Dear Parents

Welcome to the commencement of the 2019 Academic Year with a particular welcome to the Xavier family to our new students and their families. I know we will be a richer community for your decision to choose Xavier Catholic College for your child's education.

As a way of ushering in a new year I wish to share the following message to our students.

We begin a new year with high hopes and high ambitions. The story of 2019 is yet to be written but it is you who holds the pen in your hand. Don't settle for a short story – aim to make 2019 an Epic story!

We possess great facilities which show our commitment to creating a learning environment that will help students to develop the knowledge and skills to succeed. But the facilities are only one piece of the puzzle – your effort is by far the more important factor in how this year will unfold.

I see 2019 as the 'Year of Opportunities'. It is up to you to seize hold of the great opportunities that present themselves to you each day and strive for excellence in everything you do. Don't settle for second best, as we begin a new school year commit yourself to your personal best.

I recently came across a story that may help to illustrate my point.

As a man was passing some elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well," the trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Let's break the ropes that hold us back. Let's break free of our self-imposed limitations. Let's seize the day and grasp hold of the many opportunities that come our way. The story of 2019 contains blank pages, just as your exercise books do at the start of the year. It is all ahead of you, but only you can write the story.

Let us take the unique gifts and talents that God has given to us and live life to the full and, if we do that, 2019 will truly be the Year of Opportunities.

God Bless and have a great year.

Simon Dash

2019 Family School Fee Accounts will be issued Friday, 8 February 2019 by email.

Full payment of your account will be required by 22 February 2019.  Alternatively, we will require a payment plan via direct debit or credit card which finalises your account by 30 November, 2019.

Documents to assist you to calculate your annual account or set up a weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly payment plan are available on the Parent Portal in the School Fees section.

Our finance staff are currently working on generating these accounts and will be available to assist you from Monday 11 February 2019.

Thank you for your patience.

Xavier Catholic College uses our Parent Portal as the main channel of communication with our school community. Don't miss out on important information about what's happening.  You can download notes from teachers, read newsletters, browse photos, fill electronic forms, checkout our calendar for upcoming events and see the latest news.  There are also interactive features where you can let us know your child will be absent, keep your contact details up-to-date, check your child's attendance, see your child's timetable and obtain NAPLAN results.

Access to our Parent Portal is restricted to parents/guardians of students at our school and a logon is required.  For parents new to our school, an invitation will be sent to you.  If you have logged in before, your username and password has not changed.  If you have forgotten your password, please contact the school office or use the forgotten password option in the Parent Portal.

The BCE Connect mobile app makes it easy for you to keep up with school events and information. The latest version allows us to send announcements as a push notification to anyone who has installed the app and selected Xavier Catholic College and saved as a Favourite.

The school will also be using the new Blogs feature which will allow us to share photos and news stories specific to your children's year group and class.

The best experience is if you log into the App, which is done with the same username and password as the Parent Portal. The App will enable you to stay logged in for up to a year.

BCE Connect is now available to download from the Google Play and Apple App stores.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The second-hand uniform sale will be on Monday 11th Feb from 2.30pm to 5pm in GOA foyer. Cash only sales.

TUCKSHOP ON QKR!

Parents of Junior School students who order tuckshop via QKR! are asked to please update their students' classes to ensure orders can be easily delivered to the correct classes. Thanks.

OPEN CLASSROOM EVENING

MONDAY 18^TH FEB

3.30 PM – 5.00 PM

Parents and carers are invited to join us on Monday the 18^th February for our open classroom evening.  All classrooms will be open from 3.30 pm for parents to visit and meet both their child's teacher and other parents from their class community.  Teachers will also hold a short information session during this time as per the schedule shown below:

PARENT INFORMATION SESSION TIMES

FREE PREP VISION SCREENING

Good vision is important for a child's educational, physical and social development. Vision screening is therefore vital in early childhood, particularly for conditions such as 'lazy eye', which if not detected early can lead to blindness.

A Registered Nurse will be visiting the school in 2018 to commence vision screening for all Prep Year children.  If you wish to have your child participate in this free vision screening program, please complete and sign the consent form sent home with your child and return this to your child's class teacher as soon as possible.   You will be advised in writing of the outcome of your child's screening.

Please note that if your child has had a vision assessment in the past 12 months it is not necessary for him/her to participate in this screening program.  If this is the case, please complete the consent form and indicate that you do not wish for your child to participate, and ensure that you follow the schedule of reviews recommended by your eye health professional.

Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program; Child and Youth Community Health Services; Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service

YEAR 1,2 & 3 SWIMMING

Please find below the relevant information regarding the Term 1 swimming program for Years 1, 2 & 3.

Venue:   Elders Swim Centre, 44 Islander Road, Pialba

Lesson Dates:             Thursday 14^th Feb, 21^st Feb, 28^th Feb, 7^th Mar, 14^th Mar (week 3 – 7)

Timetable:

XAVIER / STAR OF THE SEA SHUTTLE BUS

The Xavier/Star of the Sea Shuttle Bus will be running again this year.  This bus will pick up Xavier students from Star of the Sea at approximately 8.10am in the morning and leave Xavier at 3.05pm to return to Star of the Sea.

Just a reminder regarding the Non-State Schools Transport Assistance Scheme (NSSTAS) under which Financial Assistance for bus fares can be claimed.

https://www.schooltransport.com.au/

Cost of bus

Weekly ticket per student $10 – to be purchased each Monday

Casual Ticket per student each way $1.50

Term Ticket $10 per student multiplied by the number of weeks in the term.

In 2019 it will be a requirement that students have their ID card when on the bus and present it to the bus driver on request.  Students in Prep to Year 6 will be given a laminated ID in the first week of school.

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are an integral part of our school. Xavier Catholic College welcomes parents, carers, grandparents and local community members as volunteers in our school. Over the years we have many volunteers in our school community who contribute to helping our students in many different ways.

If you are interested in volunteering at Xavier, please follow the process below.

1. Complete the Volunteer Student Protection training online.
2. Print off and return a completed registration sheet to either Tracy Grambower or Libby Gaedtke to indicate you have completed the training. Tracy, Libby and Cass can be found in Manresa office located at the front of GOA. Alternatively ask at front reception or call the College on 41971177.
3. Tracy or Libby will provide you with a Xavier Volunteer Handbook and go through some important information about volunteering at Xavier as well as help you to work out where you would like to volunteer in our school.

Please be aware the College is legally required to ensure all volunteers have completed the Volunteer Student Protection training before they engage in any volunteer duties.

 If you have any question or require additional information please do not hesitate to contact either Tracy Grambower  or Libby Gaedtke on 41971177 or email Tracy on tgrambower@bne.catholic.edu.au or Libby on egaedtke@bne.catholic.edu.au

XAVIER PLAYGROUP

Come along to our first Playgroup for 2019!

Who can come?  Parents and grandparents of pre-Prep age children (yes, babies are also welcome!)

When:  Thursday 7^th February

Time:  8.45am – 10.30am

Where:  In Goa Hall

Bring:  morning tea and water bottle for your child/ren

Cuppa provided 😊

DEBATING

Coming Soon! Debating teams will soon be invited to self-nominate in the 2019 Apex Debating Competition. In 2018 we had tremendous success with our Year 7-8 team making the grand final, while our Years 9-10 team were the winners of the Queensland State Championship! Debating fosters spontaneous, logical thinking and builds on the challenges and strengths of being part of a team. Xavier Catholic College enters as many teams as possible at all year levels in the competition. Please listen out for the upcoming notices and attend the first meeting. We can assist you with placement in a team.

MS MCDUFF AT WORLD YOUTH DAY – PANAMA

Read more about Ms McDuff's experience in South America and having the opportunity to celebrate World Youth Day with the Pope and more than 1 million other people from over 143 countries.

CAPTAINS ATTEND JESUIT LEADERS' CONFERENCE

During the first week of the school holidays our Xavier Captains and Vice Captains - Lucy Glass, Lockie Espulso, Jade Dundas and Tom Miller, travelled to Loyola College in Melbourne to attend the Jesuit Province Student Leadership Conference.  This was the opportunity to meet with student leaders from the other Jesuit schools and explore what it means to be 'Companions in the spirit of Ignatius'. Highlights of the 3 day program included presentations from the Cardoner Project and Jesuit Social Services, a Eucharistic celebration with Fr Gerry Healy SJ and a visit to the MCG.  The students were able to form friendships with students from Jesuit schools around Australia and form a supportive and enduring network.

2018 GRADUATES

Congratulations to all of our Year 12 students who have achieved excellent results this year. We are very proud of your efforts throughout the year. A special mention must go to Ethan Makaresz who achieved the highest possible result of an OP1. Well Done Ethan.

SPORTS NEWS

SECONDARY SWIMMING CARNIVAL

Congratulations to Kondari on going back to back and winning the Secondary Swimming Carnival on Friday 1^st February for the second year in a row. The day's events proved to be a great success with students competing in championship, participation, novelty and relay events. A highlight of the day was The Big Splash events with 2019 winners Kyle Begaud and Kasey Gamble claiming narrow victories in the 25m deep-water-start event. A big thank you to Hervey bay Aquatic Centre staff and all Xavier staff that helped make the day run smoothly.

Overall Results:

1^st Kondari

2^nd Buthu

3^rd Narwari

4^th Dirum

AGE CHAMPIONS
13 Years Girls: Charlie Ryan
13 Years Boys: Oliver Wright
14 Years Girls: Takara Gibbons
14 Years Boys: Alexander Pacifique
15 Years Girls: Emma Wylie
15 Years Boys: Zaniel Cooke
16 Years Girls: Alysha Robinson
16 Years Boys: Kyle Begaud & Lachlan Gent
Open Girls: Kasey Gamble
Open Boys: Tom Veitch

Students who finished 1^st or 2^nd in championship events have qualified for the Hervey Bay District Swimming Carnival to take place on Monday 25^th February. Students will receive information this week.

More photos of the carnival on the College Facebook page.

HERVEY BAY DISTRICT CLUSTER 1 SPORT TRIALS

The Hervey Bay District Cluster 1 Sport Trials are being held on Tuesday 12th February (12:00pm to 3:00pm). These trials are attended by secondary schools in Hervey Bay. From these trials, a team is selected to then participate at the Wide Bay Trials on Thursday 21st February. The Cluster 1 Sports are as follows:

• Cricket: U14 Boys (can turn 15 after Sep 1), Open Boys, U15 Girls
• Golf: Open Boys, Open Girls
• Softball: Open Boys, Open Girls
• Tennis: Open Boys, Open Girls
• AFL: U15 Boys, U15 Girls
• Rugby Union: *U15 Boys, Open Boys
• Volleyball: 15 Girls, 15 Boys, *Open Girls, *Open Boys

Students were provided information about these trials this week, with online nominations closing on Thursday 7th February at 9am. Students will receive information for this event this week.

XAVIER SPORT TEAMS - SIGN-ON DAY

Any student in Year 7-12 wanting to play in a Xavier Sport team this year will need to attend a Sport Sign-On meeting this Thursday and Friday 1st break in JPAC. This sign-on day is intended to provide two benefits:

1. Allows key staff to determine which teams are being entered into competitions this year based on numbers of interested students who signed up
2. Provides parents/caregivers with a more holistic view of students' extra-curricula commitments across the school year

At the sign-on meeting, students will have a chance to take home information sheets about each sport that details key dates, training times, estimated costs and other relevant information. Parents/caregivers are encouraged to have conversations with students on Thursday evening regarding intentions for participating in Xavier Sport Teams for 2019.

Possible Xavier Sport Teams for 2019:
Rugby Union: 13 Boys, 15 Boys, Open Boys
Rugby League, 13 Boys, 15 Boys, Open Boys, Girls
Netball: 13 Girls, 15 Girls, Open Girls
Touch Football: 13 Boys, 13 Girls, 15 Boys, 15 Girls, Open Boys, Open Girls
Oztag: various boys, girls and mixed teams
Cricket: 15 Boys, Open Boys, Girls
Basketball: 15 Boys, Girls, Open Boys
Lifesaving: yr 7-12 boys & girls
Equestrian: yr 7-12 boys & girls
Hockey: Open Boys, Open Girls
AFL: 15 Boys, Open Boys, Girls
Soccer: 15 Boys, 15 Girls
Futsal: Open Boys, Open Girls
Human Powered Vehicle
Kokoda Challenge

Friday Sport

All Year 7 & 8 students will begin Friday sport this Friday 8^th February. Students have already been given an opportunity to apply for the Dance or Soccer programs. All other students were asked to select a sport during Pastoral Care this week. Please see the Term 1 Friday Sport outline below:

*Please note that these sport options can change due to unforeseen circumstances.

 SCIENCE TUTORING 2019

MATHS TUTORING 2019

Maths tutoring will commence in Week 3. Teachers with no A/B week indicated will be available both weeks.

Hervey Bay Catholic Parish Youth Ministry Team

If you are in high school this regular gathering is for you. Please come along and join other likeminded young people for a fun filled and faith filled evening each month.

When: Sunday 17^th February

Where: John Paul Centre (hall next to the church)

Time: 6pm – 8pm

What to bring: BYO a plate of food to share

Enquires: Carmel Donnelly 0448488443