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Dear Parents/ Guardians,

As you are all aware, John Therry Catholic College is a proud Marist school, and 2022 marks the 150th year of the Marist Brothers contribution to Catholic Education in Australia. At the invitation of Archbishop Polding, which followed representations to the Marists in France by Archdeacon John McEncroe, they commenced their first classes at St Patrick’s Parish in the Rocks on 8th April, 1872. 

From those early beginnings the Marists have conducted over 100 schools across Australia educating hundreds of thousands of students and seeking to make Jesus known and loved. Today, John Therry is part of the network of 52 Marist schools across Australia. In Campbelltown we have a particularly strong connection with three Marist schools – John Therry, St Gregory’s and Mount Carmel. 

We also have a strong connection to the commencement of Catholic education in the early colony with Fr John Therry acquiring some land in Parramatta to commence the first Catholic school in 1820. Below is comment from Dr Frank Malloy, National Director of Marist Schools Australia about those early days in 1872. 

As we enter the final few weeks of a uniquely demanding term and approach the Sesquicentenary celebrations on 8 April, there is merit in reflecting on some of the challenges faced by those first Marist Brothers in 1872 at this very time of year. Having arrived in late February, during the month of March there were a host of trials for the four young Brothers as they sought to open the school and commence the work for which they shared such passion – the Christian education of youth. Reading the accounts from Brother Ludovic’s Annales and Journals, as presented by Brother Alban some 100 years later, one is drawn to the tedious frustrations highlighted with an abiding empathy. The painstaking work in organisation and administration including deft negotiation with a host of local Church and Catholic education authorities is familiar and fascinating. 

Basics such as classrooms, furniture, as well as accommodation and financial support for the Brothers had not been finalised. Whilst there were some critical tensions to be resolved, the overwhelming response of the Catholic community was a mixture of joy, excitement, and encouragement. When they made their first appearance at St Patrick’s in the religious dress of the Brothers on April 7, they had to run the gauntlet of the curiosity and emotional reaction of the greatly augmented congregation….After Mass, they more or less had to fight their way across the street to their temporary quarters through pious well- wishers who were greatly taken by the Brothers’ costume.

However, any sense of euphoria from that happy Sunday must have been short lived. Accounts of the students in those first days of the school include the following: Their lack of discipline continued throughout April; particularly distressing for the Brothers was their conduct during the recitation of the Rosary. This seemed to them a game and was said in the greatest disorder. They made up banal, impious and immoral words for the “Our father” and “Hail Mary” to such a point that the Brothers begged Brother Ludovic not to have them said, seeing that more harm than good was being done.

In Ludovic’s Journal entry dated 1 May, he records “67 out of 204 pupils knew the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed. Very few knew the acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity.” The data was alarming. Happily, what has become known as the “May miracle” soon brought hope to the Brothers. Through Ludovic’s sincere example and earnest appeal to the better nature of the students, daily Rosary before a beautiful May Altar crafted with contributions from the children including candles, was the catalyst for the great change that occurred in general behaviour and demeanour. Without hope and trust in God, the very first Australian Marist school could have well floundered. 

On Thursday 7th April we have an opportunity for parents and carers of students in Year 7-10 to meet with teachers and discuss their progress during Term 1. Student Interim Reports will be uploaded to Compass on Tuesday 5th March March to discuss at these meetings. 

Details for the interviews are listed below.

Thursday 7th April - Zoom meetings - 4pm-7:30pm 

 The instructions for booking these interviews will be be sent out via email on Monday 28th March. (Please note that the bookings will incorrectly state the 21st March for the interviews. The timeslots are correct and will take place on the 7th April. We cannot change this without deleting all of the bookings unfortunately).

Year 11 and 12 students will have an opportunity to meet teachers mid next term on the 23rd May after their half yearly reports have been distributed.

This is an important opportunity to celebrate achievements and discuss how each child can progress and improve with their learning and we hope to see you there.

During Term 1 we have focussed on our students reading for both purpose and pleasure. In our modern world, we are surrounded by technology where children and adolescents have limited time to sit and read a book of their choice. At John Therry, we have made time for our students to sit and read for pleasure every Wednesday during Learning Group. Students are asked to arrive at their Learning Group ready to read a book they have either brought from home, borrowed from the Library or accessed from the Book Exchange. 

We are still seeking donations of age appropriate novels for our Book Exchange initiative. If you have any books at home that you would like to share with our students, there are book boxes in the Library for donations.  

It has been wonderful seeing so many students accessing the current selection of books at the Book Exchange. 

Liz Dadd

Literacy Instructional Coach

JTCC SPORT UPDATE - Week 10

The heavens have opened up again this week, despite this Tuesday sport  still went ahead with a variety of wet weather options. We also had a new provider for 9/10 REC sport, running VR technology games and sports which was a big hit with staff and students alike - even Mr. Marshall had a go!   All our outdoor MISA games were cancelled, which was a disappointing way to end the term for many of our teams who only managed a couple of games this term. Despite the weather, our indoor sports were able to go ahead and we had 3 teams this week playing in Grand Finals and our Indoor Cricket team playing off for 5th position. Our boys basketball team was the only team that managed to claim victory, with a come from behind win in the final seconds of the game. Mr. Peters was absolutely thrilled with the efforts of the team to never give up. 

 With the wet weather  the JTCC Cross Country carnival event has been postponed to week 1, term 2 -  Wednesday 27th April. 

A few general reminders:

• Students who missed out on MISA or , 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. 
•  A reminder that consent for all sporting events must be given via the Parent Portal on Compass. Please ring the school if you have issues logging in or accessing Events. 
• A number of Diocesan events have been postponed or modified - please see the updates below.

Next week MISA trials will conducted during Sport for  (pending weather) for the following options:

Congratulations

Congratulations to all our students who attended the Diocesan Touch Carnival on Thursday. These students will now represent the Diocese of Wollongong at the NSWCCC Touch Selections to be held at Nelson's Bay on Tuesday 29th March (Travel day Monday 28th March) We wish the selected athlete's all the best at the next level. Unfortunately the NSWCCC carnival was cancelled due to weather conditions. It is unconfirmed whether it will be rescheduled. 

• Bridget Shearer - 15 Girls 
• Ella Fisher - Open Girls 
• Kaylah Marshall - Open Girls 
• Tess McEvoy - King - Open Girls 
• Luke Denniss - Open Boys 
• Riley Oitmann - Open Boys 
• Noah McKenzie - Open Boys (shadow)

UPCOMING

Our Diocesan calendar has been heavily impacted by wet weather, seeing cancellations and postponements for a number of diocesan events. An individual selection trial will be held for Diocesan touch instead for the nominated boys, whilst the girls selection will be a ‘paper trial’ only.  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.

NSWCCC Teams

*There have been a lot of NSWCCC Event postponements - please go to the website to keep up to date with these. 

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.

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)

We are aware that vaping is an emerging health issue amongst young people. Health authorities becoming increasingly concerned about their impact on young people, and the potential long term impact of children who are experimenting and becoming addicted to these. The fact sheets below were recently released by NSW Health and might be a good source of discussion with your child about their thoughts on vaping.

Please find below a link to the latest parish bulletin