Senior School News
Farewell
This week the College community farewells Nada Simich. Nada will be finishing at the end of this week to commence her retirement, having faithfully and diligently served the College community for twenty-three years.
Nada commenced her employment at St Gregory’s College in August 1998, initially working in the Library, both as a volunteer and paid employee, and progressively increasing her workload in subsequent years. In 2000, she was appointed as a permanent fulltime member of staff and since that time Nada has worked across the Library, Printroom, Clothing Pool and Book Hire.
Nada’s work in the Library and with Book Hire has been a labour of love for her. These are places where her own love of reading has supported the work of many different teachers and students over the years. It would not be surprising if we found out that Nada had read just about every one of the books in the Book Room! Her work has been detailed and thorough, and teachers have been able to rely on Nada to ensure that our students are well-resourced. As Nada prepares to make the final handover of this important College facility to the Marian Centre, she does so in the knowledge that it will be seamless transition, due to her thorough planning and meticulous attention to detail.
Throughout her long tenure at the College, Nada has proved to be flexible and multi-skilled as she has moved about the College into different roles and different locations over the years. From manning the library-to-classroom VHS tape system, to working with the Print Room machinery, Nada has seen much change at the College, and has adapted along with it.
We keep Nada in our thoughts and prayers this week as she concludes her time at St Greg’s and we offer her our very best wishes and God’s blessings as she commences her retirement. Thank you Nada for your tremendous contributions to our College community.
Mr Paul Brooks
Deputy Principal/Head of Senior School
Combined College Musical for 2021
The search for the cast on the 2021 Combined College Musical, ‘Xanadu’ commenced last Friday. We called upon actors, singers, comedians, dancers and roller skaters at St Patrick's and St Gregory's Colleges to step up and submit their audition by today.
We've learned strategies from last year to guide us in the development of performances while closely following pandemic guidelines. The Performance Rights and style of this musical also gives us great flexibility to work within these lines. Which means we will be carrying on with this musical right to the final performance. Whether it be streamed to our Combine Community or a live audience as normal - we will go to Xanadu!
More details for rehearsal schedules coming soon.
Mrs Natasha Patao
Volunteering at St Greg's
Marian Centre News
The Marian Centre is home to the College’s Library, and students will be greeted by Mrs Quinn and Mr Bond. The centre also contains the offices of the Academic Care Coordinators who are Mrs Ursino (Years 7 & 8), Ms Keir (Year 9 & 10) and Mr Bullock (Years 11 & 12).
Opening Hours
The library is open Monday – Friday from 8am for activities like completing homework, borrowing/returning books, printing assignments or casual reading. We are open every recess and lunch (except on Thursdays.
In the afternoons:
Monday is ‘Homework Club’ until 4.30pm with a number of teachers present to help the boys complete homework and assignments.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the library is open until 4.30pm and again there are always teachers available to supervise and assist.
On Thursday the library closes at 12 noon and on Friday at 3.15pm.
School Supplies
Students are able to purchase calculators, safety googles, aprons, College diaries from the Marian Centre. The boys will complete a form and the cost will be charged to the student’s account.
Printing
Students can print from the Library and every student has a printing ‘allowance’ which is generally $2. To print simply choose ‘Print Colour’ (cost 10c) or ‘Print Black’ (cost 2c) from the list of printers available and release and collect the print job from the Library. Students are able to top up their print allowance by giving money to the Finance Office.
BR@G
To develop the literacy of our students the College has a sustained reading time for 20 minutes three days a week. Boys are required to have a physical copy of a novel to read for this time. The Library has a large selection of novels across many genres and we are sure that all boys will find something to interest and engage them in our collection.
Year 7 Immunisations
Each year NSW Health works in partnership with schools to offer the vaccines recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for adolescents as part of the school vaccination programme. NSW Health has scheduled the following programme for 2021:
RE: Year 7 Immunisations
- Visit 1: 9th March 2021
- Visit 2: 7th October 2021
Year 7 will be offered a 2 dose course of HPV vaccine (Gardasil 9) at visits 1 and 2, and a single dose of Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis vaccine (Boostrix) at visit 1. There needs to be 6 months between dose 1 and 2 of the HPV – Gardasil 9 vaccine. Dates have been scheduled to fit in with HPV dose requirements.
Students should be in the College sports uniform for the 9th March, as this reduces social contact and supports the process.
Year 7 students will be issued with a Parent Information Kit from NSW Health containing an information sheet, consent form and privacy statement. The College recommends you carefully read this information and discuss these vaccinations with your family doctor prior to giving consent. To consent to the vaccination of your child, parents/carers are advised to:
- read all the information provided
- complete the consent form and sign your name next to the vaccine
- return the completed consent form to your child’s homeroom teacher
- ensure that your child eats breakfast on the day of the vaccination clinic.
If the form is incomplete in any way your child will NOT be vaccinated. Only original forms (not photocopied, scanned or faxed forms) will be accepted. Please leave the forms flat and DO NOT fold them as this affects the scanning process.
Boarding families will receive the Parent Information Kit by mail. Please return completed consent forms to the College by 2nd March, 2021.
A record of the vaccination will be provided to each student vaccinated at each clinic as a physical card. Details about the vaccinations given at the College will also be uploaded to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) to support complete vaccination histories. The College does not keep a record of the vaccinations. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to phone the Public Health Unit Immunisations Team on 1300 066 055.
Parents/carers can elect to withdraw or revoke consent at any time. The Procedure for Withdrawal of consent is available at https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/immunisation/Pages/default.aspx.
If you would like further information regarding the programme, please contact the College or South Western Sydney Local Health District Public Health Unit Information Team on 1300 066 055. Alternatively visit www.health.nsw.gov.au/immuniations for further information and translated copies of Vaccination Information Kits.
Barry Graham
Director of Administration
Parent Forums
Parent Forums provide an opportunity for not only new parents, but also current College parents to come together over the course of the year to hear directly from our Principal, College Leadership Team members, Leaders of Learning, Year Leaders, Academic Care Leaders, Counsellors, and staff. Additionally, the forums provided sneak peeks into what is happening in the classroom and around the College along with insight towards the future vision of the College.
Parent Forums are held once a Term. In Term 1 we will host the Parent Forum at 7pm in the Br Luke Hall. For Term 2 & Term 3, we will meet in an online space allowing parents to join the meeting from the comfort of their own home and ask questions via the chat feature.
All Parent Forums are recorded and shared with the Forum minutes so parents can view at a time that suits them and remain connected to the College.
In addition to the Leadership Team Members, the Year Leaders and Academic Coordinators will be present at the Term One Parent Forums for the Senior School.
If you have any questions regarding the Parent Forums for 2021, please contact our Parent Engagement Coordinator, Mrs Aison Buckley on abuckley@stgregs.nsw.edu.au
We look forward to welcoming you to the College.
Mrs Alison Buckley
Parent Engagement Coordinator
Rugby @ Greg's
The College is again participating in Division 1 of the Independent Schools Association (ISA) Rugby competition. This competition occurs across Metropolitan Sydney and Regional NSW on Saturdays during Term 2 and Term 3. The College will be providing a FREE ‘Come and Try Rugby’ day on Sunday 7th March from 9am to 1pm at the College. Our Rugby Clinic will be held on the weekend of the 12 - 14 of March. On this weekend students will have the opportunity to try boarding and stay in for the weekend.
If you have any questions in relation to this program please contact Mr Luke Morrissey – Director of Boarding/ISA Sport Coordinator.
Senior School Science
HSC Science Extension Course
This year at the College we have five students completing the HSC Science Extension course for the first time. Science Extension is designed for students with an interest in scientific research and provides a foundation for students planning to pursue study in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM).
As part of the course, students must conduct authentic scientific research influenced by one or more of the science disciplines and produce an extensive scientific report and portfolio that reflect the standards required for publication in a scientific journal. The projects developed by the class are as follows:
Rohan Chretien - Could Mushrooms be more sustainable than meat for a ratio of protein return?
Tadhg Chretien - Comparing the effectiveness of direct air capture and trees as methods of carbon dioxide capture from the atmosphere
Aidan Kreltszheim - Fresh turmeric vs turmeric tablets as an anti-inflammatory
Zyross Navales - The effect of background noise on memory recollection
William Winsor - The effect of permanently opening the mouth of Lake Illawarra to the ocean upon the prawn fisheries
These boys are to be commended for their exceptional work ethic and ability to engage with higher order thinking skills. They attend class from 7.00am-8.15am twice a week and spent many hours of their own time developing and refining their research. We look forward to sharing the outcome of their scientific research later this year.
HSC Investigating Science
This term the HSC Investigating Science are working through a Technology module. Today the class conducted an experiment to determine the effect of temperature on the reaction rate of hydrochloric acid with sodium thiosulphate. As part of this investigation, the boys were assessing the degree of accuracy of the technologies used to gather data, and the impact of random and systematic errors. The boys will complete a test on the concepts studied in this module as part of their assessment later this term.
Year 10 Science
Year 10 have started the year in Science with a physics topic: Newts In Motion. The boys will cover Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion but have begun the topic with Kinematics – the science of describing the motion of objects. The boys enjoyed putting their knowledge of Kinematics into practice this lesson with two outdoor experiments. Firstly, they raced one another to determine the fastest students in each group whilst applying formulae to calculate displacement and velocity, followed by launching bottle rockets to model action and reaction forces.
Year 9 Science
Year 9 are beginning their year in Science by building further upon their study of the atom in Year 8. They have conducted research on each of the scientists who have contributed to the atomic model in order to understand important discoveries which shaped the current model of the atom. Today the boys were able to themselves, model Ernest Rutherford’s gold foil experiment, using simple equipment to show how he discovered that the atom is mostly empty space.
Miss Elizabeth Parsons
Science Teacher
