By Mr Stuart Ralph, Principal

Vale

As a College community, we pray for the McIver family after the passing of Mr Carey McIver.

Carey, who was a former Catholic Education Head of School Services: North, passed away on Sunday, 25 February 2024. Carey was also a former Department of Education Principal and Superintendent for the Department of Education.

We hold Carey’s family and friends – especially his wife Judy and children Matthew, Paul, Kate, Damian, David, Patrick and Robbie (dec) and their families – close to our hearts as they grieve the passing of a cherished husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather and friend.

Carey’s wife Judy, his son Paul and daughter-in-law Emma all worked as staff at St Brendan-Shaw College, and his children also attended as students.

Carey’s life was celebrated today in Hobart.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
~Amen~

Swimming Carnival

On Tuesday, we came together for our College Swimming Carnival, and I commend our students for the competition, spirit and atmosphere created on the day. We congratulate MacKillop House for taking out the Swimming Championship.

NAPLAN

A reminder to families in Years 7 and 9 that your child will participate in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) during weeks 6, 7, and 8 of this term, starting on Wednesday, 13 March.
These national tests are essential to track students' Literacy and Numeracy, and during NAPLAN testing, students complete four tests.

The Conventions of Language Test: to assess spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Literacy knowledge and skills are essential to effective communication across all learning areas.

Numeracy Tests: measure students' achievement in numeracy, including mathematical knowledge, skills, and understanding as outlined in the Australian Curriculum Mathematics. The numeracy tests assess the proficiency strands of understanding, fluency, problem-solving, and reasoning across the three content strands of mathematics: number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability.

Reading: The NAPLAN reading tests measure literacy proficiency across the English learning area in line with the Australian Curriculum: English.

Writing: Australian Curriculum English requires students to be taught a variety of forms of writing. The three main text types (previously called genres) taught are imaginative writing (including narrative writing), informative writing and persuasive writing. In the writing test, all students receive the same text type or genre of writing task regardless of whether they are a Year 3 student doing the test on paper or a student in Year 5, 7 or 9 doing the test online.

In the writing test, students are provided with a ‘writing stimulus’ (also called a ‘prompt’ – an idea or topic) and asked to write a response in a particular text type. Different prompts are used depending on the testing day and student year level. These writing prompts target the full range of student capabilities expected of students from Years 3 to 9.

Our NAPLAN results for years 7 and 9 over a sustained period are some of the highest scores in the region, affirming the knowledge that students who attend St Brendan-Shaw College continue to receive a quality education. We also acknowledge that these tests can also place our students under a great deal of stress. We reassure our students that no one test will ever define you as a person, however, having challenges and stepping out of your comfort zone can also provide a mechanism for personal growth.

Rite Journey

A reminder to Year 9 Families that you have your child's Calling and Departure ceremonies coming up over the next few weeks. Please ensure you have read the required information that was sent out this week and confirmed your attendance on the night.

The Calling and Departure ceremonies will be held on the following dates:
Wednesday 6 March MacKillop and Griffin girls
Tuesday 12 March Dillon and Lyons girls
Wednesday 13 March Dillon and Griffin boys
Thursday 14 March MacKillop and Lyons boys

Welcome

Over the last few weeks, we have welcomed several new families to our St Brendan-Shaw College community. We look forward to supporting you in this transition period for your child.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Stuart Ralph
Principal

Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it's holy ground. There's no greater investment.

– Steven Covey

Stephen Richards Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) was an American educator, author, businessman and keynote speaker. His most popular book is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989).

Because parenting doesn't come with instructions, SchoolTV is a wellbeing resource implemented at our school to help support you in the challenges of modern-day parenting relating to youth mental health and wellbeing. Parenting is a learning journey and SchoolTV supports families by providing credible information from trusted sources with practical strategies to help alleviate some of the challenges being faced by young people today.

Watch video interviews with leading wellbeing specialists and browse a library of resources. Each topic is accompanied by factsheets, podcasts, books, articles, apps and other videos.

This award-winning resource helps families build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It will assist you in starting those conversations on topics that can sometimes be awkward or difficult to tackle.

Parents and caregivers are the greatest influence on a young person's life and SchoolTV focuses on empowering confident parenting.

SPECIAL REPORT: Toxic Achievement Culture

"It is not that we shouldn't encourage young people or avoid asking how they performed on a difficult test. Instead, we should encourage students to untangle their self-worth from achievement and redefine their success by emphasising the importance of resilience, wellbeing, and the pursuit of diverse interests."

– Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Immunisation is one of the most significant public health interventions in our community. To ensure your child receives the best protection from vaccine-preventable disease, make sure your child is up to date with their immunisations provided by the National Immunisation Program.

The Devonport City Council’s immunisation team will be providing immunisations to Year 7 students this year.

The following vaccines will be provided:

Year 7

• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) – one dose
• Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Whooping Cough (Pertussis) dTpa – one dose
  

Year 10

• Meningococcal ACWY – one dose

All consent forms must be returned. You must either consent to your child receiving the immunisation by marking ‘YES’ on the consent form or refuse by marking ‘NO’ on the consent form. Parents who return a consent indicating ‘NO’ to vaccination will not be contacted.

The consent form must be returned by Friday, March 1, 2024.

Let the College know as soon as possible if your child will be absent on the day of immunisation.

Parents/guardians are not required to attend with their children on Immunisation day.
If your child misses the immunisation day, please contact the immunisation service provider to organise a catch-up vaccination (03) 6424 0511.

If you have any questions, please contact Council’s Health Department on 6424 0511.

The 2023 College Yearbook is being finalised for production. 

Each enrolled student receives a College Yearbook, which will be distributed to all students during Homeroom. 

Younger siblings of our Class of 2023 will receive an additional copy to bring home for them. Class of 2023 students who don't have a younger sibling will receive their copy by post to their forwarding address. 

Tasmania Police (Years 10-12)

The Tasmania Police information session will be held at lunchtime on Monday, 4 March, in the TW Room. Students in Years 10, 11 & 12 are welcome to attend.

Australian National University (Years 11-12)

Australian National University (ANU) will attend the College to hold an information session on Friday, 8 March, at 11:00am for Year 11 and 12 students interested in the ANU.

University of Tasmania

A UTAS information session will be held at lunchtime on Thursday, 21 March, with session details to be provided to senior students by email closer to the date.

Should you have any questions regarding the above sessions or any other queries, please do not hesitate to contact our Careers Advisor, Whitney Banfield wbanfield@sbsc.tas.edu.au

By Mr Sam O'Keeffe, Sports Coordinator

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the College Athletics Carnival kicked off the carnival season with two days of fantastic weather and inter-house competition. Over two days, students participated in a variety of track and field as well as novelty events such as Dodgeball and 3v3 Basketball. The weather was fantastic, and participation was high across both days, with students earning valuable House points simply by participating in events.

There were many highlights during the carnival, with Alanna Brimfield (Year 7) breaking a 44-year Long Jump record with a jump of 4.35m, beating the old record by 5cm.

Congratulations also go to our track and field champions.

Track Champions
U13 Boys - Charlie Jones
U13 Girls - Ruby Holland
U14 Boys - Jack Hamilton
U14 Girls - Brydee McPherson
U15 Boys - Peter Chugg
U15 Girls - Kirra Munns
U16 Boys - Lachlan Triffitt
U16 Girls - Sybille O'Rourke
Senior Boys - Oliver Depaoli - Kubank
Senior Girls - Lucy Aherne

Field Champions
U13 Boys - Samuel Claridge
U13 Girls - Ruby Holland
U14 Boys - Uday Sandhu
U14 Girls - Willow Farr
U15 Boys - Theo Powell
U15 Girls - Ella Holland
U16 Boys - Tyson Crawford
U16 Girls - Jasmin Minton-Connell
Senior Boys - Jack Reynier
Senior Girls - Lucy Aherne

Thank you must go to Mr Wilden and his team for preparing the Oval for our carnival, the PE staff for all their work leading up to the carnival, the IT crew for keeping all the data up to date and live House points updates, all our staff for giving our students a fantastic experience and finally to House Captains and all the students who participated with fantastic sportspersonship and House spirit.

With results being finalised for this week's Swimming Carnival, we look forward to bringing you the final tally in the next issue of the College newsletter.

The rowing season is in full swing, and we are rapidly approaching the All Schools Championships on the weekend of 9-10 March, followed by the Head of the River on Saturday, 16 March. 

We wish our rowers all the best and congratulate those who competed in the Club Rowing Championships last weekend, where our SBSC girls rowing for Mersey Rowing Club took out the U17 Girls Coxed Quad State Championships.

We are looking forward to cheering our rowers on at their upcoming events at Lake Barrington!

Below: Mersey Rowing Club rowers awarded the U17 coxed Women's Quad Scull, Paul Newbon Shield. L-R - Leeyah Clemens, Moleigh Clemens, Matilda Spaulding and Eloise Fieldwick

Devonport Basketball will be running a winter high school roster commencing on Wednesday 20 March. Please access the registration information by clicking on the button below to download the registration information document (PDF).

North West Ecofest is set to inspire festivalgoers again this year with various talks, workshops, and exhibitors, all keen to impart their knowledge about living more sustainably.

NW ECO FEST
Saturday, 6 April from 9:00am – 4:00pm
Camp Clayton, Ulverstone

Top of the agenda in 2024 is food waste and how it impacts our planet. As always, ecofest is the catalyst for starting conversations on issues that impact the sustainability of our planet. Hannah Moloney from Gardening Australia will start a conversation about our topic and how Tasmanians can make a few changes to work toward a more sustainable future.

Festival goers can sit back and enjoy locally produced food from various vendors while contemplating the quirky lyrics from inspiring musicians and environmentalists Mal Webb and Kylie Morrigan, plus many other favourite local musicians.

Ecokids has proved popular with our younger folk in previous years, and this year is no exception. Our enthusiastic Camp Clayton team and community members have created a program to ensure the children are inspired, educated, amused and delighted at ecofest.

'The Menders and Makers' group from the Reseed Centre in Penguin encourages young and old to participate in their upcycled fashion competition and parade. Email admin@reseed.net.au to enter!

Ecofest will welcome over 80 exhibitors to this year's festival, showcasing our wonderful sustainable initiatives, our community’s resilience and our support for one another.

For full program details, tickets etc or if you could spare a few hours to help with the final preparations, head to our website ecofesttas.com.au for details.