Student, Parent and Teacher Conferences.

Preparing for end-of-term interviews is an important step for parents to ensure that they receive a comprehensive understanding of their child’s academic progress.

There are ways in which parents can prepare for these interviews before they meet with their child’s teachers.

1. Review your child’s work. Take the time to go through your child’s assessments, google classroom feedback and the report for Semester 1. Make note of the areas where your child may have struggled or excelled in the task. This will assist you to write down any questions or concerns that you can bring to the interview.

1. Discuss and reflect on your child’s overall performance: Consider your child’s behaviour, their attitude to their learning at home and their overall engagement in the classroom. Have there been any challenges they have faced during the term. This will help you understand the bigger picture and any external factors that may have impacted your child during the semester.

1. Seek input from your child: Before the interview, speak to your child about their experiences in their courses. Points to discuss could centre around their favourite subjects, challenges they faced, the piece of work from each subject that they are most proud of and any concerns they may have. Their input can provide valuable insights and help guide your discussion with their teachers.

1. Set goals: After the interview, take into consideration the perspective of the teacher and work with your child to plan a way forward that will support your child’s learning and growth.

These conferences are an opportunity for collaboration between parents and teachers to support your child’s learning journey. Through these open and constructive discussions we hope to continue to build relationships between students, teachers and their parents/caregivers.

7-10 Reports and the Common Grade Scale.

How is the Grade on your child’s report calculated?

St Andrews College supports an ‘everything counts’ approach to learning.

This means that it is not just the formal tasks on the Assessment Schedule that are used to allocate your child’s grade. It is important that students develop their understanding that everything they do in class, every day counts towards the grade on their report.

The Common Grade Scale is a general overview of how well your child has achieved the standards and outcomes set by the course. For those in Year 10, this Grade will also appear on your RoSA at the end of the year.

Our aim is to ensure that students focus on their learning and learning growth. Formal assessments are important but are not the only way that learning growth can be measured. 

Year 9 2024 Subject Selection

The Subject Information Evening will be held on Wednesday 19th July. It is a compulsory evening for all current Year 8 Students and will take place in the Junior Campus Hall at 6pm. 

There will also be an opportunity to speak to KLA Leaders of Learning after the presentation to parents and students. All students must attend the evening in their full winter school uniform.

As always if there are any questions or concerns please contact me at the College.

Ms Josilin Kalifa

Assistant Principal

Teaching, Learning and Wellbeing.

Unity Day

We are looking forward to our Annual Unity Day celebrations next Friday. Unity Day is a great chance for the students to celebrate the different cultures at the College.

The day will start with a traditional Smoking Ceremony then a small liturgy in different languages. We have a talk about the up coming Referendum  and then a national dress competition. We will having Cultural Activities, then students from different cultures will be sharing their songs and dance with the College.

This should be a great day for the College.

Year 7-10 Student Learning Conferences

The Student Learning Conference for the Semester 1 Year 7-10 courses will be held on Tuesday 20th June and Wednesday 28th June. The event will commence at 3.00pm and conclude at 7.45pm and will be held in the Junior Campus Hall. Families can book either night.

These interviews are compulsory and are an integral part of the learning process. Students are expected to attend with their parents. It is an opportunity to evaluate their work so far and provide feedback about their progress.

Interviews are strictly 5 minutes in length and spaces are limited. We ask that each parent keep to the assigned times to ensure that there are no lengthy waiting periods. If you require more time than the 5 allocated minutes, please contact the class teacher to arrange an interview at an alternate time.

The College has implemented an online booking system via the Compass App for your convenience; all bookings must be made through this system. The instructions about booking were sent to families via the compass email and notification system.

Last days of term 2

Students will start their term holiday at 2.45 Thursday the 29th June. 

Friday the 30th June is Staff Professional Learning and students are not required on that day.

Student’s safety while travelling to and from school.

It is important that all students are safe while they travel to and from school.  We have had cases of students running across Quakers road, students riding to school without helmets and other behaviour that puts them at risk.

Could all students and parents be mindful of their safety as they come to and from school. 

It would help if students

• use all road rules correctly and are mindful of traffic on the way home. 
• Wear appropriate safety devises while riding a bike.
• Sit while travelling on public transport
• Travel straight to school and straight home at the end of the day.

Parents if you drop off and pick up your child please follow some basic safety rules.

• DO NOT enter the College grounds to pick up or drop off students unless you have made arrangements with the College. 
• Use Quakers Rd or Berella Cr for the Junior campus or Breakfast Rd for the Senior campus. 
• Do not speed around the school zones as children are unpredictable and may not look for you in traffic. 

If you have any concerns about students and travel please contact me during College hours.

What’s in the Planner?

The main focus this week is Love of Learning. Thanks to all the students who have participated in activities this week to celebrate a Love of Learning. 

Keep your brain agile by doing a crossword, a sudoku, playing chess, a game of logic.

Time targets

Setting time targets to complete tasks is a way to elevate stress and help develop your academic abilities. 

To develop good habits with time targets we use the Five “E’s” of learning- Engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate. 

Engage- record dates, brainstorm ideas about the task, get assessment criteria. Plan your task

Explore- locates resources, collect information, begin research

Explain- develops sentences then paragraphs. Develop your draft and ask teacher to look at it

Elaborate- analyse the comments from your draft, improve phrasing and vocabulary. Discuss interpretation with family or friends

Evaluate- assess feedback and complete final task

God Bless

Mr. Nicholas Thrum

Assistant Principal

Hi year 7, 

We are almost at the end of term 2. It has been an interesting term thus far with a lot of things having to be spoken about during our year meeting.

A message to parents regarding Social Media and Social Media Groups

It has come to our attention that a lot of students in Year 7 are part of a few large social media group chats particularly Snapchat, Instagram and Discord. These group chats have increasingly become a distraction and a platform for students to say inappropriate and hurtful comments to each other and share photos. These group chats are a big concern as they may include students from other schools who can potentially gain information and evidence of your child if screenshotted and kept on their phones. We bring this to your attention as their parents to monitor their social media and technology use. We understand that technology is part of how people communicate and live their social lives however we want your children to use this in an appropriate way. 

If you have any questions or concerns about your child and their technology use, please do not hesitate to contact the school or email me (kcarlos3@parra.catholic.edu.au) to organise a phone call or meeting. 

Breach of Technology

As spoken previously to you, we need to ensure that we are not letting our technology affect our learning, you should not be playing games during class, even if you have finished your work, it does not mean that you can play games or watch videos without the teacher knowing. A fair few breaches of technology are being issued and the same students are receiving the same. If you receive 3 breaches of technology it is an Afternoon Detention.

Motivation (3 minutes a day)

You may have seen me post short videos on our Wellbeing Google Classroom. This will be a continual thing where I will find videos that will help motivate and inspire you to be a better person or student. If you have any topics you wish for me to find videos for, email me. 

Unity Day

Unity Day is coming up next Friday. This is a great day to experience other people’s culture and you will participate in some cultural activities and will be immersed in performances on this day. You are allowed to come to school in your cultural dress if you feel comfortable wearing this. Please ensure that you are wearing appropriate clothing. Wearing a jumper with your culture is not a form of cultural dress.

Your lunch will be provided and it will be the food you selected on the google form sent out on compass. 

Parent Student Teacher Conferences

Parents student teacher conferences will begin next Tuesday 20th June and Wednesday 28th. Parents would have received a link to book these interviews for your teachers. Please attend as this is important for your learning and how you can improve.

Final Message

As we finish up the term, it is not a time to relax. You should continue to learn in every lesson and make sure you do the right thing. Let us be kind and respect one another and focus on ourselves also. Let us all become the best version of ourselves. 

Mr Kharl Carlos

Leader of Wellbeing Year 7

Year 9 and 10 - Art Excursion 

On the 9th of June, Year 9 and 10 Visual Arts students travelled to the Art Gallery of NSW to view the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize. Whilst there we also visited the new ‘North building’ to see the Adrián Villar Rojas: The End of Imagination Exhibition where sculptural forms awaited in the darkened historic space. This space was once an oil tank used during WWII.The acoustics of the space and the sheer size gave the exhibit an ambience which students enjoyed. Through this experience students learnt the importance of location and place in displaying an artwork. 

Following this we visited the Making Worlds exhibition which brings together new acquisitions with existing artworks in the galleries collection. The artworks which formed Making Worlds were contemporary in nature and allowed students to see that art can go beyond drawing or painting.  

The Archibald was our next destination, we arrived to see an amazing array of portraits which ranged from traditional to contemporary in style. Students were in awe at the scale of the work as well as the techniques that artists are using in their paintings. Whilst some stitched into their work, others cut their canvas/board into a unique shape or used unconventional mediums. This exhibition was the culmination of the Year 9 Unit which looked at the Archibald prize, its success and its controversies over the years. Students and teachers were amazed at the quality of work this year, we were truly best to witness the great talent of Australian artists. 

The excursion ended with a short visit to the permanent collection of the AGNSW where students saw the pioneers of Australian art and more traditional paintings and sculptures. Students saw the detail in these traditional artworks and developed an appreciation for the time it took to create these pieces.

Year 7 - Mulga artworks

Year 7 students have been exploring the artmaking practice of the artist Mulga. Mulga is known for his unique style, intricate pattern work and bright colours. Mulga is an illustrator, muralist, designer and published author. His work can be found on murals, books, posters, t-shirts and even Slurpee cups. 

A variety of artmaking tasks were introduced to year 7 students. The focus of each task is working with bright colours and textures. Some students are designing T-shirts, emulating Mulga’s work with cotton on kids. Others are creating posters or designing and painting their own Slurpee Cup. 

Year 8 Ceramics- Mombasa Minis

Year 8 students have been busily working on their Mombassa inspired Mini Mugs. This is a new artmaking activity which we have developed based on students' interests in ceramics. 

Students were asked to create a mini ceramic mug inspired by Reg Mombassa. Our students have shown immense talent in this hands-on medium. Students have learnt to throw and wedge their clay, create a pinch pot and securely attach additional pieces of clay to create 3D pieces. Next lesson we will explore how to add texture to clay before the mugs are fired in the Kiln. 

Below, images of their progress so far:

Year 11 Photography 

Year  11 Photography students have been busy learning advanced photoshop skills and editing their portrait photos. 

At school students took photos of figures and superimposed these figures with landscapes or scenery that they had previously taken. This work was inspired by Nacho Ormachea, a French photographer and digital artist. Students aimed to take photos of figures which showed emotion, conceptual strength and meaning. They then had to decide which image would work best with their figures' pose.

Learning photoshop may be confusing at times but these photos show the knowledge that students in Year 11 have gained in such a short amount of time. Well done to Year 11 Photography students!

Mrs Tiana Psaila

Visual Arts Teacher

Dear St Andrews College community,

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Monthly Writing Competition for the month of May. The competition saw an incredible display of talent and creativity from our students across different year levels, and we couldn't be prouder of their achievements.

Without further ado, let's celebrate the winners of the competition:

Year 7: Oliver Franjic 

Year 8: Richard Tannous 

Year 9: Akshiya Vaikunthavel 

Year 10: Ben Reyes 

Year 11: Chelsy Evangelista 

Year 12: Ethan Silva

These exceptional writers showcased their abilities to captivate readers, transport them into imaginative worlds, and elicit a range of emotions through their thought-provoking and beautifully crafted pieces. Their work truly reflects the talent and dedication present within our St Andrews College community.

We extend our warmest congratulations to all the winners for their outstanding contributions to the Monthly Writing Competition. Your talent and hard work have truly made an impact on our community, and we applaud you for your achievements.

Looking ahead, we are excited to announce that next month's competition will be exclusively dedicated to poetry. We encourage all aspiring poets in St Andrews College to seize this opportunity and share their lyrical talents with us. Whether you have a penchant for sonnets, haikus, or free verse, we invite you to explore the realm of poetic expression and let your words weave magic on the page.

The June Poetry Competition will run until June 30th, providing ample time for our students to refine their poetic creations. Entries can be submitted via the link on the Well-Being Classrooms or emailed to Mr Dewar directly. 

Let's continue to foster a love for literature and creative expression within our St Andrews College community.

Best wishes,

Mr Dewar (Leader of Learning, Writing). 

Write a Book in a Day.

Tuesday the 13th of June was also an important date in the St Andrews yearly writing experience. The Kid’s Cancer Write a Book in a Day challenge was undertaken by 163 students across Years 7-12. Some of our students are veterans at the competition, competing in their fourth year. 

The competition requires students to write, illustrate and publish a book in 11 hours. The students are given parameters from the competition to include in their writing. Some of these parameters are the types of characters, the settings, the problem and compulsory words that must be included in the text. This is not an easy competition to take part in as the concentration required is a lot to ask of students. 

We began at 0800 with students finding out the parameters of the day and gathering in their spaces. We used every corner of the Learning Centre this year to keep students central. Groups planned on the screens or the whiteboards, typing and writing ideas feverishly. By 0900 some groups had started writing, others were finalising their chapter ideas. 

By recess, students took a well-earned break, and some joined their friends in the playground, others used the quiet in the learning centre to work away, getting the opening chapters done. After recess, students separated to type, each chapter being tackled by someone different, and each drawing well underway by the team illustrators. 

As lunch approached, teams were about 1000 words behind their target for the time, 2500 words should be done by lunch, most had half that, a few were there or further. Experience shows on these days and the teams in their fourth year were able to move a lot quicker. They had their roles and routines to a fine art. 

After lunch, students accelerated their typing – the goal 3500 – 5000 words plus illustrations. Most had one eye on the pizza that was being ordered for dinner, but the other eye was firmly fixed to the screen. Drafts started to come together, with some students beginning the editing process. Other students, who have completed the competition before, acted as helpers to encourage the teams, keep them updated on progress and solve disputes that may arise within teams after hours of hard work. When school ended, some teams moved into classrooms to be able to focus on the toughest part of the task, the final three hours.

When dinner arrived and an avalanche of teenage bodies roared through the narrow hallways to grab much needed energy. There are few sounds sweeter than the silence of teenagers eating, followed shortly afterwards by the Oliver-like, “Can we have some more?” cacophony of jostling for the spare boxes of pizza. If teenagers typed like they ate the day would be easy, but dinner is a small respite from the pressures of having to finish the book. By 6pm, the final hour, teams are being given their briefing on the common mistakes at the end and where to find the rules they do not want to make a mistake about. At 6:30pm the books start to arrive, my email scrolling at speed. Some, require last-minute foxing, others are good to go. Cue students sighing deeply, and their day is done. As tired and well-worked students head for the safety of home and a well-earned rest, the books are uploaded to the competition website over the next 2 hours – with 12 minutes to spare. 

It truly is a rewarding day with all books being made available in an online library for kids with cancer in hospitals all over the country. The rules of the competition are tough and rigid and this piles on the pressure at the end. And yet, the students come back, some even having their teams lined up for next year. But that, ladies and gentlemen, is another year. 

While we cannot publish the entire books, below are the book covers created by students.

Best wishes,

Mr Dewar (Leader of Learning, Writing). 

Do you know origami? Have you ever made a paper crane with origami paper? 

As a part of the 2023 Japan Study Tour preparation, 18 students who will go on the tour at the end of this month worked on the 1000 paper crane project to bring our paper cranes to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Park to wish world peace. They folded 50 paper cranes each.

Six Year 9 students kindly helped Ms Suzuki to put all the paper cranes together during sports on Thursday. They worked hard so that we could finish putting all our 1000 paper cranes together in only two sports time.

The paper crane has become an international symbol of peace in recent years as a result of its connection to the story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki. The story of Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl who was 2 years old at the time of the bombing in Hiroshima and died of leukaemia 10 years later became widely known to people around the world. Sadako worked on the paper cranes and completed over 1000. She believed she would get well by doing so. However, unfortunately, she died at age 12. The point is that she never gave up. She continued to make paper cranes until she died. Inspired by her courage and strength, Sadako's friends and classmates put together a book of her letters and published it. Now, people around the world have sent origami cranes to the Children of the A-Bomb statue in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Park as a symbol and wish for peace. 

All students who will go to Japan on the 2023 Japan Study Tour are looking forward to bringing our 1000 paper cranes to the Nagasaki Memorial Park next month. 

Mariko Suzuki

Leader of Learning - Languages

On Thursday 1st June and Friday 2nd June, five students from St Andrews College represented NSW Combined Catholic Colleges at the NSW All Schools Diving Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. This competition brings together divers from all three school associations and is essentially the State Titles for school sport.

Our divers have been practising diligently for 4 months, attending Thursday sport sessions as well as Friday night and Saturday morning training. They continually improve their basics and expand on their dive lists to bring quality dives during competition. The five divers who represented the College really dived above their level of training and experience and we are proud of their achievements.

Results:

17 year girls springboard - Jade Kember (yr 12) 6th place

13 year girls springboard - Rachael Griffiths (yr 7) 8th place

13 year girls springboard - Claire De Vos (yr 7) 9th place

12 year girls springboard - Analise Gregoriou (yr 7) 4th place

12 year boys springboard - Eesa Mir (yr 7) 1st place

As you can see from our exceptional results, Eesa Mir of year 7 won his age group, improving his score from the NSW CCC Competition by 20 points. Analise Gregoriou was also very close to third place and with a little more training, I’m sure she can be on the podium in coming years.

I would like to congratulate all our divers on a successful school diving season and look forward to them competing in the Diving NSW season which starts in July. If any other students are interested in joining diving, please contact Mrs Weaver aweaver@parra.catholic.edu.au

Anita Weaver

St Andrews College Diving Coach

NSW CCC Diving Convenor

NSW All Schools Diving Manager

With new subject rotations in Technology this term, a new group of Year 8 students have embarked on their culinary journey as they begin their Food Technology unit. Week 7 marked the commencement of this delectable adventure, and it was met with much enthusiasm and anticipation.

During their first cooking lesson, Year 8 made some mouth watering Chocolate Truffle Balls. Students were introduced to essential skills and practices in the kitchen such as the importance of food hygiene, cleanliness and proper sanitation while handling ingredients. With great attentiveness, they grasped the significance of maintaining a clean cooking environment. Students were also required to accurately measure ingredients in order to achieve consistent and delicious results.

The lesson additionally focused on effective time management within pairs. Students quickly realised the importance of efficient coordination and communication with their cooking partners. By working together, they successfully divided tasks, allocated responsibilities, and ensured that all dishes were completed on time.

With their newfound knowledge and skills, Year 8 students are keen to create even more delicious delights in the coming weeks. We are excited to witness their culinary creativity unfold and eagerly await the next mouthwatering dishes they will prepare. Stay tuned for more updates on their exciting Food Technology journey!

Want to try making the Chocolate Truffle Balls yourself? With the recipe below, you can!

Shanai Mifsud

TAS Teacher

POWs will help you build your logical, creative and mathematical thinking.  When submitting your entries, show us ‘how’ you think!  Explain how you executed the problem solving strategy you used or when you can, show more than one way of solving the problem!

Week 6 (O11N2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHfbNNiUYjo

Use trial and error.

Week 7 (O24N5) Draw a Diagram

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScdC6gSnroc

The train travels a distance equal to 10 times the train length:

The rate of 30 km per hour is equivalent to 12 km per minute.  

Since the train takes 2 minutes to clear the tunnel, it will travel a distance of 1 km in 2 minutes.  1 km is 10 times the train’s length.

Therefore, the length of the train is 110 of a km or 100m.

You can access the POW's for Term 2  here:

https://sites.google.com/parra.catholic.edu.au/numeracy/term-2

Experience UTS Day 

On Wednesday the 5th of July UTS will be holding their Experience UTS Day for Year 12 students to get a taste of uni life by trialing a day of hands-on workshops across different disciplines. It is a day to experience everything UTS has to offer.

The day commences at 9am and concludes at 3.15pm. 

Interested students are encouraged to visit this link to register.

University of Tasmania Nursing Taster Day 

Nursing is the launch pad to a career in health. Nursing graduates can work in a huge range of areas including emergency medicine, surgery, and mental health.  

This immersive workshop will provide students from Years 10, 11 and 12 with an opportunity to explore real-world examples of research, study, and careers in Nursing. Students will receive an introduction to our state-of-the-art Nursing laboratory, try on PPE, learn how to check vital signs and more! 

Students will also have the opportunity to ask academics and current students questions about their experience studying and working as a Registered Nurse, career pathways plus anything else they’d like to know about studying Nursing.  

Interested students need to click here to register for the University of Tasmania Nursing Taster Day. Applications close on Thursday the 22nd of June. 

Nursing Taster Day 

Date:  Friday 7 and Friday 14 July 

Time:  8:45am – 3pm 

Venue: Rozelle Campus, Sydney

College Leadership Team

Leaders of Learning - Wellbeing

College Leaders of Learning - KLA

College Leaders of Learning