Bulletin

REMINDERS AND UPCOMING EVENTS:

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Monday 05 August - Monday 19 August - HSC Trial examinations

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Saturday 03 August - Father Daughter Sleep out at the College.

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Tuesday 06 August 6.30pm - P&F Term Meeting - Bethania

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SVC UNIFORM SHOP  

Orders Now Online  

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

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

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Dear Parents and Carers

During this week there has been several opportunities for the teachers to sit back and learn from the wisdom of our students.  On Tuesday, all the teaching staff gathered to develop their cultural competencies by entering into conversation with the First Nation students of the College.  Aunty Viv, who is the cultural Aunty to the College community, also very generously shared her culture and wisdom with the staff.

At our Wednesday morning assembly the focus was NAIDOC week, and this year's theme is Voice, Treaty, Truth.  It was a privilege to hear our First Nations students share their reflection on each of the key words from the theme and it was very encouraging to see the high level of interest, respect and gratitude shown by the entire student body and staff.  There was great affirmation, provided by our student leaders, for the emerging leaders of the First Nations people who are currently integral members of our community.

The assembly was held on the Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).  While best known for the Spiritual Exercises he wrote for lay people, St Ignatius also proposed what he called, a way of proceeding.  This way of relating to and collaborating with others became the basis for the early community life of the Jesuits, but there are many lessons for us all to learn from and apply to our own lives and times.  In my words at the assembly, I proposed to the students that the Ignatian way of proceeding - deep listening, conversation and discernment - would be an ideal way for all Australians to engage with the NAIDOC theme.  Over the next few years as we as a nation consider how best the First Nations voice is to be heard and recognised in our National Constitution, it would be wonderful to believe we were capable of deep listening, conversation and discernment.  Based on our past referendums, the debate is likely to end up decisive and politicised, and I challenged our students to practise the Ignatian way of proceeding, and be the voices of hopefulness and reconciliation.

At the assembly we were very conscious of our Year 12's and their HSC Trials that commence on Monday.  May they, in their times of worry, remember these comforting words of Julian of Norwich:

"All will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing shall be well".

May God bless each of our Year 12's and be their companion throughout this period of examinations.

Congratulations to Ms Mariann Barkho, who on Tuesday welcomed her beautiful baby son, Isaac.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Anne Fry
Principal

This year the entire community will gather at St Mary's Cathedral commencing at 2.30pm to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for the class of 2019.  Students in Years 7-11 will be dismissed from the Cathedral at 4.00pm.  Further details will follow but I would appreciate if all families would diarise this date and alternative dismissal protocol.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Anne Fry
Principal

Last night SBS aired the first episode of a four-part series receiving much media attention, The Hunting. This Australian show set in two high schools in Adelaide explores the pressures upon young people, female and male, in the world of sexting through social media.  It also explores the parental responses in navigating this confronting terrain.  What is impressing me is the guidance being offered parents and carers, to view the show but not necessarily with your adolescent child, to pause and process the pressures that drive the adolescent to engage in sexting in order to ready yourself for considered and open dialogue with our children rather than an inquisition.  Our young people are living in a sexually explicit world, accessible at their fingertips.  Our role as guiding adults is at first to understand that world in order to understand and guide his or her response.  It is a powerful tool to help us as parents consider the ‘what if’ scenarios of our parenting responses, mindful that it is our response that significantly shapes the ethical developmental thinking of our children.  As the contemporary world of adolescents continues to change, we are challenged to keep up in our parenting response, embracing the opportunity to affirm and restore the goodness and dignity of each child.  SBS in partnership with the eSafety Commissioner, have compiled educational resources to accompany the series and I include the link here to the parent resources:

https://www.sbs.com.au/sites/sbs.com.au.home/files/sbs_learn_esafety_the_hunting_parent_discussion_guide.pdf

There is no doubt our Year 12 students have put in many hours of study in the lead in to their Trial examinations.  May I encourage us - teachers and parents - to balance our conversations with managing stress and study with affirmation of their enormous capability.  Encourage your daughters to measure her readiness for the Trial HSC exams by the commitment and hard work already achieved rather than measure herself by unreal expectations.  Our students have worked hard, know much and are still on their journey of refining their learning with application and feedback.  We gathered as a Year Group in Thursday’s CP lesson, to set the tone for their last term at the College, share valuable advice and important information regarding the upcoming Trial examinations, UAC and Scholarship applications and end of Year 12 celebratory events.  Year 12 parents and carers were emailed a letter which provides all the necessary detail you need to know; please ensure you have opened and saved this letter. 

Mrs Elizabeth Brooks
Deputy Principal, Pastoral Care

It is the bustling energy of our students moving around the College to engage in their learning activities that brings me great joy and illuminates our purpose in all we are aspiring to achieve as we continue to raise the bar in our learning culture.  It is not just our students that are busy learning but all of us in the SVC teaching community, as lifelong learners, regularly collaborate to continue to challenge and improve our practice in learning and pedagogy. Having recently gained the approval from NESA for St Vincent’s College to be an endorsed provider of Professional Development, I was inspired and heartened by my colleagues commitment to join with me in partaking in applying learnings from UNSW Global about how we may adopt the ‘Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix’ into our Assessment Activities, so that we continue to drive our deep commitment to ensuring there is much rigor in our academic programs and assessment strategies.  Improvements to the ways in which we provide feedback to our students post assessments, has been the focus of our work, where we have established a College wide common assessment template for every subject and every stage so that our students increasingly draw connections to their learning between the subjects they study.  Much evidence abounds from educational research that students who can apply their knowledge to different contexts, increase their cognitive function considerably and as our graduates will enter changing workplace landscapes, we consider this notion of knowledge transference to be a vital capability of 21st Century pedagogies to enable deep learning. 

Our new Reflective Learning Model has been a key focus in teaching and learning for Years 7-12 at the College this year.  Research from educational experts in this field have enhanced our SVC model of formative feedback and all our practitioners have adopted this model and nuanced it to suit their particular specialist areas.  We at SVC know, that the cycle of formative feedback to our students is crucial to teacher reflective practice, as it deepens the relationship of learning for both students and teachers as we constantly assess - What we did and what our students learnt? 

As part of our commitment to the ‘Year of Respect’, our challenge and priority now for the new semester is to ensure that our courageous women of action know that by receiving feedback that requires improvements in learning to be made, a mind shift and pragmatism is required on their part.  Therefore, more than ever, the resilience and tenacity of our students who are enlivened by our legendary ‘Vinnies spirit’, is apparent in their learning and as they aspire to fulfill their post-school dreams, this same enigmatic spirit will guide them in their lifelong learning, more than ever before. 

This week and next we are trialling a new form of external assessment for general capabilities in both English and Mathematics for Years 8 and 10.  These tests track year-on-year progression with in-depth reports that pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement.  By providing an annual, objective benchmark of learning, UNSW Global’s ‘Reach Assessments’ deliver a consistent measure of student growth and provide comprehensive online reporting underpinned by international curricula.  Once we assert the rigor of these tests in this trial, we will continue to roll these tests out next year in all areas including Science and Technology, for our non-NAPLAN Stage 4 and 5 cohorts.

To our Year 12 students:  I wish you very well in your forthcoming HSC Trial examinations from Monday 5 to Monday 19 August.  You are absolutely ready and the months of rigorous learning you have embarked on and diligent study you have accomplished, will serve you well, as you believe in yourselves with courage and conviction to demonstrate your deep learning, in readiness for the final HSC examinations beginning Thursday 17 October to Monday 11 November. 

Scientia cum Religione

Mrs Jasmin Mano
Director of Teaching and Learning

Feast of St Ignatius

On Wednesday we celebrated the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola. His is a story worth reading; particularly if you are not sure where you are heading or you don’t think you are being your best self. As a youth, Ignatius enjoyed a party and wasn’t shy when it came to promoting himself.  You could say his ego was a little out of check and his modus operandi was for self rather than others.  When he was forced into an extended period of rest because of injury, Ignatius discovered the gift of reflection and prayer.  His physical and spirituality journey that he then undertook to come to know the story of Jesus more intimately resulted in a spirituality that is practiced today by millions of women and men throughout the world.  It is a spirituality of experience, discernment, consolation and conversation.  It is the way of this College and for many of its community members, including the Year 11 participants of Twilight Spirituality who finished their experience this week (read more about it in this Bulletin) and the Year 10 group who will commence 'Meet Iggy' next week.

Ignatian Spirituality will also help the Catholic Church in Australia as we prepare for the first Plenary Council to be held since the second Vatican Council. More than 222,000 people participated in listening and dialogue encounters and contributed 17,457 submissions during the first stage of preparation for the Australian Plenary Council.  In Term 1, 192 members from St Vincent’s College community provided their thoughts and hopes through an online survey.  Six National Themes for Discernment are inspired by the data and call us toward the future.  To stay abreast of what is happening check out the https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/ and read about the themes and the 14 areas that have informed these themes.  You may also like to connect with St Canice’s Facebook Community where we are unpacking the themes online.  Simply join the groupand add your thoughts. 

Now is an opportune time for discernment and conversation.  The Church in Australia needs to hear what is stirring in your heart, and I encourage you to engage in the dialogue that the Plenary Council is facilitating.  To help with this discernment and need for deep listening, I would like to share with you 18 resources on Ignatian Spirituality for the remainder of the year.  These resources may feed your own soul, your family or your friends.  Be bold.  Be brave. Be involved.

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

Voices from the Heart

Last month at the Mary Aikenhead Ministries Formation Conference, the new electronic version of Voices from the Heart, the collaborative publication that brings together reflections and readings for each day of the year from members of education, health and outreach Mary Aikenhead Ministries, was launched.  I was privileged to be part of the working group that collaborated on the book and am thrilled that the stories and reflections of hundreds of our MAM community are now available online around the world.

The resources are found here:

• Online can be found here and has a timer you can set for reflection. 
• The App - Voices from the Heart (Mary Aikenhead Ministries) can be downloaded for free on the App store of your choice.                                  

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

On Wednesday 24 July a group of Year 11 students from Twilight Spirituality had the opportunity to go to Two Wolves Cantina on Broadway with Ms McLean and Sr Anne.  Twilight Spirituality is an extra-curricular activity run by Ms McLean and Sr Anne after school on Wednesdays.  The purpose of the program is for students to strengthen their sense of faith and what that means to them, learn more about Ignatian spirituality and take time to reflect on their life and relationships.  Two Wolves is a community Mexican cantina run by student volunteers.  It is an initiative of the Cardoner Project which is a Jesuit and Catholic youth volunteering hub that supports global partner organisations, predominantly within the Jesuit network.

During our time at Two Wolves, we had the opportunity to learn about the history of Two Wolves and Ignatian spirituality, and also became informed about the immersions they hold.  These immersions include going to places like Vietnam, India, Nepal, Thailand or Mexico to volunteer and partake in activities such as setting up schools and helping to build homes in disadvantaged communities.  After this, we shared a Magis Circle run by Ms McLean, which led nicely into a beautiful mass with Father Alan in the small chapel within the building.  This was an opportunity for all of us to stop and reflect upon our day and what we had learnt about that afternoon.  To end the night, we all shared a delicious meal of our choice from the Cantina, and of course, churros for dessert!

We have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of Twilight Spirituality as we have strengthened our relationships with fellow Year 11 students in a unique environment and experience.  We are all so grateful for the opportunities Twilight has provided for us and the new scope of knowledge we all have about such a great initiative, that we will most definitely share with our peers.  Twilight has given us all the ability to not only deepen our own spirituality but develop connections and relationships with our peers and also the broader community.

Ellen Ebbs and Niamh O’Sullivan

This In Weekend held the annual Boarders’ Got Talent show.  This annual event always creates amazing camaraderie and competition amongst the Year Groups, and to add to this I decided to add criteria this year.  With a random draw out of the hat, Year 7 drew out Choreographed Dance, Year 8 received Musical Theatre, Year 9 Comedy, Year 10 Drama and Year 11 Scripture - either in song or act. 

Year 12 were judges, and Krista and Tamarla (both in Year 12) were our amazing and funny (particularly the Maths jokes) MC's for the evening.  With all the marks tallied, Year 9 were the clear winners with their The Real Housewives of Boarding comedy piece.

Thank you to all choreographers, writers and participants from all Year Groups.

On Sunday, Years 7-11 Boarders' went to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair for a morning brunch, where football, soccer and listening to music was in abundance. It gave Year 12's time to study effectively for their upcoming Trials.

Yours in Boarding

Ms Maryanne O'Donoghue
Director of Boarding

Career Snapshot:  Optometry

The scope of practice of optometrists is expanding.  Students commencing an optometry degree in the future will be therapeutically endorsed when they graduate. This means that they will be better placed to assist some of their patients who present with eye inflammations, infections and injuries.  It is expected that the number of people presenting to optometrists instead of emergency departments with eye injuries will increase

https://www.myhealthcareer.com.au/optometry-career/

UNSW

UNSW Open Day in 2019 will be held on 7 September and is definitely the best opportunity for students to explore everything that UNSW has to offer and to get all their questions answered.  Throughout the day there will be over 100 mini-lectures on offer, faculty demonstrations and workshops, campus tours of the Scientia Advisory Centre, where attendees can speak one-on-one with academic and faculty representatives. 

Students can registerhereto receive the latest updates and download the Open Day Uni-Verse app, to help them make the most out of their day.

ADFA UNSW Canberra Open Day

Saturday 24 August.  10.00am to 4.00pm.  Open Day at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is an ideal opportunity for you to experience first hand this unique, world class training and educational facility.  If you are interested in combining a challenging and exciting career in the Australian Defence Force with a degree then you should go along and find out more.

University of Wollongong (UOW) Open Day

Saturday 3 August.  This is a great chance for students and parents to check out UOW.  Visit the following link for details:  openday.uow.edu.au.

Information for Students wishing to study Medicine, Veterinary Science or Dentistry

UAC has produced a useful summary resource of all key dates for application deadlines, interview and offer dates for Medicine, Veterinary Science and Dentistry for NSW and ACT.  Please use the link provided here and as always, check university websites for accuracy and double check criteria.

Study in the United States

US Consulate General, Sydney, Level 10, MLC Centre, 19-29 Martin Place.

One-on-one information session with an EducationUSA Adviser.  EducationUSA is a US Department of State network of over 400 international student advising centres in more than 170 countries.  The network promotes US higher education to students around the world by offering accurate, comprehensive and current information about opportunities to study at accredited post-secondary institutions in the United States.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/educationusa-sydney-general-appointments-tickets-37380669589

Study Overseas Information Evening

On Wednesday 28 August from 5.00pm-7.30pm.  Ascham School is hosting the annual ‘Study Overseas Information Evening’.  The intention of this evening is to provide Years 10, 11 and 12 students and their parents with an opportunity to meet representatives from a range of international tertiary institutions from North America, United Kingdom, Asia and Europe.  Representatives from US and UK universities will deliver presentations about their respective undergraduate application processes in the Packer Theatre from 6.00pm-7.00pm.

The event will be held at Ascham School, 188 New South Head Road, Edgecliff, with easy access directly across from Edgecliff Train Station and two hour free parking is available at the Edgecliff Shopping Centre.  There is NO onsite parking available.  The event is free but registration is essential. 

To register:  www.trybooking.com/531591

Any enquiries may be directed to Gillian Sloan, Tertiary Education and Careers Adviser at Ascham School at gillian.sloan@ascham.nsw.edu.au

Ms Helen Marshall
Careers Adviser

SPORT STAFF CONTACTS FOR TERM 3 2019

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

Ms Vanessa Brown:    0412 979 599 - 5-a-side Football
Ms Jacinta Jacobs:      0418 416 663 - Athletics
Ms Laura Wiggins:     0418 329 929 - Hockey
Ms Molly Macqueen:   0448 882 121 - Netball.

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

For all draw and venue information visit this website. 

The Term 3 netball, soccer and hockey seasons have begun with more than 350 students participating in one of these sports.  All players should now be aware of their team, training times and coaches. Students are reminded that training is compulsory and that a note is required to the Sports Department if you will miss a training session and/or game.  First round of competition was last week with finals being played on 21 September.

NETBALL

Congratulations on an incredible first weekend of netball!  SVC had 24 teams travelling around Sydney - many securing fantastic wins.  Stay tuned for the leader board next week.  Netball trainings are held at the College on the courts.  Morning sessions are held from 7.25am-8.20am, and afternoon sessions are held from 3.15pm-4.30pm.  All players must attend and even if it is raining, training is still on in room 2.32.

Please be diligent when checking your draw.  Make sure you have the right venue and time, ensuring you arrive 30 minutes before your game.  The Sports page of the College websiteincludes the draw for each team, as well as a 2019 netball venues' PDF to help you find the specific location. 

Boarders', please be proactive with organising lifts to games on the weekend.  Every week your team mates will help you get to games, so make sure you don’t leave it until the last minute! 

All information regarding the draw, training times, team lists etc can be found on the Netball page on the College website under Sport. www.stvincents.nsw.edu.au/learning/sport/netball

Good luck to all teams for your game this Saturday!

above: Netball indoor training session - we train rain, hail or shine!

HOCKEY

We are very excited to be back for Term 3 hockey, with two teams of girls who are excited to play and improve on their hockey skills throughout the season.  The term started well for SVC 1 who had a 1-0 win against Loreto.  They played extremely well as a team and did some beautiful passing throughout the game.  SVC 2 had a tough start to the season with a 5-0 loss against SCEGGS.  However, it gave them elements of their game to work on and improve at training on Wednesday.

This term both hockey teams will train at David Phillips Turf Field on Wednesday afternoons.  A bus will take the girls to David Phillips Synthetic Field at Daceyville at 3.15pm and training will finish at 5.00pm.  The bus will depart the field at 5.00pm, so any students being picked up from the venue will need to be collected by this time.  If parents are late, the students will be taken back to the College on the bus and will need to be picked up from there at approximately 5.30pm.  The field is an all weather pitch, so training is always on.

Ms Laura Wiggins
Head Hockey Coach

Above:  Hockey Firsts

5-A-Side-Soccer

Ascham has started the Five-A-Side competition at Moore Park Synthetic Field last weekend.  A reminder that all teams are to arrive 45 minutes before their games to have a light training session before the game.  Full Sports uniform is to be worn with SVC long socks, shin pads and boots.  Ms Brown is the teacher in charge and Hugo will be coaching also.  Please see the website for more details.

TERM 4 SPORT REGISTRATIONS ARE OPEN AND ARE DUE IN BY FRIDAY 16 AUGUST BY 3.00PM 

All girls wishing to play IGSSA water polo, ESTA touch, Santa Sabina basketball or volleyball or indoor football (Futsal), are to go to the College website and register by 3.00pm on Friday 16 August.  No late registrations will be accepted after this date as we have to send in our team numbers to the different associations.  Trials for all these sports will be held in Weeks 5 and 6, so please keep an eye on the Sports noticeboard and the College website for more details.  Once you register, you are committed to that team and the registration costs, so please consider all other activities that may conflict, as we have had many late withdrawals this term leaving our teams short.

IGSSA ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

The team is reminded that they are expected to be at training either Mondays at the College/Rushcutters Bay 3.15pm-4.15pm or Wednesday afternoons at E S Marks Field 4.00pm-5.00pm.  St Vincent’s is not officially going to the first two IGSSA Friday night competitions, we are only participating in the last two weeks and we would like as many athletes there as possible.  The two dates we are doing are 9 and 16 August.  These 'mini carnivals' are an excellent opportunity for our team to practise for the main carnival particularly the relay teams.  The Year 12 girls in the team are only required at one Friday night carnival, but please make sure you let Miss Macqueen know which one suits best with your studies.

The IGSSA Carnival is being held at Homebush Stadium on Thursday 29 August.  The hurdles and 800m heats will be held on the Wednesday night, 28 August from 4.00pm.  If there are any other athletes who train for hurdles please let me know as we can have one per age group.  We don’t run this event at our College Carnival due to safety reasons, but if you train for it at a club please see Miss Macqueen.  Permission notes with all details were given out - if you have not receive one please see Miss Macqueen as soon as possible.

SPORT STARS

Juliet Ivkovic Jones:  Juliet was recently selected to represent Australia in the National Youth Handball team!  The team will compete in the Oceania Trophy Event in August in New Caledonia.  Congratulations for this outstanding achievement and we can’t wait to hear how it goes! 

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

Miss Molly Macqueen  
Acting Co-ordinator of Sport

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

As well as adjusting to such developed delights as endless hot water and clean gutters, I made a pilgrimage to an actual, physical library in Glebe where I had ordered some books online.  Some did not pass the twenty page test but a memoir from Jacqueline Kent did, even though I knew it was verging on the guilty pleasure of hard backed gossip.  Beyond Words: A Year with Kenneth Cook is her account of her brief marriage to the author of the really wonderfully angsty novel, Wake in Fright.  In some ways, Kenneth Cook’s success with Wake in Fright was harmful to him.  After its success, he left his daytime journalist’s job to write full-time and support his wife and four young children, so he churned out a series of pulp fictions to make quick money for nappies and bread.  The long term Cook marriage dissolved, the family home was sold and Cook and his adult children bought a house divided into apartments.  This closeness surprised Kent when she met Kenneth Cook at a dinner party; she had grown up in Normanhurst in a desperately unhappy household that disintegrated as quickly as possible.

He was almost twenty years older than she was and a rambunctious hard drinker and chain smoker; even in 1985 habits that were becoming associated with dinosaurs.  She was a self-contained, independent woman, working freelance as an editor and had already published some non-fiction.  He courted her by taking her to dine at old-fashioned restaurants, then when she accepted his wooing, revealed he was an undischarged bankrupt and, to her relief, they stopped dining in stuffy, pompous places and went on long walks instead.  Their love was based on a passion for language and a devotion to reading, to long conversations, intellectual debate and political differences.  Their past loves caused some problems.  For example, Cook’s father had callously deserted his wife and a very young Kenneth, so Cook was determined to be a different kind of parent.  He was so devoted to his four children that his young wife sometimes wondered if she came fifth in line for his love.  They married, much to the disapproval of many of their friends, and decided to drive into the bush which Cook knew and loved and was determined to persuade his young wife to love just as much.  However, their journey and their marriage ended tragically in Narromine where his decades of hard drinking and constant smoking felled him.  It is an indication of their love for him, that both Cook’s wives behaved impeccably at his funeral.  Kent was quite upset by the way his estate was distributed but returned to editing and later found another great love.

I think the purpose of this book is to disclose what kind of person Kenneth Cook was, how he wrote his greatest book and to make us aware of his other works.  It is also about a couple who lived by their mantra, “against the world”, in all aspects of their lives - how that slogan brought them happiness.

Reviews by MS SUZANNE O’CONNOR

Planning for the Spring Fair is well underway after last Tuesday night’s meeting.  For more information on all things Spring Fair, please contact Katherine on

0400 583 677 or at kgray_kudoss@hotmail.com.