1449 Ignatian Newsletter - Friday 3 September 2021
PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Dear Members of the Loyola College Community,
Life at the College continues to be very quiet with the majority of students and teachers working from home. We have been able to celebrate some special weeks in a different manner this year and I commend the staff who have been creative in their approach during this period of remote learning. As announced by the Premier earlier this week, the lockdown will continue until September 23. We are unclear at this stage as to when students will be returning to school in Term 4. I will keep families informed with any further developments.
Science Week, Sustainability Week and Book Week
Recently we have celebrated the above weeks with a range of online activities to engage students and staff. Much thought went into how students might be engaged online in these important areas. I commend Mr Lee, Head of Science, Ms Mezner, Sustainability Coordinator and Ms Johnson, Head of Information Services for their great work in enabling these weeks to proceed.
Leadership Session for Year 10
Last week the Year 10 ‘s attended an online session on Leadership. Following the session, they were invited to apply for Vice Captain leadership positions for 2022. I encourage students to give this careful consideration and apply to serve the College in this important way.
Virtual Assembly
The first virtual assembly for the year was held last Thursday and a number of speakers, students and staff send words of encouragement to our College community under the current lockdown. There were several humorous segments that also brought laughter to the assembly, always a positive thing in challenging times. I thank Mr O’Keeffe, Director of College and Community Engagement and Mr Melville our AV technician for organising the virtual assembly event.
GAT
We have been informed by VCAA that the General Achievement Test will be held for all students studying one or more VCE Units 3&4 subjects on October 5.
Vaccination of Senior Students
The Premier has announced that these students will be given vaccination priority with the aim that all Year 12 students and Year 11s studying a VCE 3&4 subject will be vaccinated by early October. I will provide further details as they are made available about how this is to occur.
Fathers’ Day
This coming weekend we celebrate Father’s Day. Unfortunately, we will be unbale to hold our annual breakfast for Fathers for the second year in a row. Nonetheless, we want to acknowledge all fathers for the wonderful work they do to co support their families. May the fathers of today draw from the example of St Joseph who cared for, protected, and loved Jesus and Mary. We know little about St Joseph from the scriptures other than we know that he was always there for his small family when it counted. A great guide for all fathers! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads.
As we approach the final weeks of this challenging term, I wish to stress the importance to all students of remaining focused right until the end of this term, in particular, for the Year 12s. Regardless of whether they are following the VCAL or VCE pathway, they only have a few weeks of classes remaining and need to increase the study focus to ensure that they benefit as much as possible from their classes before final assessments and/or examinations commence in late October. This no doubt has been another challenging year but as a staff we are committed to supporting our Year 12s and all students in achieving their academic goals for 2021.
I hope the remaining weeks of this term will be productive for all.
Mr Joseph Favrin,
Principal
COLLEGE & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Scholarship Program
The 2022 Scholarship Program is now open for students from Year 8-11.
The Scholarship Program recognises and acknowledges students who take responsibility for, and are proactive in, the development of their own education. Scholarships are awarded to the value of $1000 as a deduction from school fees in the following year. Scholarships are available in the areas of: Academic, Co-Curriculum and Community Spirit.
Applications close on September 17th.
Walk For Others
As part of St. Ignatius Day each year, Loyola students take part in a 7km walk around the streets of Watsonia, to raise money for their house charities. We have launched the campaign and are now asking students to sign up and start asking friends and families to sponsor them. Over 800 students have registered so far; however, we need all 1400 students to get involved. More than ever our charities need our help, so we are aiming to fundraise $30,000.
Total so far: $12,182
Mr Michael O'Keeffe,
Director of College & Community Engagement
LOYOLA LOCKDOWN Q&A: EPISODE TWO
IGNATIAN MISSION & IDENTITY
Sign the Call – Christians United for Afghanistan
We are all aware of recent events in Afghanistan and the peril that thousands of people in that country, and the refugees that have recently been evacuated, now face. Christians United for Afghanistan are a multi-faith and multi-agency group that are calling on the Australian government to welcome a special intake of an additional 20,000 Afghan refugees and support the well-being of all Afghan refugees and their families.
Father’s Day
The College normally has a Father’s Day breakfast at this time of year. Hopefully it will be back in 2022. Here is a reflective prayer for all fathers.
Mr Chris Lynch,
Deputy Principal
Ignatian Mission & Identity
IGNATIAN SERVICE
St Pius X Tutoring in 2021 – Lockdown
A small group of Year 11 and 12 Loyola students have continued to provide a tutoring service to a St Vincent De Paul run tutoring program at St Pius X primary school in West Heidelberg. Prior to lockdown, they would attend in person one afternoon a week after school. Since lockdown, they now join the St Pius X students over Zoom where they chat, read to them and listen to their reading.
Our students are to be commended for helping the St Pius X students continue their learning online, especially when they themselves have had a long day of screen time. The St Pius X students benefit from the extra tutoring and really appreciate the interactions with our students and look forward to it each week.
For those interested in participating please email Mr McIlroy or Ms Barisonzi.
Mr Jamie McIlroy,
Head of Ignatian Service
TEACHING & LEARNING
Year 10, 11 and 12 Subject Specific Conversations
The final Year 10 -12 Subject Specific Conversations will take place on September 9 (4:15pm – 8:30 pm) on MS Teams. This will be your final formal opportunity to discuss your child’s progress prior to the final examinations. We look forward to working with you in supporting our learners as they move towards the end of this very different year.
Please check your Parent Portal for communication outlining the booking system process. A notification will be sent to alert you of information as it is posted.
Year 7 - 9 Subject Specific Conversations (change from Mentor Academic Conversations)
This year the Year 7 – 9 Subject Specific Conversations will be held on September 15, 4:15 pm – 8:30 pm. We encourage all parents and guardians to make an interview time, as this will be the final formal opportunity to discuss how your child is travelling, with reference to remote/online learning, and how to prepare for the final assessments and examinations. Please be aware that this round of reports will be available online prior to the interviews.
Immediate S for Units 1- 4 SAC’s
Students will receive an immediate S for a SAC when they have demonstrated the following:
- Produced work that demonstrates achievement of the outcomes
- Submitted work that is clearly their own
- Observed the rules of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) and the school. (School rules may include, for example, Attendance or Submission of Work policies)
If any or all of these are not satisfied at the time of the SAC/SAT a student can be awarded a ‘Provisional N’.
Students can always redeem an S for the SAC/SAT in various ways. To be awarded an S, students will need to consult with their Subject Teacher about the best way to proceed.
Unit 4 Trial Examinations
Unit 3/4 Trial Exams are being delivered to all students over the next two weeks. For students to receive any feedback on these exams they will need to be returned on the day of the first day of return for marking and feedback.
Individual teachers will contact students if additional arrangements need to be made.
Ms Suzanne Pola,
Deputy Principal
Teaching & Learning
STUDENT VOICE
MUSIC
Despite being in lockdown, things are still happening in the Music Department. Our instrumental lessons are going on as usual via Microsoft Teams, AMEB Exams are taking place for our instrumental students via Video Repertoire Exams and our senior students are preparing for VCE Performance Exams.
Due to COVID, our Annual Music Concert won’t be taking place on Thursday 2nd September. However, we will be producing “Live @ The Inigo 2” which will be focussed on solo performances with a few family group performances in the mix! This will be made available to the Loyola community on Wednesday 6th October at 7:30pm. Please take the time to watch our wonderful students perform.
Lockdown is a stressful time for all of us. I encourage all our music students to continue with their regular practice routines and to make the most of the extra time available to polish and refine their technical work and pieces. It is important to set up a practice schedule and stick to it.
We have some sibling groups at Loyola who are spending time during lockdown making music together. I have spoken to one family who have said they spend some time after dinner each night around the piano, singing and creating wonderful memoires.
If you would like to spend some family time playing music, ukuleles are a good option. And there are plenty of online resources to get you started! Or you could start up a Family Junk Band, have a look around you at what you can get creative with. You might just surprise yourself and it gets us all off our screens for a little while.
Ms Jennifer Taylor,
Director of Music
PERFORMING ARTS
Getting off the screen & having fun
Not all subjects require students to be sitting on their devices for the lesson, even in lockdown. Some of our Performing arts students have been creating performance work in their own homes and utilising the new spaces they have creatively. Our Year 8 Drama students have been creating slapstick Comedy pieces in their own kitchens backyards and local parks (sometimes we even have a family member as part of the fun!). Here are some pieces by Jake Lee, Massimo Molinaro and Mark Vignotti that show what fun students were having as they learnt about comedy.
Ms Julie Boyle,
Performing Arts Teacher
VISUAL ARTS
Despite lockdown restrictions, students in the Visual Arts continue to demonstrate resilience and express their inspired selves. Our remote classes have allowed guided engagement where gentle instruction of artistic practices has continued despite no face to face classroom contact.
Senior students have used their suburban ‘canvas’ and incorporated it into their folio work. Their work shows the ability to adapt their worlds and be creative in amongst our confined Covid settings.
Students in Media have also benefitted from the additional input from our La Trobe University Pre-Service Teacher, Amy Bryans, who has developed innovative support in remote classes and provided insight into the world of online learning from a tertiary learning perspective.
Mr Mark Cuddon,
Acting Head of Visual Arts
LANGUAGES
Recently our Head of Languages, Mr Jason van Leest, wrote an article for the Northern Star Weekly about Loyola's Languages Department. Read the full story below!
LIBRARY
Looking at your assignments and wondering where to start? Studying for your exams and looking for a deeper understanding? Don’t forget to check out the library LMS pages, full of tips for studying, referencing and topic information. Ask a librarian: icentre-learn@loyola.vic.edu.au
ICT
Cybersafety Part 9: Back door threat actors ‘trump’ even the strongest security
From the stealing of an important government official’s email account to some random person in cyberspace controlling your baby web cam, it is well understood amongst ICT security circles that almost every significant hack begins by exploiting a weakness on an end-point device.
Cyber security with personal information, banking and communication is critically important to individuals and increasingly important to corporations and governments, too. This is manifested in the $Billions being spent by nations on counter-cyberterrorism measures. Nevertheless, the strength of any chain of cyber security measures is only as strong as its weakest link, and there is usually no weaker link in a chain than your digital device and how you use it.
Four of the major weaknesses on end-point devices include:
- Weak passwords and easily guessed passwords. Worse still, using the same credentials across multiple devices;
- Not keeping the anti-virus software up to date on all home and work network devices (ie not just computers, but also security cameras, baby web cams and printers!);
- Responding to emails that look like they come from legitimate organisations such as banks, but which direct the unwary user to fake websites where you are asked to enter your login and password, and
- Visiting pirate software/movies/music or unsecured (ie no HTTPS) websites, which have been infected with malware.
Threat Actors (ie criminal hackers) use malware (malicious software) on infected computers to ‘scrape’ personal data, which they hope to use to gain access to a home, corporation or government network. Once in they typically may take several months surreptitiously snooping around for what they want, eg information they can sell on the Dark Web, or use to steal money out of credit card accounts, or use to steal Intellectual Property or other trade secrets in order to gain a competitive advantage.
So be alert not to undermine your own cyber safety measures and efforts to secure your privacy, security or financial data.
Mr Victor Dalla-Vecchia,
ICT Manager
COMMUNITY
2021 Morning College Tours
Morning Tours will be take place on the following dates from 9.15 am – 11. 00 am:
- Monday, 11th October
- Monday, 8th November
Presentation Ball
A decision has been made by the school to postpone the Presentation Ball until 29th & 30th November for our current Year 11 students. Communication regarding rehearsal dates will soon be sent to families.
Prospect Wines Offer
Lockdown 6.0 has certainly had its challenges for everyone on all levels. Loyola currently offers 7 different types of wine that can be ordered through Prospect Wines. Orders can be made online and processed in lots of 6. Delivery is within 7 working days and come to your front door. The bottles range in price from $13-$16.
The promotions running at the moment are as follows:
- Every online order receives a ticket in the draw to win a delicious and beautiful Chocolati Chocolate and Food Hamper (pictured below) to the value of $220.00 delivered Australia wide.
- Buy 1 dozen receive a bottle FREE
All money raised will be distributed to LPFA and FOPA to purchase goods for the Loyola Community.
Ends September 30, 2021.
2021 Entertainment Books
The LPFA are proud to promote the 2021 Entertainment Book.
Loyola College Accommodation
Just inside Gate 4, on the corner of Bungay and Kenmare Streets, sits our Aurrupe House and Manresa Cottage which are used for accommodation on a short-term basis for both overseas visitors and members of our school and local community. Accommodation rental is ideal for family members or friends who would like to attend a function or appointment in Melbourne and require an overnight stay or longer at a very reasonable price. Some of our families have extended family who live interstate and rent the house on a regular basis when planning a visit to Melbourne for 1 or 2 weeks. Loyola’s close proximity to shops and the train makes it ideal to be independent and yet close to relatives as well.
Donation of Loyola Uniform
If you have any Loyola uniform items that you no longer require, please leave them at Reception. They are great to have for families in need, student accidents and our Exchange students. Blazers no longer required would be much appreciated.
Important Dates
Working Bee
Saturday 9th October from 9am – 12pm.
All students accompanied by parents welcome.
Please let me know via email or phone if you are able to attend.
2021 LPFA Meetings
Wednesday Evenings – 6th October, 10th November
2021 PWP Meetings
Monday evenings – 18th October
Mrs Dianna Alonso,
Community Liaison Officer