House Update
Blackwood
Over the past year, Blackwood has experienced plenty of success, with the Blackwood Knights dominating the swimming carnival, house debating competition and the first Chorals since 2019! And these are just a small number of our successes as a house, all of which ultimately led to the most exciting prize, the house cup!
However, we do not measure Blackwood’s successes on our trophies, and while we have earned many this year, our real success has been our ability to foster connections within the house. We have been successful because we have united as a house, and have fostered a family, which we, your House Captains for 2023, are so proud to be a part of. Sure, Blackwood may be the “winning” house, and that does come down to our hard work and dedication in all events across the school year, but what we are most proud of, and what really we attribute to our house’s ability to prosper, is the spirit of the Blackwood family. Blackwood is a welcoming house which offers all students the chance to try new things, have fun and get to know others. Blackwood has allowed us to create friendships with students of all year levels, and the supportive nature of the house has allowed us to explore a variety of interests. In the coming year, we encourage all students to get involved in everything that you can. Coming from two captains who get involved in a lot (and I mean A LOT) of events, we are being honest when we tell you that sometimes things you enjoy most are the things you would have never expected. So don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, we will be here to cheer you on!
The 2022 swimming carnival victory marked Blackwood’s trifecta, which was due to the dedication of each and every member of our house, with involvement in everything from costumes, to volunteering down by the pool, organising, cheering and of course, the amazing swimmers! It was an awesome day for all and we are so proud of you all for putting yourself out there and giving it a go, because, at the end of the day, that is really what it is all about. A special thank you to Sophie Parnham, the 2022 Sports Captain. Our first uninterrupted, face to face school year allowed most students within our house to experience Chorals for the very first time and what a fantastic occasion that was. The entire house belted some ‘Imagine Dragons’ with ‘Believer’ with our other performances including: John Wong’s fantastic small choir performing Billie Eilish’s ‘Lovely’, his solo piano piece and Tayisha’s phenomenal vocal solo. Every member of the house performed extraordinarily, regardless of the role they played, and we are so excited to the what we can do in 2023! A special thank you to 2022 Chorals Captain, John Wong for his leadership of the house. Finally, A huge thank you to every member of the Blackwood House, everyone’s contribution in every school event, whether it is big or small, is what drives our house higher and higher each year, and we hope all of you are as proud of this house as we are. We can’t wait to make more memories together in the coming year!
As we move into 2023, we bid farewell to our previous leaders and welcome some new faces. Including, the 2023 House Captains - Aryius and Sophie (us!), Vice House Captains - Harguan (Year 11) and Vinh (Year 10), SRC’s - Anjola (Year 12), Rama (Year 11) and Diya (Year 10), as well as our Domain Captains, Ganika (Wellbeing), Izan (Chorals), Emina (Initiatives) and Tvisha (Sport). All of Blackwood’s leadership team are super excited to work with our house next year and are so excited to maintain and develop Blackwood’s welcoming and positive nature. Blackwood is our family and we welcome our new members from years 9, 10 and 11 for 2023. We can’t wait to get to know you all and aim to make Blackwood a family for you, in the same way it is for us. So yes, while we are the “winning house”, our wins are simply a byproduct of our house spirit, which is something we aim to pass down in the future of Blackwood. We are looking forward to another great year for Blackwood and we wish everyone a safe and Happy Holidays! Don’t overwork yourselves, you deserve this break, so enjoy it! The Blackwood family will be here for you when we are back! Until then, GO BLACKWOOD! :)
Aryius and Sophie
2023 Blackwood House Captains <3
Hello Cottrell!
It’s your 2023 House Captains here, Nathan and Carin, who alongside our 2023 cottrell students leaders are very excited to see what we Cottrell is ready to achieve next year! We are fully committed to unlocking Cottrell’s full potential.
Our goal this year is to change Cottrell’s reputation and reignite our house’s fire so that every Cottrellian can confidently say they are proud of being in Cottrell.
The team will endeavour to work towards this goal with full commitment while also remembering to also have plenty fun!
Introducing our 2023 dream team….
Sports Captain - Rudra Patel
Wellbeing Captain - Ashlee Padilla
Chorals Captain - Finlay Maltby
Initiatives Captain - Sudha Dasari
Yr 11 Vice - Lilliana Carroll
Yr 10 Vice - Chinwe Ofoedu
Yr 12 SRC - Andrea Rose Thomas
Yr 11 SRC - Sofia Selimi
Yr 10 SRC - Rithvik Yadav
On that note, we would like to give a big thank you to our previous leaders for their commitment to Cottrell this year! You all have been fantastic role models for our current team to look up to.
We would also like to thank Ms Roberts and Mr Juricevich for their time as Cottrell Heads of House, particularly Ms Roberts who has been so for multiple years! Cottrell will never be the same without you both.
We welcome with open arms our new Wellbeing Coordinator Ms Klein and our new Engagement Coordinator Ms Guastella, who we are extremely grateful and excited to have beside us as we strive for the cup. We would also like to extend a warm welcome to the new teachers in Cottrell. Welcome to the best house :D
Have a great holiday and be ready to smash out 2023!
Nathan & Carin, C8
Rothwell
What's good Rothwellians!
It’s GiaLuan, one of your 2023 House Captains. Term 4 started off with a bang - Presentation Night. It’s safe to say that Presentation Night was something that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Only the just graduated Yr 12s have experienced it back when they were in Yr 9 but it was truly incredible and joyous to see the whole school come together as one to sing the medley and enjoy every single second of the night.
Unfortunately, that was also the day where we infamously heard for the 500th time: "And 2nd place goes to...[the mighty yellow griffins] Rothwell", and for the 500th time, not get to truly celebrate without 1st place screaming at their triumph😭. Don't get me wrong, 2nd place is still insane but let's be honest, our long-awaited time to celebrate is DUE due. On a positive note, this 2nd-place streak has undoubtedly motivated us Rothwellians to all contribute and put all our efforts into the house competition program.
This has already been seen in our Pictionary event and mini-home group competition where we saw everyone participate in many minigames in an attempt to win pizza for their home group. It's incredible to see all of youse still got the drive to win and I have no doubt this fun and energy will carry on into next year. Although there haven't been many events to participate in the house cup yet (don't forget that form family!), as of writing this, our middle years debating team has made it into the finals (Dub Counter: 1) to go up against Blackwood. There's no doubt they will do their best and I'm 100% sure they will make us proud.
Not long after that, the Rothwell leadership team participated in Student Leadership day and we are ready as ever to show that Rothwell is the best of all houses (2022 Leadership Team, we're gonna finish what you started💪). By the way, we also came 1st in an activity on that day 🤫(Dub Counter: 2) so let's keep the dubs rolling. Here is the list of the 2023 Rothwell leadership team if you don't remember who we are!
House Captain - GiaLuan Joaquin Tchen
House Captain - Manya Arya
Sports Captain - Maeve Coloma
Wellbeing Captain - Agrima Ghosh
Chorals Captain - Alonso Icaro
Initiatives Captain - Siddharth (Sid) Anand
Yr 11 Vice - Anjali Bijukumar
Yr 10 Vice - Zara Matyana
Yr 12 SRC - Devika Sanjeev
Yr 11 SRC - Zahara Nazir
Yr 10 SRC - Jayesh Mohan
Remember Rothwellians, if you have any concerns, need anything from us or want to suggest anything, feel free to come to any of us! We are all happy and here to help make 2023 the best Rothwell year so far! Not only do you have us, but you also have Ms Carroll - our Wellbeing Coordinator, and Mr Kelly - our Engagement Coordinator to support you next year! We welcome Mr Kelly as an official Rothwellian SIUUU! Let's hear what our coordinators have to say:
Mr Kelly:
Ms Carroll:
On this note, we would also like to thank Ms Sordello with all our hearts for her efforts to make Rothwell in 2022 an extraordinary year, considering this was the first lockdown-free year since Covid happened. Words will not show how much you have done this year but all the success and fun will not have happened without your passionate contributions. All of Rothwell congratulates you and wishes you all the best in being the new Wellbeing Coordinator of Senior School next year! Once a Rothwellian, always a Rothwellian 💪!
Finally, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a good break! Don't get too bent up just doing holiday homework! Actually take the time to rest because every single one of you deserves it after this long, hard year. If you're even gonna do any work, learn the House Chant (you know why😉)! Catch up with sleep too because I know many of us including me have averaged 4 hours of sleep keeping up with the World Cup😃. MON THE SOCCEROOS!!! (representing us in Rothwell colours too 👀)
Yours truly,
GiaLuan Joaquin Tchen (R4), Rothwell House Captain
Kororoit
HEY KOROROIT! It’s Ishaan and Jewo, your 2023 House Captains, and together with the rest of our awesome leadership team, we can’t wait to lead our house next year! Pre-covid, Kororoit was a competitive, enthusiastic and sometimes cocky house (hence the ‘#HUMBLE’ in our house area), that was really like a family. So together, we plan to bring back these aspects of Kororoit, and the camaraderie that comes with participating and encouraging your peers.
Our team for next year is made up of…
House Captains - Ishaan Arora & Jewoseydi Barry
Sports Captain - Kean Vixayvong
Chorals Captain - Joey Citro
Initiatives Captain - Tanisha Bhardwaj
Wellbeing Captain - Ruthvika Nuthakki
Yr 11 Vice - Metheshr Ravichandar Nair
Yr 10 Vice - Dinda Widya Murti
Yr 12 SRC - Shemaya Fernando
Yr 11 SRC - Trisha Vinesh Vijayan
Yr 10 SRC - Bea Payla
At our Leadership Day this term, we discussed the ‘why’ of the house program and what our goals were, and we ultimately came up with the fact that we wanted to have no regrets, because nothing is worse than looking back and knowing you could’ve done more to achieve a goal. 2023 is going to be an amazing year, and with the help of our Engagement Coordinator Mr. Duckworth and Wellbeing Coordinator Ms. Stathopoulos, we will return to our former glory and most importantly, go into every house event with our best foot forward!
Your House Captains,
Jewoseydi Barry (K5) & Ishaan Arora (K1)