Dear parents, friends, staff and students,

In this week’s Gospel (Luke 12:32 – 48), Jesus makes the statement;

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be”.

He continues to explain how the foolish servants are not prepared when the groom arrives back at the feast and how the master will be angry. The message is simply for us to understand that what we value most in life will be what we put our energy into. The story of the servants adds the complication that we do not know when we will be called to eternal life. If we put our efforts into accumulating material things, we may never reap the returns on this effort. It is far better to keep the things that are important in our hearts as this treasure cannot be taken and will remain with us. Our best treasure can be the love of those around us and is supported and built by investing in these relationships.

Earlier this week, Mr Cloran and I attended the biennial Marist Schools Australia (MSA) conference. The conference brings together leaders from schools across Australia and provides the opportunity to consider how we provide meaningful spiritual, academic and wellbeing experiences for our students. This conference was attended by the MSA National and regional directors and the provincial of the Marist Brothers in Australia. We were reminded of our goals to provide quality education in the Marist tradition with the main purpose to ‘make Jesus known and loved’. Whilst each school will have its own context, it was energising to know that we are a part of a large family that shares common values.

On Wednesday evening, our Year 10 students completed their 2023 subject selection interviews. These are the last stage in advising students which subjects they will be most suited for when entering Year 11. Thank you to the staff who gave up their evening to meet with students and parents and a special thank you to Ms Kripal and Ms Miller on organising and coordinating these meetings.

Last week, I sent a letter to all parents outlining some proposals for the start of 2023. Thank you to the over 170 parents who took the time to give their opinion. The results were clear in each area and there were valuable comments made in the final question. The results were:

A number of comments raised issues around the changes in start and finishing times that may need to be further explored before this can occur. Some also made suggestions that have already been implemented (ie, we introduced girl’s sport shorts and fleece lined tracksuits around 18 months ago).  Based on these results and the comments, I will now discuss with Rainier, the feasibility of introducing the uniform changes at the start of 2023 and will report back to parents regarding this.

Please be aware that our next P&F meeting is scheduled for Tuesday August 16 - Week 5. As always, all parents are welcome.

Ite in Veritate

Mr Steve Lo Cascio

As you would be aware, earlier this week, our Graduating Class of 2022 commenced their most significant assessment period to date - their Trial HSC Examinations. At the outset this week, I take the opportunity to sincerely commend these students on the way that they have approached the preparation and execution of these exams. As daunting as a three-hour examination may seem, the cohort have demonstrated a clear sense of purpose, determination and maturity over these past few days which will place them well for the week ahead and, in the process, in readiness for the HSC Exams in just a few months’ time.

As our current seniors complete their Trials, they reach another milestone in their approach towards the end of their HSC journey. I also take the opportunity to acknowledge our current Year 11 students who this coming week, will take a significant step towards becoming the new senior cohort at Mount Carmel. On Thursday and Friday this week, these students will participate in the Mount Carmel Leadership Program which takes place both on site at the College and at Teen Ranch in Cobbitty. At the conclusion of this program, students will have the opportunity to vote for the Student Representative Council for 2023 which itself is a significant opportunity to ensure that student voice continues to play a key role in all we do at Mount Carmel.

Earlier this week, the College received our latest batch of Rapid Antigen Test kits from the NSW Government. These were distributed to all students in Year 12 at the conclusion of one of their exams this week and will be given to all remaining students in the week ahead.

Finally this week, I remind everyone of our COVID-safe reporting measures for Term 3. These 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 positive cases 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,

Mrs Christine Meharg

American writer Eudora Welty accurately describes my own relationship with books when she states, ‘I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with them – with the books themselves, cover and binding and the paper they were printed on, with their smell and their weight and with their possession in my arms, captured and carried off to myself.’ I remember reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women many times when I was young and each time the book revealed different secrets, insights, and understandings, even though the words obviously hadn’t changed. This book, along with many others, held a kind of magic which took me on journeys to different places and different times, where I met an array of wonderfully interesting characters who taught me a great deal about the mystery of life and the complexity of the human condition.  

During these last school holidays, I started to read a book entitled Joseph Anton. Published in 2012, this 700-page memoir written by Salman Rushdie, had a most unusual genesis. On 14 February 1989, Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC journalist who warned him that he had been ‘sentenced to death’ by the Ayatollah Khomeini. It was the first time Rushdie had heard the word fatwa. He was accused of having written an earlier book deemed to be “against Islam”. Faced with death threats, Rushdie spent nearly a decade largely in hiding, appearing in public only sporadically. He moved from house to house, with the constant presence of an armed police protection team who asked him to choose an alias that they could call him by. He thought of writers he loved and decided on two very famous ones – Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov. In combining their given names, he came up with the alias Joseph Anton. Hence, the title of his memoir.

In Joseph Anton Rushdie writes about his childhood stating that when he was a small boy his father at bedtime told him ‘the great wonder tales of the East…told them and retold them and remade them and reinvented them in his own way.’ Growing up steeped in these stories, Rushdie had a sense that they all belonged to him, just as they belonged to his father, ‘and to everyone else’. They were all his – ‘these bright stories and dark stories, sacred stories and profane, his to alter and renew and discard and pick up again as and when he pleased, his to laugh at and rejoice in and live in and with and by, to give the stories life by loving them and to be given life by them in return.’

At our Parent Library event last week, I picked up the novel Midnight’s Children. Who was the author? None other than Salman Rushdie.  I’ll tell you what I think of this book in a few weeks’ time.

Mrs Clare Murphy

English Coordinator & Literacy Instructional Coach

Mount Carmel P&F Clothing Pool sells pre-owned College uniforms at less than half the cost of new uniforms. 

You can bring your child's uniforms to the shop when they no longer fit or you no longer need them (Uniforms must be clean and in good condition. Blazers must be dry cleaned). The Second-hand Uniform shop will sell the uniforms on your behalf, and after they sell the P & F Committee will transfer the money to your nominated bank account.  The P&F will keep 10% of all sales.  You are also able to donate the uniforms and then the P&F will benefit from 100% of the sales.  

The uniform shop is open from 2.30-4pm on the days listed below. Usually the first Monday of each month.  The shop will next be open on Monday 5 September 2022. The shop is run by parent volunteers to raise money for the P&F Committee and to help families of the school with low-cost uniforms. 

If any parent wishes to volunteer in the Second-hand Uniform Shop please contact the school office.

Term 3 2022

Monday 5 September

Term 4 2022

Monday 7 November

Monday 5 December

Cash only - no EFTPOS facilities

On Wednesday 27th July Year 8 attended the science incursion ‘Tick tick boom’.

They enjoyed watching flying toilet paper, bubbling liquid nitrogen demonstrations, fireballs, chemical and physical changes and controlled mini-explosions.

The students were informed by presenter Ben about chemical dangers and the science behind real life controlled explosions.

Year 8 are currently starting their Chemistry unit ‘Tick tick boom’ in their science class.

The students found the show highly engaging and their highlight was the liquid nitrogen explosion at the end of the show.

Mr Mackey

Yr8 SCI J Science Teacher