SECONDARY SUBJECT COUNSELLING INFORMATION

Term 3 is the time when students and parents make important decisions regarding subject choices in preparation for future career pathways. These choices should be guided by student interest and success in preparatory subjects.

In Semester 2, students in Year 10 will be completing the Personal Learning Plan (PLP) as the first stage of their SACE Certificate. This is designed to assist students to identify possible career paths. Various Parent Information Nights are scheduled to explain the subject selection process and SACE Certificate requirements and the College recommends parents to attend these if at all possible.

Mr Anthony Vizaniaris and Ms Rose Coorey are available for careers counselling and Ms Leanne De Young will be available for advice on VET courses.

*Please note: Year 12 SATAC information will be delivered via video presentation which will be forwarded to Year 12 parents/caregivers

Mr Gavin O’Reilly, Acting Director of Curriculum & Assessment

LASALLIAN YOUTH GATHERING

In Week 10 of last term, seven of our Year 11 Lasallian Leaders along with Mr Robert Dempsey, Ms Catherine Pearce, and Ms Sharina Rabusic attended the Lasallian Youth Gathering in Sydney. Due to COVID, this was the first time since 2019 that Lasallian schools in the ANZPPNG District were able to gather in person.

Reflections from students:

“Lasallian Youth Gathering (LYG) was a four-day experience of faith, service, and community with its theme ‘Walking New Paths’ inspired by the De La Salle Brothers theme ‘Building New Paths to Transform Lives’. This experience did transform our lives as we were faced with meeting and interacting with other Lasallians from around the District.”

“All the guest speakers had important messages, however, the ones that stood out most to us were Franco De Joya as he shared a wise quote “Use your smile as a compass”, Brother Lewis, as he showed no matter what life you have come from, everyone is able to walk a new path.”

“Throughout LYG we stayed connected to the friends we made, and it was a great opportunity to meet other Lasallians and share our own experiences.”

 Ms Sharina Rabusic, Lasallian Campus Minister

THE YEAR 8 GIRLS DESIGN & TECH CLASS DONATION TO THE FLINDERS MEDICAL CENTRE MATERNITY WARD

During Term 2 Mr Pike’s Year 8 Girls class made sliding lidded boxes to donate to the Flinders Medical Centre Maternity Ward. Flinders Medical Centre staff then fill the boxes with gift items for families who have lost a loved one.

The girls applied their previously learned woodwork skills to produce a quality sliding lidded box of a specific size. The skills involved in this task were accurate marking out and measuring, machine use, accuracy of assembly, ensuring the box was square and sanding and finishing.

Once the boxes were assembled, students chose an appropriate image to laser engrave into the lid. With the assistance of Mr Pike each student then had to set up their image in Adobe Illustrator, adjust the size and image clarity before setting up the laser cutter ready to engrave. Students also laser engraved the base of the box with the message “This box was donated by St Michael’s College and produced by Year 8 Student (and their name)”. This was a nice message to personalise the construction.

Students enjoyed the task, they put a lot of effort into producing a sliding lidded box of excellent quality, understanding that it would be donated and was going towards a very worthy cause. The hospital was very appreciative of the donation and commented that the boxes were of excellent quality.

Here are some quotes from the students:

“In Design and Tech, we made hospital boxes which were such a fun and challenging task. We had to sand, glue, nail and laser cut the boxes. It was enjoyable constructing the whole box, especially the laser cutting, and it is so nice to know that they are going to a good cause.” –  Isabella Dragani”

“When making my box I enjoyed putting the parts together and I enjoyed picking out a image to go on the lid.” -Giorgia Bufo

Mr Darren Pike, Design and Technology Teacher

YEARS 7-9 WELLBEING CHARACTER STRENGTH FOCUS

Week 1: LOVE OF LEARNING

Love of learning is a strength that teachers love to see in their students, parents encourage in their children and employers seek to develop and nurture in their employees. It’s one of the strengths we celebrate this week in our Academic Assemblies, where academic endeavour and achievement are publicly acknowledged and congratulated.

Love of Learning is about being willing to learn knowledge or skills and the good feelings we experience while doing this. These new experiences enable us to learn or practice new things and give us the joy of learning for the sake of learning itself.

When we simply love what we are doing/learning, we can enter a state of flow where we forget time and can challenge ourselves to improve our skills and achieve mastery of a specific task/body of knowledge. The tasks don’t stress us out because we find them so enjoyable.

This week I visited Ms Oliviero’s Year 7 class to hear about some brilliant work they completed late last term. They had created Bitmojis (as per the photos) and represented their strongest three character strengths with them. While I was there, I asked the students what they loved learning and how it made them feel. Here are some of their answers:

Zara: I love learning about problem solving because it gives challenges where you have to think of ways of solving the problem.

Bianca: I love to learn about Art because it’s fun to create pictures using my imagination. It makes me feel calm and relaxed.

Poppy: I love to learn Drama as it provides me with a way to get away from all of the busy subjects for a while and makes me more confident around others and in general.

Shilah: I love learning about PE because it is fun and all of my PE teachers have been great and supportive. I love learning about English because my English teacher is my Pastoral Teacher and I have a very good relationship with her and in all the lessons time flies by.

Hannah: I love learning about Science and Maths as there are so many topics you can learn about and it gives me a challenge, which I like. I also love trying something new as it’s good to get out of my comfort zone.

Jasmina: I love learning Italian because I get to learn a different language and learn more about the culture and style. It makes me feel happy and excited that I have the opportunity.

Maya: Something I love learning about is Design and Tech. I love it because I get to create things and do hands-on tasks. I also loved having Mr Parker as my teacher; he was loads of fun. The lessons made me feel happy and excited.

Carissa: I love learning Maths because it’s the same in every country, all around the world. I feel challenged when I try a new problem, but it feels like I’m accomplishing something when I get it right.

Kayla: I love learning about how different sports are played and the nutrition part of athletics and performance. This interests me because I have a passion for sport and I want to know more about what’s out there besides the sports I play. Learning about nutrition will also improve my knowledge for the future. When I learn about this it’s something I’m engaged in, and I have fun; I feel interested and happy.

Hope: I love learning generally because of all the caring and helpful teachers that support us and because of all of the amazing subjects that SMC provides.

I would say these comments sum up Love of Learning well; there’s also strong evidence in these comments of perseverance, curiosity and flow! Also heartwarming to notice their gratitude!

A strong Love of Learning positions us well to explore our curiosities, flourish and become the learners and leaders of the world. It sounds like Ms Oliviero’s class is on the right track! Well done everyone!

Stay safe and well!

Mrs Tonia Carfora, Year 7 – 9 Wellbeing Initiatives Leader

WRITE A BOOK IN A DAY

Two teams, one Year 9 and 10 team and the other Year 7 and 8, will represent St Michael’s College by participating in this year’s Write a Book in a Day Event.

“Teams of up to ten have just 12 hours to write and illustrate a book that will be uploaded to an online library for children in hospitals around Australia. Students enjoy working creatively and collaboratively while taking on the more serious task of raising funds for childhood cancer research.”

To sponsor a team and raise money for the Kid’s Cancer Project, please go to one of the following links below and donate to a worthy cause.

SMC TEAM 1 Sponsorship link        Teams | Write a Book In a Day

SMC TEAM 1 Sponsorship link        Teams | Write a Book In a Day

Mrs Maria Pepe-Micholos, Head of Library