30 October 2020

Newsletter Articles

Essential Emails

From the Principal

Dear Gilroy Santa Maria College Community,

It was great to return to school last week after thirteen weeks working in the Townsville Catholic Education Office. I really enjoyed my time, learned a great deal and it was a tremendous professional development experience. However, it was great to be back at school and to catch up with staff and students. I thank Mrs Carr for the excellent job she has done running the school in my absence. It has been a very busy time and Melissa’s excellent leadership skills have been evident and appreciated by our staff.

Last Wednesday evening, we conducted our Gilroy Awards Night. Due to the COVID restrictions we had to modify our usual format and broke the evening into a Junior and Senior session. We omitted some speeches and performances so both sessions were a little shorter than we estimated. However, the feedback from families seemed very positive and I felt people were appreciative that we had found a way to conduct the evening. I had nothing to do with the organisation and therefore take this opportunity to thank the staff who completed all the checklists and plans so the event could take place. Congratulations to all students who received awards for their efforts and achievements.

Also, at our Awards Night we presented the Mark Mappas Award to Judy and Felix Reitano. The Mark Mappas Medal is awarded each year in Townsville Catholic schools to volunteers who have served and contributed to their school community. Our school owes a large debt of gratitude to Judy and Felix Reitano for their many years of service and commitment to our school community. During twenty-one years with six children attending Gilroy Santa Maria College, there has been many years of service on school boards, parents and friends committees, countless fetes, many working bees, interview panels for school principals, parent speeches at Graduations to which Judy and Felix have given their time and commitment. The Gilroy Santa Maria College community thank them both for their selfless contributions and are proud they are our Mark Mappas Awardees for 2020.

We had a fun talent show called “Gilroy Has Talent” last Thursday. Held during lunch time we had singers, musicians, magicians, gymnasts and even a science experiment. It was very entertaining, and I applaud the students who had the courage to get on stage and take that leap of faith. I hope we do it again next year.

Our Yr 12’s began their External Exams on Monday with breakfast and prayer led by Fr Damian. It was a nice time to spend together before their exams. As is the case, all Queensland students sat their English exam at the same time throughout the state on Monday morning. This will be the case for all subjects over the next few weeks. For our students, their final external exam is Physics on Monday 9 November. The following Wednesday they will attend a retreat on the shores of Lake Tinaroo. This retreat will be a great way to finish their final days of school. The following week will be their graduation and again I so grateful for our staff and the organising committee to be able to navigate the COVID restrictions to ensure the graduation dinner takes place on Friday 20 November.

Today we celebrate World Teachers’ Day. We are very lucky to have so many outstanding teachers at our school who do an outstanding job in preparing our students for future careers. Parents, carers and students, do not be afraid to thank them.

Congratulations to Ms Paula Rand who will be the Acting Yr 11/12 Pastoral Leader while Mrs Lahtinen is on maternity leave in 2021.

The next few weeks are a busy time, please check your compass news feeds and our Facebook page which we update and post frequently.

God Bless

John Nuttall
Principal

Awards Night 2020

Mark Mappas Award

At the annual Awards Night we presented the Mark Mappas Award to Judy and Felix Reitano. The Mark Mappas Medal is awarded each year in Townsville Catholic schools to volunteers who have served and contributed to their school community. Congratulations Judy and Felix. P & F Members were present on the night and are pictured with Judy and Felix below.

Assistant Principal Curriculum & Administration

Hello Parents/Caregivers,

Last Wednesday evening, we celebrated all the hard work students at our College have been doing through this year at our Awards Night. This year’s format looked a little different so that we could comply with COVID restrictions; with our junior and senior students receiving their awards in two separate sessions. The evening was beautiful and special for all awardees. Congratulations to all recipients for a job well done and for receiving a reward for your consistent effort and dedication to your studies.

Yr 12 Students

On Monday, we began the commencement of the yr 12 external exams with a delicious 7:30am breakfast, followed by meditation in our Chapel. It was a lovely way to start external exams. So far this week, exams have run smoothly. I’d like to continue to encourage our students to ‘keep up the good work’. Your hard work and dedication to your future will hopefully pay off. Almost all subjects have been returned from QCAA with little movement which is very encouraging. All students will receive their final results on the 19th December. Students will receive these via their online QCAA student portal. It is very important that students know all their required information (LUIs [Learner Unique Identifier] number and password to login to their accounts and check these results. Students have already been asked to check their accounts to check their internal confirmed results are there and correct. Students should also change their email address from the school email, as this will become obsolete.

Yr 11 Students

Yr 11 students this week undertook their mock exams. These exams are designed and scheduled in a way that mimics the expectations of yr 12 external exams. Again, all students have been punctual and prepared for their assessments.

Yrs 7-10 Students

As we are already approaching the halfway mark for our yr 7-10 students, it is a timely reminder to ensure that all students are monitoring assessment due dates on their assessment calendar. There will be an exam schedule released in coming weeks which will indicate time, day and room for exams in the final week of school.

God Bless

Melissa Carr
Assistant Principal Curriculum & Administration

Careers

Dear Students & Families,

As the weeks count down until Year 12 graduation, information about what is to come is important to have.

To help Year 12 graduates and their parents/guardians, I am attaching a link to our link below (our whole school careers website) and helpful financial information. All words in blue are hyperlinks that will take you through to the website.

Find out what support you can get from Centrelink to help steer you to success.

Whatever adventure you’re going on after school, you’ll want to be ready for the journey. Just like the scouts say, it pays to be prepared.

Centrelink has payments for students and trainees to help you with the costs of doing uni, TAFE or an apprenticeship.

If you’re doing full-time study or an Australian Apprenticeship, you might get Youth Allowance as a student. If you’re an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander student or full time Australian Apprentice, you might get ABSTUDY.

If you’re looking for work after school, maybe including part-time study, you might get Youth Allowance as a job seeker.

See what payments and services you can get using the Payment and Service Finder. You can even get an estimate of how much your fortnightly payment could be. To get an estimate, you’ll need to enter in information like your parents’ income and where you’ll be living.

Even if you’re not quite sure what course you’ll do next year, apply early. You can apply up to 13 weeks before your course starts. This way you’re more likely to have your payment when you need it.

Nancy Douglas (Careers Advisor)

2021 Next Step survey

The Queensland Government will conduct its annual statewide survey of Year 12 completers in 2021. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12.

Between March and June next year, current Year 12 students will receive a letter from the Minister for Education or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office inviting them to complete the survey.

To help the survey team to reach you, Year 12 students are asked to ensure that their contact details are correct in their learning accounts by logging into the student portal at the link below.

Further information on Next Step and results from previous surveys are available online at

YR 10 Work Experience

During Week 2 of Term 4, all Year 10 students completed 3 days of work experience as part of our College’s work experience program. It was a great opportunity for all students to get a better understanding of various careers that they are potentially choosing for their pathway. This experience can sometimes be daunting, so well done to all students for their participation. Evaluation forms have been sent to businesses so that students and staff can gain feedback for each Year 10 student.

Well done to all students.

Gilroy Santa Maria College would like to thank all of the local businesses, schools and organisations for supporting our students. We greatly appreciate it.

Assistant Principal (Pastoral)

Dear College Families,

Term 4 has kicked off to a great start at Gilroy Santa Maria College. Students seemed to be a lot more settled this term and are working hard preparing for upcoming exams and completing assessments. Our senior students are also working hard with the Yr 11’s currently in block exams and the Yr 12’s working hard completing their external exams.

We have been lucky enough to hold a few whole school activities this term including the “Has Gilroy got Talent?” which was a success. We had a range of acts from teachers doing a dance act, magic tricks, gymnastics, science experiments and musical performances. A big thankyou to all students who participated as it takes a lot of courage to get up in front of the whole school and preform. Our winners were:

Junior Winner: Jayden Smith
Junior Runner up: Sienna Adornetto
Senior Winner: Michael Russo
Senior Runner up: Yr 11 Chemistry Class.

This week for Year Level Assembly all students got together for a multigrade house challenge, it was good to see students from all ages getting along and having fun outdoors. We will continue this in week 6 to see who the best house is.

Matthew Schrodter
Assistant Principal (Pastoral)

Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

Dear Gilroy Santa Maria College Community

As I write this article our Yr 11 and 12 students are in the middle of their exams, external exams for Yr 12 and block exams for Yr 11. This time, for all, can be very stressful and our thoughts and prayers are with them and all Yr 12 students sitting external across Queensland.

The month of October is dedicated to Mission in the Church. Catholic Mission is an international mission agency that raises funds to help much need communities in Australia and around the world. Focussed on the message of Jesus’ life and love, they work to meet the needs of the less fortunate, physically and spiritually. This year’s major project is to empower disabled children and young adults at the Arrupe Centre in Cambodia. This year Gilroy held a coloured clothes day and talent show to raise money for Catholic Missions. Thank you everyone for your support of this very worthy cause. Below is a link to the website for if you would like more information about the project and donations.

The prayer this week is dedicated to our senior students.

Christine Timms
Assistant Principal
(Religious Education)

From the Business Manager

Dear Parents & Carers,

Term 4 school fees are due 30 Friday October.

Just a reminder that our preferred way of payment is now BPAY and those details are on the statement. As always, you can pay by credit card, cheque or cash or we can set up a direct debit through Pay way.

If the statement does not look, quite right and you do not agree with balance or if you have any issues or questions regarding the statements please do not hesitate to see me.

As always, if for any reason you are finding it difficult to pay school fees. Please contact the Principal or myself to discuss the matter.

God Bless
Ros Giuliano
Business Manager

SPORTS NEWS

Abergowrie 9’s Rugby League Carnival

On Friday the 23rd of October, our U13 and U15 Rugby League teams travelled to St Teresa’s College, Abergowrie, to participate in the Abergowrie 9’s carnival. The twilight carnival was a terrific event and gave our boys an opportunity to play some Rugby League, many of them for the first time, and they truly did themselves proud. The teams improved with every game and showed great sportsmanship.

The U13’s played 3 round matches with a resounding 20 – 4 victory over Abergowrie Gold and losses to Abergowrie Green 6-20 and Ingham State High 4 – 8. The boys then played off for 3rd place going down 6 – 24 to Abergowrie Green. Stand out players for the 13’s were Shaun Devietti, Brayden Spina, Jack Butcher, Dallas Brown, Hayden Martin and Matthew Spina.

The U15’s team also played 3 round matches with a resounding victory over Abergowrie Green 14 – 8. Unfortunately they suffered losses to Abergowrie Gold 16 - 10 and Ingham High 18 - 12 but the boys then played off for 3rd place with a draw against St Mary’s College. Stand out players for the 15s were Michael Cassady, Sean Moloney, Joshua Macarone, Darcy Di Bella and Nicholas Gofton.

Special thanks to St Teresa’s College staff for hosting the event.

A big thank you to Mr Schifilliti and Mr Dezolt for their coaching expertise, Mrs Coco and Mr Ciancullo for their team management and to all the parents, family and friends for their support at the event.

Mr Mendiolea (Sports Coordinator)

Counsellors Corner

Congratulations

The 2020 AIP Certificate of Excellence in Physics for Yr 12 students was awarded to two outstanding Gilroy Santa Maria College students: Ethan Costabeber and Brennen Caruana. Congratulations on your achievement for the physics internal assessment.

Roseanne Coyle
Teacher

JCU Heroes Program

James Cook University and the Mater Private Hospital, Townsville invited students from around the region to participate in the inaugural JCU Heroes in Health Program, Townsville on the 21 and 22 October 2020. 20 students in Yr 11 and 12 from Townsville, Ingham, Ayr and Charters Towers were able to explore Medical, Nursing and Allied Health careers. Our YR 11 student Eryn Gusmeroli was chosen to be part of this program.

The program was about taking students behind-the-scenes so they could see what it’s really like to work in the health care industry and what’s involved with being a health care professional. The jammed packed two-day program included interactive sessions with Doctors, Allied Health, Nursing, Dieticians, Orderly Services and Pharmacy professionals as well as tours of the Hospital and Pathology Lab. Students got to try their hand at taking vitals, CPR, Blood loss estimation, hand hygiene and simulate different scenarios on interactive mannequins. They learnt about individual health services, but also how important it is for all healthcare professionals to work together.

Well done Eryn.

We hope that 2021 will see another one of our students chosen to attend.

Academic Support

All students welcome for Homework, Assignments, Academic Tutoring and Organisation.

Tuckshop News

VOLUNTEERS ARE ALWAYS NEEDED!!

Tuckshop Volunteers are only needed to work from 8:30am to 12:00pm.

Please note: The NEW lunch times are as follows:

1st Lunch – 10:55am – 11:20am
2nd Lunch – 12:50pm - 1:30pm

Start time is preferably 8:30am – 12:00pm or until when you are available.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all again this year.
If there is any query in regards to this roster or you are unavailable please contact
Sandra Benedetto [0427 765 321] - Jodie Lino [0407 904 918]
ALL TUCKSHOP VOLUNTEERS MUST SUPPLY A BLUECARD – PLEASE CONTACT ROS (BUSINESS MANAGER)

What’s Happening in the Parish

Ingham Region Catholic Parishes Newsletter:

Father Damian McGrath
Parish Priest
Ingham Region Catholic Parishes

AROUND THE DISTRICT

Advertising with Schoolzine

Would you like to advertise in our new Schoolzine eNewsletter? Currently, Schoolzine is working diligently to source family friendly advertising sponsors and will then rebate quarterly 20% of revenue back to the school.

If you are interested in advertising either contact the school office or feel free to email Schoolzine any questions, suggestions or advertising enquiries.

Email: advertising@schoolzine.com.au
Phone: 07 5414 2361