Star of Peace

St Patrick's Marist College

Newsletter Number 3 - 4 March 2020

From the Principal ....

Last week we celebrated Ash Wednesday, which  marks the beginning of the Church’s season of Lent. The marking of the Ashes on this day is a public expression of our faith and repentance. It is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through prayer we come closer to God so that we are better able to realise our baptismal promise to live justly as Jesus teaches us. Fasting joins us in solidarity with the poor who often have no choice but to go without basic essentials. Giving to the poor or ‘almsgiving’ is a sign of our commitment to justice and our thanks for all that God has given us.

Lent prepares us for the season of Easter, the most important time in the Church’s calendar. By praying, fasting and giving alms, we are reminded of Jesus’ death and Resurrection. Jesus brought the promise of hope to all people so that we may “Have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10), so that with our neighbours, we can go further together. 

This Lent, the theme of Project Compassion is “Go Further Together”.  It is a theme which reminds us that we are all responsible for each other; the needs of those who are poor are our concern. During Lent we will all be reminded regularly to grow in appreciating this and to respond generously, we continue as a faith community to bring our mission and the Gospel to life.

Thank you to the parents who attended our Year 7 Information Evening and our P&F AGM last week. It was a great evening.  I thank Mrs Padden for her organisation and the Year 7 Homeroom Patrons who came along and ran a  homeroom session. The feedback was that this was very helpful and some great questions were raised by our new families. 

We are busily preparing for Open Day on the 16th March and there have already been lots of students volunteering for the afternoon. I am in the midst of visiting our local primary schools. As part of this I invite students to attend their primary schools to share their experience of St Patrick’s Marist.  I would like to thank the 90 students who so graciously volunteered.  A reminder that enrolments close on the 27th March and first round offers will be made on the 6th of April. Please contact the office if you have any enrolment enquiries.

Last Friday, I had the wonderful opportunity along with some staff  and leaders across the Diocese to attend the Ignition Day for the new Draft RE Curriculum. I am so very excited to see this coming to fruition, recognising the significant input by staff, students and parents in our Diocese. In summary, the curriculum seeks to awaken a sacramental vision of reality, through proclaiming the "living voices of the Gospel".  With Pope Francis, Bishop Vincent and the whole faith community, we strive to ensure that every young person experiences metanoia: a joyful, blessed, transcendent and transformational education. A Catholic Education understood as a ‘gateway’ to human flourishing, one that liberates each person to live their life to the full.

The curriculum reflects that learning should be owned by the learners, that is why the curriculum has Inquiry as its framework, shaped by questions that young people shared about their life, their identity and belonging. Meeting students and families where they are and giving them a voice to explore their faith through participation and dialogue.

I have sent home via email an invitation to attend a parent evening on the new curriculum in Religious Education Parent Information and Workshop Evening at Morley Centre, Catherine McAuley, 2 Darcy Street, Westmead  on the 17th March from 6:30 - 8:00 pm. The letter contains an RSVP link.

The parent workshop is designed to explain and explore the new curriculum in Religious Education. Professor Anthony Maher, a contemporary theologian who has had significant input into the development of the new curriculum, will facilitate the workshop. I encourage you to attend this workshop.

This Sunday the 8th March is International Women's Day, which is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women - while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender equality. The theme for 2020 is #EachforEqual.

An equal world is an enabled world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.

We continue as a society to be faced with issues of gender inequity, of violence against women. I recently learnt of a couple of young men in our College, who had separately made disparaging remarks relating to women. I was so shocked that after all that has been said and has happened recently that this occurred. We are the first educators of our young people and we often battle social media and reality TV that often presents values contrary to our own. As I said at this time last year, violence against women unlike other crimes continues to grow in our country. Let us ensure that all that we do promotes equity and equality for all. That we continue to live, teach and educate grounded in the firm belief that violence is not an inevitable part of the human condition, that it is possible to break the cycle of violence and injustice and that equity for all is a human right.

We have a couple of ways for parents to connect. Our Working Bee is coming up this weekend. We look forward to seeing you there. It is a great opportunity to meet other families. We also have our Cocktail Evening for new families which is always a great evening.

Yours in Jesus, Mary and St Marcellin

Mrs Angela Hay

Principal

Assistant Principal - Innovation, Teaching and Learning

Something Interesting to Consider:  iDisorder?

Dr Larry Rosen, professor of Psychology at California State University presented at the Young Minds Conference in Sydney. His book ‘iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us’ 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 labelled iDisorders) such as stress, sleeplessness, narcissism and a compulsive need to check-in with our technology.  However 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 implement strategies to deal with these. Self-awareness and a move towards restorative balance are essential.

Some of the ideas Dr Rosen discusses are:

  • Students need to get a full night’s sleep and mobile phones are switched off during the night. 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.
  •  Families should 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 (and teachers) are also obsessed with technology and are modelling these behaviours to their children, for example not paying full attention when their child is talking to them, instead answering email on their smart phone at the same time. Dr 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.


Ways parents can help teachers

The partnership between parents and teachers is expressed in many ways. Some of the most basic elements of this important partnership are also the most important for a happy student doing well at school.

  • Send your children to school with a nutritious breakfast.
  • Find time every day to share moments of each day.
  • Model and teach time management and organisational skills. Use calendars and planners for school and family life.
  • Show your love of learning by talking about something you are reading.
  • Make sure they get plenty of sleep every night so their brains and body can grow.
  • Encourage them to take responsibility for their own learning.
  • Let your children know every day how much you love and value them.

 

Thought of the Week:

We really appreciate your feedback. If you would like some more information or clarification of any policy or procedure we have please let us know.

Mr P. Finnerty
Assistant Principal

Innovation, Teaching and Learning

Presiding Officer

Presiding Officer required during 2020 HSC Examination period

    St Patrick’s Marist College, Dundas

    Commencing:  Term 4 (15th October till 6th November)

    Position Status:  Temporary full time

    Applications Closing Date:  16/03/2020


DESCRIPTION

This position is required is required full time during the HSC examination period.  The position is employed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) but reports to the Principal.  The successful applicant ensures the examinations are conducted efficiently and in keeping with relevant NESA policies and procedures.  The position is also responsible for managing and coordinating supervisors for the examinations as well as collecting of examination papers from security centre.

CRITERIA

The successful applicant must have:

  • Current Working with Children Check clearance
  • Access to private transport and the vehicle must be covered by comprehensive motor vehicle insurance policy
  • Organisation and good attention to detail skills
  • Management of student and supervisor skills
  • No child or near relative sitting the 2020 HSC examinations
  • Not involved in tutoring any student sitting the 2020 examinations at the same centre


FURTHER INFORMATION

Name:  Sarah Hagarty

Phone:  02 8841 7900

Email:  shagarty@parra.catholic.edu.au

Send applications to

The Principal
St Patrick’s Marist College
171 Kirby Street
Dundas  NSW  2117
or email to stpatsdundas@parra.catholic.edu.au

Assistant Principal - Mission and Wellbeing

First Week of Lent

  • Around 2.8 million children in the Philippines do not go to school.*

We begin Project Compassion learning about the story of Shirley. Shirley was struggling to support her family and keep her children in school. She faced regular discrimination and disadvantage, limiting her family’s access to food, education, employment and healthcare.

With Caritas Australia’s support, Shirley trained to become an indigenous health worker. She has learnt to supplement her income and is able to feed her family. The program has also empowered Shirley to send her children to school. 

Let’s Go Further, Together! Please support the Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au

Business Manager

Business Manager

Working Bee - Saturday 7th March - CANCELLED

The Working Bee scheduled for Saturday, 7th March from 8.00 to 12.00 has been cancelled due to the grounds already being saturated and the chance of further showers and thunderstorms forecast for tomorrow

Thank you to all the parents that had offered to give up their time tomorrow.  Your help is always greatly appreciated.

Payments at the office

Most excursions and incursions are included in school fees. CEDP have sent school fees statements and flexible payment arrangements have been offered by direct debit, bpay or Centrelink. This is the best way to pay your school fees, as they are processed via their office on our behalf and reduce our need to handle such payments.

CEDP are asking schools to move to cash-free transactions, so that schools reduce the volume of cash that they receipt/bank. We will be transitioning into this arrangement. Please note that (other than paying for school fees using the above flexible payment arrangements and the biller codes on the statements), you can also pay school fees by billpay at the local post office, credit card over the phone or by EFTPOS at reception. 

For large events, for example the  Year 12 Formal, musical, etc we use TryBooking online payments.

For any other incidental payments required to be paid by students, eg rep sport uniform, school bags, replacement items, etc, ideally parents should pay using credit card over the phone or by EFTPOS at reception. At this stage, we will continue to accept cash for these items, so students must put money into a sealed envelope with their name, homeroom, amount and what it is for, on it and students are to put in drop box at student counter. These are not collected by teachers. It would assist us greatly if you could put correct money in envelope. I will advise parents, when cash will no longer be accepted.

We will continue to accept cash for Lenten appeals, mufti days, etc.

Onsite Uniform Shop (located in the Book Room)

The majority of our school uniform is at Lowes Carlingford. Our onsite uniform shop is open on Thursdays (before school and during recess and lunch breaks). We sell school-bags, sports bags, hats, boys’ ties and representative sports uniforms. Costs are:

  • School Bag $65;  Chiro Bag $95;  Sports Bag $15;  Senior / Junior Ties $20; Hats $20
  • Soccer/Rugby Shorts $30; Cricket Shirt $35; Netball Shirt / Skirt $35; Rep Socks $15
  • Second Hand Uniform and Rep Sports Uniform Items – various (please ask).

We also sell good-quality second-hand uniforms.

Lowes Uniform Shop, Carlingford

  • Light-weight Trousers: We have requested Lowes to replace the current boys’ trousers with lighter-weight trousers. These have been ordered, however, due to manufacturing delays in China re coronavirus, at this stage, we have no definite date for their arrival in-store.
  •  Lowes manufacturers in China affected by coronavirus:  A fortnight ago I received an email from our Lowes rep regarding their situation with their suppliers and uniforms coming out of China (refer extract below). They advise that uniform orders, samples, logistics and air freight have all been affected.

I have since spoken with our rep and will be meeting with her this week regarding stock levels in-store and in their Australian warehouse. They would appreciate our patience and understanding during this time.

Extract of their email communication, last fortnight:  With escalating contamination, the full impact of the Coronavirus is not yet known. We are closely monitoring the situation with our uniform makers in China and working to determine what impact this will have on our supply of uniforms to school communities.

 The situation is very fluid with increasing cases being reported inside and outside of China. Factories are taking measures to guard against its spread and at this stage are not confident in employees returning to work for fear of contamination.

The factors below may impact our delivery schedule.

  1. Chinese Government has extended the break with CNY by 7 days
  2. Local councils have ask all people traveling interstate during CNY to stay home for 14 days before they are able to return to work
  3. Logistics and transport will be impacted due to lower number of employees and too little stock available for shipping. This will create a flood of garments for dispatch when the threat is under control, potentially causing further delays.
  4. Australian Federal Government agencies have advised ship’s crew that if they have joined a ship, or have been ashore in mainland China and returned to the vessel from 1 February, they will not be permitted to come ashore in Australia within the 14-day window from last being in China. If any individual member of the crew has been ashore in China and boarded the ship from 1 February, the entire crew will be required to remain on the vessel for the 14 day quarantine period.

For vessels, this means that they must remain at sea or off the coast of Australia for 14 days from when they left China. This tactic, which is beneficial in protecting the health of Australian citizens who work at the port and ship pilots, will cause delays and have a significant impact on vessel arrivals. While this is likely to impact all vessels based on delays and port congestion, in particular, this will impact express services to Australia and New Zealand where the transit time is less than 14 days.

This will also affect Airfreight

We appreciate your understanding and will keep you updated.

Our thoughts are with the families and communities of those affected by the virus during this very difficult time.

Lowes customer feedback/complaints email address (customercare@lowes.com.au) for customers who want to know information, or have a problem that cannot be solved at the store level. Customer email and contact details will be sent directly to the Key Accounts Manager to follow up on.

Lost Property

We usually accumulate a lot of lost property over the year. If items are labelled, we contact the student to come to the office to collect it. Otherwise, we have no way of knowing who it belongs to. Please ensure your child’s name is on their belongings.

Unlabelled items are held in the uniform shop, so students who can recognise their item can come and claim it. At the end of each term, any unclaimed uniform items are added to our second-hand uniform stock. Other items eg water bottles, lunch boxes, umbrellas, etc are discarded.

Ms V. Fraser

Business Manager

2020 Collection Notice

Welcome Cocktail Evening

Parents and Friends - Cocktail Evening

FRIDAY, 13th MARCH @ 7.00PM

For Parents/Carers of Year 7 Students and those new to the College

We wish to remind all Year 7 and new to the College Parents/Carers  about the upcoming P&F Cocktail Evening on Friday, 13th March commencing at 7.00pm. This evening is open to all Parents/Carers of Year 7 students and students new to the College.

This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with the 2020 cohort and also meet parents in your child’s homeroom. Details below:

DATE AND TIME:   Friday 13 March 2020 at 7.00pm in the La Valla Centre

RSVP: Please RSVP via the following link https://www.trybooking.com/BHUWX (This is the preferred method to RSVP to the event )

For catering purposes RSVPs must be in by Monday 9 March 2020 

In order to encourage and foster community the P&F will be putting together parent contact sheets for every Homeroom.  By filling out the information via trybooking you give us permission to put your details (which includes your name, email address and mobile number) on this contact sheet.  This sheet will be emailed out to your homeroom group when finalised.  This is a great opportunity to connect with your parent cohort. Please note that joining the contact list is optional.  If you do not wish to join, simply click next to finalise your booking for the cocktail party.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at pandfstpatsdundas@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you all!

 St Patrick's Marist P&F Executive

Wellbeing

Year 10

Congratulations to Year 10 on their contribution to the Religious Education incursion last week, run by the Youth Mission Team. Students were involved in many team building games and learned a great deal about social justice. 

A reminder around the uniform policy. Please ensure students are wearing the correct amount of jewelry, especially in regards to ear piercings (1). Please refer to the diary for further details.

Mr J. Hornby

Pastoral Leader of Learning - Year 10

Key Learning Areas

English

SARAH AYOUB - VISITING WRITER

Write What You Know

In English this semester, Year 11 Advanced and Standard have undertaken a unit of work called,  ‘Reading to Write’, in which they have had the opportunity to develop their skills as confident and creative writers. On the 3rd March, students were given the opportunity to engage in a presentation and a series of workshops with Australian published author, Sarah Ayoub. 

As a journalist and author,  her work has appeared in Marie-Claire, Cosmopolitan, The Guardian, Sunday Style, Girlfriend, CLEO and more. Sarah attended a mono-cultural school from Kindergarten to Year 12 and the culture shock she experienced out in the real world inspired her to write her debut novel about race, identity, gender and belonging. She has spoken at schools and writers festivals across the east coast of Australia and appeared on TV and radio discussing her work and the social/cultural issues. She has taught Journalism at the University of Notre Dame and has always been passionate about teens and seeing diversity in the arts.

Sarah Ayoub’s advice to the students was to ‘write what you know’.  Ayoub’s experiences as an Australian middle-eastern adolescent growing up in South Western Sydney was the catalyst for her writing.  She revealed that she “had so much to say”. Sarah exemplified that writing what you know is key to the creative process, “I couldn’t write a story about a Vietnamese refugee…. I don’t know what it’s like to be a Vietnam refugee …. Write what is familiar.”

We were privileged to have had Sarah Ayoub visit our College to assist our students in their reading to write experiences. 

Ms. Shannon Graham

Acting Leader of Learning, English.

Disability Provisions HSC

Disability Provisions are practical supports designed to help students who couldn't otherwise make a fair attempt in their HSC examinations. The definition of a 'disability' includes: physical, intellectual, psychiatric, sensory, neurological, and learning disabilities, as well as physical disfigurement, and the presence in the body of disease-causing organisms. 

Disability provisions also apply to temporary and emergency-related disabilities such as when a student breaks their arm that they write with, a week before an examination.

NESA requires all applications to be supported by appropriate documentation and the documents must be no older than twelve months old

The provisions are granted by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) rather than the College and are solely determined by how the student’s exam performance would be affected by their disability.  Disability provisions apply only where the disability needs a practical arrangement to reduce disadvantage in an exam situation.  Provisions may include braille papers, large-print papers, use of a reader and/or writer, diabetic provisions or rest breaks. 

Year 12 students who wish to apply for disability provisions should see me in the Diversity/Learning Enrichment Centre room C101, as soon as possible.  Alternatively parents can contact me on 8841 7956 or via email on cthomson7@parra.catholic.edu.au

Further information with regards to these provisions can be located at: http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/disability-provisions

Mrs Catherine Thomson

Diversity Leader

SPORT

NSWCCC Triathlon 2020

On Thursday 27 February, 33 students in eleven teams represented our College at the NSWCCC Triathlon Teams event also at Penrith International Regatta Centre.  Thirty three enthusiastic triathletes swam, rode and ran in a very competitive atmosphere that displayed professionalism and sportsmanship. The junior relay distance was a 400m swim, 10 km ride and a 3 km run and the intermediate and senior distances was a 400m swim, 15km ride and a 3 km run.

The junior teams were:

  • Salome Blandon Cano, Mia Northwood and Alessia Georges
  • Jack Denholm, Max Murray and Alex Dybal
  • Levi Cogger, Charlie Capratsis and Benjamin Senger

The intermediate teams were:

  • Alannah Cantrill, Holly Stone and Belle Nilon
  • Takoda Cheng, Zach Gerber and Sam Moore

The senior teams were:

  • Imani Cogger, Bath Langford and Caitlin Rodriguez
  • Tatiana Seruvatu, Rebecca Grundy and Alana Lynch
  • Charlotte Moujalli, Holly McNamara and Sophie Vaughan
  • Matthew Raish, Ben Gosper and Marcus Brown
  • Ashton Cooper, Michael Blazevic and Alex Johnson
  • John Jones, Jacob Rodriguez and Dylan Owen

Thank you to all the parents for coming out to support our team on the day and a big congratulations to all students who competed at the Triathlon.

Mrs A. Papoulias

CCC Triathlon Coach

SPORT

Congratulations

Last Monday Annalise Kemp of Year 11 competed at the NSWCCC softball selection trials. At this event, she was selected into the NSWCCC team which will compete in the NSW All Schools Competition. We wish Annalise best of luck.

Congratulations also to Sophie Vaughan of Year 12, who was also selected in the NSWCCC Cricket team last week. This will be competing in the NSW All Schools Competition later this month.

Well done girls, wish you all the best.

Mr R. James

Sport Co-ordinator

Community News

Walk for Autism

You are invited to join us in this year’s Walk for autism from 29 March – 5 April 2020. By taking part, you can start a conversation about autism and help foster greater understanding and acceptance. 

 Register Now!

Walk for autism challenges participants to take 10,000 steps a day for eight days while raising vital funds for people of all ages on the autism spectrum. It is a virtual event, which means you can take part at any time, place and pace that suits you. An estimated one in every 70 people in Australia is on the autism spectrum. It is likely that you know someone, perhaps a family member, friend, workmate – even a student.

Get involved and step towards a more inclusive future for people of all ages on the autism spectrum.