Congratulations to Aimee Whelan (PCC Graduate 2013)
Congratulations to Aimee Whelan who made her AFLW debut last weekend for Sydney. Aimee graduated from the College in 2013 and worked as our Sports Assistant in 2014 after graduating. She has played AFL extensively since this time and was recruited to Sydney in June this year.

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.

Condolences
Our deepest condolences to the Di Giantomasso family on the passing of John late last week. John is the father of Anton (current Year 12), Michael (PCC Graduate 2017) and Gabriella (PCC Graduate 2016). Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire family at this most difficult time.

Josephite Exchange
On Thursday, 25 August and Friday, 26 August we travelled to one of our Josephite schools from South Australia, Mt Carmel College at Rosewater. The visit involved a number of sporting competitions in sports such as netball, soccer, football, volleyball and basketball. 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. I thank both the staff and students attending Adelaide for the way that they represented the College.

There were a number of people who made comment about the respectful, polite and courteous students that we have at Penola Catholic College and I thank the students for being such great ambassadors for our school. My thanks to Mr Shane Griffin and Ms Kathryn Ennor for all of their organisation and also Ms Natalie Presutti for accompanying the students on their trip to Adelaide. More details can be found later in this newsletter.

Year 12 Trial Exams
Year 12 Trial exams will take place in the second week of the upcoming school holidays for our VCE students. They will take place on Monday, 26 September to Thursday, 29 September and they are compulsory for all Year 12 VCE students completing a scored VCE. The timetable has been published and can be found on either the Year 12 page on MyPenola or the VCE page on MyPenola. These exams give students an indication as to their strengths and weaknesses and can assist in shaping their revision in the weeks leading up to the exams in late October.

Year 7 Enrolments 2024
A reminder to all of our existing families that Year 7 enrolments for 2024 closed on 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. and the 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.

Father’s Day
In our setting – a coeducational school in Melbourne’s Northern suburbs, we are ever conscious of the impact we, as adults have on our young people. The influence that parents have on shaping their children is paramount and the second greatest influence usually comes from the teachers that young people have during their schooling. The opportunity to bring Dads and their children together is something which the College values enormously.

The evidence suggests that as Dads, we must ensure that we do find time to be with our sons and daughters and to take an active and genuinely interested role in their lives. I hope that all of our Dads and families will enjoy the upcoming Fathers’ Day this Sunday.

I have been fortunate to have my father be a strong and positive influence throughout my entire life. My father is from the era where men were seen as the provider and nurturing children was seen as the mother’s role. My father, whilst an extremely intelligent man, left school at the age of 15 to begin an apprenticeship as a butcher. Unfortunately, he lost both of his parents within a 6-month period whilst he was still aged 14. As a result, Dad always found it difficult to express his emotions particularly love. That is not to say that he didn’t love me or my siblings he just wouldn’t say it. He demonstrated his love on a regular basis to all within the family but found it difficult to say. Fortunately, with the addition of grandchildren, he has become much better at verbally expressing his love. This is something that I am conscious of with both my son and daughter, and I try to express my love to them on a daily basis. Sometimes too regularly if you ask them!

I have included a reflection given by a staff member previously as there is a truth within the reflection that resonated with me.

MY FATHER WHEN I WAS…

When I was 4 years old I thought, “My Daddy can do anything.”

When I was 5 years old I told my friends, “My Daddy knows a whole lot.”

When I was 6 years old I told my best friend, “My Dad is smarter than your Dad.”

When I was 8 years old I thought, “”My Dad doesn’t know exactly everything.”

When I was 10 years old I thought, “In the olden days when my Dad grew up, things were sure different.”

When I was 12 years old I told myself, “Well, naturally, Dad doesn’t know anything about that. He is too old to remember his childhood.”

When I was 14 years old I told my friends, “Don’t pay any attention to my Father. He is so old fashioned.”

When I was 21 years old I said of my father, “Him? My Lord, he’s hopelessly out of date.”

When I was 25 years old I thought, “Dad knows a little bit about it, but he should he has been around for so long.”

When I was 30 years old I said to my friends, “Maybe we should ask Dad what he thinks. After all he has had a lot of experience.”

When I was 40 years old my mantra was: “I’m not doing a single thing until I talk to Dad.”

When I was 50 years old I would ask myself, “I wonder how Dad would handle this? He is so wise and has a world of experience.”

When I was 60 years old I said to myself, “I’d give anything if Dad were here now so I could talk this over with him. Too bad I didn’t appreciate how smart he was. I could have learnt a lot from him.”