Newsletter - T4W4 - 4/11/22

From the Principal

While it may be hard to believe, the 2022 school year has come to an end with all students in Years 7 to 10 completing their Semester Two exams during the past week. Following Transition Week, our new school year commences on Monday, 14 November. Specific details of what’s happening over the next week have been sent to all parents via the Compass App and email this week. I would ask you to note that next Monday and Tuesday, 7 and 8 November, are Student Free Days. I ask all families to also note the arrangements for Retreats and Activities Days. 

On Saturday, 12 November we will host our annual Year 12 Formal here at the Relihan Centre. We are all looking forward to gathering with our Year 12 students for one last time as they celebrate this great milestone and officially mark the end of their secondary schooling. With HSC Exams concluding today, this will be the final time that they will join us and I know you wish them all the very best for a great night. 

The College has received information regarding new support service for communities impacted by flooding. The not-for-profit organisation Social Futures is delivering a new support service funded by the NSW Government – Recovery Connect – for individuals and communities impacted by this year’s floods.

Recovery Connect can offer help with:

• addressing physical needs (including accessing furniture, food, clothes, housing services)
• accessing financial assistance (including applying for employment, business and housing grants), legal advice and financial counselling
• accessing mental health and wellbeing support
• dealing with practicalities, such as replacing personal documents
• addressing post-disaster recovery (planning, insurance, legal, etc.).

Recovery Connect is available to anyone living in the local government areas of Lismore, Tweed Heads, Byron, and the Clarence Valley. Contact Recovery Connect on 1800 719 625 or email recoveryconnect@socialfutures.org.au.

I would urge anyone in need of these services to contact this organisation for help and support.

Finally, with Remembrance Day next week,  I would like to finish with a poem which help us remember the sacrifice made by so many so long ago, to give us the freedom to live as we do.

Tracy Robinson
Principal

Upcoming Dates

Week 5
Monday 7/11/22 - Tuesday 8/11/22: Student Free Days
Wednesday 9/11/22 - Thursday 10/11/22: Year 10 Stage 6 Readiness Program
Wednesday 9/11/22 - Thursday 10/11/22: Year 7 to 9 Reach Out/Wellbeing Day (Compulsory School Days)
Thursday 10/11/22: Dio Water Polo, Alstonville
Friday 11/11/22: Year 7 to 10 End of Year Activity Day
Friday 11/11/22: Year 12 Formal Practice
Saturday 12/11/22: Year 12 Formal

Week 6
Monday 14/11/22: New Academic Year begins
Monday 14/11/22 - Friday 18/11/22: Year 7 to 9 PAT Testing

Parish Mass Times

Weekend Mass
6.00pm (Sat) & 8.00am (Sun)

Weekdays
Monday 9.00am
Tuesday  8.00am
Wednesday 8.00am
Thursday  9.00am
Friday  9.00am
Saturday  9.00am

Adoration
Follows 9 am Mass

Reconciliation
Saturday 8.30am - 9.00am

Country Mass
13 November - Mallanganee 10.30am

From the Assistant Principal - Mission

In this week’s readings, we hear from Saint Paul as he addresses the Thessalonians. Paul says “encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word”. This is perfectly aligned with the activities we will be undertaking as part of our Transition Week. 

We are educating our young people to find joy in “every good deed”. It is for this reason we are undertaking acts of service to assist our community. As a Christian community, our actions speak to who we are as people of faithful service. We strive to strengthen our hearts to respond in times of need. To build a community where the dignity of all is respected and encouraged. 

I am looking forward to working alongside our young people as they go out into the community and build new relationships that are mutually beneficial. 

Reach Out Day and Wellbeing Day
Next week we are very excited to reintroduce community activities during our transition week! Students will be participating in acts of community service at various venues around our community as well as activities at the school which emphasise individual wellbeing. Students will be able to wear their sports uniform for these activities and events to allow them to move more freely while undertaking the program. We encourage all families to ensure students are reminded of the expectations when they are representing themselves and their community. 

McDonalds before school
As you would be aware, the Casino McDonalds has made the decision to refuse service to our students after 8:30am. The College has been supporting them by having staff on their property in the mornings to assist in moving our students onto our College grounds. Thank you for your support with this change. 

Vaping
Once again I am writing to you about the continued instances of vaping occurring both at the College, and when students are walking to and from school. While we understand the prevalence of vaping among teenagers in our community we are increasingly concerned with individual students' disregard for the dangers of e-cigarettes. We continue to educate our students of the harmful effects of vaping and we want to reassure you that we are taking this matter seriously. 

Clare Axman
Assistant Principal - Mission

From the College Business Manager

School Fees
A reminder that Direct Debit Requests at the Parish Schools Office ceased on 23 September 2022 and you no longer make payments to the Parish Schools Office School Fees bank account. All payments are made to your child’s respective school by either Bpay or CompassPay.

If you have not already set up your own payment plan using the BPay details on your new school monthly statement, please do so.  School fees are due to be paid in full by no later than 12 December 2022.

School fee statements are  emailed to families on a monthly basis. Please ensure your email address is correct.  We encourage all families to check their email details via the Compass App or Compass parent portal.  If you require assistance with accessing the Compass app please contact the College Office for assistance.

If you haven't received a School fee statement:
- You may have a zero balance and have no transactions on your fee account for the month
- If you are expecting a statement please check your email junk or spam folder for an email from cash-fees@lism.catholic.edu.au
- If you wish to get a head start with your 2023 fees, you may contact the College Office to obtain your Bpay details

Fee Assistance 
Fee Relief for families impacted by the 2022 Floods is available.  To apply for fee relief you will need to email your request to the to smhcas@lism.catholic.edu.au along with supporting documentation from Centrelink which may include:

• Disaster Recovery Payment (property damage) 
• Disaster Recovery Allowance (income) 

If you were impacted by the floods and did not receive a Disaster Recovery Payment you may be eligible for partial fee relief.  Applications for partial fee relief must contain information detailing the extent of property damage, duration of loss of income or any other relevant information and must emailed to smhcas@lism.catholic.edu.au

All applications should be received by no later than 30 November, 2022.

From the Leader of Pastoral Care

Teen Mental Health First Aid
Our year 10 cohort have recently completed the Teen Mental Health First Aid Training. This training gives teenagers the skills they need to recognise and help with mental health problems and crises in their friends, and to get the help of an adult quickly.

Students will bring their manual home. There are resources for further information in the back and you may want to explore them together.
If you wish to learn more now, resources are also provided below:

www.youthbeyondblue.com 
www.reachout.com  
www.livingisforeveryone.com.au  
www.mhfa.com.au 
www.kidshelp.com.au  
www.eheadspace.org.au

Safe on Social
Please take the time to read these articles sent to us by Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social.

The Psychology of Social Media
Face Filters to Trick your Kids
Social Media App

Michele McCaffery
Leader of Pastoral Care

From the Literacy Coach and The Leader of Learning - Numeracy

Due to the impact of the recent weather event in Week 3, the decision was made to postpone the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) testing.  Year 10 have completed their PAT testing during the Week 4 exam block and Years 7, 8 and 9 will now complete their PAT testing during Week 6.  

In the previous newsletter, we provided the following information:
Students in years 7, 8 and 9 will sit tests for reading, mathematics and science. PAT tests are designed to assess each student’s current capability against the appropriate standard for their age. Unlike NAPLAN, the PAT assessments do not have a student/parent report. However, student data is available to our College and is a valuable source of information on each student’s development.  

Teachers use the results to track each student’s development from year to year. This information is a useful tool for identifying students requiring extra support or extension in their studies. The PAT testing process should be familiar to all students and should not be seen as a stressful “pass or fail” assessment.  However, it is important that students try their best in these tests, as the information gained helps to inform our teaching, in much the same way that a fitness test would help a personal trainer design the right program for success.  

Students can prepare for these tests by making sure they have a fully charged device and a pen with them each day.

Please do not hesitate to contact the College if you have any concerns about the PAT testing process.

Kelly Winters & Mark Chivers
Literacy Coach & Leader of Learning - Numeracy

From the Sports Coordinator - Internal

Term 4 representative sport
Upcoming sport for term 4 will see SMCC entering an under 15s girls water polo team for the diocesan competition held at Alstonville pool in week 5, a team of years 7-9 students participating in the statewide knockout cricket tournament, the Berg Shield, as well as four students selected to represent the College at a Diocesan golf competition in Coffs Harbour. We wish all of the students and staff involved the best of luck for their upcoming competitions.

College Sports Uniform
Beginning in the 2023 academic year, the College will be implementing a full college sports uniform policy when students are representing the College for any sport competition. What this means is students will be required to wear their full college sports uniform to events demonstrating team cohesiveness and pride in our College. Students will not be permitted to wear any other non-school attire (e.g. hoodies, trackpants, hats etc.) to these events. Students that do not adhere to this policy will not be representing the College and will be asked to remain at school instead of attending the sporting event.

SMCC Swimwear Policy
With the swimming carnival scheduled for early term 1, the College would like to remind the SMCC community of the swimwear policy here at school. 

For all water, swimming and aquatic activities the following swimwear policy has been adopted by St Mary’s Catholic College. Hopefully this will make it clear what attire is safe and appropriate at College events and activities. The policy will now apply to students currently participating in water activities for Sport and for upcoming excursions and carnivals involving swimming. 
We want all students to be able to participate in aquatic activities safely and modestly. We are concerned about students’ physical and emotional wellbeing.
Prohibited apparel includes: non-swimming shirts, running shorts, compression tights, athletic shorts, undergarments, swimmers not covering buttock cheeks, thongs and Brazilian cut swimwear. These garments are either considered unsafe for water and aquatic activities or inappropriate due to their revealing nature. The aim is for everyone to have fun, participate and enjoy aquatic games and activities.

If you have any concerns or wish to clarify or discuss this policy, please feel free to contact the Sport Coordinator via the College office.

Andrew Fitness
Sports Coordinator - Internal

From the Leader of School Evangelisation

Festa Christi
Our Students departed on Thursday, 3 November to attend Festa Christi. This is a gathering for selected Year 8 students from parish secondary schools in the north of the Diocese to celebrate their faith at a Diocesan level. We had 12 students (6 males and 6 females) selected to attend the event. We look forward to hearing about the overnight experience from our students and thank Mr Aaron Kennedy for accompanying our students at this event. 

Reach Out
During Wednesday and Thursday of transition week, students in year 7-9 will have the opportunity to experience community service. We are so excited to be back in the community and being able to participate in this valuable experience. We are thankful for businesses, schools, local sporting organisations who have supported this initiative and are welcoming students into their communities next week. Some of the service activities our students will be completing include, visits to Nursing homes, repainting Casino Netball club, sorting clothes at St Mark’s Anglican Op shop and attending various local schools and preschools. This initiative wouldn’t be possible without the support of the broader Richmond Valley community.

Mahaila Day
Leader of School Evangelisation

SMCC Communication - COMPASS

SMCC moving from Skoolbag to COMPASS
As you may have read in previous newsletters, the College has a new Student/Parent/Staff communication package called Compass. Compass will be replacing all other avenues of communication to students and parents. 

This communication includes but is not limited to:

• School Fees
• Attendance Information
• Emails
• SMS
• Payment of Excursions
• School Reports

It is vital that the College has the most up to date emails addresses and mobile phone numbers for parents and carers. Compass, on behalf of the College, has sent an email to all residential guardians with login details for access to Compass. We ask all parents and guardians who have yet to login to Compass please do so as soon as possible. If you have not received the email with your login details please check your junk/spam folder. 

If you cannot access the email please contact the College office to check if your contact details are the most up to date email address.

St Mary’s Catholic College will no longer use Skoolbag as a means of communication in 2023. 

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 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.edu.au

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.

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