By Mr Stuart Ralph, Principal

Welcome to Week 2 of Term 4.

Year 12 Celebrations

This week brings much emotion as we farewell our Year 12 cohort, marking for many of them not only the end of their educational journey but for many their journey in Catholic education K-12.

As a College, we pray that our Catholic faith, in the context of Saint Brendan and our founders, the Sisters of St Joseph and the Christian Brothers in the tradition of Edmund Rice, will guide them through the opportunities life has to offer and that they can remain faithful to their beliefs in a world that has become more challenging. I am sure that their experiences at our College have created a lasting impact on all of them and that they have helped shape who they are and the person they will become.

This Thursday 26 October, parents/guardians, staff and Year 12 students will gather in the Nazareth Centre for our Awards and Presentation Evening. The following morning, Friday 27 October, our Year 12 Breakfast is at 8:00am, followed by Liturgy in our Chapel at 9:00am. At 10:00 am, Year 12 students will then be presented in front of our College community as graduates for 2024.

After the exam period, the Year 12 cohort will come together for our Valedictory Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes at 5:30pm, where they will receive their graduation certificates, followed by dinner at the Devonport Country Club at 7:00pm.


Condolences 

As a College Community, we are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Marist Regional College Year 10 student Campbell Anderson. We keep Marist Regional College and the Anderson family in our thoughts and prayers at this particularly difficult time.


Our College Values

Previously advertised, during 2023, all staff and students have had the opportunity to unpack the four domains of the Archbishop's Charter for Catholic Schools. These domains are:
– Catholic Identity
– Learning
– Leadership
– Mission

As part of this process, students have looked at our College Mission Statement, which includes the values of Justice, Hope and Truth.

When we explore Justice, it sits neatly under the domain of Mission. Hope and Truth (faith) are both Theological Virtues that align with our Catholic Identity as a College.

Both staff and students have unpacked values that relate to Learning and Leadership, as we believe it to be important that we have a College value that aligns with these important aspects of our community.

We would like parents to help us establish which value best aligns with A) Leadership and B) Learning.

The suggested values are the most common suggestions from staff and students. To access the survey, please click the link below.

College Values Student Survey Link
https://sbsc.me/49itT6G


School TV

The College is in the process of acquiring School TV. It’s never been more challenging for parents to raise happy, healthy and resilient children. The SchoolTV platform provides schools with an extensive range of wellbeing resources for parents, so they can work together in partnership to ensure better wellbeing for all students.

School TV is a platform that will support our students and families on a range of topics such as:
– Respectful Relationships
– Bullying
– School Refusal
– Online Gaming
– Mental Health
– Friendships and Belonging

The School TV platform provides a range of resources, including articles and videos from leading health professionals such as Professor Michael Carr-Gregg. Michael is one of Australia's highest-profile psychologists, author, broadcaster and specialist in mental health, parenting, children and adolescents. In 1985, he founded Canteen, the world's first national teenage cancer patient support group.

More information will come out to parents once School TV is live.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Stuart Ralph
Principal

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.
– Jane Goodall

Dame Jane Morris-Goodall (born 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees after 60 years of studying wild chimpanzees' social and family interactions. Goodall first visited Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to observe its chimpanzees in 1960.

She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots & Shoots programme and has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues. As of 2022, she is on the board of the Nonhuman Rights Project. In April 2002, she was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Goodall is an honorary member of the World Future Council.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Student Representative Council Executive member Emily Doran showcased her passion for the cause. She handmade and distributed pink ribbons throughout the College.

With each ribbon she crafted and each conversation she held, Emily not only shed light on a global health issue but also exemplified the spirit of service, leadership, and community.

Thank you to Emily for her efforts to raise awareness!

By Ms Kim Walters, Deputy Principal – Pastoral Care

Parents of students in Years 7-9 will have received an email from me with a Google Form to complete, asking some questions that will assist us in constructing Core Class groupings for Years 8-10, 2024.

The form will give parents the opportunity to identify three to five students your child would work well with in class and up to three students that are not a good combination with your child, along with the reasons.

This year I am hoping that every parent will complete the form, so please, if you don't know or prefer to leave that decision with us, write 'nil' for the compulsory questions, or simply reply to the email. 

Responses are due by Tuesday 31 October, 2023.

By Mrs Kelly Hicks, Teacher

The Aussie Bird Count aims to engage school communities in the natural world while getting to know the birds in their local area through participation in a simple, fun, all-ages activity that can be done anywhere. It's a great citizen science project and part of a nationwide bird survey conducted from 16-22 October by Birdlife Australia. 

In three days, there have been over 50,000 submissions to the survey with over 1.7 million birds counted in the first three days!

The Environmental Science class completed a survey whilst undertaking a forestry prac in the Kelcey Tier Greenbelt on Tuesday 17 October and the Aquatic Studies class completed two counts on Thursday 19 October, one at Don Heads looking at coastal birds and one back at the College. 

Thank you to our students for helping out!

By Ms Kelly Allen, Teaching and Learning Leader - Humanities and Social Sciences

On Wednesday 20 September, a group of senior Legal Studies and Legal Studies Foundation students travelled to Burnie to visit the Magistrate and Supreme Courts. We were looking forward to viewing a court case in action, after all, having studied the features of the adversary court system and the hierarchy of Tasmanian courts. Upon entering the building, we were immediately met with strict security procedures whereby we had to place all belongings in a tray and have it pass through metal detectors. We learnt that the Burnie court is the only one in Tasmania to have both the Magistrate and Supreme Courts in one building. Unfortunately, the court case being heard in the Supreme Court that day was of a sensitive nature but we were able to visit the adjoining empty courtroom to see how it was laid out. This allowed us to see where each party sat, from the judge, the accused, their legal representation, the prosecutor, the jury, the law clerk, the media and the public gallery.

Although we did not get to see a court case and a jury in action, we were able to see the back passages of the court that lead down to the holding cells for those held on remand. We got to hear about the role of the security officer who is in charge of the cells, as well as the conditions of transporting and holding the accused in custody. We were then hoping to sit in on the Magistrate's Court but unfortunately the scheduled hearing was adjourned for the day. One element of the visit that the students enjoyed was seeing the differences between the set up of the Magistrate and Supreme Courts and the different procedures in both.

This actually happened to work in our favour as we were privileged to have a private audience with Magistrate Topfer. She explained the main aspects of her role and the factors she had to take into consideration when passing sentence. This was so insightful as sentencing, the consideration of mitigating and aggravating factors, as well as the effectiveness of sentencing options is a major topic of our course. We really appreciated her taking the time to speak to us and answer our questions.

Our excursion ended with the obligatory 'Macca's run'. On our return to the bus, we were met with a torrential downpour that resulted in hailstones. We were all drenched in less than 10 minutes! Other than, "Bring an umbrella, you might need it!" when asked for students' overall comments, they said, "It was really interesting to see how the different courts worked as well as their similarities and differences" and "The difference between the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court. Along with the different layouts, and the difference between open and closed court and who can attend" and finally, "The process of protecting the jury and witnesses is detailed and planned out", a great observation considering that they all have to enter and exit through the same entrance.

It was great to finally be able to take our Legal Studies Class to view our courts as public access has been very limited up until recently due to Covid 19.

Nominations are now open for three ordinary member vacancies on the CECT for 2024. Nominations are welcome from people with the relevant skills, knowledge, and experience in areas such as education, legal, theology, finance, governance and government relations and who have the time to commit to this challenging and important role for Catholic Education Tasmania.

For further information or to nominate, please use the link below to access the form.

The Catholic Education Commission Tasmania is calling for nominations for vacancies on its four permanent Standing Committees, as there are a number of vacancies available on each of the Standing Committees for 2024. The four Standing Committees were created by the CECT in the following areas:
• Catholic Identity and Evangelisation
• Education
• People Services
• Resources and Sustainability.

These four Standing Committees assist the CECT with its governance and oversight of all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Hobart in a range of areas. Please refer to the attached Standing Committee Terms of References for more information on their areas of work delegated to them by the CECT.

The CECT is seeking nominations of people who fit in the various available membership categories with the relevant skills, knowledge and experience and the time to commit to this challenging and important role for Catholic Education Tasmania. Please note that nominees for a specific vacancy, for example Principal Nominee or Parent Nominee, are there to contribute to the governance work of the system drawing from their skills, knowledge, or experience, they are
not there to represent the specific interests of a certain interest group within Catholic Education Tasmania.

For further information, please access the form below. 

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