Head of Junior School 

This fortnight at the Junior School has been an industrious one. Our Year 6 classes have been making rockets in Science; our Mini Vinnies Conference had a sleepover at school; at recess and lunchtimes the SRC ran 3 on 3 basketball games in all Years, including staff; our Cross Country Team competed at both JSSATIS and Symmons Plains; regular school sports have continued on weekends and we all wore crazy shorts, beanies or crazy socks for Speak Up Stay Chatty Day. We capped off this busy two weeks with Mary Rice Day today!

International Mud Day

International Mud Day came one day early for St Virgil's and St Mary's College, with Kindergarten students taking part in a muddy spectacular on Wednesday 28 June at Austins Ferry.

With the light rain overnight, conditions were perfect for mud play, to learn about different forms of play across the world, and to build connections with nature and each other.

Year 8 students were also there to support these bright young minds and to lend a hand when it was time to clean off.

Mary Rice Day

Today we had our annual Mary Rice Day. This is a wonderful day of celebration as an Edmund Rice School and for the boys to recognise how fortunate we are. It is also a reminder of how important it is to think of those in our worldwide Edmund Rice community who are not as fortunate, particularly the children in the Edmund Rice Centre in Nairobi.

Our Year 3 to 6 boys travelled out to the Senior campus this morning for Mass, followed by a whole college African style luncheon which was prepared by staff and parent volunteers. Our Prep and Year 1s joined us for lunch and two laps of the Walkathon. After lunch the Year 3 to 6 boys participated in the annual Walkathon, the aim of which is to complete as, any laps as possible. 

Parents have been asked to donate through the Qkr! app for the day. All proceeds are directly donated to the Edmund Rice Centre, a school for the disabled children in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Cash donations can also still be accepted at the Junior School office.

Mary Rice Soccer Year 5/6 Match

As has become tradition, our Year 6 boys play in a round robin soccer game for the Mary Rice Soccer Cup. The talented boys in Hessian dominated each of their matches winning all three of their games. They will receive their trophy at the conclusion of the senior game on Friday’s Mary Rice Day. Congratulations Hessian. In 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were Doyle, Dwyer and Joyce respectively.

Mid-Year Assembly

This week we gathered as a Junior School community to celebrate the achievements of the boys who have been working hard and exemplifying our Virgilian Way values in our classrooms. We were also spoilt by some spectacular band performances by our Year 6 and Year 5 students. The choir were also outstanding in their performance. To cap it all off, I believe the highlight for me was our whole school singing of ‘Try Everything’. Thank you, to our very talented music staff, Mr Jack Machin, Mrs Jill Norton, and our team of music tutors who have taught, mentored and tutored our boys so well. Thank you to all the family members who came along to show support for your son/s as well.

House Point Winners

At the Mid-Year Assembly, we announced the winners of the Semester One House Point competition. The winning house was Joyce House on 43 points, followed by Hessian on 32 points, Doyle on 29 points and in 4th place was Dwyer House on 26 points. They will be rewarded with a pizza party next Thursday.

We also awarded the winning class for daily fitness. I am pleased to announce that the winning class was 4R. They have been booked for a Ninja Warrior excursion next week!

SRC Initiative: 3 on 3 Soccer

The SRC boys led an initiative last week with 3 on 3 basketball games at recess and lunchtimes. Boys in all classes had signed up with their teams of 3 and took to the courts to compete against each other, with Year 6 SRC boys umpiring. 

The games that attracted the most interest was the staff versus staff game, with much chanting on the sidelines. Mrs Read, Miss Lack, Mr Beard and Mrs McCullagh (aka, the oldies) took on the confident and much fancied young guns: Mr Sanders, Mr Hine, Mr Ditton and Mr Arkley. Experience paid out as the ‘oldies’ won the day with a score margin of 6-2. 

All in all it was a great initiative with a lot of team spirit.

Mini Vinnies Sleep In

On Thursday 22 June, 29 of our Junior School Mini Vinnies Conference students were involved in our 'Sleep In.'  This event is to raise awareness of, and in solidarity with, people who experience homelessness.  

Throughout the day students cooked chocolate chip muffins to give to Loui's Van and cooked soup for dinner. In the afternoon we had a visit from Elle from Vinnies who brought Loui's Van to show us. We learned about the support Loui's Van provides and how our donations help them to help the most vulnerable in our community. We learned about homelessness statistics for Tasmania, including that 12-24 year olds are the largest group of homeless people in Tasmania, and that 'homelessness' includes not only people sleeping on the streets but also people who live in cars, who 'couch surf', people in supported accommodation like Bethlehem House, and who live in severely crowded dwellings. We also had lots of fun playing Spotlight and watching the football! We ate soup and sandwiches for dinner, because that is what Loui's Van serves out in the community. At bedtime, we experienced the discomfort of sleeping on the floor.  It was not easy to get to sleep and we reflected on what it might be like to have to be uncomfortable ant to not be able to sleep well every night, and how that might impact school or employment.  

I offer my congratulations to the boys for their thoughtful participation in all that we did during our Sleep In. A huge thank you to Mrs Messer and Miss King who stayed over at school with us; to all the other staff who helped in different ways, from supervising to lending their toaster or Kayo account; and to the parents who gave up their time to help with supervision, cooking and cleaning up - Sharni Rickards, Nathan Vagg, Kirk Devereaux, Maria Bond and Natalie Booth. I cannot run these events without your support.  Thank you!

- Miss Amelia Daun

Junior School Vinnies Winter Appeal

We have had a huge response to our Winter Appeal. Families went out of their way to purchase new blankets and sleeping bags, as well as many donations of both new and good quality second-hand items. Our Mini Vinnies Conference counted every tin of beans, beanie and bar of soap to determine which House had the most donations. We had a total of 558 items donated! The House Points have been awarded with extra points for clothing, hygiene items and blankets or sleeping bags:

1st - Hessian at 1094 points

2nd - Doyle at 790 points

3rd - Joyce at 750 points

4th - Dwyer at 339 points

Thank you to our Junior School families for your compassionate generosity.  

Symmons Plains and JSSATIS Cross Country Results

Congratulations to the following boys and their results in the JSSATIS Cross Country last week.

Year 3: Jack Kilgour (8th), Harry Stanton (17th), Winston Whittle (28th), Rafe Glenn (20th), Max Free (27th), Hugo Helmers (26th), Jaxon Pyke (38th), Panayioti Hiras (23rd). 

Year 4: Lewis Finlay (3rd), Alex Pritchard (19th), Oliver Wagstaff (9th), Hugo Rickards (11th), Liam Hazi 20th), Lochie Johnstone (33rd), Cash Salter (30), Clancy Gillie (29th).

Year 5: Angus Newsham West (5th), Oscar Halton (14th), Liam Holliday (18th), Patrick Moloney (32nd), Tom Brown, Archer Kilgour, Max Marsden (26th)

Year 6: Alex Mizzen (2nd), Finlay Child (10th), Winston Marriner (13th), Ben Pigden, Rhys Pinnington (5th), Xavier Houston (22nd), Euan McLeod (19), Charlie Booth (14th).

Mr Tom Beard accompanied some of our cross country runners to Symmons Plains on Tuesday for the annual All Schools Cross Country event. Conditions were perfect blue skies and a little windy. The boys performed admirably across all age groups. The top results for the day were Archie Argyrolopous coming 13th in the Year 4 event and Alex Mizzen coming in 16th in the Year 6 event. 

Parents and Friends Footy Family Fun Night

At our last P&F meeting it was confirmed that we will be hosting a Footy Family Fun Night in the Junior School Hall on Friday 18 August. On the ‘big screen’ we will be playing the Collingwood vs Brisbane Friday night match. There will be food and fun on the night. More details to come.

Friday Afternoon Activities

We have concluded our Friday afternoon activities for the term. This was a very successful initiative we introduced this year. A big thank you to Mrs Julia Denniss, who is a retired SVC VET Hospitality teacher who volunteered her time to take cooking for the boys on Friday afternoons. They made mouthwatering cinnamon turnovers, biscuits, muffins and more! Mr Beard ventured into the bush each week with a bushwalking group, Mrs Moate took Lawn Bowls, Miss King was involved with Loose Parts play, Ms Abate had boys de-constructing keyboards and other objects, Miss Lack took the 5/6 football boys, we had drama class with Miss Reardon, e-sports with Miss Pugsley, board games with Mrs Young and coding with Mrs Mazengarb. It was a very successful initiative. 

Term 2 Sport

This term we have had many teams take the field in soccer, hockey and water polo, from Kindergarten through to Year 6. Many teams also means many coaches and managers. Thank you to all the parents and members of staff who have volunteered their time to coach or manage one of these teams throughout this term. We cannot run sport without your dedication, time, and effort. Thank you also to Mrs McCullagh who has coordinated the teams, trainings, and rosters.

Water Polo 

Last Friday night was our final game for the season. I am very proud of our team and their achievements for the season. Thank you to Mrs Helena Facer, former students Kye Direen and Krystian Jankowiak for their assistance in coaching and mentoring the boys throughout their season, as well as giving up their Thursdays morning and Friday evenings. We finished the season with our traditional water polo breakfast at McDonalds this morning. It is terrific to see two Old Virgilians giving back to their old school.