IONA 9

Some Resources to support our young people with phone and social media use

I have been reading a book called “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathon Haidt, and it is well worth the read. The author artfully curates data from hundreds of studies that support the causal link between the mental health and wellbeing decline in our children (girls and boys) and the introduction of smartphone technologies, and for girls in particular, unfettered access to social media. There are resources available on the website linked to the book which you can access here. Some of our staff have also been listening to a podcast interview with the author, which you can access here. He is very hopeful and offers very practical strategies to address the decline – but it does require a collective effort and resolve on behalf of all adults to step in to protect the mental health and wellbeing of our young people. Often easier said than done.

While we have a great phone policy in place, and address related learning in the pastoral care curriculum, the Leadership Team feels that we need to do more in relation to phones, and the Wellbeing Team is currently looking to strengthen our approaches to limiting phone use at school. Watch this space.

The book has a chapter called “Spiritual Elevation and Degradation”, which explores the pervasive sense of anxiety among young people, linked to the psychological impact of constant connectivity, social media comparison, and the fear of failure, leading to a constant struggle for meaning and stability in our ever-changing world.

This search for meaning and stability is part of the work of adolescence and growing up, but it has become more complex in our modern day, where the anchors supporting the search can be shifting, fragile and tenuous.

In one of the mass readings this past weekend (2 Corinthians 5:6-10) Paul says that living in the body means to be exiled from the Lord. As I reflected on this mass reading, and the chapter from the book, I couldn’t help thinking about the connections between the two. In our hyper-connected world, the time to step out of ourselves, find silence and reflection where the spirit can speak, have become rare. It is important that we find the time for ourselves, and our young people, where they can connect with their spirit, and perhaps allow the voice of God to enter their hearts and minds. Both texts emphasise the importance of inner resilience and a forward-looking perspective, suggesting that inner peace and fulfillment come from a focus beyond the immediate, often tumultuous, realities of life.

Progress with the Foxford Innovation Centre

We are excited by the progress being made with the building program. Alongside the building taking shape, staff members have been working on re-designing curriculum at Years 7 and 8 to accommodate the teaching of Food Technology and Materials Technology. The elective program is also being reviewed at Years 9 to 11. We will share these changes with you in the coming months as part of the subject selection process.

To allow work to be done to the new site main switch board, power to the College will be shut off on Monday 1 July, which is the first day of the school holidays. Please note that on this day the school will be closed.

A New Chapter for De Lacy House: Honoring a Legacy of Compassion

On Tuesday 25th June, the De Lacy House community will join together for De Lacy House Celebration Day. This year, the celebrations will not only be for our community, but also for our new House Partner.

St Columba’s College is proud to announce a new House Partnership for De Lacy House with St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne’s Emergency Department. This partnership beautifully connects our school’s history with the ongoing legacy of the Religious Sisters of Charity.

De Lacy House, named after Sister John Baptist De Lacy, has long embodied the spirit of compassion and service. Sister De Lacy, one of the first five Sisters of Charity to arrive in Australia in 1838, played a crucial role in establishing the first St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.

Born Alicia, Sister De Lacy entered the Sisters of Charity in Ireland at 39, specifically to join the Australian mission. As one of the first trained nurses from the Sisters of Charity’s first St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, she brought invaluable skills to her new home.

Sister De Lacy’s work was groundbreaking. Following Mary Aikenhead’s example, she ensured St Vincent’s Hospital accepted patients regardless of culture, color, or creed. She also championed patients’ rights to practice their faith while hospitalised, a controversial stance at the time.

Her life exemplified strong faith, compassion, and determination to bring Christ’s message of love to the sick, the stranger, and those on society’s margins. As De Lacy House transitions from its previous partnership with Briar Terrace, we’re excited to continue Sister De Lacy’s legacy through our new connection with St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne’s Emergency Department.

This partnership encourages De Lacy House members to follow in Sister De Lacy’s footsteps: pursuing dreams, forging new paths, and maintaining steadfast faith in God’s providence. It’s a fitting tribute to a woman who dedicated her life to serving others and a wonderful opportunity for our students to continue her work in a modern context.

PRAYER 

Dear Lord,

May we be inspired by the life of Sister Mary Baptist de Lacy. May we follow her example of courage, determination and strength to face the uncertainties of the world.

May we show this through our brave actions when we are dealing with the unexpected challenges of our everyday lives. May we always work together with faith and wisdom in all that we do.

We pray for the de Lacy community and hope that we shall always walk together in the footsteps of the Sisters of Charity.

Amen.

ST COLUMBA’S DAY – 20 JUNE

Staff and students are looking forward to this significant, upcoming event.

The structure of this day is as follows:

We ask that you please read the information carefully.

Grandparents Day

Please join us for our upcoming Grandparents Day celebrations

Please RSVP here by Thursday 18 July 2024

St Columba’s College and St Bernard’s College are proud to present the eagerly anticipated, Chicago – ‘The High School Edition’ Musical to our College Saturday 20 July!

In the roaring twenties Chicago, Roxie Hart commits a crime and convinces her hapless husband, Amos, to take the rap…until he finds out he’s been duped!

Watch the glitz and glamour come to life on stage – Don’t miss out!

Tickets are now available via the link

 For more information scan the QR code below.

On Thursday, June 6th, the Junior Performing Arts Concert (JPAC) and the Year 7 – 10 Art Exhibition were held at the College, showcasing the incredible talents of our students. The evening began with all Year 7 students performing as a class ensemble, demonstrating their rapid progress in learning their instruments. The Intermediate String Orchestra and Junior Band also performed several pieces they had been rehearsing during lunchtime and after school.

After a short interval, the Year 7 and 8 Dance classes performed choreographed routines in the Hall, and the Year 7 Drama classes presented engaging theatrical scenes in various spaces in Gayip Biik. Guests also enjoyed the Year 7 – 10 Art Exhibition held in the Hall Foyer and Gayip Biik, featuring a diverse range of student artworks across various mediums, including drawings, paintings, ceramic vessels and sculptures, photography, textiles, and digital art.

With over 500 people attending, the evening was a great success, and the students should be proud of their achievements. A big thank you to the Performing Arts teachers; Mr. Clement, Ms. Lai, Miss Trigona, and Miss Linda and all the instrumental music teachers, as well as the Visual Arts teachers; Ms. Boicos, Ms. Breman, Ms. Famularo and Ms. Zouev and the Art Technicians, Emma Ferguson and Keira Hudson, for their preparation and dedication to the evening.

9.6 Urban Experience 

Reflection 1:

At first, I was nervous about Urban. I was uncertain about meeting new people and didn’t think it would be a very good experience overall. When we first met the boys, it was really awkward but it didn’t take that long for Minami and I to get along with them. We worked well as a team and the overall experience turned out to be positive. I especially enjoyed going to the Museum of Chinese Australian History and the Hellenic museum as it was quite interesting. I think that the Urban Experience is a great chance to meet new people and take things into your own hands and learn to shoulder your own responsibilities, as you’ll need it for jobs and work.

Written by Gemma B, Year 9.6

Reflection 2:

When I first heard about Urban, Gemma and I were quick to judge it and think that it wouldn’t be fun. We thought that the boys from St Bernards would be quite annoying. I was quite nervous and uncomfortable with the thought of being shoved into a group with boys I didn’t know, even though I had Gemma with me. When I actually did Urban, it was very different to what I thought, as the three boys in our group, Kristijan, Aiden and Sebastian were all quite nice. All in all, I believe that Urban is a good experience for us, as it is a good chance to become friends with people you wouldn’t meet otherwise, and it allows us to be independent for our own work, which is a skill that we need in the future. At the end of our week, everyone felt that the week wasn’t long enough and that we all wanted to spend more time together as we had a lot of fun during activities like the Amazing Race, the NGV, the Queen Victoria Market,  the Museum of Chinese Australian History (It was very interesting) and also the Old Melbourne Gaol. Overall, it was very fun and interesting. 

Written by Minami M, Year 9.6

O’Brien Celebration Day – 28th May

On the 28th May O’Brien House Captain, Matilda Jeffries and our student House Representatives helped me organise a range of celebratory activities that were held at lunch time, acknowledging the life of our House Patron, Sister May De Sales O’Brien. All O’Brien students were invited to Gayip Biik to witness a reflective liturgy as part of the day. We also enjoyed delicious pizza  and gorgeous chocolate and vanilla cupcakes which were a huge hit. (Some people may or may not have had more than one …)

It was a lovely way to reflect on the life and times of Sister O’Brien. We also acknowledged all the fantastic achievements of the wonderful students in our House, celebrating all sorts of achievements from singing, sports, drama, music to fundraising.

A big thank you to all of the O’Brien House teachers and support staff who came down to assist with the event, especially crowd control as other students were keen to join in the festivities – or food!

O’Brien staff and students walked away with a special bookmark filled with positive affirmations as a reminder of the day.

Our Year 7 students are emerging from sustained efforts to elevate their formal, analytical writing skills in response to the gripping autobiographical novel, ‘The Boy With Two Lives’ by Abbas Kazerooni. With much close reading and scaffolded practice, it is fair to say that the confidence and skills of our Year 7s have greatly improved. Students are planning carefully, experimenting with new vocabulary and learning to structure formal sentences to address the essay question. In this regard, it is encouraging to know that the efforts they have invested so early in their secondary education will have benefits every year right through to Year 12 English.

Congratulations Year 7s and your English teachers for encouraging and supporting your efforts.

Here is a small extract of an Analytical Text Response offered by Willow T of 7.1:

The nurturing care, love and belief from others, despite most of Abbas’ own strength, was extremely critical for initiating his durability. In his extremely dire circumstances, such as nights in peoples’ sheds, or time spent completing illegal, laborious work in the kitchens, it was Mrs Griffiths words that he thought back to. His mother’s utterances of love and affirmation and Nancy’s tenderness that brought him back down to earth and sparked ideas about how to cope with his melancholy life. It was their way of reminding him of raw reality while still soothing his damaged soul. When Mrs Griffiths declared that ‘You cannot stop doing the right thing because your mother made sacrifices for you that caused her pain…you have to make her life mean something’ it remained with Abbas and gave him resolve to carry on. Abbas was alone and had to vigorously fight to stay safe and alive, but he would not have been able to do so without the encouragement of those other people.

Sophia Library Holiday Opening Hours

The Sophia Library will be closed the first week of the July School Holidays. It will re-open to students on Monday 8th July from 10am – 3pm. 

Book Review – The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

By Jonathan Haidt (2024) 

This book is available to be borrowed via the Parent Resource Library. If you have any questions regarding the loan, please contact Ms. Ngaire Brown brownn@columba.vic.edu.au

It can also be purchased from major bookstores.

Jonathan Haidt has recently released The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, after researching the impact of technology on the lives of children and adolescents. The latest psychological and biological research has been used in the text. The book is a great read for parents, guardians and carers of adolescents who are struggling to understand their child’s use of technology, and the anxieties associated with its use. The book also looks at the lack of free play that children and adolescents may experience and how this also affects their mental health. 

Tennis Competition

This year the CGSAV Tennis Competition was cancelled due to extreme heat.
Unfortunately, due to 6 schools being involved, they were unable to reschedule this event for
another date that worked for all involved. Instead, we decided to organise our own
tournament with two other schools, Avila and Catholic Ladies College, at Tennis Courts in
Eltham. This event went ahead on the 17th May involving 17 STC students. It was a fun
round-robin competition which saw us walk away with winning the Senior division – and our
senior singles player, Minuki T, won the award for Senior Player of the Day.
Minuki is in year 12 and this was her 6th year competing and representing the college in
Tennis.

CGSAV Cross Country Competition

Following on from the College Cross Country event, a small team made up of Juniors and
Seniors went on to participate in the CGSAV Cross Country Competition on the 30th May.
It was an extremely windy and slightly cold day but we all gave it our best efforts!
Our juniors, although put in a great effort, were unsuccessful in bringing home an award this
year. But on a brighter note – two of our Seniors, Neive O and Zoe M, placed
in the top ten – leading our Senior team to win the Division 1 Senior Cross Country Award!
Congratulations to all involved.

CGSAV Athletics Competition

This year’s CGSAV Athletics competition was held on a sunny day in May, where we
competed against 8 other schools in division 2. After taking out many 1st, 2nd and 3rd
places – unfortunately our small team came in 5th place for the day.
Well done to all those involved!

CGSAV Football Competition

On the 6th of June we took a junior and senior team to compete in the CGSAV Football
Competition held at Parkville. Division 2 saw some strong competition with both our teams
achieving amazing results.
Our junior team, mainly made up of year 7 students, went undefeated until the Grand Final –
where they just lost by only 4 points to Ave Maria.

Our senior team, although tired and a little battered, went on to win the Senior Grand Final
and take out 1st place – with Sienna R winning the award for the Player of the Match.
All our footballers put in an amazing effort and we look forward to seeing what our year 7’s
can do next year!

Year 7 Basketball Competition

Lastly, is our year 7 basketball competition – which took place a week ago. This was an
extra competition that was organised for our year 7 rep basketball players, since they were
at camp this year when the CGSAV competition took place.
Two teams trained and then competed after school against Penleigh Grammar players at
their Keilor East Campus. It was a fun, social game – full of skill and good sportsmanship.
Although we didn’t win, we are looking forward to seeing these players compete for the
college at the CGSAV competition next year.

Wednesday 19 June – Year 9 Future Directions Seminar

Thursday 20 June – St Columba’s Day – Class Dismissed 2pm

Monday 24 June – Wednesday 26 June – Year 9 Mock Interviews

Tuesday 25 June – de Lacy Celebration Day, End of Term Assembly

Wednesday 26 June – Sunday 30 June – Year 12 Retreat

Friday 28 June – End of Term 2