St Pius X College Newsletter

Department News

Year 9 French students marked the start of the Lenten season this year by making their own crêpes on Shrove Tuesday

  • Geography:  Year 12 Fieldtrip
  • Languages:  Year 9 - La Cuisine Française
  • Performing Arts
  • Science:  Opportunity for Years 11 & 12 students
  • Visual Arts:  

Geography

Year 12 Fieldtrip

Our Year 12 Geographers examined Ecosystems at Risk at North Narrabeen and Careel Bay (Avalon) last Monday.  Geography in action!!

Mr M  Pawlak - Geography teacher

Languages

La Cuisine Française

Year 9 French students marked the start of the Lenten season this year by making their own crêpes on Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras as it is called in French. Mardi Gras, which literally translates as “Fat Tuesday” is an important date on the Catholic calendar in French-speaking communities. Families typically come together to enjoy a feast, prior to the 40 day period of fasting during Lent. French towns and cities host celebrations of street parades, complete with colourful costumes and live music. It is a time when the community comes together to join in the festivities.

Our 10 Year 9 French students worked together in teams, putting both their culinary and French literacy skills to the test to follow an authentic French recipe and whip up their own delicious traditional treats from scratch. As a way of incorporating technology into the activity, each team also appointed a cameraman to film the steps involved the procedure. The boys later enjoyed their own creations with lemon and sugar (le citron et le sucre) and Nutella.  They have since been hard at work in the editing room, adding the finishing touches to their videos of background French music and voiceovers of each team member giving the step-by-step instructions in French of how to create delicious crêpes! We look forward to seeing the finished products soon.

Mrs S McCormack - French Teacher

Performing Arts

YEARS 7 & 8 CLASSROOM GUITAR

 

During the last week students in Years 7 and 8 have enthusiastically started guitar lessons as part of the Stage 4 Music program. As well as learning to play, the boys will also be composing and writing their own music for guitar.

 

This exciting addition to the Stage 4 curriculum was made possible through the financial support of the Performing Arts Parents Association and we would again like to sincerely acknowledge and thank them for this.

Students and parents are reminded that the signed guitar contract must be returned no later than the end of this week. Without a signed contract students will be unable to continue participating in these lessons.

DRAMA ENSEMBLES

There has been a great deal of interest in both the Junior and Senior Drama ensembles. The Junior ensemble is now full but there are still some places left in the Senior group (Years 9 – 12). Interested students should speak with Ms Lindley.

 

MEET THE MUSIC CONCERT

Elective Music students in Years 9, 10, 11 and 12 will attend the first concert for the year tomorrow night at the Opera House. Years 10, 11 and 12 students should be in their seats no later than 6.15pm and Year 9 students should meet Ms Waters at the Box Office at 6.00pm. The concert will conclude at 8.00pm. A note was sent home at the start of term with all the details.

 

COLLEGE ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP

This workshop will take place on Sunday 11th March in the Band Room. Senior Strings will rehearse from 10.30 – 11.30am and the full Orchestra from 11.30am – 1.00pm.

 

OPEN DAY

A note has been emailed home to the parents of students who will be participating in Music and Drama performances at the College Open day on Saturday 17th March.

Ms T Bates - Performing Arts Coordinator

Science

Science Opportunity for students in Years 11 and 12

Cochlear Autumn School of Engineering (CASE) brings together 50 Year 11 and Year 12 students from Sydney, each with a desire to pursue Engineering as their future career.  CASE will run from Monday 16 April to Thursday 19 April 2018.

Engineers Australia Sydney Division has designed the program to give students an insight and maximum exposure to the diverse range of available engineering careers.  Students who are selected to take part in CASE will be involved in a series of activities including industry site visits.  They will also experience first-hand life at University by visiting key universities within Sydney throughout the week.

The cost to attend CASE is $285.00.  Brochures are downloadable under School Programs on the Engineers Australia website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/About-Us/Divisions/Sydney .

Applications will be accepted on a “first in, first served” basis so it is recommended that any interested students endeavour to get their application in quickly.

If you have any questions about the Cochlear Autumn School of Engineering, please contact Natalia Kontsevaya on nswregistration@engineersaustralia.org.au .

Ms J Black - Science Coordinator

Visual Arts

OUT AND ABOUT!

Year 12 students enjoyed the Rembrandt and the Dutch golden age and Art Express exhibitions last week while Year 9 Photographic and Digital Media students made the most of a great opportunity working with professional photographers from Canon on Thursday. The Canon Team supplied cameras, gave valuable instruction on their operations and fresh ideas for shooting interesting and well composed shots as students made their way around Milsons Point.

Competitions are surfacing for the year.

Mr M Anderson - Visual Arts Coordinator