Dear parents and guardians,

Under normal circumstances tomorrow would be our House Competition Day – the day we announce our 2022 House Captains.  Sadly, this year is different, so next Monday we will hold an extended Mentor session where Houses can individually farewell Year 12 2021 and announce the 2022 House and Vice Captains. They will include the leaders of our eight new Houses and on the same day, we will announce our 2022 Senior Prefects and our Boarding Prefects.

Combined, these groups will play a pivotal role at the College, exemplifying our values and modelling the Newington spirit to the other boys. Please keep an eye on your inbox late Monday when you will receive an invitation to view the announcements.  As soon as we can return to campus there will be a formal assembly to recognise these boys.

Congratulations and well done to all our 2021 Winter Sports Colours recipients. Today we held an online assembly that you can view here. We look forward to also acknowledging their efforts in person when we return to campus.

Newington College entered the Australian History Competition for the first time this year. It’s a national event held each year for Year 7-10 students that assesses historical knowledge, comprehension and analysis. This year all Newington Year 8 students entered the competition. I am delighted that 20 of our boys received a high distinction (>90 per cent) and a further 32 boys received a distinction (>86 per cent).  Well done, gentlemen. I look forward to acknowledging this outstanding achievement when we are once again back on campus.

As you can see, we have so much to celebrate – which brings me to our ‘Man of the Week’.  After taking part in the NEWtrition gratitude exercise Will Verden (9/FL) volunteered to assist the COVID response team at Westmead Children’s Hospital by ordering and packing boxes of food items for families struggling with COVID-19.  Well done, Will – your mentor Mr Bennett said, ‘what a top kid’ and your Head of House Mr Quince said ‘all class’.  Will, I echo those sentiments!

‘All class’ could also be attributed to our Mullets for Mental Health initiative. Our Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 boys have set a high bar, raising $18,000 in a week. Once we reach $20,000, their sterling effort unlocks the opportunity for Year 8 to get involved by getting a mullet.  Several of our teachers have also jumped on board: Mr Walsh, Mr Carraro and Mr Smith got a mullet at $15,000; Ms Troncone, Mr Wales, Mr Moonen and Ms Dyson agreed to get a clip at $17,000. The Head of Johnstone, Mr Mountain, and the Head of Kelynack, Mr Pyne, will get mullets if we reach $20,000 and we have an even bigger surprise if we make it to $50,000.  So please dig deep and click here to make your donation. 

Finally, an acknowledgment to the Year 7 boys involved in the 7 by 7 Go the Distance team that raised money for the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse. This week, the Newington team was named the top team for Go The Distance after raising more than $57,000. What an incredible effort! Lachlan Sutton (7/MA) was the highest individual fundraiser in the Newington team, pulling in a massive$5.4k. The boys will have the honour of meeting Gail O’Brien on a Zoom call tomorrow. I couldn’t be more inspired by the efforts of every one of these boys.

We are almost there – the end of one of the toughest terms we have all experienced.  I am very proud of our boys and our staff and incredibly appreciative of the support provided to our staff and programs from our parents and guardians. For the most part we have rallied together to make the very most of a difficult situation.  We will come together again soon, and we will have so much to celebrate.

Enjoy the weekend.