St Gregory's College Newsletter

From the Head of Junior School

Dear Members of the St Gregory’s family,

 

What an amazing week that we have had at the College and another one that has flown on by! In all schools this time of the year does get extremely busy and cam detract from the main game – what happens in the classroom. In saying that, in the Junior School, I can honestly say that much as we have had lots happening around the College, the learning that is taking place in the classroom is engaging and is targeted at getting the best from the students. This is our goal and focus right up until the last day this year.

 

IPSSO Finals

One of the amazing things that I had the pleasure of witnessing on Wednesday was the Summer IPSSO Finals. Three of our four teams made the finals this season and it was quite rewarding to host the IPSSO Finals at St Gregory’s this year. Our 3 teams played with wonderful sportsmanship and as a school we could not be prouder of each and every one of them! Congratulations to our Senior OzTag team that not only won the semi-final but also played a stellar Grand Final against Wollondilly Anglican College to win the Premiership!

 

Our Junior OzTag Team also won their semi-final but unfortunately went down in a highly entertaining game against Wollondilly Anglican College in a close match 10-8. I also want to thank our Senior Cricket Team who played a couple of great matches but unfortunately went down to some strong opposition on Wednesday. A special congratulations to our coaches this season and also Mr Birkbeck for his organisation of the season. I would also like to mention of wonderful maintenance team who had the ground set up for the IPSSO Finals.

 

Results -     

  • Senior OzTag PREMIERS (1ST)
  • Junior OzTag RUNNERS UP (2ND)
  • Senior Cricket 3rd

Year 5 Leadership and Team Building Day

Yesterday we had the opportunity to spend the day with our Year 5 students as they were tested with a range of team building exercises as they head very quickly towards becoming the leaders in our Junior School in 2020. The day consisted of many initiatives and exercises that had them thinking out how to be an effective leader and also what makes an effective team. I want to thank Mr MacMaster for his chat with the students about leadership, Dylan Ruiters who spent part of the day with Year 5 helping them with the initiatives and also discussing our topic and also to Mrs Ivancic for her planning of the day. We look forward to seeing our Year 5 students move into Year 6 with a clear mindset on being our Junior School leaders.

 

The Junior School Parent Forum

I want to thank all parents who attended the Term 4 Parent Forum. It was wonderful to hear the feedback and to also to have parent ‘buy in’ as to what our preferred future looks like at St Gregory’s College. For all parents who could not attend the forum but completed the survey in regards to the Strategic Planning of the College – I thank you also as this was valued input that will, be used to develop our future direction.

 

A Well Deserved Congratulations!

Friday evening, two of our students, Ashton Tsagalas (Year 5) and Nathan Kairouz (Year 6) were congratulated on a wonderful year of representative sport for St Gregory’s College. Making a Wollongong Diocesan Team is no easy feat, but these boys have made two this year. Ashton made the Diocesan Rugby League Team and also the Diocesan Touch Football Team. Nathan made the MacKillop Soccer Team who played at the NSW Championships and also made the Wollongong Diocesan Cross-Country Team. Congratulations to these two boys!

Boarders Weekend – A Time for Professional Development

Over the Boarders Weekend the Junior School Staff were busy learning, collaboration and discussing important directions for the Junior School for 2020. We spent the 2 days looking at our literacy approach and our way forward, planning our new Teaching and Learning Framework that we wish to launch in 2020, developing engaging new units for 2020 and reflecting on our 2019 Action Plan and looking into the 2020 Action Plan. It was an extremely valuable two days and I want to thank the staff for their professionalism, dedication and input into these two vital days. We look forward to implementing these new and refined initiatives in 2020.

 

Events on the Horizon

As we race to the end of the year, we still have a few events on the horizon:

  1. Move Up Day (meeting 2019 teachers and new students) - Monday 25 November
  2. Stage 3 Camp – Wednesday 27 – Friday 29 November
  3. Carols Evening - Monday 2 December starting at 6pm (Junior School Playground)
  4. Celebration of Learning - Wednesday 4 December at 6pm (Br Luke Hall)
  5. Y6 Graduation Mass and Dinner Monday 9 December
  6. K-12 Christmas Mass and last day - Thursday 12 December at 9am (Br Luke Hall).

I hope everyone enjoys the last couple of weeks of the school year!

 

As our St Gregory’s College motto states, ‘what you sow, so shall you reap’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joel Weekes

Head of Junior School