Term 3 Week 8 - 11th September 2020

Principal's Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received a Principal's Award at this week's Zoom Assembly:

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Zoom Assembly

On Wednesday, the College held its third whole school Assembly via Zoom. I would like to thank and congratulate all who were involved in its organisation, particularly Mrs Julie Hickling for her invaluable contribution. Please see below a selection of items which were presented during this event.

HSIE

Year 7 History students are studying the Medieval period at the moment. The students are making history 'hands-on' by constructing a Medieval Stone Castle - quite challenging and engaging fun!

Marine Studies

The Marine Studies teachers were thrilled to finally reveal to the College their brand new, multi-purpose Marine classroom and fish tanks.

The new air-conditioned classroom has been designed with benches long enough to perform practical lessons such as model boat construction and fishing rod building, as well as note taking for theory lessons. The long benches are also able to be moved around to allow for activities such as cooking, practical demonstrations or to take advantage of a the large open learning space to perform CPR lessons.

The spacious room also boasts two new aquarium tanks, comprising of one saltwater aquarium with several small tropical reef fish and coral as well as one freshwater tank with some Australian natives and other fish that add a splash of colour. The classroom has enough space in the ‘wet area’ to accommodate two more fish tanks in the future.

This new learning environment is ideally located at the rear of the College and is a wonderful addition to the College’s existing learning spaces which will serve the Marine Studies students well into the future.


Environmental Club - That’ a Wrap

PC’s were abuzz this week with the announcement of the lucky PC’s to win the beeswax wraps. Our Year 8 ‘busy bees’ Zoe Copeland, Lauren Johnston, Cora Puttick, Maisy Taylor and Brock Holliday have been working many early mornings to supply our stock for the lucky winning PC’s. Congratulations go to Mrs Gray’s O01, Ms Hyde’s I08 and Mr Toohey’s M09 PC's.


The goal of the wraps is to try and reduce the amount of soft plastic rubbish in our playgrounds. The wraps, if cared for properly, have a shelf life of twelve months. Our next project is to hopefully create a podcast series revolving around ‘living green’.
#GreenTeam.

English

The SJRC Library and English Department recently created a film clip promoting a love for reading. We were inspired by TikTok trends, and decided to 'pass the book'. Each book (and character) represents a different genre, along with a unique reason to read. We encourage parents and students to pick up this not-so-new trend, because there's 100 reasons to do so. Watch and enjoy!

Year 11 PDHPE Orienteering

In Week 7, Year 11 PDHPE students exercised their outdoor recreation skills during a two hour Orienteering event. The task involved tying a number of technical knots, performing a recognised arm sling, plotting 25 grid references and searching for these checkpoints in nearby bushland. Covering an average of 8 kilometres across a 29ha course, every student demonstrated strong resilience and determination during the event. Congratulations to all students and thank you to Mr Rossington, Mrs Croft, Mr Kelly and Georgia Smith for their organisation.

University of New England - "Let's Hang It" Art Prize

St Joseph's Artist Heo Ignacio experiences success in the New England Regional Art Museum, University of New England, "Let's Hang It", Art Prize."

Assistant Principal Appraisal Process

Dear Parents

During Term 4 on Friday, 16th October 2020, Mrs Tanya Daley, Assistant Principal will be involved in an assistant principal appraisal process as part of her contract conditions with the Catholic Schools Office.

The appraisal process seeks information from a variety of people associated with the parish school. The process aims to highlight the positive aspects of the assistant principal’s performance and identify areas for further development.

A timeline will be constructed to suit the needs of the parish school community. A panel consisting of the school Principal as Chair, a School Service Consultant and a staff member from Human Services at the Catholic Schools Office will conduct the appraisal.

The full assistant principal appraisal process involves:

  • a survey and self-appraisal statement completed by the assistant principal
  • surveys of parish school staff, Catholic Schools Office personnel
  • an interview with the principal
  • input as arranged with the parish priest
  • interviews with parish school staff
  • interviews with any parents who wish to present
  • a formal interview with the assistant principal by the panel

Any parents who wish to make contact with the panel are welcome to do so by contacting the Principal before the appraisal date.

Thank you for your support of the parish school’s administration team. Yours sincerely

Jim Dempsey, Principal

God Bless

Jim Dempsey
Principal

Principal's Message
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St Agnes’ Parish and St Joseph’s Regional College are taking a proactive approach in managing traffic safety around our College. Moving vehicles around the College pose a significant risk to our students and to date we have avoided injuries to young people within our College zone. In order to maintain a high standard of safety for our College students, parents are reminded to use extra caution when driving in the College zone, particularly at College opening and closing times.


St Joseph’s Regional College is fortunate to have separate car and bus pick-up zones for students. The speed limit within the College precinct is 10km/hr in these specific areas. Parents are requested to pick up their children from the car pick-up zone. Parents are requested not to collect students if they are double-parked in the pick-up area. If parents choose to use car park areas to collect students, they are asked to meet the student at the front of the College Administration area. Students are advised that they are not to enter carpark areas or go outside of the College gates unless they are accompanied by an adult. In this respect, parents are advised to maintain direct supervision of their children when within the car park, constantly reminding children to be careful and stay close. As pedestrians, young people can be easily distracted and may tend to act impulsively. Similarly, parents are reminded to be wary of reversing vehicles.

The Bus Zone

Staff at St Joseph’s Regional College always supervise our students when boarding their school bus to ensure children’s safety. This quick and efficient boarding process also allows the bus to exit our College grounds promptly, reducing traffic congestion. The bus zone;
• is for buses to exit the College.
• is a no stopping area for other vehicles.
• requires extra caution when a bus with flashing lights is present as the lights are indicating that children are within the vicinity.

The Car Park
 

The car park is for use by parents who wish to park their car and physically enter the College grounds to drop off or collect their child. In the car park;
• Be vigilant! There are students and other pedestrians traversing the car park and many other vehicles intent on their own manoeuvres.
• watch out in particular for small children when you are reversing your vehicle.
• remember that the speed limit is 10km/hr.
• be sure to always park in the designated areas and avoid dangerous manoeuvres like U-turns and three-point turns.
• always give way to pedestrians and watch out for cyclists.
Your support through the correct use of our College Traffic Management and in demonstrating safe behaviours with your child is appreciated in keeping children safe and free from injury.
We thank you for your patience and hope you understand that these reminders are to reduce and minimise the risks of danger from motor vehicles to our children and if followed, will result in the safety of all.

Web Article Traffic Management

R U OK?

Yesterday marked R U OK? Day throughout the country. R U OK? Day is a national day of action to remind us to ask, "Are you OK?" of those around us and to support anyone struggling with life. Our Year 12 Student Leadership Team wanted to tackle the tricky issue of Youth Mental Health by supporting this powerful day. On the day, our team wore bright yellow all day to promote and support the day, as well as handing out a Chupa Chup lollipop to every student as they came into the College. The lollipops helped start a conversation with each student with the question "'R U OK?".

The real power of R U OK? Day is in its ability to start those difficult conversations about our own mental health. Talking about what is happening in our own lives is sometimes very hard to do and this day aims to break down the barriers and start us down the path of a potentially life changing conversation.
Asking this important question is only the first step and follow up with our friends, family and colleagues is just as important.

If any of our students find they are not OK, we encourage our community to help by listening without judgement and encourage others to seek help from someone who can help them. We recognise that it is not our job to solve problems, but to offer our ears and our hearts to each other when we are not 'OK'.

Students were challenged for R U OK? Day to simply ask someone at school, at home or at work whether they are okay and to start that conversation in their own world. Who have you asked?

Birthday Box Winner

Congratulations to this week's Birthday Box Winner Tiana Daly. 

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Students are encouraged to come to the College Office on their birthday to enter. Winners of the Birthday Box receive a $20.00 gift voucher.

Happy Birthday Tiana!

Tanya Daley

Assistant Principal, Staff & Pastoral Care

Assistant Principal - Pastoral
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Year 11 2021 - Dates for your Diary

Monday 14th September 2020 Confirmation of enrolment letters sent to parents

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding enrolling in Year 11 for 2021.

YEAR 8 2021 Semester Elective Choices and
YEAR 9 2021 Elective Choices

A reminder to students and parents that both Year 7 and Year 8 students were issued with elective choice sheets this week. Year 7 students are choosing two electives for next year, one to be studied in each of Semester one and Semester two.

Year 8 students are choosing two electives, each to be studied for two years over Years 9 and 10.

The elective choice sheets are due in to the box in the office by 9.00am next Monday, 14th September.

Year 11 Changes to Patterns of Study

As Year 11 students draw to the end of their Year 11 Courses, they have the option of altering their pattern of study. In Year 11 they were required to study a minimum of 12 Units, whereas in Year 12 they are required to study a minimum of 10 Units of study.

I must stress here that students DO NOT HAVE TO alter their pattern of study, it is entirely optional for them. Having said that, at this time, many students do take the opportunity to reduce the number of units they are studying by discontinuing a subject, thus reducing their workload for Year 12. If students choose to do this, there is a form they need to complete which includes a parent signature.

I will be addressing students about this matter immediately after their Studies of Religion exam next Monday morning, and making the change forms available to them. Please note also that students do not have to change their pattern of study at this time, they can discontinue a subject at any time through the HSC course, so they should not feel pressured into taking any action if they are unsure.

Should students or parents have any questions at all about changing their pattern of study, I would be only too happy to discuss the matter and assist where possible.

Year 11 Exam Timetable

Year 11 will be commencing their End of Course Exams on Monday, 14th September. Please click on the link below to view the timetable. Separate timetables will be distributed for speeches and presentations/performances by the relevant course teachers.

If a student is unwell, or unable to attend an exam, it is imperative that they contact either myself or Mr Ian Lutton prior to the commencement of the exam.

Tim McCosker
Assistant Principal - Curriculum & Administration

Ph: 5525 4100

Assistant Principal - Curriculum

What is a Prayer Sponsor?

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It is someone who prays for another person with a specific intention in mind and at specific times. When someone is sponsored they know that someone else is praying for them at a certain time.

The Scheme

Each year, we invite our Year 12 students who wish to be sponsored in prayer to submit their names and times of their HSC exams to us. We will then allocate their name to a sponsor who has volunteered to pray for a student at this time. Each sponsor will receive information with:

  1. the name of the student
  2. the prayer offered
  3. the times of the student’s HSC exams

A strong aspect of our Catholic Faith is the efficacy of prayer (i.e. prayer does make a difference). At the same time the injection “Pray as if everything depended on God; work; as if everything depended on you” has its own wisdom.

We appeal to parents, family and friends of our Year 12 HSC class to make themselves available as a prayer sponsor. Knowing that someone is praying for you at a difficult time is a source of great strength and consolation.

If you are interested in being a Prayer Sponsor for one or several of our Year 12 students from a St Agnes' Parish Secondary School, please contact the College Office on 5525 4100 with your details.

You will receive the following information (student name, exam times and prayers to be offered) before the commencement of HSC exams on Tuesday, 20th October 2020.

Leaders of Evangelisation
St Agnes' Parish Secondary Schools

Year 12 2020 were invited to attend a seminar run by members of the English faculty on Wednesday afternoon this week. Students were asked to practise their skills in answering (not so short) short answers for the common paper – on Texts and Human Experiences. They worked under the guidance of Ms Anne Marchment, Mr Ian Lutton, Ms Donna Smith, Ms Karyn Mooney and Mr Tim McMillan. Students quietly and conscientiously worked their way through the first few questions of this paper and have been asked to continue working through until next Wednesday’s seminar.

We were very impressed with their enthusiastic approach to this extra opportunity offered by our College. The English faculty will be running another seminar next Wednesday afternoon and strongly encourage students to attend. Thank you to the members of the English faculty for facilitating this opportunity for extra learning for our students.

Year 11 Hospitality students completed their practical assessment task last week, under pressure to prepare, cook and assemble their appetisers within a time frame. The final dishes looked amazing! Well done to all of our SJRC masterchefs!!

Mrs Diana Walsh
Assistant Leader of TAS

SJRC Archibald Prize

The SJRC Archibald Prize is on again in the library. This is an amazing display of portrait drawing from Year 9 Visual Arts. Students have the opportunity to select a Peoples' Choice Winner just as we do in the real exhibition. Check out the space in the library.

Congratulations Year 9 Visual Arts, this is a beautiful display.

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Mrs Tracy Pares
Visual Arts Teacher
Creative Arts

This month the Art Display Room featured the Year 10 Surrealism Painting Body of Work Assessment. The task was to create a surrealist painting with an everyday object in the painting, but also to take that object and paint an aspect of the painting onto the found object. The students also had to create a Dream Journal with a collection of dreams that helped inspire their original idea for the entire body of work. We congratulate them on their outstanding efforts.

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Significant Literary dates

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Dame Agatha Christie was born on 15th September and went on to write prolifically in the genres of crime and mystery. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.

Check out the website for more information about this remarkable author.

Library Spaces

The Library has a few different spaces within its ‘shell’, used for many different purposes. Last week, the Library was used for some filming for a piece for Assembly featuring the English staff. Much fun was had!

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Library

Humans of SJRC

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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 this week’s Human of SJRC – Isabella Gosson

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St Joseph's  Regional College Library

Karen Bale (Mon-Thu)
Tracie Hartley (Fri)
@sjrcexchange

TENACIOUS

Meaning: Tending to keep a firm hold of something.

Year 12 have been TENACIOUS in their studies during these unprecedented times.

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We love catching up with past students and following their journeys since graduating from St Joseph's Regional College. The breadth and variety of career paths and life choices are amazing and make for such interesting reading. Our current students will find inspiration in these stories.

This week's alumni update is Lisa Fraser, former College Captain of The Class of 2014 is now a Physiotherapist and is continuing her career experiences in rural NSW. Read her story to see the remarkable variety and breadth of experience she has under her belt already. #aHSC4opportunity #wherearetheynow

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Leanne Tinsey
Leader of Careers and University Transition
Alumni

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.

Check us out at - SJRC Literacy Enrichment

In the SJRC Literacy Enrichment Spotlight

  • Are you in Year 10 or older and need a creative outlet?
  • Then share your story with ABC’s Heywire!
  • What Do I Enter?
  • Tell a story about an aspect of your life, where you live.
  • Tell your story in any format you like.
  1. It's about you
    Heywire is about giving Australia a window on your life and/or your community. You are unique and the place where you live is unique, and that makes your story fascinating. Personal stories are the most compelling.
  2. But not everything about you
    We're not asking you to tell your WHOLE life story. Focus on one important or interesting aspect of your life. It could be one hobby that's important to you, or one issue that you are passionate about, or one challenge you've overcome, or an interesting thing that has happened to you, or one thing that irritates you about where you live, or what makes your town unique.
  3. Then do this:
    Visit the Heywire website for further details and inspiration.
    https://www.abc.net.au/heywire/competition/
    Competition closes Wednesday, 16th September 2020 

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Coming up:

Where Can My Interest in Media and English Take Me?

The careers that fall under this banner and how to get there.

There’s something a bit glamorous about working in the media. You might instantly think of the TV industry: sitting in a makeup chair, looking fabulous every day, being asked to promote important events.

But the media is a place for serious creatives and critical thinkers.

SJRC Teacher Librarian Karen Bale shares this insight:

‘At a session on Careers in Media at the annual Careers Advisers Association of NSW Conference Monica Attard (former ABC journalist) and current lecturer in The School of Journalism at UTS spoke. Her view was that we need critical thinkers, with very good communication skills in their toolkit, to take up the mantle in the media industry. Attard stressed the 'critical thinking' aspect of candidature, and in equal measure, skilled writers and speakers’.

Further, rapid growth in podcasting has created a shared space for creatives and critical thinkers.

‘Different forms of media, such as podcasting, are emerging. The take-up of people who 'listen' (be it podcasts, audiobooks, or simply radio) has increased exponentially in the recent past. The ability to tell a story. The ability to show empathy and draw a story out of someone else during an interview - these are important also.

This study was carried out last year.
https://insight.study.csu.edu.au/work-beyond-2020-the-future-of-journalism/

So, creative or critical? (You can be both!)
Creative and critical thinking can look like this:

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Next Week: Where and what to study for a career in media.

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 Laura Tingle, ABC Journalist 
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 Peter FitzSimons, Australian Author and Journalist

                

What Now? Public speaking! Please stay tuned for updates on public speaking coaching and competitions that will be published on Schoolworx as they become available.

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The SJRC Literacy Enrichment Team

Literacy Enrichment

Prayer through Music

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.

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

Featured Music

Enjoy Ecclesia’s acoustic version of Hands and Feet, a contemporary worship hymn which was inspired by St Teresa of Avila.

Digital Ministry

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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/

The Soul

Each week, the Catholic Schools Office, Lismore puts together 'The Soul' e-newsletter; packed full on great information and resources.

We invite you to click on the link below to check out this week's edition:

http://csolismore.schoolzineplus.com/_r/LYGE4/5f584c3aac278

Timo Gobius
Leader of Evangelisation

Evangelisation

Weekly Lunch Specials

Term 3 Week 9 Lunch Specials 
Monday Chicken Pesto Pasta
Tuesday Spaghetti Bolognaise
Wednesday Chicken Schnitzel Wrap
Thursday Hamburgers
Friday Chicken Pasta Carbonara

The Canteen opens at 8.00am every school day.

The Canteen's everyday menu can be found on our College website at the following link. http://www.pmreglism.catholic.edu.au/community/parent-information/

Volunteering in our Canteen

In the current climate, Canteen volunteers will not be required until further notice.

Thank you for your understanding and take care.

Ms Donna Hamlin
Food Services Manager

The “Homework Hub” was established to provide students with a chance to complete set work and study away from the distractions that can occur at home.

It takes place in the library at the following times:

  • Monday to Thursday 3.15pm to 4.30pm.

Attendance is voluntary and is under the supervision of experienced staff.

The library is open from 7.30am every morning providing another opportunity for our students to work quietly outside of school hours.

If your son or daughter struggles to do homework and study, this may be the solution to get them “on the way” to the results they are looking for.

Please find the following two courses being run by the John Henry Institute. 

Provide an emergency response in an Education environment HLTAID004 25/09/2020