20 March 2020

20 March 2020 Janelle Agius – Principal Dates to remember The coronavirus (COVID-19) is continuing to be a growing concern for health authorities worldwide and we are seeing MARCH 2020 examples in a number of countries of its health, social and 30-31 Year 12 Exams economic impacts. 31 Rats of Tobruk Ceremony APRIL 2020 1-3 Year 12 Exams Catholic Education – Diocese of Rockhampton is actively planning to manage the 10 Good Friday implications of this virus for our schools, kindergartens and services. While we hope to 11 Easter Saturday be spared the worst aspects of this health emergency, we must nevertheless be 12 Easter Sunday prepared for the challenges ahead. Advice has been provided to all schools, 13 Easter Monday kindergartens and services on the measures that we are taking as part of our duty of 20-24 Year 12 Industry Placements care and commitment to the safety of all members of our communities. 25 ANZAC Day Effective Hand Hygiene Is Vital MAY 2020 As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve, it is important to remember that 4 Labour Day Holiday effective hand and sneeze/cough hygiene is the best defence against viruses and can 5-6 Year 12 Retreat help prevent the spread of illness. 6-8 Year 11 Foundations of Learning Retreat Lead by example and encourage your children to: 14 Parent/Teacher Interviews • wash their hands regularly with soap and water, before and after eating, and 15-17 Catholic Education Youth after going to the toilet Pilgrimage • use alcohol-based hand sanitiser if soap is not available 18-22 Year 11 Exams • cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the inside of their elbow 22 Mackay Catholic Debutante Ball • dispose of tissues in the bin immediately 29 College Photos • if they’re unwell, stay at home and avoid contact with others such as touching, JUNE 2020 kissing or hugging. 1-5 Year 11 Industry Placements Starts Check out the 20 second routine video for effective handwashing. 4 Introduction to Senior Schooling 13 90 Year Celebrations 18 Mackay Show Public Holiday NUMBER FOR SMS The number to send SMS Messages regarding student absence is 0416 906 288 Mocktail Friday 13 March, our Year 12 students along with those from other schools and colleges in the region celebrated Mocktail at the MECC. Students attending had a wonderful time. I wish to thank staff of the College who assisted with supervision on the night. The Mocktail is run by a community organisation for the benefit of all Year 12 students in the region. All schools in the region appreciate the efforts of the Mocktail committee. Profits made from this function are distributed to local charities and organisations. St Patrick’s Celebrations On Tuesday, we celebrated St Patrick’s Day with lunch time activities in St Pat’s Square. Thank you to Mr Stephen Mortimer, Mrs Kelsey Wallace, Mrs Deborah Millar and our Facilities Department staff for organising the activities. St Patrick is credited with the conversion of Ireland. The Church in Ireland, has had a huge impact on the Church worldwide, but particularly in Australia through the work of various missionary orders from Ireland. At St Patrick’s College. we celebrate the heritage of the Christian Brothers and the Mercy Sisters which were both founded in Ireland in the nineteenth century. The Mercy Sisters and the Christian Brothers have both conducted schools on our site. 2020 Next Step survey The Queensland Government is conducting its annual statewide survey of all students who completed Year 12 in 2019. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12. Between March and June, all our students who completed Year 12 last year can expect to receive instructions to complete a web-based survey or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office. Please encourage them to take part. If their contact details have changed, please assist the interviewer with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate. Thank you for your support of the Next Step survey in 2020. Further information on Next Step is available online at www.qld.gov.au/nextstep or on toll free telephone 1800 068 587. 2020 Macrossan and Amiet Mackay Eisteddfod A reminder that entries for the Mackay Eisteddfod are now open for both August and October events, and can be completed online. Go to the website at https://mackayeisteddfod.com.au/ for the full schedule (under resources). Link to Website to Enter https://comps-online.com.au/Competition_Home.aspx?Organiser=OR000064 If you have any questions, please feel free to email the Mackay Eisteddfod on [email protected] or call during office hours (Tuesday and Thursday mornings 9:00am to 12:30pm. Entries close Wednesday 13 May (no late entries). Own Choice Dates All Own Choice material must be submitted at the Mackay Eisteddfod Office 39 Gordon Street Mackay. During Own Choice Week – • Friday July 31st 9am – 5 pm • Saturday August 1st 9am – 5 pm • Sunday August 2nd 9am – 2 pm Forms needed for own choice can be downloaded from the Mackay Eisteddfod website. Page | 2 International Women’s Day Business Lunch On Sunday 8 March the International Women’s Day Lunch was hosted by the Mackay Zonta Club, where the entrants, finalists and winners of the Young Women in Public Affairs Competition were announced. Zonta is an international and local women’s service organisation that seeks to empower women both locally and internationally. The Zonta Young Women in Public Affairs Awards recognises the service work of students throughout the Mackay region. The College has a proud history in this competition, as it encourages young women to play a full role in community service work, volunteering and supporting overseas aid programs. This work represents part of our wider ethos as a Catholic school community and our social justice work with organisations such as Caritas. Zonta Club members Melanie Weston, Kamiah Grigg and Ashlyn Sammut, along with Mrs Deborah Weston, Mrs Juliene Benson and College Principal Mrs Janelle Agius attended the lunch. This year, we acknowledge the extensive applications of Kamiah Grigg and Ashlyn Sammut . We congratulate Kamiah Grigg, who placed as one of five finalists and Ashlyn Sammut who placed as runner-up recognition of their truly outstanding service contributions in our community. On behalf of the students, their families and the College, we would like to thank the Zonta club of Mackay, the tireless volunteers, and all sponsors of this event for their continued support, including Jennifer from The Tax Store Mackay who kindly sponsors our student’s tickets to the event. Exams, Assignments and Study In this period leading up to the Year 12 exams which begin shortly, it is important that students begin to study at home more intensely than they may have done previously. Some students will struggle with this, but they should be studying about 2.5 hours per week for each ATAR subject and 1 to 1.5 hours per week for VET subjects. If students are having difficulty studying at home, they could make use of the library before and after school or on Saturday. Some students will need to do short intense bursts of study of around 20 to 30 minutes at a time. The problem with this can be the potential for long gaps in between bursts. They will most likely need encouragement to get back to their work. Doing this they can achieve quite a bit of study and over time increase the bursts and reduce the gaps. The exam timetable is available on the College website and on page six of this newsletter. Students need to pay close attention to the times of their exams and attend in full College uniform with appropriate equipment. Page | 3 Sean Geoghegan – Deputy Principal A time for discipline – remember HMS Birkenhead Kent Nerburn in his book ‘Letters to my son’ wrote a chapter dedicated to tragedy and suffering. In that chapter he states: “Tragedy and suffering will come to you. You cannot insulate yourself from them. You cannot avoid them. They come in their own season and in their own time.” He goes on to say that the great lesson of suffering comes from the fact that when all is going well, our world is a small controlled experience bounded by our daily necessities. Going to Canelands, completing or marking an assignment, mowing the lawn – these are the levels of concern that occupy our daily lives. When tragedy and suffering come swooping in, they are unexpected, unforeseen, unprepared for. They shatter our tiny boundaries and break our world into pieces. There can be little doubt that the contagion of the Coronavirus will sorely test us in the days to come, but the most important lessons that our children will internalise, is how the adults around them reacted and dealt with such adversity. What kind of example will we set for them? It does not look promising. There are so many examples of acts of extreme selfishness, with people hoarding items and stripping supermarket shelves bare. The story of the discipline of the soldiers and sailors on HMS Birkenhead in the 1800s inspired an entire generation of Victorian Englishmen, on the virtues of discipline. For those unfamiliar with the story, the sinking of the royal navy ship HMS Birkenhead in 1852, was a maritime disaster during which the conduct of the passengers, which included British soldiers, sailors and civilians became legendary.

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