Pastoral Academic Care (PAC) 

Junior: Big Five For Health

Senior: Big Five

Wellbeing Element: Health + Strengths 

Character Strength: Zest

Parent Wellbeing: to enjoy a healthy state of wellbeing you need to have optimism and hope for the future which relies on: goals, which guide your actions, pathways which are ways to achieve your goals and motivation, which activates your pathways. We all need to be hopeful for something good every day. Think about how you are developing each of these optimism and hope components.

Year 7

Hello parents and carers of Year 7’s. Your young person is now halfway through their first term at high school! It has been a very eventful term so far.

The Swimming Carnival, which was held on the Thursday of Week 2, was a great opportunity for students to build that sense of belonging to their respective ‘house’ teams. Every race a student participated in contributed house points towards their house. Participation was fantastic from our new Year 7 cohort. I congratulate all Year 7’s who took part in any races, the ‘fun’ swim and also a special shout out to those Year 7’s who helped Mrs. Healey and her team with the catering. These sports carnivals are a huge part of the culture at O’Connor. It was wonderful to see Year 7’s so involved. Please join me in encouraging participation in all of our carnivals, with the Athletics Carnival and Cross country still to come.

On Wednesday 21st February, Week 4, we had our Year 7 Retreat. This was held across the road from O’Connor at the Armidale Showground. The Retreat is a very important part of the school calendar for all of our Year groups here at O’Connor. It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to get to know each other better, to reflect on the start to their year and to look forward to the year ahead. Year 7’s were very engaged on the day and are to be commended for their participation and contributions to discussions on the day.

Another highlight of the school calendar for Year 7’s is the Year 7 Camp. This year, we are going to attend the Great Aussie Bush Camp at Tea Gardens. This will take place in Week 2, Term 2, from Wednesday 8th May until Friday 10th May. The purpose of these camps is to build that sense of belonging amongst our year 7’s students, foster new friendships, build resilience and to challenge students, pushing them outside of their comfort zone. An ‘event’ has been created on Compass for this camp, where you can find some further information.

As you may be aware by now, each morning, our students go to their Pastoral Care classroom for roll call, prayer, daily notices and a brief activity. Each pastoral care class has a number of students from each year group, 7 - 12. This system gives our Year 7’s the opportunity to be mentored / guided by our more senior students. It also means that your young person has the stability of starting out each school day in the same classroom, with the same teacher. Our year 7’s have slotted in seamlessly into this system.

Your child’s Pastoral Care teacher should generally be your first point of contact if you have any queries or concerns about day to day school life / organisation. Please also feel free to relay any information or concerns to myself as the Year 7 year advisor. I can be contacted by email or via phone call to our front office where you can request a return phone call. 

Mr. Shane McCann

Year 7 Leader of Learning

Year 8

We are halfway through term 1 and year 8 have re-started the term on a positive note. All classes are settled and are working to the best of their ability. The students should be extremely proud of themselves. As a cohort the students have acquired well over 50 commendations in the first few weeks!

Special congratulations goes to Jess Newsome who was chosen for the Dio U15’s Netball Team. Well done to the students who trialled for the team including: Claire Bliss, Tahlia Burney, Emily Calkin, Chelsea Doran, Bronte Hawthorne, Charli Kennedy, Ava McKay, Addison Nugent, Amber Press and Bridget Williams. Well done to Caden Carson and Bobby Chard who trialled for the U15’s Dio Rugby League team, although the boys were unsuccessful they learnt valuable skills for next year. Lastly Martina Goidanich De Castro Michaelsen who travelled to Gunnedah last week to participate in the Armidale Dio Swimming Carnival well done!

The team and students would like to thank Mr May, the Lasallian ministers including our own Brydie and our wonderful Year 11’s who are Lasallian Youth Leaders (LYL’s) this year who conducted our retreat on the 22nd of February. The day allowed the students to escape the normal walls of O’Connor and participate in the retreat at the showground pavilion across the road. The students were on their best behaviour listening and participating in all events from answering questions to being competitive in one of the many games played on the day. The students had the chance to learn about being a REAL superhero and how we can all be there for each other through the rough times to celebrate the good times. It was a wonderful day and I couldn’t be more proud of the cohort for coming open-minded and willing to learn. 

Since the last newsletter the year group have been busy within their classrooms participating in fitness activities in PE including a mean game of Dodgeball with Mr Saayman this week. The first TECH rotations are almost completed and students have created many amazing things including pillows in Textiles, toy boxes in Wood Tech and amazing food such as Chicken Snitty Wraps, Smoothie Bowls and Cheesy Gozleme in Food Tech. English is seeing many of the classes in the process of watching their fantasy movie for the term and understanding the Hero’s Journey while also being active viewers and listeners. CAPA is in full swing with Drumming being the focus in Music and Title Pages and Understanding of artistic techniques and colours being worked on in ART. The students have also been researching the Bible and Scriptures in Religion. 

We have captured many photos of these classes in action and have included them below. 

Remember everyday and lesson is a new chance to achieve at OCC. Restart each day with a clean mind and leave the past behind you. 

Please feel free to reach out to myself if you have any questions or concerns, 

Miss Elizabeth Plane

Year 8 Leader of Learning

Year 9

Year 9 has settled into the term well. It was great to see so many families at the Community Engagement evening. It is always great to be in touch with our families to build relationships and work in partnership to care for and teach our children. I had met with or spoken with several families to help guide progress. It is heartening to see the wonderful support we have with our parents. 

The Year 9 retreat was well supported and enjoyed. This pushed the students to work together as a team and work on identifying ways to be the best person they can be. Thanks to the La Sallian team for the delivery of the course and the positive way in which they work with our students. 

We had a large group of students represent our College at the Science and Engineering Competition. Well done to all participants for their enthusiasm and great ideas. Ms McKay was very impressed.

Congratulations to Marisa Suluma for her selection in the Diocesan Netball trial. We wish her the best of luck in the next stage of representation.

Please keep in touch with the school if you have any concerns.

Mrs Kath Czinner

Year 9 Leader of Learning

Year 10

Halfway through term 1 and Year 10 has started with a BANG! A big thank you to those students who are focused, calm and engaged in their learning - the learning gains you make this year will support you into HSC or other pathways towards adulthood. Make sure you make the most out of your time in the classroom and seek regular feedback before applying it to your work.

A big thank you to all of our Year 10 students who have reached out about joining the Assistant Catechist Program. This program sees our Year 10 Students become leaders in local primary schools supporting student engagement and is a valuable experience. Many of our current captains and previous years captains were a part of this program and it supported them in building insight, confidence and leadership skills.  

Another big thank you goes to our Year 10’s who got their vaccination jabs on Thursday! Thank you for being calm, settled and following instructions during this period. A big thank you to those students who reached out to a peer who was feeling anxious or uneasy about the needle - that moment of kindness will not be forgotten by that person. 

As Year 10 is a big year of transitions, it is not uncommon for students to begin to experience some stress around choices that will impact their future. While some stress and feelings of discomfort are a normal experience, excessive worrying or anxiety can impact a student’s well-being and academic performance. It is crucial that we start to work with our young people now on encouraging healthy coping mechanisms such as regular exercise, sufficient sleep, socialisation, and maintaining a balanced lifestyle so that they can move into adulthood safely and with confidence. Through actively working on this process and building the habits now, our young people will transition more easily into the demands of HSC learning or into other learning pathways.

As always, please reach out if you have any concerns or questions.

Miss Jessica Armfield 

Year 10 Leader of Learning

Year 11

My prayer for Year 11 is that they continue to “run the race” as they begin their senior schooling in earnest. Chemistry students have completed their first assessment task already and soon enough, most students in year 11 will have completed at least one or more assessment tasks. Work hard and the rewards will come to you.

Congratulations to students who attended the Science and Engineering Challenge on 5 March at UNE. You represented O’Connor Catholic College with distinction.

With Easter coming up soon, take some time out to reflect on the sacrifices made for you and live your life to the fullest in thankfulness for the opportunities that you have. Blessings.

Mr Bruce Myers

Year 11 Leader of Learning

Year 12

I will start this newsletter by thanking and congratulating the Year 12 students for their work on planning and conducting a superb Community Engagement Evening on Monday March 4. I was greatly impressed by the efforts of not only our student leaders and LYLs but others that helped run and/or participated in the various activities of the evening. I truly believe this cohort will leave a positive, lasting impression on OCC.

I have also been impressed by the way students are working on upcoming assessment tasks or revising work during study periods. As I walk through these lessons, I often see students working together, supporting one another to better understand content. I will take this opportunity to remind students that it is only when you have a study period 5, that you may sign yourself out at the front office and leave early. This early leave can be used to attain that balance of study, work, sports and social life that I spoke about in the last newsletter but with this privilege comes a level of responsibility. Please ensure that you are being mature and safe during this time (I would hope you would act like this at all times).

A couple of reminders:

1. Students are permitted to wear their Year 12 jerseys to school on Friday only. We have noted a few students wearing them on other days, which is not the agreement. Please ensure this is adhered to.
2. A lot of students have achieved (or will soon) their red Ps and are driving to school. Any student that is driving to school needs to complete the Permission to drive form and submit it to the office. In addition, if they are having passengers in their car, these passengers must have the passenger section of the form completed and submitted. I remind all students to please drive with maturity and care, especially around the school. If any student is found to be unsafe in their driving, they may have the privilege of permission to drive revoked for a period of time.
3. Take the opportunity to have discussions between your student and yourselves regarding the opportunities that are coming up with Universities, careers and extracurricular events. These are often posted on the Year 12 2024 Google Classroom to inform students.

Keep Believing, Achieving, Nurturing and Growing!

Mr Luke Andrews

Year 12 Leader of Learning