Filter Content
Dear Parents/Guardians and students,
Welcome back to Term 4 in what is clearly the most disturbed teaching year there has been for both staff and students. It would normally be the case that Year 12 would have commenced their HSC exams this week. Sadly, that is now delayed by a month and we hope that they are able to prepare themselves to be able to demonstrate their true ability. The date for these exams has changed on several occasions and that has made motivation and preparation extremely difficult. However, our students are resilient and have been supported by the staff and their families as best as possible.
The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus said that …”change is the only constant in life”. This is so very true. So, I wonder what the future holds for us as we come out of this very damaging period of social change.
When we return to face-to-face teaching with all students and staff back onsite we will need to respect that some things will be different and some things the same. We will return to our normal routines, generate the respect and trust that we can quickly recover the lost learning time and progress in our learning journey. Masks will be mandatory for ALL when inside and for adults when outside (subject to change with public health orders). This will be different.
During the lockdown and commencement of the pandemic in 2020 one of the significant effects that I ‘felt’ was the realisation of how often I shook hands with people in greeting them. Suddenly that was not allowed. The awkwardness of the greeting became a suggested fist pump or elbow touch. This time around, there is no such awkwardness, we have adapted to the new greeting style of none of the above.
Likewise with masks. The capacity to communicate through facial features has been limited by wearing a mask. The capacity to read a person is diminished. So an impact on developing and progressing friendships has occurred like never before and some students will struggle with this. We will be resilient and move through this and rebuild and strengthen friendships.
Many parents are asking what the future holds. We are unsure. But as Catholics we are people of hope and we recognise that as difficult as this year has been we are so fortunate compared to the rest of the world.
As a Marist College we also keep a Marist perspective about the blessings that we have and the good things, and the goodness, in our lives. We also receive prayers and other news items from the Brothers. I felt the need to share the one below. It talks about the special gift that we all possess, and how it can impact others – the gift of a smile and the power of it. Please read and perhaps discuss with your child when you next see this commercial on TV.
Welcome to Term 4
Year 12 2021
The final HSC exams begin on Tuesday, 9th November and we wish our students all the best for their exams. This has been a challenging year for our HSC students and we are so proud of them as they have demonstrated such resilience and dedication to their learning.
Year 12, 2022
Our students have made a great start to their final year of school. We have been busy finalising course changes, where necessary, so learning in all courses can begin without much delay. I wish to reiterate that all their teachers will do their best to support our students through this challenging but exciting year ahead.
Students have received (electronically) their HSC Assessment Handbook which includes the Assessment Grids for all courses as well as the Assessment Schedule for Term 4 (with dates).
The Assessment Handbook - details the policies/procedures and requirements of the courses. We will go through elements of the Handbook at Year meetings.
The Assessment Grid - is a guide for students to know the tasks, outcomes and weightings for each task
The Assessment Schedule - gives dates for tasks due in Term 4 so students know when, exactly, tasks are due.
To mark the end of the Year 11 course, we plan to follow the timetable below:
|
Week 4, Term 4 Monday, 25th October, 2021 |
Year 11 Reports uploaded in Compass |
|
Week 4, Term 4 Wednesday 27th October 2021 |
PT Interviews 3:30 pm-6:30 pm (Zoom) Followed by: Year 12 2022 Assessment Information presentation 6:30 pm-7:00 pm (via zoom) |
|
Week 4, Term 4 Thursday 28th October 2021 |
Year 11 Presentation of Major Awards |
Years 7-10 2021
We are looking forward to welcoming our students back to the College 25/10/2021 (in line with the NSW Government announcements). As we did in Term 3, we will publish an amended Term 4 Assessment schedule so students can demonstrate their learning.
We wish our Year 10 students, in particular, all the best as they will get their RoSA grades at the end of this Term marking the end of Stage 5 learning.
Year 11, 2022
We are in the final stages of confirming the course selections made by students for next year. We are hoping our Year 10 students are excited about starting Stage 6 study.
Our BYOD portals have been updated for any parent looking to upgrade or replace their childs device. All information and access to each portal is located here. Just a quick reminder that:
Year 7-9 can use either a Chromebook or Windows Device
Years 10-12 can bring either a Windows, Macbook or Chromebook.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at jefferysh01@dow.catholic.edu.au
Focusing on Surrealism, the students have created a number of imaginative digital and analogue collages in their unit of work ‘Digital Dreams’. At home they used several digital platforms to create three digital collages with distinctive subject matter. These Subjects included ‘Birds and hats’, ‘Urban Juxtaposition’ and ‘Sweet Dreams’. Furthermore, students created their own choice for an analogue collage. Congratulations to all these students on their focus and enthusiasm this term.
URBAN JUXTAPOSITION
SWEET DREAMS
BIRDS AND HATS
SPORT UPDATE - Term 4, Week 1
As we head into Term 4 2021, no one would’ve thought we would be heading into another term of lockdown. Despite the news of restrictions easing, there is no new information to share about sporting events for Term 4. This means that all school sporting and diocesan events are currently cancelled. Any updates will be posted on Compass. You can also regularly check the following sites for updates.
DOW Sport - https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/sport/
CSNSW Sport - https://csnsw.sport/
For the first few weeks of the term we will continue to produce weekly workouts and provide Zoom Fitness every Tuesday afternoon. Make sure you take a screen break and do some physical activity.
Zoom Fitness
Tuesday afternoons during Term 3 saw a dedicated group of students join in for our weekly Zoom Fitness sessions with Mr. Tannous, who changed it up weekly with a variety of workouts to challenge all.
New Uniforms
At the end of Term 3 our brand new Soccer kits arrived from Indigo Wolf. The uniforms look fantastic, we can’t wait to see them in action in 2022.
Congratulations - STEPtember results
Well done to all the students and staff that participated in the STEPtember challenge.
South West Sydney Academy of Sport
The South West Sydney Academy of Sport, is your local sports Academy and is a not-for-profit organisation supported by the State Government and our Local Councils. And as with many local and state sporting organisations and schools, has endured yet another COVID and lockdown interrupted year. Despite these challenges, the Academy was able to successfully service 168 of our region's talent-identified young athletes.
The Academy has opened its 2022 athlete sport program nominations, with plans to trial (subject to the NSW Government RoadMap) throughout November 2021.
To be eligible, athletes must reside in, or, attend school, or, compete with a registered sports association in the local Government areas of Campbelltown, Camden, Liverpool or Wollondilly, and meet sport specific aged criteria as listed below. (School year is given as a guide)
More information can be found at: https://www.swsas.org.au/?_c=fa5de42fd70d634d0bec2700bf7c6222&c=32097588
CCC Sport
Remember that there is a new way to nominate individual sports for NSW CCC. This information can be found if you search CSNSW Sport on Google.
If you have any questions, feedback or your child has a successful sporting achievement to share please get in contact via the school number 4645 8100 or via my email address:
leachg01@dow.catholic.edu.au
bodeker01@dow.catholic.edu.au (In charge year 7+8 Sport)
Yours in Sport,
Ms Leach