Uniform

All students should be in full winter uniform every day. As it gets colder students start to wear extra clothing. I suggest thermal clothing that goes under the uniform be used. If a student wears non-St Andrews clothing they will be asked to remove it. If they wish to wear gloves or a scarf they must be navy or black.

All students are expected to have a College bag at school and to have it every day. Sports uniforms on a Thursday must be complete or they are to wear their winter uniform. No non-St Andrews track pants and leggings are to be worn to school.

If your child cannot wear a part of the uniform please notify the College either by phone or a written note. Students that continually come in the wrong uniform may be asked to do detention or asked to go home to rectify their uniform.

Attendance

All students need to be mindful of how many days they are absent. We understand that sometimes sickness and family issues affect attendance but sometimes we are ok to come to school but we stay at home. 

If a student displays symptoms of a cold or flu, they must go and have a COVID test and get a negative result before they return to school. Please continue to notify the office and if they are sick please respond to the notification either via SMS or the compass app. 

If you need assistance with getting your child back into a normal attendance and school routine please contact the Leader of Learning for your child’s year.

What’s in the Planner?

It has been KINDNESS week at school. It’s great to see the students get involved with activities to promote kindness towards others. The key message is that kindness is free and can change a person’s life.

Negative thinkers have a fixed mindset; they always look for what is wrong and what they cannot do. People with a fixed mindset believe that they cannot get better at a task or make any improvement. The classic example is a person saying that they are no good at math so they don’t try.

You need to have a growth mindset and believe that with hard work and help you can be good at whatever you do. If you work hard you can turn any situation around. Instead of saying, “I cannot do algebra” you say “I cannot do algebra –YET”

Using assertive language when dealing with situations is a great skill for the future. Say what concerns you, how you feel about it and what you would like to happen. Try not to be aggressive or too timid and never use SMS texts or emails to avoid personal contact. 

Being organised is essential in life and in work. Planning is an important part of being organised. At school, planning your work will enable you to perform better. Everyone organises themselves in different ways. It is important to try different ways of organising to see which one works best for you.

Just a reminder that we should be exercising and eating healthy food if we want to flourish. Poor food choices and lack of exercise can have a negative impact on our wellbeing. 

Have you done the strengths survey yet? Go to http://www.viacharacter.org and fill in the survey to identify your strengths. To get bonus house points come and tell me your top 3 strengths.

Top character strengths to focus on is teamwork and curiosity.

God Bless

Mr. Nicholas Thrum

Assistant principal - Students

Georgia Greens 24 Hour MS Mega Swim

We would like to congratulate Georgia Green on a fantastic achievement with her swimming team in raising over $8000 for MS. 

Georgia completed her 24 hour MS Mega swim last week. Starting Saturday at noon and completed Sunday at noon. 

Georgia, who was part of a team of 12, had a goal of swimming 100km in 24 hours. Her team started their challenge with 1 km rotations, and when they needed to make up the time, they did 100 m sprint relays. 

By the early hours with very little sleep, they were all very fatigued and felt like their goal was an impossible task. However, with determination, will and heart, they dug deep and supported  each other to keep pushing forward. 

Georgia and her team reached their goal with 16 minutes to spare and at the final hour, had completed 100.9 km. 

St Andrews College is incredibly proud of Georgia Green for using her talent and skills in swimming to achieve a fantastic feat and raise over $8000 for MS. Georgia showed strength, determination and leadership in raising awareness and funds for her cause. 

Georgia has truly practised the college motto of “going beyond” and doing more for the community. 

Georgia and her team were awarded the MS community award for their tremendous effort. 

Well done, Georgia! 

WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS COACHING FOOTBALL CLINICS

On the 22nd and 29th of April, St Andrews students who play Football took part in a great opportunity offered by the Western Sydney Wanderers. 

Members of the Western Sydney Wanderers Academy coaching staff and members of the W-League team attended and ran the football clinics. Students had the opportunity to develop their football skills. 

It was a fantastic experience for our students as they were given the opportunity to be coached by professional coaching staff, offering students of the college an excellent opportunity to showcase their skills in front of their fellow college peers and in front of experienced coaching staff. 

The Coaching Staff were highly impressed with the calibre of our students and were also impressed with their attitude, behaviour and willingness to learn and develop their skills. The Wanderers coaching staff that attended said they would be more than happy to come back and run further clinics in the future with such great students. 

We hope to see the Western Sydney Wanderers back for future clinics.

Andre Dera - PDSSSC Representation at CCC Level Football Championships

On the 25th and 26th of May, Andre Dera took part in the CCC Football Championships as part of the combined PDSSSC Diocesan Open Boys Football team. 

We are incredibly proud of Andre and his achievements in being selected to compete and represent at a higher level. 

We also wish Andre the best of luck with his selection trials for the Football Federation Australia Joeys team known as the Young Socceroos. It is a great pathway opportunity for Andre. We are extremely proud of Andre and his achievements. 

College Athletics Carnival 4th of June

On Friday the 4th of June, the College Athletics Carnival will take place on the Junior Oval. Students will have the opportunity to compete and attempt qualification to the PDSSSC Diocesan event for track and field events. Students will also be given a chance to participate in house novelty games testing their teamwork, athletic and sports skills. I encourage all students to take part in the college athletics carnival, to try and do their personal best on the day! 

General Message from the Leader of Learning Sport

If your child is competing at a high level of sport, we would like to know so we can publish their achievements. Please send an email to the college or directly to the Leader of Learning sport adunaeff2@parra.catholic.edu.au 

Alex Dunaeff
Leader of Learning Sport 

The term has gone quickly, and we find ourselves at the midpoint already. Year 10 have been stepping out of our comfort zones and are striving to make the most of our last year on the junior campus. Many students have gone beyond their boundaries to be able to represent the year group. Prominent examples are seen in sport, with many students leading and encouraging younger students to participate in diving and dance. The school representative teams have also succeeded and improved their skills significantly. 

The school musical rehearsals also run during sports time, allowing the students to develop their musical skills, many of which are year ten music students wishing to perform and showcase their talents. 

Benjamin Afu provided an excellent performance of the Last Post at the ANZAC day ceremony. He performed at the ceremony and allowed the atmosphere to be sincere and respectful. This is one of the first years we have played live music for ANZAC Day, and it has been a great success and has allowed us to respect those who have sacrificed their lives for us.

During our well-being lessons, student leaders were challenged to write and present speeches to the Year 10 Cohort about various issues. The first speech was by Theresia Purwadi and Niamh Healy about how school isn't the ultimate target but only an iceberg tip. They also discussed how successful we must be and allowed the student's perspective to help us succeed. They were successful in speaking and talking not only to the students but also on their behalf. They captured the year group's attention and talked about stress and about how school is only a mountain to be climbed. "We all have to keep climbing; Life is a mountain."

Niamh Healy and Maahee Desai
Year 10

Throughout Term 1 and this Term, Year 8 students completing the Design & Technology unit were tasked with the challenge of re-designing and re-inventing an existing board game to make it relevant for families today. Last week the students finished their projects and were able to see them come to life with the laser cutter in our Junior Workshop. 

We had designs ranging from Among Us themed Monopoly to Pokemon themed chess boards that absolutely blew the teachers away with their creativity! 

Congratulations to the Year 8 students for completing their Design & Technology projects and showing off their newfound skills. 

Shanai Mifsud

Technologies Teacher

Our newly elected members of the SRC were presented with their badges at last week’s Assembly by their parents and family. Fr Flor blessed the students as they began their leadership, praying that they may be courageous witnesses to the world and perform their servant leadership roles with humility and honour.  

We congratulate our newly elected students and wish them well. May God go with you as you lead the student body in the knowledge that your Faith in Christ will guide your duty to the school. The list of students and their portfolios are below:

Year 7 SRC

Mrs Sue Cooper

Leader of Wellbeing

Home Learning at St Andrews is designed to support the College's Learning Framework. The driving force within the dynamic system of the Learning Framework is effective feedback, acknowledging that learning gains for students are optimised when teachers can provide regular feedback that effectively guides future learning and, hence, ongoing learning improvements.

An essential element of the overall Learning Framework is acknowledging the role Home Learning plays in facilitating continual improvement in student learning. Establishing clear, consistent expectations that reflect the high standards set in all of the academic programs offered by the College is an important part of helping our students recognise what is required to generate and sustain successful learning habits.

Our Home Learning guidelines seek to increase the total amount of time students engage in the subject-specific content covered in each course and create further opportunity for teachers to provide meaningful, effective feedback and feedforward for their students to support overall learning progression for every student. Helping our students adopt and maintain a regular schedule of Home Learning assists both the student and their families to develop consistent, predictable routines which form positive learning habits and enhance academic progress.
Home Learning at St Andrew's is designed to support the College's Learning Framework. The driving force within the dynamic system of the Learning Framework is effective feedback, acknowledging that learning gains for students are optimised when teachers can provide regular feedback that effectively guides future learning and, hence, ongoing learning improvements.

An essential element of the overall Learning Framework is acknowledging the role Home Learning plays in facilitating continual improvement in student learning. Establishing clear, consistent expectations that reflect the high standards established in all of the academic programs offered by the College is an important part of helping our students recognise what is required to generate and sustain successful learning habits.

Our Home Learning guidelines seek to increase the total amount of time students engage in the subject-specific content covered in each course and create further opportunity for teachers to provide meaningful, effective feedback and feedforward for their students to support the overall progression of learning for every student. Helping our students adopt and maintain a regular Home Learning schedule supports both the student and their families develop consistent, predictable routines that form positive learning habits and enhance academic progress.

Paul Haras
Leader of Learning Pedagogy and Practice 

On the 20th of May, it was a great privilege to attend Parliament house. This provided us with the opportunity to meet members of the Parliament along with meeting her excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales. At the beginning of the day, members of Parliament gave us an insight into what their role is and provided us with a rough idea of what they do on a daily basis. From this, we were able to understand the complexity of their role, in particular the hardships associated with representing their electorate. This demonstrated the hard work and effort these individuals put into the betterment of Australia. We additionally got to meet Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales who enlightened us of her role which included, Constitutional, Ceremonial and Communal elements, these of which constitute to make a great leader. Overall, it was a great day where members of the Parliament inspired us to do more and go beyond, challenge the status quo as the leaders of the future and continue inspiring change for the better. 

Ashleigh Hooper and Maiah Lazaro
Year 12

My experience of watching a live theatre performance on stage with my schoolmates and English teachers was a memorable one, mainly because it was my first time. The meticulous atmosphere of the theatre shifted into a place where our emotions came to play, a place where the transient life of the human soul came to sing, dance and reminded me of the joy existing in a creative life welcoming plenty. It brought a new light to Shakespeare's 1611 play "The Tempest" by introducing reconstructed scenes that fit the comedic interests of a modern audience while retaining the essence of what is expected in a tragic Shakespearean play. For instance, I truly enjoyed Stephano's drunken state and bizarre character that prompted him to drink hand sanitiser at first but shivered in Ariel's menacing persona in the end. I also appreciated how some male roles were played by female performers, along with the coordination of sound, lights, music, dialogue and costumes that made me think as though I was on a magical island.

Moreover, I was overwhelmed with how the entire theatre production was done unrecorded. In filmmaking, a scene can hold countless takes which are stirred with precise effects and editorial functions. But in theatre, there is no time for second takes; everything has to be flawless. From the swinging of an ethereal hanging lamp to the entrance and exit of performers who made uninterrupted movements- I was in absolute awe with how every little detail was perfected. Thankfully, we stayed to watch the "The Tempest" symposium that explained how the theatre production was accomplished and introduced new theatrical techniques that further ignited our ideas about Shakespeare's play and its contextual influences. It helped me better understand Prospero's poisonous agony and the extent to which one will take back what is his. I was initially uninterested in theatres and preferred to buy a film online to watch on a Friday morning. However, it was both an enchanting and fascinating experience that gifted me an opportunity to connect with characters that mirror resonating human experiences that shape our world today.

Francheska Holgate
Year 12 

ADF GAP Year

An Army Support Gap Year role is a unique opportunity for Year 12 graduates to experience life in the Army, without needing to make a long-term commitment. The skills obtained through the Army Support Gap Year program will provide recruits with valuable work and life experience, which are transferable to civilian employment opportunities. It enables Gap Year recruits personal and professional development for their next endeavour. 

In an Army Support role, recruits will learn logistic and task management skills to ensure the Army has the necessary supplies for exercises and humanitarian operations. Gap Year recruits can experience what life in the Army is like in one of three rewarding Army Support Gap Year roles. They may assist in the movement of supplies as a Driver, manage logistics as a Warehouse Coordinator, or become the point of contact within a unit as an Administration Assistant.

To learn more about Army Support Gap Year roles click on the links below:

31st May
Year 11 2022 Subject Selection

3rd June
Mabo Day

4th June
College Athletics Carnival

11th June
Unity Day

14th June
Queen's Birthday Public Holiday

15th June
Year 7 Camp

21st June
Years 7-10 PTS Learning Conference

25th June
Staff Professional Learning Day (Pupil Free)

12th July
Students return to schoo for Term 3