The weeks seem to travel very fast once the term is up and running, especially when activities such as year level camps are involved. Our middle years’ camping program at Tintern is a well-structured, sequenced Outdoor Education experience that builds a sound base in Year 7, extends it during Year 8, before culminating in three challenging, but extremely fulfilling, experiences at Year 9.
In the week beginning February 24th our Year 8 and 9 boys headed out on their respective camps. For Year 8, both the boys and girls ventured to Myrtleford where they were based for the week in a campsite called Valley Homestead. Half of their week was a mixture of adventurous activities such as flying foxes, high ropes, mountain bike riding, plus lots more activities that provide all students with an appropriate level of challenge and a lot of fun. The other half of the week has our students venturing out to Mount Buffalo and spending two days and nights hiking around the top of Mount Buffalo. This also included canoeing on Lake Catani, stunning scenery on their hikes and being self-sufficient with food for the two days. It is also a great experience in preparation for their first Year 9 camp the following year.
The first of three camps for Year 9 is our Bushwalk trip down along the Great Ocean Walk. It is 5 days of hiking along stunning walking tracks and being completely self-sufficient for the 5 days. This camp provides all boys with a high level of challenges as they traverse up to 50km over the week whilst carrying everything they need for the week including tent, stove, food, clothing, etc. Despite the physical challenge of this camp, the level of fulfilment at the completion of camp is one that they will remember and draw upon during future challenges for a long time to come. A huge congratulations to all boys who supported each other across the five days.
Our school musical “Beauty and the Beast” begins next week and having seen a sneak preview at our recent whole school assembly, I highly recommend buying tickets to see what will be an amazing show. There are many Middle School boys involved both on stage and behind the scenes, and I continue to reinforce the amazing sense of belonging and connection that our students feel from being part of the school musical. Good luck to all involved in the performances next week.
In our most recent Boys’ Middle School Assembly, our student leaders highlighted to our boys the upcoming International Women’s Day on Sunday 8 March. They gave some incredible and alarming statistics around gender inequity around the world and in our own neighbourhood. They then introduced Mrs Fulton who spoke to the boys around what the day means to her and how the young men of today can help to make a difference to bridging the equity gap between genders. This was then reinforced at our whole school assembly on Friday when we were fortunate to have two alumni return to school to share their stories. Jac Cottee (YG 1994) is an international pilot working for Qantas and Louise Nance (YG 2008) works for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).
Our Year 7s have begun their Big Brother program during their pastoral sessions where Year 11 boys come down for a total of approximately 10 sessions to mentor small groups of Year 7s on topics relevant to the growth and development of boys and teenagers. It is a great way for our boys to connect with the older students and provides them with someone they can potentially talk to on topics they would prefer not to talk to a teacher or their parents about.
Earlier last week our champion swimmers competed at Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre (MSAC) in South Melbourne in the EISM Divisional Championships and our Middle School boys were absolutely fantastic. We had a number of strong individual efforts along with excellent results in a number of relays. Congratulations to all boys who participated so well, and a special congratulations to the boys who have made it through to the next level.
As our swimming season ending, the athletics season has well and truly begun. We currently have three training sessions a week (Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning) for students interested in improving their athletic abilities. This training is under the guidance of four-time Olympian Craig Mottram and his team of elite athletes. If your son is interested but is yet to sign up, please encourage him to do so in preparation for the upcoming House Athletics on Wednesday 15 April.
Next week is the beginning of our Student Progress Conferences (previously known as Parent Teacher Student Conferences) and we look forward to catching up with as many of you as possible at any of the three nights available. It is a great opportunity to hear directly from the teachers about the progress of your boy(s) and continue to build that ever so important network of family, school and student that is essential for the success of any boy.
