No. 4 20 March, 2015

All Saints Catholic Colleges’

Newsletter

Daniel Delany: Founder of the Patrician Brothers

Mary Aikenhead: Foundress of the Sisters of Charity

Dear Parents / Carers,

Earlier this year a colleague shared with me the following story, which I think effectively captures the message of this Lenten season. It is my hope that as a community we can each fully support each other through our own struggles so that we can continue to grow and develop into a resilient people of Hope. THE BUTTERFLY A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole.Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly.

He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.

Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shrivelled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly.

He did not understand that in his well-intentioned kindness, he had changed the order of things. He was unaware that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon was natures way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggle is exactly what we need in life. If we were allowed to go through life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. We would never be able to fly.

“I asked for Strength… And I got difficulties to make me strong.”

“I asked for Wisdom… And I got problems to solve.”

“I asked for Prosperity… And I got a brain and brawn to work.”

“I asked for Courage… And I got obstacles to overcome.”

“I asked for Love… And I got troubled people to help.”

“I asked for Favours… And I got opportunities.”

“I received nothing I wanted… But I received everything I needed.”

(Richard Bach)

Stephen Gough Principal

All Saints Catholic Girls College53 Bigge Street, Liverpool 2170 Ph. 9602-0039

Web. ascgcliverpool.catholic.edu.au

All Saints Catholic Boys College43 Bigge Street, Liverpool 2170 Ph. 9602-4555

Web. ascbcliverpool.catholic.edu.au

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8th March. This is a day to celebrate the wonderful achievements of females around the world and to also raise awareness of gender equality. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Make it Happen”.

At All Saints Girls we celebrated this day with a fantastic assembly that showcased the talents of many well known women such as Julia Gillard, Amelia Earheart, Marie Curie, Jane Austen, Emma Watson and Malala Yousafzai. Girls were also reminded of successful ex-students of All Saints Girls who have “made it happen” and are achieving wonderful things within their chosen career paths.

Our assembly also focused on gender equality and students were treated to a wonderful video that was created by some of our College leaders that featured staff and students talking about their views on feminism, strong women, gender equality, and their female role models. The presentation was very entertaining, but even more importantly, communicated a vital message that we want our students to always remember – that women and men are equal and that as All Saints Girls, they can achieve anything.

Students were all given purple ribbons to wear for the day and many participated in a special IWD trivia quiz. The College was also treated to a selection of music at lunchtime, all sung by successful female artists with empowering lyrics.

Thank you to all girls for their participation on the day and a special thank you to the School leaders who presented at the assembly.

Rachel Sampson

If someone asked me the question: What makes the biggest difference in determining one’s success in life? My answer would be a simple one word response – attitude. Attitude shapes one’s life and also determines our perceptions. I want to share with you briefly a story I heard recently.

A wise old man was sitting outside a school waiting for a bus. A student sat next to him and said; “I am new to this school and I want to know what it is like.” The old man paused for a moment and replied: “Tell me, what was your previous school like?” The student replied: “It was pretty boring; – the teachers weren’t very good; the students mucked around a lot and there wasn’t much to do.” The old man responded: “This school will be pretty much the same”

A short time later another new student came along and asked the same question. The old man responded: “Tell me, what was your previous school like?” The student replied: “It was great; the teachers were nice and very helpful; the students were great and I had a lot of good friends; there was always plenty of exciting things to do.” The old man responded: “This school will be pretty much the same.”

Put simply, our attitudes go a long way towards creating a positive environment and they can be very contagious. Our attitudes towards people, work, rules and life in general are our responsibility. We cannot control everything that happens around us, but we can control how we react and respond to these things.

Attendance / Applications for LeaveRegular attendance at school is essential to assist students to maximise their potential. Schools, in partnership with parents, are responsible for promoting the regular attendance of students.

Parents are required to explain the absences of their children from school promptly and within seven days to the school.

If your child has to be away from school, you must tell the school and provide a reason for your child’s absence. To explain an absence, parents and carers should either:

send a note with the child to school within seven days of the absence.•telephone the school.•

If your child is unwell for a number of days (2 days or more) please notify the school by phone to inform of this situation. It is still necessary to send a note in this instance on your child’s return to school.

It is also very important that all students arrive to school and class on time every day. Lateness to school or leaving early from school should be avoided whenever possible and is recorded as a partial absence. Students who arrive late or leave early from school are required to sign out from the front office with the signature of their Year Coordinator in their student diary.

Application for Exemption If you consider that it is in your child’s best interest to be exempted from the legal requirement to attend school for any length of time, parents and carers are required to apply to the Principal for exemption. The school will provide an Application for Exemption from Attendance at School form, and assist you to complete it, if required. The Principal will consider your application and decide whether to grant a Certificate for Exemption from Attendance at School.

Thank you for your cooperation.Steve Muller

From the Assistant Principals

All Saints GirlsMs Rachel Sampson

All Saints BoysMr Steven Muller

International Women’s Day

The boys walked into the school grounds on the 17th March to a feast for the senses! There was Irish music playing across the school, green streamers draped from the balconies and shamrocks-a-plenty. There was the delicious aroma of donuts with green icing and other green treats on sale, raising money for the Delany Foundation to get the boys into the spirit of a day of celebration.

To thank God for the life and legacy of St Patrick, we came to the source and summit of Catholic life. We came to experience the presence of our Lord; to be nourished and renewed in the Eucharist; to be reminded that Christ is at the centre of all we do here at school.

Fr Pierluigi celebrated the mass for us and it was a meaningful and beautiful celebration of the man who taught difficult concepts (the Holy Trinity) using simple means (a shamrock) and made such a difference. The boys rose to the occasion behaving reverently and experiencing the great gift we find in the memory of St Patrick, a mere child who was captured by pirates and fell in love with Christ.

St Patrick lit this flame in the hearts of Irish pagans, many centuries later his torch was picked up by Bishop Delany and it now rests in our care. Everyday every action we complete and every word we say, play an important role in the way Christ is alive on earth today. St Theresa’s prayer tell us Christ has no body now but ours. In order for the feast of St Patrick to have meaning for us, this needs to be our truth as we live, work and pray in community.

I would like to thank, Fr Pierluigi, staff and students for the active roles they played in this celebration. I spoke with a member of the parish after the mass and she spoke highly of the liturgy and commented in particular on our College song: One in Heart and Mind, which tells the story of the Patricians and the light they bore and continue to bear in the name of Jesus and in the tradition of St Patrick.

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Mrs Therese McDonaldCampus Religious Education Coordinator

From The Campus Religious Education Coordinator

Mrs Therese McDonald

St Patrick’s Day

Youth Ministry CoordinatorOn Sunday 15th March we did our first St Vincent De Paul Brekky Van for 2015. Twelve students gathered during the early hours of Sunday morning half asleep and ready to go. We travelled to Lewisham, collected our equipment and changed vehicles. We then proceeded to Prince Alfred Park, Surry Hills. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by a number of homeless individuals who were hungry and eager for breakfast.

We had plenty of hands to go around preparing all the food and drinks. The morning was spent busily cooking food and having conversations with the clients. The students from both All Saints Girls and All Saints Boys did a great job; I commend Janelle, Sarah, Meghan, Preethi, Alison, Brianna, Dru, Andrew, Joseph, Ian, Chris and John for getting up so early and for getting involved. They did a great job.

Lastly I would like to thank staff which included our bus driver and signature head chef Mr Adam Rafferty, on preparation of food and drink were Mrs Julie Jones, Mrs Wendy Jarrett, Ms Angela Porro, Mrs Karen Buckley and ex staff member Ms Jamie-Lee Wood. A thank you to Ms Carolyn Blinco for attending also.

Overall, it was a successful day, both students and staff got to meet and have conversations with people from different walks of life, which was very rewarding. Many individuals, with many stories can teach you so much no matter their circumstances.

Thank you to all the students who helped out, we’re looking forward to the next Brekky Van June 21st.

God bless,

Danielle McPhersonYouth Ministry Coordinator

Year 9 English Excursion - Bell Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It.’

On Wednesday March 18, Year 9 girls travelled to the Sydney Opera House to see Bell Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It,’ a comedy written by William Shakespeare.

It was a really exciting experience and the actors were very funny. Although some parts were difficult to understand it was an entertaining performance.

The lighting was well produced and it was exciting when flowers dropped and the stage transformed into a garden in front of our eyes.

Thank you to the teachers who organised the event and looked after us on the day.

By Jane Hoang.

Year 10 FundraisingCongratulations to Year 10 for raising $1251.00 for Project Compassion. A job well done! The following people need to be given a big thank you, as without them, it would not have been possible for this to happen.

I would like to thank on behalf of Year 10, Ms Rosa Moio from Comsec Training Ptd Ltd at Lidcombe for donating the Samsung phone. The company has done wonders over the past 2 years for the College donating a 50” colour TV last year and this year a Samsung Galaxy phone.

Congratulations goes to Kayley Stam from 10 Xavier who won the phone. It seems that the colour green is lucky! There was a little competition amongst the homerooms on who would raise the most and the winning Homeroom would receive a pizza lunch. You guessed it! 10 Xavier with Ms O’Shea. Thank you 10 Xavier and thank you Ms O’Shea for giving the girls inspiration and motivation.

Year 10 Coordinator Maria D’Auria

Food Technology Industry VisitIt is with pleasure that I report on this years Sydney Tower Food Technology industry visit. The Year Ten boys are pictured going through their assessment booklets as they viewed the commercial kitchen areas, 360 degree restaurant and International Sydney Tower dining area. There are over 44 dishes on the menu including Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile and I am sure the boys tried them all. Well done boys on your very mature attitude and excellent food etiquette on this important excursion in your Food Technology studies. A big thanks to Mr Guirguis for preparing you for this first assessment task and setting you up for the year ahead.

Mr Peter TsitsosTAS Coordinator

The 9th Dream Car Toyota Art ContestThis Art Competition invited students to be creative in designing a Dream Car. Congratulations to Tejit Pradhan for entering the competition. Tejit has included a description of the car he designed featuring the latest technology.

Best wishes to Tejit in the competition.

“My dream car has the most sophisticated aerodynamic designs. Aerodynamic is a vital component of my car because it gives more mileage with less power consumption. This car will have the next-generation entertainment system that can make the most of the latest smartphones. It has an integrated system called connect drive. Connect drive offers a variety of applications that reflects a phones home screen with messaging, music, and mapping services onto an 8” display. It will also feature, a Velodyne 34-beam laser. This laser allows the vehicle to generate a detailed 3D map of its environment. The car then takes these generated maps and combines them with high-resolution maps of the surrounding areas, producing different types of data models that allow it to drive itself. Another cool feature in this car is fuel efficiency tips or notifications while you’re driving. The car will notify the driver to the closest power station. Choosing my dream greener car is imperative”.

Tejit Pradhan 9A

The link below is for a support group for parents of children on the Spectrum. It is in Liverpool and it looks like a good service for our families.

http://aass.org.au/

Maths Challenge ClassExtended learning has taken on new meaning for the Year 5 and 6 students from All Saints Catholic Primary Liverpool who work to a high school mathematics timetable.The Maths Challenge Class allows students in Years 5 to 8 from the primary school and neighbouring All Saints Catholic Girls and Boys Colleges to learn more complex mathematical concepts than they would be faced with in a regular class for the subject. About 30 students take part across the grades, with Year 5 and 6 students working to the Year 7 challenge class timetable and Year 8 students following their own timetable.Maths co-ordinator Katrina Brubacher said the class began after some of last year’s high achieving year 7 boys were asked how much of the material they had learnt in the year was entirely new to them.

“The answer they were giving me was 15 to 20 per cent,” she said.“That was where we realised there was time there that could be better spent some other way.“My goal with the class is for them to work out how to approach those questions they don’t know how to get started on. Very able students often think ‘If I have to spend more than five minutes thinking about it I can’t do it’, so they haven’t developed the resilience to tackle problems they don’t know the answer to.“Girls and boys for whom maths doesn’t come quite so naturally are already developing those skills because they are encountering those sorts of problems naturally in the maths classroom.

“I asked one of the students in year 8 what he thought of having the younger students in the class and the word he used was ‘humbling’. They’re realising that there are very bright students who are younger and that age doesn’t necessarily reflect ability.”Year 6 student Brandon Alves, 11, said the class was helping him to become familiar with the high school environment along with positive and negative whole numbers, or integers.“We get interesting work and some things we’ve never seen before,” he said.“We’ve learnt about integers on a duodecimal system and a hexadecimal system. Maths is my favourite subject.”Year 5 student Angelina Nguyen, 10, said she was excited to be asked to join the challenge class, and enjoyed English and Art as well as Mathematics.“I feel happy to be part of the class,” she said.Year 8 student Soubhag Gopi, 13, said he liked doing the maths set for the challenge class which has included work on rates and ratios.

“The worksheets are a bit more advanced that what we’re currently doing in school so it’s challenging and I have to think hard about every question to find the answer,” he said.The All Saint’s Boys and Girls Colleges, which teach years 7 to 10, will merge in 2016. This change will bring further innovation to the curriculum, with core classes including Mathematics, English, Science and History remaining single-sex, and some elective subjects becoming coeducational.“We’ve been working side by side for the past 60 years,” said Principal Stephen Gough.“This will build on the proven record of the All Saints’ community of schools, in terms of academic achievement, learning gain, and the quality of our graduates.“While the primary school is co-ed and the senior school is co-ed there are some families who have traditionally wanted some gender specialist opportunity in the middle years. We will maintain single-sex core classes and co-ed electives to offer the best of both worlds.”

Public SpeakingOn March 13th, the Grand Final of this prestigious competition was held at Christian Brothers High School Lewisham. Isaiah Jimeno proudly represented the College in the Year 9 division. Although he didn’t come home with a trophy, Isaiah spoke with great eloquence and aplomb and proved a wonderful ambassador for our College. Congratulations Isaiah.

M. CurranAll Saints Catholic Boys CollesPublic Speaking Coordinator

Congratulations to Janeille Rigava, Millaray Vallejos, Mufaro Mutowembwa, Kira Rosch, Georgie Windshuttle and Janella Huelgas who participated in the 2015 CSDA Public Speaking Competition. Special Congratulations to Mufaro Mutowembwa who advanced to the Zone Final Round. The CSDA Competition aims to build student skills in verbal expression and focuses especially on the manner of delivery, the matter presented and the method of presentation. The standard of student speeches was exceptionally high this year and our students performed very well. Sincere thanks to Mr. Gough and Ms. McPherson for supporting our students during the competition, and a special thank you to Ms. Kasz for assisting with adjudication.

Madeleine BallAll Saints Catholic Girls CollegePublic Speaking Coordinator

Parent ICT ClassesThis week sees the conclusion of a four week course undertaken by Year 7 parents from both the Boys and Girls Colleges.

The classes, held on Tuesday evenings and Thursday afternoons were attended by about twelve families and were focused on introducing parents to the digital learning environment here at the Colleges. Of particular focus was learning the difference between Macs and Windows machines, using the software found on the MacBooks together with working within the Cloudshare (Google) virtual learning environment.

Thank you to all the parents involved - I hope you all got something out of this experience.

Matthew WellseLearning Coordinator

Clean Up Australia DayDuring the afternoon of 27th of February, the Year 10 members of our E n v i r o n m e n t g r o u p participated in the Clean Up Australia Day 2015. Clean up Australia Day is traditionally held every year on the first Sunday of the March all around the country. Schools are able to participate and clean their grounds on the Friday prior to that day. Our College has been participating for the last 6 years and this year the response was fantastic. There were over 50 girls involved and they were divided into 7 groups; with those girls working on their Silver Awards leading the groups. They had to clean up different areas around the school including the Shared Area, Undercroft, Quad, Staff rooms, Office, TAS buildings, F-block, Canteen area, PA- block, Science building and even the outside of the College fence perimeter was thoroughly cleaned.

It was a wonderful day weather wise and a big learning curve for the girls creating awareness about the importance of keeping our environment clean. The girls worked very efficiently and made sure our school was spotless afterwards. Congratulations and a big thank you to all the girls for their participation and their efforts in providing the community with a service like this. I would also like to thank Mrs Majurdic and Mrs Har for organising this event and helping out through out the day.

Janeille RigavaYr10

Cross Country CarnivalSt Patrick’s Day was a great day to share our Cross Country event with. The students came to the event with great enthusiasm and pride. The participation and sportsmanship for each of the students was at an all time high. Students had to complete either 6km, 4km or 3km events depending on their age group. The runners challenged themselves and some even ran more than once.

Downey house were the number one house on the day finishing on 192 points. Congratulations Downey.

The Age Champions for each group were:

12s – Karl Manuel13s – Cameron Hill14s – Noah Casalini15s – Peter Wajzer16s – Joshua Arena

Thank you to everyone for making the Cross Country a successful event and to all the parents and families that came to spectate. A special thank you to Louise and Andrew Huggett and their team for their tireless effort in the canteen and on the barbeque.

Rosanne TacconeActing Sports Coordinator

ALL SAINTS GIRLS

Wednesday 25 March“The Importance of Being Ernest”performance

Friday 27 MarchEarth Hour 12:30 - 1:30pm

New Student Afternoon Tea

Monday 30 MarchYear 8 - Powerhouse Excursion

IMPORTANT DATESALL SAINTS BOYS

Monday & Tuesday23 March & 24 March

Year 7 - Camp

Tuesday 24 MarchMCS Swimming5.00 - 10.00pm

Wednesday 25 MarchYear 10 - ANSTO Excusion

Friday 27 MarchYear 8 - Retreat

ASCGC & ASCBCCOMBINED

Saturday 21 MarchOpen Day

10.00am - 1.00pm

BREAKFAST CLUB

Open from 8.00am - 8.30am daily

Everyone Welcome!