Newsletter | See as God Sees - Our Lady of Sion Newsletter

Mrs Lucy Molony, Past Principal of Our Lady of Sion College

This fortnight I begin our newsletter with the sad news of the passing of Mrs Lucy Molony, past Principal of Our Lady of Sion College (1987 to 1996).

During her time at the College, Lucy was known for her integrity, great wisdom and care of her students and staff, and her wonderful support of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion. While Principal at Sion, she led the College during a time of significant change in education, especially in relation to the VCE. Her quiet dignity, strong faith and vision were hallmarks of her principalship, which always reflected the College motto Speaking the Truth in Love.

Lucy enjoyed a formidable career in education and ministry. After her tenure as Principal at Our Lady of Sion College, Lucy worked at the Tribunal of the Catholic Church as Director of Towards Healing Victoria. She then returned to education working in the induction and mentoring of new Secondary Principals, reviewing and appraising Principals and working as a Reviewer for the CECV School Improvement Framework.

Following these appointments, Lucy’s career led her to Mercy Education Limited, where she held the positions of Director of Mercy Education, Deputy Chair of the Mercy Education Board, and finally she held the position of Chair until 2018. Lucy’s legacy will be acknowledged by many within Catholic education, who benefited from her great faith, wisdom and insight.

We will have a number of current mothers and family members who attended the College during her principalship, many of whom have posted their condolences on our Past Students Facebook page. Past students and staff who have shared their reflections with us in the last week remember Lucy as a kind and gentle leader – a wonderful role model.

We keep Lucy and her family in our thoughts and prayers at this sad time.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord,

and may your perpetual light shine upon her.

May her soul and the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace,

Amen.

What does it mean to be a true Daughter of Sion?

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting with Year 12 students, Anastasia M, Isabella M, Isabella T, Isabella O and Leah B who invited me to be part of the video they are creating in their School-based Religious Education program. Students are capturing different current elements of the College that will eventually be placed in the College Archives for future generations. The question they posed to me was ‘What does it mean to be a true daughter of Sion?’ It is a question that I have asked Year 12 students in the past when I have taught Year 12 RE so it was a privilege to share my thoughts with them.

I explained that 'Sion' is another word for 'Jerusalem'. I then asked what they knew of this city. We all agreed that there are ongoing tensions that have been part of the city’s identity for a very long time and that for the major world religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Jerusalem is also a sacred place. I also shared that Jerusalem means 'City of Peace' and pointed out the irony of this meaning given the city’s history and current conflicts and ongoing suffering.

I shared with them that in scripture, 'Daughter of Sion' appears many times and that Our Lady is also referred to by this title. I pointed out that at the Visitation when an angel of God makes known to Mary that she is the chosen one, her initial reaction is one of disbelief. Along the lines of today’s language, she may have said: ‘Are you serious? Me?’ I also then pointed out that Mary quickly acknowledged the important role she was to play in God’s plan for humanity and responded with ‘Yes‘.

What follows in Luke’s Gospel is known as the Magnificat, Mary’s hymn of praise. It is sung during a time of great conflict, as Jerusalem was occupied by the Roman Empire and the Jewish people suffered terribly. I also shared with the girls that each time I read this passage I appreciate Mary’s courage. Her song of praise not only acknowledges her faith in God but also her faith in strongly standing up for justice and peace in her world of persecution and suffering.

The girls acknowledged how this title aligns with our College values that calls them to be Daughters of Sion and become people who stand up for what is just so that all may experience God’s peace and love.

Finally, I would like to point out that the Class of 2021 and I began our Sion journey together in 2016. On their first day of school, I asked them ‘What legacy will you and I leave?’. I am very proud of what the girls are currently creating for the future generations of Sion students and cannot wait to see the final product.

In the Catholic tradition, the month of May is devoted to Mary. I invite all members of our community to reflect on the question I was asked and to pray for Our Lady’s continued support in our lives. In particular I invite all staff, students and families to keep the people of Israel and Gaza in their prayers.

With every blessing for the fortnight ahead.

Tina Apostolopoulos

Ten tips for when she just can’t sit still to study

As students head into the Year 11 and 10 exam period and other year levels complete summative assessment tasks, it is timely to talk about study.

Our students have times when they ‘should’ be studying or concentrating on a particular task but feel distracted; there are other things they would rather be doing, they remember things that have been forgotten or need to be done, they daydream and generally procrastinate about a task. When some need to be physically engaged in the learning process, they just can’t sit still.

Here are some tips for your child to help overcome these potential roadblocks and get them back into the study ‘zone.’

Encourage your daughter to:

Stay calm and non-judgmental. If it is a thought that has distracted them, help her to accept it and decide whether it needs to be acted on. Perhaps suggest that they keep a little notebook on their desk for all those things that pop up and need to be remembered later. If not, acknowledge it and let it go.
Do a short 5-minute mindfulness exercise or body-scan from YouTube.
Bodies were designed to move and they let us know! Only study for 40 to 50 minutes before taking a guilt-free break (only ten minutes).
Dance worries away. Move around; go for a jog, or swim. Use up the excess energy, get some fresh air into her lungs then head back to study with a clear and focused mind.
Avoid foods and drinks with caffeine and sugar. Remember to support a well-balanced diet of fresh food with lots of fruits and vegetables. Well-regulated blood sugar levels really enhance one’s ability to stay calm and alert.
Ensure your daughter has a good sleep routine; all electronic devices switched off and out of the room at least half an hour before lights out. Suggest a warm shower to help relax and unwind before bed and remember she will sleep better in a cooler room.
Find ways to study that suit her learning style. Try standing while studying, summarise in tables or use colours to highlight headings or important information.
Visualise the whole outcome and task that she needs to do. Try skim reading beforehand so she understands the outline as this will help the prediction and embedding of new knowledge. Creating summaries to review later will help remind your daughter and create a springboard for the next session.
Read out aloud and verbalise what the purpose is beforehand. Always summarise what has been learnt in her own words afterwards.
Most of all, study skills develop over time. Remind her not to give up, try again another day. Some techniques will work for her, others won’t and that’s OK because each individual is different.

The Class of 2021 continues to allow this growth to occur. A beautiful example of this is the Year 12 leaders. Some of these students have an official leadership position and some do not. What elevates them is a willingness to share knowledge, show compassion and work towards allowing us as a community to grow.

Stay safe, be proud and always push your boundaries each and every day.

Year 12 leaders in focus – student reflections

One of the most significant values of being a Daughter of Sion is to nurture dialogue among the community. At the beginning of the year, we developed a similar goal of creating a positive environment for all.

This goal is to encourage girls to branch into new relationships with others from not only singular year levels, but from above and below.

For a younger student, we believe it is important for them to have an older role model to look up to, and for an older student we see it as a chance for them to share their experiences. Just because year levels divide us, at the end of the day, we are all young women finding our way through the most transformative years of our lives. Correlating year levels provides students with the ability to dialogue in conversations that may not arise between their usual friendships and allows girls to open themselves to the whole community, and develop and strengthen their personal skills. This also assists in showing our respect, admiration and ultimately love that each student has for one another. We plan to achieve this goal through interactive sessions, where year levels come together and connect through an activity – whether this be in-class Homeroom competitions, pastoral sessions or outdoor activities where the girls are up and active together. This will open up the opportunity for students to form new relationships beyond those within their classroom. Emily B and Livinia T (College Captains)

In the last couple of weeks, I have been visiting each Homeroom in Year 12 to run an engaging presentation about sustainable menstrual products. A core part of the presentation is to, firstly, educate students about the problem of using disposable products and, secondly, to teach them about the solution. The students learn about sustainable alternatives to disposable hygiene products, such as reusable fabric pads, silicon menstrual cups, period underwear and menstrual discs. A box of these products is passed around the class during the presentation so that students can familiarise themselves with these sustainable options.

Education about sustainable alternatives to disposable menstrual products is incredibly important due to the devastating environmental impacts resulting from their wastage. To put this into perspective, a year’s worth of use from a typical feminine hygiene product leaves a carbon footprint equivalent to 5.3 kg CO2 (which is huge!). Disposable pads and tampons are responsible for about 200,000 tonnes of waste per year – most of which contains plastic. Given Our Lady of Sion College is a school for young women, it is paramount that students receive an education about the harmful use of disposable menstrual products and about sustainable alternatives. Students are encouraged to openly talk about this issue with peers as well as within their families to hopefully inspire positive change. Resources for where to purchase such items are listed on the shared PowerPoint made by the environment team that is posted on each year level Google classroom. Madeline B (Environmental Captain)

This year, while faced with many challenges, it is important for the Year 12 girls to stay positive and continue with the amazing work they have been doing these first few months of school. It has become apparent that the girls seem to be wishing time to move faster, but we think that is it important to remind them that, although they will be stressed with SACs and all sorts of things, it is important that we take each day as it comes and make the most of the opportunities that are presented to us.

As we are quickly approaching the end of our time here at Our Lady of Sion College, there isn’t long to go until we all part ways and venture down our own paths and we need to appreciate the time we have left with one another, as a cohort, rather than hope for the year to fly by. From speaking with girls in the year level, the main message we got from them was to continue taking advantage of the opportunities they have been given, whether that’s using study periods, handing in numerous practice questions or just putting in the hard work, because they don’t want to look back on Year 12 and regret the choices they made and the opportunities they didn’t take.

The girls should be so proud of themselves; they have continued to show up day after day, which is the most important first step to take. It would be so easy to just stay home when times are hard, but coming to school each day shows the level of commitment these girls have to their futures. Matilda R & Alicia D-S (Year 12 leaders)

The following images are of students singing House songs in Pastoral this week, in lieu of not being able to sing them at the Athletics Carnival that was postponed.

Lilly B (10G) explains her experience at Cape Otway and Alyse H (10P) writes on the program at Lake Eildon

Last week, half of Year 10 went to Cape Otway to complete our Adventurous Journey. We were all able to get to know each other better, especially the people in our camp group, and got to bond or connect more with people outside our friendship groups.

This camp was a great opportunity for us to get out of our comfort zone and to also connect with nature and the outdoors. We luckily avoided the rain when we got there, which helped a lot so we could still have campfires and so we didn't get too wet. My group did heaps of hiking and we walked over 14 kilometres with our packs, which was a challenging but rewarding journey.

By the end of our 12-kilometre walk on the second day we were excited and relieved to see the end and grateful to relax and enjoy the lakeside. We got to see so much wildlife up close, which was amazing and we would never be able to see in our daily lives. We even saw a wallaby jump across the path right in front of us! We also experienced surfing and canoeing, which were new and exciting for some, and we came back with plenty of knowledge on how to cook our own meals, how to set up a tent, how to be independent and resilient and how to trust each other. I think the Year 9s next year will have an amazing experience. Lilly B (10G)

For the Adventurous Journey, I attended Lake Eildon, which was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I went in with very high expectations and the camp met every one of them. We had a couple of difficult times, which we struggled through as a group, but we all made it through and almost all of us wish we could go back. While the 10 km walk was steep and at times very difficult, we were able to support and encourage each other and we all made it back to camp by mid-afternoon. The mountain bike riding and the whitewater rafting were both well-loved group activities. Sleeping in tents and cooking food in Trangias was so different for us, but an amazing experience. I felt the program allowed for us to strengthen our friendships and make new ones. I would have loved for the program to be longer as after four days, I would have loved to move on to another area. Alyse H (10P)

I have heard that the girls have reported home on their achievements and many stories of their experience with their group. We will be tapping into these achievements as they tackle other areas of school life.

I would like to thank all staff members for their support of the Fatima Feast Day and to the following House Representatives for their contribution and work on the day: Gisele C, Natasha N, Bethany S, Hayley M, Avalee S, Emilia R, Alexandra P, Lucy O-C, Georgia W, Ciara M, Emma M, Brielle S, Rose L, Zafira T, Brigitte C-H and Amelia S.

House Theatre Sports

We look forward to celebrating Loreto’s House Feast Day on Tuesday 1 June and competing in the House Theatre Sports on the following dates, with finals being held on Wednesday 2 June:

Year Level and Date	House
Years 11 and 12, Thursday 27 May	Lourdes v Carmel; Loreto v Fatima
Years 9 and 10, Tuesday 25 May	Carmel v Loreto; Lourdes v Fatima
Years 7 and 8, Monday. 24 May	Carmel v Fatima; Lourdes v Loreto