Pastoral Care

• Pastoral Care
• eSafety
• Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week.  Theme:  In this Together
• Year 9 PDHPE return to Oxford Falls
• Edmund Rice Education Beyond Borders

Student Well-being Anecdotes from the Diary

"I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep doing it to the end."

Prophetic words from Abraham Lincoln

Pastoral Care

This week we welcome back Year 11 who join Year 12 at school each day, while Years 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 progressively join us moving into next week. Its great to see so many smiling faces returning to face to face learning and interaction albeit under the requisite precautions of hygiene, minimal contact and practical distancing.

eSafety

As we return to school and become active on the College computer servers, I remind students of the high standards of online behaviours and use of technology, consistent with our ICT protocols, on pages 16 -19 of the Student Diary Planner. If what you type or record is not true, helpful, positive, necessary or kind, then don’t press send. It can have negative consequences. 

The Office of the Australian eSafety Commissioner has excellent resources to support our online safety consolidating the work of eSafety Commissioner Ms Julie Inman Grant, Presenter Mr Greg Gebhart, and the Carly Ryan Foundation, who have spoken to our students recently. 

We are concerned to support student wellbeing, behaviour and safety online. Invariably a number of our staff interrupt their work day to achieve this when alerted to inappropriate content, communication or searches online. Our students are encouraged to show maturity and be mindful of the consequences of their actions online. Mobile phones should be left in lockers at school.

Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week.  Theme: In This Together

We thank Tyson McCallum, College Vice Captain and student leader of the 2019 Red Dirt Expedition to Remote Communities in NSW last July, for his leadership of Reconciliation Week Assembly next Monday. We will also have our student leader-created Aboriginal Touchstone banners proudly on display at the College along with our National, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.

We commend to you the Touchstone symbols on the cover of the Student Diary Planner and the Acknowledgement of Cammeraygal Country on pg 3. This was written last year by our Student Reconciliation Action Plan Team of Caleb Hanrahan (Year 9), Ben Cullen (10), Cavan Ryan (9), Conor Ryan (11), Ronan Crispe (10) and Ashley Johnson (11).

In our mission of continuing reconciliation and acknowledging the contribution of First Nations people, I was delighted to receive a Certificate of Appreciation from Mr Harry Allie, Chairman of the NSW Indigenous Veterans Committee, recognising the poster developed for ANZAC Day by Year 9 student Ben Cutbill.  Lest we forget.

Year 9 PDHPE return to Oxford Falls

Year 9 return to Oxford Falls today for PDHPE with extra transport and staff to facilitate hygiene and distancing protocols. They will elect our new Year 9 House Vice Captains who will maintain representative duties throughout Semester 2. Please be attentive to directions from Ms Ramsay and the PDHPE staff.

Edmund Rice Education Beyond Borders

As a lead school in EREBB, St Pius X College is an active participant in a series of webinars highlighting the situation of Edmund Rice students and schools around the globe. The series continues each Tuesday night. A snapshot of our schools is at once encouraging of the way St Pius X as a community is leading our learning, and humbling considering the resilient learning situations around the world:

In New York State USA, Iona College has been online for several months, and graduation ceremonies will take place virtually.

In Nairobi, Kenya, the Mary Rice Centre provides learning packs of material for students to learn from remotely.

Waterford Ireland Christian Brothers College had a warning of only hours before lockdown was effected.

Br Lenny Lobo in India was making efforts to source second hand mobile phones from which students could learn online.

At Fe y Allegria school, Lima, Peru, students from many families are sharing mobile phones to learn online from the only free app they could access: Whatsapp!

At Veritas Springs, South Africa, students from the townships were again striving to learn from packs distributed remotely.

Chloe Hand who runs EREA Flexi schools in Melbourne, Geelong and Hobart reflected on both the challenges and the opportunities of students learning remotely.

Let us give thanks for the efforts of our leaders and teachers, show empathy for the challenges being faced by so many here and abroad, and share strength for the journey ahead.

Fide et Labore

Mr Sean Brannan, Assistant Principal Pastoral Care and Well being