2025 College Theme - PILGRIMS OF HOPE

The Year 2025 marks a Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church, with the theme “Pilgrims of Hope” chosen by Pope Francis. This significant year of grace and renewal will be celebrated universally across Notre Dame College, Catholic Education Sandhurst, and the Marist community.

What is a Jubilee Year?

A Jubilee is a special year of grace, conversion, and renewal in the Church, traditionally observed every 25 years or as called by the Pope. It is a time of deep prayer, pilgrimage, and sacramental repentance.

The Jubilee Year invites us to embrace holiness in our lives and to become living witnesses of God’s boundless mercy in the world.

The aim of a Jubilee Year is to renew the hope that comes from Christ, encouraging a personal and communal journey toward God. By strengthening our relationship with God and others, we are inspired to live as signs of hope in a world that longs for renewal and peace.

As 'Pilgrims of Hope', let us journey together in faith as a College community, inspired by the grace of this Jubilee Year. May this time of renewal strengthen us to share the message of hope and joy with everyone we meet.

End of Year details and Early Commencement Programme

Details for Parents

Please read the information at the link below with regards to your student’s participation in Early Commencement Programme which commences on Monday 2 December 2024:

https://www.notredame.vic.edu....

The Notre Dame Thrift Shop - a Terra Tomadachi project

Second-hand school uniform sales are back up and running at Notre Dame College with the Terra Tomodachi sustainability team taking over the reins from November.

Based in the old school uniform shop, at the western end of the main oval, (Corio Avenue) a full range of summer and winter second-hand school uniform items are available at great prices.

The shop will open every Wednesday from 3:30-4:15pm. Sales are to be paid with card. The proceeds from the shop will be spread evenly between Caritas Australia and Terra Tomodachi.

Donations of second-hand uniforms can also be left at the shop each Wednesday.

For more information on the Terra Tomodachi Thrift Shop, email NDC Sustainability Coordinator Phil Guthrie by emailing Philip.guthrie@notredame.vic.edu.au

Booklists for 2025

Notre Dame College has elected to offer an enhanced online resource list (booklist) service to parents and students.

The Booklists can be found on the College Website: https://www.notredame.vic.edu.au/learning-teaching/booklists

Please click on the appropriate year level link to access the current booklists and electronic order form for 2025.

ALL orders include FREE HOME DELIVERY. Shop collection is also available from Campion, Telford Drive, Shepparton store.

Sustainable School Shop

We have partnered with Sustainable School Shop to provide families access to second-hand textbooks, uniforms, calculators, musical instruments, sports gear and much more.

Sustainable School Shop have preloaded items specific to our school onto their site. This makes it super easy to list your items for sale and to buy items.

See all the second-hand uniform items for sale here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/stocktake/notre-dame-college

See all the second-hand textbooks for sale here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au/booklist/notre-dame-college

So jump onto the site, register and list your items for sale. You will be:

· reusing items rather than adding to landfill

· making money on items you sell

· saving money on items you buy

· providing another family in our school with cheaper items

· helping to create a culture of contact amongst our school community families.

Login or Register here: https://www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au

Student Volunteer Superstars

Throughout the year, an incredible group of Year 9 students generously volunteered their time and energy to helping in Café Emmaus. During recesses and lunchtimes, they developed skills in cash handling and customer service while assisting both their fellow students and teachers.

Their support, company and good humour made our days all the more easier and greatly enjoyable.

Emmaus Garden

Wednesday 20 November was a busy day for the Terra Tomodachi students at Emmaus. Not only did they make beeswax wraps, but they also helped the gardening & maintenance staff to plant beautiful (mostly indigenous) plants at the entrance to the Emmaus campus.

The Gardening and Maintenance staff (Dave, George, Doug, Jason, and Allan) have been very busy designing and laying out the new gardens to the Emmaus campus, with a strong focus on using more indigenous plants, including bush tucker, and mulching to decrease our water usage.

The students had a great time learning from Allan and Jason about how to plant the plants and why compost and mulching is important in ensuring that plants grow well.

The green waste that the community places in their green bins is converted to compost and this is what was used - recycling in action! This gave students the opportunity to get their hands dirty and learn that not all knowledge comes in a book.

Hopefully a seed has been planted in the students minds and they will use this knowledge in their own gardens as well and spread the message that our native plants are well-adapted to this area and just as pretty as any other plant!

Congratulations to Blayne O'Brien

Blayne has been named the winner of the 2024 Ganbina Youth Achievement Award at GVGS. This recognition highlights his outstanding leadership, commitment, and contributions to his community.

As a participant in Ganbina’s Youth Leadership Programme, Blayne has been with Ganbina for two years, showcasing his passion and drive to make a difference.

This year, the programme took him on a remarkable journey across three unique trips:

· March/April: Exploring local leadership and community issues, including visits to Melbourne and Sydney to meet with Indigenous leaders, organisations, universities, and Ganbina founders

· June/July: Focusing on national leadership, with a trip to Cairns and Uluru, where Blayne engaged in cultural tours and connected with community leaders and institutions\

· September: Gaining an international perspective in New Zealand, where he collaborated with Māori leaders and organisations, further deepening his understanding of leadership on a global scale.

Ganbina, founded in 1997, is dedicated to empowering young Aboriginal community members in the Goulburn Valley to overcome barriers in education, training, and employment. Its Youth Achievement Awards celebrate individuals who exemplify excellence and inspire others as future leaders and changemakers.

We are so proud of Blayne’s accomplishments and his commitment to leading by example. This is just the beginning of his incredible journey.

Beeswax Wraps

On Wednesday 20 November the Terra Tomodachi students at Emmaus had the opportunity to make beeswax wraps. Hilary Grigg, Waste Education Officer from Greater Shepparton City Council, led the activity and explained to students and staff that beeswax wraps are used in the place of cling wrap plastic to cover containers, fresh fruit, vegetables etc.

The use of beeswax wraps decreases our usage of plastic, meaning less plastic ends up in landfill where it never really breaks down. Students had a choice from a variety of different coloured material off-cuts and could either use beeswax, candlewax, or a combination of the two to make their wraps.

Hilary also explained that buying the wax in whole pieces is cheaper than buying it in pellets and students discussed how often we pay more for things just for the convenience of not having to peel/grate/chop.

Students placed the material on baking paper to prevent staining the ironing boards, sprinkled their choice of wax on the material, covered it with another layer of baking paper and then used an iron to melt and distribute the wax. They then re-used the baking paper to make the next one.

The wraps can be made in different sizes for different purposes and also make excellent gifts, and

gift-wrapping paper. They are eco-friendly, reusable and easy to clean (saves you money), and keeps food fresh for longer – therefore, ideal to wrap your child’s lunch with instead of using plastic wrap or bags.

Melbourne Science Gallery Visit

On Tuesday 12 November some of our Year 9 Science and Year 10 Physics students visited the Science Gallery in Melbourne for a day focussed on technology and art and future-work skills. The programme was run in conjunction with the Science Gallery, The University of Melbourne and Telstra.

Students had the opportunity to use Python to programme a small drone to fly. During this lesson they learnt more about the different areas in which drones are used, and the importance of technology studies and innovation.

Students then visited the Telstra Creator Space at the University of Melbourne where they saw the amazing facilities available to make objects out of wood, metal, 3D printing and laser cutting to name a few. They heard from Telstra employees how they use drones to check towers and the topography of the land.

Students also controlled a drone and enjoyed trying to flip it mid-air.

The last stop was an interactive tour of the Science Gallery exhibition exploring science fiction and Asian mythologies.

Year 9 Emmaus - Last day on Campus 2024

28 November was the last day for our 2024 Year 9 cohort at Emmaus. They celebrated their year with a BBQ before taking their final walk to the buses.

An incredible group of students who have learned many new life skills, as well as developing special bonds along the way.

Students will now head into the big smoke (Knight Street Campus) to particpate in the Early Commencement Programme (ECP) and get a taste of what life will be like returning to our Knight Street Campus in 2025 as older and wiser individuals.

Year 7 Escape Room

To celebrate the final weeks of Year 7 Science in 2024, students have been participating in an escape room under the sea called “Deep Blue” .

The prompt of the escape room:

As crew in a submerged research vessel, students completed a series of challenges to be able to switch to the emergency battery and turn the lights back on.

This activity is designed to enhance the students’ knowledge of different ecosystems by completing 10 activities related to the deep sea. Along the way, they learn about ocean exploration and innovations for the future of our oceans. To solve each challenge, students had to draw on their scientific knowledge from a range of different disciplines.

Tree Planting at Emmaus

Thursday 28 November was the last day for the Year 9 cohort at the Emmaus campus. Students, Moin, Jacob and Matilda were randomly chosen to assist with the planting of an ornamental pear tree.

The tree was planted in the company of the students and teachers, and a small plaque will be placed at the foot of the tree detailing that it was planted by the 2024 Year 9 cohort.

May this group of young people grow deep roots, spread their branches wide and be a sight to behold, just like their tree.