20 Years of being ‘Enlivened by the Spirit’

AQUINAS CATHOLIC COLLEGE MENAI

7th May, 2012 Vol.19.No.10

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

One cold evening during the winter season, a little boy about six was standing out in front of a store window. The little boy had no shoes and his clothes were mere rags. A young woman passing by saw the little boy and could read the longing in his eyes. She took the child by the hand and led him into the store. There she bought him some new shoes and a complete outfit of warm clothing. They came back outside into the street, and the woman said to the child, ‘now you can go home and be warm this winter season.’ The little boy looked up at her and asked, ‘Are you God lady?’ She smiled down at him and replied, “No son, I’m just one of God’s children.’ The little boy then said, “I knew you had to be some relation.” Whilst the above allegorical story that I recently came across could be been seen as overly sentimental, the students and staff at Aquinas rose to a similar challenge on Aquinas Day at the start of this term. As a result of their fundraising involvement some $3,000 has been raised to support a number of charities that are linked to our house patrons;

Edmund Rice Camps

Josephite Community Support

Lasallian Youth Ministry Projects

Nagle Centre for youth

In being so generous the students are living up the challenge they were set at our opening mass in February in reflecting on the theme of ‘Contemplating the Face of Christ in each other’ and in doing so, to ‘See Jesus Christ and you will see him in every human being.’ Such a successful day does not just happen and I would like to thank a number of people for making it so;

Mrs Nolan, for her preparation of the beautiful liturgy that started our day so well

Fr Phil our Parish Priest who celebrated mass for us

Mr Strudwick for his overall coordination of the day

Mrs McNamara for organising the highly entertaining Aquinas Day Talent Quest, that resulted in the students winning the event for the second time and with every indication that it may well be the start of a dynasty on that particular trophy

The Office Support Staff who organised the considerable financial and administrational needs of the day

Mr Hannigan and Mr Ricaud who ensured the facilities were ready for the onslaught of 960 teenagers and were restored [mostly] by the end of the day

Mr Nastasi who attended to the myriad of details that a whole school event like this needs; and

Year 12 and their Pastoral Team led by Mr Finch for their entrepreneurial skills in developing a range of stalls that raised much needed funds for our nominated charities

The enrolment period for Year 7 2013 concludes at the end of this week and already there is strong number of enrolment applications. It is worth noting that the reputation the College has in the community is a direct reflection of our students and the commitment of parents, staff and all of our predecessors over the last 20 years. A comprehensive Catholic education encompasses the whole person and I hope that the students at Aquinas in 2012 make the most of the fabulous opportunity that they have. During this month of May, it is a time to encourage our students and families to pray with and through Mary in personal prayer, or by joining with others to pray the Rosary. A useful website explaining the Rosary which you may like to visit is http://www.ceosyd.catholic.edu.au/Parents/Religion/Documents/Rosary.pdf. Staff and students have and will continue to acknowledge Mary in prayer in various ways particularly in this month. James Corcoran Principal

Anzac Road Menai NSW 2234 Phone 9543 0188 Facsimile 9541 0398 admin@aquinasmenai.catholic.edu.au www.aquinasmenai.catholic.edu.au

20 Years of being ‘Enlivened by the Spirit’ 2

Key Dates Week 3 (A) Term 2

Robert Nastasi Assistant Principal

FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Monday 7th May Year 11 Hospitality Work Placement

Tuesday 8th May SSCCC Tennis

Year 10 Gifted and Talented Science competition

Wednesday 9th May Round 1 Debating

Under 16’s and Opens Cronulla Rugby League knockout

Year 11 and 12 Legal Studies excursion

Year 11 Parent/Teacher/Student interviews in hall from 3.30pm to 7.00pm

College Assembly period 4

Thursday 10th May Year 7 Geography excursion

Friday 11th May Sport

Shire Secondary schools enrolment for Year 7-2013 closing date

THE CATHOLIC GUY PARISH MISSION EVENT

COMING TO HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC PARISH, MENAI FOUR INSPIRING AND LIFE CHANGING SESSIONS 18, 19, 20, 21 JUNE 2012

Bruce Downes and the Catholic Guy team present a Catholic program that is screened around the world. We are delighted that Bruce and the team will be coming to our parish to present a live event over four days. Some people have heard of a Parish Mission, but this event is one that you just have to experience. Experience the power of God in a real and relevant way through Scripture, music and the arts. Expect to laugh, learn, reflect and be changed by this truly powerful Catholic experience. No matter your age or background this event is for you. Come and have an amazing experience without being asked to do anything. SESSION 1: Either Monday 18th June, 7.30pm OR Tuesday 19th June, 9.00am SESSION 2: Either Tuesday 19th June, 7.30pm OR Wednesday 20th June, 9.00am SESSION 3: Either Wednesday 20th June, 7.30pm OR Thursday 21st June, 9.00am SESSION 4: Thursday 21st June, 7.30pm All sessions will be in our main Church building and they will run for approximately 1 and a half hours. Stay and share a cup of tea or coffee together afterwards. Look for the flyers at the entrance to the Church and there is more information available at www.thecatholicguy.com

THE CATHOLIC GUY inspiring you to dream

20 Years of being ‘Enlivened by the Spirit’ 3

FROM THE PARISH

PIETY STALL

Anyone looking to buy something special for their mother on MOTHERS DAY will find beautiful Swarovski Crystal eg. Pendants, Necklaces, Bracelet's & Earring's. The stall is opened after the Sunday Masses & also during the week.

Reflection on the Gospel

Sunday’s Gospel (John 15:1-8) talks of Jesus being the vine and the Father the vinedresser. This Gospel can, at first, appear ruthless – about a vinedresser pruning the vine. However, the process of cutting away and pruning branches is a nurturing action. It’s through removing the unproductive portions of the plant that the vine has a better opportunity to produce fruit in the next season - pruning the vine is an act of love. The parable of the vine and the vinedresser gives us an insight into the Christian life. We can claim to belong to the Christian family, go to mass every Sunday, yet, if the fruit we produce is bitter and poisonous, if we are unforgiving, unjust, and uncaring, we can’t claim to be on the vine of Christ’s love. . If we are able to ‘prune’ our own unproductive, negative, life diminishing thoughts and actions we will become more life-giving, fruit bearing, and we will allow ourselves the opportunity to really flourish.  

Adapted from reflections by Fr Richard Leonard and Greg Sunter.

Last week Year 12 students participated in their three day retreat. This experience focussed on the theme of ‘the search for happiness’ and gave students time to reflect on their relationship with their family, their friends and their God. Thank you to the students who actively participated in these three days, and the staff who supported the students through this experience.

Students in Years 7-10 should be preparing for their upcoming Half Yearly Examinations by revising their class work from the beginning of Term 1 until now. Specific details on these assessment tasks will be provided to students shortly. Mrs Catherine Nolan Acting Religious Education Coordinator

Did you know?

The Liturgical colour of the Easter season is white and

gold. They are used as symbols of light, purity, joy and glory.

Religious Education at Aquinas

FROM THE PARISH

CATECHISTS URGENTLY NEEDED

Our parish community requires 4 catechists to teach scripture in our state schools this term. If anyone is able to assist it would be greatly appreciated as these students will otherwise have no religious education.

The classes only go for 30mins.

Please contact Roslyn if you are able to help 0418462424 or the Parish Office on 9543 2677.

Bangor - Kindy Tues 10.20am Tharawal - Yr 4 Tues 11.30am Menai - Yrs 1/2 Wed 11.30 LHCS - Kindy Fri 9.20am

20 Years of being ‘Enlivened by the Spirit’ 4

From the Careers Office

The Sydney Morning Herald HSC and Careers Expo 2012

Thursday 31 May and Friday 1 June, 9am-3pm Saturday 2 June and Sunday 3 June, 10am-4pm

Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park

The Sydney Morning Herald HSC and Careers Expo brings together over 150 organisations providing HSC, tertiary course, career, study skills and gap year information and resources. Exhibitors include all of Australia’s major universities. The Expo also features 110 seminars on HSC subjects including English and Maths, tertiary courses, career and study advice. Admission is $10 or $25 for families of 3 or more (children 14 and under free) and is valid for all 4 days of The Expo. Admission includes seminars and The Sydney Morning Herald* (*while stocks last)

For more details see The Expo visitor Guide in The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday 29 May or hscandcareers.com.au Mrs Higgins has 12 free passes—first in gets them! Lisa Higgins Careers Adviser (Tues, Wed, every second Thurs)

Last Monday the opens Rugby League team competed in the NSWCC Gala day. The team was pooled with some well creden-tialed opposition and knew they were in for a tough day’s rugby league. After losing head coach Mr Hardcastle on match day morning the side had every right to be a little nervous. They reacted with a tough, uncompromising and committed team effort, which ultimately led to them to successfully winning their pool and moving on to the knockout stage of the competition. In the first match of the day Aquinas met a rather large La Salle College, Bankstown. The Aquinas boys stuck solid with the game plan and outplayed their larger opponents up the middle, before showing too much class out wide. They ran out winners 22-0. Jackson Murray was the standout with a ‘Gallen’ like performance up the middle. The boys were stunned when they were forced back onto the field shortly after their warm down to face St.Pauls, Manly. Aquinas was the only team in the pool to have this disadvantage. Manly proved to be a fresh, well drilled, skillful side and raced out to a 14-0 half time lead. A disappointed Aquinas needed something to get back into the contest. Unfortunately Manly scored first in the second half to move to 18-0. To Aquinas’ credit they did not give up, scoring two crucial tries in the last 8 minutes to go down 18-10. Jeremy Safi was out-standing giving his all till the final hooter. Going into the final game Aquinas knew that only a win would give them a chance to top the pool. They were facing a formida-ble Christian Brothers, Lewisham side in a similar position. After letting in the first try Aquinas went into half time 6-6. The boys were fired up knowing what was on the line in their final 15 minutes of footy. They came out like a team possessed, tack-ling with venom and scoring 2 classy tries to stretch the lead to 16-6. Lewisham lifted with a try of their own bringing it back to 16-12 with 2 minutes on the clock. A nervous bench was keeping one eye on the game and one eye on official with the hooter in his hand. A final tackle sealed the game and the boys had come away with a well deserved victory. Daniel Church made some inspirational runs early in the game before coming injured, but this was truly a team effort. St Pauls and Aquinas finished with 2 wins each, however, Aquinas’ superior for and against saw them win the pool. A big thank you to Mr Wilson and Sean Tabet for their invaluable assistance on the day. Mr McGee (stand in coach)

Maths Recall is included in the newsletter each week and is designed for Stage 4 and 5 or junior, students. The questions may focus on Working Mathematically problems and all are intended to be done without a calculator.

QUESTIONS

Mrs Catherine Fensom

MATHS DEPARTMENT RECALL CORNER

1. Find 10% interest on $6500 2. Find a 3 % increase in profit from $100 000

3.  1

8 a crowd of 80 000

4. What % is 2 m out of 500m?

5. Simplify √400

20 Years of being ‘Enlivened by the Spirit’ 5

Please come to the office to collect application form. Cathy Capovilla Gifted and Talented Teacher

20 Years of being ‘Enlivened by the Spirit’ 6

CANTEEN ROSTER TERM 2

TIME: MONDAY-THURSDAY 10:00-1:30, FRIDAY 10:00-12:30

MONDAY 7/5 ANITA MORTON, KIM GLENIE

TUESDAY 8/5 MICHELLE MCNABB, BEATA AGOSTINI

WEDNESDAY 9/5 JACKIE TORO, LIBBY YIP

THURSDAY 10/5 KATE HORN, JANE LEGHISSA

FRIDAY 11/5 AMANDA KAYES, ANN MARIE WALKER, CATHY CARUCCIO, JANENE POPULIN

MONDAY 14/5 LISA MULLIGAN, TIFFANY KU7NZE, EMMA DEMETRIOU

TUESDAY 15/5 CAROLYN COONEY

WEDNESDAY 16/5 DIANNE PRESTON, CARLA BRAILEY, DIANNE ROBINSON, CATHIE FLANAGAN

THURSDAY 17/5 CYNTHIA SI, ZEFFY DELHAS

FRIDAY 18/5 LIZ GARCORZ, CAROLYN BARLOW, JACQUI HARGREAVES

CHEWING GUM FORBIDDEN

Chewing gum is strictly forbidden at all times on the College property. An automatic afternoon detention will be issued to those students found chewing gum.

Could we ask parents to assist us in enforcing this rule to protect the College environment and student uniforms. Mr Anthony Hulme Pastoral Care Coordinator

UNIFORM SHOP

THURSDAY 10 May

8:00am—9:00am

Please note the Uniform Shop only sells Sports Uniforms and School bags

The Uniform Shop does not accept Eftpos or Credit cards

College caps and sports socks can be purchased from the

College Office

MATHS CHALLENGE

Maths Department

Answers:

1. $650 2. $ 3 000 3. 10 000

4. 2

500100= 0.4%

5. 20

SMS Attendance System Aquinas Catholic College has introduced the SMS attendance system. At approximately 11am each school day, a courtesy SMS will be sent to a nominated caregiver for each student who we have recorded as either absent or late. If you wish to clarify the details of the automated message please call the College office during normal school hours. If any parent has updated/changed their mobile phone contacts, could you please notify the College as soon as possible