Volume Eighteen, 20th November 2020

This time of the year is a very busy time for schools. Teachers and department heads are reviewing their annual plans, completing their reporting to line managers, and planning for 2021. However necessary good strategic planning and reflection is, the true test of a successful school is the subsequent life of the students; the kind of people they become; the extent to which they are fulfilling their potential, using their gifts and talents to the best of their ability, for the betterment of all.

Teaching is not only a noble profession but also a great privilege. As I stand at the end of the drive each afternoon, I recall how the students before me have grown and matured over the year; how they have risen to the challenges beset them; how they have walked the talk. I am both very proud of their efforts and humbled by their achievements. I commend the Year 10 student’s incredible performance of Chariots of Fire this past week as an example of such.

Reflecting on the past year one of the initiatives for the College was the Literacy Strategy focused on reading and writing

across the curriculum. A need identified in our Allwell, NAPLAN and HSC data. The College professional development plan focused on developing common strategies to improve the teaching and learning of reading and writing in all subjects. Research shows that consistency and collective efficacy, teacher clarity, feedback, and high expectations with strong school leadership are what matter most in raising underachievement. Teachers were required to profile their students in their classes to identify the learning abilities of each student and each class, especially in terms of writing and to use the common language and methodology in the teaching of writing in their subjects. I commend Patrick Harb (Year 8) who was the only boy shortlisted in the Sydney Living Museums Writing Competition and was announced winner this week.

The impact of the Writing and Read-to-Succeed programs over the past two years has seen a continued and significant improvement in both Allwell and NAPLAN results with real (scaled) growth averages much higher than State and AIS/Similar School scores in reading, writing, grammar and mathematics compared with students in previous year. This represents added value attributed to the student’s own motivation, effort and desire to do their best, and the teacher’s school wide consistent approach to pedagogy and lesson design in the teaching of foundation skills and content in their subject. I commend both students and teachers for this achievement as encouragement to continue this journey.

In planning for next year, the College will continue its focus on teaching foundation skills in reading, writing and numeracy and inspiring students to aspire to greatness. It is the attitude to aspire from which independent and lifelong learning stems.

Br Steve fsc
Principal

Some of you may have heard of the sudden and tragic loss of Luke Gardoni (Class of 2017) in August this year. His cause of death was Unexplained Cardiac Death (UCD), which is one of the biggest killers in people under 50 and takes the lives of over 2,000 Australians each year. His family has asked us to assist in creating awareness of UCD which receives very little attention or government funding. Sadly UCD strikes those who are fit and healthy, with no apparent symptoms and death comes 'out of the blue' without warning.

Many will remember Luke who graduated from Oakhill in 2017, and was studying a Bachelor of Professional Accounting, had just celebrated his 21st birthday and was enjoying life to the fullest. Luke loved Italian culture, football, his family and friends, and was a generous, selfless man who had touched the lives of many.

The enducd.org foundation was formed to find the causes of UCD, tests to identify people at high risk and preventative treatments so no other Australian families lose a much loved member to UCD. For further information, visit: https://www.enducd.org/.

Mrs Gabby Russo
Marketing & Community Liaison Co-ordinator

We have now finalised our arrangements for the last week of Term 4. They have been slightly modified from original plans in order to adhere to the current advice and guidelines received by the College from Catholic Schools NSW regarding COVID-19. The last day of school for students in Years 10 and 11 will be Monday 7th December. The last day of school for students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will be Tuesday 8th December. All parents and students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are reminded that attendance on the applicable last day of school is both compulsory and expected (see below for further details).               

Parent Attendance at End of Year Masses and Awards Assembly
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 no parents can attend either of the College End of Year Masses because of our numbers and the square metre rule. However, we hope we will be able to offer a number of seats for parents to attend either or both the Year 10 and/or Years 7, 8 and 9 Awards Assemblies. 

Lockers
All students are required to ensure that their locks are removed and that their lockers are empty by Tuesday 8th December. The College takes no responsibility for student property that is left in lockers. Lockers will be opened and cleaned over the summer vacation.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mr Bob Munday
Deputy Principal

This week has seen the final stages of our shade sails above the old pool assembled, and the installation is now complete. This project has been in the pipeline for some time, and we commenced work in last school holidays when the students were not onsite. We now have the opportunity to utilise this space for an additional sun-safe yard for students.

Mrs Gabby Russo
Marketing & Community Liaison Co-ordinator

On Friday 27th November, we are holding a fundraising event - A Day for Lebanon. Students are allowed to wear mufti on Friday 27th November and bring a gold coin which will go to support our brothers and sisters in Lasallian schools in Beirut: College Mont La Salle, College du Sacre Coeur, College Saint Pierre and College des Freres.

It's been three months since the devastating blast and many people are still struggling with the after affects of the blast. To show their support, students may wear colours from the Lebanon flag; red, white or green as a show of solidarity.

Wednesday 11th November was Remembrance Day. At 11.00am the College paused and reflected to pay tribute to those who have sacrificed for us. We honour all current and former service men and women who have served during wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. We thank Mr Shore and our student leaders for our ceremony and Darien Sim from Year 9 for his moving rendition of The Last Post.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

Mrs Gabby Russo
Marketing & Community Liaison Co-ordinator

In celebration of Naidoc week, Oakhill has undertaken some additional activities. These include our Library display, our ‘trees of hands’, and students discussing the 2020 Oakhill College Naidoc video made by Mrs Isaacs our Co-ordinator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and Jack Stewart from our Yarn Circle. This video has been requested by numerous other Lasallian schools to show their students as it educates on aboriginal culture and discusses Naidoc week as one way to celebrate, and Australia being united, especially around aboriginal culture. Oakhill continues to support this event, as it is part of our living culture. Always was. Always will be.

A text was sent to all families today, advising them that Oakhill College had successfully completed our fire evacuation procedure this morning. All staff and students are safe and had returned to Friday timetabled lessons by Period 3.

Last week we celebrated the achievements of the Visual Arts and Oakfest Film Festival students with a special morning tea, certificates and prizes. 

Congratulations to the following 2020 award recipients:

Last Friday our Year 12 (2021) students headed off on the Oakhill bus for their Geography excursion to the Hunter Valley as part of their Global Wine Industry study. Fieldwork is an integral component of the Geography curriculum and is considered one of the highlights by students studying the subject.

The students participated in a guided tour of Tamburlaine Organic Wines in the Hunter Valley to learn about locational factors, ecological dimensions, linkages and global factors that impact an economic enterprise operating at a local scale. The students toured the vineyard and learnt about soil composition, environmental constraints and the impact of harsh weather conditions on the grapes. They then visited the storage warehouse to learn about imports and exports and the intricacies involved in bottling wine.

The students thoroughly enjoyed their trip, although they were a little disappointed that they were not allowed to participate in any wine tasting!

Mrs Kate Watson
Academic Head of Geography 

The November Artist of the Month is Oscar van Zoggel for his street art artwork titled ‘No Planet, No Home’. Year 9 Visual Arts students have been studying street art and had to create an artwork on an issue within society that they felt was important. Oscar has highlighted the new skills he has acquired in spray painting, stenciling and paste-ups, creating a thought-provoking artwork. Well done Oscar!

Rachael Manning
Visual Arts Teacher

For our Christmas Hamper Appeal this year we are asking our families to give generously in the following ways:

• Student's in their Tutor Group to make a gold coin donation
•  Please bring in a food item for our annual Christmas Hamper Appeal
• For every student to donate a book to build a Library for Youth off the Streets. 

We ask for your support and to get behind this important cause to support St Vincent de Paul and our friends at the San Miguel Family Crisis Centre.

This year we are also requesting that every student donate a book that will go to support Father Chris Riley’s Youth off the Streets. Books can be pre-loved and need to be suitable for upper primary and teenage students. Let’s take Oakhill’s passion for reading out to the streets.

Collectively we have the power to serve our local community this Christmas. 

Thank you in advance 

Mr Chris Goodman
Director of Mission

The College has been advised, by Catholic Schools NSW, that students and staff should not return to the College until their test results have been sighted.

In addition, Catholic Schools NSW advise:

• Vigilance in ensuring that staff and students do not attend school or work if they are unwell
•  Students absent or sent home due to flu like symptoms need to be tested
• Staff and students must not return to school or work until they return a negative COVID-19 result and are symptoms free
• Schools must sight the negative COVID-19 test result prior to allowing students and staff to return to school

Students over 15 years of age who are enrolled with Medicare will receive their test result via SMS, not the parent or guardian. Parents and guardians of the other students will receive the SMS result.
 
Procedure: Please screen shot the SMS message and email it to the student’s Dean and phunt@oakhill.nsw.edu.au before returning to school. Unfortunately messages sent via SMS to the absentee line can not be copied to the student’s file, so the result needs to be emailed.

Mrs Pauline Hunt
College Registered Nurse

Every year it seems harder and harder to get kids off the couch, or to put down the iPad for a minute and go out for some fresh air and exercise. This is hardly surprising when you consider the average child or teen spends seven hours a day either watching TV or using computers, phones, and other electronic devices for entertainment. In fact, recent studies show that only 1 in 3 kids are active everyday, and over one quarter of children aged 5-17 are considered overweight or obese. And there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that these shocking numbers are continuing to get worse. 

Add to this that extended periods of non-dynamic brain activity increases the ability for any child to retain skills and knowledge already processed. The Learning Gap or Achievement Gap is a researched based phenomenon that has identified how low brain activation over long periods, such as the summer holidays, can indeed impact on a child’s retention of key skills and knowledge learned in the previous year (and even more) of schooling. 

The Facts on Summer Learning Loss

• The equivalent of one month of learning is lost after summer holidays
• 2.6 months of math skills are lost over the summer 
• Two months of reading are lost over the summer
• Six weeks are spent re-learning old material in the fall to make up for summer learning loss.

So when you look at the negative side-effects of being inactive in general, it becomes clear that as a parent, encouraging your kids to be healthy, active and to engage their brains is one of the most beneficial things you can do for them, for both immediate and long-term development, health and happiness.

Some Simple Tips to Help get your Kids Active and Decrease the Learning Gap Dip:

Turn Off Electronics
It’s important to have times of the day when electronics are not used. Of course in today’s world technology is a part of daily life for school, communication and entertainment, but there needs to be scheduled times for the use of these devices, otherwise they can quickly become the dominating focus of a child’s life.

Research Fun Activities
If exercise isn’t fun it’ll be hard to get your child excited to participate consistently. That’s why it’s important to research a range of activities and sports and find one that suits your child’s personality, age, ability, and most importantly, one they enjoy. 

Schedule Time for Activity
Life can be busy for both you and your child, especially teenagers. And it can be easy to skip or simply forget to make time for activity times if they aren’t scheduled into their calendar. Sports with specific training and game times are ideal for keeping a regular routine of exercise.

Introduce Them to Healthy Role Models
Every child has idols they look up to. So it’s important that you actively introduce your child to quality role models who promote a healthy lifestyle. You as a parent are also a huge role model for your child and can help by leading by example and participating in regular exercise as well.

Get Active with Friends
If you can find an activity that your kids can share with their friends, they’ll be much more enthusiastic. So, talk to other parents at school or play dates and find activities they can do together. Team sports such as Soccer, Cricket, Netball, Basketball and Rugby are great for getting active, meeting new friends and increasing self-esteem.

Encourage Them
The most important factor is that you encourage and help your child become more active. Drive them to practice, find fun activities or programs to do over school holidays, be enthusiastic when they show an interest in a new sport or activity and educate them about the importance of regular exercise.

Encouraging your child to be more active during these crucial development years can lead to a lifetime of benefits that promote happiness and success across all aspects of life, including:

• Better social skills
• More self-confidence
• More academically motivated
• Happier about their appearance
• More friends
• Stronger muscles and bones
• Better sleep patterns
• A more positive outlook on life

Get them Cooking or being the ‘Google’ Map App

The brain is like a muscle. If you work it, it becomes strong and fast and works more effectively. When we don’t use our brain, it becomes lethargic – slow to function and this, according to research, can cause a learning gap to develop. Depending on how long the brain stays static, the learning gap can be as big as losing about three months worth of learning. Therefore, the more your son or daughter uses their brain, the better the muscle stays in shape. Try simple things like:

• Reading the paper and discussing world events
• Cooking from recipes
• Planning travel routes and working out stops and distances, including maybe sites to see along the way.
• Visiting sites in Sydney such as museums, State Library or even exhibitions
• Doing quizzes or playing family games 
• Reading for pleasure – boys in particular love autobiographies or biographies of people they follow in sport or other areas such as movies. 

Forty-five minutes a day can bridge the gap between the last time they were actively learning in a classroom to the new year of school. It is definitely worth the effort!

Ms Rose Garofano
Assistant Principal Curriculum 

Our Year 10 Drama students packed their bags this week and headed to the Olympic Games! With a stopover at the prestigious Cambridge University and a wander through the Scottish Highlands on their way, their final destination was Paris in 1924.

Wednesday night was the opening performance of the Year 10 play Chariots of Fire. Based on a true story and the film of the same name the play takes us through the lives of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell and shows not only the fierce competition involved in becoming a top athlete but also explores the impact of faith on their lives and the challenges that can present, particularly in 1920’s England.

With only four live performances and a restricted audience due to the effects of COVID-19 it’s no wonder the show has been a sell-out. Opening night was a huge success. The acting was superb, the stage and tech crew didn’t miss a beat and the audience absolutely loved it.

A big thank you to everyone involved – all of the Year 10 Drama students as well as some of our Year 11 girls, all of the Performing Arts staff across Drama and Music, our volunteers looking after costumes, staging and ticketing as well as our Arts and Maintenance departments.

Congratulations on a wonderful show – one that will be remembered for years to come.

Rebecca Madigan
Administration Assistant - Performing Arts

There has been no shortage of activity in the Drama Department this year - with Urinetown the College's Major Production in June, the Year 10 Play currently underway and rehearsals in progress for the Year 12 Play. COVID has, however, had some impact and the Drama enthusiasts in the Junior school have not had a chance to get involved. 

We are very excited therefore to have launched Junior Drama and Junior Musical Theatre groups to explore their talents in a fun and informal manner. These will be run by the Senior Drama students under the guidance of Drama staff during lunch breaks. Covering improvisation and Theatre Sports to singing and dance, we look forward to presenting small performances and other opportunities to showcase Oakhill College’s talented performing arts students throughout the course of 2021... watch this space!

Trinity Thompson
Drama Captain

You can keep active and stay in shape this Summer with Western Sydney Aquatics! We are operating throughout the holiday period in the College pool, offering a wide range of swimming groups for all fitness levels. For more information please visit our website westernsydneyaquatics.com.au or call 0451436606

Boys do read! Once again, Oakhill has broken records for our Years 7-9 Read to Succeed Program. This year, we have had over 110 Principal Award winners, over 135 Dean’s Award winners, 1000s of books read, and numerous reviews to read. Our program has enabled students to read from a vast variety of genres, discuss their opinions on books, and share the books via our online padlets.

Today we celebrated the Principal’s Morning Tea with 110 students. These students have all read over ten books from the Principal’s and Student Top 50 lists and shared this reading on their online padlets.

This program is one of our Principal, Br Steve’s favourite, as he understands the fundamental benefits of wide reading for students in these Year groups. Along with our enthusiastic Library team who have continued to assist and engage our students throughout the program, they have gone against the familiar mantra that boys do not read.

This is also evident in our Allwell results, which show that all our junior Years are above other school's average for reading. Our curriculum and programs have had this specific objective - to improve reading and we are pleased to say this is working.

Several students were also awarded the ‘Top Reader’ badge for reading and posting over 30 books. The overall number one reader in each grade was:

Year 7 – Nicholas Saxby
Year 8 – Gabriel Bucur
Year 9 – Elliot Abeyaratne

Mrs Gabby Russo
Marketing and Community Liaison Officer

With the Christmas holidays just around the corner, make sure you're set for your holiday reading. 

Come to the Library to borrow your books!

View the Library Catalogue

We also have a wide range of ebooks and audiobooks that you can access anytime from our Library webpage.

View ebooks and audiobooks here

Stuck for gift ideas this Christmas?

On Sunday 8th November, Alejandro Astudillo (Year 12, 2021) was selected by Castle Hill RSL to take part in the Balcombe Heights Estate Remembrance Ceremony. Alejandro spoke about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and how these horrific events changed the world forever, and how we must all continue to work together to bridge the gap to global peace.

Alejandro was also chosen by Castle Hill RSL as an ANZAC Ambassador at the Hills Shire Council’s ANZAC Day event in April this year and also for the Remembrance Day event.

You can watch Alejandro from 52:53 in this video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=375576000451443&ref=watch_permalink
or view the full story here: https://bit.ly/2U44urS.

Lest we forget.

Mrs Gabby Russo
Marketing & Community Liaison Officer

Earlier this year during Remote Learning, Year 8 English08 entered the Sydney Living Museums Writing Competition.

Each student chose a photo from the exhibition and used it as an inspiration for their piece.

Three weeks ago we found out that Patrick Harb was shortlisted and last Wednesday he was announced the winner of this competition!

This is a wonderful achievement. We are very proud! Oakhill boys write well.

Mrs Roxanne Leopardi
Co-ordinator of Lasallian Ministry / English Teacher

Twins Continue to Impress for Oakhill 1st XI

Oakhill College presented Isabella Hurst with her 1st XI baggy cap at the start of the season as our first female to play in the 1st XI ISA competition recently. Two weeks ago, it was her twin brother Matthew that took the limelight with a game-winning 108 not out, against St Augustine’s College. The 1st XI are back at home on Damien Oval this Saturday 21st November, against St Pius with the first ball bowled at 10.00am.

Our basketball teams play this weekend in the final fixture before the Sydney Metro Competition play-offs. This week will determine placings in the competition after the regular season, and all teams in the competition will have played each other once. The final weekend of Sport, is the weekend of 28th November. This round will host fixtures to determine the final competition placings for the Term 4 tournament. Games next week will be 1v2, 3v4 and 5v6. The Sydney Metro Premier will be awarded to the winners of the 1v2 games. The Oakhill College 1st V are currently on top of the Division 1 ladder and are looking to hold top spot with a win over St Pius on Saturday.

We welcome our 2021 Sports Captains, Sam Pickard and Holly Reid, to their leadership positions. Sam and Holly have already been extremely active around Oakhill College Sport and we look forward to what they bring to our Sport program next year. Our Sports Captains will keep everyone up to date with their contribution to the Sport report. Look out for “Talking Sport with Sam and Holly” each week.

Good luck to all teams this weekend. Fixtures can be found on the website under Quick Links – Sport Fixtures.

Mr Andrew Wisemantel
Head of Sport

Hey Oakhill! It's Holly and Sam and we are your Sport Captains for 2021. We both love sport and the feeling of a win. We are looking forward to a great season ahead and are hoping to get each and every one of you involved in Sport at Oakhill. Our goal for the upcoming year is to form new friendships with younger grades. Once the COVID-19 restrictions ease and spectators are allowed to attend games, it would be great to see our College come together to support one another on and off the sporting ground. We both have a huge passion for sport and if you see us around, come have a chat! 

Introduction to Summer Sport

Summer Sport is back and better than ever! There's been a massive couple of action packed weekends across Basketball, Cricket, Girls Rugby 7’s and Touch Football. The majority of fixtures this weekend in Boys Basketball and Cricket are against St Pius, with both the First V and First XI being at home on CSC 1 and Damien Oval respectively. In girls sport this weekend there are fixtures against St Spyridon, Barker and St Paul's, all away games. Summer Sport is excelling this season at Oakhill, with 66 Basketball teams and large numbers of students registered and playing across each of the sports on offer. There have been some great results thus far this summer sport season. 

Finally, we would like to mention the fantastic lunchtime Basketball competition Mr Fisher has been running with Year 7 over the past week. Congratulations to all participants and to our winning teams: 1st - Turon 2, 2nd - Solomon 1, 3rd - Mutien 2 and 4th Miguel. Beginning Monday 23rd November, there is a Year 7 Dodgeball competition being held at lunchtimes, and it would be great to see as much support down in the CSC from all grades to cheer on the young athletes of the College.

Team of the Week

The Team of the Week we are giving special recognition to, is a group of athletes from the College who have displayed excellent sportsmanship and determination throughout their Saturday games. This week we would like to congratulate the Open Green Division 4 Basketball team who went up against their fellow peers at 11.00am in the CSC. It was a nail-biting contest with the Year 12 boys working hard throughout the game and winning the clash 46-33. Congratulations to the Open Green Division 4; you deserved the win! Good luck to all teams playing on Saturday! 

Pick of the Yard

Team to watch this week: 1st V Basketball against St. Pius, on CSC 1 at 12:00pm. 

Holly and Sam

The College is currently working on producing the next Oakhill Drive and we appreciate your contribution. Please let us know what has been happening in your life since you last ‘walked down the drive’. Email your article, 150-200 words, along with photos, to drive@oakhill.nsw.edu.au by Tuesday 24th November.

Oakhill College has strong connections throughout our community. We would greatly appreciate it if you could pass this information on to any other alumni contacts that you are in touch with and ask them to update their details via the College website, under Community – Alumni. This will help the Oakhill College family to keep connected.

The College has introduced the option of online ordering through Flexischools. Parents will be able to order items using the Flexischools App or through our new website and can chose to pick up from the Uniform Shop during opening times or arrange to collect from Student Services.

The Uniform Shop will still be open for face to face sales during term time on Mondays 8.00am -11.30am and Thursdays 1.30pm – 5.00pm. 

The Uniform Shop currently requires volunteers that can work on Thursdays. You will need to be available to work once a month on a Thursday from 1.30pm—5.00pm.

If you are available and interested please contact our Administration Manager Mrs Carmel Christie via email at cchristie@oakhill.nsw.edu.au

Mrs Carmel Christie
Administration Manager

We do not sell second-hand uniform items at the Uniform Shop.  If you are interested in selling or buying second-hand items, we suggest that you search Sustainable School Shop, www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au or a local Facebook Buy/Swap/Sell Uniform group.

Mrs Carmel Christie
Administration Manager

We are still looking for volunteers for our Uniform Shop - either for our regular roster or to be on-call. If you are interested, please contact Mrs Carmel Christie, Administration Manager, on 9899-2288.