Enews - 17 August 2022

Hindus travel to the Kumbh Mela festival and Buddhists go to Bodhgaya in India where Buddha attained enlightenment. Muslims journey to Mecca and Jews to the Western Wall in Jerusalem while Christians walk in the footsteps of Jesus and the Saints.

The object of a pilgrimage is not rest and relaxation, but rather spiritual growth. A pilgrim’s goal is much less to reach a particular destination than to be transformed in the journey itself. It often begins with questions: Who am I? What is my purpose? What do I need to hear? What can draw me closer to God? What do I need to heal?

My friends confessed they initially struggled with any lack of daily commitment. They missed the perpetual social media, podcasts and news updates which are far too often wonderfully seductive. Over time, however, distractions were forgotten as they entered into being part of the community of the road, on a shared journey. The world of the pilgrim is interpreted through conversations and relationships with people. These conversations and long moments of silence, they suggested, provided opportunities to go deeper, making links to meaning, wrestling with the big questions, the mysteries of life, shaping the person they want to become.

A vision for a Marist education is to ensure our boys never cruise along the surface of life without seeking understanding, short-circuiting their capacity for seeing, judging and acting. We want our boys to nurture their contemplative life and broaden their vision, to open minds and touch hearts. Much of the literature they explore here in the English and Religious Education curriculum builds on that image of life as a pilgrim. Our immersion experiences and retreat practices are designed to commence conversation, to have a new perspective and insight. They become stronger. They change. Upon returning from these experiences, there is a new beginning, a portal into a new way of seeing and understanding oneself, others, the world and even God.  

We currently have nearly 400 boys learning a musical instrument. Last week, our Year 5 students received their instrument as part of our new Junior School instrumental Program. I suspect, in coming weeks, there may be some unpleasant sounds in homes. I encourage, however, families to persevere as the gift of musicianship brings a wonderful sense of fulfilment and lifelong joy. 

Many enjoyed the outstanding production of The Crimson Firefly Circus. It was a celebration of dedication, creativity, talent and great fun. Nearly 50 students from Years 4 to 12 performed on stage with 30 in the production or support team. For some, it was their first time involved in a theatre performance and hopefully the experience planted a seed that will sustain them in years ahead. 

The fast-moving plot had enormous scope for actors and our budding Junior School circus troupe. The show had mystery, humour, tumbling and magic, keeping all entertained and proud! The performance was six months in preparation, and I know the boys are ever so grateful for the dedication and expertise of our staff. Vanessa Johnson’s vision and creativity as Director was infectious. She was generously supported by Maggie Haigh as Assistant Director and Jarrod Schindler as Producer, assisted by Jocelyn Roberts. Many generous staff assisted with backstage support. Congratulations to all involved and we look forward to future productions.

Matthew Hutchison
Headmaster

The event also promoted volunteerism and community service opportunities both within and outside of Marist. At House assemblies, a large number of boys received long overdue and well-earned MATES Awards. These Awards recognise logged hours of community service, known as MATES Hours, and are an important part of recognising service at the College. Congratulations to all of the boys who received awards!

This year, a Service exhibition was also held in the Senior Hall with a range of both internal and external organisations setting up stalls. Groups from within the College included Marist Youth Ministry/ Game Changers, Marist Justice and Solidarity, OffCuts, Vinnies, Community Meals, and Duke of Edinburgh, and the boys who attended the recent Northern Territory immersion. External organisations present included the NSW Rural Fire Service, St Vincent De Paul Society, Scouts, Legacy, Little Wings, LifeLine, Embracing Ministries, and Abilities Unlimited. Highlights from the Exhibition included the Vinnies Night Patrol van and the NSW RFS fire truck. Boys were encouraged to sign up for these activities and given valuable insight into a range of activities available to them.

At lunch time, the College Leaders held a variety of activities to raise funds for this year's Australian Marist Solidarity Appeal. A range of food was available as well as a range of fun activities. Highlights from this included the Darlinghurst House-run ‘Pie in the Face’ where boys had the opportunity to extract sweet revenge on College student leaders for a small fee.

The day was a huge success. It was great to be able to hold it, as last year's Service Day was impacted by COVID. If boys are looking for more information on any of the opportunities showcased at Service day, feel free to email Nicholas Weir, the Student Faith Coordinator, or myself.

Thank you to the many organisations who made the day possible, and special thanks to Nicholas Weir for organising such a successful day.

Michael Keating
College Service Captain

As a Catholic school in the Marist tradition, this week we marked The Assumption of Our Lady. The Feast of the Assumption signals the end of Mary’s earthly life and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with her son Jesus. Thank you to the College’s Mission Team for organising such a meaningful Mass for staff and our community on Monday.

Last week, several of our Junior School classes had a special visit from Br Bill Sullivan. Br Bill is a Marist Brother who currently leads the Hermitage property at Mittagong. Br Bill regularly visits the College to work with our staff, offering spiritual accompaniment. Br Bill has previously been a teacher and Principal of a number of Marist schools in Australia. 

All Junior School families are reminded that tomorrow, Thursday 18 August, is Moderation Day. All Marist students from Years 4 –12 will enjoy a pupil-free day, whilst our Junior School staff will be spending the day participating in Professional Learning.

Congratulations to both Miss Tanaya Holden and Miss Isabelle Johnson who are currently completing their final ACU university placement in 6L and 5D respectively. Both pre-service teachers have had successful placements at Marist and we wish them all the best in their future teaching careers.

Isabelle: “I have really enjoyed becoming a part of the Marist Junior School community. It has shaped me into the future teacher I wish to become and has set me up for success in the future. Some of my highlights have been open evening, working with the Year 6 debating team, and being a part of 5D.

Tanaya: “My 6 week placement at the College in 6L has been a wonderfully informative and enjoyable experience. One aspect I have enjoyed the most is being welcomed and integrated into the school and among staff members. Marist has an overwhelmingly warm feeling of hospitality that makes a huge difference undergoing an already daunting few weeks. The most authentic learning I think I gained was through the conversations with staff in the staffroom and other meetings. All of the advice and support was greatly appreciated. A huge thank you to everyone who made my experience so enjoyable and valuable to my future teaching career. 

Servo Fidem

Kirsty Bell
Head of Junior School

O’Donoghue House Badges

On Friday 12 August, the Junior School boys new to O’Donoghue House were presented with their House badges by House Captain Archie Brown and Vice-Captain Kalindu Karunaratne.

College Walkathon

The Junior School Walkathon donations continue to roll in. The boys and families are doing a fantastic job. Please see the up-to-date House tallies as of 15 August:

Chisholm: $2,518.00

Dempsey: $2,261.00

Hartigan: $1,885.00

O'Donoghue: $3,099.00

Total: $9,763.00

Well done to those boys and families that have fulfilled their Walkathon pledges. A few things to note for Junior School boys on the day of the Walkathon:

• The boys are NOT required to be in any school uniform, it is a free dress day. They must have a hat and enclosed shoes and please no singlets 
• Goodberry’s frozen custard will be on site on the day, so the boys can bring some extra money to purchase a treat
• Boys arrive at school at the normal time and period 1 and 2 will be as per their timetable
• Upon completion of the walk, the boys will receive vouchers for a BBQ lunch.

Craig McMahon
Junior School Head of Student Wellbeing

Every student learnt how to:

• safely carry their instrument in its case
• bring their instrument to and from school and store it on Tuesdays
• open and close their cases carefully without them falling out.

Flutes, trumpets, euphoniums and tubas learnt how to:

• make a first sound on their mouthpieces
• put their mouthpiece into their instrument.

Clarinets and saxophones worked patiently with their complicated instruments to:

• safely open and close their cases
• carefully look after their reeds
• put their mouthpiece, ligature and reed together neatly.

Students will be issued with an instrument care guide at their next immersion day.

We’re sure your son has already tried showing you all of the above!

Bringing instruments to school and storing them

Parents and carers are reminded that the instruments remain the property of the College, but the care of those instruments is the responsibility of the student and their families. This is a great opportunity for everyone to learn about respect and responsibility. Looking after an instrument as a young person has life-long benefits.

Instruments should be brought to school for three reasons:

• Music Immersion classes on Tuesdays
• Junior Premiers Band rehearsals on Wednesdays (only a few Year 5s are members of this class)
• Private instrumental lessons (only a few Year 5s are taking private instrumental lessons).

Instruments must be dropped off to the Junior Hall on Tuesdays from 8.00am and picked up by 3.30pm. Flutes and clarinets can be kept in the classroom within school bags.

All instruments must go home every night for homework. In extenuating personal circumstances, and this must be discussed with music staff first, students may leave their instrument in Senior School Performing Arts for the Tuesday night.

Instruments may be taken to after-school activities on Tuesdays. Students have been taught how they can look after them during these times. This includes:

• keeping their school bag and their instrument together at all times
• keeping their school bag and instrument out of direct sunlight and wet weather
• never playing their instrument when not in music immersion class.

Jarrod Schindler
Head of Performing Arts

On Wednesday morning, there was a lot of noise coming from the Junior area of the Library. The noise of jubilant celebration. When I went to investigate, I discovered the students of 4B proudly revelling in the fact that they were the first class to have every boy finish the Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge. Mrs Simpson and I cheered along with them, for this is a wonderful achievement.

We have had over 200 boys throughout the Junior School complete their Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge during the last two weeks. A full list of those wonderful readers can be found here. An extra special mention needs to go to Joshua Welathanthrige (Year 5) who completed a second challenge. 

We were also blown away by the efforts of Luke Bamford (Year 4) who has completed his third round of the challenge! What super keen readers we have in the Junior School!

Please note: the Challenge finishes on Friday 19 August. All forms need to be handed in by 3.00pm on that day. 

Karen Collins
Head of Library and Information Services

Failing is an essential part of the learning process. When a student ‘fails’ an assignment or test, often the learning is far more important than any of the content they were supposed to be learning about. It should open a conversation with the boy - what did you do well? What do you need to change? Which part of the assignment or test could you have completed differently? Did you use your time well? In the end, the character that is developed is far more important than any single grade or assignment mark. I have not once in my career been asked what grade a boy got in Year 9 Geography, but I have been asked how they responded to failure.

The challenge for all parents and all schools is how to build resilience in the failing process, and ultimately in life. We want them to not be overwhelmed by failing, but to show resilience in the learning process by learning from it and moving forward. Steve Magness, author of the book “Do Hard Things”, believes that modern society has got resilience all wrong. Instead of facing challenge and adversity, he suggests that we too often take the easy path, away from the difficulties. He speaks of resilience as not avoiding these times, but embracing them and learning from them.

“Real toughness is experiencing discomfort or distress, leaning in, paying attention, and creating space to take thoughtful action. It’s maintaining a clear head to be able to make the appropriate decision. Toughness is navigating discomfort to make the best decision you can. And research shows that this model of toughness is more effective at getting results than the old one.” (Magness, 2022)

He goes on to say that the important thing we need to do is let our boys do “hard things”. Our boys will develop confidence after doing the difficult thing, sometimes failing, but ultimately seeing it as a learning opportunity. Failing is allowed to shock or disappoint us, but we cannot let it stop us doing hard things in the future.

So how does this relate to school and failing? In lots of ways. There has been a steady decline in academic resilience over the past decade. I have seen a steady increase in the last 10 years of parents asking for extensions for their son’s assignments, when the reality is that their son didn’t commit or organise themselves to complete the assignment on time. I have seen parents and boys complaining about an unfair grade or a failed test, knowing that the boy chose to play football or socialise over the weekend instead of studying or completing the task. I have also seen countless times where boys have simply taken the easy way out, submitting something that was just completed at the last minute, rather than taking the harder or more difficult path which involves sacrifice.

So, in light of this, here are three ways to support your son in developing resilience at school.

Focus on the Process - not the result

Grades and marks are not the goal of education, nor should they be the focus of your conversations with your son. Focus on the process of achieving those. If your boy comes home with a bad grade or mark, ask them what they should do differently next time. Ask them what they learnt about completing the task. Ask them how they would fix the areas they need to improve on. Every failure should be an exploration into what it could teach the boy moving forward.

Allow them to fail - don’t fight their battles for them

Encourage your boy to fail! The harder path often means greater development in the long run if it is handled well. If your son hasn’t completed the assignment, don’t make excuses for them. Allow them the opportunity to take responsibility for their own actions and make better plans for next time. Don’t email their teacher asking for an extension - make them go and talk to the teacher themselves so they can learn the art of discussion, responsibility, and negotiation. Don’t focus on the teacher’s actions - it enables the boy to opt out of the difficult discussion about responsibility. By focusing on what they have in their control, you are reframing the path to move forward.

Don’t allow them to dwell on the negatives

Accepting adversity and moving on means focusing on “what is next?” We all have challenges and bad times, but once you have reflected on them, and tried to reframe and find the positives, it is time to move forward. If they have had a bad maths test, find out when the next test is and work backwards to start studying three weeks earlier. If they were late with an assignment submission, find the next task and begin as soon as they have it. If your son sees you dwelling on the “failure”, then they will too.

Liam Stakelum
Deputy Headmaster

With many years apart, these are wonderful opportunities for our boys to connect, and we recognise how important it is for families to be able to do so. 

I am writing to ask you to be really conscious of taking your boy out of school during term time. What we know as educators is that attendance matters. The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership recently stated there was a well-known correlation between absence and negative impacts on achievement. They found that any absence, authorised or unauthorised, correlates with a decline in academic achievement. Extended absences compound this effect and put more stress onto the students when compared with students with greater attendance.

The College policy is that if you are taking your boy out of school for more than three days, you need to write to the College for permission from Liam Stakelum. 

We know there are a range of reasons for students missing extended school days including sporting competitions, sudden or urgent family matters or illnesses, or unavoidable travel. I also recognise the educational benefit of some of the experiences such as an overseas travel or an extended holiday in term time. These though will be communicated as “unapproved leave” as we want parents to be aware of the risk to their child’s achievement, no matter how short the absence may be.

Liam Stakelum
Deputy Headmaster

The Art Department are proud to present our Student Art, Photography and Graphic Design Exhibition for Semester One 2022.

This online Exhibition showcases some of the outstanding work by our talented students in Years 7 to 12. The works range from painting, ceramics, and wire sculpting, through to photography, digital art and more.

The College is pleased to announce an incredible opportunity for these students to travel abroad, strengthen their language skills, discover one of the greatest ancient civilisations, and learn to cook (and eat!) some amazing cuisine.

The Language and Food Tour of Italy will run through the September - October school holidays in 2023.

Come and find out more at a preliminary information session tomorrow, Thursday 25 August, at 6.00pm. Please register for the session by clicking the link below or contact Dave Moore for more information. 

At Marist, concern surrounding the use of phones has been brought to our attention from the perspective of parents, students and teachers.

Given the impact of phone use within schools, it would be negligent of us not to address the issue and putting this into practice means educating the boys on the self-regulation of their phone use. We have recently revisited the College’s mobile phone policy and have put the following practices in place:

• Unless directed by a teacher for a specific lesson purpose, all mobile phones should be left in the student’s locker during the school day
• Boys may access their phones before and after school
• If boys are found using their phones during the school day, for instance, in the classrooms, on the playground or when in corridors, teachers can confiscate the phone.

As a College, we are endeavouring to take a proactive approach towards phone use and its impact. In addition to the consequences that have been revised and put in place, we will also be providing information sessions for each year level focused on the use of mobile phones and the impact of social media. The sessions are based around content from the eSafety website which aims to promote healthy and respectful digital citizens.

Sarah Mahar
Head of Student Wellbeing – Senior School (Acting)

There will again be a social justice focus to this year’s Walkathon, with funds raised going towards four important causes:

• Catholic Care – Mackillop House
• Australian Marist Solidarity Appeal
• Trinity College Lismore Flood Appeal 
• Br Mark May Bursary Fund.  

Our thanks to all of those boys and families that have been working on their Walkathon pledges. 

Given the emphasis on helping those in need within the community, a reminder to all families that we seek your strong support in meeting our sponsorship aim.

A copy of the QR code is attached for your use. 

Thank you for your support to help make this year’s Walkathon the most successful fundraiser to date.

The following boys who have been selected to compete in the 12 years and Under Swimming Championships in Brisbane this week. This is a significant achievement given the absence of a School Swimming Carnival this year.  

George Salter (Year 5)

Marcus Smith (Year 6)

Jovern Loh (Year 6)

Ruben Cordina (Year 10) who has been selected to represent the ACT in the School Sport Australia 18 years and under Baseball Championships in Sydney in August. 

The following boys who were selected in the ACT AFL Under 12s National Schools Championships held in Adelaide in August:

Alex Maher (Year 6)

Tom Bolton (Year 6) 

Michael Schultz (Year 6)

The following boys who were selected to participate in the Rugby League Championships in Wollongong:

Ben Callaway (Year 6)

Charlie Stammers (Year 6)

Mason Morrisey (Year 6)