Term 1 Week 3 - 12th February 2021

Inaugural Mass

This week our College community gathered to celebrate our Beginning of Year Mass.

On behalf of the College community, I would like to thank Fr Peter Woods for celebrating Mass for us.

Our College theme this year is 'COMMITMENT'. Every year we choose a word that reflects what we value and believe to be important in our College community.

Commitment is a powerful word…a word that leads to action. We all have commitments we have made in our families, in the community, in our jobs. What we are committed to as a College is reflected in our school prayer. As a College, we are committed to striving for academic excellence, as is any school, but we are committed to more than that. At the heart of our community is our commitment to passing on the values of the gospel through our relationships and interactions with students, parents and colleagues. Our values are important, and this year, we will try to commit to the values of Integrity, Excellence, Service to others, Stewardship of creation, our Growth and Faith.

During our Mass, Fr Peter conferred a Rite of Blessing on our Extraordinary Ministers of Communion who now additionally include three students: Sarah Jennings and Don Bittu along with three new staff members: Mr McKee, Ms Harmer and our new Youth Ministry Officer, Emily Burg. It is important to note that Gianluca Polacci Byrnes has also been invited to this important role for 2021 but is currently on an excursion in Sydney and will be inducted during our next whole school mass.

A special thanks to our musicians ably lead by Ms Leanne Johnson, Mr Bushe and Mr Hyland, to our senior leadership team for being readers and candle bearers, to our altar servers, Jamie Vinod, Dane Bittu and Adam Jennings, and to Sarah Jennings for being our Mass Commentator.

Additionally, I would like to thank our Leader of Evangelisation Mr Timo Gobius, Mr Matthew Strumolo, Ms Emily Burg and Mrs Julie Hickling for their overall organisation of the Mass.

God Bless

Mr Jim Dempsey
Principal

Child Protection Policy for Staff, Volunteers and Tutors

Our College's Child Protection Policy is located on the College Website; hover over the 'Parent' tab and select the option 'Policies and Procedures'. https://www.pmreglism.catholic.edu.au/policies-procedures

Please be assured that all tutors, volunteers and staff members hold a current Working with Children’s Check and are regularly in-serviced regarding Duty of Care and Mandatory Reporting requirements.

All employees of St Joseph’s Regional College under The Care and Protection Act (1998) are mandatory Reporters. We are mandated to provide the following for students in our care: to provide an environment for them that is free of violence and exploitation and provide services that foster their health, development needs, spirituality, self-respect and dignity.

Mr Jim Dempsey
Principal

Digital Citizenship presentations - Safe of Social

Year 7-10 attended Digital Citizenship presentations by Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social this week. Kirra's expertise, particularly in legislation in this space, is important for our young people to understand as they navigate through the online world. Kirra has had extensive experience advising law enforcement with online crimes and had many true stories to share.

Some of Kirra’s tips or information included:

• Online grooming - increased by 138% during COVID-19.
• The game “Roadblocks” is a common predatory game.
• Taking photos of naked or semi-naked friends and posting online is illegal and prosecutable.
• Digital footprints - 57% of employers look at online profiles of future employees. What are your social media accounts saying about you?
• Cyberbullying laws are changing - becoming tougher and Apps must remove cyberbullying material within 24 hours.
• Speak up if you are being bullied online - take screenshots with date and time. Report to the App and if it is not taken down within 24 hours, report to the esafety.gov,au or go to the Police or report to Crimestoppers.
• Keep a list of the email addresses and passwords you use to create accounts online so they can be deleted at a later date
• Group chats - be an “upstander”, not a “bystander”. If inappropriate comments or images are being shared in your group chat, leave the chat. Even if you do not contribute to the chat, you are still at risk of legal ramifications.

As I mentioned last week, 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.

The presentation for each year group focused 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.

I encourage parents to register to attend The Safer Internet Day 2021 webinar to further your own education on how you can assist your child navigate online.

Head Lice

Head lice outbreaks occur at all schools from time-to-time so we ask that you regularly check your child for head lice.  If your child has head lice please treat your child and inform us. Daily combing of dry hair with conditioner can get rid of head lice. Once treated, your child should continue to attend school.

For further information on head lice and the treatment of the lice, please click the following link -  NSW Health

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 in the following newsletter article and at the SJRC Sport Website.

Students are permitted to wear their House colours to and from school.

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

Mrs Tanya Daley
Assistant Principal - Mission

Our annual SJRC Swimming Carnival is to be held on Tuesday the 16th of February 2021 (week 4) at Port Macquarie Olympic Pool.  This is a compulsory day for all students and attendance is marked on this years report.

There are four main events swum on the day – freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly.  Students have a choice of swimming these races in the 50m or 25m pool.  4x50m freestyle relays (worth double points) are held after lunch.

Participation is what wins the House Shield.  Participation points in the 50m pool are worth 5 points and the 25m pool – 1 point.  Students who finish in the top 4 times in the 50m pool are awarded bonus points.  The students who finish first and second in the points race over the day are awarded Age Champion trophies and Runner up medals.

Students who live in Port Macquarie or have parents who work in Port Macquarie may meet us at the pool on carnival day.   Students can be dropped from 8:15am onwards.  PC teachers are keeping a record of this.  Please provide a note if meeting at the pool or wanting to leave from the pool to PC teachers prior to carnival day.  All other students are bussed to the pool.

Parents and family are very welcome to attend and enjoy the healthy house competition.  There is an entry fee of $1.50 for spectators.  Students wishing to remain at the pool at the completion of the carnival must leave the premises and then re-enter paying any fee necessary.  NB: No student may leave the carnival until after the presentation – 2:45pm.

Uniform requirements: students may wear house colours to and from school.

Students who finish in the first 2 places for each event (on times) qualify for the Diocesan Carnival to be held in Lismore on Thursday the 4th of March 2021.  

Due to our large number, some events are not swum on carnival day.  Students who wish to compete in the following events have to provide times (from the NSW Swimming Website) to Mr. Cannon by 8:30am Friday the 19th of February – 100m freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 200 IM & 200 freestyle.  The top two times will progress in each division.  Students wishing to nominate for the 400m Freestyle please do so at the link below.

2021 SJRC Swimming Carnival Program

2021 Diocesan 400m Freestyle Nomination Form – deadline 24th February 2021

Dean Kelly Memorial House Trophy (past winners)

Michael Cannon
SJRC Leader of Sport

20th January 2021

Assessment Planners is a valuable tool to assist students to be organised. It is important that students check their planners to see when each task is due and start on each assignment as soon as possible.

Students in Years 7-12 have been given their Term 1 Assessment Planners. Students are also able to access the planners through the College Moodle site. Parents are able to view and download individual year planners via our College website under the Parents heading / Assessment Planners & Exams. The direct link is following:

http:/ /www.pmreglism.catholic.edu.au/ community/assessment-exam-timetables/

If you know in advance that you will be absent from school when a task is due, then you should contact me as soon as possible at the College. A further reminder that if a student misses an assessment task, they need to contact the College and see me at school at 8.45am the very first day they arrive back at school to complete the task.

Ian Lutton 
Leader of Curriculum

Launch of Food for Thought

This week we launched ‘Food for Thought’ with our Year 11 and 12 students. The aim of ‘Food for Thought’ is to encourage our senior students to utilise the Library after school and to collaborate with each other as a normal part of their study routine. A light afternoon supper is provided to freshen students after a day of classes.

‘Food for Thought’ will operate each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 3.30pm till 4.30pm and as the assessment cycle gets into full swing on certain days it will stay open later.

Yesterday students enjoyed the fresh fruit platter and Anzac slices as well as being supported by teachers from the Mathematics and HSIE faculties.

All senior students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to help them navigate their HSC journey here at the College.

Ian Lutton
Leader of Curriculum

Year 12 English Study Seminars

Year 12 gathered in F5 before school Tuesday morning to attend a free English seminar being run by MacKillop College Leader of English, author and HSC marker Ms Clare Hayes. This was one of four seminars she will run over the course of a month, all starting at 8.00am sharp and focusing on approaches to their common module - Texts and Human Experiences.

We look forward to Year 12 continuing to take on this opportunity in the coming weeks. Numbers were pleasing and interest was high, so please ensure you are early for the next sessions to ensure you get a seat!

Details of remaining seminars being held are below.

Please contact Ms Marchment for any further information

Anne Marchment
Leader of English

University Roadshow 2021

On Wednesday, Year 12 were very fortunate to begin their future career journey with the Regional University Roadshow visiting the College.

Many thanks to the following University Schools Liaison officers who presented:

Ex-student, Allegra Trevanion and Bernadette Gammon from Charles Sturt University

Luke Austin and Gurpreet Singh from Southern Cross University

Ryan Hansen and Martine Fogg from The University of Newcastle

Liam Edmunds and Elizabeth Argue from the University of New England.

The session was very informative and covered the following topics:

• Why go to University?
• University Admissions Centre (UAC)
• Why choose a Regional University?
• What life at University is actually like.
• University costs and how to afford University.
• Early Entry Schemes and Scholarships.
• University-specific information.

Year 12 was then able to talk personally with the university staff members and collect resources to clarify any of their questions.

Year 12 are to be congratulated on the intelligent and confident manner in which they approached this session.

Thank you to our university guests, your willingness to share your time and expertise with 'all things university' is invaluable to us.

Leanne Tinsey - Teacher and Leader of Careers and University Transition

Heidi Flanagan - Year 12, Leader of Pastoral Care

Yarning Circle

Our College Yarning Circle is an inclusive and immersive outdoor learning space available for use by all classes and teachers. It is designed to generate a sense of togetherness and companionship different from that of a normal classroom.

We are extremely proud of this area and are excited to see students and teachers utilise this space throughout the year.

Ash Wednesday and a New Liturgical Season - Lent

Next Wednesday, marks the end of Ordinary Time in the Liturgical Cycle of the Church. A new season begins, called Lent.

During Lent, the colours in the church go from green to purple. Purple symbolises a period of waiting and expectation. The mood of Lent is one of repentance. It is a time to turn from ways that do not line up with the teachings of Jesus and draw nearer to God's will for our lives.

There are three key themes of Lent:

Prayer - Spending time in God's presence in formal and informal ways

Fasting - going without something as a way of joining with Jesus in the human struggle of his trial and death.

Almsgiving - sacrificing some of our finances to support causes such as Caritas?Project Compassion or St Vincent de Paul's Winter Appeal.

Ash Wednesday's name comes from the fact that a particular rite is always celebrated on this Wednesday in which the faithful have ashes put on their foreheads. The ashes come from the leftover palms from Palm Sunday, the previous year. They are a throwback from early times in Christianity where, as a sign of penitence, the faithful would put ashes on themselves to symbolise their remorse for their sins. This year, in an effort to be COVID safe we will be handing out purple ribbons to each student to wear, symbolizing their remorse and bringing to mind their commitment to prayer, fasting or almsgiving.

Over the next 40 days, the Scripture readings during Masses address key points during Jesus'earthly ministry, from his temptation in the desert through to his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday before he endures his Passion during Holy Week (the last week of Lent before Easter).

To learn more about Ash Wednesday, enjoy this video from Busted Halo:

https://goo.gl/MYUxYo

Mr Timo Gobius
Leader of Evangelisation

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)

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

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.

On the Literacy Enrichment radar this week are two huge opportunities for all of our readers and writers:

Kids Lit Quiz (KLQ)

This was conducted for the first time last year with great success, and we’re thrilled to be organising teams to participate in it again this year.

KLQ at a glance
The Kids' Lit Quiz is an annual literature quiz for students aged 10 - 13 years.
Quizzes are held in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and the USA.

Format of the quiz 

Heats - Teams of four students are asked to answer 100 questions on children’s literature divided into ten categories, which vary each year.

The winning team from each heat competes in a National Final. National champions compete in the World Final.

There are 10 forthcoming Australia heat(s)/final(s).

Coming up next: NSW Heat 1 - Taree, Monday 22nd March 2021.

Get your reading on and see Mrs Bale in the library to register your interest.

What Matters? Writing Competition (Closes May 14)

WHAT MATTERS? is an online writing competition open to students in years 5-12. What Matters? is a 'catalyst for young thinkers and young writers to develop a perspective, a point of view, on where we're heading as a society'.

What Matters? is an exciting way for our students to have a say, challenge themselves and develop their writing skills.

Coming Up:

1. Week 9 - Thursday, 25th March 9.00am
2. Year 10 English Incursion: Bell Shakespeare presents ‘Macbeth in Rehearsal’
3. What Matters? Writing competition open
4. Kids Lit

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.

See you next week!

The SJRC Literacy Enrichment Team

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

The Diocesan Winter Sport Trials are being held at St. John’s College Woodlawn and Southern Cross University Lismore on Tuesday the 9th of March 2020.  These trials are for students who wish to trial for Diocesan teams in the following sports:

• 15 Boys Rugby League
• Open Boys Rugby League
• Open Girls Soccer
• Open Boys Soccer

If you have played at a representative level in either sport and would like to be considered, please use the information below to submit your application.  The deadline for applications is Tuesday 23rd February 2021.

SJRC, MacKillop and Newman are traveling by bus to and from the trials.  We depart on Monday the 8th of March and return the evening of the 9th March after the trials.  More details will be emailed to successful applicants after the deadline for nominations has passed.

Open Boys & Girls Football Nomination Form

15s & Open Rugby League Nomination Form

Michael Cannon
SJRC Leader of Sport

20th January 2021

The Diocesan Touch Football Trials will be held in Coffs Harbour on Tuesday the 2nd March (Week 6) at Coffs Harbour.  Teams to be selected:

• 15 Girls (can't turn 16 in 2021)
• 15 Boys (can't turn 16 in 2021)
• Open Girls
• Open Boys

If you would like to trial for these teams please fill out the form below.  Successful nominees are selected on the information provided on the form.  Please put as much detail as possible.  Closing date for nominations is the 16th February.

Mackillop, Newman and Regional will share a bus to and from Coffs Harbour on the 2nd of March.

Diocesan Touch Football Team Nomination Form

Michael Cannon
SJRC Leader of Sport

21st January 2021

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