From the P&F Association
Mid term update
On behalf of the Parents and Friends Association (PNF), we are delighted to bring you the Term 3 mid-term update, reflecting on the progress, achievements, and upcoming events of our community.
It’s been a wonderful term so far, filled with collaboration and growth. The PNF General Meeting held on 7 August was a significant milestone, where we successfully filled the vacant Secretary and Communications roles. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all who participated in the meeting and to those who have taken up these vital roles in supporting our College.
As we look forward to the rest of the term, we’d like to bring to your attention an important event for all dads, grandfathers, uncles, and male carers. The annual Fathers’ Day Mass and Breakfast will be held on 31 August. The details are as follows:
- 7:30am Mass: Celebrated in the Santa Sabina Chapel for P – 12 students and families.
- 9:30am Mass: For Primary Years (P – 4 students and families), also celebrated in the Santa Sabina Chapel.
- Breakfast Gathering: This year, we will unite as one community for breakfast. All families are welcome to join us from 8:40am in the Santa Sabina College Hall. Primary Years students and their families attending breakfast will arrive at the Chapel together by 9:15am, and all other Primary Years students will arrive at school as usual and will be walked to the Chapel by their class teacher.
We warmly invite all members of the Santa Sabina College community to be a part of this special occasion, celebrating the essential role that fathers and father figures play in our lives.
On behalf of the Parents and Friends Association, we thank you for your continuous support and engagement. We are looking forward to sharing more successes, growth, and joyful gatherings in the coming months.
Yours in friendship
P&F Committee
Upcoming events
Crazy Colour Day
Our Crazy Colour Day campaign is off to a great start and we are so proud of all our students for the efforts they have made to support the school in raising much-needed funds.
Congratulations to K-Namoi, 2-Wrightson and 3-Paterson for creating the most profiles in the first week of our fun run campaign. Ice blocks will be out to the winning classes this week.
Our second competition will be running until Friday 24 August – for every student who raises $100 or more, their names will go in the draw to win a free lunch order. Thanks to the generous donation from our canteen catering company Bon Appetit, 10 lucky students will be rewarded for their fundraising efforts.
Our Crazy Colour Day will be on Friday 15 September and we hope our Santa families will join us to celebrate the incredible fundraising efforts of our students.
Santa Sabina College Father’s Day Stall 2023
The Father’s Day stall will be held on two dates this year.
Gioia House will have their own dedicated stall at their campus on Monday 28 August and MBH, P-4 will have theirs on Tuesday 29 August 2023, allowing children from Mary Bailey House to Year 6 the opportunity to purchase gifts for their fathers, grandfathers, uncles and carers and/or any special father figure in their lives.
All gifts require one ticket each. Tickets are $20 each. A variety of gifts will available for your child’s selection for fathers and loved ones.
On behalf of everyone at Santa Sabina College, we wish to extend our deepest gratitude to our incredible volunteers who dedicated their time and energy to wrap presents for our Father’s Day Stall.
A big thank you to Marie, Honda, Amber, Pamela, Stephanie, Danielle, and Suzana – your skill, creativity, and joyful spirit truly made the event a tremendous success.
Thank you all for your generosity and for being part of this heartwarming occasion!
Del Monte School Disco
The Santa Maria del Monte will be held on Thursday 21 September, make sure you SAVE THE DATE!
Santa Sabina Golf Day
A great opportunity for parents and friends to connect across the College community and grow friendships over a round of golf.
When: Tee off at 7:30am; Thursday 12 October 2023
Where: Strathfield Golf Club
$189pp (inc. breakfast + 18 holes + lunch + drinks)
LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE
Any questions, please contact
George Ayoub: 0414 915 910 or Joseph Gittani: 0400 413 431
Year Group Catch Ups
Year 12 Family Catch Up on 10 September 2023
Year 7 Parents Dinner & Drinks on 15 September 2023
Parent Education
How do you want your young people to look at the world/be in the world? by Debra Brodowski
In my day job, I see a lot people experiencing challenges with anxiety. These can stem from a need for control, a need for perfection, a need to ‘be the best’. As part of my role within the P&F, I hear similar challenges from families. I have even written previously on perfectionism, anxiety; as well as the benefits of supporting our young people in cultivating a growth mindset.
Feelings of anxiety, need for control, need for perfection, are still at levels higher than pre-pandemic levels. For our young people, this means that they are growing up in a world where there is more fear, fueling those feelings of anxiety and need for perfection. How do we shift this cycle of anxiety in the pursuit of perfection? There is no easy or quick fix; however one thing can help us is to reflect on how we look at the world and be part of this world. How is this possible and why is this important?
An example that I like to reflect on is the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand. For those that know me, I am quite obsessed with soccer, and I LOVE the Matildas (The Australian Women’s soccer team… Go Tillies!). I so very much wanted them to WIN the World Cup. They came fourth. I could be disappointed with this result and look at the campaign in a number of ways:
– We were never going to win… There are too many other good teams.
– Sam Kerr’s injury immediately before the start of the tournament… We were doomed from the start.
– That game against Nigeria… What was the coach thinking? Awful game! The coach needed to be sacked?! This became media headlines.
– The referee and the ‘mind games’ of our opposition in the Semi Final… It’s always easy to blame someone else/something else.
I could go on… What I will take away from this World Cup are the following:
– What an amazing team we have. The Matildas played their hearts out, they tried their best, and they were such impressive ambassadors for sport (not just women’s sport, not just soccer… Sport as a whole). They are also placed 10th in the world, and came fourth! The number 1 team in the world (USA) were knocked out earlier in the tournament!
– The nation came together to support our amazing Matildas and the World Cup. This was the highest attendance of any Women’s World Cup. The fans have been inspirational (I’m looking at you in particular Colombian fans…. Amazingly inspiring). We came together as a community and in a positive and inclusive way. It was a celebration.
– Setbacks happen. Sam Kerr’s injury meant that the team had to learn how to play and win without one of the best players in the world on the pitch. Mistakes in the game also happened, both on the pitch with the players, and with the refereeing decisions… We accepted the situation, picked ourselves up, and kept playing our hearts out.
– The Matildas didn’t win the World Cup… We didn’t even make the Final. The Matildas though, have become impressive ambassadors for sport and we are truly impressed by the manner in which they carried themselves both on and off the field.
So what does this mean for us and our young people:
– We can teach our young people that circumstances may not be in our favour sometimes. We may get annoyed, frustrated, disappointed. That’s fine… We can acknowledge and accept our feelings and then choose to reframe our thoughts into something more helpful and positive. For example, I was so disappointed in the Matildas’ performance against Nigeria, but my goodness they turned it around and had an awesome following game against Canada (the current Olympic champions).
– We can teach our young people that there is not only one thing to strive for; we can have multiple areas of focus that can help foster a more complete view of the world. For example, we wanted to win the World Cup, and didn’t. However, it was not all a waste of time, there are so many other positive aspects to take away from the event (more people following the Matildas, more funding for women’s sport etc).
– We can teach our children that the way that we look at the world has an impact on our world view. Constantly looking at what might have been, what we missed out on, what we failed to achieve, what didn’t occur, can wear us down and have a negative impact on our wellbeing (anxiety, depression). Accepting that things didn’t turn out as planned, however searching for the positive, can lead us to feeling buoyed by a situation, hopeful, and even sometimes joy.
Choosing how we look at the world, and how we participate in it, has a powerful impact… We also get to choose whether it is a positive impact or negative impact.