Term 1

Thank you to everyone who gets involved with our academy. We wish you all the best over the Easter holidays. Without the support of the school, partners, families and extended community we would not be able to run such a thriving program. 

At the start of the week we did our best to get all the boys together for year group photos. Our plans for a Clontarf photo day clashed with some other extracurricular activities. As you'll see in the photos we had a lot of Year 8 boys out on the day. I also thought it would be great to get outdoor photos, not realising how the sun would be in the boys’ eyes and affecting their ability to pose for a good photo. Because of the previously mentioned reasons we will try to get photos again next term and hope to deliver a better product, but until then enjoy the photos of the boys we have here.

We still ran a full week of activities for the last week of school. Encouraging our boys to attend all the way up until the final bell on Friday. We had a pool competition in the academy room, UNO no mercy (which really tests friendships), played our multi-ball game on the basketball courts, buck golf on the lawn and held a special morning training inviting staff from the high school to join in. Not only was it evident that the young men in the academy really enjoyed having the teachers there. They asked if we could have the teachers down more often. We greatly appreciate the time the school staff took out of their day to join in on our morning training. It was a huge success with a lot of laughs. Never underestimate how much you can positively influence the boy’s day. The food was good with pancakes and fresh fruit for breakfast. A special shout out to Jessie-James for giving such a good thank you speech at the end of training and an even bigger shout out to his younger brother Callum who had 100% attendance for Term 1 at NHS. Callum did not miss one minute of school this term.   

Monday evening the Tourist Hotel hosted Narrabri Mayor Darrell Tiemens, Narrabri high school’s Principal Simon Warden, Year 11 Advisor Kent Baker, Clontarf Northwest Regional Manager, academy staff, all Year 11 students and their families. It was a night to celebrate the achievements of the young men in the program and demonstrate how much support they have in the community. It was inspiring to hear the passion Mayor Tiemens has for the program and the belief he has in the Clontarf students. He mentioned what a positive impact these boys are already making in the community and he cannot wait to see what more the future brings.

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning we had a number of our boys gather together for our weekly activities. Playing cricket on the basketball courts for our after-school activity and a bit of OzTag in the early hours for our morning training. Later on Wednesday morning 4 of our boys went across to Maitland Street Medical centre who have been working with us to ensure we get all the boys in the program a 715 Aboriginal Health check done.

Thursday and Friday, our Year 9/10 boys went to Tamworth to take part in a Super Training session alongside other Clontarf Academies from the North West region. After arriving Thursday afternoon, they settled in at Oxley High School before enjoying an all-you-can-eat buffet at Wests Diggers with the Inverell, Tamworth High, Oxley, and Moree academies. The night wrapped up with a movie at the cinemas, a great way to connect with the other boys. Friday, they started bright and early at 6 am, packing up swags and tidying up before jumping into an action-packed Super Training session with a variety of activities. It was good to see more engagement from some of the Narrabri Clontarf students. Well done men. 

After the super training session all the academies went and visited different Clontarf partners and potential employers around Tamworth. The Narrabri Mob met with Mel at BCF (Boating Camping and Fishing). She gave us a tour of the store explaining all the happenings in each sector.  The boys helped with some of the deliveries out back and restocking the shelves. All comparing who knows the most about fishing and who has caught the biggest fish. The staff in store had a lot of stories for our boys and hooked us all up with some fantastic head wear.

Term 1 has been so busy that week 7 is the first week we were able to run our full schedule of weekly activities.  2 x morning trainings, 2 x afternoon engagements, 1 x health session, 5 x health checks at Maitland Street Medical and our top bunch luncheon. 

Mondays we hold our top bunch lunch. This is a special cook up to celebrate the attendance of our Clontarf students. Any boy who is at school for at least 4 of the 5 school days of the week gets to eat. We don't leave anyone behind, so the boys who didn't attend 4 or 5 days the week prior still have something else to eat. This week Ashley and Corey cooked up a chicken and veg stir fry on rice. It was a huge hit with over 30 boys coming through the academy room. 

Tuesdays and Thursdays we have our afternoon engagements. All Clontarf boys who live in town are invited to hang back after school for a range of different activities. We then drop each of the boy’s home afterwards.  This week we had board games and a doubles pool competition in the room (won by Rydell and Sonny). Outside the room we went to Bunnings Warehouse were the boys built a flat back bookshelf to donate to an organisation and we jumped in the pool for a cool down. We are averaging about 12 boys to each afternoon engagement. There is plenty of room for more. 

Wednesdays and Fridays we have our early morning trainings. Were two staff members start the day at 6:00am picking-up Clontarf boys. Driving between Stafford Drive and Railway Street North we try to ensure as many boys as possible have the opportunity to attend. This week we split into two teams and played a few different games. Most enjoyable was the fitness relay. Which we'll likely do more of throughout the term. Our main focus was rugby league-based skills playing games of Oz tag and touch football. We are averaging about 20 boys to each morning training which is great to see, but we'd like to get up to 30 boys to a single session. School staff are always invited to attend. We greatly appreciate when staff can find the time to join in. Shout out to Mr. Mair for consistently showing up.

Last thing for the week we assisted the NHS Year 7 Geography excursion to Sawn Rocks in Kaputar National Park. It was good to see both the Clontarf and non Clontarf students learning outside the classroom. 

Week 5 and we continue to see a lot of excitement around the academy room. Boys eager to challenge each other to games of pool or ping pong. For those who prefer to relax we have a custom-made Narrabri Clontarf 'guess who' game. Which has been getting a lot of laughs lately. 'Uno No Mercy' has been another popular game of late and as the name suggests it can put friendships to the test. 

For Tuesday’s afternoon activity our boys cooked a barbecue and gave room tours as a part of the Year 7 family barbecue meet and greet. The young men jumped at the opportunity to help out. All eager to impress the community members who showed up. Even despite the heat it was a good turn out from the families. 

Wednesday, we had our first morning training for the year. With so much going on each week we haven't been in the academy room as much as usual. Already we have had 2 camps and attended the school's swimming carnival. Great to see such a large number of boys getting up early and running around. Our morning trainings will focus on skills, drills and mini games that relate to upcoming Clontarf carnivals and camps. We have started with rugby league as it coincides with the NRL season launch and Years 7 & 8 have a carnival coming up in Term 2 and Years 9 & 10 a carnival in Term 3. 

Thursday and Friday we took 14 out of our 15 Year 7 boys away for their first Clontarf camp. It was unfortunate timing for the one fella who couldn't make it and we'll work closely with him to ensure he gets on the next one.  After a full day at school, we packed up the box trailer, provided by our partners over at Coates, and set off to Kaputar National Park. 

First stop was Deriah Aboriginal Area were the boys walked up to the lookout whilst dinner was being prepared. Everyone appreciated the great views and great burgers for dinner. Enjoying ourselves a little too much we left our ascent to Dawsons Springs a little too late. Setting up our swags in the dark. All the boys were legends getting in and getting the job done and then helping their mates if they needed it. The night's sleep was disturbed with Kangaroos sniffing around constantly. Licking and attempting to eat towels, bags or whatever they could get their paws on. 

Even with the bothersome kangaroos and some silly giggling children we all got a pretty good sleep. Up before dawn we headed along the Summit Walk to watch the sunrise. The morning walk wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but it was great to see the young men put in the work to get to the peak of the mountain and watch the day's first light. We were joined enjoying the sunrise by some wild goats. Interesting scenes. 

After breakfast on the mountain and pack up we headed to Woolworths, another of Clontarf's partners, for a worksite visit. The boys were met by store manager Jake who led the tour. Our final stop and certainly not the least we headed out to the Narrabri Fish Farm. Here the boys got to go fishing, Yabby racing, swimming, a tour of the property and were cooked fish and chips for lunch. Jayden caught the first fish of the day closely followed by Codie, Jaxon, Tyler, Bronson and Callum. The last of which took home a prize for the biggest catch of the day. Big thank you to Rick and Scotty for looking after us out at the fish farm. Can't wait to head out there again.