I am very pleased to announce the appointment of our new Assistant Principals for 2019:

• Dr Ann Cleary. Ann has been Assistant Principal at Merici College for the past eight years and she was Acting Principal there for eighteen months of that time. Ann brings a wealth of experience, with particular expertise and passion for curriculum and teaching and learning. She is also an expert in all things BSSS and senior processes. Prior to becoming a teacher, Ann was an academic and her doctorate is in Biology. Ann also has a Masters of Theology.

• Mr David Johns. David has held the position of Principal at the Islamic School of Canberra for the past two years. Prior to that, he was Principal at St John’s Catholic College in Darwin for four years and Deputy Principal Curriculum at Hennessy Catholic College in Young in the years before that. David has Master degrees in Education and in Theology and a Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. He also brings a passion for teaching and learning and a particular interest in growing the capacity of students and staff.  He is very much looking forward to once again being part of Catholic education.

We feel very privileged to have them with us and look forward to welcoming them into our community in 2019.

Catherine

Next Monday 19 November we begin our senior exams with the senior Drama class’ performance piece. All other exams will follow on Tuesday morning and are scheduled until Friday 23 November. A copy of the senior exam timetable can be found on the Senior Studies page of Moodle and are displayed in the ICF and ICG. Students also received a hard copy of the timetable last term.

Can I please remind students that they need to follow the procedures outlined on the timetable should they be unwell and miss an exam. The key dates for score checking and the collection of Year 12 Certificates are also included on the timetable. Year 11 and 12 students are only required to attend the College when they have an exam, however, they are welcome to study at the College between exams. Year 11 students will not be expected in classes after the Year 12 Farewell Assembly on Monday morning.

Year 11 students studying a T package in order to receive an ATAR are also expected to attend the AST Familiarisation sessions on Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 November. All Year 11 and 12 students will be required to attend classes on Thursday 29 November (periods 3-5) and Friday 30 November for their feedback lessons which form a component of their BSSS mandated hours for each of their classes.

Can I take this opportunity to wish all of your senior students the best of luck in their exams.

Mrs Francis-Davies

Year 10 students received a copy of their examination timetable earlier this week. A copy of the timetable is also available on the Year 10 Transition page of Moodle. Year 10 exams will being on Friday 23 November in periods 4 and 5 with their English examination and will continue into the following week. Students will be expected to attend their regular classes when they are not sitting for their exams. This is a time when staff will begin to present skills and concepts in preparation for study in Senior College. As indicated in the letter that families received last week, students are expected to attend classes until 1pm on Thursday 6 December.

Can I take this opportunity to wish Year 10 students the best of luck in their exams. These are an excellent opportunity to gain experience completing assessment in this format prior to moving into Year 11 and 12.

Mrs Francis-Davies

Congratulations to our latest batch of Independent Project students who, on Wednesday this week, presented the products of their research to our JPC students and the wider community in a showcase of fascinating topics.

Seventeen of our Year 9 students have collaborated with their individual teacher coach and a personal Year 10 mentor student over the last five weeks to develop a deep inquiry question that covered learning across multiple subjects. With guidance from their support duo, the students were also responsible for designing an assessment rubric based on the Australian Curriculum in at least 2 subject areas, specifically tailored to their particular project topic. This rubric was used by our volunteer marking team to grade the work.

The depth of their thinking and the quality of the products presented at the showcase is a credit to the students who embraced the opportunity to develop self-direction in a truly authentic learning experience.

A sincere thank you goes to the members of our wider JPC community, families, staff and students who visited our showcase and chatted with students about their work, and to the team of teachers and Year 10 mentors who have so enthusiastically supported this process from beginning to end. We look forward to extending our Independent Project program next year!

Mrs Jennifer Tually

More than 9 schools across Canberra and Queanbeyan have participated in the Panda competition this year. The Panda competition is conducted every year by the Australia China Friendship Society to promote Chinese culture among school students and this year’s topic was Chinese Musical Instruments.

This is the first time JPC has been a part of this competition and we have received more than 20 pieces of sculptures, posters, and painting from our Year 8 Chinese students. From these amazing works, 6 students were awarded a prize for their extraordinary hard work. Students and their parents were invited to the Chinese Embassy for the award ceremony on Wednesday. We had a lovely afternoon at the Chinese embassy to celebrate their success. Congratulations to them.

Maddison Fry – 1st prize. Age 14
Olivia Johnson – 2nd prize. Age 14
Nikko Sagrado – 3rd prize. Age 13 sculpture.

Extra effort - Meika Drain, John Zayya, Vy Diep

Ms S Zhou

If you are interested in donating blood visit www.donateblood.com.au or if you are a student, contact Miss Turner. Already a donor within the JPC community? Join our Red25 group by logging in to the Donate Blood website, selecting Red25 Group and searching for St John Paul II College Canberra. Let’s increase our tally together!

Congratulations to Aidan Rothnie, Briana Pilicic, Stephanie Pino and Rachel Murphy for making their first donations and to Sarina Dao for being emotional support until her own donation.

Miss A Turner

Our three Year 9/10 Food Technology classes worked together on Wednesday 14th November to design and produce a lovely lunch for people with gluten intolerance and coeliac disease, as part of their ‘Food For Everyone’ assessment.

Dishes varied from risotto to prawn salad, stiry-fries and delicious desserts including almond cake, lemon meringue pie and choc chip cookies. Overall the lunch was a big success and feedback from visitors, staff and other invited students were very complimentary!

Mrs Daley

Drama in Term 4 is not going to disappoint. Conscious of evolving and developing our student skills, course content is now focused on directing!

In Year 7, students are learning fundamental skills required for performance. These skills not only involve characterisation, they also address the essential elements of directing through devising theatre. The new Year 7 classes are currently directing their original piece of theatre for an assessment performance.

The 9/10 Drama Elective class has been studying Matt Cameron’s play, Ruby Moon. The Australian play follows the emotional journey of parents, Ray and Sylvie, who are dealing with the disappearance of their daughter, Ruby. Students have explored how to create and manipulate dramatic meaning to influence the audience. Performances have not only interpreted characters in various ways to highlight their emotional journey but they have also experimented with surreal and absurd performance styles. This has demonstrated a different skillset in student ability and mindset when approaching Drama from different angles.

This Semester, the Year 11/12 Drama class have been studying Community Theatre, specifically Verbatim Theatre. As their major performance, students have created an original piece of verbatim theatre devised from the concept of ‘coming of age’. The struggle, pressure and sense of confusion experienced by young people making life choices, is investigated and explored through this work under the metaphor of shades of blue and water. After interviewing various local community members, students have linked these transcripts together to create a performance titled, “Into the Deep Blue”. This piece will be performed Monday 19th November, 4pm in the Theatre. All are welcome and encouraged to attend to see the first public performance of the Senior Drama class’ work! The class is extremely excited and have gone to great efforts to devise an engaging piece of theatre to evoke, console and educate the audience, from a personal perspective.

As students’ progress through the Drama course available at JPC, the extension of abilities is supported and relevant opportunities are given. As Drama Educators, we are proud to see the finished products of our students as they shine in their directorial talents. Chookas to all!

Miss Sarah Keane and Miss Kat Allan

This week at Tuesday tunes we had the lovely, Pheobe Nguyen, Shade Williams, Georgie Genero and the Ukulele Club perform out on the terrace in the beautiful sunshine.

“During the last week of holidays, I was part of “Grease The Arena Experience” at the AIS. I was a student of Rydell High who was a part of major dances throughout the show including, Grease Lightning, You’re the one that I want and Born to Hand Jive. The best part of the experience was meeting the cast and getting signatures, including Christine Anu.

An email was sent to all Year 10 families on the 8 November 2018 with detail about the Thanksgiving Mass and Awards Ceremony on Thursday 6 December 2018. 

If you did not receive the email, please contact the college office.

For catering purposes, we require an RSVP by Wednesday 28 November.

Please complete the RSVP form here

Thank you

The JPC Senior blazers are not available from local providers and are sourced utilising a bulk ordering process.

Students commencing in 2019 in Year 11 or 12 (or current students who have not ordered a blazer) will need to place an order for the Senior Blazer through the College office by no later than the 10 December 2018.

As we will be ordering all blazers under a bulk order we need parents and students to:

• Go to the College office anytime from today to the 10 December during office hours to try on a blazer from our sample kit, and collect an order form (A parent/carer will need to accompany the student to ensure the correct size is ordered)
• Interstate families - Contact Natasha in the College Office
• Form to be completed and signed then returned with payment to the College office
• All orders to be received by Monday 10 December 2018 - future blazers can only be ordered when the next bulk order is placed
• Cost $141.90ea
• Blazers are a compulsory uniform item for Term 2 & 3   https://www.jpc.act.edu.au/our-community/jpc-parents/uniform/

Delivery of the Blazers is due by the end of Term 1, 2019.

Regards

JPC Community Council
council@jpc.act.edu.au

The Spirit Junior Youth Group, for young people at school in years 5-6 meet at Holy Spirit Parish, Amaroo on weeks 1,3,5,7 and 9 of the school term at 5pm. This group is a way for young people to come together and learn a bit more about their faith. Contact Hannah.McMahon@cg.org.au or 0403425239 for more information.

The Spirit Youth Group, for young people at school in years 7-12 meet after the 5:30pm Mass at Holy Spirit Parish, Amaroo on weeks 1,3,5,7 and 9 of the school term. This group is a way for high school students to come together learn about the Church and continue to deepen their faith. Contact Hannah.McMahon@cg.org.au or 0403425239

Young Adults Mass and Gathering: Are you 18-35+ years old and is interested in growing your faith and forming friendships with other like-minded people? If the answer was yes, then contact Theivani and Frances on yamholyspirit1835@gmail.com ! Our Mass and Gathering is every six weeks!