Filter Content
- Principal's Letter
- Assistant Principal Pastoral Care report
- Changes to Broulee/Mossy Point bus time
- Curriculum News
- RE Matters
- Reading Matters!
- Congratulations!
- Science News
- Sorry Day
- Reconciliation Week
- Sports News
- Cancer Fundraiser Day
- Rosellas Report
- Finance Update
- Senior Study
- College Variety Night
- Community News
- Woolworths Earn & Learn
We acknowledge the Walbanga people who are the traditional custodians of the land on which our College is built. We pay respect to elders both past and present
of Djuwin Country and extend that respect to all Aboriginal People in our community.
Carroll College welcomes you.
Dear Families, Students and Friends
I trust that you are having an enjoyable week and adapting to the cooler change with the onset of winter. We are certainly noticing the change in the College grounds. It has been very crisp this week. The students welcomed the option of being able to move into the Hall during their breaks to escape the cold wind.
National Reconciliation Week
As a school community, we have reflected on National Reconciliation Week through prayer and ritual. Students engaged in activities to acknowledge and recognise National Sorry Day. It is important that students further develop their knowledge and understanding of the implications of the past, and look to the future with hope, acceptance and respect.
During Week 8, our Aboriginal students will be participating in an excursion to Sydney. The excursion has been designed to form part of our Gurubangamba Mentoring Program. It is our hope that the excursion will act as a catalyst for relationship development amongst our students, whilst allowing them to experience Sydney and its attractions.
Our Gurubangamba Mentoring program also encompasses the transition of Years Five and Six students to Carroll College. As such, we have offered this experience to Stage 3 students and staff at St Mary’s, Moruya and St Bernard’s, Batemans Bay. The excursion includes a range of ‘fun’ activities and cultural experiences. The most significant of these being, attending a performance of Bangarra at the Sydney Opera House.
Parent Engagement in Catholic Education
Thank you to those parents who were able to attend the Community Council meeting last night. The information presented was informative and engaging. It stimulated questions and discussion that will continue to move us forward as a learning community. The session was videoed to enable full parent engagement and will be uploaded to the school’s Facebook page and website in the coming days. Please take the opportunity to view the presentation at your convenience. I extend our thanks to Mr Tim Smith, Performance and Improvement Leader, Catholic Education for facilitating last night’s meeting.
Congratulations…
It is with great pleasure that I extend our congratulations to JC Lole-Ngarima. JC is currently in Year 9 and has been successful in gaining selection into the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges Rugby League squad. An outstanding achievement! It is wonderful to share this news and to witness the talent and passion of one of our up and coming sporting champions. Congratulations from us all, JC!
Bad Auditions by Bad Actors
Congratulations to the following students on their involvement in the School Play last week. It was an excellent production, delivered with skill and humour! It was thoroughly enjoyed by all and allowed students to express their creativity. I thank Directors, Mrs Anna Smart and Mrs Teagan Lomax on their clever coordination and vision.
Southern Region Principals’ Meeting
Last Thursday and Friday, I joined with Principal’s from our South Coast cluster at St Bernard’s for the regional Principals’ meeting. Director, Mr Ross Fox met with the three K-12 Principals, Mrs Jo Wain, Mrs Noeleen O’Neill and myself for the first part of the meeting to discuss the direction and initiatives currently underway. Our K-12 partnership is leading the way in the Archdiocese in terms of the collaborative nature of our planning. Our strategies are focused on improving student outcomes through targeted and deliberate interventions. A meeting of the three executive teams takes place once per term to evaluate progress and to set new action plans. Working in collaboration for the betterment of our Catholic schools is both empowering and exciting.
Year 11 Academic Reports
It has been my pleasure to read Year 11 student reports this week. These will be emailed to parents today. I am most impressed by the high standard of achievement demonstrated during Semester One. I encourage Year 11 to continue this level of commitment toward their studies. Congratulations to them all on their progress to date.
Year 10 Minimum Standards Test
Year 10 students have received their results this week. Any students who have not attained Level 3 in these tests will have another opportunity to sit the exam in Term 4. Our aim is to ensure every child has the opportunity to improve.
Lollapalooza – CLAIM THE DATE!
The date is set! St Mary’s, St Bernard's and Carroll College are holding a ‘Lollapalooza’ in and around the Carroll College campus on 22 November 2019.
As previously communicated, Lollapalooza = Something excellent!
Each school will be responsible for different stalls and events or in some cases will work together.
This is an opportunity to bring the three school communities together and improve engagement between staff, students, parents and the wider community. Some of the ideas to date include (but not limited to); Art Show, Music Festival, upcycled designer fashion and fashion parade, henna tent, face painting, gifts, curries, coffees, market stalls, plants, produce, cakes, food, short film competition, sport, raffles, cadets, dance, food, science experiments, design and agriculture.
Planning is underway! If you would like to be a part of this Lollapalooza event or have any other ideas, please contact: Karen Motyka M: 0415 592 019 or Brigid McNeill M: 0408 888 756. More information will follow shortly.
Secondary Schools Student Leadership Program
Year 12 students, Allie Roberson and Adam Zutt represented the College at the Secondary Schools Student Leadership Program yesterday in Sydney. This civics and citizenship program offers Year 12 student leaders the opportunity to develop their knowledge of our system of government and parliamentary proceedings, and the role of the Governor. Allie and Adam were excited to be spending the day at NSW Parliament House in Macquarie Street, and had the opportunity to meet His Excellency, General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), Governor of New South Wales.
A wonderful experience for our senior leaders.
Certificate IV – Education Support
This afternoon, I will be attending a Graduation ceremony for our Classroom Support Assistants in Canberra at the Canberra Institute of Technology. I congratulate Jenny Hopkins, Catriona Colalillo, Jane Davies and Connie Aitken. Successful completion of Certificate IV in Education Support is now the minimum qualification for all Classroom Support Assistants employed across the Archdiocese. This is an exciting day and I commend our Learning Support team on the exceptional care and support they provide our students each day. Mr John O'Neill will be Acting Principal while I'm attending this ceremony.
Enjoy a lovely long weekend.
Jacqueline Heffernan
Principal
Assistant Principal Pastoral Care report
Smart device addiction and cyber safety is an issue brought up many times with conversations between the Pastoral team when working with families and students. We are all concerned about the amount of time that students spend on their devices and families often seek help and advice on what they can do to limit the usage at home and the consequences of ‘device withdrawal’ that they experience as a result of putting limits in place.
The statistics about online behaviours are quite alarming and as a result technology companies are now putting alerts in devices to let users know about how much time they are spending on their devices and when they should be taking a break. As I write this newsletter article whilst sitting in McDonald's there are 26 people sat around me; 23 of them are absorbed in their phones with little or no interaction with those around them, including families and people sat in groups.
Author Jean Twenge is one of many authors who have looked into the seriousness of teen usage of devices. In her book “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us” she found that teenagers who spent more of their time playing sport, doing schoolwork and most importantly socialising with friends in real life had much better mental health.
She found that there is a large problem in teens spending more and more time, not talking on the phone like they were in decades past, but Instagram-ing and snapchat-ing. These are very dangerous pastimes because they misleadingly give teenagers the sense of social interaction, but in truth, they could not be further away from it.
The comparisons that are implicit in looking at other people’s lives online, which are often highly manicured (and misleading), is thought to be what’s so depressing about social media. "These increases in mental health issues among teens are very alarming,” Twenge said. “Teens are telling us they are struggling, and we need to take that very seriously." Her findings would back up a lot of the conversations that the Pastoral Team have with students on a daily basis.
Smartphones and social media can be positive in our lives in helping us stay in contact with people, but there is a danger when it replaces face-to-face interactions and becomes addictive. Smartphone addiction has been linked to:
- Increased loneliness and depression
- Fuelled anxiety
- Increased stress
- Exacerbating attention deficit disorders
- Diminished ability to concentrate and think deep
- Disturbed sleep; and
- Encouraged self-absorption and narcissism
(sourced from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/smartphone-addiction.htm)
There are things that we can all do to help our young people balance their usage of devices. We can model responsible usage to show them that they can use devices and still have positive interactions with those around them. Some useful tips for modelling positive usage are:
- Only using devices in shared family areas
- Charging devices in common areas and not the bedroom
- Leaving devices overnight in the kitchen or lounge and not the bedroom
- Not watching TV or eating dinner with devices in reach
- Having a ‘device free’ evening once per week.
The Pastoral Team are happy to work with parents to support them at home to manage device usage. There are a number of students who hand in their devices to the Pastoral Office each day to help them manage their usage. Please contact the Pastoral Office for any additional support needed so we are working together to support our young people.
This Friday Donna Clarke, NSW Police Schools Liaison Officer, will be working with our Year 7 and 8 students as part of our Pastoral Care program. She will be talking to students about staying safe online, using devices responsibly and the impact the law has with this. Please also have these conversations at home with your children around interactions with people online. Always our advice to students is ‘If you wouldn’t want Grandma to see it, don’t post it’!
Nathan Mansfield
Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care
Changes to Broulee/Mossy Point bus time
Broulee/Mossy Point Bus No 7 will be picking up students 5 minutes earlier than the current time. This will commence on 11 June.
Year 11 students will soon be receiving their Mid-Year Reports. This is an ideal time to sit with your child and ask them how they are going and to set some goals for the rest of the year. Senior students who are wanting to gain a high ATAR at the completion of Year 12 should be setting themselves up for success now, by developing a detailed home study regime that includes time for completing homework, assessment tasks AND study. Our students are in competition with approximately 70,000 other Year 11 students in NSW, so it is important that they judge their success against this cohort and not just the Carroll College cohort.
On Friday, in their Administration period, students in Year 10 will be informed about the process for choosing their senior subjects for their last two years of schooling. I will give the students an outline of the way they choose their subjects online and how the timetable is then put together from their choices. It is important that students give their subject selections a great deal of thought. They should choose subjects that they are interested in (not what their friends are interested in!), subjects that will challenge them academically and finally, subjects that will help them achieve their after-school goals.
The following link may be a useful tool for your child if they are unsure of what they want to study.
https://www.uac.edu.au/subject-compass/#/
It has been put together by Universities Admissions Centre (UAC). It guides the student through a series of questions with prompts to ascertain their interest and study preferences to try and narrow down the huge field of study options. I would recommend you encourage your child to work through the guide. Students will also have access to the Stage 6 Curriculum Handbook that lists all the senior subjects that we offer at Carroll College and a short description of each of them. Before the end of term, all Year 10 students and their parents (if available) will be invited to sit with a staff member and go through their subject choices. Students will have a chance to clarify any issues they have in regards to any subject. On Tuesday 30th July, week 2 of term 3, the College will be holding its annual Curriculum Expo. This night will provide parents with some background information about the process of subject selection. Afterwards, both parents and students can visit stands about each of the subjects on offer and speak directly to staff about them. Finally, students will then log into our Subject Selection website and choose their course of study. If you have any questions about the process please make contact with me.
As we enter the second half of the term, the number of assessment tasks usually increases. Please encourage your child to make a start on tasks as soon as they receive them, and to chip away at them each night. The more organised your child becomes, the less stressed they will become as the time pressure increases.
John O’Neill
Assistant Principal, Curriculum & Achievement
Confirmation Retreat Day
On Friday 31 May students from the Year 10 Catholic Schools Youth Ministry International (CSYMI) class facilitated the Confirmation Retreat Day. This required the students to prepare and run activities for 80 Year 6 students from St Bernard’s and St Mary’s. Peer ministry is an important part of our K-12 Pathways and makes strong links between the College and our feeder Catholic Primary schools.
This Year 10 class has been our first class in the history of the College, who when they were in Year 6 had their Confirmation Retreat Day facilitated by Carroll College students. Many of them remember the older students running the day for them and how they thought that one day they too could be a leader of Peer Ministry. It is wonderful to see the Peer Ministry initiative through CSYMI come full circle in this way.
Facilitating the event allowed students to demonstrate and improve upon skills in leadership, communication, planning and time management. For some of our students it also provided an opportunity to share their beliefs with others and remember their Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit through reflection upon their own Confirmation.
Thank you to our Youth Minister Juliette Pierre for her exceptional preparation and leadership of the students on the day.
Congratulations to the following Year 10 Students for their leadership and Peer Ministry.
Cooper Brady
Joshua Cairney
Abbey Colbourne
Gemma Ferguson
Rhys Flood
Madeleine Forner
Dylan Golden
Declan Holmes
Emma Lassau
Gemma Mass
Bree McFadyen
Timothy Nguyen
Damia O’Loughlin
Sarah Penberthy
Ben Rogerson
Ronin Rowley
Emma Tuckwell
Erica Drewsen
RE Coordinator
Faith Formation
Forty days after the resurrection of Christ at Easter, we celebrate the solemnity of the Ascension. Each Sunday, in the Creed, we profess “He ascended into Heaven.” Christ’s Ascension was the culmination of God’s Divine plan for Christ Jesus – his return to his father with his “Mission Accomplished”
Luke, the author of the Gospel reading speaks of Jesus’ being lifted up to the Father; promising his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit who would clothe them with the power from on high; and commissioning them to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. Further, Acts and the letters to the Hebrews instill the expectation that the ascending Jesus will appear a second time, will come back to our world to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.
In the meantime, we are to keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is faithful. Our expectation is not a passive experience. We are not to stand looking up into the sky. Rather, clothed with power from on high, we are to be active witnesses to Jesus, his teaching and his saving act. He is alive. Through us, he wants to continue to tell the world about the Kingdom of God.
“It is part of your vocation to shout the Gospel from the roof tops” Bl. Charles De Foucauld (1858 – 1916)
Charlotte Nicoletti
Faith Formation Coordinator
Parenting in the 21st Century
There are no user manuals for parents. It is on the job training in most respects. Often we learn or reject parenting styles based on our own upbringing. However, raising children since mankind first formed clans and then villages has been based on the following:
- Active teaching of the laws of the existing society and manners that serve as a necessary part of those mores
- Role modelling of just, decent and selfless values in the home
- The home as a repository and love for all children.
- Valuing education as a means of self-fulfilment and improvement
- Providing protection and a nurturing environment for the child
- The passing down of rituals, stories, traditions to children
As late as the mid 1900’s grandparents lived in an extended family and afforded the child additional guidance and support. Alas, this is no longer the case. Many adolescents do not have access to their Pop or Nan due to a variety of reasons including family separation and “the tyranny of distance”. In About A Boy by Nick Hornby, Marcus advises a boy who has used him as a mentor that the shape of the family structure is in some respects, irrelevant. Marcus argues for a pyramidal structure incorporating those members of the extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins) and decent role models from the local communities to become part of the child’s development.
Effective parenting takes a great deal of courage; sometimes it is drawing lines in the sand. But that’s a good thing. Every child understands boundaries and, even though they push these lines of non-negotiation, they will generally respect them later in life. Here are a few home rules to consider:
- Do I know my children’s friends? With which friends would I allow a sleep over?
- Where is the internet located in your home? Why cannot it be placed in heavy traffic areas for ease of supervision rather than secreted away in bedrooms?
- Is homework (independent study) valued in the home as a toll of revising the day’s work or consolidating skills?
- Do your children have both rights and responsibilities? What are the obligations, such as jobs and chores that must be undertaken? Boys, in particular, often escape these tasks because we as parents would rather do it ourselves than cause a fuss or have it half done. This only encourages “learned helplessness” that does not serve anyone’s needs.
- How much quality time do I have with my children? Toys and possessions are poor substitutes for intimate time- shared reading, talking while doing a task together
- Do I know who my children’s teachers are? What they are reading in English? The HSIE topic? The next Science experiment? If the adolescent knows you are interested, there is a better chance of engagement with the subject.
William Wordsworth wrote a poem about children two hundred years ago. It elegantly chronicles their frailties and strength but as he rightly points out, they are children and we must love them for what they are :
Behold a race of young ones like to those
With whom I herded-
A race of real children; not too wise,
Too learned, or too good; but wanton, fresh,
And bandied up and down by love and hate;
Not resentful where self-justified;
Fierce, moody, patient, venturous, modest, shy;
Mad at their sports like withered leaves in winds;
Though doing wrong and suffering, and full often
Bending beneath our life’s mysterious weight
Of pain, and doubt and fear, yet yielding not
In happiness to the happiest upon the earth.
Simplicity in habit, truth in speech,
Be these the daily strengtheners of their minds…”
Whilst valuing them and loving them for who they are, we nonetheless, have an obligation to model good parenting and that does, at times, mean (what has become a cliché) the notion of “tough love”.
Mr. Paul Cullen
paul.cullen@cg.catholic.edu.au
Congratulations JC Lole-Ngarima for making the NSW CCC U/15 Rugby league team. Well done JC!
Winners are Grinners at Australian National Busking Championships
Two very different groups comprising Carroll College students competed in the Australian National Busking Championships at Narooma on 25th May. Forty-eight buskers performed 4 x 30 minute gigs at different venues around Narooma with hundreds of spectators as part of the Busking Championships. $10,000 in prizes were on offer as well as the chance for the public to vote the People's Choice Award.
Resident punk-rock band Potent Soap performed a mix of songs including some of their own original material. Band members Jack Gallen - lead vocals, Caeden Devane - drums, Brendan Barnes - guitar and Jordan Young - Bass - won the 'Rising Star' Band Award and First Place in the 'People's Choice Award' in the Open Section.
The second group Maddi & Myah performed a mix of contemporary songs. The duo comprising Maddie Forner on vocals and Damia O'Loughlin on guitar were also winners of a Special Judges Award (for Under 18's).
Tabitha Kew also performed solo, singing contemporary/blues songs and playing guitar to delighted onlookers.
Congratulations to our talented buskers!!!
Year 11 Physics students enjoyed an excursion to carry out some practical work at Moruya Breakwall & Candlagan Creek. They used vector equations and speed measurements to predict the point on the bank that a remote controlled boat would land when travelling across an out going tide in the creek. Their predictions were amazingly accurate - to within 30cm. The additional photos are of last week's electrostatics work with the Van der Graaf Generator.
Students: Jade Briggs, Tom Gaffey, Bea Losa, Austin Reid, Sebastian Roser, Cameron Stocks, Hugh Tuckwell, Nick Usher.
Tim Hodges
On Friday 24th May, Carroll College students participated in the 3rd annual Sorry Day bridge walk in Moruya which was organised by the Eurobodalla Aboriginal Boys to Men - balan yana-laga yuwinj group. The walk saw Indigenous and non-Indigenous people come together to acknowledge this important day which remembers and recognises the members of the stolen generations from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.
Last Thursday Carroll College held their Reconciliation Week event. The 2019 theme for National Reconciliation Week was Grounded in Truth: Walk together with Courage. This theme reminds us that at the heart of reconciliation is the relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. To foster positive race relations, our relationship must be grounded in a foundation of truth. Our guest speaker for the event was Joe Brierley from the Eurobodalla Aboriginal Boys to Men – balan yana-laga yuwinj Group. Joe spoke to us all about the importance of Reconciliation for our community and how together we can help to achieve this. Thank you again Joe. After Joe’s speech each member of the Carroll College Community contributed to an artwork which demonstrated their commitment to reconciliation. The artwork was designed around a central “tree of truth” image. The tree of truth emerges when the seeds of empathy, solidarity and love are sown. It represents the reconciled community we can become, if we are able to to honestly and holistically acknowledge our shared history, learn from it and move forward together. The picture is to be displayed near the canteen.
Archdiocese Basketball Championships 2019
Seven teams travelled to Canberra for the annual Archdiocese Championships last Friday. A very cold stadium greeted us but the teams got straight into it and all won their first games in style. The day progressed with multiple games on the five courts. It was great to see our spirited on court performances go hand in hand with good sportsmanship and fair play. All teams did themselves and the College proud. One particular highlight stands out to me from the day: This was the partisan & very noisy support from the Carroll contingent when our 9/10 Boys A team were being run close by Tumut in the last three minutes of the Grand Final. I’m sure the support made all the difference to the lads!
Open Boys - Winners
Open Girls - Winners
9/10 Boys A - Winners
9/10 Boys B (Social team!) – 7th
9/10 Girls - Runners up
7/8 Boys – equal third
7/8 Girls – equal third
Our two Open teams will be travelling to Sydney to compete in the CCC Championships in late June and the 9/10 boys in November. We wish them every success. Commiserations must go to our year 9/10 girls who narrowly missed out, losing only one game by one point in the final minute! That’s sport.
Thanks to Iggy Roser for his hard work as our table official, David Blewitt, Jeremy Harding and Michelle Blythe all of whom coached teams on the day and to Hailee Gray & Charlton Fogarty for the hours they put into coaching and preparing teams in the weeks leading up to the day.
Tim Hodges
Wellbeing Coordinator
Archdiocesan Cross Country Report
On Tuesday the 5th of June, 40 students travelled to Canberra to compete in the Archdiocesan Cross Country. It was a wild woolly day out on the course but our students managed to record some excellent results. The following students have managed to make it onto to CCC carnival in Sydney later this term – Skye Wildman, Ruby Kefalas, Freddie Friskin, Emma Penberthy, Sophie Eppelstun, Michael Aitken, Claudia Hannan, Mark Tuckwell, Jaymz Motyka, Sarah Penberthy, Rhys Flood, Hugh Tuckwell, Shane Mass, Lachlan Knight, Zalie Betts, Maddison Blewitt and Nick Parr. Congratulations to those students and everyone else who attended on the day. Thanks to Mr Brady who also was the team manager on the day.
Mr Fogarty
On 23rd May the College PRC & SLT organised a big fundraising event to support two cancer charities. These were the Cancer Council – biggest morning tea and Fight Cancer Foundation – footy colours day.
Students and staff wore their favourite football colours and mufti to school for the day and lots of students brought in baked goods for sale at AM break. Some year 12 students with the help of Mr Mulally put on a fun Staff Vs students league tag game. Stunning performances from the lightning fast Brady, Knight & Bonner helped the staff to a 7-5 victory. Much fun was had by all.
In the evening nearly 200 students of all ages turned out to enjoy the Winter DOOF. Our College rock bands along with DJ Matt took to the stage putting on great performances and entertaining the crowd. Headlining were “Potent Soap” who have cut their teeth at the DOOFs over the last two years and who are now getting paid gigs outside of school. They also won the peoples favourite award and $1500 at the Narooma busking festival last week.
Particular thanks should go to PRC Chair Allie Roberson, College Captain Adam Zutt, House Captains Jack Gallen and Lucy Colbourne, staff members Ros Maher and Sean Mulally for their hard work in organising the Day. Thanks also all those from the PRC & SLT who brought in cakes. Charity total = $800
Tim Hodges
Pastoral Coordinator
Congratulations to the Rosellas for an amazing effort at Art on the Path on Sunday. Students manning the stall were Allie Roberson, Lily Cooper, Jemima McNeill, Skye Faith, Alana Enright, Lilly Ralston, Faith Ralston, Damia O'Loughlin and Jake Lyttle.
Finance Update
Term 2 Statements were emailed on 24th May and are due on Friday 21st June. Thank you to those families who have paid their fees.
Fee Calculator
The College now has a Fee Calculator located on the College Website under:
Enrolment/Fees (on the Home Page of the College Web Site)
Scroll down to the Calculator Symbol
Simply enter: Payment year, Amount, Date of 1st Payment and any lump sum payments (if applicable). It will automatically calculate payments and the amount of payment depending on frequency e.g. weekly, fortnightly.
This year Carroll College will be participating in the Woolworths Earn & Learn program. The program allows schools to earn points to purchase equipment.
We have included a sticker sheet to print off (or you can get these at your local Woolworths) and a FAQ sheet.
A box will be available at the school near the office for stickers to be dropped in.
Earn & Learn runs from 1 May to 25 June 2019.
Thank you for your participation!