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Dear parents, friends, staff and students,
This Sunday’s Gospel (John 15: 9-17) is in many ways considered one of the simplest and most important teachings of Jesus Christ. It is sometimes referred to as ‘the new commandment’ and is simply stated as “love one another as I have loved you”. The love reflected in this gospel is total and complete. It is a love that is completely self-sacrificing and one where the value and the needs of another are placed ahead of one’s own needs. Jesus confirms this by going on to say “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends.” This love that Jesus talks about is the love of God for us, and we are reminded that we are created from this love. It is apt then that this year, this reading falls on Mothers’ day. For many of us, our mothers reflect the genuine simplicity of God’s love for us. It too is complete and total and is reflected in the sacrifices that are made for us day after day. On behalf of children everywhere, I wish all our mothers a very happy Mother’s Day.
Last Friday and Saturday, a number of our Year 12 students attended the Marist forum via zoom. The zoom allowed the students to participate with Marist students from across the state and develop their understanding of Marist values and discuss how these might be put into practice. The feedback from the organisers around our students was very positive. Thank you to the students who were involved and to Mr Pletikosa who organised and attended with them.
On Wednesday Peter Hill the Director of Education in the diocese of Wollongong will be visiting Mount Carmel to spend the day meeting with staff and students and getting to know who we are and what we do. This visit is an opportunity for us to showcase the great things that are happening and the wonderful community that exists. I encourage any students who may see Mr Hill around to make him feel welcome.
Over the last week I have received a number of emails from members of the public praising the way that our students have offered to help when they were not required to. There will be detail on these in the Assistant Principal report, however I would like to thank those students who go out of their way to help others and to you, their parents, who are the primary educators and reinforce this as important.
From next Tuesday, an EFTPOS machine will be available in the College canteen. We have been trialling this in the La Valla CAFÉ for senior students and it has proven very popular. This will make purchasing food easier as students and parents will not need to find cash to purchase food. Cash will also still be accepted in the canteen.
Next Tuesday May 11, we will be holding our next P&F meeting. This is held in room I3 (at the front of the College near the La Valla Centre) and starts at 7pm. This meeting’s guest speaker will be Ms Alison Kripal our Administration and Compass Coordinator. She will be presenting information on Compass and how parents might use it to enhance communication with the College. Following a request at the last meeting, we will trial running this as a zoom. Should you wish to access the meeting via zoom, please use the ID: 92049635279 and passcode: 980535. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Ite in Veritate
Mr Steve Lo Cascio
Principal
Over the past few weeks, staff at Mount Carmel have been meeting with families who have applied to join our College as members of our Year 7 2022 cohort. These meetings are very affirming experiences as families discuss the reasons why they want their child to attend Mt Carmel, often drawing on the reputation that the College has in the broader community.
Further to this, I take the opportunity to thank and acknowledge a significant number of students who continue to work towards building this reputation in our broader community. In the past week, we have received a number of emails from members of the public who had noticed Mt Carmel students living the values that we espouse in their local community. One of these emails was for a simple act of chivalry where a young man politely offered his spot on the train to an adult traveller who was so taken back by his manners that she felt the need to contact the College. Another report came after a student in Year 9 had taken it upon himself to pick up rubbish that had been scattered across the Leumeah skatepark, just as employed council workers had arrived to complete the same job. A third case was brought to our attention that acknowledged a student who has single handedly raised thousands of dollars for a local McDonald’s House charity. I congratulate and sincerely thank these students, and the many whose efforts go unnoticed, for all that you do in support of the reputation that the College enjoys in our local area.
Finally, and particularly given the events of the past week, a reminder regarding our ongoing COVID19 recording procedures for all families, which include:
- Keeping your child home when they are unwell, even with very mild symptoms.
- Informing the school immediately if your child is self-isolating or undergoing.
- testing, and informing us of the result as soon as possible.
- Following sickness with flu-like symptoms, ensuring your child is free of symptoms and can present a negative COVID-19 test, before they return to school.
All the best for the week ahead,
David Cloran
Assistant Principal
- 12th – 13th May – NAPLAN
- 14th May – Yr 11 Academic Reports available to available to parents (COMPASS)
- 17th May – NAPLAN
- 19th May - Yr 11 PTS Interviews
- 18th June – Yr 7-10 Academic Reports available to parents (COMPASS)
- 21st June – Yr 7-10 PTS Interviews
- 24th June - Yr 7-10 PTS Interviews
- 25th June - Yr 7-10 PTS Interviews
CURRICULUM MATTERS...
NAPLAN
Wednesday, May 12 - Year 7
Thursday, May 13 - Year 9
Monday, May 17 - Year 7 (period 1 - 2), Year 9 (period 3 - 4)
Year 11 2022 Subject Selection
10th June – Subject Selection Launch
16th June – Subject Selection information available online for parents and Year 10 students to view
17th June – Subject Market (Periods 1-4)
21st June – Eligibility forms distributed to Year 10 students
28th July – Subject Selection Interviews
3rd September – 2022 Subject Choices distributed to Year 10 students
NESA NEWS…
A new NSW school curriculum
The NSW Government Response (PDF, 629KB) to the NSW Curriculum Review outlines an ambitious program for streamlining and strengthening what is taught in our schools over the next four years.
The reforms include:
- building strong foundations for future learning by 2022 with new English and Mathematics syllabuses for Kindergarten to Year 2
- more time for teaching by 2022 by reducing the hours teachers spend on extra-curricular topics and issues and compliance requirements
- strengthening post school pathways by 2022 with new learning areas for Years 11 and 12 that clearly link learning to future employment and study options
- a new curriculum from 2024 with new syllabuses focused on what is essential to know and do in early and middle years of schooling, and key learning areas in the senior years.
For more information visit:
https://nswcurriculumreform.nesa.nsw.edu.au/home/homePageContent/view
Ms Judith Tolomeo
Curriculum Coordinator
Good afternoon everyone,
Year group meetings were conducted earlier today and again a variety of issues were addressed with respect to student wellbeing and learning. An overview of the various focus areas are listed below:
- Years 7 and 8 - Bullying and Harassment, Cyber Safety and Vaping presentation by Senior Constable Allan Clapham, School Police Liaison Officer at Campbelltown PAC.
- Year 9 - NAPLAN preparation and Pastoral Class activities.
- Year 10 - NESA Information presentation by Ms Tolomeo.
- Year 11 - Careers Pathways and post-school planning presentation by Ms James
- Year 12 - Part 2 of “Health and Wellbeing during the HSC”. A presentation by Ms Moore and the senior pastoral team, with a particular focus on Motivation, Procrastination and Resilience.
Elevate Education commenced their series of free seminars last week. For those who missed this presentation on Time Management, you can access it by clicking on the following link Elevate: Time Management. Upcoming webinars and a link to register are outlined below.
- May 19th - Memory and effective revision. Why rote learning is ineffective and our top strategies for effective revision.
- June 2nd - Exam Preparation to ensure students are prepared and confident going into the exam room.
- June 16th - Stress and Wellbeing. How parents can support their child in tougher periods and manage school-related stress.
You can register by clicking here.
The webinar is run live online from 7pm – 8pm (AEST) where the presenter will share Elevates research findings and skills, and will conduct a live Q&A so you can ask them questions directly.
Should you have questions or would like to contact Elevate directly, their details are listed below.
1300 667 945
Mr Simon Huntly
Pastoral Care and Wellbeing Coordinator
If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others:
read a lot and write a lot.
Stephen King
Last week’s article emphasised the benefits of expressive writing with a particular focus on journal writing. This week I would like to suggest ways for reluctant writers to use the writing of others to generate ideas and to compose new texts. Many of our finest writers imitate the writing of others. They frame, cite and recycle words and phrases to enable creativity to flourish. In English we call this very important and useful writing technique, intertextuality.
One writing strategy I find particularly useful is to encourage students to keep a reading journal where they can record ‘magic grabs’ from the novels or poems they are reading. I do this myself and find the rereading of these entries exceptionally helpful as prompts for my own writing.
Another effective strategy incorporated in English classes – from Year 7 through to Year 12 – is the copying out of sections of good writing. This action of copying another writer’s words without making any alterations, seems refreshingly counter-intuitive. Yet, students’ responses to this exercise invariably suggest that it is a powerful and enjoyable reading and writing experience. Some students report that they become acutely aware of the text’s language and formal features, while others comment on the mindfulness activated by a concentration on forming the words of another. It can sometimes be a challenge for young people to slow down and read a small section of text with intense focus, and to observe a text’s stylistic features in ways that enrich their understanding of the way words work. Our students are not always resilient, careful and persistent readers. This activity of writing out another’s composition – using pen and paper – engages them in both active reading and creative writing.
An additional activity might see students highlight key words or phrases from the copied text. These words or phrases may have caught their attention for a number of different reasons. They may be new to them or have a distinctive ‘sound’. They may capture an emotion, trigger a memory or simply resonate in some way. When students then rewrite the highlighted text in a particular form, a new text has been created. Their text. This writing-via-reading activity is an excellent strategy to promote writing confidence and competence. It demonstrates that deep reading enables writing and writing can be a way of enabling deep reading.
Year 12 are currently studying poetry as part of their HSC English course. The Advanced class are exploring the poetry of T.S. Eliot – my favourite poet. In one particular lesson I asked the students to copy out the following section of Eliot’s poem ‘East Coker’. Students were then invited to highlight key words and phrases and to use these to create their own poem. I have included both Eliot’s text along with an example of a Year 12 student’s composition.
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be light, and the stillness the dancing.
T.S. Eliot
Be still
and wait.
Faith and hope and love
are there - in the waiting.
Darkness shall be light
Stillness
the dancing.
Year 12 English student
I also asked a Year 7 English class to do the same with the poem ‘African Beggar’ by Raymond Tong. The text is included below and is followed in italics by a Year 7 student’s creation.
Sprawled in the dust outside the Syrian store,
a target for small children, dogs and flies,
a heap of verminous rags and matted hair,
he watches us with cunning, reptile eyes,
his noseless, smallpoxed face creased in a sneer.
Sometimes he shows his yellow stumps of teeth
and whines for alms, perceiving that we bear
the curse of pity; a grotesque mask of death,
with hands like claws about his begging-bowl.
But often he is lying all alone
within the shadow of a crumbling wall,
lost in the trackless jungle of his pain,
clutching the pitiless red earth in vain
and whimpering like a stricken animal.
Sprawled in the dust,
a target for dogs and flies,
with cunning reptile eyes
he watches.
And whines.
A grotesque mask of death
Alone.
In pain and
Whimpering,
like a stricken animal.
Year 7 English student
Mrs Clare Murphy
English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach
Recreational Sport
Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favour this week which resulted in outdoor sports being cancelled including MISA. Students are reminded to ensure that they carefully check their Compass schedule as well as the Sport Schedule to ensure that they are attending the location and at the correct time. All students attending gym groups including F45, Fernwood, Live Well Gym, Aerial Arts and UFC Gym must have a small sweat towel in order to participate in their activities.
MISA Sport
This week marked Round2 of MISA sport. Unfortunately, all outdoor sport groups were cancelled due to the wet weather. MISA Basketball and MISA Indoor Cricket however took place.
Round 2 MISA Results
|
Sport |
Division |
Gender |
Versing |
Score |
Result |
MVP |
|
Basketball |
Years 7-9 |
Girls |
St Pat’s |
31-10 |
Loss |
Charlise Zabat (Wk 1 and Wk 2 MVP) |
|
Indoor Cricket |
Years 10-12 |
Girls |
St Pat’s |
74-15 |
Loss |
Paula Zaballero |
Round 3 MISA Draw
|
Gender |
Sport |
Versing |
Meeting Time |
Meeting Location |
Location |
|
GIRLS |
7-9 Girls Basketball |
St Bene’s |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Minto Basketball Stadium |
|
11/12 Girls Netball |
St Bene’s |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Coronation Park, Minto |
|
10-12 Girls Soccer |
St Bene’s |
1:05PM |
Oval steps |
Kooringa Reserve, Raby |
|
|
10-12 Girls Indoor Cricket |
St Bene’s |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
National Indoor Sports, Campbelltown |
|
|
Mixed |
7-9 Mixed Frisbee |
St Bene’s |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Victoria Park, Minto |
|
BOYS |
Senior Rugby League |
All Saints |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Liverpool Catholic Club |
|
7-9 Boys Basketball |
St Bene’s |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Kooringa Reserve / College grounds |
|
|
11/12 Boys Soccer |
St Bene’s |
1:05PM |
Oval steps |
||
|
10-12 Boys Softball |
St Bene’s |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
||
|
7-9 Boys Hockey |
St Bene’s |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Diocesan Open Football (Girls)
On Friday 23rd April out Open Girls football team travelling to Woonona to compete in the Wollongong Diocesan Football Event. The level of skill was high, the spirit of the day was exceptional, with good hard football coupled with respect between all teams. The team started the day strong with a 1-0 win against St Joseph’s. After a strong performance, the team were then up against Holy Spirit who defeated Mt Carmel 2-0. This resulted in the team being placed 4th in their pool. The students conducted themselves well on the day and should be proud of their efforts. Thank you to Ms Toogood and Ms Jeffreys who coached our students on the day. Your guidance and leadership is appreciated. Thank you also to our linesmen on the day James D’Angelo of Year 11 and Michael Bzdega of Year 10 who were also commended by staff and players for their conduct.
A further congratulations is extended to Jade Constance of Year 12 who was selected into the Wollongong Diocese team on the day of the event. Jade will represent the Diocese at the NSWCCC event.
The team consisted of: Julina Barisic, Giselle Byrne, Monique Cassaniti, Merryn Clarke, Jade Constance, Aaliyah Gallagher, Doris Kristo, Jorja Lewis, Serena Locke, Charmaine Marquinez, Mikaela Molina, Adrianna Naine, Annabelle Peeters, Ranya Rawal, Zoe Wahhab and Stephanie Wearne.
Diocesan Cross Country
On Monday 26th April, we had many students attend the Dioceasn Cross Country Event. To be eligible to attend this event, students needed to place in the top 6 of their age group (top 3 for 17+) at the school carnival at the end of Term 2. The weather conditions were perfect, the students' participation, behaviour and spirit displayed at this event was great and all represented their school to a high standard.
On the day we had a number of students who placed in the top 6 of their age group (top 3 for 17+). These students will now progress to the NSWCCC Cross Country event held in June. This is an outstanding achievement as students are competing against other competitive runners from a number of schools and the Nowra cross country course certainly is quite challenging with rough terrain and inclines.
Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding results on the day:
 |
 |
 |
|
Isla Clarke 13 years girls 6th place |
Charmaine Marquinez 18+ girls 6th place |
Jayden Kurniawan 12 years boys 6th place |
 |
 |
|
|
Daniel Lill 14 years boys Multiclass |
Matthew Galvin 17 years boys 2nd place |
|
|
Blake Waugh 17 years boys 3rd place |
Campbell Cox-Barlow 15 years boys 6th place |
Southern Country Rugby League
Isaiah Anamani, Tristyn Ball and Connor O’Sullivan were selected to attend the CCC Southern Country Rugby League trials held in Wagga Wagga on Tuesday 28th April as representatives of the Diocese of Wollongong. Congratulations to all students for their performance and participation in this event however an extended congratulations to Tristyn Ball (Year 12) and Isaiah Anamani (Year 12) who have been selected to represent CCC Southern Country Rugby League at the State Trials which will be held in St Marys on Wednesday 19th - Friday 21st May. We wish the boys all the best of luck in these events.
NSWCCC Netball and Basketball Trial
Congratulations to Janita-Leota Brown (Year 9, netball) and Nathaniel Calvelo (Year 12, basketball) who attended the CCC trial for their respective sports. Both students were shortlisted into the possibles and probables on the day of the trial narrowingly missing selection into the team. Given the number of participants trialling at each event, being shortlisted to possibles and probables remains an excellent achievement. Well done to these students.
College Athletics Carnival
|
When |
21st May 2021 (Week 5) |
|
Where |
Campbelltown Athletics Centre, Leumeah |
|
Who |
This is a whole school event and all students are expected to attend. |
Students will be receiving an information letter this week that outlines key details of the event. This is a whole school event and all students are expected to attend. Students are encouraged to make their own way to and from the venue however buses will be available from the College for those students who require transport.
NSWCCC Sport Registrations
A reminder that students and their parents are responsible for monitoring the closing dates of NSWCCC Sport Registrations. Information regarding upcoming events can be accessed via https://csnsw.sport/events
NSWCCC is a pathway suitable for students playing a representative level of their sport outside of school. For instructions on how to register go to - https://csnsw.sport/help/help-guide-for-parents
NSWCCC Sport Registrations 2021:
- Individual Registrations for the following sports to attend a NSWCCC Selection - AFL, Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Diving, Golf, Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Softball, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Water Polo
- Registrations for the following sports is through a Diocesan/Association Selection - Athletics, Cross Country, Football, Swimming, Touch, Rugby League
Representative Pathways
- MISA Website https://www.misaonline.org.au/
- Diocesan Sport News - Updates and news on Wollongong Diocese sport events and trials can be viewed at https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/sport/diocesan-sport-news/?ref=quicklinks
- NSWCCC/CSNSW Sport News - Higher level MacKillop and CCC trials and events status can be monitored at https://csnsw.sport/news
- SCHOOL SPORT AUSTRALIA SPORT NEWS
More School Sport Australia information can be found at
http://www.schoolsportaustralia.edu.au/
Miss Sarah Bowen
(Acting College Sport Coordinator - bowens01@dow.catholic.edu.au)
The Second Hand Uniform Shop is open on the following days.
Term 2 2021
- 7 June - 2.30pm - 4pm
Cash only - no EFTPOS facilities.
Results 1 May 2021
14B’s defeated by Glenquarie 10 - 27
14A’s defeated by Cobras 9 – 49
15’s defeated by CDNA 22 - 42
Grad B’s had a bye
Division 8 defeated Austral 26 - 21
Division 6 defeated by East 31 – 42