Category: Early Childhood

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good: His love endures forever.” Psalms 107:1 

Over the past week, I have met with many families who are looking to enrol their children in Newman College. This has ranged from our youngest students looking to enrol in Kindergarten in 2024 and 2025, right up to students who are looking to enrol in the high school. One of the responses I really enjoy hearing from families is what I really consider the ‘heart’ question: 

What are your hopes and aspirations for your child, and what are the things that are most important to your family? 

In one way, the responses I hear to this question are very different. After all, every family has their own set of values and things they consider important to their children’s future. But in all those responses, I often hear the same things being said: for their children to be happy, to have a supportive friendship group, to have the chance to take part in different experiences, and to be challenged to be the best they can be. 

The vision that we share for our students includes all of these things, and can be summarised in a single sentence – for our children to become good Christians and good citizens. We hope to form our young people into those who can make a difference in our community, inviting them to take part in formal learning through our Religious Education, Eucharistic celebrations, and Youth Ministry experiences that allow them to put both their faith and learning into action. It is both a privilege and a pleasure to be doing such work. 

Altar Servers 

Over the past couple of weeks, a number of our Year 5 students have been taking part in training to become altar servers. This has been supported by our acolyte and RE teacher, Mr Mike Diamond, and our Religious Education Coordinator, Jane Short. It was wonderful to be a part of this process with these students and to see them so willing to serve in our school community –  they have certainly approached their training with a great sense of excitement and enthusiasm. At yesterday’s Community Mass, they were commissioned and officially welcomed into the Ministry team. We wish them all the best in their commitment to the Church.  

Congratulations goes to: Avia Picotti, Mila Picotti, Eva Menzies-Stewart, Siara Henny, Elise Cakar, Arlia Della Franca, and Addison Barr. We look forward to supporting them in their new roles within the College. 

Year 10 Gamechangers and Mini Marists 

This week, our Year 10 Gamechangers group made a visit to the Lavalla campus to meet with our Year 6 Mini-Marists. The theme was ‘Making Connections’, which is all about building relationships and creating kinship across our year levels. Students split up into groups and spent time getting to know each other and reflecting on the different projects they have spent time on this year. They ended the session with a game encouraging students to learn more about each other, which we hope will lead to more opportunities for us to build bridges between the primary and high school. A big thanks to all those students who took part this week. 

St Vincent De Paul Society Christmas Appeal 

This week information will go home to families regarding the annual St Vincent de Paul Society Christmas Appeal. This appeal provides hope, comfort, and dignity to over 3000 families in Western Australia who will be struggling during the Christmas season.  

This year, the College will be supporting the St Vincent de Paul Society at both St Cecilia’s Church in the Parishes of Floreat / Wembley (Primary donations) and Our Lady of the Rosary, Doubleview (Marcellin donations).  Donations can be made at all three campuses by Friday 2 December. Primary donations are to be taken to classrooms or left in administration, and secondary donations can be left in the Champagnat Chapel. 

Information regarding suitable donations will be communicated to families this week. We are very grateful to the support of our community in this important initiative. 

Community Mass 

It has been great to see so many of our students, especially in the Marcellin campus, attending our Community masses over these past few weeks. We warmly invite the entire Newman College Community to gather with us for Mass at 8.10am on Thursday mornings in the Champagnat Chapel. Mass is celebrated by a Priest from a local parish and is hosted by both primary and secondary school students. Please see the upcoming schedule below: 

Week 7: Thursday, 24 November; Romero and Year 4 Green 

Week 8: Thursday, 1 December; Thomas More and Year 3 Blue. 

Key Dates

• Fri 11 November – Remembrance Day.  Poppies are available for a gold coin donation in the main administration office of each campus. 
• Mon 14 to Fri 24 November – Marian and Lavalla Swimming Lessons 
• Thu 24 November – Y7 to 11 Secondary Awards and Principal’s Assembly, 8.45am, Marcellin Gymnasium.   
• Wed 23 November – Y10 River Cruise 
• Thu 24 November – Y11 last day 
• Tue 6 December – Y3 Pizza Pool 
• Tue 6 December – Y6 Mass and Graduation, 5.30pm, Marist Auditorium 
• Wed 7 December – Y4 Pizza Pool 
• Wed 7 December – Kindy to Y5 Awards and Carols Evening (Compulsory Event) 
• Thu 8 December – Y5 Pizza Pool 
• Thu 8 December – Y6 End of Year Celebration, Adventure World 

Welcome to Week 4, can you believe that we are nearly halfway through the final term of the year? Our Year 12 students started their ATAR examinations this week, and our Year 11 Students will join them next week. We wish our students well in their examinations.  

The Primary school staff are working hard to prepare an amazing transition step-up experience for the students later this term. The day will assist with setting the students and teachers up for success in 2023.  We had our incoming 2023 Year 7s join us for a transition evening last week, and the Year 6 Graduation is just around the corner. Newman College continues to be a place that does not stop!  

World Teachers’ Day last Friday, 28 October offered us a chance to acknowledge and celebrate our teachers. The place of teachers in the world cannot be underestimated. They are the professionals that play a significant part in preparing young people for all other professions. The influence of a kind teacher can stretch a whole life long.  A sincere thank you to all our wonderful educators for the work that you do and for going above and beyond for our student community. 

Year 7 2023 Transition Workshop 

Last Tuesday 25 October the 2023 Year 7s joined us for their first workshop. Our Year 10 Peer Mentors and Guild Coordinators assisted in the running of the afternoon, which included afternoon tea and ‘Getting to Know You’ activities. The 2^nd and final workshop is on Tuesday 15 November. The focus will be ‘Getting to Know the School’ and understanding what it means to be a Newman College student. Our Year 7 2023 cohort will learn how to use their locks and practice, using a timetable, getting around the College. The Peer Mentors are looking forward to this second opportunity to get to know our Year 7 2023 students. 

Exams

Students and visitors to the College are reminded that WACE exams are currently taking place and Year 11 exams commence next week.  The final exam date for both is Friday 18 November. We therefore ask you are quiet when walking around the Marcellin Campus, especially around the Auditorium and the Exam Centre.   

NPC Meeting 

The next meeting will take place on Monday 7 November 6.00pm, at St John Henry Learning Hub. This group is critically important in providing input and feedback. We encourage parents to join us at this meeting to gain insight into our school improvement plan and to discuss school concerns.

Visual Arts and Technologies Exhibition – Art Festival 

The festival was a celebration of two spectacular showcases of creative talent.  The Dance showcase opened with ‘Mythos’ on Sunday 23 October with their human storytelling of iconic stories, and on Wednesday 26 October ‘Ignite’ showcased our emerging artists and designers from Kindergarten to Year 12.   We were in awe of our student’s endeavours in painting, printmaking, ceramics, drawing, sculpture, textiles, and woodwork.

Special thanks must go to our Arts Learning Area and staff who worked very hard to put this event together.

New Staff / Staff Movements 

Leader of Wellbeing PK-2: Edwina Battersby  

Leader of Learning Primary K-6: Catherine Young 

Congratulations to both Edwina and Catherine in their new roles. 

Uniform – Bathers and Rash Vest requirements  

As previously communicated, the College has introduced New College bathers and rash vests. In keeping with College uniform expectations, students are required to adhere to the following changes relating to College bathers and rash shirts.  

• Years 1-2: No change. Students continue to wear their own personal bathers and rash vests.  
• Years 3-9 (2022): College bathers and rash vests (old or new) are compulsory.  
• Years 3-10 (2023): New style College bathers and rash vests will be compulsory. No old bathers or rash vests can be worn.  

** Due to stock issues earlier in the year, students in Years 7 to 10 may wear the older version of the College bathers and rash vests for the remainder of 2022. New bathers and rash shirt must be purchased for 2023.   

CODE OF CONDUCT

Dear Parents and Guardians

New Marist Province – St Mary’s Star of the Sea

On 10 May 2021, Br. Ernesto, Marist Brothers Superior General, communicated to the Brothers of the Province of Australia and District of the Pacific that, from 8 December 2022, the two Administrative Units will be the Marist Brothers Star of the Sea Province. The new Province will be formed by ten countries, with all Marist presence in the Oceania continent.

The new Province will be inaugurated on 8 December 2022, during the first Chapter, that will be held in Mittagong, NSW, 8 – 15 December 2022.

The new Province will be a focus of our upcoming liturgies and at one of our Thursday morning Community Masses.

Arts Festival 2022

Last week wound up our tremendous Performing Arts year with the Mythos Dance Showcase on Sunday 23 October and Visual Arts and Technologies Exhibition Opening on Wednesday 26 October.  These came after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Production and our participation in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival.

The impact of COVID-19 during the first half of the year had a significant effect on our Arts scheduling and resourcing.  Notwithstanding, all events have been executed in an outstanding manner and a credit to the Performing Arts Team, led by Yvonne Wiese.  My thanks to all who have contributed to the success of these events – staff (teaching and non-teaching), the significant parent support and of course our outstanding students.

Next year’s events are currently being considered by the Executive.  Our resourcing, staffing and programming requires broad collaboration with respective personnel and decisions will be made and announced by the end of the term.  

Newman Parents Consultative Committee (NPC) Meeting – Monday 7 November, 6.00pm

The final meeting of 2022 will be held on Monday 7 November. The agenda for the meeting will comprise:

• School Update: Capital Works, ASIP Review and General Business
• NPC Update
• Events 2023

John Finneran

PRINCIPAL

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with our aspiring student leaders in Year 5, as they undertook their leadership preparation course before moving into Year 6. While we spent much of our first workshop exploring our understanding of leadership, and the qualities we recognise as important in leaders, in our second workshop we looked at what this means in a Marist community. It was so beautiful to hear students speak about what it means to be a Newman College student, and how the Marist pillars and Mary as our model plays such a significant part in our understanding of what it means to be a student in our community. Please see some of the response’s students shared in our conversations below:

How can we make Jesus real in our community? 

How was Mary a good leader? What can we learn from her? 

Well done to all of our Year 5 students who participated so enthusiastically and wholeheartedly in the student leadership process, and to their Year 5 teachers and Mrs Battersby for their support in their formation. It is very encouraging to know that the future of our community is in good hands. 

Socktober 

Over the past two weeks, our Year 6 Mini Marists in the primary school have been busy raising awareness for Socktober. This is a time of the year when we raise awareness of the large number of children around the world who are living in poverty through the world game of soccer. Students have been spending their lunchtimes making their own soccer balls from string and plastic bags, and on Friday, students right across the Lavalla campus had the chance to play with these at lunch, sparing a thought for those who so often go without. We also held our traditional staff vs students game which ended in a 1-1 draw. It was great to see so many students enjoying themselves on Friday, and we owe a big thanks to Mrs Jane Short and our Year 6 Mini Marists for leading this initiative. 

Game Changers Wind-up Gathering 

After another great year of building Game Changers, we finished off the Year 11 meetings with an All-Year Wind up. Students from Game Changers groups in years 7-11 had a terrific time bowling, eating pizza and drinking soft drink while attempting to score a strike. Although few strikes were actually made, the students clearly had a great time and really connected and celebrated a great year. There was inter-year group mingling and sharing of fun and challenging experiences the year had held for them. Year 7-10 will continue to have meetings in Weeks 6 and 8, where they will get involved with 24/7 Youth Ministry and plan out their initiatives for next year. 

I would like to sincerely thank all the teachers who have volunteered their time to mentor our students; Matt Box, Albert Zollo & Jade Nicotra, Jordan Coveney, Chris James, Bonnie Keynes, and Adeline Hendriks. Their unwavering commitment makes each meeting worthwhile and enjoyable for those involved. I would also like to thank Issy Ochtman, and previously Liam Street, as our Marist Regional Assistant and their running of our retreats and camps, Br Paul for helping and being our bus driver, and lastly, Amanda Redwood for all the behind-the-scenes organisation and planning aid. We are fortunate to have the support and assistance of such a great team! 

Mrs Aleisha Bryson (Leader of Youth Ministry & Advocacy) 

Year 10 Game Changers Retreat 

The Year 10 LaValla retreat day was all about our students discovering their personal True North! What are our future aspirations? How are we heading there? Who is guiding us? We also looked at understanding, empowering, and creating meaningful relationships with the people around us through social justice. This led us to discussions on what are some of the things we can do this year and next in the way of social justice and community service. Out of this came the plan to visit our Mini Marists in Lavalla Week 6, something our Year 10s are very much looking forward to. Next year we have the intention of continuing these visits, as well as bake sales, immersions, and involvement in the wider community, stay tuned to see how it all plays out in 2023! 

Community Mass 

It was great to welcome so many of our students and their grandparents to our community mass last week – thank you to everyone who attended in support. We warmly invite the entire Newman College Community to gather with us for Mass at 8.10am on Thursday mornings in the Champagnat Chapel. Mass is celebrated by a Priest from a local parish and is hosted by both primary and secondary school students. Please see the upcoming schedule below;

Week 5: Thursday, 10 November; Marcellin and Year 4 Red, Monsignor Kevin Long

Week 6: Thursday, 17 November; MacKillop and Year 4 Blue, Fr Ruben Cardona