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Peace Prayer

The news is awash with conflict that is happening around the world at the moment. Jesus taught us to seek forgiveness and resolve conflict peacefully, and while life is not always so simple, the peace prayer often attributed to St Francis of Assissi is a wonderful reminder of how we are called to live.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

John Therry Facebook Page

The John Therry facebook page is regularly updated with current events and exciting things happening in our community. If you are not following, I recommend at least having a look, and if you click on the image below you will go straight to our page. 

Year 11 Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you to the parents that could make it in to our parent teacher interviews this week. In reading the reports, I am really impressed not only by the results, but the effort and attitude to learning that our senior students have towards their studies. We challenge each of our students to work hard and achieve their personal best in the HSC, as a wonderful opportunity to develop habits and approaches that will support them well beyond their time here at John Therry.

World Teachers Day is celebrated on the 27th October and at John Therry, we organised a coffee van for our staff before school to acknowledge our appreciation of the incredible work that our teachers do. John Therry is blessed to have a highly committed teaching staff who genuinely care about the students, and work extremely hard to ensure each child achieves their potential. 

Dealing with distressing content online

Our young people today face so many different pressures, and growing up now is arguably the most complicated it has ever been. A huge change over the last 20 years is the incredible access to content that the internet and social media have brought to our young people. While much of this is positive, there are many dangers and pitfalls, and with the current violence in Gaza and Israel, exposure to extreme violence is a very real  possibility. We recommend talking with your children about this and the fact sheet below from the esafety commission may be a talking point to discuss some of these issues. 

See the information sheet belowfrom the esafety commission regarding dealing with disressting content online.

We have had some reports recently of some close misses with cars and pedestrians in and around the school. Safety should always be our first priority, ensuring that students walking to and from school are not placed at risk by vehicles that are exceeding the speed limit or driving recklessly. We should all allow the extra 30 seconds to slow down and travel safely around our school.

Beginning March 23 lasting to July 23, I participated as the Youth Member for Campbelltown and member of Women's Affairs for NSW parliament. The Youth Parliament Program inspired me to chase my dreams of becoming a politician in my future and hopefully Minister of Women's Affairs. This program taught me so much and gave me an experience like no other. During this program I had the privilege to learn how to write a PMS (private member statement), a parliamentary debate speech, and I learnt how to address a large crowd which I have found to be extremely helpful in my everyday life. My vocabulary was heavily extended and has helped significantly when writing formal speeches, essays and extended texts.

During my time on both camps, I wrote a bill relating back to women's affairs titled, ‘Mothers in the Workplace Bill’. This bill entailed the growing need to support women in the workplace more than just maternity leave, we listed things such as a more excessive PDHPE syllabus that actually teachers the future generations about motherhood and the rights they are entitled to when being a mother in the workplace; Accessible therapy, both physical and mental and also easy, affordable childcare to every working mother so women are able to exist comfortably whilst also having a child. These are only a few examples of what our bill and clauses included.

I was recently chosen to represent Women's Affairs at the round table meeting with Zoe Robinson (NSW advocate for Children and Young People) and received fabulous feedback from her and her team surrounding our bill.

During the program I've been given a plethora of amazing opportunities, this includes two community service awards, a shout out in NSW parliament by Greg Warren, and Youth Strongest Speaker for Government.

I would recommend this program to anyone who has a passion for parliamentary debate or politics as it holds so much knowledge and experience.

Sophia Britton
Year 10

Got SWAG?

Student Work and Greatness (SWAG) is your platform for student pieces. In each issue we showcase a sample of student work, from poetry to painting, photography to prose.
 
Year 7 Drama
This term Year 7 is exploring the dramatic and performing arts in English, developing their understanding of the way human interaction is conveyed through this entertaining media.
 
Students created some informational posters about a performance text of their own choosing, articulating some of the elements and conventions of their unique styles and features.

Youth Ministry News
On Wednesday 25th October ten Year 10 YMLs attended their Formation Retreat Day at The Tops Retreat Centre where they gathered with Youth Ministry Leaders from the other Diocesan schools.
 
The day afforded them an opportunity to gather as young people and share the experience of leadership, ministry and faith with each other. This experience enabled them to consider their current and future goals as a team, in which they serve and support the John Therry community.
Throughout the conversations was great wisdom shared by Mr. John Coppola and Fr. James Arblaster, who gave the gathered youth tremendous insight into the calling they have undertaken.
 
The retreat concluded with a beautiful mass and the commissioning of the YMLs into their official role.

Congratulations to the following Year 10 students:
 
Sancia Shaji
Neha Nishad
Bailey Gilbert
Alexander Nohra
Laura Augustine
Alexis Paulo
Sophia (Zac) Britton
Charlotte Russell
Georgia Dowse
Annelise Hall

To boost education opportunities and narrow the digital divide, the Australian Government, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, is working with NBN Co to provide up to 30,000 families with no internet at home free NBN for 12 months. 

The process for families to apply for the initiative is as follows:

• Contact the National Referral Centre on 1800 954 610 (10 am - 6 pm AEDT Monday to Friday)
• The National Referral will determine the family's eligibility
• Once eligibility has been determined they will issue the family with a voucher for 12 months of free NBN Internet to be used with a carrier of choice
• More information can be found at https://www.anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet/

To be eligible, a family must:

• Have a child living at home enrolled in an Australian school
• Have no active broadband service over the NBN network
• Live in a premise where they can access a standard NBN service
• Not have had an active NBN service during the previous 14 days.

JTCC SPORT UPDATE - Term 4 Week 3

Our new Sporting Season officially kicked off this term with our Term 4 MISA teams playing their first two games of the season. Term 4 is always an exciting time of the year, the weather heats up and so does the competition on the field. John Therry has started the new season well and are looking strong across a couple of sports. Our Boys AFL and Ultimate Frisbee teams have recorded some comprehensive victories against some strong opposition. The feedback from the coaches is always positive and they look forward to coaching our MISA teams. Good luck to all teams in their Term 4 MISA Competitions.

MISA- Term Four - Week 1

MISA- Term Four - Week 2

Year 7 Swim School

During term four, year 7 students are participating  in the PDHPE "Swim School" program at Gordon Fetterplace Aquatic Centre at Bradbury. The aim of the program is to help students develop the skills and confidence necessary for safe participation in aquatic environments. Students participated in skills including stroke corrections, floating, survival backstroke, diving and safe entry techniques. We hope that this program helps to support your child's ability to be a safe and confident swimmer.

A few reminders regarding signing your son/daughter out of school during sport time:

• Please phone/visit the school office to ensure your son/daughter has been signed out correctly.
• Older brothers/sisters cannot sign your child out of school.

If students are not being signed out correctly, it makes it incredibly difficult for staff when they are marking the roll. Especially as students may be travelling off site, it is imperative that rolls are being accurately taken and completed.

Behaviour and Uniform Expectations during sport:

• Students are expected to behave appropriately and show respect to their classmates and teachers during sport.
• Students are expected to wear the John Therry sports uniform to sport (White socks and athletic joggers).
• Students are expected to participate in sporting activities unless they have a note from a parent/guardians stating others.
• Students who are injured and have a note from a parent/guardian are able to complete homework/assessments during Sport time (Sports Detention/Injury)
• Students ARE NOT permitted to have food or drinks on our sport buses. We have had too many students leaving rubbish on the buses.

If you have any issues or questions regarding sport, please email me - bodekerl01@dow.catholic.edu.au.

Diocesan Carnivals - Term 4

7/9 Boys Cricket - Chapman

The John Therry Dio cricket team traveled to Dalton Park, Wollongong and were keen to test themselves against the other schools. Our first game was against Magdalene who are traditionally a strong team. We held our own, for much of the game, however, we couldn’t get the job done with the bat. As a coach, it was good to see the camaraderie amongst the group and the boys stayed positive all day. Although the results didn’t go our way, the boys can be proud that they were resilient and kept fighting in all the games. We will be better next year with another years experience.

U14s Boys AFL - Bodeker

In our Semi Final we were able to defeat Magdalene in a fierce contest, meaning we would compete against the other pool winner Edmund Rice. Unfortunately Edmund Rice started the game with 4 quick goals and went into the halftime break with a comfortable lead. However, our boys refused to give up and straight after half time kicked 3 quick goals to set up a thrilling finish. Unfortunately we ran out of time and ended up losing by one goal to a strong Edmund Rice team. The boys should be proud of their efforts and performances throughout the day. The boys were a pleasure to coach, always eager to learn and listen to feedback on how they could improve. It was a pleasure to see some students emerge as sporting stars on the day.

Results: 2nd Place

Round 1) Defeated St Josephs 43-0

Round 2) Defeated Corpus Christi 27-13

Round 3) Defeated St Johns 25-14

Semi) Defeated Magdalene 35-16

Final) Lost to Edmund Rice 26-18

Girls AFL Year 7-9 - Neaves

What an amazing group of young ladies this team was. Many had never played AFL before but were willing to pull the JT jersey on to represent their school with pride and determination. Although we did not win a game throughout the day the girls got better and better with every match and I could see their understanding and confidence continue to grow. A special mention to our defensive end who worked tirelessly all day, coming up with some great tackles and defensive wins. Our marking became stronger with the girls creating great space in our last game and really working together as a team. I thank the girls for their efforts on the day and know it’s only forward from here for our AFL girls.

Girls Basketball Year 7-9 - Winter

The JTCC Junior Girls Basketball team travelled down to the Snake Pit in Wollongong, to compete in several games against other schools in our diocese. A total of 6 games were played and the girls did well to compete with all their effort in each match.Our first game matched the girls up with St. John’s. Sophie Regan and Elyse Stonebridge’s experience in Netball came in handy when shooting the ball, allowing us for some quick points early in the game.

Unfortunately, the match ended in a loss. However, it was a learning opportunity for the girls to find their rhythm.

Next up, a tough match against Corpus Christi. There was solid offensive movement from Ava Hilton in this game, putting pressure on the Corpus Christi defence. Great ball movement from our starting 5 created a closer game then previously played, however, the girls came short of a win. This was seen as another opportunity for our team to understand the game a little better and the dynamics on the court. An incredibly tough game against St. Mary’s for our third game approached. Sophie Regan earned the MVP for this game with her incredible defence. There were multiple occasions where Sophie would prevent the opposition scoring even though she was out numbered under the rim. Forced turnovers and bad passes were the result of her defence and the limiting of St Mary’s lead. Though the game ended in a loss, the girls should be proud of their performance. They made the team that went undefeated, earn it more than any other school that day.

Our last pool game against Magdalene, proved to be the result of all the learning experiences throughout the day. The girls showed exemplary teamwork and positioning that provided us with our first win of the day. Emerson Hickey, Ava Hilton and Sophie Regan poured in the points this game for an overall dominating performance. This victory allowed the girls to compete in the play-offs. The play-offs provided difficult competition in the form of St. Bendicts. The girls endured 4 previous matches and it started to take its toll. With some players unable to play, we were short in strength. This resulted in the end of our play-offs with a loss against St. Benedicts.

The JTCC Junior Girls Basketball team should be extremely proud of their performance and spirit during the diocesan championship. The girls became increasingly motivated to do better with each game, no matter what the result. Then, earned a commendable 7th place in the tournament. Well done girls, MVP goes to Ava Hilton, for consistent efforts on the offensive and defensive sides of the court.

Boys Basketball Year 7-9 - Jefferys

As defending champions we had a goal to repeat the great success of 2022 and it started off the right way beating Holy Spirit by 10 with some great performances from Rewa and Cooper. Our next game was against the MISA runner-up Mt Carmel, it was a hard fought game where we had control for most of that game however we had some poor offence in the final minute which allowed Mt Carmel to soak up time at the free throw line losing by 3.

Our next game which was a back-to-back was against Corpus Christi who had a very skilled guard that was able to knife his way through our defence for tough layups. This was a big test with Corpus getting a 3 point lead with 2 minutes left however Cooper Dickie was our saviour with some huge baskets to get us a very close 1 point win.

Our last pool game was against St Benedicts who beat Mt Carmel in the pool games. This was a big game to secure a semi final spot and we got off to a flying start with some quick triples from Thomas Elliot and Jordan Truckle. Our defence led by Moni and Cooper saw us get quick lay-ups expanding the lead to 10, our size proved too much in the second half and managed to win by 7 leading wire to wire.

As luck would have it due to point difference overall we finished 1st in our pool avoiding the undefeated Edmund Rice and playing St Joseph’s Albion Park. Much like the last game we got off to a good start and never looked back, they hit a few 3’s to keep it in single digits but as a recurring theme Cooper had his way inside keeping us always on the front foot. With great guard play by Izaiah, Jordan, Matt and Tom we managed to win this game by 10.

Our grand final, like sweet poetry, was of course against Mt Carmel. With some more games under our belt and a change in defence we were able to stay ahead by a slim margin for the first half. Our defence was the key for this half and some timely shots saw us maintain a narrow 3 point lead going into the second half. Cooper again along with Izaiah and Matt were able to hit big shots down the stretch to secure a 4 point grand final win. This was such a hard fought tournament and the boys played extremely well to be back-to-back champions. We are excited for 2024 where we hope to get a JT first 3 peat.   

Boys Basketball Year 10-11 - Cook

The Open Boys Basketball team were given one more competition to display their skills, teamwork and sportsmanship. After drawing Edmund Rice (43-19), St Joseph’s (46-10) and Magdalene (46-18) in the pool phase, the boys progressed to the semi-finals without really being contested. The boys didn’t really get out of second gear which was a worry heading into the finals phase.

We came up against Mt Carmel in our first finals game and again, we outclassed our opposition on both ends of the court. This allowed equal game time to be shared amongst the players to conserve our energy for the final.

Corpus Christi were the standout team from the other pool, boasting one state player and an Australasian representative. The boys lifted and met the opposition head on and were soon leading the half comfortably. Some good passages of team basketball on display, but mostly transitional from end to end due to our smothering defense. The second half was more of the same as we defended a 10 point margin into the later stages of the game before our opponents stepped up a gear and challenged us. JT rose once again and secured the win by 12 points to win the Diocesan title. A massive achievement for the team, as we have now won MISA, Diocesan play-offs and Diocesan Championships in the sporting calendar year. Great job gents.

External Sporting Achievements:

“Over the past couple of weeks myself and a few other fellow year 10 JT students were able to represent ourselves and our heritage in the Harmony 9’s competition and the Heritage 13’s competition. The aim of these competitions is to bring together communities from the great south pacific to express their love for their cultures and their love for rugby league. It was a tough battle I must say. With My Team (NSW U16’s girls Māori Squad) Placing 3rd just missing out on our chance to take the cup. Keon Zaglas represented Samoa in the U16’s boys squad and came through with their win up against their rivals Syria. And students Cooper Tonna and Ayden Caruana represented Malta, although playing to the best of their abilities they placed 15th on the Ladder. It was a great day of rugby and lots of competition. It was good to see JT students show their dedication to the game and their culture”. 

Written by Navara Mataipule (Year 10)

Keontrell Zaglas - Samoa U16s	Navara Mataipule - NSW U16’s Girls Māori Squad

Sporting Achievements:

Dante Foweraker - NSW U16 State Softball selection

Dante recently competed at the NSW State Titles where his Macarthur team won the tournament. After the tournament he was then selected as part of the 16’s Boys NSW Team.

Dante will represent the NSW U16 Boys team at Nationals in January 2024 in Victoria.

We wish Dante all the best on his softballing journey.

NSW All Schools Athletics

John Therry had three students compete at this years Championships held over the September holidays.

Dom Baker had the following results:

7th - Shot Put

6th - Javelin

7th - Discus

8th - 800 metres

Upcoming Events Term 4 2023:

A reminder to check the Compass Portal for upcoming sporting events and their respective closing dates.

NSWCCC Teams

Remember that there is a new way to nominate individual sports for NSWCCC. This portal is open now and all students wanting to trial for Southern Country and NSWCCC representative teams are to ensure they register by the appropriate CLOSING DATE.

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.

You can also access the Wollongong Sport site for more information throughout the year.

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/sport/diocesan-sport-news

SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS:

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,

Mr Jamie Cook                                                Mr Luke Bodeker

cooka01@dow.catholic.edu.au                                 bodekerl01@dow.catholic.edu.au 

Please find below a link to the latest Parish Bulletin

https://www.olhcrosemeadow.org.au/bulletin/