Term 3, Week 5, Newsletter - Thurs 24 August 2017

Written on the 23 August 2017 by Rostrevor College

From the Principal

Mr Damian Messer
Principal

WELCOME TO THE CHURCH

Being part of a community is something that we all encounter on a regular basis.  Last Sunday, a group of our young men were welcomed into the Catholic Community by his Grace Archbishop Philip Wilson at Tranmere Parish during their Confirmation ceremony.  Here at Rostrevor, our commitment to Catholicism is what helps us to be who we are and to be given the pleasure of being present at this extremely important ceremony was a gift to me.  As the Faith Leader of our community, I was extremely proud of the way the young men engaged with their sponsor, family and friends and certainly hope they feel very welcomed.  I wish them well for their First Communion over the coming weekend. 

MARIAN MASS

The Christian Brothers have always had a strong devotion to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and the College honours that tradition at its annual Marian Mass.  When we gather as community to celebrate Eucharist, it signifies one of the most important parts of our daily life and I would like to thank all those who so willingly participated in what was a wonderful celebration.  I would especially like to thank all our parents and friends who took the time to join us.  As always, a highlight of the celebration was the acknowledgement of the important part the women in our lives play in helping us in our holistic journey in life. 

NEW ROSTREVOR PRINCIPAL 2018

Earlier this week you received a communication announcing the new Rostrevor principal for 2018, Mr Brian Schumacher.  I have been in contact with Brian this week to congratulate him and have organised the start of our transition process to ensure the smooth continuation of the Rostrevor community.  I am sure there will be an opportunity later in the year for Brian to be introduced to our community and to engage with you all.

YEAR 11 SEMI-FORMAL

A young man's journey into manhood takes many twists and turns but last week our Year 11 boys were given an opportunity to experience the responsibilities that go with inviting a young lady out to a formal event.  I am pleased to report that the evening was a great success and our young men certainly played their part.  This was somewhat due to the support and etiquette training that the boys received in the lead up to the event from Mrs Maria De Ieso, who provided the boys with an entertaining look at the importance that etiquette plays in our lives.  This challenged some of our young men but I can assure you that they did rise to the challenge.  A big thank you to the Development Office and the Wellbeing Office for the support of this function.  I am sure the boys are looking forward to the culmination at next year's Principal's Ball. 

END OF WINTER SPORTS

After 15 weeks of sporting engagement, this weekend marks the end of our Co-Curricular Winter Season.  It is a thankless task being involved in any way in the corralling of young men into a sporting endeavour, but here at Rostrevor we are extremely fortunate to have such wonderful volunteers who, each week, play their parts as coaches, managers, water boys, coffee makers, or just plain cheering on the sidelines.  On behalf of the College, I would like to acknowledge all who played any part in supporting our teams this year.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

The final House majeure carnival for the Secondary boys will take place on Friday at the SANTOS Arena with the annual House Athletics Carnival.  This standards-based carnival will provide all boys with the opportunity to earn vital points for their House as we move toward the final stage of deciding who will win the elusive House shield this year.  I look forward to tomorrow with great enthusiasm and invite parents to join me in the stands if they wish to watch the event.  A reminder that our Junior Years Athletics Carnival will take place on our Big Memorial oval on Friday 8th September 2017. 

BOOK WEEK

The Junior Campus boys will be in fine form tomorrow at our annual Book Week Parade.  I am excited to see which characters the boys choose.  It always intrigues me to ask the question of how they came up with their costume and what character inspired their decision.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Fathers a very Happy Father's Day on Sunday 3rd September.

Yours in Edmund
Damian Messer
Principal

From Leadership

Mr Frank Ranaldo
Deputy Principal

Cyber Safety/Cyber Bullying

A fundamental belief for Catholic schools in the Edmund Rice tradition is that Jesus is seen in God's image and likeness in its human expression, and that Jesus' values and teachings show all people 'the way, the truth and the life' (John 14:6). In harmony with this acceptance and as reflected by the Touchstones, values to be fostered within Rostrevor College's understanding and practice of pastoral care and student wellbeing include love, respect, compassion, reconciliation, justice and solidarity, tolerance, forgiveness and inclusivity.

The pastoral care of students in this context refers to action taken by the College and all its members to support and enhance student wellbeing of a personal, physical, social, emotional, mental or spiritual nature. One such school-wide initiative includes the promotion of cyber safety and the stance taken against cyber bullying.

The internet offers the chance to explore a virtually unlimited world without the restraints of the 'real' world; additionally, content on the internet is not broken into age or developmentally appropriate areas. Without supervision and guidance, a young child can either unintentionally or purposely, find content that is disturbing, explicit or inappropriate. Subsequently, Rostrevor College, working alongside parents, helps facilitate the education of its students with regard to appropriate use of technology.

In partnership with SAPOL, all Year 5-9 students attended a seminar on cyber safety and cyber bullying. Officers from Eastern Adelaide Crime Prevention Section visited our school, running two separate sessions including an opportunity for students to ask questions.

This is the fourth year of our involvement with SAPOL, something we are grateful for. As part of our Pastoral Care Program, SAPOL also deliver 'A Guide To Obtaining Your L's and P's' and 'Drugs and Alcohol' presentations to our Year 10 and 9 students respectively.

Course Counselling (Year 11 into 12 and Year 10 to 11)

It was wonderful to see so many families at the Subject Counselling Evening on Tuesday evening for families of students in Years 10 and 11. We hope that the guidance offered by counsellors assisted you and your son with selecting appropriate subjects for 2018.

This evening is the culmination of five weeks of preparation for subject selection for 2018. We believe that this process is particularly thorough and ensures that students have given thought to post-school options and have considered appropriate courses of study at Year 11 and/or Year 12.

Your son/s will be notified of their confirmed course for 2018 in mid-November. At this time, there will be a small window of opportunity for students to tweak their courses, although we don't expect that there will be too many given our counselling process. This becomes even more difficult next year, when classes may be full. It is worth emphasising once again the importance of selecting appropriate subjects with careful consideration of strengths and weaknesses as well as meeting tertiary requirements.  

2018 Prefect Selection

As I write we are in the process of finalising prefect selection for 2018. It has been an extensive process and this is to ensure that we select students who are best suited for these very important roles.

Our approach to leadership at Rostrevor College is based on the model of the servant leadership, which acknowledges that every student has the capacity to exercise leadership. This model is one where those in leadership roles seek to enrich the experience of others through their service. This model of leadership reflects the values as a Catholic College in the Edmund Rice Tradition.

Applicants were required to complete an application form, with endorsement by parents and two teachers, one being the Pastoral Care teacher. During the process we have taken into account the views of both students and staff, we have met with the Heads of House for details of students' involvement at House level and leadership capacity and we have perused attendance and academic achievement data.

Elsewhere in this newsletter you will read the announcement of the 2018 Prefect group. I would like to offer my personal congratulations to these fine young men and wish them every success with their leadership endeavours for 2018. The nomination and selection process was rigorous and families should be justifiably proud of their son's selection to the 2018 Prefect body.

We now look forward to heading off on our Leadership Camp from Sunday 17 to Tuesday 19 September. 

In any process such as this, some people miss out. Most people who fall into this category will feel hurt, and this is only natural. This can also turn into anger against the College, teachers or the peers who were successful. Therefore, it is important that one takes the time to reflect on what has happened. It is important to be positive and not to dwell on the negative, instead concentrate on improving your abilities to prepare for the next opportunity, for example the House Vice-Captain role. Students who have missed out on one of the Prefect positions will be invited to meet with me for some feedback.

The challenge for all students is to seek leadership opportunities offered at Rostrevor; this is not only for those boys who have leadership aspirations but also for those who just want to give it a try. In closing, remember one does not need a badge or a title to be a leader and to serve.

God bless.
Frank Ranaldo
Deputy Principal

On Monday, 15 August the Church celebrated the Feast Day of the Assumption of Our Lady when according to our faith, the Holy Mother, "having completed her course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory".

Although defined as an article of faith by Pope Pius XII just over half a century ago, the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven has been accepted from back to the earliest of Christian times.

The Assumption signals the end of Mary's earthly life and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus. While the bodies of both Jesus and Mary are now in heaven, there is a difference between the Assumption and the Resurrection. Where Jesus arose from the tomb and ascended into heaven by his own power, Mary's body was taken up to heaven by the power of her Son.

For this reason, we use different words to describe each event. One is the Ascension of Christ and the other, the Assumption of Mary.

Here at Rostrevor we celebrated our Marian day on this feast. As well as focussing on the Assumption we look at the role of Mary in our Christian tradition. Mary was the first person to say yes to God in her life in the Christian era by agreeing to be the Mother of Jesus. Hence we accord her special honour. We also mark the day by celebrating the special women in our lives. Each woman at our mass received a flower to mark this. Thanks to Fr Peter Rozitis for leading our mass. 

Assumption of Mary into Heaven

Junior Years

Senior Years Co-Curricular News

Mr Jeff Fischer
Head of Co-Curricular

Last Saturday marked the final round of competition for many of the Rostrevor senior teams and several middle school teams. It was great to see so many families around the College and at away venues to support the Rossie boys in their various competitions.  It was also great to see teams show their appreciation to the many old collegians, parents and Rostrevor staff who give so generously of their time to impart their knowledge of the game to Rostrevor boys. Whilst it does not always go smoothly, we are lucky to have a contingent of dedicated coaches who truly embrace the opportunity to work with the young men enrolled at Rostrevor.

In the coming weeks, the coaches will tally their votes and make a decision to award one player from each team as MVP for the various activities.  The winter co-curricular assembly will be held on Friday 15th September and the boys who have been selected to receive an award will receive notification in the mail. 

1st XVIII Football

Goal Kickers: Jacob Kennerley 6 goals, Harry Petty 2 goals, Dylan Fitzsimons, Tom Tacono, Tom McCormack, Ben Jarvis, Mihail Lochowiak and Flynn Pisani 1 goal each

Best Players: Jacob Kennerley, Harry Petty, Mitch Gum, Flynn Pisani, Tom McCormack

Game Summary:

Our Rd 12 game was our final game for the season against Immanuel at their home ground. The oval held up well after the weekly rain and other than a slight breeze favouring the one end, the game was played in good conditions.

We went into the game with a few key players missing through injury and illness but it provided us an opportunity to play a high number of year 12 boys in their final College game together.  Immanuel were also keen to send their year 12s off on a good note and they certainly came to play as their pressure and leg speed posed us some problems throughout the game.

The game pretty much mirrored our season where we had moments where our football was outstanding and other moments in the game where we didn't work hard enough, allowing the opposition momentum. The first quarter was very even in which Immanuel had the breeze. We had plenty of the ball in the first quarter but tended to overuse the ball by hand a little too much.

In the second quarter, we started to get the game more on our terms as we started to win the contest and get our outside run going. We managed to play the majority of the quarter in our front half allowing us to go into the half-time break with a solid 20-point lead. After half-time, we came out very slow, as if we thought we had already done enough. This had been a pattern all season despite trying different things to improve our 2nd half starts. Immanuel were all over us for the first half of the 3rd quarter where both their leg speed and strong marking allowed them to control the game. We were able to settle later in the quarter but only went into the last quarter break with a 7-point lead.

The final quarter we started well and again started to win the ball at the contest and get our ball movement flowing. We missed some goals that we normally would get and this provided Immanuel just enough incentive to fight out the game in what ended up being a great contest, with us running out eventual winners by 16 points.

Jacob Kennerley had a strong game in the midfield and was able to push forward at the right times to hit the scoreboard with 6 goals. Jacob's form over the later part of the season has been terrific. Harry Petty again played a dominant game, taking some huge marks around the ground. Mitch Gum again played well down back and has put together a very consistent year being in our best players each week. Lewis McCormack showed a return to form in defence, providing strong support for Mitch Gum. Flynn Pisani & Tom Matsis were again lively as small forwards and Mihail Lochowiak provided plenty of dashing runs.

Congratulations to both Kaya Scott (Yr 11) and Will Sullivan (Yr12) on their first 1st XVIII games for the school.

Being our final game for the season I would like to take the opportunity to thank Brett Giles (Assistant Coach) and Shannon Simpson (2nd XVIII Coach) who have provided great support over the past 2 years in their roles. Also, a big thanks to Paul Swanbury in his role as runner and Andrew Robertson in his role as Team Manager.

I would also like to acknowledge the parental support we have received each week throughout the season and thank them for their efforts. I would also like to thank all the boys who have been involved with 1st XVIII football this season. This season we haven't been as consistent as we would have liked but we have shown that for the school size we are, we can still more than match it with the bigger schools and to finish 3rd is still a positive result for us. We have been able to unearth and promote some talent along way, which has painted the school in great light, as well as being able to learn both football and life lessons along the way. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the success in your futures both as footballers and citizens in the community. I have no doubt a lot of you will have great success in whatever you choose to do in the future. I wish you all good luck.

Steve Symonds
Rostrevor 1st XVIII Head Coach

U16 Brothers Rugby Grand Final, Thursday 17th August 2017

Best Forward: Xavier Grant
Best Back: Isaac Seden
Best Tackler: Brandon Minuzzo
Best On Field: Josh Rahaley

Brothers played at home at Burnside RUFC against a talented Sacred Heart side who had a strong win the week prior to deserve their spot in the final against the unbeaten Brothers outfit. Sacred Heart got off to a strong start applying great pressure on the Brothers front line by passing with flair and hitting in hard, eventually crossing over the line for the first try of the match. It didn't take long for the Brothers side to get back into the game with a deep kick from Sacred Heart caught by Isaac Seden, returned over the try line following a full length run highlighting his pace and agility.

The game then became a real struggle for both sides with excellent tackling the highlight of the remainder of the first half and despite both sides breaking the initial line, defensive tackling kept the game even.

The second half was dominated by Brothers with Xavier Grant, Beau Palmer and Sam Banks proving dangerous by breaking lines and eventually a powerful Sam Banks burst resulted in him crossing the line to put Brothers in front for the first time. Once again, the game became a tight contest with Sacred Heart desperate to regain the lead, however Josh Rahaley led the Brothers team superbly and helped to control the tempo of the game, whilst being ably supported by great tackling pressure when in defence. When another powerful burst from Sam Banks resulted in a try and Jeffrey Simon made the conversion, the Brothers team were heading for victory. CBC lad Chhany powered over the line one last time to score the final try of the match, which Jeffrey Simon slotted for his second conversion and the score was well and truly in Brothers' favour.

Thanks must go to John Absolon for the tireless work undertaken to ensure the Brothers team were able to compete this year and for both his coaching and administrative work.  Thanks also to Sonja Robinson for her work in supporting the Rostrevor boys and to the many coaches (Joel Pepper, Keanu Eliepa and TJ Maualaivao) and parents who contributed throughout the year. 

In other Co-curricular News:

• The 10A football enjoyed a great win against Pembroke in a solid team effort with some individual brilliance by small forward Stefan Lanzoni who finished the game with 6 goals
• 1st XVIII Footballer Jacob Kennerley played as good a quarter of football seen throughout the year when he dominated the second term to score 4 goals before going on to kick 6 for the game.

If your son, be he a current or past scholar, has made any significant achievement in an activity outside of the College, please pass this on to me via email to jfischer@rostrevor.sa.edu.au or by phone, so that I can include his achievements in the weekly newsletter.

Jeff Fischer
Head of Co-curricular Activities

Senior Years Sports Results

Junior Years Sports Results