College Newsletter | Term 3 - Week 2 | 28 July 2023

From the College Principal

Mr Matthew Brennan - College Principal (K-12)

Dear members of the St Greg’s family,

Welcome back to the second half of 2023! As a staff at our Professional Learning day last week, we reflected on the start of the year and used the analogy of halftime in a sporting fixture. Good teams at the break look to reflect, renew, and refocus. A number of staff have used this scenario with the students on their return.

The academic year gives opportunities to start again, with the start of a new semester allowing all students to reset.

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A Truly Outstanding Experience

Mr Joel Weekes - Assistant Principal

Dear Members of the St Gregory’s Family, 

The first half of 2023 has flown by, and I am sure that the second half will continue in the same way. There is plenty happening as always at St Greg’s and it is exciting to be a part of it. This week, we are all still basking in the enjoyment of Saturday night’s Blue and Maroon Ball ‘Under the Big Top’, the Stage 6 Course Selection evening on Wednesday and we continue to keep Year 12 in our prayers as they prepare for the HSC Trials that kick off on Monday.

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Student Voice and Agency

Mrs Diana Ivancic - Head of Junior School

I often joke with families who are new to the PYP (Primary Years Programme) that while parents often get tired of their children asking questions, we encourage our students to inquire, wonder and question, question, question.

A large part of the PYP programme is to encourage student voice and agency. Last term, one of our Year 5 students (Kye), emailed a letter to Mr Gannon and me with his thoughts around rethinking our student leadership model. One of our school parents from another grade also had some thoughts around it. Both had some great suggestions worth exploring.

 

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Mission in the College

Mrs Cathie Clarke - Director of Mission

After many COVID affected years, our first group of pilgrims set off to Suva in Fiji, on immersion.  An immersion is an opportunity to see the world from a different perspective. As Christians and as Marists, we believe have a responsibility to work in service not only for each other, but for the wider community in Australia and the global community. Thank you to Mr Pat Newell, Mrs Julie Sligar and the eight Year 11 students who represented us.

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A Marist Pedagogy at St Greg's

Ms Judith Tolomeo - Director of Teaching & Learning

Education is a dynamic field, and student demographics, learning styles, and societal demands change over time. Continuous professional learning helps teachers adapt to these changes, ensuring they remain relevant and effective in their roles. 

Continuing the College’s strategic focus for “A Learning Centred College”, all staff engaged in a Professional learning day last Monday 17 July. The first session provided all staff with mandatory child safeguarding information and training. This session continued with “the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Learning at St Greg’s”, looking specifically at an update on assessment procedures related to the use of AI. Teachers were given support to investigate the uses of AI in the learning environment, looking at ways to make formative assessment more engaging and meaningful, and creating rubrics to use in assessing student learning outcomes. 

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Challenges and Successes

Mr Baldino Vetrano - Director of Students

Dear College community,

I hope all is well and everyone had a relaxing 3-week break. Term 3 is going to be filled with many events and opportunities. Some important dates to look out for is NADOC week in week 2, the Year 7-9 St Greg’s Dance in week 4 and RUOK? Day in week 8. Not to mention the Year 12 Graduation at the end of the term. 

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Exams and Electives

Ric Bombardiere - Director of Studies

Upcoming Events

  • Monday 31 July  - Trial HSC Examinations begin (Year 12)
  • Wednesday 9 August - Stage 6 Course Selection Interviews (Year 10)
  • Friday 18 August - Stage 6 Course Submission Deadline (Year 10)
  • Tuesday 29 August - Electives Information Evening (Year 8 – Online)
  • Friday 15 September - Electives Submission Deadline (Year 8)
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Exams, Dinners and Graduation!

Luke Morrissey - Director of Boarding

Dear Parents and Friends,

Welcome to Term 3, generally the busiest term of the College calendar year. With Trial HSC exams, Preliminary exams, General assessments, completion of winter sport and commencement of summer sport trials, as well as the general day to day activities of the boarding school, the term has much to offer our community members.

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2023 Volleyball NSW Schools' Cup

Friday 23rd June

On the last day of Term 2, our junior and intermediate volleyball teams met Mrs Hackett and Mrs Simmons at 6:15am at Campbelltown Station to travel to Netball Central at Sydney Olympic Park to compete in the Term 2 Volleyball NSW Schools’ Cup.

Our junior team was made up of a mixture of experienced Years 7 and 8 students with a number of boys who have just joined the SGC Volleyball Program. In a pool with a very tall and experienced Year 8 team from Tempe High School and a strong team from St Ives High School, our inexperienced boys battled hard but were defeated in both pool games. 

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Joel Offord (Year 11)

 

Joel Offord raced at the NSW State All Schools Cross Country, he timed it to perfection finishing 6th, this qualifies him for the school team for the Australian Cross Country Championships on the 25 August in Canberra. 

 

Up to this point, Joel has had a niggling hip injury and so thought it might be a little tricky to qualify with limited training, but he was able to get through it and finish on a positive note with his last school nationals.

Lambing at St Greg's

 

Lambing has officially kicked off at St Greg’s for 2023 with our Corriedale Sheep! The lambing season started well with twins arriving last Thursday. Students from Years 7-12 will now be involved in the management and raising of all the lambs throughout the remainder of the year.

5 ewes have already lambed, with 9 little ones running around, another 15 to go! 

Australian Mathematics Trust - Maths Challenge for Young Australians

The Mathematics Challenge is Mathematics Extension program which aims to foster students’ understanding of the power of mathematics and the joy of problem solving. The Mathematics Challenge is the first stage of the MCYA. It is a series of very perplexing problems that the students have six weeks to complete. Marks are awarded for the logic behind the answers and the boys are challenged to justify their solutions with clear concise reasoning.

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2023 School Photos

Players – Just a little reminder!

A reminder that formal school photography will take place on;

  • Tuesday 29 August 2023 - Boarding, Portrait and Homeroom Photos
  • Tuesday 5 September 2023 - Co-curricular, Sport and Sibling photos

Further details on how to purchase your photos will be sent to families soon. 

Please keep an eye out for the email in the next few weeks.

 

Year 4 How We Express Ourselves

To provoke our thinking in the first inquiry of Semester 2, Year 4 explored different elements of The Arts, rating each according to their enjoyment on a scale from 1-5.

A variety of examples from the Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Drama were presented on computer screens around the classrooms for the students to explore with a partner of their choice. Wonderful discussions were overheard by the teachers as the students moved from screen to screen, sharing ideas and debating their ratings of each piece.

As the learning progressed, they shared their ratings with other members of the grade to compare their choices. Would they be willing to stand by their decisions, or would they be influenced by their peers? Could they communicate their thinking clearly to explain how deeply they connect with each element of The Arts?

Our Central Idea for this Unit of Inquiry is ‘Stories are told in various ways for multiple purposes.’ Through an exploration of The Arts, the students’ goal is to reach their own understanding of this idea and determine how they can take their knowledge and understanding and turn it into action.

So far, the students are enthusiastic and engaged in their learning and we are very excited about where our learning will take us over the coming weeks.

Mrs Mackay and Mr Edwards

Year 4 Class Teachers

PYP in the Junior School

Year 6 Art Gallery Excursion

On Thursday 20 July, Year 6 went on an excursion to the Art Gallery of New South Wales as a provocation for our PYP Exhibition. We visited the Art Gallery because the theme of the PYP Exhibition for this year is ‘How We Express Ourselves’. At the gallery, we examined artworks from the past and present in many different forms. We saw sculptures, paintings, installations, videos and sound rooms, abstract and historical art. We had the opportunity to participate in an artwork by shaping clay into spheres. It was great to get our hands on and be a part of the artwork.

During the week in class, we looked at various ways that humans can express themselves including, music, art, dance, writing, traditions, sign language and photography, just to name a few. When we returned from the gallery, we summarised our perceptions about culture and used this to formulate a draft of our own central idea: “Purposeful expression seeks to affirm or challenge cultural norms”. This will guide all of us throughout our Exhibition, regardless of what we end up inquiring into. 

Year 6 is looking forward to proposing issues that we can investigate further in the coming weeks.

By Lawson Sutton and Viduk Ambegoda

 

2023 PYP Exhibition

The PYP Exhibition is the culminating experience for students in their final year of the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme. Students explore, document, and share their understanding of an issue or opportunity of personal and global significance.

This year the PYP Exhibition will provide the students with the opportunity to engage in a collaborative inquiry into the transdisciplinary theme of ‘How We Express Ourselves’. Students will be inquiring into the central idea “Purposeful expression seeks to affirm or challenge cultural norms”. 

Stay tuned for more information, but for now you can ‘Save the Date’!

Year 6 PYP Exhibition, 2023:

  • Term 3, Week 10 
  • Wednesday September 20
  • 6.00pm

All are welcome - Parents, Carers, Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, Siblings other PYP Schools, members of local community

The more, the merrier!

 

Mr Mark Gannon

Assistant Head of Junior School & PYP Coordinator

Independent Primary Schools Sporting Organisation (IPSSO)

Independent Primary Schools Sporting Organisation (IPSSO) 

Winter Teams

 

For all the game details and scores, click more below.

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