Term 3, Week 3 Newsletter

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers of the Mary Help of Christians Catholic College Community,

I sincerely hope that Term 3 has started well for you and your family.

On the evening of Monday, 28 July at the Cathedral, we celebrated Laura King, our Spirit of Catholic Education Award Nominee for 2025. Laura is an incredibly worthy recipient, nominated in the category of showing outstanding integrity in leading a school community or program. It was wonderful to celebrate alongside Laura and her family, who were beaming with pride.

Thank you Laura for your leadership and integrity. We are blessed to have you leading Inclusive Practices at our College.

High Achievers Morning Tea

We acknowledged our Semester 1 High Achievers at the recent Principal’s Morning Tea. The names of these students are listed in the Learning and Thinking section, as we also celebrated them in assembly with their fellow students.

During the morning tea, I asked the students to share what makes them such successful learners and why they are able to answer the call to learning so effectively.

These were some of the common points that were made by these high achievers:

• They were motivated learners, recognising that tasks/study has to be done and that learning needs to be prioritised and balanced with other commitments, such as sport.
• They were regular or prolific readers, often reading for more than an hour each day.
• They experienced high expectations at home around their learning.

It was wonderful to affirm them for letting their light shine brightly in our community.

Digital Citizenship

At the “From Surviving to Thriving” Parent Information Evening, I spoke with families about the importance of Digital Citizenship. I also covered this important topic again with students during assembly time. This is a recap of the points covered to support you in working with your child to become positive digital citizens.

When it comes to digital citizenship, we need your support

At our College, we have chosen in the junior years to have school-issued devices to facilitate learning, both at school and at home.

Whether the device is school-issued or BYOD, we must recognise that our Year 7 students are digital citizens and that this is an ongoing learning journey which is characterised by great benefits and potential challenges and dangers.

Let’s start with  a big question - Do you know what your child is using their device for? 

As a parent, you have a right to know. You’re not intruding - even though it may feel that way.

• During school hours:

• Device use should be strictly learning-related. 
• Discourage communication via email/messenger during class time. 

Please be aware that students are not permitted to use their Chromebooks to communicate socially with each other or to email parents during the school day. 

• Outside school hours:

• School-issued devices and email addresses should not be used for personal correspondence/social media.
• Consider whether social media is necessary/appropriate for your child. Once at home - students could be using their device inappropriately, so please consider setting boundaries and agreements around this. (Lesley Hutton, our Guidance Counsellor, provided advice in the Term 2, Week 10 newsletter).

Let’s talk more about the topic of Social Media

Social media-related issues are an area that continue to require our intervention and support at the college. 

We  have very clear guidelines around the use of mobile phones at school and the use of the college-issued Chromebook, being for learning purposes.  The students have been made aware of these rules and expectations many times, along with proactive sessions such as the Being Kind Online session, facilitated by a presenter from the Townsville Catholic Education Student Protection Team.

Did you know that the current guidelines for the use of social media is 13+ and is moving to 16+ in December 2025?

Across Australia, young people under 16 will be banned from social media after the Government passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024. 

The Bill’s objective is to protect children and young people from the harmful impacts of social media.

This new legislation is setting a minimum age limit of 16+ for social media platforms including: Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X.

This Bill is part of a broader set of reforms, including a new Digital Duty of Care which was announced on 13 November, and will place a legal obligation on digital platforms to take proactive steps to protect all Australians.

The decisions our young people are making online are often related to unhealthy friendships, the need to “fit in,” and too much time on devices, leading to boredom and engaging in unhealthy and inappropriate conversations with others. 

This legislative change is certainly a good move, as we see time and time again that our younger students are not mature enough to make good and right decisions online and that it is a space where we need to be exercising more protection for young people. It provides a good mark in time expected change of behaviour for students who may currently have access to these social media platforms. 

Communication Update

Now that we have our first semester of college life behind us, we have taken time to reflect and look at the engagement data on our communication with you.

As a college, we are always mindful that communication is clear and accessible, with Compass as our main tool of college-parent communication.

Our College Website is running and we are very active on our College Facebook page. We will soon extend to Instagram as well.

In terms of planned communication, we have reviewed and will provide the following communication:

• What’s On tile - weekly email to families via Compass and posted to socials
• Year 7 Update - fortnightly email to families via Compass from Pastoral Leader
• College Newsletter - three times a term - generally at the beginning, middle and end of term

We welcome your feedback regarding our communication processes at any time.

Staffing Update

This term we welcomed the highly experienced and capable Lucy Royes to the Business Manager role, along with Erica Genrich, who is a wonderful addition to the administration team in the office.

Camryn Bentley has also joined the staff as a School Officer, Assisting Student Learning to our community.

Finally, at the end of Week 5, Jazmine Manoff will take 12 months maternity leave. We wish Jazmine and her family all the best as they prepare to welcome their little bundle of joy to the world.

Blessings.

Mardi Grubba
Principal

Catholic Identity, Mission and Wellbeing

Catholic Education Week

This week, our College community has joined with all Catholic schools across Queensland to celebrate Catholic Education Week. This week celebrates the unique contribution made by Catholic schools to the social and cultural fabric of our state – through the provision of high-quality, faith-filled education, our Catholic schools allow our students to flourish and to use their talents in service of the world around them. 

The Catholic Education Week theme for 2025 is “Communities of faith, hope and love” – three characteristics that we aspire to achieve in all Catholic schools. We will reflect on this theme in our prayer service during our Year Level Assembly on Friday.

In recognition of this year’s special status as a Jubilee year, the symbol of a scallop shell has been used in the logo and in a range of events celebrating Catholic Education Week. The theme for the 2025 Jubilee is “Pilgrims of Hope,” encouraging all of us to continue our journey towards a hope-filled future. The scallop shell is a symbol of one of the most famous pilgrimages in Catholic tradition, the Camino de Santiago. It is used as a waymarker, guiding pilgrims towards their goal; in Catholic Education Week, we can see the combination of faith and education offered by Catholic schools as a waymarker, guiding us towards a hope-filled future.

A highlight of the week has been the Catholic Education Week Mass, held at the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Tuesday. Students Sofia and Tyson represented us admirably as we joined with the 29 other Catholic schools from our Diocese to reflect on and celebrate the gift of Catholic education. Our Bishop, Timothy Harris, gave us much food for thought as we contemplated the role of Catholic education in our lives.

Mr Graham Joseph 
Assistant Principal - Catholic Identity, Mission and Wellbeing 

Learning and Thinking

Called to Learning

At our most recent college assembly, we highlighted the three pillars of our college motto: Called to Learning, Service, and Compassion. Our college motto is not just ‘words on a wall’ — it is a daily invitation to live with purpose.

During the assembly, I asked students to consider how they can live out the pillar of Called to Learning by being curious, resilient and striving for personal excellence in all they do.  I also spoke with students about the idea of ‘effort behind excellence’ and encouraged students to reflect on the deliberate choices they make each day in their learning journey. My main message was that achieving personal excellence in anything is not accidental — it is the result of deliberate and consistent effort, curiosity, and resilience. These qualities are not only celebrated in our classrooms but are foundational to the way we live out our faith and values at Mary Help of Christians Catholic College.

Reflection and goal setting

To assist with the process of reflection and goal setting, all students recently completed an academic reflection using their Semester 1 Reports, examining their own attendance statistics, application to learning, personal and social responsibility, and academic achievement.  Students were encouraged to set meaningful goals and make plans to improve or maintain their ability to allow their light to shine brightly in our community. All students were asked to take the completed reflection home and share it with their parents/carers.  Have you seen your child’s reflection?  It is worth discussing this with them, as young people generally take their cues about the value of things like effort from their parents/carers.

I also discussed the importance of action planning to support goal setting and shared a quote by French writer, poet, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: "A goal without a plan is just a wish."  I challenged each learner to identify three key actions they can take to improve—whether that means changing a habit, continuing a positive behaviour, or committing to a small change for the better.  If learners focus on small wins — and can string a series of small wins together — before you know it, they will have achieved a big win.  We can all improve, not because we are not good enough, but because we can be even better.

Semester 1 High Achievers

At our recent assembly, we also celebrated our Semester 1 High Achievers, acknowledging students who have demonstrated outstanding academic commitment and achievement. Their success is a testament to the power of small, intentional actions that build over time. 

Congratulations to the following students, who achieved an A in at least four subjects, with no less than a B in their other subjects, on their Semester 1 Reports:

• Alice M. (7 Kolbe)
• Maxton H. (7 MacKillop)
• Paige T. (7 Frassati)
• Ariel W. (7 Kolbe)
• Trae M. (7 Bakhita)
• Logan B. (7 MacKillop)
• Aaryan J. (7 MacKillop)
• Caleb S. (7 Romero)

Mr Paul Allan
Deputy Principal - Learning and Thinking

College Administration

Year 7 Immunisations - Thursday 4th September 2025

The Queensland School Immunisation Program offers every Year 7 student in Queensland free immunisation against human papillomavirus (HPV) and diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough). Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough) is a combined vaccine (dTpa) and is given as one injection. 

Signed parent / legal guardian / authorised person consent for the vaccines is required. Students will not be administered the vaccines without consent.

Vaccination consent cards were distributed to all students on Friday 25 July, 2025 and are due to be returned to the college office or PCG Teacher by Friday 1 August 2025. 

To make sure all Year 7 students are offered the opportunity to participate, the Public Health Act 2005 authorises school principals to disclose student and parent information to the Queensland School Immunisation Program provider so they can follow up with parents / legal guardians or authorised persons of students who do not return a Vaccination Consent card.

Co-Curricular Update

2025 Athletics Carnival

We were truly blessed with fine weather for our first Athletics Carnival, making for a fun and memorable day for all involved. It was wonderful to see all our students participating wholeheartedly in every event and supporting one another, regardless of which house they belonged to.

A huge thank you to all the staff who contributed to the success of the day. Athletics carnivals don’t happen without an incredible team behind them, and I am deeply grateful to the amazing staff at Mary’s who always come together to make these days run smoothly.

Congratulations to MacKillop House for being crowned our Overall House Champions, and to Frassati House for taking out the Spirit Award!

A special congratulations also goes to our Age Champions and Runners Up:

• 12 Girls Age Champion: Kalaney W.
  
  
• 12 Girls Runner Up: Blair B.
  
  
• 13 Girls Age Champion: Araylla H.
  
  
• 13 Girls Runner Up: Naledi M.
  
  
• 12 Boys Age Champion: Isaac P.
  
  
• 12 Boys Runner Up: Tyler H.
  
  
• 13 Boys Age Champion: Logan B.
  
  
• 13 Boys Runner Up: Quinn F.
  

Well done to everyone who participated and contributed to such a successful and spirited day!

Kind regards
Lisa Arnold

Guidance Counsellor

National Child Protection Week is coming!

National Child Protection Week falls in week 9 of term 3 (7- 13 September). The theme for this year builds on last year’s focus and is ‘Every Conversation Matters: Shifting Conversation to Action’.

According to NAPCAN “This theme highlights that while open discussions are crucial, words alone are not enough: we must turn dialogue into meaningful action. NAPCAN acknowledges that while conversations can raise awareness, challenge harmful norms, and spark new ideas, real change happens when we take steps to create safer environments for children that prevent them from harm. This year, we are focusing on moving beyond conversations to concrete actions that prevent harm and instead, focussing on strengthening support systems, and empowering communities to actively protect children. By shifting from conversation to action, we can ensure that every child not only feels heard but also experiences real safety, care, and protection.”

Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024

In November 2024, Australia’s Parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024. The bill was introduced to address ongoing concerns about the impacts of children’s access to social media platforms.

The Online Safety Amendment amends the Online Safety Act 2021. It’s designed to create specific requirements for children’s access to social media platforms, the most notable being a ban for children in Australia under age 16 from holding accounts on these platforms. Companies operating affected social media platforms will be expected to introduce and enforce age gating to prevent children from using the platforms.

This new legislation comes into effect in December 2025. You can find out more here:
https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions

Meet the Staff

Erica Genrich
School Officer

What is your role at the college?
Administration/ Student Services 

What did you do before joining Mary Help of Christians?

I worked at Ryan Catholic College for the last 5 years in the Inclusive Education department.

A couple of fun or interesting facts about you?

I have 3 children. Love going away on camping trips in our caravan.
Also love going out in our boat fishing or water skiing. 

What do you love about working at Mary Help of Christians?

What I love most about working at Mary Help of Christians is the strong sense of community among the staff, students and families. Being part of an environment where values like compassion, service and respect are important.