Wellbeing & Thrive

The PBL Focus for the Week - Be Prepared

The Leader in Me Focus for the Week - Begin with the End in Mind

Year 6 - Cluster Debating

Debating is a valuable skill to learn, from writing a persuasive speech to presenting it with confidence. And here in Senior School, we were incredibly lucky to have an entire term all about debating, with the counsel and advice of our wise teachers Mrs O & Mr Clarke. In fact, today two chosen Cluster teams had the opportunity to debate against Sacred Heart in the Catholic Schools Broken Bay Debating Cluster Competition. We were very grateful for this amazing experience and it was not only fun, but we also learnt a lot. 

Debating is a fun, friendly and formal way of arguing over a topic. To sum up, debating it is just an argument between two teams. One team is negative, who disagrees with  the topic, and another team is affirmative, who agrees with the topic. Debating is all about different points of view and opinions. Cluster Debating is an amazing opportunity for a small group of selected students from year 6; after several rounds in class and  a lot of lessons, we were chosen to represent Holy Family in four fantastic cluster debate rounds. On team A we had Katie, Olivia, Jaslyn and Eason, with Alessia and Sophia as reserves. On team B we had Elizabeth, Gabe, Anabelle and Scarlett with Riley W and Alecia as reserves. 

After both Debates, the two teams got fantastic feedback stating that everyone tried their best and that each person took part in the team therefore having both Holy Family Teams winning their first Cluster Debate! The adjudicator also mentioned that eye contact was phenomenal and that we had a strong quote at the end that always made everyone come back to the topic of what we’re trying to state. Another important thing we did was what Mrs O calls, “ fake it till you make it” Even though we were all incredibly nervous (especially because everyone was immediately silent when we walked in), we presented our case clearly and confidently. 

Holy Family’s first Cluster Debate of 2024 was a really amazing experience, and we were really proud with the results! We  are looking forward to future debates, and we are all wishing each other luck! Congratulations Holy Family teams!

Congratulations to all he students who recently represented Holy Family at the Zone Combined Broken Bay Cross Country. I am pleased to announce Rose Benson and Isabella Sanz-Chafardet have progress to the 'Polding Cross Country Championships' On Wednesday the June 5 @ Equestrian Centre Horsley Park. Holy Family wishes you all the best!

Spark Education Day - 

Sophia, Oscar, Steven, Joshua & Beatrice

During the SPARK Maths day, we did all sorts of maths riddles and puzzles which were moulded together to make a fun Paris Olympics-themed escape room. We especially liked the Sudoku puzzle which was challenging but more fun with a team and we eventually overcame the problem which was very enjoyable for all of us. 

A couple of seniors and year four students travelled to Corpus Christi in St Ives with a couple of other schools in our diocese. We were accompanied by two lovely teachers from Corpus Christi, Mr Spencer and Miss Blamey, from Corpus Christi, who guided us

 through this enjoyable experience.

The aspect that made it especially fun was how all the challenging challenges made our brains think hard. To start our day and put our minds to work, we were given several Olympic-based Kahoots to engage us in the theme. It was quite a creative way to learn about past and recent Olympic games!

After the Kahoots, we were split into different countries and as there were 6 ‘countries’ and only five of us, we all worked in separate ‘countries’ to correspond to the ‘Olympic’ theme. This made it very challenging and different as we had to work cooperatively with other schools. The whole day also incorporated many habits such as habit 2, beginning with the end in mind. We did this by planning how we would do our work and mainly habit 6. Synergising was the most important part of the day from working with each other to making new friends. We ended the day with a presentation of the day to our parents.

It was an overall wonderful experience and an amazing and exciting day. 

We would love to go again!

Year 6 in Profile

Jaslyn— School leader

1. If the world had magical power, what would your power be?

My power will be teleportation. As a kid, I grew up with the story Alice in Wonderland, my favourite character was the cat. The cat can teleport and I believe that it is very cool.

1. If you could, would you like to stay in Holy Family forever?

If I could, I would like to stay at Holy Family. The school is filled with love and care. It makes me feel that I was in a big family. Holy Family was fun and filled with happiness.

1. If I give you a box, what would you like to be in there?

I would like the box to be filled with books, because I love reading and books can take you to another world with your imagination. Books also get rid of my negative emotions and calm myself down with joy.

Katie — School Leader

1.What makes you become a school leader?

I want to become a school leader because it gives you many opportunities and it is a new one and I like doing jobs because it is fun.

2.What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

Covid Home-schooling, because it is boring  and there is nothing to do. It was like never ending.

3.What makes you feel most confident at school?

My friends make me feel most confident, because they are always so nice and they are fun too. Always having friends to talk to.

Have a safe and happy weekend

Melissa Overton   

Wellbeing Coordinator