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Dear Parents, Students, Staff & Friends of John Therry 

34th ANNIVERSARY OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II ABORIGINAL ADDRESS. 

November 27 has been set aside as a National Day of Celebration in recognition of Pope JPII’s address to Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people on 29 November, 1986 in Alice Springs. As he spoke the wind arrived and whipped some of the red earth through the crowd and it seemed like the Holy Spirit was present. 

“You are part of Australia and Australia is part of you. And the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others”. 

This day was significant for the Catholic ministries working in AITSL communities amongst the 120,000 Catholic Indigenous peoples. Throughout the next few weeks the students will be re-visiting this momentous occasion. 

END OF THE LITURGICAL YEAR                                             

Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christ the King. This also signifies the end of the Liturgical year and the commencement of the next. This always begins with the Holy Season of Advent. This is a time of waiting and hope in preparation for the coming of the saviour, the birth of Jesus. To mark this occasion many Parishes and schools will prepare an Advent wreath. 

This is made up of a circle of evergreen leaves and branches with four candles. The candles are white or purple and some customs have a pink candle for the third Sunday. A fifth candle, the Christ candle is placed in the centre. 

On the first Sunday of Advent one candle is lit, on the second two and so on. The Christ candle is lit on Christmas Eve. The circle symbolises God’s everlasting love for us. Evergreen plants are also a symbol of endless life. The four candles represent the ever increasing light of Christ as we move towards Christmas, where Jesus comes into the world for us.

I would ask all families to engage in the Advent activities in your local Church and encourage the students to explore the significance of this time of year. 

Congratulations to the 2021 School Captains.

Improving our Study Skills…

We are all aware that a major contributor to student success in the HSC is skills development and content knowledge and understanding in the courses chosen for study. We are also aware that knowing how to study well, having a successful timetable of study, having a growth mindset, setting goals and finding the right balance are some of the big contributors to this success. 

To enable our students to do their best, John Therry has a rigorous teaching and learning program led by efficient and diligent educators. In addition, we have employed the services of Elevate Education, an organisation that supports 1050 schools across Australia with effective study skills workshops to facilitate more effective learning, improve learning outcomes and increase overall student performance.

Elevate education team members have been working with staff, students and parents over the past few years and recently, they were back at John Therry to deliver 2 workshops to our Year 12, 2021 students - Student Elevation and Memory Mnemonics.

Learning Group Mentors have been working with their students to complete the modules and this will continue in Term 1 2021. 

All My Own Work- Year 10

HSC: All My Own Work is a program designed to help HSC students follow the principles and practices of good scholarship. This includes understanding, valuing and using ethical practices when locating and using information as part of their HSC studies.

Students who have completed the program will also know about penalties for cheating and how to avoid malpractice when preparing their work for assessment.

To be eligible for the HSC, students must complete HSC: All My Own Work (or its equivalent) before they submit any work for Preliminary (Year 11) or HSC (Year 12) courses, unless they are only entered for Year 11 and Year 12 Life Skills courses.

Most of our Year 10 students have now completed the NESA-AMOW modules. 

Semester 2 Reports (Years 7-10)

Semester 2 Reports (Years 7-10) will be available in Compass, through the Parent Portal on Friday, 11th December 2020. An email has been sent to all parents on how to access these reports. The College office can be contacted for further clarification.

We have become aware that 'vaping' has become quite common amongst teenagers in recent times. The link below from the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne provides some great information about vaping and some advice for parents of teens to help understand and talk with their children about vaping. 

https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/E-cigarettes_and_teens/

Vapes come in lots of different 'styles' and a few common varieties are shown below. They can look like USB drives, whistles, pens and cigarettes amongst other things.

The significant concern from health professionals is that vaping is marketed to teens as a relatively harmless activity. This is not the case and one of the biggest concerns is that there is still a lot not known about the effects of vaping.

As a school we have talked with the students about this and made it clear that the laws in NSW make it illegal for people under 18 to purchase vapes and we treat this as similar to bringing other illegal and contraband items onsite. Students will be suspended if they are caught vaping, in possesion of a vape, or in association with students vaping (eg: with a group of students who are vaping and you choose to stay in their presence). Any students caught providing vapes to other students and/or selling vapes at school will have their enrolment reviewed by the Principal.

John Therry will always take a strong stance against drugs and we appreciate your support in this area.

SPORT REPORT TERM 4  

Reminders: 

• The weather is heating up as we head into Summer. It is really important that students are wearing their hats, bringing a water bottle and applying sunscreen whenever they are participating in practical activities.
• MISA students are not allowed to wear their MISA shorts on a Tuesday. They must bring them to school and change at the venue.

Round 5: Week 7  VS St. Benedict’s Catholic College 

Round 5 is our final round for the term, with teams heading into finals next week. Due to COVID, there will be no Interzone Finals.  All teams have done some extra training and continue to improve, with some of our girls teams securing their first win in a few weeks. Good luck to all teams and coaches, keep training and working hard ready for finals next week.

* If you have any sporting news you would like to share with our community, please contact Ms Leach at  leachg01@dow.catholic.edu.au 

Donate here https://www.australianmaristsolidarity.net.au/submit-a-donation/donate-now/

For the first time ever, AMS is also proud to offer a Christmas Donation Gift Card option, in which you can make a donation to AMS in lieu of a gift for a loved one.  You will receive a card to provide them with, as a token of the contribution made on their behalf.  To order your Christmas Gift card, please click here.  Special thanks to Marcellin College Bulleen for their time and support in producing this card.