Middle/Senior School Bulletin Issue 11 / 19 August 2016 Middle & Senior School News It was a pleasure to visit the Year 11 students while they were at leadership camp last week. The camp experience was physically intense, mentally challenging and an incredible bonding experience for the whole cohort. Students are now in the process of nominating for elected leadership positions in 2017.
Many students are involved in Eisteddfods this month and St Andrews continues to perform extremely well. Last Friday the combined choir shared their beautiful voices and performed at our Years 7-12 Assembly. Throughout the day and evening, our dancers performed seven routines at the Gold Coast Eisteddfod and placed in six of those dances. One of the routines featured our percussion ensemble and two dances were choreographed by Year 12 student, Lucy Hourn. Individual results are listed in the Performing Arts section. Seven senior drama students also performed at the Gold Coast Drama Festival, an event that has been running for over 40 years. They performed a production of Black Comedy, directed by Trent Ivett. Jonathon Aiello was awarded a trophy for best comedic actor.
It was a real privilege to listen to Kelly Mackay (Year 10), Ty Sheers (Year 12) and Mr Carter (Head of HPE) share their recent experiences of walking the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea with staff and students at assembly. Ty has undergone training with the Kokoda Youth Foundation as a youth leader and Kelly and Mr Carter crossed paths as they trekked the trail in opposite directions. Our strong tradition of being involved with the Kokoda Youth Foundation and our local Kokoda events continues to be an inspiration. Our Mufti day last week raised $1,163.85 for the Kokoda Youth Foundation. Ty also visited Year 4 students last week to share with them his experiences of service on the East Timor Christian Service Tour last holidays.
This week the Leos Club held a cupcake stall for the RSPCA and students were encouraged to register for the upcoming 40 Hour Famine and Relay for Life events. Our Junior and Senior Chess teams performed very well at the AGCC Chess Tournament. We entered three teams; two Juniors and one Senior. In the Junior division, we came second, narrowly defeated by 1.5 points. In the Senior division, we tied for first place on 25 points (32 being the maximum). After a tie break, we were placed second. In the Senior division, individual results saw Benjamin Watson (Year 11) placed second and Charles Horsley (Year 12) placed third. Thank you to Dr Naidoo for working with Chess club and to the students for their exemplary conduct. On the weekend a number of students took part in the MLTAQ Griffith University Speech Contest. Congratulations to all involved for their work in preparing a long speech, delivered with no palm cards and then responding to questions in a second language. To compete in itself is a real achievement and many of our students were awarded Highly Commended; Nina Hill (Year 7) was awarded Second Place and Paris McKay-Holley (Year 12) was awarded Fourth Place.