St Agnes

Catholic High School

february newsletter - term 1

Principal's message

Dear Parents, Students and Staff,

Welcome to 2023. I hope it has been a good start to the year. During the holidays I was fortunate to have an opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to Jordan, the Holy Land, Rome, and Assisi with a group of leaders from Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese. Visiting holy sites and sacred places deepened my understanding of the gospels and the person of Jesus, helped me in my understanding of my faith, and strengthened my spiritual practice. I also developed greater empathy and compassion for the plight of the Palestinians. We had the privilege of visiting Bethlehem University where we listened to a number of Palestinian students and the daily challenges they face living in the West Bank - a place where I personally found the West Bank Walls and checkpoints confronting and the political tensions, segregation, and injustices were palpable and evident as we traveled to different areas.

Visiting Assisi and the places where St Francis was born and lived in the 12th century was one of the highlights of the pilgrimage. This Medieval town was a magical place and I was able to develop a better understanding of St Francis. I visited the place where he was born, the church where he was baptised and attended mass, and the hermitage, a place where St Francis and his followers retreated in the mountains. Our school has a strong Franciscan tradition which has influenced the ‘St Agnes Way of Being’.

At St Agnes, we believe that Student self-efficacy is critical for our students to flourish and reach their potential. Our wellbeing programs as well as the teaching and learning programs have this outcome as a priority.

Student self-efficacy refers to a student's belief in their ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish specific tasks. This belief has a significant impact on a student's academic and personal life. Student self-efficacy:

1. Determines academic achievement: students with high levels of self-efficacy set higher goals for themselves, persist in the face of challenges, and ultimately achieve greater academic success.
2. Improves mental health: students with high levels of self-efficacy have higher levels of self-esteem and are less likely to experience anxiety or depression leading to improved mental health and overall well-being.
3. Promotes resilience: when students believe in their abilities, they will bounce back from setbacks and failures, developing resilience and promoting a growth mindset.
4. Enhances motivation: students who believe in their abilities are motivated to put in the effort and take on challenges, leading to greater engagement in learning and a more positive attitude toward school.
5. Supports career development: when students believe in their ability to succeed, they pursue challenging careers and achieve their long-term goals.

Self-efficacy requires a growth mindset which leads to better learning outcomes because it allows students to embrace challenges, persist through obstacles, and learn from feedback. When a student believes that their abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work, they put in the effort required to learn and improve. They view mistakes and failures as opportunities to learn, rather than as evidence of their limitations. This leads to greater resilience, motivation and achievement in the long term.

New Staff

I would like to welcome the new staff who commenced at the beginning of 2023. A number of these staff members commenced at St Agnes in 2022. However, we had an opportunity to officially welcome our new staff members during our Opening Mass on Wednesday where we blessed and commissioned our new teachers and support staff. They include:

Alison Hanratty- Leader of Pedagogy

Bimlish Krishna- Science

Cathy Moylan - Diversity Support

Alexanda David - Diversity Support

Edward Ghorra - Religion

Susan Fisher - English

Sam Barnett - Mathematics

Lorette El-GHossein - Science Assistant

Trish Falzon - Food Tech Assistant

Jessica Contogeorge - Administration

Nicole Konemann - Finance

Opening School Mass and Commissioning of School Leaders and New Teachers

On Wednesday 15th February we celebrated our opening school Mass. At this mass, we welcomed Year 7 students to the St Agnes community with the blessing and distribution of the Tau Cross. St Francis gave a Tau Cross to the Friars when they became part of their community and for our students, it is a symbol welcoming them to our community.

During this Mass, we also commissioned and welcomed our student leaders. I would like to congratulate the School Captains, Portfolio, and SRC Leaders. Being a leader means being of service to others in our community and I encouraged our new student leaders to use St Francis as their guide by the way they lived the Gospel teachings. St Agnes also embodied leadership because she stood up for what she believed. Our student leaders need to be role models for all students at St Agnes, working to the best of their ability and demonstrating pride in being a student at St Agnes.

Thank you to the following staff and students for their involvement in the celebration.

Fr Alan Layt from St Aidan’s Parish for celebrating our mass

Mr Madigan for organising and coordinating this mass

Mr Sadsad and Mr Zucco for their assistance with the opening mass.

Mr DiIenno and Mr Cecire - Choir and Band

Mr Camilleri for designing and creating the gift to our Year 7 students

To Mr Khan and the IT department for their assistance with our celebration.

To the Choir, band and the readers who sounded excellent.

Feeder Primary School Visits

This week Mr Cruickshank, Ms Raad, Year 9 students, and I began the new year enrolment process by visiting our feeder schools to develop positive relationships and discuss important details regarding why enrolling in St Agnes is a good choice with year 6 students. At these visits, we distributed enrolment forms. We encourage parents to complete these forms and submit them to our office as soon as possible. I would like to thank Mr Cruickshank, Ms Raad, and the following Year 9 students Andrea Plaatjes, Chloe Favor, Benjamin Alcantara, Ashleigh Galletes, Nahom Mesfin, Sienna Soares, Talia Afungia, Hayden Culbert , Saane Vailala, Sepuita Graf and Matilda Nicholls who were outstanding ambassadors for our school.

Catholic Schools Week

As part of Catholic Schools Week, 6 -10 March, families interested in enrolling in our school have the opportunity to attend a guided tour by our Executive team to explore our school grounds and facilities and to ask any questions you may have about the enrolment process. Book your interest in touring our school today through this link.

Mrs Jeanette Holland

Principal

UPCOMING EVENTS

CLICK HERE to access our Parent Calendar. Click subscribe at the bottom to connect the school calendar to yours and stay up to date with school events

From the Assistant Principal - Learning Transformation

Welcome to 2023!

HSC 2022

The HSC results are in and we had learning gain in a number of subjects with the 2022 Year 12 cohort! We warmly congratulate each student who achieved the award of the HSC and also, those who attained an ATAR. Our students have either gone directly to work, moved into studying at TAFE or commenced their tertiary studies at University. Through the partnerships, we have with a number of universities, such as UNSW, Macquarie, and ACU, quite a few of the students achieved an early entry offer.

As we enter this year, I have challenged each student, from Years 7 through to 12, that they are to push for personal success. We have significant support networks here at St Agnes and ensure that the pathway of each student is commensurate with their goals, interest, and strengths. Each student is to work through all their school and home learning (as required), remembering that there are 3 or 4 formal assessment tasks per subject in each year group.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills of the students and provides feedback to the school on how the students compare to everyone else in the year group. It also provides advice and strategies to the school on how to work with the students to improve their skills. The data from the tests are used in conjunction with your child’s school work, PAT-R, and MYAT in order to help us understand how each student learns effectively. This year, NAPLAN will be held in the middle of March and the timetable for the tests will be posted on Compass.

Please be aware that there will also be changes to the way that NAPLAN results are reported. Parents and carers will get earlier and simpler information about their child’s NAPLAN achievement based on the following 4 levels:

• Exceeding
• Strong
• Developing
• Needs additional support.

The descriptors for each category will make it clear to parents what their child’s literacy and numeracy skills are at the time of NAPLAN testing and we will continue to work with you to meet your child’s needs. NAPLAN will still remain one of many useful ways that we assess your child’s learning and support needs.

Chat GPT

You will have heard the buzz about ChatGPT and other AI tools that are storming into our lives and you will have heard that some education systems and schools are trying to hinder the use of this technology. At St Agnes we are working to develop an understanding of the benefits and challenges of AI technologies so that we can make mindful decisions about their use.

It is important for all in our community to understand that none of us may pass off the work of someone (or something) else as our own. This would be considered a failure of academic integrity and unfairly disadvantages others.

Therefore, a reminder:

It is not okay for a student to have a friend, family member, tutor or other third party do their work for them.

It is not okay for a student to copy work directly from another source and present it as their own (even if they do use a thesaurus to change every third word!).

It is not okay for a student to use ChatGPT or any other artificial intelligence tool to do their work for them.

When we act with integrity, tools like ChatGPT offer much more potential for good than for harm.

School and Home Learning

Our framework around School and Home Learning underpins everything we do here at St Agnes; you will find this in your child’s diary (page xi). Can I please draw your attention to the table below. No matter where your child stands with their learning, we always want each individual to try their best, complete what is possible and seek help whenever needed. There is always a connection between what the class teacher sets during each lesson, the work to be completed after class (at home), and the formal assessment programme. All students have the ability to access our Library until 3.30pm each day and also, our Learning Centre every Tuesday from 2.30pm for one hour. As a result of these structures, all students can be supported in their learning and once they commit, anything is possible!

You will also see the time that each student needs to devote to their learning after school each day in the table below.

Study Skills Tip for February

ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS

A big step towards achieving your goals is developing and maintaining a goal-setting mindset as the attitudes you develop will influence the way you view goal-setting. Approaching a task with a negative and self-defeating attitude makes it much harder to actually be successful at that task.

Try to foster a positive attitude when setting and trying to achieve your goals. A positive attitude means you are looking for ways to SUCCEED rather than focusing on the difficulties and obstacles that could be in your path.

To create a more positive attitude:

- Each day, note down something you did towards achieving your goals.

- Note down any changes someone else has noticed; for example, your teacher says well done on your work.

- Do not stop trying if something goes wrong, rather, reassess your goals or decide if you need to work harder to achieve them.

- Find a mentor or helper to encourage you to achieve your goals, possibly someone who is interested in the same things or is good at the same subjects but is a bit further ahead of you.

Other reasons why we do not achieve our goals:

- No action plan.

- No true commitment to the goal.

- Not rewarding yourself along the way.

- Trying to focus on too many goals.

- Not preparing yourself for success.

- Fear of failure.

If you are still not achieving your goal, try this:

- Clarify your goal.

- Write a list of actions.

- Analyse, prioritise and prune.

- Organise your list into a plan.

- Monitor the execution of your plan and review your plan regularly.

- Ask for help!

Learn more this year about how to improve your results and be more efficient and effective with your schoolwork by working through the units on www.studyskillshandbook.com.au - our school’s access details are:

Username: stagnes

Password: 24success

Mr G Kemmis

Assistant Principal - Learning Transformation

From the Assistant Principal - School Culture

Welcome back to the new school year. It has been great to strat the year with a number of all school events such as the Swimming carnival, Rose Day and our Opening Mass that help build school spirit and bring us all closer together. We are committed to providing opportunities for students both inside and outside of the classroom.

Road Safety

The safety of all members of our community is the highest priority at St Agnes. For our community to stay safe we need everyone to contribute to safe and supportive behaviours. One area where we can all set good examples is through road safety. At St Agnes we understand that the site provides many challenges.

The bus zone has been extended on Evans Road to provide a safer environment for all so please be aware of this when driving or parking on the street. While we do have staff on duty in the morning and the afternoon, we ask that all parents and students use the crossing to the west of the driveway or the lights for those who travel down to the service station.

The school gate is closed each morning (approx 7:45 - 8:30) and afternoon (approx 2:15 - 2:45) during the peak times to ensure that students can move across the driveway and make their way to the crossing. If you need to access the school please do so outside of these hours to avoid additional traffic concerns or delays.

We are located next door to Our Lady of Consolation Nursing Home, but we are not affiliated and it is private property. The site cannot be used for pick up and drop off of passengers for St Agnes.

St Agnes Uniform

St Agnes values a sense of community and belonging. We are built on the pillars of dignity, integrity, compassion, and inclusiveness. The uniform is the first way a student is able to show these values and be part of the community. Please ensure your child has dressed appropriately for school each day and if there is any reason that your child is out of uniform please write a note for their Learning Advisor explaining this reason. Please check the school diary for all uniform requirements.

If there are any concerns including the cost of purchasing new uniform items please seek support from the Learning Mentors and Leaders of Learning Pathways.

School Photos

The School photo day is scheduled for Monday 20th February. All students must be in their full summer uniform on this day. Students must ensure that they fully comply with the uniform requirements of the school including jewellery, no makeup and hair being tied back off the face. Photos will not be taken of any students out of uniform on the day. As always please contact the school if you need any assistance with uniform.

Navigating Online Friendships

On Thursday 23rd February at 7:30pm a webinar will be offered by the Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT in partnership with the eSaftey Commissioner offering a 30-minute webinar designed for parents and carers of young people in High Schools. The content covered will be:

• how to support young people to have safe and respectful relationships online
• what to do when something happens at school and ends up on social media or private messaging apps
• how to report to social media platforms and eSafety.

Please use this link if you wish to attend or find more information.

2023 St Agnes Student Leaders

During the opening Mass we acknowledged the new school leaders for 2023. The students pledged their support for the school and we look forward to working with them this year. We thank all of the students who nominated themselves and congratulate the leaders on their appointments.

Mr G Hilder

Assistant Principal - School Culture

From the Head of Mission

Pace e Bene to all members of the St Agnes community.

On Wednesday the 15th February, we held our Opening School Mass for 2023. This is a significant moment for our school as we are able to welcome many new faces to our community, continue to share our Franciscan charism with the community, and formally recognise our student leaders for 2023.

Due to the size of our ever-growing school, unfortunately, we were not able to come together to celebrate in one space. That being said, students across the school were still able to participate and engage with our Mass. They were able to share mass in a more intimate setting, via their LA/ homerooms.

Fortnightly Mass-

Mass will be open to the whole school as of next Thursday 23rd February, and will continue for weeks 7, 9, and 11. Mass will be held in the Alverna space from 8-8:20 am. If students wish to attend they will need to fill out the google form which will be posted on Monday.

Sacrament of confession.

On Fridays between 11-12:30, we offer students and staff the opportunity to attend Confession (Reconciliation) with Father Galbert. If students wish to attend, they need to see the Front office to receive a time in which to attend.

Sacramental Program

Finally, I would like to invite families/students that wish to make any of the Sacraments of the Catholic faith either Baptism, Reconciliation, Holy Communion, or Confirmation. We will be running the Sacramental program in partnership with St Aidan’s parish this year.

If you could please email me on the email address below with any questions about the program, or interest you may have, I will respond to you. Please ensure you include your child's name, LA (homeroom) group, and the sacrament you are wishing to undertake or would like further information on.

pmadigan@parra.catholic.edu.au

Peace and Blessings to you all,

Mr P. Madigan

Head of Mission

YEAR 11 Biology

Students in Year 11 Biology were constructing a model of the Cell Membrane using a range of craft materials to represent phospholipids, protein channels, and other molecules used in transport.

School Fees

School Fees Statements for 2023 will be issued by the Catholic Education Office and are expected to be mailed out this week. Included with your statement are the various payment option available to you. Should you choose to take up one of these options, please complete and promptly return the paperwork in the envelope provided.

If you do not receive your statement by 28 February 2023, or should you require assistance regarding the payment of fees, please contact the school

Uniform Shop Hours

The school uniform shop is managed by

The School Locker

and is open on Mondays between 8:00am and 12:00pm, and Wednesdays between 12:00pm - 4:00pm,

during school terms only.

Compass has become our primary parent communication tool for day-to-day operational matters, upcoming events, notices, and notifications so it is essential that all parents download the app.

It is more important than ever that we are able to communicate effectively, especially when it involves the safety of our children. If you haven't already, we ask that parents download the Compass app onto their devices for either Apple or Android.

• Compass is a web-based system allowing you to access up-to-date and meaningful information about our school and your child’s progress. Compass includes many different features, including the ability to:
  
• Be informed of important updates, events, and reminders
  
• View your child’s timetable
  
• Review your child’s attendance
  
• Provide explanations for periods of absence
  
• Update your contact details
  
• Book Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences.
  

Compass is accessible on any modern web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) or by using the Compass iOS or Android apps.

If you have not received notifications via email can you please email the school to check on our contact details for you.

website

stagnes@parra.catholic.edu.au

shttps://www.facebook.com/StAgnesCHSRootyHill