The Clontarf Academy
Clontarf News
Term 3 has been action packed in the Clontarf world with 2 camps already completed, Health Checks commencing, trainings in full swing and a number of other activities that are hitting all of our pillars. Even through the coldest time of the year we can report that 60% of the boys have equalled or improved their attendance at school during Term 3. Our motto of 'every day' seems to be working as 6 boys are sitting on 100% this term
Trainings: Our Tuesday trainings have continued with the games theme, including cricket, basketball, soccer and touch footy. The highlight being a very slippery and frosty game of touch out on the Western Fields, where the boys struggled to stay upright and hold on to the ball. On Fridays we have ventured over to the PCYC for an introductory boxing unit which we have been getting big numbers to.
Bunnings Visit: Most of the senior boys were good enough to take time out of their afternoon during week 1 of the term to participate in an employment visit to our local Bunnings in Shellharbour (Albion Park Rail). The boys showed initiative by asking lots of questions to the various staff in a range of departments. They could not believe there were so many different jobs under the one roof.
Health Session: In week 3 we were lucky enough to be visited by our Police Youth Liaison Officer Scott Burgess for a chat with the boys. The session started off as a risk taking behaviour session but was soon transformed into a question/answer session which was great. The boys learnt about the positives and negatives of being a police officer and got a few burning questions off their chest regarding the law
Health Checks: Health checks are now underway and will continue for the next two Wednesdays. All boys will be going through a 40 minute screen to identify any concerns regarding their physical and mental health
Afternooon Activities: So far this term, afternoon activities have consisted of guitar lessons, which were a little light on numbers, and a preparation game of footy down at Shoalhaven High School
Camps: During week two, Six boys were involved in the “Camp-Non Camp” to Killalea Reserve where they learnt a few camp skills in setting up, cooking and cleaning up. Each one tried their hand at leading a hike. We also practised a few handy knots that are used quite often when camping and enjoyed a good bloke chat around the campfire
Last week 5 boys accompanied me to Sydney for one of the highlights of the Clontarf Calendar, The 'Ross Kelly Cup', an U16 footy carnival against all other NSW academies. Our boys teamed up with Kanahooka to win one game out of the three. We lost one game by 2 points and were right in the game against Endeavour Sports High until they iced it with a length of the field intercept against the play. During the camp, the boys also visited a fire station, Taronga zoo and a Virtual Reality game centre
Coming up this term: During the next month we will continue with our health checks on Wednesdays. If any staff want to join in our training sessions at 7am on Tuesdays and Fridays they are most welcome. We have a spot of fishing planned, get back into the kitchen and will finish week 8 with our Top Attenders Trip to Tumut and the snow.
Clontarf Good Bloke of the week:
Jake Moore Year 7: Jake has levelled up his involvement in Clontarf activities and is starting to become a real leader amongst the Year sevens. He is always polite, helps out when he can and his attendance is currently at 92%.
