LEADERSHIP ADDRESS
Dear Parents and Carers,
Narwari Mission Week was a spectacular success! Congratulations to all for their efforts to organise fun events, raise awareness and valuable funds for the work of Caritas Australia, the Catholic Organisation which provides many programs in Australia and the developing world. The enthusiasm with which students embraced the week was extraordinary. Well done particularly to the Heads of House, Angela Hogan and Gerry Glass for all their efforts, including a great celebration of St Patrick’s day last Friday.
Our student leaders have launched their motto for 2017, ‘Ignite the Vision.’ It is certainly a wonderful call to arms for the whole Xavier community to remember that we strive to be people of competence, conscience and compassion with an attitude of excellence and service. Our student Leaders. In speaking at the P to 12 Assembly I referred to the words in Pauls second letter to Timothy: ‘Fan into flames the gifts that has given you.’ If we can ignite that potential nothing is impossible. This includes the gift of our own spirituality.
Recently I have been reading an excellent study by Brian Caldwell and Jessica Harris, ‘Why Not the Best Schools?’ I was struck by the growing appreciation in educational research of the importance of what is termed ‘spiritual capital’ in the transformation of schools into highly functioning, highly effective places of learning and growth. The authors identified 10 characteristics of spiritual capital that are apparent in effective schools:
- There is a high level of alignment between the values, beliefs and attitudes about life and learning held by the school and members of its community.
- The values and beliefs of the school, including where relevant those that derive from a religious foundation, are embedded in its mission, vision, goals, policies, plans and curriculum.
- The values and beliefs of the community are taken into account by the school in the formulation of its mission, vision, goals, policies, plans and curriculum.
- The school explicitly articulates its values and beliefs in publications and presentations.
- Publications and presentations in the wider community reflect an understanding of the values and beliefs of the school.
- There are high levels of trust between the school and members of its community.
- Parents and other stakeholders are active in promoting the values and beliefs of the school.
- The values and beliefs of the school are evident in the actions of students and staff.
- Staff and students who are exemplars of the values and beliefs of the school are recognised and rewarded.
- The values and beliefs of the school have sustained it or are likely to sustain it in times of crisis.
It is interesting that educational research is now placing more stock in this dimension of schooling life. It reinforces the importance of the alignment between values and practices. It challenges us to be faithful to our core beliefs and make sure we ‘walk the talk’.
Community Satisfaction Survey
A reminder that we are very keen to gain your feedback through the Community Satisfaction that was emailed to you last week. Your voice will help us shape the future growth and direction of the College. We are now past 750 responses from parents, staff and students. But, if we can get everyone to complete it we will gain a fuller picture and ensure our plans are aligned with the community’s desires.
I would ask you to please complete this survey (click on the link below) so we can gauge the community’s feelings about Xavier’s performance and its future. The survey will close on 5.00 pm Friday, 7 April, 2017.
2017 Xavier Catholic College Community Satisfaction Survey
God bless
Simon Dash
Principal
HEADS OF COLLEGE ADDRESS
Student Leadership at Xavier
I would like to congratulate our senior students who have taken on leadership positions in the College. Our Captains- Bailey & Eloise and our Vice Captains- Tessie and Fraser are doing a wonderful job organising the weekly meetings and ensuring there is an array of activities across the College for our students.
It is also great to see the many Year 9 Middle School leaders as well as some Year 5 students who have started to come to the meeting. They are now happily volunteering to support the leaders in their activities. This gives them the opportunity to see leadership in action and may also inspire them to consider taking on a role in the future.
The other group of students who are attending the meeting are year 11 students who may be considering putting their name forward for a position for 2017/18.
XCC Parlauf Relay and Cross Country
Preparations are in full swing for two major events in the sporting calendar next week. On Wednesday we will have our Parlauf Relay. This year we are looking forward to being joined by members of the Junior School. In this event there is a boys race and a girls race. Each year level has a representative who runs a minimum of 30m and at the end of the race the House that has covered the furthest distance is the winner.
Cross-Country will take place on Thursday 30th march. The Junior School will start at 9.00am and the Senior School at 12.20pm. At the end of the day the Junior School will join us for the presentations and the winning House will treat us with a celebratory War Cry. It should be a wonderful day with a carnival atmosphere as the runners make their way around the 3km or 4km track.
Years 6-12 Interim Reports and Parent/ Teacher Interviews
Many thanks to the parents who, after considering their child’s Interim Report, made a time to meet with staff to celebrate the successes and address any issues that may have risen. If a teacher did have any concerns they would have highlighted this to you by requesting an interview. Research has indicated that a close working relationship between home and school is one factor that influences student outcomes in a very positive manner.
Our teachers, as well as a range of support staff, are able to support you in ensuring that your child is taking all opportunities available to make them successful learners. If you were not able to attend the interviews please feel free to make contact with the teachers or your Head of House to arrange a time for a catch up interview or a phone discussion.
FROM THE APRES
Project Compassion – Week 3
This week Caritas shares Uncle Richard’s Story and the work that they are doing to help support Stolen Generation survivors heal after a childhood of suffering. Lent is a time for healing and reconciliation. Sharing other peoples’ stories can help build understanding and compassion. For more information and to access all the Caritas stories please go to their website: Project Compassion Website
First Australian Uncle Richard is a survivor of the Stolen Generations, forcibly removed from his family as a child and taken to Kinchela Boys Home (KBH) in NSW. Hundreds of Indigenous boys were incarcerated there between 1924 and 1970, suffering ongoing physical and verbal abuse. They lost every aspect of their identity – their names, their culture and their families.
When Uncle Richard left KBH, he struggled with the legacy of pain, trying to find relief through his work as an artist. But he attributes the beginning of his healing to something even more powerful than his creative work, his reconnection with former KBH boys.
The KBH Aboriginal Corporation (KBHAC) was established by KBH survivors to reunite with one another and begin healing. KBHAC’s Unlocking the Past to Free the Future Program works to restore the social and emotional wellbeing of the survivors and their families. The former KBH boys have realised that their shared suffering has created a brotherhood. They support each other by sharing their stories, and coming to a common understanding of how their experiences have impacted on themselves and their descendants.
Through KBHAC, the men are also opening the door to the wider Australian community, inviting everyone to journey together as neighbours in the healing process. Caritas Australia supports KBHAC and is proud to walk alongside in partnership on the journey to wellbeing.
St Patricks Day Mass
On Friday 17th March we celebrated the feast day of Saint Patrick. A special mass was held at Saint Patricks Catholic church in Howard. Students from 5.2 attended along with a class from Star of the Sea. It was lovely for the students to come together for another experience of the sacrament of Eucharist and to experience being in a different church. The students participated beautifully in the mass itself and afterwards were treated to a delicious morning tea put on by the parishioners!
Confirmation/Communion for Older Students
With many families moving around so much these days along with work requirements and other family reasons it is often difficult to ensure your child has completed their sacraments of initiation within the Catholic Church. If you have a child who is a Baptised Catholic and is in year 8 and above who would like to receive confirmation and their first Eucharist (Communion) please contact myself, Carmel Donnelly directly on cjdonnelly@bne.catholic.edu.au or on 41971165. Preparation will commence in Term 2 this year.
Campus Ministry Corner
This weekend I found myself praying over the First Spiritual Exercises at Canisius House, a Centre of Ignatian Spirituality in Sydney. One of the very first things we were asked to pray about was how did we come to be where we are today. This is a very good question and one that I reflect upon often. I first became involved in Ignatian Spirituality over 14 year ago when the College first began and would regularly come along to a co-ordinator meeting with the then Assistant to the Principle for Religious Education and sometimes the Principal. It was so moving and I felt so privileged to be a present with such deeply spiritual people. I remember feeling like how Peter must have felt at the transfiguration, a mountain top experience, the opportunity to see and connect with the sacred. However, it was not to be, I stopped being asked to attend these meetings and continued my merry way. A fall from grace you might say.. Not really. Over the years I continued to form my own spiritualty through experiencing various retreats, the Sunday Eucharist, an immersion to Nepal and being part of the full Spiritual Exercises which is prayed daily over a period of about 30 – 40 weeks. I often say that I gave birth to the Spiritual Exercises as it appeared at times to be quite a labour of love and when I had finished them I felt as if a new person had been created in me. A person who was so deeply in love with Jesus, loved by Jesus that I wanted to share this love through my life. I am not saying I had never felt a strong desire to be of service to the Lord through my life. I very much have always had this strong social justice feeling in my heart and possibly now I knew that this is what the Lord desired of me, to help continue these great works that Jesus showed us. However, this weekend, I am nervous, unsure and at times a little overwhelmed that the Lord loves me so much. But it is during these times that I find great solace in knowing that Jesus wants to know me so intimately, and loves me so unconditionally and it is all a gift. A most precious gift and one that I too can so easily give to others, with the Spirit to guide me. Well here I go again, off to pray. Who would have thought my Lenten journey was going to be so prayerful? Possibly Jesus knew.
Blessings Carmel Donnelly
“Clothe yourselves in love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts ,to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…………..And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:14-17)
NAME THE NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE COMPETITION
The Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre is running a competition for youth to name and create a logo for our new Youth Centre.
The Youth Centre is located at 80 Main Street, next to the Rockoff Indoor Skate Park and houses the Youth Mentoring, Reconnect and Youth Justice Transition 2 Success Programs. The Youth Centre aims to be an inspiring and innovative training facility for young people. Winners receive a $100 AMART Sports voucher. There will also be 5 lucky draw winners who will win a $20 AMART Sports voucher each.
Competition closes on Friday 7th April 2017. Winners will be announced on Wednesday 12th April 2017.
If you are interested in entering please see Daisy Block or Mrs Donnelly for details.
SENIOR SCHOOL LOCAL IMMERSION
Early last month Josie Fagan, Tessie White, Lauren Flynn and Grace Lunn volunteered their time to be immersed in the experiences of those who are marginalised in our society, in particular within Brisbane. We slept on the floor of a parish hall with a shared toilet. The students spent time at the 139 club, a drop in centre, Milpera State High School, Blind eye ministries and working alongside Rosies’ and St James College in the city and heard about the work and programs that SVDP offers in our capital city and beyond. It truly was an amazing experience, often having to live off $2 a meal. Their total presentation will take place during our annual SVDP school sleepout and there will be an opportunity to share more of their story during some of our school assemblies.
LOCAL IMMERSION 2017: Tess, Josie, Lauren & Grace.
On behalf of Tessie, Josie, Lauren and Grace we’d like to acknowledge and thank Mrs. Donnelly for giving up her time to organise and accompany us throughout the local immersion. You opened our hearts and minds about how important it is to seek unjust issues within our society. Thank you for driving us safely to, from and around Brisbane and guiding us to be better, more considerate young women. But most of all thank you for the experience, it’s one that we all will cherish forever.
YEAR 6 VISUAL ART
On Monday this week, Mrs Bates organised for a local indigenous artist named Les to come and teach us about Aboriginal Art.
Les told us about where he came from in New South Wales. He also told us that all aboriginal paintings have a story. Les showed a few of his own pieces of artwork as well as a few from of other indigenous artists. These included a painting of an emu egg, a small turtle made out of a coconut shell and painted rocks.
As an activity we were given a picture of a boomerang and a sheet of aboriginal symbols. He then showed us how to write a story using the symbols. We used these symbols to create our own story on the boomerang image.
Adam Wylie and Harry Bade-6.
FRANCE TOUR 2017
On March 30, thirteen of our Senior French students will be embarking upon an adventure of a lifetime, a tour of France. The group will land in Nice, visit Monte Carlo and Cannes. They will then take the bus north to Avignon, to re-connect with their homestay brothers and sisters whom they met during the three week visit from the group from Lycée Saint Joseph last October. Whilst in Avignon, our students will attend classes and be immersed in the real life of Provence. Each day there will be an excursion to a nearby area to allow them to experience the wonders of this region – a day in Nimes to visit the ancient Roman aqueducts, a day in Arles to see gladiators in action at the arenas, a day in Avignon to see the walled city and visit the Palace of the Popes. Next, it is off to Paris to enjoy all that the City of Lights has to offer- the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysées, the Palace of Versailles and on our very last day, a visit to Paris Disneyland.
How have we been able to afford all of this? To prepare the students have been madly fundraising. There have been raffles, sausage sizzle and many, many icy cup and hot chocolate sales.
One of the highlights of our trip, as always will be the visit to the Somme battlefields, including the Australian memorial, the Franco-Australian in Villers-Bretonneux, Thiepval, La Boiselle, Beaumont Hamel and the Victoria school . We have been fortunate enough to be able to support our visit to this area due to the generous donation of $2,500 made by the RSL through their Community Grants program. We are extremely grateful for their support and know that this will be one of the most memorable days on our itinerary. Not long now!!!
Loretta Swann
HOD – Humanities/Arts/LOTE
CHEMISTRY STUDENTS EARN THEIR C PLATES
Throughout the term, Year 11 Chemistry students have been working on earning their Chemistry Formula Writing Licences. So far, the eight students pictured have been awarded their C Plates; Ethan Makaresz, Lachlan Hall, Poorna Jayasinghe, Maddi Smith, (Mad) Max Toohey, Jayden Muir, Chelsea Aston and Raemah Krause. To achieve this level of competence students have had to achieve 100% on three consecutive chemical formula writing quizzes without the use of reference tables or the Periodic Table. Congratulations to these students on their achievement and commitment to their studies. The skills of the remainder of the class have also improved markedly through their concerted efforts and I'm sure will soon be flashing their own chemistry licences. Poorna and Ethan were also selected for Academic Awards for their progress on the current unit of work. Zoe Poulter and Maddi were recognised for their outstanding application and effort. The students in the class are currently studying a topic called "All that Glitters" and this requires them to know and understand the different types of chemical bonds and how this affects the properties of materials.
BCE CONNECT MOBILE APP
BCE Connect, our mobile app for all our BCE Schools, is another great way to participate in our community.
BCE Connect gives parents, staff, extended family, friends and the public easy access to school information, making it easier to keep track and stay in touch.
BCE Connect has been designed to work on both Apple and Android devices.
Now, parents/legal guardians can use their BCE login to access extra Parent Portal features and private information such as absences, directories, and newsletters.
NARWARI MISSION WEEK
Thank you to everyone for the great support to Narwari Mission Week. I am unsure as to how much money was raised for Caritas yet, but no money can buy the smiles on the students faces as they competed in the jelly eating, participated in carnival games and had shamrocks painted on their faces. It was a truly successful week of fun activities for all and helping out Caritas as well. Here’s to an even greener week next year.
Angela Hogan
Head of House - Narwari
DEBATING NEWS
The last few weeks has seen the start of the debating season in the Wide Bay region. Xavier, once again, has fielded a pleasing number of teams in each of the age categories.
Even though many of the students in each of the categories were debating for the first time, they did a fantastic job. In this first round, the majority of Xavier teams had a win. A great start to the season!
The year 7 and 8 students had fun debating the topic, “That air-conditioning is bad for you”, one which I believe was close to their hearts, considering the weather conditions we have all been experiencing of late. Both of our year 7/8 teams argued the more challenging side of the debate, disagreeing with this statement. This was the first debate for many of these students, and they presented well-structured and entertaining speeches. So much so that, the Xavier 1 team (Isabella Jensen, Stella Ignatenko and Sarah Garty) came away with a very convincing win.
The topic for the junior round was, “That volunteers should be eligible for a tax deduction”, a controversial and challenging topic to say the least. However, never has a debate about tax law been so entertaining! At the outset, the statement put forward for debate ‘that volunteers should be eligible for a reduced tax rate’, seemed dry at best. Yet, team Xavier 2 in their first ever debate, drew on the strength and courage of each other to find the excitement in the event and brought the topic to life. Lydia White, Lucy Glass and Natalie Quattromani, faced another rookie team from a school new to debating at the APEX competition, Urangan State High School. Lydia started in a confident, self-assured manner. Lucy stepped in at second speaker, and with a highly animated style brought the argument to bear on the opposition. Finally, Natalie, adapted on the fly and reworked the case that they had presented into a solid conclusion. The contest was tight, however the form and structure that the girls used to frame their approach saw them walk away with the win. Without a doubt, the team is looking forward to their next round draw.
Our senior students, mostly veteran debaters, had to tackle the topic, “That elite athletes demonstrate acceptable standards of professionalism' “, which they did in a most confident and convincing manner.
This Tuesday evening Xavier will host Round 2, of the year 7 and 8 section of the competition. The fun will start at 6.30 in rooms 1, 2 and 3 in the Middle School with the competitors debating the topic, “That High School prepares young people for the workforce”.
We wish these students all the very best of luck in this competition. Below is a list of our debaters and their coaches for this year.
XAVIER DEBATING TEAMS 2017
SPORT NEWSWide Bay Cluster 2 TrialsOn Monday 20th March, 47 students represented the Hervey Bay District at the Wide Bay Cluster 2 trials for Rugby League, Rugby Union, Netball, AFL, Hockey, Basketball and Soccer. Out of the 47 students, the following have made Wide Bay teams:
Ciara Battle (etball)
NJack Savage (Rugby Union)
Jakob Tietz (AFL)
Heather McInnes (Soccer)
Jack Sinn (AFL)
Meg Mason (Soccer)
Ben Triffitt (AFL)
Jaspa Wright (AFL)
Will Kluck (Rugby Union)
Griffin Lowe (Rugby Union)
Larissa Wilson (Netball)
Lucy Glass (AFL)
Equestrian
On March 18 and 19, Nellie Davis, Year 8 student, represented Xavier at the Wide Bay Regional Equestrian Competition. With her 2 horses, Emperor Albert & Rock the Boat Pumba, Nellie was outstanding. She came away from the strong competition with Champion for Combined Training (Preliminary Dressage and Show Jumping 60cm ) and Reserve Champion for Show Jumping (70cm). She now competes at the State Titles to be held in Toowoomba over the June/July holidays. This is a fantastic achievement and the Xavier community is very proud of you Nellie.
Rugby Union 7’s
On Saturday March 18, the U13 Rugby 7’s team competed at the annual FCAC Rugby 7’s tournament. The boys played extremely well and were undefeated going into their semi-final game against Shalom College from Bundaberg. They narrowly lost this game by a try and then went into the Plate Final against Urangan State High. The boys were victorious in this game with outstanding performances from Jack Roderick and Ruben Broome. All boys are congratulated on their excellent standard of play and conduct throughout the day’s competition. Thank you to Mr Tom Riley and Mr Reagen Collier for their coaching expertise.
Cross-Country
The Xavier Cross-Country Carnival will be held next Thursday 30th March. Parents and families are invited to come and watch the students participate in this whole College event. The schedule of races for the day is below:
Junior School: Kindy to 11yr olds (born 2006)
Middle & Secondary School: 12yrs to 17yrs
Please note that Years 7 – 12 will have shortened Periods 1-4 on the day and so will need materials for these lessons.
A number of our students are involved in the below production, so it would be wonderful to show our support of this community collaboration.
