Correspondence

Books and Blokes Breakfast with guest speaker Paul Field – Tuesday 29 August, 2017

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Books & Blokes Breakfast  –  Guest speaker:  Paul Field

When: Tuesday 29 August, 2017

Time: 7:30am

Venue: Resources Centre

RSVP:   Click here

For many returned service men and women, coming home is when the battle really begins.

We invite you to hear Joeys Old Boy, Paul Field (78), speak about his book, Gimme Shelter, which gets to the heart of what it really means to go to war and the impact on individuals, their families and society. Sixteen Australians share their deeply personal stories of the ultimate struggle – to return to physical and mental health and take their place in civilian life, or to deal with the loss of loved ones who lost that battle.

Paul Field is a singer, producer, director and managing director of The Wiggles. He has worked for the Supreme Court and with the investigations team at the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption in NSW. He is now a passionate supporter of the work of Soldier On, an organisation that supports the physical and mental health of those who have served. Paul was also a very popular former English teacher at St Joseph’s College, teaching from 1984 to 1986. He was very active in SJC stage productions, notably as musical director of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Please note: If you RSVP and then are unable to attend, please notify Head of Library, Linda Roden, as soon as possible. Our events always have a waiting list and we also need to adjust the catering. Recent events have had a large number of no-shows and this may affect our capacity to continue holding the events. We appreciate your cooperation.

End of Term 3 travel for Boarders

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TrainLink bookings are now being received for boarders for:  End of Term 3 2017 / Return for Term 4 – 2017

The college is required to comply with the cut-off date specified by TrainLink.  Please note the following closing dates for booking through the College:

Travel dates 2017 Closing Dates
End of Term 3 – Return for Term 4 Bookings close:

Friday 18 August 2017
To Home: Friday 22 September 2017

To SJC: Monday 9 October 2017

We urge you to make your bookings for your son now through the College, even if you are not sure; bookings may be cancelled without administration fees if done so by the cancellation date noted on the booking form.

To make your bookings, please fill out the relevant form which can be found on the College website http://www.joeys.org/about-us/transport/ or by following the “About Joeys” tab – then “transport”.

Please note: The completion of this form is NOT required for students travelling on the College Northern Beaches, Eastern Suburbs and Sutherland Bus.

Simply return the booking form(s) by email to travel@joeys.org (queries may also be forwarded to the same email address).  Alternatively, bookings can be faxed to (02) 9816 0861.

Year 9 Father Son camp information

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This is an invitation for your son and his father or “fatherly figure” to attend the Year 9 Father/Son weekend at Colo on the 19th and 20th August. This is an optional opportunity, which usually sees at least half of the Year 9 boys and their father (or father figure) attending.

For many Year 9 boys, this age is a time when they are entering a transition to manhood. It can be a time of exciting change and growth that is coupled with times of challenge and struggle for your son (as well as for those close to him). The intent of the weekend is to allow the opportunity for you to spend some special time with each other and strengthen your dialogue with him as he embarks on this transition. Those fathers who have joined us in the past have spoken very highly of their positive and rewarding experiences.

There are links to six documents providing information related to the weekend at the bottom of this post.

Many boys and their dads (or father figure) get a lot out of their Colo experience together and I hope that you’ll be able to join us.

Kind regards,

Paul Bryant, Coordinator of the SJC Colo Outdoor Education Campus

Information documents, click on links below.

Father Son Invitation 2017

Headmasters letter 2017

Father Son Information 2017

A Note for Fathers 2017

Payment Form 2017

Activities for Sunday 2017

Reachout

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A message from the College Psychologists:

Reachout.com, a mental health organisation for young people, has created a new parenting page. It is aimed to help parents support their teenagers through everyday issues and tough times. They have also launched a free and confidential coaching service for parents with teenagers. For more information go to parents.au.reachout.com

Upcoming events for Year 9

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Wednesday 15/3 – Summer sport photos

All boys will need their clean summer sport uniform for photos tomorrow afternoon.

Saturday 18/3 – Rowing Head of the River

This is a compulsory event for the boys. All boys catch the bus together from school to Penrith and return. Buses leave the College at 7:30am on Saturday morning.

On return from Penrith the boys will attend the rowing rally in the Hall at 4:30pm. Dress is blues. The rally should finish by around 5:30pm at which time boys are free to go.

Monday 20/3 – St Joseph’s Day and College Athletics Carnival

Boys wear need to wear: correct house colour T-Shirt, College Athletic Shorts or College Rugby Shorts or PE Shorts, Clean Joggers, College Tracksuit, College hat optional. Day boys can wear this uniform to and from school. The school finishes at the normal time on Monday. If day students who normally stay until 8pm on Mondays would like to leave at 5pm, please adjust times in the portal before cut-off on Sunday night.

 

Tuesday 21/3 – Dance with Loreto Normanhurst

The boys stay at school, have dinner and then go to the dance in the Hall starting at 6:30pm. The dance will finish at 8:30pm at which time day students can depart. This is not a compulsory College event however I would expect that boys attend. For day students who are scheduled to leave at 5pm I will assume they will leave straight after the dance – please let me know if this is not the case.

Encouraging reading

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Below are some tips on encouraging reading from our Head of Library, Mrs Linda Roden.

So what can I do to help encourage my son to read?

  • Acceptance: Accept the broad range of reading in which your son is engaged in. Not all boys will be drawn to reading the “classics” and if this is all we will accept from them, they are likely to further turn away from reading. Encourage your son when he reads a variety of texts including newspapers, magazines, websites, comics, graphic novels, humorous books, fiction and non-fiction. It is all reading and is helping your son further develop his skills as a reader.
  • Modelling: A male role model is invaluable as teenage boys often view reading as a feminine activity. Teenage boys need to see that men read too. A powerful act is for dad or a significant male to read the same books as your son and open up discussion about this book. It not only sends the message that reading is valuable, but also that your son is valuable and that you are interested in what he is involved in.
  • Environment: Try to provide a home environment that values reading. Keep reading material available and let your son see you reading. Ideally, set a regular reading time, such as 20 minutes of reading each night before bed. It is important to build a reading culture around boys. On a long road trip play an audio book.
  • Praise: Praise all efforts your son makes in reading. Do not criticise your son if he is reading magazines or graphic novels.
  • Tap into their interests: Try to match reading material with your son’s interests. If your son is not reading for pleasure, perhaps begin by purchasing him magazines or information books in his interest area. It is OK if your son is reading comics – encourage this and then start to slowly introduce new and more challenging texts. Have a look at the Top 10 list in the reading pamphlet provided. All of these books are extremely popular with Joeys boys, and most are part of a series and the boys will often get hooked once they start the first book.
  • Embrace other technologies: Many teenagers enjoy technology so try to get it working for you:
    • encourage them to read blogs on topics that interest them
    • if they loved a particular  movie, buy or borrow the book from which the movie was adapted. The book is almost always better.
    • encourage them to go online to find out more about a movie they have enjoyed
    • try an eReader. Some teenagers love to read from an electronic device. We have eBooks available for loan in the Joeys library, as do most public libraries.
  • Don’t give up: keep encouraging him to read.

Preparing for Year 9 NAPLAN

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On Monday morning Year 9 were given some information on the upcoming NAPLAN tests by Mr Matthew Bookallil, Director of Teaching and Learning, Mrs Emma Rothwell, Head of English, and Mr David Hill, Year 9 Academic Coordinator.

The presentation “busted some myths” about minimum standards and told the boys what they can do, and what the College is doing, to prepare for the NAPLAN tests.

Mr Bookallil has also written to all parents with similar information presented to the boys which is included below.

 

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Leave and boardingware

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Thank you for your patience and perseverance with our new leave software “Boardingware”. Many of you have let me know how easy and effective you find it. Don’t forget it can be used for:

  • If your son is sick at home
  • Medical appointments
  • Overnights
  • Dinner leaves

Your son may also enter a leave which requires your approval. Once you have registered with Boardingware, you will receive an email notification if this occurs, and you can very quickly approve or decline the leave.

To connect, you need to click on the link in an email invitation from Boardingware. I have re-sent this email tonight to everyone who has not yet connected. Please be aware that the email does not come from me, it comes from Boardingware, so you may need to check your junk email. Below are some instructions on its use.

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Mouthguards for winter sport

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Dental Lounge and Mobile Dental Services will be available at the College on the afternoons of Wednesday 1 March and Wednesday 15 March to fit students for a professional sports custom built mouthguard.

If you would like your son to be fitted for a mouthguard by Dental Lounge and Mobile Dental Services, please complete and return the form below along with payment to Mobile Dental Services by Tuesday 28 February.

The details of fitting times for your son will be communicated by his Boarding Coordinator.

If you have any questions regarding the Mouthguard fittings, please contact Mobile Dental Services on 1800 637 637 or the College, Rose Unwin on 9816 0921.

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Goal setting

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I wrote to all the parents at the start of the Year about discussing goals with their sons before the start of the year. In pastoral groups this week Year 9 have been talking about the benefits of goal setting and effective ways to set goals. Early next week the boys will write down some goals and we will revisit them during the year.

You may wish to discuss some goals with your son over the weekend before he writes them next week. I will ask the boys to set goals in academic, sporting and relationship areas.

The boys in pastoral group

Use of Mobile Phones at Joeys

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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.

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 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

 

Invitation to Parents and Carers Tennis Day: Sunday 12th February

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As you may know the College recently laid 8 brand new tennis courts at lower park over the summer break. The work was completed last week and on Sunday we will be celebrating this exciting development for the tennis programme with a parents and carers day / tournament at the courts from 10am – 1pm. There will be some breakfast from 9.30am, Father Gavin will bless the courts at 10am after which we’ll warm up and play some matches in what should be a great day.

Joeys opened its first tennis court on the 7th May 1911 (pictured), with 6 courts then being placed within the main College campus in 1972. As the program grew, and with the introduction of the GPS competition, the courts relocated to Lower Park in 1992 where the curriculum has remained since. Today, we cater for approximately 100 boys in summer, who head to use the courts around 10,000 times annually. Hopefully Sunday will be an excellent way to recognise the future of tennis at Joeys.

Books and blokes – Yoni Bashan

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Families and friends of SJC are warmly invited to the first SJC Books and Blokes event of 2017

Inside the world of MEOCS (Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad)

Meet author and journalist Yoni Bashan and former detective (current Joeys teacher) Andrew Mitchell

When: Tuesday 7 March 2017

Where: Resources Centre

Time: 7.30am

RSVP: Click here

Yoni Bashan is an award-winning crime writer who works as a state political reporter at News Corp Australia, regularly writing for the The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Yoni’s recently published book, The Squad, was nominated for the Walkley Book Awards longlist category in 2016. It is a gritty and compelling account of an elite police squad called MEOCS (Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad) which was set up in response to the Cronulla riots in 2005. The Squad trails a core group of MEOCS detectives on their journey into the Sydney’s Middle Eastern organised crime fraternity and takes readers inside the inner-workings of their biggest investigations – the wired-up informants, the undercover agents, the ingenious tactics and electrifying near-misses.

In amongst the profiling of this group of brave and formidable detectives is SJC’s very own Andrew Mitchell, who has returned to teaching after working as a private detective in the MEOCS team. This book dedicates a chapter to Mr Mitchell and highlights his bravery and tenacity in getting the job done. During his time with the police force, Andrew received a number of commendations including bravery awards and Commissioner’s citations for his work.

This novel is described as gritty, compelling and “unputdownable”.

Join us for what is sure to be a compelling event. To RSVP, click on the link above and be sure to click on ‘Done’ at the bottom of the online form (underneath the photo).