Dear Parents & Friends,

With the cooler temperatures comes the decrease in the fly population and the continuation of our camp season. Year 8’s successfully completed their Adventure in the West Macs which included canoeing, mountain bike riding and bush walking.

Two groups of Year 7’s were out this week at Wallaby Gap with the final two groups out Monday next week. Our Outdoor Education program is such an important part of every young person’s development, helping them to build resilience, collaboration and character. The progression in the length of the experiential learning is specifically designed for each year level filled with activities that can’t be replicated in a classroom. Thanks to our Head of Outdoor Education, Emma Shearer for the immense amount of planning, organising and support she puts into each of the programs.

The Year 12 Creative Arts classes had a successful trip to Melbourne over the long weekend which included a variety of artistic and sporting activities. Thanks to Lilli Morgan and Joey Klarenbeek for organising and supervising this amazing opportunity for our students.

Our Food Festival was well attended and supported by our music department with live entertainment. Thanks to Lisa-Marie Burgoyne and all our other amazing staff for the planning, implementation and support of the event, and Ed Evans for organising the music side of the event. It was a beautiful night and well attended by many people in our community.

Our boarders participated in the Mother’s Day Classic run to the Telegraph Station last week. Thank you to the staff who sponsored each of the students’ $30 entry fee.

Last Friday, our Winter Carnival was held across five venues around town. The college grounds hosted Oztag, 3 x 3 basketball, badminton & the engineering challenge where they built catapults for tennis balls. The Telegraph Station was the perfect venue for the mountain bike competition, soccer was at Ross Park, netball was at the Pat Gallagher Stadium and lawn bowls at the Golf Club. A huge thank you to the PE staff, Riley Simpson, McKealy Tiller, Richard Worrall and Penny Reid led by Jake Akmens for the setting up, preparation of the event and the packing away. As well as all of the convenors at each of the events and the students, Issy Treloar, Marc Tidy-Quigg and Nellie Crellin who also helped prepare the grounds. Overall House results will be announced at the assembly next week.

Two-thirds of the Year 10 cohort are out on Work Experience this week. We are very appreciative of the employers who embrace our program and enable our students to gain first-hand experience in different careers. This week often gives students some direction into choosing subjects for next year and future career pathways. For some students, it eliminates some possible careers from the list. Either way, it is a chance to experience a possible career and build some important skills for the future.

The highlight this week was the presentations by Susan McLean to staff, students and families. Her empowering sessions are designed to prevent and deal with cyberbullying, exposure to damaging online content, support mental health and safe screen habits and most importantly, build trust and communication between kids and parents.

On Wednesday, the Boarding House organised a Big Breakfast for the visiting Alice Springs School of the Air students. Our Director of Boarding, Kris Wheeler provided a warm welcome and a tour of our facilities to this eager cohort.

Finally, on Friday we had a Uniform Free Day and food stalls in support of The Smith Family. It was a rewarding experience to support a charity that helps so many families.

Next week we celebrate Reconciliation Week and will be having a special assembly on Wednesday. It’s also Year 9 immunisations so if you haven’t returned the signed consent and want your young person to participate, please do so quickly.

Kind regards,

Leslie Tilbrook

Principal

Assembly - McKay & Rolland

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