From John McCallum, Head of Tevlin House
Tevlin House has had a highly positive and rewarding first term of 2018, with students enthusiastically engaging in numerous activities across our school. All Tevlin boys from Years 5-12 and their Wellbeing Mentors can be congratulated with the way in which they have developed relationships and supported Waverley’s Wellbeing and House Program. It has been pleasing to witness our vertical wellbeing groups help form genuine friendships between students, and the Year 12 students in particular have excelled in their role as Big Brothers, especially with new Year 7 boys in their groups. Year 5 and 10 boys have also begun fostering a great big and little brother relationship over some games and a fantastic Scavenger Hunt that will only develop with further upcoming activities over the year.
The Year 7 Camp was the first opportunity for Tevlin Year 7s to form new and strong friendships, whilst challenging themselves in outdoor activities. Our 27 Tevlin boys thoroughly enjoyed activities at the picturesque Broken Bay Centre, including raft-building, a high ropes course, bushwalking and a great outdoor campfire with the boys making their own damper – loved with honey and maple syrup lavished inside!
Tevlin House Activities
Term 1 has seen daily meetings of Mentor Groups, with boys and their Mentors engaging strongly with some meaningful activities on a theme of “Speaking through Action”. This has included Units and activities on building positive social connections, Respecting difference and resolving conflict and making a positive difference in the lives of others. It has been fantastic to see boys sharing experiences, viewpoints and encouraging inclusivity within these activities. Tevlin has its House Social Justice issue in supporting homelessness and marginalised groups, and this term has seen some fantastic support of the The Ruben Centre, which is situated in the most poverty stricken slum in Nairobi, Kenya. This has been a large focus of the Lenten period leading in to Easter, with Waverley boys demonstrating their generosity and reminded of the true servant leadership of Jesus in the Gospels.
Tevlin boys also showed enthusiastic participation Harmony Day and Anti-Bulling Week, including a personal pledge towards standing up and speaking out against bullying…even if our voice shakes. Our new Tevlin SRC Members have begun training and along with Prefects were inspired to activate for change and equality on the International Women’s Day Breakfast Seminar. The Student Representative Council boys from Tevlin include Jett McTavish, Hugh McDonald, Angus Birrell, Vasili Versonis, Daniel Di Francesco, Conor Boyd-Boland, Charlie Tindale, Levi Milford, Ethan Vella ,Harry Whitaker, Brad Marzol and Oliver Small. We also congratulated our Junior School House captains in House Captain Jack Kearney, and Vice-captain Tristan Lee.
Inter-House Sports Competitions
Both Junior and Senior House Swimming carnivals were thoroughly enjoyed by the Tevlin boys, demonstrating both determination and some fantastic house spirit. The Junior school boys again finished in the top 3, which Year 7 also managed in the House dodgeball competition. A term 1 highlight was the dominant victory by Year 12 boys Dean Nappa and Luki Vujovic in the inaugural Waverley FIFA House competition – played on the HUGE screens in the Gym on Playstation 4. These boys were undefeated in their 5 matches, and Tevlin have moved up into 3rd place in the House points standings with momentum strong!
Individual Term 1 Achievements
A number of boys have made notable contributions and had some excellent achievements, including:
- Over 75 Gold Awards have been earned by Tevlin boys in Years 7-12, for excellence in a combination of effort, leadership and achievement academically. It has been so encouraging to see the continued strengthening of a strong learning culture at Waverley College, with so many boys setting and striving towards their academic goals. Numerous boys now have collected multiple Gold Awards on their way towards a Head of College Award.
- Tristan Lee was U11 Swimming Champion, and Aidan Lee U10 Swimming Champion. 4th place in Swimming age championship: Cameron Pierce (U11) and Jack Tindale (U12). Tristan Lee from Year 6 was also selected in the PSSA Swimming State Relay Team to compete on 12th April at Homebush.
- Nate Smith from Year 6 was selected in the CIS AFL side to compete in the NSW Championships in Batemans Bay between 25th and 29th May, so we wish Nate the very best.
- Both James Foster as Captain of Basketball and Jacob Tomasiello as Captain of Cricket were recognised for outstanding leadership in the summer Co-Curricular Awards, with Jacob also receiving the Hayes Shield for Best Team Man in the 1st XI.
- Damian Lin received the College’s Award for Best Performer in Chess, whilst Isaac Kopsiaftis also was awarded the Summer Season’s Public Speaking Best Performer Award.
- In Cricket, Daniel Di Francesco from Year 8, and Harry Whitaker form Year 11 achieved awards for their fantastic bowling in taking 5 wickets each in matches against Cranbrook and Rockhampton Grammar Schools respectively.
Wishing you all a restful break.
