What’s It All About?

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Unity 1This morning at our division meeting I took the opportunity to speak to the boys about what we all experienced at Kings on Saturday afternoon. There is no doubt that in the more recent years, Saturday would rate as one of the most memorable. Many experienced staff who were there compared the afternoon to occasions up to 30 years ago.

As I mentioned to the boys, it is easy for people to confuse what they saw on Saturday and what was important about it. To new-comers and certainly to outsiders, the events of Saturday afternoon could be mistaken for being about rugby. This, however, is not the case. Ok … I’m not totally whacky – I realise that it was a rugby match where we were, but what we saw on Saturday with the boys was not really about rugby at all – rugby was simply the vehicle on this occasion.

What we saw was Joeys Spirit. This is a phrase that I hardly ever use as I would hate for it to be a throw away line which loses significance. In this case though … there is simply no other way to describe it.

Dorms 2We saw boys who cheered together not because they were watching a rugby match but because they were watching fellow Joeys boys who they knew and could relate to. When the final whistle blew, what we saw was a genuine passion. It wasn’t a celebration that was rehearsed and it wasn’t put on – it was a real happiness that came as a result of being together as a school and rallying behind each other.

I explained to the boys that if, for one minute, moments like these become about one particular sport or other event then we are wasting our time. The Joeys culture is about supporting each other as a school and it is certainly not limited to sport. We all need to keep re-inforcing this with the boys – they must display this genuine support for others in everything that we do, whether it be in class, in relationships or in our sport.

Dorms 1The quote for this week (which is on the right of this page) I feel is a wonderful statement which in many ways relates to us here at Joeys. Many people outside of Joeys don’t understand why we insist that the boys attend certain events and one of the reasons that they don’t understand this is because they haven’t experienced what it can bring. They don’t understand … they simply don’t hear the music. Whether it be attending Family Masses once a term, the Academic Prize Giving or various sporting fixtures, these events bring the College together as one and supporting as one. This week we will see this support in the form of all boys attending the First XI Football and in only a few weeks time we again come together at the Family Mass.

Having a sense of belonging is one of the most important things that boys need as they grow up. We believe that having a real sense of belonging at school is crucial and that events such as last Saturday, such as Family Masses, do foster that sense of belonging during the boys’ time here.

I have no doubt that the boys will be able to experience many more wonderful times together over the coming five years – it is these moments that provide wonderful memories and build the real spirit of togetherness that exists here at Joeys. In what arena it happens in will change – that is not important. What is crucial is that it keeps happening and that we are all there together to experience it and enjoy it!

Unity 2

 

Pictured in Photo 1:  Jojo Yeboah (Mosman), Eddie Yee (Paddington) and Tom Callaughan (Yass)

Pictured in Photo 2:  Kobe Pitt (Moree), Dylan Grant (Dubai), Charlie Smith (Bellata), Jojo Yeboah (Mosman) and Travis Blair (Macksville)

Pictured in Photo 3:  Jack Biddle (Armidale), John Chow (Papua New Guinea), Jack Renshaw (Northbridge), Ibbi Warfield (Lane Cove), Nick McDonald (Burwood), Andrew Bland (Kingsford), Joey Masur (Collaroy), Sam de Courcy (Greenwich), Johnno Hookey (Alexandria), Dylan Russell (Glebe) and Irving Qin (Putney).

What a Day for Sport

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Rugby 1As we all headed over to Parramatta on Saturday, all the boys were conscious that they would need to play well in their matches if they were going to come out victorious. The boys from Kings always challenge us and it is certainly a fixture which we look forward to each year.

Mother Nature played her part, putting on a beautiful day for us with warmer than usual temperatures and a beautifully clear sky.

When we look back on the day, it was an incredibly successful one for the boys. In football, our 13A team continued their tremendous season with a 3-2 win over their Kings opponents. While the 13B and 13C teams didn’t come out with a victory, their performances and efforts were particularly commendable with the boys very much taking on board what had been discussed at Thursday’s school assembly about pride and never giving up.

Rugby 2In the rugby, we won all 8 Under 13s matches with our boys scoring well over 300 points and only conceding 5. This was quite remarkable and a significant improvement on the trial weekend back in Term 2.  Out on the Doyle fields, it was obvious how much the boys enjoyed the games but also how their effort and determination didn’t dwindle even as some of the scores headed close the ton.

All the boys should be very proud of their efforts on Saturday. The results are an excellent sign of the talent that we have in both football and rugby and I have no doubt that the boys will be able to keep up their efforts for the remainder of the season.

Pictured in Photo 1:  Angus Laing (Randwick)

Pictured in Photo 2:  Sam de Courcy (Greenwich)

Inspiration from the Pros

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Written by Mrs Judy O’Connell

Newsome 2On Wednesday evening the College welcomed Richard Newsome, author of the “Billionaire’s Curse” Series, to make some awards, and also inspire boys  with his enthusiasm for writing.  In the audience were boys from the “Write-a-Book-in-a-Day Competition”, plus boys from Year 7.

After a successful visit to the College last year, Richard was approached and willingly  volunteered to be the Judge of the Joey’s entries in this national competition –  launching our own annual “Write-a-Book-in-a-Day competition”.   

We are very honoured to have had his support – particularly since Richard provided detailed feedback on the writing of each book!!

Newsome 1Richard had the Year 7 boys sitting on the edge of their seats, as he told the story of how he had his first book published – finally!!  The tale of intrigue included many rejection slips, an eventual entry into an Australian competition, calls from his mother-in-law that really were interrupting his wait for THAT magical phone call to say his book was to be published. 

FINALLY – the phone call came, and at that point all of Year 7 spontaneously burst into applause (even though the ending was clearly obvious!).   Boys asked great questions, and happily lined up to buy signed copies of Richard’s two books: Billionaire’s Curse and Emerald Casket.

Even better was to see the spiral-bound exercise book, with the pencil draft of Book Three – that never leaves his side.  Boys had a real chance to see the first draft of a book that will be published next year! 

Pictured in Photo 1:  Rob Webb (Lindfield), Tom Quirk (Year 8), Oliver Sumsky (Alexandria) and Nick Kovacs (West Pymble).

Pictured in Photo 2:  Mitch Frater-Baird (Killara), Tom Flitcroft (Epping) and Dylan Russell (Glebe).

We’re Back!

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Thumbs UpWell, we are certainly off and running for Term 3 and it has been a great start for the boys. It was wonderful to see them return fresh from their holidays and enthusiastic to be back around their mates (and school books too I am sure!)

From the sounds of it, the full three weeks was greatly appreciated and the stories from many boys have been entertaining to say the least! We had some boys travel overseas, others to the snow and of course, many of the boys were able to spend the time relaxing around the house.

This term is yet another busy one for us all. Winter sports finish, athletics season starts (and finishes) and summer sports start as well. Assessments continue in classes, there are a few academic competitions, some excursions and lots more! So I have no doubt that in 10 weeks time when we break up again for holidays it will once again feel as though time just flew!

Here’s to a great term for everyone!

Pictured in Photo:  Archie Davis (Sutton) and Charlie Smith (Bellata)

From the Boys’ Perspective

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A nice way to start the new term is to reflect upon Term 1 as it allows us to pick up from where we left off. However, I thought it would be more appropriate if we reflected on Term 1 from the boys’ perspective.

Pat 3As you may be aware, during Term 1, in Religious Education, the boys had an assessment where they had to create a brochure for the College. This was part of the “Church and School Communities” unit of the curriculum. Much of this unit focused on Joeys as not only a school community but also, due to our boarding structure, a church community.

Late last term, I received an email from Mr MacMaster who had attached a boy’s assignment which he had found particularly interesting.

When I read Patrick Dempsey’s (Seaforth) assignment, I found not only the content and humour particularly compelling but also it’s honesty. The assignment put a ‘real’ face on the experiences of our boys in Year 7 not only when they are here but also in their lead up to starting at Joeys.

There were two parts to the assignment. The first was the brochure, where the boys had to try and advertise the College in their own words. In a final statement in his brochure, Patrick wrote:

“Over all it’s the teachers and students at a school that truly make it a better place for your child to learn. At this school we teach discipline and good manners to all boys. We have a staff of dedicated teachers that will help your child learn and get through school, make friends and learn the true meaning of a term we use a lot hear at Joeys “it’s not a school it’s a family”.. So enroll your child for St Josephs today good luck.”

I think you would agree that for a 12 Year old boy to write a blurb like this is a great sign that he feels comfortable here at school.

In the second part of Patrick’s assignment, Patrick summarised his own story of arriving at Joeys. I have to admit that this section had me giggling in its honesty! Just for the record … the photos and pictures are the ones that Patrick had in his assignment. Enjoy!

“Hi my name is Pat Dempsey and this is my story…

PatBefore coming to this school I attended Beauty Point Public School (B.P.P.S) in Mosman. Many of my close friends were going to a local public school Mosman High but my parents had chosen to send me to a school I barely knew… St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill.

At first I refused and chose Mosman. So my parents took me to some of the opening nights. The nights would go for two hours and be a bunch of people getting up on stage and saying how this school was the best. After the speeches my parents would make me meet some of the people that spoke. I would try not to agree on anything with them and would even debate their point.

Pat 2Later that month my grandma came out from England (she doesn’t have as much patience as my mum or dad). Once telling her I would rather go to Mosman High than Joeys, she went nuts as you would image any fifty six year old Catholic British woman would. In the end my parents won and I was sent off to Joeys.

Luckily for me I knew two boys going there already but that was it. The first day went slowly and I was still annoyed. Most of the boys would say hi to me and I think I would either ignore them or snarled at them.    

Of course, later in the week I had no choice… I had to make friends and start to work harder. After a couple of weeks the school started to get better for me. The teachers were helping me and I had a great time at the Athletics Carnival coming 2nd in the long distance.

I’m now almost fished Term One and believe it or not, I now understand the meaning of “Joeys is not a school, it’s a family”. I must say at the moment everything is perfect at this school for the moment (except for the food) thank you.”

The boys here at Joeys come from such a wide variety of backgrounds, not only in regards to where they live but also how they ended up going to school here in the first place. There is no doubt that many boys are nervous and apprehensive before starting at Joeys … this is very natural, especially when so many of the boys live some distance from the school and know very few other boys before starting. It is wonderful to read the work of a boy who was not sold on the idea of Joeys before he started here but is clearly very happy with his experiences during first term.

Here’s to another great term!

Celebrating Pi

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Pi 1As a Mathematics teacher myself, I am willing to admit that one of the more common questions that we get asked, particularly by junior students is “where is this going to be useful in life”. Many may think that this is a question we hate being asked … I don’t agree as being asked this question only gives us an opportunity to brag about how important Maths is in almost everything that we do. This question allows an opportunity for us to get off task for a while and explore Maths at its best … that is … in a practical way.

After saying this, there is no doubt that some students do find the link between Maths and what they perceive important in life very vague.

Pi 2The 14th March is International Pi Day each year (for those who wonder why it is on this day – it comes back to the numbers 3.14 … the 3rd month and 14th day). This year, our Head of Mathematics, Mrs Katina Sweeting, asked all the Maths teachers to focus on Pi in their classes on Tuesday the 16th March as we were away on the Monday. To go with this, the morning tea for the boys was a scrumptious cup-cake with the Pi symbol across the top … there was no escaping Pi on International Pi Day … especially when your Boarding Coordinator is a Maths teacher!

On the night of the celebrations, I quized a few boys on what they had learnt about Pi. Below are some of the responses I got:

“Pi is from ancient history and the symbol is the 16th letter in the Greek Alphabet.”

“Pi is the circumference of a circle divided by the diameter.”

“Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day – even though it didn’t exist then”

“There’s a lot of numbers after the decimal point”

“Without Pi we would not be able to understand circles properly and make use of them as we do today”

“Pi never repeats”

“Pi is good because without it we wouldn’t have got big cup-cakes for recess”

In addition to learning about Pi, there was a competition run to see which student in the school could memorise the most decimal places of Pi (a ratio which has an infinite number of decimal places).

In Year 7, the winner of this competition was Mac Waugh (Balmain). Incredibly Mac has memorised and can recite 50 decimal places of Pi! Don’t believe me? Well check out the video below of Mac reciting the values at Div Meeting in front of the whole form!

But Alas! I have just re-watched this video and have noticed that in fact Mac has done it to 55 decimal places!!!

Well done Mac and a huge congratulations to the Year 7 Maths teachers who had all the boys excited and talking about Maths outside the classroom … even if it is only for one day a year!

Pictured in Photo 2:  Spencer Wilson (Willoughby), Ben Williams (Hunters Hill) and Ryan Lyne (Roseville)

Never Give Up Joeys!

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One of the great things about Term 1 for me this year has been not coaching a sport. Don’t get me wrong … I love coaching. What has been so good about this term though has been my freedom to get out and watch the our Year 7s playing their own sport. In many respects, this is the best level of sport to watch because while it is competitive, the boys at this age have a genuine understanding about the importance of sport being fun. They appreciate the need for good sportsmanship and they just love getting out with their mates and playing.

March 20 Sport 35Throughout the season I have been able to see almost every Year 7 team play – unfortunately, with the Water Polo being away each week I haven’t seen them in action, however the reports from the coaches have been nothing but positive. Likewise, with the swimming who compete early on Saturday mornings – both Mrs Quinn and Mr Frost have continually give wraps to the boys in Year 7.

For the teams I have seen play, it has been great fun watching them. Not all the results went our way but no matter the score, the boys were always giving it their best effort and showing the utmost respect to their opponents. It was clear as I watched the boys interact with each other that in only a short time as a team, they had bonded so very well.

Last Saturday was the perfect way to finish the season. I ventured over to more familiar ground at the tennis. It had been a few weeks since the tennis had been at home and it was great to see the weather hold out for a beautiful day.

March 20 Sport 39As we alll know, the stories that we can all tell from sport are endless, however, I think it is worth mentioning the efforts of three boys in particular. The first was one of our D players, Jason Baumli (Putney).When I arrived at Jason’s match, he was down 4-1. This, as you would appreciate is a big lead to chase down. What was so impressive about Jason’s game was his composure. He increased his consistency of shots and slowly closed the gap. Despite his efforts, he still later found himself down 5-3 – a point in a match where often the nerves get the better of you. Well, not for Jason. he remained calm, played two deuce games and clawed the score back to 5-5. In GPS Junior tennis, we play the tie-break at 5-all rather than 6-all and I must say, I was a little concerned for Jason’s chances of success when I heard him ask his opponent from Newington “How do you play a tie-breaker?” In his first tie-breaker ever, Jason took an early lead that was never closed in on by his opponent and won an epic affair. It was an awesome win which was characterised by his “Never Give Up” attitude. He was down and almost out … he dug deeper and came away with a fantastic win!

I was talking to his mother after the game and she had mentioned that she had once said to him to play like Federer. Well, Jason did exactly that and was rewarded with the win and the new nick-name “Roger”!

Later in the morning I was fortunate enough to see the 13As play. While the style of tennis is a little different, the attitude that is required to win is exactly the same.

March 20 Sport 64Will Wennerbom (Birchgrove) has been playing as our A1 this season – something that is never easy. He has hada  wonderful season with several wins. Like everyone, he was desperate to finish the season well. In the early stages of the game Will made plenty of un-forced errors – errors that he wouldn’t normally make. Like Jason, he was also down on the scoreboard. Some players at this level will often show a lack of self control and lose their temper … not Will … he stuck at it, grinding away at his opponent and slowly getting his consistency back up. With a couple of superb backhand volleys we started to see Will come into the net a little more – a great sign of confidence. The tides turned and Will took the lead – a lead his opponent never caught up. Another fine performance that epitomised the Joeys traditions … the chips were down so Will knuckeld down, did the hard yards and came out on top for an impressive win.

March 20 Sport 36And one more example of our fine tennis players was Jack Fox (Glebe). If I was to sum up Jack’s game on Saturday and his style of play in general, it would simply be “HARD WORK”. Jack is not a flashy player (although don’t get me wrong he has a couple of weapons up his sleeve) but rather he is a worker. He will play a point out as long as it takes to tire his opponent. On Saturday he did this and as a result finished his season off in the perfect way!

The atmosphere over at the tennis was just so positive. The boys were supporting each other, chatting with coaches and other boys’ parents and put simply … were just so impressive. I can’t think of a more accurate and appropriate way to bring closure to the summer season as I know that across all sport, our boys maintained the highest standards both on their field or court and off them.

Pictured in Photo 1:  Lewis Chan (Randwick)

Pictured in Photo 2:  Jack Fox (Glebe)

Pictured in Photo 3:  Will Wennerbom (Birchgrove)

Pictured in Photo 4:  Matt Curtin (Gordon) and Will O’Leary (Elong Elong)

 

A Nice Hobby

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Written by Benedict Sutherland (Annandale)

I first really found out about robotics when I stumbled over an open computer lab when I was searching for a computer. Inside was the Robotics group, a teacher and two Year 8 boys. In the end, after the confusion, they asked me if I would like to join and hesitantly I said yes. As it turned out it was absolutely brilliant with about 10 boxes full of Lego, wires and who knows what else!

RoboticsUnfortunately the weeks were slow and the two Year 8 students started to not turn up. This gave me the idea of getting other Year 7 students to join Robotics. At first I was criticised with some sentences such as ‘are you serious’ or the sarcastic ‘nice hobby’. But eventually I came across a few friends that were willing to join the group. Brandon Zhao (Bomaderry) was very enthusiastic and soon was getting way ahead of me with his robot. Sooner or later Bayley O’Donnell (Hong Kong) decided that making robots would be pretty cool and he started to help me make mine. He started saying ‘put this on’ or ‘but that would look really cool if we stuck that on’. It was even more of a perfect group when Luke Jolly (Freshwater) turned up with a year 9 student soon following.

Anyway my teacher and I had to explain the rules to Bayley and Brandon for the upcoming competition. I explained that there were two comps to enter, one being the Robot Dance and the Robot Rescue.

Robot Rescue involves you having to follow a black line with a colour sensor and reach a tin foil can. Once you get there, you have to get the robot all the way back with enough power with a timer of 90 seconds for the whole thing. The Robot Dance sounds easy but you have to keep the robot in time with the music that is playing. Good news is that you can choose your own music.

The great thing about Robotics is that the teacher only gives you small slices of help such as how to programme the robots’ movements. Once you know how to programme it and build it you are on your way to making a great robot. Another great thing is that you don’t have to know that much on robots because you just learn as you go.

To sum it up Robotics is a great and fun way to spend your afternoon instead of wasting time on the computer and I’m really glad I accidentally found it otherwise I wouldn’t have it to look forward to in the afternoons. It really is a ‘nice hobby’.

Pictured in Photo:  Bayley O’Donnell (Hong Kong), Luke Jolly (Freshwater), Brandon Zhao (Bomaderry) and Benedict Sutherland (Annandale)

Ladies and Gentlemen …

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Written by Dom McDonald (Gerroa)

Debating 1On the 19th of March 2010, 4 boys who have set their sights on noble goals embarked on what would turn out to be one of the toughest debates of their lives. The team was made up of Mac Waugh (1st Speaker), Dom McDonald (2nd Speaker), Nick McDonald (3rd Speaker) and James Pope (4th Speaker).

The team so far in the season had been extremely successful winning 3 from 3 of their last debates and wanting another win, they turned up to the Brother Michael Naughtin Theatre to face up to Knox Grammar in the fourth round of the ISDA competition. Debating 4They shook hands with the Knox boys and received their topic: “That America has too much influence on Australia”. Joeys was Affirmative and Knox was Negative.

And so both teams moved into their prep room with a tense feeling knowing that this would be a tough debate.

An hour later the Joeboys emerged, pulled on their blazers and were all fired up, ready to stand shoulder to shoulder until the very last man and then entered Room 304 for an exciting debate.

Debating 2Mac Waugh opened the debate with some perfectly structured statements about how the USA influences us on economic issues, and how the Australian Media is continuously becoming more like the American Media.

Dom McDonald then continued the Joeys case, speaking about political pressure put on Australia by the USA, how the USA influences us through times of war and hardship and how Australia is losing its British Identity because of US influence.

Nick McDonald then concluded the Joeys case by summarising Mac and Dom’s speeches then having some excellent rebuttal against the good cases put forward by Knox.

Debating 3As the Debate concluded the adjudicator asked us all to wait outside as she made her decision, the minutes ticked passed slower than when you’re sitting in the infirmary all day — after 10 minutes we were invited back in.

The adjudicator stood up and announced that Joeys had won their fourth consecutive debate.

Now the Joeys team is on a roll and is guaranteed into the knockouts if they win next week against St Andrew’s College.

Pictured in order from top to bottom:  Dom McDonald (Gerroa), Mac Waugh (Balmain), Nicholas McDonald (Burwood) and James Pope (Russell Lea)

Getting Wrapped Up In History

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History 1As I was walking down the Year 7 verandah today, I couldn’t help but notice a group of boys gathered on the grass just outside the Year 7 classrooms. As I wandered over closer, I could smell something somewhat different … and see smoke coming from this group of boys. While my first thought, having worked with boys for quite a few years now, was to go for the fire extinguisher – I soon I noticed their teacher sitting in the middle of this group.

When I approached the group it was wonderful to see how involved all the boys were. They were learning and enjoying it! However, the practical learning didn’t stop there for the lesson as I was quickly invited to join the group back up in the Resources Centre where they were to wrap toilet paper around each other! Why? Well … Michael Icely (East Lindfield) has taken the time to explain what exactly the smoke I saw and later the toilet paper were all about! This is his report:

History 2Today at my history lesson Mrs Schofield, our teacher had told us that we were to go to Seminar 1 where she would tell us what we were going to do during the lesson. The bell had rung and my class had gone up there where she was waiting for us with some bags.

We had no clue what the plan was … but then she told us that we had to walk silently behind the language room. When we had got there she told us about what the first of two fun activities.

The first was that she was going to show us how the ancient Egyptians made smoke while talking to the gods. We had to stand 2 metres away so no one would get hurt. After a few interesting questions and answers Mr. Sidgreaves came down with a camera. He said “I could smell the smoke a mile away and decide to find out what it was.” I thought he knew because some how our history teacher Mrs. Schofeild told him before hand or Mr. Sidgreaves was very smart when it comes to smoke signals. After a few great snap shots Mrs. Schofield told Mr. Sidgreaves to come up in 15 minutes time to the Seminar room.

History 3Then the better of two great activities happened. We had to get into groups of three and mummify one of our partners. I was lucky enough to be mummified with my two partners Mitchell Johnston (Drummoyne) and Ibbi Warfield (Longueville). The best mummifying got a Fredo Frog and I was confident that we were going to win! Mitchell started at the legs and had done most of it in 3 minutes. Mr Sidgreaves walked in and everyone was pretty much finished except my head. When we had finished it was time to decide who won … the make or break time! Problem was … I could not see or hear who it was that won except for knowing that everyone was ripping and throwing the toilet paper around in celebration becasue Mrs Schofield decided to give us all Fredos … and three lucky boys had two. Then Mrs. Schofield said that I could right the report for Mr. Sidgraves and … well … that was the best History lesson ever.

Pictured in Photo 2:  Jack Campbell (Gladesville), James Goodman (Hunters Hill), Mitch Frater-Baird (Killara), Ben Rooney (Avalon), Jarryd Yun (Castle Cove), Michael Icely (East Lindfield), Dylan Chin (Killara), Will O’Connell (Gladesville), Ibbi Warfield (Longueville), Harrison Fricot (Glebe), Max Taylor (Riverview), Will Wennerbom (Birchgrove), Chad Hazouri (Hunters Hill), James Pope (Russell Lea), Adam Dolin (Lane Cove), Ewan Spinks (Tennyson Point), Mitchell Johnston (Drummoyne).

Pictured in Photo 3:  Mitch Frater-Baird (I think), Harrison Fricot and Adam Dolin