Latest news

SMC Art Exhibition official opening | Friday 11 November

Friday 11 November marked the official opening of the St Mary's College Art Exhibition, providing an insight into the ideas and creative processes of our Years 7 to 12 Visual Arts students. 

The exhibition is the culmination of work produced by students in 2022 and a fantastic showcase of their talents, efforts and practical skill development across a range of mediums, including visual art, ceramics and digital/new media.

It's also an opportunity for our emerging artists to build a profile for themselves, understand how exhibitions come together and create work to a professional standard. 

Thank you to all families, friends and SMC staff members who attended the evening in support of our students, and to our Art department who challenge our students to strive for excellence. 

Congratulations to our Senior School students who showcased their amazing work to the community. We are so proud of you and what you have achieved. 

We are pleased to announce the following 2022 Art Award recipients: 

Year 7 Art Award

Charmaine Lee

Year 8 Art Award

Sajida Akbari

Year 9 Visual Art Award

Maggie James

Year 9 New Media Art Award

Laura Hanstein

Year 9 Creative Ceramics Award

Kate Hynes

Year 10 Visual Art Award

Georgia Wilson

Year 10 New Media Art Award

Ella Edwards

Packing Room Prize

Abby Wilson (Year 12)

The 2022 Acquisition award was presented to Caitlin Marr (Year 12), whose work has been selected to be displayed at the College as part of its permanent collection. Well done!

Student art all the rage

We are thrilled to announce that eight artworks were selected from St Mary’s College for exhibition in Tasmania’s ArtRage Exhibition 2023. This is a significant achievement out of a class of 10 senior students this year. 

A big congratulations to Mackenzie Kinghorn, Caitlin Marr, Abby Wilson (Year 12) and Ava Thomsett (Year 11) who all had work selected. Viewtheir artworks in the gallery below. 

ArtRage is an annual initiative of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) that exhibits the top works from young Tasmanian artists in Years 11 and 12 studying Art Production or Art Studio Practice as part of their Tasmanian Certificate of Education. 

A representative from QVMAG visited the College to select the artworks, which reflect the originality of the individual students and the creativity that is encouraged by the College. 

ArtRage provides a wonderful opportunity to view the diverse and thought-provoking artworks by talented and highly creative young artists. 

The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery tours ArtRage across Tasmania, giving a wider audience the chance to engage with these dynamic works. 

Look out for ArtRage touring dates for Devonport and Hobart in 2023.  

Emma Havard

Senior Art Teacher

Year 7s on retreat

This week, Year 7 students embarked on their first St Mary's College Retreat. This year's theme is 'People of Change', with students exploring the changes that people face, especially during their teenager years. 

The group explored the metaphor of the 'masks' we wear and looked at how Jesus was someone who didn't hide who he truly was. 

Students were then challenged to consider ways that they can be change-makers in the world today, being inspired by the Parable of the Good Samaritan. 

Powering the next generation of engineers 

In Science this term, Year 8s have been learning about energy, including its different forms and uses. This is leading into how we generate energy in the form of electricity that is usable, sustainable and efficient. 

The students were lucky to recently visit the Meadowbank Hydro Power Station, a working power station an hour outside of Hobart, and hear from young graduate engineers about the different elements that generate electricity from moving water. A great opportunity to see science in action!

Dr Nahodil

Learning Leader Science

Debating | End of season news 

The debating season has come to an end after three terms of competitions. This year, St Mary's College had two teams compete in the Tasmanian Debating Union roster. 

The Year 7 team included Beatrix Clarke, Lucy Pinelli, Molly O'Reilly, Cassia Mulholland and Preetinder Khakh. Many of these students were new to debating and it was wonderful to see their enquiring minds hard at work each week. They worked extremely well as a team under the exemplary coaching of Year 11 student, Hannah Korn. 

The Year 8 debating team consisted of Hal Cormack, Ariella Cater, Claire Wanandy and Sana Ghiasvand. For the second year in a row Year 12 students, Molly Topham and Nicola Morgan coached these students. This team did extremely well in the competition and were narrowly defeated in the semi-finals.

I would like to thank all the dedicated debaters and their coaches who have spent many hours researching, writing and rehearsing their debates in order to represent the College this year. 

Lorise Clark

Debating Coordinator 

Reflection | All Saints and All Souls Days 

All Saints' Day (1 November) and All Souls' Day (2 November) are two special days in the Church's calendar. During this time the Church encourages us to remember, honour and pray for those who have died. 

This year, a prayer space was set up in the College Chapel for staff and students to visit throughout the first week of November. Those who visited could 'light' an electric candle, write the name of a loved one on a heart and/or say a prayer for them. 

As a College community, we pray for all these people and others we know of who have died. May they rest in peace.  

Sharon Lawler

Director of Identity and Mission 

Lest we forget

On Friday 11 November, the College paused to honour the memory of, and give thanks to, the brave servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives for us so that we could live ours.

To commemorate the occasion, all students and staff in the College observed a minute's silence at 11.00am, before joining together for a beautiful prayer service. 

We will remember them. 

Pictured: Junior School students created their own poppies to commemorate Remembrance Day. 

Students cook up a storm

SMC's future MasterChefs have been busy preparing some delicious meals!

Our Murphy's Café Manager and Sustainability Officer, Phil Shanny, recently led a cooking demonstration at the WorkSafe Tasmania Safe Bodies, Safe Minds Expo, joining with students to cook healthy, low cost and time efficient dishes. 

With an Asian noodle salad and vegetable fritters on the menu, we can't wait to try out these recipes at home!