E-News 15 March 2022

Welcome to Week 7

The last two weeks have again demonstrated the terrific resilience and innovation embedded in the culture at the College. The shifting COVID landscape, including the move to the very high case load setting, has impacted certain processes events and activities but we continue to look for different opportunities that allow rich and diverse learning to still happen, despite circumstances. Our students have adapted quickly and positively which speaks volumes for the growth mindset that they have adopted. Our parents and caregivers have been outstanding in their support of the different measures we have had to adopt.

COVID Communications

Thank you to families for their support in informing the College if their child tests positive to COVID-19. We reiterate the importance of continuing to communicate this important information to the College.

To support our planning for classroom attendance, please also notify the College if your child returns a negative PCR/ RAT result, after:

being identified as a close contact (Day 1 test to return to school as an asymptomatic close contact), and/or
being identified as a household close contact (Day 7 test to conclude quarantine).

COVID Reporting Self-Reporting form

To help streamline this process a COVID Reporting Self-Reporting form has been developed by Catholic Education WA (CEWA). Parents and caregivers can now inform the school of their child’s positive or negative COVID result via this (). The information will go directly to me, prompting our COVID response.

The link is also available on the College’s COVID-19 Update page at www.corpus.wa.edu.au/covid-19

This self-reporting link will replace the existing process whereby families would email the relevant Deputy Principal or Head of School directly. Can we please shift communication of all PRC and RAT related test results to the new form via the link provided.

This is an important process in supporting the safety of staff and students at the school. Immediately reporting positive cases via the form will ensure the risk to others is minimised and that we do our very best to limit the spread of the virus across our community.

Vision, Mission and Values

In looking forward as a K-12 school, we have been pleased over the past few weeks to shift our thinking back toward the Vision, Mission and Values of our K-12 school. We have harnessed our significant technology platforms to engage with staff and students in a genuinely collaborative way to build upon the great work generated by our community as part of the consultation phase toward the end of last year.

In working together from a K-12 perspective, staff and students have explored a common set of values and considered how we can bring these to life though our actions. We are aiming to make our values visible so we can hold ourselves and others accountable to what it means to be a genuinely inclusive Catholic school.

Utilising the community consultation feedback from last year, we have also begun conversations with staff and students around our vision for the College and what we aim to achieve as a school for all members of our community. We have focussed on what our vision would look like for everyone and how we would bring it to life in a truly genuine way.

The conversations have been rich and rewarding. We are very excited at some of the emerging ideas. We have greatly valued hearing from the voice of the students and will continue to engage with them throughout the process.

As a K-12 school that has been built on a richness of two outstanding communities, we know the importance of the role of parents and caregivers in engaging with the College. We are very grateful for the input last year into the consultation phase of the vision building process. We are now looking to invite families to input into the current phase of the journey where we are formalising ideas and providing depth and meaning to ideas.

Ideally we would prefer to have parents and caregivers present with us to workshop ideas, but given current circumstances, this is unfortunately not possible. We are therefore creating an online workshop that will promote collaboration and conversation between home and school. We are seeking to provide an update to families on the progression of the vision process and invite their thoughts, ideas and feedback.

We will provide parents and caregivers with details on the workshop soon. We hope that you will be able to join us online and look forward to ongoing and regular input from families over the course of the year as we build our vision and then embed it across our community.

Climate Survey

In looking to further engage families in the life of the school, we invite your involvement in our upcoming Climate Survey scheduled for early next term. This survey will allow staff, students and parents to provide their input and perspective into life the College.

As a community of learners, we seek feedback and consistently look for ways that we can grow as a learning organisation to best suit the needs of our students.

We will be providing further details in the upcoming weeks and strongly urge all our community to become involved to support the continued growth and development of our wonderful Av�԰� College College community.

Jeff Allen
Principal

News (all years)

National School Improvement (NSI) Survey

I would like to provide preliminary information of the National School Improvement (NSI) surveys used in all Catholic schools. Students, parents and staff will be invited to participate in a survey about Av�԰� Christi College’s organisational climate and how it can be improved. This survey is an opportunity for parents to tell the College how things are going for you and your children. The College values your feedback and will try and respond to the information you provide.

The survey will be aligned to parent involvement in the building of the vision and mission of the K-12 College.

Similar surveys will be administered to staff and students to enable us to capture a community snapshot.

Completion of the survey will be on a voluntary basis.

Your confidentiality

To protect your confidentiality all surveys are anonymous. All answers go directly to the National School Improvement Partnerships, where the results are analysed for the College. Answers from individual surveys will NOT be reported back to the College. Staff of the National School Improvement Partnerships are bound by a Code of Ethics and follow strict professional conduct.

Use of the data

National School Improvement Partnerships will report the results to the College in an aggregated format so that individuals cannot be identified.

How to complete the survey

You will be asked whether you are completing the survey for an individual child or as a family. If the experiences of your children are similar, then responding once will suffice. If, however, your children are experiencing very different learning environments then you might want to answer separately for each child. The survey contains statements about practices which could take place within the College. For each statement, you will be asked to indicate how often the statement takes place. There are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. Your opinion is what is wanted.

Please be sure to answer all questions. Some statements may be fairly similar to other statements. Don't worry about this. Simply give your opinion about all statements.

Survey availability

The survey will be made available:

For parents in early May (dates to be advised). The survey will be aligned to parent involvement in the building of the vision and mission of the K-12 College.
For Staff on Tuesday 26 April 2022
For Primary students (Years 3-6) Monday 2 May 2022
For Secondary students (Years 7-12) Wednesday 4 May 2022

Frank Italiano
Vice Principal

National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence

The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence is a day for schools, students and the community to say Bullying. No Way! On Friday 18 March 2022, get involved to encourage Kindness Culture by promoting inclusion, respect and community belonging in Australian schools.

Parents and other carers have a key role in preventing and responding to bullying.

Learn what bullying is and what it is not. This is the first step in talking about how to prevent or respond to bullying with your child. 'Bullying' is a word that is used for lots of things that are not actually bullying. These other behaviours may be just as serious, but may require different responses.

Schools can be much more effective when parents report bullying and support their efforts to deal with it.

If your child reports that bullying is occurring at school, or the bullying involves students from the school outside of school, you should let the school know the situation.

For further information for families, please click on the link below:

Cafeteria Reminder

Primary

Primary school students are able to order lunches through a cashless system online, through quickcliq and at lunch time are able to purchase ice creams, icy poles and drinks.

To place a lunch order, parents need to set up a Quickcliq account and place a lunch order by 9.00am the day of ordering.

To create a quickcliq account, visit:

Secondary

Students are to bring and use their SmartRider to order and pick up their recess/lunch from the Cafeteria. Please ensure that money is loaded onto the cards via Flexischools.

Flexischools is a cashless card system that links a students’ existing Av�԰� Christi School ID card to their Flexischools account, allowing them to purchase securely on the school grounds without the need for cash. They may also use their card for the College Bus. This is seperate to the Transperth system - Transperth money can not be used for the Cafeteria or College bus service.

Register for Flexischools by visiting

For more information visit:

www.corpus.wa.edu.au/cafeteria

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:

Student Success

Lucas Cunningham (Year 7)

The long weekend saw one of our Year 7 students, Lucas Cunningham come in first place as part of a winning duo at the Flying Ant State Championships in Geographe Bay!

This comes after they came in first for the Australia Day Regatta earlier this year, as well as placing second overall at the 29erXS State Championships a few months ago, where Lucas was also individually awarded the Sportsmanship Trophy.

Well done Lucas and to all our students who were also involved!

James McAnuff (Year 10)

James was recently awarded with his Australian Scout Award (ASA) at the Perth Concert Hall by Governor Kim Beazley. The ASA is the highest award and is considered the pinnacle achievement of Australian Scouts within the scouting section. To achieve the ASA Scouts must complete milestones comprised of Achievements in leadership, outdoor adventure skills, bush craft, camping and bush walking.

Scouts must also complete personal achievement in six special interest areas. The Award culminates in planning and leading a self supported three day adventurous journey on the Bibbulmun trail.

Well done James!

Dickson Phoon (Year 12)

Congratulations to our Year 12 student Dickson Phoon! He took part in the Futsal Nationals 2022 trials towards the end of last year and was selected as the Goalkeeper for the WA State U19 Futsal squad in 2022. Dickson later went on to play in the recent State Futsal tournament and was also appointed as team Captain.

Well done Dickson!

Cohen Tarzia (Class of 2021)

Year 12 graduate Cohen, a recent winner of the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) VET Certificate of Excellence: Automotive, Engineering and Logistics, has also achieved the Certificate III in Aviation (Support Services and Operations) from South Metropolitan TAFE. He completed this certificate while enrolled in the College. Cohen also successfully completed a work placement at Corsaire Aviation, resulting in his employment at the Jandakot Flight Centre.

These qualifications have provided the foundation for Cohen to achieve his career goal to become a Commercial Pilot. Well done Cohen and we wish you all the best in your future endeavours!

⭐ Share Your Story ⭐

We love celebrating student success, so if you have a story to share please send details and a photo to:

marketing@corpus.wa.edu.au

Salvado Day

This Wednesday 16 March the secondary campus will be celebrating Salvado House Day. Salvado students are encouraged to wear their House shirt on this day in honour of their House Patron, Bishop Rosendo Salvado.

During recess and lunch there will be hot chips and drinks for purchase at the Cafeteria, with all proceeds going to the Salvado House charity – Catholic Mission.

To learn more about Salvado House please keep an eye on the SEQTA notices this week!

Creative Writing Workshop

Are you an aspiring writer? Do you have a talent for story telling?

Mr. Richmond is hosting a Creative Writing Workshop with the goal of submitting a story for while tapping into your creative and literary abilities.

Stories will only need to be between 1500-2500 words long, with a prize pool of $50,000 to be won across a range of categories.The workshop is open to students from Years 7 to 10.

To register your interest, click on the link below:

Senior School (Years 10-12)

Sense of Meaning

A key ingredient in feeling motivated to try new and more challenging things is a sense of competence, the feeling you have the skills to master something. Believing that you have what it takes, means that fear of failure is not going to stop you from leaving your comfort zone to risk failure. Failing well and then fixing your mistakes provides personal growth. How competent do you feel in your skills?

A key social-emotional resilience skill, which students need to negotiate the challenges of adolescence and schooling, is a healthy sense of self-belief in their self-worth as a person. This begins with accepting all the aspects which make up who they are as a person, both those that they like and those that they would like to develop. Also, accepting that experiencing the full range of emotions is perfectly normal.

To support these things, they can mindfully focus on using their top strengths in their every thought, word and action. Effective ways to develop self-acceptance and self-belief in themselves include:

Having an attitude of gratitude to every day reflect on and write down three good things they are grateful for.
every morning thinking of something that they are really looking forward to for the day ahead.
looking for opportunities to do little acts of kindness to do good to feel good and for feel good to do good.
striving to bring out the best in others which will bring out the best in themselves.

Conversations at home and at school about these things will enable them to develop as young citizens with spirit and confidence. Having self-doubts is perfectly natural, cultivating self-acceptance and self-belief will overcome them.

Page 24 in the College Diary is a great place to start with your child.

Read Mindful Living (page 24 of Diary) together.

Discuss with them that many of life’s ups and downs can be coped with and overcome well when they consciously and deliberately choose to use certain strengths and think in particular ways.

Share that quite often issues become bigger when they approach them the same autopilot way, rather than pausing, to give themselves self-awareness time, and then mindfully responding well through their strengths and thoughts.

Also add, that this includes welcoming challenges, making mistakes, and then fixing them, showing empathy and letting others know that you value them, and seeking support from their champions.

Discuss the following questions with your child.

For one of the above mindful living approaches which of your strengths and Habits of Mind would be best to use?
When is a time you deliberately changed your thinking and strengths?
What are the possible consequences for those who choose to be self-determined to cultivate these mindful thinking and strengths approaches in themselves and then those who choose not to?
What resilience skill could help you with Mindful Living?

Effective study strategies

With the end of term approaching and Senior School exams on the horizon next term, the following attachment can be a good reminder to all about effective and non-effective study techniques. As the exams get closer, teachers in their classrooms will be guiding the students on further effective techniques for their particular subjects.

Effective Study Strategies

Damian Scali
Deputy Principal Senior School

Faith in Action (Christian Service Learning)

The Faith in Action Program is our Christian Learning Program at the College. It is a vital program that fits under the Pastoral Care Program at the College. Each year group has a particular focus where students develop compassion, empathy, and a sense of justice through completing volunteering. At the College we classify service in two ways, Core Service and Indirect Service.

Please check the diary on pages A29 and A30 for more information regarding the program and what each year level requirements are.

Year 10 FIA Program

The Year 10 FIA program will officially be launched during their Year 10 Retreat in Week 9. Students will be electing to attend a particular site where they will be undertaking some service for an organisation and will receive their first 2 hours of CORE Service. The list of options is below:

Epiphany Retreat Centre:
Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation centre
Environmental/Waste (Melville Council)
Kardinya Toy Library
Give Write
Cooking for St Patricks Community Centre
Woodwork for Fostering Hope Australia

A Google Form will come out this week for students to elect which service option they would like to part-take in.

Year 11 FIA Program

The Year 11 FIA program started last week with students sorting out greeting cards for the local aged care facilities and cooking for St Patricks. All had a great time using their gifts to help those people in need in our community. If you would like to participate in one of these, please collect a form from the Upper Room to sign up.

Opportunities for Senior School Students to complete their FIA Hours:

Please check SEQTA Notices for more information.

Creating Greeting Cards
Cooking for St Patricks
Containers for Change Sorting
Vinnies Group
Greening Project

Vinnies – All secondary students are invited to attend

Young Vinnies is a school program that allows us to offer a hand up to people in need by supporting the St Vincent de Paul Society to shape a more just and compassionate society.

As a young vinnies member you will get the chance to be involved in large events such as the Vinnies Sleepout and the Christmas Appeal along with many small but meaningful tasks throughout the year.

Young Vinnies meetings will be facilitated by Ms Macpherson and Mrs Chong (when she returns from long service leave) on Tuesday afternoons, 3:30-4:15pm. Meetings will start commencement in Week 8. FIA hours will be rewarded as well as a light afternoon tea provided.

Project Compassion Student Update

Learn about why our students donate to Project Compassion:

Prayer for Ukraine

The Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has shared with Catholic Education Western Australia a letter he has sent to priests and deacons and the prayer he wrote for the people of Ukraine. He encourages us to share the prayer in our communities to pray for peace in Ukraine and for all the people of that country, and beyond, who in so many ways are enduring great suffering at this time.

Please refer to the attached letter and prayer from Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB.

Letter

Prayer