Newsletter Edition 13, August 30 2021

Principal's Message

Dear Emmanuel College Families           

The Emmanuel College community extends its deepest sympathy to the Warrnambool and St. Joseph’s College (Geelong) communities who are both grieving the sudden death of one of their students last Friday.  On behalf of the Emmanuel community, I have communicated our message of support and condolences.  During our staff briefing this morning we prayed for both communities asking the God of Mercy to guide us as we extend our care to those who are grieving and to those working to support their communities.

Victorian Lockdown
It looks like the current Victorian lockdown will extend beyond this week and so the rollercoaster experience I spoke of in the previous newsletter continues.  Last Friday, Director of Senior School, Shane Smith, encouraged staff and students with the following words:  Many students and families are becoming tired of lockdown and it is taking an extra degree of persistence and resilience from us all. This might look different for each of us, but routines can be very important. All students are encouraged to maintain a study routine at home and to get outdoors and take advantage of the fresh air.  We’ve had some beautiful days lately and exercise within your 5km zone is important.  Keeping active where possible and within your personal limits can have a positive impact on wellbeing.  It also keeps the brain in good shape for learning.  Being in touch with other people virtually or over the phone can also make an enormous difference.

We are hearing from lots of families that this lockdown is really hard and the uncertainty and loss of freedom is having a significant impact on the wellbeing of young people and families.  Eminent psychologists Michael Carr-Greg and Sharon Witt recently recorded a webinar, Riding the Coronacoaster, and I encourage you to have a listen to their input and their responses to the questions asked by Victorian parents.  The video is slow to get started so fast forward to the 10 minute mark where Michael Carr-Greg begins. The video can be viewed here. 

The day-to-day uncertainty and disruptions to normal routines and experiences has a lot of potential to impact individual wellbeing.  Again, I draw your attention to the Emmanuel Wellbeing Team’s fortnightly publication Words for Wellbeing and their lockdown edition responding to something we all understand; lockdown fatigue!  You are welcome to share the publication with family, friends and colleagues.

Support for Australian Defence Force Families
The current situation in Afghanistan may be having an impact on young people, particularly those students who are a part of a current or veteran Australian Defence Force (ADF) family.  Events in the ADF community impact on the families of current and ex-serving personnel, especially in light of the extensive media coverage.  Both current ADF families and veteran’s families can access Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling.  Open Arms is a national mental health service that provides 24-hour free and confidential counselling. It is not part of the Department of Defence. Importantly, the Open Arms website provides a range of self-help resources and wellbeing tools. Visit www.openarms.gov.au or phone 1800 011 046.  For all current ADF members and their families, the Defence all-hours Support Line is a confidential phone and online service and is available on 1800 628 036. Families of serving personnel can also contact the Defence Family Helpline on 1800 624 608.  In addition, Safe Zone Support is an anonymous counselling service that has been established to support veterans and their families. Safe Zone Support is staffed by specialist counsellors who have an understanding of military culture and experience and can be accessed at: www.openarms.gov.au/safe-zone-support or 1800 142 072. Calls to Safe Zone Support are not recorded. Both current members of the ADF and veterans can access this service any time, day or night.

Scholarships for 2022
I would like to remind families of the availability of scholarships for the 2022 school year.  Applications are currently open for four scholarships of $1000 each.  Three scholarships are for current Year 10 students entering Year 11 in 2022, while one scholarship is available for a Year nine student completing Year 10 next year.  Scholarship information was shared with families at the start of the term.  If you missed the information please contact College Registrar, Mrs Jo-Anne Nelson, via jnelson@emmanuel.vic.edu.au  Applications for 2022 scholarships close on Wednesday 15 September.

Father's Day
In closing this week, all of us at Emmanuel College wish the fathers, grandfathers and men in our College community who provide love and support for the children and young people in their lives a wonderful celebratory Father’s Day on Sunday.  In the midst of all the current uncertainties may you feel valued and appreciated for the care you give your families.

Strength for this Challenging Time

This week we keep in our hearts our sisters and brothers in Afghanistan.
“I join in the unanimous concern for the situation in Afghanistan.
I ask all of you to pray with me to the God of peace, so that the clamour of
weapons might cease and solutions can be found at the table of dialogue.”
(Pope Francis, 15 August 2021)

St. Joseph: Pray for us.  May the spirit of Catherine McAuley and

 Edmund Rice guide us in all that we do.  Amen.

Mr Peter Morgan
Principal

A Message from Mrs Claire Wrigley

A week into lockdown 7.0 and I congratulate the students for their positive approach to getting on with the job at hand. We have heard of many great activities and learnings happening in our remote learning school and look forward to many more happening this week. Our students have the opportunity each week to get involved in a house challenge and many students participated in last week’s challenge where they were required to make the number 30 to celebrate our 30^th year of Emmanuel College.

Homeroom/Mentor group Planning for 2022
In 2022 we will see our “reimagined Emmanuel College '' come to fruition. Year 7 & 8 students will be located in the Goold Centre, the Year 9@RICE program will begin, and our Year 10-12 students will be based at McAuley campus and will shift into our senior school house mentor structure. 

The Year Level teams will shortly begin preparing Homerooms and mentor groups for 2022. For some students this can create a level of anxiety, however it is important to understand that we are dealing with a number of variables that influence the makeup of Homeroom and mentor groups. Such variables include elective choices, students with individual learning plans, teacher observation and feedback and classroom dynamic, and in senior school the house group a student belongs to. 

As students transition through the school we also encourage them to work with other students and become less reliant on being with their friends, and as such build resilience to become independent learners. In the senior school, students will be in a vertical homeroom structure with students from their house group from year 10 -12, whilst all academic classes are entirely dependent upon their subject selection. 

If you have any concerns about your child, please communicate with their current Year Level Coordinator in writing by Friday 17th September, so we can keep your concerns on record. This way we can hopefully address these concerns before homeroom/mentor group lists are published, as after publication changes become very difficult to accommodate. Requests for specific teachers cannot be accommodated in fairness to all students.

Year 7 - Annabelle Morton amorton@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Year 8  - Justin Marris JMarris@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Year 9 - Glen Martin gmartin@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Year 10 - Ben Woonton bwoonton@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Year 11 - Ben Nelson bnelson@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Absence procedures (medical/family holiday)
Although holidays away are almost a thing of the past, we are providing parents with guidelines for absences and in particular extended absence for holidays taken during a school term, please see the link below for details. This information is also on our schoolzine app under absences.

Wellbeing for students
The wellbeing of our students is always a priority in our school and even more so in remote learning. Teachers are checking in on students and running fun little activities to engage with their homeroom. Students are required to join homeroom google meet on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8.50am and we encourage parents to support. This allows time for connection with classmates and their homeroom teacher and assists with getting our student's day going.  Students are encouraged to get off their computer during the day and get outside and away from technology during break times. While out walking on Friday after school it was wonderful to see so many students out walking, riding and at the beach enjoying the sunshine. We encourage students and families to get out and enjoy some spring weather!

Supporting your child through lockdowns
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all of us, including our kids. Click here to watch a recording of the Royal Children Hospital’s panel of experts talk about how you can support your child’s mental health throughout the pandemic and also beyond.

Vaping – ask your teen
With more and more teenagers experimenting with vaping, we share this article on having a conversation with your teenager and it outlines ways to prevent them from starting or getting them to stop vaping.

Talking to your teen about vaping.

Mrs Claire Wrigley
Assistant Principal - Students

Scholarship Opportunities

The College receives financial support from a small number of donors enabling us to offer scholarships. There are three scholarships of $1,000 for Year 10 students entering Year 11 in 2022 and one scholarship of $1,000 for a student in Year 9 entering Year 10 in 2022. Each scholarship is offered in the form of a credit towards school fees. Information regarding the four scholarships was sent out with the re-enrolment form via Operoo and application forms must be submitted by Wednesday 15 September 2021 to be eligible.

Mrs Jo-Anne Nelson
College Registar

Science Week 2021 Food - Different by Design

What a week!! Food, it transcends language and culture and crosses all boundaries. From creative ways to reduce food wastage by pickling vegetables and dehydrating fruits to sustainable protein and cricket flour brownies, this week of Food- Different by Design had it all. Students readily engaged with the activities on offer throughout the week and eagerly sampled the food delights. Always a crowd favourite, the liquid nitrogen ice cream was in demand but not to be outdone the cricket brownies, baked meal worms and crickets and cricket chips were easily met with the same enthusiasm, if not more. The before and after taste testing facial expressions were priceless! Thank you to everyone for joining in the National Science Week Celebrations and for the wonderful support of the Science Faculty and Library Staff in running the daily events.

Mrs Suzie Wellens
Science and Laboratory Coordinator

Japanese language students have fun in the kitchen

Having a cooking lesson in a Language class is a fun way to prepare for oral exams. Our Year 12 Japanese class made “Kyara-ben” which translates as “character bento.” In Japan, parents create characters by using rice and side dishes in the bento box for their children’s school lunch, and some parents even take up to two hours completing their “Kyara-ben” every morning. Year 12 students will be discussing this Japanese obento culture and how the “Kyara-ben” has an impact on Japanese society in Japanese during their VCE oral exam in October. I hope students learnt how enjoyable but challenging it can be to make an obento during this tough and stressful time of the school year. All the best to all the students preparing for their VCE exams.

Mr Ota
Language Teacher

Supporting children through change and uncertainty - the COVID experience

The pandemic has brought many changes and losses for children, young people, and families all around Australia. There are so many questions about the impacts and how we can best support those in our care.

Join us for this free online seminar to discuss helpful ways of supporting children and young people manage the events of the last eighteen months.
 

Thursday 2 September 2021

Register for 12:00pm - 1:00pm (AEST) session 

Register for 3:00pm - 4:00pm (AEST) session 

Common questions:

• How can I talk about what is happening?
• What kind of reactions can I expect from young people?
• How can I best support those in my care?

Attendees will have the opportunity to:

• Consider the range of impacts the pandemic is having on people
• Explore ways of managing reactions of young people

Hear about some creative ways of providing support

The content of these presentations is drawn from the 25-year, evidence-based Seasons for Growth suite of programs, which provide people with a means of exploring the impact of change, loss and grief on their lives, and learning new ways of responding to those changes. 

The Wellbeing Team

Chess Students qualify for State Titles

On Friday August 26, eight enthusiastic chess players from Emmanuel College played in an interschool chess competition. Each player played seven rounds of chess against six other schools. The eight chess players from Emmanuel played very well and through a great team effort managed to secure a comfortable win against the other schools.

The Team Standings 

 Emmanuel College Team Standings

A big congratulations to all the players on a great day of chess. Overall, we now have two interschool victories this year, which qualify Emmanuel College with a maximum of eight players participating in the State Finals coming up very soon.

Mr Andrew McKenzie
Chess Coordinator 

Library News

Book Week and CBCA Book Awards
With Remote Learning taking place, Book Week and the associated activities were more low key than other years.  We hope to have some of the Quizzes and other activities on-site when school returns.

In the week prior to Book Week, some Year Seven and Eight classes read and shared the shortlisted Early Childhood and Picture Books, voting on which one they thought should win the prize.  Once school returns on-site we will announce the winners.  Reading these books in small groups gave the students the opportunity to improve their oral reading skills and their negotiation skills in working out which book should win the Award.

In homerooms during last week some of the classes took part in an online quiz which showed a cover of a well known picture book without the title of the book – students then had to guess the title of the book eg Where Is The Green Sheep by Mem Fox.

The list of Award-winning books as announced by the Children’s Book Council in its 75^th year can be found here.

If you would like to go on a little history tour of children’s books and bring back some memories of authors and books from the past visit:  https://cbca.org.au/news/75-years-young    You will see mention of such great authors as Patricia Wrightson, Joan Phipson, Ivan Southall, Colin Thiele, Paul Jennings, Mem Fox, Junko Morimoto to name a few.  A full list of the Book Awards from the past can be viewed here.

Semester 1 Frequent Borrower Awards
Each Semester we look to acknowledge the students who make great use of the Library resources.

The Semester 1 Year 7 Frequent Borrowers are:
Jack Madden
Blake Passlow
Layla Kermond
Brooke Cahill-Walker
Shanae Carson
Ben Kelly
Kendra McLeod
Belle Plozza
Amelia Foard
Taj Carson

The Semester 1 Year 8 Frequent Borrowers are:
Jesh Jayadeep
Don Heenpalla
Max Collins
Emma Gass
Taylah Wiffrie
Emily Edwards
Eleanor Trussler
Nicholas Main
Aliza Gurney
Gemma Wicking

Each of these students will receive a certificate.

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge
Students are reminded that the Challenge will finish on Monday 13 September.  Please record the books read this year on the Challenge website.

Mrs Margaret Sinnott
Library Coordinator and Teacher Librarian

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Arts Hall of Fame 2021

Emmanuel College Creative Arts Faculty is proud to launch the ARTS HALL of FAME for 2021. All Emmanuel Students can enter with all types of Creative Works accepted so get creating. All works will be displayed in the J Wing Gallery space at the beginning of Term 4 and a winner selected. Ask a member of the Creative Arts Team for more information or email Natasha Cummings ncummings@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Year 11 Japanese Camp

On Friday 20^th and Saturday 21^st of August, students from the Year 11 Japanese class participated in an intensive Japanese camp at Deakin University.

Whilst not able to go to Japan, students had the opportunity to prepare for their Year 12 oral examination next year, play lots of Japanese games, prepare and eat traditional food including obento, okonomiyaki, gyoza, curry rice, lots of Japanese snacks, a Japanese breakfast consisting of rice, salmon, salad, miso soup, tamogoyaki, natto, and watch a Japanese movie.

The students really made the most of all the experiences on offer to them, and hopefully sometime in the not to distant future, will be able to visit Japan.

We just snuck in before the lockdown. We’re optimistic that we’ll be able reschedule for the French class in the not too distant future.

Mrs Michelle Joseph
Languages Coordinator

Join Moyne NextGen

Join Moyne NextGen! and give young people in Moyne a stronger voice to make a greater impact!

Young people aged 16-25 who live, study or work in Moyne Shire are invited to express their interest to participate in the Moyne NextGen! youth engagement panel.

Your voice, happiness and opportunities matter!

Participate in two workshops (up to 8 hours) in October to co-design a new contemporary, responsive and representative youth engagement model.

Get paid for your time and contribution!

Check out more details here and register your interest by 17 September.

Become a Foster Carer with RSPCA

RSPCA Victoria needs long and short term foster carers to help care for some of our animals that need a little extra help before they are ready for adoption. These animals may be too young, recovering from surgery, need training to improve their behaviour or just a little extra attention in a safe, relaxing home environment.

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer please apply online at rspcavic/.org/foster

Upcoming Events

Monday August 30
Week B
6pm Interim Reports Released

Tuesday August 31
6pm Open Bookings for Year 10-12 PST Conferences

Wednesday September 1
Year 12 English SAC

Sunday September 5
Father's Day

Monday September 6
Week A
6pm Bookings Open for Year 7-9 PST Conferences

Tuesday September 7
6pm Close Bookings for Year 10-12 PST Conferences

Wednesday September 8
4pm Year 10-12 PST Conferences