Term 1 Week 2 - 5th February 2021

Welcome Back!

We are incredibly excited to begin a new school year here at St Joseph's Regional College. This promises to be a year filled with many opportunities for all of our students as we strive to nurture and embrace this year's theme "COMMITMENT". The theme will be introduced to students at our Inaugural Mass next Thursday, 11th February 2021.

Last Wednesday, 27th January, the staff of St Joseph's Regional College joined with all other Parish school staff to celebrate Mass as a community. This is indeed a special time for staff as we take a moment to reflect on our roles as educators in Catholic schools. 

Following our theme of 'Commitment', I am looking forward to being committed to our College community partnership as we commence the new school year. This will be a year of spiritual enriching, engaging, meaningful and rigorous work in our classrooms, combined with special events and a plethora of extra-curricular activities, performing arts, and sporting teams who are certain to encourage our students to be involved, stay connected and be engaged in their learning.

Prayer of Commitment:

We, the teachers and staff of the Parish schools of St Agnes', conscious of our responsibility to the children of the St Agnes’ Faith Community, pledge ourselves to promote the vision and mission of the Parish schools.

We will seek to the best of our ability to inspire in the students committed to our care those Gospel values, which are foundational to Catholic School education. We will seek to do this by word and example.

We commit ourselves to excellence in the education of those whom we teach and serve. We will be conscious that we teach persons – not classes.

We will see in those we teach the work of God’s creation, his children and heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. We make this commitment conscious of our needs for God’s help, for which we now pray through Christ Our Lord. Amen

Staff 2021

On behalf of the College community, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our returning staff and new staff to St Joseph's Regional College. 

College Leadership

Principal Mr Jim Dempsey

Assistant Principal-Mission Mrs Tanya Daley

Assistant Principal-Curriculum Mr Tim McCosker

2021 Leaders of Pastoral Care:

We congratulate Mr Micahel Walsh who has taken up the new position of Leader of Pastoral Care. In his new role, Michael will oversee our College Houses; working collaboratively with all House Leaders and our Assistant Principal-Mission, Mrs Tanya Daley.

Year groups and Houses are lead by a Leader of Pastoral Care. This year the following staff are in these roles:

Mr Michael Morson Flinders House & Year 8	Mr Tom Inatey Hastings House & Year 9	Mr Chris Kalchbauer Innes House & Year 10	Mrs Claire Goldie Oxley House & Year 7
Ms Sophie Woods Macquarie House & PC Leaders Program	Mrs Amy Haydon Wilson House & Pastoral Program	Mrs Kellie Croft Leader of Pastoral Care Year 11	Ms Heidi Flanagan Leader of Pastoral Care Year 12

Welcome back to our returning staff Mr Michael Walsh and Mr Matt Cato from Long Service Leave.

Returning after working in positions at Newman STC, welcome, Mr David Lewis and Mr Adrian Ryan.

Special welcome back to Mrs Goldie who returns from Denver, Colorado in the United States after participating in a 12 month teacher exchange program. Mrs Goldie returns to teach in the Science faculty and has taken up the role of Leader of Pastoral Care for Oxley House.

Welcome to new staff:

	Shayne Hyland SJRC welcomes Mr Shayne Hyland to the Religious Education Faculty in 2021. Shayne holds a Master of Theology and a Master of Teaching (Secondary) from the University of New England. Shayne has experience teaching Stage 6 Studies of Religion and Catholic Studies and joins us from All Saints' College Maitland.
	Kathryn Gill Welcome, Miss Kathryn Gill. Kathryn has completed a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching from the Australian Catholic University Strathfield. Kathryn has experience teaching Stage 4-6 Religious Education. Kathryn joins us from Red Bend Catholic College in Forbes.
	Thomas Bedwell Mr Thomas Bedwell holds a Bachelor of Secondary Education/Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame with experience teaching English Stages 4,5 & 6. Thomas previously taught at Wauchope High School, Lucas Heights Community School and Picnic Point High.
	Mark Harvey Mr Mark Harvey return to SJRC after teaching at MacKillop College for the last five years. Mark has been the Leader of Learning for Science for the past six years. We welcome Mark back to SJRC.
	Emily Lahey Mrs Emily Lahey joins SJRC in Additional Needs/Student Support. Emily holds a Certificate III in Education Support and a Diploma in Community Service’s – Children’s Services. Emily has 20 years experience in Early Education Services and has worked on a casual basis at St Joseph’s Primary School Laurieton.

Trainees

Matthew Cheers – PDHPE/Sport Trainee
Harry Amon – Co-Curricular Music Trainee
Emilee Gibbs – Food Technology/Hospitality Trainee
Max Roods – TAS Trainee
Lachlan Smith – ICT Trainee
Matthew Strumolo – Youth Ministry Officer
Emily Burg – Youth Ministry Officer

Julianne Byrne who is staying on for an additional year in the Creative Arts trainee role and in education support.

Kaye Loma who continues in the role of Hospitality/Canteen trainee.

Many thanks to Mr John Sprague for his excellent management of the College areas over the break. To Martin Loane, thank you, for mowing and general maintenance done over the holidays to ensure that the College is in excellent condition for the commencement of the year.

Also a sincere thank you to Mrs Wendy Welsh and Mrs Michelle Reynolds who have worked at the end of the holidays to prepare for the year ahead.

God Bless

Mr Jim Dempsey
Principal

Please find information following from the Catholic Schools Office (DLCSL)

As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, the NSW Government is taking some precautionary measures to ensure that our schools remain safe places for everyone at the commencement of the 2021 school year.

Parents
Parents and carers can enter the school to:

• Purchase or pick up uniforms from the uniform shop.
• Meet with school staff with a pre-arranged appointment.
• Drop off students for Preschool, Kindergarten and Years 1, 2 and 7.
• Attend parent orientation meetings for Preschool, Kindergarten or Year 7 and ‘meet the teacher’ meetings with school staff for all year/stage groups. Meetings should be limited to 1 hour where possible.

School operations
It is essential that schools:

• Continue to exclude students and staff with even mild symptoms of COVID-19 and encourage them to seek testing immediately.
• Parents of symptomatic children should provide evidence of a negative result prior to returning to school.
• In circumstances where children have other medical reasons for recurrent symptoms, a letter from the GP is sufficient to negate the requirement for a negative test.

Field trips, excursions and camps

• Field trips, excursions and camps can go ahead with COVID safe plans.
• Schools should consider that border closures and/or areas within NSW being declared red or hot zones can occur at very short notice.

School performances and assemblies

• Gala days, school performances and other major school events can be planned for 2021 with a COVID-19 Safety Plan in place.
• School assemblies, whole of school assemblies can continue.

Sporting activities

• All interschool sport and physical activities, zone carnivals and gala days can continue. This means that schools and students can travel outside of their local community.
• Sporting events and activities held outside of the school site during school hours will need to follow the COVID-19 Safety Plan of the venue or organiser.
• Swimming and other sporting carnivals can proceed with a COVID-19 Safety Plan in place.

Welcome to the 2021 School Year

The year of COMMITMENT has commenced with much enthusiasm and positivity.
Thank you to new Year 7 students and families, Year 11 students and families, and new families to the College in Years 8-10, for such enthusiastic participation in the Positive Partnership conversations last Friday. Partnership with our families is a high priority for us, and the feeling of belonging and connectedness for our students is always our goal. Thank you to families who have ensured students have commenced wearing their uniform proudly and correctly.

As we embark on the year, Commitment is our theme for 2021. During the year, our students will be encouraged to model the quality of being dedicated to a cause or activity: making every effort to carry out an identified action. They will be challenged to commit to integrity, excellence, stewardship, service, growth and faith.

Welcome Year 7 Students

Year 7 students have made a great start to the year. Navigating their way around the College and settling into new routines. While your child adjusts to secondary schooling, I encourage you to continue to assist your child in getting all the required items prepared for each school day. 

I would like to thank the 69 students from Years 8-10 who came back from their holidays a day early to be 'buddies' and guides to our new Year 7 students. It is this commitment and display of College spirit from our students that makes our school such a wonderful place to learn. 

We sincerely thank the following students and I'm pleased to advise them that the hours spent serving at the College will go towards their community service hours.

Digital Citizenship presentations - Safe of Social

Next week, Thursday, 11th February, Year 7-10 will be attending a Digital Citizenship presentation by Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social. Many parents may be familiar with Kirra's work in this space as we have engaged Kirra's expertise for many years now.

The presentation for each year group will focus on:

• Year 7 will focus on social inclusion/exclusion, group chats, by standing and emotional worth.
• Year 8 presentation will focus on pornography, relationships and image-based abuse.
• Year 9 presentation will address digital footprint, cancel culture and emotional worth.
• Year 10 will focus on the responsibilities of a young adult - rights and responsibilities, repercussions, profile targeting for careers, illegal filming.

Unfortunately, these are areas we require Kirra to speak about to our students as each year, many young people are affected by poor decisions they make online and others make online. It would be great to ask your child about the presentation to spark a discussion about safe and appropriate online behaviour.

Swimming Carnival 

The College Swimming Carnival will take place at the Port Macquarie Swimming Pool on Tuesday, 16th February.

Students are encouraged to bring plenty of water and sunscreen and House spirit. Please check that your daughter’s swimwear is modest and appropriate for a school swimming carnival. ie. no bottom cheeks or breasts revealed. While we discourage bikinis, we understand some brands of two-piece swimwear are specifically designed for pool swimming (Kozi, Funkita, Speedo etc.), and these are acceptable. Please check the pictures below. College rash shirts will be issued to students who are competing in swimwear deemed to be inappropriate.

Further information about the day can be found on the College Website under the SPORT tab.

https://www.pmreglism.catholic.edu.au/

https://www.pmreglism.catholic.edu.au/newsletter/article/608

We look forward to a great day. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sovereign Place Shopping Centre

A reminder that students are not permitted to walk to Sovereign Place Shopping Centre after school if they are catching buses home. They are required to stay on school grounds until their bus arrives.

Also, in the mornings, school buses are not permitted to let students out at the shopping centre.

Mrs Tanya Daley
Assistant Principal - Mission

HSC High Achievers Assembly

Last Wednesday, we gathered as a College community to acknowledge and congratulate those 2020 HSC students who achieved outstanding ATAR’s above 90. Thank you to our ex-students who were able to attend - Courtney Fyffe, Alexander Knight-Viale, Harry Amon, Cameron Hunt and Ben Pike who did a wonderful job of addressing the assembly and passing on some invaluable tips which helped them achieve their results. Following is a selection of those tips, some quoted directly, others summarized from their speeches. Students were encouraged on the day to take away from the talks a few tips which will work for them in helping them improve their academic performance over the coming year.

• Identify your weaknesses (e.g. procrastination), take responsibility, and work to fix them.
• It’s never too late to make a difference. You may not be able to do everything you want to or should all the time, but it’s never too late to make a renewed effort.
• “Sometimes you’ve just got to give it a go”.
• Balance your commitments (sport / paid work / social life) – you need a range of activities in your life, including study.
• Use your teachers – develop a positive working relationship with them, and accept their advice.
• Work in pairs or groups – your peers can be a great support to you.
• Find the study methods that work for you – there isn’t one formula for success that suits every student.
• Use your time wisely.
• Enjoy your time at school – this may make learning easier and make schoolwork less strenuous.
• Look after yourself – don’t over-work, look after your physical and mental health.
• “Challenge yourself – work on things that you don’t know, do hard questions and force yourself to learn difficult areas. Now is the time to crack down and be real with yourself.”
• Test what methods work for you early so that once you get to the HSC you have a conscious understanding of what works best for you.
• Appreciate your teachers.
• Collaborate with your peers.
• Work smarter, rather than harder.
• “Trust yourself … if you’re willing to put in the effort the rest will sort itself out”.

During our assembly, we also viewed a presentation acknowledging the achievements of so many other ex-students who received nominations for practical projects or achieved significant rankings within the diocese for their results in individual subjects. Also acknowledged were all our ex-students who achieved personal best results and gained entry into their chosen tertiary courses. These students also worked hard and should be justifiably proud of their results.

Mr Tim McCosker
Assistant Principal - Curriculum & Administration

On Monday, 8th February 2021 an information evening for parents of Year 11 students will be held in the College Hall, commencing at 6.00pm sharp until approximately 7.00pm.

The evening signifies a very important time in your child’s educational journey at St Joseph’s Regional College as they move into their senior years of schooling. The evening will entail presentations from a number of key staff while Leaders of Learning from all Key Learning Areas will also be available for discussion following the presentation.

Your role as parents/guardians is very important in the educational process and I can assure you that your child’s achievements over the next two years will be attributable to us working in partnership. For this reason, I would strongly request your attendance

To register your intention to attend this evening please go to the website below:

www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the event code 65xuk

Mr Tim McCosker
Assistant Principal - Curriculum & Administration

Year 12 – you are being offered a chance to receive FREE assistance to prepare for your HSC English Trial and HSC examinations. Clare Hayes, Leader of English at MacKillop College, is offering her extensive teaching and HSC marking experience to you, free of charge, in order to hone your skills in reading and comprehension, concentrating on Section 1 of Paper One (Texts and Human Experiences).

The seminars are to be held from 8.00am SHARP until 8.40am, in F5:

• Tuesday, 9th February - Week 3 
• Tuesday, 16th February - Week 4 
• Tuesday, 23rd February - Week 5, and
• Tuesday, 2nd March - Week 6 

Other SJRC workshops will follow Ms Hayes’ presentations in the weeks after – so stay tuned for more opportunities to maximise your results in HSC English.

You would be crazy to miss out on these opportunities to strive for excellence!

Please email Ms Marchment with your intention to attend so numbers can be catered for. 

Anne Marchment
Leader of English

Student Verification Forms
Students have been given a Student Verification Report which contains the current details, including medical information, which we have on our system for your child.

Thank you to the many families who have already returned the updated form. We ask that if you have not returned the Student Verification Report as yet to please do so by Monday, 8th February, noting any changes. It is important that this report is returned even if there are no changes made.

Attendance
Research shows that even one day off can be detrimental to student learning. Whilst we realise sickness and family situations arise we encourage all students to aim for 100% attendance.

We ask that families please contact the College if their child will be absent on any given day, alternatively, you are able to submit the absence via our College website at the following link: https://www.pmreglism.catholic.edu.au/absentee

St Joseph's Regional College yearly reports for all students in Year 7-12 will record attendance at special events such as Masses, Feast Days, Retreats, Camps and Sporting Carnivals. The report will simply indicate whether or not students were in attendance on these days irrespective of sickness, leave etc.

If you would like further explanation of this reporting initiative, please contact Mr Tim McCosker or Mrs Tanya Daley.

Late Arrival to the College

Students arriving late must report to the College Office prior to going to Pastoral Care (PC). This includes arriving late during PC time 8.45am- 9.05am. Doing this will avoid students being marked absent.

Early Departure from the College
We ask that families endeavour not to pick students up, unless in an emergency, prior to 3.15pm. Arriving late and departing early places increased pressure on students in relation to catching up on missed work. It is also disruptive for other students and teachers when students enter or leave a lesson during class time.

Wherever possible, please ensure appointments are made outside of school hours. However, if this is not possible, it would be appreciated if collection times can be arranged for the end of a period.

When collecting students early from the College, please follow the procedure below.

• Note from parent/guardian. Noting the reason for early leave, time student will be leaving and who will be collecting your child.
• Students are to report to the College Office prior to morning PC, with the note from home, where an Early Leave Pass will be issued.
• The student shows the pass to their respective class teacher at the beginning of the lesson they will be leaving from. When close to departure time, the student will then politely inform the class teacher that it is time for them to go to the office to be collected.

Please note: If a student does not come to the office at the arranged time, we may not be able to call the classroom or use our internal or external systems. This may result in parents having to wait until the end of the period to collect their child.
We thank you for your cooperation with these procedures.

We have received a number of emails requesting messages in regards to leaving early to be passed onto students. Please note, our College email is checked intermittently throughout the day, therefore, we may miss the time required for the message to be passed on. Please contact the College Office if the above procedure was not able to be followed. 

Messages/Items passed onto Students
Our College Office staff are happy to and will do their very best to pass on messages and forgotten items, however, on some occasions, students have not come to the office to receive these messages/items. We encourage students to take responsibility for preparing the required items for each school day.

Due to COVID-19 we ask that any items to be passed onto students are to be in a plastic bag with their name clearly written on it.

Mobile Phone Usage

A reminder that students in Years 7-10 are not permitted to use their mobile phone between the hours of 8.15am-3.15pm. The College rules clearly state this, and it is College policy that students using their mobile phone will have it confiscated until parents can collect it, and the student will be given afternoon detention.

Senior students may use their phone at recess or lunch, however, no student is to phone parents to be picked up. This call must be made by the College Office.
Students are very aware of the rules regarding mobile phone usage. The Acceptable Use Agreement for Digital Technologies Policy on mobile phone usage can be found on pages 20-22 of the College Diary.

Sick at School Procedures
Students are not permitted to phone parents from mobile phones when they are ill and requesting to be collected. Students are to advise their class teacher that they are unwell. The teacher will then sign their diary and they will be allowed to go to the sickbay where office staff will contact their parents/carers.

If your child does contact you from a mobile phone, we would ask that you phone the front office prior to coming out to the College in order to avoid an uncomfortable situation for all concerned, and detentions having to be issued. Please note that regular late arrivals and early departures are detrimental to your child’s overall attendance rate and education.

Excursions

All excursion information is sent to parents/guardians via email. A link to an online permission form is included for your convenience and must be completed in order for your child to attend any off-campus activities.

Upcoming excursion details may also be accessed via our website under the Parents tab, Excursion Information. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact Lisa Bulley, Excursion Coordinator at the College on telephone: 5525 4100 or email: lisa.bulley@lism.catholic.edu.au

Lockers

Lockers have currently been allocated to Year 7. Locker hire for the year is $20.00, which will be billed to your account once your child has been allocated a locker. This fee includes locker hire & use of the lock for the school year.

Years 8-10 - please contact the College office to request a locker. Your College account will be billed $20.00 hire. Students will be advised to collect their lock through morning notices and also via announcements during recess and lunchtimes.

If a student requires a locker for medical reasons, please contact Mrs Julie Hickling in the College Office to make immediate arrangements.

All locks must be returned at the end of the school year or if the student leaves the College. If locks are not returned the student account will be billed an additional $20.00.

Medical Alert - please keep us updated

The College maintains a “Medical Alert Information Card” for students which are displayed in an appropriate area in the staff room. Please be mindful of informing the College of any diagnosis or change in medical conditions for your child. This is especially important for those students with Anaphylaxis, Asthma, Seizures, Diabetes and Epilepsy.

In order to keep our records up to date, we ask that you update these very important details at your earliest convenience, via the following link. Medical Information Form

If your child has an allergy or anaphylaxis, please forward to the College the ASCIA form completed by their doctor.

If you need further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Joanne Williams in the College Office.

Bus Pass Information
Busways will forward the initial batch of passes (student's continuing from last year and new applications) directly to the student's home address. Any student who is eligible for school free travel and does not have a pass should complete an Application Form online at https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-school-travel-pass

Students Travelling to another destination - Students may travel to another destination for sporting or family reasons, however, there is a charge for this and there is no guarantee that they will be able to board the bus due to numbers. Priority will always be given to those students who are allocated to that bus. If your child plans to travel on a different bus please ensure that they have a backup plan if they are not able to board.

Following are the fees applicable if you travel on a different bus than allocated.

• Travel to Port Macquarie - $1.20
• Travel to rural areas (Laurieton, Wauchope) - $2.50

Alternatively, if you regularly travel to another address you are able to purchase a Term pass at the cost of $40.00 AM only or PM only pass. Otherwise, the cost is $80 for less than 2km travel and $100 for more than 2km of travel.

Replacement Pass Procedures- Students who have lost or damaged their Busways bus pass should:

Complete an Application for Replacement School/TAFE Free Travel Pass

The application is to be posted/taken to the LOCAL Busways Depot, with the replacement fee of $15.00 (GST inc).

Busways will issue a new pass and hands to the applicant or may also mail to the applicant.

Apply at - http://www.busways.com.au/

Bus timetable: Please find below the link to the current St Joseph's Regional College Bus Timetable. St Joseph's Regional College Bus Timetable

In week three term one, year seven students complete a compulsory swimming proficiency test at Wauchope Pool.  2021’s test is being held Tuesday the 9th of February in period five.  Year seven students are required to bring swimmers and a towel and may wear their sport uniform all day.  The cost of the day is included in their yearly sport levy.  Students are transported by Port Bus and return in time for normal buses.  Permission was included in the enrollment process.

The test involves the following:

• slide entry into the shallow end of the 50m pool
• wading 5 metres
• swimming 40m using any stroke without touching lane ropes or the bottom
• treading water for 1 minute at the deep end
• getting themselves out of the pool without assistance

Parents of students who are deemed not-proficient are notified by email or letter and provided with details of local businesses who have learn to swim classes.

If any questions please contact Mr. Michael Cannon (Sport Co-ordinator) on 55254100.

Michael Cannon
SJRC Leader of Sport

20th January 2021

An information note has been sent home with all interested year 7 students.

Sharon Green
Leader of Co-Curricular Music
sharon.green@lism.catholic.edu.au

Welcome to Your 2021 school year at St Joseph’s Regional College!

We send out an extra special welcome to our new students. We know you will feel welcome and become a part of our SJRC community in no time.

A special part of your school community among many others is the opportunity to participate in experiences that challenge, excite and enrich your literacy.

Our mission is to invite and include all to participate in as many of these opportunities throughout the year.

Currently, this is what 2021 Literacy Enrichment opportunities look like:

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

How You Can Participate in Literacy Enrichment:   It’s easy!

1. Visit the SJRC Literacy Enrichment website
2. Check daily notices on Schoolworx
3. Read the SJRC Newsletter.

One last thing: How’s your reading going?

There are 1000’s of reasons to read. It’s a vital habit to develop and maintain, and a guaranteed life-changer. Our focus will always be encouraging the habit of reading or listening to great audiobooks. And we’ll always remain open to your suggestions and recommendations for great reading experiences!

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/30-books-that-everyone-should-read-least-once-their-lives.html

See you next week!

The SJRC Literacy Enrichment Team

Weekly Lunch Specials

The Canteen opens at 8.00am every school day.

Ms Donna Hamlin
Food Services Manager

The St Agnes' Uniform Store is open from:

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

 6 Boronia Street, Port Macquarie