The Stage 4 only fitness and brekky sessions are back! The sessions "C.O.R.E" which stands for "Commitment Over Regular Expectations". This means the boys are doing a little bit extra by making the commitment to get up early every Thursday morning, smash a workout (but work together to get through it) and they are then rewarded with a decent breakfast afterwards. What a way to start the day! A huge thank you to Mr McDonnell for running the sessions.

Congratulations to our Year 8 students who performed at the Music @St Paul's Concert Series on Monday 2nd December, 2019.A very big thank you to Mrs Grimes and Ms. Evers for their hard work in preparing the bands as well as soloists for this extraordinary showcase of talent. Best of luck to the boys as they head to the recording studio on Wednesday 4th December 2019 to engage in a professional recording session to cap off a fantastic year of learning in Music.

Members of the Junior band = Luca Albuquerque-Sartorelli, Ryan Murray

Year 8 band performed "Californication" = Luca Albuquerque-Sartorelli, Sam Smythe and Alex Newson

Individual performance = "Whipping post" by the Allman Brothers performed by Ryan Murray; "Blackbird" by The Beatles performed by Alex Newson; "Come as you are" by Nirvana by Luca Albuquerque-Sartorelli

More recipients of 2019's Gold Awards were handed out this month - that's 30 merits! Similar to previous awards assemblies, most (if not all) came from the Class of 2023, this year's year 8. There will be more, but let's celebrate our boys achieving them so quickly. Well done to Josh (far left) and Tyler (second from right)!

Also awarded at this assembly were some of the College's Platinum Award winners. This means that 40 merits have been achieved! Going above and beyond boys. Congratulations to Lucas (left) and Zac (right).

As a BRIGHT way to launch Mental Health awareness month (October here in Australia), the boys were invited to wear an item of brightly-coloured clorthing and to listen to testimony from guest speakers from One Wave - a non-profit surf community raising awareness of mental health, through saltwater therapy, surfing and fluro. Their Fluro Friday initiative is at the very least nation wide, at best, a worldwide phenomenon - sweeping people up in the urge to dress brightly on a Friday (before jumping in the water) to invoke real conversations about something that is real to others. Thank you to Dylan, Lochie, Tyler and Jed for not hiding their colours and getting in the spirit.

This term the St Paul’s Year 8 students participated in the Acacia Terminalis (Sunshine Wattle) recovery program as part of their science Bushfires unit of work. Conservation scientist Erica Mahon and Parks Ranger Mel Tyas addressed all year 8 classes to give an overview of the Acacia Terminalis, explain why it is endangered and how fire is important to it and how to manage bushfire burns. The students then visited the North head bush regeneration site where they participated in other bush regeneration activities such as weeding, marking out planting sites, planting seeds, and watering using the fire truck. St Paul’s Year 8 boys will now grow Acacia Terminalis seedlings for planting on the school site at the end of the term. The St Paul’s Eco Team will continue monitoring these plants and hopefully we will be able to help this endangered plant species and our local environment.

14’s Division in the Broken Bay Secondary School Sport Association: Tennis championships. St Paul's was represented by Jack Doorey (yr 7), Luca Sartorelli (yr 8) and Luka Delaney (yr 8). Jack was almost a call up into the Championship division, such is the talent he displayed in trials and in our morning hit. He and the 2 Lucas/Lukas formed a very consistent and formidable team. They went through the rounds and semis with some tight but mainly unchallenged wins. In the final they lost a tight and important first matchup, but managed to come from behind and win the last 2 matchups to take out their division. Luckily the 2 Lucas do not turn 15 until early January 2021 and thus will be available to team up with Jack again in the 14’s next year. If they are not selected in the Championship division they should be a strong chance to claim back to back titles. Well done boys!

Year 8 went to the Sydney Jewish Museum. The excursion was intended to extend their learning about their text The boy in the striped Pyjamas, and it proved to be a rewarding experience. Before the excursion we discussed that one of the best ways to show reverence to the holocaust survivor who recounted their story is to actively and attentively listen, but also to have some respectful questions ready to ask at the conclusion of their talk. The boys were ready and did a great job of living up to and surpassing the expectations of their teachers and the presenters. A big thank you to the English department for all their work in putting together the excursion. It’s not a small thing arranging excursions and the boys got a lot from the day because of well-prepared they were for it. In the picture below, besides being full of legends, is a few quotes from the SJM and the English department about our boys.

Over the last two terms, our Year 8 students have been participating in Peer Numeracy sessions, whereby they have been paired with our top Year 10 maths students, who have been helping them to improve their basic numeracy skills. Peer Numeracy programs not only benefit the students who are being mentored, but the mentors themselves also receive benefits, such as consolidation of their numeracy skills, leadership skills, boost in confidence and a sense of helping out our school community.

This term the Year 8 boys have been working on a measurement task where they have been given a house floor plan and their task is to measure the rooms and research floor materials to cover the different rooms. They must stay within their given budget and must use at least three different types of floor materials. Their final project is to be presented through a Google Slides document and Google Sheets (Excel), so the boys are also learning to use these platforms as well.

We are very proud of the leadership shown by our Year 10 students throughout this program, and just as proud of the response of the year 8s and their eagerness to participate in the program. Many of them have really stepped up and been a light of collaborative learning for the College. Below are some photos of our boys working hard in one of our sessions.

Congratulations to the Under 14 Rugby Union Peninsula Cup team who are champions! After an early loss to Mater Maria (12-19), the boys bounced back to defeat St Augustine's College 31-5, defeat St Augustine's again in the return leg 47-26, and defeated Mater Maria 19-17 to qualify for the final. Then after 3 wins on the trot, took out the big show. Well done boys! Ash, Zac, Alex, Ben, Michael, Lachlan, Dylan, Jed, Blake, George, Finn, Ben, Sonny, Dylan and Jago are the year 8 members.

More recipients of 2019's Gold Awards were handed out this month - that's 30 merits! Similar to previous awards assemblies, most (if not all) came from the Class of 2023, this year's year 8. There will be more, but let's celebrate our boys achieving them so quickly. Well done to Luca, Ben, Lochlan, Max, Zac, Kye, Lucas, Harrison, Ryan, Zane and Michael.

Also awarded at this assembly were some of the College's Platinum Award winners. This means that 40 merits have been achieved! Going above and beyond boys. Congratulations to Joseph (far left) and Luka (far right).

St Paul’s Catholic College entered a team in the Manly Fun Run. The event is the major fundraising event for Manly Rotary Club, who over the last 9 years have raised over $1.5m for the completion local community projects. This year was the Manly Fun Run's 10th year. The students had the option to do their own fundraising for a charity of their choice, which many took up the challenge of doing. Besides the running, there was plenty of entertainment - the best of which was arguably the Zumba warm up done whilst runners waited on the start line for their race to begin. Thanks to the following individuals for putting their hand up to participate in the event and wear College colours whilst they were doing it:

Joseph Fountain, Sam Smythe, Joshua Birley, Lucas Blakeney, Oscar Watts, Davin Kelly, Jai Turner, Patrick Capell, Cooper Wilson, Fintan Kelly, Mr Rowse, Mr Chaney and former students Blaney Powe, Flynn Capell and Rob Donnell. Whilst the FUN RUN wasn't a race, rather than a run in solidarity for a good community cause, a little competition is always healthy. See the link below for where you might have finished in the standings:

https://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/races/15639

"I'm muffin without you!" - a Dad joke with an important message underpinning it. The impact that significant male role models can have on young men cannot be understated. So it was great to see so many Dad's taking time out of their busy schedule to pop up to the College and enjoy a coffee and a bacon and egg roll with their son, even in the face of absolutely miserable weather. Sorry if you couldn't score yourself a photo on the day, our event organise, Ms Kalac, was kept pretty busy, so a big thank you goes to her for her great work in organising the morning. Thanks to the boys for showing their Dad's around, to the Dad's for showing up and wearing your colours, and Happy Father's Day to you all.

On Friday August 30, 2019 schools and workplaces across Australia allowed students and employees to wear their favourite sporting jersey to school or work to show their support for the DONATE LIFE network and the Organ and Tissue Authority and begin the conversation with their friends and families about Organ donation. JERSEY DAY has been inspired by the story of NATHAN GREMMO who was tragically lost in an accident in May 2015. Nathan’s family chose to give the gift of life to others to honour the legacy of Nathan’s generous personality. This campaign was all about raising awareness – there was no requirement to raise funds. Our boys wore their favourite sporting jersey to school to encourage the conversation about organ donation. Thank you to year 8 for getting into the Spirit, and for sporting plenty of Manly colours!

This term certainly seems to be about food! From Japanese Bento boxes to Technology's array of dishes, our boys have been enjoying adding to their 'winter layer' through their own hard work and careful following of instructions to produce a quality dish (or three). Have a look below to see what Mrs Winter and Ms Kalac's classes have been producing.

A number of our Year 8 boys teamed up to take part in the Young Change Agents Program. The facilitators of the program had the following to say about the program and our boys: Young Change Agents social entrepreneurship programs help youth to see problems as opportunities. Six teams of 4/5 students took part of the workshop at St Paul's Catholic College, Manly. Participants worked in teams in this "hackathon style" workshop to identify problems within their communities then ideate, validate, prototype and pitch. Eight social enterprise ideas were pitched on the 14th of August, 2019 to a panel of judges. Participants engaged in the 2.5 day high school program in which they not only participated in activities but worked amongst the groups to validate each other’s ideas. Firstly, they mapped what community meant to them and worked to identify problems and create a vision for the future they wanted. Community problems identified by students included: Unsanitary Urinals; A lack of activities for youth in the local area; Youth unemployment; Domestic Violence, Plastic Pollution; High food prices in the Manly area. After selecting a community issue of importance to them, participants developed a social enterprise and pitched it to a panel of judges. The judge’s choice award went to Colour Rokz, an innovative way of mixing plastic waste with concrete to create coloured concrete.

Other amazing ideas included:

· A mental health companion app with a hologram/avatar friend to help youth dealing with mental health issues.

· An inflatable water theme entertainment park that provides affordable, fun and safe activities for local Northern Beaches Youth.

· A tech wearable watch aimed at reducing domestic violence, alerting the user when they are at risk of having an outburst, playing calming music or telling them to leave the situation.

· An app that connects families with supermarket grocery specials

· An automatic cleaning system that raises the standard of cleanliness in schools, addressing the common problem of unhygienic urinals.

· A 360 degree sensor for cyclists and car drivers, to alert them that danger is close. Aimed at keeping cyclists safe on the road.

· A reward system added onto the existing opal platform to incentivise more spending on local businesses in the Manly area.

Our judging panel listened to all pitches and decided on a winning team based on the 4 Ms of investment - model, market potential and impact, management team, and momentum.

The judges selected Colour Rokz as the winners, the judges commented that the team had created an innovative solution to the much publicised problem of plastic pollution. The panel was also very interested in how the teams planned to take their products to market and scale. Aquaflatable, an inflatable water park designed at combatting youth unemployment, was the winner of the people's choice award.

As something of a reward, and an opportunity to practice table manners, year 8 were treated to Bento boxes for lunch. A bento box is a reusable Japanese-style lunch box that typically holds a single portion meal consisting of a main dish and some sides. The boys were appreciative, well-behaved and enjoyed the feed...well, mostly. I did hear some whinging around the idea of eating some raw fish!

Japanese continues to be more than just another subject at St Paul's, rather an inculturation. Our year 8 boys were gracious hosts to students from our sister school, Waseda. Amidst their learning was the opportunity to play games, exchange common meals and foods from each country, understand specific customs and generally interact with each other to better practice their language skills. Thanks goes to Mrs Kibby and Mr Chaney for their facilitation of the visit, but also to the year 8 students of St Paul's who were proud ambassadors of the College.

Music Showcase Term Two. Congratulations to all the boys who performed tonight in front of a larger than usual audience of family, staff and fellow students. Well done to Mrs Grimes and Ms Evers for your work with them. Pictured below are two of our year 8s - Ryan and Luca. Their commitment has been exceptional - early morning lessons and performances after hours - it certainly paid off.

Year 8 Reflection Day

The purpose of the day was to provide students an opportunity to reflect on their personal responsibility to our precious planet Earth, as a common home, gifted to humankind by our creator God. The reflection was inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si (Praise be to you my Lord), a letter which calls all people of the world to take “swift and unified global action”. This comes in the face of predictions positing a grim future reality for Planet Earth.

The day culminated in an exclusive viewing of the film 2040, a feature documentary by award-winning director Damon Gameau (best known for directing That Sugar Film). The documentary offered a positive vision of what ‘could be’ for humanity – a message of hope, optimism, innovation, and being a ‘change maker’ – qualities we hope to instil and develop in our students.

Year 8 responded to the day emphatically. The students prepared for the day beforehand, submitting a picture and reflection on their favourite place. They were led through formation sessions which included reflections and discussions on Laudato Si, the purpose of Sir David Attenborough’s BBC Planet series, the plight of peoples who are already Climate Change refugees, and the Global Footprint Network’s “Earth Overshoot Day” to name a few. The students, after experiencing the sad and disheartening reality of how humankind has been and is treating Earth, they were then lead through messages of love, joy and hope through the actions of those who seek to preserve our future and God’s creation, for generations to come. They thoroughly enjoyed their learning and reflection on the day, and many left feeling a responsibility to our Common Home, and more importantly, they feel empowered that change is possible and will happen in their generation.

If you haven’t already, the film 2040 makes for inspiring, informative and hopeful viewing. The message within it focuses on making the best of what we already have – called “fact based dreaming” in the film. It strongly reinforces Pope Francis’ urgent call for response. If you wish to uncover more about this and what Year 8 reflected on, you should be encouraged to visit these websites below:

Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si​ https://laudatosi.com

2040 Film website and resources ​https://whatsyour2040.com/

The second round of recipients for 2019's Gold Awards were handed out this month - that's 30 merits! Similar to the previous awards assembly, all came from the Class of 2023, this year's year 8. There will be more, but let's celebrate our boys achieving them so quickly. Well done to Lachlan, Jedd, Jed, Joseph and Luka.

Also awarded at this assembly was the first of the College's Platinum Award winners. This means that 40 merits have been achieved! Going above and beyond boys. Congratulations to Sam and Harry. Well done boys. Looking forward to others following their fine form and example.

Mrs Winter and Ms Kalac have been busy promoting the profile of one of our more popular year 9 electives, Food Technology. As the term began to wind to a close, our dedicated TAS staff maintained momentum in the boy's learning by focusing on something every teenage boy loves...FOOD!

In the Autumn competition in 2018, they were runners up, by 1 point. In the spring competition in 2018, they won by 1 point. They have made the Grand Final for the third straight time, this time in the Autumn competition of 2019, but unfortunately they went down to OFGS Rangers 35-50. Looking forward to them bouncing back in the Spring Competition. Well done boys, you've done us proud.

Japanese is not just another subject you take here at St Paul's. It's more than just your compulsory language study. It is an immersive experience. The annual Taiko drumming performance and workshop is another experience of the kind of hands on learning that takes place in Japanese. Thanks to Mrs Kibby and Mr Chaney for organising.

James Adams “The Medieval Man” came to St Paul’s to showcase his collection of Medieval weaponry, armour and deep knowledge of the battles that shaped our world’s history. Year 8 students have been studying Medieval Europe and now Japan and had plenty to talk about with about 10 different suits of armour and over 30 different swords to play with. Our talk spanned the evolution of armour, how weaponry changed to overcome the armour and the methods of battle in the middle ages. For insight into their assignment, we got to dress in a knights armour and samurai armour and compare the differences. The highlights for the day were by far using the ballister to shoot a target and locking each other in the stocks. Most of the boys left feeling quite relieved that the discipline policy at school was nothing like that of Medieval Europe!

Luka applied for the Odawara Exchange program with the Northern Beaches Council. He was successful in his application and interview. Many students from across the Northern Beaches were interviewed, all except our two were girls (the other being Ethan Lynch of year 9). Luka had to answer questions in English and Japanese. As a part of the exchange they will host a student in late July (term 3) and then travel to Japan in the September holidays to stay with a homestay family for approximately 10 days.

St Paul's has a proud tradition of participating in and success with the Aurecon Bridge Building Competition. There are cash prizes and recognition of entry open to all schools, and St Paul's has become accustomed to taking home an oversized novelty cheque. The competition begins with an internal competition, before a team is selected to represent the College at the inter-school Aurecon competition. Well done to the boys below for putting their hand up in this STEM extra-curricular initiative. Thank you to Mr Casburn, our VET leader, for facilitating it.

Commitment Over Regular Expectations (C.O.R.E) - our Thursday morning sessions have been up and running for 2019. The boys have been digging in, getting up early, even on the chilly mornings, and working their hearts (and lungs and muscles) out, led expertly by Mr John McDonnell. Thank you sir! They have been rewarded for their efforts with breakfast afterwards, and lucky they are with Ms Diana Kalac cooking them pancakes, in addition to the cereal and shakes put out each week. We have also had the privilege of a visit from Vice-Captain of 2018, a recently-awarded Sydney Thunder contract cricketer, Oliver Davies. Well worth getting up in the morning!

A year 8 only initiative, thanks again to that great man Mr McDonnell, gave each house the opportunity to enter two teams into a knockout competition. The game, Snatch, a fan favourite, was played in great spirit for the sake of raising awareness about the cause of Caritas. Each team had an entry fee - all of which goes toward Caritas and our Project Compassion fundraising during Lent.

The final, saw the the Gilroy Butter Chickens play against Taylor's X-Men. Check out the photos below.

Well done to Taylor house who managed to knock Bourke house off their perch, break their win streak and take out the 2019 Athletic's Carnival. Taylor (1368 points), beat Bourke (1306 points), Moran (1180 points) and Gilroy (979 points). Next major House event = St Paul's week!

A big thank you to Mr McDonnell and PC with their efforts to raise some funds for Caritas' Project Compassion. Mr McDonnell organised the goods and the boys did the mixing - the result some delicious blueberry muffins and banana/mango smoothies. All money of course going toward those who need it.

Year 7 and Year 8 had the privilege of a visit and talk from Super Dube, the Diocesan Coordinator for Caritas Hwange (Zimbabwe). Super manages Caritas Hwange’s Integrated Community Development Program (ICDP), an initiative supported by Caritas Australia. Our students had the opportunity to hear directly from Super, someone who works passionately with those communities in need. It was great for the boys to make the clear connection between their generosity and donations, and the impact it has on the people who receive them. Thank you to Super for coming to visit us, to our House leaders for their promise to promote Caritas’ cause and efforts, and for the boys in their Lenten journey ahead where they have committed to “give Lent 100 percent”.

Well done to Gilroy house who managed to knock Bourke house off their perch, break their win streak and take out the 2019 Swim Carnival. Gilroy (971 points), beat Moran (888 points), Bourke (884 points) and Taylor (643 points). Looking to up that spirit boys for the Athletics Carnival!

Last year's Year 7 only fitness and brekky sessions are back! This year it is CORE for Stage 4 - that means both year 7 and 8 are invited as a way of promoting bonding and collaboration between the year groups. Like last year we have appropriately titled the sessions "C.O.R.E" which stands for "Commitment Over Regular Expectations". This means the boys are doing a little bit extra by making the commitment to get up early every Thursday morning, smash a workout (but work together to get through it) and they are then rewarded with a decent breakfast afterwards. What a way to start the day! A huge thank you to Mr McDonnell for running the sessions.

Studying Japanese at St Paul's is a fully immersive experience. You already seen Valentine's Day origami, now it is time to look at some traditional Japanese clothing.

Following the Ash Wednesday liturgy, our boys and their grandparents were invited to a morning tea to say thanks for coming and being part of our community on the day.

A touching tribute was compiled by Mrs Kalayzich, Mrs Hearn and Mr Beothy on behalf of the boys to say thank you to our grandparents. The boys sent a clear message of love, gratitude and appreciation of their support and wisdom. Some of the images from the tribute are included below.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent – we are starting a Lenten journey. It is a season of temptation for 40 days resembling Jesus’ temptation to give in to the devil and sin. The boys each received their ashes and heard said to them “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Bible” - the day and the season of Lent began with a liturgy led by Mr Emmerson, and began the College's Lenten commitment.

Also pictured is Mr Newton, performing on the didgeridoo as part of our acknowledgement of country, Lochlan as part of the Year 8 class who helped to conduct the liturgy, and the Grandparents gathered in the morning for morning tea following the liturgy as a way to invite the community into our College.

Here we see the first Thursday Sport for 2019 - the boys headed off to compete in their Cross Country event to help us select the team to compete against other College's in the Diocese of Broken Bay. Well done to Kye and Zane (bottom left) for finishing 1st and 2nd respectively in the Under 13 age group. Well done to Jago, Harry and Joseph for finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Under 14 age group.

'Shrove' is the past tense verb of the word shrive, which means to obtain absolution (forgiveness) for sin (not necessarily wrongdoing, but things that separate us from God and each other).This day is also known as Pancake Tuesday – a day of feasting on foods that many restrict during Lent. Here you can see Robbie, Hamish, Fin and Mr Rowse tucking into the day's offering from our Youth Minister Jo Kalayzich. All proceeds from the sale of pancakes go to Caritas.

Boys in Year 8 are highly skilled and enthusiastic for Touch Football. Many represent Manly-Warringah outside of the College. The photos below celebrate the success of Blake, Ben and Ash as part of the winning Manly-Warringah Touch Football side at the NSW Carnival.

To celebrate St Valentinus' feast day, also known as Valentine's Day, the Japanese department arranged for the boys to complete appropriately themed origami creations.

Every now and again you get to catch a glimpse of man and nature co-existing in a moment of harmony. Often our boys are unaware of anything even happening. Here are a couple of choice examples with Tyler, Dylan, Dylan and Tom.

Mr Newton has arranged for his Year 11 Sport Coaching class to target year 8 to hone their skills as coaches. They have now completed the second task of their two Year VET course. Task 1 involved coaching the visiting Year 3 students visiting the college for a sample of our curricular and co-curricular activities. Task 2 involved them running a 20 minute warm up session for their chosen sport. The warm up session had to be specific to a skilled training session involved in their chosen sport. The sports covered were Futsal, Soccer and Basketball.