College Principal

Term 3 is well underway and already we’ve enjoyed coming together as a strong and connected community with Santa Fest. This week of activities was an opportunity for us to unite to raise much needed funds for the Dominican Sisters to support their work in the Solomon Islands and Kopanang. There was a whole host of fun staff and student activities further developing strong camaraderie between staff and students as they competed in a variety of events such as the student versus teachers Netball game, the Montebello Mile and lunch time busking which drew a great audience. This year we have been collecting money for our Dominican Sisters in Ruvatu who need a second hand vehicle as regular flooding washes away the bridge that connects Ruvata to Honiara. As a result, it is impossible for the Sisters to travel to the school to work and there have been times they have had to resort to swimming across the river fully clothed to reach the school. Thanks to the generosity of our community we are able to support the Sisters in their important work. 

Last week ended with our Dom’s Day celebrations and the traditional crowning of St Dominic. Dom’s Plot was a beautiful venue for our Mass and we warmly welcomed Father Gavin Foster, Chaplain from St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill to celebrate Mass. Our theme this year was to ‘share your light with the world’. This was appropriate because St Dominic was a man whose life was strongly marked by light. For us as Dominicans, there is something compelling in the image of bright fire providing the light for one man to create an Order whose preaching has blazed around the world for more than 800 years. I must commend our students for the way that they entered into the spirit of the day. All of our students came together from Mary Bailey House, to Del Monte, Gioia House and the Secondary campus and their behaviour was impeccable. 

I have been enjoying reading regular updates from our World Youth Pilgrims as they trace our Dominican heritage in Italy visiting Siena, the home of St Catherine of Siena where they celebrated Mass in the Basilica Di San Francesco as well as touring the Vatican in Rome, and significant religious sights in Florence such as the Duomo and the Basilica of Santa Croce, then onto Bologna to visit San Domenico, home to the tomb of St Dominic. They are now on their way to Lisbon for World Youth Week. They have been great ambassadors for our school and we wish them well as they continue on their pilgrimage.

This week we marked the 100 Days of Kinder for our students. This is a wonderful milestone to celebrate and it was lovely to be present for their Liturgy and celebrations. Another significant event has been the start of the Year 12 Trials for the HSC and IB Programme. Our students were very calm and seemed well prepared when I spent time with them prior to their first English examination. This group of Year 12 students sets a very good example for the rest of the school. As a cohort they are connected and mature and I am really proud of their approach as they move towards the end of their time at school.  

The safety of our children is always a priority and it worries me that students’ lives are put at risk when drivers do not follow road rules that are in place at and around our school. Could I ask that you please support the College by encouraging your children to use the bridge when crossing from one side of the Boulevard to the other?  While there is a pedestrian crossing that students can use, sadly motorists do not always stop when the light is red. If they must use the crossing, I have asked students to check that cars have come to a complete stop before stepping onto the crossing. Council has repainted the crossing to make it more obvious but it remains a concern. Secondly, can I ask that parents not drive onto the school grounds at all. The Chapel Car Park is not a drop-off point and nor is any other entry onto the campus. We have also had complaints from neighbouring properties on The Boulevarde that parents are driving onto the footpaths and blocking their driveways to drop off and collect students. A driver’s impatience or desire for convenience may put one of our children in danger. Please stay calm, follow the road rules and put our children’s safety first. 

Huge congratulations to so many of our students who are experiencing success in a variety of areas. This includes our dancers who came first in the Dance Eisteddfod, our Science and Engineering Challenge and da Vinci Decathlon competitors, our HSC Textiles and Design Major Works exhibitors, and all recipients at our Academic Awards Assembly. This Friday night our Year 11A Debating team will compete in the finals of the Catholic Schools Debating Association and we wish them all the very best. We also congratulate Molly Hoogland in Year 11 who has won the State Final of the NSW Plain English Speaking Award. She will now represent NSW at the National Finals in a few weeks. 

Wishing you all well.

Go gently.

Paulina Skerman
College Principal

Deputy Principal Mission and Pastoral Care

Share your Light with the World

St Dominic’s Day, Friday 28 July 2023

As you will have seen throughout this edition of Veritas Voice, Our St Dominic’s Day celebration on Friday 28 July was a joyous occasion with the spirit of community taking on a contagious air throughout the day. 

Our theme for St Dominic’s Day this year was ‘share your light with the world’. This was a fitting theme because Dominic was a man whose life was strongly marked by light. His mother had a dream before his birth of a torch-bearing dog that set the world ablaze. At his baptism, his godmother saw a star gleaming above his forehead. Throughout his life, witnesses remarked on the radiance of Dominic’s face. One most significant occurrence of light providing guidance for St Dominic was the vision he had of the ball of fire which the Blessed Virgin Mary gave as a sign to him at Prouille in France, in 1206. The sign was for St Dominic to begin his apostolate. This sign from God, or Seignadou, was the light that acted as a confirmation of Dominic’s work and the church of Prouille became the first foundation of the Dominican Order. 

And so the Seignadou takes on significance as the moment when Dominic saw light, when Dominic understood that God wished to be present to souls through his ‘prayer, patience, and instruction.’ Dominic was intensely present to others in his preaching and now he would become present through the preaching and prayer of his followers. In a sense, the Seignadou holds within it one of the mottos of the Dominicans, ‘to contemplate, and to give to others the fruits of our contemplation.’ St Dominic received the light, lived in the light, and gave the light to the world through his new Order.

Together as a P-12 community of students, staff, Dominican Sisters, parents, ex-students and even ex-staff, we were able to celebrate the moment of the birth of the Dominican Order and to consider the way this light has blazed through the centuries and still inspires who we are as a Dominican Community in Strathfield in 2023.

Santa Fest

On the 5-12 Campus last week (24-27 July) Year 12 Student Leaders and House Captains plus a band of enthusiastic Year 11 students led our annual Santa Fest initiatives. These fundraising endeavours are to generate much needed funds for the Kopanang Community Trust in South Africa. 

‘The Kopanang Community Trust is made up of a community of women with indomitable strength, nestled on the fringe of Johannesburg. Each Kopanang woman carries the burden of HIV/AIDs, whether inflicted with the virus, or caring for a loved one that lives with the disease. Forged from life’s challenges, they are fiercely compassionate and humble in their wisdom, with courage that cannot be denied. Kopanang provides a safe platform for these women to learn new skills. Through these skills they are empowered to create ranges of beautifully hand crafted beaded and embroidered products.’ (https://kopanang.africa/). 

Santa Sabina has supported this community for many years, and the amazing efforts of our Year 11 and 12 students and the support of the whole College means we are able to continue doing so. Some of our fundraising from Santa Fest will also go to support the work of the Dominican Sisters in the Solomon Islands.

Staff vs student Volleyball, busking, pizza lunch, fairy floss and bake stall, teachers in uniform and the inaugural ‘throw a wet sponge’ at the teachers stall all provided a lot of community fun and enjoyment. We eagerly await the total monetary sum of our fundraising but the community sum of these events was quickly apparent last week. It was a perfect opportunity for all of our students to let their light shine.

Melanie van der Meer
Deputy Principal Mission and Pastoral Care

Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Holiday Workshops and Trial Examinations HSC and IBDP

HSC and IB Diploma teachers ran study sessions for their students in the first few weeks of the holidays. With the Trials starting this week, it seems to have helped the students as they entered the first exam yesterday calmly and confidently. We appreciate the teachers providing this opportunity to support our Year 12 students. 

Academic Resilience

The Academic and Pastoral teams have combined to support our students with an academic resilience project we are working on this year. One aspect of this program is for our students to review their semester report, celebrate the successes and analyse what they can do to make improvements. The students were allocated Community Time this week to read the report and complete a reflection tool. This document will be uploaded by the students to their electronic portfolio on VO and can be shared with parents on this platform. 

Coding in Year 7 Technology Mandatory

Students in Years 7 and 8 rotate through several different technology units, one of which is coding. I recently visited a Year 7 class and sat with two students as they analysed the code for their Micro Bop project. Charlize explained:

During this technology learning experience, we learned how to code a robot and make it dance to a catchy song we enjoyed listening to. We loved working with our peers and friends. Grace and I had no idea how to code anything, let alone a robot, but this class helped us improve our coding skills. Grace and I really enjoyed creating a coded dance to a song as we are both dancers, and it is something we enjoy doing. This was a fantastic opportunity, and we believe the future year sevens will look forward to attending the micro-bop class

Charlize
Year 7

Grace explained that their group chose the song ‘Mother’ by Meghan Trainor. She said,

We selected this song as the music was very fun, pop and catchy. The reason we selected this cool music was because it included all our thoughts and ideas as a team. It allowed us to include many movements such as; spinning, digital facial expressions, wiggling and moving forwards and backwards.

Grace
Year 7

These students were telling me how excited they were to be moving to Food Technology in their next rotation.

Scientific Research Project

Year 10 Science are conducting independent investigations into a topic of their choosing. They are required to complete experimental work as part of the Scientific Research Project. Students start by developing a hypothesis and plan a controlled investigation to test this hypothesis. I was welcomed by a hum of energy when visiting two Year 10 Science classrooms today. The students demonstrated confidence in conducting their experiments and articulated what and how they were testing. 

Some of the experiments being conducted by our students include: titration, testing the viscosity of slime, testing the accuracy of reported sugar levels in energy drinks, and a comparison of the DNA between strawberries, kiwis and bananas. 

Jacqueline Pugh
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Deputy Principal Operations

Term 3 is always extremely busy on campus for students and parents alike. To stay up to date with College events, the Santa Sabina parent calendar is available for parents to view on Veritas Online and on the College app. Should you wish to subscribe to the College Calendar you can do so by following the instructions on the Timetables and Calendars page on Veritas Online or by following this link.

The College has updated some of our IT options for both parents and students. Parents can now register and pay for sporting and co-curricular activities via our sport management system, Clipboard. This will assist us with compiling and registering students and in allocating teams, while it is hoped that from a parent perspective the new system is more streamlined and allows multiple registrations in one transaction.

Students in Years 5 to 12 now have access to Student Café via a link on their Veritas Online page. This will give students access to their timetable and previous Academic Reports. This will be of relevance to Year 12 students applying for university positions or scholarships.

A gentle reminder to parents attending sporting venues on the weekend. Many venues, including Santa Sabina, prohibit dogs on the premises for spectators. Please check venue details carefully prior to attending sporting matches to see if dogs are allowed.

John Gilmore
Deputy Principal Operations

Head of Gioia House

Gioia House update

As we dive into Term 3, it’s wonderful to see our community shine with a renewed sense of joy, embracing the spirit of Dominican heritage. In Gioia House, we began the term by reflecting on the profound impact of Dominic’s story and the establishment of the Dominican Order. The students’ enthusiasm, participation and generous contributions during the Santa Fest activities exemplified our values of community and service. The Gioia students took centre stage during St Dom’s Day last Friday. Their singing, liturgical dancing and reverence instilled a sense of unity and respect for our sacred traditions.

We continue to gather every Monday during Homeroom time to set a tone for the week and introduce our theme for the week. We discuss how we can embody these values in our daily lives. Over the past few weeks, our focus has been on the theme of ‘Integrity’. Our students are encouraged to uphold honesty, demonstrate strong moral principles, and strive for consistency in their words and actions. As we explore these ideas within our school community, we also encourage our families to continue these conversations at home, nurturing a culture of integrity in our students.

Gioia House and St Patrick’s collaboration

As we prepare and look forward to the upcoming Gioia House STEM Gala Day on 25 August, which we are thrilled to be hosting at Santa Sabina College. We will be welcoming 213 Year 6 students from St Pat’s for a day with the aim of fostering a sense of friendship and providing an enriching learning experience.

Another enriching educational experience for our students we are excited about is the Gioia House and St Pat’s InterSchool Public Speaking Competition this term. 

We recognise that the power of effective communication and mastering public speaking skills can truly set our students apart. During English classes, all our students have begun learning to articulate their thoughts, express their ideas, and command an audience through effective speech writing and delivery. They have been encouraged to select one of the provided topics and develop a speech around it. This approach ensures our students engage with topics that truly resonate with them, fostering a greater sense of ownership and authenticity in their presentations. Please note, all speeches are to be written in class, allowing teachers to guide and support the students throughout the creative process. Therefore, we request students to fully utilise their class time for the preparation of their speeches. All students will present their speeches to their class, with the class teacher acting as an adjudicator. The top two students from each class will represent Gioia House at the grand final to be held at St Patrick’s College on 7 September. We believe this experience will enhance the students’ confidence, articulation and collaborative skills, fostering a spirit of friendly competition and building connections.

NAPLAN

The Year 5 NAPLAN results have now been sent home in the post. Please reach out if you have not received the results in a week’s time. Please do not hesitate to be in touch should you have concerns. 

As we progress through Term 3, let us continue to uphold the spirit of our Dominican heritage, foster a culture of integrity, and cherish the strength of our community. This term promises to be yet another exciting and productive term.

CALENDAR DATES

• 10 August – Year 6 Excursion to NSW Parliament House
• 21 August – IPSHA Performing Art
• 25 August STEM Gala Day
• 29 August – Stage 3 Netball Gala Day 
• 7 September – Public Speaking Finals
• 13-15 September – Year 6 Outdoor Education Experience at Tallong

We have fun while learning.

Stella Azizian
Head of Gioia House

Head of Primary P-4

We have had a fantastic start to the term on the Primary campus. Already this term we have celebrated Dom’s Day, we have had Learning Walks (Years Prep, 1, 2, 4), celebrated Kindergarten’s 100 Days of school, Jamie Ranger Incursion (Year 2), Casper Visits (Prep and Kindergarten), as well as all of our wonderful learning experiences.

Student Wellbeing

At Santa Sabina, we are committed to supporting the wellbeing of our students. Last semester we commenced the Friendology program which aims to create a culture of kindness in schools with a whole-school friendship strategy that empowers students with friendship skills. Please visit the grade pages to see what your child/ren has been learning about in Friendology. 

This term we have commenced two new well-being programs to support healthy eating they include SWAP IT Program and Crunch and Sip. 

SWAP IT

SWAP IT is an evidence-based healthy lunchbox program. The food that children consume at school impacts their concentration, health, and wellbeing. By improving lunchboxes, we can make a huge difference!  

School lunchboxes contain approximately one third of a child’s daily energy intake – a significant opportunity to improve nutrition and health outcomes (1).

Everyday foods help children grow and learn, and by swapping out sometimes foods we are setting children up for the best possible physical, mental, and behavioural performance at school and home. Families have received an information booklet to support parents with packing lunches that are full of ‘everyday foods’. 

Families interested in more information can visit our P-4 Veritas Online page.

1. Sutherland R, Nathan N, Brown A, Yoong S, Finch M, Lecathelinais C, et al. A randomised controlled trial to assess the potential efficacy, feasibility and acceptability of an m-health intervention targeting parents of school-aged children to improve the nutritional quality of foods packed in the lunchbox ‘SWAP IT’. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2019;16(1):54.

Crunch&Sip

Crunch&Sip encourages children to eat more vegetables and fruit and reach for water, which helps teach them healthy habits from a young age. Crunch&Sip® occurs at a designated time in the morning during class time and is not designed to replace recess. At the designated time across the campus, the children will have a fruit/vegetable break. 

Please send your child to school with:

• a clean, clear bottle filled with water
• a serving of easy-to-eat vegetables or fruit for the classroom. This should be in a separate container to their recess and lunch.

The children will place their Crunch&Sip on their desks when they enter the classroom at the beginning of the day.

The following Crunch&Sip® items can be consumed during the Crunch&Sip® break: 

Vegetables 

• all fresh vegetables (e.g. celery, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, broccoli bits)
• vegetables canned in water with no added salt (e.g. corn spears, baby carrots, butter beans). 

Fruit

• all fresh fruit (e.g. whole fruits or chopped fruits)
• fruit canned in water, juice, or with no added sugar (e.g. peach slices)
• dried fruit like sultanas or apricots can be brought for Crunch&Sip® but should be limited. (This is because dried fruit tends to cling to teeth and is a concentrated source of sugar, increasing the risk of tooth decay). 

Water

• a clean, clear water bottle filled with plain water

Please avoid packing the following for your child for the Crunch&Sip break:

• all other drinks (e.g. fruit or vegetable juices)
• fruit or vegetable products (e.g. fruit leather, popcorn, fruit or vegetable breads) 
• fruit canned in syrup or jelly or with artificial sweeteners
• canned and bottled vegetables containing added salt or oil.

In class, the children will be learning about the importance of healthy foods as part of our Curriculum and SWAP IT program. Here are some suggestions of what you could pack and here is a guide for parents.

Year 2 Tallong comes to del Monte

We look forward to our Year 2 Tallong Comes to Del Monte Overnight Experience on the night of Thursday 7 September 2023. We have many exciting activities planned for them on their first overnight experience. 

The overnight experience will conclude with a sausage sizzle on Friday 8 September 2023. Students may be collected from the Carrington Ave gate area on Carrington Avenue at 1:00pm. A huge thank you to the Year 2 parents who have volunteered to assist with meals during the experience! Please note, more information will be emailed to families in the coming weeks. However, below is a packing list so that you can start preparations.

PACKING LIST – FOR YEAR 2 SLEEPING OVER

•   sleeping bag 
•   mat (optional)
•   pillow 
•   toiletries (toothbrush/toothpaste/deodorant/hairbrush)
•   torch    
•   1 water bottle
•   sun hat       
•   waterproof hooded raincoat 
•   1 set of clothes to change into for Friday (suitable mufti)
•   pair of pyjamas
•   warm clothing
•   1 change of underwear
•   1 pair of socks

Book Week

The theme for Book Week this year is ‘Read, Grow and Inspire!’

We will be having a Book Parade on Thursday 24 August 2023. Children are invited to dress up on the day. The parade begins at 9:15 am and we look forward to parents joining us for this event. Parents are most welcome to dress up on the day too! There will be a section in the parade for parents if they would like to join in!

On this day we will also be having an author visit our campus, Adrian Beck. Adrian Beck is the author of many humorous and action-packed stories for children. He is the author of the Derek Dool series, the Champion Charlies series, co-author of the Little Legends series and author of the Kick it to Nick series with Shane Crawford.

Upcoming dates reminder

EVENT	DATE	TIME	LOCATION
ICAS English	Tuesday 15 August 2023	9:30-10:30am	Classrooms
Book Week Parade and Author Visit	Thursday 24 August 2023	9:15-9:45am	The Carrington Ave gates in front of the Hall will open at 11:25 am ahead of the parade.
ICAS Maths	Friday 1 September 2023	9:30-10:30am	Classrooms
St Dominic the Adventurer Award – Flora and Fauna ID Year 3 and 4	Tuesday 5 September 2023	3:30pm – 4:00pm	Del Monte Campus
Year 2 Tallong comes to Del Monte	Thursday 7 September and Friday 8 September 2023	Students picked up at 1:00pm on Friday 8 September 2023	Del Monte Campus
Prep and MBH Athletics Morning	Friday 8 September 23	9:30am – 10:30am	Del Monte Campus

Joanne Gianinni
Head of Primary P-4

Director of Mary Bailey House

Out of School Hours Care (OOSH)

Our recent vacation care program had the children involved in a variety of fun and interesting incursions that had them moving, thinking and connecting with friends.

Incursion highlights included Brick Works. This workshop involved both individual and team tasks that engaged the children creating LEGO creatures, playing Brickionary, building cities and Quick Build challenges. The children joyfully worked and celebrated together throughout this engaging event.

Another was Exergames. Exergames through its games and activities is designed to strengthen Fundamental Movement Skills and promote social interactions. Our Exergame coach Sam had the children excited and energised as they played games that required them to move their bodies, throw and catch and run with purpose.

We also went on our favourite excursion to Strathfield Park. The playground equipment at Strathfield Park offers children the opportunity to scale, swing, slide and scramble up, over, through and down an array of obstacles. While the park’s surroundings provide children with the opportunity to connect with and simply be in nature. We find that the level of joy and peace that children express while at the park cannot be stimulated in other activities.

When school resumed, we asked the children what experiences they enjoyed in vacation care, and they stated the above and suggested a few more. As in the past, we will design our next vacation care program based upon the children’s thoughts and ideas.

Jackie Baxter
Director of Mary Bailey House

Music at Mary Bailey House (Curricular)

MBH is a hive of different cultures and languages. In conjunction with the Treefrog students learning Italian with the ELLA Program, students that speak another language at home have been invited to help teach the class how to count to 5 in, most cases, their mother tongue. We are adding this to our rhythm and counting song, Pease Porridge Hot. So far we are learning Italian, Spanish and Slovakian. We look forward to learning Korean, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Amy Richardson
Director of Music P-12

Director of Tallong Campus

Welcome to Term 3 from Tallong! We are coming out of our winter hibernation and getting ready for another busy term. Lots of firewood has been cut over the break and many maintenance projects have been completed. Winter is a great time for the campus to rest and recover from the first half of the year and get ready for the rest of the year as we will be hosting clients from mid-August through to the middle of December.

During the winter break our Outdoor Education coordinator, Mr Chirs Walker, took some Duke of Edinburgh’s Award students to the Whitsundays for a week of sea kayaking. Looking at his photos I know where I would rather be in July next year!

Thanks Chris for all your hard work!

Kendal Hann
Director of Outdoor Education and Tallong Campus Manager

Director of Community Relations P-12

Join us on Father’s Day!

All fathers, grandfathers and carers 
are warmly invited to join our Father’s Day celebrations on

Thursday 31 August 2023

This year the community will gather together as one for breakfast.

7:30am Mass will be celebrated in the Santa Sabina Chapel
P – 12 students and families

8:45am Breakfast will be served in the Santa Sabina College Hall.

9:30am Mass will be celebrated in the Santa Sabina Chapel
P – 4 students and families

Hospitality is generously provided by the P&F

Discovery Tour for potential Santa Sabina families

If you have family or friends who are thinking of a Santa Sabina education for their child please let them know about our next Discovery Tour. Prospective families are welcome to visit us on 17 August to discover our educational and wellbeing programs for our students. Bookings essential: https://www.ssc.nsw.edu.au/enrolment/visit-us/

Educator Award Principal of the Year Finalist

We are so proud of our College Principal Paulina Skerman who has been recognised for her vision and leadership as a Principal of the Year Excellence Awardee in the 2023 Australian Education Awards. She spoke with the Sydney Morning Herald about this achievement.

Yvette Graniero
Director of Community Relations

Director of Development

Thank you

Over the past month many families, individuals, ex-students and College community members have given generously to our Annual Appeal. I wish to publicly thank all in our community who have contributed financially to the College to ensure our students are provided with the best possible education and facilities. Of course, there is always an opportunity to support the College in whatever way or amount you can. All support, no matter how large or small, is very much appreciated and I encourage everyone to continue to support us as we enter our 130 years as a College.

If you would like to donate and assist us in our appeal, please go to the donations page to complete the form.

Advertise your business

I also want to remind you of the opportunity to advertise your business on the Santa Website which is a great way to promote your business to our community.

Alternatively, please contact me in the Development office on 97450232 or giving@ssc.nsw.edu.au

Santa Sabina College Sports Lunch

The first Santa Sabina College Sports Lunch will be held on 10 November at Strathfield Golf Club, starting at 12:00 midday. I will provide more information in the coming weeks and an opportunity for all in our community to come and join us at what we hope will be a spectacular event. We have a great MC, guest speakers and much more to entertain those attending this event.

Bequests

There may be many in our community who are not aware of The Orange Tree Society we have at the College. Therefore, I have included a brochure about the Society for you to read and understand. Named after the Orange Tree that sits proudly at the front of the school and without giving away too much, please have a read of the history behind it and a message from one of our ex-students who is a member of the society.

Please view the brochure:

Santa Sabina Community Golf Day

There is still time to register for golf. A great way to be involved is to encourage year groups to form teams and challenge each other on the day. Registration is still open so speak with your friends and come out to enjoy a great day at the golf.

George Ayoub
Director of Development

Music in the Secondary Years (Curricular)

Stage 4 students are continuing to develop their aural skills through the practice of melodic and rhythmic dictations and preparing for their written exam later this term. Year 7 is exploring Music of a Culture and Year 8 is delving into the power of music in Films. Year 9 students have finished exploring Music for Small Ensembles and are currently practising for their performance task in Week 5. They have also been developing their sight singing skills to support their melodic dictations and will be looking at the development of the Orchestra from the Barque through to the Romantic period. Year 10 has been exploring 20th Century Music and will be exploring the power of music in Films. They too are working towards their performance recital in Week 6. 

Year 11 HSC students are finishing their Mandatory topic, Music 1600-1900 and working towards their final preliminary exams and performances. Year 11 IB students have made a cracking start to their Exploring Music in Context and Experimenting with Music Portfolios.  

Year 12 IB students are finalising their Presenting Music and Contemporary Music Maker Portfolios, ready for online submission. Year 12 has just begun their Trial exams and we wish them the best of luck!   

Australian Music Composition Day – Student Reviews 

The Annual Music Composition Day we hosted on 24 July included elective Years 9 to 11 Music students and eight other schools. This was hosted by Lisa Young, winner of the Art Music Award 2021 Choral Work of the Year for Sacred Stepping Stones, ARIA nominated performer/composer with Coco’s Lunch and Bell Jazz Award Winner Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album 2007. Throughout this session we learnt the konnakol a south Indian vocal percussion and sung Tempo of Humanity and Sacred Stepping Stones. We were all separated into different groups, soprano 1, soprano 2, alto 1, alto 2 and tenor which we all sung different parts together. This was overall an enjoyable experience which I found very interesting, as this type of music was something I had never heard/listened to before and it was very clear that Lisa Young has a very deep passion for this.

Ren Chao
Year 11 Music

The Australian Composition Day saw elective music students across years 9-11 engage in a day of music-related activities with other secondary schools across Sydney. Students participated in a workshop led by renowned Australian composer, Lisa Young, specialising in the development of konnakol (a South Indian art form including the use of vocal percussive syllables) and kanda chapu tala (a 2.5 beat cycle). The pieces Sacred Stepping Stones (2020) and Tempo of Humanity (a commissioned piece for the SSC 2024 Gala Concert) challenged students to explore foreign music traditions in the comfort of Lisa’s passion and skilled teaching style. We are truly grateful to Ms Young and the Santa Sabina music staff for the effort they put into organising such a fantastic day.

Elise Armour
Year 11 Music

We, along with multiple other schools, learned how to sing a piece called Tempo of Humanity (commissioned for the 2024 Gala Concert), which tied in with our learning of creating rhythms, improvisation and riffs. We discovered ‘Konnakol’, a way of singing found predominantly in South India, and got an idea of how it works. We also learnt a piece called Sacred Stepping Stones, and how to improvise riffs on our own using the Konnakol style. Overall, it was a very enlightening experience coming together with others of different cultures and learning of their own unique style of music. The rhythms were very catchy, and it was a very enjoyable way to increase our knowledge of music and the way we experience it as individuals.

Rose Hart
Year 11 Music

It was a really enriching experience where we learnt about the South Indian oral percussion sounds she has dedicated her life to learning and participate in a choir rendition of her new piece Tempo of Humanity. I enjoyed the day and particularly liked being able to hear lower bass and tenor parts provided by the male students from other schools, as there is usually that absence in our own school choir. I feel that I gathered new information and learnt about techniques that will benefit me in my final years of HSC music, especially as Lisa Young’s music falls under the category – Australian Music of the Last 25 Years.

Chloe Batchelor
Year 11 Music

Coming up

ARCO
Elective and ensemble music students will attend the final concert in the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) Voyage of Musical Discovery Concert series on Monday 7 August at the City Recital Hall.  As one of Santa Sabina’s esteemed professional partners ARCO’s Voyage of Musical Discovery provides students with a unique concert series, with the final concert focusing on Musical Identities. Participants are asked to refer to correspondence from the Music Department for finer details. 

IB HL Recital 
On Friday 11 August, the Year 12 IB Music students will premiere their ‘Contemporary Music Maker’ projects and ‘Presenting Music’ performances, showcasing a selection of styles from Blues, Looping, to EDM composition and improvisations. Please join us in Holyrood Adams at 3:45pm! 

Music in the Secondary Years (Curricular)

Stage 4 students are continuing to develop their aural skills through the practice of melodic and rhythmic dictations and preparing for their written exam later this term. Year 7 is exploring Music of a Culture and Year 8 is delving into the power of music in Films. Year 9 students have finished exploring Music for Small Ensembles and are currently practising for their performance task in Week 5. They have also been developing their sight singing skills to support their melodic dictations and will be looking at the development of the Orchestra from the Barque through to the Romantic period. Year 10 has been exploring 20th Century Music and will be exploring the power of music in Films. They too are working towards their performance recital in Week 6. 

Year 11 HSC students are finishing their Mandatory topic, Music 1600-1900 and working towards their final preliminary exams and performances. Year 11 IB students have made a cracking start to their Exploring Music in Context and Experimenting with Music Portfolios.  

Year 12 IB students are finalising their Presenting Music and Contemporary Music Maker Portfolios, ready for online submission. Year 12 has just begun their Trial exams and we wish them the best of luck!   

Australian Music Composition Day – Student Reviews 

The Annual Music Composition Day we hosted on 24 July included elective Years 9 to 11 Music students and eight other schools. This was hosted by Lisa Young, winner of the Art Music Award 2021 Choral Work of the Year for Sacred Stepping Stones, ARIA nominated performer/composer with Coco’s Lunch and Bell Jazz Award Winner Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album 2007. Throughout this session we learnt the konnakol a south Indian vocal percussion and sung Tempo of Humanity and Sacred Stepping Stones. We were all separated into different groups, soprano 1, soprano 2, alto 1, alto 2 and tenor which we all sung different parts together. This was overall an enjoyable experience which I found very interesting, as this type of music was something I had never heard/listened to before and it was very clear that Lisa Young has a very deep passion for this.

Ren Chao
Year 11 Music

The Australian Composition Day saw elective music students across years 9-11 engage in a day of music-related activities with other secondary schools across Sydney. Students participated in a workshop led by renowned Australian composer, Lisa Young, specialising in the development of konnakol (a South Indian art form including the use of vocal percussive syllables) and kanda chapu tala (a 2.5 beat cycle). The pieces Sacred Stepping Stones (2020) and Tempo of Humanity (a commissioned piece for the SSC 2024 Gala Concert) challenged students to explore foreign music traditions in the comfort of Lisa’s passion and skilled teaching style. We are truly grateful to Ms Young and the Santa Sabina music staff for the effort they put into organising such a fantastic day.

Elise Armour
Year 11 Music

We, along with multiple other schools, learned how to sing a piece called Tempo of Humanity (commissioned for the 2024 Gala Concert), which tied in with our learning of creating rhythms, improvisation and riffs. We discovered ‘Konnakol’, a way of singing found predominantly in South India, and got an idea of how it works. We also learnt a piece called Sacred Stepping Stones, and how to improvise riffs on our own using the Konnakol style. Overall, it was a very enlightening experience coming together with others of different cultures and learning of their own unique style of music. The rhythms were very catchy, and it was a very enjoyable way to increase our knowledge of music and the way we experience it as individuals.

Rose Hart
Year 11 Music

It was a really enriching experience where we learnt about the South Indian oral percussion sounds she has dedicated her life to learning and participate in a choir rendition of her new piece Tempo of Humanity. I enjoyed the day and particularly liked being able to hear lower bass and tenor parts provided by the male students from other schools, as there is usually that absence in our own school choir. I feel that I gathered new information and learnt about techniques that will benefit me in my final years of HSC music, especially as Lisa Young’s music falls under the category – Australian Music of the Last 25 Years.

Chloe Batchelor
Year 11 Music

Coming up

ARCO
Elective and ensemble music students will attend the final concert in the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) Voyage of Musical Discovery Concert series on Monday 7 August at the City Recital Hall.  As one of Santa Sabina’s esteemed professional partners ARCO’s Voyage of Musical Discovery provides students with a unique concert series, with the final concert focusing on Musical Identities. Participants are asked to refer to correspondence from the Music Department for finer details. 

IB HL Recital 
On Friday 11 August, the Year 12 IB Music students will premiere their ‘Contemporary Music Maker’ projects and ‘Presenting Music’ performances, showcasing a selection of styles from Blues, Looping, to EDM composition and improvisations. Please join us in Holyrood Adams at 3:45pm! 

Read more about co-curricular music here.

Amy Richardson
Director of Music P-12

NSW Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship – Authentic History Learning

The NSW Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship (PAM) is a prestigious History scholarship that is awarded to a select number of NSW Year 11 History students who demonstrate a sincere respect for the service and sacrifice of Australians in times of war and peacekeeping operations.

Congratulations Molly Hoogland who won this scholarship!

The award is a fully funded two-week travel study tour and gives history students an authentic learning opportunity to investigate significant Australian sites accompanied by a military historian. Molly is studying History through the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Molly’s application demonstrated her positive leadership and personal excellence through diligent work practices, a responsible approach towards her learning and her lived connections between her passion for History and service to both her school and the wider community. Molly will be travelling with 19 Year 11 students from schools across NSW to discover Singapore and Darwin through a historical lens in the September holiday break.

Brigida Zagora
Head of HSIE (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Student Reflection

Earlier this year I was extremely excited to find out that I had been selected for the Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship. This award is for NSW Year 11 students, and alongside other history students I will be travelling to Singapore and Darwin on a tour of important historical and cultural sites related to the legacy of the Anzacs. The application process for this award consisted of writing a personal essay, sharing a submitted History investigation and gaining the recommendation from the Principal and Head of History.

In the June/July break I met with the other scholars, accompanying History teachers and our tour historian, Professor Peter Stanley, at the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park. The scholars came from all across the state, including Dubbo, Albury and the Blue Mountains. Amidst the artefacts and stories of the exhibits in the museum, we discussed source analysis and context before a briefing about the places that we will visit.

Some of the sites on the tour include:

• Battle Box and Fort Canning
• Bukit Chandos Memorial
• Sentosa Island
• Kranji War Memorial
• Former Ford factory
• Changi Prison Chapel and Museum
• Darwin Military Museum
• Katherine Gorge

I am very grateful to have been offered this wonderful opportunity, and I wish to thank my history teacher and the Head of History, Ms Zagora, and Ms Skerman for their support and letters of recommendation.

Molly Hoogland
Year 11

Academic, House and Pastoral Awards

Congratulations to our award winners honoured in assembly at the beginning of this term:

Year 7 Academic Awards

Religion

Nicola Diamantopoulos
Ellie Lanser
Mikayla Tadros
Madeleine Vidovic
Annie Cordony-Jones
Christiane Nikolaou
Chloe Xu
Harriet Hoogland
Amelia Michael

Drama

Elyssa Georges
Holly Laing
Sophie Hickey

English

Chloe De Cruz Maundrell
Amelia De Jongh
Mia Bouantoun
Una Quinn
Sara Viggiani
Chloe Xu
Harriet Hoogland

Languages

Abigail Boschiero – Italian Accelerated
Sofia Dal Pra – Italian
Ruby Linh Nguyen Hill – Japanese
Josephine Chui – French
Harriet Hoogland –French

History

Jessica Caristo
Mabel Clarke
Amelia Michael
Karissa Poon
Sophie Hickey

Mathematics

Caitlyn Arellano
Minh Hoang
Abigail Yang
Angela Yu
Khloe Cui
Caitlyn Kang
Una Quinn

PDHPE

Xylah Bamji
Jade Dominis
Charlize Saade
Sophie Hickey
Amelia Michael
Karissa Poon

Music

Viola Bu 
Amelia Hone
Ilia Kim
Madeleine Mirarchi
Annie Cordony-Jones
Chloe Liu
Christiane Nikolaou
Mia Bouantoun
Josephine Chui
Caitlyn Kang
Chloe Xu
Amelia Michael
Karissa Poon

Science

Scarlett Chidiac
Alessia Mastoianni
Ilaria Musca
Harriet Hoogland

Technology

Anya Brodowski
Olivia Nasr
Hayley Wong
Chloe Liu
Madeleine Vidovic
Sara Viggiani
Christiane Nikolaou
Karissa Poon

Visual Arts

Alexia Ayoub
Natalia Gardiner
Karissa Poon

Year 8 Academic awards

Religion

Diya Thomas
Vittoria Zecchino
Mia Bek
Sabina Klar
Angelina Filipovski
Allegra Musca

Drama

Michelle Gasparini
Ananya Hebalkar
Amelia Mckee
Louisa Giugni

English

Felicia Zhang
Sierra Sparrow
Harper Klein
Sabina Klar
Alannah Quinn
Allegra Musca
Louisa Giugni

Languages

Laila Gregory – French
Maia Khoury – Italian
Harper Klein – French
Sabina Klar – Italian
Angelina Filipovski – Japanese
Allegra Musca – Italian Accelerated

History

Emma Frecker
Alexis Gittani
Mina Ju
Francesca Martin
Zara Saade
Sarah Ho
Angelina Filipovski

Geography

Clio Apostolopoulos
Wendy Wang
Mia Bek
Alessia Grasso
Sofia Prevezanos
Chloe Solmirano
Alannah Quinn
Allegra Musca

Mathematics

Suanne Kim
Luoxi Sun
Jay Maree Yu Healy
Serena Li
Sarah Ho
Alannah Quinn

PDHPE

Abigail Dawson
Amelia Mckee
Serena Li
Angelina Filipovski
Alannah Quinn

MUSIC

Vivienne Abdallah
Mira Nguyen
Sofia Prevezanos
Chloe Solmirano
Serena Li
Harper Klein
Louisa Giugni
Sarah Ho

SCIENCE

Chloe Boustani
Natalia Novati
Alessia Grasso
Louisa Giugni
Sarah Ho

TECHNOLOGY

Abigail Dawson
Sierra Sparrow
Sabina Klar
Angelina Filipovski
Alannah Quinn
Allegra Musca

VISUAL ARTS 

Aria D’Amico
Allegra Musca

YEAR 9 Academic Awards 

Religion

Kira Chemodakov
Chloe Constantinidis
Lucy Cordony-Jones
Lily Nguyen
Ivy Kim
Charlotte Salameh
Emily Hirschhorn
Calliope Stewart
Claudia Lee

Drama

Gabrielle Karakatsanis

English

Eve Ardagna
Gabriella Indra
Emily Hirschhorn
Georgia Catalano
Claudia Lee

Languages

Amelia Don – French
Olivia Santangelo – Italian
Sienna Maciel – Italian
Georgia Catalano – Italian Accelerated

HSIE

History 

Sofia Rose Sharma
Monterey Tam
Calliope Stewart
Georgia Catalano

Philosophy and World Studies 

Jina Lee
Sienna Maciel
Claudia Lee

Geography

Genevieve Williams
Monterey Tam
Calliope Stewart
Hannah The
Georgia Catalano
Claudia Lee

Commerce

Shardai Charbel
Sarah Kaye
Ivy Kim
Emily Hirschhorn
Hannah The
Georgia Catalano
Claudia Lee

Maths

Kiara Vukoja
Emily Yoo
Jina Lee
Charlotte Salameh
Gabriella Indra
Hannah The
Claudia Lee

PDHPE

Isabella Rahme
Clementine Ray
Charlotte Rudd
Zara Ters
Lila Ferko – PDHPE
Lila Ferko – PASS

Music

Ellie Kwon
Jina Lee

Science

Annelies Notelaers
Sofia Rose Sharma
Charlotte Salameh
Hannah The
Georgia Catalano
Claudia Lee

TASS

Eva Gabrielli – Textiles Technology
Hannah The – Textiles Technology
Lisa Geddes – Food Technology
Ava Radford – Technology
Zara Portolesi – Design & Technology
Sienna Maciel – Design & Technology
Zara Portolesi – Information & Software Technology

Visual Arts

Calliope Stewart

Year 10 Academic Awards 

Religion

Siena Dewhurst
Emily Guerreiro
Charlize Touma
Kavitha Varatharajan
Isabelle Heanly
Anabell Daniel
Jayden Xie
Isabel Marturia
Matilda Stephens

Drama

Eleanor Yates

English

Isabella Huang
Alessia Mancuso
Isabella Williams
Kate Fernandez
Leah Boumelhem
Michelle Indra
Matilda Stephens

Languages

Yuri Kim
Melissa Bousquet
Michelle Indra

HSIE

History Mandatory

Tamara Jabbour
Drew Babbage
Charlotte So
Remi Aposolooulos
Leah Boumelhem

History Elective

Darcy Nguyen
Linh Phan
Caitlin Brennan
Ava Raiti
Anna-Maria Sulukojian
Eve Blanchard
Sara Zengovski

Commerce

Evie Ash
Eve Blanchard
Anabell Daniel
Jayden Xie
Michelle Indra

Geography

Mehthini De Almaida-John
Emma Wong
Cary Yeung
Isabel Marturia
Matilda Stephens

Philosophy and World Studies

Hannah Gaul
Drew Babbage
Melissa Bousquet
Leah Boumelhem
Isabel Marturia
Matilda Stephens

Maths

Estelle Aricheta
Charlize Daher
Charlotte So
Jayden Xie
Isabel Marturia
Michelle Indra

PDHPE

Chloe Bowden
Abbie Crakanthorp
Angela Diamantopoulos
Monique Tsabalas
Kate Fernandez
Lana Mihalic

PASS

Caitlin Merrick
Isabelle Heanly

Music

Sophia Wong

Science

Remi Aposolooulos
Anabell Daniel
Jayden Xie
Michelle Indra
Isabel Marturia

TAS

Olivia Glass – Textiles Technology
Danielle Song – Information & Software Technology
Maja Vukoja – Food Technology
Lana Mihalic – Design & Technology
Matilda Stephens – Design & Technology
Eleanor Yates –Textiles Technology

Visual Arts

Eva Kalotheos

House and Pastoral awards

Gunagulla

YEAR 7 – Valentina Gibson
YEAR 8 – Chloe Boustani
YEAR 9 – Charlotte Salameh
YEAR 10 – Isabel Marturia
YEAR 11 – Aditi Kamath
YEAR 12 – Tamanna Anand

Mundawora

YEAR 7 – Sophie Hickey
YEAR 8 – Abigail Dawson
YEAR 9 – Vanessa Cassmitatis
YEAR 10 – Charlotte So
YEAR 11 – Tanisha Chari
YEAR 12 – Thalia Widin-Williams

Kurrawa

YEAR 7 – Georgia David
YEAR 8 – Allegra Musca
YEAR 9 – Calliope Stewart
YEAR 10 – Matilda Stephens
YEAR 11 – Sophia Barrilaro 
YEAR 12 – Gabriella Lennox

Teangi

YEAR 7 – Xylah Bamji
YEAR 8 – Sienna Di Santo
YEAR 9 – Sabella Youssef
YEAR 10 – Rachel Giang
YEAR 11 – Lucy Gee
YEAR 12 – Lisa Haddad

Weelya

YEAR 7 – Ellie Lanser
YEAR 8 – Monique Francis
YEAR 9 – Violet Crowe
YEAR 10 – Antonia Abounajm
YEAR 11 – Charlotte Pugh
YEAR 12 – Olivia Nakhle

Yetinga

YEAR 7 – Noele Nader
YEAR 8 – Sabine Santa Maria
YEAR 9 – Edith Barrett
YEAR 10 – Hannah Gaul
YEAR 11 – Claudia Care
YEAR 12 – Lydia Kelly

UTS StartUps Summit – HSIE Sharing Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The University of Technology Sydney StartUps Summit held in the holiday break on Tuesday 27 July at the ICC was ‘Australia’s largest event to inspire and support young entrepreneurs.’ I had the pleasure of taking seven Year 10 students to present to over 2500 students from other independent, Catholic and state schools. A huge congratulations to Monique Tsabalas who was the keynote speaker for the Santa Sabina presentation. Monique represented the Year 10 Santa Style team and spoke about the learning and challenges working in the student-led initiative within the HSIE Innovation and Entrepreneurship Co-curricula StartUp Project, Santa Style. She shared with the audience how the problem of fashion landfill was identified, the design of the Santa Style StartUp as a disruption to fast fashion as a closed loop model, the challenges of developing an e-commerce website, social media marketing strategies, sustainability successes and future directions for this business. The Year 10 team that supported Monique on stage included: Evie Ash, Drew Babbage, Eve Blanchard, Emily Gilmore, Emily Guerreiro and Georgia Tannous.

This presentation received huge positive feedback from schools who were in the audience including St Clare’s College Waverley who reached out to invite Santa Style Year 10 students to present to the St Clare’s Year 8 cohort about innovation and entrepreneurship and become Innovation Mentors. We look forward to continuing to share our learnings with the greater educational community throughout our StartUp journey. Santa Sabina students continue to shake the world!

Brigida Zagora
Head of HSIE (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Student reflection

We were given the opportunity to be a part of the UTS Startups Summit. At the conference we were able to see diverse, tech-enabled entrepreneurs in action, providing us with much inspiration and enlightening us as to the opportunities available in the areas of technology and entrepreneurship. Over 2 000 students from a range of different schools participated, and we were given the privilege of being able to present the Santa Style initiative to the entire conference. We presented a speech in which we outlined the journey of the Santa Style initiative including our challenges, highlights and inspiration for forming the Startup – Santa Style. It was great to be able to spread awareness of the ongoing issue of fast fashion and provide a practical solution to the issue. Hopefully we were able to be an inspiration for many other schools to create their own initiative, tackling climate change.

Since this experience, other schools have contacted us seeking further information on Santa Style and guidance on how they could create their own StartUp initiative. On 20 July we were asked to be mentors to St Clare’s Waverley Year 8, who are embarking on an entrepreneurial journey in which they are creating their own sustainable initiatives. We were able to provide them with advice on the process of creating a sustainable initiative and we hope to be able to continue to be mentors to them, supporting them in their projects.

Drew Babbage
Year 10

 

Da Vinci Decathlon

In Week 2, over three days, teams of students from Years 5- 11 met in the piazza early each morning to make the trek to Knox Grammar for the first in-person da Vinci Decathlon since 2019. The event is back with a bang, with over 180 teams competing on Wednesday and nearly as many on the other days of the event. The da Vinci Decathlon is a very challenging competition that focuses on 10 fields of knowledge: Art & Poetry, Cartography, Code Breaking, Creative Producers, Engineering, English, Ideation, Legacy, Mathematics and Science.

We are very proud of all our teams, they showed great maturity, teamwork, and perseverance, particularly our Year 5 and Year 11 teams who managed to place in the top three for Engineering and Ideation respectively.

Below are some quotes from students:

The da Vinci Decathlon was a day full of fun no matter what discipline you were doing. As a team we collaborated to do the best we could but also ensuring we enjoyed ourselves. Aditi and I were lucky enough to place third in Ideation which was nice after all the hard work throughout the day. This experience has been one none of us will forget making memories and new friends along the way.

Zoe Kearns Year 11

Placing in Ideation was a very honourable and exciting moment for my team and me.

Aditi Kamath Year 11

Participating in the da Vinci Decathlon was an exhilarating journey of intellectual discovery, where teamwork and creativity blended seamlessly to solve captivating challenges. The competition’s stimulating atmosphere and diverse range of disciplines fostered a sense of camaraderie and growth, leaving lasting memories of triumph and achievement.

Jay Maree Yu Healy Year 9

Da Vinci was an amazing day full of new and inspiring things. I got to experience working with other people and made some new friends. I would love to do da Vinci again.

Chloe Liu Year 7

I enjoyed participating in da Vinci so much. It showed me critical thinking, thinking on the spot and thinking outside of the box.

Jorja Matthews Year 5

The da Vinci Decathlon is a yearly event with limited spaces, as such, teams are reshuffled each year with a focus on able students who are excellent team players who can cope with the competitive and fast paced atmosphere.

Matthew Mountford
Dean of Gifted Education – Science Teacher

Science and Engineering challenge

Term 3 has been incredibly busy for our students with two big events they have been training for since the beginning of Term 2 coming to fruition.

Thursday 20 July saw over 30 students from Years 9 and 10 heading to the University of Western Sydney to compete against eight other schools in the Science and Engineering Challenge. Students had the opportunity to work amongst university students and lecturers on eight different challenges that involved building mars rovers and engineering bridges, gliders and solving electrical puzzles.

The girls had a brilliant time, making connections with age peers from different schools and building problem solving skills in a fun and competitive environment. The Science and Engineering challenge is open to all interested and dedicated students in Years 9 and 10.

Matthew Mountford
Dean of Gifted Education – Science Teacher

Authentic Learning in Year 10 Commerce

Why and how do Australians vote? In our contemporary political landscape this is a valid student question. In Year 10 Commerce, students have participated in an inquiry based voting activity to better understand the purpose and learn the process of voting. I would like to thank Ms Cummins for her creative and engaging Commerce teaching strategies.

Brigida Zagora
Head of HSIE (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Authentic Learning Process

Year 10 Commerce students were immersed in an inquiry based activity on how Australians vote. This activity demonstratively answered students’ inquiry questions of the Australian Optional and Preferential Voting system. Students worked in teams to create a single issue political party, presented their political party views to the class, while also using negotiation skills to arrange preferences with other groups. This Inquiry learning activity was a ‘light bulb’ moment for many students.

Vikki Cummins
Year 10 Commerce Teacher

Student Reflections

Through this immersive learning experience, I learnt how preferential voting works, including the absolute majority and informal votes. Thank you Ms Cummins for providing us with this realistic experience, it was so fun!

Olivia Glass

Today in Commerce class, we had our class election and actually voted as a way to learn about preferential voting. Counting the votes I discovered how an absolute majority influences who is elected. This was a fun learning experience as we got to understand how an election works.

Miela Ocello

A class election was super fun and allowed me to see what it’s really like to vote. I learnt in a fun and engaging way how preferential voting works and the absolute majority to calculate the winning campaign.

Angela Diamantopoulos

A class election gave me a better understanding of how preferential voting and the absolute majority voting system work. I liked doing the class election and it was a fun way of learning

Venus Lu

Year 12 Food Technology Excursion to Gosford Chocolate Factory

On Thursday 22 June the Year 12 Food Technology students visited the Gosford Chocolate Factory. The visit provided an opportunity to see how a variety of chocolate and nougat products are made and to provide a good insight into food manufacturing processes and equipment. While walking around the factory we were able to taste some of the products being made including chocolate coated liquorice, nougat and marshmallows. A highlight included students being able to make their own chocolate bar and to shop at the store. Lunch at the cafe was also included as part of the visit and then we made the trip back to Strathfield.

Some feedback from students included…

Having the opportunity to go on this excursion allowed me to extend my knowledge on the production process involved in making Nougat and Chocolate products. Additionally, the practical component of designing my own chocolate bar was my favourite part of the day.

Emilia Rodrigues

I enjoyed seeing how liquorice is made and how the nougat is packaged. It was good to see how the machines work and also to taste the products. The equipment was really interesting and I have never seen machines like that before. The staff were really nice and the food was really good.

April Cividin

I enjoyed seeing the production run of a chocolate factory where I gained an insight into the operation of their equipment to produce and package their products. Their tastings throughout the process were delicious as well as decorating our own chocolate bar which was a fun interactive experience.

Stephanie Scalia

Debbie Bachmann
Head of TAS

Year 8 OpenBook Holiday reading program

Learning in the Library

During the recent holidays, Year 8 families were invited to take part in the inaugural OpenBook reading initiative, a buddy reading program for families to promote reading and conversation. We were overwhelmed by the response that saw interested families invited to sign up and choose a book from a robust selection.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the parents and students for their involvement and look forward to those families joining us for afternoon tea later this month, where they can share their experience and make further connections with the College community of readers.

Thank you to Daniella Di Santo for her heartfelt post on LinkedIn which she has kindly allowed us to share.

Susan Lombardo
Head of Library

This winter, although I didn’t get to go on my European Adventure, I did get to spend quality time with my girls. One activity we participated in was the OpenBook initiative, which meant we borrowed the same book from the school library and enjoyed reading it together and then discussing it with a list of discussion points provided to us. My experiences through this journey were: 1. It was great to share something with my daughter. 2. It was great to pick up a book and not look at a screen. 3. It was great reading a book from an Australian author and resonate with the locations described in the book. 4. It was great to discuss issues raised in the book, such as online bullying and hiding the truth with the younger generation; and 5. Most of all I learnt that I forgotten my love of reading.

Daniella Di Santo
College parent



Music at Gioia House (Curricular)

Gioia House students are continuing to work hard in their choir, instrumental and classroom lessons. Gioia House Strings are getting ready for their involvement with the IPSHA Performing Arts Festival being held at Town Hall in week 6. Year 5 Mini Maestros are preparing for their first Music quiz and fastidiously learning the first 5 notes on their instruments. Year 6 Mini Maestros are broadening their repertoire and learning their new piece Creatures in the Attic. In their lessons with Mrs Pensini, they are continuing to practise their note and score reading skills, aural skills and solidifying their Choir pieces The Moon and Tengo. 

IPSHA

Select Gioia House students will perform as part of a String, Taiko and Vocal Ensemble at the IPSHA Performing Arts Festival on Monday 21 August 2023. This concert experience being held at the Sydney Town Hall brings together schools from across New South Wales to perform and showcase both individual school items as well as combined performances. Participants are asked to refer to the correspondence already sent from the Music Department for finer details. 

Read more about co-curricular music here.

Amy Richardson
Director of Music P-12

Gioia House Pastoral

Gioia House Action Girls serving others

A big thank you to our Gioia House students who actively participated in the Santa Fest activities that occurred throughout Santa Fest week. Students gave generously to help raise funds for Kopanang, the Solomon Islands and the Dominican Sisters’ charity work. The Gioia House students were able to learn more about how their donations can help these communities in need and were given the challenge to continue to identify ways we can continue to support others. During our Gioia House buddies community time, the students worked with their buddies to discuss ways we can continue to serve others. Students were asked to reflect on Saint Mary of the Cross Mackillop’s quote ‘Never see a need without doing something about it’ and identify ways we can continue to contribute to those in need. The Gioia House students created a pledge and were asked to continue to reflect on their personal pledge and how they will fulfil their promise.  

We pledge to continue to raise money to support people who need our help and charities.

We will continue to donate food, clothing and items which can help communities who don’t have as much as we do.

We will find opportunities at school to continue to remember people around our world who need our prayers and support we can provide.

We pledge to always live and speak truth, Veritas, through our words and actions.

Find ways we can reach out to others in need.

DigiTalk Year 11 CASS project co-curricular

This term we have a new Gioia House DigiTalk co-curricular opportunity. This DigiTalk co-curricular will be conducted by Year 11 students who are completing their Year 11 CASS project. They will be introducing a new co-curricular ‘Digital Safety & Skills’ for Gioia House students and have created a series of lessons which focus on developing students’ digital skills, discussing the importance of using our digital tools correctly and being a responsible digital citizen. Students will take part in creating digital artworks, coding activities, creating a GIF and a variety of other engaging online digital activities. This co-curricular will be offered weekly in the library on Wednesday 3:30-4:30pm. If your child would like to participate they need to express their interest to their Gioia House homeroom teacher by Monday 7 August. Students will need their laptop and will be informed of any software programs they may need to download before the next lesson. 

E-safety Commissioner Free Online webinars

The eSafety Commissioner provides free online live webinars for parents and carers to develop their knowledge, skills and tools to support your children to have safe online experiences. Our Gioia House pastoral program provides students with opportunities to develop their understanding of how to be a responsible digital citizen online, what to look out for when you’re using online platforms and how to responsibly contribute to online messaging, social media and other online games and tools. It is important for parents and carers to continue to have open discussions with your child/ren, making sure they continue to develop their knowledge and awareness of being a responsible digital citizen.

The following topics will be covered this term:

• eSafety 101: How eSafety can help you
• online boundaries and consent.

Please use this website link to register for the webinars: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

Marisa Maks
Assistant Head of Gioia House

da Vinci Decathlon

The da Vinci Decathlon event was a spectacular showcase of creativity and innovation that took place at Knox Grammar School. It is inspired by the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, the event aimed to celebrate the students’ artistic talents and problem-solving abilities. They embraced da Vinci’s spirit with enthusiasm, pouring their hearts into their works. All teams participated with great team spirit and the Year 5 Engineering team came second place overall. The event was a true testament to the students’ passion and dedication. It was an inspiring day that demonstrated the power of imagination and the potential of young minds.

Tayla Kostakis
Year 5 Teacher

Maths Olympiad

The Maths Olympiad and Maths Games Competitions that Gioia House offers are programs where you complete a series of tests with five questions. These questions focus on different areas of mathematics using high standard word problems.

We enjoy Maths Olympiad and Maths Games because it’s a time when we can test ourselves and improve on the things we might be unaware of. It also increases our expectations on what we need to know and the strategies we can use to avoid overthinking the question. Maths Olympiad and Maths Games are beneficial events because it is easy to overthink and make the question harder for ourselves, when there’s a simple solution that we might not have noticed.
Zahra T and Estelle G   

I enjoy doing Maths Olympiad and Maths Games but sometimes the questions are difficult. I then reread the question and work it out. Once I have worked out the first bit I really enjoy it and get more confident.
Olivia Hone

It is kind of hard but has some fun questions. It makes you think about all the pieces and how maths fits together. For example how learning about angles can help you when you are looking at complicated shapes and you can see how many angles go into making them.

Jet Martin

Mathematics

During mathematics this week students explored length, perimeter and converting measurements. One of the activities students completed was measuring items around Gioia House using the most appropriate tool and then converting each of the lengths to mm, cm, m and km. 

Student reflections:

In Maths this week we learnt about measuring lengths and converting different measurements. We did a lot of fun activities but my favourite was when we measured different objects around Gioia House. Our task was to partner up with someone in our class and find 10 different objects around Gioia and measure them. We then converted those measurements into either mm, cm, m, and km for an extension. My favourite part about this task was to be with your friends and have the opportunity to be up and going around Gioia House. I hope we get to do something like this again.

Charlotte Ho

I enjoyed taking part in the measuring length maths task and I challenged myself by exploring the different units of measurement.

Ella Rixon

Monique Taylor
Gioia House Teacher

Science

This term Year 6 students are learning about different types of energy. Students participated in eight different experiments and identified the different types of energy transfer and transformation. The different energy types students explored are chemical energy, elastic and static energy. 

Student reflection

I had fun learning about energy and the different types of energy. My favourite stations were lighting a match and the volcano station.

Ruby Polifroni

Monique Taylor
Gioia House Teacher

6AD Artefact Documentary Task

As a culmination of their inquiry into Australia’s Perspective – Immigration, the girls were required to select a culturally significant artefact that accurately tells their family’s migratory story. 

The girls used the artefact as a springboard for their study, culminating in a multi-modal documentary, showcasing the story behind the item.

Inquiry questions included:

• Why did the family member migrate? 
• Where did they come from and what was their method of migration?
• What challenges did they encounter when they arrived in Australia?
• How did they feel about their decision to migrate?
• What was their cultural contribution to Australian society? 

They were required to adopt a perspective of a family member, narrator or actual artefact to tell their family’s unique and personal story.

PDH: Advertising for a Positive Impact

Last term Year 5 students examined advertisements that have a positive impact on society. They then created their own advertisements, focusing on an issue that they felt was important.

Sun safety

Enlist your children to sing the tune of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space to consider the importance of sun safety.

Sun Safety

Singalong to the tune of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space as you read. 
Nice to meet you where you’ve been?
I’ve been at the beach with no sunscreen.
Skin cancer, wrinkled skin
Saw you there and we thought, oh my gosh look at that face! Looks like a big mistake!
Skin cancer is not a game.
Nooo, nooo.
New swimmers. It was fun. I don’t care it was just sunscreen.
It ain’t funny, rumours fly.
Let’s see how this red ends.
So hey, let’s be friends.
I’m dying to see how this red ends.
Grab your sunscreen and your hat
We can make the sunburn go in a weekend.
This is going to take forever, or you can help us
Tell me when it’s over.

Ines, Sienna, Ovilia and Georgii

Anti-Bullying

Prep Learning Walk

Yesterday afternoon we had our first learning walk of the year. The children were very excited to welcome their parents into their learning space and show them the different areas including the Home Corner, Art area, Block area, and Puzzle table. The children enjoyed involving their parents in some of the learning experiences that they engage in during their morning Developmental Play sessions such as painting, building with the magnetic tiles, completing puzzles, dressing up and cooking dinner in the Home corner as well as constructing marble runs. One highlight for the children was sharing their workbooks with the parents. They enthusiastically explained each of the tasks they had completed over the past two terms and many parents commented on how wonderful it was to see the growth and development that had occurred from the beginning of the year till now. We look forward to welcoming the parents of our 2Day students into Prep when we have our second learning walk this Friday.

Clare Wood
Prep Teacher

Music at Del Monte (Curricular)

Stage 2 students are combining their choir, classroom and instrumental music knowledge to look at pitched notation and explore the Music ‘secret code’. We ask ourselves big questions: how do we write music? Why would we write it down? Are there different ways of writing the ‘code’? We are learning to read treble clef notes in a variety of ways including jumping the notes on a floor staff, using magnets, our finger staff, whiteboards and markers. Our younger students are learning that songs tell stories. We have many favourite songs and are preparing items for later in the year.

Read more about co-curricular music here.

Amy Richardson
Director of Music P-12

Religious Education

St Dominic’s Day 2023

Last Friday our College community including the Dominican Sisters, students, staff, parents and ex-students came together to celebrate St Dominic’s Day. During the liturgy, our Year 4 Dominic the Adventurer students helped to retell the story of Saint Dominic.

Our Year 3 students helped to bring our theme ‘Share your light with the world’ to life in a beautiful ribbon dance. We gathered in celebration of all that has shaped our school and our proud history and reflected on what we are being called to do.

Our students have spent the last week retelling the story of St Dominic using our beautiful Dominican dolls designed and created by the women of Kopanang. Sr Sheila and Sr Judy were instrumental in the development of the Kopanang Community Trust to help women in South Africa. Some other symbols that represent St Dominic de Guzman are sunflowers and oranges.

St Mary of the Cross-Mackillop Feast Day 8 August

Mary MacKillop was born 15 January 1842, in Brunswick St, Fitzroy, Melbourne. With the support and spiritual guidance of Fr Julian Tenison Woods the Parish Priest of the South-East of South Australia, she opened the first St Joseph’s school in Penola in 1866. It was in an old stable. Her brother helped her make it habitable for a school room.

Mary MacKillop had a deep connection to God, whom she loved so much in the person of Jesus. Even in times of intense hardship, disappointment, loss of friendship and even betrayal, Mary MacKillop always welcomed the movement and wisdom of the Holy Spirit within her.

Mary was beatified on 19 January 1995 at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, in a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II. She was canonised as St Mary of the Cross at a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican on 17 October 2010.

Feast of the Assumption of Mary Feast Day 15 August

The Feast of the Assumption of Mary is a special Feast Day of the Catholic Church. God chose Mary to be the loving mother of God’s son, Jesus. On this day, we specifically remember that Mary is the mother of Jesus, that she believed in Jesus and was one of his faithful followers and believers. She was the first disciple. From the very first moment of her life, Mary loved God. Mary said ‘Yes’ to everything that God asked her to do. On this day, the Church acknowledges that Mary, the mother of Jesus, has a special place in the life of the Catholic Church as the Mother of God. Today we celebrate the holy day when, at the end of her life, Mary was taken to heaven, by God, to be with her son, Jesus.

Holy Mary,
help those in need,
give strength to the weak,
comfort the sorrowful,
pray for God’s people,
assist the clergy,
intercede for religious.

Mary all who seek your help
experience your unfailing protection.

Amen.

Tina Nicotina
Religious Education Coordinator P-6, Acting Co-Assistant to the Head of Primary Campus P- 4 and Year 3 teacher.

Celebrating 100 Days of Kindergarten

On Tuesday 1 August, the Kindergarten students, teachers and parents gathered together to celebrate being at school for 100 days. The students and teachers came to school dressed as if they were 100 years old.

The day began with a liturgy in the Del Monte Hall to give thanks to God for a wonderful 100 first days of school. After the liturgy, the students, teachers and parents gathered on the Field for a picnic. Finally, the parents were invited into the Kindergarten Learning Spaces to help make some treats to represent the number 100, using ‘always’ and ‘sometimes’ ingredients. This was linked to our current Personal Development and Health Unit on ‘Healthy Habits’. The students thoroughly enjoyed completing tasks centered around the number 100.

The day was very special for the students as it celebrated a beautiful achievement and milestone in their educational journey.

Anna Donato    Julie Obeid    Tiffany Anderson    Rebecca Saba

Year 4 Friendology

In Friendology, students in Year 4 have been reflecting on the Friendology guidelines: be kind to yourself and others, be open to learning and growing, be honest, be brave, and have fun. They reflected on their own qualities and strengths. Students looked into their ‘sole’ and designed a shoe print that represents themselves, enabling them to creatively express themselves. This activity also provided students the opportunity to self-reflect on their qualities and traits that make them a good friend to themselves and others.

Year 4 Team

Year 4 Learning Walk

Last Wednesday afternoon, families of our Year 4 students were welcomed into our classrooms to engage in our first Learning Walk. This provided students the opportunity to share what we have been learning in Writing and Mathematics. Students individually engaged in a writing activity that was based on a visual stimulus. They had to consider and imagine what the person in the image could see, smell, hear, taste and touch. This inspired students to think creatively and use descriptive language to engage their reader. Parents were invited to share their ideas and co-construct this text with their children. The Mathematics activity entailed students playing an array game with their parents which involved recall of multiplication facts. The collaborative nature of the activities ensured that students and parents were engaged and active participants in the learning experiences.

Year 4 Team

Year 3 Friendology

Friendology Stage 2 Term 3

Friendships are a complex issue for young children to navigate. Learning to overcome, respond and take responsibility in friendship issues is something children need to continually develop and practise. This term Year 3 has been implementing the URStrong Program Friendology in their PDH lessons. This program is designed to enhance the social-emotional wellbeing of students through friendship skills. It aims to support students to maintain healthy relationships, manage conflict with kindness and increase their overall resilience.

Over the last few weeks Year 3 have been using a Friend-o-Meter, to help them easily reflect on and communicate how they are feeling in their friendships. Students think about whether friendships are healthy for them and what qualities are essential in healthy relationships. Students also explored how actions can have a powerful impact on friendships and sometimes these actions can speak louder than words.

Students have a strong voice during these sessions and this empowers them with a sense of ownership over the strategies they are learning. In addition, reflections throughout the week raise the level of awareness that building healthy friendships is an ongoing responsibility for everyone.

Year 3 teachers and students

Year 2 Learning Walk

On Wednesday 26 July, family members were welcomed into the three Year 2 classrooms to engage in a Learning Walk. In this Learning Walk, students were provided with an opportunity to share what they have been learning about in Mathematics, demonstrating their acquired knowledge of 3-Dimensional objects. Students worked in pairs with their peers to construct a chosen 3-Dimensional object and subsequently complete a shape profile of the object by writing its name, as well as identifying its features, specially the number of faces, edges and vertices. This hands-on experience proved to be an exciting and effective way in allowing students to demonstrate their learning and mathematical skills to the wider community.

Merissa Perivolarellis
Year 2 Classroom Teacher

Year 2 Incursion

On Wednesday 19 July, Year 2 engaged in a Ranger Jamie incursion focusing on the topic of forces. During the incursion students rotated through a variety of activities which included Slime Bonanza, Launching Air Pressure Rockets, Billy Cart Championships, and Soda Bag Explosions. The activities encompassed forces such as push, pull, gravity, air pressure and friction, offering students an interactive experience that assisted in the consolidation of our science unit ‘Forces and Energy’.

Merissa Perivolarellis
Year 2 Classroom Teacher

Year 1 Learning Walk

On 20 July, Year 1 invited their parents for their first learning walk of the year. Both students and parents were very excited, as we came together to explore Mathematics and our newly developed pack of fluency tasks. 

During Mathematics, Year 1 participates in 10 minutes of fluency tasks, followed by an explicit Mathematics lesson. These tasks involve procedures and number facts to develop quick recall, allowing students to make connections and build on their maths fluency. By using these packs, students are becoming efficient in using the most suitable method, developing their accuracy and becoming flexible learners, having a tool kit of different methods they can use. 

Throughout the Year 1 learning walk, students were given time to teach their parents a variety of tasks and spend the afternoon demonstrating how they make connections and problem solve. The learning walk gave Year 1 and parents an opportunity to practise and recognise what helps them reach an effortless stage of fluency, where they can apply their knowledge to solve unfamiliar problems. It was a thoroughly engaging afternoon allowing students and parents to share their learning. 

Kelly Garcia and Juliana Hunt
Year 1 Teachers

From the Director of Music

It is my delight to address my new Santa Sabina family from the Director of Music desk for the first time. After two weeks of handover with the inimitable Timothy Chung, I am buckled in and excited for the future of Music at Santa alongside this brilliant team.

As a long term follower of the Music program here, I have admired not only the musical excellence consistently achieved, but the sense of community and the centrality of music-making as a value within this school’s long tradition. I was attracted here by the rare and utopian ideal of The School that Sings – if only because it underpins my own personal philosophy and mandate – that the human experience is made richer by music. 

Respected Hungarian pedagogue Zoltán Kodály said 

With music, one’s whole future life is brightened.
This is such a treasure in life that it helps us over many troubles and difficulties.
Music is nourishment, a comforting elixir.
Music multiplies all that is beautiful and of value in life.

As a P-12 Music team, we are already dreaming for the 130th Gala next year, while working towards all the wonderful celebrations and collaborations that 2023 still has in store for us.

I look forward to partnering with Santa students present and future to find their voices; be who they’re meant to be; and inevitably… shake the world.

Amy Richardson
Director of Music P-12

News and messages

Dom’s Day is a beautiful annual tradition for Dominicans and for Santa Sabina College, and once again our wonderful Orchestral & Choral musicians served their community by providing the anthems for the day. This is one of the special moments in our year when our singers from Del Monte through to students in Year 12 join together to make a glorious statement of unity as a school.

Farewell Mr Chung

As we bid farewell to our Artistic Director, Mr Timothy Chung, and wish him well into his retirement, we would like to honour him not only for his investment across his eight years at Santa Sabina, but also thank him more broadly for his vast contribution to the field of Australian Music Education across 33 years of service. We wish him every happiness in his coming chapter.

Musicianship Classes 

We are excited to have launched Musicianship Mondays! These lessons will be held at Lunch in Holyrood. This wonderful opportunity will help you to:

• develop your theory and aural skills 
• develop your music reading skills
• continue to build on what you are learning in your lessons and ensembles  
• help you prepare for your AMEB exam 

Reach out to Ms Werlemann-Godfrey or music@ssc.nsw.edu.au for more information on joining this class.

Good news stories

Congratulations to Riha Han, who achieved second place at the St George Eisteddfod!

Also Aiden Curran who flew to Brisbane this weekend to participate in the ‘Brisbane Big Bass Day’ a workshop attended by well over 100 bassists from around the country.

Recently a number of current and former Santa Sabina students along with Mr Pensini and Ben Northey toured to the far west of NSW to share their love of orchestral music making with regional communities. A particular highlight was working with local indigenous artists and the students at Wilcannia Central School.

External strings opportunity

TMO Junior, a three-day string camp in the holidays for students 2nd grade AMEB and above, aged 7-12.

The Metropolitan OrchestraTMO Junior String Camp 2023 – The Metropolitan Orchestra (metorchestra.com.au)

Join us!

If you would like to know more about one of our music offerings across the school (be it choirs, bands, orchestras or private tuition) please reach out via music@ssc.nsw.edu.au and we will be happy to assist you.

Amy Richardson
Director of Music P-12

Sport and Co-curricular

Term 3 Sport

Term 3 sport is officially underway! We have over 40 teams playing across various competitions and associations such as IPSHA Touch Football, IGSA Basketball, Football and Hockey, Sydney Volleyball League and ERNA Netball. We wish these teams the best of luck for the term ahead!  

A friendly reminder to communicate any training or game absences and any team photos taken during the term to the College Sport email sport@ssc.nsw.edu.au. 

Term 4 Sport and Co-curricular Activities Registrations

Term 4 Sport and Co-curricular Activity registrations have officially opened and will close on Friday 18 August. We have changed registration platforms and will remain on this platform for all future registrations, please look at the ‘How to Register’ cheat sheet for further information on how to register your child to term 4 Sport Activities. If you have any further questions, please email College Sport email sport@ssc.nsw.edu.au. Further information regarding team trials will be posted to the respective VO pages. 

IGSA Tennis
IGSA Touch Football 
IGSA Water Polo
IPSHA Girls Basketball
IPSHA Boys Basketball
IPSHA Girls Tennis
Santa Invitational Basketball
Santa Invitational Volleyball
NSW Girls Rugby Sevens Competition
Swim Club
Run Club
Fit Club
Dance Club 
Senior Boxing 10-12
Super Sports P-2

Representative Sport Update

Interschools Sydney Regional Snowsports Championships 

During the July school holidays one of our Year 2 students, Woowon Cho, represented the College at the Sydney Interschools Snowsports Championships at Thredbo. He competed in the division 6 alpine event and placed 12th out of 39 competitors with a best time of 38.04s! He has now qualified for the NSW State championships in August. 

Volleyball

This week, on Thursday, 03 and Friday 04 SAN04 (Year 8) and SAN02 (Year 11) will compete in the NSW Volleyball Schools Cup at the Olympic Park.

We wish our students all the very best of luck as they have been working really hard at training and the Sydney Volleyball League games (SVL) in preparation for it.

Please note that we will have an information session for all the Volleyball Representative Program parents and players on Thursday 3 August at the College Lecture Theatre from 7:00pm.

CGSSSA Basketball

In Week 1 the College sent three teams to participate in the CGSSSA Basketball Tournament. The girls faced some tough opponents but overall had an exciting day. Congratulations to our Junior team who placed third on the day! 

Cate Crampton
Acting Assistant Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities

Dance update

Our representative dancers have hit the ground running this term, competing at Ryde Eisteddfod and our Junior teams competing at the Sydney Eisteddfod. Six out of our eight teams competed at Ryde Eisteddfod and showed professionalism and excellence during their performances. We had amazing results and are so proud of our dancers:
Infants Dance Team – 1st Place
Primary White Dance Team (Yr 3-4) – 1st Place
Primary Black Dance Team (Yr 5-6) – 1st Place
Senior Jazz Team – 2nd Place
Senior Musical Theatre Team – 2nd Place

Our Senior teams have already competed at the Sydney Eisteddfod and it was now our Junior teams’ turn, on one of the biggest stages in the world, the Sydney Opera House! It was a beautiful day and such an amazing experience for all four of our junior teams to compete in one of their toughest competitions for the season in such an iconic venue. Our students were commended on their energy, enthusiasm and respectful demeanour throughout all events. We also had incredible results at this challenging eisteddfod:
Infants Dance Team – Highly Commended
Primary Hip Hop Team (Yr 5-6) – Highly Commended
Primary Black Dance Team (Yr 5-6) – 2nd Place  

We continue to be so proud of our dancers and are thankful for the supportive dance community we have at Santa who cheer our dancers on at every eisteddfod.

Bryony Williams
Year 5 Teacher and Dance Coordinator

Deabting update

On Tuesday last week, we hosted Round 6 of the Archdale (IGSA) Debating Competition. We had debaters across Years 7 to 12 and after 2 and a half hours of arguments, counter arguments, agreements and disagreements Santa Sabina College brought home four wins out of eight debates.

I was also very fortunate to be present at the CSDA Debating Semifinals watching our 11 A team at Rosebank College. The team composed of Lucia Juarez, Olivia Radford and Molly Hoogland was outstanding in debating if the ‘UN should intervene in the Russia/Ukraine war’. Their arguments were extremely convincing (they were the negative team) and well constructed giving them the right to participate in the CSDA Debating grand finals on Friday 4 August. Congratulations girls! 

Luiz Ramalho
Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities

Co-curricular update

Please ensure that you get on to Term 4 registrations before the cutoff date as most of the programs are very popular and sell out really quickly. For IPSHA and IGSA sport it gives us the opportunity to sign more teams up for each competition. If you have any questions before registering in any activity, please email sport@ssc.nsw.edu.au .

2023 Interschools Mock Trial Competition Elimination Round

Congratulations to our Year 11 Mock Trial team for their outstanding performance in the Elimination Round against Loreto Kirribilli last Thursday night.

Acting on behalf of the defence, the team demonstrated a thorough knowledge of criminal law in a complicated case involving an alleged assault during a Basketball game. In his feedback at the conclusion of the trial, the magistrate commented on the ability of our witnesses (Bronte Sprotte and Carmel Mayo) to stay in character and remain true to their testimonies during lengthy and well-crafted cross examinations. He also made mention of the highly professional conduct of the team barristers (Alysia Rostirolla and Amira Zreik) who skilfully highlighted flaws in the prosecution’s case casting enough doubt for the magistrate to find the defendant not guilty.

High scores were awarded to our assisting solicitor (Tanisha Chari) for her well-prepared case summary and detailed responses to opposition objections and to our court officer (Chiara Taslim-Handaya) for the professionalism she displayed in ensuring the smooth running of the trial. Whilst our team was narrowly defeated, they should be very proud of the work they put into their preparation and the high quality case they presented on the night. Well done girls and special thanks to the teachers (Richard Crittenden, Annette Janssen, Lauren Imber and Alec Robertson) who helped prepare the team throughout the competition. 

Kate Corcoran
Action Research Coordinator and Teacher of Social Science

Speech and Drama achievements

Semester 1 Speech and Drama had a busy start to the year. Our Gioia House and some of our senior students had the opportunity to enter the Inner West Eisteddfod and did very well. Three senior students have now completed their senior grade 5 Australian Speech and Communication exam and are on the Diploma Pathway to receive a Diploma of Communication by Year 10 or 11.

During Semester 1 speech and drama students worked on a variety of skills including:

• Improvisation
• Character building and monologue preparation
• Scripted drama or play building for duologue or scene for 3
• Poetry recitation
• Preparations for the Inner West Eisteddfod
• Some senior students also prepared for their mid-year exam.

Inner West Eisteddfod Achievements

All students who take part in an eisteddfod are to be commended. This is a competitive environment, so nerves are high and excitement too! The eisteddfod offers a variety of sections including verse, set poem, Australian–themed verse or prose, reading aloud, memorised prose, character recitation, duologue or scene for 3, improvisation, and championship.

• Eve Ardagna – 1st place Character, 1st place Verse, 1st Championship
• Vanessa Cassimatis – 3rd Place Character
• Lily Dunlop – Highly Commended Verse and 2nd Character
• Estelle Gilmovich – 3rd Place Verse and Highly Commended Championship
• Madeleine Mirarchi – 3rd Place Verse, 2nd Place scene for 3, 2nd Place Championship, Highly Commended Improvisation
• Mikayla Tadros – 2nd Place Scene, Highly Commended Improvisation
• Tiana Charbel – 2nd Place Scene, Highly Commended Improvisation
• Annabelle Stack – Highly Commended Improvisation and Character
• Ciara Frisby – Highly Commended Improvisation and Championship
• Ruby Polifroni – Best Costume Character, Highly Commended Improvisation, and Championship
• Claire D’Souza – 1st Place Verse, Highly Commended Character and 3rd Place Championship
• Chloe Charbel – 3rd place Verse and Highly Commended for Championship
• Hannah Saldanha – Highly commended for Character, Reading, and Speech
• Sofia Mirarchi – Highly Commended for Verse, Character, and Improvisation. 3rd Place Championship.
• Gabriella Tadros – Highly Commended Scene for 3
• Gabriella Khalil – Best Costume Character, Highly Commended Duologue.
• Davina Rajkumar– Highly Commended Verse, 2nd Place Memorised Prose and 3rd Speech
• Audrey Bargh – Highly Commended Character

I look forward to Semester 2!
(Enquiries about speech and drama can be sent to drama@hennessyspeechanddrama.com)

Rachel Hennessy

The Hennessy Speech and Drama After School Drama Program

The Hennessy Speech and Drama Studio holds an after school drama program for students from Gioia House. In term 2 the students had the opportunity to enter the Sharp Short Theatre School’s Short Play Competition held at Parramatta Riverside Theatre.

Sharp Short Theatre is a chance for young writers, directors and performers to showcase their stories on Riverside’s stage and learn from industry mentors. Plays entered come from all theatrical genres including comedy, documentary, suspense, period, drama and fantasy, giving students a chance to play to their strengths and interests and let their imaginations run wild!

Gioia house created their own 10 minuted play with Hennessy Speech and Drama coach Pavitra Ravi. They blended fantasy and comedy to create an original play called Princess School. This developed their creativity, collaboration skills and confidence. They had a wonderful day and enjoyed sharing their play with the audience.

Rachel Hennessy
Speech and Drama

Introducing Amy Richardson, Director of Music P-12

Staff Story

Our new Director of Music, soprano Amy Richardson, made her stage debut at just three years old. At a concert being given by her rock guitarist father, Amy was given the microphone to sing in two-part harmony with him. Before she sang, she announced ‘this is what I’ve always wanted to do’. This formative experience is one of her earliest memories and certainly helped to shape her life’s direction as a music performer, composer and educator.

After growing up in the famously creative environment of Tasmania, Amy trained as a classical soprano at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Tasmania and later undertook at Master’s of Teaching at the University of NSW where she graduated ‘With Excellence’. Her teaching practice has been used as an exemplar in a Project Zero publication by Harvard Graduate School of Education published in 2020.

A career entirely focused on music performance and education followed, including teaching at schools in Hobart and Sydney, establishing award-winning community music schools for small children, becoming involved in church ministry as well a performing as a soloist. Amy also established her own musical household, marrying bass-baritone Christopher Richardson and bringing up three children who have all chosen to continue studying music beyond the mandatory school curriculum.

‘For my children and for my students I want them to have music for their whole lives. In essence, music makes life better’, Amy says.

‘I think we’re enriching the lives of students everywhere if we can help embed music as one of the fundamental ways of being human.’

Shifting her focus from performing to education was a calling, according to Amy. ‘There’s something really wonderful about helping other people find their voice’, she says.

‘I say this with all the conviction in my heart: St Catherine of Siena said “Be who God meant you to be” and music education is my space – this is where I was meant to be.’

Amy is an uplifting presence out and about on the College campuses, even in Mary Bailey House where she is helping to embed the fundamental joy of music in the lives of our babies and toddlers in our Early Education space. Often dressed all in black, so that she’s ready to conduct an ensemble with minimal notice, look closer and you will see Amy’s trademark bright lipstick (hot pink at the time of writing) and matching finger nails.

Amy’s focus as our Director of Music will be on the choral program from Prep to Year 12 which is widely seen as one of our trademark strengths. Amy says we are also renowned for commissioning new works – a great tradition which positions Santa Sabina as one of the best places in Australia to look for new choral works being performed and commissioned. She hopes to build on the success of recent events such our Sounds from Santa Gala Concert at Sydney Town Hall which she describes as ‘an extraordinary world class experience’ for the fortunate performers.

The College Choir and Chamber Choir are now being directed by Amy who also works with Del Monte and Gioia House choirs and supporting the work of curriculum ensembles across the campuses.

In her downtime Amy’s focus does not waver from the arts. She composes music and paints, which she has done since her ‘very rich childhood’ where she was surrounded by music and art as a way of making sense of life.

As for those in our community who fear not being able to sing in tune, Amy says it’s all a matter of muscular training and muscle control. ‘Building more muscular control of the voice is something we can work with’, she says.

‘I’ve not met a child who I can’t train to sing in tune. Everyone can speak and everyone can sing.’

Victoria Harper
Publications and Marketing Officer

Santa Science Showcase

Unique opportunity to hear from innovators in our community

National Science Week is set to be a powerful experience for our students as we celebrate science and explore the 2023 theme: Innovation: Powering Future Industries. There is a special after hours event, Santa Science Showcase, happening for students and their families – showcasing six different areas of STEM: the work of Santa Sabina community members whose efforts are impacting future generations.

With a diverse range of presenters sharing technological developments in sustainability, pharmaceuticals, human health, land use planning and Aerospace, we hope to build student awareness of possible career pathways.

Please come along and celebrate with us at this free event for our College community.

Date: Wednesday 16 August 2023 at 5:30pm (concluding at 8:00pm)

Location: Lecture Theatre, Santa Sabina College, 90 The Boulevarde Strathfield

Format:

• 5:30pm: light refreshments in the foyer of the Lecture Theatre
• 6:00pm: hear from six experts as they each give a 10-minute presentation of technological developments in their field
• After each presentation: ask questions and continue the conversations in the foyer until 8:00pm

Presenters

Angie Corbo
Global Innovation Lead for Informatics
Roche Pharmaceuticals 
Technological Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Natalie Curach
Senior Director of Business Development
Ginkgo Bioworks
Synthetic biology and its implications for future health

Susan Fox 
Senior Manager Bushfire Planning
NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Using science to inform land use planning decisions – responding to Australia’s bushfire history

Christopher Hodge
Clinical Research Coordinator/Orthoptist
Vision Eye Institute 
A collaborative approach to vision rehabilitation – building a biological cornea

Scott Partlin 
Head of Grid Network Connections
Neoen
Powering Australia and the world with 100% renewable energy – the challenge of this century

Isabella Salameh 
Aerospace Engineer
Airbus
X-Wing – Sustainability in Aerospace

Science Week is one of Australia’s largest festivals. We look forward to seeing you at our showcase of innovation happening within our community – technological developments with implications for everyone’s future.

Natasha Kempers
Head of Science                     

Alex Conolly
Assistant Head of Science

Professional Learning – Action Research

The day before students returned for Term 3, our teachers gathered in the library to continue their action research professional learning projects. Teachers started the day working in groups to reflect on the success of the strategies implemented last term to improve student outcomes before participating in a range of action research showcases where they shared their learning, insights and future directions. Thanks to all groups who presented on the day and to UTS academics, Professor Nick Hopwood and Dr Tracey-Ann Palmer (pictured bottom right), for all their assistance with this ongoing project.

Kate Corcoran
Action Research Coordinator

From the P&F Association

General Meeting

You are warmly invited to attend the Term 3 2023 P&F General Meeting to be held on Monday 7 August in Benincasa in The Aquinas Centre on the Secondary Campus. The meeting will commence at 6:30pm.

The roles of Secretary and Communications Coordinator are vacant on the Executive Committee. Please email president@ssc.nsw.edu.au if you are interested in learning more about these roles.

Volunteers needed for Father’s Day stall

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 in 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.

Our Father’s Day Gift Wrapping Day will be held on Tuesday 15 August from 9-12.30 at the Del Monte Hall. It is a great opportunity to mingle with other carers in our community whilst wrapping gifts for the stall. Morning Tea will be provided so if you can spare an hour, two or the whole morning we would love to see you there.

We cannot run these events for the students without the much valued support of the community. If you are able to volunteer for the Gift Wrapping Day on Tuesday 15 August, the Father’s Day stall on Monday 28 August or Tuesday 29 August please fill out the following Google Form by Friday 11 August 2023.

For any queries please contact Meaghan Aldridge-Chow 0488 422 667

We thank you for your support

The Father’s Day stall committee 2023
Marie Gebrael, Houda Taouk, Meaghan Aldridge-Chow

When and Where Should I Seek Support for My Young Person’s Mental Health?

You may have heard over and over again this decade the impacts that the acute phase of COVID-19, followed by the current economic pressures have had on the mental health and well-being within our community; for both adults and young people. Indeed, studies show that Australians’ mental health challenges are still being experienced at 15% higher than in 2019. We are seeing our young people having higher levels of anxiety and depression, as well as higher levels of neurodiverse conditions (eg ADHD, ASD). Equally, it is normal for our young people to have a ‘bad day’, be in a bad mood, even have a tantrum/ meltdown.

So how do we know when our young person may be having more than a ‘bad day’ and may need to seek professional support?

Are you noticing persistent and unexplained physical/physiological changes?

• Are they constantly sick?
• Do they complain of headaches or stomach pains?
• Are they wanting to have an increasing number of absences from school?

Are you noticing persistent and unexplained changes in mood?

• Are they highly emotional?
• Are they frequently angry?
• Have they withdrawn from friends and family?
• Do they seem constantly out of sorts?

Are you noticing a sudden and persistent changes in grades at school?

• Do they suddenly seem disinterested in subjects that they previously loved?
• Have they stopped studying?
• Are they studying more than ever before and it’s not equating to an improvement in grades?

If you are noticing any of these changes, and are feeling stuck, a good first step is to engage with the College to obtain more information. Are they noticing any changes too or are things different at school?

If you are wanting to seek professional advice, where do you start?

• Have a conversation with your young person, noticing the changes, and suggesting that a strategy to assist would be to seek some independent support.
• Reach out to the College:
  • For Del Monte and Gioia House, this would be your class teacher
  • For Senior School this would be the Head of House. They can then direct you to further support options within the College.
• If you have a trusted and longstanding relationship with a GP, book a consultation to see what a good next step would be. This could include:
  • A referral to a psychologist for some support. A psychologist is able to provide 10 sessions under Medicare each year (there is a payment gap). A psychologist can help develop strategies to cope with whatever is occurring with the young person.
  • A referral to a psychiatrist can be helpful for any medication needs that may arise.

There is no one size fits all model of support. The aim is to provide a tailored safety net of support to overcome any challenges that your young person may face.

Debra Brodowski

Ex-Students’ Association

On behalf of the Ex-Students’ Association I wish you all many blessings on the feast of St Dominic.

We would also like to share with you our latest podcast with Dr Helen Beange AM. In this episode you can hear about Helen’s time in the early 1940s as a Santa student, her career in disability medicine and why she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal. 

Enjoy listening!

Elizabeth Pooley
President

Here are the links

Browser:https://omny.fm/shows/exceptional/professor-helen-beange

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2j2VsGwLSNL0XPYqv7lZM0?si=oVdbGl3mQsekGvy6XN8VJQ

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/professor-helen-beange/id1613301850?i=1000621464396

A message from our local Council regarding road safety

As part of Burwood Council’s ongoing commitment to safety around schools, we are kindly requesting all schools to provide information to parents and carers about driving safely and parking legally at all times within school zones. 

Illegal parking and unsafe road user behaviour puts children’s lives at risk.

Council Rangers regularly patrol school zones either on foot and/or high visibility vehicles in order to enforce Road Rules.

Fines (including demerit points) will be issued for enforceable traffic and or parking offences.

We urge parents to observe all the relevant school zone signage and ensure that they comply at all times. This includes timed and all-day ‘No Parking’, ‘No Stopping’, ‘Disabled Parking’, ‘Bus Zone’ and ‘Clearway’ signage and Keep Clear line marked areas.

Please note it is illegal to stop on/queue across and or pick-up/drop-off passengers at marked Pedestrian (Zebra) or Children’s Crossings.

Under NSW Road Rules, ‘No Stopping’ restrictions mean drivers must not stop at any point on the road or kerb in the signposted area, unless in an emergency.  This ensures unobstructed sightlines between drivers and pedestrians and allows for clear flow of traffic within the streets.

It is imperative that drivers are aware not to obstruct the roadway whilst waiting to pick up/drop off students at designated pick up/drop off zones or to enter driveways to pick up/drop off children from school grounds. Obstructing the street makes the location a dangerous place for students and restricts traffic flow causing frustration and potential accidents.

If a school car park or designated on-street pick-up/drop-off zone is full, then drivers need to drive around the block to try again or alternately park their vehicles in an appropriate location and walk to the school to collect their children. 

Parking on or across driveways and footpaths is not permitted.

Attached are traffic resources Council has developed to help road users understand school zone rules. They are also available at https://www.burwood.nsw.gov.au/For-Residents/Our-Environment/Road-Safety-Around-Our-Schools

We request your school to regularly distribute these resources to your school community.

Email reminders are sent out prior to the start of each school term that school zones will be in operation. 40km/h school zones are in force on all notified school days. These exclude weekends, public holidays and public school holidays. Details of notified school days can be accessed at https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/community/schools/school-zones

Below are school zone corflute signs that are available for display along school fence to remind parents of the Road Rules.

You may contact Council’s Road Safety Officer on 9911 9912 for these resources or any other information about driving safely and parking legally.

We look forward to working closely with the school community to ensure Safety Around Our Schools.

Together, We Can Make Our Roads Safe For Everyone