Mr Steve Lo Cascio

In last week's newsletter, I provided an update from NSW Transport regarding the process for families to update their Opal card details in readiness for the new school year. We have also been asked to remind students of the importance of tapping on/off when they use school bus services as these details are used to determine travel routes and frequencies. If students are not tapping on and off, particularly of a morning on their way to school, it can provide data to bus companies suggesting particular routes are not required.

As you may be aware from a Compass notification earlier this week, Catholic Schools NSW have updated their health directives following a change to COVID-19 rules on Friday 14 October 2022. These changes state that it is no longer mandatory for people who test positive to COVID-19 to self-isolate at home.

What this means for students and school staff

• If a student or staff member is unwell and has any COVID-19 symptoms, even the mildest of symptoms, they should stay home and test.
• Students and staff who are unwell with any cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms (whether they have tested positive or not) should not attend school until their symptoms are gone.
• To limit the possible spread of illness amongst the school community, students and staff displaying COVID-19 symptoms at school will continue to be sent home until their symptoms are gone (students and staff with persistent symptoms, e.g. hayfever, will continue to be able to attend with a letter from their medical practitioner).

Steps we can take to keep our school community safe

• The most important step we can all take is to stay home when we have cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms, and not return to school until the symptoms are gone.
• Please continue to notify the school if your child tests positive for COVID-19.

Wishing you all the best for the week ahead.

As we commence week 3, all year groups will be commencing a new unit of work.

Year 11 SICT: Vice, Virtue and Salvation

Students investigate the challenge of evil and suffering in the world. Students consider where God is in both ‘the good’ and ‘the evil’. Students explore the works of St Paul and other theologians and encyclicals, which developed a Christian framework for understanding what is the good, how to be good and the gift of grace.

Year 11 SOR 1U and 2U: Religious Tradition of Islam

The focus of this study is the contribution of significant people, ideas, practices, and ethical teachings to an understanding of Islam as a living religious tradition. The study of Islam is to be of the WHOLE tradition where applicable.

Year 10: Ecumenism and Interfaith Dialogue

Though all religions seek to understand and make sense of the world and our place in it, they each have a distinct set of beliefs and practices that help their believers to do so. This unit allows students to explore the emergence of diverse expressions that exist within Christianity and the beliefs and practices of the Abrahamic traditions. Students will also be encouraged to develop an appreciation of the importance of ecumenical and interfaith dialogue as ways for religious believers to work together in promoting understanding and acceptance.

Year 9: The Church in Australia

The Catholic Church is a community; a family with a history and a story that continues to unfold today. Catholics in Australia come from many different cultural backgrounds and celebrate their faith in many diverse ways. For all of its diversity and unique character, the Australian Church remains firmly a part of the universal Church, founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ, and participating in its mission. In this unit students will explore the rich common heritage and diverse contemporary expressions of the Catholic faith in its uniquely Australian context. 

Year 8: Alive in Christ

Prayer is an essential means through which individuals and the Christian community deepen their relationship with God. In this unit students will explore a range of prayer forms (personal, communal, and liturgical) and experience its different expressions, vocal prayer, meditation and contemplative prayer. Students will also become familiar with the pattern of the Church’s liturgical year and appreciate the significance of liturgy as public worship.

Year 7: Affirming Human Dignity

Scripture teaches that we are all made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). This belief informs much of the Catholic Church’s social and moral teaching and shapes our understanding of human relationships. In this unit students will be encouraged to deepen their understanding of the human person; the inherent dignity and equality of all people and Christian moral decision making

Mrs Christine Meharg

The following extract from Jasper Fforde’s fantasy novel Lost in a Good Book, formed part of last week’s HSC English Standard and Advanced examinations. Sixty-seven thousand students were asked to read this passage and then answer the following question: Analyse how Fforde captures the narrator’s experience of awe and wonder. I loved the extract and found myself immediately immersed in its beautiful depiction of a mysterious library housing precious books. How good would it be if libraries today could return to these quiet and sacred spaces where magnificent treasures – gifts of awe and wonder in the form of books – were carefully cradled and brought to life. Fantasy?

‘I was in a long, dark, wood-panelled corridor lined with bookshelves that reached from the richly carpeted floor to the vaulted ceiling. The carpet was elegantly patterned and the ceiling was decorated with rich mouldings that depicted scenes from the classics, each cornice supporting the marble bust of an author. High above me, spaced at regular intervals, were finely decorated circular apertures through which light gained entry and reflected off the polished wood, reinforcing the serious mood of the library. Running down the centre of the corridor was a long row of reading tables, each with a green-shaded brass lamp. The library appeared endless; in both directions the corridor vanished into darkness with no definable end. But this wasn’t important. Describing the library would be like going to see a Turner and commenting on the frame. On all the walls, end after end, shelf after shelf, were books. Hundreds, thousands, millions of books. Hardbacks, paperbacks, leather-bound volumes, uncorrected proofs, handwritten manuscripts, everything. I stepped closer and rested my fingertips lightly on the pristine volumes. They felt warm to the touch, so I leaned closer and pressed my ear to the spines. I could hear a distant hum, the rumble of machinery, people talking, traffic, seagulls, laughter, waves on rocks, wind in the winter branches of trees, distant thunder, heavy rain, children playing, a blacksmith’s hammer – a million sounds all happening together. And then, in a revelatory moment, the clouds slid back from my mind and a crystal-clear understanding of the very nature of books shone upon me. They weren’t just collections of words arranged neatly on a page to give the impression of reality – each of these volumes was reality. The similarity of these books to the copies I had read back home was no more than the similarity a photograph has to its subject – these books were alive!’

English Coordinator & Literacy Instructional Coach

The undoubted focus of our past week relating to Pastoral Care and Wellbeing has been on student transition from Year 11 into Year 12. This commenced on Tuesday with a presentation by Elevate Education which addressed organisation, study skills and time management for the HSC. Wednesday morning saw the cohort participate in their Retreat. The group was separated into two groups and travelled to The Marist Retreat Centre at Mittagong or the Katoomba Christian Conference Centre at Katoomba.

The Retreat program allowed all students to engage with their Pastoral Class colleagues and teachers in a range of activities that provided them with the opportunity for them to stop and reflect, refocus, and set individual and group goals for the upcoming year. A huge thanks to all staff and students for their organisation, supervision, collegiality, and enthusiasm over the past few days.

Upcoming Pastoral Care and Wellbeing events

• Thursday October 27 - Black Dog Institute “Future Proofing” program for selected Year 9 students
• Friday November 4 - Year 7 Immunisations, Year 11 Paul Wade Motivation, Resilience and Goal Setting Presentation

As always, please do not hesitate to contact the College or the appropriate Classroom Teacher, Pastoral Advisor or Year Coordinator should you have any questions or require any assistance with matters relating to the wellbeing or learning of your son or daughter.

Mr Simon Huntly

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 7 November 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 4 2022

Monday 7 November

Monday 5 December

Cash only - no EFTPOS facilities