Hearts News (Week 6 Term 1, Thursday 7 March 2024)

Last night, families gathered at Champagnat Campus for the Year 9 Rite Journey Calling and Departure Ceremony, which marks the beginning of students’ journey from childhood into young adulthood.

To our Sacred Heart College community

Meet our new Council Chair – Dani Amato

I am thrilled to advise that old collegian and current parent, Dani Amato (SHOC ’92) has accepted the position of Sacred Heart College Council Chair, commencing 2024. Dani has a great love for Sacred Heart as an old scholar, and now a parent. Please see below a short introduction from Dani to our College community:

“I am pleased to have been invited to take on the role of Chair of Sacred Heart College’s Advisory Council. I am a proud old scholar (SHOC ’92) with my family’s association with the school dating back to 1952 with my father, Leo. I have three boys (Charlie, Henry, and Alex) enrolled at the College, which gives me the opportunity to watch many cricket and soccer matches; my weekends are full! I currently work for the University of South Australia as a lecturer in the unit of Clinical and Health Sciences, and look forward to working with the hardworking and knowledgeable leadership team and SHC Council to see the College thrive for years to come.”

I take this opportunity to also thank all members of our Advisory Council, who so willingly give not only their time and love for Sacred Heart, but also their passion, skill and expertise. Their role is that of “critical friend” to our College Executive and Leadership Teams, who work collectively on making this community all that it can be, and more. 

As with communication from late 2023, I again offer my sincere thanks to our outgoing Chair, Steve Venning-Smith, for his wonderful contributions to the Hearts family over many years! 

Never a dull moment!

As we approach the end of Week 6, it is remarkable to consider what has been squeezed into the last week or so, and what is immediately on the horizon – Year 7 and 8 Camps have come and gone (that’s 640 happy campers), our annual Sports Days have been held on both Campuses highlighting the terrific school spirit and athletic prowess of our students, and this week 320 students embark on their Year 12 Retreat. 

Next week, our Year 7 and 9 students will sit their annual NAPLAN test, before we welcome our Japanese Exchange students from Okayama Sozan High School. Then leading into Easter, our basketballers (boys and girls) will head to the Gold Coast for the Marist Basketball Carnival. 

There is never a dull moment! 

Boarding House enrolments

Demand for enrolments in the Sacred Heart Boarding House continues to be very strong. We have 126 Boarders, with girls now exceeding boys in number. As a result of this growing demand, the College undertook an expansion in Girl’s Boarding, thanks to the very generous support of the College Foundation, chaired by Peter Whelan. 

I offer my thanks to Peter and the Foundation, and all of those old scholars who generously contribute to it. Without that support, these renovations would not have been possible, and eight girls from rural and remote South Australia would not be boarding at Sacred Heart in 2024!

Daniel Lynch
Principal

Year 9 Rite Journey Calling and Departure Ceremony

Students and families joined with Rite Journey mentor teachers yesterday evening to mark The Calling and Departure Ceremony, which officially signifies the beginning of the Rite Journey Program. It was a beautiful evening that provided students and families with the opportunity to gather as a year level and for Rite Journey classes to mark the importance of transitioning from children to young adults.

Students pledged to endeavour to part from childish ways and embrace the increasing rights and responsibilities of adolescence and young adulthood. The highlight of the evening was the special time that each student spent with their family members, reading them a prepared letter of gratitude acknowledging the presence, support and love of their family members. It was a beautiful sight to see the Year 9 students and their parents and caregivers relaxing on Champagnat’s oval sharing moments of gratitude and affirmation. 

Students, families and mentor teachers are looking forward to the year ahead, walking together on the start of the journey to adulthood with this fabulous group of students.

Meet our 2024 Student Leaders – Year 9 Champagnat Campus Captains

Each week, two of 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 Champagnat Campus Captains, Archer Aristidou and Hannah Durante.

Year 8 Camp

The Year 8 students channelled their adventurous spirit and headed off to camp in Week 5, tackling the challenges of camp and a range of weather extremes. All students displayed a courageous spirit and had a great time in the outdoors, enjoying the opportunity to take a few days away from traditional learning environments to embrace the chance to surf, bike ride, bush walk and participate in team building activities. 

The Year 8 Camp allowed the students the chance to build upon their existing relationships with peers and foster new connections. Spending time away from the daily routine provides students with the opportunity to develop leadership skills, resilience and persistence, all while having fun and enjoying being outdoors.   

Three students elected for 2024 Teen Parliament

Sacred Heart College is extremely proud to announce that three of our students have been selected to speak at Parliament House tomorrow in the The Advertiser’s 2024 Teen Parliament.

Alex Johnson (Year 11); Archie Haywood (Year 12) and Sarcha Taylor (Year 12) (pictured in order above) will join 27 other Year 10-12 students from across South Australia to pitch their ideas for a brighter future for South Australia to politicians and changemakers.

Alex Johnson (Year 11) will argue that South Australia should aim to rival Queensland with world class theme parks to drive tourism to the state, in turn, building the economy with increased tourism expenditure and extending the length of visitors staying in SA.

Archie Haywood (Year 12) will advocate for increased media access in South Australian courtrooms and open courtrooms, which would allow photography and filming inside court, fostering a more informed citizenry and promoting a stronger democracy.

Sarcha Taylor (Year 12) will address the need for better recognition of “8 WAYS”, the framework illustrating the eight Aboriginal ways of learning, which honor Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural practices as a means of respecting heritage and history, and also better addressing inclusivity among students. 

We wish Alex, Archie and Sarcha all the best tomorrow, and we look forward to hearing about their experiences.

Read more about the 2024 Teen Parliament here.

Marcellin Yoga workshops

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week, students in Stage 2 (Year 11) Integrated Learning – Religion participated in Yoga workshops run by Polly Holmes from Yoga Journey Adelaide. The purpose of these workshops aims to continue to broaden students’ understanding of the various ways people connect with the sacred in their everyday lives, and the ways that Yoga philosophy can support this for many people in the community, including the Christian faith.

Students learnt about the history and origins of yoga, including a variety of mindfulness practices such as breathing and visualisation, while also practicing yoga movements by connecting breath with various poses. Many of the students reflected on the peaceful experience during the meditation and visualisation, but also how deceptively challenging some of the poses can be. 

This workshop is part of a series of workshops that included the Sandala experience in Week 3 and other practical activities involving mediation, labyrinth and prayer, in which students are creating a folio of experiences to write about the ways they are developing their SACE capabilities in this subject. We thank Polly for her wisdom and the gentle way she led students through a deep understanding of the spirituality of yoga philosophy, and the benefits it can have for developing our own sense of the sacred in our daily lives. 

Arts News

Marcellin stobie pole artwork

You may have seen some colourful new artworks gracing Scarborough Street’s stobie poles. Our Stage 2 Child Studies students commenced the year investigating the benefits of incorporating daily mindfulness into Australian primary schools. The practical component of the task required students to create a visual prompt to encourage mindfulness in school students, which was then submitted to Holdfast Bay Council for approval. Students then got to work in their small groups to bring their ‘stobie pole artwork’ to life. Well done to all students!

Music News

Music and Sport always seem to work hand in hand. Historically, sport has typically always been accompanied by music, whether it be a football team singing their club song or the opening theme to the cricket, Formula One or the Olympic Games. 

At Sacred Heart College it is no different, with our Senior Drumline Ensemble officially opening Marcellin’s Sport Day on Friday 1 March by escorting all the Houses onto the Main Oval in their bright array of colours. This was followed by a confident acapella rendition of ‘Advance Australia Fair’ by Year 12 student, Charlotte Richardson.

As the day progressed, we had several students entertain the crowd with musical performances, beginning with ‘Studio Band 1’, featuring Emelia Hassan (Year 11) on Vocals, Amber Hunter (Year 11) on Piano, Heather Hunter (Year 11) on Bass, Christine Malak (Year 11) on Drums, and Bella Page (Year 11) on Guitar. These girls performed with confidence and produced a great energetic performance.

Next we featured the amazing vocals of Caitlin Bailey (Year 12) together with Grace Durrans (Year 12) on Piano, singing some lovely ballads.

The ‘Metal Band’ performed with enthusiasm and excitement, featuring Myles Barnett (Year 10) on Drums/Guitar, Jonas Dixon (Year 11) on Drums, Max Hansen (Year 11) on Bass and Cameron Moore (Year 11) on Guitar/Vocals. 

The entertainment continued with the student-led band ‘Show n’ Tell’, made up of Myles Barnett (Year 10) on Drums/Vocals, Max Hansen (Year 11) on Bass, Cameron Moore (Year 11) on Guitar, and Ashton Wickers (Year 10 on Vocals/Guitar, performing a variety of songs such as ‘Snow’ by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, ‘R U Mine’ by the Arctic Monkeys and ‘Two Princes’ by the Spin Doctors.

The music entertainment concluded with our very own Music/Arts Captain, Andrew McKinnon (Year 12) performing (vocals and guitar) several different songs, and entertaining the crowd with his amazing talent. He even managed to have the crowd singing along in one voice!

The music performances did not stop there. The Marcellin Senior Drumline Ensemble were asked to perform and lead the winning House (Chavion) onto the oval at the Champagnat Sports Day on Monday. This was a great opportunity to perform in front of the Champagnat students and to collaborate with the Champagnat Drumline Ensemble.

Click here to view a short snippet of the Senior Drumline leading Champagnat Sports Day champions, Chavoin House, at Champagant’s Sports Day on Monday.

2024 Arts and Music dates and events

Click here to view the full College calendar of events.

Sports News

Champagnat Sports Day

On Monday, Champagnat Campus came together for a highly anticipated event of the school calendar – Sports Day! Held on the Champagnat grounds, the day was marked by spirited competition, as students donned their House colors and an array of costumes, fostering a sense of camaraderie and House pride.

Throughout the day students engaged in a range of track and field events, along with novelty games, House netball, volleyball and tug-of war. Race caller, Terry McAuliffe made a special appearance to call the relay races at the end of the day, including the much anticipated staff/student relay. As in previous years, these events were the highlight of the day for many, and cheering from the House bays was at an absolute high. 

Well done to all students who were involved in the day. Congratulations to Chavoin House, who were the Sports Day House Shield winners, as well as Chanel House, who were awarded the House Spirit Cup. We also congratulate our Age Champions who received the highest individual points in their year level across nine athletic events, listed below:

2024 Age Champions

2024 Record breakers

Many thanks to all staff who helped with the organisation and facilitation of the day, including the Maintenance and Ground Team who ensured the oval was well prepared and lines marked out, enabling the smooth running of events. The presence of parents/caregivers, family members, and friends from the College community, who came to show their support for the students, added to the fantastic atmosphere of the day.

Marcellin Sports Day

Last Friday, our Year 10-12 students competed in their annual Sacred Heart College Marcellin Sports Day. Students dressed up in House colours to celebrate the athletic abilities and family spirit of our College. 

The morning started with a lovely Welcome to Country from John Lochowiak, followed by the National Anthem, sung by Charlotte Richardson (Year 12). Across the day, students competed in a variety of events including 100m, 200m, 400m and relay track events, as well as Shot Put, High lump, Long Jump, Triple Jump and  novelty events such as the Tug-O-War, Circle Gap, Obstacle Course and the Mascot Relay. 

It was a great day of competition and House Spirit, with Chavoin taking out the Marcellin Championship Shield and Montagne claiming the Marcellin House Spirit Shield. The staff vs student tug-of-war was a highlight of the day, with the staff claiming all bragging rights. 

A big thank you to the Maintenance and Grounds team who make sure the event runs smoothly each year by providing equipment and a brilliant track for our athletes to compete on.

We also congratulate our Age Champions, listed below

2024 Age Champions

Blue Round for Mental Health Awareness Week

In week 6, our CEA sports students across Marcellin and Champagnat Campus came together to  celebrate Blue Round. This was a great opportunity to promote mental health awareness in schools and within our community. Our summer sport teams donned blue ribbons, zinc or socks and took some extra time in their competition to check in on their teammates, classmates, family and friends. 

Champagnat Campus sold blue donuts in the lead up to weekend sport and raised $100 in support of Blue Round Mental Health Awareness. Thank you to all teams and students that got involved and supported this special round. 

Congratulations to Oscar Murphy (Year 12) who was awarded the Blue Round Medal for Drive Tennis. These medals were awarded to the ‘best teammate’ in each Open A team in the SAAS Competition. Well done Oscar! 

Swimming Championships

On Monday 26 February, students gathered at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre to participate in the School Sport SA A Grade Swimming Championships. The Sacred Heart College Swim Team, consisting of 29 students across Years 7-12, received a total of 1,106 points across the 94 event program which saw them place in overall 6th position.

Special recognition is given to our 4x50m Open Boys Freestyle Relay team (Jaylen Atkins, Jack Martin, Connor Smith and Matthew Clifford), as well as our 4x50m U16 Girls Freestyle Relay team (Jessica Osborn, Emilija Visockis, Jasmine Bevan and Charlize Laird-Britton) for achieving first place in their respective relay events. 

We congratulate all the Sacred Heart students involved in the championships and would like to particularly acknowledge our younger swimmers for their commendable efforts in taking on the challenge of competing in some higher age group events to ensure Sacred Heart had representation in every race. Many thanks to the swim coaches, parents/caregivers, and family members for your support throughout the night.

CEA Knockout Sports (Champagnat and Marcellin)

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

Knockout Girls T20 Cricket – SHC (1/73) def Cabra (10/72) progressing to the finals round – date TBC.

Student Sporting Achievements

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

2024 Sports dates and events

Champagnat Campus (Term 1 2024)

Marcellin Campus (Term 1 2024)

Click here to view the full College calendar of events.