海角大神

This last edition of The Lighthouse for 2022 marks the end of a rich, but demanding, year as we have tried to return to what we remember as normal. Of course, the year has provided us with a raft of challenges as we continue to live with COVID-19 and not everyone has found the return to schooling in person easy. My thanks to the efforts of all members of our community for maintaining great energy amidst higher than normal levels of absence due to illness. I am sure you will agree that we are blessed to have such generous staff who want to see your children flourish at school.

We recently gathered with our graduating class for the last time for their Valedictory Dinner at the Pullman on Albert Park. It was a joyful celebration. I took this last opportunity to talk to the students on a theme from an episode of The West Wing in which the President comments 鈥渄ecisions are made by those that show up.鈥� He is talking about voters, but it can be extended to include almost any human activity that relies on some level of volunteerism. Volunteers are the foundation of our social support networks and at this time of year we are especially grateful for the work of our local St Vincent de Paul branches. Thank you to all who have contributed through our Wishing Tree, or other opportunities, in our efforts to share joy this Christmas. Once again, our request for gifts has resulted in a very generous response. 

Thank you especially to our College Chaplain - Fr Dispin John - who gives so generously of his time to the students and staff of our College and has celebrated mass with us over the year. As we enter our Advent Season, we wait expectantly for the birth of our saviour and the joy this brings. I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe holiday.

College Reception - change of location

Please be aware that College Reception is now located in the Middle Years Building adjacent to Great Ryrie Street. All visitors to the College should sign-in at this point. Visitors with a pre-arranged appointment in the Senior Years Building can proceed directly to the Senior Years Office to sign-in. Visitors attending the Wurundjeri Trade Training Centre (Cafe9) will be signed in at the door of the WTTC. As part of our child safety protocols, it is important that during school hours all visitors have signed in and are displaying the label that identifies them.

Celebrate Excellence @ 海角大神

Congratulations to all students who have achieved excellence this year. We look forward to acknowledging your achievements at our Celebrate Excellence Evening on Monday, February 20, 2023. More information will be provided when school resumes. ATARs will be available for VCE students on December 12 and we will share a summary of these results around this time. We also look forward to sharing results of the At East Awards for students undertaking School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships.

Student Leadership Team

Congratulations to the following students on their selection in the Student Leadership Team for 2023:

College Captains: Chloe North-Coombes and Matthew Azzopardi

Vice Captains: Brooke Tudor and Thomas Scutt

College Ambassadors: Lucy Kinsman and Jay Tolentino

College Advisory Council: Rhys Cameron 

Music Captains: Seth Thompson - Contemporary, Julia Peterson - Band, Nicholas Zito - Vocal

Sports Captains: Ava Campbell, Leila Hedderwick, James Dempsey

Year 9 SEB

Our Year 9 students were able to participate in the final Special Education Block, City Experience and Camp this week. These types of rich experiential learning opportunities are a great opportunity to test the Year 9 core value, perseverance, and it has been great to see the students participate with such enthusiasm.

50th Reunion

I had the pleasure of welcoming a group of past students celebrating their 50th reunion back for a brief tour of the College over the weekend. As memories came flooding back, there was much discussion about how the College has changed over the last five decades. It is important to remember that the wonderful learning environment that we enjoy today came from humble beginnings and to be grateful to those founding families, many of whom remain connected to the College.

Year 7 2023 Orientation Day

Next Thursday we will welcome the graduating class of 2028 to the College for the first time as they take the next step in their transition into 海角大神. We hope that each student is looking forward with great anticipation to commencing their secondary schooling and joining the 海角大神 community.

Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program

Congratulations to Year 10 students, Ashley Enright and Ella Enright, who have been selected for the University of Melbourne Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program, Class of 2024. Successful applicants of the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program will become part of a supportive university community and peer network through a tailored program of events and activities. 

Farewell

There are a number of staff retiring at the end of this year and it is fitting to acknowledge them and say thank you for their service to 海角大神 College: Ms Julia Buczkowsky, Ms Ping Drew, Ms Sharon Harte and Mr Rob Smith. There are also a number who have resigned to pursue professional opportunities elsewhere and we wish them well in their new endeavours.

海角大神 School Advisory Council Vacancy

We seek a suitably qualified candidate to join our School Advisory Council in the role as  "parent member with financial expertise" to replace Mr James Burston, who finishes his term this year. This role would include membership of the Finance and Risk Sub-Committee. If you would like to be considered for this important role on our School Advisory Council please contact principal@aquinas.vic.edu.au or 9259 3008. More information about the School Advisory Council is available on our website: ...

Commencement Dates for 2023

Monday, January 23- Main Office opens

Friday, January 27- Senior and Middle Years Office opens, Teaching Staff commence

Tuesday, January 31- Year 7 New Families Information Evening

Wednesday, February 1- Year 7 and Year 12 commence

Thursday, February 2- All students return

Term Dates 2023 - Students

Term 1: Thursday, February 2 (Feb 1 Year 12 & 7) to Thursday, April 6

Term 2: Monday, April 24 (Parent/Teacher Interviews - no classes) to Friday, June 23

Term 3: Tuesday, July 11 to Friday, September 15

Term 4: Tuesday, October 3 to Tuesday, December 5

Darren Atkinson
Principal

As the end of the school year approaches I would like to acknowledge those who have worked hard to improve learning at 海角大神 in 2022. Schools are organised to support students and their families in achieving their goals. We work with families to help young people to shape and achieve their vision for the future.

The students, of course, see this as one of the important aspects of schooling and this is because the developmental and the social are very close to the same thing, so while goals are important, friends and enjoyment are, as they should be, immediate. 2022 has allowed students to return to face to face learning for the year, and while this has not been seamless, they have worked hard to adjust to the environment.

Parents have supported the students and the College, encouraging our work, recognising the successes and the challenges and doing the hard yards of rebuilding routines at home. It is a difficult thing, a routine, and they don't come naturally to most of us, but it is worth the work.

Our staff have met the learning challenges head on. We recognise how hard it is to build a routine when students and colleagues have been absent, when familiar classroom practices don't immediately work and when whatever was planned did not quite eventuate. They have worked collegially, supported each other and the students to ensure that they can achieve. 

The learning partnership of students, families and staff have faced obstacles this year and have worked assiduously to meet those challenges. We will be stronger for it in the future.

Michael Box
Deputy Principal Learning

Advent

In this last edition for the year, I would like to reflect on the meaning and purpose of Advent. Earlier this week I read a Loyola Press article by Joe Paprocki and I am sharing the beginning now as he brings our focus back into the meaning of Advent:

Did you survive Black Friday? I hope so. Come with me now into a much safer and more loving space—Advent.

Advent is the antithesis of Black Friday.

Black Friday is all about scarcity, limited opportunities, and fear of missing out. It is about chaos and frenzy. Everything about Black Friday screams 鈥淢E!!!鈥�

Advent, on the other hand, offers the promise of abundance and hope. It is about calm and peace. It is about recognising that it is, in fact, not about me. Advent celebrates the dawn of an era—the coming of Jesus—marked by uninhibited selflessness: a new kind of love found in Jesus Christ.

Advent is about preparing - how do we prepare? Food, guests, gifts, cards and the list goes on. But are they the key preparations or the ones that just distract us from what is important? Imagine Mary and Joseph鈥檚 preparations; travelling a long distance, trying to find shelter and rest with a new baby on the way. Needing to rely on the compassion of others to help them.

In today鈥檚 world, could we be those people, the ones with compassion, to help those in need along their journey? This season, may your lives be filled with peace, love, hope and joy. May you also have the opportunity to share this with not only those you love - but also those in need who you meet.

Tania Grace
Assistant Principal Mission

鈥楾is almost the season to reflect on the year that was, and as I look back on 2022, I feel privileged to have been gifted with wonderful memories alongside our 海角大神 College community. While no year comes without its challenges, our dedicated staff have once again proven their ability to overcome any obstacle with grace and positivity. Like our current Year 7s, I too have had a 鈥渘ew beginning鈥� at 海角大神, with my first full year on campus since commencing in 2020. I am looking forward to working on new projects with our staff and students next year.

While most of us will greet each other back on campus in 2023 with holiday tales, the new year will mark a new chapter for others. I鈥檇 like to take the opportunity to farewell our departing and retiring staff as they move on to new endeavours. We thank you for sharing your talents and choosing to be a part of the 海角大神 community. We hope that you keep in touch, knowing you will always be a part of the 海角大神 family.

I wish you all the very best for the Advent season and the New Year.

Take care and be kind, always.

Gina Goss

Assistant Principal - Staff

Senior Years Report

2022 has been a year of readjustment and reintegration into school routine and life. Students have re-familiarised themselves with the sights, sounds, routines, people and expectations of full-time on-site learning.

Along with returning to the familiarity of full-time on-site learning, there has also been new developments in each senior year level. These have included the Year 10 Gala Ball and Futures Week. The return of camps for Year 11, including the introduction of the Victorian Tour. Year 12 students were initiated into the new format for Generalised Achievement Tests (sorry it wasn鈥檛 as exciting as the Year 10 and 11 changes).

As with all new developments, the latest programs have been reviewed by either staff or students. A survey of Year 10 students revealed strong support for the changes made to the Year 10 Gala Ball. Three out of four students rated the evening from great to the best night ever and 85 per cent supported the black and white theme. In the comments section, students reported that their favourite part of the night was being able to dance with their friends. They also recommended more dances to be included in the program, as well as enabling the opportunity to dance with everyone across the night, rather than just one circle. We look forward to the new format continuing in 2023.

As we conclude the year, I would like to thank the staff for their creativity, time and effort in designing and implementing the new programs and events and providing crucial opportunities for social interactions and personal development. Thank you to the many parents who have given their time to oversee the organisation of the Gala Ball and share their expertise during Futures Week. Without your time and support, many of these programs could not run, nor would they have the variety of experiences. 

Finally, wishing everyone a warm, peaceful and safe Christmas and summer holidays.

Rachel Crawley
Head Senior Years

Middle Years Report

Whenever I hear students (and parents) talk to me about the 鈥榩opular kids鈥� or 鈥榟e鈥檚/she鈥檚 popular鈥� I tune out for a brief second and hear our Senior students Theo Leavey and Brooke Tudor belting out the song 鈥楶opular鈥� from the Broadway Musical, Wicked at our Musical Showcase this year. One of the many negative-messaged verses that Theo and Brooke poisoned us with that night was…

They were popular! Please!

It's all about popular

It's not about aptitude

It's the way you're viewed

So it's very shrewd to be

Very very popular

Like me!

Mind you, it is very catchy! As is the regularity of hearing students/parents refer to 鈥榩opular鈥� kids or groups. I recently heard psychologist Lisa Damour describe two different kinds of 鈥榩eer鈥� or 鈥榗lassmate鈥� popularity. I will call them P1 and P2 (cue Banana in Pyjamas music!) 

P1: Teenagers that are kind, inclusive, not a pushover, charismatic and fun to be around.

P2: Teenagers who are willing to be mean to gain social power. And everybody knows it.

Everybody knows the difference.

The advice that she gives is that when the term comes up at home, a good question to ask is, 鈥渢hat person you're talking about, are they popular because everyone likes and respects them, or are they popular because everyone is scared of them?鈥� It is very likely they will know the answer! Bringing it up and making the distinction then gives your child permission to choose to avoid the P2s of the world. Very often that鈥檚 exactly what they want to do.

(By the way, the P2s are navigating their way too, they can grow into PP1s, (powerful P1s!) but maybe the Middle School won鈥檛 be their finest hours!)

As a well-earned break for the students comes around, they will get daily opportunities to make choices around who they socialise with in person and online. I encourage you to encourage them to make the right kind of popular choices over Christmas and throughout the New Year.

Phil Box
Head Middle Years

 

It's that time of year again!

It's time to enjoy a well-deserved break at the end of the year. It鈥檚 a time for sharing happiness and celebrating together, but celebrations and family time don't have to come at the cost of the environment. 

Here are some ways to have a sustainable festive season:

• Choose local and organic when it comes to food.
• Use re-useable bags when shopping.
• Make a donation to an organisation that supports environmental work and sustainable practices.
• Give a living gift of a plant that can be kept all year round.
• Buy eco-friendly gifts.
• Compost your leftovers or make a worm farm.

• Check the Christmas tree lights and decorations. Avoid lights, or use LED in your decorations to reduce your energy use for the season.
• Don't put unwanted gifts in the bin! Donate them or pass them on to another person.
• Turn off applications such as modems and routers when you are away from home for extended periods of time.
• Volunteer your time.

Chook news

Our favourites, Big Red and Nugget, have been missing from the school yard. Big Red is recovering and is feeling much better, especially with her buddy Nugget keeping her company. Janet, Cluck Norris and Popcorn have been laying well in the absence of the other hens.                                            

Karyn Myers
Environment & Sustainability Coordinator

It was great to have our annual 海角大神 Film Fest back for 2022 in the theatre for the first time since 2019.  Many would agree that films are best enjoyed within the "theatrical experience" of sharing with an audience.  

As always, we had a great variety of work ranging from Year 9 to Year 12, including both live-action and animation. These films represent weeks, sometimes even entire semesters, worth of collaborative work.

The entire festival can still be enjoyed online by clicking the following link and using the password AQFF22.

Please vote for your favourite in this year's People's Choice Awards. Voting closes today and the link can be found .

Sam Higgs

Teacher

Dear parents,

I am writing to seek your input into a review currently being undertaken on the Religious Education (RE) Curriculum in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. The review is being led by Ms Netina Giacco, Professor John Haldane and Professor Gerard O鈥橲hea.

A crucial part of this review is learning from the perspectives of school parents. To gather that input, I warmly encourage you to complete a survey on RE in Catholic schools.

The survey can be accessed and completed via this link: 

The survey questions are broad and open-ended, in order to allow you to provide as much or as little input as you feel appropriate. You can complete it with any, and varying, level of detail as you see fit. 

Contribution to the survey will be anonymous, although the survey does request some demographic information about you in order to contextualise results.

In acknowledging the challenges and pressures on everyone at this time of year, the deadline for responses has been set to December 20, 2022.

I am grateful for your assistance and support in this important work.

Dr Edward Simons

Acting Executive Director, MACS

Friday, November 18, we celebrated our 2022 Valedictorians at the Pullman on the Park. It was a wonderful evening shared with families, which marked an end to formal schooling for the 2022 cohort. We were honoured to introduce the Spirit of 海角大神 Awards and wish to congratulate the following outstanding students who received recognition:

Belonging: Seb Barnes and Ella Grigg

Stewardship: Tahlia Ling, Monika Heng and Rebecca Angus

Perseverance: Kaelan Boundy, Alexander Robinson and Liam Collins

Justice: Alex Raw and Amelie Walters

Compassion: Amber Majic and Dylan Tudor

Spirituality: Abbey Walsh and Ryan Webster

We were also delighted to share the Australian Defence Force Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award winner - Ann Marian Joseph, and the Australian Defence Force Future Innovators Award winner - Sam Leonard.

Congratulations to all of the award winners, as well as the 2022 cohort. We wish you well into your life beyond 海角大神.

Scott Buchanan and Crystal Delosa

Year 12 Level Leaders

Are you interested in hosting a student from France?

International trips are back! Since 2005, we have had a group from our French culinary partner school, , visit close to every two years. 

In 2023, students will be visiting for over two weeks from Tuesday, April 25 to Friday, May 12. We're now looking for 海角大神 College families to host a student.

This is a great opportunity to forge a relationship with a student from another country. Previous families have said it was a fantastic experience and still correspond with the French students, or have even visited them. This will also build connections that will assist 海角大神 students who plan to take up the opportunity to visit France on the Hospitality and French language tour at the end of the 2024 academic year.

海角大神 families who were hosts for the last visit were blown away by the experience and the lifelong change it made to their families and 海角大神 students.

鈥淚 would like to thank you for the beautiful opportunity to host a French student. The whole experience was extremely well organised yet flexible, and you paired up the students to hosts exceptionally well (in my opinion we had the BEST student!) If you need any help in the future with exchange students, our family would love to help you out again. Congratulations on a job well done.鈥� 海角大神 Host family 2019

The French students range in age from 16 to 18 years and all take part in English language classes as part of their studies. We ask the 海角大神 host families to make our guests feel comfortable in their homes and arrange travel for the French student to and from school each day. 海角大神 host families would also need to provide a packed school lunch on the days outlined in the itinerary. On other days, the French student will be buying their own lunch or have a special lunch provided.

The French students will be turning 海角大神 into a fine-dining French Restaurant again this visit and are inviting all 海角大神 host families to a complimentary gourmet dinner. 

Host families will need to be locked in by the end of February 2023 so they can start corresponding with their French visitor. If you would be interested in hosting a student please contact Owen Stott, Director, Wurundjeri Trade Training Centre stottom@aquinas.vic.edu.au.

Owen Stott 

Director, Wurundjeri Trade Training Centre

Congratulations to the following current and past students who received a Maroondah Youth Award at a ceremony on Monday evening at Karralyka Centre. Also a special mention to Isobel Mugamu for her live saxophone performance. We are very proud of all of these students and encourage them to continue serving their community. 

Creativity Award: 

Grant Young 

Leadership Award:

Chantel Koetsier

Maeve Wilkinson

Gabby Linton

Emer Heffernan

Rose Ennis

Ria Jijose

Perseverance Award:

Braydon Collins

Grant Young

Bassline Productions- FReeZA Crew

Adam Lee-Ercole

2022 Senior SWAT Program:

Riley Robinson

Natasha Ladd

Isobel Mugamu

Thomas Brown

Matthew Azzopardi brought home a silver medal for team Victoria at the School Sports Australia Diving Championships after dazzling in the 17-19 male and mixed synchro event in Brisbane last week.

The Year 11 student also just missed out on adding a bronze medal to his collection, following strong performances in his other three events.

Matthew has now represented his state for diving on three occasions and has competed in Brisbane twice.

"The School Sport Australia diving competition was an amazing experience," Matthew said.

"The competition ran for one week and I competed in five different events. Unfortunately I came fourth in three of them, but I did come home with a silver medal for synchro. 

"One of the events we competed in was a team event where each person does one synchro dive with everyone in the team.

"Team members are randomly selected, and I was matched with one person from Western Australia, one from New South Wales, and one from New Zealand. The event was so much fun and very different to what other competitions offer.

"We also had a day where every diver went to Dreamworld, which was a great day to bond with people from the other states.

"Overall the competition was so much fun and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it."

Well done Matthew!

This week, from Sunday until Wednesday, the 海角大神 Senior Boys' Volleyball team competed in their first tournament, the Volleyball Victoria Junior Open, which is Volleyball Victoria鈥檚 end-of-year major event. It was a long and exhausting four days, with some days requiring the team to arrive at school as early as 7:15am to make our morning game at MSAC. Some days we weren't back until 9:45pm after the conclusion of our evening game. The team played a total of eleven best-of-three set games across the four days, including a bronze medal match, which resulted in the boys bringing home some hardware.

The first day saw the team鈥檚 first match of the tournament at 11:30am against Melbourne High. We had three games scheduled for the day, all of which were against strong schools with a history in volleyball. It was a good start to test our skills. Even though we lost all three matches, I am proud that we came out with a set each against Monbulk and Nossal. The second and third days both had us at school by 7:15am, our earliest start across the tournament, with two and three games scheduled respectively. To the surprise of all the boys, we came out of Monday with straight sets against both Wesley and Nossal B, with great performances in both games. Tuesday was our closest and most frustrating day, with our rematches against the first three schools played. Coming into the day on a high note, we were determined to come out with at least a couple of wins. Unfortunately, we lost to all three teams again. We lost by one point in a tiebreaker to Melbourne (62-63) after the maximum match duration was reached, two points total to Monbulk, and sadly didn鈥檛 play well against Nossal. 

This heartbreaking day may have been the motivator for us to play our best three matches of volleyball yet on the fourth and final day. Our first match against Wesley ended swiftly in a straight sets win, but our focus was on the next game against Nossal B, who seemed to be performing better since the last time we met. We knew that if we were to beat Nossal B, we would be guaranteed a spot in the bronze medal match against Nossal A. Luckily for us, we played exceptionally well and secured that spot. 

Then came that fateful match. Scheduled for 7pm, we had a couple of hours to rest and get some energy into our systems. Even if we didn鈥檛 show it, we were all really nervous during the warm-up, knowing that we were about to face the team that we had struggled the most against throughout the tournament. Miraculously though, we played a phenomenal first set against our rivals, shutting them out in a 25-9 opener. Our defence and tenacity were key parts in keeping the ball in play and forcing Nossal into a panic. Coming out of this first set, we were pumped. We were playing exceptionally, and Nossal was under immense pressure, but the match was far from over. We once again started ahead in the second set, with a couple of great service runs racking in some points. We knew they wouldn鈥檛 go down easily, but we weren鈥檛 quite ready for their best server to almost tie the game at 20 points apiece. We started to worry, but after a timeout and quick words of encouragement from our fantastic coach, Mr Sartory, we were able to shut out the game with a beautiful string of points, earning us third place. We never would have imagined we would achieve this at our first tournament. 

The VVJO has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I am extremely proud of all the boys and the great improvement we鈥檝e seen in our game since Sunday. Our win over Nossal is the highlight of my sporting career thus far, and I cannot wait for the future of this team鈥檚 journey. 

I wanted to thank all of the assistant coaches: Ms Edwards, Ms Tukavkin, Ms Faulwetter, and Mr Tato for coming to help and support us on various days; Mr Brummell, for allowing us the opportunity to compete and supporting us in planning for the tournament; Sam Alvarez for coming to support and cheer for us every single day, despite having already graduated and been unable to play with the team; and most importantly, Mr Sartory, our extraordinary Glastonbury-loving coach who has given up so much of his free time to train us and mould this team in a mere six months to achieve bronze in their first ever tournament, and who continues to support us on and off the court.

Well done to all the players - Year 10: Matthew Anderson, Will Armstrong, Jarrod Diedrich, Troy Green, Declan Mooney.

Year 11: Alistair Jose, Jack Nahon, Ivan Tato-Guo.

And especially to our Year 7 player, Nicholas  Tanurahardja,

Ivan Tato-Guo

At 海角大神 College we have a strong reading culture, with students able to borrow an unlimited number of library books over the school holidays.

As the summer holidays beckon, it can be difficult to know how to keep children occupied. In our world of digital devices, kids clubs and friendship activities, consider adding reading for pleasure to your list of daily activities. Doing so will maintain your child's learning momentum.

In 2021, it was estimated that around 23 per cent of Australian children were not developmentally on-track with their language skills at school entry, and a staggering 44 per cent of the adult population lacked the necessary literacy skills for day-to-day life. Mercifully, our ability to learn is fluid. Researchers advocate reading literary fiction to extend one鈥檚 vocabulary, our comprehension skills, and verbal fluency (AEDC, 2021). 

Reading and storytelling is a conduit to learning, the development of empathy and critical thinking. It has aspects that work for all students.  Furthermore, telling stories is one of the most powerful mediums through which to influence, inspire and spread knowledge - forging connections amongst our community.  Indeed, before the days of radio, television and PlayStations, we often gathered to listen as someone read aloud for entertainment; such communal activities prompted discussion, speculation, and debate.

Notwithstanding, a crucial skill picked up when reading is the art of problem solving through guided interactions. In the following texts, learners are introduced to a variety of imagined, as well as genuine, problems and the thought patterns used to solve them. Through critical thinking and problem solving styles gleaned, children gain skills they can use in their own lives.

To enjoy stories of family, friendship and adventure, consider reading the following books:

 to find book recommendations via the Children鈥檚 Book Council of Australia website.

Whether you are planning staycations, long weekends interstate or days spent at home with family and friends, spread your wings and venture further afield by reading.

ARC library staff wish all parents and caregivers a relaxing break and enjoyable Christmas.

Mr David Scott

Director, 海角大神 Resource Centre