St Mary's Coptic Orthodox College

Newsletter Issue No. 6

Feast of St. Mary's Assumption

On Thursday 31st of August, students joined together in joy and thanksgiving to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the body of St Mary. We thank all the fathers who joined us on this wonderful occasion; Fr Tadros, Fr Peter, Fr Sourial, Fr Steven, Fr Arsanious, Fr Kyrillos, Fr Habib Girgis, Fr Mousa and Fr David from around the Diocese. The Liturgy was a joyful celebration for our Mother St Mary and the patron Saint of our beloved College. May her blessings be with all of us.

On Tuesday 12th of September, we celebrated the New Coptic Year (1740), the Feast of the Nayrouz. Students enjoyed reading, researching and listening to the stories of the Saints. In Year 5, students teamed up with their buddies in Foundation to talk about Saints and colour in pictures together. The lesson was filled with smiles and laughter, a reminder of God's love for us and the love and protection of the Saints that continuously surrounds us. May the blessings and prayers of all the Saints be with you.

Marina Mikhail

Primary Religion and Coptic Teacher

Spring School Holiday Program by Hume City Council

Hume Youth Services will be providing a whole range of free activities for all young people aged from 10–24 years to enjoy. Food and drinks will be provided for all activities. There are Ticketed events that require bookings, as well as Walk-in events for which registration is not necessary. Bookings are essential for some activities so book now so you don’t miss out!

For further information, click here. For any further information and any support with booking a School Holiday Program contact Youth Services on 9205 2556.

Ticketed events

The following activities require bookings:

Spoken Word/Poetry Writing
Art Workshop with artist Kenny Pittock
Art Creative Workshop
Cooking Workshop
World Cooking Table
Create Your Own Board Game
Your Rights at Work!

Click on the link below to register.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/spring-school-holiday-program-hume-youth-services-tickets-693793453897

The College Bus Corner

ركن باصات الكلية

Aerosol deodorant and food that present a strong smell are not allowed on the College buses.

Aerosol deodorant worn by students before boarding the school bus, and food/sandwiches that present strong smell and eaten by students during their bus travel, have the potential of triggering asthma attack in asthmatic students and bus drivers.

To minimize this risk on their health, the College urges parents and carers to discuss this atter with their child/ren who utilise the College bus service and ensure that,

Students use roll on deodorant instead of aerosol spray, and
Sandwiches provided to eat on the bus do not present strong smell.

We thank parents, carers and students for their cooperation and support in this matter.

لا يسمح يإستعمال بخاخ رش مزيل العرق ، وإحضار الطعام الذي يعطي رائحة قوية على متن باصات الكلية

ان بخاخ رش مزيل العرق الذي يستعمله الطلاب قبل ركوب باص المدرسية ، والطعام / السندويشات التي ينتج عنها رائحة قوية ويأكلها الطلاب أثناءسفرهم على متن الباص ، لديها القدرة على إثارة نوبة الربو لدى الطلاب وسائقي الباصات المصابين بالربو لتقليل هذا الخطرعلى صحه اولائك الافراد ، تحث الكلية أولياء الأمور ومقدمي الرعاية على مناقشة هذا الأمر

مع أطفالهم الذين يستخدمون خدمة باصات الكلية والتأكد من ا

.يستخدم الطلاب مزيل العرق المتدحرج بدلا من بخاخ الرش-

والسندويشات المقدمة لتناولها في الباص ان لا تكون لها راىحه قوية

.نشكر أولياء الأمور ، مقدمي الرعاية والطلاب على تعاونهم ودعمهم في هذا الشأن

Outstanding Performances by SMCOC Primary and Secondary Choirs

at the Victorian School Music Festival

St Mary’s Coptic Orthodox College’s primary and secondary choirs made us nothing but proud with their outstanding singing performances at the Victorian School Music Festiva. The choral performances were held in the first week of August in the Box Hill Salvation Army Arts Centre.

Our talented and enthusiastic music students presented our College to other Victorian schools in the best possible light by singing beautifully and displaying excellent manners. Primary choir performed three songs, 'Tafta Hindi', 'Inanay' and 'Let Go the Long White Sails' and the secondary choir performed two songs, ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ and ‘Somewhere Only We Know’.

Piano accompaniment was played by our piano teacher Mr. Dimitri Ioannou and the snare drum accompaniment for the primary song, 'Let Go the Long White Sails' was played by our amazing young percussionist, Year 5 student, Matthew Toma. On the performance days our choirs were led by Mrs. Sandra Mlikota, the choirs’ conductor. Apart from Mr. Dimitri and Mrs. Sandra, the rest of the SMCOC’s music team, Miss Sabrina Lim-How, Ms Christine Peverett, Mr. Tony Mlikota and Mr. Joshua Scarpaci worked hard on guiding and leading our students towards music and performance excellence.

Two adjudicators, the Music professors, had the last word. They marked our performances as outstanding and also worked with our students on what they can do in the future to make their work even more successful.

Piano accompaniment was played by our piano teacher Mr. Dimitri Ioannou and the snare drum accompaniment for the primary song, 'Let Go the Long White Sails' was played by our amazing young percussionist, Year 5 student, Matthew Toma. On the performance days our choirs were led by Mrs. Sandra Mlikota, the choirs’ conductor. Apart from Mr. Dimitri and Mrs. Sandra, the rest of the SMCOC’s music team, Miss Sabrina Lim-How, Ms Christine Peverett, Mr. Tony Mlikota and Mr. Joshua Scarpaci worked hard on guiding and leading our students towards music and performance excellence

Two adjudicators, the Music professors, had the last word. They marked our performances as outstanding and also worked with our students on what they can do in the future to make their work even more successful.

Band performance in Ballarat

On Friday, the 8^th of September, St Mary's Coptic Orthodox College band performed at the Royal South Street Competition of Bands and Strings in Ballarat.

Our talented musicians took the stage and performed three of the songs they’ve been rehearsing this year. They were in a category with eight other bands performing songs in a wide variety of styles and genres in front of the big audience in Founder's Theatre, Federation University, Ballarat.

Our dedicated band members represented our College with pride, joy and passion. They performed exceptionally well and received a score of 89/100 from the judges, as well as some great and constructive feedback. This was the first major competition the current band line up had undertaken and they absolutely blew the audience away with their musicality.

Over the year, our College band has committed to practising four times a week and honing in on their skills as individuals and as a group. The hard work and dedication each band member puts into learning their parts, polishing off musical items and being punctual to every rehearsal, is a testament to their unwavering spirit of the SMCOC community.

Our College community will have an opportunity to listen to our College band during Arts and Technology Night on Thursday, October the 19th, at St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox College.

SMCOC Music Team

YEAR 12 EXCURSION – ARCHERY ATTACK

Our Year 12 students attended Archery Attack situated at 118-120 Henty St, Reservoir VIC 3073 on Friday 4 August 2023.

The purpose of this trip was to increase student interest and motivation for the final few weeks of the Year 12 school year. The leadership team had noticed that disengagement had crept into this last year of schooling. To combat this the College decided to take the Year 12’s on a day excursion where they do not focus on any of their studies but on the notion of having a ‘fun day’.

The hope was that students did not stay home and ‘study’ but come and join their peers on this proposed day. Involvement in the activities and entertainment during the excursion was highly encouraged.

Well, what a day it turned out to be. Upon arrival, students were given the opportunity to hone their archery skills and technique in the archery range. Once this initial period concluded, students were then divided into teams where they would enter the ‘Arena’ and combat each other with a variety of different challenges. I would like to emphasise that the arrows had foam tips on the end of them and students were wearing protective gear.

Once in the ‘Arena’ students were in combat against each other but also against the teachers. Once all the tournament matches were completed, the tired and weary student bodies had a pizza lunch provided to them along with treats and refreshments.

To cap it all off, some interesting games of ‘tiggy’ concluded the day where students found that they were completely dominated by the teachers! I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr Chris Mathew, Mr Gavin O’Sullivan and Ms Hayley Tronson for attending the day and giving up their time for the students. I hope the students truly appreciated this.

We can only hope that the Year 12’s now attend to the job at hand by re-focusing on their studies and concluding the year on a positive note.

Evan Kasapis

Head of Senior School

Grade 3 Sleepover

On the 17th of August 2023 the Year 3 students participated in a sleepover at the Colleg.

The students had a fantastic time participating in a range of activities. These activities

included a dance session where students had a fun time learning hip hop. The students

enjoyed pizza and ice-cream for dinner and finished the night off with a movie before they

drifted off to sleep. The next day students woke up to breakfast together and continued

their day with classroom activities and a lovely cooked meal from our canteen for lunch. It

was an unforgettable and fantastic night.

From the Year 3 team,

Mrs Nashwa, Mrs Dusk, Miss Annasimone, Miss Evelyn and Miss Carla.

Foundation's 100 days of school

Foundation students were very excited to celebrate attending 100 days of school, or should we say 100 days of learning!!

Students were greeted by decorated classrooms that made the day very special for them. Everyone had so much fun being involved in variety of activities like:

Making special crowns with 100 stickers.
Dressing up, pretending to be 100 years old.
Writing about what they would buy if they had $100.

We hope this day will be remembered by all Foundation students, as a special time at SMCOC.

Humanities Week

Students participated in Humanities Week. Through a variety of activities, they learnt about our world, and what it means to be active, inclusive and empathetic citizens. Secondary students enthusiastically participated in a variety of quizzes that complemented studies in the classroom.

A highlight of the week was the Humanities incursion provided by Cultural Infusion. Both students and teachers were delighted with the various programs. From rhythms and drumming from West Africa, to exploring indigenous didgeridoos and storytelling, to finally gaining an appreciation for all things French, the students certainly developed an appreciation for our multicultural society.

Connie Spina

Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Leader (F-Y10)

Library Activities

The College was pleased to host three best-selling children’s authors to speak to our Primary students this term. These sessions were held in the Library and the authors spoke about what it's like to be a writer, offering practical tips and lots of inspiration.

Jane Godwin spoke to Years 3 and 4, describing the key ingredients for good story writing: experience, observation and imagination.

Jacqueline Harvey spoke to Years 5 and 6, recounting humorous and exciting life experiences which went on to inspire her novels.

Davina Bell spoke to Foundation to Year 2 students, who enjoyed her talk and quickly borrowed all of her picture books from the Library!

Our students had lots of questions for each of these authors, who encouraged them to pursue their own writing and emphasised the importance of reading.

A big thank you to St Mary's Primary School families for supporting this annual fundraiser!

The SMCOC Library and Lamont Book Fair was a great success earning the SMCOC Library a $511.50 Commission which can now be used to purchase new books from Lamont Booksellers for the Primary Library.

BOOK WEEK

On Friday the 1^st of September, St Mary's Coptic Orthodox College celebrated Book Week. We had an array of activities planned for the students to participate in and enjoy. We started off our morning by hosting a Book Parade where the whole College was involved. Students and teachers were encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character. We had a great turn out by everyone, lots of Primary and Secondary students got involved and made the parade something fun to remember.

We also had the Lamont Book Fair that was hosted by the Lamont book company. This is an annual event that the SMCOC Library put together for our students to enjoy and experience. The Book Fair catered for students from Foundation to Year 6 and was a great way to foster a student’s love for reading.

The College wanted to make sure that every student was able to participate in reading and experience the fun of Book Week, so all students were gifted with a book, bookmark and colouring sheet to take home and enjoy.

There were plenty of Book Week activities that were planned throughout the week. In Primary we had a Teddy Bear Picnic hosted for Foundation to Year 3, while Year 4 to 6 student’s put on their Director’s hat and collaborated together, by making a Trailer for their favourite book or novel.

Book Week was a great success. It was fantastic to see the smiles, enthusiasm and excitement from students in the College, embracing such a wonderful day.

By Rebecca Johnson

Year 3 - 6 Curriculum Coordinator