In 2010 MindMatters recognised a number of schools in NSW for their work in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people with 5 schools being recipients of MindMatters recognition last year.
This year at the inaugural NSW Recognition Event, Cedars Christian College, along with three other schools, was acknowledged for their work in promoting and improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes for students in their school community. Although many schools have had exposure to MindMatters professional development and some are on their way to becoming recognised, Cedars Christian College is one of the few who are now under the official banner of MindMatters, and indeed, the only one in the Illawarra. This is a testament to the dedication of Cedars staff and to hard work of the core team who put the application together.
The recognition event took place on Wednesday 2nd November at the State Library in NSW. Sharon Zancolich, Cedars Counsellor and Sue Walker, Director of Studies, represented Cedars, giving a short presentation in which they highlighted the fact that the recognition process was an acknowledgement of what Cedars was already doing. The MindMatters framework is based on the premise that everyone who works with young people is potentially a teacher of mental health and wellbeing and as such, can have a positive impact on each student.
This state event will be followed up by a national recognition event in December in Adelaide where representatives from Cedars staff will accept the award.
Cedars Lego Robotics Team Selected for National Competition!
Last Saturday, November 5, Cedars Christian College sent their first Lego Robotics Team to a State Competition of FLL (First Lego League). This is a very challenging competition that combines lego and robotics. Cedars team of team of eight, was one of 30 teams which competed at Macquarie University. Out of the 30 teams, 5 were selected to compete in the National Championship to be held on December 3, again at Macquarie University.
Taking out the very prestigious, "Mechanical Design Award", the team are thrilled with their result and ecstatic about making it to the FLL National Competition. They have been working on their lego robotics skills for the year and in the last few months preparing tirelessly for the State Competition.
Cedars Dean of Learning, Mr Lukas Matysek, shared in the team’s success on Saturday as he watched them work together as a team to make their dream come true of reaching the Nationals.
Lukas said, "Many people are probably not aware of the breadth of this competition, far from the robot/lego aspect of it. This competition assessed team work, productive group collaboration and individual graciousness. For instance when a competition rule was applied perhaps unfairly to our team, no one complained even though they probably had grounds. I was told later that if we had, we would not have progressed to the nationals. A good lesson for us adults." He went on to say that, "Daniel West, Year 10, handled the team of eight students from Year 3 to Year 8, all working to their strengths, capacity and inclinations. I saw him develop as a leader and adopt innovative solutions to challenges." "The competition had three parts:
demonstrate the core values of gracious professionalism and integrity
research project
robot efficiency
On the day the team with the best performing robot did not score a place in the nationals, due to lesser scores in the other two aspects of the competition."
Lukas continued, "What strikes me as extraordinary is that while research project was very good, engaging in presentation and innovative. The core values of gracious professionalism and integrity were wrapped in a non competitive framework yielding their success. Not all students (or people) are competitive but still can aspire and achieve excellence. They exhibited good sportsmanship without sweating at all!"
2011 has seen Cedars offer a Robotics Club every Thursday and/or Friday afternoon, run by Andrew Clark, last year’s National Winner of FLL. Students from other schools have been a part of the exciting Robo Club and entered a separate team in the competition which performed very well also.
The information for the Robo Club held here at Cedars Christian College, Waples Rd, Farmborough Hts can be obtained by calling Cedars office on 42 718124.
The Cedars Team selected for Nationals included the following Cedars students:
Jordan Stalker a Cedars Year 12 student and 2011 School Captain, has recently been nominated for the IFAF (International Federation of American Football) World Team program by the national federation.
The IFAF World Team program includes over 300 players from more than 20 countries. The players nominated by IFAF member federations are considered the best in their country and simply being nominated is an achievement to be very proud of.
Cedars Sports Teacher, Tim Johnson says, “Jordan has continued to amaze us with his talent and his great sportsmanship as shown through his receiving of the prestigious Pierre de Coubertin Award this year. Jordan is also awaiting a pending scholarship in Hawaii. We wish him amazing success and congratulate him on all his achievements so far.”
Three year 11 Chemistry students have previously been honoured for the great result of achieving second place in the regional Chemistry titration competition. This tested the student’s skills in an analytical chemistry technique. The results from the regions have been compiled by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute to rank all the schools in the state. The Cedars team was ranked 4th out of 404 teams state-wide. This makes their achievement even more significant and as a result they have been invited to compete in the National titles to be held at the University of NSW in September.
Again, congratulations to Mitchell Gulic, Gabrielle Phillips and Jao Magsipoc.
On Tuesday August 9, 53 students represented Cedars at the Primary Zone Athletics Carnival. All students did an amazing job, which was topped off at the end of the day by being announced Zone Champions! This is our best ever result at an athletics carnival. Prior to this year, Cedars had never finished better than fourth place.
Congratulations to 20 of our students who came first or second in their event and will be representing our zone at the State Athletics Carnival on Thursday August 25 at Blacktown International Sports Park. This is the largest number of primary students to ever represent Cedars at the State Carnival.
I would like to say a special congratulations to Georgina Hastings who was named 9yr Girls Age Champion and Brock Piper who was 9 yr Boys Age Champion. This is a fantastic effort!
This tops of a remarkable year for Cedars primary students, winning the Zone Swimming Carnival and the Zone Athletics Carnival!
Cedars Christian College will be participating in National Science Week in a multitude of exciting ways. Cedars aims to be innovative in its approach to Science, always looking for new and exciting ways to introduce scientific concepts to our students.
Cedars Junior School (K – 4) will be holding exciting science activities throughout the day on Wednesday August 17.
Thursday, August 18 from 9.00am – 1.20pm our Year 8 will be participating in ‘Spectacular Science’ in the Cedars new Leadership Centre with activities including: Building a lighthouse, building a balloon car, leprechaun canon, and domino disaster. Following that four current UOW students will be speaking to our Year 10 and 11 students on various Science topics including International Science, Physics and Environmental Science. Also Thursday there will be held a Robotics Lego Demonstration – not to be missed!
On Thursday, September 1 Cedars will have CSIRO’s ‘Lab on Legs’ visiting the school to present an interactive Science program with the theme of ‘NANOTECHNOLOGIES’. We are very excited about this event!
The CSIRO Science Education Centre creates a dynamic interactive forum within which students can take a hands-on role. Their program engages students in eye-opening interactive science theatre and hands on experiments which have been developed around real-life CSIRO research. Our students will become the scientists, rather than just reading about them.
CSIRO, more than being the largest employer of scientists in Australia, is one of the most respected science organisations in the world. The CSIRO Science Education Centre is able to draw on the benefits of this, and provide quality science programs for students, teachers and public audiences throughout NSW. Their amusing and lively approach to Science is both engaging and educational.
Five young people from Sendai in Japan are visiting students from Cedars Christian College in Farmborough Heights this week and next. They have been chosen on a needs basis and have come from one of the worst affected areas of this year’s March tsunami in Japan.
"We are welcoming these five students with open arms as they share with us their stories of survival in the midst of such a horrific tragedy," said Mrs Kelly Boaretto, Cedars Japanese Teacher. "Although their English is limited, they have been able communicate in a way where words are not necessary. "Our aim while they are here is to give them some joy and help create some new fun memories which they can take back with them when they return home."
Mrs Boaretto said that she is so glad Cedars can share a little bit of ourselves with these young people. "To be able to listen with our hearts and have our students see for themselves the suffering others have experienced and how they can help make a difference in little ways, has been a real eye opener for each of them and for the staff here at Cedars also."
Kelly went on to say, "We have had many students from schools in Japan come and visit and share their culture with us, but this is the first time we have shared with Japanese students since the Tsunami tragedy." Cedars families are hosting these 5 young people during their stay here in the Illawarra.
A team of three year eleven Chemistry students represented the College at the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s Titration Competition recently. The event was held at the University of Wollongong’s Chemistry laboratories on Saturday, June 18. The competition tested students’ skills in a technique of chemical analysis. The Cedars team of Gabriel Phillips, Mitchell Gulic and Jao Magsipoc were in a field of seventeen teams, many of these were year twelve students who had competed previously at the competition.
The novice Cedars team had prepared for the event by practising during their lunch breaks leading up to the event. Their team work on the day was a feature of their significant effort. The judges deliberated and our team was rewarded with second place overall which was an outstanding result especially when considering their competition which included other local prominent private and selective high schools who fielded multiple teams.
Congratulations to Gabriel, Mitchell and Jao for their success and fine effort on the day.
Cedars Year 6 Wins School Verse Speaking at Wollongong Eisteddfod
On Tuesday, June 7, Cedars Year 6 class came an amazing first in the Years 5 - 6 School Verse Speaking Choir Section at the Wollongong Eisteddfod held in the WIN Entertainment Centre. Another Cedars Year 6 class also came second!
As part of the performance the students had to memorise 2 poems before reciting them in front of a panel of judges and hundreds of spectators.
Miss Erin Bubb, Cedars Drama Teacher was absolutely thrilled with the result and commented on all the hard work the students have put in to achieving this great success. Winning $500 for first and $100 for second and a beautiful trophy, the school is thrilled with this result, especially as it is their first time competing in such an event.
We will certainly continue competing in the years to come!
Mr Taylor, Jessica Whitty, Kian MacDonald, Mark Sewaga, Jack Thomas, Corey Roulston along with Ben Wardrop recently completed an 11 day adventure in the Northern Territory as part of the Duke of Edinburgh award. This is a prestigious international program for young people that develops leadership, teamwork, community volunteering and outdoor adventure skills. Some of these participants will now go on to formally obtain the highest possible achievement of the course, the ‘Gold’ level award for the first time ever at our College.
The outback adventure began with a flight from Sydney airport to Alice Springs where we were met with beautiful 30 degree sunshine. After stocking our back packs with water and food rations, the group headed off on a 42km hike over 3 days along the Larapinta Trail situated in the West MacDonnell Ranges. Physical and mental capabilities were put to the test, however, each challenge was met with confidence and determination. Cooking dinner and telling stories around the campfire was always a great way to finish each day. The landscape was so vast and scenic it made us all feel very proud to live in such a blessed country.
Next was a camel riding day that was a highlight for all involved, particularly students who couldn’t help themselves racing to the front of the pack at every opportunity. A dry sandy river bed was a great choice for a lunch stop and an authentic outback cup of tea. The day presented a many opportunities to observe various wildlife and enjoy each others company.
The troop then headed to Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Kings Canyon. The students gained significant insight into the rituals and traditions of the native Anangu Aboriginal people of the area. Let it be said, Uluru is an absolutely huge rock that took three hours to leisurely walk around its 10km base. A few of the team nervously braved a steep climb to the top, only to be met with one of the most spectacular views in the world. Kata Tjuta was equally impressive with its large clusters of sandstone formations inlayed with cobbles and boulders. The outback adventure was made complete with an early morning hike to witness a breathtaking sun rise over Kings Canyon. The final arrival back at Sydney airport was met with a very warm welcome by excited parents and friends.
Each student is commended for the exemplarily manner in which they represented our College during this trip. The group was truly blessed to experience God’s creation and take opportunity to reflect on the many ways the Lord can positively impact their lives. Many thanks go out to Ian ‘Rocky’ Rockwell from Boomerang Adventures who coordinated and facilitated the outback adventure. Importantly, an extended thank you goes out to all parents involved and their ongoing support and encouragement. Additionally, the support of those who helped with fundraising is very much appreciated, particularly the IMB Building Society at Unanderra.
Anyone interested in finding out more about upcoming programs at Cedars can contact the school’s Duke of Edinburgh coordinator Mrs Hvalica or myself.
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