ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ

Greetings

Our theme this week has been HOPE.

This time is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen and/or rebuild family relationships and find comfort and security in what truly matters: love and kindness, home and family, health, and wellbeing. And we must then live each moment of every day in confidence knowing what matters has not changed and that the tomorrow we seek, will come, and we will be much richer and wiser because of what we have learned and created in this extra time we have.

I was asked several days ago, what are my top tips for our ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ community at this time. Here are my top tips for the coming days and weeks.

• Reframe the situation, look at the lockdown not as adversity, but an opportunity. An opportunity to use the extra time we have in our daily routine, to do new things, explore, invent and delve into areas of interest;
• Maintain a routine each school day that will help define schoolwork time and non-school work time: breakfast, uniform, class at 8:35am until 3.15pm;
• Get involved in all the College extra activities and competitions produced by the Mission Service Team, Lasallian Youth Ministers, the Sports Team, the Library Team initiatives including our Read-to-Succeed Program, and the Deans, such as the MasterChef Challenge, top kicks/tricks etc;
• Give yourself some screen-free time each day;
• Stay active by enjoying the outdoors;
• Do something you enjoy each day;
• Keep in touch (online) with friends and family;
• Be good, be kind, be loving: find ways for random acts of kindness for family members and friends. Reach out and check in on at least one mate each day, asking RUOK?

Take care.

Keep well.

Br Steve Hogan fsc
Principal

Given more of Sydney and NSW are working from home - in the unlikely event that there is a power outage in your area during a Trial Examination parents and/or students are advised to:

• Ensure devices are fully charged beforehand 
• Prepare to use ‘hotspotting’ on a mobile phone as an alternative to wi-fi
• Contact the College on 9899 2288.

The last time we had anything like a pandemic was 30 years ago with the AIDS/HIV crisis. At that time I was at the heart of the outbreak working in San Francisco General Hospital. It was a searing experience watching young men die of this awful disease. They had watched their friends die and no cure was on the horizon. What could I offer these patients?

This experience taught me how to come to grips with powerlessness. Part of our human nature is that we like to control as much as possible. When that control is taken away we react in all sorts of irrational ways. What I learnt from these men is that you have to accept what you cannot change, fight where appropriate, but hand over to a higher power your destiny. My own role was not to run away when the going got tough. To stay present to people in agony is not easy, but it is consoling. When I am weak, then I am strong as St. Paul would say.

So what does this experience teach us in the current crisis? Keep as much control as you can by following the rational rules destined to stop you from getting COVID. Make friends with being at home all the time and the loneliness this can sometimes create. Hand over to God or a higher power those aspects of this crisis that you have no control over. Be kind and present to as many people as possible. This will pass but it must leave us stronger and wiser.

ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ is still leading its community in prayer and liturgy during this distance learning time.

In the first instance, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our wider "village" for helping us put together video messages that were put out on social media. This included our whole community but was specifically targeted to our Graduating Class of 2021. Our support and prayers are with them during this difficult time, and I know that our Lasallian village will stand strong and "cheer them on from the sidelines" as they embark on their Trial examinations.

We also have our 8.00am online Liturgy every Friday morning via Teams. This is a perfect opportunity for our community to come together and spend some time in meditation and prayer during lockdown. I extend a warm invitation to all of you to join us online.

This is not an easy time for many of us, each having our own battles. This time more than ever it is important to build hope through community.

Many Blessings.

Mrs Laurainne Marshall
Co Ordinator of Prayer and Liturgy

Jersey Day is on Friday 3rd September. Jersey Day was inspired by the gift of life that Nathan Gremmo (Class of 2019) gave to six people when he became an organ donor at 13 years old.

This day is not about fundraising, it is about raising awareness for organ donation. We simply ask our community to wear their favourite jersey and start a conversation with loved ones about organ donation. Also, this year is a little different with the call to send in your best trick shots. We have a number of students who have sent us amazing trick shots and we will send them in for the #jerseydaytrickshot competition.

Mrs Gabby Russo
Marketing & Community Liaison Co-ordinator

After many months of work, Ms Bruseker, Academic Head of Society & Culture, Legal Studies and Geography has had her textbook published by , which will be used across New South Wales: Cambridge Society and Culture Stage 6.

Ms Bruseker brings a wealth of experience to Oakhill and her published book shares her knowledge and experience as a presenter for numerous professional learning seminars for the and as a sessional tutor for where she developed both the undergrad and Masters of Teaching method courses for Society and Culture. She has also been a committee member of the Society and Culture Association since 2019.

Her Cambridge Society and Culture book will help students develop their social and cultural literacy, become ethical researchers and encourages Stage 6 students to become active citizens, providing them with everything they need to thrive in their major work, assessments and exams.

Mrs Gabby Russo
Marketing & Community Liaison Co-ordinator

At the end of Term 2, Ms Salem and my Year 9-12 Computing Studies classes participated in the Grok Cyber Competition and our excellent results are in! Over 24,000 Australian students participated from 561 schools in this event. 

Problems in Grok Cyber Comp addressed six key cyber security themes: password security, privacy, scams, web application security (websec), encryption and error detection.

This is a sample problem:

What this problem is about?
Students learn how to encode a message using a Vigenere Cypher and are asked to apply that knowledge in reverse to decode a message.

Year 12 SDD
High Distinction - James Brayan
Distinction - Ethan Shanahan, Jayden Bastian, Mathew Clements, Thomas Robertson, William Crimston

Year 11 SDD
Perfection - Ewan Blanch
High Distinction - Benjamin Paek, Christian Youssef, Ethan Bowyer, Zachary Semaganda
Distinction - Cassandra Joye, Ethan Pua, Guy Turney, Jacob Salkovic, Mackenzie O'Connor, Michael Kavanagh, Oliver Cook, Peter Alexiou, Ralph Jordan, Vincent Sobb

Year 10 IST
High Distinction -  Aevahn Anthony, Luke Bampton, Mitchell Ashton, Nicholas McKenzie, Thomas Gray, Zachary Barone
Distinction - Aaryan Thakorlal, Drew Bitcon, Levi Clark, Zac Koutzas

Year 9 IST
High Distinction - Aidan Mulder, Amogh Vinilshekar, Bowen Minett, Caius Prisk, Dylan Manio, Haoning Xu, Hugo Randall, Isaac Tocher, Jalen Metierre, Matthew Tween, Mitchell Smith, Muhammad Baig, Nicholas Wolfe Riley Albert, Timothy Malmberg, Tyson Jones, William Martin
Distinction - Adrian Aliaga, Alexander Dunne, Alexander Stavropoulos, Bazil Prince, Cecil Waters-Marsh, Christian Americano, Damien Khoo, Harrison Merlino, Jackson Palgan, Jacob Kerkin, Jesse Hugo, Lorenzo Rubalcaba, Lucas Faulkner, Lucas Scerri, Mason Newton, Oliver Bowyer, Owen Sereni, Paul Colet, Riley Brooker, Sebastian Treder, Zachary Marinelli, Zane Zeaiter.

Mr Brian Johnson
TAS Teacher

As part of Year 7s English poetry unit, they are learning and writing Odes. Here are some wonderful examples from students:

'Ode To Noodles' by Aayush Shah, Year 7:

Ode to noodles,
Soupy and hot perfection for a cold winter’s day,
Carrots, peas, and potatoes all go in to make a mouth-watering,
Hearty noodle soup
It slurps and dribbles, the flavours explode in my mouth,
crunching the carrots, peas and potatoes melting in your mouth,
There is nothing truly like it, it is extraordinary and mind-blowing!
It hums through your mouth while you slurp it up,
Ode to noodles, solitary perfection!

'Ode to Music' by Aidan Smith, Year 7:

Ode to music,
What a wonderful thing
You can dance or sing.
Soft calming tones,
Send shivers to my bones.
Notes run ‘round in my head
Now my brain is fed.
Notes inspire me,
it makes my heart dance
and leaves a powerful stance.
Rock, classic, romance, pop,
I’m never ever going to stop.

‘Ode to a Football’ by Noah Craven, Year 7:

Ode to a football, such a joyful thing
made of leather and string.
Such a miracle, gives you hours of joy,
It’s more than just a toy.
it’s sure to make you yell O’boy!
For centuries it’s been pleasing to all.
Some call it a pig skin,
Some call it a ball.
Used in so many different types of sports,
Your admiration will not fall short.

Mrs Ursula Jones
English Teacher

Year 8 has been working very hard in Visual Arts while we have been remote learning. Students and teachers have had to be very creative in the development and completion of practical tasks as we do not have access to our normal artmaking materials, such as paint and ink. Students have learnt new skills in drawing in perspective, collage and photomontage, photography and photo manipulation using Photoshop and still life artworks. Great job Year 8, keep up the creative work!

Mrs Rachael Manning
Visual Arts Teacher

2020 Drama students adapted to the changes that Covid-19 imposed beautifully, by not performing their Group performances to external examiners. 2021 Drama students have now adapted perfectly to the changes too and now find themselves performing their Individual Performances and Group Performances to a silent and invisible crowd! 

Yet, despite the challenges of not being able to create audience-engagement, our Year 12 Drama students have been able to rise to the occasion. They have submitted monologues for their HSC which reflect both maturity and a perceptive understanding of characterisation, and have been very creative choosing amazing costumes and interesting locations.

The photos are of Daniel Fabri performing ‘Mobile Phone Show’; Corey Evans performing a self-devised piece combing elements of ‘Cosi’ and ’Rehearsal for Murder'; Cooper Abood performing “The Incredibly Famous Willy Rivers'; Arthur Gomes-Pestana performing ‘Spiders'; and Luke Hyde performing ‘Assassins’.

Ms Lisa Carloss
Drama Co-ordinator

During this distance learning period, it is sometimes difficult for pupils to stop procrastinating. Here are some practical strategies to combat procrastination:

In this constant online world, it is timely to remind students of the importance and rules around phone etiquette and expectations.

Sending Inappropriate Images

With more and more young people using phones for communication, it is important to talk with your children about the possible consequences of sending or sharing intimate or explicit messages, images, photos or videos.

And there are ways you can help if things go wrong.

What are the Risks?

Sharing intimate images may seem like a bit of fun or innocent flirting for young people, particularly those in a relationship. But things can go wrong and it is important your child understands this.

The Child loses Control of the Image

Once an image is shared, it can be copied and saved by others, shared with people the sender does not know and posted on social media and public websites. 

Images can be extremely difficult to remove and the consequences can follow a young person into adulthood.

Things can go wrong even in a trusted relationship or friendship.

A friend or partner may, on impulse and without thinking, share an image more broadly than the sender intended. 

Sometimes when a relationship breaks down there may be an intent to humiliate an ex-partner or friend. This is called image-based abuse.

Images may not always be sent willingly.

Young people may be forced or pressured into sending explicit images or videos. 

This may be a particular risk when communicating on a dating site or with strangers whose real motives might not be known or understood. 

Even young people who know each other may experience coercion or pressure to send an intimate photo. 

For young people, sharing explicit images might result in:

Humiliation, guilt, shame, anger and self-blame — which can lead to ongoing emotional distress, withdrawal from school and family life.

Bullying, teasing and harassment from peers — they may experience bullying, including cyberbullying if photos are shared around their school community or friendship group.

Damage to their reputation — it may impact their reputation and performance at school, as well as employment opportunities in the future.

Criminal charges and penalties — it can be a crime when it involves asking for, accessing, creating, possessing and/or sharing intimate images of people under 18.

The Law

There are Commonwealth and state and territory laws against asking for, accessing, possessing, creating or sharing intimate images of children and young people under 18. 

This means a young person who asks for, accesses, possesses, creates or shares intimate images of someone under 18 may be at risk of criminal charges — even if both parties consented. Being found guilty of these offences can result in a criminal record. This would prohibit them from working or volunteering in places involving children and may require them to regularly report to police and have restrictions placed on their freedom of movement.

Given the laws in this area are complex, it is important to be aware of the law and the legal services that are available to advise and support young people who have been involved.

For further information including details on how to minimise the risks to your child, and what to do when things go wrong, visit

Mr Peter Morrissey
Infrastructure Technical Lead

Please see information below on a parent seminar to assist your teen through online assessments and exams.

To book, click here: 

Are you looking to buy a new fridge?
Want the latest about interest rates?

The Library has just upgraded their subscription to EBSCO Explora to include full-text access to:  

            

We also have access to the Sydney Morning Herald and much more.

Sign in to with an Oakhill student login for access to thousands of resources.

To access these, select Advanced search and enter the Publication name, eg. Australian Financial Review.

Here are some interesting articles:

Adrian Blundell-Wignall. (2021, July 14). For interest rates, next decade won’t be like the last. Australian Financial Review, 39.

Kollmorgen, A. (2020). The Great Credit Card Rip-Off. Choice, 28–31.

The training program continues from home. Many students are well on the way to achieving this.

Students are encouraged to post on their padlets and collect stickers for interesting and detailed posts about what they are reading. 

If students are posting regularly and read three books from the student top titles list, three books from the Principal's list and four books of their own choice they will be invited to attend the Principal's Morning tea in Term 4. 

Reading can take the form of online books, audiobooks, websites, blogs and even listening to podcasts. Have a look at the links below for some great podcasts to listen to while learning from home. 

Please contact the if you have any questions about the Read to Succeed training program 

Click here to view the live .

On Monday 16th August, two Oakhill teams participated in the Write a Book in a Day competition. Pupils were given the brief and within 9 hours had to write, illustrate, and submit a storybook targeted to a youth audience.

This event gives our students the opportunity to develop important skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and leadership. There’s also the two-pronged philanthropic aspect of the competition that builds empathy skills.

Completed stories are provided in an online library to kids in hospital, and students sought sponsorship for their efforts to fund vital medical research to help children with cancer. Ryan Day from Year 8 raised $2100.00 for the Kids Cancer Project - the second highest amount raised by a student in Australia!

Check out our completed books on the Oakhill Library webpage .

Mrs Lynn Revai
Academic Head of Library

Our talented Music and Drama students have put together the next volume of their Oakhill Arts Kollective newsletter. Full of updates, information and interviews, we hope you enjoy.

Winter Sport Presentation Evenings via our Email Link

Presentation evenings for all Winter Sports will go ahead on the dates that have been published in the ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ calendar. The link to presentations will be sent via email to all players and parents from the Sport Convenor on the afternoon of the presentation evening:

• Rugby – Thursday 26th August
• Tennis – Monday 30th August
• Football (Boys) – Thursday 2nd September
• Girls Sport – Thursday 2nd September

Summer Sport Season Registration / Expression of Interest - NO FEES

We continue to plan for our Summer Sport season. ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ understands the hesitation of families to commit to registration fees currently. For this reason, we have removed all fees from sports registration until we do have a clear understanding of what the season will be. You can confidently register your ‘expression of interest’ in a summer sport without paying any fees (junior cricket is the exception as it is through MyCricket).  As part of the planning, we need to know how many students are playing and therefore how many Oakhill teams we will have. We need to know the numbers and have the contact details of players for each summer sport. We will use these contact details to send updates and information about your sport. We will also start to prepare team numbers for a season when we are able to commence summer sport.

Registration fees will be addressed later when there is greater clarity about the season.  Please be assured that we will adopt a reduced fee if the season is shortened. Those that register an expression of interest will be sent information regarding their sport.

Expression of Interest for Summer Sport – no cost (Trybooking)

• Basketball Expression of Interest –
• Touch Football Expression of Interest –
• Seniors Cricket Expression of Interest (those playing 1st XI and 2nd XI and are over 16 years old) -
• Junior Cricket Registration (U13 – U16 cricket) fees still apply to junior cricket registration - ()

Mr Andrew Wisemantel
Head of Sports

The NSW Department of Education is running an online parent information forum by industry leaders on Western Sydney Careers of Tomorrow, being held on Wednesday 25th August at 5.30pm. for further information, please see below: