31 January 2020 - Newsletter (Vol 37 No 1)

Welcome to the 2020 academic year

The beginning of the academic year is one of the busiest times for schools. A real sense of excitement exists amongst the student body and the staff. Excitement of seeing one another again, of being in a higher grade or just pleased to be back in a place where they feel they ‘belong’.

As educators we must focus on learning:

• How best we learn
• How best our students learn
• How we can help them learn about their learning 

Next week I will challenge each and every student to ‘buy in’ to their own learning at the opening assembly. To make a commitment from the start of the year to engage and take ownership of how they prefer to learn and what this might look like in the classroom and at home.

Each of us, teachers, parents and students want the best outcome possible and together we need to find how we can best deliver lifelong learning for all our students. No easy task, but one you can rest assured that we are committed to.

Good learning habits can be established by students of any age with regular practice and ongoing parent support. These habits will help children as they continue through school and into tertiary study or working life.

The heart of a Catholic learning community should be the desire to “…seek to recognise and proclaim the presence of Christ in all people and in all creation. Through compassion, practical actions of justice and with a sense of family atmosphere. We strive to build right relationships with all people……” 

• Catholic learning communities should be marked by “right relationships”. 
• These “right relationships” or positive relationships are built best in our classrooms where “compassion” is seen in our response to those who find it hard to learn and where “practical actions of justice” have an audience. 
• These relationships and the learning that occurs within them are the most fundamental and visible demonstration of our pastoral care for our students, staff and parents. 

If we fail to build and maintain right relationships with Christ at the centre of all we do, then our work is not complete and lacks the very core of what we are asked to do in a Catholic Learning Community.

A very special welcome to all our new families to the SJPC community this year. I hope that you feel a sense of welcome and over time, grow to know you have a very important place in this community.

God Bless

Happy New Year everyone! It is absolutely wonderful to be back for another year. As this is our first article for the year, I thought it best to start by introducing you all to the Catholic Studies team for 2020. This year it is my pleasure to be working alongside the following staff-members:  Michael Hewitt, Tim Davis, Shelly Verbruggen, Charles Hibberd, Marita Cummins, Trish Furey, James Furey, Sarah Coates, Debbie Kimber, Brendan Goswell, Mark Sultana, Michael Stubbs, Will Gregson and Janine Sawtell.  

Over the course of this term students from Years 7-10 will be focussing on the area of Church and Community. In Stage 4, Year 7 will focus on ‘What it means to be Catholic’ whilst Year 8 will learn about the lives and experiences of key people in the Catholic faith through the topic of ‘Disciples, Martyrs and Witnesses’ to the Catholic faith. In Stage 5, Year 9 will explore the ‘Church in Australia’ discovering how it started and how Catholicism has grown over the last two centuries. Year 10 will take a broader look at the Church in terms of the tradition, challenges and changes that have occurred.

Our Stage 6 students meanwhile, are embarking on their accelerated courses and will be completing their preliminary course in this first term. Year 11 Catholic Studies students will be deepening and applying their knowledge in terms of being Catholic and will also be introduced to Christology, the branch of Christian theology relating to the person, nature, and role of Christ.  Studies of Religion students will journey through the topic of the ‘Nature of Religion and Belief’ before starting depth studies which focus on the Islamic and Christian religions. 

Over the course of this first term Year 7 and the Year 10 Ministry classes will be having class Mass in our on-site chapel. I would strongly encourage parents and grandparents to join in these Eucharistic celebrations wherever possible as this will help to support and strengthen the foundations of faith for your child. The Mass is held on Tuesday mornings starting at 9am. The following table will show you which class will be attending each week.

On behalf of our entire team, we look forward to walking with your child guided by the light of Christ over the coming year.

God bless

Caroline Doyle
Leader of Catechesis

Year 10 Work Experience in 2020

Work Experience is an integral part of the Career Development Program at St John Paul College. In 2020, the Work Experience Program for Year 10 will take place in Week 3 of Term 2 (May 11th – 15^th 2020).  It is expected that all students who are not going on the Year 10 History Trip to Canberra will participate.

Work Experience provides the opportunity for students to gain experience in the workplace through meeting and working with adults who are unfamiliar to them and understanding what is required of them personally in a work situation.  Furthermore, students will be able to use this experience to help them make decisions concerning HSC courses, TAFE or work at the end of school.  Students will also use the opportunity to assess their interest in and suitability for particular careers.

In the past, local employers have been exceptionally co-operative in allowing St John Paul College students the opportunity for Work Experience.  It is anticipated this co-operation will continue this year.   Our students in past years have played a large part in building a reputation with employers as reliable, enthusiastic and well-mannered young people.   It is expected that students will behave appropriately in the work place and be good ambassadors for the College.

I will be meeting with all of the students involved in this year’s program soon to provide them with all of the necessary information. Whilst it may seem like there is plenty of time to get organised, it is important to note that some placements in some industries in our Coffs region are limited and therefore students should begin to seek and organise   a suitable business to complete their work experience program with sooner rather than later.

ADF Work Experience

The Defence Work Experience Program provides young Australians interested in Defence as a future career, the opportunity to sample life in Defence and learn more about the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Australian Public Service (APS).

There are lots of different opportunities, so check out the work experience placements that are on offer.
Contact: Defence.WorkExperienceProgram@defence.gov.au  

Find out more - http://www.defence.gov.au/workexperience/

Coming Events

Feb 10:                     Defence Force Careers Talk. Register to attend this at the Careers Room (Years 9 – 12)

Feb 12:                     University Admissions Centre (UAC) presentation for Year 12

Feb 19:                     Regional University Roadshow (for Year 12)

Mar 5:                       Botanical Gardens Careers Expo. More information to come. (Years 9 – 12)

May 8:                      UNE Open Day (Year 12)

May 11 – 15:            Year 10 Work Experience block

June 4:                     Coffs Coast Careers Expo (Year 10)

Paul Corsalini
Careers Adviser

Sports Corner

The Sports department at SJPC is a very enthusiastic one which encompasses a large number of staff, parents and volunteers who give up their time to coach teams and lead Sport curriculum in order to make sport enjoyable and a lifelong pursuit in the College.
As the Sport Co-ordinator, I work at the College from Tuesday until Friday, with Wednesday being the best day to contact me regarding sport issues.

Mrs Tanya Slaviero works in the Sport Department on a Wednesday and will deal mainly with internal sport, particularly Year 7 and 8.

We welcome Ms Hunter Flanders to our team as the College PDHPE/Sport Trainee. Hunter will be with the department on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s.

Please feel free to contact us regarding sporting issues; email is particularly effective.
We look forward to a very productive and competitive year in sport.

Representative Sport

The College, through the Lismore Diocese, offers pathways to represent NSW Combined Catholic Colleges now called Catholic Sport NSW (CSNSW) and in some sports, NSW All Schools and School Sport Australia.

Sports such as Swimming, Athletics and Cross Country, require the student to qualify through the school carnival and then sign up online through the Diocese of Lismore Sport webpage in order to represent the Diocese. 

Soccer (Open males/females), Touch Football (Open/15 years’ male/female) and Rugby League (15/18 years) start with Lismore trials (sign up online through Lismore Diocese) and then progress through to NSWCCC.

Other sports, such as Baseball, AFL, Netball, Water polo, Golf, Basketball, Cricket, Tennis, Rugby Union, Hockey, Triathlon and Tennis start with NSWCCC trials and parents need to visit the new CSNSW website for details and applications.

It is important for all families to note that participation in a trial for Lismore CSNSW is considered a normal school day. A parent note needs to be provided to the College prior to the event informing the College of the student’s intended attendance.

Lismore Sport website - https://sport.lism.catholic.edu.au/registration/

CSNSW website - https://csnsw.sport/

There are many sources of information regarding sport. Families are encouraged to read the Daily Notices via the Sentral portal daily, access the fortnightly newsletter and log onto the sports websites listed above regularly in order to ensure no sporting opportunity is missed. The Palace is also a hub of information with school sport sign up, note collection and team selections being posted on the Palace noticeboard.

Friday Night Basketball

SJPC has a strong tradition of participating in the local Friday night Basketball competition. In the past, we have been able to provide team singlets for a large number of teams. This year we will not be able to provide as many, as many were not returned over the past two years, depleting our stocks considerably. Moving forward, we are happy to offer team sets to our students but there will be a $200 bond which is contingent on all singlets being returned at the end of the year. While this is not an ideal situation, nor one we want to move to, it is one which has arisen due to the large number of singlets still outstanding.

Any team wanting to ‘rent’ singlets for this year will need to collect a document from the Palace and return it along with the $200 cash payment to the front office, to be kept in the school safe until the end of the year when all singlets are returned. Wednesday’s are the best day to organise this.

In-School Sport, Term 1

Sport for all year levels will start in Week 2 of 2020. 

A timetable of each year groups sporting organisation will be located on the noticeboard outside the Palace from Day 1, Term 1 2020. Students are encouraged to check this on a weekly basis as changes can occur.

Wednesday sport - (Will be run in Homerooms except for OSSA)

Year 7 - All students will meet in the Hall.

Year 8 - All girls will meet outside the theatre for OSSA theory

              8A, B, C and D BOYS will meet at the bus bay

              8 E, F, G and H BOYS will meet outside the sports store shed beside the oval.

Thursday sport Year 9 and 10 -

Multisport students are to meet at the sports shed near the oval.

Sport and Fitness Groups are to meet outside the gym.

Off campus sports are to meet at the bus bay half way through lunch for end of lunch departure.

Surfers are to see Mr Haworth regarding where to leave surf boards on Thursday morning.

Coming up Term 1 2020

February

March

April

Danielle McAra
Leader of Learning - Sport