Dear Year 11 Parents & Carers,

Our Year 11 Dorms have never smelt so good as they did last Friday afternoon. Volumes of after shave were generously applied as our boys prepared themselves for their big night. It was great to see so many of them organizing a corsage for their partner, which was made available to them by Vanessa Gliddon and her very artistic group of Joeys Mums making over 135 beautiful corsages and each boy being very proud of his selection.

The Brother Emilian Hall was totally transformed into a truly magnificent Ballroom (“fitting of an Opera House Spectacular” to quote one e-mail). Our boys and their partners were awe struck on entry, (let alone the many parents and friends who had a peek as well), which was exactly the effect we wanted to achieve. The success of the night belongs to many people including, Decorative Events, Tony Porter Light & Sound Show, Balloon Inflation and Alliance Catering along with the forty-five parents who helped over some part of the day right through to Midnight.  A wonderful night was had by all of our boys at the Year 11 Semi-Formal. A big thanks must go to all the parents for all their help in ensuring such a spectacular evening.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115925971635211824176/Yr11SemiFormal?authkey=Gv1sRgCMam65Cc9JqJAQ#

Finally to the stars of the evening, our boys. They were simply magnificent! They had a wonderful time and looked fantastic. It was great to see them so superbly dressed and each and every one of them conducted themselves with class. They were so proud of themselves as they paraded on the front lawn and in the foyer of the Hall with their mocktails in hand for photos along with the incredibly attractive young ladies, who our young men had invited, completing a perfect evening. Tuesday afternoon was also a buzz in the Dorms as the boys grabbed their photos, courtesy of the great photographic work from Mim Canturi and Sue Sidaway ensuring a perfect memento for the boys of a great night. The photos of the Year 11 Semi-Formal can now be viewed on the following website –

Last week the Blood Donor Mobile visited Joeys due to the generosity of our Year 11 boys’ willingness to donate blood. Miss Helen Smith spoke with our boys earlier this term about the opportunity with 65 of our boys volunteering to donate. The Bloodbank were most grateful as the boys’ donations really could not have come at a better time as the current state of Australia’s blood supply is extremely low. The Nurse Unit Manager was full of praise saying that our boys were very cooperative, patient and extremely polite.

Our boys in their Sport this term has seen some eye catching performances. Our Cricketers, Basketballers and Tennis players have produced some great results, while the Rowers continue to work hard in preparation for their Regatta season.  Amongst many good performances, special mention must to go to the consistent run scoring from Declan O’Donahue in the 1^st XI as his team has played exceptional cricket to score convincing victories over a Strong Scots College outfit and then followed this up with an impressive 1^st Innings victory over Newington.  Harrison Goodrick and his 1^st V Basketball team have been playing magnificent basketball with outstanding victories over Newington and Kings. Maurice DeCosta, Matt Hall and Harrison Gould have representing us in the 1^st Tennis team and have accounted for their Sydney High and Grammar opponents and fought out a tough draw against the Scots College. Big games for all boys this weekend against the Shore School.

Our service to the Matthew Talbot Hostel for Homeless Men has continued this term. James Keenan, Clancy Pattinson, Max Honner and Tim Palmer served the guests on Friday, 11th November, while tonight Max Hall, Tim Litherland, Will Glenn and Callum Flitcroft will continue this great service.

Tonight will see the launch of the 2011 Kids of Dreams.  Year 11 has twenty-three contributors to this year’s publication. Congratulations to  James Allan, Henry Birtwistle, Ethan Chin, Tomas Cleary, Oliver Coorey, Aaron Curtis, Jesse Fenech, Harrison Goodrick, Harrison Gould, Maxwell Hall , Jack Hamilton, Max Honner Daniel Hughes, Harry Maher, Tim Palmer, Tiger Parker, Julian Paul, Riley Powell, James Quinn, Clinton Slater, Morgan Thomas, Lewis Wigington who all have the honour of having their writings or artwork published.

Numerous boys have been recognized for their hard work over the past few weeks. Tom Murphy was awarded the Australian Defence Force Long Tan Leadership Award which saw him receive $500.00. The awards are an important initiative by the Australian Government with the Australian Defence Forces to encourage senior students – tomorrow’s leaders – to actively participate in the life of their schools and local communities It is also a fitting tribute to the Long Tan veterans, as the very traits they demonstrated such as determination, mateship, teamwork, compassion and leadership, are the same attributes this Award hopes to encourage and recognise in students. Well done Tom.

Nicholas Henry was awarded the 2011 Les Burgett Prize for Music 1 and Music 2 Courses. Nicholas also received $500.00 to be put towards furthering his musical interests and talents.

Tim Palmer recently competed in the Athletes with Disability Junior National Athletics championships where competing up an age group in the U/20’s he came second in the 400m, breaking the deaf records in the U/20 and U/18 age groups. Tim did this despite injuring his hamstring at the 300m mark. A great effort. He now holds the deaf records for 100m (U18) and 200m,400m and 800m (U18 and U20) all of which he has set in the past 2 months.

James Rix recently finished 3^rd place in the NSW Men’s Road Racing Championships and he was then picked up by National Road Series Team, “Torque” which is a just result for the many hours of consistent work James puts in, on top of playing sport for the College.

At our Division Meeting on Wednesday I spoke to the boys about how last weekend sounded some warning bells very loudly to us all, and if we were smart we would learn from it. After a wonderful Friday night and excellent Saturday of sport, a large number of our boys went out to an arranged party on the Saturday night. Despite supervision, many chose to turn up with alcohol and the resultant combination of already tired teenagers and drinking, 2 of our boys ended up in a fight with one being knocked to the ground, thankfully without any permanent consequences. Productivity in and out of the classrooms was poor in the ensuing days as well as resultant tensions in the dorms due to what had happened on the Saturday night. Any outside activity which does impact on the boys here at the College, we will become involved. However I firmly believe that we need to work together to ensure our boys weekend activites are appropriate and minimise the chances of these episodes happening to them. I spoke with a number of the boys and greatly appreciated their honesty. By far the most common reasons brought forward for drinking was that it was the “end of the year”, they “were a bit tired” and “wanted to let their hair down”. I pointed out to them one of the Fathers of the boys recently sent home, was putting in 20 hour days on the harvester, he was tired, got a bit emotional too about his son’s behaviour, but he kept going. Ex test cricketer Matthew Hayden at a recent Assembly gave a speech which all the boys thoroughly enjoyed and were inspired by, in which he pointed out his fondest memories weren’t sending balls out of stadiums with big shots, but the times where he had to overcome self-doubt, his spot being questioned and the ensuing hard work he put in to produce innings which saw him come through these challenging times and the ensuing feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment which went with these times. This is what we want our boys to work for, to achieve their goals and be proud of what they do here, rather than look back at what might have been. As we pointed out on Wednesday, alcohol should not be part of their travels for them to achieve what really matters to each and every one of them, but it will be an ongoing process where families and the College need to work together, with the same understanding and emphasis for the boys benefit.

With just under two weeks remaining there is still much to be done. At Joeys we never wind down but go right to the very end. It is actually one of the traditions of the place, we don’t waste time and the time our boys are here, they are fully maximized. Though there is not an exam block for our Year 11 boys, they have a numerous HSC assessments and tests planned that will certainly keep them busy. Now certainly is the time to finish strong. Our boys traveling home on Countrylink will depart first thing on Thursday morning, 8th December. Take care and enjoy the weekend with your families.

Regards

Jeremy