Filter Content
- Principal's Report
- From The Assistant Principal
- From the REC
- Learning and Teaching at the College
- From the Pastoral Care and Wellbeing Coordinator
- Christ's Hands on Earth
- Literacy Links
- Congratulations
- CatholicCare National Families Week Webinar Series
- College Sport at Mount Carmel
- Second Hand Uniform Shop
- Mount Carmel Netball Club
Dear parents, friends, staff and students,
This Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Ascension. This is the moment where Jesus “was taken up to heaven: there at the right hand of God, he took His place” (Mark 16: 15–20). The Ascension is a fundamental belief of Christianity and confirms Jesus as God. This reading however, is not just about the divine nature of Jesus, it is also about ministry and action. Before Jesus ascends, He commands His disciples to go out into the world and proclaim the good news. This proclamation is not just about telling others about Jesus or what He did, it is asking the disciples to take Jesus out into the world through their actions and good works. In the Marist tradition, we refer to this as ‘love of work’ and in the Carmelite charism, it is called ‘ministry’. Both of these values underpin what we aim for at Mount Carmel and in order for us to live our values, we must be a people of action who help others.
On Wednesday Peter Hill the Director of Education in the diocese of Wollongong attended the College and spent the day speaking with staff, students and walking around the College. He had the opportunity to meet with the SRC, go into a number of classes, and speak with the students. Mr Hill was able to build a clear contextual picture of Mount Carmel and gained insights into our strengths and challenges. I thank the staff and students for your flexibility in welcoming our visitor and showing him Mount Carmel hospitality.
Last Tuesday evening we held our P&F meeting. The guest speaker was Ms Alison Kripal who presented information on Compass and how parents might use it to enhance communication with the College. Ms Kripal explained the basics of Compass and parents had an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions as to how it may be used more effectively. The discussion was extremely valuable both for parents and the College and has enabled us to take specific suggestions back to the Compass developers. Thank you to the parents who attended the evening and to Ms Kripal on her presentation.
NAPLAN began this week for our Year 7 and 9 students. These assessments add information for our staff to assist in the correct placement and education of our students in their class groupings. Whilst this is only one small piece of the puzzle, the data gained assists us in determining what our students can do well and in which areas they may need further assistance. Thank you to the staff but especially to Ms Maulguet and Mr Grana in particular for their efforts in running this assessment.
Following the Director’s visit, a number of Mount Carmel staff and staff from the Catholic Education Office and neighbouring schools met at Mount Carmel to feedback on the development of the Wollongong Diocese Strategic Plan for 2023 onwards. This is the next step in the process following the survey that parents and staff were asked to complete at the end of last term. The discussion was very open and valuable in helping to establish a clear and consistent direction for education within the diocese moving forward. As this plan is developed, it will be communicated to parents accordingly.
Finally, I would like to remind parents about the importance of students attending school each day and on time in order to achieve their potential. Whilst I understand that good health needs to be maintained and this sometimes requires students to take time off to recover, please remember that each day away from school means that 5 hours of learning are lost or affected. For a student who takes one day per fortnight, by the end of the year, they have lost 100 hours. I am sure we would all acknowledge the difficulty in catching this up. In looking at our attendance data, some students would benefit greatly from more consistent and committed attendance. Please encourage your child to attend whenever possible (taking into consideration COVID directives).
Ite in Veritate
Mr Steve Lo Cascio
Principal
As you would be aware, we have experienced a slight backward step in terms of our COVID restrictions over the past week. These restrictions are a timely reminder that we are still in the grips of the pandemic and that we need to remain flexible in our response to potential changes at short notice. I thank all members of our community for your continued support in this regard, especially over the past week.
Conscious of the fact that our current directives may change at short notice, I share them once again this week, as they appeared in the letter circulated by Mr Lo Cascio last Friday:
- Students over the age of 12 and staff must comply with the Public Health (COVID-19 Mandatory Face Coverings) Order 2021 when travelling to and from school and during school excursions by public transport or by chartered or private transport services. This also applies to all public indoor venues such as retail, theatres, hospitals, aged care facilities and for front-of-house hospitality staff
- Staff and students are not required to wear a face mask while at school. Anyone who wishes to wear their own masks in schools will not be prevented from doing so.
- Wearing a face mask is not mandatory for parents and carers visiting schools.
- Events and gatherings on school sites, such as performances, productions, concerts, speech nights and award presentations are permitted. All attendees, including students, staff and visitors, including parents and carers, must be well and free of any flu-like symptoms. A COVID-19 Safety Plan is required if the event is held indoors with more than 100 external visitors or held outdoors with more than 200 external visitors.
- Singing by audiences is to be avoided. If students are performing in a choir that schools ensure there is a minimum of 5 metres between the choir and audience members. In the case of school masses, an individual who is integral to the conduct of the religious service (this person does not have to wear a mask) is permitted to sing. Singing by congregants at school masses is not permitted.
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
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First Reading Acts 1:1-11
Jesus is taken up to heaven
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Second reading Eph 1:17-23
Live a life worthy of you
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Gospel Mk 16:15-20
Jesus commissions the eleven, ascends to heaven
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14 May – Year 11 Academic Reports available to available to parents (COMPASS)
17 May – NAPLAN
19 May - Year 11 PTS Interviews
18 June – Year 7-10 Academic Reports available to parents (COMPASS)
21 June – Year 7-10 PTS Interviews
24 June - Year 7-10 PTS Interviews
25 June - Year 7-10 PTS Interviews
CURRICULUM MATTERS...
NAPLAN
Monday, May 17 - Year 7 (period 1 - 2), Year 9 (period 3 - 4)
Year 11 2022 Subject Selection
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14 May |
Year 11 2022: Google Classroom page available |
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21 May |
Year 11 2022: Subject Selection Booklet Available Online |
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10 June |
Year 11 2022: Subject Launch |
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10 June |
Year 11 2022: Subject Market Selections Open (4pm) |
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14 June |
Year 11 2022: Eligibility Forms Generated |
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16 June |
Year 11 2022: Information Night (ONLINE) |
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17 June |
Year 11 2022: Subject Market |
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21 June |
Year 11 2022: Eligibility Forms Distributed |
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28 July |
Year 11 2022: Subject Selection Interviews |
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3 September |
Year 11 2022: Successful Subjects distributed to students |
NESA NEWS…
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.
For more information visit:
Ms Judith Tolomeo
Curriculum Coordinator
Good afternoon everyone,
The constantly changing landscape of technology and social media brings with it newer and unique challenges, many of which do not come with a simple users manual. The Federal Government esafety Commissioner’s website is a reliable point of call for any student or family member who may require some information regarding many of the questions that are often raised courtesy of new technologies and services. Questions such as:
- How much screen time should my son or daughter have each day?
- How do I provide a safe and secure Social Media environment for my child?
- What sorts of apps are out there and what do they do?
- What are the laws regarding age of consent for using Social Media apps?
The following links to the esafety Comissioner’s site may assist families with being able to investigate and find answers to some of the issues that may confront families from time to time relating to this matter of cyber safety.
esafety guide to games, apps and social media
Please be reminded that explanations are required within 7 days of an absence as per College, Diocesan and Catholic Education requirements. These explanations can be handwritten notes, emails or responses via Compass. If you have any questions relating to this matter, please contact the College Office or speak to your son/daughter’s Year Coordinator or Pastoral Advisor. Please refer to the attachment below for some information regarding student attendance.
CEDoW Attendance Information for Parents
Elevate Education have a number of webinar events over the coming weeks.
- May 19 - Memory and effective revision. Why rote learning is ineffective and our top strategies for effective revision.
- June 2 - Exam Preparation to ensure students are prepared and confident going into the exam room.
- June 16 - Stress and Wellbeing. How parents can support their child in tougher periods and manage school-related stress.
Mr Simon Huntly
Pastoral Care and Wellbeing Coordinator
We are often reminded of the phrase, act local, think global. As a Christ-centred community, we are challenged to be agents of service, who contribute our time, effort and skills to the improvement of our world. We are blessed with individual skills and capabilities which we can use to uplift our neighbours, and better the world around us. One such way we can foster a sense of community and nurture a culture of service is through initiatives that promote stewardship and care for our Common Home.
The Christ’s Hands On Earth initiative is an ongoing environmental program that is all about putting the responsibility of looking after the environment in our hands. Its name is inspired by St Teresa of Avila’s famous call to action: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.” In this way, we can act local, and think global within our own community. This program involves students moving around the school to pick up any litter and rubbish in order to dispose of it thoughtfully. It is an opportunity to get involved in the life of the College and broaden your own capability and awareness for social justice. We encourage all students to hone in on their capacity for good, and enhance their willingness to undertake servant leadership as followers of Christ.
At present, student engagement has been outstanding, with students from Years 7 to 12 getting involved. It is an exciting opportunity for students to show initiative and demonstrate their leadership skills and appreciation of the wider community. To be good Christians and good citizens, as St Marcellin calls us to be, we must remember that we are Christ’s hands on earth. St Francis’ prayer succinctly captures the beauty and hope that exists as a result of service to others service to others: “Lord make Me an instrument of Your peace / Where there is hatred let me sow love.”
We encourage all students to take part in this opportunity as a way to live out the values of Christian faith. If you are interested in participating, please contact Mr Pletikosa via pletikosai01@dow.catholic.edu.au or speak to Maureen or Philip, the Spirituality Captains!
Gabriel Garcia & Jasmine King
Youth Ministry Leaders
The American poet Mary Oliver suggests that ‘a reader beginning a poem is like someone stepping into a rowboat with a stranger at the oars’. I like this comparison. Something stirs within us when we read a good poem. The experience often enables us to feel, taste, hear, think and see in altered ways. Perhaps it is the compression and intensity of a poem that speaks powerfully to the listening mind. Perhaps it is the pattern on the page with its various line breaks and verse paragraphs which gives visual assistance to the reader seeking to ‘hear’. I think Samuel Taylor Coleridge was right when he described poetry as ‘the best words in the best order’. My advice to students engaging with poetry is to ‘listen’. Don’t try to work it out. Let it come to you. And even then, many poems refuse to give up all their secrets. This inability to be known completely brings the poem alive and invites the reader into the power of mystery and human creativity.
Last week I wrote about the advantages of imitating good writers and the benefit in using their words to create something new. Ms Boss’ Year 12 English class did just that in one of their lessons this week. They are currently studying the work of the Australian poet Robert Gray. I have included two wonderful poems written by students in Ms Boss’ English class. The first is a poem by Jasmin Williams entitled ‘Lost in Light’ and the second poem, ‘Painting of Late Ferry’ is by Abby Luyton.
Lost in Light
Leaving now, I watch from the dark
Beyond the sound of touches on the snare drum.
Beyond the street lights’ fluorescence.
Ceaseless activity.
The plunges of night
Tremble down, nervously
About in the blackness.
To be lost soon
Amongst a blizzard of light,
The city loses sight of the d…
Jasmin Williams
Painting of “Late Ferry”
The wooden brush
From a balcony in the night
Dark water
That ceaseless activity. Uniting and dividing.
Trembles nervously, hands
Drawn along spectacular choreography
The projector’s beam
Beneath the city,
The ferry like tasting honeycomb
Filled with its yellow light.
Abby Luyten
In March of this year, Grace Roodenrys – a member of the Mount Carmel graduating class of 2018 – published a poem which deals with climate grief and hope. I have included this below.
This month I am twenty,
which means that twenty times
I have watched the flowers bloom
on my father’s magnolia tree,
twenty times
I have weathered this miracle
and wondered how many might be left.
When others were younger
the world could have saved itself.
When others were younger
the future must have seemed an endless garden:
beating of wings, babbling water,
a wide, kind, shimmering place.
Still, I wasn’t promised negation.
I was promised freedom –
weren’t you? I was promised life,
was given language, was shown the poem
and pointed to beauty and told
both could achieve so much.
It’s difficult, now, to imagine this.
The poem feels mute
in a world that winces at a mention of itself,
beauty impossible in a century
that has its eyes sealed shut.
In late Winter the magnolias glisten,
they hold the light like something they love,
and I think, I am twenty.
For much longer will I have
a name for hope?
Wasn’t I once trusting,
Wasn’t I once tender,
Wasn’t I once promised so much more than this.
Perhaps parents, teachers and students could select key words from Grace’s poem and create a new one. If you’d like to share your poem with me, please do so.
Mrs Clare Murphy
English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach
It is great to see one of our students being honoured with such a great opportunity, we wish Larissa all the best and success for her future.
To celebrate National Families Week CatholicCare is running a five-part webinar series to celebrate family and make the most out of family life. Each webinar will have a different focus.
Family Resilience
Understand what a resilient person and family looks like, and how you can build resilience within yourself and your family.
Family Values
Understand what values are and why they are important. By identifying our family values we can better understand and connect.
Family Connection
With our lives so busy we can struggle to keep connections within our family, learn why connection is important and how to sustain or build family connections
Family Self-Care
Learn why self-care is so important and how looking after ourselves, has a flow-on effect on the whole family.
Family Mindfulness
Learn what mindfulness is and the benefits it provides, not just for ourselves, but also the benefit it has on our family.
See the link here to register: https://dowcatholic.
Recreational Sport
This week is the final week before midterm rotations of sport activities occur. Students are to continue monitoring the sport schedule for key changes and information relating to their sport.
MISA Sport
This week we were fortunate that the rain held off long enough (just) for MISA games to take place. Students are reminded that although the College provides uniforms for most sports, this uniform must be returned to their coach before they leave the venue. Students are not to take items home with them unless specifically directed to do so by the Sports Coordinator.
Round 3 MISA Results
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Sport |
Division |
Gender |
Versing |
Score |
Result |
MVP |
|
Basketball |
Years 7-9 |
Girls |
St Benedict’s |
41-12 |
Win |
Bianca Basile |
|
Indoor Cricket |
Years 10-12 |
Girls |
St Benedict’s |
77-28 |
Loss |
Mikayla Magro |
|
Netball |
Years 11-12 |
Girls |
St Benedict’s |
12-8 |
Loss |
Tamzyn Wagstaff |
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Soccer |
Years 10-12 |
Girls |
St Benedict’s |
7-0 |
Win |
Jade Constance |
|
Ultimate Frisbee |
Years 7-9 |
Mixed |
St Benedict’s |
12-2 |
Win |
Hudson Warren |
|
Rugby League |
Division 1 |
Senior |
Freeman Catholic College |
22-0 |
Win |
Isaiah Anamani |
|
Basketball |
Years 7-9 |
Boys |
St Benedict’s |
50-42 |
Win |
Rory McDougal |
|
Soccer |
Years 11-12 |
Boys |
St Benedict’s |
2-2 |
Draw |
Michael Binny |
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Softball |
Years 10-12 |
Boys |
St Benedict’s |
10-0 |
Loss |
Aryan Krishnan and Lachlan Calderbank |
|
Hockey |
Years 7-9 |
Boys |
St Benedict’s |
6-0 |
Loss |
Nathan Williams |
Round 4 MISA Draw
|
Gender |
Sport |
Versing |
Meeting Time |
Meeting Location |
Location |
|
GIRLS |
7-9 Girls Basketball |
Macarthur Adventist College |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Minto Basketball Stadium |
|
11/12 Girls Netball |
Macarthur Adventist College |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Coronation Park, Minto |
|
|
10-12 Girls Soccer |
Bye |
1:05PM |
Oval steps |
Kooringa Reserve, Raby |
|
|
10-12 Girls Indoor Cricket |
Bye |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
National Indoor Sports, Campbelltown |
|
|
Mixed |
7-9 Mixed Frisbee |
Bye |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Victoria Park, Minto |
|
BOYS |
Senior Rugby League |
John Therry |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Liverpool Catholic Club |
|
7-9 Boys Basketball |
Macarthur Adventist College |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Minto Basketball Stadium |
|
|
11/12 Boys Soccer |
Macarthur Adventist College |
1:05PM |
Oval steps |
Kooringa Reserve, Raby |
|
|
10-12 Boys Softball |
Macarthur Adventist College |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Cowpasture Reserve, Camden |
|
|
7-9 Boys Hockey |
Macarthur Adventist College |
12:40PM |
Outside the sports office |
Macarthur Regional Hockey Complex, Narellan |
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Congratulations to Monique Jakovljevic who finished 1st place at the Diocesan Cross Country event. We wish Monique the best of luck as she prepares for the NSWCCC event. |
 |
College Athletics Carnival
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When |
21 May 2021 (Week 5) |
|
Where |
Campbelltown Athletics Centre, Leumeah |
|
Who |
This is a whole school event and all students are expected to attend. |
|
Transport |
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. |
|
Notes |
A soft-copy note has been pinned to the Compass dashboard for students and parents to view. Only those students who require transports are to collect and return a hard copy of the note. |
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/
For the most up to date information regarding NSWCCC events follow CSNSW Sport on social media:
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 8 May 2021
14B's defeated Lyrebirds 39 - 17
14A's defeated by St Johns 19 - 23
15's defeated East 38 - 31
Grad B's defeated by Glenquarie 14 - 33
Division 8 defeated Macquarie Fields 28 - 27
Division 6 won by forfeit