That’s a wrap on another wonderful year at Our Lady of the Southern Cross College. I took a lovely walk to visit all the classes on Wednesday during Up Day and it constantly amazes me how much our students grow up right before our eyes.  During Up Day, a highlight on our calendar, our teachers handed on the children entrusted to them for education, care and personal growth for the last 12 months and welcomed their “new kids”.  There was so much excitement across the College, with lots of new faces visiting, including Miss Boon and Mrs Pevy.  The excitement was real with new teachers, new classrooms, new kids in classes and lots of fun to be had.  Our Prep students turned into big Year oners, our Year 4’s discovered what it means to be in the Middle Years, and our Year 8’s were inducted in the Senior Years, as well as what it means to become independent, resilient and responsible for their own learning as they progress towards Years 11 and 12.  It was a great day to start the conclusion of a great academic year.

Though it hasn’t all been rainbows and lollipops - as a community we traversed some very tough times in 2023. We lost some of our elder statesman and women in the Dalby community, and of course lost one of our own in Kerrin Simmich.  While there was much sadness and loss, we are now grateful that we had the opportunity to be influenced by these wonderful humans who have blessed our community with their presence. On a positive note, there have been plenty of highlights.  Our Grandparents Day this year stands out for me.  So many important people in our lives, people who are responsible for upholding the values upon which our College is built – all gathered together sharing a cup of tea and some delightful treats – each and every one of them lovingly crafted by staff and students of the College.  We also engaged in our College Musical, ArtsFest, Bookweek and more sport than you can poke a stick at.  We had multiple state and national representatives in various fields including Tiffany representing Australia in Volleyball, Judd taking out a national boxing title as well as an international belt, and Brock making the Qld School Sport Open Touch side.   We completed a school review, wrote a strategic plan to launch early in the new year, passed our Non-State Schools Accreditiation with flying colours, started a coffee shop as well as a breakfast club, made the state finals for Optiminds for the first time in a while, transitioned the formal to earlier in the year and also welcomed Mrs Sharon Collins as acting principal for 6 weeks.  

And all of this is just the fringe.  The bread and butter of our success was in the classroom.  Yet again, our reading data in the primary school shines as a beacon.  Our NAPLAN Data continues to strengthen.  Our impact from Write This Essay shows considerable impact yet again, and our pre-external assessment results were the best we have had.  Our teachers consistently punch well above their weight when it comes to their work in the classroom with our students and I continue to be impressed with the fantastic attitude the staff bring to work everyday so they can do the best work for our students.

As we head into the holiday and festive season, as mentioned in my College update earlier in the week, let us do so with connection in mind.  Connection to people over devices.  Connection to outdoors over reels or games.  Real connection with those we share a house with, a street with, a riverbank with.  I ask us to do this with gratitude and humility, as I spoke about at the awards ceremony.  Let us be generally grateful for everything that has been afforded to us, and let us interact with others over the Christmas holidays with a socially just attitude of humility. One of our greatest successes at OLSCC has been the further development of Praxis, or service learning.  When you have five minutes, have a chat with your middle or senior years child and see if you can hatch some ideas about how you can serve your community during the festive season this holiday.  It might be helping out others with a meal, giving a hand to a registered charity, contributing to the only Catholic Christmas Service (on Sunday 24 December at 7:00pm here at the College – hint hint), or simply helping out a neighbour with some yard work or fix-ups around the home.  As it states in Corinthians, “You do well in everything else.  You do well in faith and in speaking.  You do well in knowledge and in complete commitment.  And you do well in the love we have helped to start in you.  So make sure that you also do well in the grace of giving to others.”

Have some wonderful family time, enjoy your break, and I can’t wait to see you back at OLSCC for the first day of school on Tuesday 23 January.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Mr Peter Cuskelly

Principal