As we reach the middle of Term 3 students continue to focus on their learning goals and also celebrate some successes they have had thus far.

I hope you were able to meet with your child’s teachers during our parent teacher partnership meetings that took place last Thursday. If you were not able to speak with your child’s teachers I do encourage you to make contact with teachers to discuss your child’s successes and any challenges that they may be experiencing with their study program.

We celebrated book week last week and it was great to see students get involved in the celebration by coming to school dressed as their favourite book character. Mrs Magdalani and the English teachers organised a lunchtime parade where students and staff could parade their costumes, and competing for prizes. This week students are very excited about having Morris Gleitzman the author of ‘Once’ the novel that year 7s are reading. I look forward to presenting some photos of the event in our next newsletter.

Assumption Mass
I would like to publicly thank the follow students for assisting in our ‘Assumption Day’ Mass held on August 15. From Year 7 Ava C, Finn H, Karmen S, Stavroula K, Lucas D, Indie S, Marcus T, Michael, Laura B and from Year 8 Rawnaq B. These students participated in mass readings, the entrance procession and presented the welcome to country.

Emerging Leaders Online Forum.
We have signed up for 8 junior students to participate in a leadership program run by Melbourne University.

The Emerging Leaders Forum (Junior Secondary) is designed for Victorian students in Years 7 and 8, offering chances for them to connect and collaborate with peers from around the world. Students will deepen their understanding of identity, belonging and intercultural understanding and what it means to be a globally competent leader.

Students will undertake a collaborative learning task with local and international peers that is anchored in the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, with the intention of implementing social change in their school communities.

Learning Outcomes of the program consist of:

• Develop a deep understanding of global citizenship and its responsibilities
• Enhance awareness of assumptions and stereotypes while fostering intercultural understanding
• Engage actively with diverse global perspectives, experiences, and cultures
• Utilise knowledge and skills to take meaningful action in addressing global and local challenges.

It is a great opportunity for students interested in leadership now and in the future.

We have selected the following eight students to participate in the program:

Finn H Year 7, Stavroula K Year 7, Joel W Year 7, Daisy B Year 7, Eknoor J Year 8, Glen D Year 8

Anthony G Year 8 and Alexis T year 8.

These students submitted a speech on a leader that has inspired them outlining leadership qualities they would like to develop.

A very exciting opportunity for our junior students!

Year 7 Science Reptile Incursion.
This week the year 7 students participated in the ‘Reptile Incursion’ organised by the Science department. Some comments from students on their experience:

“It was really interesting to learn about the reptiles that we were able to see and their different names”

“We were able to touch a python it was something I have never done before”

“Such an exciting experience it really allowed me to go outside of my comfort zone”

Thank you to the Mrs Norwood for organising the event and the entire science department for participating in the incursion.

Year 8 Italian Poetry Competition
The Year 8 CLIL Italian class, along with several mainstream Italian students, participated in the Junior Italian Poetry Competition at the Centre of Italian Studies (CIS) in Carlton. Here are some reflections from the participants:

“It was an enjoyable experience, and I was pleased to be involved”

“The highlight of the day was having lunch at Brunettis Carlton”

“I felt quite nervous upon entering CIS, but I believe I performed well”

“We also had the opportunity to visit the original Parliament House in the Carlton Gardens”

“Learning the Filastrocca poem was initially challenging, but when it came time to present to the judge, it turned out to be easier than I had anticipated”

“Performing the Poem in front of a judge proved to me that I’m courageous”

Thank you to Mrs Pace and Mrs Mancuso for accompanying the students and providing them the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Italian language.

Lastly I would like to thank all families and students who consistently represent our college with pride and integrity. We have had people who live locally comment on how respectful and polite our students. I encourage all students to show respect and compassion modelling the values taught to us by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

I hope all students enjoyed a well-deserved rest during the student free day on Friday 23 August.

With just over 3 weeks of Term 3 to go many students will be participating in excursions and incursions, class work, sporting events and assessment tasks. I encourage students to maintain their organisational skills including documenting important dates and tasks in their student planner.

Congratulations to the many students who have represented the College with pride over the course of the term. This includes:

• Josephite Exchange to Mt Carmel South Australia
• Year 9 Premier League
• A range of senior sports and tournaments
• Various excursions
• Year 10 Ballroom practice
• The various activities run by College staff to celebrate Book Week, Science Week and Health and PE week.

Student Leadership
We wish all students who have applied for student leadership positions for 20025 the very best. I have enjoyed meeting the applicants alongside Ms Kift and Ms Perkin and hearing their vision for student initiatives. I am looking forward to hearing our Vice Captain and College Captain candidate speeches at our upcoming Leadership Assembly next week.

Year 12 students
Our Year 12 students are fast approaching their end of their secondary schooling with the remainder of term a busy time for final assessments and course work. Students are encouraged to keep aiming for their personal best and make the most of the wonderful support and information opportunities by College staff during pastoral lessons so they are fully informed about the end of year process (final dates, exams, celebrations).

Term Three continues and we are in the depths of the ‘wilderness’ as students and staff manage through assessment and the likes at school. Nonetheless, the faith and Mission traditions of the College continue.

Feast Day and JJAMM Week
Congratulations to the whole school on a great collective effort in raising awareness and building community in the leadup to the great feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Each Year level and staff-maintained loyalty to the JJAMM week program and conducted a variety of activities to support their respective organisations. As a College, we gathered in the ASH to celebrate Mass together. Thank you to Fr Tony Cox, who was our key celebrant and gave a thought-provoking homily about the power and humility and tenacity of Mary Mackillop and the Josephites in bringing about change and the Kingdom of God to our community and across the globe where truly there is a great need for action. Furthermore, the collective efforts of a number of stakeholders within the College allowed this to happen smoothly, in particular, the physical set-up of the events, the ICT, the staff rostering and supervision across the day and well afterschool as we welcomed the local primary school students and their families on what proved to be a very cold afternoon.

The Feast of the Assumption
We gathered as separate campuses to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption, a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics worldwide as we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven. Mass was celebrated by Fr Tony Cox in his last official duty as College chaplain. We wish him the very best as he continues his ministry at Stella Maris. No doubt, we hope to see Fr Tony back at the College at various stages over 2025. We had beautiful singing from the captains of Performing Arts Ella Di Nuzzo and Niquita Gallicchio at the Broadmeadows Mass and Janine Salazar who sang at the Glenroy campus.

Faith Corner Youth Group
Faith Corner Youth group continues to gain momentum as we offer numerous opportunities for students to engage in faith formation, whether on Mondays at lunchtime doing the Alpha Youth course or when we gather for Rosary and Adoration with Fr Sam Pearson Church of Good Shepherd, Gladstone Park, on Fridays. There is a clear desire among small groups of students who wish to ask those big questions and learn more about the catholic Tradition in a safe and secure environment. A big thanks to Youth Minister, Marc Salazar who also has had great input into this group.

Christian Service Program: Y11
The Christian service program continues at Y11 as students spend a day at a local agency in need of volunteers. Many thanks to Melissa Fry and Gerard Knobel who spent much time setting and maintain this initiative, I trust that the experience has benefited both students and organisations.

The 2024 Penola school production of the Addams Family was a massive success, and massive fun. It all began end of Term 1 at school, and the audition process as well as the entire way that production run this year was different, due to it being overseen by an outside company, GJ Productions. Immediately from the first day of auditions the vibes were immaculate and we knew how much fun this show was going to be. After singing, dance and acting auditions, that were run in a way where every member of the cast got to showcase their talents and abilities, to their own comfort level.

The rehearsals run throughout Term 2 and the start of Term 3, with holiday and weekend rehearsals for additional practice. Week by week we would start with a variety of warmups, before working on group singing, individual scenes, dance breaks and choreography. By early Term 3 we had the show up and running, just in time for our Show Week. During Show Week we performed 5 times, once to an audience of primary school students from our feeder schools, and four times to public audiences. The entire experience was unforgettable. And by all counts the show was a great success and achievement.

I personally made new friends, got to sharpen my own skills as a performer, and I felt supported the whole way. In retrospect, these productions are easily one of my favourite things about this school and I could not recommend this program more to anyone even slightly curious about the performing arts. Massive thanks to Jack, Grace and Maddy of GJ Productions, and to Ms Savage, Ms Dalli, Ms Hatherall and Ms Lee for all your support and help.

Make sure to look out for audition signups next year, and get involved, either on stage or backstage!

Mason H 11K

The theme this year is “SPECIES SURVIVAL — MORE THAN JUST SUSTAINABILITY” and investigates some of the challenges that affect life on Earth. This is very relevant for Australian habitats and species survival.

The activities that our Year 7 and 8 students have been invited to participate in include: kahoots, extracting DNA activity, using drones

The Year 9 – 12 students have also had the opportunity to complete daily quizzes along with decorating bird houses, making wind chimes and planting indigenous wildflowers in our wetlands area.

We would like to thank our fantastic Science team for all their efforts throughout the week in providing your children with engaging lessons and instigating a curiosity in the world around them. We hope to continue to share our love of Science with your children as the year progresses.

Hopefully you can become actively involved by learning more about Sustainability. You can access more information on the topics mentioned above by following the links below.

Sustainability in Merri-bek

Sustainability in Hume

Excursions and Incursions
Over the past term our students at Year 7, Year 10, Year 11 and 12 have been given opportunities to attend a variety of excursions and incursions. This week our year 7 students have participated in an incursion run by Reptile Encounters where they were able to see and touch some of the Australian animals as they explored the concept of classification.

Our Year 10 Physics students will be visiting the Road to Zero exhibition at the Melbourne museum where they will immerse themselves in the science of forces and examine the impact speed has on stopping distance of motor vehicles.

In Year 11 and 12 Chemistry our students attended Victorian Space Science Education centre where they were able to use some analytical chemistry equipment that is typically used in commercial laboratories.

Finally, our Year 12 Biology class visited the Melbourne Zoo where they were able interact with staff and primates as they explore the topic of Evolution.

We are incredibly lucky to have the support of our Organisational team, our support team and other faculty members that have enabled us to run these activities for our students. We look forward to providing more interactive opportunities for our students as the year progresses.

Ms Attard, Ms Norwood and the Penola science team.

We are pleased to announce that a cultural trip to France is being organized in collaboration with Loyola College for April 2025. This opportunity will be available to all students studying French in Years 10, 11, and 12 during that academic year.

If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please reach out to Mrs. Joanne Pace, Head of Languages, jpace@penola.vic.edu.au

Tournament of Minds 2024
On Sunday 25 August 2024, thirteen Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students from Penola Catholic College attended the Tournament of Minds Regional competition at La Trobe University. For the last three weeks, students worked together in two teams to complete the Tournament of Minds STEM Long Term Challenge and practiced for the additional mind-bending Spontaneous Challenge. The students involved were chosen to participate based on their academic progress in English, Mathematics and Science, together with their competition interest and interpersonal skills.

Team 1

• Peter L 7G
• Kit A 8E
• Cagan C 8E
• Glen D 8E
• Rushil R 8F
• Luca D 8I
  

Team 2

• Eva D 7B
• Luke R 7E
• Dianthi P 8D
• Rawnaq B 8F
• Josh M 9D
• Saneet K 10B
• Ryan C 10H
  
  

Tournament of Minds (TOM) is an international program designed to give participants the opportunity to participate in creative activities involving stimulating open-ended challenges, which demand experimentation and reward divergent thinking. TOM promotes learning and developing as an individual within a team structure.

This year, each group researched, formulated, and presented their solution to the STEM challenge: Not So Fantastic Plastic, where the students were asked to focus on a specific aspect of plastic pollution and its impact on the environment. Once identified, the students were asked to research, design, and build a device to remove or mitigate the selected type of plastic pollution and to indicate what will happen to the collected plastic waste.

As the challenge was based on STEM principles (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics), the students had to also present a multimedia presentation to the judges, clearly explaining their device formulation, construction, and the science behind their device’s operation. The students had to incorporate the science within the context of a theatrical presentation with all team members participating. Each team theatrical performance was planned to the high standards of the TOM competition, including their research, scripting, props construction and contributions of all team members during the performance time of 10 minutes. Students were required to create all props, scripts, costumes, etc., by themselves using only items from a set list. The resulting performance showed scientific accuracy, moments of humour and seamless team skills. The teams later performed in the mind-bending Spontaneous Challenge where they had to solve a problem put to them previously unseen and solve it as a team within ten minutes. Thinking “outside the square” spontaneously as a team is the formula required.

As teachers, we were overly impressed by the dedication of the TOM students leading up to and including their performances on the day. Parents who attended were also deservedly proud of the great efforts their children had made over the past few weeks. A huge congratulations to all thirteen students for their wonderful ideas and commitment to this extension opportunity. The attached photos show the groups in action, confidently presenting their entertaining and informative performances.

This extension opportunity is part of our co-curricular program at Penola Catholic College, and we look forward to increasing the range of participants next year. We are grateful for the support of Ms. Attard, and Ms. Wearne throughout this competition.

Mr. Katsahambas and Mr. Phan

National Child Protection Week takes place 1-7 September

In 2024, the National Child Protection Week message that ‘Every child in every community needs a fair go’ will be complemented with the theme ‘Every conversation matters’.

Conversations are powerful tools to keep children and young people safe and well.

Conversations can help us understand issues, craft solutions, value community knowledge, and build the brains and social connections of children and young people.

Conversations between
…children and their caregivers matter (from the very earliest days)
…children and their peers matter
…families with teachers, doctors, and other professionals matter
…friends or neighbours matter

…decision-makers and the communities they serve matter.

And, of course, conversations in the public realm and media matter…

This National Child Protection Week students are invited to speak up – and speak together – about what needs to change for every child in every community to have a fair go.

Adapted from https://www.napcan.org.au/ncpw-theme/

Hume Sports Aid Grants Program

Melbourne United FREE All Girls Camp

Saver Plus Information Sessions for Schools

Dance Factory 2025 Auditions

Marriage Encounter Weekend

Could you foster a child?