St Benedict's Catholic College
Newsletter - Friday 2 June 2023
FEAST DAY SUMMARY
Today we celebrated our Feast Day, commencing with a beautiful Mass celebrated by Fr James Arblaster. The importance of our college’s Benedictine spirituality was captured beautifully by Father James in his homily.
Thanks must go to Mr John Wheeler, Mrs Kimberley Logue, Mr Thomas Kasunic, the liturgy committee and all the staff and students who contributed to the preparation and organisation of the Mass, and the student and staff presentation awards ceremony. Thanks also to the music staff, Mrs Jenny Koryzma and Mr Brandon O’Donnell and the student vocalists and musicians, who provided the wonderful music that helped make this Mass so memorable. Special congratulations to the students from Year 7 to Year 12 who were recipients of 100 and 300 Merit Awards.
Following the Mass our College grounds were transformed into a wonderful and vibrant market place. The Stalls organised by the STRIVE classes were varied and well received by the students. Special thanks to all the STRIVE coaches and students for the creative energy you gave to the organisation of each activity.
The day which concluded with “Bennie's Got Talent” which once again was packed with quality performances and with every act receiving wonderful support from our student audience. It was a fitting way to farewell and thank Mr Alex Hayden who is leaving our College. Mr Hayden has made a wonderful contribution to our College both as a Drama teacher but also in the role as Polding House Coordinator and Youth Ministry Leader.
Once again for the students and staff that participated in this day and our parents for their continuous support, I am truly thankful.
TELL THEM FROM ME SURVEY
The company undertaking the 'Tell Them From Me' surveys has found an error in their process that has resulted in the Faith-Based questions across the Diocese being omitted from the parent surveys. They have undertaken a review of their processes to ensure that this error does not occur again. In working through a solution to gather this information from our parents with minimal inconvenience, we have permission to use their questions for a short 5 question Google Form survey. I would very much appreciate if you are able to complete these questions.
Parents, please click this link to complete the survey.
BE A VOICE FOR GENERATIONS #NRW2023
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023, 27 May - 3 June, Be a Voice for Generations, encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work and socialise.
For the work of generations past, and the benefit of generations future, let’s choose to create a more just, equitable and reconciled country for all. Our research shows large community support for the next steps in Australia’s reconciliation journey, including the Voice to Parliament, treaty making and truth-telling.
This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, Be a Voice for Generations, urges all Australians to use their power, their words and their actions to create a better, more just Australia for all of us.
P & F UPDATE
Thank you to the P&F for supporting further purchases and installation of shade shelters for our College Community. In addition at the Term 2 meeting the P&F approved funding for the students to compete in the Mountain Bike competition in Wollongong.
Warm regards
Mrs Kerrie Piatek
Principal
Today we celebrated our College Feast Day. What an absolutely wonderful day - the sun was shining, the students and staff looked their best.
The Feast of St Benedict is celebrated on July 11. However with it occurring in the school holidays we celebrate it as a College Community in June.
We celebrated with a most beautiful Mass celebrated by Fr James Arblaster who is the Assistant Priest at Lumen Christi Catholic Parish in Wollongong. Fr James was ordained in December 2022.
Fr James shared a most beautiful and meaningful homily about 'our job, is to light the way, to shine a path for people'. He linked key values of St Benedict to the celebration and feast of Pentecost. "The apostles were filled with the Spirit, with joy and made able to to be equipped to join Jesus' mission on earth - changing hearts, healing the world and joining in God's work on earth." In a world full of so much darkness - this is not the way it's supposed to be. it is not how we're made. It's not God's vision. God's vision is of a world transformed, where every heart is healed, and made able to do right, every person is fully alive, fully joyful, living images of God, peaceful and loving, united across the world in one holy community where everyone belongs. That is where we are called to go, and that is where God is leading us.
The involvement and participation of students, staff and parents was amazing. Thank You to our altar servers from Year 7 - Shimeka, Elizabeth and Brendan - who did a marvellous job in serving at their first St Benedict's Mass.
Thank You to the wonderful students of Year 10 involved in the Acknowledgement of Country and the procession of gifts for the sacred space - Claire, Chloe, Cameron and Charlie.
Thank You to the students from Years 8 and 9 who were involved in the Gospel procession - Manveer, Jessica.
Thank You to our readers - Christopher, Cody, Daniel, Tristan, Grace, Tayla, Dante, Kirsty for reading at Mass.
Thank You to Hannah from Year 12 for her beautiful singing as cantor for the Responsorial Psalm and to Demi for singing and leading the Gospel Acclamation.
Our choir and musicians are - what can I say - absolutely sensational. Under the leadership and guidance of Mrs Jenny Koryzma and Mr Brandon O'Donnell - our choir sang beautifully and the whole College joined in too. It reminds of St Augustine's saying: He who sings prays twice.
REFLECTION OF THE CROSS-GENERATIONAL WORKSHOP
The Cross-Generational workshop continued for the third week, during which Catholic Care invited numerous seniors to connect with St Benedict students from years 7-12, where together they continued to learn how to operate their devices in an ever-developing technological society. Over the course of these sessions, some learnt how to take and send photographs while others learnt Excel sheets and how to communicate with family and friends via email.
Kirsty’s group taught and learnt to organise her apps and how to send photos over email along with posting and navigating Facebook. Mary connected with the group as they laughed and joked together about familiar interests. Some statements were “It is marvellous”, while Kirsty described her experience as “ so rewarding” and she “would recommend it to others”.
Molly and Lucinda’s group showed Pauline and Gloria chatting about their future endeavours while being taught how to edit and draw on photos, listen to podcasts and get rid of spam. Gloria said that she had participated in one of these programs once before at the local Catholic Club, where through the welcoming nature she decided to join up with another group run by Catholic Care, describing her experience as “lovely” and Lucinda as “a very good and very patient teacher”. While Pauline expressed that she thoroughly enjoyed her time here, while the student, Molly, was “a great help” and she was “very lucky to have her”.
“I had a great time!” “I learnt a lot working with Tony” and “It's been wonderful” were the words used to describe one of our year seven’s groups alongside a year 12 student and senior Tony, who learnt the ins and outs of his new laptop, identifying and navigating the buttons and features that allowed him to set up his email. On his phone, they instructed him on how to extend his ringtone.
Gay described her experience as “a lovely time with the girls” and that she would “do this program again if she could come up with what she wants to learn” as the year 12 girls taught her an abundance of skills such as how to zoom, what each button on the keyboard does, how to operate Twitter and Spotify, and how to print landscape through a laptop. By the end, she expressed that she is excited to practice all that she has learnt.
Jann and Ron had an excellent time whilst they were at this experience. During their time here, Jann and Ron learnt various amounts of new important information such as how to create a folder, how to take a photo on a phone, how to attach documents and photos to an email, and how to place links into documents. Jann and Ron described their students as lovely boys and girls, which was pleasant to hear. As an experience, it was “invaluable and wonderful to be a part of.”
Nick during his time here learnt how to do many activities on his phone. This included different icons and how to get rid of them as an example. If Nick had to complete this experience again, he would bring in his laptop. As an experienced Nick the group was lively and full of laughter and excitement.
Prayer was led by two students at the beginning and end of the session, during which we silently reflected on the time we all spent together, encouraging us all to cherish and understand the bond that can be formed between the two generations and how we helped and learned from each other.
The cross-generational workshop provided fundamental opportunities to bond with our local seniors, placing ourselves in their world and them in ours.
Director of Mission and Vision
Religious Education Coordinator
Year 11 2024 COURSE SELECTION PROCESS
Director of Teaching and Learning
Information in this calendar list is correct at the time of publication but is subject to change without notice.
Monday 5 June - World Environment Day
Monday 5 June - Year 8 African Drumming
Tuesday 6 June - Year 10 WSU Fast Forward Students, Campbelltown
Tuesday 6 June - MISA Debating Semi Finals
Wednesday 7 June - Macarthur Area Careers Expo
Wednesday 7 June - Year 12 Advanced English - Seymour Centre, Chippendale
Friday 9 June - Year 12 English Standard - Seymour Centre, Chippendale
Friday 9 June - Immunisation Program - Visit 2 - Year 10
Monday 12 June - KING'S BIRTHDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY
Wednesday 14 June - Year 11 2024 Subject Mentor Interviews Face to Face - Evening / 3pm - 5pm
Thursday 15 June - Year 11 2024 Subject Mentor Interviews Face to Face / 8am - 6pm
Thursday 15 June to Friday 16 June - Duke of Edinburgh Hike
Friday 16 June - DIO Netball Championships
NUMERACY ZONE - WEEK 6
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS - UNIT CONVERSIONS:
Many students struggle with unit conversions for a variety of reasons, including:
Lack of understanding: Unit conversions require a solid understanding of mathematical concepts such as ratios, fractions, and proportions. Students who struggle with these concepts may find unit conversions difficult.
Lack of practice: Unit conversions require practice to become proficient. If students do not practise enough, they may forget the formulas or become confused when faced with different units of measurement.
Confusion with units: Some units of measurement can be confusing or unfamiliar, which can make it difficult for students to convert them into other units.
Misunderstanding of prefixes: Prefixes such as kilo-, milli-, and micro- can be difficult to understand and remember. For example, students may confuse millimetres and centimetres or kilometres and metres.
Lack of real-world application: Some students may struggle with unit conversions because they do not see the real-world applications of this skill. Without a clear understanding of how unit conversions are used in science, engineering, and everyday life, students may not be motivated to learn and practise this skill.
At home, students can practise using unit conversions; they can get involved in cooking (and converting between metric units), and construction projects which can help students understand the importance of unit conversions in real-life situations.
A few great websites to go to for practice include;
Home School Math: https://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/measuring-metric.php
Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-fifth-grade-math/imp-measurement-and-data-3/imp-unit-conversion/e/converting-units
Students need to familiarise themselves with these conversions!
Suzanne Seychell
Mackillop Gold / Numeracy Coach
IT'S NOT TOO LATE....
The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge 2023 commenced 27 February 2023 with the challenge to read 20 books before Friday 18 August 2023. To date we have three students who have already completed the challenge and many who will successfully complete the challenge by the due date. These students will receive a prize pack for the Library just for participating and successful challengers will receive a Certificate from the Office of the NSW Premier which will be awarded at the College Assembly in Term 4. In addition, these students will also receive House points for every book read.
It’s not too late to register - come to the Library for more information. It’s easier than you might think as books read since September last year can be added to the reading log.
BOOK v MOVIE TRIVIA COMPETITION
The Book v Movie Trivia Competition was held in the Library on Wednesday 17 May 2023. 84 movie/book experts participated in a fun Kahoot Trivia competition about books made into movies. Our lucky winner received a Booktopia Gift Voucher and our two runners up each received a giant box of Maltesers.
DESIGN A BOOK COVER
Our next exciting competition will be ‘Design a Book Cover’ You can use your designer skills by way of original artwork or digitally generated. You must include in your Book Cover design a Title, the Author and Illustrator (that’s you) and the genre (yes Manga is included). The more authentic you can make your book cover the better and there are great prizes on offer.
Keep an eye on the Oliver Home Page for more information.
Happy reading
The Library Team
10 SCIENCE
10SCIR were given the challenge to use an A4 sheet of paper to change its shape to impact its air resistance. They had to make 1 fast and 1 slow, when dropping it from the same height. We then finished the lesson with a competition on who's design could fall the fastest for one design and the slowest for a second design.
YEAR 12 CONSTRUCTION
For the past 5 weeks Year 12 Construction have been working on designing and building new hardwood garden beds and a garden workbench for the school garden outside our Hospitality and Food Technology classrooms.
We will fill these beds in the new year with fresh soil and the garden workbench will be used by students when they are potting and getting seeds and seedlings ready for the Year 8 Technology Food Unit.
Great work Year 12 Construction. We are sure that the garden beds and bench will be used by students for many years to come! Future Construction classes will also continue building garden beds so this whole area is uniform and functional.
Ms Ghignone
VET Coordinator and Year 12 Construction Trainer
YEAR 11 HOSPITALITY FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Yr 11 Hospitality Food and Beverage class had the privilege to be part of St. Justin's Feast Day. The students willingly and professionally served parents, teachers, and friends in the celebration of this special day.
YEAR 9 VISUAL ARTS
Year 9 Visual Arts student Chanel reveals her interest in Australian culture focusing on subcultures of fashion and blue-collar workers. The image of the left shows her preliminary sketch and to the right is her final painting.
More images are to come soon as Year 9 are very close to finishing their paintings!
Mrs Lane is very proud of the depth of research and preparation students have undertaken before commencing their painting. Students are to be commended on their commitment to creativity and perseverance of the task.
DIO CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
The DIO Cross Country Championships was held on Monday 22 May at Willandra Cross Country Course. On what was a perfect day for Cross Country our students showed tremendous pride and school spirit in representing their College. All our students gave it their all as they competed against the best within our Diocese. Congratulations to Lincoln J. (2nd) and Jude H. (5th) who finished in the Top 6 for their age group and will now represent the Wollongong Diocese at the NSWCCC Cross Country Championships to be held on Tuesday 13 June.
The Cross Country team consisted of: Georgia B, Jye B, James C, Bailey C, Emily D, Jude H, Noah H, Lincoln J, Laney M, Cameron M, Abbey O, Logan O, Wyome O, Emilie P, Jayden Q, Katelyn R, Charissa R, Lachlan S, Ronan T and Seanna W.
LACHLAN H - AUSTRALIAN ALL SCHOOLS SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lachlan represented NSW in the Australian All Schools Softball Championships held in Victoria in May. During the week-long championships NSW only lost one game and played QLD in the grand final winning 9-0. As a result of Lachlan's efforts on the diamond over the week he was selected in the Australian All Schools boys team. Congratulations to Lachlan for his outstanding achievement in Softball.
The winter appeal is upon us and I think the school community will agree that it has definitely felt like winter. With that in mind, the Social Justice team is asking students and families to donate food items to our winter drive that we can donate to We Are Community and St Vincent de Paul. These can be brought to school every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Mr Bulfon will be in the TAS Courtyard during STRIVE. The list allocated to each group is below.
Friday Week 1, Term 3 will see the introduction of Winter Fest. Winter Fest, like Bennies Bring a Blanket, will raise funds and awareness for those in our community who need a helping hand. During this afternoon, House groups will run various activities with one of them being market stalls that will sell treats and hot chocolate as well as student musical performances. The Social Justice team will also host the soup kitchen again. If you are interested in attending this afternoon, please look out for further information and for permission notes on Compass.
If you have any suggestions or would like to join the team, please contact Mrs Castelli or attend one of our meetings held in J1 at Recess on Thursday Day 4 and Friday Day 10.
Mrs Sara-Jane Castelli
Social Justice Coordinator
RAT KITS AVAILABLE FROM THE OFFICE
College P & F Uniform Pool orders
P & F Uniform Pool order form - click here
The P & F preloved Uniform Pool has reopened, please complete the order form and send to the P & F by email at: uniforms@sbccdow.catholic.edu.au Our wonderful P&F volunteer Tracey will contact you.
Items can be paid for and collected from the SBCC College Office. We do not return, exchange or refund on 2nd hand clothing as these are donated by families.
Donations of items in good condition can be left at the College Office.