College Newsletter
Term 4 Week 8 Friday 27 November 2015
A Message from the Principal
Dear Parents, Staff and Students
As the school year concludes, may I take this opportunity to congratulate all students on their work ethic over the past twelve months. As I begin the process of reading and signing student reports, it is encouraging to see so many students improving their skills across all subjects. Teachers likewise have been very positive about the ways students are progressing their learning.
Over the next two weeks, classes for all years will be as normal as syllabus content must still be finished. It is important that your daughter is at school every day. Classrooms are air conditioned and on high temperature days, the Hall, Library and classrooms are opened so there should be no students absent on these days.
As a College community we pray:
God of mercy, help me to remember:
My ancestors came across the seas!
Help me keep in my mind
Those who came long ago
And those who now come to our shores
As I face you in prayer, God of Compassion,
I remember my country's words:
Send them back or Stop the boats.
Then I fear, not your anger
But the steady gaze of boundless love
and unlimited compassion
That impel me to hear Jesus' command:
Love one another, as I have loved you
Or Pope Francis' call to open our hearts
To a universal communion
Which excludes nothing and no one.
Daring to step into such relationship, I pray
For those forced to leave family,
home and all they hold dear;
May they find safe passage and helping hands.
I pray for an end to the wars and oppression
that forced them to leave;
I pray that those who welcome them
are blessed in abundance.
And with deep humility
and a heart hungry for justice,
I pray that we Australians, citizens and leaders,
Open our eyes, our minds and our hearts
That we may see, understand and welcome
our brothers and sisters.
May our change of heart penetrate to our beginnings
As strangers in this land.
May we allow those we displaced
- the First People of this land - to welcome us.
Then knowing, in humility, what it is to be welcomed,
We will know how to welcome
the strangers who come to our shores.
This we ask in the name of Jesus your Son,
In whom we are no longer strangers.
Amen
Important Dates to Note:
Monday 7 December
Presentation Night
Wednesday 9-Friday 11 December
Year 11 Assessment Block
Thursday 10 December
Year 7-10 School Reports Distributed
Friday 11 December
Final Day of Classes/Activity Day
Classes for Year 7-11 conclude at 3:20 pm on Friday 11 December 2015.
If your daughter is finishing early, please advise the College in writing.
God Bless
Mrs Patricia Baker
College Uniform Shop
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)
Change to the Student Transport Scheme
Parents of students commencing at the College in Year 7 2016 will need to apply online at http://www.transportnsw.info/school-students and return the completed application to the College for endorsement.
Student already attending Cerdon College who use the transport scheme do not need to apply for the School Opal Card. It will be sent to the College at the beginning of the school year in 2016.
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.
Hour of Code
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
Year 7 Language Day - Una Giornata Culturale!
The day started at recess with a cup of pure gelato or sorbetto. The flavours ranged from biscottino to mango. Once recess was over, everyone entered the hall Dennis Murphy taught us about the form of puppetry and mask performances known as Commedia dell'arte. We then split into class groups and participated in a French or Italian activity. Our class picked an activity with Madame Pecora. The activity involved picking a letter and making a name, noun, expression, place in Italy, culture and food/drink that had something to do with Italy. Others learnt the Tarantella, made "Bigne" with Signora Marando, played calcio with Signorina Meduri or perfected their French culture and language skills with Monsieur Thomas. Then it was time for lunch - Pizza. After lunch we re-entered the hall and practiced our performance for the Eurovision contest. We then proceeded to parade the best costumes. There were many characters such as Pinocchio, soccer stars from Juventus and Milan, French artists, chefs, gladiators, Mario Bros and many more. After that the contest began. Performances included dancing, singing and there was even a cooking demonstration! After the contest ended, it was time to announce the best dressed French and Italian person as well as the best performances. The best dressed French person was Tiarna Eid who was dressed as Coco Chanel and the best dressed Italian Sima Gem, dressed in traditional costume. The prizes were spectacular and represented many French and Italian brands.
Once all the prizes had been awarded the day concluded with a round of applause for the hosts of the Eurovision and the teachers for their great organisation and the time and effort they put into the day.
Overall, it was a fantastic day with lots of happy and exciting moments.
Grazie Signora Marando, Signora Pecora, Signorina Meduri e Monsieur Thomas.
Natalie Matsias and Rose Hanratty (Year 7)
Co-ordinators Awards
Andrea Cuadros Lu 8G26
Daniella Elakcnouch 8G26
Tina Giang 10F22
Wendy Le 8G23
Wenjing Qiao 10F21
Sabrina Zhang 8G24
Numeracy at Cerdon
Rounding and Estimating
So many times in life we don’t need the exact answer to a mathematical calculation but rather an approximation is sufficient. Even at school, if we are able to estimate the answer we can determine if our answer is a reasonable one.
Before we can estimate we need to round numbers. Rounded numbers, such as 40, 70, 100, 400, 2000 etc, are all easy numbers for us to mentally add, subtract, multiply or divide.
Numbers need to be rounded up or down to the nearest 10, 100, 1000 etc.
Nearest 10:
If the last digit (units or ones) is zero, 1, 2, 3 or 4 then round down to the previous ten.
If the last digit (unit or ones) is 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 then round up to the next ten.
E.g. 53 + 26 + 72 + 19 + 45 becomes:-
50 + 30 + 70 + 20 + 50 = 220
Nearest 100:
If the tens digit is zero, 1, 2, 3 or 4 then round down to the previous hundred.
If the tens digit is 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 then round up to the next hundred.
E.g. 168 x 315 becomes:-
200 x 300 = 60 000
OR
1 527 ÷ 178 becomes:-
1 500 ÷ 200 = 7½ or 7.5
Nearest 1000:
If the hundreds digit is zero, 1, 2, 3 or 4 then round down to the previous thousand.
If the hundreds digit is 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 then round up to the next thousand.
E.g. 7115 – 4972 becomes:-
7000 – 5000 = 2000
Here are a few to try! Remember, do them MENTALLY.
1. 56 x 34
2. 195 ÷ 18
3. 1128 - 6758
4. $13.65 + $1.90
5. 478 ÷ 118
6. 724 + 307
Grace Muscat
(Leader of Learning: Numeracy)
PDHPE and Sport Report
PDSSSC Blues Award
We hope to see many more fine performances from Mary in the future in the sport of Taekwondo.
Mr Zammit
PDHPE/Sport 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