Clontarf Academy

It's been an action-packed few weeks for the Clontarf boys. Lathan Carlyle-Marks, Wullaki Holloway, Kiaan Kickett, Marc Tedcastle, Dan Rivas and TJ Wortley were given a great opportunity to show their leadership when they presented to the whole of the Year 8 cohort as part of Year 8 Humanities. The boys reflected on three aspects of Indigenous Culture – Connection to ‘Country’, Art and Traditional Tools.

Each of the boys were outstanding with a sense of pride emanating from each of them when they spoke about their journey and what culture means to them. It is never easy talking in form of a large group, but the boys demonstrated great leadership and gave great personal accounts on each of the topics. We will hopefully have the opportunity to do this again next year as part of the Humanities class.

Clontarf State of Origin

In Week 4 we hosted the Victorian Clontarf State of Origin Squad for a friendly against a combined St Patick’s College side. This was an important hit out for the Clontarf boys with minimal opportunities to play as a team in the lead up to this year’s carnival. It was an exciting game with both sides demonstrating some impressive passages of play in sunny conditions. Footy was the winner on the day. I would like to thank Howard Clark and the St Patrick’s side for the game. I know the timing was tough coming into local footy finals so again, thank you for your support. With the rare opportunity for our State of Origin Squad to be together, we enjoyed some team bonding with a table tennis carnival and team dinner. Good luck to the coaches in selecting the final team and congratulations to those boys who are still in the mix at this stage. Keep your attendance up to ensure you are playing at Vic Park in November!

Phillip Island Camp

In Week 6 we took a group of 19 Year 7-9 students to Phillip Island for a regional camp along with students from Clontarf Academies in Bairnsdale, Warrnambool, Robinvale and Swan Hill. This was a great camp and while the weather didn’t quite deliver, our boys certainly did in spades, engaging in all of the activities on offer. Over four days the boys did indoor Rock Climbing, Fishing, Surfing, Mountain Biking, Ten pin Bowling, Go Karting, Frisbee Golf as well as conducting an Auskick Clinic for the local primary school, morning trainings each day and attending the AFL Legends game at Marvel Stadium. The who attended met attendance benchmarks and their behaviour was outstanding, always showing leadership and respect. These camps are a great way for our boys to strengthen bonds with each other be around peers from across Victoria.

Clontarf partner experiences 

Last week we took a group of 11 boys on a hands-on Civil Construction Excursion with Clontarf partner Fulton Hogan. The boys had a close up look at the machinery used in the industry with Fulton Hogan staff showing the boys the ins and outs of what it takes to use the machinery.

Another Clontarf partner in Woolworths came in on Friday morning to cook breakfast for the boys after their morning training. This was a chance for the staff to get a first-hand look at the program and see the positive impact it is making on the boys' lives. The feed of bacon and egg muffins was a hit!

Our morning trainings have continued to get good numbers with an average of 18 boys attending this term. We are hopeful of increasing that number next term with some warmer weather. We have continued to engage our boys in after school activities with some paint getting laid down on the mural in our projects space. Our boys have also engaged in Laser tag, goal kicking competitions, table tennis comps and weekly quizzes.

I hope everyone gets a chance to put their feet up at some stage over the next few weeks and have a safe holiday.