From the Classroom, Camps & Excursions
Students were guided across the dam wall and bridge then down to the pump station and natural creek beds. Practising and enhancing skills in field sketching and recording observations was also a focus for the fieldwork. Our sincerest thanks to Chris and the team from Clarence Valley Council for their support and for sharing their time, expertise and knowledge in the field.
Year 10 Geography Excursion
On Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th of February, our Year 10 Geographers completed their Fieldwork studies at the Environmental Learning Facility in South Grafton. The annual “Trip to the Tip” once again proved to be a conversation starter and eye-opener to a number of students as they discovered the waste management processes in the Clarence Valley.
Students further developed their geographical skills in observation, data collection and communication on the day. As part of the Year 10 course, students will complete further research to complete a Fieldwork Report to complement their studies in Environmental Change and Management. Our sincerest thanks to Suzanne Lynch and Clarence Valley Council for their expertise and guided walk, educating not only our students but the wider community in the sustainable management of our waste!
HeadSpace School Visit
On Wednesday 28th February, our Year 11 and 9 students attended a visit from the HeadSpace Grafton Team.
On Wednesday 28th February, a group of staff from our local HeadSpace visited the College. They spoke with Year 11 and Year 9 students, informing them about the services provided locally and suggestions for self-care specially designed around the needs and challenges of young people.
The students are to be congratulated on their excellent behaviour and participation. They gave answers to questions that showed insight and empathy. Thank you to Year 11 student Alicia Boehme, who capably thanked the presenters, one of whom had travelled from Adelaide to speak with our students.
Some ideas for self-care that people of any age can use include:
- Taking time out from busy work/study schedules to do the things we love (eg. walk the dog, phone a friend, send a funny meme, exercise, stroll under a tree, by the river or along the beach, take a bath)
- Being kind to ourselves in our self-talk (you’ve got this, things will get better, try again)
- Connect to others
Headspace Grafton is located at 59 Duke St Grafton (near Shoppingworld) and is a free service for 12-25 year olds. You can drop in and get support for study and work or just someone to talk to if you are struggling. Headspace also runs groups and holds events locally. It was good to see the faces of Claudia, Alison and Krista who provide support to young people right here in Grafton.
Year 9 students participated in a variety of activities throughout the day that targeted how the brain deals with stress along with how to deal with bullying. Students learnt about the limbic brain, cortex and brainstem relationship. Liam Adkin engaged with the presenter Paul and was happy to demonstrate one of the activities to his classmates. This helped the rest of the group get up and participate in some games that encourage standing up to bullying, reporting bullying and how to help out a friend who is in need.
Some ideas for bullying include:
- Check-in with a friend
- Let an adult know that bullying is occurring
- Use the MCC bullying confidential reporting survey on the student intranet
Some online national resources include:
- eSafety Commissioner
- Reachout Australia
- 13yarn
- 1800respect
- Kids Helpline
- QLife - LGBTIQ
- BeyondBlue
- Butterfly
Year 8 RE
The liturgical season of Lent is upon us once again, a 6-week period of time where we are able to focus on giving our faith life a spiritual 'spring-clean'.
Catholics take a three-pronged approach to this using the tools of prayer, fasting and almsgiving (works of charity) to help us realign ourselves to the example set by Christ in his own lifetime.
This year as in previous ones, Caritas, a Catholic aid agency, is running its Project Compassion initiative. At McAuley over the last couple of weeks, Year 8 students have risen splendidly to push the practice of prayer and almsgiving across our community. Each week throughout Lent, the Year 8 RE classes will take turns to draw our collective attention to the needs of others by developing prayers to be shared across the school in homeroom and classes. Additionally, they are working in small groups to run fundraising initiatives over lunchtime to encourage and enable everyone to engage in living out the Greatest Commandment of showing love for God and love for our neighbour.
Last week 8RE1 set through their various ideas of running cake stalls and selling small lolly bags. The community responded generously to these efforts enabling the class to collectively raise over $200.
8RE2 has now taken up the mantle and we look forward to sharing their and the other classes' results over the course of this term.
Project Compassion
We have created a school profile on the Caritas website, as an alternative way for both students and parents to donate towards our Project Compassion initiative. There are posters around the school with the QR code as well as on each homeroom's Project Compassion box. Here is the link as well: https://schools.
Last week we explored another great Project Compassion fundraising activity by selling tickets for our Easter Egg raffle. The winner will be drawn at the Easter Liturgy during week 9.
