The voice of St. Spyridon College | DECEMBER 2007 | NUMBER 7 |

Celebrating the importance of familyyears

in the pursuit of excellence

The term Stylus is used to

describe a myriad of different

devices used in computing,

science, medicine, art and

technology. In ancient times,

a stylus was the bone or ivory

pen used to write on wax or

clay tablets. Stylus is also the

Greek word for pillar,

denoting strength and grace.

UpcomingEvEntsTerm 1 – 2009

Staff Development Day Tu – 27th Jan

Staff Development Day We – 28th Jan

Years 1 to 7, 11 & 12 commence Th – 29th Jan

Kindergarten and Years 8 – 10 commence Fr – 30th Jan

Annunciation – school closed We – 25th Mar

Term ends for staff and students Th – 9th Apr

Public Holiday – Good Friday (Western Easter) Fr – 10th Apr

Public Holiday – Easter Monday Mo – 13th Apr

Orthodox Good Friday Fr – 17th Apr

Orthodox Easter Su – 19th Apr

Term 2 – 2009

Anzac Day Public Holiday Mo – 27th Apr

Staff Development Day Tu – 28th Apr

Students return We – 29th Apr

Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday, School closed Mo – 8th Jun

Term ends for staff and students Fr – 3rd Jul

Term 3 – 2009

Staff Development Day Mo – 27th Jul

Students return Tu – 28th Jul

Term ends for students Th – 1st Oct

Staff Development Day Fr – 2nd Oct

Term 4 – 2009

Staff and students return Mo – 19th Oct

Term ends for students Th – 10th Dec

Staff Development Day Fr – 11th Dec

n Internal Event n Public Event

stylus

Address from Head of College

This has been a very good year for St Spyridon College.

We celebrated the Golden Jubilee of our Parish and the Silver Jubilee of our College with special events such as the Gala Dinner and the Greek Theatre Production “In this Strange Land – Exile & Refuge”, followed by the Art Exhibition and the Appreciating Culture Lecture given by the Attorney General of New South Wales & Minister for Justice, the Honourable John Hatzistergos.

The Junior School Open Day brought the whole world into our courtyard with song, dance, recitation and presentations on the theme of cultural infusions and global connections. Our young people showed us that they know, understand and are able to appreciate and empathise with people across the globe.

Through snapshots of their integrated class-work, they demonstrated the deep learning in which their teachers have engaged them. The spectacular NAPLAN results were a cause of celebration in themselves, as were the outstanding HSC Music performances enjoyed by parents and students. We will very much miss the HSC Class of 2008 and bestow on them every good wish for the future.

The Parents & Friends Spring Fair was the culmination of many functions that this committee organised in the course of this year. The hard work of many months paid off, as much in monetary terms as in strengthening our sense of community and school spirit.

This year’s Spring Fair was topped off with the announcement of DA Approval for the new building works at the Senior School Campus.

We are happy to announce that the St Spyridon College Scholarships Foundation which has been in the planning for some time was established this year. This offers tax deductibility to those persons who wish to contribute funds for this purpose.

In closing, we thank all those who with good works and good words contribute to the progress of our College, and invite everyone to be a dynamic part of our school’s development in the future.

Our students deserve our continued hard work and best efforts”.

Mrs E. Stefanou-HaagHead of College

‘‘

’’

Mrs Efrosini

Stefanou-Haag

Head of College, with

the Parish President Dr.

Thomas Savoulis and

Mrs. Deanne Coucouvinis,

Chairman of the Board

at the Sports

Presentation Evening.

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Congratulations to Aleksandra Djordjevic and Alexander Vatiliotis who have each been granted a two year Scholarship for continued study in Years 11 and 12.

Scholarships are awarded on the basis of ACER External Examinations. We commend all students who sat for the examinations and wish our students every success in the future.

Upper Scholarship Years 11 & 12 2009 - 2010

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Academic Excellence

Congratulations to Mark Mina presently a student from St Michael’s, Daceyville, who has been granted the 2009 four year scholarship to study at St Spyridon College. His brother Matthew is currently in Year 8 at St Spyridon College.

The Scholarships are based on the results of the ACER scholarship examinations. There was a strong field of candidates.

We commend all students who attempted this challenging exam.

Scholarship Year 7 2009

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS 2009

On the 22nd August I was lucky enough to receive an honour certificate and Dymocks gift voucher from the Mayor of Randwick, Mr Bruce Notley – Smith.

I had to design a menu around the Book Week Theme of “Fuel Your Mind”. My entry was one of 350 from children from other schools in the Randwick area. They were all on display at the Bowen Library.

Paul Mandadakis4T

FUTURE AUTHORS FUEL THE MIND – BOOK WEEK

Day in the life of a Doctor...

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By Victoria Tsingos, 10 years old

It’s 5am and I’m already up and running. There’s an emergency, I just got a call from the hospital and I don’t even have time for breakfast. I fling out the door with my black bag in my hand; I get in the car and start the engine. Away I go, as fast as the wind. I rush to the hospital, I’m already late. My bag is opened, I take out my emergency tools I’ve got to give this person a needle immedi-ately! I can’t stop now, there’s still a long way to go. Great, my phone is ringing, I’m writing a script, don’t bug me now, I’m not even in the car yet!Back in the car now, thank goodness for that, but the engine’s not on, the car has not moved out of the parking spot, I am still looking at my map! Quick, there’s a house call to attend. I am positive I am not allowed to unwind yet! I go to the house call imme-diately after I have written the script; a man is standing at the door.“My baby’s sick!” he says with an extremely worried look on his face. I’m not smiling (neither is the baby!). I give the baby some medicine and feel his forehead. “He doesn’t have a fever,” I say, “but he does have a cold.” I leave the house; I rush to the car, shut the door and throw my bag in the back seat. I’m off to the surgery ...When I arrive, there are patients already wait-ing outside the door; there is a huge line going down the footpath. I’m sweating! Is it time to go home? Is this ever going to stop? Am I going to work my whole entire life? It has become evening so fast, I haven’t had lunch and it’s hours past it! I still haven’t stopped; I’ve got a lecture to present at a physi-cian’s dinner. He is expecting me to be there at exactly 6pm. If I don’t turn up, I’ll be in serious trouble! Not much time to prepare! I’ve got to get there soon, I’m running late

already. I run outside with my shoes in my hands, I open the door and jump in the car. I start the engine and try to put my shoes on at the same time! I close the door and put my seatbelt on. I’m on the road AGAIN!Finally I arrive. I close the door and quickly lock the car. The venue is very nice. All my colleagues are waiting for me. Time to give the lecture!When I arrive home, I am extremely exhausted. I am so tired I don’t even bother to take my clothes off. There I am, struggling to get to the top of the stairs. Finally, I reach the bed, at last the day is over and I can get some rest. I fall onto the soft, warm blanket. Ring! Ring!

Victoria wins a $50 Dymocks voucher for her articleand illustration. Young readers interested in writing in onany medical topic of their choice can do so by e-mailingshahiron.sahari@reedbusiness.com.au

Magazine: Waiting Room - Spring 2008 (an Australian Doctor Publication)

Congratulations to the following students who, at such a young age are published authors!

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Junior School Students Write 4 Fun

We commend our teachers and students on the outstanding results that were achieved in the NAPLAN tests, which show

that St Spyridon students are performing at a very high level, in reading Writing, Overall Literacy and Numeracy.

Hello, my name is Sylvia. I come from China from Shanghai. It’s a prosperous city. I spent my last 15 years in Shang-

hai. There are four people in my family. My parents and a younger brother. We live in a flat. Because my parents are very busy my grandparents look after me sometimes but usually I stayed in a boarding school from Monday to Friday.

After Year 9 I graduated from Junior High School. I came to Sydney last year. I’ve stayed here for one and a half years and I’ve studied in an International school. It was full of Chinese students. I think it’s not good for my English so I changed to St Spyridon College.

Students here are very enthusiastic and it’s good for

me so that I don’t feel alone. People talk to me even though my English is not good. It’s a new environment for me. I start my new life.

NAPLAN RESULTS

SYLVIA SETTLES IN

Staying Alive in Year 6 by Martha Spilioti Yr 6M

Year 6 Poem by Anthony Vasili Yr 6M

Halloween Town by Panayioti Kapodistrias Yr 6M

Chaotic and Historic Year 6 by Lena Sialepis Yr 6M

Beware The Alien In The Sea by Emanuel Kapodistrias Yr 5I

The Hunt For The Golden Treasure by Allyssa Stemitsiotis Yr 5I

The Machine by Maria Spanoudakis Yr 5I

A Day in The Shopping Centre by Niki Papaleonidas Yr 5A

Andrew and Mark by Nicholas Makridopolus Yr 5I

Bobby’s Goal by Andreas Veryinis Yr 3A

Good Things by Jordan Makridopolus Yr 3A

Anzac Day by Jacqueline Burleigh Yr 3A

As a result of entering the Write 4 Fun Writing Competition earlier this year, these children were asked if their work could be published in “Bee Cre8tive”, a book of children’s literature, written by children. We are proud of the achievement of these

children and thank parents for their support in assisting their child to become to become part of such an event.

Mrs Dimitrelis Primary Coordinator

CULTURAL INFUSIONS

in Stage 3 H.S.I.E., the Year 5 and Year 6 students have incorporated their language, musical and artistic skills to create an amazing array of cultural flavours across the 4

middle school classrooms.

5A have been studying Italy and some of our famous Italian/Australians including Mr. Morris Iemma.

5I have been studying Spain and some of the unique Spanish traditions such as Flamenco, Running of the Bulls, La Tomatina and Bull Fighting. Next week they will create artworks using the influence of Salvador Dali.

6P have been studying China which included trade with Australia and some famous Chinese/Australians such as Victor Chang.

6M have followed Kenya’s progress during

the Olympic Games. In addition, they have learnt about a number of customs and traditions from this African nation.

Part of the learning program encouraged students to design and make clay pots as well as assemble their own African masks from a variety of materials. Next, 6M will be using stencils to print Kenyan silhouettes. Check out some of this great artwork!

Of course all of Stage 3 have been learning about our athletes the Olympics and preparing speeches based on topics they are interested in. We are

encouraging the students to become creative presenters.

All of the classes have made their own booklets reflecting their adopted country “at a glance”.

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Global Connections

on Monday 15th September, the whole school went to see a performance in the hall called

Cultural Infusion. First we saw an African performance. They played the drums. It was fun to listen to them as they played on the Jembi. It was also interesting to listen to the explanation on how they play the drums. They play as a team as it sounds better. I liked the Africans!Then we saw the Chinese performance. They played on a big drum and danced a lion dance. One performer jumped on the others shoulders and underneath the lion. The Chinese lion was trying to get the Kindergarten children. He went up and down the hall and all of Year five and six were laughing.

The Mexican people played on a harp and a Cello. We all did the Mexican wave. They told us about their instruments and their country. They introduced the types of clothes they wore like the Sombrero.

The Indian dance was exciting too. I like it as it was another favourite. The Indian performer wore a Sari and told a story. As she told the story she performed actions with her fingers which represented different animals in the story.

The Brazilian people played the tambourine and drums as they were doing some amazing tricks. All the performances were exciting to watch, but my favourite had to be the Brazil-ian performance because they did Capoeira which is like Martial Arts but as a dance.

Aaron Nissirios 2C

The Appreciating Culture Lecture event was established in 2003, to celebrate the 21st Anniversary of St Spyridon College. Tonight’s Lecture is a key event in the Silver Jubilee celebra-tions of our College, and the Golden Jubilee of our parish.

The first “Appreciating Culture” lecture in 2003 was given by Professor Gavin Brown, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Sydney University. He put to us “ The Case for Universities in a Civilized Society”. In it, he proposed that Uni-versities should remain places of Light, Liberty and Learning helping to create culture; and to resist the temptation of merely selling career credentials. So too, we at St Spyridon College have the ambition to go beyond the transactional view of education.

The second Lecture was given in 2005, by His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia, who spoke to us on “Priorities in True Culture”. This Lec-ture was seminal in that it took us on

a journey from Classical thought to the Greek Orthodox tradition, which remains in ceaseless continuation with the first Christian Millennium. He defined for us the five essential values on which true culture is predicated-as freedom, health, property education and interpersonal relations. We note that first and most important is the value of freedom. And yet as he em-phasized each of these values would be as nothing if they are not pursued with the personal and moral conviction of the sacredness and uniqueness that defines each human person. So too in our College we endeavour to educate our students to respect every human person always working towards justice, truth and beauty.

If the first and most important value of true culture is freedom, then as citizens of a democratic nation, it is critical for us to know how the Austral-ian constitution protects the rights and the dignity of each human person.

It was therefore a great privilege for us

that the Attorney General and Minister for Justice in this State Mr. John Hatz-istergos, spoke to us on the Australian Constitution.

The Art Exhibition was held on the same evening. It was a special joy for us that for the first time this year, we had on display works from our sister schools in Sydney-All Saints Gram-mar School and St Euphemia College, together with St George College Adelaide. We commend the students, teachers and Principals across the four schools on the high standard of the works on show. We congratulate the curator of this year’s exhibition Mrs. Jennifer Michalski, Dean of Upper School on an outstanding event.

We wish to congratulate Mrs Grillakis and Mrs Lambi for the Appreciating Culture canapés and cocktails, which were prepared with the Senior Hos-pitality students. Everyone left the evening with the best impressions.

Mrs E. Stefanou-Haag

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Fostering the Beautiful Things in Life.

Congratulations to Miss Savva and the Year 12 music stu-dents: Adam Neou, Lydia Hamer, Stephen Kalithrakas, Anas-tasia Peric, Maria Mavrolefterou, Jamie Georgiou and Stefan

Cvetkovic for outstanding HSC performances. They completed their HSC Music exam on Monday, 8th September and per-formed to Year 7-10 on Wednesday.

HSC Music performance

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on behalf of the whole school community K-12 together with His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, Reverend Fa-ther Steven and Father Andreas, the teachers, parents

and fellow students, I take the opportunity to farewell the YEAR 12 class of 2008 with all the mixed emotions that this merits. The Year 12 Class of 2008 was one of the most diverse and most talented Classes to go through this College. They are so different from one another in personality, interests and temperament. We have our super sports stars and our magical musicians-our thoughtful intellectuals and our technological wizards-our quiet achievers and our dramatic extraverts-our visual artists and our budding authors. They are from many more cultural backgrounds than past Year 12s; and more of them joined St Spyridon after the Junior School years.

It has been a privilege to watch them grow into their better selves. And how they have grown! We look at them and wonder when did they become such an accomplished, confident and poised group of young people? They impressed with their attention to their studies; they stunned us with their

outstanding musical talent; they moved us with their dramatic performances; the dignity with which they stood up, in front of the whole school to receive the Holy Bible from His Eminences’ hands, took our breath away.

We admire them for the strong and lasting bonds they forged with one another. Not because they never disagreed or because there was never been conflicts between them; but because they cared enough to do something about them. They stood by one another at some really difficult times and this sustained them and kept them strong.

In other words, they have been blessed to have one another

- and we have been blessed to have had such fine young people in our care.

Mrs. Katsogiannis together with the teachers has done her best to keep them safe and to support each of them on your personal journey. But St. Spyridon College is not a refuge from the world-it is strong preparation for life. This is

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A tribute to Year 12 Class 2008

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not Hollywood ladies and gentlemen; life can be difficult, sad, and troubled - and sometimes brutal. We would not have our students believe that they, unlike everyone else in the history of humanity, are entitled to a life in which they get everything they need and all the things they want; where nothing terrible or tragic ever happens to anyone they care about.

What we have tried to teach them, is that it is their job to live an honourable life, and to face everything that happens to them, with strength of character and faith in God. And that they are very

lucky to have family and friends who share in your problems and celebrate their joys.

Our students know all these things of course, at a deep level. They may not articulate them, but we can see –clearly and presently that they

are ready to take their place in a complex world with confidence and success-that they are indeed people of faith, people of discipline and people of character.

Mrs E Stefanou-Haag

Memorable moments from the Parish trip to Greece and Cyprus.

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Past & Future student news

We congratulate Lianna Stamparidis on her recent graduation with a Bachelor of Architecture, Honours Class 1, from the University of New South Wales.

Lianna completed her H.S.C. at the College in 2002. She was the College Dux of her year.

Congratulations.

Celebrating Students and Teachers

Profile of Mrs Synesios – Infants Co-ordinator

Qualifications:• Diploma of Teaching (Catholic Teacher’s College)

• Bachelor of Education (Sydney University)

• Certificate of Gifted Education (UNSW)

Responsibililities:• Overseeing K – 2 • Curriculum K -2

• Overseeing Support K -2 • Transition to School

• Year 2 / 3 Transition • Overseeing Gifted Education K – 6

Mrs Synesios is a passionate educator who has over 19 years teaching experience, 18 of these at St. Spyridon College. For her, teaching is a vocation, and a Greek Orthodox school the ideal place.

Mrs Synesios is married and has three children. Her two school aged children, Constance (Year 7) and Peter (Year 1) attend St. Spyridon College, where education is about the whole child and where Orthodox Faith and Hellenic

Ideals are respected, valued and fundamental to all other learning.

She believes that each child is an individual and that effective teaching is not a specific method but one that recognises the needs of the learners and responds accordingly. Curriculum should challenge and encourage children to meet their potential.

Mrs Synesios knows each child by name and takes pride in the achievements

of the children she has taught. Mrs Synesios has held several

roles over the years; as class teacher, Computer Co-ordinator, Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator, Infants Support Teacher and Acting Assistant Principal. She has been recognised by Rotary and has received a “Pride of Workmanship Award”.

Parish trip to Greece 2008

DAWN FRASER VISITS OUR JUNIOR SCHOOL

We were delighted to have had a visit from the Federal Minister for the Environment and member for Kingsford Smith on Friday, 13th June. He brought the good news that St Spyridon College was to receive 75 computers as part of the Federal Plan for ICT in schools. Mr Garrett took the opportunity to see the school in action; he praised the Year

12 students’ talents in music and gave them some much ap-preciated advice on how to enhance their performance skills. He also visited the ICT centre in the Technology Wing. The College naturally gave Mr Garrett an enthusiastic welcome given its interests in technocracy in the future!

ST SPYRIDON WELCOMES MINISTER GARRETT

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VIP Visits

Yesterday Year 5 tried Yum Cha. Yum Cha evolved from China. It was started by the Chinese Emperor thinking tea shouldn’t be drunk

while eating. Why?

There were two chefs waiting for us in the playground. The chefs gave us two servings of food. The first serving was three dumplings. One was yellow and filled with vegetables. Another looked like a shell and was filled with meat. The last was white and round and filled with a salad and was extraordinary! The second serving had a meat dumpling and a pork bun. A pork bun is pork covered in a tasty sauce wrapped up in what tasted like very sweet bread. It was delicious!

The chefs only used four pots of various sizes and a spoon to cook the foods. All of the food was steamed. The chefs

served the food on plastic plates and gave us a napkin. Surprisingly they did not give us any utensils. They said that you must eat the food with your hands.

Yum Cha means drinking tea. It is called this because the Chinese use to eat little portions of food. In between each food they would drink tea. They drank the tea so they could taste the next food.

Theoni Thimakis 5I

YUm cHA

…to Amanda Horafios and Ivana Bojanovic on making the NSWCIS Girls Soccer team… to Martha Spilioti, Year 6 who has qualified for the Swimming State Championships and the National Swimming Championships 2009.

Well done.

Congratulations to George Malomitis Yr 6 – Free Sparring 1st Place 2008 South Hunter Open Championships.

A sporting life at St. Spyridon CollegeCONGRATULATIONS…

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What best characterizes season 2008 is not only excellent sportsmanship on and off the field but also determination, passion and pride. Of the three teams in

semi finals two made the finals and made everyone proud. In soccer as in many other team sports it is always comforting knowing that as a team you have done all

you can on any given day. My congratulations to all teams and to

the U13’s a special well done for winning their final against St Patricks College.

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Football 2008

U 13’s ISA FOOTBALL Champions

The boys’ soccer team excelled this year in the traditional fixtures. Not only did they perform sportingly on the park but they were outstanding

ambassadors of the school. Parents and MIC’s of all opposing schools commended our students on the way they conducted themselves.

Congratulations to all the boys and Mr Kaldis for being a great coach.

SPY vs Trinity win 2-1 SPY vs Cranbrook win 4-0

SPY vs St Aloysius win 4-1 SPY vs St Josephs win 3-0

SPY vs Shore win 4-0

Alex Coplin, Nicholas Stasos, Niko Fotopoulos, John Kirkis, Peter Faros, Alex Spiropoulos, Mathew Kambos, Peter Skoulis, John Marantos, Petros Stefadouros, James Andrew, Chris Kolistakis, Dean Michos, Sotiri Kastanas, Alex Moraitis, Leonidas Andrew. Coach: Mr Vesalas

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Netball 2008 – ISA Netball 2008

ISA Atheltics Carnival 2008

St Spyidon College hosted the 2008 ISA Athletics Carnival. It was seen by many sportsmasters and Athletic MIC’s as one of the most organised Athletics carnivals to date. Special Thank you to all the Year 10’s who helped make this day a success and many thanks to Mr Mavrommatis (for organising Year 10’s), Miss Kalithrakas and Mrs Melas (girls team manager), Miss Gambriell (shot put official), and Mr McCallum (boys manager) and Mr Papaikonomou (chief time keeper) who supported and helped run our second ISA Athletics. Thank

you also to Christian Alexander, Athletics Coach.

Congratulations to all athletes, sporting excellence is perhaps the best way to describe the students efforts. What inspired all St Spyridon staff on the day was to see our students be-fore events do their cross and look to the heavens above for help. Their prayers were answered on many occasions when many students received placings in their events. The interme-diate girls did particularly well coming second overall.

Our success this year was partly due to a new direction undertaken by the school whereby the students participated in a pre-season training program. Three of our teams qualified for the finals in the ISA Competition with the Open A’s undefeated for the first half of the season.

Orthodox Colleges proved to be very successful with the girls once again undefeated champions. However, it was the development of Years 8-10 players that was most satisfying. This year we propose to have a pre-season training program for all girls irrespective of age.

NSWCIS Athletics

A sporting life at St. Spyridon College

Congratulations to Phillip Fotiou who made the ISA Athletics Squad and competed at the NSWCIS Carnival on Friday 19th September. He came 2nd in the 100m and 200m at the NSWCIS Athletics.

Also, I would like to thank the year 9 students who helped at the NSWCIS Athletics Carnival. They were outstanding and that St Spyridon are proud of these

sudents who did not stop helping all day in the hot sun.

Leah Balayiannis, Ivana Bojanovic, Deanne Constantinou, Alex Georgiou, Maria Ishak, Milica Janjetovic, Leah Meletis, Ben Papadopoulos, Billy Rokos, Dean Roniotis, Milica Simonovic, Peter Theodosi, Peter Zinopoulos

Mr A. Condous Boys Sport

2008 National Schools Event

On the 30th October, Womensport and Recreation NSW hosted the Sydney Schoolgirls Breakfast with the Stars. A group of girls from the 2008 St Spyridon College Sports teams were provided with the opportunity to meet elite female sport stars and hear their motivational stories.

When we arrived we were seated at our tables in the hall that was filled with over 800 girls from schools all around NSW, who have impacted their school with their selected sports.

A healthy breakfast was awaiting us as well as many dynamic sports performances including dancing, aerobics and double Dutch.

During the break we were given the opportunity to walk around and meet stars, which included, Elka Graham (swimming), Kerri

Pottharst (volleyball), Heather Garriock (soccer- Maltidas) and many others.

Throughout the breakfast, we heard many stories of great achievements during the highs and the struggles faced during their low times.

This was a great motivation factor, which can help us when we are faced with issues and how to overcome them e.g. balancing school with training.

Overall it was a great experience, which we all appreciated and I’m sure we all took something away with us.

Thank you to Ms O’Shea and Mr Meintanis for accompanying us to and from the venue.

St Spyridon College hosted the 2008 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia National Schools Event which brought together over 250 students from the six Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Schools. Students from Melbourne and Adelaide joined students from Sydney to compete for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Championships in Football, Basketball, Netball, Volleyball and Indoor Soccer (Futsal).

For the first time a Languages Spoken Arts Festival was held. Year 11 and 12 students rehearsed and performed poetry and prose recitations, dialogues and theatre skits in Greek, Classical Greek, Serbian and Italian.

In a spirit of fellowship, challenges were met, old friendships across the six schools were renewed and new friendships were formed.

Sports Breakfast

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The Australian Mathematics Competition for the Westpac Awards 2008

In Year 7

Jaime Blignaut Distinction

Leonidas Andrew Credit

Michael Arfanis Credit

Penny Bounatsos Credit

Filix Filix Credit

Chrisovalantou Georgou Credit

Joanna Karageorgis Credit

John Kirkis Credit

Estelle Krassas Credit

Alexandros Moraitis Credit

Peter Skoulis Credit

Nicholas Stasos Credit

Alex Stellatos Credit

James Andrew Proficiency

Mathew Kambos Proficiency

Sotiri Kastanas Proficiency

Stephanie Pizanis Proficiency

Valantis Toras Proficiency

In Year 8

Brannon Bergmann Distinction

and Prudence Award

Georgio Lambos Credit

Matthew Mina Credit

Marielle Pizanis Credit

Stephanie Satouris Credit

Brendan Terrett Credit

Kathy Thimakis Credit

Adriana Tsounis Credit

Christopher Avgoustou Proficiency

Kostandino Baratsas Proficiency

George Dokos Proficiency

Demi Flokis Proficiency

Katerina Hillelis Proficiency

Nicolette Kontakos Proficiency

Joseph Mavrolefterou Proficiency

Ben Sealy Proficiency

Michael Skoulis Proficiency

Mariam Spilioti Proficiency

Kerry Stathis Proficiency

James Syros Proficiency

Arthur Tsounis Proficiency

In Year 9

Evangelia Balayannis Distinction

Elpiniki Andrew Credit

Bianca Anastasas Credit

Renee Hatzistergos Credit

Stamati Margelis Credit

Leaya Stemitsiotis Credit

Angela Kardamis Proficiency

Lysia Rakis Proficiency

Anastasia Simiakos Proficiency

In Year 10

Sotiri Abouyianni Credit

Aleksandra Djordjevic Credit

Angelina Flokis Credit

Natasha Pavlova Credit

Makrina Spilioti Credit

Milton Spiropoulos Credit

Alexander Vatiliotis Credit

Patrice Calopedos Proficiency

Phoebe Ganis Proficiency

Gregory Lazaridis Proficiency

Gregory Rotis Proficiency

George Sialepis Proficiency

In Year 11

Stefan Cvetkovic High Distinction

Tina Piperides Distinction

Peter Koureas Credit

Sylvia Lin Credit

Erik Papadimatos Credit

Christopher Stasos Credit

Ilias Coplin Proficiency

In Year 12

Stamati Anastasopoulos

High Distinction

Mark Xin High Distinction

Danny Bernard Distinction

Farhad Heidari Credit

Maria Mavrolefteros Credit

Mr A. Kollias

Curriculum Leader - Mathematics

Academics

Sponsored by the Westpac Banking Corporation, the Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC), is the original and largest of its kind in the world and is in now in its 31st year. The Competition is renowned for its high standard and integrity and has three aims:

• To highlight the importance of mathematics as a curriculum subject

• To give students an opportunity to discover talent in mathematics

• To provide resources for the classroom and general discussion

St Spyridon College-Senior School entered 110 students in the AMC held on 31 July. We received 3 High Distinctions (a record), 5 Distinctions, 37 Credits and 27 awards of Proficiency. The introduction of a Proficiency certificate awarded to all

students who have achieved a pre-set score but have not been awarded a Credit (or higher) certificate, was an innovation for students entering the 2008 AMC. All students were asked to solve thirty problems, twenty five of which were multiple-choice, in 75 minutes. Brannon Bergmann (8 Archimedes Class), who received a Distinction and was also the Prudence Award winner had this to say: “The Australian Maths Competition was challenging for me. I went home the day I did it thinking that I would receive at most a credit. It was just that challenging! When the results finally came in, I was shocked! The test began with simple questions, but they got hard very quickly, but I enjoy a challenge which is why this test was perfect for me.”

It is with pleasure that I list below the students at St Spyridon College-Senior School that received a certificate in this year’s competition. Congratulations to all the students who took on the challenge.

Experience Work in Year 10

The College would like to thank all those businesses who acted as host organizations for the recent work experience period. Below, I have included some of the comments that were made by their supervisors, over the telephone and on site visits.

I think that they even exceeded our high expectations of them. “Very enthusiastic”, “doing very well on the design task set for him”, “absolutely fantastic”, “very professional”, “good people skills”, “was able to work unsupervised”, “enjoying all the different activities”, “fantastic, a pleasure to have”, “is enjoying all the aspects of the work”, “very welcome to come again”, “a very mature young woman”, “the student has changed our minds about having work experience students – a pleasure to have”, “usually we have uni students for work experience – not school students – she was excellent!”

One company sent back a formal appraisal of one student, Connie Bouhoutsos. I have selected some sections of this report. “She was exposed

to sales and marketing, operations/ manufacturing and commercial construction sites. While she was undertaking the tasks, she showed herself to be very astute, asking relevant questions. She was keen to learn over and above

that which was assigned to her. After reviewing and checking her results, she liaised with the marketing team to discuss the changes which were subsequently incorporated in the new Boral Masonry Design Guide. She will make an excellent engineer should she choose to follow this path.” Congratulations to all the students involved in the programme.

Nikola Simonovic – “We have had some bad experiences with work experience students, but Nikola has changed our minds.”

Natalie Pizanis – “We usually have university students here at ACP. We cannot believe Natalie is a high school student because she is a very mature and capable young lady.”

Infants honour National Tree Day

STYLUS Page 17

On Wednesday the 30th July, Year Two planted a shrub for National Tree Day. We planted it in the Harmony Garden that Year Six, 2007 had started.

First 2C and 2A gathered with Mrs Hamer, Mrs Synesios, Mrs Kipriotis and Miss Brocklehurst. When we were there we talked about why we were going to plant the shrub and who gave it to the school. Mrs Sobbel brought a special type of a plant to the school. It was given to her when she became an Australian Citizen.

Mrs Kipriotis picked George to dig a hole and Miss Brocklehurst picked Sophia to put the plant in. Next George and Georgina watered the shrub. Mrs Hamer spoke about the shrub and

told us that it would grow flowers in Spring.

While George and Georgina were watering the plant we were standing behind them. I was actually standing in front of Mr. Volas’ office with other people. While we were stand-ing there Mrs Kipriotis took photos of the shrub and the children watering it. Mrs Hamer told 2A and 2C that they were responsible for looking after the plant and that we would have to take care of it for four and a half years.

Finally we left the Harmony Garden. I liked that day very much.

Chrysanthi Diasinos 2C

stylus

It’s all about building young lives.

An Invitation to Help Build the Future of our College

Friend of College ($2 - $999)

Spartan Warrior ($1,000)

Bronze Donor ($10,000)

Silver Donor ($25,000)

Gold Donor ($50,000)

Benefactor ($100,000)

Esteemed Benefactor ($150,000)

Grand Benefactor ($200,000)

1130 Anzac Parade, Maroubra NSW 2035, PO Box 462, Maroubra NSW 2035 Phone: 61 2 9311 3340 Fax: 61 2 9311 4532 Email: admin@stspyridon.nsw.edu.au Website: stspyridon.nsw.edu.au

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, St Spyridon Parish of South-East Sydney A.C.N. 000 410 891 A.B.N. 84 480 080 247 CRICOS Provider Numbers: Junior School ~ Years K-6 ~ 061558A Senior School ~ Years 7-12 ~ 02319E

For further information on contributing please contact the Parish Executive officer on (02) 9313 6899.

It is with great pleasure that we announce that St Spyridon College has been granted DA Approval for the Senior School Building Programme. We expect to break ground in 2009. The new building will be a real and lasting investment in the future of our children, and of their children, in the years to come.

We call on our St Spyridon Family to help us raise the funds we need to complete our project. Everyone can contribute.

The Benefactor’s Scheme starts with tax deductible donations form $2 to $200,000. Every dollar is appreciated and every dollar counts.