POWER TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN PRESENTATION

“A range of senior Football and Netball teams attended a presentation run by the Port Adelaide Football club, on respectful and healthy relationships. The presenters included both Liz and Tessa who are current AFLW Port Adelaide players. It was a highly beneficial and eye-opening presentation as we learned of the shocking abuse statistics on what girls and women in Australia experience. It helped to improve our knowledge on both healthy and unhealthy relationships, and the types of abuse and manipulative techniques that exist. The presentation helped us better understand how we can take control in these situations. We were empowered to speak up when we don’t feel safe, or when we believe what is occurring isn’t healthy. The presentation provided building blocks to show what a respectful, equal, and healthy future for young women can look like”. – Piper Thomas (11PC-02) 

“On Tuesday afternoon the St Michael’s senior football program was fortunate enough to be visited by the Port Adelaide Football Club and presented with a Respectful Relationships session at the College. The session educated the group on matters involving violence against women and presented us with alarming statistics, altering our perspectives. Brett, Will, Cam, and Ross were clearly knowledgeable, and their interaction with audience members made for an authentic, cohesive experience. As young men, an experience like this is of high value, and the lessons we assimilated will remain with us for the rest of our lives. The Power to End Violence Against Women program spreads a vital message and is an amazing opportunity for anyone, particularly young men, to make a stand for positive social change.” – Izaac Niemann (12PC-06)

“The Port Adelaide Football Club ran a Respectful Relationships session at the College where we were lucky enough to have Port Adelaide legend Brett Ebert and current Port Adelaide Magpies captain Cam Sutcliffe speak to the group. The session explored topics such as violence against women, providing facts and statistics surrounding the matter including one in three women who have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, which we found shocking. The experience was eye-opening for many of us as we left the session looking to make a change; we were told this could be done by removing certain terms from our vocabulary like “It’s just a joke” or “Man up”. Overall the session was extremely beneficial to the cohort and I hope that it is something that the school continues to do in the future.” – Joshua Winston (12PC-07)

Mr Matthew Williams, Deputy Principal Pastoral, Ms Anna Porcelli, Year 11 Director, Mr Mark Labrosciano, Year 12 Director

YEAR 7 & 8 ATHLETICS DAY

Monday 5 September 2022, Henley Memorial Oval

Students are to arrive at Henley Little Athletics Oval and report to their Pastoral Care Teacher at 8.45 am. They will then move to their designated House area and wait there for the Opening Ceremony. Students who arrive at school by bus are to move directly to the tennis courts when they arrive at school where a role will be taken, and the group will then walk to the oval under the supervision of teachers.  The Official Opening will be at 9:15am with first events starting at 9:30am.

The day is all about participation so we encourage students to participate in as many events as they want. All students will need their identification number written on their hand and then they can turn up to events at the scheduled time (see links to the program and map below). Identification numbers will be given out the week before so students will need to make a note of their number and ensure it is written down.

House points will be allocated to all students who participate with the overall winner being the House with the most points at the conclusion of the day.

As per the Consent2Go note, students are required to wear a House coloured top (or their PE top) with their College PE shorts and appropriate running shoes. Canteen and BBQ facilities will be available on the day to purchase food and drinks.

Parents/caregivers are welcome to attend and support their child/ren.

Mrs Sally Nicholson, Head of Health & Physical Education

AERODYNAMICS FOR SCIENCE WEEK – DESIGN, CREATE & FLY!

Our Year 9 BPC-06 class undertook three tasks for the Practical Teams Challenge, as part of Science Week. The teams had to come up with three separate paper plane designs: one for accuracy, another for distance and the last for “hang time”. The accuracy design needed to travel approximately 10m and fly through a hoop, the distance design had to be able to fly the furthest distance measured from release to touchdown on the floor and the hang time design was measured by the amount of time from release to touchdown. Teams had three attempts for each test and were given two pastoral periods to trial and modify their designs and they worked constructively and enthusiastically to achieve their best designs. As a class team challenge, each winning design was awarded 20 points. This challenge is also related to the Aerodynamics subject in Year 10 that students may select in 2023 for Semester 2.

Mr Andrew Spencer, Indigenous Coordinator – Secondary

WILD WEDNESDAY MORPHS INTO FUN FRIDAY

Following the success of the scavenger hunt last term, last Friday, Wild Wednesday participants took to a bowling challenge at Bowl Zone Woodville. Competing in teams, students bowled one game to accumulate points towards a teamwork challenge. Here are some of the comments from the students who attended:

• We learned about ourselves and were teaching each other that putting doubt and negativity on each other is never the way to go.
• We encouraged each other and strengthened our team bond.
• We worked together as a team and everyone treated each other fairly and contributed.
• We all got reasonably high scores and we also had lots of fun.
• We made new friends and had fun and we were very encouraging.

Truth be told, there was fair natural talent evident! Lila Chalubek (7GPC2) achieved the overall highest individual score with 137! Eloise Dodd (8GPC4) was close behind on 117! Overall team winners were the Yellow Lampposts with an average score of 115 including teamwork points!  The members of that group are: Matthew Choimes (7BPC2), Antonie Sepie (8BPB4), Riley Bell (7BPC3) and Remy Spells (8BPC4).

Well done and congratulations everyone!

Mrs Tonia Carfora, Year 7-9 Wellbeing Initiatives Leader

PULSE CHECK-IN SURVEY

Wellbeing Initiative – Classroom Pulse Check In 

A child’s relationships, identity, belonging, and learning are essential to their happiness and success at school.

In Terms 1 and 3, students at St Michael’s, together with students in Catholic Schools in South Australia, are participating in a simple online Classroom Pulse Check In. This Check In has been developed to ascertain how students are currently feeling about their experience in school. It is tailored to allow your child’s teacher(s) to check in and provide feedback and support to them. The Check In will be carried out during Week 6 of this term; Friday 2 September across all year levels Reception to Year 12.

Further information was enclosed in a notification recently emailed to parents and caregivers.

Please contact your child’s class teacher or Year Level Director in the event of any questions or concerns.

Mrs Tonia Carfora, Year 7-9 Wellbeing Initiatives Leader

YEARS 7-9 CHARACTER STRENGTH FOCUS

Week 5: Perspective

In our lives, if we are lucky, we will have strong role models of perspective. I was lucky to have a friend who embodied this strength. Anna was a lot older than me, and just had a way of making things clear. She could always see the bigger picture and had a gentle way of pausing before elaborating her thoughts which never seemed to carry judgement. She lost her battle to cancer in the recent past, and I will always be grateful that our paths crossed so many years ago, and that I was blessed by her friendship and her wisdom.

Perspective is the ability to see the bigger picture in life, without being distracted by the tiny details. While listening to others, perspective helps us to appreciate life lessons, and what’s best for the situation in question, informing our choices. This ability to think in broader terms helps us to be able to give sound advice to others and to recognise and think about a number of sides before making decisions. As a strength, it helps us to flourish and leads us towards being stronger learners and leaders in the world.

This week and last new class leaders have been appointed in Year 7 to 9, and we also saw the subject selection process begin. Leadership at St Michael’s is one of service and support, and can only be informed by the strength of perspective, and subject choices for the future can benefit from a view through the lens of perspective.

Perspective also supports us in learning from mistakes and making better choices as a result. As a consequence, it can help us counter anxiety and promote resilience or grit.

There is no doubt that when we flick the perspective ‘switch’ we can be more empowered to know, value and care for each other, and hopefully also lead in a more inclusive and equitable way.

Wishing you a great weekend ahead!

Mrs Tonia Carfora, Year 7-9 Wellbeing Initiatives Leader