On Tuesday our Year 11 students participated in “The Day of Hope” lead by Glen Gerreyn.

Glen’s message is that:
Hope changes everything.

It is the single defining factor for success - in life and in business. When I talk about hope I’m not talking about unsustainable spikes of happiness and enthusiasm. Hope isn’t sitting back and waiting for better days. I’m talking about lasting change.
Hope is active. Being ‘hopefull’ is a decision you make. A state of being. A way of living.

By re-igniting hope in our lives we reconnect with our purpose. With purpose comes meaning. And withmeaning we’re energised to re-engage with life - to kick-start our dreams, take on new challenges, stay focused, unleash our creativity, and see new possibilities.
Hope opens us up to life. And when obstacles strike, hope keeps us up in life.

Our Year 11 students had a wonderful day and came away with many ideas on how to keep striving for their hope and dreams.

“I really enjoyed Glen’s seminar. He helped me to set goals and realise my vision and think beyond high school.”

Paris Morris

“I am less anxious about my future after hearing what Glen had to say. It's inspired me to go home tonight and think about what dreams I have and I am looking forward to achieving things I thought were impossible.”

Georgia Wallace

Need some help with managing the Mental Health in your Teenager???

The Wellbeing team would love to share with you the BITE Back program details. This program is designed by Black Dog and has been tested and has impressive results indicating it significantly improves the mental health of its participants! Its free, easy to do and accessible to all!

For more details please see the flyers at the bottom of Key Messages or log onto their website: https://www.biteback.org.au

Term 1 has been BUZZING with some innovative Sustainable Technology work by the Year 8 elective class.

As part of their assessment students have been working in a ‘Tic Tac Tow’ format, choosing the assessment items that they would like to explore according to their own interest, areas of expertise and the skills they would like to develop.

Students are learning about the important role that Bees play in keeping the world going, and ensuring that humanity can continue to exist with the resources that we have. A part of this includes students designing ‘A Home Away From Home’ bee hotel and gardens filled with plants that attract and encourage Bees to flourish among the flowers!

Students also made Bees Wax Wraps, a very trendy sustainable kitchen item for purchase around the hipper areas of Canberra! All the items for making the Bees Wax Wraps were sourced locally- including the beautiful Beeswax which came from the Kean Family Bee Farm in Wagga.

This has been rewarding, fulfilling and exciting topic of exploration for our students!

ON Wednesday this week our new students (8-12) were invited by our Principal to a welcome morning tea. The kitchen staff served up a wonderful collection of tasty foods that were well enjoyed by all who were in attendance.

Mrs Rey welcomed the new students and reinforced how important they are to our school community. Finn and Chloe our school captains added that the school leaders were available as required and as they navigate developing friendships and feeling comfortable they would always have someone to talk to within the school community and especially within the student leadership team. It was a great way to meet our new students (8-12) for the 2019 academic year.

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, plus a social media over reaction.”

Senior Media students have recently been tackling the perils that come with the world of Social Media.

They recently submitted their first assessment, a video diary series that helps them to explore and respond to prompts surrounding Social Media. These prompts include the good and bad of social media, what makes a successful influencer, gender, attractiveness and personality in relation to success and the differences between traditional media presenters compared to influencers now. Students were to film and edit their own 8-10 minute videos showing this exploration.

Be sure to catch some of these at the week 9 showcase. But for now, some of my favourite stills!

Thanks - A huge thanks to those families starting to respond to the potential of having JPC students visit their workplaces for either Work Experience or School Based Apprenticeships. Please keep the offers coming in by contacting the JPC office.

Reminder – Please be aware that the deadline to hand in permission notes for the White Card course close Monday 1 April. Permission notes and payment must be received by this date. Separate permission notes must be completed for both the White Card and the Asbestos training.

WEX  - Congratulations to Nicole Willis on gaining entry into the ACT Health Work Experience Program. This is a very competitive application process with only limited places available. We are looking forward to hearing how it goes.

If your child is going to be away from school due to travel (leave between 10-100 days) an Application for Extended Leave - Travel form must be submitted and approved by the Principal prior to departure.

If a student needs to leave school during the day, they must bring a note that morning. They are to give this note to their classroom teacher at their departure time, then present themselves with the note at the student office to sign out.

If no note or email is provided, students must be signed out in person by a parent or carer. Where possible, early departure should only occur during Recess, Lunch or between Periods to avoid disturbance to other students.

Parents arriving during the day to collect students without prior notification will be asked to wait until Recess, Lunch or between Periods unless there is an emergency.

Student Absentee and Late or Partial Day Absence forms are available to download from the College website and Moodle.

The JPC Attendance policy sets out the requirements for Attendance and Absence reporting. The policy is available on the College website.

Please note that all bikes/scooters left at the end of the day will be locked overnight in the bike shed.

Students need to padlock their bikes/scooters and though we will ensure the bike sheds are locked during the day and overnight we will not be responsible for any bikes/scooters left in the shed.

Thank you

JPC uses a bulk emailing system which not only sends the Key Messages but for all emails that are not direct from a staff member.

If you have unsubscribed from Key Messages because you read them on Facebook or from our webpage, it does mean you are not getting any other emails sent.

If you wish to subscribe so you get all emails, please contact the College Office office.jpc@cg.catholic.edu.au requesting to be added back onto the list.

If you are still not receiving emails please check your spam account and change your settings to accept emails from JPC.

Bus passes for student's who travel on the QCity/Transborder buses are now available for collection from the College Office.

The Assessment App no longer works, the company went out of business and did not inform us – we are investigating other methods of communicating assessment tasks to parents but in the meantime, this information is available on Moodle. We are trying to have the logo removed from our website and newsletter footer.

Thank you

For these interviews, we will again be using the internet-based booking system called Parent Teacher On-Line (PTO). It will save time for parents, staff and students! The system will be available to parents from 9am on Thursday 28 March.

If you did not receive the email with details on how to log on, please contact the College office.

We have a bike at the student office that has been with us since last Christmas. It came out of the bike shed one afternoon and no one has come to claim it. If you have lost a bike and can provide a description, please contact the student office immediately.

Are you a student over the age of 18 and interested in saving lives?

Contact Miss Turner to find out how! If you are already a donor within the JPC community (teacher, parent, aunty, friend etc), join our Red25 group by logging on to the Donate Blood website at www.donateblood.com.au , select Red25 Group and search for St John Paul II College Canberra.

Let’s increase our tally together!