Curriculum

Years 5 to 10 Semester 1 Academic Awards

In recognition of academic excellence over the last two terms, the following Years 5 to 10 students were presented at last Friday’s College Assembly with their Academic Excellence in Subject certificate for Semester 1.

From Year 5:

From Year 6:

From Year 7:

From Year 8:

From Year 9:

From Year 10:

2023 Stage 5 and Stage 6 Subject Prospectuses and Parent Information Evening

By the end of this week, the 2023 editions of the Stage 5 and Stage 6 prospectuses on subjects for Years 9 and 11 respectively will be posted on the TASS Parent Lounge for parents and carers and the relevant Canvas Year pages for the students.

A thorough and sequential subject selection process is in place and details of this process will be given at the appropriate times. On Wednesday 20 July, an information evening will be held firstly for parents/carers of Year 8 commencing at 6:00 PM and concluding at 6:45 PM, and then for parents/carers of Year 10 commencing at 7:00 PM and concluding at 8:30 PM. Both parent/carer information sessions will be held in the College Hall. Students are not required to attend.

Subject information sessions will also be held for Year 10 students in the same week on the mornings of Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 July. An elective subject information morning for Year 8 students will be held on Thursday 21 July. The purpose of the information evening and sessions is to complement and clarify the information provided in the subject prospectuses and to provide details of the subject selection process.

Parents of Year 10 boys should note that there will be parent-son-teacher subject selection interviews on Wednesday 24 August. The interviews will be held before and after normal timetabled lesson on this day. It will be a normal school day for Year 10.

The Holidays and the Year 12 Trial HSC Examinations

Year 12 students are encouraged to use the upcoming holidays wisely and not to let the time pass without having done substantial preparation for the Trial HSC examinations which begin Monday 1 August, i.e., the third week back next term.

With just under six weeks to the Trial HSC examination, the following is important information for Year 12 students and their parents/carers.

HSC Examination Marking Feedback and Sample Answers

Marking guidelines and sample answers for most HSC subjects from past examinations are available on the NESA website. 

Parents and carers of Year 12 ought to know that such resources are available and should encourage their sons to use them as part of their preparation for the Trial and HSC written examinations.

It is important to note that the sample answers provided are not student responses from the examinations nor are they intended to be exemplary or even complete answers or responses. Nonetheless, they are a most valuable resource for HSC students.

NESA publishes this information to assist teachers and students in understanding how the marking guidelines were implemented.

Checking HSC Details via Students Online

Year 12 students and their parents/carers are reminded that NESA’s Students Online facility is the students’ personal source for information about their HSC. It is imperative that every HSC student logs on to Students Online to check their personal details to ensure their name, courses, ATAR eligibility or status, address, email, and phone number are correct.

Change of address, email and phone number may be made in the personal details section of Students Online however, students and parents/carers are reminded that the College must also be informed of such changes. Changes to personal details are made via the College Enrolments Officer, Mrs Toogood, and course changes via the Director of Curriculum, Mr Cutrupi.

Year 12 students ought to note their personal HSC timetable is now available on Students Online, their assessment ranks will be available after the last HSC examination has concluded on Friday 4 November through to Tuesday 30 November and their HSC results will be released on Friday 10 December 2022.

Michael Cutrupi 

Director of Curriculum

Making Every Lesson Count

Teachers at St Patrick’s College are midway through our first year of a three-year professional learning plan which builds on what we have done in previous years with writing, differentiation, use of technology and collaborative practices. Our professional learning focus for 2022 allows us to focus on consolidating strong pedagogical practices to support student learning.

To ensure both consistency of understanding and flexibility of application, we are using the Making Every Lesson Count series of texts for sustained professional reading and exploration across the year. Andy Tharby and Shaun Allison co-authored the first text in the series, a text that provides a strong evidence base and practical strategies in support of the teaching framework they developed at Durrington Research School in the UK. Since then, other expert teachers have created companion texts across most faculty areas, each highly practical in nature and evidence informed. Much like our own St Patrick’s College Learning Framework, which draws on a breadth of sound research and supports high quality practices, the Durrington Research School took a similar approach, drawing on Ron Berger’s An Ethic of Excellence, Carol Dweck’s Mindset, the Sutton Trust’s What Makes Great Teaching? and Matthew Syed’s Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice.

Durrington Research School’s focus on the principles and practices of Challenge, Explanation, Modeling, Practice, Questioning and Feedback is an approach which reinforces our own principles of quality teaching. Just as our own strategic focus on being a beacon for boys’ education sets out our vision for rigour, growth and ensuring all students achieve their best, Tharby and Allison (2015) state that “excellence and growth” are the values that “provide the bedrock” for their principles and practices.

Our approach to professional learning this year is supported by the work of the Learning and Innovation Team, a select group of teacher leaders who work together to guide their peers in implementing these practices. Our learning together includes whole school meetings, small group learning teams within faculty groups, and sharing and observations of each other’s practices. Thus far, we have worked on Challenge – setting the bar high for all students; Explanation – ensuring clarity of understanding; and Modelling – unlocking the “how” of skills and learning.

Having strong pedagogical frameworks is not enough, however. That is why we used our staff day at the start of Term 2 to delve more deeply into a Liberating Education in terms of our teaching and learning. Paolo Freire, renowned for his work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, argues passionately about education as the tool for liberation – that “dialogue, partnership and engagement, within the learning context, create an atmosphere of hope, love, humility and trust,” providing people with agency and the freedom to make the right choices for their own lives. 

A liberating education in the classroom can be many things. We can liberate our students by providing choice and agency and supporting them to take ownership of their own actions and learning. We can create safe, liberating spaces through strong, caring relationships and classrooms where all students feel comfortable to share their work and take sound academic risks by moving out of their comfort zones. And we can also provide opportunities, through the curriculum and content choices, to learn more about those on the margins, how business and government can support equity and justice, by reading about the challenging experiences of those we will never know.

By focusing on liberating practices and enhancing strong pedagogical approaches, we are working together to further develop excellence in the educational experiences for our students at St Patrick’s College.

Denise Lombardo

Director of Learning and Innovation

"...expert teachers must be uncompromising in their quest to foster pride and hard work. Nevertheless, excellence and growth are soulless, vacuous aims without good teaching to bolster them." (Allison & Tharby, 2015)

Year 8 Languages Day

Every year, boys in Year 8 take part in Languages Day, a day where cultures can be embraced and celebrated. The morning was buzzing with excitement as we sat in the Robson Auditorium. We listened to Miss Foti tell us about the diverse number of cultures within our country and how we are not just a monolingual country. It was really interesting when the boys were asked to raise their hands if their relatives and ancestors speak or spoke a different language, as a great number of the grade had their hands up. Although this was mainly an Italian day, we were celebrating all different languages within our world and the ability to be able to speak more than one language.  

We were split into our house groups and moved to our first activities. In Mary MacKillop 11 we experienced una vacanza virtuale, where boys would pick a city of choice, and would take a journey there through virtual reality. Inside Mary MacKillop 12 we completed activities using Duolingo, a language learning website that allowed us to learn a language of our choice. In Mary MacKillop 13, boys were taught how to play the Italian card game Sette e Mezzo (seven and a half). We used Italian playing cards or Briscola cards. The aim of the game was to score as close as possible to seven and a half.  

Many boys were wondering what was going to be for recess and we were not let down. Every student was given a zuccherato which is a cream filled pastry sprinkled with sugar. These amazing deserts left every boy licking their lips and made the day even more special.  

Inside Mary MacKillop 14 we even got a taste of some Italian acting. The boys were provided with a script and presented to the class using Italian techniques and their own humour. Moving over to Raymer 11, boys were given the chance to play a game of Italianoply, an Italian version of Monopoly, which included challenging questions to test our knowledge. Moving into the outdoors, the boys played bocce, an Italian game of lawn bowls.  

Lunch arrived and every single boy was thrilled that we were having pizza for lunch. Everyone rushed to the tables with the excitement in the air. Lunch was very pleasurable and not one boy was left disappointed with the day. We finished off with an interesting end. A classic Education Perfect task was set for us, but this time with a twist. We were set a fascinating quiz which took everyone by surprise because we had to listen to our teachers speak different languages. These weren’t just members of the Languages staff, but teachers from different faculties who teach many different subjects. Each person was locked in, and we had a fun time discussing which teacher might be speaking which language, even languages no one has heard of. We found out that our school is very diverse.  

At last, we finished off the wonderful day by watching Anh Do’s journey though Italy. To conclude, the boys of Year 8 had a wonderful day and all the teachers who set up and ran the day must be thanked. Languages Day was a real eye-opening experience, and all boys feel a sense of school spirit on days like this where everyone is involved and having a good time. 

Luca Tuttocuore and Nicholas Crisafulli

Year 8 Students