Dear Parents and Carers,

As we complete the end of Week 3, I would like to highlight a number of events that occurred this week.

Senior College Expo

On Wednesday, the College held its Senior College Expo, showcasing the many opportunities provided to senior students at JPC and enabling students and families to explore some of the possibilities – both in terms of post-school options and with regard to subject choice for the senior years.

The Expo contained four keys parts including:

• JPC Faculty showcases where our teachers and senior students outlined the breadth of subject offerings within their areas and were available to chat with students and families about individual subjects.
• Showcases from Universities, CIT and other registered training organisations
• A presentation by Teena Zorzi, who leads Careers and Vocational Education, outlining the rapidly growing opportunities for students to undertake an Australian School-based Apprenticeship (ASBA)
• A panel discussion comprising alumni and current students on what makes JPC unique for senior schooling and, in the case of students who have graduated from the College, how our unique philosophical approach has benefited them in their post school life. Areas that were most often mentioned were the advantages they gained from ILT and Mentoring

I would like to make a special mention of our students and staff for their work in preparing and presenting on the night. This includes the showcases, those involved in the musical items and the Hospitality team for their amazing food offerings. We have such an exceptional community here at JPC and it would not be the same without each and every person’s contribution.

Try JPC Day 2

On Monday we held our second Try JPC Day. Once again we were joined by Year 6 students from various primary schools so that they could experience what a typical day is like at St John Paul II College. Students participated in Science, Drama, Technology and Integrated Humanities classes and, as always, the day was filled with learning that was fun and engaging.

Thank you to Miss Reid, Mr Whatman, the teachers involved and student helpers for their organisation and running of the day.

NAPLAN Year 7 and 9 2022

Today, students in Years 7 and 9 commenced NAPLAN testing for 2022. The schedule for this has been communicated previously and will continue in to Week 4.

I would like to acknowledge our Year 7 and 9 students who have all been exceptional both in their preparation for NAPLAN as well as in their first sitting today. They have been extremely cooperative with their teachers and followed all instructions given to them to ensure all students have been able to put forward their best attempts.

I would also like to thank Miss Reid and Miss Allen for their oversight of NAPLAN for 2022. The logistics of facilitating 400 students to complete these sessions in a calm and orderly manner requires considerable organisation and planning.

We are all enjoying the relaxation of some of the COVID restrictions. It makes a big difference to teach and learn now largely without masks and to be able to have the different year groups mingle in a more natural way. We look forward to welcoming parents back into the school to celebrate with us some of the significant school events when these occur in the future.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Catherine Rey

Dear Parents & Carers,

If any year 10 families missed the Senior College Expo this week, information packs with regards to transitioning to Year 11 for 2023 are available to collect from the College office. Inside the pack includes the Commitment Form for all families to complete, Scholarship information and the 'Moving into the Senior Years' booklet for 2023.

Specific senior course information is available in the Wellbeing hub. Students are welcome to visit the hub during their breaks to see what courses are available for Years 11 & 12. We encourage students to speak to their mentor or the faculty teachers for further information.

For our current Year 10 Students, you are not required to re-enrol for Year 11 2023; however, we do require a Year 11 Commitment Form to be returned by Wednesday 15 June to the college office, either in a printed form or by email to office.jpc@cg.catholic.edu.au.

For Year 10 students not continuing at JPC for their Senior Year in 2023, please complete the form too.

If you have any questions, please contact the college office.

As we approach the cooler months I would like to remind families that students are expected to be in full school winter uniform. Staff will be monitoring uniforms closely over the coming weeks to ensure that our school uniform is worn with pride and all students are in the correct attire.

While we understand that coming into winter it is colder than usual, however, while at school students must be in uniform and not wearing ‘hoodies’, (this includes the JPC netball hoodies) which are not part of the uniform.

If for some reason a student is out of uniform, students must present a letter from parents/carers to their Pastoral care teacher and House leaders.

For any further clarification please see the JPC Uniform Policy here.

Nic Whatman
Assistant Principal – Wellbeing and Community
Maathai and Van Thuan Houses

Food Technology

Year 7 mastered knife skills and safety with their very fun creative Food faces this week!

Year 9/10 Food Tech also enjoyed making and eating their ‘plant-based meal of Jack Fruit curry and cauliflower rice’ as part of their “Food Service Trends’ unit.

Hospitality

The Hospitality students challenged taste buds with creative, innovative food for the Senior College Expo, such as Whipped Ricotta Tarts with Strawberry, Molecular Balsamic Pearls, Black Pepper & JPC garden thyme.

Students incorporated native bush tucker ingredients in all the canape’s including ingredients from our garden such as ‘Old Man Saltbush’ on the fish balls and ‘native River Mint’ in the Quinoa Ball Pesto.

Annie Daley
Food Technology Teacher

During Term 1, Year 11 Design and Emerging Technologies students embarked on a journey to design with minimal parameters for the first time. Tasked with creating a clock that maximises on Bauhaus’ curriculum from the 1920s, a combination of aesthetic and function in an attempt to move fine art into a modern and obtainable world, students explored different textures and found their own design style.

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

This semester, Senior Drama students are studying the unit, “Creativity in Drama”, focussing on different approaches to creating theatre. Students have been exploring many different theorists' approaches to devising and have applied these in performances of their own creations.

To offer students a unique theatre experience, the class participated in a three-hour expert workshop led by industry actor, Stefanie Lekkas. Stefanie worked with the 9/10 Drama class last week and has most recently worked with Canberra Youth Theatre (CYT) and Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC) in various productions and teaching roles.

Stefanie led the students through a series of advanced workshops about Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints which further challenged students’ learning and understanding of approaches to creating theatre and physical theatre techniques. The transference from actor to director is a challenging mind shift, but our senior Drama students have demonstrated they are more than ready for the challenge – in fact, they are mastering it!

The class is commended on their courage and flexibility to accept all challenges and experiences offered over the three-hour intensive incursion. Chookas!

Mrs Sarah Smith

Drama teacher

This week, Year 11 Outdoor Education students went on a camping experience to Burrinjuck, NSW, where they tried canoeing and other outdoor activities and gained useful skills being one with nature.

The wet was expected, but not everyone had prepared adequately and even our canoe guide Dan’s dry suit suffered a small leak from the constant rain.

Paddling out of Woolgarlo was a struggle given the wind, and as the day went on, it took everyone by surprise how remote, wet and distant we were from our usual comforts.

Camping on Dawes island was also filled with new and unique challenges with the sticky sand making it difficult to peg the campsite.

By Day Two, everyone was “one” with the rain, laughs were shared, fun was had and warm showers, shelter and toilets were there for us at the finish! 

As we travelled back to JPC, everyone was only thinking of some tasty hot chips which were a welcome treat in the town of Yass.

Congratulations to all of the Year 11 and 12 students who participated! You smashed it!!

Mr. Adam McDonnell
Teacher – SOSE, English, Outdoor Education, PE

North Canberra Junior School Gala Day

JPC was well-represented by Year 8/9 students at the North Canberra Junior School Gala Day.

Teams for both boys and girls displayed the sporting behaviour and endeavour to make the College proud.

The boys’ team was beaten by just one goal by both teams that went on to play the finals. The girls’ team posted a win early in the day and demonstrated clear development in skills over the day.

Well done to all students for playing fairly, honestly and tirelessly – a great display of character from all.

Regards

John Cole

Bill Turner Cup and Trophy Round 2 Games

What a day it was at Radford College on Monday as our Bill Turner Trophy (girls competition) and Cup (boys competition) teams defeated Radford College. Both matches were enthralling games. The girls won 5-4 deep in extra time, thanks to a fourth goal from Alina Roberts, from the sideline. The boys won 5-3, assisted by a brilliant first 15 minutes that saw them up 3-0, and a brace to both Seth and Xavier Bonnett. Much resilience, teamwork and skill was displayed in both games and from both JPC and Radford. Pretty much every goal scored in each game was a cracker. Both teams ultimately put in super performances, and are now awaiting with interest who their respective Round 3 matches will be against in this prestigious Australia-wide Under 15 knockout competition, and whether they will be ‘home’ or ‘away’ games. The girls will be playing against Moss Vale or Mulwaree and the boys will be playing against Karabar or Mulwaree. A big thanks to Deacon Palombi, Cameron McCluskey, Joshua Prior, Michael Hynes and Kiara Meza for their assistance on the day.

Mr Woodman and Mr Caldow

Have you ever seen a live music performance and wondered how the band sounds and looks so great??

It’s because of the production crew working behind the scenes!!

JPC’s production crew meet weekly after school on Tuesday afternoons for one hour. During this time, students learn how to setup, pack down and manage LIVE SOUND! Students learn safe practices around managing and running large scale PA systems, band setups, lighting and stage management. Our production crew members have been an integral part in the success of performances including co-curricular music concerts, dance and drama events, school masses, school tours and Floriade performances. A number of past members have also gone on to become professional production crew working at huge concerts and events in Sydney and Canberra.

If you are interested in getting involved, please follow the link below!

We would like to encourage JPC families to sign up for the inaugural Online Family Event. The aim is to engage further with families as a system. JPC's counsellor  Uidam will do a very short presentation on the Counselling Service.

At JPC, we are passionate about caring for our students as whole people through supporting their development as learners, as unique individuals and as members of a broader community.

We would like to invite all parents and carers who are interested to learn more about wellbeing and mental health topics to attend our upcoming 'Wellbeing Workshop', occurring on Wednesday 1 June at 6:00 pm.

This Workshop will focus on the topic of 'Maths Mindset'. We will explore the factors which can contribute to some young people developing negative self-talk when it comes to learning mathematics specifically, which can also generate anxiety about or aversion towards this valuable subject.

Please save the date for this event and register through Trybooking HERE

Parish Newsletter

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