E-News 1 March 2022
Welcome to Week 5
In true AvĐÔ°® Christi spirit, the College has adjusted seamlessly to the new norms of education in the current climate. Our students, staff and parents have shown great agility and resilience in adopting necessary safety measures whilst maintaining a core focus on learning. Our community has shown patience and understanding as we adjust programs across the College to ensure we uphold necessary health protocols.
The ability to achieve what we have over the past few weeks speaks volumes for the positive and supportive culture that exists at the College where we prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our students, whilst exploring innovative approaches to ensure their ongoing growth and development.
As always, we are very grateful for the excellent support of our families. It is working in close partnership with parents and caregivers that we can collectively provide the best possible personalised learning opportunities and environment for our students.
There is considerable current research that highlights the importance of parent/caregiver connection to their child’s learning. The Department of Education Skills and Employment differentiates between parent engagement and parent involvement in describing how parents and families support their children's academic achievement and wellbeing:
“Parent involvement usually focuses on school-based activities such as attending events or volunteering in class. Parent engagement encompasses children's learning at home, at school and in the community, recognising the cultural and social diversity of families and communities.”
“Parental engagement in learning underpins children and young people’s cognitive and social and emotional development, shapes family practices and behaviours, and can impact the nature of the school community and the experience of schooling. Parental engagement is therefore a highly significant leverage point for enhancing the academic attainment and wellbeing of children and young people (Emerson, Fear, Fox & Sanders, 2012, p. 34).”
Strong evidence exists of the link between genuine parent/caregiver engagement and improved educational learning outcomes for their children. This extends to improved student motivation and self-regulatory behaviours, school attendance, social skills and literacy rates. Again, according to The Department of Education Skills and Employment:
“The evidence suggests that parental engagement strategies have the greatest impact when they are focused on linking behaviours of families, teachers and students to learning outcomes, when there is a clear understanding of the roles of parents and teachers in learning, when family behaviours are conducive to learning, and when there are consistent, positive relations between the school and parents (Emerson, Fear, Fox & Sanders, 2012, p. 32).”
As a College, we value the excellent level of parent/caregiver involvement in the life of the K-12 school, and, given the research, continue to strongly promote rich engagement from families given its positive impact on educational outcomes for students.
We understand that the current COVID impacted climate presents some challenges for families to engage with the College, however we continually look for innovative ways to remain connected. Last week, families would have received online information packages for their children across all years. Whist the preference would be to engage in person with parents and caregivers, we hope that the packages provide a clear outline of the learning, support, care and faith development opportunities for students at the College.
We would encourage families to access the materials with their children and, dependent on the year level, to contact the classroom teacher, homeroom teacher or Head of Year if there are questions. Clear communication between home and school is a key component in working together to support student learning and we therefore invite families to connect with the College whenever they have any concerns or queries.
The fast-approaching middle of the term provides an excellent opportunity for families to engage with their children in reviewing their progress to date and to then seek out required assistance from teachers. Students can also reflect on their own personal educational goals and review the strategies and practices that they currently have in place with a view of continually improving their learning.
We look forward to providing additional engagement opportunities for families as the year progresses. This would include engagement at a whole school level as we continue to shape our College Vision, Mission and Values. Building on the excellent input from last year through our community consultation program, this process will allow us to shape our K-12 College together. We recently commenced this process with staff and will engage with students in a similar fashion later this week. We will design an inclusive process to involve our families and Parish to ensure their strong involvement with this very exciting process.
We greatly value the role that our parents play in the education of their children at AvĐÔ°® Christi College. We appreciate the importance of this crucial partnership and are consistently looking for ways to enrich this excellent connection. When parents, teachers, students, and others view one another as partners in education, according to Joyce L. Epstein in her article School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Caring for the Children We Share "a caring community forms around students and begins its work".
Jeff Allen
Principal
News (all years)
In case you missed it...
Keep up to date with news as it happens by following our social media accounts and by checking out our latest posts, blogs and podcasts below:
Facebook Family Groups
We remind our community that we have College Facebook Groups for each student year level from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 which can be accessed via:
The year groups are named using the students' anticipated Year 12 graduating class year to ensure it remains consistent throughout their school years.
These groups provide an opportunity for families to engage with one another, ask questions and connect. Happy networking!
Reminder - Long Weekend
We remind our community that the College will be closed from 4.00pm Friday 4 March, re-opening at 8.00am on Tuesday 8 March.
We remind our community that student free days can be found on the College calendar:
Media Permissions
At certain times throughout the year, our students may have the opportunity to be photographed/filmed for our school publications, such as the school’s digital newsletter or external school websites and social media sites, or to promote the school in newspapers and other media.
Should you no longer wish for your child to be included in these we request that you submit the below form as soon as possible:
Secondary Uniform Shop Update
Dresses
All sizes of the summer dresses are now available for purchase.
Online Orders
The Secondary Uniform shop will be taking online orders only during this time through Flexischools. Students only are able to attend the shop during the normal opening times.
2021 Annual Report
Please click button below to access the 2021 Annual Report.
Student Success
Ella Waddy and Sanjeev Singh (Class of 2021)
We congratulate 2021 Year 12 Graduates Ella Waddy and Sanjeev Singh who were recently awarded Curtin University's Julia Gillard Women in Leadership Scholarship and John Curtin Undergraduate Scholarship respectively. These prestigious scholarships are awarded to academically talented students who have excelled in a wide range of endeavours, and have lent their talents and energies to the community around them.
Following the Scholarship Presentation Ceremony attended a three day orientation camp with other scholarship winners to network with academic staff, set academic goals and begin planning how they will work with scholars together and individually on a number of community projects, to encourage a sense of community outside and within the university.
Well done Ella and Sanjeev!
Ella Waddy (Class of 2021)
Class of 2021 student Ella Waddy was the overall winner of the Lions Youth of the Year Club Heat for the Booragoon region.
Ella was nominated to compete in 2021 after the outstanding leadership she displayed as Sustainability Prefect and her equally impressive community involvement with Swimming Coaching here at the College. The competition was judged on students aptitude for leadership, community involvement, sporting and academic achievements and public speaking skills.
After months of preparation and training and attending a panel interview, Ella competed against students from Applecross SHS, Santa Maria College and Perth Modern in the public speaking heat. She performed a prepared speech titled “The Generational Divide Over Climate change” and responded to two impromptu prompts. She was the overall winner of her heat and has now progressed to the regional finals. Ella also commences her Engineering Major at Curtin University this week and continues to pursue her passion for sustainability.
Congratulations to Ella on this outstanding achievement and all the best for the upcoming final.
â SHARE YOUR STORY â
We love celebrating student success, so if you have a story to share please send details and a photo to:
Ella and Sanjeev (pictured with Vice Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne)
It’s Week 5 of Term 1! Teachers and students are now in “full swing in classrooms”. Classroom expectations have been established, relationships are being nurtured, collaborative strategies employed, rich learning tasks facilitated, assessments and feedback offered and much, much more. Teachers are discovering more about your child’s learning needs and programs are being reflected upon and adjusted accordingly.
Congratulations to our Year 6 students and teachers for the wonderful format of the online Assembly! AvĐÔ°® Christi College Primary TV (CCCPTV) is an exciting alternative for connecting with all our students.
Shrove Tuesday & Ash Wednesday
Today is Shrove Tuesday which heralds the Season of Lent. Ash Wednesday begins this Christian celebration - forty days of prayer, fasting and giving to prepare us for the celebration of Easter.
Students on the Primary campus will receive the blessed ashes tomorrow in their classrooms after participating in a short liturgy. Father Simeon and Deacon Bruce will bring the ashes over and visit all students.
Our Year 6 students, along with their teachers, will attend Mass at 9.00am at St Thomas More Church.
An important aspect of Lent is the call to quieten down the busyness of our lives and to make time for reflection and contemplation. It is a great time to reassess where we are placing our time and energies; to consider what we are doing to improve the quality of our relationships; to reflect on how we are nurturing our prayer life.
Waste Wise
Waste Wise is a sustainability initiative set up on the Primary campus in 2020 which will continue this year.
Each year group is responsible for taking care of the recycling of different items:
Pre Primary - Bottle top recycling
Year 1 - Battery recycling
Year 2 - Bread tag recyclingYear 3 - Oral waste recycling
Year 4 - Worm farm
Year 5 - Paper and cardboard recycling
Year 6 - Ring pulls
Recycling bins are maintained and items are then sent off once the bins are full.
Please assist our students to support this great initiative and keep an eye out in the near future for more sustainability initiatives that are taking place at our Secondary campus!
Playgroup
Playgroup has begun at AvĐÔ°® Christi College. Tuesday mornings are a flurry of fun, and learning with our parents and our friends. Thank you to Mrs Henley for coordinating this wonderful initiative at our College.
Sacramental Program
Please take note of the dates for the celebration of the Sacraments this year for Years 3, 4 and 6. Further information will follow closer to each celebration.
Middle School (Years 7-9)
As we approach the midpoint of term, the hustle and bustle of Middle School doesn’t slow down but rather speeds up. Student resilience around these challenging times remains remarkable and reminds us how important it is to be present. Their ability to live in the moment is their best asset, as Parents and Teachers we can learn from this through the quality of our own presence and ultimately the connection that we wish to build in this community.
For students, the next 2 weeks sees the pressure of tests and assessments build. This is a very common occurrence for this time of the term. To help prepare students for this time a few initiatives have been put in place:
Completion of Study & Homework Timetable (page 150 – 151 of the 7-12 College Diary)
Term 1 Goals (page 9 of the 7-12 College Diary)
Use of an approach to Studying. Click Study Skills Strategy button below or highlighted link.
Wellbeing monitoring through the â€Big 5 Check In’ (page 3 of the 7-12 College Diary)
With organisation, preparedness and teacher guidance, Students begin the process of getting their heads round High School assessments. For Years 8 – 9 they should be well prepared for these assessments and have quickly refined the process that found them success last year. Please discuss this with your children, ask them about their approach to revision, review their goals, challenge them to stick to their study and homework timetable. The Learning Habits they build now are the platform for their success as they move through senior school.
Due to COVID restrictions all Parent Information Evenings planned for this term have had to move to a remote setting, personalised for each child’s year level. On the homepage is a welcome introduction from our Principal, Mr Jeff Allen. Each Learning Area has also prepared information, this includes Ministry, Student Wellbeing, Digital Integration, Learning Support and Careers. Year 7 Parents also have presentations from their respective Homeroom Teachers. You can access all the information on a purpose-built webpage, here: We hope this information is helpful.
As of 10 March the School Based Immunisation Program (SBIP) for 2022 will begin for Year 7s for their first round of Immunisations. It is vital that all parents return a response please, if you have not done so please get in touch with Student Services.
Year 9 has seen the Personal Projects introduced to them by Mr Mark Barron who has open the door to multitude of opportunities for students to participate. These have been shown through a number of introductory videos designed to engage, inspire and create opportunities for creativity as students challenge themselves to think of a project that appeals to them. The video links can be found below and again please do speak to your children about their intentions here:
Launch:
Folio:
Patrick Woolley
Deputy Principal Middle School
Senior School (Years 10-12)
Excelsis Club
Excelsis is a Latin term which when translated means â€in the highest degree’. This aim for Excelsis club is to promote and reward academic excellence in the Senior School. It provides students with the opportunity to participate in activities and events which will empower them to strive for excellence and achieve their full potential in everything they do.
Club members will meet each Thursday in the College Library from 3:30-5:00pm. In the weekly meetings students participate in a variety of activities which include:
Working either individually, in pairs or small groups with other high achieving students
Engaging in Peer Tutoring
Workshops on topics including â€Memory Mnemonics’ and â€Ace Your Exams’
Listening to guest speakers present on topics including – examination preparation, UMAT preparation, maximising feedback from assessments
Eligibility for membership is quite exceptional. Students are required to achieve at a very high level in the previous semester through all of their academic courses.
Excellence can take many forms including academic, sporting and personal excellence, but the common thread is striving to be the best you can be and thus realising your true potential.
It is my pleasure to acknowledge the following students who have been selected to continue to be a part of the Excelsis club for 2022.
Brendan Boudville
Yang Chau
Emmanuel Foo
Grace Harben
Audrey Ho
Hugh Livingstone
Patricia Rabino
Alyssa Salim
Juan Selvan
Avinesh Singh
Jennifer Tassone
Georgia Waddy
Carmen Wong
Positive Wellbeing
As part of the College’s Pastoral Care and Health Education, we are continuously challenging students to take responsibility for their own health including positive attitudes, sufficient sleep, health eating, active exercise and staying hydrated.
For students to accept that for thinking about what they want to achieve isn’t enough, they need to write down goals each term.
A great strategy for students to put themselves in a positive frame of mind every morning, is to spend five minutes every morning thinking about and then writing down what they are looking forward to most for the day ahead.
They don’t have to be big things. It’s funny how looking forward to something lifts your spirits and raises your self-awareness to be on the lookout for little positives. Remember, from little things, big things grow. What are they looking forward to today?
However, thinking alone, about what they want to accomplish is not sufficient for them to be motivated enough to pursue them with long-term passion. Research has shown that it is necessary for students to make the choice to write down their goals, obstacles they may confront and strengths and people who can assist them to accomplish them. Setting self-determined goals ignites intrinsic motivation in students to strive hard to achieve them. These include one to improve their learning and thinking competence, one to build social connectedness with others, and one of their choice for themselves. Setting term goals, and then breaking them down into two week targets to achieve, provides them with regular little wins, which over the term, combine to assist them to move steadily towards their goals. The most effective goals in nurturing personal and academic growth are process goals, where they focus on following a series of steps and receiving regular feedback on their progress.
COVID lockdowns and the leisure trends towards indoor screen pursuits have adversely affected the state of health of our population, and young people in particular have suffered by being unable to socialise with friends outdoors. Social connections are what adolescents crave for and not being able to attend school for significant periods of time have prevented this happening. Also, inactivity and processed food diets have contributed to the early onset of diabetes and obesity in young people. Encouraging students to monitor their own health by doing the simple Big Five daily and weekly check ins, will raise their self-awareness of their health to take responsibility for looking after it.
The Big Five are thinking positively, eating healthy, sleeping well, drinking water and exercising daily. These work together as a family, and if they are struggling with one, the others will suffer too. To be more aware of these to enjoy healthy wellbeing, every Friday encourage students to summarise their week by doing the colouring in check in to self-assess on how well they did each one. The Big Five is an excellent activity to do as a whole family, and shares the responsibility for maintaining a healthy state of wellbeing amongst all family members. This can include monitoring drink bottles, healthy snacks, family exercise together, avoiding junk food, having adequate sleep and reducing screen time.
Why not chat to your child about this. You can use pages 18 and 20 of the College Diary (Anchoring Goals and Health’s Big five) to help in your discussion with your child.
Damian Scali
Deputy Principal Senior School
Sport Update (Years 7-12)
The high case load COVID 19 guidelines have necessitated extensive cancellations and required modifications to sporting programs planned for Term One.
Our Sub Association inter-school competitions for Years 7 – 10 (Cricket, Touch Football, Basketball and Indoor Beach Volleyball) were cancelled along with ACC Championship Basketball, Senior Cricket and Inter-house Swimming. The 10 ACC Divisional Swimming Carnivals have been condensed into 6 Age Level Championship Carnivals to be held in the 10-lane outdoor pool at HBF Stadium during March.
We remain committed to modifying our sport offerings and working hard to cater for all year levels and a range of interests while providing the safest environment possible to meet current COVID 19 guidelines.
ACC Swimming - Training and Competition Schedule
Please click the button below or visit the Sportal via SEQTA to check the schedule.
All keen swimmers are encouraged to continue training on your year level allocated mornings this term regardless of whether you participated in the trials or achieved a qualifying time for ACC.
Jennifer Reilly Short Course Records
Congratulations to the following swimmers who broke records (Jennifer Reilly Short Course Records) at the recent swim trials held on Friday 25 February):
Congratulations to the following swimmers who have achieved qualifying times for the upcoming ACC Age Group Championships. Please note a qualifying time does not guarantee a swim at ACC. A limited number of heats are allocated to each stroke. We will advise the final team once the ACC has allocated heats.
Year 7
Maya Deery
Rachelle Chai
Sebastian MGuiggan
Isaac Harrison
Harrison Strawbridge
Wes Calverley
Indie Jones
Lilah Testa
Tom Meek
Laila Welch
Holly Ashley
Clodagh Wilbraham
Sean Welch
Isaac Harrison
Xavier Putt
Madden Pivac
Year 8
Eilidh Milne
Eleanor Lund
Hannah Morkel
Max Buiks
Ella Zhao
Sophie Collins
Lachlan Strawbridge
Hannah Morkel
Year 9
Jessica Ladiszlai
Samuel Dimov
Amy Passauer
Maureen Sherry
Luke Carrick
Xavier Petta
Preston Cifuentes
Ethan Budiman
Year 10
Keeley Bull
Annabelle Gallagher
Oisin Deery
Samuel Zollner
Michael McFerran
Anice-Joy Chan
Isabella Alves-Veira
James Lawler
Aidan Leeson
Year 11
Ryan Chai
Marcus Dalley
Leonard Kool
Talah Carr
Tessa Paton
Year 12
Matilda Reynolds
Natasha Arumugam
Elke Ruane
Charles Stenvers
Brendan Boudville
Inter-house Summer Sports Round Robin
To address the shortfall of summer team sports on offer due to the cancellation of Sub Association Inter-school Sports – we are commencing a series of Year Level Round Robin Carnivals on Wednesday afternoons for the remainder of Term 1.
Students register their interest via the link in the daily notices.
Wednesday 2 March – Year 10
Wednesday 9 March – Year 7
Wednesday 16 March – Year 12
Wednesday 23 March – Year 8
Wednesday 30 March – Year 9
Wednesday 6 April – Year 11
The sports on offer are: Ultimate Frisbee, Flag Belt Football, 3 v 3 Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton, Tennis & Table Tennis
Water Polo Development
Year 7 and 8 sessions have recommenced and remaining sessions will run on the following Thursday afternoons 3.30 – 4.30pm:
Year 7 - 17 March, 31 March
Year 8 – 3 March, 24 March, 7 April
Volleyball Club (Until end of Term 1)
Thursday Mornings 7.00 – 8.00am
Week 5 Thursday 3 March – Year 11 & Year 12
Week 6 Thursday 10 March – Year 9 & Year 10
Week 7 Thursday 17 March – Year 7 & Year 8
Week 8 Thursday 24 March – Year 11 & Year 12
Week 9 Thursday 31 March – Year 9 & Year 10
Week 10 Thursday 7 April - Year 7 & Year 8
Badminton Club (Until end of Term 1)
Thursday Afternoons 3.30 – 4.30pm
Week 5 Thursday 3 March – Year 11 & Year 12
Week 6 Thursday 10 March – Year 7 & Year 8
Week 7 Thursday 17 March – Year 9 & Year 10
Week 8 Thursday 24 March – Year 11 & Year 12
Week 9 Thursday 31 March – Year 7 & Year 8
Week 10 Thursday 7 April - Year 9 & Year 10
Social Tennis (Until end of Term 1)
Wednesday Morning 7.15 – 8.00am for Year 7 and Year 12
Thursday Morning 7.15 – 8.00am for Year 10 and Year 11
Thursday Afternoon 3.30 – 4.30pm for Year 8 and Year 9
Running Club & Fitness Club (To be advised)
There is no firm date yet for the return of Running Club and Fitness Club. These two activities require further planning to meet COVID safe protocols. Please stay tuned to daily notices for updates.
James Howard
Head of Sport
Faith in Action (Christian Service Learning)
As part of the Pastoral Care at the College, we have designed a program called Faith in Action – our Christian Service Learning for Secondary students. The program depicts the AvĐÔ°® Value of “Compassion”. This value underpins everything we are called to do as Christians, to show concern for others. Being concerned with those around us has been particularly important during the pandemic as many of our communities are at most in need. And this is why supporting them is most important, to be challenged to put ourselves outside of our comfort zone.
Here at the College we have a number opportunities available to your child. Please continue to check out the Upper Room and Seqta Notices for opportunities available.
In Week 6 we will be launching the Card Making, Cooking and a new initiative called Greening (become good stewards or caretakers of the earth) for our Year 11 Students. Sign-up sheets will be available for in the Upper Room from this week. There will also be new rules and guidelines in place.
Other opportunities that our Senior School Students can participate outside of the College are volunteering at Religious Charity Shops such as Vinnies, Good Sammy’s, Salvos Stores, Australian Red Cross, Save the Children Op Shop.
Other organisations to contact for service opportunities include local government council, rotary clubs, Lions clubs. There are many out there that need their support especially during these tough times.
Keep an eye out in the next edition for another idea of how your child could complete their Faith in Action Hours.
Caritas Project Compassion Launch
By Thomas Augustine and Erika Machado (Year 12 Ministry Prefects)
On the 1st of March 2022, 14 students ranging from years 6-12 of our school attended the livestream of the Caritas’ Project Compassion Launch, here in our very own David Heath Gymnasium.
We were joined by 48 primary and secondary schools on the livestream which was sourced from Trinity College. The launch also mentioned the theme for this year which is, “For all future generations”.
The day kickstarted with a liturgy by the Reverend Father Vincent Glynn. We then were introduced to the stories that would be the centre of this year’s project compassion.
These stories were from The Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, India, Solomon Islands, and Australia. These stories were mentioned and referred back to throughout the entire launch. We also had a brief introduction to our small discussion groups, where we talked about what we do as a way of acknowledging Caritas and Project Compassion. Following this, in tradition with Shrove Tuesday, we had pancakes for recess and participated in a Kahoot to gather understanding of Caritas and their mission.
The day then proceeded onto the activities of that was based around the videos from earlier in the morning. These activities included the discussion of how the stories shown to us are related to the Catholic Social Teachings. We then broke out into our groups again, discussing our interpretations of the stories and understanding what Caritas is doing in retaliation of these issues. This was promptly followed by a video from the CEO of Caritas, explaining the vision, plan, and help provided and available from Caritas. The video includes a quote from Pope Francis saying “Dear young people, please don’t be observers of life, but get involved. Jesus did not remain an observer, but he immersed himself. Don’t be observers, but immerse yourself in the reality of life, as Jesus did” (Francis 2013). We then had a Q&A session with Sister Ivy Khoury, who is a part Caritas Australia and has been helping the Mozambique sector for the past 15 years.
This allowed all the students and teachers alike from the various schools to understand and gain a perspective of how someone lived and worked in a 3rd world country. She stated that the hardest thing for her whilst working there was to learn to listen to the communities and understand what they needed. Working with the community and utilising the skills and talents they obtained, they were able to develop the project they’d envisioned.
To end the launch, we had a group discussion brainstorming the different ways of fundraising, making awareness of project compassion and its goals and the works of Caritas. We found that majority of the activities we already do like the line of hope, rice bowl day, and the project compassion boxes placed in homerooms are great stepping stones in aiding Caritas’ appeal during this Lenten season.
