Acknowledgement of Country
From the Principal
Mercy Day is a highlight of the school year for us at St Aloysius College. It captures the joy and energy that underpin our commitment to a more just world. As we raise funds to support our local Mercy organisations, such as the Adelaide Day Centre and Catherine House, we grow in our sense of connection to one another and in our confidence in our capacity to change the world. This year, the Trustee Directors of Mercy Ministry Companions sent the following blessing, which captures beautifully our shared purpose in Mercy organisations:
The Music faculty had another busy week at the Catholic Schools Music Festival, with our students on stage in the Senior Girls’ Choir, the Festival Choir and many support acts throughout the week. Thanks to the Music staff, whose energy and enthusiasm for performance opportunities never seems to waver, and to Ms Alexandra Gonzalez Salas who took photographs for the College on Wednesday evening.
St Aloysius College was proud to have 69 entries in the Oliphant Science Awards, 2022. It is a credit to the science teachers from Reception to Year 11 that so many students were keen to enter. Six of our students were awarded prizes in their divisions. Thank you to all of our parents for nurturing your daughters’ curiosity about the world around them. You will find more details about the winning entries in this newsletter.
“We should be shining lamps, giving light to all around us”
Thank you to the many parents who took the time to provide input and feedback on our Strategic Plan earlier this year. The resulting plan, which we have called Mercy Lights, honours Catherine McAuley’s words, “We should be shining lamps, giving light to all around us”. This plan will light the way for our continued growth and improvement over the next four years. It captures the vision and aspirations of our whole community and we look forward to sharing our progress with you as this vision becomes a reality.
To learn more about the St Aloysius Strategic Plan 2022-2025, please click here.
Hard copies are now available at the front office.
Happy Mercy Day! I hope everyone enjoys the holiday break.
Ms Paddy McEvoy
Principal
A total of $11,215 raised today, at Mercy Day!
Today we celebrated our annual Mercy Day. It was a wonderful celebration for the SAC school community, with classes across the College setting up a variety of food stalls, including pizza, cake stalls, fairy floss, and a dessert bar. We also had a photo booth, Henna stall, make-up stall, jumping castle, and games, including pick a stick, slide the coin, plus lucky dips and raffles.
I am very proud to announce that we raised at total of $11,215, which is a wonderful effort. The money we raised today will be donated to Mercy Works, including Catherine House, the Adelaide Day Centre and Mercy House of Welcome and will assist many people who need our help.
Once again, the St Aloysius College students have been very generous in their support.
Thank you for your generosity.
Ms Jacqui Mcilroy
Deputy Principal (Pastoral Care)
A seafaring encounter experience at the Maritime Museum
“What is that in the distance? Is it a bird?”
These are the thoughts that our First Nations people might have had the first time they saw large sailing ships on the horizon. Understanding the First Nations' perspective on the European exploration of Australia has been a key part of the learning during Term 3 HASS in Year 4. To consolidate that learning, the Year 4 classes visited the Maritime Museum, where they got to explore artefacts from Australia’s early history, learn about why the map of Australia changed over time and experience what it was like on board the ships that travelled to Australia. Of course, a trip to the Port wouldn’t be complete without a cruise along the Port River where students were able to see a working port in action. There was a bit of rain on the day of our excursion, but it certainly didn’t dampen our enthusiasm or fun!
Ms Viviana Graney
Primary Coordinator Teaching and Learning
“I loved the Archie Cruise because we got to see the life of the Port River. Even though we didn’t see any dolphins, it was lots of fun!” Nimithi Wickramage 4SL
“I liked exploring the ketch and learning about the different parts of the boat like the Captain’s cabin and the cargo hold.” Harper McLaughlin 4PG
‘Of Light’ - An exciting excursion to the Jam Factory!
Year 5 Students had an exciting excursion to the Jam Factory in Week 8. This term we have been learning about ‘light’ in Science. The Jam Factory currently has an exhibition called ‘Of Light’ produced by Jessica Loughlin, a South Australian glass artist. Loughlin creates kiln-formed glass works that explore her fascination and research into light and space. Students were able to connect their understanding of reflection, refraction, absorption of colour, and shadow in her art works. Students also viewed glass blowing artists working in the studio space.
The Year 5 Teachers
“I really loved how the light was refracting, it looked like different colours from different angles.” Milica Maksimovic 5JS
“I really liked how they made the glass blowing and I thought it was cool how when it cooled out, it turned into glass.” Kennedy Axon 5JS
Leading the way at the Oliphant Science Awards 2022
I am pleased to announce that six students from St Aloysius College have won prizes in the Oliphant Science Awards 2022.
We had an outstanding 69 entries this year from students in R-Year 11.
Special thanks and congratulations go to Ms Kate Ruston and Ms Tenielle Nuske. They did a fantastic job supporting, organising, delivering and chasing entries, and definitely played an integral role in our overall success.
The winning entries were from:
- Siobhan Aplin 4NP & Grace Leane-Silva 4NP – Multimedia: Econews-Pollination (Click here to see their entry)
- Samantha Nelson 2BM – Game: Race through space
- Amel Piol 7MH – Poster: Refraction of light through a prism
- Helena Krawec 7FT – Poster: Neil De Grasse Tyson
- Milla Lokhorst 10EH – Poster: Lycaenidae Family
We will acknowledged the incredible work of these students at our next school assembly.
To see more of the students' work, please click on the following link: 2022 Online Project Gallery | South Australian Science Teachers Association (oliphantscienceawards.com.au)
Well done to all involved.
Ms Linda Kitto
Science Coordinator
Year 3s were on a mission, recycling food waste as part of National Organics Week
In Week 8, Year 3 Students connected with the Adelaide City Council on an excursion to Rundle Mall to learn about recycling our food waste as part of National Organics Week. The students learned about the right way to dispose of organic waste in the green bin, and had fun getting their hands dirty, planting petunia seedlings, cucumber, broccoli and carrot seeds. After all the hard work, they enjoyed some fruit together, and then disposed of their waste correctly in Rundle Mall’s brand new organic waste bins!
“I enjoyed getting to plant different types of food and plants into pots.” Ruby Sarkanen 3RL
“It was good to plant plants on our excursion.” Emily Camporeale 3RL
“I learned that sometimes you can put cardboard in the green bin, like pizza boxes because they are oily so they can’t go in the yellow bin.” Bailey Colman 3RL
“I learned how plants grow and how important it is to compost food scraps." Andriana Timogan 3RL
One Small Act of Kindness at a Time
No matter how small our actions may seem, they can change our world for the better
Volunteering at the Adelaide Day Centre is without a doubt one of the highlights of JAM. Every week, a group of eight students are given the unique opportunity to tangibly help those experiencing homelessness in South Australia. It is truly empowering to see the impact we can all have on our community. Students help out in a variety of different ways, from preparing the soup van to repairing furniture and meeting various workers who are passionate about poverty alleviation in SA. Volunteering at the Centre teaches the students that no matter how small our actions may seem, they can change our world for the better - one small act of kindness at a time.
SAC’s Year 3 LEGO Expo
A combination of LEGO bricks, motors, sensors AND AN app!
WeDo 2.0 is Lego’s educational robotic hardware and software platform specifically designed for younger students to develop computational thinking. The combination of LEGO bricks, motors, sensors and an app, teaches students simple programing skills.
Students were presented with the challenge to build and program transportation for the future, transportation for a purpose, transportation to innovate to change someone’s life or refine some sort of current transportation. Prior to this challenge, students extended their knowledge and understanding of transportation as they explored early to present transportation. They explored the mechanics of transportation such as pull, push, rotations and speed.
Then it was time to combine their new skill sets and engineer solutions. Solutions were showcased at SAC’s Lego Expo. According to Alexandra Richter, “the building was the best part. I built a helicopter”. For Lily Pangallo, she investigated space transportation. “I built a rocket flag ship, when you get the flag to space and land, you can then take it out and put in the ground”.
Students builds and posters showcased creativity and they communicated their concepts and learning with judges. What an amazing STEM unit.
Ms Jo Villis
Digital Technologies Coordinator
Stunning artworks at the Royal Adelaide Show
Congratulations to the twenty-seven St Aloysius students whose stunning artworks were featured in the Junior Art, Craft and Design competition exhibited at the at the Royal Adelaide Show. We are so proud of the amazing effort that went into their drawings, paintings, mosaics and ceramic sculptures! A special congratulations to Ella Campbell, Mila Fimmel, Fatema Kashmiri, Amy Ma, Jaydi Madi, Eloise O’Connor, Scarlett Scardingo, Truc Truong, and Nadia Van Zon who received a certificate of merit and a medal acknowledging that their work was the best in their category amongst hundreds of entries. These beautiful artworks have been on display in the school foyer.
Ms Michelle Barratt
Visual Arts Coordinator
ICAS Assessments Year 3-6
Outstanding results!
Congratulations to students from Years 3-6 who opted to sit the recent ICAS tests conducted by the University of NSW. It is wonderful to see students challenging themselves with these academic opportunities. We would like to acknowledge the following students who demonstrated their understanding by achieving Credits, Distinctions and High Distinctions in their results. These students will be presented formally with their certificates at an Assembly during Term 4.
Ms Viviana Graney
Primary Coordinator Teaching and Learning
An Out-Of-This-World experience for our Year 11 and 12 Physics classes
What a wonderful experience for our Year 11 and 12 Physics classes who visited the Hamilton Secondary College Space School. Students dressed in astronaut suits and experienced a Mars simulator involving activities on the planet’s surface and communication in the mission control room. The visit ended with a trip to the planetarium where students viewed constellations in the night’s sky. A great informative and inspiring time for all involved!
Students reflected:
On Thursday (the 8th of September) the Year 11 and 12 Physics classes visited the Hamilton Secondary College Space School, accompanied by Mr Paolo Arman and Ms Margaret Smitherman. During our visit we had the opportunity to dress in astronaut suits and experience a Mars simulator, which involved activities on the planet’s surface and communication in the mission control room. There were a variety of different space industry roles for students to undertake in the simulator, ranging from engineers to physicists. After lunch, we heard from teachers at the school who discussed future opportunities in the space industry with us, which we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be apart of right here in Adelaide with our very own space agency. The visit ended with a trip to the planetarium where we viewed constellations in the night’s sky, such as the Southern Cross and Orion’s Belt. On behalf of the Year 11 and 12 Physics students, we would like to express our gratitude to all the teachers involved in making this informative and inspiring experience happen.
Clare Wilks (11NO), Isabelle Chen (11NO), Dora Carney (11BC) and Riley Johnston (11LN)
A little sweet treat in Year 7 French Class
Year 6 Wellbeing Day
A valuable bonding experience
On Friday of Week 9, the Year 6 cohort enjoyed a Wellbeing Day held at school. The day began with an inspiring workshop by the company Enlighten Education, where students were challenged with reflecting on their critical thinking skills in order to focus on being inspired and empowered, as well as learn strategies to respond resiliently to the world we live in. These sessions were based on the themes of friendship and loving the skin they are in. The day continued to be filled with a range of bonding activities such as body balance and making friendship bracelets and terracotta pots in the Art room. The Year 6 Wellbeing Day continues to be a valuable bonding experience for the students as they near the end of the term.
The Year 6 Teachers
Year 8 Retreat - Celebrating the Theme of Friendship
"At retreat this year, we celebrated the theme of friendship. It helped us to realise that friends are one of the most valuable gifts the world has to offer, and that life would be boring without them. Throughout the retreat we created some more friendships and learnt to not take them for granted. Prior to the retreat, we created posters in groups about what represents friendship. These were displayed around the room. It was a great way to express our creativity and we had fun connecting with our friends. Overall, it was a great experience which we will remember." Imogen Vigor 8JT
From the Secondary Sport Coordinator
Secondary Sport Coordinator
SECONDARY Sporting spotlight!
SAC Lacrosse Players Progress Beyond School Sport!
Year 8 students, Annabel and Olivia, have been selected for the Under 15 state lacrosse teams to compete in the coming weeks in a national lacrosse tournament held in Perth. Both girls are members of the Eagles lacrosse club, whom SAC partner with, and have trained very hard to be selected. Congratulations on this great achievement! It is so great to see our lacrosse players progress beyond school sport. We wish Annabel and Olivia the best of luck for their competition in Perth.
Kicking Goals: Incredible Football Achievements!
Last weekend, Year 10 students, Gracie and Mischa, attended their Edwardstown Football club presentations. Whilst they did not win their grand final match, they were presented with awards recognising their contributions to the club and their U15 team. Mischa was awarded the award for 'Most Consistent Player' and was the first ever female to be nominated and receive the ‘True Blue Excellence award’ for unwavering commitment and service to the club, whilst Gracie was awarded the heavy-weight Best and Fairest’ award. Both Mischa and Gracie should be commended on their incredible achievements, and for continuing to demonstrate their leadership and mercy values in their lives beyond school!
From the Primary Sport Coordinator
Primary Sport Coordinator
PRIMARY Sporting spotlight!
Outstanding performances at East Adelaide SAPSASA
On Monday 26th September Year 5 student Maia and Year 4 student Mila, competed for the East Adelaide SAPSASA Team in the State Track and Field Day at Bridgestone Arena. Both girls performed extremely well with Maia placing 2nd in the 1500m and 3rd in the High Jump and Mila placing 2nd in the Long Jump. Now both girls have the opportunity to try out for the 12 and under track and field state team. Congratulations!!
Continuing the Storytelling of our History
Pencil me in…
Before school socials became less formal affairs, the dance card was an essential element of the evening. A small booklet with a pencil attached, listed the order of the dances for the evening and provided a line for the girls to list the name of their dance partners. This example from the SAC Golden Jubilee Ball in 1930 shows ‘Kevin’ was a popular partner.
Ms Carol Grantham
Head Archivist