A Message from Mr Holden

Last week Year 6 and Year 3 students took part in overnight camps as part of our outdoor education program. Year 6 travelled to Tharwa, near Canberra for a week-long excursion. Activities included abseiling, as well as a hiking expedition along the Murrumbidgee River culminating in an overnight camp under the stars.  I would like to congratulate the Year 6 boys for accepting the various outward-bound challenges with such resilience, team work and enthusiasm.

At the opposite end of the scale, but equally important, was the Year 3 sleepover in Wyvern Hall last Thursday. For some students this was their first time of being away from home and as such, the experience brought its own challenges. However, once again the Year 3 boys rose to the occasion and demonstrated great independence in taking their first step into Wyvern’s outdoor education program.

I thank staff for their wonderful efforts in arranging and leading these very valuable activities, as well as parents for your strong support of our outdoor education activities at Wyvern.

Ian Holden
Head of Wyvern

Achievement Awards

 The following achievement award was awarded at Assembly:

Kindy STEM Incursion

The Kindergarten students are learning to make observations of living and non-living things. They investigated the school area to find examples of each. They determined what living things can do and what they need to survive. They are also developing their science inquiry skills and understanding of science as a human endeavour. Students have shared and reflected on observations, and asked and responded to questions about familiar objects.

To enhance their Science and Technology learning, Australian Wildlife Displays sent Ranger Anthony with several Australian living things to Kindergarten this week. The boys touched and watched a blue tongued lizard, a ringtail possum, a green tree frog, a black headed python, salt water crocodile, and Ms Bosch’s personal favourite, a tawny frogmouth.

Lindsay Bosch
STEM Teacher

Next Two Weeks

Term Dates 2021

Year 6 Outward Bound Camp Recount

By Jack Cleary and Eddie Gardiner (6N)

Today we will be talking about our experience at the Year 6 camp.

The Drive 
The drive there was long and tiresome but by the time we arrived we were all pumped up and ready to get out and smell the fresh country air. Our bodies were aching due to lack of movement. When we arrived at the first stop most boys enjoyed the break and used this time to eat, play and go to the bathroom. We were all surprised when the teachers told us we had an 1hour and a half to go. Within 30 minutes we were back on the bus and on the road. Most of us voted to watch “Series of Unfortunate Events” and without finishing the movie, we had arrived at camp.

The Days
Upon arrival at outward bound, we all had a stretch as we were very tired from the long and kind of boring bus ride. We met our instructor and we went down to a cabin. We were only leaving our bags down at the cabins until we finished our exhibition. Our instructor, Clay, got some snacks out. We were all either eating snacks or were playing on the small grassy area. He gave us all our numbers and then asked us what activity we wanted to do. We all agreed on abseiling and so with that we walked down to the rock climbing wall. He told us how to put on our gear and use our rope. Whilst we were waiting for our go, there was a big game of piggy in the middle for us to play whilst we waited. It was a really fun activity and a great way to start camp. After that we went to a warehouse and got our hiking bags. We also got some tarps and a mat to sleep on. We took it to our bags and put what we needed in our white bag. We then went to the shed where we would be sleeping. We set out our tarp and sleeping bag and played card games in our downtime. We then went to where all the food was being stored and grabbed our dinner. We walked back to a campsite and we started preparing for dinner. We grabbed our bowls and went back to the campsite, whilst some people helped with dinner, the others made music with their bowls. We had a burrito with minced meat, beans and veggies. After that we had our hot chocolate and went to bed. 

Day Two
The next day we got up and packed everything in our hiking bag as we were going on our hike today. We had toast and cereal for breakfast. We cleaned up after breakfast and then we met the other group we would be hiking with. We hiked over to a small sand bank next to the river. We ate our lunch there and then headed to a cemetery. We looked at the view and then set off. We climbed up a rope to get up a river bank and then we continued. Upon arrival we ran into the other group. Then we got the supplies for camp and our hiking bags arrived as they were driven there. We then found our groups and set up our bivvy tents. We had some downtime and played cards until dinner was ready. We had carbonara for dinner and another hot chocolate before dozing off to bed.

Day Three
On the third day we were awoken to a collapsed tent and a very early breakfast. Our group was the first group to pack up our bivvy and hide the sticks we used for our tent. For breakfast we all had oats with powder and yoghurt. The camp instructors cleaned up the ‘toilet’ and helped the others with packing up their bivvy. After that we had gathered our water bottles and headed up to the visitors centre to watch a quick 10 minute video about the local area. Our instructors told us about a scarred tree in the national park so we all went on a walk to the tree. During our time there we learned about Indigenous Australian history in the area and what they did to the scarred tree. The walk back was long and hard but we finally made it to the campsite and had a relaxing afternoon playing some trivia at the cafeteria. Fortunately, our team came 3rd with 19 points.

Day Four
After a relaxing night in our cabins, we all felt better. We woke up and had cereal and toast. After that we went onto a small field next to the cafeteria and did an activity called covid scanner. It was designed to build our teamwork skills. We then did a numbers activity and then a cube activity. We had lunch then did a climbing activity where you had to climb to the top of a course. After that we had dinner then went to bed.

Day Five
We had to wake up at 6:00am to pack up everything for the bus and put our bags near the buses. We walked down to the cafeteria and lined up for breakfast. We had ten minutes to eat and clean up. When we got on the bus we sat down and got ready for a long and tiresome journey back to the high school where we got picked up by parents. In conclusion we all had a good time and would go again.

World’s Greatest Shave

Hi, my name is Jordan and I am 11 years old. This will be my 2nd year in a row of shaving my head. I’m taking part in the World’s Greatest Shave for the Leukemia Foundation! I’m on a mission to shave the world from blood cancer. I lost my uncle’s wife and my dad’s uncle to this horrible cancer. My best friend Maksim also lost his 12 year cousin to leukemia and I want to play my part in helping find a cure.

Please sponsor me to give families facing blood cancer the emotional and practical support they need. You’ll also fund vital research to help more people survive blood cancers, while improving their quality of life. Every day another 47 Australians are diagnosed with a blood cancer. That’s one Aussie every 31 minutes. Although research is improving survival, sadly an Australian loses their life to blood cancer every two hours.

Will you help by sponsoring me? Your donation is greatly appreciated.

Jordan Dib 6D

To support Jordan please click on the link below.

https://secure.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?RegistrationID=809632

Wyvern P&F – Newsletter Term 1

On behalf of the Wyvern P&F Executive Committee, welcome to 2021!

After a challenging year in 2020, the Wyvern P&F is committed to applying a dynamic approach to our events and volunteering opportunities. We will be working very closely with the school to ensure that we can still run as many events as possible either in a different format or at a later stage in the year.

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS
In week 5 we invited Trent Driver, (Deputy Head, Academic) to join us for our first Parent Information Session, providing us with an analysis of Newington’s HSC and IB results from 2020. This event was streamed live and we had a fantastic response with over 150 unique streams viewing the live webcast.

Our next information session is coming up on 13 May with one of Australia’s leading parenting experts, Maggie Dent. Maggie is an author, educator and mother of four boys and she is particularly known as the “champion of boys”. More details on Maggie Dent’s parent information session will be published on Spaces.

UNIFORM SHOP NEWS
At Wyvern we are fortunate to operate and manage our own uniform shop which generates school fund raising for the P&F. The uniform shop is run by volunteers and over the past 8 years, Nicole Williams (George Williams 6N) has managed the uniform shop. Nicole has done an amazing job and we are forever grateful for her exceptional efforts. As a Year 6 parent, Nicole’s time at Wyvern will be coming to an end this year and in preparation for this transition, we have appointed three new Wyvern parents to manage the store as of Term 2, 2021. Christine Hockings (Andrew 6P, James 3P) Belinda Baykitch (Josh 3P) & Natalie Iliopoulos (Alexander 3S). We’d like to welcome the new team and we wish them all the best.

We are always looking for new volunteers to join us in the uniform shop. If you can spare a few hours either in the mornings or afternoons we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Sarah Prince our uniform shop volunteer coordinator to sign up wyvernuniform@newington.nsw.edu.au

In 2021, we‘re introducing some new initiatives that we are very excited about.

NEW IN 2021
PODCAST SERIES – Coming Soon
Our prime objective is to keep the Wyvern community connected throughout the year. In 2021 the P&F will launch a Podcast series hosted by Newington parent and broadcaster, Stuart Bocking. We will record a number of podcasts throughout the year, interviewing teachers and specialists covering a range of topics.  Our first podcast is set to launch soon with Head of Wyvern House, Ian Holden, where we get to discover more about our Principal and look ahead to the academic year at Wyvern.

STEMFEST – August
We’re excited to announce that the Wyvern P&F will be funding an annual STEM Festival during Science Week. During StemFest, the boys will immerse themselves in all things science. Lindsay Bosch will be working closely with parents and students in the lead up to the event to create an enriching experience for the boys.

EVENTS COMING UP

Our next big event is coming up on Friday 19th March, our annual Women of Wyvern Dinner. There are fantastic lucky door prizes to be won and it’s set to be a great night. Thank you to everyone that purchased a ticket and also a big thank you to the team of volunteers who have pulled it all together over the past 18 months.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Since 2017, Olimpia Petrovski (Aleksandar 6N, Adam 3S and David KB) has run an initiative around Easter time where we ask families if their boys could forgo the Easter Eggs they share with their classmates and instead, use that money to donate toys / bedside play items to the Sydney Children’s Hospital Play Therapy Team. Collections will start in Week 8. We hope you can support this fantastic initiative. More information to come on Spaces soon.

We will keep you updated on events throughout the year via Spaces and we hope to make this year a memorable one for the Wyvern community.

Warm regards,

Helen Colantonio                                                                            Jessica Shead
Wyvern P&F President                                                                   Wyvern P&F Vice President / Secretary
wyvern_pnf_president@newington.nsw.edu.au                          wyvern_pnf_secretary@newington.nsw.edu.au

P&F Executive Committee: (left to right)
Jess Shead (Vice President and Secretary), Helen Colantonio (President), Sarah Capolupo (Event Coordinator), Monique Hennessy (Uniform Shop Coordinator), Michelle Higgins (Treasurer), Alicia Yorke (Parent Liaison Coordinator), Natalie Iliopoulos (Uniform Shop Management), Belinda Baykitch (Uniform Shop Management), Christine Hockings (Uniform Shop Management).

Missing from photo:
Sarah Prince (Uniform Shop Coordinator), Natalia O’Brien (Canteen Coordinator), Nicole Fung-Coady (Event Coordinator), Amanda Pattison (Mentor Program & Community Events).