I recently received an email from a past student, Ben Kiely.  Ben, a Partner in a Law firm, is one of the lawyers helping the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria.   (It is the first Royal Commission that is comprised of a majority of First Nations Commissioners.)  In talking with one of the Commissioners,  Distinguished Professor Maggie Walter about their shared Tasmanian origins, they discovered they both went to the same school.  Ben wrote: "I thought you’d be thrilled to know that an SBSC alum is playing such an important role in treaty and truth".  He was correct ... I am thrilled, and once again, SBSC Alumni shine on the national stage.

Earlier this week you would have received an email on the information the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment collects from schools.  The correspondence is available from this link.

You should also have received an email relating to the SRS survey that is active until the last Friday in August.  Already just under 10% of parents have responded.  Thank you.

Round 1 applications from Year 12 students under UTAS' Schools Recommendation Program are closing on Monday 1 August.

Year 11 and 12 students will participate in the Year 11 Camp and Year 12 Retreat next week.  I hope to find time to spend with them.

I was pleased to be able to attend the Catholic Secondary Principals Australia Conference in Canberra in the first week of the Term Break.  Fr Frank Brennan gave a keynote address that was influenced by the recent death of his father, Sir Gerard Brennan, who served as the 10th Chief Justice of Australia.  As a judge in the High Court of Australia, he wrote the lead judgement on the Mabo decision, which gave rise to the Native Title Act.  Fr Brennan's passion for First Nations matters was inspiring.  He also reported on the Plenary Council that had its closing sessions the previous week.  We also had a keynote address from the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), Mr David de Carvalho, who spoke of the changes introduced in Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum that will be introduced in Australian schools from 2023.

Frank Pisano

Principal 

The Catholic Education Tasmania (CET) COVID Safety Plan V15 has been released with very few changes. For parents and guardians, the key points are:

• Apply the stay away if unwell rule
• All school activities are permitted including assemblies and travel
• Parents and carers can enter schools
• Positive cases are still required to isolate for at least 7 days
• Close contacts are still required to follow close rules for 7 days including testing daily & wearing a mask (all persons 12 yrs & older) if attending school
• Face masks are not mandatory, but as per Public Health direction we encourage face masks to be worn when indoors or when you can't maintain 1.5 m distance from others
• Schools are no longer required to notify families on a case-by-case basis. Nor are schools required to request classroom contacts of confirmed cases to undertake testing unless directed by TCEO or Public Health.
• The reinfection exclusion period has been reduced from 12 weeks to 28 days. People who have symptoms of COVID-19 within 28 days following their release from isolation do not need to test and isolate for 7 days

Navy Emerging Technicians Award seeks to encourage students to consider a STEM career with the navy. 3 aspiring engineers from year 12, Austin Keay, Harrison Nield & Fletcher Tait, travelled to HMAS Cerberus, the training base for Engineers and similar trades in the navy. You can see from the very packed itinerary the range of fascinating aspects of a navy career experienced.

Our sincere thanks to all members of the Royal Australian Navy who were part of the experience. They answered our endless questions with patience & grace, demonstrating a genuine passion for not only their careers but the navy organisation and its people.

Austin returns home even more excited about the career he has chosen, and all four of us left inspired to share the wonderful opportunities a navy career brings.

Over the term break, our senior students were out in the "real world" for work experience in various occupations across the North West Coast.

Education, trades and health professions were some of the career options investigated by the students. Work experience has allowed students to test drive a potential future career. It has added to their understanding of the education and training pathways necessary to make their career choices possible.

The experience inevitably results in students returning to school with a renewed appreciation of the value of their learning in preparation for their TCE years and beyond.

We thank all the businesses who allowed our students this fantastic opportunity. Sheffield Mechanical and Tyre, TTMI Tasmania, North West Support School - Devonport Campus, Dillon Building & Construction Pty Ltd, Vos Construction & Joinery P/L, Midland Tractors, RFS Projects, Naomi Sherman Food Creative, I-MED Radiology Network, Clark Electrics, and Speech Pathology Cradle Coast

Some of our photography students had the opportunity to take photos during our recent Commissioning Ceremony. Well done to all students!

Subject Selection Information evening was a success last night. Thank you to those who were able to join us and check out what is on offer for each year level in 2023.

If you're interested in finding out more information on subject selection or enrolments for next year, for subject selection visit: https://bit.ly/3Cdf18S or enrolments visit: https://bit.ly/3yn8o1u

Well done to Jake Nash, Harry Elmer, Oliver Depaoli-Kubank and Lenny Douglas who recently played in the Tasmanian U/16 State football team. 

Well done to Logan Beaven-Duncan U/16, Cooper Crowther U/14, Charlie Menzies U/16 (pictured), and Hunter Cross U/18 who competed in the National Junior Rugby Championships held in Canberra over the Term break.

Div 2 - SBSC 1 defeated Ulverstone Secondary College 32 to 27 

Div 4 - SBSC 2 defeated Devonport High School 51 to 40

Div 3 - Ulverstone Secondary College defeated SBSC 3 40 to 36

These 3 teams along with SBSC 4 who made it to the Semi-Finals should be very proud of their achievements this season!

A special mention to Maya Davies of SBSC 3 who was awarded Runner Up  Best & Fairest overall in Division 3.

Thank you to all the coaches and team coordinators for putting giving up their time to help make these games possible for the teams. 

• SBSC 1 Coach and all Teams Training Co-Ordinator - Vanessa Skipworth & Leshelle Keep (2IC in Vanessa’s absence)
• SBSC 2 Coach Nicole Pearson & Nicole Boxhall
• SBSC 3 Cynthia Reynolds Street
• SBSC 4 – The amazing team members Isla & Ilse who stood up to Coach & Co-ordinate this team of year 7’s in the absence of an appointed coach to make it (and almost win their game) to make it to Div 4 semis.

Almost daily, myself and the pastoral care team assist students to navigate friendship issues. At times, students get themselves involved in friendships that are unhealthy, and it can be difficult to get out of them. This article from the reach out parents’ page includes some sound advice:

https://parents.au.reachout.com/skills-to-build/wellbeing/things-to-try-friendships/talking-to-your-teen-about-bad-friendships

- Kim Walters

Click here to read this week's Mersey Leven Parish Newsletter