College Newsletter
Term 1 Week 2 - Friday 3 February 2017
A Message from the Principal
A very warm welcome back to all parents and students as we commence our academic year.
The year has already commenced at a very busy pace with the College Swimming Carnival being held at Homebush Aquatic Centre. All College events will be advised via this Newsletter.
Year 7 Numeracy Evening
All Year 7 Parents are invited to attend our Numeracy Evening on Monday 13 February at 7:00 pm. At this evening, parents will be introduced to a variety of strategies that can be used at home to help support their daughter's developing skills in using number. Improvement in this important skill will assist students as they study a variety of subject areas.
P & F Meeting
All parents are welcome to attend the P & F Meeting on Monday 6 February at 7:00 pm. Parking is available in driveway via Kenyons Road entrance only for this meeting. This meeting will be held in the Staff Lunchroom and a staff member will be available to direct parents to the venue.
Parking and Picking Up and Dropping Off Students
All parents are reminded that students are not to be dropped off or picked up from the Sherwood Road or Kenyons Road staff carparks at any time.
Parents are reminded that at the beginning and end of the school day, the area is congested and you are advised to get your daughter to walk to your car if you are picking her up from school. Parents should not be entering the school grounds at the beginning or end of the school day.
Parents are also reminded that Police and Council Parking Rangers are very active in this area and they will not hesitate to fine you for inappropriate parking or driving within the designated school zone. At NO time should any student be dropped off in the TWay Bus Lane on Sherwood Road or at the BP Service Station. All students and parents should be crossing Sherwood Road at Pedestrian traffic lights only.
Parents are asked to be considerate of neighbours, by not parking in or across driveways and at no time driving into private dwellings. Picking up students will be much quicker for all parents if we encourage all students to walk a little further to meet parents in safe places on Kenyons Road, Duffy Street and Bristol Street.
Cerdon College Merrylands has again performed with distinction in the Higher School Certificate. Cerdon College students recorded 91 Band 6 results (9% of all results), 432 Band 5 results (42.6% of all results) and 331 Band 4 results (32.6% of all results) meaning 84.2% of all results were a Band 4, 5 or 6 result. 133 Band 3 results (13.1% of all results) meaning only 28 Band 1 or 2 results (2.7% of all results) were recorded. The real challenge for Cerdon College is to ensure that the 45 results which were only 1 mark away from a Band 6 are translated into a Band 6 in 2017.
All-Round Achievers
Congratulations to Melissa Cuadros Lu and Susie Sukarieh who were named in the All-Round Achievers List scoring 90 or above (Band 6 results) in 10 or more units.
Places in State
Jamie Lipsham received equal first place in the state for 2 Unit Entertainment and Melissa Cuadros Lu received third place in the state for Spanish Extension.
HSC High Achievers will be formally acknowledged in the College Opening Mass on Friday 17th February at 10:30 am at Our Lady of Victories, Horsley Park. A full list of HSC achievements will be published in the newsletter of 17 February 2017.
These excellent results are a testament to the collaboration between students and staff.
Outstanding 2016 Music HSC Results!
Congratulations to our 2016 HSC Music students who achieved outstanding results. In particular, Joanne Zeaiter’s Musicology Viva Voce was identified as exemplary and will be acknowledged in an honour list which will be included in the 2017 Encore program. Congratulations also to Julia Validakis who received a nomination for her vocal performances to be included in the Encore concert that is held annually at the Sydney Opera House. Unfortunately Julia was not selected to perform but the nomination highlighted the very high level of performance that she achieved. Of the 5458 Music students that sat the 2016 HSC, 259 were identified as high achieving, and only 15 of those high achievers were selected for the performance of the Opera House. It’s a wonderful achievement for both Joanne and Julia to be included in the top 4% of 2016 HSC Music students.
Joanne Zeaiter
Julia Validakis
Exemplary vocal performances
New Staff
Cerdon College welcomes the following new staff for 2017:
Miss K Brizgala - Legal Studies, Business Studies, Junior HSIE
Miss D Cascio - TAS
Miss M de Jesus - English, RE
Mr A Hanna - PDHPE
Ms L Hayes - English RE, HSIE
Mrs L Mueller - TAS Assistant
Ms D Park - Maths and PDHPE
Mrs K Serbin - Maths
Maintenance/Building Works
Over the holidays, normal maintenance of College facilities continued with additional air conditioning being installed in classrooms, a total refurbishment of our two Food Kitchens, Prep Room, Technology Lab, Technology corridor and the establishment of a dedicated Maker Space in the Library.
In the next two weeks, work will commence on the demolition of the existing D Block and construction of a building with two Science laboratory spaces and three additional classrooms and the refurbishment of adjacent playground spaces to include additional shaded seating areas for students. Work should be completed during Term 4.
These building works will mean student patterns of movement around the College will have to be altered as the works progress but students will be informed of these changes as they are required.
NAPLAN
As you are aware the NSW government announced changes to the Higher School Certificate (HSC) last year. These changes are designed to strengthen the HSC by lifting standards in literacy and numeracy. These changes have come about as a result of consultation with industry and the universities. You can read about the changes to the HSC here http://bit.ly/2gIEv8r. You might recall from our newsletter, that these changes will affect students in Year 9 from 2017.
The change that directly impacts on your daughter’s eligibility for the award of the HSC in 2020 is the new minimum benchmark for Reading, Writing and Numeracy in NAPLAN. Students who achieve a Band 8 result in each of these domains will be eligible for the award of the HSC in 2020. That is, if your daughter receives a Band 8 in Reading, Writing and Numeracy in Year 9 NAPLAN, she meets one of the qualifications required for the award of the HSC. This equates to approximately 23% of students in NSW. At Cerdon College, approximately 45-55% of our students meet this benchmark each year.
Year 9 students who do not reach this benchmark in 2017 will have additional opportunities to sit a Literacy and Numeracy assessment. Students can opt to sit these tests in Years 10 through to 12 and have five (5) other attempts after they graduate Year 12 in 2020 (this aligns with the maximum amount of time a student can accumulate the HSC). Students who do not reach the benchmark will, like all students, receive a Record of School Achievement (RoSA). Presently, approximately 75% of students who leave school before the end of Year 12, and who opt to sit these Literacy and Numeracy tests achieve the minimum standards.
Attendance at NAPLAN is always compulsory. Students should not be withdrawn from, and must make a genuine attempt, at these exams. Given the high stakes nature of the assessment more students will have a genuine interest in going beyond simply doing their best to achieve the benchmark. Students will not be granted leave from school in the NAPLAN testing period 9 May to 12 May inclusive.
To support your daughters the College has in place a number of strategies and teachers will be working hard to implement additional structured interventions to assist. The College has had a lot of success with the Extending Mathematical Understanding (EMU) programme and has been working towards a literacy strategy to improve both writing and reading comprehension.
A parent information night has been planned for Monday, 20 February, starting at 7:00pm in Chavoin Hall and the Year 9 Parent-Teacher Night will take place on Wednesday, 22 March from 4:00 pm until 7:00 pm in Chavoin Hall.
Homework
Homework is regularly set in all subjects.
Homestudy is a very important part of the learning process. It is expected that the students’ learning will be further developed as well as promoting initiative, personal responsibility and accountability.
Homestudy aims:
· To enrich learning.
· To encourage students to be responsible for their own learning which extends beyond the classroom.
· To reinforce and extend what has been taught in the classroom.
· To assist in the formation of positive learning habits.
Homestudy has two components, these are:
· homework - any activity which has been set by the teacher to be completed by a set date. This includes formal and informal assessment. It is important that this work is carefully completed.
· homestudy - any activity other than homework, which reinforces work done at school. It should include regular reading of novels and texts, and practice of example or sample questions.
Homestudy Timetable
The following are recommended amount of homestudy required:
Years 7 – 8 1-1½ hours (minimum 4 days per week)
Years 9 – 10 1½ -2 hours (minimum 4 days per week)
Years 11 – 12 2½ - 3 hours (minimum 5 days per week)
* Students in Years 7-12 are required to complete homework tasks and homestudy over weekends.
Attendance and Lateness
Parents are reminded that all students from 6 to 17 years of age must attend school EVERY day. No student should be absent from school except in the case of illness. Parents MUST provide a note to a student's Homeroom Teacher explaining any absence on the first day they return to school. Any absence for more than one (1) school day should be advised by phone (8724 7300) to the College Office together with a note on the first day they return to school.
The College gates are locked every day at 8:50 am and any student who is late is required to enter the College by reporting to the College Office. Entrance to the College is only available via the Sherwood Road entrance during school hours,
Parents should NOT be arranging family holidays during term time.
Any student absence from school for any reason sill have a negative effect on student's results. The impact of any absence for a student is highlighted in the infographic below.
As a Marist community, each of us is challenged to commit ourselves to achieving personal excellence while being committed to making a positive difference in our community.
Cerdon College Marist Prayer
Mary, you are our Mother and our model.
May we, like you, make Jesus
the centre of our lives
so that we become a living Gospel
for all those we meet.
We acknowledge we are especially
called to serve, in an unobtrusive way,
the most downtrodden,
abandoned and persecuted in our society.
Enable us, through compassion,
love and humility
to bring these and all people
together in a union of love
and care so that Christ will come
to life in our world today.
Through the deepening of our own prayer life
to draw closer to you, our Mother,
so that we may live
the Gospel as you did and be true disciples
of your Son.
May you and your beloved Son,
bless us and stay with us
as we strive to live in today’s world,
as true Marists
God Bless
Mrs Patricia Baker
Principal
Raising Issues With Staff
From time to time, students or parents will have concerns or issues they wish to raise with staff at Cerdon College.
These concerns may be about issues such as your daughter’s progress in class, how she is relating to her classmates or even disagreement with Cerdon College’s policies or procedures.
It is important that if you have any concerns about your daughter you ensure that Cerdon College is contacted immediately.
If the issue is about your daughter’s progress at school, please contact the office on 8724 7300 and arrange an immediate time for an interview with your daughter’s Guidance Co-ordinator.
2017 Guidance Co-ordinators
Year 7 Miss Hanson
Year 8 Miss Parker
Year 9 Mr Lovadina
Year 10 Mrs Drageljevic
Year 11 Mr O'Halloran
Year 12 Ms Rimac
2017 Assistant Co-ordinators
Year 7 Mrs Manning and Sr Kate
Year 8 Mrs Nguyen-Trinh
Year 9 Mrs Yumul
Year 10 Miss Nimac
Year 11 Mrs Schinella
Year 12 Miss Soo
For other general curriculum concerns, please contact Mr F Caristo - Assistant Principal. He is also available to address any concerns about Years 10, 11 and 12, assessment advice and information and issues relating to school reports, or students courses of study.
For concerns relating to student welfare and social development please contact Mrs L Parker - Assistant Principal.
If you have any other issues or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly to discuss the issue or make an appointment to address your concern.
A formal complaints procedure is located on the College’s Website at www.cerdon.nsw.edu.au.
Cerdon College works hard to ensure that students can improve their learning outcomes in a safe, supportive environment and your support of the College is important to continue to build the Cerdon Marist community.
At all times the P & F Meetings held on Monday Week 3 in Term 1, 2, 3 and 4 at 7:00 pm in the Staffroom and are an important venue to raise concerns or reaffirm Cerdon College in the way it is meeting the needs of its students.
Change of Contact Details
Please notify the College Office if you have changed any of your contact details ie. address, telephone number, email address, etc so that we are able to update our records accordingly.
Thank you
2017 School Fees
2017 School Fees Statements will be issued to families by the Catholic Education Office this week. Term 1 school fees are due for payment by Monday 6 March 2017. Included with your statement are the various payment options available to you. Should you decide to take one of these options please complete and return the paperwork promptly in the envelope provided.
If you require assistance re fee payment options, please contact Mrs A Baliva on 8724 7308.
Finance Department
Cerdon College
School Excursions and Incursions
As you are aware, you have provided the school with permission for your daughter to participate in excursions and incursions and sports activities. For those activities covered by the general permission note, you will receive a notification where it is appropriate to do so (eg for an excursion).
For other excursions not covered by the general permission note, you may 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 as excursions need to be paid for prior to the excursion date. There are no exceptions or extensions to the due date for payment.
A copy of each notification and permission note will be distributed via the Skoolbag App and also via the student's email account.
College Uniform Shop Trading Hours
Regular Trading Hours
Monday and Wednesday 8:00 am—2:00 pm (Terms 1 and 4)
Mondays only 8:00 am—2:00 pm (from Week 5 Term 2 and all Term 3)
Cerdon College Uniform Shop Management
Telephone: 8724 7329 (During trading hours only)
Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF17)
Students at Cerdon are provided with many and varied formation opportunities throughout the year. Last year saw students attend the World Youth Day gathering in Krakow, Poland. This year students in Year 10 will be given the opportunity to attend the Australian Catholic Youth Festival.
ACYF17 is a national gathering of Catholic young people established by the Australian
Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC). It will provide young people with opportunities to
deepen their relationship with Jesus, be empowered to be disciples in the world today, and encounter and celebrate the vitality of the Church in Australia. This is a significant event for the Catholic Church in Australia and, as such, will be deemed a priority for us here in the Diocese of Parramatta. Our involvement has the full support of Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv STL DD.
The event takes place from 7-9 December 2017 and is being hosted by Archdiocese of
Sydney on behalf of the ACBC. The Festival aims to:
● provide a high-quality formative and experiential opportunity for young Catholics to
encounter Jesus Christ, in the context of the Catholic Church in Australia
● give participants the opportunity to listen to and discuss the issues and challenges in
the lives of young Catholics in Australia
● evangelise young people and empower them to be participants in the new
evangelisation
● provide young people with pathways and connections to vocations, social action,
liturgy and prayer, Catholic music and catechesis.
The Festival will be held at Sydney Olympic Park with venues including Sydney
Showgrounds and Qudos Bank Arena. Additional sites will be announced in early 2017.
The Festival’s program will commence at 10:00 am each day and conclude at around
10:00 pm.
Each participant will be required to register for the Festival. At this stage, it is expected that the registration cost for each participant will be $250.00. Students will be required to pay for their own registration. The school will cover the cost of the transport of students by bus to and from the venue each day. Staff from Cerdon will be attending to supervise those students who attend.
At this early stage, Year 10 students are asked to express their interest in attending this event to Cerdon College. Students will receive an email with details to help them lodge an expression of interest. Please talk with your daughter about this event before she expresses an interest. We are collecting an expression of interest at this stage and successful candidates will be notified.
Fourvière Award
In 2016 Nicole El Jammal was awarded the Inaugural Fourvière Award on Chavoin Day. This award is given to a student each year in recognition of their involvement in all aspects of College life.
Nicole was a deserved recipient of this award and as recognition of her achievements she received a voucher for a Bridge Climb. Nicole used this voucher during the school holidays and she has kindly shared a photo of her experience with us.
The citation below was read at Chavoin Day Mass 2016 where Nicole received her award -
The student who will be awarded the Fourvière Award is one who embodies the essence of what it means to be a true Marist. Her relationships with her peers and teachers are imbued with the spirit of Mary as she is always sensitive to the needs of others. This has been demonstrated through her roles as Peer Support Leader, Prefect, Class Captain and member of the Social Justice Group. Furthermore, this student can always be relied upon to offer assistance in an unobtrusive manner and to show initiative when presented with challenges. In addition, she is a tireless fundraiser for a variety of charities and generously represents the College in a diverse range of extra curricular activities such as Public Speaking and Debating.
Cerdon College Students acknowledged in Local Media
Jamie for her HSC success in coming First in State in Entertainment and Elise for her success in Women's Grade Cricket.
Well done.
Enrichment@Cerdon
Welcome back to a new school year! A special welcome is extended to all the new families who have joined our school community. This newsletter column reviews and promotes the many opportunities offered through the Enrichment program at the school. Students are encouraged to join the Enrichment@ Cerdon Google Classroom to keep up to date with all new activities and competitions. Enrichment opportunities are also posted on the Enrichment@Cerdon noticeboard in the library as well as daily classroom notices.
As always the holidays provide a fantastic opportunity for students to re-charge but also to seek new challenges. In the coming weeks we will be learning about some of these enriching experience as well as providing an update on the Cuberider space project which was launched last December and is now conducting our experiment on the International Space Station.
Every year brings with it new opportunities for learning. All students are encouraged to seek these opportunities which hopefully will make their year a more enriching one!
The Girls Programming Network (GPN) at the University of Sydney
The Girls' Programming Network is a group of women and girls into computer science, programming and information technology. They offer FREE workshops for girls who wish to learn how to code.
The GPN workshop for Term 1 is coming up on Saturday 25th February 2017!
In this workshop, you will be making a text based game - 2-player Tic-Tac-Toe!
Students do not need any programming experience, we will teach them everything they need to know. If your student is already a python pro, we'll add awesome extensions to the game and maybe even some artificial intelligence!
The workshop is free, and held from 10am to 4pm in the undergraduate labs at the School of IT, University of Sydney. We provide lunch, snacks and chocolate, thanks to support from the National Computer Science School.
Learn more about this fantastic opportunity and register by visiting https://sites.google.com/site/girlsprogrammingnetwork/
Places fill up very quickly so apply NOW.
The Kids Lit Quiz
The Kids Lit Quiz is an international reading competition for students aged 10-14 (as of July 31, 2017). This competitions puts reading on the stage and allows students to compete for some fantastic prizes including the opportunity to represent Australia in the international final.
Once again this year Cerdon will be hosting the Sydney heat on Friday 17th March, and it shaping up to be a very exciting and fun filled event. Our younger students who enjoy the sport of reading are encouraged to be be part of the 2017 Cerdon team. If you are interested in finding out more about this exciting competition please see Mrs Agius or visit www.kidslitquiz.com
For further information regarding these or any other enrichment opportunities please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Agius.
Mrs S Agius
Enrichment Co-ordinator
TOP 5 HABITS FOR STUDENTS
Recently I was asked what I thought the top 5 habits were for students in their last year of school. I came up with this list below, then realised wouldn’t it be great if all students had these habits firmly entrenched before they even reached the senior years of school!
So your challenge for this year, no matter what your year level, is to ensure these habits become embedded as part of YOUR practice for learning to help you become an effective learner at school and in your career and personal life.
Want to develop great habits for learning? Here’s what you need to do:
1. ENGAGE: Don’t just be a bystander, instead be an active participant in your own learning, taking responsibility for what you need to do to achieve your academic best.
This means:
- You involve yourself in all of your lessons, staying on task, participating in discussions and trying to absorb as much as you can during your classes (and that means less to learn later).
- You complete all of the set work for your subjects (your teacher gives you this for a reason) and you try and keep up to date in this work.
- You seek help on anything you don’t understand or can’t do. This might be from a teacher, a friend, online sources, additional books or study guides. You also do this nice and early, you don’t let the problems pile up.
2. ORGANISE: Being organised means that you can find things when you need them, you don’t forget about work to be done and you don’t have last minute panics. Much less stressful.
This means:
- You have a good system for managing all of the paper for school, you file away completed work and sort and organise all of the papers you are given.
- You do the same with your digital resources: well named folders and logical filing structures. You do a back-up on a regular basis.
- When you are given an assessment task you make a plan for when you will do the work for this task and you adjust the plan along the way as things change.
3. THINK AHEAD: Part of ‘stepping up’ is that you don’t just wait for someone to tell you to do something. You think ahead and work strategically.
This means:
- If you know there will be exams (and there are always exams) then don’t wait until exam time to get your act together. Make your study notes as you go. Every time you finish a topic make study notes for that topic and file it away at home.
- Make your study notes as you go. Don’t fall too far behind. Yes I know I have already said this, but it is so important I am saying it twice. Keep improving and condensing your notes throughout the year.
- In fact it needs to be said three times. Keep up to date in your study notes. Worst case scenario - catch up every school holidays.
4. STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE: You want to be able to differentiate yourself from all of the other students, so think what you can do to make your work stand out from the crowd.
This means:
- You take the time to be thorough when working on essays and assignments. This means lots of planning and brainstorming to start and then multiple drafts over a period of time for editing and proofing (it’s good to give the subconscious time to process and evaluate between drafts).
- You look for additional source material, you read widely and you do more than what is asked of you. But you ensure that in specific tasks you are focused on answering the question and providing depth to your response.
- You make the most of any feedback you are given (either along the way or after the task) to make adjustments to your approach to your work to improve your outcomes.
5. STUDY SMART: Many students are incredibly ineffective in the way they study. They just stare into their books hoping what they need to learn will magically jump into their heads. If you aren’t doing it yet, then it is time to study smart.
This means:
- You test yourself over and over on the material you need to be able to recall in exams. You don’t just read it and hope you will be able to remember it.
- You then check for understanding, are you able to apply the information you have in your head to different types of questions? To do this you do as many practice questions and past examination papers as you can. You get hold of as many different questions as possible to do as practise.
- You do these past papers under examination conditions! This means that you stick to the time limits and don’t look at notes or answers until the end. This gives you a reality check about your performance and helps you rehearse for the time pressure of exams. You use these practise papers as a tool to help you pinpoint areas of weakness that you then address.
You can learn more about how to be a more effective student at www.studyskillshandbook.com.au by logging in with the details below and working through some of the units:
Username: cerdoncollege
Password: achieve
How to access Lynda.com
Go to www.lynda.com
Click on ‘sign in’, select ‘organisation login’
Type: cerdon.nsw.edu.au
Lynda.com for Cerdon students
Lynda.com provides access to high-quality, current, and engaging video tutorials presented by recognised industry experts in the fields of technology, design, education and business.
Lynda.com is useful not only for developing tech-related skills but for developing skills in other areas as well (such as public speaking skills, memory skills and note-taking). Or use Lynda.com to pursue a particular interest more deeply through well-structured, professionally presented courses. New courses are added each week and you can access Lynda.com via the web, or through the Lynda.com app for iPad or mobile devices. Watch this introductory video for a quick overview of Lynda.com. A great feature of Lynda.com is the ability to download courses to watch offline making it easy for students to continue their learning without requiring continuous wifi access. Mrs Sylaprany
Explore these courses below or login (using the details above) to discover a course suited to your particular needs and interests:
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