1478 Ignatian Newsletter - Friday 17 March 2023

Principal's Report

We are well over halfway through Term One. How quickly time flies!  Last week was an amazing week at the College.  Activities Week was a resounding success. It was positive to see students engaging in the wide range of activities on offer.

Welcome to the Loyola Community

We welcome Matthew Luczek who has been appointed as our new Director of College and Community Engagement. Matthew comes to us from Hume Anglican Grammar. Prior to his time at Hume, he worked at Marymede.  Matthew has a wealth of experience in enrolments, marketing, and community engagement.  We look forward to him joining the Loyola community.   I am sure that he will be made to feel exceptionally welcome.

Addressing Concerns

From time to time, parents might be concerned about things that are happening at the College.   A reminder to all parents and guardians that the college has a Complaints policy which can be found here:

The policy outlines where concerns can be addressed and with whom.

Loyola College app (Digistorm)

Parents are encouraged to download the Loyola app, available at the app store. This app contains a wealth of resources including up to date access to the College calendar, parent news and the Ignatian, and provides the ability to submit a student absence. The app is user friendly and an efficient way of keeping up to date with College news.

College social media

The College has a Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn page. Parents are encouraged to follow Loyola as we make weekly posts to keep our community abreast of what is happening.

I thank Shanae Alabakis, assistant to the Director of College and Community events, for her work through Activities Week.  Some amazing photographs were displayed across the course of last week.  Thanks to those parents who showed appreciation and shared the posts.  This helps to spread the great opportunities that Loyola provides in the wider community.

Parent drop-off zone

In the interests of keeping traffic flowing, on entry to the College via Grimshaw St, parents are asked to ensure that they move as far as possible into the drop-off area to ensure continuous movement of traffic. Parents who stop at the roundabout block traffic and make it difficult for other parents to enter the college. I ask for your support in this matter so that all parents can move smoothly  and efficiently in and out of the College as they pick up their children.

Australia’s Best Teachers

News Corp has launched its ‘Australia’s Best Teachers’ campaign and Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) is a major partner. Australia’s Best Teachers aims to recognise the wonderful work of those in the profession by celebrating our most inspirational and innovative educators. The campaign calls on Australians to nominate the great teachers who have, and have had, an incredible impact on our students and all of our lives. A panel of expert judges will then select and announce the top 50 teachers on Saturday 6 May 2023. We have some great teachers at Loyola College and we would like to encourage the entire school community to contribute nominations via the following link:  Australia's Best Teachers Nomination

 Alison Leutchford,
Acting Principal

Ignatian Mission & Identity

YEAR 12 RETREAT

During Activities Week, the Year 12 cohort participated in the annual Retreat held at Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale. The Retreat offers our students an opportunity to appreciate and give thanks for their life, family, and friends, as well as reflect and be spiritually nourished through Ignatian-themed activities such as companion walks, affirmation letters, journalling and a reflection of their road of life so far. A paraliturgy was also held on the last night of the Retreat, to highlight links between Jesus’ and Ignatius’ message of love, service, action and peace, and the students’ own experiences.

The feedback from the students has been overwhelmingly positive, and it is wonderful to hear how much they enjoyed the experience.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the staff and students together who so wonderfully immersed themselves in the spirit of the Retreat and participated so respectfully and with great enthusiasm.    

CARITAS PROJECT COMPASSION

The College continues to fundraise for Caritas Project Compassion this term – we continue to put out the challenge to all students to bring in at least a $2 coin donation to their Mentor collections and purchase from the many food sales run by each House this term.

Here is a short video of some of the work that Caritas does in our own country – Tereesa’s story: 

We look forward to, and say thank you for, your support.

HARMONY WEEK EXAMEN

To commence our Harmony Week celebrations this week, we invite you to pray and reflect upon our College community’s many and varied cultures, traditions, and backgrounds through this week’s Examen. The theme for Loyola’s Harmony Week is Connecting Cultures. Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. It is about inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone.​

The link for this Examen may be found here:  

Adam Calderone,
Ignatian Mission & Identity

Teaching & Learning

Subject Specific Conversations - April 2023
Just a reminder that our first round of Subject Specific Conversations will take place on April 27 and April 28. Communication with further details will be sent out over the next fortnight.

Term One Interim reports will only be available online. If you would like to refer to the report during your Subject Specific Conversations, the school recommends you print a hard copy or save it as a PDF.

The purpose of these Subject Specific Conversations is 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.

Letters of Learning Concerns at Loyola College
As assessments are well underway, you may receive an automated learning concern email informing you that your child's achievement is below 55%.  Following this email, we encourages families to put time aside to discuss and reflect on the assessment. Possible questions may be:

• What was the topic about?
• What was interesting?
• What was challenging?
• What could be done to seek help for the next assessment?
• Who could the help come from?
• What will I do differently in the next assessment?

If you do have any concerns, please reach out to the subject teacher and / or Head of Learning. As Helen Keller, simply puts, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." A culture of sharing successes and challenges helps us all have a clearer understanding of how best to support learning.

Parent/carer engagement in these reflective conversations forms a great basis for our College Subject Specific Conversations in April.

Kathryn Wilson,
Deputy Principal, Teaching & Learning

Ignatian Service

Year 11 Christian Service – Activities Week

“Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” James 2: 19

The 2023 Christian Service Program gave our Year 11 students the opportunity to serve in various welfare, educational and environmental organisations during Activities Week.  We have received many reports of praise for the efforts of our students who were placed in over 68 placement locations mainly around the northern suburbs of Melbourne.  Some of our students engaged with the elderly in aged care facilities, playing games, singing, and playing music or simply talking to the residents.  Many also supported teachers and students in local primary schools and disability education centres of learning.  Our students also served in Op Shops, Neighbourhood Houses and with different community organisations that help people in need.  Our students and their parents are to be congratulated on the way they represented themselves and the College in this week of service.  The following weeks in Religious Education classes will be a time of reflection, sharing and linking their works of service to Catholic Social Teaching and Gospel teachings on social justice. I would like to thank the dedicated work of Natalie Scott and Christine Filer in communicating with placements, allocating students and liaising with supervisors during the week of placements. I am also very grateful for the support of parents who worked with the College in making sure the students were able to travel to their locations, complete relevant documentation and share necessary information during the program.  Thank you to our Year 11 Religious Education teachers who have been working with our students to prepare and centre into a mindset of service for others.  I am also thankful to our wonderful students who demonstrated great character, grace, generosity, and initiative during their week of work.

James Mcllroy,
Head of Ignatian Service

Friends of Performing Arts

Year 11 Vet Certificate II in Small Business

The Year 11 Vet Certificate II in Small Business class visited Lifestyle Aquarium and Reptiles (https://www.lifestyleaquarium.com.au) and interviewed them in regards to owning and operating a small business.

The students learned about the importance of a business to be innovative, the impact of COVID on an aquarium business and how customer service can impact a business’s profitability.

ICT

Cybersafety Part 3: Do you know who your children are talking to?

In a previous edition of the Ignatian we looked at Cybersafety and the perils of putting information about oneself on the Internet.

In this edition we’ll be looking at ‘stranger danger online’.

Real friendships involve face-to-face contact, whereas social media sites such as Facebook foster friendships between all kinds of people, including between honest and dishonest people.

Unfortunately teenagers may not be so selective! Picture this: It’s a quiet night in front of the television. The family’s had dinner, the dishes are washed and the lunches are made. The children are playing quietly on the computer, chatting/texting with friends on their mobile phones, exploring social media or just playing Internet games. It’s great for parents/guardians to be able to just put their feet up. Except for one thing: there’s an unseen paedophile lurking in the house…

Do you know who your child is communicating with online?

Consider this true story. A teenage boy enjoyed playing online games with schoolmates. He also befriended a handful of gamers through the gaming site. Eventually he started chatting online with one of these ‘friends’, supposedly another 15-year-old like himself. They started sharing about some personal things, and over time their online chatting became more and more frequent. They eventually exchanged mobile phone numbers and began texting each other at all hours. Eventually, with the summer holidays were approaching, they made plans to meet each other. His friend invited him to come stay with him and organised a plane ticket for him. The teenage boy’s parents became suspicious when their son wanted to go to the airport unaccompanied, saying that he was old enough to look after himself – this is what his ‘friend’ convinced him to say. At the airport the police arrested a man in his forties and charged him with a number of offences. The teenage boy had no idea that he was being groomed by a paedophile.

Social networking sites are a great way to stay in touch with friends and family. You can tell friends what’s been happening and post photos, play games and basically just hang out. But there are dangers, and strangers making inappropriate contact is just one of those dangers.

The advent of personal digital devices in recent years has only exacerbated the problem. With more and more of these devices being placed in the hands of children, this means that children now have 24x7 access to the outside world around them, and the world has access to them!

What can parents do to protect their children from ‘stranger danger’?

1. Stay involved in your child’s use of new technologies – get them to show you how their online social networks work.
2. Help your child remain unidentifiable online, by name and by location: set up their profile to make sure that they don’t put too much personal information online – e.g. never put date of birth, home or school address, phone number, personal email address, sports teams your child plays in or the name of their school. Be careful that any photos that are posted do not reveal any of this information.
3. Check out the privacy settings for each online service and familiarise yourself with how to report abuse. Hopefully, you will never need to do this but it’s good to be prepared. Find out how you can manage your child’s access to the ‘adult’ content and services offered by their mobile phone carrier. Such information is usually available on the carrier’s website.
4. Talk to your child about what they like about social networking/gaming websites, explain what some of the dangers are in using them and teach your child ways to stay safe. You may be able to discuss and create some house rules together with your child. Always keep the lines of communication open. Kids need to be confident that they can talk to parents/guardians about what’s happening, without being afraid that they’re automatically going to get in trouble.

What can teenagers do to protect themselves from ‘stranger danger’?

1. Never give out your personal information – check out point 2 above. Check with your parents or guardians first before deciding to give out or post personal information.
2. Remember that you may feel that you are just talking to friends, but the whole world could be tuning in. Keep an eye on what’s being posted and guard your privacy! Don’t post photos that you might not want strangers or your grandmother to see!
3. Learn how to make your profile and other content you post private. You’re the one who should be in control, here.
4. Think twice before posting blogs and profiles – they can stay there forever. Your parents, future employers and perhaps your future children may end up seeing it! Don’t post photos of other people without their permission.
5. Remember there are impersonators out there – not everyone is who they claim to be. Although it’s great to have lots of online ‘friends’, including these unverified people on your friends list allows them to see everything about you. This information could be used in a scam, to steal your identity, or worse.
6. Keep your online friends online! However, if you want to meet someone that you haven’t met before in person, ask a parent or another trusted adult to go with you and always meet in a public place, preferably during the day.
7. Say ‘NO’ to any offers that seem too good to be true – they probably are! Never accept the offer of a free mobile phone (or other digital device) from someone without asking your parents or guardian first. Never sign up for free ringtones – you could be signing up to receive porn! To prevent this, just type in the word ‘stop’ and by Law they have to stop sending you the stuff – if they don’t, tell your parent or guardian to contact your service provider.
8. Never on-send a chain email, even if it says that you will die if you don’t or even if it seems to be for a really good cause – it may contain a macro that automatically sends your email address to someone who sells email addresses to paedophiles. These predators then randomly seek out children to try to start a conversation with them.
9. Always check the URL (Internet address at the top of the browser) to ensure you are actually at the website you think you should be at. Bogus sites seek to impersonate real ones, in order to get you to enter your personal information and start looking for exploitation opportunities.
10. Don’t stay. Don’t respond! – If someone in a chat room posts offensive pictures or says something rude or scary, or if you are sent these in an email, don’t respond; instead, save them, leave the chat room immediately and tell your parent, guardian or another trusted adult about the incident. Saving the offensive content means you can produce it as evidence to help catch online troublemakers and predators.

If you are concerned about any of these issues and wish to discuss them with a trusted person, please contact the School Counsellor. For more information on Cybersafety go to https://esafety.gov.au/.  Add this website to your favourites on your computer.

Stay safe while socialising online.

Victor Dalla-Vecchia,
ICT Manager

Community

Morning Tours for Semester 1 will be take place on the following dates from 9:00 am – 11:00 am:

• Monday, 27th March 
• Monday, 15th May 
• Monday, 5th June 
• Monday, 19th June 

To book for a Morning Tour, please visit website – www.loyola.vic.edu.au/bookatour 

Twilight Working Bee - Friday, 3rd March

It was so nice to see around 40 people in attendance to the Working Bee Group, so much was achieved. Mulching, mulching and more mulching soon gave the garden beds a fresh look.  Great work was made in the Aboriginal garden, a very welcoming area has now been created.  Thank you to Brendon Carroll our new Working Bee Co-ordinator and the Gardening Team, lead by David Kelly. 

Year 11 Presentation Information Night – Monday, 27th March 

A Parent and Student information night will be held on Monday, 27th March at 7:30 pm in the Theatrette (LCH) for all students who would like to express an interest in participating in the 2023 Presentation Balls. The Presentation Balls will be held at the Manor in Epping on Monday, 18th September & Tuesday, 19th September 

All students participating in the Balls must be present Year 11 Loyola students. A boy can ask a girl, a girl can ask a boy, a boy can ask a boy and a girl can ask a girl. 

There will be approximately 7 rehearsals which take place on a Sunday evening in the LCH from 6:30 pm.  

Interested students and their parents/guardians are required to attend this evening. 

If you do not have a partner at this stage, please feel very welcome to attend the Information Session. 

An email will be sent for you to register your expression of interest.  

2023 All Houses Cocktail Night

Please join us for a wonderful adult-only event.  The Hospitality students are very keen to have an increased number of attendees.  

The House Cocktail night will be held on –

• Thursday, 30th March  6 pm - 8:30 pm
• COST –  $35 pp

Free Cocktail drink on arrival. Soft drinks provided. Alcoholic drinks available at bar prices. Please book now as numbers are limited via Humanitix - https://events.humanitix.com/house_cocktail 

2023 Entertainment Books 

The LPFA are very happy to continue the promotion of the 2023 Entertainment Book. 

If you are interested in purchasing a digital copy (no hard copies) of the Entertainment book, please visit – www.entbook.com.au/187x238 

Homestays Needed – Italian Students 

I am very pleased to confirm that we are expecting 15 students from  Liceo Levi in the Veneto region in Italy. The students will be here for 12 nights from the 1st of August and departing from Melbourne on August 13th. There will be both male and female students and all attempts will be made to match students regarding age and preferred.  As this is a short-term visit, families are not paid to host. 

All persons living in your household who are over 18 years old will require a Working With Children Card. 

If you have any questions or if you are interested in being a Homestay family, please contact me via email – alonsod@loyola.vic.edu.au or call – 9433 0128.  

LPFA  Elite Performance Grant 

The LPFA are very happy to offer a $500 grant for any Loyola student who represents themselves at State or National level in a range of fields including sport, music, dance or other relevant field.  Grant applications can be found on the Loyola website.  All applications are taken to the LPFA for approval.  A student can apply twice, once as a Junior student and once as a Senior Student.   

To apply – CLICK HERE 

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 overseas students.  Donation of blazers and girls' school dresses would be much appreciated. 

Please feel most welcome to attend - 

2022  PWP Meeting                                                                                                                                  Monday evening – 15th May 2023 7:30 pm  

2022  LPFA Meeting                                                                                                                                  Wednesday evening – 3rd May 2023 7:30 pm  

Dianna Alonso,
Community Liaison Officer

TO ORDER WINE – CLICK HERE

Secondary Schools Immunisation Program

The secondary school immunisation program offers free vaccines provided by the National Immunisation Program (NIP) each year to students in Year 7 and Year 10.

Year 7 students

• single dose of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (unless student is immunocompromised)
• single booster dose of diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine

Year 10 students

• single dose of Meningococcal ACWY vaccine

HPV vaccine schedule change 2023

• From February 2023, the recommended HPV vaccine schedule for most people has changed from two-doses to a single dose course using the same Gardasil®9 vaccine. There is no change to the amount of vaccine that is given in the single dose.
• The change is based on advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) who have considered the latest international scientific and clinical evidence. A single dose provides comparable protection to that of a two-dose course.
• Most young people who have already received one dose of HPV vaccine are now considered fully vaccinated under this program change and will not need any further doses.
• There is no change to the dosing schedule for people who are immunocompromised. They should still receive the recommended three doses of the HPV vaccine which are all funded under the NIP.
• The catch-up program for adolescents who missed vaccination at school has also been extended to include young people up to and including 25 years of age. This will allow greater access to and equity of vaccination.

Parents/guardians of students in Year 7 and Year 10 should look out for the vaccine information and consent form coming home from school with your child. Parents are asked to read the vaccine information, complete, and return the signed consent form by the noted date.  If parents choose not to consent for your child to be vaccinated as part of the school-based immunisation program, they must still return the consent form.

For questions related to vaccination in the Loyola community, please call Fotini Veis ( Year 7) or Dom Denton (Year 10).

Next Friday is our annual Ride2School Day!

Did you know that:

• For every kilometre you actively travel instead of driving, you save 243.8 grams of carbon emissions?
• On National Ride2School Day 2022, students across Australia saved 28 tonnes of CO2 by actively travelling to school – the equivalent of planting 195 trees?
• Fewer cars on the road means:

1. Reduction in noise pollution
2. Reduction in energy use
3. Reduction in carbon emissions

Check out the Ride2School website for more details:                                     https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/rides-and-events/ride2school/ride2school-day/

See you on Friday, March 24^th with your bike.

Local Community

Berry Street is one of Australia’s largest independent family services organisation and staff here at Loyola have been fortunate in the past to receive professional development through their excellent educational services. The Parenting Support arm of Berry Street is offering a parent workshop on the topic of teenage aggression – TARA (Teenage Aggression: Responding Assertively). The workshop is free for parents and carers who are managing aggressive and challenging behaviour from adolescent children in the home. It will run from Berry Street’s Eaglemont offices on Thurs 23^rd and 30^th March.

A link to a promotional video is included below, but should you have questions or queries, please direct them to Berry Street’s Senior Clinician, Liz Malone, on 9450 4700/ emalone@berrystreet.org.au

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vh6g8HtNsM