Festivals and Tours
Each year we organise a lineup of tours and festivals where our boys travel beyond the classroom to develop their understanding and skill-sets through seeing and experiencing for themselves.
Our aim to provide exciting and engaging learning opportunities that encourage all boys discover what’s possible informs our Festivals and Tours calendar. Each year academic staff organise a lineup of tours and festivals focusing on different areas of inquiry that take our boys beyond the classroom to learn through hands-on experience.
Newington College hosts biennial Literature and Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Festivals to help broaden the scope of learning, inquiry and engagement for our boys at the Stanmore Campus. Not only do these Festivals feature presentations and demonstrations from industry leaders on topics from the latest in 3D animation to Sports Journalism, but they also provide insight into some careers that are available to the boys in the future. Our Festivals are great breeding grounds for innovation, and inventive thinking. They demonstrate how far a passion or interest can take you and showcase the real life applications of some of those brilliant light bulb moments.
Our academic staff work collaboratively behind the scenes to put on a show worth waiting for. Often Festival guests are booked months in advance and the College uses its extensive Alumni and parents network to recruit presenters who are both on and off the usual speaking circuit.
STEM Festival
Newington College held its inaugural Science and Technology Festival in September 2010 and since then the festival has grown from constructing bottle rockets to making Pappardelle. Boys from Year 6 to Year 11 attend the three day event, which features experiences like a blow-up planetarium, 'Mathletics' competitions, robotics demonstrations and NewChef challenge. Every two years the Festival is refreshed to cater for the changing interests and curiosities of our boys.
New Facilities for STEM Learning
The new Science and Technology facilities of the Rae and Pyke Centre and Nesbitt Wing are excellent venues for many of the sessions during the STEM Festival. Our university-standard Lecture Theatre and three Science Super Labs means that demonstrations and presentations gain a whole new level of engagement and professionalism. With the Festival’s aim to expose our boys to new ways of thinking about science, technology. engineering and mathematics, it helps to have world-class amenities to facilitate the learning process.
Literature Festival
The aim of the Literature Festival is to encourage and excite the boys about the many faces of literature through the opportunity to interact with over 70 writers – novelists, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, journalists, historians, scientists, and other non-fiction writers.
The inaugural Newington Literature Festival took place in April 2003 and it is now a biennial event. The Festival covers three days and involves students from Kindergarten to Year 12. A daily newspaper, PostScript, is also published by Newington boys during the Festival.
Today the Biennial Literature Festival involves boys from Kindergarten to Year 12 from Newington College as well as students from neighbouring public schools in Ashfield, Haberfield, Newtown and Petersham.
Past Presenters:
- Archimede Fusillo
- Arnold Zable
- Gerard Bauer
- Barry Heard
- Claire Dunn
- Monkey Baa Theatre Company
Visit the LitFest Insite!
Learn more about this year’s Festival Highlights and read the reflections of our Postscript team.
Tours and Exchanges
The opportunity to go on tour or exchange is open to all Newington boys in line with their co-curricular and academic subjects. Our sport tours focus on skill development and the opportunity to compete with teams from other countries and states and offer a great opportunity to see more of the world. Similarly, our academic and co-curricular tours hope to bring the concepts and themes that are introduced in the classroom to life.
We believe the opportunity to go on tour is a great privilege. Not only do they provide eye-opening experiences that leave a lasting impression on the boys, our tours are great opportunities for the boys to develop and grow emotionally, socially and intellectually as young men of the world.
Language and Cultural Exchange
Many of our boys wish to one day live or study abroad. While in secondary school, our boys can realise that dream through a Language and Cultural exchange. Organised through the Language department, student exchanges provide an opportunity to practise a language or observe customs and cultures in much more depth
Current opportunities include:
- The Woodbridge Exchange Program for Year 9 boys to study for six weeks in Suffolk, England.
- Language exchange with Lycée St Vincent in Senlis, France
- New connections currently being established in Holland, Italy and Japan.
Our exchange boys enjoy a different setting for their studies and often undertake supplementary language lessons while at their host schools. The reciprocal nature of these exchanges often means that the Newington community have the unique opportunity to hosts exchange partners.
Benefits of the Exchange Program
- Promoting intercultural understanding
- Establishing friendships across diverse backgrounds and cultures
- Developing a sense of international citizenship
- Enhancing foreign language study
- Fostering a commitment to the principles of peace, social justice and mutual respect.
Students are encouraged to participate either as exchange students or as hosts in order to broaden their understanding of different cultures and to gain a greater appreciation of their own country.
