Stirling Clan – End of Autumn Term Update 2022
Dear Stirling Clan Parents and Guardians
Firstly, I would like to welcome our new House Mum Wendy Gareffa to the clan. The Gareffa family is synonymous with meat processing in Perth. Wendy is the mother of three teenage daughters and had already met several of the boys as she also has the role of taking Boarders to appointments during school hours. In the short time she has been with us she has gotten to know the boys and has shown herself to have a caring and unflappable personality.
Also, a big welcome to Stirling Clan to the new boys and their families. In Year 9 we have Lawson Froenholt from Singapore. In Year 10 we have Kai Fujii from Japan, and Ben Kay from Denmark (the town).
Here we are at the end of another busy term. I remember one night on duty in about week three when they were 23 boys in the house out of about 84 students. The Covid wave was washing through the house. Blair House mum Pam Seaby and I are probably the only two staff who have not at this stage had Covid (touch wood). Having created an isolation wing in ground floor north has enabled us to manage the situation, but I’m genuinely grateful to parents and guardians who have managed to find temporary accommodation at short notice around Perth whilst their sons have recovered. I have observed though, in the last week or so, that several of our students seem to be getting other illnesses whose symptoms are often more severe than Covid. I’m not a doctor but I think this may be due to a lower immunity or tolerance caused by Covid. Consequently, it has been decided to maintain the quarantine area for another term.
This term started with the year 11 and 12 sitting their midyear exams. While for some this has been a wakeup call, for most the results are a confirmation that the train is on the tracks. That said I do urge the boys to take advantage of the academic tutors available to them in prep from Mondays through to Thursdays. Also, during this term, the Year 9s had a chance to experience exams, and what was certainly noticeable was the increase in focus during prep time in the lead up to these exams. The year 10s will have their exams during week seven of next term whilst the 11s and 12s have their end of academic year exams in weeks eight and nine.
During Week 3 the day school arranged to hold parent interviews on the Wednesday for Years 9 and 10. This meant that we need to have a plan B for the Boarders, whilst at the same time conduct parent teacher interviews. Plan B was Team building day. The morning started with an inter clan game of Gaelic football, and then the boys experienced a relaxation session, speechmaking, team bonding using Duplo, and how high a team could get a piece of tape could go up a football post. In the afternoon the Outdoor Ed department ran games in both the gym and the chapel lawn and held relay races in the pool using a surfboard. All in all, an exhausting day, which the Year 9s and 10s threw themselves into.
In Week 8, House Captain Tom Sounness, along with Brodie Haywood and Sid Cullen Falconer finally completed the last leg of the 1003km Bibbulmun track after it was delayed from the previous term. No doubt the weather was more challenging which only added to the amount of resilience required. I talked to the clan last week about handling stress and made the point that people who have come through tough times can draw on that experience when you face the next tough time. The ability to say to yourself, “I have survived tough times in the past, I can survive this” is invaluable.
On Friday of week 8 we had the Cross Country. This event tells me a lot about a young man. Obviously, you’d expect good runners to do well. Even still to finish in the top 20 or so requires a degree of mental toughness. However, boys who may not be great runners, you’d expect to finish at the tail, when they achieve a halfway place, I take notice. These are the characteristics I admire and promote when I come to writing references. On the other hand, it was noticeable that due to the Bibbulmun track as well as injury, illness, and other reasons, about a quarter of the clan did not run the relatively short course of 3km. Below are some results for Stirling Clan.
Year 9 | Digby Smith 22, I set Henry Dyke the challenge of 130th and he achieved 83rd out of a year group of about 180. |
Year 10 | Rohan Bignell 3, Lachie Willmott 9, Loch Mactaggart 14, George Stoney 15 |
Year 11 | Lochie Elliott 9, Nevan Kosagi ran with sprained hand and earned 40 points for his house |
Year 12 | Tim Hardcastle 27th, Finn Beard 29th |
This term we have had several expeditions. The Year 10’s went to breakfast with Mrs Gareffa and me. We went to the C Blu restaurant at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe and enjoyed a cooked breakfast. Meanwhile the Year 11s had a day at Royal Perth Hospital on “the Party Program” that comes face to face with people who have survived traumatic accidents often because of drugs or alcohol. Given the age of the boys who are starting to get their driver’s licences, the timing of this is highly relevant. Lastly, we took all the Year 12s went on the Police led Northbridge at night tour. As the Year 12s begin to turn 18 and within five months they will have left school, the relevance of this tour was not lost on the boys.
Finally, as a head’s up the Boarders Ball Saturday 6th August and Mr Owenell has said,
Scotch Boarding is happy to cover the cost of all attending and expect that this is a compulsory recreation activity, so families will only need to purchase tickets for boys’ partners. If boys are unable to attend, please let Mr Owenell know by next Monday 20th June otherwise a ticket will be purchased for you.
Some Shoutouts:
- Colours for Jett Sibosado for basketball, Finn Beard for Volleyball and Tim Hardcastle for Swimming and Volleyball
- Lachie Gooding who last holidays flew a Cesna airplane solo, taking off flying a circuit and then safely landing back on the ground.
- George Stoney has made the U15 State Football team that flys to New South Wales in the holidays to play against all states
- Ed Graham (South Fremantle) Kalib Dempster Park (Perth) and Jett Sibosado (Claremont) all are playing club Football at Colts level.
- Lachie Elliot had a major role in the recent senior school drama production of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. Also Kai Fujii has a role in PLC’s senior production.
- Loch Mactaggart is the Vice Captain of the 10A Football team which have lost only once this season. In the last game against Christchurch there were 10 boarders playing and collectively they kicked 16 of the 19 goals in a 123-9 victory.
RJAH