School of Leadership

News from the School of Leadership

School of Leadership students have made a strong start to Term 2! Their attention to appropriate personal grooming, uniform, conduct and most importantly, their positive learning and engaged mindset is to be commended.

I also appreciate that transitioning back to school after the school holiday period may bring a range of emotions, from excitement, anticipation, butterflies, and general anxiety. These are all common feelings that your child may experience. The main concerns usually centre around coping with the stress of returning to school, re-adjusting to study patterns, and balancing a breadth of commitments.

Please find below several simple tips that you may use to assist your child to develop sustainable routines for thriving at school:

Sleep - Ensuring 8 to 10 hours sleep for those aged 14 -17 years and 9 to 11 hours for those aged 10 -13 years. This includes consistent bed/wake-up times. Limiting screen time after dinner will also help encourage a good sleep.

Normalising experiences of worry and nerves - Reassure your child that feelings of anticipation on their return to school is common and will be overcome once they’ve settled back in.

Encourage conversation - Set a positive attitude at the dinner table when discussing transition to school and promote an encouraging and affirming tone.

Look out for disengaged behaviours - Behaviours such as negotiating to avoid school-work activities, attempts to avoid going to school, appearing restless and distant can be visibly present. These are signs that may need to be communicated to your child’s Stage Leader or Wellbeing Coordinator if they persist.

Schedules - The school morning can often be quite rushed, especially with having to balance your own work and family commitments. Creating a visual schedule to remind your child to eat breakfast, get dressed, pack bags and make their bed is an effective way in assisting them to develop time management and a regular routine that they can commit to.

Teacher Professional Learning

During the Term 2 Staff Development Day, St Luke’s teachers were joined by colleagues form CSPD to support SOL teachers to actively engage with EAL/D (English as an Additional Language or Dialect) data. This deep dive enabled teachers to gain invaluable insights into the diverse linguistic backgrounds of our students which will facilitate increasingly inclusive learning environments where students feel known, seen and valued.

Utilising EAL/D data enhances instructional strategies tailored to meet the unique needs of multilingual learners, promoting equitable education for all. Ultimately, this approach not only fosters inclusion but also drives continuous improvement, empowering teachers to refine their practices and better support students on their learning journeys.

Mothers’ Day Liturgy

The Mothers’ Day liturgy set a reflective tone, honouring the very special role of mothers and mother figures in the lives of students. As morning tea concluded, Year 5 and 6 students enthusiastically welcomed their guests into their learning spaces. This celebration underscored the vital importance the School of Leadership places on the home / school connection, recognising the invaluable support and partnership of families in education.

Parent Learning Walk - Wednesday, June 5; 9-10am

See a video invite from School of Leadership subject matter experts HERE!

School of Leadership students are getting involved in the life of the College!

Congratulations to students across Years 5-8 who have been active participants in the many opportunities afforded to them at St Luke’s. Students have been involved in Friday night debating as supporters and debaters, Thursday afternoon representative sport, College Ambassadors and subject matter experts, have showcased their learning in Life Design presentations, represented themselves and our school on a city excursion, became maths Whizzes in the Maths Olympiad,

Study Centre available for Year 7-12 students - Commencing Tuesday, Week 5 @2.45pm

I look forward to seeing parents and carers at various school functions over the coming months.,

Warm regards for a productive and purposeful Term 2.

Mrs Kate Kelly - Head of School, School of Leadership

A Note from The SOL Assistant Principal

Uniform Reminder

Term 2 marks the start of our Winter uniform. Boys must wear a College neck tie and girls must wear navy tights. Girls who choose to wear the shirt and pants combination are also required to wear a neck tie. These items can be purchased from Oz Fashions.

Ties cost $23.10
Navy tights cost $15.75

Sports jackets are not permitted to be worn on normal school days (only on Fridays for Years 7 and 8 or on Sports days). College jackets and jumpers must be worn with the full school uniform. A full price list and instructions on how to purchase items can be found here. Visible undergarments such as a long sleeve top are not permitted. A singlet that is not visible is allowed. If you have ordered an item for your child and are awaiting delivery, please send a note for their teacher or Wellbeing Coordinator explaining this. A reminder that only one small stud or sleeper is allowed in your child’s ear lobes. Boys must have an earring in each lobe, not one earring. Nose piercings, fake nails or eyelashes are not permitted. Your support with this is greatly appreciated.

SOL Soccer Tournament

After the great success of our soccer tournament in 2023, we will be commencing our 2024 competition in Week 3. Students have another week to get their teams together and complete the team form. Please encourage your child to participate in this wonderful event which will go until the end of this term and into Term 3.

School Attendance

Coming to school every day is one of the markers of student success and achievement at school. Taking a day off here and there can add up quite quickly. Absence from school can impact your child’s social connections with their peers and their development. They also miss key skills taught in their classes, putting them behind their peers. If your child misses one day of school a fortnight, over 12 years of education, this can add up to missing over a whole year of learning. Arriving on time for school is also essential for developing good learning habits that will transfer to life beyond school. Unfortunately, across NSW, school attendance rates in all educational sectors are 10 percent below what it was before COVID. We need to work together to ensure our kids flourish, and part of this is attending school regularly. If you are experiencing difficulties getting your child to school each day, know that you are not alone. If you are having issues with your child’s attendance, please contact the College for support. We have processes in place that can help you and your family.

Mrs Josephine Camilleri - Assistant Principal, School of Leadership

Mr Scott Carroll - Stage 3 Instructional Leader

At St Luke’s we are always looking for opportunities for our students to engage in real world learning experiences. Last week Year 5 and 6 had the incredible experience of exploring our city, including Australia Museum, St Marys Cathedral and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Year 6 also visited the ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park while Year 5 explored the Botanical Gardens.

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Students visited galleries in both the historic South Building and the contemporary North Building which opened in 2022. Included in our tour were the Asian Lantern, 20th-Century and Yiribana galleries.

St Marys Cathedral

In the Cathedral, students engaged with the iconography of Jesus and the saints, and also identified significant features of the building which allow Catholics to prayerfully interact with the space as a way of enhancing their own life of faith. Students were interested to learn that the many images in the building are part of a tradition of depicting the stories of the Catholic faith in art so that all people could come to understand them, even if they could not read.

ANZAC Memorial

Our Year 6 students were incredibly respectful as they entered the ANZAC memorial. It was appropriate that our excursion took place so close to ANZAC Day. Seeing this large scale memorial in the middle of our city really drove home the importance of remembrance not only in our own school but also its prominent place for the wider community.

Australian Museum

Stage 3 students couldn’t contain their excitement as we entered the Dinosaur exhibit! The sheer size and scale of the exhibit was a wildly immersive experience that students are sure to remember for a long time. In the Dinosaur and Surviving Australia galleries we examined a range of adaptations that enable animals to survive different climates and conditions. This all ties into our learning in Science and students will continue to draw back on these experiences for the rest of the term.

Coincidentally, our excursion took place during National Dinosaur Week and students were delighted to be able to visit our Science labs which had been transformed into a cretaceous cavern full of fun facts and hands-on dinosaur activities. Thank you to our Science teachers for inviting us to join in the fun and to share in these expert learning spaces.

Many thanks to the teachers who planned the excursion and made a trip to the city in their own time. Without the selflessness of these teachers, excursions like this would not be possible.

Stage 3 Stories…

Zone Athletics Carnival

On 7 May, a number of students from Stage 3 represented St Luke’s in the Zone Cross Country at Sydney Motorsports Park. They had the following to say about the experience:

Emmanuel: It was exciting and really pushed us to our limits.

Felix: You got a rush of emotions. Before I started I felt really nervous but once we got onto the track and started running I felt great.

Cameron: It was a bit nerve-wracking because it was some people’s first time. It was my third time so I knew what to expect.

Gurnihal: I felt like I was going to die but I’m really proud that I finished!

Kyra: Since it was my first time I didn’t expect it was going to be so hard going uphill and downhill. I’m glad I didn’t come last!

We can all be very proud of our students’ athletic endeavours. Thank you to the teachers and senior students who supported and supervised our Stage 3 athletes on the day.

SOL Choir

On Thursday afternoons, some of our Stage 3 students participate in choir. We practise different songs in preparation for performance in front of an audience. Choir is awesome because it allows us to express ourselves through singing and is also a great way to have fun and make new friends. Last term, we performed the National Anthem in front of the whole school for Harmony Day, and we are hoping to perform our new song, 'Butterfly Fly Away,' later in the term.

Written by Shanaya, Aesha, Naya

A note for parents: A gentle reminder that choir concludes at 4:00pm and students are dismissed from the Breezeway Gates. Any changes to the schedule will be communicated via normal school communication channels. Thank you for your continued support of the choir.

Villains

This week, we have been learning about the role of Villians in the adventure genre. The antagonist is another name for the villain of the story. An antagonist is what makes the book more interesting and exciting especially in the adventure genre where you have the theme of good versus evil.

We have been looking at the book “The Hobbit” and have been focusing on the personality and appearance of the primary villain, which is the main antagonist, Old Smaug (a dragon). However, in some books there is a secondary antagonist, which is a villain, but not the main one. The secondary villain in the book is Gollum. We have mainly been focusing on the advanced but interesting vocabulary J.R.R Tolkien has used to entertain the reader and convey more meaning into the personality and habits of his characters.

Tanvika R

Maths Olympiad

The Australian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiad is a national competition that students do to extend their mathematical skills. This group has 21 students that challenge each other every Wednesday. In the Maths Olympiad, students that have great problem solving skills are chosen to do a test, then after that lessons are completed that challenge and stretch their maths knowledge and ability until the next test which is 6 weeks later. When we do the test it is exam conditions (30 mins to complete, no talking etc). In Olympiad lessons it is a different structure and our questions have multiple parts involving multiple, challenging areas of maths at the same time.

Lleyton H

History

During History this term our driving question is “How has Australia’s past shaped modern day Australia”.

Currently we are looking at a timeline of events that have affected the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout history, including after Australia became a nation.

These events include:

Pre-1788 - before the arrival of the First Fleet

1788 - the arrival of the First Fleet

The Late 1800s - when the Government implemented policies, which affected Indigenous Australians and their culture (including the Stolen Generations).

1967 - the Referendum to grant Indigenous Australians voting rights

1992 - the Mabo decision relating to Land Rights

2008 - the formal apology given by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

The class was asked to form into groups and each group created a fact file about one of these significant events. Through these fact files we can relate our learning back to our driving question.

Reuben T

Specialist Yr 6 Visual Arts

Year 6 students have been so excited to work in the specialty art classes this year. They have been learning about the street graffiti artists Keith Haring, Banksy and Maya Hayuk. They have been experimenting with different mediums including watercolour, oil pastels and lino printing ink. Their final product was created in the same style as one of these artists and the results were amazing!

Specialist Yr 6 Music

In the music classroom, Year 6 students have started learning the piano and further developing their knowledge of the concept, Pitch. This includes learning notes in the treble clef or right hand of keyboard and implementation for correct technique including finger placement. The primary focus will be to develop their sight reading skills and which will provide them the abilities to learn multiple musical pieces in future classes.

From Year 7…

Year 7 have settled in well to term 2. In just the span of three weeks they have had many opportunities for success. Week 2 saw the Year 7 debating team score their first win in the inter school debating competition where they debated about- That all new vehicles on Australian roads should be electric. Year 7’s also hit the ground running this term with the Year 7 Life design showcase where they had the opportunity to showcase their Passion Projects to Stage 3 students about what they were interested in. See pictures below for an insight into this mini expo. Year 7 have also had an exciting change in Feel Good Friday where they have been able to select what they would like to participate in as their chosen activity. Choices range from a host of sports such as dodgeball, footy, walking, and soccer to more passive and creative pursuits such as drama games, meditation and arts and crafts (see pictured). Finally, our Year 7 students are busy preparing their Student Led Conference presentations, ready for the end of term and for you to be able to see the wonderful learning growth they are making with our St Luke’s pillars. The cohort looks forward to welcoming you to this. Year 7 sure have a lot more to look forward to this term and I know they will grasp every opportunity.

Miss Chand- Year 7 Wellbeing Coordinator

CAPA - Music

In year 7 music classes, students are learning about the foundational skills of the concept pitch. The primary focus is learning how to play notes on the treble clef, which is also the right hand of the keyboard. Classes have learnt about correct finger technique and positioning. Students are also implementing their knowledge of musical note values as they are beginning to perform preliminary piano pieces from the Australian Music Examination Board. The unit also continues to implement foundation skills of clapping and performing rhythm.

Religious Education

This term in Year 7, students are exploring how moral reasoning and decision making are reliant upon an informed conscience using the driving question, “How can Faith guide us in our pursuit of truth?” For their entry event, students worked in groups of 4; each group had a printed copy of Game Board Question Cards and a board game template. They designed the game board with as many obstacles or bonuses as they wished or used the simple snakes and ladders format.

Science

To celebrate National Dinosaur Day on the 7th of May, the science labs were turned into a Jurassic Park for the week! Year 7 classes enjoyed the activities of the space and had a science lesson dedicated to classifying dinosaurs. Stage 3 joined in the fun, including a fossil dig, viewing a dinosaur hatching, exploring the different time periods of the Age of Dinosaurs the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, measuring up to life-size dinosaur thigh bones and finding out how many students “tall” a brachiosaurus is! The intrepid St Luke’s Science team thanks all students for their active engagement as we celebrated our love of dinosaurs!

From Year 8:

Students across Year 8 have recommenced Term 2 with enthusiasm and positivity, and should be commended for this. It has been a busy start to the Term with many events and extra-curricular activities starting or continuing from Term 1, including Debating, Representative Sport, Peer Companions and YCS. As shown from the below entries from our wonderful class teachers, students have been busy Creating, Inquiring, Thinking, Managing, Relating and Witnessing the Good News, through a variety of contexts and learning opportunities.

With the Winter season fast approaching, can I echo the winter uniform and attendance expectations outlined by Mrs Camilleri on Page 1 and 2 above. If your child is unwell of course, please keep them at home to ensure they can return healthy, as soon as possible.

Moving forward, another exciting and busy Term looms, and I look forward to seeing this amazing group of young men and women thrive in their daily endeavours, whilst also reaching for the stars!

Please feel free to contact me regarding any wellbeing matters related to your child. You can do this by emailing or phoning the College reception.

Mr Zaccaria- Year 8 Wellbeing Coordinator

Religious Education

This term, Year 8 students will delve into the essential role of social justice in human existence, recognising and supporting marginalised groups within their community to foster empathy and actionable solutions. They will explore the influence of prayer and scripture in promoting human solidarity and address obstacles like inequality, suffering, and injustice.

For the Entry Event, students completed a rotational session with three stations. In one station, students completed the Privilege walk This activity enabled them to realise that the opportunities and resources are not equally and equitable shared.

Mathematics - Year 8 Golf Course Project

From our students:

In Term 1, we started a project about designing a golf course. In the golf course we needed to design and create multiple holes and obstacles through the usage of mathematical formulas that we learnt throughout the term. These formulas and topics we learnt were all linked around measurement, volume and polygons. Due to being taught these topics we were able to design the golf course using these formulas and apply knowledge to solve problems.

David Pang Year 8 Teal

During late Term 1, we started a project called "The Golf Course Project". We completed multiple questions relating to concepts we learned beforehand. These concepts included Pythagoras's theorem of finding the hypotenuse, how to find the area of a circle and a sector, and how to find the circumference of a circle and the area of a cylinder. We had numerous workshops for every question, explaining the content of the question and the process of solving the problem. After we completed all 11 questions we had to create a Written Reflection which I found emphasised more on what I need to improve on and what I need to continue doing. This reflection helped me so I know what to focus on next time, I do something similar to this. Overall the project showcased my skills but also showcased what I was lacking which was great for my learning.

Nikolas Pagtakhan 8 Teal

We have been looking at solving real world problems using many formulas in Mathematics. We started by looking at the Pythagoras Theorem where we learnt how to find the unknown side for a variety of right angled triangles. After that we started to look at circles, where we learnt about the importance of pi and how it works with circles. This was new content for students so the classroom was very committed to learning. We then moved on to cylinders where we learnt about how to calculate volume using a variety of different pieces of information, such as height and circumference of the base. After all of this we were faced with a new challenge, creating a golf course. We solved many problems that were complex and included content that was reviewed in all past lessons. It was quite a tough challenge for Year 8, and we quickly picked on solving all problems of the assessment task. The project included many complex questions, such as solving for an unknown length within a cylinder when only given 2 values. We also had to find how much material was needed for hollow logs, which was quite a daunting task. This was a challenging project but we learnt a lot.

Ayaan Narang Year 8 Teal

PDHPE

In PDHPE this term, Year 8 students will be participating in a variety of athletics events including throwing (javelin, shot put, discus) and running (100m, 200m, 400m and 800m). Pictured below, students are practising their short sprints with a relay race using batons.

Students will use their learning from these workshops to inform their assessment task for this term - My Athletics Training Diary. Students will have the opportunity to focus on one event and train to improve their overall performance. This requires students to research techniques and suitable programs and then apply this theory to their practice. We hope this unit provides our students with confidence to participate in the upcoming athletics trials and to build a lifelong appreciation of physical activity.

HSIE

Year 8 this term is learning about global interconnectedness and will be investigating how we can use globalisation to make the world a better place. Students will be looking into different products and how they are made in a number of different countries. This was introduced to students by a task where they researched all of the elements that go into making the humble tennis ball. Students were surprised to learn just how global one small item can be.