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One hundred reasons to smile

Preps celebrate their 100th day of school.

Hip-hip-hooray! Preps recently celebrated 100 days of learning new things, forging strong friendships and growing into confident and caring individuals.

What better way to mark this special milestone than with crowns (because we all love a party hat), 100-themed posters, 100-cup Jenga and other joyful activities.

We are very proud of everything our Prep students have achieved in their 100 days of 2021, and we cannot wait to see them continue to flourish.

Homelessness Week: Everybody needs a home

Ashley and Emily (Year 12) with a selection of paper houses created during Homelessness Week.

Sadly, there are more than 116,000 people in Australia experiencing homelessness on any given night. National Homeless Week, which is held from 1-7 August, aims to raise awareness of the impact of homelessness on Australia and the importance of housing as a solution.

Students in the Junior and Senior Schools are collaborating this week on a range of initiatives that encourage them to consider how they can make a difference to the lives of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in their communities.

A great way for classes to start this conversation was through an 'origami house building' activity in partnership with CatholicCare Tasmania. The exercise saw students create paper houses, onto which messages were written about what housing means to our students. The 'houses' will be collected and used as part of the main Homelessness Week event, to be held at Salamanca Place on Friday 6 August.

The hope is that Salamanca Lawns will be transformed into a field of house pictures, representing the 4000-plus people currently on the state's housing register waitlist.

Tasmanian Youth Parliament

The Tasmanian Youth Parliament is an exciting opportunity for Year 10–12 Legal Studies students to debate a motion on a youth issue or speak in an adjournment debate about any issue falling within the jurisdiction of the Tasmanian Parliament.

Year 12 student, Emily Keane has provided the following report.

Over the second week of the holidays, Lara Vincent (Year 12) and I had the opportunity to attend the Tasmanian Youth Parliament 2021.

Having the opportunity to talk with influential politicians about issues that affect young people, like the environment, mental health policy, public transport and reforms to the foster care system was empowering.

Through writing bills on issues we are passionate about, Youth Parliaments gave participants the ability to make real change, as bills written throughout the week-long conference were handed to politicians who are able to influence legislation in Tasmania.

Beyond learning more about how policy impacts on equality throughout the world, Youth Parliament was also a great opportunity to make friends with unique views on issues affecting young people today.

Catholic Education Commission Tasmania Awards

The College is delighted to announce that the following staff members will be recognised for their contribution to Catholic education in Tasmania in the 2021 Catholic Education Commission Tasmania (CECT) Awards.

Joanne Holborow – CECT 25 Years of Service (St Mary's College)
Jenny Noble – CECT 25 Years of Service (Tasmanian Catholic Education Office

Congratulations, Jo and Jenny! Thank you for your outstanding commitment to your profession, your colleagues and your students.

Growing potatoes the no-dig way

Who likes spuds? We do! What about digging up potatoes? Not quite as much. Luckily for our green thumbs in Prep, there's an easy and low maintenance way to grow and harvest potatoes that doesn't require any back-breaking work.

The Prep Possums eagerly rolled up their sleeves on Tuesday 3 August for a potato growing workshop led by Canteen manager, Phil Shanny.

After a quick show of hands indicating that most of group enjoy eating potatoes in some form (good to know!), Phil explained the benefits of no-dig potatoes and then demonstrated how the method works using apple crates as makeshift garden beds.

Under Phil's expert eye, the Preps delighted in getting stuck into the crates. Together, they tore apart straw to cover the base, before adding in seed potatoes and layering them with soil, cow manure, mushroom compost, coffee grinds, leaves, fertiliser and the 'top secret' ingredient—worms. A true sensory experience!

Great work, team! Thank you, Phil, for providing the opportunity for our students to learn how to grow food and gain a sense of ownership and pride over their healthy eating choices.