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Vol. 52 Issue #20 13 December 2016

Project Based

Learning

FROM THE HEADMASTER

A CHRISTMAS CARD

TWO STORIES

Dear Parents, Student and Friends

I was speaking to the last College Assembly about a Christmas card that I received this week. I am not sure that the boys know of Christmas cards. Could it be that Christmas cards are already a lost concept? Have they been replaced by an e-Card? The card that I was showing them came from a good friend of mine. The front cover was the painting of the Mystical Nativity by the Italian Renaissance master Botticelli from about 1500. This painting shows the grandeur of the Incarnation of Jesus – God and man. There are angels heralding the birth. Botticelli also shows the humility of Jesus – God and man born in a stable in a manger. My friend reminded me of our long friendship with a physical card covered in this amazing interpretation of the Nativity. I am yet to be convinced that e-Cards in my inbox will carry this same message.

Last week two groups of boys impressed me more than usual. The first were Anthony Clear and Tom Falconer. Anthony and Tom wrote to the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull regarding the failure of the national anthem to include the first Australians. The boys referred Malcolm to another version which was inclusive of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Prime Minister wrote back to Anthony and Tom and thanked them for being part of a democracy where ideas can be challenged and life improved. The second group to impress me were Year 10 students who in Project Based Learning (PBL) wrote a story in response to the scourge of domestic violence. The group consisted of Thomas Pitts, Josiah Zanardo, Riley Sanders, Leopold Metzker, Rohan Geraghty and Ryan Mirabelli. The boys wrote a children’s story book called The Monster Within. I won’t give away the premise of the story because it is really powerful and I am hoping that it will go forward in some form. On reading their book you understood domestic violence from the child’s point of view. This is the final High Notes for 2016. I am looking forward to reading the 2016 Maristian, due in early February, with a cup of coffee. I wish all our community a happy and safe Christmas. Tony Duncan Headmaster

FROM THE DEPUTY HEADMASTER

SOLIDARITY

At the time I sit to write this article, Year 12 eagerly anticipate the release of their Higher School Certificate results followed by the ATAR rankings. The boys should be very proud, not only of their efforts in 2016 but throughout the whole of their schooling life. I wish them well in their continued journey beyond MCNS. I would like to take the opportunity to thank staff, students and parents for their ongoing support of the Marist community. In a busy year of learning , the staff and students have worked long and hard together to ensure that learning thrives in the College. The House Coordinators have continued to place the care of the boys as the highest priority in not only supporting them but all members of their families.

The break is a chance for the boys to relax, connect with friends and spend time with family. In the Christmas Season, as Catholics, we are reminded of the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for us. We are reminded of members in our society in need of support. I would ask that we keep those in our society in our prayers.

A final reminder to all boys returning to the College in 2017 to ensure that have the correct uniform, presentation, books and equipment to begin the year successfully.

I wish all in the community a safe and restful holiday break.

Rick Grech Deputy Headmaster

Vinnie’s Christmas Hampers

Kelly 2 showing us their great effort!!! Thankyou to the entire College community for their support of this year's St Vincent de Paul's Christmas Hampers. It has been another outstanding donation of items just in time for Christmas for those in need in our local community (North Sydney). Your generosity is very much appreciated. Katie Lynch Solidarity Coordinator

Friday 10th February 2017

A warm invitation is extended to welcome our new community members

and embrace the New Year together on Friday 10th February 2017

Marist North Shore O’Mara Plaza

Time: 6:30pm onwards

Cost: $39.50 pp

Reservations https://www.trybooking.com/247922

Finger food and drinks will be provided

The Marist P&F team look forward to meeting and greeting you there!

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF FAITH FORMATION YEAR 8 &10 RELIGIOUS LITERACY TESTS

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Over the past 3 years we have been implementing a plan to improve the academic nature of Religious Education. We have sought to improve the quality and standard of assessment tasks submitted and our dedicated teachers have undergone post-graduate studies in Theology. On Monday at our Headmaster’s Assembly we acknowledged the success of both the Year 8 and Year 10 students in the recent Sydney Catholic Schools Religious Literacy Tests. These Tests are the RE Equivalent to NAPLAN and examine an entire stage of learning (7 and 8) and (9 and 10) every two years. Almost every Catholic school student in NSW sit these tests. This year’s Year 8 group have improved by 10% to be on-par with the state with 41 students achieving a high distinction or distinction. For Year 10, they achieved the best results since the test started being above the state average and importantly, recording a growth of 14% from when they sat the equivalent test in Year 8. Congratulations to all students and their teachers for their efforts. We look forward to continuing our journey of improvement in the years to follow.

Christmas is a very special time of year when we spend time with family and friends. In the busy days leading up to Christmas Day, I do hope that you can spend some time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and get to attend one of the many Masses available in parishes around Sydney. I wish all of our families a very happy, holy and safe Christmas and that our students come back feeling refreshed and ready for another year full of exciting opportunities and learning experiences. Anthony Munro Director of Faith Formation

MARIST SUPER CONNECT

YOUTH MINISTRY

On 25 November, the Marist Super Connect was held at Marist College Eastwood. It was at this Marist Connect that six North Shore boys, two from each immersion (India, Cambodia and Northern Territory), prepared presentations in regards to their immersion experiences, to then present to many students who came around, wanting to learn about the experience.

Dinner was provided as the event began. In this time the Marist students from across all of Sydney had a chance to introduce themselves and talk before the scheduled speeches commenced. After a quick introduction informing the different groups of where they would need to move to, the real action took place. Each pair of students from Marist North Shore presented their immersion experiences to the other students and recommended why they should also embark on an immersion. Each pair did a great job and was warmly received by both the teachers and students from the different schools. As the speeches concluded, everyone gathered one final time where a group from Marist Youth Care gave a presentation and handed out gifts as a thank you to those involved with the running of the night.

The Super Connect was a great success because of the great support of the Marist Youth Ministry, and their ability to create an informative night regarding immersions whilst keeping people entertained and engaged. The event was also a great success due to the effort put in by the students presenting, and the willingness of the students present to want to learn more about the immersion experience.

Joshua Ferraz 11 Moore 3

YEAR 10 ASSEMBLY

YEAR 10 FIRST IN COURSE Lewis Fanning Math Stage 5.2 Surname Course Thomas Fay PDHPE

Salvatori Agostino Math Stage 5.1 Equal 1st Thomas Fischlin

English Jett Balbi Math Stage 5.1 Equal 1st Geography Ethan Cook Math Stage 5.2 Equal 1st Religious Education

Thomas Fay PASS Equal 1st Roberto Gallardo Galan French

Thomas Fischlin Elective History William Geeves Math Stage 5.3

Oliver Grenot Music Equal 1st Jesus Gonzalo Ovejero Design and Technology

Michael Gribben

Commerce Geography Geography Thomas Hampson PDHPE IST Sebastian Herbert PASS Math Stage 5.3 Felix Jenney PASS Religious Education

Aston Knowles Food Technology

Science Religious Education

Frederick Krisman English Frederick Krisman Science Graphics Technology Christopher Lang English Design and Technology Connor Lucas Math Stage 5.3

Richard Luci Math Stage 5.2 Equal 1st Henrique Mattos PDHPE

Leopold Metzker Drama Davit Melkumyan Science PDHPE Ryan Mirabelli Science

Liam O'Gready PASS Equal 1st Zachary Mitchell-Knight Math Stage 5.2

Ruan Padukone Music Equal 1st Daniel Mooney Science Didier Radford PDM Heath Morgan PDHPE

Josef Slater Food Technology

Liam O'Gready Geography

PASS Equal 1st Religious Education Justin Soepardi French

Joshua Robinson Commerce

Ryan Wood Industrial Tech - Timber Geography Jacob Smith Religious Education

YEAR 10 COMMITMENT Justin Soepardi

English Name Course Science

Lucas Asher Industrial Tech - Timber Hugo Thompson Geography Jett Balbi English Asher Tucker Math 5.2 Charles Bibb Science Kailan Watson Math 5.1 Benjamin Buchanan Elective History Josiah Zanado Food Technology Claudio Canepa PDM Benjamin Challenger Music YEAR 10 SPECIAL AWARDS Adrian Cheung Religious Education Year 10 Dux Michael Gribben Layton Chu Graphics Year 10 Dux Frederick Krisman

Ethan Cook

Commerce Hermitage Award Kaiya Melbourne English College Sports Award Thomas Pitts

PDHPE College Cultural Award Leopold Metzker

Jake Davenport IST Michael Maher Award Felix Jenney Alexander Erskine Drama Reuben F Scarf Thomas Fischlin

TEACHING AND LEARNINGHOUR OF CODE

CHAMPAGNAT GOLDYEARS 10 AND 11

What is the ‘Hour of Code’? Put simply it is a global movement during Computer Science Education Week that allows students in 180+ countries to experience a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming. On Friday 9 December, the Year 7 Ludovic class instead of just playing ‘Minecraft’ actually manipulated chickens to ‘moo’ instead of ‘cluck’ and to lay diamonds instead of eggs. While I won't even go into what the zombies were able to get up too. For some students this was their first experience of coding while for others it was just a chance to reinforce what ‘javascript’ they already know. Well done gentlemen, who knows this could be your beginning into a career in which you get to play computer games for a living! Who would have thought!

Tracey Dunne Academic Resource Leader

On Thursday 8 December Years 10 and 11 participated in the annual Champagnat Gold [biathlon] race at Balmoral Beach. Along with the Champagnat Gold race a flags event [surf club flags] is also held in year groups. I would like to congratulate the following boys: Champagnat Gold Year 10 1st Heath Morgan 2nd Kaiya Melbourne 3rd Ryan Lange Year 11 1st Lachlan Mitchell 2nd Lachlan Sau-Harvey 3rd Sebastian Hughes Flags Year 10 1st Sebastian Herbert 2nd Tom Pitts 3rd Louis Sollano-Antonio Year 11 1st Jason Ko 2rd Shahill Nair 3rd Luka Zanko Special mention needs to be made of Sebastian Herbert [flags] and Heath Morgan [Champagnat Gold] who have won their respective events for 4 years in a row. Peter Giles Sportsmaster

CHESS

On 29 November, members of the Marist College Chess Team went to Holy Cross College to participate in the Chess tournament held there. The day started off with a ride to the college in the school minibus, thanks to Mr Grech who drove us there. When we arrived we were told the rules and how the day would go by. After this we commenced our first Chess game of the day, with teams made up of boards 1 to 3 versus people from other teams with the same skill level. The day went by very swiftly with brief intervals to see how the longer games ended up before going on to the next game. Twice during the day we took breaks to go outside and to the sausage sizzle that was provided by Holy Cross, with some insightful conversations on some of the games and the outcomes. On behalf of the MCNS Chess Team I would like to thank Holy Cross College, Mr dela Paz, Mr Grech, Mr Collins and those who participated for making the day possible as well as fun and enjoyable. Dorian Duschlbauer 9 Kelly 4 On Tuesday, 29 November, the Marist Chess Team would participate in our last Chess event of what has been a great year of Chess. Four teams of three players shuttled in the minibus and departed for a day of Chess at Holy Cross Ryde for their annual Chess Challenge. The competition at Ryde proved to be a new challenge, the competition was composed only of Catholic schools, and while the competition proved resilient, was weaker than usual thanks to the welcome absence of local rivals North Sydney Boys and other non Catholic schools that typically compete in other events like the Terry Shaw Shield and Secondary Schools Challenge. The day proved fruitful for our Marist teams, the A team comprising Jamie Burgess, Sean Auer and Jerry Chu placing a respectable second, behind the hosts Ryde, with our other intermediate teams not placing far behind. I would like to extend a great thanks to Mr Grech and Mr Collins for transporting the team on the day. Also in need of thanks are Holy Cross Ryde for inviting our school to the event and Mr dela Paz for co-ordinating and

supervising us on the day. Overall the event proved a fine way to complete a fine year of Chess at Marist College. Sean Auer 9 Kelly 3

The familiar sound of the minibus and the usual, eager Year 9 and 10 members of the MCNS Chess Club vibrated the nearby air particles to produce a tune that symbolised the start of yet another Chess tournament. This time it was at Holy Cross Ryde, where four skilled teams from Marist College North Shore were shuttled to Holy Cross to resiliently compete in six rounds of Chess and take advantage of the free food and drink. Accompanied by Mr dela Paz, the Chess teams competed tirelessly against other schools from the Sydney region after an unusually long explanation of the rules of Chess tournaments.

My team, consisting of Davit Melkumyan, Daniel Mooney and myself, got off to a remarkably strong start after achieving victories in all our games in the first round. However, as teams are paired up depending on their scores, we began to compete against tougher Chess players, including another MCNS team. Throughout the day, all three of us ensured that we played to our highest standards, despite our occasional blunders. My team finished the day with 10 wins

CHESS

UNIFORM SHOP

(overall), a strong result. More importantly, however, this day gave us the opportunity to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses within our team and allows us to improve our Chess skills to prepare for next year’s Chess tournaments. All four of the MCNS teams performed strongly with unequivocal results. One of our Marist teams, consisting of Jamie Burgess, Sean Auer and Jerry Chu, came 2nd in the Intermediate division with 12 wins on the day, coming short of 1st prize by just a couple points. Though their achievement is certainly one to be praised and recognised, all 12 students who attended the competition are to be commended for their efforts and representation of the College. I’d also like to acknowledge Mr dela Paz for his excellent organisation in enabling us to attend this tournament. Thanks is also given to Mr Grech and Mr Collins for shuttling us to and from the venue. Competitions such as this are wonderful opportunities for students to become accustomed to such a tournament setting and extend their skills for future events. Frederick Krisman 10 Chanel 6

The Uniform Shop has now closed for 2016. The shop re-opens on: Tuesday 24 January 10 – 2pm Wednesday 25 January 10 – 2pm and Monday 30 January 9 -10 and 11.30 – 12.30pm Volunteers are still required for these days, if you can help for any length of time for any of these dates please contact: June.mitchell@syd.catholic.edu.au The shop then returns to normal Wednesdays 10am – 2pm. No credit card sales are taken over the phone, order forms with credit card facilities are available online. Uniform orders can be emailed directly to the above address or to the school email. Thank you to all the volunteers who have assisted during the year, have a great Christmas and will see you all again in 2017. June Mitchell Uniform Shop Coordinator

CANTEEN30 Jan: Annette Bradford, Donalda Brown,

Rosalind Elliot, Grace Ooi, Kate Edmonds

31 Jan: Melissa Duchenne, Belinda Leatham, Maria Screen, Fiorella Castro

1 Feb: Diane Pastuszak, Cindy Van Kampen, Melissa Stephens, Vanessa Baumer Rowley

3 Feb: Brid Bowers, Sue Rennie, Vicki Robinson, Teresa Ukrainetz, Shann Curtin, Marg Mitchell

6 Feb: Vivienne Micheletti, Emily MacMahon, Caroline Shone, Libby Bruderlin, Kylie McCarthy

7 Feb: Sandra Fitzgerald, Belinda Woollett, Lara Francipane, Sheila Agapito, Justine Lopez

8 Feb: Amanda Gallen, Ruth Scholes, Cathy Kinsella, Margarita Carrion

9 Feb: Barbara Doll, Kate Antonini, Julianne Rodilosso

10 Feb: Jane O’Shea, Christiane Heinl, Annette Louise Watts, Tina Tidor

UNIFORM SHOP

1 Feb: Andrew Hipwell, Debbie Jenkins,

Sue Rennie, Edwina Rumble 8 Feb: Josie Spano, Kirsten O’Riley, Kylie

Stapleton, Joanne Rainback

14 Dec: Final Day for Years 7-9 15 Dec: Optional Parent Teacher

Interviews 16 Dec: Year 12 2016 Post HSC Morning

Tea 19 Dec: College Office Closes 11am 23 Jan : School Office Opens 27 Jan: Teachers commence 30 Jan: Year 7 commence 31 Jan: Years 8 – 12 commence 2 Feb: Swimming Carnival 10 Feb: Commencement Mass 9:15am P&F Welcome Drinks 13-15 Feb: Year 7 Camp 11 Mar: College Open Day 17 Mar: Year 7 Vaccinations Solidarity: Street Level Café 7:15pm 20-23 Mar: Year 9 Camp 20 Mar: Solidarity: Night Patrol 7pm 22 Mar: Solidarity: Matthew Talbot 3:30pm 23 Mar: MCC Swimming Carnival 28 Mar: Year 12 Assessment Week Begins 30 Mar: MCC Cross Country 31 Mar: Solidarity: Street Level Café 7:15pm 3 Apr: Solidarity: Night Patrol 7pm 5 Apr: Solidarity: Matthew Talbot 3:30pm 7 Apr: Athletics Carnival Last Day of Term 1

VOLUNTEER ROSTERS LOOKING AHEAD