St Leo's Catholic College, Wahroonga

FATHER'S DAY LITURGY & BREAKFAST | Highlights and happy snaps from our Father's Day celebration last Thursday.
Happy Father's Day to all our Leo's Dads!

DAD'S SPECIAL DAY | To all our dads and father-figures with love. Thank you for setting an example and for everything you do for us every day!

DANCE | Last weekend, our wonderful Dance ensembles competed in one of the largest eisteddfods of the year - The Hills Dance Spectacular.
Despite very tough competition, we proudly came away with the following results:
• Lions Jazz (16 in Section) - 4th
• Pride Jazz (21 in Section) - Highly Commended
Well done to all the students and teachers involved for your great results this year!

EISTEDDFOD RESULTS | Excellent results for our CAPA students with the Music ensembles competing at the Hawkesbury Eisteddfod in Windsor yesterday.
Congratulations on the following results in their relevant categories:
- Pride Performance Band – 2nd
- Guitar Ensemble – 2nd
- Accordion Group – 3rd
- Rock Band – 3rd
- Lions Concert Band – No place today but a wonderful performance in a tough category!
Thank you to our amazing CAPA staff who accompanied, lead and prepared these wonderful ensembles.

2025 STUDENT LEADERS | Congratulations to our incoming 2025 Student Leadership Team who were inducted into their roles at assembly today before the whole College and their very proud families.
Thank you to the 2024 leadership team for all your work and setting such a wonderful example for the rest of the College!

DRAMA | On Wednesday evening a talented group of Year 8 and 9 students competed at the Ryde Eisteddfod representing St Leo's in Drama as part of their involvement in the Lions Drama Club.
The students created their own short scenes under the guidance of Miss Nicola - with much success, as they came home with 2nd, 3rd and 2 x Highly Commended placings. Well done!

AEROBICS NATIONALS - RESULTS | St Leo’s kept up its long and proud tradition of high level success in the sport of aerobics in Adelaide last weekend.
A group of 40 students plus staff, families and ex-students attended the National Aerobics Championships, finishing the event having achieved our best ever overall results - 4 Gold and 3 Bronze medals.
This is reward for a long season, with teams training twice per week since Term 4 last year!
Congratulations to all our talented students on your well-deserved success, and thank you especially to Ms Robinson and Ms McNay for your dedication and organisation.

SCIENCE WEEK | To launch Science Week today, encourage students to get into the spirit and get involved, our Science and other teachers came as their favourite element of the Periodic Table.
The team have a range of activities planned in Science classes, Science Club and outside this week, including Brain Breaks, demonstrations with Liquid Nitrogen and a Careers Talk on Friday featuring Nursing, Engineering and Environmental Science.

REMINDERS | Another very busy few weeks!

AEROBICS | Good luck to our teams who arrived in Adelaide yesterday all set for the National Aerobics Championships this weekend! Go Leo's!🤸🤸‍♀️🤸‍♂️🏅🏆

LAST MORNING | Good morning from Year 8 as they enjoy the last few hours of camp before heading home this afternoon.

ABBEY RETREAT | Today our small group of Year 11 students on retreat at the Abbey were privileged to have a 2-hour session with Mother Hilda - a true woman of faith! Along with Mr Gleeson, Rev Gomez and Mrs Kofron, they joined the Benedictine community at 1pm and at 5pm.
Tomorrow is an early start with 5am prayers in the Benedictine Church there at Jamberoo, but tonight they enjoyed a delicious communal dinner!

YEAR 8 CAMP | Year 8 are enjoying all sorts of new experiences at camp. Today's included kayaking, archery, abseiling, the giant swing and other games requiring skill and teamwork.

MONDAY MORNING | Lots of buzz outside The Light of Christ Centre this morning as Year 12 patiently waited for Year 8 to head off on camp before they began the first of their HSC Trial papers.
Good luck Year 12, and have a great camp Year 8!

Huge congratulations to sisters Milla and Maddi D (Year 12) on winning Gold with the NSW All Schools Softball team!
Following the tournament, Milla was also selected in the All Australian team!
A fantastic achievement by both of you!

LEARNING PARTNERSHIPS | Thank you to all those Year 7-10 parents and students who took the time to attend our second Parent/Student/Teacher Conference evening tonight - the 'in person' option (as opposed to last week's online meetings).
It was wonderful to see students so engaged in discussions about their learning.
Thank you teachers for your time also this evening and of course, for your ongoing commitment to your students and improving their learning outcomes each day.

DANCE | Another successful weekend outing for our dancers at the Ryde Eisteddfod today!
Congratulations to the Pride Hip Hop crew who placed 2nd, and Pride Jazz and St Leo’s Company who both received Highly Commended awards.
Congratulations also to Lions Jazz and Hip Hop for winning the prestigious Edna Wilde Scholarship for St Leo’s!
Well done to all students who participated and thank you to Mrs Field, Ms Bianca, Ms Tyler and Ms Fia (Year 11 student teacher) for your hard work and dedication.

NAIDOC WEEK | During Community Time this week, students and staff gathered on the Lower Oval to acknowledge NAIDOC Week, which was celebrated during the school holidays.
We were privileged to have Adam from Bush to Bowl perform a Smoking Ceremony for us and explain their significance to indigenous communities.
Following the Smoking Ceremony, Macquarie University representative Hayden presented Year 11 student Taylah with an Early Entry offer to the Macquarie course of her choice after she successfully completed a specialist program alongside her school studies. Congratulations Taylah!
Finally, a commissioned artwork named 'Connection through fire' by emerging Dharug artist Paige Stubbs was presented to the College. Featuring traditional Aboriginal symbols and incorporating St Leo's colours, the artwork symbolises our community meeting together and connecting around a fire.

START OF TERM 3 | Week 1 & 2 Events!

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS 2 | The holidays are always an opportunity for our hardworking Facilities team to get ahead with the considerable maintenance and cleaning required for the upkeep of our beautiful six hectare campus.
Along with general maintenance and cleaning activities, this holiday break sees the long-awaited renovation of the Aquinas House bathrooms - well underway as you can see!

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS 1 | The College campus had been a busy place during the break!
Year 12 students have been making the most of a series of HSC Holiday Workshops in the lead up to their HSC Trial Exams in a few weeks.
Thanks to our wonderful and dedicated teachers, revision/study classes are being offered for 16 subjects across every day of the holidays, giving students the opportunity to fine tune their learning, major works/performances and exam techniques to show their very best come exam time.

DANCE | Congratulations to our Pride Pom Dance Team who competed in their very first competition today - and came away with First Place as well as being crowned Grand Champions for their division!
The team performed at an incredibly high level and scored zero deductions for their routine at the Cheercon NSW Icebreaker Cheer and Dance Competition in Sydney Olympic Park.
Well done to both the girls and their very happy coaches, Mrs Field & Ms McNay.

TOWARDS 2025 | St Leo's staff and visitors from Mater Maria Catholic College, Mercy Catholic College, Chatswood, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic School, Waitara, St Bernard's Catholic Primary School and CSBB Workstreams are at The Light of Christ Centre for the last day of term. We are all ready to link with our colleagues online for the next important steps in our CSBB journey and looking forward to this wonderful opportunity to collaborate across the system.

ASSEMBLY | At today's assembly, Ms Sophie Smith from Running for Premature Babies gave a heartful talk demonstrating how tragedy can be turned into good with strength and determination.
We then acknowledged a range of recent sporting successes, along with the amazing fundraising achievements of students involved in the Vinnies Winer Sleepout.

NETBALL CHAMPS | Today our U18s Girls team became Peninsula Cup Netball Champions! Great work girls!

CLASS OF 2026 | A busy night for Year 10 students and their families as they meet with their teachers to discuss their subject selection options for Years 11 and 12.

CAREERS & PATHWAYS | Plenty of interest from students across the year groups in today's presentation by Macquarie University about their various study options and pathways, including early entry programs.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL | Last Thursday our students and staff enjoyed a wonderful day at Foxglove Oval for our annual Athletics Carnival.
Whether participating in Championship or Novelty events, everyone enjoyed a bit of healthy competition and the opportunity to spend the day outdoors.
Results will be announced at the week's College Assembly.

TERM 2 | A reminder that students return from holidays this coming Tuesday, 30 April in full winter uniform.
We look forward to welcoming you back for a great Term 2!