Keeping Sane and Virus-Compliant

Weekends are always busy and this term was no exception. Barry House might duck over to Balmoral Beach for a swim or join an excursion to Luna Park, the Sydney Kings basketball semi-final, ten-pin bowling, Laser Tag, Manly Beach or Watson’s Bay.

As the term started drawing to a (premature) close, the challenge was to come up with activities that aligned with the ever-increasing stricter virus regulations. For example, what was OK in Week 6 was not OK in Week 7. It was really important to keep our boys busy, but doing the right thing meant we had to be more creative in what we planned. Some of the best ideas come to mind at the most unexpected times, (such as 2am when your dog barks at seagulls, you wake up and can’t get back to sleep). It was at times like these when the Barry House Olympics and the Barry Bash ideas were born.

The Barry Olympics was an indoor challenge in teams, with pizza up for grabs – no gold medals handed out here. Golf Putting, The Paper Toss, Office Chair Grand Prix, Rugby Pass and Table Tennis were on the agenda of events, and Charlie Murray’s Russian team including Ben Howarth, Jeremy Morison and Matt Davis overcame Henry Saunders’ Scotland and Chris Wong’s Mexico to win the day.

The Barry Bash was a physical mission challenge which took place on a Sunday afternoon in various locations around the school, where pairs completed each challenge for points. The boys (mostly) followed all the virus rules and it took 40 physical minutes, so the boys got out and about at pace while using the brain as well. Well done to winners Moey and Banjo.