| Aquinas College Menai | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Menai, New South Wales, Australia | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent Co-Educational Secondary |
| Established | 1993 |
| Founder | Peter Turner |
| Principal | James Corcoran |
| Chaplain | Father Phillip Zadro |
| Years Offered | 7–12 |
| Enrolment | 950 students[1] |
| Affiliations | Roman Catholic, Systemic, |
| Website | http://www.aquinasmenai.catholic.edu.au |
Aquinas College, Menai is a Roman Catholic Systemic Co-Educational day school for students of Years 7 to 12. The school is situated in Menai in Sydney's Sutherland Shire, adjacent to Roman Catholic feeder Primary School Holy Family, Menai, and to Holy Family church, of the Roman Catholic parish of Holy Family, Menai serving the residents of Bangor, Menai, Alfords Point, Illawong, Barden Ridge, Lucas Heights and Woronora.
Founded in 1993 by Peter Turner the school is not associated with any particular Roman Catholic religious order, and is run solely by Catholic lay staff. The school's namesake St Thomas Aquinas is a source of inspiration and guidance to all pupils and staff.
The school is under the authority of the Catholic Education Office of Sydney, and is situated in the Archdiocese of Sydney.
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The school motto "Enlivened by the Spirit" aims to convey to students the significance of the Catholic faith to their everyday lives, and the importance of taking on board the Catholic ethos of the school in a practical sense.
Subjects offered for the Higher School Certificate include English Standard, English Advanced, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, General Mathematics, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Senior Science, Studies of Religion 1, Studies of Religion 2, Geography, Legal Studies, Modern History, Ancient History, History Extension, Economics, Business Studies, Dance, Drama, Earth and Environmental science, Music 1, Music 2, Visual Arts, Italian Continuers and Beginners, Japanese Beginners, PDHPE, Industrial Technology, Design and Technology, Community and Family Studies, Food Technology, Information Processes and Technology, Software Design and Development. For students not interested in Studies of Religion, a non-UAI subject, Catholic Studies, is available.
In addition, the college offers several Vocational Education courses including construction, hospitality and retail operations.
For Years nine and ten the school offers a variety of elective courses to students, including Music, Drama, Visual Arts, Commerce, Design and Technology, Information Software Technology (IST) , Wood Technology, Food Technology, Sport Science, Italian, Indonesian and Japanese.
Every student in the school is allocated into a sporting House which is led by two popularly elected Year twelve senior sport leaders. The houses then compete at the College Athletics Carnival, College Swimming Carnival, and College Cross Country day to obtain the greatest number of points. There are four College sporting houses and each is represented by a specific colour and named after a Catholic historical figure.
In 2007, Rice house won the swimming carnival, while La Salle won the athletics carnival. In 2009, Mackillop won the swimming carnival, while Nagle won the athletics carnival. In 2010, Mackillop won the swimming carnival and the athletics carnival is still to come.
Aquinas College is associated with a number of external sporting associations for weekend sport.
The school annually elects male and female school captains, male and female vice captains, and a male and female house leader for each sporting house.
School Captains-
The Archbishop of Sydney Awards for Student Excellence give public recognition to some of the most outstanding young men and women in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney. The awards are presented by the current Archbishop of Sydney (has been Cardinal Edward Clancy and Cardinal George Pell through its history) as each student is presented to the Cardinal at Saint Mary's Cathedral while a citation is read by a similarly excellent student from the same school. The award was introduced in 1999 and has run annually ever since. The college nominates one Year twelve student each year to receive the award and one to read the citation.
The recipients have been-
2000 - Mark Abad
Aquinas College sends one Year twelve student as representative of the college to the Menai region Lions Club Youth of the Year competition[5]. The students are required to answer questions of a forum on a variety of social, political, economic and current affairs issues, and then present one prepared and two impromptu speeches before an audience whereby the panel then judges one student as the Youth of the Year for the region. The college has typically had great success and several students have won the district competition and proceeded to the regional and state finals.
The representatives have been-
The first Year twelve group of Aquinas students are nearing their 10th anniversary reunion which is sure to provide some information about the lives of Aquinas alumni. Current notable alumni include;