Lent

Loving God,

Bless us as we enter these forty days of Lent.

May this be a time when we reach out to find you.

May our fasting be a hunger for justice;

our alms, a making of peace;

and our prayer,

the chant of humble and grateful hearts.

Bless our efforts to grow in our love for you,

in our generosity towards others,

and our willingness to live our lives fully.

Amen

Wednesday marked the beginning of the season of Lent. The weeks of Lent can be a bit like gardening. We till the soil of our lives: to weed and prune the things that stop us from living fully, to water our relationships with others and with God, and to plant new ways of being.

Often in Lent we choose simple actions that help us to become more prayerful, to live more simply, and to share what we have with those who are in need. It is a perfect time for reflection and for making small, simple changes in our lives. I wish all in the College community a very fruitful Lenten season.

Opening Mass

On behalf of students and staff, I would like to thank Fr. Gerard Keith (Resurrection Parish, Kings Park) for celebrating with us, our opening school mass.

Thank you also to the students and staff who planned, prepared and led the very prayerful and thoughtful liturgy.

Induction of School Leaders

At the end of the mass, we inducted our 2020 school leaders: the School Captains, SRC and House Captains. Congratulations to all the students who have graciously accepted a formal leadership role this year. Your leadership, energy and sense of service are terrific.

The full list School Leaders for 2020 are included later in the newsletter.

Inter-house Swimming

Families have received a letter outlining arrangements for the Inter-house Swimming carnival on Thursday 5 March. All permission forms should now be back.

The carnival is held at the St Albans Leisure Centre so if families have the time, you’re very welcome to join us for the carnival; to cheer on your child and to barrack for their House.

School ‘drop off’ and ‘pick up’

As is the case with most schools, the streets around the College and Sacred Heart primary school are congested at these times. Our first concern is always everyone’s safety and we ask families to take care when collecting or dropping off students.

Please ensure that your child uses the school crossings and that you do not double park or park in no standing places. Council officers regularly blitz the area around the school. At times, parents parked on the west side of Theodore Street call their children to just cross the road, even though a teacher is directing them to the crossing. This is unsafe.

Newsletter

The newsletter is published fortnightly and distributed on Day 10 (Friday Week 2). Students will have a chance to read it before placing it in their diary to be taken home to parents that evening.

Newsletter Days for Term 1 2020:             

Fridays:                 13 March         27 March

The newsletter can also be accessed on Friday morning (Day 10) on the College website at http://www.crcstalbans.catholic.edu.au

Since our last newsletter…..

Over and above the day to day activities of the school since our last newsletter students, families and staff have participated in the following:

• Year 7 Family Nights
• Swimming Training
• Project Compassion Launch
• Pancake Tuesday fundraiser
• Year 7 Immunizations
• School Photos
• Sunnystones (7 Avoca)
• Intensive English program morning tea for families
• Trinity KickFit
• Opening Mass
• Induction of School Leaders

I am sure that students and their families are very appreciative of all these opportunities and the time and energy that staff put into organising and offering these experiences.

We are proud to have a team of wonderful students representing as our school leaders. These young people have been elected to various tasks and play an important role in the activities connected with the daily life of the college.

SCHOOL CAPTAINS

Sonany Istaifo and Jude Sef

VICE CAPTAINS

Nhi (Cindy) Nguyen and Loang Aweng

HOUSE CAPTAINS

CORBETT:  Alex Rafoo and Isabel Jankovic

GUELEN:  Rejoyce Modi and Kahlia Cuccaro

O'REILLY:  Emily Gerada and Raymond Abad

REIS:  Olivia Barisic and Megan Flores

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL

YEAR 10: Phillip Rafoo, Spence Page and Rhaven Hao

YEAR 9: Tri Truong, Sacreana Ulugia-Sa'ena and Melissa Nguyen

YEAR 8: My Nguyen, Andy Bui and Caelen Khoo

SOCIAL JUSTICE TEAM

Habeeba Daabool, Amy Ruel,  James Hoang, Cayden Aguila, Anna Markic.

CHANGES IN CONTACT DETAILS

Families are reminded that the school needs to be notified immediately that there are changes to phone contact details or addresses. You may contact the office by phone on: 9366 2544 or drop in during office hours.

SCHOOL FEES

School Fees can be paid directly into our School Bank Account:

We are currently collecting all the information in order to process the 2020 school fees and hope to have the statements out to families next week.

Any families wishing to discuss fees, please ring and make an appointment with Mrs Anne Ross at the college: 9365 0221.

For concession card holders CSEF eligibility will be subject to the parent/legal guardian’s concession card being successfully validated with Centrelink on the first day of either term one (28 January 2020) or term two (14 April 2020).

A few families have not supplied their Centrelink Concession card or Health Care Card.  If you are one of them, please bring in your card ASAP.

Project Compassion Launch Caroline Springs

On Tuesday our six social justice leaders, attended the Project Compassion Launch at Caroline Springs. Archbishop Commensoli blessed our social justice leaders and the social justice leaders of twenty other catholic schools in the western region as they embark on the important work of promoting project compassion.

The theme for project compassion for this year is `Go Further Together’.  Thursday will be our project compassion reflections days in homeroom. Awareness is the first strategy of the social justice team. Each Thursday, the Social justice team will raise awareness in classrooms, by promoting a story of one of the many projects funded by Caritas that are creating change and empowering communities.

Fundraising is the social justice team second strategy. As lent is a time of alms giving we ask students every Thursday to bring in coins for project compassion. In addition to this there will be several fundraising events.  We have already raised funds through our Shrove Tuesday pancake sale, and we will be selling hot cross buns every Tuesday to increase the funds raised. As we draw closer to Easter there will be an Easter egg raffle and a chocolate drop fundraiser.

Finally, showing solidarity through action. K’s for Caritas is an opportunity for students to reflect on the hardships experienced by many people around the world who do not have access to tap water in their homes. When our CRC St Albans community walks in the shoes of the most vulnerable, we can start to understand, with compassion, the injustices the communities face. This event will be held on the 26^th March.

2020 Catholic Regional College Sacramental Program

If your child has not received all their sacraements in primary school and would like to participate in the Catholic Regional College sacrament program please contact Ms Jacinta Dykes by email on jdykes@crcstalbans.com.au or by phone on 93662544.

NEW BOOKS ...

The List by Patricia Forde

In the city of Ark, speech is constrained to five hundred sanctioned words. Speak outside the approved lexicon and face banishment. The exceptions are the Wordsmith and his apprentice Letta, the keepers and archivists of all language in their post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world.

On the death of her master, Letta is suddenly promoted to Wordsmith, charged with collecting and saving words. But when she uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language and rob Ark’s citizens of their power of speech, she realizes that it’s up to her to save not only words, but culture itself.

When the Ground Is Hard by Malla Nunn

Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders. 

But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers. Then a boy goes missing on campus and Adele and Lottie must rely on each other to solve the mystery and maybe learn the true meaning of friendship.

READER'S CUP

The Readers Cup is a trophy awarded to the most prolific reader at CRC St Albans, and each term the top 20 readers win a special lunch. To be in with a chance to win, you need to borrow books and read regularly.

The current leaders in the Readers’ Cup are:

Long Huynh, Huy Le, Aveai John, Edison Mo, Lucas Mikho, Hans Abba, Rita Baqtr and Marsel Eshaq

KEY DATES FOR THIS TERM

Tuesday 3 March

7 Avoca Family Night

Thursday 5 March

Inter-house Swimming Carnival

Monday 9 March

Labour Day Holiday

Tuesday 24 March

SACCSS Interschool Swimming

Wed 25 March – Fri 27 March

Year 8 Camp

Friday 27 March

Final Day Term 1