Dear parents and guardians,

What a fabulous day we had here at the College on Tuesday. It was an historic event as we announced the names and colours of our eight new houses. It was very important that the process was democratic, so we let the senior leaders decide how they wanted to do this. The result was a huge amount of fun, activity and colour.

Prior to the main event we awarded House Honour Colours. My congratulations to Marco Constantino (FL), Ryan Gleeson (JN), Thomas Osborne, Harry Smyth, David Upcroft, Jeremy Webb (all LE), Ryan McPhail (MA), Nicholas Disher, Kyan McLean (both ME), Aiden Carter (MO), Leo Joyce Thomson, Aiden Love and Zac McCutcheon (all PR).

Our 16 House Captains and Vice-Captains were introduced to the school and then joined other members of Year 12 2022 as they read their Prefect Pledge. And then the games began.

The first round of games our new captains competed in included ‘Bang’, ‘Paper/Rock/Scissors’ and a high-speed game of singles table tennis. It was a knockout round with the first out choosing their house name last and the winner of the table tennis the first to spin the wheel and chose a house name. The second round of games determined which Vice-Captain would spin first to select their new house colour. There was an ‘egg and spoon race’, followed by a ‘sack race’ and then the first to throw a sack in a bucket was declared the winner. The talented George Evans and Oscar Tentij provided a blow-by-blow commentary and our senior prefects Aiden, Mitch and Ryan made sure the results were above board.

The boys then proceeded to the stage where they spun the bingo machine and were presented with an envelope with the corresponding number – inside was their house name with a short bio. They then waited patiently for their Vice-Captain to spin and select a second envelope that would reveal their new house colour. The results were:

Tupou –  violet – Marco Constantino (C) and Manase Fonokalafi (VC) – previously Fletcher 2.

Bavin –  graphite – James McGregor (C) and Fletcher Hunt (VC) – previously Johnstone 2.

Clunies Ross  –  white – Joel Goh (C) and Mitchell Cook (VC) – previously Kelynack 2.

Whitaker  –  orange – Aidan Giordan (C) and William Sun (VC) – previously Le Couteur 2.

Gilligan  –  teal – Angus Moses (C) and Campbell Howe (VC) – previously Manton 2.

Cooper  –  lime – Kyan McLean (C) and Nicholas Disher (VC) – previously Metcalfe 2.

Mackay – pink – Samuel French (C) and George Boyd (VC) – previously Moulton 2.

Morrison – plum – Oscar Joyce Thomson (C) and Aiden Love (VC) – previously Prescott 2.

They were then joined by the Captain and Vice-Captain of the other eight houses who had also donned a new bucket hat and t-shirt. The fun did not stop there. At the conclusion of assembly, the boys were invited to join their mentor and enjoy a cup cake with frosting the colour of their house. The cupcakes took approximately 18 hours to cook, ice and box – they disappeared in about five seconds flat! The driveway currently has the 16 house colours displayed on banners.  A gallery of photographs from the day can be found here.

There are a couple of housekeeping matters that I need to bring to your attention. We have unfortunately received several complaints about the behaviour of our boys on public transport – the use of inappropriate language, not vacating seats for adults and generally being oblivious to their surroundings due to earphones and having heads stuck in phones. We have addressed this at Mentor meetings on Wednesday but would appreciate some reinforcement from home.

Finally, to keep your son safe, we need to know where he is at all times. If he is late arriving at school, he must check in with Ms Forgan at the student services office. Should he need to leave school to attend an appointment he must also check out at the student services office.  Please also note that from next Monday 8 November we will revert to our normal timetable.  There will be no late starts or early finishes.  This decision has been made as Year 12 will not be on campus and another year group will be sitting yearly exams.  I thank you in anticipation of your assistance with the above items.

Enjoy your weekend.