Farewell Year 12
As the last day of Term 3 arrives for all students, it is particularly momentous for our Year 12 girls. The end of Term 3 represents the end of their school lives. They formally graduate from Santa Sabina College with their final assembly, evening Mass and presentation, and dinner tonight. They will complete their HSC exams early next term, and join us of course for College Speech Night in November. I take this opportunity to wish this wonderful group of young SSC women every success in their exams and lives beyond school. I thank them for the way they have conducted themselves in the last weeks of term, and assure them of the prayers of the whole community as they take their leave. I also thank their teachers for their exceptional commitment. They have challenged, inspired and supported their students, and deserve the accolades and appreciation shown to them in these final days. Finally, thank you to the parents of Year 12 who have walked alongside their daughters from their first days of school to their graduation. The success of our students would not be possible without the support of both parents and teachers working together.
Exceptional teachers continue to learn. So it is very appropriate that I acknowledge and congratulate Ms Rachele Rugiero, Gifted Education Coordinator and Science teacher (Years 6-12), and Mr Luke Carr, Year 1 teacher and Primary Coordinator, on their Burwood Rotary Teacher of the Year Awards. The reasons for their success are evident in the following citations:
Ms Rachele Rugiero is a passionate educator who encourages students to be creative and inquisitive, to believe in their capacity and push boundaries particularly as an advocate for young women in STEM.
Ms Rugerio has taught science at Santa Sabina College for more than 16 years. Since 2017 she has also taken on the role of Gifted Education Coordinator and coordinated the many activities the College provides for our gifted students, across all disciplines, who need enrichment within and beyond the classroom.
This has seen Rachele work with many of our students individually and also build industry partnerships where mentors are developing essential relationships between our gifted learners and the community to create diverse learning opportunities beyond school in various capacities.
This has seen our students involved in research projects with University of Sydney scientists, and our SSC Coders work with IT specialists to create apps for ‘Tech Girls are Superheroes’ annual competition which saw them named NSW champions in 2017 and are presently finalists for 2018. Engineers from our community assisted in the preparation for our Science and Engineering Challenge teams who travelled to Newcastle to compete in the recent State
Championships and selected students have been workshopping with academic experts in areas such as climate change, music and philosophy discovery workshops.
Rachele is a science and education graduate student from Sydney University. As an educational leader Rachele has developed an accredited course in ‘Gifted Education – Responding to the needs of High Potential Learners through Identification and Differentiation’ that sees her sharing her expertise with her teaching colleagues. Finally, Rachele’s expertise in educating girls has been acknowledged with her invitation this year to be a community member of the Admissions Committee for the University of Sydney Medical School.
We commend Rachele as an exemplary educator who makes a difference for our students and is committed to building community links to enhance their learning.
Luke Carr is committed to and passionate about caring for our environment. He formed an ‘Eco Warriors Team’ and together initiated and implemented a series of projects to help our community to be stewards of the environment.
These projects included herb and vegetable gardens, composting, the creation of a beautiful frog pond, recycling initiatives and a student mathematical investigation, titled ‘War on Waste’. This aim of this investigation was to determine the amount of food waste in our school from a mathematical view point.
It has been wonderful to see the learning going beyond the classroom with students taking their learning home. Some have questioned their parents about how they recycle, reuse and reduce and have suggested ways to improve this in their household. A number of students have started composting their food waste at home and have inquired about getting a worm farm from their parents. The students have shown a genuine interest in making a difference to the environment because of these projects.
It is important for us all to take responsibility for the environment and Luke has assisted our community to take a shared responsibility to care for our environment and ignited passion and enthusiasm among the students.
Congratulations Luke!
Luke was also the recipient of one of last year’s College Board Teacher’s Scholarships, and has returned from his studies in New York where the focus was on powerful mathematics instruction. Luke’s participation in the “Mathematics in the City” workshop will enrich our mathematics units of inquiry in Del Monte.
Best wishes to Mrs Angela Thomas, Head of Teaching and Learning 6-12, as she heads off to Singapore to complete her Asia Education trip as a recipient of last year’s College Board Teacher’s Scholarship. It is a core strategic goal to build the capacity of all of our teachers through mentoring, tailored professional learning, and through special opportunities such as this Board scholarship. Teachers are learners too, and it is vital that our students see lifelong learning demonstrated by their teachers.
Two groups of Year 11 students are embarking on their immersions to South Africa and the Solomon Islands. They are led by Sr Sheila Flynn OP, Ms Annette Janssen, and Ms Brittany Poynting, and Ms Sarah Tynan and Ms Julia Chmiel respectively. Our prayers and very best wishes go with them as they immerse themselves in the lives and cultures of our near and far neighbours. Immersion is a challenging but rewarding experience, and stretches the hearts and minds of participants. The community looks forward to following their journey through social media. Keep an eye on our Facebook page if you’d like to see updates while the students are away.
While our senior students are preparing for these significant life ventures, our youngest students in Prep are engaging in their own experiential learning. It was wonderful to see their excitement at the success of their very own veggie garden. This is their message to you:
“We grew these carrots in our vegepod. Please feel free to take one. Love Prep”
