Month: February 2016

Mobile Phones

mblair

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Your son’s communication with you while he is not in your care is very important, both for you and him. For the boarders, having a chat to you on the phone regularly is very important.

Many boys at Joeys now have their own mobile phone. It is important for you to understand that while we are happy for boys to have their phone at school, it is their responsibility and we have some strong guidelines in place regarding their use which the boys must follow.

 Mobile Phones

Boys are allowed to have mobile phones at the College and use them under the following conditions.

 Mobile phones are not to be carried or used;

  • on campus from 8.30am until 3.30pm.
  • in dining rooms
  • at sport
  • during evening study
  • after lights out

During these times boys are required to store mobile phones securely in their boarding lockers.

Mobile phones brought to school by boys are the responsibility of the owner. The school does not take responsibility for the loss or damage of mobile phones.

Boys are also reminded that transmission of inappropriate communication is unacceptable at any time.

Students are permitted to make and receive calls, send and receive SMS messages, on their personal mobile phones DURING THEIR FREE TIME as designated by their Boarding Coordinator.

NOTE:

Each mobile phone must be switched to the SILENT MODE at all times. Each mobile phone must be SWITCHED OFF outside the times listed above. 

Students who are unable to follow these directions above will have their phone confiscated for 24 hours and will be handed to the students Board Coordinator or Academic Coordinator.

Students are required to register their mobile phone with their Boarding Coordinator. This means giving him the phone number, serial number and the model of their mobile phone.

Please note that in Year 9, boarders’ phones are away by 9:30pm and locked in a safe area overnight. Boys can collect them again the next day after school.

There is certainly a time and a place for mobile phone use and the College rules attempt to educate the boys in this. Parents can support these guidelines by not calling or texting boys during times when they should not be using their phones. Your support on this would be very much appreciated.

For further information you may wish to look at this study which found that students who were not using their mobile phones wrote down 62% more information in their notes, took more detailed notes, were able to recall more detailed information from a lecture, and scored a full letter grade and a half higher on a multiple choice test than those students who were actively using their mobile phones.

Jeffrey H. Kuznekoff & Scott Titsworth (2013) The Impact of Mobile
Phone Usage on Student Learning, Communication Education, 62:3, 233-252, DOI:
10.1080/03634523.2013.767917
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2013.767917

 

 

Ash Wednesday Liturgy

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This morning the boys attended a liturgy in the Hall to mark Ash Wednesday where they received ashes on their forehead which were blessed by Father Gavin, the College Chaplain.

During the liturgy Adam Tse (Year 12) also launched the Lenten Appeal for the Lavalla school in Cambodia (more on this to come)

Colo dates

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2016 Year 9 Colo camp dates: (these are recently confirmed)

Year 9 Colo groups are the same class group as for RE, PDHPE. Geography/History

Year 9 Colo 1.                                     22 – 26 Feb                 Term 1, Week 5

Year 9 Colo 2.                                     14 – 18 March             Term 1, Week 8

Year 9 Colo 3.                                     2 – 6 May                    Term 2, Week 2

Year 9 Colo 4.                                     16 – 20 May                Term 2, Week 4

Year 9 Colo 5.                                     25 – 29 July                  Term 3, Week 2

Year 9 Colo 6.                                     17 – 21 October          Term 4, Week 2

Year 9 Colo 7.                                     31 Oct – 4 Nov            Term 4, Week 4

The optional Father/Son weekend will be held on 17th and 18th September. Information regarding the weekend will be e-mailed in second term, and also be available via iLearn.

Books and blokes breakfast – Tom and Meg Keneally

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Books & Blokes Breakfast with multi award-winning author Thomas Keneally and daughter Meg Keneallytk

DATE: Friday 18 March, 2016
TIME: Breakfast 7:30am, talk 7:40am
VENUE: Resources Centre, St Joseph’s College
COST: Free
RSVP: Please click here to RSVP

 

Thomas Keneally is an Australian treasure. He is a novelist, playwright and non-fiction author who holds a special place in Australia’s literary history as the country’s first-ever winner of a Booker Prize for Schindler’s Ark, later made into the film Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg. He is also twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award and a prolific author of over 50 novels and non-fiction titles, as well as essays, plays and scripts.

He will be joined by his daughter Meg with whom he wrote his latest book The Soldier’s Curse.

Meet the Year 9 Boarding Staff

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We are fortunate to have a very experienced boarding staff looking after your son this year. Boarding staff assist and care for both boarders and day students during evening study, free time and at various College events. I would like to briefly introduce each of the boarding staff to you.

I have worked at Joeys in boarding since 2007 in years 9, 10 and 11 and I teach Mathematics. Before working in schools I was an Operations Manager at an engineering consultancy. I formerly refereed rugby Union in Sydney up to the Shute Shield level. Now I run the referees program at Joeys, convene Rugby age groups and am one of the match day team organising rugby at Joeys.

Mr Peter Tucker is the Assistant Boarding Coordinator. He is an English teacher and was Acting Year 8 Academic Coordinator for part of last year. As a result he already knows the boys very well. This year he is coaching rugby and is recently a very proud father to Georgia Belle.

Mr David Hill has been a teacher for 16 years across a variety of subjects including History, English, Religion and Commerce. He has been teaching at St Joseph’s College for 10 years, exclusively teaching Ancient and History. He has worked in boarding since 2007 and was the Assistant Boarding Coordinator in Year 7 from 2009-2012.   He has been the Year 9 Academic Coordinator for three years. He is married with a 5 year old son and is a long suffering supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Ms Courtney Berriman is Head of Languages and an avid traveler, having visited 40 countries. She assists the boys with Languages, Mathematics, Science, Geography and English. She has recently organised a Language peer tutoring program where Year 11 boys tutor the Year 9 boys in French, Japanese and Latin during night study.

Mr Martin Gillogly is an Old Boy of the College and has worked in boarding since 1998. He is a PE Teacher and Sport Coordinator at another Catholic School in Sydney and can assist the boys with PDHPE and Religious Education subjects.

Mr John and Mrs Lesley Haines have been married for 35 years with 3 children and a black dog. They owned and ran a tennis centre in Boronia Park for many years. John is the Convenor of Tennis at the College and has been a professional tennis coach for 40 years. They look after the boys every Saturday night and share their stories of growing up in the city while the boys tell them their stories of growing up in the bush. They find it a very rewarding experience.

Mr Billy Hodgetts is an Old Boy of the College and is the Year 9 live-in supervisor who lives in an apartment in the Year 9 dorms. He teaches at Gladesville Public School.

Mr Jeremy Lane is a Mathematics and Computing Studies teacher and has tutored in those subjects for over 20 years. He has previously been involved in boarding at All Saints’ College Bathurst. He is married with two young boys and lives on an acreage in the Hawkesbury region.

Mr John O’Halloran lives in Drummoyne with his wife and two teenage children. He rotates between the Year 9 and Year 10 Coordinator at Cerdon College, Merrylands and has taught History, Geography, Commerce and Business.  He has a keen interest in student welfare and loves the welcoming nature of the boys and staff at Joeys. He is a long suffering Parramatta supporter and will chat to anyone who will tell him their 30 year drought will break.

Mr Matt Rollo is an Old Boy of the College and is currently Acting Head of PDHPE. He is the Convenor of Athletics and coaches the 14A’s rugby during the winter.  He has worked as an Assistant Boarding Coordinator for many years and is an avid fisherman.

Mr Anthony Rooskie is a Mathematics and Computing Studies teacher who currently teaches at the John Berne School in Lewisham. He was previously Boarding Coordinator in Year 7 and Year 8 at Joeys. Prior to his teaching career he served in the Australian Army.

Mrs Romina Wills has been teaching for 11 years and is a member of the Joeys staff, working in the Religious Education Department. She is also a trained History teacher, specialising in Australian and Modern History. She is married and loves sport, particularly rugby league. She also loves travelling and spending time with her family.

Welcome to new boys in Year 9

mblair

I would like to welcome the 17 boys in Year 9 and their families who are new to the College this year. The boys have all made a great start to the year and are already contributing to the year group in different ways.

 

Sport awards

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Boys were awarded for their sporting efforts this morning at assembly. In Year 9 Tom Gahan was recognised for his bowling against High in the last game of last year.  He recorded 5 wickets for 6 runs off 4 overs.

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Academic achievement awards for Term 4 2015

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Congratulations to the following boys who received Academic Application awards at assembly today for their work in Term 4 of 2015.

IMG_0572Henry Arthur, Rhys Barrow, Shae Beynon, Lachlan Burgess, Nicholas Davies, Julian Doyle, Curtis Fricot, Daniel Gibbons, Nicholas Jones, Joshua Legdin, Jack Lewis, Matthew Neilson, Laurie Seeto, Oliver Sidgreaves, Edward Sykes, Max Voulgaris.

 

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