Icons depict women of faith

An ancient and enduring art form has captured the strength of women of scripture, through the work of Catherine Sandric—the College's Religious Education Learning Area Coordinator and iconographer.

Catherine's collection, Her Dignity, featured 12 contemporary religious icons in an exhibition earlier this year, which placed women in the foreground to emphasise their resilience and strength in the face of adversity or challenge.

The College congratulates Catherine on this wonderful showcase of artworks that hold uplifting narratives for all.

Catherine's artworks are shared in private collections, as well as at Calvary Hospital Chapel and in Jireh House.

This article appeared in the latest issue of The Catholic Standard, published on 22 August 2021, and online here.

Debaters battle it out in finals

We were very excited for Year 9 debaters, Zyla Williams, Grace Cox, Davina Cox and Adalia Hauler, and Year 12 debaters, Alyssa Lee, Isabella Cox, Miranda Guy and Emily Keane, who entered into the grand final of the Tasmanian Debating Union competition on Wednesday 18 August.

The Year 9s argued, 'That we should abolish the Australian state system' and the Year 12s defended, 'That the media should be able to publish details of politicians' personal lives'.

While both teams finished runners-up after going down narrowly to very experienced—and fiercely competitive—teams from St Michael's Collegiate, we were so proud of their dedication, team work and skill throughout the season.

This was the Year 12s' final debate and we thank them for their contribution to building the success of debating at St Mary's College through their enthusiasm and mentoring of the younger student teams.

Isabella Cox (Year 12) will be particularly missed by the Year 8 debating team. Isabella has coached the Year 8s superbly for the past two years. Thank you, too, to the parents who have shown their support by attending the debates (on many cold Wednesday evenings) over the years.

Debating requires students to listen carefully to different perspectives, research a range of challenging global and national issues in diverse political, economic and social fields, as well as collaborate as a team to construct a case. These are essential skills needed to be an active citizen who can respectfully and logically develop solutions to the issues facing our world.

Thank you to the staff, parents and carers who came to cheer on our students on the night. Your interest and encouragement throughout the season has been invaluable.

Gillian Goldsworthy – Debating Coordinator

Book Week 2021

The English Department and the SRC were thrilled to celebrate an action-packed Book Week last week.

The week started with a visit from ABC rural reporter David Barnott-Clement. David ran a writing workshop for students interested in the ABC Heywire Competition and worked with them to craft a personal story about something that they are passionate about.

St Mary’s College is proud to be the ABC Tasmanian Story Writing School for 2021 and we hope this year we will continue to contribute to this wonderful competition.

On Wednesday our annual Book Week parade took place. This involved a record number of Senior School teachers and students dressed as their favourite characters.

Prizes for the best teachers’ costumes went to the Lantern Team for their incredible Wizard of Oz outfits and Mrs Paske as a character from The Giver.

The Lorax team won the group prize and Phoebe Teale (Year 12) won the best individual costume for her wonderful Bob the Builder costume.

The Senior School also had the pleasure of reading to students in the Junior School in our annual 'Drop Everything and Read' morning.

Visit our online gallery here for more Book Week parade photos.

The annual staff versus student Book Week Debate took place on Thursday with the highly contested topic of 'Controversial novels should not be taught in schools'. The students, on the affirmative team, narrowly defeated the teachers.

Thank you to teachers Mr Clarke, Ms Goldsworthy, Ms Fraser, Ms Butler, Mr Del Pio and Mr Clinton and congratulations to students Emily Keane, Miranda Guy, Alyssa Lee, Ava McCoull (Year 12), Grace Cox (Year 9) and Sophie Raudino (Year 8).

Our final event for Book Week was the inaugural Slam Poetry Competition where students were given the opportunity to write and perform their own poetry. The competition was won by Miranda Guy (Year 12) and Lily Ransley (Year 11).

Thank you to all students and teachers who shared their original poems, and to the wonderful audience who attended the event.

A number of students have also entered the SMC Writing Competition and Pet Reading Competition, and the winners of these completions will be announced shortly.

Thank you to everyone who made Book Week an eventful and enjoyable week.

Lorise Clark

Learning Area Coordinator – English

Visual artists kick up their heels

This term we welcomed Joanna Boyd to the Art Department.

Jo comes to us from Dominic College and will be teaching Year 7 and 8 Visual Arts, as well as Year 9 New Media Arts.

We are very excited for this opportunity to work with Jo and have already began creating fantastic works in Year 7 Visual Arts.

Thank you, Jo for the fun and laughter that you bring to the Art Studio.

Featured below are some of the girls working on their Pop Art inspired shoe sculptures.

Sarah Adams

Learning Area Coordinator – Visual Arts

Festival of Bright Ideas

Well done to the girls who helped out at the Festival of Bright Ideas on Friday 27 August and worked on the Science Teachers' Association Stand.

Senior students, Caitlin Marr and Eve Tsolakidis (Year 11) spent the morning promoting the value of science investigations to fellow Senior students.

Our Year 9 and 10 student volunteers—Jess Ransley, Ruby Cox, Isabelle Hoggett, Anna Fracalossi, Grace Cox, Lauren Shelton and Kasota Clayton—took on the brave job of teaching groups of primary school students through a series of hands-on science experiments.

They explained the pH scale and its value in everyday life, how to separate a mixture, density columns and why reactions happen faster in hot water than in cold water.

Karen Walter

Learning Area Coordinator – Science

Aspiring chefs treated to seafood cooking workshop

Year 10 Food and Technology students were honoured to host a visit from Eloise Emmett yesterday in our VET kitchen.

An award-winning Tasmanian chef, author, food photographer and SMC parent, Eloise presented a live cooking demonstration with a focus on mouth-watering seafood and fresh, local ingredients.

Among the delicious gourmet dishes prepared were oysters, baked fish, grilled octopus, fish chowder and seafood laksa, which students had the chance to sample—yum!

Thank you, Eloise for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your culinary skills and knowledge with us.

Read&Write software

The College has recently renewed its whole-school licence for the Read&Write software.

The software supports students with dyslexia and those who need help with reading, writing and spelling. It gives students access to a suite of reading support tools, giving them a choice in how they access and engage with content.

You can read more about the features and benefits of the Read&Write software here.

To download and install the software, please use the following links:

Read&Write for Windows: Student Take-Home Installation (Windows)

Read&Write for Mac: Student Take-Home Installation (Mac)

Read&Write for iPad: Student Take-Home Installation (iPad)

Read&Write Learning & User Resources (a link for all different platforms)

Once installed, be sure to sign in using Microsoft. Students need to use their school email and password to access the software.

If you have any questions, please contact Dee Spaulding, Learning Support Coordinator, Senior School, dlspaulding@smc.tas.edu.au

College life in pictures

Happy snaps from the past fortnight!

Year 4 explore Festival of Bright Ideas