A Uniting Church coeducational independent day and boarding school on Kaurna Country, Adelaide, South Australia
Early Learning to Year 12
One of the many mysteries that continue to perplex me is how so many articles of clothing, as well as lunch boxes and drink bottles make their way to school but supposedly have no owner. Sports clothing, tog bags, uniform, all manner of containers and drink bottles that seem to be in almost mint condition. I am sure some students must hop home, as we have single shoes left behind! While every endeavour is made to return items to their rightful owners, if they are not labelled in the first place this can prove to be very challenging. If your lunchbox or drink bottle collection is dwindling, please visit the lost property collection in the Junior Primary or near the Year 3 classrooms to see if something there is yours. Please take the time to put names on everything that comes to school so that what is yours can come home again.
Earlier this term Preparatory School students, Grady Sayers (Year 6 Charter), Sara Zeitouneh (Year 6 Wyvern), Zara Papst (Year 7 Wesley) and Ellery May-Martin (Year 7 Wesley) were fortunate enough to be involved in working alongside Senior School students Brooke Kleinig, Deena Warren, Dana Wright, Alyssa Wilson, Kimberly Li and Kayla Ingerson at the Generations of Change conference. This was a wonderful opportunity to positively work as a whole school to promote education and understanding. This full day conference, held by Reconciliation SA and ActNow Theatre was an interactive day exploring how the students can be proactive in combating racism. The day’s activities allowed the students to be involved in learning what they can do on an interpersonal level to recognise and respond to racism. This thought-provoking day was the beginning of working towards Reconciliation Week, and understanding and acknowledging what reconciliation means and why it is important. Many thanks to Mrs Mori and Mrs Baroudi for leading the students from across the School with this initiative.
We have had a very busy term with SAPSASA School sport. We have had some great results including Westminster winning the South West District Athletics Shield. See some highlights below.
The team to represent the School at the District Athletics Carnival comprised 48 students from our own Sports Day. The weather was not kind and some of the field events had to be called off due to dangerous conditions. Despite this setback, our Westminster team performed exceptionally and we came out the Champion School for 2019, taking home the trophy and pennant. Based on their performances we had 16 students selected to represent the South West District at the Metropolitan Athletics Championships.
At the Metropolitan Athletics Championship, our district came second out of 20 districts. Our Westminster students again performed very well and between them won eight medals for a top three finish. Our student results are as follows:
Adelle Parkinson-Need (Year 5 Abbey) - Discus 2nd 19.8m;
Ella Jones (Year 5 Abbey) - High Jump 10th 1.1m; Long Jump 7th;
Harry Davison (Year 5 Wesley) - 800m 9th 2.52; High Jump 4th 1.2m;
Gerard McGinley (Year 5 Mace) - Long Jump 1st 4.21m; Shot Put 4th 7.36 m;
Jazz McKay (Year 6 Wesley) - 4 x 100m Relay 1st;
Patrick Hutchins (Year 6 Crown) - Discus 7th 23.56m;
Emily Mableson (Year 6 Wyvern) - 1500m 14th 6.07;
Sam McClarron (Year 6 Mace) - 800m 3rd 2.27.79;
Simon Zefi (Year 6 Mace) - Shot Put 2nd 9.25m;
Tim Alver (Year 6 Abbey) - 100m 5th 13.93; High Jump 3rd 1.46m;
Jeremy Shepherd (Year 6 Charter) - 800m 3rd 2.26; Discus 11th 21.73;
Paige Taylor (Year 7 Abbey) - Shot Put 2nd 7.98m;
Reilly Curran (Year 7 Crown) - 800m 6th 2.45;
Sienna Jones (Year 7 Charter) - Discuss 5th 18.95m;
Andre Lim (Year 7 Charter) - Shot Put 8.65 m;
Daniel Turnbull (Year 7 Wyvern) - 800m 14th 2.41
We held our School Cross Country in the first week of Term 2. We saw some great resilience from students, staff and parents when a massive storm came across and saturated us all during the 10 year olds race. Even those who find running a distance challenging did their very best. All students completed their races but we had to postpone the older races until the following week. Below are the final results and medal winners.
8 Year Old Girls | |||
Gold | Brooke Weatherald | Wyvern | 10.06 |
Silver | Lily Ritson | Crown | 10.16 |
Bronze | Elle Weatherald | Wyvern | 10.34 |
8 Year Old Boys | |||
Gold | Jack Collier | Mace | 9.19 |
Silver | Curtis Broadbridge | Crown | 10.21 |
Bronze | Henry Arnold | Charter | 12.06 |
9 Year Old Girls | |||
Gold | Ella Lunn | Wesley | 9.35 |
Silver | Bella McClarron | Mace | 9.35 |
Bronze | Grace Reeve | Mace | 9.57 |
9 Year Old Boys | |||
Gold | Jordan Tucker | Wyvern | 8.02 |
Silver | Jed Petroff | Crown | 8.15 |
Bronze | Henri Graham | Crown | 8.45 |
10 Year Old Girls | |||
Gold | Poppy Doyle | Crown | 8.47 |
Silver | Ella Jones | Abbey | 9.49 |
Bronze | Dayna Harrison | Mace | 10.11 |
10 Year Old Boys | |||
Gold | Harry Davison | Wesley | 8.23 |
Silver | Axel Tucker | Wyvern | 8.24 |
Bronze | Gerard McGinley | Mace | 8.45 |
11 Year Old Girls | |||
Gold | Emily Mableson | Wyvern | 8.30 |
Silver | Adelle Parkinson-Need | Abbey | 8.51 |
Bronze | Jazz McKay | Wesley | 9.06 |
11 Year Old Boys | |||
Gold | Sam McClarron | Mace | 7.09 |
Silver | Jack Green | Charter | 7.56 |
Bronze | Chal Appukuttan | Wesley | 8.28 |
12 Year Old Girls | |||
Gold | Tigerlily Kovacic | Wyvern | 8.44 |
Silver | Eliza Maloney | Abbey | 8.48 |
Bronze | Olivia Fok | Mace | 8.55 |
12 Year Old Boys | |||
Gold | Zachary Tucker | Wyvern | 7.16 |
Silver | Jeremy Shepherd | Charter | 7.19 |
Bronze | Toby Brown | Crown | 7.34 |
13 Year Old Girls | |||
Gold | Reilly Curran | Crown | 8.05 |
Silver | Larni Vo Nguyen | Mace | 8.08 |
Bronze | Sienna Jones | Mace | 8.30 |
13 Year Old Boys | |||
Gold | Daniel Turnbull | Wyvern | 7.33 |
Silver | Jacob Frankel | Wyvern | 8.02 |
Bronze | Cole Stephen | Mace | 8.17 |
1st | Wyvern | 201 |
2nd | Charter | 189 |
3rd | Mace | 175 |
4th | Abbey | 147 |
5th | Crown | 142 |
6th | Wesley | 122 |
We took 42 competitors to compete in the District Cross Country race which was held on the hilly Marion Golf course. We performed very well and had 16 students qualify to compete for the South West District at the State Cross Country Championships at Oakbank. See the results below.
13 Year Old Girls
Larni Vo Nguyen (Year 7 Mace) - 1st
Charlotte Burt (Year 7 Wyvern) - 3rd
13 Year Old Boys
Daniel Turnbull (Year 7 Wyvern) - 1st
12 Year Old Boys
Jeremy Shepherd (Year 6 Charter) - 2nd
Zachary Tucker (Year 6 Wyvern) - 3rd
11 Year Old Girls
Adelle Parkinson-Need (Year 5 Abbey) - 1st
Emily Mableson (Year 6 Wyvern) - 3rd
Kate Daniel (Year 5 Wyvern) - 6th
11 Year Old Boys
Sam McClarron (Year 6 Mace) - 2nd
Jack Green (Year 5 Charter) - 5th
10 Year Old Girls
Poppy Doyle (Year 5 Crown) - 1st
Dayna Harrison (Year 5 Mace) - 5th
Ella Jones (Year 5 Abbey) - 6th
10 Year Old Boys
Harry Davison (Year 5 Wesley) - 1st
Dylan Blyzno (Year 5 Mace) - 3rd
Axel Tucker (Year 5 Wyvern) - 5th
The following three Prep students have recently been selected in State teams.
We wish them all the best for their upcoming National Championships.
Timothy Alver (Year 6 Abbey) - Football
National Championships from Saturday 3 to Saturday 10 August in Mandurah, WA
Andre Lim (Year 7 Charter) - Basketball
National Championships from Saturday 10 to Friday 16 August in Bendigo, Victoria
Axel Tucker (Year 5 Wyvern) - Swimming
National Championships from Wednesday 31 July to Friday 2 August in Melbourne, Victoria
The following Prep students have recently been selected in SAPSASA District teams to compete in various State Carnivals throughout Term 2.
Softball - Nikolas Damato (Year 7 Wyvern)
Football - Tim Alver (Year 6 Abbey), Aiden Nixon-Burns (Year 7 Crown), Samuel Williams (Year 7 Crown), Kobi Rees (Year 7 Abbey), Will Young (Year 7 Wyvern)
Netball - Sienna Jones (Year 7 Mace), Reilly Curran (Year 7 Crown), Paige Taylor (Year 7 Abbey), Eliza Maloney (Year 6 Abbey), Jazz McKay (Year 6 Wesley)
Recently Tate Jackson (Reception Charter) and Will Stratford (Reception Charter) had the opportunity to play Auskick on Adelaide Oval during half-time of the Port Adelaide vs Gold Coast Suns AFL game. Both Tate and Will play Auskick through Morphettville Park Football Club. Highlights for Tate were kicking a goal on Adelaide Oval and being part of a team. Highlights for Will were kicking six goals and handballing to his teammates. Despite playing in wet conditions, both boys had a fabulous day! Congratulations Tate and Will!
Last year a number of Westminster families headed to the snow in the mid-year break, and some students got together and competed at a fun competition on the slopes. The SASKI week at Falls Creek runs again this year during the last week of the July school holidays, Sunday 14 to Friday 19 July. Last year 52 schools were represented. It is a fun week, open to all school-age students, and no previous snow experience is necessary. Students generally have several days of ski lessons or training prior to race day. Students can race as individuals or part of a team in their own year level (snowboarding teams are made up of two to three people, skiing teams are made up of three to four people). Details are yet to be finalised as the ownership of Falls Creek changed last year. Please note as this is not a school trip, families will need to make their own travel and accommodation plans. Highlights include:
More details can be found at SAInterschools.com.au
These Winter holidays Code Camp are returning to Westminster to teach your child to code, or to help them continue on their coding adventure!
Code Camp has already taught more than 50,000 students in Australia and is a great way to spend time over the holidays as kids have lots of fun with friends while learning important new skills, including logic, creativity, problem-solving, app development and game building. It is fun and engaging, and gets them prepared to take on the digital world of the future.
From Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 July Westminster will be hosting Spark, 2D Game Makers and Web Hackers.
Book now to take advantage of the $20 Early Bird discount (automatically applied at checkout when booking before Monday 27 May)! Bookings can be made via www.codecamp.com.au/westminster
Grant Bock
Head of Preparatory School