St Patrick's College Mackay - Term 4 - Week 2 - 11 October 2024

Welcome back to Term 4, the final term of the year.

I hope everyone enjoyed a relaxing holiday break and that all students have returned refreshed and ready for a final burst of effort for the year.

Last week, I attended the ACEL Conference “Reimagining Education – A Future Beyond Boundaries” in Adelaide, which closely aligned with our School Improvement Plan. Topics included: Approaches to Leading Change and Reimagining Education through Purpose. As I reflected during the conference, I felt that what we offer in Catholic Education meets high standards of expectation, in line with our colleagues from other states.

Our staff have been working meticulously marking and preparing the submissions for our senior students. Year 12 students have a relatively short term with their final external examinations through the ATAR system commencing on Monday 21 October. The Year 11 and Year 10 students will commence their examination timetable in November. It is really important that our students understand the need to finish well, in every regard. The Year 12’s in particular need to maximise their results.

If Year 12 students have not registered for QTAC and are considering tertiary study next year, they should do so as soon as possible. I would also encourage any student who has not seen Ms McKay about careers and tertiary courses already, to please see her as soon as possible this term.

Important Dates this Term
I would also like to share the dates of important activities occurring this term:

16 October - Year 12 Valedictory Evening - Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre
18 October - Year 12 Celebration Activities on the College grounds
21 October - Year 12 External Examinations commence
26 October - St Mary’s Church Youth Mass
3 November - St Patrick’s Church Youth Mass
11 November - Year 10 Examinations commence
12 November - Year 11 Awards Night - St Patrick’s Hall, River St
14 November - Final Year 12 Assembly and Graduation Mass rehearsal - St Patrick’s Hall, River St
14 November - Year 11 Examinations commence
15 November - Graduation Mass - St Patrick’s Hall, River St
20 November - Year 10 Semi-Formal
21 November – Orientation Day for Year 7's and Year 11's
22 November - Year 10 Thanksgiving Mass - Mercy Campus Pavilion
23 November - St Mary’s Church Youth Mass

New Staff Welcome
At the beginning of Term 4, we welcomed Sarah Krause as a new teacher to our Learning Support Department. Welcome to the St Patrick’s community!

Valedictory Information
Our Valedictory Evening is being held on Wednesday 16 October in the Auditorium at the Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre (MECC). I would like to invite all parents/guardians of Year 12 students to help us celebrate the achievements of our Graduating Class of 2024, either by joining us at the MECC or by watching the proceedings through our livestream. For those joining our livestream, please use the following link – St Patrick’s College Valedictory 2024. This link is also available on the College App.

Year 12 Celebration Morning
On Friday 18 October, to celebrate the Year 12 student’s final day, we will be holding a day of activities for the students. I would like to personally invite parents/guardians of Year 12 students to join us for this event.

Master Plan
It is now very visible that our Master Plan is underway on both campuses, with the Mercy Hall and Senior Campus toilet block renovations in progress. Below are some sketch designs of how the proposed works will look when completed.

Senior Campus Toilets 

Mercy Campus Hall

Mercy Campus Hall

Year 12 students will be invited to participate in the Next Step Year 12 Completers survey between March and June 2025.

This annual Next Step survey captures post-school destination information from students who complete Year 12 in Queensland. Insights gained from Next Step assist schools to improve their services for senior students and improve students’ transition from school to further study and employment.

The College is encouraging Year 12 students and parents to participate in this survey.

Further information about Next Step is available at www.qld.gov.au/nextstep

The attendance and participation from our students for the Youth Masses has gone from strength to strength this year across both the St Mary’s and St Patrick’s parishes. A small lunch was provided as a thank you to our senior students for the wonderful support that they give to our Sunday evening masses at St Patrick’s Church. Their commitment to these masses and the way they have represented the College each month has been exceptional. Our special guests were Sr Denise Hinton and Miss Kristin Honeyball from Catholic Education Office.

Sports Awards Assembly
Our Sports Awards Assembly acknowledges and celebrates the achievements of our College Representative Sports, Carnival Age Champions, Mackay and Districts, Capricornia and Queensland School Sport representatives.

Mercy Campus Sports Awards Assembly will be held Wednesday 30 October. Please note, all major award winners will be sent an invitation in the upcoming weeks.

We look forward to celebrating our students' achievements in School Sport.

Basketball
Championship Basketball School of Queensland (CBSQ) Term 4 continues with 4 teams still to tour, Junior Secondary Girls and Boys and Sophomore.

Tournament Dates:
Junior Secondary 10 - 13 October
Sophomore 24 - 27 October

We wish all players and staff great success!

Rugby Union
The senior rugby union competition was short but sweet, being played over 5 weeks at the end of Term 3. The small group of boys played outstandingly with 2 strong wins and 2 close losses. Congratulations and thank you to those players who laced up their boots, especially those who played each week.

Congratulations also to the group of players who attempted something new and played rugby for the first time. For those who would still like to play, there is the Rugby 7s competition in Week 3. We hope to see you all there.

Touch Football
Gold Coast Titans All Schools (GCTAS), is the world’s largest touch football tournament with a record number of 580 teams in 2024. First presented in 1983, the event was created to provide a platform for schools and students to develop and benchmark their touch football skills and abilities, and was contested between 18 schools and a couple of hundred players.

This year we have three teams competing as well as a number of student referees officiating across the 5-day tournament. Good luck to players and staff, we look forward to sharing news of your trip in our next newsletter!

We were very excited to launch our trial of Switch4Schools with the Year 7 cohort in Week 1. Switch4Schools is a simple platform that aims to improve emotional intelligence by helping students clearly identify what emotion they might be feeling, as well as ‘switches’ that can help to dial up or down this emotion. The Year 7 students will be completing daily check ins that take approximately 1 minute. This will improve their own ability to self-regulate but also provide the pastoral team with de-identified data to identify improvements we can make as a College to support our youngest students.

Switch4Schools begins with a question of tiredness. You might be wondering – is being tired an emotion? No, tiredness is not an emotion. You do FEEL tired, but it’s important to separate tiredness from emotion. Tiredness is more like an amplifier of emotion because you have less energy to inhibit or manage the intensity of your emotions when you are exhausted. The more tired you are, the more likely you are to bounce between more extreme emotions. Sleep is a really, really good thing when it comes to managing your emotions.

So why do we have emotions? Wouldn’t life be easier without them? Emotions are actually designed to help us. They are like our very own superpowers that have helped us become the most dominant species on the planet. They help us identify danger, leap to action, give us energy, attract us to others, and help us work together. They are not good or bad, they just are. The better we can understand and manage these emotion superpowers, the better we will be! The first step in mastering the superpower of emotions is to be able to label them. Our brain needs words in order to think about things, and we can do this using the Switch Emotion Wheel.

The Switch Emotion Wheel is helpful, because our brain needs words and language to be able to think about anything. Try thinking about something now that you don’t have a word for. It’s pretty much impossible! Words are the conceptual vessels that allow us to think. Saying you’re furious is one thing, but knowing that it is the most extreme form of anger helps us think about fury in a new way. Language and intensity levels work together to become a conceptual framework that allows us to better understand and manage emotion. It’s also helpful when we have to use words to better communicate with each other about how we are feeling. Saying you’re happy is good, but how happy? Being able to say “peaceful” is more descriptive and better articulates your emotional state to others. Similarly, “apprehensive” intuitively suggests low level anxiety, frustrated medium level anger, and disappointed only a little bit sad.

Often when we don’t want to get into a big conversation about how we’re feeling, we say: “fine” or “good”. It’s kind of code for, “I have no interest in telling you how I feel” or “I have no idea, please don’t make me think about it - I’ve got too much to do”.

This is learned behaviour from previous experiences of articulating how we are feeling using simplistic high level emotional descriptors (happy, sad, angry, anxious, scared or excited), making people feel like they need to ask further questions as these high-level descriptors fail to indicate how intense the emotion is. In the absence of intensity, people assume a more extreme emotion is likely and therefore feel compelled to dig deeper. Therefore, to communicate a feeling without prompting an unwanted inquisition, we need to use words that better articulate feeling and intensity.

By trialling this program, our aim is that students will improve their ability to clearly articulate their feelings and the intensity of these feelings, as well as identify ways in which they can work to improve the intensity of their feelings.

School fees are due by 31 October and we kindly request prompt payment from those parents who are not currently on an existing payment plan.

We understand that some families may be facing financial challenges. If you are having trouble with the payment of school fees, we encourage you to reach out to our Finance team. We will work with you to find a suitable solution and ensure that your child's education is not affected by financial hardships.

The Finance team is prepared to discuss various payment options, including instalment plans. All communication with the Finance team will be treated confidentially.

The Vinnies Committee is excited to announce that we’ve raised $1,000 for Mercy Works, thanks to the incredible support for the Father's Day Stall and Raffle, the Mercy Day Stall, and the sale of chocolate boxes. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to these efforts!

This term, Vinnies is focusing on the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal, and we are asking for your help by donating items for Christmas hampers. The homeroom that donates the most hampers will win a homeroom lunch! Stay tuned for more details about what items are needed.

Thank you for your ongoing generosity and support as we work together to make a difference for those in need this holiday season!

In Week 10 of last term, St Patrick’s College supported student’s from Mackay and surrounds to attend a weeklong Deaf and hard of hearing Camp held at YMCA Camp Warrawee in Brisbane. The students participated in a wide range of outdoor adventure activities that fostered positive relationships, enhanced confidence and resilience and promoted a sense of belonging among peers who use Auslan. Additionally, the students had the unique opportunity to partake in the first ever Deaf Youth Parliament at Parliament House in Brisbane. This event allowed Deaf students from across Queensland to debate significant issues and gain firsthand experience of the legislative process, all conducted in Auslan. We extend our congratulations to our Year 8 student, Jorja H, who participated and delivered two speeches at the Deaf Youth Parliament. Well done Jorja!

Year 11 students George G and Mark M attended a three day camp hosted by QMEA Oresome Trades Camp at Pioneer State High School. They were divided into different groups with other students from the Mackay region. Both boys showed a lot of initiative and contributed to their groups to design a rolling scale model of a mine spec vehicle with working lights. George and Mark worked under the supervision of BHP and BMA supervisors. They received information about the industry, what's expected of their apprentices, and what they look for during the interview process. 

Year 11 student Elena M, has been accepted to the National Youth Science Forum which will run from the 15 - 23 January 2025 in the St Lucia Campus at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. The National Youth Science Forum is a unique opportunity for students interested in STEM to explore career pathways with like-minded peers from all over Australia. The attendees will participate in tours of science and technology facilities, and engage with industry partners and research partners while learning about cutting-edge research. Elena is looking forward to this experience as it will allow her to broaden her horizons, develop different skills, create connections with fellow peers and gain an insight into how science is shaping the world today. Elena can’t wait to be part of this wonderful experience!

St Patrick's College Year 11 student Ella W, with her Australian futsal teammates, competed in Chile in May this year. Ella’s journey to National representation began at the Whitsundays School Futsal titles. Ella and her St Patrick's College teammates were guided by Miss Wootton in competition matches held at Sarina State High School. These matches precipitated Ella’s selection into the Northern Queensland Team that participated at the 2023 National School Championships tournament in Brisbane. Whilst participating in the National School Championships’ tournament, Ella’s futsal performance was noticed by referees and judges and she was awarded a place as 1 of only 10 girls chosen as Australian All Stars for the U19 age group. 

As an Australian All Star (under 19 girls), Ella was offered a position in the Australian U19 team competing in Chile in May, 2024. Ella, accompanied by her family, spent two weeks touring the country representing Australia while playing Chilean elite national teams and doing some sightseeing. Ella reported it all as an amazing experience, being chosen to represent Australia, playing elite futsal teams, making new friends, trying Chilean meals and seeing different landscapes, including experiencing snow for the first time.

Do you want to make a difference in our community? You’re invited to join the St Joseph’s Online Conference (St Vincent de Paul Group). We are taking expressions of interest from anyone throughout the Diocese. Meetings are monthly, online via Microsoft Teams.

Training will be provided. Email membership.rocky@svdpqld.org.au
if interested.

More about the St Vincent de Paul Society: We are the Society - St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland (youtube.com) if you would like to use it.