Term 2 Week 10 - 3rd July 2020

As this term concludes, I wish to express my sincere gratitude for the dedication and commitment to learning shown by staff, students and their families over the past semester. Words pale into insignificance when endeavouring to encapsulate the events and complexities of the past eight months. 

Let us all pray and hope for a better second semester. 

Semester One Award Ceremonies

Today we celebrated and acknowledged excellence in academic achievements of students from Years 7-11. Congratulations to all students for their efforts so far this year. Occasions such as today, present students with an opportunity to reflect on their personal academic goals, and I would encourage all students to set new goals for Semester Two; goals that are set to challenge themselves both academically and interpersonally to achieve their personal best.

I would like to thank Mrs Michelle Reynolds, Principal Assistant: Student Services, and the office team for the tremendous amount of work and organisation in preparation for the award ceremonies.

Year 11 Semester One Awards

Outstanding Achievement (Gold)
To receive an Outstanding Achievement Award, students in Year 11 must have received Excellence and Application Awards in 7 or more units

Congratulations to the Outstanding Achievement Award recipients:

Hannah Freeman and Joseph Lewis

Outstanding Application (Green)
To receive an Outstanding Application Award, students in Year 11 must have received Application Awards in 9 or more units. 

Congratulations to the Outstanding Application Award recipients:

Year 7-10 Semester One Awards

Outstanding Achievement (Gold)
To receive an Outstanding Achievement Award, students in their respective years must have received:

6 or more Excellence and Application Awards in Years 7, 8
5 or more Excellence and Application Awards in Year 9, 10

Congratulations to the Outstanding Achievement Award recipients:

Outstanding Application (Green)
To receive an Outstanding Application Award, students in their respective years must have received:

8 or more Application Awards in Years 7, 8
7 or more Application Awards in Years 9, 10

Congratulations to the Outstanding Application Award recipients:

Farewell Lenia

Today we farewelled Lenia Collier, a Rotary Exchange student from Germany. It has been wonderful having Lenia as a student here at the College and we wish her all the very best in the future.  

Please see below Lenia's letter about her time here at the College.

My name is Lenia Collier, and I am an exchange student from Germany.
For the past year, I attended St Joseph’s Regional College, doing Term 3, 4 of Year 10 and Term 1, 2 of Year 11.

Over the past 12 months, I stayed with four different host families in Wauchope, Port Macquarie and Dunbogan. With each one of them, I went on trips and got unique experiences.

Some of my highlights were: a camping trip to Lightning Ridge and Dubbo, a holiday to New Zealand, site-seeing in Sydney, camping at Trial Bay and a trip to Canberra. Due to bushfires and COVID -19 quite a few plans had to be cancelled, including a big bus trip around Australia with all the other exchange students.

The Australian school is quite different from the German school system: before I came here, I’ve never worn a school uniform before, and I wasn’t used to using laptops and iPads in school. I really like SJRC for its buildings and its lovely teachers and students. Here I was part of several music groups and participated in some extracurricular sport activities which gave me the chance to try new things and learn about Aussie sports.

In the upcoming holidays, I have to leave Australia, but I’m planning on coming back after my HSC in Germany to travel and/or to go to university here. This year taught me a lot, and school has been a major part of it, and I will miss it heaps.
Thank you for having me, and I hope to be back soon.

Lenia Collier

Wishing all students, staff, and their families a safe and restful break. We look forward to seeing students return on Monday, 20th July for the commencement of Term 3.

God Bless

Jim Dempsey
Principal

Feast Day Brunch & Trivia Challenge

This week, in lieu of our College Zoom assembly, our College participated in a Feast Day Brunch & Trivia and Character Strength challenge. This feast and activities would have normally taken place on our St Joseph the Worker Feast Day celebrations in May which was unfortunately cancelled. Nevertheless, to celebrate, all Pastoral Care groups shared a delicious brunch and also participated in a Trivia and Character Strength challenge during Extended PC time.

The trivia title is always hotly contested so it was resurrected to bring the term to a close. As normal, there was fierce competition for bragging rights and the winners and prize will be announced as soon as possible.

One of the new challenges this year was a Character Strength representation, where the PCs were asked to represent the Character Strength of 'Hope' and submit a picture/video for adjudication. You can see their efforts below.

Well done and congratulations to Mr Tom Inatey, Leader of Pastoral Care-Hastings and Ms Kylie Wallis, Leader of Wellbeing for coordinating this wonderful alternative to our normal program. Thank you also, to our Pastoral Care teachers who organised and contributed so much to the success of the morning. 

We look forward already to next year for our regular Feast Day celebrations.

Beanies for Brain Cancer Fundraiser

Last Friday, 26th June, St Joseph's Regional College held a Beanie for Brain Cancer fundraising day. Both students and staff participated, donating a gold coin.

Thank you, an amazing $1120 was raised which has been donated to the Mark Hughes Foundation.

Birthday Box

Congratulations and Happy Birthday to Jack McManus who was our June Birthday Box winner.

We hope you enjoy spending your $20 gift card.

Students who celebrate their birthday during the holidays are encouraged to visit the office during the first week back next term to enter the Birthday Box draw.

College Uniform

Winter uniform continues next term.

Please ensure all uniform items are labelled with your child's name. This also includes sports bags that contain sports clothes, practical equipment and lunchboxes. Clearly labelled items are easily returned when lost.

Many girls seem to have had growth spurts this term and skirts are looking very short. Please take the opportunity in the holidays to let the hems down. We are happy to swap skirts (if we have the appropriate size) if your daughter has grown out of her skirt. Skirts should be worn to the knee.

EFTPOS at the Canteen and the Use of Mobile Phones

Students in Years 7-10 are not permitted to use their phone during the day at school. This includes using their phone to pay for food at the canteen.

Please ensure your child has cash or their EFTPOS card if they are using the canteen to avoid them being turned away.

Lost Property

The College has a large amount of brand new jumpers and sports jackets in lost property.  All WITHOUT NAMES.

Given it is now school holidays, I ask that you please contact the College via email if you think something could belong to your child and we will endeavour to return it next term. 

Please ensure your child's name is written on all items of clothing, this also includes sports bags that contain sports clothes, practical equipment and lunchboxes. Clearly labelled items are easily returned when lost.

St Agnes' Uniform Shop - New Trading Hours

St Agnes' Uniform will be changing our trading hours from Monday, 13th July 2020.

This will be a permanent change. The new permanent trading hours will be:

• Monday to Friday  from 12noon to 5.00pm
• Saturday from 9.00am to 12 noon.

Tanya Daley
Assistant Principal - Staff and Pastoral Care

Year 7-11 Reports

Year 11 - 2021 Enrolment

Please find below a timeline for students in Year 10 who intend enrolling in Year 11 at St Joseph's Regional College in 2021.

• Year 10 students have now received their Year 11 2021 Enrolment Information Packs. If your child was absent on this day, the enrolment pack can be collected from the College Office.
• Handbooks for Newman Senior Technical College (NSTC) have been distributed to our current Year 10 students today. Year 10 students will tour NSTC facilities on Wednesday, 22nd July.
• Interviews for both Colleges will be held on Wednesday, 5th August.

I would encourage everyone to view the video link below, outlining the many opportunities available to senior students at St Joseph’s Regional College.

SJRC #aHSC4opportunity

Mr Tim McCosker
Assistant Principal - Curriculum & Administration

Prayer through Music

Music Ministry is a huge aspect of the Youth Ministry Officer role for both the WILDFIRE band members and the house crew. It’s our way of talking to God and lifting our prayers to him. A few weeks ago, the band set out a challenge for staff and students of the Lismore Diocese to listen to our new song ‘Without You’ and create and submit a piece of art, inspired by the song. We were overwhelmed with the response – over 280 pieces of art!! Below is the link for the video – go check it out! This can be a useful resource for religion classes or PC prayer.

Listening to music is a powerful way to relax and manage stress. A slower tempo song can soothe the stress of the day by quieting your mind and relaxing your muscles.

If you are looking for some background music while you are studying or just relaxing at home, I encourage you to check out our focus song on Spotify.

Check out some of the great music featured this week on the SJRC Digital Ministry Blog https://sjrcministry.wixsite.com/digitalministry

Featured Music

HOLD ON - Wildfire
One of the writers/musicians in this song, Laurie Pratt, has shared with us his meaning behind this song.

“There are times in our lives where we can feel trapped, helpless or even burdened, but these lyrics remind us that whatever may be going on in your life, God will never leave your side, he is always there with you. Jesus will forever hold us in his loving arms and will never let go, no matter what. Whatever situation you may be in life, even if you are so close to giving up, God will NEVER let go of you.”

https://youtu.be/qYxll8VIUmw

Prayer through Podcast

Do you want to know more about what is in the bible, take a listen to this week's featured podcast.

The Fr Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
A breakdown of catholic topics in an easy + short format

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-fr-mike-schmitz-catholic-podcast/id1200915759

Digital Ministry

We invite you to click on the links below to see the great resources on the SJRC Digital Ministry Blog and Instagram Page put together by our Youth Ministry Officers, Chloe Nash and Amelia Stennett.

SJRC Digital Ministry Blog https://sjrcministry.wixsite.com/digitalministry

SJRC Digital Ministry Instagram Page https://www.instagram.com/sjrcdigitalministry/

Timo Gobius
Leader of Evangelisation

Congratulations to Heo Ignacio, Year 9.

Heo has entered The 2020 University of New England School Acquisitive Art Competition, and has been selected as a finalist. There were 448 art entries this year, which is an incredible effort given the restrictions around Covid-19.

This year's Exhibition will be an online exhibition, to be viewed on NERAM's website neram.com.au between 31st July and 16th August 2020, so head there to see Heo's amazing artwork!

Tracy Pares
Leader of Creative Arts

Kids Lit Quiz

This week, three eager teams of four students drawn from Years 7 and 8 participated in the Mid North Coast heat of Kids Lit Quiz. Originally, this event was to be held in Taree in March, but due to pandemic restrictions, this was changed to an online event.

All teams performed exceptionally well in this game of literary trivia, with one team emerging as the winner of this heat. Congratulations to Tiana Daly, Mikayla Hill, Hannah Thompson and Jack McManus - victorious against our other two teams, four teams from Taree Christian College and a team from Tinonee Public School.

Library Holiday Borrowing

We are not going to limit any holiday borrowing for our students. It’s unlimited. 

Significant Literary Dates

Happy birthday Ernest Hemingway
Born July 21st 1899, Ernest Hemingway was a novelist, journalist, short story writer and sportsman. His language was spare and economical, and he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. His adventures included being a foreign correspondent based in Spain during the Civil War, and also in Europe during WW2. The themes of his books included love, loss, war and wilderness.

This Week's FREE Download

The weekly free download of audiobook titles continues this week with

This week’s free audiobook downloads are: "Fresh Ink" and "Hope Nation".

During the holidays, the following titles will become available:

Available from 9th-15th July:   "A Christmas Carol" and "Twelfth Night"

Available from 16th-22nd July:   "Fake" and "New York 2140"

Any questions or issues, please email pmreg-lib@lism.catholic.edu.au

Background

As a school library, we like to think that part of what we do is connect people, ideas and information, and with #LitFest2444 happening across these weeks in a digital format, it was easy to connect the dots, as #LitFest2444 is essentially a festival of ‘story’ in different forms and mediums.

The “Humans of New York” phenomenon was used as a basis for introducing the idea to students in the Library. Historically, the HONY project started out as photography only, but then morphed into people willingly sharing something of their story. The premise is that “everyone has a story”. The project fosters opportunities for active listening, courageous conversations, and empathy. Individual storytelling is celebrated.

We hope to bring you a “Humans of SJRC” story once a week for a little while. We are proud of our ‘humans’ who acknowledge that they have a story to share that is meaningful to them.

Introducing our first Human of SJRC – Maisy Taylor

Books That Have Changed Me

This week, we are sharing stories about the stories that have changed us. These might be books from our childhood, our youth or simply last week!

Thank you to the following staff who have contributed to the first part of our series. 

Cheryl Hyde To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee	This book had a significant impact on me when I first read it at age 12. I became aware of bigger issues in life than what I had experienced in Port Macquarie during the 80s. The blatant racism and poison of ignorance that came through those pages made me reflect on my family, my friends and all those that I interacted with, and totally changed my world-view. It encouraged and empowered me to become an advocate for those less privileged members of our society and stirred my sense of social justice in the world. To this day, this book is still one of my absolute, all-time favourites - so much so that my dog’s name is Harper Lee!
Karyn Mooney The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom	I think this story drives home the idea that we are often connected to people in ways that are not obvious. After reading this story I made a conscious effort to engage with the people around me, to try and be a better person - a kinder person. We do not always realise the impact we are having on another individual!
Timo Gobius Foundation Series  - Isaac Asimov	Louis L’Amour (A sample of his Books) Isaac Asimov was one of the early Science Fiction writers who introduced the whole idea of Robotics and the Three Laws of Robotics as seen in the famous movie ‘iRobot’. In the Foundation Series, set 30,000 years in the future, Asimov tells the tale of a robot so advanced that he is humanlike and using mental telepathy can influence large portions of society to keep humanity safe from themselves. This series had a great impact on my love of reading. I went on to read many other books by Asimov and then also read almost all books by Louis L’Amour, an American historical fiction western writer who charts the course of the movement of people from England to North America’s east coast and then across the plains to the east coast of America in the early American colony. I have collections of many Asimov and L’Amour books in my bookshelves at home. I think I have reread each of the Asimov and L’Amour books 5-10 times over the course of my life

HAPPENING IN TERM 3....

Debating:
2020 St Joseph's Regional College v MacKillop College Debating and Public Speaking Competition: Thursday, 27th August. Week 6 of Term 3.

Still in the Spotlight

Holidays are for Reading!

Make sure you get to the SJRC library for a book or two to gorge on during the holidays.

Click here for some recommendations:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/books-online/kids-childrens-books/children-s-fiction/young-adult-ya-fiction/cYFY-p1.html?sorter=sortorder-en-dsc

Photo: Goop.com

The SJRC Literacy Enrichment Team

Sadly, our 2020 online program has concluded – we have learned so much about technology and the different way of delivering fun and educational content to our participants - ALL of our sessions are FREE to access at our website.

On Monday night, we hosted “Fun and fast workouts to stretch your creative muscles” – a workshop presented by Jenna O’Connell. If you missed it, you can catch up here

We don’t know what shape #Litfest2444 might take in 2021, but we are very grateful for the opportunity given to us to flex and adapt our program in 20201 when the COVID-19 pandemic played havoc with our plans.

Karen Bale
#Litfest2444 Organiser

Word of the week:

The Yearbook is a great historical record of the 2019 St Joseph's Regional College school year. It also includes a special common section of events and information about all Parish secondary schools.

Students in Year 8 and 11 have already received their copy of the Yearbook; this cost was included in your enrolment fee.

Students in Year 12 (2019) are now able to collect their copy of the Yearbook from the College Office. Students with siblings at the College have had their Yearbook sent home.

For all other families interested in buying a 2019 Yearbook the cost is $20.

Please send the money to the College Office in a sealed envelope with your child’s name and PC class written on the front.