Prayer…………

I pray because I can’t help myself.

I pray because I am helpless. I pray because

the need flows out of me all the time, waking or

sleeping….it doesn’t change God.

It changes me. (C.S.Lewis)

30th April, 2013

Reflection

Group 8 Education program - Staff PD on Monday May 6 The Group 8 program, which is currently being used by a number of Catholic schools, is continuing to roll out here at CRC Melton. As mentioned in previous newsletters, student feedback to teachers is an integral part of the program. Another aspect we are working on is cognitive coaching, whereby a group of Middle Leaders are coaching groups of teachers. Next Monday, our Middle Leaders are undergoing a PD session with John Corrigan from Group 8 Education. Staff who are not Middle Leaders will be undertaking courses in first aid. Mark Sheehan Principal

Vale Bishop Emeritus Joseph O’Connell (1931-2013) Bishop Joseph O’Connell, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Melbourne died at Caritas Christi Hospice, Kew on Saturday 28 April 2013. Bishop Joe who was 81 was well know to many parishioners in the North – West of Melbourne. Bishop Joe was ordained by Archbishop Simonds in St Patrick’s Cathedral in July 1957 and obtained a doctorate in Canon Law in July 1961 from St Peter’s College in Rome. He was named Auxiliary Bishop by Pope Paul VI on 12 February 1976, being consecrated by Archbishop Frank Little on 31 March of that year. Archbishop Denis Hart said that Bishop O’Connell’s contribution to Canon Law and a care for migrants will be among the things he will be remembered for. “Bishops, priests and people will remember his wise, mature counsel, his common sense and his love of migrants, and the pastoral care he gave to the people of the Archdiocese, where he was loved for his ready engagement with all. He recently confided in me his great desire simply to bring people closer to God and to serve them.” Archbishop Hart said yesterday. The Pontifical Requiem Mass for Bishop Joe O’Connell will be celebrated at St Patrick’s Cathedral Melbourne on Friday 10 May at 11am.

Staff Term 2 Professional Learning Day A reminder to all families that this Monday, May 6 is a Staff Professional Learning Day. Staff will be involved with training on Teacher Coaching, Asthma and Anaphylaxis Training. Only students in Year 11 and 12 undertaking the practice GAT will be required at school in the morning.

Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews Thanks to all parents who attended our Term 2 Parent-Student-Teacher interviews. If you have issues you wish to follow up or were unable to attend, please contact the College to make an appointment with the Class teacher or Year Level Coordinator. I would recommend that parents use staff email addresses as the best method of contacting staff. These are available through our web-site.

John Christie Deputy Principal (Staff) General Achievement Test (GAT) All students who are currently undertaking a Unit 3 & 4 subject are required to attend a practice General Achievement Test (GAT) on Monday 6th May from 9.00 – 12.15pm. This is a compulsory activity. As this is a student-free day, students may wear casual clothes. Students are to be at school no later than 8.30am so that an attendance roll can be taken and appropriate materials checked before the commencement of the GAT. This will be held in the VCE Building (J Block). Carissa Lock VCE Coordinator

Mothers’ Night @ CRC This year the school is celebrating the Mum's of our school community with a special night here at CRC Melton, just prior to Mothers’ Day. On Thursday evening 9th May at 7pm, there will be a movie screened (chosen by the Mums, see below) in J Block. Prior to the movie, cheese and biscuits and a glass of champagne will be served by some of our senior students and staff. If you are a Mum, you qualify! If you wish to attend please email me with your name and your choice of movie. (scoates@crcmelton.com.au) What movie? You choose, but some possibilities include: Sleepless in Seattle, The Notebook, Pretty Woman, When Harry Met Sally, Quantum of Solace, Texas Chainsaw Massacre... We will decide the movie based on your responses and will let you know ahead of time in upcoming Newsletters. Shaun Coates

Sports Report Monday 22nd of April - Year 9 Premier League: After a successful start to the year, the Year 9 Girls netball team fell short of the title losing to Mackillop College 38-18. The girls fought valiantly to the end. A special thanks to Ms Laffin and Ms D’Amore for coaching the team. Tuesday 30th April The Cross Country Team's day has arrived, the hard work and all the kilometres clocked has prepared the team for the gruelling Brimbank Park track. Good luck to all competitors and a special thanks to Mr Brown, Miss Brown and Mr McCann for their tireless work in training this year’s team to make it the largest and strongest yet. A full report of results will be in next weeks edition. Joshua Seymour and Hannah Taylor Sports Captains

He told us that since coming to Australia he has discovered his freedom and is following his dreams. He believes anything is possible if we put our minds to it. As the next generation of leaders we have the power to change the world one step at a time. By Joanne Tissera In our first workshop we played a game called the “ Life maze”. The object was to find the pattern in the maze that would allow us to escape the problems presented to many of our asylum seekers. It was difficult and rather confusing. We quickly realised how difficult it could be for the many people running away from life threatening situations, especially if they have no time to think or plan their path. The second workshop we attended was a presentation showing us that asylum seekers are people just like you and I but often they don’t get a choice about what they do with their life, it is simply a matter of survival or death. By Alexandra Pritchard and Monica Chol Our first workshop showed us how frustrating it can be for people in detention centres trying to complete the asylum seeker process. We were given forms to fill out that were in different languages yet we were expected to understand what they were asking and to fill out the appropriate sections. It was very difficult and frustrating. The second workshop was about the tutoring scheme that had been set up in Dandenong for speakers of a different language. Again small things can make such a difference to many. By Juliette Campagna and Amelia Williamson

Social Justice news Welcoming the stranger On Monday 22nd April a representative group of students from the Social Justice group travelled to Sienna College Camberwell to participate in the St Vincent De Paul school’s Conference day. The theme for the day was “Welcoming the Stranger”. During the day we took part in a variety of workshops, heard interesting statistics that would dispel many myths about asylum seekers and most importantly listened intently to two amazingly resilient people share their own experiences of seeking asylum in Australia. We went with eagerness and enthusiasm to learn and left with the concept that “ One person can make a difference”. We are a bit like a pebble being thrown into a pond. The pebble is small but the ripple effect of our actions is ongoing and we can see the difference it makes. Margaret Rowe-Watts Below is the feedback from the students regarding their workshops. Nothing really sinks in until you hear it first hand. Among the 230 students at the conference, we were lucky to hear life changing stories from two asylum seekers. Nuwani was a 6 year old girl who fled from Sri Lanka with her mother. They had to flee in order to save their lives as Sri Lanka was experiencing a Civil war. Nuwani and her mother are neither criminals nor queue jumpers as the media would have us believe. They did not come to Australia by boat but by plane, to seek help from the Australian Government. After a tough 14 years of living in fear of getting deported back to Sri Lanka, they eventually became Australian Citizens. However Nuwani told us how difficult it was living on a donation of $25.00 per week from St. Vinnies. As asylum seekers they were unable to work and Nuwani was unable to attend school. The next time you hear or read of these helpless people being accused of things by the media, please remember to be more critical of what you are told as the media often tells a biased or exaggerated story. We were also lucky to hear from Manda, a young Afghanistan boy. He talked about his 'colourless Christmas.' He was in a Syrian detention centre for over 4 years. He was sent to Australia where he now lives freely and studies medicine at Monash University. He has learnt English ( which was excellent) and wants to be a doctor so he can help more people. He told us that he now knows what freedom feels like. Manda for the first time in his life is FREE. He explained that having lived through years of detention centres, his thoughts, ideas and beliefs were constantly suppressed and his mental state was forever being challenged.

Year 11 & 12 Drama Ensemble Performances A reminder from last week’s newsletter that our Year 11 drama class will be presenting their ensemble performances on Wednesday 15th May, at 7.00pm in the Drama Studio. Members of the College community are welcome to attend. This performance may also provide an opportunity for any students in lower years, who think they may choose Drama as a VCE subject, to witness the performance work of our current Year 11’s. As the students performing will be assessed on this same evening, it is imperative that standard theatre etiquette is observed. In line with this, it would be advisable that babies or small children do not attend. Please phone Samantha Frazzetto in the College office to RSVP, prior to the performance evening. The Year 12 drama class will be performing their ensemble performance the following evening on Thursday 16th May, at 7.00pm at Westbourne Grammar School. It would be wonderful to see as many faces from CRC there to support our students. Audience must RSVP to me personally via email to confirm a seat. Again, students will be assessed on this evening, so the same guidelines apply. Clare O'Sullivan VCE Drama cosullivan@crcmelton.com.au CRC Winger Dragon Karate Dojo On Saturday 13th April, Mrs. Alfonsi, Michael Della-Rocca (Yr7) and Sensei James Sghendo, represented our CRC Winged Dragon Karate Dojo in Round One of the National All Styles Tournament at MSAC (Melbourne Aquatic Centre). It was a great day and each walked away having qualified for Round Two which will be held on Saturday 1st June. Mrs. Alfonsi got a gold in her kata and silver in her point sparring. Michael won two golds, for his kata and point sparring and Sensei James, after a gruelling four rounds, a bronze in his sparring. Come and join us at the Winged Dragon, our Dojo operates twice a week in the CRC Hall. For more information please email Mrs Alfonsi: malfonsi@crcmelton.com.au

What’s happening in the future In the coming weeks, the Social Justice group will be participating in an afterschool workshop and will be inducted as a St Vincent de Paul conference group. Jacinta Hoffard from the organisation will be attending and we will be inviting the regional conference leader to attend as well. The purpose will be to hear about the good works of the society and to plan activities and the group’s focus for the year. A sincere thank you is extended to the following students for volunteering their time and for showing commitment and determination to improving the lives of others. Our Social Justice group consists of: Joanne Tisssera – Senior Social Justice leader – Year 12 Amelia Willamson, Monica Chol – Year 11 Anyoup Dau – Year 10 Alexandra Pritchard, Sarah Schembri, Demi Hockaday, Juliette Campagna, Catherine De Luca – Year 9

Scholarship Presentation On Friday 19th April I had the pleasure of attending a scholarship presentation at VUT for two 2012 Year 12 students. Vice Chancellor Peter Dawkins spoke about the achievements of the students and the possibilities that scholarships provide to first year and continuing students. These students are now viewed as ambassadors of the University and the College Community are extremely impressed with the achievements made. We congratulate Loren Horster for being awarded the early achievers scholarship of $5000 for three consecutive years of education and Shauna Roberts for being awarded a University scholarship for $3000. A special thankyou to Pauline Jakobovic who works with students to obtain these scholarships and who organised the attendance at the presentation.

Some interesting facts and food for thought. In 2012 Australia only accepted 9800 asylum seekers – not as many as you may have thought. 56000 people arrived from New Zealand in the same year. The USA accepted 75000 and the UK accepted 25000 asylum seekers. Asylum seekers only make up 4.4% of immigrants. It costs approximately $795 per day to detain people on Christmas Island yet it only costs $339 to house them in Australia. The USA, Canada and the UK have all dismantled their detention centres.

Watch this space for more news in the future.

More pics from the Athletics Carnival

2013 Term 2 May 1st Year 7 Camp - All classes Year 10—12 Drama Excursion 2nd Year 7 Dominic, Mackillop, O’Reilly & Reed Camp SACCSS Senior AFL/Netball Round 2 Year 10 Keys Please Program Parent Information Evening Year 11 & 12—7pm 3rd Year 7 Dominic, Mackillop, O’Reilly & Reed Camp Unit 3 Legal Studies Excursion Year 10 Careers Expo VCE Drama Excursion 6th Business Week Unit 1 & 3 Outdoor Education Camp Staff Professional Learning day—No Classes 7th Business Week Unit 1 & 3 Outdoor Education Camp 8th Business Week Unit 1 & 3 Outdoor Education Camp Year 7 Project Rockit Program Year 10-12 Drama Excursion 9th Business Week Year 8 Project Rockit Program 10th Business Week Year 7 MASP Excursion

Calendar 2013 Term 2 May Wednesday 1st 1.00pm—2.00pm T. Davine P. Searle Wednesday 8th 6.30pm - 7.30pm S. Woods M. Salvatore Wednesday 15th 1.00pm - 2.00pm D. Simpson L. Muscat Wednesday 22nd 6.30pm - 7.30pm N. Woods J. Harvey

Uniform

St. Dominic’s Parish St Anthony’s Parish Parish Priest: Parish Priest: Fr. Michael Moody Fr. Fabian Smith Weekend Mass times: Weekend Mass times: Saturday: 6.00pm Saturday: 5.30pm Sunday: 9.00am & Sunday: 8.30am & 11.00am 10.30am St Bernard’s Parish Parish Priest: Fr. Brian Glasheen Weekend Mass times: Saturday: 6.30pm Sunday: 8.30am, 10.00am

Mass Times

2013 Term 2 May Wednesday 1st Suzanne Smith Thursday 2nd Lisa Trethowan Friday 3rd Cynthia Amor Tuesday 7th Leanne Mugridge Thursday 9th Amanda Deabel Friday 10th Debbie Winzar Monday 13th Lyn Bellin Michelle Vranisic Tuesday 14th Johanna Blain Wednesday 15th Heather Harrison Thursday 16th Linda Tomac Friday 17th Rosa Mirabelli Karen Pawlowicz

Canteen