Bradman Cluster:

The Red News

Year 11 Bradman Retreat

On the 21st of April, the year 11 students of the Bradman cluster, gathered together in excitement for the next 24 hours they were about to share with their fellow peers. Being the last cluster to go on the retreat, we had heard some good feedback about the experience, which raised the excitement to a great extent. The purpose of the retreat was to participate in faith development and community building, which within the two days, was incorporated in the activities in one way or another. 

As we arrived at Lady Northcote, we were welcomed by the friendly staff. We were firstly inspired by the presentation of Michelle Newland. Michelle courageously delivered her story on her recovery of the asthma attack that changed her life forever. It touched the hearts of many, and was the type of story that one would remember for a very long time.

The retreat gave us the opportunity to step outside of our comfort zones, and try exhilarating activities from being on high ropes, swinging to great heights on the giant swing, cycling on crazy routes, jumping off the leap of faith and taking on initiative activities as a class. Not to mention the musical skills shown in our performances, where many students showed us how it’s done!  

As well as the active and fun activities, we also had interactive night sessions, conducted by Paul Reed and Wendy Smith. Paul led a session where students were able to reflect on their faith and and write their personalised prayers according to their life, which was definitely one of my favourite activities. Wendy discussed the catholic faith with us, and held a session where we made our own rosaries. To complete the night, we sat around the campfire, toasting marshmallows and bonded with our peers.

Overall, I thought that the experience was a great one. It was the first time I saw the Bradman cluster really as a whole, and made me proud be to be a part of it. It gave me an insight on how cool our cluster coordinators (Lance and Jess) are and what the ‘Bradmanites’ are really made of!

“The retreat was not only a good break from the stresses of VCE, but it was a way for us students to form new bonds within our cluster.” - James Le

“Year 11 retreat, not going to lie it sounded like a bore, but once we got there we were able to socialise with people in our cluster, face our fears and got in touch with our faith.” - Lisa Bui

“Retreat helped us grow as a year level and more importantly a cluster. It helped us relax and keep our mind off school and studying for two days. We all conquered fears, got embarrassed and especially had fun!”- Nghia Nguyen

Many new relationships were established throughout the two days and the the bond within the Bradman cluster became a strong one. We’re all eager and ready to take on what this year has in store for us.

Bradman Feast Day

On Friday the 29th of April, Catholic Regional College celebrated Cluster Feast Day where each individual Cluster had a mass, allocated stalls for lunch before hearing from a special guest speaker and then competing in Cluster games for point that go towards the O'Riley Shield.

The Bradman Cluster was honoured to have Father Dishon lead our service and the tutor leaders got to light a Home Group candle, whilst listening to the talented Geraldine sing. We enjoyed delicious wraps cooked for us by staff and students. We also got a very interesting and admirable talk from Maria Vamvakinou, who is a member of parliament and was an esteemed guest at our College. The Cluster games at the end were as fired up and exciting as usual with all the Clusters giving it their all, to earn point in a number of games and challenges such as eating a jam donut as quickly as possible. Students were in Home Group teams and whilst representatives went up to participate, it was our job to support and motivate them as much as possible.

Although it rained a majority of the day, which one would think would dampen the mood, but instead it brought everyone together which in my books counts as a success. The year 12's have learned valuable lessons from their guest speakers which they will hopefully incorporate during their final year at the College, as for the year 11's they got to experience firsthand that we are a very diverse school and hopefully will branch out further in the year now that they're more familiar with their own and fellow clusters.

Megan Debono

Year 12 Bradman Cluster Leader