St. Benedict's Catholic College
July 28, 2017
Good Luck Year 12!
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
In the gospel last weekend we heard that Christ often taught using parables. The parable from this gospel involved the sower spreading his wheat crops and a disgruntled competitor sneaking in and spreading darnel (a weed) amongst the crop. The obvious aim of the competitor was to make the crop useless and cause disruption to the growing and harvesting of the crop. This gospel has a number of messages that can be applied to our modern day experiences.
One of these messages is that often, when we are trying to do good things, there may be others whose aim is to make life hard by sowing doubt, fear or anger. These are the darnel that has been placed among the good that we are trying to make happen. In our own lives, we might look at whether we are sowing the good seed or the darnel but also how we react to those trying to interrupt our ‘good crop’. Part of the message of the gospel is that we must strive to be the wheat, rather than the darnel, so that at the harvest we are valued and saved.
Yesterday we held the Semester 1 Academic Assembly where we acknowledged the great work of all students, but specifically noted the achievement of those who excelled by ranking first in subjects, and those who achieved all ‘A’s on their reports. Both of these are excellent achievements. We are looking to extend this recognition in Semester 2 by including those students who achieved the highest level of personal profile achievements across all their subjects. This is a recognition of those students who always give of their best. I thank Mr Bombardiere once again for the organisation and coordination of this major event.
Following this assembly, the Hospitality group of the Parents and Friends association provided an exceptional morning tea for our visiting parents and award winning students. The volume and quality of the food was impressive and I thank the P&F for the hospitality and welcome that was evident here. Thank you also to the many parents who assisted by sending food in that could then be served by some of our fantastic Year 10 Food Technology students. Thank you all.
At each of the assemblies last term and this, I have been introducing two new words asking the students to consider how they may apply to their everyday living. Each pair of words reflects that there are both rights and responsibilities with how we act and the decisions we make. The words so far have been; Gratitude and Generosity, Respect and Resilience, Perseverance and Patience and Uniqueness and Understanding. At yesterday’s Academic Assembly, I spoke of Opportunity and Ownership and encouraged all students to create their own opportunities for growth and take ownership of their lives and decisions.
Since the last newsletter, we have had a number of events that have made great contributions to College life. Last Tuesday was the NAIDOC assembly. We witnessed some valuable contributions building to this assembly with the choir singing the Aboriginal ‘Our Father’ as our prayer and the procession of an aboriginal banner whilst one of our students showcased his talents through dance. The banner has been placed into the library for students to view and appreciate.
On Wednesday the athletics carnival was held at Leumeah. This event ran very smoothly thanks to the great organisation of Ms Liska and the PDH staff. The sunshine and active participation of the large numbers of students who attended was reflected in a number of records being broken and the positive feedback from students and staff at the conclusion of the day. Thank you to the parents who assisted on the day and a big congratulations to Ms Liska.
The Years 8 & 10 Parent/Teacher meetings were held on Thursday evening, again with a positive response from both parents and teachers. The communication that occurs both during and following these meetings is invaluable and I encourage parents to make contact with teachers as the need arises.
Finally, last week we interviewed the Year 11 students who have nominated for 2018 College Leadership positions. This process will continue for another few weeks and an announcement made before the end of term. I am encouraged and proud of the fantastic young women and men growing through our College and have no doubt that our student leadership next year will again make a positive and valuable contribution to College life.
Steve Lo Cascio
Acting Principal
A reminder that Friday 11 August is a Staff Development Day (Pupil Free).
Good luck to Year 12 who commence their Trial HSC exams on Monday 31 July.
Please note that the P&F meeting is in Week 6, Tuesday 22 August.
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF MISSION AND VISION
The Prayer Focus for the start of this term is on Hospitality. This is an important Benedictine virtue and one that we will have an opportunity to put into practise as the term progresses. The Benedictine understanding of Hospitality revolves around the receiving of guests (possibly not known to us) who deserve special attention and should be received as if they were Jesus. The challenging nature of this teaching is that hospitality may require changes of attitude and lifestyles in order to see Jesus in everyone. In fact, for St Benedict, welcoming the stranger (or people he didn’t know) was so important that he instructed his monasteries to put the oldest and wisest monk at the front gate to greet the strangers. This raises some important questions we can ask ourselves. Are we hospitable and welcoming to all in our lives? Do we greet all people that we encounter in this welcoming manner?
In Week 3 we will have the opportunity to put our Benedictine Hospitality into practice when we welcome our visiting Japanese students. These students have travelled far and are coming to a country with a very different culture and language. As these young men and women enter our College, I would hope that we all remember St Benedict’s important teaching and welcome the stranger as if they were Jesus. The Social Action group has plans to assist in helping the visiting students in this challenging time.
Pope Francis spoke of welcoming people as this was important so they can receive the love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness of God.
The Church that is holy does not reject sinners; she does not reject us all; she does not reject because she calls everyone, welcomes them, is open even to those furthest from her, she calls everyone to allow themselves to be enfolded by the mercy, the tenderness, and the forgiveness of the Father, who offers everyone the possibility of meeting him, of journeying toward sanctity.
General Audience, October 2 2013.
There are some important exams coming up for our Year 12 students with the Trial HSC examinations commencing next week. This will be a stressful time for the students and I would encourage all of us to pray for them in this period. Importantly, each homeroom will be allocated some members of the Year 12 cohort to include in their prayers. Good luck to Year 12 as they complete these exams.
The Australian Catholic Youth Festival will be held at the end of the year in Sydney. We will have many Year 10 and 11 students attending this incredible event which, as well as being very enjoyable, will help enliven their faith. Even though the festival is in December the students will have a lot of opportunities on offer in preparation. Among these will be the upcoming Youth events at school like GLOW or LIVE, and the Wollongong Youth Festival.
I was very pleased to receive some very positive feedback about our student Catechists. The students in Year 10 and 11 who participate in this do a wonderful job and I thank them for their commitment to the program and to their faith, as well as continuing to build on the positive reputation of our College.
David Costin
Director of Mission and Vision
Acting Assistant Principal
ACADEMIC STARS SHINE
On Thursday, July 27, the College community celebrated the academic achievements of all students from Years 7 to 12, in Semester 1. This ceremony, chaired by Prefects for Learning, Maddison Maher and Shanae Slatterry, and announced by our Director of Learning and Teaching, Mr. Ric Bombardiere, is a regular and important public acknowledgement of the outstanding achievements of our top scholars.
The assembly recognised them, with citations and certificates, and for the first time in the history of the College, students who achieved "straight A grades".
Below is the full list of award recipients.
Year 7 Awards
Joseph Abdallah: Science
Rhiannon Essex: English
Charlotte Gibbs-White: Mathematics, History, Technology Mandatory, Visual Arts
Edan Ravino: Religious Education
Kristina Stipicic: PDHPE
Alex Tedesco: Religious Education
Year 8 Awards
Emily Azzopardi: Spanish
Ethan Brodbeck: Mathematics
Nicholas Carroll: Technology Mandatory
Riley Hinton: PDHPE
Caitlyn Humbles: Religious Education
Becca Isaac: English
Amelia Kubecka: Science
Paris Murray: Geography
Hannah Small: Music
Year 9 Awards
Chenoa Brimble: PDHPE, Physical Activity and Sports Studies
Isabelle Brown-Rogers: Drama
Darcey Christl: Science, History, Commerce, History Elective
Indhi Downie: Visual Art
Mia Gibbs-White: Religious Education, Mathematics
Alexia Hobman: Graphics Technology
Annalise Jennings: Commerce
Isabella Ravino: Food Technology
Bree Slattery: English, Child Studies
Ashlee Stevens: Industrial Technology- Timber
Year 10 Awards
Alana Azzopardi: Physical Activity and Sports Studies
Marie Bull: Spanish
Gabrielle Davis: Geography
Hannah Elborough: Commerce
Carol Halim: Religious Education
Allirah Hill: Religious Education, Design and Technology, Visual Arts
Emily Newton: Mathematics, Food Technology, Music
Skye Slattery: English
Lily-Rose Stead: PDHPE
Angus White: Visual Arts
Zac Winters: Information Software and Technology
Portia Zuber: Science, Graphics Technology
Year 11 Awards
Rajpreet Bajwa: Biology
Madeline Bell: Industrial Technology
Maddison Crawford: English Advanced, English Extension, Ancient History,
Legal Studies, Geography
Cooper Davidson: Music I
Mikayla Gauci: Community and Family Studies, Design and Technology
Thomas Haidle: Catholic Studies 1
Veronica Hatgiantounio: English Standard
Gabrielle Hooton: Mathematics Extension
Ben Krsulja: English Studies
Harrison Mäe: Visual Arts, Modern History
Jessica Mannion: Exploring Early Childhood 1
Sophia Marquez: Computing Applications
Lachlan Meredith: Construction
Angelique Pallar: Chemistry, Business Studies
Jayden Price: Mathematics General
Elyse Triantis: Mathematics, PDHPE
Paryss Tully: Sports, Lifestyle and Recreation Studies 1
Year 12 Awards
Emily Arnold: Community and Family Studies
Madison-Leigh Colmenar: Industrial Technology
Maddison Evans: Senior Science
Kody Fletcher: Modern History, Legal Studies
Gabrielle Hatgiantounio: English Studies
Mariah Kent: Hospitality
Melissa Knott: English Standard
Maddison Maher: Design and Technology, English Extension,
Shanae Slattery: English Advanced, Studies of Religion 1, Mathematics General 2
Micheal Smsarian: Catholic Studies 1, Mathematics, Business Studies
Patrick Stafford: Mathematics General 1
Joshua Taylor: Biology, PDHPE
Isabelle Taylor: Ancient History
Thomas Walker: Construction
Emily Winters: Mathematics Extension 1
"ACADEMIC ALL ROUNDER" AWARDS: (Students who attained A grades in all subjects on their Semester 1 reports)
Year 7
Lachlan Crawford, Charlotte Gibbs-White
Year 8
Amelia Kubecka
Year 9
Darcey Christl, Mia Gibbs-White, Isabella Ravino
Shanae (Year 12), Skye, (Year 10) and Bree, (Year 9) Slattery, 3 sisters who all achieved first place in English, Semester One.
Year 11 prize winning students, (L-R) Tom Haidle, Lachlan Meredith and Cooper Davidson.
First in Ancient History, Year 12, Isabelle Taylor and her grandparents, Mr and Mrs Soane.
Paris Murray, Year 8, First in Geography, with her proud parents.
FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY FOR YEARS 7, 8 and 9!
We are very excited to announce, for Years 7, 8, and 9, a study skills seminar for Thursday, 10 August, 2017, Dr Prue Salter of Enhanced Learning Educational Services (pictured below) (www.enhanced-learning.net) will be conducting the seminar for the students and their parents from 6pm - 7.40pm, in the SBCC Library.
ELES is an Australian business based in Sydney, with over 20 years experience in high school education. Dr Salter is a renowned educational practitioner with many academic credentials and with a strong presence in the academic community. Her research and practise is focused on how students can unlock the power of their minds, which which leads to an informative, engaging, action-oriented and entertaining seminar.
Dr Salter is also the author of the study skills website to which the college subscribes, where all parents can access at home. Parents and students are able to log into the website using the details provided on the permission note brought home by your son/daughter in Week 2.
Research and evidence gathered from many years of education show that the happiest, and most successful students enjoy a three way partnership; themselves, their teachers AND their parents.
What we are hoping for here at the College is to strengthen that three way relationship. Bringing you, the parents, more fully into the education game is the aim. Hopefully this can be a start, and we look forward to seeing you to see this highly successful and professionally renowned presenter.
Andy Lundy
Parent and Community Engagement Coordinator
Dr. Prue Salter, Of Enhanced Learning Services.
Welcome
We also welcome back Mrs Tara Wilkinson to PDHPE.
DIOCESAN NETBALL GALA DAY
Traffic delays on our trip to Berkeley Netball Courts on Monday 24 July meant that we arrived with only 8 minutes till the start of our first game. The girls dressed quickly before making their way to the first of their eight games for the day.
The mood of the day was set right from the beginning with all of the St Benedict’s teams winning their first game. The Junior Girls’ team won all of their games on the day, including a tight game against Holy Spirit. The fierce determination and skills of the girls proved to be too good for the opposition with the girls finishing first in their division.
The Intermediate Girls worked well as a team and proved to be true sportswomen, finishing third in their division. The Senior Girls gelled well as a team and were able to win seven of their eight games. A special mention must go to Maddison Evans (Year12) who was the only Year 12 student to represent the College at DIO Netball. Her experience in playing representative netball will be surely missed in the future.
Lastly a big thank you to the umpires for the day, Breanna Mifsud, Emma Hooton and Gabrielle Hooton who offered their time to assist the girls with their games. Thank you also to the parents who came to support the girls on the day.
Well done ladies on the fantastic results; it was a great achievement for the College and we can't wait for next year!!!
Miss Julia Liska
NSW ALL SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY
Friday 20 July was a history making day for the College as we had two qualifiers for the NSW All Schools Cross Country event, with Jared Madsen (Year 11) and Connor Price (Year 7) representing the College.
For both of these boys it was a great achievement as it was the furthest they had progressed for this sport. Jared carried a foot injury for the duration of the run however he still came 28th in his age group in a field of 90+, which is a great achievement. Connor Price, our youngest runner to run at this level, ran very well in his age group, coming in 18th overall.
As a College we are very proud of both boys and their great achievement. The dedication and commitment you both show for your long distance running is to be commended.
Connor Price
Jared Madsen
Tuesday Sport MVPs
Congratulations to the following students who were nominated as MVPs for Week 2:
7A (MILO Cricket): Zachery Newman
7B (AFL): Charlotte Manny and Lachlan Bigwood
7D (Soccer): Kamaria Nader
8A (Taeknowdo/NRL): Damon Suitz
8B (/NRL Taeknowdo): Sienna Rixon
8D (Netball): Dylan Birkbeck
Group 1 (Barefoot Bowls): Nicky Ross and Emelia Waters
Group 2 (Beach Sports): Cooper Burton
Group 4 (Bowling A): Angus White
Group 5 (Bowling B): Jacqueline Turnbull
Group 6 (Crossfit): James Moore
Group 7 (Golf): Samantha Philbrook
Group 8 (Pilates/Yoga): Tylah Blachette and Jean-Paul Lombardo
Group 10 (Spin Class): Lyndsay Robinson
YEAR 12 PARKING
As from Monday 31 July, Year 12 students who have completed the necessary permissions and paperwork, have been granted approval to park in designated areas on College grounds. This is a temporary arrangement for the remainder of 2017 and will be reviewed at the start of 2018.
As with all other users of the site, students have been asked to be conscious of pedestrians, especially young children or elderly visitors, who may be within the precinct. It is expected that all users will abide by all appropriate traffic regulations.
Second Hand Uniform Shop
The Second Hand Uniform shop relies solely on donations from our parent community, of pre-loved uniforms in reasonable condition. All proceeds from sales go directly to the P&F. We are particularly in need of blazers, senior girls' uniforms and tracksuit jackets.
The shop is run by a small group of volunteers by appointment only. Appointments can be arranged Monday to Friday, morning or afternoon, around school drop off or pick up. For any enquiries or to make an appointment, please feel free to contact Melissa Nicholas on 0410 486 083 or you can send her an email at mandmnicholas@iinet.net.au
Earn and Learn
NEWS FROM UAC (University Admissions Centre)
Course Categorisation Changes
The new English Studies and Mathematics Standard 1 courses have been categorised as Category B ATAR courses for the 2019 HSC onwards. Those students who take English Studies in the 2019 HSC and want to receive an ATAR will need to remember that only 2 units of Category B courses can be included, and at least 2 units of English must be included, in the ATAR calculation. Therefore English Studies students who want an ATAR will not be able to include any other Category B units and will need at least 8 units of Category A courses. Students studying English Studies in the 2017 and 2018 HSC will not be eligible for an ATAR. Students studying Mathematics General 1 in the 2017 and 2018 HSC cannot include this course in the calculation of the ATAR.
Applying for Study in 2018
Applications for tertiary study in 2018 will open on Wednesday 2 August 2017.
NSW and ACT Year 12 students will receive an email with their four-digit UAC PIN on Monday 31 July 2017. UAC will use the email addresses listed with the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) or the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies (ACT BSSS) to send students their PIN, so it’s important that students have provided a current email address to the relevant authority, and that they have allowed emails from the @uac.edu.au domain in their spam filter settings.
Students will need their UAC PIN and Year 12 student number to apply for tertiary study through UAC. Once students have entered their contact details into their online application, they’ll receive a UAC Application Number. They’ll need this number and their UAC PIN to make changes to their application and access their offers.
Students will also need their UAC PIN to access their ATAR later in the year, so it’s important that students keep their PIN in a secure place.