Loving God

You have given all peoples one common origin,

and your will is to gather them as one family in yourself.

Fill the hearts of all with the fire of your love

and the desire to ensure justice for all our sisters and brothers.

By sharing the good things you give us

may we secure justice and equality for every human being,

an end to all division,

and a human society built on love and peace.

Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987

May the God of harmony and peace

bless and unite us, and bring us all together

into the joys of a new creation.

Amen.

Earlier this week we marked Harmony Day. It is a day that promotes respect, fairness and a sense of belonging for all Australians, no matter where they come from. The key message of Harmony Day is that ‘everyone belongs’. This is something that we believe deeply in our school community and try to live out in all that we do. Our school song ‘All are Welcome’ and our new mural certainly pick up this message very well. Here, at CRC St Albans, we work hard to ensure students, staff and families feel included, respected and welcomed.

Orange is the colour associated with Harmony Day and, fittingly, in our community orange is associated with the school value of Equality. Students, families and staff at our school come from many different cultural groups. The number varies but is currently around 50. We are continually working to understand, appreciate and celebrate all cultures, to treat others justly, to give everyone a fair go and to live together in peace and harmony.

Thank you to our student leaders who developed a terrific video reflecting on the meaning of Harmony Day to both raise awareness and to celebrate the rich diversity of our community.

Practicing Kindness

We are more conscious than ever that the pandemic and world events are creating tensions and anxieties for all of us. One antidote to this sense of being unsettled is to find ways of actively practicing kindness. Being kind is good for our own wellbeing and for the wellbeing of others.

Our Year 7 students have been leading the way in practicing kindness. Over the past four weeks, Year 7 classes have been participating in the Kindness Cup. The challenge is designed to foster a supportive and inclusive school community. It aims to catch students in an act of kindness and to nominate them for class points.

Similarly, the College Lenten Calendar provides daily activities that call students to think about others, locally and globally, and to act kindly.

I thank Mr Bain-King, the Year 7 teachers and the Social Justice team for all that they are doing to encourage us to act kindly.

Families may wish to pick up on this focus by encouraging family members to practice kindness with each other and to others, beyond the family.

Year 8 Camp

There is much excitement at Year 8 as students prepare for their camp at Kinglake Forest Adventure Camp next week. With many students missing their Year 6 camp, this time away will be extra special.

Whilst camps are great fun, they also provide an opportunity for students to learn about themselves, particularly their personal strengths, and to gain new skills in leadership, resilience and in working with others. We look forward to their return and to hearing about their adventures.

Best wishes

On Tuesday 29 March the College swim team will head off to the SACCSS Swimming Carnival at MSAC. The team has been preparing over the last few weeks. We wish all competitors well and hope that each of them is able to achieve a personal best on the day.

Clubs and lunchtime activities are back

It has been great to see the return of afterschool activities over the past few weeks. Students are once again enjoying choir, the community garden, futsal, basketball, volleyball club and Premier League training. More will return in the coming weeks. Thank you to all the students and staff involved.

Student led Parent / Teacher conferences

The dates for the Parent / Teacher / Student interviews have changed to Thursday 07 April (4.00 – 8.00pm) and Friday 08 April (9.30 – 3.00pm).

Interviews will again be student led conferences with Pastoral Care teachers and Pastoral Care associates.

Information about booking the Parent / Teacher / Student interviews and the PAM access code was mailed to families earlier this week. If you do not receive this information by mid next week, please contact the College.

Immersion Day: Friday 01 April 2022

Next Friday students are involved in offsite activities / excursions as part of an Immersion Day. Activities are as follows:

Year 7:                Reflection Day

Year 8:                Day 3 of the Year 8 Camp

Year 9:                City Experience

Year 10:              Visit to the Shrine of Remembrance

We remind parents / carers to ensure they have given permission through PAM and checked medical information.

Please note: Students who do not have permission and those not in the correct uniform will be unable to attend.

Final Day: Term 1

Students finish for Term 1 on Thursday 07 April at the normal school finishing time of 3.10pm. Parent / Teacher / Student interviews will take place from 4.00pm and during the day on Friday 08 April.

Newsletter

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

Newsletter Days for Term 1 2022:           

Fridays:  07 April  (Thursday)

All dates and activities are tentative and a final decision will be might in light of COVID risk assessments.

This week the students explored the true meaning of Harmony Day. The following is from a script prepared by our Social Justice Team to explore the true meaning of Harmony Day.

Audrey: So what is Harmony Day? The word harmony can be defined in many different ways. We each experience and express harmony in different ways. Harmony Day around the country is a celebration of the cultural diversity across the country and in this school.

Danielle: There are so many different aspects of Harmony Day that could be placed into this week (originally a day). Things like cultural diversity, gender equality and how we identify are all parts of our lives, and are what we celebrate and recognise on Harmony Day.

Wilsin: We are each different and individual and we celebrate the peace and harmony we have created through these cultures. 

Amadeus: As mentioned in our Lent Calendar, we must respect and love and help each other, not just in our community but everywhere. We must be the Good Samaritans in our story, to the benefit of others and to build character and strengthen our souls and hearts. Harmony is a crucial part of our lives which we should embrace no matter how difficult it can be in order to bring about peace and justice. 

Year 8 Care for Creation Excursion

Every year since 2017, we have worked with Melbourne Water and the Brimbank Council to revegetate a section of Kororoit Creek. The creek is our local waterway, beginning in Gisborne and flowing into Port Phillip Bay through Altona. The creek has a wide variety of bird, animal and plant life that are supported greatly by all of the work done by CRC students. The work at Kororoit Creek is an example of the good we can do as people of faith in creation. The Year 8s will help spread mulch along the creek line. This helps to hold water in the soil, feeds the microbes, supports plant growth and suppresses weeds. It also prepares the ground for the next round of tree planting in June.

Shrove Tuesday Crepes: raising money for Project Compassion:

Student's from Mr Stewart's Year 9 Space Science Elective recently experienced a virtual trip to the planet Mars thanks to the VSSEC. Here is an interview with Emily Quach about the day.

• What does the VSSEC stand for?

Victorian Space Science Education Center

What is the purpose of the VSSEC?

This specialist learning facility is meant to enhance the learning experiences in STEM for both teachers and students. VSSEC provides an interactive environment that encourages students to use problem-solving skills and teamwork to fully engage in the scenarios. 

List all the facts you knew about the Planet MARS prior to attending the excursion.

-Mars has no oxygen.

-Mars has shown signs of liquid water on its surface, which may have carried micro-organisms.   

-Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.

-Mars has habitable conditions

-Mars has the biggest volcanoes out of the entire solar system.

-It takes 4 light years to travel to Mars from Earth.

What was your Role and Responsibility during Session 1?

My role was a geologist in session 1 and I was responsible for identifying and assessing the location, quantity and quality of mineral and rock deposits all across the terrain. 

What was the most interesting responsibility you had during this time?

What I found most interesting about my responsibility was that I was in charge of locating where past volcanoes and water formations were through the presence of certain types of rocks and minerals in that area.

What was the most important skill you held that pleased you at this time?

The oxygen that was being blown into my helmet helped prevent it from becoming foggy and impairing my vision. 

What was your role and responsibility during Session 2?

My role in session 2 was the BCE and I was in charge of managing all the astronauts' body temperature, breathing rates and other internal bodily factors, along with guiding the biologist in achieving their job on Mars. 

What was the most interesting responsibility you had during this time?

I found the fact that we were able to see the astronauts through a camera was interesting, as I could easily identify my astronauts' location and what they were doing, if they were unable to communicate. 

What was the most important skill you held that pleased you at this time?

It was helpful that we had more information and resources up in the control center, as we can help our astronaut diffuse a problem more quickly. 

What was the main piece of information/findings that you were able to contribute to the group with regards to the history of Mars?

As we investigated the true contents of particular rock samples, we could identify which parts of Mars contained volcanoes, water…etc

Why is it important to know the history of other planets?

The more we understand about other planets, the more we can understand our own. It’s also important to investigate the potential habitability of other planets to advance human civilization. 

What was the highlight of your experience at the VSSEC?

I had the opportunity to use the scientific equipment to identify rock types and meet specialists. 

Year 8 STEM

Year 8 STEM classes have recently completed their 'Low Rider Race Cars'. After planning, creating, testing and amending, the students were able to race their cars against each other. Overall, they were all able to experience levels of success, but like many things, the most significant learning came from the many struggles and difficulties along the way. 

Pictured above are some of the classes, with the fastest groups at the front and center. Well done year 8s!

- Mr Justin Mead

Interim Reports and Student/Parent/Teacher Interviews

Interim Reports will be accessible through the Parent Access Module (PAM) on Wednesday 6April.

Student/Parent/Teacher interviews will be conducted online on the following dates and times:

Thursday 7 April 4:00pm to 8:00pm

Friday 8April 9:30 am – 2:30pm (no classes)

As all teachers are involved in interviews, there will be no classes on Friday 8 April.

Families are asked to complete an online booking through PAM by Sunday 3 April.  The booking system is available through the College website or the SIMON Everywhere App. 

We look forward to meeting with families and students to discuss their academic progress, achievement and goals.

- Ms Cini, Deputy Principle of Learning and Teaching

The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Online

11 May – 21 May 2022

NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. 

The assessment window for NAPLAN Online is nine days instead of the three days provided for the paper tests. This is to give schools flexibility in scheduling and to accommodate laptop and/or network capacity.

One of the main benefits of NAPLAN Online is tailored (or adaptive) testing, in which the test presents questions of higher or lower complexity depending on a student’s performance.

The Year 7 and Year 9 students will be completing writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy tests.

Online National Assessment Platform

Currently the students in Years 7 and Year 9 are being provided with the opportunity to complete a Practice Test so that they can familiarise themselves with the Online National Assessment Platform. 

Students may also wish to complete their familiarisation with the online test tools via the use of the ACARA NAPLAN Online public demonstration site.

For more information about NAPLAN Online, families are encouraged to visit nap.edu.au

Message from our Junior Team...

Hello, our names are Katya, Raghd and Maryam and we will be telling you about our experience at cricket. 

Cricket was fun. At first, some of us didn’t know how to play or anything but some of us did, which was good. We lost our first 3 games and we were starting to give up until we heard that we had the chance to play for fourth place when we heard that everyone in the team started shouting and saying “Yes”.  We were practicing batting and throwing and we got even better which was great to see a change in everyone. We played for fourth place and at the end we all went up to the people that were doing the scores and after a minute they said that the other team got 40 runs and we had 79 runs! We were so happy and excited when we heard we got 79 runs. We were ecstatic, not only was that our first win of the day but we just won by 39 points! We had just won fourth place! We were so proud of ourselves. We also shook all the people's hands we versed. We all enjoyed cricket and had a lot of fun. After all, we learned that it’s not just about winning, it's about having fun. 

Message from our senior team...

Hello, my name is Janelle, and I was one of the girls who represented CRC St Albans in the SACCSS Girls Cricket Gala Day on Friday the 11th of March. As I played in the Senior Team, my team competed with many cricket-skilled girls from different Catholic schools. My teammates and I were shocked by the astounding skill our competitors demonstrated. The excursion to Parkville encouraged all girls to participate in sports activities by having schools compete in three cricket games each. The Gala Day was pleasant and inclusive, providing the opportunity for female students to learn new skills and further develop an understanding of cricket. The format of the games was modified, as was the equipment and playing area. The day was a chance to compete with other schools and to understand the value of teamwork and sportsmanship. Despite the extreme heat from the glaring sun and some game losses, CRC female students portrayed utmost persistence and optimism. Our students showed respect and pride when cheering and congratulating teammates during the competition. I would also like to thank Mrs. Jurcec and Mr. Marshall for motivating and inspiring the girls to have a go. To conclude with exciting news, the Girls Junior Team made it to the quarter-finals in which they came fourth place! Congratulations to all girls who participated and may we continue to encourage women in sports!

In outdoor education this semester, we have been focusing on overcoming fears and having some of the best experiences of our lifetimes. Overall, I had such an amazing time considering my fears and worries of the ocean (mainly of sharks) which Mr. Boudaher and Mitch never heard enough of. To go snorkeling, we had to have a few swimming lessons which helped quite a bit. Our bus ride to Queenscliff was long but worth the time it took; as we were able to form a better bond with our classmates and also have time to ourselves. We went for a walk to a couple of viewpoints which were pretty. We ate at a local park while we mentally prepared to go snorkeling. The wetsuit was a struggle to put on. We boarded the boat and went out to sea, where we reached our first destination, Popes Eye Marine Park. I was so scared to jump in but I faced my fears and took the plunge. The water was ice cold and not pleasant, however, despite the cons, I encountered marine life, like seals, a humongous stingray and a couple of little fish face to face. I also got to see the ocean in its true form with my own eyes. My personal highlight of the day was swimming with the seals. They were all so adorable sleeping on the pontoon. I came at least half a meter away from a seal and swam right over the top of a giant stingray. Although the current kept pushing us out and further away from the pontoon, it was worth the energy to swim right back to them. All of the staff and even the wildlife were so friendly. I am not necessarily over my fear of the ocean, but this experience has definitely helped me and given me a little more courage.

- Arwen Godino, 10 Mannix

In extended Pastoral Care and Homeroom, we have been working collectively to create a sense of community and sense of belonging where all students and staff feel safe and students are ‘ready to learn’.

Character Strength of the Week

Character Strengths

We believe everyone is unique and have something different to offer. Over the next week students will unpack and share their Character Strengths and celebrate their similarities and differences with one another in Pastoral Care.

What are Character Strengths? They are the qualities that come most natural to you.

• Every individual possesses all 24-character strengths in different degrees, giving each person a unique character or strength profile.
• When you know your strengths, you can improve your life and thrive.
• Research reveals that people who use their strengths a lot are 18 times more likely to be flourishing than those who do not use their strengths.
• Character strengths are a vehicle for improving wellbeing and providing a sense of purpose and hope.

If family members would like to complete the VIA Character Strengths Profile and share and celebrate with your child, you can do so by visiting this website: https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register#youth

Welcome to Mindful March

Year 7 Community Program

Over the past weeks we have had a group of Year 7 students working on projects in our school garden with Mr Hayden Odoherty and Mr. Dale Marshall. They have been working together as a team and the aim is to establish a ‘Zen Den’ or Prayerful / Reflective Space in our school garden. Keep up the great work young men!!!

All families should have received their school fee statements by now.  If you have not received your school fee statement please contact the office.

$100 Early Fee Discount per family applies if fees are paid in full on or before 24th June 2022.  Please note if paying by netbanking only reduce the fee total by $100.

For families who are eligible for CSEF, we have not yet credited your account as monies have not been received from the Government.

Please contact Ms. Anne Ross if you have any queries or concerns.

Ph.93650221

Mob: 0427 036 925