Saint Ignatius College Geelong
Dear Saint Ignatius College Geelong community members,
What is the core value of an Ignatian education?
In 2013, Pope Francis spoke to a gathering of staff and students from Italian and Albanian Jesuit schools. He explained the answer to this question as follows:
“The principal element of education is to learn to be generous. Saint Ignatius taught us that magnanimity is the virtue of the great and of the small…. Magnanimity enables us to look to the horizon. It is to have a big heart, to have a great spirit, and to have great ideals. It is the desire to do great things to respond to that which God asks of us. However, generosity is truly shown in doing well the simple things – the daily chores and responsibilities, and the ordinary encounters with people. It is doing the small things every day with a big heart open to God and to others…”
Generosity is a core value of our College, expressed in our own mission statement, to form ‘… young adults of competence, conscience and compassion who will be of service in the community’ and our motto, ‘to love and to serve.’
Our College crest incorporates a significant element from the family crest of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and our College’s patron saint. The two wolves come from the two wolves depicted over a cooking pot in the Saint Ignatius family crest. The generosity of the Loyola family fed both the community and the wolves. Ignatius left his home town and set out on a spiritual journey to find God and he found it in the service of others for the greater glory of God.
Through living generously, perspective is gained and gratitude grows.
Each year on July 31, the Church celebrates the Feast Day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Falling on a Saturday this year, our school had set aside this Friday as a special day of celebration of our school community’s Ignatian identity.
For obvious reasons, due to the pandemic, we are unable to undertake our usual activities but due to its significance for us, we will take some time in class groups to watch a short video featuring students from each Australian Jesuit and Companion School celebrating St Ignatius Day and participate in a liturgy via Zoom that our Liturgy Coordinator, Mr Brendan Nicholls has prepared. (Thank you to our Ignatian Coordinator, Mr Michael Tod for coordinating our College’s involvement in the production of the video).
Prayer for Generosity
(St. Ignatius of Loyola)
Dearest Lord,
Teach me to be generous,
Teach me to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your holy will.
Amen
Best wishes,
Michael Exton Principal
As this newsletter is released our community is experiencing two exciting and important events. We have returned from ‘lockdown’ and are again together. We also are looking forward to celebrating the Feast Day of our patron St Ignatius of Loyola on Friday. The College is a buzz and we are extremely happy and grateful to be back together as a community. As this is such an exciting moment, it may be challenging for some to truly enter into Feast Day, especially as our traditional celebration has had to be postponed, and that Friday will be essentially a ‘normal’ school day.
In light of our less visible celebration of St Ignatius’ Feast Day and the potential to miss an opportunity the following DIY Guide to becoming a Saint may help draw out what we might learn from the life of St Ignatius. Although he lived almost five hundred years ago his life and legacy is still relevant to our lives today.
Moving beyond the hagiography of Ignatius’ life we can find great treasure in focussing on what he found to be the purpose of life. Take some time to consider how the story of a once proud and self-centred noble man’s transformation to a humble, yet brilliant leader might inspire us in our ‘normal’ lives? Spend some time contemplating this question posed and consider how the life of Ignatius might be a DIY manual to becoming a Saint.
St Ignatius’ life story is inspirational in many ways. By exploring key themes and applying them to our lives you can begin a DIY project which has eternal heavenly rewards. Here is a five-step project that will transform your life and ensure you become a saint.
As we celebrate our return as a community and Feast Day this week, we are inspired and challenged by our interactions with others, the commotion of the school day and the legacy of St Ignatius. We are all called to be saints and seek God’s will above our own. Spend time this week planning for your DIY Saint project. The five points above do not guarantee you future canonisation. But then again, a Saint never seeks affirmation or accolades anyhow!
Yours in Christ,
Brendan Nicholls Liturgy Coordinator
On Friday the 23rd of July, student leader across all year levels were provided with the opportunity to attend the Student Voice Conference at Xavier College, with the theme of authentic leadership.
Three distinguished guests, including the Honourable Linda Dessau, the Governor of Victoria, the Honourable Justice Simon Steward and Lieutenant General John Frewen provided insight as to how they go about being a leader within their own job.
Downplaying their own impressive roles and achievements, these people embodied the very qualities they spoke of, emphasising hard work, service to community, diligence and curiosity as important traits of any leader.
Many thanks to Mr Gravener and Mr Timms for the opportunity to attend the event.
Emily Green Sport Captain
Congratulation to Tess Craven, who is completing VCE at Saint Ignatius College this year, on being selected by North Melbourne in the 2022 AFLW draft held on Tuesday night.
Tess was taken with pick 13 and joins a strong North Melbourne team that played finals last season, and is expected to be in contention again in the up-coming 2022 season.
Playing for the Geelong Falcons and Vic Country, Tess is described in her draft profile as a 'Inside Midfielder' whose key football strengths are noted as clearances, accumulation, consistency and footy IQ.
The profile goes on to say that Tess is arguably the best pure inside midfield player in the Victorian pool. Tess also won the Falcons' best and fairest award, averaging 21.1 disposals, 4.4 marks, 3.3 inside 50s and 3.9 tackles and played two games with Vic Country.
We wish Tess all the best for AFLW career and look forward to seeing her take the field with the 'Roos' in 2022.
During the second week of the Term 2 holidays, our Year 12 VCE Physical Education students attended a half day program at school titled ‘Mastering Unit 3’.
Students spent the morning revising all of the key knowledge and key skills of Unit 3 Physical Education with their teachers, Mr Joe McLean and Mr Jason Broadbear. The day was conducted in the Multi-Purpose Centre here at school.
The program consisted of both theoretical and practical application of topics such as biomechanics, energy systems, fatigue and recovery. We would very much like to thank the students for giving up their time to attend this session and we hope they benefitted a great deal from the experience.
Jason Broadbear Learning Area Leader: Health & Physical Education
Junior Debating has been particularly strong this year with consistent performances and insistent attitudes helping establish our school as a debating force to be reckoned with.
The final round in the Online School Competition took place on the first day of our most recent lockdown, and credit must go to our two teams who were able to maintain a calm and disciplined approach to their debate despite the uncertainty swirling around them.
Round 5 played out on Thursday 15th July with both teams taking the affirmative position on the topic ‘That television programs glorifying the military (e.g. SAS) should not be broadcast’. Drew Magtaka (Year 8), Stephanie Reynolds (Year 8) and Curtis McCoughtry (Year 9) faced off against Sirius College Eastmeadows 2, while our Year 7 team comprising of Jade Cowdery, Oscar Creak, and Ella Dowling took up the case against Hume Central Secondary College.
Both sides argued that while the military should be respected, it definitely should not be glorified. The more experienced side of Drew, Stephanie and Curtis were victorious and Drew was awarded Best Speaker for their debate, while our valiant Year 7 team were only just defeated in a very close decision.
After five rounds of debating, our Saint Ignatius 1 team actually finished on top of the ladder in D Grade, meaning that we proceed to the finals. This is a wonderful achievement and all students who debated for Saint Ignatius 1 are to be heartily congratulated.
Michael Tod Junior Debating Coordinator
Relevant application forms and related documents are available in the Student Leadership Development CANVAS folder.
Please consider encouraging your son/daughter to apply.Applications are now open and should be emailed to me (gravenera@ignatius.vic.edu.au).
Kind Regards
Anthony Gravener Student Leadership Development Coordinator
Open Days 2021 will take on both a Virtual and Face-to-face opportunities for students wishing to research more about future courses of interest.
If your part-time work commitments clash with certain Open Days, then it will be worth you having a discussion with your immediate supervisor to arrange a shift change.
Why go to an Open Day ?
If you have any general questions regarding Open Days, please make contact with me.
Bruce Connor Work & Further Education Coordinator
Do you shop at Rebel Sport? You can support our school every time you shop by linking your Rebel Active Membership to our school. 5% of what you spend is given to PFA to purchase sporting equipment for our school. If you’re not a member it’s free to join either online or ask a team member in store..
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday August 10th at 7.00pm in the Food Tech Room or virtually. We look forward to seeing you there. Even if you cannot make it to the monthly meetings, but think you might be able to be on call to help at the different things we are involved in, please get in touch with us by emailing sicgpandf@ignatius.vic.edu.au
Uniform Shop Opening Days and Times are as follows:
Wednesday 4th August 2-4pm
Wednesday 18th August 2-4pm
Wednesday 1st September 2-4pm
The above dates are dependent on current visitor restrictions within Catholic schools.
Do you know the Uniform Shop also sells brand new socks, ties and hats?
Items to be sold or donated can be dropped off on any of the above days or anytime at the front office.
Please ensure any item that is sent in for sale has been freshly laundered, if not it will be returned to you.
We are always seeking Volunteers to help in the uniform shop. If you are available and have time to help out contact Kate Callaghan by emailing sicgpandf@ignatius.vic.edu.au . Training is provided.
The College canteen menu uses the 'traffic light system' to inform students, staff and parents of the College the healthier choice’s available at the College canteen (See 'Healthy Food @ School Guidelines' in our 'College Policies and Procedures' section for full details).
Canteen duty provides a much appreciated service to the school. It gives you the opportunity to meet and talk with other parents and also enables you to see your child’s school in action.
Five helpers are needed each day. Helpers will need to be at the canteen by 9:00am and will generally be finished by 1:30pm. If you can only be there part of the day, your help is greatly appreciated.
If you are able to assist, please contact Sandra Woodall at the College on 5251 1136.
Week starting August 2nd 2021
2nd Aug: B. Brinfield, L. Kelly, B. Rees
3rd Aug: S. Fleet, K. James, S. Peters
4th Aug: L. Dowling, C. Holland, Needed
5th Aug: M. White, Needed, Needed
6th Aug: S. Nyga, L. Taylor, Needed
Term 3
Week starting August 9th 2021
9th Aug: E. Musella, P. Perkins, Needed
10th Aug: M. Dunstan, L. Tigani, Needed
11th Aug: K. Button, Needed, Needed
12th Aug: Needed, Needed, Needed
13th Aug: S. Nyga, S. Hanks, K. Johnston
The disruption caused by the pandemic continues, with the scale of its impact dependent on geography. Families in the nation’s two most populated states are no strangers to lockdowns and the disturbance they bring to normal life. Regardless of where you live, the sense of the pandemic is always present, ready to disrupt daily life at short notice.
Human beings crave certainty and human connection, both of which are severely impacted by the current pandemic. Just when life appears to return to normal, COVID case numbers can flare, sparking changes to our daily lives. As demonstrated by the massive increase in people seeking psychological support services over the last 18 months, these are difficult times for us all.
Every family has its own COVID related story consisting of loss, disappointment, hardship, frustration of some kind. While there is no magic bullet that will make living through these uncertain times easy, here are some strategies to help you and your family stay upright while you ride the COVID waves of uncertainty and change.
Let’s start with a coping mindset, the hardest and most important strategy. The leader in any group is the person who remains calm in a crisis, so as parents we need to do all we can to keep our acts together, or at least look like we are in control. Kids of all ages, but especially primary-aged students, take their cues from parents, the most important people in their lives, about how to view events. If catastrophising, anxiety and anger are modelled, then inevitably younger family members will mimic these behaviours. More significantly, these behaviours contribute to their feelings of lack of control. Alternatively, when acceptance, perspective and optimism are on display, kids learn how they can cope with uncertainty and change. This is not to suggest that parents aren’t struggling, and that we shouldn’t show our vulnerability to children. However, children and young people feel safer and more secure when their parents radiate a sense of calm and composure in the face of difficulty. Challenging, but essential.
Despite the negative press that middle-borns receive including ‘middle child syndrome’, and ‘middle-child complex’, this cohort is generally very resilient. Their flexibility as a result of fitting into a life pattern set by an elder sibling enables them to more easily adapt to change. Often considered less ambitious and driven than first-borns, middle children generally expect less of themselves, and are more inclined to bide their time, letting the big waves pass before riding the more accessible, easier waves to achieve success. Birth order research reveals that middle children tend to have broader social circles than children born in other positions enabling them to form social connections in many different settings. Their adaptability,lowering of expectations and wonderful approachability are examples of how to survive challenging times.
If ever there was a time to make wellbeing come alive in a family, it’s now. If you have previously believed kids’ wellbeing is less important than homework, music or sports lessons and chores then it’s time for a priority rethink. Mental health practices are most successful when they are embedded into family life, rather than being focused on when life gets hard. While no means limited to these, the most significant wellbeing practices include sticking to daily routines (to maintain feelings of control), taking regular exercise (to get rid of built-up stress and promote feel-good endorphins) and prioritising sleep (to maximise the brain’s capacity to manage stress).
If you find that you’re arguing with your child over minor issues such as leaving clothes around the house, then it’s time to let the small stuff go and focus on the bigger issues. You may need to set the parenting bar a little lower, focus less on academics, even relax screen time limits for a time if they are a source of conflict. Expect behaviour blow outs from children who have lost their own bearings – in some cases access to friends, school, and schedule. Give kids space if they regress, rather than reward tantrums with plenty of your attention, which will reward and keep the behaviour going.
Are you an introvert or an extrovert? What about your kids? It matters because each group reacts differently during lockdowns. Those on the introvert end of the spectrum can feel a little too comfortable being home and away from work or school. Scheduling regular digital catch-ups with friends and family can overcome reluctance to connect. Extroverts, on the other hand, can really struggle being away from friends and need little encouragement to stay in touch, which is vital during times of uncertainty.
There are no hard and fast rules about living through this pandemic. COVID didn’t come with a ‘how to’ manual, so most of us are writing our own rules as we go. Embrace any ideas that work for you and your family and let go of those that aren’t right for you. Be mindful, that the tide will eventually turn, the waves more predictable and our capacity to deal with hardship will have been enhanced by this experience.
Michael Grose
Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s an award-winning speaker and the author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Generation, and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It . Michael is a former teacher with 15 years experience, and has 30 years experience in parenting education. He also holds a Master of Educational Studies from Monash University specialising in parenting education.
Local Community and Sporting groups you may be interested in.
Spring 2021 Netball Season
Junior team entries are now open for the Spring 2021 netball season! The Spring season starts on Monday 12th July and will finish at the end of Term 4.
Costs
Team Entry Fee - $55
Weekly Game Fee - $50
2021 VNA required
Competitions
Monday: Grade 3/4 and 5/6
Thursday: Prep to Grade 2
Saturday: Junior Development, 9 & Under, 11 & Under, 13 & Under, 15/17 & Under
To register click here
Parent Education Events - Geelong Region: Term 3 2021
All Regional Parenting Services programs are free and will be offered face to face or online via Zoom, however, bookings are essential.
To book visit www.geelongaustralia.com.au/parenting or call us on 5272 4781.
There are a number of events planned for Term 3. Please see attached flyer for details: