Xavier College Gawler Belt eNewsletter

Principal's Welcome

Graduating Class of 2022.

Last week we farewelled our Graduating Class of 2022. Our final Assembly, Graduation Ceremony and House celebrations during the week were a wonderful celebration of our Year 12 students.

To our 2022 College Captains, Shannon O’Brien and Layne Bailey, I thank you for your leadership throughout the year. During a very difficult year, you have both shown outstanding care for all members of our community and I thank you for your outstanding leadership.

I also congratulate our Year 12 Senior House Leaders and thank them for the work they have undertaken for their peers and the College throughout the year. As House, Academic, Christian Citizenship and Sporting Leaders you have all made an impact on the students in your respective Houses. Thank you.

Award Winners

I take this opportunity to congratulate all our award winners for 2022 (as detailed below). This is a wonderful achievement and reward for your hard work during the year.

Thank you

I pay tribute to all those who have supported our senior students during their time at Xavier College: their families, teachers and other staff members at the College. I congratulate and thank you for the way in which you have supported these students throughout their secondary education at Xavier College.

Finally to our Year 12 Graduating Class of 2022

To the Graduating Class of 2022, I reiterate the message I left you with at the final Year 12 Assembly: the importance of work ethic, treating everyone with kindness, showing gratitude and having a passion for everything you do in life.

I wish you the best over the upcoming exam period and I look forward to seeing you and your families at the Graduation Dinner.

Remember, you will always be a part of the Xavier College community.

Mark Flaherty
Principal

Xavier College Graduation Awards

Congratulations to all our Award winners

Xavier Platinum Medal
Layne Bailey

St John Bosco Medal
Layne Bailey

Academic Achievement Awards - Dux
Research Project - Hayley Blondell
Integrated Learning Religious Education A - Airlie Tapscott
Integrated Learning Religious Education B - Hayley Blondell
Agricultural Systems - Airlie Tapscott
Biology - Jasmine Koch
Business Innovation - Airlie Tapscott
Chemistry - Ryan Ramsay
Child Studies - Alannah Whalen
Creative Arts - Arliah Preece
Drama - Kailee Pollitt
English - Alina Lazaridis
English Literary Studies - Amy Mudge
Essential English - Jacinta Spindler
Essential Mathematics - Chelsea Vermeerer
Food & Hospitality - Morgan Taylor
General Mathematics - William Bailey
Legal Studies - Declan Kennett
Industry & Entrepreneurial Solutions - Koby Jones
Material Solutions Timber - Ben Rosiak
Mathematical Methods - Brodie Taylor
Modern History - Layne Bailey
Music - Layne Bailey
Physical Education - Maddison Saunderson
Physics - Ryan Ramsay
Psychology - Layne Bailey
Scientific Studies - Ella Goodson
Society & Culture - Morgan Taylor
Specialist Mathematics - Rachel Saunderson
Visual Arts - Laura Cassell
Workplace Practices - Taylor Scott (Year 11)

Academic Achievement Awards - Effort
Agricultural Systems - Ella Button
Biology - Hayley Blondell & Rachel Saunderson
Business Innovation - Noah Munro
Chemistry - Sofie Scarfe
Child Studies - Mackenzie Beaney & Nina Gouws
Creative Arts - Jacinta Spindler
Drama - Jessica Morris
English - Taylah McDermott & Kate Campbell
English Literary Studies - Declan Kennett
Essential English - Sophie Leach
Essential Mathematics - Isaac Willis
Food & Hospitality - Janelle Verrall & Alexander Birkin
General Mathematics - Alina Lazaridis & Taylah McDermott
Legal Studies - Zoe Williams
Industry & Entrepreneurial Solutions - Brydey Walsh
Material Solutions Timber - Mitchell Pengilly
Mathematical Methods - Laura Cassell
Modern History - Jasmine Koch
Music - Zachary Sadiwnyk (Year 11)
Physical Education - Jasmine Koch
Physics - Angus Roberts
Psychology - Zoe Williams & Jasmine Koch
Scientific Studies - Dakota Williams
Society & Culture - Isaac Willis
Specialist Mathematics - Brodie Borg
Visual Arts - Wintah Chin
Workplace Practices - Emelia Ponton

Martin Ryan Music Award
Layne Bailey

Australian Defence Force 2022 Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award
Layne Bailey

Australian Defence Force 2022 Future Innovators Award
Rachel Saunderson

Order of Australia Association Award
Layne Bailey

House Leadership Awards
de Sales - Emily Hughes
Handley - William Bailey
Mazzarello - Madelyn Denton
Occhiena - Zachary Sadiwnyk (Year 11)

Xavier Gold Medal
Paige Roberston
Layne Bailey
Amy Mudge
Declan Slattery
William Bailey
Rachel Saunderson
Zoe Williams
Kailee Pollitt
Sophie Leach
Declan Kennett
Olivia Thiele
Ryan Sibbick
Shannon O'Brien
Chelsea Vermeeran
Jasmine Koch
Emily Grinter
Dakota Williams
Ryan Ramsey
Nathaniel Degreef

Barolo Appeal 2022

Our annual Barolo Appeal was conducted in the last weeks of Term 3. This year we raised over $7,200 to help the Salesians with their overseas missionary work. Each House supports their own Salesian cause:

de Sales: Cagliero Project - (providing long term meaningful volunteer placements working with disadvantaged young people in a Salesian setting in places such as Cambodia, Samoa and Zambia)

Handley: Don Bosco Agriculture College - Timor Leste (a co-educational Salesian school catering for 200 students all of whom are boarders)

Mazzarello: Salesian Sisters' Orphanage - Timor Leste (a Salesian orphanage for up to 120 girls aged 4 - 19)

Occhiena: Don Bosco Gumbo - South Sudan (a Salesian Centre where thousands of refugees each day seek refuge in a 'safe haven', as the country’s civil unrest continues)

Most of the funds raised for the Barolo appeal are collected through a series of House Oratory Fete Days. These are in keeping with our Salesian tradition in that we are raising money to support those in need while at the same time having fun in doing so.

We wish to thank all members of the College community for their generosity this year, not only in the Barolo appeal but also in the St Vinnie’s Winter Appeal and Project Compassion. Your donations go a long way to helping those in need both locally and overseas.

Gareth Watson
Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission

Finance News

The 2023 College Fee Schedule is now available on the Xavier College Website. For families who wish to commence early payments, please contact the College Accounts Manager via email: finance@xavier.catholic.edu.au for payment information.

School Card Applications for the current school year close on Friday 18 November. If you have not yet applied, please visit the School Card Scheme online by clicking on this link or contact the College for an application form. Late applications will not be accepted, and full fees will apply.

Final Fee Statements for the 2022 school year have now been posted to families. Please contact the College if you did not receive your statement in the mail. If you have recently moved, please contact the College to update your mailing address. Payment of all accounts is due now.

Our College Fee Policy, which is reviewed and updated by the College Board every three years, was recently ratified at the October College Board Meeting. Please visit the Xavier College website to review the updated policy.

Two Wells - Head of Campus

Term 4 is always a bit of a whirlwind, and often packed full of events. It has proven to be like that already and has been a fantastic and fast paced start to the term.

Our Year 7 and 8 cohort have been away on camp at Wallaroo and had a lot of fun. When the students returned they were tired, however, the exhilaration and camaraderie was obvious! Everyone was involved in a lot of activities on the beach, kayaking, and even a ride on the train at Moonta. The accommodation was very good, the food was great, and the staff were lovely. A huge thank you to all the staff who attended and help facilitate this wonderful opportunity for our students. Events like this provide a unique opportunity for strengthening and building relationships, gaining new perspectives and friendships.

It was incredible to witness such strong community (and so much love) at our recent Grandparents and Special Friends Day. I was amazed by our community response with so many attending, and coming from places such as Port Pirie, Murray Bridge and Seacliff. Our Reception to Year 2 children had a wonderful time sharing a morning with their grandparents. This gave us all the opportunity to be together to share a glimpse of Xavier life, strengthen our family and community ties, share quality time, showcase our environment, and just enjoy being together. Thank you to our family and friends for putting in such a wonderful effort for our children, and to the staff who worked so hard to make this one of the best days we have had!

For those who have been part of our community for a while, you may know that we always aim to finish the year in a strong fashion. Part of this means that we continue to work very hard until the end of term with students participating in an early academic changeover. This means that in Week 8 of this term, students will spend one week in their new 2023 classes, with their new classmates and their new teacher (where possible). The benefits of this is that it lessens anxiety for students over the Christmas break and provides an opportunity for us to help them adjust to their new environment. This is also the week that our Xavier Bambinos will come to school for their transition visits.

Finally, I would like to pass on my congratulations to our Year 12 Graduating Class of 2022. It was an honour to attend the Final Assembly and Graduation Ceremony at the Gawler Belt Campus last week and see the incredible growth of our students as they prepare to leave for the next chapter of their lives. I wish them all the very best for the future.

Janet Coomber
Head of Campus - Two Wells

Two Wells - SACPSSA Tennis Hot Shots Carnival

Recently students from Years 3 and 4 travelled to Playford Tennis Centre to compete in the SACPSSA Tennis Hot Shots Carnival. The day was a great success, all students were amazing and gave their best effort, showed positive sportsmanship and great communication with each other. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and all students had lots of fun. Well done to all involved.

At the end of Term 3, students from Year 3 through to Year 5 participated in a golf clinic. Students were fortunate to have a guest coach from the local golf club to lead our sessions. Over 5 weeks, students learnt a range of skills including putting, driving, and ball control. The students had a great time learning new skills with Hudson (Year 4) identifying that, “golf was tricky, but fun.” Jaxon (Year 3) said that, “it was good; fun to hit the golf balls!” Mackenzie (Year 5) thought, “it was good and was quite proud of how far I could hit the gold ball in the end.”

Two Wells - Grandparents & Special Friends Day

Last Friday our Reception to Year 2 students celebrated their first Grandparents and Special Friends Day. Students were excited and proud to welcome loved ones into their classroom to share their learning, as well as participate in a variety of art and craft, reading, and drawing activities. Beaming with pride, students created poems, shared their special workbooks, created gold medal paper plate ribbons, friendship bracelets and fingerprint art as keepsake gifts for their grandparents and special friends to cherish in the years to come.

After visiting classrooms, our special visitors gathered to enjoy a lovely morning tea of delicious freshly baked scones with jam and cream from the Two Wells Bakery. We sincerely thank all our families for their overwhelming support and attendance on Grandparents Day and Special Friends Day.

Two Wells - Year 1 Weather Table

This term for HASS, the Year 1 students are exploring the daily and seasonal weather of various locations by it’s rainfall, temperature, sunshine and wind and comparing the weather of other known locations. Students are asked to collect and interpret information and data from observations and sources provided. To support the students in their ‘weather’ topic for Term 4, we created a ‘Weather News Station’ dramatic play area in the classroom. This Weather Station provides endless opportunities for the students to further experience and understand the weather in a dramatic play scene, and allows them to explore different resources and role play scenarios to broaden their knowledge on all aspects of the weather. We have a camera, rain gauges, weather maps and symbols, appropriate dress ups and microphones to support their learning.

We look forward to a fantastic Term together and can’t wait to learn all about the weather in the classroom environment.

Marissa Chelchowski
Year 1 Teacher

Gawler Belt - Head of Campus

Improvement to College Facilities
During the Term 3 break the Property Services Team upgraded 4 large classroom spaces across the Campus. The Team did an amazing job facilitating this process which included the painting of the four rooms along with the installation of new carpet into each of the learning spaces. The final component of the classroom upgrade included the installation of a contemporary range of modern functional furniture which is designed to support and enhance collaborative teaching and learning activities. The College plans to use this standard footprint across each of our core general purpose learning areas with the view to complete the full upgrade over the course of the next two years.

2022 Year 12 Final Assembly and Graduation
In Week 2 the College community celebrated the Year 12 Final Assembly and their Graduation Ceremony. We are exceptionally proud our Graduates and what they have been able to achieve. The Year 12 students are now in the process of preparing for their final exams which commence on Monday 7 November. We wish all of the Year 12 students the very best for the coming weeks as they complete their final exam cycle as secondary students and close out any final assessment tasks associated with their course work. We are looking forward to adding students from our Year 12 cohort to our existing Academic Hall of Fame in the closing stages of the 2022 Academic Year.

Leading with Values and Enhancing Staff Capacity
Xavier College is delighted to be working in partnership with Anna Ranaldo from Collective Courage. All Xavier staff had a presentation from Anna during a combined staff day which was positively received by those who attended. Anna’s Dare to Lead presentation explored the research findings and key learnings associated with four critical skills of courageous teachers and leaders:

Navigating Vulnerability
Leading with Values
Building Trust and Managing Change
Rising from Setbacks

To date, the College has had over ten key leaders undertake a series of day workshops and retreat styled Dare to Lead presentations under the guidance of Anna, all with outstanding positive feedback from the staff involved. The core educational purpose of the Dare to Lead initiative is to enhance the reflective skills set of our staff, assist staff with successfully navigating change and to further build upon the wonderful collegial culture that already exists amongst the staff here at the College. We are looking forward to engaging Anna’s services again in 2023 for a number of whole staff workshop sessions.

Teacher Excellence
Xavier College is delighted to have been able to support Mr Chris Bateman with his application for Lead Teacher certification. As from today Chris enters the final stage of the formal certification process prior to being formally classified as a Lead Teacher. Chris is to be commended on working diligently this year in gathering and documenting evidence against a detailed set of criteria in addition to being the centre of a series of comprehensive lesson observations which measured and rated Chris’ performance in the classroom against a set of National Standards. Later this term the College will be formally notified if Chris has successfully achieved the Lead Teacher Certification and therefore, not only be the first teacher to achieve this high standard of teacher excellence here at Xavier College but will join an elite group of only 15 educators who have achieved this level of excellence in the State of South Australia.

John Cameron
Head of Campus - Gawler Belt

Gawler Belt - College Captains

Visit to Government House

During the Term 3 holidays our College Captains, Shannon O'Brien and Layne Bailey, were fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to meet Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, the Governor of South Australia. The Governor invited School Captains from schools across the State to Government House in order to hear her speak about leadership pathways, post-secondary schooling and to provide them an opportunity to network with the state’s future leaders.

Gawler Belt - Transport Excursion

On Tuesday some of our Year 7 and 8 students had an adventure through the suburbs! We travelled by train, bus (On Demand, O Bahn and regular) and on foot to Elizabeth, Golden Grove and the city as we aimed to build on our transport skills. Somehow, we managed to stay dry and avoid some pretty awful weather and had a great day! The students enjoyed building relationships with each other and getting around in the public. Students were able to make independent decisions and handle money when we bought lunch at the Myer Food Court. We all had fun!

Jo Bakker
Coordinator - Inclusive Education

Gawler Belt - Year 10 Drama

Practitioners of the Month

Introducing the Year 10 Drama class as Practitioners of the Month for September! Throughout Semester 2 this class has been experimenting with a wide range of performance styles including improvisational theatre, mime and melodrama. This group of students have taken every challenge in their stride and exhibited incredible creativity, enthusiasm and passion as they create, rehearse and conduct wonderful performances. Through developing characters with specific traits, costumes, vocalisation and remarkably different personalities, these students have been able to express themselves in safe and supportive environments. We look forward to seeing some of these shining stars amongst the cast of the 2023 College Musical!

Galen Keir
Drama Teacher

Gawler Belt - Pedal Prix

Xavier College was excited to enter two teams in the final 2022 Australian Human Powered Vehicle Super Series (APVSS) event. This is a grueling 24-hour race held at the scenic Sturt Reserve complex at Murray Bridge, along the banks of the Murray River, from Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 September. The event saw 144 teams participating across seven different categories, ranging from Primary School aged children to adult teams.

The Pedal Prix culture involves strong participation from families and College staff across multiple facets- preparation of equipment, maintenance of vehicles, catering, administration, marshalling, and pit support. Leading up to the 24-hour event, huge amounts of time was spent on preparation. Families arrived early Friday morning to set up the shared pit sit and individual camping spaces. It really was phenomenal how the venue became a small city with tents, campervans, marquees, catering food trucks, firetrucks, and ambulances to support the event.

After successfully completing scrutineering Friday afternoon, the riders were able to acclimatize to the track by a twilight practice session that evening. The ongoing annoying drizzle couldn’t put a dampener on the enthusiasm of the riders, which was only escalated by the cancellation of the race for the previous two years. After a shootout the next morning to determine grid placement, the race was preceded by the National Anthem and Welcome to Country, beginning under gorgeous sunny conditions. Both vehicles, Cerberus and GreenEdge, started strong, though each had separate collisions three hours into the race, which caused the mechanics strife as they tried to trouble shoot the difficulties. While Cerberus was back to 100% after only a few stints and pit stops, it took many hours and eventually a wheel alignment to get GreenEdge running smoothly again. After a season of very few mechanical concerns, this race caused quite a workload for our mechanical team.

The 18 riders involved in the event did a wonderful job of showing resilience and determination to keep both vehicles running successfully for the 24 hours. Older riders pumped out lengthy stints with consistent times, and beginner riders did their best to keep racing as their young bodies struggled with the huge demands including lack of sleep, and physical exhaustion.

During the 2022 season, over 35 students have been involved in Xavier College’s Pedal Prix team across twice weekly after-school sessions, and events at Tailem Bend, Victoria Park, and Murray Bridge. To celebrate our year’s achievements this year we enjoyed a final lunch on Friday 21 October, and farewelled our graduating student, Patrick Costello, including presentation of a team trophy, created and donated by Webplastics and Plasma Art.

The Xavier College team wishes to thank the College Leadership for the ongoing support of the team. Thanks also to Proficient Fire Protection for the kind donation of fire extinguishers, supporting the safety at the event. We are grateful to all College staff and families who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the team.

Jo Bakker
Pedal Prix Coordinator

Out of School Hours Care

At the commencement of Term 3 we had a focus on RUAH and what that meant for the OSHC. We created an OSHC friendship flower to show how we can be kind to one another, how we can treat each other the way in which we wish to be treated.

During Term 3 a game called Camouflage became a firm favourite among the children and staff, this is a different way to play hide and seek. Often there were anywhere from 5 to 20 children playing at any given time. The children who attend OSHC love to be outside in the nature play area, or on the oval kicking balls; however, that was not always possible due to the weather. When the weather was not ideal, the children thoroughly enjoyed using the gymnastics equipment in the Hub. Mr Riggs and Mr Sutton were fantastic at creating and re-arranging the course often to mix it up for the children.

We also enjoyed two Pupil Free days in OSHC for Term 3. These were themed ‘When I Grow Up’ and ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’. The theme ‘When I Grow Up’ came about as our OSHC Book Week book was Blue Flower, which is illustrated with water colours and is a story about everyone having different talents. The children dressed up for this day and participated in water colour painting. When we celebrated our ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ theme, the children enjoyed bringing in their own soft toys from home and having a picnic outdoors for lunch.

Our OSHC staff are excited for Term 4 as we have four Pupil Free days to plan for! We hope they will be fun and enjoyable for all.