The Focus in on the Learning 

How will parents receive feedback about their child’s learning in 2022?

There are many ways that the teachers at St Andrews College provide feedback to students and parents throughout the year. In 2022, we are emphasising the fact that everything students do during their lesson counts towards their final report grades and that’s what makes feedback so important.

The feedback that parents will receive from teachers for students in years 7-10 via Compass will be based on  the following levels:

These levels of learning allow parents to know where their child has achieved and what they need to do in order to improve their learning. These feedback statements are used in years 7 to 10 only.

What is important here, is that parents are signed into their Compass app, as over the coming weeks class teachers and KLA Leaders of Learning will be releasing feedback. This feedback will let parents know how students have started off in term 1 and the type of work they have been engaged in over the last 4 weeks.

Additionally, we invite parents to view their child’s google classrooms for each subject as there are many other ways that your child is receiving feedback on their learning that is posted there. Parents can make contact with their child’s classroom teacher via phone or email if they would like further information about their child’s progress at any time throughout the year.

Finally, we encourage parents to engage in conversations with their children about their day to day learning. Showing an interest in your child’s learning outside of reporting times will encourage them to do their best in every lesson, develop an awareness of their study habits and seek help from their teachers if they need it.

Josilin Kalifa
Assistant Principal Teaching and Learning

From the Assistant Principal-Students

What Is Bullying?

Bullying is made up of behaviours intended to deliberately hurt, threaten, frighten or exclude someone by physical and non-physical means over extended periods of time. An individual or group may direct these behaviours towards another individual or group.  

Someone is bullying another person when:

• They repeatedly verbally abuse a person or group by calling them unpleasant names, by writing them nasty notes and/or messages or by using unpleasant gestures.

• They repeatedly physically harm a person or group or physically intimidate them by threatening physical harm or by destroying/taking their belongings without permission.

• They repeatedly encourage their friends or people they know to verbally, physically threaten a person or group; or ask them to harass, embarrass, ignore or exclude that person or group from activities.

Bullying may take one, two or all of these forms. Repeatedly means that they do these things to that person or group the majority of the time they talk about them, see them or spend time around them.

Research has shown that bullying has negative, long-term consequences for all involved. 

Such consequences include:

• For victims - constant feelings of rejection, low self-regard, fear, an inability to solve problems with others in acceptable ways, relationship difficulties, and problems with achieving full potential academically and socially;
• For bullies - an increased risk of criminal behaviour. 

As such, bullying behaviours have no place at this College

What do we do if it happens to you or someone you know?

If you are being bullied at school or online, or you know of someone that is being bullied, you must make a positive move to stop the bullying. St Andrews has a no tolerance rule for bullying but if you don’t tell us, we cannot help.

Step 1 – talk to someone about what is happening. If you know the person and you are comfortable, approach them and ask them to stop.

Step 2- approach your parents or the school to help you sort out the issue. You have your learning advisor or your Leaders of Learning that are there to support you. They might give you strategies to help deal with the situation or they might intervene, this is up to you.

Step 3- If you are able to sort things out, move forward in a positive way, if not speak to another person or approach someone you trust to help you. At the end of the day we want all students to be safe and learning so we will assist any student to help that happen. Don’t be afraid to come and see a teacher. It is our job to assist you.

St Andrews has a zero tolerance policy on bullying. If you have any concerns please see your Learning Advisor, your teachers, your Leader of Learning –or myself. The quicker you see us, the quicker it will be resolved.

Attendance

Just a reminder about attendance. We expect all students to attend school unless there is illness or other valid family reasons. We try to avoid taking days off unless it is absolutely necessary. Please contact your child’s Leader of Learning – Wellbeing if you have any concerns about attendance.

What’s in the Student Planner this week?

Over the last 2 weeks students have been focusing on understanding their strength profile and what it means. Students have completed the Via Character Strength test to identify their strengths and then learn how to use them.

The students have been doing activities for gratitude week. Gratitude for what others do for you and the good things you have in your life. Find the person who has done this and be grateful- say thank you. Thanks to the SRC on both campuses that organised events for this activity.

Ways to change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset

1. Focus on what is working- we need to understand and work with our strengths. When we identify our strengths we start to understand the areas we need help with.
2. Set realistic goals – setting goals helps us focus on moving forward in a positive way. Setting goals on our strengths is easy and if we use similar goals and strategies for our weaker areas you will see success.
3. Be patient- all success takes time. We might see improvement in our areas of strength but sometimes other areas take more time, be patient and it will happen
4. Have grit- be persistent in your work, don’t give up when it gets hard. The work is meant to be hard so you grow and your weaknesses become strengths. 
5. Always use your resources- all students have resources to help them have success, your families, your teachers, staff at the College and other people who have an expertise in learning. Never be afraid to ask for help, this is a sign of strength.
6. Take action- as Nike says, “Just do it”. Don’t procrastinate, set your goals and take action.

Never use the term “I can’t do it”, use the term “I can’t do it yet” change the way we think, be positive and solution focused.

God Bless

Mr. Nicholas Thrum

Assistant principal - Students

This week I would like to briefly discuss three ways teachers use data/information to plan the learning in their classrooms.

If you have any questions or would like any additional information regarding the details below please contact me via email pfinnerty@parra.catholic.edu.au

1. Data Walls Years 7-10

Every student in Years 7-10 has a dedicated online page that outlines the students’ attendance, NAPLAN results, PATR/PATM results (Progressive Assessment Tests in Reading and Mathematics), and A to E grades for each subject (since Year 7 and in many cases from primary too). This information is an excellent resource for teachers as it allows us to collectively monitor the growth of every learner using a lens that is not subject-specific.

1. Analysing HSC Results

After we receive the HSC results each year, teachers work with their Leaders of Learning to measure the learning gain for every student. This is not a case of simply looking at the student’s mark compared to the state/class. It involves analysing student responses to each question in the actual HSC Paper and reflecting on the techniques used to teach these concepts. This allows teachers to continually refine their strategies and the suitability of each method when meeting the needs of a diverse learning community.

1. Formative Assessment in every classroom

Teachers are regularly asking their students to complete a range of formative assessments in class. Formative assessment is often referred to as “Assessment For Learning” and is a crucial part of the learning process. This type of assessment provides valuable feedback to the teacher which is used to modify future learning activities to improve student understanding and skills. It’s simply a way for teachers to check if their strategies are having an impact on student learning.

And lastly, just something to think about …

Margaret J. Wheatley, in her book, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, describes some principles and behaviours which we should practise if our conversation is going to connect us to others at a deeper level:

• We acknowledge one another as equals
• We try to stay curious about each other
• We recognise that we need each other’s help to become better listeners
• We slow down so we have time to think and reflect
• We remember that conversation is the natural way humans think together
• We expect it to be messy at times

Patrick Finnerty
Assistant Principal Systems, Data and Professional Learning  

LIFTED Leaders - Catholic Youth Parramatta

Marcus:

On the 24th of February, 10 Student Leaders including myself, were invited to attend the LIFTED LEADERS event run by the Catholic Youth Parramatta at Rooty Hill RSL. We were joined by 12 other schools across the diocese and were given the opportunity to share our personal path to leadership, as well as some interesting facts about the College.The event encompassed amazing musical performances by Alyssa and Daniel Agius, and some inspiring words from Grey Whitby (the Executive Director of Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta) and Bishop Vincent. This event inspired the young minds of the students and allowed new friendships to bloom between them. It was truly a wonderful experience. 

Vaughn:

On Thursday, the 24th of February 2022, Student Leaders from the College accepted the opportunity to attend the LIFTED Leaders event run by Catholic Youth Parramatta (CYP). Joining 12 other schools, the 10 student leaders travelled to West HQ in Rooty Hill that morning and had participated in the sharing of leadership goals, experiences, ideas and intriguing facts about St Andrews College over a day’s long bonding experience including photos, music and provided food. Separated across round tables of different students from different schools was a truly moving and interesting experience that allowed for friendships to form, as well as inspiration and encouragement from a variety of different people. Joining Bishop Vincent, Greg Whitby, Alyssa and Daniel Agius and more as they were able to share some words of guidance and wisdom, all working together with all students in the name of Jesus to encourage and inspire the young minds of our leaders and the leaders of the other 12 schools across the Parramatta Diocese in what turned out to be a moving and enjoyable experience.

Upcoming events and information:

Shrove tuesday - 1 March

Ash Wednesday - 2 March - Distribution of Ashes will occur in class during period 1 & 2 with our Ash Wednesday Liturgies.

Gratitude Week

Congratulations to our Student Leaders on both campuses for the excellent work with Gratitude Week. There were Gratitude Songs each morning (& on the warning bells at the Junior Campus); Gratitude Prayers each day, and both campuses created a Gratitude Tree where students could write and then hang what they were grateful for. It is easy to take for granted all the wonderful things that happen in our lives - thank you all for taking the time to reflect on what you are grateful for. They were uplifting displays. Thank you also to Mr Frankham, Miss Pett and Mrs Utoikamanu for all your support of the Student Leaders this week.

House Cup

Merit Awards are given throughout the year for a range of activities including classwork, effort, participation & Community Service. These Awards contribute to our House Cup, which runs from Term 4 to Term 3 each year. More information about Merit Awards and the House Cup can be found in the Learning Planner.

The points update for the 2022 House Cup Competition for this week is:

Bennelong:   7, 590
Chang: 10, 140
Frances:   7, 875
Gould:   8, 345

Good luck to all Houses for the 2022 House Cup Competition.

The 2021 House Cup Competition was won by the Gould House. Traditionally the winning House celebrates by going to Raging Waters on the House Cup Celebration Day which is held towards the end of Term 4. Unfortunately last year we had to cancel our planned celebrations due to COVID restrictions. Dr Kennaugh has generously announced that the winning House from 2021 will be able to attend this year’s House Cup Celebration Day as well as the 2022 winning House. Thank you Dr Kennaugh!

Mrs Sue Cooper
Leader of Wellbeing and Learning

Year 7 Camp

February 21st and 22nd saw almost all of our 204 Year 7 students travel together to the Collaroy Centre on the northern beaches for what is sure to be one of their highlights of Year 7; their first High School Camp.

Students participated in a range of activities over two days including; kayaking, standup paddleboarding, abseiling, high ropes course, laser tag, bubble soccer, archery, and rock climbing. 

It was a great opportunity for the students to get to know their peers, and teachers better, with many commenting that they made new friends over these two days and that it was a good opportunity to meet students from other homerooms.

On behalf of the girls, we would like the thank the following teachers; Miss Breeze, Miss Tan, Mr. Culbert, Mrs. Samperi, Mrs. Hicks, Mrs. Yuen, Mr. Mcbride, Mr. Lenehan, Mrs. Reddy, Mr. Isaac, Mrs. Xuereb, Mrs. Pineda Garcia, Mr. Cetinkaya, Mr. Cetinic and Mrs. Cooper.  These teachers gave generously of their time and without their support, the camp would not have been the success that it was. 

Year 7 Meet and Greet Night 

I would like to express my gratitude to the parents and caregivers that gave their time to attend the Year 7 Meet and Greet Evening on Wednesday. It was a fantastic night to be able to meet in person and begin to build the important relationships between staff and parents/Caregivers. 

If you were unable to attend I encourage you to reach out to your child’s Learning Advisor and start to develop a relationship with them. They are a wealth of information and knowledge on all things St Andrews and a great first port of call for most things. A list of the current Year 7 Learning Advisors is below:

Peer Support 

As previously mentioned during Term 1 students will be involved in the Peer Support Program. Each week, groups of 8-10 students will meet with 2 Peer Leaders and work through a range of activities that focus on a variety of different aspects of student life. Meeting in small groups allows meaningful connections to form, assisting students with the transition to secondary school. 

Over the last three weeks, students have focused on the transition to high school and looked at coping strategies to help make the transition as easy as possible. The skills they have learned will hopefully continue to be of use as they continue their learning journey. 

This week students begin to explore the idea that how they view themselves and their challenges, can affect the outcomes of these situations. Students discuss helpful ways to view challenges. They consider keeping things in perspective, separating emotions, and ascertaining facts to accurately identify the problem to be addressed. Students may, at times, feel overwhelmed by the expectations of secondary school. Encourage them to make a list or write a plan to help identify smaller tasks to make a large workload more manageable. It is important they feel supported while being encouraged to independently prioritise their responsibilities.

Overall, our new Year 7 students are settling in well and have made a great first impression at the college. I am looking forward to seeing them fully adjust to the new school setting in the near future. 

Mr. Jarryd Leaves
Leader of Wellbeing Year 7

The Year 10 students have had a wonderful start to the year. They are now the leaders of the Junior Campus, and with this title comes great responsibility. It has been so amazing to see the Year 10 students step into this role with confidence. They are focused in class, wearing their uniforms with pride, and have already become such positive role models for the younger year groups.

I would like to congratulate the Year 10 students who are the Peer Support Leaders and Assistants for our new Year 7 students. The Leaders and Assistants are great mentors for the new members of our community. It has been fantastic to witness their commitment and dedication to the lessons that they provide each week. I have received many positive reports from Mr Leaves and the St Andrews College Staff about how the Year 10s conduct themselves during their Peer Support lessons. Well done everyone.

I would also like to applaud the students who participated as competitors in the Swimming Carnival and the students who represented the College at the PDSSSC Basketball Gala Day. 

There have also been a number of activities this term that the Year 10 SRC have initiated on the Junior Campus. The Valentine's Day photo frame and the google form notes were two amazing ways of marking this special occasion. These initiatives showcased the great teamwork and leadership skills of our students. The SRC and other members of the Year 10 cohort also did a wonderful job of celebrating Gratitude Week at the College by creating a beautiful ‘Thankful Tree’ which displayed hand written notes of all the things that our junior students are grateful for.

In addition to Dr Kennaugh and the College Leadership Team, Therese May, and the Year 10 classroom teachers, the table below shows the Learning Advisors that will be assisting me in supporting the Wellbeing of our Year 10 students:

I am very grateful and honoured to be continuing on with the Year 10 students this year, as their Leader of Wellbeing. I look forward to our meaningful Wellbeing lessons and seeing the students thrive, as they participate in the many opportunities and activities that are provided here at our College.

Mrs Andrea Utoikamanu
Leader of Wellbeing Year 10

It has been a fantastic start to the year for Year 12. As they embark on their final year at the College it has been wonderful to see their dedication and focus and to receive lots of positive feedback from the staff about the commitment of the Year 12 students in their classes. 

This is an important year for our students and it is important that they set goals for themselves and stay focused to ensure that they have the best chance of achieving success. In our wellbeing lessons so far this term we have touched on the importance of engaging with school spirit and being involved in the life of the College, as well as setting goals and staying motivated throughout the year. Some of the biggest takeaways from our lessons has been to set small achievable goals to help keep motivated throughout the year, utilising teacher feedback and practice responses weekly, and creating a balanced study timetable. 

There have already been quite a number of events so far this term that Year 12 have facilitated within the College. The great fundraising activities that were initiated by the SRC team for Valentines Day were a highlight of the first few weeks of term and exemplified the great teamwork and leadership of our senior students. Students also did a wonderful job celebrating Gratitude Week at the College and created a beautiful ‘gratitude tree’ with the help of Mrs Carlos, which displayed all the things students on the Senior Campus are grateful for. It was also a privilege to be able to attend the Opening College Mass as a cohort and celebrate our College Leaders receiving their badges. Throughout each of these events, all students in Year 12 have demonstrated outstanding leadership in their participation and respect and are presenting themselves as wonderful role models for the rest of the College.

I would also like to commend the students who elected to participate as competitors in the Swimming Carnival and the students who represented the College at the PDSSSC Basketball Gala Day. Tonight we also have Year 12 students representing the College in the CSDA Public Speaking Competition - congratulations to Chegutdit Deng, Wasim Farah, Hayley O’Connor and Aditi Pal for their fantastic speeches. 

I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the term has in store for Year 12. With the first lot of assessment due dates quickly approaching I encourage all students to use the resources that are available to them and ensure that they are giving themselves the best chance of success. 

Miss Emily Pett
Leader of Wellbeing Year 12

SACART WEEK 4 

Operation Art

Operation Art is an initiative of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in association with the NSW Department of Education. This year, students in Year 7 - 10 at St Andrews are encouraged to submit an artwork for our school’s internal competition where up to 4 finalists will be selected to enter Operation Art. 

Artworks submitted to Operation Art will be framed for exhibition. Selected entries by Operation Art will tour hospitals and galleries regionally in NSW before becoming part of the permanent collection at Westmead Children’s Hospital. 

Students may submit artworks up to A2 in size in any chosen medium. (As long as it is flat) They can be in any theme however, we encourage students to create artworks that are uplifting, inspiring and positive. Artworks are due to Visual Arts teachers by Week 9 Monday 28th March.

More information regarding this initiative has been posted on Compass and year group Google Classrooms. Students may also see their Visual Arts teachers for more information. (Mrs Harris, Mrs Kemal or Miss Rivera)

Year 8 Visual Arts

Students in Year 8 Visual Arts have started off the term as photographers. They have been exploring the school grounds at SAC; interpreting the world in an abstract manner as they click their shutter buttons before editing their photographs in class. Mrs Kemal has included a more detailed update. We hope you enjoy some of the photographs of our students engaging in this task. 

Year 9 Visual Arts - The Archibald Prize

In Year 9 Elective Visual Arts, students are learning about the history of portraiture and how this has changed over time. As an introduction to the artmaking aspect of the course, students have been learning about facial proportions and tonal values.

After having some quick portrait photographs taken in class, students are working on a self portrait task as they master how to render tone. 

This will be the first of many artmaking tasks in this unit. Students are demonstrating their enthusiasm towards the subject as they actively participate in learning about different artmaking techniques. 

Year 11 Visual Arts

To challenge Year 11 Visual Arts students, they have been asked to choose an object as the basis of their artmaking task for ‘Unit 1: Artists and the World’. In class, students brainstormed the functions and aesthetics of their chosen object. This will form the basis of a Collection of Work to be submitted at the conclusion of the unit. Students will be working with many art forms in order to investigate different ways of artmaking in preparation for their Year 12 Body of Work. To start off, students are currently working on a realistic object study drawing along with an abstract cardboard sculpture. In order to do this, students must deconstruct their object and reconstruct it again by reimagining its characteristics and functions in an abstract manner. We look forward to updating the SAC community with the progress of their Collection of Works in the weeks to come.

Mrs Claudia Harris
Leader of Learning - Visual Arts

Year 7 ‘Ways of Seeing’ Pop Culture 

Year 7 students have been learning about Popular Culture and the trends over various time periods. Students were asked to bring in one popular packaged food Item, of which they would Photograph using clever composition, ‘Rule of Thirds’, consideration of lighting and basic editing skills. We also practised a popular artist transfer method called the ‘Grid method’, which ensures their work is proportional and guides them when outlining and colouring. Year 7 students in the upcoming weeks will learn how to utilise various colour pencil techniques such as; blending of hues, tonal variation and burnishing which will then be applied to their realistic colour pencil artwork. 

Artist works in progress:

	Photographer - Aashna Prasad	Artist - Vanessa Menon
Photographer - Angelina Chamoun	Photographer - Sahas Shergill	Photographer - Cohen Henry

Year 8 ‘Shock of the NEW’ A - Z Photography

Year 8 artists were introduced to photography skills such as composition, ‘rule of thirds’, angles and editing. Students explored the school environment to identify letters of the alphabet, capturing these everyday objects in a way which manipulates the visual, transforming the object into a letter. Students compiled their letters from A - Z then edited, cropped, adjusted hues and rearranged using Photoshop, Canva, or Slides creating a unique visual alphabetical compositional piece. 

Artist work in progress:

Allistaire Reyes found the letter P (the end of the railing)	Artwork by Kyle Lo
Artwork by Nicole Gasendo		Searching for letters in our school environment
Artwork by Alexandra Iskander		Nikhil Gudur found an ‘A’
Artwork by Samantha Xavier		Artwork by Liam Tabone

Year 10 Suburbia 

Students have explored characteristics/features of suburbia and what it means to be a citizen of the suburbs. They have analysed the practice of various artists/photographers work, investigating ways in which they depict suburbia in their own unique way. Our students were recently challenged with a collaborative task; for our artists, it was to create a scene within a window frame, representing a concept using mediums of their choice, and for our photographers, it was to create a series of scenes representing a concept using Photo editing software. This task encourages students to draw inspiration from the happenings of the world around us, to be able to research and explore concepts to develop coherence and layers of meaning in the making of art and develop/build upon existing technical skills; one of which is perspective drawings. These collaborative artworks will soon be exhibited.

Artist works in progress:

Year 12 HSC ‘Artistic Journey’ Body of Works

Our leading artists of St Andrews College have been extremely busy with their art making practice. The phenomenal works have been noticed by visitors inside and outside of our school community. Gaining popularity amongst staff, peers and professional artists. 

Currently in the studio, our artists are preparing to present their Body of Work, pitching their research, development and direction through assessment. Students will soon be visiting the Art Gallery of NSW to visit ARTEXPRESS 2021. 

Keep your eyes peeled for events such as ‘Works in Progress’ Night, which will provide the audience with an insight behind the scenes of an artist in practice. 

Mrs Kemal
Visual Arts Teacher

Thursday sport

Our volleyball and basketball teams have started the season strong, despite one washout for volleyball. I am particularly impressed with the teamwork and camaraderie of the teams as reported by their dedicated coaches.

Our diving team, led by Mrs Weaver, is also training hard each Thursday during sport at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre to prepare for the NSWCCC Diving competition.

PDSSSC/NSWCCC Representative pathway sport

If your son/daughter is unable to attend a trial that they have registered for due to COVID-19 or other extenuating circumstances, please contact me to discuss alternative options for potential selection.

Please also see below for information regarding the pathway for each sport through to a NSWCCC representative level.

Up and coming sport events

• PDSSSC Swimming Carnival- Friday 11th March
• PDSSSC Boys Touch football gala day- Wednesday 16th March
• PDSSSC Girls Touch football gala day- Friday 18th March
• College Cross Country- Friday 25th March
• PDSSSC Open Boys & Girl soccer gala day- Friday 1st April

Details regarding registrations to trial for gala days/College sport events are posted on cohort google classrooms. If your son/daughter is successful in qualifying for any of the above events, information is sent via the events tab on Compass and consent must be received in order for your child to attend.

Students experiencing sporting success

Elijah Andrew (of year 7) is one of only 20 junior motocross riders who have been selected for the Oceania Junior Cup which is an exciting and noteworthy achievement for this young man.

We wish you all the best, Elijah and look forward to hearing more about your successes. Check out some recent photos of Elijah in action!

PDSSSC Basketball gala day

Below is a report by Mr Kharlos and Mr Alata about the PDSSSC Basketball gala day. Thank you to Mr Kharlos and Mr Alata for coaching and supporting these teams on the day and well done to all students who participated.

On Wednesday 23rd of February, St Andrews College was represented by a group of boys and girls to compete in the Opens Boys’ and Opens Girls’ competition. This year’s boys’ competition introduced new schools such as St Dominic’s College, Patrician Brothers Blacktown, Parramatta Marist and St Gregory’s. It was sure to be a very competitive day.

For the boys, they started the competition with a win against St Greg’s A grade 24-22. After a slow start, the boys were able to rally back and sneak ahead in the final minutes of the game. The second game was against Penola and the boys won this game very convincingly 47-8. St Dom’s B grade was next, having played this team in the first round of Thursday PDSSC competition and only losing by 5 points, they were motivated for this game. However, we started very flat and could not match St Dom’s emphatic energy and lost the game 19-8. We would easily grab a win against Gilroy 27-13 to set up a must win game against Parramatta Marist. Unfortunately we would lose this game 23-18 to knock us out for a top 4 finish. 

We would finish 3rd in our pool which resulted in a game for 5th overall against St Clare’s Catholic High School. This was our last game for the day and there was a lot of energy from both teams. This game would come down to the wire and with St Andrews up by 3 with 30 seconds left, a turnover by St Clare’s allowed us to seal the win and finish 5th from the 12 teams that entered the competition. 

The boys should be very proud of the way they played and represented the College.

The Opens Boys were represented by: Magol Maker, John Lukudu, Brosnan Wells, Patrick Felipe, Xander Casipit, Erren Fernandez, Mathew Saguid, Ryan Laycock, Deng Joseph and Dominic Habil.

The girls started the competition with a close loss against St John XXIII Stanhope 20-11. This was followed by another consecutive close loss against Marian College 18-11 and a 3rd loss against Caroline Chisholm. These losses would fuel the motivation for the girls in what would be an encouraging win against Delaney college winning 24-4. The team finished 3rd in their pool which meant the St Andrews’ Senior Girls team would have a final game against the 3rd place team in the opposite pool, St Claires. Fortunately for St Andrews, St Clare’s decided to forfeit and thus the team finished with 2 wins and 3 losses finishing 5th overall out of 10 teams.

A big thank you to the Year 10, 11 and 12 students who represented the school. This list includes: Aboul Aguek, Dorothy Anzoa, Eulelia Barret, Katelyn Calima, Adut Domkuch, Alat Domkuch, Alenia Hartono, Abuk Magok, Hayley O’Connor, Maraia Pickering, Janelle San Jose, Patricia Tuazon and Nicole Wasef.  

Mrs Kayla Brogan
Leader of Learning Sport

Food Technology 

Year 8 

Technology Mandatory consists of a variety of units for students to learn through design and production activities as they develop solutions to identified needs and opportunities. In this unit students learn through the practical application of knowledge and understanding about Food Technologies. For their first Food Technology practical lesson, Year 8 made Chocolate Truffles, this recipe allowed students to learn basic food preparation skills, cleaning and washing procedures in the kitchen. 

We look forward to seeing what other creations Year 8 make in the future.

Year 11

As we continue through our unit of study this term we have investigated a range of factors that affect our food selection and foods that are native to Australia. Kangaroo Stir Fry is a fusion of cultures which enables students to learn not only how to prepare and cook Kangaroo but how to incorporate it into dishes that are  common in everyday cuisine.

Kangaroo Stirfry

Kangaroo Stirfry 43.48 KB

Year 12

Year 12 Hospitality have been continuing their training using the coffee machine. Year 12 students have started a new unit looking at how to prepare and serve espresso beverages. We continue to focus on the pre operational procedures and close down procedures. Students also learnt how to make different types of coffee such as a ristretto, flat white, Piccolo Latte and Mocha.

On 16th February Drama students in Year 10 and 11 had the privilege of attending ONSTAGE at the Seymour Centre. The goal of the excursion was to watch Band 6 HSC performances and to view Band 6 Individual Projects, that students would build some idea of the expectations of their HSC year and inspire their own theatre making.

The students were fantastic ambassadors of St Andrews College, with Redfern locals and business owners taking time to pass on compliments of the students’ respectful and positive attitudes. 

Students viewed a variety of types of theatre through the day, including impressive Monologues, highly engaging Group Performances. 

“I definitely enjoyed watching the performances, they were all so fun and really entertaining… the performers were really in sync with their teammates which was really cool.”

The program went beyond live performance, including examples of well constructed video drama which had students on the edge of their seats, as well as a moved reading of a script which some students considered the highlight of the day.

“I enjoyed watching all the performances; they were all engaging and skillful.  I especially enjoyed the performance ‘The Murder and the Mystery’ because of the amazing execution of multi-roling, synchronization, voice projection, and deliverance of comedy.”

Other students took inspiration from the range of Design focused Individual Projects on display in the foyer.

This is an annual event which we organise to get the students engaged with learning beyond the classroom. The class teachers can already see the impact of this excursion in our classrooms and look forward to watching the motivations carry the students forward with their own projects.

Throughout 2021 - 2022, St Andrews College has one senior student who has been studying Dance for the HSC and on Thursday 17th February, she attended the HSC Dance Day. Tijana Sammut has been travelling to St Agnes Catholic College each Thursday afternoon to study dance as part of a cluster of schools. She spends 3 hours a week with teachers from CAPTIVATE who work with students to unpack and study the Stage 6 syllabus. Prior to this course, Tijana also worked with the CAPTIVATE staff at St Andrews College in 2020 when they delivered the Certificate 1 in Dance course to Stage 5 students. Tijana has over 13 years experience as a dancer and is currently dancing 9 hours a week.

The HSC Dance Day is a chance for HSC Dance students to work with expert choreographers and experienced HSC markers on the 3 elements of Dance: Performance, Composition and Appreciation.

The day was divided into 3 sections based on the elements, was attended by students from several schools in the Parramatta diocese and hosted by St Agnes Catholic College.

Session 1 : Performance 

Presenter: Carla Cherrie

In this first session students focused on differentiating between core and major works. They started with a general warm-up led by Carla and were advised to be aware of personal strengths and how to use them advantageously. Students then learnt a sequence that included kinaesthetic awareness, balances and flexibility. Throughout the process, they discussed the elements of spatial awareness, dynamics and time and the need to be aware of said elements while performing.

Session 2 : Composition 

Presenter: Natasha Comelli

Composition is often the most difficult element of dance for HSC students. Natasha helped break down the process by outlining ideas on how to start choreographing. Students were guided through exercises to help them get started in creating their compositions as well as thinking critically about how and why they put the piece together. This included the use of motifs, structure (binary, ternary, collage, narrative) and play.

Session 3 : Appreciation 

Presenter: Melissa Cooper

The two pieces chosen for study this year are Juliet and Romeo - Max Ek (2013) and an Indigenous piece, Terrain - Bangarra Dance Theatre/ frances Rings (2012). Students were lectured via Zoom by Melissa, an experienced HSC Dance teacher and marker with over 20 years experience. She helped unpack the prescribed works set out for 2022 and explained how to go about answering exam questions by unpacking sample HSC papers. She paid particular attention to dance literacy and subject specific language with the goal of improving descriptions and structuring responses clearly.

Tijana found the day extremely valuable in assisting her to be successful in her HSC Dance course. She states: 

“During the HSC dance masterclass. I learned many skills that will help me achieve my goal for this upcoming year. The day was broken down into 3 sections which gave all of us students a better understanding of each section of the syllabus. I learned how to write and speak adequately as there is an interview and exam process as part of our HSC. I learnt how each core section is done and went into depth with understanding its context. I also enjoyed learning different routines from past HSC markers and ways to manipulate to make it my own routine.” 

We wish Tijana all the best as she works towards her HSC. The College will endeavour to showcase Tijana’s dances in upcoming Creative Arts events.

How to Set Goals for School to Make It Your Best Year Yet!

When students are asked,  “What are your goals for the year?” they often stare with a blank face. But here’s the thing: Goals have a real, measurable impact on your success.

All sorts of studies show that if you write your goals down on paper you’re 33% more likely to reach it. As well as this, research with top-performing students showed that they are far more likely to have a set goal that they’ve written down and committed to.

Below are some steps from ‘Art of Smart’ for creating goals to help you stay motivated and set yourself up for success.

Step 1: Don’t Only Set Academic Goals

Whatever you do, don’t only set yourself academic goals!

It’s easy in Year 12 to only focus on school, but if you’re only thinking about HSC goal setting for school, then you run the risk of burning out.

So, when setting your goals for the year, split them into 4 main categories:

• Academics
• Health + Wellbeing
• Family + Friends
• Career

By setting goals within each of these four categories, you’ll be much more well-rounded, and it’s a great framework for HSC goal setting and for the rest of your life after school!

Step 2: Be Specific

So often when students share their goals with me, they are really vague: “I want to do better at school” or “I want to get fitter” - What does that even mean?!

Usually the vaguer you are in your goal, the less you know where you’re actually at in your progress towards achieving your goal. Now, knowing where you’re at is really important because making progress is really motivating and inspiring!

That’s why specificity is really key to powerful HSC goal setting, so you can see with clarity what you’re working towards, where you’re at and where you’re getting to.

You want to actually quantify your goal, for example: Instead of ‘Do better at school’, a better goal is ‘Get an ATAR of 90 and a Band 6 in HSC English’. The test here to know if you’ve nailed being specific about your goal is that you can actually identify a way to clearly measure your progress on this goal. If there is, then you’ve got a specific goal. If there isn’t, you need to keep reworking your goal until you’ve got it!

Step 3: Challenge Yourself

To be really honest, most people that set goals for themselves just look at what they’re doing now and where they’ll end up if they keep going that way, and set that as their goal. But this isn’t really a goal – it’s a destination that you’re already on the path of reaching. This is fine, but it’s not really the point of a goal.

The point of a goal is to stretch and challenge yourself to lift your performance from the trajectory you’re currently on to where you want to be! The bottom line is that your goal needs to be a challenge. You don’t know what you’re actually capable of achieving until you set your sights on it and achieve it.

In fact, research shows that the more challenging your goal is, the more likely it is to elicit high levels of achievement and performance!

To make sure you’ve got a challenging goal that’s going to help you perform and achieve, take your goal and simply add 10%. For example, if your goal is to get 70% in HSC English, add 10% and set your goal to get 77% in HSC English!

Set yourself a challenge to think of 4 specific, challenging goals and write them down on a post-it note. Display the post-it note somewhere in your room or in your learning planner and use them as a reminder to stay motivated and work hard for your own success!

Miss Emily Pett
Leader of Wellbeing Year 12

What is gratitude?

Everyone has times when they feel aware of being thankful for a person or a situation. These moments give us a good feeling that we call ‘gratitude’. Gratitude is a positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative.

Gratitude, or appreciation for the good things that happen in life, is an essential part of building our happiness. 

Feeling grateful just happens sometimes, but you can also make a special effort to increase how often you feel it. Research has shown that people with high levels of gratitude experience a whole bunch of benefits, so it’s a great idea to increase your own.

Signs of Gratitude

How do you know if you are experiencing a sense of gratitude? Expressing your appreciation and thanks for what you have can happen in a number of different ways. For example, it might involve:

• Spending a few moments thinking about the things in your life that you are grateful for
• Stopping to observe and acknowledge the beauty of wonder of something you encounter in your daily life
• Being thankful for your health
• Thanking someone for the positive influence they have in your life
• Doing something kind for another person to show that you are grateful
• Paying attention to the small things in your life that bring you joy and peace
• Meditation or prayer focused on giving thanks

The Benefits of Gratitude

Increasing your gratitude is useful because:

• it’s an instant mood booster - it helps us to feel happier
• it helps us to have stronger connections with our friends and family
• it’s easier to cope with tough times
• it calms the nervous system
• it boosts our immunity and heart health
• it deepens our resilience
• you’re likely to enjoy your life more!

How to Practise Gratitude

Experiencing more gratitude is easy and doesn’t take much time. Try these ideas and see what works best for you:

• Keep a gratitude journal. Take five minutes each day or once a week to think of and write down three things that have happened to you since the previous day or week that you’re glad you experienced.
• Take pictures. Set yourself a mission to photograph little things in your everyday life that make you smile.
• Tell someone you’re grateful to have them in your life. Whether it’s someone you look up to, or someone who just makes you happy, take the time to tell them you’re glad they’re around.

You don’t have to think up a whole collection of really significant things in order to be grateful. You can be grateful for the smallest things, such as the sunshine, a smile on someone’s face, a warm cup of tea or a great conversation!

Mrs Andrea Utoikamanu
Leader of Wellbeing Year 10

On Wednesday 23rd of February, St Andrews College was represented by a group of boys and girls to compete in the Opens Boys’ and Opens Girls’ competition. This year’s boys’ competition introduced new schools such as St Dominic’s College, Patrician Brothers Blacktown, Parramatta Marist and St Gregory’s. It was sure to be a very competitive day.

For the boys, they started the competition with a win against St Greg’s A grade 24-22. After a slow start, the boys were able to rally back and sneak ahead in the final minutes of the game. The second game was against Penola and the boys won this game very convincingly 47-8. St Dom’s B grade was next, having played this team in the first round of Thursday PDSSC competition and only losing by 5 points, they were motivated for this game. However, we started very flat and could not match St Dom’s emphatic energy and lost the game 19-8. We would easily grab a win against Gilroy 27-13 to set up a must win game against Parramatta Marist. Unfortunately we would lose this game 23-18 to knock us out for a top 4 finish. 

We would finish 3rd in our pool which resulted in a game for 5th overall against St Clare’s Catholic High School. This was our last game for the day and there was a lot of energy from both teams. This game would come down to the wire and with St Andrews up by 3 with 30 seconds left, a turnover by St Clare’s allowed us to seal the win and finish 5th from the 12 teams that entered the competition. 

The boys should be very proud of the way they played and represented the College.

The Opens Boys were represented by: Magol Maker, John Lukudu, Brosnan Wells, Patrick Felipe, Xander Casipit, Erren Fernandez, Mathew Saguid, Ryan Laycock, Deng Joseph and Dominic Habil.

The girls started the competition with a close loss against St John XXIII Stanhope 20-11. This was followed by another consecutive close loss against Marian College 18-11 and a 3rd loss against Caroline Chisholm. These losses would fuel the motivation for the girls in what would be an encouraging win against Delaney college winning 24-4. The team finished 3rd in their pool which meant the St Andrews’ Senior Girls team would have a final game against the 3rd place team in the opposite pool, St Claires. Fortunately for St Andrews, St Clare’s decided to forfeit and thus the team finished with 2 wins and 3 losses finishing 5th overall out of 10 teams.

A big thank you to the Year 10, 11 and 12 students who represented the school. This list includes: Aboul Aguek, Dorothy Anzoa, Eulelia Barret, Katelyn Calima, Adut Domkuch, Alat Domkuch, Alenia Hartono, Abuk Magok, Hayley O’Connor, Maraia Pickering, Janelle San Jose, Patricia Tuazon and Nicole Wasef.  

Jason Alata
Music and VET Entertainment Teacher

The NSW Government is offering 1000 free places on the Safer Drivers Course each year to help young learner drivers from disadvantaged backgrounds and Aboriginal communities.
The fee exemption allows those who are financially disadvantaged to benefit from the road safety outcomes of the Safer Drivers Course.

Learner Drivers earn 20 BONUS HOURS in their logbook at the completion of the course.

MODULE 1 & 2 ARE CONDUCTED ON THE SAME DAY. Refreshments, Morning Tea and Lunch provided.

Next  Available Course dates:

Blaxland

Sunday 13th March 2022

Wednesday 13th April 2022 (School Holidays)

Windsor

Saturday 19th March 2022

Thursday 14th April 2022 (School Holidays)

Quakers Hill

Saturday 12th March 2022

Thursday 21st April 2022 (School Holidays)

Penrith

Sunday 27th February 2022

Sunday 27th March 2022

Wednesday 20th April 2022 (School Holidays)

Please visit www.ndeaustralia.com.au to book a course or call 02 9853 3243.