Thank you to all who helped celebrate 120 Years of Education at Waverley by attending our Garden Party at the end of January.
We begin our school year celebrating a group of students who are making a positive impact on the lives of those in our local community.
The Centre for Volunteering is a not-for-profit organisation with over 45 years’ experience providing leadership on volunteering in NSW. 19 Waverley College students and four Old Boys have been awarded a certificate from the NSW Volunteer Recognition Program.
This award acknowledges the exceptional efforts and contributions our students have made through their participation in the Service component of the Duke of Edinburgh award over the last two years.
We are immensely proud of the compassion and maturity the following students have displayed.
Congratulations to: Xavier Quinn, Theo Varvaressos, Robbie Muir, Riley Hassey, Max Court, Liam Wood, Jo Vonwiller, Jay Briggs, James Medland, James Iatrou, Jack Tindale, Finn Stranix, Finn Backlund, Finlay Chandler, Deuchar Dezarnaulds, Campbell Porteus, Campbell Groves, Angus Birrell, Alistair Isaac, Charlie Alexander (Class of 2022), Brandon Reid (Class of 2022), Conor Boyd-Boland (Class of 2021), Dane Perica (Class of 2021).
Congratulations to Jonty Booy and Liam Davis (Class of 2022), who had their HSC Major Project Short Films accepted into the SAE FlickerUp Youth Shorts division of Flickerfest 2023.
This is a prodigious achievement, as the festival received 3,200 films for this year’s screening, and less than 5% were accepted.
Talented brothers James Iatrou (Year 12) and Constantine Iatrou (Year 10) were also selected as finalists.
These students’ remarkable films screened on 28 January at the Bondi Pavilion.
We also acknowledge the hard work and expertise of Ms Natalie Oates (Head of Visual Arts) in prompting and helping with their submissions.
Click here to view the incredible finalists in this year's Program
‘Consumption’ – humankind’s propensity to over consume in the hope it will give us meaning to things we don’t fully understand. Director, writer and producer: Jonathan Booy
‘The Future Is Yours’ – a heartwarming story of two brothers making it in the film industry. Director, writer and producer: James and Constantine Iatrou
Thomas Walker and Keyaan Abrahams (Year 11) were successful in their recent applications to undertake work experience with Fire and Rescue NSW.
They have spent this past week working productively at FRNSW Emergency Services Academy. They absolutely loved every minute of it.
Congratulations, Thomas and Keyaan for being such impressive ambassadors for our College.
Ms Kath Knowles
Senior Studies & Careers Coodinator
kknowles@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Over the past few weeks, students in Mr Lind’s 7.1 Science class worked in teams to confront two critical questions:
and
Trying on the role of junior engineers for the week, the boys designed wind turbines to test their hypotheses for maximising wind power. By evaluating the project, it became evident that the boys key takeaways differed, depending on their personal interests.
For Kobey Sager, the windmill experiment supported his understanding of the brake and accelerant potential of wind in the building of his go-cart, whereas Alex Janis noted the ramifications for flags at the beach, and Harry Trinca considered the role of windsocks at the airport.
Later in the week, the focus on potential energy shifted from fans to food, specifically, what types of food have the most potential energy? For these self-professed hungry students, an investigation of this nature was of the utmost importance! What better way to learn about the energy content in food than to burn some in the Science lab? Beginning with the humble potato chip, the boys quickly learnt that a big flame equaled a high fat content but energy fizzled fast, whereas chocolate wafers burnt for the longest time.
Although Mr Lind provided modelling of the reliable scientific research process for the class, he also ensured students had the flexibility to investigate and answer these deep inquiry questions, with the goal of building each student’s ability to handle cognitive complexity.
Each team worked at a different pace, which is consistent with the evaluative nature of many STEM problems, meaning problem solving is an important part of a student’s eventual success. Hands-on opportunities like these support the adoption of a student’s healthy attitude to learning and growth through self reflection, resilience and the sneaky consumption of a chocolate wafer or two!
A selection of boys from the AFL Opens and 9/10 teams who have been selected to train off season, wrapped up their training with the AFL High Performance Squad this morning, and were treated to a delicious BBQ breakfast put on by some of the parents.
Mr Ben Shorthouse and Mr Gerard Pignatelli have done an amazing job of pushing these boys hard, both physically and mentally during the off season.
What a brilliant end to an excellent year!
Waverley teachers traded places with students in 7.1 on Monday as the boys led intellectual discussion, grounded by scientific research, on the question, “Climate Change is the single greatest challenge humans and the environment face.” Mr Sposari worked with the boys to create the Socratic Seminar opportunity due to the class interest in the topic, and their passion to fuse research with rigorous debate.
The boys’ initial presentations to the class were well designed and thoughtful, however, the magic of a socratic seminar is in each student’s ability to listen to each argument and construct a critical response to challenge or affirm a student’s point of view.
Each student’s argument was grounded in research that revealed a significant amount of effort to both engage and provoke the audience to consider new ideas. Of particular note was Luca Green who presented an image of Waverley College under water as a result of rising sea levels, shifting the discussion from abstract environmental considerations to a very real image of our College’s future.
Finley Carr was awarded the Seminar medal for being the most persuasive and confident as a result of his careful consideration of constructing an argument, whilst also demonstrating a thoughtful approach to challenging the perspectives of his peers. A special mention to James Kriska who shows promise as a brilliant debater.
The Socratic Seminar was highly successful in engaging the boys in rigorous and thought-provoking debate, as well as, fine tuning their ability to listen actively and respond carefully. Overall, the boys demonstrated a solid understanding of the environmental issues we face locally, as well as globally, and they should be congratulated on their ability to pursue and express insightful ideas underpinned by carefully considered research.
Ms Helen Barrie
Head of Academic Enrichment
hbarrie@waverley.nsw.edu.au
and
Mr Nicholas Sposari
Teacher of HSIE and Religion
nsposari@waverley.nsw.edu.au
This term, 7 Tech 9 have been studying, designing and creating truss bridges. A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss – a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units.
The connected elements may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads.
A stroll to Waverley Park one afternoon, allowed us to observe truss structures such as cranes and the telecommunications tower at Bondi Junction. Lessons in the woodwork rooms have seen some great collaboration, problem solving and challenges, as groups compete to create the strongest truss bridge.
Students are looking forward to testing their structures to see how much weight they can bear.
With over 180 boys volunteering in 90 community organisations located across Sydney, Year 10 students hit the ground running for Service Week this week!
It was a pleasure to visit so many organisations and see our students representing the College and themselves, with such pride and professionalism this week. Community organisations were very impressed with the degree of engagement, promptness, attention to detail, initiative and positive attitude shown by the boys.
It was humbling to hear the feedback from so many service organisations expressing their tremendous gratitude and admiration for the support they received from our students. Several organisations commented that, “the Waverley students were the best they have worked with,” given that they work with many other volunteer students.
The feedback was a credit to all our Year 10 students and the maturity that they displayed during Service Week in the community. The boys also found the week highly beneficial, commenting on the opportunity they had to meet and work alongside a wide variety of people in the community, and reflected on how lucky they were in life and their enjoyment of the experience.
A very special thank you to all of the community organisations who were able to accommodate our Year 10 students this week, and especially to those Year 10 parents/carers who assisted their sons to find a placement.
Special thanks goes to those teachers on the College staff in both the Senior and Junior Schools, who assisted with the program and checked in on students.
Congratulations to our new Captains and Prefects on a great effort yesterday with their BBQ and WaterFest fun. The Green House charity ‘Best Foot Forward’ helping disadvantaged women throughout the world through the Edmund Rice Foundation, benefitted from the $500 raised on the day.
This annual day of giving was multiplied by four, so our donation equated to $2,000. A wonderful effort by all those involved and thank you to all our supporters.
Competition in the pool events was epic, with the Biggest Splash award going to Ky Pule in the Seniors and Raphael Welch in the Junior division.
The Littlest Splash award went to Connor Andrews in the Seniors, and in the Juniors, Finn McCarthy took out the honours.
The Boogie Board relay was won by Conlon House. Congratulations to all competitors and thank you to Mr Kroll and Green House for hosting this event with the Captains. Well done!
Ms Sue Walsh
Director of Identity & Student Formation
swalsh@waverley.nsw.edu.au
‘Back to Waverley Day,’ an annual event for all Waverlians who graduated 50 or more years ago, this year honoured the Class of 1972 on 10 November 2022.
We always look forward to welcoming Old Boys back to our growing campus, but this year was particularly special, because this celebratory event was inevitably cancelled in 2020 and 2021, due to COVID-19 restrictions. 100 Old Boys from the years 1953-1972 were in attendance.
After morning mass with Father Bernie in the College chapel, and a morning tea in the Senior School Library, Principal Mr Graham Leddie welcomed our alumni and our Pacifika parents/carers and extended families, to a full College assembly.
The assembly opened with a performance by the Waverley College Pacifika group. These talented Pacific Islander students have been working with Ms Sue Walsh (Director of Identity & Student Formation) and Aunty Fleur Smith for the past six months, and we were privileged to enjoy their unique stories in the form of prayer, music and dance.
The Pacifika group have made encouraging inroads into building deeper cultural awareness within the College, whilst also helping to strengthen our inclusive community, one of the four ‘Touchstones’ at Waverley.
The Pacifika brothers began with a prayer in the form of a beautiful Fijian hymn, ‘Noqu Masu’ sung with arms linked, followed by a performance of three haka: from Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand. The third haka spoke about the relationship between a father and son, and the important advice the father gives to his son about being true to himself.
Pacifika Brothers, Waverley College
Supported by archival images on the large screens, Mr Leddie then spoke to the cultural, technological and social changes that occurred during 1970-72 at Waverley, and in the wider world.
Guest speaker was Dr David Curran FRACP BSc (Med) (Hons), (Class of 1970 – College Captain, Prefect, Rugby Coach and Cadet CUO), who has served as a consultant physician in gastroenterology at the Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital for 37 years.
Dr Curran spoke with great eloquence. He praised ‘Back to Waverley Day’ which he said, “ … enables Old Boys to come home to their educational birthplace.” He exhorted current students to cultivate their friendships, a vitally important part of their overall education, and said that forgiveness is the greatest gift we can give to one another.
He encouraged students to tackle life with passion and grasp all opportunities.
Guest speaker, Dr David Curran
Dr Curran also educated many of us about the life of American political radical and pacifist, Dorothy Day, (b.1897 – d.1980), champion of the poor and exploited workers. Setting up the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933, she remained a controversial figure whose ideals ignited his schoolboy energy. As a teenager, Dr Curran launched a fundraising campaign to help Dorothy Day, and she responded gratefully with a handwritten card, thanking him for his financial assistance to her cause. At the close of his speech, Dr Curran presented this framed letter to Mr Leddie for Waverley College, as an historic gift from the Class of 1970.
Old Boy stalwarts!
Luncheon was served in the Br Wallace Performing Arts Centre, and Walter Rosada (Class of 1972), delivered a memorable speech on behalf of the Class of 1972. Stepping down this year after 20 years serving as Year Coordinator, Mr Rosada thanked Alumni Coordinator, Ms Venettia Miller, for her ongoing assistance with making connections, and also the help of the Old Boys’ Union.
Mr Rosada noted that, “the College had embedded itself into their DNA” and just as they were proud to be part of a history of the College, “the College is a part of the history of us.” He shone a light on both the success stories and the quiet achievers in the Class of 1972, in the domains of medicine, sport, art and academia, reminding his fellow Waverlians to never take their cohort for granted, and to remember those no longer with us.
Ms Vanessa Witton
Marketing Communications Specialist
vwitton@waverley.nsw.edu.au
The Model United Nations (MUN) provides an opportunity for students from various schools to emulate the role of delegates, to explore the complexities of international diplomacy and the intricacies of navigating issues pertaining to the global community.
Students are tasked with presenting and furthering the interests of their nations, whilst seeking to establish diplomatic relationships with others. Several Waverley students were invited to participate at the recent MUN event, hosted by Cranbrook on Friday, 4 November.
Representing India, Switzerland, the People’s Republic of China, Australia, France, South Korea, Micronesia, Ukraine, and Israel, all students who attended demonstrated strong skills in negotiation and awareness of global issues. Whilst presenting some rather unique solutions to current global concerns, both the junior and senior delegates demonstrated a flair for diplomacy.
I thank the following students for their engagement and enthusiasm: Matt Woods, Tom Hughes, Hugh McDonald, Harrison Rimmel, Jack Preller, Jock Edwards, Ricardo Zanapalis, Lachlan Miranda, James Peate, Lachlan Hoy, Nicholas Zanapalis, Charlie Murphy, and Ewan McDonald.
When asked to reflect on the day, Nick (Year 9) found that “the Model UN allowed me to grasp the idea of how politics works in regard to solving world issues, whilst also conveying this understanding in a fun, friendly and competitive format.”
Ricardo (Year 10) felt that MUN was “extremely enriching and overall, a fun experience to be a part of. The day was exciting and challenged me to come up with ethical solutions to solve global issues. It was enjoyable to be able to work with and against students from different schools.”
Thanks to Ms Emma Halpin for organising our participation, and Ms Alice Curtis for assisting the junior team on the day.
We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation who are the traditional Custodians of the land on which Waverley College is located. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We are committed to honouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique cultural and spiritual connections to the land, waters, seas and sky and their rich contribution to society.
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