College News

O'Connor Catholic College Performing Arts Precinct Announcement

PHOTO: Concept image of the Creative and Performing Arts Centre with College Gymnasium alongside.

On Thursday 18 June, Bishop Michael Kennedy, CSO Director Chris Smyth and Special Projects Officer Gary McSweeney attended the College to announce the soon to be commenced, first stage of construction of O'Connor Catholic College's newly completed Master Plan for the campus.   Designed by Glendenning Szoboszlay Architects, the construction of Stage 1 begins this month and is to be undertaken by O'Donnell & Hanlon Pty Ltd. 

Supported by a $1.9M Federal grant, the $16.5M development will occur over 3 stages.   With a completion date of October 2021 the first stage of the project will involve a conversion of the Gymnasium to a new creative and performing arts centre as well as the construction of a new gymnasium adjoining the Centre via open collaborative spaces.  Further to this, the current Merici Centre will undergo a conversion to become new collaborative general learning areas and spaces and the Angela Building will have a refurbishment to accommodate the College Administration Offices, Library Learning Centre, general learning areas and staff amenities. After the completion of this first stage of the Master Plan, the project will deliver much needed upgrades to current existing facilities which will enable the College to continue to deliver high quality education services to the students of the region. 

GALLERY: A variety of images depicting the interior and exterior of the new Centre

Enrolments 2021

Enrolment applications for Year 7 2021 are now open. Contact Mrs Gemma Creagan by calling 6772 1666 or email gcreagan@arm.catholic.edu.au  for an enrolment pack.  Limited spaces are also available for Years 8 -12.

Promotional Video

PRAXIS Enrichment Program at O'Connor

Praxis (Ancient Greek: πρᾶξις) is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realised.

Participants range from years 7 -10 and were nominated by staff and/or self-nominated. This began during remote learning via zoom and google classroom, and the first challenge was to create their own Rube Goldberg machine. Failures are just as important as successes as they force students to analyse the problem, re-evaluate and think critically in order to find a solution.

A group of 17 students meets one lesson a week to think critically about big questions...the questions that are at the edge of science and reason. For example...does free will really exist, or where is your mind? Students will be given the opportunity to develop philosophy skills and to discuss such questions in depth.

Students will also be able to select and explore an area of personal interest which involves both individual and collaborative creativity. PRAXIS involves a series of Project Based Learning (PBL) activities that allow for the facilitation of authentic learning experiences for students. The projects will complement the content and skills developed in core classes, and provide students with the opportunity to apply their learning from these subjects in real-world.

Child Studies

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the Year 9 Child Studies were fortunate to be hosted by TG's Armidale on a virtual tour of the Centre to supplement their studying of the ‘Caring for a Newborn’ program of learning. During the virtual tour, the students met with both Meg and Mon who talked them through the set up of TG's, the TG's philosophy and generally discussed information surrounding the care of young children in a day care setting. The students were able to be taken around the site virtually to meet the children that attend and see the wonderful facilities that are on offer. A huge thank you to TG's Armidale for taking the time to meet with us. 

Community and Family Studies (CAFS) 

Kylie Giles from Pathfinders visited the Year 12 Community and Family Studies class to discuss foster care as part of their Parenting and Caring unit. Thank you so much Kylie for sharing your knowledge and experiences with our students.

Senior Science

Year 11 Biology have been working on their Depth Study. As part of Science Studies in Stage 6, students complete a depth study to investigate a concept in more detail. 

Year 12 Chemistry are currently completing their organic chemistry module. As part of this, they look at the applications of chemistry in our everyday world.  Students made models of condensation polymers including polyesters and nylon.

Minimum Standards Testing

During this week, Year 10 completed their minimum standards testing, a requirement for their further studies if completing the HSC. They applied themselves well to the task to the praise of the supervising teachers Mrs Deshon, Mr Harris, Mrs Lemon and  Mr McFarlane.

Z-Club 

Z Club continue to be grateful for any donations  of toothbrushes and toothpastes to add to the care packages that are ready to be distributed to those vulnerable groups within our community. 

Also, we are starting a knitting club in BTX during  Wednesday's and Friday's Break B. We are knitting squares which will then be stitched into suggestions blankets for foster children. If you would line to help with this great project, please contact Mrs Channon.