Wonder and Awe

God of wonders,

You show us your beauty in all created things.

Help us to pay attention:

to the taste of the ocean on our lips,

the warmth of the sun on our hands,

the song of birds in the morning and evening,

the fragrance of the earth after rain,

and to the star that guides us.

Creator God,

We stand in awe of all that you have made.

Fill our hearts with gratitude

for every good gift, great and small,

that feeds and forms us,

inviting and enabling us

to become people who are fully alive

in your amazing grace.

Amen

(Australian Catholic Bishops Conference: Office for Justice, Ecology and Peace)

The Season of Creation

As well as being the first day of spring, the first day of September also marks the start of the Season of Creation. The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration of prayer and action for our common home. Together, the ecumenical family around the world unites to pray, protect and advocate for God’s creation.

The College Social Justice team has organised a number of activities to raise awareness and engage students, staff and families in reflection and action.  These include daily prayers reflecting on creation, an Environment Forum on Tuesday afternoon and a competition to design and make a mascot for the zero litter campaign from recycled materials.

Our responsibility to care for creation and to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor is explored by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in the 2021 – 2022 Social Justice Statement. I would encourage students and families to read the statement which provides a theological foundation for our work in this area. The statement can be accessed by following this link Social Justice Statement 2021. Interestingly, the statement reflects our 2021 school theme.

Signs of Hope

Yet another extension to lockdown and rising numbers of COVID cases can leave us feeling very flat and wondering if it will ever end. Yet, contrary to this, we are surrounded with signs of new life and hope. The fruit trees in the community garden and the crab apples in the school grounds are all in wonderful blossom.

The photo below tells a wonderful story. It is a nectarine tree in our garden. Late last year the trunk of the tree split in two, right to the ground. Many would have thought there was no hope and that the tree was lost. However, Hayden and his trusty garden helpers bolted the trunk together and with care over autumn and winter, the trunk mended and the tree flourished. Both sides are once again in blossom.

This tree could well be a metaphor for our time. We know that this time will pass and with care for each other, we too will come through it and flourish.

Extension to Lockdown

As students and families will know, remote and flexible learning now continues to the end of Term 3, and announcements about Term 4 will be made this week. We will forward a Family Update when more is known.

The ongoing lockdown is testing our resilience and some days it is hard to maintain motivation, however, students, families and staff continue to do their best. Thank you.

Thank you to all (students and staff) who are offering extra activities that keep us connected and engaged. Every week there is lots to do – please check the student bulletin. The SHAPE Challenge, CRC’s Got Talent, Chess, the Yearbook Committee, the school newspaper are just a few activities on offer over the next two weeks.

Fee Relief

The financial impact of lockdown varies from family to family. Some continue to work and are unaffected, however, other parents / carers have been stood down or had their work hours reduced.

We are keen to support families as much as we can. Fee relief is available to all affected families. Please contact our Bursar, Anne Ross so that adjustments can be made. Her contact details are as follows:

PH:   0427 036 925               Email:  aross@crcstalbans.com.au

Father’s Day Breakfast

Yesterday we enjoyed our annual Fathers’ Day breakfast. It was great that a number of dads and important male figures were able to join us with their sons and daughters. Our guest speaker was Dr. Sami Sef, father of Jude (Year 10 2020). Sami shared his reflections on the importance of family, faith and being a father. His is an inspirational and universal story, of leaving the country, his career as a doctor and all he knew, to offer his children a better life in a new land.

In the Q and A after his presentation, students asked about advice Sami might have for fathers. He spoke about the need to be vulnerable; the need to love and live deeply with your children, and the need to know that you are not always right. He attributed his own resilience to patience, looking to the light at the end of the tunnel and most importantly to his faith in God. It was a real privilege to listen to Sami, and we thank him and Rasha, his wife, who assisted as interpreter.

Thank you to our student leaders who did a superb job in hosting the morning, and Ms Cioccia, Ms Liberatore and Mr Quinn for all their work in organising this event. I know that it has taken quite some planning and organisation but it was well worth it.

Happy Father’s Day

We wish all the dads, grandfathers and all father figures in our school community a very happy Father’s Day for Sunday. We remember also the dads who are no longer with us. May all dads know that their unconditional love, support and all that they do for us are very much appreciated, even though we may not say and show this nearly enough.

Newsletter

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

Newsletter Days for Term 3 2021:             

Friday:    17 September

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

Key Dates Term 3 2021

Due to the lockdown extension both the Immersion Day and Year 9 camp have been postponed. A final decision about the camp will be made after next week’s announcements around the return to onsite learning.

Friday 17 September                      Final Day Term 2

In 2015 Pope Francis officially acknowledged that the Catholic Church embraces the Season of Creation. The theme for this year’s Season of Creation is: ‘A home for All, Renewing the Oikos of God'. Oikos is the Greek word for home. This theme reminds us of the common bond Christians share as we reverence all creation as God’s good gift, recognize our inter-dependence and give thanks for the opportunity to care for our earthly home.

The scientific community, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and many others are unanimous that solutions are available for humans to live in new ways that are in harmony with creation and that collaborative action is our way forward. Pope Francis says in his video message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation: “We need a change that unites us.” One of the Pope’s recurring messages is that all sectors in society have a role to play, and he urges us all to raise our ambitions for a healthier, safer and fairer future for all. 

Over the next few weeks our Catholic Regional College St Albans will be celebrating the Season of Creation through REFLECTIVE PRAYER, CREATIVE AWARENESS AND ACTIVE DIALOGUE. 

Here's how the competition will work:  email Hayden at hodoherty@crcstalbans.com.au with your name and home room to register by this Friday the 3rd of September and you will receive a link to a how-to video for making a puppet along with worksheets and a materials list. You can make as many puppets as you like, however your puppet(s) must be completed by Thursday 16th of September. Email 3 photos of your puppet to Hayden by 5pm on Thursday the 16th. Make sure you include the name of your puppet and what materials you used to make it. Winners will be announced on the last day of term!

Week 2 Active Dialogue: The Social Justice Team is hosting an Environment Forum on the 7th September 3pm - 3:45pm. The forum will be an opportunity  to share their reflections on this year's school theme Listening to the Cry of the Earth and discuss changes they want to see happen in the world. The Forum will also be an opportunity to discuss how our school motto `Love one another as I have loved you’ is the foundation of our call to action on improving outcomes for the environment. Finally, Catholic Regional College St Albans has joined The Laudato Si Action Platform, so we can join with other organisations to engage with decision-makers, and a sense of belonging in local communities and neighbourhood ecosystems.

Week 3 Prayer Reflection. During this season of creation students will be praying with nature by creating a nature mandala. A nature mandala is a circular and non-permanent symbol using found objects like leaves, sticks and seeds placed in circular patterns to represent the circle of life. This nature-based activity is a creative and meditative project that the whole family can do and have fun with together, or could be completed on your own. Here is a short prayer to say as you complete your nature mandala.

“Call us again O God, to till and to keep. Gather us into the power of just relationships that heal and sustain. Enlighten us by your Spirit that renews the face of your Earth and safeguards a home for all. Amen”.

Next Thursday, 9 September, 2021 is RUOK Day. This is a national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone that every day is the day to ask, “Are you OK?” and support those struggling with life's ups and downs.

Earlier this week Melbourne University held a seminar to assist families in supporting young people navigate lockdown. Following are links to some very helpful resources that were suggested on this night. Families and students looking for support might try some of these.

• Reachout- mental health service for young people and parents with apps and links to other sites
• Butterflyand Eating Disorders Victoria - eating disorder support
• 1800Respect- family violence support
• The Brave Program- online program for the prevention and treatment of childhood and adolescent anxiety
• Moodgym- program designed to help identify emotions like anxiety and depression and learn skills to cope with them
• Most- digital therapy mixed with face-to-face care 
• Headspace- early intervention mental health services to 12-25 year olds
• Beyond Blue - mental health information and support
• Lifelineand Kidshelpline - 24/7 support

The results are in!

Congratulations to the following students:

1st place: Claretta Rock

2nd place: Kelvin Jutee

Third place: Steven Nguyen

Prizes will be given out next term!

Well done to everyone who participated.

Thanks to everyone for making Science Week so successful despite the limitations of lockdown.

EP SCIENCE COMPETITION CHAMPIONS AT CRC:

Well done to all students who participated in the EP Science competition.

In one week, CRC students:

• answered 16469 questions
• earned 8575 points
• achieved a global ranking of 335 out of 2012 schools
• finished 59th overall in VIC out 413 schools

THAT'S AMAZING!!

There were also some fantastic individual performances.

CONGRATULATIONS to the following top 4 students:

1st Wilsin Ghpreta 3115 points earned a Gold award

2nd Sara Attalah 2545 points earned a Silver award

3rd Reuben Rock 1375 points earned a Bronze award

4th Venus Sario 1072 points earned a Bronze award

Despite a 70% growth of ICT jobs in the last 25 years, women account for only 1% of the total female employed population in ICT roles. To combat this imbalance vicictforwomen held one of their events last week.

Six of our girls joined the Victorian 2021 Go-Girls Go For It Cyber Event. The event allowed our students to interact with professional women within the ICT/Engineering spectrum across Victoria. One workshop allowed a representative to speak to the students about designing for accessibility and how modern businesses adapt customer interfaces to overcome a very broad spectrum of physical disabilities. Other areas up for discussion were possible career paths and why ICT might be for them. I would encourage any girls with an interest in this as a possible career path to check out the vicictforwomen website for further events.

Mr Mark Johnston - Materials Technology Leader

Well done to the following students who successfully completed at least 5 of the CRC SHAPE Challenge 6.0 activities in Weeks 6 and 7 of this term. These students received a Subway voucher as well as House points for the Williams Cup.

CRC St Albans SHAPE Challenge is proudly supported by Subway Delahey.

We are all aware of how important staying physically active is but now more than ever it’s super important for everyone, including our young people, to stay active at home or within your 5km zone for up to two hours, exercising with one other person. Below are some ideas on how to stay active during lockdown.

1. Do a virtual running challenge with your family and friends - download a fitness app and share your results virtually with family and friends.
2. If you have a trampoline - spend some time jumping on the trampoline.
3. Help out by doing some chores around the house and getting your heart rate up.
4. Make a tennis wall at home - with permission from a parent/guardian, use chalk to draw a horizontal line on a flat wall outside, 1 meter from the ground to the line. Then you can play tennis against each other or even downball.
5. Get all family members to write down 5 different physical activities on different pieces of paper and place them into a bowl. Each day one member of the family takes out a piece of paper and everyone has to do the activity on the paper. 

Below are some links to workouts/activities from Brimbank Council and their Be Active program.

• For children and families
• For adults
• For older adults 65+

Interschool sport is not running at the moment, so SACCSS has introduced the SACCSS Run Challenge. Please see the flyer below for more information. If you are interested in taking part the google form is linked below so that you can submit your entry. There are prizes up for grabs too! Any questions please email ajurcec@crcstalbans.com.au

SHAPE Word of the Week

Word: Perserverance.

Definition: Persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

Example: Perseverance is really important for living a life they enjoy and can be proud of. Why? Because life is full of challenges and struggles. Perseverance is the drive that helps you get past the hard stuff to get to what you want.  

Synonyms: determination, persistence, resolve, endurance, tenacity.

Proverbial Phrase: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Encourages optimism and a positive can-do attitude when faced with adversity.

 Join the CRC Albans STEPtember Challenge

If you and your family are looking for a way to improve your health and wellbeing and raise awareness and/or funds for a good cause...I encourage you to join our CRC St Albans STEPtember Challenge....in three easy STEPS!

1. Click on the link provided: https://www.steptember.org.au/fundraiser/catholicregionalcollegestalbans
2. Register and join our CRC St Albans Team
3. Take 10,000 steps per day, your way!

As we continue our learning and teaching at home, it is important that we continue to utilise and add to our 'Wellbeing Tool Box' to look after our health and wellbeing.

Please see the 'Weekly Wellbeing Worksheets' that we encourage all members of our community to use.

-          Year 7 and 8 – Weekly Wellbeing Worksheet 9

-          Year 9 and 10 - Weekly Wellbeing Worksheet 9

Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness. It’s a complex combination of a person's physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Wellbeing is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction. In short, wellbeing could be described as how you feel about yourself and your life.

Factors that influence wellbeing:

Every aspect of your life influences your state of wellbeing. Researchers investigating happiness have found the following factors enhance a person's wellbeing:

• Happy intimate relationship with a partner.
• Network of close friends.
• Enjoyable and fulfilling career.
• Enough money.
• Regular exercise.
• Nutritional diet.
• Enough sleep.
• Spiritual or religious beliefs.
• Fun hobbies and leisure pursuits.
• Healthy self-esteem.
• Optimistic outlook.
• Realistic and achievable goals.
• Sense of purpose and meaning.
• A sense of belonging.
• The ability to adapt to change.
• Living in a fair and democratic society.

How to achieve wellbeing:

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with family and friends.
• Make regular time available for social contact.
• Try to find work that you find enjoyable and rewarding, rather than just working for the best pay.
• Eat wholesome, nutritious foods.
• Do regular physical activity.
• Become involved in activities that interest you.
• Join local organisations or clubs that appeal to you.
• Set yourself achievable goals and work towards them.
• Try to be optimistic and enjoy each day.

Reference: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/wellbeing#about-wellbeing

CRCs Got Talent - Has been Extended with Bigger Prizes for the Winners!!

We have been given a generous donation by one of the parents in our school community for our 'CRC's Got Talent' Show... So as House Captains we have decided to extend your chance to win!!

The Competition will run until Friday the 10th of September, 2021.

Winners will be announced in the last week of Term 3, from the 13th until the 17th of September.

What you will need to do is record yourself performing your talent (maximum of 2 minutes) and send it to the House Captains and Mr Marshall for your chance to win.

(housecaptains@crcstalbans.com.au & dmarshall1@crcstalbans.com.au)

Top 1st, 2nd & 3rd talents will win a gift voucher and every entry will score points towards the Williams Cup along with Commendation points.

The gift vouchers will be starting at:

1st Place - $50

2nd Place - $30

3rd Place - $20

Good luck and have fun with it!

ONLINE PARENT CONVERSATIONS

This week we held two more online conversations with parents. We shared our hopes and dreams for our students, challenges and concerns around mental health, and the desire for a return to normality. 

We would like to thank Lina Khoo and Melinda Wejak for co-hosting the conversations this week. We appreciate your time and support. A thank you also goes out to the wonderful families who for their willingness to share, listen and offer support to each other; Flavia Lynch, Peter Goc, Marc and Daphne Ferdinand, Mary Ajang, Eric Maggs, Thy Nguyen, Marleen, Thuy Nguyen, Michael and Simone Gerada and Marleen Aolo.

We will be holding more parent conversations over the next few weeks. If you are interested in being part of one, please get in contact:

Laura lcioccia@crcstalbans.com.au

Hayden hoderty@crcstalbans.com.au

Free Online Safety Webinars for Parents

Join one of our free webinars for parents and carers.

These live webinars explore the latest research and they are a great way to learn how you can help your child develop the skills to be safer online. 

All sessions are delivered by eSafety's expert education and training team.

HAVE YOU ENROLLED YOUR CHILD

FOR YR 7 2023?

Have you changed your address?

Your email address?

Mobile number?

Please let Eileen know

echalmers@crcstalbans.com.au

9366 2544