Term 2 Week 6

Dear Parent/Carer 

'I still have many things to say to you, but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth….'

John 16: 12-15 

Pentecost is such a special time within the Liturgical calendar.  It is when we are challenged to consider OUR mission as we journey through life.  John Henry NEWMAN writes, 'God has created me to do some definite service.  God has committed some work in me which He has not committed to another.  I have my mission; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.' I hope that Pentecost reinforces our mission and our responsibility to connect with others through respect and dignity in us. 

Exams

I wish all our secondary students (Years 7-10) best wishes for their examination period.  It is an opportunity to demonstrate to teachers what has been understood across the semester.  I hope students take the time to talk with family about these assessments, what was asked of them and how they responded.

I look forward to seeing academic growth, hopefully from many of our students. 

College Life

This week I travelled to Lismore to celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education and was accompanied by Sarah Costa and Jorja Donnelly, two Year 11 students.  It was a fantastic day, and I thank these girls who represented the College community so well. I also acknowledge our Football (soccer) teams, boys and girls, who played incredibly well last week, along with our Opens Basketball team and Cross Country squad. The student's team spirit, willingness to compete and give their best, and sportsmanship were on display and greatly appreciated. 

Last week, we enjoyed a Year 12 Morning Tea to honour our students and their teachers' work over the previous few months.  We are now over the halfway point and continue to encourage our students to 'make every minute count', ask their teachers for assistance as required, and continue to give their very best.  Our Year 12, 2021 is an impressive collection of young adults we can be very proud of.

Kind regards

Mr David JOHNS   B.Ed., Cert. Gifted Ed., Grad. Cert. Adol. Health and Welfare, M.Ed. (Ed Lead), M.Ed. (Theol) 

College Principal

david.johns@lism.catholic.edu.au

Uniform

I want to congratulate most students turning up each day in the correct uniform, but I have noticed that some students need to work on parts of the College uniform.  I encourage all students to have a note if they cannot comply with the uniform policy.  All notes from parents/guardians need to have a date when they can rectify the issue.  I encourage any parents /guardians to contact your child’s Pastoral Care teacher or Mrs Belinda Mainey, Leader of Welfare, if there are any needs regarding uniform. 

Consent – Have the Conversation

Consent is all About Communication!

As a Catholic school, we recognise our duties and responsibilities as educators and the growing concerns of the community in this area.  We believe that each person is made in the image and likeness of God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, religion or ethnicity.

Kids Helpline is an excellent resource to start the conversation at home with your teenagers.  Please visit the website if you would like to learn more https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/what-consent

Mrs Bronwyn Shipton - Assistant Principal - Mission and Wellbeing

Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

This Sunday is the feast of the Most Holy Trinity.  The Trinity is one of the most fundamental and most unusual concepts in Christianity that God is three-in-one; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This short video helps to unpack and explain a bit of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. 

Street Retreat – Year 11

In Week 9 of this term, we will be sending two Year 11 students to Brisbane for Street Retreat.  Maxwell Winn and Sienna Moore, accompanied by Mr David Johns, will join students from other parish secondary schools in attending this powerful discipleship experience.  This retreat will form, equip and empower these students to return to their parish communities with a passion for social justice and a greater sense of the call of Jesus Christ to serve the poor. 

We wish them all the best for this exciting experience and look forward to hearing about their experiences on their return.                                                               

Ignite Conference

The Ignite Conference returns in 2021 after a break last year, and we super excited about it!  The theme for this year’s conference is “Unleash”, and we launched this as a College at our whole school assembly this week. 

The Catholic Schools Office will be organising a trip, open to students from Years 7-12.  The CSO will subsidise the journey to make it more affordable and accessible.  Student participants will be asked to make a co-contribution of $245.00.  This cost will contribute to travel, accommodation, registration and most meals and is the equivalent of the registration fee alone. 

To secure your registration for IGNITE, students will need to collect a form from the front office and return it by Tuesday, 15 June.  Please include $245.00 (non-refundable) payment with permission note and return to the school office. Registration as a group will be completed once an idea of numbers is known. 

Further details on the conference are below:

Shine Conference – Years 9 and 10

Another wonderful experience that returns to the calendar this year, is the Shine Conference.  Shine will be held at St John Paul College in Coffs Harbour on Thursday, 12 – Friday, 13 August.  It unites Youth Ministry students in Secondary schools of the Diocese of Lismore.  The program is offered to Year 9 and 10 students, allowing those with a willingness to nurture their faith, an opportunity for Christian fellowship and spiritual formation in peer to peer youth ministry.  Year 9 and 10 Youth Ministry students and members of the Senior Ministry team will also attend Shine.  They have received permission forms for their Youth Ministry Class teacher. Please ensure that these permission slips are returned by the due date.

This two-day event combines elements of praise and worship, inspiring keynote speakers, student testimonies, small group discussions, interactive workshops, prayer, Eucharistic Adoration and Mass.  A feature of the gathering is peer-to-peer ministry.  We welcome all Senior Ministry Team members to apply for roles; small group leaders, testimony and workshop facilitators. 

Year 10 Retreat

We are close to finalising details about the Year 10 retreat.  More information will be available very soon.

Our Parishes

We are blessed to be supported by two wonderful parish communities here at St Paul’s College.  I would invite and encourage you to have a look at their respective websites (by clicking on the links below) to find out about ways to connect with parish life, including to find out Mass times: 

• Macleay Valley Catholic Parish
• Nambucca Valley Catholic Parish 

Please contact me at the College if you have any ideas or suggestions about Ministry and Evangelisation at St Paul’s.

Peace and blessings

Mr Dominic MacAndrews - Leader of School Evangelisation

dominic.macandrews@lism.catholic.edu.au

Do it for Dolly Foundation

Friday, May 14, saw the College join together with the nation in raising awareness for the Do it for Dolly Foundation. 

The students participated in a thirty-minute pastoral lesson on the preceding Wednesday, which focused on brainstorming the term ‘Kindness’.  They were asked to consider what they had done and what we potentially can do to ensure they are spreading kindness to others.

We posed questions and led discussions of how kind words can impact others and contemplated how what we say changes how people feel. 

We demonstrated the kindness ripple effect using people and scenarios, then finishing by formulating a kindness calendar that acts as a visual reminder; small daily acts of kindness can be incorporated into our daily lives.

Examples of daily activities could include:

• Contact someone who cannot be with you and see how they are
• Offer to help someone who is facing difficulties at the moment
• Make a gift for someone homeless or feeling lonely
• Support a charity, cause or campaign you care about
• Be generous. Feed someone today with good, love or kindness
• Contact an elderly neighbour and brighten up their day
• Leave a positive message for someone to fine 

The students were reminded by an email, of the processes we have in place to report bullying.  

On Friday, we assembled as a College community on the oval.  With blue helium balloons in hand, a group photo and drone footage were taken and uploaded to the Do It for Dolly Foundation’s website showing our support.  Our College community well received the event and students felt justifiably proud they supported, understood and acknowledged the importance of spreading kindness. 

I invite parents and guardians who feel that their child may be the target of bullying behaviours, to contact me at the College on 6562 7200 or by email at belinda.mainey@lism.catholic.edu.au.

Mrs Belinda Mainey - Leader of Welfare & Pastoral Care

Catholic Faith in Action

Earlier this term, students in the Year 11 Catholic Faith in Action, visited The Kindergarten as part of their course.  Our students spent time interacting with the pre-school children drawing and playing.  We are grateful to the staff at The Kindergarten for their involvement with our College 

Catholic Faith in Action is a new course at St Paul’s College.  This course is characterised by faith learning within the reality of the students’ lives by providing a flexible, enriching program based on Catholic teachings and encouraging the students to take positive action in the world. 

Teachers of the Catholic Faith in Action are Mrs Single and Mrs Winters.  They have been developing the resources and programming for this course with the support of the Lismore Catholic School Office.

Mr Ron Walker - Leader of Catechesis

Class Placements at St Paul’s College Semester 2, 2021

One of the most vibrant discussions I have been involved with during 2021, has been the St Paul’s College policy regarding placement of students within classes.  This year, there has been a very positive discussion regarding student placement in classes at St Paul’s.  My understanding of the College’s policy has been to use data to place students within a streamed class in their Year 7 cohort.  This group has been reviewed during each Semester to consider changes based on academic achievement completed in Year 10. 

Current Research

To consider the impact of streaming in schools, the following assumptions have been tested within academic research.  Students with similar current achievement levels are grouped together either for specific lessons regularly (regrouping or regrouping) or as a whole class (streaming or tracking).  The assumption is that it will be possible to teach more effectively or more efficiently with a narrower range of achievement in a class.  There is a strong streaming culture in schools in Australia, even though it is detrimental to student achievement.  In 2021, within the Diocese of Lismore, very few secondary schools have streamed classes. 

Research suggests that teachers generally prefer streaming because it presumably allows for a greater level of targeted teaching.  Overall, however, streaming appears to have a negative impact on the academic outcomes of all students.  Equity is another issue that concerns streaming.  Students’ social backgrounds are directly linked to how their academic results are affected by streaming – the lower the SES, the greater the negative impact on students.  The vast majority of the literature on streaming within Australia focuses on mathematics and top-performing students and often misses its negative effects on lower-performing students and minority groups.

Semester 2 at St Paul’s and Beyond

The consideration of class placement generally refers to students in Years 7-10.  Our students are currently undertaking assessment to complete the Semester 1 assessment suite.  The Semester 1 data will allow our staff to consider student improvement, which we believe to be the key statistical measurement tool at our College.  Is our data demonstrating improvement in learning?  If not, why not, and what is the plan? 

Class placement for students within Year 7-10 classes will be based on the following criteria for Semester 2: 

• Semester 1 results within the St Paul’s cohort leading to a clear academic profile of each student.
• The degree of academic improvement of each student within the cohort.
• The accessibility of learning within the classroom for each student based on the well-being of the individual.

Class Placement Ongoing at St Paul’s

Academic research does not support streamed classes in schools however, the most important matter at St Paul’s is context.  Our aim is to consider the academic merits of each student and place them in classes that best suit their needs- both academically, social, pastoral.  During Years 7 and 8, St Paul’s will pour over individual academic data to build an individual profile.  Our goal is to make our learnings accessible to parents/students as early as possible to work together for the best result.  Thereafter in Years 9-12, we have a benchmark to evaluate against.  We place students within classes that best allows them to access learning and review their achievement for Years 9 and 10. We can provide clear advice on Maths and English pathways based on their growth in Years 7 and 8 and begin the planning in Year 9 for the HSC years.  The academic growth of each student is paramount at our College.  I am always available to speak to students/parents regarding these matters.

Mr Geoffrey Melville - Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching

Mindset

We are continuing from previous newsletters around how and why developing a growth mindset is so important.  The language we use at school and home influences significantly what students think about school and what they can achieve.  The following diagram gives some excellent examples about how to change your words to change your mind.  It is so important that we model this type of language in front of our children.

Mrs Lesa Morrison - Leader of Pedagogy

Write4Fun

The English faculty always finds ways for students to shine their light.  When Evangelina Gately wrote a splendid short story for her creative writing, she was asked to enter a competition.

“Last year, I was given the opportunity by Mrs Haaring to have one of my stories submitted into a writing competition. The original 1500-word story was reduced to a 500-word story by me throughout the Christmas Holidays.  I had to remove certain scenes and dialogue, but it was all worth it.  In the end, I received a letter from the organisation stating that they wanted to publish my story.  A lot of hard work and dedication went towards this story, so I hope for the best.”

Mrs Jessy Haaring - English Teacher

Overdues

Thank you to all students and parents who have made an effort to return overdue books recently, especially textbooks from last year.  However, we still have a few outstanding.  Before we issue any notices for replacing non-returned books, could I urge parents to please have a quick check for any texts at home in the coming days If found, please have your child return them promptly. 

If you receive an overdue notice in the coming weeks and have already completed a thorough check for the missing item, please do not hesitate to contact the library by email or phone so we can act on the overdue resource.  Your support in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Preloved Books

The response from the College community for donations of quality reading material to exchange, has been a little slow but has started.  If you have any suitable, reasonable quality books to share, we are always happy to take them and get our little exchange corner growing. 

China Display

Year 7 are currently studying China.  To make accessing Library resources on this topic easier, we have set up a China book display.  Books include both fiction (biographies included) and non-fiction resources.  If you have any Year 7 students attending the College, feel free to encourage them to come and view the library display and borrow any they find interesting.

SORA

is the Lismore Diocesan, e-book app.  We are lucky to have access to this free lending service and encourage students to log in and check out the vast variety of books available.  SORA is an excellent supplementary source of reading material when a paperback edition is not available in our library.  Instructions on how to download, or view on the web, are in the link below.  It would be great if parents can encourage their child to explore SORA, particularly Year 7 students, who may never have studied e-books.  If there are any issues with installation or using this app, students are very welcome to come and talk to library staff.

We are looking forward to watching our SORA statistics soar!

Mrs Patrice Martin & Mrs Cathy Whalen - Library Technicians

Over the past few weeks, St Paul's students have participated in various sports, with many teams experiencing success in their respective codes. 

Football (soccer)

Our Bill Turner teams have had the privilege of playing their games on our College oval over the past two weeks. Our boys Bill Turner Cup team were successful in their first two matches against Melville high school and Port High; however, MacKillop proved to be too strong, and our boys went down in a high scoring match.

The girls have tasted more success, winning all three of their games so far, with their last being a nail-biting finish against St Joseph's Regional.  It was nil-all until halfway through the second half when our girls put one into the back of the net.  Regional was quick to respond, squaring the score back up. It was not until the last two minutes of the game that we slotted one from a corner, bringing the final score to 2-1.  Good luck to the girls in the next round of the competition.

Basketball

On Wednesday, 17 May, a small group of students travelled to Coffs Harbour Sportz Stadium to compete at the Opens Basketball.  It was an early start for these students; however, their determination and energy did not lack.  The team knew they would have to work hard playing against St John's College Woodlawn, Mount St Patrick College and Xavier Catholic College.  Assistant Coach Mr Kurt Nemme ensured they did not go down without a fight.  Unfortunately, these teams were too strong, and we missed out on a win.  Player's Player was awarded to Daniel Druhan for his exceptional performance across the day.

For the past few weeks, the girls had been training hard with Mr Crowley to gain some skill, confidence and learn the rules of how to play basketball.  For some of these students, they had never played before.  With only one sub, each player struggled but still gave it their all.  As a team, they set a goal to get in the 'double digit' figures.  The girls played Mount St Patrick College and St John's College Woodlawn twice, with only three teams in their division.  The double figures came twice, with Jessica Terrasson sinking multiple three-pointers and being awarded Player's player.

All students should be proud of their efforts and participation and a big thank you to Mr Angus Crowley for all his hard work and dedication.  

Cross Country

Our cross country team got up bright and early on Friday to travel to Grafton to compete in the Lismore Diocesan Cross Country Championships.  The track at Grafton is always challenging; the hills are long and the terrain unforgiving.  Congratulations to all students who participated, and a special mention to those who placed in the top six in their age category.  These students will now travel to Eastern Creek in Sydney and compete at the NSWCCC Cross Country Carnival, representing the Lismore Diocese.

• Keelan Brian – first U16 year boys
• Ruby Trappel –second U15's girls
• Imogen Ward –fourth U15's girls
• Cleo Schubert –fourth U13's girls

Students Representing the College

• Drew Lancaster – successful in his Rugby Union trial and will now play for the NSWCCC team.
• Ava Ryan – Successful in her trial for the Open Girl's Football (soccer) team and will travel to Sydney to compete against other Diocese in the NSWCCC Football championships.

Good luck to both of these students; the St Paul's community wishes you all the best in your sports.

Mr Heath Needs - Sports Co-ordinator