College News
Step Day
After a needed postponement due to air quality, the College welcomed Year 6 students from our feeder schools to the College for their final STEP day for the year, preparing for their step up to secondary school next year. Thank you to the many parents who took time out of their week to attend the associated Parent Information Night. Information about starting Year 7 at O'Connor including what devices are recommended can also found on the College website.
Presentation Assembly
The 2019 end of year presentation assembly was well supported and provided a great opportunity to highlight student achievement across many areas of school life. Following is a list of awards presented last Friday at the assembly. Well done to students, teachers and support staff. It has been a great year.
MAJOR AWARDS
Amelia Roberts - Oorala Centre All-Round Achievement Award
Kaitlyn Stevenson - Armidale Regional Council Citizenship Award -
Tyler McCann - UNE Spirit of Sport Award
Makaala Dodd - Ethical Leadership Award sponsored by David Re
Jack Simmons and Willem Nillesen - Black Dot Contribution to Music Award
Samuel Graham - Joseph Stephen Memorial Agriculture Award for a Junior Student
Sophie Troon - St Vincent De Paul Award for Contribution to Social Justice
Elinor Summers - Contribution to Art Award
Emelia Rice - Zonta Award-Year 10 Girl in Mathematics & Science
Cyan McLauchlin - ADIG Award to Year 10 student for Contribution to Academic Life of the College and the ADF Long Tan Award for a Year 10 Student
Stella Engel - The Matthew Miller Award for a student who has faced adversity and challenge
Timothy Brazier - Pathfinders Resilience Award
Georgia MacMahon - Armidale Central Rotary Club Citizenship Award
Nathan Czinner Sportsperson of the Year Award
COLLEGE AWARDS
College Awards are awarded to students through our Commendation system. These awards are in recognition of academic and service contributions to the life of the college.
To gain a College award a student needs to have been presented with at least 12 individual commendations throughout the year or be nominated by the College Leadership Team.
The recipients are:
Year 7
Heather Bassett
Georgina Schultz
Riley Smith
Year 8
Isabelle Kelly
Year 9
Olumachukwu Malu
Bridie Giles
Fletcher Schultz
Year 10
Alexander MacMahon
Sophie Troon
Year 11
Chloe Brown
Ellen Hawthorne
Georgia MacMahon
Lara Walters
National Agriculture Day - UNE
Students from Year 7-10 attended National Agriculture Day at the UNE. Attending Sessions about breeding, feeding, sheep genetics, soils and eating of them. It was a great day spent affirming skills, building knowledge about the agricultural industry and developing new farming practices.
PDHPE
HSC PDHPE have been studying a Sports Medicine unit. As part of this unit we have been exploring different strapping techniques. Today they practised strapping ankles. How do you think they went?
Hospitality Students
sharing their skills
Mrs Healy and the College's Hospitality students were able to showcase their talents last week in preparing and presenting a luncheon to the Armidale Probus Club at Oak Tree Village.
Photo: Hospitality students working hard at the recent Probus luncheon.
Life Saving
Years 7 and 8 students have been participating in a training program to help them master the important skill of lifesaving. There was a lot of smoke haze on Monday 9th, which meant the students were able to undertake their theory work in classrooms at school. Thank you to those teachers and students have helped facilitae this important training.
Year 9 Enrichment Class
This semester, selected year 9 students participated in an enrichment program at O'Connor called the Praxis Class...Praxis (Ancient Greek: πρᾶξις) is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realised. Students either nominated themselves, were nominated by staff and/or were selected from school data.
A group of Year 9 students met 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 were given the opportunity to develop philosophy skills and to discuss such questions in depth.
In term 4, the students were able to select and explore an area of personal interest using Project-Based Learning (PBL) that allowed for the facilitation of authentic learning experiences for each student. They devised a driving question that led their research and kept them on task. The students' projects complemented the content and skills developed in core classes and provided them with the opportunity to apply their learning from these subjects to real-world contexts.
On Wednesday 11 December the students presented their PIPs (Personal Interest Projects) to an authentic audience which was made up of members of staff and the Year 9 iSTEM class. Everybody was incredibly impressed with not only the quality of the work but also with the engaging and mature manner the students conducted themselves during their presentations.
Movie Mania
The P & F would like to thank those in the O'Connor community who attended the movie night fundraiser on the College gym last Friday.
Z-Club Care Packages
Z-Club students with the finished product - care packages.
Z Club have been busy assembling care packages, with essential and donated items from our school community, such as soaps, toothbrushes, toothpastes, and face cloths.
Last week we donated over 120 to Pathfinders and Vinnies. These will go a long way to making life a little happier for those doing it tough at the moment.
Thanks again to our fantastic members who helped out by giving up their lunchtimes to pack these kits.
Local Schools Community Fund - Grant Success
O'Connor Catholic College has been successful in their application for a $6,500 grant which will benefit the funding of science investigation equipment for the College. Thankyou to the Federal Government who facilitated these funds to be provided to the school.
7.1 Music Peformance
Last week, the students of 7.1 Music Class participated in a range of performances in the music department. So much talent for one class!
'New Earth Entrepreneur'
Year 8 Technology 4 concluded the year with the Textiles Unit called 'New Earth Entrepreneur'. They were asked to design and make a comfort item (a cushion) to take to New Earth. It was something that would remind them of home and provide comfort to them on arrival in a new place.
The students were very creative in their design work and the results were fantastic. The class worked collaboratively and enthusiastically in order to be finished by the end of the year. They all took away new skills from the unit, particularly the practical skills required to sew a cushion. Some learned about zipper applications. Others discovered transfer and digital printing onto fabric. A great success and well done 8TC4. You can be very proud of your efforts.
AIME Program Day at UNE
AIME (Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience) is an international mentoring program based in Redfern, Sydney, which encourages indigenous high school students to consider pathways to University. Our indigenous O'Connor Catholic College students have accessed the program for some years now and were involved in the AIME program day at UNE on Thursday the 5th.
Teacher and Student
O'Connor networks run far and wide, including down south in Melbourne where a chance encounter reunited an old O'Connor teacher and student.
John "Mack" McKinnon taught English at O'Connor during the 80's and 90s, in addition to showing his versatility in being a fledgling member of the Computer Studies staff.
Ben Atchison attended O'Connor from 1989-1994 , following siblings Jane, John and Tim through the Kirkwood St gates. Their mother, Margaret taught Mathematics at the College for many years and still lives in the Armidale community with her husband John.
Ben works for a data and analytics consultancy in Melbourne and started an engagement recently with Catholic Education Melbourne, who service 300 schools in the Melbourne Archdiocese. While exploring who would be useful to talk to, a John McKinnon was mentioned. "Does he have a beard?" - "Yes". "Is he in his mid-60s?" - "Yes". "is his shirt partly untucked?" - "Yes". That had to be Mack!
Mack was one of those unique teachers that a student may encounter in their schooling if they are fortunate. He was equally adept at introducing students to the delights of Chaucer, as if he was in writing code, listing all prime palindromic numbers, while having a subversive laugh at the world along the way. Most of all, he had a genuine passion for his subjects and students that was infectious and carries through in many of them to this day, Ben included.
On family travels, Mack used to challenge his sons Andrew and Bobby to craft a haiku. After subjecting Mack to the below selfie, Ben challenged Mack for a haiku of his own:
Teacher and student:
The long and the short of it,
Who's been teaching whom?
Drama Puppetry
Year 10 Drama students have been making puppets in the lead up to their performances at Drummond Park Preschool and St Mary's Primary this week.
T-VET Report - Business Services
As the year draws to a close some of Tonya McQuilty's Business Services students reflected on the usefulness of the subject.
"Throughout my last two years as a high school student, studying Business Services has given me life knowledge on everyday tasks that may be encountered. It has not only developed my understanding of workplace etiquette but has strengthened my skills within a Business environment. Within this course, I've been given
the opportunity to reinforce ideas and concepts that I may experience in the workforce. The 2 weeks of mandatory work placement has given me confidence in what to expect in the workplace." Tarnie.
Students with Additional Needs
Mrs Katie Biddle
O'Connor is committed to supporting the individual needs of all students. To accomplish this, many of our students have Personal Plans. These plans are updated by teachers frequently and students are asked for input for their learning goals. These plans outline the strategies that teachers use to ensure that a student achieves their learning goal. We value the contribution of parents and would like to invite parents in to discuss the learning of their child. All students with a disability have an individual plan. Parents are invited to contact our learning support teacher Mrs Katie Biddle if they would like to review their child's learning plan. Mrs Biddle can be contacted on kbiddle1@arm.catholic.edu.au
I look forward to discussing your child's learning goals with you.
Music Vibes
7.3 Music have been learning more about music through their use of the ukulele and keyboard. It is great to see them so engaged with their learning.
