National Apology Day is commemorated annually on 13th February and encourages remembrance of - and apology to – the Stolen Generations and those whose lives have been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation.

This commemoration differs from Sorry Day which is held annually on 26th May, to mark the original tabling of the ‘Bringing them Home’ report.

On 13th February 2008, the first sitting of the new parliamentary year, then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally acknowledged the immense suffering experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people due to past government policies of forced child removal and decades of mistreatment of Indigenous Australians.

The National Apology to the Stolen Generations remains a momentous turning point that demonstrates the importance of historical acceptance in paving the road to reconciliation.

On February 13th 2022, it is 14 years since this apology was offered.

National Apology Day is a day to remember and pray for the children who were taken away from their families and homes. It is a step on the path to reconciliation. It is a commitment to right the wrongs of past injustices and is about building a bridge of respect between all people.

Below is part of Mr Rudd’s apology speech.

God of Justice,

We come to seek your guidance, wisdom and compassion.

As we pray for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have been wronged in the past, may our hearts be open to receive your healing grace, so that we in turn bring healing to each other. We ask this prayer in the name of your Son Jesus Christ.

In 2022, our College is focusing on the importance of reading for both purpose and pleasure. In order to become a good writer, it is essential to engage in regularreading habits. 

With this in mind, students will be given the opportunity to read a book of their choice in their Learning Group once a week. During these 20 minutes, both staff and students are encouraged to read for fun (something that is lost in our modern world of technology and devices). 

In order to facilitate this initiative, we are calling on parents and carers to participate in a ‘Book Exchange’. We are trying to cater for the Year 7-10 year groups, so if you have any age appropriate books at home that you would like to donate to our College, please give them to your child to place in the ‘Book Bins’ at the entrance of the Library. 

We look forward to providing your children with the gift of reading that will extend far beyond their time at John Therry. As the great Dr Seuss once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go”.

Liz Dadd - Literacy Instructional Coach

Congratulations to Toby Harland and Lauren Marsh who finished 1^st and 2^nd in the State respectively in Visual Arts. They both scored 100% as their HSC Mark. This is an outstanding achievement and the first for any school in South West Sydney. They were at the forefront of the best course result in the school’s history in the highest number of Band 6 results (13) that were achieved in the 2021 HSC. These included:

Anthony Ceroni (98%)

Jayde Perenara (97%)

Lachlan Hanney (96%)

Patrick Picot (96%)

Sam Prakhounheung (96%)

Caitlin LaRue (96%)

Joseph Prestia (95%)

Nadia Keopaseuth (94%)

Olivia Torres (92%)

Sulav Bhattarai (92%)

Thomas Regan (90%)

Furthermore Toby’s Visual Arts body of work (“Anti-Mattering.”) was nominated for the annual NESA Showcase event ARTEXPRESS.

ARTEXPRESS is an annual exhibition of artworks that represents the highest standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools. All works demonstrate outstanding exceptional quality across a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media including painting, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, digital animation, film and video, and collections of works.

 This tradition of excellence from the John Therry Catholic College Visual Arts faculty in the last eleven years has resulted in having twenty four (24) ARTEXPRESS nominations, the best in the region and Wollongong Diocese, and an outstanding achievement within the State. These nominations over the years came from different expressive forms: Photomedia: (13), Drawing (7), Collection of Works (3) and Designed Objects (1).

Mr. Stephen Peters

Creative Arts Coordinator

TOBY HARLAND ARTEXPRESS STATEMENT

 Title; ‘Anti-Mattering; Anomalous insignificance”

 Anti-mattering can be defined as feeling insignificant and invisible to others and feeling as though no one cares about what you have to say or think. Those who strongly endorse feelings of anti-mattering may feel as though they do not matter at all to anyone. It stands to reason that those who feel as though they do not matter to anyone would be more likely to be dissatisfied with their social relationships and to feel lonely.

The intention of my body of work is to highlight the elderly from a different perspective, challenging the traditional interaction between artwork and audience. Using the technique of anamorphic filters, reflections and vitrines, my body of work aims to challenge the audience bringing forth connections between the disparate portraits. These evocative black and white images are placed in vitrines. The vitrines deliberately showcase the traditional purpose of emulating a collection of archaeological relics or scientific samples that showcase valuable items in a museum setting. Each distorted photographic print metaphorically portray the ailment of deteriorating age, with only the right anomalous reflective perspective proving to be clear in reducing insignificance, hence the title. These vitrines follow the theme of the human experience, and can be seen as an anthology of my personal experience with my grandparents. Concepts occurred to me when I was growing up, acknowledging that my grandparents were slowly becoming frail over time, increasing in anonymity. Thus, the conceptual intent of the work is confirmed through a consistent aesthetic of each vitrine, with the small yet significant frame of human existence consequently being permeated throughout my work.

We commenced a process of considering girls pants as part of the school uniform last year. We have had samples distributed to school and are keen to move forward with a decision so we can have these ready as soon as possible for our girls to wear. 

The samples will remain on display during week 4 & 5, with a survey for girls to complete on their preferred style. We have refined the samples to 2 main styles for our final decision.

Parents are also invited to view these samples at drop off and pick up times, and can complete the survey with their preferences. 

Girls pants survey

JTCC SPORT UPDATE - Week 3 

Tuesday was all systems go with Sport at JTCC for 2022. Whilst there were some COVID guidelines in place, we saw a relatively normal return to sport for Term 1. MISA trials were held, 9/10 REC sport started,  Year 8 made the trek down to Thomas Acres and our new Year 7 students partook in house vs. house competition. MISA teams are being finalised this week, with Round 1 starting next Tuesday. Congratulations to those students who were successful. Those students who missed out, there are many future opportunities to represent JTCC, keep an eye out on the Sport Bulletin Board in the A-block corridor and on the Compass Newsfeed. 

The behaviour and participation from all was great, with everyone embracing the directive for this year to ‘be like Barty’.  A small number of students still need to have consent given on the ‘General Sport Permission Note’. Please ring the school if you have issues logging in or accessing Events. 

Congratulations to our Year 11 student Noah McKenzie who has been named captain of the Macarthur West Tigers Andrew Johns Cup. Joining him in this representative team are other JTCC students Riley Oitmann and Sonny Edwards.

The next few weeks will see John Therry participate in the Diocesan Boys and Girls Touch Football, Tennis Teams event and the Diocesan Swimming carnival. Team meetings, trials and training will be held soon, students are encouraged to read the Compass Newsfeed. Students who have been selected in teams already for Tennis and Boys Touch Football should have received their permission notes on Compass. No permission = no participation.

U15 BOYS AFL - Combined Regional Trials (Wollongong and Canberra/Goulburn)

This year the pathway to NSWCCC U15 boys preliminary AFL has changed, with BOYS required to trial for the Wollongong and Canberra/Goulburn Dioceses Regional team to progress to NSWCCC trials. More information can be found on the Compass newsfeed. The link to register is below. Students will need to be approved by the Sports Coordinator in order to go. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfohNAVWo_WtfHm3S8HI5GcddxLg1q3XdfkW0rXDa2Uv6PVHA/viewform  

NSW CCC

Remember that there is a new way to nominate individual sports for NSWCCC. This information, including registration closing dates can be found on the website:

https://csnsw.sport/

Please note that some sports are selected by individual trials, and these can be held throughout NSW. Individual nominations require students to make their own way to and from selections. 

Selection in the following sports: Swimming, Cross Country, Athletics, Touch Football, AFL (Boys) and Football are done through the Wollongong Diocese carnivals by way of representing John Therry at these respective carnivals.

Selection in the following sports: AFL (Girls), Baseball, Basketball, Cricket – Girls,  Golf, Hockey, Netball, Rugby League, Rugby, Softball, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball will need to be done via individual nomination and selections.

John Therry Swimming Carnival

The 42nc Annual Swimming Carnival will be held at Bradbury Pool on Friday 4th March, 2022 . Permission notes will be distributed digitally on the Compass App, and all consent needs to be given online. 

Students should assemble on the basketball courts at the rear of the Bradbury pool (Gordon Fetterplace Aquatic Centre) from 8.15am as the attendance rolls will be marked at 8.30am. 

In the event of bad weather, a cancellation announcement will be made on C 91.3, via school email and on the School’s website from 6:30am onwards and a normal school day will be held.

Registrations for 200m IM and 200m Freestyle will be posted on Compass in Wk 4. 

If your child has had an outstanding high level  sporting achievement outside of school, we would love to hear from you. Please email me so we can celebrate  their achievements with the JTCC community. 

Yours in Sport,

Mrs. Georgia Roberts 

(RobertsG03@dow.catholic.edu.au)

Please click the link below to view the latest parish bulletin