Have Pride in Your School

Captain, DJ Childs and our Seniors have chosen to inspire the community this term with the focus of taking Pride in OUR School and as we near the end of Term One, our community has continued to Pave the Way, whether it's in the classroom, on the cricket fields, pool deck, volleyball court or concert stage.

The College has challenged Seniors to build this culture of pride through their uniform, appearance, words and attitude. We all share the responsibility to be proud of what we have achieved, whether we are a staff member, student or parent, and we must strive intentionally to pave the way for future generations of ATC students.

Our Crest

We are proud of the crest on our chest and each of us can feel inspired by this symbol and through a sense of connection and belonging. The crest is a symbol of who we are and what we value. It is a sign of how far we have come and how much we have accomplished. We all stand in solidarity with DJ and the Seniors when we say that it starts with how we look. Standing tall and wearing our uniform with pride is something small but sends a strong message that this is OUR School and we should be proud of it.

Assemblies

This term's Assemblies have carried messages of Love, Kindness and Gratitude for our relationships. We have shared moments of reflection, celebration and congratulations. We celebrated our Sporting Leaders and introduced them to our community and enjoyed a sensational performance by PK and The Rusty Buckets!

As part of his Skipper’s Shout, DJ made mention of the need for Positive Masculinity in the world and reminded us that this requires us to be gentlemen and the gentle man. The world needs more good men with strength of character to challenge injustice and this message was made very clear by our College Captain.

We also recognised the contribution of another true gentle man, when we said goodbye to Mr Brett Greinke and acknowledged the legacy he has left, not only in the Clontarf Academy, but across our community. Best of luck Brett

Prayers

We prayed for the earthquake disaster victims in Turkey and Syria and asked for peace to come to the people of Ukraine. As Lent began it reminded us to be grateful for what we have. We marked this with an Ash Wednesday liturgy and as a community we pledged to make sacrifices in our daily lives to build a sense of gratitude for all we have.

SRC

Last week we acknowledged the nominated Student Representative Council (SRC) and Senior School House Council at a special assembly. These student leaders call us to show strength of character, empathy and kindness to others. We know these students will #PavetheWay for a fantastic year ahead. Group photos are on our Facebook page

Change makers

On assembly we also gave a shout out to students showing great leadership both here and outside the school. Ryan Tenorio is a change maker of Olympic proportions, and he has been acknowledged with a prestigious award for demonstrating the Olympic spirit of friendship, equality, and striving for excellence.

Ryan leads by example and drives positive change at school and in the community. Congratulations Ryan on having your hard work acknowledged with the Olympic Change-Maker Award. Learn more about this initiative here:
https://www.olympics.com.au/australian-olympic-change-maker/

Feel Good Fridays

Seniors continued the tradition of Feel Good Friday (FGF) at Junior School drop-off zone and first break on Fridays.

This initiative enables connection across our campus and brings love, kindness and gratitude and some very funky fashion from staff!

This Year 12 initiative has inspired staff to get into Feel Good Funky Friday (FGFF) as part of a whole school approach to developing a Mentally Healthy Community. There are some questionable outfits, smiles and a few laughs as Mr Cashmere, Mr Keillor and Mr Raven battle it out for the 'funkiest' shirts.

Smiles are contagious and this is what we hope each FGFF brings to everyone, colourful clothing themes and weekly wellbeing brain hacks for self-care and self-compassion. This intentional approach to building emotional muscle aims to promote normalised conversations about wellbeing.

Last week Feel Good Funky Friday brought an important message: WE WILL ALWAYS GET THROUGH IT!

I reminded students that our negative energy and emotions are simply thoughts and that thoughts are only reality if we have facts to support them. Neuropath Gill Stannard, said, ‘In the absence of data, you’ll make up a story’ and that sings to us as humans. The measured decision-making part of the brain (Prefrontal Cortex) is far bigger than our emotional part (Amygdala), but for some reason, the smaller part gets hijacked way too easily!"
So, here are two tips to help:

1- taking 5 minutes each day of mindfulness can help use the prefrontal Cortex far more than the Amygdala.

2. When a thought pops up, open an imaginary cupboard and place it on the shelf. Acknowledge it is there and close the door. Revisit it later when the emotions have settled, see if it is a reality based on facts, then workshop a solution, because …. we will always get through it!

It also sends the message to community that we can give permission for people to be themselves and embrace the wonderful culture of love, kindness and gratitude that we see all too often around the grounds.

At ATC, we have a strong culture of values which determines what we do and say and so we stand tall saying, we are looking out for each other and we are proud of OUR school.

Brendan Flanagan

Assistant Dean of Formation