8th March, 2016 Reflection Merciful God Loving and merciful God, I am so aware of my sins and weaknesses. But as painfully aware of my faults as I am, Let me also remember your tender love, your gentle and limitless forgiveness. I come before you filled with pain and guilt but look into your eyes and see the forgiving love I so long for in my life. Help me to forgive the same way. Teach me to love as you love. Amen
Dear Parents and students, Front Entrance to College It was a positive experience to see the new College entrance open last week, and all students, staff and parents accessing the office in a safe and efficient manner. And it looks great! When the new plants take hold over the next 18 months, it will be even better. Our central courtyard area is still taking shape and while we are a little behind schedule, it should be right for Term 2. Our Year 7’s are enjoying some warm to hot weather for their Camp this week, and we need a reminder to 'slip, slop, slap’ even though the calendar says that summer is finished. Mark Sheehan Principal
From the Deputy Principal (Staff) Our Year 7 Camps have begun and all reports from their first days have been positive – students and staff enjoying the activities and food! Next week is a shortened week with Monday, March 14 being the Labour Day holiday and Tuesday, March 15 the CRC Federation Mass day where staff from all 5 Regional Colleges come together at 1.00pm for Mass and reflection. The morning is used for all our staff to undergo their compulsory Anaphylaxis and Asthma training. College Evacuation Drill As notified last week, last Thursday we undertook a full College evacuation drill. Students and staff carried out the process smoothly. The outside supervisor of the drill (who we have to oversee all College Emergency Response Plans) was pleased with our preparation and procedures we have in place. We have taken feedback from staff on any improvements needed and welcome any feedback from parents as to any suggestions they may have from their or their child’s perspective. We will also undertake LockDown and further Evacuation drills as the year progresses. Term 1 Reports and Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews Interim Reports will be available through our Parent Portal (they are not posted home) next week. If you have any difficulty accessing your Portal, then please contact the College Office or email itsupport@crcmelton.com.au. As part of the report, a recommendation to attend the Parent-Student-Teacher interviews will be included. These Interviews are now also booked through our Parent Access Module (PAM). Interviews take place in the last week of term (March 22 & 23). On the Tuesday, normal College classes operate but on the Wednesday, no classes will operate. Tuesday’s Interviews: 4pm to 7pm. Wednesday’s Interviews: 1pm to 7.30pm It is expected that students attend interviews with their parents/guardians. To access P-S-T Bookings (from next Wednesday, March 16):
Log in to PAM At the top you will see the Parent Interviews link (click to enter) Then select your child (if you have more than one, each will be listed separately) Select the subject Choose an available time with that teacher Repeat for each class and child as needed. Use the print icon to print off your interview times.
John Christie Deputy Principal (Staff)
City of Melton, Harness Racing Victoria and Tabcorp Park Community Grants Rebekah Loring and myself recently attended the City of Melton, Harness Racing Victoria and Tabcorp Park Community Grants presentation to gratefully accept a cheque of $4000 awarded to CRC. The grants provide funding to community groups and organisations for projects and initiatives with a community benefit. The funding we received will be used to support the implementation of welfare support programs. Social Media Social media is a very powerful and very wide reaching means of communication for schools, students and parents. It is very challenging to stay ahead of the growing traffic of communication between young people. For many young people they are oblivious and naive of the consequences that can and do emerge if they use the different forms of social media to engage in activities that are offensive and inappropriate. Students are often communicating through these means often outside of school hours and then experiencing the fallout when they come to school. The allure of anonymity Behaving differently when no one else is watching is nothing new to the digital age, just more pronounced. It's an extension of the "what would you do if you were invisible?" question, as there are opportunities for you to be somewhat invisible over the internet. The link below contains valuable information on the various social apps people can use to bully individuals online, post photos, make comments whilst in many cases remaining anonymous. https://www.esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/games-apps-and-social-networking 1. 2. 3.
4.
Restrict anonymous correspondence. Only share account information with people you trust. Most services have block and report functions for objectionable content, know these functions. As per cyberbullying guidance, it's a good idea to keep a screenshot or copy of the objectionable content before deleting it, just in case it needs to be reported to police as a serious incident. Encourage users to think before they post. Once something is shared digitally, it can be publicly and permanently available. All users need to think before they post, consider the impact of their words on others and ask themselves "would I still say that if everyone knew it was me?" and “would I say this to the person face to face?”
'Sexting' means sending sexually explicit photos or videos electronically (eg by mobile phone, app, chat, social networking or email). With modern technology this can be done instantly, but it can have serious and lasting consequences. For people under 18, sexting is illegal. It is a criminal offence to take, possess, or transmit a naked image of a person under the age of 18 years. It doesn’t matter if your child took their own photo and willingly sent or published it. You cannot ‘give someone permission’ to break the law. Penalties for these offences are serious and can result in your child being placed on the sex offenders’ register. It is important that you regularly talk to your child about their experiences with communications technology. Make sure that you continually reinforce that your child should come to you if they have any problems, if they see something that they know is wrong or anything that upsets them. Tips and advice for parents are available https://www.esafety.gov.au/education-resources/parent-resources and http://www.thinkuknow.org.au/
What do I do if I find explicit images of my child?
Don’t yell, scream or panic. Try to remain calm. It is really important to be able to speak rationally to your child about this issue. Talk to them about your concerns or suspicions and allow them time to respond. Try to work out how/where this has happened and who else may be involved. Where are the images now? Who may have them? Make an appointment to speak to someone at the school such as a counsellor, teacher, or principal, and let them know what has occurred. Be aware that in some instances, police may need to be involved and schools have certain obligations in relation to the reporting of incidents. Please do not withhold information from the school because you are concerned about police involvement. Police are very well placed to deal with these issues and have tools to minimise the impact. They have the ability to retrieve data and trace electronic communication. The important thing is to act as soon as you are aware. If you believe that the ‘sexting’ is a result of your child being the victim of an online sexual predator rather than adolescent naivety, please notify the police immediately.
Rob Blackley Deputy Principal - Student Welfare Uniform Shop News Uniform shop will now also be open the first two weeks of Term 2, Monday 11th and 18th April, 6.30pm - 7.30pm, as well as Wednesdays. We are looking for volunteers to help on these nights. To volunteer contact Julie at : juliesorganics@hotmail.com This is a trial and if successful, we will look at opening on the first few Mondays at the beginning of each term. Melton Relay for Life On Saturday the 27th of February, 43 of our Year 11 & 12 students walked step by step to battle cancer. From Saturday 4pm till Sunday 10am the students walked throughout the night to raise awareness to fight cancer. A massive congratulations to the students who sacrificed their time to attend the event and raise a total of $2,500! The total amount raised by all Melton Relay for Life groups was over $64,000. We have made a very positive contribution in 2016 and have now decided to set bigger and better goals for next year! For 2017, the CRC Leadership group would like to raise $5,000 to start a groundbreaking research project to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. The students who participated in the event would like to thank Miss Grech for her ongoing support in the lead up and throughout the event. Fernando Rios-Rodriguez Deputy Sport Captain CareMonkey School staff are unable to change any details on a student’s profile once the profile has been set up and shared with CRC. If a parent needs to change the email that CareMonkey notifications are sent to, paste the link below into your browser. Instruction on how to change your email address will be displayed. https://caremonkey.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000552535-transferring-ownership-of-a-profile If a parent wishes to add a secondary email: caremonkeyadmin@crcmelton.com.au.
for
notification
purposes
only,
please
Medications at School CRC abides by the Victorian Governments guidelines in relation to Medication Administration use. Parents are required to complete a ‘Medication Administration Form’ if medications are required to be administered at school. A letter in the students diary with the reason, dosage and duration is sufficient for short term use. For year long use such as Antihistamines, the Medication Administration Form is required. Please ask at the office for a copy. All prescription medications brought to school should be in a container appropriately labeled by the pharmacist or the physician. All over-the-counter medications should be in their original containers. Students with permission in CareMonkey for Paracetamol to be administered please note, this is only for Camps, Excursions and external activities. Parents are required to supply medications if required. Thank you for your co-operation. Languages News Students who are studying Year 9 and 10 Italian will be attending a Dante Alighieri Poetry Competition next term. A date will be confirmed by the University of Melbourne. Students will be required to choose a poem and recite it in front of an examiner. It is imperative that students prepare for this day at home by memorising their chosen poem as often as they possibly can. This opportunity will also allow students to experience a taste of university life. Stay tuned for more details in your classes. In bocca a lupo/ Good luck! Claudia Russo SACCSS Senior Cricket Last Friday our senior cricket team travelled to Epping to take on St. Monica’s College in Round 2 of the Senior cricket competition. In extremely hot and trying conditions, we scored 5/92 off our 20 overs with Aaron Clarke top scoring with 34 and Justin Newton scoring 22. Batting second, St Monica’s needed 3 runs off the final over, when Captain Jack Doyle took the responsibility of bowling the final over, taking 2 wickets for 1 run to secure the win. Other wicket takers were Aaron Clarke with 3 wickets and Tom Simpson and Liam Thurn taking 2 wickets each. With the win, we will host the semi-final against Kolbe College this Tuesday at Arnolds Creek Reserve starting at 12.15pm. Lost Property The office has a large collection of lost property, including a pair of black, size 8, lace up leather shoes, prescription glasses, house keys, ear phones, swimming goggles and a large amount of unnamed uniform. Please call in at the office if you have lost property. Grease Production - Parent Volunteers Rehearsals have started well for this year's musical "Grease". As with all shows, the performance is going to need costumes and props. If you have any interest in helping out with prop collection or have any sewing skills, we would love to hear from you. Please contact our musical team if you are interested in helping in any way by emailing musical@crcmelton.com.au Looking forward to a fabulous show, Michelle Moeser Performing Arts Coordinator
Year 9 Calling Camp (Feb 15-17 2016) The Rite Journey ‘Calling’ & ‘Departure’ Camp is a time where students and parents acknowledge that the time has come for their son/daughter to move on from being just a ‘child’ and commence transitioning into young, responsible, accountable and resilient adults. As part of the Rite Journey Camp, we all acknowledged the role that parents have in raising young teenagers. The camp outline is as follows: Rationale: ‘Calling’ students to begin the journey of transition from adolescents to adulthood ‘The Calling’ Intent: The Calling is a ceremony in which the students are ‘called’ by their teachers on their journey The ‘calling’ also involves acknowledgement of the end of childhood and a show of gratitude to those people who influenced the students through their childhood. The Departure Intent: The essence of this ceremony is to receive the parents/s/care-givers blessing and support to work with their child during The Rite Journey throughout the year. This camp was also a great example of how people can put differences aside and work together to achieve an outcome. Students participated well in the different levels of challenges that were offered to them, being singing or dancing in a talent quest in front of peers, doing team challenges to earn the most points, letting go of issues and making a fresh start. It was extremely rewarding and encouraging to welcome parents for the dinner nights that were prepared by the students themselves. Students were welcoming and were able to have some quiet time with their parents to thank them for all that they have learnt so far in life. It was a good opportunity for parents to hear how grateful their children are of them and how they can continue being life-long mentors to their child. Students wrote gratitude letters to their parents as part of their reflective time whilst on camp. These letters were then handed to parents after our dinner. We thank parents for your support in this program. Overall, a great team building camp that was much needed by students and parents. Well done to all who invested their time and effort into preparing and participating in the camp. On behalf of the Rite Journey Team, Karina Dunne Year 9 Gadal Director.
Uniform
Calendar 2016
2016
Term 1
Term 1
March
March
9th 10th 11th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th
21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th
Year 7A, 7B & 7C camp Senior Sports day Year 7A, 7B & 7C camp Year 7A, 7B & 7C camp Catholic Education week Labour day - No classes Catholic Education week Federation Mass day - No classes Catholic Education week 2016 Indonesian trip Information evening Catholic Education week VCE Studio Arts Excursion VINCIT Work Readiness Induction days Catholic Education week VINCIT Work Readiness Induction days Year 8 Kryal Castle excursion VINCIT Pathways Training Year 9 & 10 Drama excursion SACCSS Swimming Parent/Student/Teacher interviews Classes finish for Term 1 Parent/Student/Teacher interviews - No classes Staff Professional Learning day - No classes Good Friday Indonesian trip leaves
Term 2
Wednesday 9th L. Vella
1.00pm - 2.00pm C. Arthur
Wednesday 16th 6.30pm - 7.30pm E. Flanigan Leanne Holt Wednesday 23rd Winter Uniform Pickup 1.00pm - 2.00pm Judy Johnson Christine Sicily 6.30pm - 7.30pm F. Conway A. Salmon Term 2 April Monday 11th
6.30pm - 7.30pm
Wednesday 13th 1.00pm - 2.00pm C. Sicily L. Vella Monday 18th
6.30pm - 7.30pm
Wednesday 20th 6.30pm - 7.30pm S. De Courcy G. Mercieca Wednesday 27th 1.00pm - 2.00pm C. Arthur C. Grambou
April 11th
Term 2 classes commence
Mass Times
Homework Club Homework Club will run every Wednesday from 3.30pm to 4.30pm in the Library until 16th March.
Parish of Melton Parish Priest : Fr Michael Moody Weekend Mass times: St Catherine of Siena Church Bulmans Rd, Melton West Saturday: 6.00pm Sunday: 9.00am & 11.00am St Dominic’s Church Sunday: 5.00pm St Bernard’s Parish Parish Priest: Fr. Brian Glasheen Weekend Mass times: Saturday: 6.30pm Sunday: 8.30am & 10.00am
St Anthony’s Parish Parish Priest: Fr. Fabian Smith Weekend Mass times: Saturday: 5.30pm Sunday: 8.30am & 10.30am