Newman News Term 1 Week 8: From the Deputy Principal Secondary
This week the Marcellin campus celebrated Harmony Week. We began the week with an online assembly where our Social Justice Captains, Joshua Lee and Isabella Meyer talked about the significance of Harmony Week in Australia. We were reminded that Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country — from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live. Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.
Throughout the PCG this week students were able to participate in activities such as learning simple phrases such as hello, goodbye, please and thankyou in common languages spoken in Australia or discussing the lyrics and themes of cultural diversity through listening to popular songs. PCGs were also able to participate in a Cultural Diversity Challenge where they were encouraged to complete challenges that allowed them to get an understanding of the various cultural heritages within our College Community. On Friday our students participated in a free dress day, where they were encouraged to embrace the Harmony Week theme through their clothing choices. All proceeds for the free dress day will go to our Project Compassion fundraising
Key Dates – 2022
Click here to view the College Calendar.
National Day of Action Against Violence and Bullying:
Last Friday the College acknowledged the National Day of Action against Violence & Bullying. This is a day for schools, students and the community to say Bullying. No Way!
The theme for 2022 is Kindness Culture and last Friday students were encouraged to get involved to foster a Kindness Culture by promoting inclusion, respect and community belonging here at Newman College. Students were encouraged to wear orange hair accessories, jewellery or socks to help spread the Kindness Culture message.
Everyone has a role to play for bullying prevention and showing kindness can be the first step. Our Wellbeing Captains took over our Instagram page for the day and asked students and staff how they create a Kindness Culture through the following ways:
- Tell someone you appreciate their friendship
- Really listen when someone speaks
- Notice what is important to those around you
- Spend quality time together
- Offer to help someone
- Say something uplifting to someone
These small actions can make a big difference, and it starts with each person promoting a Kindness Culture in person or online.
Year 8 Extended PCG – Week 8
Year 8 students were looking at the 2022 Marist theme ‘Known and Loved- Dignity for All’ in Extended PCG this week.
Part of our reflection was looking at the ways school makes students feel known and loved and some ways we could do this better. Students reflected on the activities we do that encourage participation, homework club, celebrating people’s achievements but spoke about how Covid has limited some of the things we do such as inter-school competitions.
From there we focused on human dignity through kindness and created Random Acts of Kindness Calendars for the rest of Lent. The students had a great range of ideas of how to show acts of kindness within their school, family, and neighborhood.
The students are now being challenged to tick off a random act of kindness every day for the rest of Lent, but we hope this becomes a practice they engage in every day moving forward.
Year 7 School Based Immunisation Program 2022
The Department of Health will be at the College on Monday 28 March to vaccinate Year 7 students that have provided their consent form. This vaccination is for pertussis (whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, and human papillomavirus (HPV). The 2nd vaccination will be on Monday 17 October.
Child and Adolescent Health Service – Community Health have confirmed no gap is required between receiving a COVID vaccine and this vaccine. Your child does need to be symptom free and well. Families are reminded that you can take your child to your GP should you prefer. All Year 7 students are permitted to wear their sports uniform on this day.
Principal’s Assembly/Easter Liturgy:
On Wednesday of Week 10, we will hold our Principal’s Assembly. We look forward to celebrating the achievements of our students as we conclude the school term. Our Easter Liturgy will be celebrated during this time. The assembly link will be provided to parents in Week 10.
Year 11 Boys – Future Footy Program
Congratulations to the following Year 11 students who have made it through to the Futures program for their local clubs.
- Mitchell Bell
- Charlie Robinson
- Jaxon Chester
- Tom Cossom
- Reuban Keane
- James Knapton
These young men have been working exceptionally hard over the pre-season for selection into this development program, with their skill and fitness development being significant. There is a lot of excitement around their season and the hope that this is the beginning of really great things for their future football ambitions. We wish this group of Year 11 boys all the best in their upcoming fixtures and we look forward to sharing in their team, and personal successes.
Year 12 Integrated Excursion
On Thursday the 10th of March the Year 12 Integrated Science class attended an excursion to Rottnest Island where they took part in Ecology studies focusing on the many salt lakes and sand dune systems on the island.
The salt lakes cover about 10% of the entire island and represent a harsh environment for many organisms. The Year 12 Integrated Science class spend time measuring various conditions of the salt lakes including pH, and salinity, while also closely observing the organisms which inhabit the salt lake ecosystem. One of the most beautiful features of these lakes is the presence of pink algae which gives lakes their distinctive pink colour.
The Year 12 Integrated Science class also studied the many sand dune systems on the island, completing a dune transect to map how the vegetation and abiotic features of the dune system changed as we moved away from the beach.
Rhyley’s Ride for Canteen
Our Year 11 Romero student, Rhyley Wake, completed a 370km from Perth to Busselton un support for Canteen. Rhyley raised $549 for the Life Cycle for Canteen which supports young people with cancer. This is an outstanding achievement, and we are so proud of Rhyley’s commitment to, and support of those within our community that require much needed support.