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Dear McAuley Families
I trust everyone enjoyed a happy Easter and were able to have a break and spend some time with family and friends. The Easter season reminds us about sacrifice and hope – something much needed at times in all our lives!
It was unusual to have the Easter break outside of the school term break. Saying goodbye on Easter Thursday felt like the last day of term for many of us and it was a rude shock to have to return on Tuesday! I am aware many senior students have some assessments and tests due. I encourage them to maintain a solid study routine and keep to timeframes.
I must commend our students and staff for their cooperation on Wednesday as we encountered a whole college lockdown. Privacy regulations make it impossible for me to comment fully on the situation, however, please understand that when a situation threatens to compromise the safety of students or staff a lockdown is called. It is correct process that Police are contacted – again to maintain safety and to provide advice and support if needed.
This decision is not made lightly, however in some situations it needs to be made quickly. The feedback I have is that our students were cooperative, settled and calm. Our staff handled the situation professionally with the care of everyone at the fore of any actions taken.I understand fully that these situations may be triggering and cause questions and distress. We ensured extra counselling support for our students yesterday and debriefed with students and staff also. We can always do better - but in this situation, I cannot see any errors or missteps. Thank you to those families who have sent messages of concern and support – they are deeply appreciated by us all.
We have highly supportive parents and beautiful students who care about the college and one another. Sometimes our boys and girls make mistakes, and we need as parents and educators to help them learn something from every situation – good and bad.
Please enjoy the term break. The college will be participating in the Anzac ceremonies and paying recognition to our local history. I hope that our students will be available to march in their correct uniform to represent McAuley. Further details will be posted on social media over the break. Please see below for timings and events on Anzac Day.
|
Time |
ANZAC Events – Thursday 25 April 2024 |
|
5.45am |
College leaders/participants arrive at Richmond Park |
|
6.00am |
Dawn Service Commences |
|
10.15am |
Students assemble for march outside Snowy Valleys School – Capper Street |
|
10.30am |
March begins – students in correct uniform please. |
|
10.45am |
Ceremony begins in Richmond Park |
For your planning and calendars the first and last days of next term are pupil free days for staff training and planning. The dates of those days are:
Monday 29 April: Pupil Free – All staff doing Youth Mental Health First Aid training.
Friday 5 July: Pupil Free – All staff doing college-based PL in Catalyst and High Impact Teaching.
Mary our mother look after us.
Eamonn Moore
Principal
Last Thursday we gathered as a Catholic College to watch the Stations of the Cross. This enacts the story of Holy Week as we prepared for Easter.
Term 1 School Fees are now overdue.
Monthly fee statements were emailed out to families yesterday (Thursday 4th April).
Please only use your BPAY details to make payments, not Compass. Your BPAY reference details are on your monthly statement that you receive. If you require assistance with planning your payments, please email the office – office.mcauley@cg.catholic.edu.au
Year 10 students had a great experience visiting the Snowy Hydro Careers Day
Snowy Hydro hosted McAuley at their 2024 Year 10 Careers Day on the 4th April.
This year students gained insight into Snowy Hydro’s operations with a VIP experience as they toured through the Tumut 3 Power Station. They had a chance to explore the career opportunities working with Snowy Hydro as they were immersed in renewable energy generation, and saw real-time operation screens with an overview, including the generation and retail-end-to-end value chain of a dynamic renewable energy company.
The students visited Talbingo Dam to learn and see how Snowy Hydro uses drone technology across the business and explore technological innovations that their surveying team has adopted. Their environmental team provided the students with hands-on activities and experiments, there was an opportunity for students to engage in real-life problem-solving activities with Snowy Hydro trade skills team, dam-building demonstrations, and an exploration of the mysteries of climate science, unpacking the importance of weather data through a hands-on experience.
McAuley participated in the Rugby Union Schools 10’s competition today.
The day was run by Southern Inland Rugby and The ACT Brumbies development team.
There were two divisions, a 3/4 age division and a 5/6 age division. Both divisions were mixed tackle, so boys and girls played in the same team. Players didn't need any experience to participate, and those who didn't had a great day learning how to play.
The development officer from the Brumbies, Tyson Morgan, visited McAuley and ran some training sessions for the students involved in the Rugby 10s Gala Day on Friday 5th April.
Congratulations to Cooper Ambrose, Chloe Pearce, Cybella Roddy and Russell Guppy who represented the Archdiocese at the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges swimming carnival. A big congratulations to Russell Guppy on his first NSWCCC Swimming medals. Russell won the Bronze in the Senior boys Multi-Class 50m Breaststroke and 50m Butterfly. Well done Russell and good luck at the NSW All Schools Championships.
Behind each blue tree lies a story.
Blue Tree Project was founded with a mission to help spark difficult conversations and encourage people to speak up when experiencing mental health concerns. We believe help is never as far away as it feels.
Blue trees dotted across every continent of the world (minus Antarctica) are both beacons of hope, and conversation starters.
Something that began out of tragedy now offers a positive way for people to connect and help change the way we talk about mental health.
Karen Lindley and Leigh Day are painting a tree at the Tumut Bull Paddock as part of the Blue Tree Project next Sunday the 14th April from 12 noon. Everyone in the community is welcome to attend and help paint the tree, have a chat, or just come down and have a look. Currently there is 1149 trees painted worldwide and we are hoping to be the 1150 tree.
In preparation for the upcoming hockey season, Tumut and District Hockey is holding an open training session on Thursday the 11th of April at 4pm.
All school aged children, new to the game or returning, are encouraged to come down to the Tumut Hockey Fields on Elm Drive for a hit.
For more information, contact the Tumut and District Hockey facebook page.
Upcoming events at Falling Leaf Festival - including the FREE school holiday workshop for Bioluminescence - a great audio and digital projection project where students (12-24) undertake 3 days of training in digital technology and then present an amazing sound and light show on Fri 26 April as part of the Festival.
