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Vale Hamish
Hamish Cullen was farewelled last week with his funeral on Friday. It was very apparent that Hamish was very well loved in his all too short life. We are very grateful that Hamish was with us at St Aloysius and we will continue to hold Hamish’s family in our thoughts and prayers and support them as best we can. We could not have coped over the last week without the support of Catholic Education Office staff, colleagues in other Catholic schools, parents and the local Parish. Thank you for your support and understanding.
Our Director of Mission, Mrs Polly Marriott, read the following scripture at the funeral:
If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:31-39)
Welcome back
We are already back into the routine of school for another term. I am reminded daily of what a lovely community the St Aloysius community is and how fortunate I am to be a part of it all. We now have access to the four new classrooms at the Middle Campus, which will certainly give us a lot more space. A new term is an opportunity to recommit to high standards in attitudes to learning and work ethic and to be kind.
Best wishes for the term ahead.
Staffing Update
Mr Louis Sergio has joined the College as a Utility Officer. Louis is our third Utility Officer and will provide invaluable support now that we have three sites to maintain.
Mrs Marcelle Ottaway has been appointed TASC Liaison Officer. TASC stands for the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification. As we move to the provision of senior secondary education, Marcelle will be able to help us all understand the mechanics of these years of education and make sure that the College is meeting the requirements of TASC.
COVID-19 Mandatory requirements
College and Parish Fair Meeting
The next College and Parish Fair meeting will be held at 7:00pm Thursday, 24th June in the meeting room under the Church. All are welcome to attend.
Grade 7 Enrolments
Grade 7 2023 enrolments are due Friday, 10th September 2021. If you are already enrolled in Year 5, you do not need to do anything. If you know families who want to enrol or have a family member in another school you want to enrol in, please note the deadline.
Project 23 Update
This week Mrs Marcelle Ottway, Mrs Donna Duggan and Mr Eamonn Pollard met to discuss TASC planning for the remainder of the term. Mrs Marcelle Ottway, who has taken on the role of TASC Liaison Officer (TLO) will be meeting with Alison Savage from GYC to discuss the next steps.
Over the coming weeks we will be working on finalising an Academic Integrity Policy and, with the support of Mrs Samantha Wilton, the Subject Course Guide for 2021, which will include pathways to TASC Courses. As well, Department Leaders will be supporting their colleagues to familiarise themselves with relevant TASC courses and Scopes and Sequences within their area of expertise.
To keep up to date on the progress of the Grade 11 - 12 extension you can sign up to receive the CET Towards 23 newsletter -
College Calendar
Explorers
Explorers sessions have restarted for Term 2:
Grade 1
"It meant kindness and respect to other people" -Tash
"Harmony day means to me that it's a special tradition to remember Jesus" -Hugo
"It means about friendship" -Harper
"It is like showing the spirit of God" -Steele
Grade 7 Activity Week
Last term Grade 7 had a special activity week. Activities included were excursions to Rock It, visit Mures, orienteering, Team building, helping out at Salvation Army, Ten Pin Bowling and, for some, a visit to the Tahune Air Walk. The whole week was entertaining and was a really fun experience.
On Monday our class went to Rock It. We left just before recess on the bus. Once we got there we were split up into two groups. One group went rock climbing first and the second group went in the tunnels first. After about an hour we swapped over so we all had the same amount of time rock climbing and going in the tunnels. Afterwards, we walked down to Mures and we all got an ice cream each. Then we walked up to Saint Joseph's church and Mr Mac told us about the history of the church. After we finished, the bus came and picked us up. It took us back to school. I think we had an amazing time and it was only the beginning of our fun week.
On Tuesday we did Orienteering. The activities we did there was a game of trying to find small hole punch like objects and punch a hole through the card at recess. This game was played around the whole campus, the hole puncher-like things were placed in places from the 5-6 playgrounds to the ovals. The aim of the game was to get all the numbers of the hole puncher like things to match with the numbers on the card. In the end, you would see if they would make up a certain arrangement of words. After that, we played Generals and Spies after lunch. This game requires a lot of understanding. The aim of the game was to capture the opposite general but the other team doesn’t know who it is. They were a set of numbers 1-10, a spy (1) and a general (10) in each team: this is also played around the whole school. It's a fun game to play with a large group of people.
On Wednesday we did the Team building activity with Mr Canning at school. We did a lot of activities. The activities were: getting to know each other bingo, slide show, a rope game, a booklet about positivity/negativity/other little activities as well and more. The Rope game main idea was to get to know each other. For instance, if you had the same thing with someone else in your class you would keep a bit of the rope and throw it to the person with a similar thing. Another thing Mr Canning did with us was a slideshow with pictures and questions. Some of the questions were trying to show you different perspectives of things. Some questions were mostly about your classmates and what they like and more. Mr Canning made us pair up with people in our class we didn’t know too well and ask them questions about them and they would do the same. After that, Mr Canning would pick a pair and ask a person to answer those questions without questioning them, the winning pair would get a block of chocolate. There were other activities where Mr Canning gave prizes like in the getting to know your classmates Bingo. In the end, Mr Canning showed us a video about a guy who would suffer from bullying and slowly he figured out how to stay positive and ignore the negative energy.
On Thursday we were going to the Salvation Army but before that Mrs Mariott showed us a video about what the Salvation Army does and their history. After that, she handed us worksheets about it. After that, we went to the Salvation Army, where we did 3 activities that had very effective meanings. The first thing we did was to be greeted by a very nice Salvation helper. She introduced the reasons the motto of the Salvation Army, the history behind it, the things they do there, the 3 types of homelessness and more. The first activity we did had to be groups of 4 where we had to guess how much each item was, the closest item would get chocolate. The next activity was a little biased, the reason why was because in this activity they handed us these cards and the salvation helper would call out something and if you had that you could take a step. The main idea was to show that most people who are fortunate get better opportunities unlike the least fortunate. After calling the things out she would tell everyone to run to grab the chocolate the people who are closer to the chocolate would get it.
On Friday we went bowling. It was super fun and exciting. We all got two games each and before we got there we picked the groups that we wanted to go in. Some groups decided to have the rails up and some didn't. Overall we all did well, a lot of us got high scores and it was a nice surprise. Some classes instead went to the Tahune Airwalk but unfortunately, some classes didn't have the best weather so instead, they went bowling.
After the week ended I can say we all had the best time. Every day was an adventure and it was so nice that we all got together to do fun activities. I believe it gave us all a chance to get to know each other better and make new friendships.
Report compiled by Molly Duffy & Zannatul Zaisha Grade 7G
Grade 9/10 Photography
Students in Grade 9/10 Photography have been hard at work this week creating landscape sculptures out of sourced materials that they then photographed and edited to make them appear like the real thing. This is a project within a photographic unit they have just begun called 'Constructed Landscapes'. In this unit, they will be exploring miniature photography and will be learning how to construct landscapes out of paper and using miniature figurines.
Student Achievement
Congratulations to Grade 8 student Blake Doyle who recently claimed the silver medal in the Men's U15 Triple Jump, jumping a mammoth 12.99m at the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney. What an amazing result to come second in Australia! Congratulations also to Grade 8 student Hunter Thorpe who came 7th in the same event. Both boys should be very proud of their achievements - we certainly are. We look forward to watching your future athletics careers.
SATIS Sport Results
Netball
Interschool Horse Riding Competition
On Sunday, 2nd May the annual inter-schools horse riding competition was held at Huntingfield pony club grounds in Howden
Over 50 riders were competing with eight high schools and two college teams.
Cultural Camp
Black Box
Purple Day
Term 1 finished with a big purple bang as our Vinnies and Mini-Vinnies students raised $1850.51 for Project Compassion with a bake sale, nail polish, face paint and a raffle at each campus.
Grade 10 Prep/Buddy Day
On the last day of term, in the midst of a sea of purple, the Grade 10 and Prep students participated in a buddy afternoon at the Junior Campus. Activities included introductions, reading together, ‘Duck Duck Goose’ and a rousing chorus of ‘These Hands’ by Andrew Chinn to finish off the afternoon. There was excitement, nerves and trepidation about the big day (and that was just from the Grade 10s!) but a fun afternoon was had by all and we’re looking forward to the next one!
Kingston-Channel Parish Youth Group
Kingston-Channel Parish Youth Group provides opportunities for exploring faith through games, reflection, and outreach. Catholic based and open to all, Grade 5 and above, from any school or college.
We meet on Thursdays from 4:00pm-5:30pm in the Sisters of Charity Centre at the Junior Campus of St Aloysius Catholic College.
***Please note the change of day from Wednesday to Thursday afternoons.***
ANZAC Day
College Captain Inara Osborne and Prefect Lachlan Faella were up early along with several other students and their families, Mr Canning, and Mrs Marriott, to attend the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Kingston Beach. Inara and Lachlan laid flowers on behalf of the College and Father Mike took part in the service from a WWII amphibious vehicle on the beach. St Aloysius students were also present in the Scouts, Surf Lifesaving and Navy Cadets representatives.
Rainbows
Rainbows is a national not-for-profit organisation, as part of an international organisation that fosters emotional healing among children and youth grieving a loss from a life-altering crisis. We are looking to run this small group program at the Junior Campus for students who have suffered loss through death, divorce or any other separation. If you feel your child would benefit from this, please contact Matt Gardiner, Stevee Savill (Junior Campus Co-Directors of Pastoral Care) or Polly Marriott (Director of Mission) by Monday 10th May.
More information can be found at
Tasmanian Catholic Youth Festival
On May 5th, 23 Grade 9 and 10 students from St Aloysius along with Parish Associates Hannah Donovan and Daniel Prichard, and Parish Priest Fr Mike Delaney joined over 160 students from 6 Catholic Colleges for the Southern Tasmanian Catholic Youth Festival at Guilford Young College.
The theme of the festival was ‘Christ is Alive’ and was all about finding love in Christ, in ourselves and in one another. A huge highlight was listening to the inspirational Fr Rob Galea and his journey from addict and gang member to Parish Priest and X-Factor contestant! He has now gained a number of new tic-toc, Instagram and Facebook followers! His music was uplifting and inspiring and with the help of Grade 10 Lachie Faella and GYC (and ex-St Als) student Annie, had everyone out of their seats and dancing. Lachie then went on to win the lucky door prize which was well deserved! St Aloysius students also took part in the Panel discussion (Ruby Prichard) and final prayer (Inara Osborne). There was something for everyone, including a workshop for teachers and Youth Ministers, with the main message of with God, we are never without love shining through.
Easter Raffle
A huge thank you to all the families who donated Easter eggs and bought tickets in the Easter raffle last term. $2148.70 was raised to go towards new goal post pads at the Junior Campus.
Thank you to the raffle coordinators Georgiana Ulrych and Kara Wolfe who single-handedly sorted and wrapped all 168 prizes across the whole College (and didn't eat one Easter egg!) an amazing effort, thank you.
Entertainment Book
The Entertainment Membership is a fantastic fundraising opportunity, with 20% of every book purchased going to the P&F. This money is later spent on items that benefit the students. If you haven't already purchased mum a present, why not take advantage of the current Mother's Day promotion. Click on the link below for further information and details on how you can purchase a membership.
Term 2 Meetings
- Tonight, Thursday, 6th May at 7:00pm at the Junior Campus
- Wednesday, 16th June at 6:00pm at the Middle Campus
If you would like to be involved in the P&F email sacc.pandf@catholic.tas.edu.au with your details. Further information about the P&F can also be found on the College website -
This month on SchoolTV - Raising Girls
Raising girls in today’s modern world can be a difficult path for parents and carers to navigate. These days, girls are transitioning to puberty a lot earlier than they used to and the physical, psychological and emotional changes they experience are challenging. As a result, by mid-adolescence, girls are twice as likely to develop mood disorders more so than boys.
Some parents and carers may feel uncertain about how best to support their daughter through the ups and downs of adolescence and how to keep the lines of communication open. With the rise of social media and technology, mental health difficulties in girls are increasing as often they are faced with online images that make it difficult to see themselves as acceptable. Ensuring a daughter’s opinions are heard and her views listened to, will go a long way towards making her feel loved and supported as she tries to establish her own identity.
In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers will attain a clearer picture of what girls are wanting from their adult carers and how best to support them through adolescence. We hope you take the time to reflect on the information offered in this month’s edition, and we always welcome your feedback.
If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to this month's edition -
SPECIAL REPORT: Vaping & E-Cigarettes
Vaping is becoming a trendy pastime that is growing in popularity across Australia, especially amongst teenagers. It is the act of inhaling vapour created by an electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette. Many teenagers are succumbing to peer pressure around this risk-taking activity due to the ease of accessing and hiding vapes. They are often cheaper than conventional cigarettes, making them more cost-effective and attractive to young people.
Although under 18s are not legally allowed to purchase any type of e-cigarette or vaping product in Australia, teenagers are finding ways to access them online. Australia has strict regulations in place for nicotine-containing products, and attempts are being made to regulate vaping and ban the importation of them. Many of the flavoured liquids associated with vaping contain not only high levels of nicotine but other potentially harmful additives. Many of these “e-liquids” contain chemicals that are likely to be toxic, that when inhaled or vaped repeatedly, can cause severe damage to the lungs.
Vaping is often marketed as being the “healthy” alternative to smoking. However, doctors strongly advise that if you do not smoke, then you should not start vaping. Most teenagers are unaware of the associated risks and potential impact vaping can have on their development and overall health. Parents are encouraged to discuss the dangers of nicotine addiction and include e-cigarettes in the discussion alongside alcohol and drugs.
This Special Report highlights the facts around vaping and e-cigarettes and what are the potential risks. We hope you take the time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.
If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to your special report -
SPECIAL REPORT: Celebrating Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day originated from humble beginnings in 1908 as a simple tradition to honour all mothers, living and deceased. However, it did not take long for florists, confectioners and card companies to jump onboard and commercialise the day, much to the disappointment of its founder, Ann Jarvis.
Mother’s Day is a good annual reminder to say thanks to the mums and other special carers who play an important role in our lives, but it is essential we mark the day with love and sincerity. This year is especially important due to the recent pandemic, where mothers played multiple roles over recent months providing care and support to those they love under difficult circumstances. Mothers will often put the needs of others above their own, so it is paramount to remind them to take care of themselves also, especially when it comes to mental health.
Research has shown that women experience some mental health conditions more so than men and at much higher rates. There are many factors that can impact a woman’s wellbeing physically and emotionally. Seeking effective treatment can enable her to engage more readily in everyday activities and fulfil the needs of her children and family.
This Special Report highlights the role mothers play in the developmental growth of her children and the importance of self-care for good mental health. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.
If this Special Report raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to your special report