We have had a positive start to 2024 on the senior campus, it has been terrific to see many students striving for their personal best and following College expectations in relation to behaviour and uniform requirements. Thank you to families for your support.

Student planner
Each student has been provided with a College planner which supports student’s to document homework and upcoming assessment tasks, excursions and other important events. Good organisational skills can help reduce stress especially during peak assessment times. The planner also contains important information about College expectations and helpful wellbeing tips and strategies from The Resilience Project which is a focus in the students pastoral lessons.

Family Partnership Meetings- Early dismissal Tuesday 12 March
Please note that students will be dismissed at 12:38pm on Tuesday 12 March to allow staff to prepare for Family Partnership Meetings. I encourage all families to make an appointment time to meet with their child’s subject teachers. Appointments will take place:

• 1:40pm to 4pm
• 4:40pm to 7pm

An important year 9 parent information session will take place at 7pm at the conclusion of the interviews to provide more details about the year 9 program including the upcoming year 9 camp and City Experience week.

Community etiquette
A reminder to all students to please be respectful when interacting with members of the public on their way to and from school. This includes polite behaviour on public transport and being mindful of those who may require a seat such as the elderly. It is terrific when we receive positive feedback from the community about our students.

Wishing all students and families a happy term 1. If you have any queries about College activities please contact your child’s Homeroom Teacher.

To all our families and staff at the Junior campus a sincere welcome to our new school year of 2024. I am extremely grateful and excited to be able to serve you all as the Deputy Principal Head of Glenroy Campus. Having been part of Penola for the past 26 years I look forward to continue to uphold our Josephite heritage embedded in our College values of faith, community and excellence.

The beginning to our 2024 year has certainly been busy. The first day of school at Glenroy hosted our new year seven students. On this day they had the opportunity to have the campus to themselves as they continued their orientation program getting them settled into being at high school.

After being very busy making new friends, getting to know their teachers, becoming familiar with a secondary school timetable, and trying to navigate life as a high school student the year 7s have certainly found their place at Penola. Here are what some students had to say:

‘The first weeks of year 7 has been a positive experience, I have been able to meet new teachers and fellow students. My teachers have made me feel welcomed and comfortable being in a new school.’ Charbel R

‘My start to year 7 has been great because of the new people I have been able to meet and the different classes I have been able to participate in for example I have really enjoyed music and science and Food Technology.’ Ashur O

‘School can have lots of bumps, but the joyful times smooths them out’. Starting year 7 was challenging at times, however my new friends and teachers have really helped my experience be a positive one. Finn H

‘When I started year 7 I felt very nervous it was like starting primary school all over again. I have met new people that made me feel safe and comfortable at Penola.’ Kribik KC

The year 7 students also have had their annual reflection day. Classes visited the Hope Centre in Glenroy for the day where they participated in activities that allowed them to get to know one another and also have the opportunity to reflect on their faith journey.

The students were commended on their participation and behaviour on these days and we also thank the Religion Education Teachers and some homeroom teachers for accompanying the students on their reflection day.

Annual Welcome Dinner for New Families
On February 23 the College also hosted our annual welcome dinner for families and staff new to the college. It was a beautiful evening to be able to serve dinner and then sit and share a meal with our new Year 7 and 8 families.

Our Year 8 students have also returned to school ready to learn and to participate in their second year of high school. There have been many Year 8 students who already know some of the incoming year 7s and have offered them friendship and familiarity in a new school. Our year 8 college PSC and Sport Leaders have been very influential in creating an environment that promotes inclusiveness and community for all students on the Glenroy Campus.

Upcoming Events
Next week our year 7 students will be embarking on their first high school camp. They will be away for 3 days and two nights visiting Camp Manyung in Mt Eliza.

• Camp 1 will take place March 4- 6 (Mon – Wed) for 7B, 7C, 7D, 7H, 7I.
• Camp 2 will take place March 6 - 8 (Wed- Fri) for 7A, 7E, 7F, 7G, 7J, 7K.

We wish all students and staff the very best as they have the opportunity to take part in a number of activities that will allow them to build relationships with each other.

On Wednesday 6 February, the Year 8 students will be participating in an alternative program dedicated to humanities and religious education. Students will be involved in medieval activities along with religious education workshops. We look forward to hearing form the year 8s about the learning opportunities they were able to experience. We encourage students to dress up in medieval costumes for the day.

I would like to thank parents and guardians for participating in their child’s education by offering constructive feedback on what is working and what could be working better for their child. We appreciate your support in upholding our values of being a faith community that practices respect and inclusivity while striving for excellence in all that we do. Education is a partnership, and we look forward to working with all families to ensure that their child achieves success.

College Theme: Do your best and God will bless your efforts (MM 1899).

Each year, a College theme is selected from one of the many sayings or writings from St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, these sayings are connected to key College values which call us as a College community to focus on living out this theme at home, at school and in our wider community.

Our theme this year, a quote from one of St Mary’s letters to the Josephite sisters is “Do your best and God will bless you” This resonates with the College community as we are called to be our best and to do our best in school, work and our interactions with one another. The theme is connected to the value of Excellence, that being, personal excellence.

We understand that not everyone is the same, and the beauty of being children of God is that God made us as unique individuals. In Jeremiah, God says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you;

Just like the poor widow’s gift to the Temple in that she gives her last coin, this proved to be the greatest in that she gave her last to God, rather than of her abundance. We can translate this scripture to give every effort to our relationships with others, to our work and our studies, so we can be the versions of ourselves always.

And so, we are all encouraged to work to our personal best, whatever that may be, and to let God do the rest, we will be blessed by our efforts.

Ash Wednesday and Opening College Mass
On Wednesday 14 February, we gathered as a whole school to celebrate the opening College Mass and to recognise the beginning of the Lenten journey for Catholics throughout the world. The student leaders were active in the Mass in that they introduced Fr Tony Cox to the community and were the voices of the school online and in public. The ashes were distributed thanks to a number of staff, Mr Knobel and his Religious Education Ministry students. It was at this Mass that the names of the Year 7 students and new members of the community were brought up and placed at the altar into the Community Chest. The symbolic gesture lends itself to the warm, caring and welcoming community that Penola Catholic College is to all and in line with the charism of the Josephite Order by reaching out to the stranger.

Year 7 Reflection Days
These days ran from Monday 19 February to Friday 23 February at the Hope Centre in Glenroy. We were welcomed by Pastor David, who’s caring nature and diligent team ensured that all classes had a seamless and positive experience of their very own Reflection Days. We always began in prayer and ended in prayer. Our beginning liturgy was framed around the “Call” story that Moses experienced when he spoke to God at the burning bush. He recognised that he stood on Holy Ground and that the experience was a sacred one. In turn, we attempted to make each class’s experience one of sacredness and memory. One that involved listening and praying, as well of discussing and reflecting. Through the theme of, “Maintaining the Faith” the students examined and workshopped short reflective journeys on how they belong to the College, how they develop as young students of Penola and how they are influenced by their surroundings and most importantly, how they may allow the Josephite charism influence them as they mature within the Penola Catholic College structure.

Year 7 Family Dinner
The week culminated in a Welcome dinner to all Year 7 students and their families. This was held at the College Hall with catering organised. The Year 7 staff and College Leadership team served the families while the year 12 student leaders took charge of the evening and acted as main compares of the night. Special thanks to Ms Melissa Fry for all of the organisation of the catering as well as the staff who attended the night. Special thanks to Aston Motta and Ava De Amicis College captains, Cong Pham, College vice-captain, Hannah Adams, College captain of sport, Georgiana Denes, College Christian services captain, Vittoria Tuimaseve, College captain of Applied Learning, Ava Osborn, College captain of sustainability for their help in comparing during the night and assistance in ensuring that the evening ran smoothly.

Our students have commenced the year well and appear to be developing positive learning partnerships with their teachers. All students are reminded that they have responsibilities as learners at Penola Catholic College. The ideal learner is organised, responsible, demonstrates a great work ethic and approaches their studies with enthusiasm. By now students should have all items required to support their learning in the classroom and at home. It is essential that all necessary devices, texts and stationery items are brought to each lesson. This will aid in developing learning skills along with the support from our diligent and dedicated teaching staff.

Parents, we do ask that you:

• regularly view your child’s assessment data via MyPenola.
• discuss your child’s progress in each subject
• provide a space that is conducive to study at home
• attend Family Partnership Meetings

NB: The Term 1 PTSPMs are scheduled for March 12 (Broadmeadows) and March 14 (Glenroy). Further details will be published in due course.

There are many opportunities for students to access support or resources. These include: the ERC and catching up with teachers individually. Please encourage your son/daughter to avail themselves of these opportunities.
Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s subject teacher or year level co-ordinator should you have any concerns or queries.

• Has your child just started Year 7?
• Is your child new to Penola Catholic College?
• Would you like to know more about transition or homework?
  

Please visit School TV to view some informative short videos on these topics.

NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Years 7 and 9 students will be held in March this year. The NAPLAN Online test window is between March 13 and March 25. NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar, and punctuation) and numeracy.

The results of the tests provide information for students, parents, teachers, and principals and can be used to improve student achievement. All students are expected to participate in the NAPLAN Online tests. Catch up tests will be available for individual students who are absent on test days up to and including March 25.

All students will require headphones and a fully charged laptop on each of the NAPLAN Testing days.

Support can be arranged for students with additional learning needs if the student regularly uses similar support for classroom assessment tasks. If you would like to discuss further any support that your child may be eligible for, please do not hesitate to contact either Mrs. Rebecca Micallef for Year 7 students or Mrs. Denise Koshy for Year 9 students.

Later in the year you will receive your child’s personal NAPLAN report. The report will describe your child’s particular skills in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar, and punctuation) and numeracy. The report will also show how your child performed in relation to national minimum standards. These describe the minimum acceptable standards for students across Australia.

The information you receive as a result of your child’s participation in the NAPLAN tests will be

valuable in helping you to assess your child’s progress in literacy and numeracy.

For more information about the tests, please feel free to use the following resources:

• VCAA website at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au

• NAP website at www.nap.edu.au

• Mrs Katya Brandon (Head of Student Enhancement) kbrandon@penola.vic.edu.au

• Year 7 - Mrs Rebecca Micallef (Learning Enhancement Teacher) rmicallef@penola.vic.edu.au

• Year 9 - Mrs Denise Koshy (NCCD Coordinator) dkoshy@penola.vic.edu.au

Public demonstration site
Students are invited to use the public demonstration tests to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and related functionalities available in the online NAPLAN assessment.

Some of the key features include a range of question types, onscreen tools, timers, and interactive navigation. Students are encouraged to try all the tests for their year level to practise the complete range of question formats available.

The demonstration tests cover a sample of possible questions and do not reflect the range of literacy and numeracy content, or skills NAPLAN will assess. While it is helpful for students to become familiar and comfortable with the format of the online test, ACARA does not encourage students to study separately for NAPLAN. That is why you will not find answers to the demonstration tests.

House Swim Carnival Oak Park Aquatic Centre
On Friday 16 February a beautiful morning developed as over 600 Penola students gathered on the oval outside the pool. There was excitement in the air from our new year 7’s eager to participate in their first carnival and a celebratory mood from the year 12’s dressed in their house colours ready to represent in the pool one more time. Our oldest and youngest students parading into the centre with cheers from the crowd ready to compete.

The expectations for the day were outlined and our Captain of Sport, Hannah Adams opened the carnival with Acknowledgement of Country ad Prayer. Ms Kift wished all our athletes well and the carnival was open.

The Year 7 males headed to the 50m pool for our longest and most challenging events of traditional freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly and the 20m pool for one of new events: the 20m swim. This year we introduced several new events to encourage participation whilst providing opportunities to participate based on swimming capabilities. For every event a student participated in this year, they received a token to use on the water slide (which was open all day) or the inflatable water park which inflated at 11:30am.

With the 50m pool divided into 2x 25m areas the 25m events began. Max C dominated in the water as expected, putting on master class in butterfly. We can’t wait to see him in action representing the College at SACCSS Swimming on 26th March. The pool run in the 20m pool was a great success with extra heats having to be included to accommodate an influx of interested entrants.

House Volleyball was a highlight of the day with houses competing by year level. With the inflatable closing and last rides on the water slide, all eyes turned to watch the 4x25m house relay. The teams were comprised of 2 seniors, 2 intermediates and 2 junior students per house. Smyth did its best to chase down the pack, but they were too far ahead.

The final points were tallied, and the results were in: MacKillop had won!

Monday 19 February saw the Intermediate Badminton team board the bus for our competition in Werribee. There were some well-fought matches and rally points were not going to be given up easily. Congratulations to Krystal T and Thao P for taking out the first win of the day. This was quickly followed up by a win from Ethan D and Josh M who crushed their opponents 51 to 24. Special mention also goes to John M who teamed up with a player from another school and played well against their opponents. Chanel C and Jasmine B also gave their opponents tough matches, coming to within one or two points of victory in many of their matches.

Thanks to the team for a great day of competition and representing Penola with great sportsmanship.

MACS Creative Arts Exhibition
It is with great pleasure to announce five of our students have been selected to display their 2023 artworks for the 2024 MACS Creative Arts Exhibition. The exhibition provides an opportunity for Catholic Schools across Victoria to respond to the theme 'In the Light of Christ' through two dimensional and three dimensional art forms from both primary and secondary schools.

The following students will be displaying their work for the exhibition which will take place from Tuesday 12 March until Saturday 16 March at the Catholic Leadership Centre, 576 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne.

Student Name: Sofia DL- Year 12
Artwork Title: 'Close But Not Close Enough'
Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas

Student Name: Samantha M- Year 12
Artwork Title: 'Sunflower At Sea'
Medium: Gouache paint and lino printing on canvas

Student Name: Martin N- Year 12
Artwork Title: 'Above It All'
Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Student Name: Dianthi P- Year 8
Artwork Title: 'Van Gogh Inspired Landscape'
Medium: Acrylic paint on paper

Student Name: Gabriella M- Year 8
Artwork Title: 'Architectural Mixed Media'
Medium: Mixed media

We wish them all the best as they showcase their creativity to a wider audience.

If you wish to attend the MACS Creative Arts Exhibition please see the flyer attached to this newsletter or contact Mrs. Margaret Borg via email mborg@penola.vic.edu.au

It is with great pleasure to congratulate Georgiana D of 12H whose 2023 Art Making and Exhibiting artwork was selected to be displayed at the MACS Head Office for 2024. Georgiana completed her painting titled Dancing In The Colours, in Year 11 Art Making and Exhibiting as her final body of work. The painting draws from the artistic styles of Fauvism and Expressionism, particularly influenced by Henri Matisse. It serves as an expressive piece that explores the themes of identity, femininity, maternity, and the joy of motherhood. Acrylic paint was skilfully used to produce a colourful background and the hearts were rendered with tonal variations to create a focal point. The lower heart symbolizes the woman's uterus and the profound love she holds for her unborn child. Bright and vibrant streaks of colour convey the intense emotions that come with being a woman and the gift of giving life. The figure is black such is the harshness of the world she lives in before being blessed with a child. This contrast between the lively colours and the dark background symbolizes the prevailing positivity in life, reminding us that goodness will always prevail over adversity.

We are very proud that we have Visual Arts representation from Penola Catholic College.

This year’s JJAMM Conference was attended by Ava D and Aston M our school captains. It was a wonderful opportunity to fly to Sydney for the 4 days yearly JJAMM conference. In an inspiring gathering of student leaders from all over Australia and New Zealand, the JJAMM conference brought together forty young minds to delve into the essence of leadership, drawing inspiration from the remarkable legacies of Saint Mary Mackillop and Julian Tenison Woods. The conference, attended by influential figures proved a beacon for those eager to explore the core values of Josephite tradition and community.

With two and a half days at Mary MacKillop Place in the heart of Sydney and two more days within the serene hills of Kincumber, the conference left an indelible mark on the young leaders present, inspiring them to not only understand the principles of Josephite tradition but to actively incorporate them into their lives and leadership roles. The event proved to be a catalyst for change, fostering a new generation of leaders committed to making a positive impact on their communities in the spirit of Mary Mackillop and Julian Woods. The captains are truly grateful for the experience, to not only explore the culture of New South Wales, but to learn about our Josephite leaders, practice their voice, while making lifelong friendships.
Ava D & Aston M

2024 Annual Student Photos - This is a wonderful way to preserve the memories of very special school days.

Student Photographs may still be purchased via:
www.theschoolphotographer.com.au

Online Order Code :
BROADMEADOWS X3144VC49P
GLENROY X3143VC49P

Phone Payments - Call directly on 9674 9824 - Order over the phone via credit card payments. (Note – there is a processing fee of $5 for all phone order payments)

School Fees are payable annually in advance, or quarterly at the commencement of each Term. We greatly appreciate your attention to this.

Additionally we offer families the option to complete a Direct Debit Agreement or Credit Card Agreement to pay their fees weekly/fortnightly/monthly throughout the year. Or a Centrepay Deduction to pay their fees fortnightly throughout the year.

The College emails families statements throughout the year. Please ensure you check each statement to ensure it reflects all payments that you have made. If you note any discrepancy please email schoolfees@penola.vic.edu.au to alert us and we will follow up.

If you did not receive the recent statement emailed to families on 7 February 2024 could you please update us with your correct email address at schoolfees@penola.vic.edu.au

You can view your account at anytime via the Finance Section in MyPenola.

To discuss your account please email schoolfees@penola.vic.edu.au or call Lisa Crosbie on 99089041.

YMCA Youth Parliament Program 2024

Back to School with Saver Plus

AceFun Tennis

Stage School Australia

Australian Camps Association - People Outdoors

Oak Park Football Club

Broadmeadows Basketball Sport Leadership Program

Sacred Steps Retreat

Broadmeadows Stars

HOBAN Recruitment

Walks for Carers - Neighbourhood Carers Club at Kalkallo Community Centre

Healthy Minds Homework Club

Volunteer Tutor Scheme

School is better when you child is here