Term 4 Week 8 - 4th December 2020

Congratulations to Mrs Tanya Daley

Last week Mrs Tanya Daley was the successful candidate for the position of Assistant Principal - Mission at St Joseph’s Regional College commencing in 2021. The position was advertised nationwide and attracted a number of strong applicants. After a thorough shortlisting process, interviews were conducted last Friday. Upon discernment by the panel, Mrs Daley was deemed to be the most outstanding candidate. Mrs Daley has shown to be a tremendous asset to the College by taking on the Acting Assistant Principal role since the departure of Mrs Cath Eichmann to the Principalship of MacKillop College.

As a community, we all feel assured by Tanya’s appointment and wish her all the very best in her new leadership role.

College Assembly

It was with much anticipation that we welcomed all our students back to their first assembly since COVID restrictions were introduced. 

I would like to congratulate our College Captains, Joseph Lewis and Ella Handley on a job well done running the assembly for their first time. Thank you to the following students who also contributed :

Candle lighters- Elsie Roe and Matilda Magin

Prayer readers- Wilson Hooper, Quinn Pares, Chloe Howarth, Conor Warneken and Joseph Lewis 

Acknowledgement of Country- Brianna Ducker and Nelson Young

I also acknowledge and thank all students for their attention and courtesy throughout the assembly.

Principal's Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received a Principal's Award at this week's assembly.

God Bless

Mr Jim Dempsey
Principal

Week 10 - Christmas Mass and Award Ceremonies 

What an exciting week we will have in Week 10, starting with our Christmas Mass on Monday, 14th December commencing at 9:15am.

On Tuesday, 15th December, the following Year 7-10 Major Awards Ceremony will take place.

Academic Awards Ceremony: 9:15am - 10:35am
Outstanding Application Awards
Outstanding Achievement Awards
1st Place in Subject Awards
Dux and Runner-up to Dux Awards

Service and Spirit Awards Ceremony: 11:05am - 12:00pm
Community Service Awards
100% Attendance Awards
House Person of the Year Award
Special Awards
SJRC Spirit Awards

This year due to restrictions we are limited to inviting the parents only of students who are being presented with an award to each ceremony.  If your child is receiving an award at either of these ceremonies, you will be notified via SMS by the afternoon of Thursday 10th December.

A light morning tea, after the Academic Awards Ceremony, will be provided for parents who attend.

Please note the following arrangements for Tuesday, 15th December 2020:

• All students must return to PC at the conclusion of the Service & Spirit Award ceremony to collect their Application Awards and to say their Christmas farewells.
• College reports will be issued via the Parent Portal on Tuesday, 15th December.
• Students may go home after the Service & Spirit Awards ceremony at 12:20pm on Tuesday, 15th December. Supervision will be available for students who are unable to go home at this time.
• If your child will be going home with another parent, we ask that you write your child a note to give to their PC teacher on the morning of the award ceremonies.
• Students will not be permitted to phone home from the College Office to make travel arrangements.
• All buses will run as normal on this day.

Report Feedback

Staff will be available at the College on Wednesday, 16th December from 8.30am-12noon for report feedback. Please call the College Office to make an appointment time.

Thank you for assisting us in departure arrangements and we look forward to seeing you at our Year 7-10 Award Ceremonies.

Jim Dempsey
Principal

Birthday Box Winners

It was my pleasure to present the following students with their gift card for being the winner of our monthly 'Birthday Box' draw. 

Congratulations and Happy Birthday to:

September: Aryan Vaishnav

October: Hannah Tompson

November: Mila Bi

Given that school finishes for 2020 on Tuesday, 15th December, we encourage all students who will celebrate their birthday in December to visit the College Office to enter the draw.

Aryan Vaishnav

Hannah Tompson

Mila Bi

Year 8-10 2021 Round Classes  

No further changes will be made. If your child feels they do not have strong connections in their classes, please assure them that experience tells us that within a few weeks, new friends and connections will be made as they settle into their new class. PC teachers, Leaders of Pastoral Care and class teachers will be there to support your child.

Uniform

As mentioned in previous newsletters, the College Uniform Code of Presentation will be changing in 2021. However, our current rules regarding uniform will still apply for the remainder of 2020.  This information was also presented to students at our assembly.

We appreciate your support and ask that families continue to assist us in our efforts to ensure that all students are wearing the correct uniform every day.  Breaching the Code of Presentation will result in a uniform infringement being issued.

We understand that we are nearly at the end of the year and many students are starting to outgrow their current uniforms. If your child has grown out of their uniform, please contact the College Office so we can arrange to swap their uniform for a bigger size.

Please find details of the changes along with the full Code of Presentation:

Changes to the Uniform Code of Presentation - 2021

2021 will see the implementation of some changes to the College Uniform Code of Presentation. Please see the revised policy attached. A copy of this will be in the 2021 College Diary for future reference.

The main changes include:

SPORT UNIFORM - students are permitted to wear sports uniform to and from school on their sports day, for PD/H/PE practical lessons and for other elective practical lessons, as negotiated with their teacher eg. Marine Studies, PASS, Dance or Drama practicals.

Sport uniform may also be worn to school on days where school sport team training or organised sports competitions occur.

NB. Please be mindful that students who participate in Technology subjects require leather shoes to be worn for the practical lessons. This applies to ALL of Year 7 and 8 as well as students in other year groups who choose electives in the TAS area. If sport uniform is worn to school and a practical lesson is timetabled, black leather school shoes must be brought to school to change into. Alternatively, we recommend buying sport shoes with a full leather upper.

HAIR - more explicit instructions as outlined.

MAKE-UP - make-up and nail polish are not permitted, including acrylic, French tip or shellac nails. Eyelash extensions are not permitted.

JEWELLERY - Junior jewellery remains unchanged, however, senior jewellery has changed.

We appreciate the support of families to ensure students are well-groomed and wearing the College uniform correctly and with pride each day.

I encourage you to view the new College Uniform Code of Presentation 2021 Policy in its entirety. 

Uniform_Code_of_Presentation_2021.pdf

Uniform_Code_of_Presentation_2021 _pdf 449.28 KB

YEAR 7 IMMUNISATION

Year 7 students will receive the second dose of the HPV vaccination on Tuesday, 8th December 2020

Year 7 students are permitted to wear their sport uniform on this day.

No paperwork is required to be presented on the day as NSW Health retain records of those students who are due for dose two. 

Mrs Tanya Daley
Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care & Staff Support

Year 7-10 Reports

Reports for students in Years 7-10 will become available on December 15th via our Parent Portal. A reminder that all reports are now issued electronically, and paper copies would only be issued on request.

Requisites

Please find following the list of requisites for Years 8, 9 and 10.

For Year 11 students, stationery requirements differ for each course. They are able to choose what best works for them in their course. Most senior students bring a ring folder with note dividers for each course.

Mr McCosker
Assistant Principal - Curriculum & Administration

Back in February, St Joseph's Regional College was successful in their application for an Arts Creative Partnership grant. Despite COVID disruptions, we were able to initiate a program, where over 300 students participated in a rhythm program led by Nationally renowned percussionist Mark Spence.

The grant of $10,000 enabled Mark Spence to come into all of our nine Stage 4 classes for weekly 20-minute lessons. In addition, with this funding, Mark presented a six-week bucket drumming program to 140 primary students at St Joseph's, Wauchope and St Joseph's, Port Macquarie.

From this program, new percussion groups have formed and meet weekly for a lunchtime rehearsal.

Well done to all those involved and a huge thank you to Mark for his energy and expertise.

Leanne Johnson
Music Teacher

The SAPSS Marching Band, Drumline and the St Joseph's Regional College Concert Bands joined with the MacKillop Concert Band to tour two local primary schools on Wednesday.

They performed first at St Joseph's Primary School Laurieton and then in the afternoon at St Joseph's Primary here in Port Macquarie.

All the primary school students enjoyed the concerts and sang along when the band played a medley from Queen and Grease.

The day ended with a performance on the Town Green where the Drumline featured by performing their routine that was prepared for the National Eisteddfod.

All students particularly enjoyed their lunch which was topped off with an ice-cream on the Town Green.

Sharon Green
Leader of Co-Curricular Music

Year 11 Hospitality

Hospitality students are continuing to improve their time management and ability to meet service deadlines when preparing dishes. They are working well as a team and their portion control of certain food items is evident in the photos below showing their chicken rissoles with Italian couscous. Well done, Year 11!

Year 9 Food Technology

Year 9 Food Technology students are finishing off their catering unit where they have prepared, cooked and served a variety of sweet and savoury dishes. Last week they successfully made a batch of polka dot cookies which could easily have been sold through a local café. Great job year 9!!

Year 9 Textiles

Year 9 student, Ella Juric, has completed her extension activity and now has a beautiful bunny to take home.

Well done, Ella.

TAS team

Year 10 Writers' Enrichment Day

It was Year 10's turn to sharpen the tools on Thursday, 26th November at the Year 10 Writing Enrichment Day led by author Hayley Lawrence at MacKillop College. Students experimented with character, conflict and dialogue and then were challenged to extend themselves into completing a short story competition based on the strategies learnt during the day.

It was a thrill to see our students committing to the challenge of creative writing and collaborating with their peers from MacKillop. It is vital that students who have an interest in and an aptitude for writing engage in these Enrichment Days, and we are thankful for CSO funding and parental interest in these opportunities.

To all of St Joseph's Regional College participants: thank you for representing the College, presenting yourselves with pride and maturity and for seeking the call of creative challenge.

Our 2020 Writing Enrichment participants for 2020:

The best feedback available is from our students who attend these wonderful literary opportunities. Please find following an account of the day by Year 10 student, Charlotte Schrader.

Charlotte Schrader - Review

The Year 10 Writers Day conducted by Hayley Lawrence was a simple day of creative expression. I liked her guidance on how to structure a narrative - I found this very helpful. She taught us how to objectively build a character, although I would have liked to have heard her ideas on how to truly 'become' that character while writing, so as to establish a natural flow of dialect that would be appropriate to that character. The activity where we were asked to describe how our character would eat an orange was great, I loved that. I would have liked to have had more opportunities to practically hone the finer techniques of language craft, as well as having either a range of shorter and more focused activities, or one big project to work on over the day, as well as small breaks to maintain maximum engagement. Overall, it was good to have a day to practise creative writing, and I thank Hayley for sharing her knowledge.

- Charlotte Schrader

Extracts Sample Writings from Year 8:

Soulmate by Felicity Meehan

'Soulmate' has always been a fascinating term, although I've always preferred 'Twin Flame'. People believe they are the same thing, when really, they are catastrophically different, from the opinions of my friends who have already turned sixteen and met or started talking to their soulmate, they described it as being the feeling of your entire life you've had a piece of you missing, but when we meet them you finally feel complete. Although from the rare article online, I can only imagine that meeting your twin flame is so much more than meeting your soulmate, people describe it as; like two fated universes colliding, in such a way that it brings utter chaos with it, but that chaos is somewhat addictive.

"Paisley!! Get down here!" My mother hollered from downstairs.

"Yes, mother!" I called back.

The Metropolis by Lorena Dionigi

A starling bird ascended into a bright sky streaked with slashes of cloud so flawless and velvety that one might imagine a paintbrush had fashioned them. She was but a pinprick in that vast blue canvas; her feathers of metallic purples and emerald greens invisible to the human eye.

She sailed across the air, streamlined and calm, watching the city beneath her in all its stark perfection. The humans swarmed parallel streets, like frenzied insects hurrying to get somewhere. They were so utterly insignificant from the starling's vantage point that it was hard to imagine the destruction and bigotry and hate that they were capable of. From up here, they were little more than termites. From up here, they were all the same.

Lifeline by Zoe Copeland

My thoughts are like the tide receding in the night and rising in the day. Each day their level is different, yet they are always there lapping at my mind. Some days the swell is larger and the waves come crashing down, saturating my feelings and taking over my focus.

The thrumming in my head is loud as I try to concentrate on my friends talking about having the so-called 'Most Epic Sleepover' they are planning for tomorrow, Saturday the 14th. I can't help but think about the plans that I have made for this weekend. Suicide is such an ugly word for such a beautiful concept. Silence. No more thoughts, just silence. An eternal silence. I slightly smile at the hopeful thought of silence. Our conversation ends and so does lunch. The rest of the afternoon is a bland array of pictures. My thoughts blurring the PDHPE lesson, and the sounds of people drinking from their bottles, the scrapping of pencils and the banging of tables as the owner nervously navigate their way to the answer, all add to the anxious feeling swelling in my chest.

"Time isn't gonna speed up by staring at the clock, Ivy..." My friend Chloe says with the shy smile she has.

A Bully's Perspective by Ceceailia Ducker

I know you think bullies are all horrible. They are not horrible people but what they do is horrible. I would know because I was one. I'm now an adult and I'm apologising for my actions.

Hi, my name is Ashleigh and I was once a bully. I grew up in a small town called Quorn, in South Australia. When I was in year nine, I was the bully of the school. There are no excuses for what I did and I'm just explaining my side of the story. Things at home were like hell, my mother was a drunk and my father never stood up for himself, my little brother or me. So putting my anger out on others was my way out. There was this girl who I never meant to hurt as bad as I did. Her name was Julie. She was a redhead with burnt brown eyes and strongly built, average height body. She seemed like she had it all. The perfect family, the perfect friends, the perfect society. I envied her but was so full of anger that it made me hate her. Things got so bad that now I look back I would hate myself too but we can't all get what we wish for. It was the summer of 1969, the civil rights movement had passed but black people were still getting racism and attacked by white people. This was the summer my mum started to drink, the summer my mum lost her job and found alcohol. My best friend, Aubrey was black-skinned with brown curly locks and the most wildest personality. One day we were going to the dam to cool off in the blazing sun. When Julie and her family came down to have a day in the sun as well. They were happy and having fun. That was the first day I ever met Julie.

Running by Isabel Dickinson

My heart raced. I stopped. Why? Why us? 'Mason, keep running! 'I heard a yell from behind me. I didn't even look back. I kept running. Soon enough I reached a dead end and a massive fence was blocking my escape, I turned around to look at Madison who followed close behind me. We looked at each other and locked eyes, she was thinking the same thing as me. I just knew it. We both grabbed on tightly to the fence and used all of our upper body strength to pull ourselves over the fence. As soon as our feet hit the ground we sprinted off in an attempt to escape again. After a while we stopped at a beach with crystal clear water and silky sand to take a break and soak my body, it was on fire. Madison and I stripped into our undergarments and ran to the water. It felt like heaven against my burning skin and aching muscles. I looked up to Madison and we both instantly started laughing. "I can't believe you made me do that Mason" she complained laughing hard. "Come on it was fun" I argued teasingly. "So robbing the skate store is your idea of fun then huh?" she snarked back at me.

Escaping Reality by Lauren Johnston

The moon reflects off the midnight water onto my face, lighting up my pale green eyes. I wiggle my toes in the sand and lay back, admiring the stars. This is my comfort place. The waves whispering and salt wafting into my nose. We used to come here, Nina and I, it was our escape from reality. Reality hit me though, when she died 3 weeks ago in a car crash. I hold tightly onto the necklace she bought me just before the crash. Amethyst. She knew it was my favourite. I keep forgetting that she died, and it's like one day she's just going to come home. I wait up at night hoping to see her at my window to invite me to spend a night with her at the beach. She was the only one who understood me. My knees shake as I stand up and start walking down the beach. It looks like a long tarmac road to nowhere, making it intriguing. I wish I could just keep walking forever.

What Will Next Year’s Literacy Enrichment look like?

Like this:

• SJRC Page Turners Book Club
• What Matters Writing Competition
• Debating and Public Speaking
• Incursions for each Junior cohort
• Year 8 and Year 10 Writing Enrichment Days
• Literacy
• Links Excursion to Sydney 3-4 May (Years 10/11)

The State Library Weekly Writing Prompts has concluded, however, the website is worth another look if you get a chance:

Visit: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/learning/learning-home/creative-writing-kids

On behalf of the SJRC Literacy Enrichment team, we applaud our student involvement this year and we wish you all a wonderful and peaceful Christmas break.

“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.” ― Lisa See

The SJRC Literacy Enrichment Team

Significant Literary Date

Next week, we recognise the birth date of Emily Dickinson, a significant figure in American poetry. Emily was born on 10th December 1830.

“Forever is composed of nows..” ― Emily Dickinson

E-Book of the Week

Did you know we have an amazing e-book and audiobook library available for students? There are so many varied titles, and therefore it is so difficult to choose one to focus on.

It's 10 years now since Tara June Winch's novel "Swallow the Air" was first published. What better time to revisit?

Karen Bale
Teacher Librarian

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.

"Hard work + Dreams + Dedication = Success" - words of wisdom from former student Georgia White as she completes her Bachelor of Physiotherapy and embarks on her allied health career.

#physiotherapist #aHSC4opportunity #wherearetheynow

Mrs Leanne Tinsey
Leader of Careers and University Transition

Weekly Lunch Specials

The Canteen opens at 8.00am every school day.

Our fantastic canteen is now welcoming volunteers.

If you can help, please contact me at the College on phone: 5525 4100.
Many hands make light work!

Ms Donna Hamlin
Food Services Manager

The St Agnes' Uniform Store is open from:

12.00pm - 5.00pm Monday to Friday

9.00am - 12.00pm Saturday.

Last day of trading for 2020
Saturday, 19th December

January 2021 Extended Hours:  4th January 2021 - 30th January 2021

10.00am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday

9.00am - 12.00pm Saturday

Trading hours will revert back to normal hours from 1st February 2021

Monday to Friday - 12 noon - 5.00pm
Saturday - 9.00am - 12 noon

6 Boronia Street, Port Macquarie