Category: Secondary

Literacy Collective

One the most pleasing outcomes of the development of Shine through Discovery – Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16) has been the alignment of the PK-12 College. Four years on, we are more connected than ever in the faith and learning continuum from the sandpit of Marian Campus to the Siena Learning Centre at Marcellin.

This was highlighted this week at our College Staff Professional Learning Meeting. A key strategic priority of our Annual School Improvement Plan is to implement a coherent sequenced based framework for Literacy PK-12.

This year each teaching unit in the Primary School and faculty in the Secondary School have been collaborating to achieve this strategic priority. This has been supported by a wider Catholic Education WA (CEWA) initiative called the Literacy Collective where staff have received professional learning on the use of student data to improve literacy outcomes. The primary beneficiary of this project has been the increased student engagement in literacy and overall experience of learning.

The teaching staff presented their strategies at the meeting with video footage of our students and their response to this program. Their voice articulated a more collaborative engagement in their learning in the comprehension of functional and critical literacy. An example of this is demonstrated in our PK-2 Program. Click here to watch the video.

As a teacher, the benefits of this project have been in the enthusiasm and commitment of our teaching staff to align and collaborate in our professional practice. In the Primary school this has been exemplified by the introduction of guided planning in each unit to ensure a consistency of approach in each class across each year group.

Our staff and students have developed a culture of presentation as a consequence of our Vision for Learning. We have deprivatized our classrooms, seeking to be more accountable, opening up our practice for critique with a view to support each individual student in their learning pathway. Staff are to be commended on this development and we look forward to our students bearing the fruit of their work.

Proposed International Marist Education Network

Globally, the Marist family is exploring the concept of an International Marist Schools Network. Echoing calls from the last Marist General Chapter held in Colombia in 2017 and the Marist International Mission Assembly held in Kenya in 2014, a group has been convened of Marists in leadership positions from different regions throughout the world to lead a process of consultation and discernment.

On the Feast of the Assumption 2019, people working in and associated with Marist schools in 80 countries across the globe are invited to respond to a short survey which has been translated into the four major language groups used by Marists: English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Marist educators throughout the world are being invited to:

• imagine the reality of an international network of Marist schools as a global family with an evangelizing action rooted in the world of school and education;
• explore together the benefits this could bring to the children and young people whom Marists serve, as well as to their families.

Parents and Guardians are being invited to complete a short online survey. The survey has ambitious participation targets, which underscore the critical importance of every Marist educator’s voice – 100% of Marist Principals, 100% of Marist teachers and staff, 15% of students, 5-10% of parents, and an open invitation to all Marist Brothers and those Marist lay teachers who have moved to new employment or have retired. Similar to our own Australian Plenary Council consultation, the data gathered will be processed through computerised qualitative research tools, in this case undertaken by the internationally renowned Creativity Laboratory at the Marist University in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

I therefore invite parents and guardians to participate in the survey which will be open until 15 October 2019. Please click here to access the survey.

PK-6 Assumption Day Lapathon

Congratulations to all students, families and friends of the Marian and Lavalla Campuses who came together to raise $10,307.15 as part of the annual Assumption Day celebrations and Lapathon.

Each dollar raised from the Lapathon will be directed towards supporting the Kuya Centre for Street Children in the Philippines. The Kuya Centre is visited each year by the Year 11 Marist Association of Western Australia (Newman College and St Joseph’s, Northam) Philippines Immersion. In 2019, our students and staff attending this immersion will present this donation to the Director of the Kuya Centre, Sr Kate O’Neill. You can learn more about the work of the Kuya Centre and Marist Solidarity Australia below:

• The Kuya Centre for Street Children (Marist Solidarity Australia website)
• The Kuya Centre for Street Children (organisation website)

Building Bridges Interfaith Dialogue 2019

Each year, students in Year 11 are invited to participate in the Building Bridges project. The ‘Building Bridges: Interfaith Dialogue in Schools’ Program promotes mutual understanding and respect and ethical behaviour across our cultural and religious diversities, to develop competent global leaders for the 21st century.

A special thank you to Mrs Jenny Lindsay and Mr Michael Diamond who have supported our students in participating in each of the workshops in 2019. The final workshop was held on Friday 13 September. Congratulations to all students involved.

Click here to learn more about the Building Bridges Project.

The following students were involved in Building Bridges 2019:

Alistair Sutherland, Alyssa Wardle, Ben Carr, Callum Hawkins, Chloe Burrill, Hannah Inamac, Harry McGuire, James Ganfield, Judd Hely, Kate Islip, Keelan Tear, Lachlan Melville, Lachlan Richardson, Louis du Puisson Perine, Luca Bevan, Olivia Keet, Phoebe Davis, Sam Adriansz, Tahlia Harvie and Zoe Kendall.

Caritas Australia

On Wednesday 11 September, Newman College welcomed Deacon Paul Reid (Diocesan Director of Caritas Australia) to visit the Marian, Lavalla and Marcellin campuses to thank our students and staff for their generous support of the 2019 Caritas Australia. Newman College raised the highest total of any school community in Western Australia with a total of $19, 254.74. Congratulations and thanks to our students, parents and staff.

Remar Blue Solidarity Camp

The Remar Blue Solidarity camp ran from Wednesday 28 August to Tuesday 3 September in Mullewa, Western Australia, a small farming town 470km North-East of Perth. Following preparation sessions, the students lived and worked alongside the community of Mullewa, where they had a packed itinerary that involved various services to the Mullewa community including helping to host their annual Agriculture and Wildflower Shows, working with the students at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary School and hosting their school disco. Click here to read more and see more photos from the camp.

Weekly Thursday Morning Community Mass (Champagnat Chapel – 8.10am – 8.35am)

All parents, guardians and families across our PK-12 College are invited to attend the weekly Thursday morning Mass. Our weekly Newman College Community Mass is an important way that we as a Catholic community seek to nourish and live-out our faith in community with one another.

AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC YOUTH FESTIVAL

The Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) is a national gathering of Catholic young people established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC). It exists to provide young Australians with opportunities to deepen their relationship with Jesus, be empowered to be disciples in the world today and encounter and celebrate the vitality of the Church in Australia. This year the ACYF will be held in Perth between 8 – 10 December. Young people between the ages of 14 and 35 from around Australia will be invited to:

• Participate in high-quality formative and experiential opportunity for young Catholics to encounter Jesus Christ, in the context of the Catholic Church in Australia;
• Listen to and discuss the issues and challenges in the lives of young Catholics in Australia;
• Engage with local examples and connections of vocations, social action, liturgy and prayer, Catholic music and faith formation.

Students in Year 9 from the College will be invited to apply to attend ACYF. This event will take the place of the Remar Embarkation Camp this year.