Santa Sabina is pleased to offer the opportunity once more for students in Years 7-12 to participate in the NASA Space School adventure in 2018. An information evening will be held at the College, and a “save the date” notice will be sent to all parents by next Monday. As with the previous experience, there will be two trips: a Junior (Years 7-9) experience in the July holidays next year; and a Senior (Years 10-12) experience in December. As a member school of the Alliance of Girls Schools, our students will travel and learn with girls and teachers from a range of Sydney girls’ schools. We also hope to send at least one of our teachers for each of the trips. While the experiences have a very “STEM” focus, students also learn about the more generic skills of team-building, leadership and problem-solving. The feedback from the first trip in 2015 was very positive. We have received some very exciting news about this year’s HSC candidates and their nominations for possible selection in the HSC Showcases in Visual Arts, Design and Technology, Textiles and Drama. The following students have been nominated for possible inclusion in Shape 2017, the annual exhibition of a selection of exemplary Major Projects developed by HSC Design and Technology students: Clare Banzon, Brittney Beynon, Hannah Hill-Wade, Bernadette Macaraniag, Emily Muirhead, Anna Nowlan, Sarah Shore and Olivia Thompson. Emma Jacobs has been selected for inclusion in Texstyle, the annual exhibition of outstanding Major Textiles Projects developed by HSC Textiles and Design students. The Texstyle exhibition will be held at the Into Craft Live Show at Rosehill Racecourse in 2018 from 8 March to 11 March 2018. These nominationsconsolidate the place of SSC as a leader in Design & Technology education, particularly for girls. The following students have been nominated for consideration for inclusion in ARTEXPRESS 2018: Angeline Khoury Hairy Antoinette Sarah Shore Thou Shalt not Peeve Lauren Vicario How I learned to stop worrying & love the bomb. We offer a particular congratulations to Sarah Shore for nomination in two subjects – Visual Arts and Design & Technology. Finally the following Drama students – Alana Chapman, Jessica Cirignano, Emily McCloskey and Isabella Simmonson, have been nominated for their group performance, “Sabotage”, for possible inclusion in OnSTAGE, a selection of performances and individual projects from Higher School Certificate Drama students. Congratulations to all of these students and their teachers. Such success doesn’t derive from the final two years only. It begins from the very earliest years. Last week I was able to visit our Prep students and see examples of the PYP happening at this very young age. Students were working on inquiry projects, creating and making art, learning Japanese, and developing the early literacy and numeracy skills. One of the delights of my week was the invitation from students in Year 4 to visit their classroom and see their amazing igloo that they had created from milk cartons. They have worked so hard on this project following some initial design difficulties. They are rightly proud, as is their teacher Ms Leonie McLaren. Here is Ms McLaren’s description of the project: The students were then really excited to move onto making the igloo and there was much discussion about what would be a good size and estimating the number of milk cartons needed for the igloo. Students created a range of questions that were discussed surrounding the creation of the structure and we started collecting milk cartons. We asked other students to help us collect enough. Everyone was predicting, questioning and researching to find solutions to questions; how real igloos can be constructed and discussing strategy for our igloo. We began with a cardboard base. The students then began building but unfortunately the roof initially collapsed. The students were disappointed that we had failed to build the igloo. But that was when we talked about learning from mistakes, resilience and problem solving – we brainstormed what we thought went wrong and discussed possible solutions. We also researched online how other people had built milk carton igloos. We came together and made a list of how we should approach the rebuilding. We pulled apart the roof, and a few levels down, and began the rebuilding. Students had lots of ideas and we worked with their suggestions to create our current stronger igloo. The igloo has taken on a life of its own with ideas from the students and mathematical opportunities for learning about volume and capacity; estimation; patterns and algebra; geodesic domes. We have a question wall with maths questions from students and also a range of parents; grandparents; teachers and visitors to our classroom. The students are going to choose questions and research answers. We welcome any additional questions. Students also came up with structural questions that they will search for answers. Well done Year 4! Last week I was invited to a special forum for school leaders and parent bodies held at Facebook offices in Sydney. Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Head of Global Safety, based in US, met with us to discuss concerns or issues around young people’s use of social media, from an Australian perspective. In preparation for this meeting we conducted an impromptu survey with our Years 6-12 students to find out more about their use of social media, and the results will be of interest to you, I’m sure. Students replied constructively, and in significant numbers. Altogether 355 students responded, and only 2% of them indicated that they had no social media accounts.
Multiple reasons were identified for using social networking sites with the most popular being to keep in touch with family and friends. What was particularly pleasing was the 98.9% positive response to the question of whether or not parents were aware of their social media accounts. When asked about online bullying or trolling, just over 80% said that they had not experienced this. However 9% of students indicated that they had, and just over 10% weren’t sure. This is an obvious area for further education by both families and school to help our students identify what is acceptable and unacceptable online behaviour, and then ensuring that students know how to deal with this should it occur to them. I have attached the College Anti Bullying Policy so that you may discuss them with your children, and to support you in bringing any areas of concern to the notice of the College. Given that we asked students from Year 6 onwards, we are concerned that at least 36 students aged under 13 have either an Instagram or Snapchat account or both. The minimum age for holding such an account is 13 years. The only way that 11 or 12 year olds can establish accounts is if they are untruthful about their date of birth when they sign up. Please be aware that any social media sites that collect information about users are obliged to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner is a very helpful site for parents in discussing online safety issues with their children. We will continue to engage students about constructive and appropriate uses of social media. I conclude this update with news from “Opfam“ – the newsletter of the Dominican family. The most recent edition celebrates Dominican Family Day (7 November) – the Feast of all Dominican Saints. I quote directly from the newsletter: As we celebrate our collective feast day, and stand on the shoulders of great is it time to use our combined Dominican voices in the cause of asylum seekers and refugees
You are urged to contact your Local Member and the leaders of all parties. Malcolm Turnbull: (02) 62777700 Peter Dutton: (02) 6277 7860 Bill Shorten: (02) 6277 4022 POINTS TO MAKE MIGHT INCLUDE:
Dr Maree Herrett |