Issue 08 - 22 March 2019

Reminders

Reminders and Upcoming Events :

Wednesday 03 April to Friday 05 April - Camps and Retreats.

Wed 27, Thu 28, Fri 29 March: Tildesley Tennis Tournament.

Thursday 28 March: (Stage 5 and Stage 6 2020 Elective Languages students) European Study Tours Information Night - 6.00pm-7.00pm (please see FACULTY NEWS from the Languages Department in this Bulletin issue).

SVC Uniform Shop - Orders Now Online (see article with information and links in this Bulletin)

Monday 8.00am-2.00pm
Wednesday 12.00pm-5.00pm
Friday 8.00am-2.00pm

Phone: 02 9161 7979 Email: SVC@noone.com.au

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers

We have this week seen the ultimate expression of hate and disrespect within the hideous and senseless killing of people at prayer. The deaths of 50 people in two Christchurch mosques have shocked a world already relatively de-sensitised to violence. In the void of powerlessness created by an act of such magnitude, all we can do is take responsibility for our own actions and attitudes. We cannot stop the "hate speech" of others, but we can stop ourselves from using language that devalues others on the basis of religion, gender, ethnicity and age. It is a challenge for us all to show respect when we disagree with others. This is one of our great freedoms but it must be tempered without recognition of the humanity of the other. Fundamentalism is a threat to us all, and at St Vincent's College may we always seek to negate with generosity of spirit, hope, respect, justice and service of the poor.

Kia Kaha.

I have again this week been contacted by the Kings Cross Station Manager, concerned at the disregard our students are showing for their own safety and the safety of others. Our students without valid OPAL cards are "doubling or trippling" up as they go through the turnstiles. A serious injury is possible if students get caught when the gates close. Every student using the train network must have a valid student OPAL (providing free transport) or a personal OPAL card. Barging through without use of a correct card is not acceptable. College staff will be randomly deployed to the station morning and afternoons to check on our students' behaviour in this regard.

Our 2019 Open Afternoon was held this week and it was a delight to meet many families who are seeking entry for their daughters to the College. A particular word of appreciation to our Year 10 students, who acted as tour guides and were outstanding ambassadors for the College. Their authentic endorsement of the College is worth more than any advertisement money can buy!

Again this afternoon our students have stepped up to reach out in service of others by heading into the streets of Sydney to support the Red Cross collection. This act of generosity is commendable. (please see the photo above taken as they headed out this afternoon)

Yours sincerely

Mrs Anne Fry
Principal

From the Director of Teaching and Learning

High Stakes Testing or Authentic Assessment?

Yesterday, I read an interesting article from The Sydney Morning Herald, here regarding the ‘radical plan to overhaul NAPLAN’. NAPLAN has been a contentious national test since its inception for a variety of reasons. Currently, the debate is centred around the issue of how many students needs to be tested for meaningful cohort data to be collected. The proposal asserts that students would be selected on a random basis as a cohort sample, as a means of data gathering. Of particular note was the response form the Australian Parents Council, which said that NAPLAN was the ‘only source of independent information where (parents) can use it to start a conversation with the school if (they) feel there is a significant difference between what a school is telling and the report itself’.

NAPLAN is snapshot of a student's performance across a range of literacy and numeracy strands and competencies in a short period of time. By its very nature it is a limited assessment of the full range of any individual student’s learning abilities. At SVC, we know our learners and with this knowing comes the commitment by our teachers to prioritise effective pedagogy (the theory and practice of education and how this influences the growth of learners), to understand the importance of allowing students multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know and what they can do. In class, teachers make judgements about students abilities and how to grow them in multiple ways, including class discussion, group work, peer to peer feedback, homework and summative (formal) and formative (informal) assessment. Indeed, in 2019 our teaching and learning College goals are centred on assessment and feedback. In line with this focus, students are now asked to reflect in a formal way on their performance in every assessment activity. This way learning is a reciprocal process for transformational growth, where a students can unpack a teacher’s feedback and empower their own growth by identifying and targeting with tenacity and a sense a determination, the capabilities and skills each student needs to strategize to achieve growth in weaker areas of competency. NAPLAN is only a small window into what a student can do, but at Vinnies' our academic program captures a much fuller picture of our students as learners and whole people.

Yes, as it is a mandatory requirement under NSW legislation, we will partake in NAPLAN testing for all of our Years 7 and 9 students and a letter will go out next week outlining the particular dates for these testing days in May, but hopefully the test will be approached by all in our community with a sense of perspective on the limitations of these tests.

Ethical Decision Making

On another note, more closer to ‘home’ it was a pleasure to witness our learning culture in action at last Wednesday’s Open Afternoon. I was particularly impressed with our Year 10 ambassadors who expertly and authentically told our story to prospective families, and with our Ethics Club who pondered ‘The meaning of Life’ before them. I would at this point like to acknowledge the great leadership of our high potential students through clubs such as these so skillfully and passionately led by our new Gifted Education Coordinator, Ms Donna Ginzburg. Any student is most welcome to attend this club from Years 7 to 12, on Wednesday lunchtimes, as we believe that all of our students have the capacity to be ‘high potential’ learners.

Mrs Jasmin Mano
Director of Teaching and Learning

Director of Faith and Mission

444

Today, 133 students will be supported by 15 staff as they give three hours of their Friday afternoon to raise funds and awareness for Red Cross. Tonight these students and staff who will engage the reluctant passer-by, ask questions and move hearts and minds to donate, and will hopefully share their experiences with family and friends. Next week we will capture these stories on the screens around the College and you will read about them in the Bulletin and on Social Media. These are the stories that matter. Stories of people opening themselves to others, “stretching out” and being real.

In our third week of Lent I have been reading about the opportunity for growth, for stretching out and finding the real. As Phillip Endean writes:

Lent thus cannot be a time for wallowing in the negative... The real point is about the mindset we bring to Lent...Like Ignatius...we need to be in touch with what can transform us, what makes us confront new questions, what stretches our commitment and identity. It is that kind of focus that should characterise Lent. Where am I growing? Where are there questions in my life? Where am I being called to something deeper? I like what Phillip writes, especially in a time when our Institutional Church is in crisis. Today we could dwell in the scandals of sex-abuse, the silencing of women or the abuse of finance. Or, like the women I met recently at the Australian Catholic Women’s Colloquium, we can see this time in our church as a time for growth, for stretching and for finding the real. I’m ready for it…are you?

Today we started the Immersion and Pilgrimage interview process for Year 11 students. St Ignatius teaches that to immerse ourselves in an ‘Experience’ deepens our understanding. The Immersion programs are designed to allow all involved to witness the life of another culture and provide us with the desire to make positive change in our world. This is what Ignatius calls ‘Action'. This year the College is offering three Immersion experiences for students in Year 11:

Indigenous Immersion - Warralong

African Immersion - Tanzania

Indigenous Pilgrimage - Lake Mungo.

The addition of the pilgrimage is exciting as we partner with Faith in Action to travel along the song lines of New South Wales into Narrandera and Lake Mungo, to learn from the elders of these communities about the rich spirituality and connection to land that defines the First Nations peoples.

If you would like to learn more about finding time for prayer, fasting and giving - during this time of Lent visit the Loyola Press website which has some great daily reflections and weekly challenges to stimulate the mind and nourish the soul. You can find it here. If you would like to read more of Philip Endean SJ work here.

Yours in growth,

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

Project Compassion

Project Compassion - Week 3 - Solomon Islands

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT 24 MARCH 2019

Sixteen-year-old Peter goes to a boarding school in the Solomon Islands which has experienced water shortages for 60 years. Previously, students would have to walk kilometres each day in search of clean water, which was particularly challenging for Peter who is living with a disability. With Caritas Australia’s support, the school has created a new reliable water system. Students like Peter are now in better health and can fully commit to their studies - and work towards a hopeful future.

While most Australians access clean water by simply turning on a tap, for Peter who was born in the Lau region of Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands, water is something he never takes for granted. “Water is part of our culture, a symbol in our dancing and our drumming. Lau means people who live in the Islands”, says Peter.

Peter’s childhood has been challenging. His mother left the family when he was little and has since passed away. As he grew older, Peter developed a musculoskeletal disorder, and now walks with the aid of a stick. Faced with limited employment prospects and violence in the community, Peter’s father decided to move to Honiara, in order to better provide for his family. He arranged for Peter to stay with his aunt, then attend Aligegeo Secondary School where water was in short supply. “If you wanted to bathe in our community in Lau, you could do it whenever you wanted but at the school you can only do it in the afternoon for one hour", says Peter. Water is scarce, as groundwater sources at the school have dried up and rainfall is too unpredictable to rely on. Water in surrounding wells and boreholes often made students sick or gave them rashes.

The Solomon Islands may be a nation surrounded by water, however, it still experiences drought and water shortages - similar to land-locked Zimbabwe (Project Compassion story, Week 1). Around 70% of people in rural areas in the Solomon Islands don’t have access to piped water, while about 85% don’t have access to flushing toilets (World Bank, 2015).

Caritas Australia, and partners Caritas Solomon Islands (CASI) and the Solomon Islands Government Rural Water Sanitation and Hygiene division (RWASH), teamed up with the school community to tackle the problem. CASI provided a 90 kilo-litre water tank, electric pump and technical advice, while the Malaita Provincial Government contributed labour and staff.

Staff and students took part in training opportunities, dug trenches, carried equipment and are helping to develop a water management plan which teachers have linked to the school curriculum. Thanks to this hard work and commitment the school campus has unrestricted access to a safe, water system that has the capacity to service around 1,000 people.

“I used to have to walk one kilometre every day to source water from the Bishop’s well”, says Peter, “and before that, we used the well close to the Bunyan tree but the well is so mouldy and smelly, and if we have our bath there we can get all white spots and itchy skin”, Peter says. “Now we can stay at school to wash and not interrupt our official class time, and it makes our life much easier”. “Now they no longer waste time searching for water which disturbed their learning and made them late to class. There is now a conducive environment for learning”, says the school’s principal, Maena Tuita. Caritas Australia Program Manager, Ben Breen, who is based in the Solomon Islands, has seen the transformation in students’ lives. “This boosts their sense of self-worth and dignity as valued young members of society. Peter has dreams for his future which rely on a strong and stable education. He is now in a better position to reach his potential and fulfill the hopes he has for his future.”

After school, Peter likes to hang out with his friends. They joke and entertain each other by dancing. “How I see it, because I have a disability, I want to make everyone friendly to me, I want to be friends with everyone, I want everyone to treat me as an individual. In education, everyone treats you the same”. Peter hopes to help others in the future by working for an aid and development agency like Caritas himself. “I would like to thank the people of Australia and hope for Caritas to do more things for us, for our school", says Peter. However, there is still much to be done at Aligegeo School with taps, toilets, water and sanitation hardware still in great need at the school. Peter says “I think the future is in our hands because we are the future for the world and if we cooperate with each other and work together and discuss together, I think we will make a better world in the future, that’s my dream".

STUDY TOURS 2020 - From the Languages Department

2020 France and Italy Study Tours

On Thursday 28 March at 6.00pm there will be an Information Evening at the College for the 2020 France and Italy Study Tours. Applications will be considered from 2020 Stage 5 and Stage 6 Elective Languages students (this means current Year 8, Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 students).

Please contact Ms Manitta for an expression of interest form and come along on 28 March for further information.

Ms Maria Manitta
Head of Languages

manittam@stvincents.nsw.edu.au

SKI TRIP 2019

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR STUDENTS IN YEARS 9, 10 AND 11 ONLY

Please ask your parents or carers to email Mrs Cartmer if you are interested in attending the College Ski Trip this year.

Bus departs at 5.00am on Sunday 30 June and returns approximately 8.00pm on Friday 5 July.

Cost for 2019 will be $2,000 per student. This includes all transportation, ski/snowboard hire, lift tickets, full-day ski lessons, national parks entry, teacher supervision, accommodation, breakfasts and dinners.

Mrs Mary Cartmer
Ski Trip Co-ordinator
(Head of Williams House)

email: cartmerm@stvincents.nsw.edu.au

Career News

University News

UTS

UTS Co-Op Scholarships

Round 1 applications for UTS co-op scholarship programs - the Bachelor of Accountingand Bachelor of Information Technology are now open. This scholarship is highly prestigious providing excellent opportunities for the selected recipients.

Macquarie University

Macquarie in a Day

On 17 and 18 April, Year 11 and Year 12 students are invited onto Macquarie University’s campus for the chance to taste what a day in the life of a Macquarie student is really like. Register now and find out more at: Mq.edu.au/mqinaday

Year 12 information Evening

On Wednesday 1 May from 5:30pm-8:00pm at Macquarie University campus, an information session for prospective Year 12 students and their parents will be held. Topics to be discussed include Macquarie University’s early entry programs, courses, scholarships and pathway options. As well, attendees will be given the opportunity to speak one-on-one with course advisers. To Register your interest please use the following: mq.edu.au/study/high-school-students/events

Year 10 Subject Selection Evening

On Tuesday 7 May from 5.30pm-8.00pm at Macquarie University campus, an information evening for Year 10 students and their parents where they can find out about how subjects for the HSC can impact upon their university studies will be held. Topics to be addressed include adjustment factors, assumed knowledge, university admission process and scholarship applications. To Register your interest please use: mq.edu.au/study/high-school-students/events

University of Wollongong

Engineering Immersion for Female Students Years 7-10

Engineering is the practical application of Maths and Science. Engineers imagine, create and continuously improve on ways that make the world a safer, better place in which to live. So, if this is the sort of career you would like to explore further, you should try to attend UOW’s holiday immersion workshop that will be held on Friday 6 July. Bursaries are available for travel and accommodation for students who live more than 120km away. Please use the following link to find out more: https://portal.engineersaustralia.org.au/event/2019/03/experience-it-student-conference-2019

HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS

AIE Industry Experience Day

On Wednesday 17 April AIE's Industry Experience Day will be held. This is a great opportunity for students in Years 10-12 to learn about local and international game development, 3D animation and the visual effects industries. Students will be able to get creative in practical workshops using industry-standard programs. For more information and to register go to: https://aie.edu.au/ied or call 8514 8800.

Studying in the USA

Any student or parent who would like to find out more about studying in the USA should try to attend one of the following School Holiday General Information Sessions, organised by Education USA.

Session 1: 15 April - 2:00pm-4:00pm at the US Consulate General Sydney.

Booking essential: https://edusaapr15.eventbrite.com.au

Session 2: 17 April - 2:00pm-4:00pm at the US Consulate General Sydney.

Booking essential: https://edusaapr17.eventbrite.com.au

The sessions are identical so those interested only need to attend one. Be quick as these sessions fill quickly.

MS HELEN MARSHALL
CAREERS ADVISER

Sport Report

Co-ordinator of Sport: Ms Jacinta Jacobs: 0418 416 663 / jacobsj@stvincents.nsw.edu.au

Head of Tennis - Ms Therese Taylor    0408 711 881
Head of Touch - Ms Elyse Hermanis   0434 610 870
Head of Water polo - Ms Steph El Safty    0419 950 164
Head of Swimming/Cross Country - Ms Jacinta Jacobs   0418 416 663.

SPORTS DRAW: For all draw and venue information go to: https://www.stvincents.nsw.edu.au/learning/sport/

Website details: https://www.stvincents.nsw.edu.au/learning/sport/

TERM 1 SPORT

IGSSA Saturday and Tildesley Tennis

Last Saturday’s round of matches were easy to report on as all but one were a washout. SVC 3 was the only team to play and they won very convincingly 7 1/2 to 1/2. Well done girls!

This Saturday’s games will be the last opportunity to play your best and get into the finals. Semi finals will be played on 30 March and finals will be on the following week. We currently have two teams who are pretty much guaranteed a final's spot, but with a bit of luck and some great match play we could get more teams in. Game on girls - let’s try to win all our matches this weekend!

Next week is Tildesley competition week, which makes next Tuesday afternoon our last practice session, starting with a meeting at 3.00pm. All Tildesley players should be there - doubles singles and lines persons. Tuesday morning can be skipped, although anyone who would like to do extra practice is welcome to do so.

Thank you to those teachers who gave the girls extra match practice at lunchtimes. There have been some upsets but all games have been played in good spirits and the girls have learnt some new tricks. Ms Young and Mr Schroeder were very gracious in defeat this week and gave their opponents Lucia Holt, Year 10, and Isabel Murray-Nobbs, Year 8, great practice for some tough competition next week.

Ms Therese Taylor
Head Tennis Coach

Below: Ms Young and Stella Holt

Below: Mr Schroeder and Isabel Murray-Nobbs

Touch

Congratulations to seven of our fifteen touch teams who have qualified for the semi finals this weekend. Good luck to teams SVC 2, 3, 5, 9, 11, 12 and 15 who are in the semis, weather permitting. All other teams are in playoffs.

Thank you for your patience with the weather updates on Saturday mornings. Fingers crossed for no rain for this weekend - and only sunshine. Good luck to all teams!

Ms Elyse Harmanis
Head Coach of Touch

Water Polo

All teams are training hard and we have seen some excellent games throughout the season. The missed games from week one due to pool closures will now be played this week and finals will be pushed back to 30 March and 6 April. Good luck to all teams for their games this weekend!

Ms Steph El Safty
Head Waterpolo Coach

IGSSA Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all girls who swam at the IGSSA championships today. We made a record 15 finals.

Special congrats to the following finalists:

Frances Shires: 200m individual medley -3rd; 100m freestyle; 50m butterfly

Emerson Lewis - 50m backstroke and breaststroke

Maddison Neill - 100m and 50m freestyle

Charlie Bennett - 100m Free 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly; medley relay

Evie Ellis - 50m freestyle and backstroke; freestyle relay and medley relay

Apanie Pow - 50m backstroke

Ruby Etherington - medley and freestyle relays

Gabrielle Austin - medley relay

Alexandra Tait - freestyle and medley relay.

Siara Ortolani - freestyle relay.

Swimming Training

Our swimming coaches, Jesse and Dene, are running sessions on Tuesday (not Mondays), Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings from 7.00am-8.00am for any keen swimmers. The enrolment form can be found on the College website under Sport/Swimming. ALL levels are catered for and you can come to one or all sessions.

TERM 2 SPORT TRIALS

Some trials have been completed this week.

Netball Trials - SVC Courts

Year 7: No trials. First session will be the first Thursday back in Term 2.

Junior (Years 8 and 9): Monday 01 April - 3.15pm-4.45pm AND Monday 08 April - 3.15pm-4.15pm.

Senior (Years 10, 11, 12): Wednesday 27 March - 3.15pm-4.45pm AND Monday 08 April - 3.15pm-4.15pm.

SPORT STARS

Congratulations to Madeleine Chubb, Year 9, who competed at the Little Athletics State Track and Field Championships last weekend. In very wet and slippery conditions she made the finals of the U15 Girls Discus and placed 7^th overall out of a total of 24 competitors, with a throw of 31.50m. Well done Maddie!

Please keep the Sport staff informed of any good sporting results held outside of the College. Information and photos can be emailed to jacobsj@stvincents.nsw.edu.au

STOP PRESS! Vinnies swim team make a record 15 finals at IGSSA today.

MS JACINTA JACOBS
CO-ORDINATOR OF SPORT

Junior medley relay
Maddison Neill
Frances Shires - 3rd - 200m individual medley
The Fitzgerald sisters

Caritas Corner

This week in Caritas Christi we wrapped up on an extremely successful International Women’s Week, where we did beading and made purple bracelets, created a human scale for the campaign #balanceforbetter and held the Women’s Symposium with many inspirational female guest speakers.

Caritas is now looking towards environmental issues within our College and the upcoming "Earth Hour" and "Snug as a Bug in a Rug" day next term. We brainstormed initiatives that we could undertake as a College community. These included taking a school photo while holding posters of things we would like to change as an individual and school community, having a waste-free lunch week by using containers and no glad wrap or foil, doing mindful gardening at lunch and having waste-free Tutor lunches. The Caritas team is looking forward to putting these ideas into action to create a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable school here at St Vincent's!

By Marnie Gomes, Year 11

Celebrating 135 Years of Boarding

From the 1939 “Vincentia”, is a sweet poem about “Baby Boarders”. In the early years, St Vincent’s was home to five “Baby Boarders along with senior girls. The girls started at age six and many spent their entire schooling as Vinnies' Boarders'.

These were exciting times for the Boarders' of 1939, as despite enduring much disruption due to school-wide building works, “the only lull being when the men were most scrupulous in using the full lunch hour for rest and relaxation”. By Term 3 the Boarders' had moved into their new building (the current Aikenhead building on Victoria Street) although, “some of them sometimes look sadly back to a kind of homely feeling in the 'old dormitories' - one can only congratulate them on the comfort and up-to-date condition which they now enjoyed”. Excursions to the movies “Cloistered” and “Boy’s Town” were both entertaining activities as well, and the start of the World War II meant a series of lectures from the Fire Department on evacuation procedures.

BOARDERS’ THE LONG LUNCH - SATURDAY 25 MAY 2019

Please join us on Saturday 25 May for 'The Long Lunch' to celebrate 135 years of Boarding.

All Boarding families, past Boarders' and families and staff are most welcome.

$65 all inclusive: Two course lunch and drinks.

Click here to book

Ms Jane Palin
Community and Alumnae Relations Manager

palinj@stvincents.nsw.edu.au

From the P&F Association

It's been a busy year already! Thank you to everyone who attended our first meeting this year - it was great to see some new faces. I realise we had some dial in issues, so my apologies, that will all be rectified by the next meeting.

We are in need of new committee members for the P&F Executive. Due to personal circumstances three of our office bearers will be stepping down at the AGM next term. If you would like to be involved and are interested in the positions of Vice President, Treasurer or Secretary, please contact me and I can discuss what is involved.

Spring Fair News

While the Spring Fair may seem a long time away, it would be great to start some preliminary planning so we are well ahead of the game. If anyone who is interested in helping could let me know that would be great, so I can arrange a time to put a few things in place.

As always, we need helpers leading up to the event and many helpers on the day. We will be running with all the traditional stalls but we are more than happy for suggestions and new ideas. As we saw with the dog show last year, anything is possible!

This is our major P&F fundraising event of the year and many hands make light work, so your input is appreciated.

If you have any questions, suggestions or ideas, please contact me directly 0400 583 677.

Regards

Katherine Aitken
President P&F Association

UNIFORM SHOP NOW ONLINE!

INTRODUCING CLICK AND COLLECT

Uniform Shop Now Online

A fast and convenient way to shop for your St Vincent’s College College uniform online. Shop online - collect next trading day.

Online store link: https://www.noone.com.au/school/st-vincents-college/shop

HOW IT WORKS:

Discover click and collect, the convenient and quick way to shop from Noone Shop online. Place your order and your order will be ready to collect on the next trading day. We’ll get everything ready for you, so all you need to do is come in store to collect your order, or home delivery is also available for your convenience.

1. Shop Online

Type the school link into your browser: https://www.noone.com.au/school/st-vincents-college .

Sign up to create your own account and then log in to commence shopping. Add the items to your cart that you would like to purchase via Click and Collect.

2. Choose Click and Collect Options

Choose Click and Collect options or choose Australia Post option for home delivery. Click and Collect next trading day from the on-campus shop, or via Australia Post - 5-10 working days for delivery.

Our retail staff are available to assist you with your uniform requirements at the location listed below:

On Campus Trading Hours (during terms):

Monday 8.00am-2.00pm
Wednesday 12.00pm-5.00pm
Friday 8.00am-2.00pm

Phone: 02 8324 6622
Email: SVC@noone.com.au

Rockwall Crescent, Potts Point

Book Reviews

(Our Book Reviewer, Ms Suzanne O'Connor, is now living in Timor Leste working in a volunteer capacity with the Loreto Sisters).

The Good Book Drought Has Broken!

Barry Lyga’s debut YA novel is in our library and is excellent. However, I have just read Bangwhich was published in 2017 and it is astounding. It is based on an event which has happened time and again in America: A toddler has access to a loaded gun and fires it. In the novel, Sebastian is fourteen years old but is shaped and haunted by a ten-year old memory. His father had been cleaning a gun when the doorbell rang. He went to answer it and his four-year old son grabbed the pistol, walked into his baby sister’s room and shot her. What happens next? The little boy’s family breaks up, the boy and his mother never talk about what happened - and Sebastian decides he owes it to his dead sister to kill himself. The ideal time will be over the summer when his best and only friend will be away at a camp. However, Sebastian meets a new family to their 'white bread', mid-west town. A Muslim man is married to a non-Muslim woman and their daughter, Aneesa, is a practising Muslim girl who wears hijab. She and Sebastian become firm friends over his genius at pizza making and her inspiration of a regular YouTube posting of creative pizza recipes and her reaction to each creation. However, Lyga is too interesting a writer to make his book about achieving the American dream of fame and fortune through food. He is also too ethical to twist the plot to demonstrate that the four-year old did not pull the trigger. He is too creative to consider writing a book about a cross-faith romance. Instead, he writes about much more interesting issues with an excellent conclusion which may frustrate some readers. I also loved the stern English teacher with her rant against the word “nice” - Lyga has clearly eavesdropped at my class room door. This teacher is the unintended catalyst that changes Sebastian’s story. I love the fact that not everything in the characters’ lives is not resolved but, rather like real life or a programme on the ABC, life continues on its messy way.

Not Dinner Party Conversation

Imagine being told that, at a dinner party to which you have been invited, you will be seated next to an author whose work you have always admired. To your horror, she tells you all about her sixteen brushes with death and one of her children’s difficult life. What is perhaps unsuitable for a dinner party makes a gripping book. Maggie O’Farrell’s I Am, I Am, I Am is her first non-fiction work. She writes about the sixteen times she has evaded death in some frightening situations, hence the defiant title taken from Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Each occurrence is presented in a separate chapter without chronological order but all with reflections she learned and wisdom she gained. Sometimes the danger is her own foolish choice - as an unhappy adolescent, she accepted a dare to jump into the ocean at night. However, at other times, there is sheer happenstance: Going for a quiet country walk leads to meeting a man who tries to strangle her. There are heart rending moments when she discusses the grief of miscarriage and the horror of severe haemorrhage after a joyful birth.

It is the final chapter that is most wrenching because it is about her daughter who is allergic to many substances, suffers shocking eczema and needs an Epi pen near her at all times. O’Farrell writes of her guilt, her constant vigilance, her concern for her other two children, her fury at the reaction of some people and her heartfelt gratitude at the compassion of others. This is probably a book for parents - we have all spent sleepless times at the bedside of a sick child and will relate to her descriptions of these times. For potential adventurers, it may be a warning to beware of the possible consequences of going adventuring, especially when you are four years old.

Thirty Girlsby Susan Minot seems to have been written for my Year 9 Religious Studies class of 2017. We became awed and worried about the fate of the many school girls abducted by rebels from their boarding schools in a number of African countries, to be traded, trained as soldiers or abused in a range of horrific ways. One of the questions that haunted us was what happened to the girls after they escaped the rebels or were rescued (a rare occurrence) by the country’s army?

Such abductions and abuses have been happening for the past fifteen years or so. Ms Minot sets her story in Uganda where Kony leads the Lord’s Resistance Army. The story begins with the kidnapping of one hundred and thirty-four girls from St Mary’s Boarding School. The Principal of the school, Sister Giulia, follows the rebels back into the jungle and demands the return of her students. Kony’s lieutenant tells her that she can take one hundred girls back with her but he will select the remaining group that must stay. Faced with this appalling choice, the nun takes the hundred back to their parents and families, then proceeds to alert the world to the plight of the other thirty girls. And she does alert the world. At one stage, at a secret meeting between Kony and the sister, he remonstrates with her because the Pope has delivered a homily about the evil of his actions. How dare she! Kony considers himself a good Catholic and, during his regular dialogues with God, he is reassured by God’s support.

So far, so gripping. However, we are also introduced to Jane, an American journalist who has come to track down this story. She arrives in Kenya and meets a range of frankly loathsome people who live in obscene luxury and clearly do not possess sufficient Scrabble sets because they are always fornicating with each other. These are the white remnants of various European empires who consider themselves Kenyan, speak Swahili but seem to live blithely with great self-indulgence. It is hard not to feel that some of these characters should be sent right back to America or the United Kingdom and stop cluttering up the African continent.

As Jane travels nearer and nearer to Uganda with her ill-assorted group of friends as well as her young lover, she becomes more and more involved with the people who have been affected by the kidnapping: The grieving parents, the activists and an heroic Italian-born doctor who shames this group of parasites just by his work and his integrity. To me, the heroine of this novel is Esther, from whom we hear a great deal as she survives the life amongst the rebels, finally escapes and then faces the heartbreak of trying to resume her old life. She gains wisdom and understanding that she will never be able to be what she was: An ambitious student with great hopes and aspirations. The two strands of the story meet when Jane meets and interviews Esther. She is deeply affected by the experience and promises to tell the world what she has seen and heard. We never know if she keeps that promise and, in a way, that does not matter because we are taught by Esther that there are no neat, tidy endings in any life. I really recommend this novel to that memorable class as well as other readers. Obviously, I found some of the characters despicable but they did help to assuage the intensity of the experience of those thirty girls.

Bulletin