Week 6 Term 4 2022
From the Principal
Dear Parents, Staff and Students,
Sincere thanks for working with us, at short notice, last Thursday morning when the College was left without water due to a broken Rous Water main on Woodlawn Road. When our Maintenance staff discovered the break upon arriving at work, they immediately called our regular Plumber who confirmed the problem was significant and out of our immediate control. Many of you would recall that there was a similar break in 2020. Please be assured that we don’t ever make decisions like this lightly; however, the College cannot safely operate without water, especially given the current resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the community, and we determined that closing the school for the day was a safer alternative to having an emergency evacuation during the school day. The issue was not resolved until shortly before lunch, so the right decision was made on the day. Thank you, again, for your understanding here.
Our Year 12 Formal, held on 12 November, was a magnificent night which went off without a hitch! Our Seniors really deserved this positive conclusion to their time at the College, given the multiple disruptions they have faced throughout their HSC studies. Special thanks to Mrs Lisa Love, Mrs Leanne Copeland, Mr Simon Andrews, along with our Maintenance, Office and Hospitality staff for their hard work in ensuring the night’s success. The College proved to be a great venue and we look forward to again hosting next year’s function.
COMPASS – School Communication Platform App
As part of a restructure across the Diocese we shall be moving to a new communication and school management platform called - COMPASS School Manager. The Compass platform will become our school community communication tool in 2023.
The Compass platform is a web-based system that is accessible on any modern web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari) or by using the Compass School Manager iOS or Android App. Every family receives a separate login to Compass, which will be provided to you.
The Compass platform includes many different features and you’ll have the ability to:
- Receive notifications about school events, news and information
- Enter an explanation for absence
- Communicate with your child’s teachers
- Update your family contact details (mobile phone & email)
- View your child’s timetable and the school calendar
- Download and view your child’s academic reports
- Book parent-teacher interviews
- Pay and provide digital consent for events (no more permission slips)
- Pay school fees
- Track homework and academic progress
Prior to going “live” with this platform, each parent will receive a username and login (provided that we have your correct email address). If you share an email address with your significant other, then you will receive two emails with two unique log-ins.
More information regarding the functionality of this new platform can be found here: A guide for parents & families.
Consequently, the parent portal (in Schoolworx) is changing at the end of the year and you are encouraged to login and download any historical semester reports, if you wish, as they will not be available once we transition to Compass.
Further information will be provided over the coming weeks as we transition to this new platform. The upcoming Student Free Day on Monday, 5 December will allow staff to undertake training in readiness for the rollout of this new integrated Education Management System next year. While regular classes will not be held on the day, given last Thursday’s unscheduled disruption, to assist families we have engaged a number of casual teachers to provide supervision for Years 7 – 10 students at school on this day if families are unable to make alternative arrangements. Students who attend school will need to ensure they have sufficient work to keep themselves occupied for the day.
Given the demand for places at Woodlawn post-flood/s, if there are any current students who will not be returning to the College in 2023, please notify Mrs Debbie Melino, our College Registrar, ASAP so that we can contact families on our waiting list.
At our Term 4 P&F Meeting it was decided to hold a P&F Christmas Nibbles/Drinks on Monday, 12 December at 5.30pm in the College Library. All are welcome to attend and enjoy some social time with other parents before the school year concludes.
The current NSW Health COVID-19 advice is as follows:
The COVID-smart measures continue to be in place and are vital in allowing us to keep our schools operational while prioritising student and staff wellbeing. These measures include:
- staying home if unwell and/or showing any symptoms;
- mask-wearing strongly encouraged, particularly when indoors and/or when physical distancing is not possible, and on public transport;
- continued mandatory mask-wearing for anyone working with students at greater risk of serious illness whether they be in a specialist centres, support unit or mainstream classroom;
- using rapid antigen tests (RATs) when showing symptoms or exposed to COVID-19;
- encouraging all students, staff and families to keep up-to-date with their vaccinations, including COVID-19 booster shots if eligible;
- NSW Health are also encouraging everyone in the community to continue to register positive RATs with Service NSW to ensure they receive timely support and advice, including access to antivirals for those eligible;
- schools are encouraged to continue to reinforce the importance of the COVID-smart measures to students, parents, carers and staff.
A reminder that packs of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) are available for collection from SSO should your daughter/son require these.
As this fortnight’s reflection, I include the following prayer from Fr Lou Molloy’s Requiem Mass celebrated last Friday:
Finally, please remember the Maynes and Wright families in your prayers on the recent deaths of Julius’ (Year 12) father and Mark’s (Year 11) Grandmother. May they rest in peace.
With best wishes for the fortnight ahead.
Sincerely
Aaron Beach
Principal
From the Assistant Principal - Mission
We have spoken about the significance of being a member of our community and taking the opportunities to ‘live life on purpose’ over the course of the year. Over recent weeks our students have had many chances to acknowledge those at the College who embrace everything that we offer.
Last Monday, we congratulated Lucy Bell who was awarded the Jake Roff Memorial Shield. Jake Roff was a much loved Woodlawn staff member who sadly passed away from brain cancer in 2015. He is remembered for the positive relationships he formed and the way he nurtured and supported individuals, especially in the performing arts. He had a deep commitment to Woodlawn and the development of its school spirit. The Jake Roff Award recognises those students who actively live their faith through action.
Glenn Roff (Principal 2001-2011) and his wife, Sue travelled from Canberra to present this perpetual award in honour of their son. The Bell family joined us on this special occasion to celebrate Lucy receiving the award for being a lovely, engaging and genuine student.
- Lucy goes above and beyond as a member of the community and a voice for equity;
- She is an involved and passionate SRC member who always shows concern for others;
- She has an enthusiastic love for the College and our community. She genuinely embraces College life to the full;
- Lucy doesn’t seek acknowledgment - she is both authentic and true to herself.
Other nominees were: Gillian Gao, Lilly Munce, Olivia Taylor and Eliza Lamas.
On 11 November I had the honour of representing the College, along with Mr Beach and our Senior Leaders, at the Lismore Remembrance Day ceremony. This service was well attended with quiet moments of reflection interwoven with stories of bravery, courage and resilience. We are always proud of students who represent the College with sincerity and dignity.
'Living with Integrity' was the theme of our Senior Retreat held last week at Camp Bornhoffen, where we set up home for three days. I would like to commend our staff, students and their families for the support we received for this important time in the life of the College. Our staff need to be commended and thanked for giving so generously to this program. Despite the rumours, staff are not paid overtime, nor do they receive any financial compensation for this dedication. Our Retreat team consisted of Mr Garcia, Mr Jones, Mr Saad, Mr Flynn, Mr Collings, Ms Farrugia, Ms Green, Mrs Thompson, Ms Kennedy, Ms Godfrey, along with Fr Bing and Mr Beach. A special mention also to our Youth Ministry Team: Natasha Wotherspoon, Luke Rowling, Jacob Franey, Bianca McInnes, Sophie Sullivan and Megan Elliott for the energy and passion for our faith that they share so openly. There will be a full report on the Retreat in next fortnight's Newsletter as I would like to showcase the students' perspectives.
I have included a few of my photos - note the smiles! Smiles are the blessing that we share with each other and there were plenty of these.
As we move into the last few weeks of our College year, we turn our attention to how we can bring joy to our local and wider community through giving.
This week we have our casual clothes day celebrating the Christmas spirit and providing us with the opportunity to raise funds for Christmas lunch for our Cambodian students at La Valla school. Please see the flyer. Students are encouraged to donate $2 or more if they can to ensure that these students receive the Christmas message of HOPE. There will also be a sausage sizzle and drinks on sale.
We are also supporting our local St Vincent de Paul Conference with a number of initiatives:
- Christmas Baubles. These are purchased through Home Groups and placed on our Christmas Tree in the Library;
- Hampers. St Vincent de Paul has asked for our help through the donation of food supplies this year. There is a specified list of requirements that students will gather in Home Groups. These hampers are distributed following our end of year Mass.
Looking Ahead:
- Together for Humanity Project;
- Sisterhood visit to the Carmelite Sisters;
- Year 9 Catholic Studies Cemetery experience;
- St Vincent de Paul team heading to Casino to assist Rotary with a function;
- Prize Giving;
- Advent Mass;
- Junior Justice Team begins their mission.
Please continue to support our important work at the College. The more you give, the more you receive.
Annette Reen
Assistant Principal - Mission
annette.reen@lism.catholic.edu.au
Student Wellbeing
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
As we approach the end of the year and excitement builds towards the holidays, can I please ask that you remind your young person of the importance of maintaining their high standards for the remaining four weeks. This includes wearing the uniform correctly and completing all work to the best of their ability. More importantly, I would ask that they are respectful to all students and staff. If we can achieve this, then we will have a smooth final few weeks and a fitting way to end the year.
Vaping
Vaping is on the rise in Australia and has become popular amongst teenagers and young adults. Alarmingly, a recent study has also shown that there is an increase in the number of primary school-aged children who are experimenting with vapes. There are many misconceptions about vapes being fairly harmless and that vapes in Australia do not contain nicotine.
Our school is committed to the health and wellbeing of our students and will be including a series of informative resources for our parent community over the next three editions of our Newsletter. We hope parents and carers use these helpful resources to:
- learn the facts about e-cigarettes and vaping;
- recognise what a vape looks like;
- understand why vaping is attractive to young people, and;
- engage in positive conversations at home.
- By working in partnership we hope to support our young people to make healthy choices. Please watch this informative 2 minute video which provides some key information about vaping and e-cigarettes.
Key Information:
- Vaping is the act of smoking e-cigarettes or ‘vapes’ that can look like metallic pens, USBs and other hand-held systems;
- Vapes use cartridges filled with liquids, which typically contain nicotine, artificial flavouring, and various chemicals. These can be harmful to the developing body;
- Research shows that one in five young people have vaped and nearly 80% of young people say it is easy to get a vape illegally at a shop or online;
- Nicotine is especially addictive for young brains. It can cause long-lasting negative effects on brain development and can include impaired attention, learning, memory and changes in mood;
- You can find out more about vaping from NSW Health.
Conversation Starters at Home:
Start conversations about vaping with your child early. You could consider the following questions or conversation starters:
- Are a lot of kids vaping at your school? Are your friends vaping? Be sure you don’t react, just listen.
- What do you think about vaping? You may hear your child say that vaping is harmless. It’s important to share some good information with your child about the impacts of vaping.
- Do you know what is in vapes? Share with them that they’ve tested vapes and they do not contain only water vapor and flavouring. Vapes can contain very high levels of nicotine and other toxic chemicals that damage lungs.
Wellbeing Wednesday
Each Wednesday our students are completing their online wellbeing mood check. This takes less than one minute and provides an opportunity to rate how they are feeling and the reasons for this. By adopting mood checks as part of our curriculum, we are helping to equip students to take control of their mental health by encouraging them to track how they are feeling over time, understand positive and negative influences on their mood and make informed lifestyle choices. In the long run, they will be able to improve their emotional intelligence. Should there be a concern about a student’s mood, key staff will follow up with the student to provide necessary support. Please have a chat with your young person - they could show you how the process works and let you know how they are feeling.
If you have any questions or concerns about your young person please contact me at fiona.fennamore@lism.catholic.edu.au or 66262627.
Fiona Fennamore
Leader of Student Welfare
fiona.fennamore@lism.catholic.edu.au
Mathematics Awards Winners
The Australian Maths Trust (AMT) runs a number of different competitions for interested and talented students of Mathematics. This year, Woodlawn students were offered the opportunity to take part in the Maths Challenge and/or the Australian Mathematics Competition.
The Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) is an engaging 30-problem competition that is completed over a 75 minute online test conducted at school. It is one of Australia’s largest school based Mathematics competitions. The test features unique problems designed by Australia’s leading educators and academics, with the goal to demonstrate the importance and relevance of Mathematics in students’ everyday lives. This year we had forty-one students in Years 7-10 sit the test and they were able to achieve some fantastic results as seen below.
Credit
Year 7: Noah Gallagher-Summers, Carmen Garcia, Allie Robinson
Year 8: Jasmine Boyd, Jemima Southwood
Year 9: Tomas Corcoran, Jacob Southwood
Year 10: Anzac Corkery, Damon Dwyer, Jack Pryde, Albert Webster
Distinction
Year 8: Aidan Tandetzke-Moran, Kieran Weekes
Year 9: Ben Davis
Year 10: Oliver Mason
The AMT Maths Challenge is a different style of competition in that it takes place over four consecutive weeks. Students receive a problem book containing six problems and are required to present written solutions to as many of these problems as they can. The problems are challenging and require time and persistence. This year we had twenty-one students submit solutions to the problems and the outstanding results are listed below.
Credit
Year 7: Alannah Davis, Carmen Garcia, Isabelle McRae, Kiara O’Brien
Year 9: Lachlan O’Sullivan
Distinction
Year 7: Askel Langdon
Year 8: Jasmine Boyd
High Distinction
These three students worked diligently, with commitment and dedication over the four week period. They are to be commended for their impressive achievements and should be very proud of their efforts.
Sally Ryall
Leader of Mathematics
sally.ryall@lism.catholic.edu.au
Schools Cup Netball State Finals
It’s always an exciting time when sporting teams make State Finals and the Schools Cup State Finals was no exception. The team travelled down to Sydney via the Gold Coast and spent Tuesday sightseeing and enjoying the buzz of being in the city and back on the road attending gala days.
It was always expected that the games were going to be tough, it was State level Netball after all. The Year 9/10 team played some stellar Netball and did themselves and the College proud. The first game was against St Matthew’s from Mudgee and the Woodlawn girls pulled off a well deserved win. There was some brilliant shooting, strong plays through the centre court and some fantastic turnovers down the defensive end that cemented the win. The second match was against MacKillop from Port Macquarie and the girls put up a solid fight, unfortunately going down to a very strong MacKillop team. Facing up against All Saints from Maitland proved to be especially challenging, particularly given that All Saints posted a comprehensive win over MacKillop. Despite this the girls played some of the toughest and best Netball of the day. And whilst they weren’t victorious, the feeling when they came off the court was one of pride and a real sense of accomplishment. In the final match of the day, in a play off for 5th and 6th place, the girls were up against McCarthy Catholic College from Tamworth. It was another difficult match with scores that went in our favour and then theirs, and back again. Buoyed on with some effusive sideline cheering the girls were awarded the win, 15 to 16, and also 5th place in the state!
The challenges followed the girls and their coaches off the court, however. After a late flight cancellation and some scrambling for accommodation booking, another night was spent in Sydney. Logistics were destined to remain problematic after a second flight cancellation. Some quick thinking and late-night conversations and new flights were booked. With a planned 4:15am wake-up and a 4:45am taxi ride to the airport, the girls and coaches finally had some rest. The team may have arrived at a different airport to the one they left from and been a little more weary, with many more travel hours under their belts; however, they were a credit to Woodlawn and their coaches.
Sally Ryall & Jane Farrugia
Netball Coaches
sally.ryall@lism.catholic.edu.au
jane.farrugia@lism.catholic.edu.au
NSW School Vaccination Program
Each year NSW Health works in partnership with schools to offer the vaccines recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for adolescents as part of the school vaccination program.
Second dose of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine will be given to Year 7 who have sent in consent forms on Thursday, 24 November.
Please note that, to improve vaccination completion, students will be opportunistically offered any missed doses during Year 7 and catch up into Year 8 (for HPV and dTpa vaccination) and during Year 10 and catch up into Year 11 (for Meningococcal ACWY vaccination) or consent signed in 2021.
Parents/guardians who wish to withdraw their consent for any reason may do so by writing to the Principal or phoning the school. The Procedure for Withdrawal of Consent is available on the NSW Health website at www.health.nsw.gov.au/immunisation/ Pages/withdraw_consent.aspx.
A Record of Vaccination will be provided to each student vaccinated at each clinic either as a physical card or a text message sent to the mobile number recorded on the consent form. Details about vaccinations given at school will also be uploaded to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) to support complete vaccination histories.
Sharon Robotham
Student Services Officer
lisjc-studentservices@lism.catholic.edu.au
Uniform Shop
The St John's College Woodlawn Uniform Shop is proudly managed by P&C Uniforms.
To ensure you have an easy and pleasant experience while ordering uniforms, we encourage you to order online ahead of time for easy click-and-collect in store.
Opening Hours:
Time: Monday 8.00am - 9.30am & Wednesday 11.00am - 2.00pm
Where: Colin Centre
Order Online: www.sjcwuniformshop.com.au
Book a fitting: www.sjcwuniformshop.com.au/bts-appointments
Second Hand Uniform Shop:
Time: 11am - 2pm
When: Every Wednesday
Where: Colin Centre
Extended Opening Hours:
December 2022
Saturday, 10 December 8.30am – 3.00pm
Sunday, 11 December 8.30am – 3.00pm
January 2023
Saturday, 21 January to Sunday, 29 January 8.30am – 12.00pm (Excluding Australia Day)
Monday ,30 January & Tuesday, 31 8.00am – 10.00am
Please click on the link below to place an order or to make a booking. We encourage parents/guardians to make appointments for fittings due to time restraints.
https://sjcwuniformshop.com.au/
Leanne Copeland
Uniform Shop Convenor
0407 739 237
Canteen News
Term 4 Changes
Please be aware there has been a price increase on some menu items.
Flexischools orders will have a new cut-off time of 9.00 am.
The cash free way to pay! - REGISTER NOW
Paying for lunches is now safer and hassle free. With cashless cards there's no need for students to bring cash to school.
The College has Flexischools to allow students to pay at the Canteen using their existing student ID card. Paying for lunches and items at recess or lunch is now safer and hassle free. With cashless cards there's no need for students to bring cash to school. Parents can set daily spending limits and view transactions online. Parents can also top-up funds at anytime.
The Canteen has introduced a Fast-Track line for students who have pre-ordered to collect their lunches, making it much easier and quicker for students.
We encourage all students to register. This will allow for those days when your student may have forgotten their homemade lunches.
Please follow the link below to register now:
2023 Canteen Roster
We are in the process of preparing our Canteen Roster for 2023. We would like to invite all parents, both new and existing, to join our roster to assist with Canteen duties for the new calendar year. Please complete the form below should you be interested.