Newsletter - T3W6 - 20/8/21
From the Principal
As I write this newsletter article, I cannot believe that we are back to where we were over a year ago, in terms of the pandemic and the snap lockdowns which have occurred with little notice. The College was, fortunately, ready to move into Blended Learning and I believe that the transition has been smooth and informed. I have done my best to keep the whole community informed every step of the way as we navigate this space together. I need to thank our teachers who have been working incredibly hard to keep the on-line learning and the communication with students occurring. To the students - thank you to the majority of you who have been working hard, communicating with your teachers and attending Zoom classes to ensure that your learning continues. To our wonderful families - we really appreciate the impact that Blended Learning is having on everyone and thank you for your assistance in ensuring that students are completing their tasks to the best of their ability.
We are hopeful for a return to school from Monday, 30 August, but cannot predict if this will happen. It is unfortunate that our HSC students have been affected, but the College is doing its best to ensure they are not impacted any more than is needed during these times. For the students and parents of Year 12 students, we have not been given any guidance re the Graduation or Formal - probably because nobody really has any answers as yet. We will communicate with all of you as soon as any information comes to hand.
I would like to reshare some information that I published in a newsletter from last year which may be useful as Lockdown continues. These guidelines may be useful to follow as we navigate our way through Blended Learning:
Guidelines for Parents
1. Remember the school values and rules
As a community anchored in faith we;
- Value every child’s education and provide opportunities that empower all
- Work collaboratively as we adapt, adjust and accommodate all emerging scenarios
- Remain optimistic and supportive of each other
2. Establish routines and expectations
From the first day of school closure, your child should begin their studies at 9:00 am and is expected to maintain normal school day routines as far as possible. It is important that parents set these expectations for how students will spend their days starting as soon as online learning is implemented. Lessons will be uploaded based on the timetable.
3. Define the physical space for your study
We encourage families to establish a space/location where students will learn most of the time. If possible this should be a place that can be quiet.
4. Communications with teachers
Teachers will communicate with your child via Google Classroom. All staff will post to Google Classroom at the beginning of the day outlining the:
- Lesson objectives
- Explicit student-centred activities
- Links to relevant resources
- Zoom link instructions if applicable. Video conferencing (Zoom) may only occur during normal timetabled lesson time and all cameras into students’ homes must be turned off.
Parents are asked to encourage your child to be proactive in communicating with their teachers during their normal timetabled lessons.
5. Communication with the College
If your child is unwell and unable to complete their coursework please email smccadmin@lism.catholic.edu.au. Staff will endeavour to respond to all communication in a timely manner. All communication should adhere to the current St Mary’s Catholic College Student Internet and E-Mail Contract located on pp 23 of the College Planner.
For queries about | Contact |
A subject, activity or resource | The relevant classroom teacher |
A technology-related problem or issue | Submit a helpdesk or contact smccadmin@lism.catholic.edu.au |
All other concerns/queries | smhcas@lism.catholic.edu.au |
6. Begin and end each day with a check-in
It is important that students feel supported during this time. We encourage you to regularly check in with your child to ensure that they are engaged in their learning. If you have any concerns or your child needs assistance you are encouraged to make contact with the relevant staff member via email. Teachers and Pastoral Coordinators are available via email to support your children.
7. Take breaks which include physical activity and/or exercise
Make sure students remember to move, take regular breaks and exercise. This is vitally important to their health, wellbeing, and learning. Breaks are an important part of the day and it is recommended that they are to be off-screen.
Finally, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all families at this time for your tremendous support of, and partnership with, our wonderful College.
Tracy Robinson
Principal
Parish Mass Times
PLEASE NOTE
There will be NO public Mass THIS Weekend and during the week until further notice.
Mass is streamed on our parish YOUTUBE channel.
From the Assistant Principal - Mission
Blended Learning
I would like to let you all know how incredibly impressed I have been with how smoothly our students appear to have adapted to learning remotely. We have had such a quick turn around and the resilience of our students is apparent in their adaptation. It is important that students create and maintain a routine around their learning, as this may improve their focus and capacity in the lessons.
Parent Concerns
If parents have a concern with any aspect of the child’s blended learning, please contact the office and they will be happy to work with you and get you in touch with whatever supports are required.
Homeroom Zoom
Students will be participating in 2-3 Homeroom zooms each week. This is a chance for our Pastoral Care staff to complete a temperature check with the students they have contact with every day. This is an opportunity for a few games and a little light hearted entertainment. We hope the 8:45am zoom with give the students a fresh start for the learning of the day.
Parish Masses
Our St Mary’s Catholic Parish have a fantastic youtube channel you may be interested in during this time of Lockdown. Father Peter is doing a fantastic job with the videos and live streaming of Mass.
Wishing all our families continued safety in this time of uncertainty.
Clare Axman
Assistant Principal - Mission
From the Leaders of VET, Careers and Resources
Library
As lockdown may make Blended Learning more challenging, I would just like to highlight the Library webpage. We have a number of Study Guides available, mainly for Seniors.
If students require audio-visual information, there is a link to the thousands of Clickview video’s. For students who are looking for something to read, Sora has over 600 audiobooks and thousands of ebooks. There is a link to the library page on the school intranet.
White Card Training
White card training has been postponed due to the lockdown extension. Hopefully, we can complete forms at school after lockdown finishes and re-schedule for a date in the near future.
Careers
As restrictions continue, I thought I would share a story I read recently. Some of you may have heard this in the media. We currently see Dr Chant, NSW Chief Health Officer, every day in the media. Like many students, she did not know what she wanted to do when she left school. Taking a few years out, she worked in a furniture shop and a pharmacy before deciding on medicine. She completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, followed by two Masters Degrees in Health Administration. The message here is, that you do not have to know what you want to do in Year 12. There are many pathways. In confusing times such as these it may be good to notice what you enjoy, research individuals you admire and use the resources available to you.
Many Year 12 students have a number of plans for 2022; some for a gap year, others apprenticeships and some intend to further their study at TAFE. For students who are intending to apply for University, even if studies are deferred, applications need to be completed correctly to provide choice. Deadlines begin to close in mid September. SCU and Griffith continue to be popular Universities with our students and a number are exploring Sydney and Brisbane while chasing scholarships. I do urge students to complete a STAR entry to SCU followed by a UAC or QTAC application if they are interested in staying in the area..
The Griffith website has an excellent feature which allows students to compare courses and therefore check the details of courses to which they are applying. The careersdepartment website has an excellent scholarship finder feature. Jobjump has an excellent feature to support choice based on ATAR. This video link has been emailed to all senior students. Students would have registered for these websites in Year 10.
As there is an enormous amount of information coming out at present, I have emailed Senior students a newsletter with current information. For Year 12, skim and tune into what is relevant. Year 11, take a look when you have a moment as this could be you next year.
For students seeking work or an apprenticeship, any positions I come across are advertised on our Careers website. This can be found in both the Student Secure Area and under the ‘Important Information/Current Employment Traineeship opportunities’.
I am keen to support all students to obtain a number of offers so they are in a position to make a clear choice about their direction after they complete their HSC.
There are many tools and strategies to achieve this and no one website or set of instructions suits all students. I therefore urge students to make contact if they have not already done so, so we can ensure applications are giving them the best chance of acceptance to the courses most suited to them.
I look forward to hearing from Year 12 and encourage you to reach out via email.
Bev Champion
Leader of VET, Careers and Resources
SMCC Sport
A number of major sporting events have unfortunately been cancelled throughout our Diocese as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
- Lismore Diocesan Basketball (Junior/Intermediate)
- Lismore Diocesan Athletics
- Lismore Diocesan Netball
- Lismore Diocesan Touch Football
- NRCC AFL
- NRCC Hockey
- Secondary Schools Rugby 7’s
Hopefully we are able to return to school soon and get our students back into organised sport. In the meantime, I encourage all students to find as many opportunities as possible to get active whilst in lockdown. It is a tough time for everyone, so remember to take time for yourself and schedule short breaks from your studies to get outside and get moving.
Mike Ryan
Sports Coordinator
Leader of Welfare
St Mary’s Catholic College has been recognised under the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Skilled Workplace Program for commitment to Mental Health First Aid and has been awarded the GOLD Level recognition. St Mary's Catholic College Casino is one of only seven schools in Australia to achieve this Gold Level of recognition.
Our commitment to MHFA continues with 90% of our staff trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid as well as each of our Year 10 cohorts over the last two years trained in Teen Mental Health First Aid. Our present Year 10 year group will begin their training over the next few weeks. MHFA courses are based on expert advice on what is best practice mental health first aid to support someone who is experiencing a mental health problem or emotional distress. Mental Health First Aiders provide support and guidance in a safe environment.
Michele McCaffery
Leader of Welfare
Literacy Coach
The College has analysed student writing samples to identify strengths and areas for growth. Building upon both strengths and areas for growth will be the literacy focus of all classes, for the remainder of Semester 2, Yr 7 to 10. Targeted areas include:
- Elements of Grammar: such as maintaining correct tense when writing, using a range of sentence structures and phrasing to improve the quality of student’s writing
- Spelling accuracy
- Using punctuation correctly
We would appreciate your support at home with these focus areas.
You could:
- Ask your student if they know what these are?
- How confident your student is in each area?
- If they are unsure, perhaps investigate these together
- If they are unsure, together you could identify who can support them at the College, for example, their homeroom teacher, classroom teacher, Leaders of Learning, Literacy Coach or a trusted staff member
I will continue to provide tools to support your student at home in these areas in the coming Newsletters. If you have any questions about this work, please do not hesitate to contact the College or Kelly Winters, Literacy Coach by email at kelly.winters@lism.catholic.edu.au.
Kelly Winters
Literacy Coach
SMCC Ministry Corner
With the ongoing lockdown, there’s not much we can do Ministry wise at the College, but here’s an update on upcoming events and some videos and tips to inspire you during the lockdown.
IGNITE Conference
At this stage IGNITE Conference is still going ahead in the Term 3 holidays. We are overjoyed to announce this year we will be sending 20 students, from Year 7-10 and 6 staff, the Biggest group we have ever sent. Anyone that is attending and hasn’t yet paid or set up a payment plan is urged to make contact with the College office to arrange this. The CSO will give refunds if the Conference does not go ahead. We look forward to sharing more information as this event gets closer.
SHINE Conference
SHINE Conference which was scheduled for Thursday and Friday of Week 5 has unfortunately been postponed. The College may be in contact with parents/guardians in relation to refunds.
Prayer
If you are struggling during this lockdown, here is a short prayer that you can pray throughout the day…
“Jesus, be with me during this time. I welcome you into my heart”
Lismore Youth Group
Stay tuned for some awesome content on instagram from @proclaimlyouthlismore. We have been working hard with the YMO's from Lismore to provide you with some great videos and resources for you to binge during the lockdown.
Proclaim Lismore Students Youtube
The Proclaim Lismore Students Youtube page has some brilliant videos that you can view once all the school work is finished. Some of our personal favourites include:
Never Stop Campaign - Featuring St Mary's
Fr Rob Galea Interview - IGNITE '18
Want more? Check out @proclaimlismorestudents and @proclaimlismorewildfire on Instagram and/or Spotify for some awesome content, music and playlists.
Stay safe during this time everyone and we can’t wait to see you all again.
God Bless.
Dan and Theo
Youth Ministry Officers
Reach Out
Exams: turn that stress into success
School and exams can be a massive deal, but it’s also important to help your teen understand that it’s not the be all, end all.
Talk to your teen about signing up for the ReachOut free weekly emails about healthy study habits and managing expectations.
Respectful Relationships Parent/Carer Survey
Thank you to the 168 parents/carers who completed the Respectful Relationships Survey in Term 2 of this year. Parents/carers were asked two questions:
- Respectful relationships and consent education are being taught in school. How can our Catholic schools better support our children and young people in this area?
- Our children and young people need both their families and schools to help support them in their understanding of consent and respectful relationships. How can our families and Catholic schools work together to better develop their understanding in this area?
The key themes to emerge from survey responses included:
- The need for explicit teaching across the curriculum and a whole school approach that focused on developing a culture of respect within the school community.
- Improved communication with parents about consent and relationship education curriculum content to allow parents to effectively support children’s learning and development at home.
- The use of high-quality external providers for students and parents.
Key actions that the Lismore Catholic Schools Office will undertake include:
- Developing a set of guiding principles that will provide an effective and consistent framework for consent and respectful relationships education in the Diocese of Lismore. This will include the importance of student and parent voice.
- To improve communication to parents and carers and explore parent and community respectful relationship and consent education opportunities.
- To investigate priority areas for curriculum resource development and teacher education.
Canteen
Volunteers
We are looking for volunteers to assist in the Canteen. Please contact the Canteen via the College office if you are available at any time to help.
Flexischools
Flexischools is a well-established organisation allowing you to easily place all your canteen orders online at any time.
Download the Flexischools app from the App store or Google Play. Click here for details on how to set up your account.
Once registered, you can start placing orders immediately.
Please note that sushi orders will need to be placed before Tuesday afternoon at 1pm as Sushi will only be available for Wednesday orders.
There is a charge of $0.29 per order for using this service.
If you have any questions, please contact the Flexischools Customer Service Team via their website contact page.
The normal process of ordering from the canteen (cash, eftpos, morning lunch orders) is still available.
Uniform Shop
Uniform Shop Opening Hours
Tuesdays 3.15pm to 5.00pm
Thursdays 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Payments of cash, cheque or EFTPOS are welcome.
Second Hand Uniforms
Sustainable School Shop is an online shop dedicated to buying and selling of second hand uniforms. For more information ring 1300683337 or visit www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au.
Please note that this facility is available for use with the new College uniforms only.