Dante Alighieri Italian Poetry Competition

It is with great pleasure that we announce our School Captain, Ethan Trethowan, has been awarded third prize (Terzo Premio) in the prestigious Dante Alighieri Italian Poetry Competition at the University of Melbourne. Ethan competed against 4000 students who recited their chosen poem. This is a wonderful achievement and the entire CRC school community is very proud of him. Bravissimo Ethan! Tanti auguri.

Staffing

Unfortunately we say good-bye to Sister Mary Rachel, who has been appointed to a Senior role in Nashville at the Provincial House, and Sister Anastasia. We welcome Sister Mary Sarah in their place.

We also farewell Mr Peter Drew, our Property Manager. Peter has had a long association with the College as parent, grandparent and staff member. We wish him well in his retirement. Mr Martin Turner (also a past parent) will take over the role and we warmly welcome him.

Staff Proffessional Learning Day

Last Friday 250 staff from the CRC Colleges heard from renowned Theologian Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP. Fr Timothy is a Dominican friar of the English Province, and former Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992-2001. In 2003, Fr Timothy was made an honorary Doctor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, the University's highest honorary degree. He was the 2007 winner of the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing for his book ‘What Is the Point of Being A Christian?’. In 2015 Fr Timothy was named a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Fr Timothy had an audience with Pope Francis last year where he engaged our Pope on a range of issues in the Church today. He is a highly sought after speaker, teaching and preaching in many countries around the world. In his presentation on Friday, he spoke about ‘Christian leadership in the light of the parable of the Prodigal Son’ and ‘Can we all feel at home in the Church?’.

Resilience Project Student Workshop

Last week Martin Heppell from the Resilience Project was at the College to present workshops to all the students as a follow up to the parent and staff presentations made last term. Martin spoke of the values and importance of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness.

Martin asked the students to acknowledge someone else and to do something kind. It was good to witness students shaking hands, giving high fives or hugs to others, there was a good buzz across the hall. As Martin said to them, everytime you do something kind for someone else, your brain releases oxytocin, which leads to increased self-esteem, energy, happiness and positivity.

Martin shared recent statistics on mental health. “With one in four adolescents having a mental illness in today’s society and one in three girls and one in five boys suffering from an anxiety disorder, the need for guidance and direction is essential, the most poignant figure provided by Martin, was 65% of adolescents do not seek help for mental illness. His message was talk to someone.

Martin said the key word is “failure”, that is, how you as students develop resilience. If you don’t know "failure" how do you learn to deal with failure? Follow up activities are happening over the coming weeks during pastoral care periods with the student’s homeroom teachers.

College Captains Madalyn McGill and Ethan Trethowan on behalf of all the students presented Martin with a cheque of $3,417.45 from the amount raised on Celebration Day to support the work of Save the Children in the Solomon Islands. He was overwhelmed with the generosity and empathy shown by our school community.

Full School Assembly

At the assembly last week certificates were presented to those students successful in the recent writing competition, a full version of the stories can be found on the links below. Also the Slam Poetry competition winner Year 8 student Heather Petelo read her poem Expectations vs. Reality to the student audience to a rousing round of applause.

School Spirit Awards

Year 7 - Tahla Ward & Francis Sepe

Tahla is a friendly, optimistic, helpful and studious member of 7B. She is selfless, caring, respectful and encouraging to other students in her class. She is always looking for new ways to improve her work. She is courteous to staff and peers and demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities at camp. Her kindness, compassion and willingness to help others are qualities that should be admired.

Francis is a conscientious and hard-working student. She is a positive and motivated member of 7M. She shows initiative, works hard in class and contributes positively to classroom discussions. She is personable and has established good relationships with both her teachers and her peers and is a positive role model for other students.

Year 8 - Hayley Ferris & Nathan Furtado

Hayley is a student who is always punctual to class, completes all set work to the best of her ability and is kind, compassionate and hard-working. She is a very respectful and polite person who possesses a friendly nature.

Nathan is currently achieving high grades in all subject areas. He is a popular and respected member of the Year 8 cohort who always demonstrates a high work ethic and commitment to study across a range of subjects.

Year 9 - Bagena Malua & Isaac Peramuna

Bagena only started at CRC at the start of the year. Her teachers praise her maturity and her positive participation and contribution to all her classes. Bagena interacts well with her peers and teachers, not only sharing a great sense of humour with them, but she is also very kind, and always willing to help and support others.

Issac was nominated by his teachers for a variety of reasons. He is a mature student who is courteous and respectful to both students and staff. Isaac is a student who just ‘gets it done’ and is an example of how a student can balance extra curricular activities, personal life and school.

Year 10 - Ivana Giannakoulis & Tileah Downs

Ivana has demonstrated an excellent work ethic throughout the year. She has been actively involved in both swimming and athletics carnivals, the Year 7 Peer Support Program, camp and Reconciliation Week. Ivana has assisted in numerous NAIDOC week activities around the school. Being a member of the School Representative Council for 2018 has provided her with the opportunity to develop her leadership skills where she has proven to be a positive role model amongst her peers.

Tileah has proven to be a diligent worker managing to successfully balance her academic demands with the extra-curricular activities she has been involved in. A valued member of the school Showcase Tileah has established sound leadership capabilities by assisting and supporting teachers and students in dance performances. Furthermore, she demonstrated maturity by actively participating in all aspects of the recent Geography Camp, which culminated in an excellent result for the subsequent written report.

Year 11 - Alexandra MacDowell & Ashley Scicluna

Alexandra is a quiet achiever who strives to always do her best. She seeks help when needed and scores well on her SAC's. Alex displays maturity and enthusiasm and always seeks teacher feedback to clarify content. She is always working to improve herself and do better. She initiates strategies for personal improvement coupled with an excellent work ethic.

Ashley is highly motivated and works well both independently and with her peers. She continues to strive for higher grades and goes beyond what is required of her. Her marks are exceptionally high and she is always willing to help her peers. Ashley wears her uniform with pride and is an exemplary role model for the Year 11 cohort. Her teachers describe her as the hardest worker they've ever met.

Year 12 - Danielle Sultana & Anglena Koj

Danielle was nominated by various staff members due to her diligent work ethic and active participation in College activities, especially SACCS Girls AFL. Danielle is always happy, courteous to both her peers and staff and always works hard in her classes. Danielle is a student who demonstrates the values of the College and what the School Spirit stands for.

Anglena has shown a positive growth in maturity over the years. In the past year she has become a responsible and organised young woman who takes her studies seriously, who strives for high marks, who asks questions and willingly engages in the classroom. She demonstrates strong organisational skills and commitment to her school work. Her performance in her vocational education suggests that she will have great success in the medical field. In spite of a lengthy commute to school and her work commitments, Anglena finds the time to be an inspirational role model to younger African female students through the Big Sister mentoring programme. She is highly respected by her peers and is a sound role model to the younger students whom she spends time with and who trust her.

2019 Subject Selections

Year 10 and 11 students continue with their 2019 Subject Selections. Our 2019 Year 11 Subject Selection process involves family interviews next Tuesday 31st July. I hope to see many parents and guardians take the opportunity to be involved with their child’s selections, as in previous year’s these conversations has been extremely valuable.

Current Year 9 students and parents/guardians are invited to join us on Wednesday 8th August for our Year 10, 2019 Information Evening.

Semester Two Subject Changes

All Year 9 and 10 Elective changes for Semester Two have been finalised.

John Cristie

Deputy Principal - Staff

Over the past week CRC Melton celebrated NAIDOC week. This year's theme was 'Because of her, we can!' In 2018, NAIDOC week recognised the invaluable contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have made and make to their communities, families, history, and the nation.  Through our acknowledgement of NAIDOC week, we aim to increase awareness within our community of this significant event.

Students and staff had an opportunity to become involved in many different ways. Each homeroom commenced with a morning prayer and participated in a daily quiz identifying significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Students participated in a creative activity which will eventually be collated and be representative of the whole school community (once this is completed a visual of this will be provided to the school community via the newsletter).

A number of classes covered content related to Indigenous Australian’s, the library played music and provided story telling opportunities. Indigenous games were offered over lunch. The year 7’s were privileged to be involved in a performance with a focus on dreamtime stories and culture. During our full school assembly we unveiled our new flags representing the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags and some of our Year 10 students Acknowledged Country with the addition of an informational component.

CRC staff enjoyed an Indigenous morning tea and the College Facebook page acknowledged significant Aboriginal women, in keeping with this year’s theme, “Because of her, we can!”

Daniela Harrington

Humanities Domain Leader

Pierre de Coubertin Award

On Friday 22nd June, Emily Kro and Boden Mugridge represented CRC at the Pierre de Coubertin academy held at the MCG. The academy is a day where students that have been selected from various schools in Victoria meet and participate in workshops associated with the Olympics and Sports. Emily and Boden also had the opportunity to meet Olympians and ask questions of the various guest speakers as well as tour the MCG.

In the evening the Pierre de Coubertin award was held. This award is a prestigious award that recognises secondary school students who demonstrates the values which are consistent with the Olympic movement through participation in and out of school. Each nominee must participate actively in the school’s physical education program with consistently positive attitude and must have represented the school in a sport.

Emily Kro was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin award on the evening. We are all extremely proud of Emily as she is such a hard working student who has participated in many sporting activities at school, including the SACCSS athletics last year where she was age group champion and she is also ranked 7th in the world for her age and weight category in Karate.

Natalie Bourke

Sports Coordinator

The cast of eighty students are working hard in preparation for their Showcase performance at the start of term three (26th and 27th July). Charismatic teacher Mr C and his diligent students travel through the history of the performing arts in Catholic Regional College's 2018 Showcase. We travel from Greek Theatre to Casablanca to Flashdance to Beyonce and even to this year's hit- the Greatest Showman; hence our title 'The Greatest Showcase'. Sit back and relax as our talented students sing, dance and act their way through history.

Adult tickets $15, student tickets $10. Tickets available only at https://www.trybooking.com/WDXX.