I mentioned in last week’s Calling that Ash Wednesday began our Lenten journey, a significant season for our faith and Church. In last Sunday’s Gospel reading, the first week of Lent, we heard the story of Jesus going into the desert alone for 40 days and nights to face Satan and his temptations. This reading can hold true to each of us as well in our own daily lives. Jesus’s journey to desert was one where he chose to wrestle with the powers of evil alone before he returned to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom to all. Going into the desert is significant. Deserts are, by nature, lonely and wild places. Alone, one can feel isolated, vulnerable, unsafe and afraid. The same feelings can be true when we spend time truly confronting our own temptations and obstacles in life. Very often, they can be so overwhelming that we might feel that we cannot overcome them alone. That is very much the point of this Gospel reading, Jesus confronted the demons through prayer. We are invited to turn to God to help us meet these challenges through prayer and reflection. In our Church, Lent is also very much connected to our baptism story. At our baptism we are invited into a relationship with Christ. This relationship promises us a means of salvation and way of living. We are not alone in meeting our obstacles. The season of Lent is also a season of Joy for the Church because it is also a season of promise. It can be a turning point in our own lives where we reflect upon the obstacles that we face and work to overcome them and in doing so develop deeper relationship with our God. Last week we spoke of looking to what we might need to change or add to make our own life better and fuller. This week we speak of developing a deeper relationship with Christ and our own faith to help us overcome the obstacles and meet these challenges that we have identified.

In my letter forwarded to all parents at the beginning of the year, and at the parent information evenings that we ran in the first two weeks of school, I was very particular about how we communicate within the St Patrick’s College community. I was also very particular about mentioning social media websites, particularly Facebook pages, that are set up externally to our own College communication channels. I am aware that there are many such pages that are set up by parents within different year levels. It is our preference that these pages not be set up as they can cause confusion about what is happening within each year level at school and sometimes give out incorrect information. These pages are also not to have any comments, documents, pictures or logos that might make them appear to be administered by our school. To ensure that our parent body is well informed, we have set up many social media platforms so that parents can access information directly from the school. It is also important for the administrators of such sites to understand their own responsibilities in offering such a platform. I have recently been informed that some of these sites have allowed for names of members of our community to be used without their permission. This is certainly not something that this College would condone, and it is my hope that such practices would cease immediately, and at the very least the administrators of the sites would remove them straight away. It is an unfortunate reality that these sites have caused some angst amongst different school communities and I would hate to see such practices creep into our school. I would urge any members of our community who may have concerns regarding the sites to please contact me or Mrs Jackie Upton.

During this week, our Year 5 and Year 7 students have participated in their school camps. Whilst the weather was not as cooperative as we would have liked, I hope that each young man had an enjoyable camp experience. I would also like to thank the many staff members, from both the teaching and support staff, for giving their time from their own families to allow these opportunities for our students.

During this week, all the College Principals from AIC schools met with staff from the University of Queensland (UQ) regarding the AIC Sport Review. The meeting was held over a full day and the purpose was twofold. Firstly, the UQ staff tabled their final report to the Principals. Secondly, the College Principals worked together and with the UQ staff to develop a mission, philosophy and vision for the AIC sporting competition into the future. This will become a determining factor when considering the recommendations and actions from the report. It is still hoped that new changes will be introduced in 2019.

I would also like to congratulate our Senior B Chess team for winning the B Grade Division of the Brisbane Secondary Schools Chess Championships held at Church of England Grammar School (Churchie) on Tuesday. The team comprised Jack Tobe, Sean Grew-Figuerola, Oliver Howe and Oscar O’Brien. Our Senior A team consisting of Jack Bolton, Ben Peachey, River Brunsmann and Mason Brown also performed admirably in their competition. There were some very impressive results from both teams against strong opposition from EQ, Independent and Catholic schools across Brisbane.

As hard as it is to believe, we are now in the middle week of the term. There should be absolutely no excuses from your son about not getting any homework or for not getting into a routine to complete his homework and study/revision. The exams that they undertake at the end of the term will most likely include knowledge of information and use of skills that they would have been given throughout the term. It will be much easier for them to remember these and utilise the skills if they have been practiced over a longer period of time and in a more consistent manner. At this stage, all students, apart from Year 5, have set target results for the semester. Please ask your son for these targets, if he has not already shown them to you. We need to continually reinforce that the targets can be met, if they are realistic, through persistence and attitude to work and the right amount of effort.

Mr Chris Mayes – College Principal

Assessment calendars for Semester 1 are complete. Teachers will have linked their class pages to the Calendar which will give students access to their own individual assessment timetable. I have also uploaded the entire Calendar to the Teaching and Learning page on Realm. There is a separate tile for each year level. If you do experience any issues seeing your son’s Calendar on his Realm page, then please access the Calendar in the relevant tile on the teaching and Learning page.

Last week at assembly, I had the pleasure of speaking with old boy Matt Fegan about the After School Tutoring Program that is run on Tuesday afternoons for Year 10-12 students. I have included part of the interview transcript below.

Your tutoring is on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Where and when is it on?

So we work in the library from right after school through to 5:00pm on Tuesdays and Fridays.

How does it work? Do you teach lessons?

At the moment we really try to get as much one-on-one time with each student as possible. The advantage to tutoring comes purely from the fact that we don’t teach ‘lessons’ but rather work individually with the boys on the problem they’re facing.

We are focusing on Year 10-12 students, are you just working with students who are struggling or is it open to anyone?

We are open to absolutely anyone and everyone. Tutoring is not just for those boys who are really struggling but just about anyone who is looking to improve their grades.

I believe a number of quite capable students do attend - why would they go?

The thing about great students is that they’re constantly looking for ways to improve. The great thing about tutoring at the moment is that we’ve really got a great team comprised of Mr Greenfield, an OP 1 from last year Pearson Locke and myself and so no matter the calibre of student that attends tutoring, we can guarantee them really solid advice and mentoring for all aspects of their study.

What is the attendance usually like at the tutoring. Do you get many students?

At the start of the semester numbers are usually moderate but we definitely see more and more students attending as exam and assignment deadlines loom.

Is there a particular year level that goes the most?

I definitely would say that this year it has to be the Year 12’s. They’ve really lead by example and taken the initiative to come in early and get ahead on their studies.

With the enormous commitments that face some of our students, how is it possible that they can find time to attend tutoring? They tend to work very hard already?

Yeah, that’s a very good question and probably what I want to stress most to the boys out there today. At school we’re constantly told that the way to good grades is just plain, simple hard work. Whilst this is true, I feel it is equally important to work smart. Working smart really means making the most of the time you give to your studies. Tutoring is a great tool to do just this. We can ensure that you are focused and working on the task, so that you can make the most out of that study period.

Is it true that often a student is quite academically capable but is not performing due to a dip in morale? If so how can Tutoring help those who are overwhelmed?

Yeah, so tutoring really helps specifically with this dip in morale. We really try to tailor our approach to each student individually and work at a pace they can keep up with. One of the major problems students will often face with maths is just not knowing where to start or where their skill set is lacking when tackling a problem. We’ll take you through all the stages step by step and make sure that even any holes in your knowledge from earlier years and addressed and corrected.

I know you believe that tutoring can actually save you time? Why do you think that? Surely attending tutoring requires a time commitment from the outset?

Here I’m really going to talk about the dangers of procrastination and how and why tutoring can eliminate or at least minimise procrastination in the study process.

You believe that tutoring can actually create a better life work balance?

Absolutely, tutoring will help in getting you to work smarter, leaving more time for other areas of your life. To be honest this is why I’d encourage students of all levels to come. You might be an OP1 candidate but maybe we can get you working smarter so you have time to play sport with your mates on the weekend or socialise more.

What if students dismissed the idea on the grounds that you, Pearson and Mr Greenfield are naturally gifted in maths so it comes easy to you?

This is definitely something that’s brought to my attention by a lot of students. Often we’ll have students come in for their first tutoring session and within the first couple of minutes say something along the lines of ‘I’m not maths minded’. This is something I’d really like to stress today in that – your natural ability plays one of the smallest roles in influencing the success you’ll have in a subject. Personally, at school I struggled immensely in English, particularly in middle school from Year 9-11. What often we see in students is that they see their current success in a subject and a reflection of them personally which is simply not the case at all. When I was getting poor grades in English I really looked at the steps I needed to put in place to succeed. I became more organised, I sought more feedback form my teachers and I took the initiative to learn where and why my writing was lacking. The comparison I’d really like to draw is to playing a sport. I’m sure coaches like Mr Oxford can testify that you’ll never make first’s rugby on 50% effort and likewise you’ll never be the best possible student you can be if you’re not putting in the extra effort. The things that make certain students great at subjects are often the things most students would never realise or see. They listen closely in class as opposed to chatting with their mates, they’re organised early on in the term and they are willing to ask questions when they know their skills are lacking. An idea I heard in recent weeks was that “We don’t fear procrastination because we’ll never get to see what we’d be without it”. Most of the students here would be amazed with the standard they could get to academically if they just learnt to work efficiently. At tutoring, whilst we can help specifically with the subjects you’re struggling with we also can offer advice for how you’re going with school in general and how you can improve. We can make you achieve better results than you thought might be possible and thus it’s really a resource I’m hoping that the boys will take advantage of.

Mr Chris Campbell – Dean of Teaching and Learning

O God of love, we ask you to give us love,
Love in our thinking, love in our speaking,
Love in our doing,
And love in the hidden places of our souls:
Love of those with whom we find it hard to bear,
And of those who find it hard to bear with us,
Love of those with whom we work,
And love those with whom we take our ease,
That so at length we may be worthy to dwell with you
Who are eternal love

William Temple 1881 – 1944

There is a temptation, during the Season of Lent as we make an effort to get our lives in order before Easter, that we become gloomy and put on a sad face. The readings for the Church’s liturgy for Ash Wednesday remind us that we must be aware of this. In the Greek Orthodox tradition one of the great spiritual writers urges us to take on as our first priority during the Lenten fast to give up negativity, anger and self-righteous judging of others (always challenging). Jesus’ answer is to always seek authenticity within ourselves and in our relationships, to turn the focus off ourselves and onto others, and ultimately to reach out to God (who is love) to carry us through those things we cannot do by our own strength.

Over the next few weeks the boys will be invited to contribute food items to Emergency Food Packs for Sandbag, this will be done through Tutor Groups, one at a time. These packs contain simple food staples that will help people out in emergency situations. Each week Sandbag distributes 6-8 packs to people in immediate need in our local area. Sometimes we overlook the levels of poverty that exist right here in our own neighbourhoods.

The recent school shooting in America has shocked the whole world and has dragged up the continuing issue of gun control in the USA. As I reflect about it I think about how violence is such a part of life for young people today. There is a constant challenge for all of us. Last year when Archbishop Coleridge visited St Patrick’s he spoke about our College motto ‘Fight the Good Fight’ and then he added “to create and not to destroy”, a challenge for us all.

There is a great article about a Catholic Parish in Parkland Florida responding in love the after the Massacre here:

America Magazine

Coming up in Identity:

• Wednesday morning Mass in the Fr Liam Chapel at 8:00am. Everyone is welcome.
• Paddy’s Van ministry
• Year 6 Retreat Friday 2 March in the Christian Brothers Building
• International Women’s Day – 8 March
• St Patrick’s Day 17 March, our College celebration will be on Friday 16 March

Mr Tim Kenny – Dean of Identity