Bulletin

REMINDERS AND UPCOMING EVENTS:

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

 Thursday 17 October to Monday 11 November:  HSC Examinations

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

 Thursday 24 October - Friday 25 October:   Year 7/2020 Orientation Days (class of 2025)

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

 Saturday/Sunday 26 October (pm) - 27 October:   Student Leadership Retreat

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

Friday 01 November:   All Saints Day

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

Saturday 02 November:   

-  SVC Dance Night - The Seymour Centre - 5.00pm - Purchase tickets from The Seymour Centre
(See the flyer at the top of this Bulletin as well as in the Performing Arts article).

-  Class of 1999 20 Year Reunion - 3.00pm-5.00pm - refer to Advancement Office  palinj@stvincents.nsw.edu.au 

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

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

It has been uplifting to have our return to Term 4 greeted by the warmth of spring, quite literally putting a spring in our step as we reconnect in relationship and learning.  Whilst Term 4 is only 8 weeks, it is important that we see this time as critical to the completion of our academic year.  Students and teachers have opportunity to evidence their learning gains and reflect on strategies needed to build the blocks to grow learning in the year that follows.  Each term brings new opportunity for co-curricular in Sport and Performing Arts, Service and Leadership.  We look forward to showcasing student achievement in its many forms, beginning with our performing arts Co-curricular Night and culminating in our Speech Night at Sydney Town Hall on the evening of Monday 25 November.  Details for booking tickets to our annual Dance Night, this year at The Seymour Centre, are included in this Bulletin.

We have welcomed home the Year 11 students and staff who participated in the Warralong Immersion during the holiday break.  I thank Ms Whiley and Ms Devaney for their good care of the students and more particularly for journeying with them in what is a most powerful transformative experience.  The gift of being still in the beauty of the earth and learning in relationship with others will continue to lead these students to new perspectives and actions that shape a world of understanding.

Thank you to the Year 11 parents and carers for attending the HSC 2020 Information Evening during the week.  Whilst we hope that much of the information presented helps you in navigating the HSC with your daughter, the evening also signalled our partnership with you in the supporting the holistic wellbeing of your daughter in the context of the fullness of a St Vincent’s College education.  Next Wednesday we gather again in the Hall to orientate our Year 7 2020 parents and carers (the Class of 2025), followed by two days of orientation for these current Year 6 students.

I look forward to two reunions at the College this weekend - 50 and 30 year reunions.  When I think of the joy of our recent Year 12 2019 Graduation Ceremony and formal celebrations - I anticipate the Vinnies spirit will be alive in friendship and stories.  I met with one of those ex-student’s today, having graduated from Boarding 30 years ago and now looking to enrol her daughter in 2020.

For all families attending sport over the weekend, I wish you good spirit as you champion support for your daughters.  To our class of 2019 who commenced their HSC examinations on Thursday, our prayers and confidence in you remain strong.

Mrs Elizabeth Brooks
Acting Principal

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

Gabrielle Umbrazunas (Year 9) - Grandfather.

On Monday we gathered as a staff to commence our Term 4 professional development course in Safe and Inclusive Practices to promote positive relationships and wellbeing to enhance the learning of all students in our community. It was a most poignant and engaging experience where amongst us our colleagues shared their collective wisdom about the importance of positive relationships as the key determiner of student wellbeing and growth in learning.

Academic wellbeing requires resilience and buoyancy.  I was most interested in this concept of academic buoyancy. Academic buoyancy is the ability of students to rebound from daily setbacks that are a normal part of schooling, such as a poor grade on a test, negative feedback from a teacher or being cut from a sports team. Australian psychologists Andrew Martin and Herbert Marsh proposed that building students’ academic buoyancy is one way to help promote long term resilience.  Buoyant students recognise that daily setbacks are temporary and non-threatening. A disappointing piece of feedback or result does not equate to long term disappointments nor endanger long-term success, in fact it is designed to have the reverse effect.

Critical feedback to students from practitioners is fundamental to good learning. Our feedback model is designed to grow learning by informing our students what they know and have grasped as concepts and where their learning still needs to grow. This notion of academic buoyancy therefore allows a student to hear strategic advice from their teachers after a disappointing result designed to assist our students to get it right next time. This academic buoyancy  is part of a growth mindset that promotes long term resilience in young people and as we all are acutely aware, students who feel in control of their learning are happy learners.  There is an excellent publication in this link which unpacks a little more about this concept of academic buoyancy you may wish to read.  With this mindset of positivity and buoyancy in learning, the students are preparing for their final formal assessments this term, keeping in mind that despite the shorter term, learning and formative (informal) assessment will continue to engage students right up to and including the last day of term.

A reminder to parents that all Years 7-12 Assessment Activity schedules are published on the College website at this link: https://www.stvincents.nsw.edu.au/learning/teaching-and-learning/  but the assessment dates for formal Assessment Activity Weeks for Years 9-12 are as follows.

Year 9 - Week 5
Year 10 - Week 4
Year 12 - Weeks 5-7

Heads of Department have or will in due course publish assessment notification to all students outlining the details of these assessments, and a reminder that all students have access to a year specific Assessment Handbook, which were emailed to all students and parents/carers.  Among other details in these Assessment Handbooks, the College Illness/Misadventure Policy applies to all assessment activities and as such, if a student is unfortunately absent due to illness or misadventure during an assessment, an application is necessary and subsequent medical documentation to support the application.  Catch-up periods are timetabled into every Assessment Activities Week.  A reminder that family leave to attend an earliest Christmas holiday break is not covered in the policy, and therefore, students will receive zero for any assessments missed. 

To our Class of 2019, please know that the entire College community is behind you in spirit spurring you on in each exam to demonstrate what you have worked so hard to learn.  It was rewarding to hear from some students today after the English Paper 2 HSC exam, where one quipped:   I like the way NESA are making us think on our feet - it makes it fun!  I’m sure, whilst not probably the most fun way to spend a few hours, this student has realised the importance of our commitment as a College to our Learning Framework that bouys the essential 21st Century capabilities of critical thinking and creativity.  

I wish all of our students a most successful and enjoyable term of learning which will culminate in a wonderful acknowledgement of academic achievements at the College Speech Night on Monday 25 November.

Mrs Jasmin Mano
Director of Teaching and Learning

The Term 4 2019 College Invoices have been emailed to all families on 11 October 2019 - the due date is 25 October 2019.  Please check your email inbox for the account.  Payment can be made with a credit card on the College website  www.stvincents.nsw.edu.au

Please contact me by email with any queries:  SVC Fee Administrator feeadministrator@stvincents.nsw.edu.au

Mrs Pauline Martin
Fee Administrator

UN Day of the Girl Child GirlForce:  Unscripted and Unstoppable

In 1995, 30,000 women and men from nearly 200 countries gathered in China for the Fourth World Conference on Women, where they were determined to recognize the rights of women and girls as human rights.  The conference culminated in the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action:  The most comprehensive policy agenda for the empowerment of women.

In the years following, women led global movements on issues ranging from sexual and reproductive health rights to equal pay; from girls being formally educated to encouraging families to cease forced marriages.  Today, these movements are being organized by and for adolescent girls, and tackle issues like child marriage, education inequality, gender-based violence, climate change, self-esteem, and girls’ rights to enter places of worship or public spaces during menstruation.  Girls are proving they are unscripted and unstoppable.

From 2012, The International Day of the Girl Child has been held on 11 October and this year, the theme, “GirlForce: Unscripted and unstoppable”, celebrated the achievements, with and for girls since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.  But many of the commitments made to girls are left unfulfilled.  Each year, 12 million girls under 18 are married; 130 million girls worldwide are still out of school; and approximately 15 million adolescent girls aged 15-19 have experienced forced sex.  This year the United Nations is sharing the stories of girls around the world and is calling on countries to uphold the commitments made nearly 25 years ago, and create a better future for all.

On the evening of 11 October I celebrated the United Nations Day of the Girl Child with Susan Ryan AO and Geraldine Doogue on a panel for Catalyst for Renewal , where we were asked to share our thoughts on why the Church needs female leaders.  The conversation flowed easily, and at one point we started talking about the freedom and courage that we have seen young women take as they lead the world in response to the climate crisis here and internationally.  For me, these young women represent what it means to be a leader of the world today:  One who is not tied up in the Fortune 500 companies or part of formalised political parties, rather, one who is leading radically and on the periphery.  These kinds of leaders are prophetic, they help the broader milieu come to see what is truly at stake.  Later that night, I delighted in reading the opinion piece of Natasha Stott Despoja who spoke of the young girls who are or have shaped our world: Greta Thunburg, Malala Yousafzai and Emma Watson.  

By way of an aside, 11 October is also the feast day of St John XXIII; a radical leader of the Catholic Church who called Vatican II and encouraged all to explore what it means to an inclusive and loving community.  One of the questions from the floor on the night of Catalyst for Renewal was “how do you form your students in this faith".  With great delight I drew on the many opportunities given to the students at the College and the great leadership of staff and parents in faith.  I shared that my hope was that students left the College being, hope-filled in their relationships, bold in their actions and radical in their love.  Imagine what could happen if every day we remembered what we celebrate on 11 October...perhaps the world would be a more radical place to be! 

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

This week the staff at the College explored four themes of wellbeing that impacts students, parents and students.  One of these themes was online presence.  One of the resources that was shared with the staff was the The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Social Justice Statement for 2019-2020, Making it Real: Genuine Human Encounter in our Digital World.  The Statement affirms the positive possibilities for encounter and solidarity offered by new digital media, while warning of those elements of our digital world that may be harmful.  These include information overload; social isolation; marginalisation of the vulnerable; consumerism and fake news.

The Statement reminds us that the new digital media cannot be seen as neutral or ‘unaffected by any moral considerations’.  While many users do not realise it, the core business of social media platforms is to sell advertising and maximise profits.  People’s personal lives may be reduced to data that is traded for profit or power and it is used to target and influence us in ways previously unthinkable.  Pushing users to more extreme positions and promoting fake news and conspiracy theories sells, but this is at odds with human solidarity.

The Statement amplifies Pope Francis’ call to us to ‘boldly become citizens of the digital world’, with the image of the Good Samaritan as our inspiration.  We are called not only to love our neighbour, but to bring the love of God to the new global neighbourhood.  The Statement points out that we are called not just to be inhabitants of this new digital world, but active citizens shaping it.  All of us - whether we are users, communities, industrial or political leaders - have a role to play in rejecting hatred, divisions and falsehoods.  We have a duty to foster a neighbourhood that promotes those human attributes and social values that lend themselves to genuine human encounter - love, understanding, beauty, goodness, truth and trustworthiness, joy and hope.

For a copy of the Statement and more information go to: https://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/publications/social-justice-statements 

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

Students in Years 7-9 in Aikenhead, O’Brien and Williams worked with Ms Simone Lock and Sr Anne Taylor to learn about the work of the team at Caring for Kiriwina before spending some time packing safe birthing kits that would be shared with the remote villages in Papua New Guinea.  Over the holidays these kits were delivered to the communities by the volunteers of Caring for Kiriwina.  

Our team of four CFK dimdims (white persons!) have safely returned from another challenging but successful trip to Kiriwina.  While the main focus of the visit was to provide training support for the Village Birth Attendants (VBAs), we also gained first hand feedback on the results of some of our other aid programs...We visited communities which are now benefiting from recently constructed water wells, and were shown some caves to better understand the risks and dangers that some villagers face just to access clean water...We talked to groups who have benefitted from the Dignity Kits, and had constructive discussions with our on-island partners. Our CFK programs have been expanded this year as a direct consequence of funding provided through the Australian DFAT Friendship Grant, for which the Kiriwinan people acknowledge and say thank you Australia!  CFK also acknowledges our on-going support base of volunteers including the students at St Vincent’s College, UNSW Faculty of Health and Yarralumla Uniting Church.  

If you would like to support the Caring for Kiriwina team before our next project at the College (on St Vincent’s Day 2020), please visit their online shop here. 

A special thank you to the staff and students who made this donation possible.

Ms Rachel McLean
Director of Faith and Mission

Student Expedition Report:  Ella Emery, Lani Bresnahan and Sophie O’Connor

On Sunday 29 September, Lani Bresnahan, Sophie O’Connor and I set out to take on the wilderness for six days.  It’s not a leisurely expedition, we had to carry and cook our own food, carry all of our rubbish and set up at a new campsite each night.  We completed the camp through a company called ‘Somerset Outdoor Learning Centre’.  In our group of twelve girls, we had one qualified Duke of Edinburgh camp instructor, and nine other girls from different schools across Sydney.  Over the six days, we were given the opportunity to complete a variety of different outdoor activities, including canoeing and hiking. The best thing about doing the camp was meeting girls from different schools and challenging ourselves physically and mentally.  Although the hiking in particular was extremely difficult at times hiking up and down steep valleys and walking across ridges for hours on end, the view at the top of each mountain was definitely worth the climb!  Across the six days we hiked 75km across steep terrain and canoed 12km!  Overall, the trip was incredible, pushing all of us to our limits and allowed us to appreciate the things we often take for granted, like cold drinking water! 

Written by Ella Emery, Year 10 

Ms Sophie Robson
Duke of Edinburgh Co-Ordinator

Welcome back to all our Performing Arts students. There are many great events to look forward to this term, and at the end of last term our students had great successes.

Welcome to our new Arts Captain for 2020,Ruby McPherson.  I remember the talented, but shy Ruby auditioning for Grease and then singing and playing piano at her first Soiree.  Ruby has been in many College shows and has inspired our younger students through her enthusiasm. 

We also have our fabulous Performing Arts Student Leadership Team stepping into their positions:  Dance Captains - Allanah Joukhadar and Dendy Hardaker;Choir - Jasmine Dale; Music Ensembles - Riki Wells; College Production and Drama Ensembles - Bibi O’Loghlin.  Congratulations to these students and we look forward to their work within the College with Performing Arts.

Co-curricular Performing Arts Night will be a wonderful evening where our Speech and Drama, vocal studies and instrumental studies students perform for their parents and friends.  Students from Years 7-12 perform solos, duets, perform in ensembles and perform monologues, duologues and group devised works - in every style you can imagine.  Congratulations to every student in advance for their bravery and skills, and for many it will be their first performance onstage.  A big thank you to all the parents and friends who will be there to support and enjoy the show, and especially their co-curricular tutor, who has worked so hard with them to prepare for this event.  Thank you also to Ms Belinda Peoples, who works so hard behind the wings to ensure our co-curricular programme runs so smoothly, and prepares these events so professionally.

Dance Night Concert 2019

Saturday 2 November at the Seymour Centre

The College’s Dance event is one not to be missed and is guaranteed to be a fabulous evening.  Mrs Alana Santi and her team are busy rehearsing her huge finale number so we have loads to look forward to.  Please book your tickets on The Seymour Centre website.

BIG NEWS!  We have successfully gained the rights to Strictly Ballroom the Musical as the College Production for 2020.

AUDITIONS begin next week and rehearsals commence the week after. 

All students are welcometo join as part of the production or technical crew, dancers, singers or actors.  Students will need to return a Permission Note prior to attending rehearsals.  Please ensure you audition one lunchtime next week, and return your note prior to rehearsals which are on Tuesday and Thursday - 3.05pm-5.15pm, for this term and Term 1 next year. 

The production is in May next year.  Get those dancing shoes polished and tiaras ready!

Ms Catherine Johnson
Head of Performing Arts 

St Vincent’s College Dance Concert

On Saturday 2 November all Dance Elective classes, ballet ensembles, jazz ensembles and co-curricular students will showcase their routines in the St Vincent’s College Dance Concert.  The concert will be held at The Seymour Centre starting at 5.00pm and will run for 90 minutes.  Please note there will be no interval. 

Bookings are essential as tickets will not be sold on the night.  Purchase your tickets now through the Seymour Centre website.

Dance has continued to grow every year at the College and we are proud to say that we have 147 girls in our 2019 concert.  A big congratulations to all our Dance students and teachers who have committed themselves to regular training sessions and concert rehearsals.

Mrs Alana Santi
Dance Teacher

Avid Readers Book Club 

Our first term of Avid Readers’ Book Club ended with joy and excitement with the last chapters of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice responding to all of our young readers' predictions, questions and hopes for Elizabeth, Jane, Bingley and Mr Darcy.  Whilst Mr Darcy was a focus of our last Book Club session, we were also delighted to find we had amongst us our very own published essay author and member of the Jane Austen Society of Australia.  The first student outside of our Book Club to email me ginzburgd@stvincents.nsw.edu.au with who you think this St Vincent’s staff member might be, will be able to collect from me a copy of a Jane Austen classic (signed by this society member).

Thank you to our Term 3 Book Club members (Tess McGrath, Madison Gosbell, Freja Raaijmakers, Stella Trevaskis, Amelia Papworth, Clare Canham, Eliza Doyle and Amber Murtas) for the enthusiastic discussions, laughter, analysis and beautiful starts to Tuesdays. Also, a special thank you to Year 11 Advanced English students, Matilda Roddy and Niamh O’Sullivan for their leadership and mentoring of this group. 

This term our Avid Readers turn their attention to Jane Eyre.  

Brainways Workshop

During the school holidays, a group of St Vincent's students took part in a two day workshop with Brainways Education together with university partners. These students had the opportunity to take part in courses in The Humanities - Using the Principles of Logic in Debating and Ethics; The Sciences - Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of the Nervous System and Mathematics - Sets of Numbers:  Complex Numbers, Vectors and Matrices.

“I really enjoyed the course and found it very interesting. I liked how we had great discussions and worked as a group of 7-10”.  Madison Gosbell, Year 8

“The Brainways workshop was extremely fun and informative. I learnt so much interesting and new information. There were a range of different things that I learnt over the two days in the areas of Maths, Science and Humanities. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys learning new and interesting things”.  Freja Raaijmakers, Year 8

“Overall the course was intriguing and interesting. It was nice to learn outside of my usual classroom with a new group of people with different ideas”. Reeves Hancock, Year 9

“The workshop was led by smart, kind and happy people and all day I felt welcome and encouraged to do the best I could.  Throughout the days I was there, I learnt so much in the subjects of Maths, Science and Humanities, which I had never learned about before”. Tess McGrath, Year 8

Ms Donna Ginzburg
Gifted and Talented Co-Ordinator

SPORT STAFF CONTACTS FOR TERM 4 2019

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

Ms Therese Taylor:     0408 711 881 - Head of Tennis
Ms Elyse Harmanis:    0434 610 870 - Head of Touch
Ms Jasmine Shires:    0466 672 383 -  Head of Water Polo.
Ms Molly Macqueen:   0448 882 121 - Head of Basketball and Volleyball
Mr Hugo Forlico:        0411 615 031 -  Head of Futsal.

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

Water Polo

All eight teams got off to a great start at training this week, and we look forward to a good but challenging season in the IGSSA competition.  For games, all players must wear the St Vincent’s College swimming costume.  These can be purchased from the uniform shop.  Go to the College website for ordering or for opening days/hours of the Uniform Shop - Phone 8324 6622. 

All spectators and players are reminded that we do have to pay to enter most of the public pools where we play (Sutherland is $6.70 per player and $2 for spectators).  The draw and training times are on the Sports noticeboard and under Learning/Sport on the College website.

Ms Jasmine Shires
Head Water Polo Coach

Above:   SVC 2 water polo

Touch

The Easts Draw is available on their website and below is some important information about the competition http://www.eaststouch.com.au .
Note: EASTS have a Wet Weather Facebook page - Eastern Suburbs Touch Association.  The draw is also on the Sports noticeboard and on the College website under each team list.  

All divisions play one or two games each Saturday, so please make sure you check the draw carefully.  They are using Queens Park and Centennial Park Reservoir Fields.  Reservoir Fields are off Oxford Street.  You can enter via Paddington Gates and park inside the park, Carrington Street, or park on Oxford Street, Paddington.  Queens Park fields are opposite Moriah College.

Ms Elyse Harmanis
Head Touch Coach

Volleyball

We have five teams entered in the friendly competition at Santa Sabina in Strathfield.  Training commenced this week and games are on this Saturday. Welcome to our new players who have joined the teams this year.

Please ensure that you wear your SVC navy PE shorts plus the navy polo or the navy sleeveless tennis/netball top.  Wear SVC caps and sunscreen.  Each week the Draw will be displayed on the Garcia noticeboard as well as published on the relevant Sports page of the SVC website.

Ms Molly Macqueen
Head Coach Volleyball 

Above:  Year 7 team volleyball SVC 6 2018

Basketball

Training commenced this week for our three basketball teams and games start this Saturday for the Santa Sabina competition.  All teams trained well and some teams have members who are ‘new to the game’, so there’s lots of room for improvement, which will occur as we train productively each week.

Please wear SVC basketball singlets and navy PE shorts.  Tape a number on your singlet if needed.  Wear SVC caps and sunscreen.  Each week the Draw will be displayed on the Garcia noticeboard as well as published on the relevant sports page of the SVC website.

Ms Molly Macqueen
Head Coach Basketball

Futsal

This year, futsal competition games are held on Friday (between 4.30pm-6.30pm) at Ascham School, New South Head Road, Edgecliff.  Training is on Thursday mornings 7.30am-8.30am on the College courts.  For training and games, players wear St Vincent’s football socks, shin pads, PE shirt and PE shorts.  The Draw is on the Sports noticeboards and also on the St Vincent’s College website.  Competition commences this week, so good luck girls!

Above:   SVC 2 Winners

Swimming Training and SVC Swimming Carnival

The Inter-House Swimming Carnival is quickly approaching and will be held again at Drummoyne Pool on Monday 2 December, from 9.30am-2.30pm.  In preparation for this event, we have swimming squad sessions at school on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings from 7.00am-8.00am, run by Jesse from Bondiswimcoach .  Please go on to his website to enrol directly with him.  All levels are catered for and you can do as many days as you like.  All water polo players are encouraged to go to at least one of these sessions per week to improve their swimming fitness. 

Fitness Training

Fitness with Tash starts up again on Monday 21 October from 3.15pm-4.15pm and everyone is invited to join in.  All fitness levels are catered for and the venue will vary from week to week.  All participants are to get changed and meet outside the change rooms at 3.15pm on Mondays.  Please email Ms Jacobs if you are keen to sign up.

Tildesley Tennis

The Tildesley Tennis squad has started training for next year.  We wish our talented tennis athletes well in their mission to defend the ‘Most Improved School’ trophy at the tournament next year!  Training will be held on the College courts on Mondays and Thursdays from 3.15pm-4.15pm.  All girls who trialled last term are invited to train in this squad until the final team is selected next term.

Ms Therese Taylor
Head Tennis Coach

TERM 1 2020 SPORT REGISTRATIONS

Registrations are now open on the College website for Term 1 Sports for 2020. If you wish to play UNSW Water Polo, IGSSA Tennis, or EASTS Touch in Term 1 next year, you must register before 3.00pm on Friday 1 November 2019.  Please make sure you put your Year Group for next year and that you check all other commitments before registering, as we have had many late withdrawals this term which have left some teams short of numbers.

SPORT STARS OF THE WEEK

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

Congratulations to Madeleine Chubb, Year 9, who competed at the NSW All Schools Athletics Championships on Saturday 28 September in the 15 girls discus.  She made the finals placing 7th overall with a throw of 32.24m.  Well done, Maddie!

Ms Jacinta Jacobs
Co-ordinator of Sport

(Our Book Reviewer - Ms Suzanne O'Connor, is volunteering with the Loreto Sisters in Timor Leste) 

After finding myself still affected even after I had finished reading The Erratics, I decided to move to the sugary section of the library and read some romcoms.  My first choice was a delightful and informative novel called Ayesha, At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin.  I chose it because it was a modern homage to Pride and Prejudice (tick), set in Toronto where I spent a decade (tick) and it concerned Canadian-Pakistani culture (tick).  The Ayesha of the title is a twenty seven year old, unmarried woman.  In her close knit community, she is a spinster of some concern because of her age.  She has resisted pressure to marry by explaining she wants to concentrate on establishing herself as a teacher.  This justification almost appeases all the “aunties” because teaching is an acceptable career for a young woman - before marriage.  In the same suburb of Scarborough lives Khalid and his widowed mother.  Unlike Ayesha who wears hijab with her modern clothes, Khalid wears traditional Muslim clothing and has a long and unruly beard.  He is strictly observant and very scathing about his fellow Moslems who are more flexible.  Ayesha and Khalid have a disastrous first meeting which brings out the worst in both of them.  Through a series of coincidences, their second and third meetings are in their local mosque where Ayesha has to pretend to be her much younger, very silly flibbertigibbet of a cousin.  So, confusion and misunderstandings reign.  Amongst all the miscommunication between the couple who are clearly destined for each other, are many interesting insights about being the first generation of an immigrant family.  For example, Ayesha’s best friend from high school is a cheerful atheist, living with her boyfriend of ten years.  Although such behaviour would be unacceptable for Ayesha, she is able to accept behaviours other than the ones she chooses to follow.  Her inclusive friendships and interactions with everyone make her a delightful and very likeable heroine.  On the other hand, not only is Khalid judgemental, but he is also judged.  His less conscientious Moslem friends mock his clothing and he actually suffers racism in the workplace because of his religious practices.  The author also presents us with the issue of arranged marriages and how they manage to work in a modern, Western society where there are very high divorce rates, suggesting romantic marriage is no guarantee of long marriage.  Jalaluddin is adept at presenting a range of perspectives and allows each reader to make a personal decision.  This even-handedness is what lifts the novel above a mere retelling of Pride and Prejudice.  Even though you are well aware of the inevitable happy ending, Jalaluddin is able to create lots of delightful tension until Ayesha and Khalid come to their senses.  Jalaluddin grew up in Toronto, is a columnist for a newspaper and a high school teacher and as this is her first novel. I cannot help but suspect that some of the material at least is autobiographical.  If this is the case, she seems to be a completely worthy Elizabeth Bennet in the twenty-first century.

BOOKS THAT MADE ME GO “AWW”... AND THEN WOW!

BOOK TWO

I have a foolish book snobbery about enjoying David Nicholls’ books because they are so very popular.  However, his most recent novel, Sweet Sorrow, goes way beyond a satisfying and neat happy ending.  The title comes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and there are lots of sweet and sorrowful farewells in the book. 

The narrator, Charlie Lewis, is waiting for the last hours of his high school life before he sits for the all important GCSE which will decide if he continues to sixth form and then university.  Charlie is one of a group of four boys.  He really only trusts one of the other three but there is anonymity in a group and that is what he craves.  His family life has ended in a bitter divorce after his mother left with Charlie’s sister.  The business his father had carefully built up has gone bankrupt, the beloved family home has been sold and father and son live in a horrible house made even worse by his father’s lack of work and crippling depression.  In the long wait between the end of school and the publication of exam results, Charlie has a part-time job in a petrol station but lots of empty time.  He is lying in a field reading when a girl almost falls over him.  For Charlie, there is instant, complete love.  Fran Fisher is everything Charlie is not:  Confident, the product of a private education, loved and loving of her parents, sure to do well in the examinations and already discussing courses at Oxbridge.  The Charlie we hear this from is looking back at 1997 from the perspective of the adult Charlie, whose current life forms a frame around the passion and intensity of Charlie and Fran.  Nicholls is able to write about adolescence with great humour and compassion, in a balanced way.  Charlie is unsurprised when the results are published but, by then, so many other disasters have happened that the failure is a minor event in comparison to the other awful catastrophes that have occurred.  There is incredible tension as we wonder if, twenty or so years later, Charlie and Fran may have a rapturous reunion.  Well, there is a reunion with some interesting results.  For me the “Wow” was the particularly touching relationship between Charlie and his devastated father.  This is why the novel is more than a very skilled example of a 'romcom'.  It also directly pleads with young men to change the patterns they follow, patterns which produce generations of inarticulate, suffering men who cannot describe their suffering to anyone because they lack the ability to form meaningful and positive friendships.  I would love this book to be read by every eighteen year old boy - as well as the rest of us.

A Reminder from the Canteen for Students:   

• Please make sure that you top up funds onto your Student Card ONE HOUR before trying to purchase  (as it takes this amount of time for the money to be processed onto the card). 

ALSO...

• Students MUST bring their card with them to purchase at the canteen.  The canteen can no longer allow you to manually punch in your code as this holds up the line too much.

Selina Richardson  | Site Manager

Catering Industries Pty Ltd | St Vincent’s College
Phone: 1300 364 092 | Main Phone: 9361 2420

Dennis@cateringindustries.com.au  |  www.cateringindustries.com.au