St Agnes Catholic High School

Dear Parents and friends of the St Agnes community, 

The year is slipping by and I welcome everyone to Term 4. This is a term that many look forward for the events and occasions that mark the end of a school year and the celebrations of the Birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. While COVID has meant that we have had to reimagine much of what we have always done, with the easing of some restrictions and creative planning, the special events that we traditionally enjoy in Term 4 will continue, albeit in a COVID safe way. 

While there is always an excitement this term about the year concluding, it is important to remember that there are still 7 weeks of learning. I am very proud of the learning culture at St Agnes, and am really happy to advise that we have been able to re-open Homework Club for students seeking extra help.

The HSC examinations are in full swing. It was humbling to join our students as they began the HSC. They have taken full advantage of the opportunity to complete their secondary education at St Agnes, where they walked in the gate 6 years ago as young people excited by the opportunities of High School, and now walk through as confident young adults, firm in faith and eager to make a difference. Please continue to keep our inaugural graduands in your prayers as they continue to navigate this period and shape their life journey. 

I congratulate Mr Kemmis on his appointment as Acting Assistant Principal for Term 4 while Mr Wolffe is on leave. I do hope that he finds the role rewarding and I am grateful for the depth of capacity and experience of our staff that support both Mr Kemmis and myself in our shared ministry of leading this faith rich learning community. 

All Saints' Day (November 1) is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church.  The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. We look to the saints for inspiration and as models for our own lives: 

Prayer for All Saints Day

We give you thanks, O God, for all the saints who ever worshiped you

Whether in brush arbors or cathedrals,

Weathered wooden churches or crumbling cement meeting houses

Where your name was lifted and adored.

We give you thanks, O God, for hands lifted in praise:

Manicured hands and hands stained with grease or soil,

Strong hands and those gnarled with age

Holy hands

Used as wave offerings across the land.

We thank you, God, for hardworking saints;

Whether hard-hatted or steel-booted,

Head ragged or aproned,

Blue-collared or three-piece-suited

They left their mark on the earth for you, for us, for our children to come.

Thank you, God, for the tremendous sacrifices made by those who have gone before us.

Bless the memories of your saints, God.

May we learn how to walk wisely from their examples of faith, dedication, worship, and love.

Lisa-Maree Browning

Principal

At the start of this term, students were once again challenged with the goal of focussing on the ‘small things’. This includes:

• Uniform;

• Hair;

• Punctuality to school and class;

• Device use;

• Behaviour in the learning space and during break time; and 

• How they interact with peers and teachers. 

For learning to be successful, students need to be across these areas and in turn, they will be settled and focussed.

A few reminders as we move further into the term: 

• All students should now be in full summer uniform. School tie must be worn all year round. If there are concerns with the uniform, please communicate with your child’s Learning Advisor who will assist.

• The staff acknowledge that most, if not all, students possess a mobile phone. However, these devices have a place and as soon as students enter classrooms or other learning spaces, including assemblies, phones must be switched off and put away. Staff will remind students about this expectation, but when students fail to respond or become argumentative, phones will be confiscated and a consequence will occur. This ALSO includes break time; all mobiles must be away and the students are encouraged to TALK to each other.

• The front gates to the school are now closed each afternoon (2.20pm - 2.45pm) to prevent vehicle entry and safety for all. All members of our community are strongly asked to respect the neighbours surrounding our school and ensure they:

• Park in a correct and safe manner and DO NOT park across the entrance to a homeowners driveway.

• Look out for people crossing the road; and

• Be aware that Police or Council Rangers can be in the vicinity at any time (morning and or afternoon).

E-cigarettes/Vaping

Educators and health experts say tobacco companies are hooking a new generation of children on smoking by marketing candy-flavoured e-cigarette juices with enticing social media imagery.

Vape, Juul, juice, nova, hit, cloud — as a parent of a teenager, chances are you are already familiar with some of these words. If you do not know what they mean, your children probably do. They are all terms used to describe the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, as it is colloquially known.

What is vaping?

• Vaping is inhaling the vapour created by an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or other vaping devices.

• E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that heat an e-liquid to produce a vapour or an aerosol that can contain nicotine, flavour and other chemicals.

• E-cigarette users inhale the vapour in the same way as smoking a cigarette.

• In Australia it is illegal for retail outlets to sell nicotine e-cigarettes or liquid nicotine for vaping.

• It is also illegal to buy nicotine e-cigarettes or liquid nicotine for personal use without a medical prescription.

• It is easy to access nicotine for vaping from online sellers from outside Australia

The Australian Government intends to make it illegal from 1 January 2021 to import or purchase liquid nicotine e-cigarettes or refills from overseas. You will only be able to legally use e-cigarettes containing nicotine if they have been prescribed by a doctor. 

As a school community, we want to raise awareness of the issue. 

The following links provide more information for parents/carers.

Mr. G. Kemmis

Acting Assistant Principal

Year 12 2020

Our students are well into their HSC Examinations and have embraced these with a strong sense of maturity. We wish them all the very best!

 Year 12 2020/21

Our current Year 11 students have begun their HSC in all subject areas. Last week, they were spoken to about HSC rules and procedures. They were also provided their Assessment Handbook (and a copy was sent digitally to ALL parents). The students now must place themselves in the correct mindset and approach their learning with a growth mindset.

Year 10 Examinations and the next steps

Our Year 10 students shall begin their exams on 3rd November.  All students need to be actively studying and if they have any questions, they can contact their class teacher and also, log on to the Study Skills website (see below for further information). Some Year 10 students still need to finish the NESA Modules, All My Own Work and do so as a priority once the exams have concluded. The students must receive 100% in each of the modules prior to commencing any Stage 6 study. 

Year 9 Examinations/Year 7 and 8 Final Assessments

The students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will commence their examinations/final assessments from Week 5. Similar to Year 10, these students must revise all notes, see their teacher(s) and refer to the Study Skills website for tips.

All students need to be reminded that learning continues in the classroom after the examinations and teachers will be looking for ways to include such positive learning behaviour in each Semester 2 report.

 Study Skills Tip for October: iDisorder

 Dr. Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State University  has a must-read book for parents called ‘iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us’. In this book he discusses changes that occur to the brain's ability to process information and the ability to relate to the world due to daily consumption of media and use of technology. This obsession with technology can result in signs and symptoms of psychological disorders (which Dr. Rosen has labeled iDisorders) such as stress, sleeplessness, narcissism and a compulsive need to check-in with our technology.

 However, it is important to note the word ‘obsession’. Dr. Rosen is not anti-technology, far from it. Instead, he argues that we need to become more aware of issues that can arise from over-use of technology and then implement strategies to deal with these. Self-awareness and a move towards restorative balance are essential.

Some of the ideas Dr. Rosen discusses are:

• Ensure your child gets a full night’s sleep and that mobile phones are switched off during the night and ideally in a different room. If a student wakes in the night and checks their phone, however briefly, this will interrupt the sleep patterns for that night and disrupt essential memory processing.

• Convene regular family dinners (3-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes) where technology is forbidden at the table – parents included! Dr. Rosen points to the fact that many parents are also obsessed with technology and are modeling these behaviours to their children, for example not paying full attention when their child is talking to them, instead answering email on their smartphone at the same time. Rosen believes we are massive self-interrupters and we are training our children that if something buzzes, beeps or vibrates, we should jump and immediately check to see if there is something we should attend to right now.

• Given the pervasiveness of technology in our lives as well as the fact that technology evokes high levels of mental activity, we need to start taking technology ‘time-outs’ to reset our brains and refresh our capacity to process information.  It is important to recognise that the constant lure of multiple technologies and our obsession with them is overloading our brain. If we want to avoid iDisorder and ensure our use of technology does not make us exhibit signs and symptoms of psychological disorders, then we need to reset our brain on a regular basis. You may decide to take a 10 minute break from technology every 2 hours or you may even decide to allocate at least one day a week where you focus your attention 100% on real life and shut off your technology for a significant portion of that day. During this time you could laugh or talk with friends or family, experience nature or do something active. The aim is to give the brain a chance to slow down and rest by doing something that does not involve electronic devices.

We live in a connected world and we cannot turn the clock back and take away all these fun new technological tools. So the message is, we need to learn to take care of our brains and take some small proactive steps to avoid a potential iDisorder. 

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Mr. G. Kemmis

Head of Learning

At St Agnes Catholic High School, Rooty Hill, literacy learning has been re-visioned. The integration of a Visible Literacy Continuum, created by the    St Agnes 2019 Year 7 Visible Literacy Team, has transformed every student’s writing. 

The ACEL NSW Leadership Award is given to educators who demonstrate outstanding performance in leading an educational initiative that has accomplished evidential growth in outcomes for students and teachers.

The St Agnes team aimed for ALL year 7 students to develop the skill, will to learn, and thrill of literary success early in their secondary schooling, a pivotal time of development in a student’s literacy progression.

 Yet what started in 2019 as a goal for one cohort, has reimagined the literacy possibilities of all St Agnes students.

 In 2019, year 7 students progressed their writing a measurable average of 3.4 terms over the first two terms. In 2020, with further professional development for teachers, year 7 data revealed an average writing progression of 7.7 terms over the first 2 terms. What an amazing achievement!

The 2019 Year 7 Visible Literacy Team comprises of six educators led by Antoinette Meade and Christine Payne, supported by Linda Hicks and principal Lisa-Maree Browning. Proudly, three team members were in their first years of teaching, a credit to the instructional mentoring system pivotal to teacher growth at St Agnes.

The ACEL Awards night was held in the new offices of the Catholic Education Office in Parramatta. Members of the 2019 Visible Literacy Team are pictured below and consisted of: Ms Linda Hicks, Mrs Antoinette Meade, Ms Jessica Bryson, Ms Chantelle Angileri, Ms Joanne Penna and Mrs Christine Payne. Absent members were Mrs Maret Fraser and Ms Melissa Woods.

 What is the Visible Literacy Continuum?

The Visible Literacy Continuum (VLC) is a writing progression framework aligned to the Creating Texts elements of the Australian Curriculum Literacy Progressions. It was created over the 2018-19 Summer break by team leaders Antoinette Meade and Christine Payne.

 As explained by Mrs Meade, ‘we saw it as key to students being active participants in their own literacy learning, so we intentionally wrote the VLC from the student perspective using ‘I can’ terminology and built it as a living site of literacy strategies.’

 And the motivated team took on the vision! Within weeks, the Year 7 team were deeply immersing their students in the language of the VLC.

 Christine Payne witnessed the excitement and pride in the students learning.

‘The power of the VLC was in giving students the tools to accountably track and articulate their own literacy learning at their point of need’. 

 Principal Lisa-Maree Browning said ‘The students plot themselves on the Visible Literacy Continuum, which is incredible to watch. And they do it with such precision and clarity that it really does demonstrate that they’re taking the learning of what makes an effective piece of writing, they’re unpacking it and they’re articulating it themselves, and that is really powerful’.

 Socially distanced pictures for the 2020 ACEL Awards night of the St Agnes attendees. From left, Mrs Devine-Leader of Learning in English, Ms Clark-Assistant Leader of Learning English, Mr Kemmis-Head of Learning, Mrs Meade-Head of Diversity, Ms Bryson-Teacher, Ms Angileri-Teacher, Ms Browning-Principal, Mrs Payne-Teacher, Ms Christine Howe-Relieving Executive Director.

  As part of their mission, the St Agnes team has shared this Australian-curriculum aligned Visible Literacy Continuum and school wide literacy learning framework, with over 40 Australian schools and literacy educators whilst presenting at national literacy conferences such as ALEA and ACEL. Their work is showcased in Doug Fisher’s Visible Literacy conferences within the Australian context.

 Congratulations to the St Agnes 2019 Visible Literacy team! Whilst achieving this prestigious ACEL NSW Leaders in Education Award, they recognise they are only just beginning their student-focussed literacy improvement journey. Over the next few years this process will be integrated into all St Agnes disciplines, supported by the Catholic Education Diocese Parramatta Language Across the Disciplines program.

 Mrs Payne

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