Hearts News – Thursday 1 August 2024 (Week 1 Term 3)

As Olympics fever sweeps the world, Sacred Heart College has been proudly cheering on old scholar, Jesse Moore (SHOC 2020), the first South Australian male gymnast to compete in the Olympics! We congratulate Jesse on all he has achieved to make it to Paris in 2024 and for qualifying for the gymnastics all-around final. A stellar effort!

To our Sacred Heart College community

As we commence Term 3, it’s clear that Olympic fever has taken over much of the College! The various achievements and overnight happenings are the topic of many discussions in classrooms and in the yard. Olympians serve as excellent role models for our students, showcasing dedication, perseverance, and excellence — qualities we aim to cultivate in every learner. These qualities, essential in sports, also serve as a powerful metaphor for life, illustrating how determination and resilience lead to success in all endeavours.

In particular, you may have seen on social media that Sacred Heart old scholar, Jesse Moore (SHOC 2020)  competed in the early hours of this morning in the men’s Artistic Gymnastics final, finishing 21st. What a huge achievement! It was also heartening to hear Jesse’s father comment in a media interview that several of Jesse’s friends from Sacred Heart have travelled to Paris to support him. This is the extraordinary Family Spirit that is part of our fabric. 

The Olympics really are a wonderful opportunity to inspire our students to set ambitious goals and work hard to achieve them. We hope to channel some of the excitement into our academic and extracurricular activities, and perhaps have our students achieve more than they thought possible?

Daniel Head
Deputy Principal

Meet our 2024 Student Leaders – Year 9 Arts Leader and Year 12 Arts Captain

Each week, our portfolio Student Leaders will take part in a brief Q&A session so you can get to know them a little better. This week, we meet our 2024 Year 9 Arts Leader, Lily Hone and 2024 Year 12 Arts Captain, Andrew McKinnon.

Marist Schools Australia and ICFP Timor Leste Partnership program

During the Instituto Católico para Formação de Professores (ICFP) semester break, two groups of Australian teachers volunteered their July school holiday time to teach English to 21 members of staff at the ICFP, a Marist teacher training institute in Baucau in Timor-Leste. The program for each staff member was targeted for their particular requirements, whether it be help with grammar, vocabulary, or simply learning conversation skills. 

Timor-Leste is one of the least developed countries in the world, the poorest in Asia, and Australia’s closest neighbour. During the 1999 post referendum violence, 95% of the buildings and infrastructure were destroyed, leaving only 5% of the schools standing. The majority of teachers were Indonesian and returned back to Indonesia in 1999 leaving the nation with a severe shortage of ‘teachers’ that coincided with one of the fastest birth rates in the world. The average family size is seven children, with nearly 50% of the population being under the age of 15 years. The ICFP was established to help train teachers at the request of the Bishop of the Diocese of Baucau and is now regarded as one of the top performing tertiary institutions in the country. Sacred Heart old scholar, Br Paul Gilchrist (SHOC ’69) is the Director of the College.

During my stay in Timor, I was able to visit the site of the new school, Marist College Timor Leste, which will open in January 2025. Since our last visit, construction has continued at a fast pace with the Junior Pavillion, Administration/staff and the kitchen buildings taking shape. A futsal court is also nearly completed. The proceeds of the SHC Sport Bag fundraiser, held late 2023 and early 2024, have helped see this project move closer towards having students onsite. The funds raised were received by Br Peter Corr and foreman Abby with grateful thanks to our community. 

A visit to KATILOSA, a special school which focuses on inclusive education and is supported by Australian Marist Solidarity (AMS) was a special treat as I recalled the Marist week, many years ago where Sacred Heart College Middle School (SHCMS) students raised funds for the school to buy a truck that heads out each morning to pick students from the surrounding villages so they can attend the school. The staff were most grateful for the donated stationary we left with them.

The partnership program truly highlights the wider Marist community’s commitment to empowering individuals through quality teaching and learning opportunities.

Sonja Brownridge
Tecaher Librarian / Learning Enrichment Teacher

Arts News

Year 12 Drama performance – Lord of the Flies

This week, the Year 12 Drama students performed their group production, ‘Lord of the Flies.’ 

Adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams and based on William Golding’s influential tale of adventure and survival, the story follows a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on an uninhabited tropical island and their disastrous attempts to fend for and govern themselves.

The Year 12 Drama classes, as two casts on alternating evenings, worked hard in bringing this dark and thought provoking piece of theatre to life. The atmosphere of stark and brooding menace was powerfully portrayed both by the actors and by the excellent stage design, imaginative use of props and the important work of the crew.

We would like to thank John Lochowiak for his Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony prior to the show, bringing us together in a poignant and peaceful moment. 

Thank you to all students and staff who came out to support the production, and to the enthusiastic audiences of the four nights, who engaged with the challenging themes of the play: human savagery, the fight for power and leadership, and the importance of reason and unity.

We’d also like to thank the Stage 2 Drama classes who have immersed themselves in on-stage and off-stage roles, including acting, set design and construction, make-up design, and promotion and publicity. They have demonstrated the importance and value of working together as a company and have lived out the Marist characteristics of ‘Love of Work’, ‘Family Spirit’ and ‘Presence’.

From the Year 9 Drama students

“Our Year 9 Drama class was lucky to view the final dress rehearsal for the Stage 2 Drama performance of Lord of the Flies. The opportunity to view live theatre and spend time talking to the Director and cast was a wonderful opportunity and a very enjoyable experience. As students, watching the performance was a great chance to see the possibilities for us as Drama students at Marcellin and into the senior years. It was really inspiring to be able to see what we could be doing in a few years time. One of the high points in viewing the play was observing the ensemble skills and group dynamics of the Stage 2 students, who worked together to bring the story to life.”

You can see the production one last time tonight at 7pm in the Br Stephen Debourg Performing Arts Centre at Marcellin Campus. Limited (free) tickets are still available here.

2024 Arts and Music dates and events

Champagnat Campus (Term 3 2024)

Marcellin Campus (Term 3 2024)

Click here to view the full College calendar of events.

Sports News

Welcome to Sports in Term 3

Week 1 of this term marked the return of sports competitions for the winter season following the holiday break. It was wonderful to see students back in action as they now prepare for the final weeks of minor rounds before heading into the finals period.

In support of Australians affected by breast cancer, School Sport Associations SAAS, SACSSGSA and IGSSA have scheduled PINK ROUND into our sports fixture for all sports games in our associations from 31 July – 3 August 2024. We encourage players, officials, supervisors, and spectators to wear some PINK this weekend to raise breast cancer awareness, generate discussion encouraging breast screening, and show support for the 20,000+ women and men diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia every year. 

At Marcellin, our First’s teams will all be participating by purchasing pink socks and ribbons. At Champagnat our students will be adding a “touch of pink” to their uniforms and the weekly coffee van, The Golden Years, will be selling pink donuts in support. It would be great to see as many people in the Hearts community get behind such a great cause and don something pink this week. 

National Schools Sailing Competition 

Congratulations to the Sacred Heart College Sailing Team for their impressive performance at the National Schools Sailing Competition in Goolwa last week. Despite battling cold and wet conditions, the team secured a commendable 5th place out of 22 competing teams. They were narrowly edged out of a higher position due to a controversial umpiring decision that favored the eventual winners. Special thanks to Dave Higgins for his unwavering support of both the team and the sailing program. Well done to everyone involved!

CEA Knockout Sports (Champagnat and Marcellin)

Results from the last fortnight of Knockout Sports are as follows:

• Year 7/8 Girls Knockout  Netball – SHC (59) def Concordia College (56)
• Year 10-12 Girls Knockout Football – SHC (19.5.119) def Scotch College (1.1.7). The team now progresses to the Grand Final match against Henley on Tuesday 3 September.

Student Sporting Achievements

Congratulations to the following students on their outstanding sporting achievements, listed below.

Please note the images below are in order of names listed in the table above.

2024 Sports dates and events

Champagnat Campus (Term 3 2024)

Marcellin Campus (Term 3 2024)

Click here to view this week’s Sports Fixtures.

Click here to view the full College calendar of events.