4 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome new students and staff

Over the past few weeks, the following students have joined our College Community:

• Wreylee
• Lachlan
• Lochlan
• Phummarin (Boom)
• Ella

A warm welcome to Mrs Lucinda Hall who will be working as part of the Year 5/6 team for the remainder of 2017. Mrs Hall brings valuable knowledge and experience to our College.

Acknowledgement of the passing of Fr Reilly

Last week, our Parish celebrated the life of former Parish Priest, Fr John (Jack) Reilly. Fr Jack, held the position of Parish Priest at St James Catholic Church, Cygnet from January 1994 to April 2002. In attendance at the funeral were many distinguished past and present Priests and Religious from throughout the Diocese including His Grace Archbishop Julian Porteous, Fr Michael Tate Vicar General and Emeritus Archbishop Adrian Doyle. Thank you to our Hospitality teacher Ms Cec Katny and the catering students who assisted in delivering the food service to the guests at the gathering in the Carmel Hall. Your reverence and efforts in this role were greatly appreciated.

We pray for Fr Jack’s family and friends at this time.

Eternal rest grant unto him, 0 Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Congratulations / Thank you

Over the school holidays, our staff have continued working in preparing for a busy and exciting Term 3. In particular, I would like to acknowledge and thank some of the outstanding efforts from staff in going the extra mile.

• Mrs Jordana Schmidt who presented at the International Association of Genocide Scholars' (IAGS) biennial conference, in Brisbane. Her paper 'Teaching Genocide Education in Tasmanian Schools' was well received and her academic accomplishments have been widely acknowledged.
• Miss Mary Griggs and Ms Sarah Smets for their co-presenting of the work they have been doing with “Kids Own Publishing”. Their presentation was well-received and their professional dedication is greatly appreciated.
• Mrs Sharlene Duggan, Mrs Connie Thomas, Mr Des Kay and Mr Damian Burnett who undertook the mammoth task of relocating the College Uniform Shop during the holidays.

Feast of St James Celebrations and Principal Awards

Last week, the St James Catholic College Community celebrated the Feast of St James – the College Patron Saint.

Huon Valley Parish Administrator, Fr Deva shared an inspiring homily focusing on the life of St James a fisherman, one of the twelve disciples. St James is a role model and inspiration on how we should live our lives today.

Following the Mass, I announced the winners of the 2017 Principal’s Awards. Every year a student from Year 5 and Year 9 is awarded a medal and certificate. This award recognises an all-round endeavour and adherence to College expectations, engagement in academic and extra curricula activities and a willingness to do their best and represent the College with respect and a positive attitude.

Congratulations to the truly worthy recipients for 2017; Emily Jones (Year 5) and JinJu Redding (Year 9). Following the announcements, the College community gathered in the MacKillop Performance Centre to cut the traditional Feast Day cake.

The Feast Day Mass was a wonderful celebration of our Patron Saint – St James, thank you to Fr Deva for leading our Mass, Mrs Connie Thomas for the Liturgy preparations, Mr Wayne Neilson for his efforts in organising our Music and Mrs Nikki O’Neill for preparing the Feast Day cake.

NAIDOC Assembly

Thank you to Ms Sarah Lackey, Ms Stacey Cooper, Mrs Connie Thomas, Mr Wayne Neilson and all the staff and students involved in the preparations for the NAIDOC Assembly. A special thank you to the South East Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation (SETAC) representatives who were our special guests, particularly Uncle Rodney for sharing with the gathering. You can read more about the NAIDOC Assembly in this newsletter.

God bless,

Allan Clark
Principal

General Information

Little Lights – Birth to Four Program

Kindergarten Enrolments

SMS Absence Notification

The College now accepts SMS absentee notifications. Please SMS: 0488 863 246 with your child's name, grade and absent reason. Please save this number in your phone for future reference.

Contact/Medical Details Update

If any student contact and/or medical details have changed since the completion of the 2017 forms sent home in Term 1, please contact the College office to update. If you have previously supplied the College with an Epi-pen and/or other medication; which may have since expired, a replacement is required.

Donations

The College is seeking donations of Barbie Dolls and Lego. These items will be used in our new lunchtime activity, if you can support us in this request please leave donations at the College Office.

College Uniform Shop

The College Uniform Shop has moved, now located within the College the shop is open (term-time only):

• Monday’s 2.30pm until 3.30pm
• Wednesday’s 2.30pm until 3.30pm

Orders can be placed via phone or email. Ordered items can then be collected from the College Office or sent home with students.

Woolworths Earn and Learn 2017

The College is participating in the 2017 Woolworths Earn and Learn program. Anyone from our College community who normally shops at Woolworths can collect stickers (please continue to support local businesses as you have always done). The stickers can be placed in the collection box at the College or in the labelled box at your local Woolworths. After the promotion, the College can use the stickers to redeem a range of educational equipment and resources from major educational supplier Modern Teaching Aids. Thank you for your support and start collecting.

MS-Read-a-thon

JB HI-FI Information

Looking to buy an iPad or MacBook? The College has access to the JB HI-FI Bring Your Own Device Portal. The portal provides parents with discounted Apple products and accessories. This is a private arrangement between JB Hi-Fi and the buyer. Parents/Students are under no obligation to use this service and the College receives no commercial gain from JB Hi-Fi. For more information visit the link below and enter the school code: STJCS2017.

Assemblies and Excursions

NAIDOC Assembly

On the final day of Term 2, the College Community gathered to celebrate NAIDOC Week. Kate Reed and Jessie Burnett delivered the Acknowledgement of Country and a Water Blessing. Uncle Rodney shared with the gathering a Dreamtime Story about how a mum and baby whale created Bruny Island. Following the story, Year 10 students Oliver Solari and Mitch Innes shared their journey and learnings as participants in the Indigenous Pathway program. After the assembly, the guests, staff and students celebrated with a shared lunch including: Mutton Bird, Wallaby Sausage Pizza and a Sausage sizzle.

Term 2 Success Assembly

At the end of Term 2 "Success Assembly" the College celebrated the wonderful efforts of the students over the past 10 weeks. Congratulations to the following students who received a FLAMES award for their efforts:

• Kindergarten: Ruby Wilcox, Max Caswell.
• Prep: Luke Gardner, Mackenzie Coulson.
• Year 1: Maggie Wallace, Rory Jones.
• Year2: Heidi Turnbull, Thomas Jones.
• Year3: Kallen Lovell, Chloe Harris.
• Year 4: Tori Direen, Hunter Thorpe.
• Year 5: Bailey Harris, Hannah Wallis.
• Year 6: Isabelle Menzies, Thomas Clark.
• Year 7: Elijah Cowen, Keely Brereton.
• Year 8B: Callum Robbie.
• Year 8G: Lucy Clifford.
• Year 9B: Abbey Pearn.
• Year 9G: Blake Patmore.
• Year 10B: Jessica O'Neill.
• Year 10G: Chloe Bott.

Success Assembly

Secondary State Cross Country

Our Secondary Cross Country team participated in the All School's Cross Country event held at Symmons Plains. All students had a wonderful day and put in a great effort! Well done.

Year 9 Geography Field Study

This week both Year 9 Geography classes have been exploring the Cygnet township. They have been collecting data including measurements of shop fronts to produce a detailed report into the mobility access of local businesses. Students will use this data to create digital graphs and visual representations to support their recommendations. These suggestions will then be shared with local Government to enhance the liveability of Cygnet residents and visitors to these businesses.

Year 9 Geography Field Study

Festival of Bright Ideas

On Friday 11 August, all students from Year 5, 6 and 7 have been invited to attend the Schools Day at the Festival of Bright Ideas. It is expected that over 1800 students from the Hobart region will attend this Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Expo at Princes Wharf. Highlights of the event include stage shows with some of Australia’s best Science communicators, hands-on activities and demonstrations and workshops with some of Tasmania’s best Science organisations. The organisers have prepared an action-packed day for our students. We are very lucky to be involved in this event with over 20 schools still on a waiting list to attend.

The event is open to the public on Saturday and is free for all to attend. For more information visit:

Festival of Bright Ideas

Community Notices

School Banking

SPEAK UP! Stay ChaTY