Newsletter - T2W8 - 17/6/22
From the Principal
At our fortnightly assembly this week, I spoke a lot about service and how when you decide to notice, decide to act and decide to make a difference, you have taken the first step in changing the world. I spoke in reference to Mr Paul Lyons who has retired this week from a position that he has held in the Parish since 1999. And from 2005 here at the College.
Paul has been the constant in 18 years of significant change in the College. It has often been said that what Paul doesn’t know about the College isn’t worth knowing, and has always lent a hand when needed.
Paul’s many years of Service has culminated in significant awards which recognised his very valuable contribution to the College community. Paul was awarded the 'Spirit of Catholic Education Award 2009' in recognition of his contribution to the 'Building the Education Revolution National Schools Pride Programme as Project Coordinator'. Paul was also awarded the Lismore Diocese Excellence in education award in 2014. This was awarded in recognition of his dedication to improve the facilities and learning spaces at St Mary’s.
Paul has always been willing to lend a hand whenever needed. He went on many excursions with the PASS class to Girraween (in the dead of winter). He is an expert in damper making - often being called to judge damper made by students during past beef days. He has worked tirelessly with our HSC Timber students - helping them finish major projects for HSC marking. Paul always gave of his time to help out at the College formals held onsite - making sure that everything went smoothly for the graduates of that year.
I could really go on and on about Paul’s contribution to these events, but I will always remember Paul for his willingness to just get a job done, for his hard work and dedication to our students and College, and for his good humour and ability to work under pressure and trying conditions at times. I believe that one of the greatest legacies that Paul will leave us with, is how he has touched the lives of so many people over his time with the St Mary’s community. Paul has truly ‘changed the world’ at St Mary’s.
Tracy Robinson
Principal
Upcoming Dates
Week 9
Monday, 20 June - Stage 6 Hospitality Barista Course
Tuesday, 21 June - Year 9 Reflection Day
Thursday, 23 June - SMCC Athletics Carnival
Thursday, 23 June and Friday, 24 June - Street Retreat
Friday, 24 June - Country Cup Rugby League (U13, U15 Boys)
Week 10
All week - NAIDOC Week
Tuesday, 28 June - Bill Turner Soccer Rd 3 v Summerland Christian College (U15 Boys)
Tuesday, 28 June - Katrina Fanning Cup Rugby League (U14, U16, U18 Girls)
Tuesday, 28 June and Wednesday, 29 June - Years 7-10 Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews
Friday, 1 July - Last day of term for students
Parish Mass Times
Weekend Mass
5pm (Sat) & 8am (Sun)
Weekdays
Monday 9.00am
Tuesday 8.00am
Wednesday 8.00am
Thursday 9.00am
Friday 9.00am
Saturday 9.00am
Reconciliation
Saturday 8.30am - 9.00am
Country Mass
10.30am June 26 at Bonalbo
This Sunday, 19 June Mass at 9.00am First Eucharist
Masks are recommended in the Church
From the Assistant Principal - Mission
This weekend we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. This is an important day in the Liturgical calendar for Catholics. In the Gospel this week, we hear Jesus speaking about the “Kingdom of God” (Lk 9:11). This is a beautiful concept where if we are all living the best life possible, we are living as God intends us to live, we are living in the Kingdom of God each and every day.
At St Mary’s we strive for all our students to live in the Kingdom of God in their daily lives. Our students strive for their best on the sporting field, in classroom learning environments, on excursions and in their interactions with others every day. By Reaching Out to others, we are building the Kingdom here at school and we are witnesses to our faith in our relationships.
Uniform
We are currently in winter uniform at the College. As the temperature drops, there can be a tendency to layer up in order to stay warm. While we acknowledge this is a great way to regulate our body temperature, we do not allow visible layers of clothing with our uniform. Students need to ensure that the layers can not be seen.
Facial Piercing
Once again, I would like to remind all families of the College policy on facial piercing is they are not permitted while students are in their College uniform. This is clearly outlined in the Student Planner, verbally to our students at assembly and parents agree to the College uniform standards when they sign the enrolment forms. I once again ask students not to get facial piercings over the coming holidays as they will be asked to be removed. Failure to remove the piercing will result in exclusion of the community until it is rectified.
While students are wearing their College uniform, they are expressing our shared beliefs and standards, it is therefore important we are representing ourselves and our families to the best of our ability.
Clare Axman
Assistant Principal - Mission
From the Leader of Curriculum
Subject Selections - Year 10 into Year 11 2023
The Year 10 into 11 Subject Selection process has now commenced we will be following the schedule listed below:
Session 1 — Term 2, Week 8 - Period 2
1. Student Information on Compressed Curriculum, HSC, ATAR, non-ATAR & VET
2. Lines sheet issued for discussion and to be completed by Session 4
Session 2 — Term 2, Week 8 - Evening
1. Parent Information on Compressed Curriculum, HSC, ATAR, non ATAR & VET as well as English & Religious Education
2. Lines sheet issued for discussion and to be completed by Session 4
Session 3 - Monday, 25 July, Period 1 - 2 (Term 3, Week 2)
Students discuss choices & have them signed off by relevant LOLs
1. Subject selection Google Form made available & to be completed by 5pm Friday, 29 July (Term 3, Week 2)
Session 4 ~ Wednesday, 10 August, 8am - 5:30pm (Term 3, Week 4)
1. SETP Interviews
The above process will be greatly helped if students and their parents/guardians access the St. Mary’s Stage 6 Subjects (or bit.ly/stage6subjects) and they begin the process of informing themselves what subjects are available & which ones would be of interest to them.
An email has been sent out with the link to the above site. Please make sure the student accesses the site (parents/guardians will have access as well) AND bookmark/favourite it as the link will not be provided again.
Michael Woerner
Leader of Curriculum
From the Leader of Pastoral Care
Game Aware Presentation For Students
St Mary’s Catholic College will be offering a Game Aware presentation by Andrew Kinch for our students. Parents may remember Andrew’s Parent Game Aware Webinar organised by the Catholic Schools Parent Assembly in 2020 and the student zoom presentation held here at the College in the same year focusing on healthy and unhealthy gaming habits.
We have reached out to Andrew again and will be offering an opportunity for our students to participate in a zoom presentation this term focusing on Esports and problem gaming.
We are asking for expressions of interest for this presentation so if you feel your child would benefit from this presentation please indicate by completing the google form link.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16UzjPcfC9h_WR3BwFEhAXvtqrxJezXazg5gwcCVn0k8/edit
For more information on GameAware click on the link: https://www.gameaware.com.au/about-us/
Michele McCaffery
Leader of Pastoral Care
From the Sports Coordinator - External
Upcoming Dates
Term 2 Week 9
Thursday, 23 June - SMCC Athletics Carnival
Friday, 24 June - Country Cup Rugby League (U13, U15 Boys)
Term 2 Week 10
Tuesday, 28 June - Bill Turner Soccer Rd 3 v Summerland Christian College (U15 Boys)
Tuesday, 28 June - Katrina Fanning Cup Rugby League (U14, U16, U18 Girls)
Term 3 Week 1
Friday, 22 July - FNC Rugby 7’s (U15, U17 Girls)
Cochrane Cup (U14 Boys Rugby League)
Our U14 Saints team travelled to Xavier Catholic College to see if we could get through and qualify for the next stage of the Cochrane Cup in Coffs Harbour. To do this, we would have to win all three possible games that we had to play on the day.
We started well in our first game against St Joseph’s, Banora Point with a strong win 16 - 8. We hadn’t trained much, due to the recent weather, but the lads quickly ‘blew out the cobwebs’ and were much too good for Banora even though the score indicated a close game.
Our ‘must win’ second game was against Mt St Pat’s, Murwillumbah. We were well in the game right up to the final whistle but eventually went down 18-12 in an exciting match.
Best players on the day were Ryder Anderson, Rory McMinnes and Colby Leeson.
Go you Saints!
Coach - Paul McCaffery
Bill Turner Cup (under 15s boys)
After a long time between games, due to the consistent rain and ground closures, we finally got to play our Round 2 Bill Turner Cup fixture against Richmond River High School. Richmond River only had the bare 11 players, meaning they had no one on their bench. Seeing this instilled confidence into the players heading into the match. The team played 60 minutes of dominant football coming away with a massive 10-1 victory. From the 10 goals, striker Jayden De La Cruz scored half of these, bagging himself 5 goals, whilst Captain Brody Hoare scored a hattrick and gun midfielder Ben George scored a double. We now play Summerland Christian College in Week 10 for our third round match.
Coach - Andy Fitness
Bill Turner Trophy (under 15s girls)
Our Bill Turner Trophy squad played Summerland Christian College in our Round 2 match at Colley Park Casino last week. On a wet and soggy pitch our girls represented our College proudly with a spirited effort. The girls came away with a 3-2 win. Tatiana Simpson was unstoppable up front with another 3 goals. Tatiana has scored a total of 6 goals in her last two outings for SMCC. Chelsea Campbell was solid in midfield along with Zubaida Soliman creating several chances. Both girls were very unlucky not to score. Our backline all played their part with special mention to Jessy Cox and Maddy Aleckson who both defended well. Our goalkeeper Angel Codrington secured the win for SMCC with several crucial saves in the dying minutes.
Coach - Aaron Kennedy
Coffs Harbour Gala Day - 7-10 Boys Soccer
We got up early last Thursday morning to travel to Coffs Harbour for the Junior Soccer Gala Day. We played 4 games throughout the day, narrowly missing out on the semi finals. Our first game, we went down 1 nil in the first half, to MacKillop College, Port Macquarie, but we did not let this goal determine our game. We fought back and outplayed them in the second half scoring 2 goals courtesy of Riley Grant and the winner from Xavier Cook. Our second game saw us play St Joseph’s, Banora Point. With some fantastic defensive performances from Beau Baildon and Alex Peart plus a superb free kick from outside the box from Xavier Cook saw us finish 1 nil victors. Coming off 2 wins from 2 games, our third game was against St John Paul College, Coffs Harbour. We quickly conceded 2 goals and our game went from bad to worse with centre back Hayden Sivewright receiving a straight red card within the first 5 minutes. With morale and a player down we went on to lose 6-0. St John Paul College went on to be undefeated and win the day. Our 4th and final game against St Paul’s Kempsey was one that, if we won, we were into the semi finals. With injuries looming and centre back Hayden Sivewright having to sit out a 1 match suspension, our morale was low coming into this game. Even though we were quite evenly matched, we were dropping like flies due to injuries and conceded 3 goals. Star goal scorer for the day Xavier Cook went on to score a consolation goal for us, leaving the final score 3-1. The two teams we lost against went on to be the grand final for the day, so it was pleasing to know we lost against the 2 best teams on the day.
Coach - Andy Fitness
Coffs Harbour Gala Day - 7-9 Girls Soccer
In other soccer news, our girls travelled down to Coffs recently for the Dio Gala Day. This was a very different looking side due to many girls being unable to play. Thank you to all the girls who put their hand up to play even with only a day's notice. The girls played 4 games on the day coming away with one win and three loses. All games were exceptionally competitive and all girls represented the College proudly. Special mention to Lascelle Hayward and Chelsea Campbell who were our goal scorers for the day.
Coach - Aaron Kennedy
Len Diett Shield (First XV Rugby Union)
Game 1 v Lindisfarne
Our First XV Rugby Union side have recently played their opening two matches of the Len Diett Shield against Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School and Xavier Catholic College.
For our first match, we travelled to Casuarina to face Lindisfarne. The boys were a little unsure of what to expect, having never previously played them before in rugby. The game got off to a great start with outside centre Keagan Hancock running a great line to score the opening try only minutes into the match. It wasn’t long before Ethan Greenwood scored our second out wide, to give us a handy 10-0 lead. Will Ainsworth was next to find the stripe with a strong pick and drive close to the line, leaving us entering half time up 15-0. A clear indication of a dominant first half by the boys.
Will began the second half in the same way he finished the first, with another pick and drive near the line to score his second for the day. With fatigue beginning to set in, the intensity of the match seemed to die down until James Crane scooped up a loose pass from Lindisfarne to show some blistering speed and race 60 metres to score untouched. With a 29-0 lead, we switched off and allowed Lindisfarne to score a consolation try in the final moments of the match to finish with a full time score of 29-5 to St Mary’s.
Game 2 v Xavier
Down on troops due to injury, illness and other commitments, we headed to Xavier for our second match. With confidence high coming off our win against Lindisfarne, the boys were keen to test themselves against a more familiar opponent.
The opening stages of the match were a real arm wrestle, with neither side showing signs of backing down. Xavier were able to score first points with a try following an eternity of possession. Following an early injury to hooker Jason Brooks, we were forced to make a reshuffle in the forward pack. In Jason’s absence, scrum-half Sam Coggan ended up taking a lineout close to Xavier’s line, which he cleverly threw short to Will Ainsworth who muscled his way over the line to get St Mary’s on the board, tying the game up at 5-5. Xavier scored again in the final moments of the first half to see us trailing 10-5 at the break.
A further injury to Bradon Gumbleton, caused waterboy Lachlan Newman to throw the boots on and it didn’t take him long to have an impact on the game. With some skilful play, Lachlan perfectly executed a ‘release and regain‘ to barge his way over for our second try, locking the scores up at 10-10. Unfortunately for our boys, the timing of the match coincided with the lunch break at Xavier and the vocal home crowd were enough to give Xavier the confidence to score one last try to seal the win 15-10 in their favour.
Coach - Mike Ryan
Mike Ryan
Sports Coordinator - External
From the Leader of School Evangelisation
Vinnies Winter Sleepout
The annual Vinnies Winter Sleepout was held on Thursday, 9 June. It was a cold night but our hearts were warm, joining together as a community to raise awareness for those who experience homelessness. We had 50 students and staff sleep out this year which I think is a record for our school community. As a school we were able to raise over $200 to donate to the St Vincent de Paul society. It is so wonderful to see our school community contributing positively to issue of homelessness.
Staff Spirituality Day
Friday, 10 June saw all staff from SMCC, SMP and the St Mary’s Parish gather together for our staff spirituality day. This was an important day of prayer and contemplation. Staff were led through spiritual exercises and reflections compiled by Bishop Greg. All staff walked away from this day feeling renewed in their faith and equipped to be continue to be witness’ of the Catholic faith.
Street Retreat
We have four students attending Street Retreat from the 23 June to 26 June. Please keep these students in your prayer intentions as they attend this discipleship event. This experience will expose students to social injustice and empower students to return to their parish communities with a passion for social justice. We will be having a commissioning mass for the four students and their families this Saturday evening to wish them all the best.
Year 9 Reflection Day
A reminder that the Year 9 Reflection Day will be held on the 21 June. This is an important day for students to step back from their normal school routine and reflect on themselves, those around them and discover the role that God plays in their lives. The day will be facilitated by Michael Fitzpatrick. Michael works as a Retreat facilitator for both staff and students in schools throughout New South Wales and Queensland. He understands young people and is able to challenge them to move beyond their present state. We have worked with Michael for over a decade and we look forward to working with him again this year. Students thoroughly enjoy working with Michael and walk away from the day empowered to continue to build a positive community.
Mahaila Day
Leader of School Evangelisation
SHOWCASE
Save the date
SHOWCASE will be held on Tuesday, 6 September.
More information will be provided in the next Newsletter.
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.
Orders can also be placed via the Flexischools service. No fees are charged to families for using this service.
Please note the following information for orders made via this service:
Tuesday Orders
- Cut off time is 12noon on Monday
- Pick up available from the College office on Tuesday afternoon from 3.30pm - 5.00pm
Thursday Orders
- Cut off time is 12noon on Wednesday
- Pick up available from the College office on Thursday afternoon from 3.30pm - 5.00pm.
Orders not collected will be given to the student the following day to take home.
Whilst all care will be taken to ensure that stock availability is correct at the time of ordering, there may be some items that are not in stock at the time of packing the online orders. In this case, you will be contacted to advise of an estimated time of arrival for new stock of that item or given the option of a refund processed through Flexischools.
All uniform shop order enquiries can be emailed to: cash-uniform@lism.catholic.
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.