Waverley College confirms that Wednesday, 8 March will be our Aungier House Mass (as listed in the College calendar). The Mass will commence at 6pm in the Chapel (Senior Campus). This is a compulsory event for all students of Aungier House.
Our Prefects have been working hard to make this a memorable event, and something that is fully tailored to who we are as a House. The night is driven by the students, with all hymns, prayers and readings chosen by the students themselves. We will also include special recognition of our current Year 12 students.
We invite and strongly encourage all families to come along for the Mass. This will be followed by a short supper at the conclusion of the Mass. All families are asked to bring a plate of food to share. This can be placed in the College Senior Library prior to the Mass.
The night is expected to conclude at approximately 8pm. This will be a wonderful opportunity for families to meet our Aungier Mentors and also to connect with each other as part of the Aungier House community.
In the lead up to the event, we would also love to have some parent/carer volunteers to help us with the organisation of decorations (for the Mass and supper), general set up before the Mass, and clean up at the conclusion of supper.
If you would be willing and able to help, could you please email me: jmccoy@waverley.nsw.edu.au
I look forward to seeing you there!
Aungier House Mass 2022
With no screening programs available and no means of prevention through lifestyle changes, blood cancer is Australia’s hidden cancer crisis. Every day, 53 Aussies are diagnosed with blood cancer, and 16 will lose their life.
It requires teamwork to stop blood cancer from wrecking lives. That’s why we’ve decided to team up to take part in the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave together.
We’ll be raising crucial funds that will give people facing blood cancer all the support and information they need, while driving breakthrough research projects discovering better ways to diagnose and treat blood cancer.
You have the power to help us make an extraordinary difference. Big or small, every donation counts. Will you help by sponsoring us?
Top five fundraisers will have their heads shaved at the College Assembly on 16 March.
Click here to view the Lacey House World's Greatest Shave Donation Page
World’s Greatest Shave 2022
We celebrated Ash Wednesday with a student-led liturgy this week.
As we receive our ashes, we will hear the minister say one of two short prayers: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” These prayers call us to take on a humble disposition.
Jesus also calls on Christians not to wear a gloomy face while they are fasting. This admonition reminds us that Lent is meant to be a season of joy, as it is a preparation for the biggest feast in the Christian calendar. So, while we can struggle with cravings for chocolate or something else we have given up, we need to keep our eyes on the prize which is the celebration of the joy of Easter.
The baptismal element of Lent can help us appreciate the significance of water. Water is essential for both our physical and spiritual life. When Christians recall their baptism it is a time when they can become more aware of the gifts they have received from God. This process of reflection can give us joy.
In recent times, water has been a pestilence of almost biblical proportions across the state of NSW. The almost unprecedented flood activity that has occurred over the last two years, has tested our community resolve in surviving flooding events and also in the rebuilding process that has followed. These events have dramatically tested communities across the state, but it has also been an opportunity for a generous community spirit to emerge.
Aside from the destructive power of water, our experience of living in a drought and fire-prone land also helps us appreciate the importance of water to sustain and protect life. A significant theme running through the Sunday Gospel readings this Lent is the power of living water. Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well and his healing of the blind man at the Pool of Siloam, reminds us of the way that water can cleanse, renew and heal our body and souls. Let us quench our thirst for God this Lent by praying for the living water of Jesus to touch our hearts and souls for the benefit of ourselves and our Catholic communities.
The Mark Hughes Foundation funds vital research and support to brain cancer patients and it is very close to the heart of one of our parents, Anne Calendar, whose late husband Matt Callander succumbed to this insidious disease, just over five years ago.
Anne is embarking on another challenge this year pre the annual NRL Beanie Round, and is hoping for our support to raise awareness and much-needed funds. Anne is joining 21 amazing and dynamic women in the Inaugural Mark Hughes Foundation Women’s Trek to the Mt Maria Summit, Tasmania.
Please sponsor Anne by clicking the button below. Any amount big or small will help her reach her goal and raise funds for brain cancer research.
Mark Hughes Foundation 2023 Ladies' Trek
As many parents/carers may know, in 2022 our College participated in a significant research project affiliated with Deakin University, QUT, and the University of Canberra titled ‘Teen Reading in the Digital Era.’ Research was conducted with secondary students in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, giving a broad overview of the reading habits of teenagers across Australia.
Preliminary results from Waverley are very interesting. Of the Term 4 survey results from 235 Waverley students across Years 7-11, we have gained a ‘snapshot’ of teen reading which you can view in the following graphs. Students were asked questions about their reading habits and their responses to questions 4.2; 12.1; 14.3: 13.2 and 10.4 are provided below.
Identified in the survey as well, were the popular reading genres identified by Waverley College students.
In order of most popular to least popular:
At this stage, the evidence indicates that as educators and parents/carers, we need to be doing much more to get our boys at Waverley reading for pleasure. Graph 4.2 indicates that 38% of our boys do not read books in their own free time.
What you might find surprising is Graph 14.3, which indicates that families are key to boys’ reading choices and that in this space, your influential role as a parent/carer should not be underestimated.
Encouragingly, Graph 10.4 indicates that more than half of our students envisage that they’ll read more in their post-school years.
Significantly, the 3,000 survey results across participating Australian states illustrate similar trends. There is a decline in reading as students grow older and as boys grow older:
The results for boys indicate that:
As parents/carers, we should be encouraging our children to read each day, even if it is for only 15 minutes. Consistent reading will have a significant impact on their general communication and comprehension skills, as well as the literacy skills they will front the HSC with. If you want to have a significant impact on your son’s education, please get him reading consistently.
Ms Mary Ryan and Mr Bill Roberts have started a new reading program to encourage and support our Year 7 and 8 students with their reading. If your son is struggling to decide what to read, encourage him to see the Library teams on both campuses.
Dear Parents and Carers
Waverley College is participating in a research project titled ‘Early Intervention for Child Problematic Screen Use’ facilitated by Macquarie University, regarding screen use and gaming by students in Years 5-8.
The findings from this project will provide valuable insights into screens and gaming for our student population, and will contribute to the research in Australia around how to prevent and treat those children and families suffering from Gaming Disorder and related problematic screen use.
Students in Years 5-8 will complete an online survey which will include questions about their screen use patterns, relationships, thoughts and feelings. The survey will typically take no longer than 40 minutes and will be completed in class on the dates below:
If you agree for your child to take part in the project, you are not required to do anything else.
At school, your child will also be given an information sheet about the research project and will be able to participate or decline participation, as they wish.
If you do not want your child to participate in the study, please click the button below to fill in your details on page 2 of the ‘Parent Participants Information and Consent Form’ and email it to bradley.marshall@hdr.mq.
Click here to view the Parent Participants Information and Consent Form
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Ms Gabby Smith
Deputy Principal – Students
gsmith@waverley.nsw.edu.au
What a busy start of the year at Book Hire!
Once again, a very warm welcome to the Waverley family and to all our new students.
On the first two days of Term 1, we successfully distributed almost 474 packs to Years 7 and 8 students, followed by hundreds of textbook class sets completed within the first weeks of term across all subjects.
Here’s to many happy book borrowings ahead!
I have had the pleasure of meeting three new principals to the area over the last couple of weeks: Mrs Judith Poole (Headmistress of St Catherine’s School), Ms Ann Freeman (Principal of St Clare’s College), and Mr Michael Manton (Principal of St Charles’ Primary School). It is lovely to share ideas and concepts on how each community can support each other in our common goal of providing excellent educational and positive social outcomes and opportunities for students under our care.
I encourage you to read Ms Elizabeth Watson’s (Deputy Principal – Teaching & Learning) article on high expectations and the educational research that supports this. You can make a significant contribution in partnership with the College in this space that will have a positive impact for your son.
Ms Gabby Smith’s (Deputy Principal – Students) article further encourages our partnership with you by outlining the process for booking in an online mentor meeting with your son’s Wellbeing Mentor.
Please take a moment to come in to view 2021 Year 12 student Jet Marsh-Cashman’s major artwork that toured across NSW during 2022 with the HSC ARTEXPRESS.
Jett’s Artwork ‘Missed Calls’ is a collection of works inspired by the missed calls we receive as urgent messages needing a response. The caller isn’t given the satisfaction of a response. Both sides are affected, experiencing a range of emotions, such as guilt, despair, anger, humour and happiness.
Jet’s intent with the audio message on each telephone was to create a common and relatable scenario, giving the audience the chance to interact and interpret, attaching their own understanding to each aspect of life expressed in the corresponding canvas. This experience is made more interactive as the audience views their reaction to each missed call.
Other final year student artwork on display in the Senior School reception includes Dylan Quirk’s ‘Natures Embodiment’ (2017 ARTEXPRESS), Angus McPherson’s ‘Coast From Above’ (Year 12 Major Artwork 2019), and Heath Jackson’s ‘Iron Horse’ (Year 12 Major Artwork 2020). All are impressive pieces, worthy of reflection and viewing.
Well done to Cooper Ryan on winning gold at the recent NSW Open Beach Volleyball tournament in the U16 division. Cooper will represent NSW as the top seed at the Nationals.
I encourage you and your son/s to support Project Compassion during Lent, which begins next week and runs until Easter. Project Compassion is a grassroots fundraiser that started in the 1960s in Australia, and moved on to become the national Lenten fundraising appeal. It is the main annual appeal for the organisation known as Caritas and is supported by every diocese, parish and Catholic school across the country.
The word Caritas comes from Latin, and means love and compassion. Caritas serves across 18 countries, working through 67 partnerships in communities to bring hope, support and compassion to the world’s most vulnerable people. Caritas is currently supporting the Turkey/Syrian earthquake and other crises across the world including; the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Africa, Afghanistan and Lebanon.
With your support and generosity, they can continue to work towards a more just and equal world for all. For more information, please see Ms Suzanne Walsh’s (Director of Identity) article.
Conscious that high achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectations (Kinder, 2014), a priority area for the College is to foster a learning culture of pride, self and collective efficacy and high standards. Our reimagined Lesson Routine (version 2.0) aims to ensure that we have a consistent approach of high expectations to cultivate classroom environments conducive to quality learning experiences and that reflect the principles of our Teaching & Learning Framework.
Click here to view our Teaching & Learning Framework
The NSW Government Education and Communities assert that ‘ineffective classroom management impacts negatively on time available for teaching’. Educators agree that effective strategies to create well-managed classrooms;
John Hattie, a leading educational researcher, is well known for his work with “effect sizes”. Effect sizes measure which influences have an impact on student learning (positive, neutral or negative). He determines these sizes through meta-analysis of over 1,000 meta-analyses. (Meta-analyses combine results of several studies that address a set of related research theories). 0.4 is considered the hinge point. This represents the average effect that can be expected from one year of schooling. For influences with an effect size less than 0.4, we should consider the energy, time and resources spent to support these as they indicate progress is occurring at less than average rates.
Hattie’s Effect
To that end, Hattie’s research supports the importance of high teacher expectations/estimate of student achievement (1.29) and highlights that classroom management (0.52) directly influences time on task (0.62) and enables effective class discussion (0.82).
Interestingly, Williamson (2012) suggests that a teacher’s expectations, either high or low, become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Students perform in ways that teachers expect. All the more compelling for Waverley to promote a culture of high expectations. Ferguson (2002) goes further to say that a teacher’s beliefs about student potential are particularly powerful for students with challenging home circumstances.
The College staff collectively agree that, to support a culture of high expectations, operating in positive and productive learning environments, our lesson routine needed to convey;
Our Lesson Routine is displayed in all classrooms and on Vivi splash screens. Our Wellbeing mentors have also gone through the shared expectations of the updated lesson routine. A respectful three-way partnership between teachers, students and families is critical for successful learning outcomes. I encourage you to engage in conversations with your son about the value of consistent routines and the importance of high expectations, not just of others but of self.
Thank you to the teachers who collaborated on this project: Ms Helen Barrie, Mr Ed Davis, Mr Lachlan Drew-Morris, Mr John McCallum, Ms Lynsey Porter, Mr Bill Roberts, Mr Ben Steel, Ms Melanie Stephens, Ms Jenna Turnbull and Ms Elizabeth Watson.
Click here to view our Lesson Routine (Years 5-10)
On Monday, 27 February, from 1:30pm-3:30pm, parents/carers are invited to meet their son’s Wellbeing Mentor via Zoom, to engage in a conversation that will help us to best cater to their needs in 2023. This important initiative supports our student Wellbeing program.
The purpose is to know as much as possible about each student, both in and out of the classroom. By identifying their goals, hopes, dreams and aspirations for the future, we can work together to bring about the best possible learning outcomes for your son. We rely on the three-way partnership formed between the College, families and your son for this to occur.
These meetings are in addition to Parent/Teacher academic interviews, which will also take place later in the semester.
Students in Years 7-12 will be dismissed at 1pm, because it is expected, where possible, that students will attend these meetings with their parents/carers. Limited supervision will be provided in the Library and in the Centenary Quad from 1pm-3:15pm.
Heads of House and our Psychologists are available to meet students and their families who may require additional support and assistance. Please email them directly if you wish to set up a meeting.
Click here to view contact details for our Heads of House
Click here to view contact details for our College Psychologists
Bookings can be made by logging into the Waverley College Parent Lounge via the parent landing page. Bookings will open at 9am on Saturday, 18 February and close at 5pm on Friday, 24 February.
Click here to access the Waverley College Parent Landing Page
If you are having issues accessing the portal please contact: iAssist at iassist@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Ms Gabby Smith
Deputy Principal – Students
gsmith@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Here at Waverley, we strive for a holistic education for our students and recognise the importance of acknowledging and celebrating success in all its measures. It was with great delight that we were able to celebrate the scholastic successes of our 2022 Major Award winners this week at our Academic Reception.
The recipients are to be congratulated on their commitment, determination and hard work. These students understand that success does not come from luck or by accident, nor does it come from being in the right place at the right time.
It comes from having agency in your learning, believing in yourself, critical reflection and engagement, setting and executing goals, being curious and co-operative, stepping outside your comfort zone, having a growth mindset and developing good habits and routines.
Congratulations on your outstanding academic achievements!
In addition to our major award winners, we would like to congratulate the following Year 12 students who sat their Advanced Mathematics HSC exam last year as accelerated Year 11 students. They were honoured on the distinguished achievers roll for the 2022 HSC for achieving a Band 6 in Advanced Mathematics.
We congratulate these Year 12 students who sat their Advanced Mathematics HSC exam last year as accelerated Year 11 students. They were honoured on the distinguished achievers roll for the 2022 HSC for achieving a Band 6 in Advanced Mathematics.
Both students undertook a rigorous application process to be accepted into these illustrious programs. We are very proud of them.
This Tuesday, to mark the beginning of Lent, we will have our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day.
All students are asked to donate a packet of six large pancakes and then at LUNCHTIME in the Centenary Quad, we will be selling pancakes, ice cream and syrup for $3.
Pancake packets can be left at the Wellbeing centre on Monday or before school on Tuesday.
All funds raised from this SRC event will be given to Project Compassion. Thank you in advance for supporting this fabulous initiative.
Shrove Tuesday 2022
Shrove Tuesday 2021
Ms Sue Walsh
Director of Identity
swalsh@waverley.nsw.edu.au
This week, I’m delighted to introduce a fresh College initiative to support the health and wellbeing of students at Waverley. Our new Therapy Dog, Mabel! Our new College Psychologist, Ms Samantha Jessen, has recently completed specialised training through Therapy Dogs Australia, and with Mabel she is now a certified human-canine therapy team.
Mabel is a 17-month-old blonde Golden Retriever. Because research continues to acknowledge the positive, healing impact that animals have on our health and wellbeing, supporting student engagement, social skill development and calming, we expect that student interaction with Mabel will deliver numerous social, emotional and physiological benefits.
Student interaction with Mabel is voluntary. A Risk Management Plan is in place, however we appreciate that some parents/carers may still have concerns about their child’s interaction with an animal within the Waverley College environment.
To this end, we have prepared a ‘Meeting Mabel – Opt Out’ form for parents/carers who would like to exercise this choice.
We encourage you to take the time to:
Ms Gabby Smith
Deputy Principal – Students
gsmith@waverley.nsw.edu.au
Recently, Radio National’s ‘The Minefield’ aired a wonderful discussion on literacy entitled ‘What does it mean to be literate – and is it under threat?’
Click here to listen to the Radio National discussion
At the forefront of this discussion is the problem which resonates with everyone who works in education (and possibly every parent/carer) – a resistance to spending time reading in favour of the quick swipe, the speedy scan, the info grab. Again – let’s blame the usual culprits – TikTok, Insta, Snapchat!
Few of us – adults, teens and children – have time for books which require deep reading, focused attention, effort even. Apparently, we prefer words we just have to look at rather than words we have to read and actually process and think about. In doing so, however, we are missing out on actually improving our literacy.
To quote the program’s guest speaker, Maryanne Wolf (Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the University of California in Los Angeles), “The time and cognitive-resource-demanding requirements of the deep reading process is getting lost in the transition from a literacy-based culture to a digital age.”
As an English and Literacy teacher of teens saturated in digital media, who knows all too well the challenges students face when presented with difficult texts, I have set myself the goal of ensuring that students ‘read deeply’ as often as possible. Yes, we will practise the skills of ‘skimming, scanning, sifting’. Students are already quite adept at this.
It is the making of connections that requires real effort, but brings the greatest reward. Through deep reading, students allow themselves to be surprised and moved somehow by what they read, because they bother to make the effort to connect with what they already know about themselves, and about life in the real world (not the digital world).
In our Year 7 and Year 8 Library Reading classes, our goal is to ensure that students read for pleasure. If students can read deeply for just 20-30 minutes, they will also improve their ability to read for pleasure, while becoming truly literate.
As quoted in the radio program ‘The Minefield’, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said: “When I read a poem or narrative with feeling, surely something goes on in me which does not go on when I merely skim the lines for information.” We know it won’t happen immediately, but with this single, simple message and a good book in hand, that ‘something’ is sure to happen for our students at Waverley College in 2023.
All Year 7 students have been given a NAPLAN writing booklet to complete for home-learning over the next few weeks in preparation for the NAPLAN writing test in Week 7. All the resources can be located on the Year 7 English CANVAS page.
If parents/carers or students have any questions or enquiries about this work, please email Ms Mary Ryan at mryan01@waverley.nsw.edu.au
This is just one aspect of a holistic approach by all teachers to ensure that students in both Year 7 and Year 9 are well prepared for the NAPLAN tests taking place in Term 1 this year.
For nearly 20 years, the Whitlam Institute’s ‘What Matters? Writing Competition’ has been empowering students to raise their voices and feel that their perspectives are valuable, no matter their age, background or point of view.
Part writing exercise, part civics and citizenship activity, ‘What Matters?’ is the perfect platform for students to express what they care about and why.
Visit their website to learn more about the competition, get inspired by past entries, explore classroom resources, and view the amazing prizes on offer.
Click here to view information about the What Matters Writing Competition
Entries can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose of 600 words or less, and can be submitted quickly online.
Entries close Friday, 5 May 2023.
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.
Watch our video
