Principal
Welcome Back!
Welcome to the start of the 2023 school year at St Patrick’s College, Strathfield.
2023 Staffing
It is also with much pleasure that we welcome the following new staff who join us this year in various capacities, either in parental leave and temporary roles or as permanent staff. Regardless, I know that you will make them all warmly welcome. Since the last Especean in 2022, I received resignations from both Mr Luke Reynolds and Mrs Abby Turner Jensen. Mr Reynolds will conclude at St Patrick’s College at the end of Week 4 this term and we have yet to finalise a replacement for Mrs Turner Jensen. We thank them for their contributions to the College and wish them well in future endeavours.
Leadership Team
As previously advised, I warmly welcome the new members of our Leadership Team:
- Mr Adam Leslie (Acting Director of Identity, all of 2023)
- Mr Nicholas Phillipson (Acting Director of Curriculum, Term 1).
Middle Leaders
To achieve our strategic objectives, our middle leaders in the College are a vital part of the picture by supporting teachers and students, and liaising with parents and carers. To that end, we welcome:
- Mr Samuel Rowlings, Acting Year 9 Coordinator
- Mrs Katherine Sinadinos, Acting Wellbeing Coordinator
- Mrs Fotini El-Kazzi, Acting Head of English, formerly at Christian Brothers’ High School Lewisham
- Mr George Sacco, Head of HSIE (B) to commence in Week 5, formerly at St Ignatius’ College Riverview.
- Mrs Amanda Metua, Head of Diverse Learning, formally at Frensham College Mittagong.
- Ms Jasmine Porter, Head of Religious Education, formally at Holy Spirit College Lakemba
- Mrs Joanne Cupac, Head of Vocational Education and Careers, a new role to better support the growth of VET courses in our school.
Secondary School Stafffing
- Belinda Antaw (Mathematics)
- Kristy Bartels (HSIE A)
- Manuela Di Giovanni (Languages)
- Michael Elias (Mathematics)
- Ruben Fela (Visual Arts)
- Anthony Graziano (English)
- Rhys Hannaford (Science)
- Marina Kusaba (Counsellor)
- Matthew Morrison (Diverse Learning)
- Jaina Puthumana (English)
- Rachel Simms (HSIE A)
- Alexandra Tsesmelis (Science)
- Athena Tzigeras (TAS)
- Sophie Woodbridge (English)
Junior School Staffing
- Demi Arenas 6 Gold
- Matthew Pasternatsky 5 Green
- Ellen Pittorino 6 Black
- Artima Thongthip 6 Blue
- Brittany Treweeke (Junior School PDHPE)
- Christopher Yallouris 5 White and
- Meagan Compton who will now be the Junior School Learning Support Teacher
Support Staff
- Maria Visconti (Accounts Payable Officer)
- Iannie Liu (Payroll Officer)
HSC Results 2022
As you would by now be aware, our HSC results for 2022 were solid, a huge improvement on the previous year’s results and reflected the hard work of teachers and students. The tracking and targeting of students in the cohort meant that a majority of the boys worked hard right up to their HSC exams irrespective of whether or not they achieved an early offer at a university.
In a cohort of 165 students, there were 61 Distinguished Achievers who recorded 140 Distinguished Achievements (B6 or E4), two All-Rounders (Oliver Thomas and Alexander Turner Jensen) and three Top Achievers: First in the State in VET Construction (Joseph Challita), Ninth Business Studies (Matthew Vucic).
As far as we know, there are 41 boys who have received an ATAR above 90 (26% of the cohort) and 50% of the ATAR candidates achieving an ATAR of 80 or above. A more detailed HSC report will be published shortly.
The Dux of the College is Steven Dann and Proxime Accessit is Matthew Vucic. These results are something to really celebrate. Congratulations to our students and to all staff for the excellence in learning and teaching. I look forward to acknowledging their efforts at the upcoming High Achievers' Ceremony at the Quaycentre. We should not lose sight of the fact that we are an inclusive, comprehensive school with very moderately priced fees in comparison to other boys’ schools that we are inevitably compared to. Schools’ rankings vary from year to year to reflect the different cohorts in each school. At St Patrick’s, we have been in the Top 150 schools each year for over 20 years, which is not a claim many schools can boast. We look forward to celebrating our High Achievers following our Opening College Mass on Friday 10 February at the Quaycentre at Homebush.
Home-School Communications
From time to time, parents/carers need to make enquiries or lodge a concern about their son or a matter pertaining to their enrolment here. My office receives hundreds of calls from parents and carers wishing to speak to me directly. I only wish I had the time to call you all back! There simply aren’t enough hours in the day. And even if I had more time, when I do contact parents/carers, it’s in regard to a matter that I have no background knowledge about. I am often off-site at meetings and other commitments and often a week will go past before I can address the matter.
I urge parents/carers to read the table below and when a matter arises, that it is taken up with the relevant person whose job it is to oversee that activity/group of students/curriculum area. If the matter does not get resolved, escalate it to the next person in seniority. Ultimately, if matters cannot be resolved or they are of an urgent and serious nature, they will come to me, and I will contact you.
Allow for 48 hours from when you leave a message via phone or email. Teachers’ primary duty of care is the delivery of classes and in the ‘back-end’ of teaching and the teachers can often be out on professional learning, on excursion with another year group or at home unwell.
Area | Initially | Then | Finally |
| Curriculum | The Subject Teacher (Secondary) or the Class Teacher (Junior School) on aspects of your son's progress in a particular subject area, the content of a particular subject, performance in a particular assessment, conduct in a particular class | Heads of Department (Secondary) or the Junior School Curriculum Coordinator in matters such as placement of pupils in classes, overall assessment/testing policies, teaching programs | The Director of Curriculum or Director of Junior School on matters such as formation of classes, a boy's overall curriculum pattern, College assessment/ testing policy, selection of subjects |
| Wellbeing | The Homeroom Teacher (Secondary) or the Class Teacher (Junior School) on particular aspects of your son's overall academic, social, physical and spiritual development within a particular year, including matters such as discipline, peer relationships, attendance | The Year Coordinators (Secondary) on ongoing aspects of your son's overall academic, social, physical and spiritual development within a particular year including matters such as discipline, peer relationships, attendance, teacher-pupil interaction. Also available are the Careers Advisor and College Counsellors | The Deputy Principal, Director of Wellbeing or the Director of Junior School |
| Co-curricular | The team coach or Manager in Charge (MIC) of the activity on particular matters relating to team training sessions, team expectations, selections and venues | The Head of Sport or the Junior School Coordinator of Co-curricular on general College policy relating to co-curricular and extra-curricular expectations, sports played, team selections | The Director of Co-curricular |
| Fees / Finance | The finance office on particular questions relating to fee accounts | The Director of Business Services on general College financial policy, all matters relating to fee accounts | |
| Public Transport | The College Receptionist for bus/train enquiries | Deputy Principal |
SPC App
A reminder that we would like you to download the College app and learn to navigate it. The most important thing I can stress is that to avoid being overwhelmed by push notifications, go into Settings and set your Subscriptions. That is, the current year that your son(s) is(are) in. The Co-curricular activity he is involved with. For example, if your son was in Year 7 last year, and this year he is in Year 8, you must manually amend your subscription from Year 7 to Year 8.
Most communications will be made using the app and it should be referred to as the “source of truth” as opposed to the misinformation that often is shared via Parent WhatsApp groups.
Links to the Parent Lounge and Student Café are there for convenience as is the 2023 College Calendar.
Community News
Congratulations to Mr Istifan and Ms Mansour on the safe arrival of their daughters during the school holidays.
In Memoriam
It is with the sadness I advise the passing of our dear staff member, Mrs Eliana Barnes (Uniform Shop). We pray for the repose of her soul and keep Mrs Barnes’s family in our prayers at this difficult time.
Mrs Annemarie Cremen (JS) also lost her beloved mother, Mrs Thelma Roll, just before Christmas.
We pray for the family and friends of Old Boy Frank Megale (’96) who suddenly passed away in early January. Frank attended St Patrick’s with his brothers Tony (’90) and Joe (’89) and was beloved uncle to Marcus Megale (Year 6), Sebastien Garzaniti (Year 11) and Tyron Garzaniti (Year 9).
We keep the Svoboda family in our prayers, particularly Matthew (Year 12) and Marcus (Year 9). Their grandmother, Anne Russell died on 21 January aged 86. She was the much-loved mother of 6 children and 21 grandchildren. A life well lived!
We also pray for Logan (Year 10) and Old Boy Connor (‘20) Barry who lost their beloved pop, Tony Smith in the last week.
We keep in our prayers Assunta Terrone and her family, beloved grandmother to Leo and Daniel Terrone (Year 10) who passed away recently after suffering from illness the past 6 months. She will be greatly missed.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
A Prayer for Our Students at the start of the 2023 school year |
|---|
I pray for:
Strength - that God gives them the strength to do what they need to do each day.
Courage - that they will be brave as they face the challenges that are before them.
Peace - that their hearts will be calm and peaceful as they go through their day and in their sleep at night.
Provision - asking God to provide for all that they need - for stamina, spirit, and finances - for each day.
Direction - that they will be led to embrace what is good and right.
Protection - that God keeps them safe in this increasingly unsafe world and protects them from harm and wickedness.
Joy - that God fills them with the kind of bliss joy that can only come from the Divine.
Compassion - that they will show compassion on those in need and who have less than they do.
Justice - to give them a sense of justice to stand up for what is right and to defend the weak.
Wisdom - that they will grow in knowledge and understanding.
Hope - to give them the hope that comes from above - the kind that far exceeds what we have in the here and now.
Love - that our children are filled with the love of God. That they will know how deeply they are loved, and that love will overflow onto others.
|
Dr Vittoria Lavorato
Principal
SPC boys can do anything!
**except divide by zero