The 2023 school year was officially launched on Thursday 16 February at our Maguire Celebration, whereby we formally recognised student achievements and overall excellence. An important part of our celebration was the opportunity to welcome back and acknowledge the outstanding achievements of the 2022 Year 12 cohort, and it was wonderful to be able to congratulate them for their hard work not only for last year, but throughout their years at SHC. We were also able to formally acknowledge our 2023 student leaders.

Our College Captains launched our theme for 2023, which is 'Act with Love'. 

As the Captains acknowledged in their speech on the night, 'Act with Love' is reflective of our welcoming and hospitable community, and of the many inspiring leaders who have come before us. 'Act with Love' is inspired by Catherine McAuley’s quote: Our greatest gift is to welcome one another and share the love that warms our heart. And the scripture passage: 'Romans chapter 13: verse 10, Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law'. In 2023 we invite you to act with love, in three key ways, represented by the symbol, depicting three interlocking hearts.

An explanation of our theme:

Firstly, we invite you to be inclusive.

Welcome the people around you, and help people to feel they belong. We encourage you to accept everyone for who they are, and to celebrate our unique gifts and diversity.

Secondly, we invite you to be passionate.

Use your strengths to stand up for the things that you believe in and challenge injustice. Use your voice to speak for the voiceless. Make the most of all the opportunities available to you and pursue your passions.

Finally, we invite you to be resilient

Be brave, take risks, and always seek to try something new. Acknowledging mistakes are a part of life and learning, but it is important to grow from them. And remember, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Look at the amazing community around you(...), these are the people you can turn to.

We are so excited for 2023, and we can’t wait to see you all Act with Love!

Please see some images from the evening below. Many more images can be found on the SHC Imagebank.

The College will be hosting our annual Discovery Day on Friday 24 March 2023. The event provides an opportunity for prospective families to visit the school and experience learning in action at SHC.

With the option to attend either a morning session or an afternoon session, all young visitors are encouraged to use their Discovery Day College Map (provided on arrival) to explore the school areas and activities that spark their interest the most.

Families will have an opportunity to meet Principal Anna Negro and College leadership staff, and pose any questions to staff House Leaders and student leaders.

For more information, including booking for Discovery Day and/or a guided tour, please click here.

All members of our community are warmly invited to attend our annual Foundation Day. The celebration will commence with Mass at 12.00pm on St Stephen's Green, followed by an afternoon of fun activities including:

• Carnival rides
• Food trucks
• High tea
• Live entertainment with Andy Pobjoy from the Piano Bar
• Piccadilly Market stalls
• Guided historical tours, and so much more.

In line with our Vision cornerstone of 'Community' where we seek to nurture the relationship between school, family and faith there is an expectation that all students and extended family join the College community to celebrate and acknowledge Foundation Day, commencing with Mass at 12.00pm.

Student Information:

• All students and their families are encouraged to attend Foundation Day.
• Arrive any time from 11.00am onwards - Mass starts at 12 noon and guests should be seated on the Green before then. There is no allocated seating so you can sit with family or friends wherever you want to.
  
• The day begins with Mass at 12 noon on St Stephen's Green.
• Wristbands will be required to access the carnival rides - these can be purchased prior to Mass from 11.00am until 12 noon. Wristbands are $10 each for unlimited rides. Please note no rides or food trucks will open until the Mass finishes at 1.00pm. Students who are not at the Mass and choose to arrive later will need to queue to purchase a wristband once Mass has finished.
• Students may wear comfortable casual clothes on the day.
• You are welcome to bring your own food or purchase food from the food vans on site.
• The day concludes at 4.00pm.

On Tuesday 31 January we welcomed our newest students to SHC. We hope our Year 7 students have now settled in nicely to life at SHC! Please click here to view a photo gallery from the day: 2023 Year 7 First Day

The students also had a fun time running around school, ticking off their checklist in the Treasure Hunt. See the photo gallery of images below of this fun activity.

A beautiful sunny day greeted us this year, and the venue was full of activity and colour for our annual Swimming Carnival at Kardinia Pool. The day was sunny for a swim or jump in the diving pool. 

As usual trials were conducted in the morning, with finals to follow in the afternoon. It was great to see so many students out having fun and participating in the different events offered to them throughout the day. 

The houses showed great colour and imagination through their different themes: Clairvaux – Blast from the Past, Loyola –Zoo, Padua – Aussie Icons, Siena – in the Summertime. The Fashions by the Pool and House Cheers were once again well supported by the house members.

Bianca Cheever, Sports Coordinator

2023 RESULTS

HOUSE CHEERS

HOUSE FASHIONS BY THE POOL

NEW RECORD

Year 12 4x50m Freestyle Relay: Siena - Mateah Thompson, Chanel Simsic, Jade Walters, Claudia Draper

Old record – 2:16:26; new record – 2:08:97

COLLEGE CLASSIC: Top 10 quickest freestyle times

Well done to the following students who achieved the top 10 quickest times to get into the 50m College Classic: Chanel Simsic, Chloe Walsh, Stella Draper, Claudia Draper, Sabrina Poh, Chloe Leen, Chloe Reyntjes, Sienna Lucas, Sophia Poh. It was a close race right until the touch at the end. Year 12 student Chanel Simsic from Siena took out the race in 29.34secs to Year 10 student Chloe Walsh - Padua, following behind in 29.44secs.

INDIVIDUAL DIVING MEDALISTS

Juniors

Intermediates

Seniors

Year Level Champions

OVERALL HOUSE POINTS TOTAL

Please see below a selection of photos from the day. More images can be viewed soon via the Imagebank on The Hub.

On Tuesday 7 February, we marked the 15^th SHC Triathlon competition which was held at Eastern Beach/Eastern Gardens on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. 

Students completed in a 200m swim, 2.8km bike ride and 1km run. All participants showed great determination to complete the challenging course, given the warm conditions. 

Thank you to all the staff and student helpers who assisted on the day.

We congratulate all competitors!

Overall Division winners

Congratulations to Mia Aitken 10LOBRC for making the U/17 State Netball Team this year. Mia and the team will be competing in Darwin this April. 

Congratulations to Tess De Grandi 12PAJFR for making the Australasian Ladies Gaelic native born team. Tess and the team will be competing in Derry, Ireland in July at the World Games. 

We wish both students and their respective teams all the best in their sporting endeavours.

Congratulations to VCE Studio Arts students Alice McAloon Year 12LORMC, Viktoriah Patterson-McCosh (2022) and Layla Salerno (2022) for their entries in the '2023 Future Creatives' exhibition at the Geelong Gallery, on display from Saturday 4 February to Monday 13 March 2023.

According to the Geelong Gallery, 'Future Creatives showcases young peoples’ creative talents in art and design and provides a valuable opportunity to support the professional development of career pathways and future tertiary studies in art and design'.

Well done to all involved in such an amazing exhibition!

The next Parent Communication Afternoon will be held on Thursday 23 March 2023, 3.50 - 4.50pm.

The sessions will be held via Zoom and bookings can be made via the parent portal. Please refer to the guidance which will be included in the Principal's Update closer to this date on how to book.

A beautiful morning made this year’s triathlon at Eastern Beach on Tuesday 21 February truly spectacular. There were 10 schools participating this year; Clonard and SHC represented Geelong whilst the other schools were from Melbourne. The competition was tough and team support was prominent, as was sportsmanship.

The SHC teams were very competitive in all 3 divisions (Juniors, Intermediates and Seniors). Well done to our SHC team who represented us in such a competitive all round effort and congratulations to the individual students who won medals for placing in the top 10. 

SHC came 2^nd in the Junior section, 6^th in the Intermediates, and 8^th in the Seniors. The Overall Aggregate saw SHC finishing 5^th.

Final scores at the end of the competition:

JUNIORS

INTERMEDIATES

SENIORS

Bianca Cheever, Sports Coordinator