A Message from the Oxley Leadership Team

As we are in the midst of Term One, we wanted to say congratulations on making it this far. Transitioning back into the school routine has presented its challenges, but it’s impressive to see how everyone has found their footing and settled into the rhythm of the school year.

With the Summer Sports season drawing to a close, we want to take a moment to commend our athletes for their hard work and dedication. It’s been great to witness the passion and commitment displayed by our teams, with many of them making the semifinals and finals. We extend our heartfelt thanks to our coaches for their guidance and support throughout the season – thank you!

As we turn our attention to the upcoming Winter Sport trials, we encourage everyone to give it a go. We’re gearing up to showcase our talents and represent Oxley College with pride on the sporting fields.

However, if sport aren’t your thing, the arts have been in full swing recently! We congratulate everyone involved in The Book of Everything and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Additionally, music ensembles are back in action, and we encourage everyone to get involved in choir, strings, band, and pipes and drums.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of school life, there’s one member of the Oxley community who has managed to steal the spotlight —Clover, our beloved therapy dog. With her wagging tail and gentle demeanour, Clover brings excitement and opportunities for the whole school. We look forward to meeting Clover and can’t wait to see the positive impact she will make in our community.

As we navigate the academic year, let us remember the importance of connections and support within our school community. Whether you’re a Year 7 finding your place or a Year 12 facing the pressures of exams and future plans, know that you’re not alone. Lean on your peers, seek guidance from your teachers, and prioritise self-care along the way.

As Ms Whiteley says, the last 10% takes 90% of the effort, so let’s finish this term well!

Amelia D & Hunter R, College Vice Captains 2024

Racism in Aussie sport: Leniu vs Kerr

In recent weeks the news and media have overwhelmed its Australian viewers with the stories of Matildas captain Sam Kerr and NRL player Spencer Leniu and the allegations of racism against them.

Sam Kerr is captain of Matildas and striker for the WSL club Chelsea. Captaining the Matildas since 2019, there is no doubt Kerr is a superstar across the world. She is certainly one of the main role models for young sportspeople in Australia. Kerr is of Indian descent and an advocate against many world issues but most importantly racism. On January 30 last year, Kerr allegedly called a police officer a “stupid white b—–d” after a dispute over a taxi fare.

Sam Kerr is in legal hot water at the moment. (📷: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

As these allegations have been made public, there has been an uproar in the media which has led to an argument dividing both the sports world and the Australian population, especially since Kerr is held in such high regard. In 2023 Kerr was voted by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Wide World of Sports as the most influential woman in Australian sport. She is the captain of our national football team, as well as the face of both Nike and one of the biggest clubs in England.

Kerr’s alleged racial slur has raised ethical and moral questions. Is any comment involving skin colour a racist comment? Sam Kerr is a proven champion for equality. Should we doubt her character based on a single accusation? Only days prior to this incident involving Sam Kerr there was another blow to Australian sport which dominated our headlines.

Is any comment involving skin colour a racist comment?

Spencer Leniu (left) mid-game brawl against Broncos. 📷: The Australian

This was a different year for the NRL as they launched the 2024 season with a bang, hosting two blockbuster games in the heart of Las Vegas – Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. Despite the build-up of this event, it was sadly overshadowed by the behaviour of prop, Spencer Leniu.

Leniu was set for an exciting start for the season as he was playing his first game for the Sydney Roosters. However, his season has now taken a turn for the worse as he has copped an eight-match ban by the NRL judiciary for directing a racial slur at the Indigenous Brisbane Broncos player Ezra Mam.

The incident sparked outrage after Mam made an official complaint to the referee during the heated match that Leniu called him a “monkey”. Leniu initially attempted to downplay the comment stating that it was “All fun and games” to Triple M, but later apologised publicly and admitted to using the slur.

Ezra Mam during last year’s Indigenous Round. 📷: Code Sports

The NRL took a strong stance against Leniu’s actions. The eight-match ban is considered one of the harshest penalties handed down for on-field abuse in recent years. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo emphasised the league’s zero-tolerance policy for racial vilification. “The penalty applied tonight underscores the zero-tolerance rugby league has for racism. From this sad event some important lessons can be learned.”

Similarly to the incident involving Sam Kerr, this incident has reignited discussions about racism in Australian sport. Many Indigenous players and commentators expressed disappointment at Leniu and the ongoing occurrence of racial abuse within the NRL.

While Leniu pays the price for his comment, it will be interesting to follow the developments in Sam Kerr’s case to see how this may impact or indeed end her brilliant sporting career.

Harry M, Year 11

Staff Spotlight: Lee McGuinness, Director of Curriculum 7-12

What exactly is a Director of Curriculum?

As Director of Curriculum, I am responsible for ensuring Oxley College delivers the highest quality academic program that meets the learning needs of all students in the Senior School. I need to make sure that we are compliant with NESA and oversee the development of all teaching and learning programmes and courses, like the HSC for example.

What brought you to Oxley?

The timing was perfect as I was looking for a change and a new challenge and up popped the advertisement. I was born here and most of my family live in the Southern Highlands, so I feel lucky to work at a school like Oxley and be so close to home.

What has been your favourite experience at Oxley so far?

I have had many wonderful experiences at Oxley so far – observing the House spirit at the Swimming Carnival, being a part of the inaugural Oxley College International Women’s Day Breakfast, meeting Year 12 students individually in my role as an Academic Coach, watching A Midsummer Night’s Dream unfold on Elvo Lawn, and being warmly welcomed by staff and students.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like reading, walking, gardening, and watching movies – I am quite happy to go to the cinema by myself!

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

My superpower would be to be able to make people see kindness as a strength and that working hard for something is fulfilling.

Mackenzie N, Year 11

Oxley’s rising music star

Joss W (Year 10) is an innovative songwriter who was recently featured on triple j’s Unearthed program and recognised as Highlands FM’s Homegrown Artist of the Month. Her music offers a refreshing break from mainstream music, conveying honest and deep messages through indie and folk melodies. Siena T (Year 11) sat down with Joss to find out more about her creative process and her dreams for the future.

When and why did you start producing music?

I started writing music when I was around 11. Though I started singing from a very young age joining the Australian Girls Choir at around 5 years old. I then went to a performing arts school before coming to Oxley. I started producing music to get out my feelings, and I found that writing songs was the perfect way to do so. I have a bad day, I write a song about it. Have a good day, write a song about it. I just gravitated towards music and soon I found a home in it. I love music for how you can use it to connect with others. I love how when people relate to your songs you feel like you’re not alone.

Who or what inspires your music?

My music is inspired by things that happen in my life along with people I care about. My music is inspired by my thoughts and feelings.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

It depends. Sometimes I start with the music and others I start with the lyrics. Sometimes I’ll just be walking around the house and I’ll get some lyrics stuck in my head so I’ll go to my guitar and coordinate some chords to go with the vocals. Others I’ll be fiddling around on the guitar and find a chord progression I like and I’ll write some lyrics to go with it.

What is your favourite song you’ve written and what is the message behind it?

My favourite song I have written is called ‘On My Mind.’ It is also one of the more recent songs I have written and is a very special song to me being the first real love song I have ever written. ‘On My Mind’ explores the feeling of love and how it feels when you’re away from that person.

What bands or artists would you say your music is similar to?

I would say my music is similar to artists such as Noah Cyrus, Maddie Zahm, Mckenna Grace, Lauren Spencer-Smith, along with Tate McCrae.

What are your aspirations regarding your songwriting for the future?

I want to make music that resonates with people, I want to be the person whose music gets screamed in the car. I want to use my music to tell stories. I want to enchant people with my words, I want to connect with them. I want to take them back in time to memories they didn’t knew they had.

Beyond the pool

Annabel A (Year 11) describes the rigours and rewards of high-level competitive swimming to Pin Oak reporter Eliza B (Year 11).

What does your weekly routine look like?

My weekly routine consists of six morning swimming trainings, which generally start at around 5-5:30am. Four to five after school gym sessions a week, one Pilates class and three running sessions. As well as this I have to balance school, assessments, homework and my social life.

How do you balance school and swimming?

Maintaining being a senior at school whilst being a high-level swimmer can be extremely challenging, particularly now with the stress of upcoming exams looming and nationals which takes place in 3 weeks. So, in order to balance school and swimming I have to get creative. This can be through finding that extra time to slot in homework after training or doing schoolwork at or on the way to competitions. In addition to this I prioritise time out for myself and my mental health by going out with friends, walking my dog, or going on trips to Sydney with my mum. This way I feel less overwhelmed and I can create a more balanced lifestyle, which overall improves both my swimming and academic performance.

How do you calm your nerves before a big event?

Before a race, I relax by talking to my friends and listening to upbeat music. I find that this focusses my mind whilst also making me more relaxed. The main thing I work on is not taking everything too seriously – the more relaxed I am, the better I tend to perform.

What advice would you give to another student trying to take their sporting to the next level?

The most important step is to have fun, because there is no point doing a sport you do not enjoy or don’t have the passion for. Athletes tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves to always perform at their best, and along the way they often lose their passion for their sport and forget to have fun.

What does the future look like for you?

My upcoming goal for swimming is to reach the finals at Nationals, in three weeks’ time. Later on, I’d love to go to America for university and get a swimming scholarship to study physiotherapy at UCLA.

Dystopian politics and aliens collide in Helldivers 2

YOU! Yes, you! Have you ever wanted to explore the galaxy? Do you want to see exotic alien lifeforms? How about something even better – defending Democracy! Then, it’s time for you to make the most important decision of your life…

Join the Helldivers.

The galaxy is at war. The tyrannical Terminids have dared to rebel and break out of the E-710 farms (which were not used to extract their blood for fuel) and the socialist Automatons, who absolutely hate freedom and democracy, are on the loose. These barbaric factions have made it their sole goal to annihilate our magnificent homeworld of Super Earth and all its free-willed democracy-loving citizens such as yourselves. But who will defend our home? Who is brave enough to prove that you deserve to be free? Who is brave enough to join the courageous, honourable and noble Helldiver Corps?

Helldivers are the best of the best, true patriots of humankind. As one of them, you shall have your own Super Destroyer, equipped with a full battalion of your fellow brothers and sisters (and an arsenal of world-destroying weaponry) waiting to spread managed democracy throughout the entire galaxy! But Helldivers aren’t your standard infantry, they get right into the action! With state-of-the-art Hellpods, you and 3 other squadmates are explosively dropped into the fray to preserve liberty and freedom! Friendly fire is a possibiliy, however, so you must be aware of your surroundings, and work together to annihilate enemy forces and extract valuable resources to maintain Democracy’s integrity. Helldivers is the horde shooter that you never knew you needed. With recent funding from Super Earth, Helldivers on the field now have access to 500 kg bombs, disposable rocket launchers and a new edition to the front, EXO-15 Patriot Exosuits! Your enemies won’t know what hit them.

Surprisingly, the whole galactic war is controlled by a single person. Notorious dungeon master Joel has been pulling the strings, controlling the entire galactic war from the comfort of his office. An astounding feat! Unfortunately, due to its popularity the only problem with Helldivers 2 is that its servers are constantly under pressure from the onslaught of new players joining. A recent patch has increased the server size from 500,000 players to 700,000. With the addition of the mechs and new environmental factors, such as meteors and fire tornadoes, the stage is set for a new advancement in the war!

Democracy’s torch has been passed on to you! Don’t let it go out!

Thomas C, Year 11

Easter find-a-word

Chloe S, Year 10

Oxley Sport Report

Over the past few weeks, we have had many thrilling games of summer sport on the way to the end of the season.

On March 2, we had over ten teams play in the semifinals and another two teams progressed straight to the finals in Basketball. After a weekend full of sport, we had a great effort of four teams making the grand finals. One week later we had three Basketball teams and one Touch Football team in the Grand Final.

Our Touch Football 3rds played St Spyridon’s but unfortunately were defeated 5-0. Congratulations to those in the 3rds for the awesome effort throughout the season, especially making it to the Finals.

Basketball saw our Firsts, 14 Gold and 13As Boys all play very close games in the finals against St Paul’s, St Pius and Oakhill. The Firsts had a great game against St Paul’s, although in the last few minutes went down by 2, for an end result of 55-57. The 14 Gold Boys team played St Pius in a tough match but lost 23-25. Our 13A Boys played Oakhill in a long match unfortunately going down 52-40.

I would like to extend my congratulations to all the players who played in Grand Finals over the weekend. Your efforts and talent do not go unnoticed and the Oxley community commends you for also putting in 100% effort to the team no matter the circumstances.

Summer sports have finished for all our teams besides Softball. Over the weekend the Firsts had their semifinals against Abbotsleigh. Going into this match they knew it would be hard, but through hard work and great teamwork they came out on top. The score was 11–5. Lucy Anderson took an awesome catch and the team also got a double out. This weekend they face another tough opponent in Homebush, and we wish them the best of luck.

A final thanks to all those players who showed continued effort in their teams, by showing up to games and training continuously throughout the season.

Annabelle B, Year 11

Above & Beyond

Athletics

Pixie H (Year 7) had a couple of great races at the Australian All Schools Triathlon Championships in Rockingham, WA. In the U15s Individual Triathlon she finished 10th overall (and 3rd in the 13s). In the State U15s Relay her mixed team (of the 2 fastest boys and 2 fastest girls in NSW) finished 3rd – it was a photo finish after 74 minutes of racing. Well done, Pixie!

Swimming

Charlotte H (Year 7) competed at Speedo Sprints and came 1st in the 200m medley relay and 2nd in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 37.50.

Pipes & Drums

Earlier in March, Oxley students Oscar A (Year 12), Will C (Year 10) and Sapphire S (Year 7) competed with the GMM Pipe Band at the Ryde RSL Pipe Band Competition. Despite not placing in their regular division, Grade 4, they also competed in the higher Grade 3 with a more technical and difficult composition and were proud to take first place!

Led by Barry Gray, the GMM Band held their own against some of NSW and ACT’s best bands. This was their last competition before the Australian National Championships, to be held in Victoria in mid April.

Shakespeare & Atwood in performance

Earlier in the term, Year 12 Advanced English were lucky enough to see a part-interactive seminar, part-performance run by Bell Shakespeare in collaboration with The University of Sydney. This session was directly linked to our HSC Module ‘Textual Conversations’ in which we are analysing Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ alongside Margaret Atwood’s ‘Hag-Seed’.

The symposium, which is a conference-type discussion of a particular topic, also incorporated performances by Bell Shakespeare’s ‘The Players’. These three actors performed key scenes and soliloquies from ‘The Tempest’ in order to demonstrate the central content of the play and the ideas presented during the lecture. This was really helpful in gaining insight into the play in an engaging way.

In particular, their portrayal of Shakespeare’s character Caliban in one of the scenes was really interesting; his characterisation and use of mannerisms was a very entertaining way of bringing this rascal-like character to life. Trying to act out these scenes in class, which whilst a fun way to engage with the play, is often challenging to navigate the complex dialogue of Shakespeare, this is why seeing live examples is so important. When studying the play, live scenes on stage are a helpful way to visually experience this and create a better understanding.

The speaker from Bell Shakespeare as well as a leading lecturer from the University of Sydney both provided great academic analysis and interesting discussion between the two texts. Everyone was able to take something out of the experience, whether that be contextual or conceptual ideas, quotes or even just by drawing our attention to important comparisons between the two texts. Because the session was presented in a dramatic way showing the relationship between text and drama, this kept us all engaged. The experience was very helpful in developing our understanding of this comparative study and will hopefully come through in our writing.

Ilana S, Year 12

Oxley Debating

On February 20, Oxley’s Debating Club enjoyed a day-long workshop incursion in Hoskins Hall.

At the start of the day, we talked about what to do to be a good debater. An Oxley ex-student Molly joined us to give us some tips on how to be better debaters. We listened to two speeches and discussed their strengths and weaknesses, helping us understand what a high-level speech should sound like through the adjudication process. We then used this information and made a mind-map on what we gathered from that (they all included otters, of course).

Later in the day we were split into our debating teams and were given a topic on which we had to create a debate. We worked on this in our teams before heading to lunch. Lunch was pizzas from Dominos, which everyone was happy about. After lunch we set up the tables and chairs and debated our speeches and topics. The other age group that wasn’t currently speaking sat down and helped adjudicate. Thank you to everyone who was there for an amazing and helpful day.

Dakota W, Year 9