St Andrews College Marayong eNewsletter Term 2 Week 6

Dear Members of the St Andrews College Community,

Thank you for the way you have returned to face-to-face teaching. I know the teaching staff are very pleased that you are all back. I have witnessed many examples of students working at their best, asking staff for extra work and feedback on their performance, and students looking out for others since we have returned. It makes me very proud to be the Principal of this College when I see this happening. Keep up the good work. Remember “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

‘It’s All About Learning’

Reflection:

Returning to Union

A familiar—and apparently true—story of a newborn baby’s homecoming illustrates the implanted memory of union or heaven. A newborn’s precocious four-year old sibling tells her parents, “I want to talk to my new little brother alone.” The parents put their ears to the nursery door and hear the little girl saying to her baby brother, “Quick, tell me who made you. Tell me where you came from. I’m beginning to forget!”

The baby represents the “little ones” Jesus praises, the innocent children and mystics who know their belovedness and union with God. The four-year-old represents most of us, caught in between knowing and forgetting and wanting to know again! In the complexity of life’s journey, we all begin to forget. It grows harder and harder to remember our original identity in God. Many of us experience a crisis of meaning and hope that keeps us scrambling for external power, perks, and possessions, trying to fill the void.

I am saddened that much of Christian history has had so little inner experience to trust that divine union could really be true for us—already and now. Once we know there is an original implanted and positive direction to our existence, we can trust the primary flow (faith); eventually we will learn to calmly rest there (hope); and we can actually become a conduit (love). Finally, we are at home both here and forever. What else could salvation be? Remember, “There are only three things that last: faith, hope, and love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Going to heaven is not the goal of religion. Salvation isn’t an evacuation plan or a reward for the next world. Whenever we live in conscious, loving union with God, which is eventually to love everything, we are saved. This can and should happen now in this world. Social justice advocate Dorothy Day (1897-1980) credited Catherine of Siena’s inspiration for her often-shared words: “All the way to Heaven is heaven, because He said, ‘I am the Way.’” [1] Even St Pope John Paul II said that heaven and hell are not geographic places but states of consciousness. [2] When we understand this, we will spend our lives trying to bring about the Lord’s Prayer: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In a sense, the Christ is always too much for us. God is always “going ahead of us into Galilee” (Matthew 28:7). The Risen Christ is leading us into a future for which we’re never fully ready. How can we even imagine divine union? It is too big a concept for most of us. “These are the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the mind of humanity—what God has prepared for those who love” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

References: [1] Dorothy Day, letter to Charles Butterworth, June 10, 1959. See All the Way to Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day, ed. Robert Ellsberg (Marquette University Press: 2010), 254. [2] Pope John Paul II, General Audiences on July 21, 1999 (heaven) and July 28, 1999 (hell). The Vatican offers access to a wide collection of papal addresses and documents at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/index.htm. Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of St. Francis, disc 3 (Sounds True: 2010), CD; Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (Jossey-Bass: 2013), 90; and Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (Franciscan Media: 2007), 208-209, 213-214.

Communication with Parents and Students:

Thank you to the parents who have been able to engage with the Compass Portal to date. Your feedback would be welcomed. Eventually we will be moving reports onto this system so you will be able to view them at any time.:

Congratulations Mr Weaver:

Congratulations to Mr Weaver who will have an article published in the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education describing his research on High Intensity Interval Training. Data used included deidentified student samples from St Andrews College as part of his Masters Degree. Great achievement.  

Renovations:

Gym: We are due to finish the Gym in the next few days and equipment has been ordered and on its way. The facility will now enable extensive bootcamp and weights facilities to be available to all of our students. Photos are forthcoming.

Art Rooms Junior Campus: We are upgrading the facilities in the Art Rooms over the holiday period. The upgrade will involve all new display areas, shelving, desks and storage. 

Bottom Yard Junior Campus: Over the holiday period we will be putting synthetic grass in the bottom quad area and new shade cloth on the seating area. 

We are looking forward to getting student feedback when you all return in Term 3.

Fidem in Christo

Stephen Kennaugh
Principal

Uniform

All student should be in full winter uniform every day. As it gets colder students start to wear extra clothing, I suggest that thermal clothing that goes under the uniform be worn. If a student wears a piece of clothing other than the St Andrews uniform, 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 uniform on a Thursday must be complete or they are to wear their winter uniform. No track pants and leggings are to be worn to school. If Track Pants are worn then they need to be the St Andrews College Track Pants.

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 a detention or asked to go home to rectify their uniform.

Attendance

As life begins to return to normal, we need to be mindful of how many days each student is absent. We understand that sometimes sickness and family issues effect attendance but sometimes we are ok to come to school but we stay at home. 

If families are still in vulnerable situations with Covid 19 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 you child back into a normal attendance and school routine please contact the Leader of Learning for your child year.

What’s in the Planner?

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 I 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 such as assessments 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. 

Nicholas Thrum
Assistant Principal Students

HSC Minimum Standards

Year 10 will sit for the HSC Minimum Standards Tests in Numeracy, Writing and Reading, early Term 3. The test schedule will be shared shortly. 

Students are encouraged to do the practice tests provided by NESA to understand the structure of the tests and be set up to pass the tests during their first sitting. 

NESA ONLINE PRACTICE TESTS

Year 9 students can also access the HSC Minimum Standards Practice tests, so they are well prepared for their testing in Term 1 2021. 

Trial HSC Examination Timetable

The Trial HSC Examination Timetable has been shared with students. Each student should have a study timetable set up at home and ensure they are consistently studying. 

Study should involve practising past HSC papers and submitting them to the subject teacher for feedback. Practising writing is important particularly as students predominantly type instead of handwriting. 

The Trial HSC Examinations is the final internal assessment for students. Therefore this important assessment period, completes student grades and ranks for 2020. 

Preliminary Examinations

Students in Year 11 have received their Preliminary Examination Timetable. Whilst the Examinations are at the conclusion of Term 3, it is important that Year 11 students  remain focused and committed to their study. The Preliminary Examinations will have an increased weighting for some subjects due to the cancellation of some assessment tasks due to the CoronaVirus. Therefore it is important that students are well prepared and organised to attempt the examinations to the best of their ability. 

HSC Band Predictions

Students in Year 12 were recently asked to predict the bands they expect to achieve for the HSC Examinations. This data provides teachers with good conversation points with their students. In particular teachers are keen for students to increase their HSC Band achievement. In some cases students may think they will achieve much higher than their current grades are reflecting. In these cases teachers can converse with students about their current expected band status and what they need to do in order to rise to the bands they are seeking.

Study Skills - Don’t Study Harder, Study Smarter

Michelle Deschamps

Assistant Principal - Teaching & Learning

Teamwork Week

In Term 1 the College celebrated Gratitude Week as part of our Wellbeing Program. This week, the College celebrated Teamwork Week.

Each day during Learning Group, there was an activity for students to participate in that focused on different types of Teamwork. Whether it was reflecting on teams they are part of, or forming teams to achieve a goal, it was  great seeing the students accept the challenges and working together. A big  thank you to all the students who have participated in Teamwork Week.

Merits

Since we are moving to COMPASS for our Merit Awards, students are asked to find all their yellow Merits and to hand them in to their Learning Advisor. Merits are hard to earn - so it’s important that all Merits are uploaded into our new system so they count towards our House Cup and towards each student's personal tally.

Mrs Sue Cooper

Leader of Wellbeing

Maths Meme Mondays of May

In celebration of the Numeracy Week, St Andrews College held its first ever Maths Meme Mondays of May.  It is a contest open to all students, whereby the students are to submit their original Maths memes.  A winner is selected every Monday for the funniest, most inspirational or most informative meme.  This challenge was very well received by many students.  Students in Year 7 to 10 were excited to share their mathematical and creative ideas, which resulted in many entries.  This made it hard for the maths teachers to choose the winners.

The following are the winners:

A big thank you to Miss Sandha for leading and organising this contest!  We can’t wait for next year for more of these memes!

Glida DeGuzman

Leader of Learning Mathematics Junior Campus

This year St Andrews began a writing competition to allow students an opportunity to demonstrate their imaginative creativity. The goal of the competition is to develop the written skills of students and to celebrate those in the College who are talented writers. 

In March the topic was open to anyone, writing anything. This was a way to generate interest among the student body. In April the topic was non-fictional, “What Matters to You”, as a tribute to an external competition that runs each year on the same topic. Clearly events outside of the College dominated thoughts in April and students rightly focused on adapting to the new world and ways of doing things, yet still we received entries for the competition. Results have been withheld until this week in the hope that assemblies would be in person and the students recognised in person, but as this will not happen in the near future, winners were announced in assembly this week. 

The winners of the competition are awarded $30 Teens gift vouchers and the runners-up are awarded certificates. The winners and runners up for the March and April St Andrews Writing Competition are below. 

MARCH WINNERS:

YEAR 7: Elyscia Barrett. “The Nameless Island”.

YEAR 8: Emma Croser. “The Unexpected Sentiment”.

YEAR 9: Ava Alley. Untitled.

MARCH RUNNERS-UP:

YEAR 7: Aryan Prasad. “America’s Icebox”.

YEAR 8: Frienczel Espino. “Anything is Possible”.

YEAR 9: Ayush Goyal. Untitled Poem.

APRIL WINNERS:

YEAR 7: Ada Ding. Untitled.

YEAR 8: Chloe Garcia. “Vengeance”.

YEAR 9: Niamh Healy. “Media Influences”.

APRIL RUNNERS-UP:

YEAR 7: McKenzie Jones. “The Music Academy”.

YEAR 8: Euleila Barrett. Untitled.

Congratulations to all of those students who entered and to those who won awards. The level of writing was superb and I encourage as many students to enter as possible. 

Some of the students were kind enough to give permission for their writing to be published, please enjoy these samples of their work.

___________________________________________

Extract from “America’s Icebox” by Aryan Prasad.

The promenade in Homer is also called "The Spit." It's a long island sticking out into the delightful blue Kachemak Bay. The mist-filled narrows appeared to envelop the isle as individuals shopped and feasted at the patio bistros. people walked around the path and searched for the correct store that lured me to come in. The sun was sufficiently warm that the warmth embraced me like a blanket, yet the breeze blew ruthlessly through the cove. It made the citizen’s nose and cheeks a cherry red shading as they folded their hood over their face to keep out the virus. It blew so hard a for a few days that the waves on the seashore would woosh around and sprinkle onto the shore. The waves caused jellyfish to wash onto the sandy banks.

___________________________________________

Extract from “Media Influences” by Niamh Healy.

You get another friend

A 2D one you start to extend

Another and another are added to the list

Up to 100 have to coexist

Your eyes strain 

It happened again

Another notification what’s it now

Another person you allow

To come into your life just like that

Letting them walk on you like a mat

You look at it now it shining so bright

It's just like a headlight

It’s your social media in the darkness of the street 

The gleaming light that's so bittersweet

Instagrams up as you scroll through

The light getting closer as it grew

Then bang

___________________________________________

Extract from “The Nameless Island” by Elyscia Barrett.

Chapter Two 

The ocean. Calm and gentle. Sweet and subtle. Should I revere it or fear it? I examined the ocean carefully, the ocean breathed, the surface rising and falling with rhythmic ease. The waves became the ocean’s pulse, beating fast. With every wave, the beating accelerated. The thought of never returning to a normal life sent tears streaming down my face, I couldn’t do anything further but to sit cross-legged upon the sandy shore and gaze at the horizon in front of me. Waves of deep royal blue crept towards me before running away, only to repeat the process in a cycle. Droplets of salty water spray across the diverse seashells situated on shore. But beyond those magical waves was something even more amazing and breathtaking.

Chapter Three

The sunset. Beautiful smudges of coral, lavender, turquoise and a fiery orange blended together to create a sight so astounding it swept me away from all my worries, just like the waves creeping over the seashells and stealing them in a matter of seconds. My last teardrop fell and hit the soft yellow sand below and a warm feeling of safety and security overwhelmed me, as the sun dipped below the horizon. The vast ocean within my grasp, was my home, where I belonged, a place to escape away from reality, from all my worries. Nothing could take away this feeling, or so I thought.

___________________________________________

Extract from “The Unexpected Sentiment” by Emma Crosser.

Her delicate, resplendent face continued to stare at me with that same smile. The same portrait positioned in the same place within the sombre shelf; reminding us of how melancholy and bittersweet her passing was. That same face had prolonged to look at me for the past three years. I gazed in her beloved eyes, and fell under her spell. I wish I inexorably didn’t have to say my eventual farewells. Why did she have to go, oh so soon? Without your smile to light up the room, it’s as empty as a void of space, absent of all particles. That emptiness travels everywhere you perceive. Till even the sun sheds a tear.

Out of all emotions that ever existed, there is one that is always unexpected. Grief. When we love someone, we trust them in every single way possible and earn their reciprocal trust within each other. Loving someone means letting yourself go, it means giving in and taking chances. If we deeply feel this emotion for an individual/s; it makes it arduous to let them go. There are no words for how vanquished that makes a person. It’s like arising up from a bad dream, only to discover that it is reality. It is like observing sunlight fade from the sky. The only aspect we have an appraisal in, is how we handle it. That is what we address as grief. 

___________________________________________

Extract from an unititled poem by Ayush Goyal.

Our ears have been attuned

To the silence of a deafening roar

To the roar in retrospect which now defines the world

It covers as a landscape forming a plasticine theatre

Which all resembles a sense of deathlessness

It’s a plastic theatre 

Our ears have been attuned

To the silence of deafening soulful cries 

For she has cried to many times 

And we have just wiped the tears away

Only to create some more

Only to add to the theatre

But why do we not ask ourselves

How many more times will we make her cry

Until she goes silent

forever

And so do we

And so does the theatre 

Our lungs have been attuned

To the sound of air

As it mourns for justice 

Because we have intoxicated it

We have made it something we chose to ignore

Yet love in the plastic theatre

Our ears have been attuned

To the deathly silence of our eyes

As the full retrospect of humans 

Has destroyed the creator of life

Leaving all we have scarce

Yet an abundance, of other things in the theatre 

But why do we ever bother

To water the petals of a flower

When really,

There are no petals left

To water

Not even in the plastic theatre 

___________________________________________

Extract from an untitled story by Ava Alley.

I could still remember the day those two army officers arrived at my house to tell me my brother was dead. Their cold hard faces gave little away when I asked how he died. “Killed in the course of duty” was all they would say. Everything else was “classified”. They handed me a letter from my brother, saluted, then turned and left, the click-clack of their shoes on the pavement slowly dying away. I stood frozen to the spot, dazed, confused and devastated. I finally opened the letter with trembling fingers but only one line stared back at me. “I’ll always be with you brother. Karl”. What did he mean? How could he be with me ever again? He was dead.

Now I leaned heavily on the rusty shovel in my hands and started to dig, determined to uncover the truth. The scar-faced man beside me began to dig at the other end and soon my brother’s coffin began to emerge from beneath the layers of sodden earth. Faced with this moment of truth, I began to panic. What if I was wrong? I knew Karl hated the army, I knew he wanted out. His girlfriend Sarah hadn’t turned up at the funeral, hadn’t contacted her family in the two months since his death. But maybe she just needed some space?

I looked down at the coffin as my hired helper tugged at the lid with a crowbar. With a loud snap the lid flew back revealing the frozen corpse inside. My whole body filled with relief - there was a dead man in the coffin. But it wasn’t my brother.

In a time littered with evolving uncertainty, faith remains our guide to solace, to unity. Young Christian Students (YCS) has been a central piece of instilling that faith in action, in the hopes that it will ripple through our school community and contribute to alleviating the pressures of this daunting time. As a segment of a larger Catholic youth movement that is completely student-based, we hope to create a space devoted to the needs of our peers and the wider Christian circle. YCS continues to embody the significance of student leadership and offers an outlet for student initiative and expression. It is a reflection of the inclusive nature that lies at the heart of our school, hence we heavily prioritise not only supporting but empowering student voice, putting it forth to inspire creative and sustainable growth. 

Our most recent initiative is based on stress management, both within ourselves and the wider school community. Being students on the senior campus, our studies are crucial at this stage and it is easy to neglect oneself and grow consumed with the demands of our final years of school. Possessing the skills required to manage stress effectively is significant, especially in the sense that it is long lasting and will be applicable through every stage of life, it will condition us as young adults to face our futures unbound and to the best of our abilities. 

Currently, we are working in partnership with other YCS teams in neighbouring schools, and hope to bring this conversation to light by extending our reach to Catholic communities beyond our own. We aim to produce a series of stress management videos, which contain diverse methods of approaching stress at various stages. Managing stress is a process that is unique to the individual, but we hope our videos can serve as a reference point to set the process in motion or inspire it further. These are intensely uncertain and trying times, hence the videos produced will not only aid us all in managing stress as it arises, but they will also provide the opportunity to grow both individually and collectively through the strength of one another. 

The video series will be releasing a video every few weeks and can be found in our Online Assemblies, posted in Google Classrooms and in College Social Media accounts. Please take the time out of your busy day to watch these videos so that as a community so that we may See, Judge and Act. 

Haswhitaa Manyoor 

 

On Thursday the 27th of February St Andrews College hosted their annual Swimming Carnival at Blacktown pools. It was a great day overall and our staff and students, once again, lived up to the hype and expectations delivering what was truly a memorable carnival. There was an amazing display of athleticism, pride and passion throughout the day. A special mention goes out to all our students who were involved but in particular our 3rd place, runners up and age champions of the day. 

(include age champions list)

Congratulations to all our age champions for their hard work, efforts and sportsmanship showed throughout. The day could've ran as smoothly as it did without an extra special thank you to the following individuals and their teams who had arrived early to help set up:

• The forever reliable PDHPE team
• Cassandra Carlos and her hospitality team.
• Antonio Chiappetta and Jason Alata our announcers, entertainers and commentators.
• Sarah Anzellotti and Anthony Culburt our statisticians.
• Tracey Thompson, Hailey Borg, Claudine Desira, Dominique Goldie and Frank Clarke our marshals.
• Dave Frankham and his army of timekeepers.
• Nathan Weaver and Scott Drennan our starters.
• All our house patrons and members of staff
• Emily Pett and Lyndal Simmonds on face painting and hairspray duties
• Anita Weaver and Pauline Xuereb our first aiders
• Therese May our photographer 

Lastly thank you to Stephen Kennaugh, his team of executives and Martin Gillogly. The faith, trust and opportunity to run the whole event will be truly unforgettable and I'm forever grateful for this.

Yours in Sport,

James Aronis

Western Sydney University True Rewards

Western Sydney University True Rewards is an early entry program based on HSC Subject Bands. 

This year Western Sydney University is also considering Year 11 results. This will give students the option of using either their Year 11 results or their Year 12 HSC Band results - whichever is the best.

The following courses are excluded from the True Reward program due to additional selection criteria and capped placements.

Bachelor of Architectural Design

Bachelor of Health Science (Paramedicine)

Bachelor of Physiotherapy

Bachelor of Podiatric Medicine

Bachelor of Speech Pathology

Bachelor of Laws (Graduate Entry)

Bachelor of Laws (Non-Graduate Entry)

Doctor of Medicine

Bachelor of Midwifery

Bachelor of Nursing (Enrolled Nurse pathway)

Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching Birth-5/Birth-12) Diploma pathway

Bachelor of Education (Primary) - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education

Associate Degree in Engineering

Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

Western Sydney University will be providing more details regarding the True Rewards Program in the coming weeks.

Students wishing to register their interest with Western Sydney University are encouraged to visit the link below.

Western Sydney University True Rewards Early Entry Program 

Therese May
Careers Adviser