College Newsletter

Dear Parents, Staff and Students

A very warm welcome back to all parents and students as we commence our academic year.

The year has already commenced at a very busy pace with the College Swimming Carnival being held at Homebush Aquatic Centre and we officially begin the new school year by celebrating together the Opening College Mass on Wednesday 19th February at Our Lady of Victories, Horsley Park.

Year 12 Information Night was held on Wednesday 5th February and Information Nights for Year 11 and 10 will be held on 12th and 19th February respectively, the P&F AGM and first meeting of the year will be held on Monday 10 February, starting at 7:00 pm in the staff lunchroom (entry via Kenyons Rd) and the Year 7 Numeracy evening will be held on Monday, 17th February in Chavoin Hall starting at 7:00 pm.

I take this opportunity to remind you that you can find all relevant policies, calendars and information required in this newsletter, as well as the Student Handbook and the College website. I'd encourage all parents to download the Skoolbag app. as it is our preferred means of communicating with you, along with our social media channels.

As a Marist community, each of us is challenged to commit ourselves to achieving personal excellence while being committed to making a positive difference in our community.

Cerdon College Marist Prayer

Mary, you are our Mother and our model.

May we, like you, make Jesus

the centre of our lives

so that we become a living Gospel

for all those we meet.

We acknowledge we are especially

called to serve, in an unobtrusive way,

the most downtrodden,

abandoned and persecuted in our society.

Enable us, through compassion,

love and humility

to bring these and all people

together in a union of love

and care so that Christ will come

to life in our world today.

Through the deepening of our own prayer life

to draw closer to you, our Mother,

so that we may live

the Gospel as you did and be true disciples

of your Son.

May you and your beloved Son,

bless us and stay with us

as we strive to live in today’s world,

as true Marists

God Bless

Mrs Patricia Baker

Principal

In the future, the College Newsletter will be published via Skoolbag, Facebook & the Student Portal twice per term, in Week 5 and Week 10. Copies can also be found on the College Website.

For all regular announcements and up to date news on the events that take place at the College, please subscribe to the News Feed and Announcements Feed on the College Website which you can access here. You can also follow Cerdon College on Twitter, Facebook, Pintrest and Instagram; links to our Social Media can be found at the bottom of this Newsletter and on the College Website. We will continue to use Skoolbag to communicate important information about excursions, information nights and parent/teacher evenings. Please make sure that you select the appropriate group(s) to receive specific news relevant to your daughter's year group. If you are new to Skoolbag please review the infographic below.

Assessment Policies and Assessment Schedules can be found published on Assessment Portal on the Website and are shared electronically with every student.

Students will receive advice of excursions electronically and the College Calendar is regularly updated to include these dates.

You can subscribe to each of the following Google calendars by using the address provided. You need only select the calendar(s) that are relevant to you and to your daughter(s). You can subscribe to these calendars using any default calendar you currently use (eg iCal, Google calendars, etc) You can also search for Cerdon College calendars using a Google search.

Cerdon College Calendar

Year 7 Calendar

Year 8 Calendar

Year 9 Calendar

Year 10 Calendar

Year 11 Calendar

Year 12 Calendar

Sports Calendar

Feast Days

Enrolments

Enrolments for Year 7 and 11 2021 are now being taken.

Open Night

The College Open Night is on Tuesday 3rd March 2020 between 4 and 7 pm. All are welcome to come along to view our facilities and upgraded classroom spaces.

P & F Meeting

All parents are welcome to attend the P & F Meeting on Monday 10 February at 7:00 pm. Parking is only available via the Kenyons Road entrance to the College. The meeting will be held in the Staff Lunchroom and a staff member will be available to direct parents to the venue.

Year 7 Numeracy Evening

All Year 7 Parents are invited to attend our Numeracy Evening on Monday 17 February at 7:00 pm. At this evening, parents will be introduced to a variety of strategies that can be used at home to help support their daughter's developing skills in using number. Improvement in this important skill will assist students as they study a variety of subject areas.

Parking and Picking Up and Dropping Off Students

All parents are reminded that students are not to be dropped off or picked up from the Sherwood Road or Kenyons Road staff carparks at any time.

Parents are reminded that at the beginning and end of the school day, the area is congested and you are advised to get your daughter to walk to your car if you are picking her up from school. Parents should not be entering the school grounds at the beginning or end of the school day.

Parents are also reminded that Police and Council Parking Rangers continue to be very active in this area and they will not hesitate to fine you for inappropriate parking or driving within the designated school zone. Large fines apply.

At NO time should any student be dropped off in the TWay Bus Lane on Sherwood Road or at the BP Service Station. Parents should realise that the BP Service Station is a commercial business not a drop off point and it is not a safe place to pick up or drop off students.

All students and parents should be crossing Sherwood Road and Kenyons Road at Pedestrian crossings or traffic lights only.

Parents are asked to be considerate of neighbours, by not parking in or across driveways and at no time driving into private dwellings. Picking up students will be much quicker for all parents if we encourage all students to walk a little further to meet parents in safe places on Kenyons Road, Duffy Street and Bristol Street.

Students Bus Transport

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING OPAL CARDS

Transport for NSW have advised schools that all students using the Opal Card on school buses MUST tap on and tap off.

Higher School Certificate Results

Cerdon College Merrylands has again performed with distinction in the Higher School Certificate. Cerdon College students recorded 102 Band 6 results (11.5% of all results), 380 Band 5 results (42.7% of all results) and 264 Band 4 results (29.7% of all results) meaning 83.9% of all results were a Band 4, 5 or 6 result. 113 Band 3 results (12.7% of all results) meaning only 31 Band 1 or 2 results (3.3% of all results) were recorded.

Congratulations to our three Distinguished Achievers , Emma Balogh-Caristo, Alisar Khalil and Annie Taniane and to Shirley Nagamine who placed First in State in Spanish Extension and Caitlyne Halabi who placed Tenth in State in Business Services.

HSC High Achievers will be formally acknowledged at the College Opening Mass on Wednesday 19th February at 10:30 am at Our Lady of Victories, Horsley Park.

These excellent results are a testament to the strong collaboration between students and staff.

Cerdon College can be very proud of its Year 12 student achievements.

New Staff

Cerdon College welcomes the following new staff for 2020:

Mr A Agius - RE

Miss C Bateman - HSIE

Miss J Bjazevich - PDHPE

Mrs M De Los Reyes - English

Mrs E Johnson - Library Assistant

Ms M Lacey - Science

Mr A Llewellyn-Evans - HSIE

Miss A Serbin - TAS

Mr A Varrica - TAS

Homework

Homework is regularly set in all subjects.

Homestudy is a very important part of the learning process. It is expected that the students’ learning will be further developed as well as promoting initiative, personal responsibility and accountability.

Homestudy aims:

· To enrich learning.

· To encourage students to be responsible for their own learning which extends beyond the classroom.

· To reinforce and extend what has been taught in the classroom.

· To assist in the formation of positive learning habits.

Homestudy has two components, these are:

· homework - any activity which has been set by the teacher to be completed by a set date. This includes formal and informal assessment. It is important that this work is carefully completed.

· homestudy - any activity other than homework, which reinforces work done at school. It should include regular reading of novels and texts, and practice of example or sample questions.

Homestudy Timetable

The following are recommended amount of homestudy required:

Years 7 – 8 1-1½ hours (minimum 4 days per week)

Years 9 – 10 1½ -2 hours (minimum 4 days per week)

Years 11 – 12 2½ - 3 hours (minimum 5 days per week)

* Students in Years 7-12 are required to complete homework tasks and homestudy over weekends.

Attendance and Lateness

Parents are reminded that all students from 6 to 17 years of age must attend school EVERY day. No student should be absent from school except in the case of illness. Parents MUST provide a note to a student's Homeroom Teacher explaining any absence on the first day they return to school. Any absence for more than one (1) school day should be advised by phone (8724 7300) to the College Office together with a note on the first day they return to school.

The College gates are locked every day at 8:50 am and any student who is late is required to enter the College by reporting to the College Office. Entrance to the College is only available via the Sherwood Road entrance during school hours,

Parents should NOT be arranging family holidays during term time.

Any student absence from school for any reason may have a negative effect on student's results. The impact of any absence for a student is highlighted in the infographic above.

NAPLAN

It is a Commonwealth Government requirement that all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 complete NAPLAN in Literacy and Numeracy. Funding of schools is dependent on all students completing NAPLAN.

In 2019 NAPLAN will be conducted from Tuesday 14th May to Friday 24th May. Tests will be online this year and therefore it is imperative that every student has an iPad that can be connected to the school network. These iPads include the Apple Air, Air2, 5th Gen, 6th Gen or iPad Pro.

No student in Years 7 and 9 will be granted any type of leave during these NAPLAN dates.

If you have any questions for NAPLAN for Years 7 and 9, do not hesitate to contact Mr Caristo, Assistant Principal Curriculum.

From time to time, students or parents will have concerns or issues they wish to raise with staff at Cerdon College.

These concerns may be about issues such as your daughter’s progress in class, how she is relating to her classmates or even disagreement with Cerdon College’s policies or procedures.

It is important that if you have any concerns about your daughter you ensure that Cerdon College is contacted immediately.

If the issue is about your daughter’s progress at school, please contact the office on 8724 7300 and arrange an immediate time for an interview with your daughter’s Guidance Co-ordinator.

2020 Guidance Co-ordinators

Year 7 Mrs Drageljevic

Year 8 Miss Hayes

Year 9 Miss Parker

Year 10 Mr Lovadina

Year 11 Ms Rimac

Year 12 Mr O'Halloran

2020 Assistant Co-ordinators

Year 7 Mr Kershaw, Mrs Mahoney

Year 8 Miss Smith, Mr Farlow

Year 9 Ms Singleton, Mrs Yumul

Year 10 Miss Hanson, Ms Kemp

Year 11 Miss Ojong, Ms Kemp

Year 12 Ms Tasioulas, Ms Kemp

For other general curriculum concerns, please contact Mr F Caristo - Assistant Principal. He is also available to address any concerns about Years 10, 11 and 12, assessment advice and information and issues relating to school reports, or students courses of study.

For concerns relating to student welfare and social development please contact Mrs L Parker - Assistant Principal.

If you have any other issues or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly to discuss the issue or make an appointment to address your concern.

A formal complaints procedure is located on the College’s Website at cerdonmerrylands.catholic.edu.au.

Cerdon College works hard to ensure that students can improve their learning outcomes in a safe, supportive environment and your support of the College is important to continue to build the Cerdon Marist community.

At all times the P & F Meetings held on Monday Week 3 in Term 1, 2, 3 and 4 at 7:00 pm in the Staffroom and are an important venue to raise concerns or reaffirm Cerdon College in the way it is meeting the needs of its students.

Cerdon College recognises that email is a fast and convenient way to communicate with your child’s teacher.

As you could appreciate, teachers read their emails at various times throughout the school day. Other than in the case of a genuine emergency, staff are generally not expected to respond to emails from parents and students outside of normal working hours. Please keep in mind that if you send an email to a member of our staff outside of normal working hours, a reply may not be received until the following working day.

If you wish to contact your child’s teacher, please continue to direct your emails to cerdon@parra.catholic.edu.au which will then be triaged, as per usual practice or by the preferred method to contact them by phone on 8724 7300. Please note that teachers are mostly timetabled to classes throughout the day and may not be able to take a phone call when you might expect them to.

You can also review our email policy in the Student Handbook.

From time to time students will have an accident at school by falling over in the playground or during supervised PDHPE lessons.

All students are covered by an insurance policy that the school takes out. It is expected that in the first instance parents use their Medicare entitlements to cover costs. The policy does not cover the gap between the actual cost and the Medicare rebate.

If you have any questions about entitlements under this scheme, please do not hesitate to ask the Finance Manager, Ms Posavec on 8724 7309 or enquire at the College Office.

Please notify the College Office if you have changed any of your contact details ie. address, telephone number, email address, etc so that we are able to update our records accordingly.

Thank you

2020 School Fee Statements will be issued to families by the Catholic Education Office between Wednesday 12 -17 February. If you have not received your School Fee Statement by the end of February, please contact the Finance Manager at the College, Mrs A Baliva on 8724 7308.

Term 1 school fees are due for payment by Wednesday 18 March 2020. Included with your statement are the various payment options available to you. Should you decide to take one of these options please complete and return the paperwork promptly in the envelope provided.

If you require assistance re fee payment options, please contact Mrs A Baliva.

As you are aware, you have provided the school with permission for your daughter to participate in excursions and incursions and sports activities. For those activities covered by the general permission note, you will receive a notification where it is appropriate to do so (eg for an excursion).

For other excursions not covered by the general permission note, you may receive a permission note which will need to be completed and forwarded to school by the due date. Some of these excursions may incur a cost which will also need to be paid by the due date as excursions need to be paid for prior to the excursion date. There are no exceptions or extensions to the due date for payment.

A copy of each notification and permission note will be distributed via the Skoolbag App and also via the student's email account.

Regular Trading Hours

Mondays 8:00 am—2:00 pm (All year during school terms)

Wednesdays 8:00 am- 2:00 pm (Terms 1 and 4 - by appointment only)

See College Website to make an appointment.

Cerdon College Uniform Shop Management

Telephone: 8724 7329 (During trading hours only)

In my journey to Perth for the Australian Catholic Youth Festival I have had many different experiences that has encouraged and challenged me to reach a deeper relationship with God. Throughout the 3 days I experienced the encounter of the Holy Spirit through adoration, confession and songs. These experiences helped me to realise the real love God has for each and every one of us. Father Rob Galea was one of my favourite performers at the festival as he made the whole atmosphere rise into love which made the experience far more memorable.

Words cannot describe how amazing this pilgrimage has been. To have the opportunity to share with young Catholics of Australia who have the same passion, belief and love for God as I do was priceless. Throughout the past few days, we have had the opportunity to experience the love of Jesus Christ through song, dance, workshops, panels, leadership, and prayer. The one experience that for me was most memorable was Monday night’s adoration. Here, 5,500 young pilgrims, their support staff, and the Bishops from around Australia knelt down before Jesus, present in the Eucharist, to simply pray. The emotion, passion and pure love and adoration for God was so uplifting and inspiring that photos, words and praises cannot explain how emotional this experience was for me. I am so blessed to have been offered this opportunity. ACYF experience was a great way to meet new people and to truly embrace my love for my faith. I encourage everyone to get in touch with their faith because our faith is something that will inspire everyone to make a change in the world, no matter how small, because “even if you can’t control the outcome, you can say you were part of the team that took a stand to do something about it” ~Karl Brown.

“You may choose to look the other way but you can NEVER say again that you didn’t know” - William Wilberforce

Such brilliant words accentuate the roots of Australian Catholic Youth Festival 2019. The notion of spending three days fully immersed in religion, culture and advocacy for the common love of the faith we share has inspired me to take a step further with my relationship in religion. As a non-catholic the experience of the youth gathered to glorify religion has truly allowed me to deepen my connection with religion as a whole. The theme for this year was “Listen to what the spirit is saying” and I believe all of us have truly felt the spirit within us. This festival though aimed at the young church of Australia has the capability to captivate audiences and strengthen their love for God. I believe God in faith is universal, it is just the image we have that is different. Furthermore, the wonderful speakers enticed audiences to experience serenity, change and education within causes that truly matter. The experience has been of a lifetime and no religious event I have yet experienced has been as meaningful as ACYF.

Hannah Khoury and Malika Kapoor (Year 10 2019)

On Thursday January 30, the Cerdon College Swimming Carnival took place at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre Homebush. The carnival was a wonderful way to begin the school year, with all students taking the opportunity to support their House. Staff were assisted on the day by our Year 9 PASS students in their first official role at a Cerdon sports event. Both staff and students did a fantastic job officiating and contributed to make the event flow very smoothly. We had some strong performances by a range of students in the Olympic Pool and there was plenty of participation and fun had by all in the novelty events.

Congratulations to the following students, who excelled across a variety of events and received Champion and Runner Up awards:

12 Year Champion: Celina Mandoukos (Colin)

12 Year Runner Up: Jessica Cheetham (McOscar)

13 Year Champion: Summer Shrestha (Marcellin)

13 Year Runner Up: Holly Denning (Perroton)

14 Year Champion: Julia Tandog (Colin)

15 Year Champion: Hannah Jeffree (Colin)

15 Year Runner Up: Breeanah Khoury (Perroton)

16 Year Champion: Trisha Castelino (Marcellin)

16 Year Runner Up: Christina Callaghan (Marcellin)

17 Year Champion: Sophia Vicic (Marcellin)

17 Year Champion: Hannah Khoury (Perroton)

18 Year Champion: Keely Callaghan (Marcellin)

18 Year Runner Up: Alexzandria Smith (Marcellin)

Congratulations to Hannah Jeffree of Colin House, who finished first in the Victoria Buckler 50m Invitational event. This race included the fastest ten 50m swimmers on the day.

Congratulations to our House Champions, Marcellin House! See the final points tally below:

Marcellin: 460

Colin: 298

Perroton: 214

McOscar: 193

All points accumulated on the day will be added to the overall tally of each House and we look forward to the presentation of the Chavoin Shield on Friday June 26.

The School Dentist Week will run from Monday 24th February - Friday 28th February 2020. If you wish to use this optional service, please ensure that you return your daughter's form to the College Office by Monday 10th February.

Email: cerdon@parra.catholic.edu.au
Website: http://dev.cerdon.nsw.edu.au
Location: Sherwood Rd, Merrylands West, New South Wales, Australia
Phone: 8724 7300
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CerdonCollege
Twitter: @CerdonCollege