Advance Notice – Wednesday 7 September - No Years 11 or 12 classes
There will be no Year 12 classes running on this day as all Year 12 students are involved in the General Achievement Test (GAT). Year 11 students who are not required to sit the GAT will have a remote learning day where their work will be placed on MyPenola.

For the first time all Year 12 VCAL students will be required to sit the GAT on Wednesday, 7 September. All Victorian senior secondary students (Year 12) will this year have their literacy and numeracy skills measured against new standards in a redeveloped GAT.

The new standards will indicate whether students have demonstrated the literacy and numeracy skills typically expected of someone completing their secondary schooling – giving another indication of their readiness to move onto further education, training, or employment. VCE and Senior VCAL students who are enrolled in one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3-4 sequence are required to sit both Section A and B. This includes students who are enrolled in the VCE or a scored VCE VET Unit 3-4 sequence who are not planning to undertake their scored assessments. Year 11 students studying a Units 3 & 4 VCE or scored VET will be required to sit both parts of the GAT.

Professional Development Day (Student Free) – Thursday, 25 August
The day is focused upon mitigating the learning loss for all students from the past 2 years. Our Collaborative Planning Teams will meet together to look at evidence-based ways to teach the key skills and knowledge within their subjects. A range of our Year Level Coordinators, Learning Enhancement teachers and Coordinators of Students will be involved in a Mental Health First Aid training day on this day as well (20 staff in total). All teaching staff will be at each of their respective campuses on this day with all of the Support staff on the Glenroy campus for their own day of professional learning.

Leadership Assembly
Our guest speaker for the Leadership Assembly was former College Captain 2001, Daniel Whykes. Daniel is the CEO of Urban Camp Melbourne with a purpose to enable young people to thrive in urban experiences. Prior to joining Urban Camp, Daniel was the General Manager of The Summit a 350 bed, 50-acre adventure park in East Gippsland. In 2019 Daniel was appointed as a Non-Executive Director for the Australian Camps Association. Daniel has proudly held employment at the Australian Open for 23 years and is the Ballkid Operations Supervisor.

At our Leadership Assembly our prospective student leaders for 2023 addressed us and I am happy to report that their speeches were also inspirational. The Leadership Assembly was recorded prior to the day allowing homerooms to view the Assembly in smaller numbers.

The Transfer of Leadership Assembly will be held on Friday, 9 September. Also, as part of the Transfer of Leadership Assembly we will welcome representatives of the six charities that were supported in our fundraising efforts this year.

Josephite Exchange
Our Josephite exchange will take place in Port Adelaide this year on Thursday, 25 August and Friday, 26 August. It has been 3 years since we have had the opportunity to compete against Mt Carmel College, which is another AJASS school situated in Port Adelaide due to COVID. Both schools compete in a range of sports and activities, and it is an opportunity for our students to meet with another Josephite community. It also provides an opportunity for our students to engage with students from another Josephite school and get a better understanding of the Josephite charism. My thanks to Mr Shane Griffin and Ms Kathryn Ennor, in particular, for all of their organisation as well as the other staff accompanying the students.

Year 7 Enrolments 2024
A reminder to all of our existing families that Year 7 enrolments for 2023 close tomorrow Friday 19 August. A number of families applied after the close of enrolment last year and it makes it very difficult to accurately plan for the following year, so I ask that you submit your enrolment as soon as possible. Often families assume that we know that there is a younger sibling, but I would be very disappointed if one of our existing families missed out on an enrolment due to not submitting their enrolment in a timely manner.

Father’s Day Breakfast
Father’s Day Breakfast is scheduled for Friday 2 September with mass commencing at 7.15a.m. followed by Breakfast at 8.00a.m. We hope that many fathers will be able to attend with their sons and daughters. In light of the increased COVID cases we have made the decision not to have a guest speaker to minimise the chance of participants catching COVID.

2023 College Captains and Vice Captains
After a comprehensive voting process by both staff and students, I am pleased to announce that the 2023 College Captains and Vice Captains are as follows:

College Captain:

• Siala Maelasi
• Leah Mc Grice

College Vice Captain:

• Aston Motta
• Ava De Amicis

Staff News
Congratulations to Mrs. Sandra Harrison who has been announced as the Deputy Principal of Santa Maria College in Northcote. Sandra has held the roles of Success Coordinator, Head of Instructional Practice and Head of English over the 6 years she has been with us and will be sorely missed. She commences after the Melbourne Cup weekend in November.

Congratulations to Mr Luke Reynolds who has been appointed as a Year Level Coordinator at Iona College in Geelong. This position is for 2023 and Luke and the family will be relocating prior to the commencement of the 2023 school year. I would like to thank Luke for his efforts here at Penola over the past 15 years and has held a number of roles including Head of Health and Physical Education and Year Level Coordinator amongst others.

Congratulations to Mr Steve Woodburn who has also been appointed as a Year 10 Level Coordinator at Iona College in Geelong. He has held the roles as Co-curricular Coordinator, Year Level Coordinator and Instructional Coach in the 10 years that he has been at Penola. His focus from the time that he has started with us has been on improving his teaching skills and he has worked relentlessly in this pursuit to become a great teacher.

Each of these staff have made a significant contribution to our school and on behalf of the entire College community I publicly thank them for their efforts and wish them well for the future.

Prayer for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary
Last Monday, 15 August 2022 was the Feast of the Assumption. Masses were held on both campuses, and I would like to thank the Faith and Mission Team for their efforts in organizing the masses and a particular thanks to our College Chaplain, Fr Tony Cox, for celebrating these masses with us. I have included a prayer for the Assumption of Mary

Woman of Listening,

Mary, woman of listening, open our ears;

Grant us to know how to listen to the word of Jesus among the thousands of words in this world;

Grant that we may listen to the reality in which we live, to every person that we encounter,

Especially those who are poor, in need, in hardship.

Mary, woman of decision, illuminate our mind and our heart, so that we may follow the word of your son Jesus;

Mary, woman of action, obtain that our hands and feet move “with haste” towards others.

To bring them the charity and love of your son Jesus, to bring the light of the Gospel to the world, as you did.

Amen