Sitting here in front of my keyboard in mine humble abode, with intrusively loud Nickelback music blaring out of speakers I somehow located in the nether depths of my room, wondering what exactly to write to give an adequate reflection of a term as different as this one, I cannot help but think that the most adequate reflection would be to simply dive straight in, and defy my long winded mannerisms. So here goes!

Arriving at school, still somewhat shellshocked at the prospect of… well, school, we as the Westerford student body were immediately thrown into a melee of exam pads, textbooks and other academic paraphernalia. This seemingly vain attempt to pack us with enough knowledge to survive the looming exams (which I was constantly reminded about by that nifty little countdown timer, on the left hand side of your screen, every time I updated something on the site) turned out to be effective in the end, with most students more or less surviving the exam period. Naturally, the only redeeming factor about exams is that they end and there was audible sigh of relief from all Westerford students around the Southern Suburbs when the aforementioned countdown timer changed to signify the end of exams.

All, that is, except for the Grade 11’s, who without even time to recover their former mental prowess had to commence Cabaret rehearsals immediately. They put on a truly spectacular show, despite a few minor hiccups and hats must truly be tipped to them for managing to put together a show of such calibre, considering that they had a week and a half less rehearsal time than previous Cabaret crews, as a result of the imminent World Cup.

During Cabaret performances, Cultural societies were also called upon to do their bit for the entertainment of the average Westerfordian Joe, in the form of a Culture Society-wide mass event, deemed the Culture C-C-Crunch! Over a total of four breaks on Monday and Tuesday the seventh and eighth of June, the societies went all out to make up for lost event time due to the shorter-than-usual term.

Holidays come as a welcome relief, then, with all this going on in a term so short. We can only hope that five weeks will be enough to recover from the complete burnout projected upon us by the fabled ‘Second Term 2010’, which I am doubly sure will go down in the annals of government school history for a long time to come.

With that said, I feel it justified that I recline in my chair, take a long, deep swig of Coca-Cola, navigate to some ‘Get Amped!’ music, take in a fervent breath of Five Week Freedom and draw this article to a close.

On holidays!

Duncan Hobbs,
Westerford Web Team Editor