From the Deputy Principal

Year 7-10 Camp Experiences

The Year 7 camp experience took place at Spring Beach Convention Centre and included team and outdoor activities to strengthen current friendships and encourage new ones.  The Year 8 camp experience will take place at Bruny Island this term from the 29-31 March and will be a major part of the STRIVE program for 2021.  There will be camping (including tent/fuel stove use) bushwalking and team building activities across the three days.  The Year 9 camp experience will also take place at Bruny island this year from the 27-29 October and will encompass a range of bushwalking, coastal orienteering and team building activities.  The Year 10 camp experience will take place at Huonville PCYC from the 12-14 May and will include a community outreach focus in the surrounding area with a culminating shared experience near Mount Wellington on the final day.

We are committed to providing well-sequenced and educationally valuable camp experiences for students which will facilitate a range of benefits, among these:

• The development of a sense of connectedness with peers, teachers and school, vital for learning to occur
• The development of social skills, independence and resilience
• A sense of achievement and skill mastery
• The fostering of team building and leadership skills.

The camp program offered at the College is considered to be a vital part of each student’s educational journey and as such, is compulsory and as such camps are not considered an optional activity.  If you would like to discuss any aspect of the camp program with the camp coordinators please do so at your earliest convenience: Mr Stewart Bennett (Year 8), Mrs Fiona Nolan (Year 9) and Mr Anthony Chapman (Year 10).  If your daughter is unable to attend for medical reasons then she should attend the College for the 3-day duration of the camp and alternative arrangements for supervision of your daughter will be made.

Bus Concerns 

We are very fortunate at Mount Carmel to have a number of excellent bus services that provide for safe and convenient transport to and from school and generally we can rely on our students to behave in a safe and courteous fashion on buses.  However, from time to time students and/or parents raise concerns about bus travel to and from school. Where these concerns relate to the behaviour of Mount Carmel students on buses, you are encouraged to contact any of the Heads of House or myself and parents/carers can be assured that these concerns will be followed up.  All Mount Carmel Students sign a commitment to the Agreement in Support of Safer Transport, which appears in the Student Planner and any behaviour on buses that does not comply with these expectations will be addressed.

Where concern is expressed about the bus service itself, you are also very welcome to contact the College.  Your concerns may relate to safety issues such as a lack of seats available for students on buses or the inconvenience of routes or timetables. Any issues brought to our attention at the College will be conveyed to bus operators and a satisfactory outcome will be sought.  If you do have a concern of this nature I strongly recommend that you also make direct contact with the bus service provider as the importance of the issue is emphasised when a number of voices raise the same concerns.

If you do have concerns about student bus travel to and from the College of a morning or afternoon, you are welcome to phone me at the College or make contact via email: lyndal.tewes@mountcarmel.tas.edu.au

College Uniform

All students are to be in full Winter Uniform on the first day of Term 2. 

It is, therefore, timely to remind parents and students to give some attention to ensuring Winter Uniforms are ready over the next few weeks.  To assist parents with any final Winter Uniform requirements, the College Uniform Shop will be open on Thursday 22 April, 1.00 - 5.00pm and Friday 23 April, 1.00 - 5.00pm.

The full details about the Winter Uniform are published in the College Planner, however, a few key reminders:

• All students should be in the Winter Uniform from Term 2,
• Navy stockings are to be worn with the Winter Uniform not socks from Year 6 -10.
• Please note that sunhats are optional in Term 2.
• Secondary students are permitted to wear their full College tracksuit in Term 2 and 3 when your daughter has two periods (minimum) of sport-related lesson eg: double HPE lesson, Dance, Sports Science or SME.

Recently, all Year 4-10 students participated in a survey to gain their feedback around issues relating to the College Uniform and the guidelines associated with this. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive but there were a few issues that were highlighted.  These issues will be reviewed by the College Uniform Committee and the outcomes of this review will be communicated to parents/carers in the coming months.  It is, however, anticipated that there will not be any major changes to the College Uniform but rather a review of the Uniform Guidelines.