In this week’s Gospel we hear how Jesus ensured that there was enough food for five thousand people even though He had nothing more than five loaves of bread and two fish. The story links to the first two readings that explain how bread and wine are used for a sacrifice that builds a covenant between God and His people. This Sunday is also known as Corpus Christi Sunday (or the Holy Body and Blood of Christ). In the Gospel reading of Luke, Jesus looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the bread and gave it to His disciples to share. This is very similar to the language and action in the Last Supper where He blessed and shared the bread and wine which He turned into His own body and blood. In this, there is a link to Jesus giving of Himself (as in the Last Supper) and this being shared with all (as in the loaves and fish in this reading). These readings therefore are a reminder that Jesus gives Himself to be shared with each of us. We share in this mystery physically in the celebration of the Mass when we receive Holy Communion. We then we each need to take that gift out into our lives and share it with others through our actions.

This week we posted our Year 7, 2023 enrolment offers to over two hundred families. Everyone who has applied by the closing date will receive a letter in the next week or so explaining the process for accepting these offers or explaining how they might be placed onto a waiting list. The decisions around who is made an offer are always difficult when so many families want their children to be a part of our community. The strong oversubscription of applications is a testament to the reputation of the College and a vote of appreciation and thanks to the staff for all their hard work. It is also a reflection of the way that our current students and families openly live the values of our community. Thank you to parents/caregivers and students for helping to build a strong Catholic community.

Next Wednesday, June 22, we will be holding our Year 11, 2023 subject information evening. This is an opportunity for parents to hear some of the important requirements of Stage 6 education and ask questions of teachers around what is required for various electives. The evening will provide an opportunity from 6:30 to speak with subject specialists and then to listen to a formal presentation from 7pm. It is important that parents and students attend this evening to ensure that you hear the messages about subject selection. I look forward to meeting parents on the night.

At the start of this week, we were joined by our newest staff member, Mrs Michelle Woolley who joins us in our Hospitality and TAS teaching areas. Mrs Woolley has returned to Mount Carmel after being employed as a TAS assistant many years ago before re-training as a teacher. We welcome Mrs Woolley to our community.

Last week we opened our Year 7 – 10 Parent/Teacher/Student meeting bookings for Semester 1. These meetings are an opportunity for you to discuss with the teachers what your child’s strengths and opportunities for improvement might be. I encourage you to organise face to face or zoom meetings as soon as you are able.

Ite in Veritate

Mr Steve Lo Cascio

As you may be aware, the 2022 College Photo Day will be held this coming Thursday 23rd June. Photo envelopes were distributed earlier this week and regardless of whether families intend on purchasing the photos, it has been requested that these envelopes are returned and handed to the photographer on the day. Should you wish to purchase any photos, this can be done via the instructions printed on the envelopes themselves. For siblings who would like a family portrait taken, generic family envelopes are available from the front office prior to the day. 

I remind families that regardless of whether these photos will be purchased, each student will have their photo taken for the purposes of their College/Compass ID. For this reason, the full College winter uniform will need to be worn on this day, regardless of whether or not a PDHPE practical class is scheduled to take place. If any student is unwell or absent for any other reason on the day, we are holding a ‘catch up day’ on Monday 27th June in J6/7 during Periods 1 and 2. Parents are reminded that if the College has not received signed parental consent to publish photos, your child's photo will not be included in group or year book photos. If you have forgotten to return this form, please return this form as soon as possible. Please refer to downloadable form. This can be dropped into the office or emailed to info@mcccdow.catholic.edu.au

CONSENT_FORM_FOR_USE_OF_STUDENT_S_IMAGES_AND_OR_WORK.pdf

A reminder to parents of students in Year 10 that the meningococcal immunisation day will be held in Week 10 on Thursday 30th June. Information packages and consent forms will be distributed via homeroom this coming Monday 20th June. Only students who return their completed and signed consent forms will be eligible to receive their immunisation. 

Finally this week, I remind everyone of our COVID-safe guidelines for Term 2 which stipulate that whilst household close contacts who have no symptoms may continue to attend school, they must adhere to the following requirements:

• The school is notified that they are intending to return as a close household contact
• They must wear a mask indoors except when eating or exercising
• Once they have completed their 7-day isolation period, they should wear a mask for an additional 3 days (for days 8 to 10)

Please note that students who test positive for COVID-19, or who are unwell or showing COVID-19 symptoms, must continue to isolate at home.

All the best for the week ahead,

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST YEAR C

 First Reading Gen 14:18-20 Melchizedek blesses Abram.

Second Reading 1 Cor 11:23-26

When you eat the bread and drink of the cup you proclaim the death of the Lord.

Gospel

Lk 9:11-17  Jesus feeds the five thousand

Recent events at the College

Champagnat Day 2022

Like all Marists around the world, we celebrated the life of St Marcellin, his "roll up your sleeves" approach, a never give up attitude, his faith and trust in Mary, and the focus on prayer to help in deepening a relationship with God. We are encouraged and inspired to follow his example in our everyday lives.

We were blessed to have Fr Feliki, from St John the Evangelist Church, Campbelltown who celebrated the two masses for us. He engaged each of us through his warm words. In particular, in Father's homily, he mentioned how the term MARIST was made - MAR from the first 3 letters of Mary, and IST, the last 3 letters from Christ.

So we are all reminded that we need to be like Mary and be like Christ, so as to let the words of St Marcellin come alive - to be "Good Christians and Good Citizens" so as to make the world a better place.

Year 7 Pastoral Day

On Friday 24th June, Year 7 will be having an incursion at the College, that will focus on their Encounter with God.

The staff at Mount Carmel has planned the day, and it involves a series of different activities all of which encourage them to think of where is God in their lives? It culminates with a Year Liturgy.

The event is at the College and within school hours.

The students are reminded to:

* wear sports uniform

* recess will be provided by the College

* bring their own pen, water bottle, and lunch

They will still have access to the canteen if needed.

Ms Toogood and I thank you in advance for your support in this vital part of College life.

Last week while on playground duty, I had a wonderful conversation with a Year 11 student about poetry. His enthusiasm for this form of creative expression and his joy in sharing it, was evident. We shared our fondness for the poetry of Mary Oliver who once suggested that ‘a reader beginning a poem is like someone stepping into a rowboat with a stranger at the oars’. I like this comparison very much. Something stirs within us when we read a good poem. The experience often enables us to feel, taste, hear, think, and see in altered ways. Perhaps it is the compression and intensity of a poem that speaks powerfully to the listening mind. Perhaps it is the pattern on the page with its various line breaks and verse paragraphs which gives visual assistance to the reader seeking to ‘hear’. I think Samuel Taylor Coleridge was right when he described poetry as ‘the best words in the best order’. My advice to students engaging with poetry is to ‘listen’. Don’t try to work it out. Let it come to you. And even then, many poems refuse to give up all their secrets.

Last year, I stumbled on a wonderful guide to reading poetry written by the contemporary American poet Tracy K Smith. It is worth the read.

Like a stranger in somebody else’s home, I proceed gently with a new poem, taking things in rather than trying to bend them to my own habits, tastes or expectations. Along the way, I take stock of what I notice. What does the poem itself teach me about how to go about reading and responding to it? What information does the title contain? What kind of expectation does it establish? How does the first line of the poem go about responding to that expectation? Is there any effect of the visual shape of the poem? How does the poem use white space, and how do I move through the lines of the poem as a result of how they are formatted? In addition to following the sense of the sentence, I observe lines as individual units. Which lines seem to carry the most weight in the poem? Why?

Sometimes a poem’s literal meaning is less essential than the effect it produces. In addition to looking for what a poem is “saying,” I try doing the following: Listen to the music of the poem’s language. How do the sounds of words create drama, meaning and tone? Look at the images in the poem. From what kinds of contexts are they drawn? What do these images connote on their own and in conjunction with one another? What is the cumulative effect of the images in the poem? Where does the transformation, turn or “discovery” take place in this poem? What changes as a result? What does the poem cause me to notice or take new stock of? What questions does it raise?

I try to consider and feel all of the many things the poem has made me notice, and to let those things—the effects of the poem—mingle a while. I look at the title again to see how my experience of the poem affirms or changes my initial understanding of the title. Then I read the whole poem again, a little less like a strange guest this time.

Whether a strange guest or someone stepping into a rowboat with a stranger at the oars, poetry undoubtedly invites us into the power of mystery, beauty and human creativity.

Mrs Clare Murphy

English Coordinator & Literacy Instructional coach

Good afternoon everyone,

After a wonderful day of celebrations last Friday for Champagnat Day, followed up with a well-earned long-weekend, we are now coming towards the final two weeks of what has been another very eventful and productive term. 

This week saw a number of various Pastoral Care, Wellbeing, Learning and Spirituality activities take place. The most significant of these was the Year 8 Geography excursion to Homebush Bay Wetlands and Encounter Day held at the College. These occurred on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, with half of Year 8 doing the excursion one day and Encounter Day the next, and vice versa for the alternate half of the group. Many thanks to Mr Duval and the Year 8 RE team for organising the Encounter Day, Mr Rodoreda and the Year 8 HSIE team for overseeing the excursion to Homebush Bay and the cooperation and participation of the year 8 cohort. 

Earlier today we conducted a range of year based activities during our Pastoral lesson. These included: