Dear parents and guardians,

As our summer sports season draws to a close, I’d like to share some of the outstanding results achieved by the boys. 

Our swimmers’ season came down to the last night of racing with Newington in contention for 3 of the 4 trophies. Some swimmers in each division swam several personal best times. Our Open relay teams took first place just shy of the record.  Our Seniors took home the title of 2021 AAGPS Champions. Exceptional swims by Karl Kovarik, Christopher Mina, Thomas Oates and many more held us in top position in the end.

Our Intermediates performed strongly throughout the final night with some standout swims from Lewis Saupin, who touched out his opposition in 3 of his 4 races.

The Juniors finished second on the night and pushed the limits with many great swims in individual and relay races.

Our water polo players also excelled during the summer season.  Our 15As completed the season with a run of undefeated matches, along with our 1sts, 2nds and 16As, who also won the GPS and Combined Schools Water Polo Competition Shields in their divisions.

We have been celebrating International Women’s Day/Week.  The 2021 theme is #Choosetochallenge.  Ms Rukevwe Bateren and Ms Katie Goldsmith shared their very powerful, yet very different stories with staff and boys at assembly.  Excerpts of their speeches can be found here.

It was also the week to celebrate our Newington Medallists and Citation awardees.  Mr Alex Baykitch AM (ON1982) and Mr Stuart Fuller (ON1984) were named Australian and International Newington Medallists.  Our college physiotherapist Mr Matthew Anthis (ON2010) and Mr John Tsaousidis (ON2010) were the Newington Citation winners for 2020.

This week, Dr Prue Salter from Enhanced Learning Educational Services ran a study skills session with Year 12. The session explored advanced research about the brain and how that could be used to make study more effective. It highlighted steps to make effective study notes and alternatives to traditional study techniques. The group discussed how much time they should allocate to schoolwork during term time and the type of independent learning they should consistently be doing throughout the year to move their results to the next level. I encourage parents of Year 12 boys to have a conversation with them about this session.

This Saturday we will head to the Sydney International Regatta Centre at Penrith for the Head of the River.  It will be great to have spectators back at the event this year.  Years 11 and 12 will be in attendance to support our boys.  The event will be livestreamed on CluchTV with races starting at 9.00am.

Enjoy the weekend and remember Monday is a student free day at the College.