News from the School of Leadership

Term 4 can have a funny way of getting away from us. In between end of year festivities, the weather warming up, the anticipation of Christmas and the fatigue of that time of year, it can be very easy to let things slide. We have a much used saying at St Luke’s - “Finish well.” I encourage you to work with your sons and daughters to have them finish the 2022 academic year well. This involves continuing to complete flipped and consolidation tasks, wearing the correct uniform, coming to school on time, making responsible choices around social media, being kind and applying themselves to their learning.

October 28 is World Teachers’ Day - an important opportunity to recognise the contributions of our teachers as they work to provide rich and rigorous learning experiences for all students. Teachers in the School of Leadership have a profound impact on the lives of young people. They enjoy the learning process, and they also pass on that enthusiasm to their students. Great teachers advocate for their students with passion and don’t give up on even the most challenging individual. The most wonderful thing that can happen to a teacher is being there when a child’s face lights up and he or she says, “I understand.” Our teachers relish these opportunities and the staff room is often abuzz with stories of the growth and development of our students.

Like our students, teachers at St Luke’s are learners. Stage 3 teachers are currently participating in a Mathematics and the Numeracy Block learning series facilitated by a Numeracy Specialist from CEDP. Year 7 and 8 SOL teachers and SOE teachers are participating in professional learning regarding rich and rigorous assessment.

Mrs Kate Kelly - Head of School of Leadership

School Police Liaison Officer Visit

On Wednesday the 19th of October Year 7 were visited by two Police - School Liaison Officers, Constable Laura (Mt Druitt Command) and Constable Ally (Riverstone Command). The two police officers informed the students about cyber safety and keeping safe when engaging with online communications and social media. The students were reminded about The Australian eSafety Commission website which provides excellent information for both students and their parents on:

advice on parental controls
an on-line safety guide for young people
specific advice on the “big issues” such as cyberbullying and unwanted contact
global safety advice to help parents deal with online abuse.

We would encourage parents to be vigilant in monitoring their child’s online activities, especially their social media accounts including messages and group chats. We also encourage parents to talk to their children about what they are accessing online. An open and honest dialogue with your son or daughter can help your child stay safe while navigating the web. If you have any concerns or questions, please reach out as we are always happy to help and provide support.

Attendance and Punctuality

As we continue into Term 4, it is wonderful to observe students in the School of Leadership arriving to school on time and getting to their learning spaces before 8:30am. Let’s keep up this effort as the term continues and finish the year with consistent attendance and punctuality. Every minute of learning time counts!

Mrs Josephine Camilleri - Acting Assistant Principal of School of Leadership

St Luke’s Day Celebrations

St Luke’s Day Liturgy

We started our celebrations for St Luke’s Feast Day on Tuesday 18th October, with a whole school liturgy. The theme of the liturgy was “A picture is worth a thousand words” in dedication to our patron saint who is also the patron saint of artists. The liturgy was filled with acknowledgement of God’s love and we saw many wonderful examples of students showing this through their artwork, singing and reflections.

St Luke’s Talent Showcase

We celebrated our Patron saint, St.Luke with a Talent Showcase on Tuesday the 18th of October. We had some magnificent performances from the School of Leadership. There were 77 auditions and only 11 student acts were selected. Congratulations to all of our performers who truly shone, a special mention to the students from the School of Leadership, what fine models of excellence and talent for all to see.

SOL performers included:

Hunter Doyle

Vaughn Bagus

Sachin ShankarKokila

Jolanda Williams

Hendrix Layson

Chrysjon Ablaza

James Caballero

Vaughn Bagus

Sneharsh Krishna

Aarush Patibandla

Jeremy Mashreky

Aahan Patel

Art Competition

To honour St Luke the artist, our community held an art exhibit and a competition. Students were invited to enter the competition with an artwork of their choice. The College was inundated with over 150 fantastic entries and it was outstanding to see such creativity from all year levels. Artworks included photographs, sketches, comics, drawings, canvases, digital art and even some installations! It was incredibly hard to choose the final winners.

Thank you to School of Leadership students who entered and for sharing your talents with the community.

Stage 3 Stories…

Year 6 Thanksgiving Liturgy

Parents and Carers are very welcome to join Stage 3 students and teachers for a Thanksgiving Liturgy for Year 6. We invite Year 6 parents to remain behind and enjoy morning tea with their son or daughter. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Canvas Microcredential

Stage 3 students received a visit from Mr Sheil, the manager of CEDP’s Learning Exchange in Week 2 who introduced them to their ‘Passport to Canvas.’ Passport to Canvas provides everything Stage 3 need to know about using Canvas. This will be especially helpful as our Stage 3 students transition to Year 7.

Canvas helps students::

Keep track of the learning tasks they are assigned by their teacher, grades and feedback
Organise all of the learning material their teacher has created
Help you stay in touch with other members of your class

We look forward to supporting Stage 3 grow in proficiency in their use of Canvas as they engage it at home or at school during half day Fridays.

Stage 3 Choir

Students involved in the Stage 3 Choir have been working very hard to bring live music to our school liturgies and other celebrations. Last term saw students volunteering their Monday lunch times and Thursday afternoons to learn, practice and perform exceptionally well at multiple school events in a very short amount of time. Most recently, these students have continued to demonstrate this same level of dedication and commitment in term 4, giving more of their lunch times and Thursday afternoons to prepare for what was another fantastic performance at our St Luke’s Feast Day celebration!

Since the launch of our choir only a short time ago, students involved have not only demonstrated a significant level of growth in their confidence, capabilities and performance skills, but they have also formed new friendships and connections with students across the stage. I thank all parents of the involved students for your continued support by altering your schedules to accommodate afternoon rehearsals, as well as all students for their commitment, dedication and time.

The choir will soon be invited to join Mrs Bauer for morning tea to recognise their efforts and discuss preparations for our next performance. More information regarding this will be made available in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I look forward to continuing to work with and watch our Stage 3 Choir students shine!

- Miss Passmore

Reminder: Choir afternoon rehearsals recommenced Thursday of week 2 from 2:30pm-4:00pm. Students will be brought to the Breezeway gates at the end of the rehearsal where all parents must see Miss Passmore before leaving with their child.

Stage 3 Science

This term we are learning about matter and why it matters… For science we did an incredible experiment that made us feel like we were in the laboratory of a mad scientist who likes blowing things up, but Mrs Pearson was the mad scientist with Miss Gatt as her sidekick in this case. The experiment made us realise an important ‘term’ in action- Sublimation, which is the process of a solid melting into a gas without becoming a liquid. Who knew dry ICE can give you third degree burns?

The experiment started off with Mrs Pearson choosing random people to pick a colour of food colouring to dye the water. After stirring the dye, our ‘ mad scientist’ carefully picked up a piece of dry ice with a pair of tongs. We watched the ice just ‘melt away’ as per the teachers, but here's the tricky part: it wasn't becoming a liquid but instead it was becoming a gas. This felt weird in an odd way, because most of the examples that we have experienced of something melting is probably something like, ice or ice-cream which melt into a liquid form. But little did we know the teachers were about to say a special term that will make our brain itch in an incredibly ‘scientific’ way. We then tried to put a balloon over a flask with dry ice just in it. We mainly did this because we wanted to make something explode.

Our hypothesis for this part of the experiment was that the balloon was going to blow, which was correct in a way, because Mrs Pearson took the balloon off before it could explode. I want to end by saying that this experiment was one that I will remember even in highschool. This close-to-exploding experience made us wonder a lot of questions that we want answered…

From Year 7…

Year 7 English

In Year 7 Navy English this week, students were introduced to how meaning can be communicated in dramatic texts. With a focus on how Australia is and can be represented, students got out of their seats and got creative by making a physical map of Australia (out of themselves!), made tableaus of iconic Australian landmarks (still images formed using body language), and organic as well as digital soundscapes of contrasting Australian landscapes (from rainforests to bushfires, from Bondi Beach to the Sydney CBD). Students were excited to get involved, and were very encouraging and supportive of their peers. Well done, 7 Navy!

Miss C Wick - English / HSIE teacher

Year 7 Italiano

Ciao! We are getting more and more confident in Italian! We are studying and exploring Italian cultura!

Students have chosen their favourite city or region in Italy, talking about its features and promoting it as if they were a tourist agency!

Let’s discover together some landscapes in Milano!

All roads lead to Rome!

Some of our students have chosen Rome as their favourite city, highlighting the significant Vatican City where the Pope resides.

They were also able to locate Roma on the map of Italia!

Buon viaggio! Safe Travel!

Miss Cheyenne Gallo - Languages Teacher

From Year 8…

St Luke’s Day with Year 8

To celebrate St Luke’s Day, year 8 joined the rest of the school in a whole school liturgy as well as a talent showcase where we delighted in the performances we were able to watch!

Year 8 Visit the Art Exhibition

Year 8s were able to visit the Art Exhibition that they and their peers had participated in. It was an excitable experience with all students thoroughly enjoying the chance to see all the talent at St Luke’s!

Year 8 Life Design

At the end of last term, all Year 8 students presented to a panel about their Leadership Projects. This was an opportunity for students to lead a solution to a problem or need in the world that they feel passionate about. The students presented with such professionalism and enthusiasm!

At the end of this term, students will present their Capstones to summarise their Life Design journey and share their purpose in life. You can learn more about the Yr 8 Capstone Presentations for Life Design HERE.

Year 7 & 8 PDHPE

Year 7 PDHPE are finishing their unit on ‘Staying healthy and safe’ - an essential unit to upskill our students in problem solving and decision making not only in the present, but in their future. The students are producing a role-play scenario that examines the positive and negative consequences of certain behaviours. This piece of work will demonstrate their ability to make positive choices. Year 8 PDHPE have just started a unit on ‘Seeking help.’ This unit will empower students to be health literate in order to access reliable and accurate information. This learning block will culminate with the production of health promotion media targeted to their peers in order to raise awareness about a critical issue within our community. Year 8 PDHPE are also simultaneously completing a practical unit called ‘Thinking with your feet.’ Students are cycling through skills and modified games of soccer, touch, Oz-tag and AFL. Ultimately, students will film a montage of their progress across two sports of their choosing to demonstrate their ability to transfer skills across similar sports.

Upcoming in Year 8

Wednesday, 16th November
- 8:30am to 9:30am: Parent Learning Walks SOL.
Friday, 25th November
- Multicultural Day.
Monday, 5th December
- Year 8 Capstone Presentation - NAVY.
Tuesday, 6th December
- Year 8 Capstone Presentation - WHITE.
Wednesday, 7th December
- Year 8 Capstone Presentation - TEAL.
- Year 8 Liturgy.
Thursday, 8th December
- Year 8 SOL Celebrations- Offsite Excursion.
Friday, 9th December
- Year 8 SOL Celebrations- Offsite Excursion.

Pitchfest

Congratulations to the Year7/8 Pitchfest Team who have progressed to the second round of the National Spill the Beans competition. All six participants were applauded for their entrepreneurial endeavours:

Ansh A - BioEd - an innovative approach to combine equitable access to education for all children with a focus on conservation of biomes.
Ayaan A - Doctor for a Doctor - a program for Psychology first year university graduates to gain experience by supporting trauma surgeons dealing with patient loss via secure website.
Nuhaar K - BIrdie Care - a subscription based business providing natural and organic bird care kits supplied upon purchase of birds from pet shops and registered breeders.
Jess S - Re-establishing social media with a focus on wellbeing. A secure website where anonymity is respected and protected and where students can support each other through difficult times, as well as celebrating uniqueness and individuality without the filters.
Megh S - A web based initiative to address homelessness. The business model involves accessing quality used toys and technology for young children who find themselves in refuge.
Sudeep V - Carbon Capture - a cutting edge and innovative business idea that brokers the gap between carbon emissions and carbon repurposing.

The students now have the opportunity to be mentored by successful entrepreneurs as they refine their pitch and work towards bringing their business ideas to fruition.

Mrs Jo Kirby

Leader New Metrics

The Net

Term 4, Week 3 2022

Issue 10 · 28 Oct 2022

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