Other
Editorial
As the year draws to a conclusion it is hard to put a defining label on the year 2020. There is no real way to. On the surface, this year can be defined as: unpredictable, chaotic and confusing. Here at St Mary's, it has been a year of resilience and adaptation. This year has pushed boundaries in all directions of academic, sporting, social and cultural life. Perhaps more accurately it stands out as a year for personal growth. Our theme, 'on the road’ is only fitting when describing this year’s journey with its unseen twists and turns. However, with every STOP sign the year has brought about, St Mary’s students have persevered and remained strong. In essence, this year has taught the student body the power of resilience, adaptability and strength of character.
The high school journey isn't straightforward or simple, but it is full of many triumphs and celebrations. My year as College Captain has been made memorable not by the College assemblies (that we didn't get to take part in, oh well!)but by the gorgeous and talented young women I've had the pleasure to grow up with these past five years. I would like to thank the hardworking leadership team, who have been role models this year in the face of adversity, who have assisted in cultivating a culture of resilience and determination through modelling the values of their House Patrons and commitment to the wellbeing of the student body.
This week, we have celebrated our final days here at the College. In a year when we face so many restrictions, we have been able to celebrate with a sense of joy and fun in new and unique ways. On behalf of Year 12, I would like to thank the staff and students who worked so hard to make this happen.
Being a part of this community has been the most rewarding and insightful experience of my formative years. I am proud to say once a St Mary’s girl always a St Mary’s girl.
Mila Lancaster
College Captain
Year 12's Last Day
More Year 12 pictures at the end of the newsletter...
Gracious and Loving God
May our Year 12 students find strength in the excellence of their academic preparation.
Bless their lives from this day on with goodness and success. Enable them; to stay true to their dreams for your greater glory, to discern what is right, good and just, and to use their gifts wisely and in service to others.
Grace be to them, Grace be to us all. Amen
Ella Dickson
Hayes House Captain
HSC Callbacks for Music and Dance
Great news and congratulations to our HSC students for being nominated for Encore (Music) and Callback (Dance) HSC presentations. This means they may get to perform as examples of exemplary projects chosen from across the State in special events early next year.
We are extremely happy for our students and for this recognition of their skills and hard work.
Congratulations to:
Jenna Fera, Kasey Mahar, Jessica Adams, Hannah Crinnion, Georgia Edmond, Alexis Jonovska, Caprice Burrell, Tenaya Hegarty and Jessica Adams.
Thank you to teachers: Lisa Lockett, Skye Murray and Martina Visaggio and all who may have helped with feedback, all staff and of course the students’ families for continued support.
The students are:
Music
Jenna Fera and Kasey Mahar
Dance Core Performance
Jessica Adams
Hannah Crinnion
Georgia Edmond
Alexis Jonovska
Dance Core Composition
Georgia Edmond
Mr Steve Goldrick
Creative Arts Coordinator
Where have the Years gone!
We farewell our Year 12 students, how far have they come since Year 7!
We wish them all the very best for their HSC examinations and their journey ahead.
A Win for our Art Student
Sophie West - Image: School?
Wollongong Art Gallery’s Photography Competition Your Everyday Life was open to secondary students who attend schools within the Illawarra region.
Your Everyday Life was the theme for this competition and the Gallery was looking for original, thought provoking photography. Several St Mary's students entered the competition.
Congratulations to Sophie West from Year 9 winning 1st Place.
Steve Goldrick
Creative Arts Coordinator
Fundraising success for Project Compassion
Caritas meaning ‘love and compassion’ is a global aid and development organisation which aims to educate and inform others of world issues. Caritas works to tackle global issues such as: providing clean drinking water and sanitation, advocating for women’s rights, peacemaking, providing emergency relief, disaster risk reduction and educating vulnerable communities about food security.
This year the Caritas Club has been very successful in our major fundraising initiative in promoting Project Compassion during Lent. This included the Caritas Bake Sale and a variety of House Lenten activities - in total $4,810.95 was raised. An enormous effort considering the disruption to usual House activities due to COVID-19.
On Wednesday, 16 September, we were honoured to meet with the National Youth Coordinator for Caritas, Sue Lomi via a Zoom meeting with Mr Fitzgerald and student leaders: Tani Phillips (Club President), Olivia De Battista and Grace Anderson (Vice Presidents) and we spoke about the club’s activities at St Mary’s as well as our successes in fundraising for Project Compassion.
We would like to thank Mr Fitzgerald for his support in presenting Caritas with the funds raised.
Our club meets on Monday, Day 1 at lunch time in B310, we look forward to brainstorming new ideas and initiatives and a big 2021.
Ms Martina Nimac
Caritas Mentor
House Debating Champions
It was wonderful to be able to get into some House and interschool debating this term! Lyons House won both the Junior and Intermediate House Debating Competitions so the other Houses are now put on notice. We were also able to engage in interschool debates, albeit via Zoom, with St John’s Nowra and in the UOW Debating Competition. It was a great experience and our teams from Years 7 to 10 each won two out of three debates in the UOW debates. We hope to be able to debate in the real world soon in front of real audiences but nonetheless, it was fun.
Marie Pulford
Director of Admissions, Marketing and Development
Our Future, Our Responsibility
Our future seems ominous when we reflect on our world today, a global pandemic, a climate crisis, and increasingly prevalent injustices. Our Future, Our Responsibility is a new club that encourages students to take action on global issues; to initiate changes and create a better future.
The focus of this club revolves around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which are a collection of 17 goals designed to improve and promote intergenerational equity for all members of society. Currently, this club is concentrating on goal 3 “good health and well-being” and goal 4 “quality education” through student-led activities.
Recently, we made reusable masks with help from Mrs Keyte and sold within the school community. Many of the masks featured colourful patterns to add some cheer during this COVID-19 period where good health and well-being is of elevated importance. From this initiative, $150 was raised which will go towards the UNICEF School-in-a-Box to assist in providing quality education for children in Papua New Guinea. Another $150 is needed to purchase this School-in-a-Box and next term we will explore new endeavours to raise these funds.
Please join us and share your ideas every Friday during lunch time in D30B to take responsibility for improving our future.
Lily Granthem
Club Leader
Book Lover's Club
Do you like to read? Do you have frustrations about your most loved or most disliked book?
Join us in the PLC meeting rooms for the opportunity to discuss and debate your current reads, book peeves and favoured genres.
The Book Lover’s Club offers the opportunity to meet others with similar (and wildly different) literature opinions, write reviews, plan library-based events and compile a 'Book Lover’s Club' must read list.
Our meetings are student led and take different directions each week with opportunities for all to express themselves. Check the SEQTA notices in Week 1 next Term for the day and time of our next meeting.
Yasmin Baghdadi
Club Leader
The Gift of Giving
In keeping with tradition, Year 12 students collect funds for a parting gift to the College. This year, the students decided to give a gift that was filled with the spirit of the Good Samaritan; to help others in need. They prepared Dignity Bags with a variety of personal products to support SAHSSI (Supported Accommodation and Homelessness Services Shoalhaven Illawarra).
This was delivered on Tuesday and the girls received a very warm welcome. We are so proud of our Year 12's for their generosity of spirit and positive attitude in what has been a challenging year.
Mrs Marie Pulford
Director of Admissions, Marketing and Development
The Icing on the Cake!
Further pictures to illustrate the significant work done by the Interact students, in recognition of the Rotary International Presidential Citation recently awarded to them. Well done girls!
Mrs Liz Davis
Mentor
Year 9 Drama
Year 9 Drama have finished performing their self-directed script. Both classes showed great collaborative energy and acting skills in successfully completing the unit.
Well Done Girls!
Mr Goldrick and Ms Pearce
Creative Arts
Sport - Year 7 Dance
Students have had some wonderful experiences during sport this year. For Year 7, Latin Dance at Dance Space Wollongong is one such activity. Students are focusing on their arm positions before they learn further steps for the Cha Cha, Samba and the Quickstep.
Mrs Christine Thomas
PDHPE Teacher
Bob Cooper Volleyball Cup
Our annual Staff versus Year 12 Volleyball match was played last Thursday in the Gymnasium. The grandstand was full of Year 12 supporters along with some staff to provide support for the teachers.
Games were played in good spirit, with lots of laughter and entertaining rallies.
The staff won three matches and the students were victorious in one.
Well done to all the players and congratulations to the teachers for keeping the Bob Cooper Cup for another year!
Belinda Sparks
Sports Coordinator
Year 12 Hospitality Function
In early September after months of preparation, our Year 12 Hospitality class were finally able to prepare and serve our three course meal to our guests as part of the Hospitality Competency Assessment Task.
The meal consisted of entrees of Crispy Fried Cheese Ravioli and Pancetta Wrapped Fried Barbecued Prawns, mains of Mushroom and Pea Risotto and Lamb and Sundried Tomato Filo Parcel’s accompanied with a side of Sautéed Beans. For dessert, Fruit Tarts and Sticky Date Pudding. The meal was complimented with a Strawberry and Lime Mojito Mocktail.
By participating in this day, we were able to work together as a class and enjoyed the experience of serving the dishes we created and gathering feedback from our guests. It was a good taste (pun intended!) into what the Hospitality industry has to offer.
We would like to thank our teacher, Mrs Newton for her hard work in preparing us for this assessment. Also, Mrs Curren for organising our preparation trays and placing the food orders. Finally, a big thank you to our Year 11 Kitchen Hands who helped with the dirty dishes throughout the day. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience for our class and for our special guests.
Taylor Barrett and Ella Dickson
Hospitality students
UAC Offers for Year 12
Please see the flyer in the Downloads Section that explains which universities will participate in major offer rounds and which round of offers high-profile courses will be released.
Mrs Pauline Judd
Post School Advisor
Supporting Friends
We have had an incredibly challenging year. The College has been working on many levels to support the various academic, social, emotional and mental health needs of the students.
We have always encouraged students to approach us with any concerns they may have about friends. The staff at St Mary's have a well-defined way of managing these situations and as much as possible, if the reporting student desires, keep them anonymous.
Our main priority is to ensure that every student is safe. This is of course a big job and we are only such a small part of your daughter’s lives. There are many ways we can intervene with student’s welfare and we endeavor to work with the reporting student and/or their parents to maintain and respect all students needs as much as we legally and ethically can.
This situation requires parents to support their daughters in discussing any safety concerns they have for peers with a trusted adult. The complexity of mental health and behavioral patterns that emerge in adolescence can require professional support and at times immediate medical support. The concept of early intervention is paramount for many mental health disorders and in particular emerging eating disorder behaviors. Eating disorders along with self-harming and risk-taking behaviors can escalate rapidly. Some students would be aware of this, however other students may not quite understand how difficult to treat some of these behaviors and disorders are. This is why professional support must be utilised to assess and treat the difficulties.
Please refer to the SEQTA Parent Hub and also the Student Hub which includes many links for more information about concerning mental health disorders and how to manage these. If you or your daughter have any concerns for students, please contact your House Coordinator, Kulilla Centre staff or any of the Executive or teachers and discuss the situation. We have a strong desire to care for all of your daughter’s well-being and safety.
We welcome the opportunity to support students and others in our St Mary's community who may be worried about any young person so that we are able to assess, offer support and link the student with any required support. We do understand it is difficult but at times it takes the courage of one to truly support the needs of another.
With kindness, gratitude and openness.
Lifeline - 13 11 14 (24hr Crisis Line) W| www.lifeline.org.au ; Youth Beyond Blue - 1300 224 636 (24hrs) W|www.youthbeyondblue.com Mental Health Line - 1800 011 511 (24hr Help Line); Suicide Call Back Service - 1300 659 467 (24 Hrs)
Kulilla Centre
On-line Parent Lounge and Statements
The College has made a number of improvements to the on-line Parent Lounge Portal, including the transition to online statements that will make it easier for you to manage your tuition fee account. The Parent Lounge now provides your current balance, regular Term statements and the ability to make credit card payments.
You can still make BPay transactions via your financial institution. Alternatively please contact the College to establish a regular Direct Debit arrangement.
Login details and instructions have previously been provided but if you have any issues or questions please email our ICT Department via helpdesk@stmarys.nsw.edu.au
Tuition Fee Update
A friendly reminder that Term 3 Tuition Fees are due for payment so please ensure that regular instalments are being paid according to your agreed payment arrangement. If you intend to pay via lump sum instalments you must complete and return the School Fee Agreement as soon as possible.
A ‘School Fee Calculator’ is available on the College website to assist families in calculating their regular payment amount.
For further clarification on tuition fees please refer to the Fee Management Policy on the College website, alternatively contact the Fees Coordinator on 4253 5230.
Mrs Rosina Dowsett
Fees Coordinator
From the Principal
Sometimes I think we underestimate the Feast of Pentecost.
Although our Church celebrated Pentecost in May, it occurs to me that the meaning of Pentecost is enduring throughout the year and perhaps this year more than most.
The Feast marks the descent of the Holy Spirit on the immediate followers of Jesus who, at the time, were gathered in prayer; still grieving the loss of their friend and leader, still uncertain about their future, still coming to terms with the mystery that was the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Feast of Pentecost is regarded by many as the birth of the Church as the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, were empowered with confidence to begin their ministry and their evangelisation.
But what does all that mean?
Have you ever had the experience of wondering; “why did that turn out the way it did”? Have you ever heard the very common expression; “the spirit moves in strange ways”? Sometimes things happen in life that appear beyond reason and without explanation. The experiences of 2020 are a perfect example of that. So much of what has unfolded in 2020 was not on anyone’s radar on New Year’s Day as the State battled the terrible fire crisis. For our Year 12 girls and their families, none would have expected their final year at the College to have been impacted so significantly by COVID-19. As people of faith, we are buoyed by a loving God who never abandons us, regardless of the circumstances. We are reminded of this in that beautiful passage called Footprints:
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?" The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you."
Perhaps we must be more open to the possibility that things happen not because we plan carefully, execute meticulously or because of the explanation of science, but rather, because that is part of God’s plan for us. I wonder if that is the meaning of Pentecost? That if we are open to the possibility of God’s presence in our lives, then things happen without the kind of rationalisation and explanation that we have been conditioned to seek. Perhaps the work of the Holy Spirit is simply the interface of faith and life? As Daniel O’Leary says: “Pentecost reminds us that the Holy Spirit is a power at work in a continually renewed universe and is present in the innermost mystery of all things. Grace and science come together to offer a fuller picture of what is true: that God’s love is embodied in all humanity and in the evolving world itself”.
The message of Pentecost is a lifelong, year-long message of hope and assurance and as we farewell our Year 12 girls, perhaps there is no better time to be reminded of that.
Mr Tony Fitzgerald
Principal
More Year 12 Pictures
SMC Noticeboard
25 September - Term 3 concludes
12 October - Term 4 commences
20 October - HSC Examinations begin
Downloads
Please return to College in Term 4 wearing Summer Uniform
Online ordering for uniforms will commence in Term 4, further communication will be sent out.
To review and update your daughter’s details including important medical data, please click on this LINK