Filter Content
Dear Parents, Students and Friends
200 years of Catholic Education in Australia
The official launch of the Bicentenary of Catholic Education in Australia is occurring in each state and territory this month. As the year progresses, there will be opportunities to mark the 200 year anniversary of Catholic Education in Australia. Recently the Archdiocese celebrated with Mass at St Christopher’s Cathedral, Manuka. You can view the Mass here which was celebrated by Archbishop Christopher Prowse.
Today, there are 1,751 Catholic schools educating 768,000 students and employing 98,000 staff. Nearly 40 per cent of Catholic schools are located outside of metropolitan cities in regional, rural, and remote communities. Carroll College is proud to be contributing to the Catholic tradition of delivering high-quality, faith-based education. Our graduates are strong individuals who care deeply about the world and its people, and the contributions they make to all facets of society.
Today, school communities were invited to 'Take Action Together' alongside more
than 60% of Australian schools for the 11th National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. Carroll College takes bullying seriously, providing students with the necessary skills, strategies, and understandings to recognise what bullying is, how to report it, and where to get help. Our aim is to bring student voice to the forefront. In encouraging students to join the conversation, we aim to empower individuals to speak out and name the behaviours that concern them. Providing a safe and supportive network at the College is our priority for all students.
This morning in Homeroom, all students took part in a ‘Snapshot’ 2021 survey created by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) as part of the acknowledgement of the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. The SLT with the support of our Pastoral Coordinators are keen to gather reliable data to analyse current behavioural patterns within the College. This information will be collated and actions will follow to better support the needs of students across Years 7-12.
Underpinning all that we do in relation to responding to inappropriate behaviours is our Catholic ethos that shapes what we value and the way we care for one another in our day-to-day interactions at the College.
I sometimes hear comments from parents and students around Religious Education and the compulsory nature of RE as an area of study at Carroll College. Why do students need to study Religious Education for HSC? How’s RE going to benefit my child later in life? Another subject could be more beneficial for HSC… and it goes on! Put quite simply, our Catholic faith and traditions are nurturing gifts from within. We are developing every child to be a better human being as they move through the College to adulthood. If this isn’t our goal as parents and teachers, we have missed the mark altogether! Gifts such as charity, authenticity, mercy, honesty, humility, loyalty, patience, understanding, courage, kindness, compassion, and respect are fundamental to our everyday work. These gifts are the touchstones that link directly to our expectations around behaviour and conduct. They are developed over time, modelled explicitly, and central to what we stand for as a Catholic community. At Carroll College, we don’t talk about bullying and violence without reference to the Christian message of love and acceptance of one another, promoting respect, inclusion, diversity, equality, and human dignity.
Our acts of kindness, good humour and gratitude, our moments of conscious
restraint, our willingness to forgive, compromise and tolerate, our confident
acceptance that sometimes our agenda will not prevail: these are all ways to
express and develop the deepest levels of appreciation that are in our hearts.
These are ways of saying
YOU MATTER.
(Dowrick. 2011. Everyday Kindness. P. 42)
With respect and encouragement to you.
Jacqueline Heffernan
Principal
Assistant Principal Pastoral Care Report
An important aspect of Pastoral Care here at the College is to be proactive in how we respond to the wellbeing needs of our students. Together with the teachers, both homeroom and class, we monitor the presenting student issues and offer guidance and support. At times we will access external resources to ensure that our students are receiving information from specialised guest speakers.
This week, we invited Senior Constable Donna-Marie Clarke School Liaison Officer from the Youth & Crime Prevention Command South Coast PD to speak with Years 7 and 8 about a range of topics. Each Year group spent a lesson covering issues surrounding transport, social media use, smoking/vaping and negative behaviour which can lead to bullying. If you have a child in these Year groups, please have a conversation with them about the information that was shared and how they related to this. In future weeks the older years will also be able to access this information.
Headspace is an Australian non-profit organisation for youth mental health established by the Australian Government in 2006. Currently, there are 100 offices around Australia and by the middle of 2021 this will expand to 150. Our local community is lucky enough to have a new office that has opened in Batemans Bay. Over two days staff from Headspace presented a 90-minute presentation to all year groups. Students are now fully aware of the services that are offered and they have an increased awareness of the importance of monitoring their own mental health and well-being and how to support their friends and family. Here at the College students also have access to our Counsellor, Naomi Bee. If parents and students would like to access this valuable service, please contact the College for more details.
Eurobodalla Council continues to provide the youth of the region with a range of activities for them to develop their skills and have social activities to enjoy. At the recent Youth Advisory meeting, we were informed about the ‘Headspace on Tour’ event sponsored by St Vincent de Paul. Details about this event on Saturday 20 March can be found on the social media page @ headspace_batemansbay.
Youth Week preparations are in full swing especially for the event on Saturday 24 April at Riverside Park in Moruya. Carroll College students have entered the Battle of the Bands and our Youth representatives have volunteered to help run this free event for all ages. If families would like to attend then bookings can be made via Eventbrite.com.au
Eurobodalla Employment Revolution is a job creation project funded by two Departments of the Australian Government. The aim is to connect businesses with young job seekers looking for training, apprenticeships, and jobs. A visit to the Council website would be worth a look.
Another innovative program aimed to assist young people to obtain their driver's license is available. This program also offers interested experienced drivers an opportunity to be a driving mentor in one of the Council provided cars. Y drive is the program which has extended funding till 2026. If you have any disadvantaged people struggling to do the necessary 120hours to obtain their Provisional Licence, go straight to the Council website to complete an online form.
Y drive learner driver program | Eurobodalla Shire Council (nsw.gov.au) Council is also developing a program to support participants to get their L’s. If you have any people needing support in this area please register your interest at the same website link.
Every year Council needs Mentors to help our Learners so if you have family or friends who are able to volunteer their time of 2-4hrs per week and love driving, please direct them to Y drive learner driver program | Eurobodalla Shire Council (nsw.gov.au)
Chisholm – corrinne.dell@cg.catholic.edu.au
MacKillop – Greg.mcateer@cg.catholic.edu.au
Xavier – karen.lyttle@cg.catholic.edu.au
Assistant Principal - Pastoral - louise.ibbett@cg.catholic.edu.au
Louise Ibbett
Assistant Principal- Pastoral
Year 3 Reconciliation Day and Peer Ministry
Today, students in Mrs Karen Lyttle’s Year 9 Religious Education class facilitated the Reconciliation Retreat Day held at the College. Year 3 students from St Bernard’s and St Mary’s are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and part of this preparation involves attending a day to explore the theme of forgiveness and repentance. Below are some excerpts from the student booklet.
The Year 9 Youth Ministry class has been busy preparing for the day, creating resources, developing dramas and debriefs, and generally learning how to lead such an event. Our Youth Minister, Liarna Miller, has been working closely with the students and has been here today to lend a hand. I thank Liarna for all her help with the Year 9 class in particular.
Peer Ministry is an important and valued part of the Religious Education curriculum. It is a key element of our K-12 Pathways and is an effective and meaningful way of building a sense of community across the three schools. This peer ministry event provided an opportunity for students to demonstrate their leadership, organisational skills and ability to work in a team environment.
Thank you to Mrs Belle Barling for writing the program for the day and preparing many of the resources and Mrs Karen Lyttle for ensuring her class was ready to lead the day.
Erica Drewsen
Religious Education Coordinator
Year 10 Formation Day
During Activities Week, Year 10 students participated in their annual Formation Day. The theme of this day, ‘Who is Your Neighbour?’ explored the very important issue of bullying, looking at the impact this can have on individuals, their families, and the broader community, and considered how they can be “a neighbour” and support those suffering from bullying.
During this day, students viewed the eye-opening US documentary Bully which follows the lives of five students who are bullied, over one school year. This confronting documentary encouraged very positive discussion on how we, as a school community, can help eliminate bullying at Carroll College.
Small group sessions explored this issue further. One of the activities students participated in was the creation of a pledge wall. Each student made a pledge about how they would help eliminate bullying in our school or support those being bullied. These pledges will be displayed this Friday as one of our initiatives for the National Day Against Bullying.
Belle Barling
Faith Formation Coordinator
In Commemoration for the fallen...
On the 15th of February 1942, the remains of the British and Commonwealth forces that had fought valiantly through the Malayan campaign surrendered to the advancing Japanese forces in Singapore. This is marked as one of the worst military defeats for the British Empire, with the loss of over 7,000 lives and the capture of over 130,000 allied soldiers, 15,000 of that being Australian who would go on to endure horribly under Japanese occupation. Now 79 years later, we commemorate the sacrifice these men and women made at the Australian War Memorial.
Along with myself and Wing Commander Garth Andrews from the RAAF, we laid a wreath, remembering the No. 1 Squadron RAAF that suffered the first Australian casualties during the Second World war, flying Lockheed Hudson's over Singapore. My Great Uncle James Francis McGrath, was killed in action on the 15th, only hours before the surrender.
We thank them for their sacrifice, Lest We Forget.
Nathaniel Traynor
Year 11 Student
The date was March 3rd... Year 7 and 11 students congregated at the front of the College. The challenge? Preparing the bus for its departure to a 3 day getaway at Bendalong. Unfortunately the Year 7 students and a group of Year 11 students were delayed because one of the buses broke down, an untimely inconvenience. After the remaining Year 11 students re-packed the new bus, everyone who hadn’t departed already was eager to be leaving for the most important stop in the journey… Maccas!
Once we arrived at Bendalong we hastily set up camp. We had arrived later than expected so it was more of a challenge to set-up tents in the dark, however, they were put up very efficiently so the Year 7 students had ample time to play Battle for Bendalong. The Battle for Bendalong is a thrilling game for the Year 7s to participate in after a long trip up. They spent over an hour chasing each other in the dark with flashlights up and down the beach. The students were divided into their respective house groups with the goal of stealing the most tags and cones from the opposing teams then successfully making it back to their base. By the end of the night, a winning team was announced... Chisholm! However, there was a sudden change of events - Xavier and Mackillop had made a treaty and combined their points together to overthrow the treacherous opposing team.
After the game, the Year 7’s settled into bed, closely followed by the Year 11 leaders. We had all settled into bed and prepared ourselves for a night of rest. The night was peaceful, with Mr Tim Hodges saying, “I had a fantastic night’s sleep. One of the best I’ve ever had on camp.”
In the morning, our Year 11 chefs (under the guidance of Mrs Dalgleish) cooked a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs for everyone, before each group started their first activity. The groups competed against each other in a variety of activities. The main events involved Drama & Theatre Games, Scavenger Hunts, a Sandcastle Building Competition and Bondi Rescue. Each activity was designed to help encourage team spirit and to build teamwork as well as individuality for the Year 7 students. Ms Sonia Pope encouraged the students to run around and not be confined to their comfort zones with her fun and exciting theatre sports. The scavenger hunt helped increase observational skills and boost teamwork. Building Sandcastles was a fun and engaging way to compete against each other using STEM skills. Finally, Bondi Rescue required students to practise their essential rescue skills. This last activity allowed students to swim and run as well as learn important skills for time at the Beach.
Throughout the day the groups had also been working on short, parody advertisements. Each group was given two random objects and had to make these two objects into an interesting, unrelated product to sell. Each group did something completely different, and there was a wide variety of enjoyable elements such as jingles, humour and audience engagement. Afterwards, the teams competed in an intense game of trivia. The prevailing team was certainly an unexpected twist, the pseudo-team that was comprised of photographers and chefs won!
Day 3 was a day to relax after the enjoyable, albeit exhausting, activities of the day before. Everyone went down to the beach for the final competition... a Sand Sculpture competition. Everyone’s creativity was turned up to 11. Sculptures were made of mermaids, islands, animals, a massive hand and even a couch for Mr Hodges to relax into. After this, we all relaxed and ate before packing up our tents and equipment. The buses were packed, and once everyone made their way onto the buses the camp had concluded.
Due to the incredible effort put in by all the staff we had chaperoning us throughout the days, we were able to have an amazing time full of memorable moments for the Staff, Year 11 students and most importantly, the Year 7 students.
Written by Sam Bath
Edited by Tāne Simons
Chief Photographer: Tāne Simons
Assistant Photographer: Sam Bath
First Aid Course – VET students
Week 7 of Term 1 provided the Year 11 students undertaking VET courses the opportunity to take on the First Aid Course competency as part of their training packages for their respective courses. Students were educated and demonstrated CPR skills, bleeding management, basic first aid for burns and broken bones and many other common first aid situations. Students undertook a knowledge test at the end of the day.
Construction
Another term is nearing the end for our VET Construction Pathway students. Our Year 11’s gained an understanding of the importance of WHS and are able to identify industry structure, occupations, job roles and work conditions. These initial units form the foundation for future pathway development. The first basic skills project is underway and will be completed in around two weeks. These students gained skills in technical drawing, measuring and marking out, chiselling, drilling, routing and planing.
Our Year 12’s formed up a concrete slab ready for pouring after the Easter break. During this time, they gained skills in excavation, levelling, quoting and costing, including further understanding of construction materials and power tools.
We are looking forward to our visit to the new Batemans Bay Bridge which has been facilitated by John Holland Group. Students will have the opportunity to speak with industry representatives and ask questions about potential pathways in civil construction.
Jason Szkwarek
TAS/Construction Teacher
Strictly Ballroom
Meet the Character – Shirley
What has been your favourite part about playing Shirley and being involved in the school musical so far?
My favourite part about playing Shirley is how crazy she can be and how much fun she is all around.
Our College Musical, Strictly Ballroom is scheduled to show Week 10, Term 2.
Term 1 fee statements were emailed on Friday 12 February with a due date of Friday 5 March. Thank you to families who have made payments. Any recent payments will be receipted shortly.
The 2021 Fee Schedule is now available on the Carroll College website – Enrolment/Fees. In this section of the website, there is also a Fee Calculator to assist families in managing their school fee payments.
Currently enrolled families facing significant financial difficulty are able to apply for fee assistance. Fee assistance is income based and requires supporting documentation. You may be asked to meet to discuss aspects of your application and will be required to provide supporting documentation. Fee assistance can include:
- a payment plan (extends the payment period to 12 months and commits families to make ongoing payments to pay off school fees by the end of the school year)
- an extended payment plan (extends the payment period to greater than 12 months and commits families to make ongoing payments to pay off school fees over an approved, extended period of time)
- Fee Concession – partial reduction of fees and payment plan
- Fee Concession – full reduction of fees
Fee assistance is an annual application process based on your circumstances. In some situations, any reductions may be reviewed on a term by term basis, which would then require separate applications including supporting documentation at the start of each term. Where your circumstances improve during the school year, the College relies on families to get in touch, so that your fee assistance can be adjusted accordingly and the College is able to provide support to other families requiring assistance.
Government grants provide part of the funding required to operate the College. The balance of operating costs are funded through school fees. The ongoing operations of the College are dependent on parents paying the required level of fees. Every effort will be made by the College to recover fees from parents who are deemed to have the capacity to pay fees.
On the basis of the information provided in the Fee Assistance Form, the Fees Committee will determine an appropriate level of fee support based upon guidelines agreed to by Catholic Education Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn and Carroll College. The Fee Committee reviews fee assistance applications once per term, in the latter half of the term. Applicants will be then be advised of the outcome via email and letter. Please sign a copy of this letter and return via return envelope to the College. Following receipt of signed agreement letter, the concession will then be applied to your fees. Where you are granted a partial reduction in school fees with a payment plan, it is necessary that you commit to maintaining your payment plan. Where you are on a payment plan or extended payment plan, it is important to maintain those ongoing payments. If you need to change your payment plan arrangements, please get in touch with College as soon as practicable.
All information is treated and maintained confidentially.
If you require fee assistance, please contact Rhonda Forner, Business Manager by email at Rhonda.Forner@cg.catholic.edu.au
Rhonda Forner
Business Manager
Access to Bushfire Support
Given the challenges that 2020 has presented, there are many avenues for support. These are listed below to provide some assistance.
Bushfire Support
The National Bushfire Recovery Agency is able to provide assistance to individuals and families, businesses, not for profits, primary producers – everyone in our community. Their website address is: https://www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/
For support – relating to Bushfires, drought, flood and/or Covid-19 for individuals and families:
https://www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/recovery-assistance/combined-individuals-and-families
For small business and not for profits support relating to Bushfires, drought, flood and/or Covid-19:
https://www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/recovery-assistance/combined-small-business
For well-being and mental health support:
https://www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/recovery-assistance/families-individuals/mental-health
Bushfire Specific Assistance
Type |
Website |
Closes |
Useful Contacts |
https://www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/key-contacts
|
|
Recovery Support Officer |
https://www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/find-recovery-support-officer or email |
Ongoing |
Property Cleanup |
https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/register-opt-nsw-bushfire-clean |
Ongoing |
Primary Producer |
https://www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/recovery-assistance/small-business/primary-producer-factsheet |
Ongoing |
COVID 19 Financial Survival Guide
Please be aware that you are not alone and there are resources available to assist you and your family at this time. Listed below are some of those resources for information.
https://ndh.org.au/debt-problems/covid19/
Recent changes to Jobkeeper can be found at:
https://www.ato.gov.au/general/jobkeeper-payment/
Information on Jobseeker can be found at:
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/jobseeker-payment
Changes to Government Assistance:
https://ndh.org.au/debt-solutions/covid-19-changes-government-assistance/
Financial Institution Support during Covid19
Financial Institutions are also offering a range of assistance to account holders, homeowners and businesses. Please enquire with your financial institution to access financial support such as:
- Suspending payments on credit cards and personal loans
- Reduce interest rates on home loans/suspending or deferring home loan repayments/loan variations/reducing loan interest rates
- Loans and support for small business
- Loan extensions/deferrals.
Westpac
https://www.westpac.com.au/help/disaster-relief/coronavirus/?pid=iwc:sr:support_2003:covid:
NAB
https://www.nab.com.au/personal/customer-support/covid19-help?own_cid=MH20012
St George
ME Bank
https://www.mebank.com.au/support/coronavirus-information/
ANZ
https://www.anz.com.au/promo/covid-19/
Commonwealth Bank
https://www.commbank.com.au/latest/support-for-home-loan-customers.html?ei=pers_HL
Teachers Mutual Bank
https://www.tmbank.com.au/about/member-news/2020/coronavirus?icn=corona2020&icd=hpnews2
ING Bank
Scams during Coronavirus
Please be aware that there are some financial scams relating to Coronavirus. These may be in the form of text messages, emails or phone calls. The best approach is to not provide any of your financial information. If you suspect you have been contacted as part of a scam, you can report it to scamwatch – scamwatch.com.au/report-a-scam and the police.
For additional support, other services available include:
Beyond Blue
Life Line
When finalising payments on Qkr, please make sure to finalise anything that is in the cart on the top right hand corner. If the cart is not empty and you do not have a receipt, this means the payment and consent has not been finalised. This includes any events or excursions that only require permission (eg. swimming consent notes). Once you have signed the permission note you will still need to ‘checkout’ at the end of the process to ensure the permission note is finalised. Thank you!
Qkr! Is our preferred payment option. If you need help using this app, please contact the Office on 44 715600.
Entries for the annual Mayor's Writing Competition are now open
Each year, young authors between 5 and 18 can submit an original work in any style of creative writing.
Find out more information or how to enter on the Mayor's Writing Competition page.
Again this year, to encourage creative and original work, there is no set theme, which gives entrants the freedom to write about any topic of their choosing. We encourage the addition of drawings and illustrations to complement these creative works.