Our Community
20 Years of Gappies
Back row: Max Saveker, Beth Perry, Meg Wallace, Cristie Potter, Lilly Von Leiven, Anna Niehaus
Centre row: Peter Wood, Lixin Kang, Karoline Obereder, Tolga Ozcan, Jack Best, Edgar Dawkins
Seated: Pirmin Gluck, Jenny Wood, Becky Smith, Tim Whelan, Adele Whelan, Ruth Whelan, Sebastian Whelan
Floor: Louis Romeu
Each year we are fortunate to welcome a group of young people from around the world on a gap year placement, they are affectionately known as ‘our Gappies’.
Whilst here, they live at Robey House and volunteer their time helping in various areas of the school assisting on outdoor education trips, excursions, in classroom support, native speaking in language classes and enriching our co-curricular sport and music programs with their individual talents.
The current group who are with us in 2018/19 represent the 20th year of the gap program at Friends’ and we have hosted over 100 people in the program over these 20 years. Some of our Gappies come to us from other Quaker schools, some through volunteer programs and others through family or personal connections.
Many of our Gappies keep in contact long after they leave and from time to time visit when they are in our part of the world. One week in February, we had 6 past Gappies from three cohorts all in Hobart at the same time and we embraced this opportunity to have an informal reunion dinner with them, our current group and some staff.
We were joined by Anna Niehaus from Germany and Edgar Dawkins from England who met during their gap placement at Friends’ in 2005/06 and have the honour of being known as having the first gappie wedding! They now reside in Germany and recently became parents having welcomed their daughter Freda last year.
From our group in 2011/12, Meg Wallace from Scotland was in Tasmania holidaying and attending a wedding and by coincidence, Pirmin Gluck from Germany was also travelling through Australia and was able to join us.
Beth Perry from England took the opportunity to visit with some family and friends while being here for a wedding and also here from the 2015/16 group is Tolga Ozcan from Germany. Tolga has chosen to pursue a career as a language teacher and is spending Term 1 assisting in the language faculty gaining some valuable experience before returning to Germany to continue with his university studies.
We are looking forward to welcoming some other past Gappies this year as their journeys bring them to Tasmania as well as hearing updates from others.
Gappies come into our school community and make strong connections during their time with us, the recent visit from these six was a wonderful chance for them to connect with our current group as well as reconnecting with staff and to reflect on their experiences and memories.
High School Chess Win
Congratulations to the Friends’ Chess team for coming second in the first Interschool Championship tournament held on Friday 15 March in The Farrall Centre. The team work was excellent and all played well.
The High School team included Raphael Bartlett, Connor Johnson, Jun Tan, Alex Rackham, Nicholas Einoder and Ho Hang Wong. Cameron Cooper from Year 11 at Clemes, also participated and was in third place overall in the secondary division.
Connor Johnson received a medal for the most improved player. Five members of the team were in the top 10 players on the day.
Year 5 Breakfast
Fresh pikelets, fruit, muffins and other breakfast treats were on the menu when Year 5 students shared a delightful time together, making new friends and learning about others in Friends’ community.
As we begin each year our concern is not only with the academic learning of each student but also with a focus to ensure that students, both existing and new, are supported socially and emotionally in the classroom and playground. In support of the IB Mission statement which aims to develop learners who understand other people, Morris classroom programs begin the year with a focus on building a culture of care and respect amongst the students. The Year 5 cohort, including 25 new students, took time out of their day on Friday the 22 February to share breakfast together. Members of the Morris community joined the students, who brought from home breakfast treats to start the day. Everyone enjoyed the time to chat and get to know each other.
Year 5 students reflected on this day and provided insight into the importance of sharing a meal and making friends.
“It made me realise I was the same as many of the other children, I found out that we liked a lot of the same types of things” Jacob Mason
“I met and got to know more people and that made me feel more included” Harriett Scott
“I made a new friend on that day and I got to talk to teachers, like Wendy Crow, that I hadn’t met before, it was a great day” Tom Taranaki
“ I liked it when others offered their food around and everyone was so polite” Fredi O’Donoghue
“ I felt very welcomed when everyone was talking and sharing together” Pradipta Dhungana
“People shared what they did in the holidays and outside of school so we got to know everyone better” Klara Schmitt
‘As a learning community, we are concerned for the academic, cultural, physical, social, emotional and spiritual development of each person in our care’
Curious George
Sitting quietly practising his trade, one can only hear a soft clicking sound. With impressive finger dexterity, a cool demeanour and remarkable patience, you could be forgiven for thinking we were describing an accomplished lock picker. However, this is the world of thirteen-year-old (Friends’ student) George Pelham, one of Tassie’s top speedcubers.
Coming off the back of the Australian Nationals, George is ranked within the top 20 cubers in the country. His fingers spin at lightning speed, solving the classic Rubik’s Cube in less than 10 seconds. “There are heaps of different cubes around now, but this one’s my favourite,” grins George. “My best time so far is nine seconds flat.”
To read this delightful story in full – written by Friends’ School parent Amanda Mackinnon – please visit her Tasmanian Tuxedo blog. (Photo courtesy of Tasmanian Tuxedo).
To read more about the recent Rubik’s Cube event, hosted at The Friends’ School, please visit the recent Mercury Newspaper article.
What is Community?
Although our Whole of School Gathering was cancelled due to poor weather, we thought that we’d share some thoughts from some School members about what community means to them:
‘Community is feeling supported, cared for and included by those around you.’ - Emily
"In your community be the reason someone smiles today." - Colette
"To be in community is to come to work with like-minded others, to share in our strengths and our gifts, with a clear purpose, an open mind and an open heart. We come together, seeking to make a positive difference for a common good in working with friends." -Karina
“Community - for me - is about belonging.
It’s about trust. It is about being accepted, and in a spontaneous, natural way, feeling accepting of all sorts of others. Community - is about sensing the strength that comes from sharing personalities and energies, in the pursuit of a
common good. Most often and very importantly, there is a silent partner in Community - Place.
Most often, Place is the ground from which, and in which, the tree of Community grows.” - Wilbur
"Not only should we care about the community, we should care about and respect each other. Through care and respect, we build belonging and healthy relationships in our community."
- Bill
Farewell and Thank You to Peter Thompson
At the end of 2018 we said farewell to a long standing member of the Music Staff, guitar tutor Peter Thompson. Peter retired from instrumental teaching having worked at the School for over 40 years!
During Peter’s time at Friends’ he tutored countless students, and generously supported classroom music staff with his superb knowledge, and excellent instrumental and aural skills. Peter also performed in a number of school events, highlights of which have included a tutor concert where sang and performed on two steel blues guitars and his involvement in the Hoe Down and Barn Dance Bands where he made a gregarious contribution.
We thank Peter for so generously sharing his talents during the many years he worked at the School.