SMCOC Newsletter December 2022

The Future of our children

By Father Tadros Sharobeam Principal

The book of Revelation chapter 18 tells us about the great Babylon which is the symbol of Satan. On Chapter 18 the Lord tells us about the fall of Babylon at the end of times. Babylon became the centre of trade for all the world. The merchandise of Babylon includes everything and it’s a source of every evil.Read here this part of the chapter:

“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the [b] abundance of her luxury.” (2) And the Lord gives a stern warning:

“Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins [c] have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (4) What type of trade Babylon deals with:

“And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buystheir merchandise anymore: 12 merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; 13 and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men”(11-14)

This is what the Satan is planning for: enslave our children and feed them with all the evil of his trade. That is what we started to see these days. They started to feed our children through all the means of huge media and even protected by the legislation of the governments of this world under the banner of free choice and freedom. The merchants employed by Satan are

making huge wealth of this type of trade. Our children are paying the price from their own health, bodies, thinking, purity and future. We need to wake up to the warnings of our Lord. This type of evil is sent to every home and person around the world with great propaganda supported by army of professionals and leaders. They are also punishing any person who oppose them drafting new laws and rules to progress and spread their ideas.

The only protection for us and our children is the Word of God, the teachings of our fathers the saints and protection of our churches which still adhere to the proper teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.

COVID-19 Update

With the incidence of COVID-19 infections rising significantly throughout Victoria* (up by 63 per cent last week), following is a reminder to all parents and carers of the importance of measures* to reduce the spread of infection, namely:

• Stay home when unwell – students who are unwell should not attend school. This prevents the spread of infection to others

• Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) - If your child is unwell, they should undertake a RAT and if positive, stay home for at least five days from the onset of symptoms and notify the Health Department

• Social distancing – avoiding close contact and staying more than 1.5 metres apart from other people will help reduce the spread of infection

• Ventilation – ensure good ventilation of indoor spaces by leaving doors and windows open (except during a thunderstorm asthma warning period and aftermath

• Personal Hygiene – practise good personal hygiene, including covering nose and mouth when sneezing, disposing of tissues after use, coughing into one’s elbow and thoroughly washing hands with soap and water (or hand sanitiser containing 70% alcohol)

• Vaccination – an up-to-date vaccination status is the best protection against serious illness.

Should there be a COVID-19 outbreak in the College community, the College will seriously consider the re-introduction of wearing masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the College community. Thank you for your efforts and support to keep us all safe.

Thunderstorm asthma - be prepared this pollen season

Grass pollen season, which runs from October to December each year, brings an increase in asthma and hay fever symptoms. It also increases the risk of thunderstorm asthma. For people with asthma or hay fever, especially those who experience wheezing or coughing with their hay fever, thunderstorm asthma can be sudden, serious and even life threatening

St Mary’s Coptic Orthodox College will implement a range of measures to keep our school community safe when the risk of thunderstorm asthma increases.

Many of our staff are trained in asthma first aid, and we will monitor the VicEmergency app to receive thunderstorm warnings, and, where appropriate, keep students indoors when weather forecasts identify greater level of risk.

How you can prepare

During pollen season, there are some things you can do to prepare and protect yourself and your family:

• If your child has ever had asthma: talk to your doctor about what you can do to help protect your child from the risk of thunderstorm asthma, including updating your asthma action plan. Taking an asthma preventer properly and regularly is key to preventing asthma, including thunderstorm asthma.

• If your child has hay fever: see your pharmacist or doctor for a hay fever treatment plan and check if you should have an asthma reliever puffer. These are available from a pharmacy without a prescription.

• If your child has hay fever and experiences wheezing and coughing: it is important to make sure they don’t also have asthma. Speak to your doctor about an asthma action plan.

• Where possible, avoid being outside during thunderstorms from October to December, especially during the wind gusts that come before the storm. Go inside and close your doors and windows. If you have your air conditioning on, turn it to ‘recirculate’.

Protect yourself this pollen season – managing asthma and allergies matters.

Remain Vigilant for

COVID-19

It is important for students to manage any hay fever or asthma symptoms, as these conditions can produce symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, and loss or change to sense of smell or taste, which are similar to COVID-19 symptoms.

If your child experiences these symptoms in different or worse ways to their usual hay fever or asthma symptoms, medical advice should be sought.

Find out more For more information, visit your general practitioner (GP) or visit the Better Health Channel.

Best wishes, Hanan Khreish Policy and Compliance Leader

Better Buddies Bounce Excursion

On Friday all Foundation students along with their Year Five buddies were very excited to go to Bounce in Heidelberg. Students started the day altogether, participating in guided activities led by the staff at Bounce. This was then followed by an hour of free choice activities that allowed the Year Five students to guide their Foundation Buddies and spend time developing their friendship. It was great to see the wonderful relationships that have come from the Better Buddies Program which fosters developing respect, teamwork and caring for others. Thanks to all the teachers for planning such a wonderful day and creating an everlasting memory.

Kind regards, Kate Tsiolas

Chess Competition

Chess is a great game to build logic and strategies.

During lunchtime this week a number of students played in a chess competition and had a great time. Mainly year 8 students but I have other levels to ask about next year so I think it will be a weekly feature with a competition every term.

It is an amazing opportunity for the different year levels to mix together and a great learning experience for them.

Kind regards, Lee DE LA CRUZ

Year 6 Graduation Ceremony

Congratulations to our Class of 2022 students, we wish you all the best with your future undertakings and look forward to seeing you grow in grace and knowledge. We can’t wait to hear about your exciting journey ahead!

We farewelled our Class of 2022 at the Year 6 Graduation Dinner which was held on Thursday, the 1st of December at the fabulous Melrose Reception in Tullamarine.

Father Tadros opened the ceremonies with a prayer and an inspiring message, followed by Assistant Principal Germaine Saad’s data-based presentation on our school’s growth and enrollment. Together with Mervet Boulos, the Head of Primary, all three Year 6 teachers reflected on their year with the students.

The formalities concluded with the presentation of certificates and gifts, as well as a heartfelt performance by all Year 6 students, conducted by Sandra Milkota.

Cheers, Ria

His Grace Bishop Raphael’s visit to SMCOC

On Monday 24th October, the College was blessed with the visit of His Grace Bishop Raphael, General Bishop of Downtown Cairo. His Grace spoke to the students about how to be ambassadors of Christ within the community and outside the community, despite the challenges that they may face. His Grace expressed his joy of seeing the school grow and flourish and prayed for the VCE students. The students enjoyed the opportunity to ask Bishop Raphael some personal questions and questions about the Coptic Orthodox Church.

His Grace Bishop Raphael ended his visit by inviting students and staff to visit Egypt to see the history of the Church and the history of Egypt. The students were overcome with joy with the opportunity to meet His Grace, taking photos and taking his blessing.

Year 2 Science Incursion

On Friday 21st October, the Year 2 students took part in an incursion run by ‘Hands On Science’ about Life Cycles. The incursion was linked to the Term 4 Science unit, Watch It Grow! The program provided students with the opportunities to explore the growth of a range of living things and the processes of growth and change, reproduction and death that apply to all animals. The session consisted of discussing the differences be tween living and non-living things and sorting various objects into living and non-living categories as well as, modelling plant and animal life cycles. They explored flower pollination and the role bees play. Students classified seeds based on different methods of seed dispersal, making several mini greenhouses to ob serve how different species emerge from their seeds; an ongoing experiment. They also explored the life cycles of mealworms, studied the lifecycle of a butterfly and created their very own butterfly life cycle chart, which they could take home as a keepsake. We thank God for this opportunity and for all the Year 2 students to share positive feedback from their experiences of the day.

Magi Shehata Year 2 Teacher

Year 5 Science Incursion

Students in Year 5 have successfully engaged in science experiments in Term 4. These experiments included creating a ‘Lava Lamp’ as well as, inflating a balloon using basic materials from home. They have extensively explained the difference between solids, liquids and gases and have understood how particles play a major role in the construction of different states of matter. Take a look at the outcome of our lessons!

English Week – August 29th – September 2nd 2022 A Festival of Prizes and a Celebration of Achievement.

We also had some wonderful stories submitted for our Writing Competition which are published here. The winners were:

3rd Place - Joys Shehata – (8B) Room 154. 2nd Place – Abraham Homa – (12A) The Snake That Ate Itself. 1st Place – Irene Mina –(12C) Case 67: Alessandro Lawrence.

Mr. Stone has arranged vouchers for the winners of the Writing Competition and the Fictional Dress Up. We thank Father Tadros and Ms. Saad for allowing us to be so generous with our prizes. We hope that every year English Week can be used to celebrate the diverse talents of wonderful St Mary’s students.

Murray Stone. Head of English

Year 8 Excursion

Ice skating in Melbourne has never been easier for SMCOC students! Located in Docklands, O’Brien Icehouse was the Year 8 excursion destination of choice for an ice skating rink. Just a quick drive by bus from SMCOC, O’Brien Icehouse was the perfect place for a healthy, active and enjoyable day out for our Year 8 students. Our excursion created a fun environment where students enjoyed ice skating safely, guided by two ice skating coaches. Whether the student or teacher was a beginner or an ice skating pro, we were guaranteed to have a day jam-packed with fun.

Students were offered a range of skates in all sizes, and wore helmets and other protective gear for extra safety. The Icehouse rink is kept at a frosty temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, and students were advised to wear warm clothes (jackets, gloves, beanies) particularly for injury prevention. Thankfully, not even a bandaid was handed out. For the skaters, a pair of nice, warm thick socks were essential.

Teachers made sure they could see students at all times; the best way to do that was the teachers who joined students on the ice! A fun, safe, healthy ice skating day was had by all.

Denise Parkinson Acting Year 8 Coordinator

Mervet Boulos

Funfields – Year 12 Celebration Day

Tuesday 18 October 2022

The year 12’s were given the opportunity to celebrate the end of their studies by attending a day at Funfields in Whittlesea. Many of them, woke up early and made the effort to get on the school bus from 6.30am onwards to be at school by 8.30am. The year 12’s made the effort to light up our school by dressing up in costumes and bringing enthusiasm, energy and joy to our school. It is important to acknowledge that all of the students that came to Funfields took time out of their busy study schedule to spend one last day together as a cohort. I want to commend all of the 46 students for representing the college in such a distinguished manner both at school and at the venue itself. And wow, what a day it was!! Once at Funfields students had the opportunity to participate in activities such as: Dragon’s Revenge Ride, Mystic Kingdom, Volcano Beach, Gravity Wave, Voodoo 360, Kraken Racer, Typhoon, Go Karts and more. These were both dry and wet activities – so the children had many options. Our students participated with a positive attitude and were full of enthusiasm. Even though the sun didn’t break through till later in the afternoon, our students were radiating for the whole day. Lunch, beverages and treats were provided by the school for the students to enjoy. The feedback was very positive and it was such a pleasure - from a staff perspective - to be able to enjoy this last day together. Believe me when I say that there were a lot of tired bodies for our return trip back to school. The college wishes all the year 12 students the very best as they continue to study for their exams and we hope to see all families at the year 12 Graduation dinner in the middle of November.

Thanking you Evan Kasapis

Sport’s Carnival

Debra Clark, Mariam Saad,Chris

Mathew, Marie Verte, Carla Maisano, Rosemary Sulaivan, Farrag Saad, Jorge Duran, Bournik Kabengele, Vicky Glykokalamos, Maddona Kadas, Bindhu, MARY MCGOWAN