Villanova College
Villa View: Issue 21/20
Villa View: Issue 21/20
Here’s to new beginnings. We have arrived! The St Thomas of Villanova Learning Centre is now filled with Junior School students. No more anticipation, only the real deal. It is an incredible feeling – slightly surreal, but it is like Christmas in July for all of us. We have been given all the gifts – city views, grass on Whinstanes Oval and a full basketball court for breaks and best of all, learning spaces that will best develop our young men.
The one crucial gift is still your son. He is why we have built the St Thomas Learning Centre. Boys need space, creativity, flexibility and legitimate experiences in decision making with their development in curriculum. How they learn is just as important as what they learn. They need explicit guidance and consistent support to achieve their best.
The collaborative spaces mean all Year 5 teachers are together on Level 1 and the Year 6 staff on Level 2. There are three generous double-spaced classrooms with a total of four shared spaces across each year. The proximity between the teachers in each cohort is of great value. More conversations, higher levels of support, professional sharing of ideas and resources, and the access available to observe each other lifts the pedagogical profile of everyone. Teachers become the role models for the four Cs of 21st century skills – communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration.
Planning is crucial in these spaces. Weekly Curriculum Meetings track the progress of learning goals and the prediction of outcomes. Teachers share the progress from lessons and compare the gains made, the challenges faced and most importantly, keep the student as the focus for fair and equitable assessment. Collaborative teaching partners plan together, ensuring that there is a balance of experiences with instructions, content delivery, opportunities to deepen understanding and a reflection upon the learning paths taken. Teachers can see their colleagues working next door through the glass doors, they move between the spaces and gain inspiration from the different ways that learning occurs. There is an increase in professional sharing – from the way furniture is arranged, how ideas are recorded, the way students can be grouped and most importantly, how learning can be shown in many more ways than we could ever imagine.
The pedagogy of every teacher – the approach of a teacher to cater for the learner’s mind, heart and spirit – should always be evolving. In the St Thomas Learning Centre there is the highest support for teachers to take their practice beyond the expected. Engaging the boys takes energy and careful thought. The options of leading, assisting, observing, supporting and evaluating between two educators give advantages to the boys within the room. Strengths are combined, and a second opinion is always available. A student has a choice about who to ask for help. A teacher can have the time to spend, knowing that the learning continues with their collaborative partner. The momentum in the classroom does not stop.
Next Wednesday, 22 July 2020, we will host our Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences via Zoom, in keeping with COVID procedures. All parents will have received instructions via email, on how to access Parent Lounge and book a time with their son’s class teacher.
In the Junior School all Semester 1 assessment was sent home for your perusal before the holidays. It is now time to set goals for Term 3. What would your son like to achieve academically, socially/emotionally or on a co-curricular level over the next 10 weeks? Keep the goals realistic, check in regularly and reward the effort placed into making changes that show improvement. Working together with your son’s teachers is the best way to stay motivated and have the highest success possible. Changes mean work. Work takes time. Let us make the time. Let us model the effort. Your son is worth the change, the work, the time and the effort. Let us give him a platform he will remember in the years to come.
Mr Stephen Rouhliadeff, Head of Junior School
Creating Change Without Cancelling The Past
The Ministry area of Villanova College is all about helping students to see where change is needed and then taking practical steps. Freedom of action means having good guiding principles. A shared vision regarding looking out for people who may not have a strong voice is a good starting point. If the student advocacy and action is personal and relational then I think all involved will experience a benefit of humble encounter.
A common pitfall with student projects is to want to bring about a massive change and then get bogged down wondering how to take a first step. So, we – the teachers involved in the Ministries – seek together with students to discern what an appropriate first step might be. With the Green Team, it was to organise a proper recycling scheme. Now we are serving a wider community, e.g. with Norman Creek clean-ups. This expanding operation effectively builds good habits of community service within the students.
So, what are some of our first or second steps for Term 3?
- AFAS have made a big donation of $20,000 to four sister schools/ communities in the Philippines. They will document how this money is spent and provide feedback. We are also exploring how to undertake Mission Day 2020.
- YAYM have started a wonderfully popular MineCraft Club through the energetic leadership of Leon Tom, Year 7. We want to build on this initiative and also assist in a special Middle School project to assist children who are living in poverty, including refugees.
- YCS are relishing being in the same building as the Junior School brothers and are working on a special “RUOK” conversation space.
- The Green Team want to open up a partnership with Finger Gullies to embark upon tree-planting.
- SVDP will follow up on the great success of the Winter Appeal and continue to support the homeless through practical initiatives.
Green Team: Clearing up Norman Creek Report
Towards the end of last term, a small group of dedicated students visited Norman Creek for another Green Team clean-up. Although not as grand in scale or as long as other clean-ups, there was still a large amount of rubbish collected and a visible difference made.
The members of the Green Team were valiant in their efforts to ensure that as much rubbish as possible was picked up and that the Creek looked cleaner, even if it was only for a couple of days. The Green Team also have other projects in the works alongside further clean-ups, including potential tree planting, which will ensure the College is working towards creating a noticeable and permanent impact on the environment, for the better.
(Isaak Collie, Ministry Captain, 2020)
Cancel Culture
Given the scale of media coverage of Black Lives Matter and “cancel culture,” I would like to offer a few remarks about what these cultural movements mean, and about where Ministry work at Villanova College should engage – and where it should not. Black Lives Matter is often referred to in a loose way as being “woke” – as in “woken up.”
The idea here is that the people in the movement have woken up to underlying injustices within society. It follows, in this way of thinking, to say that males from an English and middle-class background have a fortunate starting point in life, having priority access to significant opportunities. This awakening is no bad thing, as long as the next steps are clearly discerned and taken with due humility.
Sometimes students are keen to join the popular movement, for example wanting to wear a wristband. My preferred response is always to gently challenge: rather than signalling that we are aligned with where the popular applause is, who is actually unseen or disadvantaged at Villanova, or on our doorstep? That is where the best “first steps” can be taken.
“Cancel culture” – tearing down statues and high-profile people – needs to be responded to with good sense, especially regarding the realities of the human condition. We have to be so careful about pointing a finger of purity at others in the past who fell short of truths which history, like tectonic plates shifting, has now made clearer. In this situation, three fingers always point back at the accuser. A human is bound in his/her time and place in history. We have to live in a specific culture, even if there are toxins in the water.
Basketball players attended Mass this morning ahead of the opening round of AIC Term 3 Sport
Mr John Holroyd, Dean of Mission and Identity
Ensemble lessons and rehearsals Term 3
All lessons and rehearsals have commenced. Please ensure you have received a copy of this term’s timetable from your son’s tutor/teacher. If this has not arrived via email, please contact the Music Office: music@vnc.qld.edu.au or 3394 5691.
The Term 3 Rehearsal Schedule has been included here with this Villa View for your revision.
Co-curricular Music Photo Day
Our Co-curricular Music photo day has been convened for Tuesday 21 July 2020. This will be next Tuesday, Week 2, Term 3 (day before parent/teacher interviews). Students in Years 6 – 12 will be required to wear their performance uniform for the photo. All Year 5 students will need to wear their regular school uniform (grey shirt).
Students may wear their performance uniform to school; however, they must change into their academic uniform once they have completed their photo sessions. All students will need to change in the Percussion Room or Green Room on the day.
The schedule of photos has been distributed via email so that students are prepared for the day. Year 5 and Year 6 ensembles will be photographed before school (Year 6 from 8am). All staff have received a copy of this document so that they are aware of student movement. Students will be required in the lower theatre 15 minutes before their photo is due to be taken.
Performance Uniform Requirements
This year has been extremely quiet in terms of performance opportunities for our students. However, as we move forward, we are looking to more opportunities to share our music with the broader community. We will have at least one performance in Week 8 this term, with others scheduled for Term 4. Students will be required to wear performance uniform for these activities.
To assist with preparations for these events in September, we would like to clarify performance uniform requirements with families. As it has been sometime between performances, I would also like to ask our ‘veteran’ performers to check their uniforms; you may have grown between events! Best we are prepared now before the hectic nature of school life returns.
Performance uniform information is outlined below:
All Year 5 musicians are required to wear:
- grey shorts;
- formal white shirt (available from the Villanova College Uniform Shop);
- long school socks;
- school tie;
- black leather belt; and,
- polished black school shoes
*NB – this uniform is not required for photos.
The following table outlines uniform requirements for the remainder of our ensembles:
Formal Performance Uniform
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The following ensembles require this uniform:
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Concert Blacks
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The following ensembles require this uniform:
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Irish Ensemble
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The following ensembles require this uniform:
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All uniform items can be sourced through the Villanova College Uniform Shop or external clothing retailers.
For further information regarding uniforms for ensembles at Villanova College, please contact the Music Office on 3394 5691 or music@vnc.qld.edu.au
Key dates for Term 3
Key dates for Term 3 were distributed via email during the final week of the holidays. May I ask that you note the following dates in your diaries as ‘set’ for the coming term:
| Term 3 | ||
| 1 | 14 July | All rehearsals and lessons commence for Term 3 |
| 1 | 14 July | Music Support Group / QCMF Meeting – 7:30pm |
| 2 | 21 July | Co-curricular Music Photos – 8am-1pm – Schedule to follow |
| 2 | 22 July | Parent-Teacher Conferences – 9am-3pm |
| 5 | 10 August | Music Support Group / QCMF meeting – 7.30pm |
| 6 | 17 – 21 August | Audition Materials Distributed – all MS/SS students (not Year 12) |
| 8 | 31 August – 4 September | Audition Video Submission Deadline |
| 8 | 4 September | 2020 Music Finale Gala Concert (may be moved) |
| 10 | 14 September | Music Support Group meeting – 7.30pm |
| 10 | 14 – 18 September | 2020 Ensembles posted outside Music Office |
| 10 | 18 September | Instrumental Music Assessment Task 2 Due (Year 12 only) |
| Holidays | 19 September | |
Mr Michael Jones, Director of Music
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Address
24 Sixth Avenue, Coorparoo, Brisbane, QLD 4151 Australia
Villanova College is an independent Catholic School for boys under the care of the Augustinian Order. Striving for excellence in boys’ education as an Augustinian community one in mind and heart on the way towards God.
