Dear Parents, Students and Friends

Welcome back to our final term for 2019. It is hard to believe that Term 4 is here and preparations are underway for end of year events, not to mention 2020 planning! It is always an exciting time of the year as the festive season approaches.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with our Year 12 students as they sit their HSC exams. It has been nice to see them in and out of the College over the past week.

Staff Spirituality Day

Father Richard Leonard facilitated our combined Staff Spirituality Day last Friday at St Mary’s Primary School. His input was just incredible and had us laughing and crying simultaneously. What an inspirational man! There were plenty of ‘take aways’ from the day but I particularly liked Fr Richard’s challenge for each of us to model please and thank you in our daily interactions with everyone we encounter. His message being… ‘Thank you’ is about social justice. The staff are consciously modelling behaviours presented by Fr Richard so these behaviours transfer to our students as an automatic and expected response. Equally as important was his message of being a Loving People – what we say, should always be said in love. This is powerful. A challenge to us all as we problem-solve, discern and challenge each other to be better.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
                                                                                                                                                                Ephesians 4:15-17

Welcome
A warm welcome to Mr Jason Szkwarek who joins our teaching team this term. Mr Szkwarek has been busy during the holidays relocating from Victoria and settling into his new home in Broulee. Mr Szkwarek’s experience and expertise will be an asset to the College, bringing a new dimension to the TAS department.  Welcome!

I thank Mr Niall McPherson and Mr Tim Lyttle for their commitment in TAS for the past three terms. Their roles change slightly in Term 4. Both have contributed significantly in supporting Mrs Mullins in TAS and in meeting the needs of our students.

Staffing Changes

We have welcomed back Mrs Kym Millikin and Mrs Elise Paull from Maternity Leave this term. Mrs Millikin will be working 4 days p/week (Tuesday – Friday) job-sharing with Mrs Nicole Montgomery. Mrs Montgomery will maintain Mondays. Mrs Paull has returned 2 days p/week (Monday & Tuesday) job-sharing with Mrs Krys Wise who will work Wednesdays and Thursdays in VET. Mrs Wise will also be an additional resource in Learning Support Mondays and Tuesdays, and maintain her day in the HUB on a Friday. With Mrs Veronica Harrold-Carter’s return, Mrs Laura Wales will move back into Learning Support for Term 4.

We have welcomed Mrs Corrinne Dell to the position of Mackillop Pastoral Coordinator (Acting) for the first two weeks of term. Mr Greg McAteer returns from leave next Monday.

Mrs Louise Nott has returned from leave. I thank Mrs Rita Graziani for her commitment and attention to detail in the front office in Mrs Nott’s absence.

Congratulations
Mrs Veronica Harrold-Carter has been successful in gaining a new permanent position at St John Paul II College in Nicholls in Gungahlin ACT from the commencement of the 2020 academic year. Mrs Harold-Carter will hold the position of Leader of Learning and Wellbeing. She is motivated for a new challenge after 17 years full-time at Carroll College. Prior to this, she taught casually at the College from 1996 – 2002. I know you join with me in wishing Mrs Harrold-Carter all the very best. She is very excited by her new role and I am sure she will relish the professional journey and new challenges that await.

The permanent position of Pastoral Coordinator is currently being advertised.

Religious Education Coordinator - 2020
Mrs Erica Drewsen has decided to take leave from her role in 2020 to spend more time with her family. Mrs Drewsen will reduce her teaching load to part-time next year and relinquish her REC executive role for 12 months. The position of Acting REC is currently being advertised internally at present.

Farewell
Mr Peter Sutton has made the decision to retire at the end of this year. Mr Sutton has worked at the College for 22 years and has contributed significantly to the culture of the College during this time. We wish Mr Sutton good health and happiness in retirement!

Staffing 2020
Next year, we will welcome Mr Gerard Simms to the College. Mr Simms is currently teaching at Hennessy College, Young. Mr Simms has been Assistant Principal for 10 years (2007-2017) and Science/Year Coordinator prior to this. He has been teaching for 30 years and his passion is in the classroom teaching Physics, Science, Mathematics and Religion, which has been his role in recent years.

Mr Simms holds a Master of Education (Leadership), Graduate Certificate in Science (Physics), Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Education. We look forward to welcoming Mr Simms to Carroll College next year.

I am also pleased to announce that Mrs Nicole Montgomery has been successful in gaining a temporary Maths teaching position at Carroll College for 2020. I congratulate Mrs Montgomery on her successful appointment to this role, and look forward to her working at the College again next year.

Years 7 – 10 Exams
Exams are scheduled for Years 7-10 from Week 4. Please ask your children about how they are approaching their preparation. Students are invited to attend after school study sessions. These study periods have been recently introduced every Thursday afternoon for Years 7-10 students in the HUB from 3.20pm-4.20pm. These sessions are fully supervised by teachers.

World Challenge
Our World Challenge experience to Cambodia next year will definitely be going ahead. We have the recommended number of students who have committed to this trip. Great news! If your child is still interested in attending, please contact the College.

Congratulations
Congratulation to Mrs Hailee Nugent (nee Gray) and husband Michael on getting married during the holidays. They celebrated their special day in New Zealand. Congratulations to you both from the Carroll College community!

Lollapalooza – 22 November 2019
Have you purchased armbands for the rides at Lollapalooza? These can be purchased now via Qkr! or at the School Offices at St Bernard’s, St Mary’s or Carroll College. If you purchase armbands before 15 November, they are only $20ea for unlimited rides.

If you would like to be 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.

Enjoy a relaxing weekend ahead.

Jacqueline Heffernan
Principal

Term 4 is a very busy term across the school. Our Year 11 students have just begun their study of the HSC components of their courses, students in Years 7-10 are finalising units of work and preparing for the end of the year exams, and our Year 12s are well into their HSC exams. Please keep an eye on your students and if they are feeling stressed about what is before them, please discuss strategies to help them deal with things. Contact the Pastoral team here at school if you need any help in this area.

In order to help our 7-10 students study for their upcoming exams, staff are running a voluntary Homework Club on Thursday afternoons for any interested students. Students can get help in any subject area or help with how to study. The sessions run from 3.20 to 4.20 in the Hub. Please encourage your child to attend if possible.

As part of the exam period for students in Years 7-10 we will be running Progressive Achievement (PAT) Tests in Reading and Maths for all students. These tests are designed to provide objective, norm-referenced information to teachers about their students’ skills and understandings in a range of key areas. The information is then used to inform the teaching and learning for individuals to increase their levels of engagement and to improve their learning. Please encourage your child to do their best in these tests as the data we gain is very valuable in designing the learning. The College will be recognising those students who achieve the highest growth since the last test, earlier in the year, and also those students who achieve the highest results.

Year 11 students can access their End of Preliminary Reports in Sentral. A computer issue has prevented them being emailed out at the moment. Sentral are currently trying to rectify the problem for us.  Please discuss with your student their results and ask them to set some improvement goals for the HSC year. Students in their final year, especially if they are considering a university course after school, should be doing a minimum of 2 to 3 hours of work each night. This would involve completing homework from the day’s lessons, working on assessment tasks, compiling summaries of units as they work through them and study. Those students who maintain a regular schedule of work, as described here, find that they are well prepared for the school-based exams and then the HSC external exams. They are therefore less stressed about things.

John O’Neill

Assistant Principal

Curriculum and Achievement

Friday 1 November – Year 9 Pastoral day

Graduation Mass

On Wednesday September 25 the College celebrated the graduation of our Year 12 cohort a special Mass in their honour. As a Catholic community, it is only right and fitting that we include our faith traditions when celebrating as one. The Mass was a reverent and prayerful ceremony carefully planned and prepared by Mrs Charlotte Nicoletti, Faith Formation Coordinator.  As is always the case with liturgies at Carroll College, the music was a highlight and once again our musicians, ably prepared by Mrs Teagan Lomax and Mrs Ros Maher, created a beautiful atmosphere that contributed to the overall quality of the service.  I would like to thank Parish Priest of Sacred Heart, Moruya, Fr Stephen Astill SJ for officiating the Mass and Fr Martins Aloga, Parish Priest of St Bernard’s, Batehaven for his on-point Homily.  Thank you to all the families who attended the Mass and supported their children in this important way.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

It might be hard to believe but Christmas is now only 9 weeks away!  Term 4 at Carroll College means a time when we focus on supporting our two local St Vincent de Paul Conferences in Batemans Bay and Moruya.

As in past years, we will once again be asking our families to support this effective organisation – an organisation that last year distributed almost 200 hampers to families in our local community.  The goods Carroll College donates helps to make up these hampers and once again St Vinnies needs our help.

Soon in Homerooms, students will be asked to donate a range of items. In order to get a wide variety of food items and gifts, each Homeroom will have a long list of suggested items from which to select. I ask that you please give generously and whatever you can to this appeal. Marie Weatherall, Vice President of the Batemans Bay Conference has offered some great advice when donating items for the Christmas Appeal.

Suitable and suggested food items include:

• large bottles of soft drinks
• Christmas Puddings
• Christmas Cakes
• tins of ham
• fruit mince tarts
• tins of fruit salad
• long life custard
• packets of jelly crystals
• large packets of chips
• Christmas biscuits, savoury biscuits
• party lollies

Note: SVdP cannot give out crushed biscuits or chips or melted chocolate.

Age-specific gifts can also be donated and are very much appreciated.  Things to keep in mind if you are donating a gift:

• SVdP are always short of gifts for older children girls/ boys age 9 - 16.
• SVdP like to give three quality gifts to each child/ teenager plus some fillers.

Note: gifts need to be new not second hand.

I hope the majority of our families are in a position to donate to the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal this year. It is a wonderful opportunity to truly live out our College theme for 2019, “Two are better than one...if either of them falls down, one can help the other up.”  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Erica Drewsen

Religious Education Coordinator

Faith Formation

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the Catholic Church. Most recently, over one billion Catholics across the world celebrated World Mission Sunday on 20 October. Pope Pius XI instituted this annual celebration 93 years ago in 1926. Every year since, the Church has dedicated the month of October to reflection on and prayer for missions.

According to Vatican Council II, the Church is “missionary in her very origin and nature”. Jesus was the first missionary. John 3:16 sums it up, “For God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life”.  

In his 2019 World Mission Sunday message, Pope Francis declares that, “the Church is on a mission in the world, Baptised and sent. This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptised man and woman is a mission.” Hence, Pope Francis calls on all Catholics and the Church to revive missionary awareness and commitment.

One practical way of fulfilling our mission is by living a truly Christian life. One filled with love, mercy, kindness, compassion and a forgiving spirit.

Secondly, on Sunday 13 October, Pope Francis canonised more Saints in Rome. One of these Saints was Cardinal John Henry Newman. Newman was a 19th-century theologian, poet, Catholic priest, and cardinal. Born in 1801, he was before his conversion a well-known and well-respected Oxford academic, Anglican preacher, and public intellectual.

Nearly two centuries ago, John Henry Newman was England’s most well-known Anglican priest, until he risked everything to become a Catholic. As Pope Francis named Cardinal John Henry Newman a saint, he told Catholics that the goal of life is a transforming encounter with Jesus.

Pope Francis read a quote from one of Newman’s sermons describing the holiness of daily life: “The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace, which the world sees not… The Christian is cheerful, easy, kind, gentle, courteous, candid, unassuming; has no pretence… with so little that is unusual or striking in his bearing, that he may easily be taken at first sight for an ordinary man.”

Along with Newman, Pope Francis canonized four women. Mother Mariam Thresia (1876-1926), Giuseppina Vannini (1859-1911), Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes (1914-1992) and Marguerite Bays (1815-1879).

Finally, All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on 1 November. All Saints' Day (officially the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows or Hallowmas), occurs the day after the secular holiday of Halloween. The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. 

Holy day customs vary around the world. One of the more familiar to us in Australia is the United States custom. The day before All Saints’ Day is Halloween, which is usually celebrated by dressing in costumes with themes of death commonly associated. Children go door-to-door in costume, trick-or-treating.

Because Halloween falls on a school day, the canteen will be selling various ‘fun’ foods to get into the spirit of the day.

The College will acknowledge the Solemnity of All Saints Day, Friday 1 November, during Morning Prayer.  

Fr. Francis Carroll … Pray for Us

Live Jesus in our Hearts … Forever   

Mrs Charlotte Nicoletti

Faith Formation Coordinator

What are we passionate about?

Enthusiasm is both infectious and an intensely self-aware experience. “Admitting you love something is a statement about yourself, and people respond to that part of you whichever way they choose.” The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek word meaning “full of God”. Ah, the power of words to capture significance.

Those of us who show enthusiasm for something can provoke trivialising attitudes. People with strong passion for something may be looked at askance. However, enthusiasm is better that apathy and indifference any day of the week.

It may seem easier to “chill out”, to seem to be indifferent to an event so not to set yourself up for disappointment. There is a theory of performance called “Attribution Theory”. It used to be applicable to adolescent males, in particular. It posits the idea that we often attribute success to fluking it and for “failure” to not trying (or at least not caring).  While that seems like a minor observation, it extends into many parts of life. Being enthusiastic without restraint is freeing and can help a person cultivate who they are and will become without excuses.

Enthusiasm is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children. It fosters a sense of purpose and achieving engagement with aspects of work and leisure are life-long bulwarks against scepticism and depression

Passionate people might turn their attention towards politics, social issues, or choose to champion a cause. These are your protesters, your revolutionary minds. Enthusiasm must be tempered with the recognition that others do not necessarily share our passions and so, empathy and sensitivity are oblate side of the enthusiasm coin.

“Life itself is difficult, and no one is always happy and positive. That is probably unhealthy and is not advisable. But it is necessary, in light of life’s pains and tragedies, to be able to express oneself fully without negotiation or fear.”

 Why does seeing someone enjoy something mean the/she are “out there?” The object of our enthusiasm is often problematic.  People who take issue with eagerness reveal more about themselves and their own cynicism. I guess it is valuable to be enthusiastic about something that betters our lives, which adds social capital to the very act of living. However, just perhaps, it is enough to show our passion about something of importance to us. In that way, we give others a glimpse of what inspires us. I know I wanted to be a teacher because of the enthusiasm of one English and Latin teacher I had in Years 9 and 0. I literally caught his passion for language and literature. Your own children learn the same way. What do they see you being enthusiastic about? It is such an important attribute to model in the home.

A research paper called Effect of Technology on Enthusiasm for Learning Science (June Hollis) showed that technology can really assist in fostering enthusiasm for the sciences, in particular. We should not be afraid of the internet as a portal to stimulate curiosity and real engagement with a concept or cause. Moderate use is always recommended though.

So do you as a parent foster a sense of purpose? Does your child believe in him/herself and what they do?  There are four "beliefs" which are well worth believing in to help maintain a positive attitude.

• Belief in God - This gives me purpose
• Belief in self - This gives me confidence
• Belief in others - This gives me relationships
• Belief in what I do - This gives me enthusiasm

“Life is simple in one respect, in that life is energy. It is our use of energy that has helped to create the circumstances that determines the situations we find ourselves living in. If we want to change our lives, we have to change our energy. Put a little more energy into your world. Let yourself get a little excited and your whole world can be changed (Edward Gifford)

References

1. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-importance-of-enthusiasm (Michaela McGrath)
2. Enthusiasm- The Gift that makes a difference (Edward Gifford) at http://on-purposepartners.com/Articles/Personal-Leadership-Life/Enthusiasm-%E2%80%93-The-Extra-that-Makes-a-Difference.html

Paul Cullen

paul.cullen@cg.catholic.edu.au

Sonia Pope
Classroom Teacher

The Variety Concert video has now been finalised and a link to download the file to those who have already purchased a copy will be emailed out. Wayne Foster is still accepting orders, so if you would like to order any song from the Variety Concert, please use the attached order form

Term 4 Fee Statements were emailed on 24 October with a due date of Friday 8 November. Thank you to those families who have already paid their fees.

If you are having any difficulties with fees, please contact the Business Manager Rhonda Forner or email: Rhonda.Forner@cg.catholic.edu.au