Pastoral Academic Care (PAC) 

Pastoral Academic Care (PAC) Focus - Kindness, Sorry and Forgiveness.

Wellbeing Element: Meaning and Purpose. 

Character Strength:  Bravery

Self-discovery is a lifelong process. It is about continuously developing your self-awareness and making small adjustments to be gradually moving forward to be the person you want to be. The key is to be totally honest with the person you see in the mirror, to celebrate your accomplishments, avoid justifying your behaviours and refrain from explaining your mistakes away. To live a fulfilling and meaningful life, it is important for students to show other people matter by having the courage to apologise to others who they have upset or done the wrong thing by. Similarly, when the shoe is on the other foot, they need to be prepared to forgive others who have upset them. And, also it will benefit their own wellbeing when they forgive themselves for silly things they have done. It is quite amazing how much emotional energy gets used up every day by people holding grudges. In some ways, this situation is quite understandable, because it takes a considerable amount of courage to open our hearts to say sorry or forgive others who have upset us. The issue can be that others may not be prepared to accept our apology and forgive us, and that’s where courage comes in. Making the effort to at least try, will lift a load off our shoulders. And to do this, students will have to use their character strengths to their fullest. While many students know about and talk about their strengths, they don’t often use them. Apologising and forgiving are ideal opportunities for students and ourselves to consciously and deliberately practise using them. And from doing this comes personal growth. Acknowledgement: Lyubomirsky and Diener

Year 7

Mrs Natalie Mellowship-Brown

Last Friday’s PAC lesson saw our Year 7 cohort focus as ‘Colour Your World With Kindness’. When we practice kindness either to other people or towards ourselves, we can experience positive mental and physical changes through lowering stress levels and increasing the body’s production of feel good hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin. Kindness can also help deepen our sense of connection, allowing our Year 7s to feel a sense of belonging and community. 

Each PAC class completed activities which ranged from a ‘links of kindness chain’, where random acts of kindness that have been given or received are written on a piece of paper and linked together to create a chain. Other activities included students creating human heart photos (see below for 7PAC3’s photo). 

This coming Friday sees the annual O’Connor Catholic College Athletics Carnival. Since Week 1 of this term, our Year 7 students have been working hard in practical PDHPE lessons learning about how to participate, coach and officiate in the various track and field events. All students should aim to raise as many house points as possible by participating in as many events as possible on the day. Below is a photo of James Lawry in 7PAC2 demonstrating his High Jump skills.

Over the next couple of weeks, the Year 7s will be sitting the NAPLAN (National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy). All students in these year levels are expected to participate in tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. Please remind students to bring their own headphones that are not bluetooth or wireless, but have a jack/plug in point. 

Mrs Natalie Mellowship-Brown and the Year 7 PAC Team

Year 8

Mrs Kathryn Czinner

Last week Year 8 were able to step back and enjoy a day aside from the regular school day at the Retreat. Participation on the day was tremendous. Special thanks to the Lasallian Youth Ministers, Damian, Brydie, Georgia and Caitlin who led the day. It was fantastic to see their  wonderful confidence and infectious enthusiasm. Thank you also to Mrs Bell, Miss Campbell, Mr Roff, Miss Cullen and Mr Wooster for sharing the day with Year 8. An account of the day from a student perspective has been outlined in the Retreat report. 

A huge emphasis has been placed on the wearing of appropriate uniform. Improvements have been noted. Parents will be informed if the uniform is unsatisfactory.

We look forward to seeing a lot of participation in the college Athletics carnival. We have a talent group who readily challenge themselves and become involved. 

Much of our correspondence with parents is via phone calls, emails and particularly compass. Please regularly check the Compass site regularly to keep informed. Notes home regarding excursions and the like are sent via this mode. Parents are also notified when Commendation awards are received. It was particularly pleasing to see so many Year leader awards given out this week. 

Mrs Kathryn Czinner (on behalf of the Year 8 PAC team)

Year 9

Mr James Russell

Over the past week students have been gearing up towards one of the bigger events on the O’Connor Calendar, our annual Athletics Carnival. The Carnival will be held on Friday 14th May and it is one of those wonderful opportunities for our students to learn a bit about themselves and others. As a PAC Team we are aiming for our students to develop the self confidence to ‘have a go’ at challenging or confronting opportunities and to do their very best. We really hope that our students will do this on Friday, but also beyond this with any opportunity, big or small, placed before them at school. Learning and growth are often much increased in situations where we feel a bit uncomfortable and challenged and we really want to encourage our students to take risks and put their hand up to try something new or to simply do their best in everything they do at school. 

This week we  were fortunate enough to celebrate some students who have been stepping out of their comfort zone and working hard in their learning or service to the school. The following students are to be congratulated for their efforts in receiving their Year Leaders Award at our Year Briefing: Josie Ryan, Archie O’Connor, Amber Hahn, Sarah Westwood, Reba Rammage and Holly Kramer.

Week 4 and 5 of Term 2 mean NAPLAN time for Year 9 students. Our Year 9’s have done an admirable job of completing their first writing test and will continue with further tests during Week 5. Please ensure that your students come to school with earphones that have a cord and are able to plug into a laptop. If absent for any tests students will be able to catch them up at another time.

Mr James Russell and the Yr 9 PAC Team.

Year 10

Ms Amanda Bell and Mr Frank Patricks

For the rest of the year, one of the Year 10 PAC classes is organising and contributing to the Year 10 PAC report section. This edition is thanks to 10 PAC 1 (Mr Chapman and Miss Trigwell-Lindley).

Kids Cancer Fundraiser - Pancakes 

On Friday 30th April and Friday 7th of May Quinn Dalton held a pancake fundraiser for children’s cancer research. She set up at 8am both Friday’s with the help of her friends and family to supply ingredients for pancakes and toppings. In total, Quinn Raised $546 and all proceeds went to children’s cancer research. Quinn also has a website where you can read information about this fundraiser and donate to help find a cure to cancer. 

https://www.ccia.org.au/fundraisers/quinndalton188

Well done, Quinn!

Isabelle Murphy

10PAC1

Maths excursion to Guyra

Last Tuesday, the 4th of May, our 5.3 Mathematics class went on a trip to Guyra’s St. Mary of the Angels Primary School.  This was to help them with their maths skills and prepare for their upcoming NAPLAN. The kids we helped ranged from the Year 6 to some very small Year 2 children. Most (if not all) were beautifully brilliant children, who were eager to learn from us.  They were just genuinely excited that we were there!  Each of us all had two or three kids to teach. I personally had three adorable kids, two year three girls and one year two boy, who needed very little help with the work given! So I wasn’t much help to them but I had fun and am hoping they did too. 

We filled in a survey after the excursion to evaluate it.  Here are some of the responses:

“I liked just being with kids, they were such brilliant children and so kind and loving towards me, I felt so welcome”

“I liked it when you helped them get an answer correct and it made me have a warm feeling inside.”

“I liked how kind and caring the children I worked with were.”

“I found it rewarding when I was teaching my two girls, and them actually understanding.”

“The trip was really an awesome experience ,and I would 100% recommend we do this again.”

On the survey, we were asked by Mr Chapman if we were interested in becoming a teacher.  Three people said yes (me included) and another five said maybe.

It was a wonderful experience and day, and would love to do it again. 

Paige Latham

10PAC1

‘Feature Teacher’ Interview 

Miss Dea Trigwell-Lindley 

Interviewed by: 

Isabelle Kelly - 10 PAC1

What is your Full Name?  

Dea Trigwell-Lindley

What schools have you taught at? 

This is my first year being a full-time teacher. Other than pracs at uni, O’Connor is the only school I have taught at.

What years and subjects are you teaching? 

Currently I am teaching Years 8, 9 and 10 English.

Where have you lived? 

Growing up, my family moved around quite a bit so I have lived in a lot of different places. I was born in Western Australia and have lived in North Queensland, Mullumbimby, Dorrigo and my family moved to Armidale when I was in Year 8. I moved away to study teaching and lived in Port Macquarie. I moved back to Armidale 2 years ago.

What kinds of hobbies and interests do you enjoy?

I really enjoy playing and watching all kinds of sports. I also like sports photography and do that quite a bit. 

Which Little Miss character would best describe you? 

I think I am a bit of a mix between Miss Happy and Miss Fun. Maybe Little Miss Chatterbox as well. I love a good chat.

What do you enjoy most about O’Connor? 

I love all of the support from my fellow teachers. I think as a student at O’Connor, you are all very lucky to have teachers that care so much. I also think there are a lot of great opportunities available at this school.

If you could travel anywhere tomorrow where would you go?

I would love to go to New Zealand. I really like snowboarding so that is where I would go.

Thank you for the interview Isabelle!

Students Lead Year Assemblies

On Monday 10/4 were first off to take the plunge and run our year assembly. They had complete control over what this wanted to look like and it was great to see their creativity! They decided to invite some VIP's and host a quick Q&A panel (thanks Mr Tonkin, Ms Price, Hamish and Lara) and even created their own awards to celebrate the achievements of their peers including things like our "Unsung Heroes", "Future Prime Ministers", "Positive Pam's" etc.

Mr Patricks and Miss Bell were super proud of the efforts of 10/4 and their PAC teachers Miss Roache and Mr Harper, and we can't wait to see what 10/3 plans for next fortnight!

Ms Amanda Bell / Mr Frank Patricks (on behalf of the Year 10 PAC team)

Year 11

Mrs Vicki Channon

Year 11 continues to demonstrate a calm and considered approach to their studies and social interactions. It is most encouraging when a level of maturity begins to take shape in the form of care and empathy for others, polite and respectful conversations, and a thoughtful attitude to the learning.

We acknowledged a large group of students at our Year assembly on Monday for a variety of reasons including Agriculture, Textiles, Community Service, Hospitality. There are a myriad of ways in which students can get involved in the life of the College. What can you do to make O’Connor a better place?

Year 11 attended Mass on Wednesday. Imogen Hale, Angus Scrivener, Alex Shepheard and Emma Gray kindly offered to participate in the Mass as readers. Thank you.

The flexible learning program continues to be a part of the timetable for our Year 11 students. This is a time when they can work independently, at home or in the library for the double period. It is also a time they can touch base with teachers for extra help, as long as they let the teacher know. 

A group of students are busy designing the 2022 Senior Jersey. This is an exciting time, so watch this space for a survey that will soon be emailed with a few different options, and a chance to vote on your favourite. Thanks to the students who are helping with this project.

We will be having some special guests on Founder’s Day Friday 25th June. Year 11 have been given the privilege of hosting students from St Ursuline’s College, Kingsgrove in Sydney. 

We really need to get a firm commitment from our female cohort as to who is able to host for 2 nights whilst they are here. The students arrive on the train Thursday evening. The host and their family will need to pick them up from the train station and take them home for that night. Students will then be at school on the Friday for the celebrations. We will all go out together for dinner on Friday night. Hosts then need to drop the students at the train station on Saturday morning for their trip home. The hosts then get the exciting opportunity of travelling to Sydney for their school’s celebrations. It’s a great few days (I accompanied the students in 2019 and it was lots of fun). I would really appreciate it if families could seriously consider this opportunity and let me know via email or by phoning the school, as we need to get the ball rolling on this. Thanks for your support in this matter.  

Mrs Vicki Channon (on behalf of the entire Year 11 PAC team)

Year 12

Mr Mark Fulloon

Year 12 have finished another busy couple of weeks here at O’Connor and students have been busy completing their work for their chosen subjects. Students also have received their half yearly academic reports and we have also held Parent teacher interviews and zooms. 

It was great to see students and parents being able to meet face to face with their teachers after last years limitations to parents being able to visit the campus. Now we look forward to Friday and the O’Connor Athletics Carnival 2021,which for our seniors is their last, good luck to our Year 12 competitors for the carnival. 

We are also making a real effort to lift the attendance of all our students here at school, Year 12 should be working hard to attend all school days, this will ensure that they are engaging in all work presented to them. I would like all Year 12 to step up and be here everyday to give themselves the best possible outcome for their HSC.

Mr Mark Fulloon (on behalf of the entire Year 12 PAC team)