Senior School

Welcome to our new Chinese Teacher!

This year we have the privilege of introducing Chinese as a subject at the Senior School. This year we offer:

• Year 9 Chinese
• Year 10 Chinese
• Unit 1&2 Chinese Second Language
• Unit 3&4 Chinese Second Language
• Unit 3&4 Chinese First Language.

In order to offer such a range and advanced level of Chinese Academic subjects at St Andrews we have welcomed a new teacher to the College. Mrs Nelly Wang (王月英) has joined us this year. She was born in China and moved to Australia in 1996. While in China she taught undergraduate courses for over 10 years at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Besides teaching Chinese, Mrs Wang also does translation and interpreting as she is a qualified NAATI translator. She is an experienced educator in both Chinese First and Second Language courses; we are delighted to have someone of her expertise to teach here at St Andrews Christian College.

Outside of teaching, Mrs Wang enjoys folks dances, drawing, calligraphy, swimming and playing table-tennis. Her husband and son are both IT engineers.

Already in her short time at St Andrews Mrs. Wang has made a positive contribution to our school community. It is a great blessing to have her join us this year and lead our Chinese language teaching.

John Presant

Head of Senior School

Olympiad Training Program

Dear Students / Parents,

The School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne and CEA (Chemistry Education Association) is offering a 14 week training program “Olympiad Training Program for the Australian Science Olympiad Examination in Chemistry”. It covers all concepts in Year 12 Chemistry as well as a significant number of first year university topics. Students who have attended this program in the past have reviewed it enthusiastically and have achieved excellent results in the Australian Science Examination in Chemistry, with High Distinctions and Distinctions. Past students have been selected to attend the Summer Olympiad Program at Monash University.

In 2018, the program will run on Monday evenings 5:30-7:30pm on 5, 19, 26 March, 16 April – 4 June, 18 June, 16 & 23 July at Melbourne University.

The cost is $310 per student.

For further information, please contact Mr Fernandes - lfernandes@standrews.vic.edu.au

Louis Fernandes

Senior School Teacher

Essay Competition Winner

Winner, First Place

Michaela Swank

St Andrews Christian College

https://literatu.blog/2017/12/11/essay-content-winners/

Literatu and its co-sponsors are pleased to announce the winners of the “Advance Australia… THERE!” essay competition. 

From the hundreds of submissions, three winners have been selected at the Primary (Years 5-6), High School - Secondary (Years 7-9) and Senior (Years 10-12) levels. One winner in each section.

Winners

Senior School: Michaela Swank, St Andrews Christian College. Teacher: Irena Yevlahova

High School: Olga Medvedieva, Queenwood School for Girls. Teacher: Amy Hall

Primary School: Vanessa Kite, Macarthur Anglican School. Teacher: Kylie Elling

The ‘Literatu’ Team congratulate Michaela and the whole team at St Andrews Christian College, “We appreciate all teachers’ and students’ participation in the contest.  As companies involved in technology and education, we wanted to support schools as they target improvements in what is often the most challenging skill for students to learn and teachers to teach. We applaud the teachers and schools who have fostered these excellent efforts.”

Students had to consider: how technology can improve, impact and enrich their learning and their future. Three Year 10 St Andrews students have entered the senior section of the competition and we were overjoyed when we had received exciting news that from hundreds of entries into the Senior Section of the National Essay Competition, Year 10 St Andrews student, Michaela Swank, had been selected as the winner. 

Here is her essay.

How should we use technology to create the best future for Australia?

Technology improves by the minute with new discoveries and advances being made all the time. It is a tool that has affected many professions and ways of life making tasks quicker and easier. As time goes on we can see technology spreading into areas that have never felt its presence before. Its purpose? To make our lives comfortable and more efficient.

Education is one area that utilises technology in almost every field. Whether it be admin, presentations in class, research, or access to the best learning materials, it is all made easier with technology. It provides better communication between students and teachers helping to improve the quality of learning. There are even online classes and video lessons that are made available so people can study when and where it is suitable for them. This allows people to further their learning around their busy schedules and creates opportunity for those who might not be able to afford more expensive alternatives. Education is an area that technology can be used for good, to improve our country and equip people to live in this digital age. After all, technology becomes useless if we have no one who knows how to use it.

The work force is also heavily affected by technological advances. Each year thousands of jobs are replaced by technology. In an article from 2015 it was estimated that over 40% of jobs would be replaced by the year 2025. Though it may be cheaper to run the machine, it puts many people out of a job. It is a serious issue that needs to be addressed however it is not the only side of the story. There are many instances in which technology has created jobs. We need people to maintain it. We rely on technology to do many things but like us it is not perfect and at times it malfunctions. Many businesses have a social media account to reach out to the people and someone needs to take care of that. Engineers and inventors are needed to create new technology and improve old technology. It comes back to education. We must know how to utilise it for our benefit. As our technology advances so must we.

Australia has many opportunities in which to use technology but it needs to be discussed thoroughly and looked at from all points of view. Does it benefit the majority? Is it going to be used improve and advance our nation? We need to use technology to improve our world, especially for those that are struggling to keep up. We need to stop and think about where we are going with this. What kind of future do we want to create for our nation? A future that allows us to use our gifts and be confident in our skills and abilities. A future that causes us to look at the people around us and be inspired to create something that might improve their lives. We need to encourage a generation that can take the technology we have created and use it to make our world a better place. These are the things that must be considered and taken into account as we march towards an age that is dominated by technology.

Irena Yevlahova

Careers Coordinator

Careers News

Welcome to the St Andrews Careers Newsletter for 2018. 

After the great success of our Year 9 girls in Programming Challenge for Girls (PC4G) at The University of Melbourne in 2016, our school was invited to participate in 2018. Last week three Year 9 girls attended the Introductory Session. They learned about creating animations, building interactive narratives and programming simple games in 3D. At the end of the school year, they will put their coding skills to the test in the final competition.

Following are our most recent newsletters.

If you have a question about a topic featured in the Careers Newsletter, please contact Careers Coordinator Mrs Irena Yevlahova iyevlahova@standrews.vic.edu.au

Irena Yevlahova

Careers Coordinator

Extra Curricular Activities

Here is a list of extra curricular activities available to Middle and Senior students during Semester 1.

Sonia Sires

Extra Curricular Activities Coordinator