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Welcome to Term 1
PRAYER FOR RECOVERY
God our Father, in wisdom and love You created our Earth to sustain us and give us life.
You are the God of the plains, the hills, the rivers and the mountains of our country. We are subject to the whims and impulses of our natural world.
We turn to you now in these troubled times as we come to terms with the tragedies of the fires across our country.
We ask you to be with all victims, bring comfort, and hope to those who are suffering the loss of loved ones, animals, their homes and livelihoods.
As we start a new school year, continue to walk alongside the College community, help us to heal and look forward with renewed hope. We ask you to provide strength and endurance to all as we welcome back students and families who have experienced trauma and suffering throughout the holidays. Amen.
Dear Parents, Students and Friends
2020 College Theme:
“The future depends on what we do in the present” (Mahatma Gandhi). |
The start of this year has been like no other. I hope your family is recovering after the extraordinary circumstances we have faced. We experienced a most dangerous bushfire season that has seen destruction of exponential measure. The College staff continue to keep our families, students, and the broader community in our thoughts and prayers.
I appreciate that the coming weeks and months are going to present challenges. The reality is that every person has been affected in some way. The destruction of properties, livestock and native animals is widespread. I encourage you to go gently. Please know support is ongoing and close at hand.
Welcome
It has been a pleasure to support students on their return to the College as we commence the 2020 academic year. I particularly extend a warm welcome to our Year 7 students and families new to the College. The change and transition period can be a little daunting for students but I am very happy to report that we have enjoyed a positive start, despite the challenges. We also have a number of new students who have commenced in Years 8 – 10. Our current enrolment is 488 students.
It has also been my pleasure to welcome our new members of staff, Mr Michael Nicoletti (Xavier Pastoral Coordinator/TAS), Mr Gerard Simms (Science/Maths), Dr Nicola Fraser (English/Drama) and Ms Patricia Ellis (Aboriginal Education). A very warm welcome from the Carroll College community!
Staffing
Mrs Kym Millikin has returned full-time from maternity leave. Mrs Laura Wales is replacing Mrs Belle Barling for Term 1. Mrs Erica Drewsen is teaching part-time this year. Mrs Charlotte Nicoletti will be Religious Education Coordinator (Acting) for the year. In Term 1, Mrs Nicoletti will also take on the role of Faith Formation Coordinator (Acting) in Mrs Barling’s absence. Mrs Nicole Montgomery remains in a full-time temporary teaching capacity for the year, teaching Maths and Science.
Mrs Rita Cremerius will be continuing in the role of Classroom Support Assistant in 2020. Mrs Deanne Armaya will continue as Science Assistant.
K-12 Theme for 2020
At the end of last year, our K-12 Student Leadership Teams for 2020 met at Carroll College to decide on a theme for the year. The students focused on the charism of each school, who they are named after, and what it means to be part of a Catholic school community. Following a lot of discussion, the students decided on the theme highlighted above. Little did we know just how fitting this theme would be for the year.
Strategic Focus
Using data from NAPLAN, PAT Reading and Mathematics Assessments and Parent, Staff and Student Survey results, we have prioritised the following areas for improvement in 2020.
- Enhancing quality instruction informed by student data.
- Ensuring students can articulate their learning for each lesson.
- Improving feedback for students to improve their own learning.
K-12 Pathways
We continue to focus on developing opportunities for our K-12 Pathway schools, with the objective to improve student outcomes and provide South Coast families with a contemporary and high-quality Catholic education.
Yesterday, some of the Years 5 & 6 students from our Catholic feeder primary schools commenced an extension-learning program at the College in the area of Numeracy. Students worked with Maths Coordinator, Mrs Stacey Donoghue to extend their skills in thinking mathematically.
Carroll College, St Bernard’s and St Mary’s are adopting a new Maths Program called Maths Pathway. We are implementing the program this term with Year 7 students. Maths Pathway is an excellent resource that involves explicit teaching and differentiation, targeting teaching strategies in Mathematics to cater to individual student needs. I encourage you to have a look at the website https://mathspathway.com/our-model/ . Mrs Donoghue will communicate more information throughout the term.
We have much to look forward to as we move into the term. Please know the staff and I are available to assist in any way we can. Our priority at present is to ensure the wellbeing of your children as they return to a normal routine after such an unsettled and confronting holiday period.
With respect and encouragement to you,
Jacqueline Heffernan
Principal
Assistant Principal's Pastoral Care Report
Welcome to 2020. It is fantastic to welcome back the students to our College Community after the terrible tragedy that has impacted our community. One of the greatest strengths that our College has is how we pull together in times of great need. The parents, students and staff have been working together since we returned to ensure that we are all cared for, being looked after and asked, “Are you ok?”.
I attended an emergency Working with Youth meeting yesterday at Moruya. In attendance were government agencies, the Council, other education providers and support services. The focus was on looking forward and what can we do to support the young people and their families in the area.
The sense of a united front was very strong and the outcomes of the meeting were centred on actions around collaboration, united support and action. I will communicate more specific outcomes to the College community as they become clearer over time. Especially the long term support that is accessible to those in the community.
There is immediate support available for families and students. Mrs Heffernan has sent out information detailing support that is available for the College community during this crisis. Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you are concerned about student wellbeing. We have already touched base with a large number of students to check in on how they are travelling.
At Carroll College, we focus on the social, emotional, psychological, spiritual, moral and intellectual development of our students. Our students are supported and motivated to develop their strengths, to grow and learn from challenges and complexities, and to develop positive relationships as their foundation for learning. A commitment to fostering growth and enabling students to flourish underpins wellbeing at Carroll College. Teachers and the Pastoral Team work together to help students learn effectively and develop positive attitudes and behaviours.
To the families new to the College, I encourage you to make contact with your child’s Homeroom Teacher and Pastoral Coordinator. The key role of these people is to work alongside the students to ensure they can achieve positive learning outcomes. The contact details of the Pastoral Coordinator's are listed below:
Chisholm House - Melanie Price - mel.price@cg.catholic.edu.au
MacKillop House - Greg McAteer - greg.mcateer@cg.catholic.edu.au
Xavier House - Michael Nicoletti - michael.nicoletti@cg.catholic.edu.au
Pastoral House Assistant - Corrinne Dell - corrinne.dell@cg.catholic.edu.au
Wellbeing Coordinator - Tim Hodges - timothy.hodges@cg.catholic.edu.au
Nathan Mansfield
Assistant Principal
Pastoral Care
Welcome to the 2020 school year and a special welcome to all our new families to the College. I am pleased to say that the students have settled into classes extremely well considering the upheaval during the holidays and then the rains this week.
This year, the College will continue its focus on setting challenging Lesson Objectives with Success Criteria for each lesson. These are guidelines for the students so that they understand what is going to be covered in the lesson, as well as what is expected that they will be able to do by the end of the lesson. Students are encouraged to take ownership of their own learning and ensure that they walk out of each lesson having met the lesson objective, and if they cannot for any reason, they need to discuss this with their teacher. Please ask your child about how they have gone with reaching all their lesson objectives for the day.
This year we are making a change to how we collect data to report on student achievement. In the past, student achievement was based on their results in major assessment tasks, usually at the completion of a unit of work. This is called Assessment of Learning or Summative Assessment. This process has its merits, but it does not allow the students a chance to improve on their learning. Therefore this year, each KLA will develop several informal tasks around a particular outcome or outcomes and students will complete a task in class. Teachers will mark the task and give students feedback on things they did well and things they could improve upon. A couple of weeks later, the same outcome will again be “tested” to see if the students have taken on-board the feedback and improved their results. If time permits, this process will be repeated a third time. This is called Assessment for Learning or Formative Assessment. We believe that this process will give us better data to inform our award of final grades on student reports. Please see the following link for more information on this process on NESA’s website.
I encourage all parents to be active in their child’s learning. You can do this by asking about their day, what they learned, any challenges they faced and some highlights of the day. Please make contact with their teachers if you feel things are not going smoothly for any reason. The sooner we are aware of issues, the sooner we can address them. Our Parent Information Evenings are extremely important so that you hear first hand what the College is planning for your child’s year. Our Parent-Teacher evenings are also vitally important for you to discuss your child's learning with their teachers. Please make every effort to attend these events, with your child, so that we can work in a three-way partnership with you and your child in their learning. We have our Year 7 and a Year 11 Information Evening coming up on 24 February and our first Parent-Teacher evenings on 12 and 17 March.
As a College, we are very aware that students may have been adversely impacted by the fires, and we will endeavour to ensure all students are able to complete their learning tasks without disadvantage. For our senior students, we have been in contact with NESA about what provisions we can put in place to assist students to complete these very important years of schooling and we will apply these provisions where needed. Please encourage your child to speak with their teachers so that no one is missed out. An officer from NESA will be coming to the College to speak with staff and Year 12 students in Week 1 of next term. Another avenue of assistance is the Educational Access Scheme (EAS) run through the Universities Admission Centre (UAC). This scheme is designed for students who have experienced hardship during their senior years that have impacted their learning. If your child is thinking of applying for uni, I would encourage you to look into this scheme. More information can be found at
https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/scholarships-and-schemes/educational-access-schemes
If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at the College.
John O’Neill
Assistant Principal
Curriculum and Achievement
RE Matters!
Welcome to the 2020 school year. I am fortunate to be, once again, in the position of Religious Education Coordinator (Acting) for the year and Faith Formation Coordinator for Term One. I look forward to working alongside College staff, families and local parishes in the education of the students entrusted to our care. I would also like to offer my heartfelt thoughts and prayers to all affected by the recent fires.
In the 2019 final week of schooling, Carroll College hosted the K-12 Pathways Inaugural Leadership Meeting. Year 6 leaders from St Bernard’s and St Mary’s Primary Schools met with the leaders from Carroll to discuss and select a theme for the 2020 school year. After significant discussions, the group collated ideas and then elected the theme, “The future depends on what we do in the present”, by Mahatma Gandhi. This experience afforded our three school leaders to have a voice; the initiative is student lead and student centered. The theme selected expresses the student’s objective of inclusivity.
Stories throughout the Bible, from the New and Old Testament, speak to our chosen theme. From Genesis 41 Pharaoh’s Dream, where Pharaoh asks Joseph to interpret his dream and Joseph announces there will be 7 years of great abundance, followed by 7 years of famine. So, in the years of plenty prepare for the years of famine. In the Gospels, Jesus’ favourite way of teaching was to use parables. Jesus used these parables to talk about the Kingdom of God, and to illustrate how people should behave towards each other. The most famous of these is the Sermon on the Mount, in which he explained the key features of the Kingdom of God and the Christian way of life. “Do for others what you want them to do for you”. Therefore, to obtain life in heaven, be kind to others in the present. Treat others, regardless of who they are, how you want to be treated.
The New Year is well underway and thus the Liturgical Calendar of the Church is moving out of Ordinary Time and into the Season of Lent.
The season of Lent is a commemoration of Our Lord’s fast, which he undertook before entering into His public ministry. It was a time of preparation for the tremendous mission, which lay before Him. To do this, he denied Himself food and water during those forty days and nights, relying instead only on God (with whom He was One) to sustain Him. On 18 November 1966, the National Conference of Bishops, in keeping with the letter and spirit of Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Constitution published Catholic fasting requirements. It was made clear that as Catholics we are bound by obligation to fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday. We also abstain from meat each Friday, because it was on Friday that our Lord died for our sins. Every Friday offers us a day to prepare for Sunday – the Glorious day of the Lord!
Carroll College will unite with the worldwide Christian Community and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and each Friday during the Lenten period. There will be no meat sold at the canteen on these days and in an expression of solidarity, I encourage the community to join us and refrain from meat on Ash Wednesday, 26 February, and each Friday in the Lenten period. Lent concludes Easter Sunday. Easter as a Christian feast celebrates the event, which shows us there is hope, no matter how troubled our lives may become.
Since Easter represents the fulfilment of God’s promises to humankind, it is the most important feast in the Church’s year. Throughout Lent, the Carroll College community will once again participate in the Lenten fundraiser Project Compassion. Project Compassion is one of the largest humanitarian fundraising and awareness raising campaigns delivered by Caritas Australia, the international aid and development agency of the Catholic Church. The theme for Project Compassion in 2020 is Global Community – Go Further Together.
Australia will share with its supporters six stories of its work in global communities. The stories highlight the journey of going further together in the lives of people of all ages. The stories come from a range of countries including the Philippines, Cambodia, Malawi, India, Papua New Guinea and Australia.
In week one we hear from Shirley, 36, an indigenous Manide woman living in a remote province of the Philippines.
She is a mother of four and the sole breadwinner of the family, as her husband is sick. But Shirley was struggling to support the whole family and keep her children in school. With Caritas Australia’s support, Shirley trained to become an indigenous health worker and a leader in her community. She has learned to supplement her income and is able to feed her family. The program has also helped Shirley’s children with school fees, uniforms and supplies.
Finally, our Caritas partners around the world are concerned about the bush fires in Australia and are praying for us. The following message from Caritas Bangladesh was received a few weeks ago:
“We would like to express our solidarity with our Caritas Australia family in these times of extreme trials. Our heart goes out to the people who have been affected with the devastation (of the fires) and pray to the Almighty that they are able to find the strength to cope with the situation”.
Fr Francis Carroll … Pray for Us
Live Jesus in Our Hearts … Forever
Charlotte Nicoletti
Religious Education Coordinator / Faith Formation Coordinator
IMPORTANT DATES FOR TERM 1
Monday 24 February – Year 7 Welcome Evening
Monday 24 February – Year 11 Information Evening
Tuesday 25 February – Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival
Wednesday 26 February – Ash Wednesday
Wednesday 4 to Friday 6 March – Year 7 and 11 Peer Support Camp
Friday 6 March – Activities Day
Thursday 12 March – Parent Teacher Interviews
Tuesday 17 March – Parent Teacher Interviews
Thursday 19 March – Year 7 Immunisations
Tuesday 24 March to Friday 26 March – NAPLAN Readiness Tests
Thursday 9 April – Easter Service
Thursday 9 April – Term 1 Ends
For more information on College events and other calendar dates, please visit Sentral.
Congratulations to Amelia Harding who participated in the Surf Life Saving Country Championships earlier this year in Queensland.
The Guardian By Skye Wildman (Year 8)
‘CRAACK!’ A crooked line shot through a small silver egg. ‘CRAAK-A-CRACK!” Out hatched a silvery purple dragon. The baby blinked her eyes in the new light as a tall shadowy figure made its way towards her.
It spoke, “Twilight, you are the new Guardian of the Door of Space and Time. You must protect it”. The figure handed Twilight a sceptre much too big for her size. ‘BANG’ a Red Angry Demon smashed the door. Twilight lifted her new sceptre and fought the Demon away.
Twilight was now the Guardian of the Door, NO-ONE has escaped her watch since…
Magic By Ella Elwes (Year 8)
The girl sits at the desk with her pink hair falling into her face. On the desk was a leather bound notebook filled to the brim with writing. The girl couldn’t help it. She began to grow weary and her head fell down onto the desk as she fell asleep.
If she had stayed up longer she would have noticed the fairy with its glittering wings perched on the window sill waiting to be let in by the mortal girl. For the girl was different, despite her classmates' words of her being useless. She had magic; she was a witch.
Aboriginal Contact Centre News
Welcome to 2020!
It’s been a rocky start to the year for a lot of our families. We hope that everyone was safe during the fires and more recent rain we have had. Mrs Katuke and Mrs Davis would like to welcome all of our new Indigenous students to the College. We look forward to getting to know all of you.
The Aboriginal Contact Centre has had a refurbishment over the break with new carpet and the walls being painted. It is looking very nice and bright for the new school year.
This term, we also introduce our Dhurga lessons which will run every Friday in the College. We would like to welcome Trish Ellis to our team and we look forward to her teaching our students the local language.
Catherine Davis
Aboriginal Education Assistant
Welcome to 2020! We welcome back our returning scientists. We welcome our new scientists. We welcome back Mrs Kym Millikin to the Science team and we welcome Mr Gerard Simms to the Science team, teaching junior Science and senior Physics. We welcome Mrs Deanne Armaya who will be continuing in the role of Science Assistant after joining us late last year.
Science is the most exciting subject because the pace of scientific discovery increases every year and Australian scientists are at the forefront of scientific discovery. The coronavirus spread quickly from late last year and it was by the end of January, approximately 8 weeks, that Australian scientists had the virus copied and were well on the way to developing a vaccine for the world with an ambitious 16-week deadline for full-scale production. It wasn’t too long ago that this response and vaccine technology would take years to develop. Now, it takes mere weeks and Australian scientists are the people who can do it. There is a great and exciting future for our students who choose to follow their interest in and passion for the study of Science and the Carroll College Science team is very excited and honoured to be able to guide, advise, assist and teach the next generation of Australian scientists.
In line with the whole College formative assessment initiative, Science is implementing a new Scope and Sequence for Years 7-10 Science and new formative assessment procedures. The concept is to give students multiple opportunities to explicitly improve their Knowledge And Understanding and to continually develop their Working Scientifically Skills. Students improve by responding positively to teacher feedback so the new procedures provide multiple opportunities for informal assessment of Knowledge And Understanding and Skills and consequently, multiple opportunities to receive feedback to improve.
Each unit in Years 7-10 starts with a Knowledge And Understanding pre-test which is an end-point test for the unit of work. The pre-test lets each student know their starting point for the unit of work and it guides teachers in knowing areas of strength and weakness for each student at the start of each unit of work. The same test is given as a post-test at the conclusion of each unit of work and the goal for students is to ensure that they improve upon their pre-test score in the post-test. Constant revision of Knowledge And Understanding outcomes and content as the unit of work unfolds is essential for students to improve. Please ensure that your child is revising regularly at home.
Each unit has a Focus Skill that relates to one of the six Working Scientifically Skills areas in the syllabus. Over the four years of 7-10 Science study, the Skills will be developed and practised many times to help students have all the skills necessary to be successful in the Stage 6 Science courses. The Focus Skill in each unit will be assessed three times and feedback will be given to help students improve their grade for the skill each time. Another benefit of this system is that if students miss an assessment opportunity during the unit of work, they still have other opportunities to be assessed and develop.
Every student now has a Unit Overview that provides key information about each unit of work. The Unit Overview is glued into student books and it includes Inquiry Questions, Learning Outcomes, Vocabulary and Focus Skills. Please have a look at your child’s book so you are fully informed about the units of work they are studying in Science. There are multiple opportunities for students to bring all their scientific inquiry skills together. Each term, students will complete a scientific investigation to answer an Inquiry Question from the unit of work. Also, each term they will receive a book grade to ensure that their books and notes remain high quality and a useful work product that can help them learn.
We have kept some favourite assessment tasks in the Science program that have proven to be powerful assessment tasks over time. Year 8 will still be completing the Rockets Students Research Project. Year 9 will be completing the Independent Student Research Project and the Climate Change Matrix. Year 10 will be completing the Genetics Matrix. All year groups will be completing a Yearly Exam because exams are still an important end-point in our education system.
Please see the attached documents in the Newsletter to view the Scope And Sequence for each year group. Within each year group, we are backing units of work on to different classes so there are two Scope And Sequences for each year group.
I understand that a lot of information has been given to you here and you may have many questions about the Formative Assessment Initiative and our new assessment procedures in Science. Please feel free to email me or phone me to ask your questions and seek clarification. Through open communication and a shared understanding, we are more able to work in partnership to achieve the best outcomes for all of our students and your children. I would like to thank the Science Team and the Curriculum Leadership Team who have worked extremely hard to develop the Formative Assessment Initiative.
All the best for a wonderful 2020! It has been a harrowing start for many but we strongly hope and pray that the year will become more and more positive. Look out for and take note of all the amazing Science achievements that will happen this year.
Mr Wayne Foster
Science Coordinator
Finance Update
Due to the Bushfires, delays have been experienced with our Finance System. As a result, we expect to email Family Fee Statements in the coming weeks. We thank you for your patience and understanding while we get back on track.
If you have been affected by the Bushfires please contact Jacqui Heffernan, Principal. For any other information about fee assistance, please contact Rhonda Forner, Business Manager. Please note that all information is treated confidentially.
The 2020 Fee Schedule is available from the College Website along with a Fee Calculator to assist with understanding fee payment schedules. For any other finance queries, please contact the College by phone 4471 5600 or via email finance.ccb@cg.catholic.edu.au
Contact Details
Business Manager - Rhonda Forner E: Rhonda.forner@cg.catholic.edu.au
Fees and Finance Officer - Dalys Whipp E: Dalys.whipp@cg.catholic.edu.au
Finance Administration - Lyndall McCarthy E: Lyndall.mccarthy@cg.catholic.edu.au
Finance and Maintenance - Marina Hanson E: Marina.hanson@cg.catholic.edu.au