Bulletin

REMINDERS AND UPCOMING EVENTS:

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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). 

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Monday 23 September:  Graduation Mass - St Mary's Cathedral - from 2.30pm to 4.00pm.

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Wednesday 25 September:  Year 12 Formal, Doltone House Ballroom, Hyde Park  - 6.30pm.

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Friday 27 September:  Last day of class for Term 3.

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Monday 14 October:  Boarding House opens from 4.00pm.

Tuesday 15 October:  Term 4 classes begin.  Full summer College uniform to be worn.

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Tuesday 15 October:  Year 12/2020 - Information evening - 6.00pm-7.30pm.

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Thursday 17 October:  HSC Examinations begin

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 SVC UNIFORM SHOP 

** See the flyer in this issue from the Uniform Shop with school holiday trading days.

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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  

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Dear Parents and Carers

Today we said goodbye to our graduating class of 2019.

ROLL OF HONOUR 

and remembering in our prayers, Elisabeth Carey.

Our Valete festivities continue over the weekend and into next week.  We will have had plenty of opportunity to bless them on their way.  They exhibited today good humour, good grace and good will.  They will be very missed by their teachers, Tutor Groups and Houses.

Yours sincerely 

Mrs Anne Fry
Principal

Today young and old around the globe stopped their normal routine to be as one in their commitment to policies and practices that reverence the earth.  Many of our students and staff participated in learning activities during Periods 5 and 6, while other students participated in the climate strike with their parents permission.

For your reflection I include a message from Pope Francis that he issued this month regarding the care of creation. 

Mrs Anne Fry
Principal

The College community offers its condolences to the following who has lost a loved one recently:

 Ms Sue Thomas (staff) Mother.

Farewell Year 12 …

It was a stark contrast between my beginning and rest of the day - arriving early to walk through the quiet stillness of the grounds, knowing just how much noise and celebration was to follow.  The College community was brightened today as we enjoyed our relationship with our Year 12 students - each individual and as a collective.  The ‘Rockwall Rockers’ were true to form as they took stage for their ‘Year 12 Farewell Assembly’ providing a fond farewell full of humour, talent, creativity and sentiment.  This was followed by the particular goodbyes within House and Tutor - taking the tie to bid farewell to the big sisters and mentees that their peers and Tutors with Heads of House have nurtured and admired over these six years.  Our Guard of Honour ended in true Vinnies spirit with the obligatory Rave in the Pave before final dismissal tinged with laughter and tears.

Year 12 students certainly ended in good relationship, farewelling their peers and staff with mutual affection and appreciation.  We thank each Year 12 student for blessing our community with her particular gifts over the years she has been with us.  We hope that there will be many an occasion in the future that we are again blessed as we look forward to hearing about her impact in the world that awaits.  Such days are not just about Year 12, but are aspirational to all younger students and a source of affirmation for staff and parents.  We look forward to having the Year 12 students’ families join us in celebration on Monday’s Graduation ceremonies.  It is indeed a whole community celebration as we acknowledge the achievement that each of these students and their families deserve.  All students Years 7-12 are expected to be in immaculate uniform.  Please ensure students are equipped as instructed by the letter previously sent regarding this day.

I would like to make particular mention of our Year 11 students in whom we have great confidence in picking up the baton from Year 12 and leading us into a new leadership year of 2019-2020.  The entire cohort has engaged in reflection of leadership as a process of collective relationships that empower collective action.  The values that underpin the who we are and what we do what we do are Christ-like values that bring both compassion and courage to this leadership of service with and for others.  I acknowledge the growth of this Year Group and affirm their celebration of the diverse gifts that unify them. We look forward to the year ahead with these young women at the helm.

Today also saw the passion and conviction of student voice as advocates for justice by seeking solutions through informed action to care for the environment.  At the suggestion of a Year 11 student acknowledging our position as an educational community, teachers were invited to focus our afternoon classes on climate change, with both student and teachers providing a range of resources for environmental education.  We also saw a soap-box style platform on the Paved Area at lunchtime, providing opportunity for students to have their voice and opinions heard by their peers.

You too at home may wish to add some education to your weekend with these resources:

·        An Inconvenient Truth (2006) (Trailer: https://youtu.be/Bu6SE5TYrCM)

·        Before The Flood (2016) (Trailer: https://youtu.be/6UGsRcxaSAI) 

·        Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s inspirational zero-carbon yacht voyage sailing across the Atlantic to attend (https://time.com/5663534/climate-activist-greta-thunberg-16-arrives-in-new-york-after-sailing-across-the-atlantic/ ) 

·        Climate Change the facts David Attenborough https://clickv.ie/w/vJyl

Thank you Year 12.  We farewell you with our love.  We look forward to celebrating with our graduating families on Monday. 

Mrs Elizabeth Brooks
Deputy Principal, Pastoral Care

The ‘Class of 2019’ or as they were unofficially known on their last day of Year 12, the ‘Rockwall Rockers’, truly encapsulated what it means to be a Vinnies girl in terms of their respect, grace and camaraderie they exhibited as they bid their teachers, the support staff of the College and their peers a fond farewell.  This morning’s student-led assembly showcased the talents of this wonderful cohort, who with humour yet dignity, explored their College life in retrospect from their very first day in Year 7 until today.

I have had the privilege of leading this cohort’s academic life in the College, together with my colleagues the Heads of Department, and I was well-aware of each student’s commitment and challenge to arrive happily to today's celebration.  The Class of 2019 have impressed me enormously with their consistent efforts to stay focussed and contribute wholeheartedly to their HSC learning.  Today they joked in part of their fun song, that the ‘HSC ain’t easy’ - as an educator and teacher of Year 12, I can attest to this statement - indeed it is not.  However, their bold tenacity and courage to embrace the forthcoming HSC examinations head on, is something that I personally am so proud to witness in these fine young women.  They are striving for their HSC personal best through commitment and a disciplined mind and with that mindset they will go far.

I wish the Class of 2019 every success in their forthcoming examinations and I look forward with joyful anticipation to their Graduation on Monday as courageous women of action who epitomise:

Independence in thinking

Compassion in attitudes and

Confidence in action. 

Mrs Jasmin Mano
Director of Teaching and Learning

This week as we celebrate the courageous young women in the Class of 2019, I have taken time to stop and reflect on those who have shaped the world we live in and those whose world we are shaping for tomorrow. 

On 17 September we celebrated the feast of Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century scholar, a mystic, and a preacher.  Sr Joan Chittister, in A Monastery Almanac, captures Hildegard’s passion poetically:  She was deeply involved in the social issues of her culture and popes and kings sought her ideas and advice.  She published the only medical encyclopedias of her day and her ‘illuminations,’ or theological insights, have become as popular in this decade as in her own.  She was a woman of her time and a woman for her time.  She poured herself out all her life.  She was a truly humble woman who knew her gifts and developed them to the benefit of all of us.

Today, I spent Period 5 working with a Year 10 Religious Studies class unpacking the courage and wisdom of Greta Thunburg after we watched her TED talk of 2018and compared it to the action she committed to as she travelled recently to address the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York last month.  The wisdom of the Year 10 students as they shared their frustrations at those in power, those who are not listening and those who continue to make decisions based on money rather than the future was profound.  Each student committed to making a personal change knowing this IS what will have an impact on the climate crisis. 

Strong women of our past shape our today, and young women of our present shape our future.  My prayers and blessings for all those young women who dare to be prophets of our time.  Go well and God bless, 

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

Following is Charlotte Murray-Nobbs' last speech today as 2019 Social Justice Captain in Year 12's final Assembly:

Never did I think as a Year 7 student sitting where you are today that I would be up here delivering my final address as Social Justice Captain for 2019, and don't worry, I won't make you stand up or take off your blazers.  It has been an absolutely incredible year made possible by all the hard work of the social justice team, especially the Social Justice Advisory Council:  Rosie Marden, Chloe Conway, Marnie Gomes, Mia Rosos, Shea Donohoe, Sabrene Assad, Elysse Choy and Hannah Lawrence.  You have such creativity, enthusiasm, commitment and passion and I am honoured to have worked alongside you this year.  I would also like to thank the guidance, knowledge and creativity of the incredible Ms McLean.  Your support in helping us make change not only in our immediate community, but wider community has been wonderful.  I cannot thank you enough for all the work you do for social justice at this school.

I would like to thank all the teachers who have worked with the social justice team including Ms Parish, Mr Weaver and Ms Robson, whose creativity and passion for the environment has inspired the environment committee and I hope to see the environment committee continue to grow and blossom; Mrs McDonnell, for her hard work and dedication to Vinnies@SVC which has made each food stall a success; and finally, thank you to all of the students who make social justice at this school possible.  I hope you have both enjoyed a taken into account the endless questions "Where's your Keep Cups"? "Is that a plastic fork"? and, "That's got palm oil in it", from the social justice team.  Whilst the changes may seem insignificant, it all adds up to reducing our impact on the environment.

Finally, I would like to wish Marnie the best of luck next year as Social Justice Captain.  I know with your enthusiasm and creativity you will nail it.  I leave you with a quote from Greta Thunberg, "If you still say that we are wasting valuable lesson time, then let me remind you that our political leaders have wasted decades through denial and inaction".  You're never too young to be heard so stay loud and stay proud and keep striving for justice.

Charlotte Murray-Nobbs
Social Justice Captain 2019

HSC Bodies of Work and Major Design Projects Exhibition 2019

On Monday 9 September Design and Technology and Visual Arts students exhibited their major projects as part of the annual HSC showcase.  The exhibition was opened by the Principal, Anne Fry, with an address by Sydney artist and designer, Cathe Stack.  Both Mrs Fry and Ms Stack spoke about the increasing significance and value of students undertaking the development and realisation of extended creative projects.  Both speakers recognised the ongoing benefit of pursuing ideas and passions and the difficulties of transforming ideas into designs and artworks.  In an educational and work environment where risk, challenge and vulnerability to failure are often in conflict with conformity and standardization, the critical and creative labour of designing and artmaking are of increasing significance to young people.

Below are extracts from Cathe Stack's insightful address:

“I’d like to take this moment to congratulate the young women gathered here this evening on what they have accomplished across the departments of Dance, Design and Technology, Drama, Music and the Visual Arts, for their exhibition Create Design Perform.  TheirHSC Major Works are truly impressive both in range and depth.  I can guarantee these young women that what they have accomplished in these HSC works will live long in their minds and it is important to understand why that is significant.  Firstly, because it wasn’t easy:  This level of work requires focus, discipline and perseverance.  It demands deep thought about ideas and concepts, which then need to be honed and distilled without weakening the power of their meaning and the richness of their value.  That process alone - and it is one I am sure which involved abrupt dead ends, a few slammed doors, some banished parents and endless cups of tea - that process of distilled and refined concept - then needs to be married to the selected medium these HSC artists have chosen.  Mediums in which skills, experimentation and risks are still being developed as they go through the process and act of making.

The creative process is no walk in the park - it is vital to be engaged and feel passionate about the subject and yes, there are moments of imaginative leaps, joy in finding the exact hue of wasabi green or the perfect encapsulation of an idea in a motion shaped like a haiku.  Yet these do not on their own make accomplished works.  Rigorous thinking using both hemispheres of the brain, showing up after nothing seems to be working, ripping things up and daring to start over and most importantly self-belief - this is what brings all components of the creative act to fruition.  There is a Mantra renown in installation art - many parts make a greater whole.  Which brings me to the second reason these accomplishments are important and deserve to be noted and celebrated.  This process that brings ideas, thought plus creativity together is providing a template and a platform for which to go into your future, a post HSC life.

Education in the 21st century has begun to go through a significant, even seismic shift.  The development of the creative muscle - the ability to think laterally and critically is now highly sought after.  It requires capabilities that are flexible, adaptive, multifaceted and inter-disciplinary - all of which are mandatory qualities associated with education across the greater Arts.  The education leaders of today have been implementing these changes driven by significant workplace challenges unique to the 21st century - challenges such as artificial intelligence, a digitalised globally connected world, climate change, to mention a few…Australian universities, especially the group of eight, led by the University of Melbourne since 2006 when they overhauled their under-graduate program, are pursuing a more multidimensional model of education.  This is particularly evident in the post-graduate sector where there is high engagement with the cross disciplinary model of education.  For example, I’m an artist, a sculptor, on a full scholarship doing a PhD in the joint faculties of architecture and landscape architecture at the University of New South Wales:  As the first artist to be accepted into this PhD program I have been able to work with engineers and scientists from UNSW on how climate change is changing our coastline.  This interaction between disciplines is actively supported and encouraged by the university - it’s even becoming normalised - in my PhD cohort there are medical researchers working with video artists and architects working with psychologists to name a few.  So, as young women you have now established a very solid platform built from this creative and critical mindset that you have developed through the process of making these major HSC works.  Make no mistake - it’s a very, very valuable commodity in today’s world.  Whether its higher education or joining the workforce or starting your own business post HSC, you all now have abilities in critical thought, creative engagement, resilience, flexibility and self-belief.  These are your platform, these are your template and these are reasons for celebration”.

I would like to thank the Visual Arts and TAS teachers for their commitment in bringing these works and this celebration of our students’ achievements to fruition.  I would also like to thank parents Katrina Skinner and Alison Murphy, assisted by Mary Anne Hudson, Therese Powell and Vanessa Oaten, for the outstanding support, creative insight, commitment and hard work they bring to supporting our student exhibitions.

Mr Graeme Colman
Head of Visual Arts and Design Department 

"ACE the HSC" Seminars at UTS and Macquarie University

Designed for both students and parents, these free ACE the HSC sessions prepare seniors students for the HSC.  Topics covered include:  Effective study strategies, assessment techniques and stress management.  Registration is essential at:  https://inspired.edu.au/ace-the-hsc

AFTRS  (Australian Film, Television and Radio School)

AFTRS is hosting workshops in the October holidays.  The workshops are taught by industry professionals using industry standard equipment and, where appropriate, are held in AFTRS’ state-of-the-art film, TV and radio studios.  For more information go here.

UNSW Women in Engineering Camp 

Applications now open!  Students can now apply for the WIE Camp, running from 12 to 15 January 2020.  WIE Camp is a four-day residential experience at UNSW for female Year 11 or Year 12 students to learn more about engineering.  Participants will take part in hands-on workshops, industry site visits, career panels, and a networking function with professional engineers.  For more information and instruction on how to apply go here or contact wiec@unsw.edu.au

Cadetship in the Thoroughbred Industry 

For students who have a passion for horses.  The Explorer Cadetship Program is a 12-month stable and stud horsemanship program in the world-leading Australian thoroughbred industry where students learn and earn a wage.  Learn more about this extraordinary program here 

The Hotel School Information Evening 

The Hotel School is hosting an Information Evening on Wednesday 25 September at their Sydney campus at the Inter-Continental Hotel - students and parents welcome.  Campus tour included.  Register here.

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 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

Good luck to all eight of our netball teams in the Grand Finals this Saturday!  They are: 

SVC 5, SVC 8, SVC 13, SVC 15, SVC 17, SVC 20, SVC 22, SVC 23.  We hope you all have great games.

You can check the final standings 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/

Above:  SVC 8 finalists

Above:  SVC 5 finalists

Above:  SVC 17 finalists

TERM 4 SWIMMING SQUADS

We are very pleased that Jesse Clare from Bondiswimcoach is back at the College 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. 

TERM 4 SPORT TRIALS

FUTSAL

Unfortunately, the Futsal competition which usually ran at All Sorts at Alexandria on Friday nights did not get enough schools enrolled to run next term. Ascham is hoping to run a small competition at their 5-a-side courts on Friday afternoons where we would enter two teams from Years 9, 10 and 11.  This will be confirmed shortly.  All Year 7 and Year 8 students who registered for Futsal have been asked to let Ms Jacobs know if they want to play basketball or volleyball.  Some are already playing touch in those teams, which is good.

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.  Therese is looking forward to seeing some new faces at trials along with our returning players from this year, who won the Most Improved Team trophy in March.

SPORT STARS OF THE WEEK

Congratulations toAbby Delucyk, Year 10, who has recently returned to sport after major injury to win her football finals.  Last weekend in the Girls Conference Soccer League, her team, the Dunbar Rovers U17 girls, won their Grand Final at Valentine Park, Glenwood.  The team were also Premiers, completing a double and this is the first title for the Dunbar Rovers Conference Girls ever.  The extraordinary part is that Abby last year dislocated both knee caps.  She spent the last 12 months rehabilitating, had numerous knee specialist and many physio treatments, to get her back to recovery.  She was also asked by the club to be an assistant coach to the team whilst she was rehabbing and completed coaching courses whilst out recovering.  She also won the 5-A-Side-Soccer with SVC 2 in the morning and then this win with Dunbar in the afternoon.  Congratulations Abby, and welcome back to soccer!

Congratulations to Aisha Marten-Coney and Nina Hillier, both in Year 9.  Their representative basketball team, Sydney Comets, won the NSW Metro League U16 Girls Division 2 Championship Grand Final and followed on the following week to win the State Cup, playing against some very tough metro and regional teams.  A wonderful year of basketball and a very exciting few weeks for them.  Well done, girls!

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

THE SVC UNIFORM SHOP SCHOOL HOLIDAY TRADING DAYS: 

CLICK AND COLLECT

SVC Uniform Shop - 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  

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

TOO MUCH LIP BY MELISSA LUCASHENKO

Melissa Lucashenko said that she wanted readers to find this novel to be “gritty, violent and funny”.  She has completely succeeded in her aims.  The novel begins with an anecdote from the Salter family’s dying patriarch, Pop Owen.  As a young man he had dared to win a boxing match in a Queensland country town.  The victory was followed by appalling punishment by the some of the outraged townspeople.  His granddaughter, Kerry Salter, takes up the story.  After six years away from Durrongo, she is reluctantly returning to pay her respects to her grandfather and then quickly return to Brisbane, despite the fact that her latest relationship has just ended, her ex-partner is now imprisoned and Kerry is riding a Harley Davidson that may or may not be stolen.  She is always an unreliable narrator!  Her mother, Pretty Mary, (all the girls in the Mission had to be called Mary), is careworn with her attempts to keep her family together, preferably not in prison and drug free.  However, Kerry remembers the years when her mother was a wretched alcoholic because of the premature death of her husband and the unsolved mystery of the sudden disappearance of her older daughter, Donna.  Kerry’s brother, Ken, a once promising footie player, still lives at home bullying his shy and sensitive son and terrifying everyone with his eruptions of verbal and physical violence.  Even on his calmer days, Ken simmers with resentment.  The last sibling to arrive is the one they have dubbed “The Black Superman” because he lives in the city, has a well-paid government job and a mortgage.  He is also proudly gay and he and his partner have just begun to foster two badly damaged children, the victims of an ice-addicted family.

Lucashenko presents us with modern indigenous life without flinching:  She is far too honest a writer to depict the family as helpless victims.  What she is showing is the pathways and choices that different people take and how often indigenous people have particular odds stacked against.  She also makes comments directly to us about the probable differences in attitudes and values between the readers and the Salter clan.  These acerbic comments are very enlightening and usually cause a pause for reflection.  There is so much I loved about this novel:  The use of Bundajaling language putting most of us in the position of outsiders for a change, the lyrical descriptions of their sacred places under threat by a corrupt mayor who is bribed into allowing plans for the construction of a private prison to be approved, the irony of much of the conversation against authority figures and the dry and witty conversations Kerry has with her totem, the crows.  There is also irony and reverse racism when Kerry realises she has fallen in love with an old school friend - he is male and non-indigenous.  She also presents us with the horrors of addictions, of domestic violence, inter-generational trauma from domestic violence and sexual abuse from the Missions, other outside authority figures and family members.  The Salters are both lovely and irritating, as the more thoughtful members of the family are well aware.  Current political issues are presented to us from a particular indigenous perspective and we are enriched by this experience.  And there are two great twists in the plot!

PLEASE BE WARNED THAT THE LANGUAGE IS RICH AND RIBALD.  FOR THIS REASON, THE BOOK IS NOT SUITABLE FOR JUNIOR STUDENTS UNLESS THEY HAVE PARENTAL PERMISSION.

By MS SUZANNE O’CONNOR