Congratulations to Oliver Wilson, selected as goalkeeper in the 1st XI Football for this season as well as Tyler Banducci and Felix Spronk O’Callaghan who were selected in the College 2nd XI side for 2018. We wish them and all our footballers every success and enjoyment for the season which commences this Saturday against Grammar.

Kurtley Beale dropped by the College this week and by chance Zac Hart, currently No.10 for the 15A’s was able to meet and seek out a few tips from our 2006 1st XV captain.

The flu shots are always interesting, brings out a different persona in some of the troops. Plenty are not as confidant when Sister Peters brings the needle out!!

Monday was a terrific opportunity for the boys to get out and study areas of Sydney they would not usually visit in Barangaroo, Pyrmont and Darling Harbour. The boys enjoyed learning about the changes in these areas of Sydney, did some work and then took the opportunity to get some “happy snaps” with some of the major sights of Sydney as backdrops. 

To all our Mums, have a wonderful day with your families on Sunday, thanks for all you do for our boys.

One of our valued Dorm supervisors Virginia Hegerty celebrated her birthday tonight and the boys came together to sing Happy Birthday to her and share a cake, unfortunately the cake never appeared!! Mrs Hegerty (who has had four sons of her own through Joeys) was still very happy to be with your boys on her special night.

A time of the week we all love is Friday night, around 9.30pm when our debaters come back to the dorms and tell us of their evening contests. Despite the very interesting topics given to them and irrespective of the result, we always love hearing how they have gone and the manner in which they conduct themselves is a wonderful example for all our boys. Our two teams are ISDA: Harry Bentley, Jonathon Ryan, Adrian Dawson and Aidan Kearns. FED CUP: Noah Brumby, Tom Chaplin, Liam O’Connell, Zac Bosnich and Patrick Stevens. Below is a brief report from Liam O’Connell on the Fed Cup team and Adrian Dawson on the ISDA  season so far –

The Year 10 FED (Friday Evening Debating) Team has had a very busy season, with many interesting topics being put to us throughout these first 2 terms. The team, consisting of Tom Chaplain, Pat Stevens, Zac Bosnich, Noah Brumby and Liam O’Connell have represented our school in the 8-round competition. With 3 wins and 4 losses so far, there have been some closely fought debates, over topics like ‘Should we change the date of Australia Day’ and ‘Should cosmetic surgery be banned for people under 18’. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us throughout the competition;
• Mr Summers, our team facilitator,
• Finnegan Waugh, our coach
• All the parents who gave up their Friday nights to come and watch us, and the adjudicators who helped us improve our debating skills
• And all the other teams, who made this competition such a challenging but rewarding experience.

The ISDA debating competition consists of 32 schools across Sydney competing in a total of 7 rounds and an additional 4 knockout rounds for teams who successfully place in the top four of their pool. From debating topics such as “That we should ban the public denial of climate change” to “Employers should not be able to access prospective employee’s criminal records” and even, “That people who earn above the median income should not be able to run for parliament”. Our team- Adrian Dawson, Harry Bentley, Jonathan Ryan and Aidan Kearns – has had a challenging and worthwhile season so far.

In the end, we won 5 of the 7 debates, losing against Abbotsleigh and PLC and winning against Ravenswood, St Aloysius’, St Augustine’s, Trinity and Queenwood.

This has led to us making it into the ISDA finals for the third year in a row. This makes us one of only two teams of the school to progress to the finals, with the other team being the firsts.

This would not have been possible without our coordinator Mr Summers and our coach Finn Waugh as they have both been very useful in helping us progress as speakers (in and out of debating).

Finally, we would just like to thank students, parents and staff who have watched, supported and shown interest in our debates, especially Sam Carrington and Mr Ticehurst who after every round have shown an interest in our results. Hopefully we will progress further into the finals than previous years and achieve similar success in the upcoming GPS season.

In the recent holidays Tyler Banducci, Lachlan Kershaw-Domingo, Michael Murphy, Luca Schmitt and Felix Spronk O’Callaghan were fortunate enough to be part of the Joeys Football Tour to spain. Below is a brief account of their experience by Michael, and some excellent photos courtesy of Luca.

“During the recent holidays, 5 year 10 football players including myself joined the school’s football tour to Spain; going to the cities of Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona. We went to experience Spanish football culture and to further develop in the sport against international competition. Participating in amazing training sessions with some of the best coaches in Spain in some of the best facilities, and tough games against Spanish local sides, the players developed individually and as team. We learnt that working as a team and communication is vital to success and enjoyment in games. Along with sightseeing around all the cities and enjoying Spanish weather and food, the boys and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Personally, a highlight for me was La Sagrada de Familia, the largest cathedral in Spain with beautiful architecture and amazing views. Overall, the boys and I enjoyed our time in Spain and we are greatly thankful to our parents and the school for allowing us to go”.