Christmas cheer in full swing

Angels, shepherds and barnyard animals flocked to the Nagle Centre on Wednesday 1 December for our annual Kinder to Year 2 Christmas concert.

The concert was a beautiful celebration of the joy of Christmas, featuring a nativity play and the singing of traditional carols.

Well done to all classes for putting on such wonderfully entertaining performances for the enjoyment of our guests. For some of our younger students, it was the first time they performed on stage for an audience, so they should be very proud of their efforts!

You can find more photos from the performance on on our website here.

The College's Year 3-6 end-of-year concert was also resounding success today, with all children delighting in the opportunity to perform on stage for their loved ones.

What a terrific showcase of the talent and hard work of our Junior School students! Well done to everyone involved.

Enjoy more photos from this morning's performance here.

As Term 4 draws to an end, we would like to wish all St Mary's College parents, students, staff and friends a safe, happy and holy Christmas and New Year. We look forward to welcoming you all back in 2022.

For Senior School students and their families, the celebrations will continue on Thursday night at our Prize Giving Ceremony, where we will honour the achievements of our Year 7-12s.

Christmas hampers spread joy

Today's activity day saw Year 9 students spend the morning creating Christmas hampers and handmade Christmas cards for the Vinnies Christmas Appeal.

This simple act of kindness will bring some renewed hope and festive cheer to those Tasmanians experiencing significant hardship this Christmas.

Junior School graduation ceremonies

New chapter for Year 6s

Last week was a special time for our Year 6 students, who celebrated their graduation from the Junior School with a lovely mass, prize giving and a delicious luncheon.

As leaders of the Junior School, we are proud of the amazing young women you are and look forward to seeing what the future will hold as you begin your exciting Senior School journey as Year 7 students next year.

Farewell, Year 2 boys

Friday 26 November marked the official graduation of our Year 2 boys.

The momentous occasion was marked with a Liturgy in the Cathedral, followed by yummy cupcakes on the College Green.

The College will miss the boys' smiling faces and vibrant personalities. We wish them all the best in their future education and thank them for being such a treasured part of our SMC community.

View more photos in our online photo gallery here.

'Legen-dairy' taste of farm life

The College's Footprint Project team had a wonderful time recently taking in the sights of the Glen Huon Dairy farm.

A true paddock-to-plate experience, the day included a tour of the organic farm, where students got up close and personal with the resident dairy cows, learnt about the sustainable farming methods at the heart of the business and how their famous Bruny Island cheese is produced on site.

The group also had the pleasure of sampling some of the goods during their lunchtime spread. Thanks for having us, Glen Huon Dairy!

Taking action is in fashion!

It's not every day you get the chance to chat to the representatives of a major retail company.

This was the reality for three of our Year 8 students who recently conducted a Zoom meeting with Sally Phelan, buying manager for Cotton On Group, and Malisa Vangelovski, the company's global brand marketing manager.

In Year 8 HasSS, students were asked to 'take action' on a topic that interested them. Madison Mackey, Evie Christie-Johnston and Amelia Dickman decided to investigate the division between plus sizing and straight sizing in women's fashion.

After surveying staff and students, Madison, Evie and Amelia wrote an email to the CEO of Cotton On Group with their findings and ideas, which led to an invitation to meet the marketing representatives via Zoom.

The students presented their research and findings and learnt more about what Cotton On Group is doing to become more body inclusive.

They should be congratulated on the mature way they presented themselves in the meeting and their desire to take action on an important issue in our society.

A walk to remember

To mark the completion of their studies on World War I, Year 9 History students recently embarked on a walk along the Soldier's Memorial Avenue, finishing at the Hobart Cenotaph.

As part of their unit, students were asked to choose four soldiers who died in World War I to research. They then had to search for their chosen soldier's tree and memorial plaque on the walk and take a selfie once they had found it.

The experience was a moving one for the students, as they observed the commemorative plaques and paused to remember the human story and sacrifice made by local families. Lest we forget.

Year 6 Maths—Senior School style

Over the past few weeks, our Year 6s have been spending an hour of their Friday mornings discovering how Maths is taught in the Senior School.

Students have met some of their future teachers, learned about what happens in a typical Maths lesson and even got a taste for homework—and a test!

The last Friday morning saw students finish with a Maths relay where they worked in teams to race against the clock and solve a range of tricky problems.

Mark Solari

Learning Area Coordinator – Maths

Student art on show

In exciting news, a number of Year 3-6 students have been selected to exhibit their artwork in this year's Impression of Tasmania and Fujian Arts Exhibition.

The exhibition, which showcases outstanding Chinese and Australian artistic talent, is being held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Tasmanian-Fujian Province sister state relationship.

Well done to all students who have contributed to this project. We are excited to see your work on display!

All members of the public are welcome to attend the event. Find out more here.

Rewarding three days for budding scientists

A group of Year 9–10 students had the opportunity to attend the Santo Science Experience, which ran from 1-3 December at the University of Tasmania.

The Australia-wide program is designed to give Senior School students a taster of all the different opportunities a Science degree can offer.

The participating students were Kasota Clayton, Maddie Young, Ava Thomsett, Estella Edwards (Year 10), Olivia Walter and Grace Cox (Year 9).

Thank you to Rotary who provided funding towards the experience.

Tasmanian Science Talent Search

Well done to all the students in Years 7-11 who had their research investigations entered into the Tasmanian Science Talent Search.

More than 400 investigations from around Tasmania were judged by a team of leading Science teachers.

Their reports were looked at in terms of the innovation of their project, the depth of write up and the analysis of their findings.

Prizes were presented at an award ceremony on Sunday 28 November. St Mary's College

received nearly a third of all prizes for the statewide research investigations, which is an amazing effort.

A special congratulations to Lauren Shelton and Abbey Holloway (Year 10), whose project 'Next Generation Ink' was shortlisted for the BHP Awards in Melbourne (one of the top five projects statewide).

Prize winners:

Junior Secondary (Year 7-8) Individual

Matilda Wise – equal first place

Mackenzie Thomas – equal first place

Lillian Scott – equal second place

Madeleine Ambrose – equal second place

Scarlett Johnson-Harrington – merit award

Lucy McKenna – merit award

Junior Secondary (Year 7) Small Group

Isobel Geard, Piper Spotswood – second place

Mackenzie Graves, Bella Turner – merit award

Junior Secondary (Year 8) Small Group

Amelia Dickman, Lucinda Coutts – merit award

Intermediate Secondary (Year 9) Small Group

Grace Cox, Anna Fracalossi – second place

Lucy Booth, Mykala Mastrocola, Charlie Spotswood – merit award

Intermediate Secondary (Year 10) Small Group

Lauren Shelton, Abbey Holloway – first place

Charlotte Coutts, Faith Wara, Keeley Mautlin – second place

Research Investigations (Year 10) Small Group

Sonia De Cesare, Lena Diddams – merit award

Senior Secondary (Years 11-12)

Ella Scott – equal second place

Boundless fun for Eddie Rice participants

St Mary's College has a new group of excited and committed Eddie Rice participants who have completed their first activities over the past few weeks.

The group recently joined students at Goodwood Primary School for an activities afternoon, which was a great introduction to the types of relationships we can collaborate on together in the future.

The fun continued last Saturday with the group heading to Bounce Hobart and the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens with students from Dunalley Primary School.

Our participating students have enjoyed the opportunity to develop new relationships and look forward to what's in store in 2022.

Anyone interested in joining the group can contact College Youth Minister, Belle Young.

A change in the Junior School Lantern department

The coordination of Learning Support in the Junior School will undergo a change in 2022 as I will be taking a year's leave from the College.

Julia McCullough will be moving over from Corpus Christi to take my place.

Julia is an experienced coordinator of Learning Support and will, I'm sure, slip seamlessly into this role and fulfil it with passion and dedication.

May I express a heartfelt thanks to all families I have worked with over the last five years. It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to support you and your children during this time.

As the 2022 school year begins, Julia will be in contact with many of you to discuss the support needs of your children and organise learning plans.

If you have any concerns about your child's educational needs, please don't hesitate to contact Julia through your child's classroom teacher.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a safe and relaxing holiday break!

Louise Davidson

Lantern Coordinator – Junior School

Staff farewell

It is with heavy hearts that we farewell the following staff members who are retiring at the end of 2021 or finishing up with the College after many years of dedicated service.

Helen Spencer

Jacqueline Conboy

Shelley Macleod

Debbie Claridge

Gillian Goldsworthy

Estelle Levy

Brendon Gourlay

Phil Boulter

John Russell

We wish well those staff who have been with us in recent years. Thank you also to staff who have joined us on a short-term contract this year. We've come to know and love you, and we'll miss you!

Jo Burgess

Sarah Adams

Shona Charleston

Jo Boyd

Linh Pham

Amy Fiddaman

Ruby Burgess

Abigail Butler

Erica Noble

Rose Andrewartha

Catherine Sandric

Good bye (for now!) and best wishes to all staff embarking on secondment and long service leave in 2022.

We thank you all for your hard work and commitment to the learning and wellbeing of our students, and your contribution to the tapestry that makes St Mary’s College so wonderful.

We look forward to welcoming all new staff members at our 2022 staff induction and upcoming Presentation Family events.

College life in pictures

Happy snaps from the past fortnight!

A (rainy) Presentation Day picnic

Materials and Design (Wood) creations