St Agnes Catholic High School

The Catholic Church in August has two Feast Days venerating Our Lady. These Feast Days are the Assumption and Our Lady, Mother and Queen. The doctrine of the Assumption was promulgated in 1951, with its feast on the 15th August. As was normal for the greater feasts, this celebration was echoed for a week afterwards on the 22nd August which is the  memorial of Our Lady, Mother and Queen, and marks the conclusion of that period of celebration.

We remember that the Blessed Virgin reigns in heaven together with her Son. She reigns not because she is in any way equal to God but because she is the Mother of Christ the King. Her privileges come from her willing agreement to become the Mother God and make our redemption possible. 

The Hail, Holy Queen (known as the “Salve Regina” in the original Latin) is one of the most well-known prayers about Mary. It is a prayer of petition, asking Mary for her prayers on our behalf. This prayer is said at the end of the rosary.

Hail Holy Queen Prayer

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy,

hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To you we cry, the children of Eve;

to you we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this land of exile.

Turn, then, most gracious advocate,

your eyes of mercy toward us;

lead us home at last

and show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus:

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Amen

On Friday 12th August,  Mrs Walters and I attended the Australian Education Awards 2022. This was a formal occasion at Pyrmont where Australia's top finalist educators from government and non-government schools gathered.  Mrs Walters was the winner of the Rising Star Award. This is an outstanding achievement and we are so fortunate to have one of Australia’s best teachers teaching at St Agnes. We are very proud of her. 

This award recognised the most outstanding teacher in a school in Australia who has been an educator for five years or less. The following criteria was considered in judging this category:

• Positive impact on students’ learning experiences and outcomes

• Commitment to professional development and collaboration with colleagues to address student learning needs

• Engagement with parents and the wider school community

• Demonstrating a commitment to the education profession and the potential to become a future school leader

Our Year 12, Class of 2022 enjoyed a  Wellbeing Day on 16th August. They had a great day and it was a time for the cohort to connect and enjoy some fun time together before the hard work continues. I would like to thank Ms Gale and Mr Di Ienno for organising the day, the Year 12 Learning Advisors and all teachers assisting and participating in the day.

Recently, Year 12 students submitted their major works, for Industrial Technology Timber and Design and Technology. HSC Markers will be coming to St Agnes in the coming weeks to mark the student’s Major Works.

On Friday, 2nd September, all members of the community are welcome to the St Agnes Inaugural Showcase of the Creative Arts Major Works. This will be held at the school from 5.00pm to 8.00pm. There will be a  gallery of Year 12 Visual Arts Major Works on display. The Showcase is an opportunity for all to see the final body of Art our Year 12 students have been completing this year. These major works will be sent off site to be marked externally after this event. There will also be live performances by Year 11 Music students and Year 12 HSC Dance students who, on the 15th August, had the practical component for HSC Dance, examined by external markers.  

Our School Assemblies are an opportunity to recognise the Academic, Community and Sporting  achievements of St Agnes students. Awards for achievements in these different areas are presented to the students.  The assemblies are also a time to communicate and share the major events occurring in the community. The school acknowledged and congratulated students last week.

The 2022 Trial HSC Examinations have now concluded and irrespective of which year of schooling your child may currently be undertaking, success in the senior years and especially the HSC is built on the foundations of hard work, organisation and learning from Year 7 - 12. 

Over the Trial HSC period, the teachers have observed a majority of students who are committed to their success; it has been impressive to see most students demonstrating a level of organisation, readiness and punctuality. This will set them up well for the HSC examinations which commence on 12th October.

Building exam experience, preparation and organisation is essential for HSC examinations and all of those important exams preceding them, require specific types of organisation to build exam experience. It is important to note that very strict rules apply for all schools in NSW surrounding exam procedures. 

We teach our students those rules and requirements, following them throughout all examination blocks. This is done so that students in Year 12 are confident, comfortable and organised for their exams and know exactly what they should expect. At St Agnes, we are committed to students building exam experience throughout the high school years. Our upcoming Year 11 Examination Block is an example and sees most examinations being for 2 hours for the 2 unit courses and 1 ½ hours for the 1 unit courses. Students need to gain genuine experience in being organised, resourced and in following examination processes and protocols to ensure success in the HSC.

Ultimate success in the HSC comes from the application of knowledge and skills across a broad range of topics covered in each course. It is not merely enough to know or understand specific content or to master a skill area; students need to be able to apply these to questions that will be unseen and require critical and/or creative thinking. 

Success in the HSC derives from an independent and driven approach to learning with clear and explicit support to focus and craft student’s understanding by our expert teachers. 

Time and experience has taught that often the highest learning growth occurs between the Trial HSC Exams and the HSC Exams if students put in the required effort and act of advice and feedback provided to them. Students and teachers will spend lesson time going through feedback and strategically target those areas that need the most revision, developing further those skills that need some refinement. Ultimately students should be practising past papers and then submit these for feedback. It is this action that has proven to be one the most effective forms of final preparation.

Top 10 Tips for parents to manage and communicate expectations about

schoolwork and results

If parental expectations are too low, students may not strive to achieve their personal best. If parental expectations are too high, this can contribute to high levels of student stress. So how can parents find the right balance? Some areas to consider are:

Understand your own motivations: Why do you want your child to achieve particular marks in their studies?  Is it because you have pressure from family/friends/society about what your child will achieve?  Do you want them to follow in your career footsteps?  Do you want them to have opportunities you never had as a child or young person?  Understanding your own motivations will help you find balance in your expectations of your children.

Help your children to set realistic goals: Keep talking to your children about what they want to achieve, in individual subjects, at school overall and in other aspects of their life.  Their career goals may mean they want to focus intensively on something like art or music, rather than maths or science.  Helping them to identify their goals will enable them to determine what subjects they need to focus on and what marks they are likely to need, which means that effort can be concentrated on the areas which will help them to achieve their goals. 

Be involved in your children’s learning: Throughout the term talk to your children about what they are studying.  Ask them to show you their bookwork and homework.  The more you understand about what they are doing and how they are going along the way, the better you will be able to set and manage your expectations.

Make sure you really communicate what you expect: Many students feel like they are not meeting their parents’ expectations.  Often this is a result of poor communication about expectations by both parties.  Reflect on your motivations (see 1 above) and think about how you communicate your expectations to your children.  Remember to praise them for the effort they make rather than the results they achieve, this way they are motivated to keep on trying, even when learning is difficult.

Develop an understanding of the school’s assessment and reporting structures: Assessment and reporting systems change over time and are different in different schools, states and countries.  Making sure you really understand what your children’s reports mean may help you to understand what they are actually achieving.  Sometimes students are excelling in certain skills or areas, but reporting structures may not highlight these.

Remember nobody is perfect: Even the brightest, most highly motivated child will struggle at times.  They may struggle to understand a particular topic or concept, or they may struggle with motivation, particularly for a subject they don’t particularly enjoy.  Problems with teachers or peers can also contribute.  It is unrealistic that anyone can work with 100%  effort all the time.

Provide practical homework and exam support: Provide practical help to your children with things like proofreading and reviewing drafts, checking work and listening to speeches.  Remember though, it is not your work, so don’t make changes, rather make suggestions and provide guidance.

Spend time together doing something fun: Make sure your relationship with your child is about more than homework and study.  Allocate some time to do fun things together.  This is the time in which your child is most likely to open up to you about the things that they are struggling with and you can work out how best to help them.  Ideas include going for a walk or run together, having a dinner date (even to Maccas) or having them show you the latest funny videos they like.

Support your child to do their best: You can do this by providing healthy, nutrient rich food; opportunities for exercise, rest and relaxation and an environment which is supportive of and conducive to study.   

Keep alert for the physical and mental signs of stress: Familiarise yourself with how your child responds to stress.  Do they withdraw?  Act out?  Work harder or stop working?  When you notice that your child is stressed provide them opportunities to discuss what is worrying them and work with them to identify how you can help them.  You may wish to involve the school counsellor, a teacher or tutor at this point.

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Mr G Kemmis

Assistant Principal - Learning Transformation

Michael Gradisar is a sleep expert from Flinders University. Here are his quick tips for improving your sleep. 

• At least an hour before bed, turn off video games, YouTube and social media. Try a movie, book or watch TV instead.

• Lower the brightness on your phone and computer screens at night. Apple’s Night Shift is one way to do this.

• If you find it hard to wind down, try a mindfulness exercise like one from the Smiling Mind app.

• Try to sleep the same amount every night. An extra hour, every now and then, is fine – but any more can confuse your body clock. Falling asleep one hour earlier is better than sleeping in one hour later.

• If you need to get up during the night try to avoid turning on bright lights and hop back into bed quickly.

• Avoid caffeine at least six hours before you go to bed.

• If you can, avoid napping during the day. 

Be part of a great opportunity coming to St. Agnes! The Faith In Action Team (FIAT) program is an initiative with a focus on growing our communities Christian spirituality through experience and practice. It involves engaging the school community through charity and living through the example of Christ in order to promote faith within our St Agnes community. 

We will be calling on students from Year 7-11 to be involved in this faith-based student body. As FIAT members you will be meeting periodically with Mr Goco and Mr Zucco, as a group, to discuss scripture, faith and charity initiatives. You will lead and participate in charity fundraisers, faith-based events in school and across the Parramatta Diocese. 

Mr Goco - Team Leader

Our Faith In Action Team, this term, will be partnering with the Jesuit Social Services (JSS), a social change organisation working to build a just society where all people can live to their full potential. 

Our school will be collecting food and raising funds for the JSS program Ignite Food Store, a store which provides affordable groceries for the Mount Druitt community. Our Year 9 and 10 members have developed a number of initiatives to promote donations and foods for the Ignite Food Store such as a food snail trail, bake sale and a house competition tied in with the food drive. 

This term our Year 9 and 10 students will be running a bake stall to call for donations to purchase goods for the Ignite food store. We kindly ask students and families, if possible, to donate any food items from the list below. All donations regardless of the amount will help someone less fortunate, so please feel free to give what is within your means.

• Coffee/Milo/Tea bags/Nesquik/Hot chocolate
• Breakfast Cereals
• Spreads - Honey/Vegemite/Peanut Butter/Nutella/Jams
• Cake Mixes/Sugar/Flour/Jelly
• Assorted long life milk
• Cordials/Juices/Poppers
• Muesli Bars/LCM Bars
• Biscuits –Sweet/Savoury/Rice cracker/Crackers
• Pasta Sauces/Simmer sauces
• Rice/Pasta
• 2 minute noodles/cup noodles/Cup-a-Soups etc
• Canned goods – Soups/Canned Vegetables/Ready to eat meals/Tuna/ etc
• Chutney/Relish/Mustard/Pickles
• Sauces – Tomato/BBQ/Worcestershire/Soy etc
• Mayonnaise/Salad Dressing
• Baby food/Formula/Baby wipes/Nappies – Large sizes (toddlers upwards)
• Household Cleaning Products/Laundry Powder
• Toilet Rolls/Tissues

Mr Zucco - Team Leader

Students in Year 7, this term, are learning about the Bible in the unit “Literary form of the Bible”  learning about the different books in the Bible and the literal and figurative meaning of the stories. Students have engaged in interpreting the meaning of Scripture and making connections with their own personal experiences.

In Year 8, students have concluded learning about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We have investigated the Church teachings on sin, healing, forgiveness and the stages of the Reconciliation process. Our next unit, they will be learning about the 'Religions of the World' where we will be looking at the Religious practices in Judasim, Islam, Hindusim and Buddhism. 

On Thursday, 18 August, three teachers and three students—Mr Di Lenno, Mr Mangion, Mrs Karafotias, Eva Norton, Olivia Solis, and Grace Valades had the privilege of heading out to Mt Druitt and Parramatta with the 'Vinnies Van'. On this night we offered food, drinks, warm clothes and blankets, and a friendly chat to all those who came and needed some extra support. The service is open to, not only, those living on the street but also those who are marginalized, socially isolated, and/or struggling financially, mentally, physically, etc. We are here to let them know that we care, we see their struggle, and they deserve help. When we first think of people experiencing homelessness and other kinds of struggles, we may think that they are violent or angry, but stereotypes like this lead us away from the truth. The people we meet on nights like this are friendly, extremely funny, knowledgeable, and just there to have a friend to chat to and receive support. It is important to not let negative stereotypes cloud our judgement and feelings towards others. We are all a part of the same community, and we all deserve the same opportunities.

Participating in Vinnies Van is an unforgettable, rewarding experience for all those involved. Not only do you get to help members of the community, but you also get to learn so many things—the kind of stuff you can find with a metal detector, the science behind religion, the varying experiences of people in our community. Did you know there are 32 possums in Parramatta Park? There are three to four in each tree and they love to be fed (carrots especially)!

I’ll always remember the people that I meet, their experiences, and the things I learn when I’m out with the Vinnies Van. To anyone who is on the fence about participating, I highly recommend volunteering! You can participate through the school in Year 11, or contact Vinnies themself when you are over 16. It is a positive experience that you will carry with you forever.

Grace Valades

Year 11 Student

Last Thursday Cadence Autagavaia, Shilohbella Tuuina, Jocelyn Graf and Talia Afungia attended PCYC Blacktown to practice the leadership Haka, followed by performing it with other leaders across 15 schools (representing over 531 students participating in the program) at Penrith Stadium. The leaders performed the leadership Haka with the key messages of unity, respect, self-worth and resilience. Students will be participating in an upcoming competition on 15th September 2022. We wish all the students the very best. Penrith Panthers have also uploaded a video of the performance for you to watch.

Year 10 Commerce students created a colourful, bustling marketplace in the playground last week. The food stalls were the culmination of their studies learning how to set up and run a business. Students had to manage the financial aspects, choose a product, and the challenge of having everything ready and making sales.Well done Year 10!!

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