Curriculum

Textbooks for the Class of 2022

Year 12 textbooks are now available for online ordering. A discounted delivery fee applies to orders placed by Wednesday 15 September. Please check your email for details.

Peggy Kwong

Textbooks List Coordinator

Remote Learning Survey Feedback – a Celebration of Teachers!

As our remote learning period continues, it is important to reflect on what we can do to improve and be responsive to student feedback. Yet we also need to share what is working well and to celebrate the incredible work our teachers are doing. Yes, they are not having to travel to work or complete playground duties. But most are working harder than ever to take the best of their face-to-face practice and translate this into caring for their students through great teaching and learning activities online. The following comments come directly from student comments in recent surveys. I offer them here for our community as a way of saying thank you to the incredible St Patrick’s College teachers for going above and beyond, in difficult circumstances, for the sake of the boys in our care.

“I'm uncertain about what more (teachers) can do. All of my teachers have used online learning in their own way and although being at school would be ideal, the teachers are doing a great job at planning their lessons.”
“It's GREAT!!”
“I really like how most of my teachers set work and take time to look through the work and mark it. This is greatly appreciated and goes a long way in the development of my learning.”
“Personally, I have found break-out rooms and frequent opportunities for group discussion the most enjoyable and effective method of delivery.”
“Teachers are trying their hardest and I appreciate that.”
“(I like when teachers create) a variety of lesson plans that involve class discussion, teacher presentations and independent work.”
“It’s great when teachers prompt group discussion and use breakout rooms. The occasional Kahoot or similar activity is a bit of fun!”
“Lesson content has been good and interesting most of the time!”
“I like when teachers assign the work, explain it, then regularly check up to see how we are going and provide feedback.”
“No suggestions, really! I know that they are doing everything they can so I don't want to ask too much of them.”
“Everything is going perfectly in my opinion.”
“Personally, I think that my teachers are doing an outstanding job with the remote learning as it as stressful for them to put all their care into helping us as students in these challenging times.”
“I think my teachers have tried their very best to engage our class.”
“I don't think there is anything else they could do. All my teachers are trying their best.”
“Nothing to improve! They are doing an excellent job.”
“They are doing a fantastic job in remote learning.”
“The teacher always checks if we are stuck and calls privately.”
“It has improved a lot from last year.”
“My teacher is really nice and helpful throughout the lessons.”
“My teacher really supports me in my learning.”
“Sometimes I get stuck on work but my teacher is always there to help me!”
“I am okay with online learning and my teacher really helps us stay on track and answers a lot of questions.”
“My teachers always include everyone and let them share their ideas or thoughts.”
“To be honest my teacher has done everything to make me improve so nothing to suggest!”
“My teacher does everything possible to engage us!”

Denise Lombardo

Director of Learning and Innovation

Year 11 Online Open-Book Final Assessments

With the cancellation of on-site Year 11 Preliminary Course Examinations due to the current pandemic lockdown, our Year 11 students will instead commence online open-book final assessments next week on Thursday 2 September. The online assessments will conclude on Tuesday 14 September with the next day, Wednesday 15 September, being an examination ‘catch up’ day for those students, for whatever medically valid reason, missed a scheduled assessment.

The Year 11 Online Open-Book Final Assessments Timetable was emailed last week to students and their parents/cares along with Online Open-Book Assessment Rules for Senior Students. Both documents are also available on Canvas. Students are reminded to thoroughly familiarise themselves with this documentation, as well as the College’s Assessment Policy issued to the students early in Term 1 of this year.

Ignorance of the College’s Assessment Policy or online assessment rules will not constitute a valid excuse and penalties will be incurred for breaches of policy and procedures.

In particular, in the event of absenteeism due to illness or misadventure during the online assessment block, parents/carers and students are reminded that a telephone call to the Year Coordinator, Mr Newman, must be made no less than 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the assessment. Where possible, an alternate task for the missed assessment will be arranged within the assessment block period. Immediately on the student’s return, a medical certificate for the illness or misadventure must be submitted to Mr Newman and the relevant Faculty Leader.

I would like to wish all our Year 11 students well for these very important assessments.

Michael Cutrupi

Director of Curriculum

La Didattica a Distanza – Remote Learning in Languages

“Poco a poco, starete scoprendo ... quanto la scuola ci manchi.”

Little by little you will be discovering … how much we miss school.

This sentiment expressed by Italian author and teacher, Alessandro D’Avenia in 2020, certainly reflects the current experience of the St Patrick’s College community. As remote learning continues this year, we miss face-to-face connections with staff and students, and find ourselves reminiscing on the interactions and experiences that we so often take for granted. The Languages Faculty staff have been working hard to provide students with not only a smooth transition to online learning, but also opportunities to engage, encourage, and extend their understanding of language and culture.

Year 5 French and Year 6 Italian students are developing their language knowledge and competitive spirit through their ongoing Education Perfect competitions. The homes of our Junior School students must be filled with a flurry of creative energy as students work on their famous landmark models. Ms Nabkey has been spoiled for choice in nominating remote ‘Linguists of the Fortnight’ as students continue to engage enthusiastically in their learning.

Year 8 Italian students are developing their knowledge of vocabulary and grammar but have also had an opportunity to apply the language to creative projects. Their ‘Animal Fusion’ task has allowed students to imagine new (and sometimes terrifying) species, devising Italian names for the animals, and describing their characteristics and colours. The breakout rooms in our Teams calls have also given rise to the town planners of the future. Small groups have been tasked with researching famous Italian piazze (town squares) and applying their knowledge to the design of a new piazza for Strathfield. Of course, a mention must be made of Italy’s recent victory at the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship. Upon receiving a brief to recreate a scene from the tournament, students worked hard to rehearse and film scenes capturing some famous moments, while using Italian expressions and commentary.

Year 9 and 10 teachers and students are experimenting with a variety of online resources and strategies. Italian memes continue to be an engaging way to develop reading skills and identify grammatical features. Music, of course, features heavily, with Year 9 compiling a playlist of Italian songs, and both Years 9 and 10 honing their listening skills with the Lyrics Training program. Year 9 have also been working with learning squares, providing some flexibility and choice in their lessons. The Drive and Listen website provided students with an interesting extension task. Launching into a ‘live’ experience of Europe, the website allows students to see the landscape as they ‘drive through’ Rome while listening to live Italian radio. Year 10 have applied their use of the imperative mood in different ways. They created a schiavo per un giorno (slave for a day) video in which they provided recorded instructions for a sibling or pet in Italian. They also stepped into the shoes of the allenatore (coach) of the Italian football team, providing directions to the players as they watched a video of a training session.

Years 11 and 12 have been preparing diligently for their final assessment tasks with new parametres in place. Students in all courses have benefitted from the availability of their teachers on Teams for additional speaking practice. Year 12 Italian Continuers engaged in an online debate, and Year 12 Italian Extension in a remote Socratic seminar.

Thank you to our tireless and innovative Languages Faculty staff who continue to create new experiences and consider new opportunities for our students.

Maria Capobianco

Languages Faculty Leader

All The Dining Room’s a Stage

Performing Arts online may seem a little counterproductive however Music and Theatre have always been able to redesign and reinvent to not only survive, but to stay relevant. At St Patrick’s College, we are turning bedrooms into theatres and dining rooms into concert halls to allow our boys to still have an outlet for their creative expression.

Many of our younger music students are working on compositions in various musical styles. We know how much parents really enjoyed last year’s ‘Stomp’ unit where students utilised home objects such as pots and pans to create music. So, you may be a little sad to learn that this year we are moving to our new online platform, Soundtrap, which the boys love, and I know parents will secretly appreciate.

Year 8 Music students are channeling their inner Hilltop Hoods and writing their own raps, (a work in the making is linked in here for your listening pleasure), while Years 9 and 10 are filming and streaming their Soirees from their at-home concert halls.

Drama students are designing sets and costumes to demonstrate their directorial visions as well as turning their hand to a new kind of devised theatre; a radio play that looks at all the different facets of sport on and off the field.

Our Year 12 Music and Drama students were given the COVID-19 safe opportunity to perform their pieces on campus for their end of course assessments. A lot of literal red tape at 1.5 metre intervals later, we were so pleased to offer the boys this opportunity after all the hard work they have put in over the last year. It was clear to those of us who marked these works that the boys greatly appreciated being able to perform live and put their heart and soul into their pieces.

Rebecca Duff

Performing Arts Faculty Leader