Mary Street Entry & New Lift Project

Please note the Mary Street entry will be closed from this Monday 23 October until the end of the year. There will be no access to the College through this entry.

There are major works underway with a new lift being constructed between the Br Liguori Resources Centre and the Years 7 to 10 Classroom Block, an upgrade to the Mary Street entry with a ramp providing accessible entry to the teaching block and the restoration of the Mary Street gates.

The closure of the Mary Street gates may cause minor inconvenience, however this is necessary to ensure the safety of students, staff and visitors.

October 10 was World Mental Health Day and October is Mental Health Month. The theme for this year’s Mental Health Month is ‘Share the Journey’ which aims to encourage people to connect with each other. Social connection is a key factor that helps us to develop our resilience. Below are some activities which you could consider using with your son(s).

All of these activities are designed to enhance social engagement and find meaning which boost psychological wellbeing.

Tips to stress less: 10 Tips to Stress Less are developed each year for Mental Health Month NSW and distributed throughout the community (see above poster). http://www.stresslesstips.org.au/ features a range of evidence-based tips that can help support mental health and wellbeing by decreasing stress. Go to the website and pick a tip to complete daily for a week.

Identify and use your strengths: Think about your strengths and how you might use them in your everyday life. Are you a leader, playful, fair, curious or original? Do you have a good sense of perspective? Do you love learning? Are you genuine? Are you good at teamwork? You can take a free online test on VIA Institute on Character website (http://www.viacharacter.org/) to explore your signature strengths. Cultivate and use your strengths at school, in family life and in your leisure time.

Keep a gratitude diary: Take the time each day to write down three things that went well and why. This causes psychological well-being levels to increase in a lasting way.

Perform small acts of kindness: Performing five kind acts a week, especially all in one day, creates a measurable boost to levels of psychological well-being. Giving not only makes you feel good about yourself, it enhances your connection with others and can bring you positive feedback from others.

Thank a mentor: Write a letter of thanks to someone to who you owe a debt of gratitude such as a friend, teacher or grandparent. Then visit the person and read the letter to them. People who do this are measurably happier for more than a month.

Make a mental health promise: Help shed a more positive light on mental health by making a mental health promise. At home, at school, with family and friends, or in the wider community, we can all do something to help reduce stigma around mental illness and make way for more people to seek the help and support.

Select a suggested promise, or write your own promise. If you write your own, you can upload a photo of yourself or something connected to your promise. There also have a range of images for you to choose from if you prefer. Go to http://www.1010.org.au/make-a-promise/

Save the Date:

End of Year Parent Drinks

Friday 10 November

Details to follow shortly

Kids of Dreams is the College’s annual celebration of the literary and artistic talents of the Joeys students.  Each year, boys from all years submit prose and poetry for inclusion in the publication. The boys can write about any topic they like in any form.

There is a new look Kids of Dreams iLearn page that provides links to activities to get the  boys started and provide more information https://ilearn.joeys.org/homepage/2522

On this page is an interesting TED talk by Marcus Zusak (this year’s Guest judge and author).

The Year 7 boys will receive some information on this in their English Classes but you may want o encourage/discuss this with your son.

Those boys involved in Athletics and Debating have their photos Friday afternoon. They need to be dressed appropriately for these photos in their Athletics uniform or the Full Blues (for debaters).

This Saturday is the GPS Athletics Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre. The Rally will follow in the Br Emilian Hall on Saturday night. Details below for these two events.

Time to be at Joeys: 8.30/8.45 am for roll call (buses depart at 9am).

Where:  Back ovals College A – we will board the buses from Mary Street

Dress: Full Blues and bring a hat

Return time: approx. 4.30pm. The boys will have a light meal in the dorms before heading down to the Rally. Dinner will not be provided for all the boys. The full boarders who are staying in will have dinner after the Rally.

Rally time: 5pm-6pm (approx.)

For those boys competing, their bus will leave from 7.45am (unless otherwise stated by the athletics coaches). Attached is a timetable for the events throughout the day.