Yesterday we had the privilege of acknowledging for the first time the academic achievements of our students across all year levels from Years 7 to 12. This marks a major milestone in our College history and it was wonderful to be able to share this occasion with so many families and members of our wider College community. Student achievement was recognised within three academic areas: Academic Excellence- High Distinction, Academic Excellence-Distinction, and the Growth Mindset Award. Academic Excellence awards were determined based on student achievement and their results across all of their Semester 1 classes based upon their Grade Point Average or GPA placing them in the top 10% of their respective cohorts.

Students who received an Academic Excellence-High Distinction award achieved the majority of A grades for their classes with the remainder being B grades. The introduction of the Growth Mindset award aligns with our College philosophy of a growth mindset approach to all aspects of what we do here at JPC. Students who received Growth Mindset awards were nominated by teachers within each of the Learning Areas to acknowledge those students who have shown determination and a growth mindset approach to their learning and understanding in that particular subject or learning area.

Our ceremony also enabled our community the chance to recognise the contributions of our students within their individual Houses with the Semester 1 House Awards. The recipients of these awards were nominated by the members of each House team (often staff and students), in acknowledgement of their role in building and developing our House and Wider-school culture. It was wonderful to see the recipients of these awards coming from a range of year groups within our College, and to hear of the remarkable contributions that are being made.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff members who were involved in the preparations in the lead-up to the ceremony, the ceremony itself, and the refreshments that followed. Events such as yesterday do not just happen and we are very grateful for the tireless efforts of our staff who often work in the background to ensure that our celebrations are such memorable ones.

Congratulations to all students who received awards yesterday. I hope that all of our students have a successful Semester 2.

Rachel Francis-Davies
Assistant Principal

On the 24th of July, I was invited by the Commonwealth and the Federal Government to attend the development of the Fourth Action Plan 2019-2022 of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. Attending this meeting was a collection of Federal Government Ministers and Head of Departments such as the department of Human Rights. Over the course of the consultation, discussion rose about the effect of the previous action plan and the way future action plans can affect women in the workplace and women with disabilities. The final consultation is in August where the discussion will be more directed at children affected by domestic violence.

On Tuesday Senator David Smith invited me to attend a meeting with him regarding my issue with young people in my community. At this meeting, we were able to discuss my views for the future and mainly the issue with older people making decisions regarding what they think is necessary for young people without having them have a say in the ideas. At the end of this meeting, David Smith offered me a position on his Federal Youth Advisory Council that meets each month.

Bronte Froome

Year 11, Kennedy

Year 10 Science students were treated to a day of STEM workshops here at JPC on Tuesday, where they worked through the design, build and refine process to create an innovative rollercoaster prototype and engineer a suspended weight bearing platform. The QUESTACON team challenged the students thinking and refined their understanding of innovation. It was another fantastic opportunity for our Year 10 students to work collaboratively and develop the skills of Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration, which is our focus in the Science Faculty and our associated STEM subjects here at JPC.

Pictured are groups of our Year 10 Science students and the QUESTACON team, working in the challenges.

Jennifer Tually
Leader of Learning (Science Faculty)

Three university students from the University of Canberra, visited our school and met with us in the Kamberri Room during our Indigenous ILT session, period 2, Thursday 2nd August, in the first of our AIME (Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience) tutoring programme. They had to wait patiently as we were all a bit late from the awards ceremony! Charlotte Stump, Harry Fell and Darrian Vaivads (older brother of former students Aiden and Tate Vaivads), generously volunteer their time, expertise and energy to the AIME programme and this commitment sets a great example to our students. The students benefitted greatly from their academic support on Thursday and then enjoyed some light relief in the form of a game of ‘celebrity heads’ at the end .
Our year 9-12 Aboriginal students will be attending an AIME day at ADFA on Thursday 16th August, for what is set to be a fun but challenging day, including the acquisition of skills needed to become mentors themselves.

Annie Daley
Aboriginal Contact Teacher
JPC Indigenous Group

We arrived in Phomn Phen on the 7th of January where we met 13 other passionate volunteers aged 15-17. We were super excited to undertake a volunteer project with ‘Projects Aboard’ in which we aimed to help disadvantaged children in Cambodia.

We chose to complete a ‘Care and Community’ program, in which we volunteered at a primary school for 2 weeks. We taught the children basic English, learnt some of their languages and renovated many areas of their classrooms; whilst immersing in the Cambodian Culture. We were also lucky enough to visit the ancient temples, be involved in Buddhist traditions and learn about the horrific Kumer Rouge. These unprivileged children brought tears and joy to our faces, we hope to see this as a starting point for many more volunteer opportunities. We both feel so blessed to have had this opportunity and are already planning our second volunteer trip. If you are interested in involving yourself in a project similar to ours, visit the Projects Aboard website or come and have a chat with us!

Maddie Greenwood and Chloe McGovern

Year 11, Ferre & Year 11, Vanier

Know someone in our community who has achieved something remarkable?
Come and let us know so we can publicise your personal successes!
Stay tuned for more amazing student achievement announcements from the Leaders of Courage.

Emily Watt and Maximus Leskien
Leaders of Courage

Week 2 - Drama

After only two weeks, Drama is gearing up to have another exciting term! With elective classes changing, a brand new bunch of enthusiastic and energetic students have commenced their study of the subject.

Year 7 students continue to with their introduction to Drama and performance skills. Student were asked to perform in the first lesson – and they did! Courageously, students presented individually to the class and have been learning performance techniques in each lesson and ILT period. Collaboration and effective teamwork are essential skills in Year 7 Drama, and the new classes are further developing these skills.

The budding actors in the Years 9/10 Elective Drama course have also been performing solo. Students are undertaking the course title, ‘Creating a Character: Finding your Aussie Voice’ in which they begin with the study of realism and move to surrealism. Students have begun their exploration of Stanislavski’s System of ‘Method Acting’ and have demonstrated great interest in this characterisation technique of creating realistic and believable characters. Soon, they will begin preparing for their Monologue assessment. As the course progresses, students will study the Australian script, Ruby Moon again exploring characters but with a different directorial intention.

The Senior Drama class is studying ‘Community Theatre’ this semester focusing on the theatrical convention of Verbatim Theatre. At the moment, students are completing a close study of the script, The Laramie Project by Moises Kauffman and the Tectonic Theatre Project. However, the class has already engaged with the process of verbatim theatre, conducting an interview, transcribing this, and creating a script from their interviewee’s responses. The purpose of verbatim theatre is to challenge, provoke and console the audience regarding a relevant issue in efforts to perhaps, make a difference in the community. Students will be devising and performing an original piece of verbatim theatre for a target audience later this semester.

This semester, we continue our efforts to offer industry exposure for our students. There will be excursions to the theatre and workshops led by visiting tutors. Students will attend Fading at the Canberra Theatre – a production by Canberra Youth Theatre – in week 8. Katie Cawthorne, Artistic Director of Canberra Youth Theatre, will led 3 one-hour expert workshops with the Senior Drama class at the end of this term. And more opportunities are in the works, stay tuned!

Form classes to excursions, rehearsal culture and productions, students who engage with Drama will be offered exciting opportunities in the world of theatre. All are welcome centre stage – so step into the spotlight. Chookas!

Miss Sarah Keane and Miss Kat Allan
Drama Teachers

Have you ever dreamt of running away to the circus? Who doesn’t love a night out? Tickets for JPC’s first production, The Greatest Show: A Vaudeville are on sale! Follow the latest trend on the internet and purchase your tickets via the https://www.trybooking.com/WLCP

Students have been working tirelessly to create this show. The Production Crew gave the students a skeleton plot and they have been tasked to devise the scenes under the direction of Miss Keane. It is not a version of the film The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman, but a genuine JPC created piece of theatre!

With only weeks away, the Show is going to dazzle you – literally!

Wednesday 22nd August, 7pm
Thursday 23rd August, 7pm
Friday 24th August, 7pm

Circus themed food will also be available for purchase during intermission. Roll up, roll up – come and join us at the circus!

Moderation Day is held twice a year where all ACT Secondary Colleges meet to discuss and evaluate work samples for year 11 and 12 students from the previous semester.

As this is an excellent opportunity for professional learning for our staff all members of the JPC teaching staff attend these days.

There will be no supervision on these days, therefore Moderation Days are a pupil free day

A reminder to all Year 12 students that you need to be at school at 9am on Monday, ready to catch the bus to retreat. Please meet in the hall promptly for roll marking with your bags. No students are permitted to drive to the retreat venue.

All Year 8 – 10 Maths students are required to have the following equipment for Math classes:

• A Scientific Calculator (preferably Casio fx-82AU PLUS II – If your child already has another brand that will be fine)
• An A4, 5mm grid book
• A 30cm ruler
• Blue, Black & Red Pens and grey lead pencils.

Students have been asked to come prepared to classes with this equipment. If there are any concerns with getting this equipment for your child please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Maths teacher or Elizabeth Walsh (elizabeth.walsh@cg.catholic.edu.au).

Year 9 students received their information and permission notes last Friday for their upcoming Refugee Immersion. Please take the time to read the information outlined carefully – a copy of the note can be found on the Permission Notes page on Moodle. A reminder that JPC notes are due by Friday, 10 August.

The JPC Canteen/Food Technology/Hospitality department will be hosting an evening of cooking delicious, nutritious meals which we will package and distribute to the Oz Harvest charity for the homeless. This is a great way to socialize and meet other JPC families and JPC staff and enjoy a fabulous evening for a good cause!

We are seeking student and parent volunteers and staff to join us in week 3, Wednesday 8th August at 4pm to help cook the meals. At 6pm we will sit down and share our meal together in the restaurant.

Cost (to contribute to ingredients) is $15 per person - this will also include your dinner, dessert and a drink!

We will need to limit numbers for practical purposes so first in best dressed!

Forms are available here

Payment to be made via Qkr! and the form to be returned to the student office by Friday 3 August.

Every fortnight on the JPC Moodle site an extensive Careers Information Newsletter is being uploaded. This newsletter contains a great deal of vital information for all Senior students in Years 10,11 and 12, but particularly for Year 12’s completing Accredited and Tertiary Courses. Please take the time to read this information regularly and if you have any questions please email the JPC Careers Advisor at ian.pettit@cg.catholic.edu.au .

For example, in the newsletter there is information about the “Sydney Hotel School” which is offering generous scholarships, applications closing on 12th of October. 
Students interested in apprenticeships or traineeships would also be strongly advised to read the regular JPC Careers newsletters for updates.

Year 12 students considering going to University need to carefully read the following information and also keep reading the details in the Moodle Careers bulletins.

University Admissions Centres across Australia are now open for the submission of university preferences. Each state has a different University Admissions Centre, for the NSW and ACT Universities, the centre is called UAC (University Admissions Centre). In Victoria, the centre is called VTAC (Victorian Admissions Centre) and so on.

The UAC Guides have arrived at JPC and Year 12 students have been advised to collect those from the Careers office as soon as possible. It is essential that when you register your preferences you have:

• Your School Student Number
• Your UAC PIN (already emailed to all Year 12 students).
• Your full legal name as shown on a birth certificate or passport
• Your own email address NOT the JPC email address

Please be aware that some universities offer special “Early Admission” options. The University of Wollongong, for example, has an Early Admission program that enables high achieving and motivated John Paul II College students to receive a UOW offer based on their academic performance and commitment to study during Years 11 and 12. UOW Early Admission applications are now open. Students can start an application at https://www.uow.edu.au/early-admission/index.html
Applications close at 5pm on Friday 24 August.

The Australian Catholic University (ACU) also have a Special Admissions program. This program allows school principals to recommend students who they believe to be capable of completing the specified tertiary degree, despite not receiving an ATAR, or a limited ATAR, as a result of extenuating circumstances or changing packages mid-course. Applications are now open for students wishing to commence study in Semester 1, 2019 at ACU's Canberra Campus. Applications will close on Friday 19 October 2018.

As mentioned, all the relevant details can be found in the JPC Career News Bulletins on Moodle.

Congratulations to all those Year 12 students who have already been sending many emails concerning their career questions. I have been seeing students during lunch and morning tea, as well as the Friday Period 4 and 5 time slots.

Keep up the great research and always have a 2nd option planned, just in case!

Ian Pettit
JPC Careers Advisor

P.S Please also find below a list of key dates for the UAC.

We now have tutors covering Voice, Piano, Guitar, Bass, Brass, Woodwind, Drums and Strings. Learning an instrument is a highly rewarding lifetime journey, so please get involved! Please click the link below to download an enrolment form:

https://www.jpc.act.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Instrumental-Lessons-2018.pdf

Aron Lyon