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Headmaster's Update

College Blog Headmaster's Update
31 March 2021

In this week's article, Headmaster Fenner discusses the recent Intercollegiate fixtures with St Peter's College, the PAC Red and White Formal and more.

End of term
As the term draws to a close, I would like to thank all our families for your support during this first term. Overall, I think this has been a good term for the College and has finished off with some successful events as outlined below.

At governance level, Council has been working on finalising our new strategic plan. This is now just about complete and we will be in a position to launch our new strategic plan in second term. In addition, Council is also now resuming our capital works program, with the redevelopment and extension of our Secondary School Library and creation of additional classroom space, due to start late in second term.

I think we have all enjoyed resuming a regular round of events during this term, as many of us had missed these opportunities for community connection in 2020. We have had very good attendance at a range of events so far, indicating the importance of these school community events. I hope that our new families have been able to establish connections within the broader College community, which will continue throughout your children's time with us.

I wish all our families well for the break and we will look forward to seeing you in second term.

Summer sport

The last weekend of term saw the end of our summer sporting program with the majority of our Intercollegiate fixtures with St Peter's College. Whilst it was disappointing that a number of the cricket games were washed out, the major fixtures were able to take place as planned.

I think this series of first team Intercol fixtures was one of the best that I have seen, with some very exciting games and some outstanding performances by boys from both schools. We have seen school sport at its finest, with some outstanding individual talent on display, and well-coached, fit and skilful teams, playing with passion and purpose.
There were some wonderful performances by our teams and individual players, including Don Bui’s brilliant game against the Saints number one player in Badminton. Moreover, the epic water polo fixture was a game that no-one who was present will forget. Our swimming, tennis, water polo and cricket teams completed undefeated terms and our second-placed rowing 1st VIII could take some solace from the fact that the Saints 1st VIII went on to win the National Championships last weekend.
Perhaps most importantly, all our Intercollegiate fixtures were played in an excellent spirit by both teams, and the respect evident for the opposition from both sides was admirable. When our captains spoke at the trophy presentations, they reflected our commitment always to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. The Intercollegiate tradition is one of our special features and it is very gratifying to seeing it being conducted in this way.
I would like to express my appreciation to Director of Co-Curricular Activities Troy McKinnon, Head of Sport Paul Brown and all sports coordinators, coaches and players for another successful season.

Red and White

Last Saturday saw the PAC Red and White Formal take place at the Convention Centre. As was the case last year, only Year 12 students attended this event, together with their partners.

Having attended many such events, I can say that this was an outstanding occasion. There was a wonderful atmosphere in the room and our young men presented very well and were excellent hosts for the partners present. MCs Alex Henchliffe and Charlie Griffin did a fine job and the Year 12 Rock Band received an enthusiastic response from the audience.

We are very grateful to Year Level Coordinator Andrew McGregor, and Naomi de Wit and Felicity Liddy, in particular, for all their work in organising this special event.

Bradley Fenner
Headmaster