News from the School of Entrepreneurs

From the SOE Head of School

Greetings to all,

In this edition there are many things to celebrate particularly for our Year 12 students and the pathway to success that some of our Alumni are journeying.

Recently four of our Alumni students from the Class of 2023 visited to impart some of their learnings from their HSC experience to our current Year 12 cohort. They spoke frankly about the following areas:

how they organised their study schedule throughout the year and the power of following a daily and weekly plan
practising past papers and extending themselves beyond what they were comfortable with
balancing study and personal life
effectively utilising the time allocated at school in the day to lessen the load at home
techniques used to balance schoolwork with extra curricular activities and personal time
how they overcame procrastination and what worked for them to keep them motivated
just getting it done!!
how perfectionism can influence one’s procrastination and being cognisant of this
note taking techniques that worked and how group study sessions are rich learning opportunities if structured and outlined by learning goals
methods used to manage their stress during the HSC year

Some of the mindset approaches they employed to prepare for the HSC examinations include:

not limiting your goals solely for an ATAR or HSC, rather focusing on the big picture and your biggest aspiration
the power of networking is key to getting your name out there in your desired field
the ATAR is not everything, but it is worthwhile putting everything you can into it to fast track your future direction. It’s up to each individual student
remain determined and be deliberate and intentional about how you apply yourself
find the discipline to tackle the gaps you recognise you have in your knowledge and understanding to challenge yourself

This is some great advice for our students in School of Entrepreneurs to heed and we thank Bogdan, Bella, Jaismeen and Natalia for returning to St Luke’s to shed light on their HSC experience. We are so proud of them all and wish them all the best in their career prospects.

As we move into this holiday period, these sentiments are important for all our students from our Year 12 and Year 10 HSC students who will be doing their Trial HSC examinations early in Term 3, Year 11 students who will be completing their Preliminary examinations at the end of Term 3, Year 10 students who are participating in post school option programs to get a taste of their career pathway and Year 9 students who are preparing for their Future Anything presentations. My message to students in the School of Entrepreneurs is:

As you reach the culmination of your academic journey whatever year that may be, remember that every challenge conquered and lesson learned has shaped the resilient person you are today. Strive to be the best version of yourself, embracing every opportunity to grow and excel. Trust in your abilities and let your strengths and passion guide you toward a future where your dreams unfold into remarkable achievements.

I wish our students and families a safe holiday period and look forward to welcoming you all back in Term 3.

Ms Jacqui Genovese - Head of School, School of Entrepreneurs

AROUND THE SOE GROUNDS

Welcome back Class of 2023! Today St Luke's Catholic College welcomed back our alumni Bogdan, Bella, Jaismeen, and Natalia to speak to our current Year 12 cohort. Our alumni shared their strategies and insights on HSC preparation, study tips, stress management and provided reflection and advice to our students. We were happy to hear that Bogdan is studying a Bach of Advanced Studies (Biochemistry and Molecular biology) and majoring in Mathematics at USYD, Bella is studying a Bach of Civil Engineering and Architecture at UNSW, Jaismeen is studying a Bach of Engineering with a major in Pharmacology at USYD and Natalia is studying a Bachelor of Nursing at WSU. Congratulations to our alumni! St Luke's is so proud of their accomplishments!

ACU Step Up into Uni Graduation

Congratulations to Mikayla, Maria, Aahan, Arjun, Rochelle, Althea, Simonedeep and Lanna who graduated from the Australian Catholic University Uni Step Up program. Our students completed university study over the school holidays and completed two university units in either Nursing and Midwifery, Business, Criminology or Exercise and Sport Sciences. Our students have attained an Early Offer to study a bachelor’s degree at ACU in 2025.

WSU Leadership in Complexity

Maxine, Maria, Mikayla, Chloe, Mehar, Peaches and Aadit have been offered early admission to Western Sydney University for 2025. These hardworking, diligent Year 12 students completed the Leadership in Complexity course during the summer break and have now secured their spots at WSU. Congratulations! *(Peaches and Aadit were not pictured in the announcement).

Westmead Hospital Visit

St Luke's Catholic College students participated in the Nursing, Midwifery, Medicine and Allied Health Careers Day at Westmead Hospital. Students had the opportunity to hear from nurses, midwives, doctors, physiotherapists, dietitians, social workers, infectious disease experts and oral health professionals and explore the many professions that make the hospital ecosystem work efficiently. Our students are eager to pursue future study and help people achieve their optimal health.

Together with other CSPD schools, St Luke's Catholic College students participated in the Pasifika Achievement to Higher Education (PATHE) Leadership Day hosted by Western Sydney University. PATHE looks to empower Pacific communities to aspire to further education and training with options to develop and gain new skills and knowledge. PATHE aims to give Pasifika people greater opportunities across life and strives to encourage students to recognise the potential within. Thank you to CSPD and PATHE leading this inspirational day of learning, collaborating and belonging.

Science

Year 9 Science

Year 9 have been applying their knowledge of Earthquakes and earthquake resistant architecture to work collaboratively to build their own building. They have been challenged to build a tower exceeding 60cms in height that is designed to withstand an earthquake. Applying their secondary source research skills and their engineering they have begun construction and testing.

Year 11 Biology

Year 11 Biology students attended an excursion to Penrith Lakes as part of their field work depth study. They explored human impacts and the changing ecosystem over the years since settlement. Students carried out first hand testing of the abiotic and biotic factors to determine the health of the ecosystem at the lakes.

HSIE

Year 9 Law Business and Money

In Year 9 Law, Business & Money, students had the pleasure of attending workshops presented by the Talk Money Organisation. Students attended two workshops that focused on the different ways to earn money, their rights as an employee, how to deal with difficult situations at work as well as how tax and superannuation funds work.

Students gained a deep understanding of life in the workforce and how they can maximise their earnings, for when they start working part time as a student and when they finish their studies. This was a great way to start conversations on the career paths that our students are considering post school. We are excited to see our students continue to strive for success!

Mrs. Pepper and Mr. Jenkins

Year 11 & 12 Legal Studies

On 20th June Year 11 and 12 Legal Studies students had the pleasure of visiting NSW Parliament House. Our students started their day with an education session where they learned about the Westminster system of government and how it works in practice in the NSW Parliament, the process of making legislation as well as the role of members of parliament and parliamentary committees. During this time our students were lucky enough to have a surprise guest meet them, our local member, member of the Legislative Assembly, Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Early learning and Minister for Western Sydney The Hon. Prue CAR, MP. The Hon. Prue Car shared with our students how she has obtained her multiple roles in parliament and the pathways she undertook during her studies to get there. Our students also had the privilege of viewing the chambers from the public galleries to watch question time in the Legislative Assembly. This was a great opportunity to see Politicians in action during Question Time, excitingly, our students were able to see our Premier The Hon. Chris Minns, MP in action discussing the 2024/25 State Budget that was recently released.

Mrs. Pepper, Mrs. Campanale and Mr. Issa

CAPA NEWS

Our Year 12 Drama students have been giving it their all, putting in countless hours to perfect their HSC performances. Their passion and dedication shine through in every rehearsal, bringing their characters and stories to life with incredible skill. Our Year 12 Visual Art students have also been deeply immersed in their creative journeys, carefully crafting their body of work. Each piece highlights their unique perspectives and artistic talents, showing just how much they've grown and dedicated themselves. We wish our students all the best as they work to complete these major projects.

Students from across the school have been developing their routine for Bring it On with great enthusiasm. It's inspiring to see them collaborate and refine their performances. Their hard work and creativity are truly impressive, making us proud of their achievements and excited for what's to come.

A special thank you to Mrs. Smith, Ms. Murdocca, Mr. Jenkins, and Mr. Erceg for their incredible help in preparing our students for these activities. Your dedication and support have helped our students progress immensely.

Maths

Year 11 Extension Mathematics

The Year 11 Extension 1 class had their investigative assessment task this week. The focus was on ‘Further Work With Functions’. The topic involves learning how to model real world situations using appropriate functions and their graphs. Students were required to use DESMOS graphing software to investigate and answer questions regarding complex graphs. They were then asked to prove their findings algebraically, or otherwise, by making the appropriate mathematical connections to each part of the topic. The students were excited to be able to use the graphing software during the task, which definitely increased their motivation to do well in this assessment. Mr Miller is looking forward to marking the task and wishes the students all the best when receiving their results.

ENGLISH

Year 11 ADVANCED ENGLISH

Yr 11 Advanced English

7 th June Excursion to The Seymour Centre for an Othello Symposium.

Our Yr 11 advanced classes attended a symposium based on Shakespeare’s play, Othello. A symposium is a half-lecture/half-live theatre performance analysis of a play.

The acting company responsible for the live performance, Sport for Jove, have, in the past, presented other memorable symposiums on Hamlet, Macbeth and The Crucible.

Our students were treated to an excellent presentation headed by Sport for Jove’s

Director, Damien Ryan. Damien analysed the play’s characters, themes and motifs and then seamlessly turned into the play’s villain, Iago, as he and his 7-strong cast performed important scenes from the play.

Some of our students also participated in a short live performance workshop.

We were part of a 700-strong crowd, comprised of several schools from around Sydney.

The acting was energetic and engaging, but more importantly, our students could

now hear and see how the characters from Shakespeare’s text speak, move and

behave. They ceased being on the page and became real, breathing humans with all

their foibles and idiosyncrasies. We experienced Iago’s scheming, his deep-rooted

jealousies, Othello’s heart-breaking trust in a villainous right-hand man,

Desdemona’s undying love, Emilia’s honesty, Roderigo’s manipulation at the hands

of Iago, and ultimately the tragedy of an unwanted man having to deal with racist

slurs, selfish wingmen, lies and betrayal.

The play is a tragedy, but the excursion was not.

It was a fun day where all the students and staff involved enjoyed the performance,

the analysis and the bus ride to and from the city.

Mr Alvarado and Mr Belista.

PDHPE

Year 10 PDHPE

How can we design and implement an engaging training session that effectively enhances primary school students' skills and promotes health through game-sensed activities?

Year 10 PDHPE students were required to create a training session for primary aged students (Year 3 - Year 6). The aim of the program was to promote lifelong physical activity. The group selected two or more skills and/or health related components that formed the basis of a training session.

Our Year 4, 5, and 6 students had fun while being involved in worthwhile activities that improved their skills and health. Year 10 students had the term to plan for this session along with being educated about health and skill related components and were taught how to incorporate that into a skill and game sense approach. They did extremely well putting all this together.

TAS

Year 11 HSC Design and Technology

Year 11 Design and Technology HSC have prepared their Major Works for one last thorough feedback session before students refine and polish their 80 page portfolio and their Realisation of their idea that they have worked on since Term 4 last year.

Year 12 Software Design and Development

Year 12 Software Design and Development Students have completed their Software Package Project, where they had to program their own application to meet a specific need. The images show the results of some of the projects, also displaying the hundreds of lines of code that students wrote in order to make their idea come to life.

Life Design

Year 9 students have spent the last term learning about social enterprises and how they can, along with the support and resources of Future Anything, create their own social enterprise (or business) which aims to pitch an innovative, sustainable and scalable business idea to make the world a better place.

Students will be pitching their ideas big and small to their Year 8 audience hoping to inspire, educate and entertain them with the multitude of ways a social enterprise can make a big difference in our world.

Bring it On

Mrs Atkins and Mr Jenkins, along with the Bring it On dance leadership team, visited the Ignite Food Store, run by Jesuit Social Services. Students met with key workers and volunteers of the initiative, gaining a deeper insight on their impact towards the local community.

Students captured key footage of the store to create a video that brings awareness to the stores' initiative, which is a key component of the school's participation in the Bring it On dance competition's mission of "Empowering the youth to become global leaders."

St Luke's Catholic College works closely with Jesuit Social Services, providing goods to the Ignite Food Store each year. It was great for the students to see how their involvement through the school impacts those who are less fortunate.

Esports

This term, students across 7-12 competed in the Australian Esports Leagues’ High School Cup. Students played against not only each other, but also other students across both New South Wales and Australia in the Super Smash Bros competition.

St Luke’s Catholic College’s two-time defending Champion Brent B (also known as Ramen) once again was defending his position as the top player in Australia. While he did not win the gold this term, his tremendous efforts still placed him on the podium, placing second in all of Australia.

Special mentions to Vaughn B (vbagels), Dennis N (something) and Gurlal S (Gurlal) for their efforts in the Super Smash Bros competition this term as well.

The Net

Term 2, Week 9 2024

Issue 5 · 28 Jun 2024

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