Bunbury Catholic College Newsletter 1

The latest news from Bunbury Catholic College

8 February 2019.
Newsletter No. 1.

Inside this newsletter
(click links to go directly to section)
Principal's Report
College News
College Activities
Mercy Campus
Marist Campus
Community News

**PLEASE NOTE**

Some regular sections of the newsletter, including Performing Arts News, VET Department updates and The Back Page will resume in our next edition.

We have also updated our mailing list to include new families to the College and remove those families no longer at the College.
If you believe you have been incorrectly added to our 2019 mailing list, please email admin@bccwa.wa.edu.au or use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this newsletter and we will remove you.

Saturday 9 February: Mercy campus Year 12 ball
Monday 11 February: Mercy campus Year 8-12 photo day
Monday 11 February: Mercy campus P&F meeting
Tuesday 12 February: Marist campus Year 8-12 photo day
Tuesday 12 February: Mercy campus opening Mass
Tuesday 12 February: Year 7 parent information night (both campuses)
Wednesday 13 February - Friday 15 February: Year 7 activity days (both campuses)
Thursday 14 February: Year 11 & 12 parent information night (both campuses)
Saturday 16 February: Marist campus Year 12 ball
Monday 18 February: Marist campus P&F meeting
Tuesday 19 February: Xavier Day (Mercy campus)
Tuesday 19 February: Year 8 and 9 parent information night (both campuses)
Wednesday 20 February: Xavier Day (Marist campus)
Thursday 21 February: Year 7 and catch-up photo day (both campuses)
Thursday 21 February: Year 10 parent information night (both campuses)
Friday 22 February: Year 11 retreat (Mercy campus)

Friday 12 April: Term 1 ends
Saturday 13 April – Sunday 28 April: mid-semester break
Monday 29 April – Friday 5 July: Term 2
Saturday 6 July – Sunday 21 July: mid-year break
Tuesday 23 July – Friday 27 September: Term 3
Saturday 28 September – Sunday 13 October: mid-semester break
Monday 14 October – Friday 13 December: Term 4

Prayer
God of Love, We recognise your presence in our journey together.
As we gather here for the start of this year in your name, open our minds to know your voice.
Open our hands to do your work.
And open our hearts to hold your Spirit.
Amen.
Catherine and Marcellin... pray for us.

WELCOME
It has been lovely to see the Mercy and Marist campuses come alive with the return of our students and staff this week.
A very warm welcome to all new and returning staff and students to the 2019 academic year.
Our Year 7 students have had a fairly smooth start to the year and I am grateful to the Peer Support leaders on both campuses who provided assistance for our Year 7 students in their transition and our staff who have assisted students who have joined the College in years 8 to 12.
I ask that all in our community make our new students in all year groups feel welcome and supported as they adjust to a new school environment.

We also welcome Georgina Ogilvie, Kyle Borlini, Lachlan Brown and Matthew Clarke on their return from their Italian exchange experience.
I am sure we will hear of their experience in a coming newsletter.

STAFF
A special welcome to all staff members who have joined our community this year in either an ongoing capacity or on a short term contract to replace staff who are on leave this year.
Mercy campus: Mrs Maria Basson, Ms Cheyenne Davis, Mrs Adrienne Godwin, Mrs Debra Johnstone, Mr Gerard Simpson, Mrs Pamela Graves, Ms Simone Tagg, Mrs Venencia Chifamba, Mrs Elizabeth Murray, Mrs Lina King, Ms Laura Galati and Mrs Emma Gillett.
Marist campus: Dr Tracey Arthur, Mrs Christine Dennison, Mrs Sandra Hearne, Ms Jo-Anne Prichard, Mr Paul Venecourt, Ms Liana Perrella (both campuses), Mrs Jeannie Lewis, Mrs Lisa Abbey, Mrs Sally Horsley, Ms Mary Wilson, Ms Ebony Trigwell, Mrs Belinda Bickley and Mr Greg Rolfe.
Transferring from Marist to Mercy campus: Mrs Mamta Palmar, Mr Raymond Wood, Mr Iain McKenzie, Mr David Walters.
Transferring from Mercy to the Marist campus: Mrs Brigid Terry, Ms Ashley Miller, Mr Jason Frisina.

We are very pleased to welcome the following staff members who are returning from leave: Mrs Lucy Henfry, Mrs Peta Gelmi and Mr Craig Gorddard.

CLASS OF 2018 ACADEMIC RESULTS
Our Class of 2018 on both the Mercy and Marist campuses are to be commended on their excellent results from their Year 12 WACE exams and WACE achievements.
It has been pleasing to hear from the students of their plans for 2019 and the future.
At the opening assembly we will present awards to our top academic performers from our Class of 2018.
On the Marist campus Trinity Mangano, our top ATAR performer in 2018, will receive the 2018 Kelderman Award, and Trinity and Allegra Mazza-Parton will be inducted into the 99 Club for achieving an ATAR score of 99+.
We will also present Cian Parsons her award as the top VET student on the Marist campus.
Commencing with our inaugural Year 12 Class on the Mercy campus we will present the Marian Award for Academic Excellence to Jada Cowdrey for her achievement of the top ATAR score of 98.75 on the Mercy campus and Larissa Tartaglia, the top VET student on the Mercy campus.

MERCY EDUCATION AWARD
In 2018 BCC became an affiliated school with Mercy Education Limited and were invited to nominate a student to receive the Mercy Education Award.
The recipient of the Award is one who clearly demonstrates leadership in the Mercy tradition and has espoused the core values of Mercy Education, that of Compassion, Justice, Respect, Hospitality, Service and Courage.
The 2018 recipient of this Award is Carol Karanja.
Carol is a young woman who displays Mercy values in all of her interactions with others.
As a foundation student on the BCC Mercy campus, Carol inspired others with her gentle and caring manner and loyalty to others.
Carol has shown a great interest in leadership during her time at the College. She was elected as Ministry Captain in 2018 and was selected as a Peer Support Leader in 2017.
Along with her leadership roles, Carol has shown incredible commitment to the co-curricular life at BCC, especially in Netball, representing the College in several interschool carnivals, and as a member of the College Choir.
Outside of the classroom, Carol has demonstrated her generosity in donating to Catholic initiatives, such as Caritas programs, has organised charity events for Project Compassion and been part of the Give a Damn, Give a Can campaign.
Carol has been recognised by her teachers and peers as one who shows compassion to all who need her support and consideration.
Carol has been actively involved in her parish, proving a wonderful role model for others and demonstrating a positive example of a young person to those in our community.

COLLEGE LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE
The Principal and Vice Principal are responsible for the whole school and will spend time on each campus.
Should the need arise, parents are able to contact either campus to speak to the Principal or Vice Principal to address any issue.
On the Mercy campus we have two Heads of Campus and a Head of Year for each Year group, and on the Marist campus we have two Deputy Principals and a Head of Year responsible for each year group.
In most instances our Heads of Learning oversee the learning programs for their area of responsibility across the whole school, however, Humanities and Technologies have a campus based Head of Learning Area (HOLA).
Some Learning Areas also have a LA Assistant who will take on some of the responsibilities as assigned by the Head of Learning.
The LA Assistants are on the alternate campus to the HOLA.

OPENING MASS AND ASSEMBLY
Within the first two weeks of term we will have held our opening Mass and assembly on each campus. Parents are very welcome to attend these events.
The Opening Mass and assembly for the Marist campus is today, Friday 8 February, and on the Mercy campus on Tuesday 12 February.
During the Masses our student Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist will be commissioned and during the assemblies we will acknowledge our student leaders and present them with their leadership badges.

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHTS
Over the coming fortnight, Parent Information Nights will be held for each year group on each campus.
The information is different for each presentation as it is targeted to be relevant for the focus year group.
I would encourage all parents to attend the respective presentation for their child to be informed and to meet the staff who will be caring and educating their child.

PARENTS & FRIENDS MEETINGS FOR TERM 1
The P&F meetings for Term 1 will be held on Monday 11 February in the Angela Costello Centre on the Mercy campus and on Monday 18 February in the Marist Sports Pavilion on the Marist campus.
The meetings commence at 7.00pm and usually conclude by 8.00pm.
All parents are welcome to attend and take this wonderful opportunity to assist the College and to contribute to the discussion about school operation.
Meeting dates for 2019:
Mercy campus: 11 February, 06 May, 29 July, 21 October
Marist campus: 18 February, 13 May, 05 August, 28 October.

The Marist campus P&F AGM was held in November 2018 with the following parents accepting a role on the Executive: Mr Alan Buckley (President), Mrs Suzanne Cross (Vice President), Mrs Anthea Turkington (Secretary), Mrs Teena Blair (Treasurer), Mrs Kate Turner (P&F Board Representative).
We also appreciate the parents who have nominated as year group representatives.

The Mercy campus P&F AGM is incorporated in the first meeting for the year.
Parents who would like to nominate for a position on the Executive (President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer) or as a Year group representative are asked to contact Mrs Ana Degooijer by email on admin@bccwa.wa.edu.au or attend the meeting on Monday evening.

2019 P&F FUNDRAISING
The main Mercy campus fundraising effort for 2019 is the BCC Mercy campus fete which is to be held on Sunday 7 April.
The funds raised are to support the Stage 3 project to build and outfit a gymnasium/classroom facility.
The plans for the gymnasium are well underway and our funding application for partial government funding will be assessed this year.
We are calling on all in our Mercy community to volunteer and support this fundraising effort.
Mr Dale McAtee is coordinating this event and will have sent out a form to parents to nominate to help in the planning and running of an aspect of this event.

The Marist campus fundraiser is the Art Extraordinaire which will be held on the weekend of 18 October 2019.
A meeting will soon be called for the organising committee and we invite volunteers to join this committee.
It is not necessary to have a knowledge of art to be part of the committee as there are many roles, such as catering, sales, set up etc. which need to be filled.

YEAR 12 BALL
The Mercy campus Year 12 students will be holding the inaugural Mercy campus ball on Saturday 9 February at the Sanctuary Resort.
The Marist campus Year 12 students will be enjoying their ball on Saturday 16 February at the Italian Club.
We are looking forward to seeing our students in all their finery and wish them the best for an enjoyable evening.

Best wishes to all for a productive and successful year.

Denise O'Meara
Principal

Newsletter survey
Late last year, we ran a survey asking for input about what our College community wanted from the newsletter in 2019. We thank everyone who responded and many worthwhile suggestions were received.
Our College newsletter is published fortnightly during term times, distributed electronically to our subscriber list and also available by links on the College website.
It contains a mix of important news, activities and photos from all areas of both campuses plus outside information relevant to the College.
While the newsletter can be lengthy due to the amount of information that needs to be shared and the number of activities and opportunities available to our students, we aim for the newsletter to be engaging and enjoyable to browse through.
We would like to give our College community another opportunity to share their thoughts about our newsletter and invite readers to contribute any suggestions they have by using the below link.

Parent information nights
Our 2019 parent information nights for all year groups will be held within the first three weeks of Term 1.
All information nights on both campuses will begin at 6pm and run until approximately 7pm.
The dates and venues for each information night are below.

MERCY CAMPUS
Year 7: Tuesday 12 February (AC Breakout Ground Floor)
Year 8: Tuesday 19 February (AC Breakout Ground Floor)
Year 9: Tuesday 19 February (CM Amphitheatre)
Year 10: Thursday 21 February (CM Amphitheatre)
Year 11: Thursday 14 February (CM Amphitheatre)
Year 12: Thursday 14 February (UF1)

MARIST CAMPUS
Year 7: Tuesday 12 February (Hall)
Year 8: Tuesday 19 February (Hall)
Year 9: Tuesday 19 February (PAC)
Year 10: Thursday 21 February (Hall)
Year 11: Thursday 14 February (PAC)
Year 12: Thursday 14 February (Hall)

ATAR results
Bunbury Catholic College had a number of students from both campuses perform extremely well during last year's ATAR exams.
Marist students Trinity Mangano (99.4) and Allegra Mazza-Parton (99.3) were the College's top performers and will both enter our 99 Club.
Across both campuses, we had five students score above 98 and seven score above 95.
Six of the College's top 10 students were also from the inaugural Mercy campus Year 12 class.

School Fees
The Annual School Fees Account Statement will be mailed out later this month.
For families who do not have a payment plan in place, the first instalment is due and payable on Friday 29 March.
If you are the holder of a Health Care, Pension or supporting parent card, you may be eligible for the Education Allowance and Health Care Card (HCC) discount.
Fees assistance, set up of payment plans, change existing direct debit arrangements or if you would like some general information regarding school fees, please feel free to contact the College on 9721 0000 or to set up a suitable appointment time.
Appointments are available between 9.30am and 3.30pm with Mrs Sue Howard, Mrs Nola Jennings, Mrs Claire Blachford (Marist Campus) and Mrs Michelle Williams (Mercy Campus).
Please note that a new application form must be completed annually for Health Care Card Discounts, Education and Uniform Allowances and Fee Concession Reviews.
The closing date for the HCC, Educational and Uniform Allowances is Friday 12 April.
Applications cannot be accepted after this date.

OLNA Preparation
The students in Years 10, 11 and 12 who have not achieved a Band 8 in their NAPLAN assessments, will be required to sit one or more of the OLNA (Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessments) in March.
Teachers will provide details to all of the students involved, as well as resources to help prepare for OLNA in both the English and Mathematics classes.
Mathematics tutorials, at the Marist Campus, tailored to OLNA preparation, will be conducted in Vet 1 every Monday afternoon from 3pm until 4pm.
The Mathematics tutorials on the Mercy campus will be from 3pm until 4pm every Thursday, in AC8 for Years 7-9 and AC9 for Years 10-12.
General English tutorials are held in the Marist Learning Commons, every Wednesday afternoon, from 3pm until 4pm and all students are encouraged to access the extensive resources that we offer.
The English and Mathematics learning areas will communicate with all students who are sitting OLNA.
If you have any questions in this regard, please contact Ms Brigid Terry for English or Mrs Leah Mackay for Mathematics on the Marist campus, or Mr Bradley Dunn or Mrs Isabella Bradley, on the Mercy campus.
We wish all our OLNA students the very best for the first round of assessments in March.

Lost property
Despite only being in the first week of the school year, we already have items of lost property.
We ask that all uniforms, plus personal clothing items such as those worn for swimming training, are labelled with student names.
Lost property cannot be stored indefinitely and any items not claimed by the end of the term will be donated to charity.

Year 7 opening day
On Monday, our newest students officially began their time at Bunbury Catholic College.
The Year 7 students on both campuses were introduced to their new homeroom teachers and went through many of the processes associated with starting at a new school, including getting their lockers.
We wish our new students all the very best for their six year journey at the College!

Christmas lunch
Some of our Mercy campus students were involved in a community Christmas lunch within the Harvey Catholic parish.
The students made table decorations, which were prisms filled with Christmas lollies, on their last day of term and these were used at the lunch.
Parishioners, including some former College students, served lunch to members of the parish at the Kinsella Hall, which adjoins Our Lady of Immigrants Catholic Church in Harvey.

Mercy online ordering
Mercy students can now order their lunch online.
Open the Bunbury Catholic College website, scroll down until you see the red box “College Shop”, click on the box and scroll down to either mobile version or desktop version.
Follow the instructions, which will take you through all the information on how to load the student cards with money, as well as how to place an order for the café.
Students who use their student cards for payment in the café may need to go to IT to have their cards updated.
It is as simple as that.
If you are at all unsure, please feel free to contact either myself or the IT department for further instructions.
Bon Appetit!
Tania Evans, BCC Mercy campus café manager

Opening mass and assembly
Bishop Gerard Holohan joined the Marist campus community today (Friday 8 February) to celebrate the opening mass of the 2019 school year.
We thank the Bishop for taking the time to join us at this special celebration.
Our opening College assembly of the year also included the presenting of badges to our new student leaders and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.

2018 achievers honoured
At the opening Marist assembly, we welcomed back Class of 2018 members Trinity Mangano (Kelderman Award / 99 Club), Cian Parsons (top VET student) and Allegra Mazza-Parton (99 Club).
We thank both the Kelderman family and the Ex-Students Association for their ongoing sponsorship of these awards and congratulate all three former students on their successes.

Geographe Gift
Do you need Christian Service Learning hours?
The Bunbury Geographe Gift is held on the March long weekend, on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 March at the Bunbury Recreation Ground.
The organisers are looking for volunteers for a range of duties including gate attendants, placing signs and supervising free activities.
Go to http://bunburygeographegift.com.au/volunteer/ to register your interest by Friday 22 February.