College Newsletter
Term 1 Week 8 Friday 20 March 2015
A Message from the Principal
As we near the end of the term, I take this opportunity to thank our parents and students for their involvement in our recent Open Night. The College welcomed over 1200 visitors on this evening. It was an important opportunity during Catholic Schools Week for our students to showcase not only their talents, but also their academic achievements to date. All parents are reminded that Year 7 enrolments for 2016 close on Friday May 22nd 2015.
Students in Year 7 will take part in their camp on Monday and Tuesday this week. They will be taking up a variety of new challenges and meeting other students as they take part in a variety of activities over these days. Year 12 students commenced their Mid Year examinations, so please keep these students in your prayers.
As we get ready to start a new academic term I remind parents that any leave from classes has a negative impact on student progress. Family holidays should be organised only during school holiday breaks and not during term time.
Students return to school on Monday April 20th 2015 in full Winter Uniform. Blazers are worn at all times to and from the College during Term 2 and Term 3.
During this season of Lent, we recall our promises to either take up or give up that which takes us away from God. Mindful of this we also remember the feasts of St Patrick last Tuesday and St Joseph last Thursday. Each saint in the Catholic Church was able to work out what God was calling them to do. In our life time, was are asked to seek what it is that God is calling us to do so that we may complete his work on earth.
This week's prayer is about us doing God's work.
God has created me
to do some definite service;
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another.
I have a mission – I may not know it
in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
I’m a link in a chain, a bond of connection
between persons.
He has not created me for nothing.
I shall do good, I shall do His work.
I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place
while not intending it –
if I do but keep His Commandments.
Therefore I will trust Him.
AMEN.
God Bless
Mrs Patricia Baker
NAPLAN
The NAP National Assessment Program website contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions and other information regarding the assessment. You can access the website by clicking here.
You will be notified by the College of the NAPLAN timetable for these assessments early next term or you can access the timetable (and all exam timetables) from Assessment Central as they become available.
International Women's Day 2015
Sunday 8th March was International Women‘s Day and on Friday 6th of March eleven Year 11 students attended the 22nd annual breakfast at the Parramatta Leagues Club hosted by the Zonta Club of Sydney Hills. The theme was 'Ending Poverty for Women through Economic Empowerment'.
As well as taking out three of the six student raffle prizes, keynote speakers inspired the audience to consider how we can support women who live in poverty and empower each other to make a difference in our world. This message is particularly relevant for us all as members of the Marist community as we take Mary as our model and strive to, "Think as Mary, judge as Mary, feel and act as Mary in all things".
Miss Parker
Science News
Are we alone????
On Monday the 2nd March Kayla Furness, Mae Sleiman, Maria Mathieu , Mrs Tooma and Mrs Liistro and Maria’s parents had the opportunity to attend an astronomy talk at the Sports Club at Lansvale. This event was hosted by the Cabramatta Rotary club as part of their “Youth Activities Month” and included a lovely dinner and a special visit from Dr Nick Cvetojevic as a guest speaker. He is from Sydney University and is a Research fellow with the Australian Astronomical Observatory.
He entitled his talk “Search for Planets in the Universe with life supporting Environments and the technology involved”. This might sound a mouthful but Dr Nick was able to communicate at our level. We learnt about all the planets they have discovered outside our planetary system and how many may support life.
He is an astrophotonics expert which is a new field of science and explained how he is using light to study these planets. He can now even photograph them without leaving Earth , as the equipment and technology they use is able to wipe out the atmosphere which has in the past meant they had to go into space to study them.
It was an amazing night ,we really enjoyed it and learnt a lot. We would like to thank Mrs Liistro and Mrs Tooma for organising the event and driving us there.
Maria Mathieu, Mae Sleiman and Kayla Furness
Numeracy at Cerdon
What is 2 + 2? We all know it is 4 because we have being doing that from an early age. We don’t have to even think about it, we just know it! How many times do you have to do something before you just know it and you can do it without thinking?
200
Yes, to learn anything new you have to do 200 times. To know your tables, to tell time, to measure the length of something, to be able to use Pythagoras’ Theorem, to collect terms in algebra etc etc etc you have to do it 200 TIMES or get 200 HITS at it.
All students need to be encouraged to keeping working at their numeracy because they will get it with 200 HITS! Playing card games, dice games and board games with your children are fun ways of getting these 200 HITS without even realising!
Grace Muscat
(Leader of Learning : Numeracy)
Enrichment@Cerdon
What a fantastic end to Catholic Schools Week, with the celebration of the Kids Lit Quiz at our school. The quiz brought together students schools from across Sydney, all who love the sport of reading! Read about all the fun and excitement of the day in this issue, as well as the many competitions available…some closing soon!
The Kids Lit Quiz at Cerdon College was Thai-riffic!
What a fun filled and enjoyable day was The Kids Lit Quiz!
Last Friday, Oliver Phommovanh, famous children's author of Thai-riffic , along with over 20 teams from Public, Catholic, Independent and Private Schools right across Sydney and beyond met for the Sydney heat of The Kids Lit Quiz here at Cerdon.
Otherwise known as the Sport of Reading, The Kids Lit Quiz has been running for over 20 years across the Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, USA and only recently, Australia…and this fun filled contest, continues to grow in popularity.
The heat involves teams of four students (aged 10-13) attempting to answer 100 questions about books, reading and publishing, competing for the chance to represent Australia at the Kids’ Lit Quiz World Final to be held in Conneticut, USA in July.
The brainchild of the event, Wayne Mills, travels the world and serves as the Quiz Master. Mills launched the Kids Lit Quiz in New Zealand in 1991 because he was concerned that keen readers were never given prizes for their love of reading.
He wanted to make children who love books and reading as highly valued as school sports stars. The Kid’s Lit Quiz puts readers onto the stage and lets them compete for fantastic prizes in a fun and enjoyable atmosphere.
The atmosphere in the hall was exciting! ‘Fun and games isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about reading, but the Kids’ Lit Quiz makes reading fun and enjoyable and all students walk away wanting to read more!
Winning teams of each round (as well as some audience members) were able to select a book from the many prizes available, and individual student prize winners won cash if they answered a specific question correctly.
Cerdon had three teams participating and although they didn’t make it to the national final, one team won a prize for receiving the highest score in a round. More importantly, all students enjoyed themselves…even the ones who were watching on the sidelines and who wished they could have participated!
The Sydney heat was won by a team from Kambala School. Cerdon’s best team placed in the top 10 out of 21 teams! Well Done girls!
2015 What matters? Writing Competition
The Whitlam Institute invites students from Years 5-12 to write a 400-600 word opinion piece on what matters to them and why. Your work needs to be original and focus on a matter of significance. It needs to be readable and engaging.
If you enjoy writing and are a passionate about an issue, this is your chance to express your ideas. There are a number of prizes, including $350 first prize per category. Entries close May 6, 2015
Further information is available on www.whitlam.org/whatmatter
Write4Fun 2015
Entry is now open in the 2015 Schools Writing Competition! Students all over Australia are invited to enter their poems or short stories, and battle it out for the great cash prizes on offer.
There is no theme!! Entrants are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild and get their creative juices flowing to write on any topic and in any style. Students from all grades are welcome to enter - Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Entry is free and all entries must be in by Sunday 29th March 2015.
Further information is available on http://www.write4fun.net
Future Leaders Awards:
Writing Prize
The Future Leaders Writing Prize is designed to recognise and reward talented young writers. Students in Years 11 and 12 are invited to submit a piece of writing (800-1000 words) on any topic or theme. It can be fiction or non-fiction. The winners of the award will have their work published and will receive a prize of $1000.
Photography Prize
The Future Leaders Photography Prize is designed to recognise and reward talented young photographers. Students in Year 12 are invited to submit one photograph on any theme. Winners of the award will receive $1000.
Further information is available on www.futureleaders.com.au
Epic- Short Story Competition
The Footpath Library is an organisation which works to enrich the quality of life of homeless people, by encouraging literacy and connection through books. In 2015, The Footpath Library is thrilled to announce that it will run the EPIC! Short Story Competition for primary and high school students. The theme for the story is ‘Home is …’ Students are invited to submit short stories (300 words or less) that relate what home means to them. There are some fantastic prizes on offer including laptops, digital cameras and book packs. The competition closes on April 2nd, 2015. For further information visit footpathlibrary.org
The Liam and Frankie Davidson Award
The Royal Australian and NZ College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is please to advise that applications are now open for the 2015 Liam and Frankie Davidson Award, for outstanding achievement in literary writing on an issue in women’s health. Students from Years 10, 11 and 12 are invited to submit both fictional and non-fictional pieces on a broad range of women’s health issues. The original literary piece must not exceed 2000 words. First prize is $1000. Applications close April 30, 2015. For further information visit ranzcog.edu.au and select Women’s Health Options, or see Mrs Agius.
Mrs S Agius
Enrichment Co-ordinator
PDHPE and Sport Report
PDSSSC Basketball
On Friday the 6th March Cerdon entered a junior, intermediate and senior team to the PDSSSC Basketball Gala Day held at Cambridge Park. All teams experienced wins on the day and the senior team finished third in their pool. Special mention to some outstanding performances by Monica Chan, Olivia Bourke, Claire Duffy, Rebecca Chamoun, and Sports Captain Catherine Le.
The girls were a credit to the College in their attitude, sportspersonship and behaviour during the tournament and it has been amazing to see their skills develop.
Miss Parker and Mr Farlow
Touch Football Gala Day
On 18th March, three teams represented our school in the PDSSSC Touch Football Gala Day. The teams braved the hot conditions and still managed to score many tries!
One of our Junior teams finished 4th overall, with an outstanding performance from Jessie Finch (Year 7), who was selected in the PDSSSC U/15 Touch team.
Our Open team also had success on the day, playing competitively against some tough competition. Julia Achmar (Year 10) was a stand out on the day, also being selected to represent the PDSSSC U/15 Touch team.
We are still waiting to hear if any of our students have been selected for the Open PDSSSC squad. I look forward to updating you on this in the next newsletter.
A big thank you to Mrs Deegan and Mrs Sharp for all their efforts in trialling, training and accompanying the teams on the day. Thank you also to Mr Nolan for giving up his time to coach the Open team. Your expertise and advice to the students was much appreciated.
NSWCCC Hockey Selections
Best of luck to Mallory Morrell (Year 11) who is representing the College and Parramatta Diocese at the NSWCCC Hockey Selections in Newcastle on Monday. We look forward to hearing how you go.
SPANS Schools Survey
Thank you to the Year 8 and 10 students who participated in the University of Sydney Research Project on Physical Activity and Nutrition. The participation rate was extremely high and our students have helped provide the university with some valuable data concerning adolescent patterns of physical activity and nutrition.
Individual Sports
Cerdon encourages students who excel in a chosen sport outside of the school to represent the College at NSWCCC level and beyond. Interested students are encouraged to talk to their PDHPE teacher about their capabilities and collect nomination forms from Ms MacKinnon. Students who represent the college at PDSSSC level are encouraged to access the website www.secondarysportparra.catholic.edu.au for information and the relevant nomination forms. If events are postponed due to wet weather, this information will be made available on the website.
PDSSSC Tennis Individual entries are due by Monday!
Students can also register for individual representative teams in sports such as Netball, Diving, Cricket and many others at NSWCCC level. More information can be found at www.csss.nsw.edu.au
CCC Netball entries are closing soon! Students must be 15 to enter.
Sports representation outside of school
The College loves to celebrate the achievements of students who perform exceptionally well in sports outside of school. Students who compete in a competition or the like should let Ms MacKinnon know through Edmodo so that the news can be shared.
Sport@Cerdon Edmodo page
Students should join the Edmodo Sport@Cerdon page for up to date information about all sports. Go to www.edmodo.com. Create a login. Look for groups and then click on join. The code to join is p8v5gg. Parents are also welcome to join the group.
Ms K MacKinnon
PDHPE/Sport Co-ordinator
Co-ordinators Awards
Alysha Biber 8GL3
Caitlin Carey 8G27
Isabella Caroso 8G25
Mary El-Helo 8G25
Keti Gobena 8G25
Maddison Halabi 8G25
Layal Moualla 8G23
Bitanya Tilahun 8G25
Natalie Touma 8G27
Sarah Vella 8G24
NSW State Election
With less than two weeks before the state election, I urge you to contact your local MPs and candidates to talk to them about the importance of capital works funding for Catholic schools in western Sydney. Without capital works funding for Catholic schools, it will be difficult to meet growing enrolment demands for Catholic schooling. This will place an even greater burden on the tax payer if places for these children need to be found in government schools.
Recently, our Executive Director of Schools, Greg Whitby met with Minister Adrian Piccoli to urge him to consider the needs of the 25% of children and young people who attend Catholic schools in western Sydney. Although the meeting was positive, no commitment to capital works funding was made. I urge you to email your local STATE member, and STATE opposition candidate, to tell them that capital works funding is an important issue for you in the upcoming election.
2016 Enrolments
All Enrolment Applications are due by Friday 22 May 2015.
Year 12 Parent/Teacher Night Update and Mid Year Exam Timetable Now Available
The date is now Wednesday 20 May from 4:00 pm.
Details for making appointments with teachers will be provided closer to the evening.
You can access the Year 12 mid year exam timetable by clicking here or visit Assessment Central.
School Excursions and Incursions
For all other excursions and sports activities, you may still receive a permission note which will need to be completed and forwarded to school by the due date. Some of these excursions may incur a cost which will also need to be paid by the due date. There are no exceptions or extensions to the due date for these activities.
A copy of each notification and permission note is also available from the College Website.
Year 7 Blazer Orders and Uniform Shop Extended Trading Hours
The Uniform Shop is open every Monday and Wednesday in Term 1 from 8:00 am to
2:00 pm.
There will be Extended Trading Hours on Monday 30 March 2015 until 6:30 pm.
Enquiries can be made directly to the Uniform Shop on 8724 7329 on these days.
Change of Contact Details
Thank you
School Calendars
About us
Email: cerdon@parra.catholic.edu.au
Website: http://dev.cerdon.nsw.edu.au
Location: Sherwood Rd, Merrylands West, New South Wales, Australia
Phone: 8724 7300
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CerdonCollege
Twitter: @CerdonCollege