Project Compassion 2019

Project Compassion for 2019 was launched last week. Each year Caritas Australia's Project Compassion brings together Catholic communities across Australia during Lent to help end poverty, promote justice, and uphold dignity. 

The 2019 Project Compassion theme is hope, and giving Lent 100% in the name of hope. 

Here at Salesian, we encourage classes to make use of the stories, videos, teaching materials, and activity ideas on the Caritas website to raise students' awareness of poverty and injustice as it affects young people globally, particularly as depicted in the six Lenten stories from Zimbabwe, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.

We make Project Compassion our only fundraising activity for the school community during Term One. Money raised for Project Compassion goes towards Caritas Australia's humanitarian and long-term development programs in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific, and with Australia's First Peoples.

It’s hard to believe that we are already past the halfway point of Term One! Many classes are in the midst of assessments and more and more feedback will be posted onto Schoolbox over the coming weeks. It’s therefore timely to recap some key points about how we report using Schoolbox:

• There are three types of tasks posted on Schoolbox – see the list below.
• At Years 7-10, each subject will post one reportable assessment task per term with a rubric and written feedback (except Maths).
• Rubrics at Years 7-10 are designed so a 70% score represents the expected standard for that assessment.

Reportable Asessment Task

• Tasks that would traditionally appear on an end of semester report. 
• These are the summative assessments that occur at the end of a unit. 
• Results from these tasks contribute to academic awards, formal transcript of results, etc.

Classwork/Homework

• Tasks completed throughout the unit, either within class or as homework.
• Includes a wide range of activities including quizzes, chapter tests, drafts, etc.

Pre-test

• Tasks completed at the beginning of a unit to give diagnostic information to the teacher.
• These often replicate the rubric / criteria of the end of unit assessment and can be used to measure growth throughout the unit.
• Percentage grades for these tasks are not expected to be high; instead, these grades are used to indicate where further learning can occur.

Schoolbox feedback is most effective when students are able to articulate the ‘next steps’ that they need to enact in their learning. We encourage families to discuss this feedback with these next steps as a focus.

Booklisted Digital Resources

As Campion is no longer taking payments for booklisted resources, unpaid digital items from the booklist will now need to be paid through the College accounts team. Notifications about any unpaid items will be sent to families shortly.

• Maths Pathways (Years 7-9)
• Science digital resources (Years 8 & 9)
• Edrolo subjects where applicable (Years 10-12)

A reminder that these items are compulsory class resources and are currently being used in lessons. 

School Attendance

Below is an article from the Catholic Education Office reminding parents and students about the importance of uninterrupted school attendance (with the exception of illness). Our day begins with a warning bell at 8.40am, all students need to be in homeroom by 8.45am.  Homeroom is a vital part of the day as it provides at time for quite prayer, seeing your homeroom leader and looking at what is happening during the week via School box ‘News’. The article outlines clearly to importance of regular attendance and some tips on how to work in a partnership (student, school and family) to achieve consistent attendance and allow Learning and Teaching to occur. 

The College has a subscription to Parenting Ideas Schools which has webinars and interesting articles on ideas for parents.  

Parenting Ideas: Webinar sessions

Below is a link to some fantastic webinar program for parents.  The College has a full subscription to Parenting Ideas, so these webinars can be accessed at a reduced rate.  To find out what is being offered, and how to access the webinar sessions click on the link below

Click here to download the 2019 webinar program for parents.

On Monday 25 February, our four senior golfers went to Werribee Golf Course to play 18 holes in the SACCSS Open Golf Tournament. We were well represented by Luke Shoesmith, Malcolm Scoble, Josh McDonald and Pat Doyle, who finished second in the Best Team event. Pat Doyle also missed out on Best Individual Male by one stroke, shooting an 81. 

Year 10 Premier League has seen the introduction of Boys Netball in 2019. Our boys are undefeated and have picked up the game quicker than expected. We look forward to seeing how the rest of their season goes. After a buzzer beater in their last game, our girls basketball remain undefeated along with boys basketball, girls volleyball and girls netball. We wish all teams best of luck for the remaining two home and away games and then hopefully finals. 

Wednesday 13 March will see our Senior Sport Teams participate across various venues in a one-day round robin tournament, including tennis, volleyball, basketball and mixed netball. I’m sure the day will be filled with fun and hopefully lasting memories with friends for the students' final years of Sport.

NATIONAL VISUAL ART EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2019

Over the January holidays, I attended the three-day National Visual Art Education Conference at the National Gallery in Canberra. The conference had some amazing speakers, including artist Ben Quilty and Director of Education at the MET Museum, New York, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, and Dr Flossie Chua of Project Zero, Harvard University. There were many break-out sessions exploring strategies to improve our teaching, and practical workshops to improve our skills (I even tried my hand at “glass fusion”, melting glass at 3000 degrees to make decorative tiles).

I was also invited to showcase past and present student art work from Salesian College and explain how our Visual Arts curriculum and passionate teachers encourage our students to develop skills and use art as a meaningful tool to express compassion. We place the student at the centre, seeking to make tasks relevant to teens by offering individual choice of subject matter and using a studio process that allows every student to “be an artist”. Art teachers and our Arts SAT (Student Action Team) and Learning Area Leader also explore ways to engage the whole school community in meaningful art opportunities, even for those not studying an Art subject. The presentation showcased student work demonstrating compassion in many ways, shapes and forms. 

On the topic of compassion, Year 11 Media student James Mahoney has been selected by the Catholic Education Office to have his thoughtful photograph, “Water Boy” (pictured below) on display at the Annual CEO Exhibition in East Melbourne. Well done James. 

UPCOMING VCE STUDIO ARTS EXCURSIONS 

On Thursday 14 March our Year 11 students are attending a whole day education program at the National Gallery of Victoria. They will be exploring the work of MC Escher, and participating in an art making workshop that they will apply to their Unit 1 folio. The following week, Year 12 students are going to attend Top Arts to gain valuable advice from, vcaa assessors and view high scoring artworks and folios.

Glenda Inglis-Gillespie, VCE Studio Arts teacher

Year 9 Media Excursion, ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Images)
Making a film

When we first entered the ACMI studios, we were taken to a professional movie editing studio, where we learnt the professional editing process of a film. We learnt about Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production. We then split off into groups and used this newly learnt information to create our own production. During this process, we had to plan (Pre-Production) our storyboard, our plot and who would be who (actors, directors, cameramen etc.) We then had a short break before we started our production, the process of filming. In a very short amount of time, we had to run around ACMI and Federation Square, frantically trying to get all of our shots and scenes completed. There were some obstacles as there were multiple crowds of people constantly running around also, or using the doors, or having conferences, so we were limited to our movement and noise levels. Once our filming process was completed, we started editing. We used Final Cut Pro to cut and paste all out clips together. We were able to use sound effects, filters and music to give our short film a real, professional look. We then previewed all our films before going home.

Ms Felicity Collins

Band Camp

On Thursday 7 March, the music staff and band students went on a music excursion, to Goonawarra Community Centre. Where they spend the day practising band pieces; Havana, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Funky Town. Dr Robert McWilliams, conductor and Music Education Clinician from Yamaha Music Australia’s Education Outreach, came up for the day to help the band improve their music and band performance skills. The band learnt about the importance of learning an instrument, and how learning an instrument benefits the brain. The band students now understand the effect of posture when playing an instrument and the importance of listening to each other when playing as a band. Overall the students and staff members had a great day of music fun.

Natalie Port, Year 9 Band Captain

All Year 10 parents/guardians & students are invited to the Year 10 Information Night: Morrisby, Life Skills & Career Conversations (individual reports distributed)
Tuesday 19 March, 6:30-7:30 in the Mansion Ballroom. Caremonkey sent last week to all families.

Year 12 students had RMIT student ambassador Cody Moore come to present to them on Friday 8 March about our SNAP partnership, course areas and pathways.

WORK EXPERIENCE: Year 10 requests for Term 2 have now closed. All requests for Term 3 placements are due by 24 May. See the Caremonkey letter or for the Request Form.

Visit our Salesian Schoolbox Careers Page for updated Careers Information, Resources & Links for career planning.

This week’s newsletter can be found here. This week's topics include:

• Dates for your diary including Zookeeper for a day, Experience La Trobe and A Day at Melbourne University
• The University of Melbourne – George Hansen Scholarship (now open)
• Australia National University – Tuckwell Scholarship (open now) 
• RMIT Trades Tours
• Victoria Polytechnic Trade Tours
• Flight attendant – training at William Angliss 12-month Cabin Crew in the Air Force (now open)
• Focus on the Bachelor of Science
• Musculoskeletal Occupations (physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, myotherapy, podiatry)
• Work experience at the Australian Defence Force
• Australian Defence Force Gap Year Program – now open
• Australia National University – applications now open
• TAFE to university pathways
• Get a head start on searching for university scholarships
• International Studies at Monash University 

When it rains it pours and I wish that would happen from the clouds!

Over the summer, the farm staff needed to do little to keep the pigs happy and healthy. Five sows and a boar (Boris) spending their days fighting off the heat and wallowing in the mud, a simple task. However, over the past three weeks, our family has grown from six to 38 with three of the sows farrowing; quite a population explosion. The young piglets are extremely cute when they are first born so get down to the farm for a visit as it is all down hill for them in the cuteness stakes.

In other activities, the Lucerne paddock has been cut and hay should soon be made for the use of the Show teams, having the Lucerne short will also allow us to sow some rye grass into the paddock and make it more grazable for the cattle as well as the sheep.

Last week I had a thoroughly enjoyable time talking with the Year 8 students about the goings on on the farm, I hope that they have been inspired to consider a career in agriculture which needs the smartest minds available producing food for the world.

Parenting and setting boundaries

One of the first tasks of parenting is deciding how long we let the baby cry, how we respond when they do, when do we let them self-sooth. Then we decide what boundaries to set for the toddler how close to the fire, the pool, grandma’s figurines do we allow them and how do we enforce those limits.

We calibrate the boundaries as they go through primary school and by the time they hit secondary we usually have had to have phone and device boundaries, sleep over, stay up, acceptable viewing and language boundaries and expectations on how they treat other members of the family. If we fail to set boundaries young people feel lost and will punish us usually with bad behaviour or defiance. 

The battle of adolescent parenting is calibrating boundaries so that by the time they leave home they are independent, self-disciplined and well regulated. They only learn to be like this because they have practiced being responsible with negotiated and appropriate boundaries.

It is a tough job but here are a few considerations:

• The argument that everyone else is doing it is not a good reason for allowing anything. They probably aren’t and contacting other parents involved will really help you make decisions especially about parties. If you can’t talk to the adults supervising they can’t go. They will often admit they were relieved that you did not let them go. An unsupervised party or ‘Gatho’ is an opportunity for lots of young people to be pressured into poor choices. Party drugs and alcohol are cheap and widely available. This is the context in which many of the problematic sexual contact that comes to our attention occurs.
• It is important you know where they are both on-line and in the real world.
• Devices need to be kept outside the bedroom at night and there should be limits on their use. They need a break from social media and they need 9 hours sleep.
• Negotiate boundaries so the young person own/agrees to the limits but only offer a range of options that you can live with.
• Don’t set boundaries on things that aren’t important, messy rooms are not life threatening whereas mouldy food in there just might be.
• Choose to have negotiations, impose sanctions or consequences when everyone is rested and calm, not on the fly or in the heat of battle. 
• You need to win. They need to feel your hands on the reins even very gently.
• Over time they need more control over their lives so be prepared to reward responsible behaviour with greater responsibility.
• Take care of yourselves it is hard work and they need you to be there,
• Be there, give them your time, be there, pay attention, be there, look for the opportunities to have conversations about the things that excite and worry them.

Currently, I am representing our school by competing in the Lions Youth of the Year Award program.

This is an initiative run by lions to help young people improve their public speaking skills. About a month ago, I competed in the local competition in Sunbury, where I won overall. 

The competition involves first being interviewed by three judges to discuss in-school and out-of-school commitments and asked for your opinion on three questions: a local topic, a state topic, and an Australia-wide or international news topic. Then, in front of an audience, you have to answer two impromptu questions with no time to prepare (which can be quite daunting!). After that, you read a five-minute prepared speech on a topic that you are passionate about, my topic was 'the benefits of Guiding'. 

Last weekend, I represented our school at the regional final in Bacchus Marsh where I also won overall. On March 30, I will be going to Maryborough to compete in the district final for central northern Victoria. If I am lucky enough to win that, I would compete against students from across Victoria. The winner of this competition wins a trip to New Zealand, which would be an amazing experience!

Participating in this program has made me feel proud to represent our school, and it has helped me develop my public speaking skills and become more confident. I’ve also learnt a lot about the Lions clubs and all the wonderful things that they do!

I strongly recommend any student who meets the criteria to think about applying for this; it can really help with your confidence and public speaking skills, it looks great on a resume, and it gives you some insight into what interviews for jobs would be like. You may as well have a go - it doesn’t matter if you don’t do great because it’s the experience that counts, and it’s also a lot of fun! Even though I was a bit nervous when I applied, I’m so glad I did and I certainly don’t regret it!

Michelle Grover
Year 11 Students

Twilight School  

In just over a fortnight we have our first Twlight School event of the year, the Hot Cross Bun Cooking Course. 

Details are as below: 

• 6-8pm, Wednesday 27 March
• $15 per ticket
• Held on College Grounds, meet at Mansion Reception

Please email developmentteam@scr.vic.edu.au to purchase tickets.

Discovery Open Day

We also have our first College Open Day for 2019 coming up on Wednesday May 15.

Keep an eye out for notices and more details about the Discovery Open Day in upcoming Newsletters.

Our Catholic Identity

Q: What makes us Catholic? 

This is a question that often comes up in a variety of contexts. Conversations in the workplace, a thought-provoking journal article, a professional development workshop, a homily at Mass, a statement made by a senior Church cleric, or perhaps challenges that are made to our own informed opinions and ideas. 

There is quite obviously a far broader context here and the question itself poses numerous sub-questions and has implications for what we may consider to be the broader Catholic Church, especially in the light of the forthcoming Plenary for the Australian Catholic Church to be held next year.

Let’s consider the question in the light of our context as a Catholic school. The Catholic school is an educational community where learning, culture, faith, and life find a meeting place. In 2019, in a contemporary pluralistic society, the challenge of making this meeting place meaningful for students lies at the heart of the challenge faced by all Catholic schools in our time. It is a challenge that is demanding and has its complexities.

The religious identity question of schools, in particularly, the Catholic identity of Catholic schools, has become critical in recent times, especially in the light of the above. Questions related to identity have become theoretical, theological, political, and even economical. 

A number of things have caused me of late to reflect on the identity of Catholic Schools. Having completed a post-graduate subject called “Enhancing Catholic Institutional Identity” at Catholic Theological College, which was thought provoking and insightful, along with reading and hearing about the “political chatter” surrounding funding to Catholic schools, the question of Catholic identity has never been more relevant.

We have been informed as a school we are soon to be undertaking the Enhancing Catholic Identity Survey for Catholic Education Melbourne and The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria. The survey and subsequent analysis of its results will give us a comprehensive picture of how we view our school as being “Catholic”. When we place this into the framework of our current practices and then consider things like the many new students and families and staff we have just welcomed into the college coming from various backgrounds and places, and then, the personal questions we can reflect on such as “what are we about as a Catholic school?; “do we make a difference?”; “does our vision, mission, and charism as a Catholic school still hold relevancy in 2019?”, the picture evolves.

We can look up much research, read many articles and books (as I did at uni), and go to hear many speakers, but what do you and I think is a Catholic School’s identity and purpose? Indeed, what is our purpose here at Salesian College Sunbury? Do we make a difference to student outcomes and how? We would all agree, bottom line, that we are about student learning. All we do here at Salesian College Sunbury is for the purpose of students learning. We want our students to be engaged in acquiring new skills and knowledge to equip them as 21st century learners with inquiring minds through approaches such as Project Based Learning. But more than this, new behaviours, new values, new beliefs, and new attitudes must also be a highly desirable outcome for us. And, all this to the highest possible standards. These new behaviours, values, attitudes, and beliefs are not necessarily the same as other non-Catholic schools. This is where we are different and do make a difference in students outcomes. As the National Catholic Education Commission said only a few years ago, “the goal of Catholic schools is to educate the whole child to the highest standards possible – academically, socially, spiritually, and pastorally.” 

Here at Salesian College Sunbury, we can see this reflected in our key documents such as our Annual Action Plans, our CLEF statements, and forward planning for 2030, which has just commenced.  As we say, we are “a Faith Community committed to Excellence in Learning” (CLEF values). I would suggest that most - if not all - educational institutions would say they are committed to excellence in learning. However, where we really do make a difference in Catholic education is in the “Faith” aspect, which is the values, attitudes, and beliefs of students. We must work hard at all times to be academically excellent in all we do with students but it’s the Catholic beliefs that make us different – we believe in God, in Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we believe in salvation and redemption and Eternal Life, we believe in living the Gospel values, we believe in fulfilment in a sacramental life, we believe in the veneration of our saints, and a faith that is joyfully proclaimed and lived.

We wish to make these Catholic beliefs very clear to all here at the College; we have an extensive RE Curriculum; a liturgical program of sacraments and prayer with both staff and students; we have wonderful visual symbols; we consider restorative justice to be the optimal way to deal with relationships and student issues; we have Campus Feast days; we have staff and students retreats; we have Accreditation to Teach in a Catholic School certification requirements for teaching staff; and we have our own personal commitment to the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

For me, this is where we make a difference to student outcomes; there is a God who loves and saves us, a God who is present in our daily lives journeying with us, our students are made in the image of God and given to us for a short few years. They are given to us to make a difference in their lives – to help them acquire and develop their belief systems, their attitudes, and their values based on this belief system. 

We should therefore always be asking ourselves, as a ‘Faith Community’ do we communicate to our students and others, our belief in God and in Jesus Christ, and model this with our attitudes and values? This is what the Catholic Identity Survey will allow us to discover this.

In a few short weeks, families will be invited to complete the survey, as will all students and staff at the college. Details will follow in the next few weeks. The survey is important. There is little doubt that we will be given a narrative to work with for 2020 and beyond.

Year 12 Goal Setting Interviews

Our Year 12 mentoring program began this week with goal-setting interviews between mentors, students and their parents. It was a fantastic opportunity to reflect on each student’s progress so far and the opportunities and challenges presented by the year ahead. Having set ambitious but achievable goals, mentors will continue to check in with students throughout the year to reflect on progress and offer support in meeting these goals. 

We will soon be in touch with families who haven’t booked in a mentor meeting time with information about a final opportunity to do so during our Parent/Teacher/Student interviews at the end of the term.

Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

A reminder that Parent/Teacher/Student interviews are fast approaching – key dates are below:

Week 7 (starting 11th of March)

• Teachers notify families if a meeting is required for their specific subject.
• A meeting is required when the teacher needs to raise issues about the student’s learning progress.
• These notifications will be sent via Schoolbox.

Week 8 (starting 18th of March)

• A letter with information about accessing the system will be sent via CareMonkey (date TBC).
• Booking system is then opened to families.

Week 10 (starting 1st of April)

• Interview evenings (held in the Lakeside Stadium)
  Monday 1 April – 3:45pm – 8:00pm
  Wednesday 3 April – 3:30pm – 7:45pm
  (Tuesday 2 April is a student-free day)

Homework

With the school year now well under way, it is a good time to discuss homework habits and expectations. The key purposes of homework are to consolidate learning from the day, engage in preparatory work for future learning, and to build the discipline of personal study. The College suggests the following times for allotting homework at each year level:

• Year 7 – approx. 1 hour per night (please note, no homework is assigned to Year 7 students until after the camps have taken place)
• Year 8 – approx. 1 hour per night
• Year 9 – approx. 1-1 ½ hours per night 
• Year 10 – approx. 1-1 ½ hours per night
• Year 11 – approx. 2-3 hours per night 
• Year 12 – approx. 2-4 hours per night

Parents are encouraged to discuss these expectations with their children and to monitor the amount of homework being completed. As with many things in our lives, establishing good habits early is much easier than trying to turn bad habits around later on. If your child is consistently coming home with significantly higher amounts of homework are beyond these guidelines, it is worth discussing this with your child and a follow-up contact with subject teachers or the homeroom teacher may be appropriate. 

News from Student Hub

The College is exceptionally well resourced with our Student Hub. The main function of this is Student Reception and First Aid. The Student Hub is looked after by Jo Little (Student Hub Administrator) and Sarah Isherwood (School Nurse).

Child Safety Standards require the College to be diligent in protocols regarding students coming late to school and/or going home early. 

Please ensure families/guardians call the following phone number to notify the school of absence: 03 9744 0053

When a child needs to leave the College early on a day (due to illness, appointment, etc.) the following process needs to occur:

• Parent/guardian to provide a note to the Homeroom Leader (HRL)
• Student presents note to HRL who signs the note
• At appropriate time, student goes to Student Hub and shows the signed note to Student Hub Administrator
• Student Hub will sign out the student when the parent/guardian or designated adult presents at Student Hub to collect the student/s. 

An adult must come into Student Hub and collect the student before they are officially signed out.

In the event of a student not feeling well at school, the following process takes place:

• Student informs the subject teacher that they feel unwell
• If a student feels unwell during recess or lunch, they go straight to Student Hub
• The subject teacher puts a note in the diary and student goes to Student Hub
• Sarah will assess the situation and, if necessary, will contact a parent/guardian or emergency contact to come and collect the child

Students are not permitted to contact home via their personal mobile phone and them simply go home, or have the parent/guardian arrive at the College to say their child is ill. The process in place is to ensure that the child is safe and under the care of the College until officially signed out by a parent/guardian. The College really requires your support in this process.

Transition time and the Wellbeing Team

We know transition is a time of high risk for both families and students. Poor transition can have a lasting legacy on engagement to school and mental health. It is always better to act early; anxiety - as an example - is very curable if managed early. 

The College has a team of professionals available to provide wellbeing support to students to help with personal, emotional, social, and relationship difficulties, or if they are having trouble adjusting to College life. Our Wellbeing team is made up of: 

• Wellbeing Team Leader/Counsellor:
  Bernie Monagle bmonagle@scr.vic.edu.au
• Youth Worker:
  Vanessa Rizk vrizk@scr.vic.edu.au
• Social Workers:
  Laura Spencer lspencer@scr.vic.edu.au
  Daina Bottrell dbottrell@scr.vic.edu.au
• Visiting psychologist contacted through the team

The team can provide a range of strategies to help students do their best. This service is free and confidential and referrals to outside agencies are made where appropriate.

Feel free to contact us via email, or tell your student to drop in and see us in P Block (above the Student Hub).

The last fortnight has been a busy one for Sport at Salesian.

On Friday 15 February, we had our Whole School House Swimming Carnival at Sunbury Aquatic and Leisure Centre. It was a fantastic day; it was great to see high levels of participation and house spirit from our students. Congratulations to Naughton House for taking out the champion title at the end of the day. For more information about the Swimming Carnival (including detailed results), click here.

Since then, we have also had students competing in golf and SACCSS Premier League competitions. 

Our Senior Golf team competed yesterday, Monday 25 February, and finished the day in second place overall. Patrick Doyle came second in the best individual player rankings, shooting 81 over 18 holes. Our Junior Golf team played last week and had a very successful day with many awards being won for their efforts. Salesian won the best pair in Max Ramsay and Oliver Powell, and Max Ramsay also took home the award for best individual of the day, shooting 50 over 9 holes. Salesian also won the best team overall which is a fantastic achievement!  

The SACCSS Premier League competition involves a variety of Year 10 teams competing in netball, basketball, volleyball, and soccer over a six-week fixture. Well done to all of our players. We saw a lot of success with the majority of our teams winning their matches. See below for the winning teams’ results: 

• Boys’ basketball defeated Kolbe Catholic College (58 v 26)
• Girls’ basketball defeated Kolbe Catholic College (32 v 30)
• Boys’ netball defeated St Monica’s (30 v 6)
• Girls’ netball defeated Kolbe Catholic College (42 v 11)
• Girls’ volleyball defeated Koble Catholic College (3 v 0)
• Girls’ soccer defeated Kolbe Catholic College (3 v 0)

Well done to all of our students who represented the College. 

Band Camp 2019!

All Band students including Wind, Brass and Percussion players will be having a Band Camp workshop day on Thursday 7 March. We will have a special Guest Conductor, Dr Rob McWilliams, Education Consultant from Yamaha Music.

A highly respected conductor and musician, Dr. McWilliams has worked closely with secondary institutions, tertiary institutions, and professional development providers like ABODA, ASME, and government education departments. His work in the education community on behalf of Yamaha has significantly contributed to increasing quality and participation in music education around Australia.

The camp will include Music Workshops, Master Classes, Sectional Rehearsals, and Games.

Music Excursion

The VCE Music and VET Music classes will be travelling to the City to the Melbourne Recital Centre on Tuesday 19 March to see Top Class. Top Class is a concert featuring the highest achieving VCE Music Performers of the previous year. This concert is sure to provide lots of inspiration for our Music Students.

Year 9 Music Class

Year 9 Music class have been enjoying learning to use all the digital features of our new keyboards, including sampling, recording, layering and accompaniment styles. The students have been working hard to learn new techniques.

Music Ensembles

Rehearsals are off to a great start, with Guitar ensemble held on Tuesdays, Band on Thursdays and Choir on Fridays. Each ensemble is growing rapidly, and new members are welcome. See Mrs Woodruff in the Music Centre to join.

Instrumental Lessons

There has been a 115% increase in the number of students taking Instrumental lessons at Salesian in the last year. We offer every student the opportunity to learn an instrument of their choice.

Specialist music lessons allow students to explore their instrument or voice on a weekly basis either as an enhancement to their classroom music program or purely for enjoyment and personal development. There is the opportunity to take instrumental exams through a number of exam boards as a way of motivating student progress. Any student studying curriculum Music at Years 10 to 12 are expected to take weekly lessons.

Instruments available:

• Brass: Trumpet, Cornet, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba
• Woodwind: Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Saxophone, Bassoon
• Percussion: Drum Kit and Orchestral Percussion
• Keyboard: Piano
• Guitar: Contemporary and Classical (including Bass)
• Voice: Contemporary and Classical
• Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

To enrol in instrumental lessons for 2019 please fill out the form on Schoolbox, click here to view our Schoolbox page.

Our Year 12s have started their Term One Future Planning appointments to discuss their plans for 2020 and beyond and how to best prepare. Parents are most welcome to contact the careers team with any questions or queries.

RMIT will be coming to speak to the Year 12s in Pastoral next Friday to inspire students to look at courses and pathways.

The many volunteering opportunities, always offered at school, are a great way for students to broaden their experience which looks great on their resume. Universities are also looking for students who are involved in the community and to give early offers to students with volunteering.

Parents and students are strongly encouraged to keep up to date with Career News, as many exciting and informative events are advertised here fortnightly.

Being informed and going to events is going to help all students make the best decisions for their pathway and transition.

Look at these events coming up in April:

• 3 - 30: Inside Monash Seminars, Monash University, MD & Biomedical Science (3), Science (4), Criminology (30), Law (30).
• 12: Experience Clever Day, La Trobe University, Melbourne campus. 
• 12: A Day at Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Parkville. Information to be released. 
• 15, 16: Explore Day, Charles Sturt University, Veterinary Science, Animal Science etc., Wagga Wagga. 
• 18: Simulated UCAT Day, NIE, Adara Richmond. 
• 27: Nursing Careers Expo, Australian College of Nursing, Melbourne.

Click here to view our full newsletter which includes the topics below:

• Focus on the Bachelor of Arts
• University scholarships for high achievers
• Have you considered a career in insurance?
• Interesting articles about the future of work
• First year support programs for high school students transitioning to university study
• Careers in Forensic Science
• Free online webinar - Steps to an Australian Apprenticeship
• Focus on Data Science - Computer Science + Maths
• Career articles from Careers With STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

February has traditionally been the end of one farming year and the beginning of the next. It is also the hottest month and the least likely to get rain and, consequently, the least likely to get any plant growth at all. This is why at this time of year stocking numbers are at their lowest and no crops are to be seen. In the past two weeks, a lot of planning has been going into the 2019 production year, Summer weed recommendations, irrigation possibilities, and expected livestock increases. 

Vincent Lakey and his Ag students have been doing a marvelous job cleaning out the disused calf shed so that it can be revamped as the new pig and chook accommodation. Construction of these areas will begin shortly and hopefully we can be fattening pigs and collecting eggs in the next couple of weeks.

The heifers on agistment from northern NSW have been pregnancy tested and the pregnant ones will be returning home while the unpregnant (empty) ones will soon be heading off to a feedlot. These heifers have managed to grow quite considerably during their time on the farm, they have gained around 140 kg and should be well prepared for their trip home.

Later this week we will be interviewing for the scholarship positions and we can’t wait for the programs to get up and running, I think they will not only be great fun but also an amazing experience for this years scholars.

The Department of Education and Training has recently requested that the College provide a statement of addresses, in accordance with the Australian Education Regulation 2013 (Cth). The two attachments below will provide details surrounding the purpose of the collection, the use and disclosure of personal information, what you need to do, and contacts should you require further information. 

2019 Information Collection Notice - For parents/guardians

2019 FAQs around information collection - For parents/guardians

‘Youth United’ is a combined youth group supported by St Mary’s and St Andrews churches in Sunbury. Click here to find out more about this weekly youth group. 

Welcome back to all of our college families for the 2019 school year. The new school year brings with it a sense of excitement, energy (despite the hot and humid weather), a buzz surrounding catching up with people we may not have seen for almost two months, the sharing of stories, meeting and greeting new faces, and hopefully the joy and optimism for whatever we encounter as the year progressively unfolds. Yet as I spoke last week to several new members who have joined our college community in 2019, I am aware that there may also be a bit of nervousness, whenever we encounter new beginnings. Unfamiliar faces, new routines, new things to remember, the feeling of hitting the ground running, and even a bit if tiredness can become part of a new narrative.

As we commence, we can look ahead at calendars and see the wonderful array of events that have been planned and booked and see the busyness of the year that lies ahead. This can bring more buzz and anticipation, but this may caution us somewhat as we may encounter a feeling of being slightly overwhelmed by schedules, conflicting dates, constraints on time and so forth. These are the moments when we need to take a few breaths! 

Our faith life can be no different here. We can be animated by the festive season, and the richness of the liturgical celebrations that we may have experienced with the wonderful proclamation of the birth of Christ, but perhaps this will all too soon be tempered with the coming of the liturgical season of Lent. Looking ahead, our calendar sees Ash Wednesday only a few weeks away on Wednesday 6 March. The shift in liturgical seasons starkly reminds us that time can march on quickly. We are now invited to encounter Christ in the narrative of our Sunday Gospel readings as he commences his ministry in his adult years, gathers his disciples, goes out to the people, faces hostile opposition in numerous areas, and all the while preparing a path for our redemption and salvation. We are invited to be drawn deeply into this narrative in order to enter into a relationship with Christ that is on the one hand universal yet profoundly personal.

We pray together as a College for the prosperity of all members of our college community for 2019. We pray for comfort and compassion in difficult times, we pray for joy in the times that we will celebrate, and we pray that Christs presence with us will continue to remind us that we are a community of faith, hope and love.

In 2019 I am very fortunate to be able to work with a wonderful team: Ms Bridget Harding, our Religious Education Learning Area Leader; Fr Joe Binh Dinh, the College Rector; Fr John Papworth, the Vice Rector; and Sr Rochelle Lamb, our Pastoral Assistant. Together with our College Faith and Justice Captains, Alex Dyer (Yr 12) and Nikita Daicos (Yr 11), we look forward to reporting on and animating the faith life of the College in 2019.

Learning and Teaching for 2019

It has been great to see our students make such an impressive start to the year, with an abundance of enthusiasm and hard work already on display. An especially warm welcome to our Year 7 students and families – I hope the beginning of the year has been as exciting as it has been busy and, at times, overwhelming!

Our big focus in Learning and Teaching this year is building on our tracking of student academic achievement. The purpose of academic tracking is to identify how each student is progressing in terms of learning growth, effort, and organisation. We want to celebrate achievement and consistent effort as well as identify needs for interventions where students are ‘cruising’ below expectations or at risk of falling behind in their learning. In the first instance, these interventions will begin with meeting students themselves before potentially escalating to parent involvement as well. 

To come to these judgments, we will use measures such as assessment results (including any positive or negative shifts in grades), as well as learning habits such as punctuality of work submission, to inform our interventions. We will collate this information at the end of Term One before meeting with relevant students and parents at the start of Term Two. As the year progresses, we hope these meetings help continue to build a positive learning culture at the College.

Year 12 Goal Setting and Mentoring Interviews

Families of Year 12 VCE students will soon be invited, with your child, to a goal setting interview that will mark the beginning of a year-long mentoring program. The interview will examine your child’s Yr 11 performance, which have been used to formulate an ATAR prediction. The purpose of this is to identify strengths and challenges, and to plan for success throughout the year. The person conducting the interview will act as a mentor for your child who will work with them to monitor and refine their goals throughout the year. 

The bulk of interviews will take place on Monday 25 February. Some interviews will take place at a later date due to some mentors being away on Year 7 camp on this day. Full details about how to book interview times will be sent to families soon.

Booklisted Digital Resources

A reminder to those families that have not yet purchased the following booklisted digital resources that this needs to be done as soon as possible. To ensure that students have immediate access to these resources, the College pays for them upfront and then recoups the cost through the booklist.
These resources include:

• Maths Pathways (Years 7-9)

• Science digital resources (Years 8 & 9)

• Edrolo subjects where applicable (Years 10-12)

These items are compulsory class resources and are currently being used in lessons. There are still a large number of accounts where payment has not been finalised. Purchases can be made through www.campion.com.au using N2HT as your access code until March 2nd. After this point, payments will need to be made through the College Finance team. 

Welcome to 2019

This is a busy time of the year for the Wellbeing team. We have been meeting a big cohort of new Year 7s and students across the other levels. Transition can be a dangerous time for all students so we have been attending family meetings and supporting them as much as possible as they find their place in our Salesian Community. There are also a number of students returning following illness as well as those who may have struggled last year, and we will be working with them to develop support plans to make sure 2019 is a better year. 

We are gearing up to deliver our Mental Health and parenting programs again this year in an effort to improve Mental Health literacy and support our parents in their vital and challenging parenting role.

As always, it was very gratifying to see the success of all the 2018 VCE students who we have supported during their time at Salesian College Sunbury. Interestingly, more than sixty of them have had  some support from wellbeing during their secondary schooling; we were very proud to see a large number of those who had received support over the years return to the College to receive an academic award last Friday. 

As always if you have any questions about parenting, mental health, or student support, feel free to email or ring the Wellbeing Team (wellbeing@scr.vic.edu.au).

Wishing you all a calm mind and smiling heart for 2019.

Bernie Monagle, Wellbeing Team Leader

An update from our Deputy Principal - Students, Elaine Dugdale-Walker

A big welcome to all families for 2019.  I hope the year has started well for your daughter/son(s) and that they are feeling keen to do their best and make the most of opportunities on offer at the school. The start of the year appears to have been smooth for all students, with the Year 7s telling us that school has been "awesome". 

As the year begins I would like to clarify the rules re mobile phone use at the College:

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES- MOBILE PHONE POLICY

We understand mobile devices are a common accessory and an accepted part of society. We also understand the importance of students being safe when travelling to and from the College and the role that mobile phones play in this. Unfortunately, with the advancement of mobile phone technology, they are capable of much more than just making a phone call and, as a result, have the potential to be used inappropriately.

Misuse of mobile devices at school can cause disruption to classroom and school routines and interfere with student learning. Through the use of mobile phones, students can also make other students feel unsafe through text bullying, prank calls, and inappropriate emails, as well as invading their privacy through taking and publishing photos, video, and/or voice recordings without permission. 

The students, staff, and members of the College Community all have a right to feel safe and for their privacy to be respected. As such, it is expected that all students understand and adhere to the following guidelines outlining the acceptable use of mobile phones at Salesian College. These guidelines are in line with Child Safety Guidelines and aim to ensure the wellbeing of all members of our community.

The College does not accept responsibility for the security of mobile phones brought to school by students.

ACCEPTABLE USE

• While on College grounds, students’ mobile phones are to be switched off and are to be kept in the student’s locker between 8:30am and 3.20pm.
• These devices are not to be used at recess or lunch.
• Where the student is off school grounds on a College activity (i.e. sporting event, excursion, Retreat, etc.), the mobile phone is to be kept in a school bag.
• If a parent/guardian needs to contact their child during the school day, they can contact the Student Hub and staff will attempt to pass a message on to the student.
• If a student has an urgent and important need to contact their parents/guardians during the school day, there are College phones available for their use. Students should see their House Leader, Homeroom Leader, or go to the Student Hub.

CONSEQUENCES FOR UNACCEPTABLE USE

If students do not adhere to Acceptable Use Guidelines, the following consequences will occur:

Consequence: The mobile phone will be confiscated and given to the Deputy Principal - Students. The phone will be securely held, and a parent/guardian will be asked to come to the College Reception at the Mansion to collect the phone. A parent/guardian will be sent an SMS as soon as is practicable to inform them of this confiscation.

Serious Offence: In the case where the College deems an incident using mobile phones to be serious, the College reserves the right to respond as it deems appropriate (i.e. it may involve the suspension of students, or the matter being referred to the police). In such cases, parents will be notified immediately.  

SEEKING SUPPORT FROM PARENTS/GUARDIANS 

It is time as the year begins to seek support from parents/guardians regarding this Mobile Phone Policy, and any other policy within the College. Whilst we understand that parents/guardians may be inconvenienced with the need to arrange the collection of a son/daughter(s) mobile phone, taking out this frustration on the phone or in person to a member of the College staff is not acceptable. The staff at the College are simply adhering to a policy that has been communicated to all parents/guardians and students in 2018, and again in 2019. Communication in 2018 was in the final letter to all families that was sent with the end-of-year College Reports, and the first newsletter in 2019 outlined the Mobile Phone policy. All students have been spoken to regarding the policy in 2018, as well as at the first Assembly in 2019. It is also outlined in the 2019 College Diary. Students will continue to be reminded of the policy during morning homeroom up to Friday 15 February and via email. The responsibility lies with the student to adhere to the policy, so that the College can continue to focus on the learning, teaching, and wellbeing of students. 

School Photo Day 2019

Next Monday (18 February) is school photo day. Please ensure all students are in full, correct uniform. 

Click the links below to download information about ordering photos. 

Photo Day Information One

Photo Day Information Two 

Welcome to the 2019 school year! We have literally hit the ground running with our Senior Cricket and Netball teams playing against MacKillop College last Friday. Our girls battled hard against an impressive MacKillop team, going down by 9 goals in the netball, whilst our boys had an impressive 40 run win at cricket.

Our two Sports Captains for 2019 will be Kirby Elliott and Chelsea Humphries. Both girls have impressive sporting backgrounds and I know they will be both great role models and leaders for their peers, both on and off the sports fields in 2019. 

This Thursday will see our Year 10 Premier League teams start their six weeks seasons. 2019 will see the introduction of boys netball into Premier League, which will be a new sport for many of the boys. Best of luck to all!

The College Swimming Carnival will take place this Friday at the Sunbury Aquatic Centre. We’re looking forward to once again seeing staff and students getting into the spirit of the day and representing their Houses in a variety of activities, whether that be swimming, playing water volleyball, competing in the ‘Staff/Student Biggest Bomb Competition’ or contributing to the ‘Inflatable Event’, which provided plenty of laughs. Remember that the day isn’t necessarily about winning, it’s about giving your personal best for your House. Is there a House that will manage to knock O’Grady House off after winning the last two swimming carnivals?

Congratulations must also go to Maxine DiBlasi (Year 8), who was recently selected to represent Australia at the Under 14 Girls Futsal Championships in the UK in October. We wish Maxine all the best and look forward to her representing the college in both soccer and futsal this year. 

We’re looking forward to a big year of sport in 2019!

Oustanding Achievement

Over the school holidays, VCAA hosted auditions for their upcoming Top Class showcase of emerging Victorian Talent based on exceptional results in Units 3/4 VCE Dance. James Dillon, a Year 11 student who undertook Year 12 Dance in 2018, was fortunate enough to be invited to audition for Top Class Dance back in mid-January. The auditions took place in Dance Factory Richmond, in which 100 students would audition for one of 36 places in the showcase. The students must achieve an A+ perfect score to be chosen for audition. The 36 students are for VET and VCE dance so there are only approximately 18 places for all VCE students.

Salesian College have been fortunate to have had students audition in all but one year in the VCE Top Class auditions, this is a wonderful achievement as it is rare for schools to ever have a representative. 

Although James wasn't selected, it was a outstanding achievement to gain recognition for his 2018 Dance Solo performances. 

Instrumental Lessons 2019

Would your child like to learn to play an instrument in 2019? At Salesian College we offer lessons on Brass, Woodwind, String, Voice, Percussion, Piano, and Guitar. Learning to play an instrument is a lifelong gift that has many academic and social benefits.

Specialist music lessons allow students to explore their instrument or voice on a weekly basis either as an enhancement to their classroom music program or purely for enjoyment and personal development. There is the opportunity to take instrumental exams through a number of exam boards as a way of motivating student progress. Any student studying curriculum music at Years 10 to 12 are expected to take weekly lessons.

Instruments available include:

Brass: Trumpet, Cornet, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba

Woodwind: Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Saxophone, Bassoon

Percussion: Drum Kit and Orchestral Percussion

Keyboard: Piano

Guitar: Contemporary and Classical (including Bass)

Voice: Contemporary and Classical

Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

To enrol in instrumental lessons for 2019 please fill out the form on Schoolbox.

Why Learn to play an Instrument?

There is now an enormous amount of research that has explored, measured, quantified and illuminated the benefits of music education on cognitive, emotional, social and physical development. Such is the quantity and quality of the research that it is now understood that music education benefits the development of the whole person like no other human activity.

How does it do this? The answer is in the activities that are inherent in reaching the goal of performing a piece of music on an instrument. In order to reach a stage where children can perform a piece in front of an audience, no matter how large or small, they have to master the following skills.

1.     Control of their motor cortex that directs their bodily movements – Getting the right note to come out of a musical instrument at the right time with the right sound is an incredible cognitive accomplishment. This is because the human brain needs to coordinate the motor, visual and auditory cortices to synchronise together to produce just one correct note. Imagine the coordination your child’s brain is achieving after an entire piece or concert.

2.     Control their emotional states and reactions – Rehearsals can be frustrating experiences, mainly because bring a whole piece together is a slow and repetitious process. This is actually an act in learning how to learn slowly and sequentially while controlling our emotional responses when we might get bored or frustrated or want to be anywhere else. This control becomes immeasurably more complicated in a performance situation when you add adrenalin and excitement into the mix. Your child has a huge number of stimuli running around in their bodies while they are up on stage performing, and yet they have to keep their wits about them and keep their emotional responses contained in order to contribute their part to a successful performance.

3.     Staying flexible and responding to unforseen events – “Strange things happen in performance” is a common mantra of any musical conductor as well as “you have to be ready for anything”. If the drumkit player is struggling to restrain his excitement and starts getting faster and faster, the rest of the band needs to get faster with him and adjust on the spot to the new tempo. If the cello section miscount for some reason and come in a bar early, the rest of the ensemble need to make a decision right away – do we follow the cellos or look at the conductor and follow them? The ability to adjust our responses is incredibly difficult, because most of the time we just want to start the piece again. But in performance, that just can’t happen and you child is responding in the moment to a given circumstance. Remember, this also all happens without a verbal instruction being spoken.

These are only three of the cognitive activities that your child is managing right in front of your eyes during this concert. Inside their heads, their brains are working really hard to bring you a polished and seemingly flawless performance. 
Adapted from Dr Anita Collins - educator and researcher in neuroscience and music education.

Welcome back to another vibrant year of Arts at Salesian College

The end of 2018 really exemplified what the Arts is all about at our College, with students taking up every opportunity to showcase their hard work over the semester in every discipline. The junior students had displays of artwork in the new Learning Commons and performed for the community at their Music and Dance nights, and the Year 11 students also showcased their best to their families at our Music, Dance and Drama nights and at the Visual Arts showcase. For our Year 12s, they were able to focus all of their energies on finishing and submitting final folios, art pieces, films and solo performance works. All students certainly found success in their pursuits, with the Arts showing some wonderful VCE results. 

We had many other successes in the last few weeks of 2018, with our first Christmas Play ‘Where is the Love?’ raising $1500 for the St Vincent De Paul Society. Our students were very grateful to have been involved and had the honour of hearing how their donation would help create happy Christmases for children in need in the Sunbury community. Our annual Art Competition winners were also announced, with James Dillon (11, 2018), Seana Garrett (9, 2018), and Mack Borchert-Krohn (8, 2018) taking first prize for Bosco Campus, Mazzarello Campus, and Savio Campus respectively. Lastly, James Mahoney (10, 2018), was accepted into the 2019 Catholic Education Office art competition. Well done to all. 

This year the Arts continues to flourish at Salesian with a wealth of opportunities offered to our students, watch this space!

Career News

Congratulations to our 2018 Year 12s with 83% going on to tertiary study, 11% taking on apprenticeships and traineeship pathways and 6% seeking work.

The best career pathway decisions are made by students who have spent time researching their options and pathways. This can include conversations with family, friends and those in industry, work experience, researching on the web, and visiting tertitary providers. 

All Year 10 and 12 students also have a careers appointment to discuss their ideas and how to best prepare for options with our Careers Advisers. All students and parents are welcome to make an appointments by emailing careers@scr.vic.edu.au 

Year 10 work experience is fast approaching!
All Term 2 requests are due Friday 22 February.

This week’s Career News can be on our Schoolbox page, by clicking here.  

Topics include:

• Become an footy umpire with EDFL

• Applying for medicine? You may need to sit the UCAT.

• Careers in the automotive industry

• Short courses in art and design at RMIT

• AusAppPathways: download the apprenticeship and traineeship app to your phone

• Making the most of school for students who are feeling unmotivated

• Article for parents - making the most of opportunities for your child

• Sports courses - Richmond Football Club/Swinburne University and Carlton Football Club/La Trobe University

• How to write resumes and cover letters

• Organise your Tax File Number

• Work experience options

• What is study science and medicine at Monash like?

• Victoria University - Law and Victoria Police partnership

• Interested in engineering? Join the Engineers Australia Facebook page and take a quiz to find out what branch of engineering you'd be suited to studying

• A day in the life of a global studies student

• Top 10 occupations with the largest projected job growth over the next 5 years

• Dates for your diary

The summer holiday break has been a busy time for the farm and the Ag areas, most of it pretty productive and some, not so. A lot of time has been spent preparing the Agricultural areas for the beginning of the new year, tidying up the Patch, the olives and vineyard, as well as the animal handling areas. The sheep were shorn and the rams have been out with the Corriedale ewes for joining, while the Poll Dorset ewes have been away to another farm for joining and should be back in the next week or so.

Progress is being made to the new chicken coop, with it being relocated down near the woolshed and dairy, which we will hopefully have in operation soon and we can once again become the preferred supply of eggs to the College families. The changes to the Coop will mean that the chickens will be free to roam the farm foraging at leisure and then be safely locked away at night. I am sure that there will be a noticeable improvement in the quality of the eggs because of it.

A new pig enclosure is also underway that will provide greater protection for the pigs from the weather as well as the ability to be cleaned more often and more easily as well as having greater control over their feed intake which should result in a better more marketable product. Last week we also saw the arrival of our first lot of piglets for the year and we look forward to watching them grow out over the coming months.

The stud cattle (Simmentals) are getting ready for a big year of showing, last year there was no stud cattle team so this is a welcome return for them to complement the successful steer showing team that will be running again. 

The agistment heifers (Angus) have been doing very well, the bulls were taken out of the mob at the end of the year and we are waiting to pregnancy test them in a couple of weeks when the pregnant ones will return to their home near Condobolin in New South Wales. The heifers have been very successfully controlled grazed at the back of the farm through the use of single wire hot tapes. This has been a very economical and effective means of controlling the areas available for the cattle to be grazed and for how long.  

We also welcome our new trainee Jazmine Anderson to the team, Jazmine completed Year 12 last year and will be helping out on the farm with particular input to the scholarship program. While this is great news, unfortunately we are losing Ben Roda to another job. Ben has been at the school for five years, two as a student and the last three on the farm. Ben has been extremely dedicated to the farm and has made an enormous contribution to its success. It will leave quite a void when he is gone.

Last Friday at our first whole school assembly, our 2019 Language SAT Captains, Georgia Younan and Kristina Matesevac, introduced two language students to speak about the recent exchange trips that took place late last year. 

Carla Hancock spoke to the school community about her unique and amazing experience on exchange in Japan. Carla, along with four other Japanese students, Hunter Kong, Isaac McKenzie, and Kristina Matesevac, visited Tokyo and Yohohama for three weeks. 

Click here to read Carla's speech about her immersion experience. 

Abigail Hine also addressed our assembly audience to share her experience in Italy. Abigail and Chloe Dredge spent six weeks in Verona and Trento. Abigail described the experience as unforgettable, "something that will stay in your life forever". 

Click here to read Abigail's speech. 

See the gallery below for some images from the trips, and click here for a collage from the Japanese students, and here for one from the Italian students. 

Well done to each of these students for taking part in such an exciting - though daunting - experience. You'll undoubtedly have these memories for a lifetime. 

Secondary School Vaccinations in 2019

The Secondary School Vaccine Program offers free vaccines to Year 7 and 10 students. These vaccines provide protection against: 

• Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) – one dose for year 7 students

• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) – two doses for year 7 students

• Meningococcal A,C,W,Y – one dose for year 10 students 

Parents/guardians of Year 7 and 10 students should look out for the vaccine consent card booklet coming home from school with your child. You need to read the information, complete, and return the card regardless of whether your child is being vaccinated at school.

The Hume City Council immunisation service may contact you about the Secondary School Vaccine Program. Schools are authorised to provide basic parent/guardian contact details to local councils for this purpose. Contact the school by 28 February 2019 if you do not want your contact details given to the Hume City Council immunisation service. 

To learn more about the Secondary School Vaccine Program, the vaccines, the diseases they protect against, or how you can prepare your child for vaccination, go to betterhealth.vic.gov.au

Additionally, the Commonwealth Government is funding vaccinations for all children under 20 years of age who missed any scheduled vaccines, including a catch-up program for Meningococcal ACWY vaccine for adolescents aged 15-19 years of age who have not already received the vaccine in school. If students have missed vaccines, either in childhood or adolescence, and require catch-up vaccines, they should speak with their immunisation provider (i.e. local council or GP).

The conveyance allowance is a form of financial assistance for parents/carers to transport children to and from school in rural and regional Victoria. Allowances are available for public transport, private car and private bus travel.

In some locations, students are unable to access free school buses. In these instances, students may receive a conveyance allowance to assist with travel costs. 

To be eligible a student must:

• Attend their closest government or non-government school/campus, appropriate to their year level, at which admission is permissible, and which is located outside the Melbourne metropolitan conveyance boundary.
• Reside 4.8km or more by the shortest practicable route from that school/campus attended (government and non-government students).

Families who wish to apply for this allowance are required to collect a Conveyance Allowance Application form from the College Reception. Completed forms need to be returned to the College prior to Monday 5 March.

If you have any queries regarding the conveyance allowance, contact Melody Cuthbert at the College on 9744 0000.

Please note that students living in the Hillside/Sydenham areas are not eligible for this allowance.

Paul Hillas
Business Manager

Next Monday (18 February) is school photo day. Please ensure all students are in full, correct uniform. 

Click the links below to download information about ordering photos. 

Photo Day Information One (ordering photos)

Photo Day Information Two (sibling photos)

This coming Sunday we commence Advent. We pray that this Advent will be a time of true spiritual awakening and renewal, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the World - Jesus Christ! Few statements carry as much emotion as this one. 

With the arrival of Advent, we wait in further anticipation, with joy and longing, for the birth of Jesus. Our Liturgical narrative during Advent will beautifully unpack this story. We are called to listen to and reflect on the significance of the birth of Christ for our own lives.

I have often commented to students, that we find God in surprising moments of grace and in moments when we least expect, and we also find God in the experiences that call for patient waiting and trust.

Waiting is not the strong suit of many of us in our hurry-up culture. Everything is urgent. Waiting and being patient is foreign to people who expect quick relief, easy answers, solutions in a moment’s notice, and simply feel that they don’t have the time.

We can struggle to guard Advent because popular culture short-circuits this season of waiting and hope. We are tempted to go directly to celebrating Christmas without getting in touch with the part of ourselves that is longing, hoping, and trusting. And that longing, hoping and trusting that Christ enters our lives in a way that profoundly impacts us, is part of the journey through Advent we are all called to be open to. 

Waiting is also difficult because we’re forced to admit that we are not in control - God is. But through prayer, reflection, contemplation and the grace of God, we hope that Advent draws us to our faith and to see a more deeper meaning for the joy of Christmas.

Welcome to 2019!

Our Step Up program is well underway and it has been great to see so many of our students truly ‘stepping up’ in their new 2019 classes. We hope that the experience has our students excited and confident about the year ahead.

As 2018 draws to a close, we would like to thank all of our students, parents, and Salesian staff for a great year. In particular, we thank our Campus Directors, Stephanie Parisi, Narelle Stone, and Matthew Hurley, as well as the members of the Curriculum and Learning & Teaching teams who have supported us throughout the year. We appreciate their hard work and dedication towards putting the needs of our students at the centre of everything we do.

Subject Changes for 2019

As we approach the end of Step Up, applications for subject changes have now closed. Please note that no subject change applications will be accepted until the end of Semester One. This is to allow for continuity in our teaching programs.

Booklists

A reminder that physical copies of booklists have now been distributed to all students and digital versions are available by clicking the links below:

Savio 2019 Booklist: Year 7, Year 8

Mazzarello 2019 Booklist: Year 9

Bosco 2019 Booklist: Year 10, VCE

For VCE Geography and Literature students, please note that there is a new edition of the textbook in these subjects. The online ordering form has been updated but if you are purchasing texts elsewhere, please ensure you purchase the edition listed on the Campion site rather than in the printed version of the booklist.

Edrolo

For many Year 11 and 12 subjects, we have booklisted an online resource called Edrolo. Edrolo is a comprehensive, online, interactive video and exam simulation resource for Year 11 and 12 students. It is a compulsory purchase for all students. We will use Edrolo as a teaching and learning tool to further enhance what our teachers and students are doing day-to-day, including:

• holiday homework;
• pre-class work;
• post-class consolidation;
• assessment preparation; and
• exam revision.

This is a great resource and we encourage you to ask your child about how they are utilising it throughout the year. You can see Edrolo in action by clicking here.

Year 10 Work Experience

Work experience is the short-term placement of secondary school students with employers to provide insights into the industry and the workplace in which they are located. It provides students with the valuable opportunity to:

• develop employability skills;
• explore possible career options;
• understand employer expectations; and
• increase their self-understanding, maturity, independence and self-confidence.

If your child is in Year 10 and interested in completing a work experience placement, the summer break is a great time to start making enquiries with possible host workplaces. Students are invited to find placements within the following periods and our fantastic Careers team are on hand to assist with the process:

Term 2 (29th April to 24th May)
OR
Term 3 (5th August to 20th September)

During Term 3 and 4, some of our Year 7 students were selected to participate in the Secret Agent Society program. The program “decodes” the challenges young people face around socialising and also navigating through those tricky emotions like anger and anxiety.

Within the program, Students had the opportunity to discuss relevant social situations and other challenges that may lead to feeling anxious or angry.

Well done to our newest graduates! 

With the school year drawing to a close, the Sports calendar is still busy. Congratulations to our Year 8 cohort and coaches, who have recently been announced winners of the ‘SACCSS Year 8 Premier League Aggregate’. This is awarded to the most successful of the 12 SACCSS Schools across the eight different sports, which is a tremendous achievement. This is the second year in a row that the year level have won the aggregate.

Well done to our Year 8 girls who represented the College at last Thursday’s Premier League Netball Grand Final. The Grand Final was a rematch of last year’s Grand Final against MacKillop, where the girls lost in a golden goal shootout. Unfortunately, after a slow start, there was too much work to do and despite winning the last three quarters; our girls lost the match by six goals.  

Due to inclement weather predicted for last Thursday, the Year 8 Boys Cricket Grand Final has been rescheduled for today (Tuesday) at Arnold’s Creek in Melton. We wish the boys all the best!

At our College Awards Ceremony last Friday, we recognised our female and male ‘Sportsperson of the Year’. Congratulations to both Emma Makhlouta (Naughton, Year 12) and Mitch Bruce (O’Grady, Year 10) who received the awards.

See below for an overview of their contribution to Sport at the College in 2018:

Emma Makhlouta

• Captain and vital player in our Senior Girls Soccer Premiership. This was Salesians first ever Senior Soccer Premiership.
• A key player in our Senior Girls Futsal Team, which made the Semi-Finals for the first time. 
• Represented the College in our Senior Girls AFL Team.

Mitchell Bruce

• Won the Intermediate SACCSS Cross Country out of 107 runners.
• Finished 2nd Overall in Salesian House Cross Country out of 353 runners.
• Represented SACCSS in the Victorian All Schools Swim Meet after outstanding performances at the SACCSS Swimming Carnival.
• Competed at the SACCSS Athletics Carnival
• Played in the following teams:
• Senior Soccer Team
• Yr 10 Soccer Team
• Intermediate Futsal Team
• Intermediate Tennis Team
• Participating in the upcoming Great Vic Bike Ride.

We look forward to Thursday’s SACCSS Awards lunch, where Emma and Mitch, along with 18 other invited students, will have the opportunity to be recognised for their contributions to Sport for the College. 

Instrumental Lessons 2019

Would your child like to learn to play an instrument in 2019? At Salesian College we offer lessons on Brass, Woodwind, String, Voice, Percussion, Piano, and Guitar. Learning to play an instrument is a lifelong gift that has many academic and social benefits.

Specialist music lessons allow students to explore their instrument or voice on a weekly basis either as an enhancement to their classroom music program or purely for enjoyment and personal development. There is the opportunity to take instrumental exams through a number of exam boards as a way of motivating student progress. Any student studying curriculum Music at Years 10 to 12 are expected to take weekly lessons.

Instruments available:

Brass: Trumpet, Cornet, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba

Woodwind: Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Saxophone, Bassoon

Percussion: Drum Kit and Orchestral Percussion

Keyboard: Piano

Guitar: Contemporary and Classical (including Bass)

Voice: Contemporary and Classical

Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

To enrol in instrumental lessons for 2019 please fill out the form on our Performing Arts Schoolbox Page.

Celebration of Excellence Performance

Our College Band and VCE Music class both performed at the Celebration of Excellence. The College band consists of an impressive 70 students playing Woodwind, Brass, Percussion and Bass Guitar instruments. The band entertained guests as they arrived, and then played two songs as part of the ceremony.

Some members of the VCE Music class were selected to perform a special song at the awards day, "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz. The students gave an emotional and moving performance. Congratulations to all the perfermormers and the Arts awards winner for 2018, Isaac McKenzie. Congratulations to the Arts SAT Captains for 2018, Isaac McKenzie and Ebony Carlin.

Step Up Performing Arts Classes

Step Up has begun with 2019 classes starting. We have record numbers of students choosing to study Music, Dance and Drama as an elective subject and students have eagerly begun preparing for performances next year.

How to access Results and ATAR

Year 12 students & Year 11 students who completed a Unit 3 & 4 subject may REGISTER NOW for the fastest access to results once they are released and choose a secure password.

Registration is open now by clicking here, or by using the Results and ATAR App for Android and Apple phones.

To register, students need to confirm their details including their VCE student number, and provide a private email address. The secure password must be at least 8 characters containing three of the following groups: Uppercase letter (A-Z), Lowercase letter (a-z), Numeral (0-9), Special character (()~`#$*&@^).

Results will be released on Friday 14 December 2018 at 7am.
If you have registered, you will be able to access your VCE results using one of the methods below:

Our Careers staff will be available Friday 14th December, 9am – 3pm for Change of Preference Counselling. 

Please phone 9744 0031 or email careers@scr.vic.edu.au for an appointment

Students are also advised to go to Uni/TAFE Change of Preference Events or phone them on their hotlines.

Final Change of Preference deadline is 12pm Wednesday 19 December.                                            

Year 10 Step Up

Year 10 Step Up students have begun undertaking the Morrisby Online Vocational Assessment. This tool combines a student’s abilities, interests, and personality to suggest suitable careers. A parent night will be held in March 2019 to explain the results, and for students to receive their individual report. More information on the Morrisby can be found by scrolling down to the Morrisby Online section on our Schoolbox Page.

Job Opportunities for Year 12 Graduates

• Traineeships here at the College: Sports Assistant and Technology (Food, Tech, Wood, Textiles). Assistants earn money while gaining your business qualification. Email hr@scr.vic.edu.au if interested.
• Western Water - full-time 1 year Business Traineeships in Administration.
• Positions available in Customer Service/Administration and in-field Auditing.
• Apprenticeships also available in Engineering & Mechanics BMW – Call Julie Stephens on 0409 859 969 for more information.

Click here to visit our Schoolbox Page and read other Career Newsletter articles on the following topics:

• Dates for your diary
• Richmond Institute of Sports Leadership
• Carlton College of Sport
• Work experience at the Australian Defence Force
• Victorian College of Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Precinct online blog
• Robertson Scholars Leadership Program
• New national higher education course search website
• Where to study physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy

Attending their first event as our 2019 College Captains, Michaela Frantz and Joshua de Jonge have been in South Australia this past weekend with Mr Brockhus attending a School Captains Conference. Both Josh and Michaela have shared a short reflection from the weekend below. 

"Over the past three days, both Michaela and I have been in Gawler, a town an hour out of Adelaide. Before arriving we were both excited yet nervous for what was to come, what activities we were going to be doing, and how we would mix with the other captains. Within 48 hours we made incredible friendships with amazing people and while writing this on the bus to the airport we are both smiling in reflection, though a bit sad at having to leave. We have made sure to all stay in touch and maintain connection."

Josh de Jonge

"Josh and I were able to bond with the likeminded captains through a series of activities including presentations about our school, leadership events, a tour of Adelaide Oval, an amazing race around Adelaide, plus many more. It was eye opening to see how diverse, yet similar, each of the Salesian schools were, and how overall we share the common values of kindness, respect, and love. It was such a rewarding experience where we all came away with new ideas and initiatives that we will work hard to implement. There is no doubt in my mind that we have made special bonds with colleagues – and friends – that will last a very long time."

Michaela Frantz

Did you know that Salesian College Sunbury have private buses that service the following towns:

• Gisborne

• New Gisborne

• Gisborne South

• Macedon

• Mount Macedon

• Woodend

• Riddells Creek

• Romsey

• ...and those areas in between!

2019 Applications are open now for travel on the private bus service. The service caters for Salesian students and must be submitted as soon as possible.

Please contact Marylou Jones (mjones@scr.vic.edu.au), Bus Coordinator, for further details.

Important Dates for end of 2018/beginning of 2019

Wednesday 5 December 2018 - Last day of school for all students, 3pm finish

Friday 1 February 2019 - Year 7, 10, and 12 students return

Monday 4 February 2019 - All students return

Stay tuned for details around book collection, Uniform Shop trading hours, and any other important dates: updates will be posted to Schoolbox. 

Yesterday our students participated in a Remembrance Service at school to commemorate the Centenary of Armistice. Sunday 11 November 2018 marked 100 years since the day the armistice was signed to end World War One. 

Together, we took the time to remember and show gratitude to those who fought for our freedom, and those who made the supreme sacrifice, during the First World War. 

Some photos from the service can be seen in the gallery at the bottom of the page. 

Prayer of Remembrance

We remember with thanksgiving those who made the supreme sacrifice for us in time of war. We pray that the offering of their lives may not have been in vain. 

Today we dedicate ourselves to the cause of justice, freedom, and peace; and for the wisdom and strength to build a better world. 

Last week, as part of the project based learning (PBL) program in English & Humanities, Year 7 students facilitated Book Week. Each group was challenged to run a workshop or activity in the Ciantar Learning Commons that promoted the importance of reading.

After much planning and preparation, the final products were very creative and succeeded in starting a school-wide conversation about reading.

Some of the events included:

• A board game promoting the use of reading strategies, such as visualisation and summarising
• Book related games, such as Celebrity Heads, Kahoot, and Heads Up
• A Book Face Competition
• A matching service linking students to their perfect book
• Book reviews

To conclude the week, one PBL group set a Salesian College record with the most people reading at once in a set place. This was held on the Mansion Lawns, with 71 students and staff in attendance; all reading consistently for a mimum of three minutes. 

It was an exciting week of events and the students managed the challenge with maturity and enthusiasm. Congratulations to all involved. 

You are invited to join us for our end-of-year College Production, Where is the love?

The show is an original arrangement featuring some original work and some excerpts from known stories including The Grinch. 

It includes musical and comedic elements and is suitable for all ages! 

Ticket prices are $10 for students/children and $15 for adults - all proceeds will go to the St Vincent's Christmas Appeal. 

The production will be held in the Mansion Dining Room, at Salesian College Sunbury.
Friday 30 November, from 7pm (expected to finish at approximately 8:30pm).

Tickets are strictly limited, so get in quick! Click here to book your tickets now.

I wrote the following reflection to our staff last week, but I soon realised the application is relevant to most of us, especially busy family life. This time of year, is largely the antithesis of silence or a slowing down. We are bombarded with stimuli overload, professionally, personally and in other dimensions of our lives. We come to accept these things to be fact. But what happens when these things overshadow some of the more important things we should be saying or doing as a matter of our everyday interactions with our families, colleagues, friends, and loves ones? The lines can get blurred very quickly. Before too long, we can easily find ourselves making excuses not to stop and say "hello" to someone for even a few minutes. 

We also need to find time to reflect, even in our busyness, on what matters; it’s important to find time to attending to our spiritual/faith needs just as much as we need time to reflect on our relationships with others. 

I say this because the liturgical season of Advent is just around the corner. If we stay too busy or too preoccupied with irrelevant and trivial matters during Advent, we will not be prepared for Christmas. In fact, by the time Christmas gets here we may be too overwhelmed, too tired, and stressed out to enter deep into the gift of the birth of Christ. The true meaning of the season of preparation for Christmas that we call Advent, is about reflection, preparation, anticipation, waiting, and joyful celebration.

We also need silence to grow in the spiritual life. Now is the time to plan a period of silence each day throughout Advent. 5-10 minutes away from devices, the frenetic buzz of work, the noise of traffic, the bustle of the gym, the craziness of the supermarket, or any other busy activity. Find time to stop and be still, stop and enter a silent space.

The reflection, the silence, and the stillness are aspects of the Advent season. We also need to spend time praying or contemplating as well. 

Advent could be a time to find those moments when we ‘ground ourselves’ in what matters the most and what is inherently important - our relationships with others, Christ, and our own wellbeing.  A few moments of silence each day may help us tune into these things.

Step Up Program for 2019

All students have now been emailed a list of their elective subjects for 2019 in preparation for the beginning of our Step Up program, which begins on Tuesday 20 November. This involves all students from Years 7-11 moving into their 2019 classes. The aim of the program is to give students a head start on their 2018 classes, to learn their timetable, and to meet their teachers. This program means that the end of year period is utilised for worthwhile learning activities, and the beginning of next year is smooth. 

Student timetables will be uploaded to Schoolbox on Friday 16 November. Normal classes are suspended for this day to allow for the College awards morning as well as providing an opportunity for homeroom, year level, and house assemblies, so that students can farewell their current homeroom teacher and, for some students, their campus, before moving into the 2019 timetable. 

And a reminder that Monday 19 November is a student-free day to enable teachers to finalise 2018 and prepare for Step Up classes.

Subject Change Requests

Before and during Step Up, students will have an opportunity to request subject changes. Not all subject changes will be possible due to classes being full or clashes between other subjects. Applications must be made with the appropriate form which has been emailed to all students and is available from the relevant campus assistant, and must include a parent/guardian signature. VCE students must also consult a careers advisor before submitting their application. The deadline for applications is Friday 23 November. Please be aware that no further changes can be made after this date until the end of Semester One, 2019. 

Booklists

Because students will not have their textbooks or book-listed resources before Step Up, staff will be working on the premise that students will bring their device and basic stationery to classes. Paper copies of the 2019 book lists have been distributed to students in Years 7-9 and will be distributed to Year 10 and 11 students after exams. Digital versions of the book lists are located on the College website on each Campus page. Click the links below to view. 

Savio Campus

Mazzarello Campus

Bosco Campus

Getting Ready for Step Up - November 19

As we head into Step Up Week, families may need to be aware that every student copes with this transition differently. Some are excited and eager to begin the next year level, others feel anxious and apprehensive. At times the new year level will have different expectations and requirements so it is really important for students to listen in homeroom, read the daily news on Schoolbox and regularly check their emails. One significant difference for students going into Year 10 is that they do not wear their PE uniform to school when they have HPE/Health or Outdoor Education - students wear full summer uniform to school and get changed during the class time - this is very different to Year 9. Feel free to contact your child’s homeroom leader if you have any concerns. 

Introducing the new College Leaders for 2019

Joshua De Jonge and Michaela Frantz, our 2019 College Captains, along with Kyle Anderson and Jessica Clarke, 2019 Bosco Captains, represented Salesian College on Sunbury 11 November at the Sunbury RSL Commemoration Service.

Webinar: Preparing for High School

A great opportunity is on offer to parents who have a child starting into Year 7 in 2019 or beyond.

Tuesday 27 November, 7:30pm - 8:30pm

Beginning the journey of high school is a time of great excitement and anticipation for many children, yet also a source of great apprehension for countless others. The good news is that there is a lot you can do as a parent to help prepare your child for this next step of their school journey.

In this webinar popular parenting educator, author, and secondary teacher, Sharon Witt, will share a bag full of practical strategies guaranteed to remove the stress and ensure a smooth transition to secondary school.

In this webinar you’ll learn:

• What to say and what not to say to your young person about high school
• Great organisational tips to prevent your young person being overwhelmed in the first weeks and months of school
• How to set up a work space at home to meet the needs of a secondary school student
• What to look out for if your child is not coping
• Great tips to keep you in the communication loop with your new school

Click here to sign up for the Webinar

Congratulations to our eight Year 8 Premier League teams that have represented the College with great pride over the last seven rounds of competition.

Congratulations also to our Netball, Cricket, and Boys and Girls Volleyball teams who finished on top of the ladder and undefeated in the Northern Conference and will now play in this Thursday’s Premier League Semi Finals against the Western Conference for a spot in next week’s Grand Final.

For details about venues and start times, please head to the Year 8 Premier League section on our Sport Schoolbox page.

Best of luck to all! 

VET Music Exam 

On Tuesday 30 October, the VET music band went to Roxburgh College for their Year 12 exam. The day started out at school with extensive rehearsal from 9:00 until 10:20am. Afterwards, we headed to Roxburgh College. The exams were held in their auditorium which had been set up with lights and boosted sound. After being introduced to the examiners, the exam commenced. The exam required a setting to be chosen and created, so our students chose a wedding scene and performed five songs that would be suited to being performed at a wedding. The songs ranged from upbeat joyous songs as well as some slow romantic ones. The total performance time was twenty minutes. 

Well done to all the students who performed. 

St Anne's Art Show Band Performance

The Salesian Concert Band performed at St Anne's Art Show on the Wednesday 31 October. Parents and friends enjoyed watching our Concert band perform. It was a great opportunity to build community spirit and help St Anne's start an instrumental music program. 

Dance and Music Showcase

The Year 7-9 Dance and Music students held a performance last Thursday 8 November in the Ballroom to showcase the work they have been doing in their classes this semester. The students prepared group Dances and Songs to perform for parents and friends. Thank you to everyone who attended the show. 

Instrumental Lessons 2019

Would your child like to learn to play an instrument in 2019? At Salesian College we offer lessons on Brass, Woodwind, String, Voice, Percussion, Piano, and Guitar. Learning to play an instrument is a lifelong gift that has many academic and social benefits.

Specialist music lessons allow students to explore their instrument or voice on a weekly basis either as an enhancement to their classroom music program or purely for enjoyment and personal development. There is the opportunity to take instrumental exams through a number of exam boards as a way of motivating student progress. Any student studying curriculum Music at Years 10 to 12 are expected to take weekly lessons.

Instruments available:

Brass: Trumpet, Cornet, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba

Woodwind: Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Saxophone, Bassoon

Percussion: Drum Kit and Orchestral Percussion

Keyboard: Piano

Guitar: Contemporary and Classical (including Bass)

Voice: Contemporary and Classical

Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

To enrol in instrumental lessons for 2019, please fill out the form on our Performing Arts Schoolbox Page.

Performing Arts Showcase Concert 8 November

The Year 7, 8 and 9 Music and Dance students performed a concert showcasing their work in class this semester. The Music students performed as a Concert band and entertained the crowd with a number of songs including Funky Town and Raiders of the Lost Ark March. The Year 9 Music class had formed Rock band and chosen a song to arrange, rehearse, and perform. There was a range of songs in different styles showing the students hard work and progress in Music this semester. The Year 7 and 8 Dance students performed whole class Dance items as well as small group performances, showcasing their dedication and commitment to dance this semester. We were also treated to Senior dance solo performances from VCE dance students who had recently completed their dance exam, including James Dillon.

Congratulations to all the students who performed and thank you to Mary-Lou Bond, Rani Valencich, Dennis Berto, Donna Cicero, Gerard Walker and Mackenzie Anderson who assisted on the night and to JayCees catering for providing delicious food at the event.

This week’s topics include:

• Mazzarello students learning about careers
• Local job opportunities
• Why all students need a Tax File Number (TFN)
• Increasing the chance of gaining employment after university
• Accounting careers
• Upcoming dates

Careers in the Curriculum

Careers Education at Salesian aims to develop students in three ways: self-awareness and self-development, careers exploration, and career management. 

Over the last three weeks Mazzarello Year 9 students were presented with the future outlook of careers and technology. All students completed learning activities using our Schoolbox Careers Portal to complete self-awareness and job interest tests and quizzes, a personal Career Action Plan summary of their achievements and goals, career investigation, and a Resume and Cover Letter. Parents can see the learning activities and access resources by clicking here.

Job Opportunities

• Junior Florist apprenticeship opportunity
  Gisborne Cottage Flowers are looking for a full-time Junior Apprentice Florist. Weekday and weekend work. If you are artistic and can see yourself working in floristry, send in your resume via email to gisbornecottageflowers@outlook.com Contact: Hazel, 5428 4199 website: https://www.gisbornecottageflowers.com.au/ Facebook: /GisborneCottageFlorist/
• Yr 12 Graduates
  Western Water - Full-time, one year Business Traineeships in Administration. Positions available in customer service/admin and in-field auditing. Apprenticeships also available in Engineering and Mechanics BMW - Call Julie Stephens 0409 859 969.
• AFL Sportsready - Two traineeships available here at the school – Sports Assisitant & Arts Assistant
• First year Shopfitting Apprenticeship available with Mattlac in Tullamarine -  employer is specifically interested in a Salesian graduate. Click here for more information. 

Casual work for Bosco students

• Sunbury hairdresser looking for Casual salon assistant for upcoming busy period until Christmas. Possibility of future apprenticeship. Call Melanie Bartells 0433 109 309
• Sunbury photography business looking for a casual team member to work in customer service, post-photo processing, setting up, sales and pack up. Saturday work available. You need to be a team player with good customer service skills. To apply, send your resume to paul@paulsimpsonphotography.com.au ASAP. 
• The Epicurean @ Emu Bottom have current vacancies for Front Of House staff, preferably with previous hospitality experience and RSA in particular a PLUS. Email your resume to Alex  alex@theepicurean.com.au

Click here for further Career News articles

Year 7 Applied Mathematics is an elective class for strong mathematics students who are ready for a challenge. In class, students have been exposed to the many career opportunities in mathematics and they work to tackle real-life Mathematics problems. 

For their major project, students were given the challenge to design a water theme park for Salesian College Sunbury using algebra, based on a design brief. Once completed, they presented their plans and the Mathematics behind it to Mr Brockhus for approval and answered all of his questions. 

Congratulations to all the students involved for taking up the challenge and for presenting creative maps of their theme parks using complicated mathematics. 

Some photos from the class are in the gallery below.

Upcoming Parent event by Hume City Council

'Positive Relationships, Resilient Families' is brough to you by Hume City Council. 
Multiple sessions are being held over the next few months; all sessions are free but bookings are essential. 

Click here for more information, and visit hume.vic.gov.au/parenting to book tickets. 

Salesian College Sunbury Alumni Catch Up

On Saturday 24 November, all alumni of Salesian College Sunbury are invited to attend and open Alumni Reunion in the College Mansion from 11am to 1pm. 

RSVP to College Reception, 9744 0000.

Come along and catch up with some of your old classmates! 

The Magic Hour - Mount Players Theatre Company

The Mountview Theatre is hosting a local performer's show, The Magic Hour, on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 November.

For more information, click here. 

To book tickets, click here. 

As we begin the month of November, it is a time traditionally set aside by Catholics to remember both the Saints and those who have died. "All Saints Day" (1 November) and "All Souls Day" (2 November) set the tone for the month in our Liturgical calendar, prior to our entrance into the Liturgical season of Advent. The pain of death and loss touches all people, a point that should never be forgotten.

The Saints have long been considered our ancestors and friends in our Catholic tradition. They accepted the godly realism of their lives, shared it with others on Earth, and continue to do so now. We believe that they "intercede" for us here below, and in a special way, they are linked with us in what we call "the communion of Saints."

All Souls Day and the commemoration of the dead throughout the month of November is a source of consolation and hope for each of us. It is dedicated to the memory, not just of the Saints but also to all the faithful departed. For Christians and Catholics, they are already within reach of eternal life, and the loving arms of Jesus. 

No matter what your religious convictions are, during this month we are called to remember those close to us who have passed. We are invited to seek comfort and consolation from those around us. We are invited never to lose memories. 

We pray to God that in our times of anguish and grief, and despair and isolation that may be experienced when we lose someone who is loved, that His warm embrace is felt and His healing presence is known.

Year 7 & 8 Oratory Program

The Oratory Program at Salesian College Sunbury recognises the need to challenge those high achieving students who will benefit from extension in their academic program. Students in the program study their core subjects (Religious Education, English, Humanities, Mathematics, Science, and Health and Physical Education) together, with an emphasis on going ‘deeper’ into the concepts and skills in these subjects. It is an excellent opportunity for like-minded students to learn with and from each other in an academically challenging environment.

We are currently interviewing students and their families who have been invited to join the Year 7 Oratory class of 2019, as well as some students to join the Year 8 class next year. Invitations are based on consistent academic performance, a demonstrated willingness to seek extension, and teacher recommendations (either primary school teachers or Year 7 teachers).

Here is a report from Iris Mentor, a member of the Year 7 Oratory class this year.

Hey Year Sevens of 2019! 

My name is Iris, and I have been asked to write a little bit about Oratory for you. 

In my opinion, Oratory is wonderful. I think that it was the best thing I ever could have done for my education. See, in primary school, Maths was never my strong subject. My English, on the other hand, was too good for most of the class. So, English for me was sometimes very boring for all of the repetitive nature involved. 

When I applied for Salesian and got accepted, it was then that we found out about this “Oratory Program” that was being started up. The purpose of the class was simple- helping students to actually learn things at a rate that would test them. My parents then signed me up, because they knew how much I frustration I harboured at not being able to learn at my rate, as opposed to everybody else’s. 

Since joining Oratory, my English skills have soared, and (to my astonishment and surprise) my Math skills have improved as well! Oratory has sort of become my (albeit sometimes challenging) family, and I could not have wished for a better one. 

BOOST Enrichment

Due to the progression of the Oratory program into Year 8 next year, this will be offered in the future to those who would have in the past been selected for BOOST Enrichment. Therefore, in 2019, we will no longer run a BOOST Enrichment program at the College. 

BOOST

In 2019, in response to changing demands and meeting students’ needs we are going to be running a full literacy program in Year 7 BOOST. BOOST has always been made up of two periods per cycle of literacy and one period of numeracy but will become three periods of literacy support in the new system. With our increased numeracy results, our Maths Pathways program and more targeted teaching in Maths we have decided to focus solely on developing literacy skills in the future. 

This does not apply to students currently in the BOOST program and continuing into Year 8 next year – the current system will still apply to them. Dedicated semester-based Literacy and Numeracy electives will continue to be offered in Year 7s on an invitation basis based on diagnosed need. 

Year 10 & 11 Exam Timetable

Please click here to download the end of year timetable.  

The last day of Year 10 and 11 classes is Thursday 1 November and the day concludes at the normal time of 3.20pm. The first exams begin at 9.00am on Friday 2 November with English.

We expect all Year 10 and 11 students to sit their exams. If they have three exams scheduled for the same day, they can see Ms Carabott to reschedule one exam. Two exams on the same day is not unusual, and we would expect students to sit both. Exam results will be posted on Schoolbox by the end of term. Please make sure your child has their student ID card and the appropriate equipment for all exams. They cannot take phones or electronic devices into the exam room, so it’s best if they leave these things at home on days of the exam. Mobile phones will be collected and stored for them if they require, they must be turned off. 

Twice a year, our Wellbeing Team at the College run a course for parents called Tuning in to Teens. This week the course begins for its second run in 2018 and we’re looking forward to working with a new group of parents for the next six weeks.

The program runs in the evening and looks at how to respond to the challenging emotions and behaviours we see displayed in young people. Parents often feel like their child turns into a different person when they hit puberty, and can find themselves thinking “Who is this person? They’re nothing like that friendly, grateful child I had in primary school!”

Young people, too, struggle to work out how to manage the changes in their body, hearts and minds. Being a teenager has never been more challenging, and the strong emotions of adolescence can really take over their life.

Tuning in to Teens supports parents to ‘decipher’ what their teenager’s behaviours are really communicating to them. A teenager with ‘attitude’ becomes a young person feeling stuck, alone, judged or misunderstood. A teenager who is ‘defiant’ becomes a young person desperate for independence. The course teaches parents how to start conversations with their teenager to open up communication, connectedness and understanding.

If this program sounds like something you’d be interested in, please contact Laura Spencer (lspencer@scr.vic.edu.au).

FR. TERRY JENNINGS SHIELD 

Congratulations to our First XI Cricket team, who hosted Salesian Chadstone today and won the match, retaining the Fr. Terry Jennings Shield.

Salesian Sunbury won the toss and elected to bat in great conditions. We managed to get off to a flying start, with Riley Vernon and Emerson White posting an 83 run opening partnership off the first nine overs. The runs continued to tick over steadily until Luke Shoesmith entered the crease and whacked 77 runs off 27 balls, which took us to 5/212 off our 20 overs. With the ball, we managed to share the wickets around and keep Salesian Chadstone to 9/131 of their 20 overs. Flynn Lakey and Anzour Yousuf were the multiple wicket takers. We look forward to heading over the Salesian Chadstone next year to try to retain the shield again. 

FR. PAPWORTH CUP

Congratulations to O'Grady House and House Captains, Daisy Shoebridge and Charlie Greenwood, who were announced as the winners of this year's Fr Papworth Cup at last week's Year 12 final assembly. 

To read more about the Papworth Cup and the detailed results, click here. 

Please see the Sports Page on School Box for further information and sporting updates. 

St Anne's Art Show Band Performance

The Salesian Concert Band will perform at St Anne's Art Show on Wednesday 31 October at 3:45pm. Parents and friends are warmly invited to St Anne's Primary School to watch the performance. The Band have been working hard to learn new work and rehearse together every week. Thanks to Sarah Holden, Donna Cicero and Ian Hocking who work with the band at rehearsals.

Dance and Music Showcase

The Year 7-9 Dance and Music students will hold a performance on Thursday 8 November at 6:30pm in the Ballroom (College Mansion) to showcase the work they have been doing in their classes this semester. The students have been preparing group dances and songs to perform for parents and friends. All are welcome to attend the show.

To stay up to date with all the latest Performing Arts news please see our Schoolbox page. 

Heidi Woodruff, Performing Arts Coordinator

VCE Visual Arts Exhibition

The Salesian College Visual Arts department is proud to present the VCE Visual Arts Exhibition, an exhibition of Year 11 & 12 VCE Media, Studio Arts, and Visual Communication Design. Each year we are astounded by the creative results of our Visual Art students. We are fortunate to be able to work with all manner of materials, techniques, and production process. This year we have students working with wood, printmaking, drawing, watercolour, painting, photography, film, print, and several digital media techniques. The works will be on display during school hours, finishing Friday 2 November, in the SAGE Gallery. 

Some examples are below. We hope you can join us all to support and celebrate the exceptional achievements of the Year 12 Graduates of 2018, and all of the Visual Arts students. 

VCE and Year 10 Drama Night

On Tuesday 16 October, the Year 11 Drama class had their solo performance night. The night included solo work from each Year 11 student and a Year 10 ensemble performance. As a year 11 drama student, we were required to develop a six-minute solo around a particular prescribed structure. We chose from six options and I chose the solo structure of 'The Statue'. The Statue was a performance about a living Statue busker in Melbourne who sees both the fragility and happiness of life from a range of perspectives and through many different stories that have happened in Melbourne over time. We created these over two months working towards this performance night where we were assessed on a number of drama skills and knowledge, as well as our creation of a performance against the prescribed structure. Our assessment also includes our documentation and rehearsal stages, meaning that a lot of work and research has to go into one, short six minute performance! After weeks of creating and rehearsing, the night had finally come. My classmates and I were feeling nervous all day leading up to the performance! After school we got dressed in our costumes and rehearsed to prepare ourselves for our solos. A highlight was being able to have dinner together as a family and to support each other through the process. The turn out was great with many of our friends and families coming to watch and support us. I was fortunate enough to watch all my other class mate's performances and see all the hard work that they had invested into their solos as well. The night turned out to be amazing with a great atmosphere, each of us performing incredibly well.
By Taylah Markham, Drama Student

VCE DANCE

The 2018 Year 12 dance students successfully completed their Performance Examination on Wednesday 10 October in front of a panel of three examiners at Dancescape Studios in Airport West. This is the first time we have not had to travel to Collingwood or Port Melbourne so the group enjoyed the convenience of a studio so close.

The dancers performed their Technique Solo Dance and thirty minutes later, their Composition (storyline) routine, which are both dances that the students choreographed themselves. They challenged themselves to create dance works that inspired, questioned ethics, mental and physical health issues, and even the evil within. They approached their exams with a calm attitude and in top form putting in many hours to ensure they were well prepared. We will find out their results on Friday 14 December. The students are currently preparing for their written exam and we wish them all the best.

Mary-Lou Bond

Careers in our Curriculum

Many aspects of our curriculum relate to foundation, technical & entrepeneurial skills needed in future work and career development. This week in Year 7 Applied Mathematics, students were exposed to the many career opportunities in mathematics and tackle real life Mathematics problems. 

For their major project, students were given the challenge to design a water theme park for Salesian college using Algebra, based on a design brief. Today they presented their plans and the Mathematics behind it to Mr Brockhus for approval and answered all of his questions. 

Students are to be congratulated for taking up the challenge and for presenting creative maps of their theme parks using complicated mathematics.

All young people need a Tax File Number (TFN) if employed & when accepting an offer at a University or TAFE. Applying for a TFN is easy; students just fill in the online form & then have their identity verified at an Australia Post Office. Click here to apply.    

Your tax file number (TFN) is your personal reference number in the tax and super systems. Your TFN is an important part of your tax and super records as well as your identity, & need to be kept secure.  TFN is yours for life. You keep the same TFN even if you change your name, change jobs, move interstate or go overseas.

You don't have to have a TFN, but without one you pay more tax. You also won't be able to apply for government benefits, lodge your tax return electronically or get an Australian business number (ABN).

Since 2015, Victorian schools are not able to process them. 

To view our full newsletter on the topics below, visit our Careers Page on Schoolbox. 

• Focus on Architecture and Urban Design Courses
• Exam preparation websites
• Study a language at university - no previous experience needed!
• Learn about the ATAR
• Have you considered a career in economics?
• Search for university scholarships
• Interested in studying the JD at Melbourne Law School in the future?
• Follow the Deakin University Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment Student Blog
• Monash Science - Parent Chat
• Love the science of everything small? You may enjoy studying nanotechnology
• Where can a social work degree take you?
• Food Systems and Gastronomy at William Angliss Institute
• Latest articles from Careers With STEM
• Careers With Code Magazine - now available to order
• Australian Jobs 2018
• Robots at the Gate article
• Experience Monash Indigenous Summer Camp
• Monash Peninsula Experience Day
• Dates for your diary

The past fortnight has been very busy on the farm as we worked towards the most important and final showing of our livestock at our Rupertswood Harvest on Sunday.

The scholarship team did a fantastic job showing our livestock to the guests as well as providing detailed information and answers to their many and varied questions regarding the sheep and cattle. All in all, the animals behaved themselves very well except for Nav the Bull who was marched back to his paddock early in disgrace as he refused to participate in the festivities.

The lucerne has been cut for the first time and will be baled early this week. With some irrigation, it should be possible to get three or four cuts from the paddock over the next few months. The barley has also matured to the milky dough stage, this is the point when the seeds in the head are developing and beginning to harden but are still soft and form a white dough-like substance when squeezed between your fingers. This is the time to cut it for optimum quality of hay to be produced and Ben has done that last week. Later this week, the pasture hay will also be cut and we should have a lot of hay baled up in the paddocks by the end of the month.

A small reminder following on from the Harvest festival, the farm still has laying chooks for sale for $15 each as well as piglets (approx 15kg) in multiple colours for $35. Our piglets would make good pets and feed the family at the same time. You can also purchase small square bales of oat and rye hay for only $5, as well as larger rolls of ryegrass hay for $70.
All are an absolute bargain and I am sure will sell out quickly. If you're interested, contact Jan at reception on 9744 0000.

We are also holding a Clearing Sale at the College on Saturday 10 November where we will be auctioning a variety of surplus and vintage farm equipment. See our College Facebook page for more information.

Friday 19 October saw the final day of school for our Year 12 graduating class of 2018. The cohort took part in a number of celebrations and activities throughout that week and the week after, as they celebrated the significant milestone together. 

We would like to extend our congratulations and best wishes to all of the students as they tackle their final exams and assessments, and into their futures.

Read below for the final Principal's Address from Mark Brockhus to our Class of 2018; there are some photos of the students as they left the College on their last day in the gallery at the bottom of the page.

Final Principal's Address to Year 12s, Class of 2018

"Good afternoon everyone,

I would like to welcome you all here for this assembly, the final one ever for our graduating Class of 2018. Although it is certainly a special occasion for our Year 12s, each of us here today – teachers and students alike – share in the excitement and pride that comes with completing something through to the very end. In chatting with a few of you this week, this day comes with some mixed emotions – joy is certainly up there, but so is a sense of sadness and loss in knowing that your time at school together is at an end. For me at least, it only feels like yesterday when I welcomed you all to Salesian College Sunbury on your Orientation Day; excited, nervous, full of energy, and ready for a new adventure after stepping away from your primary schools. These years spent together have been full of ups and downs, as any journey is, and I have admired the way that you, as a group, have navigated the many challenges thrown your way, whether in the classroom, on the sporting arena on stage, or in the community. Each of you, in your own way, have made me very proud to be your Principal, and on behalf of all your teachers, I wish to thank you for all you’ve contributed to our school community.

I would normally use this opportunity to provide a few words of advice to you, either for the challenging weeks just ahead or for life in general, but instead thought I’d share a news article I read recently in the London Times about sport. Now, before the non-sporty people around me turn off, just listen for a moment.

• The journalist was making the observation that a great number of the world’s sporting champions, including boxers, tennis players, gymnasts, and soccer players are not products of elite sporting gymnasiums with the best equipment and sporting facilities.
• Most are products of gyms with little more than concrete floors and tin roofs, located in some of the poorest neighbourhoods around the world. In one area of London alone, six national table-tennis champions lived in the same street and were trained in a run-down facility with no heating and only one toilet. In a suburb of Moscow with only one indoor tennis court, the likes of Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Anna Kournikova, Anastasia Myskina, and Marat and Dinara Safin were trained.
• Dozens of such clubs were mentioned, each conspicuous not for what they had but for what they lacked. The power of each was contained not in bricks and mortar, but in hearts and minds. Each had in common ‘mentors’ who knew how to unlock the potential in young people.
• One world boxing champion, at the funeral of his trainer and father, spoke these words: “You were my teacher, my mentor, and will always be my hero. You picked me up when I didn’t believe in myself and you made me believe. Without you nothing would have been possible – you supported me through the highs and lows, you gave up your own time, often unpaid, to coach and inspire me. You had a knack of getting that extra 10% out of me in everything I did. You changed my life.”
• Like sporting clubs, schools are human institutions. The buildings are not unimportant, and you, as students, have certainly enjoyed some great facilities in your time here, including the OLC, the Mazzarello Campus, and our new Learning Commons. But these facilities are inert without a coach, without a teacher to add spark, to imbue the learning with meaning.
• Jose Mourinho, coach of the Manchester United football team, wrote “my success as a coach all comes down to building a family atmosphere at the club. I had success only because I was able to establish an emotional relationship with the players. I did little miracles only because of the relationship – affection, empathy, gratitude, respect – these were the keys to being successful.”
• I love that quote, for it captures much about the art of teaching. It is not just about knowledge, but the intangibles of human relationships. Great teachers inspire little miracles every day, helping youngsters to reach their potential not just as students, but as people. This takes the deepest kind of empathy, putting themselves in the shoes of their students and seeing the world from their perspective.
• Plato, the ancient philosopher, wrote “do not train a child to learn by force or harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds so that you may be better able to discover the genius of each one”. Those who have studied the memoirs of Don Bosco would discover an equally rich truth. From nothing more than a tin shed in Turin, Bosco inspired the likes of Savio and Rua and built a worldwide education system on the philosophy of relationships first, champions and saints later. 

Year 12s, I share these thoughts with you because I don’t want you to leave here today without acknowledging the efforts of your Salesian teachers from across your six years here; those who have helped guide and mentor you into the fine people you are today.

Yes, we are all so proud of you today and wish you nothing but the best for your future. However, the way you finish something is just as important, if not more so, than the way you start it, and I challenge you to do this better than any year level that has gone before you. Make sure you acknowledge their efforts to be present in your lives – yes, they often nagged about assessments, reports, uniforms, behaviour - but above all else, what they really want is for you to be happy, happy at school and indeed into the years beyond school. I hope you have been happy here at Salesian College and we hope you find happiness in the years ahead. Make sure to thank your teachers for the gift of a Salesian education that they have all worked together to provide for you.

Make the effort to thank your parents also for this gift of education, all thirteen years of it! They were your first mentors in life and will continue to be part of the rich journey that lies ahead. As I’ve said often, you belong to the privileged minority of children in the world have received an education, and you have your parents sacrifice to thank for that.

Finally, acknowledge each other for the gifts you have brought to the College and for the loving support shown to each other. You have willingly and enthusiastically accepted the challenges presented to you in many leadership capacities, both formal and informal, to positively influence the student body as a whole. Special mention must be made of the fantastic contribution of our four Captains – Amy, Nicholas, Olivia, and Brad. They have been outstanding role models for our entire community and I wish to formally thank them for their efforts on your behalf.

Year 12s, as you prepare to leave Salesian College Sunbury next week, take a moment to reflect on the many valuable lessons this school has taught you. God bless you as you make your final preparations for your exams and then as you take on life beyond our school gates. With considerable guidance from both home and school, you have reached this milestone with honour and integrity, well equipped. If nothing else, I hope you have learnt to live your lives the same way – with honour and integrity – striving to be your best always. Year 12, you go with our fondest farewells, best wishes, and heartfelt prayers. God Bless!"

Mark Brockhus, Principal

I recently attended several events that made me stop and think about the inherent connection between faith and community. In all instances I witnessed, both in a liturgical setting and non-liturgical setting, I couldn't help but sense that in the given moments, the people who had gathered, young and old alike, were there because there was a sense of something uniting everyone at that point. There was a 'connection' that permeated the gathering beyond the need to be just present.

Congregations are often regarded as collections of individuals that occupy a particular building and worship according to a particular tradition. Questions about congregations focus on issues like "what do the members believe?" and "what do they imagine their mission to be?" While these questions are important, we also need to think about what brings people together. Congregations have beliefs and missions that stem from their experiences and shared history. But beliefs and mission are just two pieces in a much larger puzzle. Congregations do not exist in a vacuum any more than other organisations do. What they believe and what they intend to do must be understood in the context of the world around them. 

As a college, we are a 'congregation' that exists in a vibrant faith community. We must be continuously evaluating the role of our faith integrating into the world around us. As a believing community, our shared experiences become powerful in expressing meaning. Whether this be Grade 6 students contemplating the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit in their lives in preparation for their Sacrament of Confirmation, Years 7 and 8 students thinking about the relationship and role modelling provided by Saint Dominic Savio in his circumstance and time and the relevancy for them today, or staff hearing about the 'call to holiness' in a professional development session. These are just a few examples where faith and community and faith and belief co-exist.

Being involved in a faith community encourages all of its members to follow a path of righteousness. Belief in God is the vehicle, but the community is the path. Here at the college we come together to celebrate feast days, each other's life cycle events, observe the rituals of our people and faith, become united in prayer and the sharing of the Eucharist, openly and joyfully express our charism, and strive to live out the Gospel values given to us as a gift by Jesus Christ.

And because we enjoy each other's company, our expressive moments of faith together regardless of the place, circumstance or time, enrich our sense of community.

Stephen Connelly, Director of Faith and Mission

Welcome back to Term 4, we hope you have had a restful break with family and friends.

VCE Exams

Our Year 12 students are now in the last week of formal classes and some VCE exams have already begun. By now, students should have received feedback from the recent practice exams, and they are encouraged to use this to prioritise their revision. All students should develop a detailed study plan that includes clear targets and incorporates regular feedback from class teachers. They should reward themselves when these goals are achieved and adjust their plan when they fall short. Managing distractions is especially important at this time of year and we encourage all students to honestly reflect on how this can best be achieved. Temporarily disabling social media or handing over the mobile phone to a parent during study time are simple things that can make a big difference when trying to concentrate. 

All information about VCAA examination timetables has gone to students studying a Unit 3&4 subject some time ago. You are able to check the VCAA exam timetable on their website. If we could ask your help please in making sure your son or daughter has a clear, organised calendar for studying, with their exam sessions marked clearly on it, and to help ensure that students arrive on time, with the necessary materials, and having eaten. These things will help ensure that all of the student’s good work through the year can be fully utilised in the exam. 

Best wishes to all the students sitting VCE exams (and their families!) in the coming weeks.

Years 8-11 Exams

Please keep in mind the following dates regarding exams for the rest of the College:

• Years 10 & 11: Friday 2 November – Thursday 15 November
• Years 8 & 9 (English and Mathematics only): Wednesday 14 November

2019 Subject Selection and Step Up

The construction of our 2019 Timetable has commenced and we hope to start releasing 2019 subjects by the end of this month. Students will receive this information in an email, which will go directly to their school email address and students will be able to apply for a subject change in the two weeks after subject confirmations are given out.

Our Step Up program begins on Tuesday 20 November. A reminder that Monday 19 November is a student-free day.

Early Booklist

Please note that ‘early booklist’ which contains English texts for Years 10-12 were distributed to these students in homerooms at the end of last week. This allows for early ordering of these texts so that students can begin reading them over the summer break. Please be aware that orders must be submitted by this Friday 19 October and books will be delivered by Friday 9 November. Alternatively, these books can still be ordered through the standard booklist which will be distributed at the end of the month, with these orders delivered by late January next year.

This week we see the final week of classes for our Year 12 cohort. 

The week comes about with mixed emotions for the students and staff. For students, it can be a time of excitement, relief, anxiousness and, for some, a bit of fear or uncertainty of the future. For staff, it is a time of encouragement, support, ticking off final outcomes and revision check lists, and ensuring that everyone knows what is happening.  

The final day for classes is Friday 19 October during period one and two. During period three Pastoral, we have a Whole School Assembly. This is a time when we, as a whole school community, farewell the Year 12 class and wish them well. At the Whole School Assembly, we also announce our College Captains and Bosco Captains for 2019 - another tradition in our school year that is eagerly anticipated by our community. 

The afternoon sees the House Assembly, these are a great opportunity in a more intimate environment to reflect of the past six years of education and involvement in the House. This event is often filled with laughter and a few tears. The day finishes quite quickly, with some students heading off to future work prospects, other off to study for exams.  

Well done on a great year, we wish you all the very best.

Term four presents us with the opportunity to finalise and consolidate the current year’s learning, usually culminating in exams. We are now at the ‘serious end’ of the school year and students should be beginning to prepare and revise for upcoming exams. Exam preparation involves setting a realistic study timetable, reviewing all supplied resources, preparing individualised study notes as well as being guided by class teachers about content, exam format and expectations. While it is the teacher’s role to guide students, it is up to individual students to make their own study notes, having them in a format that works for them, this may be flow charts, mind maps, illustrations, highlighted phrases, formulas, and definitions.

Good exam preparation can ease nervousness and allow students to enter exams in a more positive mindset. Classes from Years 8-12 undertake end of year Mathematics exams with information being supplied to classes by their maths teachers early in term four so that students can plan to prepare and revise.

Students will be notified during term four as to which maths class they have been successful in choosing for 2019 for year’s 8-11. ‘Step up classes’, which occur at the end of term four, see students begin their 2019 maths class. More information about 2019 classes and ‘step up’ will be supplied by our Learning and Teaching Deputy Principals throughout term four.  

Congratulations to all students who have pushed their learning with a positive mindset towards maths. Many students have excelled in their personal achievements, with competition results and with their own determination to overcome misconceptions.

Term four has seen our Year 8 Premier League season continue, with some great results last week against Marymede College. Our cricketers have continued their unbeaten run, winning by eight wickets. Rhys Bennett was the standout with the ball, taking 2 for 3 and just missing out a hatrick.

Our netballers also remain unbeaten; after their impressive 43 goal win, they now sit on top of the ladder.

Both our boys and girls volleyball teams also remain undefeated and on top of the ladder. The boys won in four sets, while the girls, under the guidance of Mrs Harding, showed their composure in the fifth set and managed to hold on for the win.

Unfortunately, our soccer girls and boys went down 5-1 and 3-1 respectively against some quality opposition, but gave their all until the final whistle.

Our basketballers provided mixed results, with our boys having a comfortable win and our girls unfortunately losing to a well-drilled Marymede.This Thursday will see us take on CRC North Keilor, with some teams able to cement a spot in the finals with a win.

Next Wednesday 24 October will see our Cricket First XI host Salesian Chadstone, as the two teams compete for the Fr. Terry Jennings Shield.

Please see the Sports Page on School Box for further information with ladders, scores, venue locations etc. 

Best of luck to all!

Our final term for the Year will be full of an exciting range of Performing Arts events including concerts, soirees, festival performances, Dance, Drama and Art events.
Parents and friends are welcome to attend our performances.

• Tuesday 16 October - VCE Drama night
• Friday 19 October - VET Music performs Final Year 12 Assembly
• Tuesday 23 October - Year 12 VCE and Choir performs Year 12 Graduation Mass
• Tuesday 23 October - 1:15pm Guitar Soiree Music Centre
• Thursday 25 October - 1:15pm Woodwind and Brass Soiree Music Centre
• Friday 26 October - 1:15pm Piano and Voice Soiree
• Sunday 28 October - Rupertswood Harvest
• Wednesday 31 October - 3:45pm St Annes Art Show Band Performance
• Thursday 8 November - Performing Arts Showcase Dance and Music Years 7-9 Ballroom 6:30pm
• Friday 16 November - Celebration of Excellence Band, Dance and VCE
• Friday 30 November - Christmas Play November 2018

Heidi Woodruff, Performing Arts Coordinator

Catholic Education Office Art Competition

All students are warmly invited to submit artwork for display at the Catholic Leadership Centre.

Each school may submit up to FIVE pieces of art media which can include threads and textiles, digital images, 3D pieces such as sculpture, short films, figures and 2D in oil, water paint, pencil, charcoal, crayon etc. This year there is a new prize explicitly for film entries.

Submissions must be no longer than 4 minutes.

Please see Mrs Inglis-Gillespie or Mrs Collins to submit your entry. 

Arts SAT Captain Reflection 

This year has been very exciting in the arts department with a variety of activities ranging from MADD day to the production of Cinderella. The Arts SAT has been very busy, organising new installations around the school that feature a range of student artworks while also promoting performance and the arts in the school. 

Mid-year hit off with the marvellous MADD day where students from every house could compete against each other in the events Music, Art, Dance, Drama and the all-new category, Music Video. This event showcased a large variety of creative minds dispersed among the houses and year levels. 

Following shortly afterwards was the biannual production, this year Cinderella, with a cast of over 60 students ranging from year 7 to year 12. While the production offered students with musical and acting talent to shine, it also gave the opportunity for students to work behind the scenes during the entirety of rehearsals right to the final performance night. The amazing set and props design were run by a gifted group of backstage students, and there were many other roles such as a team of hair and make-up artists and my role as assistant director/stage manager. I want to take this opportunity to again thank everyone for their participation, effort and overall best work, teachers and students, on and behind the stage. 

This year also saw the induction of the SAT’s week, where each Student Action Team was responsible for organising events that promoted their area. The Arts SAT ran a variety of activities such as speed painting, a Just-Dance dance-off, Salesian’s Got Talent and a drama improvisation workshop. Congratulations to all the winners of the canteen vouchers, and thanks to the artists who took part in this entertaining week, you really could draw a crowd. We had an extremely successful time and would love to carry on these events for the years to come. 

It was our goal at the start of the year to promote the arts to all year levels and to encourage students to take an active part in any performance and art opportunities that presented themselves. I can proudly say that we have met and exceeded this goal, having huge participation rates throughout the year and an overall enthusiastic approach to the arts, as well as more displays around the school of student artworks and achievements. We hope the arts continue to grow in the school life and that more students get involved with the same enthusiastic, determined approach. We hope all artists continue to dream of colour and practice their pigments of imagination.  

By Michaela Frantz, Arts SAT Captain 2018

VET Music Performance at MiSound

On Wednesday 12 September, myself and other students from the senior VET Music class attended MiSound’s competition in Ballarat where we performed 5 songs from our repertoire. We had to choose an industry standard setting which tasked us with creating a set list that was appropriate for our chosen theme – a wedding reception - we included modern hits such as Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” and Bruno Mars’ “Marry You.” It was a fantastic experience to not only perform in front of a completely random crowd and see their honest reactions but also it gave us a more realistic experience of what it’s like to perform in a live setting you can’t quiet learn in the classroom. Which is what our VET course is all about! Learning how to find solutions for when things go wrong, how to set up a stage in cooperation with an audio engineering team. All very relevant and important skills for anyone wanting to become a performing artist in the future. Thank you to Mr Berto for organising this!! I’m excited to use these new skills I acquired in future gigs!

By Isaac McKenzie, VET Music student

Congratulations to our successful Year 12 ASPIRE applicants who have been rewarded for their volunteer community or leadership work with a guaranteed place (with conditions) in a preferred course at La Trobe University:

• Bianca   Need
• Brylie    Clark 
• Caitlin   Fettes
• Callum  Nemeth
• Cameron Hine
• Chelsea Young
• Chloe    Poulton
• Ebony   Milne
• Georgia Watson
• Kade Sadler
• Matthew Webber
• Rhiannon Fettes
• Samantha Gutierrez Romero
• Trinity DiBlasi

Exciting news! Two Year 12 Salesian College Sunbury students can receive a Victoria University Achievement Scholarship. This is in addition to the Chancellor’s Scholarship for students enrolling in VU with an ATAR over 90.
To apply

• one for our highest achieving year 12 student who enrols in a VU Bachelor degree, $5,000 each year for up to four years (max of $20,000)
• one for our highest achieving year 12 student who enrols in a VU Polytechnic (TAFE) course, valued at $2,000 each year for up to two years (max of $4,000).

To apply: VU Guaranteed applicants are already eligible, or, visit the scholarships website to complete the application. Applications close Friday 19 October 

To view full newsletter on this week’s topics, visit our Careers Page on Schoolbox.

• Casual work available with Epicurean Group, Emu Bottom Homestead
• Local apprenticeship opportunities
• Key Uni Dates for Year 12s and events
• Introducing the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) for students applying for medicine. 
• Careers in the Victorian Police Force
• Engineering in Focus  Article: Six reasons why engineering is the best degree you can choose; Careers in Engineering - online guide
• Train to become a flight attendant
• Have you considered Orthoptics? (eye science)
• Food systems and gastronomy at William Angliss Institute
• Where can a social work degree take you?
• PaperSpace student exhibition - Deakin University School of Architecture and Built Environment

The past few weeks have been busy with the final shows for our scholarship students, The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria’s Melbourne Show was a mammoth achievement by the cattle scholars, after five long days of grooming, weighing, grooming, feeding, grooming, parading, grooming and more parading, the scholars were exhausted. A fantastic time was had by all and it was an amazing opportunity to be a part of the event. Everyone represented themselves and the College extremely well and I am sure they all learnt a lot!

Alice M, Kiera B, Kate M and Oliver M all won ribbons and I think the whole team should have won as they did very well as well.

Two weeks later they backed up again for a stellar performance at the Sunbury Show and were again extremely successful.

Prizes were taken home for: Champion – Cow, Heifer and Bull; Supreme Champion Cow

Student were also awarded for their handling skills: 1st Place Kiera B; 2nd Place Kate M; 3rd Place Tori H, and the junior judging section was won by Kate M with runner up Oliver M. 

In the Sheep section of the Sunbury show the School managed to claim most of the prizes on offer:

7 x 1st Place; 5 x 2nd Place, 3 x 3rd Place, and 4 x 4th Place

• Best of breed -  poll dorset
• Champion -  poll dorset ram; poll dorset group; poll dorset ewe; poll dorset lamb; interbreed ram; Champion -  Corriedale ram
• Reserve Champion - poll dorset ram; poll dorset lamb; poll dorset ewe; poll dorset group;
• Reserve Champion - Corriedale group
• Champion Junior Handler – Gabriella S, Michelle G and Tilly C all tied for first.
• Encouragement Award – Jessica E

Again, I think a great deal has been learnt as well as a fun time by all, Congratulations to all those involved.

See below for some photos; more photos are available on our College Facebook Page.

You can now shop all the uniform pieces you need ONLINE! 

All you need to do is create an account and then you can add items to your cart.
We hope this makes it much easier for families who may find it difficult visiting our onsite uniform shop during its trading hours. 

Click here to visit the website now.

Savio Feast Day

Last Friday, our Year 7 and 8 students from our Savio Campus celebrated Feast of Saint Dominic Savio. The students gathered for Mass, before sharing a meal together and joining in a range of activities. It was a fantastic day for both our students and staff. Our patron and founder, St John Bosco, did this with his own students on special Feast Days of the Church. 

Last Week for Year 12

Congratulations and best wishes to our Year 12 students as they complete their final week of school. We wish them the best of luck for their upcoming exams and final assessments. 

Well done on a fantastic year!

Salesian Missions Newsletter

The latest issue of the Salesian Missions Newsletter is out now. Click here to read it. 

Riddells Creek Festival 

The Riddells Creek Festival is coming up! Held on Station Street on Saturday 10 November from 4-8pm, don't miss it!

Positive Relationships, Resilient Families: Cyber Safety Workshop

Parentzone Northern and Hume City Council bring you this interactive workship on cyber safety. Held at the Sunbury Youth Centre, on Wednesday 14 November.

Click here for more information and to book your tickets. 

Blood Donors Needed

The Red Cross mobile van is in Sunbury and looking for donors. If you can help, click here to find out more.

Youth Mental Health First Aid

Sunbury Community Health is very pleased to offer the accredited Youth Mental Health First Aid Training to the Sunbury Community. 

This is a great opportunity and it is being offered for free to people who reside or work in Sunbury or surrounding areas. 

Places are limited, click here to find out more and book you place. 

The school holiday period can be a great time to reflect before the last term, prepare for upcoming changes and new challenges in the term that lies ahead, review skills that need to be improved, do any homework that has been assigned, and hopefully enjoy some nice weather! No doubt though, there will be many students and staff looking forward to the upcoming break at the end of this week, as there are likely to be many families heading off on well-deserved holidays.

Time away from our normal day to day routines, especially if it’s 'time out' is time to take a breath, pause, and allot some time for reflection and anticipation of the things that may lie ahead. We can coast through life either celebrating every day or just taking what is handed our way but…do we actually take time to reflect, learn and renew?

Our Catholic tradition builds seasons of reflection into our liturgical calendar for this to occur, such as Lent and the forthcoming season of Advent. Without this time to reflect, we may miss out on moments to embrace ‘open doors’ or chances to renew our spirits or faith. 

Recently I read an article from a Catholic Bishop in Pennsylvania, who in a pastoral letter to his diocese said, "Reflection turns experience into insight. By taking the time to pause, we allow understanding to catch up with us.” A simple message in some ways, but perhaps slightly harder to cultivate.  

Our Gospels record numerous times when Jesus took time out to reflect. When we look at Jesus’ ministry, we may ask ourselves — how did he do it? Yes, Jesus was divine, yet he was also human, and we can’t deny that humanity has limitations. We all have our limits and our breaking points. With all the demands placed on Jesus, we can ask ourselves, how did he do what he did and not 'burn out'?

Jesus practiced good self-care. When Jesus needed food or water, he asked for it. When Jesus needed emotional support from his friends, he didn’t hide it. When Jesus’ heart was broken, he wept. Jesus was faithful to God, and part of that faithfulness was taking care of his real and legitimate human needs. 

No one will deny that Jesus’ life included suffering and sacrifice, yet it did not include self-neglect. Jesus is a good role model for self-care and reflection. What we can learn from the Gospels is the importance of time out for reflection and to renew ourselves, so that just like Jesus, we can be attentive to those things that matter the most.

What’s happens in Pastoral at Salesian?

Each Friday during period three, the whole Salesian College student body is involved in Pastoral Care. Throughout the year, the students have been involved in activities such as whole school assemblies, house assemblies, campus assemblies, Respectful Relationships, Cyber Pass for Year 7s, guest speakers on contemporary issues such as respect, bullying, use of drugs and alcohol, time management and study skills; interhouse sporting events in year levels, debating, MADD preparation, and mindfulness.

Two weeks ago Mannix House, the mighty Emus, conducted a huge Scavenger Hunt with the winning team being awarded the inaugural Mannix Medallion. This activity was the culmination of the Mannix House Social Justice week where the house raised money for the Don Bosco High School in Cambodia. This activity involved each Year 12 Mannix student partnering up with a Mannix student from Year 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 and racing around the school finding clues in the quickest time. It was a great session to be involved in!

See the gallery below for some photos from these sessions. 

Summer Uniform

A reminder to all families that summer uniform is to be worn to school at the beginning of Term Four. Could families please use the holidays to check that the uniform still fits (the dress length may need to be attended to (just above the knee)), shoes polished, blazers cleaned, shirts and shorts checked. It is also a time to get the hair length and styling checked to ensure it's in line with College expectations. For more details on College Uniform expectations please refer to our website.

SEPTEMBER SCHOOL HOLIDAY HOURS: Over the school holiday break, the Uniform Shop operate as below.

Week One:
Closed 

Week Two:
Monday 1 October -  8am-12pm
Wednesday 3 October - 12pm-4pm
Thursday 4 October - 8am-12pm

Reflecting on Term 3

Term 3 is always the biggest term for the learning and teaching team and we wish to thank everyone for their support, allowing the team to accomplish what we have. We began next term with subject selection for 2019 and conducted many interviews with enthusiastic, well-spoken, and sometimes nervous students who were thinking about their pathway beyond school. These interviews are our favourite things to do because they are so hopeful and inspiring. We are so lucky to have such wonderful students at Salesian College Sunbury and during these times of big decisions and quiet contemplation, we often see them at their very best. 

Whilst the formal process of subject selection is over, the time, thought, maturity, dedication, and family support that went into these decisions can now shift to students putting maximum effort into their studies. This is what prepares them best for the year ahead. We recommend that students spend some time reflecting on their learning progress over the holiday period and come back ready to tackle Term 4 with maximum effort, persistence and good ol’ fashioned hard work.
In terms of reflection, students can ask themselves three simple questions:

•  What do I need to KEEP doing? 
•  What do I need to STOP doing? 
•  What do I need to START doing?

This could be a good conversation over dinner. 

Students completing a Unit 3 and 4 subject

Many of our senior students will be spending time at school over the holiday period with holiday classes and practice exams. We wish them well and hope that they use this valuable time wisely. Many of our past students have said that they approach these practice exams before they study and use them to “see what we already know”. While that sounds like a reasonable response, it’s not a very good use of their time. They should be approaching these exams with a good amount of preparation behind them, using their first week of the break to prepare. These exams should be treated like the end of year exams, and this mindset will really put students in good stead for what they face in the coming months. 

Term 4

Why are we talking about reflection and end of year exams this early?
Term 4 is the term that flies. When we return from our break, the 2018 timetable only runs for six weeks. We commence 2019 classes on Tuesday 20 November. This is the time that our current Year 8 and 9 students move campus and homeroom and we begin the 2019 school year. 

Why do we do this?
The step up program is a great way to keep our students engaged and focused on their studies as we move towards the end of the school year and it means that we start 2019 very smoothly. It also really gives them a head start and allows them to meet their new teachers and classmates before we take our end of year break.  

The Sport calendar has been very busy over the past fortnight, see below for a few highlights. 

On Tuesday 4 September, 101 students represented the College at the SACCSS Athletics Carnival at Albert Park. We finished second in the aggregate for both the Junior and Intermediate divisions which was a fantastic effort. 

Two weeks ago, our Senior Boys AFL team kicked off their Herald Sun Shield campaign with an impressive win over Padua College in the Semi Final, putting us through to the Grand Final against Westbourne Grammar last week. The Grand Final was a tightly contested match but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the scoreboard when the siren went, losing by two points. Congratulations to all of the boys, it was a magnificent effort to make it as far as we did. 

Our Gymnastics team, made up of six girls, recently competed across both the A1 and B2 divisions at the Interschool Gymnastics Carnival in Altona. All the girls performed very well on the day, with our A1 team finishing second overall and Matilda Gavaghan winning the A1 individual event against some quality gymnasts. See the Gymnastics Schoolbox page for photos and a video of Tilly’s floor routine. 

Thursday 6 September saw the Year 8 Premier League season kick off against Kolbe College, and last Tuesday, our Year 9 Boys AFL team played off in the Grand Final against Penola College, but unfortunately went down by a few goals on the day.

Congratulations to all of our eight teams across cricket, netball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball that won their matches. 

To round out a very busy fortnight in Sport, last Wednesday and Thursday, our Junior and Intermediate tennis teams competed in the SACCSS Tennis Carnival at Hume Tennis Centre. The days provided both magnificent weather and results, with our Junior team winning the Aggregate Pennant and our Intermediate team finishing second by two points. 

Please visit our Sport home page on Schoolbox for photos, results reports, and more (some photos are included in the gallery below).

VCE Music Performance Night

The VCE Music performance night was a wonderful night to showcase all our hard work for the year in front of our family and friends. Tim and I both had to put on a 25 minute performance of all the songs we are performing for our end of year Music exam. The Year 11 Students also performed several songs in a range of styles. It was a great way to get feedback and have a fun night with friends showcasing our talents. 

VCE Dance Night

VCE Dance Night is a culmination of hard work and time put in by the Year 12 dance students to present a solo dance work. Earlier this year we had presented our Technique Solos that focused on physical skills and body actions such as flexibility, strength, elevation etc. On Wednesday the 5thof September we prepared two solo dances, Technique and Composition; the Composition being a dance that tells a story. The process of choreographing two solo dance works entirely by yourself with help from others, is laborious to say the least. There are times where nothing creative comes, and a week's worth of dance moves are scrapped, in which all of this effort is to prepare for an end of year Performance Examination, taking place on Oct 10th at Dancescape Studios. I can happily say on behalf of our teacher, Ms. Bond, our class displayed the best renditions of our dance solos this year, all in preparation for our Performance Exam in early October. James Dillon VCE Dance Student Year 11

Guitar Ensemble

We have recently started a Guitar Ensemble for our enthusiastic guitar players. Led by guitar teacher Shane Ryall, the ensemble meets each Tuesday at 1:15pm in the Music Centre. Playing as part of a guitar ensemble is a wonderful way for students to rapidly improve their playing, listening and music reading skills.

Musical Theatre Club

Our Musical Theatre Club is another new ensemble that has formed now our fabulous production is over. We will be rehearsing weekly on Fridays at 1:15pm in the Music Centre. The group will be learning to sing in harmony parts and add movements and dance routines, in a Glee Club or Pitch Perfect style. We are currently learning the beautiful "Million Dreams" from The Greatest Showman and will be adding new songs to our repertoire.

Where is the Love? Christmas Play

Thank you to the 40 plus students that auditioned for our upcoming Christmas play last week.
We were blown away by the turnout and each and every one of you did an amazing job.
Unfortunately, we only have 20 roles to give out and you really did make our job of casting difficult.

Congratulations to the students below for making the cast:

• Adam Lyman (7)
• Ash Macken (8)
• Ebony Carlin (11)
• Iris Mentor (7)
• Izaac Chatfield (10)
• James Dillion (11)
• Jess Clarke (11)
• Max Irwin (11)
• Michaela Frantz (11)
• Miette Lane-Welsh (10)
• Rick Daicos (10)
• Tahlia West (10)
• Zac Preaudet-Sartori (7)
• Nikita Daicos (10)
• Brendan Jones (7)
• Alex Cairney (10)
• Natalie Port (8)
• Olivia Kane (9)
• Nicole Brideson (10)
• Claudia Reddan (10)

Upcoming Performances:

Friday 21 September
12pm - Band performs at Whole School Assembly in the Stadium

Tuesday 9 October
5pm - Instrumental Soiree in the Music Centre

Thursday 18 October
VCE Drama Night

Sunday 28 October
Rupertswood Harvest

Wednesday 31 October
5pm - Band performs at St Anne's Art Show

Thursday 8 November
Performing Arts Showcase Year 7-9 Music and Dance classes perform  

Please see our Performing Arts Schoolbox page to keep up with all the latest news.
If you would like to learn to play an instrument, please fill out the enrolment form on our Schoolbox page. 

See the gallery below for some photos from our recent events. 

Congratulations

Congratulations to our six Year 12 students who have been successful with their Community Achievers Program applications with ACU. They have been guaranteed places in their preferred courses with a lower ATAR requirement. This is based on wonderful volunteer work in the community that they have demonstrated.

• Karli Wildemast
• Molesi Paulo
• Caitlin Cosgriff
• Samantha Gutierrez Romero
• Bradley Bruce
• Daniel Brennan

All our students are all encouraged to participate in community service as it develops their experience, skills and they can give to others. 

St John's Ambulance

On Friday 14 September, the Year 11s learnt about the incredible first aid volunteer work that St John’s Ambulance does for our community at events and emergencies. Our young presenters have all studied, or are studying, paramedicine at university. It was especially rewarding to hear from our our two alumni, Alethea Barclay-Hilton and Danielle Mlikota, as they spoke to our students about their experience and how it has helped them in their career path. 

Year 10 Experience

Well done to our Year 10 students learning about diverse career areas. Pictured below, Nikita Daicos at Sunbury Animal Hospital & Drew Kibble at Gisborne Veterinary Clinic had a valuable week learning about animal & veterinary science.

Upcoming Events and Dates

For upcoming career events & focus information on courses, including the below, visit our Careers Homepage on Schoolbox

• Veterinary studies
• Outdoor Education 
• Zookeeper for a Day for 12-17 yr olds these holidays
• Local Apprenticeship opportunities 
• List of free government TAFE courses
• University & TAFE Events these school holidays

Spring is always the best time of year on the farm, as the days get longer, everything begins to grow at an incredible rate. The grass on the top of the farm is now easily out-competing the grazing pressure and the barley sown for hay is just beginning to push out its seed head. 

Last week we received, 127 eight-month old Angus heifers from north of Condobalin, NSW, where there is no grass at all. I have recently sent some photos to the owners who couldn’t believe the luxury their girls had moved to and they were extremely happy.

Last weekend, some of the Sheep Scholars ventured off to the Poll Dorset show in Bendigo where they not only brought all the ribbons home for an outstanding presentation of sheep and handling, they also represented the school extremely well, which was noticed by a large contingent of the attendees.

The steer scholars are busy with their final preparations for the Melbourne Show and I think they will be rewarded well for their efforts, the cattle are looking great and the scholar’s have good control over them. We must thank Luke Taylor and his family for providing the steers for this event as well as the time he has put in. Without these generous connections of the school, programs like this would not be possible.

VCAL Work Placement

As a part of the Year 11 VCAL program, each student is required to complete work placement in both Term 2 and 3 for two weeks. Work placement is a great way to gain the skills and knowledge you need for the future when joining your desired industry. Both Charlotte and myself are wanting to get into the beauty industry when we have completed school so getting a placement related to beauty would have been ideal but it is quite difficult as most employers are looking for experienced workers or simply don’t take on work placement students at all.

In Term 2 we both completed our work placement at hairdressing salons in Sunbury. It wasn’t something that we were particularly keen on as we would have preferred to be in a beauty/makeup work environment instead. However, we did both learn a lot about customer service, booking in clients and how a business runs, which was great. Charlotte and I are now completing our Term 3 work placement here at the school, in the mansion with the Development Team (Kerri Pozaic and Emily Jones). Our tasks so far have included updating the staff phone list, creating a Salesian Bosco recruitment video which consisted of using the GoPro and filming certain parts of the school as if it were in the perspective of a student’s day, organising the distribution of the agriculture uniform and many more exciting tasks.

We have both learnt a lot, including how to use Microsoft excel extensively, how to complete a mail merge, and much more. Charlotte and I have also learnt many new things about the Development Department and how much time and effort really goes into what they do. Kerri and Emily have both been amazing in welcoming us into the team and have made it very enjoyable for us but at the same time very educational. 

By Raquel Scarano

Term Three Reflection from a Savio Student

It's the last week of term, and as 2018 nearly draws to a close it's time to look back on an amazing term and look forward to a well-earned holiday and an exciting new term in October.

What a great term it has been; from Year 10 formals and athletics competitions, to book-in-a-day competitions, and much more. This term, one of my key personal ideas was achievements. Achievement is not all about getting good grades or winning your sporting grand final; for me, it is about looking deep into yourself and finding what you have improved and discovered within yourself. We can achieve incredible things in our friendships, relationships or thorough our experiences, we can even achieve things that we didn't know were possible.

We have such amazing teachers that are putting all their effort into making each term the very best for all students. If you get the chance, it would be nice to thank them for all the amazing work they have done so that you can improve mentally and physically. It really has been such a great term and I hope that you have a safe holiday and come back ready for the last term of 2018.

I would like to leave you with this quote "I don't wait until the end of my term to say I made mistakes at the beginning. That's too late. I try to adopt the proper behaviour, if everyone around me gives me the chance, right from the start".

By Sian D'Monte (Year 8)

During the second week of the holidays, the 2019 re-enrolment fee of $500 per student will be billed to your account.

This will be billed to all families from Year 7-11. Only families that have responded on CareMonkey and confirmed that their student will not be returning in 2019 will not be charged.

If you have any questions or queries please contact School Fees at schoolfees@scr.vic.edu.au or on 9744 0000.

At the recent Parent-Teacher interviews, you may have noticed a display by members of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish here in Sunbury promoting the forthcoming Plenary Council 2020 for the Australian Catholic Church.

This is an important event happening in two years’ time in the Catholic Church in Australia. Popular perception might be that it’s just another meeting of bishops to discuss various matters—something that will not greatly affect them or other ordinary Catholics. Well, it’s not. It’s actually a meeting of the entire Church in Australia, meaning everyone—bishops, clergy, religious and lay faithful—with the intention of shaping the future course of the Catholic Church in this country. And while it won’t affect matters of doctrine (official Church teachings), it will have legislative power to mould practices within the Australian Catholic Church. So, as a Catholic community here at the college, the outcome of the meeting will most definitely have an impact on us.

The word “Plenary” simply means “entire” or “open”. In theory, everyone will be allowed a voice through different forums and feedback that has been invited in these initial planning days, leading up to Ash Wednesday next year.  The Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish is working very hard behind the scenes to gather feedback from its parishioners, and here our college families who are members of the parish are warmly invited to share their thoughts on life in the Catholic Church.

Through the Plenary Council of 2020, the Catholic Church in Australia will determine its structures and strategies for the future. And this of course will affect its mission of evangelisation—how it will spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in a culture that the recent national Census date recognises is becoming increasingly secular in its values.

This is a pressing matter of consideration for Catholics in Australia at this point in time. And this is a theme that Pope Francis has emphasised—how do we evangelise in a culture moving rapidly away from the Christian world view?

“The way in which we locate ourselves in history has changed. Things we thought would never happen, or that we never thought we would see, we are experiencing now, and we dare not even imagine the future. That which appeared normal to us – family, the Church, society and the world – will probably no longer seem that way. We cannot simply wait for what we are experiencing to pass, under the illusion that things will return to being how they were before.”

There is much to contemplate in this quote from Pope Francis.

So there is a context for the Plenary Council to gather, to listen, to discern and to move forward. We pray that in these initial planning days that all members of the Australian Catholic family will feel that they have a voice and have something to contribute to the future of the Catholic Church.

Mental Health First Aid Training

The end of August concludes our 2018 training in Mental Health First Aid. That means that every Salesian student from Year 9 to 12 has completed the teen version of Mental Health First Aid. They now know how to tell if their friends might be struggling with a mental health problem. They also have a simple plan to get them the adult support they might need, and to manage a crisis. 

The new batch of Salesian staff to complete the adult 14-hour training in June means that approximately 80 of our current staff are certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid. With the support of Sunbury Community Health, we have even trained our first batch of parents in the 14-hour Youth Mental Health First Aid. 

We hope there will be more opportunities soon to roll out more courses so that more members of our community are Mental Health literate. We seek to start conversations that defeat the silence and stigma around Mental Health and facilitate better community outcomes and safer young people. Please check out our Wellbeing page on SchoolBox and for more information about Mental Health First Aid visit Mental Health First aid Australia.

Choose Tap

Salesian College has installed their ‘Choose Tap’ aquaBUBBLER as an initiative which promotes the environmental and health benefits of drinking tap water. These bubblers have drinking fountains as well as a water bottle refill station. The intitiavie supports the College’s goal to become a Water Only school. We have installed 7 aquaBUBBLERS and one chilled water bubbler around the College and we are encouraging students to bring along their own reusable drink bottles to fill up.   Thanks to the Canteen who are supporting this initiative by phasing out the sale of bottled water. supporting the College’s desire to further look after the environment and reduce waste.

To find out more and keep updated with the Wellbeing team, visit their SchoolBox page. 

We are now in the process of constructing the timetable and allocating students’ elective subjects for 2019. Should any student not receive a subject that they have selected as an elective choice, they will be contacted via email confirming that they remain happy with their reserve selection. This is a slow and intricate process, but students will be contacted as soon as possible if there are any difficulties, and all students will have their allocations and 2019 timetables in Term Four, well before the Step-Up program commences. 

As planning for 2019 is now under way, we cannot make changes to subject preferences already in the system. Students will be able to apply for a subject change in the two weeks after subject confirmations are given out and will be subject to available spaces. We will advise the process for this early next term. 

Over the last few weeks, our students have been actively participating in a number of sporting finals throughout Year 9 Premier League and Senior Soccer.
Congratulations to the Senior Girls Soccer team who won the SACCSS Senior Soccer Premiership last Wednesday against Penola College 1-0. This is our first ever Senior Soccer Premiership! Well done also to our Year 9 Boys AFL team who have won through to next Tuesday’s Grand Final after beating MacKillop College last week. We wish them all the best.

All results are now available for our annual House Cross Country (Friday 10 August), which saw 322 students run the 3.2km course around the College and close to another 800 students walk the course. Congratulations to Bunjil House for taking out the competition. Please see the House Cross Country School Box Page for all results and hundreds of photos.

Please visit our Sports home page on Schoolbox to find out more. 

Term 3 has been a flurry of activity in the Performing Arts department.

Our school ensembles have been busy rehearsing and our College Concert Band performed at the Savio Assembly on Friday 17 August. The audience was impressed by the size the band has grown to and the impressive sound they are making as they performed "Raiders March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Rehearsals for the College Band are held each Thursday at 1:15pm in the Music Centre. Thanks to Sarah Holden, Donna Cicero, and Brother Duc who assisted with the performance.

Arts Week was held from 20-24 August. The week was a fun celebration of the Arts at Salesian College. The week started with a speed painting competition, with students having 15 minutes to paint a picture on the theme of "The Elements". Congratulations to the winner Katharine Watson (pictured right). Thanks to our Arts Captains: Michaela Frantz, Janella Ramos, Ava Marshall, Bardyn McIntyre and Arden Pangallo for assisting with the organisation and planning of Arts Week.

Last week on Tuesday we held a "Just Dance" competition in the Ballroom, congratulations to the junior winners Ashleigh Macken, Christopha Maiuolo, and Alec McGregor, and senior winners, Izaac Chatfield, Tia Case, Rick Daicos, and Matthew Bruce.

Then on Wednesday, we held "Salesians Got Talent" in the Amphitheatre with a variety of acts including singing, tap dancing, guitar playing, and a clown singing and dancing to a rap song. Congratulations to our winners Mia and Chloe Papakalodoukas who sung a beautiful original composition and Aeddan Murer for his excellent guitar solo.

Finally, last Thursday, we had a drama improvisation workshop - with thanks to Rani Valenchi for organising this.

We also have a number of exciting performances this term. On 30 August, VCE Music students Ebony Carlin, Isaac McKenzie, and Finn Callinan performed at the Father’s Day Breakfast. And this week, we have VCE Music students performing in the College Mansion at 6pm on Tuesday 4 September (tonight), and VCE Dance students performing in the Ballroom at 6pm on Wednsday 5 September. On Thursday 7 September, there will be a music performance at the Bosco Assembly and on Friday 21 September, our College Band will perform at the whole school assembly.

This year we are putting together a Christmas play titled “Where is the Love”. If you love physical comedy, music, and a bit of fun, this is the perfect project for you!. Students can audition on Thursday and Friday (6 and 7 September) at 1:15pm in A104.

Please see our Performing Arts Schoolbox page to keep up with all the latest news.
If you would like to learn to play an instrument, please fill out the enrolment form on our Schoolbox page. 

This fortnight, we have seventeen Year 10 students learning about the world of work and testing out careers in areas including electrical, law and courts, the Australian Defence Force Air Force, medicine and health, beauty, and government-owned businesses such as Western Water.

Sarah Sneddon undertook an interesting work experience observing medical procedures with Alexus Services Ltd who are Kidney Specialists. Sarah observed medical procedures to locate kidney stones as well as sound wave removal. She had a “valuable and fantastic experience” and learnt a lot about medical conditions and a range of procedures.

Make sure you check our Careers page on Schoolbox to find out about important dates and invaluable opportunities for you to get a head start on planning your career. 

Right now this includes information about an upcoming RMIT Design Workshop, plumbing apprenticeship opportunities, Open Day and information session dates, as well as important application information for Year 12s.

The past fortnight has been a very exciting time for the Ag department - and for myself, having only just begun managing the school farm. I see a lot of potential for the school and the farm, developing its Ag program and the farm into a world-class facility. 

Our scholarship students involved with both the sheep and cattle showing have been working hard to get their animals to a level of control where they can be lead around the yard, quite a tough job when they, the sheep and cattle, can be very stubborn at times. There is also a lot of grooming and preparation that needs to be done. I am sure they will be well prepared for their performances at the upcoming Bendigo and Royal Melbourne Shows.

Our paddocks are also being prepared for hay production later in the year, with fertilizer and weed spraying to give them the greatest chance of a high-yielding crop. Given the devastating drought gripping the majority of the east coast of Australia, hay has become a very valuable commodity and we are looking to take full advantage of the opportunity.

I'm looking forward to sharing more updates with you throughout the rest of the year as our students compete in the various shows. 

Each fortnight we will be featuring a piece in our newsletters from - or about - our students! This will help to capture and share some insight into student life at Salesian College Sunbury. 

For this edition, Michelle Grover, Sian D'Monte, Rachel Grover, and Maddi Vick, have written a piece about the recent St Vinnie's Winter Sleepout. The girls are very passionate about the cause and would love to raise awareness and encourage people to donate to a couple of worthwhile charities. 

St Vinnie's Winter Sleepout

Do you have a warm bed to sleep in? Do you have food that keeps you alive? Do you have a roof over your head to keep you warm and safe? Thousands of people all over the world DON’T have any of this. Each year more and more citizens of Australia are becoming homeless due to family issues, job loss, and taxes. Our school, Salesian College, decided that it is time for the younger generation to step up and raise awareness for this worldwide issue. 

On the 17th of August, a group of students ranging from different years came together to raise awareness for homelessness. This night was purely to understand what it would be like to sleep rough in the city. Straight after school, we each got changed and headed to the bus where we were off to the Ozanam House in North Melbourne. 

Shortly after we arrived at Ozanam house, we were greeted by one of the workers there and a volunteer, who explained to us what they do, who they help, and a few of the facilities they provide. Then they took us for a tour of their centre, as if we were a person in need entering for the first time. We even got to see their kitchen where they make food, and have a look inside their pantry. From this tour, we learnt about the many facilities the centre has to help those in need, such as podiatrists, art therapy groups, dentists, and a cafe group. We were also able to find out about their new expansion of their crisis accommodation centre near the Children’s Hospital and that they are soon going to be moving the centre and everything in it to the new centre, as well as building accommodation for women there. At the end of our tour, to thank them for their time and help them with their renovations, we donated over $1000 in Coles gift cards to support the centre through their renovations. After leaving Ozanam house, we all got back into the bus and went to drive past the homeless 'hotspots' of Melbourne where a lot of homeless people would sleep the night. Some of these places included the Queen Victoria Market, and Flagstaff Gardens. Mr Connelly explained to us why homeless people would choose to sleep there, and how they were treated there. From visiting these places, we were able to gain a greater understanding of the struggles homeless people in Melbourne face, and realise how important it was to try to help them.

We then came back to school and had some soup that represented the soup vans that come to feed the homeless people. Straight afterwards, we went to the FJCC to watch a documentary about homeless people and their day to day lives. It was a really emotional day as none of the students really knew how hard their lives are. Later on, we got ready for bed; it was -1 degrees so it was REALLY COLD. Unfortunately, at 1am it started to rain and some of our students got wet, but were able to get inside. Just imagine living on the street where it is raining, and having to place to go to keep warm and dry! Homeless people would just sit in their area and be drenched for the night. Overall, Salesian students and teachers have learnt how hard life really is for homeless people. 

We have so many amazing charity that are willing to support people in need. So we ask you if you could please donate money to the following charities as there are trying to make this world a better place for homeless people:

• St Vincent De Paul Society
• Ozanam House
• Mission Australia
• Street Smart Australia

Thank you.

Click the links below to read more. 

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Deputy Principal - Students 

By the time that you read this, 27 students and 5 staff would have participated in the Winter Sleep Out last Friday evening, in support of Ozanam Community Centre in North Melbourne, an outreach service of the St Vincent De Paul Society Victoria. 

Many of you would have seen the display in the stadium foyer by the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury representatives over the two nights of parent-teachers last week, promoting the 2020 Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church. 2020 will be an important year for the Church, as this gathering looks to examine the future of the Catholic Church here in Australia. You will hear more about the Plenary Council in my articles over the remainder of the year. Hopefully, if you took a flyer from one on the parish representatives, it has sparked your curiosity and will hopefully lead to the much-needed conversations and feedback that the Council desires in the pre-planning period.

The Technology Learning Area is always full of action, practical applications, the acquiring of knowledge, and the development of industry specific skills. Here is a small snapshot of the amazing projects that our staff and students have been engaged in recently.

Materials Technology - Textiles

In their introduction to textiles, our Year 7 students are working towards finishing the idea sketches and design options for their felt pin cushions with designs ranging from different types of fruit and donuts, to animals and emojis. During practical lessons, the students have been developing their skills in hand embroidery stitching, and next week are branching out to use a sculpting putty to make designer buttons. Our Year 8 textiles students are designing pencil cases, and applying hand stitching and applique techniques during production. The challenge for them is to practice newly acquired skills in using the sewing machine for the first time.

At Year 9, our textiles students are working hard to create their portfolios. Students have been sharing ideas and are working towards the production of pyjama tops and bottoms. They are currently sourcing material, with some choosing to use recycled bed sheets and t-shirts. 

Our Year 11 textiles students are learning the benefits of working in teams to create a product by researching a design movement, culture, or style. Groups have collaboratively decided what to make, and this choice has either led them to work on a range of sleepwear apparel or producing a rockabilly skirt complete with tulle petticoat. An excursion later in the month to Lincraft will provide hands on experience in selecting patterns, taking measurements, selecting and cutting materials required, and purchasing other goods to make their designs.

Material Technology - Wood

Materials Technology - Wood students have been working diligently on their individual design folios in preparation for the construction phase of their product. In conjunction, skills, techniques, and safety associated with the materials workshop, have played a key role in the students' practice projects; these projects provide hands-on, real-world application of specialised workshop skills students will use in their final piece. 

VET Furnishing students have been learning many different industry skills while manufacturing three of their four main projects. Leg and Rail construction is not a simple task and students have learnt many skills, from producing detailed technical drawings of the products, to the types of techniques used in constructing this type of furniture, the quality of finishing, and whether the product meets specifications; all the while concentrating on transferable skills for industry.

Computing, digital and multimedia and software development

Students enrolled in digital technology are completing a unit on how computers and digital devices use binary bits (ones and zeros) to represent numbers and characters, as well as to represent images and sounds. Students learn to count using bits and bytes (0110 0011 = decimal 99) and use ASCII codes to convert bits to alphanumeric characters (0100 0111 = ‘G’). Students also learn about digital images and sounds, using Photoshop to create and edit digital images, as well as Audacity to create and edit an audio podcast.

Game development students have already completed a unit investigating the hardware and networking components of gaming consoles (Playstation, XBOX, Nintendo). This included specifications for the various hardware components. Students are currently collecting data from other student about their gaming habits. This includes gaming platforms, gaming genres, time spent, as well as attitudes and impacts around health effects and addiction. In the following unit, we will be learning to code some simple games for platforms including Android devices using AppInventor and desktop devices using Gamemaker. 

Our VCE Computing students are learning to code using the visual basic development environment. We are developing a wide range of commercial apps including temperature converters, BMI calculators, home loan calculators and contact databases. Students learn the fundamentals of commercial design using common components like textboxes, buttons, scrollbars, radio buttons and checkboxes, and learn to design algorithms to assist with the development of code and coding structures. 

Software Development students have been working on their School Assessed Task project for about 4 months now. Their project has involved identifying a software need or opportunity for a real client and then designing and developing a fully functioning software solution for their client. Students are in the final stages of developing and testing their solution before they hand over their solution to their client for evaluation. Their project has been undertaking using project management tools and techniques to schedule and monitor the project from start to finish. 

At the moment in Yr 10 multimedia, the students are creating a Photoshop Folio while learning a variety of functions from online tutorials that match their project. Yr 9 Multimedia students are recreating movie posters using Photoshop. They are producing the photos themselves and sourcing complementary images, learning text effects and applying a variety of special effects relevant to their task. Our Yr 12 VCE/VET Creative Digital Media students have just completed an animation unit. Using Adobe Animate, they have animated a computer game trailer for a game they have previously created.

Food Studies

It was Hippocrates who said, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”. Our food studies students have all been exploring and developing their food preparation techniques and skills during production classes, and of course, loving the eating! As an introduction to the skills involved in food studies, our Year 7 Students have been learning the hygiene and safety rules required to operate safely in the kitchen. Our Year 8 students have begun exploring the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating through producing food for meal times. There is a strong focus on the importance of sharing a meal together and the warmth that it can bring.

Our major focus for Year 9 food studies currently is to explore the issues involved for individuals and groups who experience food inequity in communities globally. This is proving challenging and thought provoking. The Year 10 food students are investigating the individual, social, ethical and environmental influences on food behaviours, and will shortly move on to explore current food fads and trends.

The VCE food students are exploring new areas of study after participating in engaging excursions in term two and three. Our Year 11 students were guided on an indigenous food walk at the Royal Botanic Gardens, followed by a cultural fling around the streets of Melbourne. Our Year 12 students have recently visited the Queen Victoria Market to explore the wide offerings of fresh produce and current food trends. The current project in the learning area of which we are proud is the development of the indigenous bush foods and herb garden for our students to access fresh produce during practical classes. The garden beds are in and the planting will begin shortly; a very exciting opportunity for our students to engage more deeply in their learning.

This fortnight, we have 22 Year 10 students learning about the world of work and testing out careers areas such as Livestock Station Agent, Veterinary Nursing, Law, Engineering, Plumbing, Interior Design & Defence Airforce Careers!

Brandon Abdilla has undertaken his work experience with Shane Abdilla, a Salesian Alumini, who is  an AFL Football Development Manager based at Windy Hill. Shane completed a double Bachelor of Business (Management)/Sport Management. Brandon has been enjoying learning about all aspects of the sport management.

UPCOMING EVENTS

AUGUST

Last University OPEN DAYS are this weekend. It is essential that Bosco families attend Open Days to research careers areas, courses and campuses. Sat 25th August JMC Academy 

• Experience Days, Kangan Institute
• Thursday 23: Pathways Information Evening, Monash University, Caulfield 
• Friday 25 & Saturday 26: Audition Preparation Workshops, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne. Dance (25, 26), Music Theatre (26)
• Wednesday 29: Discovery Day, The Hotel School Melbourne, Lonsdale Street Campus

SEPTEMBER

• Thursday 6 & Thursday 13: Inside Monash Seminars, Monash University, Information Technology (6), Engineering (13)
• Saturday 8 – Sunday 23: Audition Preparation Workshops, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne. Shakespeare Monologues (8 & 9), Contemporary Text (15 & 16), Jazz Improvisation (15 & 16), Devised Performance (22 & 23)
• Sunday 9: Medical Radiations Career Open Day, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• Sunday 9: Dookie Day, The University of Melbourne, Dookie campus 
• Tuesday 11 & Thursday 13: Online Webinars, Monash University, Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science (11), Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons)/Master of Pharmacy (13)

HOW TO RESEARCH PATHWAYS

Prerequisites for courses for current Year 10 students is now available here. These subjects must be studied to be eligible for entry in 2021.

Students can research courses they may be interested in through VTAC CourseSearch. Our Careers Centre has course guides and students can pop in at recess and lunchtimes.

To explore careers including duties/tasks, study pathways & future employment growth, take a look at https://www.joboutlook.gov.au/ and Good Careers Guide 

Australian Apprenticeship Pathways: This site enables you to undertake apprenticeship aptitude tests, find local apprenticeship and group training centres, and learn about different trade occupations.

IMPORTANT YEAR 12 NEWS:

The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) course applications are now open. Students need to create a VTAC account and apply for Universtiy and TAFE courses. Year 12s are deciding on preferences for courses and need to list up to 8 courses including dream courses and pathway courses.

All Year 12s will have an application appointment with a careers adviser to support them with the application process & parents are welcome to attend. Attending Open Days is crucial to decision making. Parents can support Year 12 students with VTAC applications by going through the Application Checklist sent via Caremonkey or click here.

La Trobe University, Aspire Early Admissions Program: Applications close 31 August Selection is based on written application about community service/leadership/volunteerism. 

Victoria University, VU Guaranteed: Open until 30th September. Salesian is an eligible school for this program. ALL students are guaranteed a place in either Uni or TAFE course. To apply, click here. 

Undergraduate teaching courses in Victoria: For most courses, you will need to complete the CASPer test, as well as apply for the courses via the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC). For information, click here.

Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) course deadlines: Double check application dates for the courses you will be applying for via VTAC. Some courses require early applications – including Screenwriting, Animation, Dance, and Film & TV at the University of Melbourne (by Friday 31 August).

Applying to The University of Melbourne? Salesian College students gain acess to courses with the following ATARs:

• Science - 78
• Design - 78
• Arts – 80
• Commerce – 88
• Biomedicine – 92 

VOCATIONAL & HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS

Huge demand for bilingual law graduates: Top tier employers such as Westpac, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, are increasingly calling for Asia literate graduates to meet the growing demand for global talent in the Asian century. Bilingual law graduates are in short supply and as a result, are far more employable.

Reports from online Australian publication ‘Lawyers Weekly’ suggest that, if law graduates want to gain a competitive edge over their peers, the best way to get ahead is by combining their law degree with an Asian Language. The following two courses are examples of how you can combine an Asian language with a Law degree.

• Australia National University: Bachelor of Asian Studies/Bachelor of Laws (Honours)
• La Trobe University: Bachelor of Arts (majoring in a language such as Chinese or Japanese)/ Bachelor of Laws

FOCUS ON CAREERS OF THE FUTURE

To read this feature on the future of work, visit our Careers Page on Schoolbox. 

It's time for our annual Father's Day Breakfast again! 

We are very excited to announce that Darren Lehmann, former Australian cricketer and the former coach of the Australian National Team, will be our guest speaker at our Father's Day Breakfast.

Join us at the College Mansion, from 7am on Thursday 30 August.

Come along to hear from one of the biggest characters in Australian cricket as he speaks about his career, the feeling of winning the World Cup twice, how he managed to juggle various roles during his career, and his future plans.

Any and all dads are invited to come along and enjoy this event over a light hot breakfast.

Limited tickets available: $20 adults, $10 students, $50 family pass.

You won't want to miss this huge event, book your tickets now.

Our Year 9 Mazzarello students are currently working on their 'Global Projects'. The projects are part of their Challenge classes and are designed to help the students consider what they can do to help make a difference in the world. 

The students are working in small teams of three or four where they are assigned to either the Activity Group or the Premier League Group. The Activity Group students are working on developing an action plan to address a local, national, or global issue in society, while the Premier League Group are working together to analyse an action and make recommendations for improvement. 

Throughout their work, students will learn to analyse contemporary issues relating to Australia and global connections, examine the influence of a range of media, and examine how ideas about Australian identity may be influenced by global events. Students will need to hold meetings and interviews, and present their ideas in a pitch forum. These projects will help the students to develop a broad range of lifelong, invaluable skills. 

Some examples of the work and ideas of the students include: 

• fundraising for important charities including the World's Greatest Shave and Variety;
• collecting and managing donations for a variety of campaigns and charities including Edgar's Mission; and
• organising a tree-planting event on Salesian College Campus.

The ideas and projects vary widely and showcase a number of different types of action, from fundraising, developing a marketing campaign, and building awareness through education, to creating and submitting a proposal for a business or government.

There will be a showcase day for the Global Projects next Tuesday, 28 August. The Activity Group will be showcasing in the College Mansion from 12:10pm - 1pm. The Premier League Group will be showcasing in Shearing Shed from 11:10am - 12pm. Parents and friends are invited to come along and support the students as they showcase their work. 

Well done to all of the Year 9 students for their fantastic efforts and their creative ideas of ways to make a difference.

On Friday 10 August, our students competed in this year's House Cross Country event. With one running race and one walking race, we saw a fantastic level of participation across the school. 

The course this year was 3.25kms for the runners, and 2.05kms for the walkers; all students who participated, whether walking or running, contributed to their house total. 

Congratulations to Bunjil house who finished the day in first place! The final tally for each of the houses is below, how did your house go?

Congratulations to Ben Zarb for finishing in first place, with a total time of 11:26.5. The top ten places have been listed below, well done to each of these students on a great effort.

It was great to see so many students taking part and supporting their House; great work to everyone involved.

Certantes is Salesian College Sunbury's Alumni Magazine. With an edition published each year, Certantes aims to keep our College Alumni connected and up to date with other members of the Alumni community as well as with exciting or notable events from our College.

Our latest edition (2018 edition) is published as the '90 Year Special Edition' and shares stories from each decade of College's history with features from specific students throughout the years.

This year we have published the magazine online; click here to read it now. Don't forget to share among your fellow Salesian College Sunbury friends!

Congratulations to the Cinderella Cast and Crew

I would like to add my congratulations to all the members of the Cinderella cast and crew for all their hard work in producing a magnificent production. Having attended with a very excited seven year old, I can assure everyone the event was both wonderful and inspiring. Such productions don’t just magically appear with a wave of the fairy Godmother’s wand and I have admired the way so many members of the Bosco community (not to forget Savio and Mazzarello as well of course) have juggled their educational commitments with this creative endeavour.

Well done to everyone once again.

Visitors from afar

The Bosco campus has been honored this term to be the host to two international groups. Initially a group of Italian students from Don Bosco Instituto, Verona, and Giovanni Prati, Trento, had the opportunity to experience what school life is like for us here in Victoria. Presently, we have students from Salesio Gakuin Junior and Senior High School and Meguroseibi Girls School in Japan enjoying a homestay with members of our college community. I thank everyone who has extended a friendly welcome to our visitors and encourage all to continue to extend the warm hand of friendship I have had the pleasure of experiencing since my arrival to the College this year.

Click the links below to read more. 

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Deputy Principal - Students 

Last Saturday night, the college came together with our Catholic primary schools in Sunbury to celebrate Catholic education and its partnership with the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Fr Kevin McIntosh spoke of the intrinsic value that Catholic education plays in educating us in a world where justice and peace can be fragile.

Winter Sleep Out - Friday 17 August

The college will again be conducting a winter sleepout to support Ozanam Community Centre in North Melbourne, part of the St Vincent De Paul Society. The aim is to support Ozanam Community Centre by donating Coles-Myer group gift cards, which they then use to help clients who access their services in the need to obtain assistance for food and basic needs such as toiletries. For Ozanam Community Centre, the gesture of solidarity in our students and staff undertaking the winter sleep out, demonstrates our Christian commitment to compassion and charity.

Read more in the article later in this newsletter. 

The Ciantar Learning Commons is now open for business!

The new building is a learning hub and a community zone in which students and teachers can gather for learning, reading, communication, collaboration, and leisure. The multi-zoned, flexible and attractive spaces, innovative resources, and Information Literacy and Wide Reading programs are designed to inspire, motivate, and expand the horizons of our students. Learning support will be provided for classes, individual students, and Year 12 private study groups in the various zones. Curriculum and learning and teaching support will be provided for teachers.

There are multiple zones for learning, reading and gathering in the Learning Commons including:

• The Genius Bar for serious individual and collaborative learning;
• sculptural seating areas;
• reading windows with a beautiful view;
• campfire classroom;
• reading nooks;
• workbenches;
• curvy work pods;
• collaboration places; and
• quiet zones.

The Learning Commons is a physical and virtual learning and collaboration space that connects learners and helps them to construct knowledge and build understanding.

The Learning Commons is well on the way to becoming a thriving, essential part of our College community.

Representatives from ACU, La Trobe, Deakin and AIE attended our Subject Selection Night. It was great to have Bosco and Mazzarello families discuss opportunities and have questions answered. 

Congratulations to eighteen Year 10s out on work experience placements this week. Students have enjoyed learning about the world of work and testing out careers areas at Sunbury Animal Hospital, Netball Australia, Herald & Weekly Times, Kindies Early Learning, Sunbury Physiotherapy, & Horse Dentistry! 

Year 10 students Aidan Heyne  & Ben Whiting recently spoke to the Year 7 Maths Enhancement class about careers in STEM from their work experience at Melbourne University Science Department & Air Services Australia.  

OPEN DAYS are on NOW. It is essential that Bosco families attend Open Days to research careers areas, courses and campuses. This Sunday 12th August RMIT & ACU have their Open Days:

Prerequisites for courses for current Year 10 students is now available here. These subjects must be studied to be eligible for entry in 2021.

Students can research courses they may be interested in through VTAC CourseSearch and by attending Open Days. Our Careers Centre has course guides and students can pop in at recess and lunchtimes.

To explore careers including duties/tasks, study pathways & future employment growth, go to https://www.joboutlook.gov.au/ and Good Careers Guide 

IMPORTANT YEAR 12 News:

• Public VTAC information Session will be running at 7pm Thursday 16 August in Gisborne. Find out everything you need to know about applying and tertiary study. Venue: B Block, Gisborne Secondary College, 95 Melton Rd.
• Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) course applications are now open. Students need to create a VTAC account and apply for Universtiy and TAFE courses. Year 12s are deciding on preferences for courses and need to list up to 8 courses including dream courses and pathway courses.
• All Year 12s will have an application appointment with a careers adviser to support them with the application process & parents are welcome to attend. Attending Open Days is crucial to decision making. Parents can support Year 12 students with VTAC applications by going through the Application Checklist, click here.

EARLY ENTRY SCHEMES CLOSING SOON

La Trobe University, Aspire Early Admissions Program: Applications close 31 August Selection is based on written application about Community service/ leadership/ volunteerism http://bit.ly/1cXetap

Victoria University, VU Guaranteed: Open until 30th September. Salesian is an eligible school for this program. ALL students are guaranteed a place in either Uni or TAFE course. To apply:  https://bit.ly/2uAJXxU 

FOCUS ON:

See our Careers Schoolbox page for further details on the following:

• Interested in studying medical science in the future? Gap Medics offer Years 11 and 12 work experience in Poland and Dominican Republic shadowing senior doctors in a hospital environment. www.gapmedics.com.au/ 
• Have you considered studying cybersecurity? If you love maths, IT, solving problems, thinking ‘outside the square’ and working as part of a team, then you may be suited to working in cybersecurity.
• Australian Apprenticeship Pathways: This site enables you to undertake apprenticeship aptitude tests, find local apprenticeship and group training centres, and learn about different trade occupations, www.aapathways.com.au/
• Interested in the environment, design, communication, and sociology? You may be interested in studying urban and regional planning in the future.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Inside Monash Seminars: Get the inside story of what it’s really like to study at Monash. The following seminars are running:

• 14 August: Music
• 6 September: Information Technology
• 13 September: Engineering

For information and to register, go to https://bit.ly/2ki2NYw

Experience Days at Kangan Institute: Kangan is a TAFE with several campuses located across Victoria. The Institute is running the following experiences days at the following campuses in August. For information and to register your place, go to  http://bit.ly/2ttNFrp

25 & 26 August Dance Audition Preparation Workshop, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne, https://bit.ly/2Ob6Cdl

29 August The Hotel School Melbourne Discovery Day, Lonsdale Street campus, https://bit.ly/2uHVxs9

Over the weekend, our talented students - assisted by their supportive crew - performed three showings of our 2018 College Production, Cinderella. 

Congratulations to all those involved on a fantastic performance; the energy and talent on show was matched only by the obvious enjoyment each young performer and back stage crew member exuded. Singing, costumes, dance, makeup, music, the sets, scene changes - everything was outstanding!

We are incredibly lucky to have such a supportive and creative team in our staff, students, and families that are able to pull together such a great project. Thank you to everyone who donated their time, talent, and expertise to contribute. 

We hope you had a chance to attend and see our students shine. See the gallery below for some photos of the action. 

Special thanks again to those members of the crew below:

• Director - Mrs Kim Streek
• Musical Director - Mrs Heidi Woodruff
• Choreographer - Ms Vicky Horton
• Production Manager - Ms Rani Valencich
• Stage Manager - Ms Narelle Stone & Michaela Frantz
• Makeup - Mrs Marylou Bond
• Costumes - Mrs Janene Christensen
• Sets and Props - Ms Antonella Benetti, Edith Spears, Mr Tony Farell

It's time for another Twilight School event! This time we are hosting a Father's Day Breakfast on Thursday 30 August. 

We are very excited to announce that Darren Lehmann, former Australian cricketer and the former coach of the Australian National Team, will be our guest speaker!

Come along to hear from one of the biggest characters in Australian cricket as he speaks about his career, the feeling of winning the World Cup twice, how he managed to juggle various roles during his career, and his future plans. 

Any and all dads are invited to come along and enjoy this event over a light hot breakfast. 

Limited tickets available: $20 adults, $10 students, $50 family pass.

You won't want to miss this huge event. Book your tickets now.

Just over a week left to get your applications in for any students hoping to join us in 2020! 

Enrolments for 2020 close on Friday 17 August.

Don't forget, even if you already have another child already attending, you will still need to submit a full application by the closing date. 

Our new College website allows you to apply online; click here to begin.

As you sit by a warm fireplace, turn on your heater, or snuggle into your electric blanket, think about how cold it is outside. Though you certainly do not want to venture out into the winter elements, not everybody has a choice. 

Salesian College Sunbury have a number of Young Vinnies students that have committed to sleep outside on Friday 17 August to raise money for charity as part of the St Vincent De Paul Winter Sleepout. This is our third School Sleepout for the St Vincent DePaul Society and Ozanam Community Centre in North Melbourne.

Vinnies Sleepouts give people a glimpse into the realities of homelessness by ‘sleeping rough’ for a night to raise awareness and funds for Vinnies homelessness services. It is estimated over 105,000 Australians experience homelessness each night; half of these people are women and a quarter are young people under the age of 18.

The ‘hands on’ nature of our Vinnies School Sleepout by our students helps them to develop an understanding of the impact of homelessness and provides an opportunity to take action. This experience challenges our students' sense of home and offers unique insight into the complex issues faced by people experiencing homelessness.

It is a great opportunity for us all to be grateful for what we have in our life while giving back to others by supporting Vinnies in their efforts to help those facing homelessness rebuild their lives and reconnect with the community.

Salesian College Sunbury is collecting Coles-Myer Group gift cards to give to clients who access the St Vincent DePaul Society and Ozanam Community Centre.

If you are interested in donating, please contact College Reception on phone 9744 0000.

Victorian State Election, 2018

The recent by-election in the seat of Longman (Qld) highlighted for many the influence of Catholic school parents in shaping the focus of politics (see The Australian article from 4 August). With Victorians going to our own State Poll in November, I thought it would be informative for all parents in our community to know the views of both the Labour and Liberal candidates for the seat of Sunbury, especially on where they stand on a number of issues important to our College.  I met with both candidates in recent weeks and we discussed matters including:

1. State funding for Catholic Education in Victoria?

2. Public bus transport in the Macedon/Sunbury region?

3. Improving traffic flow in Sunbury, especially out of our driveway into Macedon St/Riddell Rd?

4. Government support for the VET in schools program [eg. Hospitality, Agriculture, Plumbing]?

5. Improving the availability and quality of sporting and arts infrastructure in Sunbury, including on our own Rupertswood Estate?

This week, I welcome feedback from Cassandra Marr (Liberal for Sunbury). See below:

Mark Brockhus
College Principal

1. Funding for Catholic Education in Victoria

Catholic school communities already raise 80 per cent of every dollar they spend on capital works, the essential bricks and mortar parts of school facilities. That takes a real burden off the public purse by ensuring government funds go a long, long way.

In the 2018/19 budget, there is an allocation of $1.3 billion for new schools and existing school upgrades, but not one new dollar for Catholic and independent schools that educate 37 per cent of Victorian students.

The Liberal Nationals are committed to providing choice to Victorian parents in education, noting there is a greater proportion of Victorian students in Catholic and independent schools than any other state in Australia.

2. Public Bus transport in the Sunbury/Macedon region

Easing congestion on our roads is fundamental to our liveability and part of that is to look at our public transport network and how were we can improve it. It’s without a doubt that public transport within the Sunbury and surround areas has had increasing pressure put on it as the town grows. This is why I am reaching out to residents to find out what services they want to see more of as well as frequency to see what areas need the most urgent attention. If you haven’t let me know please contact me via www.cassandramarr.com.au

3. Improving traffic flow in Sunbury

Traffic congestion is a major issue not only for Sunbury but also for the state of Victoria. We have committed to removing the intersection at Gap and Horne via grade separation as part of our 55 intersection removal program. I am advocating that we put forward the Macedon St/Riddell Rd intersection up for consideration for the remaining 22 intersections to be removed and I am looking for your support by having your say and filling in the details below so we can continue to improve Sunbury for the future. http://www.getvictoriamoving.com.au/intersectionremoval/#content-section-4

4. Funding for VET courses, such as Hospitality, Agriculture, Building/Construction, etc.

Making sure that we have alternative pathways for students is essential to us having a well-rounded community. This is why having Vet courses available is essential for our community. Sadly there are 145,900 fewer students in TAFE today than in 2014 when Labor came to power. Many employers and small businesses that I speak with are desperate to employ skilled workers, but can't find any. This is why we need to continue to support the VET sector and ensure that there are a variety of options available to students.

5. Funding support for a Community Sports & Arts Facilities at Rupertswood

Local sport is a must for me as it is what I grew up with playing Softball, Squash and Basketball and in order to do that we need to ensure that we have the right facilities to play in. That’s why we are committed to supporting local sporting clubs and not the AFL. This is why I am advocating for improvements for the Rupertswood Football and Netball Club to help improve the facilities so players and supporters have the best experience possible playing the game they love.

I have always been a fan of the Arts and always enjoyed going to the theater and other performances (although I don’t get as much of a chance at the moment with two young children). I will certainly encourage my children to be involved in the arts as they get older. I was involved in arts and drama throughout high school and made many lifelong friends. I feel that art and drama provide students with many skills including confidence building and public speaking. There are certainly many benefits to improved performance facilities in our schools and I will happily investigate this further.

Cassandra Marr
Liberal for Sunbury

Click the links below to read more. 

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Deputy Principal - Students 

As we begin this new term, and we look ahead on our College calendar to how the term will unfold, it is unsurprisingly busy! However, you have to expect that in a large school with so many wonderful opportunities that are provided to our young people in their learning space. Schools are dynamic places of engagement in a 21st century learning environment. We only have to take a glimpse at evening news services, newspaper articles, government reports, and what may pop up on the net, to realise that the landscape of schools today are wide and varied. Professionals and experts in many fields will often comment on the state of education or offer new, informative, and invigorating insights into the latest research and data. These matters require and demand our active attention. We need to keep ourselves informed as educators and as families as the key stakeholders of the young people we are investing our time and energies into for their future.

It can be easy at times to lose sight of the important things when inundated with a myriad of things that do require our attention. Our lives are busy! We are seemingly connected to our world 24/7 as technology allows us to navigate even our family spaces in ways that we may not have imagined decades ago. 

Taking 'time out' can seem like a luxury for many people. Yet, it is important, as we know for our wellbeing- physically, emotionally and spiritually. And, it is the latter point that is vital in our space in the life of the college.  

As we head into this term, we would have just concluded the last of our Year 10 retreat days, which focused on our young people reflecting on the relationship with themselves and with their faith. Conducted by the Youth Mission Team (YMT Australia), our young people were asked to stop and think about what is important to them in terms of themselvesir and their spirituality.

The Year 8 retreat program is about to commence with a day’s reflection at the Don Bosco Youth Centre in Brunswick. Each individual Year 8 class spends time focusing on qualities and values that can be embodied in building greater connections with important people in their lives. Sharing ideas, teamwork, reflecting on how we relate to others is the encounter in this space.

Some of our staff would have attended a retreat at Lysterfield as part of the colleges’ ongoing commitment to the faith formation of staff, over this past weekend. This weekend intensive program covers a variety of topics, allowing staff the opportunity to actively engage in lengthy discussions and lectures related to the Catholic faith. The retreat also aims to provide staff with quiet reflection time.

This Friday (27 July) the entire staff will attend a staff faith day with three other Catholic colleges at Thomas Carr College, Tarneit. The keynote speaker for the day, Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, will take staff through a series of discussions on contemporary faith matters. 

Taking 'time out' to reflect, contemplate, share and discuss matters of faith and spirituality is vitally important in the life of the college. It is what we do as a faith community. Providing opportunities for all members of our community to connect with that other dimension in their lives despite the busyness of our day-to-day routines is important for our wellbeing.

Please note:
Next week on Saturday evening (Saturday 28 July) at 5:30pm, the college will join Our Lady of Mt Carmel and St Anne’s Primary Schools for a Mass of thanksgiving for the contribution of Catholic education to the Sunbury parish. This Mass will take place at St Anne’s Catholic Church, Riddell Rd Sunbury. All families are warmly invited to attend.

We were fortunate enough to, once again, have many opportunities for students to represent Salesian College Sunbury in sport throughout Term Two, with many teams and individuals winning their respective divisions. Below are just some of the interschool sports that were offered throughout Term Two:

• Senior AFL Boys/Girls

• Junior/Intermediate AFL Girls

• SACCSS Cross Country

• SACCSS Junior/Intermediate Futsal

• Year 7 Premier League (Basketball, AFL, netball, soccer and volleyball)

Our Senior Boys and Girls AFL teams both made it through to the SACCSS Division 1 Grand Finals, with our boys going on to beat the previously undefeated Emmanuel College by 32 points and our girls unfortunately missing out to a very strong MacKillop College outfit. Our boys will now play in the Herald Sun Shield Semi Final on Wednesday 5 September at Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham. 

It is great to see the enthusiastic uptake of female football this year. Due to the growing interest, the Senior Girls AFL competition has progressed from a one-day tournament in recent years to a seasonal competition that now mirrors the boys. Salesian College Sunbury also recently hosted the SACCSS Junior Girls AFL Tournament for 12 schools across two venues, which is the most highly participated event on the SACCSS calendar. Despite our girls just missing out on a spot in the final, it was great to see so many out there genuinely enjoying themselves and learning about the game that is new to so many of them.

We had quite a successful day out at Brimbank Park for this year’s SACCSS Cross Country. A special mention must go to Mitch Bruce, Ben Zarb, and Hugh Tighe who finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively out of 107 runners in their Intermediate Boys event. However, the combined effort of all Salesian runners was the highlight; we managed to take out top spot in both the Boys and the Girls Intermediate Divisions on the day.

After their success at the SACCSS Swimming Carnival earlier in Term One, we had 12 students selected to represent the SACCSS Sports Association at the inaugural Swimming Victoria All Schools Swim Meet at MSAC. This was a great experience for our students who competed against many state and national swimmers on the night. Congratulations to the following students: Johno Need, Alec MCGregor, Austin Burnell, Amy Iskra, Brooke Williams, Tiannah Brne, Izabella Crawford, Mitchell Bruce, Matthew Bruce, Bradley Bruce, Grace Avenall-Thompson and Rose Avenell-Thompson.

While there was a great deal of interschool sport on offer throughout Term Two, there were also many sporting opportunities for students to represent their House within the College. One of these opportunities included the House Athletics Carnival. We were blessed with the weather and it was great to see so many students involving themselves and representing their Houses in a variety of events. One of the most popular events of the day was the tug-of-war rope, which will need a few repairs before next year. Congratulations to Naughton House who ran away as overall winners on the day. 

Our Sport Captains, Olivia Cautley and Matt McDonald, also planned, umpired, and held a Savio lunchtime Mixed Netball Competition that ran in the stadium each Friday throughout the Term. This competition was a great success, every house easily filled a mixed netball team and we had in excess of 100 spectators supporting their houses and creating a competitive-but-friendly atmosphere in the stadium each Friday lunchtime. Congratulations to Colliton House who, after finishing 4th, managed to save their best form for the finals and were crowned 2018 Premiers. 

Throughout the year, in House Sport and MADD Day, each house contributes points towards the Papworth Cup, which is awarded to the House with the most points at the end of the year. Term Three will see points on offer for the House Cross Country Competition. See below for the ladder as it stands at the end of Semester One.

Looking ahead to Term Three, we again have many opportunities for students to represent the College in sport. Below are some examples:

• Senior Boys and Girls Soccer

• Year 9 Premier League (basketball, soccer, AFL, volleyball, and netball)

• SACCSS Chess

• SACCSS Athletics

• Junior/Intermediate Tennis

• School State Netball Championships – Boys and Girls (six teams)

• House Cross Country

We know our students will continue to be reliable team members who win humbly and lose gracefully in Term Three. 

CAREERS WEEK, FOCUS ON OPEN DAYS & PATHWAY PLANNING

Careers Week is happening here at the college! It’s all about having career conversations with young people. At home, we encourage parents and family members to discuss their career journey and those of relatives and friends. The aim of the week is to inspire our young people to understand success, career journeys, challenges and future possibilities. Some pointers:

• Keep it really positive and exciting.
• Value all types of career success not only high status or financial i.e. successful careers giving to the community, careers of faith, finding cures or scientific discoveries, caring for others.
• Parents and family share their career journey.
  What is your job title? What is your workplace like? What are your duties and responsibilities? Do you enjoy your job? What influenced your decisions? Where else have you worked? How did you get your job? What is your career journey? What study did you undertake? How have jobs changed from grandparents to now? Who can your child talk to about careers that interest them?
• Encourage young people to ask questions of inspirational family, friends and relatives
• Ask your child?
  What do they enjoy at school & outside of school? What are their strengths? Are there careers they are interested in exploring further? How can they develop their skills and experience?
• Plan to go to Open Days in August 

BOSCO PATHWAY PLANNING

With subject selection underway, it is a great time to research careers, courses and prerequisites.

Prerequisites for courses for current Year 10 students is now available here. These subjects must be studied to be eligible for entry in 2021.

Students can research relevant courses through VTAC CourseSearch and by attending Open Days. Our Careers Centre has course guides and are happy for students to pop in at recess and lunchtimes.

To explore careers including duties/tasks, study pathways & future employment growth, go to https://www.joboutlook.gov.au/ and Good Careers Guide 

All Year 10 students have developed a personal Career Action Plan with career interests, course areas and possible subjects for next year.  Year 11s should continue researching courses, careers and attend Open Days. Year 12 are now deciding on preferences for courses.

YEAR 12s:

All Year 12s will have an application appointment with a careers adviser to support them with the application process. Attending Open Days is crucial to decision making.

The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) processes course applications on behalf of participating higher education institutions. From Monday 6 August, you will be able to create a VTAC account and apply for vocational and higher education courses. VTAC has a series of resources to assist students with their applications. The following are three examples:

• Website: www.vtac.edu.au/
• Instructional videos: these outline how to set up a VTAC account, how to search for courses and how the preference system works, http://bit.ly/2a9lzwg 
• VTAC CourseSearch app: You can download the app from Google Play or the App Store.

EARLY ENTRY SCHEMES NOW OPEN

Australian Catholic University (ACU), Community Achievers Program: Selection is based on: written application about history of community service/ leadership/volunteerism, academic reports, referee.
If you receive a place in the program, you will receive a guaranteed place in your desired course if you: achieve the required minimum ATAR set by the University and meet eligibility criteria for the course. Apply by 31 July https://bit.ly/2ErcsoG

La Trobe University, Aspire Early Admissions Program: Selection is based on written application about history of community service/ leadership/ volunteerism, ATAR predicted by school, referee.

If you receive a place in the program, you will receive a guaranteed place in your desired course if you: achieve the required minimum ATAR set by the University and meet eligibility criteria for the course. Applications close 31 August, http://bit.ly/1cXetap

Victoria University, VU Guaranteed: Salesian is an eligible school for this program only. ALL students are guaranteed a place in either Uni or TAFE course https://bit.ly/2uAJXxU  

OPEN DAYS

For students wanting to studying at University or TAFE after school, it is crucial that you attend Open Days.

At an Open Day, you will be able to:

• Get a feel for the culture of the campus
• Learn about courses and career options
• Undertake campus and accommodation tours led by current students
• Speak directly to student ambassadors and lecturers about the courses or careers you are interested in 
• Compare the course area you are interested in at different institutions
• Learn about sports and societies you can join and be active in
• Get course counselling and guidance
• Attend information sessions and workshops
• Watch live demonstrations
• Listen to bands, eat lots of food, participate in activities and have fun! 

2018 OPEN DAYS 

JULY

• Swinburne University- Hawthorn (29), www.swinburne.edu.au/openday

AUGUST

• La Trobe University- Shepparton (3), Melbourne (5), Albury-Wodonga (12), Mildura (15), Bendigo (26), www.latrobe.edu.au/openday
• Monash University: Peninsula (4), Clayton & Caulfield (5), Parkville (19), http://bit.ly/1pmUEzv
• RMIT: Bundoora (5), City (12), http://openday.rmit.edu.au/
• Australian Catholic University: Melbourne (12), Ballarat (26), www.openday.acu.edu.au/
• University of Melbourne, Parkville & Southbank (19), https://openday.unimelb.edu.au/
• Deakin University- Warrnambool (5), Geelong (19), Melbourne (26), http://openday.deakin.edu.au/
• Victoria University, Footscray (19), https://openday.vu.edu.au/
• Federation University, all campuses (26), https://bit.ly/2uwYPgX

List of Victorian Open Day dates for private providers and TAFE institutes: https://bit.ly/2NQdoEY

For Open Days at all other states and territories go to https://bit.ly/2mh7bFu

Why is completing a vocational or higher education qualification after school so important? According to the My Career Match website:

• Of the 13 million jobs in Australia in 2020, 11 million (85%) will require a Certificate III or higher. Four million (30%) will require a Bachelor degree or higher.
• Many of the careers and jobs that are around today will disappear by the time students get their first job and many new careers will be created.

To read more about the future automation, globalisation and collaboration of the future workforce, read the following report by the Australian Foundation for Young Australians - http://bit.ly/29ARTcf

Yesterday saw the official opening of the Ciantar Learning Commons (CLC), our new library space. It was a joyous occasion lead by our College Captains, Amy and Nicholas, and attended by Josh Bull, our local member for Sunbury, as well as Fr Will Matthews, Salesian Provincial.

At the opening, I used the occasion to explain the purpose behind naming the building after Fr Joseph Ciantar SDB.

Fr Joseph Ciantar was the 4th Rector-Principal of the College, from 1938 to 1947, very difficult years for Australia and the world due to the Great Depression and World War 2. In the book, 'Grateful Heirs, a history of the Salesians in Australia', Ted Cooper wrote:

“Fr Ciantar was not a big man, 164cm tall, born in Malta, of strong and wirey build, proud of his fitness and stalwart energy. He was the most active and tireless man one could imagine, fluent of speech, infectiously enthusiastic, a real human dynamo. Such a dynamic man was just what Sunbury needed – a man of deep spirituality who was exemplary in community life, but had the uncanny ability to mix with people and to hold up to them the person of Don Bosco as a most admirable human saint. He became good friends with Archbishop Mannix, through whose support managed to finance many new projects for the order, including the Youth Hostel in Brunswick and Boystown in Sydney. He became a sort of roving ambassador for St John Bosco in Australia, visiting many parishes and seeking their support for the work amongst the young, encouraging vocations for the new novitiate at Sunbury. His favourite expression when faced with disappointment was “When God closes one door he always opens another”.

Fr Ciantar might not have been tall, but he was a giant in the eyes of the early Salesian Community here in Australia, and for this reason alone we wish to honour his efforts by naming this important place of learning after him.

The CLC will be open for students commencing today, Tuesday 24 July. 

See the gallery below for some images from the Offical Opening.

This Wednesday 25 July, our VET Music students are performing at the Sunbury Bowling Club. 

If you're looking for something to do, and brave enough to venture out into the cold, they would love your support. 

The students will be performing from 7-8pm in the Bowling Club function room; tea, coffee, and muffins will be available. 

Thank you for your support!

Next Friday and Saturday (3 and 4 August), our students will be performing this year's College Production at the Clocktower Centre in Moonee Ponds. 

This year sees our talented and hard-working team of actors, musicians, dancers, designers, directors, singers, and producers showcase their skills in a rendition of a much-loved classic, Cinderella. 

With two evening shows and one matinee, the team will be very busy working to bring you a fantastic piece of entertainment. 

It's not too late to get your tickets, book now at the Clocktower Centre website, details below. 

7:30pm Friday 3 August
1pm and 7:30pm Saturday 4 August
Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds - 750 Mount Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds

There are 2000 plants ready and waiting to be planted in the Emu Bottom Wetlands!

Join the Friends of Emu Bottom Wetlands Reserve and members of our Parent Engagement Group to help transform our Salesian property south of the Emu Bottom Wetlands. 

Volunteers are invited to join them on Sunday 5 August between 10am and 1pm to help with some planting.  

To register your interest, please phone reception on 9744 0000.

On Monday 6 August, Year 10 students will have the opportunity to receive the Meningococcal W vaccination here at the College. 

Immunisation cards were sent home with students in Term One. Families who have not returned a card would have received a reminder text message from Hume City Council. 

If you have misplaced the card, please see our College Nurse, Sarah, to receive a new one. 

The immunization is not compulsory however it is strongly advised that Year 10 students receive it for the following reasons: 

• To continue to combat increasing cases of meningococcal disease, the Victorian Government is extending the offer of a free, time-limited vaccine program in 2018 for young people in Year 10 (or aged 15 or 16 years old) in Victoria until 31 December 2018. 
• Although uncommon, meningococcal disease can become life-threatening very quickly. 

Click the links below to read more. 

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Deputy Principal - Students 

I think it is quite noticeable that winter is upon us. The cold, windy days that call for us to rug up with our winter coats, scarves, gloves and beanies has arrived. Our seasons remind us that there is a majesty and beauty in God’s creation. The God of all seasons reminds us that our lives go through changes as the seasons do. We can experience seasons of hardship, seasons of ease, seasons of rapid growth and change, and seasons of peace and consistency. These are the seasons of human life. The wonderful thing about the earth’s seasons is that they are consistent in their changing. We never endure an icy cold winter and its chilly winds without the hope that spring will soon come again, and warmer and sunnier days will arrive. This we can apply to life’s seasons as well.

We are never promised that life will always be easy. There are challenges we all face as individuals and within our families as well. But our faith can reassure us that God will never abandon us in our times of need even when we think he may not hear our prayers. In every season of our lives, he is present in the ebb and flow. In difficult times, this promise or reassurance can give us the hope we need until the next season comes. This becomes the majesty and beauty of our lives.

Prayer

Dear God
Let us come together,
our community, a place of warmth in our lives
as we share the flame of hope and connection.
Let us allow the frost and harshness of challenging times to melt away
as we open ourselves to a sense of peace and spirit.
We extend our thoughts to all those who are cold this winter lacking comfort or love to keep them warm.
Let us wrap our prayers around them and each other like our winter accessories
and wish each other safe journeys through this season.
Amen.

The recently held Tony Awards promoted the wonderful message of Arts being a ‘cure’ for the world. Arts subjects can build essential life skills such as critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and a range of skills mastery. But they also teach students the ability to think and respond with empathy, give an extended understanding of the world around them, and the ability to both question and take action against discrimination and inequality. 

Our subjects are essential in shaping young minds to become compassionate, responsible, and critical future citizens.

It has been a tumultuous semester for all areas of the Arts, with many events and assessments being held to showcase the hard work and skills of our students. Each area requires students to experiment with different forms of creation and ways of making meaning through a process of discovery, research, learning, and finally, the refinement of a performance or set of art works. 

Dance students from Years 7 to 12 performed at their showcase night earlier this term to a full audience in the atmospheric ballroom. Students were required to learn a group dance given by their teacher, Ms Bond, and choreograph their own dance. 

Senior Drama students performed their devised theatre pieces to an audience in the PAC room, having worked with different prescribed structures and themes including the dangers of world resources running out and the effect of changing societal values and our modern world. 

Media, Studio Art, and Visual Communication Design students have all devoted themselves to their portfolios and creative works. They have developed art in a range of different mediums through experimentation, drawing inspiration from different styles and forms. 

Finally, junior Music students had the opportunity to travel to Braemar College earlier this year to engage with other schools in a band workshop. The students learned to play new pieces on the day and were able to record these with three other schools. They were also able to showcase their talents with the Year 9, 10, and VCE Music students, who all performed at ‘Music in the Mansion’ in the ballroom. Each year level has worked towards developing their skills and knowledge in their instrument, culminating in an ensemble or solo performance. 

There have been many other exciting Arts projects seen at the College this term, including our annual House MADD (Music, Art, Dance, Drama) Day Competition and the rehearsals of our College Production ‘Cinderella’. Students across all year levels participate in both events, promoting a positive College culture and strong peer relationships. 

Tickets for the College Production will be on sale from Wednesday, 27 June from the Clocktower Centre website. 

Have a look at the gallery below to see some recent photos from the Arts. 

If you haven’t already, now is a great time to make sure you are set up on Schoolbox with a parent account.

Being active in Schoolbox gives you access to your child’s timetable, daily school news and events, as well as assessment information including due dates, scores, feedback comments, and developmental rubrics. On 29 June, the 2018 Semester One reports will be available on Schoolbox as a PDF file along with the Semester One and Two reports from 2016 and 2017 (stay tuned for more information). 

To get started, read our Getting Started Guide for parents (this is also available on the Schoolbox home screen if you click "Parents, logging in for the first time?").

Career Department News

Year 11 students and parents are always welcome and invited to come and discuss subjects and pathways with our Careers Advisers. 

Email careers@scr.vic.edu.au for an appointment.

All Year 10s have an appointment with a Career Adviser this term to develop a personal Career Action Plan. This will include a list of career areas of interest, related tertiary courses, Year 11 subjects and pathways. This will assist students with Subject Selection early next term. All parents welcome to attend.

Work Experience: Congratulations to 88 Year 10s who have organised their work experience this year. Many exciting places have been secured, including the ADF, NIDA, business, health, and many valuable opportunities for students to test out career areas. 

Year 12 News

Careers Program Year 12s have had presentations from RMIT, Deakin, ACU, La Trobe and attended the Caulfield Careers Expo excursion. Students have been encouraged to continue research of their path for next year. Some have vocational training and apprenticeships in mind and need to keep planning for this. Many plan to go to University and should continue their research. Students will have an Application Interview with a careers counsellor in Term 3. Yr 12s can attend Experience Days these school holidays, information events and Open Days in August. Students will have to list 8 course preferences on VTAC and should now be narrowing down their course list. Any student who has experienced difficulties that has affected their ability to perform in Year 12, should apply for SEAS. Students wishing to apply for SEAS will be guided through the process next term.

Community Achievers Program at Australian Catholic University (ACU) NOW OPEN: This is an early entry program that takes into account community service, leadership, and school participation etc. If you are successful, you will be guaranteed with a minimum ATAR, providing you meet prerequisites. 

• 70: Law and dual Law degrees
• 70: Physiotherapy
• 65: Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology
• 58.5: all other degrees. 
• Applications close Tuesday 31 July

La Trobe Aspire Program is NOW OPEN (closing 31 August). Students can receive an early guaranteed offer for community service & volunteering.

Passion for Business, Australian Catholic University: Students can receive an early guaranteed offer for one of seven eligible Bachelor degrees in business, IT & Commerce.

Passion for Law, Australian Catholic University: Students can receive an early guaranteed offer for the Bachelor of Law & double Law degrees with an essay & ATAR of 78.

Upcoming Careers Events

Experience Days for Bosco students these school holidays are a great way to check out fields of interest and campuses.
Registrations are essential:

• A Day at Melbourne - University of Melbourne Friday 13 July
        9.30am - 2.30pm (registration opens at 8.30am). Click here to register. 

• DeakInspire Day: Deakin University is hosting Inspire Days at the Burwood and Geelong campuses these school holidays.
        Burwood, Tuesday 3 July, and Geelong Waurn Ponds, Thursday 6 July.
        For more information and to register, click here.  

• Experience Clever Day, La Trobe University, these July school holidays.  

• Australian Catholic University Experience Days, these July holidays: Melbourne (3), Ballarat (5).

• MyDay, Charles Sturt University, Wednesday 27 June, Albury Wodonga.

Zookeeper for a day

ZOOKEEPER FOR A DAY for secondary school students who are interested in caring for wildlife and working at the zoo For information and costs call  1300 966 784 or visit the website. 

Animal Careers Discovery Day, RSPCA, 26th June Burwood East facility.

University Workshops and Experience Days

• RMIT Free Folio workshops at RMIT for Vis Com, Studio Art or Multimedia Students. Students can choose one of five specialised workshop sessions: fashion and textiles, graphic design, architecture and building design, photography and visual art, and drawing for design. To register, click here. 
• Teenflix Winter School: Designed specifically for creative young people interested in filmmaking and aged 13 - 18, the Victorian College of the Art's practical three-day filmmaking workshop will have students complete one mockumentary style exercise and two short films, all in just 3 days. Monday 2 – Wednesday 4 July. To register, click here.
• Journalism Workshop: What is journalism and why does it matter? What is news? How do we research news? Year 11 and 12 students are invited to come along and experience the multi-million dollar Monash Media Lab first-hand. There are only 24 spots, so be quick to register. Tuesday 3 July 2018 Time: 10am – 3pm Venue: Caulfield campus. To register, click here.  
• Inside Monash Seminars, Monash University, in June: Nursing & Midwifery (6), Psychology (20), Business (21)

University of Melbourne MY MELBOURNE EVENTS

Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm (registration from 6pm onwards)

Location: Parkville and Southbank Campuses

• My Future in Law – Wednesday 20 June 2018
• My Future in Science – Wednesday 20 June 2018
• My Future in Biomedicine – Thursday 21 June 2018
• My Future in Engineering – Tuesday 26 June 2018
• My Future in Fine Arts  – Tuesday 26 June 2018

Registration is open now online for all events.

Mathematics bridging programs

Swinburne University: If you aren’t currently studying Further Mathematics or Mathematical Methods and require these subjects for entry into a course at Swinburne University, the following are bridging programs you can apply to undertake during Year 12 or during a gap year: MathsLink: Methods and MathsLink: Further. For information, click here.  

Are you interested in apprenticeships/ traineeships?

To find apprenticeship and group training companies in your local area, click here and use the search facility. You will be able to contact the companies listed to discuss your options in obtaining an apprenticeship or traineeship in the future. 

Interested in health, IT and business?

You may enjoy a career in health information management. According to La Trobe University, “there is a national workforce shortage in this industry, which means graduates are in high demand. Salaries range from $50 000 - $180 000 at senior level”. The course at La Trobe University is called the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Medical Classification)/Bachelor of Health Information Management. Find out more here. 

Why the Bachelor of Arts is a great choice for students

If you love humanities but aren’t sure what you would like to specifically study, the Bachelor of Arts is a fantastic undergraduate degree. The following videos have been developed by three universities to showcase their Bachelor of Arts programs:

• Australia National University 
• Monash University
• University of Melbourne
• The Arts Scholars Program at Australian Catholic University is for high achieving students who are enrolled in one of the following courses: 
• Bachelor of Arts major: Digital Journalism, Drama, Economics, Geography, History, Literature, Digital Media, Music, Politics, Sociology or Visual Arts
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Global Studies
• Bachelor of Creative Arts

Australia National University: Bachelor of International Security Studies.

Excellent double degrees include Asian Studies, European Studies, International Relations, Political Science, Laws (Honours), and Criminology. You can complete a Diploma of Languages on the side of the degree, click here for more information.  

Passionate about wildlife conservation? 

You may like to explore the following courses as examples of what you can study at university:

• Bachelor of Science (Wildlife and Conservation Biology), La Trobe University 
• Bachelor of Environmental Science (Wildlife and Conservation Biology), Deakin University

For other vocational and higher education courses, search the Good Universities Guide. 

Courses at Australia National University (ANU), Canberra

ANU has developed a downloadable ‘Career Wheel’, which gives an overview of the courses on offer, VCE/HSC subjects they align with, and potential career pathways. Download the Wheel here. 

Science and Business at ANU

You can now take a virtual tour of the amazing science labs at ANU and also the College of Business and Economics. Use the following links to navigate around the campus areas:

• Science building and labs 
• College of Business & Economics 

Five jobs of the future you need to know

Careers With STEM have written a fantastic article about 5 jobs that could be a reality in the future. They are listed below:

• Robot Psychologist
• Blockchain Engineer
• Augmented Reality Cybersecurity Analyst
• Data Science Detective
• Computer vision technician

To read the article, click here.  

Have you considered studying hotel management?

This is an exciting industry with opportunities to work in Australia and overseas. Hotel management suits students who enjoy interacting with people from different backgrounds, enjoy travel, have excellent communication skills, are highly organised and enjoy solving problems. Being able to speak a second language is highly desirable in the industry. 

The following are examples of institutions that offer courses in hotel management: 

• The Hotel School Melbourne 
• William Angliss Institute, Melbourne 
• Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School 

Courses at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA)

At the VCA, undergraduate students can study Contemporary Music, Dance, Animation, Film & Television, Screenwriting, Music Theatre, Production, Acting, Theatre, and Visual Art. The VCA runs an online information platform called Precinct, which contains many interesting articles on the Faculties activities and achievements. To view Precinct, click here.  

Cybersecurity degree at La Trobe University

La Trobe offers the Bachelor of Cybersecurity at the Melbourne campus. The course has been designed to address the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals. Also on offer are two double degrees - Cybersecurity/Commerce and Cybersecurity/Psychological Science, allowing students to graduate with an even deeper breadth of skills. The degree has been designed by industry - including the Australian Signals Directorate, Optus, Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Learn more about cybersecurity courses offered at La Trobe by clicking here. 

Student reports for Semester One are about to be issued and this provides valuable feedback for parents and students, especially in Maths. Here at Salesian College, we are bound to assess using the Victorian Curriculum Standards as a guide. Our school regularly assesses our Maths students in a variety of ways as assessments can either be formative or summative. Teachers use the feedback from formative tasks to identify what students are struggling with and adjust instruction appropriately. This could involve re-teaching key concepts, changing how they teach or modifying teaching resources to provide students with additional support. Students also use feedback from formative tasks to reflect on and improve their own work.

Summative assessment provides students, teachers, and parents with an understanding of the pupil’s overall learning. Most commonly thought of as formal, time-specific exams, these assessments may include tests, projects, or SACs (School Assessed Coursework). These assessments are designed to measure the student’s achievement relative to the subject’s overall learning goals as set out in the relevant curriculum standards (in our case, the Victorian Curriculum).

Your child’s Maths report will indicate their individual progress in line with the Victorian Curriculum. The Victorian Curriculum consists of three major strands with each strand being divided into several connected areas as shown in graphic below. Our reports provide information (dot point placement) for the overall strands, those being Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. 

Mid-year reports are a valuable tool for the forthcoming Subject Selection process for the Year 8-11 students. Student conversations with their current Maths teacher as well as report information should be used to best select the form of Maths that students consider undertaking in the following year. More information about the specifics of subject selection will be presented to all students in the coming weeks. 

As well as reporting on your child’s academic ability in Maths, teachers are now also reporting on personal and social capability, in the area of resilience. This refers to your child’s willingness and approach to Maths tasks and the attributes your child displays, such as: “I give up when faced with challenge” or “I ask for assistance when I get stuck” or “I persevere with challenges that are in my comfort zone but don’t when they are not”. 

Schoolbox and Maths Pathways for Years 7-9, provide regular feedback on your child’s progress and reports are collated using all forms of assessment over an extended period of time. We do this to gain the most accurate picture rather than basing the feedback on one particular task which may not be completed to the best of a child’s ability if, for example, they were having a bad day.

Last week, from Tuesday 12 to Friday 15 June, a number of our Agriculture students travelled to Holbrook to take part in the Holbrook Sheep and Wool Fair.

The event attracts stud sheep breeders and more than 150 secondary school students from throughout Riverina, southern New South Wales, and Victoria. 

Our students competed exceptionally well, bringing home many ribbons! One of our sheep, Hugo, was also named the Grand Champion sheep of the show. 

Congratulations to everyone involved on representing the College so well and on such great success!

Have a look at the gallery below to see some pictures from the show. 

It can be difficult to keep the kids entertained over the school holidays - especially in Winter when the weather might not be on your side! 

See below for a couple of locally organised school holidays programs and expos.

Uniting & Hume City Council Kids Expo - Saturday 7 July

Hume City Council Youth Adventure - Saturday 30 June - Friday 13 July

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a youth development program, empowering all Australians aged between 14-25 to explore their full potential.

Attaining the Award involves students learning valuable skills in outdoor education, leadership, and teamwork. Last week, a group of Year 9 students undertook an overnight camping expedition as part of their Bronze Award. The hiking expedition saw the students walk 20 kilometres over two days to the Brisbane Ranges and then the Lederderg Ranges. The students had been training (via their Year 9 camp and electives) to prepare for the adventurous journey. The group were blessed with good weather and each of the teams learned a great deal about navigation – three of our teams ‘misplaced’ themselves over the course of the trip, but using their new skills, they eventually found themselves again!
We also have a group of five Year 11 students currently away in Torquay undertaking their Practice Adventurous Journey, testing water and soil quality in the area as well as doing activities such as the Otway Fly and bike riding. This expedition is to work towards their Gold Award. 

In order to achieve the Award, students are also required to organize and complete activities in the areas of skills, service, and physical recreation. In the past, this has seen our students take up new skills such as cooking and photography, assist in the community through charities or schools, and improve their skills and knowledge of their team or individual sport. 

This year, we have over 150 students working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Well done especially to those nineteen students working towards attaining their Gold Award this year:

• Abigail Hine
• Amanda Bruce
• Biance Need
• Bradley Bruce
• Brylie Clark
• Caitlin Fettes
• Callum Nemeth
• Colin Quantrill
• Daniel Brennan
• Ebony Coulsell
• Jessica Zelenbaba
• Jessica Clarke
• Jordan Stubbs
• Lachlan Wilkes
• Mia Bergamasco
• Paige Micallef-Grimaud
• Rhiannon Fettes
• Riley Hemburrow
• Ryan McNaughton

To find out more about the award, visit the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award website. 

If your child is interested in working towards attaining their Duke of Edinburgh, please contact Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator, Ms Narelle Stone. 

 Have a look in the gallery below at some photos from our recent Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. 

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on school students with disability collects information about students with disability across Australia in a consistent, reliable and systematic way.

It counts the number of school students with disability receiving educational adjustments to allow them to participate in education on the same basis as students without disability.

The national data collection has been progressively implemented over the period 2013-2015. From 2015, all government and non-government schools participate annually in the national data collection.

This data is now being used by Government bodies as part of the funding process to assist schools to make the necessary adjustments to support students to access the curriculum.

Please see the information sheets below explaining the process and in particular, information for parents whose students have received funding in previous years.

NCDD Information Sheet

Students with Disabilities (SWD) Information Sheet

Click the links below to read more. 

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Deputy Principal - Students 

This past weekend, the Church has celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, historically known by its Latin name, Corpus Christi. This feast day celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday following the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. The feast dates to the Middle Ages and originated with a visionary nun and a Eucharistic miracle. Many Christians in Australia, especially those of Roman Catholic faith, observe Corpus Christi to honor the Holy Eucharist. 

As a school, our rich liturgical calendar allows us to celebrate the Eucharist readily. Understanding the centrality of the coming together to worship Jesus Christ through the Mass is important for us as a faith community. The Mass invites all attendees to be ‘as one’, sharing a common bond together. This visible expression of unity is something special.

Please click here to view the advertisement from the Australian Salesian Missions Office. I invite you to take the time to read it.

We are praying for

Salesian College Sunbury is a large community of students, staff and parents, both past and present. Please keep the following in your prayers:

• Our students, who undertake exams and other end of semester assessments in the coming weeks
• All those members of our community - staff, students, parents - who are unwell or who are struggling emotionally.

Our Prayer

DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME

Do this in memory of me and in memory of the living poor;
In memory of me and in memory of the living lonely, the starving and the homeless;
In memory of me and in memory of the ones who came for healing and in memory of the ones who came for forgiveness;
In memory of me and in memory of the ones who came for acceptance and in memory of the ones who came searching for God.

Do this in memory of one who died so that all could live.

In continuing to develop the College’s English curriculum, the English Learning Area values the insight of our young people. Recently, a group of students from the College were invited to share their experiences with reading and asked to visually represent what reading is like for them. The data provided by this feedback is invaluable for staff and a reminder of the personal nature of reading. While some readers visualise what they read, reading can also be an auditory process. Many readers relate to a text by making connections to prior knowledge, while others prefer to read about contexts that are very different to their own lives. In summary, every reader is unique.

These deeply individualised experiences are a reminder of the need to employ a range of strategies in the English classroom to ensure that all readers are provided with the best opportunity to understand and derive pleasure from the material. Some of the strategies used at Salesian College include visualisation, enactment and inquiry. The photographs below depict Year 7 students exploring enactment strategies in their analysis of Andy Mulligan’s novel, Trash.

Such feedback is also a reminder of the role of good reading habits in the development of literacy and critical thinking - life skills that young people will rely on for success in the world post-school.  You can support your child with this at home by encouraging them to read regularly and initiating dialogue about what they are reading and what the experience of reading is like for them. The transfer of learning habits from the school environment to the world outside Salesian College greatly influences a young person’s belief in the relevance of what they are doing at school and motivates them to pursue excellence.

As a parent you are likely to have been asked the question, "what's the point of maths?" This is often followed by, "when will I ever use this stuff?" or "how will maths help me later in life?"

When will I ever use this stuff?

Maths in schools can be largely skills-based - such as learning how to determine internal angles of shapes or using formulas to determine volume or capacity - rather than a study of what mathematics actually is. Mathematics is a study of patterns and a means of representing and describing the world in terms of quantities, shapes, and relationships.

This means that previously for many students, their understanding of mathematics has been completing tasks set by a teacher rather than developing their own understanding of angles or volume or capacity. Broadening the experience of maths beyond the completion of worksheets presents the subject as interesting, relevant, and engaging. Teachers look for opportunities for students to use maths beyond the prescribed daily lesson by relating work to real-life situations. Here at Salesian College Sunbury, all year levels undertake work involving application of facts to real-life problems. Some examples of real life maths at Salesian are: 

• Year 7 students recently completed tasks based on understanding the AFL ladder and its percentage calculations;
• Year 8 students completed party planning tasks involving calculating the cost of items by unit price;
• Year 9 students have been studying financial maths; and
• in Years 10-12, application tasks are a consistent part of the curriculum as they are a necessary component of VCE Maths, and these vary according to the specific maths subject being studied (for example, Foundation Maths, General Maths etc.).

Parents could encourage their children to think about and use maths in everyday contexts. For example, when travelling, children can look for patterns in car number plates (for example, digits that are consecutive (3, 4, 5), prime (2, 5, 7), or square (144)). They might predict which routes are quickest while using updated data on mobile devices, or determine how much of their favourite TV shows are devoted to advertising.

How will maths help me later in life?

What is needed in our conversations with young people is a recognition that we use maths every day, perhaps without noticing it. For example, when navigating, determining likelihood, measuring, estimating, or when listening to the statistics offered by politicians, salespeople, or advertisers.

Because the focus on maths in schools has previously been on skills, rather than solving authentic problems, young people have been discouraged from further study in this area. A common misconception is that only a select handful of occupations use maths. But most occupations (for example, nurses, pilots, fashion designers, builders, journalists, truck drivers) use maths every day, often solving problems collaboratively.

So what is the point of maths?

Next time your child asks about the point of studying maths, some answers could be:

• Maths helps you to understand why things happen the way they do (why presents cost more at Christmas).
• Maths can help you to predict what might happen in the future (using probability to work out how likely it will be that my favourite toy character will appear in a box of cereal).
• Maths can help you to solve puzzles to assist the heroine unlock the next level in the latest video game.
• The process in Maths of sequential, logical thinking, and working processes is transferable to any new challenge in any subject and situation; that is, the ability to plan, investigate, trial, adapt, rework, and consolidate is invaluable. 

With acknowledgement to Kevin Larkin, Griffith University

MADD Day is the culmination of a week of Music, Art, Drama and Dance performances by our students representing their houses. The final day sees the top acts from the week compete for the win.

Our eight houses have been working this term to prepare performances to enter the MADD Day competition. There were heats held each lunchtime of Week 7 with fantastic House spirit displayed by all the houses. Thank you to the staff who have put in so much time and energy to prepare the students. Finalists were selected by our hardworking judges before competing in the MADD Day finals on Friday 1 June in the College Stadium.

The MADD Day finals were a spectacular display of the spirt and energy of our performing arts students, who worked together in teams to present an excellent standard of performances. Congratulations to all the Houses who competed, and great job to Colliton for winning MADD Day with the highest total points! See below for the top three house results from the day. 

See the gallery below for some images from the competition. 

It’s always wonderful to hear about the achievements of our students outside of school.
Last week we were thrilled to read about Matilda ‘Tilly’ Gavaghan [Year 10, MP] who was competing at the National Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne.

Tilly is now officially the Australian Champion on the Floor and Bronze medallist for the All Round Apparatus.
This is an another amazing achievement for Tilly and a just reward for the many hours of training she completes each week.

Congratulations Tilly!

On Saturday 30 June, Bruno Goes Everywhere will be hosting a literary event in our College Mansion, as part of our Twilight School. 

We invite all students, parents, alumni, friends, and family, to join us for an evening featuring special guests: Helen Garner and Michael Leunig.

Starting at 3:30pm, the evening will be broken into three sessions; tickets can be purchased for $15 per session, or $45 for the entire evening. 

• Session One: 3.30pm
  Helen Garner
• Session Two: 5pm
  Michael Leunig
• Session Three: 7pm
  Alice Pung, Amy Bodossian, Fr Bob, Lee Palumbo, Barry Garner, Ailsa Piper and finishing with a musical oration by Sarah Carroll

Spaces are limited; click here to book your tickets now. 

This is a reminder to any families with children in Grade 5 that 2020 enrolments are open now and will close Friday 17 August.

 All completed applications must be received (even from those families who already have children at the College) by this date. 

If you have any questions, please contact our College Registrar (phone College reception on 03 9744 0000 or email registrar@scr.vic.edu.au

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on school students with disability collects information about students with disability across Australia in a consistent, reliable and systematic way.

It counts the number of school students with disability receiving educational adjustments to allow them to participate in education on the same basis as students without disability.

The national data collection has been progressively implemented over the period 2013-2015. From 2015, all government and non-government schools participate annually in the national data collection.

This data is now being used by Government bodies as part of the funding process to assist schools to make the necessary adjustments to support students to access the curriculum.

Please see the information sheets below explaining the process and in particular, information for parents whose students have received funding in previous years.

NCDD Information Sheet

Students with Disabilities (SWD) Information Sheet