Last week, we finalised the new Student Council for 2021-2022 and we are thrilled for the successful students. The full list of students can be found here. 

NSW Youth Advisory Council Success - Congratulations to Leila Mangos, Year 12 

Earlier this year, young people aged 12-24 across NSW were invited to apply for one of the coveted positions to join the NSW Youth Advisory Council. Leila Mangos, Year 12 Kendall, applied and was longlisted with a group of 100 people to attend a virtual event in April, in which the Advocate for Children and Young People overlooked their discussions about providing a solution to a hypothetical youth issue.  

From here, Leila was shortlisted to a group of 30 people, and attended an in-person mock Youth Advisory Council meeting in May at the NSW State Library. Leila was then offered a position on the NSW Youth Advisory Council following this meeting. This is an outstanding achievement for Leila who has long been an advocate for issues affecting young people and the community. We congratulate her and look forward to hearing how she progresses with this experience throughout the remaining part of 2021. 

Loreto Normanhurst Olympics Closing Ceremony 

Our Loreto Normanhurst Community Olympics has officially concluded with our Closing Ceremony on Wednesday. We would like to thank all students and staff for their creative, amusing and determined entries - we had well over 1000! The #strongertogether spirit has been captured in the group challenges and the connection and laughter that these have provided has been incredible. We are proud of the way our community has chosen to participate with a felicitous spirit! Congratulations to Kendall 4, the Gold Medal-winning Tutor Group. Here are the Loreto Olympic House champions for 2021:  

Secondary School: 

• Bronze Medal House: Kuring-Gai 
• Silver Medal House: Kendall 
• Gold Medal House: Maye 

Primary School: 

• Bronze Medal House: Benedicta 
• Silver Medal House: Clare 
• Gold Medal House: Dorothea 

Gratitude Project 

Our next project is one that continues in remote learning. Our Year 12 student leaders have been collecting and printing photos of moments of thankfulness and blessing for our “Gratitude Project” since Term 1. We would like to inform you that these photos of gratitude can now be uploaded to Canvas while we are in a remote context, ready to be printed and displayed upon our return. We will also be posting the most creative and joyful gratitude photos to our community each week. This is not a competition, but rather a way to keep choosing to live with our value of felicity and spreading joy to others. 

Year 7 and 8 Holistic Plenaries - revised dates 

Holistic plenaries for Years 7 and 8 will be conducted over Zoom over three Thursdays from 8am to 6pm. These will run on 2 September, 9 September and 16 September. PTO instructions will be emailed to the parents of Years 7 and 8 in the coming week so bookings can be made. 

Mid-term Wellbeing Check In's and Wellbeing Pulse Check Survey 

Years 7-12 Parents and Carers will have received a letter that updates them on our Wellbeing initiatives. Over the next two weeks, Advisors and Tutors will reach out to the families who have not had contact with the school to see how their daughter is going at this time of remote learning. In Week 6, we will conduct a wellbeing 'pulse check' survey with students across the secondary school to ensure that all students feel supported at this time. 

Reminders about remote learning expectations 

As we continue in a remote learning context, we remind parents and carers of the importance of working in partnership with us to provide clear expectations for students so that they can optimise their wellbeing, reduce distractions, maintain healthy connections and experience positive achievement. Here are some reminders of our guidelines and resources to help us all achieve what is best for our young people at this time: 

• No phones in your daughter’s bedrooms during lessons or sleeping 
• Encourage your daughter to call a friend rather than just use social media for connection 
• Encourage your daughter and family to have non-screen time activities for wellbeing, health and connection. Do more things that make you forget to check your phone! 
• Discuss screen and social media usage as a family and model to each other appropriate time spent on these. Consider the “Creating a Safe Home” section of the LN Cybersafety Hub below. This has advice on setting up a family Digital Agreement. 
• Encourage your daughter to be active during her 10 minute breaks between classes and at recess and lunch. She could pick an activity from the LN Sport Dept Online Health and Wellbeing Program 

Our Director of Pastoral Care, Ms Sally Munro, and Head of Counselling Services, Ms Emily Sharpe, hosted a webinar last Wednesday evening that Ms Ugonotti invited parents to in her Letter to the Community on June 28. These guidelines and advice, as well as the resources below, were mentioned in this webinar. A recording of the webinar can be accessed via this link, using the Password: Loreto2021.

Resources that are of assistance for all things online are: 

• The Loreto Normanhurst Cybersafety Hub 
• Office of the eSafety Commission Homepage 

For general parenting support at this complex time, these sites may be of assistance to you: 

• Parent Line - a free telephone and counselling support service for NSW parents  
• Raising Children - the Australian Parenting website 
• Loreto Normanhurst School TV - note the ‘CyberSafety Series’ section 
• FACE Online for Parents - especially the Student Wellbeing, Parent Monitoring and Support and Useful Resources pages 

If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to reach out to your daughter’s Advisor, Tutor or Head of House. We wish you well. 

 
Mrs Marysa Boland and Mr Justin Madigan 

Deans of Pastoral Care