Pastoral Care 

Week 7

In a week when our reserves of resilience have been tested first by the extension of the lockdown, and then by the overwhelmingly tragic loss, to heart attack, of one ofour brightest Year 12 students Tom Van Dijk, we can take inspiration from the following:

• Year 12 who under the inspired leadership of Mr Lynch, their Pastoral Care teachers and our Counselling Team, have reached out in solidarity to support each other in their grief.
• Our Year 11 cohort who commence their tenure of leadership of the College this week.
• The continued flexible online learning of our students from Stage 3 through to Stage 6 featuring students in learning, activities and demonstration of evidence of their learning, including: Hamish Dewhurst of Year 7's online learning video cooking crunchy snake biscuits and Benji Tan who produced a 9 scene video comic animation in Year 7 Drama.

Well done to all our students who are engaging fully with their learning and contributing positively and thoughtfully in every lesson.

Student Leadership Team

With the announcement of our Student Leadership Team 2022 today, I add my congratulations to Will Staber, Ben Cullen, Ronan Crispe and their team on their appointment. They will form an excellent group in the footsteps of the great leadership teams which have gone before them over the 84 years of the College including Liam Chang and the 2021 student leaders.

It is timely that Will’s team commences their tenure of leadership of the College at this point so that Year 12 can focus on their HSC preparation and more immediate matters.

We celebrate the Class of 2022 taking responsibility for the College student leadership and representative voice. Some upcoming events to note for our incoming Student Leadership Team in this important transition:

• An induction day for our new Student Leadership Team on Friday 27 August during Period 4 (Strategic Planning) and Period 5 (Old Boys sponsored Speechcraft Course).
• A transition meeting (online) between the portfolio teams of the 2021 and 2022 teams at lunchtime on Tuesday 31 August
• Father's Day Assembly and Para-Liturgy at Assembly on Friday 3 September 
• Support of Our Year 12 Student Leadership Team and Wellbeing Team RUOK Assembly 10 September
• Meeting with our Edmund Rice Beyond Borders partner school Vancouver College Student Leadership Team on Tuesday 20 September
• Old Boys Association sponsored Speechcraft Course through the holiday break

All Year 11 students will focus on their end of Year 11 assessments in Weeks 9 and 10 of Term therefore there will be no planned meetings at this time. 

Thank you to all students, staff and members of our Community for supporting this important transition to our 2022 Student Leadership Team.

Dr Justin Coulson - Supporting Anxious Children Family Seminar

The College and its Pastoral Care, Counselling and Wellbeing Teams are pleased to be able to promote participation in an online seminar:  "Anxiety in Your Child",  run by a good friend of the College, Dr Justin Coulson, who has previously presented for us.  The seminar will be held on Wednesday 8 September, commencing at 7.30 pm.

Parents and carers are able to register and book to view the seminar using this link or the button below.

The registrants will receive the viewing link and will be subscribed for email reminders for the event.

Please note that contact details will be stored on a temporary database only. The list will be deleted from systems after the event and will not be used for other marketing purposes. 

SPX Wellbeing

All members of the College community are warmly invited to attend Mr Russo’s 8.00 am Wellbeing initiatives in:

• Monday Morning Mindfulness 8.00 am online in the SPX Wellbeing Microsoft Team
• Thursday Morning Boxercise 8.00 am online in the Boxercise Microsoft Team
• Friday Morning Boxercise 8.00 am online in the Boxercise Microsoft Team

Contact Mr Brannan or Mr Russo to be added to the team

 Our Reconciliation Action Plan

Congratulations to Michael Krizan and Patrick Frost from Year 9 who were members of the Red Dirt Expedition to remote, rural and Aboriginal communities in Western NSW in June. They promoted their learnings about Australia’s shared history, culture and heritage to our Year 8 Form meeting last Week and to Year 7 this Friday. Their actions are important in our College’s celebration of our First Nations people who walked on and cared for this land for over 60,000 years as the oldest continuous living culture on Earth.

Online Seminar for Year 12 parents:  Parenting your child through grief and loss

Year 12 parents are warmly welcome to join the online seminar our Counsellors and Wellbeing Team are hosting tonight from 6.30 pm.

Please contact our Counselling Team for any support we can provide and join in with the vigil for Tom Van Dijk and his family on Friday evening at 6.00 pm.

Fide et Labore

Mr Sean Brannan - Assistant Principal, Pastoral Care and Wellbeing