Newsletter Term 2, Week 6 2022

Dear SJC Families and Friends

I was privileged to be able to welcome close to 220 people to our Year 7 Community Evening last Tuesday night.  We have now run this evening for the last three years and each year has seen an increase in the number of attendees who share a meal, meet new people, and listen to what is occurring in the College in the areas of Faith, Learning and Wellbeing, and provide the College with feedback about what they want in each of those areas for our young women and men.  The staff present, who so generously gave up their evening to attend, were overwhelmed and humbled that so many people would come out on a relatively cold and very wet evening.  Thank you to the more than twenty staff who attended. 

We will be looking to host more evenings like this as the year progresses with the next being a community Meet and Greet Evening for parents/carers and staff.  This will be held in the COLA from 5pm (to 7pm). Please see the attached flyer for more details. (still waiting on flyer) 

Well done to our Year 11 students who returned from their Leadership Camp last Friday afternoon.  By all accounts, the students were exemplary in their behaviour, care, engagement and willingness to be challenged.  Thank you to all of the staff who so generously volunteered their time to attend.  I would also like to congratulate the many students who have recently been selected for representative sporting teams that you will read about in this newsletter. 

Staffing Announcements

Last Friday saw the departure of Ms Kayla Ellery who, due to an inability to secure accommodation in the Tweed area, has had to move back to Kempsey.  I would like to thank Kayla for her commitment to SJC over the last two years.  In her place, Ms Michelle Wilcox will commence this week.  As she settles into her role, Michelle will contact the families of the students she will be teaching.

I am also pleased to announce that Mr David Bell has been employed to fill the position vacated by Ms Priscilla Price and is currently being kindly filled in a temporary arrangement by Mrs Colleen Dempsey. David will commence from Week 10 at the College. 

Great Study Habits

Living with a Year 11 student and encouraging more study as exams come and go, I feel it is important to present some information about what works best in preparing for tasks and getting the most out of one's learning. 

Many students do their homework and study while listening to music.  It is common for students to attest to the benefits of doing so and they often state that listening to their favourite playlist makes them study better.  But does listening to music help or hinder learning? 

A study by Perham and Cure (2014) found the following that every student (and parent) should know: 

1. Students who revised in quiet environments performed more than 60% better in an exam than their peers who revised while listening to music that had lyrics.
2. Students who revised while listening to music without lyrics did better than those who had revised to music with lyrics.
3. It made no difference if students revised listening to songs they liked or disliked.  Both led to a reduction in their test performance.
4. Students who revised in silence rated their environment as less distracting and accurately predicted that this would lead to better performances in subsequent tests.

There are some benefits to listening to music while performing certain tasks.  It can be quite motivating and it can improve mood (listening to your favourite song tends to make people smile, for example).  But it does not help people revise and learn new or complex material.

While listening to music before a task can make someone feel better, listening to it while trying to learn something new tends not to help.  This is because music – especially those with lyrics – can take up processing space.  This conflicts with the material you are trying to learn, effectively creating a bottleneck in your memory, as there is less space to process what you are revising.  John Medina's 2008 book Brain Rules explains this nicely. 

Students need to know how to revise well.  There may well be a time and place to listen to music during the course of their revision, but not when they are learning new and complex material. 

Vaping at the College

Sadly, the last couple of weeks has seen a number of students making poor choices in relation to vaping.  I ask that all families read this letter and ensure they have held a discussion with their children about making choices that align with being healthy, legal and in line with College expectations. 

Kind regards

Mr Scott Thomson
College Principal

Jingi Walla – Hello

Last Thursday, 26 May, was National Sorry Day.  At St Joeys we remember and acknowledge the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, which we now know as ‘The Stolen Generations’.

On this day it is a time to remember the past policies of forced child removal, and reflect on the sad and painful stories of the Stolen Generations.  It is a time to recognise the resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the power of saying Sorry.  

We as a school community had an assembly presentation by Indigenous students from each year level and also took time in AWC on Thursday for a prayer and a moment of reflection.

This week we celebrate National Reconciliation Week.  The theme for 2022, “Be Brave. Make Change” is a challenge to individuals, families, communities, organisations and government—to Be Brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so we can Make Change for the benefit of all Australians.  National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

The dates for NRW remain the same each year; 27 May to 3 June.  These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey – the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.

This year’s theme builds on the 2021 theme.  This year we are asked to make change, beginning with brave actions in our daily lives – where we live, work, play and socialise.  In the library this week our students and staff are invited to place a leaf on our Reconciliation tree as a symbol of our collective effort as a school community to celebrate the respectful connections we have with each other and our wider community.

We also look forward to taking some students on a Reconciliation connection walk to Fingal headland (Booningbah) later in the year.

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Bugalwan – Beautiful blessings

Mrs Lexene Busbridge
Indigenous Education Worker

St Joseph's College and the Parents Assembly warmly invite all parents and carers to a Meet and Greet, to be held on Friday 10 June at the COLA between 5pm and 7pm.  This is a great opportunity for parents, carers and staff to reconnect.  Drinks and nibbles will be provided.  The Meet and Greet is for parents and carers only.

Please click here to register.  Please RSVP by next Wednesday, 8 June, for catering purposes.  Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards

Mr Eamon Brown
Assistant Principal – Mission

Another wonderful and busy fortnight at Joey’s with students participating in a number of excellent learning experiences.  During weeks 3 & 4 our Year 7 & 9 students completed the NAPLAN tests.  We look forward to receiving the results of these tests to understand further where our students are at with literacy and numeracy and continue to support students further in these areas.  As part of the Learning Collaborative that our school is participating in, we have a focus on ‘Early & Ongoing Intervention’.  These NAPLAN results will further support each teacher's ability to meet the learning needs of each child within the school and for the school to work at helping all students achieve at least one year of learning growth from one year of learning.

On Monday, our staff was fortunate to participate in a professional learning day.  The focus of the day was on our Learning Collaborative, specifically on parameter #1 ‘Shared Beliefs and Understanding’.  Through the course of the sessions, staff reflected on what we want our school to be in 2032 and then developed a school creed focused on what we believe as a group of teachers at the College.  Currently, we are in the process of correlating each group's thoughts into one shared Creed and we look forward to sharing this with our community in the near future.

On Tuesday evening, we were fortunate enough to host our Year 7 Family School Evening.  This was a wonderful opportunity for Year 7 families to meet other parents and also teachers at the College.  During the night we shared a meal, got to know each other via some fun games and then created a symbol that represents ‘the Fullness of Life’ and added words/phrases that answered the question ‘What do we want for each of our young people in the areas of learning, wellbeing & faith?’.  It was a wonderful night with over 200 participants.  Thank you to all the families who attended the evening and also the Parent Assembly team who provided the dinner and supported the evening.

Finally, I am currently heading down to Bathurst with Mr Trimboli and our SJC Open Girls Hockey Team to complete in the NSWCCC Hockey Championships.  We hope we survive the forecasted freezing weather, while at home you all finally enjoy some warmer weather.

Mr Ryan Campbell
Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching

Year 11 and 12 students attended the LEAD Conference in Grafton Thursday and Friday of Week 4. 

The two-day conference was spent listening to inspiring talks, meeting other students from the Lismore Diocese, listening to praise and worship music from the Wildfire band and discussing the topics covered in talks.  Students were inspired and encouraged to take what they have learned and bring this back to our senior youth ministry team at the College to make a positive difference to our school community.

A reminder to those students attending the Street Retreat (Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 June) that their notes are due this Friday to the school office.

Mrs Hannah Ardrey
Leader of School Evangelisation

Year 10 Vaccinations (and any catch-ups) – Tuesday 7 June 2022

As parents and carers of Year 10 students would be aware – with information kits having previously being sent home – these students are scheduled to receive their Meningococcal ACWY vaccination on Tuesday 7 June (next week, in Week 7).

A number of signed consent forms have already been returned to the College, however, to facilitate the vaccination program we are asking for signed consent forms to be returned prior to the vaccination day next week. 

To consent to the vaccination of your child, parents/guardians are advised to:

• read all the information provided
• complete the consent form, including signing their name
• return the completed consent form to their child’s school, and prior to the date
• ensure their child eats breakfast on the day of the school vaccination clinic.

Please note that, to improve vaccination completion, students will be opportunistically offered any missed doses during Year 7 and catch-up into Year 8 (for HPV and dTpa vaccination) and during Year 10 and catch-up into Year 11 (for Meningococcal ACWY vaccination) or consent signed in 2021.  (Parents will have received a text from NSW Health regarding any of these catch-up vaccinations.)

Only students who have a consent form signed by their parent/legal guardian will be vaccinated.

There are absolutely no Covid-19 vaccinations in the school vaccination program.

NSW Health nurses visit on-site for the sole purpose of operating a vaccination clinic and will not administer any vaccine without an original signed consent form in their possession.  

Should you already have sent in a signed consent form but now wish to revoke/withdraw that consent, we ask you to please email the College (sjcbanora@lism.catholic.edu.au) well before the scheduled date of vaccination.

Mr Mathew Lynch
Leader of Pastoral Care

TAFE NSW - Statement of Attainment - Fee-Free* Short Courses on Offer

TAFE are offering short courses that are free.  These courses provide successful students Statements of Attainment.  [Statements of Attainment (NRT) – Although itself not an AQF course, a Statement of Attainment is a record of completion of one or more units of competency from an AQF course, so is nationally recognised.]  The only requirement is that you have left school and are an Australian citizen.

Further details are on the website.  Enrolments commence as early as next week.  Units range from critical thinking to creative photography, building a website to cyber security.  Check out the Fee-Free* Courses currently available.

Mr Matthew Hall
Leader of Curriculum

Year 11 Camp 2022

On Wednesday 25 May, many keen and eager Year 11 students headed off to Camp Laurence at Lake Moogerah.

With the sun shining and sleeping bags packed students were in for some great camping weather, which is what we got.  Students were arranged into activity groups on arrival and headed off to various locations around the camp.  The lake was at 105% capacity and at its picturesque best.  Groups 1, 2 and 3 packed an overnight bag including their cooking equipment and tent amongst their small groups and either canoed or hiked to another campsite.  They did this while groups 4, 5 and 6 completed high ropes, giants ladder, mountain biking, catapults and archery at the base camp.  Those students who stayed at base camp participated in a group lead liturgy and presentation about leadership at SJC.  Students were challenged to continue their leadership journey by practicing in servant leadership in their everyday activities, things like encouraging others, or helping junior students.  Making their school the best school they could make it by simply participating and engaging in College events.  Students camping on the first night made their way back to base camp for the second night, while the second group of students camped out.

Some notable highlights were definitely the hot showers after the camp out, Mr Thomson beating Mr Attenborough-Doyle up the giants’ ladder, a large game of spotlight by the lake, and a sleep on the bus on the way home.

Thank you to all staff for volunteering to assist students to have the best camp possible, the camp staff for their enthusiasm and all the students who put aside other commitments and fears to participate in and attend the Year 11 Leadership camp 2022.  It was a fantastic opportunity to bond and create new and lasting friendships.

Mr Joshua McCormack
Leader of Student Wellbeing - Year 11

Exploring Virtual Reality in the classroom 

It is fantastic to see the College’s Virtual Reality (VR) Kit being used in a range of subjects. Ms Kirsty Robinson’s Year 9 English class is learning how to empathise with asylum seekers and refugees, people whose experience may be vastly removed from their own, so they can persuasively advocate on their behalf.  Using the VR Kit, they recently experienced the reality of life as a refugee first hand by visiting the Za’atari camp in Jordan with Sidra, a young Syrian refugee.

Savannah “This VR experience broadened my understanding of refugees and how their lives are hugely impacted by war, poverty, discrimination and even persecution in their home country.”

Jasmeen “It was like I was standing in a refugee camp.  It was very different from our lives.”

Cody “The VR experience significantly broadened my perspective on refugee issues within Australia.”

As part of their investigation into the management and protection of landscapes, Mrs James’ Year 7 HSIE class explored the ‘New 7 Wonders of the World’ with the VR Kit.

They travelled to: 

• The Taj Mahal
• The Great Wall of China
• The Colosseum of Rome
• Chichén-Itzá
• Petra
• Rio de Janeiro
• Machu Picchu

Below are some comments from the Year 7 students:

Archer “The VR was an amazing experience!  From the huge brick walls of the Roman Colosseum to the architectural masterpiece of the Taj Mahal, it was a very unique experience being able to look around some of the world's wonders.  I definitely want to do it again!”

Amber “During this lesson, I learnt why the 7 New Wonders of the World are so important and why people need to manage and protect them.  While I was experiencing the Colosseum of Rome, I enjoyed hearing about its history and what it was used for in the past.”

Luciano “The VR was a unique experience, being able to look around the places we normally just see from one angle was incredible!”

Taj "This is a great way to learn in class, I think this is the most immersive way of learning about geography.”

Ruby T “I really enjoyed the VR experience.  This was really fun!  I learnt a lot about the different world heritage sites, and I was moving my head around the whole time so that I could see everything around me.”

Scarlett “I really enjoyed the VR experience and viewing the different world heritage sites.  I liked how when we turned our heads around we could see all around us.  It felt like I was actually there.”

Hunter “The VR activity was a new experience and I can't wait to do it again!”

Ruby S “During the VR headset lesson, I learnt that there is a new set of seven wonders of the world. and that they were voted on a couple of years ago. I really liked that when using the VR headsets you got to see the different places from a range of perspectives.”

Ethan “An immersive experience of the wonders of the world.”

As you can see this experience deepened the engagement and depth of understanding of 7E!

I look forward to working across a range of faculties to embed VR into our learning and teaching at SJC this year.

Mrs Georgia James
Leader of Learning Technologies

Hanly students have had a productive start to this year.  Students have really embraced the vertical structure of AWC and connections between younger and older grades are beginning to flourish.  It has been so nice to see the interactions across grades and the friendly conversations that have taken place on a daily basis.  I have experienced this with Mr Abood with Hanly AWC 6 (HN6), our students really are starting to come out of their shells and interact positively.  Likewise, the feedback from other teachers is positive, where they are enjoying the many benefits of the vertically-based AWC.

There are so many wonderful things occurring with Hanly students this year.  I would like to make particular mention of our efforts in the swimming carnival where we finished in second place.  Attendance was commendable and this showed with the points we accumulated throughout the day.  A great effort!  On the flipside, our cross country result was not favourable, attendance was very low and our result reflected this.  I would really like to take this time to emphasise the importance of attendance on key events in the College.  This not only helps in building our House spirit, as it is these special community days within the College that bring us closer together as a group.

There have been many individual highlights of student achievement recently that students have proudly shared with me.  I would like to highlight these to our wider St Joseph's College community.  They include:

Hanly, you have made a great start to the year.  I would really like to encourage you to continue being active members of our community.

“Your efforts today will affect people you will never know.  It is your choice whether that effect is positive or negative.  You can choose every day, every minute, to act in a way that may uplift a stranger, or else drag them down.  The choice is easy.  And it is yours to make.”
Eddie Jaku – Australian Holocaust survivor.

Mr Mark Yager
Leader of Pastoral Care – Hanly

We’ve been busy in the library bumping out the National Careers Week display featuring numerous pathways available to our students venturing into the wider world.  Anyone fancy being a cricket farmer in the future?  Crickets will offer clean, lean protein and have that instant crunch even before being deep-fried.  Or perhaps you’d prefer mealworms - ground into flour to make worm biscuits and worm bread.  This is one of the predicted jobs/roles of the future, along with a swag of potential employment in sustainable energy industries.

One of the predictions from a year or two ago was for a career as a Nostalgist.  With people generally living longer lives, this would entail a Nostalgist researching the time period of someone’s childhood and recreating it for their comfort on every sensory level.  For me that would involve: shagpile carpet, seaweed grass tiles, Galah pink and grey tiled bathrooms, scratchy wool blankets with a satin edge (doonas were still an exotic European thing) vegemite and cheese Vogel bread sandwiches for lunch, plain old tap water to drink pretty well always, and Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell and The Eagles being blasted via vinyl.  And, although some people refuse to believe it, there was briefly a time when there were pink coco pops (deservedly short-lived).

We’re now helping Mrs Busbridge with her beautiful display for National Reconciliation Week.  It feels timely that our recent Writers on the Road visit featured two Indigenous Australian writers: Dub Leffler (an amazing illustrator and in particular of the picture book: Sorry Day) and Danny Teece-Johnson.  I had the good fortune to be able to sit in on a bit of Danny’s workshop with some of our Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and I was struck, as previously when Nardi Simpson visited in late 2020, about a special kind of feeling and nourishment that gets created when Indigenous people get together with others, young people especially, and offer their wisdom and perspectives.  Danny had us laughing with clips he’d written for NITV and also ABC’s Black Comedy, and the feeling in the room was warm, connected, inclusive, and one of community.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Kyogle Writers Festival and it was impressive hearing in particular, the powerful Indigenous women, some older, some younger, giving voice to their love of and concern for Country and community.  It made me want to learn more, and we’ve added a couple more books to the library: Griffith Review 76 Acts of Reckoning and The Idea of Australia: A Search for the Soul of a Nation.  And soon to come: This All Come Back Now, the first ever anthology of Indigenous Australian speculative fiction.  We also have Tyson Yunakporta’s Sand Talk and will shortly have Margot Neale and Lynne Kelly’s Songlines available.

One of the speakers at the festival, Maekayla Saunders, (and the editor of This All Come Back Now) talked about the concept of ‘everywhen’ and how, for an Aboriginal person, time is perceived and experienced differently to linear chronological Western time.  She spoke about time being like fences dividing our experience.  I’ve also wondered about that over the years - and especially how a clock can be tyrannical, overriding our body’s natural timing and creating a society in which many of us have no choice but to be wedded to the minutes and seconds.

So coming back to the future and the inevitable encroachment of robots and machine learning on what is currently human work (in some instances not necessarily a bad thing), maybe our future society (and human jobs) might benefit from taking on a more flexible understanding of and experience of time that could deliver optimum wellbeing for humans?

For that matter, there’s growing awareness that Indigenous understandings, and around ecology in particular, could offer valuable wisdom with regards to climate change.  We’re trying to build up a collection in the library of books that feature not only fictional stories, but can also help us deepen our awareness and understanding of the treasury of deep knowledge of Country and the wisdom and resilience of an oral culture that has endured over 60,000 plus years (think about the almost incomprehensibly vast span of a culture that could survive for that long intact when, in our Western canon – Ancient Greece and Rome rose and fell within a millennia or two…) and which, after all that has happened, Indigenous Australians are still generously willing to share.

Ms Melaina Faranda
Teacher-Librarian

Gold Coast Marina and Shipyards and Riviera Boats Excursion

On Wednesday a group of Year 10 and Year 12 students attended an excursion to the Gold Coast Marina and Shipyards and Riviera Boats at Coomera.  The excursion explored the wide range of apprenticeships and job opportunities in the marine industry.  Students observed the boat building process from start to finish and were able to explore one of the finished boats.  A number of employees and business CEO's shared their own experiences in the industry, the potential opportunities to work around Australia and overseas, explained the qualities they are looking for when recruiting and the shortages of workers they are currently experiencing.  It certainly was an eye-opener for the students!  They enjoyed a fun and very inspirational day!

Further Industry Visits

There are further industry focused career development activities planned for June.  Industry visits are an excellent way of expanding student's understanding of the industry and the employment opportunities within the industry.  The next opportunity is for Year 10 and 11 students to explore pathways to the health industry at Kingscliff TAFE.  This event will introduce a range of health industry careers for students to explore such as, Dental Assisting, Sports and Exercise Science, Registered and Enrolled Nursing, Aged Care, Community & Disability Care Work and Allied Health.  There will be interactive practical activities, a Q & A panel with health professionals.  Places are limited.

A Try-a-Trade day will explore opportunities in the construction industry.  The excursion will be led by Lendlease and TAFE Kingscliff and is aimed at Year 10 and 11 students.  Students will be introduced to a range of trades and careers.  They will spend half the day onsite at Tweed Valley Hospital and the other half at Kingscliff TAFE Campus learning and experiencing careers such as Electrician, Plumber, Civil Construction, Horticulture and many more.  Students will experience interactive practical workshops at the Tweed Valley Hospital site and at Kingscliff TAFE; engage in a Q&A session with construction industry professionals from Lendlease, their Subcontractors and TAFE NSW Teachers; Learn about ‘a day in the life’ of those within the construction industry; and develop their understanding of the qualification pathways and study options available.  Again, places are limited.

Engineering Australia 

Girls Talk … A must-attend for female engineers of the future! The Engineers Australia Newcastle Division would like to invite any female students interested in STEM to attend a free online event: Girls Talk on Thursday 2 June from 4:30pm – 5:30pm. Come along to Girls Talk where you’ll hear from eminent local female engineers.  They’ll share stories and experiences on projects they’ve worked on, give snapshots of their daily engineering life, and explain what inspired their career in engineering.  We’ve also invited a panel consisting of representatives from the University of Newcastle and TAFE NSW!  Make sure you bring along any burning questions you may have on your potential future in Engineering! This FREE event is open to all female students from years 7-12, parents and teachers are also welcome to attend.  To register, please visit here (https://cvent.me/bn9azE), or scan the QR code shown here:

Discover Engineering … Set yourself up for your own unique pathway into an Engineering career! The Engineers Australia Newcastle Division would like to invite high school students interested in a career in Engineering to attend a free online event Discover Engineering on Thursday 23 June from 4:30pm – 5:30pm. Join in our Discover Engineering forum session to gain insight into the different pathways to a career in Engineering.  You will be hearing from all different members of the engineering team (Professional, Associates and Technologists) about how they have reached where they are today.  We have also invited a panel consisting of representatives from three different universities as well as TAFE NSW, so bring along any burning questions you may have about engineering courses and enrolment. This FREE event is open to all students from years 7-12, parents and teachers are also welcome to attend. To register, please visit here (https://cvent.me/XDEmkr), or scan the QR code shown here:

Ms Frances Mason
Leader of Careers and EVET

College Athletics Carnival - This Friday!

Our annual Athletics Carnival is to be held this coming Friday, 3 June.  Students are encouraged to come to school in their house colours and costumes, and they get points for not being in school uniform.  Students will still need to wear enclosed shoes on the day.

On the day students will move around to each of the events in their age groups.  Students who are younger or older for their year level will need to make sure they are moving with the correct group if they wish to be eligible for championship events. 

The 1500m race will be held during lunch tomorrow, Tuesday 31 May, and students will need to register through the College Sports Desk on Google Classroom, when it becomes available.  For students who have been trained correctly with an athletics coach or through programs such as Little Athletics and wish to use the Fosbury Flop technique when competing in the High Jump, parents need to email me to give permission for your child to use that technique. 

Students who place 1st or 2nd in an event will be eligible to represent the College at the Diocesan Athletics Carnival which will be held on Wednesday 24 August.

ATTENDANCE & LEAVING THE CARNIVAL EARLY 

If students are required to leave early they must follow the same protocols as a normal school day, which are; bring a note signed from their parent/guardian stating their name and the time they will get picked up.  Parents/guardians must pick their child up and sign them out from the front office.

A reminder that any community day held at the College is considered a normal school day where we would expect to see normal attendance from students.  Whilst there are always legitimate reasons for students to be absent, many students are regularly noted as not attending our College community days, these absences are recorded and reported on the student's report cards.

Ms Madeline Ilic
Leader of Sport

For any new students at school...Homework Hub is available Monday to Thursday from 3:15-5:00 pm in the College Library.  It is a great opportunity to catch up on work, do your homework or stay behind; if you have to.  Everyone is welcome.  Homework Hub is always supervised and help with schoolwork is available.

Mrs Fin & Mrs Williams

The Lowes On-Campus Uniform Shop hours are as follows: 

Every Tuesday during the school term: 12:00pm – 3:30pm
Every Thursday during the school term: 8:00am – 12:00pm

Should you need to contact their office, the following telephone number is operated by a Lowes staff member only during shop hours: 07 5523 9300

Please be aware that you can also order online using this link.