Report from Student Leaders

The start of Term 3 has seen us return to the familiar, yet undesired state of remote learning. Whilst this has impacted our ability to socialise and fully engage in the community that is MSJ, the Student Leadership Team has been making the most of it and have been working hard to see the positives wherever we can. As part of this, we have been working on a number of initiatives to help to continue to bring the MSJ spirit into everyone's homes.

The Wellbeing team has been working on some projects to help keep everyone active and healthy at home (whilst abiding by all current rules of course!). The SCSA skills competition has been revived, where students can show off their sporting prowess with trick-shots and flair. We have received some very creative entries so far! The next major focus for the Wellbeing team is the upcoming Race Around Australia, which will be launched on Monday 24 August. Students, staff and families are encouraged to use their one hour of outdoor exercise per day to clock up some kms and enter them on the special online platform. The goal is that as a community, we will register enough kilometres to circumnavigate the Australian mainland (around 14200kms!) within 50 days. Stay tuned to SIMON, MSJ Connect and your emails for more info on how we can all take on the challenge.

The Academic team has been busy working with the Science domain to deliver a remote-learning Science Week, with a range of fun science pracs, which can be done from the comfort of your own home. From insects and flowers, to the wonders of the night sky, this year's MSJ Science Week has been like no other! We will have some of our wonderful entries posted to the MSJ Connect student website and social media in the coming weeks.

The Arts team would like to thank all the students who entered our first ever remote-learning version of MSJ's Got Talent. Our annual talent show is a much-loved part of JJAMM Week every year and celebrates the wonderful array of skills that we have as a student community. This year, students were able to send in clips of them performing, which were then shortlisted to five finalist. Congratulations to Tara Mathews of Year 10 for taking out the title this year with her amazing singing and piano playing, and well done to all entrants and finalists, you were all great!

The Social Justice and Ministry team would like to extend their thanks to all the staff and students who participated in JJAMM Week at home. We obviously were unable to celebrate this most important time in our College calendar together in person, but the revised schedule of activities hopefully gave everyone a chance to connect with the holy legacies Fr Julian Tenison Woods, and our patron Saints, St Mary MacKillop and St Joseph. As a Social Justice team, we are continuing our regular 'issue of the month', in which we will turn our attention to homelessness and will be promoting a sleep-out experience at home, to raise awareness and empathy for this important cause.

As a Senior Leadership group, we would like to acknowledge the ongoing work of the Junior Leaders, Peer Support Leaders, and Class Captains in delivering their amazing programs with our support and guidance. We also extend our thanks, prayers and best wishes to the entire student body and your families. We will get through this together - we are MSJ!

Olivia Caldwell and Laura Whitfort (School Captains)

With contributions from: Penny Parker (Wellbeing Captain), Pooja Chelimela (Academic Captain), Tia Stewart (Arts Captain), Nadine Gunadi (Ministry Captain), Thuy Vu (Social Justice Captain)