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Dear parents, friends, staff and students,
This week’s gospel reveals what is perhaps the simplest yet most significant message of Jesus Christ. When asked by the pharisees ‘which is the greatest of the commandments’, Jesus answers simply; “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind… you must love your neighbour as yourself”. Earlier this year, I wrote about this command and explained that it presents a dual message that we must care for ourselves but must also care for each other. The first part of this quote however, directs that our love for God should be total and complete. In practice, for Christians in general, this love of God should be evident in the way that we deal with those around us. These dealings should be based in the values and role modelling of Jesus Himself. His message around loving God fully and expressing this through love of others is consistent throughout His parables and stories. Taking time to examine our own lives and how we act toward others can help us to develop better attitudes and behaviours and support us in spreading God’s love.
Today is World Teachers’ Day. As part of this, our Student Representative Council arranged for thank you notes to be written to the staff to recognise their efforts and contributions to the lives of our students. Whilst many of us who have left school cannot often recall specific lessons or content, we will often remember a teacher that made a positive impact on our lives. This may be someone who had a passion for their subject, a unique method of teaching or someone who enthused us to learn. In a recent interview for a teaching position, I asked the applicant, who was qualified to teach multiple subjects, which one was their passion. Their response was one that I had not previously heard and filled me with excitement. They said; “my passion is for my students. I don’t really mind which of my subjects I teach, as long as I can work with the students”. Needless to say, they now work at Mount Carmel and have lived up to the expectation they set during that interview. We are fortunate to have people who care and have the students as a focus and, whilst all of us may have good and bad days, I am proud to have the dedicated and caring staff that we have at Mount Carmel.
Lord, I pray for perseverance for the teachers in my community. As the school year continues, give them the diligence to perform each day with excellence. Help them to give themselves grace for the days that don’t exactly go as planned. Help them to pick up where they left off, and continue to teach with joy, patience, and perseverance. Amen.
https://garmentsofsplendor.com/19-prayers-for-teachers/
Earlier this year, I notified parents through the newsletter that we will have two Pupil Free Staff Development Days this term. This is a result of agreements around the implementation of new syllabuses. Please note as previously notified that these SDD Pupil Free Days are on Friday November 10 and Monday November 13.
On November 7, we will be holding our final P&F meeting for 2024. As always, this is an opportunity to hear what has been happening at the College and become involved in discussions. The meeting will occur in room I3 (at the turning circle) and will begin at 7pm. I encourage parents to attend and be part of this meeting.
Ite in Veritate
Mr Steve Lo Cascio
The past week has had a focus on our senior students as Year 12 continue with their final exams and Year 11 students receive their Preliminary course reports. These reports will provide students with valuable information and feedback for them to self-reflect on and use to prepare for their own HSC journey over the coming 12 months. Our Year 10 Youth Ministry Leaders for 2024 attended a diocesan formation day at Stanwell Tops where Youth Ministry Leaders from all Diocesan schools attended. Thanks to Ms Nguyen for her role in organising and supervising the group. Earlier today Avila House celebrated their Community Day to celebrate their founder, St Teresa of Avila, through Liturgy, Staff vs Student Volleyball game and the sale of Donuts to raise money for Charity. Thanks to Mr Sullivan and the Avila Captains and staff for their work in preparing the activities. The remaining houses conducted House Captain speeches for 2024. We congratulate all students for their willingness to assume leadership responsibilities and wish them every success in their upcoming voting process.
Next Week will see Year 12 commence their final week of exams. Some students have already finished and the remainder will finally formally complete all academic requirements over the coming week. Year 11, on the other hand, will officially start their HSC Course, involving an Information Night on Monday, Elevate Education presentation on Goal setting and Motivation on Tuesday and Retreats at Shoalhaven, The Blue Mountains and Tallong on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Thanks to Mr Harpley, Mrs Meharg and all staff who are involved in the organisation and presentation of these important activities.
As always, thanks for your ongoing support with all matters relating to Learning and Wellbeing. Please contact your son or daughter’s respective Year Coordinator or Pastoral Advisor should you have any questions or concerns.
Mr Simon Huntly
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THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A |
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| First Reading | Exodus 22:20-26 |
Treat all people with generoisity. |
| Second Reading | 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10 |
The Thessolonians have become a model for others |
| Gospel |
Matthew 22:34-40 |
Jesus is asked to name the greatest commandment of the Law. |
Tips to live out this week:
To God: prayer - personal and family
For Others: service to others
November - The Season of Remembering
The Church refers to all people who have live holy lives and worked for the good of all as the communion of saints. We seek the intersession of these people who have walked before us in faith, asking that their prayers bring us forgiveness and love. In recognising the communion of saints, we accept in love the responsibility to pray, too, for all the people of God those who have gone before us.
All Saints and All Souls Day
As you visit the front office, there is a prayer bowl with some slips of paper. If you wish to write the name of someone that you would like the College to pray for, jot it down, and we shall include these in our prayers through November.
Mrs Christine Meharg
HSC 2024 Commencement Evening 30 October
Information regarding the commencement of the 2024 HSC will be presented in the Champagnat Centre on the evening of Monday October 30 at 7:00pm. The purpose of this evening is to provide students and their parents with information on the structure of the HSC, Assessment Policies and Procedures, NESA requirements, the use of technology and strategies for HSC success. Students are expected to attend in their College uniform with a parent/guardian.
Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT)
PAT has been designed to provide schools with feedback on student achievement over a period of time. This informs learning and teaching through identifying areas of strength and growth.
Students will complete their Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT) on the following dates:
Years 7 & 8 - Monday 30 October
Years 9 & 10 - Monday 6 November
2023 HSC Examinations
Next weeks exams are:
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HSC 2023 Week 4 |
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DATE |
EXAM |
LOCATION |
TIME |
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Monday 30 Oct
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PDHPE |
Champagnat Centre |
9:25AM - 12:30PM |
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DATE |
EXAM |
LOCATION |
TIME |
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Tuesday 31 Oct |
Community & Family Studies |
Champagnat Centre |
9:25AM - 12:30PM |
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DATE |
EXAM |
LOCATION |
TIME |
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Thursday 2 Nov |
Physics |
ILC |
9:25AM - 12:30PM |
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Students are reminded that they are expected to be at the College 30 mins prior to the commencement time of each examination.
The College wishes Yr 12 students all the best in their HSC exams.
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TERM 4 |
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Week 4 |
Year 10 30/10/2023: Mathematics & ITT 31/10/2023: Catholic Studies & Music 2/11/2023: Visual Arts & Drama Year 9 Music ITT Visual Arts |
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Week 5 |
Year 9 Geography Catholic Studies Year 8 Catholic Studies Year 7 Geography Music |
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| Week 6
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Year 9 Mathematics Year 8 Visual Arts |
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Ms Chardy Miller & Ms Rebecca Toogood
Leader of Learning - Curriculum Pedagogy & Leader of Learning - Acting Curriculum Administration
Avila Day Celebrations & 2024 House Captian Nominations
A wonderful celebration for the Avila House today. Thank you to Mr Sullivan and staff who coordinated, organised and supported this event. Thank you to all the students who undertook the leadership process to be elected to House Captains. I wish them much success.
Safe on Socials:
Article for parents from Kirra Pendergast
This week I would like to acknowledge the work of Kirra Pendergast, from “Safe on Social” education and consulting. Below is a reflection of her work Urgent update on Roblox and Online Safety. We have a number of students across the school, especially in Years 7 and 8, who are using this online gaming platform. I encourage parents to read the extract below from Kirra’s findings.
During our sessions, my team and I have seen a noticeable increase in the number of young students interacting with strangers within the game, engaging in chats and in-game activities that sometimes cross safety boundaries. In instances where children were asked to role-play as a girlfriend/boyfriend, mum/dad, nurse, or doctor, and offers of free in-game currency (Roblox) in exchange for more often than not, inappropriate interactions were reported to us. In some cases, we have had to report these to the police.
Roblox has privacy settings and features that allow us to safeguard our children's online experiences. These tools enable us to restrict who can communicate with our young ones and what content they can access, but it doesn't stop what they can see. But do not rely on this to keep your kids safe. It does not prevent them from seeing things that are wildly inappropriate.
Some of the content has become a sex fetish -if you search "Roblox Sex" online, you will get millions of links to adult entertainment websites where Roblox videos have been uploaded. I am very concerned that some of these "Roblox Sex" videos may be children's avatars engaged in these acts - there is no way to tell. Children have reported what is nothing short of in-game sexual assault to me on more than one occasion, which has been reported to the police. As far as we know, only one major Adult Entertainment company has made the word Roblox and all of the ways it may be written (R.O.B.L.O.X for example to circumvent security) completely unsearchable on their sites.
Our active involvement, guidance, and open communication are pivotal. Let's foster an environment where our children feel comfortable discussing their online experiences, assuring them they can always turn to us or a trusted adult without fear of being banned from games or devices. They will speak up without fear so we can help them stay safe. There are concerning behaviours being normalised on Roblox, such as children's avatars lying next to strangers' avatars or encountering avatars lying around together in underwear.
Please learn to navigate the online playgrounds your kids are in, ensuring that your children's online adventures are safe, respectful, and joyous. Making sure they know it is safe to speak up is a great place to start.
Upcoming Events
- Year 12 Elevate Education - Tuesday 31 October
- Year 12 Retreat - Wednesday 1st November - Friday 3 November.
- Year 11 - Year 12 2024 HSC Information Evening
- Year 9 - YAM Program 7, 14, 21 November.
- Year 9 Gender Agenda Day with YourChoicez Wednesday 8 November.
- Friday 10 November and Monday 13 November - Pupil Free Days
Thanks again to all families and carers for your ongoing support as we enter the final 7 weeks of the year.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Theresa Moore
Acting Pastoral Care & Wellbeing Coordinator
Over the weekend, I read an interesting book entitled Bird by Bird by American writer Anne Lamott. Published in 1994, this text is a humorous and practical guide to writing and to life. Lamott affirms the critical importance of reading and writing and their interrelated nature. The following extracts capture Lamott’s privileging of these two most significant aspects of literacy and learning.Books were my refuge. I sat in corners with my little finger hooked over my bottom lip, reading, in a trance, lost in the places and times to which books took me. And there was a moment during my junior year in high school when I began to believe that I could do what other writers were doing. I came to believe that I might be able to put a pencil in my hand and make something magical happen.
In college the whole world opened up, and the books and poets being taught in my English and Philosophy classes gave me the feeling for the first time in my life that there was hope, hope that I might find a place in a community. I felt that in my strange new friends and in certain new books, I was meeting my other half. Some friends wanted to get rich and famous, but my friends and I wanted to get real. I devoured books like a person taking vitamins. I swooned with the excitement and the nourishment of it all…
I still encourage anyone who feels compelled to write to do so. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward…Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve thought that there was something noble and mysterious about writing, about the people who do it well, who could create a world as if they were little gods and sorcerers. All my life I’ve felt that there was something magical about people who could get into other people’s minds and skin, who could take people like me out of ourselves and then take us back to ourselves. And you know what? I still do.
The challenge for parents and teachers today is to redress the trend which sees reading decline as students move through adolescence. Reading matters! It supports literacy and learning and enables young people to develop their own informed perspective on life. Writing also matters because it helps young people think and make sense of their experience. If, like Ludwig Wittgenstein, we believe that ‘the limits of my language are the limits of my world’, then there can be no greater life-affirming gift than the gift of the parent, carer or educator privileging and encouraging a love of reading and a passion for writing.
Clare Murphy
English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach
SCHOOL FEES
EXISTING FAMILIES IN OUR SCHOOL WITH INSTALMENTS
If you are currently paying by instalments there is no need to complete another Request to Pay by Instalment as your request carries over from year to year unless you wish to amend the frequency of your payments eg Weekly to Fortnightly
EXISTING FAMILIES IN OUR SCHOOL WITHOUT INSTALMENTS
If you would like to pay school fees by instalments in 2024 and have previously not taken up this option for payment, please complete a Request to Pay by Instalment Form which is available on the school’s website or from the school’s administration office.
On completion of the request either email it to instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au or submit at the school office. Following receipt of the request, instalments will be generated on your school fee account during the process of invoicing 2024 school fees. Your school fee statement will provide a list of scheduled payments and their due date depending on the frequency you have chosen eg Fortnightly, Monthly, etc.
IMPORTANT: Please note that if you currently have a child or children at another school in the Diocese and you are paying by instalments at this location, you will not need to complete another Request to Pay by Instalment. The instalment request carries over from school to school with the same frequency of payment eg Weekly, fortnightly, etc.
It is a requirement of CEO for us to advertise this for at least 3 weeks.
Year 7 2024 - Future Students
The Year 7 2024 Orientation Day will be held on Friday 1 December 2023. There will be a Year 7 Parent information night being held on Wednesday 29 November 2023 commencing at 7.00pm. Information packages and further information will be posted in the coming weeks. Please highlight these dates on your calendar.
The Rainer Uniform shop is located under the administration building at the foot of the stairs between the basketball courts and main building. The Uniform shop opens every Monday (8am-2.00pm), Wednesday (8.00am4.00pm and Thursday (8.00am-2.00pm). Please refer attached flyer ‘s advising fitting appointments along with contact information, price lists and trading times. The Uniform Shop will be open during the upcoming school holidays for those that wish to book for uniform fittings. Please see attached flyer with contact information and opening times.
School Student Travel 2024
2024 school travel applications are now open. Please click here for information from Transport for NSW.
Marsden Law Group
Fisher's Ghost Fun Run
Whether you are a competitive runner, or just wanting to enjoy a fun walk with family and friends, you'll have until 10am to complete either the 5km or 10km race. Registrations are now open and close on Wednesday 8 November 2023. To register, please click here