Beaconsfield Campus – 5 December 2019

As we conclude the year, I wish to thank our students for the positive way they have engaged in their learning, our dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly to develop a differentiated learning program, and our parent community who have worked in partnership with us.  At the Beaconsfield Campus this year we have worked towards bringing out the best in our students as individuals and focused on developing their skills to make their way in the world.  

I congratulate all Beaconsfield students on their efforts this year and invite them to celebrate their successes and reflect on their areas of growth.  I wish all our Year 12 students every success in their future endeavours and hope that they will continue to connect with our College in years to come.   

I wish our community a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, and hope that the holiday break provides the opportunity to rest and spend quality time with loved ones.

VTAC

With the end of the year approaching, it’s a good time to be reminded of some upcoming dates and deadlines, as well as the change of preference process between offer rounds.

Year 12 students will be offered the opportunity to make changes to their preferences from the 12-14 December and once again on the 18 – 20 December. There are other opportunities in the January round to make changes (2 January from 10.00am – 4.00pm and the 16 January 10.00am until 4.00pm on the 24 January. Other dates for change of preference can be found on the VTAC website (http://vtac.edu.au/dates.html)

On 12 December a range of support staff including our Careers Counsellors, Year 12 LCL and Counselling staff will be available to assist you during the Change of Preference period. Staff will be in the LRC Seminar Room and the Careers Office.

While Change of Preference is open between rounds, applicants can:

• add;
• remove; or
• re-order their preferences.

If you have any other questions surrounding this, please feel free to contact the Careers team at the College for assistance.

Kids Help Line Fundraiser

The Compass Program students decided to hold a fund raiser for Kids Help Line by holding a BBQ. Due to the amount of sausages, the BBQ was held over 2 dates. Kids Help Line is an important charity in Australia which has helped 8 million contacts in 28 years.  We are pleased to have raised over $200 to support their work. Everyone engaged in the fun atmosphere, enjoying the music, sausages, drinks, and company.  We would like to thank the maintenance and AV teams for their assistance. We would also like to thank the many students who volunteered to assist in the BBQ, as well as the Compass teachers for creating the opportunity.

By Achol Ayei

National Conference of Australian Association for the Teaching of English

During the prestigious National Conference of Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) on the 30 November untill the 3 December 2019, the St Francis Xavier College Reading Capabilities Team (led by Adam Gordon and including Laura Fabrizo, Amy Savory and Matthew Wirth) were invited to present their work with VATE and educational consultant Mary Mason.

The conference highlighted the passion and expertise of the team they presented a dynamic workshop. Throughout the presentation numerous members of the English community, including Heads of Departments, Learning Culture Leaders and Teaching and Learning Staff, they identified the benefits of the reading strategy and asked questions about how this strategy could be implemented within their own schools.

As an observer and colleague, it was exciting to see how enthused fellow teachers were to use this scheme within their own teaching practice. This presentation ultimately highlights the innovation and calibre of our St Francis Xavier College staff and their desire to improve student performance and engagement. A congratulations to the whole team Adam, Natalie, Laura, Amy and Matthew on a truly outstanding presentation

Next Friday all VCAL students will be taking part in a campus clean up. For 20 minutes, they will be cleaning up as much rubbish as possible in class groups and meeting up in assembly points around the school to gather the rubbish. They will be sending data of the types and amounts of rubbish collected to the official ‘Clean Up Australia’ team so that the data can be analysed and considered to help make a change to our environmental footprint.

Class of 2019 Graduation and Valedictory Celebration

Last Thursday evening, we held Class of 2019 Graduation Ceremony and Valedictory Celebration.  The evening provided the opportunity for students, staff, parents and families to gather and celebrate the class of 2019 and to reflect on their journey of secondary education at St Francis Xavier College.  It was a great celebration of our community as we also celebrated the partnership of educating and supporting our young people.  Throughout the evening we heard from students, parents, families and staff, all who have all walked the journey with the Class of 2019.   The ceremony was followed by a wonderful social celebration in the Medallion Club at Marvel Stadium.

We congratulate the Class of 2019 for being young people of hope through action, young people of heart as they cared for each other, and young people with great dedication to do their best.  

2019 College Captains and Vice-Captains

Our 2019 College Captains Kailee McAuley and Matthew Lawless, along with and College Vice Captains Susmitha Raju and Conor Hinds are to be commended for the outstanding way they have led the College community this year. This is their final speech from the Graduation Ceremony:

KAILEE: Good evening. Tonight Matthew, Susmitha, Connor and I would like to take you on a reflection of our journey at St Francis Xavier College.
When writing this speech, we recognized that Bravery, was the first character strength we were called to demonstrate as we started our journey in Year 7. The first day of Year 7 for all of us was a daunting day. Regardless, if we were starting our first day at St Francis Xavier with peers from our primary school or starting not knowing any familiar faces, all of us showed bravery. With our heavy school bag filled with our crisp clean books and wearing our extremely oversized blazers that our parents promised we would grow into, we excitedly parted with our parents and took our first steps into our new secondary school community.

MATTHEW: Year 7 camp provided the opportunity for us to get to know new people, and new friendships were built as we undertook a range of fun activities. Upon reflection we were showcasing our strengths of teamwork, kindness, and humor, which is what our year level has become renowned for over the years.

Entering Year 8, we were more confident and comfortable with our campus community and focused more on fulfilling the curiosity of our young and wild hearts. We felt more courageous to get involved in new activities and continue to explore the opportunities that school life presented.

Before we knew it Year 9 came around, and now we were the leaders of our Berwick and Officer campuses and had established strong friendship groups. In Year 9 we set out on our Outward Bound journey. Spending 9 days out in the bush we all came to appreciate the beauty of life and the natural gifts of the world. We left with a profound sense of gratitude to our families and friends, and all the people we have in our world.

SUSMITHA: We came together as one year level in year 10, no longer separated by our Berwick and Officer titles. While we will forever enjoy the friendly banter defending the pride of our respective Junior campuses, we welcomed each other and expanded our family at the Beaconsfield campus. We entered the senior campus with a strong foundation from the junior campus. We adjusted and admired the maturity, hard work and persistence of our older peers within the college and looked to follow in their footsteps.
A highlight of year 11 was going on Year 11 retreat. It was an amazing experience, where we connected with our peers, cemented our friendships, and the retreat helped us recognise the supportive community that would assist us as we entered into our final years of school. In particular we recall the affirmations. They were heartfelt, and we will recall how powerful it was for us to write and receive the affirmations.

CONNOR: And then we reached Year 12. This year has provided great opportunities to grow and many challenges along the way to help us on our journey to adulthood. With the increased workload of VCAL and VCE, we all had to balance school, extracurricular activities, as well as time with our loved ones. However, through this journey we strengthened our bonds as we supported and encouraged each other. Looking back, it was the fun times such as Year 12 formal, retreat, participating in our final school extracurricular activities and of course finishing our last exams that stand out the most. We have definitely demonstrated our strengths of perseverance and hope as we have approached all that this year has presented.
This year has taught us that Winnie the Pooh was always right when he said you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and loved more than you will ever know.

KAILEE: On behalf of the class of 2019 we would like to thank the very dedicated and hardworking staff of St Francis Xavier College.  We thank in particular Mr Feeney who has led our College. We also thank Ms Cetrola, Mr Hibberd, and Ms Treloar who have led our campuses in our time at the College, and all the leaders of our College across all campuses. We thank them for their leadership, guidance and mentorship as it has helped all students to work towards being their best.

MATTHEW: We thank the staff – Berwick, Officer and Beaconsfield staff – who have all have had great impact across the six years of our time at St Francis Xavier College. We thank you all for the effort you have put in to ensure that we have growth in our learning and are supported day to day with everything we encounter.

SUSMITHA: To our parents, we thank you for all the advice, support, and drives to school. All the guidance along the 13 years of our educational journey has helped form us into the people we are today, we are truly grateful for all your love, dedication, and hard work in providing the opportunity for us to have a good education.

CONNOR: And to the class of 2019, our peers, our friends. What a year it has been. What a great 6 years we have experienced. It was not always easy, however, we made it and tonight is about celebrating this success. We believe that each of you have put in your best effort and we congratulate you on this.
We wish you all the best in the next chapter of your life, whether it be further studies, entering an apprenticeship, working full time, travelling or taking a year off, and hope you forever cherish your journey at the College.

Congratulations to the Class of 2019, take care and God bless!

Music Ensembles

On Thursday 21st of November, a group of our Instrumental and Classroom Music teachers across the College, participated in a Professional Development day with Dr Rob McWilliams from Yamaha Music. We discussed and workshopped many ideas in regards to our Instrumental Music program and Year 7 Classroom Music program as well as learning about improved ways to run rehearsals and different rehearsal techniques.

It was a very worthwhile day and we hope we will be able to continue working with Dr Rob over the next few years as we work to improve and increase the numbers in our music program.

One of the ideas which we are going to implement in 2020 is that some of our Music Ensembles across the College will move from lunchtime to before school rehearsals starting at 8.00am. These ensembles include:

If your child is currently involved in the following ensembles, or is interested in joining, more information will be made available at the start of the school year; however we wanted to give our students and their families enough notice so that arrangements can be made if required.

We are looking forward to an exciting year in the Performing Arts in 2020!