Boarding News Week 3 Term 4

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Jeremy Ticehurst

“No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut!”

Dear Year 11 Parents,

The reality of work has well and truly taken hold of our boys as they approach the half way mark of the Term. Assessments are now underway with varying levels of participation. We have extremes of all cases as the boys learn to balance their work loads of study, sport, music plus other commitments as well as their leadership duties. Some have become very concerned and worried about coping with it all, as new found stress grips them; while for just a rare few others, I wouldn’t mind if they became a little stressed. The greatest thing about our boys is their keen sense of competition and genuine desire to do well.

Last Monday and Wednesday Henry Brindle, Ethan Chin, Geoff Choy, Oliver Coorey, Ted Dwyer, Hamish Elliot, Harrison Gould, James Harrison, Michael Lawler, Nathan Le, Derek Lo, Harry Maher, Tom Murphy, Alex Newsome, Daniel Picone, Oliver Roberts and Seth Turnbull completed their HSC Mathematics paper having been accelerated in this subject over the last two years. Comments were generally very positive, particularly about the 2 unit paper while Wednesday’s Extension 1 presented some challenges for all. Congratulations to these boys and their teacher, Mr Greg Thompson, on their great efforts in this Maths Acceleration course. Let’s hope the marks they receive this year will help free them up in other subjects in 2012.

At last week’s Headmaster’s Assembly, Ross Tarlinton delivered an excellent message for all our boys, imploring them to seriously and regularly think about the decisions they make, but even more so, the consequences of these decisions. There are times, he said, when we think that what we chose to do will not impact on me and these are the times when our decisions do come back to bite us and, there are consequences which impact greatly on our family and at other times our friends. Ross urged all boys to develop the habit that before they make a decision, to stop, take a breath and think about the consequences before acting. Wise words for all our young men. The presentation of the Term Three Study Effort Awards then took place. Congratulations for the excellence in the efforts of the following gentlemen: James Allan, Anthony Baker, Duncan Baxter, Alex Beasley, Henry Birtwistle, Ricky Buchanan, Ian Chan, Oliver Coorey, Ross Davey, Maurice DeCosta, Jesse Fenech, Brendon Follington, Sam Gliddon, Cameron Haddad, Matthew Hall, Max Hall, Magnus Heywood, Dom Huggett, James Keenan, Charlie Landers, Michael Lawler, Derek Lo, Henry Maher, Hugh McLean, Tom Murphy, Alex Newsome, Clancy Pattinson, Daniel Picone, James Quinn, Alex Rainnie, Josh Schwager, Morgan Thomas and Charlton Wilson.

Some significant Sports awards then took place and among them Declan O’Donahue received the Award for Best Batsman in the 1^st X1 for Term One as well as scoring 2 centuries against Riverview and Barker in the recent holiday period. Ben Rodgers received the Award for Best Bowler in the 1^st X1 for Term One. Harrison Goodrick was Awarded Best Defensive Player in the 1^st V Basketball for Term One. Alex Newsome was awarded Best Back in the 2^nd XV and Best Fieldsman in the 2^nd X1. Seth Turnbull was awarded Best Bowler in the 2^nd X1. Matt Hall received the award for Best Player in the 2nds Tennis, Term One, Harrison Gould Best Team Player in the 2nds Tennis. Harry Maher was awarded the Public Speaking Award for 2011. Well done to all these boys.

Lachlan Aston, Nick Henry, Zac Guilfoyle and Michael Thompson continued our service of the guests at Matthew Talbot last Friday. Their stories never cease to amaze me about this wonderful experience let alone the great service, care and friendliness they themselves provide the men of Matthew Talbot. Today, Josh Kay, James Goldie, Tom Murphy and Jon Bolster will continue this most valuable service.

On Wednesday, Tom Cleary and Hugh McLean spoke up very well at the College Food Committee Meeting. Their input was valuable as well as learning the reasons behind the balanced diet that the boys receive.

There have been some wonderful examples of our boys’ active leadership roles already this term. At the respective Year Group Meeting this week thirty–six of our Swimming Leaders passed their first test, by holding the House Swimming Carnival Meetings with their individual Year Groups to organize the Carnival which was held last night at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre at Homebush. It was a night of full involvement with our boys being directly responsible for the organisation of their peers and junior years, a task they carried out very well. Our Swimming House Leaders were:

	Black	Blue	Gold	Green	Red	White
Captain	Mack Broom	Elliot Blues	David Ryan	Joe Duffy	Ethan Matthews	Jackson Pittorino
Yr 11	Harrison Holgate	Jackson Watts	Nick Berney	Clancy Patterson	Sam Barclay	Jon Bolster
Yr 10	Ben Carolan	Matthew Alessi	Daniel Picone	Julian Paul	Kian Heffernan	Tom Robertson
Yr 9	Rowan Brotherson	James Quinn	Ted Dwyer	Matthew Mullen	Andrew O’Neill	Josh Schwager
Yr 8	James Christie	Jade Tubnor	Jason Ren	Louis Jenkins	Andrew Raumer	Alex Bellato
Yr 7	Ned Tipping	Ben Rodgers	Will Glenn	Lachlan Aston	Thomas Laban	Henry Kneebone

Last Monday our Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation boys were taken down to God’s Country, Manly Beach, where they participated in a Surf Education Awareness Program, conducted by Mr Craig Sharpley, PD/H/PE Coordinator. Craig provides the following details of the day:

All boys completed a unit of work in Sport Lifestyle and Recreation on Aquatics – specifically focused on Water Safety.

In this module students will

develop the skills and knowledge necessary to participate safely in aquatic environments.
investigate reasons for participation in aquatic activities and develop the skills associated with water safety.
learn to plan and implement their own aquatic activities and will then develop an appreciation for the benefits offered by a variety of popular activities.

To facilitate their learning all students participated in an excursion at Manly beach run by SEA Australia. The excursion involved students being sub divided into groups and having at least one (1) Instructor accompanying them. All SEA Instructors and Water Safety Officers were qualified to teach students Surf Awareness and Surf Skills. Students did not need any prior experience or swimming qualifications and the course catered for all fitness levels. The boys gained invaluable knowledge and skills on how many aspects of Surf Education and they thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Thank you to all whom have volunteered your assistance at the upcoming Semi Formal, this is greatly appreciated. I will put a final list out this week and as I said in the last Newsletter, without your help, this night does not take place.

As you can see our boys are busy and well and truly back into it with three weeks already gone in our boys first term of the HSC. Take care and enjoy the weekend with your families.

Regards

Jeremy

Academic News Term 4 Week 2

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Darren Frost

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to term 4 and the start of your sons’ HSC course. Your sons’ Preliminary course was over in the blink of an eye and the HSC course will be over even more quickly. The first two weeks of term have been very quiet with respect to assessment tasks except for the boys in the accelerated maths class, who will complete their HSC mathematics exams next week. The next fortnight is also relatively quiet with only an assessment task due in Biology. Things start to speed up after this with weeks 7 and 8 having assessment tasks due in over 20 subjects. At our last Division meeting, I provided all students with a hard copy of the term 4 assessment calendar (I have attached a copy with this blog). I told the boys that despite sounding like a broken record, the importance of organisation and planning is key to achieving a successful HSC result and specifically completing all assessment tasks this term by the due date and at a level that reflects their ability.

Thank you to all parents for completing your sons’ pattern of study forms. This has helped me immensely as I was able to process all subject changes last week, enabling Year 11 to start their new timetable and study periods by the middle of last week.

Most boys have received their textbooks but there are a few who have not ordered them. If you son has ordered textbooks but not received them, please either email me or ask him to see me as soon as possible. I also asked this of the boys at our Division meeting but I don’t need to tell you how short some of their memories are, especially regarding assessment tasks, study, examinations and organisation.

Better Books, the textbook supplier, has been outstanding. Many days I will fax an order through in the morning and this order will arrive by lunch the same day.

The next twelve months will be a busy time for your son and your families. There is a lot to deal with. Year 12 brings unique challenges in terms of dealing with disappointing results, study, application to universities, TAFE or Colleges and scholarship applications, just to name a few. My main role at the College is to support both you and your son in dealing with these challenges. Please do not hesitate in contacting me at the College to be of any assistance (dfrost@joeys.org or 9816-0871). I look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure that Joeys provides your son the best possible education he can receive.

Regards

Darren Frost

Boarding News Week 1 Term 4

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Jeremy Ticehurst

QUOTE: Successful people learn to weed out the constructive criticism from the kind that is negative and damaging. They believe in themselves, work hard and stay away from negative influences!”

Dear Year 11 Parents and Carers, The new Term sees 179 Year 11 boys commence their HSC. We welcome Abram Dunworth from Dubbo, Oliver Pocock from Naremburn and Jesse Slok from Lilyfield. A very warm welcome to the boys and their families and do hope they enjoy being part of the Joeys Family.

The boys have begun brilliantly returning in most positive spirits and earnest to really work hard, aiming to improve and build upon on their Year 11 results, with a genuine desire and commitment to do their best. It has been fantastic to hear the boys speak with such conviction. They have certainly matured over this year and are ready to take on the HSC.

Darren Frost has been very busy this week talking with our boys and organizing their new timetables as they commence their Year 12 classes. The boys’ timetables have remained the same as last term for the first week. This has allowed time for the important decision of what subject to drop, what extension class to pick up and so on to take place. This will ensure that correct decisions and not hasty ones are made for the best interest of all our boys. Darren issued the boys with their new timetables today. Darren then spoke with our boys this week about his expectations and explained to them about the basic requirements and guidelines required of them. Nothing really new but needed to re-stated with them.

The holidays that now seem a distant past, with so much going on in our busy lives at Joeys, also saw busy holidays for some of our boys. Quite a few boys were involved in trips to Japan or now being Senior Rowers, Cricketers and Basketballers and were in Camp in preparation for their respective seasons.

On Wednesday I spoke at length with our boys about, what makes a good Leader. I shared with them recent definitions, highlighting characteristics and traits associated with better leaders. Our boys have certainly embraced already the responsibilities that come with being the Seniors and Leaders of their College. Record numbers of nominations for the varying positions has been outstanding and is a credit to our boys’ commitment. Already, 153 of our boys are a part of the Peer Support Program with Year 7; 14 boys will soon commence as Dorm Seniors; thirty-five are Acolytes; 46 are involved in preparing for the Marist Holiday Children Camp: our cheer leaders who led their College to send off Year 12 and soon Darren and I will be organizing thirty-six of our boys to be the Swimming Captains and Year Group Leaders for our coming Swimming Carnival. On top of this are the roles in leadership our boys have already begun in their Summer Sports. It is a truly great aspect of Joeys that all of our Seniors embrace the responsibility of leadership. Their support for each other in identifying and embracing the ethos of their College and the example they set for their junior forms are true attributes of better leaders.

Today at our Headmaster’s Assembly the 1st V Basketball side were presented with their singlets and congratulations go to the following boys selected Harrison Goodrick (Captain), Eddie Browne, Max Chippendale, Joshua Commins, Andrew Hookey, Joshua Kay, Hugh McLean and Charlton Wilson. Congratulations also to Chris Belsey who was selected in the 2nd V. We wish both teams good luck in their first competition match against Riverview this Saturday.

This weekend we go on Retreat and the boys are to be at SJC by 12.30pm on Sunday for a 1.00pm departure. The Senior Retreat provides an opportunity for all students to take time out from our ‘normal’ school routine to reflect on their relationships with others, their personal spiritual journey and their goals for 2012. This is an excellent opportunity to do some serious thinking about what is important in life as the HSC year commences.

Attached below are the venues and contacts should you need them for the respective Retreat venues. I trust your son has told you by now where he is heading too.

Church Missionary Society Conference Centre Katoomba

2 Violet Street Katoomba NSW 2780

Site Managers:Stephen Holland & Paul Nettelbeck

(02) 4782 1167

katoomba@cms.com

www.staycms.com

Benedict XVI Retreat Centre Grose Vale

347 Grose Wold Road Grose Vale NSW 2753

Site Managers: Mel Legasbi:0415 976 009

Rey Legasbi: 0401 254 913

John Sweeting (Manager– not on site)

Tel: 9390 5316 (direct)