Student Stories & Community Updates 

Brain STEM Challenge

Noah Przychodzen (Year 8) shares his experience at this immersive, hands-on excursion.

"Last week, some Year 8’s from St Bede’s BEAM - Beda Enrichment and Mentorship program - were selected for a half-day school excursion, Circular Economy - Sustaining Our World, Shaping Our Future, at Camberwell Grammar School. This excursion neatly aligned with our school’s journey in Integral Ecology – the call from Pope Francis to show Christian care for creation and our BEAM program.

The program brought together students from a variety of schools to address some of the most challenging issues related to the idea of a Circular Economy. This event enabled students to develop an appreciation for the process of the production and consumption of goods, learning innovative ways to reduce waste and rethink the use of resources in their daily lives.

The panel of experts providing feedback on our designs were industry leaders with extensive experience in business (including parents of a BEDA family), engineering, environment and sustainability measures as well as the current head of the Royal Society of Victoria – Rob Gell. You may remember him from 30 years of TV meteorology, however, there is so much more to the man than his past role as weather presenter. 

Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, this program sought to inspire and equip the next generation of innovators and leaders to actively contribute to a more sustainable world, exposing them to Design and Systems Thinking theories. Students were then given the opportunity to collaborate with students from other schools, fostering teamwork and cooperation, using tools like LEGO for prototyping, promoting hands-on learning and practical application. 

Finally, teams competed against other teams to find the best solutions, fostering healthy competition and a drive for excellence, presenting before the panel of industry experts a solution to a complex problem affecting our planet.

These comments by our participating students attest to the aims of this outing being fulfilled:

"The circular economy excursion was very educational, it helped me gain a better understanding of what a circular economy is, the impact it could have, and the consequences that could occur if we fail to achieve one. Going into the design challenge, I thought I would have a rough time working with people I had never met, but it was surprisingly fun. As a person who usually doesn’t work well in groups, I found that there were actually advantages to working with people I have never met before. We never got distracted, cooperated with each other, and were able to evenly participate. I loved the concept of presenting our ideas to judges and overall; it was a cool excursion."

Congratulations to the winners who pushed the boundaries of innovation, with Jacob Murphy and Noah Przychodzen winning LEGO sets for their innovative efforts. 

Well done to all our participants! 

• Joseph Anderson
• Anthony Gallardo 
• Daniel Ianchello 
• Hunter Maudsley
• Jacob Murphy 
• Samuel Pickering
• Noah Przychodzen 
• Aaron Schoenmakers
• Oliver Smith
• Simon Szabo

ACC Intermediate Public Speaking Champions

Congratulations to our team of volunteer Public Speaking professionals, who earned a well-deserved win at the ACC Intermediate Public Speaking, Debating and Drama Day.  

• Will Aufner 
• James Moore 
• Michael Robertson 
• George Sakkas 

This winning combination of students took away the overall prize, for their consistently excellent, well-rehearsed, thoughtful, reasoned, interesting, varied and passionate speeches. They worked beautifully as a team, always there to support and advise each other; they were also very attentive to, and welcoming of, any feedback they managed to glean from the adjudicators and other speakers.

James and Michael tackled the impromptu speech round and were excellent in outlining their reasons for why “Being a youth is overrated". 

We are so very proud of these informed, articulate and social justice-aware students making a name for themselves in the public speaking arena! 

Year 9 Life Work and Money

Students have been learning about the importance of budgeting and the risks associated with different investment opportunities. 

All four Year 9 Life Work and Money students are competing in Game 2 of the ASX Schools Sharemarket Game, where they are “given” $50,000 to invest in ASX sharemarket companies at actual share prices. The game runs August 17 to October 26. State winners receive $400 and National winners receive $600.

The top four performing teams in the school at the end of Week One are: 

COBALE LTD – Cooper Lennon, Jack Bater and Alex Condon

PENULTZ PTY LTD – James Penney and James Schultz

KUPLAPO CORP – Finn Kuperus, T’zario Lay and Trifon Podaridis

CAMAC PTY LTD – Charley Cahill and Finn McGuire

Team COBALE LTD is currently ranked 1st in the State and 2nd in the Nation! 

Year 8 History Models

As part of History and study of Medieval Europe, Year 8 students were asked to create a visual display or model of an aspect of Medieval life, which were put on display across both campuses. 

Students researched, designed and then produced a historically accurate model or artefact at home over the course of the unit. Creative and sustainable thinking is encouraged, as to repurpose items at home such as cereal boxes, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls or juice/ milk bottles. 

The students fully embraced the assignment and brought in some really incredible models that allowed their creativity to shine, and experiment with different mediums. Teachers were excited to see classrooms full of knight’s shields, stocks, medieval villages and castles. 

Celebrating Student Achievements

Debating Competition 

Well done to our Year 10 students who won by a large margin against Wesley College in last week's round of the DAV Schools Debating Competition. They've since progressed to the next playoff last night at Northcote High, coming away with a convincing two-point win and now progress to the finals! 

Getting through to this stage of the competition puts the team into the Top 16 out of hundreds of teams - quite an impressive achievement. 

• Oliver Bradley
• John Carino
• Harrison McCawley 
• Tomas Polintan

This team has really stepped up their abilities and is an absolute credit to St Bede’s College. Great work! 

Sport

Congratulations to Gab Incani & Edward Gibson (Year 11) who represented Victoria at the National Championships for Cross Country in Canberra this past weekend. 

And an extended congratulations to Gab Incani, who was also selected to be in the Victorian Pathway Program for Triathlon. A selection he has deserved given his results while racing over summer. Many current national representatives went through this program, so we look eagerly at Gab’s progress in the coming years. 

Music Performances

Our recent Instrumental & Vocal Music Performance Evening was an absolute success! 

Many of our 130 music students across both campuses performed at least one piece at the event. 

The evening commenced with our Senior Vocal Ensemble, and then performances in individual venues across our Mentone Campus by students studying brass, woodwind, guitar, bass, drums, piano and vocals. 

It was a truly wonderful evening where students showcased their talents to their parents, families and friends, and enjoy the excitement. Thank you to all our Music staff who were instrumental in preparing and supporting our students. 

Be sure to save the date for our upcoming performance!

Music on the Lawn - Thursday 30 November 

College Production 2024

We are THRILLED to announce that next year's College Production is...

SHREK The Musical! 

Direct from the smash-hit on Broadway, many schools have tried to obtain the rights to the production, and we are ecstatic that St Bede’s College was the winner! It’s going to be big, bright and brilliantly Beda! 

Auditions begin November this year. Invitations to collaborate as cast and crew will be extended to Kilbreda College and Mentone Girls’ Grammar School. We can’t wait to bring this production to life!  

ACC Sport

Congratulations to the 2023 Premiers who won this week! 

Senior Table Tennis 

St Bede’s 9 matches (43 sets) defeated Parade 6 matches (32 sets)

Senior B Basketball

St Bede’s 49 defeated Salesian 47

Points: Brodie Findlay 15, Jack Ferraro 14

Best: Brodie Findlay, Jack Ferraro, Max Newman-Morris

**Jack Ferraro hit the game-winning shot with .2 of a second left**

Year 10 Table Tennis

St Bede’s 10 matches (42 sets) defeated Mazenod 5 matches (33 sets)

WEEK 7 RESULTS 

Good luck to all of those entering Grand Finals and Semi Finals this week and next. 

Wear it Purple Day

It was wonderful to see many of our students and staff in purple to celebrate inclusivity and acceptance on Wear it Purple Day last week! This initiative raised funds for Mission Action Day. 

Community Recycling Bin - Batteries

Not sure what to do with your used batteries at home?

Bring them to school and we'll recycle them for you! 

Simply visit the Administration Office to close the loop.