07.09.2017 Avila Fortnightly Newsletter

September 7 | 2017
1


From the Principal
There is nothing more delightful as a teacher than to see the “light bulb” go off or the phrase “aaaahhh I get it” being muttered quietly or a st punch rise up almost unconsciously into the air as a student realises that they have got "it" or learnt “it” at last.
Our core business as a school is of course learning and teaching and there are many, many moments throughout every day where our students excel and achieve excellence. Persistence when it seems impossible, really dif cult or just down right hard instills in me a whole other level of learning pride.
I am of course proud of every student who achieves the highest levels of success, she who strives to go further and consistently does great things and I am equally proud of our students who work through problems, plan out solutions and draft and redraft to get themselves over the line.
Learning takes many forms and sometimes we realise a long time after the event what impact the learning has on us and that is the beauty in being a lifelong learner.
Congratulations on the learning and enterprise of:
• all of our music performers at last week’s Music Festival which was a marvelously colourful celebration of music in our lives and community.
• the students who hosted their dads at the PFA Father’s Day Breakfast, showing their love and affection for their fathers in their lives.
• the gymnasts who after many weeks of practice performed with grace and skill at the SCSA competition
• the students who debated against staff in the debate about Avila, Fun and Mazenod!
• Year 12 students who shared morning tea with me in my of ce this past fortnight with a background track of 80’s music and aeroplane jelly renditions
• Year 8 students who shared morning tea and raised funds for Caritas
• Every student across the school who tried to learn something new this week and asked for help when they found it hard!
Learning in all of it’s excitement and challenge is worth it in the end and it’s even better when it’s shared. To all Avila students I challenge you to share some of your learning one night this week at home, you might just nd mum, dad, grandma, grandpa or even a sibling might extend your knowledge in their response.
Happy Learning!
Dr Michelle Cotter
Dr Michelle Cotter
Principal
Exec. MBA, M.Ed. Leadership, M.Ed. RE, Post Grad. Dip. IT, Post Grad. Dip. Adult Ed., Grad. Dip. RE, B.Ed
35 Charles Street, Mount Waverley, Victoria 3149
T 03 9831 9600 [email protected]
avila.vic.edu.au
Avila College acknowledges the Wurundjeri people, the traditional custodians of the land on which the College is built.
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Chair of the Board
Our August Reporting Meeting began with prayer for Year 12 student Kiara, her family and friends.
Board Members offered grateful thanks for the outstanding leadership of
Dr Cotter and the Executive Team, which enabled the Avila College community to support and care for each other, during this sad time.
This week, Members of the Executive Team and I gathered for a ‘thank you’ morning tea with Des Moroney, who earlier resigned from his role of College Board Honorary Accountant, after 14 years of generous service.
During this time, Des has offered support to several Avila College Principals and Business Managers,
in their nancial management of the College, and witnessed the exciting development of quality purpose-built educational facilities at Avila. We are sincerely grateful for Des’ commitment to the Avila College community, and wish him peace, health and happiness, in the years ahead.
The Board has now welcomed Mr Damien Cairns, a School Finance Consultant, with extensive School Business and Regional College experience to the role of Honorary Accountant.
We look forward to Damien’s important contributions to the work of the Finance Sub-Committee and College Advisory Board, into the future.
As in the past, Term 3 has been
an exciting and busy term for the community, offering a range of opportunities to gather and celebrate the unique and diverse talents of Avila students and staff.
On your behalf, I would like to thank Board Members for their commitment to supporting Avila students by regularly attending College events and celebrations.
In 2017, Board Members have
worked collaboratively to develop a Commitment Statement to help guide us in our Membership. We plan to pledge this commitment, annually within our AGM. I am delighted to now share this with the community. As a member of the Avila College Board for 2017, I commit to taking up the responsibilities of my role by:
• always acting for the bene t of the College
• working collaboratively
• supporting continuous improvement
of the College
• acting in con dence
• upholding Catholic, Gospel and Presentation values
I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the work of the Avila College Advisory Board in its service to the College Community.
Wishing you and your families peace and joy, as we spring towards the September school holidays.
Sally-Anne Petrie
Chairperson, Avila College Board
Prayer
Thanking God for Spring
The heavens declare the glory of God
and all creation is shouting for joy.
We pause and look at the new life around us this spring and we are reminded of the presence in our midst of God our Creator.
Blessed
are You,
O God for You
have given us this earth and its beauty.
Amen
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Faith and Mission
Year 7 Re ection Day
The theme of the Day was "Relationships with Self, Relationships with Others". The day was run by the Salesian Retreat Team
with the assistance of the Religious Education and Home Room Teachers from Avila College.
This re ection day focused on the idea of forming strong, positive and compassionate relationships. The rst half of the day explored the idea of relationship with the self, acknowledging the importance of self-love and the idea that just like those we share with others, our relationship with ourselves is also something that needs to be worked on and nurtured.
The second half of the day began with a discussion around the importance of others in our life. What do our relationships look like and what purpose do they serve?
Students further explored the way faith can inform our relationships and God's role in cultivating connections with others that are built on love.
Quotes from Year 7 Students
"Today I learnt about having a healthy relationship with myself and the need to take time out to look after myself". Greta Cassidy
"I learnt that to be able to help others, you need to help look after yourself rst and that we are connected in so many ways". Rocio R
"I enjoyed meeting new friends and working with the Salesian Retreat Team".
Eisha Singh
"I learnt that all relationships in my life are important, it made me realise how important my friends really are to me".Paris Jade Salih
"I enjoyed working with other students and making friendship bracelets.
I enjoyed meeting new people".
Demi Bourdopoulos
"I learnt more about my relationship with God and how to maintain healthy relationships".
Colette D’Costa
"I learnt about external and internal feelings. I enjoyed the activities".
Taylah Crestani
"I really enjoyed the Magic Moment activity because it was nice to know that people appreciated me and enjoyed being around me.
Rhea D’Souza
Ms Carmela Marino
Director of Faith and Mission [email protected]
Maeve Gill
Tiana Chandraratne
Faith and Mission Captains
Chiara Smith Alicia Roy
Faith and Mission Captains
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Con rmation - Holy Family Primary School
Congratulations to the Year 6's from Holy Family on receiving the Sacrament of Con rmation last week. On behalf of the Avila Community we pray that you are blessed with the Holy Spirit today and always.
Students from Avila College wrote cards for each candidate and a representative group from Year 8 with our Vice Captain Maeve Gill presented these to the year 6's at their school assembly on Friday 25th August.
Faith and Mission Important Dates
Sunday's Gospel Reading
Sunday 10 September
Matthew 18: 15–20 Find ways to win others over; prayer shall be answered.
Sunday 17 September
Matthew 18: 21–35 Parable of the of cial who, receiving mercy, does not show it to others.
Wednesday
13 September Memorial of St John Chrysostom
Thursday
14 September
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Friday 15 September
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Saturday
16 September Memorial of
Ss Cornelius & Cyprian
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Pastoral Care
‘House Days’
As we have discussed in previous articles, results from our Resilient Youth Survey show positive identity and optimism for the future an area students identi ed
as needing improving. The ‘Students Create the Future’ committee are currently addressing this through their workshops. An initiative that is growing in strength and is helping to raise positive identity amongst students, build a sense of purpose and connectedness are House Days.
In this next segment, some members from the ‘Students Create the Future’ committee ask the year 12 House Captains what they have done to reignite ‘house spirit’, and raise connectedness and positivity identity in the College?
Janine Bauman
Deputy Principal Students
Video: Avila "Students Create the Future" focus group discuss positive identity.
If you have dif culty viewing the video you can watch it here.
Ms Janine Bauman
Deputy Principal Students [email protected]
Mrs Anne Stephens
Director of Pastoral Care Y7-9 [email protected]
Mrs Anna Marvelli
Director of Pastoral Care Y10-12 [email protected]
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7


Music Festival
Music Colours My World
The Avila College community enjoyed an evening of entertainment featuring a rainbow of songs and music highlighting every colour imaginable at the 2017 Music Festival.
8


9


Santa Teresa Commissioning Ceremony
Parents and students participated in a commissioning ceremony to signify the beginning of their journey for the Santa Teresa Immersion program.
Court in Session
On 24 August, Year 11 students undertaking Legal Studies in semester 2 visited the County and Supreme Courts. The visit provided an opportunity to not only learn about the important role of each of the courts within the Victorian justice system, but also to observe the court in session.
At the County Court, the group was addressed by Judge Smith. His Honour spoke about his background as a barrister, his elevation to the bench and provided an insight into the most satisfying and challenging aspects of his judicial career to date.
At the conclusion of this meeting, the group moved to another court to observe the plea hearing of two offender charged with a number of offences. At the Supreme Court, the group toured the judicial complex and observed a murder trial.
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A Visit to Parliament House
On Wednesday 23 August, Avila was invited to send the 2017 College Captains, Sinead Coulter, Maeve Gill and Tamara Ryan, to Parliament House for a School Captains Function.
The gathering was organised by members of the Legislative Council representing the eastern metropolitan region and was designed to recognise the contribution made by the elected school leaders from all secondary schools in that region.
The President of the Legislative Council, Bruce Atkinson, welcomed the group and the students were also addressed by Mary Wooldridge (Leader of the Opposition in the Council and Shadow Minister for Health) and a range of other parliamentarians from both houses. School leaders were
Just in
from the Track!
Congratulations to
Monique Larose,
Dinelle Hettiarachchi,
Ellie Masters and
Sashenka Justin, who nished 10th out of 24 teams in the state in the U18 girls 4x100m
at the Victorian All Schools Track Relay Championships!
congratulated on their election or appointment, commended for their work to date and encouraged to seek out other leadership opportunities in
the future. Sinead, Maeve and Tamara also met Michael Gidley, member for Mount Waverley in the Legislative Assembly and a regular at Avila events.
After light refreshments in
the Opposition Party Room, the group was led on a
tour of Parliament House. Students and teachers had the opportunity to be addressed by, and pose questions to, parliamentarians, tour guides and parliamentary staff.
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Language Perfect World Championships
In Semester 1 our Year 7 to 10 students participated in the Language Perfect World Championships.
This tournament lasted one week and over 1,000 schools and 300,000 students from around the world competed, the aim being to learn vocabulary in foreign languages.
Avila College received a total of 87 awards and was ranked 81st out of 1302 schools; 29 credits, 32 bronze, 9 silver, 13 gold and 4 Elite awards.
Wool4School
Design
Competition
Congratulations to Beatrice Van Rest (Year 9) who has been selected as a nalist
in the Wool4School Design Contest run by Wool Australia.
The following students received Gold awards:
Faith Chung, Elizabeth Dinh, Ruth Edward, Monica Fazzino, Emily Goncalves, Lili Johnson, Jade Kong, Hannah Lawrence, Sophie Marinis, Corina Pascoe, Jahaira Pascoe, Hannah Sefton and Skye Yu.
Four students achieved an Elite Award for their performance in the World Championships
and should be commended for their fantastic effort. These students were:
Bridget Benedos, Giuzelle Di Nuzzo, Jocelyn Satya Graha and Ashleigh Trinh
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Indonesia Concert
Indonesian language students visited Melbourne High School for a dynamic and vibrant concert from Michael J, a former Indonesian Idol winner from the island of Papua.
He sang a range of popular Indonesian songs and there was plenty of opportunity for students to sing along and get involved with dancing.
There was also a quiz where a couple of Avila girls won prizes. It was a great opportunity
for our students to extend their study of Indonesian and connect with the language through music.
RSPCA Visit
Year 11 VCAL students visited the RSPCA in Burwood East to discover more about working with animals and the study options in Animal Studies available at Box Hill Tafe and the RSPCA.
13


Writers Festival
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Melbourne Writers Festival Visit
On Wednesday 29 August, a group of eager students from Years 10-12 journeyed together with Mrs O’Neill, Mrs Carrol and Mrs Catrice to ACMI to attend the Melbourne Writers Festival 2017. Overall it was a wonderful and intriguing day, in which we attended many different sessions, listening to panels of authors and artists discussing their work.
We begun the day with a panel called; ‘How to Be a Slam Poet’ in which the extremely talented Maxine Beneba Clarke delved into the details of slam poetry. She discussed the difference between good and
bad spoken-word poetry and what to look out for in each, as well as different types of slam poetry around Australia. She even presented some of her own amazing work. She explained that thinking about the lyrics of songs as poetry had been an inspiration for her to become involved.
Our next session was about ‘Fan Fiction’ with panelists Amie Kaufman and Diem Nquyen. They spoke about fan ction as a platform that assists aspiring writers to re ne their skills.
12 Gold
The third panel of the day was with Cath Crowley, Fiona Wood and Simmone Howell discussing their novel “Take Three Girls”. They discussed the writing process of the book as it was written by three authors. They also explored the concepts within this new text, which were very relatable to the audience. We had the added bonus of meeting these three Australian authors and having their new book signed for the library collection.
At our nal session of the day, we watched the ‘Poetry Out Loud!’ competition Grand Final performed by groups of students from all over Melbourne. We listened to their original pieces as they covered many topics such as gender equality, racism and the education system. All poems were powerful and conveyed important messages in the most engaging way possible.
We heard so many wonderful stories and witnessed inspiring performances, which created an informative and fantastic day. The coffee was pretty good too . . . so the teachers said :)
Jessica Hunt


Parents +
Friends Association
Father's Day Breakfast
The annual PFA Father's Day Breakfast saw over 120 people join us for an early morning celebration in the Gathering Space.
Themed as "Father's Footy Favourites", a wholesome spread of sausage rolls and pies combined with a variety of footy colours assured a great start to the day.
Thank you to the PFA volunteers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes and supported event coordinator Terry Brideson to deliver hot food and great service.
A big thank you also to Janine from the Avila Cafe and Maureen and Angie from Food Technology for all your assistance and support in the kitchen.
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Sport
and
Physical Education
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SCSA Soccer
After many weeks of intense training, honing our skills, the day of the tournament had nally arrived!
As much as the early morning arrival of 7:25 am in the gym foyer was not ideal, every person in the room was lled with eagerness for the day that was about to commence!
Our three teams - Junior, Intermediate and Seniors, displayed great teamwork and dedication both on and off the eld.
The Junior team demonstrated great skills and talent persisting throughout the long and physically exhausting day, eventually progressing to the grand nal. The girls gave it their all and should be proud of their 2nd place nish!
Our Intermediate team showcased great effort and determination in each of their games, coming away with one win, placing 4th overall.
Avila's Senior team performed incredibly well and were undefeated throughout the entire day of competition.
The day really tested our physical capabilities, but the girls continued into the grand nal with immense determination and won it with a 3-1 win placing Avila rst overall!
A massive congratulations to Ellie Panagis from our Senior team for being awarded player of the match in the grand nal!
Thank you to all our coaches, Mrs. Williams, Mr. Ross, Mr La Fauci and Mr Bernardo who gave up their time to help us prepare to perform our best as a team on the day.
Zoe Haractsis
Soccer Captain


Flynn Day
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News,
Updates
+ Reminders
International Futsal
Congratulations to Year 9 student Natasha Stathopoulos who has been selected in the under 16 Victorian Futsal team. In addition to this, Natasha will travel with Australia squad to Spain and
the Uk later this as part of the Australian Futsal Representative Tour. Well done Natasha.
Softball Stars!
Congratulations to 2016 graduate Sarah Papadimitriou, and current Year 10 student Elise Cramer
who have both been selected to represent Victorian in Softball (Sarah Under 19 level & Elise, Under 17).
Sarah will be competing at the Softball Australia 2018 National Softball Championships in Blacktown, NSW, whilst Elise
will be competing in the Esther Deason Shield in January 2018. We wish both girls the best of luck!
Victorian Karate Team
Congratulations to Year 10 student Madeleine Mancini who was selected as a member of
the Victorian State Karate Team (Kumite) 2017. Madeleine recently competed at both the Victorian State Championships where
she placed 3rd in the Junior (16-17years) division, and the AKF National Championships where her team placed 1st!
digIT 2018
Year 8 student Jocelyn Satya Graha was invited to apply for, and later accepted in, digIT 2018.
This is a program that introduces students with exceptional mathematical achievements to ICT-related disciplines. Jocelyn was invited based on her performances in the Australian Mathematics Competition and the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition.
The program accepts just 60 students from around Australia and consists of two residential camps and 6 months of mentoring by a successful ICT professional.
Congratulations Jocelyn!
Avila Alumnae - Rugby Unicorn
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Fomer Avila student Georgia Cormick (Class of 2013) played for Melbourne Unicorns in the recent Women's Rugby Grand Final. Georgia scored the winning points and won Player of the match!


Marngrook Day
As has become annual tradition, we will again be celebrating Marngrook day at Avila on Friday 8 September, during Sport Week. This day, which encourages all students to wear AFL or other sporting gear, or red, yellow and black from
the Aboriginal ag, recognises and celebrates Indigenous contribution to Australia’s great game, and particularly the game of Marngrook which is closely connected to the AFL’s origin.
Discover more about Marngrook Day through this video link: Five Things about Marngrook Day
Learning and Teaching News Course Selection for 2018
Subject selection update
The subject selection process for students
in years 8 to 12 next year has concluded
and construction of the 2018 timetable has commenced. Whilst the timetable is under construction no changes can be made to the data. Students will be advised of the outcome of their subject preferences early in term 4.
Public Speaking and Debating
Avila College has for many years had a working relationship with the Rotary Club of Mt Waverley who have provided many opportunities for Avila students to develop their leadership skills.
Last week Jessica Satya-Graha and Hannah Krasovec were invited to be guest speakers
at the Annual General Meeting about their experience in the Rotary District 9810's Model United Nations competition at which the girls received one of the awards through contributing the best student resolution. President Geoffrey Logie-Smith presented the students with an award for their contribution.
Over 300 students from across Victoria competed in the Debaters' Association of Victoria Public Speaking competition for juniors. Sanjana Nair (Year 9) was one of the eleven students to compete in the Grand Final.
Sanjana's speech was insightful and her delivery skilfull - she was complimented on her performance by those who attended and proved that she has a ne future ahead of her as a powerful communicator of ideas.
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Pathways and Careers
Channel 7 Work Experience
On August 23rd, ve students from Years 10 to 12 were given the opportunity to spend the day at Channel 7 and complete a work experience program.
Throughout the day, students were given a tour of the Channel 7 studios and given access to explore the control rooms. The tour provided
us with deep insight into the many aspects and the effort that goes into the airing of the news, imparting us with a greater appreciation. We were also provided with the opportunity to present the news and the weather. It was amazing to sit in the news studio
and experience the presenting of information to camera. Students were also treated to meeting many people who are experts in different areas
of Channel 7 and in doing so, the group were able to ask questions and receive valuable answers. Overall, the day was extremely informative and inspiring to us as students.
Stephanie Yanko, Year 12
Interactive ICT Career Wheel
ACS Foundation Career Wheel is now an interactive version online.
Students can click on a highlighted role on the interactive Career Wheel and there are videos behind the role. These are a fantastic tool to help students better understand what a particular role entails, and some of the skills required etc.
Browse
Interactive ICT Career Wheel
Ms Jenny Dunn
Pathways Co-ordinator [email protected]
Mrs Geraldine McKenna
Careers [email protected]
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Avila
Calendar
Dates &
Events
September 21
Sports Awards Evening
September 22
Term 3 Ends
September 23
French Study Tour departs
AVILA COLLEGE GENERAL OFFICE HOURS
8am - 4.30pm
PLEASE CALL THE
ABSENTEE LINE BEFORE 10am IF YOUR DAUGTHER IS ABSENT FROM SCHOOL
9831 9696
September 14-15
Art, Design and Technology Exhibition
September 20
Second Hand Uniform Shop Open 1-4pm
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