27 March 2020 - Newsletter (Vol 37 No 5)
Dear parents
At SJPC we aim to create a safe and supportive school community for everyone.
You are an important part of our work to prevent bullying and to respond effectively if it happens. Stopping bullying involves everyone.
This is a pocket card from Bullying. No Way! with tips on what to do if your child talks to you about bullying. Parents know their children best and know the best way to tailor communication to their needs. Adapt these tips to what works for you and your child.
If your child talks to you about bullying:
- Listen calmly and get the full story. Your calm response is important to allow your child to tell you all about the situation. After they’ve told you their story, ask questions to get more details if you need: who, what, where and when. Although you may feel some strong emotions about your child’s experience, try to keep calm to avoid more distress to your child.
- Reassure your child they are not to blame. Many children blame themselves and this may make them feel even worse. You could say things like, ‘That sounds really hard to deal with. No one should have to put up with that.’ or ‘I’m so glad you told me. You should be able to feel safe at school; that’s not fair at all’.
- Ask your child what they want to do and what they want you to do. A critical part of your response is to avoid jumping in to solve the problem. While it is natural to want to protect your child, helping them to find their own solution is a better option. It helps them feel they have some power in the situation.
- Visit bullyingnoway.gov.au to find some strategies. The website has tips and ideas for different bullying situations. One idea is to practise strategies at home to help your child feel more confident.
- Contact the school. Your child may be reluctant for you to do this, so discuss the idea and reassure them that the school would want to know and is able to help. Make an appointment to meet with your child’s homeroom teacher / year coordinator and, if you need to, ask to talk with the principal. Contact the school immediately if you have a concern about your child’s safety.
- Check in regularly with your child. Keep the conversation going. It can take time to resolve issues, so check in regularly with your child about their experiences and their feelings. Your ongoing support is important.
SJPC outlines how it will deal with bullying on page 6 of the College diary.
If you are looking for support for yourself to deal with a bullying situation, you will find ideas on the Bullying. No Way! website for parents. As well, please feel free to contact the school if you would like to discuss any aspect of our approach to preventing bullying.
Last week saw the first parent webinar for the year. The title ‘Future Proofing your Child‘ explored how parents and the school can best prepare students for life in the 2020s and beyond. Nikki Bush (Parenting expert, speaker and author) reflected on her new book entitled the same name as the webinar. Nikki believes that in the not too distant future “the Gig Economy” will be the biggest employer in the world with many people not having a regular fulltime employer and that we must ready our children for this type of situation. Nikki’s talk was based around the triangle (below) with family support still being essential in the development of the child. Ms Bush highlighted the aspects of curiosity, personal X-Factors, and talent that exist in our children should be very much encouraged by families and schools.
Once the webinar is downloaded as a video the College will share the link to all families.
Students and parents are reminded that although the current approach to schooling may be in a different format, similar resources are still available. The College Counsellors, Homeroom teachers, Year Coordinators, the Head of Pastoral Care and the Assistant Principals, are only an email or phone call away. While teachers will still be in contact with students, if you feel the need, please stay in touch with the College and we will continue to do all we can to continue the development of the students at SJPC.
Until next time:
‘It’s going to be hard but hard does not mean impossible’ Success.com
Assistant Principal - Mission
Staff and Student Wellbeing
Last week I wrote about parent access to Google Classroom as a general concept. This week I want to reinforce the importance of this platform as it will be the ‘launch pad’ for all our student and parent communication for subject content and feedback. To this extent, I have included a ‘how to’ sheet which walks parents through the process of using Google Classroom at the end of this article. The document is also on the SJPC Facebook Page.
Parents checking in with Google Classroom will ensure effective communication links as we prepare our learning community for online learning. This week will begin the transition from direct face to face learning to blended learning (a mix of classroom face to face learning and posting the content online for absent students) and eventually remote learning (where all students are physically absent and lessons are delivered online).
Remote learning will not only be a new concept to traditional teaching but a cultural change for our staff, students and families. We will have technology issues, access issues and frustrations from all parties – I just ask that parents and students be patient and communicate with their teachers via the Google Platform.
As every subject, every classroom and every teacher/class dynamic is different, so too will our Google Classroom offerings and feedback. The professionalism of SJPC teachers will be the ‘constant’ as all teaching staff will deliver interactive content and provide feedback in lieu of classroom interactions. For this I thank our teachers as they have had a minimal amount of time to transition and yet they will still provide a quality Catholic education to our students.
I would also recommend the close reading of all CSO and SJPC emails in recent days as this outlines a great deal of information of how our learning and teaching will work for the remainder of Term 1, 2020. For senior students please keep looking at the Curriculum Google Classroom as Ms Brown and Mrs Reeves have placed many links including VOAs and NESA updates for you to read.
In closing, I would like to highlight the added importance of our electronic resources our College subscribes to. The following resource will be used as a support for our current HSC students but is available for all students and parents at St John Paul College in regards to remote learning.
Our College’s subscription details to Study Skills Handbook are -
Username: stjohnpaul
Password: 89success
As was the case in 2019, we have access to the Elevate Education Student Portal. This online platform contains resources and useful study tips that all SJPC students will find effective. We encourage them to access this Student Portal and try some of the strategies. Students have the password to this site. The password can also be found on the Curriculum Noticeboard.
My thanks to our staff and gratitude to our families’ patience as we manoeuvre through these interesting times and always place the student at the heart of our decision making at St John Paul College.
James Furey
Assistant Principal
Learning and Teaching
Although the Youth Ministry Team look forward to college life returning to normal, we have been finding ways to share prayers, reflections and online media using our social media platforms. I encourage staff, students and parents to check out the following social media pages.
Facebook – SJPC Youth Ministry
Instagram – sjpcyouthministry
As an example of what you might find on these pages, please take a look at this short interview between Hannah, one of our Youth Ministry Officers, and Mr Carniato, our College Principal.
Brendan Goswell
Leader of School Evangelisation
Sayonara to our Japanese Exchange Students
This week, we farewelled Hanna, Yushi and Akihiro, who have been here since the beginning of the year from our sister school, Reitaku Mizunami in Gifu, Japan. The three students have had a wonderful time and we would like to thank their host families, friends and all staff who helped make their stay so great.
Hanna Sakimaki
I had a lot of great experiences in Australia. I was impressed because the Australian beaches were much cleaner than the beaches I have been to. Everything in Australia was bigger than Japan. I love Australian nature. And I also love the generous and kind nationality of the Australian people. On holidays I went shopping and had dinner with friends.
I am very grateful that my friends, teachers and host families talked a lot, even though I did not speak enough English. I want to come back to this wonderful country soon. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING. I will come back soon!!!
Akihiro Yokoyama
I stayed in Australia from February 1st. It was very fun. I could experience many things.
If I had stayed in Japan, I would not have experienced things such as: classes in English, the sea being so near, meeting many Australian people and so on. I like Australia the most out of all the countries I have visited. In fact, I want to stay more.
Thank you for your kindness. See you again.
Yushi Sawada
I was able to have a lot of great experiences in Australia. All the time I spent in Australia was happy for me. At school, all conversations had to be in English but it was a great experience.
I also made many friends. The food was no problem and yummy. My host family took me to many places. I could never do it alone.
Thank you very much. I would like to thank everyone involved in studying abroad.
Year 8 Sushi Day
Last week the Year 8 students were introduced to the most famous and traditional dish of Japan, sushi. We were lucky enough to have Yukari Miyachi, from Miyachi Sushi, come in to show the students how to make a sushi roll and to teach them all about its history.
Students learnt about how sushi making began, all the way back in the Edo Period (1600s) and how it has evolved over many centuries to the various forms it can take today.
Yukari explained to the students about all the ingredients and the role they play in making the best sushi roll and then showed the students her technique.
Students were then able to enjoy their own sushi rolls.
Kirsten Binnie
Leader of Learning - Languages
Year 9 Visual Arts & PDM students have been proactive in using the turmoil around them to produce some beautiful, meditative artworks. Both classes have been exploring the natural world around them to great effect utilising a diverse range of skills and techniques. I am very proud of their dedication to their crafts.
On another note and in recognition of current events, we feel it’s important to keep our parent community up-to-date with our junior classes practical tasks. All classwork and resources are regularly uploaded to Google Classroom allowing students to access and participate wherever they may be, and of course upload their tasks for marking and feedback. All of our students know this and the quality of work expected. This week all parents of our junior classes were invited to join their child’s Visual Arts Google Classroom to open a dialogue between parent and student. Working from home will most definitely encourage some critical & creative thinking & we are looking forward to seeing some fabulous artworks inspired by media & inspiration found in the home environment.
This week we have had many students borrowing a large number of resources from the library, both textbooks and fiction titles.
If your child still needs resources from our college library please email me at sharon.brennan@lism.catholic.edu.au letting me know your specific requirements. Library staff will get them ready for you to come in and collect.
Access for many online resources for study can be found on Oliver, our library program homepage. (Make sure you select St John Paul College from the dropdown arrow.) Usernames and passwords for these online resources can be found on page 13 of the College diary.
Students also have access to eBooks and audiobooks via Sora, our online platform. Our collection is called ACEN.
A list of parenting resources available for borrowing can be found here.
Sharon Brennan
Teacher Librarian
Sports Corner
As you would all know, Sport for the remainder of Term 1, both internal and external, has been cancelled.
At this stage, the College Cross Country run scheduled for Week 10 has been postponed until further notice.
Representative Sport
If you are a competitive athlete and have signed up for CCC or Diocesan trials, please check the CSNSW Sport website regularly for updates. At this stage, no representative sport is scheduled for Term 2 but of course, this will be reviewed with each new update from the Government, CCC, Diocesan and school officials. This is the same for school teams chosen or where students have signed up to trial. Everything is either on hold or cancelled at this point in time.
For up to date announcements about representative sport please go to:
CCC Sport - https://csnsw.sport/news/events-suspended
Schoolsport Australia -http://www.schoolsportaustralia.edu.au/blog/2020/03/23/ssa-announces-cancellation-of-2020-championships/
Year 9/10 Internal Sport
No decisions have been made about Term 2 Sport, however, students are still expected to send in their notes. No payment will be taken at this stage. This will allow us to start up sport again immediately at any stage through Term 2 or 3. Those students who have not yet handed in their note, please do so ASAP by emailing your completed note to the College.
Year 7/8 Internal Sport
The Year 8 Girls, who are almost through their OSSA, will have the chance to complete the award in Week 1 and 2 of Term 4 when the boys are completing their theory and swim time trials, so no one will be disadvantaged.
Year 7, who would normally get to do Aquatics, Tennis and Golf in Term 2, will still have these opportunities, only later in the year.
Payments and Reimbursements
Decisions and actions around reimbursement/school credit are still unfolding. As you can appreciate, any action taken will be extensive and complicated and your patience and understanding in this matter are appreciated. Any information will be communicated to you once it comes to hand.
For payments made directly to the Diocese or CCC, please see their website for up to date information.
Physical Fitness
Over the coming weeks and months, students are encouraged to stay active. This will help with concentration levels, help maintain sporting skills and of course the health benefits are numerous. 30min - 60min of heart raising intensity is encouraged at least 5 days per week. Variety such as undertaking a bike ride, run/walk, circuit, strength and conditioning session, yoga and activities like dance fit are all very beneficial, relatively easy to access and can help keep motivation levels high.
High-level athletes are encouraged to maintain not only base fitness, but a high level of skill practice - agility and power training, along with technique work (such as ball skills, hitting technique) and continued skill development is vital to stay on top of your game.
Good News Story
In a time of little sport, it gives me great joy to be able to congratulate Zara Temesi. She competed in the 2020 Modern Pentathlon National Championships in Brisbane in early March and finished 2nd in her age group (U17). This is even more impressive as Zara is a Year 9 student, and still only 14 years of age! Congratulations, Zara.
Thank you
Thank you to those coaches, staff and parents who have undertaken training and trials with a many of our teams but have not yet had the chance to compete. Also a big thank you to our Internal Sport staff who have adapted amazingly well to continued change week in, week out recently, and who have still been able to provide our students with engaging and challenging sporting opportunities.
Danielle McAra
Leader of Learning - Sport
Reducing Anxiety: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
As a Registered Psychologist, a number of individuals in the community have asked me for tips to reduce anxiety around the coronavirus. I do not want to bombard you with heaps of information, so I have kept the following tips brief.
Limit media exposure
Frequent media exposure can heighten anxiety. Being with your child while they are watching or listening to the news can be helpful, especially when they have questions.
Taking care of yourself
- Physically this includes exercising, eating, and sleeping well.
- Mentally this includes practising mindfulness, relaxation, or prayer.
Modelling Calmness
Children and adolescents look up to role models such as their parents and teachers, for a range of things. This, in turn, influences their behaviour and how they react in different situations. Therefore, it is important for parents to remain calm when providing information and answering questions about the coronavirus.
If you have any concerns about your child and would like to arrange a meeting with myself or Andrew Hart (School Counsellor), please feel free to contact us at St John Paul College on (02) 6653 3155. Alternatively, both school counsellors can be contacted via email denise.andrade@lism.catholic.edu.au or andrew.hart@lism.catholic.edu.au.
Year 12
Greetings Parents and Carers
Recently a letter was emailed from me regarding the ongoing pastoral support that we are aiming to achieve for Year 12 moving forward. The educational and holistic information and encouragement doesn’t cease even though presence at school might.
Continued education regarding social and mental health, spiritual awareness and physical well-being will be the focus of a Google classroom set up for students. Please encourage your child to ‘enrol’ in this classroom via email if they haven’t already done so.
February and March were busy months in regards to Year 12 fundraising activities. I’d like to acknowledge all the hard work by many different students in making a real impact with their Valentine’s Day and Elton John parking activities, and also thank the extended College community for support these efforts.
Year 12 would also like to acknowledge the very generous and continued support of Valentine’s Day by Dom and Sue from Hilliar’s Roses in North Boambee Valley. Bill Gibbeson was recently able to pass on a small gift to thank them for their support.
As always, if you have any concerns regarding your Year 12 student, please don’t hesitate in contacting the College to discuss.
Best wishes and stay safe
Mark Coster
Year 12 Coordinator
Canteen
Students please note - lunch orders for hot food, must be placed before 9am. We are only serving hot food to those that have placed an order. Also, there will be no meat served on Fridays until the end of term.
Source of Support
Information sheet for families during the Coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic
WHS in Focus – Good Hygiene, Good Prevention
The CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention), has provided some great information on Coronavirus (COVID-19). Please click the link to view: CDC - Coronovirus