Hearts News (Week 8, Thursday 23 March)

Celebrating diversity and culture during Harmony Week (Monday 20-Sunday 26 March 2023) at Champagnat Campus.

To our Sacred Heart College community

I trust this communication finds you well.

Last week I attended a meeting of Marist Schools Australia Governed schools in Mittagong, NSW.

The Hermitage (in Mittagong) is the spiritual home of the Marist Brothers in Australia. Established in 1905 until the mid 1980’s, it was where young men trained in the Way of Mary, and inspired by Marcellin Champagnat, aspiring to be Marist Brothers, committed to the learning, faith formation and well being of young people across the country. 

Since the 1980s the Hermitage has provided a sacred retreat space, for learning and reflection in simplicity, presence, family spirit, love of work and in the Way of Mary. 

Throughout our three day retreat and meeting, we focused on Child Safeguarding, Continuous Improvement and our use of data in measuring this, and “new evangilisation” as we strive “to make Jesus Christ known and loved”. 

Next week, we are privileged to be hosting the Marist Basketball Carnival, with schools from across Australia travelling to Adelaide for a week of respectful competition and the building of Marist Family Spirit. I thank the coordinators of this event for their work behind the scenes to pull it all together, and wish all those students representing the Hearts next week, every success. 

Daniel Lynch
Principal

Harmony Week 2023

This year we celebrated Harmony Week at Champagnat with a range of activities to celebrate the diversity of languages and cultures in our Hearts community.

Homerooms competed against each other in daily Kahoot quizzes, which included a variety of questions about languages and cultures. Quiz questions were contributed by students at Champagnat who speak or use other languages at home.

At lunchtimes students had the opportunity to try on a Japanese kimono, learn to play Shogi (Japanese chess), or Italian Scopa (a card game) or create a Carnevale mask. Students made easter baskets in origami and learned to practice their weaving skills by creating and decorating a colourful tapestry.

MSol students sold Harmony Day cookies and the week culminated in a Harmony Week Mini Art Gallery  in the Good Samaritan Centre. Dramatic portraits of children from around the world by renowned National Geographic photographer, Steve McCurry, were displayed while students contemplated the 2023 Harmony Week theme ‘Everyone belongs’. The artwork comes to us from the Besharat Arts Foundation that ‘brings to schools works of art that inspire empathy and understanding’.

It was truly a wonderful week of celebration of diverse cultures and a curiosity about languages.

Leading with a Marist Heart

This week saw the Year 11 and 12 Student Leaders from Cardijn College and Sacred Heart College come together at the Brighton Football Club for a Marist Student Leaders gathering led by the amazing Brother Tony. The gathering centred around the Marist theme for 2023 – “Created and Called – A revolution of Love and Tenderness”, where all leaders were challenged to consider what has drawn them to leadership, and what continues to drive them in their collaborative efforts.

The opportunity to connect with Cardijn College was also a highlight and we look forward to this happening again in the future.

Year 12 Retreat

The annual Year 12 Retreats returned to their familiar Term 1 timeslot and were a great opportunity for the ‘Class of 2023’ to get to know each other on a deeper level, as well as spending quality time reflecting on some of life’s key moments thus far.

A big thank you to the staff and volunteers who guided our Year 12s through their retreat. And a huge thank you to all Year 12s for engaging in the program with such enthusiasm and selflessness. Each retreat showcased abundant levels of Family Spirit and Presence, and the cohort have certainly returned to school a much closer community. 

Year 8 Camp

The Year 8 students channelled their adventurous spirit and headed off to camp in week 6. Students enjoyed the opportunity to take a few days away from traditional learning to embrace the chance to surf, bike ride, orienteer, cook and participate in team building activities.

Year 8 camp is the first experience for many students camping in tents and is a wonderful learning step in preparation for the Year 9 Rite Journey camp. Camp allows the students the chance to build upon their existing relationships and foster new connections, explore time out of their comfort zones and provide them with the opportunity to develop leadership, resilience and persistence, all while having fun and enjoying being outdoors.   

National Student Leadership Summit

As Year 11 Student Leaders, we represented Sacred Heart College at the National Student Leadership Summit at St Peter’s College. This rewarding experience gave us the opportunity to learn alongside another Year 11 and 12 leaders across Australia, including students from schools in Adelaide.

We gained valuable skills on how to grow as leaders, how to push ourselves, and the opportunity to foster connections with like-minded leaders. The three main sessions for the day were around ‘connecting, communicating and creating.’ One of our tasks was to map out our life journeys and share our significant life events with others. This task showed that all leaders have different paths and that we are all on different journeys.

With communication being a focus, we listened to people speak about how important it is to have a leadership role. We talked about the qualities that leaders should demonstrate, how to apply them, why they are important and who our role models are. We took the VIA Character Strengths survey which showed us our top strengths and weaknesses. We reflected on why we thought these were our strongest and how they would help us as leaders.

Our final session was on creating, where we were given time to plan a school prototype about something we would like to see happen or change in our school to better the community. We are grateful to have been given this opportunity as it has furthered our learning and strengthened our leadership skills.

– Ned Atkinson and Bailee Drinkwater (Year 11 Leaders)

Year 10 Wellbeing Day

On Monday 20 March, the Year 10 students engaged in a Wellbeing Day, completing three sessions with Glen Gerreyn from the Hopefull Institute. Glen shared  his story and message to help students understand the impact that external influences and self belief can have on their decision-making. The sessions focused on recognising their talents and character strengths, how to overcome limiting beliefs, and how to face challenges and develop resilience. Students explored their visions and goals for the future, and the challenge is now to work towards achieving these! 

IWD breakfast

As our Year 12 students were on retreat during International Women’s Day (IWD), we took the opportunity the following week on Thursday 16 March to acknowledge our Year 12 female leaders. The leaders were treated to breakfast and were able to spend the morning sharing their experiences of leadership. We look forward to seeing all they will achieve this year!

Sunset on the Green

This Friday (24 March)
Don’t forget to come along to our first Hearts community event for the year, Sunset on the Green on Friday 24 March, 6pm-8.30pm in Walter Park, Marcellin Campus.
All are welcome. BYO food, drinks, chairs and rugs.

View invitation here.

For more information or if you would like to be involved in assisting the Sacred Heart College P&F, please contact P&F Chairperson, Fiona Davies at daviessf41@gmail.com

Arts News

Learning to play an instrument or sing in a choir not only enhances musical abilities, but also provides a range of benefits that extend to other areas of life. Music education can improve memory, concentration, and problem-solving skills, as well as foster self-expression and confidence. – Bigger, Better Brains

So many adults regret not learning a musical instrument, or participating in choir, or continuing piano lessons whilst at school. Unfortunately, these opportunities aren’t always present once you leave school. Sacred Heart has a burgeoning ensemble and choir program at both campuses, and there are still opportunities to become involved. Come along, check it out and enjoy playing music!

Tonights performance

The Year 11s have been working hard to put together their production of Jules Feiffer’s play, Hold Me! This play consists of a series of quirky slice-of-life vignettes and will be performed in the Debourg Theatre tonight at 7pm.

Tickets are still available through TryBooking here.

Thank you to boarding students, Peyton Fielding and Bonnie Dingaman for their creative poster drawings!

Here is a sneak peek into what you can expect at tonight’s performance.

Festival season 2023

Year 11 and 12 Drama students have enjoyed the madness of March, attending some wonderful live theatre as part of the Adelaide Festival Program. All students were thrilled to see the performance, Spinifex Gum at the Festival’s opening concert in Elder Park, as well as USA-based physical theatre company, Acrobuffos’ performance of Airplay, which literally blew people away. 

Year 12s, after attending the award winning Fringe performance, Mozzi X Inkatja: A New Moon, also enjoyed a special theatre treat which saw them immersed into the interactive world of Windmill Theatre’s play, Hans & Gret, with many of our students drawn into the action and becoming part of the performance. 

All of this Fringe and Festival fun has supported students’ regular learning, with the Year 12s preparing for their ArchD Radio Podcasts (in response to the live theatre they have viewed).

Sports News

As we approach the end of Term 1 sport at Sacred Heart, things aren’t slowing down! Trials for winter sport have commenced and many teams are preparing for their finals game. Sacred Heart is hosting the 31st Marist Basketball tournament next week with 27 teams participating from all over Australia. The event will be hosted at Lightsview Sport and Community Centre. We wish both the Hearts teams well!

Stableford Golf Championships

On Tuesday 14 March, Sacred Heart’s top golfers headed to North Adelaide Golf Course to compete in the annual Golf Teams Stableford Teams Golf Championship. Sacred Heart had a total of six teams competing on the day in perfect weather conditions. Congratulations to Marcellin students Jacob Lewis, Will Calvert and Jayden Scroop who, after a countback, placed 1st overall (with 82 points), winning the gold medal. Congratulations also to Champagnat students Ethan Mangos, Brandon Van den Berg and Ruby Ash who placed 2nd overall (with 81 points), winning the silver medal.

KO Touch Football Championships

On Tuesday 21 March, the College’s Open Knockout Touch Football teams headed to the City Touch Grounds to compete in Round 1 of the School Sport SA State Knockout Competition. 

The Open Girls team, coached by Nathan Armiento, is a young side with the inclusion of six Year 9 girls. In a strong competition, all girls thrived from the challenge of playing against more experienced players. Manni Tierney and Millie Curpatrick demonstrated excellent leadership across the day through their roles as co-captains for the team. The team lost only one game throughout the day to Marryatville and came second overall in the group, to proceed to the finals. This is a huge accomplishment for the Open Girls Touch Team. We are now looking to excel on finals day in Week 1 of Term 2. 

The Open Boys team, coached by Gavin Pinnington, are a young developing team and the boys were up against some more experienced opposition on the day. Playing against Pembroke, Marryatville and Cedar throughout the day, the boys battled hard and learnt a great deal across the competition. They were competitive in all games, although were unsuccessful in managing to get a win during the event.

Student Sporting Achievements

Sporting dates and events

Champagnat Campus

Marcellin Campus