On behalf of our College, I want to say a big thank you to all our students, parents and carers for your continued resilience and support throughout this year. I know remote learning has not always been easy, but through our collective efforts, students have continued to make valuable progress in their learning. You can be confident that our College will support any student who has fallen behind to catch up.

Term 4 is important for every student, and our teachers will strive to deliver high-quality learning for everyone. Whether we’re teaching remotely or face-to-face, our focus for Term 4 is on making sure that every student is supported in their wellbeing, learning, spiritual and transition needs.

The Victorian Government has outlined the staged return to on-site schooling for all students as part of its gradual roadmap towards reopening.

Term 4 on-site schooling arrangements for students

Following advice of the Victorian Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government has released a staged approach for students to return to on-site schooling.

The purpose of the plan is to get students back in the classroom as soon and as safely as possible without putting at risk all that has been achieved through the period of restrictions to reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

From Tuesday 26 October (fourth week of Term 4)

• Year 7 (Monday to Friday)
• Years 8 and 9 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
• Year 10 (Thursday and Friday)

From Friday 5 November

• All students are expected to return to onsite learning Monday to Friday

Vulnerable children and children of people on the authorised provider and authorised worker list are able to continue attending on-site. Remote learning will continue to be delivered to students on the days they are not attending onsite. This will mean that remote learning will continue as normal for our Year 7 to 10 students until Tuesday 26 October. The College offices and Reception are currently operating from 8:30am to 3:30pm Monday to Friday.

Once again, I would like to congratulate our students, staff, and families for the manner in which they have entered into this unique time and for their ongoing commitment to remote learning. Please contact the College if you have any concerns for your child, or if you have any questions regarding eligibility for on-site learners. Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to navigate through this period of change.

Health and safety measures

As on-site schooling resumes, we will continue to have in place strong measures to protect the health and safety of students, staff, families and the community. This includes the compulsory wearing of masks, restricting parent access to school grounds and continued emphasis on ventilation strategies, hand and classroom hygiene and physical distancing where possible.

Please give particular attention to reducing the risks associated with congregation at school gates and taking steps to contribute to physical distancing within the school.

Our College, working with you, has shown it can be flexible and adaptable in responding to the challenges of coronavirus (COVID-19) and will continue to meet student needs as we look towards the end of the 2021 school year and ahead to 2022.

The ‘Term 4 Return to Onsite Learning Student Health & Safety Guidelines’ and ‘Term 4 Return to School Quick Guide’ are currently being updated to accommodate the new CECV School Operations Guide. Once these have been finalised, we will email them out to all parents to read and familiarise yourself with the updated content.

We are looking forward to re-connecting with the students face-to-face and finishing the year as a community working together.

Vaccinations

Catholic Regional College Caroline Springs is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our school community.

We receive regular guidance from the Catholic Education Commission Victoria (CECV) as our governing authority to ensure that our school practices are aligned with health advice from the Australian and Victorian governments, to limit the spread of coronavirus.

At the present time, the Victorian Government’s advice is that:

• COVID-19 vaccines are free, safe and voluntary. The more people who choose to get vaccinated, the greater the protection for those vaccinated and the whole community.
• The best person to talk to if you have concerns about your health and being vaccinated against COVID-19 is your doctor/general practitioner (GP).

Catholic Regional College Caroline Springs will keep the school community up to date should the advice on vaccinations from the Australian or Victorian Government change.

I thank you for your support over the last 18 months as we have worked through the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

Expressions of Interest to join the new Catholic Regional College Caroline Springs School Advisory Council

All the Catholic parish and diocesan schools in the Melbourne Archdiocese are now under the guidance and governance of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Ltd (MACS). In keeping with the objectives of the MACS Constitution, which states “The good work of educating the young, undertaken in the light of the Gospel, is a co-responsible task led by every member of the Catholic school community”, the School Advisory Council provides a crucial point of connection and support between the wider school community and school leaders.

We are beginning the process to establish a CRC Caroline Springs, School Advisory Council, beginning in 2022. While the School Advisory Council does not have governance responsibility or decision-making authority, it supports the Principal and School Leadership team.

A letter to parents/carers inviting expressions of interest to join the School Advisory Council is available through this link.

I strongly encourage parents/carers to consider undertaking this important service. If you would like to receive an information pack to help your deliberations, about whether to apply to join the CRC Caroline Springs SAC, please email enquiries@crccs.vic.edu.au

Staffing News

It gives me great pleasure to announce that our Deputy Principal Wellbeing, Mr Richard Brodrick, has been appointed to the prestigious position of Deputy Principal at St Patricks College, Ballarat beginning in January 2022. St Patricks College is a large Year 7-12 Catholic College for boys, with over 1500 students.

Richard began at CRC Caroline Springs as Deputy Principal Wellbeing in 2017 and has served and led our College in an exemplary manner throughout his five-year tenure. Richard will be suitably farewelled by the College community at the end of year, during the whole school Mass and assembly. Richard will complete the year with us at CRC Caroline Springs. We once again congratulate and wish him all the best with his appointment.

We also wish Executive Assistant to the Principal, Melissa Kennedy, all the best as she begins her maternity leave; on the impending arrival of her first child. We warmly welcome back to the CRCCS community, College Counsellor Eloise Sternar as she returns from parental leave.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome the following staff members to the CRCCS school community:

Jordan Blitz-Brisbane (Administrative Assistant)

Franciska Sljivic (Receptionist)

As always, when a new staff begin, they bring a diverse range of knowledge, gifts and talents to share with our school community. We wish all Jordan and Franciska all the best as they start their journey at Catholic Regional College Caroline Springs.

Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
All things are passing away
God never changes.

Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing
God alone suffices.

- Teresa of Jesus (Avila)

Feast of St Teresa of Avila

Today we celebrate the feast of St Teresa of Avila. Fear is a feeling that is not foreign to us, especially in this time of pandemic when we may dear loss of our jobs, money, death or severe illness from COVID. Whatever we may feel, we can know that God is here to take on our burdens.

Jesus himself said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30).

God wants peace in our lives and we need to let go and place our trust in Him. He wants to help us, but our hearts must be open to Him.

The poem that features as a prayer in this edition of the newsletter is a beautiful poem during her life that has been adopted as a prayer in times of anguish. If you are feeling afraid or anxious consider praying this prayer and opening your heart to God.

St Teresa of Avila (3 min video)

New Homeroom Stream Name

Thank you to all parents/carers, students and staff who submitted nominations for our new homeroom stream. The leadership team is currently looking through the nominations. A decision will be made in the next couple of weeks and announced to the community.

Gospel Reflection

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B Mark 10:35-45

On Tuesday 12 October, Microsoft Teams was used to conduct Student Parent Teacher Interviews.

Parents/carers are invited to provide feedback regarding the process of these interviews.

The College values parent/carer’s feedback on how this process can be improved for future Student Parent teacher Interview sessions.

The survey, which can be accessed below, should take approximately 5 minutes to complete. It will be open until 3:15pm on Friday 22 October.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=2w4aUaEmeUW0NqoUmOozQArKKvAzy6xCpyUMU0Arg5lUQVVGTkpGWEFQWlhETTg4VE1EVUdNRUhDNC4u

We are pleased to announce our continued engagement with Box of Books for the provision of digital and hard copy resources for the 2022 academic year.

Through Box of Books, parents will be able to purchase required digital subscriptions, digital and physical books, and stationery. Purchasing digital resources through Box of Books ensures students will have access to all the additional resources and enhancements made to the texts by the class teachers. The stationery list will also be provided as separate document for those who prefer to source stationery through Officeworks and other retail outlets.

Box of Books provides a COVID safe delivery service for texts and physical resources for school families.

As we navigate an ever-changing landscape, it is important that we respond accordingly to the latest guidelines and restrictions. Daily Covid-19 case numbers in Victoria are at an all-time high, in the thousands, with many of them being young people under 25 years of age, and a significant proportion are school-aged.

With our return to school date fast approaching, I urge all families to inform the College, via Reception, if any member of a household in which our students reside has tested positive to Covid-19 and is in quarantine.

This week we have been made aware of students or family members who have tested positive and hadn’t informed the College.

It is important that we know so that we can make informed decisions regarding the safety and wellbeing of our community in preparation for the return to on-site learning. Depending on the trend of cases, we will make appropriate adjustments to yard allocations, supervision, separation of year levels, staggered cafeteria times and other organisational structures as the numbers become significant, to limit the risk of spread at school.

Therefore, I request that families inform the College as soon as possible regarding:

• Positive test results for students
• Positive test results for family members
• Quarantine dates
• Tier 1 contact and isolation dates

If you haven’t already done so, please forward any backdated information as well. For example, if someone has tested positive and finished, or nearly finished their quarantine period. We need this data to see how widespread the infection rate is within our College community. This will help us make informed decisions regarding upcoming events and programs, and the management of our students’ safety.

Of course, we will also be strictly following Government and CECV guidelines, in particular relating to health and safety and staff vaccinations by the mandated dates.

We thank you advance for your ongoing support and strongly urge all families to regularly communicate with the College to keep our community safe. If you have any questions or require further clarification, please contact the College.

Staff and students are proud to present this year’s Virtual Art Show as part of Arts and Technology Week. We have accumulated work samples from this year exploring a range of medium, materials and techniques. As part of Arts and Technology week we will be running, classroom quizzes, competitions and more to inspire creativity and design. We hope you enjoy our presentation as much as we have enjoyed teaching the students.

What better way to follow in God’s footsteps than to pour out kindness to the people around us in hope of making a difference.

According to the dictionary, ‘kindness’ is defined as ‘the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate’, but let’s not stop there. Often than not the act of kindness goes further than this. Ask yourself, would you prefer people to describe you as a nice or kind person? Being kind goes beyond measure, it’s an intentional act that stands out especially in times of hardship. An act of heart and soul, with the full intention of bringing a glimpse of hope, change and love to our world – and it only takes one person.

One of our very own Year 9 students, Ivanka Portelli, took the initiative to do exactly this. Over the lockdown Ivanka decided to lift the spirits of the people in her neighbourhood, sharing her passion and love for making a difference in our world.

Ivanka has shared her insight on her “Random Act of Kindness” below: 

“I have been creating and anonymously distributing just under 1000 Little Bags of Happiness to residents' mailboxes within my local neighbourhood to spread a little joy and positivity, with the intention of even making one person smile and bringing joy to one person’s day! Each bag including little items with uplifting quotes and messages. I wanted to remind others with this project the importance of these small acts of kindness, because often we underestimate the power and endless potential of doing something small for another individual. During this challenging period, it is important we support one another and do something kind, whether it’s for a friend, family member, peer, colleague, neighbour or even stranger! Do something to show that you care and make another feel supported and cared for. It is during these unexpected times we need these unexpected acts of kindness. Spread kindness to one person a day. Imagine the amount of happiness you would dispense in a lifetime.”

Now I will leave you with this simple quote: “It’s one thing to be TAUGHT kindness and it is another thing to be TOUCHED by it”. Knowing this, walk in the light and make a difference to the people around you.

Produce a creative and edible platter using ingredients at home! Prizes to be won.

Do you have a favourite movie scene that you can't wait to recreate? Now is your chance!

Photography Competition with two open categories - Portrait Photography and Food Photography. There will be Junior (Year 7 & 8) prizes, and Senior (Year 9 & 10) prizes up for grabs! Entries will close at 3:00pm Monday 18 October, with prize winners announced during Arts and Tech Week 18 – 22 October.

JOIN IN TO WIN!

The Visual Art competition theme for the year is ‘PORTRAITURE’. It is open for both student and staff to enter! It can be a self-portrait, portrait of a fellow classmate, or favourite staff member of the school. The media for your artwork is drawing, painting, collage; just not digital. If you create a portrait of someone else, please seek their permission first!

Please refer to the competition poster for more details.

Record a live performance to enter!

Entries close Wednesday 20 October 2021 at 4:00pm

Submit to mmartinek@crccs.vic.edu.au

Throughout 2020 the College undertook a review of its current timetable structure. In Term 1 this year, the College Leadership Team endorsed a change of the timetable structure for 2022 from the current six 50-minute periods per day to a five 60-minute period per day timetable. Across the next three Newsletters, information regarding the rationale for the change, the College’s new Instructional Teaching Model and timetable times and structure will be disseminated.

The purpose of this Newsletter article is to provide some context regarding rationale behind the change to the Timetable structure for 2022. Before making recommendations regarding a change to the College Timetable both educational literature and the findings of the 2019 School Review were addressed. Educational literature in the areas of increasing student engagement, improving student outcomes, increasing academic rigor and refining consistency in teacher pedagogy were used as the basis of informing this change. Some of the key findings from a review of the research are noted below:

• A school scheduling system must be well thought out to make a significant impact on the academic achievement of students (Olsen, 2020)
• A school schedule that is well thought out can result in more effective use of time, and school resources, improve the teaching and learning climate and assist in establishing desired instructional practices (Canady and Rettig, 1995)
• Spaced lessons over multiple days has an effect size of 0.71 on student achievement, compared with massed practice which has an effect size of 0.41 (Hattie, 2009)
• More contact with teachers provides greater opportunities for feedback to be provided to students (Hattie, 2009)
• Repeated or multiple opportunities to be exposed, encounter, engage or elaborate with content and knowledge provides greater opportunity for deep learning to occur (Hattie, 2009)
• Increased exposure to teachers across the course of a week, term or Semester increases the relationship developed between teachers and students (Armstrong, 2006; Dickinson, 2001)
• Students cannot stay focused for longer periods of time, and knowledge retention diminishes if classes do not occur on a regular basis (Bowman, 1998)
• A shorter length of class time can be more conducive to the attention span of adolescents (Roberts, 2016)
• If the day is less taxing for students, there may be a range of positive consequences such as reduced stress, improved morale and fewer behavioural concerns (Morton, 2021)
• Student productivity is higher in the morning compared to the afternoon (Pope, 2016)

Supporting the educational literature, the School Review highlighted improving the quality of learning and teaching across the school was a high priority. However, the review noted that students felt that stimulating learning environments within the classroom could be improved. The review identified that there was a variety of contemporary teaching strategies being used across the school, but consistency in these strategies across all subjects and teachers was required, with examples such as Learning Intentions and Success Criteria being highlighted as important to deploy across all classrooms.

It is anticipated that the change to five 60-minute periods in 2022 will lead to increased levels of student achievement and engagement in classes, higher expectations of students within classes and an increase in academic rigor. Additionally, the timetable change will result in an increased frequency of contact between students and teachers across the cycle and the ability to minimise interruptions of learning in classes due to College events and co-curricular activities. The timetable change also allows for greater flexibility of scheduling practical and theory lessons across the cycle, increased opportunity for students and teachers to build positive relationships and greater opportunity to review curriculum and skills taught in previous lessons.

More information regarding the College’s Instructional Teaching Model and period allocations for each subject will be provided in forthcoming Newsletters. Should you have any questions about the 2022 timetable change, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the College’s Learning & Teaching Team.

CRCCS Virtual Chamber Choir sings ‘The Longest Time’ by Billy Joel.

For the commencement of Term 4 (remote learning) students in Year 7 Religious Education were introduced to their new unit of work titled ‘The Life of Jesus’. Students explored Jesus' Jewish background, helping them to understand His teachings through the exploration of significant events. This allowed students to complete a timeline and reflect on how their understandings of who Jesus was changed from the beginning of the lesson. The lesson concluded with students choosing one event from their timeline and explaining the story in a creative way.