Welcome to the new year. It is hard to believe we have returned to begin a new year and that we have now transitioned into the 20’s. I am aware that a number of our families would have had little rest over Christmas. The bushfires were a constant threat and if you were not trying to protect your own property, you may have been out saving the property of others. If you have been directly or indirectly affected by these fires and are feeling the strain as a result, please come and have a conversation with us at the College so we can be of assistance. If your daughter is possibly feeling the burden of the family pressure, please let us know so we can provide some support or at least keep a watchful eye on her over this term. We are a community that cares and supports, so please let us know.

Aside from the pain and the ongoing concerns that are plaguing our country and communities at the moment, we have had a great start to the year. Clearly the girls were delighted to see their friends again and have embraced the new school year with enthusiasm. Even the new Mobile Phone Policy has been accepted by the girls with great maturity. As some girls conveyed to me through the week, “Well, Mrs Lennox, I now have to manage my addiction to my phone but I know it is the best for my education!” I am sure it will work very well for the girls. If you need to contact your daughter urgently, please call reception and I can assure you they will convey the urgent message to your daughter asap. The new policy requires all phones to be keep in the student lockers for the duration of the school day. Penalties apply to those who access it during the day. Consequences escalate with multiple breaches.

Included in this edition is an overview of our HSC results. Once again, the girls did very well and I believe all have been accepted into the courses they wanted in university. We are hosting a High Achievers Assembly for the girls on 12 February. All girls from the cohort have been invited back to congratulate the girls who achieved significant results. Further to this, on Monday night at the NSW Catholic Schools Sports Awards night, Amy S won the most outstanding female sports woman award throughout NSW for 2019. This is a very prestigious accolade for Amy and we will recognise this achievement at the High Achievers award ceremony.

Also included in this edition are the photos of our new staff. I would like to warmly welcome them to St Patrick's.

Mrs Kirrily Cousins - Japanese teacher

Mrs Shayne Denford - Library Technician

Mr Christopher Duncan - Aboriginal Education Assistant

Miss Gina Lee - Maths teacher

Mrs Alicia Pollicina - TAS/Hospitality teacher

Mrs Tanya Robertson - Design and Technology Teacher

Miss Abbey Stapley - Science Teacher

Miss Mary Trinh - Science Teacher

Miss Ellen Wilson - RE teacher

I am confident they will be a great addition to our team of staff.  In addition to the staff, we have a number of new students. The Year 7 girls and quite a number in Years 8, 9 and 10. To all these girls and their families, I extend a very warm welcome. I expect you will be embraced by those in this community and find you soon are very much part of the furniture. If there are any difficulties, please let us know early so they can be corrected. I look forward to watching all the girls grow and flourish over the years in their St Pat’s community.

We will again host an International Women’s Day Breakfast on 5 March. As an all-girls school, it is very important that we celebrate occasions such as this. We will have a panel of ex-students at the breakfast. They will share their experiences since leaving the College and girls will have the opportunity to question them about their choices and their lives. I encourage you to join us in the morning from 7.00am. The cost is $15 per ticket, which includes a very generous breakfast.

As we focus on Benedictine PAX for this year, I share with you the prayer that is said daily by the Pax Christi members in the United Kingdom.

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal 

Thank you loving God
For the gift of life
For this wonderful world which
we all share
For the joy of love and friendship
For the challenge of helping to build
your kingdom.

Strengthen
My determination to work for a world
of peace and justice
My conviction that, whatever our
nationality or race,
we are all global citizens, one in Christ
My courage to challenge the
powerful with the values of the Gospel
My commitment to find nonviolent
ways of resolving conflict—personal, local,
national and international
My efforts to forgive injuries and to love
those I find it hard to love.

Teach me
To share the gifts you have given me
To speak out for the victims of injustice
who have no voice
To reject the violence which runs
through much of our world today.

Holy Spirit of God
Renew my hope for a world free from the cruelty and
evil of war, so that we may all come to share in God’s
peace and justice.

Pax Christi Daily Prayer

There are many reasons why the Church in Australia needs this gathering. The contemporary society of Australia has changed significantly, and the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse has been a significant and influential event that requires deep consideration and response.

When the Australian Catholic Bishops announced the decision to hold a Plenary Council, Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge said that “the Church is not the presence in our society it once was. We need to take a measure of that and make decisions accordingly. The culture in which we have to proclaim the Gospel is very different to what it was even 20 or 30 years ago.”

It is being held in 2020 in order to give the Catholic community in Australia time to listen, dialogue and discern with one another and, guided by the Holy Spirit, about the future, the role and relevance of the Catholic Church in Australia.

The image above shows some of the issues present for our Church in 2020. They have been raised through a thorough process that has been taking place in parishes across the country.

More than 222,000 people participated in listening and dialogue encounters and contributed 17,457 submissions during the first stage of preparation for the Australian Plenary Council. From this, six National Themes for Discernment were developed. Each of these themes relate to how God is calling us to be a Christ-centred Church in Australia in one aspect. They are titled:

1. Missionary and Evangelising
2. Inclusive, Participatory and Synodal
3. Prayerful and Eucharistic
4. Humble, Healing and Merciful
5. Joyful, Hope-filled Servant Community
6. Open to Conversion, Renewal and Reform

What follows is a prayer for the Plenary Council:

Come, Holy Spirit of Pentecost.

Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.

O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia

and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.

Give us the grace to see your face in one another

and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.

Give us the courage to tell our stories

and to speak boldly of your truth.

Give us ears to listen humbly to each other

and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.

Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,

that we may live the joy of the Gospel.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,

bread for the journey from age to age.

Amen.

Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.

St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.

Louise East - Religious Studies Coordinator

In 2019,  100 students presented for the Higher School Certificate test in 31 subjects delivered at the College and five subjects either delivered by TAFE or private providers. Of these students, 16 received a Band 6 or equivalent in one or more of their subjects.

There were 24 mentions on the distinguished achievers' list in 14 different subjects. Three students achieved an ATAR above 90. The Dux of the College was Niamh G who received a very impressive ATAR of 97.05, followed by Payton I with an ATAR of 94.4  and Andrea M with an ATAR of 90.90.

We had a further 18 students who received an ATAR in the 80s which made up 21% of the cohort receiving very high ATARs. Several students also secured early entry to university and scholarships.

The tables following indicate the College’s Distinguished Achievers and the subjects in which students achieved a Band 6 and a list of students who had received an ATAR of 80 and above.

Chris Bettiol - Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching

To access the Portal, an account is first created.

Portal registration for new users:
https://sentral.saintpatricks.nsw.edu.au/portal/register. Use a valid email address to create a username and password. Once an account is created, enter your portal key to connect your account to your daughter's records.

Students use their username and password to login to the student portal. Parents and students should bookmark this link - https://sentral.saintpatricks.nsw.edu.au/portal  for speedy access.

The gallery below includes screenshots displaying the types of information available.

Debra Bourne - Leader of eLearning and Library Services

 Students are to ensure that they have the correct uniform on at all times. If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the College on kwallin@saintpatricks.nsw.edu.au

Kelly Wallin - PDHPE Coordinator

We welcomed back the students in the first week and they were very excited to see the TAS timber and textiles rooms completed. We want to thank Mrs Lennox and the Leadership Team for the realisation of the vision for Westview; along with Mr Fuda and the Maintenance Team, TAS Faculty and students for the hard work behind the scenes moving all of the resources and equipment from the "old rooms" to the "new rooms".

Please make sure you come past and see the newly completed Westview TAS rooms. Here are a few pictures of the finished rooms in the TAS Block Westview.

Dale Reader - TAS Coordinator

The eLearning Team helped students to install some software and configure settings. Following is a list of some changes made to Year 7 devices during onboarding.

Google Backup and Sync is an app for Mac and PC that backs up files and photos safely in Google Drive and Google Photos. Note that during the install, we advised students to unselect Pictures to reduce the data uploads during the onboarding.

Figure 1: Google Backup and Sync options on a laptop (image source: Google Blogs, Introducing Backup and Sync)

iPad users installed the Google Drive App.

Supporting daughters with Google Drive – Check that the software has been properly installed. The download link is here - https://www.google.com/drive/download/. (Remove Google File Stream if this app is installed). Help with organisation by creating one folder for each of her subjects.

Email –Email addresses for students have this format: username@saintpatricks.nsw.edu.au. This is a Google account, and access is the same for any other Gmail account. Laptops use a browser such as Chrome - https://mail.google.com/ and iPads install the Gmail App from the App store.

Supporting daughters with Email – Students are expected to check email at least once a day on school days. Email writing is an important literacy and life skill. Briefly, the  eLearning team touched on Email Etiquette and outlined expectations for composing (formal) emails to staff.  Parents and guardians can support students with help in composing emails to staff.

Canvas is the eLearning system in use at the College. Each course has a Canvas space to support teaching and learning in subjects.

Figure 2: An example of a course landing page in Canvas

Supporting daughters with Canvas – ask your daughter to show you her Canvas dashboard. Check that her subjects are present. Browse some of her courses and get a feel for the kinds of resources that are available.

Printing – Students were shown how to connect to and print to networked photocopiers. These are available in the Library, Westview and Integration spaces. All students are allocated a 200 page credit at the beginning of each semester. Once the page limit has been exhausted, students can top-up their printing credit at Student Services.

Getting help – Students can log a support ticket – St Pat’s Helpdesk and outline their problem and a member of the IT Team will contact them (students login with their Google account). Alternatively, IT support is available before school, recess and at lunch time in the library. The Library team is always the first port-of-call with any type of help needed.

Best Start Year 7 is an online literacy and numeracy assessment that assesses key literacy and numeracy skills. It is designed to assist teachers to identify students who may require additional support in developing their literacy and numeracy skills. The assessment is undertaken within the first five weeks of the school year.

The purpose of the Best Start Year 7 assessment is to provide feedback to teachers to help identify student needs. Feedback will be provided to teachers who may choose to share this with students, parents and carers during teacher interview processes.

Best Start Year 7 is just one of a range of assessments the school uses to assess students.

Please inform the school if your child has special needs requiring support to complete an online assessment. Enquiries may be directed to Mrs McGillicuddy (Literacy) or Mrs Parker (Numeracy).

Claire McGillicuddy - Engish Teacher

The girls represented the College with pride in each round of the Law Society of New South Wales’ Mock Mediation Competition. The team was exceptional in their ability to role play and meditate a range of interesting and challenging scenarios. Their success saw our team reach the Semi Final, only missing out on the Grand Final by two points.

The professional and mature approach of our mediators, Chantelle D and Cordelia P, was noted by each adjudicator, one stating that the Semi Final was the best mediation he had ever seen. Our party members consisted of Caragh P, Marissa K, Chantelle M, Jessica N and Mackenzie L who were inspirational in their ability to debate, role play and resolve each given scenario. A special mention should go to Katrina B for her fantastic performance in a demonstration mediation put on for our Year 9 students and a special thanks to Jadyn B for all of her efforts throughout the year.

I would like to congratulate our Semi-Finalists for an outstanding year. They should be commended for their dedication, hard work and high spirits throughout this year’s competition.

Jason Muller - Mock Mediation Coordinator

Below is some information that may help students with the transition into the Representative Sports program at the College and may answer some the questions you or your daughter may have.

Communication

The primary method of communication is via email. Supporting the email system will be the daily notices. The daily notices can be accessed by all students in pastoral lessons via the St Patrick’s Connect portal. Some information will also be posted on the sports noticeboard which is located outside the Sports Coordinator's office.

MISA Sport

Is part of our rep sport program where we play against other local Catholic schools in a round robin competition on Tuesday afternoons. The sports played are term and age based. Trials for these teams are conducted on Tuesday afternoons during sport time at either the start or end of each term depending on the length of the season. MISA is open to all students and they are required to register their interest via the form they are emailed prior to trials starting.

Wollongong Diocesan Sporthttps://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/sport/

Is part of our rep sport program where we play other Catholic schools from the Diocese of Wollongong. These events are generally one day tournaments and are the major pathway to further representation. These teams are open to all students and selection trials for these teams take place during lunchtimes on the College grounds. Again, students are asked to complete the registration form they are emailed prior to the trial in order to register their interest. All training for these teams are conducted during schools hours on the College grounds.

NSWCCC (Combined Catholic Colleges) https://csnsw.sport/

This is our pathway program to State and National representation. Students can be selected for NSWCCC teams through their participation in NSWCCC championships as part of the Wollongong Diocesan representative team or through the individual nomination process using the CSNSW website. Only students who meet the essential criteria of each sport and have a long representative history in this sport will be allowed to nominate for teams. The cost and transport associated with these teams is the responsibility of the family. Sports Coordinator approval is required before any nomination will be progressed.

Major Awards

The major sports award for the year is the Sportswoman of the Year. This award goes to the student in each year group who represents the College the greatest number of times and consistently demonstrates the core values associated with the representative sports program. We also have an ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sport’ award for students who represent the College on five separate occasions and an ‘Excellent Achievement in Sport’ for students who represent at a State or National level in their chosen sport. If a student gains selection in a NSW team they also receive a ‘Waratah’ award and a ‘Green and Gold’ if they represent Australia.

Key Term 1 Sport Dates

Friday 7 February                           CCC Softball Closing Date

Wednesday 12 February               CCC Cricket Closing Date

Monday 17 February                      CCC Cricket Championships

Wednesday 19 February               All Schools Triathlon Closing Date

Thursday 20 February                     STP Swimming Carnival

Thursday 20 February                    Diocesan Tennis Teams (Years 7-11 only, No Year 12)

Monday 24 February                     CCC Tennis Closing Date

Monday 24 February                      CCC Softball Championships

Wednesday 26 February               All Schools Triathlon – Individual Day

Thursday 27 February                    All Schools Triathlon – Teams Day

Thursday 27 February                    Tennis Teams Back Up

Monday 2 March                           Diocesan Girls Touch

Monday 2 March                           CCC Tennis Championships

Wednesday 4 March                      Diocesan Girls Touch Back Up

Friday 6 March                               CCC Volleyball Closing Date

Wednesday 11 March                    CCC Volleyball Selections

Friday 13 March                             Diocesan Swimming

Monday 16 March                         CCC Hockey Closing Date

Monday 23 March                         CCC Hockey Championships

Tuesday 31 March                          CCC Swimming

Wednesday 1 April                         Girls Football 13s / 7-9

Monday 6 April                              Girls Football 13s / 7-9 Back Up

Tuesday 7 April                              STP Cross Country

Wednesday 8 April                         CCC Touch Championships

Scott Ashcroft - Sports and Activities Coordinator

To top off the night, Amy was also awarded the Most Outstanding Female Athlete for 2019. Receiving this award came as a big surprise to Amy, but anyone who knows her and what she has achieved on the sporting field, knows that the award was thoroughly deserved.

Below are some of the extracts from the citation that was read out on the night in regard to Amy’s achievements.

• Amy has been an outstanding representative of St Patrick’s College since Year 7. She has represented the school in multiple sports, has been the College’s Overall Sportswoman of the Year on on a number of occasions and was the 2019 College Sports Captain. She has had six years of Wollongong Diocesan representation which has included Athletics, Cross Country and Touch.
  
  
• Amy has been a NSW Combined Catholic Colleges representative in Netball, AFL and Cross Country for over three years.
  
  
• At the NSW All Schools level, Amy has been a regular AFL and Netball team member, representing AFL at this level on three occasions.
  
  
• Amy achieved the rare distinction of being named in two Australian teams for two different sports in the one year - AFL and Netball. Of note, is the fact that Amy demonstrated a great deal of natural sporting ability to pick up AFL as a rookie and within six months be selected in the Australian Schools AFL Team.
  
  
• Amy continues to excel in sport outside of school by being named vice-captain of the NSW Under 17s Netball Team, being selected in the Under 17s Australian Development squad, making her debut in the Australian Netball League with the Canberra Giants who feed the GWS Giants and most recently, being named in the NSW under 19s netball team to compete at the 2020 National Championships in Tasmania.
  
  
• Amy achieves goals with determination and good spirit leading by example, assisting team mates and is a wonderful role model for younger students. She is highly regarded and well respected by both her teachers and peers and is to be commended for her dedication to her school life and sporting pursuits.

Scott Ashcroft - Sports and Activities Coordinator

Siena travelled to Canberra and competed from 13 – 17 January. The team completed the tournament undefeated, winning their quarter final against Western Australia 9 -2, and then winning against Victoria 6 - 1 in the semi-final, which qualified them to play in the Grand Final against another U13s NSW team, which unfortunately they came off second best, going down 5 – 1.

Congratulations to Siena.

Scott Ashcroft - Sports and Activities Coordinator

1. Simplify Your Organisation System

Every student has an organisation system. True, the definition of “organisation” may be looser for some students than others, but everyone has a way they stay organised (or attempt to).

Maybe you’re the “Type-A” student and you have a clearly defined system. You’ll know that you’re “Type-A” by the file folders you both own and use, the folded socks in your drawer, and all the lists by which you keep track of important information. You probably have a calendar, a planner, and you know exactly which clothing is clean and which is dirty.

But not everyone fits in such a naturally organised world. These students can be called “Type-B.”

If you’re a “Type-B” student, you’re not alone, but organisation probably requires more effort. “Type-B” students tend to prefer “piling systems” to filing cabinets. Calendars often seem like too much work, so they’d rather just put everything in their backpacks and find it later. Students on the far end of the “Type-B” universe may even find themselves sorting laundry via the “smell check” method.

Regardless of whether you are a Type A or B student, though, one of the biggest difference-makers this year is your organisation system. Few things will save time and improve academic performance the way an effective organisation system will.

A great organisation system has at its centre one goal: replace your brain.

The more organised you are, the less you have to think. Your organisation system should be simple enough that you don’t have to make any decisions about where you put new assignments, where to find completed assignments, or what to do with graded assignments. You shouldn’t have to go through a mental checklist every time you study because your organisation system does it for you.

The fewer decisions you need to make, the more your thoughts and energy can focus on things that matter. Consider these four questions to determine how simple your organisation system is right now:

• Do you have good systems in place to manage and organise both the paper and digital resources for school? (Do you have folders in your Google Drive for each subject?)
• Do you have a system to make sure that all assignments and due dates are marked on your calendar/planner?
• Do you have a system to focus on what needs to be done today and not just what’s due tomorrow?

When you can answer each of these four questions without thinking, you’ll know that your organisation system is simple enough to be a major asset this year.

2. Break the “Cram Cycle” Before it Starts

By the end of the term, students often find themselves overloaded and overwhelmed, having to rely on cramming for final exams to get through to the break. They are exhausted and in survival mode. Thriving academically no longer matters. All that matters is the break at the end.

If you’ve ever felt this way, you’ve experienced what we call the “Cram Cycle.” Students get busy during the semester, which leads to exhaustion. When you’re exhausted, the only thing you want to do is zone out for a bit. After an afternoon of zoning, students are forced to put all their effort into completing assignments that are due tomorrow. We call this “cramming.” As students work on only that which is due tomorrow, long-term assignments pile up and create even more busyness, which leads to exhaustion, and the “Cram Cycle” begins to accelerate.

Most students only get out of the “Cram Cycle” when the semester ends.

But this year can be different. If you want to stay out of this dreaded cycle, commit yourself to do some independent learning at least five days a week, even when you don’t have anything due the next day. Use every day as a review day, spreading out your study sessions for big tests and projects across multiple days instead of letting them pile up. This approach takes more effort initially to create these habits, but you’ll reap the benefits when you’re free of the “Cram Cycle” and the stress that follows it come finals season.

3. Supercharge Retention with Scientifically-verified Study Strategies

Everyone knows that taking notes is a good idea. Reading your textbooks seem like a great thing to do. And you’ve probably learned that it’s best to have a consistent place to study, one which is quiet, clean, and comfortable enough (but not TOO comfortable).

But what are the strategies that have been scientifically-verified to boost your retention?

One of the best things you can do is to take a break in the middle of your study sessions. In one study, psychologists wanted to find out whether there was any difference in “spacing” a study session (this means to take a break in the middle) or “massing” instead (which means that you hammer it out all at once).

The researchers took two randomly-chosen, equal groups of students, gave them the same amount of study time, gave them the same material, and tested them on the material afterwards. The only difference was that one group took a short break in the middle and the other group didn’t. The results were incredible.

The group that studied with “spacing” did 50% better than the group that studied with “massing.” That means in the same amount of study time, you could potentially boost your retention by 50% by just taking a ten-minute break.

Learn more this year about how to improve your results and be more efficient and effective with your schoolwork by working through the units in the Study Skills Handbook which can be found in the library homepage.  If unsure where to find this handbook and would like assistance please see one of the library staff members. 

The Library would like to introduce Mrs Shayne Denford to the library team. Mrs Denford has many years of experience in libraries and brings many exciting new ideas with her. Watch this space for further developments.

The library underwent some physical changes during the break and we are very grateful to the maintenance team for their hard work in achieving these. We now have wall shelving for much of our fiction collection which has opened up the classroom area immensely.

The senior collaborative study area has also been opened up with the HSC collection now at their fingertips. The seniors have embraced this new area in a positive manner and are already working well.

The library staff are always available to assist with research enquiries or a reading recommendation. Please see any of the library staff with any questions you may have.

The College Library

Nearly 50 students have joined either Junior Book Club (for Years 7 and 8), or Senior Book Club (for Years 9 - 12) for 2020. This term, Junior Book Club girls are reading the classic 'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeline L'Engle, and the Senior girls are reading a wonderful Australian young adult novel titled 'It Sounded Better In My Head' by Nina Kenwood. Each Book Club runs once a week during recess, and the students receive a merit for attendance. If a student is interested in joining Book Club, or any of the other clubs facilitated by the library - including Chess, Makerspace (Arts and Crafts), Creative Writing, Science Club, Amine or K-Pop Club - they are encouraged to see any of the College Library staff.

The College Library

for all events at the College, CLICK HERE