From the Head of College, Graham Leddie
The many examinations and assessments occurring over the last two weeks have certainly brought a good busyness to the College environment. The Library has been a buzz of activity and the site of study groups at lunchtime, which are good symbols that most students are taking their learning and studies seriously. The long weekend will provide many with an opportunity to recharge and replenish energy reserves before the final two weeks of the term. Encourage your son to finish the term off well. Finishing something properly is a fundamental life skill that we should be teaching for his long term aspirations and wellbeing.
Sustainability
‘Sustainability at EREA’ was launched last week at the national gathering of the EREA principals in Canberra. It is our network wide response to ‘Laudato si’, the Pope’s call for us all to come together and care for our common home, the earth, so that we foster ecological consciousness in our communities. The ‘Sustainability at EREA’ program is set to drive the development of sustainability practices within our school design, buildings, curriculum and social justice activities in the future.
Also representing us at the national launch was Ms Patricia Alborough and Mr Kyte Gawman, who both work in our Science Faculty. Both were impressive with their ideas and passion in this field.
Sustainability plays a key role in the next stage of the College’s Masterplan. We are looking towards building a dynamic and sustainable school that inspires current and future generations of students to learn, create, innovate and develop their skills. There are opportunities and challenges for our school, and in keeping with all that we have achieved in our first stage of building, we also need to ensure that our Senior and Junior campuses are environments that encompass dynamic, flexible and technology-rich learning spaces, that we increase the seating, shade and greenery on the campus which will have a positive impact on the students wellbeing and connection to their environment and take advantage of architectural design, our geographic location, reduce our carbon footprint and, encourage sustainable practices.
Waverley College Blue & Gold Ball 2017
The Blue and Gold Ball, which will be held in the Br JP Lacey Gymnasium on Friday 18 August, will be an opportunity for our community to come together, strengthen our ties with each other and the College. It will also enable us to embark on the next stage of the masterplan, outlined above.
Since tickets went on sale last Friday we have sold almost half which is a great indicator of a very active and engaged parent community. Many thanks to those of you are wholeheartedly supporting this initiative. I would also like to express my gratitude to our sponsors Darren and Lisa Ellis from Ellis Plumbing, Peter Wotherspoon of Core Mortgage Brokers and Laurie O’Brien from Bridgecoast Finance. There are still sponsorship opportunities so please contact our Development & Fundraising Manager, Rebecca Curran. Read more about the Waverley Blue & Gold Ball here.
Beyond Borders
We had the pleasure of briefly hosting four Year 11 Argentinian EREA students from Stella Maris College in Uruguay on Wednesday this week. Congratulations to Jasper Marsh-Cashman and Jerome Mendes who were our ambassadors for the day and did a wonderful job. They are part of a broader project of EREA schools across the world, looking to share ideas, concepts, culture and learn from each other. The Argentinian students have been visiting schools in Melbourne, Townsville and Sydney and I spent time with their Principal at the National EREA Principals’ Conference in Canberra last week.
Congratulations to the following students on their recent achievements and selections
- Cameron Walker (Year 12) – Earlier this year Cameron attended the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) in Canberra. Following this, he has now been selected to attend one of the international NYSF programs and will be participating in a science summer school at a University in Singapore in late June. The process to be selected is very rigorous with high quality candidates state-wide competing for only a few spots.
- Noah Havard (Year 11) – Noah has been selected to represent Australia at the 2017 Ocean Racing World Championships in Hong Kong in the U19 category. This is an impressive effort for a 16 year old. This ocean event is a 24 km race in mid November.
- Nick Blakey (Year 11) AFL – Nick has had a very busy few months travelling to play in the Australian / NZ Allied team 2017, Australian Team 2017, and was named Captain and MVP of NSW Team.
- Nikita Strbac (Year 9) – Nikita has been selected in the Australian Junior National Water Polo Team. The team will travel to Europe on 6 August 2017 and will include one week in Montenegro and the second week in Serbia competing in tournaments.
- Charles Negus (Year 12) – Australian Men’s Water Polo World Championships training squad.
- Corey Spiteri (Year 12) – Corey competed in the NSW State U17 Fencing Championship on 4 June. Corey finished with a Bronze, and has been pre-selected for the NSW’ A’ Team U17s Cadets Nationals which will be held in Perth in July.
- Reece Cohen (Year 10) – Reece has been competing in the 2017 Rotax Pro Tour which requires travel across the country to compete across six rounds of competition.
The following boys competed in the annual Cadet Drill competition which was held at Trinity Grammar School this week. The boys performed very well – Mark Brown, Mark Rynberg, Dylan Jackson, Patrick Kossenberg, Flynn Schulz, Fletcher Duff, Cooper Flynn, Joshua Gleeson, Bradley Marzol, Logan Ryan, Timothy Waring, Nathaniel Yarrow, Joshua Cornelius, Cullen Di Mattina, Aidan Korpar, Noah Ratcliff, Joseph Simonella, Charlie Adonis, Harrison Palmer, Bryn Parry.
Founder’s Day Holiday
Our Founder’s Day holiday recognises the inspirational work of our founder, Edmund Rice. As a community, we celebrate his life and work on the first Sunday in May through our attendance at the Annual May Procession and Feast of Edmund Rice. The holiday on the Friday of the long weekend in June acknowledges the commitment of staff, students and parents in attending the May Procession.
I wish you all an enjoyable break.
