IONA 11

As we find ourselves in further restrictions and remote learning for our Year 7 to 10s, we are grateful for the wonderful St Columba’s College community which rallied together in Term 2 and will no doubt do the same in Term 3.

Our senior students have been back onsite this week, and have demonstrated an outstanding level of resilience and maturity as they undertake their VCE studies during a lockdown. Teachers across the College have been hard at work this week, to ensure the continuity of studies for those students who will be remote learning from next week. I ask all students to familiarise themselves once again, with the remote learning policies that where put in place in Term 2.

This is a challenging time for all Melburnians, as we find ourselves in midst of a growing number of community transmissions. We encourage all members of the St Columba’s College community to follow the advice of the Premier and Chief Health Officer – please get tested if you have even the mildest of symptoms and ensure you self-isolate; senior students and staff are encouraged to stay home if they exhibit any symptoms; wear a mask where physical distancing is not possible and remember there are only four reasons to leave home: to shop for essentials, to provide care or seek medical assistance, to exercise, or to work or study. Please stay home and stay safe.

Well Done Annie

We offer our congratulations to Annie Jones in Year 7 for her wonderful and polished performance on America’s Got Talent in recent weeks. You can watch Annie’s terrific performance using this link. Well done Annie, you have the support of the St Columba’s College community behind you.

St Oscar Romero Prayer: A Step Along the Way

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent

enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of

saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an

opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master

builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Oscar was Archbishop of San Salvador. He was assassinated on Monday March 24th 1980 as he was celebrating Mass. He embraced a simple lifestyle; he was a popular preacher who responded with real compassion to the plight of the poor.  He gave dedicated pastoral service to the diocese of San Miguel for 25 years – a greatly-admired workaholic in a cassock!

On Sunday July 5th, the Archbishop of Melbourne celebrated and live streamed a special mass commemorating the original date for the beginning of NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week is a week celebrating the culture, identity, history as well as achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme is ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’ which recognises the First Nations People who have been the traditional custodians of this land for over 65,000 years, connected spiritually and culturally to this country. The theme aims to encourage people to see, hear and learn the true history of this country and these First Nations People. It seeks to acknowledge the storytelling, tradition and knowledge of the First Nations People of Australia, celebrating the oldest continuing cultures in the world. Usually, the week’s events begin on the first Sunday of July, however due to COVID-19, it has been postponed to November 8th-15th this year. More details on the celebrations for NAIDOC Week 2020 and activities for the event run by the school will be shared closer to the date.

Quick update for the environment group

From the start of this term, the environment group will be having monthly themes based on environmental issues to explore and focus on. 

Each month we will be finding easy and simple ways, we as a community can do our part to help address the issue. 

This month’s theme is microplastic in keeping with the global Plastic Free July movement. The movement empowers and encourages us to be part of the plastic solution by refusing to use single-use plastic, including from plastic bags, wraps, straws and coffee cups.  At St Columba’s, we want to encourage students to refuse single-use plastics and choose more sustainable options, in the hope of reducing single-use plastic and keeping our streets, oceans and communities clean.

Microplastics are small pieces of plastic that persist in the environment because they are slow, if impossible, to degrade and are often ingested by marine and freshwater animals.  They can be found in cosmetic products and clothing and can form from plastic packaging and tyres.

Stay tuned for the next quick update to see what the environment group does to raise awareness of the use of microplastics.

Over the past month and a bit, your 2020 Student Executive, along with some of St Columba’s’ most tech savvy staff members have been working together to create STC’s very own podcast, Let’s Stay Connected.

For those of you who are unaware, Let’s Stay Connected is a student led podcast, developed during the time of remote learning with the hopes of ensuring that all members of our community would be able to, you guessed it, stay connected, through these unprecedented times.

This podcast, which can be found on nearly any streaming site, is a platform for our whole community to utilise. We encourage and appreciate you sending in your thoughts, questions and even possible topics you’d like us to discuss.

For us, this podcast is seen as an opportunity to not only inform you of upcoming school events, but as an accessible platform which allows us to address current global issues, such as the Black Lives Matter Movement which Ivy, Janeca and Carla focused on in the most recent episode. As a Student Executive, we believe that by being aware of social issues impacting our future, we will not only excel as critical thinkers, but also develop a greater compassion for others and be inspired to use our voices to be advocates for justice.
 

So if you have an extra 15 minutes to spare, we would love for you to go check it out, just search ‘STC Let’s Stay Connected’ on spotify, apple podcasts or just type it straight into Google. New episodes will be released every fortnightly on Thursdays.

A lot has happened this semester in our world, and I would like to take this opportunity to let year 12 families know that the Pathways team are here every step of the way. We continue to support our students on their journey to life beyond the gates of St Columba’s. We continue to be creative in how girls can access support from creating a calendar invite, to having a google meets or when we are at school walking into the pathways centre, so discussions can be continued like they normally would prior to COVID 19. ATAR is just one way for students to access a university pathway and my experience has shown it’s not the only predictor of success. Universities have  recognised many Year 12s have had their year impacted so some of them have created new pathways that offer the current Year 12s further opportunities. The universities still have the Early Entry programs that are now open and students should apply if they are interested in these courses.  Also to help Year 12s prepare for the exam period, universities have introduced free access to hundreds of text guides, practice exams and study notes until the end of the year to help them ace their studies. This will occur differently according to the institute of choice and only occurs when students apply to the early entry programs. Please keep in mind our Virtual Career Expo evening to be held on 21 July, when the Pathways website will be launched. More information will be provided about how the girls will be supported beyond the 30th December.

As students in years 7 – 10 will be learning from home for the next few weeks, Library staff would like to remind them that the website continues to be a great resource! As Stage 3 restrictions continue, we’ll continue to add more great links to Stuff To Suss Out while in Shutdown! 

We’d also like to let students who borrowed books over the holidays not to worry about them becoming overdue – Library staff will renew them until it’s clear you’ll be returning to the school.

Don’t forget – if you need any assistance with anything Library-related, don’t hesitate to email any of the staff members via Contact Us on the website!

To ensure students have been temperature-checked upon entering the school, Sophia Library will be opening each day at 8:15 AM. It will close as usual at 4:30 PM, Monday to Thursday, and at 4 PM on Friday.

We wish everyone well and hope you stay safe!

Due to the current COVID-19 situation and reintroduction of Stage 3 restrictions, the Scholarship Testing date has been rescheduled.

Registration closing date is Friday 21 August 2020

Scholarship testing date is Saturday 29 August 2020

Details about the scholarships on offer and online registration are available on the College website.

Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM) has reviewed the enrolment dates for Year 7 2022 due to the impact of COVID-19.  As a result, the enrolment timeline has been extended with new dates listed below:

• Applications for Enrolment close Friday 9 October 2020
• Offers of Enrolment will be mailed out Tuesday 1 December 2020
• Offers of Enrolment to be accepted/declined by Tuesday 15 December 2020
  

If your daughter is currently in Grade 5 and you wish to enrol her at the College, please ensure you submit an application form by the designated date.

An Application for Enrolment form can be downloaded from the College website or collected from Reception. You can also book in for a virtual tour via the College website.

This edition of the Careers News features :

• Victorian courses
• Interstate courses
• Digital workforce
• University updates
• ATAR notes
• STEM careers
• Virtual events and conferences

Access the newsletter here.

Visit the Pathways website here.