Clontarf Academy

It’s been a very busy last couple of weeks in the St Patrick’s Academy. As the year winds down, it’s always a blessing to have time to reflect on the achievements of our boys and our annual awards night is the perfect platform to celebrate these achievements. We celebrated with family, friends, college staff and Clontarf partners in what was a memorable night. Our boys have raised the bar again this year. It was so special seeing so many of our boys (half of our cohort) get up to receive 90 per cent or above attendance certificates for the year. 

School attendance is at the heart of all things we do in Clontarf, and we again had solid numbers over the year. Tahj Sperling taking out our Attendance Award with 96 per cent, a huge effort form Tahj. The response from teachers for our academic award was testament to the care and effort they put into our boys in the classroom. Greg Bush was a popular winner, his efforts this year have been tremendous, and the results are showing for Bushy.

Sport is the main carrot for a lot of our boys to engage in our program. Celebrating not only achievement in sport but playing with the right spirit is what we love to see. Clifford Ogilvie took out our Top Trainer Award for his efforts at getting to the most morning trainings and demonstrating a willingness to have a go, even when outside his comfort zone. Requan Taylor was the winner of or Coaches Award, not only does Requan perform to a high standard, but he is also constantly trying to bring others into the game whether it be at a carnival or at training. Requan is a true team player.

Employment is the end goal for our lads with a large focus on employment through out the year with a range of activities aimed at preparing our boys for life after school. The employment journey can start earlier for some, and this was certainly the case with our winner of the Employment Award, Luke Atkinson. Luke engaged in all our employment related activities, including the Road to 120 programs. Luke was also very proactive in acquiring part time work with Bunnings.

The Respect and Integrity Award went to Riley-Connor McCaw for his efforts in 2024. Riley has always been a giver to the program in our short time at St. Patricks and demonstrated integrity and respect consistently, showing leadership for the rest of our boys.

The Clontarf Spirit Awards are for those that demonstrate consistently across the year what being a good bloke is all about. Both of our winners have been immense in their leadership and application. Not only trying to better themselves, but always looking at how thewy can improve the whole group. Congratulations to Brndon Triangolo and Dan Rivas. While we celebrated our winners on the night, all our boys deserve congratulations for the year they have had. After the awards we celebrated with a beautiful meal prepared by Nyarth and the team. Thanks to all those who came along on the night as well as those who have supported the boys across 2024.

The celebrations continued with Locky Thurling joining a group of Year 12 graduates from across Clontarf Academies in Bairnsdale, Warrnambool and Swan Hill for a trip to Darwin. It's Clontarf tradition for our Year 12 graduates to go on an interstate end of year trip to celebrate the achievement of graduating from Year 12. For me personally, it was great to be able to take these lads up to my old stomping ground of the Top End to show the boys around. After an early morning arrival, we visited one of our partners in Darwin Port Authority. We were in for a treat when taken aboard the cruise ship ‘Westerdam’ for a guided tour and an amazing lunch. This was an eye opener for a lot of our lads with the sheer scale of the ship and the crew required to run it bigger than anything we had seen before. We then spent some time at Crab Claw Island resort on Bynoe Harbour before exploring the waterfalls and swimming holes of Litchfield National Park. Other highlights of the trip were the Yellow Waters dawn cruise, the Jumping Crocs Cruise, the many rock art sites of Kakadu National Park, Parap markets, local footy and some cracking storms.

Upon our return form Darwin we took our Years 7-9's out for some bowling and golf as a thank you for the year. It was great to see the lads brimming with excitement at getting through another year of school. Will James was the quiet achiever taking out the bowling with a triple digit score while the golf was a bit harder to find a winner with all of Sloan Pring-Spark, Preston Torpey and Sonni Te Moananui being the standouts. 

We have also had some visiting academies from the NT swing past for some interaction over the last fortnight. It was great hosting these guys and great seeing some familiar faces from the recent State of Origin Carnival. Interaction with other academies is important for our boys, giving them the opportunity to strengthen ties with peers from all over Australia. It's important they realise they are part of a bigger picture.

Our Friday Raffles and Deadly box draws have continued with Nick Turner and Requan Taylor taking out our recent Friday Raffles and our final Deadly Box for 2024 going to Dez Sambono who has returned to St Patrick’s College with a clear desire to succeed.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas and we look forward to a bigger and better 2025!