As the term comes to a close, I take the opportunity to thank all members of our College community for their support throughout the past term. The past week in particular has seen all members of our student community embrace Year 12’s final few days of school and they are to be thanked wholeheartedly for the respect shown to our graduating class of 2024. 

I remind the parents of students in Year 11 that today marks the end of the Preliminary Course and, consequently, the HSC course will begin early in Term 4. I congratulate Year 11 for their application and cooperation with the Preliminary examinations and thank all in the cohort who were involved in the Hospitality and Leadership events as part of Year 12’s graduation process.

Please be reminded that we return next term in our summer uniform and encourage students to familiarise themselves with the College uniform and grooming expectations which are laid out in the College diary as well as in the Pastoral and Wellbeing section of this newsletter. Your support in this area ensures that the focus for both teachers and students can remain on learning as the new term gets underway. Please also be aware of a couple of significant events scheduled during our first week back. These being:  

• Wednesday October 16 - Year 7 to 9 Diocesan Cricket
• Friday October 18 - Year 10 White Card Training
• Friday October 18 - Year 9 Elective Commerce Marketplace
• Friday October 18 - Paul Wade goal setting and motivation presentation

I wish everyone a safe and restful break and look forward to our return on 14 October.

Mr Simon Huntly

This is my last Literacy Links for 2024. Today is my final day for the school year as I begin a term’s Long Service Leave. This is my first long break in forty-eight years of teaching. The question people are asking: ‘What are you going to do?’ And my answer: ‘I am going to write!’ I’m going to sit at my desk each morning and attempt to do what I frequently ask my students to do. 

I plan to write poetry – an activity which brings me joy. I find writing poetry energising. It gives me life. It also brings with it the shadow side of any creative endeavour – doubt and frustration. Poet Mary Oliver suggests that ‘a poem on the page speaks to the listening mind’. Another poet, William Carlos Williams urges readers to ‘Listen… don’t try to work it out. Listen to it. Let it come to you.’ And my favourite poet of all, T.S. Eliot boldly states that a poem ‘refuses to give up all its secrets.’ Regardless of the outcome of this writing project, I plan to remain committed to the task – to keep the appointment!

I’ll leave you with contemporary poet Tracy K. Smith’s depiction of reading a new poem. It is a wonderful account of this very magical experience.

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.

Clare Murphy

English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach

Attention Parents

Future Year 7 2025

The Rainer uniform shop will be open during the September/October School Holidays for all your uniform requirements. Please note the shop will be closed Monday 7 October (Labour Day holiday). Please click on the link regarding bookings for fitting and ordering uniforms for 2025.

Growing Good Men Father & Son Weekend

A weekend experience for fathers and their teenage sons.

One of the most important influences in the lives of men is the relationship they had with their father or significant father figure. The encouragement and affirmation that this relationship could, and should, provide, is a key ingredient for how young men view themselves and embrace their faith and gifts as they take their place in the world.

Growing Good Men is an experientially-based program which encourages and enables fathers and sons to strengthen their relationship and to explore important issues of growing into manhood. It is designed for fathers and their adolescent sons aged 12 to 17 years (school years between 7 and 11).

Enrolments 2024 Onwards

The CEDoW has transitioned to a new online enrolment platform, called Funnel, removing the use of all paper forms. Please take note, particularly for sibling applications. The online application form is accessible from the College website.

  Social Media – Facebook & Instagram

Mount Carmel Facebook and Instagram pages are now live. Please click on the photos below for the link to our pages. We encourage you to like and follow us for information and events. The newsletter will be published every second week commencing Term 2 on the odd weeks.

Coming soon! Watch this space!