The last fortnight has proven to be a real settling period for the Year 9’s at Resurrection House. The students have completed their NAPLAN testing, and the second round of offsite programs have concluded.

NAPLAN offered the students an opportunity to practice sitting assessments under exam conditions, something that will hold them in good stead for future assessments this year and in the senior school. I was impressed by the effort and dedication placed on these tests by the Year 9’s. A big thank you to Mr Paul Menta for organising and running NAPLAN for us. Your care and support for the students and staff alike is very much appreciated, so thank you.

Last week, Mr Smith and some student helpers organised and cooked another BBQ, raising funds for Closing The Gap, which was a highlight for the boys.
 

We have also furnished front reception with St Bernard’s artifacts, which has continued to make this new site feel like home for both the staff and students.
 

A few special mentions need to go to some individual students who have excelled greatly in their chosen fields. Ethan Gissara came 11th in the WHOLE WORLD in the Education Perfect Global Languages Championship. That is such an amazing effort Ethan, well done. Another couple of stellar achievements to highlight include Zachary Zanella and Harrison Andrews’ artwork, which was selected for the MACS Creative Arts Exhibition 2023. This work will then be displayed in the front reception of Resurrection House for everyone to see.

Looking forward to the next two weeks, this will see out for the rest of Term One and on to the Easter Break. This is an amazing achievement for everyone involved, including all staff and student, who are jointly contributing to the establishment of this brand-new campus. I am very proud of the way that everyone has approached the start of the year, and this new venture. We are really building something great here at Resurrection house.

We will also have a visit from former Head of Santa Monica Campus, now Young Adult author, Mark Smith. Mark is coming in to speak to the whole year level about his Road to Winter series, as well as offering a creative writing workshop for students to attend. It will be great to hear from Mark.

The Year 8 Music Academy performed Seven Nation Army by The white stripes at the Year 8 assembly on 15 March.

A fantastic effort loved by fellow year 8 students and subject teachers. Thanks to the efforts of Benjamin Tansey for holding sessions at lunchtime. Looking forward to the next performance

On the morning of Friday, 24 March, The College had the pleasure of relaunching the SBC Business Breakfast!

With over 80 in attendance, it was a truly remarkable morning of networking amongst the SBC Community, We we're lucky enough to host Old Collegian Mr Stefan Romaniw, who provided his unique insight into global politics, with a focus on Ukraine. Stefan spoke passionately and helped to connect the audience to the harsh and unfair reality the people of Ukraine are facing daily
 

A massive thank you to Stefan for your time, it was a honour to host you

Watch this space as we plan to host another Business Breakfast soon!

Between March 6th-10th, St Bernard’s College celebrated our first ever ‘Rice Week’ being the first of our new house celebration weeks. In celebration of ‘Rice Week’ various events and activities were put together for the boys to get involved in and contribute to the culture surrounding our College Houses. We had events and activities such as Rice Week Quizzes in the library, our first Year 7 and 8 House Futsal Tournament, Rice House Community Mass, Student VS staff Netball game at Resurrection House along with so much more like the band ‘Encapsulate’ creating an amazing atmosphere alongside our fundraising BBQ for Edmund Rice Foundation and Disability Australia on the Friday.

Without a doubt, a highlight of the week was our Year 7 and 8 House Futsal Tournament which would not have been possible without our college Sports Captain, Charles Saunders. Here is his report on the tournament.

“It was a busy week with matches running every day at lunchtime in a controlled chaos fashion. After the first two days there were only 4 teams that remained for the semi-finals. 8 Avila B prevailed over 7 McAuley B in a dominant 3-1 performance, while 8 Mackillop A managed a victory over 7 Nagle A in a suspenseful penalty shootout (2 –1), eliminating the last of the year 7 teams with an all year 8 final taking place the next day.

The rest of the year 7’s and 8’s had gathered around the first pitch to watch the final, beginning at 1250 with 20 minutes of game time. It was an even game with both teams sharing the time with the ball equally and looked like it was going to be a penalty shoot-out, before Lewis Linardon managed a header on the end of a fast break to put Mackillop A up 1-0. The game finished 5 minutes later rendering 8 Mackillop 8 as the inaugural 7/8 House Soccer Tournament winners.”

It gives us great pleasure to say the week was big success! It was great seeing everyone from all the houses coming together and participating in everything on offer, a real attestation to the sense of belonging the College House system seeks to create and a great sight to see everyone having some fun. We hope everyone enjoyed the week and are ready for the welcoming and celebration of the rest of our up-and-coming House Weeks further on in the year!

Music is ALIVE at St Bernard’s College!

Last week, the college Showband performed for the first-time year. It was an exhilarating experience, and for some of the band members, their first time performing not only in front of a large crowd but in the Showband stage set up. They performed “Bean is on the Scene” with solos performed by Tate hurley and Emmett Coleman. Well done and congratulations to all of the students involved.

On Monday 20 March, the College Showband also went on their first ACC band workshop excursion to Parade College. This was an enriching experience for students and staff, which learned about conduction – a collaborative approach to improvisation, where the control is purely derivative from the conductor. This was an awesome experience that saw even some of our own students from St Bernard’s College conducting a large ensemble.

Our first LunchLive concert took place on Wednesday 22nd of March, with performances from the two student-led ensembles, the college Guitar Ensemble, Rock Band and Year 8 Music Academy. Well done, boys, and keep up the awesome work.

Trybooking is now open for you to enrol or re-enrol your son into private instrumental lessons for term 2, and will close on the 12th of May. If you would like to enrol/re-enrol your son into music lessons, please click on the link, https://www.trybooking.com/CGOPK. If you have any questions regarding private instrumental lessons, please contact the music administrator, Michelle Puglisi at MPuglisi@sbc.vic.edu.au.

At present, the instrument lessons offered at St Bernard’s College are:

Piano and Voice

Brass

• Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Euphonium

Woodwind

• Flute, Clarinet, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxophone

Percussion

• Drumkit and pitched percussion

St Bernard’s College current lesson options are:

• Year 7 Student: Regular (1 student 30 min lesson) or Paired (2 students 30 min lesson)

• Year 8 Student: Regular (1 student 30 min lesson) or Paired (2 students 30 min lesson)

• Year 9 Student: Regular (1 student 30 min lesson) or Paired (2 students 30 min lesson)

• Year 10 Student: Regular (1 student 30 min lesson) or Comprehensive (1 student 60 min lesson)

• Year 11 Student: Regular (1 student 30 min lesson) or Comprehensive (1 student 60 min lesson)

• Year 12 Student: Regular (1 student 30 min lesson) or Comprehensive (1 student 60 min lesson)

Please note that if there is no other student to pair lessons with, 15 minute weekly lessons or 30 minute fortnightly lessons will be offered for your son instead. This arrangement can be discussed with your son and his tutor.

Students are highly encouraged to be a part of one of the college ensembles if they are having music lessons. Joining an ensemble is a nurturing experience that allows your son to develop not only new friendships but challenging musical skills, which in culmination includes various performance opportunities; including all year ACC Music, the Music Soiree and a collaborative concert with St Columba’s College in term 2. It is also highly encouraged that if a student is also interested in joining an ensemble but are not currently undertaking lessons, to register, so they can study their ensemble music more carefully with one of the private instrumental teachers.

In term 2, Friends of Music will be resuming. Friends of Music is a wonderful opportunity for parents and members of the St Bernard’s Community to get involved in the music program, and with that contribute to creating as many opportunities as possible for all the young men involved. Looking ahead, it is our hope to raise money for not only a more diverse collection of instruments, but for a national and international trip within the next few years. If you would like to join Friends of Music, please email the Head of Music, Joshua Romeo at JRomeo@sbc.vic.edu.au.

Author Mark Smith will be conducting an author talk and writing workshop which will be held at Resurrection House for Year 9 students on Tuesday 4th April. Bookings are open.

The writing workshop will take place during period 3 and 4 with morning tea provided for participants. Mark has written The Road to Winter, Wilder Country, Land of Fences and If Not Us. His books are fast paced with great characters. His connection to St Bernard's College as the former co-ordinator of the Santa Monica campus, will ensure he is a welcome presence in the St Bernard's author series for 2023. Any questions contact Ms Gale or Mr Hicks.

If your son would like to take part in the writing workshop contact Ms Jacqui Gale on Jgale@sbc.vic.edu.au

In this week's Echoes from the Archives, we'd like to show our Community the below extract from the parliamentary Hansard, our local member for parliament Mr Ben Carroll was kind enough to share the below - further immortalising our good friend Ms Maureen Kavanagh

From Tuesday 7 March to Tuesday 14 March, students from year 7-12 competed in the Education Perfect Global Languages Championships. Our students competed against students from all over the world in this online languages competition. The competition allowed all languages students to compete at their own ability level, learn curriculum-aligned content, increase their language knowledge, and compete on an international stage. It was fantastic to see our students fully engage in the competition and encourage each other to get involved on order to earn points and win prizes.

Congratulations to all our students who competed in the completion. Throughout the competition our students spent 571 hours answering 422,817 questions. All their hard work paid off as our school was ranked 24th globally out of 2,532 participating schools. Furthermore, SBC came second in Victoria for both Japanese and Italian. A special congratulations to the following students who performed brilliantly during the competition:

Year 9 Italian student Ethan Gissara who came 11th in the world and first in our school,

Year 8 Japanese student Lachlan Mingaars who came 15th in the world and second in our school,

Year 8 Japanese student Isaac Wong who came 53rd in the world and third in our school.

Applications are now welcomed for additional members
to join the St Bernard’s College Council

The St Bernard’s College community is inspired by the Charism of Edmund Rice and our daily work informed and enriched by the EREA touchstones. We strive to offer a liberating education, based on Gospel spirituality, within an inclusive community committed to justice and solidarity.

The Advisory Council plays a pivotal role in the life of the College. It provides governance and oversight and collaboratively participates in setting the strategic direction of the College. Working closely with the Principal, the Advisory Council also oversees the College’s alignment and faithfulness to the Charter and the highest quality stewardship.

To ensure that the Advisory Council is in the best position to support the Principal and the College, it is critical that each member of the Council and its subcommittees brings skill and experience that complements the skills and experience of the other members, as well as the skills and experience relevant to the Council’s responsibilities.

The Advisory Council is now seeking expressions of interest from the St Bernard’s College community for additional members for the Council and subcommittees with excellent communication skills, commitment to the College and its mission, and substantial experience in the following areas:

• Governance and Risk

• Finance Accounting / Investment

• Property

For a confidential conversation about the role of the Board or to request an application pack, please contact Jackie Besley, Managing Partner, Devereaux Consulting on 0413 633 195 or jackiebesley@devereauxconsulting.com.au

Applications close at 5.00 pm on Sunday 26 March, 2023.

The Rotary Clubs of East Keilor & Essendon are proud to present the 9th Moonee Valley Art Show this year.

For the second year, the Show will be staged at the College!

The Moonee Valley Art Show is open to the public and will be held this year on the weekend of 20-21 May, commencing with a Gala Opening Preview on Friday 19 May 2023 at St Bernard’s College.

Growing each year in stature and reputation, the Moonee Valley Art Show provides a fantastic opportunity for established and aspiring artists to exhibit and sell their artwork. Additionally, this year new art forms such as photography, sculpture and ceramics will be included, and we are very excited that for the first-time secondary school artists will have their own category to exhibit and sell their artwork.

Sponsors are key to the success of this annual event!

Sponsorship of MVAS is a terrific opportunity to align yourself or your business with a well-respected, prestigious cultural community event. Sponsorship benefits include broad brand exposure through our comprehensive event marketing and communication support strategy, which includes social, radio and print media, billboards, catalogue advertising and event signage
 

All funds raised from the MVAS 2023 will be used by the Rotary Clubs of Essendon and Keilor East to implement a number of local and overseas community projects. A listing of the projects undertaken across the two Rotary Clubs in 2021-2022 is below.
 

2023 Sponsors Benefits & Levels

Funding Community Service Programs
 

Sponsor Application Form

The SBC uniform shop is only a click away - now operating via appointments, Please click here to book an appointment or order via our online shop if you know your son's sizes'

Please note that the uniform shop is closed during the school holidays
 

For all other uniform enquiries, please email rbuhagiar@sbc.vic.edu.au or phone 9289 1176.