St Benedict's Catholic College
Newsletter 20 March 2020
Year 7 2021 Enrolment
Enrolment packs are available for collection from the College office or can be downloaded from our website. The College office hours are 7:40am - 3:30pm, Monday to Friday.
Please contact the office on 4631 5300 if you require any help or further information.
PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Dear Parents, Carers and Families
Over the past weeks we have been faced with challenges and uncertainty as our society responds to the coronavirus pandemic. As a Benedictine community it is important that we remember to make a real commitment to the well-being of others. In a Benedictine community there should be no tolerance for actions that harm or diminish another person and no personal gain at the expense of another. The strength of these messages are important to the young people in our care as we are attempting to make sense of the responses to the coronavirus that we are seeing on social media and the news.
We are all very aware that adults and young people may be feeling high levels of anxiety and distress in relation to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Information from news, social media and general conversations with family, friends and colleagues may increase these levels of stress.
It is advised by Beyond Blue that families and caregivers of children and young people should discuss news of the virus with those in their care in an open and honest way. Try to relate the facts without causing alarm, and in a way that is appropriate for their age. It is important to listen to any questions they may have, to let them know that they are safe and that it’s normal to feel concerned. If the media or the news is getting too much for them, encourage them to limit their exposure.
Below is information from Headspace that parents may find helpful to support their child’s wellbeing during these very uncertain times
Information and Advice for Young People on Coronavirus
(https://headspace.org.au/young-people/how-to-cope-with-stress-related-to-covid-19/)
It can be hard to know what information to trust especially in a situation where things are changing so quickly. It can be helpful to keep up-to-date but it’s also okay to switch off from the 24 hour media cycle if this is getting too much.
During this time some things in your life may be affected by attempts to contain the spread of the virus. You may have been looking forward to a concert or a trip that’s been cancelled. You may be affected by school workplace temporarily closing. Or you may have a loved one who is directly affected by the virus. It’s important to find the right level or type of support for you. And keep in mind that the type of support you may need can change as time passes. For many people staying connected to family and friends/loved ones is important.
The following information outlines things that might be helpful to manage any changes to daily life as a result of containment measures for COVID-19.
Tips to maintain a healthy headspace during this time:
- Be mindful of exposure to information through stories, traditional and social media. It can be helpful to take a break from the 24-hour news cycle.
- Do things that make you feel physically and emotionally safe, and be with those who are helpful to your wellbeing
- Engage in activities that promote a sense of calm and feeling grounded
- It can help to talk with a trusted adult if it all feels a bit much
Beyond Blue is another Useful Site
Jesus Christ, healer of all, stay by our side in this time of uncertainty and sorrow.
Be with those who have died from the virus.
May they be at rest with you in your eternal peace.
Be with the families of those who are sick or have died. As they worry and grieve, defend them from illness and despair. May they know your peace.
St Benedict, Pray for us
Amen
Official Opening and Blessing of Our School Community
On Friday 6 March our school community hosted the official Opening and Blessing of the final stages of the College’s building program, which included the Staff Lunchroom, Library, Creative Art Spaces, Dance and Performing Arts Studio, and various classrooms. Visitors and guests were able to view these stunning state -of-the-art facilities which will support the delivery of our College curriculum, programs and community life. Prior to the official opening ceremony our school community was entertained by our very talented performing and Creative Arts students with the support of some equally talented St Benedict’s staff. Bishop Brian Mascord, with the assistance of Father David Catterall and Father Michael Williams, celebrated a beautiful liturgy that included wonderful music from our College choir and musicians.
As part of the liturgy the new facilities were blessed by Bishop Brian Mascord, Fr David and Fr Michael and officially opened by foundation Principal Mr Michael Hanratty, the Member for Camden, Peter Sidgreaves, and the Director of Schools, Diocese of Wollongong, Peter Hill. In the official address to the school community given by Mr Peter Hill, he challenged St Benedict’s students to make the most of the new learning spaces.
“These facilities are fantastic, but unless they’re filled with your sound and your light, they’ll only ever be buildings,” he said. “It’s up to all of you to make the most of your opportunities to learn and grow, so that wherever you go, whatever you do, you’ll bring the light of St Benedict’s with you, and make our communities, our nation and our world a brighter place.”
The weather was ‘perfect’ and our school looked incredible on the day, but the real stars were our students. The reverence, respect and the great welcome they displayed to our guests on the day made as all very proud to be part of such a great school community.
Year 7 Enrolment Evening
Over 550 parents, family members and perspective students enjoyed the Year 7 2021 enrolment evening on our school grounds last Wednesday evening. Prior to the formal presentation in our library, visitors had the chance to speak with staff, view our new facilities, listen and watch music, dance and visual art performances, all the while enjoying great food and coffee prepared and served by our Hospitality students.
Enrolment Packages are available from our College Office. School tours have been postponed until later in the year.
Warm regards
Kerry Piatek
Principal
FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Year 7 2021 information evening:
Last week, the College held the Year 7 2021 information evening. Over the last 10 years, the College has held this at the Camden Civic Centre, but with the completion of all of our buildings and landscape works, we were able to hold this on the College grounds. This gave us the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing talents within our community. Many of our musicians, artists, dancers and budding chefs were able to provide some light entertainment and refreshments for families prior to the information evening. The information evening was very well attended, and we look forward to beginning the journey with our prospective families for 2021.
DIO Swimming:
Last week also saw our DIO Swimming team in action. Although small in numbers, the team showed great enthusiasm and represented themselves well. Congratulations to all of the team on their great efforts.
Assessment Time:
The coming few weeks represent a busy time for all students as they prepare themselves for their assessment tasks. It’s important for parents to have conversations with their children about their assessment tasks and where they are up to. Some of these tasks will be hand in tasks – where students are required to submit the task on the due date. It is important for students to begin these tasks early and to seek support from teachers and families if they are experiencing difficulties. Similarly, in-class assessments should be started early so that students have time to revise the content required and practise the specific skills of the course, to ensure that they achieve to their potential.
Good luck to all students in this busy period.
Mr David Costin
Assistant Principal
DATES TO REMEMBER
Friday 27 March - Year 10 Geography Excursion - CANCELLED
Friday 3 April - Year 7 Vaccinations TBC
Friday 3 April - Years 9 &10 - Food Tech excursion to Sydney Olympic Park - CANCELLED
Friday 3 April - UNITE Festival - CANCELLED
Tuesday 7 April - Year 12 Biology Excursion - CANCELLED
Friday 10 April - Good Friday
Monday 13 April - Easter Monday
Monday 27 April - First day of Term 2
Tuesday 28 April - ANZAC Day Ceremony
Wednesday 29 April - School Photo Day
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF MISSION AND VISION
Over the last week or so has seen so much happening in the world - changes in peoples actions and even behaviour. The hysteria of no toilet paper or basic grocery items in the supermarkets. From the support and collaboration of communities during the Bushfire and Floods recently - what is happening is very different, quite overwhelming and for some scary.
As a result, of COVID-19 - a number of events have been and were cancelled including the St Therese of Lisieux RELICS Mass. It is also affecting the delivery of Masses across our Catholic Parishes to accommodate the requirements stipulated by the Government and various authorities.
Mass Attendance
Effective Saturday 21 March 2020 in the Diocese of Wollongong:
- All public Masses are suspended until further notice.
- Mass will continue to be said privately by priests throughout the diocese on behalf of the faithful on a daily basis.
- The faithful can keep holy their Sunday by setting aside some time for prayer at home, reading the Scriptures of the day, watching Mass on television or online, and asking God for the graces they would normally receive in Holy Communion (canon 87 §1 , canon 1248 §2).
- Churches will, as far as possible, remain open for private prayer.
- Priests should consider continuing to publish their weekly parish bulletin online with advice and a weekly homily/reflection.
- Sunday Mass and Holy Week services will be celebrated privately by the Bishop and made available on the diocesan website from the fifth Sunday of Lent (29 March 2020).
https://www.dow.org.au/covid-19/
I thought it would be fitting to include some reflections and words of wisdom (and also of comfort) for our community at this time.
One of the brand new terms that has entered our daily conversation is ‘social distancing.’
It is shorthand, as we know very well, for the practical physical precautions that we all need to and must take in order to protect ourselves and others.
I'd humbly suggest though, that we use the term itself sparingly, if at all.
Language is a powerful shaper of thinking. And the very last thing we need right now, is a mindset of mutual distancing.
We actually need to be thinking in the exact opposite way.
Every hand that we don't shake must become a phone call that we place.
Every embrace that we avoid must become a verbal expression of warmth and concern.
Every inch and every foot that we physically place between ourselves and another, must become a thought as to how we might be of help to that other, ought the need arise.
It is obvious that ‘distancing,’ if misplaced or misunderstood, will take its toll not only upon our community's strength and resiliency, but upon the very integrity and meaning of our spiritual commitment.
Let's stay safe.
And let's draw one another closer in a way that we've never done before.
~ Rabbi Rav Yosef Kanefsky ~
ST JOSEPH’S DAY PRAYER - THURSDAY 19TH MARCH 2020
In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Faithful Joseph:
Teach us to listen and not be afraid to trust
as you did in God's promise.
Loving Joseph:
Teach us to love courageously with a heart
that is free and just.
Protector Joseph:
Teach us to protect one another and all
that belongs to God.
Dreamer Joseph:
Teach us to dream a world where all are neighbours;
a vision illuminated by God's light.
Teacher Joseph:
Teach us to keep the Word of God close to our hearts,
and to proclaim it in word and action.
Gentle Joseph:
Teach us to be gentle with our power and
strong in our tenderness.
Parent Joseph:
Teach us to be for all persons a living lesson
of goodness and truth - a blessing for all
generations to come.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Warm Regards
Kimberley Logue
Director of Mission and Vision
LIVE EVENT for 2020
Last Friday, St Benedict’s held its first LIVE event for 2020. The day started off with a lunch time concert in the COLA. This saw students come together to sing along to a variety of pop songs, supported by free chocolates.
The afternoon included a variety of icebreaker games and activities, followed by a session focusing on the question of “Who am I?” Student’s heard a personal story about exploring individual strengths and owning who you are.
This was followed by prayer and a pizza dinner.
A massive thank you to the staff who contributed their time: Mr Agoo, Mr Bulfon, Mr Costin, Mrs Logue, Miss Ferguson, Miss Liska and Ms Grego.
The College’s next LIVE event will be held in Term 2 on Friday 19th June. All are welcome!
MIGHTY MATHS
Lots has been happening this year in Mathematics at St Benedict’s. Most notably, we recently celebrated Pi Day. Pi Day is universally celebrated on March 14, to correspond with the first few digits of pi, 3.14. As March 14 was over the weekend, our Pi Day was Monday March 16.
A memory competition was advertised to the students two weeks in advance, so the interested students had plenty of time to practice. Pi is an infinite and non recurring decimal, and remembering the digits of pi is a real challenge that takes place all around the world.
We had a few competitors take up the challenge, but our student winner for the day was Annabelle McD (70 decimal places), followed by runner up Keiara L (50 decimal places). Corey M and Alex J also recorded commendable attempts. Miss Kelleher reached 80 decimal places, but only the students could win the competition. Most students found it difficult under pressure of competition, and commented they could actually recite over 100 decimal places when practicing. Such super efforts!
Mrs Conte simultaneously ran a ‘pi-‘ words challenge, getting students to name as many words starting with ‘pi-‘ as they could. This was a hit with the students, and the Maths Faculty thank Mrs Conte for her involvement and contribution of ideas, as well as use of her wonderful library to run the challenge.
Recently, Maths have also been exploring bringing our classes together for sessions in the library (again, thank you Mrs Conte). Ms Banks arranged for a series of library bookings for Maths to develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills. At this stage we have only had the opportunity to engage with one session, in which Mrs Blok ran a wonderful Jeopardy styled challenge for two of our Year 8 classes. We had a group of 60 students at once, but they were all very engaged, even attempting questions within their groups that weren’t assigned to them, for a chance to ‘steal’ later!
We thank the teachers who are running these new initiatives, and hope you stay tuned for more exciting developments in Maths throughout the year.
The Mathematics Faculty Team
Year 11 Preliminary Geography Field Trip to Minnamurra Rainforest
On Thursday 5 March, the Year 11 Preliminary Geography class conducted primary fieldwork at Minnamurra Rainforest in order to explore the focus question: How do biophysical interactions define the environment at Minnamurra Rainforest?
With constant rainfall throughout the day, students got to experience what it is really like for geographers collecting data in the field. The class demonstrated their strengths of teamwork and perseverance, working together to conduct transect and quadrant sampling, complete a vegetation study, and collect weather data including air and soil temperatures, wind speed, humidity, and light intensity.
Students were guided through the rainforest where they observed ancient trees such as the Red Cedar, and were privy to expert information from the National Park guides. Overall, it was a valuable experience for students which aided in their understanding of the operation of the four spheres in rainforest environments.
I would like to thank all Year 11 Geography students for their enthusiastic participation on the day, and extend a special thanks to Mr McAteer for driving us there and back on the College bus.
Miss Joyce
Teacher in Charge
LIBRARY NEWS
Every student at St Benedict's is able to access SORA which is an online library with both fiction and non-fiction resources so it can be used 24/7 to find a book to read or to research information for classwork or assessment tasks. SORA also has a great range of audiobooks so consider downloading it onto your phone for travel time entertainment.
Our SORA resources are accessed through the digital library called Australian Catholic Education Network Digital Library or ACEN Digital Library.
ACEN Digital Library is a combined library with the collection coming from 8 other Diocese (the number of titles available is close to 100,000).
What do you need to do?
On an ipad or smartphone– download the free SORA app from the app store
If you use the Web version, the URL is https://soraapp.com/welcome
Sign in using CEnet credentials (lastnameinitalnumber and your usual school password).
Add a new library - search for ACEN and select.
If you need more guidance watch the video tutorial on how to add the app as well as some FAQ’s.
https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/sora/home
Mrs Conte
Head of Library Services
Learning Technology Coordinator
COLLEGE SPORT
Unfortunately all sports were cancelled this week
LOST PROPERTY
We also have a number of school uniform items with no names on them. Can you please mark all items of clothing clearly with your child's name?
Students are welcome to come and collect articles at recess, lunch and home time.
Parents are asked to call the office before 2.00pm if needing to send messages to students. This allows our office helper time to deliver the message before end of school.
Parents are asked to email teachers between 7:40am and 6:00pm if requesting appointments or needing information, please allow teachers 48 hours to reply. The school office is open from 7:40am until 3:30pm. If calling for a teacher please allow them 24 hours to return your call. Parents are asked to remember that teachers are in class during the day and have meetings after school hours.
P & F CLOTHING POOL
The clothing pool is open on Friday mornings from 8:00 - 8:30am. Students are welcome to come if parents are unable to. Cash sales only.
We would also welcome any donations of uniforms, school bags, lap top bags etc. as stocks are running low.
Café News
Lunch Order – Any lunch order completed through Flexischools, lunch collection for hot food is in the oven labelled “Lunch Orders” any Cold Food is in the Milk Fridge.
All orders including drinks are labelled with Students name and order. If students cannot find their lunch order, please can you ask the CAFÉ staff for assistance.