O Creator,

Our world is large, and yet the global community is so fragile.

We glimpse the needs of our sisters and brothers,

And those needs are great.

We want to turn away, but you call us back.

We want simple solutions,

But you want us to help solve the complex problems.

Through the gospels, you call us to listen, to learn, to reflect and to act.

Give us a deep sense of our place in this web of creation.

Give us the wisdom of mind and generosity of heart

To seek your will in our world today.

Inspire us to respond to the call of Pope Francis

As he calls us to solidarity with impoverished countries of the world,

So that all children of God might live in dignity and peace.

This week marks Refugee Week across Australia. It is an opportunity to celebrate the strength, courage and resilience of all who’ve been forced by war and terror to leave the world they know to build a new life in a ‘foreign’ land. It is also a chance to pause and reflect on how well we, as individuals, as local and parish communities and as a nation, welcome strangers. Do we open the door when they knock? Do we reach out or are we indifferent to their plight? Do we stand in solidarity or run in fear? Do we recognise Christ in the strangers we meet?

Onsite Learning

Our return to school based learning has gone very well. It was lovely to welcome everyone back and to settle into routines closer to ‘normal’. Attendance has been excellent and the transition back to school has been seamless.

Thank you to students, staff and families for your patience, support and cooperation as we have adjusted to different ways of working.

I imagine most families are watching the daily numbers for new COVID-19 cases very carefully and it is always a concern when we see cases in schools, clusters in our area or a spike in numbers.

Throughout this time of COVID-19 we have followed closely the advice of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Catholic Education Melbourne, and continue to do so. This ensures that our practices reflect current advice and support the safety and wellbeing of our school community.

We are undertaking significant extra school cleaning measures and hand hygiene continues to be important.

In this edition of our newsletter, we have included a short video highlighting the work of our cleaning staff. Whilst students and most staff worked from home, this wonderful team have been planning and preparing for the return to onsite learning, and also ensuring that those at school have been safe.

As well as highlighting the work of this very important staff group, it also gives us an opportunity to thank them for the outstanding work that they have done over the past three months. They have been absolutely magnificent! Thank you Rossi, Marcos, Angie, Julie and Mirtha. All you do is very much appreciated.

Whilst COVID-19 continues to be with us - it is also important that we continue to monitor our own and the health of our children. If you or your child develops any symptoms:

• Stay at home and do not attend school
• Seek medical advice
• Call the school to let us know.

Farewell and Thank You: Bishop Mark Edwards

Bishop Mark Edwards, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne and Chair of the Catholic Regional College Council, has been appointed by Pope Francis as Bishop of Wagga Wagga.

On behalf of the school community, I would like to thank Bishop Mark for all his work as chair of the College Council over the last three years. His interest in our schools, and his presence, leadership, support and readiness to assist in any way he could are all very much appreciated.

We wish Bishop Mark well in his new ministry with the people of Wagga Wagga. They will discover in their new Bishop a man of deep faith, a great teacher and a person able to walk gently with his people. Godspeed Bishop Mark.

Remote Learning Survey: An invitation to Parents and Carers

Catholic Education Melbourne has developed a brief survey to capture what we have learnt from this period of remote learning. Whilst it has been a challenge, there will also be some valuable lessons that we as a school, and the system, may wish to take forward.

Below is a link to this optional survey. If you have the time, we encourage parents / carers to share their ideas.

The survey is designed to be a quick capture of learnings rather than a detailed account of schooling during the lockdown period. Your feedback will be valuable in learning from the experience and in improving education outcomes.

Here is the link to the survey. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete. Thank you for your time.

End of Term 2

This is the final newsletter for Term 2 which ends on Friday 26 June. Classes will finish at the normal time of 3.10pm.

For all of us, this has been a very different experience of education. Once again, I would like to thank everyone: students, families and staff for all your hard work, support and resilience in the face of many challenges.

What Term 3 will look like is still an unknown. We expect that there will be further advice from the Chief Medical Officer, the State Government and Catholic Education Melbourne, either next week or in the first week of the holidays, about school activities in Term 3. At this stage, we don’t know whether or when interschool sport, excursions or school camps will return in some form. Once we know we will provide information to families in an update.

At this stage, the staggered lunch and recess will continue in Term 3.

Start of Term 3

Term 3 will commence on Monday 13 July 2020. Please note this will be Day 1 of the Semester 2 timetable.

There will be a new timetable in Semester 2. Students can access their new timetable through the SIMON Learning Management System towards the end of the second week of the school holidays.

Student Parent Teacher interviews

These have been scheduled for Thursday 23 July. The format for the interviews is still to be finalised. They will either be online through Google Meet or in person with the Pastoral Care teacher only. Further information will follow next week or in early Term 3, once we have received further advice from DHHS and the CEM.

Newsletter

In term 3 the newsletter will continue to be published online only. Families will receive a sms with a link to the newsletter, and students will receive the newsletter by email.

Newsletter Days for Term 3 2020:             

Fridays:                 17 July     31 July     14 August     28 August     11 September

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

Refugee Week Celebrations at CRC St Albans

“People will come from east and west and north and south. They will take their places at the feast in God’s kingdom. Then the last will be first. And the first will be last.”
In Luke's gospel, Jesus tells us that ‘people will come from the east and the west and
from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last .’(Luke 13: 29-30)

It sounds as if this kingdom could be a place for all comers, or at least for all sorts from the four corners of the globe. At CRC St Albans we have been blessed with the arrival of many refugee communities since we began over 40 years ago. With the arrival of each new refugee community, we come closer to building the Kingdom of God. Our school is available to everyone. Our door is open to everyone who knocks.

This week CRC St Albans students have put together a short clip celebrating the
refugee heroes that they know and love. 

The Social Justice Team has also organised a fundraiser to celebrate and to raise
money for Caritas who assists refugees in their resettlement.

In Religion the Year 10 students responded to questions about refugee week these are
included here:

How has the St Albans Catholic Regional College Community been improved by the refugee/displaced communities that have settled in this school?
It’s made the school more diverse and it’s educated those who don’t come from foreign
backgrounds to understand those different cultures. Liya

Being able to learn about other cultures brings the community together and makes
everyone have a closer bond. Liam

The college has accepted these people and now it is diverse. Saoul

Our school is immersed in many cultures making it so that any person who comes to
our school is very welcomed, no matter what race/colour. Raymond

What attributes does a refugee/or displaced person require to escape persecution and resettle?

Refugees and displaced people have to have perseverance as well as a strong
willingness to be hopeful about their future and that they will get away to a safer place than theirs. Romiley and Calvin

Lord,
We thank you for the great gifts that we have received through our refugee communities at Catholic Regional College St Albans. As a Catholic School Community we pray that we may find strength and courage in the words of the Lord who says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me”.
Amen

It has been such a joy to welcome back and reconnect with all of our students ‘face to face’ at school. We have been able to share stories, express gratitude and show appreciation for one another. The eight-week period of Learning from Home presented its challenges but a great number of our students were able to rise above the difficulties through their incredible resilience, persistence and positivity towards learning.

In particular, we would like to congratulate the following students for:

• Persisting and keeping focused on learning tasks
• Actively using feedback to improve their learning
• Participating in and engaging with the learning activities
• Using the correct etiquette in online communication
• Supporting their fellow classmates online

Whilst students and most staff worked from home, this wonderful team have been planning and preparing for the return to onsite learning, and also ensuring that those at school have been safe.

Thank you to Rossi and Julie for having us along for part of their working day.

House Points for SHAPE CHALLENGE so far......

Well done to the following students who successfully completed at least 5 of the CRC SHAPE Challenge activities in weeks 8 and 9 of this term. These students have collected points for their Houses.

WEEK 8:

WEEK 9:

Year 8	Year 9
Mirna Daddoo Mykej Laxamana Laticia Nguyen Rania Ollo Brandnan  Radolovic Hoang-Quan Tran	Reuben Binghay Michelle D Rozaro Gyan Valenton

The points tally for the SHAPE Challenge are below:

GUELEN - 50 pts

CORBETT - 59 pts

O'REILLY - 38 pts

REIS - 58 pts

Great Australian Cross Country Challenge

As our SACCSS Cross Country event did not happen in early May, I registered our school with the Great Australian Cross Country Challenge. This challenge is open to all staff and students in our school and allows them to be active and log their times and distance on the website (once they have registered). Students are able to run or walk as many times as they like from now until the end of August and see how they stack up against other students from other schools in their age group.

If students would like to register for the event please go to:

Great Australian Cross Country Challenge and use our school code: CRCS.

If you are under 14 years of age you will need your parents to assist you with the registration process.

Happy running everyone!

The following free school holiday programs for term 2 are open for registration.

Follow the links below to register for the program you are interested in.

North Melbourne Football Club (The Huddle)

https://www.nmfc.com.au/news/548130/huddle-up-holidays

Location: The Grange P-12

Melbourne Victory (MVFC -Skill development)

Myclubvictory.com.au/Melbourne-victory-holiday-program/

Location: AAMI Park Precinct

Mushroom Group (On Track -Music celebration)

https://ontrackregistration.typeform.com/to/uvvEX7

Location: Caroline Chisholm Catholic College

For more information contact Peter Hichaaba in Room 1.

Email: phichaaba@crcstalbans.com.au

Demon slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge

In Taishō-era Japan, Tanjiro Kamado is a kind-hearted and intelligent boy who lives with his family in the mountains. He has become his family's sole source of income after the passing of his father, making trips to the nearby village to sell charcoal. Everything changes when he comes home one day to discover that his family has been attacked and killed by a demon. Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko are the sole survivors of the incident, with Nezuko being transformed into a demon, but still surprisingly showing signs of human emotion and thought. After an encounter with Giyū Tomioka, a demon slayer, Tanjiro is recruited by Giyū to also become a demon slayer and begins his quest to help his sister turn human again and avenge the deaths of the rest of his family

Drawing on her own family history, this is a story from Jackie French about education in Colonial Australia - and how women once had to fight for their right to it. January 1901 - Sharks circle a stranded ship as a young girl and her family stagger from the wave. Rescued by a Pacific Islander boy named Jamie, Hannah's family begin a new life in Port Harris, which at first seems a paradise for the schoolmaster's daughter. But local fortunes are built on slavery and the whip.

As the new Federal Parliament passes the law that will force Pacific Islanders from their homes, Hannah and her mother risk everything to run a secret school, while Hannah and Jamie must fight for their rights to education and equality. Can friendship and love win against prejudice and power?

The End of the World is Bigger Than Love

by Davina Bell

She said we didn't know what the world out there had become. We had been alone there so long on that tiny island, in that tiny church. But in the night, I couldn't bear it. My chest beat like wings.

Identical twin sisters Summer and Winter live alone on a remote island, sheltered from a destroyed world. They survive on rations stockpiled by their father and spend their days deep in their mother's collection of classic literature—until a mysterious stranger upends their carefully constructed reality.

At first, Edward is a welcome distraction. But who is he really, and why has he come? As love blooms and the world stops spinning, the secrets of the girls' past begin to unravel and escape is the only option.

A sumptuously written novel of love and grief; of sisterly affection and the ultimate sacrifice; of technological progress and climate catastrophe. The End of the World Is Bigger than Love is unlike anything you've read before.

Try something different from the Library eplatform.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
What happens when innocence is confronted by monstrous evil? Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no one to play with.  Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who wears a uniform of striped pyjamas.

A Thousand Splendid Suns