Term 2 Week 1 - 1st May 2020
- Principal's Message
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Correspondence
- Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care & Staff Support
- Year 7 2021 Enrolment Information
- Assistant Principal - Curriculum & Administration
- Busways' School Bus Service Update
- Literacy Enrichment - Get Involved!
- #LITFEST2444
- Library News
- Word of the Week
- Band News
- Youth Week Challenge
- Journey into the Catholic Faith for Teens
A New Look for news@SJRC
We are proud to inform you that we will be producing a new eNewsletter format using the Schoolzine platform.
The purpose of moving to this new format is to engage the College community more effectively and provide parents, students and the community with a content-rich newsletter format.
One of the great features of this newsletter is the quick link buttons at both the top and side menus. These links will take you directly to the latest and most up-to-date information.
2020 SJRC Trainees & Youth Ministry Officers
I would like to extend a warm welcome back to the College for Term 2. Over the past week, I have witnessed staff and students working diligently on their Blended Learning programs. It is my hope at this point in time that you feel reassured around the delivery of learning at the College over the next four weeks. You should also feel confident that I will be communicating to you future planning around moving to full attendance at the College in the not too distant future. I really appreciate your patience and support in this regard.
In this week's newsletter, I would like to pay a special tribute to our Trainees and Youth Ministry Officers. These young adults have only been out of school for a matter of months and are yet at the same time exhibiting great maturity and commitment to the College. Below you will discover some of the magnificent ways they are supporting our community in these times. My congratulations and sincere appreciation to each of them.
Dylan James
Dylan has been working hard these last few weeks not only on his practical skills supporting the College and workshop staff but on his TAFE work as he progresses with his Certificate in Engineering.
Currently, he has designed and constructed the College Hand Sanitising Stations which will keep staff and students safe as they return. Concurrently Dylan has also learnt new laser cutting skills by building new place tokens and a storage box for the Sports Department. Senior students have also gained through his assistance in the workshop as they build their Industrial Technology Timber, HSC Major Projects.
Well Done Dylan and thank you for your support thus far.
Chloe Nash and Amelia Stennett
Our Youth Ministry Officers, Chloe Nash and Amelia Stennett have worked hard over the last few weeks in order to put together digital resources for students. The result is that they have put together two resources. This will allow for the continuous sharing of content with the students while they’re at home. These are great resources which will continue to be updated once face-to-face learning returns.
You can see the results of their efforts at the following Links.
SJRC Digital Ministry Blog https://sjrcministry.wixsite.com/digitalministry
SJRC Digital Ministry Instagram Page https://www.instagram.com/sjrcdigitalministry/
Georgia Smith
Georgia quickly capitalised on the opportunities presented by Blended Learning in the College. Following the initial decrease in students, she began work on the many tedious and time-consuming tasks that are often challenging with over 1000 students on-site.
Over the past few weeks, Georgia has systematically itemised the College uniform storeroom, replacing missing jerseys, shirts and singlets. Many older items of clothing were then donated or recycled as cleaning fabric. She has also relocated teaching resources and equipment between the PDHPE/Sport storeroom and reorganised the layout of these spaces to improve functionality.
Georgia has also thoroughly cleaned, provided maintenance and taken stocktake of our College Gym equipment. All the while, assisting with writing online sport programs and completing her own Certificate III in her spare time. Over the next fortnight, Georgia will oversee the ongoing sanitisation of College sport equipment in high contact areas.
Thanks, Georgia for all you do, it's wonderful having you here at SJRC.
Julianne Byrne
Julianne has become our beautiful ‘right-hand-man’! She looks after all of the audio/ visual needs of the College and her skills improve all the time because of the Cert 3 in Live Sound Production that she is studying through TAFE NSW. Julianne sets up demonstration material, controls stock, cleans endlessly, collects digital work samples, helps students with classwork, and the list goes on. Nothing is too hard for this amazing young person, everything that is asked of her she gets done to a high standard with no fuss, I have even walked in on her learning how to use a ratchet wrench set so that she could disassemble a piece of student art for them! Now that is dedication.
Julianne is full of initiative and drive and loves working here at the College as she regularly tells us. She has quickly become an invaluable asset to students and staff alike. I know I speak for the entire Creative Arts team and all of our students when I say that we feel utterly blessed that she has joined our team.
Thanks for being fabulous Julianne!
Kaye Loma
We have been fortunate to have Kaye Loma join our Food Service team, bringing her skills and knowledge from her Hospitality background.
She has a good rapport with our students and colleagues, demonstrating great teamwork and showing confidence in leading our school canteen and coffee shop. Kaye shows great initiative and works hard at all tasks.
Her fun, happy nature is wonderful to be around, and we are excited to see where her journey will take her.
Jazmin Lindsay-Favelle
Jazmin has been kept busy creating PDF files of scanned classroom music resources. She has also created written instructions to support music video resources.
Band folders have been updated, and new pieces have been scanned and emailed out to the band students with a Youtube link to play along with at home.
Jazmin has also been researching different music programs which will help provide music accompaniment for the Year 12 HSC music performances.
I can't thank Jazmin enough for all her efforts and in particular, for attending all Music Ensembles rehearsals, coming in early and leaving late.
We thank you for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. As new information is coming to hand, our College community is being informed. Please find below a link to the latest Parent Correspondence relating to COVID-19.
Online Learning Success
Congratulations to all students and families for how well blended/online learning has been embraced. It is so important for our students to understand that learning does not just occur at school. Students and families have been asked to undertake this completely new way of learning with little preparation or practise. However, this situation we have found ourselves in has allowed our students to develop self-management skills such as time management, critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. By taking responsibility for their own learning, Character Strengths such as perseverance, perspective, self-regulation, love of learning and curiosity are fostered.
While students may have had varying success with self-management, they are positioned somewhere on the continuum and like every skill in life, practise and a growth mindset is the key. Ensure you encourage success, no matter how small.
This experience will certainly have a positive impact on their future.
Connecting with each other via ZOOM
Zoom meetings are important to enable connection between students and teachers.
If there are any issues with connection to Zoom, please log an IT Helpdesk ticket.
Students who join a meeting late will not be admitted and the attached protocols must be followed to avoid being excluded from Zoom.
The enrolment process has commenced for our Year 7 2021 cohort. All students wishing to attend our College must complete a 2021 Enrolment Application Form.
Cancellation of Enrolment Information & College Tour
The planned Enrolment Information Night and College Tours that were scheduled to take place for St Joseph's Regional College on May 4 and McKillop College on May 5, are, unfortunately, unable to go ahead this year. However, we do plan to give families an opportunity to visit the College and tour our facilities later in the year.
Enrolment Interviews
We are currently planning to commence the enrolment interviews, possibly via ZOOM, and will communicate the plan as it unfolds depending on social distancing restrictions. We hope to commence interviews in mid to late May and will continue into Term 3. Parents will be contacted by the College Office.
Enrolment Packs
We encourage all parents of Year 6 students wishing to attend the College in 2021 to collect an Enrolment Application Pack which must be completed and returned to the College Office asap.
Places will fill quickly so it is imperative that you return packs asap. Please note: we can not move forward with your Enrolment Application until we receive all completed Enrolment paperwork.
It is important that the instructions enclosed in the packs are read and carefully followed. Please supply photocopies only of the required supporting documentation.
Please return completed applications to the College Office if possible, alternatively, applications can be mailed to the College or scanned to pmreg-enrolments@lism.catholic.edu.au
Our College Office is open between the hours of 8.30am-3.30pm. We look forward to receiving your application.
Year 12 Mid-HSC Course Reports - Paperless Reports
As already mentioned in previous newsletters, this year, all student reports will be made available for parents to access electronically, via the Parent Portal of Schoolworx.
No paper reports will be issued unless specifically requested by a parent due to lack of Internet access or other extenuating circumstances. Electronic access to reports ensures fast, easy and secure access to your child’s school report and eliminates the risk of reports being mislaid on the journey home from school.
Years 12 will be issued with a Mid-HSC Course report. Reports will be available to view via our Parent Portal on Thursday 7 May 2020.
If you haven’t already registered for access to the parent portal, please see the instructions via the following link.
http://www.pmreglism.catholic.edu.au/parent-portal/
Mr Tim McCosker
Assistant Principal - Curriculum & Administration
Dear Families,
Busways would like to advise that all school and route services to your school are still operating.
Busways is continuing to work with Transport for NSW to ensure vital services keep running for all our customers during COVID-19. The health and safety of our drivers and our passengers is our top priority and as such, we encourage you to remind students to maintain hygiene practices, remain cautious of the virus and follow social distancing guidelines when they’re on the bus (where possible). Students should always maintain social distance from the bus driver.
It’s important that we all continue to exercise every Government outlined requirement to ensure we get through this together. Busways has continued to:
- Maintain extra cleaning on buses, with every bus receiving a disinfectant treatment every day, including all regularly touched areas such as handrails, poles, seats and doors.
- Exercise additional procedures for all Busways employees to follow in order to limit any chance of the virus spreading. This includes issuing employees with hand sanitiser, requiring employees to wash their hands every time they enter and leave a worksite, employees staying home if they’re unwell, and minimising the handling of cash.
We are continuing to monitor the situation and appreciate schools providing information to students to assist in minimising the spread of the virus. Please remind students that they are still required to tap on and off with their Opal card or show their School bus pass when boarding.
Current advice:
If a student is experiencing flu-like symptoms, until they know what type of illness they have, they must stay home and avoid contact with other people. They should not board the bus. Students undergoing 14 days of mandatory isolation should also not board the bus.
This information may change at any time subject to Government decisions.
Parents should seek medical advice over the phone and follow all recommendations from their medical professional.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Busways at infoline@busways.com.au.
Regards,
Sarah Langthorne
Customer Experience Manager
[email replies go directly to - infoline@busways.com.au]
What is ‘Literacy Enrichment’ at SJRC?
It’s opportunities in and out of SJRC that enrich students’ understanding of and experience with media, film, reading, writing and language in general. It’s excursions, festivals, writing, debating and public speaking competitions and live performance.
Week 11 Term 1 and Week 1 Term 2
We have a bit of a creative bent in this week’s newsletter. Sometimes when we find ourselves in an unexpected setting for extended periods we tend to lean into our creative impulses and start experimenting with whatever resources we have at hand. And sometimes we can develop a new interest and new skills in the process.
On that note, we’ve included a range of links that invite students to get curious and try something new. Most of these options are open to all ages and participation can lead to the most unexpected outcomes!
We’d love to hear of your personal literacy based discoveries with these or other opportunities you have discovered for yourself during this period of online learning
Please share Mrs McKee: penny.mckee@lism.catholic.edu.au
What’s Happening Now: Online Learning!
There’s plenty of information already sent to parents and students about our Continuity of Education plan with the setup of Google Classrooms and the use of ZOOM.
This week we have started collecting links to a range of educational resources that can engage all students and keep their minds active while assisting with their learning.
Online Enrichment Opportunities
General Learning
https://chatterpack.net/collections/chatterpack-esources
https://www.teachitenglish.co.uk/teaching-packs
https://www.weareteachers.com/teaching-reading-remotely/
Reading
And tips from our junior students
- ‘Skulduggery’ recommended by Thomas Edenborough
- ‘Percy Jackson’ by Rick Riordan, recommended by Hannah Thompson
- ‘School for Good and Evil’ by Soman Chainani, recommended by Isabella Gosson
Writing
- What Matters? writing competition is at least one event that due to its online nature won’t be cancelled. What Matters? entries close May 1. Check out the website now, https://www.whitlam.org/what-matters think of a cause or an issue that you feel really matters to you, and compose an entry in any written format.
To enter What Matters? students submit an original written work between 400-600 words in prose or poetry, of either fiction or non-fiction.
Any student in Year 5-12 can enter the What Matters? competition. - Storyathon: https://www.storyathon.com/?r=AU
STORYATHON is an exciting and free online event for Year 3 to Year 8 students from Australia and New Zealand. Students are challenged to write a story that is EXACTLY 100 words. - Dorethea Mackellar Poetry Competition
https://www.dorothea.com.au/How-to-Enter-awards
Entries accepted: March 1 to June 30, results announced during early September. - Heywire (Older Students: Text, video, photo or audio)
https://www.abc.net.au/heywire/ The Heywire Competition is open now and closes on Wednesday, September 16 2020. Must be a true story about you and/or your community. It might be a personal story about an aspect of your life, a challenge that you've overcome, something you'd like to change about your community, or simply why you like living where you do.
Listening
Fierce Girls: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/fierce-girls/ - there’s a great little competition attached which ends soon. The prizes are magnificent. Take a look!
Some great news about #LitFest2444
We will be offering parts of our #LitFest2444 program free and online during Term 2. Our commissioned presenters and workshoppers were so keen to be involved, that many of them have begun their planning to bring their passion to the screen, at no cost to the participant. Stay tuned for more information about this exciting turn of events.
Hey Students! What Have You Found in the Online Learning World?
If you’ve come across an educational web site since the start of online learning that has been particularly interesting and stimulating for you, please let us know and flick the link our way. We’d love to share it.
Adjustments to the 2020 Term 2 Learning Enrichment Calendar
Incursions - Due to the current health climate we will be cancelling or postponing all Literacy Enrichment incursions booked for Term 2. Billing for these events had not come into effect.
Keep reading, writing, reflecting, composing, creating, musing and connecting.
The SJRC Lit Enrichment Team
Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 situation, our annual festival of story in different forms and mediums, #LitFest2444, has been forced to abandon the face-to-face event which had been scheduled for June 4th 2020. Instead, several sessions will be streamed digitally, free to those who would like to participate, and there will be more information about that over the coming weeks.
Currently, an exciting competition is in progress, the #LitFest2444 Storybombing Phone-It-In Competition. Details can be found here. The competition is limited to students aged 15-18 years, and has an awesome prize for the eventual winner.
We encourage those students who fall into this age bracket to take part. It’s a combination of writing, speaking, and technology, and is an ideal exercise for students at home or at school. The competition closes at the end of May.
SYNC is a free summer audiobook program for teens. Returning April 30, 2020, SYNC will give away two complete audiobooks per week - pairs of high-interest titles, based on weekly themes. Sign up for email or text alerts and be first to know when new titles are available to download at www.audiobooksync.com.
The process to register, access and download titles is outlined below:
First register for SYNC 2020 on our homepage. Then set up Sora.
How do I set up Sora?
- Download Sora from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
- Open Sora and tap I have a setup code (at the bottom of the screen).
- Enter this setup code: audiobooksync.
- Enter the email address you used to sign up for SYNC.
- Tap Explore (at the bottom of the screen) to see the week’s featured titles [SYNC 2020 starts April 30]
I already use Sora for school. How do I add SYNC titles?
If you already use Sora, you’ll need to add the SYNC program’s library. Here are the steps:
- In Sora, open the menu (in the top-right corner).
- Select Add a public library.
- Search for audiobooksync and select the library from the results.
The weekly titles for download are available for 6 days, but then availability changes to the next two titles on the schedule. This week, the titles are as shown below:
St Joseph's Regional College Library
1 College Dr
Port Macquarie NSW 2444
(02) 55254100
Karen Bale (Mon-Thu)
Tracie Hartley (Fri)
@sjrcexchange
Word of the week: NORMALITY
Meaning: the condition of being normal: the state of being usual, typical or expected
"The school will gradually return to a semblance of normality"
Important message for all Band students
I will be sending all members a weekly band piece via your College email.
There will be a new piece each week until we are once again able to practice together.
Please ensure you check your College email.
Hopefully, a new exciting weekly piece will give you the motivation to dust off your instruments and start playing again. Look at it this way.... It will be a good break from all the onscreen work that you have to do.
Missing you all.
Sharon Green
Leader of Co-curricular Music
#PMHChallenge Online Learning Competition
WIN up to $2500 for your school!
We’ve got a fantastic competition in place that caters for a diverse range of students interested in arts, literature, music and computer technology!
We’re calling for students aged between 12-25 years to create an original artwork piece, poem, compose a song or design a mobile youth app that we can share across multiple media channels.
Students have the chance to win $500 for themselves and their school if they enter the art, poetry or song parts of the challenge, and $1000 for themselves and their school if they choose to design a mobile app. The challenge will stretch the student’s creative minds and showcase their talent to our community.
Full details can be found at https://www.pmhc.nsw.gov.au/Community-Culture/Youth/Youth-Week-Challenge
