Around Campus Archives - Page 11 of 17

On Wednesday, a small group of students from Years 5 to 8 attended the ‘Thriving Minds’ Conference at Ascham school in Edgecliff. Ms Julie Arliss, a highly accomplished teacher and author, provided a day of multidisciplinary, university-style lectures and debates, designed to stimulate independent and creative thinking, connect different areas of study, upgrade students’ critical abilities, and encourage a philosophical perspective.

The day began with ‘Justice Truth and Beauty’, which explored the difficulties of achieving agreement about justice, as well as the point of punishment and what it is supposed to achieve.

This was followed by a guided community of inquiry. Students were placed in mixed school groups to discuss, ‘Celery Munchers vs Steak Stokers: Is Diet a free choice?’

After lunch, an introduction to ‘Quantum Mechanics’ was presented. Starting with the atom, this session took students into the quantum world.

Finally, ‘This house believes that freewill is an illusion’ was presented and students experienced a live debate and were encouraged to contribute and vote.

For our students, the conference was challenging, yet engaging and exciting. The students said that they particularly enjoyed learning about quantum mechanics, including wave/particle duality and the double slit experiment, and the history of justice and the philosophy behind crime and punishment.

Ms Julie Arliss described the participants as, “mature, intelligent and a great credit to your schools.”

The course Cert II in Hospitality (Kitchen Operations), requires students to complete 12 Service Periods during Years 11 and 12. These enable students to demonstrate and/or work towards their competencies in areas such as safe work practices, working hygienically, working effectively together, as well as practical skills such as correct knife handling, and cooking food using various methods of cookery, such as deep frying, boiling and baking.

The students in Year 11 and 12 Hospitality completed their service period on Thursday, 23 June, which leads to achieving some competencies within the course. As part of the service period, they made nutritious sandwiches and mouthwatering sweet treats for all staff.

The students worked hard to produce over 130 sandwiches that catered for a variety of dietary requirements, and a staggering 300 chocolate chip cookies and 50 brownies that seemed to disappear quite quickly! The sandwiches were a huge success amongst staff and the quality rivalled some of the popular local cafés and eateries.

We are very proud of all the students who participated in the service day, and extend a big thank you to all students and their teachers Mr Mark Neale, Ms Bev McCarthy and Ms Anne O’Loughlin, for all of their hard work.

In Week 8, Chris Kallo, Prefect and a member of the Students of the World Ecology Group spoke at the Years 7-12 student-led assembly. Chris spoke about the importance of World Oceans Day which was celebrated on Wednesday, 8 June. As we are a coastal community, this is of particular relevance.

I think you would all agree that we are very lucky to have the ocean on our doorstep. Now, imagine a world where the ocean is off limits to us, because of our constant pollution. Imagine a world without the diversity of animal life we enjoy today. Well, this world could be our reality if things continue the way they are.

As Waverley is situated at the top of a hill overlooking the coast, any rubbish lying around, especially soft plastics, only has one direction to go, and that is down the hill, giving our rubbish a one-way express ticket to the ocean. Lately, our own school environment has become far too polluted. Too often, I see litter on the floor around the campus, especially around the locker areas.

Our team of cleaners do a wonderful job. However, their job isn’t to pick up our rubbish. It is to keep us safe by cleaning surfaces and emptying the bins. Unfortunately, this extra work is taking their time away from keeping us safe, and keeping our school as pristine as possible. It really shouldn’t be too much to ask to put our rubbish in the bin and in the right bin. Each piece of rubbish put into the right bin is doing its part to save our environment.

The Ecology team along with help of Ms Sutcliffe and Mr Winch, our Head of Maintenance, have organised a trial of organic food waste bins, which will be here by next week, so we will finally have somewhere to recycle our food waste. They will be situated in the TAS department for Hospitality, the Canteen, and the main Staff Room, so that our teachers and support staff can participate too.

However, the main bin we students need to know about, is the one that will be in the Kenny Quad. This is one of the ways our College is trying to reduce our environmental footprint in order to save our environment. If these trials are successful, then expect many more food waste bins to be littered, (no pun intended), around our most common eating areas.

Please be mindful of which bin you are putting your rubbish in. As a reminder to us all:

I challenge you to do the right thing. Our College Prefects will be around our campus encouraging us all to do the right thing, and protect our environment, but particularly our oceans.

As we celebrate World Oceans Day 2022, I leave you with this inspirational video to show you, first hand, what we are capable of as a species.

The Year 12 Studies of Religion cohort engaged in consecutive excursions on Thursday, 16 June and Friday, 17 June, to appreciate and experience the practice of Temple Puja, an aspect of the HSC Buddhism course.

The breakfast stop, at McDonald’s Heathcote, en route, set the tone for a highly interactive day. Temple puja is a set of devotions to the Buddha, the role model of the path to Nirvana and escape from suffering. Students observed Buddhist adherents engaging in puja but also experienced and practised their own development of mindfulness.

They were actively engaged in the main courtyard during the tai chi session. Meditation, with the nuns, was another attempt to be still and cultivate the mind. The removal of shoes, bowing and silence are components of this ancient practice.

The sharing of a vegetarian meal for lunch further enhanced their understanding of this faith tradition. Overall, it was an opportunity to escape from the mundane world to the spiritual one for a few hours, and gain appreciation and understanding along the way.

On Monday, 20 June, students from the Year 10 Spanish elective class and Year 11 Spanish Beginners/Continuers courses participated in a cooking class delivered by their teacher, Ms Quintana, in Spanish.

Their task was to make the popular meat pasties known as empanadas, a few side salads and a dessert pastel de manzana. They also sampled a beverage which originated in the Andean region of Peru called chicha morada made from purple corn.

Eating is one of the most significant social rituals in Hispanic culture: not only is food shared, but life is also shared with family and friends. It’s not uncommon to see a crowded table at a family celebration, hear the hearty laughter and exchange of many stories, and the acknowledgement that food always tastes better when shared in good company. This was exactly what took place amongst the students in this cooking class.

Students had the opportunity to learn about food weights and measurements, follow a recipe, and implement safe practices in the kitchen when using the various utensils and cooking equipment, not to mention building their language skills and culinary expertise. The students demonstrated outstanding team work and were very focused on ensuring they completed all tasks before the bell rang, so that they could sample the fruits of their labour.

Due to time limitations, we could not experience the Spanish custom of Sobremesa, whereby after clearing the table, everyone engages in long conversations on topics of interest. Nevertheless, the students thoroughly enjoyed the practical experience in company of their peers, and might even surprise their parents by offering to prepare a meal (in the not-too-distant future) for the family, and even clearing up at the end!

At a school as large as Waverley, it’s not easy to get to know everyone as deeply as we may like. Many of us have hidden talents, multiple occupations, previous careers, colourful experiences, and rich insights, ripe for sharing.

As we come to the end of Semester 1, our newsletter is celebrating the gifts, talents and interests of our staff, starting with the enigmatic and creative Mr Yann Vignes.

“Around six years, I think. I work with the Maintenance Team and fix problems! There’s usually a wide range of issues for teachers – I mostly work with building maintenance. I also teach Yoga at the College.”

“I teach boys in Years 7-12, weekdays and early on Saturday mornings, and also as part of Fitness Group. Yoga is a co-curricular elective. It’s great. I try to push the boys a little further in their personal practice, in an environment where nobody is judging or watching. I teach them techniques to go further with breathing, showing them how to breathe deeply and stretch. It’s a nurturing practice, where boys can calm down, breathe and focus. The boys are very receptive. They have learned Sanskrit words for the poses, and I play Indian music during the classes to remind them of yoga’s origin, transporting them to India! They are also learning to meditate.”

“French, English and some Hebrew. I lived in a kibbutz in the 1980s in Israel – my grandmother was Jewish. I learned a lot about Socialism there, in a community of people working together to have a decent life. One of the things I’ve kept from that time is the saying: “There are no problems, only solutions.” I travelled extensively from a young age and have lived in Mexico, Switzerland, Portugal, New Caledonia … so many places.”

“Tokyo. It’s the most exciting and safest city in the world. Totally free with a lot of experiences. It’s challenging at night with so many things to see and discover. It’s an amazing place for any age – a place where young and old people are always mixing. I made crêpes in Tokyo outside a restaurant in an expensive suburb. The Japanese are Francophiles. Japanese and French have a similar aesthetic – they have a similar sensitivity, detail and appreciate the arts.”

“With my process, I sit at my desk with books everywhere – paper, scissors, glue, stone paper, and I have no idea what is going to come. I go through books. Art books. Then the story comes. Every collage is unique – one piece only. Usually I create something that reflects the last few days. I create the title last, after the pieces are glued. It’s very important and fun. I must have a show this year.”

Babouchka Remembers the War by Yann Vignes

“Practising yoga, teaching yoga, being creative, my artwork, collage, seeing people and engaging people. You’ve got to live in the present – connection is everything – art, yoga. You can’t plan things, you aren’t in control. You have to accept people on a daily basis, with the same attention, care and nurturing in the moment with no reference to the past or previous days.”

On Tuesday, as we came back from our rested long weekend, Year 12 Hospitality students were busily cooking in the kitchen for the staff to enjoy some extra food in their day. The students were tasked with creating 11 different dishes, some more intricate than others. These dishes certainly tested their skills, and I was confident that their summation of the hospitality course had prepared them for days such as today.

One dish of importance within any restaurant is a ‘family meal’. This meal, served to the chefs and wait staff within restaurants, is a real way to connect a business. As such, we wanted this to be reflected in this group. Our family meal was a freshly made basil pesto pasta, where the pasta had been prepared by the boys from scratch and rolled out.

The pride and passion for the food created by these boys was reflected in their application of skill, their willingness to present it, and at some stages, rushing to do a classroom delivery to their favourite teachers to get that affirmation of how great they had cooked.

This service period was an important step in finalising their competency tasks in their VET course, and to make sure they are well equipped if they decide to pursue retail and hospitality careers, post-school. The TAS VET team enjoyed the working environment created during these service periods, and a huge thanks to Mrs Knowles, Mrs McCarthy and Mrs O’Loughlin for the day’s assistance.

Last week, our SRC organised some fun activities for students to enjoy after exams. Years 7 and 8 played Touch Football, whilst our Years 9 and 10 competed in a Soccer competition.

An entertaining time was had by all, culminating in finals and a BBQ on Thursday. Sportsmanship was the winner on the day! Many thanks to the Prefects who coordinated these events and to all those who purchased at the BBQ. We raised $200 towards the Edmund Rice camps for students living with disabilities.

Next Wednesday is our House Strongman competition. Aungier/Brennan are organising this competition, with two teams from each House 7, 9, 11 and 8, 10, 12. Activities include: 1 min push ups/1 min sit ups/sleds/Year 7 on back of Year 11 squats/Year 8 on back of Year 12 squats/relays/tug o’ war.

Years 7 and 8 After Their SRC Touch Football Comp

Students in Year 12 Marine Studies put their fishing skills to the test, casting a line at Parsley Bay and Rose Bay this week. This takes the theory coursework beyond the classroom, as students have developed their understanding of fish size and bag limits, knot tying, rod and reel maintenance, recreational fishing techniques and fish stock conservation strategies in Australia.

There were a few fish biting on our second day of fishing, with Tom Kenny catching and releasing a beautiful box fish, and Gabriel Woodward catching, not one but two trevally, unfortunately too small to keep.

We are hoping on our next fishing trip to La Perouse, we will reel in a fish big enough for us to keep and cook up on the barbeques at school!

Students in Year 8 have been using the Writer’s Toolbox Sentence Train game to develop their skills in sentence structure and written expression. Through modelled instruction, students have been able to explore the different ways grammar, punctuation and syntax create clear and focused ideas in their writing.

Many thanks to Literacy Coordinator, Mr Robert Tall, for providing us with these interactive activities.

In combination with these literacy activities, my Year 8 students have been learning about Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, King Lear. In supporting student understanding through drama, students have created tableaus of the play’s famous opening scene, where King Lear divides his kingdom amongst his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia.

On Wednesday afternoon, Waverley debaters from Years 7 – 12 competed in the final round of CSDA (Catholic Schools’ Debating Association) against Champagnat. In an impressive feat, Waverley came away with the win in all year groups — a fantastic way to end the competition.

The adjudicators commended our students on the strength of their arguments and rebuttals, as well as the skill with which these were articulated. The coaches would like to congratulate all students involved, and thank them for their decorum and sophistication this term.

Thanks also to the students who volunteered their time to help chair the debates — Alejandro Zanapalis, Brandon Reid, Ricardo Zanapalis — and those who supported our teams in the audience.

We look forward to resuming competition next term, whilst also celebrating such a strong end to CSDA.

Waverley is so proud of each and every one of our debaters, and their commitment to Debating, week in, week out. We too, celebrate your brilliant achievement!

Waverley has been thrilled to have former Olympian and Preservice Teacher Ms Dani Stevens in our energetic PDHPE department for her Master of Secondary Teaching practicum (Griffith University).

Dani was an elite discus thrower for 20 years, a four-time Olympian (2008, 2021, 2016, 2020), World Champion and minor medallist (2009, 2017), 2 x Commonwealth Games Champion (2014, 2018), World Uni Champion and minor medallist, Oceania and Australian Record Holder, and 17 x Australian Champion. Wow!

Starting her career aged five at Little Athletics ‘Tiny Tots’ in Sydney’s west, she became the youngest-ever discus world champion when winning gold at the 2009 world titles in Berlin, aged 21.

Dani Stevens, courtesy Athletics Australia

Dani Stevens in 2018, courtesy Athletics Australia

Dani co-captained the Australian Athletics team at her fourth and final Olympics, after bravely overcoming spinal surgery and 14 months’ rehabilitation. Inspiring a generation of athletes, she retired from professional sport in 2021.

Nurrunga asked Dani what made her decide to choose teaching as her second career:

“I always knew in the back of my mind I would become a teacher in my post-Athletics career. So many of my family and friends are teachers, and I had a lot of positive role models in my life who were teachers when I was growing up. In the last few years of my competitive career, I realised all the areas I had a passion for, and enjoyed sharing knowledge – such as sport, coaching, nutrition, health, and wellbeing – was a perfect fit for teaching Physical Education.”

We’ve been very lucky to have Dani at Waverley. During her practicum, she focused on ‘Understanding Diverse Learners’, with a particular focus on their complex abilities and interests. While she was here, her university expected her to consider the influence of the social context on students’ lives and learning.

Senior Campus

Junior Campus

Senior Campus

Junior Campus

A Catholic School for boys inthe tradition of Edmund Rice

A Catholic School for boys in
the tradition of Edmund Rice