Dear Parents and Carers,

As we reach the end of Term 3, I would like to thank all of you for your generosity and support during the term.

Our staff prayer this morning focused on gratitude and thanksgiving.  As part of that prayer, Alison Middleton shared with us a beautiful video that she had put together featuring messages of thanks and gratitude from students and families to our staff. It was so affirming to all of us to hear your messages. People often choose to work in schools because they want to make a difference. To hear from you that their efforts are seen and appreciated is so heartening. Many of us were feeling quite emotional by the end of our prayer! Thank you all so much for taking the time to send your messages of support during this term.

Whilst we have all faced challenges and frustrations during this time of lock-down – for some in our community, extremely significant challenges – I think we would also recognise that there have also been some wonderful blessings that we may not otherwise have experienced. As Alison pointed out to us in the prayer this morning, developing the habit of finding three things to be grateful at the end of each day is one way to increase our positivity and resilience in these times.

Given the continuation of the lockdown until 15 October, we are unfortunately unable to hold Parent/Student/Teacher interviews as scheduled. As you are aware, we have been letting parents know if students are consistently finding it difficult to complete and submit work and to offer support. Please do not hesitate to contact teachers next term if you have concerns about particular areas of learning and challenges that your child may be experiencing. Whilst remote learning is not ideal for many students, most have managed this time extremely well in terms of their learning and, in terms of their entire education, this is a short period of time. Having said that, we are delighted to be able to welcome back our Year 12 students at the start of term so that we can support them more fully in their final weeks of Year 12. 

Our College Student Leaders have also been great supporters of the community during the lockdown. Students and staff really enjoyed the trivia session that they developed for PC today. Lots of fun was had by all!  Similarly, please enjoy their beautiful holiday message in this week’s Key Messages.

Have a wonderful, relaxing break everyone. We look forward to some beautiful spring weather and some special family time.

Warm regards,

Catherine Rey

Whether facilitating a more traditional core subject like English, or a modern Technologies elective, the challenge to keep students engaged, both on and away from their devices, has required resolve, creativity, and embracing the spirit of putting yourself out there! 

In this brave new world of online learning, we’ve been forced to truly embrace enduring 21^st Century maxim that technology is the way of the future.

It’s been no mean feat to teaching ‘that Scottish play’ (Macbeth) and the form and structure of a literary essay to our Year 10 English students in the online learning environment. To help our students understand the issues, characters and language of the play, the Year 10 English teaching team ‘got their thespian on’ and filmed themselves performing Act 5 for their students’ viewing pleasure!

Special performance shout outs to Mr Woodman as Macduff and Ms Manning as Lady Macbeth! 

Mrs Keogh analysing the significance of Act 5 and the teachers’ performance! 

Mr Woodman facilitating and modelling a passionate discussion (ahem…argument???) between the Year 10 English teachers about the real cause of Macbeth’s downfall. Students were able to use this discussion to form their own thesis statements and points for their assessment essays.

Calls of the discussion go to Ms Manning (“Macbeth was just a really dumb soldier”) and Ms Allan (“those witches were some real shady ladies.”)

Meanwhile, in technologies it would be easy for technologies teachers to dive into the theory elements of their courses and explore in great depth forestry regulations, what fast fashion is and researching good food choices, our teachers have chosen to embrace the challenge and get creative to ensure practical projects are still going ahead. Indulge us as we go through our many subjects and celebrate our students for embracing these activities.

In Graphic design with Ms Allan, we have seen nature walks, finding colour palettes that students would then use in their assessments. Students have also learned Adobe Illustrator remotely and re-creating the cover to the popular novel “New Moon”.

Food Tech has seen Ms Daley’s family eating very well as she demonstrates all her year 7 food pracs and encourages healthy eating and cooking for the family.

Design and Technology with Mr Nebelung made use of their recycling by turning their spare parts kit into speed racers.

As made popular again by the famous app TikTok students in Textiles with Ms Howells have learned embroidery and made a drawstring bag to house their Pj’s!

Sustainability with Mrs McNamara sees students turning their trash into treasures and looking into the benefits of Sustainable habits.  

Finally, 9/10 robotics with Ms Gao have been working hard to create mazes and sort out circuits as they navigate Adobe Illustrator for the first time remotely!

Woodwork students have seen Mr Nebelung and Ms McCallum furiously drawing on teams and creating videos to teach technical drawing remotely. The likes of Isometric and Orthographic drawings are made all that bit trickier without the tools to assist.

While some of our seniors are the lucky ones, Timber Products, Year 12 Design and Technology and Construction have had the opportunity to attend school with strict social distancing rules and guidelines, completing practical work so that they are able to meet the requirements of their courses.

Chloe McCallum 
Leader of Learning (Technology) and Wellbeing (Maathai House)

JPC’s Student Leadership Discernment Program

begins for our aspiring 2022 College Leaders

This Wednesday, over 30 of our Year 11 students participated in the preliminary information session for the Leadership Discernment Program which starts next term in Week 11 and runs for 3 weeks. This is an impressive number of students who are interested in developing their leadership skills and aspiring to College Leadership roles in 2022.

The program is designed to help our aspiring student leaders explore many of the features of effective leadership, and in particular, those relevant to the context of JPC as a Catholic school.

A BIG thank you to Ms Chloe McCallum and our current College Leaders for joining the team to run the program.

We are very excited to be working with this group of Year 11 students.

Students who decide to embark on the discernment process will need to register their intent to attend by Wednesday, 29 September on the JPC Moodle Senior Studies page.

Please contact Mrs Jennifer Tually via email if you require further information.

Jennifer Tually
Leader of Learning and Wellbeing – Mission and Ministry

jennifer.tually@cg.catholic.edu.au

Last week, Year 9 French Elective students donned their chef’s hats and explored French culture through food. There were many happy families in our community enjoying the produce of these creative cooks.

• Kamil Bah – Bœuf Bourguignon
• Charlotte Fountain – Crêpes
• Halle Novak – Apple Cake
• Alexander Ratajkoski – Crêpes
• Greg Thompson – Tarte aux pommes

Clementine O’Sullivan
Kennedy Leader of Learning and Wellbeing (Acting)
Languages Facilitator

Careers Newsletter

The final Careers Newsletter for the term is out now! You can read it here.

White Card/Asbestos Course

Congratulations to the following students who completed the White Card/Asbestos Courses this week in an online format, through the Master Builders Association.

Follow us Online!

YOWIE Women in Engineering

Dear Year 7 Families,

The Year 7 Immunisation, Round 2 is scheduled for Tuesday 2 November 2021. At this stage, the date has not changed.

If your child is getting a Covid-19 vaccination, you will need to consider this date when booking.

Please contact ACT Health Immunisation Program or the Covid-19 helpline for the most up to date information.

Thank you

Are you Leaving JPC at the end of 2021? 

If you know that your child will be leaving JPC at the end of this year, please complete the form below and email it to the college office (office.jpc@cg.catholic.edu.au) as soon as possible.

Year 10 & 12 families - There is no need to respond.

Thank you to those who have notified us already.

The College Office

The University of Canberra is inviting all students Years 11 and 12 to enter our annual Creative Competition.

Prizes on offer include a 12-month University of Canberra study grant plus $500 cash, 3 x full semester study grants, Adobe Student subscriptions and more!

To enter, submit your best creative work whether it be from a school project or your own creative work. 

Submissions close 27 September.

For more information visit: www.canberra.edu.au/uccreativecompetition

All are welcome to a free, online, one-day gathering of Teams (a worldwide Catholic movement promoting married spirituality).

Saturday 18 September 2021

Hear stimulating talks from a range of local speakers on Supporting Couples.

Enjoy the opportunity to meet other participants and provide feedback.

For more details see www.teamsoceania.com.au or contact Tim Power on 0437 013 328. Register at https://bit.ly/TeamsRego