Newsletter | Term 3 - Week 2 | 29 July 2022

College News and Farewell

Mr Matthew Brennan - College Principal (K-12)

Welcome to Mr Matthew Brennan

Mr Matthew Brennan commences next week as the new College Principal of St Gregory’s College. We look forward to welcoming him back to the College following his most recent appointment as Principal of St Augustine’s College Cairns during the last three and a half years. The official commissioning of Mr Brennan as the new College Principal will take place at the Mass to celebrate the Feast of Pope St Gregory the Great at 9.00am on Friday 2 September.

 

College Leadership

As previously advised, Mr Joel Weekes will continue in the role of Acting Assistant Principal for the remainder of 2022 and Mrs Diana Ivancic, and Mrs Rachael Cosentino will also continue in their respective roles of Acting Head and Acting Assistant Head of the Junior School. We assure them of our support and thank them for being willing to undertake these responsibilities until the remainder of the year. During Term 3, Marist Schools Australia Ltd will commence the process to appoint the next Assistant Principal of St Gregory’s College to commence in Term 1 2023.

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News from the Senior School

Mr Joel Weekes - Assistant Principal

Dear Members of the St Gregory’s College family,

I am absolutely delighted to welcome the community back to the College for Term 3. Although many of us may have experienced disrupted plans because of the recent weather, I trust that everyone is refreshed and looking forward to a positive and rewarding term.

I want to thank the organising committee of the Maroon and Blue Ball – Winter Wonderland. Saturday evening’s event was a great community night for all. The air-conditioning kicking off halfway through dinner may have threatened to make it into a real Winter Wonderland, but I am glad it eventually warmed back up! A big shout out to Ally Buckley for her leadership of such a great night!

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Happenings in the Junior School

Mrs Diana Ivancic - Head of Junior School

Dear Parents and Carers,

Have you noticed our new Learner Profile Pencils? Each Monday morning, I ask the children to think about which attribute they would like to focus on for the week.

One of the PYP Learner Profile attributes is Caring. It is also at the heart of what we do as Catholic people, as Marists. At St Gregory’s we strive to reflect the gentleness, humility and acceptance that Mary and St Marcellin Champagnat showed us (‘In the way of Mary’).

I took this photo while travelling during the last school holidays and felt saddened that as a society, we need to ask people to show empathy, gratitude, care and compassion. I thought that these were just common courtesy.

Students cannot “be what they cannot see”. As a community, we take the responsibility of modelling the manners and courtesy that we expect. In the way in which we greet each other, interact with one another, write an email or speak on the phone to each other helps to build this culture of respect. It is an attribute that we expect and model to our students every day, from the moment they walk through the school gate, enter the classroom, borrow a book from the library, buy an ice block from the canteen or greet the ladies in the office. Our staff stand by the motto “the standards we walk past are the standards we accept.”

Our School Prayer describes us “as people of love and compassion” and asks Jesus to help us “learn to appreciate each other”. I encourage you to use the language of the Learner Profile attributes at home also as part of our PYP Community.

God Bless,

 

Diana Ivancic

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A learning Centred College

The College Strategic Plan comprises 4 Strategic Priority Areas, one being “A learning Centred College”. Within this priority area are 2 key focus areas. One of these key focus areas is “Teaching will be built on collaborative, contemporary practices which will engage and inspire students, further developing them to be graduates ready to successfully take their place in a changing world”. This priority area reflects the current NSW Curriculum Reform.

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Senior Student Wellbeing and News

Dear College community,

I hope the three-week holiday has given everybody time to recharge and students are now ready for the term ahead.

It seems that students have returned focus and motivated. There is a wonderful atmosphere around the College as students and staff reunite and the business of learning and teaching ignites once again.

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Sport News!

As we conclude the Winter Season of representative sports, I would like to congratulate all staff and students on their efforts in our rugby league and football teams. With wet weather and ground closures hindering our scheduled games, the College moved into the finals with only three teams from the football competition progressing through to the grand finals. More finals reports can be found below, but congratulations to our Year 8A and Year 10 Football teams on their wins.

 

The Bill Turner team defeated Oran Park High School to move into the regional final against Thomas Hassall Anglican College. To make the final 32 teams in this growing competition is such a massive achievement and the furthest any College team has competed. The team has an outstanding mix of quality, size and stamina and we look forward to the upcoming game on 29th July at Lynwood Park.

 

Throughout the holidays, four senior students were representing the U18 NSWCCC Rugby League team at the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Championships in Redcliffe. Heath Mason, Thomas Fisher, Thomas Fletcher and Charlie Guymer competed very well throughout the tournament, with NSWCCC, unfortunately, going down in the semi-finals to eventual winners NSWCHS. All the boys are to be recognised for their selection and their efforts during these championships.

 

But from this defeat, there was some outstanding news with Year 12 students Thomas Fletcher being named in the Australian Secondary Schools U18 Rugby League team. This is a phenomenal achievement by Tom and is a just reward for all the hard work he has attributed to his rugby league development. Tom is standing in the back row, 4th from the left.

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PDS Sport Reports

After an interrupted season of PDS Football and Rugby League, the end of competition finals would be determined by applying a “Quotient Rule”. Several teams were in contention, but after many discussions amongst convenors and coordinators, St Greg’s moved into Grand Final week with only three teams competing. Well done to Year 8A, 8B and Year 10 football teams.

Unfortunately, our 3rd Grade League, Year 7 and Year 9 football teams all missed out by the smallest of margins.

 

Well done to all the boys for representing the College in our first PDS Winter Sports competition. After two years of Covid and then wet weather, it was a bitter sweet season, where it great to see some teams run around on the College grounds, but disappointing with the number of games that were completed.

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2022 City Vs Country Origin Game - St Gregory’s College Campbelltown

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PDS 7 -10 Boys Football Gala Day

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Bill Turner Cup – Round 4

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St Gregory’s College Volleyball

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Year 7 2024 Enrolment Applications

Applications are open for Year 7 2024! First-round applications must be submitted by Sunday 14 August 2022. All applications submitted after this date will be reviewed for any remaining positions in the second round which will close in early 2023.

 

To submit an enrolment application, please visit the College website. All boys currently in Year 5 at the Junior School do not have to complete this step as it has already been done for you.

 

 

Please contact Bianca Suraci, Enrolment Registrar at registrar@stgregs.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.

Australian Geography Competition

Last term, Geography students from Yrs 9-12 completed the Australian Geography Competition. This competition was hosted online and included 40 multiple choice questions across a range of Geographical outcomes. The task was very difficult and required the students to have the strong content knowledge and the ability to apply geographical inquiry skills to answer many questions. 

 

Congratulations to the following students for their achievements:

  • Lei Kelekolio (Yr 9) - CREDIT
  • Oisin Chretien (Yr 11) - CREDIT
  • Tim Saunders (Yr 11) - DISTINCTION 
  • Lachlan Stanley (Yr 11) - CREDIT
  • John McDonald (Yr 12) - CREDIT 

All students who participated in the competition will receive an award with their results in their upcoming Geography lessons. 

 

Well done!

 

Ms Rachael Keith 

New Sentral for Parents App!

The Sentral for Parents App is about to be added to our systems to assist in communication to Parents and Carers. The Sentral for Parents App allows you to monitor your child’s school journey simply and efficiently. You will find numerous features that will help with communication and planning. Over this term and throughout the remainder of the calendar year we will roll out more and more features of the app to help you stay connected and informed about your child’s education. Details about different features will be communicated when they come online.

For further information, please read the attached document.

 

Mr Barry Graham
Director of Administration

CSDA Debating Quarter Finals

The Friday fight night of words and ideas continued last night in Liverpool with two teams in the CSDA Debating Quarter Finals. Our Year 11A team of Angus Limbrey, Tim Saunders, Lachlan Dady and Macs Rubain argued well but the adjudicator's decision went against them.

The Year 7A team of Rhys Penfold, Avanindra Sikarwar, Lachlan Selby and Fletcher Kroh won and now progress to the semi-finals. To have two teams reach the quarter-finals is a wonderful result and a great achievement for the debating and public speaking program at the College. Many thanks to Maria Santos for her support and mentoring of the boys (and coaches!).

Mr Greg Bond

Flexischool Orders on Thursday

Dear Senior School Students,

Flexischool orders from the Cafe on Thursdays will be collected at RECESS outside the MARIAN CENTRE from this week onwards. The Cafe will still be open at lunch but all online Flexischool orders from Thursday 28 July will be collected at RECESS. 

Kind regards,

 

Mr Graham

Book Week 2022

 

St Gregory’s Book Week 2022 started on Monday 25th July. Both of our Libraries are looking very festive for what our Teacher Librarians and Library Assistants call “Librarian’s Christmas”.

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Year 7 2024 Enrolment Applications

Applications are open for Year 7 2024! First-round applications must be submitted by Sunday 14 August 2022. All applications submitted after this date will be reviewed for any remaining positions in the second round which will close in early 2023.

 

To submit an enrolment application, please visit the College website. All boys currently in Year 5 at the Junior School do not have to complete this step as it has already been done for you.

 

 

Please contact Bianca Suraci, Enrolment Registrar at registrar@stgregs.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.

Year 1 Authors

During Term 2, some very clever little authors in Year 1, set out to write some incredible stories. For one story they started with a stimulus picture of a carnival and used this to let their imaginations run wild.

Also, there was an opportunity to write a ‘Tiny Tale’ of 300 words or less! They learned about planning, collaboration, applying feedback, editing and publishing a story. Congratulations to Scarlett Frkic, Samira Pereira, Hudson Schipp, Amelia Austin and Adriana Grados. We were very proud of the final results!

Mrs Louise Limbrey

Year 1 Teacher / K-12 Team Member

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New Sentral for Parents App!

The Sentral for Parents App is about to be added to our systems to assist in communication to Parents and Carers. The Sentral for Parents App allows you to monitor your child’s school journey simply and efficiently. You will find numerous features that will help with communication and planning. Over this term and throughout the remainder of the calendar year we will roll out more and more features of the app to help you stay connected and informed about your child’s education. Details about different features will be communicated when they come online.

For further information, please read the attached document.

 

Mr Barry Graham
Director of Administration

Independent Primary Schools Sporting Organisation (IPSSO)

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Save the Date | Junior School Spanish Festival

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Years 7-12 Trivia Night