Department News

• Robotics
• Commerce
• Visual Arts
• Performing Arts
• Debating
• Senior Resource Centre

Robotics

RoboCup – State Competition

On Friday and Saturday, 8 St Pius X College teams competed in the RoboCup State competition held at UNSW. As the interest in STEM continues to grow in our schools to meet the demands of the future, so has the quality of the teams that compete in these competitions. Many more teams competed this year and the competition was fierce.

Our star Opens Soccer team, “Timeless” was ranked in first place prior to the playoffs. Unfortunately, their robot was “taken out” by a rogue robot that was yellow carded then lost its wheels. This team then forfeited the competition. The damage was done and Timeless finished in 4th place.

Congratulations must go to the following teams:

3rd Place in Gen II Soccer               The Terminators

2nd Place in Opens soccer             Jeager

4th Place in Opens Soccer              Timeless

Thank you to Mr ten Seldam for his time, patience and experience with his assistance for this event.  

Mr P de Silva - Convenor

Commerce 

MARKET DAY

Market Day 1 was so fantastic that we are going to do it all again next week on Wednesday 7th September!

Yesterday’s Market Day conducted by Ms Dempsey’s, Mr Spies’ and Ms Colefax’s Commerce classes was a great success. The College was full of positive energy and activity as the boys were busy selling their goods to some very hungry customers. The Year 9 students saw firsthand yesterday the practical side of running their own business. They saw their business plans and hard work come to life. This term, students have been learning the fundamentals of running a business. Everything from negotiating with suppliers, organising their human resource skills, drawing up floor plans, creating advertisements and working with regulatory bodies. On the day itself, Commerce pupils learnt that running a business can be stressful, fun and rewarding.

Next week’s  Market Day will be held again with two different Commerce classes. There will be a variety of varied stalls on offer from yesterday’s Market Day including chicken nuggets and chips, thin beef sausages with bacon and eggs, honey soy chicken kebabs with pita bread, fairy floss and toffees, nachos, lamb kebabs, delicious gourmet cakes, doughnuts and cupcakes as well pizza, hot dogs, pancakes, lollies, hamburgers and spiders.

All students and staff are encouraged to support our Year 9 Commerce businesses next week as we do Market Day all over again!

Keep tuned for the final report in Woodchatta in two weeks’ time for Market Day 2016.

Ms Melissa Colefax – Year 9 Commerce teacher

Visual Arts

Splinters, Splashes, Sounds & Stage 2016 showcasing HSC works in Industrial Technology, Art, Music and Drama will be on at the College from Thursday 1st September from 6:00pm to 8:00pm with music performances commencing at 6.30pm. Artworks can still be viewed on the Friday to coincide with the Twilight Concert.

Mr M Anderson - Visual Arts Coordinator

Performing Arts

SPLINTERS, SPLASHES, STAGE AND SOUND

This showcase of Year 12 HSC major works is on TOMORROW NIGHT. All Year 12 HSC Music students will be performing works from their program and there will be selected individual performances from the Year 12 Drama class, commencing at 6.30pm in the Band Room. There will also be a special presentation to the Year 12 Drama students from the PAPA.

TWILIGHT CONCERT

The second Twilight Concert for the year will take place THIS FRIDAY, commencing at 5.00pm in the Junior School yard (gymnasium if the weather is inclement). All major ensembles (with the exception of the Guitar Ensembles) will be performing and there will be a special presentation to all Year 12 Music students from the PAPA. There will also be a Father’s Day raffle with some amazing prizes!

CONCERT AND JAZZ BAND AUDITIONS

There are currently limited places available in the Intermediate Concert and Jazz Bands. A full list of vacancies is on the Performing Arts Noticeboard. Students who are interested in auditioning on Friday 9th September should see Ms Bates in the Performing Arts Staffroom to register their interest and obtain a Music Pass.

AMEB EXAMINATION RESULTS

Congratulations to Ronan Apcar (Year 10) on attaining Honours in his recent Grade 8 Piano Examination. This is a remarkable achievement and shows the extremely high calibre of Ronan’s skill and ability.

Ms T Bates - Performing Arts Coordinator

CSDA Debating

Last Friday Ms Sumner presented the Year 12 Debating CSDA Grand Final winners to the school assembly.  Her comments can be found in the document below.

Ms M Waterson - Debating & Public Speaking Convenor

SDN Debating

Last Friday night St Pius X debated Abbotsleigh.  Our Year 7 debaters were successful on the night. The rest of our teams had a lot of fun and are building their SDN debating skills.

This Friday we are debating against SCEGGS Redlands.  Student will be at debate training until 4pm and then we will board our bus to SCEGGS and continue training once we arrive at SCEGGS. 

Debate times as follows:

Primary / Year 7 / Year 8:  5:30 pm Prep for 6:30 pm Debate can be collected at approximately 7.15pm 

Year 9 / Year 10 / Year 11/ Year 12:  6:30 pm Prep for 7:30 pm Debate can be collected at approximately 8.15pm

All students need to be collected after their debates from SCEGGS.  Details below:

Venue Information:

• Debating is held in the R Block (Roseby Building) on the Senior Campus on Military Rd, Cremorne.
• The meeting point/topic distribution area is the Liggins Quadrangle in the centre of the school.
• This can be easily accessed from either the Military Road gates or the Gerard Street gates.

Parking and site access information:

• On-site parking is not available at Redlands. The most accessible streets to park in are those behind Gerard Street, near St Peter’s Church.
• School buses can stand on Military Rd temporarily while students alight.
• Students, coaches or adjudicators travelling by bus to Redlands should enter the campus via the Military Rd entrance.

Ms M Waterson - Debating & Public Speaking Convenor

Senior Resource Centre

FEEDING CREATIVITY

Years 5, 6, 8 and 9 discovered that author, Tristan Bancks is a very funny guy. Everyone laughed as he read from his books, spoke of his life and when he unveiled his ‘art of writing’.

Tristan began writing in Primary school, with his Year 3 teacher, Mrs Bannister. Mrs Bannister set a daily task to write for 5 minutes in their “Anything Goes” workbook. A regime he continues to this day.

For Bancks, creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum, he says you need to ‘feed it’. He demonstrated how he uses to technology to do this:

• he uses a song playlist on itunes, to get into the mood of the story
• and as a stimulus for character and setting, he creates a                                                     visual pastiche www.storyscrapbook.com,

He also shared with students his 5 Top Writing tips:

1. Read great books
2. Mash truth and fiction. Use your own life, then add imagination
3. Get outside
4. Use technology to gather pics, music, video, voice memos
5. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite and then share your stories with the world!

Like all writers, Tristan is hoping his latest novel, Two Wolves will be made into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg!  But, in the meantime he’s gone back home to the Byron Bay hinterland to write but he has left St Pius X College students inspired to read and write.

Webb’s star shines - thanks to a stellar line-up.  Toby Davidson (Macquarie University, editor of Webb’s Collected Poems) led this year’s Poetry Out Loud celebrating the poetry of Francis Webb (ex-Collegian, circa 1938).  Our own Jack Moran of Year 10 was in the line-up as contemporary poets and academics read and related to Webb’s poems. The line-up included: 

• Professor Michael Griffith (Australian Catholic University) - Webb's biographer and lecturer on Spirituality in Webb’s poetry as part of Australian Literature course
• David Musgrave (University of Newcastle) - poet and scholar
• Melinda Smith - poet, winner of the 2014 Prime Minister's Award for Poetry
• Mark Reid – poet
• Kate Middleton - poet

Webb is referred to as a ‘poets’ poet’ as his poetry is technically perfect. Kate Middleton said she admired Webb’s ‘searchingness, seriousness, ambitiousness and luminosity’. Mark Read deliberated on the neglect of Webb in view of his talent, saying it was an ‘indication of the state of culture in Australia’.

Melinda Smith read Webb’s ‘Five Days Old’ and her own poem, ‘Given’ which includes lines from Webb’s poem. Webb’s poem is breathtaking as it marvels at new life while Smith’s poem is jolted by post-natal depression. Toby Davidson lamented that Webb is often accused of being dense and demanding and so read ‘Black Cockatoos’ to show Webb’s accessible-side.

Our fellow St Pius X College poet Jack Moran read ‘For My Grandfather’ - like Webb, he too, has spent hours with his grandfather sailing around Sydney Harbour. Jack’s reading drew on his experience to bring a touching reality to the poem. Webb’s poem imagines moments of this sailing experience imbued with memories of his grandfather and their relationship. For Jack, Poetry Out Loud provided an insight into the depth of Australian poetry both past and present and the inspiration to “definitely read more Webb”.

Ms K Keighery - Senior Teacher Librarian