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School Reception: Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm
Phone: (03) 8099 6000
Email:info@sfcc.vic.edu.au
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Father,
Sometimes I feel bewildered by the world.
I don’t understand how there can be such richness beside such poverty.
Help me to be generous and thoughtful of others.
I feel upset when I hear others cruel words or see hatred or prejudice.
Help me to be loving and accepting of all I meet.
Sometimes I feel down about the pressure on young people to succeed.
Lord, in this confusing world, help me to look to you and stay hopeful and happy.
Amen
It is estimated there are more than 40 million people in slavery in our world today and most of them are in the Asia Pacific region.
“Human trafficking and similar forms of exploitation affect every country on earth. They flourish because of society’s greed for cheap goods and services and because it is so easy to forget that those who meet these needs are human beings with their own innate God-given dignity.” Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL, Bishop of Parramatta.
Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) has prepared a 10-minute prayer for the World Day Against the Trafficking in Persons on Thursday.
ACRATH invites all of us to join a Zoom prayer session at 12pm for those who work to eliminate human trafficking. Simply click on the Zoom link below to take part.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83965877041
Meeting ID: 839 6587 7041
Director of Catholic Identity
Last week our virtual assembly saw the launch of the 2021 College Musical.
It was a fun launch to be part of and showcased the talents of many of our staff. I particularly support the opportunity provided by this production to involve a large number of our students in a variety of roles.
This inclusion, whether on stage or working behind the scenes, will see a large proportion of our students come together to produce a wonderful theatrical event. I look forward to watching the talents of our students in 2021.
With the introduction of compulsory masks last week, it was fantastic to see the high level of compliance by our students.
This demonstrates the maturity and civic responsibility of our students and speaks volumes about the young people who make up our senior cohort in 2020.
I had the opportunity to share morning tea with a number of our senior leaders last week. What struck me was the positivity, energy and clarity of purpose of these young men and women. We are fortunate to have them as our student leaders in 2020.
We have again seen excellent attendance rates by our Year 7-10 students with the commencement of Distance Learning Mode 2.0 (DLM) last week.
Year level | Attendance |
Year 7 | 90.87% |
| Year 8 | 92.74% |
Year 9 | 93.90% |
| Year 10 | 91.80% |
These figures indicate that students have once again engaged with teachers via DLM. Remember that as parents, you are not required to teach your children. However, supporting their learning by helping them organise their day, encouraging them to strive and persist and providing a suitable learning space will ensure these high attendance rates continue.
This Thursday 30 July is the United Nations International Day of Friendship.
Our world faces many challenges, crises and forces of division — such as poverty, violence, and human rights abuses — among many others — that undermine peace, security, development and social harmony among the world’s peoples.
To confront those crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms — the simplest of which is friendship.
To read more follow this link: https://www.un.org/en/observances/friendship-day
Although we are physically distanced, I encourage you this week to reach out to offer support and encouragement to your friends in this time of the pandemic.
Next Monday 3 August will be a student-free day to give all year levels a break from their screens after a busy start to DLM and three weeks of on-site learning for our senior students. I encourage students to use the downtime to re-energise for the weeks of learning ahead.
As we move into our second week of Distance Learning Mode (DLM) for Year 7 to 10 students and the third week for our VCE and VCAL students at the College, our teachers continue to provide engaging, creative and challenging lessons.
Our student attendance for the first week of DLM was high and the students are to be congratulated on moving through this transition responsibly.
Mr Dan Kelly, our Health and Physical Education Domain Leader provides some useful information in this week’s newsletter to help students and parents focus on staying fit and healthy.
Our Domain Leaders have worked with the teaching teams to modify and flip curriculum allowing topics taught in Semester One to reflect distance learning topics. This applies to subjects and electives that run for one semester.
Our Year 9 (Year 10 2021) students, parents and guardians will receive information on 2021 subjects, electives and pathways over the next two weeks.
Students will have an information session this Thursday and families will take part in a Subject and Pathway Presentation on Wednesday 5 August from 7 to 8pm via Teams.
This night will cover the many choices available to students as they move into their senior years of schooling. The subject selection process will be explained at both presentations.
This Wednesday 29 July our Year 10 (Year 11 2021) subject selection interviews take place with students, parents and guardians via Teams.
This invaluable conversation will help guide students in selecting the right subjects and pathway to achieve success. Please contact Year 10 Level Coordinator Ms Rebecca Cassar if you have any questions about the night.
May we all learn together as we navigate another interesting and newly challenging term.
Elevate Education is an award-winning organisation that has been working with the College across all year levels to help our students become more effective learners. We realise that in these uncertain times, students are increasingly working independently at home. How effectively they revise and prepare is key to their success in the next few months.
In the past Elevate Education has run a variety of workshops for our students. Next Tuesday 4 August they will offer a webinar for parents focussing on motivation, goal setting and overcoming adversity. The webinar is relevant to children in all year levels.
The Elevate Education – Motivation Webinar is free and runs for one hour from 6pm.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT
The pandemic has raised new parenting challenges for everyone. Children and teenagers have experienced disruptions to daily life and increased worries about their safety and that of their family and friends.
As we progress through our second week of online learning for Year 7 to 10, it is a timely reminder to be aware and monitor what your child is doing online.
A landmark eSafety Report on Internet use by Australians during the pandemic found parents were twice as likely to feel overloaded with information and three times more stressed than people without children in the house.
Here are some tips to get involved with your child’s online world as suggested by the eSafety Commissioner.
Another valuable resource, funded by the Victorian Government, is the Triple P program.
This is a parenting program that doesn’t tell you how to be a parent. It’s more like a toolbox of ideas. You choose the strategies you need. You choose the way you want to use them. It’s all about making Triple P work for you.
The three Ps in Triple P stand for Positive Parenting Program and can help you:
New Department of Education and Training (DET) resources for parents and guardians are now available. You can follow the links below.
Wellbeing activities and conversation starters – primary
Wellbeing activities and conversation starters – secondary
Managing screen time, health and wellbeing.
DET and Melbourne Football Club have developed a new series of wellbeing videos. Featuring both AFL and AFLW players, the videos provide students with tips on resilience, managing stress and anxiety, gratitude and staying active.
Our Year 9 students will focus on relationships during their Term 3 Rite Journey activities.
This involves reflecting on and discussing the different types of relationships they have with others and the roles they play in them.
Students have begun considering the important relationships in their lives – family, friends, acquaintances and romantic relationships – and identifying how these have influenced a range of aspects about them: their beliefs, values, how they treat others, how they communicate, how they feel about themselves, and the expectations in certain relationships.
The focus for this term is timely given that Thursday 30 July is International Friendship Day.
Steve Biddulph, a writer and parent educator, identifies that many of us, but especially young men, wear different masks for the different social relationships we have.
According to Steve it is common for young men to wear a social mask:
“Usually in his mid-teens, confronted with the problem of ‘becoming a man’, a boy tries on several of the standard masks on offer – hard worker, good bloke, cool guy, tough guy, sensitive guy, joker. He decides which one will work best in his social world of family, school and the street.”
Although more common with males, this can happen for all of us.
Students have created masks to reflect a relationship or the role they play in a relationship. They were asked to use words, symbols, images, quotes, to represent this. Below are some examples of their work.
An updated, online diary will make it easier for Year 7 to 10 students to keep track of their physical activity during Distance Learning Mode (DLM).
As we come to grips with the second round of Stage 3 restrictions and wearing masks, the thought of staying at home for prolonged periods can pose a significant challenge to our physical and mental health.
Sedentary behaviour and low levels of physical activity can have adverse effects on your health, wellbeing, and quality of life.
With this in mind, the Health and Physical Education (HPE) team at the College have updated the physical activity diary to make it easier to complete.
As part of the Health and Physical Education online course, all Year 7 to 10 students will receive a digital version of a physical activity diary and are encouraged to complete at least 30 minutes every day.
Time will also be allocated during all Physical Education classes to allow students to have a screen break and be active.
The team is working hard to motivate students with various physical challenges and mindfulness techniques to help them maintain their physical, mental, emotional and social health.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, or a combination of both.
These recommendations can still be achieved even at home, without special equipment and with limited space. Below are some tips on how to keep active and reduce sedentary behaviour.
Take short active breaks
Short bouts of physical activity that are 10 minutes in duration can quickly add up to the weekly recommendations. Dancing, playing games and performing domestic chores such as cleaning and gardening are just some of the many ways to stay active at home.
Join an online exercise class
Take advantage of the wealth of online exercise classes. Many of these are free and are on YouTube as well as on your child’s HPE Teams app. If you have no experience performing these exercises, be cautious and aware of your limitations and modify practices to suit your fitness level.
Walk
Even in small spaces, walking around or walking on the spot, can help you remain active. If you have a class, stand or walk around your home while you speak, instead of sitting down. If you decide to go outside to walk or exercise, be sure to maintain at least a 1.5-metre distance from other people and don’t forget your mask.
Stand up
Reduce the time you sit by standing up whenever possible. Ideally, aim to interrupt sitting time every 30 minutes. Consider setting up a standing desk by using a high table to continue working while standing. During sedentary leisure time, choose cognitively stimulating activities, such as reading, board games, and puzzles.
Relax
Meditation and deep breaths can help you remain calm. A few examples of relaxation techniques are available on your child’s HPE Teams app or contact one of our staff for more mindfulness activities.
Eat well
For optimal health, it is also important to remember to eat healthy foods and stay hydrated. WHO recommends drinking water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages. Include plenty of fruits and vegetables and limit the intake of salt, sugar and fat. Choose whole grains rather than refined foods. For more ideas on how to eat healthily during Stage 3 restrictions, please contact your child’s Health and Physical Education teacher.
Students are invited to take part in the CRC Melton online winter sleep out on Friday 7 August.
Participants will be asked to sleep on the floor at home with no heater, one blanket, one pillow and only a thin mat.
A Teams video call will be organised on the night, so students can take part in activities and competitions such as building a blanket fort. There will be discussions about homelessness and students will hear from local organisations supporting those in need in our community.
The Sleep Out will raise funds for two of these organisations through a Go Fund Me page and participants will be encouraged to ask friends and family to sponsor them.
Students who would like to take part in the Sleep Out should email Ms Clare Hume, chume@sfcc.vic.edu.au, before Thursday 30 July.
To donate to the CRC Winter Sleep Out visit the College's Go Fund Me page.
Silly socks will be worn for a good cause by students and staff on Wednesday 5 August.
Our DLM students can take a photo of their silly socks on the day and post it on their Homeroom Teams page. If they also post the photo on Instagram with the hashtag #igiveasock and tag @underworksaustralia, Underworks will give an essential clothing item to someone in need.
Students on-site at the College can wear their silly socks to school and bring a gold coin donation to Homeroom. Funds raised will be donated to Foodbank Victoria, which is working with Underworks to give out essential clothing items and food to those experiencing homelessness this winter.
The College will compete in the Sports Association of Catholic Co-educational Secondary Schools (SACCSS) Virtual Cross Country event over the coming month and is calling on all students to get involved in the race to clock up kilometres.
Many of our students were training for school and community sport before the current COVID-19 lockdown. To help them continue their focus on fitness, SACCSS has organised a virtual running challenge that focusses on participation as well as performance.
Students can either compete in timed challenges over set distances or choose to run their own courses of various times and length. Both will contribute to the College tally.
The school that registers the highest participation in the virtual event will receive funds for new sporting equipment. SACCSS will also award prizes to students with the best times in various age categories.
Information has been sent to all students explaining how they can get involved. For more details or if you have any questions, please email jgrech@sfcc.vic.edu.au or dhenneman@sfcc.vic.edu.au
New eBook and audiobook titles are available to help students and families through these difficult times.
Wheelers ePlatform have developed a Wellness Collection of resources to help with your mental health, resilience and positivity.
More information is available below.
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