College Newsletter
Term 4 Week 4 Friday 30 October 2015
A Message from the Principal
Dear Parents, Staff and Students
As students in Year 7 to 10 move into a period of time when they must complete examinations and assessments. Our Year 11 students are undertaking their first HSC Assessment tasks and our Year 12 students complete their final HSC examinations. It is a time when it is especially important that all students are in attendance at school at all times. Students will not achieve personal excellence if they miss the range of experiences offered at school.
A number of important school events are coming up in the next few weeks. Please put the following dates into your diary:
Creative and Performing Arts Showcase
Monday 30 November from 4:00 pm
Year 7-11 Presentation Evening
Monday 7 December at 7:00 pm
As the College makes the transition to the new summer uniform, all students in Year 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 will be wearing the new uniform in 2016. Students in Year 10 are encouraged to purchase the senior summer uniform which they will also wear in Year 11 and 12. Uniform Shop times are advertised in this newsletter.
Today at our memorial liturgy and tree planting, we remembered family, friends and members of the Cerdon College community who have been called to eternal rest over the past years. As a community we especially keep families who are still grieving over the loss of family in our prayers.
As a community we pray (from the Vatican Synod on the Family) -
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate
the splendour of true love,
to you we turn with trust,
Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic churches.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may families never again
experience violence, rejection and division:
may all who have been hurt or scandalised
find ready comfort and healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth, may the approaching
Synod of Bishops make us once more mindful
of the sacredness of the family,
and its beauty in God's plan.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
graciously hear our prayer.
Amen
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the
Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen
God Bless
Mrs Patricia Baker
College Uniform Shop
Monday 23rd November 8:00 am—7:30 pm
Monday 7th December 8:00 am—7:30 pm
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)
Important Notice for Parents and Students
Partial Student Absence
All students are expected to be punctual to school and remain at school until the conclusion of the school day unless there are exceptional circumstances. Parents must have notified the school prior, so that students know that they must leave class early. These circumstances do not include leaving early to collect children from other schools, attending appointments that can be scheduled out of school hours, part-time work or catching a connecting bus or train. It is impossible to expect Cerdon College staff to collect students from class for parents who wish to pick them up early without notification.Entering and Exiting School Grounds
Parents are reminded that students ARE NOT to be dropped off or picked up from the College's Sherwood Road car park. A few parents continue to compromise the safety of students and staff entering and leaving the College grounds.
The gates are clearly signposted and parents are asked to respect these instructions which are in place to protect the safety of students.
Whooping Cough Information
Usually 9 to 10 days (can range from 6 to 20 days).
Symptoms:
Starts with a running nose, followed by persistent cough that comes in bouts. Bouts maybe followed by vomiting and a whooping sound as the child gasps for air.
Do I need to keep my child home?
Yes, until the first 5 days of a special antibiotic have been taken.
How can I help prevent its spread?
Immunisation at 2, 4, 6 months and 4 years of age. A particular antibiotic can be given for the patient and those that have been in close contact. The infected child should be excluded from childcare and school until 5 days after treatment begins. Unimmunised childcare attendees may be excluded from childcare unless they take the antibiotics. Click here for NSW Health Whooping Cough Factsheet.
Year 9 & 10 Examination Timetables and Year 11 Assessment Booklets
Study Skills for all Students
To access the handbook, go to www.studyskillshandbook.com.au and login as a subscriber. Your daughter has received via email the College username and password you can use to access this resource.
(Please note: the user name and password is for the use of the secondary school parents and students of CERDON COLLEGE ONLY. Please do not pass our school's details onto students or parents from other schools or other individuals or organisations as this is a prosecutable breach of copyright and also will result in frequent password changes for our school. Please also ensure you read through the terms of use the first time you access the handbook).
Here is a sample of some of the topics currently covered by the handbook:
- Working Better At Home Units - organisation and filing; time management skills; dealing with distractions; overcoming procrastination; managing stress.
- Working Better At School Units - will we ever use this?; using classtime; asking for help; dealing with conflict; groupwork skills.
- Improving Your Skills Units - reading skills, writing skills, mathematical skills; science skills; foreign language skills; assignments skills; research skills, presentation skills.
- Improving How You Study Units - summarising; active studying; preparing for exam blocks; test-taking techniques; after tests and exams.
- Extra General Mini-Units - starting secondary school; becoming a senior student; bullying: issues and strategies; managing part-time jobs; your brain and memory; live your best life; living across 2 houses; university - a new adventure.
For a full list of topics and further information please visit www.studyskillshandbook.com.au
We encourage all parents and students to take advantage of this opportunity to further develop their students' study skills abilities through this online resource.
Ten tips from LifeHack that might help your daughter to better prepare herself for study. To review the article click here.
Mrs N Sylaprany
Librarian
Maumere Immersion
Cerdon College was invited to Maumere by the Bishop of Maumere Diocese to help teach basic conversational English in two schools.
Maumere is one of the poorest towns in Indonesia, where unemployment runs at 50% and the average wage is less than $250 per month. Fundraising took place to help build toilets at Yos Sudarso Primary School and to purchase equipment at Bhaktyarsa High School.
All of the participants were moved by the welcome they received at the schools both from the students and the staff.
Apart from school visits the participants were able to see some of the island, especially the beautiful Koka Beach.
The girls said that the Immersion was a life changing experience and made them realise how fortunate they are to live in Australia.
We hope to continue the Immersion programme next year.
Mr P Freeman
Assistant Religious Education Co-ordinator
Australian Business Week
In essence, ABW is the hypothetical running of a hotel business where participants are allowed the opportunity to experience the ups and downs of business operation. This ranged from the financial components to the preparation of our trade displays.
On day one, the students separated into their groups and after being informed of the ins and outs of the week, began brainstorming ideas for their respective hotels. This involved big decisions such as themes, names and logos. As the days went on, each team's ideas became a reality and the development of retro, Hollywood, Ibizan, French and circus themed hotels began to prevail.
A significant element of the week was the financial decisions made by each group's financial team. It was through eight financial decisions that they aimed to improve their hotels through the distribution of dividends, buying more hotels in new locations or making purchases such as trees to reduce our ecological footprint.
Eventually, Friday was on the horizon, the day each group had tirelessly been working for. Hotels were coming together and were looking incredible! On Friday morning, each team formally presented their financial results over the past seven quarters to potential investors.
Thereafter, the trade display began. Each team was judged by teachers, Rotarians and Year 9 and 10 students. There was an abundance of class, food, festivity and dance - each hotel achieved its own character and thus all students were proud of their efforts.
La Valentina, through judging and votes, came out on top as the overall champion of ABW - Arriba La Valentina!
A huge thank you to the Rotary Club of Holroyd and teachers who acted as mentors and assisted in making this week a huge success and particularly local businesses ABW Enterprise Education, Aussie Canteen Express, Baxter's Bus Lines, Colormore, Crossmuller Technology, David Sproule Trophies, Distinguished Painting Services, LMS Advisory Pty Ltd, Riger Transport Pty Ltd, Rotary International, Streets (Unilever) and Supanova who support the ABW program through their generous donations.
A special thank you to Mrs Zakroczymski and Mr Collimore who co-ordinated the ABW program and to the teachers, Mr Lovadina, Mr Tham, Mr Thomas, Mr Viera, Miss Parker and Miss Caspe.
Emily Del Principe (Year 11)
Thank You to the 2015 ABW Sponsors
Hospitality Excursion to William Angliss Institute
On Friday 23 October, Year 11 Hospitality - Food and Beverage and Commercial Cookery attended a breakfast service period at William Angliss Institute, Surry Hills. The breakfast service period is part of the teacher training program for new Hospitality teachers. By attending this breakfast, the students were able to experience a five star dining experience. The menu consisted of Scrambled Eggs and Smoked Salmon served with Grilled Truss Tomatoes and Hash Brown OR Baked Egg, Chorizo Sausage, Chilli and Tomato served with Turkish Bread and Hash Brown. A selection of cold drinks and espresso coffee were also available.
At the conclusion of breakfast, the students were given the opportunity to learn about the hospitality courses that William Angliss Institute has on offer including Hotel Management.
The Commercial Cookery students were able to see a variety of plating styles from the menu items, while the Food and Beverage students were able to observe menu explanation, order taking, plate carrying, drink tray service and coffee service. Both classes were able to investigate a variety of flavour combinations. All these aspects of service will be put into practice at the upcoming P&F Luncheon in December.
Language News
Congratulations to Year 9 Italian and Year 10 French students who competed in the 2015 Linguafest, Short Film Competition. The judging panel was impressed by the films submitted and they have been short listed to be screened at Dendy Opera Quays Cinema, 9/2 East Circular Quay Sydney on Friday 20 November at 9:30 am - 12:30 m. Winners will be announced at the conclusion of the screening and prizes will be awarded. Good luck to all the students involved in the production of "Death by Gelato" and "The Missing Ice-cream".
Co-ordinators Awards
Julia Achmar 10F21
Andrea Budini 8G27
Melissa Cuadros-Lu 11F13
Rebecca Dinh 10F18
Quynh Doan 8G25
Claire Duffy 10F18
Amelia El-Halabi 8G25
Tania Fatoula 11F17
Tina Giang 10F22
Claire Gittany 10F19
Annmaree Kenny 10FD1
Amanda Kheir 11F15
Christina Kheir 11F16
Michelle Li 11F14
Jamie Lipsham 11F16
Thy Mai 10F20
Alexandria Makary 8G26
Katie Meechan 8G27
Jessica Nguyen 10F21
Mary Nguyen 11F12
Sabrina Nguyen 8G23
Elizabeth Orlando 11F13
Archee Panchal 8G26
Tram Pham 10F18
Victoria Purkis 8G23
Zoya Shah 11F12
Christine Skaf 11F12
Kimberley Stutsel 11F11
Maria Leona Grace Tan 11F12
Annie Taniane 8G23
Bitanya Tilahun 8G25
Julia Validakis 11F11
Jade Williams 8G24
Numeracy at Cerdon
Chunking and Multiplication
Once a student knows their multiplication tables they can use them in conjunction with a process called ‘Chunking’ or ‘Number Splitting’ to mentally calculate more complex multiplication questions.
The strategy involves splitting a large number into 2 or more simpler numbers.
For example, 54 x 6:
1. Split the 54 into 50 and 4
2. Calculate 50 x 6 to get 300
3. Calculate 4 x 6 to get 24
4. Add 300 + 24
5. So 54 x 6 = 324
Here is another example, 238 x 4
1. Split 238 into 200 and 30 and 4
2. Calculate 200 x 4 to get 800
3. Calculate 30 x 4 to get 120
4. Calculate 3 x 4 to get 32
5. Add 800 + 120 + 32
6. So 238 x 4 = 952
Here are a few to try! Remember, do them MENTALLY.
1. 36 x 7
2. 46 x 6
3. 73 x 3
4. 86 x 4
5. 27 x 8
6. 43 x 8
7. 56 x 7
8. 136 x 4
9. 426 x 3
10. 112 x 7
Grace Muscat
(Leader of Learning: Numeracy)
Peer Support Picnic
After we had lunch, the games started. We played kick ball and soccer. Even some of the teachers joined in! However, the highlight of the day was the dancing competition - the Year 10s vs the Year 7s. We rounded off the day with a final game of soccer where nearly everybody joined in (including teachers).
It was a great way to end the week! Thank you to our peer support leaders for their constant support and guidance throughout the year.
Charlize D'Souza (Year 7)
Enrichment @ Cerdon
The Cerdon College Knowledge Challenge for Year 9
In the last week Year 9 students had the opportunity to participate in the Year 9 Knowledge Challenge. Over five days students answered hundreds of questions on English, Mathematics, Science, History, Languages, the Arts, Sport, Entertainment and Current Affairs. It was great to see the level of enthusiasm which filled the room during the competition and even more impressive was the level of friendly competition each team displayed. Most rounds were very close and the semi-final came down to a nail biting tie-break!
There are some great opportunities for students to be involved in…some of these close soon so act quickly so you don’t miss out!
The Somerset Celebration of Literature Novella Writing Competition and National Poetry Prize
The Somerset National Writing and Poetry Competitions is open to all secondary students. The purpose of the competition is to encourage the love of writing amongst our youth, and to stimulate excellence in writing. If you enjoy writing this is a fantastic opportunity to have your work reviewed by a publisher with the possibility of winning some fantastic prizes including a first prize of $2500 for the Novella Writing Competition. Entries close December 4, 2015.
For conditions of entry and further information please visit http://www.somerset.qld.edu.au/celebration-of-literature/competitions/
The Conoco Phillips Science Experience
This very popular program has sparked a science interest in many of our past student. The three day program runs at a number of universities across Australia and is supported by Rotary. Participating students are involved in a number of exciting activities across a number of scientific fields. Here students in Years 9 & 10 have the opportunity to explore new science interests and meet like-minded students from across Australia.
The most popular experiences for our students have been at the UNSW program which will run on the 28-30 September 2015 and the University of Sydney program which will be on the 13-15 January 2016. For other dates and further information visit www.scienceexperience.com.au
GERRIC : The Scientia Challenge 2016
The Scientia Challenge Program is designed for gifted and talented high school students in Years 7-10. The program features a range of workshops taught over three days. The courses are developed and presented by academics at the University of New South Wales. The level of difficulty in the courses is aimed at two years higher than the students' grade level, providing a rigorous and challenging program. The program also provides the opportunity for gifted students to meet like-minded peers of similar interests.
The next Scientia Challenge Program will be held January 19-21, 2016. In this program you can learn about the brain and its anatomy, you can make an animated, interactive movie, you can learn more about personality types or find out more about composing sound and music for films. For further information and application details please visit education.arts.unsw.edu.au/about-us/gerric/for-gifted-students/scientia-challenge-yr-7-to-10 or see Mrs Agius.
Learn to Code like a Ninja! NCSS Summer School
The National Computer Science School (NCSS) is a ten day summer school for students going into Years 11 and 12. NCSS brings together talented young people from around Australia for an intensive course of computer programming and website development in the School of IT at the University of Sydney.
NCSS 2016 will run from Sunday 3rd to Tuesday 12th January, 2016 (inclusive).
Students who will complete Year 11 in 2015 and exceptionally gifted Year 10 students are eligible to apply. Selection of students will be based on academic performance, particularly in the subjects of mathematics and science, and demonstrated interest in computing. Personal qualities, such as community service, and social and teamwork skills will also be taken into consideration.
No prior knowledge of computing is assumed. Students who are not taking computing units of study at school are eligible to apply.
NCSS is organised by academic staff, alumni and students of the School of Information Technologies. The school is completely residential, with all students staying with NCSS staff in full-board accommodation provided by The Women's College, within the main Camperdown campus of The University of Sydney. The cost of the entire program (including accommodation) is $440.
For further information please visit ncss.edu.au or see Mrs Agius.
Mrs S Agius
Enrichments Co-ordinator
Change of Contact Details
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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