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Dear Parents, Friends, Staff and Students of Mount Carmel,
On Wednesday, the Catholic church celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March - nine months before Christmas). This was the moment that the Angel of the Lord appeared before Mary to ask her if she would be prepared to give birth to Jesus Christ, the Saviour. Mary agreed and with that simple confirmation, she changed the history of the world and enabled the salvation of humankind. The reason that this feast is so important is that it highlights the free choice that Mary made and reinforces that even a simple person can have an enormous impact on others. Mary’s “yes” reflected a conscious decision to accept the will of God even when it might bring hard times and difficulties. This does not mean that we simply give up and allow fate to take its course. On the contrary, it is about us making decisions and sticking by them. Over the next few months, we will be challenged by events in our lives and communities to make our own decisions. In making these, we need to consider what is the path that God wants us to take in order to make our world a better place and then follow this path to a brighter future.
As you would all obviously be aware, following statements by the Premier, the College has been open but parents have been encouraged to keep their children at home. This has been an important step in slowing the impact of the Coronavirus whilst enabling people in essential services to continue to provide these for the wider community. The numbers of students attending the College has declined sharply as the week progressed. As the directive currently stands, at this point in time, the advice has not changed, The College is still open, but parents are encouraged where possible to keep your children at home. In order to achieve this balance, the College has moved to online delivery of classes. In most cases, this has involved teachers setting up lessons on Google (Classrooms, sites and docs) and running Zoom or videoed lessons. These will continue into the future. Please look again over the tip sheet sent earlier this week to assist your child in remote learning. A copy of this is included later in the newsletter.
As a result that many students and parents will now be isolated from the Mount Carmel Catholic College community, we will now have a number of new sections in the newsletter to keep you updated. These will be authored by our College Leadership Team (CLT) and will include notices, tips and suggestions. Please contact your teacher, Year Coordinators, KLA Coordinators or the CLT should you have any questions, comments or suggestions.
Finally, I would like to formally and deeply thank our staff for the work they have undertaken over the past week and into the foreseeable future. We are now moving into a rotation of them on and offsite to continue to set and deliver lessons in a remote way. This will ensure that there is adequate supervision for the children who continue to attend the College and also ensure their own safety as the wider community begins to shut down. Please do not underestimate the enormous work that these staff (both teaching and support) are doing in order to provide online lessons. In many cases, this is a more difficult process in the extreme and entails much greater time and a much higher level skill set. The staff have upskilled in an extremely short period of time. They are doing this with a genuine interest in the learning and well-being of your children and in an attempt to give them the best of opportunities. Please take the time to email them your thanks as they race into a whole new way of thinking and teaching.
Ite in Veritate
Mr Steve Lo Cascio
Principal
My thanks is extended to the many students and parents for your support and understanding as we navigate through the challenges we have faced of late. I am particularly appreciative of the many parents who have clearly been working so closely with their sons and daughters as we enter into this new, almost exclusively online, method of lesson delivery. From the outset this week, I encourage all parents to continue checking in on your child’s progress. Most classes have now set up their own learning environment (quite often via Google Classroom) and parents should be able to easily track and monitor their child’s progress via this application.
As everyone would be aware by now, the current situation has required us to cancel any anticipated calendared events such as excursions, sporting events, carnivals etc. Earlier this week, these cancellations extended to the Year 7 immunisation program as well. Once we receive an indication as to when schools will resume their normal function, each of these events will be reconsidered and a decision will be made with regards to whether they will run again later in the year, or be officially cancelled for 2020. I think you all for your patience as we deal with yet another unknown in this unique situation.
Mr David Cloran
Fifth Sunday in Lent - March 29 2020
1st Reading Ezekial 37:12-12 The Lord promises to raise his people from the dead.
2nd Reading Romans 8:8-11 The spirit of the God dwells in us
Gospel John 11:1-45 Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead
With masses not occurring, you may have missed an opportunity to engage with the Gospel of the day. This week it is about Lazarus. Please enjoy a reflection by Greg Sunter.
Gospel Reflection
The third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent in Year A feature significant passages from the gospel of John. The first of the three readings was the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, to whom Jesus described himself as Living Water. The second was the healing of the blind man and Jesus declaring himself to be the Light of the World. In today’s passage about the death and raising of Lazarus, Jesus declares, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ Living Water; Light of the World; and the Resurrection and the Life – three important images of Jesus that all emerge from the gospel of John. Each of the events relate to Jesus’ response to some physical need: thirst; blindness; and death. However, in each case, Jesus not only responds to the physical need but also reveals a truth about himself that leads people to belief.
The raising of Lazarus marks a turning point in the gospel of John. Chapter 11 concludes with the Jewish authorities plotting to arrest Jesus and then Chapter 12 begins the final week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem. The significance of this episode is highlighted by the disciples who question Jesus about the wisdom of going back to Judea when the people there had wanted to stone Jesus to death. In going to save the life of his friend, Lazarus, Jesus knows that he is journeying towards his own death. In fact, the end of Chapter 11 makes clear that it is some of the witnesses to the raising of Lazarus who go and complain to the authorities and precipitate the action against Jesus. In the gospel of John, it is the episode with Lazarus that effectively signs Jesus’ death warrant. The gospel makes clear that Jesus gives up his own life so that Lazarus may live.
Mrs Christine Meharg
Good afternoon everyone,
Despite the significant change to our regular pattern of school attendance and learning over the past week, I would like to reassure all members of our wonderful community that despite the geographical separation that has occurred, Mount Carmel is still functioning with the learning, care and wellbeing of our students still at the centre of everything that we do.
With respect to Pastoral Care and Wellbeing, there are a few key points that I would like to outline.
- The role of the Pastoral Advisors and Year Coordinators are still significant with regards to meeting the Pastoral needs of every student. If you have a concern with how your son or daughter is coping with the day to day concerns associated with online learning, the COVID-19 situation, or ongoing issues around time management, anxiety, peer relationships, goal setting or general wellbeing, please do not hesitate to follow the normal lines of communication. If in doubt, contact the Front Office.
- The Pastoral team will be checking in with students on a regular basis over the coming weeks. This will involve a video message from Year Coordinators of a Monday morning, a Wednesday whole school update from myself and Friday check-ins with Pastoral Advisors during the time that is normally allocated for Assemblies. These may take the form of emails, Google Classrooms or Zoom conferences. Friday’s assembly time will also be partly dedicated to the delivery of key aspects of our Wellbeing program such as growth mindset, goal setting, careers planning, managing relationships, daily organisation, managing anxiety, cyber safety and the like. The specifics will be dependent upon the particular needs of the year group.
- Catholic Care counselling staff will still be present on site at this particular point in time. If there is a need for access to the counselling staff, please contact their respective Year Coordinator or myself and an arrangement can be made for a consultation.
- COVID-19 updates. Along with communications from the Catholic Education Office or Mr Lo Cascio, additional information from the Federal or State Governments or other associated agencies that may provide additional support to families and students during this time will be shared as they arise.
In the meantime, thanks to all families and carers for their support over the past week as we have transitioned to off-site learning. There is no user’s manual for this event and we certainly don’t profess to have all the answers to the many questions that may arise over the coming weeks. If you have any concerns regarding the wellbeing of your child please be in touch. Here are a couple of simple tips that may help over the short-term as we adjust to a different way of doing things.
BE MINDFUL OF YOUR WELLBEING
Ensure that you have a well ventilated and well-lit workspace.
Go outside during breaks and make sure you move away from your screen.
If you feel overly anxious, speak to a family member, email your teacher, Pastoral Advisor or Year Coordinator or phone:
▪ eheadspace - 1800 650 890, 9am-1am AEST, 7 days
▪ Kids Helpline - 1800 51800
▪ Lifeline - 13 1114.
COVID-19: Department of Health Links
Mr Simon Huntly
Learning and Teaching at the College…
Lessons will be available on google classrooms prior to the start of scheduled lessons and they will provide scope, depth and engagement for all students in the class / course, including resources and extension activities. All lessons will have clear instructions and provide clear student expectations in regards to time frames, submission of work, feedback etc.
ZOOM will be used as a platform for digital interaction with students, particularly in the Senior School. Students will be expected to participate in all organised interactions.
"Homework" will not be given on top of the lessons that are shared with students. Work set should be able to be completed within the scheduled time frame e.g. 50min lesson. Additional activities / extension work / pre reading etc may be set as "optional / additional" work.
Advice from NESA for HSC students:
Wherever possible, school-based assessment will continue to be:
based on a wide range of syllabus outcome
- based on multiple measures made throughout the HSC course
- informed by the components identified in the assessment and reporting documents for each of the syllabuses
- be inclusive of and accessible for all students
The College will:
- continue to implement assessment policies where possible, including administrative arrangements for illness/misadventure and substitute tasks.
- continue to ensure that students have adequate written notice of any changes to the school’s assessment program or policy, and students are aware of the details of the school’s arrangements for illness/misadventure and substitute tasks.
YEAR 12 Students:
Keep learning, do your assessments, make progress on your major projects.
- Look after yourself, whether you are at school or at home.
- Reach out to family, friends and your teachers if you need to.
- Go to UAC COVID-19 updatesfor information about entering university in 2021.
Ms Judith Tolomeo
This is an unprecedented time as for the first time we use a digital platform as the primary mode of delivering curriculum to students remotely. Each week I will discuss some of the key features of Information Communication Learning Technology (ICLT) and how it will form part of remote teaching and learning. The main platforms that will be used will be Google Classroom, Zoom and Compass. But more importantly for this week, as part of this, there are some key points we need to remember to keep our community safe whilst they are participating in their daily routine of learning.
Balance - Even though all work will be communicated digitally, it is important that students do not spend all day on their devices. Taking some time between lessons to go outside, do some exercise, drink water, have something to eat are all essential to maintaining focus on learning and good mental health.
Safety - Ensure when possible that you have some means of supervision of your child whilst they are using their device. Despite the social distancing and the restrictions that have been put in place by the government, the online dangers that exist are still a threat and can even be amplified due to excessive use and lack of socialisation. It is important to communicate with your children about important issues such as cyberbullying, online predators and inappropriate use of social media.
Focus - The temptation to be distracted by our devices including youtube, gaming and social media can all be detrimental to the completion of learning tasks.
Routine - Try to establish a routine. In addition to the normal daily rituals of getting up, eating breakfast, having lunch etc, set up learning spaces where your child’s device is used for learning such as a desk or table compared to the lounge which creates more of a social, relaxed vibe and is poor for posture.
If you have any questions, concerns or are in need of support during this time, please feel free to contact myself on teumad01@dow.catholic.edu.au
Mr David Teuma
- In India, over 70 million people live on less than US$1.90 per day.*
Sakun lives in a village in central north India. She developed polio as a child and has difficulty walking. Until now Sakun, an indigenous Gond woman, has been isolated in her community, unable to earn a livelihood and without knowledge of government schemes that could help her.
In 2018, Sakun joined a Caritas Australia-funded program which is implemented by Caritas India and its local partner, Samarthan. With your help Sakun now earns her own income and makes a small profit which goes towards her family’s basic needs. She is more resilient, more confident and more independent. Watch a short film about Sakun’s story. Let’s Go Further, Together! Please support Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au
*Source: https://worldpoverty.io/
Let’s Go Further, Together! Please support the Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au
Opening days for Term 1, 2020
- Monday 6 April - 2.30pm - 4pm
- Monday 4 May - 2.30pm - 4pm
Please note that there are no EFTPOS facilities. Cash or cheques only.
Opening Hours for remainder of Term 1
30 March, Monday 8.00 am – 12.00 pm
1 April, Wednesday 12.30pm – 4:30 pm
** Please order online before visiting store to collect. Delivery also available.
What if I am unsure of size needed? Purchase your best estimate online. Exchange for free instore if required (Unworn items only).
School holidays and Term 2 arrangements will be updated on our webpage once determined.
Click & Collect – Online ordering
Visit ranier.com.au. Registration requires the exact student name and student number to be entered. The school password (mtcar2566) is also required to register. Email Ranier at custservice@ranier.com.au for any problems registering.