Week 6 of term 2, first week of winter, 4 weeks left in the term, 14 weeks of classes left for year 12s this year – how quickly time goes by.

Last week, over 400 Year 7 and 8 students represented the College in a variety of sports - Badminton, Football, Soccer, Netball and Basketball - at the Goulburn Murray District Inter School Sport Carnivals. Our students represented Notre Dame College well and were successful in winning the carnival for most of the competitions for the day. Our successful teams will now move to the Hume Region Carnivals over the coming months. I acknowledge the work of our Sports Coordinators to ensure this day happens smoothly for all the teams.

This week we celebrated World Environment Day on Wednesday with our amazing Terra Tomodachi team launching its “No Soft Plastics on the Oval” initiative. This simple change is already helping reduce waste and showing respect for our neighbours and College environment. Our Terra Tomodachi team, led by Mr Phil Guthrie and our student sustainability leaders, have really made a positive impact on the awareness of our stewardship of resources across the College Community with their initiatives.

This Friday we celebrate the Feast Day of Marcellin Champagnat. Marcellin, a man of great compassion and simplicity, was the founder of the Marist Brothers, the founders of St Coleman’s and an order that we are still closely affiliated with. Our Faith and Ministry team have muffins for sale at Knight St and Emmaus on Friday, with proceeds going to support Catholic Missions Australia.

As we come to the final weeks of semester one, there will be assessments happening in most classes. It’s important that students have effective home study schedules so that they can complete the assessments on time and also, if they are in senior year levels, in order to prepare for the upcoming exams. Exam preparation is successful when students revise regularly, often, and for short periods of time. Long revision sessions close to exam dates has been shown to be inafective for memory retrieval. Now is the time to get started.

I am sure families are looking forward to the long weekend as much as the Collage staff. Being mid term, it’s a great time to relax and recharge for the coming weeks.

Keep warm and enjoy the break.

Emma Reynoldson

Acting Principal