1458 Ignatian Newsletter - Friday 4 March 2022
PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
Dear Members of the Loyola College Community,
The last 2 weeks have seen many events take place in the life of our College and I am pleased to be able to share these with you in this newsletter.
House Swimming Carnival
This event was held last week on a cool day with a great atmosphere and a high level of involvement and competition from students making the day a great success. I congratulate Flynn House on winning the First Division of this year’s carnival and McAuley House for winning Second Division. I would like to thank Ms Wade, Director of Sport, and her assistant, Mr Bergantino, for overseeing the organisation of this most successful event together with Mrs Hartigan, Head of Co-curriculum, the Heads of House and House Captains.
House Masses
During February we have celebrated House Masses in the parishes. I thank all the priests who have presided at these masses. I thank the respective Heads of House, Sr Nelia Llanto SJGS and Mr Chris Lynch DP - Ignatian Mission and Identity together will the students and families who were able to attend. The House Masses bring the families of Houses together to ask for God’s blessing on the year ahead. It was truly wonderful to see a significant increase in the level of student and family presence this year. There are still two House Masses to be held in March and I encourage families to attend.
Twilight Working Bee
Many thanks to the many parents who volunteered to help with the first Working bee for the year that was held last week. Much good work was completed in the planting of a large new flower bed at the front of Grimshaw Street. I thank Mr O’Connell, LPFA Working Bee Coordinator, Mr Kelly, our Head Gardener and our Assistant Gardeners Mr Short and Mr Baxter for assisting on the afternoon.
College Opening Mass
On Tuesday of this week the College Opening Mass was celebrated. Bishop Terry Curtin, Bishop for the Northern region was the principal celebrant. Concelebrating with the bishop were Fr Steven Rigo PP of St Mary’s, Greensborough, St Thomas the Apostle, Nth Greensborough, Sacred Heart, Diamond Greek together with Fr Martin Tanti, Assistant Priest, Fr Anthony Girolami PP of St Francis of Assisi, Mill Park, Fr Michael O’Connell, PP of St Martin of Tours, Rosanna and Fr Dong Tran, Administrator of St Damian’s, Bundoora. This was a special day as we commemorated the canonisation 400 years ago of St Ignatius Loyola and St Francis Xavier as part of the Ignatian year. I am grateful for the ongoing support we receive from our Bishop and these Priests who work with our school community to enrich our prayer life. I thank Mr Lynch, Deputy Principal - Ignatian Mission and Identity, who oversaw the organisation of the Mass.
Ash Wednesday
On Wednesday of this week all classes participated in the ceremony of the ashes to mark the beginning of Lent in the church calendar. Lent is a 40-day period that precedes Easter, during which we are asked to fast, practice abstinence and giving to the poor. It is at this time that we collect money for Project Compassion in which all classes are involved.
International Women’s Day
On Thursday of this week, we celebrated International Women’s Day (normally celebrated around the world on 8 March when this year we have Activities Week). A range of activities were organised by the Year 12 College Committee under the direction of Deputy Principal – Students: Mrs Salmic. This is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women in all of their diversities. It's also a day to raise awareness about the inequalities girls and women face around the world.
Catholic Education Week
March 14 -18will be Catholic Education week in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. We celebrate the significant contribution that our Catholic system has made to Victoria and its impact on the community. One in five Australian children attend a Catholic school. It is a time when we give thanks for the wonderful work carried out by Catholic schools across the country. This year Loyola College is in its 43nd year of offering Catholic Education in this community. May we always be grateful for the gift of Catholic Education and for all those who work in our schools to support the young people entrusted to our care.
Principals Long Service Leave
I will be on leave from Thursday 3 – Wednesday 16 March. Mrs Leutchford Deputy - Staff and Operations, will be Acting Principal during my absence.
Lenten Season
We are now in the first week of Lent, a time for doing good works, making sacrifices and personal prayer. There are many ways in which students can focus on these three areas at school. These include spending some quiet time in prayer and reflection in the Chapel, giving up personal time to assist another person, a staff member or another student, and giving up canteen money to donate it to a good cause like Project Compassion.
Lent also provides us all with an opportunity to examine more closely our relationship with God and, where necessary, restore the balance in terms of God playing a role in our lives. It creates an opportunity to take time out of our busy lives and consider what is really important.
Let us all make a concerted effort in the weeks ahead to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Easter by deepening our awareness of the presence of God in our daily lives and by seeking opportunities to serve those around us.
Mr Joseph Favrin,
Principal
UPCOMING EVENTS
COLLEGE & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Digital Communication Use By Staff
In this day of easy access to digital technology, many members of our community find it convenient to communicate with each other at all hours of the day. While some Loyola staff members are happy to respond to digital communications after hours, they are not obliged to. You can read our full Digital Communications policy by clicking the link below, however the main points are as follows.
- Staff are not obligated to respond to digital communications after their specific work hours
- Staff are not expected to respond to digital communications while on leave (school holidays, annual leave, long service leave, personal leave)
- Staff are expected to respond to digital communications in a timely manner, within two working days of receiving the communication
- Staff must adhere to the VIT Professional Standards and Loyola Child Safety Code of Conduct
- Staff must comply with the Loyola College Acceptable Use of ICT Policy
We hope that you can support us in supporting the wellbeing on our staff.
Parking in Glennden Court & Surrounding Streets
A reminder to parents when parking in small side streets around the college to be mindful of leaving enough room to allow locals to drive in and out of their residence. This may require you not to park on both sides of the street if it is too small.
Mr Michael O’Keeffe,
Director of College and Community Engagement
TEACHING & LEARNING
Subject Specific Conversations - 28 & 29 April
Just a reminder that our first round of Subject Specific Conversations will take place on April 28 from 2:15pm to 8:30pm and April 29 from 1:00pm – 5:30pm. Communication will be sent out shortly explaining in more detail the evening.
Term One Interim reports will only be available for you online. Therefore, I would suggest that you either print a hard copy or save as a PDF if you would like to refer to it during your Subject Specific Conversations.
The purpose of these Subject Specific Conversations will be to discuss the learning that has occurred in Term One and, in particular, look at the academic successes and challenges that your child may have encountered in Term One.
Celebrating Academic Success at Loyola College
At Loyola College we very much enjoy celebrating student academic success. Our Vision and Mission statement states that we ‘seek the education of the whole person and strive to ensure that each student achieves his or her unique potential’. Celebrating the academic success of our students is therefore one part of developing a culture where our students work towards achieving their best, whatever that may be.
There are a number of ways in which we formally celebrate academic success. The first way is through our Merit system of acknowledgement. Merit awards are given to Year 7 to 11 students who perform at a high level. Awards are based on the student’s overall result for each subject. A student will receive a Gold merit award if they have achieved an overall subject result of A or A+. A student will receive a Silver merit award if they have achieved an overall subject result of B or B+. Students who meet these criteria receive a Merit certificate listing the subjects and awards. This certificate is part of the Reporting package.
Each semester we also acknowledge Year 7 to 11 students who have received a certain number of Gold or Silver Merits in the Ignatian. If a parent or guardian would prefer that their child’s name was not published in the Ignatian, they should inform Reception of this.
Educational Growth Mindset
In keeping with Loyola College’s commitment to Positive Psychology Through an Ignatian Lens, our Heads of Learning looked at ways to further develop our student’s educational growth mindset. Students in Years 7 - 10 at Loyola College will be given the option to re-submit assessment work (not exams) if the final mark falls below 55%.
If a student decides to take up the option of re-submission the following needs to happen:
1. Student contact will need to be made with the subject teacher in a timely manner. It is important to make that connection with the teacher for a number of reasons.
- Firstly, to enable a conversation based around learning between the subject teacher and the student.
- Secondly, to improve learning outcomes and look at where the assessment criteria were not met, and how best to addressthis.
- And finally, for the conversation then to translate into improved learning outcomes for any future endeavors.
2. Completion of, and resubmission of, work within designated set time frame.
Once the re-submitted work has been re-marked the maximum possible achievement level for that piece will be 55%. This will be denoted on the report as an ‘R’ and automatically adjusted in their overall mark.
Please be mindful that this initiative is about student learning growth and improving outcomes. Growth occurs when our students have been active participants in the learning process.
Mrs Suzanne Pola,
Deputy Principal
Teaching & Learning
STUDENT VOICE
CO-CURRICULUM
Year 7 - 9 Co-Curriculum Expo – Wednesday 9 February
On 9 February, all year 7 to 9 students attended the Co-curriculum Expo in the MPAC Foyer. This was a great opportunity for students to see the diverse activities available at the school from the areas of:
- Clubs and societies
- Christian Service and Spirituality
- Performing Arts
- Sport
- Public speaking and debating
- House events
All students signed up for activities and got the opportunity to speak to our senior co-curriculum student leaders about their experiences.
Involvement in co-curriculum is a requirement of Loyola College and the College recognises and rewards co-curricular participation via a points system.
This participation takes two forms:
- College Representation describes all activities where a student represents the College externally.
- College involvement describes activities that are conducted within the College environment.
All students are required to accumulate 50 points over two years (Years 7-8, Years 9-10, Years 11-12) in ‘College Representation’ and/or ‘College Involvement’. Significant involvement in Co-curriculum can lead to the award of the College’s Co-curriculum Colours in senior years.
Ms Lauren Hartigan,
Head of Co-Curriculum
WELLBEING
This month on SchoolTV - Understanding Adolescence
Adolescence is the transitional stage of development that is usually associated with the teenage years. In 2018, the Australian Curriculum Assessment Authority, redefined adolescence as affecting young people aged between 10-24 years. During this time, they experience rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial growth, which affects how teenagers feel, think, make decisions and interact with the world around them.
During adolescence, a child's brain can be considered as being “under-construction”. The rate at which this progresses will vary depending on the individual and also their gender. As a result, some parents may view adolescence as stressful or difficult. However, it does not need to be. Setting boundaries, implementing consistent monitoring and maintaining a strong and loving connection will help families adjust during this time.
It is also an important time to keep the communication lines open through clear and age-appropriate conversations. Speak openly about changes that they are experiencing and be conscious of their mental health as many of the conditions people confront in adulthood, can begin to manifest in adolescence.
In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers can learn how to guide and best support their young person as they transition through adolescence. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this month’s edition, and we always welcome your feedback.
If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to this month's edition:
Mr Sal Valentino,
Wellbeing & Personal Development Coordinator
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
As a way introducing Year 7s into the culture of Loyola, the Year 7 Religion course allows the students to research aspects of St Ignatius’ life.
The college is fortunate and blessed to have important testaments to St Ignatius such as beautiful carvings, bronze statues and significant paintings.
Students visit these key sign posts around the College that offer a meaningful insight into Ignatius’ life and mission.
Students are orientated into the journey Ignatius undertook to sainthood, and research and report on his life through a range of visual mediums.
Mr Mark Cuddon,
Religious Education Teacher
ICT
Cybersafety Part 2: What is posted on the Internet remains there forever!
Once posted, it’s toasted!
Consider this true story. A teenage girl takes some photos of herself modelling and posts these photos up on her social media account (eg Facebook, Instagram) for her friends to see. Some months later she is travelling in a bus and notices an advertising billboard with one of her modelling photos on it. Shocked and curious, her concerned parents contact the advertisers only to discover that a social networking site had sold her photos to them without their daughter’s prior knowledge or consent. But when the teenager rings up the social networking organisation, she is politely informed that when she signed up for an account and agreed to their Terms and Conditions, she was in fact agreeing to hand over to them the copyright and ownership of all future content she posts – text, photos, videos, everything! She will never get a single cent out of the social networking organisation, and she will never be able to stop the organisation using her photos or videos as it sees fit.
What about when applying for a job – does having a Facebook or Twitter account or signing up for online competitions matter? Absolutely! The Internet is like ‘Big Brother’, constantly spying on a person’s private life. It is now commonplace for employers to use Google and social networking sites to do background checks on job applicants before deciding whether to interview them for a job. There are also organisations that are paid to ‘dig up’ as much online information about job candidates as possible, in order to build an accurate profile about them and therefore help make an informed decision about whether to invite them for an interview and hire them. This is known as ‘Data Mining’.
On the Internet you may be surprised at the amount of personal information available about any one person – this information is not protected by privacy laws, since it has been willingly posted onto the Internet each time a person adds their profile details to a social networking site, or signs up for free downloads, ringtones, or competitions, or posts an Instagram picture, blog or tweet.
Parents/guardians, please encourage your child to think twice about posting the following online: boasting, being crude or talking about socially negative behaviours like theft, drug use, homophobia, xenophobia or getting drunk. These character blights will form part of your child’s online curriculum vitae.
It gets scarier. Even when deactivated, a Facebook account is kept forever; officially, this is so no one else can use the same name. But once a person’s information is put out there on the Internet, it can never be taken back! It is kept on a database and can be accessed by people with sufficient authority, even if that information does not appear to be visible to the public.
What can parents/guardians do to protect themselves and their children from cyber-theft?
- Ensure they remove any content that someone else may find valuable or which may be used to hurt or bully them in future;
- What about closing the Facebook account? Closing down the account alone is not sufficient. Delete all photos before closing it down; nevertheless, all content will still be kept in archives, and can still be indexed by Google. And if someone else has already downloaded those photos, they can still repost or do what they like with the photos without asking for permission or telling anyone about it;
- When signing up for things like social networking sites, add only the minimum information. Never fill in fields that are not asterisked. Never provide a surname, or at least a real surname. Never supply a date of birth, or at least a real date of birth. Never give out a personal email address. At the very most, use a temporary email address that can easily be dumped later on. Keep your personal email address only for important correspondences, such as for family, close friends and work.
- Never use the College email address for anything other than for school related activities.
Stay safe online. Be careful not to get burnt!
Mr Victor Dalla-Vecchia,
ICT Manager
COMMUNITY
Morning Tours 2022
Morning Tours for Semester 1 will be take place on the following dates from 9.00am – 11.00am:
Monday 28 March
Thursday 28 April
Monday 9 May
Monday 6 June
Monday 18 July
Twilight Working Bee
It was nice to have over 40 people attend our first Working Bee for 2022. A beautiful afternoon created a great opportunity for a great group effort in planting trees along Grimshaw Street. With many students assisting their parents, very hungry and thirsty attendees arrived at the BBQ and it was pleasing to see all the food and drink disappear. Thank you to our hard working Gardening team, and John O’Connell, our LPFA Working Bee Co-ordinator, in ensuring all tasks were completed.
Year 11 Presentation Information Night – Monday 28 March
On behalf of the Presentation Ball Committee we would like to invite expressions of interest in participating in the 2022, Year 11 Loyola College Presentation Ball.
The Presentation Balls will be held at the Manor in Epping on:
Monday 19 September & Tuesday 20 September
All students participating in the Balls, must be present Year 11 Loyola Students.
There will be approximately 7 rehearsals which take place on Sunday evenings in the Loyolas Companions Hall from 6:30pm – 8:30pm.
An Information Night will be held on Monday 28 March at 7:30pm in the Theatrette of Loyola Companions Hall. Interested students and their parents are required to attend this evening.
If you do not have a partner at this stage, please feel very welcome to attend the Information Night.
If you are interested in attending the Information Night, please register via the link below:
2022 House Degustation Dinners
Please join us for a wonderful event.
The degustation dinners will take place over two evenings from 6.00pm - 8.30pm.
COST - $30 per person. Drinks available at bar prices
Numbers are limited – 60 people per dinner.
CHISHOLM, McAULEY & MANNIX HOUSES - Thursday 24 March
FLYNN, MacKILLOP & XAVIER - Thursday 31 March
To book please click the links below:
2022 House Masses
We welcome your attendance to our annual House Masses. Year 7 and Year 12 students will be presented at each House Mass.
St. Mary's (CHISHOLM HOUSE): Sunday 6th March at 10am
Our Lady of the Way (XAVIER HOUSE): Sunday 20th March at 10am
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. Donation of blazers and girls' school dresses would be much appreciated.
2022 PWP Meeting
Monday evening – 9 May 2022 at 7:30pm
2022 LPFA Meeting
Wednesday evening – 16 March 2022 at 7:30pm
Mrs Dianna Alonso,
Community Liaison Officer
LOCAL COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Proud sponsor of the Loyola College Alumni Association 2022 Classic Car Show