Newsletter

Year 11 students are to be commended in representing the College and pursuing their passions in a range of areas – athletics, public speaking and the arts and design. This involvement in the College co-curricular and enrichment program is an important aspect to school connectedness and is an important factor in student experience. This is an important facet towards overall engagement that studies have suggested has a strong correlative impact on academic achievement.

Recently, Year 11 students Ruby Collin, Sophie Hamilton, Sadie Neave and Catherine Wickham represented St Aloysius College at the Association of Co-educational Schools Athletics Championship. All students ran well and represented the College with pride, with a number of ‘personal bests’ recorded and notable placement for Catherine Wickham, who won her age group finals for the 200m sprint and placed second in the 100m sprint.

On Monday, St Aloysius college participated in ACS Athletics. Despite the wet weather during the morning, by the time all the events started, the weather changed to be warm and sunny. Everyone had a good time competing in all the different events and cheering on our fellow teammates as they completed their events.
Catherine Wickham (Year 11)

Another commendable achievement was Sofia Jorquera’s performance at the English Plain Speaking Competition hosted at Overnewton College. Sofia spoke eloquently on a topic that she was passionate about [name of topic here]. Below is a reflection on her experience, noting her reflections that it was valuable to not only present her own ideas, but to learn from students from the Association of Co-educational Schools:

It was a great day, and a really interesting opportunity to be able to discuss issues that were important to us. It was great being able to meet and talk to the other school's competitors and it was really interesting listening to their speeches as well! It was a really valuable experience, being able to meet so many talented public speakers, hear their advice, and learn new skills, and I learnt a lot about the different topics that were spoken about by each participant.
Sofia Jorquera (Year 11)

In the art and design field, students in the VET fashion course have been working studiously on their ongoing design projects. The creative energy and enthusiasm is reflected in some sartorial garments that combine a range of materials, design techniques and principles and verve. Below is a student reflection from Year 11 student Elvie Wake on her experience:

Recently in VET Fashion Year 2 we have been designing and producing garments of our choice. The design process begins with client profiles and design briefs to establish the wants and needs of the person we are designing for, and is then followed by research into fashion trends, styles and aesthetics. After completing multiple sketches and design options on paper, it's time to begin sewing. The piece that I have made is a tiered floral skirt with lots of gathers in it. Everything the class produces will be displayed at the end of the year in the Arts and Technology Exhibition.
Elvie W (Year 11)

Year 12 student, Gabriella Bakos, recently featured in a Herald Sun article about her ambitious plans to become a home owner by 21 years of age. On Friday 24 May, Gabriella shared her aim, experience and learning from her financial goal setting, as well as providing information about the first homebuyers scheme available to support young first home buyers. Gabriella spoke to the kind of thinking, organisation and self-discipline with spending for asset creation.

Below is an exceprt from Gabriella’s speech that may well be an invitation to other Year 12 students into a wider conversation about their future plans and aspirations for entry into the property market, financial literacy and wealth creation. This is a commendable achievement by Gabriella and the Year 11 students were grateful (and amazed) at Gabriella’s saving self-discipline and property insights.

I think that these different types of ways to make money aren't really something that younger people like teenagers or people in their 20s prioritise too much as it seems a bit too farfetched and something for more experienced, older adults.

Obviously there are many things that make it difficult to purchase a house with the cost of living crisis, some people might move out of home straight after high school so they're paying rent, some people may not have the time or energy to work enough hours in a part time job, so it does take a bit of planning and dedication, although it's not completely impossible at this early stage. It is definitely achievable to buy a property as an investment soon, as there are some properties on the market that are cheap and have high rents.

Something that a lot of people don't know heaps about, especially younger people, is that the government offers incentives for first home buyers such as offering a 5% deposit guarantee (meaning that you can make a down payment as little as 5%), and the other offer is for first home buyers to not pay no stamp duty up to a limit of $600,000 (stamp duty is government tax on all properties). Typically, a buyer need a 20% deposit, but for first home buyers it can be 5%.

The thought of having the responsibility of owning a house and paying a mortgage when your 21 sounds super scary because its a big commitment that you can't back out of, but if you can find a house or apartment that is cheap enough to pay the 5% deposit, and have the rent cover the cost of the mortgage and the bills, then the stress of managing your money is lowered.

To be clear, this property could be occupied by tenants, or you could live in it and house share with someone else paying rent. I'm trying to aim to buy a cheap, old two-bedroom apartment, that are on the market for as low as $400,000, and what is 5% of that? $20,000. Saving $20,000 between me now at 17 and me when I'm 21 is not a huge sacrifice, and I think that lots of people my age could do it.

I am definitely not an expert on this topic and I’ve been fortunate to receive important advice from my mum who is in the property industry, as a buyer’s advocate.