Co-curricular Corner

A Season of Highlights and Exciting Events Ahead!

What a term it has been for co-curricular life at our College! From competitions and performances to clubs and creativity, our students have been showcasing their talents, teamwork, and leadership in inspiring ways.

Leadership was also on display this term, with our Middle Leaders stepping up to run assembly in the absence of the Year 12s. Their confidence and maturity set a wonderful example for the College community.

Our clubs continue to grow, with Emily and Allegra delivering a fantastic assembly address to promote the Dungeons & Dragons Club. Students in Years 9 and up are warmly invited to join the Tuesday afternoon adventures at Padua – and remember, the more, the merrier!

We also celebrated the achievements of our Italian and Japanese language students, who proudly received medals and certificates for their outstanding efforts. Their dedication to language learning is an inspiration.

Looking ahead, there’s plenty more excitement to come. This weekend we enter Opti-MINDS for the very first time, with three teams representing us in our inaugural year. Meanwhile, three of our budding writers have entered the Roly Short Story Competition, competing for impressive prizes of $1000 and $500.

Back on campus, the iCentre recently hosted a heart-warming Read with Your Dad event, which was a great success in celebrating family connections through reading. Planning is now underway for our much-anticipated Silent Disco, with our Year 11 Certificate II Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways students taking the lead on marketing and theme design.

We also saw the launch of our brand-new Entrepreneurship Club, giving students a space to spark innovation and share big ideas. And next week, our Junior Book Club will wrap up the term with their final meeting, reflecting on and celebrating their very first chosen book together.

A big congratulations to all our students for their involvement, enthusiasm, and achievements across co-curricular life. These opportunities not only build skills and passions but also strengthen the vibrant community spirit we are so proud of at our College.

As the 2025 seasons come to a close, our Debating and Readers Cup teams share their highlights, lessons learned, and favourite memories.

Debating 2025: Reflections on a Season of Growth

Year 7 Debating - Debating was a great experience and taught us many things including how to argue with our parents and win. Our team really enjoyed debating and would definitely do it again. We also would recommend debating to everyone who is interested. Although we enjoyed it and made it to the final, we unfortunately didn't progress past the 3rd round of finals. We would also like to thank everyone who was involved including the coaches and staff.

Year 8 Debating - 2025 Year 8 Debating was one to remember. With one of our teams through to the first round of the final, thanks to our amazing coach, Amy, it was an incredible season. The oppositions provided a strong challenge and the support from the audience was admirable. We had outside-the-box points with creative thinking coming from everyone in the teams. We couldn't be prouder of our outcomes this season and we give our everlasting gratitude to our awesome coach. 

Year 9 Debating - As a year level, we thoroughly enjoyed this debating season. Despite a mid-season replacement in one of our teams, we all came together, supported each other, and loved every meeting. We debated topics such as NAPLAN results, NRL in Vegas, Australian wages, and screentime, and one team even made it to finals round 2, where we put up a strong fight before being narrowly defeated. Along the way, we gained new skills, built lasting friendships, and are already planning to come back even stronger next year.

We would like to sincerely thank Ms McDonald, Ms Hatchman, Ms Gair, our coach Eliza, the student coaches, and our parents for their incredible support. We’re especially proud of our newcomers, who stepped up with confidence and skill, showing fantastic public speaking and critical thinking. Overall, it was a season of growth, fun, and achievement – and we can’t wait for what’s to come.

Readers Cup 2025: Reading Together, Competing Together

Readers Cup 7/8

Readers Cup was a great opportunity. As well as experiencing a range of books, you get to connect with people with similar interests. Meeting people from other schools whilst challenging our brain made the competition a wonderful evening.

Maeve 

I found the Reader's Cup Competition to be exciting, lots of fun, exhilarating and entertaining. I really enjoyed working together with my team, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone else! I would like to thank Ms Stower, Ms Gair and all the other staff involved in making this experience possible!

Meredith 

Although we didn’t make it to the top 3, I thought that my team worked really well and tried our best.   It was also nice to see other schools encouraging each other even though they are complete strangers and having great sportsmanship even when they didn’t win. I would definitely try this again and recommend it to anyone who is interested.

Claudia 

Readers Cup 9/10

Reader's Cup is a fun experience, where you get to really unpack the elements of your assigned books, and with a deeper understanding, enjoy them even more. Even though it's quite competitive, Reader's Cup is a good opportunity to connect with other schools over books and food.

    Bronte 

I enjoy readers cup because of the wide range of books you read and refine the details of. It is also a great opportunity to meet others from different schools who are interested in the same topics as you. 

    Kailyn