It has been a very productive Term 3 at JPC and we have celebrated a number of firsts!

Our first school production, The Greatest Show, was a huge success and this was very much due to the hard work of the Performing Arts department. We thank all staff involved, including Mrs Daley and the hospitality class for supplying wonderful circus food at the interval.

Our Year 12 students sat the AST for the first time and were commended by the outside Examiners on their focus and application during the three exams. They also celebrated their Year 12 Retreat which was a significant event in their young adult lives and was beautifully crafted by Mrs Nicola Edghill.

Our students continued to excel in various sporting events, including placing 8th in the Bill Turner Cup and three of our teams making the Netball Grand finals. As well as these team efforts, there have been a number of individual performances where students have reached elite levels in their sports.

During staff meetings, staff have been working on developing effective feedback to move student learning forward. We have also been implementing the new management system, Sentral. Our focus has been on using this portal to gather data on ILT and ILT planning. We see Sentral as a helpful way to give more targeted and immediate feedback to parents regarding their child’s ILT planning and engagement.

Staff news
We congratulate Mr Brad Crocker and his wife, who welcomed baby Lilliana last week. We wish them all the very best with their new little one.

In Term 4, we welcome back Mrs Faye Robertson as Leader of Learning and Well-being for Van Thuan and Performing Arts. I thank Ms Sarah Keane for all her hard work looking after the Van Thuan students and the Performing Arts Department for the three terms whilst Mrs Robertson has been on maternity leave. Next term, Mr Iain Robertson is taking leave for the first three weeks of Term 4 to be a stay-at-home dad. Mrs Alison Middleton will be Acting Vanier and PE Leader of Learning and Well-being during these three weeks.

We will be very sad to farewell Mrs Rachel Francis-Davies at the end of this year. She has been successful in gaining a new role as Deputy Principal at Daramalan from January 2019. I wish Rachel all the best for her new position and I thank and commend her for all the work that she has achieved for JPC. We will certainly miss all the expertise and wisdom that she has brought to the College.

Next term, our principal Catherine Rey will return from her five weeks’ sabbatical, visiting schools that belong to the coalition of Self-directed Learning Schools. She also had the opportunity to meet with international academics to discuss best practice in education. We are looking forward to discussing the new ideas that she has learnt.

Term 4 reminder
Just a reminder that students need to be in summer uniform, including hats, when they return to school on Monday 15 October.

I wish all our families a safe and restful break.

Stephanie O’Meara
(Acting Principal)

Principal Catherine Rey has been announced as a 2018 recipient of the ACEL National Fellowship Award. Catherine has been recognised for her outstanding contribution to the improvement of student and organisational outcomes.

Congratulations!

Logan, Sharee and I were selected from our JPC Youth Ministry Team, to go to the Northern Territory for a Mission Retreat week alongside Miss Jones. During this week, we boarded at St John’s Catholic College in Darwin.
We ran retreats at the college for different grades which were all about God’s love. We then travelled to Daly River to run a retreat to primary school students all about being special and made uniquely in the image of God.

The first day of the Saint John’s retreats were breathtaking. The students were evidently invested in what we had to teach, any time we had something to say they would listen as if they wanted to savour every word. The team that came from St John Paul the second and Caroll College taught the students about how you can turn any gift into a way to make others see the brightness in their lives. What we didn’t expect was how happy they would make us by showing that they wanted to be in our presence.

On Wednesday our team drove up to Daly River. We knew straight away, this was a welcoming and amazing community. We then went to greet Miriam Rose and Aunty Agnus, the children of the community started to dance, after they did the dance, they asked for us to come and join them, so we did dancing (so fun). This was a welcoming Corroboree, which was followed by a traditional welcome to country, at the Daly river crossing. This was a beautiful and symbolic ritual that signified that the ancestor spirits of the Daly River people would protect us on our journey there.

Once we got to our campsite at Black Fella’s Creek we put up the tents and we sat around Aunty Agnus who told Dreamtime stories, stories from the past, stories of that place and what had happened in her country. When our time camping and sharing stories ended, we returned to the Daly river community where we hosted a BBQ. We met the people in the community, and spent time playing games, everyone had a wonderful time!

After that we all went to Miriam Rose’s home, we sat on a mat and talked to Aunty Agnus and some of the other ladies about life in the comunity. Aunty Agnus spent the afternoon preparing bush tucker for us, it was our first time having goanna, which tasted like chicken but felt like calamari!

We met amazing kids, who were very talented and was really happy that we were there, they were so open to us. When we were just about to leave, we had one last chat with Miriam Rose, we all sat in one big circle. We were talking about Indigenous culture and more stories. We all gave her a hug, she is an inspirational lady that we will never forget. She reminded us of the purpose and the values in life and we will continue to do what makes us happy and that is to help and guide kids in the right direction. We have changed our views because of her.

On our return to Darwin we were brought to a church called St Martin De Porres for a mass to celebrate the end of our time together. As we walked into the lively presence of the citizens of Darwin it was the icing on the cake. Whenever we had a moment off to talk the people around us would turn in their chairs and want to know every details of our past. As soon as music began to play throughout the mass every individual would stand up, sing as if no one were in the room and clap like they wanted everyone to hear. At one point the entire church had held hands and sung together. I believe that it is safe to say that we all had never felt more at home in our life. The miraculous exit from the Northern Territory couldn’t have been more uplifting.

The purpose of this incredible week was to be able to come back to our school, share our experiences and help kick start our JPC Youth Ministry Team. Currently our JPC Youth Ministry team is a team full of senior students, we have masses and meetings each week with our Youth Minister Hannah as well as Miss Jones. Together we discuss how we can better share God’s love and how we can get the junior students involved in understanding their faith and their faith journeys through action. From the NT Mission Trip, the three of us are ready to put what we have learnt about running retreats into our own school YM team.

We have seen that truly, one can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Madison Greenwood, Logan Mc Mahon and Sharee Mudaliar

From Wednesday the 19th of September to Friday the 21st of September, as part of the Religious Education program, Year 9 students attended the JPC Refugee Immersion Program - ‘A Wake-up Call in Empathy’. Details of the program are not provided in order to maintain the integrity of the immersion each year but in general terms, the students are to be congratulated on their participation and the awareness they showed for refugees. What can we do to help refugees in Australia? How can we show great empathy for those people forced out of their countries? How can you, “do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31)?

Events like this add a significant dimension to student’s learning and understanding about the world they live in. This is a program unique to our College, and one that continues to challenge our students to consider their place in a global society. Our Year 9 students are commended for their courage in tackling the program with such enthusiasm, and for embracing this opportunity to work outside their comfort zones and participate with such positivity. Special thanks must go to all those teachers – Miss Zorzi, Miss Allen, Mrs Middleton, Miss Amos, Mrs Tually, Mr Whatman and Mr Boyle – who led small groups on camp, facing the “elements” with their students and assuming their roles so effectively. To Mr Pettit, our site manager for the three days, we thank you for your generosity of time and diligent care of the students and staff during the experience. A camp of this nature requires significant amounts of time and effort to plan and implement. Miss Jones took on the running of the program this year and is owed a special debt of gratitude for her exceptional planning and organisation.

We look forward to continuing to develop this experience for our next cohort of JPC students in 2019.

The Refugee Immersion Team

The refugee immersion that we recently went on was a really valuable experience. It helped me gain a better understanding of empathy. I was faced with challenges, problems that had to be solved and confronting situations. This experience showed me how refugees really live and the hardships that they have to face each day. The waiting and wondering if they will ever be accepted into the country and ever belong there. It helped me grow as a person spiritually and mentally. It made me understand just how lucky my life is.

Ella Colquhoun

On Wednesday our Year 7 students got to experience the World of Maths Roadshow. The roadshow which travels all across Australia aims at bring problem solving and reasoning in Mathematics to real life. All of the actiivites provided by the World of Maths are designed with many skills students can then utilise in their everyday life. All of the Year 7 students rotated throughout the day in which they were able to really develop a passion for problem solving in Mathematics. The students and wider community would like to thank Peter Wilson from the World of Maths and the IMS teachers for their support on the day.

Mr Whatman

The students all responded excellently with numerous questions regarding how to help others who are feeling down, how and where to get support if they needed and also what it meant for their development to be a young man in todays society.

Aligning with our School Wide Positive Behaviour these programs don’t run unless we have great participation from our students. St John Paul II College would also like to thank Michael, Grant and Brent from Menslink for their time and knowledge.

This semester the students have been working on Biomechanics and how it influences and can be used to improve sports.  Last week the class walked down to the beautiful Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club to complete a biomechanical analysis of Golf.  The students had opportunities to test a variety of different clubs and swinging techniques.  What they did learn, is that golf is much harder than it looks and they all now have a new found respect for professional golfers.

Dave Boyle
PE Teacher

The behavioural sciences (Psychology/Sociology) excursion to Sydney was pretty incredible, and I think I can speak for everyone with that we certainly learnt a lot and had our eyes opened. The aim of this excursion was to gain a real life knowledge of deviance/crime facilities in our community, supplementing the content studied in class.

We first went to the William Booth House who help rehabilitate addicts and help people re-establish their lives. There, we met actual people currently using the program, we learnt about their lives in the past and how they have grown and are recovering. Nearly all of them were working towards jobs in community service to help people avoid what they themselves had been through and it was really inspiring to see how resilient they have been.

After, we were split into two groups; Ms Middleton’s group went to Wayside Chapel and Ms Zorzi’s group went to Kings Cross Police Station -  then we swapped. There we learnt the inner workings of the police station. The most passionate though had to have been Rob Holt, who is the face of Wayside Chapel. He showed us physical areas in and around Kings Cross that are related to homeless and addict occurrences. His main message; Homelessness can happen to anyone, which was something that really resonated with us.

It was a really fulfilling experience highlighted by our impromptu singalong of some great 70, 80, 90, and 00’s bops. Personally, it was a great experience that I feel incredibly lucky to be part of, and I’m sure the others feel the same.

By Celeste Gibbs (Year 12 Sociology Student)

Recently, the Year 11 Social Justice class have been investigating issues of social injustice and their causes. From global issues of climate changes as a threat to humanity to national issues regarding treatment of youths in detention, and locally, the issues of homelessness in Canberra.

This week, students have drawn connections between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the reality of homelessness. Not only have some of the researched statistics been confronting, students have also investigated various organisations – both secular and religious – who are making an impact to change this issue and evaluate their efficacy.

As part of the Religious Studies subject Religion Worship and the arts, 12 year 11 students had the opportunity to explore the National Gallery of Australia to enrich their understanding of Art as a way of expressing wonder and mystery.

Students were particularly interested in the ‘Asian’ art area of the museum, where they were able to recognize and appreciate the expression of Buddhist and Islamic beliefs through a range of media, artforms and from a variety of cultures.

Religion Worship and the Arts has been a wonderful way to explore the expression of spirituality and the influence of beliefs, experience and culture on the art we see in the world.

Cheryl Jones
RS Teacher, Religion, Worship & the Arts 2018

On Saturday September 22nd JPC Cheerleading headed to Tuggeranong for our final local competition of the season, CheerCon!!

It was a busy day for many athletes, with lots of quick changes and cross overs, but JPC managed to put two amazing routines on the floor!!

JPC Diamonds, our level 1 team came out in first, and Sapphires, the level 2 team, bringing home not only first but 8th out of 33 teams, for a school team this is an awesome achievement!!

We look forward to our final competition for the year next term in Shellharbour and would like to thank our fabulous coaches Belinda, Kellie and Lizzie for everything they do for us athletes!!

Jess Cousins – Year 10

On the 28th of September the ACT Legislative Assembly held the 2018 Youth Assembly, where 112 young people aged from 12-25 have the opportunity to have their voices heard on topics regarding youth mental health, youth homelessness, indigenous rights and civic participation. As a member of the ACT Youth Advisory Council it was our job to organise and facilitate the day and to ensure the participants got the most out of the assembly.

I facilitated the civic participation group which is where we discussed government consultation, issues in our community and ways to vocalise these issues to the necessary audience. At the end of the day, the young people had the opportunity to propose recommendations to the chamber and open discussion within the legislative assembly, to hopefully make some change.

Overall, it was a real honour to have facilitated the event and I hope that the attendees enjoyed their day!

Bronte Froome – Year 11

On Tuesday the 25th of September, the annual ACT Athletics Championships were held on what was a beautiful Spring day. The below students qualified for the event based on their tremendous performances at both the JPC and ASC Athletics carnivals earlier in the year. Congratulations to all students who qualified for the event and a very special congratulations to place getters Mikayla Cruz (1st- 17’s 200m, 1st- 17’s 400m, 3rd- 17’s Triple Jump), Gabrielle Jordan (3rd -14’s Girls 100m), and Gage King (2nd- 16’s Boys 400m).

A huge thankyou also goes to the 5 additional JPC PE teachers who assisted in the running of the event. It is a huge event and your help was much appreciated.

2018 ACT Attendees
Mikayla Cruz - Gabrielle Jordan
Gage King - Maxwell Lyddiard
Emily Sajler - Ryan Storch
Alexander Walsh

Ashlee Turner

This term nearly 200 Year 7 Students have been participating in a Sporting Schools Rugby 7’s program with Brumbies rugby development officers. This program is a sporting initiative to increase the participation of young students and in particular, empowering young female students. The Year 7’s have enjoyed a range of skill and game sessions that have included the fundamental aspects of Rugby. They have even been visited by some Brumbies players!

A huge thankyou goes to Luke Kimber for providing these sessions over Term 3. We have been extremely lucky.

To those interested in being involved in Rugby, our local association is the Gungahlin Eagles. See Miss Turner for more details of how you can be involved.

Wow – another winter season of netball has come to an end!

I am once again grateful to be reporting on our third year of operations and the ongoing success of our netball club. We are growing in numbers every year and this year has been our biggest yet, we had 8 teams with a total of 72 athletes representing JPC in the North Canberra Winter Netball Competition.

JPC Netball was well represented across 3 categories - 
Seniors - Phoenix (Year 11/12)
Cadets - Stars (Year 9/10)
Intermediates – Comets (Year 9), Apollos (Year 8), Galaxy (Year 8), Zodiacs (Year 7/8), Novas (Year 7) and Sonics (Year 7).

I am extremely pleased to say that we had 5 teams finish the competition in a top 4 position allowing them an opportunity to play in finals. Both Comets and Zodiacs played their hearts out in their finals games but unfortunately went down to their opposition. Sonics, Galaxy and Stars all made it through to the Grand Final!

Congratulations to all our players, coaches and umpires for a fantastic year of netball. I am very proud of all our teams and the spirit in which our players play. Our club would not operate without the support and dedication of our awesome coaches and managers, thank you to all of you for giving your time and commitment. Thankyou also to our wonderful reliable umpires who show up every week and support our teams.

       
As a committee we work very hard on planning our teams, being a school-based club, our focus is inclusion and the enjoyment of playing a team sport. As the club grows our focus will remain paramount but we may also begin to make use of trials to determine our teams, especially in the younger grades. With player numbers increasing each year, it allows JPC Netball great opportunities to continue to grow as players, increase our skills and teamwork and remain competitive across the divisions.

Whilst my name is at the end of emails, I am certainly not a one-person committee! I have an extraordinary team of committee members who all help run our club. On behalf of our club I would like to say a massive thank you to Kirsty Whybrow, Fiona D’Ambrosio, Sally Dawe and Sara Henden without their constant help and support our club would not be the success it is today. I would also like to thank Miss Ashlee Turner and the JPC school community for their constant support, the addition of the outdoor courts this year has helped immensely when the gym has been unavailable.

Kirsty will be finishing up this year after 3 years and I cannot thank her enough for everything she has given the club and me over these past few years. We will miss you Kirsty x

As a club our success is not measured by the wins we have but of the culture of our club, the enjoyment of playing netball, the skills we learn, the inclusion of our teams and the friendships we make along the way. I arrive at the courts on a Saturday looking for the striking blue and red dresses and always feel very proud when I see our girls play, the supportive family and friends on the sidelines, and our dedicated coaches, managers and umpires, so thank you one and all for another successful year at JPC netball and looking forward to doing it all again in 2019!

Kylie Greenwood

Last Thursday the 20th of September 2018, 31 dancers participated in the 2018 Dance Festival at Canberra Theatre. The theme was Make Your Mark. Over the past two terms the 31 students have been working incredibly hard coming up with a concept in relation to the theme Make Your Mark. Out of this the idea of Cleopatra evolved, and how her mark on history never fades. This year’s piece was particularly inspired by Cleopatra’s quote – I will not be triumphed over. Her rule was intense, powerful, manipulative and evoked fear.

The students had a long day beginning at 9am with a tech rehearsal for lights and sound. At midday there was a Dance Fest and theatre induction, followed by a full-dress rehearsal. Where JPC dancers were privileged enough to watch all of the other high schools Dance Fest items. After the dress run students got ready for the evening’s performance, which began at 7:30pm. It was such a fantastic day, our students showed so much enthusiasm and support to all of the other spectacular Dance performances on show.

Thank you, Chloe McCallum and Natasha Bramham, for all of your support leading up to and during Dance Fest. Thank you to all the teachers who came to support us! Well done to the senior Dance class for choreographing this year’s piece and congratulations to all of the performers involved.

Ms Mostyn
Dance teacher

This semester, we continue our efforts to offer industry exposure for our students. Katie Cawthorne, Artistic Director of Canberra Youth Theatre, led 3 one-hour expert workshops with the Senior Drama class this week. Katie studied he Directing course at NIDA and has just wrapped up a sold-out season of “Fading” at Canberra Theatre and Melbourne.

As part of the Senior Drama course, students are studying Community Theatre, in particular, Verbatim Theatre. 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. As additional support and exposure in preparing students to create their major verbatim performance piece, they explored different styles and techniques this week. Students engages with headphone verbatim and discussed the issues of ethics and respect surrounding presenting a character ‘verbatim’ on stage. Additionally, students also experienced physicalising audio material. In addition with theatresports and playbuilding activities, students culminated their learning into a short devised theatre performance.

A great learning experience and opportunities for the Senior drama students to work with industry professionals to continue to grow their knowledge and understanding of theatre forms. With their ongoing hard work, their end of year major performance in Term 4 is sure to be a great one! Stay tuned for details. Chookas!

Miss Keane

This term, over 20 students have been attending Kulture Break lessons during Independent Learning Time.These students from Year 7–10, have learnt different techniques and the foundations of Hip-Hop to incorporate into a final performance. This student choreographed performance was shown to a cheering audience on Wednesday. There was a great mix of popular songs and tricks, the dancers have really worked hard to perfect their moves over the term! A big thank you to the members of the Senior Tech Crew who managed the sound and lighting for the performance.

Congratulations to all involved students and we look forward to seeing their next performance!

To see the performance - click here

Ms Keane

Looking for something to do over the school holidays? Can you knit or crochet? Would you like to contribute to Remembrance Day Commemoration Display? We are gratefully accepting any poppies for our Garden. Patterns for poppies may be found at https://5000poppies.wordpress.com/poppy-patterns/Or feel free to submit your own version and inspiration. 

Thank you!

Defence Happenings

• What: Doin’ Dinner
• When: Thursday 18 October, 7pm
• Where: District, 7/56 Abena Ave, Crace
• RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/doin‐dinner‐canberra‐tickets‐ 50427105831

• What: Hands‐on History at the AWM (Monday-Thursday) and Make and Create at the AWM (Thursday-Friday) 
• When: School holidays, 2‐12 October (excluding public holidays), 11am
• Where: Australian War Memorial, lower galleries

For more information on holiday programs visit their website: https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/events. Don’t forget to book your tickets for Remembrance Day Ceremony at the AWM. It will be held on Sunday 11 November 10.30 am on the Parade Ground.

Visit www.trybooking.com/386120  to book your tickets.

• What: Government House Open Day
• When: 6 October from 10am – 2pm
• Where: Government House, Yarralumla

For more information: http://www.gg.gov.au/

• What: Parliament House 30th Anniversary Open Day
• When: 6 October from 9am – 5pm
• Where: Parliament House, Capital Hill

For further details https://www.aph.gov.au/openday

Holiday Happenings This is a great resource for parents and carers who are in Canberra for all or part of the October school holidays to find activities to keep the kids busy https://www.holidayhappenings.com.au/

Here is a terrific opportunity in the January Holidays for Young People for Serving ADF Families living in the Canberra region! 

The Defence Community Organisation and Outward Bound Australia are excited to provide a fantastic opportunity for 16 young people from the ACT region to take part in either the 12 day Navigator adventure for 15- 17 year old’s or the 5 day Young Explorer adventure for 12-14 year old’s. The dates for the programs are:

Navigator: 14th – 25th January 2019
Young Explorer: 21st – 25th January 2019
The total cost of the programs are funded by DCO. (Young Explorer $99 and Navigator $228).

How do you apply?
In 25 words or less send an email to mailbox@outwardbound.org.au highlighting why you want to take part in the program. Please place in the Subject Heading either “Defence – Navigator” or “Defence – Young Explorer”. Applications close by the 30th September 2018. Outward Bound will notify applicants directly to advise of their application.
For more information contact Mike Peoples on 0448 234 557 or  Michael.peoples@outwardbound.org.au
 

For more information about anything, please contact me on 6163 4800 or by email at Vicki.Walsh@cg.catholic.edu.au .

Have a lovely break everyone.

Vicki Walsh
DTM

ALREADY A DONOR WITHIN OUR JPC COMMUNITY? JOIN THE JPC RED25 GROUP!

1. Log in to donateblood.com.au
2. Select ‘Groups’ and find a group.
3. Type in St John Paul II College Canberra
4. Be a part of our new donating community initiative. Each time you donate, you add to our tally of lives saved!

Stay tuned for more information regarding how you can become a registered blood donor in Term 4. Contact Miss Ashlee Turner (ashlee.turner@cg.catholic.edu.au) for more details and visit https://www.donateblood.com.au/.