With the refurbishments in Westview completed the girls were timetabled back into the building this Tuesday. The new spaces are beautiful. They include new art spaces, a Design Centre, areas for collaboration and areas to create and print. The new display spaces are able to showcase the work of the girls and the interiors provide both light and an open airy ambience. These areas will be very well served by the girls and we are very grateful to the Board for their support in this refurbishment project. We are also appreciative of the State and Commonwealth funding we received through the Association of Independent Schools (AIS). Once restrictions allow us all to gather, we will have an official blessing and opening. Some photos of this new space are attached. 

One of the challenges we are having this year is celebrating our 180^th Anniversary during the pandemic. The liturgy held last Tuesday was designed to bring the good from what was planned for 18 March to the community at this point in time. During the service the girls received their commemorative badge and some of the items we had purchased to mark this special year. Unfortunately, we had some technology issues on the day and the transmission was disrupted. I apologise for this inconvenience. We now have the entire service available through this link if you would like to view it at your leisure. Click here to view the full Liturgy

During the liturgy we inducted the new Year 7 SRC girls. Congratulations to these students:

7A - Lilliana A
7B - Jamie M 
7C - Ava M
7D - Sophia C
7E - Jordana N 
7F - Bree M

On Tuesday evening we held the Alumni AGM. Using Zoom we were able to accommodate exstudents from across the State and nation. Sadly, we said thank you and farewell to Sara Barnes who has been our President for four years. Sara has been a busy supporter of the College and has given her time generously. I would like to acknowledge her work and her support over the years.

Thank you and welcome to the following who have generously offered to fill positions on the executive:

President:           Dr Joanna Winchester (Class of 1996)
Vice President:    Erin De Rooy, nee Cornett (Class of 1999)

We still have two positions vacant if anyone in our community would like to join us. They include the Treasurer and the Secretary. Thank you to Joanna for joining the executive and Erin for taking on the role of Vice President for another year.

Finally, it is good to see the girls settling into the face to face learning once again. In gathering their feedback on the positives of remote learning many of them spoke about their independence, that they were self-directed, had control of their learning and the opportunity to have control of their time. Across the years they all missed the interaction with staff and friends. We will take some time as a College to reflect on these learnings and see what we can develop and what we can use that will enhance the learning for the girls and better support you as our partners in your daughter's learning.

I will leave you with this reflection on winter as the days grow shorter and the temperature gets colder.

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal 

Dear God,
Let us prepare for winter.
The sun has turned away from us
and the nest of summer hangs broken
in a tree.
Life slips through our fingers and,
as darkness gathers,
our hands grow cold.
It is time to go inside.
It is time for reflection and resonance.
It is time for contemplation.
Let us go inside.

Amen

(Leunig - When I talk to you)

The coming of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, is of extreme importance for Christians and our relationship with God. We receive the Holy Spirit first at baptism and again at confirmation. Each of us is provided with gifts often referred to as fruits of the Holy Spirit. The greatest gift of the Spirit is God himself. Pope Francis states, “the Spirit himself is 'the gift of God' par excellence, he is a gift of God.” The Holy Spirit as God, brings God. 

It is not possible to love God, to be loved by Him without the Holy Spirit. Yet it has been remarked that for a large number of people, the Holy Spirit is often forgotten. Pope Francis has warned that the Holy Spirit has become “the Forgotten One”. He stated, “We often pray to Jesus; we pray to the Father, especially in the ‘Our Father’; but not often to the Holy Spirit,” he said.  “The Holy Spirit who has entirely animated the life and ministry of Jesus, it is the same Spirit that today guides the Christian existence, the existence of a man and a woman who say they want to be Christian.” We must not forget the Holy Spirit.

Louise East - Religious Studies Coordinator

This year was meant to be one of our big celebration years, our 180^th Anniversary of continuous Catholic Education in the Campbelltown area. However, things have not turned out that way so far. For us today, now regathered once again as a complete College community (albeit still in a kind of “remote” sense), it is an opportunity to start afresh. The events of the year have caught us by surprise. None of us would have imagined that we would end up in isolation, having to socially distance from one another. To facilitate being protected from the COVID-19 virus, we transitioned very quickly to remote learning and the word “Zoom” entered our everyday conversations. We have now started to come out of “iso”—another word that has crept into our language.

Whilst in “iso” we reconfigured our lives to suit our changed circumstances. With restaurants limited to providing take away only, we did lots more home cooking. With not being able to go out of our homes to visit relatives and friends, we spent time doing the gardening instead. Suspension of opportunities for sport and other after school activities gave rise to substitute pursuits such as cleaning our rooms, reading, and binge watching our favourite tv series. With social media as the usual means of communication nowadays, being in “iso” made us realise how important it is to be in each other’s presence rather than encountering each other via a screen. With fewer cars on the roads and many factories forced to stop production, the air we breathe became clearer and cleaner. Birds, insects, and plants started to thrive in the newly refreshed air. And we, too, came to realise that we have now the opportunity to be newly refreshed.

This “re-start” liturgy provides for us a time for reflection and consideration. We do not re-start in order for us to go back to how we used to be and do. In our comprehending the lessons of this year, we re-start, newly refreshed, so as to go to new and better ways of being and living. Let us take all the goodness from the experiences of this year so that we may truly transform our lives. Let us also recapture our understanding of the Benedictine values we are focusing on this year: PAX (peace) through the lens of justice and stability. And this being our 180^th Anniversary year, we especially recognise the value of stability as a community founded on the Person of Christ.

Throughout this time of social isolation, we have been watching television advertisements and hearing various prominent persons advising us that “we are all in this together”. To honour this recent call to unite as one human family, we have brought to our Catholic Liturgy this morning not only our usual Catholic prayers and readings. We have also added Scripture readings from two other religious traditions: Hinduism and Islam. The three readings we will hear and reflect upon today each have something to inform us about stability. It is no accident that the word “catholic” actually means “universal”. God’s message of peace, justice, and love is a universal message and we as Catholics can acknowledge and celebrate God’s message wherever and whenever it is proclaimed. In our Liturgy today, in our acknowledgement of our common humanity, let us be open to hearing the voice of God no matter how and where it is spoken.

Angelo Gattone - Mission Coordinator

Election by the College staff and fellow peers into the SRC is a great honour and provides these students with an opportunity to lead and serve not only their respective Pastoral Classes, but also the College community. These students, through their involvement in all aspects of College life, have displayed the many qualities that are necessary criteria in the effective management of the role.

Such qualities involve their ability to always meet the expectations of the College and involve themselves in co-curricular activities and events as well as being role models for the other students in how they support the College Conduct Policy. Most importantly they treat other people with the respect that they deserve which involves the welcoming and accepting of other students and staff members.

We wish them well in this their first leadership role in high school and know that they will be supported in this role by the College community.

The Councillors for 2020 are:

7A - Lilliana A
7B - Jamie M 
7C - Ava M
7D - Sophia C
7E - Jordana N 
7F - Bree M

Karen Wright - Assistant Principal Students

Roy, Owner and Head Chef from Sushi on Fire in Narellan generously gave his time to show the girls different techniques in preparing, cooking and making sushi. It was an amazing experience for all the girls to learn from a professional chef.

After learning from the chef, the girls made their own sushi and created their own Obento Lunch Box with the food they had made.

We thank Roy from Sushi on Fire, Narellan for the great experience and opportunity he gave the students.

Julian Nash - LOTE Coordinator

Over the next few weeks, students in Year 10 will continue to engage in some discussions relating to their subject choices for Years 11 and 12. There will be a chance for students and parents to have a number of robust and investigative conversations with members of staff during the Subject Selection Plenaries. This will allow students to make informed and appropriate choices for their pattern of senior studies. As a reminder, the Year 11 (2021) information session commences at 6:30pm on Tuesday 16 June via the following link: https://tinyurl.com/yamkckdv. An email has been sent to all parents/carers of our current Year 10 students with vital information for the night. 

Chris Bettiol - Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching

1. The Jacaranda Press Writing Competition closes 26 June.

Entries will be judged across Years 7-9 and Years 10-12 across these five categories:

Micro Fiction (300 word limit)

Flash Fiction (1000 word limit)

Short Story (4000 word limit, Fiction or Non-Fiction)

Essay (2000 word limit, Theme: COVID-19 Pandemic, any type of essay accepted)

Poetry (No word limit, Fiction or Non-Fiction)

For more information on entry guidelines and prizes, visit

https://www.jacaranda.com.au/writingcomp/

2. The Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Award closes 30 June.

Entries will be judged across Years 7-9 and Years 10-12. The optional theme for this year is "We Used to Live There", but students are allowed to explore any topic or subject of their choice.

For information on entry guidelines and prizes, visit

https://www.dorothea.com.au/How-to-Enter-awards

Claire McGillicuddy - English Faculty

One of the exciting upcoming projects is working in collaboration with the local studies section at Campbelltown Library. We are assisting the Library in collecting photographs and material which depict the ways COVID-19 has affected our local area. This material will be kept for future historians writing about COVID in our area. Each student is taking photos of signs and sanitisers around the school and in the local community and filling out a template sheet recording provenance details about the source. They have spent their lunchtimes busily running around the school taking photos!

An exciting upcoming event is an author talk via Zoom next week (17 June) by Heather Morris, the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz. This book is based on the true story of Lale Sokolov who was a prisoner at Auschwitz and was ordered to tattoo the identification numbers on fellow inmates. Heather will speak to the girls about how she researched the book and collected oral testimony from the protagonist of her book.

There are also a large number of history competitions on offer to the girls at present which can be worked on in History Club.

Fran Musico-Rullo - HSIE Teacher

Due to the current health concerns, our knitting ladies are taking a short hiatus working from home knitting and putting blankets together. Whilst we don't have the manpower to teach knitting at the moment, the girls who are not confident knitters have focused on learning how to sew the squares together into blankets. Our Year 7 students have particularly enjoyed this. Other students have been sewing our group labels 'Handmade With Love From St Patrick's College Knitting Group' onto completed blankets.

Special mention needs to be given to Olivia L of Year 10 who competed an entire blanket over the Covid break! She also created a beautiful knitted doll of a WWI nurse who we have claimed as our Knitting Group mascot and named her 'Pattie'.

Many thanks also to the grandmothers and friends of the College who have donated squares: Judith Andrews, Leonie Corlett and Lyn Carlin. All donations much appreciated.

Fran Musico Rullo - HSIE Teacher

The Simpson Prize is a national competition for Years 9 and 10 students. The competition encourages participants to explore the significance of the Anzac experience and what it has meant for Australia.  Eight winners are chosen from each State and Territory with the opportunity to visit overseas battlefields and participate in Anzac Day commemorations. 

Students write an essay using sources provided and their own primary sources to answer the following question:

“How do lesser known stories from the Western Front expand our understanding of the Australian experience of the First World War?”

Submit your entry by post to reach Canberra by Friday 6 November 2020

Please refer to the website http://www.simpsonprize.org/

For further assistance, please see Mr East or myself.

Fran Musico Rullo - HSIE Teacher

Sydney Living Museums have launched an online photographic exhibition titled ‘A Thousand Words’ featuring 100 photographic images (between the 1880s to the 1980s) from its own collection and the State Archives and Records Authority of NSW see https://atwonline.com.au/.

As part of the exhibition, a writing competition for students between Years 7 to 10 has been developed where students choose one image from the collection and write a story inspired about it between 750-1000 words.

From the website:

The Judges are looking for:

• An interesting original story inspired by an image from the A Thousand Words exhibition.
• A story with links to a historical period or event relating to the chosen image.
• An accurate depiction of the relevant historical setting, including language, landscape, dress, names, dates, technology and other possible elements.
• Effective and accurate use of historical knowledge and vocabulary in the plot, story context and character dialogue.
• Effective use of English language to communicate a range of ideas, language forms and features, including appropriate pitch, pace and structure for the story, descriptive language, dialogue and punctuation.

There are two major prizes:

Stage 4 category (Years 7-8)

• One winner will receive $250 and a 12-month Sydney Living Museums Member Plus One membership (valued at $145)
• One runner-up will receive $100

Stage 5 category (Years 9-10)

• One winner will receive $250 and a 12-month Sydney Living Museums Member Plus One membership (valued at $145)
• One runner-up will receive $100

Entries close on 4 September and more information can be found from the competition website: https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/writingcomp

For further assistance, please see Mr East or myself.

Fran Musico Rullo - HSIE Teacher

Our College is also going to take part as this is our 180th anniversary.  Photos that share local stories and memories from your Grandparents, Great Grandparents or other Campbelltown ancestors. Your stories and their stories are important to the Council's  200 Years Together. These photos can then be added to the online gallery or shared via social media posts.

• You can enter up to 5 photographs
• Images need to be in JPG or PDF format no bigger than 5MG file size

https://www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/AboutCampbelltown/Campbelltown2020/200YearsTogether

Fran Musico Rullo - HSIE Teacher

The beginning and end of the school day are busy times for pedestrians and vehicles around the College site. It is particularly important to take extra care at this time and be mindful of others.

How you can assist:

• Drive to the front of the drop-off/pick-up zone so that as many cars as possible can pull in behind you. Not park in the car park near the main gate.
• If you are unable to stop in the drop-off/pick-up zone, continue to drive to the carpark behind the Mary Sheil Centre.
• If you can’t stop in an allocated area, continue to exit the grounds and come back around.
• Drive in a one-way direction and exit via the back gate.
• Being considerate of other members of your community and not blocking traffic or stopping in allocated areas.
• Remain in your vehicle. For their safety, students should only enter and exit a parked vehicle that is in either in a parking space or directly on the kerb.
• Students are to use designated crossings.
• Follow the instructions of the staff on duty.
• Let other carers know this information if they are going to drop-off and/or pick-up your daughter.

Safety is compromised when:

• You jump the queue of waiting traffic.
• Vehicles are double parked and the girls are trying to walk across the road.
• Vehicles overtaking illegally or entering the wrong direction.
• A U-turn is attempted on the College grounds.

Kristy Dennis - College Business Manager

College photographs have been rescheduled to be taken by advancedlife on Thursday 25 June 2020. It is our preference that ordering be completed online to reduce administration, potential security issues related to the return of cash on photo day and minimal handling of envelopes during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Orders for packages and sibling photographs can be placed securely online at www.advancedlife.com.au using our school’s unique 9 digit advancedorder code - LBZ 3LR 3ZX. Portrait and group package orders are due by photography day.

Should you wish to purchase a sibling photo online, the order must be placed no later than the day before photography day. Sibling photographs will only be taken if an order has been placed.

Should you have any queries concerning school photographs or online ordering, please direct them via email to  enquiries@advancedlife.com.au

Charles Camilleri - Admin Coordinator

CatholicCare now offers the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) in the Macarthur region, helping seniors to access entry-level support services to live independently and safely at home. If your grandparents, parent(s) or anyone you know requires aged care assistance at home, please ask them to call 4628 0044 and ask for Melissa or Colleen.

for all events at the College, CLICK HERE