Week 4 has been another busy week for our school community, whether that be academically, on the sporting field, our athletics carnival, or engaging and supporting our local community.

Our students have many opportunities to engage and strengthen our sense of community in many ways, and this has been evident through Z Club meetings, Northern Schools Debating, Chess Club, Year 10 Leaders assisting at St Patrick’s swimming carnival, NSATIS basketball and tennis, and our College Athletics Carnival held over Wednesday and Thursday.

Each week I meet with our College Captains and Vice Captains, and I have been amazed by the leadership demonstrated by Captains Felicity and James and Vice Captains Sarah and Mitchell. Each week they present detailed agendas and have a clear vision and purpose around what they would like to discuss.

They have organised many initiatives, and next week have the students and staff engaging in the clean-up of the College grounds on Friday in the lead-up to Clean-up Australia Day next weekend. Their aim is to raise awareness and also demonstrate to the students the amount of rubbish that is littered, even in our own backyard.

Last week I shared with the community that James and Felicity had attended the JJAMM leadership conference in Sydney and have come back to the College with the vision to have students acknowledge our founders and actively participate in our prayers.

Over the coming weeks, they will be guiding students through the following responses that will be recited at the end of each prayer within the College. What an outstanding initiative and acknowledgment of our faith from our young leaders.

St Brendan - Pray for us

Fr Julian Tenison Woods - Pray for us

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop - Pray for us

Our Year 10 Sports Leaders were accompanied by Mrs Jo Aherne to the Splash Aquatic Centre, where they assisted with the St Patrick's Latrobe Swimming Carnival. I was very proud to see our students so engaged and representing our College in the highest regard. Many of them spent hours in the water assisting the young swimmers.

Our Athletics Carnival was a great success. I would like to thank Mr Sam O’Keeffe for his organisation and our staff for making the two days a success for our students.

Last Friday, we opened the Year 10 Student Lounge, complete with sandwich makers, kettles, and microwaves. This space has been provided to the Year 10 students to have an area to gather together and have the opportunity to take on responsibility as they make the transition into senior school.

Our Year 7 and 9 students will be completing Naplan over weeks 6 and 7 of this Term. I really encourage all parents to visit https://www.myschool.edu.au/, which gives comprehensive data on not only our College but every school in Australia. In 2022 our Year 9 students scored above average in reading and writing, which was a very good result. In Year 7, our results indicated that we performed well compared to students nationally with a similar background, also highlighting that we need a particular focus on grammar. Our high-impact teaching strategies for our current Year 8s will look to address this key result area.

A reminder that we are seeking parents to join our Uniform Committee; please contact principalsea@sbsc.tas.edu.au if this is something you would be interested in.

Parents, please note that Tuesday the 14th of March is Moderation day and is a student-free day for Years 10, 11 and 12.

Over the coming weeks, I will be visiting our local feeder schools in preparation for our Year 7 2024 Information Evening on Thursday, the 30th of March, at 5.30 pm here at the College. If you know of anyone who has a child in Year 6, please highlight this opportunity to them.

Kind regards,

Our Outdoor Education students have been busy over the past few days. Last Friday, students visited Cradle Mountain to experience a canyoning adventure. Students abseiled, jumped, and slid through Dove Canyon—a challenging yet rewarding experience.

Today students headed to Coles Beach to undertake part of their Aquatic Safety unit. They checked off their beach assessments which included a run-swim-run, board/tube rescues, hand signals, and how to problem-solve in various scenarios in the environment.

On Friday last week, we revealed to our Year 10 students their Student Lounge. What a lovely surprise for our students to have a dedicated space for them to enjoy during break times.

The students embraced the spirit of competition and vied for all-important House points at the College Athletics carnival yesterday and today. It was fantastic to see the camaraderie of students and staff throughout the day and the incredible student participation across all events.

We will find out which House came away on top next week.

Congratulations to all involved in making this an exciting two days of fun and bringing our St Brendan-Shaw Spirit to life!

Our boys' and girls' basketball teams took to the court at home Monday afternoon to verse St Patrick's College. Our girls came away with a fantastic win, 41-20. Our boys fought hard, keeping the score even until the dying seconds of the final quarter, going down by 2pts 55-53. Excellent display of great teamwork by both teams today; well done!

No doubt you will see elsewhere many photos from the athletics carnival. What’s special about this photo is that when the middle student was lagging behind in his race, the two seniors ran onto the track to finish the race with him. This happened many times throughout the day.

This is what makes St Brendan-Shaw College a wonderful community and why our vertical pastoral care system works so well.

Next Thursday, 9 March, students in Years 7-10 will all attend a one period session as part of the Optus Digital Thumbprint program. The schedule is as follows:

• Year 7 Period 1 Cybersecurity
• Year 9 Period 2 Digital Discernment
• Year 8 Period 3 Cyberbullying
• Year 10 Period 4 Digital Balance

We’re excited to have a curated selection of internationally recognised education experts join us for our must-attend professional learning event, Teaching Matters, this April. With panel discussions and presentations across multiple days, program highlights include ‘The Science of Language and Learning’ keynote with Pamela Snow, Professor for the School of Education at La Trobe University, and ‘Motivation in the classroom  – How to boost student engagement’ keynote with Peps Mccrea, Dean of Learning Design at Ambition Institute and Director of Education at Steplab.

Learn more about the Teaching Matters program and speakers here.

Devonport City Council has received funding from the Road Safety Advisory Council to deliver the Full Gear Motorcycle Safety Program to 16 disadvantaged young Devonport residents. The Program aims to empower pre-learner riders from lower socio-economic backgrounds to obtain a Learner’s motorcycle licence, and also addresses unsafe, unlicensed, and illegal motorcycle riding.

More information:  www.devonport.tas.gov.au/full-gear