Cohort News

Year 7 Pastoral Care

It’s glorious! Spring is in the air, and the sun shines bright, while Year 7 continue to step up and shine in their school work and assessments. It has been an interesting few weeks for all of Year 7 students, teachers and families. All the planning, preparation and organisation required to complete a range of subject assessments are now mainly behind Year 7, and the effort is providing rewards. Well done to our Year 7's on a challenging last few weeks.

Year 7 Achievements

Of particular achievement is the inaugural Pastoral Care Coordinator Awards that are starting to come through for some students. It takes commitment to studies and College life, and values to acquire these awards. After 20 Merits from teachers, I am pleased to announce that Emilia Pagano, who also belongs to Brigid House, is our first award recipient, which we celebrated during a recent Pastoral Care Whole Year Event. Congratulations, Emilia!

Pastoral Care Initiatives

The Year 7 Pastoral Care Team continues to build connections and support social aspects of student needs in a safe way. It was fantastic to see the cohort join in and interact on the whole year event Zoom, aimed at building social connections with known, and perhaps unknown, peers across the cohort. 

Our conversations guided the ladies through a series of questions and thought prompts, asking them how connected have they been and encouraging them to think about further opportunities for connection with friends and family using the wonders of technology. Some of the key points they discussed included: how can we use technology to increase contact with others, how can we relieve some of the stressors during remote learning and positive boosters tips and tricks to share. 

Wellbeing Tips - Remote Learning

With everything that’s happening during this pandemic, students need to find ways to process their emotions. Learning to express gratitude may be one of the keys to assisting them to cope when things don’t seem to be going right. It can help if we point out to your daughters that there’s still a lot to be thankful for despite all the negativity.

An article recently published in the Journal of Positive Psychology (2021) by a team of global psychologists explored the role of gratitude during periods of negativity. And a survey done during the pandemic revealed that - believe it or not - people still felt grateful. To be precise, 56% of respondents still felt gratitude, and they even expressed their intent to feel more thankful in the future. Suppose we can teach your children the value of gratitude.It can become their lifelong source of inner strength, primarily when a crisis occurs.

So, what are the best ways to help our Year 7 practice gratitude?

Here are a couple of suggestions:

• 1 - Have a gratitude journal

We can encourage your children to keep a gratitude journal and let them write in it every day. What happened during the day that they are thankful for? Maybe a friend made them laugh. Or they completed a project in school. You can ask them to write those things in their journal at night time. That’ll help them end their day on a positive note.

• 2 - Writing gratitude letters

We can ask your daughters to think of someone that made a difference in their lives. Then, have them write a letter expressing their gratitude to that person. While this only may benefit those who get the letter, research shows that it also helps the writer. Some studies support the idea that writing a thank you letter makes the author feel less depressed and happier.

As we continue to work with our ladies in the online space, it is vitally important we create opportunities for them to engage outside the ‘classroom’ by assisting them to manage their time diligently, giving an excellent balance to remote learning, rest and play. If your daughter feels like she is struggling to get this balance right, know someone is always willing to listen. Whether it be family, Pastoral Care Teacher, Pastoral Care Coordinator, a classroom teacher or support staff – reach out, and we’ll make it through stronger together. 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  - Romans 15:13

Take Care, 

Brenton Fletcher 

Year 7 Pastoral Care Coordinator

Year 8 Pastoral Care

The last few weeks have been busy for Year 8. in Pastoral Care. We have done a lot of activities, like meditation, scissors paper rock championships and scavenger hunts. These were all really fun and are a great way to start off the morning. 

During the Olympics, morning PC time was spent on word games, Kahoots and crossword activities all centred around the Olympics. Our Pastoral Care Teachers and Pastoral Care Coordinator have been helping us get through remote learning and making sure we are okay. Overall, PC has been a really good and fun way to start off our mornings.

We also have lots of assignments due. While it is a bit stressful, our teachers, as well as online resources like Education Perfect and Canvas Quizzes, have been helping us prepare for and work through them all. Most of the assignments are just hand-ins but for a couple, we do a test on Canvas or another platform. 

For Science Week, Year 8 watched a cool livestream about sustainable eating, which was entertaining and funny. The livestream informed us on how we can work towards farming that is better for the environment as a society. On Education Perfect and Kahoot, there were quizzes for Science Week. Every morning in PC, the whole school participated in the same science quiz. Congratulations to 8 Brigid and 8 Winifred for winning the Science quiz on Day 1 and 2 respectively and doing very well over the whole week. A highly commended goes to 8 Xavier for being very close on a couple of days. 

8 Winifred celebrated book week on Friday.  They talked about characters the students dressed up as in primary school which gave them a giggle. Mrs McCarthy told them about her son who, in Kindergarten, went to Book Week as the Blue Tongued Lizard from Wombat Stew. He wore brown clothes and against all she believes in, she gave him one of those horrid hard blue pop up lollipops which gave him a blue tongue. Mrs McCarthy’s favourite book is Wuthering Heights. 

It is now an exciting time for Year 8 as we are choosing our electives. We have 12 subjects to choose from and we pick 4 of them in order of preference. We will get into two of the subjects we pick. This will be a hard choice but we have been told about each of the subjects, what we do in them and the benefits of studying them. 

Speaking of exciting things, our friend Naomi returned to Brigidine on Monday 30th August.  She has spent the last 12 months on exchange in France. We are really looking forward to returning to school and seeing her in person. 

So overall, the last few weeks have been very eventful and fun and busy for Year 8. 

By Bianca Smith - 8 Aquinas

Jodie Gordon

Year 8 Pastoral Care Coordinator

Year 9 Pastoral Care

Year 9 continue to find their way through online learning, even with the current restrictions and challenges. This year group are proving to be resilient, and flexible in this ever-changing environment. Many of the students have commented that they are grateful for the lessons that their teachers are providing, and also the ability to still engage with their classmates in the Zoom classroom.

Science Week (Week 6) provided the opportunity to have some fun with Science trivia in PC, and our Pastoral care teachers have been finding many novel ways of doing the roll call in the morning. Mr Hainsworth quite often takes his students to the park, Mr Wilson continues to indulge Winifred with BTN, and Ms Maciejewski gives the students the opportunity to express their current frame of mind compared to pictures of Harry Styles - which the students love. When I have popped into Patrick, Mrs Elder is boogying with the girls, and Brigid are immersed in Kahoot with Miss Nutter. Regina Mundi is loving having the very musical Mrs Hanniffy brighten their mornings, also.

The students have also continued to engage with the Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum (PEEC) in the Period 5 Thursday lesson (Week A). In Week 7, we were lucky enough to have Ms Fox organise an Elevate session for year 9, and the timing of this was perfect. Elevate focus on study and organisational skills, and they gave the students some great advice on how to structure the day in this online environment.

As the Pastoral Care team for Year 9, we are continuing to encourage the students to stay safe, stay sane and ensure that they get some fresh air every day. We also want the students to come out the other side of this, wiser for their experiences in a pandemic. In a little survey that we conducted with the students, we asked them what they were grateful for, in spite of Covid. Some of their responses were:

Family and friends

My phone - so that I can keep in touch with my grandparents

My home

My teachers and access to school

My pets

God - who listens to me in both good and bad times

My safety.

The students were also asked what advice they would give to their grandchildren if another pandemic struck in 60 years. Some of their responses were:

Be positive

It will get better

Be flexible and work around the challenges

Follow the rules

Make a to-do list for lockdown

Get vaccinated.

I would like to thank all of you, the parents and carers, for the wonderful (and very challenging) juggling act that you are currently performing, as a teacher, parent and employee/r in most cases. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out should you need anything.

Patrice Andersen

Year 9 Pastoral Care Coordinator

Year 10 Pastoral Care

Year 10 are facing the challenges of remote learning this term due to the uncertainty and changes caused by COVID- 19. As a Pastoral Team, we have been investigating strategies and techniques to manage stress, self-care, self-awareness and above all responsible decision making.

The key is for our students to manage a well-balanced lifestyle that promotes a  developed, organised work-life balance. This pathway is significant for all young people as they have been guided to prioritise their study commitments, reach out for assistance and manage some time for self-care. Students have been encouraged to start their day with some mindfulness/ physical activity which enables one to clear the mind and develop some energy to face the day ahead. The need to have a checklist for the day in order of priority of work commitments is paramount, along with the ability to discuss, on zoom with their subject teachers, any issues they are experiencing. Everything we do needs to be done with an open dialogue in our approach to independent learning.

Our PEEC program has a focus on resilience and the need to have this fine balance in our lives. Students are aware of the challenges they face which are always a part of our daily lives and the manner in which they resolve and ‘bounce’ back from these challenges is how real resilience is formed within each individual. The program discusses adolescent issues where scenarios are presented and students then discuss the manner in which issues are resolved. Most of our students have expressed that it is their families, their peers and their teachers who are the positive role models and in turn, are able to reaffirm their own sense of identity and self-worth. Furthermore, some of the students have been using their gratitude journals on a daily basis to express their true feelings about the changing world around them and how they need to recognise the intrinsic aspects of their everyday life. This reflection journal centres on one’s own sense of purpose and enables students to focus on their sense of identity and the need to reflect upon the most meaningful and significant aspects of their lives. 

There are some useful apps online that I have recommended to Year 10 this term as they can be suitable in releasing and promoting positive, independent mindfulness. These apps can assist students to unwind from the day and can be a part of their daily routines. These are:

1. Flora - is a free app that helps students to manage screen time via a virtual garden. Its aim is to focus on one’s goals while planting and growing a virtual garden.
2. Atmosphere -  This provides some relaxing tranquil sounds such as beach waves, countryside or underwater scenes to promote a calm, peaceful atmosphere.
3. Habit Bull - This is a motivational app that allows the student to monitor good habits and it keeps track of positive routines. It is great when it highlights the most productive days and also the least productive days.It provides each student with some gentle encouragement to continue and pursue personal goals and promote good sound habits in one’s life.
4. 5.7 Minute Workout - Fitness App. This app offers daily workouts that are designed to encourage personal fitness, clear the mind and be ‘brain’ ready for school days. Each workout takes seven minutes and includes a health tracker, charts your progress and it also allows you to choose your favourite exercises.

This term, students need to form good study and personal routines where they are organised and clearly ready for each school day. As mentioned previously, design a checklist in order of priority, take breaks and step away when a break is needed and reward oneself with a positive experience. It is always important to stay socially connected with family, friends and one’s social group. This social interaction is vital as issues and coping strategies are discussed so a positive mindset can continue to develop. The key to success this term is to develop positive, healthy routines which include self-care, organisation, and reaching out to the people around you when you need to express your thoughts. 

These are two reflections from Year Ten students:

"I think that online learning has been really beneficial to most of us. I have been able to learn at my own pace and I have grown to become better and more efficient at time management. Although I miss seeing my friends and teachers in person, online learning has given me the experience to grow as a person and to become more independent, to be able to follow my timetable, compass and learning sequence and I’ve found that making a plan and listening to music keeps me motivated for the day. I’ve really enjoyed our homeroom zooms, Miss Mazz makes them really enjoyable. She is always so nice and always happy to see us. Mrs Parsons our year coordinator has been really nice and she's been sending us lots of emails to check on us and let us know she cares about our wellbeing. I think all my teachers have done a really good job of setting the right amount of work and zooms for each of our lessons and they have always tried their best to make them both fun and engaging. I’ve found that the zoom-free Wednesdays have been really effective because everyone learns at their own pace so they have given everyone the opportunity to catch up on work, do assignments, study and also have time to go outside and take a break to exercise. Although lockdown is hard for everyone I think this experience has shaped us into better people. " 

- Melinda Charlesworth  Year 10 Winifred

"In lockdown, it has been nice to slow down and spend more time with the family, doing things that we wouldn't usually do because our day to day lives are just so busy. It has been a good time to be able to set goals and work on them each day. I have also enjoyed how good the teachers have been to us always wanting to help us through zoom or via email."

 -  Ella Howard  Year 10 Winifred

I wish you and your family every blessing during this challenging time and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns.

Adriana Parsons

Year 10 Pastoral Care Coordinator

Year 11 Pastoral Care

I have continued to be super impressed with the resilience of Year 11. They can manage ambiguity and adapt so quickly to the constant changes. They have taken online learning and the introduction of a new online examination portal in their stride. 

Remote Learning Update

Pastoral Care (From the Girls)

The fun and games continue in morning Pastoral Care. Since our last update, some of the girls have put together their own Pastoral Care class report, outlining the importance of Pastoral Care and what they’ve been up to.

11 Aquinas: 

Aquinas PC has been a highlight to wake up to every single day. The sense of harmony and positivity that spreads throughout my peers every morning is just lovely to see and feel. Ms Mohamed's direction and initiative towards making every morning fun has truly been appreciated by our class. Every morning she organises fun activities, whether they be Kahoots or dress-ups to engage our class and set the day off on a positive note. A few PC morning highlights include playing a 'first to grab' game, where our teacher named an object and our whole class had to get up and run to grab it and come back first, as well as one of our crazy hat mornings. I feel these activities help us keep in touch and keep the spirit of being together virtually alive. Overall, Aquinas PC is an enjoyable experience, and I will for sure look back to it as a highlight from online learning.

 - Giovannie Dalaguit

11 Brigid: 

Despite the whirlwind of emotions with the upcoming exams and the unforeseeable future in a world that is dominated by Covid 19, Pastoral Care has provided structure and purpose to my daily routine. Attending Pastoral Care each morning has been beneficial to my social, physical and cognitive well-being by providing a sense of normalcy in a world that is extremely unpredictable. Pastoral Care fosters a positive environment in which students can openly express their thoughts and worries. It is an essential part of the day in which I organise my work and plan my subjects. During Pastoral Care, numerous activities take place where we develop skills to build resilience and teamwork and discuss tips that can be used to stay focused during online learning. We are often given time to clean our working space to ensure distractions are minimal. Additionally, last week we had the opportunity to reflect on our Semester 1 academic results which included recognising our strengths and weaknesses whilst also developing proactive future goals.My Pastoral Care teacher also emphasises the importance of time to take a break such as going for a walk or zooming from outside. Overall, despite the circumstances and being amid Term 3, Pastoral Care has provided a stable and positive environment in which we can communicate to our friends and teachers.     - Meira Jackson

11 Regina Mundi:

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, Year 11 Regina Mundi has still found ways to engage in daily Pastoral Care! From games of Jeopardy to creating the famous Regina Mundi Spotify playlists, our PC class has managed to find creative and entertaining ideas to keep us on our toes. Regina Mundi has participated in many innovative tasks to start the day, such as puzzles, bringing your pet to Zoom, and hypothetical questions that encourage us to use strategic thinking skills, such as, what five items would you bring with you on a desert island? (I still don’t know what I would bring!). These activities make me wish that PC went for longer than the allocated 15 minutes, and never fails to make us laugh! Even during this stressful time, PC is an excellent way to connect with friends and to have a moment to laugh before a busy day of online learning. Our Pastoral Care teachers have been supportive and have encouraged us to keep studying, ensuring we are getting the exercise and the breaks we need, even through a screen. PC truly is a special 15 minutes of the day, making it the best period throughout the week for many.

 - Eleni Triantafillou

11 Patrick:  

Over the course of this term, we’ve been having our PC sessions over Zoom each morning. I think it’s been great being able to see all our friends’ faces during these times, and also to have something preventing us from sleeping in everyday which can happen with online learning. We’ve been getting creative on Zoom with themes like ‘bring your pets’, ‘bring your breakfast’, ‘favourite holiday location’ and ‘outdoor setting’ days in homeroom which brings a lot of fun to the start of the school day, and never fails to teach me yet another new fact about the people who I’ve supposedly spent 4 years of my life with. Ironically, despite being somewhat limited now in where I can go or what I can do, I’ve engaged in so many more activities in PC that I would have otherwise gone without hearing about outside of lockdown: desk yoga, food meditation, looking through other people’s windows around the world onwindow-swap.com. Ms Scorse has even told us about her gaming journey with Animal Crossing, and we all wish her the best of luck on figuring out how to visit Ms Nutter’s island. 

- Cynthia Liong

11 Winifred:

Morning pastoral care acts as a good way to start the day as it sets up the pace for the day, forcing you to be on time for classes and establish some form of routine when really all we want to do is sleep in. It is a great opportunity to catch up with friends and see what your classmates are up to - it is more personal and catered to students wellbeing than other class zooms. Over the past couple of weeks we have been participating in a variety of themed team building activities. Including science week quizzes, kahoots on favourite celebrities, movies and songs, meditation exercises to help calm exam anxieties, showing your pet day and outdoor homeroom to encourage us to get in our daily vitamin D. While some people are making breakfast, or out for a walk we can talk to our peers about the Olympics, and discuss shows and movies we are watching allowing us to connect. We even watched the Groundhog Day trailer, which seems pretty relevant in this lockdown. Tomorrow, we’re having an Oodie Party and who knows what will be in store for next week! 

- Molly Martin

11 Xavier: 

Over the past three weeks during morning Pastoral Care, 11 Xavier has been engaging in a variety of activities. We have had an ongoing competition throughout online learning where each day there is a new challenge. Some of these include; best baby photo, bring your pet to PC, best jumper, best quote, best mug and more. We also participated in science week where everyday we collectively completed a quiz created by the science department. The past week we focused on motivation and setting goals for Semester 2. I have found that Pastoral Care has been a great way to connect with friends and talk about what we have been doing during our time in lockdown. It can sometimes be a challenge to find the motivation during lockdown, but joining Pastoral Care each morning and seeing everyone's faces is a great way to feel connected. 

- Lucia Martin-Mortess

Year 11 Examination Block

The Year 11 Examination Block is scheduled to run from Wednesday 8 September to Friday 17 September with tasks being completed online under timed conditions. Tasks will be open book and up to 60 minutes in length. Your daughter will be required to log on to a Zoom meeting with their class teacher at the beginning of the assessment and their task will be released using a secure online platform, Exam.net. Class teachers will remotely supervise students during their examinations. All tasks will be submitted online using the secure online platform at the end of the allocated time. Year 11 have each received a copy of the examination timetable and should now be preparing to sit their exams. 

Supporting your daughter during an examination period

I recognise that examination blocks can be stressful for not only students but also their parents and guardians. However, it is important to note the key role that parents play in creating the right environment for learning and helping their daughter to structure their revision time productively. Supporting your daughter through exams should be about reducing stress, optimising wellbeing and putting good study processes in place. 

To assist you in supporting your daughter during the upcoming examination block I have shared a helpful resource:

• Managing exam stress (for parents): this resource is designed to help you as parents offer support to your daughter when preparing for exams by recognising when stress is too much - and if it is, how to reduce it.

Please stay safe and know that the Year 11 Pastoral Care team is here to support you and your daughter during remote learning and the online examination period.

Amy Borg

Year 11 Pastoral Care Coordinator

Year 12 Pastoral Care

I would like to give you an update on how Year 12 has been travelling since Week 6. Due to the ongoing effect of the pandemic, there was a slight delay in when the Trial HSC would take place. Once the dates were set it made it easier for us to prepare for the online exams. I was proud of the way the Year 12s handled themselves. Whilst this situation can be very stressful I was happy to see them approach this process in a mature manner considering the uncertainty they had just experienced. Completing the practice tests, under the guidance of Ms Fox and their teachers, they were able to prepare themselves very well for their online exams. As with all things, there is always a little hiccup. We had some technical difficulties with Zoom on the first day but we managed to work this out and get the exams going. Since then they have run smoothly. I thank all staff involved in supporting our girls through this process. 

When you read this the girls would have finished their exams and will be preparing themselves for classes in Weeks 9 and 10. Our focus in Pastoral will be to support Year 12 with their wellbeing and whilst it makes it difficult because of being separated and not having them in front of us I hope they realise that their Pastoral teachers and myself are only an email or Zoom call away. I would like them to take some time to take care of themselves and what they can do to remain composed and balanced while they are preparing themselves for their HSC exams. I understand that the announcement from the NSW State Premier might raise questions about the logistics at school beyond Week 10 of this term. I ask the girls to keep their focus on staying healthy and preparing themselves and once more when information is made available on what Term 4 would look like we will notify them of our plan leading into their HSC exams. 

Thank you for your time and I hope you’re all keeping safe. 

Tony Munguia

Year 12 Pastoral Care Coordinator