Dear Parents and Guardians,

Tomorrow is the final day of World Languages Week, which has been celebrated at Newington with everything from flamenco to performances of The Iliad, to an ‘escape room’, where puzzles must be solved to get out.  Mr Driver, Mr Quinane and I entered the room as a team and, while we worked well together, regrettably we had limited success and were unable to escape! 

We’ll also celebrate Heritage Day at Newington tomorrow. Our College embraces a community of families from more than 40 different ethnic groups and all world religions.  I’d like to encourage your son to come to school wearing an item of clothing that represents his heritage and to join in the best costume competition which is to be held at recess.  A lip sync battle will take place between the boys and staff as the votes are tallied.  Our junior boys will also run food stalls at lunch time, providing us with an opportunity to sample food from other nations. This is a fun way to end the term, but the real power of Heritage Day is in the lessons we can learn from each other.

We also farewell several staff members at the end of this term.  Some take long service leave; some take maternity leave and others leave us permanently. At assembly on Wednesday, Christos Fotopoulos (11/MO) paid tribute to Mr Richard Wheeldon, our Head of English, who leaves us to take up the role of Deputy Headmaster (Academic) at Churchie in Brisbane.  This is an exciting new role for Richard, and we thank him for the 6 ½ years of outstanding service he has given Newington.

To all our staff members who are taking our boys on tours this term break, I thank you and wish you safe travels and amazing learning experiences.  To our Newington families, enjoy the break in routine and use the time to recharge ready for the first day of Term 3 on Monday 22 July.