Term 4, Week 1 - 16 October - 2020
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From the Principal
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Digital Technologies and Differentiation
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Visual Arts
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Careers
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Year 7 Orientation Day
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St Vincent de Paul
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Safe on Social Media - Among Us
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Parent Assembly Flyers
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Celebrating 30 Years
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Student Study Tips
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Parish News
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Food for Thought / Stories as Told by Mr Ogg
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Recipe of the Week - Tracey Hartmann
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Birthdays
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Advertisements
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back to Term 4. I hope our students and families were able to take some time to wind down after a busy and, at times, intense term. We hear a lot about the importance of wellbeing, especially in the current climate of our society, and it is an area of priority in our College for both the students and staff. Pastoral care and wellbeing of our students is an area of focus because of the strong link to learning. We finished last term with a Staff Spirituality Day and I mentioned to staff the importance of looking after their wellbeing, and developing or deepening one’s spirituality is a way of nourishing wellbeing. A Tweet had come through that same morning that read “If you don’t make time for your wellness you will be forced to make time for your illness”. So very timely!
Year 12
At the end of last term we celebrated the graduation of our Year 12 students. It was a different experience due to COVID and we know the disappointment felt by many parents, students and extended family. However, I believe we made the most of the situation we found ourselves in, and introduced some possible new traditions, such as the whole school guard of honour for Year 12 as they entered the school for the last time.
HSC examinations start today and continue for the next 4 weeks. We wish our students all the very best in their exams and we ask that our community keep Year 12 in their thoughts and prayers at this time. A letter was sent to Year 12 and their parents explaining the HSC COVID plan. If you have any questions regarding this please contact the College.
Also sent home was a letter regarding the Year 12 Formal, which will be held on Saturday 14th November. We look forward to celebrating the milestone of finishing school at this special event.
Winning House 2020
At the Year 12 Graduation ceremony at the end of last term we announced the winning House for 2019/20. Congratulations to all the students in Mercy House and to their House Leader Chelsea Brown and House Captains Nash Cooper and Emily Goodall. The House competition for 2020 - 2021 starts this term!
Term 4 Dates:
Postponed to 2021 - Staff Development Day 2nd & 3rd November - Introduction to the Berry Street Education Model.
It is with great regret (and frustration) that we postpone these staff development days for the second time. A decision was made at the start of the year to introduce the Berry Street Education Model into our College to address areas of Relationships, student engagement and improved student learning outcomes. Due to COVID19 and the border restrictions we are unable to go ahead with this as our trainer is based in Brisbane. Thank you for your understanding. November 2nd & 3rd will now be normal school days.
Year 7 2021 Orientation Day - Tuesday 24th November
We are finally able to go ahead with an Orientation Day for our 2021 Year 7 students! Unfortunately we are still unable to have parents in the College so the Parent Information Evening will be held via Zoom. This information has been sent out to families.
Staff Changes for Term 4
I welcome to the College the following staff:
Gabe Lang, who is replacing Fran McHugh. Fran has taken leave for the term, as she heads to retirement.
Nicole van Doorn, who is replacing Michael Burton while he is on leave this term.
I encourage you to attend the Webinar with Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social Media on Tuesday 27th October at 7pm, organised by the Parent Assembly. Kirra has previously presented to students, staff and parents, and does an excellent job of providing information and support in the area of Cybersafety. See the advertisement in this newsletter.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents who have responded to and participated in my Principal Appraisal. It is very important that I receive feedback from the parent community so I can grow in my leadership and ultimately continue to ensure the College is a positive and progressive place that is student focused and Christ based, where each student has the opportunity “to be the best they can be”.
Finally, I apologise for the delay in sending this newsletter. I have been waiting on confirmation of dates to include in this communication. This term the newsletter will be sent every second Friday, the next one being week 3.
Kind regards,
Kate
Kate Thomson
Principal
“We should be shining lamps, giving light to all around us.” Catherine McAuley
On Monday the 12th October, staff engaged in professional development in Digital Technologies and Differentiation. We were fortunate enough to have JJ Purton-Jones (Digital Technologies for Learning Consultant, Learning Services CSO) and Paul Hamilton (Using Technologies Better) lead us in learning features of new and existing digital technologies and apply these to teaching and learning sequences in particular for differentiation in the classroom.
Google Earth, Apps on Google Slides, Jamboard and Teachable Machine were all featured alongside current G-Suite tools used at McAuley Catholic College. Teachers were able to spend time in faculties and develop differentiated and engaging learning activities for Term 4. These activities were shared with staff in the final session where we were amazed at the application of this learning in TAS, English, HSIE, PDHPE, Maths, Science, CAPA, and RE.
Congratulations to Abigail Lydon, who’s HSC artwork has been nominated for the prestigious Artexpress exhibition 2020. Artexpress is an annual exhibition program featuring exemplary bodies of work from the New South Wales Higher School Certificate, Visual Arts examination.
- Contributing to the development of workplace skills and entry level skills in their industry
- Promoting to young people the career potential of their industry
- Providing access to a pool of future paid apprentices, casual or part-time workers
- Enabling potential recruitment of new employees who can be immediately productive
- Developing the-training and supervisory skills of employees who will induct, train, supervise and/or assess MCC students
- Enabling employees to mentor young people in their career decision making process
- Encouraging students to become involved with businesses in their local community
- Catering for a diverse range of students and learning needs
- Information from employers regarding expectations and work tasks to facilitate a better match between employer and student
- Engaged students who are able to put classroom learning into practice and contribute their experiences to classroom discussions
- Improving understanding of the work environment and employers' expectations
- Increasing self-understanding, maturity, independence and self-confidence, especially in the workplace
- Increasing motivation to continue to study and/or undertake further training
- Ability to put knowledge gained in the classroom into practice in a real world situation
- Opportunity for personal improvement through the development of employability and generic skills
- Development of networks and obtaining industry feedback and a professional referee
- Enhancing opportunities for an apprenticeship, casual or part-time employment
- Providing an opportunity to try out career choices before leaving school
Engineers Australia Invitation
“Discover Engineering” is a free online forum for all high school students interested in learning about or considering a career into the wonderful world of engineering and will be held on Wednesday 21st October at 4.30pm - invitation details for this webinar are via this link: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/event/2020/09/discover-engineering-newcastle-33201
The students will hear from four engineers who will share their story on why they choose engineering/how their work is important and their good news story. University & TAFE representatives will also participate in the Q&A session to answer questions in relation to course information and subject selection.
Southern Cross University Head Start Program
In 2020 Southern Cross University launched a new program called Head Start which was designed to help 12 students who have been impacted by COVID-19.
It offered a new pathway into University.
SCU’s Head-Start provided an opportunity for Year 12 HSC students to gain direct entry and advanced standing into a variety of courses offered at SCU.
Free from University fees, the program offered students the chance to gain a taste of University life, stimulate interest in academic pursuits and enhance educational performance and long term aspirations.
The program was designed for students who had the academic capability to succeed at university and was selected on merit, based on their academic performance, a personal statement and the recommendation of their Principal.
We congratulate Evan Whitty (Pictured in his Graduation outfit!) on his success this year.
A white card (or general construction induction card) is required for workers who want to carry out construction work.
People who need a white card include:
- site managers, supervisors, surveyors, labourers and tradespeople
- people who access operational construction zones (unaccompanied or not directly supervised by an inducted person)
- workers whose employment causes them to routinely enter operational construction zones.
Rod Paton
Careers Adviser
Social Justice in Action.
Year 10 Cooking for people in our own community.
Due to COVID-19 constraints, our College BBQ trailer is not available. Instead, under the wisdom and tutelage of Mr Dean Coggan, his classes are preparing meals. This week a lovely Spaghetti Bolognese was provided. This is the second week of providing meals to the local community.
The ingredients and packaging are provided by our Vinnies conference, cooked by our students and delivered by Mr Coggan himself. They even clean up after themselves. Mr Coggan has also been delivering meals to the School of Arts (The Hub) and to one of our parish primary schools, St. Joseph’s Primary, South Grafton.
Social Justice in action!
Vinnies calls for more affordable housing
The St Vincent de Paul Society is a sponsor of Anti-Poverty Week
At the beginning of Anti-Poverty Week, the St Vincent de Paul Society yesterday repeated calls for the Morrison Government to urgently address the chronic shortage of affordable, secure housing in Australia for low-income earners.
The Society’s national president, Claire Victory, repeated the call for the Government to establish a $10 billion social housing fund and implement a national housing strategy to address the shortfall of over 400,000 dwellings nationally.
“In the face of unprecedented unemployment, all governments must work to urgently address chronic housing shortage, rental stress and homelessness which have been on the rise for the past two decades and have escalated in the face of COVID-19,” Ms Victory said.
“Currently in Australia 190,000 households are on waiting lists for social housing. Two-thirds of vulnerable private renters are currently in rental stress, and 170,000 households have less than $250 to survive on each week after paying rent.
“The specialist homelessness service system is turning away 254 people each day. Half of households experiencing rental stress are still experiencing rental stress four years later.”
Ms Victory said Vinnies, a sponsor of Anti-Poverty Week, said an urgent investment in social housing would “stimulate the economy and provide sorely needed housing stock”.
FULL STORY
Anti-Poverty Week: The best solution is enough to live on and a place to call home (St Vincent de Paul Society)
Adapted from; CathNews: Published: 12 October 2020
Tom Howard
MCC Vinnies Coordinator (School Baile)
A GAME CALLED - AMONG US
This online game has become the go-to Pandemic entertainment of the past few months.
The game is very simple, and has been in existence since 2018, but its popularity has exploded with the advent of the global pandemic.
The game is available on all mobile devices and on computer where it has a substantial following on Discord, and Steam.
Players on the game streaming service Twitch, TikTok and major YouTube stars have all played with millions of viewers tuning in. As an example of just HOW popular this game is – a recent New York Times articles referenced at least 200 millions hours logged by users viewing others playing the game on Twitch alone just this year. The majority of players come from the 13-20 age group, but the numbers of adults participating is increasing.
“Among us” is everywhere right now and looks to only expand in popularity, of the games being played during the pandemic – this is possibly the most innocuous if basic online safety rules be followed.
AGE RECOMMENDATIONS
Apple 9+
Google Play 10+
Includes: In app purchases, and ads
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
The premise is simple.
The game involves 4-10 players being confined on a space ship in desperate need of repairs. Every player is given a random designation as either a crew mate or an imposter. Players must move around the space ship trying to complete given tasks while trying to out the imposters before they destroy the ship. Players suspected of being the imposter are voted off the ship by team members, with the loser being ejected from an airlock into space.
An imposter is actually an alien, seeking to murder the crew before the repairs can be completed. The crew wins when they complete the repairs, the imposter when all the crew have been taken out. The graphics are very simple, with minimal graphic realties that are typical too many online multiplayer games.
In reality there is a considerable similarity to old school board games such as Cluedo. This is an online whodunit, where once dead, the player may still watch the outcome, but must remain silent about their death and who killed them. There is a ninety second window offered at times throughout the game where players are able text chat and question the other players on their suspicions and deductions.
Most messaging is between player is via text windows, and the language content is heavily censored. Drop the F-bomb, and all you will see is ****. Users names may at times border on the offensive but the language control is excellent.
At this time, the game itself does not offer multiplayer live chat.
BUT.
It is possible to use third party chat apps whilst playing, with Discord being the most versatile and the most common. Given that Discord is largely an invite only chat room host, players can control the access to voice chat, not allowing random players to join the conversation without an invite to a private chat space.
ISSUES
The behaviours required to survive on the space ship, and ultimately obtain victory over team mates involves flattering the strong, attacking the weak, lying, obfuscating and engaging in deceptive behaviours.
The subterfuge necessary to stay on the space ship may not be reflective of values parents wish to see their younger children engaging in or learning about, nor may the requirement that the imposter must assassinate all other team members to win appeal.
The most risk comes from the group of ten playing being randomly selected from global participants and players failing to keep their personal information secure.
Players have reported individuals sharing SnapChat and other social media contact details via the text chat option, and all people playing this game should be reminded that keeping personal details offline whilst playing such a game is vital.
In app purchases are available. This maybe irresistible for a child, so using a seperate prepaid credit card with a very low set limit can prevent any accidental purchases being run up without a parent being aware when children are gaming.
The developer’s original intent was for this game to played in the same room as the other players - and as a family activity. This could provide an entertaining option to allow parents to engage with their children online, and at the same time model good digital behaviour.
SUMMARY
Play this with your children and respect the age restrictions.
Decide for yourself if this game is appropriate for your child.
Advise younger players to keep all personal details and other social media accounts private.
Create a group of personal friends to play together.
To sign up for more information about our soon to be released Safe on Social Schools Toolkit click here: www.safeonsocialtoolkit.com
FOOD FOR THOUGHT 12
He (Jesus), said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake” …. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
I’ve been considering this scripture and a few things have arrested my attention.
When Jesus says “Let us cross over to the other side” we are going to get there!.
The safest place to be is in the company of Jesus. Despite the present conditions in our lives – storm or calmness.
Whatever Peter was into is always worth noting.
For example: Once to everyone’s amazement, he declared an insight given to him by God the Father that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
On another, he wanted to kill a soldier coming to arrest Jesus.
Yet there is another time when he says to Jesus “Depart from me for I am a sinful man”.
In the presence of a greater person, a holy person, we reveal something of our own true nature by our words and actions.
The disciples in the scripture account above were more frightened AFTER the sea and the wind had died down than during the life-taking storm. Note that these were experienced fishermen!
I suggest this was because it was then that they were beginning to see and experience the true character and person of Christ and they were challenged to their very inner being. And they “feared” Him. “exceedingly feared” Him.
As we long to draw closer to the Christ, I fear that we may discover more about ourselves than about Him. Be prepared! Just a thought. (David Ogg)
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