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UOW Learning Labs - January 2020
Dear students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10
It is that time of the year again when UOW Learning Labs open for registration. I would encourage any student who is high achieving to consider this wonderful enriching learning opportunity during the upcoming summer holidays. Students interested are encouraged to ask their subject related teacher to consider supporting their application with a Teacher Nomination Letter. Alternatively, there are other supporting documents that can be used e.g. NAPLAN results. See below for more details.
The College offers four scholarships for students to attend. Interested students are required to email Mrs Everatt directly by 30 October, 2019 with an expression of interest and a list of achievements. Past recipients of the scholarship may still apply but must state on their application to Mrs Everatt that they are previous winners. These students will be placed on a reserve list and will be considered if the four places are not filled with new applicants.
Students applying for the College scholarship must register their interest on the UOW Learning Labs website, so they don’t miss out on their chosen workshop. If they are successful with their scholarship application, the College will pay their fees.
UOW also offer other scholarships, please see below for more information.
Wollongong Campus Dates: 8 – 10 January 2020
Applications close: 6 November 2019
APPLICATION PROCESS (from the UOW)
Please know thatworkshops fill very quickly.So, apply NOW.
- Students can be encouraged to apply by their school, classroom teacher, subject specialist teachers from school or out-of-school or by their parents. If a school-based professional is identifying a potential student they will supply them with Teacher Nomination Letter.
- Parents/Guardians/student visit our website and read the full list of workshops available by scrolling to the “ January workshops overview” section.
- Parents/Guardians/student (or school if parent/guardian is unable to) fill out the online application form.
- One piece of supporting documentation for first time applicants is required that demonstrates their ability (see 'Supporting Documentation' section on website). Please note that the Teacher Nomination Letter can be used as a supporting document.
We will also have several sponsorship places available for students who identify as Australian Aboriginal/Torres Strait or students experiencing financial
difficulty.
For further information about workshops and the application process please visit our website,
or contact the Learning Labs team via email at learning-labs@uow.edu.au or phone on (02) 4221 5557.
Theatresports News
On Monday, 19 October our Junior Theatresports team came first in the heats in Sydney (sharing first place with Knox Grammar School) and will now advance to the next level of the competition.
Theatresports is an inter-schools event in which teams use their performance skills and spontaneous imagination to create engaging theatre scenes on the spot. It is harder than it looks, especially in front of an audience and takes an incredible amount of positive teamwork. Last year our Senior team went all the way to the grand final at the Enmore Theatre!
Best of luck to our Junior team: Biatriz Caires Forlano, Rebecca Parker, Stella Giacon and Scout Targent-Tong who are being coached by four Year 9 Drama
students every Tuesday in Drama Club.
New York Hungry for the Arts Tour returns
The New York Hungry for the Arts Tour is officially over but for most of the participants it still goes on in our head and heart. There’s an energy about New York that genuinely has to be experienced to be believed. It is one of the greatest arts hubs in the world. We were able to visit galleries, shows and events unavailable anywhere else or with an intensity and creative buzz that needs a city with a cultural vibrant history like New York to focus them, define them and celebrate them.
The last trip in 2016 was the fortnight before Christmas and the streets were mayhem. This time the streets, although full, weren’t such a challenge and
our hotel, the Gallivant (great name for a resting place on a quest such as ours!) was smack bang in the middle of Broadway Theatre, bustling Times
Square, restaurants and transport links.
Students participated in workshops in Drama, Music, Visual Arts (the Guggenheim and the graffiti streets of Brooklyn) and Dance (a lead dancer from “Chicago” taught the girls the show’s headline dance and then we saw her in the actual show that night) Magic! Other great shows we saw were “Come From Away” and “Beatlejuice”.
HSC students caught up with art they needed to see for their studies. Music experiences ranged from ballet orchestras to eccentric and talented street performers. Dancers were enraptured by a Balanchine ballet at the Lincoln Arts Centre or stood on the Atlantic and looked back at the iconic delights of Coney Island.
Like Leonardo, we studied the human experience in the natural world with long-term friends (they call themselves “Team Wollongong”) guiding us through the Museum of Natural History (think of the movie). Rowing on the Loeb Lake, being taken through the TV and film settings in Central Park, up close and personal with Monet and Van Gogh in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, viewing the tiled facade and illustrated glass of Tiffany’s mansion before checking out his famous jewellery shop on Fifth Avenue - our girls were as perceptive and alive as Audrey Hepburn in their curiosity and positive energy.
Living away for over two weeks takes kindness and commitment and our students were an excellent example to the Big Apple of the St Mary’s pillars being put into action and the four teachers are totally proud of them. The team of Goldrick, Harrigan, Barila and Phillips really appreciated this generosity of spirit thousands of miles from home. Well done to the present travellers – may their hunger for the arts only ever be partly satisfied so that their rich journeys can continue – and if you’re keen to join us in 2021 save your nickels and dimes and plan ahead!
From the Principal
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to the College for Term 4. Your girls have returned looking very smart in their summer uniforms and the Year 10 girls look particularly smart as they are proudly wearing their senior uniforms for the first time. All indicators point to a successful start to the term, with our Year 12 girls commencing the HSC while appearing to remain relatively calm, staff returning looking rested and ready for a busy few weeks and our students in Years 7 to 11 making a positive start to the term. We have an exciting and busy term ahead with our only worry being that it is going too quickly.
Over the last week our debaters have been competing in the local and Southern Region CDSA debating competitions. I am delighted to announce that the girls
have achieved a clean sweep of the competitions, winning both the local and the Southern Region Final in Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. This is an amazing
achievement and I congratulate all of our debaters and the teachers who have worked so hard to prepare the girls for these events. While reflecting
on success, I must also make mention of the Year 10 Commerce students who have been competing in the State Mock Mediation competition. These girls
have also been very successful and will compete in the grand final to be held at the Law Society in coming weeks. What talented young women we have
at St Mary’s College!
St Mary’s hosted students and staff from Tamagawa School in Japan for a full day visit on Thursday 24 October. The students and their teachers joined us for a welcome liturgy, shared stories about their school, spent the day learning about our school and shared traditions and dances from their country. Our girls were wonderful hosts and wonderful ambassadors for our school. As you are aware, understanding comes by forming relationships and much understanding and new relationships were formed as a result of this visit.
After 146 years of faithful service, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan will no longer have a presence in our school after this year. Sr Rita Fitt, our wonderful Family Liaison Coordinator, will be retiring to Melbourne at the end of 2019 after 15 years of service to our College and over 50 years in ministry. Sr Rita has been a wonderful presence in our community, looking after staff and families, delivering meals to families in need, visiting our HSC candidates before the beginning of their HSC and supporting families in times of sadness and need. Rita is irreplaceable and will be greatly missed by all in our community.
As a mark of our gratitude and to honour our history as a school established and staffed by many hundreds of Good Samaritan Sisters over the years, a celebration recognising the Sisters and their long and faithful service to St Mary’s and Wollongong will be held with the girls at the end of the year. This truly is the end of an era at St Mary’s. Thankfully, the Sisters will remain a presence in our community, with Good Samaritan Sisters continuing to reside in the convent, located very near the College.
The Senior Retreat will take place next week from 30 October to 1 November. There are three retreat sites located at Stanwell Tops, Long Point and the Southern Highlands. The retreat experience provides senior students commencing their HSC courses with the opportunity to take time away from the normal routines of school to pray, reflect and learn a little more about themselves and what they stand for. They also get to know each other a little better as a result of this experience. Having attended these retreats over the past ten years, I find them to be delightful opportunities to build relationships and to help the girls to focus on what is truly important at this stage of their lives. I ask that you keep the girls and staff in your prayers over the coming week.
I wish each of you a peace filled and happy weekend.
Debating Success
Expressive! Argumentative! Persistent! Tenacious! All these words describe our debaters who have won the Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 categories in the Southern Region CSDA Debating Competition to make it through to the Country Championships in Sydney.
Congratulations girls and team coaches on a great achievement.
Another BUMPER year for HSC Performance short list
So far we have received Onstage and Callback short-list nominations for two of our HSC Creative Arts subjects, Drama and Dance. This means our students’ projects are being considered for presentation next February for large Sydney audiences as examples of excellence from across the State.
The Drama students are Alyce Lasek for her heart-rending monologue “My Blessings” and Scarlett Lewis for her hilarious “My IKEA Potato Peeler”. The Dance students are Isabella Foligni and Mary Milross who were both nominated for Core Performance and Major Study Performance, with Isabella also being nominated for her Core Composition.
Several of these projects were highlighted at our HSC Showcase evening and it’s great to see our Creative Arts students' skill and dedication finding such wonderful recognition.
Thanks also goes to their dedicated teachers, Martina Visaggio and Skye Murray.
Air Force Simulator Experience - Air Force pilots in the making!
On Monday, 21 October St Mary’s students had an opportunity to fly high in the Air Force Simulator Experience which is an Air Force funded motivation program. This program aims to increase awareness and develop interest amongst young people in aviation careers (Pilot, Mission Aircrew and Mission Controller) within the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
AFL Diocesan Carnival
Two teams of Years 7, 8 and 9 students travelled to Macquarie Fields last Friday for the Diocesan AFL Carnival. Students had been keenly training for three weeks prior and were looking forward to testing themselves in the full contact sport.
The development team had a great day out under the guidance of Mrs Harland and Nara Rourke. They had one win in their pool stage and close losses in other gritty encounters. In the cross over play-offs they were beaten in extra time and finished seventh for the day.
The A-team won each of their pool matches convincingly and then their semi-final by a whopping 48-0. In the Grand Final, the team won 23-0 to be crowned champions, only conceding one goal and one behind all day.
Congratulations to all the girls for their courage and being great representatives of the College.
2019 Santa Teresa Outback Immersion
Last school holidays three Year 10 students, Shay Busch, Mikaela McCann and Tuqa Sabbar packed their bags and along with six other Good Samaritan students and three teachers headed off to the Northern Territory for an outback immersion. As we drove into Santa Teresa, which is located about 100 kilometres out of town, we were excited but unaware of what to expect. On arrival we were immediately struck by the welcoming nature of the community. The community is Catholic but itâs heavily influenced by traditional Aboriginal spirituality. They have been able to incorporate their culture and language through their use of murals, songs and even seating positions within the Church.
The days started early as we were involved in daily routines such as preparing and delivering meals for the community centre, helping out at the local creche, base coating works and at the spirituality Centre where the ladies do dot painting. The focus of this immersion is To Be as well as To Do, so we spent time listening to many stories. The stories were told around the campfire with Sister Liz, around the painting tables with the ladies dot painting, walking around the community and even hanging out playing basketball and table tennis at the Youth Centre. Just as St Benedict says, we listened with the ear of our hearts.
By living and being in the community we gained so much from this experience. We saw the strength, unity and faith of the Arrente people. This experience
will remain with us forever - Shay, Mikaela and Tuqa.
Kulilla Korner - But I'm Scared
We all struggle with difficult thoughts and feelings. Itâs hard to know what to do with these unpleasant experiences. Perhaps we can make room for them, open up to them, sit with them.
If interested to read more, please see the download section for this article.