Welcome back to Term 3.  We have had a really positive start to the term with students settling back into learning quickly and some great things occurring in classes already. 

You will see also from this week’s Key Messages that Term 3 is already full of exciting opportunities and events that our students are participating in.

Thank you all for the support you gave last semester as we faced the potential serious reduction to the future Federal Government funding of Catholic schools.  It is testament to the work done by many to know that reduced funding has been avoided for the next four years in the first instance.  This is an excellent result.  You will see the letter from our Director, Mr Ross Fox, in this edition of Key Messages, thanking everyone for all of the efforts that they made.

….and welcome to new members of staff and new students!
We are very pleased to welcome new members of staff this term.  They appear to also be settling in very quickly and beginning to form very positive relationships with their classes, their Pastoral Care groups and their Mentor students.

We are delighted to have with us in a permanent capacity:

- Mr David Boyle who is teaching Physical Education and Health
- Ms Cheryl Jones who teaches Religious Education 
- Mr Jason Paris who is teaching SOSE and English
- Ms Mardi Huckstadt who is our Science Lab Technician.

With us until the end of the year are:

- Mr Tim Bourke who is working in Science
- Mr Daniel Deng, also working in Science
- Ms Elena Wong who is teaching Chinese.

Ms Allana Masterson will be with us during Term 3, replacing Mrs Vicki Williams who is on leave during Term 3.  Ms Masterson will be teaching Textiles, Food Technology and Integrated Humanities.

We wish all of them every success with us and feel very grateful for the contributions that they are already making to our community.

We have also welcomed twelve new students to our JPC community this term.  We are very pleased to have them with us and look forward to working with them and their families to have them feel quickly at home at JPC and to experience success in their learning.

Thank you all for your ongoing support of us.  As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if there is anything we can do to assist, or if you have any questions or queries. 

Catherine Rey

All parents of Year 9 students are invited to attend an information session regarding the year 9 Camp Experience (September 18-20) to be held on Tuesday, 25 July at 5pm. This will be an important opportunity to gain insights into the program, and to ask questions of program leaders from JPC and our Outward Bound partners. Please note that students are asked not to attend this session as information is for parents only.

Mrs. Nicola Edghill – Religious Education Coordinator

The importance, resilience and richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages is the focus of our national celebrations marking NAIDOC Week for 2017. Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students ranging from years 7 to 10, were invited by Mrs Katrina Cambridge from Holy Spirit Primary School to attend their annual NAIDOC assembly on Wednesday 19th of July.

The assembly emphasised and celebrated the unique and essential role that Indigenous languages play in cultural identity – connecting to this year’s theme ‘Our Languages Matter’. The entire school was asked to repeat specific words from the Ngunnawal language such as Canberra, meaning ‘meeting place’ and Gungahlin, meaning ‘little rocky hill’. Trae Bashford (year 8) and Isaiah Murray (year 10) performed for the school playing the didgeridoo, the primary students facial expressions really conveyed how impressed they were. This was shortly followed by our dance performance by Braith Hartfield (year 10), Ally Hampton (year 8), Trae Bashford, Lillian Dominick (year 7) and Kiara Allan (year 7). The students choreographed movements to the song Ngarra Burra Ferra from the film The Sapphires combined with another song Under the Boardwalk where they learnt a routine from ‘Move it Mob Style’. The entire performance was truly appreciated by our friends across the oval. We thank Holy Spirit Primary for having us and look forward to many more visits and special occasions together.

JPC are holding their annual NAIDOC assembly next Wednesday the 26th, at 9.30am in the hall. All welcome!

Miss Elle Boller

On Friday the 21st, students from Miss Boller’s year 7 Religion class in Semester 1 and the Indigenous students attended the NAIDOC Mass for the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Manuka. On arrival, we were greeted with a traditional smoking ceremony performed by the Wiradjuri Echoes out the front of the Cathedral. The significance of this allowed for all students and staff to proceed into the mass, passing by the smoke to cleanse the properties and ward off bad spirits. Students were seated in the Cathedral and participated in a special mass to celebrate NAIDOC week within the Catholic Education community, and for many of our students this was their first time to visit the place of worship. I would like to extend a massive thank you to all of our students for representing the College with pride and reverence and to Mrs Catherine Rey and Mrs Nicola Edghill for supporting and attending the mass, sharing their enthusiasm and leading us with respect.

Miss Elle Boller

This is an exciting year for faith formation at JPC, as we embrace the call of Archbishop Christopher Prowse to a new focus on young people and their role in the Church. In response to this call, we have worked to build a Youth Ministry group at JPC. In addition to Thursday morning breakfast and masses, students from Years 10 and 11 have had the opportunity to participate in different events at the College, and to attend others hosted by Catholic Schools Youth Ministry Australia, CSYMA. These leaders have shared their commitment to ministry at JPC by assisting with our Year 7 Stewardship Day, and our vision is that they will continue to embrace opportunities to lead students in their ongoing faith journey.

On Wednesday afternoon, Year 9 students were invited to share an initial introduction to Youth Ministry, participating in a workshop entitled, Catch the Wave. The metaphor of catching a wave is effective when discovering and developing one’s faith journey. Just like surfing, faith can be an adventure with requires both courage and determination – to make a choice to paddle out into the unknown, and explore what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in a contemporary world is a challenge not unlike tackling a giant pipeline. Part of the session required students to unpack a central scripture passage, Matthew 5:14-16, and interpret the meaning of Jesus' words, "you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world". Students formed connections with their personality traits and talents, identifying how these attributes can develop their own faith formation and how they can then engage with others on a similar journey. Year 9 were asked to demonstrate their ‘salt and light’ by creating choreography to the catchy song, "You are the Light of the World" from Godspell, the musical. It was certainly an afternoon filled with spirited interactions!

JPC are excited to be hosting the Shine Student Conference, a CSYMA youth event, on 14 August. Students from Years 9 and 10 will be invited to attend this gathering of young people from across the Archdiocese, commencing with Mass and a Youth Rally on the evening of Sunday, 13 August at St. Christopher’s Cathedral, and followed by a full day of workshops here at JPC. More information regarding Shine will be delivered to students during RE lessons, and we encourage students to consider being part of this unique experience.

RE Team

Our school has partnered with Transport for NSW to use the new online School Portal for endorsing school travel applications and submitting School Drive Subsidy and Private Vehicle Conveyance Scheme attendance checks.

You are now able to manage all your school travel needs online including applying for school travel passes, tracking the status of your application and tracking the status of your School Drive Subsidy application and payments.

The application process has also been simplified so that a new or updated application for school travel passes is only needed when a student is:

• applying for a school travel pass for the first time
• requesting an additional pass as a result of a new shared parental responsibility situation (e.g. joint custody).
• changing school or campus
• changing home address
• receiving an expiry notification
• repeating a school year
• changing their name
• requesting a new transport operator.

This means students who are progressing to year 3 and year 7 only need to reapply if they are changing circumstances.

Students who are not residents and are temporarily in Australia can also provide their visa subclass number or exchange program when applying online, making the application and approval process much faster.

Parents, guardians and students can apply or update their details online at:

www.transportnsw.info/school-students

If you do not have access to the internet contact 131 500 for assistance.

Note: Student attendance checks will be available for completion by schools after the last day of semester (1 July 2017).

Learning music can help students’ self-confidence, self-discipline and team work. Music helps students progress in other important learning areas such as Maths and English. Indeed, countries with a strong focus on music education tend to have higher scores in literacy and numeracy. Engaging music programs have been shown to help with attendance and can be particularly beneficial for students who are not achieving well in school.

Interested in having fun on a tropical island as the first frosts hit Canberra next year? Students who will be studying French in Years 9-12 in 2018 are invited to participate in the inaugural study tour to New Caledonia in April. Reminder that deposits and the permission slip are due to the front office by Friday Week 2 (28/7/17). All inquiries to Mr Battaglia. Merci!

Congratulations to Oliver Vidaic who has been selected to represent the ACT at the 2017 School Sport Australia Cross Country Championships held in Hobart on the 11th August and the 2017 Australian Cross Country Championships to be held in Wollongong on the 26th August. Congratulations to Oliver on his achievement

Congratulations to Annabelle Raymond who has been selected to represent the ACT at the 2017 Australian Cross Country Championships to be held in Wollongong on the 26th August. Congratulations to Annabelle on her achievement.

If you are a practicing Catholic who has a helpful and supportive nature who is confident working with excel, access or databases, we have a part-time position (approx 11hrs per week) in Holy Spirit parish, Gungahlin. The role is administrative, requires weekend and evening work during the Sacramental programs of First Eucharist, Reconciliation and Confirmation.
The role works closely with the Parish Priest, Pastoral Associate and Religious Educations Coordinators from the three primary schools. Please send your expression of interest – (no longer than two pages), demonstrating the following:
• your knowledge or interest in the Sacramental Program offered by Parishes to children
• your involvement in your Parish
• your experience and willingness to work within tight timeframes and deadlines
• your ability to be flexible ie very busy during Sacramental program
• your computer knowledge and skills ie Microsoft office suite, spreadsheets and data management
• the reasons you are interested in the position.

For a more detailed position outline, contact Magda at office@holyspiritgungahlin.org.au. Please send expressions of interest to Parish Priest at office@holyspiritgungahlin.org.au by Friday, 18 August 2017. For information contact Theivani Evers on 0472 921 518 (Tuesday/Wednesday).

Minister for Women, Yvette Berry has announced the opening of the

2017 Audrey Fagan Young Women Enrichment Grants on July 17 2017.

The Enrichment Grants continue to offer young women with an opportunity to realise their dreams in a collaborative relationship with a mentor.

Young women aged between 12 and 18, residents of the ACT or attending education in the ACT are eligible to apply. The program provides one off grants of up to $2,000 to support young women to achieve a project in their area of interest.

The Enrichment Grants are a component of the Audrey Fagan Scholarship program established in 2007 to honour former ACT Chief Police Officer Audrey Fagan’s contribution as an inspirational leader and mentor for young women.

For more information on the grants program visit:
http://www.communityservices.act.gov.au/women/grants_and_scholarships

Or phone ACT Office for Women on 6205 3614. Applications close on 25 August 2017