It is hard to believe that we are finishing Week 4 of Term 3 already!

Urban Challenge  

The Urban Challenge is a new pastoral program initiative for 2023 led by our Wellbeing Coordinator, Ms Elle Boller.  After many months of planning and liaising with Urban Challenge our team have now successfully completed their experience.

Below are some thoughts shared by Ms Elle Boller.

The Urban Challenge was an experience like no other. We started the day at 4am on Monday morning and seamlessly travelled to Central Station with 48 Year 10 students. To get to Sydney the students moved between the bus and two trains without a glitch and arrived to a busy Central Station – with Matilda’s fans visible throughout the city. Everyone was briefed by the Challenge Coordinator – students and team leaders were provided with their equipment (an ipad and a phone) and the instructions for their first challenge – to find a group sit down lunch!

The afternoon consisted of a clue chase. As you can imagine the Clue Chase is a fast-paced, amazing-race style challenge around Sydney's CBD. A trail of coloured envelopes had been laid out by the infamous Game Master and teams uncovered them by following clues, decoding riddles, and completing tasks set out for them. Along the way teams interacted with some local businesses and members of the public, taking photos, creating videos, chants, songs, choreographed dance routines and more! It was great to see the teams embrace these challenges and start to work together.

After these activities we went to find our accommodation in The Rocks. Students had some down time before we took the tram to Chinatown for a delicious meal followed by a ferry ride back to Circular Quay.

Day Two was a hot favourite with everyone. Students were given the mission to make their way to Paddo RSL where we engaged in a wonderful community service activity with ‘Kids Giving Back’. Students listened to personal stories and saw current homeless statistics before assisting to cook and package meals. These meals were to be delivered later that day to people in need in the city. Navigating to Bondi was next to uncover more clues and challenges along with lunch and a quick game of Ultimate Frisbee. For some groups the return trip to the accommodation had them navigating their way on three trains and a bus. It again, was eye-opening to watch the students walk through the train terminals during peak hour and see the challenges of trying to read the train maps.

In the early evening, 48 students and teachers headed back to the Quay where we caught the ferry to Cockatoo Island. The ferry ride was beautiful and so calming – a great view of the most gorgeous harbour. Cockatoo Island provided a historical walk through Dog-Leg tunnel and into the eerie brick buildings that the convicts had to build during the penal settlements. After our delicious dinner, the students danced and sang along to music during the silent disco overlooking the city lights. What a treat!

Day Three and final day - Teams were able to choose their own city zones to explore and complete the challenges. This was self-paced and it was great to watch individual team skills and groupwork in action. Points were earnt according to each team’s ability to work together effectively and progress through the clue sequence. Our Year 10 students had come so far in just three days. We are now waiting for the Game Master to inform us of the Team who has won the 2023 Carroll College Urban Challenge.  Who will win in 2024?

Thank you to the staff who accompanied the students; Mrs Amy Dalgleish, Mrs Linda Dwyer, Mr Matt King, Mr Andrew Kenneally, Ms Elle Boller and Mrs Louise Ibbett. Thank you to the parents for their support and to the students themselves for the way they participated and represented our school. The students took everything in their stride and accomplished some wonderful things together, a huge well done!

We are already excited about offering this experience to Year 10 2024.

Student Representative Council initiative  

National Bullying No Way Day will be held on Friday 18 August. Our Student Representative Council with the help of Mrs Erin Smith have organised a range of activities. The aim of the day is to increase awareness of what bullying is and how to respond if it is experienced at school, in the workplace or socially. The SRC has chosen to have a mufti day with orange as the preferred colour for clothing. Money raised via a gold coin donation or the purchase of cupcakes at the canteen will go to ‘Bully Zero’ Australia’s leading bullying prevention charity. 

Louise Ibbett

Assistant Principal Pastoral Care