Action Research 2017

Student Free Day - AR17
Thank you to all staff who made Thursday and Friday so successful, from teachers who presented their research to the many staff who facilitated and supported staff, and to all the staff who ensured the venue and catering was of the highest quality. It was an outstanding event, during which the wonderful collaborative and supportive qualities of our staff were displayed. Not to mention of course the talent, passion and commitment!

I was also delighted that the following special guests supported the AR17 Conference:

• Dr Neil McGoran, Director of Catholic Education in South Australia (CESA)
• Monica Conway, Assistant Director, Religious Identity and Leading Learning, CESA
• Edgar Bliss, Senior Adviser, Literacy, Languages and Learning,CESA
• Ludgero Rego, Languages Consultant, CESA
• Christelle Plummer, Senior Adviser – Numeracy, CESA
• Rowena Ulbrick, Professional Learning and Innovation Specialist
• Hilda Neville, Learning and Leadership Consultant, Institute of Educational Assessors

These guests added to the rigour and deep reflection in relation to student learning at Tenison Woods College, where: “Every learner has a place.  Every learner has a pathway.  Every Learner will shine. That is our challenge and our celebration.”

Rainbow Disco
This Friday night there is a Rainbow Disco being held at St Paul’s Hall for students in Reception to Year 6 from Tenison Woods College. The entry fee is $5.00 per person with lots of prizes to be won.

• Reception – Year 2 - 4:30 – 6.00pm
• Year 3 – Year 6 - 6.30 - 8.00pm

Sacrament Program 2017-2018
Forms are now due back at the Parish Office so please return them as soon as possible during office hours if you have not already done so. The first Family Session will take place on Thursday 9 November – as per the program schedule.

Vinnies Badge Day
Friday is Badge Day for the St Vincent DePaul Society. This is something that Tenison Woods College students and staff have supported for many years. If you are in the vicinity of She’s Apples on Friday, please stop and say hello to the staff and students who will be collecting money for the Vinnies Badge Day.

Term 4 Masses at the College
All masses at the College are held in the Chapel unless otherwise stated. All are welcome to attend:

• Week 2 (Thursday 26 October) Year 11
• Week 2 (Friday 27 October) Year 12 farewell mass at 11.00am
• Week 3 (Thursday 2 November) Year 10 – All Soul’s Day
• Week 4 (Thursday 9 November) Year 8
• Week 5  (Thursday 16 November) Year 4/5
• Week 6 (Thursday 23 November) Year 9
• Week 7 End of Year Whole School Mass, 11.00am in Barrie Holmes Stadium
• Week 8 (Thursday 7 December) Year 6/7

Michelle Coote | APRIM (Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission)

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The Term 4 Parent/Teacher/Student Progress Reviews and Request Interviews will be held on Thursday 2 November (Week 3) in the Pam Ronan Centre.

The Term 4 interview cycle supports staff and parents to make the most efficient use of time to enable the conversations to occur that are most important, based on the learning priorities of our students.

The key points of the Parent/Teacher/Student Progress Review evenings are:

• New Receptions (who commenced at the start of term 3) – interviews can be requested. If you require an interview, you can use your booking code to request an interview with you child’s teacher.
• Reception to Year 7 - interviews will be by teacher request only (your child’s teacher will determine if there is a need for an interview). If you received a letter with a booking code you have been requested to attend an interview by the teacher. Please log on and book an appropriate time.

We will formally acknowledge the rite of passage for our year 12 students and wish them well for the next critical stage of their learning journey at their final assembly on Friday morning. 

Parents are warmly invited to attend the Assembly for our 2017 Year 12 students, celebrating the Year 12s journey as students at Tenison Woods College and to wish them the best of luck as they prepare for their exams. The Assembly will be held Friday 27 October at 9.35am in the Barrie Holmes Stadium.

I wish the Year 12 class all the best at this significant stage of their learning, and trust that the extra effort that they offer during this period will be appropriately rewarded with individual success.

David Mezinec | Principal

On Wednesday 2 August, a select group of Year 9 students participated in “Operation Flinders” - an 8-day wilderness walking expedition through the Flinders Ranges, north of Adelaide.

Josh Akinola, Jingwen Chen, Cale Fox, Rylee Garner, Sean Ind, Tadi Magura, Mathew Pineo, Lachlan Price, Alexie Mclellan, Hayley Vanderhorst carried their belongings, sleeping mat & bag plus food and trekked an average of fourteen kilometres per day through the spectacular National Park.

During the trip the students participated in abseiling, developed their mapping skills, learnt basic survival skills and the indigenous culture, climbed Mt Yudlamoora, met locals and experienced a lot of the wildlife.

Students were allocated jobs such as team captain, navigator, hygiene, cook etc. They had to overcome blisters, sore backs and more - all whilst managing their relationships within the group.

Students joined together to celebrate their journey with their parents, Operation Flinders representatives and community sponsors on Thursday 19 October where they were rewarded with certificates for their achievements. As a follow up, students chose to go paintballing as a group activity.

Some of our students involved this year are now looking at training to become peer mentors for future wilderness expeditions and/or working towards completing the Duke of Edinburgh program.

Well-done to the students for their achievements!

Tania Sigley | Wellbeing Coordinator

A full list of 2018 key dates will follow soon, but to assist with planning I inform our College community of dates to commence the academic year:

• Tuesday 23 January 2018  -  All Teaching Staff commence
• Thursday 25 January 2018  -  Book collection day
• Friday 26 January 2018  -  Australia Day Public Holiday
• Monday 29 January 2018  -  Reception, Years 6, 8, 10,11, 12 commence 
• Tuesday 30 January 2018 -   All other students commence.

You will note the staggered start to the commencement of the year for students. This approach will assist students in the identified year levels to complete the best possible transition processes with the relevant teaching and support staff. We also look forward to preparing transition programs that will accentuate our relationship with parents and carers in the support of student learning and wellbeing. 

• Tuesday 8.00am - 12.00pm
• Thursday 1.00pm - 5.00pm

Friday 27 October

• Year 12's last day of formal classes
• Year 12 Farewell Assembly and Morning Tea for families
• Saint Vinnie's Badge Day
• Junior School Rainbow Disco, 4.30pm, Saint Paul's Hall

Monday 30 October

• Year 12 SWOT VAC & Tutorial Week begins
• R-11 Parent Teacher Progress Conversations (Request only - until Thursday)
• High Performance Sports Program Information Evening, 5.30pm, PRC

Wednesday 1 November

• Year 11 Ecosystems Excursion, Piccaninne Ponds & Port MacDonnell
• Music Showcase, 6.30pm, Casadio Park

Thursday 2 November

• All Souls' Day
• Reception - Year 11 Parent Teacher Interviews

Friday 3 November

• Junior School Assembly, 2.15pm, Barrie Holmes Stadium
• Junior Poplars excursion to Penola

Sunday 4 November

• Family Mass, 11.00am, Saint Paul's Church

At recess today, Tenison Woods College staff and teachers hosted a morning tea to raise money and awareness for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the College community supported this with a delicious spread of pies, cupcakes and other delicious treats! $325 was raised from the morning tea and hopefully will go a little way to fund life-changing breast cancer research.

Planning for 2018 classes is about to begin in both the Junior and Middle School. Staff give deep and careful consideration to the class placement of students, ensuring the best and most informed educational and wellbeing decisions are made. At the beginning of Term 4, Junior and Middle Primary students will receive a note from class teachers regarding this process; please ensure that you discuss this with your child, sign and return the relevant section. Students currently in Years 8 and 9 will work with their home group teacher to identify and name those students who best support their learning at school.

If you feel there are exceptional and valid circumstances for your child that need to be considered, please address these in writing to Jill Rogers, Head of Junior School (R-5) at rogej@tenison.catholic.edu.au or Ian Ross, Head of Middle School (Years 6-9) at rossi@tenison.catholic.edu.au by Friday 27 October 2017 (end of Week 2, Term 4). Please note that requests for specific teachers are unable to be considered.

Thank you.

Jill Rogers | Head of Junior School
Ian Ross | Head of Middle School 

At the beginning of today students of all ages took part in a charity 'coin trail' - with the mission to create a line of coins the length of the College's White Avenue driveway! All money laid down on the coin trail would then go to benefit Catholic Charities Australia and the work they continue to do within our Community.

The coin trail was a hit and the response was so good that we're still counting the donations!

A reminder to families that we are asking each Senior School student to commence 2018 with their own laptop device. This means that there will not be loan devices in the PRC. There will however be a small number of day loan devices in the Library/resource hub to accommodate only temporary student ICT needs and issues. This small pool of loan devices will not be available for long-term use. 

In the Middle School from 2018, the current situation with devices in classrooms will continue, with students in years 8 and 9 being invited to participate in the BYOD program if they wish.

In the Middle School from 2019 we are asking each year 8 and 9 student to commence 2019 with their own laptop device.

For more information about the BYOD program, obtaining free Microsoft Office software and device options, please visit the Portal@TWC help site www.tenison.catholic.edu.au/portaltwc.  It is a wonderful resource prepared and curated by our committed ICT Support Team.

Keep an eye out for the Shining Light award recipient videos which are being featured on our Facebook page in the coming weeks.

See the wonderful stories of:

• Maurice Corcoran
• Natalie Medhurst
• Robert Peake
• Pauline Kenny
• Noel Bull

2018 Shining Lights?
Now who should be one of our 2018 Shining Lights?
Criteria and nomination forms are available on our website

David Mezinec | Principal

Well done to Hannah Elliott who won gold in the All Schools State Athletics Championships over the weekend. Hannah came first in the 2km Steeplechase and won a bronze in the 3000m, with a personal best time. Both performances qualify her to represent South Australia in the National Championships, held later on in the year and early 2018.

At Tenison Woods College, we are constantly reviewing our offerings and approach, refining as required, with the aim of ensuring that we offer our young the best possible opportunities and outcomes.

To this end I invite our parents/carers to participate in a Satisfaction Survey that will offer us data to reflect on the type of learning community we are creating and the type of issues we need to consider to make the College the best possible.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could take the time to complete the Parent Satisfaction Survey by Thursday 18 November. The link is below:

Parents: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/C3CK6NW

Thank you for your contribution and should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me on 08 8725 5455.

David Mezinec | Principal

Tenison Woods College
Shepherdson Road (PO Box 965)
Mount Gambier South Australia 5290

t: (08) 8725 5455 (Main Office)
f: (08) 8724 9303
t: (08) 8724 4650 (Senior School)
Absentee Line: (08) 8724 4659
OSHC Line: (08) 8724 4633

e: news@tenison.catholic.edu.au
w: www.tenison.catholic.edu.au

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