Dear Parents and Carers,

Pathways for our students

Helping our young people find their way in the world is one of our big tasks as parents and educators. We are all different, with different passions, strengths and inclinations. We all mature at different rates and develop skills and confidence differently. For some of our young people, they are very clear at an early age on what they want to do post school. For many others, this is not the case. Particularly as they move into the more senior years of high school, this can become a source of some anxiety if they compare themselves with peers who may appear certain of what they want to do.

For all of these reasons, we aim to work with our students to equip them with a broad range of skills that are transferable into many different areas: literacy and numeracy skills, ICT skills, problem-solving skills, collaboration and communication skills and so on – the traditional skills of schooling. 

Several new opportunities

Alongside these, at JPC, we want to provide opportunities for more specific experiences which may also help students identify their particular talents and open their eyes to future career possibilities. These may come from work experience, from ASBAs (Australian School Based Apprenticeships), from studying subjects that have a particular vocational bent and so on.

We are keen to expand the opportunities available to our students. Two new initiatives in this area are the establishment of our Tiger Team and our Go Team. Members of the Tiger Team work with our IT team to support students and members of staff who may be experiencing IT challenges as well as supporting the maintenance of the IT infrastructure of the school. They are undergoing training before being fully accredited and I am delighted to say that we now have two fully fledged members of the team: Will Kelly in Year 11 and Albert David in Year 12. More will follow! 

The other team being established is the Go Team. This is a team of students who will work with our Maintenance Officer, Mr Jonathan Langshaw, to carry out maintenance in the school. This will provide students with real world experience and skills in working safely, use of tools, good work practices and so on.

Already established over many years is the Tech Team which, under the direction of Mr Aron Lyon, provides set up and pack up of lighting and sound for both big events in the school and for our weekly Tuesday Tunes music gigs.

….and expansion of vocational offerings

We are also looking to expand the vocational education opportunities available to our students. We plan to introduce a Certificate I in Active Volunteering next year. We hope to have this widely available to students as it will provide them with certified competencies in many of the areas required in all work places. These include: Participate in workplace health and safety, Communicate in the workplace, Work with diverse people and so on. There is a practical component to this certificate which means that the volunteer work that students do in the community will be recognised.

Ways you can help us….

We recognise also the wonderful opportunities that you as parents and carers can provide to our students. Obviously these involve working with your own sons and daughters but, more broadly, you may be able, as employers, to offer work experience placements to students or employment to students as part of an ASBA (Australian School-Based Apprenticeship). If you would like register as a potential employer or if you would like to know more about how ASBAs and Work Experience placements work, please feel free to contact Ms Teena Zorzi, our Careers and Vocational Education Coordinator: Teena.zorzi@cg.catholic.edu.au

Our College Council is also keen to work in this area. We look forward to hearing from you with any ideas you may have on these and other opportunities that we may, as a community, be able to provide to our students. You can contact the Council on Council@JPC.act.edu.au or contact myself or one of the Assistant Principals. 

Warm regards

Catherine Rey
Principal

This semester, we have been able to offer first-hand industry experiences for our Senior Drama students. Joanna Richards, visiting Artist of Canberra Youth Theatre, led a three-hour workshop with the Senior Drama class this week. Joanna is an actor, comedian, and writer who has been working in the arts for close to two decades. She studied with the Moscow Art Theatre School, the American Repertory Theatre Institute, and The Groundlings (think SNL actors). As a writer, Joanna has created work for several different mediums including theatre, film, television, and digital works. 

As part of the Senior Drama course, students are studying the unit, ‘Communicating Meaning in Drama’ and are focussing on the style of Verbatim Theatre. The purpose of verbatim theatre is to inform, provoke and entertain the audience regarding a relevant issue in efforts to perhaps, make a difference in the community. As additional support and exposure in preparing students to create their major verbatim performance piece, they explored different styles and techniques. Students engaged closely with headphone verbatim and discussed the ethical issues and responsibility surrounding representing a character ‘verbatim’ on stage. Additionally, students also experimented with devising techniques. 

A great learning experience and opportunities for the Senior drama students to work with industry professionals to continue to grow their knowledge and understanding of theatre forms. With their ongoing hard work, their end of year major performance in Term 4 is sure to be a great one! Stay tuned for details. Chookas!

Mrs Sarah Smith
Drama teacher

On Wednesday morning the 9/10 Photography class ventured into Gughalin town centre to capture their images for their street photography gallery with the theme of First World Problems. The students hopped on a bus during our ILT lesson and spent some time putting their plans into action. Some students were captivated by the street art around Grease Monkeys restaurant, and the Arches at Yerrabi pond, others used the local businesses to demonstrate their ideas, and some even utilised public transport. It was a fantastic morning, and great to see so many creative minds at work. I look forward to seeing their work.

Mrs Jewell
Photography and Media Teacher

An awesome day with Senior Outdoor Education at Tidbinbilla to learn all about Aboriginal Culture and Heritage of the area. From different types of food and using nature to determine the time of year, this day out was a great opportunity of learning. We even saw some Koalas and a Bandicoot, just to name a few!

No photo of the Bandicoot since sometimes, it is best to take in the rare sighting.  

Mr McDonnell & Mrs Conlan

Year 10 science students spent Monday’s class running their own experiments to demonstrate Newton’s laws of force.

There were some very interesting experiments such as attaching a sail to a car and running a car on different surfaces, including outside in the rain! Well done students, and we look forward to seeing the data you gathered.

James Gutteridge
Science Teacher

Fitness Club were having fun flinging weights around the gym on Wednesday morning followed by a game of kick ball.

Thanks to these students who attend Fitness Club every Wednesday morning at 7.30am.

Sharon Robinson
Music Teacher

Key Dates:

• Wednesday 14 Sept – ACT Girls OzTag

Follow JPC.SPORT.ACT for all the current sporting information.

If you have any sporting news, email the college office.

ACT College Boys Football

It came close to being the coldest and wildest day of winter so far; bleak, howling winds, constant rain and sleet and, to top it all off, a wind chill factor of 9 degrees!

That was nature’s warm welcome to the ACT COLLEGE BOYS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT at Harrisson Ovals on Tuesday 23^rd August.

After a tough assignment first up against Erindale, we finally found our rhythm and notched up a draw against Lake Ginninderra plus two wins against Narrabundah and Dickson. A loss against Hawker unfortunately ruled us out of the finals.

Considering that we lost a few players to injury and work schedules on the day, plus the brutal conditions playing havoc on our ability to move let alone think, I was proud of the grit, upright sportsmanship and positive team spirit of the squad.

A shout out to those parents who came along to support and also provide life giving warmth via hot drinks and clothing.

Final Player List		Jordan Prior
Nicholas Taurasi	Dom Pelle	Josh Prior
Harrison Cracknell	Tanatswa Bvirakare	Cameron McCluskey
Luke Hewitt	Ashton Antioch	Hayden Mortimer
Gabriele Taurasi	Finn Rodda	Michael Hynes

Mr M Hanna

ASC Girls Basketball

On Monday, two enthusiastic, energetic and determined girls teams competed in the ASC Girls Basketball competition. Both the Year 7/8 and the Year 9/10 teams faced tough competition, with each competitor being a regular weekend team. The Year 7/8’s were very competitive in their competition, only falling by a few points in their games. The Year 9/10’s never gave up and showed energetic defence throughout all of their games.

Congratulations girls on representing the school in an exceptional manner!

Ms Teena Zorzi
Leader of Learning (Careers) and Wellbeing (Drexel House)

JPC Careers Updates

• Don’t forget that we have amazing resources on our JPC Careers website https://jpc-careers.com/
• Also follow us on our social pages to get more up to date information - @JPCcareers on Instagram and Facebook.
• You can contact Ms Zorzi at careers.jpc@cg.catholic.edu.au

ANU Open Day – This Saturday 3^rd September

University of Canberra Open Day – This Saturday 3^rd September

Ms Teena Zorzi
Leader of Learning (Careers) and Wellbeing (Drexel House)

Year 12 Fees are due and payable by 22 September 2022.

Finance Team

Parish Newsletter

For the latest news Click here or you can view it on the Parish App or visit the website below.

World Education Program (WEP) has student exchange opportunities in 2023 for students in Years 9 & 10.

Exchange offers students a powerful experience of living as locals in another culture, going to a local school and becoming a member of a host family.

We firmly believe that the immersive experience of an exchange helps build inter-cultural understanding and tolerance between nations, which is ever more important!

The upcoming online information sessions (August 30 and September 14) is for Yr 9 & 10 students/parents. The online info sessions is a great way to help students work out whether student exchange is for them and whether WEP programs are what they are looking for. 

Contact:

Dr Erika Schwarze
NSW/ACT Manager 
World Education Program Australia Limited
PO Box 503, Jamison Centre, ACT 2614

Head Office: 479 Hampton Street, Hampton 3188,  Melbourne, Victoria
PO Box 270 Hampton VIC 3188, Melbourne Victoria

P - +61 (0) 3 9598 4733 in Australia only 1300 88 4733

E - erikaschwarze@wep.org.au

S - https://www.facebook.com/wepaustralia / https://instagram.com/wepaustralia