30 March 2020

Principal’s Reflection

This week teachers will be working very hard to ensure that Shalom students will be able to receive the best possible instruction if we can’t do face to face teaching next term. Many teachers have already created class groups on platforms like Microsoft Teams or One Note or Google classrooms or the College Learning Management System. Most students are already familiar with one or more of these. We are very confident that we can deliver high quality instruction in this new space. We are also very conscious of the demands on families as you come to grips with having more bodies at home for longer periods. We will publish to you, before then, what our school timetable will look like. It will be a similar structure but timings will be different to account for young people working on line. Please know that we will be absolutely committed to supporting all through all of this. Needless to say that there will be some teething problems and some experimentation as we work out how things work best. Please be patient but also, we will greatly welcome your feedback.

Some things have already changed for next term. Pastoral Care reports won’t be issued and Interim Reports will go out a little later than scheduled. We won’t do Core Studies Parent / Teacher meetings next term.

As students continue to learn from home, teachers will do their best to be as available as possible. I hope that it won’t be an expectation that emailed queries to teachers will be able to be responded to immediately. I don’t expect teachers to respond to emails at night when they are home with their own families.

Today, we have about 70 students on site. We will be providing those young people with meaningful work and activities while they are here. Many teachers will have provided access to students to work that they might like to do this week from home – if they wanted to. Young people will need to ‘step up’ like all of us and learn some new skills and learn some new structures to make on-line learning work well.

Our online learning platforms are not like social media where random comments are commonplace. Students will need to be as respectful of these spaces as they are of a face to face classroom.

It’s a brave new world for all of us and we are in this together. We will get through this with patience, compassion, creativity and some hard work. Hang in there.

Microsoft Teams, as mentioned above, will be a platform that all Shalom students will need to be familiar with. The last couple of weeks has seen the vast majority of students download this app onto their laptop or iPad. For those who have not, please attend to this from home ASAP. If a student has a Shalom device, the App can’t be downloaded from home. The device has to do this on site. If getting the device to Shalom is not possible, please use the following URL to access the web version of Teams -

Exams this week – we sent out an examination schedule for some Year 10,11 & 12 classes for this week. Last evening, the Prime Minister encouraged much smaller gatherings of people than we had heard before. At this stage, we will continue with these exams. But, we will move all Year 12 Maths exams to Wednesday afternoon in case more stringent rules are imposed.  These will commence in the Sports Centre at 12pm. We will understand and make the best accommodation possible for those who do not want to come to school for these exams. We are pushing ahead as we may well be in the situation where we have much less hard data on which to make judgements on student work than usual. Exam data, especially for Year 12s, may take on increased importance. Please know that we will impose strict social distancing rules on the spaces in which students will be sitting exams. Students only need to attend at Shalom for the duration of the exam.

Bundaberg Regional Elections – congratulations to all who contested the recent elections. We had quite a number of Shalom connections who were involved. Particular congratulations though to Mr Vince Habermann, one of our invaluable Teacher Aides who contested Division 7. Vince appears to have won that Division and will resign his role on staff. There are not many staff members who have readily given as much of their personal time to the benefit of Shalom students than Vince. He has been a wonderful asset to this community for many years. I have no doubt that same amazing work ethic will be greatly appreciated by many more in Bundaberg in his new role.

The College Office will close from 4pm each day this week

Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
McmahonD@shalomcollege.com

Newsletter Articles

Curriculum

As mentioned by Mr McMahon this week staff are busy preparing to take our curriculum into an ‘at home’ learning mode. We will continue to support student learning by providing engagement with our curriculum whether online or through other mediums if necessary. For example as I write this, I know staff are putting together resources packs for Year 10 Art students to support their learning at home for next term. We are all working together in our faculty areas in different ways to support your students.

This is a challenging time for us all and will require our school community to work together to support each other and support our students’ learning.

By the end of the week, a Parent Portal will be available through the College website to support students and parents about expectations, protocols and helpful resources for ‘learning at home’. It will be located at the link below. Below is an example of the type of information we will have to support ‘Learning @ Home’.

Year 12 Information

The QCAA will provide schools with direction on how they should adjust what is taught and the nature and timing of other assessments in the coming weeks. There will be some flexibility to accommodate the specific needs of subjects — both General and Applied — but across-the-board adjustment is necessary to ensure the assessment experience is as equitable as it can be for all students.

For the latest information released by QCAA please check the QCAA’s website via the link below:

We have also included a link to this site on our webpage via the link below:

Mrs Gail Norris
Assistant Principal – Curriculum
Gail_Norris@shalomcollege.com

ANZAC Day

Mr Peter Robinson
Student Welfare
High Performance Program
Peter_Robinson@shalomcollege.com

Library Update

Library will be open for fiction borrowing this week for all students. Even if they are not at school you may pop in to return books and borrow more if accompanied by a parent.

Reading is a wonderful activity and pastime to plan for the holidays. Here at the library we have plenty of books suitable for students from Year 7 to Year 12.

Currently we can allow one student to borrow up to 20 books from the library. If that is not enough for you, as a Shalom student you also have access to the huge ebook library through Overdrive/Sora.

Below are the instructions for logging into Overdrive. If you have any difficulties with this please come and see Mrs Toll during term time. If you are at home you can ring the Mrs Toll on 4155 8157 during the term.

Miss Wendy Davis
Teacher Librarian
Wendy_Davis@shalomcollege.com

Family Zone

School Closures

If the school has to close for any length of time, the school will be changing the Family Zone calendar to “Rest Day” for those days. This will mean that parents will be in charge of filtering their own children’s accounts during this time and not the school.

Internet Issues at Home

If students are having issues getting to the Internet at home, please contact Family Zone on 1300 398 326 or at support@familyzone.com. Family Zone is open from 8am-8pm weekdays and 9am-5pm weekends.

Zone Manager App

Zone Manager is an app that can be installed from the App Store and Google Play to make managing student’s Internet access even easier.

Download Zone Manager for free via the App Store  or  Google Play

What can I do in Zone Manager?

Log in to your online account
Add, edit or remove family members and their devices
Update routines and calendars
Allow device borrowing
Monitor alerts more frequently
Timely response to Access or Quick Time change requests
Change your PIN or passwords
Seamless linking to the online account

Is there anything that Zone Manager can’t do?

At the moment, you will still need to log in to your online account to:
Manage Home Zone
Complete school registration
Purchase additional products and services
Cancel Family Zone

Mrs Stephanie Johnson
IT Service Desk Manager
Stephanie_Johnson@ShalomCollege.com

Year 12 Induction

Photos from the Year 12 Induction have been uploaded to the Shalom Media Store.

Please click the link – Parent’s usernames are the same e-mail address that is used to communicate with the College. If password is unknown please select the forgotten  password option and follow the prompts.

Photos on this website are digital copies only, not a printed photo. Photos of the YEAR 12 INDUCTION are free of charge.

2020 Immunisation program for Year 7

Shalom College is participating in Queensland Health’s annual School Immunisations Program. All Year 7 students will be offered free vaccinations as recommended on the National Immunisation Program to protect against vaccine preventable diseases. In 2020, Year 7 students will be offered human papillomavirus (HPV) and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (whooping cough) vaccination.

The vaccinations will be conducted by a team of authorised and registered nurses from OzCare.

The Shalom College 2020 clinic dates are

Round 1 – Year 10 Meningococcal ACWY – was completed in Week 9, catch up day for absent students to be confirmed by OzCare.

Round 2 - Year 7 HPV2 – Monday 12 October and Wednesday 14 October

Parents are encouraged to ensure their children have breakfast on the morning of the vaccination.

Ozcare will contact all guardians directly to if a student (with a completed and returned consent form) did not attend the Shalom clinic session.

Year 7 Catch Ups Clinic will be scheduled at Ozcare, date to be advised.

For further information about the School Immunisation Program please call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) or visit the link below or click on the following links; ; immunisation through the school program

The following resources are also available for you

The Public Heatlh Act 2005 requires the school principal to disclose student and parent, legal guardian or authorised person information for eligible year 10 immunisation provider if requested.

Year 7 2021

Year 7 2021 Applications Close Friday 8 May

Enrolment forms must be submitted with a copy of the birth certificate and latest report card.

Mrs Georgia Halpin
Community Relations Officer
Georgia_Halpin@shalomcollege.com

Absentees

FOR ALL ABSENTEES

Preferred option is Email absentees@shalomcollege.com or Phone Absentee line 41558181

ALL student absentees should be notified to the office by 9am each day. If no notification has been received, an absentee text message will be sent out to parents to advise of the student’s absence.

Pathways

“The Careers Department”

Following on from last week where we introduced The Careers Department we would like to urge students to complete the Profiler Test.

This profiler test will identify your working style and suggest three industries for you to explore and jobs that have been hand-picked just for you!

When students first create their account, they will be prompted to complete their profiling. The profiling takes about 15 minutes and will give a thorough 8-page report. To gain an unbiased and objective outcome students are asked to invite people who know them well (e.g. Mum and Dad) to weigh in on their personality traits. This is a wonderful opportunity to be included in your senior student’s career conversation.

Shalom has purchased this resource for Years 11 and 12 students and they have been emailed their log-in details. We encourage you to log in with your child and check out this brilliant resource.

Are you interested in studying Natural Therapies?

The Endeavour College of Natural Health is the largest natural health college in the Southern hemisphere. Offering courses since 1975, the College is at the forefront of education in the natural health sector with a range of academic courses in myotherapy, naturopathy, nutritional and dietetic medicine, acupuncture and complementary medicine.

For more details on Endeavour College and the courses on offer, The School Leaver Prospectus can be downloaded at the link below or alternately call in to the Pathways Office to collect a Prospectus.

School leavers also have the opportunity to apply for a scholarship for any one of the undergraduate bachelor degrees at the campuses around Australia. These Scholarships are available for school leavers aged 17-19 (this includes students that have been on a gap year within this age group). See the scholarships page for more details.

Work Experience

We are sure that it comes as no surprise that work experience placements have been cancelled in light of COVID-19. To compensate for the loss of such an important tool for career exploration we will be working on compiling a bank of resources that we will send out to students in the weeks to come.

The Pathways Team
Mrs Liza O’Donnell, Mrs Kathy Laing & Mrs Julia Fox
Liza_ODonnell@shalomcollege.com
LaingK@shalomcollege.com
Julia_Fox@shalomcollege.com

Quiet Achiever

Year 12 Student Jasmine Dooley has been a fantastic House Captain so far this year. She has been assisting Aaron Cunnington in the organising of the bombardment teams and leading House Assemblies when Aaron was away on Football trips or other sporting events.

Jasmine assisted in organising and setting up for the Ash Wednesday liturgy conducted for Walsh House. She has arranged House and PC games and activities.

An ongoing part is to write out and hand out Walsh students birthday bookmarks.

At the interhouse swimming carnival, Jasmine, along with Aaron spent the full day motivating Walsh House students and ensuring every event had a swimmer in a particular race.

Jasmine goes about her business and shares other leadership responsibilities with other year 12 members in Walsh House who want to get involved, without a fuss or seeking acknowledgment.

Added to this, Jasmine is involved in the school choir, concert band, jazz band and orchestra. She was the Shalom 18yrs swimming age champion for 2020 and then participated as a team member of the Shalom BDSSS swimming team.

Jasmine is to be commended for dedication and contribution to Walsh House and to Shalom.

Mr Chris Roelofs
Walsh House Coordinator
roelofs@shalomcollege.com

Year 12 Health

The Year 12 Health Class would like to sincerely thank all the parents and students who assisted them in the collection of primary data by completing the Road Safety surveys that were emailed out. The data collected was anonymous and assisted students in designing and evaluating Road Safety strategies to improve driving behaviours in our Shalom College community.

Mrs Nicole Anderson
Senior Health Teacher
Nicole_Anderson01@shalomcollege.com

Sport

A decision has been made by the BDSSS to cancel the rest of the Summer Sport season (including Finals Day).

The BDSSS Management Group has also made the decision to cancel the District Cross Country, BDSSS Rugby League and BDSSS Head of River Rowing Regattas all scheduled for Term 2.

All representative school sport has been cancelled indefinitely

The Shalom College Cross Country (set for the last week of this Term) is also cancelled.

Shalom College After School Activities (SCASA) will continue as normal until further notice.

Mr Simon Gills
Sports Coordinator
Simon_Gills@shalomcollege.com

Instrumental Music

Shalom College has an amazing music program that is open to students of all ability levels. Whether you have played before or are a beginner wanting to try something new we have something to suit you!

Lessons can be taken in the following studies:

With 13 musical ensembles and an exciting schedule of concerts, competitions and camps planned for 2020 now is a great time to join the program.

For more information please email Megan Hoban – Megan_Hoban@shalomcollege.com

Parents of current students please remember to email before 7.45am on the rehearsal day if your child is unable to attend so that conductors don’t send an email of concern to parents after the rehearsal.

Mrs Megan Hoban
Instrumental Music Teacher
Megan_Hoban@shalomcollege.com

Year 7 Camps

Uniform Shop

Earphones

Earphones are avaliable for $6 while stocks last.

Sports Socks

Size 2 – 8 and 8 – 11 now in Stock @ $8.00 per pair.
Uniform Shop Hours 8:00 AM – 12:00PM Mon – Thurs
Phone: 41 558 121

Mrs Leanne Barker
Uniform Shop Co-ordinator
barkerl@shalomcollege.com

Term Dates for 2020

Breakfast

Breakfast is now available in the tuckshop for purchase each morning 8:00am – 8:30am.

Items include

Bacon & Egg Muffins - $3.50
Ham & Cheese Croissant - $3.50
Porridge & Cereal - $3 (self-service option with milk and bowl & cutlery are supplied)
Fresh Fruit - $1 (seasonal fruits such as; Bananas, Apples, Mandarins etc.)
Plus, the already available items of Yoghurt Pots, Up n Go drinks & Flavoured Milk

Students who train before school need to consider utilising the breakfast menu to replenish energy lost during their training sessions, however must be dressed appropriately before entering the tuckshop and must not be late for class.

Shalom Sunday Markets

After much discussion the Shalom Markets will continue to operate (with restrictions) until further notice!

• Fresh food stalls only – fruit, vegetable & local food products
• No other food stalls – BBQ, tuckshop etc.
• Social distancing to include gaps between stalls (all outdoors)

The running of the markets will be reviewed weekly until further notice.

SHALOM MARKETS 6AM TO 12PM EVERY SUNDAY!

Community Notice Board

Catholic Parish Bulletin

Breast Screen Queensland

The State Government is funding free access to Triple P, which is the world’s most evidence-based parenting program and has helped more than four million children and their parents around the world develop closer, more positive relationships.

Please click on this link, which will take you to the website where you can access information relevant to your situation.

This link will remain in our Newsletter with Triple P sending us regular updates and helpful tips.