Key Messages Week 2 - Term 3Semester 1, 2019 Awards CeremonyYesterday we had the privilege of acknowledging the achievements of our students across all year levels from Years 7 to 12. Student academic achievement was recognised within four areas: Academic Excellence - High Distinction, Academic Excellence – Distinction and Growth Mindset Awards and for senior students, First in Course, recognising the student at the highest level in each learning area. 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. 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 in acknowledgment 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. For the first time, we also acknowledged Year 10 students who are the recipients of the Senior Scholarships for 2020-2021. We congratulate these students on their commitment to the school community and their academic focus. 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. 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. It is also wonderful to acknowledge the large number of family members present to support their sons/daughters/grandchildren/siblings. I hope that all of our students have a successful Semester 2. Dr Ann Cleary Moderation DayModeration day is held twice a year where all ACT Secondary Colleges meet to discuss and evaluate work samples for Year 11 & 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 our next Moderation Days on Thursday 8 August is a pupil free day. ILT Semester 2 – Focus in Semester 2Independent Learning Time is beginning in Week 3 this semester and with this in mind students have been working with their teachers in all classes to upskill themselves towards becoming more efficient and effective in the field of self-regulation. Research suggests that Self-Regulated learning is a cyclic process including three distinct phases; a forethought phase, performance phase and self-reflection phase. Underpinning the whole process is the forethought phase which involves the setting of goals; the strategic planning of the task itself and the self-motivation to complete the task. This concept of self-motivation stems from the students' beliefs about learning. This includes self-efficacy beliefs about having the capacity to meet the outcome expectations of the task. For example, students who feel self-efficacious about their learning and ability to complete a set task will be more intrinsically motivated to learn and complete the task in a self-regulated fashion. Over the past two weeks, students have been engaging more with this concept of forethought from the cyclic process and the development of this theme will continue this semester. This will hopefully develop in our student confidence and self-efficacy towards all their learning tasks. All of these strategies aimed at developing students into self-regulated learners, prepared for tertiary education, the workforce, and lifelong learning into the future. David Johns Nic Whatman
Parent Session on AnxietyOn Tuesday evening, we had our first parent wellbeing information session for 2019. The topic was Anxiety, a conversation that for so many years was stigmatized and dismissed. Mrs Chauntell McNamara walked parents through some information regarding what anxiety actually is, some strategies that we use here at school, as well as providing some excellent resources available for free online. We will also be running a wellbeing club at school during Thursdays period 1, starting week 4. During this time, students will learn some strategies of their own in handling and dealing with anxiety, as well as learning the language that will help others to understand what is happening for them. If you would like any information regarding either of these events, please email Chauntell McNamara directly: Chauntell.mcnamara@cg.catholic.edu.au OzHarvest 2019 OzHarvest is an Australia-wide food rescue organisation. They collect quality excess food from commercial outlets and deliver it directly to people in need across Australia, as well as distributing cooked ready to eat meals. JPC staff, students and parents spent Wednesday evening cooking and packaging Butter Chicken and Vegetable Curry with rice for the OzHarvest charity - ready to heat and eat meals, collected by OzHarvest and delivered to local Canberra people in need. We then sat and shared a meal together in the restaurant. It was a great way for members of the JPC community to socialise and enjoy a fun evening, all for a good cause!A massive thank you especially to Megan Hajduk for her support and organisation, Katrina and Michael Woodman, Paris and Catherine Morris, Sarah Zhou, Daniel Burns, Lee Rose and Catherine Rey for their enthusiastic participation! We look forward to meeting more JPC families in future charity cooking events. Annie Daley Art-Club Art-Rageous Art Club has started again this week on Wednesday lunch times in the art studio. Last term, students enjoyed working collaboratively to create a ‘street-art’ design, around the theme of ‘What it means to be Courageous’, which is now displayed outside the art studio in the Courage wing of the school. This term, students, and teachers have decided to work together again to create a multimedia hanging artwork that focuses on Indigenous weaving techniques and incorporates elements that respond to the recent news that this year’s allocation of resources has already been used up. All students, even those who are not part of an art course, are welcome to join. To cover additional expenses, the cost to participate in this Club is $10/term. For more information, contact Kath Podger or Yolandi Swart Constitutional Convention On Thursday and Friday of last week, three students from Year 11 attended the ACT Constitutional Convention at Old Parliament House and the ACT Legislative Assembly. The Convention provides an opportunity for students in Years 11 to explore contemporary constitutional issues. On Friday, the students were able to hear from MLA’s Alistair Coe and Caroline Le Couteur who provided arguments for and against the debate of a topical constitutional change, namely the issue of whether the Commonwealth Parliament should have broad powers to legislate for the environment. They were then able to question and debate the issue, followed by a mock referendum to vote on the change. Congratulations to Logan Russell, Wanin Tessema and Georgia Wallace for their active participation on both days. Senior Drama Goes to Year 1B Wave Riders! This semester, the Years 11/12 Drama class is studying the course, Theatre for Young People. As part of their assessment, the students are required to create a performance for a target audience of children from Holy Spirit’s Year 1 classes. To ensure they make a thoroughly enjoyable performance, the Drama class spent some time with Year 1B. Students were warmly and excited welcomed by younger students. Drama students organised and played a variety of games and asked questions about their interests, dislikes and what they are learning. The Drama class was energetic, inclusive and effective when running their designed activities. The senior students were ‘wave riders’ with 1B, gaining valuable information from their future audience. They are looking forward to creating a unique piece of theatre for Holy Spirit’s Year 1 classes. Mrs Sarah Smith Drama Teacher Senior Media and Visual Arts Senior Media and Visual Arts invite you to come and indulge in an afternoon film festival(ish) event, showcasing the talents of our amazing, hardworking and humble senior Media class – together with a display from our senior Visual Art class. WEEK 4 - WEDNESDAY 14th of August @ 4:00 pm in the Theatre Students created a hilarious sitcom called “Leg Day” that depicts a day in the life at JPC (on cross-country day).. Spotlight! Thursday afternoon saw the first rehearsal of Spotlight, this semester’s Musical Theatre after school club. An eager bunch of students from years 7-11 attend, game to take on this exciting adventure. Under the direction of Miss Kat Allan, students explored the basics of singing and techniques. From head voice to chest voice, the group devised and performed singing conversations and warmups; a great entry point! The group will move into drama and dancing workshops to create an ensemble piece of musical theatre. It’s not too late to join Spotlight and develop skills in performance, confidence and extend friendship networks. Permission is available via Qkr! For more information, speak with Miss Allan or Mrs Smith. Miss Kat Allan and Mrs Sarah Smith Drama Teachers CongratulationsANU Early Entry Offers It is with enormous excitement that we acknowledge our Year 12 students who have received ‘conditional early entry’ from the Australian National University. This offer was made after the university analysed the performance of these students to date and considered them as potential valuable members of the ANU Learning community. It is expected that if this performance continues they will receive an offer for the 2020 academic year. The JPC community congratulates these students and acknowledges their hard work, to be provided with an opportunity to study at one of the most prestigious universities in Australia.
Paawan Malhotra’s Musical TalentPaawan recently sat his step 1 and step 2 piano exams. Don’t be mistaken, these grades are not equivalent to schooling. He completed two exams on one day and received a distinction for the first one and an A honors for the second. The music department at JPC is incredibly proud of his achievements and encourages him to continue his amazing piano development in the future. Well done Paawan! Sport ASC Netball On Tuesday, the 30th of July, our 7/8 and 9/10 Netball teams competed in the ASC Competition in Lyneham. The 9/10’s had a tough start to the day but were outstanding in their ability to apply defensive pressure all the way down the court. This lead to a number of turn overs and kept the scores close. They finished strong with wins against Canberra Grammar, Trinity, Radford and Burgmann. All of the girls are commended on taking on ideas positively, applying them on court and persevering with a range of combinations. The 7/8’s were very eager and enthusiastic in all the games they played. Their cheerful disposition was noted by other teams as well as their amazing sportsmanship. They improved greatly as the day progressed and I look forward to coaching this great bunch of girls in Penrith. A special thanks go to our umpires, Isabel Henden and Victoria Nikias, and 7/8 coach Sally Dawe for volunteering to assist our teams. And finally to the parents to took time out of their day to come and support. It was wonderful to see so many of you on the sideline. In Week 5, we have two teams traveling to Penrith for the NSWCCC Championships. Stay tuned to see how they go….. Careers Canberra Careers Expo The Canberra Careers Expo will be taking place next week on the 7th and 8th of August at Exhibition Park in Canberra. Due to the timing of moderation day, we are unable to take groups of students to this event. It is strongly recommended that families consider visiting the Careers Expo independently with their sons/daughters to explore career pathways while the moderation day takes place. For further information please go to https://canberracareersmarket.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-CXpo-Exhibitors-Package.pdf or https://canberracareersmarket.com.au/ Work Experience Reminder Thank you again to those families offering to accept JPC students for Work Experience (WEX), the list is growing and we really appreciate how much is involved in accepting a student. Information for parents/carers on the process of how to arrange Work Experience can be found on the JPC website https://www.jpc.act.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/19-JPC-WEX-Information-ParentsCarers-IPE.pdf. Work Experience – Canberra Zoo Here’s a link to the work experience site for WEX placements at the Canberra Zoo. The site provides a certain period each year during which they accept applications, they do accept placements throughout the year. https://nationalzoo.com.au/get-involved/volunteer/ (Thanks Anne Anand for supplying this information) From the College OfficeWanted: Fabric, ribbons, elastic, buttons, elastic safety pins & notions! Do you have a stack of unused sewing fabric or notions, that you no longer need? Doing a winter clean-out and wondering what to do with your spare linen? Have an unfinished sewing project you know you just won’t finish? If you, or someone in your family, have any unwanted clothing, material, sewing or craft supplies, the textiles department will greatly appreciate anything you have to offer! Upholding the school value of sustainability, we appreciate any donations, which will be used by students to make amazing practical projects. Donations can be dropped off to the front office, clearly labelled ‘Textiles’. Thank you! Community News |