St Vincent de Paul Society

Now that the Year 10s have settled into their new location at Kinnoull, the focus for 2005 has been to maintain the number of quality resources in all curriculum areas to ensure that the print information needs of all students and staff are adequately met. New print resources purchased in 2005 for Kinnoull included around 350 fiction titles and around 75 non-fiction titles. The Faculties purchased a further 300 non-fiction titles for the Kinnoull Library. This is a significant reduction on 2004, but the purchase of good quality, relevant titles for the collection remains a priority. Subject areas for particular focus in 2005 included issues relted to Renaissance Italy, World War 2, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Iraqi War. The Tiverton collection gained around 500 fiction titles and 350 non-fiction titles. The Faculties purchased a further 100 non-fiction titles for the Tiverton Library. Particular focus was on Bible stories, religions, alternative energy, Aboriginal dreamtime stories, insects, animals, transport, art, fishing, the Australia-Pacific region, and Australian history. Major audio-visual purchases this year included two Multi-Media on Wheels units, one for each campus. These metal trolleys each house a data projector, amplifier, speakers, DVD and video players, and a place for an optional laptop computer. These have proved to be very popular with staff as they allow convenient, portable access to these valuable digital resources. New CD players have also been purchased for the LOTE faculty, and a new portable PA for the Kinnoull campus. The Science faculty has acquired two DVD players at Kinnoull, and four data projectors (two for Tiverton and two for Kinnoull). A data projector has also been installed in Room 423, one of the computer laboratories at Kinnoull, and four DVD players were also purchased for Building 4. At the end of 2004, we farewelled Ms Kylie Busk (Teacher-Librarian) who left the Library to pursue classroom teaching. Thank you to Ms Nicole Humphrey for replacing her for 2005. Our Parents’ Association committee looked forward to a busy year with some new ventures as well as our regular functions for all families of the College. We hoped to offer a range of different types of functions to accommodate our large and varied school community and thanks to your help and participation we feel we have achieved this goal. The Trivia Night theme this year was ‘Keep Your Hat On’ and there was a creative and colourful array of hats to be seen on the evening. Committee member Sharon Polson organised a great night of entertainment. Parents and staff relaxed and joined in the fun of singing and dancing as well as being challenged by a complex selection of questions in the quiz. The silent auction provided many guests with great rewards and the evening was voted a triumph both socially and financially. The Sportsmens’ Breakfast, with special guests, Trent Croad (1997), Paul Salmon and Nick Green, was a widely acclaimed success. Gerard Whateley (ABC sports commentator) hosted the morning and used his extensive knowledge of all sports to draw out some interesting stories from our guests. A great aspect of the morning was the sight of so many fathers and sons enjoying breakfast together. Special thanks needs to go to Ken Wilson (1971) for initiating and organising such a successful occasion.

De La Salle Parents’ Association

This year the Fashion Parade, coordinated by Liz Kortum (Parents’ Association President) with an enthusiastic committee of mothers and a talented group of models (most with day jobs in our classrooms and administration office) skilfully presented a ‘new look’ event. Guests could have imagined they were viewing ‘haute couture’ by a catwalk in Paris, instead of the De La Salle PAC. Gone were the round tables and in their place were rows of chairs lining a longer catwalk. This move, reflecting fashion parades conducted in the European style, was a great innovation and very successful. The evening was complemented as usual with lots of champagne and a delicious supper. We look forward to another year of being part of the De La Salle College community, working to bring parents together in friendship and supporting our sons’ school with the proceeds of our fundraising. Mrs Liz Kortum President