YEAR 8
Building Strong Connections

Clare Robertson

Head of Year 8

crobertson1@cns.catholic.edu.au

YEAR 8 KEY INFORMATION: WEEK 6

Guiding Principles Focus - The St Mary's Way

This week during Extended Pastoral Group, our Pastoral Mentors spoke with the Year 8 students about The St Mary’s Way - the expectations and Guiding Principles we hold in high regard at our College, to support the development of well-rounded, respectful young adults.

Our focus was on Dignity, Empathy and Dialogue. One area of behaviour I have noticed amongst some of the Year 8 students this year is the use of disrespectful language towards each other.

It is important that we continue to teach our young people how to communicate with respectful dialogue, understand what language is and is not acceptable, have the confidence to call out inappropriate language, and how this maintains people’s dignity and shows empathy.

Thank you for supporting and reinforcing these important messages at home.

Assessment Time - Stay Organised

The Year 8 Assessment Planner is ramping up as we enter the second half of the term. A reminder that these planners can be accessed on the Student Portal.

It is important that students are regularly referring to these planners to ensure organisation and preparedness for assessment.

Please also encourage your child to partake in healthy study habits and look after themselves as we enter this busy period. Good sleep, nutritious food and scheduled downtime are all essential in ensuring our students perform well.

House Cup Progress

Congratulations to 8 Murray 1 for taking out this week’s House Cup challenge - they were the Pastoral Group that received the most merits this week!

A special mention also goes to 8 Murray 2, who finished just one merit behind. Thank you to both groups for demonstrating outstanding behaviour and going above and beyond this week.

Next week's House Cup challenge will focus on uniform presentation, with the Pastoral Group with the combined highest number of students wearing the correct sports socks, belts and jewellery taking the win.

Murray is currently leading the way this term with 30 points! Can the other Houses catch up?

Book Week

We are excited to celebrate Children’s Book Week on Tuesday at our Whole School Assembly.

Students are encouraged to come to school dressed as their favourite book character, and bring a gold coin donation for Catholic Mission.

Our Year 8 Pastoral Mentors have been busy preparing their group Book Week costume, so stay tuned for photos next week! We are looking forward to seeing our students’ creative costumes on Tuesday!

Get Involved!

Encouraging your child to get involved in extracurricular activities at school is a great way to build confidence, increase engagement and relieve academic pressure.

We encourage all Year 8 students to make the most of the many opportunities available to them beyond the classroom.

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.