From our Head of School

Naming this magazine, Inspired, is a risk. The etymology of the word, first points to the Latin term inspirare and then on to the Greek and Biblical term pnein, both of which mean to be filled with the breath of or moved by the Divine.

Yet, when you read what comes next, you will realise it is a risk worth taking.

St Andrew’s is no ordinary school; it is an inspired school.

St Andrew’s is no ordinary school; it is an inspired school. In the truest sense of the word, it is a school that is filled with and moved by the spirit of God. We call it ‘the SACS spirit’. It is the feeling in the school that you cannot articulate. It is the binding force that grows our community, that lifts our heads up, that fills us with joy, that moves our creativity and that makes the education that occurs, immeasurable.  

What you will read in the pages that follow are some of the stories of those who inspire and are inspired. Read deeply, read slowly and you too will be inspired.

Confronting the Big Questions

Following discussions with students about the themes that are of deep relevance and importance to their lives, a range of potential topics were raised. One of these critical topics was around the environment, and more specifically, how can we be better stewards of our environment? This emerged as the ideal first topic for our Big Questions seminar. What’s more, two incredible resources within the School community – Pastor Ray Minniecon and Dr Andrew McGonigle – both have a wealth of expertise to offer insights in exploring the area of environmental protection and management. Thus, the event was born.

“The fascinating interplay of these two experts, who have very different life and education experiences, was too good an opportunity to miss.”

Dr Julie McGonigle, Head of School

“We’re on a bus with no brakes and we don’t even have access to the steering wheel,” said Gawura co-founder, Pastor Ray Minniecon, an Aboriginal Elder and Australian representative at COP26. “Reconciliation is not only with each other, our past, our stories and our history, but there is also reconciliation to address with our environment and our creator.”  

– Pastor Ray Minniecon

Fabulous feedback

Head of Science, Ms Melinda Mestre said, “It is our responsibility as educators to develop the next generation who look after Country using the vast knowledge that our First Nations peoples hold. As Pastor Ray mentioned, our future success in dealing with climate change lies with the authority of our young.”

Mr Matthew Noble, an Old Andrean and teacher at the School said, “It was a great event and I am glad I came. I loved that it was able to harness the compassion and curiosity of our school into action and hope for such a big issue.”

“It is our responsibility as educators to develop the next generation who look after Country using the vast knowledge that our First Nations peoples hold. As Pastor Ray mentioned, our future success in dealing with climate change lies with the authority of our young.”

Ms Melinda Mestre, Head of Science

Year 10 student Jamie explained, “I thought tonight was very powerful, there were a lot of powerful statements. It is so helpful to see people from our community in a tangible way, it’s inspirational.”

Aboriginal Studies and Humanities Teacher Ms Belinda Jarvis said, “It was enlightening. I enjoyed that the event was not a debate on whether climate change exists or whose opinion is most correct; it was just a genuine exploration of different perspectives.”

“Pastor Ray and Dr Andrew McGonigle were the perfect blend – of science, nature, respect and care for each other, us and our planet… It was deep yet uplifting, serious yet inspiring.”

Ms Susan Bannister, Parent

Year 10 student Julia, said, “I thought it was a really interesting insight into different perspectives on the issue of climate change and how we can tackle it using technology and information from First Nations peoples.”

Susan, a parent of the school who attended the event said, “Pastor Ray and Dr Andrew McGonigle were the perfect blend – of science, nature, respect and care for each other, us and our planet… It was deep yet uplifting, serious yet inspiring.”

Supporting the School’s vision to “inspire students to be passionate, creative learners who engage with the message of Christ and fully develop their gifts and abilities in order to serve in the world,” this series showcases the School as one that “develops resilient change-makers.” 

Big Questions aims to provide the School community with an opportunity to hear from guests with expertise in topical issues that impact our world. The Q&A format encourages dynamic and interesting conversations, allowing a depth of discussion and engagement with the audience that leads to a shared sense of responsibility and collaboration.

---

Meet our guest speakers

---

Dr Andrew McGonigle joined Pastor Ray at the seminar, he is an award-winning volcanologist and inventor who understands the complex interplay of different environmental forces.

Wheelchair sports action expands horizons

“We initially trialed the workshop with our Physical Activity and Sports Studies (PASS) course and the feedback from students has been so positive that we decided to implement it with all of our Year 10 PDHPE classes,” says the Head of PDHPE, Mr Bow Robertson.

“We then integrated this workshop into a unit of learning based around inclusiveness, which also involved developing specific skills and Character Strengths; being servant-hearted and open-minded in their approach to learning, while also being persistent and communicative in learning the new skills.”

“Shooting was particularly challenging because the perspective was different and you had to use more upper body strength to get the ball to hoop height.”

– Ilia Campbell

There is much deeper learning that takes place too, with students not only learning some of the skills involved in wheelchair sport but also how sports can be adapted to cater for different levels of ability. They also heard personal stories from participants who have had to overcome many obstacles, both physical and social, to participate in disability sports.

Year 10 students Oliver Frederick, Ilia Campbell, Aaron Parsons and Connor Nelson expected it would be hard to manoeuvre the wheelchair but underestimated how physically demanding it would be.

“Learning how to use the wheelchair was really enjoyable but the most challenging aspect was the constant moving back and forth up and down the court – I had pain in muscles I never knew existed,” Oliver says.

Ilia says shooting baskets was the most difficult thing for her. “It was interesting to play a sport I’m familiar with in a new way that uses different skills and strengths,” she says. “Shooting was particularly challenging because the perspective was different and you had to use more upper body strength to get the ball to hoop height. You also had to have lots of strength in your fingers to keep yourself moving forwards for the whole game.”

Connor says adaptive sports are a lot more fun to play than he expected. “It was really challenging going around the field past other wheelchairs and shooting, what was interesting was that the height of players is no longer a factor. The teamwork element was really fun too.”

Aaron said it was good to realise that even though people can be born with limitations, they are still able to play a variety of sports. “It was fun but I didn’t think it would be that hard,” he says.

Ilia observed: “It’s a lot harder to play sport with a disability and these adapted sports are really a different sport because of the change in the rules and the different skills required.”

Along with the rules and skills learnt, the students also gain an understanding of how people can adapt to situations and overcome adversity and disadvantage throughout their lives, says Mr Robertson.

“It was really challenging going around the field past other wheelchairs and shooting, what was interesting was that the height of players was no longer a factor. The teamwork element was really fun too.”

– Year 10 student Connor Nelson

Students in Stage 5 PDHPE (Years 9 and 10) also learn about the disadvantages and exclusion that often takes place for those who are homeless who want to play sport.

“Students participate in a Big Issue workshop, with some of the presenters being part of the Community Street Soccer Program – an initiative that brings marginalised members of the community together to play sport,” Mr Robertson explains. The students learn about some of the challenges that people face and the importance of social inclusion for those who are homeless or marginalised.”

In the future, he says they are exploring the possibility of students participating in Goalball, which is coordinated by Sydney University. “We have also organised excursions to wheelchair sports tournaments and are always looking for ways to link these valuable learning experiences with the curriculum,” Mr Robertson says.

Blocking out distractions is key to classroom focus

“‘Focus’ lies at the root of success in almost every area of life, not least academic success,” Dr McGonigle says. “Our working memory and our ability to focus is very limited, so classrooms need to be set up with certain routines and practices that minimise distractions.

“I have regularly spoken to teachers about explicit teaching and cognitive load theory, which is closely tied to ‘focus’. Focus in class is absolutely critical for learning tasks to enter working memory and then be transferred into long-term memory.

“One of the strategies we are embedding into teaching practice is ensuring there is just one learning stimulus in the classroom. Research has proven that split attention with multiple learning platforms is ineffective and results in a student’s working memory being kept busy trying to decide which stimulus to focus on (eg. presenting Powerpoints with lots of text while also speaking to the class).

“Research has proven that split attention with multiple learning platforms is ineffective and results in a student’s working memory being kept busy trying to decide which stimulus to focus on.”

– Head of School Dr Julie McGonigle

“If you give students too much load on their working memory, they just don’t take it in and teachers can make that mistake; they think they have got to give students lots of stimulus but it simply doesn’t work.”

So what other strategies is St Andrew’s Cathedral School employing to improve its students’ focus and learning?

1. We are firstly explicitly teaching students how they learn (metacognition), so they learn how they learn. This is a proven strategy that has a high impact on improving academic outcomes.
2. We encourage students to have a strict time for learning at home each evening when their phone is switched off – letting their friends know these times, is a key to successfully implementing this strategy.
3. We encourage parents to be their child’s study buddy – helping them decide what they are going to study in a session, remembering bite-sized chunks is more valuable than too much content, and then to test them at the end.
4. Ensure breaks from study include physical exercise or a creative pursuit that doesn’t involve a screen, giving their brains a chance to refresh.

One of the most important things to remember is that focus can be improved,” Dr McGonigle says. “While we may currently have attention deficit, we can exercise and improve our focus using the methods above and this ultimately drives the achievement of our personal best.”

---

What is focus and how can we improve it?

The author of Focus: The hidden driver of Excellence, Daniel Goleman, says we need to first understand how our brains work to truly understand what focus is. He directs us to, “two semi-independent, largely separate mental systems” within our brain. One of these systems is related to the sub-cortex, lower brain, and operates almost without us realising that it’s there. This is often referred to as the “bottom-up mind”: the part of our brain that executes habitual routines, intuitions and impulses. The other system is related to our neo-cortex, upper brain, and is the system which we are aware of operating. This is referred to as the top-down mind: the seat of self-control, effort, planning and new learning. This upper brain system has the ability to overpower our automatic routines and our emotionally driven impulses.

The ability to focus involves a careful dance between these two systems.

The conscious selection of something to focus on begins in our top-down mind. In order to do so we have to do three things:

1. Close down the sensory distractors in the world around us;
2. Minimise the amount that we are focusing on;
3. Close down the emotional distractors in the world within us.

The first of these points is familiar to most people – if we wish to focus on something we need to not be distracted by anything we hear, see, smell or touch in the world around us. For young people who wish to focus on their academics, a quiet, open space is ideal.

The second point relates to cognitive overload. Our mental system has a relatively small capacity and cannot hold a lot of information at once. At any one time this ‘top-down’ system can only hold around five pieces of information or foci. Cognitive scientists have proven that no one can focus on many things at once. Multi-tasking is a fallacy. Those who claim to be good multi-taskers are people who are able to switch from one task to the next quickly. However, the problem with this constant switching is that it saps attention, which does not lead to deep learning and in many cases, may lead to no learning at all. Also, the shorter our focus time, the shallower our thinking will be. 

The third part of focus involves the bottom-up mental system, which has a far greater capacity than the top-down system. Therefore, our conscious focus has to be extremely strong or we need to tame the bottom-up system and close down our emotional distractors in our world.

How do we tame the bottom-up system?

The bottom-up system is the seat of our emotions and the moment that we try to consciously focus on something, our emotional anxieties and uncomfortable or unresolved relationships will strongly fight for our attention. There are two kinds of people in this category – those who are able to box off their emotions and those who are positive, secure and at peace in their relationships.

Listen to author Daniel Goleman present on Focus – the hidden driver of excellence

Over the last decade a great deal of research has shown that if you wish to accelerate a students’ learning, they need to be emotionally at peace in the classroom. The same is true at home and amongst their peers. Emotional turbulence or anxiety will be a strong distractor from their ability to focus and, therefore, learn.

The good news is that voluntary strong focus can also overcome emotional turbulence and we are able to get engrossed in growing our brains. In the best cases, this leads to what is termed ‘flow’. This is when our voluntary focus aligns with what we enjoy. Of course this is a virtuous circle in that the more we have strong voluntary focus the more we will gain automaticity, which will lead to enjoyment and then alignment with our voluntary focus. 

Humanities gets to the heart of hard questions

The proposed Voice to Parliament – the upcoming referendum giving Constitutional recognition and an official voice to First Nations peoples in the Australian Parliament – makes for a perfect curriculum case study in many Humanities subjects.  

The Head of Humanities Michael Neate says the issue provides valuable learning as there are two sides of the debate to explore and the topic can be examined through multiple lenses and perspectives.

“Due to its currency, the topic hasn’t been officially incorporated in the curriculum or units of study, but it is a valuable and topical case study for various areas of the curriculum,” Mr Neate says.

“Due to its currency, the topic hasn’t been officially incorporated in the curriculum or units of study, but it is a valuable and topical case study for various areas of the curriculum.”

– Head of Humanities, Michael Neate

“In Legal Studies, we’ve looked at a range of perspectives, from various Aboriginal elders to politicians with differing points of view and members of the legal fraternity. We’ve looked at why some are of the view that a Voice would not actually address the underlying issues of disadvantage which First Nations people face, and also the claims by those affirming the necessity of this being part of the Australian Constitution.”

“In Year 11 last year, it was topical during our initial examination of law-making processes and institutions, which includes a comparison of Aboriginal customary laws and contemporary Australian laws and our investigation of the extent to which Aboriginal customary laws have been integrated into Australian law. We also discussed the Prime Minister’s promise in August 2022 to take the Voice to Parliament to a referendum during our discussion of the effectiveness of law reform in achieving justice, with a particular focus on human rights and anti-discrimination laws.”

“In Year 12 Legal Studies, we examine the Uluru Statement from the Heart as we assess the nature of the interrelationship between the legal system and society and evaluate the effectiveness of the law in achieving justice.”

Legal Studies teacher Mrs Penny Austin, who also teaches the IB Diploma subjects Global Politics and Global Studies in the Senior College, says she has structured a series of lessons for her classes that examine a range of supporting and opposing views of Indigenous and non-Indigenous spokespeople on the issue.

“Students have expressed enthusiasm for investigating an issue they have heard about in the news,” Mrs Austin says. “Many have said their knowledge of the complexities of the issue has grown as a result, and they have found looking at a range of perspectives has helped broaden their understanding. Many have come to class eager to share the latest developments, including the proposed wording when it was announced.”

“We’ve watched segments of ABC’s Q&A and read a range of media articles, while also referencing the websites that share details of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.”

While there are a growing number of resources now available on the issue, Mr Neate says it is always important to present both sides of any issue and the differing perspectives in order to give students a platform to discuss and debate it and form their own opinions.

“We have mostly used media articles and documentaries (ABC and SBS) to promote discussion on the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Voice to Parliament,” he says. “Students are really keen to understand the issue, and the thinking and class discussion leads to deeper learning and helps students develop well-informed opinions, backed by the current research available.”

“Many students have said their knowledge of the complexities of the issue has grown as a result, and they have found looking at a range of perspectives has helped broaden their understanding. Many have come to class eager to share the latest developments, including the proposed wording when it was announced.”

– Legal Studies teacher Penny Austin

Other Humanities subjects where the Voice has been discussed are Year 10 History, Year 11 and 12 Society and Culture and Year 9 and 10 Aboriginal Studies.

In Year 10 History, the ‘Rights and Freedoms’ syllabus unit doesn’t currently extend to modern times (it pauses around the Apology in 2008), however, teachers included the Voice in class discussions at the end of the unit last year and are currently planning more structured ways for students to meaningfully engage with the issue at the end of the topic in Term 3.

In Aboriginal Studies, the class has discussed the Voice and shared the implications of a Constitutional change, and also discussed reasons why some Aboriginal MPs do not support it.

In Society and Culture, the Voice was discussed informally as part of the ‘Equality and Inequality’ topic, where Australia’s First Nations people have been selected as the case study. 

“It’s much too new to have been incorporated into syllabus at this stage,” Mr Neate says, “But we can’t miss the opportunity to discuss such an important current issue with students.”

Music tour creates incredible life-long memories

A range of ensembles performed throughout the tour, including a Mass Choir (all musicians), Chamber Choir, String Ensemble, String Quartet, Flute Ensemble, Flute Quintet, Saxophone Ensemble and Cello Ensemble, alongside a variety of solo performers.

Dr Christian Watson, Director of Performing Arts described the purpose of the tour as, “to build the School’s already exceptional music standards through world-class educational opportunities in another culture. A St Andrew’s Music Tour provides a unique opportunity allowing students to experience, first hand, the music and cultural artefacts of other countries to further develop a strong culture of learning and growth in the music department”.

The experiences on tour had a profound impact on students, and a handful have shared their tour highlights below.

Student reflections

Watch Isabella perform the Four Seasons ‘Summer Movement’ violin solo piece by Vivaldi at the church of Santa Maria della Visitazione – the 18th century home to Vivaldi and where he composed and performed this piece.

Tour participants:

Chloe Badger	Joann Fetner	Je-Min McFadden
Sarah Baines	Jonty Garland	Innes McGonigle
Julius Beech	Megan Giles	Balan Mumbulla
William Bootes	Aurelia Gorman	Calvin Newling
Daniel Bott	Bella Gorman	Joel Nicholl
Nathan Burns	Noah Gorman	Ava Parker
Ilia Campbell	Daniel Gow	Grace Patching
Luke Campbell	Miah Graves	Liam Phengsavath
Sarah-Faith Chang	James Grennan	Amelia Plummer
Lachlan Chan	Elle Hadiprodjo	Ana Scott
Lucinda Chan	Isabella Heriot	Brendon Sim
Emma Chau	Aiden Herman	Ryan Sim
Chelsea Chow	Abigail Hodgson	James Small
Lavender Chow	Rory Hodgson	Henry Stanton
Christian Conway	Darius Hopwood	Mycroft Stewart
Amali Cooray	Bronte Jackson	Benjamin Su
Ruby Daley	Mike Jeon	Jacqueline Su
Isabel Darge	Kiran Joshi	Andrea Trahana
Catherine Dennis	David Kaploun	Emily Wang
Eva Dewar	David Kim	Ryuji Wang
Emma Diaz	Evelyn Kim	Mahé Ward
Yuze Ding	Luka Knight	Aliyannah Webb
Alexandra Doulgeris	Zoe Lane	Stanley Wills
Dashiel Drury	Jessica Langley	Erin Winsbury
Riley Dunlop	Zachary Lee	Lara Winsbury
Dashel Eck	Alfredo Liber	Anthony Wu
Leila El-Khoury	Benjamin Lin	Yuxin Xie
Natalia Elgar	Thomas Loughry	Jeanyoung Yoo
	Raeleigh Magee

Staff:

Ms Szu Yu Chen	Mr Jayson McBride	Ms Sandi Oh
Ms Andrea Kuburic	Mr Ben Milis	Mr Yosiah Oshiro
Dr Kirsten Macaulay	Mrs Jen Nelson	Dr Christian Watson

Students immersed in holiday education

What prompted you to enter the competition?

What was your essay topic and what inspired you to write about it?

Anais: The essay topic I chose was for creative writing and it focused on what key attributes make a protagonist likeable. I drew from some well-known literary examples like Harry Potter and used this to display that protagonists don’t share one common attitude but instead display elements that everyone can relate to and align with in some way.

Andrew: You could pick from a wide variety of questions for different topics. The essay question for the medicine topic was, “What is medical ethics?” so I explored contrasting views on the ‘do-not-resuscitate’ orders. I was really interested in this topic, and it helped to do a wide variety of reading before I decided on my specific focus.

What did you learn from the programme?

How do you think the experience will help you with your studies this year and into the future?

Paving the way to meaningful careers

What careers advice do our students receive and when is your first official contact with them?

The formal process of further study and career development exploration commences in Year 10 with the comprehensive career assessment programme, which is followed by course and subject selection for Years 11 and 12.

Half of my role is dedicated to Pathways, which is the management of external courses and students who undertake these. Between Years 10-12, a comprehensive programme of events, seminars and workshops are offered to students. As students near the end of their schooling, I meet with each student to discuss their pathway beyond school.

“Subject choices, academic progress and performance, temperament, personal interests, world view and other factors are considered as part of a holistic approach to career counselling.”

Head of Careers and Pathways, Mr Des Sinovich.

“I encourage students to explore their options widely with an open mind. Focus on the best starting point for further study and career development and go from there.”

Mr Sinovich

How do you recommend students narrow down their options when there is so much information out there?

Course choice is always more important than choice of location. An area of interest explored through the most suitable and appropriate course will keep one inspired, not a location or a building.

It’s important for students to have realistic aspirations and I aim to explore these with them, based on their subject choices, (academic) performance, interests and world view.

What advice would you have for students and their parents who are not sure what path they would like to take after Year 12?

For students, I would encourage them to explore their options widely with an open mind. Focus on the best starting point for further study and career development and go from there. I advise students to expect change and embrace it, and don’t waste time and energy on things beyond your control. Also, be kind to yourself; the road to achievement and success is always under construction and the expert in anything was once a beginner.

For parents, listen to your child, have curious conversations and explore their choices with them.

Professional learning continues to flourish

How did your journey at St Andrew’s Cathedral School begin?

DH: St Andrew’s was (and still is) the ‘Dream School.’ A school that is built on over 130 years of musical foundation and Christian teaching – I had to find out more. I was drawn to the choristers, the classroom music program, and the city-based location. In 2014, the perfect job advertisement appeared in the newspaper – “Seeking a Mandarin Chinese teacher to start the Mandarin Chinese program” and a concurrent advertisement for a “Secondary Music Teacher” at St Andrew’s Cathedral School (I still have the advertisement I cut out of the paper!). I couldn’t believe what I was reading – the dream job at the dream school! I interviewed for the job two days before my husband and I were to be married, in St Andrew’s Cathedral! I couldn’t have received a clearer sign from God – I think it was meant to be. Eight years later, here we are.

Tell me about your new role, what does it involve?

DH: As the Director of Teaching, I primarily work with teachers in the Secondary School (7-12). The role involves supporting staff through various levels of accreditation and working collaboratively to support teachers as they grow in their classroom practice. In addition to this, I am a classroom Music and Chinese teacher.

PS: My role as the Coordinator of Teaching and Learning is to focus on implementing the Teaching and Learning Model that shapes the learning experience of the students in our Junior School. I support and monitor staff seeking different levels of accreditation as well as guiding our early-career teachers and interns. I also conduct coaching sessions, working with teachers and their classes to create change that will positively impact student outcomes.

How am I growing the Character Strengths of persistence and courage? The ability to persist with learning is something that develops over time, and modelling this to students is critical.

Mrs Dominique Haynes, Director of Teaching (Secondary)

What are you passionate about?

DH: Many things! If we talk about what I’m passionate about as a teacher, it would be student experience in the classroom. How am I growing the Character Strengths of Persistence and Courage? The ability to persist with learning is something that develops over time, and modelling this to students is critical. Courage as a musician and language learner is key to success – just give it a go!

PS: I believe ‘All students deserve great teachers not by chance but by design’ (Douglas Fisher) and I relish the opportunity to work with staff to support, encourage and celebrate with them, being educators who are impactful and continuously improving. I have a desire for all staff and students to flourish and thrive. Each child is recognised and challenged so that they can fulfil their true potential. I’m passionate about creating an educational space that encourages our students to develop into people of courage, conviction and compassion. 

I have a desire for all staff and students to flourish and for each child to be recognised and challenged so that they can fulfil their true potential.

Ms Prue Sommer, Coordinator of Teaching and Learning (Junior School)

What do you love most about St Andrew’s Cathedral School?

DH: That’s simple – the staff and the students. I have worked in multiple roles at the School, across different departments and levels of leadership. The staff are talented, filled with hope and optimism, and are hard working. We help each other when we need it and can depend on each other – this is an important attribute in a workplace. Our students are all unique, fun, and clever in their own special ways. I love being in the classroom with them – they make me proud every single day.

PS: I love the community of St Andrew’s Cathedral School, where students and staff are valued as infinitely precious and are celebrated for their diversity. Working in a city school is wonderfully complex, steeped in history and I love that the vision of the School is based around our context. I certainly love watching educators grow and develop, with improvement in student outcomes at the centre of all we do. I absolutely love leaving school each night, sitting on the bus travelling over the harbour bridge enjoying the stunning sunsets with a warm feeling of contentment, knowing a great day of teaching and learning was had. 

What are you hoping to achieve in your role?

PS: Ultimately giving every opportunity for students to ‘change their stars’ (William Thatcher: Heath Ledger, A Knight’s Tale) so they can be the people God has ordained them to be. I am hoping to provide high-impact professional learning opportunities based around our Teaching and Learning model, where teachers can build on their expertise to encourage life-long learning.

DH: Professional learning is fun, and my aim is to plan and offer a variety of ways to access evidence based professional learning, with teachers walking away with strategies and resources that can be tried immediately to make their work life more sustainable.

Students discover new pathways at Learning the Ropes

Hosted on 1 June this year, the Learning the Ropes event commenced with a panel of graduates from 2011 and 2012 sharing their personal and very varied career journeys since leaving school. Studying in unusual ways at a variety of institutions, both in Sydney and overseas, their tales of straight, bumpy and curvy pathways since graduation were insightful and entertaining. It was a wonderful way to commence the evening and set the tone for the rest of the event.

“I wished this event existed when I was in school, which is why I come back and volunteer as a mentor every two years,” said Lynley Hurst (OA2013), who has a wealth of knowledge in the public health sector.

“My son was very motivated after speaking with a few industry professionals – he feels like he is headed in the right direction with a possible career path.”

– Year 12 parent

After the panel discussion, students and parents were invited to engage in casual conversations, either 1:1 or in small groups, with Old Andrean and Hessian volunteers (parents of Old Andreans), who were at various stages in their career journeys, across a wide range of industries. The relaxed conversations worked very well, with students confident to ask questions and discover some of the joys and pitfalls of both study and work.

Recent graduates from a variety of tertiary institutions were also in attendance to chat to students about their experiences of university life.

A programme with the biographies of each industry volunteer was made available prior to the event, allowing the students to select who they wished to speak to on the night.  

One Year 12 student who is unsure of her next steps said the programme was particularly helpful as she could choose who to speak to based on what school subjects she had in common with them, and those conversations gave her some new career ideas.

Out of the many conversations had, a number of students were offered work experience, mentoring and even internships.

“We are most grateful to be able to partner with our Old Andreans for this event,” said Director of Community Engagement Lyn Jarvis. “Building networks of connections between current students and graduates is invaluable.”

In profile: Andrew Goodwin

He rose through the ranks and became a Senior Chorister and St Nicholas medallist in 1993. Andrew was also a talented basketballer and represented the Independent Schools Association (ISA) when he was in Year 12, in 1996.

Andrew studied voice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before advancing his training at the St Petersburg State Conservatory. His career as an operatic tenor has seen him embrace a wide range of roles at some of the world’s greatest opera houses, including La Scala Milan, Gran Theatre Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid and our very own Sydney Opera House. Notably, he is the only westerner to perform the role of Lensky in Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

He has received critical acclaim for his performances in recordings for Pinchgut Opera, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s Boyarina Morozova. 

On the concert platform he has toured with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov and performed with every major Australian symphony orchestra. His repertoire runs the gamut from Baroque opera through Romantic oratorio to contemporary music. He is a passionate champion of lieder and art song, and has given recitals throughout Europe including at Wigmore Hall, Mariinsky Concert Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival and countless international festivals. With pianist Daniel De Borah, he has recorded Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise for ABC Classic FM. He has received critical acclaim for his performances in recordings for Pinchgut Opera, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s Boyarina Morozova. 

Andrew is also an acclaimed composer. St Andrew’s Cathedral Choir performed Andrew’s composition ‘Peace I leave with you’ at a Choral Evensong to mark the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Andrew is now a parent of the School, as well as an Old Andrean with his son Aleksander in Year 8, who is also a chorister. They continue the proud tradition of fathers and sons who have sung in the Cathedral Choir over more than 140 years.  

Andrew performs Handel’s Messiah at the Sydney Opera House in 2019.

Andrew sings Che Gelida Manina from Puccini’s La Boheme while driving.

In profile: Bre Graham

Bre particularly excelled in Drama and was selected for the 2011 HSC Onstage Showcase event, which recognised the best HSC performance works. She was one of only two student directors to be selected for Onstage.

Continuing her trailblazing path, Bre then moved to the UK for further study, reading English Language and Literature at Kings College, London. Now an accomplished writer and editor she has been published in Refinery 29, The Guardian, Riposte, Harper’s Bazaar, Timeout, NY Mag, and is currently the Lifestyle Editor at Courier Media based in London.

Bre regularly hosts podcasts, panels and supper clubs, and writes the hit newsletter Dishes to Delight – showcasing the joys of cooking and love. She comments that she spends almost all her time contemplating her next meal.

Bre regularly hosts podcasts, panels and supper clubs, and writes the hit newsletter Dishes to Delight – showcasing the joys of cooking and love.

More recently, Bre produced her first cookbook called Table for Two, showcasing recipes to cook for the people you love.

The cookbook has been described as “uncomplicated but outstanding in Part I, to over-the-top-but-no-stress cooking in Part II, Table for Two helps you impress at breakfast, lunch, aperitivo, dinner and dessert.”

With illustrated essays on topics like the simple pleasure of a delivery pizza, and breathtaking, multi-course menus catering for special occasions, Table for Two guides you through the moments you want to say: “I love you, let me feed you something that will make you feel good”.

We were thrilled to welcome Bre back to SACS earlier this year to speak to Senior College students about her career journey, as part of a series called “Gifted for a purpose”, which highlights different career paths post School.

Check out Bre’s book here – https://www.bregraham.com/book

Bre Graham at her Table for Two book launch in January 2023.

Stay connected with our schools