Student Stories, Achievements & Community Updates

Shrek the Musical - Meet the Cast! 

After record-breaking volumes of students auditioning for roles, we are over the moon to announce our cast for our 2024 College Musical, Shrek. 

Over four full nights, we witnessed so many talented students from Kilbreda College, Mentone Girls’ Grammar School and, of course, St Bede’s College give it their absolute best. We are so blessed to have such an abundance of hard-working, prepared and skilled students to pick from. So much so, that the final selection of the cast was one of the toughest our Performing Arts Department has ever seen. 

Director, Mr Drew Downing is thrilled with the final cast. 

"The standard of auditionees was unbelievable, resulting in a cast which already guarantees us St Bede's biggest musical production to date. I am really excited to work with such a skilled and enthusiastic team of students. They're going to create something amazing!" 

Celebrating Student Achievements

Fisher O'Brien (Year 9) 

Congratulations to Fisher, whose self-portrait made the cover of the 2023 St Bede's College Journal! 

What we love about Fisher’s artwork is that it perfectly encapsulates the personal insight, reflection and introspection of self. This image personifies the journey and endeavour of self-discovery that every student at St Bede’s College embarks on during their time here. 

We want every student to see part of themselves in this reflection, to think with pride of where they’ve been, where they’re going and who they are. Thank you, Fisher for creating a beautiful, colourful and thoughtful piece of work that lives on in our College Journal for generations to come.

"What I most enjoyed making this artwork was dividing my face into different sections and colours on Photoshop, and then experimenting with blending different colours to find the best fit for the area I was painting.

I learnt skills such as portraying the lighting in my portrait with bright and darker hues to show shadows, as well using my brush and some water to blend together. I like the overall brushwork, colours, techniques and shadowing that I used to portray myself on a canvas."  Fisher O'Brien 

Edward Gibson (Year 11) 

Congratulations to Edward, who qualified for the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Perth this coming weekend and is competing in a 3km run. 

Good luck! 

Jamie Ritzert (Year 12) 

Congratulations to competing in the Federation University Road Nationals in January 2024 in Ballarat, cycling in the 96km event.

Music on the Lawn

While wet weather meant we relocated our event to the Sports Centre, Music in the Lawn was an enormous success!

Among many highlights, it was wonderful to see all the students together and supporting each other. Our Bentleigh East Campus Music Group did a great job engaging and entertaining the crowd, and the saxophone trio were superb. 

College Music Captain, Eliot Jurdukian was very impressed with the level of talent and performances. 

"Music on the Lawn was our final event for the year, with over a hundred students performing from both the Mentone and Bentleigh campuses. This included two drumlines, a variety of instrumental and vocal performances including rock bands from Years 9 to 12 entertaining the crowd. 

These two and half hours of fun were a great way to finish off the year and we should look forward to listening to our aspiring talented musicians at St Bede’s for the years to come!" 

Music Director, Mr Walter Saluni is thrilled with the event. 

"The highlight for me was definitely having our two Bentleigh East Campus groups perform.  Seeing the singers just getting into it and the parents just loving seeing their son doing what they enjoy and love.  

It for me was priceless. And now they can’t wait to do it again!  

It’s planting that seed in their hearts and just watching them grow in confidence.  It’s something that you can’t put words to.  

The students are fantastic and I know they’ll appreciate it for themselves as well as for their musical peers."

Sporting Achievement

After winning the ACC premiership in Term 1, our senior cricket team were invited to compete in the Premier Cricket finals. 

This involves 10 schools from around Victoria who have won their respective inter-school competitions. The format is T/20 games, with the teams progressing to the finals decided by win loss ratio and net run rate. 

"After playing some fantastic cricket and finishing the pool games in second place on the ladder, we met Ballarat and Clarendon College in the Semi Final. The game went down to the wire, with Ballarat hitting the winning run on the second last ball of the match to take the win. 

Overall, we placed 3rd the State - a mighty achievement! All players involved represented St Bede's with wonderful skill and excellent sportsmanship. We are looking forward to our next ACC cricket season in Term 1 2024 and hopefully a return to this tournament." Lis Burn Cricket 1st XI Coach

Year 12 Change of Preference Appointments

Ahead of VCE 2023 results being released on Monday 11 December, we wish to remind Year 12 families that St Bede’s College Careers Department is here to assist students with their course selections and change of preference.

Change of preference closes for eligible applicants on 13 December at 4pm for December round offers. 

Students can make an appointment on 9582 5740 with Mrs Greaves, Ms Menara and Mrs Warfe on the following dates: 

Monday 11 December – 9 am to 3.30 pm 

Tuesday 12 December – 9 am to 3.30 pm 

Wednesday 13 December – 9 am to 2 pm 

Appointment bookings are compulsory

Celebrating Teacher Excellence

Ms Robyn Kensley (Learning Area Leader - English) has successfully completed the Teacher Excellence Program in 2023. Congratulations to Robyn on this achievement – it has involved a lot of work and the opportunities presented have been fabulous. 

Ms Kensley wrote to Ms Frizza and Mr Mair to thank them for their support. 

"I wanted to take the time to especially thank you both; thank you firstly for being supportive of my application for this year-long PL opportunity,  as well as for generously affording me the Professional Learning time throughout this 2023 school year to attend the various commitments. 

 

I really valued the dedicated time to learn about inspirational possibilities for teaching and learning, as well as more targeted challenges, discussions and strategies for learning happening in the English area. 

 

While I know the TEP-inspired learning helped provide detailed ideas which I experimented with in the 9 English and 11EL classrooms I taught this year, 

I hope that the learning from these days has also more subtly infused and translated into the teaching and learning in our own wider English Learning Area too.

 

Thank you both again for your support and promotion of this further professional learning pursuit; may future TEP participants from St Bede’s College enjoy and relish it as much as I did."

Ms Jess Kirk  

Congratulations are in order for Ms Jess Kirk who has been awarded 2023 ACC Junior Coach of the Year! This award recognises Jess’s strengths in leadership, commitment, communication and as a positive role model.