Canteen Menu

This year we celebrate a very early Easter season, and we commenced this most important time in the Church calendar with our Ash Wednesday Liturgy on the 14th February. Ash Wednesday reminds us of the start of the 40 day Holy season of Lent, where we prepare for the celebration of Easter and the resurrection of Christ. During Lent we are called to focus on prayer, fasting and almsgiving to come closer to our God, and undertake true conversion to follow the teachings of Jesus more faithfully. Our liturgies serve as wonderful teaching experiences for our students as we share the meaning and purpose of our Catholic traditions. Students participated very reverently and I thank all involved in making the liturgy possible.

We have had a very settled and productive start to the year and I have been most impressed with the attitude and efforts of our students. There is a wonderful learning culture that has been developing for some time and the feedback from our staff has been overwhelmingly positive. We have also had a number of guests to the school who have commented on how well presented and calm the school environment is. Our High Achievers assembly held on the 8th February, is a wonderful reminder of what is possible when we commit ourselves to our learning and push to achieve our potential. It is important to recognise those students who have achieved exceptional results and the article later in the newsletter highlights some of these fantastic achievements. One of the most important aspects of the assembly is the opportunity for our current students to see what is possible and set their own goals for their time at John Therry.

Professional Learning Days

I appreciate that we have a number of professional learning days early in the year that is not always ideal for parents and carers. Schools have been given additional professional learning days in 2024 to prepare for the many syllabus documents that are changing, and we have been keen to make use of these and provide teachers with the time and professional learning to make best use of the changes. We believe the long term rewards of this approach will be worth it, but undertstand that this is not ideal in other ways. We have had our NESA Liaison officer presenting to staff, and will do so again on the 4th of March at our last PD day for the term. Terms 2 and 3 have just the one pupil free day planned in a return to normal scheduling.

We warmly welcome our new staff members to John Therry. While we have placed names in the previous newsletter, we felt it important that you can put a face to a name. We continue to attract outstanding teachers to John Therry and we are so pleased with how well our newest teachers have settled in.

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVERS 2023 ASSEMBLY

Each year, the John Therry community celebrates the hard work, dedication and achievements of our HSC students. On Thursday, 8^th February, we invited our 2023 distinguished achievers to a College assembly to acknowledge their diligence and success.

The College also acknowledged the achievements of the following students:

SCHOLARSHIPS

The Eileen O’Connor Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scholarship provides opportunities for our First Nations students to access educational opportunities that they may otherwise find hard to do on their own. We are very proud of both of our Indigenous students for achieving a substantial scholarship to study teaching at our CEDoW schools sponsored by the CEO Wollongong and Our Lady’s Nurses of the Poor.

The 2023 recipients of the scholarship were Ella Fisher and Kalan Nau.

The Step into Teaching  Scholarship program supports students who wish to undertake the vocation of teaching. This scholarship aims to acknowledge students who are passionate and afford them the opportunity to work with the Catholic Education System. The scholarship offers $20,000 over 4 years and includes an opportunity to teach within Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong schools. We are proud to acknowledge the two students Hayley D’Cunha and Kaitline Kellet, who received this scholarship and wish them every success in their teaching career.

The 2023 recipients of the scholarship were Hayley D'Cunha and Kaitlin Kellet.

NOMINATIONS

The College also received several nominations across our Creative arts and Technological and Applied studies courses. The College achieved 1 IT-Timber Shape nomination, 4 Drama-OnStage nominations and an outstanding, 6 Visual arts selections, which included 1st place in the State and 1st in Course in the State. This is an excellent accomplishment and we congratulate the students and their teachers for this exceptional achievement.

ARTEXPRESS EXHIBITION AT HAZELHURST REGIONAL GALLERY

On Saturday 10th February, HSC Visual Arts student Achan Ajak along with her family attended the opening event for ARTEXPRESS 2024 at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in Gymea. ARTEXPRESS is an annual series of exhibitions of exemplary artworks created by New South Wales visual arts students for the Higher School Certificate examination. It was a very prestigious event, featuring various political state members and NESA officials.

Achan’s Visual Arts body of work; ‘Stories of the Dark’ was selected for this exhibition amongst the best in the State. Her work drew praise from La Perouse education officer Aunty Maxine Ryan who gave the Welcome to country address. Congratulations to Achan who was also a NSW Distinguished Achiever, achieving a result in the highest Band; (Band 6) in last year’s HSC Visual Arts alongside eight others in her class.

Students in this exhibition push aesthetic, conceptual and formal boundaries, experimenting across a range of expressive forms including drawing, painting, photography, time-based forms and designed objects.

Achan’s Artist Statement:

Belonging is not a given. It is constantly challenged. The question “where are you from?”, while seemingly innocent, symbolically deports dark skinned people back to faraway places. This question particularly confronts those who have no other place to call home. While Australians of different descents may live in Australia as law-abiding and productive citizens, the ongoing scrutiny, questioning and unending construction of foreigner status positions them as “perpetual strangers”. My body of work represents how a particular racial identity is imposed on an individual or a group, without their consent. Recognising the hyper-visibility of their skin colour, the different colours reflect on the difficult and transcendental journeys of embracing their blackness, resenting it, or feeling separated from it. Therefore, to be non-white, particularly to be black, is to occupy the space on the margin.

Mr. Peters
Creative Arts Coordinator

JTCC SPORT UPDATE - Term 1 Week 3  

MISA UPDATE

Congratulations to all students that have been selected into a Term 1 MISA team. The MISA season will commence on the 20th February. 

A reminder to all parents and students of the correct sport uniform requirements for each sport. Students were made aware of these requirements throughout the trial process. Apart from looking the part, all students will be held accountable for their actions whilst representing JTCC on the sporting field. I encourage all students to be competitive whilst showing ‘fair play’ to the umpires and opposition players.

GENERAL SPORTS PERMISSION NOTE - This COMPASS 'event' is the electronic permission note for all TUESDAY Sport activities (MISA/REC/HOUSE) and all College Carnivals. This is now overdue. If consent is not received by this date, students may be unable to represent the college in MISA, REC Sport, Diocesan events or school carnivals. 

A few reminders regarding Sport:

• Students should not be signed out of school before sport unless for a medical or family emergency. If you are signing your son/daughter out from school, a reminder to please follow school procedure by physically signing them out via the front office. 
• No students are to leave from MISA venues or REC Sport activities. All students are required to return to school before leaving for home.
• Students who are injured/unable to participate in sport need to provide a medical certificate/note to the Sports Coordinator. These students also need to have a conversation with the Coordinator regarding future sport options.
• Students are required to be in full JTCC sport uniform for representative sport. Those students representing the College in MISA/Diocesan competitions or involved in Year 9/10 Rec Sport options will be required to adhere to the uniform requirements.
• MISA/DIO representative shorts and socks are available for purchase. Please make payment at the Finance Office and then show your receipt at the Sports Office to collect your uniform. These are not to be worn outside of Sport (Tues 12.30pm - 2.40pm) or during PDHPE practical lessons. 

JTCC Sport Uniform Policy

* Sports uniform is to be worn on Tuesdays (sport day) and on designated PDHPE practical lesson days (Years 7 - 10) as well as on College carnival days. 

* The College sports shirt is to be worn at all times.

* Students may choose to wear College sports shorts or tracksuit pants. 

* The College tracksuit jacket may be worn as required and must form the outer garment if the school jumper is worn underneath. 

* John Therry white sport socks (or plain white socks) are to be worn. All socks must be of ankle length and visible. Black socks are not to be worn with the sports uniform. 

* Appropriate sports shoes must be worn for sport and PDHPE practical classes.

* JTCC hats are required for sun safe behaviour at all times but are compulsory in Terms 1 and 4.

If you have any questions regarding MISA Sports, please feel free to contact me.

Mr Jamie Cook
cooka01@dow.catholic.edu.au

DIOCESAN AND PATHWAYS UPDATE

Diocese Tennis Teams Qualifying Event 

This year Diocesan Tennis was early in the school calendar making training & team selection challenging. In true JT spirit we had students put their hands up to represent the College & a special shout out must go to our year 10 Appin girls who once again filled 3 of the 4 spots in our girls’ team. Due to court redevelopments at Beaton Park in Wollongong play was moved to Campbelltown, much to the disappointment of our senior players who have come accustomed to their regular trip down the coast for a day of tennis & Chickos lunch overlooking Wollongong City Beach. 

The girls were unlucky with the draw coming up against the eventual winners St Mary’s in the first round. While the girls were out classed on the court, they should all be proud of the way they represented the College & a special mention must go to Breanna Kelly who led the team in her final year of eligibility. The boys team started strongly, winning their opening match against Magdalene College before coming up against the defending champions ERC who ended up going back-to-back winners. A big thank you to must go out to Jaydan Diamond who led the team at number one in his final appearance on the court for the College & Jordan Truckle who proved sporting ability on the footy field can cross over onto the tennis court. A great day was had by all!

Mr. McKenzie 

Wollongong Term 1 Team Selections and Nomination forms 

• 15’s & Open Boys  & 16’s Girls Rugby League Trials 27 March - students required to nominate: (nomination Closing Date 4 March)
• 15’s & Opens Girls Netball trials 8 April - students required to nominate:  nomination (Closing Date  8 March)

Southern Country Term 1 Team Selections and Nomination forms 

• 15’s Boys Southern AFL Trials 29 February - students required to nominate (nomination) Closing Date: Friday 16 February - THIS WEEK!

• 18’s Girls Southern Country Rugby League Trial 12 March - students required to nominate (nomination form) Closing Date: Tuesday 27 Feb

NSWCCC Term 1 Individual Sports Registration via CSNSW Sport & Closing Dates: 

• NSWCCC Triathlon - Event Date: 21 & 22 Feb Closing Date: 14 Feb (individual & teams)

• NSWCCC Golf - Trial Date 11 March Closing Date: 16 Feb

• NSWCCC Tennis - Trial Date: 4 March Closing Date: 22 Feb

• NSWCCC Baseball - Trial Date: 5 March Closing Date: 22 Feb

• NSWCCC 15 years Volleyball - Trial Date: 8 March Closing Date: 22 Feb

• NSWCCC 15 years Cricket - Trial Date: 12 March Closing Date: 22 Feb

• NSWCCC Opens Volleyball - Trial Date: 5 April Closing Date: 15 March 

• NSWCCC Diving - Trial Date: 4 April Closing Date: 22 March 

Students at John Therry are given the opportunity to represent John Therry at College, Diocesan and CCC sporting events. Important information regarding each of these sporting opportunities are outlined below.

Sporting Pathways Calendar - CLICK HERE 

Term 1 Pathway Opportunities - CLICK HERE 

DIOCESAN SPORTING OPPORTUNITIES

This is the main school sporting pathway that is offered to students at John Therry Catholic College. Some John Therry CC Diocesan teams are determined through trials, or a carnival hosted at a college  level (Athletics, Cross Country, Swimming), however some teams are determined by individual trials that students must nominate and register for online. Further information can be found at: https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/sport/ 

NSWCCC SPORTING OPPORTUNITIES

NSWCCC is another school sporting pathway that is offered to students at John Therry Catholic College. Some CCC teams are determined through qualifying at a carnival hosted at a Diocesan level (Athletics, Cross Country, Football, Rugby League, Swimming, Basketball, Touch Football), however some teams are determined by individual trials that students must nominate and register for online. Students must be currently competing at a representative level in their chosen sport to be considered for CCC team trials.The sports that require online nomination and registration include: 

It is important that online registration is completed before the closing date for each sport. These are outlined on the CSNSW website: https://csnsw.sport 

Online registrations are now open for 2024. Please refer to the information on the website regarding the registration process. Here is a link to assist with sports registration for parents: https://csnsw.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/2/topic/65d787c5-0d2a-4699-a63a-25d586b67ba2 

SWIMMING CARNIVAL

The 44th Annual Swimming Carnival will be held at Bradbury Pool on Thursday 29th February.

Permission for this event will be collected via the 2024 Sports Permission Form via COMPASS. Please ensure you complete this form by Monday 12th February to ensure your son/daughter has permission for all JTCC sporting events.

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 are now open. Please see Compass for the registration link.

EXTERNAL SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS

Over the Christmas holidays, two recent graduates of John Therry represented Wanderers Australia on a trip of England and France in a touring U18 Girls Rugby League team. Afi Fauese and Tess McEvoy-King wore the green and gold with pride while ripping it up for the aussies. Hopefully the girls experienced some key learning moments whilst on tour and can take what they learnt into the NRLW competitions in the near future.

UPCOMING EVENTS TERM 1

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

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

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

Yours in Sport,

Mr Jamie Cook & Mrs Georgia Roberts
cooka01@dow.catholic.edu.au robertsg03@dow.catholic.edu.au

John Therry has volunteered to undertake some research into effective parent - school communication and how we as a school can better connect with our parents. The flyer below has some information and there will be small focus groups for parents on the 26th February for those available and interested. There is also the opportunity to complete an online survey to share your thoughts and insights. If you have any questions, feel free to contact cunninghamt01@dow.catholic.edu.au and we can discuss this with you.

Please find below a link to the latest Parish Bulletin

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