Newsletter Term 2, Week 8 2021

Dear SJC Families and Friends

On Friday last week, our College was able to celebrate another of our cherished community days; the College Athletics Carnival. For any organisation to function at a high level, community and connection are key elements to success. When a member of a community feels a greater connection to that organisation, they will want to work to attain their best not just for themselves, but for those they share time, space, resources, and experiences with. 

The Athletics Carnival, along with our Swimming, Cross Country, and St Joseph's Day, is but another opportunity for students to connect on a greater level with each other and the staff they work so closely within a casual and friendly setting. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the students who attended the day and who tried so hard to gain points for their house. Well done to Hanly House who came away as the winners from the day and to Ms Madeline Ilic and her team who did such a great job in organising and running the carnival. 

Student Wellbeing (Pulse Check-in)

For the past six weeks, the College has engaged with an external provider (Pulse) to ensure our students have the chance to pass comment on their social and emotional wellbeing. Each student is sent an email link every Thursday morning where they are presented with five randomised questions relating to the many facets of their lives. There is also an option for students to rate their overall state of wellbeing and if they indicate they are not doing well, they are asked to nominate a staff member they can with whom they would like to speak. 

We have now amassed a large amount of data relating to the wellbeing of our students and have had close to 20 students across the previous six weeks indicate they require some intervention. In a society where mental health is one of our biggest and most prevalent health concerns, we are glad we have used this tool to ensure students who may have otherwise not said a word or sought help for their current state have reached out and received a helping hand. This process will continue into Term 3 as we continue to seek ways of supporting our students to attain the fullness of life. A snip of the information we receive can be seen below. 

Family Evenings

On Wednesday, May 26, we were privileged to have over 190 people attend the first of our Year 7 Family Evenings for the year. This followed on from our two very successful Year 7 Evenings that were run in 2020 prior to the pandemic putting a stop to any further such events. The purpose of the night was to provide a chance for families to strengthen connections with those other parents and carers with whom they will journey for the next six years as they accompany their children through to graduation in 2026. There was also the chance to come to better know our staff who so kindly gave of their time and attended the evening prior to engaging in a community conversation facilitated by Janita Thomson from the CSO as part of our 'Better Together Project' partnership. 

What the very large group was able to do by the end of the evening was produce a list of attributes and qualities they hoped to see in their children by the time they completed their schooling at SJC. This information, like it was in 2020, will be shared with the Year 7 families as a reminder of our collective end goal. I would like to thank all who attended the evening and I look forward to seeing many of our Year 8 families for a meal and conversation tonight (June 7). 

Student Attendance

I would like to impress upon all families the importance of a student's attendance rate being of a high percentage. Legislative requirements of all children under the age of 17 being obligated to attend school aside, students who attain high attendance rates will be happier, more connected and achieve to their highest ability. Whilst there are legitimate reasons students cannot attend school, and for some sadly, this means long-term absences, too many students appear to take days off school as they please. 

The role of the parent and carer in this situation is vital. It is human nature that at times, we may not wish to fulfil our prescribed obligations, be they school, work, university, or other commitments. However, they are obligations and as such, we have a duty to live out. Please ensure that when your child is required to stay at home, the reasons for doing so are legitimate and can be validated. If you are seeing concerning trends appear in your child's behaviours relating to school attendance, please contact the College for help. This edition of SchoolTV explores the issue of School Refusal and how families can deal with such situations. 

Child Protection Issues

The goal of every school is to ensure the safety of the students entrusted to them. St Joseph's College is no different and it is important that all families are aware of the Child Protection Policies and practices that exist in an attempt to safeguard all students who not only wear our uniform but are in our society. Please take a moment to peruse the documents and resources found at this link. If you ever have any concerns or queries regarding the practices that exist or information relating to a situation you may be privy to, please contact the College immediately. 

Mobile Phone Use Survey

I would like to thank the families who have so far submitted responses to the survey we recently shared with the SJC community. We are currently spending time analysing the responses and will take these into consideration as we move forward. Our goal at the College is to always ensure that all elements of what we do ensure that our students remain safe and well and that they are provided with the best possible learning opportunities available. Information relating to the survey will be shared with families in my next newsletter article. 

Kind regards

Mr Scott Thomson
Principal

This year's Talent Show is coming soon!

Welcoming families and friends of the SJC community 

Wednesday 23 June, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Cost: Gold coin at the door

Sausage sizzle and snacks available at intermission 

Proceeds will go towards the Jensen family 

Athletics Carnival Results

Congratulations to HANLY who were crowned HOUSE CHAMPIONS at our Athletics Carnival on Friday.

HANLY - 1337
REYNOLDS - 1141
DALTON - 1098
HOADE - 1088

Students who attended the carnival clearly had a fun filled day at our Circus-themed carnival as seen in the photos below whilst participating in the variety of championship and novelty events with their friends and housemates.

A big thank you to the House Captains and other Year 12 students who came to school early in the morning to help set up the carnival.

Congratulations to all Age Champions on their success at the carnival with a special mention to Lacey Bennet (Year 7) who was the recipient of the ‘Billy Hardy Memorial Shield’ earning a massive 84 points throughout the carnival. Congratulations also goes out to Aiden Watts who won the ‘Serone Sprint’, which is a 100m handicap race of our best eight sprinters from the carnival, held at the end of the day.

A reminder that competitors who placed 1st or 2nd in a championship event are eligible to compete at the Diocesan Carnival on Thursday 12 August in Coffs Harbour.

Ms Madeline Ilic
Coordinator of Sport

Creative Artist of the Week

Artist: Amelie Diver

Year 9 Visual Arts student

Title: “Figure in the Environment”

Media: Acrylic Paint

My painting is Renaissance-themed, which is a topic I have been studying in Year 9 Visual Arts over the past term. Our brief was to complete a Renaissance-style painting, with the topic of, 'Figure in the Environment'. This meant it had to include a figure, a building, and the environment. I went for more of a fairytale Renaissance theme, so mine has very bright colours to create that fantasy look. 

Doing this painting was a fun project and a great way to be creative through expressions of bright colours. I love painting and creating art because it is a way to express myself and relax. Having the opportunity to paint on a big canvas was a new experience as I've never painted anything this big before. It took me a very long time, but I'm very happy with how it turned out in the end.

Registrations are now open for the 2021 Australian Science Olympiad Exams

Would you like the opportuning to possibly represent Australia at the Science Olympiad Exams?

Sitting the Australian Science Olympiad Exams is your students' first step towards representing Australia at the International Science Olympiad. The Australian Science Olympiads are enriching, challenging, and highly respected by universities and employers.

We are pleased to offer the Junior Science Olympiads for students in Years 7–10. Featuring an eighteen-month program, selected students work towards representing Australia at the International Junior Science Olympiads.

We warmly welcome all Australian students attending Australian schools and those home schooled to strive for excellence and register for the Australian Science Olympiad Exams.

Important dates
The dates for the exams are:

• Junior Science (for students in Years 7–10): Monday 26 July 2021
• Physics: Tuesday 27 July 2021
• Earth and Environmental Sciences: Wednesday 28 July 2021
• Biology: Thursday 29 July 2021
• Chemistry: Friday 30 July 2021

Students must sit the exam on the designated day unless prior arrangement is made. All students must provide an email to take part in the Australian Science Olympiads.

Interested students need to see me or contact me and I will complete the registration and any payment.

Mr Matthew Hall
Leader of Learning - Science

Biology Excursion

On Thursday 20 May, the Year 12 Biology students and Year 11 Accelerated Biology students attended Southern Cross University on the Gold Coast. 

During this trip we participated in a biology workshop whereby we were practically immersed in the process of gel electrophoresis. It was a valuable experience as it allowed us to cement the knowledge we have gained from class about this process.  

We were also shown around the campus, including through the midwifery, nursing and OT rooms and were given some information about what SCU has to offer for prospective students.

Some students made the following comments:

“I can’t wait to go to university.”

“I liked how interactive it was.”

“It was really educational and gave us a good insight into what uni involves.”

“SCU has great facilities.”

“They had vending machines! It was awesome.”

It was a valuable experience for all.

Ms Katie John
Biology Teacher

Discover Engineering… A unique opportunity for future engineers!

The Engineers Australia Newcastle Division would like to invite any high school students interested in STEM to attend a free online event: “Discover Engineering" on Tuesday 22 June 2021 at 4:30pm.

Discover Engineering aims to build the profile of engineering as a career choice amongst students, teachers and parents as well as build the awareness of engineering within the community. The event provides a unique opportunity for students to hear from local engineers across various disciplines who will share their career path and practical first-hand knowledge.

Our panel will also feature representatives from the University of Newcastle, Charles Sturt University, Southern Cross University and TAFE NSW. Students will be given a platform to pose questions about course information and to interact with the panel!

This FREE event is open to all students from Years 7-12, parents and teachers are also welcome to attend.

To register please visit : https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/event/2021/05/discover-engineering-newcastle-36801, or scan the QR code below:

Hope to see you online!

We’re having a great time in the library. As part of promoting literacy in our school and giving students a taste of the pleasures of spoken poetry in real time - we had a slam poets’ organisation - Poets Out Loud, come to the school to share the joy and encourage young people to use their voices. One of the activities was: Shakespeare vs Hip Hop, in which students were asked to identify who wrote various lines. Even with a literature degree I found it difficult to distinguish and I loved being genuinely mystified as to if something had been written/spoken four or four hundred years ago... As a result of the presentation and following workshop, we now have two SJC students who’ll be mentored into performing in a regional poetry grand slam.

The short films for social change project with filmmaker, Benjamin Gilmour, is also gaining traction, with involved students across the grades having now identified the issues they want to make films about and gearing up to start filming over the holidays. It’s exciting to see students, young people, turn theory into action, and also their enthusiasm for the process. 

On 22 June, we’ll be holding our Write a Book in a Day event to support the Kids Cancer Project charity. One hundred SJC students will be working in teams to write and illustrate a five-thousand-word book. Each team has contributed their team’s registration fee to directly give to the charity, and there’s a lot of excitement about the opportunity to spend a whole day and evening (our deadline for submission is 8pm!) collaborating on creating a book.

CAPA has also resumed the Creative Artist of the Week display with this week’s artist being Amelie Diver with her wonderful fairytale painting. Plus! We have Year 7s Warm and Cool Colours pastels festooning the library.

Apart from what’s happening in the library - there’s also what we’ve added. We now put out lego at random lunchtimes to great glee, and some of the wacky creations have been really impressive. Years ago, I watched a baby polar bear in a zoo, playing with a blue bucket. It was scooping up water and splashing its mum and dad with obvious delight. I commented about how playful the baby bear was and the zookeeper said - “Yep, but within a week he’ll be bored with that blue bucket. So in a week we’ll give him a red bucket instead and he’ll be thrilled all over again.” I think there’s some truth in that for people as well; when we bring out things at select times in the library it seems to highlight how special they are and students then appreciate them all the more.

Ms Melaina Faranda
Acting Teacher-Librarian

Study Skills Tip for June: Multi-tasking – myth or reality?

Ask any student and they will tell you they can multi-task with ease. Do homework, watch TV, listen to music and check their phone all at the same time, no problem. Ask the academic researchers though and a different story emerges.

Dr Larry Rosen, Professor of Psychology at California State University, explains that what is actually occurring in this ‘multi-tasking’ is ‘task switching’. Instead of doing two things at once, students are actually switching their focus from one task to another and back again, in a parallel fashion, at high speed, resulting in them staying on task for an average of only 65% of the time period and for a maximum of only 3-5 minutes at a time. Constant task-switching results in it taking much longer to complete the individual tasks not just due to the interruptions, but also because there are delays as the brain switches between tasks and refocuses.  This brief bottleneck in the prefrontal cortex delays the start of the next task and the more intense the distraction, the longer it will take the brain to react.

A study conducted by Dr Rosen’s team sent varying numbers of text messages to students in a lecture then tested the students on the content of the lecture. The results were surprising, it was not the number of interruptions that negatively impacted results, it was the time taken by the students to react to the interruptions. Students who responded immediately performed worst on the tests. Those who considered when to check the message and respond (ie in a part of a lecture they deemed less relevant) performed significantly better.

What we can learn from this is that students need to become more aware of their ‘task-switching’ and make conscious decisions as to when they choose to shift their focus – instead of being enslaved by their technology and at its constant beck and call. We need to teach students that this constant mental task shifting (even thinking about the technology has the same effect as actually checking the technology) takes oxygen and brain activity away from what they are learning. We need to convince our students that it is ok and even necessary to wait, that they don’t have to respond immediately and do have the ability to delay their check-in with the cyber world. It is all about learning that we can control our selective attention and choose to ignore distractions.

We need to train the brain to stop thinking constantly about technology. However, resistance for too long can create anxiety and a fear of missing out, creating ‘continuous partial attention’ in students as oxygen is diverted to activate and maintain thoughts about social media at the expense of classroom material.

Dr Rosen’s team has determined the best approach for students who find it difficult to pull back from their technology devices is to set an alarm on their phone for short regular ‘tech breaks’. They may start with 15 minutes and gradually increase this amount over time to around 30 minutes. The phone will be face down on their desk on silent mode or off, and when the alarm rings they let themselves check messages and status updates for a minute or two, then set the alarm again. Dr Rosen’s studies found that knowing they can check in 15 minutes creates less anxiety, whereas depriving them of the phone completely did not stop them thinking or obsessing about possible e-communications which took away from their ability to focus fully on their homework. It all comes back to teaching the concept of focus.

Finally, Dr Rosen argues that we cannot simply remove technology and other distractions; they are too intricately woven into students' daily lives. Instead students should learn metacognitive skills to help them understand when and how to switch their attention between multiple tasks or technologies.

Visit the Dealing with Distractions unit at www.studyskillshandbook.com.au to learn more about managing your distractions and tools and Apps that can help.

Learn more this year about how to improve your results and be more efficient and effective with your schoolwork by working through the units on www.studyskillshandbook.com.au - our school’s access details are:

Username:  sjc
Password:   24results

Mr Carlo Trimboli
Leader of Pedagogy

St Joseph’s College Chess Club Wins 3.5 vs 0.5 in Round 2

On Thursday 6 May, Richmond River High hosted the second round of NSW Country Secondary Schools Knock-out Chess Competition. SJC was represented by Thomas Mills (Year 9), Peter Navin (Year 9), Charlie Kerr (Year 11) and Seana Connolly (Year 10).

Tom was our number one player who had the longest and toughest game. His game lasted over an hour with Tom gaining the advantage and ended in a draw, due to a mistaken check-mate. Peter, Charlie and Seana all won their games and this demonstrates the depth of the talent in the chess club. With a 3.5-0.5 result, we are still in the tournament and look forward to Round 3 with anticipation.

Tom, Peter, Charlie and Seana should be congratulated on their sportsmanship and how well they represented St Joseph's College.

Mrs Ana Chevalier