College News

Angus Scrivener

A huge congratulations to Year 11 student Angus Scrivener who has been successful in his application to 'The Y' NSW 2021 Youth Parliament Program.

Adam Marshall is a huge advocate of this important program which he sees "as a great opportunity to encourage a young person to step up as a representative and experience the parliamentary process. For a student interested in this process and leadership, NSW Youth Parliament is an amazing opportunity". 

The program involves online training throughout the next term, culminating with a camp in July, costing $600. Sponsorship  through local businesses would be of great assistance to enable Angus to attend this very worthwhile camp and would be very much appreciated. If anyone is interested in helping out, please contact Mrs Channon at school. 

Youth Group

Students continue to enjoy attending Youth Group on Friday afternoons. Last Friday they were able to enjoy an easter egg hunt as well as a challenge of eating a donut on a string. 

Chess Club

On Thursday 18th March, OCC’s Chess Team took on the might of TAS. The final score was 2 - 2. However, with victories on Board 1 for Bradley Lidgard, who has been in outstanding form, and on Board 3 for first timer Archie Howarth, who loves nothing more than demolishing his opponent, it is my understanding that we will be moving into the next round. Congratulations to both of them. Angus Scrivener on Board 2 played a very solid game and came up just short and Paige Latham, another first timer, on Board 4, put in a grand effort but was just pipped at the post. A great result given Archie and Paige were given minimal notice of their positions in the starting line up. Bring on Round 2.

Peter McLeish

Chess Coordinator

Enrichment Program

O'Connor took four teams (Year 7 - year 10) to the da Vinci Decathlon at TAS where they competed in ten challenges against schools from across the region. The activities included maths, poetry, art, engineering, code-breaking and creative producers. Several teams won or scored highly on the individual challenges, and all students had a great time thinking deeply and testing their abilities over the day.

RESULTS:

Years 7/8

Years 9/10

Debating is going from strength to strength at O'Connor, and this year we have nine teams ranging from Year 7 to Year 11. Last week we competed against Armidale Secondary College in a friendly tournament and all teams argued strongly with several winning their debates. next term we will compete in the virtual competitions against other Diocesan teams, as well as debating teams from around Australia in the NGS competition.

The Year 7 PRAXIS enrichment classes have been working on a Fake News unit, which is very relevant in today's world. All students in Year 7 have interviewed one of their peers and are currently writing Fake News articles for their class newspapers. Next term they will create resources to alert Stage 3 students about the dangers of fake news, and present them to Year 5 and 6 students at the next STEP Day. 

Z-Club News

Z Club had a special meeting on Wednesday to announce the leadership team for 2021. Positions are as follows: President Grace Everett (absent), Vice President Bridie Giles, Secretary Mis Brotgerson-Moffitt, Publicity Officers Jess MacMahon and Alex Shepheard. Zonta Club members of Armidale, Cate MacGregor (pictured) and Jennifer Miller were in attendance. They spoke of the many benefits of being involved in a club that provides service and advocacy for women and to truly make a difference in the lives of others. 

Grace in her absence included a few words to the members:

I would just like to thank everyone for being a part of Z club this year. It should be a great year! I would also like to thank our new leadership team for 2021, Bridie, Mia, Jess and Alex. Together I think we will make a pretty good team. I am looking forward to working with you all to collaborate and come up with ideas to help fundraise money for the club, so we can help make a difference in someone’s life! Looking forward to the year ahead, it should be great!

There are many projects that Zonta and Z Club are involved in. Our main one is buying and assembling simple birthing kits for women around the world who are unable to access the basic needs when giving birth to a baby. We will be having a fundraiser in the form of a cake stall and pizza lunch next term to aid us in purchasing these materials. 

Z Club continues to assemble small care packages (toothbrush, toothpaste, face cloth, little soaps, shampoos, conditioners) for those in need. These are donated to Vinnies, the Women’s Shelter, the Youth Refuge. We are always grateful for donations of these items. They can be dropped at the front office at any time. 

New members are always welcome to come to our meetings, which is usually once a month on a Wednesday Break A. Listen out in the notices. 

Mrs Channon.