2008: term 1

K -12 Music Concert

The College’s annual Kindergarten – Year 12 Music Concert was recently held. This year’s theme was “Santa Goes to the Proms”. The community thoroughly enjoyed the musical extravaganza, which showcased the College’s large variety of instrument and voice ensembles (16), including the Middle School Choir, Del Monte String Beans, Chamber Ensemble, the Concert Band, Motet Choir and College Orchestra. The evening culminated in a grand finale with over 300 musicians and singers performing Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory).

Reconciliation 2008

The theme of the College’s Reconciliation program this year is ‘Walking Together – Looking for Possibilities’. Recently Darren Bloomfield, an Indigenous Artist, worked with 50 students across Years 6-12 who had the opportunity to paint their shoes under Darren’s guidance. Darren also hosted his unique painted shoes exhibition from ‘Walk-A-Mile In My Shoes’ in the Anselm O’Brien and Del Monte Libraries.  The Primary School students also worked with Darren who visited each classroom to share his creative skills.

Year 5 Camp

Year 5 had the opportunity to experience camp at Santa Sabina College’s Outdoor Education Centre, Tallong Campus, in the Southern Highlands. The students embraced new challenges such as bushwalking, orienteering and climbing the high ropes. New friendships were formed among peers and the students thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the Year 10 camp leaders.

Middle School Camp

The Middle School students (Year 6 - 7) recently attended Camp at Tallong Campus, the College’s Outdoor Education Centre located in the Southern Highlands. The program aimed to develop skills in outdoor education, leadership and self reflection. During the week of activities, students also participated in Speaking with Confidence, a Peer Relations workshop and a Reflection day.

Harmony Day

Harmony Day, which is about bringing people together to celebrate our culturally diverse community, was celebrated throughout the week of 25-28 March at Santa Sabina. The Teangi students enthusiastically organised a range of events which included a cultural talent concert, a multicultural cake/sweet stall and the wearing of orange lapel ribbons to show unity. Each day the canteen adopted a different cultural menu, with the delicacies including hokkein noodles, pastas, sushi and nachos. The highlight of the week occurred on Thursday when students came together for a K-12 Pastoral session on the Santa Sabina campus. This was followed by a tree planting ceremony. The students chose an olive tree as a celebration of the rich diversity that we have here at the College.

Grandparents' Day

Grandparents' Day on the Primary School Campus was a wonderful event for our whole community. The students proudly performed for their grandparents in class groups and shared their learning experiences with them in their classrooms. A beautiful morning tea was provided by the generous parents of the P&F. With over 400 grandparents attending, it was the biggest Grandparents’ Day yet!

Santa Sabina Students Perform in Musical

Seven students from Santa were in the cast of the musical “SHOUT” at Riverview College. The cast of young adults gave a sterling performance of this popular musical. The audience at the final performance was given the added bonus of Little Patty joining the ensemble for the grand finale. Congratulations to all the students on their fine performances.

Japanese Language Proficiency

Congratulations to the students in Year 11 and Year 12 Japanese Continuers who have undertaken the Japanese Language Proficiency Test at Levels 3 and 4 and received fine results. This test is conducted in over 40 countries with more than 300 000 candidates and provides an objective assessment of Japanese language ability against an internationally recognised standard.

EOWA Employer of Choice Award

Santa Sabina College has once again been named as an Employer of Choice by The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency. This award acknowledges the ways in which the College seeks to support women to achieve their goals and potential and work/life balance. Our policies and practices allow the College to retain excellent staff who are committed to the teaching and learning of our students, as when they return from Maternity Leave they are confident their children are being well cared for in the College’s Early Education Centre, Mary Bailey House.

Schools Clean Up Australia Day

The students at Santa Sabina College’s Primary School Campus are committed to keeping their school grounds beautiful. As a registered site for School Clean Up Australia students donned gloves to clean their campus. This event is part of the student’s theme for 2008 “Our Place in Space”. Each grade cleaned their allocated areas immediately after lunch and Strathfield Council collected the rubbish at the end of the day.

Science Achievement

The College is proud to acknowledge the achievements of a very talented Year 11 student. Brooke Simmons was placed equal 60th out of 117,788 entrants in The Australian National Chemistry Quiz. Students in Years 7 -12 from Australia, South East-Asia, Canada and the UK participated in the quiz, with Brooke scoring 29 out of 30. Brooke received one of 800 special Awards of Excellence.

Better Buddies

On the Primary School Campus, students are involved in a ‘Better Buddies’ Program. An initiative of The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, the program is designed to reduce bullying in primary schools. The program supports the Pastoral Care values of the College and focuses strongly on activities and strategies that reinforce positive and social values such as care and support, acceptance of difference, respect and inclusion. A Buddies Morning Tea was recently held to provide a further opportunity for the development of the buddy relationships. The Deputy of the Primary School was invited as a keynote speaker at the NAB Alannah and Madeleine Foundation to present our implementation of this program here at the College.

Year 6 Scientists

Year 6 participated in a CSIRO incursion, ‘Labs on Legs’, an interactive science program. The students became scientists for the day and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  The entertaining science and technology program focused on Physical Phenomena which covered areas such as electricity and electrical circuits, energy, gases, properties of light and sound, and magnetism.

Caritas Just Leadership Day

250 students from 28 schools attended the Caritas Just Leadership Day, hosted at Santa Sabina. During the day, students were challenged to think about the nature of leadership. A guest speaker from Vietnam spoke about the huge difference small projects make to the everyday life of people, like building a bridge over a river. Students enjoyed the insights, learning experiences and the day to learn from each other’s experience of leadership that the day provided.

NSW CCC Blues Awards

Two students from the Year 12 class of 2007 recently received a prestigious NSWCCC Blues Award for their sporting achievements. After extensive consideration the Blues Committee makes awards to a maximum of two students per gender per sport; Blues Award recipients are the ‘best of the best’ in their sport. Sarah Gleeson gained her Blue for Volleyball; Alicia Brightwell for Water Polo. Both students made outstanding contributions to Sport during their time at the College.

South Africa Fundraiser for WYD08

South Africa Fundraiser for

The College community provided wonderful support for the fundraising evening to provide the money to bring eight Yr 10 students and two Dominican Sisters from Montebello, the College’s sister school in South Africa to Australia for WYD08. A highlight of the night was the way the young ex-students, previous visitors to South Africa as part of the College's Immersion Program,organised the event and shared their many talents with the community.

Swimming Carnival

The strength of the community spirit at the College was evident at the Primary School and combined Middle and Secondary School Swimming Carnivals. Participation levels were high and the enthusiasm contagious as House Leaders motivated their Colour Houses to cheer and swim. Some ‘personal bests’ were achieved by our talented swimmers, many of whom have been selected for rep and invitation teams.

Celebrating what is right with the world

The Santa Sabina Pastoral Program for 2008 is “Celebrate what is right with the World” and was launched at College Assembly with a video presentation and support from the head of Secondary & the student leaders. The focus of the Program is to use a variety of activities to help students to: interpret difficulties, uncertainty and change in their lives as challenges rather than threats; recognize options and opportunities in their world; look for possibilities within themselves; to set and articulate goals; make wise and considered decisions; recognize the importance of others in their decision making and believe in themselves and their ability to be proactive in dealing with change in their lives i.e. a strong emphasis on personal responsibility to be the very best for the world.

2007 HSC High Achievers Assembly

At Santa Sabina College the HSC journey has been one of personal achievement and academic excellence.  It was with pride that the College acknowledged the achievements of 78 students in the class of 2007 who achieved 90 marks and above, in one or more of their HSC courses at an Assembly of the College community. This annual event acknowledges the commitment, talent and the individual successes of our students in the 2007 HSC. Special congratulations go to the seven students on the HSC Top All-Rounders List. This list acknowledges students who achieved a mark of 90 or above in 10 or more units in the HSC.

Sorry Day

Across the College, the community acknowledged in a variety of ways the historic apology by the Prime Minister to our Indigenous people on Wednesday 13 February 2008. Posters highlighting Santa Sabina College’s long history of involvement in Reconciliation were displayed on each campus, while at the Primary School a banner painted with the students' hand prints to spell “Sorry” was placed on the front fence.

Supporting Project Compassion

Year 11 Social Justice leaders attended the launch of Caritas’s Project Compassion at a luncheon hosted by the Premier of NSW at Parliament House in Sydney.

The students were inspired as they learnt more about the work of the Catholic Church’s international aid and development agency, Caritas, and by the guest speaker at the lunch, Fr. Joseph Okumu from the archdiocese of Gulu, in northern Uganda. Fr Joseph has 400 families who come to his house every night, seeking safety from rebels. About one and a half million people have been “displaced” by 20 years of fighting which has targeted children who are abducted from their homes and forced to be child soldiers.

Students from Santa Sabina will make donations and undertake activities during the 6 weeks of Lent to support Project Compassion and the work of Caritas to help fund recovery projects such as the one in Gulu, which provides support, counseling and rehabilitation for children who have been rescued.

Primary School Opening Liturgy

The opening of the school year on the Del Monte Campus was celebrated with Mass, the commissioning of the recently elected student leaders and the launch of the theme of the school year which celebrates Planet Earth.

Out of School Hours Care Centre

The College’s Out of School Care Centre (OOSH) has introduced Boxercise and Golf to its program. Facilitated by trained coaches, these new activities add to the wide variety of activities promoting a healthy lifestyle which are already available. OOSH operates before school from 7.00am – 8.30am, after school from 3.15pm – 6.00pm and during school holidays from 8.00am – 6.00pm. For further information contact the Director of OOSH on 9745 7790.

Celebrating the Start of the New School Year

The beginning of the 2008 school year has been embraced with excitement by the College community. For the Kindergarten students, the beginning of their educational journey has been marked with a keenness to explore and make new friends. For the Year 12 students, as they look towards the future, we assure them of our support as they commit themselves to their studies. We welcome all who are new to the Santa Sabina community, especially our new College Principal Ms Kate Clancy.

Celebrating WYD08 at SSC

World Youth Day is the Catholic Church's week of events for youth and with youth. It will gather thousands of young people from around the world in Sydney to celebrate and learn about the Catholic faith and to build bridges of friendship and hope between continents, peoples and cultures.

Dominican Welcome Week is a festival to bring youth with a Dominican connection  together from around the world in the days leading up to World Youth Day 2008. The program includes guest speakers, bands and live performances, dynamic discussion groups, inter-faith and inter-cultural activities and reflective prayer and liturgy. It will be held at Santa Sabina College on July 13 & 14 2008. The theme of our festival is “The Power of Two Feet”, focusing on the two feet of contemplation and action.  

To find out more, go to the Dominican Sisters' website at http://www.opeast.org.au/wyd08/index.html

or the World Youth Day site at http://www.wyd2008.org