Aquinas College, Menai
Aquinas College | |
---|---|
Location | |
Menai, New South Wales Australia | |
Information | |
Type | Independent Co-Educational Secondary |
Established | 1993 |
Founder | Peter Turner |
Principal | James Corcoran |
Chaplain | Father Phillip Zadro |
Teaching staff | 72 (2014) |
Years offered | 7–12 |
Enrolment | 1001 students (2014) [1] |
Affiliations | Roman Catholic, Systemic, |
Website | http://www.aquinasmenai.catholic.edu.au/ |
Aquinas College, Menai is a Roman Catholic Systemic Private Co-Educational day school for students of Years 7 to 12. The school is situated in Menai in Sydney's Sutherland Shire, adjacent to Roman Catholic feeder Primary School Holy Family, Menai, and to Holy Family church, of the Roman Catholic parish of Holy Family, Menai serving the residents of Bangor, Menai, Alfords Point, Illawong, Barden Ridge, Lucas Heights and Woronora.
Founded in 1993 by Peter Turner the school is not associated with any particular Roman Catholic religious order, and is run solely by Catholic lay staff. The school's namesake St Thomas Aquinas is a source of inspiration and guidance to all pupils and staff.
The school is under the authority of the Catholic Education Office of Sydney, and is situated in the Archdiocese of Sydney.
Motto and Mission
The school motto "Enlivened by the Spirit" aims to convey to students the significance of the Catholic faith to their everyday lives, and the importance of taking on board the Catholic ethos of the school in a practical sense.
Tuition
Subjects offered for the Higher School Certificate include English Standard, English Advanced, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, General Mathematics, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Senior Science, Studies of Religion 1, Studies of Religion 2, Geography, Legal Studies, Modern History, Ancient History, History Extension, Economics, Business Studies, Dance, Drama, Earth and Environmental science, Music 1, Music 2, Visual Arts, Italian Continuers and Beginners, Japanese Beginners, PDHPE, Industrial Technology, Design and Technology, Community and Family Studies, Food Technology, Information Processes and Technology, Software Design and Development. For students not interested in Studies of Religion, a non-UAI subject, Catholic Studies, is available.
In addition, the college offers several Vocational Education courses including construction, hospitality and retail operations.
For Years nine and ten the school offers a variety of elective courses to students, including Music, Drama, Visual Arts, Commerce, Design and Technology, Information Software Technology (IST), Multimedia and Photography, Wood Technology, Food Technology, Sport Science, Italian, Indonesian and Japanese.
Sports House System
Every student in the school is allocated into a sporting House which is led by two popularly elected Year twelve senior sport leaders. The houses then compete at the College Athletics Carnival, College Swimming Carnival, and College Cross Country day to obtain the greatest number of points. There are four College sporting houses and each is represented by a specific colour and named after a Catholic historical figure.
- Rice house- Named after Edmund Ignatius Rice and represented by the colour red.
- MacKillop house- Named after Mary MacKillop and represented by the colour blue.
- Nagle house- Named after Nano Nagle and represented by the colour yellow.
- La Salle house- Named after Jean-Baptiste de La Salle and represented by the colour green.
In 2007, Rice house won the swimming carnival, while La Salle won the athletics carnival. In 2009, Mackillop won the swimming carnival, while Nagle won the athletics carnival. In 2010, Mackillop won the swimming carnival and the athletics carnival is still to come.
Co-Curriculum - Sports and Activities
- Cricket
- Australian rules football
- Rugby League
- Oz-Tag: The college fields both Boys and Girls Oz-Tag teams.
- Rugby Union
- Football: Aquinas has successful boys and girls soccer teams in many age groups.
- Debating: Annual participants in the Catholic Secondary Schools Association debating competition 1993-2006 on a Friday evening with great success for teams from Years 7 to 12. In 2007 the College left the association and launched its own Debating association with several other local schools in the Sutherland Shire and Canterbury Bankstown regions.
- Public Speaking:Fields speakers in every year group from Years 7 to 12 every year in the Catholic Secondary Schools Association Public Speaking Competition.
- Music: Considerable prowess is demonstrated by the school's Music students with 2004 graduate Vanessa Rowe's HSC Music 2 " Lines Written In Early Spring" Composition being selected for the Encore HSC Production and CD.[2]
- Drama
- Athletics
- Swimming
- Basketball
- Netball
- Cross country running: Participate in the NSW CCCSA Cross Country events.
- Waterpolo
- Chess
- Volleyball
Outside School Sporting Associations
Aquinas College is associated with a number of external sporting associations for weekend sport.
- Aquinas Holy Family Colts which competes in the Cronulla-Sutherland District Rugby Football League
- Aquinas College Cricket Club now known as the Bangor Barden Ridge Comets [3] which competes in the Sutherland Shire Junior Cricket Association competition
- Holy Family Netball Club[4] which competes in the Sutherland Shire Netball Association competition
- Holy Family and Aquinas Basketball Club
School Captains and Leaders
The school annually elects male and female school captains, male and female vice captains, and a male and female house leader for each sporting house.
School Captains-
- 2015-
- 2014- Nicole Bailey and Dion Heal
- 2013- Jasmine Koska and Cameron Wong
- 2012- Caitlin Maxwell and Damian Cohen
- 2011- Brooke Jones and B.J Kilzi
- 2010- Lisa Celi and Joel Beater
- 2009- Ellyce Horan and Thomas Atkinson
- 2008- Aimee Regan and Bruno Mollica
- 2007- Rachel Collins and Nathan Boyle
- 2006- Ashleigh Fitzgerald and Trent Prasser
- 2005- Brittany Grubel and Justin O'Donnell
- 2004- Amy Vidaic and Roje Adaimy
- 2003- Maree Warton and Stuart Smith
- 2002- Adriana Cincotta and Jason Comarmond
- 2001- Joanne Nitis and Daniel Iacono
- 2000- Brigid Tyson and Matthew Mortimer
- 1999- Tanya Abad and Mark Winder
- 1998- Amy New and Ivan Ip
Archbishop of Sydney Awards
The Archbishop of Sydney Awards for Student Excellence give public recognition to some of the most outstanding young men and women in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney. The awards are presented by the current Archbishop of Sydney (has been Cardinal Edward Clancy and Cardinal George Pell through its history) as each student is presented to the Cardinal at Saint Mary's Cathedral while a citation is read by a similarly excellent student from the same school. The award was introduced in 1999 and has run annually ever since. The college nominates one Year twelve student each year to receive the award and one to read the citation.
The recipients have been-
2000 - Mark Abad
Lions Club Youth of the Year Awards
Aquinas College sends one Year twelve student as representative of the college to the Menai region Lions Club Youth of the Year competition.[5] The students are required to answer questions of a forum on a variety of social, political, economic and current affairs issues, and then present one prepared and two impromptu speeches before an audience whereby the panel then judges one student as the Youth of the Year for the region. The college has typically had great success and several students have won the district competition and proceeded to the regional and state finals.
The representatives have been-
- 2008- Ashleigh Boyling (Won the Public Speaking Section)
- 2007- David Smith
- 2006- Peter Phillips (Won the Public Speaking Section)
- 2005- Justin O'Donnell
- 2004- Anne-Marie Fensom (Won the district tile and went on to Regionals)
- 2003- Shari Wakefield (Won the Public Speaking Section)
- 2002- Bronwyn Tyson (Won the district title and went on to Regionals)
- 2001- Joanna Icke (First Place Regional Debating)
- 2000- Matthew Mortimer (Won the Public Speaking Section)
Notable alumni
- Chris Naumoff - Sydney FC and Australian U20 Footballer
- Antony Golec - Western Sydney Wanderers
- Louise Hall - Journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald [6][7]
- Joanne Lee - Bachelorette - Season Three AU
- Dom Alessio - triple j presenter
- Jacinta Gulisano - member of THIRD D3GREE on the Australian series of X Factor.
References
Coordinates: 34°1′8.51″S 151°1′15.58″E / 34.0190306°S 151.0209944°E