Cocurricular

We are now well underway in 2023! Our Year Nine students will spend their weekend packing their bags in preparation for camp and will depart bright and early Monday morning. This week our Year Ten families received further correspondence about either their Leeuwin Voyage or their Adventure Works – Warren Blackwood rafting expedition in Augusta. I know that many of the students I have spoken to are both excited and a little nervous about these camps. I look forward to hearing all the stories when students return.

Matthew Edwards (Year Twelve, Mokare) has continued his relationship with the Leeuwin and has sailed on several voyages, a testament to the opportunities that exist for our students through our partnership with the Leeuwin, please see Matthew’s recollections below.

STS Leeuwin II

I didn’t go on the STS Leeuwin at the beginning of Year Eleven and I really wanted to give it a go, so I decided to apply for one of the CBH sponsorships available to students each year. I was lucky to be awarded the sponsorship and was booked on a voyage sailing from Exmouth in July 2022. Exmouth is an amazing place to be in July, compared to the freezing weather in Albany, we left the wharf in 35 degrees and with calm seas. For those of you who haven’t been to Exmouth, it has a landscape like nothing you can find in southern WA, there is everything from crystal clear turquoise water to rugged red dirt cliffs but what really stuck with me was the wildlife. The wildlife we saw will stick in my memory forever, there were countless whales, dolphins, turtles, and even dugong, the sea life you see on the Leeuwin will be like nothing you have ever seen before. There are many challenges that come with sailing on the Leeuwin, the biggest of these I believe I learning to climb the rigging. At 33 metres tall its quite the climb and for some people can be a bit scary but with a bit of persistence it can easily be accomplished, and the view is something to remember. When you are sailing on the Leeuwin, you get to try various jobs, such as helping in the galley, furling, and unfurling sails, being on the watch, and taking the helm. When you do these tasks successfully you can be given a ranking which then opens opportunities for being asked to come back on future voyages as volunteer crew. Volunteering on Leeuwin is an amazing experience that I would recommend to everyone if given the opportunity.

I kept in touch with STS Leeuwin and in December 2022 I sailed from Fremantle as Cook’s Mate. On this voyage the trainee crew was Murdoch University oceanography students. The Head of Oceanography was leading their group and I learned so much about the marine environment of the area. It was a bit strange overseeing people that were a lot older than me, but I felt confident after the training I received from Leeuwin on our crew training days before the trainees arrived. This is just one example of the many amazing opportunities Leeuwin can provide to people who are interested in marine biology or ecology.

Straight after my first crew voyage, I was booked for another. We sailed from Busselton in mid-January, bound for Albany. The ship looked impressive tied up alongside the historic Busselton Jetty. I was Bosun’s Mate for this trip. We planned for the strong winds that were forecast when we rounded Cape Leeuwin. We sailed from Busselton and headed South while we put the trainees through their training sessions for the first couple of days. I took the midnight to 4.00am watch and was grateful for my warm bunk after freezing on deck each night. The weather gradually picked up as we sailed until we found ourselves in 40 knot winds, hurtling down the coast. When I was up in the rigging, sometimes it felt like we were leaning so far over that I could reach out and touch the water. We would ride up the face of a wave and down the other side, only to have the next one crash over the bow. It was very challenging, and I have never been in sea conditions like it. I had to overcome my fears, trust in my crew members, and do my job well. I never felt unsafe as I knew that the ship could handle the conditions and that the crew was experienced and wouldn’t put anyone at risk. With the wind behind us, we sailed into Albany a day early and tied up at the Albany Town Jetty as many of you would have seen.

The STS Leeuwin has taught me so many new skills and each voyage teaches me something new. It has given me a direction for the future and opened opportunities such as cadetships and internships in the maritime industry. Voyages can count towards your WACE and the maritime industry highly values the seagoing experience gained on the STS Leeuwin. I am so grateful for the experiences and opportunities I’ve had, and I definitely recommend that GSG students challenge themselves to go on a voyage, it is the best thing I have ever done. I’m sure you’re curious to find out what’s opportunities Leeuwin can give you so feel free to come and have a chat.

Academic Support

The Academic Support schedule has been released and is available on MyGSG and below. Academic Support forms part of our Cocurricular offerings and allows students the opportunity to work with teachers and peers in a range of subject areas. Students get the most out of Academic Support when they arrive with questions to be helped with, complete homework or other tasks in collaboration with their peers and hear other subject specialist explain concepts in a new or different way. I encourage all families to discuss Academic Support and how it might fit into your family's routine. A reminder that there is a late bus that departs at 4.45pm (this does have a small additional fee), to help make accessing Academic Support easier for students.  The bus leaves GSG and drops students in town at the Scout Hall opposite PCYC.

Mr Ian Robson | Head of Cocurricular