Dear Parents

Our Prep boys came to visit me last week. The lads and Ms Kondys fitted snugly into my office and gave all within the ‘once over’ that only five year olds can do. Family photographs and art work were dissected and appraised! The jelly bean jar secured my release from relentless questioning and I have every confidence that the VCE Class of 2021 will be gifted in their analytical skills and oratory.

It is Week 6 for the boys and I trust work patterns are now steady and constant. All boys from Year 5 to Year 12 should have both a planned program of home study and homework timetable. They are not the same thing!

Detailed expectations and advice regarding work done at home is in the student diary. Whilst it may be possible that homework is not set each and every night in all a boy’s subjects, that does not mean there is no academic time spent at home or in the library after school. Reviewing the day’s lessons and noting down the new formulae presented or jotting down the salient points made in the lesson are all worthwhile. Explaining a new concept to Mum, Dad or a sibling in a manner they can understand is as good a test as any that a boy has intellectually digested a meaty new concept or idea. The simple act of reading ahead be it in a text or novel will increase, some claim by as much as 30%, your ability to retain information when it is formally presented in class. The ability to have questions already formulated and to participate more fully in class discussion will always advance and deepen learning.

No parent should ever accept a Kevinian in Year 5 or above claiming that he has no form of study which he can pursue after school or in the evening. For our secondary students, Homework Clubs operate in the Smith Building for Years 7 and 8, and at Waterford. Classrooms and the library are open after school for boys who wish to study at school.

Perhaps I should also clarify my view that there also remains a place for the more traditional form of homework. A series of repetitive exercises based on the day’s work is a totally worthwhile and legitimate means of embedding the day’s lessons. A pattern of study is required for a successful VCE and it will not simply develop overnight.

So parents, if you want to win the ‘I have no homework tonight’ argument – one that all of us as parents face at one time or another – you are going to have to change your question. Instead of asking your son : ‘Do you have any homework to do?’ you could ask him, ‘What are you going to study tonight?’.

The extreme weather conditions continue to wreak havoc in our broader community and with our Outdoor Education program. Our Year 8 program was hit this week when we made the decision over the weekend to postpone two Year 8 camps. We are now close to repositioning all camps from Year 5, 6, 7, 8 and I will publish the new dates in next week’s newsletter and in a separate email. The timings for Years 9, 10 and 11 remain as per the College calendar. The Flowerdale Fund continues to attract support and I encourage a late surge to round off our efforts.

Enjoy the long weekend with your sons.

Yours sincerely

Stephen F Russell
Headmaster

Dear Parents and Students,

Glendalough Swimming Carnival

Due to the inclement weather forecast for tomorrow, it has been necessary to make changes to the Swimming Carnival.

The Glendalough Swimming Carnival will now take place in the Wilding Centre at the Heyington campus from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and involve boys from Years 3 to 6 only. Parents intending to come to the carnival are advised to park at Glendalough or in Heyington Place. Please note there will be no parking at the Heyington campus due to construction works.

At the conclusion to the carnival all boys will return to Glendalough with their Homeroom.  Parents attending the carnival may collect their son's from Glendalough at 1:30pm. All other students will be dismissed at 3:10pm.

Boys in Preparatory to Year 2 will remain at Glendalough and will participate in house games and other activities.  Parents will be given the opportunity to be spectators at future carnivals.  Dress for the day is school tracksuit and House Polo top.  Dismissal will be at 3:10pm.

While it is disappointing to have to make these changes, it will mean a more comfortable and enjoyable day for the boys.

Thank you to the parents who attended the Year 5 function on Friday evening and the Year 4 family day on Sunday.  Both functions were well attended and provided the opportunity for parents to socialise in a relaxed atmosphere. I encourage parents to support the year level social functions that have been organized for this term. The Year 1 function is this afternoon, Year 2 Friday 27th March, Year 3 Friday 27th March, Year 4 Friday 20th March and Year 6 Friday 13th March, 2009. Please place these dates into your diaries.

Our Year 3 students will be preparing for the Sacrament of Penance during Term II. There may be some students who have joined us in Year 4, 5 or 6 who are baptised Catholics but have not received the Sacrament of Penance. Could parents please inform me in writing if you would like your son to participate in the Penance program.

I have noticed there are a number of students who are regularly arriving late to school. All boys are expected to be in their homeroom at 8.30 am to start the day. If boys arrive any later than 8.30 am they are to collect a late pass from the School Office.

I am concerned with the number of telephone calls students are making to home when they have left their homework, musical instrument, sporting attire, etc. at home. I certainly appreciate the support of our parents but it makes it difficult on the office staff who are constantly chasing students out of class to collect various items that mum and dad have delivered to the office. Often our best lessons learned are the hardest. On a day to day basis we are attempting to teach our students to be organised and responsible and this can be difficult when mum and dad always pick up after their son.

The quality of music programs at St Kevin’s College is outstanding. On FRIDAY 13TH MARCH, 2009 parents can enjoy the talents of our staff at the SOIREE EVENING, 7.45 pm in the KC Smith Hall, Heyington.

Kind regards

Mr Peter Finnigan
Head of Junior School

 SMILES TO REMEMBER.

Over the summer, a number of our senior students volunteered to help on Edmund Rice Camps. For over 25 years, these camps have been providing holidays for children and families who would otherwise have no opportunity for a change of scene. As is so often the case, our students found that helping is not a one way street.
At our Ash Wednesday liturgies, Greg Mitchell shared the following story about his week on camp:

On the opening day of the camp, Andrew and I ventured close to our own homeland to pick up a family: Tia, a young girl of ten, Ji her nine-year-old brother and Rob, a single father. They lived in the Flemington community houses, just around the corner from me. I regularly journey past them but have been unwilling to go beyond the gates, mainly because of negative stereotypes. Unfortunately, the living conditions were worse than I had expected, shocking me and waking me up to how privileged I am to live in the house I do and to enjoy the facilities for leisure available to me. Yet upon meeting this family I was somewhat surprised by their warm and vibrant personalities. When we arrived, they were ready to go with huge smiles on their faces. It was evident how much this camp meant to them. 

Tia is a girl whose presence is felt, saying very little. On the long ride home, she sat next to me. She told me about a cousin who was in hospital after a drinking incident at New Year’s. I urgently changed the topic and asked whether Santa had paid a visit for Christmas. I was shocked to hear that Santa had never come. Emotions ran high with me as I questioned how this was possible. How could a ten-year-old possibly say that Santa never came? Tia went on to say how lucky she was that her sister bought her a jumper and her dad got her a skipping rope.

Another Year Twelve, Joseph Vu, spoke about the camps at Friday morning Mass.

YEAR 1 FAMILY BBQ PICNIC IN ARDRIE PARK

Despite the wet weather, the Year 1 Family BBQ Picnic at Ardrie Park in Malvern East this afternoon (Thursday 5th March, 2009) will kick off at 5.30 pm.  Please bring along your warm clothes.
The cost is $20.00 per family and includes meat, bread, condiments and ice creams for the kids.

BYO picnic gear (picnic mat, chairs, plates & cutlery) and your preferred beverages. Families who haven’t yet paid their $20.00 should bring it along on the night.  For those families kindly bringing salads, please remember labelled salad servers!  Please remember to wear your SKC name badge.

For any last minute queries, please call Denise Woolerton on 0419 754 873 or Liz McGrath on 0410 266 949.  

YEAR 5 MORNING TEA
FRIDAY 13TH MARCH, 2009 AT 9.00 AM
Como House, Cafe Bursaria
Cnr Williams Road and Lechlade Avenue, South Yarra
We look forward to seeing you there.
Any queries please call Susie on 0414 722 582.

PREP MORNING TEA
TUESDAY 17TH MARCH,  2009 after morning drop off
Taste Food and Wine
1398 High Street, Mlavern
Any queries please call your class reps.

The Glendalough Swap Shop will be open on Wednesday 25th March, 2009
from 8.30 - 9.30 am in the GP Room.

ST KEVIN'S COLLEGE MUSIC ASSOCIATION
invites parents and friends to a
MUSIC SOIREE
an evening of music and entertainment courtesy of the staff of the St Kevin's Music Department
Friday 13th March, 2009 7.45 pm
KC Smith Hall, Heyington

Please see the flyer

St Kevin's College Combined Parents' Associations

DINNER DANCE

Saturday 30th May, 2009

Leonda by the Yarra

Please see the flyer

Sport Roundup - Wednesday 4th March, 2009

Cricket

Year 6A
SKC vs. Xavier College, Kostka Hall. Day 2 of 2.
On quite a miserable afternoon, reminiscent of the coach’s homeland, the Year 6A squad attempted to defend their previous weeks’ total of 83. Having played on the outfield last week due to wet conditions the boys were treated to an excellent turf wicket. Although batting conditions were favourable the SKC bowlers went about defending their total with great maturity. Richard Smart got things off to a great start with a wicket in the first over, clean bowling their opening batsman. James Kean was the pick of the seamers bowling 2 overs and taking 3 wickets for 3 runs. Other notable bowling performances came from Tom Kerr, Seb Scanlon and Alistair Williamson all of which bowled very tightly. The SKC fielding was excellent throughout the innings with excellent catches taken by Adam Bartlett at mid-off and Jake Langton at mid-wicket. All in all an excellent performance. Roll on next week!

Year 6B
St Kevin’s 4/140 defeated Xavier Kostka Hall 46
This week saw St. Kevin’s play the second day of a two-day match at Heyington against Xavier Kostka Hall. St. Kevin’s were defending a formidable total and applied the pressure from the first ball. F. Harper (2/6) took the first wicket of the innings and then J. Della (1/6) and A. Scarcella (1/2) chimed in with valuable wickets. J. Willett (2/0) bowled an impressive line and length and his two wickets put St. Kevin’s in sight of victory. L. Anezakis (1/8) then ensured that St. Kevin’s registered a convincing victory. The fielding from all players was outstanding during the day, with a remarkable five run-outs coming from inspired play in the field. Another highlight of the day was a ‘team hat-trick’ which included a magnificent delivery from F. Harper to dismiss the first batsman and then two run-outs from consecutive deliveries to give the team it’s first hat-trick of the season. Hopefully there are plenty more to come!

Year 6C
SKC 10/105 (revised score 55) defeated by Brighton Grammar School 3/89 (revised score 74
On the second day of their two-day game against BGS, the Year 6C cricket team had to not only battle the opposition, but the wild winds and light rain as well; this made it very difficult for the bowlers. Unfortunately, a light tennis ball into the wind, gave the opposition more time to select their strokes, and in only six overs, the first two BGS pairs actually surpassed the 55 runs needed to win. It seemed as if it was going to be a long day in the field. But to their credit, the team fought back, after a terrific over from L. Taylor. He claimed two wickets with two good catches to H. Dowling and D. Jowett. J. Brideson also impressed, with what was the only maiden over for the innings. S. Birrell displayed an excellent piece of fielding, as a quick pick up and direct hit from gully, this gave the team its third wicket. While BGS struggled to score from the last several overs, the damage had been done early and they deservedly won the game.

Year 5A
SKC 7/69 defeated Xavier College, Kostka Hall 5/49
On a cool and windy afternoon the Year 5A team travelled to Xavier College, Kostka Hall hoping to reach the 50 runs needed to take victory. T. Evans (1ret) and P. Kerr (11ret) opened the batting and got the team off to a great start, playing some wonderful shots. J. Cox (2ret), D. Morgan (3ret), H. Gabelich (4) and V. Adduci (9) batted well in the middle of the order to keep the pressure on Kostka. As the innings was coming to an end O. Hanrahan (11ret), P. O’Leary (10ret) and J. Kelly (6ret) played magnificently to complete the run chase with 3 overs remaining. Congratulations to all players on their determination and sportsmanship.

Year 5B
St Kevin’s 4 for 75 defeated by Xavier College 8 for 79
On a rain shortened match St Kevin’s battled there way to 75 for 4 with many delicate and timely strokes being played. L. Sfetkidis batted courageously with partner J. Cameron after colliding with a bowler and ending his innings “not out”. W. Borcoski made a timely 11 not out. Due to the weather the match had to stop and the players were disappointed not to pay a “full game.” Congratulations to all SKC players on their determined play.

Year 5C
This week the team, captained by T. Gaul and P. Rao, travelled to Brighton Grammar and were determined to win. We were met by a Brighton Grammar team that were not at full strength. The St Kevin’s bowlers took complete control of the match by taking several wickets scoring a brilliant run out and keeping Brighton Grammar’s total to a mere 8/20 (16 overs). The St Kevin’s batsmen were unable to display their prowess and big hitting skills as they were chasing a smaller total than previous weeks but none the less they managed to lose only one wicket in their chase, which they reached with ease. Thank you to the St Kevin’s team members who displayed fantastic sportsmanship in helping Brighton Grammar complete a full team whilst they were fielding. Well done to the team on another great win.   Four wins from four matches. Let’s keep the enthusiasm up.   Men of the Match: N. Papageorgiou and W. Jirik 

Tennis 

 Year 5
St Kevin’s 9 matches defeated Scotch College 6 matches.
E. Khamly / K. Davenport 6 – 1               T. Taranto / D. Pandazopoulos 6 – 3
L. Haydon / H. Crowe 1 – 6 & 1 – 6       O. Zemedegs / S. O’Connell 6 – 2
B. Filippone / S. Cameron 6 – 3             R. Bradner / S. Wray 2 – 6
J. Fraher / G. Jensen 3 – 2                      A. McLean / R. McLean 6 – 0
O. Heyworth / M. Dowman 6 – 0             T. Cullinan / J. O’Connor 2 – 6
L. Musgrave / T. Arvanitis 6 – 1              M. McCosker / M. Sgro 5 – 6
A. Sinni / A. Greco 6 – 4                           P. Vanstone / L. Gillanders 0 – 6
K. Davenport / C. Bennett 6 – 1

The boys travelled to Hawthorn for their clash against local rivals Scotch College. In wintry conditions with the wind blowing the tennis balls sideways, all the boys demonstrated their skill development in testing circumstances. Their serving was definitely the turning point in reversing their defeat against Scotch College earlier in the year. Well done to all the boys you played extremely well.

Year 6
St Kevin’s defeated Scotch College 100 games to 33 games
St Kevin’s played their second competitive game for the term against Scotch College at Kooyong Tennis Courts. The boys paired up with a nominated partner and pairs 1-6 rotated with Scotch Colleges 1-6 seeds and 7-9 alternated between Scotch and St Kevin’s, as we had six more pairs. Of the nineteen matches played St Kevin’s won 18 of the sets. Some of the stand out performances included B. Friend and A. Coloretto 7-5,6-0, A. McKimm and N. Tanner 6-1,5-1, D. Murphy and W. Keogh 6-1,5-0, L. Dela Cruz and J. Griffiths 6-0, L. Gallas and J. Braagnolo 6-3 and D. Cheong and T. Alexopulos 6-3 . Although we had a few light showers of rain during the afternoon, it wasn’t enough to stop play or dampen the enthusiasm of our Year 6 boys. Well done to all players on the great sportsmanship displayed against their opponents. 

Swimming

The SKC Swimming Squad travelled to Xavier College to complete against their hosts, Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar in a relay competition. Joining the squad this week were the 10 Year old APS squad who were warming up for next week's competition. All relay teams competed with a great deal of enthusiasm and displayed excellent team spirit. A special mention to Team 1 - 11 Year old who swam particularly well.

10 Relay		Freestyle	Medley
A	Collins	1.14.00	1.27.60
T	Sudano
T	Hughes
H	Flanagan
J	Griffiths

 

11 Relay		Freestyle	Medley
Team 1
B	Wallace	1.05.96	1.21.20
M	Pisker
N	Hallam
B	Tokatlidis
Team 2
R	Adams	1.29.00	1.39.12
G	Athanasiadis
N	O'Donoghue
A	Scarff
Team 3
E	Ryan	1.25.00	1.36.60
T	McGrath
B	Palamara
L	Ridge
Team 4
T	Andriske	1.14	1.36.07
Z	Beven
A	Smith
L	Youden
Team 5
A	Neenan	1.33.00	1.50.40
J	Starcic
L	Siebel
D	Hartley
Team 6
N	Kaloger	1.56.12	2.24.55
C	Seoud
B	Foster
N	Poynton

12 Relay		Freestyle	Medley
Team 1
C	Howard	1.05.80
O	Morrison
O	Marriott
R	Williams
Team 2
C	De Luca		1.31.16
J	Deakin
L	Flanagan
J	Quinn
Team 3
S	Barnes		1.26.00
E	Radley
S	Hurley
M	Brownlee
Team 4
D	Smith	1.17.59
Z	Flynn
J	Chan
J	Guinane
Team 5
A	Ewing		2.75.00
L	Cornejo
W	Foster
L	Morrison
Team 6
X	Fanning	1.23.70
M	Tynan
C	James
J	Rankin