When the Covid pandemic appeared, the world quickly made comparisons to the last worldwide pandemic, the Spanish flu, in 1918. A quick Google search offered this tempting offering: "How the 1918 flu pandemic ended". I checked it out and found the following extract:

Over time, those who contracted the virus developed an immunity to the novel strand of influenza, and life returned to normal by the early 1920s, according to historians and medical experts. Reports at the time suggest the virus became less lethal as the pandemic carried on in waves.

Sound familiar?

Now, knowing that I need to take a leading role in assuring our College community as we move into the next phase of living with covid, I found the above similarity helped explain the medical professional's advice on minimising restrictions. And as a maths and science teacher, I thought I'd take a 'quick and dirty' look at the data:

The Spanish flu claimed 50 million lives out of a population of 1.89 billion - a death rate of 26 out of every 1000 people. 

Covid claimed 5.89 million lives out of a population of 7.9 billion - a death rate of less than 1 person (0.75) out of every 1000.

Now Spanish Flu had no viral vaccination to rely upon, whereas we have proven vaccines that, coupled with the less-lethal Covid variants, can give us confidence in returning to a life we were used to before 2020.

The College Board continues to be an excellent source of support for the College. Its members, Malcolm Nield (Chair), Karen Claridge-Robins (Finance Officer), Nigel Charlesworth (Secretary), Gina Casey, Adam Jacobson, Fr Jaison Kuzhiyil, and Fr Stephen Smith, provide expertise in overseeing Finance, Strategic Planning, Capital works, and Catholic Identity. The Board is looking to appoint new members and is seeking interest from parents who feel they have expertise that would help shape the College. If you know of someone you think would be interested in or believe that you have a gift to offer, please contact me at the College. The AGM occurs on 29 March, and we would like to appoint any new members at the AGM. The commitment is not overly demanding and can be quite rewarding.

Until next week, please try to stay safe, keep happy, and let's support each other, and especially our students, in our prayers.

Frank Pisano

Great display of enthusiasm today by all students at the College Swimming Carnival. Some early House points were up for grabs, and the participation from students will make the tally a close one!

Some excellent performances by Vinnie Manion (Year 9), Monty Manion (Year 7), and Oliver Sims (Year 10) at the 2022 AusCycling National Mountain Biking Championships held last week and over the weekend. Monty won Silver in both the U/15 Men's XCC and XCO events, Vinnie won Silver in the U/17 Men's XCC event and Oliver came in 4th in the U/17 Men's XCO event.

Over the weekend, Jacob Barnes (Year 9) competed at the International Judo Championships in Canberra. 

Jacob placed 7th overall out of a two-pool division consisting of 18 fighters. Due to Jacob having his 15th birthday in January, he went into the Men's Category with ages ranging between 19 and 21 years old. Jacob's closest competitor in his category was 19 years old and weighed 5kgs heavier. An outstanding achievement and we congratulate Jacob on his performance.

During this trip, Jacob gained an Australian Judo Ranking. In early March, Jacob will travel to Melbourne for the second International event of the Tri-Series. Jacob will compete on the Gold Coast with the Tasmanian State Judo Team in June. 

There is a catch-up day tomorrow for students who could not attend last week's photo day. Students must be in the correct full academic uniform.

For parents/carers, if you wish for your children to have a family photo, you can order online at www.leadingimage.com.au before 4.30pm Thursday 24 February. All guardians would have received an email with the unique access key.

If you are ordering via your mobile phone and experience any issues, we suggest you try ordering via a computer.

A message from Mr Gerry Peters

Wednesday 2 March is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday starts the six weeks of Lent in the Catholic Church’s Calendar. The six weeks of Lent prepare us for the lead-up to Easter (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.) But more on that later. SBSC will celebrate Ash Wednesday with a Liturgy Prayer service as a Christian community. 

Ash Wednesday and Lent are a time of fasting and giving of ourselves to the needs of others. Giving of ourselves and fasting requires us to be humble and alert to the needs of others around us. To symbolise Ash Wednesday, we trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads with ashes, as illustrated in the picture. Naturally, due to COVID regulations, we will forego the ashes and imitate tracing the cross onto our foreheads.    

One of the other ways the Church commemorates this Lent and Ash Wednesday is by not eating meat on Fridays, as the meat represented luxury in the early Church. To symbolise this as a school, we do not serve meat products at the canteen on Ash Wednesday or any Fridays in lent. There will be fish alternatives on the menu as well as vegetarian options.

This week the College held the annual College Swimming carnival. It was a great day and the weather did not disappoint. As always, the College tries to make a carnival for everyone to enjoy with more novelty events than Olympic style swimming events. There was an opportunity for all students to participate and earn points for their house. 

The College would like to thank the students for their participation and also the staff who put the carnivals on each year for students to enjoy.

In what was meant to be the match of the round, the SBSC Lady Saints hosted their NW rivals Marist Regional College. With much anticipation for this game, as both teams are stacked with high-performance players, it was set to be a tightly contested game. However, the Lady Saints came prepared and took off like a rat up a drainpipe to gain an 11 point lead early in the first quarter, with Marsit scoring 0. Marist was down a player early in the game, leaving them with only four players on the court as the Lady Saints cruised to a convincing 66-19 win of MRC. The Lady Saints have kept their unbeaten streak alive and will turn their attention to St Patrick's College next Wednesday 2nd of March. 

On Monday, our College boys tennis team visited windy-Burnie to take on NW rivals MRC in the boys' Division 2. The second game of the season for our Saints and a new group of young men continued to improve from week one. However, as always, experience plays a big part in Tennis, and MRC was too experienced and strong on this occasion, defeating the Saints 57-22. The boys and girls tennis teams will have their first home game next week as they take on Launceston Church Grammer at the Devonport Tennis centre. 

A message from Mrs Kim Walters 

On Wednesday, I spoke to all Year 7 students about the importance of good personal hygiene, in response to a request from a few teachers. I explained why we wear deodorant, the importance of applying deodorant when we are clean, and the importance of ensuring our clothes are not the source of the odour - eg blazer, jumper. I also reminded students that aerosols are not permitted at school due to their effect on some asthmatics. Finally, I asked Year 7 students to be brave enough to tell a friend, nicely, if they have an unpleasant body odour.