YEAR 8
Building Strong Connections

Clare Robertson

Head of Year 8

crobertson1@cns.catholic.edu.au

YEAR 8 KEY INFORMATION: WEEK 5

St Mary’s Day

The annual celebration of St Mary’s Day is on Tuesday 11 August. This is a highlight on our College calendar, with all classes cancelled as we come together to celebrate our wonderful community, and reflect on what it means to be a part of the College.

The day will commence with Mass, followed by fun activities around the College grounds, including a scavenger hunt, CO₂ car challenges, and the ever-popular opportunity to drench a teacher in water at ‘The Soaker'. We will conclude the day with a whole-school concert. I look forward to seeing our Year 8 students showcase their talents at the concert!

A reminder that all students must wear their House uniform for this day. Detentions will be issued for students in the incorrect uniform.

Please also note that Wednesday classes will follow a Tuesday timetable.

Truancy During Class Time

During Community PG this week, students were reminded about their responsibility to use class time exits appropriately. I have noticed an increase in the number of students requesting to leave the classroom to go to the toilet, and then using this time to wander around the College, meet up with friends and take an extended, unsupervised break.

This is considered truancy from class and will be addressed seriously. We have a duty of care to ensure we know where our students are at all times, and that they remain safe while at the College.

Thank you for discussing this with your child and supporting our College processes around student safety and responsibility.

Week 4 House Cup Challenge

This week, our Year 8 House Cup Challenge was awarded to the Pastoral Group with the highest number of students using locks on their lockers. It is wonderful to see so many of our students meeting this College expectation, as locks are mandatory and support safety and responsibility for personal belongings.

Our Hutchinson and Murray Pastoral Groups are leading the House Cup challenges. Will Cahill and Heavey catch up, or will Hutchy and Murray streak ahead?

Next week, our House Cup Challenge will be awarded to the PG with the most merits awarded throughout the week. Year 8s, we'll be keeping an extra eye out for merit-worthy behaviour! Consider how you can go above and beyond and demonstrate our St Mary’s Guiding Principles.

Please note: We have updated the format of the newsletter. The Whole of College Notices and Uniform Schedule are now located in their own dedicated tab, making it easier to find this important information each week.