Switched on minds tackle Science and Engineering Challenge

On Tuesday 16 March, students in Year 10 participated in the Science and Engineering Challenge.

In teams of four, the girls competed in numerous events testing their engineering and problem-solving skills against seven other teams.

Challenges included designing and building a hovercraft, earthquake proof towers, hydroelectric turbines and a bridge.

The students did exceptionally well, finishing second on the day.

A particular highlight was the bridge designed by Estella Edwards, Shreeya Bisht, Nandhini Ramanathan and Sonia De Cesare.

The students' bridge was the strongest made, while also being the lightest, earning them maximum points on that challenge.

Steps in the fight against cancer

A group of compassionate Year 11 and 12 students rallied together to help make a difference in the fight against cancer in this year's Relay for Life.

Team SMC relayed for more than 20 hours, carrying Nano Nagle's lantern as a baton, to raise $5,600 in funds for cancer research—a cause very close to the girls' hearts. The College is very proud of their efforts.

Thank you to the students, teachers, parents and carers who participated and donated to support the community and this very worthwhile cause.

Staff achievements

The College wishes to congratulate Senior teacher, Shelley Macleod who received the 2020 Supervising Teacher of the Year Award from the University of Tasmania for her outstanding contribution to the university's education program.

Thank you, Shelley for supporting future educators with your encouragement, feedback, and insight into valuable teaching practices.

The College's canteen manager, Phil Shanny, took to the airwaves on Thursday 25 March for an interview with ABC Radio. It was great to hear Phil discuss the St Mary's College garden, compost, worm farm and, of course, his terrific work with our students.

Phil also highlighted the importance of students seeing the food cycle firsthand, from seed to plate to compost. Listen to the broadcast here (timestamp: 1:43–1:55).

Students are looking forward to working on science experiments using the garden and our free fruit concept (which invites donations of fruit for students and staff to enjoy from the canteen at no cost).

2021 Humanities Conference

A dedicated group of English/HaSS teachers (Gillian Goldsworthy, Lorise Clark, Selena Eaves, Catherine Sandric, Chelsea Mouritz, Hannah Carter and Debbie Claridge) attended the Humanities Teachers’ Conference, 'Redefining our Place', in Launceston on Saturday 20 March.

The conference gave teachers the opportunity to look at new ways in which to foster students’ sense of self and belonging in our rapidly changing world.

A number of university academics and teachers shared their knowledge in a diverse range of English, History and Geography topics such as ancient civilisations, civics and citizenship, non-fiction and creative writing. Each presentation was an opportunity to think about fostering connection with the human experience.

Chelsea presented an informative and inspirational talk on literacy. In front of a packed audience, she shared her knowledge of how to support students through disciplinary literacy in order to access critical and higher order thinking.

The workshop focused on deepening teachers’ conceptual understanding of disciplinary literacy and implementing specific literacy strategies to support students in comprehending and responding to growing literacy demands.

The teachers who attended the conference are extremely grateful to the support given to them by the College to deepen their professional development. It was also a wonderful opportunity to learn from, and develop connections with, colleagues from schools and colleges from around the state and with the University of Tasmania.

Lorise Clark

Learning Area Coordinator – English and Language

Year 7 debaters reign supreme

Year 7 debaters, Sana Ghiasvand, Clare Wanandy and Hallie Cormack were successful in their first debate against Taroona High School last Wednesday evening.

The girls presented well-researched arguments for 'Why we should be vegetarians', with Sienna Saunders (Year 7) supporting the team as chair for the evening. Well done, girls on your first debate!

Year 7s put Salamanca under the spotlight

This past term, the Year 7s have been exploring liveability in HaSS. To apply their knowledge to the local area, the students visited Salamanca last Friday to investigate how 'liveable' it is.

Their criteria included environmental, social, cultural, infrastructure and economic factors.

Ain't no mountain high enough for Year 8 HaSS

This month the Year 8 HaSS classes enjoyed a working trip to kunanyi/Mt Wellington.

The students explored First Nations people's spiritual connection to the mountain and how the landform is used and managed by the Mt Wellington Trust.

The group also discussed the current cable car proposal and the impacts of this from multiple perspectives.

Pathways to protection

On Friday 26 March, as part of our English unit—'Strangers in a strange land', we welcomed speakers from the Red Cross to our Year 8B English class to give a presentation about refugees and seekers of asylum.

We also heard the personal stories of two former refugees and what it was like to flee from your home to seek refuge in another country.

It was very informative and opened our eyes to the human impact of war, religious and cultural discrimination, and the plight of thousands of displaced people in the world through no fault of their own.

Catherine Sandric

Senior School Teacher

Open Day

Thank you to all families who visited us on Open Day last week. It was lovely meeting so many friendly faces!

We enjoyed showing you around our school and we hope you enjoyed the chance to learn a little more about what we do here at St Mary's College and what makes our school so special.

Maryknoll development blessing

Work is now underway at the 'Maryknoll' affordable housing development in Blackmans Bay, following a blessing led by Hobart Archbishop Julian Porteous on Friday 19 March.

The development sits on three hectares of coastal land donated to CatholicCare Tasmania by the Presentation Sisters in Tasmania.

The houses are expected to be completed by mid-2022, with most to become homes to families on housing priority waiting lists, people with disabilities and over 55s.

Community news

Term 2 coding program

Jump into the Aussie Hoops program

School surfing trials