A Uniting Church coeducational independent day and boarding school on Kaurna Country, Adelaide, South Australia
Early Learning to Year 12
As we approach the conclusion of the first term, I would like to congratulate all Prep School students and their parents on successfully navigating what has been a very busy start to the year. We have welcomed many new students and families and they have settled in seamlessly. COVID protocols are being adhered to in what is probably the new normal. We have negotiated all manner of activities safely and I suspect that many children are looking forward to catching their breath. Following the break, Term 2 sees the beginning of our Winter co-curricular season so the children will need to be prepared for netball, football, soccer and so on when they return after the break.
While the children are having a break there will be a team of builders moving in to improve four of our learning spaces. This is the first stage of a gradual upgrade of Prep classrooms. To facilitate the work, we have had to coordinate a shuffle of classes and spaces. As such, from the beginning of Term 2, the three Year 5 classes will be located in the two-storey building facing the Prep Oval known as the Nelson Wing. STRETCH activities will move to the Library. Prep Art will enjoy more space as it moves to the recently vacated Senior School Art rooms and our Coding and Robotics will now take place in the old Prep Art space. Chinese lessons for Term 2 will be held in the Junior Primary part of the School, and Ms Kamei’s Japanese lessons will become a roadshow, travelling from class to class. While this all sounds confusing hopefully everyone has a temporary home and this will allow for renovations to the Year 5 and Japanese rooms to be completed during Term 2.
The parents and grandparents who were able to join us for the two days of the Year 3 to 6 Athletics Carnival will no doubt agree that these days were a wonderful celebration of team spirit, enthusiasm and of course athletic prowess for the many very talented students in our midst. Perfect weather conditions certainly helped set the mood as we moved across to compete on the track in front of the Thomas Pavilion.
This race was an all Charter affair with Henry Arnold (Year 5), Eric Tie (Year 4) and Hamish Harris (Year 4) filling the podium.
Mr Weatherald and the PE team created a great combination of athletic pursuits that allow the very best athletes in each age group to rise to the top, while still ensuring that all students had the opportunity to participate in all events. Mr Thompson’s dulcet tones and the volunteers from the Parents' Club who gave up their day to cater for the masses, added to the carnival atmosphere.
While all did their very best, individual medallists, following all of the points for field and track events being tallied were:
When all of the results from the two days of athletic competition were tallied up, Wesley House won the title for the second year in a row. Abbey was second followed by Charter.
Recently we had a squadron of very capable Westminster swimmers represent the South West District at the SAPSASA State Metropolitan Swimming Championships. To say that our School was well represented in the district team was an understatement as Westminster had 21 swimmers out of the 35 South West swimmers which is a great effort by the School. Many of you would have seen their photo in The Advertiser and online media as well which was great.
The South West Team came second overall out of the Division 1 Districts.
Congratulations to the swimmers listed below on their performance. As you can see, we had a number of students win medals.
Caleb Dyer (Year 4 Crown), Curtis Broadbridge (Year 5 Crown) silver medal in the relay; Sophia Hallam (Year 5 Wesley) 3rd in Breastroke, Ollie Maynard (Year 6 Charter) 1st in Butterfly and 2nd in the relay, Jordan Tucker (Year 6 Wyvern) 3rd in Freestyle and Backstroke and 2nd in Breastroke, Quinn Hammersley (Year 7 Dunstan) 3rd in Butterfly and relay, Gerard McGinley (Year 7 Heaslip) 2nd in Backstroke and relay, Hudson Hersey (Year 7 Heaslip) 2nd in Breastroke, Poppy Doyle (Year 7 Jeffries) 3rd in Breastroke and Butterfly and first in relay, Talulah Kovacic (Year 7 Fereday) 1st in the relay, and Axel Tucker (Year 7 Clark) 1st in Breastroke and his relay team won the silver medal.
We had a number of students compete at the State Surf Life Saving Titles recently. There were two days of challenging events. Day one was Individual day with the swim, board, iron person, flags, sprints and long-distance run. Day two was all team events – swim teams, board relay, board rescue, sprint relays, Cameron relay (swimmer, board paddler and 2 runners), and brace relays (swimmer and board paddler).
While everyone competing gave their all, some of our Prep students excelled and won medals. Charlie Kittel (Year 5 Abbey) won two gold medals, Jordan Tucker (Year 6 Wyvern) won five gold, one silver and one bronze medal and Ella Lunn (Year 6 Wesley) won a silver and a bronze medal.
Get creative with technology at Westminster these Autumn school holidays.
On top of five coding classes to suit all skill levels, Code Camp have launched a range of new camps, where students can learn to DJ, produce YouTube style videos and create stop-motion animation short films. Westminster will be hosting Code Camp on Monday 12 to Wednesday 14 April. For more information and to find out what is on offer head to the Code Camp website.
Grant Bock
Head of Preparatory School