Volume 19

We are, of course, in the season of Advent, a time of anticipation and preparation of not only our Christmas celebrations and gifts, but preparing our hearts and minds for the anniversary of the Lord’s birth. The decorating of our homes can be combined to reflect our Catholic faith and traditions. I already see many a wreath adorning the front doors and gates of homes, a reminder that even in this small way, by hanging a wreath and of course lighting candles as we do during Advent, we are reflecting and acknowledging a longstanding Catholic tradition from the Middle Ages. The wreath itself is a symbol of continuous life, the eternity of God and everlasting life. The pine cones symbolise life and resurrection, and the lit candles signify our commitment to prayer, penance and peace. I hope that we will all find ways in the weeks ahead to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas, to show gratitude and to reach out and give to those less fortunate or alone. 

To our Rosebank staff, students and families, I wish you a restful holiday break, a blessed and holy Christmas and joy in abundance to carry into what we hope will be a prosperous and peaceful new year. We will reconnect with you all via email in the new year with the information you need for the start of Term 1. 

Until then, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night”.

Ms Maryanne Di Bella 
PACE Coordinator (Culture and Diverse Activities)

Sydney Catholic Schools Conference Finals

On Thursday, 30 November, while the rest of the school was celebrating the PACE achievements from 2023, eight Term 4 Representative Sport teams were battling it out in the Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Conference 2 Finals in Oztag and Volleyball. Congratulations to the following teams for making it this far and for such an exciting finals series.

• Boys Junior Oztag team: Went down 3-6 in a tough game against Trinity but showed their resilience by bouncing back to claim a 7-2 win against St Charbel’s to finish in 3rd place.  
   
• Boys Intermediate Oztag team: Showed their dominance from start to finish and proved that they meant business. They had a convincing win in their semi-final against St Charbel’s, winning 9-4 and then going on to the Grand Final to beat the undefeated Marist Eastwood 4-3.  
   
• Boys Intermediate Oztag team : Came close to knocking off the eventual champions Marist Sisters Woolwich in the semi-final, losing 1-5. They stuck together as a team to finish on a high, winning 3-2 in the 3rd place play-off.

• Boys Junior Volleyball team: Have been the team to beat all season and the Conference Finals were no different. They got a clean sweep in the semi-final against Holy Spirit, walking away with a 2-0 win and replicated such dominance with a 2-0 win against Marist Eastwood in the Grand Final to go through the whole season undefeated! A phenomenal achievement!  
   
• Boys Intermediate Volleyball team: Unfortunately went down 0-2 in a competitive semi-final game against St Vincent’s. This team had an excellent season, with fantastic commitment, dedication and a drive to improve.  
   
• Boys Senior Volleyball team: In the most thrilling game of the day, the Boys Senior Volleyball team went point for point with Holy Spirit to narrowly go down by 1 point in the semi-final. This team has gone from strength to strength and epitomise school spirit and what it means to be part of a Representative Sport team.  
   
• Girls Junior Volleyball team:  A strong rivalry built with St Vincent’s over the season resulted in a competitive semi-final for the Girls Junior Volleyball team. A 0-2 loss in the semi-final didn’t deter their spirits as they showed they were one of the best teams in the competition with a 2-0 win over St Charbel’s in the 3rd place play-off.  
   
• Girls Intermediate Volleyball team: A tough finals draw saw the Girls Intermediate Volleyball team have to dig deep and stay together as a team, which is what they did. Their ‘never give up’ attitude prevailed as they pushed the Holy Spirit and Trinity all the way.

A special congratulations to the Boys Junior Volleyball team and Boys Intermediate Oztag team who were crowned Conference 2 Champions and have now qualified to progress to the Sydney Championships on Tuesday, 5 December. We wish them all the best in their preparations and at the Sydney Championships day.

Cheer Nationals

On the weekend Joanna De Francesco (Year 12) and Lara De Francesco (Year 9) competed in the 2023 AASCF National Cheerleading Championships at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Their event was Cheer - Open Co-ed , Level 4. Their team, the East Coast All Stars ‘Vultures’ produced a near perfect performance to win silver in a very difficult division. In doing so , they beat a team that won silver at the World Championships last year. Congratulations Joanna and Lara on an outstanding achievement.

SCS Mountain Biking Championships

Congratulations to Harvey Challinor (Year 7) who placed 2nd at the SCS Mountain Biking Championships on Monday, 4 December. A number of other students also competed and are to be commended for representing Rosebank so well: Luca Foley, Julian Gallas and Oskar Ronis.

Ms Annalise Di Bella 
PACE Coordinator (Representative Sport) | PDHPE Teacher

ROSEBANK CROWNED SCS SYDNEY VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONS

The Rosebank Representative Boys Junior Volleyball team have been crowned Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Sydney Champions after beating the other conferences at the Sydney Championships on Tuesday 5th December. They came up against Christian Brothers Lewisham in the semi-final where the boys found their rhythm early, flying away to a convincing lead in the first set and held on to take the win and progress to the grand final. The Grand Final saw the team come up against Aquinas Menai who were a strong and fierce opposition. Some big hitting from Aquinas meant our boys had to dig deep to put themselves in the lead early in the first set. Outstanding teamwork and resilience from our team saw us chip away at the scoreline and claim the first set. In the second set, the tables turned and Aquinas came out on a mission. Our team came back from being down the whole second set to push the score to 24-24, with the only time that they were up being the final 2 points of the set, to eventually win 26-24 in the second set. Congratulations boys, on outstanding performances today and all throughout the season, as well as your effort and commitment at training, it’s been truly phenomenal.

A special mention also to the Representative Boys Intermediate Oztag team who competed in the Sydney Championships and finished in 3rd place after a tough draw. A valiant effort in the heat, well done boys!

Remembrance Day

Our Club Sports Baseball Teams paid a special and moving tribute to our fallen soldiers on Remembrance Day by holding a minute’s silence at 11 am. These students continue to impress with not only their baseball skill but also their exceptional standards as positive and respectful people.

Mr Jason Amos   
PACE Administrator and Club Sport Coordinator

Update from the EcoWarriors

Our PACE group, the EcoWarriors, have been running the Return and Earn program at Rosebank College this semester. Each term we aim to raise $180 to sponsor an endangered animal. We are pleased to confirm that we have managed to sponsor a koala and a tiger this semester and now have our sights firmly set on sponsoring a penguin. We would like to thank the entire College community for proactively placing their cans and bottles in the House Return and Earn bins, as such proactively assisting us in our cause.

We are looking forward to another year of sustainable success in 2024!

Miss Lucy Monti and the EcoWarriors

From the 24 - 26 November, Jayden, Marco, Harley, Isabel, Sophia and I, accompanied by Mr Stivaktas and Ms Danaskos went to Hobart to represent Rosebank at the National Australia Model Solar Car Competition. The competition is all about engineering and problem-solving. After winning at the state competition, we had a term to create, test and finalise our solar car but when we arrived in Hobart, the weather was cloudy and raining and it was apparent we would need to rethink our design. In order to do this we had to utilise our problem-solving skills to edit the car, changing gears in order to suit the low light levels we had. This was a great learning experience and added an extra element of challenge to the competition. There were three components to the competition, the racing of our solar cars, a video, and an engineering knowledge test. We came first in the knowledge test, and managed to get into the top 16 in the races. The video also did quite well, and it was great fun seeing the finished product after Jayden had put it all together. 

Apart from the competition, we had a great time together in Hobart. We spent our free time hanging out in the cabins, going for bushwalks, and seeing the beautiful scenery in Hobart. Some highlights were seeing Hobart’s stunning mountains on our bus ride on Saturday morning, having a student-led barbeque on Saturday night for dinner, and playing soccer together on Sunday afternoon after the competition had ended. We all had an amazing time together sharing in these fun, new experiences. It was an exciting trip we’ll definitely never forget.

Sophia Cuomo
Year 12

Photo: (left to right): Marco Crolla, Isabel El-Azzi, Harley Hatzimihail and Aryan Mirzan

Cyber Industry Girls’ Experience Day

On 17 November, two students from Year 9 and three from Year 11 attended a cyber security experience day where they heard from experts in the field: Charlotte Wood, Director of Policy, Awareness and Research, Cyber Security NSW and Ivy Magno, Cyber Security Analyst Penrith City Council and Australian Women in Security Network member. The students then spent time working through cyber security scenarios in small groups of incident response teams using forensics and analysis tools employed by cyber security analysts. The day ended with student groups fronting a mock media pack, being interviewed about the incidents.

Below are some reflections from the students who attended.

I expected the day to consist of conferences and mainly listening to speakers, to my surprise it was much more engaging and interesting. During the day we were able to work collaboratively to solve issues regarding cyber security and learn about how to navigate through real-life scenarios through life-like simulations. As a team, we learnt how to deal with and backtrack cyber security issues step by step to work out what the complication was and how we were going to solve it. Towards the end of the day, we learnt how to respond to media questions about cyber security issues and were able to participate and observe a mock interview with the use of professional cameras, microphones and lighting. We all had a really fun time and met many new people.

Kaylee Cheng (Year 11)

The NSW Cyber security day was a very eventful day that was full of many surprises. It opened my eyes to what I could expect if I was to work in that industry and showed me what I was already capable of doing. The tasks were nothing like what I expected and came as a shock. After working efficiently and effectively with my partner we were able to successfully complete the 'missions' that were given to us. From this working environment I learned that Cyber Security is something that I would consider for my future career. 

Lydia Alrahil (Year 11)

The Cyber Industry experience was great fun considering I didn’t really know what to expect. The other two schools were very friendly, and the activities were an interesting introduction to the role of cyber security people when a cyber-attack happens. The activity was based in someone keylogging into a company to gain bank details and we had to search through files and decode commands to investigate. In small groups, we also experienced or observed a student in our group being interviewed in the role of a representative of a company who had just had a cyber-attack. Personally, I learned to be careful when opening new and suspicious file types, as they could contain malware, and how cyber-attacks happen. Overall the day was very enjoyable and intriguing.

Fotini Papavramidis (Year 11)

During the Cyber Security Day, we worked in pairs and table groups to complete questions on a scenario that was presented to us. We worked together as a team to come up with answers, using simulations to figure out what was happening. Through this we learned how incident responders would handle these cases. Arabella and I worked on scenarios related to a hacked bank account and stolen data. It was tricky but we had fun collaborating to figure things out. It was really interesting seeing how incident responders can figure out the cause of hackings using small pieces of evidence. Overall, it was a really positive experience and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in IT or cyber security.

Anastasia Macan (Year 9)

Before the excursion, I was unsure what to expect or how to feel about this opportunity. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn something new and explore future job options. Overall, I thought it was a great experience where I learned the importance of cybersecurity, how it will become even more relevant in future years, and why it is a great career to pursue.

Arabella Issa (Year 9)

Photo (left to right) Anastasia Macan and Arabella Issa

Middle School Ethics Olympiad NSW Heat

On Thursday, myself, along with five other students including Carlo, Annika, Sophie, Moses and Lachlan, competed in a NSW heat of the Middle School Ethics Olympiad. The competition allowed us to explore a wide variety of ethical dilemmas as case studies. They ranged from peer pressure to incentives versus bribes and political impacts on the competitive sporting industry. Furthermore, it helped us develop ethical awareness and critical thinking, whilst also training us to think outside the box and explore every perspective of a problem. The day involved four heats competing against multiple schools, discussing two dilemmas each round, through the provided questions and as either Team A or Team B. Through guidance and feedback from Ms McArthur and the judges, we were able to navigate cases effectively and confidently. The whole experience was extremely rewarding and fun. If you are interested in ethics and philosophical thinking, the Ethics Olympiad training is running at the start of next year, for the senior schools’ competition in May. All of us on the team highly recommend joining the training discussions during PACE, even if you do not want to compete.

Charlotte Rucker
Year 8

Photo (left to right) Lachlan Restifa, Moses Lawrence, Sophie O’Driscoll, Annika Wynen, Carlo Cuomo, Far right Charlotte Rucker (technology driver). Back row: Valentino Napoliello and Tallen Palma (observers)

InnovatED Showcase

The 2023 InnovatED Showcase held on Friday, 17 November, was a major success! 29 students from Years 7 to 10 presented their projects to our guest judges and the Rosebank community. The participants spent 15 weeks or more researching their topics and planning their displays based on this year's quote from Hellen Keller; “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”.

On the morning of the showcase, the library was buzzing with energy and excitement, as the students set up their stands and prepared for the classes to visit throughout the school day. The day went by in a flash with crowds of students eager to know more about the various projects on display. At the end of the school day the guest judges arrived to interview the students and decide the award winners. We offer our grateful thanks to Board members Ms Lesley Burvill and Dr Joanna Hack and Alumni members Ms Vanessa Tilocca and Mr Darren Brisbane for taking time out of their busy schedules to be our judging panel. After much consideration the award winners of the 2023 InnovatED showcase were…

1. For Best in the Technology, Engineering & The Environment Category: Ethan Fung – Out of our nets and into our oceans.

2. Best in the Society & Culture Category: Lily Germain and SophieO’Driscoll – Mornin’ Majesty

3. Best in The Human Condition Category:  Emilie Srdic – The clock is ticking…

4. Best in Arts & The Media Category: Imogen Yaw and Keira Yang – The connection between Art and Technology

5. People's Choice Award: Jack Lygoyris – How to put the ‘Intelligence’ in AI

6. Best Display Award: Damian Tangye – The Psychology of True Crime

7. Best Integration of Theme Award: Isabella Oakes – Mental Mobs

8. Best Overall Project: Arabella Bentick – The Influence of Influencers

Photo (left to right): The 2023 Student Organising Committee - Minal Rao, Hannah Gatti, Annika Wynen and Benjamin Hu  

Congratulations to all the award winners and students who participated in the InnovatED Showcase and thank you to the Rosebank Community for their support of this annual event. 

Please visit here to see a glimpse of what was there on the day.

The theme for 2024 will be "No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world” a quote from Robin Williams. Time to start thinking about what your contribution will be: or, perhaps, if you will be in Year 10 in 2024, you would like to take our place as the 2024 Student Organising Committee. We had a great time and learned a lot. If the quote inspires you, take the opportunity to put your stamp on InnovatED! See Ms McArthur in the Diverse Learning office for more details.

Ms Cheryl McArthur   
Gifted Education and iThink Teacher, EnrichED Program Facilitator   
cmcarthur@rosebank.nsw.edu.au

Timetable adjustments will occur on routes 389, 428, 431, 433, 437, 438X, 440, 441, 442, 445, 461X, 464, 466, 469, 470, 502, 503, 504 and 504X.

To better match traffic conditions there will be timetable adjustments on some school routes. Note that some services will operate earlier than they currently do, so students are requested to plan their trip before travelling.

In addition to the timetable changes, please note that the following route changes will occur:

571s (Rosebank College to Five Dock Shops): the route will be adjusted to run via Lyons Road to Great North Road, instead of via Garfield Street.

Trip planning

The best way for students to confirm the departure times of buses from their bus stop is by planning ahead on Trip Planner before travelling. To ensure dedicated school services appear as a travel option for students, click ‘refine’ and select the ‘school bus’ option.

School timetable summaries are also available here. Students are reminded to tap on and off with their Opal card on all trips.

Feedback

To provide feedback on any Transport for NSW service, please visit their website.