Weekly Reflection

St Lawrence of Brindisi Feast Day – 21 July

Later this week, we celebrate the feast of St Lawrence of Brindisi.

One of our eight houses to be introduced at the College in 2023 is Lawrence House, named after St Lawrence.

When he was quite young, he joined the Capuchins at Verona, taking the name Lawrence. He pursued higher studies in theology, philosophy, the bible, Greek, Hebrew, and several other languages at the University of Padua.

Lawrence was ordained and began to preach with great effect in Northern Italy. In 1602, he was elected Vicar General of the Capuchins.

He was sent to Spain by the emperor to persuade Philip III to join the Catholic League, and while there, founded a Capuchin house in Madrid. He was then sent as papal nuncio to the court of Maximillian of Bavaria, served as peacemaker in several royal disputes, and in 1618, retired from worldly affairs to the friary at Caserta.

Later Lawrence was sent again to Spain to ask King Philip to recall a Duke to avert an uprising. The trip in the sweltering heat of summer exhausted him, and he died a few days after his meeting with the king on 22 July. His feast day is 21 July.

Almighty God,

for the glory of Your Name and the salvation of souls,

You conferred upon St Lawrence, the spirits of counsel and fortitude.

Grant us, in the same Spirit, to know what we are to do,

and through his prayers, to do what we have come to know.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen

Shaun Coates

Director of Catholic Identity

From the Principal

Transition to our new College name

From January 2023, Catholic Regional College will undergo an official name change to St Francis Catholic College. Our staff have developed a new logo and school uniform to complement the new name.

Our new logo tells the story of St Francis of Assisi and our College, while pointing toward our future development.

The shield at the base of the logo symbolises St Francis’ early years as a soldier.

As a fighter in the crusades, Francis’ zeal for the campaigns speaks of his devotion to the Christian cause. After being captured and held captive for two years, Francis underwent a change of heart.

The next symbol on our logo is the Tau cross - a sign of conversion. After his capture and imprisonment for two years, St Francis no longer wished to pursue military life and instead dedicated himself to Christ. This Tau cross is a Franciscan symbol he used as his personal signature. For Francis, conversion implied a turning toward God and turning to one’s brothers and sisters.

The thinner black cross connects us to our current logo and is a reminder of the rich history of the past 42 years.

The Franciscan belt hung on the cross speaks to the Franciscan order established by St Francis. The three knots symbolise the trinity to which Francis was so devoted.

Underneath the shield, the book of the gospels is represented. Purposefully placed below the shield and open, the book of the gospels underpins all that we do at the College. The Gospels are our base and foundation. The book is open, symbolising the lived experience that St Francis Catholic College students will encounter.

As the patron saint of ecology, St Francis had a deep affection for flora and fauna and all of God’s creation. We include the symbol of the Eucalyptus Macrocarpa or grey box native to the western parts of Melbourne. With a small forest protected and managed since 1988 between Melton and Eynesbury, the symbol connects the College to the local area. It reminds us of our obligation to care for our environment.

Our new logo has a powerful narrative that will be unpacked for students in the coming years.

The rich symbolism and deep messages will help our students understand the core values of the Catholic education they receive at St Francis Catholic College.

You can watch all the elements of our logo come together in the animation below.

COVID-19 update

Staffing remains very tight once again in Term 3 with COVID-19 and the flu having a big impact. Every effort will be made to keep all year levels operating throughout the term.

Rapid antigen testing

The Victorian Government will provide up to three further deliveries of rapid antigen tests to schools in Term 3 and again in Term 4.

It is recommended that tests are used by students and staff when symptomatic. Household contacts of positive cases are required to test negative using a rapid antigen test on at least 5 out of 7 days if they are attending or working at a school on-site.

If staff or students test positive to COVID at any time, they must report this online to the Victorian Department of Health at  www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au or via the Coronavirus hotline on 1800 675 398.

Parents and guardians are also asked to report their child’s positive result to the College office on 8099 6000 as soon as possible. If this occurs on the weekend, please email principal@sfcc.vic.edu.au.

Reporting your child’s positive result to us will ensure we support them, record they are absent while in seven-day isolation, and enable us to let the rest of the school community know there has been a positive case on-site and to monitor for symptoms.

Students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, completed their seven-day isolation period, and are subsequently asymptomatic do not need to undergo surveillance testing for four weeks.

Face masks

Current advice from the Victorian Government on the wearing of face masks is available here: www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/face-masks

It states: “Wearing a face mask can help protect you and those around you. Face masks stop droplets spreading when you talk, cough, sneeze and laugh, which lowers your chance of spreading or catching the virus. This information is especially important for those who are medically at risk. The advice also strongly recommends the wearing of face masks in indoor settings (noting that exceptions to the recommendation apply to teaching circumstances when clear enunciation or visibility of the mouth is essential)”.

All parents and guardians were emailed information today regarding a request for students to wear face masks while indoors at school. Your support with this request is greatly appreciated and will help keep our community safe.

Marlene Jorgensen

Principal

Looking Ahead

Dates to remember
Thursday 21 JulyYear 12 2023 Parent Information Night - 7pm
Wednesday 27 July

College Tour - 9am

Parents and Friends meeting
Wednesday 10 AugustCollege Tour - 9am
Friday 26 AugustStaff Service Day/Student study at home day


From the Deputy Principal Learning and Teaching

On Monday and Tuesday last week our teaching and learning support staff completed professional learning focusing on both student wellbeing and learning and teaching.

The two-day workshop, titled the Power of Words, consisted of external presenters and internal workshops.

Judy Jacks from MACS addressed Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Kirstin Bourne from Inform Education addressed Disciplinary Literacy. Kirstin is also a consultant to MACS and works with us on our Year 8 Project, the MACS Secondary Schools Disciplinary Literacy Project.

Our internal workshops focused on differentiation in the classroom. We aim to support all students including those with an EAL background, diverse learning needs and those with high ability. Teachers and learning support staff have increased their toolbox of differentiation strategies and are now working towards embedding these into their classroom practice.

Subject selection

Year 9, 10 and 11 students attended the College’s Subject and Pathway Expo today (Tuesday 19 July). Domain Leaders, supported by students currently studying subjects offered at the College, were available to answer questions. We look forward to further discussion around subject, elective and pathway choices. A parent information session for current Year 9 students ran last Tuesday to begin the process of pathway selection for Year 10 2023.

Our Year 10 students and families will gather in Sheehan Stadium this evening to consider pathway options for Year 11 2023 while Year 11 students and families will take part in their information night on Thursday 21 July. Year level coordinators have emailed information to all families about these events.

Family interviews for Year 10 students (regarding Year 11 2023) will be held on Wednesday 27 July to support students in their pathway and subject selection. Your child’s semester report is a great place to begin a discussion with them on strengths, passions and areas of interest and gives valuable insight into suitable pathways and suitable subjects to undertake in 2023.

Click here to view the College's 2023 Subject Selection Guide

Programme for International Student Assessment

Our school is participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) on Monday 1 August. Families will receive notification via email if their child has been selected to participate in the test. 

The assessment will not appear on your child’s report but students are asked to complete the test to the best of their ability.

Data is used to establish an international understanding of the country’s performance against global parameters in education. More information is available below.

PISA 2022

From the Deputy Principal Student Wellbeing

Our staff professional learning days last week provided wonderful opportunity to collaborate and further develop our knowledge of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

SEL is the process for developing thinking, feeling and positive behaviours to cope with everyday life, making good choices, being responsible in a social context and being a part of an effective learning environment. We focused on how SEL can be integrated into our class to support our students.

SEL also links in with our Core Wellbeing Values of Empathy, Community and Endeavour. We ask our students to think of others, be active members of the school community and strive to achieve their personal best.

We also conducted workshops for staff to develop specific areas in wellbeing, looking at the process of mandatory reporting, the new house structure, the qualities of a House Mentor, student leadership and student voice and strategies for teaching students with diverse learning needs in the classroom. 

The workshops developed staff expertise in those areas, which will continue to be reinforced and explored throughout the course of this semester.

Arriving at school on time

Our timetable has been changed his term. Period 1 is now at the beginning of the day followed by Homeroom immediately afterwards.

It is essential that your child arrives at school on time to prepare for the day and ensure they do not miss any part of their first lesson.

Resilience Project

The final part of the Resilience Project’s digital series for parents and guardians shares an important message about allowing children to experience adversity.

The key to building resilience in children is allowing them to experience failure, hardship, disappointment etc. Parents can sometimes be too quick to resolve their children’s challenges which can deprive our children of enormous growth opportunities. These typically happen when we experience failure and uncertainty. As parents we should be there for our children when they fail, but not fight their battles for them.

View Part 5 of the series here

Thank you for participating in this Parent and Carer Digital Presentation series. You can re-watch the videos and access activities and resources anytime via the Parent & Carer Hub.

You can also stay up to date with The Resilience Project news and events by signing up to their Newsletter.

Cheryl Bullen

Deputy Principal Student Wellbeing - Melton Campus

Parents and Friends Meeting

The next meeting of the Parents and Friends Association will be held on Wednesday 27 July.

The meeting will be held on-site in the conference room, but you can also join us online via Teams. New members are always welcome.

Please contact me via email arowley@crcemelton.com.au for the Teams link. You will automatically be sent the new link if you joined the last meeting.

Amy Rowley

Director of Community Relations

Eynesbury Bus Timetable

Italian Poetry Competition results

Congratulations to Year 8 student Nicole Bertsias who won first prize in the Centre of Italian Studies (CIS) Junior Italian Poetry Competition.

Nicole won the Year 8, Non-Italian section of the competition for her recital of the poem Acqua Acqua by Roberto Piumini.

The bi-annual Italian poetry competition is divided into two categories: the Italian section (for students who speak Italian at home and are exposed to the language and culture) and the non-Italian section (for students who do not speak Italian at home and are not exposed to the language or culture).

Well done to all our students who entered the competition and achieved the following certificates:

Certificato di Lode

Year 7 Non-Italian

Kiana Barnett, Paige Cauchi, Molly Downie (special mention), Romy Hossni (special mention), Archie Lock, Dekota McKinley (special mention), Isabella Sestoso, Bella Waters

Year 8 Non-Italian

Hannah Dalumpines (special mention), Martina Matti Ishak, Temilola Olaitan

Certificato di Merito

Year 7 Non- Italian

Lily Botticelli, Xander Hawes, Lily Montebello, Chloe Mosqueda, Josh Patel

Year 8 Non-Italian

Apanda [Martha] Poundak

Certificato di Partecipazione

Year 7 Non-Italian

Ekam Bawa, Samuel Bonnici, Lexie Bugeja, Amelia Burke, Apajok Duot, Freya Fox, Mikayla Gilford, Isabella Paddon, Jason Okolo, Viliami Vaitohi

Year 8 Non-Italian

Oliver Dreaver, Shelby Luckett, Victoria Solomon, Lou Yeoman

Claudia Russo

Languages Domain Leader

Musical Soiree

Our Instrumental Music Voice students presented polished performances to family and friends in the Performing Arts Centre last night.

Each student performed a solo item they had prepared in Semester 1. The audience was also treated to an ensemble performance, during which all students combined with a number of soloists.

The evening closed with a duet from the musical Chess performed by Year 12 students, Haley Spence and Heidi Pardinas.

Congratulations to all students whose performances were exceptional and a huge thank you to Ms Rachael Findaly our voice tutor.

It was tremendous to again offer students performance opportunities following a difficult two years. Voice lessons are available through the College. If you are interested, please email me at daskew@sfcc.vic.edu.au.

Dan Askew

Arts Domain Leader

Meeting for 2023 Italy Trip

All current Year 9 and 10 students are welcome to apply for the 2023 Italy trip, which will run in November next year.

A meeting for interested families will be held at the College on Thursday 28 July at 7pm.

A tentative itinerary will be presented, along with indicative costs and the expectations of students.

There will be time for questions and staff taking part in the trip will attend on the night.

Please fill out the form below to let us know if you will attend the information session.

https://forms.office.com/r/e46vpztx7a

If you have any questions, please email me at piannazzo@sfcc.vic.edu.au

Paul Iannazzo

eLearning Coordinator

Sports Update

Last Wednesday 13 July, Year 9 students took part in their first SACCSS Premier League games of the season.

Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, this cohort has missed the opportunity to represent the College to date so it was with great excitement that students headed Cobblebank Stadium, McPherson Park, and Arnolds Creek Reserve.

All teams showed great sportsmanship and teamwork throughout their games. They all have a bye for rounds 2 and 3, so the competition will recommence on Wednesday 3 of August.

The results from last week’s games are as follows:

Girls Basketball: Marymede Catholic College (MCC) def CRC 42-20

Boys Basketball: CRC def MCC 55-38

Netball: CRC def Penola Catholic College (PCC) 24-8

Girls Soccer: PCC def CRC 12-0

Boys Soccer: PCC def CRC 9-1

Girls Volleyball: MCC def CRC 3-1

Boys Volleyball: BYE

AFL: PCC def CRC 72-38

Ella Higgins

Sports Assistant

VTAC Online Information Seminars

Students, parents and guardians can now book in for VTAC’s information webinars.

There are two types of presentations on offer:

Applying for courses in 2023: provides an overview of the entire application process, including researching courses, creating a VTAC account, preferences, results and offers. It also includes an overview of SEAS and scholarships.

Understanding special consideration (SEAS) and scholarships: provides detailed information about applying for SEAS and scholarships.

In addition, there will be a dedicated interstate student session on 28 July, and a webinar in conjunction with the CEAV on 10 August as listed below.

Date

Time

Topic

1 August

6pm

Applying for courses in 2023

Register

2 August

6pm

Understanding special consideration (SEAS) and scholarships

Register

3 August

4pm

Applying for courses in 2023

Register

4 August

4pm

Understanding special consideration (SEAS) and scholarships

Register

8 August

5pm

Applying for courses in 2023

Register

9 August

5pm

Understanding special consideration (SEAS) and scholarships

Register

10 August

3.30pm

In conjunction with the CEAV – Guide to applying for tertiary study in Victoria

Register

10 August

6pm

Applying for courses in 2023

Register

11 August

6pm

Understanding special consideration (SEAS) and scholarships

Register

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data

Each year, all schools across Australia are asked to provide information about students with a disability who receive extra assistance.

This requires all teaching staff to record any adjustments to learning they have made for students who have diverse learning needs.

The data collected helps ensure all students have equitable access to the curriculum and enjoy successful learning outcomes.

More information is available below.

NCCD information sheet for parents

Community Notices

Venturers scouting group seeking new members

Venturers is a great opportunity for 14 to 17-year-olds to make lifelong friendships, learn valuable life skills, create amazing memories and have a great time doing it.

The Djerriwarrh Venturer Unit meets at 7pm on Wednesdays, at Bacchus Marsh Scout Hall.

For more information please contact Katelynn Condon via email krcondon112783@gmail.com or phone 0448 350 961.

Darley Junior Football Netball Club


Goal mentoring program


Eynesbury Discovery Centre

Looking to learn something new? The Eynesbury Discovery Centre has a range of programs and workshops running in Term 3. You will find their newsletter and all the options below.

Eynesbury Discovery Centre Newsletter Term 3 2022 | Social Crafting | Art 4 Kids | Green Gals | Greeting Card Workshop | Spend Well for Teens Term 2 School Holiday Workshop | That's Not Rubbish Term 2 School Holiday Workshop


Melton Central Community Centre

Melton Central Community Centre Term 3 2022 Programs and Activities Guide


Western Bulldogs Youth Leadership Project

Useful Links

Keep up to date with College events, procedures, resources and information via the links below.

PAM – Parent Portal

Subject Selection Guide 2023

Parent Handbook

Enrolment

Cobblebank Campus

Facebook

Instagram

Policies

Uniform

Library

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