A Uniting Church coeducational independent day and boarding school on Kaurna Country, Adelaide, South Australia
Early Learning to Year 12
Earlier this term Westminster assembled a team of athletes to represent the School at the SAPSASA District Athletics Championships. This was held at SANTOS Stadium and saw all of the best athletes from schools in this district compete. Our team was primarily selected based on our Term 1 sports day results. Most athletes have continued to train at before school training sessions, alongside the athletes from Years 8 to 12. Mr Thompson and Ms Riley took the students along and motivated them to perform extremely well as individuals and as a collective team.
We had a very even spread of students who achieved well. Many achieved a top three finish, and the good results were spread across every athletic discipline. The 800m was one highlight, with 13 of our students finishing in the top three of their age groups. Clearly Running Club is paying dividends!
Those who finished in first place now progress to represent the South West District at State Athletics Championships. Congratulations to the following students who now progress to the next level.
Dilahn Jayakody (Year 4 Abbey - Shot Put); Simon Zefi (Year 4 Mace - High Jump and Relay); Zanna Spence (Year 5 Abbey -Discus); Patrick Hutchins (Year 5 Crown - Discus); Tim Alver (Year 5 Abbey - 200m and Relay); Maddison Willis (Year 6 Abbey - Long Jump); Sam McClarron (Year 5 Mace - 800m); Jeremy Shepherd (Year 5 Charter - 800m); Erin Shepherd (Year 6 Mace - 800m); Katie Natt (Year 7 Crown - 800m); Billy Hayes (Year 7 Charter - 800m and High Jump); Declan Kolb (Year 7 Wyvern - 800m and Long Jump); Gjsovaun Brijmohan (Year 7 Abbey - 100m, 200m, and Relay)
After overall results were tallied, the top four schools were Westminster 303 points, Paringa Park 187 points, Glenelg Primary 186 points and SPW 171 points. A wonderful result for our School and an excellent follow up after we won the title in 2017.
The students pictured below were all members of the South Australian Cross Country team that competed at Maleny in the Sunshine Coast.
This National event was held at the end of August, and students ran distances between 2kms and 4kms. Students qualified for the team at the SA State Championships held at Oakbank Racecourse.
It was fantastic to see a large representation in the SA team from our very own Westminster Running Club. Well done to all the students that competed.
The Westminster Primary B Chess team has been playing as a guest pick in a Senior School competition that has been held on Friday nights in the city – even though the team comprises three Year 5 students and a Year 4 student! An opportunity to participate arose due to the last minute cancellation of a secondary school, a chance that we readily accepted.
During Terms 3 and 4 the students have played 14 matches over the course of seven Friday nights, from 7.00 pm until around 8.45 pm. The atmosphere on each evening has been both electric and intense.
Westminster finished seventh out of 12 schools (two points from fifth), in a competition that they are ‘technically’ not allowed to enter until 2021!
The students involved were Ethan Williams (Year 5 Abbey), Yajat Singh (Year 5 Wyvern), Devansh Singhal (Year 4 Wyvern), Suhavi Sethi (Year 5 Crown), and Diya Patel (Year 5 Wesley). Mr Jury has enjoyed organising these cerebral performers.
Year 5 student Zanna Spence (Abbey) was awarded Grand Champion Led Steer on the Hoof in the Beef Cattle section of the recent Royal Adelaide Show.
Zanna’s steer Mandayen Spence’s Fireball (owned by Zanna) was fed and prepared at her home town of Keith in the state’s south east. Fireball won the first of five classes in the Heavy Domestic section, and then went on to be awarded Champion Heavy Domestic steer. It was a very close contest with her older brother Thomas (Year 8 Kelly), who won Grand Champion Steer in 2017. This year Thomas had to settle for Reserve Champion coming second to Zanna.
Zanna and Fireball progressed to the Championships taking out the Grand Champion Steer of the Show over 174 other steers. This is the most prestigious award of the Beef Cattle section of the Royal Show. Organisers say records would need to be checked, but it is believed Zanna is the youngest exhibitor to ever win the major prize.
Zanna’s Steer Fireball was also awarded Champion Heavy Domestic Carcase on the Hook. A great achievement Zanna!
Congratulations to Ruby Insanally (Year 4 Abbey) who recently competed in the National Club Championships for trampolining on the Gold Coast, competing against trampolining clubs from across Australia.
Ruby made the finals by placing tenth after her two qualifying routines. In the final, Ruby scored her personal best individual routine score, moving her to sixth place overall, and earning her a Certificate of Merit. Her result was particularly pleasing as she was one of the two youngest competitors in a field of 74 competitors at Level 5, and as this is an open age competition, ages ranged up to 18 years of age.
Even more impressive was Ruby’s effort and determination as she was unwell in the days leading up to the competition. This meant as well as she was feeling very unwell, she was unable to train on the trampolines prior to competing. Ruby demonstrated great resilience and courage in giving it her best under such testing circumstances.
Term 3 in the Haslam Library has most definitely been busy and fun.
Early in the term, Year 3 classes with their Transition buddies were entertained by award winning author, Mem Fox. Mem read three of her engaging picture books and all children benefited from the experience. We hope to be able to invite Mem to speak to you next year about the value of reading, so please keep on reading the eNews for more details.
Week 5 was an exciting time as students discovered which of the shortlisted books had won the Children’s Book Council Awards. We saw plenty of visitors browsing the many Book Week displays created by classes. The most popular though may have been our ‘Rogues Gallery’ with some quite different looking staff members. A big thank you to our Library trainee, Miss Harrison-Duncan, for her photo editing expertise.
Fathers’ Day Breakfasts and Grandparents’ Day were other opportunities to welcome more guests. It is always pleasing to see so many Dads and friends enjoying a special time in the Library with their children. I would particularly like to thank, and am most grateful to, Grandparents and Special Friends who donated a book to the Haslam Library. I am always appreciative of their kind support.
In Week 8, with Mrs Schenkel, Mrs Mori, Miss Sullivan, and Miss Smyth, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a presentation by Texan teacher and author Donalyn Miller. The session, running for an hour and a half, felt like only 10 minutes. Donalyn is a wonderful speaker who engaged us with her passion for promoting independent reading to children. Again, please watch this space for more information about her work, which we hope to share during a reading workshop in the Haslam Library next year.
Do you know that in children, reading has been shown to help with identity formation, setting them up for success in the future? In adults, reading has been shown to reduce stress by 68%, more than listening to music, going for a walk, or having a cup of tea. Last week, Thursday 20 September, students and staff, as well as parents with the aid of displayed posters, were once again reminded of the importance of reading. Thursday was Australia Reading Hour Day, a day to either rediscover or introduce yourself to the benefits of reading. Take the time to learn, grow, escape and relax.
Don’t worry if you missed out on Thursday, any day is a good day to start reading more and enjoying the benefits. Not sure what to read? Please remember you are always welcome to call in to the Haslam Library to borrow books. Many of our children’s novels make interesting and entertaining reads.
Julia Baldwin
Teacher Librarian
Grant Bock
Head of Preparatory School