College News 2012 old

TERM 3 NEWS

2012-2013 Senior Student Leadership Team

On Friday 31 August the College held its Leadership Assembly where the current Senior Student Leaders handed over their roles to the newly elected Leadership Team from Year 11. It was a touching ceremony for both teams and for the families of the new team who were present.

The new Senior Student Leadership Team are: 

Walkathon

Friday 24 August saw the St Ursula’s College community take part in a fantastic initiative of the College Sports Captain, Maryanne Daher; a walkathon for the ‘Wells for Sudan’ charity which brings fresh drinking water to thousands of Sudanese people in need of fresh drinking water. Our walk was a 6.5km walk around Kingsgrove which ended with a sausage sizzle cooked and prepared by the Year 11 Hospitality class, with the help of Mrs Diggs, Miss Lemon, Ms Hayes, and Mr Schuler. The Year 11 Rock Band, “The Capulets” was the highlight of the afternoon’s activities with two wonderful performances in Merici.

At the time of print we have raised just over $19,000 which will supply fresh drinking water for over 50,000 people in Sudan. A special thanks to all the parents who helped with lunch and checkpoint duties. Well done to everyone for their participation on the day!

2012 Clancy Prize

The theme for this year’s Clancy Prize was “There, where you are, you will find God” (St Mary of the Cross Makillop). Three of our Year 12 (2011) students entered their work – Annie Huang, Shanice Atkinson and Bridget Sharkey. Congratulations to Annie Huang who received an award from the Australian Catholic University, School of Education for her work, “Destroy the Old World, Create the New”. The award was presented to Annie by Dr Paul White, Head of the School of Education, at the University. This outstanding achievement is testament to the hard work and dedication of Annie. Her intricate drawings and watercolours depicted her family heritage and revealed her own expression of the presence of God in her life. Congratulations to all our students who entered their work and to the Visual Arts staff for their support of the student.s

Annual Pentecostal Consultation for students

On Thursday 23 February, the College Captain, Gabrielle Coleman and Liturgy Captain, Meaghan Favero, attended the Annual Pentecostal Consultation for Students with the Principal, Ms Anne Anderson, to discuss the topic of “Sin and Forgiveness”. Guest speakers on the day included Dr Dan White, Executive Director of Catholic Schools, Mr Anthony Cleary, CEO Director of Religious Education and Evangelisation, and his Eminence Cardinal George Pell.

Student leaders from the Diocese participate in a series of input sessions followed by discussion groups where they are asked to discuss their opinions. Discussion topics this year ranged from ‘Condemn the sin and not the sinner - are we branded sinners in society?” and “Why do people find it hard to forgive others or to seek forgiveness? This was then followed by a question session where the students first reported back on their groups and had the opportunity to clarify any issues with his Eminence and Mr Cleary.

That evening, each school was presented with a large, hand-made cross while the students themselves received a small replica, which had been made by the students at Southern Cross Vocational College, Burwood, the host school for this event.

Swimming Carnival

Thursday 23 February saw the 2012 Swimming Carnival Cheer Offs take place with both teachers and students dressing up and putting on a performance to show their support for their House colour. Three independent judges watched the performances of Amaroo (Gold), Dulkara (Green), Girralong (Blue) and Mirrabooka (Red) and finally decided that Mirrabooka was the House which displayed the most creativity and team spirit.

This was followed by the actual Swimming Carnival a week later on February 24. All four houses, Amaroo, Dulkara, Girralong and Mirrabooka, were supported well throughout the day, with Dulkara being awarded the Cheering Cup for their innovative and relentless cheering from start to finish.

Special congratulations must be paid to our Year 7 and Year 12 students who showed great team spirit by their extremely high rate of participation in most events.

Congratulations to Girralong house for winning the 2012 Swimming Carnival.

Mock Trial News

The first round of the Mock Trial has commenced with St Ursula’s visiting Marrickville High on Tuesday 6 March in a criminal matter. As defence, St Ursula’s needed to cast doubt on the Prosecution’s charge of larceny. St Ursula’s won the case and the charge was dismissed. We also won the points 226-168 in a two-hour encounter. The Magistrate praised both sides for their first-round attempts, awarding high points to both our witnesses.

Newly commissioned Statue of St Angela Merici

At our Opening Mass on 17 February we blessed our newly commissioned carved statue of St Angela Merici. Pictured here, the statue shows a young Angela, who lived the Gospels through loving service to others. As a role model, Angela gave us a very practical way to follow Jesus and as a College community we do this through living our Ursuline values of:

ACCEPT, RESPECT, UNITE, ACT, EMPOWER and SERVE

We would like to thank the Religious Education deparment at the Catholic Education Office for supporting the purchase of the statue. This statue is particularly unique to St Ursula's at Kingsgrove and is a beautiful and special reminder of our Ursuline heritage.

Project Compassion

The College’s Lenten commitment to Project Compassion began with the celebration of our Ash Wednesday Mass. This year the College is asking our community to help raise money for the millions of families who fight for justice, peace and survival every single day of their lives. Throughout the six weeks of Lent, we will meet the face of Christ in those who are leading their communities with strength and purpose to make justice and peace a reality in their lives. We will learn about the stories of people from East Timor, the Thai-Burma border, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Peru and Indigenous Australia. Their stories humble and inspire us, and show how our contributions to Project Compassion help people build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities.

Our support provides for people to be educated and enables people to learn and have livelihoods, run businesses, tend healthy crops, raise livestock, go to school, construct homes, read, write, drive, avoid violence, build peace and become independent. Our support and money allows people to add colour to the masterpiece that is their life as well as adding a deeper meaning to our personal experiences of Lent.

COLLEGE THEME 2012: “MAKE IT A MASTERPIECE”

The College theme, “Make It a Masterpiece”, was launched last Friday 17 February at the Opening Mass for the year. The theme was developed at the end of last year by the Student Leadership Team to inspire all students to be engaged in College life. The Mass focused on the theme, encouraging all members of the College community to give of their own gifts and talents to contribute to the College masterpiece that will be 2012. “Make It A Masterpiece” calls on every student in the College to recognise within themselves the beauty of their gifts and talents and aims to instil in each person the courage to use them. Without each student’s willingness to do this the College masterpiece will not be complete.

High Achievers Assembly

On Friday February 10, the College celebrated the outstanding HSC achievements of our Year 12 students of 2011 at the High Achievers Assembly. These girls’ hard work and commitment to achieving their best continues our proud tradition of academic excellence and places St Ursula’s as the top performing Catholic systemic school in the Archdiocese, ranking 69 in the Sydney Morning Herald Leading 100 schools. Congratulations to our College Dux, Nadin Azzam, who obtained an ATAR of 99.7.

At the Assembly the following students were also recognised for their academic achievements
• Two current Year 12 students who completed their HSC courses in languages with impressive achievements:
* Theodora Binasis - 2nd in the State in Modern Greek Continuers and 3rd in the State in Modern Greek Extension
* Sarita Mendoza - 4th in the State in Spanish Continuers and 3rd in the State in Spanish Extension.
• Three Year 10 students who obtained Band 6 in every test in the 2011 School Certificate:
Rachel Green, Juliana Hasham and Angela O’Rourke

It was a pleasure to welcome to the Assembly, Dr Dan White, the Executive Director of Catholic Schools, Sr Leone Pallisier OSU, representing the Ursuline Provincialate, and Claire Hammerton, College ex-student. Dr White addressed the students and praised them for their hard work and acknowledged the dedication and commitment of the St Ursula’s College staff. Claire spoke about her time at the College and where her Ursuline education has led her since leaving school. She inspired the girls about making the most of their time at school and what St Ursula’s girls’ can achieve. A lovely morning tea with the girls and their parents followed and it was great to hear about the girl’s plans for their future. We wish them well and know that the “Serviam’ spirit will go with them in the years ahead.

L to R:  Julia Down; Nadin Azzam; Laura Bernhardt; Caitlin Brooks

St Ursula’s is a one-to-one laptop school!

During the first three weeks of school this year St Ursula’s was able to complete its one-to-one laptop program with Years 7-9 receiving their own laptop to use both at school and at home.

Take a Byte of This!

During the Christmas school holidays, Year 12 student Davina Adisusila participated in the National Computer Science School (NCSS) which ran from 7 to 16 January, after successfully applying to the school earlier in the year.

NCSS is an annual summer school held on campus at Sydney University which brings together young people interested in IT, programming and website development from around Australia. Each day involved lectures and lab sessions and at night there were social and team building activities. The program also provided the students with the opportunity to learn from university students and lecturers, and meet people from the industry such as Google, Atlassian, Freelancer and Macquarie employees.

The P&F are to be thanked for their support in sponsoring Davina’s participation in the program.

National Youth Science Forum - Perth 2012

During the January holidays Year 12 student, Amelia Mifsud, took part in the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF), being selected after applying for the forum earlier in the year. The NYSF is a twelve day hands-on Science program for Year 11 students entering Year 12, allowing them to experience Science in new and exciting ways.

Amelia had the opportunity to take part in lab visits to places like Gingin Gravitational Centre, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), Carnegie wave energy research plant, Curtin and West Australia’s University’s Physics labs, Forum debates, Leadership activities and group dynamics workshops as well as attending the Rotary and Science dinners and other social occasions.

2011 Higher School Certificate Results

The HSC class of 2011 has achieved outstanding results in the HSC and we are delighted to congratulate and celebrate their successes:

• St Ursula’s College had an impressive 94% of courses above the state examination mean this year. Particularly strong results were recorded in General Mathematics (14.59), English Standard (13.93), Textiles and Design (11.99), Studies of Religion II (11.51), Music I (9.64), Senior Science (9.46), Legal Studies (9.33) and Ancient History (9.31).
• Solid results were achieved across a range of subjects. Of all the two unit courses (including Studies of Religion I) studied at the College in 2011, 62% of all results were marks of 80 or above (Bands 5 or 6).
• In the demanding Extension courses, 100% of all results were in the top two bands (E3 or E4).
• A total of sixty-five girls from the College appeared one hundred and sixty-five times on the HSC Distinguished Achievers List of students who scored 90 or more marks in a course.
  

Four students were named on the Premier’s All Rounders Merit List for scoring 90% or above in 10 or more units. These students were: Nadim Azzam; Laura Bernhardt; Caitlin Brooks; and Julia Down

The College also had an unprecedented eleven students named in the Top Achiever’s List for attaining a State placing. These students included:

Congratulations to all the staff and students who have worked extremely hard to achieve these outstanding results. I look forward to acknowledging and celebrating these significant achievements with the College community in 2012 at the HSC High Achievers Assembly.

Fantastic results for 2011 School Certificate

Year 10 students at St Ursula’s College achieved great success in the 2011 School Certificate tests. The College average examination mark was well above the State average in all six tests. The percentage of our students in the top two bands – Bands 5 & 6 (80 – 100%) was also consistently and significantly above State figures. In the Computing Skills test, 78.8% of our students attained a Highly Competent (80% or above) level of achievement compared with 52.47% across the State.

Special congratulations to Rachel Green, Juliana Hasham and Angela O’Rourke who gained a Band 6 in the suite of Board of Studies School Certificate Tests.

The 2011 School Certificate results are outstanding and the girls are to be congratulated on their success. We can certainly expect great things from this cohort as they work towards their Higher School Certificate in 2012.

HSC selections for ArtExpress and nominations for Encore 2012

It is with much pride that the College announces that two students have had their Body of Work for Visual Arts selected for inclusion in ARTEXPRESS 2012 and one student has been nominated for Encore 2012.

ArtExpress is a State wide exhibition of the best Body of Work by Year 12 students from NSW, with the artworks going on display in major metropolitan and regional art galleries. Alisa Kwai and Anika Lukins have recently had their respective Bodies of Work, titled ‘Heritage’ and ‘No Sleep’, selected for display during January 2012 in the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre. This year 9,775 students submitted Bodies of Works for the Visual Arts Examination and only 499 students were nominated for the ARTEXPRESS exhibition.

Two other Year 12 Visual Arts Students have also been chosen to exhibit from Dec 16 20011- Jan 16 2012 in the annual Artrules11 exhibition at the Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery Gymea. This is also a wonderful achievement for the students as the works are selected by the curators of the Gallery from all St George and Sutherland Area schools. These students are Annie Huang ‘Destroy the old world, create the new world’ and Greta Balog ‘The Family Table’.

Greta Balog, has also been nominated to perform in the prestigious ENCORE concert. ENCORE is a program of outstanding performances and compositions by students from the Higher School Certificate Music examinations. It is held annually at the Sydney Opera House. The College community waits in anticipation of learning of Greta’s selection for this performance.