Term 1 Week 9 College Newsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

Harmony Week – Everyone Belongs

This week is Harmony Week which recognises the diversity of cultures that exist in our society. The week commenced last Monday, which is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. On this day, our College flew the United Nations flag. It is a week we celebrate the multicultural nature of our country.

In fact, in Australia:

• nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was
• we identify with over 300 ancestries
• since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia
• apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi
• more than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.

We are called this week to recognise the diversity of cultures within our College and the gift each culture brings to our community. The theme this year is “Everyone Belongs” and as a school we want to be a place of inclusion and equality.

Sing with a Voice!

Last year, the College introduced House Choirs. This was an opportunity for each House to display their musical and creative talents to sing collectively together as one voice. This initiative allowed all members of the House to participate in singing, whether they are altos or baritones. The key element in House Choirs is to sing together in harmony. Our House Choirs are a wonderful example of our students developing their creative ability, to sing with gusto and be the best singing group in the College. The House Choirs didn’t disappoint today with amazing talent and congratulations to the Treacy House who displayed exceptional choral skills. Thank you to Mr John Deer and house leaders in organizing our House Choir Competition.

“ I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that”. (Paul McCartney)

Assessment and Reports

Next week many students will be completing their Term One assessment tasks and exams. As the interim reports for all students become available in the forthcoming weeks, I would encourage parents to put some time aside to sit with your son in order to genuinely analyse the ‘story within’. While only limited amounts of formal assessments have been completed at this early stage of the year, the Interim Report gives a snapshot on student progress to date. Based on the professional judgement of respective teachers, and guided by class performance to this stage, the Interim Report presents a picture of a student’s application, effort and general organisation.

It may be very timely for parents to sit down with their son in order to discuss all aspects of their particular Interim Report. Such a discussion can be used to celebrate those areas in which effort and achievement are positive; and likewise, to highlight those areas in which improvements need to be made. The analysis of reports should be used as the basis for meaningful discussions about establishing consistent and genuine levels of application with a view to achieving personal excellence at school. The Interim Report is less about achievement (marks and grades) and more about presenting a picture about attitude to class work with a view to forming positive and successful approach to studies.

I am sure that, as parents, you would have similar expectations of your son. It is vitally important that an organised approach to study, a positive attitude and genuine levels of application and commitment are established as the basis for student achievement. Once again, I would encourage parents to use their son’s Interim Report as a means to acknowledge and affirm areas of success and achievement while challenging ways in which further improvements can be made. 

Students who are Covid Positive or Close Contacts

Parents are reminded that if your son has been in isolation (as a positive case) or quarantine (as a close contact), he must wear a face mask in indoor settings (and outside if they cannot socially distance) for seven days after ending their isolation/quarantine when they leave their home.  This includes coming to school. Could you please ensure wears a mask if they are returning to school?

Staffing

This week we farewell Mrs Carol Dickson. Mrs Dickson has worked in the Finance Department while Mrs Karen Crespin was on leave. We wish her all the best on her journey beyond Iggy Park.

Also, congratulations to Mr Matthew Mitchell who has been successful in gaining the position of Director of Students in Term Two.

The Blessing of Easter

This is our last newsletter for Term One. How quickly the term has passed! The year, Easter will occur in the last week of the holidays. Easter which is one of the most profound periods of the Church’s year, celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Easter is a time to rejoice that, in Jesus, God fully embraced humanity, in order that humanity could fully embrace God. The mystery of Easter has the power to transform lives and to see the world in a new way. 

While we focus on the last few days of Jesus’ death and his subsequent resurrection, this only makes sense when we consider the message of his whole life.  In Jesus’ words and actions, we are presented with a radical love that announces that God’s reign is breaking into history.  It is the kind of radical love that transforms lives and breaks through barriers. The outcast, be they a leper, a tax collector or a Samaritan, is invited into a relationship with Jesus as a full and complete human being. In many ways, Jesus announces that the artificial distinctions that are used to separate people and place their value on some kind of tiered scale do not represent God’s way of looking at human beings. 

Instantly, those who accept this invitation for a relationship are transformed from within as they now enter into that relationship as full human beings. Their mindsets are radically altered and their innate beauty as a creation of God begins to shine. Likewise, Jesus challenges those whose power relies on enforcing such artificial distinctions in order to maintain their status. He embodies a God of radical love for humanity. In Jesus we encounter the God who liberates through love. In announcing the reign of God, Jesus reveals a God that loves humanity so deeply that God desires to touch creation directly and completely. In Jesus, that God-initiated process of individual and social liberation begins. In Jesus, God touches creation.

Easter begins with God’s action and invitation. But, the acceptance of Easter into our lives is not an individual action that will be fulfilled in personal isolation in heaven. By accepting the invitation of Easter, we become connected to God’s activity in this world and God’s desire to transform this world. We join a communal acceptance of becoming agents of God’s radical love that seeks to transform the world. In this way, we allow ourselves to become Christ to our world and, through our communal actions, Christ continues to transform our world to bring it to full communion with God.

I wish all our College community a Holy Easter hoping it will be a transforming season and  a time to be with your family during the holiday break.

As I mentioned in our last newsletter, I will be taking study leave in Term Two.  Mr John Doolan will be Acting Principal and Mrs Johanna Smith, Acting Deputy Principal. I know both will ably lead the College. I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you all in term three.

Reminder next Friday, 1 April is a Student Free Day and Thursday, 31 March is the last day for Term One. Please be aware that school recommences on Tuesday, 19 April.

Live Jesus in our Hearts. Forever

Shaun Clarke | Principal 

Identity and Mission

We are now in the third week of Lent with the Project Compassion story of Janice, a Wagilak woman and traditional dancer who tells her family’s stories through movements handed down over generations.

Like many remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Janice faces a range of challenges – low employment and education, financial hardship, poorer health and lower life expectancy.

With your help, Caritas Australia supports Djilpin Arts Aboriginal Corporation, which operates a centre for traditional and contemporary Aboriginal arts and culture and provides employment  to generate income for local communities.

Janice believes that Djilpin Arts’ work is essential to create opportunities for young people to stay on-country, to share intergenerational knowledge between elders and the younger generation - to promote healing, and to keep culture alive.

Watch a short film about Janice’s story here.

Please support Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au or this week’s event is a raffle of over $200 worth of Easter chocolate to be drawn at the Easter Liturgy next Thursday afternoon (students last day). Please support this by sending $2 along with your son to purchase a ticket to win.  

Last Friday, the Year 7’s were involved in their retreat at Jezzine Barracks Park. It was a great day exploring the theme of “Seeking Truth” a play on our motto and what it means to be an “Iggy Boy” starting their high school journey. They reflected on their time so far and their transition from primary school to high school and what that has looked like for them as individuals and as homeroom groups. It was a great day and I thank all the staff and students involved.

Lenten Prayer

Almighty and Everlasting God,
You have given the human race
Jesus Christ our Savior as a model of humility.
He fulfilled Your Will by becoming Man
And giving His life on the Cross.
Help us to bear witness to You
By following His example of suffering
And make us worthy to share in His Resurrection.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.

Amen

Pathways Hub

School-based Apprenticeship

Due to our recent Industry Placement week, we are happy to announce that Dylan Talbot (year 12 Reid) has secured himself a school-based butcher apprenticeship with Procut Meats and Jack Petitt (year 12 Carew) secured himself a school-based carpentry apprenticeship with Iconic Constructions Industries Pty Ltd. Students certainly benefit from working hard on placement, gaining skills and possibly future work whereas employers benefit from having greater exposure to potential apprentices and being able to secure a good worker when they find one.  

CQU Townsville University Experience Day

Several year 12 students will be attending the CQU Townsville University Experience Day this Friday 25^th March, 2022.  Students will be experiencing a day in the life of a Uni student and select two lecture sessions in either Business, Education, Psychology / Criminology or Paramedics. CQU will provide information around careers, possible future courses and showcase the campus facilities. This should be a worthwhile day for those intending to apply for CQU courses in 2023.

Holiday Placements

We have five students doing work experience during these holidays.  It is now too late to register for any more however you can still register for June/July Holidays.  Work experience is a great opportunity for students to gain an insight into possible career matches and determine potential future pathways post-school.  If you would like more information about how to organise work experience, please contact Mr Rossiter or Mrs Vignale in the Pathway Hub.

Grant Rossiter |Dean of Pathways

Counsellors' Corner

Excitement is in the air! 

Ignatius Park College has been invited to participate again this year in the Healthy Minds Project.

The Healthy Minds Project has secured funding again from money raised from the annual Banish the Black Dog Bike Ride, organised by the Rotary Club – Townsville Central.  The school-based initiative provides the opportunity to educate and empower young adults to lead well-being initiatives within their respective schools. The project (launched in 2018) followed a review of data reporting nearly eight suicides per day in Australia across all ages (Mindframe, 2017) and approximately eight youth suicides each week (Headspace, 2017).

With almost 1,000 young men in the highest demographic for being at risk of suicide, we at Ignatius Park College are in a position to increase awareness and work towards a safer community.

Last year the Heathy Minds Project Crew designed and launched the ‘Phoenix Room’, with a vision to:

• INCREASE student connection, hope and community in a relaxed well-being space and
• DECREASE stress, feelings of being overwhelmed and at times, mental health challenges.

17 students from Year 10 have put their hands up to increase wellbeing for all of the students in our community.   IPC is proud to have been a part of this important initiative for the past five years.

This year’s Healthy Minds Project Crew are:

CAREW: Nathan Dolan, Darcy Schaffer

PUTNEY: Meky Turnock, Philip Lander

RICE: Tate Hastie, Ben Hatchard, Wes Kerr

NOLAN: Brayden Lewis, Tyson Barry

TREACY: Kynan Purdy, Harrison Barrett

REID: Johnathan Hewson, Harrison Rush, Brad Vines

BAILLIE: Ethan Conrad, Thomas Vaillant-Roche, Connor Kenyon

Staff: Val Derwent, Dannielle Charge, Mackenzie Taylor, Matt Rowan, Darren Spina, Erin Reyes, Donna Knowles and Melissa Sheppard

We can’t wait to see what this year’s project will be!

Mrs. Derwent |Student Counsellor

If you or anyone you know needs help:

Naplan

The NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) testing program will take place next term between May 10 - 18 for students in Years 7 and 9.

NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgement about student progress.

All of the tests will take place online this year. Students will need to make sure they bring their fully charged laptops and earphones (not Bluetooth). A practice session to confirm the capability of our network will be held on Thursday this week. In addition to the scheduled testing, students will also have additional opportunities to complete tests if they are absent.

The testing schedule for Ignatius Park College is below:

Further information can be found at:

https://www.nap.edu.au/

https://www.acara.edu.au/assessment/naplan.

Students who have particular learning needs and are entitled to adjustments will be contacted directly. Should you wish to withdraw your child, please contact me to access the appropriate documentation. You are also welcome to contact me at the College should you have any questions.

Andrea Tarttelin | Dean of Pedagogy

Writer's Toolbox

Adverb-Start Winners

The school has been using a writing development program called Writer’s Toolbox. As part of the program, students have been learning to use a range of different sentence and paragraph styles. Over the past week, students in Year 7-12 have been working with the Adverb-Start Sentence, writing sentences beginning with adverbs such as curiously, tragically or seriously.

We held a competition challenging all of our students to submit their best Adverb-Start Sentence. The winners are below:

Year 7: Darnell Bin Doraho

Slowly, she turned the corner and peered down into the murky basement.

Year 8: Tyler Shore

Curiously, the shadows began to dance among the cracks and crevasses that adorned the unmortared stone.

Year 9: Braeden Johnstone

Surprisingly, from this analysis I have learned that these recipes all contain spices such as chilli, cumin and paprika.

Year 10: Ethan Conrad

Slowly, he wrote the adverb sentence and made sure there were no mistakes.

Year 11: Daniel Jacob

Consequently, even though the law was proven, the experimental and theoretical data found by the group varied significantly.

Year 12: Kai Harvey-Hall

Delicately, the artist painted a landscape that spoke a thousand words.

Class Winners:

Mr Jackson’s 8 HASS class who are learning about Vikings. They wrote:

Remarkably, most Vikings gave up their old ways and converted to Christianity in the New World.

Teacher prize:

Mrs Timbs wrote:

Unfortunately, Mrs Timbs is not at school today to deliver her amazing English lessons. Luckily, we have fantastic teachers who can fill in for her.

All students have access to the online tool. This can be found at https://www.wtbox.com/. Students need to log in with their school email address and the password Ignatius. If there are any problems, they are welcome to see me in the Edmund Rice Room.

We’re moving on to W-Start sentences and students are encouraged to submit their efforts at andrea.tarttelin@ipc.qld.edu.au

Andrea Tarttelin | Dean of Pedagogy

Film and Television

Mulkadee

Registrations are now open for Mulkadee Youth Arts Festival 2022. Venture Into the Unknown to be a part of this amazing variety showcase  from Monday 18 to Friday 22 July, 2022 in Term three. 

Mulkadee are excited to announce they have many returning industry experts to lead the students in this year, including:

• Band: Wyana O’Keefe
• Guitar: Andrew Veivers
• Strings: Stephen Frewen-Lord
• Drama: TheatreiNQ
• Dance: DanceNorth
• Choir: Rachel Cairns

In addition to Mulkadee week, students from each discipline are also invited to attend two additional workshops as well as have the opportunity to participate in the filming of an audio-visual component. This filmed component allows senior students or those from regional areas  the opportunity to participate in the show, if they are unable to attend the full week of Mulkadee.

For further information and the application process, check Daily Notices or email Mrs Tillack. Registration closes on Friday 1 April 2022.

Kylie Tillack | Faculty Leader - The Arts

Basketball

The Year 8 IPC Basketball squad travelled by coach to Cathedral School to play their third round game on Wednesday. Coming off a second-round victory, the team played with confidence from the tip-off and blasted away to a 22-4 lead at the first break.  The Cathedral boys had no answer to the quick ball movement and game play from the IPC men as the next two quarters proved similar to the first. After the Iggy students weathered a small comeback from the Cathedral students in the final quarter, the final score was a dominant and deserved 78 points to 50 victory for the blue and white. There was strong play from Lachlan George-Shaw, who demonstrated strong ball play and decision making at the top of the key. Ethan Weil was an ox on the boards and Jaylen Gadsby proved to be an excellent rebounder who has patience and plays beyond his years. Our next match is at home to Kirwan State High School.

John Deer | Dean of Student Well-being

NQ Representatives

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected in North Queensland Teams. 

10-12 Years Swimming

• Riley Connors
• Thomas Griffiths

13-19 Years Swimming

• Jake Piccolo
• Joshua Eggins
• Matt Lynch

16-18 Years Basketball

• Lleyton Ward
• Joshua Corcoran
• Murugu Kiumbura
• Cody Brown
• Matthew Evans

13-19 Years Volleyball

• Monty Curran

16-18 Years Rugby Union

• George Abednego
• Howard Keyes
• Nelson Kennedy
• Marley Scarff
• Stewart Gordon
• Max Gough
• Aiden Knowles
• Cranston Hill
• Harvey Arboit

13-19 Years Hockey

• Daniel Scott
• Joseph Dixon

10-12 Years Touch

• Issac Seawright
• Ben Schifilliti
• Eli Groves
• Andrew Eaton

13-15 Years Touch

• Hayden Griffin
• Klay Graham
• Luke Swain
• Anthony Roveglia
• Beau McCarron
• Nayte Essery 

16-18 Years Touch

• Aidan Fitzpatrick
• Scott Swain
• Matthew Hunter
• Elijah Joe
• Marcus Bell
• Brodie Dinneen
• Jacob Pugh
• Jake Brewer
• Joshua Pierce

13-15 Years AFL

• Sebastian Wyke
• Morgan Payne
• Kye Lange

16-18 Years Rugby League

• Elijah Joe
• Tekelu Mene
• Orlando Nawarie
• Matthew Hunter
• Jamal Shibasaki
• Reece Foley
• Henry Teutau
• Jonah Raidaveta
• Jack Wood
• Brodie Dinneen

14-15 Years Rugby League

• Anthony Roveglia
• Sitiveni Afu
• Joe Briskey
• Cooper Reinders

Northern Touch Trials U/12 representatives:

Ben Schifilliti, Isaac Seawright, Eli Groves, Andrew Eaton

Indigenous and Multicultural

Ignatius Park College would like to thank The Wulgurukaba Walkabouts for their help and support at the Year 12 Induction Liturgy earlier this term. The Wulgurukaba Walkabouts performed a traditional smoke ceremony to welcome our Year 7 students to the school before leading them into the hall for the Year 12 Induction Liturgy.

The College's Indigenous and Multicultural program has also been busy with support from Catholic Education in organising all our Indigenous Year 7 students to have their hearing tested and checked. Students in Year 8 and 9 are also having follow up appointments at the Binna Hearing clinic later this term and we will continue to work closely with Catholic Education to help monitor and test our young Indigenous students throughout the year.

On the 21 March we also celebrated Harmony Day,  a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism and the successful integration of migrants into our community. Harmony Day is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians. Regardless of cultural or linguistic background,  we are all united by a set of core Australian values.

Jaelen Feeney | Indigenous and Multicultural Coordinator

Volunteers Needed

At Ignatius Park College, there are a number of opportunities to volunteer to be more involved with your son's education or to give back to the College.

Our Tuckshop is in urgent need of volunteers.

Please complete the form below to nominate your interest in volunteering at the College. We truly appreciate any time you may be able to spare. 

https://www.ipc.qld.edu.au/community/contact/volunteers/

School Fees

Please be informed that timely payment of the School Fees is mandatory. If you have defaulted a timely payment, or have outstanding fees, please pay in full as soon as possible. Please contact the College Finance Team at finance@ipc.qld.edu.au or call (07) 4796 0222 if you need any further information.

Edstart

Ignatius Park has partnered with Edstart to assist parents to manage their School Fee payments. You can pay weekly, fortnightly or monthly by choosing a plan that suits your budget. This is an application-based process. There are no credit applications and no transaction fees or interest charges when using Edstart Pay+ for your IPC fees.
Visit edstart.com.au/ipc for more information on Edstart payment options.

Vilton Crasto | Business Manager 

Community