The Final Quarter

After what has been anything but a usual year, congratulations to all Prep School families for adjusting, guiding and persisting in order to help the children reach the final term of the school year. The students have returned for Term 4 full of energy and enthusiasm for the exciting times ahead. Our Year 6 students will have one eye on the move across the lawn to the Senior School. This pending move is in no doubt keenly anticipated now that they have had the opportunity to wander through the new Thomas Pavilion and the Inquiry and Innovation Hub. These outstanding new facilities will greatly enhance the Westminster experience for all members of the community – but especially for the students. With these developments online and more to come with the remaining building projects that combine to constitute the campus masterplan, students currently in the Prep School will be the ones who get to enjoy all of the completed elements.

New Faces

We have welcomed two new students into the Prep School at the start of this term. Jonny Tsambazis has joined 3L and Abbey House. He, along with his parents Peter and Milena and a new baby sister have relocated from Melbourne and Jonny is enjoying being able to go to school for the first time since March.

Yunshan Chai (5M Abbey) has joined us after spending two terms brushing up on his English at a local school. He has settled in well and is enjoying the opportunities that Westminster is able to provide. We welcome Yunshan as well as his parents Rose and Alvin to our community.

What is on this Week?

This week is Book Week which, like many other activities, was postponed from earlier in the year. The Haslam Library is a delight to behold and the students are loving exploring the shortlisted books. This week we are also commencing the swimming and aquatic lessons for students from Reception to Year 6. This is a time of great activity and as I reminded the students yesterday – also a time of tiredness and lost property. The students are swimming every day and there are many opportunities for unnamed towels, goggles and garments to get left behind. Please label everything that comes to school. We have also seen the summer co-curricular activities resume after a hasty conclusion back in March. Tennis, volleyball and cricket are the main sports in overdrive at the moment, but we also have basketball tournaments and an athletics carnival looming.

Not a Spectator Sport (this year)

Although we are able to continue with plans to conduct the House Swimming Carnival on Friday 30 October, unfortunately for the first time ever, this will be a staff and student only event. Spectators will unfortunately not be allowed. While we could have spectators to sports day as that was an outdoor event, the swimming carnival is an indoor activity and COVID-19 precautions restrict the number of people able to be present. Unfortunately, our swimmers will need to rely on peer support to inspire them in the pool.

Our Nativity will also be different

Last term our classes began to prepare for our annual Junior Primary Nativity night, which will be held on Thursday 3 December. This year we will be required to modify this special night to adhere with current restrictions. At this stage, it looks as though we will be holding two special performances. One performance for Transition, Reception and Year 1 families (two tickets per family) and one performance for our Year 2 families (five tickets per family). We hope this will enable families to enjoy this special event whilst adhering to strict number restrictions. These two performances will be on Thursday 3 December at 2.00 pm (Transition, Reception and Year 1 Parents) and 6.00 pm (Year 2 families). These events will be followed by an outdoor Westminster Carols night on our beautiful main oval. More details regarding this special event will be announced shortly. If you have some sewing or costuming skills and would like to support a small team of helpers to prepare for this exciting event, please see your child’s classroom teacher. Any support in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Danny Page

Fantastic ABODA Results

Every year, Westminster School hosts the South Australian band and orchestra competition – ABODA. This is usually held over three days and sees students from many South Australian schools visiting our School to perform as a part of this competition. This year, however, the competition was held in an online format. Many of our Prep musicians were involved in this and we are so proud to share with you their achievements. Congratulations to all the students and staff involved.

Years 4 to 6 String Ensemble: Performed non-competitively.
Preparatory School Concert Band: Gold
Big Band 3 (Prep students involved in this Senior School group are Janet Wang (Year 6 Abbey), Dayna Harrison (Year 6 Mace) and Sienna Blewitt (Year 6 Charter): Gold
Senior Orchestra (Ben Gomez (Year 5 Wyvern) is part of this Senior School group): Silver
Senior Strings (Ben Gomez is also a member of this Senior School group): Silver

For information about our other Senior School music groups and their results, please refer to the Music section of the eNews.

Mrs Wandel

Sports Day – Weather Permitting

In the final days of last term we endeavoured to complete the Sports Day that COVID-19 denied us in Term 1. Unfortunately, the weather was very ordinary, but a further postponement was not something that we wanted to entertain. The students were terrific, and the House spirit shone through even though the sun struggled to shine.

As well as impressive persistence and endeavour from many, many students, as is usually the case, some outstanding individual efforts were recorded.

New Records for 2020

10 Year Girls - 100m: Matilda Ellis (Year 4 Wyven) 16.32 sec (Old Record- 16.49)
10 Year Girls - 100m: Aryan Kohli (Year 5 Wesley) 15.00 sec (Old Record- 15.72)
11 Year Girls – Discus: Ruby Insanally (Year 6 Abbey) 18.20m (Old record- 18.12m)
11 Year Boys - Shot Put: Gerard McGinley (Year 6 Mace) 9.37m (Old record- 9.21m)
11 Year Boys – Discus: Gerard McGinley (Year 6 Mace) 32.56m (Old record- 27.96m)
11 Year Boys - Long Jump: Gerard McGinley (Year 6 Mace) 4.21m (Old record- 3.80m)
11 Year Boys - High Jump: Harry Davison (Year 6 Wesley) 1.35m (Old record- 1.30m)
12 Year Boys - Long Jump: Jack Green (Year 6 Charter) 4.26m (Old record- 3.93m)
12 Year Boys - Shot Put: Jack Green (Year 6 Charter) 8.90m (Old record- 8.10m

Age Group Champions

8 year old Girls – Gold – Alexandra Heneker (Charter); Silver – Ariel Moir (Abbey); Bronze: Ellie Keukenmeester (Wesley) & Mackenzie Furness (Wyvern)
8 year old Boys – Gold – Jude Maloney (Abbey); Silver – Niels Koeper (Mace); Bronze – Henry Mableson (Wyvern)
9 year old Girls – Gold – Georgia Davison (Wesley); Silver – Emmerson Warren (Wesley); Bronze – Brooke Weatherald (Wyvern)
9 year old Boys – Gold – Leo Mather (Wyvern); Silver – Henry Arnold (Charter); Bronze – Caleb Dyer (Crown)
10 year old Girls –Gold – Matilda Ellis (Wyvern); Silver – Ella Lunn (Wesley); Bronze – Mia Chen (Abbey)
10 year old Boys –Gold – Jordan Tucker (Wyvern); Silver – Lakshay Madankumar (Wyvern); Bronze – Jed Petroff (Crown)
11 year old Girls – Gold – Ella Jones (Abbey); Silver – Dayna Harrison (Mace); Bronze – Isabelle Sincock (Wesley)
11 year old Boys – Gold – Gerard McGinley (Mace); Silver – Harry Davison (Wesley); Bronze – Riley Wilson (Wesley)
12 year old Girls – Gold – Adelle Parkinson-Need (Abbey); Silver – Darcy May-Martin (Wesley); Bronze – Aijay Willoughby (Charter), Isla Begg (Crown), Maggie Taplin (Crown) & Marlee Bristow (Charter)
12 year old Boys – Gold Jack Green (Charter); Silver – Ben Wilcox (Wesley); Bronze – Charlie Bradford (Charter) & Quinn Hammersley (Wesley)

Overall the House competition saw a new champion emerge. Wesley House won the day for the very first time with 1029 points – well clear of Abbey (899) in second and Charter (871) in third position.

ICAS English Competition

Throughout the year we have students who elect to participate in the University of New South Wales ICAS assessment competitions. Recently we have received the results of the English competition. We had 28 students participate and were awarded two High Distinctions, three Distinctions, five credits and two merits.

High Distinction (top 1% nationally) – Marissa Lee (Year 3 Abbey), Gerard McGinley (Year 6 Mace)

Distinction (top 3% nationally) – Rudra Simpi (Year 3 Abbey); Penny He (Year 4 Wesley); Rachael Slay (Year 5 Abbey)

Credit (top 23% nationally) – Georgia Davison (Year 3 Wesley); Lakshay Madankumar (Year 4 Wyvern); Neil Anand (Year 5 Wyvern); Adam Lee (Year 6 Abbey); Janet Wang (Year 6 Abbey)

Merit (top 36% nationally) – Christina Zhang (Year 5 Wyvern); Devansh Singhal (Year 6 Wyvern).

Maths Award

The Mathematical Association of South Australia recently conducted a competition titled The 59^th Hamannn School Mathematics Competition For Society Of Petroleum Engineers Prizes 2020. It is an impressive title for a competition, and I am delighted to advise that Devansh Singhal (Year 6 Wyvern) was awarded a High Distinction and Gerard McGinley (Year 6 Mace) won second place overall in the Primary Section.

Diary Dates

Book Week – Week 2 Term 4
Prep Water Safety and Aquatics Sessions – Monday 19 to Thursday 29 October
SAPSASA Basketball Championships – Friday 23 October
District Athletics Championships – Tuesday 27 October
Transition Excursion to Mitcham Library – Tuesday 27 October
Preparatory School Music Showcase – 6.00 pm, Tuesday 27 October
Year 3 to 6 Swimming Carnival – Friday 30 October
Year 4 Adventure Day at Mylor – Tuesday 3 November
JP Street Smart Sessions – Tuesday 3 & Friday 6 November
Year 3 Strings Concert – 5.00 pm, Tuesday 17 November
Year 5 Band Concert – 7.00 pm, Tuesday 17 November
Year 5 Mosque Excursion – Wednesday 18 November
Reception Miniature Train Excursion – Wednesday 18 November
Year 4 Excursion to Port Adelaide – Tuesday 24 November
Year 5 Planetarium excursion – Thursday 26 November
JP Celebration Lunch – Thursday 3 December
Westminster Nativity Performance 1 (Transition, Reception and Year 1 Parents) 2.00 pm, Thursday 3 December, MMC
Westminster Nativity Performance 2 (Year 2 Parents), 6.00 pm, Thursday 3 December, MMC
Westminster Carols Night (All Families Invited) – 7.00 pm, Thursday 3 December, Outside new Thomas Pavilion
Preparatory Orientation Day – Friday 4 December
Year 5 Latitude Excursion – Tuesday 1 December
ELC Graduation – Friday 4 December
Certificate Ceremony - 2.00 pm, Tuesday 8 December (TBC)
End of Term 4 – 1.00 pm dismissal, Wednesday 9 December

Grant Bock
Head of Preparatory School