Newsletter Edition 2 / 2023, February 20

Principal's Message

Dear Emmanuel College Families,

Ash Wednesday
This Wednesday the College will observe Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent with a morning service broadcast into each classroom.  At lunch time in St. Ann’s Chapel, Fr. Bill Lowry will lead a short Ash Wednesday service including the distribution of ashes, open to any student or staff member who wishes to attend. 

“We travel the journey of Lent, as we travel the journey of Life, with God and with one another.  Lent is a time to dream.  A time to uncover the vision God has for each one of us.  It is important to recognise that, like us, God also has an imagination and dreams for the world.  To do this we must have the internal freedom and willingness to allow for our imagination to be as big as God’s dreams.  Deep within our heart space are desires that ultimately lead us to God. Dreams and imaginations are significant parts of spiritual life, guiding us and putting us more in touch with our Creator.  We do our part but we are not alone.  This Lent, we pray that we may become more in touch with God’s dream for us and for our world.”  (Mercy International Association)

Edmund Rice Centre Development
Local media outlets the Standard, ABC South West Radio, Coast FM and Fitz Media all ran the recent story on the green light for the next stage of Emmanuel’s development, the Edmund Rice Centre.  Construction of the new centre will proceed this year following the recent announcement of a $2million Federal Government grant to assist the college self-fund the project.  The Edmund Rice Centre, a stand-alone year nine precinct, will be built adjacent to the Mercy Aged Care facility at the rear corner of the property and is expected to be operational for the start of the 2025 school year.  The centre will have capacity for 250 students plus staff and house the innovative 9@RICE program which commenced last year.  The project will be the most expansive and expensive project undertaken by the college, and its development will enable the remaining consolidation of staff and students to the one campus from 2025, and provide an exciting, contemporary learning environment reflecting the diverse approaches to learning the 9@RICE program enables.  At present the College is working through the final design and documentation with architects Baldasso Cortesse, and we plan to put the project to tender in April and anticipate seeing the successful tenderer setting up onsite in June.  The new facility has been named the Edmund Rice Centre to preserve the school’s link with the current Rice Campus to be vacated in 2025, and to maintain a connection with Edmund Rice, the founder of the Christian Brothers who operated CBC from 1902 – 1991.

Year 7 Camp and Year 11 Retreat
In the last week students in years seven and eleven have been away on camp or retreat. For the younger students it’s a great opportunity to make new friends and to be challenged to try something you may not have done before, for example, surfing or stand-up paddle boarding.  It’s also a great way to break down barriers and help overcome some of the nerves that can be part of transitioning to secondary school all in the safety of our own back yard – Port Fairy!  Congratulations and thanks to the staff who attended and led by Year seven coordinators David Algar and Dan Weymouth and Director of Junior School Karen Hetherington.  Likewise, the year eleven retreat is always a positive way to begin the year for year eleven students and their mentors.  Not only does it create opportunities to build new connections, it invites students to reflect on where they are now and where they see the next few years taking them.  Amidst our busy work lives, most of us would enjoy the gift of time to reflect on how we are doing and where we’d like to see ourselves in the next few years.  The year eleven retreat is just that type of gift for our students.  Again, I commend the staff who make these experiences possible and acknowledge the Heads of House in the senior school Ben Nelson, Ben Woonton, Sophie Pekin, Renee Dyer and the Directors, Jacinta Skilbeck (Faith and Mission) and Shane Smith (Senior School).

Staff Achievements
Over the last five years, the College has seen a number of its teaching staff complete further study, especially in the area of educational leadership.  The two most recent graduates from the University of South Australia Masters - Educational Leadership are Donna McPherson and Jacinta Skilbeck.  They join nine others who graduated from this course in recent years to take their place in significant school leadership roles.  In 2023, Emmanuel staff are completing the two-year REAP program in religious education and the CDLP course focusing on preparation for new leadership roles.  Congratulations to Simone Rolfe, Michael Wrigley, Abby O’Brien and Isaac Jones.  I also wish Justin Houlihan and Samantha Webster success in the Masters studies they have begun.  At the first assembly this year we presented Donna and Jacinta with Emmanuel certificates recognising their achievements, and as a way to demonstrate to students that learning is an ongoing part of our life journey.

Challenger Course
With thanks to the many families who purchased tickets over the last two years in the school fee raffle, the new Challenger Course has been installed and is receiving a good work out each day.  Positioned adjacent to the junior school classrooms, the challenger course is a new addition to recess and lunch time activities for year seven and eight students, and a number of PE and sport classes as a warm up activity.  Once again, I thank those parents who supported this project by purchasing tickets in the school fee raffle raising approx. $20,000 to enable this project to be completed.  The accompanying photo shows most of the course from the upper level of the year seven building.

Swimming Carnival
This week sees one of the highlights of every school year with the annual House swimming competition to be held on Tuesday at Aquazone.  The House Captains have been working hard to motivate the members of their Houses.  In the last four years each House has won the House Cup once; so, who will it be in 2023? A reminder that Tuesday is a compulsory school day.  Students will walk to and from Aquazone and there will be inclusive activities during the day that cater for all.  Parents are welcome to spectate.  I also remind parents of our expectations with regard to any student who needs to leave the event during the day; they must be collected and signed out by their parent/guardian.  Students will not be released from the event into the custody of anyone other than their parent/guardian.

2022 Yearbook
Finally, this week we will begin distributing the 2022 Yearbook to families who ordered them.  The Yearbook is a fabulous, high-quality publication with a broad range of reporting and photographs from the 2022 school year.  My sincere thanks to Montanna Macdonald and Melissa Crothers who compiled and published the yearbook.  They have done a fine job.

Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together to start this journey of Lent. Amen
Thank you, Lord, Lord, for the blessing of remembering that You
are with us every step of the journey. Amen
Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of those who will encourage us
and walk with us, as You do. Amen.
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

Year 7 Camp & Senior school Retreat (Year 11)
Our year 7 and year 11 students have had a great time over the past week away on camp and retreat. Year 7 students spent time in Port Fairy enjoying many different activities and spending time getting to know other students. 

Year 11 students had a great time up at Halls Gap on retreat, spending time with peers in small groups and also participating in a number of activities that at times took them outside of their comfort zone. 

We thank all our staff who went on camp and retreat and the staff back at school that helped with class coverage. 

Bus Travel
We remind our families/students that only students that are registered to travel on specific country buses can use this service; the service is not to be used for sports training/work/social purposes. Parents/Carers are to make their own arrangements in this regard.

Fit4Life Parent Series 
Last year we ran a very successful parent series on various topics such as connections/transition, anxiety, safe teen partying, and raising teenagers. We have various guest presenters and great attendance from parents. We have our first night coming up in the series for year 7 parents this week. 

We also have some other possible presenters in mind, but would love to hear from our parents on topics you may be keen to hear more about. All parents will receive an email this week from Rachele Sloane, our wellbeing Coordinator, with a google form to complete. You can also complete the google form by clicking here. We look forward to offering some wonderful presentations for parent in 2023

Fit4Life Parent Series - Year 7 Time & Space Evening 
Just a reminder to all families who have registered for our Year 7 Time & Space evening this Thursday Feb 23 beginning at 6.45pm in the Emmanuel Centre. Mothers/Female mentors and their child are reminded to bring along treasured items to share with one another in the evening.
We look forward to seeing you all on Thursday! 

Parent webinars - E-SAFETY COMMISSIONER
eSafety's free webinars provide parents and carers with the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe, positive online experiences. The live webinars for parents and carers attracted record attendance numbers in 2022. To meet the growing demand, they are expanding the program in 2023 to include more dates and topics to support school communities. 

eSafety 101: how eSafety can help you
This 30-minute webinar is designed for parents and carers of young people in primary and secondary school.

It will cover:

• who we are
• what you can report to eSafety
• helpful advice and resources for parents and carers. 

Term 1 dates (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)
21 March 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm
REGISTER NOW - CLICK HERE

Getting the most out of gaming
This 45-minute webinar provides families with strategies for supporting children and young people to have safe, positive experiences when playing games online. It is designed for parents and carers of children aged 7 to 14.

It will cover:   

• when gaming can be beneficial and strategies to promote better in-game experiences
• how to keep children safe online – using safety and privacy settings in games and platforms
• strategies to promote more balanced gaming and how to create smoother transitions from game-play to other activities
• the key online risks and where to find help for things like bullying and harassment in games. 

Term 1 dates (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)
14 March 7:30 pm to 8:15 pm
REGISTER NOW - CLICK HERE

 Navigating online friendships
This 30-minute webinar is designed for parents and carers of young people in secondary schooI.

It will cover:

• how to support young people to have safe and respectful online relationships
• what to do when something happens at school and ends up on social media or private messaging apps 
• how to report to social media platforms and eSafety. 

Term 1 dates (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)
22 February 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm 
29 March 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm
REGISTER NOW- CLICK HERE

Mrs Claire Wrigley
Assistant Principal - Students 

Learning Diversity Update

We welcome a diverse range of learners to our College each year. The Learning Diversity team works with Teachers, Learning Diversity Assistants and closely with the Wellbeing team to ensure that every single student is supported, and has an equitable opportunity to reach their full potential. It takes a whole-team approach.

Currently Teaching Staff are getting to know each of their learners and how they operate in their classes. By Week 6, any students on Personal Learning Plans will have Learning Goals set by each Teacher for each diverse learner.  The Personal Learning Plan is then sent out to families for approval and is then in place for Semester 1. Teachers will then evaluate these goals to see whether they have been achieved by the learner. The same process applies for Semester 2.

If families would like to request a Student Support Group Meeting with our Learning Diversity Coordinators, please make contact by ringing Emmanuel College, Ph: 5560 0888, and asking for the Learning Diversity department to book an appointment.
Alternatively you can email Leonie Fortuna at lfortuna@emmanuel.vic.edu.au and she will coordinate an appropriate meeting time.

Ms Chamon Vogels
Learning Diversity Coordinator (Yrs 7-9)

Student Voice - Year 11 Retreat

Sophie Howland
On Monday 13th of February, McAuley and Rice house took off to Halls Gap for a two-night retreat. Our retreat was a balance of adventure activities and small group activities focused on teamwork and understanding of each other and the year level as a collective.

Highlights of the camp included the formal dinner, where everyone got dressed up to share a meal and celebrate our year level, our school, and how grateful we were to be in halls gap. The night ended with some fun and competitive trivia, where the teacher's team came out on top. ( I guess wisdom does come with age!)

Another highlight was all the activities completed in our groups. Many activities were completed by different groups including a high ropes course, archery, canoeing, cooking damper, raft building, a walk into town, and a walk to venus baths. These activities challenged us as a group and allowed us to grow closer and focus on teamwork.

Our last night in halls gap ended with a liturgy around the campfire. We all took a moment to pause and reflect which ended our camp on a very positive note.

Luke Mills
On Wednesday, Year 11 Maguire and Egan house students set off to Halls Gap for retreat. On arrival, we were faced with the job of giving our phones up for three days. We were put into small groups with most groups being a mix of people from different friendship groups. With no phones and some spare time, it truly allowed us to connect with those in our year level that we may not know so well.

You would think that by now we would know all of our classmates, however on our retreat this week we were shown how great it really can be to step away from our friendship groups and meet new people.

We had a formal dinner, as well as a trivia competition and many outdoor activities, although we were faced with quite some heat! It was great to go and cool off in the Venus Baths and town pool!

On the second night, we had a liturgy around the campfire, followed by an unexpected campfire sing-along where everyone came together as one.

Overall this retreat was a great success, especially for us to start our journey into VCE and learn how much those around us really do have each others’ backs.

Student Voice - Year 12 Retreat

Year 12 Student Leaders
On Wednesday 15th Feb, the Year 12 retreat was held at Emmanuel with guest speaker Sam Clear.
Sam gave an inspiring and engaging conversation about his challenges, life story and importantly his mission by trekking 

15,600km on foot through South America, Central America & North America, across Siberia by train, and on foot again from Moscow to the western most point of Spain. The walk4one, for unity, thrust Sam onto the front page of numerous overseas news services as he persevered despite exceptional adversity.

Having to find food & water every day was the least of his worries: he was threatened at gunpoint three times, robbed at knifepoint, beaten up on the side of the road, came face to face with dangerous animals, was hospitalised many times and endured extreme temperatures.

There were so many life lessons to take out of Sam's story. His work to provide unity through his work also encouraged students to:
Reach out to those around them
Pursue their dreams
Place their trust in God
Appreciate the dignity of others
Improve their communication skills
Replace ‘instinctive reaction’ with ‘choice’
Grow in resilience & hope
Recognise their ability to impact the world around them!

What a great way to start our final year together as Year 12’s than through the message of unity - a year we are ready to embark on and one that will create memories forever.

Student Voice - Milly Illingworth

Emmanuel College is incredibly proud of Year 12 Student Milly Illingworth who not only represented Australia in the ICC Women's Under-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, but now Milly has made her debut for Cricket Victoria. 
In the World Cup Milly earned the player of the match award for her 2 wickets against India, and in her debut for Cricket Victoria against WA, Milly took four wickets. Well done Milly!
This newsletter features a sit down interview with Milly about her cricket and how she balances sport, school and seeing friends.

What did it feel like to represent Australia? 
It still hasn't sunk in yet. But I think, when I saw the selection come out at the end of the Nationals in December in Perth, I thought there was no chance of getting in and then I had a couple of good games there. And then yeah, there was half a chance. So you know, I was lucky to get in. It was so surreal. 
What did a day in the life look like for you while competing in South Africa?
We would wake up and go out and have breakfast and then the maids would take our washing and get that stuff done for us and then we usually start training about 9:30am. Training would go for maybe three or four hours, then you'd come back, have a team meeting, have a preview of the game coming up and review the game before and see what you can do differently. Then usually we'd have the afternoon to ourselves for a couple of hours. We had plenty of stuff to do in the hotel,  we had pool tables, table tennis, arcade games and stuff, so it was good!
What were game days like in the World Cup? 
It depends what time the games were, but usually we would wake up pretty early. Get everything ready. Get yourself organised. And then we'd get to the ground maybe two and a half hours beforehand, hand our phones in and then we wouldn't be allowed on them just because of match fixing and stuff like that. Then play for three hours. Then we'd go back, have recovery ice bars, all those sorts of things, and also have a bit of a talk about the game and then we have team dinners. 
You also had your debut for Victoria, how was this experience? 
I'd probably say that that was almost better than the Australian debut, because it's a really prestigious sort of competition. So I think it was, yeah, that was probably even more special than the world cup. I think next year, if I do get the chance again I'll be hopefully playing with Ellyse Perry and those sorts of Australian players. So yeah, it'd be amazing to get to experience it again.
I'm still pinching myself. Like it's so surreal. It's gonna take a couple of months to sink in. It's good to be back at school though. I've missed everyone. I haven't seen them the whole summer. It’s good to be back. 
What does a day off look like for you? 
This was the first week and I have had off for probably three months now. I just hung out with my friends. I hadn't seen them in months so it was good to see them. I’m usually just at the beach or something similar.
What's a career goal for you?
I think to sort of make playing cricket a full time job by itself. So like being in the Australian setup would probably be an all time goal. 
How are you balancing school and cricket?
I've had to pack a lot in the last three weeks or so. So I couldn't get much done in South Africa. We were really busy. So it was quite hard to keep up. But since I've been back, the teachers have been really good and helped me out.
Do you have any advice for other Emmanuel Students that are passionate about sport and are balancing school too? 
I think always having a backup option, and always having a reasonable balance between sport and school, as school is equally as important as sport in general. I think having a balance between the two, even though one might way outweigh the other. Just finding a way to make it a bit more level again.
I'm going to try and complete VCE and then hopefully get an ATAR and I'm looking to complete something like a Bachelor of Business in sports management. So I can still do that while I'm playing cricket. I'm going to do it like an online virtual thing!

NAPLAN 2023

Students in Year 7 and 9 will be completing NAPLAN online testing starting Wednesday 15^th March. They will need to have charged laptops and working headphones for the tests. The tests will be completed in the student's usual homeroom classrooms.

If you would like to help your child prepare for NAPLAN, please read the attached information and go to https://nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site for practice questions.

If you wish to withdraw your child from NAPLAN tests, please email Simone Rolfe srolfe@emmanuel.vic.edu.au. She will then give your child a form which needs to be signed by you and returned to Emmanuel before the tests.

The testing schedule:

Catch up sessions will be run from Tuesday 21/3 to ensure that all students in Year 7 and 9 have the opportunity to participate.

Click here for translations of the below information brochure. 

Ms Simone Rolfe
Director of Learning

Catch Up School Photos - Wednesday 22 February

For students and staff who  missed their school photos on February 9th & 10th, there will be catch up photos taking place in the Emmanuel Centre upstairs in the Founders Room from 8am-12pm Wednesday February 22nd.
Family photos can be taken on photo catch-up day, and payment advice will be distributed to each family via email directly from the Glen Watson Photography.
Please make your way to the Emmanuel Centre at any time for your photo. 

Library News

The College Library celebrated Library Lovers’ Day with a morning tea, some dress up props, photos  and a Guess The Jaffas In the Jar competition.  Luke Mills, Year 11 is the winner of the competition.  Luke estimated that there were 236 jaffas in the jar – there were actually 237.  Luke was the closest and wins the prize.  We have over 70 students enter the competition.  Our next event will be held on Friday 17 March, St Patrick’s Day.

The School Library Association of Victoria works to promote and provide resources for school library staff.  They have a poster entitled ‘What A School Library Can Do For You’.  We have changed it to ‘What Emmanuel College Library Can Do For You’.

Earlier this month we received the bookmarks made by students at the Adani Vidya Mandir Ahmedabad School in India.  We thank the students for the bookmarks they made.  At the end of last year we sent to their school our handmade bookmarks.  The bookmarks were made as part of the International School Library Month program where schools across the world reach out to each other and make some bookmarks to share.  In past years we have received bookmarks from Portugal and Croatia.

Mrs Margaret Sinnott
Library Coordinator

WD Senior and Intermediate Cricket

On Wednesday the 8th of February the College was represented by the Intermediate Girls as well as the Intermediate and Senior Boys cricket sides. In a day of shortened format round robin games, there were some standout performances with bat and ball for all sides involved.

After the pool rounds, the Year 9 Emmanual boys team found themselves in a Final against the Year 10 Emmanual boys team. With bragging rights on the line, the Year 10 boys required 67 from their 12 overs. At 7/25 things were looking very shaky as the Year 9’s mounted the pressure, before a partnership of 42 saw the Year 10’s scrape over the line in the last over.  The Intermediate side will now progress and play at the Region finals on March 8th.

The Senior boys side were also victorious after the final over victory vs Warrnambool College in their final. They will now also progress and play on March 8th in Ballarat.

Our Intermediate Girls played a 20/20 match against Brauer in their final. After making 128, the side bowled and fielded brilliantly to restrict Brauer to 62. The Intermediate girls will now also progress to the region final in Ballarat. They will be joined by the Senior Girls team without an opponent and automatically progress.

Mr Alastair Templeton
Sports & Lunchtime Activities Coordinator

Career News

Each year we make it available to students to meet and to discuss their thoughts on pathways moving forward, this could be around tertiary, further education or employment, full time or gap year or work experience, this year we have introduced a new system where students can nominate a suitable time/day for this to happen, the appointments can simply be found on the SIMON homepage, Student Information, Career Appointment, I would encourage you to make an appointment to discuss your pathways, it’s also a great opportunity to look at options for the future, also there are at times some students that are not entirely sure, and that’s ok also.

This weeks newsletter includes

• How to search for university courses
• Explore ATAR profiles of university courses
• Apprenticeships and traineeships
• Start the school year by setting goals
• Career events
• Career planning & job seeking program
• Inspirational science and health occupation videos
• Casual employment - resources 
• Careers in the Victoria Police Force

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

Agriculture Open Night
The Neil Porter Legacy are partnering with the Midfield Group to run an Agriculture Open Night. It's on Wednesday, March 1 from 4.30 pm - 6.30 pm at 393 Cooramook Road, Grassmere. It will showcase many interesting careers in the agriculture industry. They have 20 businesses attending and they're bringing drones, calves, an excavator, VR headsets, a tractor simulator just to name a few.  Midfield are giving out random prizes of gift vouchers for sports equipment, tools, and food and there will be a free BBQ. Please see the attached flyer for more details

Vacancies
The last few weeks has seen several employers in the region contact the school regarding vacancies within their organisations, this varies from mechanic, engineering and cabinet making, these are listed in more detail on Daily Messages for all students to view, for anyone interested application details are listed with the vacancy.

Mr David Gladman
Student Pathways & Careers Leader

Homework Help at the Warrnambool Library

Interested in becoming a football umpire?

Green Futures Now 2023

Green Futures Now is an environmental leadership program for young people aged 12-25 years, where they have the opportunity to develop their own solutions to local environmental issues.  The program begins with three fieldtrips where group members learn more about local actions and initiatives already occurring. The group then meet weekly over six weeks to plan and deliver their own project to address a local environmental issue they identify. 
Click here to register. 

Australian Air Force Cadets are Recruiting

Upcoming Events

Monday February 20
Year 8 Parent Welcome Evening

Tuesday February 21
Swimming Carnival 
Frozen Rehearsals

Wednesday February 22
Catch Up School Photos

Thursday February 23
Frozen Rehearsals
Year 7 Time & Space Parent Night

Tuesdays February 28
Frozen Rehearsals

Wednesday February 1
Year 7 & 10 Immunisation

Thursday March 2
Frozen Rehearsals
Senior School Information Night