Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools School Improvement Survey (MACSISS)
Some families will receive a link from ORIMA research over the next week to conduct the MACSISS. This survey is conducted annually and is an opportunity for Penola staff, families and students to provide feedback on their school environment. Thank you for taking the time to complete this as your responses assist in the future planning and direction of the college.
Expectations
At a campus assembly last week I talked to the Year 7 and 8 students around student behaviour expectations. I recognised that the current Year 8s and 7s have had a disrupted end to primary school and this has in turn effected the way they interact with one another and the staff. In talking to other leaders at Catholic Secondary Schools it seems to be a common trend for those students who missed the tail end of their primary school years, whilst living in Melbourne during the number of lockdowns.
In the address to the student body I also said that a level of defiance to reasonable requests from staff is not acceptable and that the involvement with families in addressing ongoing behaviour is paramount. As a restorative practice school, we identify that while there may be a consequence for poor behaviour, it is about building empathy and authentic relationships with the students.
Glenroy Oval Resurfacing
Since the last newsletter we have finally had the Glenroy resurfacing finished. The process was only meant to take 6 weeks but with a range of problems it went for over 20 weeks. A big thank you to the students and families for your patience with this process and to the staff for keeping the students engaged at recess and lunchtime in a confined space.
As we approach the end of Term 3 it is a chance to reflect on the wonderful opportunities for learning and personal growth that have taken place across the term. These experiences aim to nurture and develop each student and support them to flourish in their skills and abilities. I extend my sincere thanks to our hard working staff who have worked tirelessly throughout the year.
Pastoral program
Each year level engages in the College pastoral program that aims to support social and emotional learning. Students have been engaging with key content from The Resilience Project which include resources that can be found in the College planner. In addition, presentations and workshops that have taken place this year have included the recent Pat Cronin Foundation presentation for Year 9 students regarding coward punch and positive decision making and careers specific information including future pathways and tertiary study information.
Josephite Exchange
Congratulations to the students who participated in the recent Josephite Exchange as competitors as well as assistants. The Josephite Exchange has been taking place for 10 years and is a competition against Mt Carmel College in South Australia who also shares the Josephite tradition. Students competed in a range of sporting events and shared a Mass and evening meal prepared by our talented Hospitality students and staff. Whilst Mt Carmel College were successful in winning the Josephite Shield this year there was lots of fun and memories made.
Community Etiquette
I encourage families to discuss the importance of public transport etiquette and safety. I really do hope all students wear their uniform with pride and represent our College in the fantastic way it deserves. When students carry out inappropriate behaviour on public transport i.e. vaping, holding doors open etc it reflects badly on us as a community. In addition, students risk receiving a fine for not using a valid MYKI and poor behaviour. Safety on public transport is paramount for all.
Uniform Reminders
As holidays approach students and families are reminded please to consider our College piercing, nails and hair requirements.
Students can wear summer or winter uniform throughout the year. Please note that if students choose to wear the winter shirt they must wear the College tie.
Something to Ponder
One gives freely yet grows all the richer; another withholds what they should give, and only suffers want. (Proverbs 11:24)
Father’s Day Mass
To celebrate the fathers in our community and Father’s Day, Mass will be celebrated in St. Joseph’s chapel on Friday 1 September at 7:15am. Breakfast will be provided following Mass in the ASH for fathers and their sons and/or daughters. Please feel welcome to attend this wonderful occasion.
Year 10 Reflection Days
On Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 September the Year 10 reflection day program will take place at Mickleham North Community Centre 82-90 St Georges Blvd. Students will attend on the Wednesday or Thursday as per their timetabled RE double and are to wear PE uniform. The program aims to deepen our students understanding of life’s joys and challenges and how to develop resilience throughout such experiences from a Christian perspective. Our guest presenter Chris Doyle is an authentic and engaging musician and from Sydney. Religious Education teachers and members of our Faith & Mission Team will work with the Year 10 RE classes during the Reflection Day. See “Year 10 Reflection Day Outline and Staffing” attachment in this week’s memo for more information.
Feast Day Mass and Festivities
Our College Feast Day which acknowledged the life of our patron, St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop, took place on Tuesday 8 August and was a resounding success! The day commenced with the celebration of Eucharist with the entire College community on the Broadmeadows campus. Afterwards students enjoyed a range of festivities, foods, show rides and First Nations cultural activities. There are many moving parts that make such a day successful. Many people deserve special thanks!
Assumption Day Mass
On Tuesday 15
August Mass was celebrated for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary the mother of Jesus at both the Glenroy and the Broadmeadows campuses. The Catholic Faith celebrates this Feast in honour of Mary and the day her body and soul ascended into heaven. The Mass highlighted the significance of Mary the mother of Jesus in our Catholic Faith tradition, but also her significance in the history of the world and the role she played as the mother of Jesus.
Staff and student return from World Youth Day
We have recently had staff and students return from World Youth Day in Portugal held from the 1-6 August. We thank staff members, Dennis Alberto, Donna Mihos, Emma Tabone Andre Miiko, for accompanying the following students, Kelly G, Alannah G, Siala M, Leah M, Georgina D, Nelena F, Sarah S, Grace J, Alessia F, Chloe K, Tara O, Giselle C, Chloe, B Rajshree K, Caryl S and Mariah R along with other students from schools and parishes from the Archdiocese of Melbourne. From discussions with staff and students it clearly was a rich and moving experience and has significantly nurtured their faith development.
We pray that the experience of this pilgrimage will inspire in them a desire to sow seeds of faith in others throughout their lives and be witness to the gospel. We give thanks to God for their safe return to their families and our school community.
Josephite Exchange Mass
On Thursday 17
August at 5.30pm we celebrated the Josephite Exchange Mass in St Joseph’s Chapel Broadmeadows with staff and students participating in the Josephite exchange experience. It was wonderful to gather in pray to acknowledge the relationship with Penola Catholic College and Mount Carmel College from Adelaide.
Risk and Dare Conference Sydney
On Thursday 24 and Friday 25 August Staff members Mr. Knobel and Mrs. Matthews accompanied Year 10 students, Jwana S, Krish G, Mason H and Cong P to Mary MacKillop Place in Syndey to attend the Risk and Dare (RAD) Conference. The RAD conference is an initiative of the Josephite Sisters. The focus of the conference is to inform aspiring student leaders about Social Justice issues and equip them with knowledge and skills to respond to challenges in our society by drawing on the principle of Catholic Social Teaching. It was wonderful to witness aspiring student leaders share their perspective, insight, and motivations regarding the need to create a more just society.
Year AJASS Immersion Experience
On Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 September, four aspiring student leaders in Year 10 will join with other like-minded Year 10 students from a number of schools in the AJASS Southeast cluster, for the AJASS Melbourne student immersion experience, hosted by Penola Catholic College. This experience will involve events at the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre in East Melbourne, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, ‘2 Fat Greeks’ restaurant in Essendon and Penola Catholic College, Broadmeadows. It promises to be an enriching experience for all involved.
Year 9 Rubbish Blitz & LUME Excursion
During Term 3 Year 9 students have been involved in a ‘litter blitz’ initiative during period 6 on Thursday afternoons. This experience is giving students greater awareness of the small steps they can take to care for our environment and take greater pride in our College grounds. Thanks to all staff who have been leading and supporting this initiative and to the maintenance team for being available at this time.
Year 9 students have also been experiencing the Connections First Nations Exhibition by Lume at the Exhibition Building in the city. The exhibition is a celebration of First Nations people and their 65,000-year history of spirituality expressed through Art, Music, Dance and Song. It is anticipated the experience will broaden students’ understanding of First Nations culture and spirituality and compliment the current studies in Integral Ecology they are undertaking in RE this term. Thanks to all staff who have been leading and supporting visits to the exhibition.
Penola Catholic College student wins top honours.
Congratulations to Christian M who has been recognised with a Premier’s VCE Award for his outstanding academic results in 2022.
Christian received a Premier’s VCE Award for outstanding academic achievement for Engineering Studies (VCE VET) in 2022.
The annual Premier’s VCE Awards recognise the top-performing students in the state. This year, 300 students across 88 subjects were recognised with awards for their outstanding results.
The entire Penola Catholic College community is proud of Christian and would like to congratulate him on being the recipient of such a prestigious award.
Christian is currently studying Year 12 at Penola Catholic College and we wish Christian every success.
To view the full Honour Roll and to read more about the Premier’s VCE Awards, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-vce-awards
Tournament of Minds 2023
On Sunday 20 August 2023, 17 Year 7, 8 and 9 students from Penola Catholic College attended the Tournament of Minds Regional competition at La Trobe University. For the last three weeks, students worked together in three teams to complete the Tournament of Minds STEM Long Term Challenge and practiced for the additional mind-bending Spontaneous Challenge. The students involved were chosen to participate based on their academic progress in English, Mathematics and Science, together with their competition interest and interpersonal skills. Student interest this year enabled the college to enter three teams.
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Tournament of Minds (TOM) is an International program designed to give participants the opportunity to participate in creative activities involving stimulating open-ended challenges, which demand experimentation and reward divergent thinking. TOM promotes learning and developing as an individual within a team structure.
This year, each group researched, formulated, and presented their solution to the STEM challenge: Birds of TOMadise, where the students researched and designed a bird-like flying device/model that was launched from a platform/perch and was able to demonstrate two different flying manoeuvres. The artificial bird was a prototype to with the aim of replacing the real birds of paradise that were mysteriously dying off and destroying the tourism of the island.
As the challenge was based on STEM principles (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics), the students had to also present a multimedia presentation to the judges, clearly explaining their model formulation, construction and the science behind their model’s launch and flying manoeuvres. The students had to incorporate a valid environmental reason for why the natural birds on the island of TOMadise were dying off within their theatrical script. The group theatrical performance was planned to the high standards of the TOM competition, including their research, scripting, props construction and contributions of all team members during the performance time of 10 minutes. Students were required to create all props, scripts, costumes etc. by themselves using only items from a set list. The resulting performance showed scientific accuracy, moments of humour and seamless team skills.
As teachers, we were overly impressed by the dedication of the TOM students leading up to and including their performances on the day. Parents who attended were also deservedly proud of the great efforts their children had made over the past few weeks. A huge congratulations to all the students for their wonderful ideas and commitment to this extension opportunity. The photos show the groups in action, confidently presenting their entertaining and informative performances.
This extension opportunity is part of our co-curricular program at Penola Catholic College, and we look forward to increasing the range of participants next year. We are grateful for the support of Mrs. Brandon, Mrs. Tatam, and Dr. Trapani throughout this competition.
Mr. Phan and Mr. Katsahambas
Parliament and Old Magistrates Court
On Thursday 13 July, our Year 12 students attended an excursion to Victorian Parliament and the Old Melbourne Magistrates Court. The excursion to these places gave students an assistance to gain a better understanding of the structure and function of Parliament which will assist them in Unit 4. Also, going to the Old Magistrates Court and conducting the role play assisted the students with their Unit 3 course work of the role of legal personnel. Below is feedback from the student’s perspective of the day.
The Year 12 legal studies classes underwent an educational journey in last week's excursion to Victorian Parliament house. Students admired the building's sophisticated architectural design and completed two role-playing sessions: one session involving insight into the legislative process of initiating a bill and another session exploring Australia's adversarial prosecution system by enacting a real court case. Our students were fond of the experience and learnt many new things.
Carlos B
The excursion to the Old Magistrates Court and State Parliament house was a great learning experience to assist in my studies. This was an experience that I probably never would’ve participated in if it weren’t for the school, as I hadn’t heard about these tours before. We were able to participate in role plays of passing the bill in Parliament and a courtroom drama of culpable driving. I was able to play the role of the defence barrister.
Isabelle N
Ancient Rome Incursion
The Ancient Rome incursion was interesting as I learnt about how many layers of clothing the Romans had to wear in addition to the weapons the knights or gladiators used in battle. I enjoyed the whole incursion, especially when I got to roleplay the part of an empress of Ancient Rome and watching the gladiators fight each other. I learnt about daily life of the ancient romans as well as how people of different social classes were treated.
Dianthi 7F
Abruzzo Lab- Year 10 Italian Advanced student
Our excursion to the Abruzzo Lab with the Year 10 Advanced students on Thursday 3 August was a flavorsome experience in a number of ways. First of all, because the regional dishes from Abruzzo that we tasted and were explained to us were delicious. Secondly, because the students could see what the attachment Italians have towards their individual regions and territory really entails, and how each region almost stands as an entity of its own. Thirdly, because we learnt how powerful the link between Italy and Australia is and how these two countries continue to nourish and enrich each other thanks to the relationship Italian immigrants in Australia still keep with their country of origin.
Abruzzo Lab is a shop and eatery which was created by Michelle, a professional chef, who decided to leave Melbourne in 2012 and established herself in the Italian region of Abruzzo to gain knowledge of the culture of her family. She opened Abruzzo Lab when she came back, in 2018, to bring the true flavours and culture of Abruzzo with her.
The objectives of this visit for the students were to learn about the region of Abruzzo, its geographic and cultural features, its traditional cuisine, as well as understand Michelle’s family immigration history. The excursion was part of a unit of work on Italian geography and led to an oral assessment task, in which students presented an Italian region of their choice and filmed themselves while recreating a traditional dish from that region. Indeed, our students asked some good and relevant questions in Italian to Michelle once we arrived at Abruzzo Lab. They wanted to know about Michelle’s life, her history, her likes, her reasons to leave Australia for Italy and also the reasons why she had decided to open the café’ and deli.
We were served a lovely lunch consisting of fiadoni (traditional cheese dumplings), arrosticini (chicken or lamb meat kebabs), ‘spaghetti alla chitarra’ (traditionally made using the ‘chitarra’, a pasta cutting machine which looks like a guitar in shape) with goat ragout, and pizzelle (waffle-like cakes) with Nutella. We were also shown some utensils (the ‘chitarra’, the ’pizzelle maker’ etc) which tell us about the culinary history of Abruzzo.
At the end of the excursion, our Year 10 students had a much deeper
understanding of ‘the’ Italy which is off the beaten track, the most authentic part of the country, that soul which Michelle brought back with her. And, perhaps, this is also the reason why the oral presentations the following week were so interesting and creative: each student identified deeply with the region they presented and brought its features and authenticity to the class.
Museo Italiano and Lygon Street excursion - Understanding the history of Italian immigration in Australia.
As part of a VCE unit on Italian immigration into Australia, our Year 11 Italian class left for Carlton on an excursion on Wednesday 23 August, the destination being the Museo Italiano. Here, we attended a staff-led presentation on Italian migration to Australia, which shed more light onto the reasons why so many Italians left their country in the ‘50s as well as in the ‘70s, as well as their contribution to Australia and, specifically, Melbourne.
We learnt about the feelings of these first migrants, particularly the nostalgia for a country which could not offer anything to them since it was struck by poverty and destruction after World War Two. We saw what these migrants brought with them, literally and symbolically, in their suitcases which were tied together with a string. Finally, we also understood how they were received, initially and later on, by the local people and institutions. We learnt that the first pizzas Melbournians had ever seen while they were being made were defined ‘flying food’, thanks to the pizza makers’ skills. We heard about how the police at times had to intervene because huge crowds of people were queueing outside a shop where the first espresso coffees came out of those strange, unusual machines. We understood the transformation of Carlton from a very poor suburb to an Italian precinct buzzling with life, energy and initiative. At the end of the presentation, the students were given the opportunity to do a self-guided visit of the Italian museum and completed several activities in their booklets. The museum is a place full of objects, writings, music, voices: when we visit it we are dwelling among feelings of nostalgia and longing and then switch to feelings of optimism and pride of our cultural richness.
After the museum visit, we had an Italian lunch at Criniti’s in Faraday Street, before we concluded the day with a Scavenger Hunt, which involved students paying attention to corners, shops and items of Lygon Street, in order to discover places of significance for Italian history in Australia. I bet this was the first time our students realised how much Italian is written and spoken in Melbourne.
At the end of the day, some of our students had interesting encounters and managed to interact with local elderly people who spoke Greek and Italian, and who had to share some precious life lessons with our young people. A very positive end to a day whose aim was to understand and appreciate the past and its lessons!
The Teaching and Learning program at Penola Catholic College is informed by our Mission Statement which upholds the principle of a holistic and comprehensive education. Our Curriculum reflects an understanding of our students at the various stages of their development and learning.
We are committed to educating the whole person so that each student can strive to achieve their potential. One of the prerequisites for success in academic studies is a consistent and organised approach to study and classes on the part of the student. As young adults, Penola Catholic College expects students to be self-reliant and independent in their approach to their studies.
Year 7 and 8 students are able to access guidance from Year 12 tutors in the Glenroy ERC on Tuesdays from 3.00pm- 4.00pm.
Year 9-12 students are able to access tutors in the Broadmeadows ERC on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3.00pm- 4.00pm.
Tutors will focus on Literacy, Numeracy and Study Skills.
Students must be registered and have parent permission to attend.
Please contact Tania Kay tkay@penola.vic.edu.au to register your child.
