WELCOME BACK
Welcome back to all students and families to the commencement of Term Four. What an unexpected and atypical year it has been! We hope everyone is faring as well as they can.

It was great this week to have some more normality with students in Years 7-10 returning to Sport activities and MISA Trials on Tuesday. Our students in Year 11 also have, unless involved in MISA, the opportunity for study and revision.

Additionally, it is pleasing to be able to start planning more extra-curricular activities for 2021.

In the meanwhile, I urge all to continue to abide by NSW Health recommendations and exercise social distancing, hand sanitising and appropriate measures to keep any community transmissions of COVID-19 at bay.

HSC EXAMINATIONS
We congratulate our Year 12 students on the way in which they concluded their formal studies. HSC Examinations will commence on Tuesday and we wish each student all the very best in their final planning, study and preparations. It is only natural to have a degree of nerves going into examinations, but we do recognise the significant amount of work and effort that has gone into this very mixed year with so many implications and consequences due to COVID-19.

See the prayer below which is for our Year 12 2020 students.

TELL THEM FROM ME (TTFM) SURVEY

As a part of our College’s focus on effectiveness and improvement, we will be participating in an online survey for students, staff and parents/carers. The survey, “Tell Them From Me” (TTFM), will be utilised across all Catholic secondary schools in the Wollongong Diocese and will provide our College with valuable feedback on key aspects of school life. 

During the next two weeks students in Years 7-11 will be given the opportunity and time to participate in this survey during regular school hours. Students will be given a random username and password to access and complete the survey online. Students’ names cannot be linked to their responses which allows it to be completely anonymous. Results will show all student scores combined together – it is not possible to single out individual students in the results. Similarly, parents/carers will have an opportunity to access this anonymous survey – and a link will be made available through a Compass Notification early next week.

The survey takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. The survey measures include such topics as emotional and social well-being, physical health, and behaviours and attitudes linked to student success. The survey also allows students to give their thoughts and feedback in open-ended question responses.

I thank you in advance for your assistance in helping us reflect on what we are doing well, what we can do more of and what we might do less of. If you have any queries about this survey, please contact me through the College Office.

PRAYER FOR OUR YEAR 12 STUDENTS

A Prayer for our 2020 Year 12 HSC cohort  

Dear Lord, we ask you to bestow Your blessings on our 2020 HSC students as they ready themselves for their upcoming HSC Examinations.

2020 has already presented incredible challenges with bushfires, floods and COVID-19, so we ask that You continue to bless them in their time of need and keep them close to Your heart as they move into this significant part of their academic journey.

May they have the confidence required to give their best in examination situations.

May their reserves of resilience, as they have demonstrated time and time again this year, be matched by unwavering focus and diligence.

Allow them to call on the College’s values of a love of learning and desiring for their personal best when things get difficult.

Provide our 2020 HSC cohort with the ability to be discerning and structured in their planning. 

May they find solace in their Lord and be enriched by the knowledge that the Lord is an abundant source of love and hope.

May their faith and piety give them the strength to face the challenges of this examination period and attain their personal best 

We ask this through Christ Our Lord.

• Amen