Principal's Blog
Principal Blog – June 2008
Winter’s now well and truly upon us at Delany and we’re expecting a typically blustery day for College Photos on 4th June.
We hope you’re enjoying the look and feel of the latest newsletters and new-look website; more photos, more news, more celebrating the achievements of Delany students. We’d also like to think we’re doing our small bit for the environment by not printing the newsletter for all of our families and trust that you’re having no difficulties in accessing the online Delany News.
Many Delany students have been excelling in their endeavours, both within the College and externally. In the PDSSSC Cross Country held last week, we sent a small group of enthusiastic students to compete, and Kharly Ghamrouei, our youngest runner, made it through to the Combined Catholic Colleges Carnival on 13th June.
Our Debating teams are going along very well with our Year 10 team expected to be entering the play offs soon.
Some students have been attending Transition to Work programmes to assist them in making effective career choices after their post compulsory education. Year 10 students will soon be asked to consider their futures and will be making some big decisions - will they will stay on at school to complete their Higher School Education, should they go to TAFE to study something that interests them or are they ready to join the workforce?
Year 9 students are off to camp this month to do some team-building and Year 8 will hold their reflection day on Bullying. These extra-curricular activities provide important stepping stones to the training for peer support and leadership roles within the College.
Year 12 students will have their Semester 1 reports sent home this week. When reflecting on these, students should use them in a positive way to prepare themselves for the work that lies ahead of them with the HSC Trials in August and their final exams in October.
The Student Representative Council organised a Cultural/Heritage mufti day, which was very well supported by students who dressed up as Indians, Disco Kings, Corey, Sheiks, Geishas, others just wearing the traditional flannelette shirts, jeans and runners. It was great to see the students enjoying and sharing their cultural heritage while supporting a very worthy cause, which, on this occasion, was fundraising for the families affected by the Burma cyclone. Over $700 was raised by our generous community.
Well done students!
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Principal’s Blog – May This month at Delany will see a number of exciting events taking place in the College.
A really important one is the Drugs Forums for Students and Parents where we have visitors from Life Education and the Police Force joining Delany Staff in presenting an educational programme to inform our community of the dangers associated with drugs and alcohol consumption.
We will hold our Mother’s Day Mass on Friday 9th May 2008 and celebrate with the mothers of the community the many joys of motherhood, remembering with fondness those mothers who are no longer with us.
Open days for families in the area looking for schools for their children in 2009 are invited to join us on 12th May from 9 am to 12 noon or 19th May from 12 noon to 3 pm for tours of the College and the opportunity to meet staff and see classes in action.
Sport features highly this month with students representing the College at PDSSSC Tennis, PDSSSC Cross Country and the Arrive Alive and Bill Turner Cups. We wish all teams and their coaches every success. Thursday sports representative teams are now being selected for Season 2 in Oz Tag and Basketball. Our Rep Junior Boys Volleyball team will compete in the Grand Final on Thursday 8th May against Our Lady of Lebanon.
Year 11 Photography students tested their skills at Echo Point, Blue Mountains. Years 7, 8 and 10 will be participating in History incursions at the College throughout May. Year 12 will attend the Careers Expo in order to give them insight into what they might be thinking about taking on post HSC. Year 10 English classes will take a trip to the Riverside Theatre to watch the play, All the Blood and All the Water. Year 12 Biology will be going to the University of NSW as part of their HSC Studies and Year 11 Ancient History class will be going to Darling Harbour for their excursion.
NAPLAN (National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy) testing will take place for Years 7 and 9 during Week 3. This is a national testing program to assess the literacy and numeracy learning of students in all Australian schools and replaces the Year 7 ELLA and SNAP tests.
Delany Reads Week will mean a big week in the Library for students, encouraging the students to take advantage of the many resources the College Library has to offer.
On 21st May, Parent/Teacher conferences will take place for Years 7-10 students. These are invaluable sessions for both students and parents to enable them to be informed of their progress in class.
Our feeder Primary Schools have been invited to take part in Art Workshops being offered by art specialists at the College and we look forward to the opportunity to meet prospective students, and the work done at these sessions will be entered in to the McGovern Art Prize competition.
Staff will raise money for the Cancer Council by holding The Biggest Morning Tea, always a very worthwhile event and appreciated by those whose lives have been touched in some way by cancer.
So, another huge month for the students and staff at Delany.
Peter Wade - Principal
09/01/2008
Delany College is a vibrant co-educational secondary college offering quality Catholic education for Years 7-12. It is invigorating leading a dynamic Catholic learning community that has such excellent facilities. I have long had an avid interest in students and how they learn and at Delany we work continually to improve our approaches in the classroom.
As part of this we commit significant resources to students in Year 7 and Year 8 to ensure that they have a positive start to their learning in our secondary school.
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| Principal, Peter Wade, with students of Delany College |
Our motto “Love, Serve and Hope” reflects the vision of our school founder, Bishop Delany, to “love God and live together in peace and charity.” As principal of Delany College, I am proud to be continuing the vision and rich tradition of Patrician Brothers’ education.
Our national award-winning, cross-curricular Literacy Plan involves an ongoing commitment to staff professional development in the specific teaching of skills to improve reading and writing outcomes. Results in ELLA , School Certificate and HSC over the past three years indicate that our Literacy Plan is improving learning gain and making a difference, not just for the academically gifted but for many of our students.
We have a commitment to meeting the learning needs of each individual student and we set high expectations of academic and personal excellence. We encourage students to achieve their personal best and we have a comprehensive merit and award system to recognise and reward excellence and achievement.
I have been a teacher for 28 years and have worked in Catholic schools for all of these years in a number of leadership roles. I believe that all students have a right to learn and a right to feel safe. Schools can only run effectively with a strong student management policy that has very clear expectations about students’ rights and responsibilities. No student has the right to behave in such a way that they detrimentally affect other students’ learning. This is fundamental to our management of students at Delany College and is the right of all students who chose Delany College as their place of learning.
I look forward to welcoming you.
Peter Wade
Principal
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