As we finish 2022 I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every member of our community. Your support and feedback is always greatly appreciated and viewed as an essential component to assist us as educators ensuring that what we do is relevant to the community that we serve.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Timetable 2023

Students will be able to view their 2023 Timetable on Compass by 23 January.

If you have any questions please email pfinnerty@parra.catholic.edu.au

In each year group (Years 8-10) there will be one Enrichment Class created based on student performance in 2022 (Assessments and PAT-Tests). The other classes in each cohort will be created using a mixed-ability (sharing our gifts) approach. Leaders of Learning are also consulted regarding the creation of these classes. The Year 7 2023 Enrichment Class will be created based on ALLWELL Testing and other data collected during the Enrolment process.

A Reminder …

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to contact me by email pfinnerty@parra.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions regarding the information above which relates to my specific role as Assistant Principal – Systems, Data, and Professional Learning.

Thank you for your continued support

Patrick Finnerty
Assistant Principal – Systems, Data and Professional Learning

HSC RESULTS 2022

Our College continues to celebrate its academic successes, ending 2022 on a high note. These results demonstrate the hard work and determination of the Year 12 students, who have worked consistently throughout the HSC Year to achieve such outstanding results. Our HSC cohort for 2022 has achieved significant achievements. We congratulate Joanna Owusu for attaining 1st in State in Community and Family Studies. We also congratulate our Year 11 Accelerated student, Abiel Santos in Year 11 who attained a Top Place Achiever in Mathematics Advanced (Accelerated Student), achieving 100% and placing 9th in the State. 

The subjects where achievement was significantly represented in the top 3 bands was English Advanced, Earth and Environmental Science, Investigating Science, Legal Studies, Mathematics Standard 2, Modern History, Music 1, Physics, Society and Culture, Studies of Religion I, Studies of Religion II and Visual Arts.

Overall the College achieved 24 courses on or above state average, 34 Band 6’s and 6 E4’s in Extension courses. The College has achieved Top 5 CEDP School rankings in 9 Courses and 1st Ranking in History Extension and Modern History. 

I’d like to also congratulate our Year 11 Accelerated students who have achieved outstanding results in their HSC Mathematics and Science courses.

Well done Year 12, and we thank the many teachers across Year 7-12 for their dedication to the education of all students throughout their Secondary education. 

Awards Assembly 7-11

I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate our many award recipients this week. It was a wonderful ceremony that celebrated the hard work and dedication of our 7-11 students.

Throughout this Year I have continued to emphasise the importance of “everything counts”, and the End of Year Awards are a culmination of this whole school approach to learning. Not only did these award recipients excel in the formal assessment tasks, they also performed to their best of their ability in the classwork and homework. With a stronger emphasis on formative assessment in 2022, we move into 2023 maintaining that each day of learning counts. We challenge you in 2023 to turn up and do your best each and every day, whether it is an assessment task or classwork, all your efforts will count towards your final grade.

I wish to extend my gratitude to all the parents and guardians of our students and wish every family and our students a joyous and blessed Christmas and New Year. 

Ms Josilin Kalifa
Assistant Principal - Teaching, Learning and Wellbeing.

End of 2022 School Year

2022 has been the first full year since the start of the pandemic.  The students have enjoyed many activities and engaged in different types of learning which has helped our community grow. Each person in our community needs to be thanked for making this a wonderfully successful year. 

The College provides many activities for student to get involved in and this is because the teachers give their time and experience to make them happen. Thanks to all the teachers and the work they have done this year. 

Thank you to many families and their support throughout the year, we are blessed to have wonderful caring families that support their children and the College. Without the parents efforts many events would not take place.

A big thanks need to go out to our fantastic students at the College. Your enthusiasm and kindness helps make St Andrews College a wonderful place.

Thanks to everyone for your continual support of the College and I look forward to a fantastic 2023.

Reminder about uniform on the first day back

While on holidays, many students grow their hair, put in earrings etc.  Just a reminder that when students return in 2023, all College Summer uniform policies are in place.

Please ensure the students uniforms fit and are worn appropriately, their hair styles are in accordance with the College policy and that jewelry is worn according to policy. The girl’s kilts must be to the knees and the boy’s pants to their shoes. 

It is important that every student is dressed ready to learn as of day 1 2023.

Please remember that all uniforms are ordered online and can be picked up from the College office. 

Enjoy Christmas and your holiday.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all members of the St Andrews community a Holy Christmas and a safe and relaxing holiday. May God bless you all and keep you safe. I look forward to you all returning in 2023 refreshed and ready to learn

Students return in 2022

Year 7, 10, 11 and 12 return Monday 30th January 2023

Year 8 and 9 return Tuesday 31st January 2023

Student ID photos Tuesday 31st January 2023

Opening mass and High achievers assembly Friday 3rd February 2023

School Swimming Carnival Friday 17th February 2023

God Bless

Mr Nick Thrum
Assistant Principal

Hello everyone, 

This is my last newsletter article as the Year 9 Leader of Wellbeing. 

It has been an eventful year with the year 9 students. It has been an amazing sight to see everyone develop into the people they are today. 

A lot has changed in one year, having a full year of school for the first time in two years. For most of the students, understanding how to be in a classroom environment with different people, having to socialise verbally rather than through social media, being able to focus consistently on their class work and waking up every morning to come to school on time would have needed to have a big adjustment. However, all year 9 students really did have a good year. A year of growth, a year of change, a year of friendships and a year of learning. 

I just want to say how proud and happy I am to see you all grow together as a year group. I hope that next year you continue to build your friendships with everyone, respect one another and continue to keep striving to achieve your personal best.

As I said in our year meeting this week, you as year 10 students next year will be expected to take the role of leaders in the junior campus, to be great role models for the younger students, especially the new year 7 students. I know what you all can do and what you all can be. 

This is not a farewell as I will still be in touch with a lot of you next year. I am looking forward to seeing you continue to develop into the fine young adults I know you can be. 

“You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character.”

Mr Kharl Carlos
Leader of Wellbeing - Year 9

With this weekend our Advent journey is approaching the end, next Sunday is Christmas. This is such a busy time of year, with preparations for Christmas and the holidays in full swing. There is also the need to reflect on the year that has been, the successes and the achievements, the growth and development and the struggles and disappointments. And there are the dreams and hopes of a New Year. I hope and pray for each one of us we are able to rejoice in the many times this year when we have felt God’s presence or grace in our lives and to open ourselves up to an even greater extent to what God is asking of us into 2023. We are about to celebrate the birth of Jesus some 2000 years ago, the presence of Christ in our hearts and world and to hope for the Second Coming at Christmas. The Gospel for this Fourth Sunday of Advent is Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. Interestingly, it does not give an account of the birth of Jesus, rather it focuses on Joseph and how perilously close he came to rejecting Mary, but in the end Joseph accepted God’s will and just like Mary said yes to God. The story of Jesus would have been radically different if Joseph had gone through with his decision to informally divorce Mary but God spoke to Joseph in a dream and Joseph did what God asked of him. For each one of us, we like Joseph, make decisions every single day, some big decisions, some small or seemingly insignificant ones. How open are we to God’s will in those decisions?

Because God dwells in us, then it is possible to ‘know’ God’s will but it this is not easy or automatic, we need to discern. St Ignatius of Loyola discovered that it was not about discerning which decision felt good or bad to a person but in differentiating between good feelings. How profound, how long lasting is our sense of satisfaction, peace, or happiness when we are making a decision? The direction that gives us a deeper or longer lasting feeling of ‘happiness’ is the one God is calling us to choose. Once we start using such criteria, it becomes easier and faster to know God’s will. But another element to consider is that this cannot be a stand alone process. God’s will cannot be towards something that is evil or selfish, so we have to be striving to be humble, to be of service to those around us, to take up our cross every day and to be praying. Let us be open to God’s will in our lives and be assured of my prayers for you, for all those you love and who love you at this special time of year.

Fr. Kevin Redmond

From the Director of Faith, Mission & Learning

From the Leader of Faith, Mission & Learning

There was standing room only at St Andrew’s first Faith Friday youth group which was a roaring success. The students, led by Miss Tan, engaged in fellowship, ice breaker games, listened to music, ate pizza and discussed the question, “Why is Faith important”? Thank you to all the students who participated along with Miss Tan, Mr Ison, and Mr Hoare who provided pizza.

Faith Fridays will continue each Friday till the end of term, at lunchtime in the Drama room. 

Our youth group has also begun on the Senior Campus, on Wednesday’s at recess in the hall.

 All are welcome.

Andrew Hoare
Leader of Faith, Mission & Learning.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

On Tuesday the 18th of October- Mr Ison , Mr Clarke, Makoi, Youssef, Alexandra and Irish participated in the official school launch of the Australian Catholics Bishops Conference Social Justice statement. The level of respect and gratitude that these students showed on the day of the conference and how they represented our college should be commended. The Social Justice statement is called Respect. The following is the transcript from the assembly. 

Makoi:

Alexandra, Youssef and I had the opportunity to be a part of the Catholic Bishops Conference - Social Statement Launch in the JNR conference room. We were joined by other catholic schools via zoom such as St Pauls Catholic College, St John Paul II Catholic College, Catherine McAuley and St  Columba's to name a few. Every year the Australian Catholic Bishops release a statement that reflects the current social, economic, and ecological issues and encourage school communities to turn this into actions. This year's statement mainly focused on understanding that domestic violence and abuse is not only a one-person matter but also a social justice issue. It challenged us to educate ourselves about domestic abuse, and ways we can bring awareness inside our own community. 

Youssef:

As Makoi has stated, domestic violence is not an individual matter, but more so a social justice issue. Domestic violence can come in the forms of emotional, spiritual, financial or even physical violence and can affect anyone. Women and children are the most common victims of domestic violence, as every 1 in 4 women is assumed to be suffering some sort of domestic violence. These statistics aren't just to say men do not suffer as well though, as for every 6 males, 1 of them is assumed to be going through some form of domestic violence. 

Alexandra:

Building on from what Youssef has stated, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men is a pretty low number, meaning that people right here within our St. Andrew’s Community could be going through Domestic Violence and we wouldn’t even be aware. Moving Forward from this conference, we encourage you all to speak out about the problem and raise awareness throughout the college community about Domestic Violence as us as staff and students should have the right to feel safe within our community. We would also like everyone here to know that we are able to emotionally support you and are able to talk to anyone here about any problems you may have with domestic violence, whether it be our school counsellor, teachers, peers, or even us. As mentioned in the conference, we should all be treating one another with love and respect.

7 - 10 Visual Arts Showcase

Our SAC Junior artists celebrated their learning this year at our 7 - 10 Visual Arts Showcase on 29th November. The inaugural annual Showcase featured a range of artworks from across our junior school. The Visual Arts rooms were transformed into an exhibition space with displays demonstrating an assortment of subject matters, colours and techniques.

From large scale paper mache sculptures to Year 10 self directed artworks; the vast display of talent from our students was clearly evident. It’s been a colourful year in the Visual Arts classrooms, where students experimented with both traditional and non-traditional materials. It was wonderful to see the completed artworks on display and our Visual Arts rooms filled with excitement as our students walked through proudly, looking for their artworks.

As we finish our school year, we encourage our artists to keep up with their creative endeavours. We look forward to the many opportunities in 2023 for our students in the new year. 

Mrs Claudia Harris
Leader of Learning Visual Arts

Student sporting successes

Continuing to end 2022 on a high, congratulations to the following students on their recent sporting achievements:

Dominic and Julio Tatupu (both of year 9) recently competed at the All Schools Athletics Championships in Adelaide.

Below are some details of their results, as written by Julio:

Congratulations and well done, Dominic and Julio.

You may recall that Holly McLaughlin (of year 10) has experienced some success in her chosen Sport of Cheerleading this year. Recently, this success continued and Holly and her teammates from Combat Allstars recently competed in the Australian All Star Cheerleading Federation National championships at the Gold Coast. 

The National Championships is the final competition of the year consisting of 185 clubs, 1900 teams and 11,800 athletes! Holly competed in three teams in some very big divisions against teams from all over the country. Her teams were very successful, all placing in the top 3 with the results below:

Majors Senior all girl - 1st in Australia 

Commanders Open Level 3 Coed - 3rd in Australia 

Soldiers Junior Level 2 - 3rd in Australia 

She then went on to compete at an invitation only event called Pinnacle. Here, teams are the “best of the best” in the country and they were extremely happy and surprised to walk away with a 2nd and 3rd place! Overall another very successful year and Holly is already looking forward to the 2023 season!

Congratulations and well done, Holly!

Amelia Manks (of year 8) was recently selected for the NSWCCC Softball team for 2023. Amelia was also then selected to play in the U16's Softball Nationals for ACT in January in Victoria. Amelia recently travelled to Canberra to meet and train with the team and will continue to do this in preparation for the competition in January.. 

Congratulations on this fantastic achievement, Amelia! We look forward to hearing about your successes in 2023!

As the year draws to a close, I’d like to congratulate all students on their fantastic achievements across the various areas of Sport throughout the year. From Representative teams, to Gala Days, College and Diocesan Carnivals and individual sporting achievements, it certainly has been a year to celebrate with countless wonderful things achieved. 

Miss Ivana Nikitovic will be taking over the Leader of Learning Sport role in 2023 and beyond.

I look forward to continuing to witness and share in the successes of the talented young sportsmen and women at St Andrews.

Merry Christmas and have a safe and restful holiday break.

Mrs Kayla Brogan
Leader of Learning- Sport

The November Writing Competition has just concluded with yet another high-quality round of writing. Classwork made up the majority of entries across the various subject areas, with a lot of entries from the Senior Campus. November brings the writing competitions to an end for 2022 and I would like to thank all students who entered. I look forward to reading your entries in 2023. With that in mind, the winners in the month of November are:

Year 8: Tristan Fegradoe.

Year 9: Raphaella Thimiopoulos-Wilson.

Year 10: Rayna Rao.

Year 11: Aaryan Singh and Priyansha Krishna.

Each winner receives a $20 Teen gift voucher.

Below are some samples of writing from November. Fonts have not been altered to preserve the intentions and originality of the student work. Thank you to those who entered. I look forward to receiving your submissions next year.

Tristan Fegradoe (Year 8) – 

Down the Snowflakes Fall.

Down the snowflakes fall

Where the town has its Christmas fall

Oh what a jolly good time

Oh it's a good time for those bells to chime

It’s almost time for that time of the year

The Christmas fall which everyone holds dear

Getting ready for a night so fun

Making snacks like cookies and buns

The decorations are up

The snacks are ready

Time to pour the milk in the cup

Time to be ready for the big and jolly teddy

The Christmas fall had finally started

Everyone dancing around

People choosing who’d where the crown

Soon the 2 were chosen and crowned the snow king and queen of the Christmas fall

Suddenly, snowflakes had came

And with it came the jolly old man with all his glory and fame

Santa had finally came 

To the place where everyone knew his name

He knew if you were bad or good 

He had given presents to those who were good and coal to those who were bad

Down the snowflakes fell

And with them the joy of Christmas

Raphaella Thimiopoulos-Wilson (Year 9) – Extract from a Class essay.

“We are shaped by where we grow up, though that shaping takes different forms.”

The forces that shape us through maturity are most powerful when in the form of an idea. The bildungsroman Divergent demonstrates this as part of reflecting how “We are shaped by where we grow up, though that shaping takes different forms.” The four phases of Beatrice’s bildungsroman reflect how she moves from someone who is compliant, to someone who becomes confident, defiant and wise enough to select which forces should shape their growth.

Ideas are a powerful force for shaping people when growing. Particularly, subjects that are growing up are malleable. Roth’s protagonist Beatrice Prior epitomises this in her experiences as a humble Abnegation citizen. She is unable to entertain any degree of individuality through mirrors, clothing or concern for self. She comes to this realisation later in the novel when threatening Peter: ‘People tend to overestimate my character,’ I say quietly. ‘They think that because I’m small, or a girl, or a Stiff, I can’t possibly be cruel. But they’re wrong.’ Here, Tris’s use of tricolon emphasises her subjectivity to her external image. As a girl who is of Abnegation, she is disempowered by stereotypes in her context that effectively shape her into someone who is weak and powerless. In this way, disempowerment is represented as an ideal for her that she must aspire to at the expense of her humanity. Roth reveals this to emphasise the lack of expectation of Tris, due to the faction that she was brought up within, Abnegation. 

Nevertheless, the most powerful ideas that constructively shape our growth are ones our context holds about identity. Beatrice Prior's upbringing in the unjustly treated Abnegation faction and the elitist Dauntless faction reveal the protagonist’s growth being subject to ideals about how she should be. Tris’s induction to Dauntless saw her develop her identity into one that she felt was more authentic. This gave her the freedom to, not only express her individuality but also reflect on her previous life in Abnegation. Growing up in Dauntless adequately shaped the Tris with ideals of elitist individuality. When she recounts jumping off the roof, she reflects “I didn’t jump off the roof because I wanted to be like the Dauntless. I jumped off because I already was like them, and I wanted to show myself to them. I wanted to acknowledge a part of myself that Abnegation demanded that I hide.” Tris’s personification of Abnegation as coercive reflects how its discipline shaped Tris’s growth by inhibiting it. However, the symbolism of her jumping from the roof reflects the freedom that allows her to be in a way that is more palatable to her ideals of personal expression. The bravado in her tone conveys her sense of superiority.  As the end product of her experience in her two factions, Tris’s words reveal how the two factions’ shaping of her identity has made her a rounded character. She has taken on the elite individual ideals of Dauntless but also retained the discipline of Abnegation in the way she acts without recklessness.

Euleila Barret (Year 10) - 

“Those Days” 

What happened to the days of freedom, 

To the days of endless bliss of boredom,

Primary school, singing, skipping, sailing past the days through K to 6

Those were the days of the past 

Present now, we go through struggle

Every day a piece of an endless puzzle 

Enter class, a demand to submit 

For we must ‘submit’ before we leave

Like obedient dogs for the ball

A simple bell for our recall 

Ding Ding Ding 

High School, High rules, High fools 

Conformed for education 

Ultimately still in starvation 

For a chance to go back 

Back to those days. 

Frienczel Espino (Year 10) – Extract from a class essay.

Kath Walker or Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s life experiences revolve around her identity as an Indigenous Australian – her culture, hardships and discrimination as an Aborigine fuelled her passion for Aboriginal rights activism, and therefore influenced her work and what she had to say as a representative of her people who fought for change and their liberty. 

A prominent example of the influence of Oodgeroo’s life experiences on what she had to say is in her poetic works. 

In her biography, the difficulty of Indigenous life is described in her inability to pursue higher education and adequate employment as an Aboriginal, forcing her to work as a domestic servant for a white family. “She was disappointed that because she was black she could not do further study or find other work.” This prejudiced experience as an Indigenous person is only one of many that was the effect of British colonialism of the Aboriginal people, which would present them with nothing but discrimination and loss for the next centuries. Her work life alone expressed the great disadvantage that Indigenous people were to call their reality. 

With experiences such as that, as an Aboriginal identity Oodgeroo embodied the pain, adversity and grief of her people since the arrival of the first fleet, which I hypothesise, enabled her to write poetry that was based off of an Aborigine viewpoint, a perspective that no other can project Aboriginal emotion and suffering more accurately. Her experiences as an Indigenous Australian leads me to expect that her poetry will articulate the injustices and emotions of Aboriginal people, putting into words their longing for freedom, the loss of their culture, language and people, the savage treatment they received from the British and isolation from the white Australians. Oodgeroo Noonuccal will illustrate in her eloquent writing the hindrance of her people’s connection with their land as a result of their segregation in the nation. 

Rayna Rao (Year 10) - 

Nothing is everything

You're sitting alone on the balcony of your apartment

all isolated. The sun is just setting below the horizon of the

gaping cityscape, and the luminous stars are beginning to

glimpse through the dark abyss of the sky. You are astonished

because it is very rare light pollution in your

populous city. As you lean up against the braided fencing,

painted a silvery metallic shade, you close your eyes and

begin to sing a melancholy tune, knowing that within the

next few minutes, the city you've called your home for your

entire life will be overrun with water from the nearest sea,

the Atlantic. You feel your eyes start to saturate as you

hear distant screams, and you know what is happening.

The tear on your cheek gracefully glides down, radiating in

the final light of the sun, the salty drop falling to the metal

railing. Over all the years of pollution, the earth finally took

a chance and is crumbling via human devastation.

There's nothing anyone can do to change it now, all you can

do is wait. Wait for a silent end, an end that you accept.

You continue to sing, knowing that the water will overcome

your home, your life, and your dreams. All of the sudden, you

hear a response to your tune. Someone on the opposite

side of your street begins to sing along with you in

harmony. You open your eyes and gaze at them, slightly

smiling. As you study their face, they appear to be a

feminine figure, with luscious brown hair, and a gentle

aroma. They appear to be sitting on the very edge of their

balcony, parallel to you, the water just feet below their legs,

dangling without care. You realise that if this wasn't the

end, maybe you could've gotten to know them better.

Maybe you could have had a friendship, a possible

relationship- but now nothing is everything. Even within

these few minutes, you come to an understanding with

them. You both seem to accept the horrendous fate that has

come and know neither of you can change a thing. As the

cascading water slowly creeps closer and closer to you,

you join the figure and dangle your legs off of your balcony,

sitting on top of the fence. You slowly stop singing.

"This is the end," you quietly say, the feminine silhouette,

now quiet as well, nodding in response.

"Thank you," they appreciatively respond.

As the water slowly rises past your shins and to your

kneecaps, you notice everything below the surface, floating

as if there was zero gravity in the surprisingly clear water.

You watch your hometown slowly submerge into the water,

and sing one more verse of the song, the water now up to

your chest. Your final moments are surrounded by the

contentment of your voice.

Priyansha Krishna (Year 11) – Extract from a class Business Studies Report.

         1. Executive summary 

Mottle Brown Pty Ltd is a Sydney-based producer of garden and landscaping products and accessories. They have maintained their position as the leading producer of their products sold for the last 15 years.  The main issue is Mottle Brown is facing high cost of wages and rent towards offices in regards to admin. They have also noticed that consumer queries and complaints have seen a long response time.
This report will inform Mottle Brown the following: how to achieve their strategic role of operations management; the influence of globalisation on the operations of the business; and the globalisation and services the operations of Mottle Brown.

Strategic role of operations management 

Operations management is a crucial element of business functions - it works simultaneously with other business functions such as marketing, finance and human resources. The strategic role of operations refers to the level with which it can integrate alongside the effects of all key business areas. Cost leadership is the strategy where a business seeks to be competitive by having lower prices or being price-competitive in a market. Over the last 15 years Mottle Brown has maintained their position as leading producer - therefore production and pricing must be sustainable and fair to allow the business to become competitive. 

The problem is that Mottle Brown has been conducting production of their goods in Taiwan and China for the past 10 years, this impacts the administrative and customer communications that are conducted in NSW. As for that the business is only paying workers a small wage since the product is being made in Taiwan and China, and with Mottle Brown facing high costs of wages and rent it makes it difficult for Mottle Brown to make their appearance from the outside look good. This can be a problem since production may be impacted and consumers may choose to go somewhere else since the background of the store is better. To improve Mottle Brown must work on controlling their spending and aim to possibly create products in NSW - where they are conducting administrative and customer communications.

        0. Influence of globalisation 

Globalisation is the removal of barriers of trade between nations. It can be characterised by an increasing integration between national economies and high degree of transfer of capital. This can allow greater opportunities and greater risks to a range of Australian businesses which can make a business struggle with progressing in their production. 

Mottle Brown conducts their production overseas in Taiwan and China but administration and customer communications are done in NSW. Having production in Taiwan and China can be a relevantly adequate act since Mottle Brown is facing the problem of high costs of wages and rent for offices regarding the administrative component of their business. Wages for workers in Taiwan and China are non-expensive, meaning small amounts of money can be saved. The only problem with that would be that it would be cost-worthy to ship products to Australia and other places that sell Mottle Brown products. 

However, Mottle Brown can also operate overseas for a few years. This will allow Mottle brown to reduce costs since most countries have no minimum wage and expenses are not as expensive. This can allow Mottle Brown to save money and disregard their primary issues. 

Aaryan Singh (Year 11) – Extract from Darkness Awaits the Brightness. 

The gloomy skies dispense a ray of light, the sun is abandoned most days. Days upon days

where the depressed clouds over power the light blue sky. People without faces are drawing

up their emotions. The trees are empty. Happiness is an emotional experience in fantasy

rather than reality. I'm apart from the other students, I'm different. I've been losing myself in

their judgments. Losing the ability to feel is making my tears wash away the brown from my

eyes and the red from my mouth and the black from my short hair. It's easy to see that they

all have bridges to each other's hearts while mine feels as if it is still in construction. I'm an

old album full of dust, ready for someone to listen to me. Nothing is out the ordinary until,

“Weirdo!” one yells with the act of humour within their voice.

“Redskin!” another shouts.

The broken pieces within my heart are still affected with every comment. Their laughter acts

as a tsunami, crashing my happiness. I can't do this, I can't keep going, I can't get up. Is it all

too much?

The local play is coming up, and the best writer could win a grand prize of seven thousand

dollars. Dragon breathing as people gathered around the school board to see all the play

writing posters, it felt as if they all had a light at the end of the tunnel. Tight spaces, those

with higher status move to the front as they are treated righteous. I was being shoved to the

back, just like my life they moved me to the back, reality slapped me so all I see is its back. It

feels as if everyone has a dislocated shoulder and that's why no one is reaching back.

Sione Tafea (Year 11) – Extract from Project Doomsday. 

The roars of the engine illuminated the atmosphere, with the propellers slicing through each gust of air,

with the clumping of death having surrounded all spaces of freedom. As the paratrooper plane trembled at the very feet of its death, there sat ten highly trained military grade soldiers, prepared for battle. Although, for the tenth member of the aircraft however, sat a quite nervous individual skating rapidly unable to process what he is entering and what must be done. In awareness of Callahan’s uncomfortability and stressful quivering, Private Haystack had smirked whilst removing the prickly remains of the toothpick within his mouth to speak aloud and say “You need a cigarette there mate, you look like you've seen a ghost”. Callahan felt his eyes glaze upon him in laughter as he muttered in reply “No...no I stay away from those things”. As Haystack’s facial expression began to slowly fade, he stated confidently “You’ll be breathing in this smoke once I burnt Hitler’s bodies to a pile of crisps”.

Other Privates within the aircraft laughed in disbelief, each stating that they will be the one to finish this war, shoving each other to show dominance in masculinity. The aircraft had begun to tremble even greater than before at a more forcing rate, as each member had begun to motion from left-to-right in a continuous motion. Callahan had rapidly fallen short of his breath in the instance of this event as his heart raced to

catch its beat. The worn out aircraft had been meddled with its forces once again whilst various troopers, struggling to maintain their balance had looked to each other in distress and confusion upon whether this had been the wrath of the Germans fighting back or just turbulence structuring their thought process.

Sienna Dades (Year 11) - The Colour red. 

The Colour Red

Red: a dichotomous representation of both the beautiful and the ugly. This colour puts meaning to unexplainable emotions and experiences; a colour under the authority of perception. As the ambassador of intense emotion, red poses as the ultimate communication alternative. For Valentine’s Day, it is the colour most used to convey the deep love one has for another. This is to such an extent that the red rose is exploited to reflect this in order to measure their exact depth of affection. Funny though, it has gained this title by being the same colour as the blood that flows within us - a rather unsettling thought. Yet, its ominous counterparts ward off even the most vigorous of people. A simple stop sign forces one to reconsider their next actions, and even the faintest red tinge ignites beliefs in the existence of evil. For all the good things this colour represents, people possess the tendency to focus on all its foreboding qualities. Perhaps it’s human instinct to heed warnings that pose a potential threat to our survival, but I cannot help except think… is it really a coincidence that we have chosen the colour of danger as the representative of love? 

By depicting love through hues of crimson, poppy and cardinal, we have conditioned our minds to be cautious of it, however, the reason remains uncertain. Whether this is an issue of subliminal messaging or plain ignorance, it fails to take away from the complexity of the colour - if anything, it is merely an addition. Through a lens such as this one, one could get the sense that love is a dangerous thing, but through a more rose-tinted outlook it may also be said that danger is an essential part of love. We believe that there are many who would sacrifice something important to themselves for their family or friends, even if it means putting themselves in the way of a threat. The notion of going to hell and back for someone just goes to show that love and danger are one and the same, right? So when the most beautiful and the most ugly parts of something collide, what does it become? I mean, if polar opposites are meant to cross then was there really anything different between them to begin with? By looking closer at the connections between these perceptions, it reveals just how wonderfully vast this enigmatic colour actually is. So, what does the colour red mean to you?

Earlier in Term 3, a number of Senior students entered the Australian Mathematics Competition. They competed in the senior level of the competition. This exam is very challenging and focuses on problem solving type questions. The following students are congratulated for their fine efforts, their courage to step out of their comfort zones and for their achievements.

A Certificate of Distinction was received by:

Sean Park

A Certificate of Credit was received by:

A Certificate of Proficiency was received by:

A Certificate of Participation was received by:

Liana Banares

Vy Tong

A big thank you to Mr Wills, Assistant Leader of Learning Mathematics, for his organisation in ensuring that the Competition ran smoothly.

Ms T. Thomson
Leader of Learning Mathematics

Engineering Studies - Spaghetti Bridge

The Year 12 Engineering Studies class have undertaken a challenge to design a bridge made out of spaghetti. There was a catch though, the bridge needed to be made using the least amount of materials while holding a 1kg weight for a time of 60 seconds.

This added complexity to the task and required students to consider the type of bridge design that they chose as well as the construction method used to ensure that the strength to weight ratio was the best in the class.

As you can see from the photos below the students all made very interesting designs. The lightest bridge was approximately 120g while the heaviest bridge was 375g.

During the testing two bridges managed to survive the initial design requirements, however, in the end the Year 12 students decided to test until destruction.

Congratulations to all students in the class, it was definitely a learning experience, while we all had some fun at the same time.

Bill Robson
Leader of Learning Technologies

8TASG finished off the year strong by racing their dragster cars that they created in the workshop this term for their Engineering unit. Students spent some time in class during their theory lessons researching and designing their cars, specifically looking at concepts such as aerodynamics, friction and drag in order to design the fastest car! Students used various tools in the workshop to create the body of the car using balsa wood, and drilled holes into the body of the car to add the wheels, axles and eyelets. Students then got creative and painted their own designs on the dragsters before race day. 

Race day began in the hall where Mr Robson set up the race tracks, who skilfully got everything up and running after a couple of misfires. Every student had the opportunity to race their dragster car, and we had a final tournament to determine the fastest dragster car in 8TASG. Moses Leveni came in first place with an impressive racing  time of 1.003 seconds, with Sean Huesna coming in at a very close second place with a final time of 1.09 seconds. 

We are so proud of our students for all their hard work in TAS this term! It’s looking like we have some future F1 race car engineers in the making. 

Olivia Tan
Religious Education Teacher

The Year 11 Japanese Continuers course students experienced making an obento (Japanese lunch box) and celebrated Christmas in a Japanese way. They did good research about Japanese obento culture and were well prepared for the cooking lesson. Every student brought their food to make the obento together. 

Special thanks to Sienna’s sister who made a beautiful Japanese-style Christmas cake for us. It was delicious.

Now the students are planning what to make next Japanese cooking lesson. Great motivation towards the study of Japanese and its culture!  

From today’s obento lesson, I learnt that the rule with Japanese bento boxes is that they must consist of at least 3-5 side dishes along with rice to add up to five colours. As students bring these lunches to school, they are usually eaten cold. Even so, each dish is nutritious and delicious. 

I like the obento I made today because I got to try furikake, which is rice seasoning. It was a different experience and I enjoy learning about Japanese culture which provides context.

Theresia Purwadi (Year 11 Japanese Continuers)

I learnt about Japanese food customs and culture with the obento that Japanese people often bring for lunch. We also celebrated Japanese Christmas with a Japanese-style strawberry cake, learning about Japanese Christmas culture.

Learning about Japanese culture and coming together as a class to make an obento together was such fun!

 Finlay Blanch (Year 11 Japanese Continuers)

We learnt about the Japanese custom of making obento’s, and learnt about the various styles of obento. I like the obento. The food provided was very well made

Karly Burrell (Year 11 Japanese Continuers)

In today's obento lesson I learnt how to construct a bento box and built an understanding as to why the layout of each dish is important. This provided me with more insight into Japanese food and culture. I loved making the obento with the class.

Sienna Dades (Year 11 Japanese Continuers)

Ms Mariko Suzuki 
Leader of Learning - Languages

Year 9 Japanese Excursion Report

On 24 November the Year 9 Elective Japanese Course students went to the Japan Foundation, Sydney. They had a special Japanese cultural workshop there. In the first session, the students learned about calligraphy. Ms. Akahane who is the workshop coordinator at the centre taught its history and rules on how to do calligraphy. The students practiced writing their favourite Kanji characters with a brush and black ink. Then, they created their master peace to take it home. All of them were satisfied with their work.

At lunch, students experienced having a Japanese lunch box which is called “Obento”. It had two rice balls of their choice, Karaage (deep-fried chicken), Tamagoyaki (egg rolls), and salad. They enjoyed eating Japanese food.

Then, they had another special workshop after lunch. The students learned about seasons and school events in Japan. Compared to Australian schools, there are more fun school events in Japanese schools. The students tried one of the typical activities at the sports festival at a Japanese school, which is Karimono kyousou (the borrowing competition). The students had to speak Japanese during the competition. Every student participated in it very seriously and enjoyed the time a lot.

All of the students had a full of Japanese cultural experience on the day. Everyone enjoyed their first Japanese excursion at St Andrews College. Year 9 Japanese course students are looking forward to another Japanese excursion next year!

Feedback from the Year 9 Japanese Course students:

I learnt about the art of calligraphy and its rules. I enjoyed the calligraphy workshop so that I could try it ourselves. 
Leila Crisafulli-Kefu

The excursion was amazing because I could learn about calligraphy and how the strokes work. 
Amik Marok

I learnt to write new Kanji in calligraphy form and the correct way to do it. It was a fun and exciting experience and I would like to do it again if I could. 
Dante Sio Ngaha

Mariko Suzuki
Leader of Learning - Languages

St Andrews College will be hosting Japanese students from Seiun Gakuen - Nagasaki in Term 1 next year - for 11 nights from 14 March to 25 March 2023. 

You can share your lifestyle and home whilst experiencing another culture.

• Students attend school on weekdays and enjoy family life with you on the weekend

• Japanese language skill is not necessary.

• Students just fit in with your family routines

• The students need their own bed but can share a room.

• Families are paid $50 per night.

This will be a great experience for your children and family. We always receive very positive feedback from host families.

Here is the student’s feedback. Her family hosted a Japanese student this year.

Having a different culture in my house was a wonderful experience. Meeting new people is what we do every day and Japanese culture is so delicate and beautiful in my opinion. Kenta, my exchange student, was very soft and respectful towards me and the people he was around. He taught us new things about Japan which were very interesting. I wish Kenta and his family all the very best and I hope he had an amazing time with us in Australia. 
Catalina Gutierrez 
Year 8

If you can assist in hosting a student or would like to know further information, please contact Ms Suzuki at msuzuki@parra.catholic.edu.au

Thank you for your support.

Mariko Suzuki
Leader of Learning - Languages