News
Education Perfect English Championships
This month, students in years 7-10 were encouraged to take part in the Education Perfect English Championships, a week-long competition where MSJ competed against students across the globe, earning points for engaging in English and Literacy skills lessons and answering as many questions as possible. Over a week, students were quizzed in spelling, grammar, reading comprehension and vocabulary and students from MSJ achieved some truly amazing results!
At the completion of the competition Mount St Joseph Girls’ College was ranked:
- 10th overall globally, out of 1040 schools
- 3rd overall in Australia out of 745 schools
- 1st overall in Victoria out of 199 schools
Two of our students, Robina Nguyen and Anusha Yadav earned enough points to achieve Elite status, placing them among the very best English students in the competition.
It was wonderful to see so many of our students knuckling down and engaging in their English learning!
Kezi Todd
English Domain Leader
Girls in Physics Breakfast
On Friday the 21 July, myself and five other girls had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Physics breakfast about encouraging young women to become more involved in the scientific community. The two hour breakfast was a brilliant way to kickstart or even further inspire any young woman to pursue a career in Physics.
Upon arrival, we were all given designated seats on separate tables, which allowed for us to meet new individuals with similar passions to our own. On each table were a few University students who were able to enlighten us with their experiences, telling us about all of their interesting assignments and projects involving physics, as well as the difficulties they face as women in the STEM field. We also had the privilege of listening to astrophysicist Katie Mack, who spoke to us about her research in Dark Matter which by far was the highlight of the breakfast. Overall the morning itself was unforgettable and I think I speak for all of the girls who were there when saying it was definitely an exceptional opportunity.
By Dhriti Modi (Senior McCormack 1)
French Exchange Student
The following is a translation of the letter that our French Exchange student, Emma Roquel wrote before her return to France. The original hand-written letter, in French, is included.
This Exchange has been a unique and unforgettable experience. I was in Australia for four full weeks and I was able to visit a number of places such as the State Library of Melbourne, the MCG, (where I saw a football match), Sovereign Hill and many others. I also went to Sydney for a week and I was able to see the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and the Chinese Garden. Sydney will always be one of my best memories of my stay in Australia.
My host family, (the Tennant family) is really wonderful. They welcomed me so kindly and made me feel as though I was really their daughter. I truly feel as though I am part of their family now. I could not have found a better family.
In France, the majority of high schools are co-educational, no-one wears a uniform; everyone dresses as he or she pleases and our days at school are longer- from 8am to 5pm. All in all, things are very different from what occurs here in Australian schools.
Mount Saint Joseph Girls’ College is a beautiful establishment, with a great mindset and full of great and kind people. I really appreciated the experience of being in an all girls’ school, even though in the beginning, I found it rather confusing and strange. The teachers here are so good. The classes are different from those in France. I found the classes here more interesting and fun. The students do things that require both imagination and thought. I think that this is a better way of learning. I attended a number of different classes. The ones the struck me the most were those of Miss Canavan, when the discussion centred around feminism in Australia, Mrs Stafrace’s classes were a lot of fun, Health was interesting and I learnt a lot of things and finally, Mrs Hubble’s class. A few words of appreciation for this teacher, who is a real bundle of energy, who is always smiling and who looked after me so well, from the moment I arrived.
All the students that I met are adorable. I’m thinking especially of all of Ruby’s friends (Safa, Shanae, Mada, Niya, Clare, Masa, Michaela, Léa) who were so nice and kind to me and with whom I had fun and spent many happy times. I’d also like to recall the Year 7 students with whom I spent all my mornings during my first week here, and thank you to Mackenzie and Tanvi and all the others who stayed with me during recess.
Finally, if I had to choose a single word to describe this Exchange, it would be MAGICAL. I realised one of my dreams, that of coming to Australia and I am certain that I will return.
By Emma Roquel
Wheel Talk incursion – Year 11 VCAL
On Friday 4 August, the year 11 VCAL girls were extremely lucky to participate in “Wheel Talk”, a workshop delivered by Disability Sports and Recreation that raises disability awareness and promotes the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. We were given a talk by Brendan, our presenter, who shared some of his own experiences and reminded us all about safety while driving to avoid the same life-altering consequences that he has faced.
After the talk, we participated in a spirited game of wheelchair basketball. It took us a while to become accustomed to the wheelchairs, and there were certainly a few bumps and minor collisions on the court.
Overall the group had a wonderful time and we considered the experience a very valuable one. In addition to having lots of fun playing wheelchair basketball, we also came to appreciate that being healthy and leading an active lifestyle is important, and that having a disability certainly does not stop anyone from living life to the fullest. Thank you to Brendan and Disability Sports and Recreation for a fantastic workshop.
Rebekah Taylor
Year 11 VCAL teacher.
Fundraising
My name is Kiara Weerasekera and I am a year 11 student. My younger brother’s best friend, Vincent, is 13 years old and has a diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). To help myself and others understand what it means to live with MD, I have decided to run an awareness campaign.
In order to raise awareness and at the same time raise funds for an iPad for Vincent to increase his participation in school, I will be shaving off my hair on the 9th September and running a half marathon on the 15th October. To support me and find out more about MD please head to: https://kiaraweerasekera.wixsite.com/theregoesmyhair. Thank you all for your support and generosity.
National Tree Planting Day
On Sunday 30 July MSJ students participated in National Tree Planting day. A 10am start after getting home the night before from a late shift at work is tiring but after arriving with my younger sister Libby at the tree planting event, my mood was instantly uplifted thanks to the enthusiastic Hobson Bay Council staff and my excited peers.
For the first hour, we were planting the Chaffy Saw-Sedge. We were told that the survival of the Altona Skipper butterflies depended on this plant. After planting more than 500 plants it was safe to say we were proud of what we had achieved in such a small amount of time. We then moved straight to another section, where we were planting a range of different species. This section was slightly easier to plant as no protective covers were necessary.
Just before leaving we spoke to a gentleman who certainly knew his local fauna and flora. In his small bag he had a range of different animal cards. Every card he pulled out he would explain things about them. It was safe to say we were impressed. Overall the day was a great experience.
By Kaitlin McIntyre (Senior McCormack 1)
2017 National Tree Planting Group
Homelessness Awareness Week
Last week, Mount Saint Joseph Girls’ College joined the nation in participating in Homelessness Awareness Week 2017. Homelessness has always been recognised as an extremely important issue by the MSJ community, and this week provided us with as great opportunity to really highlight this issue in our college.
During the week, many activities were run to highlight the issue of homelessness in our community. These activities included lunchtime discussions about our perceptions of homelessness, a movie screening of ‘A Streetcat Named Bob’, awareness posters around the school, and prayers sessions in classrooms. These activities encouraged students to reflect on homelessness and look beyond the stereotypes that we are too used to encountering. Many discussions centred on what we as a community are currently doing to help those experiencing homelessness and what more could we could do in the future.
As well as promoting awareness during the week, the college also recognised the importance of donating. Starting on Monday, a basket was placed in each classroom at MSJ. Each class was assigned a specific item to fill their basket with donations throughout the week which were collected to be added to the Ozanam House pantry. The students donated generously and almost every class had a basket full to the brim.
Donating is an important part of our social justice work at MSJ, as we are inspired by Saint Mary MacKillop. She calls us to “never see a need without doing something about it”. Mary never failed to respond to the needs of other and was glad to be of assistance to those who found themselves in unfortunate situations. She was never judgmental and always strove to honour the dignity and humanity of those she served. We as students of a Josephite school, strive to follow Mary’s example and act with compassion and courage, and as Mary herself once said, “find happiness in making others happy”.
Written by Olivia Malia, Year 11
Variety Night
Mount St. Joseph Girls' College held the inaugural Variety night on 10 and 11 August. over 160 students participated and showcased their extraordinary music, drama and dance talents.
The following video shows the students performing a dance number that was choreographed by the students themselves and highlights the amazing talent and enthusiasm MSJ students display in the Performing arts.
Host Sister Experience - Seirei
My experience with Yuno Terada was lovely and she was very polite. I heard many kind remarks from other host sisters; about how much they liked their Serei students and how much fun it was getting to know them.
The Seirei students were very well mannered and shared origami tips to classmates. The Seirei students were very thankful to be in Australia and gave their host sisters gifts. My Seirei student gave me a very cute thermos with cherry blossoms on it, brightly coloured markers and a cute little letter thanking me for having her.
The Seirei students in my class (Chisa and Kotoha) were very kind and were shocked when they saw that the class decorated the room to welcome them. At the farewell party, all of the students looked at each other and laughed when we had to dance to a popular Japanese song (Koi Dance) and then another popular song (PPAP). The Seirei students singing were stupendous.
There were many tears when they departed and everyone sorely misses them. I overheard one host mother comment that she was so sad and she felt like a mother watching her child leave. So I can definitely say that on behalf of MSJ we were so glad to have the Seirei students and hope that their time here was well spent.
By Shyanne Revell 7 Penola
Seirei Host Sister Experience
My experience with my Seirei host sister, Yuno Terada was lovely. I heard many kind remarks from other host sisters; about how much they liked their Serei students and how much fun it was getting to know them.
The Seirei students were very well mannered and shared origami tips to classmates. The Seirei students were very happy to be in Australia and gave their host sisters gifts. My Seirei student gave me a very cute thermos with cherry blossoms on it, brightly coloured markers and a cute little letter thanking me for having her. The Seirei students in my class (Chisa and Kotoha) were very kind and were shocked when they saw that the class decorated the room to welcome them.
At the farewell party, all of the students looked at each other and laughed when we had to dance to a popular Japanese song (Koi Dance) and then another popular song (PPAP). The Seirei students singing was stupendous and their practice was well worth it.
There were many tears when they departed and everyone sorely misses them, I overheard one host mother comment that she was so sad and she felt like a mother watching her child leave. So I can definitely say that on behalf of MSJ we were so glad to have the Seirei students and hope that their time here was well spent.
By Shyanne Revell 7 Penola
What is on in the MSJ Learning Resource Centre
There is always lots happening in the LRC:
Pageturners Book Club - Mondays
Chess Club - Wednesdays
Study Buddies - Wednesdays
Makerspaces - Fridays
Homework Club
Every night in the LRC students meet for Homework Club and Study Buddies from 3:10 - 4:30pm. Students from all year levels receive guidance to complete homework and assignments or gain assistance to understand specific subject based content, such as during Maths Help on a Thursday afternoon.
Students say they take advantage of the extended opening hours in the LRC because they are able to focus on their studies in a relaxed, familiar setting where they can receive one to one support from their peers, teachers and education support officers each afternoon of the week.
Students also say that they enjoy finishing their homework in an environment that differs from the home environment, one where they have access to high speed Internet, printers and IT support.
Have a read of the Academic Portfolio in the WAAM report to hear more about Homework Club and Study Buddies.
The LRC opens at 7:55am for Year 12 students each weekday and 8:15am for all other year levels. The LRC closes at 4:30pm each weekday.
Chess Club
Our club meets every Wednesday at lunchtime in the LRC. We learn Chess by playing the game. Our aim is to hold a tournament by Term 4. We follow online games and games played by students in other schools who share their games on Tornelo.
Chess helps to develop our thinking, our memory, it improves concentration and our ability to think mathematically and it is fun! Challenge yourself daily with a chess game on any of the ten sets in the LRC.
Makerspaces in the LRC
Every Friday we offer a different activity that captures your imagination and engages us in ways we thought not previously possible.