Cultural

Every other week, come along and share what you're reading and find out what others are. Open to everyone, this group is a chance to chat about all things writing and reading, over a cup of tea and a biscuit or two.

Chess club is open to students to play, teach and study chess on Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtimes. Chess is played with a chess clock and pieces and members can participate in inter-school and inter-House competitions.

A great club to join to gain confidence in public speaking. There are many opportunities to work with small groups and battle wits against other schools.

Drama Club is an inclusive performance based activity for students with a passion for Drama and performing. Students from Years 7-12 are invited to join this outcomes based Arts group. Students with vast dramatic experience and little or no experience are most welcome to be a part of this exciting group.

Students may participate in a number of dramatic genres, ranging from scripted drama, movement, mime, film to self-devised pieces. Each year the directors decide on a performance project for the group and then this guides the artistic outcome which we share with parents and the public.

The Environment Committee is committed to reducing the environmental impact and footprint of the St Patrick’s College community and to improving the environmental habits of the school. The Committee works to improve environmental awareness in the College and wider community. There is a particular focus on reducing waste in the school through promoting and facilitating recycling and composting and improving awareness of climate change and energy reduction. We also act as a voice for the student body in the improvement of the St Patrick's College environment grounds, in making sure that the College is and feels like a place of safe learning and community through environment design.

The Environment Committee aims to implement and act upon an environmentally aware and proactive culture within the St Patrick’s College community.

The Ethics Olympiad or simply “Ethics” is a co-curricular activity for students who enjoy an academic challenge. Ethics is a mixture of philosophy, discussion, public speaking, critical thinking and debate. We participate in 3 key events in the year:

• Tasmanian Senior School Ethics Olympiad (Years 10, 11 & 12)
• Tasmanian Middle School Ethics Olympiad (Year 9)
• St. Patrick’s College School Ethics Competition (open)

In Ethics, students are given case studies with questions and problems of an ethical nature. They then have to respond to the case studies in groups of 3-5 students and engage in discussion with an opposing team who have also studied the cases. We learn about moral philosophy and ethical theory to help us prepare solid responses to the cases. Some examples of case questions include: is it ever ok to tell a lie? How do we balance economic prosperity with action to address climate change? If you donate to a charity, are you morally responsible for how that charity uses your money?

Ethics is different to debating as it focuses more on the thinking behind people’s arguments rather than the delivery. In Ethics, it is ok for people to change their minds, especially when new ideas or evidence comes to light. Ethics promotes respectful dialogue amongst participants, kindness and critical thinking. All people and all ideas are valued in Ethics. It is a wonderful way to critically examine issues in our world with others.

The focus for this Club will be on growing a selection of plants, shrubs and trees and then planting them where they are needed around the College. We will also grow indoor plants in the school’s hothouse and germinate vegetable seedlings at different times throughout the growing season. We will also explore soil health and biology, composting, worms and recycling, lifecycles from planting a seed, growing a plant, harvesting and eating, to collecting the seed for next year’s use.

If you are passionate about helping others and raising awareness about injustices, then MS Vinnies is for you.

We meet once a cycle, at lunch time, for the whole year to learn about injustices in our society, work with St Vincent de Paul to help promote their charitable works and organise fundraising and advocacy activities within St Patrick’s College.

MS Vinnies will help develop your leadership skills and you will have an active role in the Catholic Mission of the College.

Celebrate dance and drama through a variety of performances both big and small. Performance projects are for everyone, Years 7-12, dancers, singers, actors and performers. No experience necessary, just an enthusiasm and a love of performing.

Aimed at Senior students, the Politics Club aims to meet on a fortnightly basis (more if demand is there) to discuss political issues in Australia as well as global events.

It will be an informal environment where students can discuss their views, ideas and solutions or just want to learn more about politics in general.

St Patrick’s College enters Lions Youth of the Year, Rostrum and many other public speaking competitions. This club is for students who like working by themselves and enjoy writing and performing their own work.

This co-curricular activity is a social club designed to introduce students to the wonders of tabletop gaming. Tabletop gaming includes card games, pen and paper role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons), miniature war games (like Warhammer), and of course, board games. From classics like Cluedo and Scrabble to newer games like Throw, Throw Burrito and Call to Adventure, there is sure to be a tabletop game to spark everyone’s interest.

This is a club for those who enjoy making their own clothes and learning more about design. Students will also get the opportunity to enter their work in the Apex Fashion and Design competition in September.

The competition for Tournament of the Minds is held in September and is a great club to join for the lateral thinkers.

Do you love writing short stories? Are you fascinated by current events? Have you always been interested in telling anecdotes? Then maybe The Writer’s Society is for you.

The Writer’s Society is a club designed to encourage young writers in both fiction and non-fiction. You will be able to broaden your writing through specialised mini-lessons on genre, narration, style, techniques and more. The majority of the time will be spent writing your own pieces and receiving advice from teachers, but once a month there will be workshops for you to share pieces for feedback in a safe and supportive environment. The aim will be for each member to have a piece in a final publication at the end of the year.

There will also be opportunities to develop work for competitions such as The Young Tasmanian Writer's Prize and The John Marsden & Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers.