriad of activities was inspirational and edifying. The Lacey boys were truly a pleasure to observe with their high level of cooperation and willingness to give anything a go being the hallmarks of the camp. I was unable to separate the best cooks on the My Kampsite Rules event so I gave the cooking prize to myself for my effort on Chicken Tikka. All the boys agreed that my dish was the most delicious meal they had ever seen but not tasted.

 

 

The Year Twelve leadership group has been great exemplars of our House Motto as they have worked hard from the beginning to the end, to create an inclusive space that values diversity of talents in Lacey House. Felix Valentine won the House writing competition gaining valuable points for Lacey. The Year 12’s were second to O’Connor House in the Dodgeball competition. Lacey won the Trivia Pursuit competition and Lacey House(Ms Foster’s Mentor Group) even won the Historic photo competition.

The beginning of fourth term is a perfect time for the boys to evaluate where they are now and to set short term goals for the last term of the school year. The question is, where do they start? There are so many options. Set specific goals; good planning and time management; take opportunities in class; ask questions; talk to teachers, parents and class-mates; regular revision; start work early; quality assignment drafts; listen to feedback; a good study space free of (technology) distractions; extra tuition (study groups, homework help, tutoring); and just putting in the time!

I encourage you to have regular conversations with your sons about their academic progress, and to access the boys Haiku pages to check to see what assignments and topics the boys have coming up. The exams will be upon them sooner than they think.

Whilst the College finished a disappointing eighth in the CAS we celebrated the achievements of quite a few Lacey Legends who turned out for the Athletics team. Matt Antulov, Leon Bakis, Lorenzo Di Napoli, Nikhil Dulat, Roy Hampshire, Jack Banjo Studholme, Joshua Grant, Declan Punch, Moyo Adewusi and Massimo Di Napoli all represented the College, or were part of the squad. I encourage our boys to have a go next year and start thinking about how they can train to make the team. Being part of the Athletics Team is a great way to experience the atmosphere of competing in such a great venue and an event with thousands of spectators.

During this year Lacey House has supported Mental Health and as such we were heavily involved in helping out for RUOK day. We helped raise over $2,000 on the day. This important College event was coordinated by past and present parents and we look forward to greater involvement and support as this becomes our focus over the following years. The support of our own boys and the establishment of great resilience and positive self-talk has been a major focus in our Mentor groups. The Year Ten program has involved several talks on developing Hope and a Growth Mindset as goals we continue to develop in our Wellbeing program.

I welcome any feedback that you may have around any of the ideas presented and I look forward to another great term where each boy is presented with an opportunity to stretch himself just that little bit more. Blessings to all of you for the holiday break. I hope the boys will return with renewed energy and clear goals. Prior to that date, please organise haircuts, new razors, and (in some cases) shirts that fit and can be tucked in with a belt to help it stay put.