From the Principal

Thought for the week

“Dear God,

We loosen our grip.

We open our hand.

We are accepting.

In our empty hand we feel the shape of simple eternity.

It nestles there.

We hold in gently.

We are accepting.

Amen”

- Michael Leunig

In a moment of personal reflection early this morning, I came across this untitled prayer I have shared as my thought for the week.  I have realised that recently, I have been living day by day trying to read the daily COVID numbers like tea leaves in the bottom of the cup.  I simply don’t have the information required to make considered and informed decisions. I have been constantly searching for ways to help the community understand what we will do next and found myself becoming frustrated, at times angry and emotionally depleted.  In the moment of reading this small prayer, the answer to help ease my troubled mindset became obvious.  I had to stop spending all my energy trying to second guess all the speculation and turn my focus to what I know would ultimately see the community come through this ‘moment in time’. 

I had to ‘loosen my grip, open my hand and be accepting.’ Accepting that like all things, this situation will pass. My attention should be on being grateful for the wonderful people we have in the Huntingtower community.  I should be celebrating the many moments, experiences and achievements that are occurring each day. We have so much we can be grateful for if we take the time to make this our focus. 

Parents & Friends support our amazing Year 12s

Our Year 12 students are working hard to prepare for the upcoming exams.  They have managed their VCE and continuous rolling lockdowns with maturity and resilience and, in true Huntingtower style, remained stronger together. P&F know that this time of the year under normal circumstances is very difficult, but with lockdown this has made it even harder.  To lift the spirits of the Year 12 students and encourage them to push through and achieve their very best, P &F sent all the Year 12 students fantastic show bags. This is a very generous and thoughtful gesture, and the students were delighted to receive the wonderful surprise. On behalf of the Year 12 cohort, we thank P&F for thinking of the students and bringing a big smile their faces. 

Debating

All five of our DAV debating finalist teams managed to win all of their playoff debates, so they are through to the ‘Octo-Finals’ of the DAV Schools Competition. This is a huge achievement for debaters, as this is the point where all the teams from across the state (well over a thousand teams) have been whittled down to the final 16 undefeated teams in each grade.  Five teams from the same school making it through to the Octo-Finals is almost unheard of, so the students have done a phenomenal job and they’ve proven extremely adaptable to the online environment. Many thanks to all the staff helping with various teams.

Tournament of Minds

This year Huntingtower had six teams participating in Tournament of Minds. It was a very challenging process as the teams moved from preparing for a face-to-face competition to a filmed solution to adapting to create a solution locked down in their various houses. The teams took all these challenges on board, coming up with many varied and creative solutions to not only the problem posed as part of the competition, but the many difficulties that arose throughout the process. All participants should be congratulated on their hard work, positive attitudes, teamwork and creativity.

There were over 220 schools participating throughout Victoria at this year’s online Regional Tournament. Huntingtower was very successful with three wins and two runners up at this level.

Three teams then went on to participate in the State competition. Again, Huntingtower was successful with two teams winning and the third team as runners up. The two winning teams (Secondary Arts and Primary Language Literature) will represent Victoria in the International Competition later in Term 4.

Chess

Our Term 3 chess program has been jam packed with on-campus success and seamless adaption to the online space. During the first week of term our Middle School and Senior School chess teams both won their respective EISM tournaments and thereby qualified for State Finals in October. This is the tenth consecutive year that Huntingtower has enjoyed representation at State Finals. 

Our annual inter-house chess tournament was conducted online again this term with Mather House easily winning the tournament for the second consecutive year. The top student on the day was Rey Ding, who was also crowned Victorian U14 State Champion during the June holidays.

Our weekly specialist coaching sessions with International Master, Robert Jamieson, have also been well attended this term and we look forward to a strong showing at the State Finals.

NAPLAN

Last week the NAPLAN results were released.  Huntingtower was acknowledged in the media for being one of the top performing schools in Victoria.  While it is wonderful to have the efforts of the teachers, students and parents acknowledged, the results don’t come as a surprise.  Huntingtower has a culture where students are encouraged to express their freedom from limitation and to achieve their best through the power and love of God. This belief combined with high quality teaching, a caring and supportive environment and strong parent partnerships ultimately lead to these results.  I remain incredibly proud of all the teachers and students and thank the parents and extended family who have supported the learning during lockdowns.

As we conclude another Term with most of our learning, activities and socialising occurring online, I remain forever grateful.  I am grateful for the resilient, flexible, positive and caring staff, students and parents we are blessed with in our community.  I look forward to seeing you either virtually or on campus next Term. Enjoy the break and please take a moment each day to express your gratitude for all the good things we have. 

We commence Term 4 with regular classes on Monday 4 October. 

Andrew Houghton

Principal