1479 Ignatian Newsletter - Friday 31 March 2023
Principal's Report
The College has enjoyed many events over the past fortnight. I am happy to share some of the highlights with our community.
Visit from Provincial Superior of the Pastorelle Sisters
On Thursday 23rd March , the College was thrilled to welcome Sister Purisima Tañedo SJBP, Provincial Superior (Philippine-Australia-Saipan-Taiwan Province). Sister Purisima joined Adam Calderone, Sister Nelia and myself for morning tea. We are forever grateful to the Pastorelle community for providing us with Sister Nelia SJBP, who does so much wonderful work with families in our community.
St Patrick’s Day
On Friday 17th March, Mr Adam Calderone, Mr John Tran and four of our College leaders accompanied me to the annual Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools St Patrick’s Day Mass. Year 12 College leaders, Celeste Murone, Wesley Mills, Bella Zhang and Charlotte Bugeja were fortunate to have their photograph taken with Archbishop Peter Commensoli.
After the mass, our leaders were invited to lunch with Father Rob Galea. Father Galea is Maltese-Australian Catholic priest and contemporary Christian singer-songwriter. Father Galea shared his faith journey with the students in an engaging and entertaining way.
Harmony Day
On Monday 20th March, the College celebrated Harmony Day with a wonderful mentor reflection, an outstanding assembly following by food and festivities in the Two Wolves Hub. I thank Ms Julianne Cummins for her work in organising this event. This day was an opportunity to recognise and celebrate diversity in our community.
International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day traditionally falls on 8th March, which for Loyola is during Activities Week. We did not want to let this day pass without acknowledging its significance.
International Women’s Day is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women in all of their diversities. It is also a day to raise awareness of the inequalities girls and women face around the world. It is as much a day of celebration as a day of action.
On Thursday 16th March, we celebrated this day with a staff and student leader breakfast where we discussed leaders who inspire us and some of the challenges for women in leadership. We followed this with morning tea provided by the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, an independent provider of aid, healthcare, education, employment and legal assistance for people seeking asylum. At lunchtime we enjoyed a staff/student netball match, which the staff won comfortably, but the winners on the day were really all women on the court, raising awareness for what is so important in our community.
This year the theme for International Women’s Day was to “Embrace Equity”. Equity is not equality. Equality means that everyone gets the same regardless of whether it is needed or right for them. Equity means that everyone gets what they need with understanding of barriers, circumstance or conditions.
We will be acknowledging International Men’s Day later in the year.
Friends of Performing Arts Fundraising
We thank the parents who gave of their time to work at the Bunnings Fundraising BBQ held on Saturday 18th March. Our volunteers raised $1600 for the Performing Arts Faculty and had a lot of fun on the day.
House Cocktail Evening
Thanks also to the parents who attended our House Cocktail Evening on Thursday 30th March. Those in attendance thoroughly enjoyed the evening. It was the perfect opportunity to meet each other and build community connections.
Alison Leutchford,
Acting Principal
Upcoming Events
Loyola College House Eisteddfod 2023
Tuesday 4th April
One of the most anticipated events on the Loyola College Calendar is nearly here – the 2023 House Eisteddfod. All parents and friends of the College are invited to attend the evening, which commences at 7.15pm on Tuesday 4 April, in the Loyola Companions Hall.
There will be a Friends of Performing Arts (FOPA) Fundraising BBQ from 6.00pm in the Two Wolves Hub area, and a raffle as well. Please join us to celebrate Performing Arts at the College, as well as to enjoy some spectacular performances and healthy House competition.
A limited number of VIP tickets are available for purchase, which entitles holders of these tickets to sit in the front five rows of the Hall: https://events.humanitix.com/2023-house-eisteddfod
In advance, I would like to thank all House Eisteddfod staff patrons, students and in particular, our student leaders for their support of this year’s House Eisteddfod.
Shannon Staub,
Head of Co-Curriculum
Ignatian Mission & Identity
Easter Blessing
As we enter into the final days of the Lenten season and approach the Easter Triduum and Easter Sunday, I wish to extend every Easter blessing to our College community. May you have a peaceful time with family and friends, and may the light of Christ shine in you and your family. Safe travels to everyone who is travelling over the holidays.
An Easter blessing from the first Jesuit Pope, Francis:
Jesus, the Crucified One, is risen! He stands in the midst of those who mourned him, locked behind closed doors and full of fear and anguish. He comes to them and says: “Peace be with you!”.
He shows the wounds in his hands and feet, and the wound in his side. He is no ghost; it is truly Jesus, the same Jesus who died on the cross and was laid in the tomb. Before the incredulous eyes of the disciples, he repeats: “Peace be with you!”.
As a reflection for the Easter season, I invite you to watch this short video titled He Arose, an astonishingly powerful film without words about the events of holy week and the resurrection.
Caritas Project Compassion
Thank you to every member of our College community who has contributed to Caritas Project Compassion this term. We are still collecting gold coins in Mentors until the end of Term on Wednesday 5th April, so I encourage all families who have yet to contribute to please do so if possible. Caritas works in Australia and around the world with people at the margins of society. Let us act this Lenten season in our faith that does justice.
Catholic Education Week
Loyola College was represented at Catholic Education Week Mass on Friday 17th March by our Acting Principal, Mrs Leutchford, the College Captains Wesley Mills (12/CAJG) and Celeste Murone (12/XAKW), Christian Service Captains Bella Zhang (12/MGAO) and Charlotte Bugeja (12/AAAM), Mr John Tran and myself. The annual mass on St Patrick’s Day is celebrated by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli at St Patrick’s Cathedral, with most primary and secondary Catholic schools in the Archdiocese in attendance. Following mass, we were blessed to attend the Young Speakers Colloquium and hear from Fr. Rob Galea, whose message of hope over fear, and that true Christian leadership is about being vulnerable, was very well received by all in attendance.
Adam Calderone,
Ignatian Mission & Identity
Young Vinnies Easter Egg Drive
The Young Vinnies annual Easter Egg drive is on again! We are asking for our College community to bring Easter eggs/treats to the boxes in their Mentor room. This will support local families with children who would otherwise go without the small joy of chocolate treats this Easter. There is an increasing number of people in our community who cannot afford Easter treats due to rising inflation, interest rates, mortgage stress grocery and utility bills etc.
Could we please ask that you consider donations of Easter eggs/treats this week. We are collecting until the last day of term, Wednesday 5 April.
Your support is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your kind donations.
Teaching & Learning
Reports
Reports will be available to parents / carers through the parent portal on Wednesday 12th April from 1.00pm.
From 2023, ALL (both interim and end of Semester) reports will only be available for you online. Therefore, I would suggest that you either print a hard copy or save the report as a PDF if you would like to refer to it during your Subject Specific Conversations.
Subject Specific Conversations 2023
A reminder that our first Subject Specific Conversations for 2023 will take place when we return in Term 2.
The purpose of these conversations is to discuss the learning that has occurred in Term 1 and, in particular, look at the academic successes and challenges that your child may have encountered so far this year.
Dates and Times
- Thursday 27th April: 2.00pm to 8.00pm
- Friday 28th April: 1.00pm to 5.00pm
Appointment Bookings
Online bookings will be available for parents/carers to access from Wednesday 12th April at 7.00pm and will close on Wednesday 26th April at 1.00pm. Appointments will last for 7 minutes with 2 minutes provided to move from one appointment to another.
If the occasion arises whereby parents/carers miss the 2-week booking window, then they are asked to contact staff directly.
Both days will be face to face. Following the conversations, a survey will be sent to parents asking for feedback and in particular inquiring as to whether online interviews would be a preferred option for at least one of the days for future sessions. The College would appreciate as much feedback as possible so that we can best suit the needs of the community.
Locations
- LCH: All subjects with the exception of Maths, Science and Languages
- K Block: Maths, Science and Languages
Revised School Times
As a result of the Subject Specific Conversations the adjusted timings of the school day can be found below. As you can see, there will be an early finish on Thursday 27th April and a Student Free Day on Friday 28th April
Thursday 27th April 2023
- 8:25am – 1:15pm: Period 1 to 4
- 2:00pm – 8:00pm: Subject Specific Conversations
Friday 28th April 2023
- 1:00pm – 5:00pm: Subject Specific Conversations
NAPLAN 2023
I would like to congratulate all our Year 7 and 9 students for successfully completing their NAPLAN tests last week. The students’ attitude and dedication was exemplary and hopefully the hard work and effort pays off when we receive the results later in the year. Whether out students achieve their desired score or not, taking these tests is a significant accomplishment in itself. We must remember that this is only one step in the students’ journey, and there will be many more challenges ahead. Keep pushing yourself, stay motivated, and continue to work hard towards your goals. Once again, congratulations, and best of luck in all your future endeavours.
Kathryn Wilson,
Deputy Principal, Teaching & Learning
Students
As this term draws to a close, along with the many activities that have taken place, we congratulate students for their achievements, and encourage them to continue with their ongoing participation in activities throughout the year. In particular I thank our College Leaders for their commitment to their roles and assistance when required, as well as our parents/guardians/carers for their attendance at various functions thus far – the Mentor Conversations, Year 7 picnic, Year 12 Breakfast, House Parish masses and the Year 7 Parent Get-Together event.
Uniform
With the commencement of Term 2, our students will be required to be in full winter uniform. This includes the compulsory wearing of the blazer as the outer garment to and from school.
I ask that we have the continued support from parents/guardians/carers in this matter, and to take advantage of the term break to ensure that students have the required uniform items. In particular, that girl’s skirt lengths are at the knee, that tights are navy blue, and that all students have a blazer which is worn to and from school. A reminder that the spray jacket is to be worn over the blazer/sport jacket, only when it is wet.
For details on the winter uniform please refer to the student planner.
International Women's Day (IWD)
This year’s theme for IWD 2023 is: #EmbraceEquity
To quote from the website, the message for this year is as follows:
A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all embrace equity.
With this message in mind, and to celebrate this significant event, the school held a special breakfast for leaders and staff. Throughout the morning, those present were encouraged to join in the conversation relating to the 2023 theme – Embrace Equity.
In addition, our school leaders, the College Committee, ran a fundraiser in support of organisations who assist women in need, and the Year 12 students challenged our staff to a netball game. Needless to say, the staff did win the game!
We thank the students for their leadership in celebrating and bringing awareness to IWB.
College Student Leaders - 2023
Student leadership is an important part of College life and this term saw the induction of all our leaders, with our Year 7 students being presented with their badges at our final school assembly for the term.
We congratulate these students on their leadership roles and hope that their experiences as leaders will be both rewarding and challenging, as well as provide opportunities for personal growth.
Vaping
Recently, there has been quite a bit of information in the media around the dangers of vaping. As such, we encourage families to have conversations with their children regarding the concern that many young people are taking up the habit of vaping.
To support the conversations at home, a reminder that on our website you will find the resource Schooltv.me, which contains many articles regarding adolescent issues. One in particular focuses on the matter of vaping - the link is as follows: https://loyola.vic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-vaping-au.
You may wish to take advantage of such resources and discuss the contents with your children.
Finally, I take this opportunity to thank all our families for their ongoing support of the College and to wish all members of our community a restful break over the Easter period. Let this time be one of reflection, forgiveness, and peace.
Anna Salmic,
Deputy Principal, Students
Student Voice
Year 8 STEM Day
All Year 8’s participated in a day of STEM on Friday 10th March 2023.
Year 8 STEM Day is a day dedicated to promoting curiosity and interest in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The purpose of the day was to inspire and engage students in STEM activities which are essential for many career paths.
On this day, students participated in a keynote presentation by Professor Dr Robert Ross. Robert is an Associate Professor in the Engineering Department at La Trobe University. Robert is the head of Robotics and Electronics Research, founder of the RAMPS robotics lab and has developed a collection of robots to explore wombat burrows, prune grapevines and inspect sewers. Robert is also the inventor of an escape room decoder box designed for use in the classroom. Students had the opportunity to hear how the skills they learn in school can be applied in the real world.
The four STEM workshops that students participated in were:
- Planks Construction. Planks is a construction activity drawing on STEM and Interpersonal skills, focusing on forces and movement. Students learned some key engineering tips and tricks from the facilitator before embarking on an extraordinary experience of free-play, shared construction.
- Team Building. A fast paced, competitive and diverse activities. Teams identify different strengths within their teams as they roam around, completing a range of challenges.
- Shelter Building. Survival skill adventure at its best. Students apply STEM, budgeting and teamwork skills as they compete to see who can build the most sturdy shelter, testing against the elements of hurricane. Teams evaluate potential costs, benefits and risks whilst applying laterial and critical thinking.
- Billy Carts. Students work in teams to build their carts, before racing around the track. Students build, race and dismantle against the clock. Students design and build a mini vehicle before entering it into a distance competition that relies on the power of gravity. It was great to see students experience the fundamental properties of motion and how these influence the design and performance of their billy carts.
Overall, our Year 8 STEM Day provided an opportunity for students to explore and engage with STEM activities in a fun and engaging way. It serves as a stepping stone for students to develop an interest in STEM fields and inspire future STEM professionals.
Dinh Tran,
Head of Digital Learning
Clean-Up Australia Day 2023
In early March, the Sustainability Team and the Year 11 Service Week ‘Stewards of Creation’ group participated in Clean-Up Australia Day for 2023. They conducted 2 clean-ups: one at a lunchtime and one during Activities Week. During the two separate clean-ups, students and teachers collected the following types of rubbish:
- Soft Plastics: 70% was soft plastic.
- Lollipop Sticks: 25
- Bottles: 35
- One Coat Hanger
- One Loyola Planner
- One Loyola Pin
- Tennis Ball
- Polystyrene block
- Loyola sock
- One Plastic bucket
- Pens/pencils: 15
- Lunchbox: 1
- Ben and Jerry: 10
- Bottle Caps: 20
- Canteen packets: 27
- Can tabs: 20
- Bits of hard plastic: 15
- Discarded schoolwork: 35
- Masks: 2
- One Ice Pack
- Electrical cable: 15 pieces
- Rope
- Laminated sport labels: 3
- Whiteboard marker: 1
- Balloon: 5
As you can see, soft plastics is a huge waste problem in our community. The Sustainability Team encourage you to find an alternative to soft plastics such as the following:
- Wrap your food in beeswax wraps
- Use reusable containers instead of single-use soft plastic items.
- Eat food that doesn’t need to be packaged – fruit and veggies are an excellent choice.
Well done to all of the students who were involved in both Clean-Up Australia Day clean-ups. You have made a huge difference to our environment.
Elise Mezner,
Sustainability Coordinator
ACS Swimming Championships
On the Tuesday, 14th MARCH, the ACS Swimming Championships took place. Everyone gave it their best and when events needed last minute filling in, many were willing to hop in the pool and earn points for Loyola. With these efforts, Loyola came 5th overall.
The day started off with the 200 IM and we had Rohan Wein place 1st and Brydie Hutchinson place 4th, compete for the male and female events. This event was then followed by the medley relays and a big shoutout to the year 9 boys who came second.
After the relays, individual events began, first was freestyle. Finishing top 3 was Jeremy Colman (year 9), Oscar Tan (Year 7), Rohan Wein (Year 11) and Mark Tohme (Year 8), an incredible effort by Mark who finished first! After freestyle was backstroke and in this event Jeremy Colman (Year 9), Lucia Calderone (Year 9), Alyssa Vidinopoulos (Year 7), Oscar Tan (Year 7) and Rohan Wein (Year 11) finished top three. Breastroke followed this event and Rohan Wein (Year 11), Mark Tohme (Year 8), Jacob Ryder (Year 9), Brydie Hutchinson (Year 10) and Lucia Calderone (Year 9) placed top three in this event. And finally, the last of the strokes, butterfly, a big congratulations to Lucia Calderone (Year 9), Hayley Car (Year 12), Jeremy Colman (Year 9), Oscar Tan (Year 7), Mark Tohme (Year 8) and Rohan Wein (Year 11) for placing top three, a special shoutout to Rohan who won his race!
The final individual event of the day was the 100 freestyle. For juniors Mark Tohme and Elizabeth Kotowski intermediates Lucia and Jeremy and seniors Hayley and Rohan competed. The last event of the day was the freestyle relay. It was a chance to earn a few big points for Loyola and also the last time year 12’s would swim in this carnival. A big shoutout to the Year 9 boys who finished 2nd in this event.
After all these races ACS have the top 20 individual rankings overall. From the girls Lucia Calderone was ranked 7th, Hayley Car 11th and Brydie Hutchinson 13th. From the boys Rohan Wein 3rd, Mark Tohme 4th, Jeremy Colman 10th, Oscar Tan 13th and Ryan Marchbank 19th.
Again, a big congratulations to everyone on the Loyola Swim Team for their performances at the ACS Swimming Championships and also a very big thank you to Mr Gowan and Ms Kummerlee on all their hard work organising and training the team for this day.
Thank you!
Hayley Car & Rohan Wein,
Swimming Captains
ICT
Bringing your lost data Back to the Future
Thursday March 31 is World Backup Day (https://www.worldbackupday.com/en). It is an opportunity to ask yourself whether you are doing enough to protect your data – school, personal, or business.
Backing up your data makes it faster and easier to restore your files if they become lost, stolen or compromised. So, to ensure your documents are secure it is vital to maintain a current backup.
Loyola College provides 1TB worth of OneDrive backup space for each student. But what about your home computers or phones?
The ACSC (https://www.cyber.gov.au/) has developed three Step-By-Step guides to help you learn how to backup the data on your personal computers, phones or tablets to the cloud, or external hard drives. These include:
- Backing up and restoring for Microsoft Windows
- Backing up and restoring for Apple iOS
- Backing up and restoring for Apple macOS
Take the ACSC Backup Quiz (https://www.cyber.gov.au/learn/backups) to test yourself on your knowledge, and view their learning resources to understand how to back up your files and protect yourself from data theft or ransomware.
If you want to be able to restore lost data from your Backup in the Future, you need to be regularly backing it up now!
Victor Dalla-Vecchia,
ICT Manager
Community
Morning Tours 2023
Morning Tours for Semester 1 will be take place on the following dates from 9:00 am – 11:00 am:
- Monday 15th May
- Monday 5th June
- Monday 19th June
To book for a Morning Tour, please visit website – www.loyola.vic.edu.au/bookatour
LPFA Year 7 Get Together: Friday, 17th March
It was so nice to have 190 attendees at the event. It was great to see the excitement as the families gathered in the Loyola Companions Hall. A quiz soon set a spirited, competitive start to the evening, some interesting responses were received, one being what was the duration of our last School Assembly, some students thought it funny to reply … too long. Pizzas soon arrived and there were many hungry people to feed. Then came Loyola College Lego Masters, 12 budding students set out to build a motorbike in the quickest time, well done to Julian Ventura, 1 minute and 90 seconds. It was then a great way to end the night with a choc top for all attendees. A BIG thank you to the LPFA (and Lisa Glover) for all their support and hard work to ensure that the night was such a success.
Mother and Daughter Breakfast 2023
Each year Loyola College proudly provides a breakfast to celebrate the importance of Mother’s Day. This event is alternated, one year it is Mother and Daughter / Father and Son, the next year it is Mother and Son / Father and Daughter. This year the event will be held on Tuesday 9th May. Bookings open on Wednesday, 19th April. Booking details below.
2023 Open Day: Sunday 7th May
We are looking forward to a very well attended Open Day. The LPFA provide a BBQ to all attendees in the Two Wolves Hub. If you are available to assist with the BBQ between 12 noon and 4 pm, please let me know via email.
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 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 15th May 2023 @ 7.30 pm
2022 LPFA Meeting
- Wednesday 3rd May 2023 @ 7.30 pm
Dianna Alonso,
Community Liaison Officer