Our Lenten Journey

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday which marks the start of our Lenten journey towards Easter. As a child in my early faith, I saw Lent as a time of giving up lollies and understood little about its real significance. As I have grown in my faith, I now understand Lent to be a time of preparation. While fasting is still a part of my journey, instead of giving up I prefer to take up something extra - attend Mass mid-week, call my mum each day to say hello, pray a decade of the Rosary each morning or take time to offer a smile to students at the front gate.

This refection from Ann Rennie sums up our calling this Easter:

“It is a time for slowing down and reflecting, taking spiritual stock as we traverse these forty days of fasting, charity and prayer. It is a time for converting, repenting and forgiving, shaping ourselves up for immersion in the Easter story that is central to the Christian faith”.

May the journey prepare us for the joy of the approaching Easter story.

Opening Mass

“For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20

The opening of Sheehan Stadium last year means the whole school is now able to gather in one space to celebrate Eucharist for the commencement of the academic school year.

This week Father Alexander took time from his busy schedule to celebrate with us and as always we are grateful for the support of our parish priests. Father’s rousing homily spoke of Emmanuel – God with us. He impressed upon us the importance of recognising Christ in every individual. This understanding then leads us to an obligation to treat all whom we encounter with respect and dignity.

Thank you to our students who demonstrated reverence and understood that during these celebrations our stadium becomes a sacred space.

Official opening of the Dinka Language School

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the Dinka Language School. I am grateful to the leadership of Mark Sheehan, who in his vision for the school, was able to imagine a partnership with CRC Melton and the wider community.

The Dinka school, which operates each Saturday from the College Trade Training Centre, allows young people to maintain their mother language. This connection with culture builds confidence and identity, which is an important part of settling into a new country. It was wonderful to see the students dancing and taking such pride in their heritage. Thank you to Mollie Daphne and her team for the hard work that has gone into establishing this wonderful initiative.

Novel Coronavirus

New advice from the Australian and Victorian governments regarding the Novel Coronavirus is detailed below:

"All children who have travelled to Hubei Province of China, are advised to stay at home and avoid public settings, including attendance at schools and early learning centres, until 14 days after last being in Hubei province, China. This applies to any and all students even if they do not show any symptoms of the virus".

If you think your child is showing any relevant symptoms of the Novel Coronavirus, please call the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to discuss further actions on 1300 651 160.

This advice is also being provided to teachers and other school staff to ensure we mitigate any risks associated with the spread of the virus.

As we work through week 4 of the learning cycle, students are beginning to prepare for or complete their first assessment tasks.

Many of our Unit 3 VCE students are undertaking School Assessed Coursework (SACs) and receiving feedback on the tasks. SAC marks are moderated against the General Achievement Task (GAT) and the external end-of-year exam through VCAA.

Parents are encouraged to use PAM regularly to check for overdue work tasks and access student results for assessment tasks including SACs.

Teachers provide students with feedback on their assessment. This may be in the form of an attached rubric, written comments on the task or as teacher feedback through the SIMON Learning Areas module. This feedback is about the task and areas for improvement. Acting on feedback from teachers allows students to move forward and become more independent learners. It also gives them the opportunity to reflect and think about their learning, a process known as metacognition.

The partnership between students, their teachers and parents is very important for successful outcomes and students are encouraged to talk to their teachers about the way they learn best. Teachers provide a range of learning strategies in the classroom for our junior students, with our senior students taking more ownership of their learning.

Parent, Student, Teacher Interviews (PSTIs) will take place in Week 8 on Tuesday 24 March from 4pm to 7pm and Thursday 26 March from 4pm to 8.30pm. More information will be provided in future newsletters.

Our Swimming and Multisport Carnival last week was a great success with student attendance and participation high. At the pool, special congratulations must go to our Year 12 students who led their respective Houses and put in a big effort to dress up for the day.

The addition of Basketball, Volleyball, Netball and e-Sports for students in Year 9 to 11 who chose not to swim was also well received. It was great to see so many students engaging in the competitions and we will review the event to make it even better in 2021. We welcome feedback from parents/guardians via email to Dean Henneman, Sports Coordinator dhenneman@sfcc.vic.edu.au. Further results will be available in next week's newsletter.

Information Evenings

Thanks to all the parents/guardians who attended our Year 12 Information Evening. A reminder that presentations from the evening are available in the Parent Access Module (PAM).

Camps

Our Year 8 camp program is underway this week. This will be followed by Year 7 camps starting 16 March. Parents/guardians should have received CareMonkey information about both these activities.

Valid Myki cards

Students catching most Bacchus Marsh Coaches need a valid Myki card to travel. Not only does Myki data provide information to the Victorian Transport Commission on bus usage but ensures you pay the correct fee for your trip. The bus service is not free. Failing to use a valid Myki will mean:

1. The number of buses will be reduced because it appears they are not used or required;

2. Bus drivers will refuse travel to students.

We expect all students to have and use a valid Myki. If they do not, they will need to find another way to get to school.

Parents of students in Year 7 to 9 will have received a CareMonkey notification about a new online literacy program called Education Perfect that is being used extensively across English classes this year.

Education Perfect is an online learning tool that provides individualised learning plans for all students based on specific needs in spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word types and language features.

There is also a wealth of curriculum-aligned content that can be used both in class and at home to supplement and support students’ understanding of the topics covered. Students are welcome to explore and access the program whenever they feel they need additional support or clarification of a concept.

The resource has been successfully implemented in more than a thousand schools around the world, with notable impacts on student motivation and grades. Students gain points for every question they answer and can compete against their friends in a fun, educational and safe environment at their own pace.

Key features:

• Content has been built to follow the Australian curriculum and aligned specifically to the English Curriculum at Catholic Regional College, Melton.
• Teachers receive reports showing which areas of the curriculum students found most difficult, so they can tailor their teaching to areas needing attention.
• Enabling a "flipped classroom" – students can come to class familiar with the content, enabling teachers to spend more time on advanced topics.
• Differentiated learning – every student can be working on a different task according to their strengths and weaknesses and teachers can track their progress and achievement.

Parents are encouraged to check in with students to see how the program is being used and to explore the learning resources available. Further information can be found on the Education Perfect website https://epforlearning.com/ep-for-classroom/or through your child’s English teacher.

Kezi Todd

English Coordinator

All new families to the College will receive a letter with login in details to access the Parent Access Module (PAM) by the end of this week. Once logged into PAM, you can access the following information for your children enrolled at the college.

• Student timetable; Number of behavioural incidents; Attendance

• Marks and comments for assessment tasks

• Due dates and overdue work

• Assessment: Mid-Semester and End-Semester reports

You will also have access to daily notices for students, presentations for parents from information evenings and a range of links from our Intranet.

If you do not receive the letter by next week please contact me via email kmatthews@sfcc.vic.edu.au

A visit by the Vincit class to the Melbourne Zoo last week has inspired students to come up with ways to make the College more environmentally friendly.

During their visit to the Zoo, students went behind the scenes to see how the facility recycles its water throughout the park. They also saw the different types of bins used to minimise waste and how compostable waste was redistributed around the park.

During a walk around the zoo, the class also saw a plastics display that highlighted its environmental impact and how people were trying to make a difference by reusing discarded materials.

The zoo is one of the most self-sufficient places in the world and here at CRC we are beginning to think about how we can use some of the same ideas. Look out for a change to bins inside and outside the classroom. Together with the school’s environmental team the Vincit class will work on ways to clean up the school and make it rubbish-free.

Natalie Bourke

Vincit Education in Action

Congratulations to the Eskander and Makkad families who last week became Australian citizens.

Noor Eskander (Year 9), Najeeb Eskander (Year 11) and Maribel Makkad (Year 7) and their families were excited and proud to take part in the citizenship ceremony.

The Makkard family arrived in 2013 from Syria after a difficult journey escaping war in their hometown of Aleppo and are very grateful for the support they have all received and the opportunities life in Australia has provided them. The College community wishes both families every success for their future.

A group of students from Years 7-10 are taking part in weekly workshops in traditional drawing techniques. Last week students learned to draw still-life objects using professional lighting to help evoke a 3D aesthetic in their work. During the workshops, students will build a folio of work and skills that they can use in their art studies.

A reminder that the first meeting of the College Parents and Friends Association will be held tomorrow evening (Wednesday 26/2) from 7pm in the conference room. All families are welcome and encouraged to become involved. The meetings are an opportunity to meet other families, hear about what is going on at the College and have a say in new initiatives.

Year 7 student Alice Summers represented CRC Melton at the Geelong Grammar School Show Jumping Day in Corio last Friday.

She and her horse Monty finished in tenth place in the Grand Prix event, out of field of 33 competitors.

The inter-school show jumping competition attracted riders from more than 40 schools.

Although the wet conditions meant Alice and Monty were unsuccessful in their first event, the Grand Prix event was held on the indoor arena where the pair just missed out on getting through to the final round. A great effort by Alice who proudly represented the College.

A grand total of $325.80 has been raised by College Environment Captain Maddison Fenton for Wildlife Victoria.

The fundraiser, to support Wildlife Victoria’s bushfire response, was organised last week by Maddison with the help of one of the College’s Social Justice captains Sophie Hine.

Maddison and Sophie sold ribbons at lunch times and organised face painting at last week’s College Swimming Carnival to raise money for the cause.

The money will be donated to Wildlife Victoria later this week.

Students can now order their canteen lunch online using the Ultimate Schools website.

To set up an account visit http://ultimateschools.com.au/ and follow the prompts. Canteen staff are happy to answer any queries and brochures explaining the online ordering system are available from the canteen. Lunches can also be ordered by visiting the canteen in the morning or before the end of recess.

Canteen staff would like to thank everyone for their patience as they settle into their new space and trial different systems to make things more streamlined.

New food items on the menu include sushi which is now available from Tuesday to Friday.

A range of no-meat options will be served this Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) including Margherita pizza, pastizzis, toasted sandwiches and focaccias, wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce, vegetable spring rolls and sushi.

2020 Student Residential Address and Other Information collection notice

This notice is from the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department), to advise you that the department has requested that your child's school provide a 'statement of addresses', in accordance with the Australian Education Regulation 2013 (Cth) (Regulation).

A statement of addresses contains the following information about each student at the school:

• Student residential address (not student names)
• Student level of education (i.e. whether the student is a primary or secondary student)
• Student boarding school status (i.e. whether the student is boarding or a day student)
• Names and residential addresses of students' parent(s) and/or guardian(s)

Schools generate a record number for each student for the purposes of this collection, which is also provided to the department.

Purpose of the collection

This collection is routinely used to inform Commonwealth school education policy, and to help ensure that Commonwealth funding arrangements for non-government schools are based on need, and are fair and transparent.

The information collected in the statement of addresses will be used to inform school funding calculations. It is combined with data held by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to calculate the estimated capacity of a school community to contribute to the schools' operating costs (capacity to contribute). Australian Government funding to non-government schools takes this estimated capacity to contribute into account.

On 20 September 2018 the Government announced that it will implement a new, improved capacity to contribute methodology used in the calculation of the Commonwealth's needs-based funding arrangements for non-government schools. Known as the direct measure of income (DMI), the proposed new methodology is based on the median income of parents or guardians of students at a non-government school. This is in contrast to the current area based measure which is a point in time analysis based on average circumstances

in 2011 of the area in which students at the school lived. This change follows a review of the existing methodology by the National School Resourcing Board. Further information about the review and the Government's response can be found on the department's website: https://www.education.gov.au/review-socio-economic-status-ses-score-methodology

Use and disclosure of personal information

Your personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Any use and disclosure of your personal information relating to the statement of addresses will occur in accordance with the Regulation.

Your personal information may be used by the department, or disclosed to the ABS, for the purposes of reviewing capacity to contribute methodology, calculating capacity to contribute and Commonwealth school education policy development (including school funding), or where it is otherwise required or authorised by law.

Your personal information will be provided to the ABS for capacity to contribute calculations and analysis as part of the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project (MADIP). Departmental staff will use the ABS' secure Datalab to undertake analysis and calculate capacity to contribute scores for schools using de-identified data (i.e. data that has had identifiable information such as name and address removed). The linked information will not be used for other purposes. Further information on the MADIP can be found here:

http:llwww.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/4a256353001af3ed4b2562bb00121564/9099c77cb979d5S Sea258198001b27 a0/$FlLE/MADIP%20iPIA 2018.pdf.

The department may, from time to time, carry out audits of school submissions. In the event of an audit, contracted auditors may seek to compare a school's statement of addresses with student enrolment information held by the school. These contractors will not use the information for any other purpose.

The department may also be required to disclose your personal information to its service providers for the purposes of the provision of information and communications technology (ICT) support services to the department.

What do you need to do?

You are not required to do anything. Your school is responsible for providing the requested details to the department, however, you may wish to ensure that your school has the most up-to-date and correct details for your family.

Contacts for further information

If you have any further questions regarding the collection, you can contact the department by:

• Email: seshelpdesk@dese.gov.au
• Phone (free call): SES helpdesk on 1800 677 027 (Option 4)

The department's privacy policy is available on the department's website at www.dese.gov.au. The privacy policy contains information about:

• how individuals can access and seek correction of the personal information held by the department;
• how complaints about breaches of the Privacy Act 1988(Cth) can be made; and
• how the department will deal with these complaints.

School Crossing Supervisor awards

Nominations are now open for the 2019/2020 School Crossing Supervisor of the Year Award. For more information on how to nominate your favourite Lollipop person see the attached flyer.

Footballers and netballers wanted

Eynesbury Football Club is looking for football and netball players in various age categories for the coming season. Registrations are now open. See the attached flyer for more information.