School of Leadership

News from the School of Leadership      

The Home-School Partnerships

Home-school partnerships involve collaborative working relationships between families and schools. They can support students in more productive and consistent learning and growth, which in turn can improve students' interest, motivation and engagement in learning both at home and at school.

Having met with and spoken to a number of parents throughout the course of the last month, the theme of partnership has commonly arisen. SOL teachers, leaders and myself have authentically employed phrases such as “We are wanting to work together…”, “What can we do to support…”, Please keep us posted….” in the spirit of wanting to partner in supporting the young people in our care to be the best version of themselves. Thank you for your continued support and understanding as we create the conditions at school that will enable students to flourish and thrive. 

SOL Parent Learning Walk

Wednesday of Week 6 saw the School of Leadership students, teachers and leaders welcome 20 parents into the College with a view to showcasing the wonderful learning and development opportunities that are available to students in Years 5-8. Parents were greeted by SOL leaders on arrival and our SOL Student Ambassadors expertly articulated what parents could expect from their visits to the learning spaces. 

We look forward to opening up to more parents in Term 4!

Year 8 Choose Your Own Adventure!

This week, our Year 8 students have participated in National Skills Week which seeks to raise the status of vocational education and training. They will also engage in a showcase of the 21 collaborative projects that will be on offer as Year 9 and 10 courses. We must thank our teachers for the creative and exciting courses that have developed which range from St Luke’s CSI - Forensic Science to Journalism to Cake Decorating and Modern History. 

Student choice of learning area is a particularly important event in a young person’s educational journey. Indeed, in many school settings, “picking your Year 9 electives” is the very first time students have been able to exercise autonomy and discernment regarding what they would like to learn more about. I encourage parents to speak with their young people about what interests them and use this course selection opportunity as a way to get to know what interests and motivates them.

Communication with teachers 

Teachers’ primary duty of care involves the safety and support of students and the planning, delivery and assessment of learning. Teachers can often be out on professional learning, on excursion with another year group or at home unwell. Please allow 48 hours from when you leave a message via phone or email.

The richness of our learning community….

The School of Leadership articles that follow in this edition of The Net are testament to the vibrant and varied offerings available to students at St Luke’s. So far this term, students have experienced a wide array of challenges and learning, ranging from the highly enjoyed Lifted liturgies, a zoo excursion, a Writers’ Workshop with published author John Larkin, VET Skills Week, Voice of Youth finals, rich and rigorous learning in our purpose built spaces, trials for representative cricket, extra-curricular activities including E-Sports, Debating and YCS, connections with academic partners from UTS, a netball gala day and an abundance of opportunities to make and nurture friendships.

Mrs Kate Kelly - Head of School of Leadership

Being ready to learn each morning

Getting ready in the morning can be a challenge for many people. But being ready and on time has many benefits for the rest of the day and can support a successful pathway through schooling and beyond. The above infographic is a timely reminder about the consequences of not coming to school on time and how much time is actually lost when students are consistently late. We have recently introduced our late to school policy which will see students completing lunch detentions (Years 7-12) if they are late three times in a two week period without a valid reason. Sleeping in or traffic are not valid reasons. Attending the dentist, physiotherapy, or a doctor’s appointment would be a valid reason. If your child is going to be late for a valid reason, please provide a letter/note to support this otherwise your child will be placed on a detention. We want all learners in class and on time to maximise their time at school. By 8:25am, students should be in the front gates of the school, ready and seated in their classrooms by 8:30am. Arrival after this time, will constitute a late arrival to school. Thank you to parents for your ongoing support with this.

Respect

Over the past few weeks I have had to speak to the students a number of times regarding respect. Respect for self, others and the environment. It's saddening to note that of late many students have not demonstrated respect and this has resulted in classroom furniture (including doors and flyscreens) being maliciously damaged. Students are reminded to treat the school property, including classrooms with respect. This respect also needs to be shown when communicating with teachers and staff at the College. Students were reminded that if a teacher makes a reasonable request, the response should always be “Yes Sir” or “Yes Miss”. Respect will take our students miles in their lifetime and together, we can ensure maintain the high expectations we have set for our students, both at school and at home. 

Respect also needs to be demonstrated while engaging in online activities. Much time has been spent by our school leaders investigating the silly, humiliating and hurtful posts that are being shared on social media platforms such as Tik Tok and Snapchat. I encourage parents to actively supervise their children with what they are doing online, the chats they are participating in, the accounts and apps they have signed up to use and their activities in these applications. Engaged parents should mitigate the inappropriate posts that are being circulated online after school hours, on weekends and during school holidays that often spill into our classrooms and playgrounds. When this occurs, we need to respond to such situations as it directly impacts all students involved. Your support with this would be greatly appreciated.

Mrs Josephine Camilleri - Acting Assistant Principal of School of Leadership

Stage 3 Stories… 

Voice of Youth Finals

In Week 5, Stage 3 students completed their speeches for the Parramatta Diocese Voice of Youth Public Speaking Competition at a school level. 8 finalists completed their speeches on a variety of topics. The standard of the speeches was very high and congratulations goes to our overall winner Aisha and the runners up Vani and Tara. Aisha and Vani will now compete at the cluster final at John XXIII next week against the best public speakers from other schools.

Stage 3 Choir

This term, we have launched our Stage 3 Choir! After noticing a keen interest and passion for music from many students across the stage, it was apparent that an opportunity to express this beyond what is already offered through Music at St Luke’s would be highly welcomed by the students. Since the launch of the choir, the students have been spending their Monday lunch times preparing for our first performance, which will see our choir join together with the St Luke’s band for our Father’s Day Liturgy in Week 7. It has been fantastic to see students across all Stage 3 classes coming together to share their talents, and we look forward to seeing their confidence and performance skills grow as more opportunities to share their talents are provided over the remaining duration of 2022! 

- Miss Lauren Passmore

Stage 3 Maths Escape Room

To conclude our Mathematics unit on area, students who have been in Miss Passmore and Mr Stevens’ groups came together to participate in an ‘Area Escape Room’.  The scene was set with suspenseful music, a timer and dimmed classroom lights as students raced against each other and the clock to collaboratively piece together and solve a variety of area problems. The purpose behind this experience was for students to not only apply their new knowledge and skills developed through our focus on area, but to also reinforce the importance of carefully reading and unpacking the language used in mathematical questions. As teachers walked around the space, students were highly engaged, and rich discussions between groups of students were heard as they shared problem solving strategies with each other, allowing for students across varying levels of understanding to work together and learn from each other. It was also an excellent opportunity for students to further develop the capabilities and skills involved in applying our ‘relate’ pillar. A great experience for all involved, and we hope to offer another opportunity like this again in the near future. 

- Miss Lauren Passmore

UTS Sprouts Partnership 

STEM News from Stage 3

In Stage 3, our students are working in an external partnership with UTS Sprouts. They have had the opportunity to tinker with STEM resources like LEGO WeDos, Makey-Makeys, Ozobots and Sphero robots. Students are investigating how and why food and fibre are produced in sustainable, managed environments that enable people to grow and be healthy. 

Students from Stage 3 Acutis say…

We were testing out different robotics and my group and I chose makey makey. After that, we connected a USB to the Makey motherboard and connected the other side to my computer, connected more cables to some fruits and the motherboard, and then Hendrix, me, David, and Chrysjon touched the group's uneaten fruits and the keys of the piano were played. From there Hendrix and David played Mary and had a little lamb. 

Rhys Vinensig 

We were testing out different robots and me and my group had chosen makey makey and we played on the piano with fruits. David brought his banana, I brought my mandarin and Hendrix brought his pear so we can play on the piano. Hendrix played “Mary had a little lamb” on the piano to test if it works and it did.

Chrysjon Ablaza 

In the task called makey makey I put a banana, apple and pear and when we tap it, it works. 

David Ramos 

In this STEM a student from a University came to St Lukes. She told us we could use Robots and choosed Ozobots because I have used ozobots since year 1. I was drawing lines and codes for Ozobots to make them Spin, Dance and Move much Faster. I enjoy coding Ozobots and hope to learn more about other robots in the future.

Brodie Goodier 

In this science task, we are designing sustainable products for our community to create a more sustainable environment. All of us were given the choice of lego wedo, Makey Makey, sphero, etc. to develop a prototype of our vision, ideas and products. We sat in groups of 6 and assigned feedback to each other about how we could change the original product/ idea and make it better. We made a lego sculpture of things linking back to the problem we chose and created an idea map for healthy and sustainable ways to guide our environment/community. 

Katarina Pezer, Hayley Paltoo and Mrs Greening 

Mrs Ashu Aggarwal  - Pedagogy Coach and Stage 3 Coordinator

A hearty congratulations to Aisha P and Vani P from Stage 3 who represented St Luke’s at the cluster final of the Voice of Youth competition this week. The girls spoke articulately and confidently and were wonderful representatives of our community. Further congratulations to Vani who was the runner up of the competition with her speech entitled “Is Life Fair?”

From Year 7…

Sydney Zoo Excursion on Wednesday 17th of August

Year 7 had a wonderful time attending Sydney Zoo with their teachers on Wednesday the 17th of August. The students were very keen to see the Capybaras (pictured below), meerkats and the chimpanzees. 

The students had the incredible opportunity to see a female Goliath stick insect, pat a shingle back lizard and pet a children’s python. The teachers who attended the excursion were very impressed with how respectful and well behaved the students were, but more importantly, the engagement and excitement they displayed in learning about the animal kingdom by seeing God’s beautiful creatures in the flesh! One funny memory many Year 7 students will take away was at the Tasmanian Devil exhibit. One very excited student was holding her phone over the ledge, ready to snap a pic of the little devil when the phone slipped from their hands. The Tasmanian Devil took no time in snapping up the phone and running away to his burrow. The zoo keepers arrived pretty quickly and retrieved the phone. The only damage was a slightly cracked screen, a tooth indent and a photo taken by the devil himself. 

Zoo review by Natasha Noche, 7 Navy

“I really enjoyed my experience at the excursion. It was really enjoyable getting to see the real life animals in front of us and getting to know more about them while still being with our friends. I specifically liked the session that we had with one of the zoo keepers where we got to touch and see of the some animals there.”

Year 7 Archaeological Cookie Dig

To commence HSIE/ENG this term, Year 7 learnt about the role of an historian and an archaeologist before diving into the ancient world of China. After studying the working day of an archaeologist, students were immersed into the historical world by completing their own archaeological dig… on a cookie! Following each important step, students had to carefully remove the artefacts (choc chips) from their cookie dig site, and record their findings through sketch work and tallying the data. Students were surprised to learn just how carefully archaeologists have to work to remove delicate items from the earth. 

Teachers were very impressed with the focus and skill shown by students, who all proved to be excellent archaeologists in the making!

From Year 8…

Games a Thon

Year 8 were super excited for the Games A Thon hosted at the end of Week 4 by Mr Ng. This opportunity provided students the chance to connect with their peers in a safe and fun environment. The students demonstrated engagement, participation and school spirit with such vigour! The students are extremely grateful to all staff involved in making this day happen for them. Some activities on the day included bottle flipping, minute to win it challengers, wolf in the hut, scissors paper rock challenge, human knots, speedball, egg and spoon relays and dodgeball among many other activities. 

Y8 St Luke’s Lifted!

Students in Stage 4 participated in the St Luke’s Lifted event today. This was an opportunity to celebrate their faith in a concert style event hosted and run by Iron and Clay. The students were highly engaged and have used this experience to deepen their understanding of the connection between faith and music. Thanks to Mrs Cuneen for organising this event for us!

Year 8 HSIE:

Year 8 have been exploring historical sources in order to explore how Medieval society has impacted our modern world. Students have been learning to ask inquiring questions that help them analyse and evaluate the value and limitations of historical sources. Below students were asked to examine sections of the Bayeux Tapestry and collaborate to piece together the sequence of events. This facilitated a deeper understanding of the source in order to evaluate how valuable it is to historians in understanding Medieval times. 

Extra-curricular

Debating Cup

St Luke’s is excited to be hosting its inaugural debating cup! Here at St Luke’s we don’t just debate for competition’s sake. Instead, debating at St Luke’s is used to enhance critical thinking, oratory skills, research ability, teamwork, and the work it takes to pursue your possibilities. Even more energising and unique about this competition is that Year 5 and 6 students are also able to participate as we run a School of Leadership and a School of Entrepreneurs stream of the competition. Our first session kicked off in Week 4 of this term with a training session and it was amazing to see all the year groups mixing together and the confidence and enthusiasm our students displayed during each of the activities. All the best to each of the teams competing.

E-Sports Tournament 

Students in Years 7-10 at St Luke’s have had the exciting opportunity to join the first ever E Sports club and competition run through the school. This year we are focusing on Rocket League and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. The club is designed to enhance a passion that is so prominent in the lives of our students that is already seeing students represent the school. Students are participating in the Australian Esports League (AEL) National Esports competition for Australian High Schools. 

After our first round of tournaments last Saturday, students currently competing in Rocket League are Astin Willams (Y7), Alastair Mathew(Y8), Rishit Arora (Y8), Kuldeep Tallam (Y8), Jordan Johns (Y8), Aryan Pourhydar(Y8) and Cooper Malouf (Y8). Smash Bros competitors include Jayke Jota (Y10), Brent Bernardo (Y10), Ryan Burns (Y9) and Jackson Malouf (Y10). We have had 1 team win their round of Rocket League and in Smash Bros there are two players currently ranked 3rd, one 5th and one 6th. The students have already shown such synergy and commitment to the competition and the sport overall.  

YCS

YCS has been filled with extraordinary moments of problem-solving and collaboration to ensure we can contribute to making our world a better place. Throughout term 3, this has occurred through separating into smaller groups in order to focus on more problems that we are passionate about including the impending issues of body image, cultural connections, gender stereotypes and environmental issues. Within these groups we were given the opportunity to explore our issues further, utilizing the See, Judge and Act criteria in order to better understand all aspects of our chosen matter. This means that we examine the issue, judge it in alignment to Catholicism or religions most in correlation to us, use that information to assess how we want this issue to look instead, and locate a solution to contribute to this. YCS has also allowed students to further develop skills such as communicating ideas thoroughly, formulating meaningful friendships, whilst also supporting our St Luke’s community. We look forward to envisioning the future of YCS and seeing how we as young, innovative problem solvers can make a difference in a rapidly changing world. 

• Written by Lara Derjani (Year 9 YCS Leader)

YCS students also farewelled their Parramatta YCS liaison Valentina on Monday as she concludes her time with YCS. We are grateful for her support in developing us on our YCS journey. 

Book Week - Author Visit by John Larkin

In celebration of Book Week, School of Leadership students were excited to meet award-winning author, John Larkin.  John is an accomplished author, having published approximately 35 books.  Two of his most recent books were awarded The Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, The Queensland Literary Award, and both were short-listed for the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction.

John shared his expertise with the participating students and explored various writing techniques that are guaranteed to engage readers, and explained that the small events that occur during our daily lives provide the greatest material for potential storylines. All students had the opportunity to experiment with the techniques and to share their creative flair with their peers. 

John and the students had a wonderful time. Students who wish to purchase John’s current book, Zombies v The Illuminati need to return their order form to the office by Wednesday, Week 7.