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.
Service Highlights from the Week
- Illowra Uniting Aged Care – initiatives taken by the boys resulted in positive responses with dementia patients, that staff had previously not seen.
- Wairoa School for students with intellectual and multiple disabilities – boys repaired springs on a trampoline for students to use, after the school was told by the trampoline company it could take up to three months to fix.
- Wisemans Ferry Neighbourhood Centre – students assisted with flood relief efforts and helped to repair homes.
- Matthew Talbot donations store – boys picked and wrapped Christmas gifts for 150 families in crisis care, for mothers, babies, children and teenagers.
- St Gabriel’s School – boys travelled out to Castle Hill on public transport to work with primary and secondary students with disabilities.
- Windgap Foundation disability services – boys accompanied disability clients in day programs, in work experience and helped cook food.
- Pantry 4 The People – boys helped build vegetable garden beds for the pantry to grow their own food.
- Our Big Kitchen – boys helped host the Salvation Army, preparing many meals and cleaning pots.
- Jarjum College – boys helped low socio-economic Indigenous students with learning in the classroom.
- Numerous local primary schools – many boys gave back to their former primary schools and worked alongside their primary school teachers for the week.
- Local Op Shops – boys stepped up to assist their local community charitable organisations.
- Sydney Children’s Hospital – students formed relationships with sick children, reading books and talking to them.
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.
