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Dear parents, friends, staff and students,
The Gospel reading for this Sunday (John 6: 60-69) begins with a quote from the crowd; “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?”. The question is in reference to the previous passage where Jesus spoke about His presence on earth as being the ‘bread from heaven’ (you may recall my newsletter a few weeks ago where I wrote of God’s gift of bread from heaven). The idea in the Christian faith, that a person must eat and drink from the Son of Man, is integral to these passages. For Christians generally, and Catholics in particular, we acknowledge that we must take Jesus in completely, in order to reach our full potential as good and worthy people. For some, this notion of complete surrender to Jesus and allowing Him to be fully part of all we do, is too much to accept. Over the last two years, the Leadership Team at the College have been reflecting on our vision and how this is lived in what we do. This manifests itself in the charism of the Marists (notions of simplicity, presence, family spirit, love of work and in the way of Mary) and the Carmelites (Marian spirituality, prayer, silence, solitude, asceticism and ministry) and how these lead us to Jesus’ message. The decision to take Jesus into our lives and live His message is not just ‘tolerable’, but necessary.
Today I called for the whole College to undertake a ‘Breathe Day’. This fits in with the Marist theme for 2022 which is centred around the idea that breath is a basic essential to physical life but also to our own emotional and spiritual growth. Breathing is a simple process that often goes unthought of. It is something that we do without conscious acknowledgement but when we breathe deeply, it has the capacity to revitalise our whole being. Emotionally and spiritually, the opportunity to stop and take breath enables our minds to relax and also allows God to enter our lives. When we are able to remove the hustles and demands of everyday life, the silence can be the door that opens to God. In most of our lives, this opportunity is rarely presented, and I am sure that for many parents at home trying to work and look after children, this concept of stillness is difficult if not impossible. Today was an opportunity to enable students to stop and catch breath. It hopefully also provided some respite to parents from having to monitor your child’s work (at least for a short time). Whilst this is obviously not always possible, I hope that you have had some benefit from this day. Depending on how long our current lockdown continues, we will evaluate this Breathe Day and make a decision whether it is worth including again at a later date. Please feel free to email the College with your thoughts.
Over the next few weeks, Year 11 will begin the process of electing the Senior Representative Council (SRC). This is one of those processes that is important to continue even through remote learning as it ensures a continuation of student voice and involvement in the decisions of the College. Over the last two years, the SRC has had limitations on how it functioned, however, the discussions in this forum and the regular meetings I have with the College Captains and Vice-Captains have been invaluable. For all parents of Years 7 – 11 students, please discuss with your child how they might be leaders within their own groups and our community more generally. For Year 11 parents, please discuss how your child’s choices will reflect and impact them in 2022. I congratulate all our Year 11 students who are completing their final stages of the Preliminary course and are beginning the move into the role as the senior class at the College.
As always, a very big thank you to the staff, students and parents for your flexibility and ongoing support during remote learning.
Ite in VeritateMr Steve Lo Cascio
Principal
Since the beginning of this remote working period, school’s have had a responsibility to track the virtual attendance and engagement of students each day. As you would be aware, attendance each day is recorded by a Google Form that is distributed each morning by Pastoral Advisors and requires students to register by 10am. Since not all remote learning actually takes place online, there isn’t always an electronic record of engagement in each subject on any given day. For this reason, it is important that students meet this 10am deadline which becomes our official remote attendance roll. Parents of “absent” students are then informed via text each day at approximately 10:30am. Please discuss this deadline with your child and ensure they are aware of the requirement to register with their PA.
I also take the opportunity this week to thank and acknowledge parents for their support in this period of remote learning. We certainly appreciate the challenges associated with balancing the support you give your sons and daughters alongside many of your own work commitments. While this balance can be difficult, the current health advice continues to stress that in order to keep yourself and your family as safe as possible, students should only be sent to school for supervision when it is “absolutely not possible for them to learn from home”.
In keeping with our efforts to minimise the number of visitors onsite, I would ask any parent with enquiries that would normally require a visit to the College office, to make these via a phonecall to the front office in the first instance. In most cases, enquiries can be resolved electronically without the need to visit the College in person.
Finally, in consideration of the number of COVID cases that are active in our community at present, I take the opportunity to remind families to please continue following our COVID recording procedures, which include:
- Informing the school immediately if your child is self-isolating or undergoing testing, and informing us of the result as soon as possible.
- Following sickness with flu-like symptoms, ensuring your child is free of symptoms and can present a negative COVID-19 test, before attending the College site for any reason.
All the best for the week ahead.
David Cloran
Assistant Principal
TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B
First Reading Jos 24:1-2, 15 -18 The tribes of Israel choose the Lord above all other gods.
Second Reading Eph 5:31 -32 Family members in Christ must defer to one another.
Gospel Jn 6:60 - 69 Many disciples desert Jesus.
Living the Gospel – Message and Medium
We live in a world that is saturated by advertising and marketers trying to persuade us to think certain things, want certain things and even act in certain ways. At times the message and the medium of the message blur and it’s not always clear where one stops and the other begins.
For Christian people the medium – the person – IS the message (or at least should be!). We are called to live what we believe. That can be tough at times, especially in our modern world, but the challenge comes from the example Jesus gave.
Week 4 of the Emmaus Journey
Time to check in on your neighbours. Perhaps bring in their bin, mow their lawn or drop off a small care package. It brings good energy into your world!
REC Coordinator
Remote Learning
Teachers and students have the opportunity to Breathe today and take some time to catch up and refresh to restart a new week on Monday.
Year 12 Final Assessment Week
This has begun today and will continue into next week. The College wishes Year 12 all the best for their final school based assessments.
Year 11 Assessment Week
Year 11 Assessment Week will be running from 9 September - 16 September. Due to the current remote learning circumstances, we will not be conducting traditional Year 11 Preliminary Examinations. Teachers have been working diligently to develop assessment tasks that will suit the needs of their subjects and that will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills at the end of their Year 11 courses. The schedule has been made available. Notifications will be distributed next week.
NESA COVID Advice
The advice from NESA is frequently updated on their website: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/covid-19/coronavirus-advice
Ms Chardy Miller
Acting Curriculum Coordinator
Good afternoon everyone,
I hope that students and families have made the most of the opportunity to take stock of their learning and wellbeing today. As the Premier has now confirmed that we will be under the current restrictions until the end of September, it is a positive in some ways that the second half of the term is now locked in with respect to what it will look like regarding remote learning.
As we enter the remaining month of Term Three, could I please remind parents and carers of the process for students checking in each day. Pastoral advisors share a Google form, which students need to respond to by 10am each school day to be marked present. Parents and carers of students who are unable to do this by 10am, are notified by sms at 10.30am each day. As of Monday August 23, the sms will now say:
{studentFirstName} has not checked in today. Please remind them to check in or follow the link to explain their absence {attendanceUrl}.
Please only respond to the sms if your son/daughter is sick or absent from learning on the day. Those who are delayed in checking into the daily form simply need to log on at the first available opportunity. No response to the sms alert is required other than that.
Finally, as the impact of the lockdown and remote learning experience continues, particularly with respect to the mental health and wellbeing of many within our community, CEDoW has provided a link to another resource for parents and carers with regards to identifying and supporting those who may be finding these times particularly challenging. Please click onto the link if you feel that this might be something that could be of assistance at this time:
NSW Parent Webinar: Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents
As always, your support and understanding is greatly appreciated. If you have any concerns regarding the learning or wellbeing of your son or daughter, please contact their Teacher, Pastoral Advisor or Year Coordinator. Have a great weekend.
Mr Simon Huntly
Pastoral Care and Wellbeing Coordinator
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been reading George Eliot’s nineteenth century masterpiece Middlemarch. I remember reading it many years ago just after completing Year 12. This latest reading was prompted by my hearing a lecture – located on YouTube – delivered by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, entitled ‘Fiction and the Work of Grace’. In a general discussion on the writing of novels and the power of literature, Williams makes reference to the writer George Eliot, whose real name was Mary Ann Evans, and to her most famous novel, Middlemarch.
One thing which caught my attention while listening to Williams’ presentation, was his reference to ‘the countless unseen lives that painfully seek meaning’ at the cost of their own comfort and wellbeing. He went on to say that in a very real sense, these people shape the world invisibly at levels we may never fully appreciate. I thought of the many ‘unseen’ men and women currently serving others at this very difficult time during lockdown. Their tireless work for the common good generally goes unseen, yet the effect of such service is so significant.
Whilst Dorothea Brooke, the heroine of Middlemarch, is not someone who will make an impact on the public stage, the difference that her costly exploration, suffering, error, and recovery makes on the world around her, imperceptibly slips into the fabric of human existence in a positive and profound way. Her silent contribution is invisible yet enduring.
I thought I would include the final paragraphs to the 889-page novel, Middlemarch. This text, though published in 1871, still speaks to us today.
‘Certainly those determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful. They were the mixed result of young and noble impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion. For there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it. … We insignificant people with our daily words and acts are preparing the lives of many Dorotheas, some of which may present a far sadder sacrifice than that of the Dorothea whose story we know.
Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive; for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.’
Mrs Clare Murphy
English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach