Welcome, all to the end of another busy week at St John Paul II College. With the very sad news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing, it is a timely reminder to all of us as a community the importance of family and friendships and the impact that these relationships have on our wellbeing and lives. Particularly in schools, friendships between students are often dynamic and with external factors such as social media and the pressure in which our students are under each day to fit into an evolving society often the fundamentals of being a good friend are overlooked.

For our students, we encourage friendships based on respect, care, kindness and being trustworthy. Our pastoral programs stipulate that if your friends make you feel sad or upset, undervalued, scared or judged this could be a sign that the friendship is unhealthy. We encourage conversations between parent/carer and child as to the type of friends that are supportive and safe as this is one of the keys to overall student wellbeing and academic progress in school.

Over the coming week as well as moving into holidays and the final Term of 2022 it is an opportune time to have a conversation with your child about the type of people they surround themselves with.

Below is a table of healthy and unhealthy qualities in a friendship. 

We hope you have a good and safe weekend.

Kind Regards, 

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

This week during Independent Learning Time senior students currently studying Modern History participated in an incursion exploring First Nations Peoples histories and cultures. Guest speakers, Kerry O’Callaghan and Katrina Cambridge, came to share resources and insight into the different periods of Australian history through looking at a series of posters about Australian pre-history, colonial Australia, and contemporary Australian events. Students engaged in some good discussion about the posters and found the incursion helpful in understanding First Nations Peoples’ histories better.

Here were some of the key takeaways from the students:
“The Aboriginal Art, there was a lot of symbolism and messages behind it. The art shows decades of history on it, which I found interesting.”

“There have been thousands of different experiences in colonial history, no two Aboriginal people have the same experience. There were extremely strict and harsh laws, purely for Aboriginal Australians. Some modern day Aboriginal people don’t even know their own stories because of the colonial experiences. Aboriginal history is extremely complex and has a major bearing on their everyday experiences.”

“We have such European centric ideas about First Nations People, based in history. We need to open up our understanding of Aboriginal culture and learn in more context rather than just the history.”

Lachlan Arundell
Classroom Teacher (English/Studies of Society and Environment)

I would like to recognise the achievement of three students who took part in the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee!

Students competed in several rounds, and have done a fantastic job in representing JPC.

• Shanay Ganatra, Yr 7 Kennedy made it to the State/Territory Finals!
• Sophia Cassandra Pangan, Yr 7 Drexel made it to the National Finals, placing 16^th overall!
• Shaurya Panchal, Yr 8 Kennedy made it to the National Finals, placing 15^th overall!

Congratulations to them on their amazing achievements throughout this competition.

Jessica Reid
Leader of Learning and Wellbeing—English Faculty, Drexel House
Teacher of English and Religious Education

Are you Leaving JPC at the end of 2022? 

It is an exciting time for JPC Arts as we announce the 2023 musical production of High School Musical. As part of offering our students genuine learning experiences, to be part of the performance, they are required to audition! This allows roles to be offered that best cater to student abilities.

Auditions will run TERM 4 WEEK 13, Tuesday and Wednesday:

• Tuesday: Lead Dance Auditions: lunch AND Lead Solo singing/acting Auditions: 3.45 – 5 pm
• Wednesday: Ensemble Dance Auditions: lunch AND Group Singing Auditions: 3.45pm – 5 pm

Students have already been able to collect audition packs from Mrs Smith or the Front Office. If you are interested – please collect a pack and practice over the holidays!

The production will run Term 3, Week 4 Thursday 10^th August – Saturday 12^th August 2023, with four performances available to a paying audience, full of your adoring fans!

We look forward to communicating more exciting news about the production of Disney’s High School Musical – ‘get your head in the game!’

Mrs Sarah Smith on behalf of the Arts Team

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

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

JPC Netball 2022 Season

What an incredible season for JPC netball this year - 2 out of 7 teams into the grand finals, and one team taking the win! A huge congrats to Orbits for making the grand final, and Galaxy for taking the win in a very difficult game. It has been my first season as part of JPC Netball, and I have been lucky enough to see it from the inside as a coach of the wonderful Stars team. It’s been an awesome experience and I am excited for what the club looks like as well as its potential going forward.

It is very important to acknowledge the huge contribution of Caitlin Young who has been the driving force behind JPC Netball for 4 years now. It is a very tough job and takes a lot or organisation, planning and not to mention time. We are very grateful for all that Caitlin has given to JPC over the last 4 years and we wish her all the best as she steps out of this role for 2023.

As a community we would not be able to function without the volunteers who make up our club’s coaches, managers, and umpires – A huge thank you to them. They give up their time so freely and willingly, and the club simply could not run without them. I know that the students, parents and all at the college are very grateful for all they do to assure the smooth running of our club.

Finally, I would like to thank you all, as our JPC parents and players. Our JPC netball club has a long-standing tradition in our school and brings so many positive things to our community. We look forward to 2023.

Danni Jewell  - Sports Coordinator

JPC Netball Season Reports

Congratulations to JPC Orbits

JPC Orbits had some new players this year but managed to gel really well as a team.  Throughout the 13 games of the season they lost just 2 finishing 2^nd on the ladder.  They made it to the Grand Finals on Saturday and they played their hardest. They had no subs for the entire game so were exhausted by the end of a very fast, tough and at times gruelling game.  They may not have come out of it with a win but they can certainly hold their heads up high.  They had an amazing season, grew as a team and as players, they truly earned their place in the Grand Final and made their coach, manager, parents and school proud.

Sara Henden, Manager

JPC Sonics

National Youth Championships

Good luck to Sienna Ness, Yr 8 Drexel & Nadia Zakma, Yr 10 Kennedy who will be attending the National Youth championship in Coffs Harbour next week (19 - 23 September)

Have a great time and we all the very best.

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

Early Entry to University – Congratulations!

Over the last month, many of our Year 12 students have obtained early offers to university. Below are some examples of the offers being made – we wish them all the best!

• Grace Eves – Charles Sturt University – Bachelor of Veterinary Technology
• Rebecca Rose – University of Canberra – Bachelor of Health Science
• Derick Tongu – Australian National University – Bachelor of Criminology

NECA Electrical Holiday Program

Please collect your lost property items from the College Office by the end of the term.

Any items not collected will either be donated or thrown away.

Thank you

Parish Newsletter

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

Arthritis, Pain Support & ME/CFS ACT are holding the first of two significant, specialised family days very soon and would like help getting invitations and awareness to capital region families that need it most. This event is fully funded and free for registered participants, with limited provision (by application) for funded interstate travel to the event.

Our first big day out will be in Bruce, ACT on Sunday October 2^nd 2022, with the second booked for March 12^th 2023.

Click here for further details

https://www.arthritisact.org.au/family-day-camp/

Now that the Gungahlin pool has reopened we are very excited to welcome new athletes and families to our sport.

Dragons Water Polo is having a Come and Try day on Saturday 17 September.