Clontarf Academy 2025

Term 4 - Week 10

Not a lot to report in the final week of school. As everything winds down and everyone prepares for the holiday season we took it pretty easy in the academy room. Holding a range of different games indoors to escape the heat. We played VR boxing, table tennis, walking the plank challenge and beat sabre games, Pool comps, Ping Pong comps, Poker, Uno and had a range of challenges and give aways.

All the students who came in the last few days were rewarded with NRL merchandise and extra feeds. The boys also were a huge help in tidying up the room, helping with a deep clean of our space and rearranging some furniture. Preparing us for next year.

On behalf of everyone at Narrabri Clontarf Academy we wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy holiday period. Be safe and have fun.

Term 4 - Week 9

Year 12 major Camp started on Sunday the 30th of November. Two of our three Year 12 graduates, Braedon and Blake, embarked on an unforgettable experience to Darwin with 13 other Year 12 boys from our northwest region. We started the trip with a visit to Santos, where the boy’s gained insight into the industry and potential career pathways.

After the Santos visit, we had lunch and then headed out to Crocodylus Park, where we saw some massive crocodiles and got to hold the baby ones. We also had the opportunity to watch them being fed while we were on the boat.

Our next activity was the one everyone was excited about: Barramundi Adventures. It was worth the wait, with Ben from Oxley High School catching the biggest fish of the day. We then travelled to Katherine and visited Katherine Gorge, where the boys were able to take in the scenery and learn about the natural beauty of one of the best places the NT has to offer.

Overall, the Darwin trip was a memorable one and a great way for the boys to finish Year 12, creating lasting memories before heading into the next chapters of their young lives.

Term 4 - Week 8

Around the Narrabri Clontarf academy in week 8, we had our final after school activity with Narrabri Public school. The boys played a range of Clontarf games and finished with 5 on 5 basketball. Morning trainings we put bat to ball and tested out our cricket skills, no standout future test players in Narrabri yet, nonetheless the boys all had a cracking time.

Thursday after school we gave the boys a few different smoothie options too choose from. The boys split into small groups, had to collect all the ingredients from the fridge prepare the foods and then blend it all together. To no one’s surprise the super berry smoothy was voted the favourite and the green machine (with cucumber, celery and spinach) was voted the least popular.

Saturday, we held a barbecue fundraiser. The barbecue that was originally planned for Saturday the 22nd of November had to be postponed due to bad weather and went ahead on Saturday 6th of December. We had 5 of our junior academy members give up their time to help raise money for a worthy cause. The boys set a goal of $500 to raise and donate to the White Ribbon Australia Foundation. A small contribution to help support sufferers of domestic violence and educate young men. The boys smashed their goal raising $667.

Term 4 - Week 7

For our first activity this week we spent the afternoon with Stage 3 students from Narrabri Public School. We played a range of games together on the basketball court before cooling off with cold drinks, fruit pieces and icy poles. Next week will be our third and final primary school engagement activity with the town school.

Both Wednesday and Friday morning trainings were spent playing cricket and developing our skills. With so much cricket on the tv at this time of the year we figured no better time to be outside hitting the ball around. Hand eye coordination is pretty good amongst all the boys. They do need to take their time whilst batting and stop trying to hit every ball for six. Although, it does keep the games exciting and quick paced. Next week we will continue the mornings with cricket focusing on our bowling techniques.

We were back at Narrabri West Public on Wednesday afternoon. Five of our best young leaders headed over to the preschool to join in on some games with the youngest students. Playing bingo, dancing and reading during story time. After which we went over to the hall to show the Stage 1 students some traditional animal dances of the Kamilaroi region.

Thursday Harley started work experience at the Challenge recycle centre. He was partnered up on the sorting belt with Clontarf alumni Lenny. Both boys worked well together. Harley will be out there for work experience twice a week for the remainder of the school term.

After school on Thursday we jumped in the pool to cool off, before half of the boys attending headed to Cooma oval to play in the town's social Oz Tag comp.

Finally a friendly reminder that we are holding a fundraising barbecue for White Ribbon Australia at Bunnings on Saturday 6^th of December from 8:00am to 1:00pm. Please come down for a snag and or drink. If you would like to help out or know any current or Clontarf alumni please let me know.

Term 4 - Week 6

This week we rewarded our students starting the term with attendance over 80%, all students were offered a haircut at the new barber in town paid for by Clontarf. We saw our students actively involved in programs throughout the school. Year 7 participating in the play is the way program, Year 9 and 10 sitting through a drug and alcohol session hosted by Centrecare, playing touch football on the oval for the combined Clontarf/NHS touch competition and attending our morning trainings (touch football) and afternoon activities (pool and return and earn).

Narrabri hosted a record number of students at annual awards night. At the end of last week, we held our annual Narrabri Clontarf Awards night. We are pleased to report this was the biggest turn out in Narrabri's short history. We had over 40 boys, 30 family members, 15 school staff and 10 supporters/partners in attendance. We also had record numbers of award recipients. Not only did every boy in attendance receive an award we had 48 students achieve over 80% attendance for the year and 36 students nominated by their teachers for our education awards. Our most prestigious awards went to Rydell (Principal Award), Lucas (Employment Award), Blake (Emu of the Year Award), Lucas, Callum, Leondre and Rodney (Young Achiever Award), Leondre and Cameron (Top Trainer Award). After the awards evening and barbecue dinner 21 of the boys stayed back to sleep in the hall. They played games, watched movies and enjoyed party food, that they purchased with their money from return and earn. All boys who slept over also participated in morning training the next day. Which was our largest morning training for the year and one step closer to hitting our goal of 25.

Term 4 - Week 5

Monday, we started our long drive to Sydney. Drive felt even longer when we got stuck behind a two-lane oversize load.

Tuesday, the Emus headed into Cronulla Stadium, also known as "Shark Park," where they met Jada Taylor, Nicho Hynes, and Emma Verran for a lovely stadium tour. Tyran had banter with Nicho about the missing goal posts on the fields, saying, "That's why you missed all year, the goal posts were down." After our fabulous stadium tour, we headed back to Wanda Surf Club for a BBQ lunch. Following lunch, we went to Flip Out, where the boys spent two hours and loved every minute of it, flipping, jumping, diving and climbing around the rooms.

On Wednesday, we ventured into the city for a walking exploration of the CBD and harbour. We started off with a captain's run for our OzTag teams. Followed

by exploring the Entertainment Quarter before moving into Circular Quay. We finished our walk with a movie at IMAX Sydney. After our busy day in the city, Cronulla RSL served us a delicious dinner of steak and prawns “surf & turf”.

Thursday was a big day, we started at the crack of dawn, packed our gear, loaded the bus, and headed to East's Rugby Field for the Fox Sports Carnival. All matches commenced shortly after 10am. The Emus had two teams in the carnival, Team One linked up with Helga's Bread, while Team Two partnered with Fox Sports. Both sides ended up with the same number of wins but, unfortunately, did not make the finals. Tyreake won the Passing Competition with an outstanding score of 380 points. After the OzTag carnival, we headed to Muswellbrook Clontarf stayed in the academy room. On Friday, we finished our travels and headed home to Narrabri. All the boys enjoyed the opportunity to be on the trip as their enthusiastic attendance was evident.

Term 4 - Week 4

This was our final week visiting Narrabri West Public for our Tuesday afternoon activities. We took a small group of our high school students over to run some games and activities. This is an awesome opportunity for the Stage 3 students to mix with the high school students and get to experience what Clontarf has to offer before they come to high school. For weeks 6, 7 and 8 we will be doing the same with the Narrabri Public students.

Morning trainings consisted of our usual warmups, stretching the muscles and moving the body. Lots of great chat from the boys to bring the energy and lift the mood. We practiced different OzTag skills and drills before finishing each session with a game.

Ahead of our upcoming camp to Cronulla, Sydney. The boys had to pass our strict swimming protocols. We went to the pool to assess everyone's swimming ability before taking them to the beach. The boys all did really well and will get to enjoy the sun, sand and surf next week.

Term 4 - Week 3

Narrabri Emu's and Mrs Flood travelled to Quirindi academy for the Northwest annual ping pong carnival. Narrabri Emu's had a great time and were so happy to be there. They showed great Clontarf spirit through their sportsmanship and ability to help others. Standings and skills don't matter when everyone comes home smiling after a fun camp. Proud of the boys who attended. CJ was selected by our regional manager as one of the best behaved students on the camp. As well as ping pong the boys had a cook up of curried sausages and enjoyed the lightshow and stories at the silos.

Each week we hold a lunch for our students who attend at or over 80% the week prior. This week we had build your own burger. Jesse's works burger looked delicious, whilst the upside-down beef burger and some of the chicken burgers lacked the creativity of JJQ.

For our afternoon activity we were at the West Primary School again playing a range of games. Morning trainings our boys practiced their skills for the upcoming Fox Sports Oz Tag carnival in Eastern Sydney.

Term 4 - Week 2

We had a range of different activities happening in the Clontarf room this week.

Starting off with our in-house Ping Pong Challenge where we folded the table up and tested out, not only our hand eye coordination but also our ability to focus. JJQ came out on top with a massive 358 hits. He was followed in second by Tyreake and Cody was in third.

Similar to term four last year we are visiting the primary schools around Narrabri, interacting with the next generation of Narrabri High students. Our boys ran a handful of games with the Stage 3 ATSI boys at Narrabri West Public, playing rock, scissors, paper, circle tag, love at first sight and bullrush. All games were played in great Clontarf Spirit. It was inspiring to see the young men set such a good example for the primary aged students.

Our term 3 raffle winners received their prizes. They were not in the mood to smile, but I promise they were very happy to be winners.

Wednesday morning, we played a range of tag games. Corey and Ashley are running sessions to prepare our Year 9 and 10 students for their upcoming Sydney trip. The boys will be playing in a Clontarf Oz tag Carnival hosted by Fox Sports.

Lastly, we played some games in the room that we'd all seen on the internet. Due to some camera errors, we don't have the best videos, but it was a good laugh when we had to eat the mayo, soy sauce or hot sauce when we were trying to get one of the sweeter toppings.

Term 4 - Week 1

This week we rewarded Callum with a brand new pair of shoes for having the highest school attendance from Term 3. We also held our raffles which saw Leondre, Tyrell and Rylan win prizes for both their school attendance and Clontarf engagement. We held two morning trainings on the basketball courts and handed out newsletters to our local supporters.

On Wednesday we attended a camp in the shire. Six boys from Moree, Inverell and Narrabri were each selected from their academies to come together for the Northwest’s partnership engagement camp. The Clontarf boys and staff travelled to sawn rocks where we took the partners for a walk. Each of the Narrabri Clontarf students informed all present on the formation, history and scale of the rocks. We even encountered a few billy goats along the way. It was a great way to start the camp. After which we drove up to Dawson’s Springs campgrounds at the top of Kaputar National Park. The academies split into groups with our corporate partners to prepare dinner for our master chef style cooking comp, the meals were Cowboy Beef Stew, Devils Sausages and Coconut Chicken Curry. Narrabri were awarded the win in a controversial adding up of scores. With 8, 8 and 8.5 somehow beating 7.5, 8.5 and 9. After dinner and dessert we sat around the campfire sharing what we are grateful for and a few stories before climbing into our swags.

We were up early for a 2km return walk to the summit of Mt Kaputar, were we intended to have beautiful views of the surrounds, but the weather and heavy fog had other ideas. None the less, everyone enjoyed the fresh morning air and a walk before heading back down to Narrabri Fish Farm. Rick gave us a hands on and interactive tour of the facilities at the fish farm. Narrabri Emu’s had a great time catching up with their brothers and meeting all the fantastic people working for our partners. A big thank you from us to everyone involved.