Year 12 Retreat

This is the last week of Term I, for which I was on the Year 12 Retreat. We had about 45 boys and six staff from two of the eight Houses at our particular location (myself and another Housemaster, and our two Year 12 Mentors) and followed a programme of reflection and discussion about values, relationships and life issues. The setting was quite beautiful; we were in bushland outside Sydney to the west near Kurrajong Heights, surrounded by rolling hills and dense forest; plenty of bird life and a llama paddock on site.

This time last year I was trapsing through the National Park in pouring rain and single-figure temperatures, so whilst our accommodation and food were fairly basic, it was a much more relaxing experience at the end of a long and packed term.

This followed the 'Head of the River' GPS Rowing Regatta on the Nepean River on Saturday; most of the school attended, along with the other GPS schools, meaning a crowd of about 20 000. Newington is emerging from a lull in rowing fortunes over recent years, so it was good for us to get third place in the 1st VIII and to win the 2nd VIII.



Two more days of school to go (Professional Development mostly), then on Friday night I'm driving the 5-6 hour trip up to Tamworth for a wedding...