Senior School News
Year 8 Study Skills Evening
On the evening of 5 May, Dr Prue Salter from Enhanced Learning Educational Services (www.enhanced-learning.net) ran a study skills evening with Year 8 parents and students. The evening was a follow-up to the study skills evening offered the previous year to Year 7 students. Unlike the first evening, which focused on time management and organisation, this evening focused on developing the students’ skills to study for tests and examinations. Families explored the concept of summarising in-depth and focused on different styles of note-making and how to make their notes more brain-friendly. All students were encouraged on the evening to make a commitment to showing their notes to their teachers for feedback. The session then looked at different ways of learning and memorising notes and making sure knowledge could then be applied.
Parents are encouraged to review the handout from the session with students and discuss the main areas identified where changes need to be made. Parents can also find extra study skills tips on the following website: http://studyskillstoptipsparents.com/. All secondary students at our College also have access to a great study skills website to help them develop their skills with 5 of the units focusing particularly on test and exam preparation.
Go to www.studyskillshandbook.com.au and enter the username: forstgregsonly and the password: 60results and start improving your results today!
Mrs Lee Ursino
Academic Care Leader (Stage 4)
Upcoming Community Events!
Winter Wonderland!
We warmly invite our current and past parents along with their friends to join us for an evening of canapes, dinner & dancing at our Annual Maroon and Blue Dinner. The theme for 2021 is ‘Winter Wonderland’. The event is organised for the community to gather and enjoy a night out while sharing in the St Gregory’s community spirit.
DETAILS:
* 6:30pm - Saturday 24 July
* Brother Luke Hall
* Dress: Cocktail with a touch of 'Winter Wonderland'
* Tickets can be purchased at https://www.trybooking.com/BQXFS
* Early Bird Tickets $55.00pp (purchased by 10 June) or $65.00pp if purchased after. Bookings close 25 June SHARP! (end of Term 2).
* Complimentary drink on arrival with beverages available for purchase throughout the night.
* Organise a group of 10 people to purchase a private table, or purchase individual tickets for the evening. For all individual tickets purchased, the committee will create tables based on seating requests and year groups of parents.
We look forward to a great night at our ‘Winter Wonderland 2021’
Years 7-12 Family Trivia Night
Time is running out and so are tickets, for the inaugural ‘Years 7-12 Family Trivia Night’. Gather your smartest friends and book a table for the evening, or you can purchase individual tickets. You can bring nibblies and dinner for your table or you can order delicious pizza from the woodfired pizza van on the night! We will also have the canteen operating, but remember, it is a dry event, so you can bring your own non-alcoholic drinks.
Will your team be crowned winners on the night?
Agriculture News!
On May 4 and 5, a group of Agriculture students attended the South Coast School Beef Spectacular. This event involved Year 9 students raising, preparing, and breaking in two Murray Grey steers. These two steers were from Cadfor Murray Greys in Binda, owned by Mr Rod Hoare, an old boy of the College.
As part of this event, the students had to prepare a report, compete in herdsman, parading and junior judging. There were 15 schools and over 400 students involved. The weather was not kind to us and in torrential rain, the team, made up of novice, intermediate and experienced students, competed strongly in all events.
The team came away with:
- 3rd place Herdsman (Marcus McGuiness oversaw this section)
- A Bronze medal for the report (Elliot Power oversaw this section)
- 1st place for the fun fact finder (Thomas Anderson and Patrick Cleary)
- 2nd place Junior Judge (Massimo Piscuneri and Thomas Anderson)
- 3rd place Junior Judge (Patrick Bird)
- 5th place Novice Parader (Oliver Pullen)
- 2nd and 3rd place Junior Parader (Massimo Piscuneri and Cooper Wray)
- 1st, 2nd and 4th place Intermediate (Vincent Piscuneri, Vince Vacarro and Toby Drinnan)
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th place Experienced Parader (Riley Keogh, Joel Offord, Macs Rubain and Thomas Anderson)
- Champion Parader – Riley Keogh
- 5th place on the hoof
- Silver Medal Middle Weight Carcass
- Champion Middle Weight Carcass
These were great results for our first time in this competition.
There has also been some excitement on the farm with the long-awaited birth of Allspices calf. A nice bull calf was born on Tuesday morning (18/5). He will hopefully be part of our show team and provide us with many more calves. No one was more excited than Alexandra. She has been exhibiting Allspice at the shows and was extremely happy to see this safe arrival. Again, we thank Flemington Limousins for the purchase of Allspice.
Our first batch of Australorpe chicks has successfully hatched and the boys are enjoying looking after them. The incubator and next batch of eggs have taken up residence in the Kindergarten classrooms in the Junior School. The Kindergarten students are eagerly awaiting hatching day. 21 days can not come soon enough.
Miss Hayley Mahoney
Leader of Learning - Agriculture
Host a St Greg's Student!
St Gregory's College is reaching out to gain interest and support for this new initiative to provide valuable and meaningful work experience opportunities for our young men in Years 10-12. I am confident that our St Greg's community will be able to accommodate 200 placements over the 3 week mid-year holiday period. It's never been done before, but I am sure together we can achieve this goal.
We have already reached out to our 'old boys' network who have generously started providing fantastic varied opportunities of work placements for our young men.
RATIONALE
There is significant research to indicate that 'real' work experience is fundamental in not only kick-starting the journey to a career but also to build confidence and resilience in the future leaders of our society.
We are wanting to establish an ongoing work experience program that taps into the opportunities and nurturing nature of our St Greg's Community.
THE PROGRAM
- Boys from Years 10-12 will be given an opportunity to undertake a week's worth of work experience of their choosing during their midyear break (28th June - 16th July).
- Once we have a large enough commitment of host employers, we will then open up the opportunity for them to choose one that is of interest.
- The program will include work-ready information to get the young men prepared for the week which we will run at the College.
- We are hoping to get a wide and varied work experience job pool that will encourage and excite as many of our young men as possible to participate.
- The need for specific work experience skills will be taken care of by the college prior to the beginning of the work program (eg. white card for construction sites). Please indicate if there is a specific need for your work experience option in the expression of interest form below.
- Insurance for the students will be covered by the College.
DATES:
- Week 1: 28th June - 2nd July
- Week 2: 4th - 9th July
- Week 3: 12th - 16th July
DOCUMENTATION:
- A formal student/host employer enrolment form will be provided to facilitate the experience.
- A brochure outlining roles and responsibilities will be provided to students, parents and host employers.
- A simple feedback form will be provided by the student to the host employer to gain valuable feedback.
- The young men will then complete a reflection exercise that will encourage them to assess their work experience.
PROCESS:
- Below is an Expression of Interest (EOI) form which you can fill in to express your desire to become a host employer.
- The EOI will be open until such time as we get ~ 200 host employers to take our young men.
- The College will then confirm with students, parents and host employers all details of the placement with formal placement paperwork.
On behalf of the College, I THANK YOU for your generous support of our young men in what will be I am sure a tremendously valuable opportunity for them.
Please make contact with me if you have any questions regarding this exciting opportunity we are planning for our young men.
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) FORM:
https://forms.gle/HintxApWYgR77KU36
Mr Michael Ivancic
Leader of Learning - Transition, Pathways and VET
Careers Expo
The inaugural St Gregory’s Careers Expo was run on 6 May at the College. With over 42 different exhibitors and over 600 attendees, the event was a huge success for students, parents and exhibitors.
During the event, 30-minute break-out sessions were organised that enabled students and parents to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from University entry, resume writing and pathways outside the traditional ones.
We look forward to organising and running the event next year for our students and parents.
Mr Michael Ivancic
Leader of Learning - Transition, Pathways and VET
Positions Available!
There are positions available for REGISTERED NURSE & PERSONAL CARER/EN – CAMPBELLTOWN within the Marist Brothers – St. Gregory’s College Community. Full position details are in the attachment.
NSW Sheep Show 2021
During the 13 to the 16 of May the College Show Sheep Team competed at the largest sheep show on the State calendar, the NSW Sheep Show in Dubbo. I am very pleased to announce that this show was a major success for the College!
Alex Gorey (Year 7), Cooper Wray (Year 8), Owen Jones (Year 9), William Hackett (Year 9), Thomas Andersen (Year 10), Patrick Cleary (Year 11) and Ryan Saggers (Year 12) were the students chosen to represent the College.
The College was very successful in the Junior Judging and Handling competitions (which attracted 110 student competitors). A summary of these results is below:
- Adam Fordham
- 1st Junior Meat Sheep Judging
- 4th Merino Judging
- Awarded the Overall Junior Judging Champion of the Show!
- Alex Gorey
- 1st Junior Meat Sheep Judging
- 5th Merino Judging
- William Hackett
- 1st Senior Merino Sheep Judging
- Ryan Saggers
- 3rd Senior Meat Sheep Judging
- 5th Senior Sheep Handlers
More information on these results can be found in the following article: https://www.theland.com.au/story/7254952/sheep-industry-in-good-hands-as-youth-demonstrate-talent-in-dubbo-photos/?cs=4941
The College was also very successful in the Corriedale Judging Competition. These results are outlined below:
- 4th Corriedale Ram, under 1 year of age, opens class
- 2nd Corriedale Ram, under 1 year of age, shorn, opens class
- 2nd, 5th Corriedale Ewe, under 1 year of age, opens class
- 1st Corriedale Ewe, under 1 year of age, shorn, opens class
- 2nd, 4th Corriedale Ewe, over 1 year of age, under 2 years of age, opens class
- 2nd Corriedale Ewe, over 1 year of age, under 2 years of age, shorn, opens
- 1st, 2nd, 4th Corriedale Ewe, 2 years and over, opens class
- 2nd Pair of Ewes, under 2 years
- 2nd Peter Taylor Memorial Group – 1 ram, 2 ewes, under 1 year of age
- Champion Shorn Corriedale Ewe!
Most notably the College was awarded the Most Successful Corriedale Exhibitor of the Show! The College has now achieved this accolade 4 times in the past 5 years at Dubbo, which is quite a feat considering that this show attracts the State’s leading Corriedale Studs.
Our attendance at this show was only possible due to a big collective effort from many staff, so I would like to thank Kenny Singh for accompanying me to the show for the 4 days and Barry Graham for making it possible for Kenny to attend the show. I would also like to thank Ms Melissa Watts, Ms Carmela Veron and Mr Steve Mann for offering to drive the students to and from Dubbo; Paul Brooks and Rick Nieuwenhuis for their support at the Show, and of course the whole Agriculture Faculty for all the ongoing work necessary to make this huge program a success.
This wraps up the sheep showing season for this year, with our attention now focused on looking after our ewes which are due to lamb early in Term 3.
Mr Edward Stefanski
Agriculture and Science Teacher
