Welcome to Term 3.  Time flies when you are having fun and we have had a great start to the term. Last week we joined with our nation to mark NAIDOC week, celebrating the rich cultural history of our first nations people and an opportunity to connect and learn together.

Reporting Feedback

Thank you to all the families who gave feedback to Phase 1 of our reporting trial.  It is so valuable to hear from families about their experience and thoughts about both our report card and learning discussions.  One of my highlights in reading the comments was how so many families value the time and effort our teachers dedicate to their children through all elements of reporting. We will now work to review feedback in the following areas:

• Learning Discussions – Student Led Conferences and what this looks like for the rest of 2024 and 2025
• Scale Criteria – Application to Learning and Attitude to Learning

COLLEGE EVENTS

We love it when families join us for College events. There are two big events this term for which we would love to extend a big invitation to families.

Monday 22 July we will join together as a whole College for Mass to celebrate Catholic Education Week. Our Junior Choir will lead the singing alongside senior musicians and singers.  It will begin at 2pm in the MPC.

The second event to join us for is Our Lady of the Southern Cross Day.  On this day we join together as a whole College for Mass at 12:30pm in the MPC followed by an afternoon of whole College athletic events on the Main Oval.  These events include All Age Relay and the Tresillian and Gillespie Gifts.  This is a great afternoon to join us to celebrate the magic that is our Prep – Year 12 College community.

CELEBRATING OUR STAFF

Next week as part of Catholic Education Week we recognise and celebrate the achievements of some of our staff.  We know we have great staff who work in all areas of the College but next week we highlight three specific achievements.

Spirit of Catholic Education Awards

The Spirit of Catholic Education Awards are presented annually in conjunction with Catholic Education Week, to recognise individuals or teams making an outstanding contribution to Catholic education in Queensland.

The nominees from our College we recognise are:

Simone Forbes

Carey Twidale

Danielle Skerman

Leisa Finch

Long Service Awards

Each year we acknowledge those members of our TCS community who have provided long service to Catholic education. Thank you to the following people for their long service to our communities!

30 years

Katrina Walton

Jacqueline Jenkinson

 20 years

Cate Brennan

Melita Dellit

Sandra Gleeson

Joanne Bradford 

Toowoomba Catholic Schools Excellence Awards

The inspiring and expert staff in our schools are formally recognised through the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Excellence Awards.

Each year, nominations are called for from colleagues, parents and community members to highlight teachers/educators, school/kindergarten leaders, support and services staff in schools, kindergartens and OSHC, those that work in an office or volunteer their time as examples of the excellence across our network. 

From these nominations, finalists are selected and at a special award's dinner during Catholic Education Week, the recipients are announced.

The awards are in 9 categories across three areas and capture the varying career phases, roles and responsibilities that enable Toowoomba Catholic Schools to provide high quality education and care in a distinctively Catholic environment.

We congratulate the finalists from our College for 2024:

Emily Blair – Excellence in Teacher and Learning – Early Career Teacher

Kylie Purbrick – Excellence in Teaching and Learning – Secondary Expert Teacher

Melita Dellit – Excellence in Leadership – Emerging Leadership

Simone Forbes – Excellence in Leadership – Middle Leadership 

Winners in each of these sections will be announced at a special dinner on Thursday.  We wish our staff well in this, but we know they are already stars!

DATE CLAIMERS – Term 3 and beyond

INSERT SAVE THE DATE IMAGES WITH THESE

22 July – Catholic Education Week Mass 2pm in MPC

26 July - Pupil Free Day – staff attending Professional Development

30 August - Pupil Free Day – staff Professional Development

2 September – Our Lady of the Southern Cross Day Celebrations

13 September – Grandparent’s Day Celebrations & Last day of Term 3

30 September – First day of Term 4 (10 week term)

7 October – King’s Birthday holiday

21 October – 12 November – Year 12 External Exams

13 November – College Awards of Excellence Ceremony

15 November – Year 12 Graduation Mass

2 December – College Christmas Carols (twilight)

5 December – Early Years Nativity Play (during school day)

6 December – last day of Term 4 (10-week term)

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education