Ave Maria College

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time for everything,     

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,     

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3     a time to kill and a time to heal,    

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,     

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,     

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6     a time to search and a time to give up,     

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7     a time to tear and a time to mend,     

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8     a time to love and a time to hate,     

a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 

This beautiful verse from scripture reminds us that in our hectic daily lives we must take time to embrace and cherish all of life’s precious moments.

The past few weeks have indeed been very hectic yet an enormously productive and enriching time for staff and students at the College.

Year 10 and 11 students have completed Semester One Examinations and all Year 11 and 12 students undertaking a Unit 3 and 4 sequence were required to sit the GAT on Wednesday, 12 June 2019. All students in Years 7-12 have been completing end of semester assessments in readiness for the Semester One Reports which are available to all parents via the Parent Access Module (PAM) now. Year 11 and 12 students were also given the opportunity to attend university tours, learning about course options and given the experience of a tertiary environment. Year 11 students took part in a Faith Formation Day on Tuesday, 25 June 2019, at ACU (Fitzroy), focusing on the theme of human dignity and fullness of life.

Last Saturday, staff and students departed on the Indonesian Study Tour for an immersive language and cultural experience. In the final week of Term Two, all Year 10 students are participating in Work Experience placements as part of their careers education program.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank and farewell Bernice Galligan who has replaced Deb Horbec whilst on Long Service Leave in Term Two and Colin Kong who is leaving the IT Department at the end of the term. Erika Zanini, Tony Spanti and Patrick Hogan are also taking Long Service Leave in Term 3 and we wish them a very enriching time of leave.

Staff have been focused on completing their S.T.E.P.(Supporting Teachers to Enrich Practice) conversations, reflecting on feedback from student survey data and classroom observations in order to work towards achieving their individual learning and teaching goal for Semester One. Much time and effort has also gone into completing assessment and reporting for all students by the end of Term Two.

As the semester draws to a close, I take this opportunity to extend a safe and enjoyable break to the Ave community for the upcoming holiday period. May you find time to relax, time to reflect and time to re-energise in the cosiness of the winter season, before the busyness of Semester Two commences.

Michelle Robertson

Student Leadership Seminar

On Friday, 21 June 2019 all student leaders in the College participated in a workshop led by our Year 12 Leadership Team. We invited Eloise Southby, Class of 1994 back to the College to speak about her journey as an Ave student to her professional sports career. Eloise is now a sports commentator, coaches State netball and has played for the Australian National team. She was also Co-captain of the Melbourne Pheonix team. Our College Co-captains, Eliza and Natalie interviewed Eloise with a series of questions which she openly answered. She shared her experiences as an athlete at the Commonwealth Games and students were able to view her gold and silver medals. The day was completed with planning for Ave Maria Day, where the leaders began to organise the days activities.

Attendance

A few weeks ago I wrote about attendance requirements for the College. It is important that your daughter attends school every day. Ave Maria College values the spiritual, academic and personal growth of each of our students. In order to support their engagement with education and maximize their potential we support the Victorian State Government’s aim of over 90% attendance of school days.

This week parents will receive a letter from Mentor Teachers if student attendance has fallen below 80%. I encourage you to work closely with your daughter's Mentor Teacher and speak to them if you have any concerns.

Mobile Phone Use

A reminder about our Mobile Phone Policy. Students who use their mobile during a lesson or at recess/lunchtime without teacher authorization will receive an Incident and have their phone confiscated for the remainder of the day. Phones will be placed in an envelope with the student’s name and be submitted to Student Services available for collection after 3.25pm. We are a mobile phone free school and students will receive an Incident if they use their phone during the school day. 

Public Transport- School Buses

It has been brought to our attention that some students who travel to and from school on buses are not paying for the service. It is imperative that all students ‘’tap on’’ when they get on the bus. This is not a free service and students will be fined by Public Transport Victoria Officers if they continue to get on the bus and not pay. If students do not pay for this service, we risk losing the buses that  are provided to and from the College. It is essential that all students are reminded to pay for public transport. This message will be discussed with students again at the commencement of Semester 2.

End of Term 2

As we come to the end of the semester I would like to thank all parents and guardians for your support with students. I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe break.

Angela Torelli

2020 Subject Selection

The Subject Selection process is an annual event that involves students in all Year Levels. Throughout the process students are required to consider their Academic Pathways and areas of interest, in order to select suitable subjects for the forthcoming year. This process varies depending on what year the student is in. The Subject Selection Evening will take place on Wednesday, 24 July 2019 from 5.30pm—8.30pm. This night is particularly aimed at students currently in Years 8, 9 and 10. A full schedule of the night will be communicated to parents and students at the commencement of Term 3.

VCE Seminars

Having completed all of the coursework for Unit 3 and already commencing Unit 4, our Year 12 and accelerated Year 11 students are now past the halfway point of their scored studies for this year. Over the upcoming holidays there are a number of externally facilitated VCE seminars that your daughter may wish to attend. Whilst some of these incur a cost, there are a number of free sessions. During these workshops students are often given a range of revision strategies and the common mistakes made in previous exams will be highlighted. The programs are often structured to assist students with learning activities that can reinforce the key knowledge and will enable students to plan and implement good study skills for the end of the year.

Some of the VCE seminar providers include ATAR Notes, VCTA -Victoria Commercial Teachers Association, TSFX – The School for Excellence and TSSM.

VCE Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews

The VCE Parent-Teacher-Students (PTS) Interviews are scheduled for Thursday, 1 August 2019. This is for all students studying a Unit 1 / 2 or Unit 3 / 4 subject. Please make a note of this important date. Further information will be communicated in Term 3.

Mid-Year Examinations

Mid-year examination results have been published and papers returned to your daughter. I would encourage you to look carefully at the feedback from her teachers on the Parent Access Module (PAM) and within the paper and discuss both her areas of strength and areas for improvement. Analysing the feedback and setting some Semester Two learning goals ensures that the examinations are an effective learning experience. 

Jessica Hall

Update from our Environmental Leaders

The 2019 Environmental committee are currently working towards creating a more ethical, and environmentally sustainable school, through a myriad of initiatives and ideas. The Pet Photo Competition in Term 3 will raise money for the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, a species Ave Maria has had a special and long-running relationship with, through a program run by the Melbourne Zoo. In addition, we've recently put in place a petition to remove Cadbury from the canteen, in an attempt to replace it with palm oil friendly, ethically sourced and vegan chocolate. To gain student body support, a chocolate tasting of the products we hope to replace Cadbury with will be held in Term 3. We are also putting in place small but important changes to improve the school's overall sustainability, such as posters reminding people to turn off the lights, posters reminding people to close the windows when the AC/heater is on, the removal of all unnecessary packaging from the canteen, a herb garden and posters reminding people of what can and cannot be recycled.

Abbey Crowley 12A and Georgia Wheaton 12E 

Australian Catholic Youth Festival

The group of students and staff who will represent the College at Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) in Perth from 7-12 December is almost finalised. If you’d like to be a part of it, please contact Patrick Jurd at the College patrick.jurd@avemaria.vic.edu.au no later than Thursday, 27 June 2019. 

World Refugee Day

The Year 8 social justice focus is refugees. The Year 8 leaders organised a drive of goods for refugees. While the Year 8 Mentor Groups did their own collection, there was also the opportunity for the whole College to donate to this worthy cause.

Patrick Jurd

As the term comes to a close, students are asked to reflect on the goals that they had set at the end of Term 1. Students were asked to create goals and to develop strategies to achieve those goals as part of their work in Mentor Period. The purpose of the strategies was to support students to put the goals into action.

In Mentor Period this week we are working with students to reflect on those goals. Part of the reflection is for students to review their progress this term. Students can measure their progress in multiple ways. Reports, examination results and assessment feedback all offer valuable insights into academic progress. Students can also measure their wellbeing progress by looking at their attendance at school, rating their mood or assessing their connectedness with their peers or other support systems.

Students will be asked to consider what helped them to progress and what challenged them. This reflection is important as they create new goals. We ask them to predict what will prevent them from making progress in Term 3 so that we can support them with strategies to overcome these obstacles.

One significant challenge for students is motivation. Often we start the term filled with good intentions, only to find it difficult to sustain the energy and enthusiasm of the first week. To support motivation we ask students to break their goals down into realistic chunks and to find goals that are meaningful to them.

While we often emphasize external rewards as a way of motivating us, it is important to note that these rewards can be a distraction and cause performance to reduce. This is called the “distraction effect”. Too much emotional or financial pressure to perform can distract from concentration when performing more complex tasks, such as preparing for assessments. If students are performing tasks they do not enjoy this will also lead to a reduction in performance, or avoidance of the task. We can support students by making their study spaces comfortable, by talking with them about what they are working on and by asking questions that might stimulate their curiosity about their work. Although school work does require discipline, studies show that discipline alone is not enough to support the best outcomes. When we show enthusiasm for their work we can encourage them to become more enthusiastic as well.

 Natalie Meddis

As quickly as the Term 1 holidays seemed to end, Term 2, and consequently Semester 1, draws to a close. This thrill-filled Semester has had its fair share of challenges, although more notably; moments of triumph, joy, and Empowerment.

As much as we would love to reflect on the success of our past few months of initiatives during our “12 Months of Empowerment” campaign, we feel it is quite important to get our gears into action and focus on what the close-approaching final leg of our captaincy holds. In retrospect of the past 6 months, we are incredibly proud of our entire Senior Leadership Team for their support and valuable input into our legacy to Empower the powerful women of Ave. We hope that even to the smallest extent we have made every Ave girl feel a bit more confident, loved, socially aware, mindful, and of course, Empowered.

The next few months will be a rollercoaster of emotions for us all as the year quickly comes to a close- especially for our fellow Year 12 group. So we encourage you all to savour and enjoy the time you have left, whether you are in Year 7 or in Year 12, or somewhere in between. Be confident, be courageous, be curious, and challenge yourself. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations, because that is where you will learn to thrive.

See you on the flipside! 

Natalie Cierpisz and Eliza Gollant

On Friday, 14 June 2019, our VCE Music Performance class gave the first performance in the beautiful Helene Province Atrium. With the addition of a Grand Piano, those in attendance were treated to wonderful music presented by our students.  

The repertoire performed was assessed as part of the Outcome for both Unit 1 and 3 students and was superbly performed at a very high standard. All who performed are to be congratulated for their effort in preparing for and delivering such an enjoyable evening. 

My thanks to Mrs Hanney, Mrs Roberston, Mrs Kerin and Mr Thompson for their support of the evening, as well as Miss Sims for her extra assistance and all staff and parents who were in attendance. 

We look forward to our VCE Music students performing during Semester Two.  It definitely promises to be an event not to be missed. 

Craig Minty - Music Teacher

On Tuesday, 18 June 2019, 18 Ave Maria College students participated in the 3km SCSA Cross Country competition at Yarra Bend. The conditions were far from perfect, being cold and wet throughout the day. All participants took it in their stride enjoying the experience of the day and working together to set up and pack up. Every student gave it their all and had a very positive attitude, showing fantastic sportsmanship, support and encouragement to each other throughout the day. Our Junior team placed 1st out of 12 schools, being the first school to get 4 athletes across the line.  Elizabeth Curtolo was especially speedy, placing 4th in the Junior section. The 4 Year 9 students competing in the Intermediate section showed great leadership throughout the day and ran very well finishing in the top half of all competitors. 

Rachel Fantauzzo - HPE Teacher

On Thursday, 30 May 2019, nine Year 10 students had the spectacular opportunity to attend the “Girls in Physics Breakfast” at The William Angliss Institute. Kicking off the brisk day at 7am with coffees in hand and spirits high, the students, accompanied by Mr Dulhunty and Ms Moran, travelled in the College minivan to the breakfast that blew their minds. Speaker Dr Suzie Sheehy, from University of Melbourne and Oxford University, explored the atom smashing world of particle accelerators, speaking on ‘Colliding Worlds: Using particle physics to cure cancer’. Dr Sheehy explained her meticulous work in designing these fascinating machines, how they are used to treat half of all cancer cases and how charged particles are enabling a more precise form of treatment: proton therapy. “Her speech was beyond astounding! It left me completely flabbergasted,” said Arijana Kekoc. The students shared their table with other high school students and two women who are at the beginning of their engineering and physics careers. The conversations and laughs shared between table groups were both memorable and eye opening. The excursion enlightened students about a variety of physics careers, some of which have been overlooked or we never knew existed. The breakfast was more than science and presentations, it was wondrous learning and an insightful glimpse into the possibilities of physics that women can achieve. 

Monica Trang, 10A

Earlier this term, 40 students studying Indonesian at Years 8-11 participated in the 2019 Sayembara Lisan Speaking Competition. Hundreds of students across Victoria took part in the competition which required them to complete three sections. The first section involved students responding to general conversation questions. The second section required them to read aloud a prepared paragraph based on a particular theme. The final section was an unrehearsed one, where students were asked a series of questions based on a theme they had researched prior to the competition day.

Students from Ave Maria College performed to a high standard and this resulted in 20 girls being chosen to attend the 2019 State Finals which took place on Saturday, 1 June 2019 at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre at the University of Melbourne. The finalists were:

From this group of finalists, three students were recognised for their achievements with Lauren Harb being awarded a “Highly Commended” in the Year 9 Continuing Section, and in the Year 8 Beginners Section, both Grace Williamson and Lucy Harrop also received a “Highly Commended”.

A huge congratulations to each and every participant of this event, for their fine work and exceptional standard. In addition, a sincere thank you and acknowledgment to Mrs Janides and Mrs Godoy for assisting the students throughout the competition period. 

Marisa D'Astoli-Carinci - Domain Leader: LOTE

The inaugural Ave eSports competition was held last week with over 30 girls participating in the qualifying rounds. Isabella Jessen, Ebonie Gattellaro, and Charlotte Durrington were crowned the Junior, Middle and Senior Ave eSports champions after winning their semi-finals. After a competitive final, Ebonie Gattellaro, 10A took out the inaugural championship to be crowned the Ave eSports Season 1 Champion.

Well done to all who participated. Ave eSports will return, with Season 2 being held next semester.

Fastest Lap Times in Qualifying

Junior School Qualifying

Middle School Qualifying

Senior School Qualifying

James Vella - Domain Leader - Technology

Stuck for ideas on what to read these school holidays?

Why not check out the latest books in the Helene Library.

New Books June

Too cold for you to visit the Library then login to our Wheelers eBooks to read or listen to a book on your device or maybe visit your local library.

The Helene Library is open to students during the holidays daily from 8.30am – 3.30pm.

Laura Pugliese, Helene Library Leader

The classes of 2014, 2009, 1999, 1989, 1979 and 1969 are invited to save the date for a reunion event at Ave Maria College.

Sunday, 4 August 2019

12.00pm to 2.00pm

High Tea at the College