Dear Parent/Carers,

I hope you and your families are well.

On Wednesday, the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced an extended state-wide lockdown for Victoria until 11:59pm Thursday 23 September.

This will mean all activities will again be conducted remotely and remote learning will continue as normal for the remainder of Term 3. Students can access their lockers to retrieve necessary materials by using the Church gate entrance. They will need to use the QR code at the gate prior to entering College grounds.

As a result of today’s Government announcement, the following College arrangements have been put in place as part of the updated state-wide lockdown for Victoria:

• From Thursday 2 September to Thursday 16 September (inclusive), homeroom will be conducted on MS Teams and classes will continue to be conducted remotely. This may include a combination of Microsoft Teams and SEQTA coursework (this information will be communicated by the subject teacher)
• Friday 17 September is a staff Professional Learning Day (no scheduled classes)
• The College offices and reception will be operating from 8:30am to 3:30pm each day
• Students can access the Remote Learning Guidelines & Microsoft Teams instructions through the Student Portal on SEQTA
• At this stage, it is anticipated that students will return onsite in some capacity for Term 4. However, further information and updates will be provided when the Government make further decisions.

I would like to congratulate our students who have achieved an outstanding attendance rate, with 95% of students logging in to their scheduled remote learning classes. This is an exceptional result and a credit to our students, staff, and our families. The key now is for students to continue to attend their scheduled lessons and ensure they remain engaged in their learning, completing all set work.

If your child is experiencing difficulties with workload or their mental health, please contact a Teacher, Year Level Leader or a member of the Wellbeing Leadership Team, who will provide support, advice and guidance as required.

Once again, I would like to congratulate our students, staff, and families for the manner in which they have entered into this unique period of 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 onsite learners. Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to navigate through this period of change.

Father’s Day

With Father’s Day occurring this Sunday, I would like to wish all fathers, grandfathers and significant others in the lives of our CRCCS community a Happy Father’s Day.

Being a dad can be difficult at times and I would like to again share an abstract from an article titled ‘A Checklist for Catholic Dad’s' by Randy Hain which you may find useful:

“I have a long way to go, but I believe living up to the expectations below will keep me headed in the right direction:” (Randy Hain)

A Checklist for Catholic Dads

Surrender

We have to surrender on an ongoing basis to Christ for his will to be done in our lives. Guys, we are not in charge… as much as we want to be! St Ignatius of Loyola once said, “Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mould them accordingly.”

Be a Man of Prayer

Our children will be much more likely to pray if we do. Work on developing a daily prayer routine with the goal of at least an hour a day devoted to prayer. Sound difficult? Think about how much TV we watch a day or answering email. Consider how much time we spend in our cars each day and how much time we devote to exercise. We have more than enough time for prayer if we schedule it and integrate it into our day. Also, imagine the powerful influence we can have on our children if they see us on our knees in prayer each night at family prayer time.

Understand Our True Vocation

For those of us blessed to be married and have children, we must recognize that helping our families get to heaven and being good husbands and fathers—not our business careers—is our real vocation. Ask yourself, “Is my work serving my family? Or is my family serving my work?”

Invest Time

Our children need our time. Put down the smartphone, turn off the TV and cancel the golf outing. Let’s spend more time with our kids! In the absence of a father’s time with his family, you can bet there are countless bad influences ready to take his place and guide his children in the wrong direction. I paraphrase author-theologian Scott Hahn, who wrote that in our modern age the father or mother who is willing to walk out of the office after forty hours in order to have more time with his/her family is the real hero.

Be Courageous

Christians are meant to stand out, not blend in. Blending in speaks to conforming so that our faith becomes part of the mainstream… and we need to fight the culture. These are difficult times, and we have a responsibility to love and defend Christ, be great role models for our families and stand up for our faith.

Practice Detachment

Are we too focused on acquiring toys, bigger houses, nicer cars or the next promotion? We need to let go of the things that are in the way of our prayer lives, Mass attendance, charitable giving, volunteering, time with our families and certainly our relationships with Christ.

Love Our Wives

Husbands, we must love and cherish our wives, plain and simple. Our children will learn to love others by how they see Mum and Dad love each other. We need to say, “I love you” to our wives and our children as often as possible. Let’s show our wives respect and cherish the critical role they play in our families. “The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” So said Theodore Hesburgh.

Today’s kids face significant challenges and strong fathers, without a doubt, are part of the solution.

Let’s take a few minutes to reflect on how we are doing as fathers and as husbands. Take the results of this reflection to prayer and reconciliation. Most importantly, commit to make the necessary changes.

As Catholic men, we have a responsibility to be strong fathers and husbands, leaders in our parishes, good stewards in our communities and humble followers of Christ.

Let’s look to the inspiring example of St Joseph, patron saint of fathers, workers and the universal Church, for his obedience, humility, selflessness, courage and the love he showed to Mary and Jesus. If we can emulate St Joseph even a little each day, we will be that much closer to becoming the men and fathers we are called to be.

Taken From: MEN OF FAITH, SURRENDER & STRENGTH BY RANDY HAIN
http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2015/05/randy-hain-checklist-for-catholic-dads/

Prayer for Fathers

St Joseph, guardian of Jesus and chaste husband of Mary, you passed your life in loving fulfillment of duty. You supported the holy family of Nazareth with the work of your hands. Kindly protect those who trustingly come to you. You know their aspirations, their hardships, their hopes. They look to you because they know you will understand and protect them. You too knew trial, labour and weariness. But amid the worries of material life your soul was full of deep peace and sang out in true joy through intimacy with God's Son entrusted to you and with Mary, His tender Mother. Assure those you protect that they do not labour alone. Teach them to find Jesus near them and to watch over Him faithfully as you have done.

Pope John XXIII

St Joseph and Father’s Day

On 8 December 8 2020, Pope Francis convoked a Year of Saint Joseph with the Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde”, commemorating the 150^th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.

In the Apostolic Letter, Pope Francis reflects on the many virtues of St Joseph. He describes St Joseph as ‘a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father, a creatively courageous father, a working father, and father in the shadows.’

These virtues of Joseph are an expression of his fatherhood and serve to remind us of the beautiful virtues many of us have been fortunate to experience from our own fathers or how we as fathers can aspire to St Joseph to grow in virtue ourselves.

St Joseph experienced many difficulties in life that we all do, yet he was a man of compassion, a “righteous man” (Matthew 1:19), putting total faith in God. He loved and protected his family. For Joseph, doing God’s will came first.

Pope Francis states that, “Each of us can discover in Joseph the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in time of trouble”. Many of us can also testify to this of our own fathers. A father who stood up for us, protected and guided us in times of need and who put the needs of the family before his own.

On 5 September we honour and thank our fathers for all they have done for us and for how much they mean to us. Let us remember to ask St Joseph for his intercession on behalf of all fathers and that his holy example continue to be an inspiration for all dads.

Naming of new 2022 Year 7 Homeroom stream

Dear Parents/Carers,

The College is introducing an extra Year 7 stream in 2022. As a valued member of our College community, you are invited to fill in the following survey form (link below) to nominate prospective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person/place for the naming of this new stream.

Please refer to the required criteria (in question 4 of the survey) and ensure that the proposed persons/places are appropriate. Nominations and a short summary as to how your nomination meets the set criteria, are to be completed by no later than Friday 17 September.

Please feel free to contact Mr Paul Sammut (Head of Faith and Mission) at psammut@crccs.vic.edu.au, if you have any questions or require further clarification.

Survey - Naming of new Year 7 Homeroom Stream

Gospel Reflection

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

Mark 7:31-37

We should never stop acknowledging the compassion, love and support that we get from our fathers, father figures and/or significant males in our lives. There are many fathers and fatherly figures that we could take a moment to honour, especially on this wonderful day we know as Father’s Day. Firstly, let’s take a moment to appreciate our Father, King and Saviour, and ask that He continues to give strength and guidance. We are reminded that, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). God is the ideal Father; He protects and keeps His promise. So, we pray that the males in our lives look up to our Saviour as a role model, as they try to be the best person they can be.

To celebrate and recognise these amazing individuals, the Social Justice team decided to invite students within our community to share a message with their loved ones. We hope you enjoy the video, Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful males in our CRCCS Community.

Schools will begin receiving students' NAPLAN results from Monday 30 August. Once they have been received the College will post the results to parents/carers.

During remote learning, students have been encouraged to participate in activities of their choice, with the goal of completing at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day where possible.

Working remotely and being at home for extended periods has been a great opportunity to be creative and innovative, take responsibility with making healthy choices, as well as understand the positive impact physical activity has on overall health and wellbeing.

It’s been wonderful to see students choosing to walk, run, scooter, bike ride, dance, participate in Tabata and HIIT workouts, yoga, boxing, weight training and gym work, as well as play a variety of sports in the backyard or local park including basketball, soccer, footy and tennis. Keep doing what you love and enjoy!

Hoping parents are also following suit or being the influencers leading by example!

Since we’ve been asking students to share photos, we thought it was only fair that we did too. Here’s a snapshot of some of our HPE staff in action! Riding bikes and spending time in nature seems to be a popular choice!

During remote learning, Year 9 Digital Photography students have been completing weekly challenges to practice photographic techniques and digital editing skills. Last week students completed the TEXTURE CHALLENGE, where they had to capture, edit, and present a final presentation of 5 different textures.

Below are links to just a few students’ works, showcasing some of our awesome photographic artists in Year 9:

• Maja Panic
• Kalem Farrugia
• Angelique Chrysanthou
• Taylor Russell
• Maryam Marbina
• Lachlan Saunders
• Noah Gauci
• Nina Shearsby

Term 3 was the Year 9’s turn to participate in Premier League sport. Unfortunately, this season was once again hampered by lockdowns. Before this happened, the teams were all selected, had numerous training sessions and did manage to play our first round against CRC North Keilor. This was a successful day for us with teams all representing our College well and coming away with some strong results.

The remainder of Year 9 premier league has sadly been cancelled this term. These students will have their next opportunity to participate in Premier League sport in Term 1 2022. Thank you to all involved this year.

Results for round 1 are as follows:

Girls Soccer: CRCCS 3 Drew with CRCNK 3

Boys Soccer: CRCCS 9 Def CRCNK 3

Girls Basketball: CRCCS 27 Def CRCNK 16

Boys Basketball: CRCCS 40 Def CRCNK 31

Girls Volleyball: CRCCS 1 Def by CRCNK 3

Boys Volleyball: CRCCS 3 Def CRCNK 0

Girls Netball: CRCCS 19 Def CRCNK 9

Boys AFL: CRCCS 52 Def by CRCNK 75

On Tuesday the 3 August, the CRCCS ‘crocs’ played a tough and great team, CRC North Keilor. The first half was a letdown for CRCCS as not much impact happened on the score board, we were down by 5 goals in the first quarter, that is a whopping 30 points, and we were definitely asleep. Second quarter picked up goals started to come by as players started to attack the footy and win possession. CRCCS weren’t going to let North Keilor have an easy win. CRCCS started to pull their head in and as a result the team had its confidence back.

The second half was excellent, players scored bags of goals and the team backed each other like family. 5 goals behind became, 4 then 3. It then became challenging, both teams were nearly even as CRCCS got more possessions in the midfield and the forward line started to apply excruciating pressure. While Christian Catania scoring a bag of 4 GOALS and players scoring, it boosted our confidence to attack the footy harder than last time. Even though CRCCS lost by 22 points another quarter of solid footy would have brought home the victory. Overall, North Keilor was a challenging side, as they had more professional players, CRCCS did well the second half and because of this CRCCS were held with our head high and not let down.

Josh Cruise, 9 Barak

During remote learning in Year 9 Humanities, we have been focusing on the study of Economics. This unit involves understanding the Australian economy, its participants (such as consumers and producers), globalisation and fast fashion.

I have come to understand how the Australian economy works and how it benefits us. I have also learnt how globalisation plays a major role in the world and the positives and negatives that come along with it. We also studied supply and demand, which was a focus on the desire consumers have for goods and services (demand) and the amount of goods and services that are available to consumers (supply).

I particularly liked learning about globalisation because I was able to understand how big of a role it has on the world and why it is so important. I also really enjoyed learning about supply and demand and how one affects the other. I have really enjoyed the Economics unit and all that was covered within it.

Alexandra Savona, 9 Wonga

During our Civics & Citizenship unit, we learnt about referendums - an important vote made by the people of Australia. We also learnt all the steps of what happens when there is a referendum, like how it has to be passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 76 people in the senate and 151 in the House of Representatives. Our main assessment task was based upon the 1967 Referendum, and how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders petitioned for ten years to get 100,000 signatures to change two phrases in the constitution (book of Australia’s laws). These changes would allow Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders to be able to vote and be counted in the census. Overall, in this unit we were able to take away the hard work the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders put in to find equality through the referendum. We were also able to take away the knowledge of voting for the near future when we are old enough to vote.

Danny Jacobson, 8 Bunjil

Over the past term in Geography, I’ve studied general geographical factors and their connections to global humanitarian issues. In the past few weeks, we’ve focused on human wellbeing in both Australia and India, identifying and analysing their similarities and differences to write an investigative report on geography’s connection to wellbeing factors by means of spatial variation. Furthermore, we’ve been able to practice analysis by identifying a wide range of both qualitative and quantitative factors which actively impact human wellbeing. I’ve taken away many things from my learning - by learning about other countries and proceeding to differentiate them from Australia, it has provided an insight into our privilege as a first-world country and how our issues widely differ from those in less fortunate countries. As a person who loves numbers, analytics and statistics, I really enjoyed being able to use my skills and apply them to yet another area of study outside of the math field, which is exactly what I was able to do in Geography!

Talia Silvio, 10 Lingiari

Thank you so much to the College for your support in moving the Annie date once again.

The new dates for the Musical are 11, 12 and 13 November.

We look forward to getting back into rehearsals once we return to school.

Tickets for the revised dates will go on sale closer to the show.

Catholic Regional College Caroline Spring would like to thank The Green Green Grocer for their generosity towards the College and their ongoing support. We would like to shine a spotlight on them, as it is important during these challenging times for the community to support their local businesses!

The Green Green Grocer specialise in fruit and vegetable delivery within Melbourne. Their mixed seasonal fruit and veg boxes will save you time and money, and you can be sure you're getting the freshest fruit and veg in town.

They source directly from local farmers and traders, carefully pack, and deliver it to your door. It’s the safe and convenient way to receive fresh produce!

Check them out: www.thegreengreengrocer.com.au