Term 1 Message

Dear Shore Boarding Community,

Well, it has been one surreal term.  Starting with such momentum, things ground to a halt as the School confronts a nervous and uncertain future.  It is very disappointing that our boys are no longer with us, but we hope that things will improve very soon.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.  I would like to thank our beautiful boarding community for the heartfelt and generous support at this time.  We feel very blessed to be part of such a special place.

Amongst everything that has been going on, our boarders have still kept busy, and House Instagram and Lampada pages will have kept you informed with all the up-to-date information that involves your sons.

Since the last newsletter, Shore boarders have enjoyed excursions to Luna Park, the Sydney King’s Basketball semi-final, Watson’s Bay, Laser Tag and Strike Bowling.  All Houses have also enjoyed their own activities during the week and on weekends, so barely a moment passes without something happening.

Please also note that the latest Boarding Rep Minutes can be found in this letter by accessing the link provided here.

We will continue to update our community via email, Lampada News and website updates https://www.shore.nsw.edu.au/community/covid-19

We hope the next few weeks are good to you. Stay safe and healthy, and please get in touch if there is anything we can do to help you. We won’t be disappearing, and will touch base again soon.

Best wishes,
Brendan

Weekend BBQ’s

For those who are in on the weekend, Chapel is always followed by the much anticipated BBQ.  Louis Cathles has been experimenting with his bacon and egg sandwiches. His latest addition is cooking the egg within the bun and then topping it off with the bacon. Looks good!  Can’t wait to see the next instalment. The boys have also been creating delicious Oreo melted chocolate cookies!

A Timely Word …

Early this week, my wife shared with me a very timely post that appeared on her Facebook feed. I thought I would share it with you.

“And the people stayed home.  And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still.  And listened more deeply.  Some mediated, some prayed, some danced.  Some met their shadows.  And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed.  And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”

Kitty O’Meara

It is my prayer that in this time of social and physical separation that we are once again reminded that we are precious to our Father in heaven who made and sustains all things.

Matthew 10:29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Romans 8:38-39

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rod Fitch
Hodges Housemaster

Sunday Mornings Are Good

One of the great casual events every Sunday is the BBQ breakfast after chapel.  Everyone pitches in, including Nero who helps in the clean-up, while the boys sit around outside and chat about the week just passed, attempt Sudoku or check out the race guide…

Survivial Tips from Mr Walker

As a young boy I used to drive my beautiful mother mad. Basically, I could not sit still for 5 minutes and would be kicking the rugby ball everywhere. I lasted 4 weeks in day care, came home and continued to kick the football for 5 hours a day.  So there were some ideas that were presented to me (and my siblings).

STEP 1   GARDENING

It really all depended on how busy we were at home and so the first option was helping dad in the garden.  We were weeding, weeding and planting scrubs and it was from this work at home that when I left school, I initially studied Horticulture and Landscape Design.  Kim and I along with the boys in the House, growing a vegetable garden (photos included) and during these strange teaching times, will continue to grow the veges to eat.  These include, snow peas, peas, radish, lettuce, pumpkins, basil, parsley, sprouts, and cherry tomatoes.

STEP TWO RUNNING

Being active has always been a hobby for me and so this has continued for the past 58 years.  As you can see, running across the Bridge is my counselling session for me and also everyone else.  Mum and Dad had me active all the time so that they could sleep at night and it worked a treat.  So, if you want your son busy, gardening and running is a must.  Stay safe everyone and keep in touch.

Catching Up With Our New Leader

The Headmaster kindly invited our Year 12 to supper, where they enjoyed a casual evening in Dr Petterson’s residence. I would love to divulge what was discussed, but the boys refused to give anything away.

Jamming in School House

School house has a plethora of aspiring musicians, common among each year group.  Often, many of the boys love listening and collaborating with each other, especially when Mr Junee begins pumping out his notorious Dire Straits electric guitar solo!  Throughout the house you will find multiple different sets of skills including, the voice of an angel when walking past Ashton Gresham’s room, soon to be justified by Justin Gao’s 13-minute Mozart masterpiece on the cello.  Furthermore, as we head down the stairs, Marlon Cayley’s 12-bar-blues adds to the musical atmosphere of the house and just to add to this harmonious phenomenon, you will find Fin Hancock, Alec Manchee and Hunter Black playing and singing Billy Joel anthems.  10 minutes later at roll call, 5 more noise complaints are made.  Despite this, memories were created and the sound of joy and excitement will always stay strong in School House.  

Alex Mingay’s Artwork

At the beginning of the term in Art, we began talking over the project that we would work on in the following weeks, a charcoal portrait.  After establishing the topic and what we would be doing, it then came time to decide who to draw.  My art teacher asked us to write down a list of people who inspire us. My list consisted of the obvious; sports stars, influencers, celebrities, movie stars, youtubers and so on.  But I soon realised I didn’t want to draw any of these people, I didn’t want to be just another ‘fan’.  So I began to look on a smaller scale.  Who do I know that inspires me? Initially a few people came to mind, Mum, Dad, coaches and teachers.  But then I looked towards my grandparents, so I flipped a coin.  My grandma.  That’s what the coin decided.  I realised, how much I learn from these people and how much they have influenced my life.  My grandparents inspire me to become as caring and loving as they have been for me throughout my life and being the glue of the whole family.  When I become older and begin a family of my own, I hope to become as great of a grandparent as mine.

Birthdays in Hodges House

Birthdays are always a great opportunity for house to celebrate.  Since our last Boarder’s News we have celebrated the birthdays of Nicholas, James and Will.  Special thanks to the families for their generosity.

Term 1 in Robson House

What a term it’s been! It’s been a pleasure to take on the role of House Captain for 2020, as our very own Jonah Edlington was announced as Senior Prefect. Assisted by Josh Brice as Vice-Captain, as well as the fellow year 12 boys, we’ve enjoyed leading the house for the duration of the term.

Coming back into the house and unpacking for the year was an exciting thought, although as the year 12 boys realised this would be their last time experiencing this. With the addition of 9 boys ranging from year 8, 9 and 10, there was anticipation for the existing boys to meet their soon to be mates.

Over the course of the term, Robson House has participated in a range of activities to keep everyone occupied. The boys were involved in boarders weekend outings to Manly Beach, NBL basketball, lazertag, Luna Park, as well as many other enjoyable activities. Internally, Thursday evening and Sunday cricket was regularly played, touch footy, as well as the inaugural Mario Cart competition which saw Nick Spencer take the title from a close competitor Ryan Leung. One of the highlights for many boys, was the range of meals that were made within the house, from the Sunday morning barbecues, as well as a weekend meal prepared by year 11.

Although the end of the term has been disrupted, I can speak for all boys that it has been an enjoyable experience being a Robson boy in 2020. These relationships will continue to develop through the year to create a strong sense of community in the House, that will be cherished for lifetimes.

All of this could not have been possible without Mr Walker and Kim, who consistently go above and beyond for the boys of the house. Always making everyone feel a part of the community. Mr Stocks has been influential for the boys in building them as characters. I would also like to pay special mention to Mr McGee who joined us this year, his athletic background has been a testament to getting the boys out into their chosen sports, giving everything a go.

Going off this term, I’m eager to get into the rest of the year and spend it with the Robson boys. We all can’t wait to see each other in a few weeks time.

Ben Broadley
House Captain

Alex Liu – Year 12 Reflection

Being in School house has been a life changing experience for me. Coming in as definitely the most clueless person in year 7, being around new people and new environment was very haunting. However, as I slowly started talking to other people, I realised that the already 6-foot Fin Hancock was much nicer than he looked (at the time), and that Billy Moore loves his chips.

Much has changed since my time in year 7, from Mr. Hughes’ stealthy manoeuvre through the dorms at night in order to catch people speaking to get them in trouble, to what is now Mr. Chapman’s fierce presence in the foyer when he is on duty. Yet, what has not changed is the culture instilled within School house.

Perhaps the people most influential to me in terms of ‘teaching me the ways’ were students from the year above. Having someone to look up to is special, especially when they live right next to you. It exists in every single stage in our lives. This could be your parents or siblings in your younger years, as they would have walked the same path as you do. The School’s motto ‘Vitai Lampada Tradunt’, passing on the torch, can best represent this process, as culture within the house is passed on from year to year.

Being around people that I look up to throughout the years has certainty shaped my behaviour around the house, as mine will shape others as well now that I am older. Thus being able to pass on the most positive parts of culture can prove to continue the process that was started years ago, slowly extracting the best parts from each year onwards, and gradually steer towards perfection.

International Cooking Classes

This term, Barry House has introduced a Saturday night international cooking and tasting series, to sample the many flavours representing the countries of origin of our boys. A boy is chosen from overseas and he is assigned the role of Masterchef: choosing a favourite local dish, providing the recipe, presenting a list of ingredients for the Housemaster to purchase (this will move to self-purchase next) and supervising the preparation and cooking on the night. It is a great way of bringing our overseas cultures into the boarding house.

Singapore Superchef, Matt Davis (Year 8) presented his chicken curry with basmati rice and roti prata, with sous-chef and fellow Singaporean, Jeremy Morison (Year 9) as his wingman. Matt said at one stage, “This smells like home…” So good! Another International Food Fest came from Hong Kong and Japan, thanks to Masterchef, Josh Lai (Year 9). The Davis brothers (Years 8 and 11) were a huge help as well, the three of them making milk bread rolls from scratch – a tough task. On the menu were fluffy milk bread buns and teriyaki beef patties topped with Kewpie mayonnaise, shredded cabbage, spring onions.

In addition, one Friday night this term, the House walked up to the North Sydney International Food Fair, a twilight market where several stalls serve food from all over the world. It was a great evening, finishing with an outdoor cinema experience across the road on North Sydney Oval (see article elsewhere in this newsletter).

Barry House enjoyed many other gastronomic opportunities this term with our housemasters, including Betty’s Burgers in North Sydney, Ice Cream Nights, No Drills & Detentions Pizza Reward Night, Batch Burgers from Kirribilli and making cookies on a Sunday afternoon.

So much crammed into what turned out to be a pretty short term! It has been huge, but what a ride!

A Night In Darling Harbour

A night-out in Darling Harbour

On Saturday 7^th March, the few Hodges boys that were in enjoyed a night out at Darling Harbour. The evening started with a brisk walk down the hill to McMahons Point and short ferry ride to Barangaroo. Is there a more perfect way of seeing our beautiful city than on a ferry?

As the heavens opened and the rain belted down, we ducked in to Rivareno Gelato. An overwhelming selection of gelato greeted the boys, so good ol’ chocolate was the flavour of choice for many.

Fortunately, the downpour didn’t last long, and with gelato cones in hand, we took a leisurely stroll through Darling Harbour, across the Pyrmont Bridge, into a games arcade. Although the night was some weeks ago, it was perfectly obvious even then that the COVID-19 virus was having an impact and the crowds around the city were uncharacteristically small. Still, it was great to see our boys enjoying the chance to be out.

Once at the arcade, the competitive nature of the boys was on display. Whether it was air hockey, shooting (both basketballs and guns), car racing, boxing, grabbing machines, the smiles on the boys’ faces were a clear indication that you are never too old to enjoy the machines and games in an arcade. With winners’ tickets in hand, many of the boys headed to the prize showroom, only to be disappointed that many more sessions would be needed to win the big prizes… although, there were more than a few requests to return in the near future.

Special mention needs to be made of Rishad, who (after more than a few attempts) managed to create the new high score on the boxing machine. An outstanding effort!

The evening was topped off with the 9 o’clock fireworks in Darling Harbour before heading back on the evening ferry. All in all, it was a great night out and a real chance for everyone to bond as a House.

Mr PK Henniker
Assistant Housemaster

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. 

Saturday Night Activities

Over the last month Hodges has to progressively modified a number of our Saturday night activities to reflect the need to “social distance” ourselves. Activities have included:

• Harbour Walk and visit to Gelatissimo
• Harbour Walk and visit to Batch Burges
• Trivia Quiz
• Ice cream and games night
• Thai Takeaway and movie night

Batch Burgers

On Sunday 22^nd March there was a limited number of boys in the house so Mr Stocks offered to take some boys down the road to get some food.  Ryan Leung (Year 10), Lachie Greig, Oli Wilson and Alex Robinson (Year 11) all accompanied Mr Stocks on the walk to Batch Burgers in Kirribilli.  On the walk Mr Stock gave a crash course on his business studies knowledge as the Year Eleven’s were quizzing one another for their business studies test the next day.  We were half way down on our walk chatting and then we saw a small man with a cheeky grin in the distance.  It was Mr Walker on his daily run.  We stopped and had a little chat with him and then he was off again.  When we arrived Mr Stocks said we could get anything we wanted.  All the boys ordered a burger and an Oreo milkshake. The most popular choice was the American pulled pork burger with chips.

As we waited for our order, we had to fill in some time.  Alex and Lachie studied some more business studies while Oli, Ryan and Stocksy debated over what the best cars that were driving past and how they could handle off road conditions.  Once we received our food, we walked down the road and ate our food by the bay in the park.  While we ate our food, we had some laughs and reminisced the good times that we had so far this year.  The burgers were amazing and filled a whole in the stomach.  Once we finished our food we walked back to school on a full stomach.  We had a great time; made some good memories and we were very appreciative of Mr Stocks shouting us the burgers.

Sunset Cinema

On a beautiful Friday evening this term, Barry House boys ventured up the hill together to enjoy the outdoor North Sydney Sunset Theatre after dinner. It was a perfect night under the stars which saw us settle in and lounge around to watch Oscar-nominated “1917”. Popcorn and drinks on the magnificent grass of North Sydney Oval rounded out a fantastic evening, and the walk home was all downhill!

School House Fight Against Corona COVID-19

On Saturday morning, we went out and played some ping pong and waited till 2:00 to go on the walk.  So it finally got to the stage we’re we were going on the walk.  So we went on the walk and we did a big loop around Balls Head, took a couple of pictures and went to the cafe where Mr Junee met us and shouted us a Maxibon each.  We had a good time.  Then we left went back to the school and Mr Junee said that we had to all go straight to the common room because he said “we got important news and we are going to the common room straight away”.  While we were at Balls Head, Mr Junee’s family snuck into School House and hid over 80 Easter Eggs.  At the starters whistle, everyone in year seven went crazy looking for them.  There were also about 25 hidden in the courtyard.  We finished the Easter egg hunt and everyone was packed with Easter eggs then it was chill out time.  When it was dark we decided to play tip around the school so we went through a couple of rounds.

Bede Clout Yr 7 (Neurea)

What Happens When The Dishwasher Breaks Down

Disaster struck one fateful Sunday when the dishwasher broke down.  Thankfully, Tom Gordon and Hugo Pearce came to the rescue, putting old-school washing-up skills of hand-wash and tea-towel dry practices to the test.  They passed with flying colours.