7 June 2024

YEARS 3-12 CROSS COUNTRY

The annual Cross Country event saw our students from Years 3 to 12 push their limits and display marvellous feats of endurance. It was wonderful to see the determination and perseverance of our students as they navigated the course. Additionally, their participation helped raise funds for the Run 4 Bibles initiative, demonstrating their commitment to making a positive impact beyond our College community. Well done to all our runners and thank you for your generosity!

K-2 AND YEARS 3-6 DISCO

The recent K-2 and Years 3-6 Disco was a night to remember! Our young groovers took to the dance floor with enthusiasm and energy, showcasing their best dance moves and having a fantastic time. The disco was a great opportunity for students to bond, have fun, and create lasting memories. A big thank you to the Junior School staff who helped make this event such a success.

OPEN TWILIGHT EVENT

On Wednesday, we hosted our Open Twilight Event welcoming prospective families to explore our Campus. It was a pleasure to meet so many interested parents and their children who were amazed by our state-of-the-art facilities and the warm, welcoming atmosphere of our College. RJ continues to be a school of choice for many families in the North-Western region of Sydney.

ANGLICAN SCHOOLS CORPORATION CHORAL FESTIVAL

Our Junior School students in the Cantabile singing group and our Senior School students in Vox, showcased their exceptional musical talents at the Anglican Schools Corporation Choral Festival this week. Their performances were not only a testament to their hard work and dedication but also a celebration of the vibrant musical culture within our school. The harmonies and melodies they brought to life were truly inspiring as were Vox’s dance moves! I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all the students involved.

KINDY CLASSES TRIP TO SYDNEY ZOO

Our Kindergarten classes had an exciting adventure on their trip to Sydney Zoo. The students had the opportunity to learn about a variety of animals and their habitats and it was a joy to see their faces light up with curiosity and wonder. This excursion was not only educational but also a fantastic way for our youngest students to engage with the world around them. A special thank you to the teachers and parent volunteers who accompanied the children and ensured a smooth and enjoyable experience for all.

RJ COMMUNITY TRIVIA & PUZZLE NIGHT

Last, but certainly not least, our RJ Community Trivia & Puzzle Night is coming up next Friday at 7pm in the RJ Hall. If you haven’t already booked a seat at the table or booked a table for friends and family to come and enjoy, do it now! 

Our RJ community is so richly diverse and this event will provide a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and support our College as a community. Looking forward to seeing you there.   

God Bless...
Mr Alan Dawson | Principal 

As you can imagine, complaints of child abuse and other concerns that are brought to the attention of the College are incredibly important to be handled carefully and effectively. Working with students and families who are experiencing challenges or difficulties in these areas requires a great degree of care and attention to the students who find themselves in these positions.

The number one priority for RJ staff is to ensure children are prioritised when managing these situations. This means that students are listened to, that their concerns are heard, that the concerns they raise will be taken seriously and that where appropriate anonymity is maintained to protect the child. 

Students are often concerned about fear of reprisal from other students when discussing problematic incidents that have occurred on Campus, concerned about how their families will react when they are made aware of the information they are sharing and concerned about how they will be viewed by students, staff and their families. It is incredibly important that students are given the opportunity to:

• Trust that they will be believed when raising concerns.
• Feel comfortable talking to trusted adults at the College.
• Not feel intimidated, particularly by the perpetrator.
• Feel safe when discussing their vulnerabilities, fears and experiences.
• Access helpful reporting processes.

These important needs for students are prioritised by RJ staff through:

• Having the process of reporting explained to them so that they know how to receive support that is appropriate for their needs.
• Identify safe adults at the College that students can speak to regarding their concerns.
• Support students in understanding how they can manage problematic future behaviours of perpetrators.
• Ensure a safe space for students to be able to communicate their needs and concerns to trusted adults.
• Ensure a trusted adult is made available for students by listening to students and knowing who they trust.
• Explain processes to students so that they understand the limits of confidentiality, how they can receive additional support and encouraging further reporting to ensure all required support is available for students.

In addition to managing these more difficult and formal processes, RJ caters for students who want to raise less significant concerns or anonymous concerns using the RJ Cares anonymous reporting platform.

It is our sincere hope that all students will be able to raise their concerns with their families and at RJ when they need support. We encourage families this week to check in with your students about whether or not they are tackling anything tricky in their lives. Sometimes just asking a few extra questions can yield more depth than the monosyllabic responses we sometimes get as parents of school aged children.

Mr Scott Roby
Deputy Principal

COOLER WEATHER

The colder temperatures have finally arrived – especially in the mornings before school. Please make sure your child has their jacket every day - clearly labelled. The College beanie is also a good cold weather addition to the Uniform. We are continuing to promote good hygiene at RJ with regular reminders to wash hands, cough into elbows and the use of hand sanitiser. Please keep your child at home if they have cold or flu symptoms or a high temperature as there is a lot of sickness spreading at the moment. Students coming to school sick will be required to be picked up and taken home.

KISS AND DROP IN MORNINGS

There are still a small number of parents coming down into the Junior School Courtyard of a morning. Please say goodbye to your child/ren up near the tables in Pioneers Way. We would prefer parents not to walk down into the Courtyard in the mornings to minimise separation issues and help students assimilate with their peers quicker.

HOUSE MEETINGS

Students are to wear their House shirts next Friday 14 June for House meetings to prepare for the upcoming Years 3-6 Athletics Carnival on 18 June. See Mr Mitchell’s article for more details. Years K-2 Mini Athletics will be held on Thursday 13 June at the College.

ASC CHORAL FESTIVAL                                              

Students in Cantabile choir travelled to Thomas Hassell Anglican College on Thursday 6 June to participate in the the Anglican Schools Corporation Choral Festival. RJ performed a lovely item called 'Swimming' and also joined the other participating schools in a massed choral performance. It was a great day of learning more about being part of a choir and refining performance skills. Special thanks to Miss Shannon-Duhigg for preparing the students so well for this day.

HOLIDAYS IN TERM TIME

A reminder that College attendance is crucial for your child’s continuing progress through the curriculum and development of knowledge and skills. We request that families please limit holidays during Term time, remembering Class Teachers will not set work as it is rarely completed, and students regularly return with significant gaps in their learning. Please use the scheduled school holidays for trips away, if possible.

STAFF ABSENCES - COVERING CLASSES

You may be aware of the chronic teacher shortage currently facing both public and Independent Schools nationally.

Unfortunately, RJ has not been immune to this shortage and it has directly affected our pool of relief or casual teachers. We endeavour to cover classes with a casual teacher, but at present, with the escalating rate of illnesses amongst staff through winter months and the shallow pool of casual teachers, we are often unable to fill these vacancies.

Sometimes to cover classes we utilise specialist staff such as Music, PE and ICT, however this is not ideal and has the effect of taking the much-needed release from face-to-face time that our classroom teachers need. 

There are unfortunately times when classes do need to be split to enable learning to continue. Each classroom teacher has a carefully prepared booklet that contains work for the day. Sometimes other work is sent in for the class to complete independently whilst under the supervision of another teacher. If that class has a specialist lesson that day, they come back together for that lesson. Teachers try and keep the current focus of learning going across the various subject areas in the work left for the class. 

Often, the class is only split for part of the day as they have specialist subjects or partial cover from other available staff. 

I hope you can appreciate the difficulties we face in light of the current teacher shortage and understand how we endeavour to do our best to keep learning happening for our Junior School students every day.

Enjoy your weekend, 

Mrs Karen Shannon-Duhigg
Head of Junior School

The dates for CRU Blast are: Monday 22 July 2024 – Friday 26 July 2024 (third week of the holidays)

The registrations have commenced, and students have received a flyer. The link to register for the camp is: CRU Camp Registration

The QR Code will take you to the registration page.

We’d love to see your child/children at CRU Blast this year. If you have any questions, please contact Liam Johnston by email – [email protected]  

Mr Liam Johnston
Christian Ministry & Service Leader 

The second half of Term 2 sees many students required to submit assessment tasks. Parents/Carers and students are reminded to check the assessment notifications/calendars for the timing of the assessments. Additionally, students are encouraged to ask questions of their subject teachers regarding the tasks and not leave completing the task on the day it is due for submission. Students can access additional support with their assessments in the Learning Lab at lunchtime and also in The Hub at the end of the school day.

In the last week, Year 7 attended the Chau Chak Wing Museum at Sydney University as part of their learning in History. Year 9 attended the Stand Tall event at the International Convention Centre at Darling Harbour. Years 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 engaged with 'Wired', a presentation from Brainstorm Productions that addressed common challenges teenagers face relating to making positive connections and resilience. Students in our vocal groups participated in the Anglican Schools Corporation Annual Choral Festival at Thomas Hassall Anglican College. It is pleasing to see our students engage in the range of opportunities that took place during Week 6.

Week 7 commences with a public holiday - The King's Birthday - Monday 10 June. Senior School House Meetings will take place on Friday in Week 7 in preparation for Athletics Carnival on the following Monday in Week 8. Students are to wear their House Shirt to the College as part of their sports uniform for the House Meetings.

In Week 9 we will be hosting the Year 7 and Year 8 Learning Conferences. Parents/carers will be contacted via email in Week 8 with instructions and a link to enable them to book interviews with their child's subject teachers.

This year for the Heritage Festival, there will be an opportunity for parents/carers to help with the preparation and serving of food for the food stalls that are run at lunchtime on Thursday Week 10. If you are interested in supporting this event please contact a member of the College Administration team to express your interest and also speak with your child to ensure their involvement with the food stall as well.

During last week's Senior School Assembly, I was able to reflect on one of the elements or muscles of our approach to learning, Building Learning Power at RJ, with students and staff. The importance of Reciprocity was highlighted, seen through students' engagement in a Visual Arts lesson where they were able to demonstrate:

• Interdependence - learn on their own as well as with others.
• Collaboration – respecting and recognising the viewpoints of others.
• Empathy and Listening – contributing by listening to other.

I do hope that our students can share with their parents/carers both the approach to learning implemented at RJ and the language associated with it - Resilience, Resourcefulness, Reflectiveness, Reciprocity and Relationship.

Below is an article from a resource for students at RJ, The Study Skills Handbook, that may assist students in their learning. The article focuses on developing skills linked to memory. There is also a link and login details to access a range of resources, open to students and parents/carers.

A final thought on maintaining community and strengthening well-being is based on Matthew 7:12, where we are challenged to 'Do to others what you would have them to do you', often known as the Golden Rule. A simple application of the rule is that if we want to be shown respect and be welcomed into a community we should demonstrate this to others first. I often raise this idea with students when speaking to them about being constructive members of their peer groups or classes. My hope and prayer is that the RJ community continues to grow and be strengthened as we live out the 'Golden Rule' taught to us by Jesus.

Many students say ‘I don’t have a good memory’, but there are many barriers to developing a good memory that are able to be overcome. 

1. MASTERING YOUR MINDSET

Henry Ford once famously said, “whether you believe you can, or you can't, you are right”. This refers to your mindset or mental attitude, and the concept that your mind is powerful enough to enable your thoughts to create your reality. If you have a negative attitude to your memory, it will likely reduce your chance of developing and maintaining a good memory. Combat negative thoughts by recognising them as habits that can be changed. Start by catching yourself in negative self-talk and replacing it with positive affirmations. For instance, when you find yourself saying "my memory is so bad", tell yourself, "I can improve my memorisation skills by trying new techniques". 

2. CULTIVATING FOCUS

The first stage of the memory process is encoding the information that is to be remembered. This starts when you are in the classroom learning a new topic – it should not first start when you are frantically trying to cram for an exam! Your brain uses your senses and emotions to process the initial information and begin to form a memory and this requires focus on what you are learning. Here are some ways in which you can be less absentminded and more focused in the initial stages of learning: 

• Setting a deliberate intention to become more attentive.
• Sitting in front of class where there are less things to distract you, especially if you have difficulty paying attention in class. Also thinking carefully about who you sit next to in class. 
• Taking notes in class to ensure you listen. If you daydream, taking notes as the teacher talks or creating a mind map as they talk is a great way to keep yourself focused on what you are learning. 

3. MANAGING STRESS AND ANXIETY

Stress and anxiety can sabotage memory by increasing distraction and reducing concentration. Combat this by practicing relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, to calm your mind. Visualize success by creating a mental movie where you confidently tackle exams and perform well. Replaying this scene daily (perhaps each morning as you wake up) can help alleviate exam-related stress and boost confidence.

By addressing these psychological barriers, you can unlock your memory potential and excel in your academic pursuits.

Students and your parents/carers can learn more at www.studyskillshandbook.com.au by logging in with the details below and working through some of the units.

USER: [email protected]

PWD: success21

Mr Brad Maxwell
Head of Senior School

Our dedicated staff are now enjoying two beautiful new spaces, complete with contemporary kitchens and bathrooms. A big thank you to our architect David Bryant from Alleanza, our project builders Secure Building Solutions, and Evergreen Walls for their outstanding work. Creating an aesthetically pleasing work environment is one way we support our staff in being their best at RJ.

Teachers and Leaders were concerned that assessment of student progress would never be the same again, and at the time with little knowledge of how this would indeed change how and what we assess they had every right to be concerned. We are now 18 months after this point and the situation in many cases has not improved. Generative AI is here to stay and we now need to move with the times. Our learners need to be prepared for a world where this technology is part of their lives and can in fact help their learning rather than hinder. 

At RJ, the Senior School Faculty Leader’s team are working on rewriting our AI policy. This will allow students and parents to be clear on when and how students can use AI. This will include a new referencing system. Until this is finalised we ask that students continue to follow our current policy (found in the assessment booklet) and not use AI to generate or improve assessments, taking care to be aware that the following unethical uses of Generative AI listed below could result in the loss of marks.

UNETHICAL USE OF GENERATIVE AI FOR SCHOOL WORK

PLAGIARISM

Using AI-generated content verbatim without proper citation or presenting AI-generated work as your own is unethical and is plagiarism.

This would be the same if you took information from anywhere else and did not provide a source or reference.

ASSIGNMENT OUTSOURCING

Using AI to create assignments, essays or projects without any personal input or understanding undermines the learning process and is considered academic dishonesty.

This is the same as a parent or a tutor creating assignment work and a student claiming it as their own.

MISREPRESENTING ABILITIES

Using generative AI to complete tasks that are beyond your understanding or rewriting your task to improve the quality of detail and results of your own.

This is the same as a student copying someone else’s assessment and tweaking it to make the work look different.

IMPROPER REFERENCE CHECKING

Asking to source references and not checking the validity of the information and relevance.

Example: Claiming that information was sourced through normal research methods when in fact ChatGPT was used. 

Mrs Julia Scrimshaw 
Head of Academics, Learning and Innovation

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL ASSISTANCE

Save the Date! Tuesday 18 June.

Parents, if you are free to assist at the upcoming Athletics Carnival either with supervision or assistance at an event, please notify Mr Mitchell. You must have supplied your WWCC to the College in order to be considered. Please email Mr Mitchell [email protected] by Wednesday 12 June if you are able to assist.

K-2 ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 

The K-2 Athletics Carnival will take place on Thursday 13 June. We look forward to this event which will commence after lunch. At the conclusion of the event, parents can wait in Pioneer’s Way until the conclusion of the school day before collecting their child.

3-6 ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

The 3-6 Athletics Carnival commences with the 1500m event, which is an invitational event. Mr Mitchell will nominate selected students and will contact parents to see if their child would like to run the event. Parents will need to drive their child early to the Carnival for this event which is scheduled to commence at 8:45am.

Students in the Under 8, 9 and 10s compete in their age groups for the 100m and 200m. However, these students combine in field events as a junior division. Under 11s and Under 12s compete in their own age group in all events.

Two students from track events and field events will qualify for the Zone Athletics Carnival which will be held early in Term 3. Relay places for the Zone Carnival will be awarded to the four fastest times in the 100m in the Under 8-10 and the Under 11-12 division.

Selected students in Year 2 will be chosen to compete in the Under 8 division at the Athletics Carnival. Parents will be contacted by Mr Mitchell if their child has been asked to participate.

Students will also run an 800m heat at school and the final will take place at the actual Carnival. All students will also have the opportunity to earn some House points in High Jump at school with a smaller field selected for a high jump final on the day of the Carnival. All other field events are open for students to participate on the day of the Carnival.

CSSA STATE CROSS COUNTRY

RJ had a great day at the CSSA State Cross Country. We had Serafina and Benji finish in the top 10 in the Under 8/9 division to qualify for the CIS Cross Country. Numerous other students had strong finishes. Thank you to our lovely parents who were able to assist on the day.

Mr Gavin Mitchell
Junior School Sports Leader

CSSA STATE CROSS COUNTRY

On Friday 31 May, was the CSSA Secondary State Cross Country, at the Sydney Equestrian Centre, at Horsley Park. The 46 mentioned students, participated against 100 other students in their age group, for selection to the CIS Cross Country Championships. Our students ran exceptionally well, and represented themselves and the College with pride. Hasan H of Year 11 finished 4th in his race, and progressed through to the next level of competition, on Thursday 6 June. We wish him all the best as he competes, and look forward to hearing of his success.

WSCS

Our WSCS Competitions are going well, and we pray for continued blessings with the weather, so we can have more opportunity to continue our competition in the upcoming weeks. 

SENIOR SCHOOL ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 

Monday 17 June is the Senior School Athletics Carnival. The Carnival will take place at Blacktown International Sports Park, Rooty Hill. Students are required to be at the College at 8am, so we can catch buses to the venue, and begin our day on schedule. Students have been emailed a form to complete if they are interested in competing in the 800m event. This registration is imperative, to ensure these students are the first on buses to the venue for this event. Students will be rotating around all events with their age group, encouraging a sense of community and participation amongst friends. We pray for God’s blessing and provision of good weather.

Please send through all sporting achievements to [email protected] so we can celebrate your success.

Mrs Trish Millard
Faculty Leader PDHPE & Sport

You can also use this QR Code below to access the Trybooking site - https://www.trybooking.com/CSMCE

Closing date for registration for the Sleepout is on Tuesday 17 June. 

If you are keen to attend, please get your forms in early. This will help us with our catering needs!

The cost of the evening is $10 per student, paid through Trybooking which will be donated to Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off the Streets Program. 

Cardboard boxes are the go for the evening, so encourage your children to start collecting your bed for the night! Permission notes are available from Student Reception, D Block Staffroom or your child’s Home Group teacher.

Important: The permission note must be returned with the Trybooking receipt.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr Johnston by email- [email protected] 

Mr Liam Johnston
Christian Ministry & Service Leader 

• Our excellent MC will entertain you!
• Lucky door prizes! (When booking, please provide the name of each person booked. If unknown at the time of booking, use "John Doe" or "Jane Doe"; however these placeholder names and any duplicate names will be excluded from the lucky door prizes.
• Individual seats can be purchased. Simply select a table number to join when booking.
• Extra points are available for themed tables! Each table (up to 8 people) can pick its own theme.
• Extra points are available for completing the jigsaw puzzle allocated to your table.
• Each table requires a phone to use with Kahoot!
• BYO snacks and drinks (no alcohol).
• Adults only.
• Participants are respectfully asked not to use their phones to source answers online.
• Tickets are non-refundable.

Tickets: Trivia & Puzzle ticket link

RSVP, Friday 14 June, 4pm.

Start planning your table theme now!