St Benedict's Catholic College

Dear Parents

As we come to the end of another Academic Year Advent always gives us pause to reflect. On Monday we wrap up the year with our final College Mass. For the first time this year we are having a concelebrated Mass in the Cloister – a first for the College - and we thank Frs. Michael Williams and David Catterall for the generosity of their time to celebrate with us in this busy liturgical period.

We also recognise those who have made significant achievements at our Academic Awards Ceremony held after Morning Tea. It is an opportunity to not only recognise our High Achievers, but also to recognise the many students who have made significant contributions to College life and who have achieved personal milestones such as qualifying for the purple or gold Leadership Diploma or achieving 100/300/500 Merits in the course of their learning.

It has also been time for reflection for the outgoing Principal. Although I will have the opportunity to say many things next Monday, in this, my last newsletter, I wish to thank all our families for their tireless support over the last 9 years. We should all be very proud of the school community we have become. Yes, academic results have continuously improved, to be some of the best locally and beyond, but also for the type of school we have become. A safe, student centred community where the positive relationships between students and staff, students and their families has always been a priority. We have a lot to be thankful for in that the specific charism of our College is based on St Benedict’s Rule and his wisdom in distilling Jesus’ life in the Gospels and the rhythm of the psalms into rules for living. The particular nature of the Catholicity of our College has been a reflection of Jesus’ call to love one another.

We have always been the place where there is

“something to strive for and nothing to run from”

Whether you joined us this year for the first time or you are one of the many families sending us your third or even fourth child, thank you. Although as a school we have now grown from our childhood to our adult phase it has been a privilege watching your children grow up as we also “grew up”.

So, like every good parent and with very mixed emotions, it's time to leave home. Each year at Year 12 Farewell Assembly I mention St Benedict’s words and they are just as apt to close with at this time:

“All Our Endings Are Our Beginnings”

Have a wonderful safe, happy and holy Christmas and farewell.

Michael Hanratty

Principal

Monday 16 December - End of Year Mass, Semester 2 Awards.

Monday 16 December - Years 7-10 Reports Distributed.

Wednesday 18 December - Parent/Teacher Meetings

Wednesday 18 December - Year 12 Morning Tea

Thursday 19 December - Pupil Free day/Staff Development Day

Wednesday 29 January - Year 7, 12 and other New Students Return

Thursday 30 January - All Students Return

Thursday 6 February - Year 12 UOW Discovery Day

On Wednesday 18 December, parents/carers are invited to meet with their child's teachers to discuss the Semester 2 Report. These meetings are not compulsory. The arrangements for this semester are:

Date - Wednesday 18 December 2019

Time - 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

Location - E Block

Bookings Open - Tuesday 17 December at 8:00 am

Bookings Close - Wednesday 18 December at 8:00 am

Event Code - nt875

Once again, parents/guardians will use www.schoolinterviews.com.au to make their appointments. To book an interview with one or more teachers, please use the event code above.

On behalf of the teaching staff of St Benedict's, I would like to thank you for your support in 2019 and wish all families a Holy Christmas.

Chris Shelton

Director of Learning and Teaching

Please note that the Finance Office will be closed on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 December to enable staff to complete the end of year procedures.

One of the educational initiatives this year at St. Benedict’s has been the expansion and formalisation of Targeted Enrichment. As part of this, the College has launched the Creative Curriculum Programme, specifically targeted at Year 8 students.

In the Weeks 7, 8 and 9, 10 Year 8 students researched, created and presented their own projects, on a variety of topics across the KLAs, including Science, Music, History, Technology and 3 cross discipline fields. These projects needed a “Big Idea” and a series of essential questions on which to guide the research.

Each student was attached to a staff mentor, who gave up his/her free time to act as an academic adviser to the students. Thank you to Ms Hawkins, Mrs Hatton, Mrs Learmonth, Mr Hayden, Ms Pollicina, Mr Morris and Mr Smith for giving up their time.

Thanks also to Mrs Castelli (design consultant) and the Library staff for facilitating the students.

Andy Lundy

Year 8 Coordinator

On Thursday 28 November, students from the Year 10 PASS classes visited the Burns Outdoor Obstacle Training Centre in Bringelly. The students faced many challenging obstacles such as the warped wall, ninja warrior training area, rope climb and cargo net. They had fun whilst attacking these obstacles and demonstrated perseverance in attempting to conquer them.

Adrian F was the only student to make it up the warped wall, something many Ninja Warriors struggle to do. Hannah S beat the current record on the horizontal Z-climb, rotating around the obstacle 15 times!

All in all the students had a great time and many surprised themselves with their abilities to overcome the obstacles on the course.

Every student at St Benedict's is able to access SORA which is an online library with both fiction and non-fiction resources so it can be used 24/7 to find a book to read or to research information for classwork or assessment tasks. SORA also has a great range of audiobooks so consider downloading it onto your phone for travel time entertainment.

Our SORA resources are accessed through the digital library called Australian Catholic Education Network Digital Library or ACEN Digital Library.

ACEN Digital Library is a combined library with the collection coming from 8 other Diocese (the number of titles available is close to 100,000).

What do you need to do?

On an ipad or smartphone– download the free SORA app from the app store

If you use the Web version, the URL is https://soraapp.com/welcome

Sign in using CEnet credentials (lastnameinitalnumber and your usual school password).

Add a new library - search for ACEN and select.

If you need more guidance watch the video tutorial on how to add the app as well as some FAQ’s.

https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/sora/home

Mrs Conte

Head of Library Services

Learning Technology Coordinator

Most sports were cancelled cancelled due to poor air quality.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Yours in Sport

Ms Julia Liska

Sport Coordinator

FINAL CALL FOR ORDERING UNIFORMS

Anyone needing to order uniforms for next year,

particularly for Year 9 into Year 10 in 2020

Please see flyer below.

There are a number of reading glasses and sleeping bags in the office, can you please check with your child if they have lost theirs.

We also have a number of school uniform items with no names on them. Can you please mark all items of clothing clearly with your child's name.

Students are welcome to come and collect articles at recess, lunch and home time.

Parents are asked to call the office before 2.00pm if needing to send messages to students. This allows our office helper time to deliver the message before end of school.

Parents are asked to email teachers between 7:40am and 6:00pm if requesting appointments or needing information, please allow teachers 48 hours to reply. The school office is open from 7:40am until 3:30pm. If calling for a teacher please allow them 24 hours to return your call. Parents are asked to remember that teachers are in class during the day and have meetings after school hours.

The clothing pool is open on Friday mornings from 8:00 - 8:30am. Students are welcome to come if parents are unable to. Cash sales only.

We would also welcome any donations of uniforms, school bags, lap top bags etc. as stocks are running low.

Lunch Order – Any lunch order completed through Flexischools, lunch collection for hot food is in the oven labelled “Lunch Orders” any Cold Food is in the Milk Fridge.

All orders including drinks are labelled with Students name and order. If students cannot find their lunch order, please can you ask the CAFÉ staff for assistance.

Applications for student travel in 2020 opened on Friday, 11 October 2019.

Students progressing to year 3 and year 7 no longer need to re-apply if they:

· are continuing at the same school

· are residing at the same address

· have not been sent an expiry notification from Transport for NSW.

Where a student meets the new distance eligibility, the system will automatically update their entitlement. If they do not meet the new eligibility, they will receive an expiry notification via email.

Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition which is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply.

Term Bus Pass holders will receive a notification to re-apply.

If students need to update their information or re-apply, they should go online to https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/updateDetails

Applications need to be submitted before 31 December 2019 to ensure student entitlements are updated and their current entitlement/card is not cancelled. If their application is submitted after 31 December 2019, the system will automatically cancel an entitlement/card and a new one will need to be issued.

Students in the Opal network applying for a SSTS or Term Bus Pass entitlement for the first time will receive their card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out from January 2020.

Students residing in Rural and Regional (R&R) areas should receive their travel pass at the commencement of the new school year from their nominated operator, this may be distributed via the school or sent direct to their address. Note: some R&R operators do not issue travel passes. Students/Parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.