Parent & Student Matters  

What's happening in the College? 

• College Open Day Saturday 16 March
• Summer Sports Photos - Wednesday 20 March
• Year 10 Reflection Day
• Year 8 Camp
• International Pi Day - Thursday 14 March 2019
• Chess News
• Premier's Reading Challenge
• Science:  National Youth Science Forum 202
• Public Speaking & Debating Information
• 283 Bus to Belrose
• Holy Family Lindfield Art Show & Fair this weekend

College Open Day Saturday 16 March

Please click on the flyer below for details.

Mrs Christine Jennings and Mrs Melissa King - Registrars

Summer Sports Photos - Wednesday 20 March

The running order for the Summer Sports photos to be taken on Wednesday 20 March, starting at 9.00am in the Junior School Yard is attached below.

Year 10 Reflection Day

Our Year 10 students participated in a very successful Reflection Day last Friday at Oxford Falls.  The theme for the day was ‘New Beginnings’.

A highlight of the day was the presentation from ex Socceroo captain Paul Wade (Wadey) AO. Paul spoke about Teamwork, Leadership and Persistence.  He also spoke about the years he spent playing football culminating in captaining the Australian team 1990-1996 and how he has managed his life after a serious health scare. An inspiration to all.

Mr Mark Pawlak - Year 10 Coordinator

Year 8 Camp

Last week we returned to an 'Old Favourite' at the Great Aussie Bush Camp, Tea Gardens. I wish to commend all the boys for their organisation and enthusiasm but especially for their level of respect and gratitude towards their instructors and teachers who ran the activities.

On the first night Ash Wednesday was celebrated with great reverence and many boys read parts of the Liturgy and received the ashes to mark the beginning of Lent.

Each new day saw the boys up bright and early, participating in activities ranging from rock climbing and abseiling to canoeing and hiking. It was an opportunity to extend and deepen friendships and each boy fully entered into the spirit of challenge and adventure. Camps are an essential part of a young man's development and they really love the opportunity to be outside, away from distractions and communing with nature.

I would like to thank all the teachers who gave up three days of their busy lives and time away from their families to help supervise the boys and I would also like to thank the parents and carers for their co-operation with the gathering of permission and medical information and your support of myself in running this experience.

Mr Paul Ticli - Year 8 Coordinator

International Pi Day - Thursday 14 March 2019

SPX boys will be celebrating International Pi Day tomorrow, Thursday 14 March, and Mr Couani will once again make a fantastic finish to the day by ringing the bell at 3:14pm - a memorable way for all boys to draw closer to the world’s greatest number.

As a family activity, I would encourage members of the school community to look for your birthday in Pi. Since the decimal expansion of pi continues forever and never repeats we would expect to find any six digits somewhere in Pi. On the computer, just search for 'my birthday in pi'. The site I found accepts your birthday as 6 digits. I entered 090956 and it found me in the 740632 digit.  Mr Couani has to look deeper to find his birthday at the 1 208 019th decimal place. The record so far is a Year 6 student whose Pi day happens at the 3 032 195th decimal place.

Again this year boys can win a Garlos Pie as part of our Pi Day celebration. They only have to memorise and sing the first 20 digits of Pi to the tune of any recognisable song. When they do they get a special Pi certificate which is good at the canteen. Get amongst those pies boys!

Mr Tom Garvey - Mathematics Teacher

Chess News

The Inter school Chess tournaments begin in Term 2. As such we need to finalise numbers for teams. Any student who would like to consider chess as their extracurricular must attend training or see Ms Ramsey or Ms Dempsey to indicate their intention.

Ms Denise Ramsey - Convenor

Premier's Reading Challenge

The 2019 Premier’s Reading Challenge is on so start reading now!

The Challenge opened on Monday 4 March and incredibly, four students have completed Challenge. How is this possible? Books read after the last Challenge closes can count towards this year’s Challenge.

Research shows that ‘free choice’ and ‘reading for pleasure’ are key to reading success. The PRC Reading List of over 7000 titles offers plenty of choice to encourage a love of reading and to experience quality literature.

The PRC challenges each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. Completing or achieving a personal best in this year’s PRC will be a focus of library classes from Year 5 to Year 9.

Students have until the 30 August to read 20 books and record their reading on the PRC website. To assist this, all students have received their PRC passwords in their school email.  Parental encouragement positively contributes to reading success with the PRC. The ‘Tips for Parents’ guide below outlines how you can help your child through the Challenge.

Mrs Karen Keighery - Senior Teacher/Librarian

Science: National Youth Science Forum 2020

Attention Year 11 Science Students:  National Youth Science Forum 2020

Do you love science, or technology, or have a drive to find solutions to problems and fix things? Are you constantly asking Why? How? Why not? Do you see yourself working in a science-related field and would like to know more about science initiated study and career paths?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then you should think about applying to attend the NYSF Year 12 Program.

Eligibility:  To apply for the NYSF Year 12 program, you must:

• be in year 11 in the year you apply, to attend the following January,
• be an Australian citizen or resident, and/or studying full-time in an Australian high school, and
• be considering pursuing a university degree at an Australian university to study science, engineering, technology, or a related discipline.

For more information go to: https://www.nysf.edu.au/programs/year-12-program/

Please see Mrs Schuster if you are considering this.

Mrs Joanne Schuster - Science Coordinator

Public Speaking & Debating

Information from Mrs Waterson can be found below.

Mrs Michele Waterson - Public Speaking & Debating Convenor

283 Bus to Belrose

Information for parents and students catching the 283 bus to Belrose.

There have been a few instances recently whereby our high school students have been denied entry onto the 283 public bus travelling to Belrose in the afternoons.  Students are expected to catch the school bus (number 254), which travels the same route as the 283 bus, and are therefore being refused entry onto the public bus.  Further information on bus numbers and times are below.  Could parents please discuss this issue with your boys if they are experiencing issues travelling on this route in the afternoons?

• There is a Junior School Bus which leaves at 3.11pm – the 283.
• There is a 254 School Bus leaving near the Presbyterian church at 3.35pm which travels the same route as the 283.  Boys should be catching this bus.
• There is a 283 public bus which leaves at 3.37pm.  Boys are not meant to catch this bus (Mercy students are the same.)
• There is also a 278 bus which goes to Killarney Heights which leaves at 3.35pm, and a 293 which goes towards Davidson.

Further information on timetables can be found on Forest Coachlines website where they can search Sydney School Services.

Mr M Casey - Deputy Principal

Holy Family Lindfield Art Show & Fair - 15 to 17 March

Come along this weekend!

Please click on the flyer for details or go to www.holyfamilyartshowandfair.com