Newsletter Edition 16 / 2024, October 28
Principal's Message
Dear Emmanuel College Families,
Nothing says the end of another school year is speeding towards us quite like the final days for year 12 students. The College recently farewelled 179 young people eager to move into life beyond the school walls whilst also feeling tentative about leaving their school friends behind. The whole school assembly is the highlight of Valedictory Day enjoyed by all students, staff and the parents and families of year 12 students. The assembly heard from the College Captains, and experienced three superb musical performances by year 12s. One of those performances was Monique Beames and Abby Titmus who had co-written the following song for the occasion.
Year 12
Hoodies on
Feeling number 1
Soccer grand final
Teachers got our backs
Not long now
Till the final dance
Been doing this for so long now
But we’re ready
And we’re ready to start
They can’t hold us
Can’t hold back our hearts
The future is in our hands now
All the Memories that we’re leaving behind
Are imprinted in the back of our minds
Always with us
Gonna guide us through life
Been there through the ups and downs
The friendships that we have found
We’d be nowhere without them
Car parks and convent stairs
It’s a struggle but I don’t care
It’s all worth it in the end
But we’re ready
And we’re ready to start
They can’t hold us
Can’t hold back our hearts
The future is in our hands now
All the Memories that we’re leaving behind
Are imprinted in the back of our minds
Always with us
Gonna guide us through life
Finally, the time has come
This is where our journeys up
But another’s just beginning to start
I spoke to the assembly and shared the following words with them:
Special guests, Emmanuel staff and students and the Class of 2024, welcome to Emmanuel College this morning for this 2024 Valedictory Assembly. I especially welcome the year 7 students to their first Valedictory Assembly. Today, and in the future, you will attend some amazing Valedictories, and hear some great speeches from your Captains, like those you heard today.
Today you heard Mia say: “I didn’t think this day would arrive so soon.” And Emma said she even wished “time would slow” so school wouldn’t end so soon. It may be difficult to imagine school ever finishing when you are in year 7, but secondary school goes very fast and your first year is already in the final term. Take note of the captain’s message and make the most of your time at Emmanuel, because it goes quickly, and as they said, our school offers opportunities that many around the world are not afforded.
To College Captains Emma, Mia, Eamon and Mathew, thank you for your leadership this year, thank you for your courage, your service, and your loyalty to Emmanuel College, and to all the year 12 leaders, thank you for your efforts to leave this school better than you found it. In short, thank you for encouraging us to SOAR in 2024.
The word ‘valedictory’ is the Latin word for goodbye. Today we say goodbye to the year 12 students, the Class of 2024, who had their last lessons yesterday and begin final exams in ten days.
I wish those preparing for exams a time of focused revision so the year of learning you have experienced crystalises and enables you to reach each exam in peak condition and ready to achieve your personal best. To those of you who are not sitting exams, I wish you happiness and success as the next stage of your life now begins. Whether it’s an apprenticeship or employment, or the search for work, Emmanuel College wishes you success and opportunities to grow into the person you are capable of being; the best version of you.
In 2024, our Captains and the Student Leadership Team created the college theme: Together we SOAR in 2024. Some of you won’t have thought about the theme, others will have seen it as inspiration to do better and to be better. As Emma said, SOAR in 2024 is an outlook, a way of thinking, encouraging you and motivating you to take flight into the future and to become the person you are being called to be. Even though you are surrounded by many supports at this school, only you can make the decision to spread your wings and reach the heights you are capable of.
To the Year 12 students, regardless of whether you know what comes next or how confident you feel about the future, each of you has received an excellent foundation on which to build your future thanks to your Emmanuel education. You have had six years of Emmanuel experiences, friendships and values shaping the way you think and the decisions you make. These experiences, the friendships and the values, combined with the love and support of your families, equip you to take the next steps with confidence and courage.
I trust, from time to time, you will remember the joy of having been a member of the Emmanuel family and recall the meaning of the word Emmanuel; that God is with us. A God that is love; a God who helps us find meaning when meaning can be hard to find.
Regardless of which journey you take, today is a day to celebrate the promise of the future and to follow in the footsteps of the thousands of Emmanuel students who also made their journey through this school and proudly call themselves Emmanuel alumni.
As principal I acknowledge and thank your teachers, coordinators and support staff who have worked with you this year. I also thank the many teachers and staff who helped lay the foundation for this final year.
I recently read a quote from Catherine McAuley, the woman who founded the Sisters of Mercy who created this school in 1872. In the 1800s she said: “A good teacher is one who inspires a student to believe in themselves and their potential.” I trust you will reflect upon those who inspired you and guided you and even those you didn’t agree with because all of them played a part in you reaching your potential. In the fullness of time, I encourage you to thank them for the part they played in your Emmanuel education.
To the parents and guardians present, thank you for entrusting your children to Emmanuel College. I hope we have honoured the expectations you had of the College to provide a balanced and well-rounded Catholic foundation for your children.
Finally, to the graduating class of 2024, Emmanuel College is a part of your life. Never forget what it stands for. Strive always to be an Emmanuel person. A person of good character and integrity, a person of compassion and mercy, a person who seeks truth and justice. A person who is courageous, a person imbued with faith, hope, and love. At your graduation in a few weeks’ time, you will become Alumni of this College. In the future we will always be interested in what you do, so, make us proud, and remember you are a member of the Emmanuel family, now and forever.
Year 12, the class of 2024, congratulations, goodbye and may God Bless you.
The year 12s will commence their first exam, English, tomorrow. Wishing you all a great week.
Kind regards
Mr Peter Morgan
Principal
A Message from Mrs Claire Wrigley
Emmanuel Day
On Friday September 20 we celebrated Emmnauel Day with a theme of “Through the decades”. Students and staff had a great day dressed up in the theme looking splendour in costume for the various decades. Students enjoyed moving around to various activities and in the afternoon the school came together for the much anticipated Emnnauel’s Got Talent, a highlight of the day.
Congratulations to the following students who were "best dressed" on Emmanuel Day winning a movie voucher each.
Lucy Bishop - 7J
Isaac Parsons - 7H
Hamish O'Kane - 7H
Tessa Bryne - 8G
Max Neal - Senior school -Maguire house
Natasha Barker - Senior school - Maguire house
We thank our school community for purchasing wrist bands and are pleased to announce we raised $7,514 with all proceeds to be shared between our two primary charities, Mercy Works and Ruben Centre, Africa.
We would also like to acknowledge the generous support of the Midfield Group for their sponsorship of our BBQ meat, Browns Bakery for supplying bread and Harvey Norman who donated several prizes for the day.
Uniform
As the weather is starting to warm up, it is now time for all students to have a hat on when outside at recess and lunchtime and during other outside activities. All students are expected to be SunSmart at recess and lunchtime. Statistics tell us that 2 out of 3 Australians are diagnosed with some form of skin cancer during their lifetime. Non-melanoma (keratinocyte) skin cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Australia. It is most important to be sunsmart from a young age.
The college hat is available from the uniform shop for $18.50. We are looking at a bucket hat option also for 2025, so students have the choice of two hat designs. It has become increasingly difficult to ensure senior school students wear a hat and we require support from parents to ensure your child has a hat and you have a discussion about the importance of being sunsmart.
As we draw towards the end of our uniform transition period from winter uniform to summer, all families are reminded that students must be in full summer uniform by Monday Nov 4.
Mrs Claire Wrigley
Assistant Principal - Students
Emmanuel Day 2024
Student Voice - VCE Year 11 Biology
Warrnambool Wildlife Encounters Excursion
In week 2 of Term 3, the four Unit 2 Biology classes visited Warrnambool Wildlife Encounters in Cudgee. The purpose of the excursion was to explore the park and observe the various adaptations of Australian wildlife. Students had the opportunity to interact with and feed many of the animals. Among the creatures they encountered were pythons, owls, kangaroos, emus, cockatoos, koalas, and dingoes. Students learned about a variety of fascinating and unique adaptations. They stepped out of their comfort zones to handle snakes and lizards, while also taking on the challenge of dealing with the always hungry emus! On the other hand, there was no hesitation when it came to cuddling the baby kangaroo, wallaby, and wombat, leaving many students wishing for one as a Christmas present! Some memorable highlights included Willow, the playful baby wombat, who ran around the room trying to chew on students’ shoelaces, and the incredibly soft, graceful barn owl that flew silently in the air. As a school, we are very fortunate to have Warrnambool Wildlife Encounters within such close proximity to us and appreciate the knowledge that Zara and her team are able to share.
Our students were asked if they could say something to Zara about their experience what would it be? Here are some of our students responses -
Thank you for the morning Zara, I learnt a lot from you guys about the animals and I had a really good time seeing and holding the animals.
Thank you for putting up with us, it was very educational and I think I learnt something from it and just overall, you guys are sick!!!
Hello, I really enjoyed the visit, the animals were so cute.
It was a great experience being hands-on with many iconic animals and learning about their different adaptations, it has helped me with my learning in biology and was a very enjoyable day.
It was a very enjoyable day, I enjoyed Willow the wombat the most.
Willow the wombat by far stole the show, however all the animals were so cute, everyone was so knowledgeable and it was so interesting to be able to pick your brains about Australian animals and see what we are learning in class in real life.
Thank you for having us. I learnt so much and had the best time.
It was super amazing, I loved it so much.
Thank you for showing us around the park! Willow was the cutest wombat ever!
Thanks for the experience, it was pretty cool seeing the baby wombat, and the white kangaroos.
Than you so much for having us, it was amazing I loved all the animals especially the owls.
Sports Update
SSV State Track and Field Championships
Monday 21st of October 24 of our Emmanuel students headed off early to Melbourne to compete in the 2024 SSV State Track and Field Championships at Lakeside Stadium, Albert park. The weather didn’t disappoint with near perfect conditions greeting our students for a big day on the track and in the field.
Our students represented our college extremely well, bringing home numerous medals, achieving several personal bests, and delivering exceptional performances. Despite the smaller size of our team compared to larger schools, we proudly finished 5th overall—an amazing achievement!
A huge thankyou to Jaffa for his safe journey to and from the track and to Kate Noseda for her help on the day.
Congratulations to the following for their outstanding results:
Gold
Jeff Collins - U18-20 Javelin
Girls U15 4x 100m Relay – Lucy Howland, Nina Quill, Amelia Bussell and Hannah McMeel
Silver
Grace Kelly – U18-20 100m (Grace and the winner both broke Raylene Boyles 100m record from the 1960’s)
Grace Kelly – U18-20 200m
Alexis Pickford – U12-13 Discus
Bronze
Luke Harrison – U12-13 100m
Boys U12-13 4x100m Relay – Hugh White, Evans Ajang, Xavier Turner and Luke Harrison
Mr Mark Jansz
Health & PE Teacher
Performing Arts & Music News
Performing Arts
The Performing Arts area has been a hive of activity since the start of Term 4. Like most VCE subjects which have a performance component, VCE exams start early. The Unit 4 Drama class had their performance exam at the Lighthouse Theatre on the 21st October. Each student performs in front of three examiners, a 7-minute solo they devise from a selected stimulus provided from the VCAA. They also have a written exam. The VCE VET Music Performance class have their performance exam this weekend and we wish them all the best.
Music Ensemble Night
On Monday 21st the Music Ensemble Night held in the Wyton Theatre was a huge success which incorporated performances from the College’s Concert band, Rock Band, Soul Band, Emmanuel Singers, Woodwind Ensemble and Flute ensemble. The concert was held to showcase the hard work and talents of our students and staff and to celebrate the importance of music education. A special thanks is extended to our amazing music teachers and tutors: Maria Carras Kerr, Ian Leonard, Airlie Tait, Erin Toulmin, Adam Burgess Metal, Dean Mulholland, Hannah O’Neill.
Cindy Lee Ensemble 35th Anniversary Concert
The College hosted the Cindy Lee Ensemble 35th Anniversary Concert and our The Sound of Music cast gathered again to sing in four songs You Raise me Up, Hallelujah, What a Wonderful World and The Place Where the Lost Things Go. Cindy has been the Director of our school musicals for the past 2 years, invited the cast to sing in the concert due to their talent but also because as a group they are an amazing bunch of young people.
Coming Up
Coming up we have the Year 7 Band Showcase in November, Carols on the Merri, ensembles busking in the main street around Christmas time and our band members are in a Warrnambool schools combined band for the Warrnambool Show this weekend.
ALSO… stay tuned for the reveal of our 2025 school musical. In the library during the first two weeks of November we will have a competition ‘Guess the Musical” with movie tickets as a prize. There will be a display of musical posters, and all students are invited to watch as each day a poster is removed from the display until there is ONE poster left… our 2025 musical!!!
Ms Megan Davies
Head of Performing Arts
State Chess Finals
On Monday, October 14 we had twelve students from Emmanuel College participating in the State Chess Final at Brighton Grammar. The students ranged from Year 7 to Year 12, which was a great feat in itself to have every year level represented! On the day 250 students from approximately 16 schools across Victoria competed in the Robert Sanderson Centenary Hall. The competition format was the Swiss system with 8 rounds. Each player's time was 13 minutes plus 2 seconds per move.
Our participants were -
Year 12 - Saywer Whichello
Year 11 - Tyson James, Don Heenpalla
Year 10 - Xavier Whichello
Year 9 - Hameish O'Connor, Ayden Tempany, Cameron Brian, Leo Di Cersare, Lokesh Narra
Year 8 - Reegan Walden
Year 7 - Otto Gass, Jackson Ball
Scores from 8 Rounds -
| NAME | Score/Wins |
| Hameish O'Connor | 1 |
| Sawyer Whichello | 4.5 |
| Jackson Ball | 4 |
| Ayden Tempany | 3.5 |
| Cameron Brian | 3.5 |
| Tyson James | 4.5 |
| Leo Di Cesare | 2 |
| Xavier Whichello | 1 |
| Lokesh Narra | 2 |
| Don Heenpalla | 1 |
Library News
Year 12s Studying
The start of Term 4 seen the Year 12 students continue their good study techniques in the Library for their study periods and before and after school each day before their final days here at Emmanuel College. Many of the students use the whiteboards provided in the Meeting Rooms to help them refine their knowledge.
International School Library Month
To celebrate International School Library Month students are invited to make bookmarks for us to send to our two schools overseas that we are paired with. We will send bookmarks to a school in Ottawa, Canada and to Portugal. We will also exchange information about our schools, our city and Australia.
Sustainable School Shop
We have partnered with Sustainable School Shop to provide families access to second-hand textbooks, uniforms, calculators, musical instruments, sports gear and much more!
Sustainable School Shop have preloaded items specific to our school onto their site. This makes it super easy to list your items for sale and to buy items.
See all the second-hand uniform items for sale here:
https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/stocktake/emmanuel-college-warrnambool
See all the second-hand textbooks for sale here:
https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/booklist/emmanuel-college-warrnambool
So jump onto the site, register and list your items for sale, you will be:
- reusing items rather than adding to landfill
- making money on items you sell
- saving money on items you buy
- providing another family in our school with cheaper items
- helping to create a culture of contact amongst our school community families!
Login or Register here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au
Peregrine Falcon Family Live Stream
The Library is currently showing the Live Stream of the peregrine falcon family living on a ledge on the 35th floor of a Collins Street, Melbourne building. Students can see the three baby birds and the parents feeding and sleeping. In approximately two weeks time the young birds will begin to learn to fly.
Mrs Margaret Sinnott
Library Coordinator
Year 12s Studying
Emmanuel Fee Raffle
Our Raffle Fee is back!
Join our College community in purchasing tickets to our Fee Raffle, for your chance to win 2025 College Fees for one student to the value of $5,000!
Money Raised from your support will assist in the purchase of outdoor furniture and sporting equipment for the students of Emmanuel College. Get your tickets now at: www.rafflelink.com.au/emmanuelfeeraffle
Ticket price -
$5 per ticket
$20 - 5 tickets
$40 - 10 tickets
$80 - 20 tickets
Words for Wellbeing
Meli Education Session - Year 9 Fit4Life
DID YOU KNOW: On a normal day on free-to-air television, there is an average of 928 ads relating to gambling?
Meli is a local organisation that provides education and counselling support to individuals who have been affected by gambling. These individuals could include gamblers who are looking for support, or family members/friends who are concerned for a loved one’s gambling habits.
On Monday 14th and Thursday 17th October, Year 9 students Fit4Life Students participated in large group sessions with Courtney from Meli, to discuss gambling and gambling harm.
Through large group discussions, videos and activities, students explored the blurred boundary between online gaming and gambling. Students were provided with the knowledge and strategies to identify the potential risks and to make online gaming safer, allowing them to make more informed choices in this rapidly expanding industry.
Courtney provided students with information around accessing support around gambling (see below).
Be Ahead of the Game
https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/reducing-harm/schools/?utm_source=offline&utm_medium=beaheadofthegame/
Gambling Help, Youthline (1800 262 376) https://gamblershelp.com.au/get-help/under-25s/
Meli https://www.meli.org.au/gamblers-help-support-for-gamblers-and-people-around-them/
October is Cyber Safety Awareness Month
Two Cyber Safety information sessions have been conducted this term for our Year 11 cohort.
The Consent Lab attended Emmanuel and they are a collective of young people with a passion who provide engaging sessions that teach students how to navigate consent respectfully. They informed our young people how to use platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook safely and know their rights on these platforms.
Emmanuel College IT Leader Pete Sass together with Community Police Officers Brooke Pollock and John Keats presented Cyber Safety and the Law. An overview of the appropriate use of Emmanuel College laptops and the legislation around sexting, circulating images and the things we write or say online.
For even more information School TV has an extensive range of information and articles regarding Cyber Safety which can all be viewed for free by parents here : https://emmanuel.vic.schooltv.me/channel-newsletter/315
October is also Mental Health Month
Emmanuel College celebrated Mental Health month with spontaneous skipping sessions. Regular exercise has great benefits for our mental health and skipping is an old school fun activity. Wellbeing staff turned up in various locations across our school grounds and just started turning the rope. This led to students joining in with figure of eight skipping, salt and pepper, and skipping songs like “Teddy bear, Teddy bear.” It was such fun to see students running in and encouraging each other to participate.
Journal Club
Journal Club for 2024 finished with a spooky Halloween themed celebration. Party food, craft, kind words and evaluating the highlights of Journal Club completed the year. Participants declared some highlights of Journal Club to be games, Mr Squiggle, three word stories, guest presenters and chocolate.
We plan to continue Journal Club as a wellbeing activity in 2025. It will be advertised on Daily Messages and all students are welcome to participate in this fun after school club where we write and draw - a healthy outlet for our thoughts and feelings.
Upcoming Events
Monday October 28
Year 11 Cyber Safety Session
Tuesday October 29
VCE English Exam
GWR Junior Cricket - Ballarat
Friday November 1
GWR Junior Tennis - Ballarat
All Souls Memorial Service
Year 11 VM Lyndoch Residents Visit
Monday November 04
VCE Exams Continue
Full Summer Uniform Required
Tuesday November 05
Mid Term Break - No Classes
Thursday November 07
GWR Basketball - Ballarat
The renowned adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Greg will be visiting our region in 2025, to deliver two presentations targeted towards - School & Educators and Parents, Carers and the wider community. Venues are yet to be finalsed in the near future along with registration links, we'll keep you posted!
The Cost of Living Crisis - SchoolTV
Child Safety
