Pastoral Academic Care (PAC) 

Pastoral Focus -

Junior: FEELING YOU BELONG

Senior: SENSE OF BELONGING

Wellbeing Element: RELATIONSHIPS + EMPATHY

Character Strength: brainstorming how they can build their wellbeing and resilience using Love of Learning.

Parent Wellbeing: your core values are what you stand for as a person, so you can live a good life with a sense of purpose. Your top character strengths bring your core values to life. Write down what you believe three of your core values are and which of your strengths you could use to action them.

This week we hear from the Year 7, Year 9 and Year 11 PAC Leaders

Year 7

Welcome back to term 3! We hope you all had some time to rest and recover and enjoy the little things during the school holidays. Year 7 has hit the ground running with a new Tech rotation, a new CAPA rotation and a range of new topics in all their KLA’s. Starting back this term the focus for year 7 is on being an “Engaged Learner”. Across all classes students are being reminded what being an engaged learner looks like. Our goals are as follows:

Along with these learning goals, please take a moment to make sure your child has all the necessary equipment for them to be successful in the classroom. We have had a number of students return to school this term without books for certain subjects, charged devices and a stocked up pencil case.

Uniform:

Term 3 means that the OCC winter uniform is still in place. The expectation for all our students is that they will wear the formal winter uniform unless they have a practical PE lesson on their timetable for that day. PAC teachers are focusing on ensuring that students are wearing the correct uniform each day and after three uniform infringements within a fortnight parents will be contacted to remind their child of the importance of wearing our College uniform with pride.

7.1 and 7.2 - Sport uniform days are: 

Week A: Monday and Wednesday

Week B: Wednesday and Friday

7.3 and 7.4 - Sport uniform days are:

Week A: Tuesday and Thursday

Week B: Monday and Friday

Founders Day:

At the end of term 2 students participated in a day of fun filled activities celebrating the proud history of O’Connor. The day began with reconnecting with our house groups and furthering our knowledge of how each house was established. From here we moved into a smoking ceremony before entering the chapel as a whole school for mass. After recess our wonderful students at OCC entertained the school in a variety of musical items and performances. After a BBQ lunch the day wrapped up with a whole school capture the flag in house teams. I would like to congratulate all the talented year 7 students who performed and showcased their musical abilities, got involved during the house trivia and participated in capture the flag. It was a wonderful end to a busy term.

School Camp:

In term 4 from Monday 13th November till Wednesday 15th November year 7 school camp will be taking place at Coffs Coast Adventure Centre. During this excursion students will have the opportunity to participate in a range of outdoor activities such as a commando course, canoeing, sky wire, capture the flag and surfing - not to mention the opportunity to further enhance team building skills, resilience and creating wonderful memories as a year group. The approximate cost of the excursion will be $425 (this may vary slightly as we finalise a few things). In the next coming weeks permission to attend this excursion will become available via Compass. In the meantime Year 7 have been practising their team building skills in a series of initiative games and challenges in PE.

Felicity Magann and the Year 7 PAC Team

Year 9

Welcome back to Term 3! Although the holidays seem like a distant memory, we hope that you were all able to enjoy some quality time with family and friends doing some of the things you love. We are so excited to welcome our Year 9 students back to school for another great term of learning experiences. 

Uniform

Being a part of our O’Connor Catholic College community means that there is an expectation that students wear the correct OCC uniform. This term still sees students wearing their formal winter uniform along with the correct sport uniform. Emails have been going out to parents and carers to support us in reminding students of the importance of wearing our College uniform with pride. If you have any concerns over the purchasing of uniform items, please don’t hesitate to contact Natalie Mellowship (Leader of Learning Wellbeing) on nmellows@arm.catholic.edu.au 

The following days are when students should be wearing their sport uniform:

PDHPE

This week, after many years waiting, 9.1 and 9.2 were the first students to experience practical PDHPE in the new Gym building! This term, year 9 is focussing on a practical unit called International Games. In this unit, students participate in various international sports and activities to develop and demonstrate skills in new and challenging situations. 

Founder’s Day (Term 2)

At the end of Term 2, our College was able to celebrate Founders Day. This day is a time to celebrate our Founders of the College; John Baptist de La Salle (De La Salle Brothers) and St Angela Merici (Ursuline Sisters), and it plays an integral role as part of our faith formation. 

Students were able to work on building ‘House Culture’ and connect with their peers in learning how the College Houses were established through activities organised by the House Captains. Acknowledgement of our Indigenous families and connections was  next on the agenda and students were encouraged to attend a smoking ceremony before attending a whole school Mass in the College Chapel. Many of our Year 9 students then demonstrated their various skills and talents through a number of musical and poetry performances in our new Performing Arts space. After a BBQ lunch that was kindly supplied by the College, the day finished up with a whole school Capture the Flag game in house teams. A huge congratulations to all students who attended the day and participated. 

Natalie Mellowship and the Year 9 PAC Team

Year 11

Year 11 started the term with a meeting in which I spoke about the importance of our year group working together to achieve all our goals as best as we can and how important it is to support each other through this.

From this, we have been discussing in PAC, ways in which we can support one another as we approach the Year 11, end of course exams. Techniques included studying together and becoming a closer peer group, allowing us to identify and support those that may be feeling anxious about the exams.

In PAC on Monday, students participated in a Fun Facts Quiz, where students were provided with two facts about various students and they then had to attempt to name the student. Some examples included: 

• Who in Year 11 LaSalle can ride a unicycle and has been to Bali?
• Who in Year 11 Merici has two middle names and has never broken a bone?
• Who in Year 11 Ursula lives in an old bank and did dance when they were younger?
• Who in Year 11 Benilde is 5’10” and lived in England for 6 years?

Students had a great time trying to identify one another and in some cases ask for proof that it was true; like being able to shake their eyes!

I look forward to further PAC lessons where we intend to continue to strengthen these relationships and work together on supporting one another with mental health and wellbeing. This will also be a strong part of our Year 11 Retreat that is planned for Week 1 of Term 4, to be held at the Coffs Coast Adventure Centre. Here we will have the opportunity to complete a variety of team building activities and create long lasting memories. More details of this excursion will be coming out soon.

We have also started the ball rolling on our Year 12 jerseys. Students have made requests for their nicknames for the back of their jersey and are in the process of determining the correct size jersey. Payments for the jerseys are now being accepted through Compass and the front office and we are hoping to place the final order in week 4. With an approximate turn around time of 10 weeks, this should ensure that students get the jersey well before the end of term 4, to allow them to be worn at school on Fridays.

Finally, as we approach the transition to Year 12, I encourage all students to consider applying for a leadership role in the school such as School, House or Sports captains (amongst others). This is a great opportunity to have students make a positive impact on the school and consider the legacy they wish to leave for the school. Again, more details of this process will be provided to students in the coming weeks.

Mr Luke Andrews

On behalf of the Year 11 PAC team.