13TH SEPTEMBER, 2017

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Upcoming events for

your Calendar …...

SEPTEMBER

Wednesday 13th

Year 7 Disco 6-8pm

De La Salle Catholic College Hall Caringbah

Friday 15th

NSWCCC Athletics

Thursday 21st

Year 8 Cricket Day

Wednesday 20th

MERCY DAY MASS St Aloysius Church Cronulla @ 10am

OLMC Commerce

Market Day

Friday 22nd

OLMC’s Got Talent (mufti dress)

LAST DAY OF TERM 3

Inside this Issue Thought for the Week…..

Father & Daughter BBQ Breakfast 3

From the Leader of Teaching & Learning 5-8

From the Assistant Principal 9

From the Leader of Religious Educ. 10

From the Leader of Wellbeing 11

From the Science Department 13

From the HSIE Department Duke of Edinburgh News

14

Year 9 Interaction Day Report 15

From the MAG Coordinator Youth Forum News

16

Extracurricular News 17

Sport News 18

OLMC’s Got Talent 19

Education Council—Info for Parents and Carers 12

* MISERICORDIA SUB TUUM PRAESIDIUM * Mercy Under Your Protection O Holy Mother of God

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FATHER & DAUGHTER BBQ BREAKFAST On Wednesday 30 August we enjoyed a great morning for the Father & Daughter BBQ Breakfast. This morning en-abled the girls to give their dads a special Father’s Day gift –time together. The girls and their dads mingled with other families around the College Amphitheatre and pool while enjoying breakfast. In this newsletter we have included photos of the morning and the drone footage taken can be ac-cessed on the College Website. Thank you to head cook, Mr Donnelly, assisted by Mrs Christine Harding, Mrs Laura O’Donnell, Mrs Diane White, Mrs Jacqueline Thompson and Mrs Letitia Layton. Thank you also to our Year Coordinators and members of staff who joined us. Congratulations to our Raffle prize winners: 1st Prize—50th Anniversary Sharks Football signed by Paul Gallen Chris Erickson 2nd Prize—Sydney Explorer Family Pass Barry Munns 3rd Prize—$50.00 Voucher The Italian Bowl Charlotte Rainnie 4th Prize—$50.00 Voucher The Italian Bowl David Cantlon

PARENT ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING Thank you to the parents who attended our last parent Advisory Council Meeting held in the College Boardroom; Mrs Kara Fitzgerald (mother of Charlotte Rainnie—Year 7) and Mrs Sylvia Eleftheriades (Mother of Melissa Eleftheri-ades—Year 9), Helen Cracknell (mother of Lara Carroll—Year 9) and Katrina Munns (mother of Amy Munns—Year 9) RESOURCES FROM YEAR 9 PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT Mr Craig Mooney, Principal of De La Salle College, Cronulla, spoke at the start of the term to Year 9 parents regard-ing the process of enrolment for Year 11 and 12. He offered his slides as a resource for families to continue the discussion around goalsetting, subject pathways and selections as well as the guidelines for benchmarks for partic-ular subjects. They can be found at the following link or at the following url: http://tinyurl.com/yd58o3k6

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Southern Region office offers a fantastic opportunity for Parents to attend a free course to enable parents to identify the signs of mental illness amongst young people and what to do in a mental health cri-sis situation. The course is run out of our Southern Region Office in Revesby and across three days and is FREE. The course will equip you with the language skills to help build a conversation about the men-tal health and what to do to help family and friends cope when you see symptoms of illness arise. It is available to all parents of children at a Catholic school. If you are interested please contact the school off for enrolment details.

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SENTRAL PARENT PORTAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA At OLMC we see parents and ourselves as partners in the learning and faith development of our students, Foster-ing relationships, effective communication and information sharing are paramount to achieving this partnership. Learning, pastoral, cultural and sporting experiences foster the relationships between the staff and students. We hope by increasing the interactions between staff and parents that these relationships will grow too. Parents may have noticed an increase in invitations to school events. This is so that parents can be more involved in what we do. Effective communication means that communication is transparent, honest and two way, and that you can reach us. Please do not hesitate to contact the College to share with us good news, concerns or to get an update on how you daughter is progressing. OLMC uses Sentral Education as its Student Information System. It is within this program that we record attend-ance, share school reports and NAPLAN results, and school news. To enhance communication we will be opening the Parent Portal allowing parents access to this information. An email will be sent to parents before the end of term inviting them to access the portal. Please let us know if you have recently changed your email address. Our Lady of Mercy Catholic College Burraneer provides a myriad of rich learning, pastoral, cultural and sporting opportunities for our girls. Some of these parents would be familiar with. To increase the information sharing we have moved to social media: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, whilst maintaining our regular College Newsletter. I invite you to read Mr Juan Gonzaga’s newsletter article, “From the Leader of Teaching and Learning” and encour-age you to follow us on social media. We have included some of our posts in this newsletter. We will also have a Twitter feed on our Website for those who prefer not to be on social media.

Ms Gilda Pussich Principal

FROM THE LEADER OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

OLMC on Social Media The OLMC College Community is invited to follow the College on any of three social media platforms to keep up-to-date with the many learning experiences and pro-jects, excursions and events in which the students take part. It is intended not only as a showcase of our stu-dents’ work, but also the appreciation of the varied ac-tivities provided for the students on a day-to-day ba-sis. Teachers are invited to submit photos to upload and this is approved by the College Leadership Team.

On Facebook, the newest platform the College has joined, the page can be found at @OLMCBurraneerOfficial

On Instagram, which we joined at the beginning of this semester, the handle is @olmcburraneer

The College has had a Twitter feed for a number of years, but this was revitalised at the beginning of 2017. The handle is @InfoOLMC.

The College will continue to communicate with the OLMC community through regular newsletter articles, Skoolbag alerts and emails. These a merely additional ways that we may keep our families in contact with the College and engage with the wider community. With our engagement with social media come rights and responsibilities. Many of these are bound by the terms and conditions of each social media plat-form. However, the College also is mindful of the safety and security of the students. The College’s policy on Facebook is as follows:

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The College is aware of the requirements of many so-cial media platforms for members to have a mini-mum of age of 13 years. In addition, as part of the Pastoral Care program, the students are educated on their responsibilities, cybersafety and ‘netiquette’ - how to behave appropriately when using social me-dia.

Social Media Posts

FROM THE LEADER OF TEACHING AND LEARNING (Continued)

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FROM THE LEADER OF TEACHING AND LEARNING (Continued)

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FROM THE LEADER OF TEACHING AND LEARNING (Continued)

Juan Gonzaga Leader of Teaching and Learning

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FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Mercy Day An important day for our College is Mercy Day, Wednes-day 20th September. Students will meet at Monro Park at 9:30am for a 10:00am Mass at St Aloysius, Cronulla. The girls will then be required to walk back to school with their teacher where they will enjoy activities in the afternoon. Full summer school uniform is required to be worn to Mass. On return to school, the students may change into their sports uniform or mufti, following the theme of the letter B. The girls will be dismissed at 2.30pm and school buses will arrive at the normal time. Uniform The transitional period of uniform continues until Mercy Day, Wednesday 20th September. On Mercy Day it is expected that all students wear their full summer uni-form. Many students have grown over the winter months and require their summer uniform hem to be let down. Uniform length should be at the knee, please check your daughter’s uniform length. The red jumper is not part of the College summer uniform. The College blazer is worn as the outer garment at all times. Attendance As we are moving toward the end of Term 3, the attend-ance rates for students are being reviewed. Numerous students have been arriving at school late (after period 1 has begun 8.40am). Students who arrive late to school are required to sign in at Student Services. The expectation is that if a student is late they bring a signed note from a parent/guardian. An Unexplained late start to the day, will incur a lunchtime detention.

Top Tips for Parents to

manage children’s technology use

Parents are often at a loss about how to manage the amount of time children spend using technology. This is becoming particularly difficult as students are required to not only undertake their research electronically, but also to complete their work online. It can be hard to tell whether your daughter is doing legitimate work, or work-ing legitimately with “study buddies” online, or whether or not they are getting distracted with gaming, social media and the like. Following are the top five tips from Dr Prue Salter to help you manage your daughter’s technology use.

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1. Model good technology behaviour Parents are the number one role model for stu-dents. If you are always on your phone, ipad or com-puter, even if it’s for work, you are sending the mes-sage that this is appropriate. Make sure you regular-ly take time to “unplug” and demonstrate that it’s more important to engage with people than technol-ogy. For example turn off your phone when you are having family time (even for a short burst) or rather than watching a family movie, organise a family out-ing. 2. Monitor technology use If you aren’t sure what your child is doing when they are on the computer (homework or something else), then move the computer to where you can monitor what they are doing. This can be difficult depending on your family and space available. If it’s not possi-ble to move the child/computer, consider doing quiet activities in the space they are using, such as reading or ironing, to monitor their use. 3. Centralise storage of handheld devices Have a rule that all handheld devices are stored in the one place (along with their chargers) so when it’s not an approved technology time, the device is away and not causing a distraction. 4. Use parental controls to block particular sites Parental controls are useful to block particular web-sites which have inappropriate content or which your child gets easily distracted by. The Australian Gov-ernment’s CyberSmart program makes various rec-ommendations http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Parents/About%20the%20technology/Parental%20controls.aspx 5. Change the WiFi password If nothing else works, and your child is constantly on social media or surfing the net, consider changing the WiFi password. Whilst it’s an extreme measure it is sometimes useful as a reminder that there are other things that need to be done.

Digital License Since the beginning of Term 3, Year 7 students have begun working through the eSmart Digital License pro-gram, designed to teach students how to be smart, safe and responsible online. The program contains 8 modules which students have been working through during LAUNCH lessons. Each of these lessons are fo-cused around informing students of important infor-mation and providing guidance and skills to support them in their online activities. I encourage parents and carers to have a discussion with your daughter about this program and the information they are learn-ing. Enjoy the beginning of Spring.

Christine Harding Assistant Principal

The Sydney Catholic Schools Religious Education Test will be taking place this Wednesday October 11 2017 (Week 1, Term 4), with all students in Years 8 and 10 taking part. The questions are designed to assess knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith as taught in Catholic Secondary schools. Questions are based on the Stage 4 (Years 7 and 8) Religious Education curriculum for the Year 8 test and Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) Religious Edu-cation curriculum for the Year 10 test. The test will con-sist of 50 multiple-choice questions and will be scored out of a possible 50 marks. Educational Assessment Australia (EAA) of the University of New South Wales will mark the test, analyse the results and produce the reports and certificates that will be issued to our stu-dents. Students will require the following equipment for the test:

a 2B pencil an eraser; and a sharpener.

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FROM THE LEADER OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Mrs Letitia Layton Leader of Religious Education

The Religious Education Test is an assessment of and for learning and will provide valuable information regarding your child’s understanding of the Catholic faith and their overall progress in Religious Education. Each Religious Education class has been undertaking their own revision during the time leading up to the test. Students can access the past test questions at https://reonline.sydcatholicschools.nsw.edu.au/re-test-year-8/ for Year 8 and https://reonline.sydcatholicschools.nsw.edu.au/re-test-year-10/ for Year 10, to help them revise.

Feast of the Nativity of Mary

On September 8 we celebrated and honoured the birth of Mary. This feast began in Jerusalem around 600 CE. The Catholic Church celebrates the birth of Mary because of her important role in the history of the Catholic faith. This day is traditionally used as a special opportunity to cele-brate Mary, the Mother of Jesus and to pray for a deeper peace in our world.

Last week was National Child Protection Week. It was a great opportunity for everyone in our school community to think about how we can work together to keep our students safe. Some of the things we have been doing at school this Term include providing a varie-ty of guest speakers and inter-active shows for each Year group focusing on how to stay safe online in the cyber world. The students have developed an understanding of the implications of their actions online and the importance of frequently checking their privacy settings as well as considering the consequences of their actions online. As part of our Pastoral Program the students have also learnt about Protective Behaviours and how their body can give them some early warning signs that they could be in danger and to act on these warning signs.

In our VHR classes Homeroom teachers are building positive relationships with the students in their class. By being approachable and listening to them, they show their students that they are important and that teachers care. The students also have a good net-work of people within the College who can assist stu-dents which include their Year Coordinator, classroom

FROM THE LEADER OF WELLBEING teachers, the Leader of Wellbeing and other members of the College Leadership Team and the College Counsellor. In PDHPE students in Years 7 & 8 have also been learning about places they can go to for help in the community and online if they are feeling unsafe or unhappy. Recently during a Pupil Free Day, one of our students was followed by a stranger. She bravely and sensibly respond-ed to the situation to ensure her own safety. It is important for parents to have a conversation with their teenage daughters about ways to stay safe in the community and online. Parents can access relevant information from the Australian Federal Police website about National Child Pro-tection Week with some great links to ‘Think you know.org.au’ which gives parents facts and strategies for helping young people stay safe online. Parents can also discuss strategies with their daughters about what to do when they feel unsafe going to and from school or after hours. Parents can also access information from The Na-tional Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) which has Tip Sheets on their site for all different types of people who are responsible for looking after young people. Working together we can make sure our students are safe and know how and where to access help if needed.

Mrs Janine Janssen Leader of Wellbeing

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Wednesday 13th SeptemberWednesday 13th SeptemberWednesday 13th September

Year 7 DiscoYear 7 DiscoYear 7 Disco

666---8pm8pm8pm De La Salle Catholic De La Salle Catholic De La Salle Catholic

College Hall, CaringbahCollege Hall, CaringbahCollege Hall, Caringbah

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Science Week 2017 was a thoroughly enjoyable expe-rience that captivated students at OLMC. It encom-passed a range of engaging activities that kept the girls of the College entertained, and ones that chal-lenged us academically. Throughout the course of the week, each homeroom had the opportunity to partici-pate in quizzes based on various topics such as the universe, sustainability and climate change. This helped to build our knowledge in different areas of science, and required us to work as a team, striving to be the winning homeroom. As part of Science Week, OLMC also competed in the “Science Championships” competition on Education Perfect, which is an online learning tool used by many schools internationally. Students from all across the globe were able to compete by attempting science lessons and answering questions to gain points, with a number of prizes up for grabs. Personally, I an-swered over 16,000 questions in one week! In my opinion, the most enjoyable event of Science Week was the paper plane competition. Students and teachers gathered in the Mercy Centre to first fold their own paper plane, and then throw them through the air to see whose could fly the furthest. Thank you to the science department who made Science Week a really fun and beneficial learning experience for not only myself, but the rest of the student body at OLMC. -- Jemma Moujalli

FROM THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT Year 7 went to Taronga Zoo on Monday the 21st of Au-gust. As we are studying the topic ‘Sorting it all out’ and Zooto-pia, Year 7 have been given an assignment where we have to build a model of a zoo enclosure for an animal of our choice. Going to the zoo was very helpful as we had a talk about the adaptations of animals. In the talk we got to see a spiny leaf insect, a turtle, a shingle back and a possum.

It also helped as we got to see the enclosures of all of the animals. The enclosures were amazing and it gave us so much inspiration. The enclosures were so realistic to the animal's habitat. There were so many sights! We were lucky enough to see the new tiger enclosure that had only been open for a couple of days. We saw a baby elephant that was only new. We saw nocturnal animals, touched a snake, saw giraffes, gorillas, sun bears, chim-panzees and many more! This opportunity was amazing and we would love to do it again. By Charlotte Rainnie

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HSIE Incursion Report On Monday August 28 Year 8 experienced an interest-ing and factual presentation produced by Rampant Entertainment, with Ben and Diana as our presenters. The incursion was extremely engaging that gave us a deeper understanding of Medieval society. They inter-acted with us and kept us busy in thought. The pro-duction was educational and included many interest-ing props that kept our attention focused on what was happening in front of us. The experience included bat-tles, real weapons, diseases and torture, as well as students involvement in creating characters. This production was exciting as it contained humour and knowledge in the presentations of the various topics. The presenters Ben and Diana, explained how medieval society functioned and what aspects have changed modern society and explained the topic with detail and physical representations. Overall the incur-sion was interesting, hilarious, engaging and fun to participate in and I am sure that Year 8 would love to do it again. Mrs Riley Veldekis HSIE Department

FROM THE HSIE DEPARTMENT

This is a reminder to our Bronze and Silver Duke of Ed-inburgh Award girls, to complete all the components of their award, and be prepared for their Qualifying Expe-ditions in Term 4. Each student should be well on the way to completing her hours of Volunteering, Skill and Physical Recreation (3 months each), and have these hours recorded and verified by their official assessor. Please ensure your online recording is up to date, if you wish to attend the end of year camping expeditions.

Camping and sunset at Kiama.

SILVER EXPEDITION Wednesday 15th November - Friday 17th November This will most likely be a part of the Great North Walk, north of Sydney. BRONZE EXPEDITION Monday 11th December - Wednesday 13th December This will be in the Kiama area. Please put these dates in your family diaries, so you can complete your award before the end of the school year. Mrs Joanne King Duke of Edinburgh Award Coordinator

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DUKE OF EDINBURGH NEWS

Interaction Day was an exciting and eventful day for Year 9, spent in the leafy suburb of Stanwell Tops. The day began with a fifty-minute drive from OLMC, to The Tops Conference Centre where we were met with a beautiful lush landscape amidst the ocean and the Royal National Park. The boys and girls greeted each other and recognised familiar faces, they were then assigned their activity groups. These activities includ-ed a twenty-seven-metre giant swing, survivor, high ropes, vertical climb, abseiling and much more. In be-tween activities, students were guided to parks and halls to enjoy their lunch and snacks. It was an adven-turous and thrilling day, bounteous in bonding. De La Salle Catholic College Caringbah and Our Lady of Mer-cy College Catholic College Burraneer students would like to thank all the teachers for organising the event. By Sophia Rosenthal

Climbing, teamwork and swinging high above the ground; this was Year 9 on Interaction Day 2017. The day was filled with new experiences as both girls from Our Lady of Mercy Catholic College Burraneer and boys from De La Salle Catholic College Caringbah challenged themselves through a rotation of exhilarat-ing activities in groups combined with students from both schools. Throughout the excursion every group embarked on three rotations; Go Karting, Abseiling, Survivor, Leap of Faith and the High Ropes. Beginning with the High Ropes (an obstacle course high above the ground), consistent encouragement and support was given from the group to those who challenged themselves, attempting the course above.

YEAR 9 INTERACTION DAY REPORTS

Furthermore after recess, we returned for another rota-tion. This time the Giant Swing, an activity consisting of teamwork as we all pulled the swinger to their designat-ed height before the swinger pulled a chord that sent them swinging from considerable heights. This tested our teamwork and endurance. The final rotation was Survivor based on the TV series. After getting into two separate groups, we had four chal-lenges to attempt and win using teamwork, communica-tion, support and trust. After my ‘tribe’ won three of four challenges, we were announced the winner, celebrating with our tribal chant. We were proud of ourselves for ‘getting across piranha and shark infested waters’, ‘swinging over a canyon’ and ‘collecting food to eat’. Although it was time to leave, the memories made will never leave our minds. This day taught us many life les-sons and new experiences that will stay with us forever. By Amy Munns

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FROM THE MAG COORDINATOR YOUTH FORUM NEWS

Last Thursday, Jade Considine, Jasmine Cruise, Carly Spedding and Elyse Riordan attended a Youth Forum at the Sydney Catholic Schools office at Revesby. The forum was to give us information and insight about the Australian Catholic Youth Festival that is occur-ring in Sydney this December. The girls enjoyed hear-ing some live music and some amazing young speak-ers sharing their passion for their faith and the festi-val. Our girls represented our College brilliantly, even approaching one of the young speakers to come out to our school to speak to Year 9. As a result of that conversation, next week all of our Year 9 students and those Year 10 students who have registered to attend the whole Youth Festival will be lucky enough to hear from John Nguyen. Thanks girls, brilliant job! Mrs Overton

CANTEEN ROSTER FOR THE FORTNIGHT BEGINNING 11TH SEPTEMBER, 2017

Monday: (11TH) M Campbell Tuesday: T Robb, K Baccon Wednesday: T Whitelegg, P Franks-Pearson Thursday: N Knapton Friday: Y Owen, L Smith Monday: (18TH) N Considine, A Rowney Tuesday: M Szeles Wednesday: D Riccio, L Kennedy Thursday: L Johnson, P Cassidy Friday: T Anthony, R Donaghy

To "Bury the dead" is one of the spiritual works of Mercy. This includes activities like supporting the be-reaved at funerals and praying for the deceased. It is not easy to attend a funeral whether the person is known to you or not. It is the gift of our presence and prayer that gives real witness and comfort to the family and friends of the one that has passed. One of our dear friends from Stella Maris Aged Care passed away last week. Mrs Thelma Stannard led an exemplary life, actively living her faith and serving others. Olivia Wright, Isabella McLachlan, Rory O’Ha-ra and Lucy Vella were honoured to attend her funer-al with me. Mrs Stannard supported many iconic charities. She began the co-workers of Saint Theresa of Calcutta in Australia and hosted her while she visited Sydney. Her daughter Helen is a Sister of Mercy and another daughter Mary Anne Ayres is a close friend of the College. Mary Anne is our contact with the fistula hospitals in Ethiopia. Thelma is survived by a very large faith filled and socially compassionate family. We can all learn from her example. Mrs Overton MAG Coordinator Pictured below from Left to right: Rory O’Hara, Olivia Wright, Isabella McLachlan and Lucy Vella with Sr Pat Anderson rsm.

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GOODJARGA DAY - 8TH SEPTEMBER 2017 What a great day at the Goodjarga Day 2017 at the National Cen-tre of Indigenous Excellence. The day started with a traditional Smoking Ceremony then followed by music, story telling and a singing class. I met many other Indigenous students and Elders from all over Sydney and enjoyed making new friends. The thing I loved the most were the dance classes, traditional and contempo-rary. I was asked by the teacher to join her classes at Sydney Uni-versity which I am so excited to start. I had a great time learning more about my culture and meeting new friends. Takara Rose—Year 7

Fantastic story teller from Traditional dance classes...from a Takara with Aunty Beryl who heads the the Blue Mountains. Kamilaroi teacher JOB Ready Program mentoring the TAFE Catering and Hospitality program at the centre

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EXTRA CURRICULAR NEWS

DANCE TROUPE Congratulations to the members of our OLMC Dance Troupe who performed at the Cronulla Spring Fair last weekend. Pictured Left to Right:

Ashley Metters, Emma Mulder, Suzy Ryan, Georgia Earl, Ciara McRae, Tiarne O'Connor

Mrs Joanne Furnari CAPA Coordinator

SOCCER Congratulations to our Year 8 Soccer team who were vic-torious over Bosco in the Friday Sport Grand Final, win-ning 2-1. The girls were the underdogs of the competition and played a brilliant match in front of a large crowd of Bosco supporters. Well done girls! Ms Annmarie Rayer Year 8 Soccer Sport Coach

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SPORT NEWS NETBALL Congratulations to Ella Randazzo (Circled) who rep-resented OLMC by competing in the NSW Netball Challenge on Monday as part of the U/15 NSW Combined Catholic Colleges Netball team.

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62‐66 Dominic Street, Cronulla  2230   T  (02) 9544 1966  F  (02) 9544 1328 Email: info@olmcburraneer.catholic.edu.au Website: www.olmcburraneer.catholic.edu.au 

Friday 22 September, 2017Friday 22 September, 2017Friday 22 September, 2017