Bulletin

REMINDERS AND UPCOMING EVENTS:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Saturday 07 September - 5.00pm to 7.00pm  BOARDER PARENTS' COCKTAIL PARTY

RSVP TO:   TRYBOOKING.COM/546623

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday 08 September:   SVC SPRING FAIR   10.00am-3.00pm - All Welcome!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Monday 09 September - CREATE DESIGN PERFORM  (flyer in this issue)

Please Note:  Unfortunately, there will not be HSC music on Monday due to a HSC Music exam that day, which now clashes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 17 September - MOVIE NIGHT - "Ride Like A Girl"

Tickets:  $16.00 - at the Ritz Cinema, 45 St Pauls Street, Randwick  (All proceeds to the Elisabeth Carey Scholarship).  

BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday 19 September:  Last day of classes - Year 12.

Friday 20 September:  Year 12 Last Day.

Saturday 21 September:  Boarders’ In-Weekend (Friday 20 Sep; Saturday 21 Sep; Sunday 22 Sep).

• Sport - Finals
• 4:00pm-6:00pm: Class of 2014 - Five Year Reunion (contact the Advancement Office). 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SVC UNIFORM SHOP 

Orders 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  

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Parents and Carers

This morning, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP presented Clare McGrath with an Excellence Award.  Clare is a Boarding student at the College and her home is at The Rock.  On behalf of her home parish in the Riverina and the faith community of St Vincent's College, her award recognises how Clare practises her Catholic faith as a 21st Century young woman.  Clare is a remarkable young woman of faith, and St Vincent's College is and will always be very proud of her.  We look forward to seeing Clare's leadership within the Church and community.  (please see a photo above at the Ceremony and two more following my article)

This afternoon there has been great anticipation building around the Spring Fair on Sunday.  I hope that you have had this date circled in your diary for months and you are ready to come and enjoy the festivities and the entertainment.

The entertainment provided by the students is one of the annual highlights of the Fair.  We always get great feedback from those at the Fair, but perhaps feedback of a slightly different tone from the neighbours!  This year, even the hardest to please of our neighbours will enjoy the show.  I confidently base my predictions on what I saw and heard at the Music Night on Tuesday, and a little bit of bias!  Come along and you be the judge, but I think you will leave knowing that Vinnies' girls are talented, confident and creative musicians.

As we anticipate a wonderful day on Sunday, I thank and congratulate everyone who has been behind the scenes cooking, growing, making, baking, sorting and donating.  This year we have a new team working in Advancement - Mr David Osborne, Mrs Jane Palin, Mrs Cherie Tucker and Ms Margarita Buazon.  I wish them all the very best for their first Fair and I thank our hardworking P&F team, stall facilitators and parent and student volunteers.  I look forward to seeing you all there.

Next week we will announce our new student leadership team for 2020.  I would like to acknowledge the over 40 girls from the graduating class of 2020 who have put themselves forward for consideration for leadership roles.  I understand the anticipation and nervousness they are feeling and I acknowledge that each of the nominees has much to offer the College.  It was a privilege to hear many of their speeches, to be in conversation with them about their aspirations and to read their applications.  The discernment continues, but what is very obvious is that the students will have great leaders, mentors and role models to inspire them next year.  The incurring leaders will build on the wonderful work of our current leaders and those before them.

As I look at the remaining three weeks of Term 3, there is much to anticipate with great pride and confidence that our graduands of 2019 will leave well prepared for life beyond St Vincent's College, and that the next graduating class is ready to step up into their new responsibilities.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Anne Fry
Principal

Above: Clare with her parents Mary and Malcolm, her sister Loretta and Cecilia Mooney who read the Year 12 Citation

The Sisters of Charity invite their benefactors and donors to a mass on Saturday 19 October at St Joseph's Church, Edgecliff at 10.30am.  The Sisters have a long and cherished tradition of praying for all who have supported their ministries.  You are warmly welcome to attend this mass.

Mrs Anne Fry
Principal

Sacramentality

This week we hosted our second Staff Charism Afternoon which provides staff with an opportunity to be still and delve into some of the spirituality and teachings that make St Vincent’s what it is.  In Charism 1 we unpack the story of Mary Aikenhead and how she used elements of Ignatian spirituality to find meaning and purpose in her life.  Here’s something that we shared which was written for the Mary Aikenhead Ministries Conference in 2014 by a team of Mission leaders:

Mary Aikenhead's spiritual life was deeply nourished and informed by Ignatian spirituality, a spirituality of a belief in the capacity to "find God in all things".  In this sense, God can be discovered in all natural and human events and phenomenons, in history as a whole, and most especially in and through the lived experience of each individual person.  Edward Schillebeeckx, a Sacramental theologian, speaks of any encounter with God as being sacramental - God in the everyday, in nature, in community, in our interactions and in our service to others.  So if we can develop a practice of and a capacity to "see God in all things - aware of God's presence and action in the present moment” then truly every moment is an opportunity to encounter the sacred! 

This sense of the sacred was profoundly felt when Gemma Vinciguerra, Isabella Chenu and Tara Owens invited their friends to their First Reconciliation which we celebrated on Wednesday lunch in the College Chapel.  As the photo shows, the students were delighted to spend some time with Fr Michael Stoney, reflecting on their strengths and moments of weakness before sharing an act of contrition and the great gift of forgiveness. 

On Tuesday, the same students will make their First Holy Communion with their whole Year Group in the Year 7 Mass.  Parents are most welcome to join us, please be here at 1.00pm for a 1:15pm start. 

Whilst the celebration of these Sacraments bring me and many others much peace and joy, the need not only happen in our Chapels and Cathedrals. Sacramentality can happen in the day to day encounter with each other.  We are invited to open our ears, eyes, hearts and our imagination to the profound sacramental encounters where we can bring the awareness of our whole being to God with us in all things, present in this moment.

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

Last week Marnie Gomes shared the reflection during our annual Father's Day Liturgy with her father, Victor.  The insightful and tender recounting of what it means to be both a father and a daughter.  A week after your own remembering and celebrating of Fathers’ Day, I invite you to spend some time reading the reflection below

From Victor:  What’s the significance of Father’s Day to me?

Well, it’s not just about the socks or the block of Cadbury chocolate (that one day mysteriously disappears well before I’ve had a chance to finish it) or about the wonderful personalised Father’s Day card that my daughter prepares for me.  No, Father’s Day is much more than these simple transitory pleasures.  It’s about being reminded of the overflowing love, gifts and privileges that are the essence of fatherhood.

• The privilege to see that precious and beautiful little thing for the first time on her first day...yet at the same time being completely and utterly daunted  by the weight of lifelong responsibility that is fatherhood.

• The privilege of being greeted with that unbridled joy and excited hugs and kisses from my baby daughter when arriving home from work.  More than makes up for the chronic sleep deprivation, rushed trips to the emergency department (usually in the middle of the night) etc...(I think you get the picture)...

• The privilege of having a hand in helping guide and teach her about growing up, about being the best person she can be....especially one with a kind, empathetic and compassionate heart for those less fortunate.

• The privilege of being by her side in both the good times and those less good.

• The privilege of helping, guiding and supporting her in whatever and wherever she needs it, whether that be chasing her then dream of becoming a famous actress (remember that NIDA acting course in Year 7?!) or providing an unbiased opinion on the first few chapters of her yet to be published (or even finished) grand novel....still waiting for the next chapter sweetheart!

Although we don’t always see eye to eye, I can at times see some of me in her.  Thankfully she has her Mother’s looks, but I do recognise and appreciate her qualities of persistence and perseverance when setting her mind to something.  Unfortunately, I also recognise some of my stubbornness and inflexibility.  When she has made her mind up on something she won’t easily countenance any alternate opinions.  As most Fathers well know, our daughters are rarely unafraid to remind us about how little we really know.  Yes, I truly am so fortunate and proud to be her father.  Father’s Day reminds me that fatherhood is so very much worth celebrating, for all the love, joy and privileges that have come my way so far and for that which is yet to come.  Most of all, as a Father I am thankful for my daughter’s strong Christian faith and pray that she will live her life trusting in Jesus as her saviour.  Indeed, Jesus is the one who provides us all with a clear life pathway in these very challenging and uncertain times.

From Marnie:  What does Dad mean to me?

When I think of how much of a role my dad plays in my life, it goes beyond the three letter word ‘Dad’.  Because my Dad is a tutor, cook, driving instructor, hot tea maker, wifi fixer and printing panic calmer.  Despite never even giving me the slightest chance to win in Cluedo, he always does his absolute best to make my life the absolute best.  Father’s Day is a day to appreciate everything your Father does for you and all he has sacrificed for your benefit.  But don’t you think Father’s Day should be every day?  Every day we should thank our Dads for even the simplest of actions that show his love for you.  The greatest thing that my Dad has taught me is that no matter how hard you work in life, nothing matters if you don’t have time to love others.  My dad reminds me a lot of our Heavenly Father - God.  Psalm 103 says “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him".  The example my Dad has put forward and the example God demonstrates in his great love for his own children, has encouraged me to move forward in life with faith and hope for all that I can be and do.  Although there will be challenges, especially beyond high school, I know that the love and support my Dad and God continuously gives me will provide me with strength.  In times of failures, crushed aspirations, hopelessness, fear and confusion, our Dads lift us up and keep us going.  And that need is a day to celebrate.

Final blessing from the Father's Day liturgy put together by Mrs Kenderes and Elizabeth Tax (Charism Captain).

Loving God, thank you for the love of my father and the men who nurture me.
Bless him.
Give him patience to listen to me when I find it hard to talk.
Give him gentles in dealing with me when I am rowdy,
Give him wisdom so that he knows just what to say even when I find it hard to listen.
Give him a generous heart even when I am selfish.
Give him strength when I need a firm hand.
Give him a sense of humour in difficult times.
Surround him with people who love and respect him.
Help me to see you love at work in him. Help me to love as he loves.
We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

God bless all fathers and father-like-figures in our lives.

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

Congratulations to all those who participated in the Oratory Competition from Years 7-10 and with thanks to the organisational skills of Ms Thomas. Students were asked to speak persuasively and creatively on a variety of topics relevant to their English studies.  The oratory competition is a long-standing tradition here at SVC and the speaking is of a very high calibre.  Public speaking is an invaluable skill for life! 

Congratulations to the following students:

Year 7 Finalists:  Polly Sewell, Amelia Haynes, Lily Rose Burnell, Amber Murtas, Kate Giannikouris, Ava Jauncey, Cate McGregor, Indie Whitford, Bianca Feros, Clara Kelleher, Annika Wende-Dunstan, Apanie Pow.

Year 8 Finalists:  Ana Toko, Sienna Fernandez, Ruby Cullinan, Monique Savio, Alexandra Manuel, Summer Robinson, Lucy Fraser, Aylyza Damian, Kate Johnson, Evangelina Melville.

Year 9 Finalists:  Millie Fisher, Elyssa Chaaya, Sofia Dermody, Eaven Ramberg,Ella Humphreys, Georgia Gallagher, Bonnie Joseph, Scarlett Antico.

Year 10 Finalists:  Keeley Jans, Elsa Farquarson, Millie Mcpherson, Georgie O’Donnell, Ellie Singleton, Georgia Jones, Zoe Fitzgerald, Rosie Marden, Riki Wells.

Congratulations to our Year 12 English Extension 2 students who have handed in their HSC Major Works, thus completing the course.  Millicent Lembke and Emma Collins have submitted short stories and Sophia Fitzgerald has submitted a drama script.  The students have worked extremely hard, over many months, to complete original and polished products. 

Sophia’s drama, ‘Witness Marks’, staged in a swimming pool and requiring audience interaction through their smartphones, represents the fluid nature of memory. 

Millie’s Wintonesque narrative, ‘Winsome’, set in a homeless men’s hostel in Lismore, evokes the whole spectrum of emotions hidden behind the sad faces of the precariat class. 

Emma’s narrative, ‘Here, There and Inbetween’, explores the way in which our bodies carry so many markers of our racial identity and the impact of the visibility of these markers on our sense of self. 

What the English Department has been reading/viewing/listening to …

Ms Monica Jarman
Head of English Department

Language Competition Results

Congratulations to all who participated in the Education Perfect World Language competition.  We performed very well as a College and overall 59 students will be receiving certificates.  A special mention must go to Carla Rizzi-Kelly and Alexandra Manuel, who both achieved the Emerald Award earning over 5000 points over the week of the competition; and Cleo Heywood, Monique Plint, Olivia Larven and Amelia Papworth, who all achieved a Gold Award earning over 3000 points.  A full list of Award recipients is included below.  Thank you to those who sponsored our Year 8 students as the competition was part of their social justice initiative for “Spell for St Jude’s”.

St Vincent’s overall rankings:

• 101^st globally out of 1644 schools
• 74^th overall in Australia out of 1178 schools
• 24^th overall in New South Wales
• 16^th overall in Italian out of 933 schools (registered for Italian)
• 86^th overall in French out of 1237 schools (registered for Italian).

HSC ORAL EXAMS

The HSC Language Oral exams still continue and this Saturday we would like to express our best wishes to Momo Hudson-Barton completing her Spanish Beginners exam and Eve Cogan completing her Modern Greek Beginners exam.  They have shown a wonderful commitment studying a Language in their senior years of high school, adding to the select students in NSW who leave school with valuable skills having studied a second Language.

Ms Maria Manitta
Head of Languages

Monday 09 September  4.30pm-7.30pm

Astronomy Open Night 

Participants can discover the night sky by joining Macquarie University for their Astronomy Open Night on Saturday 7 September from 6.30pm for a night of astronomy and physics, including the chance to view stars and planets through up to 30 telescopes.  For more information and tickets go here

TAFE NSW Parent/Caregiver Resource Guide

Use this link to access a guide for information about what TAFE NSW offers it students.

Join the YWCA Young Women's Council

Join YWCA Australia’s Young Women’s Council and contribute to national feminist policy and advocacy, as well as member engagement and strategy for a national gender equality organisation.  Membership of the Young Women’s Council offers opportunities to gain new skills and networks and be a part of a global movement of young women and girls.  As part of the Council you’ll collaborate for a period of two years with seventeen other young women and girls aged between 12 and 30 from all around Australia.  Apply today to be on the Young Women's Council here.  For more information go here or email Sarah Hill at sarah.hill@ymca.org.au .

Holiday Workshops

Australian Film Television and Radio School

AFTRS has a range of courses available during the October holidays for more information go here.  All AFTRS workshops are taught by industry professionals using industry standard equipment, and where appropriate, are held in AFTRS’ state-of-the-art film, television and radio studios. 

Masterclass for Master of Education (Taronga Conservation Education) 

The University of Sydney will hold a masterclass, delivered onsite at Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo on Tuesday 8 October 2019 from 6:00pm-8:00pm, to give interested students an opportunity to taste test the curriculum of the new USydney Masters program.  Register here this is a free event.

Career Snapshot

Podiatry 

The feet are often overlooked when people consider their health.  To find out what podiatrists do please access the following link.

Ms Helen Marshall
Careers Adviser

Tournament of Minds

On Saturday two St Vincent’s College teams competed in Tournament of Minds.  This competition offered students the opportunity to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence and teamwork.  St Vincent’s students competed in two disciplines - STEM and social sciences.

The teams had been preparing at lunchtimes and after school on the prepared challenge, and on the event day they needed to devise a response to a spontaneous challenge where their ability to think creatively and as a team in a strict timeframe was judged.

The STEM challenge:  Calliope’s Carousel Conundrum

The team worked on building a CCC - Calliope Collection Carousel machine.  They need to build a working model of the CCC machine which would carry selected endangered species through a DNA collection point, demonstrating at least three complete full circuits or rotations.  The carousel was required to carry at least five different endangered species simultaneously.  Teams needed to justify the reasons for choosing the endangered species and why their DNA must be collected, based on plausible scientific research.  The team also needed to create an ICT virtual model demonstrating how this machine could collect and store the DNA for safe keeping. 

The Social Sciences Challenge:  A Legacy of Inclusion

An international event with a focus on global inclusion, scheduled to take place in the near future, was at the heart of this challenge.  For a variety of reasons not all countries are supporting the event.  The International Organising committee is a great advocate of the event and desires to increase participation rates.  This team had to choose a country (real or imagined) and outline the reasons behind their non-participation in the chosen event.  They needed to develop both an awareness raising campaign for inclusion and leave a lasting legacy in that country for the future of a policy of inclusion.

A special thank you to Ms Monica Jarman for her support on the day of the tournament supervising and caring for our SVC teams, and Shakar Merrillees-Steel and Domenica Mitchell from Year 11, for their peer mentoring of the groups.

Reflections from some of the team members:

On Saturday 31 August two teams competed in the competition Tournament of the Minds.  It was a really fun experience and we were glad all our hard work over the past few weeks paid off in our performance.  Hopefully we’ll do it again next year!  Maggie Eissenhauer, Year 7

Social Sciences went pretty well - especially for our first time presenting! Our spontaneous challenge was good and we were all pretty happy with how we performed. Amber Murtas, Year 7

In the Tournament of the Minds on Saturday, our group Social Sciences had a great time performing our song and play about Greece’s debt and its alternative energy options.  It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it.  Nina O’Loghlin, Year 8

We had lots of fun. It was quite stressful but overall we were happy afterwards.  We spent a lot of time working on things and were amazed at what we were able to achieve.  Marnie Kenderes, Year 8

Overall, I think we did really well!  In the spontaneous challenge everyone worked as a team and we were able to show creative solutions.  In the prepared challenge everyone was very confident, and we managed to get it all together and explain our STEM project work clearly to the judges.  Amelia Vasiliou, Year 10

We had a lot of fun and it was great to work in a team.  Hannah Singh, Year 7.

Student in Focus

Earlier this month, Ellie Singleton, Year 10, participated in the Australian Poetry Slam competition and was awarded second place for her performance of her poem, GUNSHOT.  Ellie now moves through to the regional finals at the Sydney Festival on 18 October.  Bringing rap performances, stories, monologues and poems to the stage, each performer has just two minutes to wow the crowd.  No props, no music - just the performer, a microphone and the spotlight.

Gunshot:

Bang
A single gunshot breaks through the silence
Acting on hatred and bias
Acting on stereotypes
Blasting through people’s lives
Choosing who will live and die
Is this justice?
Is this okay?
A process we must prolong
A never-ending bloody song
Because it hasn’t made a change
Death does not make a change
People of all walkings die
Children, family, left to cry
Is this fine?
Walking this fragile line
Between murder and protection
Pro-guns wins you the election
And what for?
For this never-ending war
That only exists because we fear change
People fear change
People fear the unknown
New ideas are overthrown
Because people fear moving on
And fear makes people dangerous
Hold on tightly to your gun
Look on TV, watch them run
Do you care?
Do you see all this as fair?
People are dying
Children are dying
And still nothing changes
People are standing, saying no
But changing minds are yet to show
Because we stay stuck
Stuck in our ways
Stuck in a deadly trigger-happy phase
Stuck in a world where death is okay
Stuck in a society where there is no way to stop this
Isn’t it time we put down our weapons
Moved off in a better direction
Towards peace?
Towards life?
Towards a future where hope is rife
Where gun death is a thing of the past
Hate and stereotypes do not last
Where we are truly free
A future deserving of you and me?

Avid Readers Book Club

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”.  This first line has become one of the most famous in English literature.  In addition to setting the narrative in motion, how does this line alert us to the tone of the novel and our role as readers in appreciating it?  What does this imply about women?

These are just a few of the questions explored in the Avid Readers Book Club.  This term, a group of Year 7 and Year 8 students have come together each Tuesday morning before school to read, discuss and analyse Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.  Two Year 11 students, Matilda Roddy and Niamh O’Sullivan act as leaders and mentors of the group guiding discussion and analysis.

Reflections From Avid Reader Book Club Members

Imagine being one of the most eligible bachelors at a ball but having an absolutely sour personality that makes all young women flee from you.  Mr Darcy, one of the two main characters in Pride and Prejudice, has exactly this twist of fate.  He’s a young man, incredibly rich and very handsome but lacks what Elizabeth Bennet finds is the most important quality in a man - a common love and good personality.  Over time, Darcy has fallen more and more in love with Elizabeth, but unfortunately, she seems to be oblivious to his affections.  Will Mr Darcy and Ms Bennet ever fall in love or will both their headstrong and prejudiced personalities get in the way?   Eliza Doyle, Year 7

Pride and Prejudice is unlike any book I have read before.  Set and written in the 1800's, it is full of words, phrases and situations that are unfamiliar today. Despite this, the themes of class, family, love and of course pride and prejudice, are powerful and make you think.  This book also contains more than enough humour to balance out the significant and intense moments.  Elizabeth Bennet is the main character and has a powerful personality.  She is forward thinking and has beliefs about marriage and women that contrast the standards of the time.  I am really enjoying reading it and find it really interesting.  Stella Trevaskis, Year 8

I am enjoying reading Pride and Prejudice as it gives me an insight on the late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds. It has already displaced the theme of marriage and why it is so important to marry - this started with its very famous first line, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife'​.  This has also been shown with the Bennet family, and how Mrs Bennet wants her daughters to marry, especially people with a bit of money.  Also, because when the father died they would have no place to go, because of the laws back then.  Overall, it shows the many differences and how far our society has come to be like it is today.  Also, there are a few similarities as well.  Madison Gosbell, Year 8

Pride and Prejudice is a must read for everyone.  It is a story of love, marriage, friendship, struggle and of course pride and prejudice.  Even though it was written in the 1800's it is still entertaining for young readers.  It is not only a love story but is packed with jokes that are extremely funny.  Pride and Prejudice’s humour is found in its depiction of education, marriage, money and the ways in which some of the characters appear.  The story focuses on a woman, Elizabeth, who along with her other sisters and almost every other woman at that point in time, is looking for a husband.  I feel so privileged to have received this opportunity to be in this book club as I believe that it is an amazing opportunity, and that reading this book will positively influence me in my future education.  Freja Raaijmakers, Year 8

Pride and Prejudice is a novel set and written in the 1800's by Jane Austen.  The plot is of young woman, Elizabeth Bennet, and her older sister, Jane Bennet, and their pursuit for marriage.  Elizabeth is a strong willed, courageous woman who believes that couples should marry for love, not money or a higher class and is sure in what she believes in.  Through many ups and downs, proposals and breakups, this book is a great read for all and is likely to be re-read many times.  Tess McGrath, Year 8

I love Avid Readers Book Club because it’s a great way to explore exciting literature.  It is so rewarding to be able to share ideas and thoughts about complex themes and issues that are relevant even today, especially with others who also like doing this.  Amelia Papworth, Year 8

Ms Donna Ginzburg
Gifted and Talended Co-Ordinator

SPORT STAFF CONTACTS FOR TERM 3 2019

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

Ms Laura Wiggins:      0418 329 929 - Hockey
Ms Vanessa Brown:    0404 777 518 - 5-a-side Football
Ms Jacinta Jacobs:     0418 416 663 - Athletics
Ms Molly Macqueen:   0448 882 121 - Netball.

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

For all draw and venue information visit the College website. 

IGSSA NETBALL

We are at our final week of rounds for netball 2019.  I can't believe this season has gone by so quickly!  A big congratulations to all 24 teams who have worked incredibly hard this season.  Each training session, new skills and tactics are learnt to strengthen our weekend games.  Unfortunately, due to the rain last weekend, a few teams missed their matches.  Nevertheless, this weekend we can play our hardest to secure a position in semi finals.  SVC netball currently has 15 teams in the top four positions on the ladder.  This is an important weekend to secure and keep our spot in those positions to play in the semis.  If your team is successful, please keep up to date with the website, administration notices and Garcia noticeboard to find out when and where you are playing your semi final match next week.  See our standings below.

SENIORS                                           

SVC 1 - 6th

SVC 2 - 6th

SVC 3 - 5th

SVC 4 - 4th

SVC 5 - 3rd

SVC 6 - 6th

SVC 7 - 8th

SVC 8 - 3rd

SVC 9 - 7th

JUNIORS

SVC 10 - 7th

SVC 11 - 3rd

SVC 12 - 4th

SVC 13 - 1st

SVC 14 - 2nd

SVC 15 - 4th

SVC 16 - 2nd

SVC 17 - 2nd

SVC 18 - 5th

YEAR 7

SVC 19 - 4th

SVC 20 - 1st

SVC 21 - 3rd

SVC 22 - 1st

SVC 23 - 1st

SVC 24 - 6th

You can check the pointscore table on the AHIGS website under Netball  https://www.ahigs.nsw.edu.au/IGSSA-Sport/Netball

SVC NETBALL PAGE http://www.stvincents.nsw.edu.au/ learning/sport/netball/

Hockey

Term 3 hockey saw an increase in skill and fitness within both of our teams.  The girls came to training sessions ready to learn and improve which was shown through improvements as a team on the field during games.  Unfortunately, it looks like both teams will not make finals, with SVC 1 currently 6th and SVC 2 currently 5th.  All of the coaches were impressed with the effort of both teams and hope that it can continue next year. 

5-A-Side-Football

Good luck to all SVC teams in their final games of five a side this week.  Special mention to SVC 2 who have already won their competition, although another win this weekend will keep them undefeated.  SVC 1 is playing a must win game against St Catherine’s to seal first place in division 1 for the second year in a row - we wish them luck.  SVC 6 is also in the running to secure first place in their division with a win this weekend.  

SVC 1-5  Will play seven rounds determined by a first past the post ruling.

SVC 6-8  Finals this week.

Please note: All teams will have a game in the seventh round.  The current draw and results tables can be found via the following link:

https://scheduler.leaguelobster.com/586447/5-a-side-football/term-3-2019/

Above:  SVC 2       Below: Year 12

TERM 4 SPORT TRIALS

Trials are for all girls who registered to play IGSSA water polo, touch football, Santa Sabina basketball, Santa Sabina volleyball or indoor football (futsal) and will be held over the next few weeks.  Please email Ms Jacobs if you cannot attend for any reason.

BASKETBALL: On College courts - before or after school

Juniors (Years 7, 8 and 9):  Thursday 19 September - 3.15pm-4.15pm

Seniors (Years 10 and 11 and 12 and invited juniors):  Monday 16 September - 3.15pm-4.15pm.

• PLEASE WEAR BASKETBALL SINGLET IF YOU HAVE ONE OR PE UNIFORM.

VOLLEYBALL:  On College courts - before school or lunchtime.

Juniors (Years 7, 8 and 9):  Monday 16 September - 7.25am-8.25am

Seniors (Years 10, 11 and 12 and invited juniors):  Thursday 19 September -7.25am-8.25am.

• PLEASE WEAR PE UNIFORM TO TRIALS.

FUTSAL:  On College courts - lunchtimes (please wear sports shoes to the Trials).

Year 7 and Juniors (Years 7, 8 and 9):  Tuesday 10 September - lunchtime - 12.40pm-1.10pm.

Seniors (Years 10, 11 and 12 and invited juniors):  Wednesday 11 September - lunchtime - 12.45pm-1.15pm.

• IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND YOUR PARTICULAR TRIAL, YOU MUST BRING A NOTE IN TO SPORT STAFF OTHERWISE YOU WILL NOT BE PLACED IN A TEAM.

TILDESLEY TENNIS TRIALS

Any tennis players interested in trialing for this prestigious two day tournament played at Pennant Hills in March next year, are to come to the trials on Tuesday 24 September and Wednesday 25 September - on the College tennis courts - 3.15pm-4.45pm.  A squad of singles and doubles players will be chosen to prepare for the tournament.  Please contact Ms Jacobs if you have any questions.

IGSSA ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

The IGSSA Carnival was held at Homebush Athletics Stadium on Thursday 29 August.  Our team did extremely well, particularly our junior team.  We made ten finals and came second in our division.  We finished 15^th out of the total 28 IGSSA Schools.  Well done team!

Congratulations to our finalists:

Lara Roets:  14 years 90m hurdles 3rd.  100m 4th; 200m 5th and junior relay 7th.

Madeleine Chubb:  Intermediate discus - 1st.

Imogen Gill:  15 years long jump - 2nd.

Ruby Waterlow-Heuston with Iyla Maguire assisting:  2nd 100m AWD.

Aisha Marten-Coney:  14 years shot putt.

Isabella Mackay:  14 years long jump and junior relay.

Laura Rapisardi:  Junior relay.

Anika  Gamertsfelder:  Junior relay.

Matilda Pedersen:  Senior discus.

TERM 4 SWIMMING SQUADS

GREAT NEWS - Jesse Clare from Bondiswimcoach is back at Vinnies pool next term, to continue our wonderful swim squads through Term 4 (2019) and Term 1 (2020).  Please see below all the details on days, times, prices and how to book:

Term 4 2019 (8 weeks) 15 October - 6 December.

Monday  7:00am-8:00am (Changed from Tuesdays).

Wednesday  7:00am-8:00am

Thursday  7:00am-8:00am

Friday  7:00am-8:00am

Price per term:

$200.00 = 1 session per week.

$300.00 = Unlimited sessions per week.

TO BOOK:

1.  Visit www.bondiswimcoach.com and sign up as a member. 

2.  Purchase either of the VINNIES Membership Plans.

3.  You will then be sent an email asking you to select your day/days and to complete the Enrolment Form which is attached in the email. 

SPORT STARS OF THE WEEK

Congratulations to Lara Roets, Ruby Waterlow-Heuston with Iyla Maguire assisting, Imogen Gill, Matilda Pedersen and Madeleine Chubb, who have all been selected to represent IGSSA at the NSWCIS Athletics Carnival at Homebush on Tuesday 24 September.  Good luck girls!

Above:  Lara Roets - hurdles

above:   Iyla Maguire - high jump

above:   Junior relay

above:  Team photo

Congratulations to Chloe Cooke, Year 8, for her recent cycling success.  Chloe’s team picked up a silver medal in the NSW Championship U15 Team Time Trial.  Well done, Chloe!

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

Ms Jacinta Jacobs
Co-ordinator of Sport

(Our Book Reviewer - Ms Suzanne O'Connor, after a brief holiday at home has returned to volunteering with the Loreto Sisters in Timor Leste)

THE QUALITY OF YOUNG ADULT FICTION

(Part One)

In Timor Leste at the moment, there are many moments of quiet sadness:  On 30 August, we celebrated the referendum that empowered the people of East Timor to vote for independence.  However, when the results were announced that over 78% of the people voted in favour of freedom, the occupying Indonesian Army and the militia which was funded by the Army, unleashed a fury of vengeance.  Black smoke hung over Dili as every building was burned to the ground; on the other coast in the town of Suai, a cathedral was burned.  It contained the bodies of many East Timorese who had been shot for trying to save their cathedral.  Every single school in the country had its roof removed, allowing the rains of the wet season to destroy all supplies, furniture and equipment.  On 20 September, we will remember the arrival of UN forces who set about restoring some order to the devastated country which still grieves for 1500 murdered and the enforced migration to Indonesia of 50,000 Timorese.

I have been reading a great deal about this time, as well as speaking to people who were eyewitnesses.  To escape the sadness, I turned to two Young Adult novels about exile and adjustment.

When Terry Farish was a very innocent nineteen year old girl in the 1970’s, she volunteered to go to Vietnam to provide support for American troops.  She was working for the Red Cross and had gone to Vietnam with naive ideas about the reasons for her country’s involvement.  The longer she was there, the more she realised that the situation was much more complex than she had ever imagined and that it was coloured various shades of grey.  That experience has influenced her writing life, evident in her novel about South Sudan, The Good Braider.  Viola is a young girl who remembers life before the horrific civil war.  Her good memories are of her grandmother’s songs about elephants and the mother’s skill in braiding the hair not only of her daughter but also of all the women in the neighbourhood.  The present is grim because civil war has destroyed that happiness.  Now she, her mother and young brother live in fear all the time.  The book opens with an act of random brutality:  A young boy who tries to protect Viola from a soldier, is shot by that soldier.  Once the soldier has also exacted revenge on Viola, leaving with a sneering comment, “Now you belong to me”.  The family leaves for a dreadful refugee camp and finally walk to Cairo where they find some sort of protection amongst a community of other South Sudanese.  The unbelievable happens and they are accepted as refugees by America, but by now Viola’s younger brother has died.  Mother and daughter settle in Maine and Viola fulfils her dream of access to education which she joyfully absorbs.  Her mother finds a job in a chicken processing factory but they both find it incredibly difficult to adjust to the new culture.  Viola meets a gentle boy but he is not from her people so she is forbidden to mix with him.  When she disobeys, her mother physically punishes her in a way that is acceptable in their country but which is severely punished by American law.  Viola’s mixed loyalties to her mother and respect for their traditions is in deep conflict with her new world, her teachers and even the elders of their community who rule that the people must accept and adjust to American ways.

Terry Farish writes with knowledge and great compassion about the experience of being expelled from your country of birth, of the awful vulnerability of being a female refugee and the exhausting process of getting to understand a new country and perhaps finding eventual acceptance.  An even more devastating realisation is that this novel was published in 2012 when it appeared as if the civil war had finished.  Tragically, the conflict has started again and is even more brutal than before.  It may seem that there would therefore be little comfort in reading this book.  However, a new heroine of mine is an Irish Loreto nun, Sister Orla Treacy, who opened a school for girls in South Sudan and has steadfastly refused to leave, despite pleas from her government.  She believes she may be able to protect her beloved students.  While there is evil, there is also the shining goodness of such people.

Part Two next time...

By MS SUZANNE O’CONNOR

Cakes Drop Off

Our Cake Stall at the Spring Fair is one of our most popular stalls.  Please note if you are planning on delivering cakes to Fair, there is a drop off on Saturday morning (Rockwall Gates 9.00am-10.00am) and then all day Sunday - straight to the Cake Stall.

Thank you, and happy baking!

Plant Stall

Any green thumbs who would still like to deliver plants for the Spring Fair, Pleas note there will be a drop off on Saturday morning (Rockwall Gates 9.00am-10.00am) and then all day Sunday- straight to the Plant Stall.

Thank you.