52 Australis Avenue, Wattle Grove, 2173 Web Address: www.stmarks.nsw.edu.au Telephone 9825 6768 Fax 9825 6489 Email: office@stmarks.nsw.edu.au

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St Mark’s College Newsletter

Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Sydney and Affiliated Regions

Volume 19, Issue 12 Advent Term, 2014 Year 6 Graduation

College Dux Monica Fahmy

52 Australis Avenue, Wattle Grove, 2173 Web Address: www.stmarks.nsw.edu.au Telephone 9825 6768 Fax 9825 6489 Email: office@stmarks.nsw.edu.au

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St. Mark’s College Newsletter

Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Sydney and Affiliated Regions

Friday 5th December, 2014 Volume 19 Edition 12 ABN: 67 796 481 099

Lent Term 2015 Staff Professional Development Day Tue 27th Jan Lessons commence for Years 1 to 12 Wed 28th Jan Kindergarten Thurs 29th Jan

School Office Hours (During Term) 8:00am–4:00pm

School Office Hours (During Holidays) 9:00am–3:00pm

School Office Closed (Christmas Break) Mon 15 Dec ‘14

School Office Re-Opens 9:00am–3:00pm Mon 19 Jan, ‘15

Uniform Shop Opening Hours Tuesdays and Fridays (During Term) 9.00am- 3:30pm Re-Opens on Tues 27th Jan ’15 9:00am-3:30pm

Final House Points

ST ANTHONY ST DEMIANA ST GEORGE ST MARINA

4105 3433 3403 3378

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God"

(Luke 1:35) Christmas Message On behalf of the College Community I would like to extend to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and to His Grace Bishop Raphael a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. I thank You Your

Holiness for Your guidance and support of the College and for the students under Your care. May the Lord continue to bless You for all the work You have done as our shepherd and

look forward to the on-going prosperity of all Your Coptic

Orthodox Colleges across the diaspora. Your Grace Bishop Raphael I thank you for overseeing Our College and bringing the Lord’s good work into our school. Your blessings have been of great comfort to us.

God bless, Mr Rekouniotis

Message from the Head of College

The year has come to a close for the students but the work will continue to take place on site. Preparations are being made for the demountables to be removed and for the landscaping work to commence. When school resumes on Wednesday 28th January 2015 the new Science and Technology Centre will be in operation. This will be a wonderful achievement and everyone is looking forward to the New Year.

This year has been eventful as we officially became a member of HICES, the Literacy and Numeracy standards have risen across the College, the students’ performances and participation in Co-curricular and Extra-curricular Activities has been absolutely brilliant and the level of philanthropy through community service that has taken place on site and beyond the College perimeter fence has been absolutely astounding. All this has taken place through the wonderful work of our dedicated teachers, the commitment by the students and the support of the parents and the Church.

I would like to thank everyone for their support throughout the year and in particular the teachers and support staff. I

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wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and blessed New Year. I look forward to everyone returning safely to St Mark’s College in the New Year , God bless.

14th Annual Speech Night On Wednesday 3rd of December Speech Night was held at the Liverpool Catholic Club where we celebrated and shared in the special and wonderous achievements of our students across all areas of the curriculum. A number of special guests attended and included His Grace Bishop Daniel, His Grace

Bishop Boulos for the Bishopric of African Affairs and the Deputy Mayor of Liverpool Council Mr Ristevski and our keynote speaker was Dr Eman Sharobeem. His Grace Bishop Daniel made the opening address followed by His Grace Bishop Boulos, who gave an engaging speech on our College Motto, ‘To Live Is Christ’ and Dr Sharobeem spoke about taking your opportunities as they come along and never concede to the challenges that life brings. They were awe-inspiring words. Also, Mr Hanna the Secretary of the NSW Coptic Schools’ Board thanked the Community for their support.

We farewell our incumbent College Office Bearers and announced the incoming Office Bearers for 2015.

The College Dux for 2014 is Monica Fahmy and the Junior School Dux is Arnav Jawale. Congratulations to both students and all the awarded recipients on the night for their outstanding academic, sporting and pastoral achievements. There was a special mention and presentation for The Very Reverend Fr Antonios Kaldas for all his years of service since 1997. The Very Reverend Fr Shenouda Mansour accepted the award in his absence.

The Champion House for 2014 is St Anthony House with a resounding points total of 4105. Congratulations to St Anthony House and well done to all the other Houses for making the competition so competitive.

The College showcased the performing arts and our students presented a number of musical pieces, which included the Spanish guitars, the tabla, song and choir. It was absolutely phenomenal with the finale just breathtaking. I congratulate Mrs Ibrahim for all her exceptional work with the students and Mrs Morgan for the Choir, who sang in three languages.

Also, I thank Mr David for organising the event so well and to all the supporting staff who worked behind the scenes, Mrs Sidhom, Mrs Vaitsas, Mr Metira, Mrs Hanna and Mrs Winefield.

Farewell After a number of years of dedicated service to the College Mr Helene is moving to Moriah College as the Head of PDHPE and Sport. He has worked tirelessly to build a solid sporting programme at the College and has created a strong student spirit to produce their best in every sporting

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encounter. I would like to thank him for his years of service to the community and I wish him well at Moriah College.

Mr Chu has been a blessing to the College and is an outstanding teacher who has built a strong rapport with the students. I thank him for all his good work and I wish him well for the future.

Mrs Howard has been an outstanding Junior School Teacher and has achieved a great deal. Her teaching style has been engaging and interesting and our children have thrived under her tutelage. We will miss her greatly and I wish her well in 2015.

Mr Woolbank joined us at the beginning of the year and has enjoyed his time at the College and the students have appreciated his practical hands on knowledge. I wish him well as he moves to St Vincent’s College.

Finally, Mrs Surrey joined the College in a very difficult time just before the Semester 2 Examinations and took on the challenge and has done a fine job. I thank her for all her good work and I wish her well for the future.

Office Bearers for 2015

Junior House Captains St Anthony Marco Makari Angelina Mrakic

St Demiana Sammy Israil Clara Gayed

St George Jacob Shehata Monica Hanna

St Marina Chandanu Senitha Nikolina Sipka

Junior School Vice-School Captains

Daniel Abboud Aiyana Thapa

School Captains

Jonathan Al-Armani Molly Ghobrial

Senior House Captains

St Anthony Stephen Sutiono Juliana Tanios

St Demiana David Mahfouz Mary Georgi

St George George Abdelsayed Nikki Midha

St Marina Christopher Spirou Karen Azzi Senior School Sport Captains

George Abdelsayed Martina Bastawrous

Music Prefect

Shane Soans

Prefects for 2015 George Abdelsayed, Angelique Assad, Karen Azzi, Martina Bastawrous, Nardin Boutrous, Olivya Boutrous, Marianne Cosman, George Ekdawi, Sandra Fawzy, Mary Georgi, Goeliano George, Pranav Harish, Grace Khoury, David Mahfouz, Marina Mansour, Nikki Midha, Swetha Rao, Mirette Saleh, Shane Soans, Christopher Spirou, Stephen Sutiono, Juliana Tanios, Mary Tanios, Marianne Wilson, Monica Winefield and Swapnil Yadav.

School Vice Captains

George Abdelsayed Mary Tanios

School Captains:

Christopher Spirou Marina Mansour

Congratulations to our

Senior and Junior School Office Bearers on their appointments for 2015

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School Swimming Costume for 2015 St Mark’s College has a designated swimming costume in school colours for both boys and girls. When we return for Lent Term in 2015 there are two swimming carnivals, one for the Junior School and the other for the Senior School. The students are expected to attend the swimming carnival in the school swimming costume. I ask parents to make sure their child has ordered their swimming costume in preparation for this event. Orders will need to be placed with the uniform shop within the next fortnight.

Mr Rekouniotis Head of College

Curriculum Matters

Art Excursion The Senior Visual Arts students had the opportunity to take part in two intensive workshops at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay. The workshops were run by a working artist at the museum and created in relation to HSC Examinations a Body of Work.

As always, the Year 11 and 12 students were exemplary in their participation and enthusiasm for the day and the instructor was impressed with their insight into complicated and sometimes confronting artworks.

It is exciting to have such a wonderfully creative cohort who will produce unique and powerful artworks for 2015.

Mrs Adams Visual Arts Teacher

HICES Mathematics Tournament HICES (Heads of Independent Co-educational Schools) is a group of more than 70 independent schools.

On Thursday 20th November, four (4) students were selected from Years 8 and 9, namely Monica Wilson and Aleksander Jovanovic from Year 9 and George Azer and Sarah Fahmy from Year 8 to represent our College in a Mathematics Tournament hosted by William Clarke College, at Kellyvile.

The day was such an interesting one for the students who were given a vast number of Mathematical problems to solve independently and also in a team setting, competing with many talented students in Mathematics from twenty-five (25) schools.

It was a challenging day for all the students and one that allowed them to mingle with students from different schools all over NSW who shared a similar love and passion for Mathematics. The students learnt the importance of communicating their ideas verbally and to work as a team in solving problems.

Our school was ranked 20th which was a good outcome overall and students learnt a lot from the experience. Students represented our College well and I commend them for their enthusiasm and stamina to succeed.

Mrs. Gerges Acting Head of Mathematics

Studies of Religion 2 and 1 Unit The HSC Studies of Religion students at St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox College are currently studying Religious Expression in Australia and how this interrelates with Contemporary Aboriginal Spirituality. One focus of the topic is religious dialogue in multi-faith Australia, and specifically the impact of the ecumenical movements in Australia. The students have analysed the decline of spiritually and religious adherence in Australia, which has brought about a need for ecumenism is Australia to actively bind together to support various groups and minorities irrespective of differing theologies.

Throughout this topic, students have struggled to fully grasp and understand the complexity and unique nature of Aboriginal Spiritually. The Students at St Mark’s were fortunate enough to have The Very Reverend Father Shenouda Mansour of the NSW Ecumenical Council visit the school and share his insights and wisdom with the students. Father Shenouda not only provided practical first hand experiences of the good work the Council he represents does but also shared his passion to use deeds and actions, not just words, to empower and bring about change in communities.

The students were asked to consider the importance of interfaith dialogue. Father Shenouda challenged the students to “speak a new language”. He expressed the importance of not just ‘conciliar ecumenism’ by which we observe the

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beliefs of others but he further challenged students to actively partake in ‘reflective ecumenism’ by which we are called to eagerly learn about others and their differences. Father Shenouda emphasised this by reminding students of the simple but powerful message, “be quick to hear and slow to talk”.

Father Shenouda also reminded the students that tolerance is a virtue and to never consider ourselves to be superior. The students reflected upon this statement and realised that these basic Christian principles are commonly known but rarely upheld. For example 1 Corinthians 13 LOVE is…

This invaluable experience has called students to question, ‘how can we advocate for others and how as a class, a school and a community can we make a change in our society’.

On behalf of St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox College, thank you.

Mrs Angrisano HSIE Teacher

Co-Curricular Activities Sisterhood Sisterhood is an activity that runs on Friday afternoon. The group was started by the senior girls as a bible study and has progressed into a dynamic and interactive environment where the young girls have an opportunity to reflect upon their Christian values and how they can incorporate them into their lives.

Terrace Bayeh of Year 9 has reflected below: “Sisterhood is a great way to show you how to communicate with God and live fully present with Him. In Sisterhood we are blessed with leaders that answer all the questions we have, teach us how to solve problems we might have to deal with as teenagers and show us how to live faithfully.

We learn a lot of things including hymns, bible verses and we also get to share some of our favourite verses. Throughout this year we had the privilege to participate in a lot of helping and also decorating.”

The young girls are truly blessed with incredible role models and examples who illustrate first hand Christ’s love by supporting others and being available to their sister’s in Christ.

Extra-Curricular Activities Ice-cream Fundraiser The Senior and Junior schools participated in an ice-cream fundraiser on Thursday 13th November to raise money for the Westmead Children’s Hospital during their respective lunchtime breaks. Students formed lines in front of the desert bar, vying for the attention of one of the many ice-cream attendants – who, on the other side of the bell, transformed into Year 12 Senior School Students. The services rendered by our team, who generously gave up their time to serve their community, was to provide delectable mouth-watering scoops of ice-cream to those who were willing to part with their cash - for a good cause of course.

The transformative abilities of our senior school students extended to what they could do with a single scoop of ice-cream! Ice creams were liberally doused with colourful hundred and thousands that sparkled brightly on their white base. Soft marshmallows provided a different texture to tantalise taste-buds. Layers of chocolate sauce added a flavour that many students found irresistible.

“Seconds please” was a phrase that was commonly on the lips of many of our consumers on the day. The ice-cream fundraiser was a resounding success, attracting many students who not only savoured the ice-cream, but imitated our Saviour by doing something good for someone else. Collectively, Junior and Senior School purchases of ice-cream raised over $400 to assist in providing resources and services for the children hospitalised or undergoing treatment, at Westmead Children’s Hospital.

Due to popular demand, we will be holding another ice-cream stall on Thursday 20th November – same time...same place, to raise additional funds for the hospital. We hope to see you there!

Intra-School House Sport Competition Throughout Advent Term the students have been competing in a number of sports in rotation and below are the Round 6 Results and the Final Results Table for the Competition.

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Final Points Table

Round 6 Results

The students have enjoyed the Competition and have competed with a great deal of House spirit. Congratulations to everyone and the final cumulative points have been added for the House Shield that will be presented on Speech Night.

Mr Helene Head of PDHPE

Junior School News This year has been God’s blessing as the children from Kindergarten to Year 6 have made so much progress in literacy, numeracy, sport and socially. It has been an honour for all of us as staff to be been given the opportunity to play a role in your child’s development. Mrs Nada and I would like to thank all the parents for their support this year and to all the staff for their hard work and commitment. They have worked tirelessly and with dedicated love for our children.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the Lord shower you with all His blessings throughout 2015 and we look forward to working with you in the New Year.

Year 6 Liturgy and Graduation A liturgy was held at St Anthony and St Paul’s Church followed by the Year 6 Graduation at the Skyview Reception Lounge and it was a very emotional and joyous evening where our families gathered together to rejoice and celebrate their child’s Junior School Years.

I would like to thank all the parents for attending and making this event such a memorable one for all of us. God bless and I wish Year 6 students all the best in the Senior School.

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K-4 Presentation Day The K-4 Presentation was held on Thursday 27th November in the Sport and Arts Centre and His Grace Bishop Daniel was our special guest. It was wonderful to see the large number of parents that attended and I thank His Grace for joining us to present some of the awards. A large number of students received an award and it was pleasing to see the improvements made across the board in all areas of the curriculum.

Congratulations to all the children on their achievements and in particular to the Kindergarten Graduates.

Christmas Carols K to 6 On the last Friday of Advent Term the traditional Christmas Carols event took place and all our children from K to 6 performed a number of Christmas Carols. The performances from the children were lovely and we praised the Lord in His name. St Nicholas also visited and distributed gifts to the children. Thank you to all the staff who prepared the children so well, to all the parents who attend and also St Nicholas!

Personal Development Seminar The Year 6 Personal Development Programme was held this Year at Anba Abraam Church at Long Point and we thank the reverend fathers and the Parish Community for allowing us to access their facilities, in particular Fr Balamon. The Very Reverend Fr Antonios Kaldas was the presenter and as always he delivered the topic with discretion, sensitivity and love. I would like to extend our appreciation to Fr Antonios for giving his time so generously to deliver this seminar and to all the parents who attended with their children.

Hat Policy The wearing of hats is compulsory for the spring and summer season, in particular. We are entering another hot season and we need the parents’ assistance. Please ensure that your child doesn’t leave home without their hat. Any students who does not have a hat a school will not play on the grass or participate in sports (No Hat No Play). We all love our pupils and their wellbeing is our priority.

God bless, Mrs Shehata

Dean of Junior School