Seasons at Stannies Autumn Edition 2020

seasons at

stannies TERM 1 2020

t i r i p S r u O g n i t a Celebr seasons at stannies term 1 2020 | 1 www.stannies.com

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Omar on his first day in Year 7 with his Year 12 buddy, Nathan

Welcome

From the Head of College It is my pleasure to introduce our refreshed and expanded quarterly review Seasons At Stannies. At the end of each term this publication will in turn celebrate the achievements of our boys, recognise the vast range of events, excursions and learning opportunities that have taken place as well as update the works of the various groups that make up the Stannies family: the Vincentians, our student St Vincent de Paul Conference, the Old Boys’, the Parents and Friends and the College Board.

In doing all this, we are reminded of the enormous blessing and privilege it is to be a member of such a wonderful Vincentian College community. We must never take that for granted.

It would be easy, and most inappropriate, to think of Term 1, 2020 as the term of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the virus has definitely impacted the way we go about our educational pastoral work, we have continued to provide high quality education and care to our boys.

The pages of this edition of Seasons show that despite the social distancing requirements of this time, our boys have had many opportunities to develop their 21st Century learning skills of Creativity, Critical Reflection, Communication and Collaboration both inside and outside the classroom.

At the beginning of this year, we have been fortunate to continue to attract strong student numbers across our Diocese and beyond. We feel blessed every day that families continue to recognise the “Stannies difference” of faith and support for every young man and their family. Our promise to our students is to continue to deliver quality education in a safe environment which places value on the holistic development of every student.

Enjoy this look back over Term 1, 2020. We go into Term 2 with confidence, trusting in the name of the Lord.

Mr Lindsay Luck Head of College

Transforming Schools

Stannies is recognising the two-year mark since we joined with Prof Michael Anderson and Dr Miranda Jefferson from 4C Transformative Learning. In becoming a transforming school, embedding the critical 21st Century enterprise skills of critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration into each classroom has been our key focus.

The goal of this program has been to shift learning from simply being content delivery to making subjects flexible, dynamic and interconnected.

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The Transforming Schools program has enabled Stannies to work collaboratively with other schools to explicitly teach and embed creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication in every classroom.

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As part of a significant reflective study in late 2019, our surveyed teachers have noted that students are more willing to participate in active discussion in an environment where frameworks and structures are in place to enable them to do so. Stannies is using this program to build capacity in our students to develop agility and resilience as they face complex and shifting problems.

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Stannies Family

Vincentian Voice In his talks, he described the plague in France, Algiers, Tunis, Poland and throughout Italy. The dimensions were staggering. France alone lost almost a million people to the plague in the epidemic of 1628-31.

In roughly the same period in Italy, 280,000 died.

In 1654, 150,000 inhabitants of Naples succumbed. Algiers lost about 40,000 people in 1620-21 and again in 1654-57. Genoa was among the hardest hit. Half the city died in 1657.

Fr Peter Reedy CM Stannies Resident Chaplain

Fr Bob Maloney a former Superior General of the Vincentians, recently wrote a reflection on St Vincent’s response to the pandemic that Vincent knew in his own lifetime. He writes that St Vincent was no stranger to pandemics. On perhaps no other topic were his emotions so deeply stirred.

Outbursts of the plague ravaged Europe frequently during his active years, taking the lives of many whom he loved. In his letters and talks, Vincent mentioned the plague more than 300 times. He sent lengthy letters offering practical advice about helping plague victims.

In 1657, on top of hearing that three priests had died on their way to Madagascar, Vincent received news that six members of the house in Genoa had succumbed to the plague.

He described himself as “overwhelmed with sorrow” and added that he “could not receive a greater blow without being completely crushed by it.”

for humanity real and alive. His care for others strengthened his awareness of the presence and goodness of God. Many in our Stannies community are facing new challenges with social distancing, schooling at home, isolation from mates and extended family. We are learning and trying to learn new ways of being with each other. Many have lost jobs and we all do not know what lies ahead. This is on top of the effects of a terrible drought and the summer bushfires.

In the spirit of St Vincent, we can use these challenging times to care for each other and to reach out in appropriate, safe ways to others in our Stannies community and beyond.

St Vincent provides us with a model of how to respond to challenging times.

Even though Vincent was profoundly affected by the losses caused by the plague, he did not abandon his faith in God. He did not see it as a punishment from God. Rather, he saw his troubling time as an opportunity to care for others.

He not only prayed for others but was steadfast in his commitment to care for the most needy. In doing so he was aware that people who care for others and especially the needy are making God’s love

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Saint Vincent de Paul

Creativity

Student Voice St Stanislaus’ College is well-known for its rugby prowess and College spirit and it is these two elements that initially influenced a cohort of students to help create a new co-curricular program. The Stannies Student Media Team uses media to showcase school life to their family, friends and the Central West community at large - especially followers of rugby.

During their junior years Charles Patterson, Josh Borland, Mitch Wilson, Archie Staines and Harry Stansell all had a passion for taking pictures and video.

They decided to share their skills in photography and joined the existing after-school club Stannies Artist Development Association (SADA) which began in 2002. SADA, led by Art teacher Miss Lico, is a cocurricular offering which incorporates visual arts, mixed and photo media and in response to student interest, video production skills.

The students undertook photography assignments at the annual swimming and athletics carnivals, presenting slideshows of their work at assemblies and a short film they made for Speech Day the same year, received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

The students thought more about what would be of interest to their fellow students and knew that rugby would be a great subject. About two years ago, they began the Stannies Facebook Live Stream which broadcasts the College rugby season. This meant that more students could get involved, more opportunity to expand skill sets and create a point of difference with other schools - especially during rugby season.

Earlier this year, members of the Stannies Student Media Team had the opportunity to attend a rugby commentary training and mentoring session at Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta with Fox Sports Greg

Rocco, Liam and Finn at Commentary training

Clarke and Andrew Swain and guest commentators Phil Kearns, George Gregan, Rod Kafer and Ashleigh Hewson. The students watched the game live from the commentators box and were introduced to members of the technical team, as well as given the insider tips for developing commentating skills in planning and presenting. They then passed the skills onto the rest of the Student Media Team during a lunchtime presentation.

The Stannies Student Media Team now includes up to 27 students across all year groups who take photos, video footage, voice-over radio ads, create television commercials, guest present on community radio programs, produce Stannies News programs for our social media accounts and produce the Stannies Assembly for online broadcast. Students also have individual pursuits that include producing online broadcasts of Mass for the Parish of St John and St Michael, opportunities with Channel 9 News, the Royal Bathurst Show and a host of other local organisations.

This activity represents our authentic commitment to ‘student voice’ and reveals the value placed on each individual and their interests, within our College community.

Stannies Artist Development Association (SADA) first started in 2002 to provide students with extra cocurricular involvement in Visual Arts. The program proved so popular that in the early stages a massive waiting list was needed to accommodate all students. For the greater part of that year, former Visual Arts staff Mrs Wendy Burke, Ms Mary Dorahy and Mr Andrew Jones worked on getting this project up and running. It was the drive and foresight of these staff members which now allows Stannies to provide this fantastic opportunity for all our students.

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Collaboration

Victor and Chang

A Charolias steer from St Stanislaus’ College and Terry and Maylene Griffin at Temana Charolais stud in Baradine will be sold at the Schute Bell Charity Steer Auction this year.

The charity steer initiative started in 1994, donates all funds raised to the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. The idea of Keith Prosser and Robert Ryan has now become a tradition and an exciting educational experience for Agriculture students who prepare the animals for the auction.

Founded in 1994, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute is the legacy of legendary heart transplant surgeon, Dr Victor Chang. The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute is one of the most respected heart research

facilities in the world and is dedicated to finding a cure for cardiovascular disease. To support this wonderful organisation, in 1998 Stock and Station agency Shute Bell introduced the auction of a charity steer at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Over the past 21 years, the auction of the charity steer has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Institute. Each year a school has been charged with the task of preparing these animals for show during the SRES Purebred Steer Show and sale in the showground amphitheatre during the Young Auctioneers competition.

This year St Stanislaus’ College is extremely proud to undertake the preparation of two Charolais steers, purchased by Schute Bell from Terry and Maylene Griffin at Temana Charolais.

Year 12 Primary Industries students with Terry and Maylene Griffin

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Students have been taking great care of these young steers over the past six months, breaking them to lead, feeding, weighing and caring for them. This is a wonderful learning opportunity for all Agriculture and Primary Industries students throughout the school as they tend to the health and welfare of the stock as well as the nutritional requirements.

The current Covid-19 situation has meant that the Sydney Royal Easter Show has been cancelled. The steers, Victor and Chang that were destined for the Hoof and Hook competition are still stationed at Sunnyside and are enjoying being the centre of daily attention. Their favourite activities are drinking from the hose and getting lots of back scratches! At this stage, the postponed Royal Bathurst Show will be our next event in October.

Collaboration

Sport Highlights Jack Besgrove’s recent selection for the Australian softball team, Aussie Steelers, saw him play in the World Cup in New Zealand and come away with a World Cup Silver Medal.

for both CIS and the NSW All

Recently, Jack also trialled and earned selection for the NSW All Schools team to compete at the Australian School Sports Softball Tournament.

Jack was named Rookie of the

Jack was the dominant pitcher

Schools teams in 2019 and after an impressive School Sport Australia Championship, Jack was named in the Australian Schools Merit team.

As a member of the Under 18 Aussie Diamonds squad, Year in the NSW State League Competition.

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awarded a NSWCIS Medallion in recognition of his achievements in softball. Congratulations Jack.

In Week 2 of Term 1, the annual College Swimming Carnival was held. This is an event that underpins the community spirit of the College and allows the community to come together as a whole.

This year, due to the ongoing drought conditions and our pool not being filled, the carnival was held at the Bathurst Aquatic Centre – this was the first time since 1972 that the carnival has been held off site. Despite the different venue and the slightly altered program, the same great school spirit and involvement was on display.

Jack Besgrove, Year 10

The day’s program included ultra-competitive events and a program of fun and point accumulation by participation for the remaining heats.

The usual traditional events were contested along with the dancing displays and novelty events, culminating with the miracle walk on water, slightly more difficult this year to get good distance due to the extra depth of the local pool.

The final event was the ‘Staff v Student’ relay where the staff again retained their dignity and the bragging rights of victory. Congratulations to St Joseph’s who were victorious on the day.

Stannies Swimming Carnival spirit

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Critical Thinking 2020 HSC

Year 12 students across the Bathurst community are getting on with their Higher School Certificate tasks in the face of the rapidly developing COVID-19 situation.

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has given principals and system authorities across the state the power to determine the number, type and weighting of tasks for schoolbased assessments given to Year 11 and 12 students. In addition, NESA has lifted requirements for Vocational Education and Training (VET) students to undertake work placements and has enforced modifications to performancebased assessments that breach

social distancing requirements.

Despite the changes, Year 12 students at St Stanislaus’ College are getting on with their studies to the best of their abilities, with the 2020 HSC set to go ahead.

as there’s only a small number of us, we’re able to continue our major works while maintaining social distancing,” Oscar said. “Things are changing all the time, but you just have to keep going.”

One such student is Oscar Ward who, despite normally staying on campus as a boarder, has started to commute from his hometown of Orange to continue his HSC work. “I’m completing a number of industrial technology subjects and

Director of Curriculum, Virginia van Gend, said teachers have moved to online lessons for less practicalbased subjects to ensure students continue to apply themselves to study. “Although things have changed, we’re continuing faceto-face learning online so students and teachers can maintain contact and work together to understand their assessment requirements,” Mrs van Gend said.

“The relationship between teachers and students change in senior years as students mature and place more emphasis on critical thinking, so it’s important for us to maintain that connection.” Head of College, Lindsay Luck, said Stannies staff and students are prepared to do whatever they can to work within the guidelines. “We’re looking at a different HSC environment, so our students and staff need to be agile and adaptable to prepare for further changes. Our students are sticking to their class timetables both from home and at school, and we’re maintaining close contact with students and parents on how we’re managing teaching and learning,” Mr Luck said.

Oscar Ward

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Communication

Future Goals or explore diplomacy. We’ll just wait and see.”

While Sydney is an option for postStannies studies, so is Canberra, but an ATAR of 95 or more is what Jack is after to get into law.

He’s also got plenty of experience as a leader, explaining that the main responsibility of his role as Head Prefect is to act as a voice for students.

Jack Lynch

A leader at school and on the Youth Council, while also being a handy athlete, Year 12 student Jack Lynch is one of Bathurst’s brightest young people.

There’s no doubt that Jack has big plans after school but for now, he’s focused on his studies, before hopefully pursuing a career in law.

“Hopefully, I go to university somewhere in Sydney, depending on my marks and study law,” he said.

“From there, I would like to move into politics, practice law privately

“I chair the Prefect meetings on Thursday mornings and public speaking is a big part, which is something I look forward to as a figurehead of the prefect group,” he said.

“You do public speaking at the school and outside the school, while being a point of contact for the prefects and then a point of contact between the students and the teachers.”

Jack has lived almost his whole life in Bathurst and attended The Assumption School prior to moving to Stannies for his high school education.

While he’s a leader at Stannies,

he’s also been the Mayor of the Bathurst Youth Council for the past year and was a member of the council for the past two, along with fellow students Angus Cooke (Year 12), Ben Davis (Year 11), Josh Borland (Year 11) and Travis Barrie (Year 11).

Like his role as a prefect is to be a link between students and teachers, he sees his role as Youth Mayor as an opportunity to be a voice for the young community to the Council. “It’s a unique opportunity to give back to the community,” he said.

“It’s something I’ve noticed at school, that it is important to give back to the community. It’s been nice having two years on the Youth Council. It’s been a privilege to lead the council as Youth Mayor and guide it through the work that we’ve put into running events for youth in the community.”

Jack is also a handy athlete. His main event is the 400 metre and in November last year, he represented NSW at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Perth.

However, he was unable to qualify for the final after missing out in his heat. Jack was the only runner to break the 50-second barrier in the NSW All Schools 400m Under 17s heats, with a time of 49.80.

Even when he moves on to university next year, Jack is hoping to continue his athletics career.

“Wherever I go to for uni, I’m hoping I can join the track team there and have that as my sport aside from my studies,” he said.

Angus, Josh, Travis, Ben and Jack

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Celebration

Year 7 Insight

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Celebration

Year 7 Insight

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Community

Consort in Perth. He also performs with the Voyces ensemble and takes on music tutoring.

“This year we were working on Bach’s Easter Oratorio, however, with the current social distancing and isolation situation, all these plans are now on hold”.

With possible future plans of further classical vocal performance or perhaps musical theatre study and plenty more performing in his sights, Liam knows that even as the Arts industry worldwide is on ‘pause’, time is on his side.

“As I continue practicing and working on my singing technique, I continue to mature both mentally and physically and my voice changes as well - for the better. I’m ready to continue performing when the all clear is given” said Liam.

Old Boys’ Association Membership Stannies Old Boy Liam Auhl (2013) graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Performance majoring in Voice.

“Moving to Perth to study was the right choice for me” says Liam. “Studying at WAPPA has made me love music even more, for instance when we think about the contemporary music that we all listen to, I can now hear parallels and influences from classical music from the 1600’s and that is so interesting to me”.

His first year out of WAPPA has seen Liam perform his beloved classical repertoire as part of as Cantor and Chorister for St Paul’s Parish, and for St George’s

The Old Boys’ Association continues to grow and improve the relationship between past and present at the College, providing a contact point for current and past Stannies families and community.

The Stannies Old Boys’ Committee met in February to plan membership and events for 2020. Most of these events have now been moved to 2021 including quarterly Committee meetings, Stannies Connect Sydney and Stannies Connect - London.

The Stannies Unites Old Boys’ Fundraising Dinner and College Tours will have new dates and venues which will be announced later this year.

To join or renew SSCOBA membership and stay in touch, please contact oldboys@stannies.com. To keep up to date with events, follow the St Stanislaus’ College Old Boys’ Association on Facebook.

Front cover: Photo Charles Patterson Page 6 story: Sam Bolt. Article courtesy of the Western Advocate, Bathurst NSW Page 7 story and top photo: Brad Jurd. Article courtesy of the Western Advocate, Bathurst NSW

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220 Bentinck Street (PO Box 97) Bathurst NSW 2795 Phone: 02 6331 4177 Fax: 02 6334 4285 seasons at stannies term 1 2020 Email: registrar@stannies.com www.stannies.com