ANZAC DAY PRAYER

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; 
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

We will remember them. 

God of love and liberty,

we bring our thanks for the peace

and security we enjoy,

which was won for us

through the courage and devotion

of those who gave their lives in time of war.

We pray that their labour and sacrifice

may not be in vain,

but that their spirit may live on in us

and in generations to come.

That the liberty, truth and justice

which they sought to preserve

may be seen and known

in all the nations upon earth.

This we pray in the name of the one who gave his life for the sake of the world, 

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A very happy Easter to everyone. May the hope, joy and promise of this season continue to be with you all. 

Tomorrow we mark ANZAC Day, the day that Australian and New Zealand soldiers landed at Gallipoli during the First World War. The ANZAC story is about courage, mateship, resourcefulness, endurance and a wry humour in the face of adversity. It has assumed almost mythic status in the history and identity of our country. Why is it so important? I wonder if its value is that it reminds us of the best we can be as human beings, and of the enduring call to love each other, no matter what the circumstances, whether in war or in peace. 

This year we mark ANZAC Day in the shadow of COVID-19. Each day, as we watch and read the news, we witness equally heroic stories of people being the best that they can be. We see the courage and care of the front line medical workers; the dedication of all who work in essential services, and the kindness, good will and collective spirit of all who are staying at home to ensure that everyone remains safe. 

ANZAC Day morning is often very quiet across Melbourne, except for the places where communities gather to remember. It is a time of reflection. Tomorrow, as we remember the ANZACS, all who have fought over time to keep us safe and those currently serving abroad on active duty or as peacekeepers, we might also remember all who are working to keep us safe at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Learning from Home

Thank you to all students and families for the way that you have engaged with Learning from Home. Undoubtedly, this is a challenging way to learn and teach but it is good to see that attendance is good and that students are trying their absolute best. 

On Tuesday afternoon we invited feedback from students around what is working well in learning from home, some of the challenges, and suggestions for further improvement. By this morning (Wednesday) we already had well over 100 responses. 

In the feedback I was struck by students’ appreciation of the work their teachers are doing and their understanding that learning from home is different, a little more difficult than ‘regular’ school but often also very positive. As you can imagine, some students and some staff are more suited to working in this way than others but all need to be congratulated on the tremendous work they are doing and the way they are adapting to the change.

The Leadership Team will look at the feedback on Friday and make adjustments where these are needed. Early issues seem to be around workload (too much), the challenges of communicating with teachers only in writing (email / chat / waiting time) and possibly more breaks in lessons and transitions as being online can be tiring and confusing. 

A number of families have also given us feedback. Thank you for this. We encourage you to stay in touch, particularly with Pastoral Care teachers and Year Level Leaders. In class, teachers use many different cues to pace and adjust their teaching. This is harder online. 

Art Packs: Home Deliveries

On Monday and Tuesday next week, a number of staff will be delivering Art Packs to all the students who are studying Visual Arts. The Years 7 – 9 packs include brushes, paints and canvasses. Year 10 students will receive materials for their printmaking unit. 

Packs will be left outside. Please watch out for them.

Students in Years 9 and 10 Music (instruments), Sculpture (clay) and Visual Communication and Design (skateboards) have already collected materials from the College over the past week. Thank you to all the families who have brought them to school.

Building Project Update

The work on the Wellbeing Centre and changes to the Administration area continues and is on track to be completed in mid-May. The changes to this entrance to the school are very attractive and we will certainly appreciate having a dedicated Wellbeing space and the additional office space. 

Term 1 Interim Reports

These are now available on PAM (The Parent Access Module). We ask that all students and families check these when they get the chance. Families who have misplaced their password are asked to contact the school.

Newsletter

This term our newsletter will be published online only. Families will receive an sms with a link to the newsletter, and students will receive the newsletter by email.

Newsletter Days for Term 2 2020:

Fridays:   24 April     08 May     22 May     05 June     19 June

The newsletter can always be accessed on the College website at http://www.crcstalbans.catholic.edu.au 

Sunday Mass Live Streams

A number of local parishes are live streaming Sunday mass. Details are as follows:

Sacred Heart

On YouTube and Facebook @SHEPARISH from 5pm on Saturdays.

Holy Eucharist

English 10.30am

Vietnamese 12.30pm

http://www.holyeuchariststalbans.org/mass_stream.html

 Resurrection

10am

https://livestream.com/resurrection

St Patrick's Cathedral

Sunday Mass (11.00am) is televised on C31 (Channel 44 on digital TV's) as well as live streamed on the Catholic Archdiocese Melbourne website and YouTube channel  http://melbournecatholic.org.au/Mass

FOOD BANK DONATIONS

Wendy and Pauline have been busy at 'The Vine' making frozen meals for Loaves and Fishes Food Bank. On the menu this week is pumpkin soup and beef lasagna, both using produce from our garden. These meals will be delivered in person by Charlie to 60 families from the community. 

Wendy and Pauline are looking for donations so they can continue to cook frozen meals for Food Bank. 

What's needed?

425gr tuna in oil, lasagna sheets, pasatta tomato sauce, large tomato soup tins, evaporative milk tins, diced tomatoes tins, liquid stock: beef, chicken and vegetable. Any fresh vegetables: carrots, zucchini, celery, brown onions, potatoes. spring onions and capsicum

Donations can be delivered on a Tuesday and Wednesday to the front office, so Wendy and Pauline can put any fresh produce straight in the fridge. 

Our annual Mother's Day Breakfast will look a little different this year, as we will be moving it to an online event. 

Student Leaders will be hosting the online meet up, which will also feature our guest speaker and a live Q & A session.

All mums, grandmothers, aunties or guardians who attend, will recieve a Mother's Day hamper, delivered straight to their door. 

Please refer to the attached flyer for more information.

GEM - Gratitude, Empathy & Mindfulness

Hello everyone. As part of our pastoral care program we promote resilience, positive mental health  and wellbeing through the GEM program  In this program the students practice:  

• Gratitude (being thankful for what you have got), 
• Empathy (putting yourself in the shoes of others and being kind), 
• Mindfulness (grounded and centered in the present moment).  

Every day there will be an online activitiey for our students, that will continue to support the positive mental health of your child/children.  The GEM program is also available to parents and carers.  This is known as TRP @home.  TRP @ Home has been designed to provide families with easy to implement learning activities and digital content linked to GEM.

Each week TRP @ Home will provide 5 activities for each of Lower Primary (F-2) Upper Primary (3-6) and Secondary that will focus on one of The Resilience Project principles. As parents and caregivers we ask that you assist your child/children in completing the activities. Some of the activities will require more assistance than others.

We also ask that you demonstrate and role model the GEM principles as often as you can! To assist we have created GEM CHAT. These daily questions have been written to continue to practise the GEM principles with members of your family. We know that if you practice these principles as part of your daily routine they will become a habit.

Good luck with the program, particularly during these difficult times.

Kevin Quinn 

Deputy Principal Pastoral Care

Being safe online

With the increased activity online it is important to know where to turn to if you are concerned about:

• Bulling issues online,
• Offensive or inappropriate material being shared online,
• Knowing if an app is appropriate for your child.

You can always contact your child's Pastoral Care Teacher, Year Level Leader to discuss the issue, or you can go online to Officer of eSafety. 

The Sport Health and Physical Education (SHAPE) Team have set a series of challenges for our students (and families) to complete while learning from home.

Students are encouraged to complete a minimum of 5 activities each week. Those who meet the challenge guidelines, will receive a Subway voucher electronically, thanks to the generosity of Subway Delahey. Students will also gain House points towards Williams Cup for successfully participating in the SHAPE Challenge each week.

If the first few weeks in isolation has taught me anything, that is, as a school community, we all need to challenge ourselves to complete some of these activities and ensure we are also looking after our health and wellbeing each and every day.

Take care and stay active!

Mr Dale Marshall

Health and PE Leader

We invited our Student Leaders to reflect on remote learning, the challenges they are facing and the how they are keeping connected to their family and friends.

The most challenging part about online schooling is actually doing the work.  Even though we're in 'school’, we are still actually at home so it's hard waking up at the right time, it’s just hard to even be present during any period for some people, like myself. I think school will be different once social distancing and isolation has ended.  It will be more joyous to be at school because in my opinion I prefer human contact rather than using a computer/phone to contact other people. Raymond Abad Year 10

The most challenging part about it is learning to be a successful "student-from-home".  You have to be self-disciplined and be able to work well on your own as the teacher isn't constantly there to remind you of assignments or of project deadlines. Melisa Nguyen Year 9

To be honest, I did not expect learning from home to more be productive and engaging. The tasks the teachers are assigning are doable and educational.  As a result, it urges me to try and finish my work as soon as possible. Also, there are no distractions from other students in class, who may ask silly questions or misinterpret the teacher.  It allows me to finish work quickly. However, if some students have questions, they can ask the teacher through email or class comments which does not distract anyone. I guess the teacher can somewhat 'control' the class completely. Sonany Istaifo Year 10

The most challenging part is losing track of time as you have to self-manage your time. Sometimes I get so consumed with finishing my work to the upmost standard that I forgot I have another subject to do.  Sometimes I even forget its recess or lunch. I am keeping in touch with my friends through text and phone calls.  This is important as it allows me to still have a connection with them and make sure they are alright mentally and physically. Rejoyce Modi Year 10

My expectations of home learning were a little similar to what I am currently experiencing.  I wasn’t sure how everything was going to work.  It is a little different to what I thought it was going to be like because we do get some videos from teachers, which are helpful and we receive work in one google classroom post. I thought home learning would be very isolated and boring, but I am enjoying it even more than I thought I would. Ana Markic Year 8

My expectations of online learning were that it would be hard to study due to the fact that the teachers aren't there with us to teach us directly but during these couple of weeks I find that I am able to be productive and efficient with my work and hand it in on time. In my free time, I tend to do more study or try new things like painting and drawing. Other than that, I revisit old hobbies of mine like playing the piano. Caelen Khoo Year 8

I feel like online learning is better than going to school.  You have to complete homework at school.  There are more breaks at home and not as many at school and my mind is packed with info.  There are new experiences and I’m learning more. James Hoang Yr9

Most challenging thing about remote learning is not being able to talk to others, it feels too quiet for me. Rhaven Hao Year 10

I am keeping in touch with my friends through social media and communication apps. I find this very important as we can help each other but also have a sense of security and joy in our lives at the moment. Three fantastic things that are happening for me right now is I've been able to see how I best complete work, I get to spend time with my family and I've been more productive in some cases. My Nguyen Year 8

School will be different when we get back. People will appreciate and be grateful for their lives and relationships a bit more. Everyone in the school will be very happy and excited to see each other and get back to the normal routine that we're used to. Positive things that are happening at the moment is that I'm spending more time with family and I have more time to learn and do certain things. Jude Sef Year 10

AWARD WINNING GRATITUDE BLANKET

Catholic Regional College St Albans received a highly commended Portrait Award for our community art project titled 'Gratitude Blanket', from Catholic Education Melbourne. 

More about the 'Gratitude Blanket':

We as a school community believe in gratitude and this project has enabled us to express this gratitude through a creative process.

The blanket is a metaphor for the love, care and nurturing that we have all received throughout our lives. The creation of our gratitude blanket has enabled us to reflect on our busy lives and take stock of what’s most important in life.

The colour pink, prominent throughout, symbolises the universal colour for gratitude.

The choice of Polaroid pictures allowed us to slow down and take a ‘timeout’ whilst they developed.

These pictures are a snapshot of us as a community taking ‘timeout’ to be in reflective space.

You can take a virtual tour of the CEM Creative Arts Exhibition here.

Mr Dale Marshall

What was teaching like during the 2020 pandemic? This is a question we will be asking in 10-20 years time, but today we are living it. So here is a list of what ‘pandemic teaching’ is all about:

- Self teaching how to use different ICT tools and resources to engage students.
- Getting up 30 minutes later each morning, as I don’t need to drive into work.     However, going to sleep later, due to an increased demand to prepare work and increased marking.
- The positivity and resilience of our students to stay on task and focus.
- Hosting and attending staff meetings via online platforms e.g. Google Hangout Meet.
- Juggling between teaching my CRC kids and having to attend to teaching my own two daughters.
- Increased opportunity to exercise, but a struggle to stay motivated at times.
- Trying to find challenging ways to engage students in Physical Activity.
- Having to think outside the box and come up with new and fun ways to teach students.
- The excitement when a staff member shares an innovative idea or way to teach students online.
- Sore eyes from looking at a screen for too long.
- Sore back from working from a laptop (or maybe it’s just old age).
- Having to relocate into another room (or even going outside) to attend an online meeting in order to avoid disruptions from my wife or daughters.
- The great support from staff within our school.
- Student polite replies of “thank you” when you provide feedback in Google Classroom.
- Students creativity in presenting work.
My top 5 things I am not looking forward to when we return to school:
⁃ reminding students to wear the correct school uniform.
⁃ Yard duty in the cold.
⁃ Asking students to stay behind to finish off work.
⁃ Getting an extra on a busy day.
⁃ Waiting in line to use the photocopier.
Like all our teachers; I love teaching face-to-face!!! We love the personal connections we get to form with our students and we look forward to the day when our school will reopen and ‘Learning from Home’ will be a thing of the past. 

Mrs Josephine Lowe

Initially, I thought working from home was going to be great. No rushing around moving from classroom to classroom, not being dictated to by the regular ringing of the school bell. I thought I would be able to sneak in a load of washing, here and there, watch that TV program recorded days before. I was looking forward to being in the comfort of my own home.

Then reality hit! All of those small things we take for granted: the smile of our colleagues as we rush past each other on our way to class, the constant rumblings in the classroom; the regular interruptions by students; the face to face contact with other human beings. How I miss all of that! The hours in the day all seem to blend into each other. We have to keep reminding ourselves to take a break! A brain break!

The last couple of weeks have certainly been a challenge. The extra planning that is involved, ensuring that we have explained each instruction with clarity, providing pages of information but knowing that students don’t want to read it all. The challenges faced by students knowing how to access the right resources and knowing what to do without the support of their teacher to call upon. Yes, it has been challenging and not everything has gone to plan at times. However, I am confident that everyone, staff and students alike will come out the other side of this with new skills and a greater appreciation for all the good things school provides. Bring on the familiar sound of the school bell.

Mrs Mariella Pannunzio

Look what's growing in the garden....

Information for eplatform Library login for mobile device

Did you know you can now download books and audio books from eplatform?

Follow the steps below.

Download the eplatform by Wheelers app from Google play or the app store.

Select:

Install eplatform by Wheelers.  ‘Find Library comes’ up and then type Catholic Regional College in search bar. 

 Select Catholic Regional College - St Albans:

 Click the image of the books:

Click the 3 bars beside the search panel, to bring up the menu, where you access the ‘Sign in’ window:

Use your school login details to access the eplatform and you should get this:

If you have problems contact Angela Robinson: arobinson@crcstalbans.com.au

Happy reading!

BOOK REVIEWS

All the light we cannot see By Anthony Doerr

The stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.  Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. 

[https://www.goodreads.com]

The Martian by Andy Weir

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

NEWSPAPERS ONLINE

You can access newspaper articles on your research topics.

• Follow the steps below:

• Login username and password: crcst

• From the NewsBank Homepage you can access the Australian/Victoria newspapers and the Hot Topics section.

• You can search by text, topic or headline and select dates if you know them.  REMEMBER NO PHOTOS OR PAID NOTICES TO THE PAPER ARE INCLUDED.

•  The Current Events section, Hot topics and Special Reports are worth a look. [USA bias]