College Principal

Term 4 has been busy and productive, as you will see from the latest Lamp Post.

Paulina Skerman
College Principal

Deputy Principal Mission and Pastoral Care

A Bouquet of Achievement, Growth and Faith

During our closing Staff Liturgy at the end of 2022 I spoke of that year as being a year of unfurling after COVID. As a College community we unfurled and faced the wind so that by the end of the year our sails were full. I predicted that 2023 would move to be a year of blossoming; it seemed certain that the new year could only be a year of blooming and growth for our community. Now, 12 months down the track, I sincerely believe that this has been the case.

If I picked a bouquet of flowers that represented the blossoming of 2023 it would be huge, rainbow coloured and the smell would be divine. There would be sunflowers to represent the sunshine and joy of new programs and initiatives such as Dominic the Adventurer Award and the Friendology Pastoral Care program at Del Monte. Daffodils would represent Gioia House and the enthusiasm and bright optimism of our Action Girls as they delved into Philosophy, undertook multiple fundraising initiatives and participated in their Be Active Program. 

There would be irises standing as tall and proud as our Student Leaders across the College; our Year 4 leaders, Gioia House Captains, Student Action Team members and our Year 12 Student Leadership team. These students have acted with vibrancy and reminded the whole school community of the importance of servant leadership; to lead by putting others before yourself. Our bouquet has burgeoned in 2023 with the serene and symbolic lilies that have signified our spiritual life: Rosary Groups, Christian meditation sessions with Sr Jill Shirvington OP, prayer groups and our fortnightly lunchtime Mass. Our lilies have been fortified by those students who returned from World Youth Day in August to share their faith with us and those who trained as Eucharistic Ministers, Altar Servers and MInisters of the Word. 

It would be remiss if cherry blossoms were missing from our bouquet as they bloom so brightly in our school in Term 3. They bloom quickly, their beauty is fleeting but the place they hold in our hearts is strong. These blossoms are like the acts of service we have seen through our Salamanca Service Learning Program at the College. As year groups, Gioia House, Del Monte and the Senior campus have undertaken collective and individual acts of service throughout the year.

The end of the year is always marked by the blooming of the hydrangeas in the gardens around the Chapel. These generous and luscious balls of blooms are a fine reminder that as our students leave us at the end of each year they do so filled with new experiences and growth. 

May you and your family have a blessed Christmas. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, may His peace and love surround you and your loved ones. Merry Christmas and blessings for the New Year. 

Melanie van der Meer
Deputy Principal Mission and Pastoral Care

Deputy Principal Operations

We are very excited to release the International and Interstate Tours document for 2025 and 2026.  The aim of the document is to provide College families with a schedule of tours in which the students may wish to partake in the 2025 and 2026 school years.  The tours aim to provide students with learning experiences outside of the classroom that reinforce the learning and skills developed at Santa Sabina. All proposed tours are subject to there being enough students for the tour to proceed.

At the close of the school year, there are several administrative procedures of which the College IT team would like you to be aware. 

If you are purchasing a new laptop for school over the holiday break, please be aware that the device will need to be onboarded again, so it works on the College Network in 2024. Instructions on how to onboard devices are located in Veritas Online at https://veritasonline.ssc.nsw.edu.au/homepage/17712.

I would like to remind families that while all Academic Reports are available on Parent Lounge, when your child finishes as a student at Santa Sabina you will need to download a copy of the report, so you are able to access the reports into the future.  This can be done by opening the report you wish to save and saving it to a location on your desktop or in your phone.

Over the Christmas holiday break, the IT team will be performing critical updates to the systems to ensure that everything is back online and ready to go for the 2024 academic year. If the system will be down for any period over the vacation break, our staff will send an email to families in advance to inform you of the details of the shutdown.

I would finally like to wish all members of the Santa Sabina community a safe and Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you again in the new year.

John Gilmore
Deputy Principal Operations

Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Year in Reflection

As 2023 draws to an end, I am prompted to reflect on the past year. We have again had an extraordinary year of teaching and learning. Del Monte staff have dedicated the year to reviewing their programs. They moved from the PYP to the Australian Curriculum and NSW Syllabus while implementing the new English and Maths curriculum. We opened two new Food Technology labs, which have been booked ever since. The increased interest in this and many of our technology-based subjects is impressive. Santa Sabina Year 12 HSC Design and Technology students showcased their skills with 16 preselection nominations for the SHAPE exhibition. On the Santa Sabina Campus, we have opened two new Lumination Labs, which are taking our classroom experiential learning to the next level.  

In recent weeks, I was privileged to escort our four Tech Girls competition winners to the Microsoft STEM Day, where they toured the facilities and spoke to women in the industry. The Year 11 IB students led a Diploma Experience Day for the Year 9 students called the DCubed Day. It included taster lessons designed by the students and an interactive Trading Game session in the hall, which the students embraced. The Year 10 Encounter program is finishing this week with exciting learning opportunities in Financial Literacy, Car Maintenance and Positive Psychology, to name just a few.

I want to thank our dedicated staff, including the leadership teams, classroom teachers, and support staff in the background, for passionately educating our Santa Sabina students. I wish all our staff, students, and families a safe and restful break. 

Jacqueline Pugh
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Head of Primary P-6

As another successful and extremely busy academic year comes to a close, we look forward to enjoying a very well-earned break. Each year presents us with its unique set of challenges and opportunities, prompting us to take a moment to reflect on what truly matters in our lives. It is a time for celebration, gratitude for friendships, families, and our faith in God.

Del Monte Thanksgiving Mass

The Thanksgiving Mass held at Del Monte last Wednesday was a heartwarming gathering that brought students from Kindergarten to Year 4, along with their families. This beautiful celebration of faith was truly remarkable. The angelic voices of our children resonated with every heart.

Gioia House Thanksgiving Liturgy

On Wednesday, we celebrated Gioia House Thanksgiving Liturgy and acknowledged the Year 6 students and their time in Gioia House. It was a very moving occasion and an opportunity to give thanks to God for the friendships we formed, the challenges we faced and the knowledge we gained. After the liturgy, students and families enjoyed a picnic on our stunning school grounds. It was a wonderful community occasion to connect and enjoy food. I thank families for providing food and creating a true sense of community. 

K-2 Splash & Dash

Our Kindergarten, Year 1, and Year 2 students had a fantastic time at their Splash and Dash event held at the College swimming pool this past Monday. The children had a blast as they enthusiastically took part in a variety of races and engaging novelty games. We thank Mr Dunlop for his outstanding organization and for ensuring the carnival ran seamlessly. We also extend our gratitude to Year 10 students for helping our young students throughout the event.

Year 4 Big Day In

We celebrated the culmination of our Year 4 students’ time at Del Monte with a series of enjoyable events. One highlight was the Big Day In on Monday, organised by Motiv8sports, which featured a day filled with thrilling activities. It provided our students with a fantastic way to commemorate their last week in primary school. We thank P&F for their efforts in arranging a sausage sizzle lunch and providing delicious cake for our students to savour. We are confident that these experiences have created lasting memories that our children will treasure for years to come.

Gioia House Reading Challenge

Congratulations to our Gioia students on their achievements in the Principal’s Reading Challenge! Their dedication to reading and commitment to reading is a testament to their passion for learning and love for the written word. Ms Marchetta and Ms Lombardo presented the students with certificates and awards from the reading challenge.

Gioia House intervention

Our intervention program for the year has successfully concluded, with students making significant progress in the areas of reading, spelling, and numeracy.

The MacqLit Program, in particular, has been a resounding success, benefiting students in Years 5 and 6. Through engaging in various reading, spelling, and comprehension activities, students have developed stronger phonemic awareness, improved fluency, and expanded their vocabulary. Notably, these efforts have translated into increased student confidence and improved results.

As we eagerly anticipate the new year, we look forward to resuming the MacqLit Program, building upon the positive outcomes achieved this year.

Additionally, our reading program has yielded promising results, providing an excellent opportunity for Gioia House students to engage in reading sessions with their older peers in the Santa Sabina library. This initiative will be further refined and reintroduced next year, fostering a love for reading and enhancing literacy skills among our students. Please encourage your children to continue reading throughout the school break further developing their reading fluency and joy for reading. I thank Ms Dib for her hard work in supporting our students.

Class placement

We fully appreciate the apprehension that often accompanies the start of a new school year, particularly for students who are new to Santa Sabina College.

While we genuinely wish to accommodate all parental requests, it’s essential to acknowledge that the placement of students is a complex process. We understand that parents’ perspectives can provide valuable insights to support this process, and we do consider these requests when appropriate. Our teachers invest significant thought and effort into organising classes, engaging in discussions, reflection, and thorough review over an extended period. In determining class placements, numerous factors come into play, encompassing academic aptitude, social skills, physical and emotional wellbeing, compatibility among students, and even considerations of students who work well together, as well as those who may not. Current friendship groupings are indeed a consideration; however, they are just one of many criteria taken into account.

It’s important to emphasise that fostering new relationships is an integral aspect of our educational process, enabling students to expand their social circles and understand that friendships can evolve. Our teaching and learning experiences are intentionally designed to facilitate cross-grade learning and foster social interaction among students.

We appreciate your understanding of the complexities involved in class placement and remain committed to creating an enriching and supportive environment for all our students.

Congratulations to every student for their commitment and hard work, whether it be in the classroom, on the sports field, or on the stage. We are proud of all their achievements, no matter how big or small they are. We congratulate the recipients of the Dominican and Speech Night Awards for 2023. Your dedication and achievements serve as a true inspiration to us all! 

2024 Term 1 commences

Del Monte

Years 1, 2, 3, 4 Tuesday 30 January
Kindergarten Wednesday 31 January
Prep 5 & 3 Day Orientation
Experience Tuesday 30 January – 9:15am-12:30pm
Prep 5 & 3 Day commences (full day) Wednesday 31 January
Prep 2 Day Orientation Experience Thursday 1 February – 9:15am-12:30pm

Gioia House

Year 5 students and NEW Year 6 Monday 29 January at 8:45am-3:20pm
Year 6 students Tuesday, 30 January at 8:30am

I will write to parents about the commencement of the 2024 school year for the Del Monte and Gioia House students in more detail in the second part of the summer holidays.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to the staff for their hard work and care of all students. Thank you to the parents for their support and partnership. Your generosity in offering your time and commitment to serve our school community is truly appreciated.

I wish each community member a very happy, healthy, and safe summer break.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Stella Azizian
Head of Primary P-6

Director of Community Relations P-12

Our community has been much in evidence on both sides of The Boulevarde and beyond in recent weeks as we have together celebrated the end of the school year and the coming of Christmas at our Fra Angelico Festival of Arts, Speech Night, our Advent Carols service, our Community Carols evening together with liturgies, picnics and farewells.

We are working on a number of publications at the moment, including Encompass, our magazine of the Santa Sabina community and Santa Scholars, our magazine of the year’s academic highlights, both of which we will send to you in the coming days and weeks. Veritas, the yearbook, is also underway.

Next year we will be celebrating our 130th anniversary and one special way we are doing this is to gather our community at a Gala Dinner at Sydney’s Fullerton Hotel. Please mark the date of Friday 22 March 2024 in your diaries now or even make an early booking (click on the invitation below) and help us make the anniversary one to remember!

We have a large number of important events in Term 1 2024. Further details of each event will be shared with you closer to the date but please mark these dates in your diaries.

• Monday 29 January – First Day of Term 1: Years 5 & 7 – Summer Uniform
• Tuesday 30 January – First Day of Term 1: Years 1-4, Year 6 and Years 8-12
• Wednesday 31 January – First Day of Term 1: Kindergarten 
• Sunday 4 February 10:00am – Tallong Open Day
• Thursday 8 February – 5:00pm – Parent Information Night and Welcome Drinks
• Thursday 22 February – Years 3-12 Swimming Carnival – SOPAC
• Monday 4 March – 6:30pm – Judith Locke Parent Session P-6
• Tuesday 5 March – 6:30pm – Judith Locke Parent Session 7-12
• Friday 22 March – 6:30pm – Gala Dinner – Fullerton Hotel
• Thursday 28 March – Monday 1 April – Easter Long Weekend
• Friday 12 April – Last Day of Term

At this time of year may I thank all our families, ex-students, Dominican Sisters and other members of our Santa Sabina community for the support you have given us this year. All of us at Santa Sabina wish all of you a Holy and Happy Christmas and a prosperous and joyful new year!

Yvette Graniero
Director of Community Relations

Director of Development

My sincere thanks to everyone who has supported the College this year. Whether providing funds for our scholarships, donating to the building fund, sponsoring our many events, gifts in kind or volunteering to ensure our students benefit from your generous time.

As we move into the new year there will be many opportunities for you to support us and help the College in our 130 years celebrations. It will be an exciting time to be involved with the College and with the many events planned I encourage you to support us to continue the legacy of Dominic for the next century.

As you know the Master Plan has been launched and our aim is to deliver much needed facilities to both the primary and secondary campuses. Your financial support will assist us in providing our boys and girls the best possible experience at Santa Sabina. Our plan is to begin work on the outdoor undercover area and the Rosary Garden on the Del Monte campus. I will provide more information in the new year on how you can support us in making this a reality.

If you would like further information on the various ways you can assist us, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time and I will be more than happy to provide you with this information. In the meantime, I want to wish each and every one in our community a very Holy and special Christmas with your families, take a moment to stop and recharge, enjoy your time together and return safe and sound in 2024.

Please note below some dates to keep in mind. Further information will be communicated to you all in the new year.

22 March – 130 Years Gala Dinner

August – Our first ever Giving Day at Santa Sabina

October – SSC Community Golf Day @ Strathfield Golf Club

Terms 1-4 – Various Development breakfast gatherings for year groups

Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

George Ayoub
Director of Development

Director of Mary Bailey House

Vacation Care

We’re only days away from the beginning of another exciting Vacation Care program. Our summer Vacation Care program is divided into two periods. The first operates from Thursday 7 to Friday 15 December 2023. During this time, we will be preparing for and getting into the spirit of Christmas. The incursion and activity programs are packed with experiences aimed at sparking joy.

The second phase of the program begins on Monday 8 and ends Thursday 25 January. This period has incursions as well as excursions to some of the children’s favourite local venues which include Strathfield Park and Kingpin Bowling. The incursions cover a wide range of experiences that will get children thinking, moving and creating.

The Vacation Program is attached for you and your child to read and plan their holidays together. Once you’ve selected the days that your child will be attending, please contact the OOSH Coordinator Jessica or OOSH Administrator Frances at ooshmail@ssc.nsw.edu.au to enrol and book them in.

The daily fee includes the incursion or excursion and a tasty afternoon tea. Families can also be eligible for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) which can reduce OOSH fees. To find out if you’re eligible register for CCS via your MyGov account.

I hope your child has the opportunity to experience the excitement and thrills of Vacation Care.

Jackie Baxter
Director of Mary Bailey House

Tallong Campus

We are really excited for next week as we will be hosting the Year 10 Outdoor Education Leadership Program for Tallong’s last program of 2023. The students will be participating in a range of activities including the Tallong Leadership Challenge, night time high ropes, rock climbing, mountain biking and an overnight hike down to the Shoalhaven River. These exciting activities will be supported by a fantastic team of instructors who will underpin the week with a variety of leadership models and facilitation techniques. Our aim for the program is to enhance the Year 10 Leaders’ knowledge of leadership and to prepare them for their role in supporting the Santa Sabina Outdoor Education sequence in 2024. We aim to have a lot of fun along the way too. Congratulations to the Year 10s who self-selected for this experience, we are looking forward to meeting you all next week.

As this is the last Veritas Voice for the year, we would also like to throw out a huge thank you to all the teaching staff who have supported the 2023 Santa Sabina Outdoor Education sequence, be it here at Tallong or on the Year 8 and 9 expeditions. Camp means you must take time away from your friends and loved ones and we appreciate that you may not always be in your own comfort zones, especially as the days can be long and often the nights even longer. Thank you so much for your support as these programs would not happen without you.

Our traditional annual Tallong Open Day will be held on Sunday 4 February 2024 beginning at 10:00am. This is a great way to explore our beautiful Outdoor Education Campus and experience all the activities we offer our students of Santa Sabina. Booking and other details will follow by email early next year.

Merry Christmas everyone from the team here at Tallong, we hope you have a wonderful and relaxing break over the holiday period.

Steven Fox
Manager Tallong Campus

Year 10 Adventure Encounter

The Year 10 Adventure Encounter was an experience like no other! The group explored new parts of Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Tasmania.

The group engaged with four days of local adventures around Sydney and the Blue Mountains before embarking on their journey to Tasmania! The days around Sydney included surf lessons at Manly Beach, abseiling and canyoning in the Blue Mountains down Empress Canyon and a day of indoor rock climbing. The students took on these adventures with curiosity and excitement as they stretched their comfort zones in these new experiences. A highlight was abseiling down Empress Falls at the end of their canyoning experience in Empress Canyon. We wish to thank all the providers of these experiences for taking our students on their journey!

On Friday 24 November, 12 students flew out of Sydney to explore some of the wonderful outdoor places in Tasmania! The group arrived in Hobart and took in the beautiful sights of the Hobart Waterfront. From here we travelled onto Mount Field National Park to see Horseshoe Falls and Russell Falls, two beautiful waterfalls tucked into the Tasmanian Wilderness. After this little exploration, we travelled to the Central Plateau for two nights of comfort at the Thousand Lakes Lodge. The group engaged with this new environment and tried our best to spot as many wombats, wallabies and other wildlife that we could! We also had the opportunity to hike along Lake St Clair National Park and see the beauty of the deepest natural lake in Australia.

After our experiences in the Central Plateau, we travelled to the infamous Cradle Mountain and walked around Dove Lake. This unique landscape is one of the hotspots of Tasmania which brings visitors from all around the world. A memorable moment was when the group swam in Dove Lake, a nice cold plunge in an alpine lake. I’m sure that they won’t forget that cold swim!

The group then travelled to the East Coast of Tasmania, taking in the views at Bay of Fires, Bicheno, Freycinet National Park and St Helens. The group appreciated the change in weather away from the mountains and the beach views along Tasmania’s east coast.

To wrap up our travels in Tasmania, the group visited the quaint town of Richmond which has beautiful cottage style buildings and an old-fashioned historic feel to the place.

Overall, the Adventure Encounter was a great opportunity for students to experience the wonders of the Tasmanian wilderness as well as adventurous activities that are just a train ride away from Strathfield!

Chris Walker
Coordinator of Outdoor Education and Experiential Learning

From Climate Action to Art

In response to their Climate Action Project in Geography, a group of students got creative and decided to support the women of the Kopanang Community Trust in South Africa while also raising awareness of the importance of environmental conservation. So they got busy using produce from the classroom garden to create pizzas to sell at lunchtime.

With the funds raised, they were able to commission a member of the Kopanang Community Trust to produce an artwork called Mother of Hope. This embroidery now sits proudly alongside our Student Services counter to remind all who visit of the importance of treading lightly on this increasingly fragile planet of ours. Congratulations to Aditi Kamath, Isabella Yang, Tanisha Chari, Eloise Dahm and Carmel Mayo for all their work on this important project. And a big thanks to Sr Sheila for all her help in getting the embroidery to us. 

Kate Corcoran and Rosetta Dunphy
Geography Teachers

IBDP Update

On the evening of 15 November we held our first Theory of Knowledge (ToK) Exhibition for parents and families in the College library. The ToK exhibition is an opportunity for the students to demonstrate how ToK concepts manifest in the real world. The 12 concepts are: certainty, culture, evidence, explanation, interpretation, justification, objectivity, perspective, power, responsibility, truth and values. The exhibition involves students choosing three ‘objects’ and one of the 35 prompts, and writing a 950-word commentary about how the object relates to the chosen prompt. The context of the exhibition is based on the core theme – Knowledge and the Knower – or one of the optional themes. The exhibition must also form the basis of a public event, to showcase ToK to the rest of the community. The evening was very well attended and it was wonderful to hear the buzzing conversations as the students explained and justified their chosen objects to their audience.

Some of the more popular prompts (there are 35 in total) chosen were:

• Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers?
• What is the relationship between personal experience and knowledge?
• What is the relationship between knowledge and culture?
• What role do experts play in influencing our consumption or acquisition of knowledge?
• How important are material tools in the production or acquisition of knowledge?

Here is a link to an explanatory video courtesy of TOK NET.

On 1 December the Year 11 IB staff and students hosted the annual D Cubed Day – Discover Diploma Day for the Year 9 students. This gives the Year 9s an opportunity to have some insight into the Diploma and how it works as well as a taste of the subjects offered at Santa Sabina. This then helps them, in Year 10, in choosing their senior studies pathway. To keep the tester classes small and manageable we also ran a ‘global trading game’ in the hall this year. This game highlighted the inquiry-based nature of the Diploma and the emphasis placed on international mindedness. A big shout out to the Year 11 Diploma students and staff for a successful day. We will be running a Diploma information session for the entire Santa Sabina community one evening in Term 1 2024.

The final Diploma exams finished on 9 November for the 35 Year 12 Diploma students and we look forward to sharing their results with the community on 3 January.

Julie Harris
Dean of IB

Catch-up vaccination clinics

The Sydney Local Health district is offering a pop up vaccination clinic in our local area for any Year 7 and Year 10 students who missed out on being vaccinated at school or with their local doctor.

These clinics will be held this Saturday, 9 December and Sunday, 10 December 2023.

See below for dates, times and locations.

Karen Peeters
College Nurse

On behalf of Sydney Public Health District

Tech Girls

Santa Sabina Techgirls Aditi Kamath, Isabella Yang, Tanisha Chari and Carmel Mayo recently won the annual Techgirls competition and were invited to the Microsoft flagship headquarters in North Sydney. Below is their report:

As part of the TechGirls competition, we designed, developed and marketed an app to solve a problem in our community. TechGirls is an amazing extracurricular that we recommend to students who want to share their ideas with professionals and industry. It is an opportunity to work with friends, peers or meet new people and learn more about the technology world, including how to code, make prototypes and wireframes and even make effective pitches. Our app, FlavourSaver, was designed to reduce global food waste by allowing for easy tracking and reminders of expiry dates, as well as integrated digital shopping lists, recipes and food-donation centres tailored to the needs of household members.

After winning the Secondary division, we were invited to attend a day of activities run by Microsoft and the Tech Girls team. We were able to pitch our app, FlavourSaver, to a panel of female industry experts, and gain first-hand knowledge and advice about technology. We were then given the opportunity to discover the technology workforce and even tour the Microsoft North Sydney Office. 

We started off with a tour of the office, where we were able to view very high-tech rooms and materials used to promote their products. For instance, the company has an Xbox room solely for testing upcoming products that their clients aim to produce. We were incredibly impressed and excited about this as all of us had grown up with these products, so it was a very special moment. We were also able to view other rooms and areas that are specifically catered to the needs of the staff, such as break rooms equipped with gaming consoles, meditation and prayer rooms, alongside a small canteen. It was also interesting to hear about the landscaping of their office, and how it simultaneously reflects Indigenous culture and promotes productivity. 

After touring the office, we had the opportunity to hear female staff discuss their experiences in the technology industry. We covered a variety of topics such as university pathways, the different sectors of the industry, and what each sector covers and promotes. This was very inspiring and informative as most of us aim to work in industries involving technology. 

Finally, we got to pitch our ideas to one another. There were so many social issues discussed and unique solutions developed as a result. It was really inspiring to see young women in STEM and the future of the tech industry working towards gender equality in a profession that has historically been so male-dominated. Hearing these other women and their solutions are very valuable to us as young women in STEM. 

A huge thank you to Ms Poynting for guiding us throughout our project and Ms Pugh for accompanying us to Microsoft! Your support is very valuable to us and much appreciated.

Jacqueline Pugh
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Social enterprise in the classroom

The IB Business Management Diploma program requires students to respond to an exam paper about a social enterprise. Here at Santa Sabina, we offer students many opportunities to explore the positive impact that social enterprises have in our community. Below are student testimonials from a presentation from Sr Sheila on the Kopanang Community Trust.

‘Attending Sr Sheila Flynn’s presentation on the Kopanang Community Trust was a transformative experience for me as a Year 11 Business Management student in the IBDP. Sr Sheila’s insights into the establishment of this social enterprise provided a real-world perspective on the principles we’ve been studying. Learning about the Kopanang Community Trust highlighted the profound impact social enterprises can have on empowering individuals, specifically women, to lead more meaningful lives.’
Mia Pisano

‘Attending Sr Sheila Flynn’s presentation was insightful as it provided a deep dive into the world of social enterprises, a crucial aspect of our curriculum for the upcoming Paper 3 examination. Sr Sheila’s passionate explanation of how Kopanang empowers women to lead meaningful lives left a lasting impression on me. This experience not only broadened my understanding of the subject but also inspired me to recognise the transformative potential of business in creating positive social change.’
Sienna Evans

High Tea by Year 9 Food Technology

Year 9 Food Technology students have been learning about how food has a remarkable ability to foster connection and communal experiences during special occasions. Whether it’s a festive celebration, a holiday gathering, or a significant milestone, the presence of carefully prepared dishes often becomes a centrepiece for social interaction.

Over Term 4, our Year 9 students worked collaboratively to carefully plan and execute the arrangements for a decadent high tea, to celebrate a year filled with achievements and growth in their food preparation skills. They prepared gourmet sausage rolls, chicken and leek pastries, fancy finger sandwiches, glazed apple danishes, mini cinnamon scrolls, rich chocolate brownies, sweet caramel slices, raspberry swirl cheesecakes and more!

In Week 6 our students finally enjoyed the fruits of their labour. They expertly set the tables and graciously served the high tea delicacies, accompanied by a fresh pot of tea of course!

It was truly a delight!

Pricilla Laliotis and Samantha Walker
Food Technology Teachers

A letter to parents about Santa Style

Dear Parents, a big thank you for your generous clothing donations to Santa Style this year, helping us divert 75 kilograms from landfill. Exciting news – Santa Style will persist into 2024, and we’re seeking your support again. As you declutter your wardrobes during the summer break, kindly consider donating any high-quality clothing items to us for next year. Your continued support is invaluable, as our mission for 2024 is to save a total of 150 kilograms from ending up in landfills. Thank you for making a positive impact!

Vikki Cummins
HSIE Teacher

Onigiri making in Japanese lessons

‘I found this activity very interesting and l had a lot of fun making the onigiri with my friends. I’m glad that l got the chance to participate in this great activity of making onigiri. Shaping the onigiri was the hardest part but l was eventually able to shape the onigiri into the shape l wanted though it took some time to get used to as the rice stuck to the clean wrap that was used to shape the onigiri. I would very much like to do this activity again if I’m given the opportunity.‘
Wendy Wang
Year 8

‘Creating Onigiri during class was a great experience because it provided me with the opportunity to be creative and to have fun through brainstorming ideas and learning about Onigiri art with my friends. It was nice to take a moment to do something practical and engaging, especially since the end of term is near.’
Angelina Filipovski
Year 8

Geography treasure

A Christmas treasure hunt was an engaging and interactive way to reinforce Year 10 Geography concepts, specifically area reference and grid reference, making learning enjoyable on the last day of class. Clues were designed that required students to navigate through specific areas on a grid map, enhanced their understanding of spatial awareness and geographical coordinates, promoting teamwork and problem solving but also having fun!

Vikki Cummins
HSIE Teacher

Japanese market

Years 6 and 7 Japanese classes had a Japanese market activity on 29 November. They researched Japanese products sold in Sydney, converted the price to the Japanese currency and learned Japanese expressions, such as ‘welcome to our shop’, ‘I’ll have this please’ and ‘how much is it?’ etc. Some students used their creativity and made their products from scratch. We used paper money (yen) for the shopping activity. Students enjoyed this end-of-the-year fun and interactive activity.

Below is a student reflection from Anastasha Harris in Year7.

On Tuesday 28 November, we started our preparations for the Y7 Japanese market. Our group decided to go with slime!, but not any slime. Miso soup slime! We had collectively named it Mi-so slimey. It was catchy and had a great laugh to come with it too. Now, on to the making. Our group had equally spread out the amount of supplies needed to accomplish this task as we had a budget of $15 each, this included glue, clay, food colouring, containers, cubes and chopsticks . We separated into different tasks; my friends were on the clay, while I was working on the slime to create the perfect miso colour. In our market we had two types of “miso”, the vegan – which included the slime base (slime and cubes) with shallots, two dumplings, sesame seeds and chopsticks which sold for 520 yen. The second type was the deluxe selling for 700 yen which included the slime base, shallots, an egg, teriyaki chicken and sesame seeds.

It was the next day that we had been preparing for. Each group had their own table and this market was sorted into two rounds to make sure everybody had a turn to buy and to sell. This means we had to keep some of our stock for the next round. Our group sold out within 10 minutes, making a profit of 3,560 yen. Overall it was an amazing experience and all the group did well.

Aya Shiragaki
Japanese Teacher

Gioia House Pastoral

Thank you for your generosity in donating to St Paul’s Church, Burwood. The donations the students have brought in will be used to make family hampers to bring some Christmas cheer to families in our community. As we know, one in eight people across Australia live in poverty trying to provide for their families. St Paul’s Church stocks a community pantry which allows locals the opportunity to receive groceries and household items they need throughout the year. As part of our Service Learning, we continue to encourage our students to find opportunities to give back to our community and people who are less fortunate than ourselves.

This term, our Gioia House Action Girl Pastoral program focused on students continuing to identify ways we can build resilience, develop relationship skills and be e-safe online. The students watched a performance titled ‘Be Brave’ that identified different situations in life where we have to build resilience and identify strategies to help us work through it. Each class continued to work through a variety of lessons focusing on building positive relationships, developing communication skills and identifying strategies we can use when working through a variety of different life scenarios. Students also continued to look at ways we can be safe online. We discussed the importance of how to be a good digital citizen, password privacy and protecting our personal information. It was pleasing to see the students were able to confidently respond to how they can be safe online and identify appropriate action if required.

Rock and Water

During Rock and Water activities Year 6 McLaren and Azizian/Dunphy worked together to learn and develop our skills. We worked outside for these lessons and enjoyed working with friends in different classes. We learnt many different skills and we have shared some comments below about our learning.

The ping pong ball activity was very hard. You had to keep good eye contact and you want to keep looking at the ball but you can’t. One person holds the ping pong ball in their open hand and the other person holds their hand over the top. While looking at the other person’s eyes you have to grab the ball. It is hard not to hesitate and keep closing your hand on the ball.
Annabelle Gittany

I learnt that you can be sometimes stressed but there are ways to calm yourself down e.g. if you are doing a speech you can do a breathing activity using your senses to calm yourself.
Ciara Darlow

The rooster fight helps us to identify people’s strengths and weaknesses and our own. This will help us when we are working with other people in group tasks in Year 7.
Lucinda Oong

It helps to calm us down to help us deal with situations that we will go through in our life where we need to stop and breathe and be calm.
Ella McGinty

We did the walking activity. People walked into different directions across each others path with a rock and a water attitude. We can use this in Year 7 when there is a lot of people walking and we need to be able to adjust our pace and still get to class on time.
Georgia Magri

Thank you to all the students and families for your support this year. Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.

Marisa Maks
Assistant Head of Gioia House

Advent and Year 5

Year 5 have been examining the symbolism of the Advent Wreath. 

Below is an explanation of what the students have learned. 

The first purple candle represents hope. It is called a ‘Prophecy Candle.’ It represents the coming of the Messiah.

The second candle, also purple, represents faith. Sometimes called the ‘Bethlehem Candle’ it is a reminder of Mary and Joseph.

The third candle is pink and represents joy. It is sometimes called the ‘Shepherd’s candle.’

In the fourth week we light the final purple candle. It is called the ‘Angel’s Candle.’ This symbolises peace.

The white candle is called the ‘Christ Candle’. It represents the birth of Christ.

Isla

5K procedure writing

In Year 5, students delved into a Procedure Writing Unit of Work, immersing themselves in structured and comprehensive learning experiences to enhance their writing skills. 

This unit adopted a step-by-step approach, guiding students in crafting clear and effective procedural texts. Emphasising elements such as purpose, audience, language features, and text structure, the curriculum covered various types of procedures, including recipes, instructions, and technical manuals.

The hands-on nature of the curriculum aligned with the broader class theme, as Year 5 students actively participated in activities that required them to apply and follow procedures collaboratively. The concurrent teaching of the IDU unit ‘Food & Fibre’ further enriched their learning experience, enabling students to connect their understanding of procedures with real-life examples explored in the integrated unit. By the end of the unit students had not only honed their procedural writing skills but also gained practical insights into the application of procedures in real-world contexts.

Tayla Kostakis
Year 5 teacher

Fractals

A fractal is a continuous pattern that is infinite. This continuous pattern can be shown in a Koch snowflake and the Sierpinski Triangle which is where our design idea came from. 

During class and lunch times, we made a continuous pyramid with the infinite Sierpiński triangle pattern. We used 256 triangles made of cardboard in the making and glued each one together. It is 210 cm tall. 

It was fun and exciting to make. All of the class helped and it was a fun class project. Now we can look at the giant pyramid that we made which we are decorating as our class Christmas Tree.

Ciara Darlow, Jet Martin and Cara Lutowski

5W – Poetry

Year 5 has been exploring reading, analysing and creating a range of poems. Students have become familiar with the language features used in poems, how to evoke emotion in their writing and be creative. When exploring Limericks, 5 Williams had lots of fun with rhythm, beat and rhyme!

5 Williams Limericks

Gabriella Tadros:
There once was an earring named Dora.
Who wanted to be an Explorer.
She went inside an Ear,
Found Nothing near,
Except for some old Sephora.

Rachel Michael:
There once was a t-shirt from home
Who had a very big gnome
They joined a mob
Called beautiful Bob
But soon had to move to Rome

Mariah Saade:
There once a girl called Mariah 
who sung like a Messiah
her voice was the best
she made it her quest
to join the church choir

Deanna Deligiannis:
There once was an elephant from the ocean
Who decided to concoct a potion
He failed miserably
And flew to Sicily
Where he discovered lotion

Evie Horwood:
There once was a giraffe from France 
Who hated his friend Lance 
So he set up a trap
To catch that chap

But he ended up eating Lance  

Ava Ettorre:
There once was a rat from Italy
Who always thought critically 
She had chocolate
And shoved it in her pocket 
And she lived very happily

Bryony Williams
Year 5 Teacher

Year 5 core

Students have been busy this term learning all about Poetry. From haikus to cinquains, diamante poems to shape poems, limericks to different sound devices – we have looked at it all! It has been amazing to see the girls develop their knowledge of figurative language and include more and more similes, metaphors, alliterations, personifications and hyperbole in their poems, as well as experiment with various rhyme schemes. They have a firm understanding of stanzas, verses, line breaks and what makes a poem special. So many beautiful, descriptive poems have been written, as well as some raps and funny poems to add a little spark to the unit. Here is a small collection below:

STEM games

During STEM lessons Year 5 students were challenged to take a familiar board game and recreate this using the Makey Makey kits. The students designed their own gameboards and then coded elements of their game using Scratch. They then connected these to the Makey Makey to make the game more interactive. Other Year 5 classes then visited to play these games. Some of these games included Monopoly, Twister and Operation. The students’ problem solving skills were tested to ensure their games worked and lots of fun was had by all when playing them.

Wendy Anetter
Year 5 Teacher

6Mil  Global Connections and Diamond Ranking

We have been looking into Australia’s connections to the global community in our Interdisciplinary unit this term. Individually, we explored the connections Australia has with other countries through migration, education, sport, foreign aid, international agreements, tourism, communication, trade and employment.

In pairs, we used the Diamond Ranking routine to order these connections from most important to least, justifying our selections. Having the opportunity to share allowed our class to appreciate what connections our peers think are the most important. It gave way to some robust discussions and justifications.

Ann Milicic
Year 6 Teacher

Religious Education

Advent Wreath Prayer:

Dear Jesus, you entered our world on Christmas as the Prince of Peace.
This Advent, as we strive to become the best version of ourselves,
fill us with a deep and abiding peace.
Help us share that peace with everyone we encounter,
especially those who need it most.
Amen.

Thanksgiving Mass

On Wednesday 30 November, the Del Monte Campus participated in their final liturgy for 2023. Due to the uncertain weather, our Mass was held in the Del Monte hall. A big thank you to Father John Hayes for his flexibility in moving venues. Thank you to our Year 4 students for their enthusiasm and the mature manner in which they prepared and performed their Thanksgiving song during the Mass.

House of Welcome Christmas Food Drive

Thank you to the families who donated food and other items for the House of Welcome Christmas Appeal. We appreciate your continued support in providing the many grocery items that have been collected by our Year 4 Service leaders. Ms Jane Sulis will coordinate the collection and delivery of the items over the next week.

Advent

While December indicates the end of the school year, for Catholics, it is the beginning of a new year. Catholics begin their preparation to receive Jesus at Christmas, marking the beginning of the Catholic Liturgical Calendar. The countdown to Christmas Day is so much more than just a time of waiting, buying presents and counting the days. When we allow our hearts and minds to truly prepare to receive Jesus at Christmas, the day itself becomes far more meaningful and even takes on a new meaning. Our relationship with Jesus requires time and effort, just like any relationship does. Let us make Hope, Peace, Joy and Love our mantra and embrace Advent this new year.

Finally, as we enter into the holiday period I just wanted to thank all our families for their support over the year. I hope that the holidays provide an opportunity for rest, rejuvenation and connection and I look forward to a wonderful 2024.

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

Curriculum highlights

As the academic year concludes this article is celebrating some student work samples from P-4 that they have completed throughout the year. This is a collated bunch of work samples from various KLAs as a testament to their diligence and persistence across the year. 

Needless to say, I want to congratulate each and every child for all their individual growth and achievement across the 2023 academic year. 

Prep

Kindergarten

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

3 Thiele work sample

Year 4

Reneé Andrews
Acting Co-Assistant Head of Primary, Instructional Leader

What causes a rainbow to form?

A rainbow is a group of colours that combine to make a beautiful pattern in the sky. A rainbow goes across the sky. The colours you would see in a rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink and violet. There are three main stages. These are, when it rains, when the sun gives light for it to go into a raindrop and when the light reflects off the raindrop to form a rainbow!

Firstly it starts to rain. When it rains out comes a raindrop from the clouds and the light from the sun enters a raindrop and it hits the back of the raindrop.

After that, the light goes to the back of the raindrop and acts like a prism. When the white light hits the raindrop instead of the light coming out white it comes out as the colours of the rainbow.

Finally, once the rainbow has formed it will start to appear in the sky. You have to be in the right position to see the rainbow. The position you have to be involves the sun being behind you and the clouds or the raindrops in front of you. If you are in this position you should be able to see a rainbow.

To conclude, rainbows are not hard to see. If you are lucky there is a possible chance that you could see a double rainbow! Did you know that the longest rainbow in the sky stayed there from 6:57 am to 3:55 pm (eight hours and 58 minutes)! This rainbow took place in Taipei and lasted almost nine hours! This longest rainbow that happened in November 2017 has been put in the Guinness World records!  

Scarlett Ghossein
Year 3

Year 4 Showcase

The Year 4 Showcase shared a culmination of student learning with parents and the wider school community. The theme of the showcase was ‘Communities: An Integral Part of Our Life.’ The presentation encompassed visual arts, music, and dance, with students bringing concepts of kindness, connection, and joy to life. 

The showcase began with spectacular musical performances from Year 4 strings and percussion students. Students then shared a grade poem, named ‘A Wonderful Year’, reflecting on their journey and experience from their time as a Del Monte community member. Families then visited the classrooms and viewed student work samples from English, Science and Technology, Geography, Visual Arts and Italian. Finally, students presented a grade dance in the Piazza to reinforce the need to collaborate hand in hand as ‘We are all in this together’.  

Edward Wang, Catherine McGrath, Danielle Mustica
Year 4 Teachers

Year 1 and Kandinsky

In Term 4, Year 1 students are delving into the captivating world of Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky. Currently, the students are focusing on one of Kandinsky’s most famous artworks, ‘Squares with Concentric Circles,’ and exploring how vibrant colours and abstraction can be used to create eye-catching artworks. To create the artworks, students engaged in colour studies, discussing warm and cool colours whilst connecting this to complementary emotions and different forms of classical music. This allowed for connections to be made across various key learning areas, linking Visual Arts with Music and Mathematics. The students have successfully gained knowledge about who Wassily Kandinsky is, what he does, and what he makes through a hands-on experience that allows them to immerse themselves into the diverse works of the artist, learning how to incorporate different artistic techniques and materials into their own work. 

Calista Caamrda
Year 1 Teacher

Director of Music

As we wrap up the year in Music, there are substantial thanks owed in so many directions!

After an extraordinarily productive term (that saw almost 100 pieces learnt and performed by classes and ensembles from P-12!) I would like to express my heartfelt admiration and gratitude to:

• our seven Academic Music Teachers & remarkable Music ‘Heads’
• our dedicated Music Administrator Suzanna Touma, supported by Olga Caristo on the Junior Campus
• our 39 Music Specialists who teach 230 students Privately each week and support our ensembles
• our Property team who move all our equipment and assist us with performances with warmth and kindness
• our College Principal, Paulina Skerman, for her demonstrable belief in the value of Music Education
• our students who have given themselves to this art form with great tenacity and integrity
• you: our community for supporting the rich music heritage at Santa Sabina through your attendance, and in your guidance of your children’s music-making at home.  

It really does ‘take a village’, and this village is world-class.

Paulina Skerman’s most recent Santa Dialogues podcast was entitled ‘Music Makes the World Go Round’. I was delighted to be invited as a guest on her panel, alongside our Head of Performance, Mr James Pensini; our Composer in Residence, Ms Elizabeth Younan; and students Isabella Petersen (Year 11) and Aiden Curren (Year 4). 

If you need any convincing as to the value of the Music programs we have on offer here at Santa Sabina, or even the value of Music to your life in general – I encourage you to tune in and listen (Santa Dialogues on Spotify) or watch it below.

Some photos of our most recent events are below! I encourage you to keep your eye out on the school’s social media channels for some festive releases as we head into this beautiful season.

Wishing you and your dear ones a refreshing Summer break, and I’ll see you in 2024 for a wonderful year of music-making!

Amy Richardson 
Director of Music P-12

Extracurricular Music in 2024

We are currently taking enquiries for Term 1 2024 commencement across the full range of instruments offered in our program, and will be assigning tutors when the Music Office reopens in late January. We are thrilled that due to the high number of world class tutors currently on our Music staff, we are able to accommodate new starters (depending on their school year) for private tuition in:

• Harp
• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Double Bass
• Voice
• Flute
• Clarinet
• Oboe
• Bassoon
• Saxophone
• Trumpet
• Trombone
• Euphonium
• Tuba
• French Horn
• Piano
• Orchestral Percussion
• Drumkit
• Guitar 
• Bass Guitar

Other levied activities in 2024 include Taiko Drumming and Group Musicianship Classes, and we are also taking expressions of interest for mentored Rock Bands and Music Production/Audio Engineering classes. 

Please note that Private Tuition automatically rolls over from one semester to the next, unless advice is given to the Music office. As such, if you are currently receiving private lessons, the Music Department expects that you will continue in 2024 unless we are advised otherwise by the link below. Four weeks notice is required to discontinue, and as such, any Term 1 discontinuation need to be received by 1 January 2024 to avoid a withdrawal fee.

New platform launch in 2024

In the coming year, we will be building a cleaner interface for our community who engage with our Extracurricular and Cocurricular Music offerings. The introduction of the app ‘Clipboard’ will facilitate the communication of Private Tuition lessons, attendance records, and so many other things related to our Music Offerings from Term 1. This change of platform will be clearly and succinctly communicated in the new year, and we look forward to the benefits it will provide all stakeholders.

Co-curricular Ensembles

Don’t forget that one of the best ways to apply new musical skills is in a Group ensemble context! We have many ensembles on offer at Santa Sabina College, and we encourage you, if not already involved, to jump on board with our ensemble program of choirs, bands and orchestras in 2024! Feel free to speak to a Music teacher in the new year who will be able to help you find the best fit ensemble for you.

New opportunities

In addition to the existing extracurricular programs offered in 2023, we are excited to further develop our Contemporary Music stream to provide additional enrichment opportunities to our Santa Sabina students.

Open to any student in Years 7-12, if you or your child are interested in learning more about Contemporary Music offerings at the College, please express your interest using the form fields below and we will keep you updated:

Year 8 Rock Band at Fra Angelico Festival of Arts

Australian Composers Day 2024

The annual Santa Sabina College Australian Composers Day Camp invites students and teachers from all over NSW to join us at Holyrood for a one of a kind enrichment opportunity.

Whilst this has traditionally taken place at Santa in Term 3, next year it will occur in early Term 1, as we place the needs of our Year 11 and 12 students in the final throes of coursework as central to the design of this event. Whilst attendance will be a compulsory expectation of students in Years 10, 11 and 12, any Santa Sabina student can attend the day free of charge!

On Sunday 3 March between 9:00am and 3:30pm a panel of industry experts will guide the learning for our aspiring composers. Guest mentors include ELLA MACENS (one of Australia’s most celebrated and commissioned young composers; noted for her expansIve and lyrical orchestral and choral compositions); DR DANIEL ROJAS (award-winning performer-composer specialising in the rich and vibrant Latin American aesthetic) and DR NICK RUSSONIELLO (internationally respected composer-performer with a specialisation in contemporary technologies and their applications within the live composition context). Our specialists cover vast compositional terrain between them, and they are looking forward to acting as mentors for the day.

From first-time composers to those students with established portfolios, it is our hope that this day will help each participant find and develop their own compositional voice, and empower them with skills and inspirations to make their mark through music across the years to come.

The future of Australian Music is bright.

Spread the word to your musician peers around the state! If you have friends in other schools who might be interested in attending, forward them the registration link below (Early Bird rate closes 1 Feb 2024).

Photos of recent performances

Congratulations to all our musicians for a superb term at Santa Sabina College. 

Below are some photos of the happenings of the past few weeks! 

Thank you for adding your voice to the mix!

Fra Angelico Festival – 17 November 2023

Advent Carols – 28 November 2023

Community Carols – 5 December 2023

Thanksgiving Masses

Del Monte Thanksgiving Mass – 29 November 2023

Gioia House Thanksgiving Mass – 6 December 2023

PLEASE NOTE THE MUSIC OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED OVER THE BREAK AND WILL RE-OPEN IN LATE JANUARY

2023 Sport Wrap Up

I write from the Gold Coast where our brave-hearted students are proudly representing the College at the Australian Schools Volleyball Cup. I am delighted to be writing about my first year as the Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities at Santa Sabina College. This year I believe was one to be remembered for a long time due to all the experiences the College provided to me.

I have met and facilitated Sport and Co-curricular Activities to students who are very passionate about it and are also very proud of representing the College. Students who make me feel very proud every time they enter a court or a field to embrace the College colours and the Dominican spirit.

Students who live up to the truth (Veritas) and display such passion for their sport and genuine sportsmanship. This year I have been extremely pleased with so many positive encounters also with parents and staff who makes me think every day how fortunate I am for being part of such a nurturing and generous community.

I would like to thank the whole Santa community for welcoming me to such a great College and for providing me with a great year professionally and personally. I also would like to thank my team in the Sports and Co-curricular Department: Ms Joanne Gocher, Miss Cate Crampton, Ms Rachael Simmons, Ms Kiri Bowcock, Ms Danielle Larkin and Ms Jane Sulis, without whom, our students wouldn’t be provided with lifelong memories in areas they are passionate about or have an opportunity to showcase their talent.

I wish all of our community a great Christmas and a very sporty New Year!

CGSSSA Touch Football

We had two teams (Senior and junior) participate in the CGSSSA Touch Football Gala day in Week 7. The girls all played their best in quite hot conditions. Everyone enjoyed their day and improved their Touch Football skills throughout the competition.

Congratulations to the five girls selected into the Junior and Senior extended squads:

Junior squad

Chelsea McIntosh
Kayla Chidiac
Scarlet Chidiac

Senior Squad

Raquel Caloundra
Claudia Pickett

2024 Swimming Carnival Championship Nominations

The 3-12 College Swimming Carnival will be held on 22 February in Week 4 of Term 1! If your child wishes to compete in any of the championship events please complete this form by Friday 2 February. Please be aware that all students nominating for a championship event must be able to confidently and comfortably be able to swim the strokes and distances nominated in order to participate in the championship events. 

2024 Years 1-12 Representative Dance Program Expressions of Interest

Expression of interest/audition forms for the SSC Representative Dance Program are to be completed for any dancer wanting to be part of the program in 2024. Please use this Form Link to express your child’s interest. We are thrilled that we already have over 145 students auditioning for the program. We would like this program to continue to grow so would love some more of our talented dancers at the College to take part. Auditions for Years 3-12 will occur early in Term 1 2024 and information will be sent out about this before the school year commences. Years 1-2 will start the program in Week 2-3. If you have any questions about the program, please contact Dance Coordinator Bryony Williams (b.williams@ssc.nsw.edu.au).

Representative Sport Update 

The 2024 Representative Sport Calendar will be available on VO soon!

Representative Team Selections

We wish Caitlin Brennan all the best this week whilst she represents NSW at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Perth! Caitlin has qualified for the U/17 400m Hurdles event after representing the College last holidays at the NSW All Schools Championships. 

Australian Volleyball Schools Cup Update

On Saturday 2 December we departed from Sydney to Brisbane taking our five Volleyball Representative teams to play in the Australian Schools Volleyball Cup on the Gold Coast.

More than five thousand players from schools across the whole country are joining our students in the tournament that started on Monday 4 December and will finish on Saturday 9 December.

We made a great impact at the opening ceremony when students Isabella Simurina (Year 12) and Asha Millward (Year 7) held our College Volleyball banner (designed and executed by the Year 7 team) and on Monday 4 December our teams were proudly representing the College on the court.

The first day has seen great matches across all year groups and great wins from our Years 7 and 8 teams.

The tournament will finish on 9 December but our students are already making our whole community very proud as they have been the best sports people they can be and the quality of the Volleyball played has been outstanding.

I would like to thank all the students for being great ambassadors of the College on the Gold Coast, Mr Lewis Jupp and the coaches for mentoring our students, setting them up to succeed, Ms Natasha Kempers, Ms Joanne Gocher and Mr George Ayoub for being the College staff present supporting our students at every step of the way, and the parent community, especially the team managers, for all the hard work they have put in to ensure our students will have the best experience within the tournament.

Luiz Ramalho
Director of Sports and Co-curricular Activities

Thank you for supporting our outreach activities

Today Jane Sulis our Outreach Coordinator transported a ute load of wonderful donations, from Santa Sabina families and friends, to the Jesuit Refugee Service based at Parramatta. Everyone was delighted with the generosity of our community and Jane herself was thrilled to have so much help from teachers loading the College ute.

‘How wonderful that so many in our community responded to the needs of people for whom Christmas extras are a dream’, Jane said.

Tomorrow Del Monte’s donations to the House of Welcome will be delivered by Del Monte mums – our grateful thanks to them and to all donors.

This wonderful Christmas outreach was a great way to end 2024.

Help me not because I am poor but because I am human.

Victoria Harper
Publications and Marketing Officer

Introducing Vikki Cummins, HSIE Teacher

Staff Story

Vikki Cummins, teacher of Geography, Commerce, Business Management and Business Studies at Santa Sabina since 2022, is ardent about equipping our senior students to be entrepreneurs of the future. Her championship of immersive learning brings her lessons to life and to the attention of educators worldwide, as an example of educational leadership and innovation.  

As one of our most innovative and committed teachers, Vikki Cummins was thrilled to be awarded the Santa Sabina College Board Staff Scholarship for 2024 which will enable her to attend the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools Symposium in Baltimore Maryland USA in June 2024. At the symposium she will meet and network with other teachers from across the globe, all of whom will be focused on girls’ education and what the future will look like.

Teaching is Vikki’s second career. Before motherhood, Vikki worked in sales and marketing at Microsoft, having undertaken a business degree after leaving school. Wanting to inspire others by applying her corporate experience into education, Vikki decided to pursue a new direction and has now been a teacher for more than 10 years, teaching in Brisbane as well as in Sydney, in co-ed, boys’ and girls’ schools.

At Santa Sabina, Vikki’s headline achievement this year has been her leadership of the creation of our students’ digital start-up social enterprise, Santa Style.

Vikki’s eyes light up when she’s talking about Santa Style – an award-winning endeavour which successfully incorporates her background training and experience in business and her more recent career as a teacher. The immersive learning embedded in this entrepreneurial project cements the skills and attributes needed by today’s school students for their future careers.

‘Santa Style was born as a way for Santa students to start a business from scratch by applying what they learn in the classroom to real life’, Vikki says.

‘Santa Style is a technology based, not-for-profit initiative, creating a circular model of clothing to ultimately reduce fashion pollution (the volume of fashion waste going into landfill) within our local community. Santa Sabina College families are able to donate preloved clothing, have this processed, and then made available for sale or swap on the e-commerce web site. All proceeds support the work of the Dominican Sisters in the Solomon Islands and South Africa,’ she explains.

This disruptive business model has won several awards for the students involved, who have presented to the UTS StartUps Summit this year and have become mentors to students at another school looking to create their own innovative real-life business. Santa Style was the only award winner from Australia in an international competition attracting 300 entries worldwide, the 2023 Global Youth Action Award from the International Baccalaureate Organisation. The award recognises social enterprises set up by students that meet with one of the United Nations’ Strategic Goals, in this instance, Goal 12 – responsible consumption and production.

‘As part of this award we received a grant of almost $5000’, Vikki says.

Did Vikki have all of this in mind when she initiated Santa Style with the students?

‘No’, she says. ‘What I had in mind was a way of teaching the students about business in the most effective manner’. Being true Dominicans and change-makers, the students sought to create a more sustainable world – disrupting the traditional retail fashion model with a closed-loop system that minimises waste, reduces environmental impact, and promotes social responsibility.

After hours Vikki is enjoying the resurgence of social life that comes once children have reached adulthood, as the younger of her children has just completed the HSC. She is also a keen gardener and loves long walks with her husband and friends.

Above all though, Vikki is keen to educate our young women for successful future careers where they will drive creative ideas, while possessing a good understanding of technology and the enthusiasm to advance the community with social enterprise.

Victoria Harper
Publications and Marketing Officer

Speech Night

Video highlights:

Please also enjoy our photo gallery:

Uniform Shop update

From the P&F Association

As we draw the curtains on another remarkable year, it’s a time for reflection, gratitude, and heartfelt farewells. We stand at the threshold of new beginnings while cherishing the memories we’ve made together.

Farewell to our stars

This year, we bid a fond farewell to our bright Year 4 boys, who are embarking on a new journey to different schools. Your growth and achievements at Santa Sabina College have filled us with pride. To our Year 12 girls, congratulations on completing high school with grace and excellence. You have blossomed into inspiring young women, ready to take on the world. Your contributions and spirit will forever be a part of our College’s legacy. For all other students leaving us we bid you fair winds and following seas as you continue your educational journey.

WhatsApp Year Groups major update

Unlike previous years the WhatsApp Year Groups will remain active over the Christmas break. Rather than deleting the year groups and creating new groups next year the current WhatsApp year groups will be renamed to reflect 2024 and the new academic year. However, the Year 12 WhatsApp Group will be deleted. We encourage you to save any cherished memories, media, or documents you wish to keep. Excitingly, we will be introducing a new WhatsApp group for our 2024 Prep cohort, welcoming new faces into our warm community. For new parents wishing to join the WhatsApp Year Groups, please click here.

Celebrating our successes

2023 was a year of vibrant community building and successful fundraising. We witnessed the immense success of our events, including the Mother’s Day Breakfast and Lunch, Father’s Day Breakfast, the exhilarating Colour Fun Run, joyous School Discos, and the inaugural Fra Angelico Festival of Arts. These events were not just celebrations but embodiments of our united spirit and dedication. A heartfelt thank you to each volunteer who contributed their time and energy to make these events memorable. The community spirit we’ve built could not have been possible without you all.

Gratitude to our Pillars

Our Parent Representatives have been instrumental in nurturing a sense of community within each year group. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and are deeply appreciated. To the P&F Committee, your unwavering dedication and hard work have been the backbone of our community’s strength and growth. The commitment of the 2023 P&F team has laid the foundations for the 2024 P&F association to continue to strengthen bonds within our community.

A salute to our educators

We extend our deepest gratitude to the staff and teachers of Santa Sabina College. Your dedication to educating and raising our children in the Catholic Dominican values has been nothing short of extraordinary. Your efforts have shaped the minds and hearts of our children, preparing them for a bright future so that they can ‘Gently, Boldly, Fearlessly, Confidently, Justly, and Courageously Shake The World’.

Season’s Greetings

As we step into the festive season, let us take a moment to cherish our shared experiences and look forward to the new year with hope and excitement. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May your holidays be filled with joy, peace, and precious moments with loved ones.

Stay safe, stay connected, and let’s look forward to an even more successful and fulfilling 2024 at Santa Sabina College.

Yours in friendship,

Daniel Pace
Communications Coordinator
P&F Committee

Past events

Fra Angelico

The Inaugural Fra Angelico Festival, held on 17 November 2023, was a spectacular event that brought together art, culture, and community in a memorable evening of celebration. The Parents & Friends’ Association and amazing volunteers supported this event by hosting the International Eat Street and Champagne Lawn.

The International Eat Street featured an array of food stalls that offered a culinary journey around the world. The Italian Food Stall, the Mediterranean Stall with its Lebanese and Greek delights, the Asian Stall, the Indian Stall, and the Gelato Stall provided a feast for the senses. Alongside these gastronomic delights, the Champagne Lawn added a touch of elegance, serving as a perfect spot for parents and friends to socialise and enjoy the festivities.

The success of this event could not have been possible without the generous financial and food donations from the SSC community as well as the dedication of over 60 volunteers who gave their time and effort to ensure everything ran smoothly. Special thanks are due to Alex, the P&F Vice President for Secondary, whose tremendous effort in organising and facilitating the event and coordinating the volunteers was instrumental in bringing this festival to life.

The Fra Angelico Festival of Arts was not just an event; it was a celebration of our community’s diversity, creativity, and spirit. It was a testament to the power of collaboration and volunteerism, and it set a high standard for future events at our college. We are immensely grateful to everyone who played a part in making this inaugural festival a resounding success.

Year Group catch ups

Year 6 Dinner Dance

The Year 6 Dinner Dance, held on the delightful evening of Friday 24 November 2023 at the Strathfield Golf Club, was a resounding success, marking a significant milestone in the lives of our Year 6 students and their families. The event, exclusively for Year 6 students and their parents, provided a splendid opportunity to celebrate the conclusion of their primary school journey in style.

Year 4 Class of 2023 Farewell Dinner and Disco

The Year 4 Farewell Dinner and Disco, held on Friday 3 November 2023 at the Canada Bay Club in Five Dock, was a resounding success, creating an evening filled with joy and lasting memories. This special event marked an important milestone for our Year 4 students and their parents, as they bid a fond farewell to Santa Maria del Monte. The atmosphere was electric with excitement as families gathered to celebrate the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter. The night was a perfect blend of delicious food, lively music, and great company, providing an ideal setting for both students and parents to mingle, dance, and share stories. The energy on the dance floor was contagious, with students and parents alike showing off their dance moves, embodying the spirit of togetherness and celebration. This event was not just a farewell; it was a celebration of the friendships formed, lessons learned, and the growth experienced during their time at Santa Maria del Monte. As the evening concluded, it was clear that these memories would be treasured by students and parents for years to come, a fitting tribute to their journey at the school. A big thank you to Meaghan Aldridge-Chow, Remona Akkawi, Christine Portelli, Kathleen Magri, Cyndi Khawaja for all their efforts in organising this fantastic event and a special thanks to Giovanni Portelli for all the amazing photos.

Parent education

Tempus Fugit: Embracing the Swift Passage of Time as a Parent by Daniel Pace

‘Tempus Fugit,’ or ‘time flies,’ is an adage that resonates deeply with parents. As we navigate the whirlwind of parenting, it often feels like the days are sprinting by, and our children are growing up in the blink of an eye. Here are a few ways we can embrace this rapid passage of time, especially over the Christmas break, in a way that’s fun, meaningful, and insightful.

1. Savor the Small Moments
With time zipping past us, it’s crucial to cherish the small, seemingly mundane moments. Whether it’s watching your kindergartner’s concentrated face as they try to fit a square block into a round hole, or listening to your teenager’s animated recap of their day, these moments are the heartbeats of parenthood. Remember, in what seems ordinary today may become the most cherished memories tomorrow.

2. Quality Over Quantity
As parents, we’re often juggling a million things, but the adage ‘quality over quantity’ rings true when it comes to time with our children. It’s not about the number of hours we spend with them, but the depth of those interactions. A 15-minute game, a bedtime story, or a heart-to-heart talk during a car ride can be more impactful than an entire day spent together without meaningful engagement.

3. Grow with Them
As our children grow, our relationship with them evolves. Embrace each stage of their development. Be curious about their changing interests, supportive of their growing independence, and understanding of their need to explore their own identity. This doesn’t just help them; it enriches us as parents too.

4. It’s Okay to Pause
In our fast-paced lives, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and forget to pause. Remember, it’s okay to stop and breathe. Take a day off to just be with your kids, with no agenda. Let them lead the way – be it a lazy day at home or an impromptu adventure. These pauses are when some of the best memories are made.

5. Create Traditions
Traditions anchor us in time. They provide a sense of continuity and create anticipation for what’s to come. This can be as simple as Friday movie nights, annual camping trips, or a special ritual for birthdays. These traditions become the milestones that mark our journey through the swift stream of time.

6. Capture and Reflect
Documenting our lives – through photos, videos, or journals – is a way of holding onto the fleeting moments. Periodically look back at these memories with your children. It’s a wonderful way to reflect on how far you’ve come and to recount stories that may have been forgotten.

7. Teach Them About Time
In the spirit of ‘Tempus Fugit,’ instill in your children an appreciation for time. Teach them to value it, use it wisely, and understand that it’s the most precious resource we have. This not only prepares them for the future but also makes them more present and appreciative of the now.

8. Embrace the Present
Finally, amidst the rush of life, practise being present. It’s easy to get lost in worries about the future or nostalgia for the past, but the present is where life happens. Do you really need to answer that phone call? Do you really need to send that email now? Be there, fully and wholeheartedly, for your children and yourself.

In the whirl of parenting, where days turn into years in the blink of an eye, ‘Tempus Fugit’ is a gentle reminder to embrace each moment. It’s a call to slow down, savor, and appreciate the journey. Whether the kids are on their best behavior, or having temper tantrums, remember that ‘Tempus Fugit’ or ‘Time Flies’. With that in mind, embrace the time you have with your children because “all time is quality time” when it comes to them, they really do grow up so fast. After all, while we can’t slow time down, we can certainly make every moment count.

Minecraft coding holiday workshop onsite

Learn coding with Minecraft Superhero Mode class at Santa Sabina during the holidays – jam-packed with fun coding adventures and all the tools your kids need to become a True Superhero of STEM. Ages 7-12. Creative Kids Vouchers Welcome!

Musical Theatre Workshop