Emmanuel College Warrnambool eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Dear Emmanuel College Families,
Remembrance
November is traditionally the month of remembrance. Our Catholic tradition recognises November 1 and 2 as All Saints and All Souls days respectively. Director of Faith and Mission, Jacinta Skilbeck, prepared a beautiful prayer service for our school community acknowledging All Souls Day and those members of our community who have died in the last year. The service included the following prayers:
Merciful God, on this day we prayerfully remember all our loved ones who have died. People we have studied with, worked with, laughed with, cried with, and walked with. Their stories are alive in our community and in us. Give them comfort and hope and may they be at peace, knowing they will rest in God's arms eternally.
Today, we lift up our hearts and prayers to those who have gone before us.
In thanksgiving for all people who have died, especially for those we know and love, and the many ways in which they touched the lives of everyone around them. Together with all the saints may they be united in the love and mercy of God.
We recall members of the Emmanuel College community who have died in 2022 including:
Michelle Joseph
Clinton Baulch
Clinton Hall
Benjamin Ralston
Mary Mugavin-Brown
Michael McGowan
Pamela Stephens
Basil Garner
Peter Van Rooy
Roma Greene
Sister Mary Dennett
Compassionate God, may we open our hearts to receive your blessing.
May we open our souls in witness to your grace.
May we open our lives to welcome your love.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord
And may perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
Rest in peace. Amen.
Transition from Primary School
So much of what we do at this time of the year is about preparation for the next school year. From my office window I see a steady stream of Year six students and their families visiting the Uniform Shop to be fitted with their Emmanuel uniform. I was delighted when one of my grandchildren tapped on my window last week after collecting his new blazer and uniform in preparation for 2023. A priceless memory! Also last week, we welcomed to Emmanuel College grade five students from each of the six Catholic primary schools. The visits were a wonderful opportunity for the children to explore Emmanuel and discover what a secondary school experience entails. Their visit forms part of the extensive transition program we provide to assist children to make an informed decision about high school selection and ease their way into secondary school.
Student Leadership
Over several weeks Student Leadership Coordinator Mrs Leah Kermeen has been working with the students at every year level to identify and select the members of the 2023 Student Leadership Team. Congratulations to Emily Mahony, George Stevens, Segdae Lucardie and Paige Armistead who will soon be invested as the 2023 College Captains. Emily, George, Segdae and Paige will initiate a new approach in 2023 with all four being appointed captains rather than two being appointed deputy captains. It has been evident in recent years that both the captains and deputies have equal workloads and responsibilities, and so we are very pleased to recognise all four as College Captains. The investiture of the 2023 student leaders will take place on Thursday 24 November in front of a whole school assembly where the 2022 captains will transfer the mantle of leadership to the incoming team.
Student Free Day
Emmanuel College staff are taking part in their final professional learning day for 2022 this Wednesday which will also be a student free day. The focus will be personal wellbeing, and throughout the day staff will be guided through the development of a personal wellbeing plan. Dr Jodie Fleming and Kate Meadows, the Director of “Be More Mindful”, will cover areas including: mental health awareness, strategies for coping with difficult emotions, the six aspects of self-care, the importance of mindset, and development of an individual self-care plan. School staff provide care for students on a daily basis which contributes to student’s physical and mental health and makes a day updating their own skills and self-care very important. With recent evidence highlighting that close to 50% of teachers exit the profession within the first five years, taking time for self-care is important to safeguard our profession. As it becomes increasingly difficult to fill vacant school positions, assisting staff to enhance their self-care is a sound investment in our profession.
Deputy Principal Conference
Later this week we will host deputy principals from Victorian, West Australian and South Australian Mercy Education schools attending their annual DP Conference. Emmanuel College and Mercy Regional College Camperdown are the organisers of this year’s conference which also showcases our school and our beautiful region to deputy principals from far and wide. Among the topics covered over the two days is an exploration of how we create hopeful and meaningful futures in radically changing times. I congratulate the Emmanuel deputy principals Michael Wrigley, Justin Houlihan and Claire Wrigley who have organised the conference, and I acknowledge Fr. Lawrie O’Toole who is leading one of the morning reflections focusing on Faith, Hope and Love in Mercy schools.
In keeping with the November theme of remembrance, we acknowledge this Friday is National Remembrance Day. At 10.30 on Friday, we will pause and join in a short service remembering the historical significance of November 11.
I wish you well this week. May the spirit of Mercy be with you and in all that you do.
Kind regards,
Peter Morgan,
Principal

A Message from Mrs Claire Wrigley

Carmen's Road Safety Presentation
Recently, Year 11 student Paige Armistead coordinated a presentation from John Mahar regarding road safety. John spoke about his journey of triumph over tragedy as he works with young people around road safety education . He shared his story with our students of the loss of his 18-year-old daughter in a car accident. John used the story of his daughter to educate our young people on safe driving. This is most relevant for our students as many are learning to drive and heading out onto the roads for the first time.

Claire Wrigley,
Assistant Principal

Library News

International School Library Month
During October to celebrate International School Library Month, students at Emmanuel College have been making bookmarks to send overseas to a school in India.
The school is Adani Vidya Mandir in Ahmedabad, India. Ahmedabad's population of 8,253,000 (per the 2021 population census) makes it the f ifth-most populous city in India. To learn more about the school please visit: https://www.adanividyamandir.org/ahmedabad
Any students interested in making bookmarks to send to the school can see the Library staff for a take home pack of paper and images to use.

Library Stocktake
The Library is doing a stocktake of the various collections held by the College. These stocktakes are done regularly and help us ensure that the books are shelved correctly and that any books that have been given back to the Library but have not been returned from the borrower’s name can be found and sorted. The Library uses a Stocktaking Wand and Samsung tablet to do live scanning of the shelves. This system is from the Geelong based company, FE Technologies. It is a very efficient and quick way of stocktaking. If you are doing a clean up at home as the year ends, please send back any Library resources that you find – we will be able to return them from the borrower’s name, helping you to avoid having the item put on your school fees. If you have any questions about the Library resources, please call the Library on 5560 0812 to discuss.

Sustainable Schools Site For Booklist Purchasing
Certain books/novels can be purchased second hand if looking to keep costs down. This can be done by sourcing items on the Sustainable Schools website found at the link below. Please note that the College has a subscription for this website and the Emmanuel College Book lists are uploaded to this site, ensuring that you are purchasing the correct resources. The College Year 7 booklist has been uploaded to the site, ready for you to view.
https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/

Studying For Exams
Year 12 students have been using the large whiteboards in each of the Library Meeting Rooms to make study and revision notes for each of their exams. They have found it a great way to revise.

Study Tips For Exams
Students may like to look on ClickView to see some short films about study tips.
Here is one: https://clickv.ie/w/uVbu
There may be others to search for and watch to help with revision and exam study. Every student at Emmanuel College has a Clickview account.

Margaret Sinnott,
Library Coordinator

Please find attached a copy of the Student leaders for 2023.
It was the highest number of nominations we have ever received which is indicative of the interest to hold one of these roles within the school.
These leaders will represent your house and your year level to plan extracurricular events, meeting weekly as a group to discuss ideas and volunteering their time throughout the year at a variety of events like Open day.
We also congratulate the newly founded "Student voice committee" who displayed attributes but narrowly missed out on a house leadership position. (This list is still being finalised).
If you see any of these students, please congratulate them on putting their hand up to represent Emmanuel and a huge thanks to all who nominated to be a part of this very extensive process.

Leah Kermeen,
Student Leadership Coordinator

2023_College_leaders_1_.pdf

Japanese Dumplings

Our Year 10 Japanese class and the exchange students made some Japanese sweet rice dumplings called “Dango.” You might have seen the dango emoji 🍡 and wondered what they are. Dango is traditional Japanese sweets made from rice, and is usually eaten with some sweet soybean powder. Students were able to have some conversation with the Japanese students and exchange some food cultural information and differences during the cooking lesson.”

So Ota,
Teaching Staff

Sports Update

Greater Western Region Basketball
On Friday October 28th the Year 7 Boys along with the Year 7 and 8 Girls Basketball teams made their way to Ballarat for the Region Championships. Teamwork was evident throughout the day with the squads showing strong defence with some flare on offence. Under coaches Kate Foster and Shane Smith, all teams managed to go through undefeated on the day progressing through to the State Championships on the 14th and 15th of November. They will also be joined by the Intermediate Girls who qualified through in term three. We wish all four teams and coaches the best of luck as they chase State titles for the College.

Greater Western Region Tennis
On Thursday the 3rd of November the Emmanuel College Year 7 and 8 Girls and Boys Tennis teams competed in Ballarat at the rescheduled Greater Western Region Tennis event under coach Julian Claridge. With a mix of experience levels amongst the teams, students worked their way into the games in some close matches throughout the day. The Year 7 Girls team were a close second in their competition narrowly missing out on State Championship qualification. Congratulations to all competitors on their efforts on making it through to the Regional level.

All Schools Victoria Athletics
Following the State Athletics, four students have had the opportunity to represent the college at the All Schools Championships held in Melbourne on the 29th/30th of October and the 5/6th of November. Congratulations to these students on a terrific achievement. Notable achievements include:
Grace Kelly- 1st in the Womens U17 Year Old 100m
Hannah McMeel- 5th in the Womens U14 100m, 5th in the Womens U14 400m
Jeff Collins- 12th U17 Mens High Jump, 5th in the Preliminary U17 Mens 100m

Alastair Templeton,
Sports Coordinator

Clay Target Shooting Success

On Friday November 4 we had another successful day for Emmanuel College at Laang Field and Game Reserve.
Results:
Top Gun - Ebony Mason (Yr 11)
Senior boy 1st - James Wood (Yr 9)
Senior boy 2nd - Michael Drimmie ( Yr 10)
Senior boy 3rd - Cody Brown (Yr 9)
Junior boy 1st - Jack Lenehan (Yr 8)
Junior girl 1st - Bridie Mason (Yr 8)
Junior girl 2nd - Dana Russell ( Yr 8)
Congratulations to these students.

Cathy Brown & David Beard
Clay Target Shooting Coordinators

Cricket Academy Excursion

Last Friday, thirty five Year 10 and Year 8 cricket academy students travelled down to the MCG in the hope of seeing two quality games of international T20 cricket at the 2022 ICC World Cup.
These photos sum up our day really well. The students were all smiles, enthusiastic and enjoying each other’s company. Some even meeting some stars of the game. All this as rain slightly drizzled all day with covers on the pitch, a cold and miserable day of weather indeed. The games were subsequently abandoned and we made the journey home.
The students were amazing in their resilience and behaviour throughout the day. “These days are character building” one teacher was heard telling the students!

Tim Cain
Teaching Staff

Career News

Topics this week include:
Year 12 students
Early entry programs: La Trobe University & Victoria University
Federation University - $20 meal voucher
Employment – harvest work and J.P. Morgan Business Traineeship
Interested in taking a gap year?

Year 10 - 12 students
Information for students applying for TAFE courses
Information for students applying apprenticeships & traineeships

Year 11 students
Early entry programs: La Trobe University & Victoria University
VCE Summer School
ADF Cyber Security Gap Year
Western Civilisation Program Summer School

All students
Finding employment for the summer break
Careers in technology
Early childhood education
USA tours
Upcoming career events

For more information https://www.emmanuelcollegecareers.com/

Welcoming back our Alumni

Throughout October we supported a number of year levels celebrating their milestone reunions. From 10 years on, through to 50 years on, cohorts of alumni came together simply to reconnect. We love how so many students who have attended our school remain in contact after they leave, despite the wide variety of pathways that they follow post school.
It is a unique experience to walk around campus with those that have walked the halls before. Each generation has a unique set of memories and stories to share, and they come to the fore organically on tour at the mere sight of the simplest classroom feature – a duster, a window, a ceiling access point or the smell of the Food Tech room.
Alumni returning were from:
The Class of 2012 – 10 Years On
The Class of 2002 – 20 Years On
The Class of 1997 – 25 Years On
The Class of 1992 – 30 Years On
The Class of 1972 – 50 Years On
Photos from these events can be found at https://www.emmanuel.vic.edu.au/alumni/reconnect#PhotoGalleries
Through the process of planning for these reunions, we uncovered this little gem penned by College Captain, Eugene Rea back in 1992 for his Valedictory speech:
"We will treasure the memories and friendships gained at Emmanuel College forever, and look back on the good times we have had and remember – ‘Make new friends, but keep the old: those are silver, these are gold’.”
We couldn’t agree more!
Candice Hampstead
Alumni Coordinator