Dear Lord,

On this special day, we show our gratitude for all Mothers.

We thank them for their all-encompassing love, for their commitment, care and kindness.

We thank them for their wisdom, for helping us grow and flourish.

We thank them for their strength, for their sacrifices, and for being there in times of need. 

And we thank them for their encouragement, for being our cheer leaders and celebrating our achievements.

Lord, help Mothers know how much they are loved and appreciated. 

We ask that you bless all Mothers, including those who are no longer with us today.

Amen.

(Catholic Care Victoria)

Mother's Day

Today we give thanks for all mothers and mother figures in our lives. We remember all that they have given and modelled for us; their patience and good humour; their generosity and care; time spent nurturing and helping us grow, and the values and unconditional love that have made us who we are. Whilst Mother’s Day is somewhat commercialised, it is important, in that, it invites us to pause, and to remember, honour and celebrate our mothers and all who are and have been like a mother to us. We wish all mums a very happy Mother’s Day on Sunday and hope that they are very much spoilt by their families.

On Friday 14 May, 8.30 – 9.30am we will have our annual Mother’s Day breakfast. Invitations have been sent home with students in the last few days. The morning will begin with tea, pastries and entertainment, and be followed by a guest speaker. We hope that you can join us.

Olive Harvest

Over the last few weeks students have been harvesting the olives from the trees at the front of the school. The two small olive groves were planted in 2009 to mark the International Year of Reconciliation and with good rain over summer, have been particularly abundant this year. There are many different theories on how to best brine and prepare the olives for eating and students are experimenting with a number of these. We look forward to enjoying the fruit of all this labour in the months to come.

The olive trees are a constant reminder that in our community we do all that we can to live as peaceful people. The olive branch appears on many crests and is the emblem of the United Nations. It is a universal symbol of forgiveness and peace. Just as God sent the olive branch to Noah we are called to hold out the olive branch to those with whom we’ve had differences. It is the first step towards reconciliation and rebuilding broken relationships. We believe that there is no issue that cannot be resolved peacefully.

Farewell and Welcome

At the beginning of Term 2 we farewelled Ms Louna Ghawi. Louna is well known to many families and has been at the College for almost three years, as our Arabic speaking Multicultural Education Aide. We thank Louna for the many hours she spent in interpreting and translating, in ringing families, in managing the ‘WhatsApp’ group and in ensuring effective communication and strong relationships between families and the school. This was never more important than during the COVID lockdown last year. I know that families really appreciated all that she did to assist them and their children to settle into the school in Australia. We wish Louna well in the next stage of her career.

All endings bring new beginnings. This week we welcome Ms Manal Hadeed to the staff as the new Multicultural Education Aide (Arabic). Manal is delighted to be joining the school community and we hope that her time with us is professionally and personally fulfilling. Families and students will have a chance to get to know Manal over the next few weeks.

Staff Professional Practice Day

Families are reminded that students are not required at school on Monday 10 May 2021 as staff have a Professional Practice Day. On this day staff will be participating in the following:

• Berry Street Education Model implementation
• Planning for differentiation.
• Asthma and Anaphylaxis training.
• Planning for the refurbishment of the library.
• Emergency Management Warden Training (non-teaching staff)

NAPLAN Tests

All Year 7 and 9 students will sit the NAPLAN online tests from Tuesday 11 May to Friday 21 May. Information about the online tests was forwarded to all families earlier this week.

The College uses a range of data to evaluate the teaching program, and also to identify students who would benefit from additional assistance or extension. NAPLAN data is one of the data sets that informs these decisions.

Newsletter

The newsletter is published fortnightly on Day 10 (Friday Week 2).

Newsletter Days for Term 2 2021:             

Fridays:  21 May,     04 June,     18 June

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

On the 29th of April the Year 10 students visited the Islamic Museum Australia and the Jewish Museum as part of the`One God Three Religions’ unit that they are studying this term. 

The students were given the opportunity to learn about the nine aspects of Islam and Judaism. These include areas such as law and experience, religious rituals, and sacred stories.

The day gives students an opportunity to experience many of the areas focused on in the unit.

At the Jewish Museum students participated in the Jewish Shabbat and consumed both the grape juice and the challah bread. At the Islamic Museum students had the opportunity to participate in discussion with young Islamics, who shared their experiences with faith.

The staff from both museums gave us positive feedback on the respect and engagement of our students on the day. I would like to thank both staff and students for making the excursion a success. 

The Social Justice team celebrated World Earth Day, by planting vegetable seeds in the community garden. When the vegetables are ready, they will be harvested and then delivered to the Loaves and Fishes Foodbank. Eating locally is one way we can reduce our impact on the earth. 

Year 7 Premier League Round 1

By Angelina 7 Yarra

Last week, on the 28th of April, the year 7s competed in the Premier League. The sports that we played were soccer, volleyball, basketball and netball. The writer of this article, me, competed in volleyball. Before the session even started, I felt really nervous but also very excited. I’m sure all the other year 7s agree with me here, it was very fun. It was fun working with a team and competing against other schools. To me, the part of the session that was the most enjoyable, was not the match itself, but the end of the match. I found this the most enjoyable because I was relieved that the match was over and the celebration that we actually competed. I loved the feeling we got when we won and even if we didn’t win, I think it still would’ve been fun.

Sports Update from the House Captains

A warm welcome to parents, students, and staff. My name is Felix Tejo and I am one of the House Captains here at CRC representing the School Leaders. On Tuesday the 4th of May students from CRC St Albans in Year levels 7, 8, 9, and 10 participated in the SACCS Cross Country events that they were allocated in. Despite the weather conditions all students gave it their all and represented Catholic Regional College in the most positive way possible. All students should be proud and know what they accomplished was outstanding and we couldn't have asked for a better group of students to lead and represent our school. We thank the students and teachers for the amazing support shown throughout the whole day and want the students to know that we appreciate their efforts and thank them for a great day.

Our year 9 VCD students took part in the Concern Australia 'Walk in My Shoes' T-shirt competition.

Congratulations to the following students whose designs will be featured at the 'Walk in My Shoes' exhibition launching on Tuesday 11th of May at 6:00pm at The Atrium in Federation Square. The exhibition will run from the 8th-14th of May.

Laticia Nguyen, Anghel Baris, Edwin Ortega, John Nguyen, Yousif Momika, Amber Nguyen, Brodie Ranieri, Katie Cagoroski, My Nguyen, Macdalene Kaiser, Mykej Laxamana, Saveena Sakarya, Tommy Pham.

The highlighted students will also have their design for sale on hoodies and tees at Hosier Hoodies www.hoodies.com.au

Congratulations to Laticia Nguyen and Anghel Baris who took out first and second prize.

Hosier Hoodies is a social enterprise with all profits going to the work of Steps Outreach Service and the young people experiencing homelessness that we support.

NAPLAN 2021 – Test Schedule (Tuesday 11^th May – Friday 21^st May)

Year 7 and Year 9 will complete 4 tests during this period.

• Writing (42 minutes)
• Reading (65 minutes)
• Language Conventions (45 minutes)
• Numeracy (65 minutes)

NAPLAN is just one aspect of the schools’ assessment process. As with all assessment tasks students are asked to try their best when completing the tests.

• During this time parents/guardians are asked, where possible, to arrange appointments when their child is not required to do a test. Please refer to the schedule below.
• If a student is sick on the day of a scheduled test, parents/guardians are asked to notify the school and provide a medical certificate. The test will be rescheduled.
• Students are required to ensure that their laptop is at school and that it is fully charged on the day of each test.
• Students need to bring a pen or pencil to each test.
• Mobile phones or any other devices that connect to the internet either through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, that can transmit, extract and display or read out data to the user are not allowed.
• Each test will be conducted under strict test conditions.

Students are not allowed to leave the room during the tests.

NAPLAN_2021.pdf

Yr 9 SCIENCE STUDENTS LAND ON MARS

My role was an EVAO (Extravehicular Activity Officer) at Mission Control. Extravehicular relates to work performed in space outside a spacecraft.  The tasks that were needed to do was to assist the engineers locate where to pick up rock samples from the surface on Mars and turn on the roving camera for us at Mission Control to see. On our computer we had to record the environment condition and if any disasters are coming putting the astronauts at risk. I personally liked doing this role because it was cool looking at the computer and the data - Alethea 

MD stands for “Mission Director.”  They are the ones responsible for overseeing everyone on Earth and micromanaging however they can. Mission Directors talk to the Commanders directly and tell them what is to come.  As Mission Director, we assist everyone and ask them if they need support. They are also informed of any problems that will occur. Mission Directors have missions to give to their commanders. They guide the commanders to place pegs across Mars’ surface and warn astronauts of dangerous areas. We also inform the astronauts to take photos on Mars. Whilst overseeing the people on Earth, we were assigned to ask for data from the others.  Overall Mission Directors oversee the whole mission and guide commanders and their assistants (everyone else on Earth). - Leon and Phillip

BSO stands for Biomedical Science Officer and the job is to look at the astronauts heart rates and vitals and make sure they stay alive. The tasks that a BSO person has to perform is use a headset and a microphone to communicate with the biologists and help them with doing their own job in Mars. The BSO also has to use their computer to monitor all the astronauts and make sure their heart rates are steady and their blood flow is a good speed. 

The Commander on Mars has to make sure that the other astronauts are doing okay. They also make sure that they set the boundaries so that the others know where the dangerous places are and where the different crater zones are. The Commanders are also in charge of making sure that everyone gets off Mars' surface when danger strikes. - Laiesha and Lucy

SCHOOL PHOTOS - LATE ORDERING

Our CRC St Albans staff answered the call with donations for our Mother's Day Pamper packs. These wonderful treats, lovingly packed by Mrs McDonald, Ms Geraldo and Mrs Mallia, will be donated to Loaves and Fishes Food Bank who will be distributing them today.