Dear parents and guardians,

This week we have been celebrating Languages Week. Our assembly on Tuesday showcased the many languages our boys speak, and individual boys read aloud passages in Chinese, Italian, Greek, Esperanto, French, Tongan, Spanish, Latin and English. For the first time, our introduction to Language Week was signed to the boys in Auslan by Leo Jeffrey (Year 10).

We recognised boys who received silver and gold certificates in The Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad and gold and emerald awards in the Education Perfect World Languages Championships. Worthy of special mention is William Sun who received an Elite Award, placing him in the top 0.2 per cent in the world. Well done, William.

Several Year 10 and 11 boys recently took part in the Senior School Ethics Olympiad. The Olympiad provides boys with a unique opportunity to develop skills in critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Our Year 10 team received an honourable mention from the judges and our Year 11 team were awarded a bronze medal. Special mention to Daniel Carter, who stepped into the Year 10 team as a replacement at late notice and, as a Year 8 student, acquitted himself superbly amongst his Year 10 peers. Well done, Daniel!

Mr Parker recognised the 38 Year 7 and 8 recipients of the Headmaster’s Certificate for Academic Effort and Improvement. They will join the boys above for a morning tea with the headmaster early in Term 3, where their certificates and medals will be presented.

In other great news, and again showing the breadth of our boys’ talents, our Intermediate and Senior Theatresports Teams competed in the Grand Final of the Impro Australia Theatresports Schools Challenge. Congratulations to our Intermediate team for placing third and our Senior team for placing second – by only two points! Charlie Papps was awarded the Elliot Miller Award for overall outstanding performance. Well done gents.

The House Singing Competition last week was characterised by something I love about this College. While waiting for the judges to tally the scores, Year 12 student Clinton Walsh spontaneously led the rest of the boys in some of Newington’s favourite songs/chants (Take Me Home Stanmore Road was a standout!). His actions were inclusive and uplifting. If younger students are looking for someone to model themselves on, Clinton is the man. He doesn’t look for individual accolades, he is humble and he has an amazing ability to gather people around him, as you will see here. He is outstanding in the classroom and the music and rugby programs but what stands out for me, and what I have seen up close, is how Clinton treats others. Respect and good humour are the words that immediately come to mind. For those reasons and many more, Clinton Walsh is our Man of the Fortnight.

As the term draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a welcome break to routine, some wonderful family time together and safe travels if you are able to get away. It’s the perfect season for reading, so encourage your boys to head to the library this holiday to borrow some books – there are many great titles to choose from.

I look forward to seeing all the boys back and ready for Term 3 on Monday 12 July.