St Benedict's Catholic College
Newsletter Friday 12 June 2020
PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
“Love of Neighbour” is at the heart of our College’s mission as each day we strive to ensure a community that is supportive for students, staff and our parents.
At St Benedict’s we believe that there should be no place for conflict, no tolerance for actions that harm or diminish another, and nowhere should there be personal gain at the expense of others.
Even in the darkest times, members of the St Benedict’s community should be able to draw on the help and support of those around us to deal with seemingly insurmountable challenges and problems.
This week we have also witnessed the ‘love of neighbour’ with the safe rescue of A 14-year-old boy miraculously found alive after being lost in dense Victorian bushland for almost 48 hours. The boy, who has autism and does not speak, survived alone in near freezing temperatures after becoming separated from his family. A big factor in his rescue was the hundreds of volunteers, community members and emergency services personnel who spent three cold days searching the bush and also people living in the area putting out his favourite food and playing his favourite music in an attempt to encourage him to come out from the bush if he was hiding. A joyous outcome and something to celebrate in a time where there continues to be so many challenges.
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with your entire mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it; you shall love your neighbour as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two great commandments.”
Year 12 2020 Update
Congratulations to our Year 12 students who have displayed outstanding leadership and also resilience returning from remote learning back to face to face teaching as well as facing and accepting the many changes that have taken place including changes to the HSC examinations timetabled, changed HSC assessment and the likely disruption to their graduation and celebration activities. We are very proud of them!
Over the past two weeks I have been very impressed with the commitment and uptake of Year 12 students to After School Library Study Groups on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Year 12 are making the most of the opportunities provided to them at our college, and they have enjoyed the opportunity to work with each other in preparation for their upcoming assessments and Trial HSC examinations. I know that they have also enjoyed the hospitality provided by our school community – especially the pizzas on Thursday afternoon.
Special thanks to Mr Anthony McAteer and the Year 12 Academic Tutors and subject teachers for giving up their time to support Year 12 students at these afternoons.
Warm regards
Kerrie Piatek
Principal
FROM THE P & F
Hello from the P&F
The minutes from the P&F meeting recently held have been finalised and will be published via Compass and the Parent Portal in the coming days.
The P&F Executive team were on site at school last Friday delivering a pizza lunch to all staff at Bennies. Staff members each received an individual pizza of their choice and were very appreciative of this kind gesture. The lunch was organised to say thanks to all staff for going above and beyond providing support and ensuring the wellbeing of students and families during these challenging months with remote learning.
A funding proposal has been received by the College for an upgrade to the school oval. The proposal will be considered with all parents invited to participate in the vote of the proposal. This will be set up as a zoom meeting on Tuesday 30 June at 7.00pm providing greater opportunity for parents to be involved. Please rsvp to info@sbccdow.catholic.edu.au so that you can be sent the zoom link.
A reminder - the next P&F meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 18 August. The agenda will be made available prior to the meeting on Compass and the Parent Portal.
The P&F can be contacted via the email address pandf@sbccdow.catholic.edu.au
Stay safe and healthy and be kind to yourself.
Fiona Place
P&F President
FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
The last few weeks have been a busy work period for our students. There has been a lot of Assessment tasks that were due, which has meant that students have been focused on completing these tasks to the best of their ability.
Careers Information
Careers information has continued to be made available to students as we look at how we can support our senior students in finding pathways for their post school lives. Last week, the University of NSW held a zoom meeting, explaining some of their processes, procedures and courses available.
Subject Selection
This week saw the Year 10 Subject Selection interviews take place via Zoom. Our Year 10 students have been busy lately receiving information about courses and options for their senior studies. We wish Year 10 good luck as they make these decisions.
Dropping students off at school and Parking:
There has been an increased presence of Police and Council Rangers around the roads near the College in recent times and a reminder to all families that it is important to be following road rules. Hollows Drive in the morning is a very busy place and we ask Parents/Carers not to drop students off in the middle of the road to leave them unsupervised to cross this very busy road.
A reminder to all parents and carers that if you are driving your child(ren) to and/or from school that you are asked to not drop them or collect them from the back gate – rather, that you drive into the car park and drop/collect students from there. This will allow for the ease of traffic management in the mornings and afternoons as well as help keep children safe from what is a very busy and congested area.
Uniform:
The standard of uniform has been quite disappointing in recent weeks. I ask all families to ensure that students are leaving home in the morning in the correct uniform and that you have a conversation with your child(ren) about the importance of maintaining our high uniform standards.
Coming out of remote learning, students have been given a little flexibility with the standard of uniform, but now that we have settled back into normal routines, it would be an expectation that students are in the correct uniform.
Kind regards
Mr David Costin
Assistant Principal
An Important Reminder from Camden Council
It is timely to have a refresher on the rules and regulations around school zones and the traffic facilities. We would like to remind the school community that No Parking / Kiss and Ride zones are to be used to pick up and drop off students only. Stopping in this zone is for a maximum of 2 minutes and people must stay within 3 metres of their vehicle at all times. This means that parents cannot arrive early and wait in the No Parking area to pick up their child. Doing this has the potential to cause long traffic delays on our local roads and safety issues for children.
We also would like to remind you that people cannot stop in a No Stopping zone AT ANY TIME, nor can they stop or pick up or drop off their child in a Bus Zone.
The safety of our children is paramount and we all need to be patient and adhere to the road rules and parking restrictions to help keep them safe and to also minimise the impact to traffic on our local streets.
Beautiful Sunset over St Benedict's
DATES TO REMEMBER
Wednesday 17 June - Year 9 Subject Selection Handbook and Information Released
Friday 19 June - House Colours Day
Friday 26 June - Year 11 2021 Subject Selection Course Offers made
Friday 26 June - Year 7 - 10 Reports Distributed
Friday 3 July - Last Day of Term
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF MISSION AND VISION
So we come to the end of Week 7, a very busy time for the College with marking of assessments and exams plus report writing. I was very happy to attend Mass at my Parish - St Paul’s Catholic Church, Camden last Sunday at 6:30 am for the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. An interesting process to attend Mass in which I had to register online through Eventbrite and along with 30 parishioners sit scattered in the Church.
This is also my final newsletter article for 2020 - I begin maternity leave next Wednesday with my third daughter due on the 22 June. Not long to go. I will be resuming in January 2021. During my leave, Mrs Tarnya Grana will be the Acting Director of Mission and Vision and Mrs Melissa Pereira will be the Acting Assistant Religious Education Coordinator.
BLESSING FOR AUSTRALIA
During this time of uncertainty and physical isolation, over 300 local churches united together in Australia to sing a blessing over our nation. This is the first time this has happened.
In a time of crisis that could be easily defined by a voice of fear, isolation, and the cancelling of Church services and events as we know it, we want to declare and let the world know that the church of Jesus Christ is unified, alive and full of HOPE.
It’s about declaring the blessing of God from Numbers 6:24-26 over our beautiful dry, sunburnt and free land of Australia - the ‘GREAT Southland of the Holy Spirit’.
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
I invite you to watch the BLESSING FOR AUSTRALIA (https://youtu.be/OOt7baaVSbE). It also features Most Rev Brian G Mascord DD BISHOP OF WOLLONGONG
Year 10 RE
Year 10 have just begun the brand new topic: Sacraments at the Service of Communion. This involves Year 10 looking at the concept of Vocations. The word vocation comes from the Latin vocare which means to call. God calls or invites you to a particular vocation: single life, marriage, priesthood or consecrated life. Although each of us must make a decision about our vocation, that choice is a response to an invitation from God. As such, Pope Francis has commented: “to become priests, religious is not primarily our choice. I don’t trust the seminarian, the novice who says: ‘I have chosen this path.’ I don’t like this. It’s not right! But it is the response to a call and to a call of love” (Vatican City, 9 July 2013).
James Arblaster, who is a Seminarian and currently on placement at St Mary MacKillop Parish Oran Park - came and spoke to students about his call to the Priesthood and shared his experiences of being a Seminarian.
WEEKLY PRAYER
Our Weekly Prayer focus was put together by Emily A from Year 11 on the theme of COMMUNITY. It is wonderful to see and have students involved in the creating and sharing of prayers.
As we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 health crisis, and our lives resume some form of normality, we are taking advantage of the opportunity to see family and friends again. In the last few weeks, our school community has come back together, and are all enjoying seeing the smiling faces of students and teachers.
This year has really taught us the value of community, and the difference it makes in our everyday lives. This week we pray for the strength of each other, our school community and the world. During these challenging times, it is even more important that we welcome all into our community in a loving and compassionate way, just as the patron of our school taught, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ” (RB 53:1).
This message of compassion for others has roots in Jesus’ teaching, Matthew 25:37-39 reads:
“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”.
And so this week we pray:
Dear Lord,
We thank you for the gifts you have given us in our families, friends and peers. We thank you for keeping us safe during these uncertain times.
We pray that moving forward, you will continue to guide us to be kind, understanding and supportive of each other. We pray that you will help us to be receptive and generous to others, and that you will continue to look over our community, keeping us all safe.
May we be blessed with strength, kindness and compassion to live out your Word in our daily lives, using the gifts you have given us to help those in need. We pray for unity in our school community and in the world, hoping that through You, we will learn to love our neighbours more deeply, so that we can create peaceful and just communities.
May Jesus provide us the example needed and send the Spirit to warm our hearts for the journey.
Amen.
Enjoy the rest of the Term, may the July Holidays be refreshing and wishing you abundant blessings and joy for the remainder of 2020.
See you in 2021.
Kimberley Logue
Director of Mission and Vision
CAPA NEWS
All of our equipment is being thoroughly cleaned before and after each lesson providing our students with the opportunity of being creative once again.
A misty morning with the outside stage a perfect setting for Macbeth or Hamlet.
SPORTS NEWS
College Sport Week 7 MVP
7 Dharawal:
Ariel C, Ella-Blu K
7 Hildegard:
Annabelle M
7 Mackillop:
Georgia G, Nicholas C
7 Norcia:
Lauren R, Julian M
7 Polding:
Kayla P, Caden B
8.1:
Oliver W, Frederick B
8.2:
Allirah B, Dylan P
8.3:
Mario B
8.4:
Ivan D
8.5:
Joel T, Andre S
8.6:
Alanna D S, Ben B
9.1:
Jamie A, Zara S
9.2:
Joachim C, Matias C
9.3:
Matthew M, Ronan C
9.5:
Kristen G, Luca W, George H
10.1:
Jordan R
10.2:
Orlando F, Felicity C
10.5:
Isaac M, Eden B
Yours in Sport
Miss Julia Liska
Sport Coordinator
SBCC Parent Gratitude Video
A huge thank you goes out to all parents and carers who worked in partnership with us during remote learning to ensure our students continued to learn. We are very grateful.
The Year 11 Wellbeing committee have helped create this clip along with Peterson C and Daniel L, who helped with the final edit, and all the teachers to say thank you.
FIRST AID NOTICE
Given the presence of COVID-19 coupled with the commencement of the influenza (flu) season, our school has an important responsibility to provide a safe environment for students and staff. Your child should not attend school if they are showing any flu like symptoms.
If a student is sent to the office with flu like symptoms we will place them in isolation and call their parents to organise for them to be collected as soon as possible.
Your support in keeping our school healthy and safe is appreciated.
LOST & FOUND
We have a number of unmarked clothing items, jewellery, reading glasses and containers which would like to be returned to their owners. Please ask your child/ren to come to the office if they may have lost one of these items.
We ask parents to check that all their child/rens items are marked clearly with their name in permanent marker.
Any items not collected will be given to the P & F Clothing Pool at the end of Term 2.
UPDATE FROM RANIER SCHOOL UNIFORM SHOP
Ranier Shop guidelines – Covid-19
- No more than 1 family in the store at a time (or allowing 1.5m gap)
- Staff to remain behind the counter when customers are present
- Any customer displaying any illness will be requested to leave the store and purchase online or by phone
- Counter will be disinfected with spray and paper towel (or disposable wipe) throughout the day
- Tap and go payments are encouraged
- Hand sanitiser is available at all times for customers.
- Any returned stock (including fitting room returns) is to be placed on the counter by the customer.
New Delivery Options for Uniform Shop
P & F CLOTHING POOL
Please contact the P&F via pandf@sbccdow.catholic.edu.au with a list of your requirements and a contact telephone number and Tracey will contact you with availability.
CatholicCare now offers the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) in the Macarthur region, helping seniors to access entry-level support services to live independently and safely at home.
If your grandparents, parent(s) or anyone you know requires aged care assistance at home, please ask them to call 4628 0044 and ask for Melissa or Colleen.