With just a couple of weeks left of term three, we are grateful to be saying goodbye to Winter and welcoming Spring and (hopefully) some nicer weather. I once again thank students, families, and our staff for their resolve in navigating through absences throughout this term.

College Events

ECAT

Our ECAT evening on 27 July was very well attended by students and parents in preparation for 2023 subject and course selection. I extend my thanks to the Careers Team for organising this important event, and to Learning Leaders and teachers for putting together their displays and their enthusiasm when talking about their learning and subject areas to students. Our students are so fortunate to have teachers that love what they do and are keen to share that with those in their classrooms.

Parent Teacher Interviews

The feedback from parents and staff alike has been positive about the recent online platform for Parent Teacher interviews. I thank parents for their engagement with teachers in working to improve the outcomes for all our students.

Grade 6 Transition Interviews

An important element of the process of transition for our incoming Year 7 students is the Grade 6 Welcome Interviews. It was wonderful to invite students and their families onsite for these interviews on Thursday 18 August for the first time in a number of years and to talk to them about what they are looking forward to when they commence at Padua. I wish to thank College Transition Co-ordinator Mr Phil Helisma, Enrolments Registrar Mrs Lisa Jordan, along with Mrs Rachael McIvor, Mr Anders Hamilton, Mr Luke Low, Mr Shaun Price, Mrs Kylie Baker, Mrs Sarah Bailey, Ms Deb Hill and Mr Luke Tyrrell for all their efforts in preparing for this day.

Staff Professional Learning Day

Our Grade 6 Transition Interview Day was followed by our Staff Professional Learning Day on Friday 19 August which provided staff the opportunity to explore Student Empowerment. This day was led by Mr Phil Helisma with support from Mr Sam Wright, Mrs Jodie Williams, Mrs Kylie Donnelly, Mr Mark Mannock, Ms Sam Dewhurst, Mrs Chelsea Holmes, Ms Julie Young, Mr Patrick Janes, Mrs Stephanie Murphy, Mr Brendan Fordham, Mr Brendan Smith and Ms Rebecca Haas as well as number of students from across all three Campuses.

My thanks also to Mrs Emma O’Dowd for her work with Mr Jason Sheehan from CERES who presented to us on Sustainability; this is an area we continue to strive to make improvements in across the College.

SIS Athletics

Padua competed in the SIS Athletics at Laskeside Stadium last week with a very close final result, the final tally being:

3rd 961 John Paul College

2nd 1,119.5 St Francis Xavier College

1st 1,175 Padua College

Special thanks to all staff who assisted and attended on the day, particularly to Ms Anna Whitaker, Mrs Nicole Love, Ms Shakira Samuel, Mrs Donna Nettlefold, Ms Stacey Romeril, Mr Terry Luppino, Mr Peter Van Wees and Miss Holly Debnam.

Herald Sun Shield

Padua College has been very well represented in the Herald Sun Shield Football Competition this year, after dominating in the SIS Competition.

The intermediate boys and intermediate girls team played well but were both defeated in the semi-finals.

On Wednesday 17 August the Senior Boys Football Team played against MacKillop College in the Grand Final at Williamstown and won the Premiership, with the final scores: Padua 12 9 81 def MacKillop Werribee 5 3 33. Fletcher Bayne was awarded the medal for the best player on the ground. Congratulations to all the boys who played both on the day and throughout the competition.

We also had five of our players who were named in the Herald Sun Team of the Tournament (for both the Division One and Division Two finals). Congratulations to Fletcher Bayne, Josh Smith, Thomas Muscillo, Ben Fisher and Jake Mones for making this team.

The Senior Girls Team play in their semi-final this week and I wish them all the very best.

GAT

The General Achievement Test (GAT) will be conducted next Wednesday 7 September at the Mornington Campus. This year, all students undertaking a Unit 3/4 will sit both sections A and B of the GAT, and all Senior VCAL students will sit Section A. No Unit 3/4 or Unit 1/2 VCE, VCAL or Padua VET classes will run on Wednesday 7 September.

In order to accommodate the rooming requirements for the GAT, Year 10 students will undertake a remote learning day on Wednesday 7 September. This is not a student-free day for Year 10 students as classes will continue to be delivered online, similar to during periods of remote learning. Year 10 students enrolled in a Unit 1/2 VCE or Padua VET class will not have scheduled classes for this subject on Wednesday 7 September.

2023 Timetable

Parents, guardians and students will be aware of the Padua Re-Dreaming process we undertook at the College throughout 2021 as we continue to develop the next Educational Strategic Plan. Feedback from this process, along with the anticipated reduction of face-to-face teaching hours over the next two years, has resulted in a planned re-structure of the school timetable from the commencement of 2023.

Following significant consultation with staff regarding possible models, it has been determined that from 2023 we will move from the current 6-period day to a 5-period day. Following student subject selection earlier this term, work has commenced on building the 2023 timetable and I thank Ms Kelly McGurn and Ms Marjorie Canal for the enormous amount of work they continue to undertake in this process.

MACSSIS

Earlier this week all families will have received an email regarding the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS). MACSSIS is an annual process enabling consideration of feedback from students, families and staff about how their school can improve. These surveys help inform the ongoing improvement of our College.

Details on how to access and complete the survey were included in the email and we encourage all families to help us to continue improving by completing this survey. The Survey can be completed online and is open until the last day of term 3, Friday 16 September.

Covid19 Update

Parents and guardians are reminded that the Victorian Government has advised that masks are strongly recommended in schools by staff and students when indoors. We continue to encourage staff and students to wear masks when indoors.

I also remind parents and guardians that RATs are available for each student and staff member with an allocation of three boxes (containing 5 RATs each) per term. These are available for all students to collect from their homeroom teacher at any time.

A reminder that currently it is recommended that RATs are used by students and staff only when they are symptomatic and twice-weekly surveillance testing is no longer required.

RAT testing is also required for five days if a student or staff member is a close contact of a confirmed case and they are attending or working at a school.

Students and staff must continue to notify the Department of Health and the College if they return a positive RAT result and I remind all families that if your child is positive or a household close contact then we require this to be reported via the College Covid-19 Notification Form which can be accessed via the mask icon on the College homepage or via the following link: https://www.padua.vic.edu.au/c....

As has previously been advised, if students are close household contacts they are still able to attend school as long as they are not symptomatic, they wear a face mask when indoors and test for 5 of the 7 days that they would have previously been in isolation.

Hand sanitiser is located all around each of the Campuses of the College and students should continue to use this regularly.

I continue to remind all families that if students are displaying any symptoms of Covid they should remain at home.

Year 7 & 8 Centre

Work is well underway on the Year 7 & 8 Centre with a building site being established and cleared in preparation for building works to commence.

Staff News

Congratulations

Congratulations to Mrs Felicity Callaghan who has recently commenced teaching at the Tyabb Campus.

Congratulations also to Mr Kyle Kraus who recently completed his Apprenticeship in Landscape Gardening at the College.

Condolences

Our condolences to Mrs Lisa Fraumano (T) on the passing of her father, Mr Alan Lyngcoln recently. Alan was also father-in-law of Mel Lyngcoln (T) and worked at the College over a number of years as an assistant in the Ag/Hort Department and drove the College bus for many years.

Our condolences also to Mr Rob Knight (recently retired former Co-Director of the Tyabb Campus) on the passing of his mother, Barbara.

I also extend my condolences also to Mrs Lorraine Dvash (M) on the passing of her mother-in-law in recent weeks.

Welcome

We have welcomed the following staff to the College in recent weeks:

Ms Peta Daher (M) - taking Nathan Bradbury’s classes for the remainder of Term 3.

Mrs Nicola Brown (M) - replacing Mr Frank Colcott, who is replacing Mr Emilio Di Paolo.

Upcoming Events

Monday 5 – Friday 9 September: RUOK Week

Wednesday 7 September: GAT

Wednesday 14 September: Mornington Yr 7-12 Padua Spring Showcase

Friday 16 September: Alumni Grand Final Breakfast

Friday 16 September: Final Day of Term 1

Monday 3 October: Term 4 Commences (Staff and Students)

May God bless you and your families,

Prayer

In September, Pope Francis asks us to pray for the care of creation.

"Praise to you, my risen Lord, who keeps meeting me in the garden of my life.

Who keeps calling my name, allowing me to feel blessed and cherished.

I give thanks for all of creation.

Teach me to commune with you in the great cathedral of nature.

I pray for eyes to see you, hands to touch you, and lungs to breathe you in every step I take this month.

Amen.