The VistaIssue 13 - June 2017

Celebrating Girls’ Football

From the Principal’s Desk

Mr Adrian FarrerPrincipal

James Patterson, a famous and very successful author, has been the ‘most borrowed author in the UK’ for ten years in a row. Part of the secret to that success is that much of his work is directed at the lucrative Young Adult fiction market, the most active borrowing age, and of course the fact that his writing strikes a chord with his readers. Whereas adults (unless acting for their children) may not have heard of the Alex Rider series, or Maximum Ride, teenagers’ families have been purchasing books apace, contributing to his total credits of over 325 million books sold worldwide.

A popular novel of his in the U.S.A. was Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life. Spawning a suc-cessful movie of the same name, the book tapped into the clichéd American experience of the middle years of schooling, the adolescent years, that through popular culture become so stereo-typically years of self-angst, bullying and pimples. In truth, the story is largely benign, with a ‘tongue in cheek’ look at the challenges that those adolescent years bring, while reflecting a few truisms at the same time: the middle years of schooling provide challenges, adolescence is tricky and a school’s structure can help define a student’s experiences of success in those years. The depiction of the asinine Principal creating rule after rule is very stereotypical indeed and not true to life!

The Middle School at Cathedral was officially born this year. Under Mrs Brigid Perkins’ guidance, it has quickly assumed an identify as a distinct ‘sub-school’, has a clear physical setting and an un-derstood presence in the organisational structure of our school. Far from the clichéd horrors of Pat-terson’s imagination, our Middle School serves to know our students well and advocate for them as they negotiate that part of life during which they move from having most daily decisions made for them to making most decisions for themselves. It has long been my boast that we are able to blend successfully the ‘veteran’ students of Cathedral Junior School with those joining us from other, vari-ous settings. Even as we do so, we are bridging the gap between primary school and secondary school understandings, and attempting to drive down student and parental concern about the big leap into the unknown of secondary schooling.

Schools need to be ‘student friendly and student proof’. The first part of that statement speaks to a school’s culture and the second to its setting. The middle years of a student’s education, for us in our Middle School, can be undertaken in an environment that is both cultivated and built for the spe-cific purpose of looking after students of that age. Of course, these years bring distinct challenges and, like all first-time users of new tools, mistakes are made as the process of branching out occurs in young people. If our culture is strong, these mistakes can be absorbed well, and if our setting is purpose built, then mistakes will be contained and learnt from.

Far from the rollicking adven-tures of James Patterson, and the cynicism about school, we have a newly franked structure to our school that has already started to underpin the aca-demic and life learning of our students. In their purpose-built area, they are able to ‘belong’ to their part of our school, and help create and build a tradi-tion of fine work and play in the Cathedral Middle School.

Senior School

Semester One in the Senior School has flown. It is hard to believe that a little of the semester is remain-ing and that two terms have elapsed. In such a busy place, it is sometimes difficult to keep abreast of the huge number of activities that are on offer to our students at Cathedral College Wangaratta. The following reflections provide just a glimpse of the different experiences offered to and celebrated by our students.

The sports arenas and swimming pools have seen some quality performances by CCW students. Our school has had fine representation both at school level and at regional level, and our ability to com-pete with other schools continues to grow by the year. In fact, we have really started to become a dominant force in the pool. A highlight of the sport in Semester One has been the emergence of our football teams with both the female and male Senior School Teams competing with distinction in the local schools’ competitions.

The Year Eleven Leadership Camp included a strong ‘service to others’ theme throughout the program. Many of the activities were designed to get students working as a team and highlight-ed the different skills and attributes that each member brought to the group. Over the duration of the camp, students collect-ed rubbish from the park, which then became currency so as to purchase ‘superior’ meals and luxury items. The auctions for the evening meals and luxury items were often fiercely contested. This year, the addition of the walk along the Razorback, although challenging for many, was well worth the reward of the breath-taking views of the valley and farmland below.

ANZAC Day again saw wonderful representation from CCW with students marching in Wangaratta, Beechworth, Bright, Myrtle-ford, Benalla and Yarrawonga. Lily Day of Year Twelve marched in Melbourne with the 2/24th Battalion and represented herself and her school in fine style.

Further to our representation at these marches was the poign-ant and historically significant planting of the Gallipoli Oak. Lt Gen (Ret) Ash Power AO, CSC, President of the Wangaratta RSL, joined our students in celebrating the planting of an oak tree that has genetic links to original Gallipoli Oaks. At the core of this project is the story of how a young Australian soldier, Cap-tain Winter Cooke from Murndal, near Hamilton, noticed some unusual holly bushes while stationed at Gallipoli that had acorns like oak trees. Captain Winter Cooke remembered that his Uncle Samuel in Hamilton was a bit of a tree enthusiast; someone that would be interested in these rare acorns, and so sent a package of acorns to him from Gallipoli almost 100 years ago. Our vision is that this oak tree will be a centrepiece of our school for decades and perhaps centuries to come.

The Year Nine Mt Buffalo Adventure Camp took place in early March. Commencing with the strenuous ‘Big Walk’, students spent Day 1 climbing from the Mt Buffalo park entrance up to the campsite at Lake Catani. The following days saw students chal-lenged in many different ways: rock climbing, abseiling, caving and getting along in the alpine environment. The weather was fantastic and the spectacular views and stunning surroundings guaranteed a really memorable experience.

Mr Keith WillettHead of Senior School

Meet the School Captains

Ella has enjoyed working alongside fellow School Captain, Alistair Hurst and the other school lead-ers. “We share the responsibilities and look out for each other. We are conscious that leading is a privilege which needs to be juggled with our studies and we work really well together.” Determined to achieve the best ATAR possible, Ella hopes to continue further study at University in Melbourne and is keeping her options open with either a Business or Science Degree in the hope of working in the fields of Project Management or Marine Biology. “At the moment I’m fairly unsure about what is next but I think I’ve done everything I can to keep all doors open for myself by taking as many prerequisite subjects as I can this year.”

Alistair attended Prep School in England before emigrating with his family to the North East of Vic-toria. Having started in the SEAL program at Wangaratta High School, Alistair moved to Cathedral along with his brother Adam (Year Ten) and Hettie (Year Seven). Alistair said the move to Cathedral made sense as a family. “As Adam was starting in Year Seven at the time, to all be on the same campus was an easy decision. Since starting here, I have seen the school nearly double in size; however, quite impressively, it has managed to retain the sense of community and the values which have always been so vital to Cathedral.”

Alistair attributes some of this to the incredibly inclusive House system which pervades many aspects of College life, and an aspect of his time here which he has thoroughly enjoyed.

“The position of School Captain is a slightly daunting one which carries with it a range of respon-sibilities, but I see it as an opportunity to give back to the school. I have enjoyed working with Ella this year and will continue to look forward to facing any challenges that the role may present us, together.”

Alistair is hoping to take a Gap Year in 2018, potentially travelling, before returning to study a double degree in Engineering and Commerce or Science at Monash University, although he wryly adds he will need to do pretty well!

In the past few years both Alistair and Ella have witnessed the considerable changes at Murdoch Rd, not least the building of the Senior School Precinct. “It is clear that the school is growing, both in the number of students and facilities,” says Ella. “These are great developments that will allow the future students of this school more academic and practical opportunities and I believe this sense of growth is something that should be fostered.”

Our 2017 School Captains both hail from Bright, with Ella James joining the College in 2015 and Alistair Hurst in 2014. Ella be-gan Cathedral College Wangaratta in Year Ten after her family relocated from Cairns in Northern Queensland. Joining her brothers Angus (Year Eight) and Har-rison (Year Twelve 2015, currently study-ing Information Technology at Deakin), Ella found the College to be very ac-cepting.

“When I attended Orientation Day in 2014, I was welcomed and approached by fel-low classmates who were able to make me feel included and at ease straight away. It does take time to settle into a new school environment and I am so grateful for the support of everyone around me.”

2017 has seen the launch of Cathedral College Wangaratta’s Middle School. An exciting time, the transition to include a Middle School which comprises of Year Six through to Year Eight students, has been smooth and somewhat natural to an external observer. From an early stage in the year, our Mid-dle School students, staff and parents clearly formed our new Middle School community and began involving themselves in discussions, programs and events that increased their understanding of the importance of this stage of schooling.

From my experience, a successful Middle School aims to achieve and focus on a number of key fac-tors. A Middle School program needs to recognise and cater for the significant and rapid changes that often occur in both boys and girls during this time. With this in mind, it is my belief that a clear pas-toral system of care must be established where respectful relationships between staff and students is a focus. It is also vital that academic programs are based on mastering the fundamental skills in each core subject area. In addition, it is a time to allow students to explore possibilities through elective academic programs that offer a broad range of skills and learning, before they need to begin think-ing about specialising and following a pathway to a chosen course or career. Certainly, this is a time where students should be challenged with clear personal and academic goals created.

Middle School students should be exposed to: leadership opportunities and training, careers knowl-edge and conversations, the importance of being an active community member, the importance of having an understanding of international issues and what it means to be a global citizen. Ultimately, we are aiming to produce well-rounded students who feel valued and challenged and who are ready to enter the Senior School by the time they finish their Year Eight program.

Middle School

From the very first Middle School as-sembly that took place in early Feb-ruary, we have worked towards es-tablishing common goals, language and expectations that are supported by our whole pastoral team which includes Classroom teachers, Home-room teachers, Learning Enhance-ment staff, Year Level Coordinators and the Head of Middle School. Building respectful relationships, be-ing the best that you can be and set-ting up a system of support and care have been key themes and goals.

Through regular assemblies and Chapel services the importance of proactive and effective communi-cation has been reinforced to enable these goals to be achieved. Our Middle School community has been further consolidated through a range of events which have promoted the success of students but also allowed different skills to be on display. These events have included hosting our own Middle School sporting carnivals, which have included the Middle School Swimming Carnival, Middle School Athlet-ics Carnival and Middle School Cross Country Carnival. These days have been a wonderful display of involvement and vibrancy, with all three carnivals experiencing high participation rates, a high level of competition and athletic ability, but also an inclusive atmosphere where everyone was encouraged. Involvement and participation were an expected element and all students contributed to these days.

Our Year Eight cohort also took it upon them-selves to host a Year Eight morning tea as they were keen to build on the cohesion and con-nections within their cohort. Predominantly stu-dent run, the morning tea was highly successful with the Science Garden becoming a hive of activity where Middle School students chose to attend and support the initiative. It was a won-derful sight to witness.

Mrs Brigid PerkinsHead of Middle School

Additionally, we have been able to introduce more leadership opportunities including the introduc-tion of Middle School House Captains to align with our current leadership model that exists in the Junior and Senior School. It was pleasing to see the number of applications that we received, which reinforced that we have many students who are eager to lead their peers and engage in service to their school. The process involved a written application, an interview, and a speech delivered to their respectful Houses. The introduction of Middle School House Captains has allowed our students to have a voice in whole school leadership conferences. It also has introduced another avenue for students wishing to further development their leadership skills, as well as promoting involvement, ser-vice and active participation. This has been an important step in building and creating our Middle School culture.

A number of pastoral programs has also been implemented in an effort to address the needs and changes that occur in our Middle School students. All Year Six through to Year Eight students had the opportunity to listen to Martin from ‘The Resilience Project’ who promoted and explored a number of ideas linked to the topic of resilience. He also raised a number of questions that revolved around ‘What are we grateful for?’ and ‘What makes us happy?’ Our students were intrigued by his story, laughed at his anecdotes and many stayed behind to give him a hug following his presentation. This allowed for additional conversations to occur in the classroom and at home, which all addressed how we incorporate positive behavioural traits and mindfulness into our everyday lives to support our wellbeing and assist our own development. It was a wonderful experience that many of our students benefitted from.

Middle schooling is a dynamic time in a stu-dent’s lives and equally beneficial and re-warding for those teachers who specialise in this area, as students are establishing their strengths and passions. It is a time for enquiry and growth, whereby their minds have ac-cess to new topics, new questions and new ideas. Our community and culture will con-tinue to grow as we continue to strengthen relationships, value lifelong learning, pro-mote a common goal and ask a common question: are you presenting the best version of yourself?

The development of effective literacy skills is multi-faceted and complex, and a variety of tools are nec-essary to meet the diverse student needs. English is essentially an auditory skill, as it is developed in chil-dren from birth through listening to spoken language from parents, other adults and from participating in conversations. Vocabulary is modelled for them during book reading, dinner table conversation and the giving of instructions. The importance of parents reading a book daily to their children, to partici-pating in conversations with them and for children to spend less time in front of technology (television, iPads, smartphones), has never become more important than what it is right now.

In 2013, I became involved in the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) course conducted by the As-sociation of Independent Schools NSW. This series of workshops has been conducted throughout Aus-tralia and is specifically aimed at primary school leaders, be they titled a Principal or Head of School. Research shows that student literacy outcomes improve when the Principal (in my case, Head of Junior School) is involved in curriculum leadership. One of the key aims behind this outstanding program is "not to make them literacy experts, but to empower leaders to lead their primary schools in an informed and effective way." PALL is evidence based and formulated on sound and contemporary research.

The capacity to read is an absolute fundamental in children developing the ability to learn and maxim-ise their potential. National inquiries into Reading and Literacy were conducted during the first decade of the 21st century in the United States of America (2000), Australia (Rowe, 2005) and the United King-dom (Rose, 2006). Fascinatingly, some common conclusions were found in regards to children learning to read:

• The importance of preschool years and oral language development • Understanding that letter-sound knowledge is built on phonemic awareness (an auditory skill, the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in speech)• Need for explicit and systematic phonics instruction (the relationship between sounds and sym-bols of the alphabet)• Exposure to interesting reading• Need for direct skills instruction

The three inquiries noted that, "findings from the research indicate that all students learn best when teachers adopt an integrated approach to reading that explicitly teaches phonemic awareness, phon-ics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge and comprehension."

Junior School

Learning to read, reading to learn: a family & school responsibility

The importance of phonemic aware-ness is paramount to the development of reading skills in students. Without phone-mic awareness, phonics would make lit-tle sense. Phonics builds upon phonemic awareness and as such is a most critical component of a reading programme. The 2005 Rowe Review commissioned by the Australian Federal Government titled Na-tional Inquiry in Teaching Literacy, found that "where there is unsystematic or no phonics instruction, children's literature progress is significantly impeded, inhibit-ing their initial and subsequent growth in reading accuracy, fluency, writing, spell-ing and comprehension."

In the past two years, our Junior School teachers have participated in professional development workshops related to the development of literacy skills in our students. Over twelve months, our Prep – Year One teachers completed a four-day program titled, ‘Prep to Literacy’, with renowned English expert, Michelle Hutchison. Each session was spaced to enable the teachers to take their knowledge and implement it into their English programs. Some of the benefits are already visible in the students. All Junior School teachers were trained by Michelle Hutchison in SMART Spelling, a program that sup-ports teachers in the explicit and systematic teaching of spelling. A further tool several of our Years Three – Five teachers have been trained in, has been Spelling Mastery. This program helps students to understand the relationship between sounds, word parts and spelling patterns. A direct instruction method is employed where students are taught in small, directed steps.

It is therefore of immense importance that professional development, resources and commitments are made to ensure quality teaching, appraisal and assessment are provided when teaching read-ing as part of a strong literacy programme.

I look forward to working collaboratively with the Junior School teachers and students and feeding information to our parent body on some of the outstanding work that is currently conducted and also being developed for further implementation in regard to English skill acquisition.

Jane Godwin and Davina Bell

The Junior School students were fortunate to have Davina Bell and Jane Godwin, accomplished au-thors and publishers, spend a day working in three sessions with our Preps and Year One, Years Two and Three, and Years Four and Five. Focusing on four main areas, Davina and Jane talked about where we can get inspiration and ideas to start creating a story and crafting a narrative. They shared stories about how they came up with their own ideas, how a picture book is drafted and edited, and discussed the importance of the team of people who write, illustrate, edit and publish books.

Mr Greg NewboldHead of Junior School

Oval

The Oval has seen some considerable action this semester, with the school able to host House Athletics, interschool foot-ball matches and Cross Country for the first time on school grounds. The school has enjoyed working with the Murray Bushrangers Football Club who have used the Oval for their pre-season training as Under 16, Under 18 and Girls’ squads, helping to promote youth sport in the region. The ‘hill’ has had many ‘cheer squads’ as students have enjoyed watching and celebrating the achievements of their fellow school mates.

Anglican Schools Commission

One of the many benefits of being part of the Anglican Schools Commission is the collaboration that occurs between our sister schools both in Victoria and in Western Australia. With 11 schools in WA, we are fortunate to have Trinity Anglican College and Cobram Anglican College on the Eastern side of Australia and there have been many opportunities to collaborate and work with the students and staff in Albury and Cobram. As part of the Independent Schools Victoria (ISV) True STEAM Experi-ence, a two day workshop series for Year Six students across the North East Victoria, students from Trinity Anglican College, Cobram Anglican College and Cathedral College Wangaratta, all worked together to develop possible solutions in response to design briefs. Specifically, they learned more about scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions and how they are used to solve problems that directly affect peoples’ lives. More recently, the Interschool Football Competition has seen some fierce games by our Year Eight female footballers, playing both in Albury and Wangaratta. Next semester we will see the return of our Perth visitors for the Wangaratta Jazz Festival with several ASC bands combining with Cathedral to play over the long weekend.

Speakers and Sessions

The College has been fortunate to work with a variety of professionals in 2017 with targeted staff Pro-fessional Development, specific workshops and information evenings for students and parents. Being a regional school, it is important that our community continues to engage with leading educational experts as a central part of the practice of improvement. As a school system, we have a shared re-sponsibility to provide the present generation of students the best practice to ensure student learning outcomes are met. At the same time, we have a responsibility to provide teachers with extended opportunities to build on what they already know about effective learning and teaching. Further, teaching is a dynamic profession and educators need to stay informed as new knowledge of learning and student engagement emerges.

Effective schools are learning communities and at Cathedral, teachers, students and families are all part of the development of its knowledge base. This year we have continued to work with Michelle Hutchison across the Junior School, developing our scope and sequence to help build literacy skills in our younger students. Individual staff have attended a variety of Professional Development days across this semester, returning to share their knowledge within their Teaching and Learning depart-ments; some STEM training in Canberra; Mental Health Schools’ Conference; Social Enterprise work-shops; Wellbeing for Support Staff; Subject specific PDs in Accounting, Statistical moderation, Indone-sian and more. This collaborative nature of effective professional learning is then combined to enrich and support our learning culture at Cathedral. Internally we have had several educational consult-ants visit who have and worked with our staff, students and parents.

Following on from the staff Professional Development with Dr Craig Hassed, the College engaged Mindfulness Education consultant Janet Etty-Leal to work with our staff, students and parents through a series of Mindfulness workshops this term. Janet defines Mindfulness as a practice ‘that involves present moment awareness…which cultivates the art of living well: cre-ating wiser, more compassionate, conscious choices, moment by moment.”

Leading Senior Constable Surrey Hunter of the Victorian Police has spoken with Senior School students this term and will continue to work with students from Year Five to Year Twelve about the need to be a responsible digital citizen. A major element of Constable Hunter’s work is related to Cyber Safety Education and he spoke about the need for students to have awareness about how to safely, positively and effectively engage with digital technologies to participate in society, communicate with others, and create and con-sume digital content.

Our Junior School students worked with Leading Senior Constable Helen Parfett learning about the role Victoria Police plays in keeping our community safe and how students can look after themselves, their friends and their families. With many important messages, students were able to ask questions about what to do in situations they might find themselves in and how to help each other. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Police across all Year Levels of the school, integrating their knowledge within our Wellbeing programs.

In the classroom, Janet spoke about the brain and the connection our thoughts have on our bodies through simple and effective tools, activities and props. Students were introduced to the idea that when we are mindful the brain is attentive but relatively quiet. It is associated with the experience of being focused and clear-headed. When we are not mindful the mind and brain become busy and we slip into a state of inattention, daydreaming, worrying about the future or recalling the past.

Social Enterprise

In Year Ten, students not only have a week of Work Experience as part of their Careers Education but they also participate in our Social Enterprise program - a collaborative, hands on experience giving young people opportunities to run their own business. Provided with practical learning that opens up the ideas, skills and creativity needed for entrepreneurship, students create, build and run a business with a social cause. A Social Enterprise is a not for profit business that donates at least 51% of their earnings to a charity and the remaining back into their business.

During this term our Year Tens ran a variety of pop up food stalls and activities which raised money for a variety of causes and charities. Staff and students were able to enjoy the many different food options and events that our Year Tens offered. Students have developed an idea, a business plan, applied for a start-up grant and created advertising material, learning many valuable lessons about the many challenges and obstacles in running a business.

Each enterprise has had time to reflect on the successes and challenges of their first business with some of the lessons learned below:

Brownies in support of the Cancer Council

We hoped to learn the skills to run our business and to improve teamwork and organisational skills. Our biggest challenge was judging the quantities and the amount of brownies needed but this allowed us to experience this and improve for next time.

Cookies for a Cause in support of Loaves and Fishes

Our hope was to broaden our range of business skills to enable us to make a large enough profit to continue investing in our business whilst also donating to our foundation. Our biggest challenge has been deciding how many cookies we make, as we previously did not have enough cookies for the amount of kids who wanted to buy them.

Decorate your own cookies in support of the Malala Foundation

We hoped to provide an interactive activity for students and to learn the key skills involved with running a business. We have discovered that organisational skills are a key difficulty to running a business and preparing for unexpected outcomes and circumstances.

Spud Lords in support of the SIDS Foundation

We hoped to make some profit to donate to SIDS and also to learn new skills and get the full experience of running a busi-ness. Our biggest challenge was being prepared for all possible issues and we found that delegating jobs worked well to over-come this.

Street Food in support of Food Bank

We hoped to make enough profit to pay off our loan and make a generous donation, and we have learnt that we need to communicate better and manage our time more effectively.

Pizza Club in support of the Pink Ribbon Foundation

We aimed to expand our interpersonal and organisational skills and develop new skills. Our biggest challenge was to manage the amount of product we needed to buy and to estimate how much we were going to sell.

Friday Cinema Club in support of World Vision

Our hope was to gather children together and show them a film they would enjoy. Our challenge has been dealing with children, getting organised and managing our time well.

Selling Essentials in support of the White Ribbon Foundation

We hoped to be able to make a profit for our organisation and to learn skills that we could use in the future. Our challenge was finding a target of customers and we’ve learnt we need to communicate better. * Selling Essentials is a small business aim-ing to provide students with stationary and everyday items they may need at school.

Community

Lynne FalkenbergLynne Falkenberg is the epitome of community volun-teerism and a very significant volunteer contributor in our school's history.

Having started on the school board at its inception in 2003, Lynne has been on the journey with us for over 13 years - chairing the Audit/Finance Committee until her 'governance retirement' a few months ago. Lynne has donated her time, accounting expertise, wisdom and life experience to Cathedral College Wangaratta and with-out doubt, her contribution has been instrumental.

Cathedral College is both fortunate and grateful to have had Lynne involved in the governance of our school and welcome her ongoing contribution in the Uniform Shop.

We recently presented Lynne with a gift from the school as a token of our appreciation. On behalf of the school council and community, we thank Lynne for her many years of service.

Mr Mike Noble Chair of Council

In Community Service during Semester One, students were provided with the important opportunity to contribute to their local and school communities through the provision of Community Service work to an organisation of their choice. Complementing the Community Service component of this course is a series of leadership activities that are designed to equip students to fulfil leadership roles in the school and wider community.

The aim of Community Service has been for each student to provide a minimum of 10 hours of volun-tary service within their local community, accumulated across the year. The leadership component requires students to participate in a school based community service (SBCS) project, where they are to develop their expertise in an area of their choice. This process involves goal setting, planning and evaluating their performance of the course of the year. Students will also participate in a range of group leadership projects organised over the course of the year. The SBCS Projects so far have in-volved students identifying a need or interest within the College Community with the aim of serving their peers, teachers or the College as a whole.

Community Service

In conjunction with our formal Community Service program students across Prep to Year Twelve help raise funds through their Homerooms and Houses. This semester, fundraiasing continued in earnest War-by House managing to raise a significant amount of monies for the North East Child and Adolescent Men-tal Health services here in Wangaratta through a Bake Sale in the Science Garden. Awareness of Breast Can-cer Research, the R U OK foundation and a variety of local charities have all been brought to the attention of the College and students have been keen to be involved in helping others.

Past students, families and staff are an important part of the Cathedral College Wangaratta com-munity. Being part of the Old Collegians’ network means that you will maintain the connection you have with the College and your peers, through College functions and class reunions. Some key elements of being an OC include:

• Year Level reunions• Volunteering / Mentoring program• Keeping in touch and celebration of past students’ achievements.

The College would love to hear from its past students. Please remember to keep us informed about events in your life such as overseas or interstate travel, post schooling graduation, job pro-motions or career changes, sporting accomplishments, weddings, births or any other exciting adventures you have undertaken since graduating from Cathedral College Wangaratta.

Stay Connected

We would like to keep in touch with our past students, families and staff so that we can send you invitations to College events or invite you to impart your skills and knowledge to the current generation of students. To do this we need your contact details, if you would like to be an active member of our community. Please complete the online form at www.cathedralcollege.vic.edu.au/community located on our wesbite.

OId Collegians’ Association

Year Twelves were visited in Term One by Gabriel de Carheil (2011) who had just returned from a Euro-pean exchange in Germany. In his final year of a double degree in Bio-Medicine and Law at Monash Uni-versity, Gabriel was able to talk to our final year students about Univer-sity and life post schooling.

Congratulations to Eve Malsem (2011) who recently gradu-ated with a Medical degree from Monash University; she will be based in Bendigo for her first year as a Doctor and will be visiting the VCE students to talk about her experiences in the medical field. As a College, we are fortunate to have our Old Collegians keen to keep in touch and help mentor our Year Twelves as they prepare for the next step in their learning.

Past student William Mason (2011), recently graduated with First Class Honours in a double degree - Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. Selected from over 600 applicants across the globe to be the only graduate chemical engineer at the Grain Corporation Australia, William is currently based in Mel-bourne. We look forward to inviting William back to talk to our students when he next returns to the North East.

Community Events

Congratulations to the Parents and Friends’ Committee and the very many parents involved in this year’s successful events. Our initial Welcome Evening, held in the first few weeks of Term One was an opportunity for both current and new parents to gather and meet each other and key staff. The Country Fair, held for the first time on Campus, was a wonderful evening for students and parents alike with a food court in the Science Quad and all manner of rides and activities for the students. The evening served to reflect the purpose of the P and F in that it encouraged our school community to gather and bond in a warm and welcoming environment. We enjoyed witnessing the cross-age interaction of our students in the informal setting, as well as the clear willingness of our school families to engage in the event wholeheartedly.

Our Cocktail Party was another successful evening for our parent community; a considerable effort and commitment ensured the night was a fun occasion. The Mothers’ Day breakfast certainly set the tone for the upcoming Fathers’ Day breakfast, with a veritable feast of muffins, warm toasties, fresh fruit and wraps served and prepared by our Food Technology students. Along with Parent Seminars, football training sessions on the oval, yoga, and Coffee and Conversation mornings in our Regional towns, our parent community has been as involved as ever and we thank all our parents for their on-going support of our College community.

discover

344 Wangaratta-Whitfield RoadPO BOX 1086

Wangaratta VIC 3676Telephone: 03 5722 2144

Email: office@cathedralcollege.vic.edu.au

achievebelong

School House Captains Luke Cheshire (Year Six) and Olivia Parsons (Year Twelve) presented the wreath on behalf of the College for the 2017 Anzac Day Service held in Wangaratta.