Parent Volunteer Thank You

Please RSVP: https://www.trybooking.com/428238

Men of John XXIII College Social Night

Get a unique insight from highly-awarded AFL player & coach, Adam Simpson on how he deals with managing the pressures of fathering and a high-performance work-life at our upcoming Men of John XXIII College social night taking place on 16 November. Tickets available via Trybooking.

John XXIII College Christmas Appeal

Please donate generously to the John XXIII College Christmas appeal.

Please bring in money and items from the list below to support the St Vincent de Paul and Shopfront Christmas appeal. Bags need to be dropped into Mrs Murphy’s office on Wed 14 November.

The following items are needed for the Gift Bags (please note, smaller sizes are more useful):

2018 'Companions' yearbook

Our John XXIII College yearbook for 2018, ‘Companions’ has been distributed this week.

There is one copy per family with the youngest in the family receiving the copy, with the exception of Year 12 students who all receive a copy.

For students in Years 11 and 12, their copy can be collected from student reception during College opening hours from 8:00am -4:00pm.

Have fun flicking through the pages!

Year 9 Outdoor Education Camp

The Year 9 Outdoor Education students spent last Thursday and Friday camping at the Manjedal Activity Centre in Byford.

Outdoor Education experiences are without parallel in their capacity to develop resilience, problem solving ability, team work and communication skills. The 45 students attending the camp were outstanding; actively involved in the activities, inclusive and considerate of each other and respectful of the beautiful environment we were camping in.

With only a limited amount of time away from the College, the students were kept busy completing challenging activities such as a blind trail, confidence course and high ropes course. Students traversed the bush site while orienteering and also learnt how to make bush damper on an open fire.

The camp was well supported with a very experienced group of staff in attendance. Thank you to Danny Platts, Darren Kowal, Marnie Barrett, Aaron Peters, Tony Yates and Carla Tripi for supporting the Year 9 students, we are fortunate to have staff so willing to volunteer their time to assist.

Cameron Tremayne

Head of Learning Area – Health and Physical Education

Year 7 Religious Education

The Year 7 students have been busy creating picture books in Religious Education. They enjoyed visiting the Junior Primary classes to share these stories and to have some fun with their young buddies.

Season of Creation

The Season of Creation, which ran over the last three weeks of Term 3, is an annual celebration of the Church, where the Catholic community is encouraged to unite in prayer and action to protect creation. At John XXIII College the season was marked by two lunchtime events. The first was a labyrinth walk, were students were encouraged to engage in some prayerful reflection whilst completing a silent walk amongst the beauty of the indigenous trees and plants. The next week, Mr Thompson performed a lunchtime set of environmentally themed songs on the chapel lawn as students relaxed in the sunshine on the College lawn.

In the final week of term students were invited to attend a spiritual gathering on the chapel lawn where they engaged in prayer and conversation and encouraged to reflect on the value of creation in their lives. They recounted memorable aspects of their relationship with creation and considered the reality of God working in their lives through the beauty of the nature. With a mix of Year 12 students and younger students in attendance, a circle in the middle of the chapel lawn and proceeding to relate with one another and in new and meaningful ways through their shared experience of nature, the gathering embodied the goals of the Season of Creation and were an appropriate way to mark its end.

Remembrance Ceremony

The College celebrated a special Remembrance service to mark the centenary of the signing of the Armistice.

Students from Years 3 to 10 took part in the ceremony on our beautiful Chapel Lawn. The String Orchestra and Chamber Choir learnt a new song to mark the occasion and drummers from Year 10 accompanied the placing of the wreath. We were delighted that some members of the 2019 SRC took time out of their study break to lead the ceremony; thanks to Faith & Mission Captains, Lucy Jenkins and James Vardanega and to Head Boy, Alex Kirwan. (Ella Fracaro, Head Girl, was sitting an exam at that time).

Once again, we were thrilled to welcome back Head Boy from 2012, James Mazza, to play the trumpet calls. James has generously returned to the College many times and his playing always brings a great sense of ceremony and beauty to our services of Remembrance and ANZAC Day.

We were especially honoured this year to have as our guest speaker Warrant Officer Paul Vardanega, who is the father of James and William. Warrant Officer Vardanega is a currently serving soldier in the Australian Army and is a veteran of campaigns in Somalia, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. Warrant Officer Vardanega’s address outlined the sacrifice of Australian service men and women in many conflicts and campaigns to protect some of the values important to Australians: independence and ‘freedom to think, to move, to speak, to worship, to have a say in the election of governments, to love and to raise a family.’

Warrant Officer Vardanega summed up the ANZAC Spirit and what it means for young Australians living one hundred years later. The following is an extract from the last part of his address and is used with kind permission.

“The actions of Australian soldiers in in World War One forged what has become known as the ANZAC spirit and today, one hundred years later, we commemorate that spirit.

This spirit represents a sense of purpose and direction. Those soldiers knew what they had to do. They lived with the misery of trench warfare and they understood the dangers and the difficulties of their day to day tasks but they did not let those difficulties stop them from obeying their orders and achieving their goals. It is true that there had been many setbacks and at times, various missions did not achieve what was hoped for, but the soldiers on the ground continued their operations and met each setback with renewed energy and even greater effort.

You can apply this to your own life. You know what work you have to do at school and what jobs your parents may have set for you at home. No matter what obstacles you think are in your way, take a moment to think of those soldiers and push those difficulties to one side and complete your task.

Secondly, this spirit represents an acceptance of responsibility. This is another quality you should apply in your everyday lives. Take responsibility for everything you do. It is easy to say 'I did that' or 'that's my work' when everything goes well. We all know that sometimes things do not go as we planned. Sometimes you do something which is against the wishes of your parents and teachers. Remember the ANZAC spirit and take responsibility for everything you do, right or wrong.

Lastly, this spirit also includes being kind and considerate. This has been summed up in the Australian experience as mateship. This means to watch out for your friend, help him or her at all times and display respect and consideration for all other people regardless of their background.

These three simple things are what we mean when we remember the deeds of those soldiers from 100 years ago.

Now I, like every other person, hope that Australia will never be involved in another major war and that you will never have to experience the things your ancestors went through. You should however, use these examples that I have talked about - a sense of purpose, acceptance of responsibility, and consideration for others, not only while you are at school, but in whatever you do in your lives. When you do this, you will be keeping faith with those soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom and you will be helping to make sure that their spirit is always part of life in Australia.

Lest we forget.”

2018 Sustainability Scholarship Winner and New Sustainability Captain for 2019

As the College farewelled the Year 12s at the Leavers Assembly, our 2018 Sustainability Captain Kinia O'Brien was announced as the recipient of the Dr Yoon Sustainability Scholarship. Kinia efforts and passion for sustainability this year has been inspiring and motivating for all at the College and her dedicated service in the role is to be commended and she is a thoroughly deserving winner.

As is tradition, at this assembly the 2019 SRC was announced, with the role of Sustainability Captain going to Harry Sapsworth. Harry will continue to provide leadership to the student cohort around sustainability issues and provide innovative opportunities to engage with environmental issues in 2019 and he is to be congratulated for securing this role.

Running down of Canteen Food stock in preparation of year end

We will start to run down our stock items in preparation for year end closing, which is only four weeks away. As certain items are depleted we will remove them from the menu. During the last week of term and especially the last few days of term, some items may be substituted for a similar food item, if large volumes are ordered. We will do our best to accommodate everyone and apologise ahead of time, should someone not receive exactly what they have ordered.

Dianne Combrink

Canteen Manager

2019 Student computer device information

Student computer device information for next year, was emailed to 2019 Years 7 to 12 families. Copies can be found on SEQTA under categories: General Secondary.

Men Of John XXIII College