As Term 3 draws to a close and we welcome the first signs of spring, there’s a renewed sense of energy and optimism in the air. The longer days and (slightly) warmer sunshine serve as a fitting backdrop to reflect on the achievements and celebrations of the past term.

Father's Day Breakfast

On Thursday morning, 4th of September, we had a fun and sentimental Fathers day Breakfast. Many students bought in their male role models, and we expressed together how much they mean to us. The morning consisted of many different and meaningful speeches presented by students who spoke gratuitously about the special men in their lives. Thank you to all the SRC students that helped, and managed to make the space welcoming and loving for our amazing mentors in life. Thank you to the students that spoke about their supporting father figures, and helped to share the load of setting up.

Luella De Vere
Year 8 Cardijn

Year 8 SIS Boys Footy

Footy this year went great. The boys from Tyabb had a great season filled with fun, teamwork and lollies; the team worked really well together making sure everyone had fun and got to play a certain role. In Round 1 against Padua Rosebud, we won by two points. It was a close game but great for the first round. In Round Two we played against Woodleigh and won by a massive 116 points. In Round 3 Tyabb won against Bayside Christian College by 96 points and didn't even let them score till half time! In Round 4 our boys had a great game against Casey winning by over 55 points, although unfortunately we had to forfeit due to a shortage of players.

In the end the Year 8 SIS boys footy was a heap of fun and was great to see everyone working as a team.

Jayden Briggs
Year 8 Geoghegan

Book in a Day

Last Friday a group of students volunteered and were selected for the Book in a Day SIS competition. This competition includes a writers workshop to learn different writing techniques to use in our stories and gain inspiration from a handle of respected authors , the writing day where we all come back together to start our stories in our team, and the presentation day, where the winners are announced and we get back our work. This experience is such a good opportunity for inspiring writers to use their talents to produce a heartfelt and well structured story that follows the prompt in just a short day.

Ava Rogers
Year 8 Geoghegan

Art Exhibition

It gives me great pleasure to share some wonderful news from the August Art Attack exhibition, where nine of our talented art students proudly represented our campus. This year’s event was the largest exhibition ever held by the Crib Point Community House, with record numbers of entries and sales. Our students’ contributions stood out, receiving high praise from both organisers and visitors.

Highlights included:

• Kalani Love’s “Meerkats” – awarded a Special Mention by the judges.
• Luella De Vere’s “King Maximus” – also awarded a Special Mention and sold on the day.
• Callum Riddell – exhibited his first-ever oil painting of sunflowers and also sold a large acrylic painting of a tulip.

Several professional artists approached me during collection to compliment the quality of our students’ artworks, with many remarking on the beauty and maturity of their pieces. Notably, Abbie Karnatz’s “Kookaburra” sparked personal reflections for two artists who recalled their own first watercolours of kookaburras — testament to the emotional impact of her work.

Below is the full list of students who took part, along with their exhibited artworks:

Please join me in congratulating these students on their artistic efforts, creativity, and courage in exhibiting their work to the wider community.

Ms Bree Colcott
Art Teacher

SIS Debating

As part of the SIS debating competition, our Tyabb debate team had the opportunity to represent Padua at the Mornington Campus and compete against other schools in the districts. Our team spent weeks preparing debates about the topics given and learned skills and techniques for public speaking and structuring a speech. Overall, the day was so much fun and an amazing opportunity for our team. A lot was learnt, especially for our first time debaters and we hope to introduce more public speaking throughout the year at Tyabb.

Ava Rogers, Year 8 Geoghegan

Cows Create Careers

The subject Plants and Animals isn’t just a subject about raising and caring for animals, but also about how these animals support us daily. The Subject covers the dairy industry and how modern technology helps farmers every single day and changes the way we receive milk. When we were offered the opportunity to make 3D models about the dairy industry, I knew exactly how I wished to portray mine. The 3D model I made contained the process of how milk goes from farm to shop, and shows four of the main stages of milk being produced from a milk rotator, dairy factory, milk truck driver and a shop with milk bottles on sale. I spent over three weeks planning, building and perfecting my model so when the time for it to be entered for the South Gippsland region, it would stand out from the herd. My 3d model won for our region and will be entered for the national prize, where I go up against the whole country. My model was inspired by our two calves Masiy and Dasiy, as they always flicked dirt up onto themselves so on my milking cows, they have dirt all over them to represent that. This win meant a lot to me and goes to show that if you work hard and put in the effort, you will get far. I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who helped me come up with the concept for my project and my amazing teacher, Mr Johnstone, who made the subject so fascinating.'

Phoebe Purcell-Norton
Year 9 Cardijn

Lawn Bowls

SIS Competition

On 5 August on a sunny Tuesday, five students representing Padua Tyabb Campus led by Callum Baird, Lance Currenti, Bailey Hogg, Ana Ballas and Ada Judd. The team went to a SIS (Southern Independent Schools) lawn bowls competition to represent their school at Karingal Bowls Club. The format was six sectional games playing triples, three ends per game with two members being rotated per game.

The Padua Tyabb team won five out of their six games and performed really well to finish second on the ladder out of 14 teams qualifying for a place in the final. They got into the grand final, unfortunately they had lost 2-6 against the stiff opposition. Finishing second means the team has been invited up to Sunbury, on the outskirts of Melbourne's North-West on Tuesday 2 September. They will play at state level and be playing other schools around all of Victoria.

Victorian School Super Series

On Tuesday 2 September, three of our students went to Sunbury Bowls Club in the North-West outskirts of Melbourne. They competed in a lawn bowls competition called Victorian School Super Series. The format was triples with 10 ends with three games that went for about 65 minutes, the lead, second/third and skip having two bowls each. The team was Ada Judd (leadi), Lance Currenti (second) and Callum Baird (skip).

The first game they played was a really good first win with the scoring eight to seven against PEGS. It was a really good game but they also played against two members that actually bowled at Sunbury. But Padua was superior by picking up three shots on the last end to win the game. The second game they played, the team unfortunately lost 12 to 5 against Phoenix P-12 Community College Purple. It was a really good game until the seventh end with the opposition picking up seven shots in three ends. The last third sectional game, Padua had a draw (6 to 6 playing against Whitefriars College.) It was a back and forth game but Padua picked up one shot on the last end to draw. If Padua didn’t draw that game they wouldn’t have been in the play off game trying to finish third on the ladder. The playoff game was an exciting game because St Bernard’s College had won two games out of three It started off with St Bernard’s getting a head start then when Padua got the mat, they went short with Ada and Lance getting their bowls in there, then Callum just having to add. It was 5 to 6 around the end but soon Padua started getting more shots which led them around to the eighth end, 10 to 6 in Padua’s favour. On the last end it was 11 to 6 but St Bernards picked up two shots on the last end which meant Padua won the playoff but also finished third on the ladder.

Callum Baird
Year 8 Geoghegan

Tyabb Basketball Association

Tyabb has offered their students to participate in a weekly lunchtime sport called TBA (Tyabb Basketball Association) which is a Tuesday and Monday lunchtime activity. The basketball games have been very fun and have drawn massive crowds making the atmosphere feel alive and crazy!

Zach Davies
Year 9 Doyle

The TYABB CROSS has arrived!

After 12 months of thoughtful reflection, rich discussion, careful planning and designing, we are delighted to unveil the Tyabb cross — now beautifully installed at the entrance to our administration building. This meaningful addition marks a significant moment for our community, and we’re excited to share it with you.

Why a cross you may ask when some of our other campuses have statues?

A cross is easily recognisable and clearly gives the message that this is a place of faith with a belief in Jesus as the Son of God who died on a cross and rose again – the cornerstone of our college as a Catholic school.

We are most grateful to all those who have contributed to the design process, construction and installation, and we look forward to welcoming our community to the official blessing of the cross and a date to be determined. In the meantime, please stop and have a closer look when you next visit the campus.

If you are interested, below is an explanation of the different features of the design.

The shape of the cross hints at a Celtic cross - a nod to the Sisters of Mercy founded in Ireland by Catherine McAuley and the religious order that established our school 127 years ago. The design patterns within it acknowledge and honour our college patron – St Anthony of Padua and the four House Patrons at Tyabb.

At the centre of the cross is the College logo, featuring the graphic logo representation of St Anthony of Padua holding the Christ Child. This image reflects St Anthony’s profound love for Christ and his closeness to God, serving as a powerful reminder that we, too, are called to carry Christ in our hearts and to be a model of faith and service to others, following the example of St Anthony.

At the base of the cross is the Doyle House logo, representing the Mercy House community upon whose foundations our College is built and whose charism is shared across the entire school. The House motto, "Friendship and loyalty in the service of others," serves as the guiding theme for both the base of the cross and the broader campus community.

At the top of the cross is the Geoghegan logo – The Franciscan community, to which our college patron was a member and also represents the other half of our college’s dual charism. The Geoghegan house logo clearly demonstrates their motto in which we are encouraged to ‘Live in Unity and peace’ flowing out through the top of the cross.

The arms of the cross hold deep significance, symbolizing Christ’s outstretched arms—once extended in sacrifice, now open in a loving and merciful embrace. As recipients of His boundless love, we are in turn called to be His hands in the world, extending that same love and mercy to others.

For this reason, at either end of the arms of the cross we have placed the logos of McCormack - Australian Church community house, and Cardijn - Modern Church community house, with both images presented in a more stylised form of their logo whilst still maintaining its essence.

Left arm – is the McCormack logo – we have taken the hand and heart elements which highlight their motto - ‘Effective action is a way of loving’, the hand reaching out with love – sharing the love of God to all.

Right arm - is the Cardijn logo. In this image a hand replaces the beam of the scales with only one pan of the scale hanging from it. This allows the Cardijn motto of ‘See, Judge, and Act’ to be visualised in both the weighing up of what needs to be done and then ‘acting’ with the hand making an offering and showing mercy.

The gum leaves, seeds and flowers are a reminder:

-that the cross on which Jesus died was one of wood

-that at Tyabb we place an emphasis on our environment and surroundings in keeping with the teaching of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’ and making the connection with not only our Australian flora but also the Indigenous heritage of the land on which our school stands.

-that we are the branches of God’s love and are connected to Him and rely on Him to grow in faith and produce good works (seeds/flowers) through our living out of the Gospel values just as our College and House patrons did.

The use of light is also a considered element. The cut outs of the images on the cross allow sunlight to flow through and also reflect the imagery on the surrounding concrete.

Artificial light fitted inside means that in the darkness not only do the images stand out as a feature but there is a sense of the warmth of God’s love and mercy radiating out to the viewer.

Mrs Anne-Marie Wilkinson

Student Photo Permissions

At times, photographs or videos of our students will be published in newsletters, on the school intranet or website, or in our social media. Copies of our Standard Collection Notice and Privacy Policy are available on the College website in the Enrolments section of our Policies page. Please note that consent to use these images in this way, if provided at enrolment, may be withdrawn at any time by contacting our marketing team via email: marketing@padua.vic.edu.au .