Leadership Forum Learning

A fortnight ago, I was fortunate enough to be engaged in the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Leadership Forum, this term, being hosted in Quilpie.  With the absence of such gatherings due to COVID, it was a rigorous week of new learning for principals across the Diocese. We learnt of the new direction for our schools, the support in both formation and teaching and learning, as well as best practice in aligning the two pillars of Toowoomba Catholic Schools: Academic Success and Making Jesus Known. The emphasis placed on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, as well as the underpinning history of the formation of our schools and colleges, strongly supports the great work happening all around the diocese. 

For me though, the most exciting aspect of the leadership forum was the alignment in the work of Toowoomba Catholic Schools and the needs of our schools, students and communities. As we bring together our 2021 Annual Action Plan in coming weeks, we know we are well supported by our system and the great consistency with the work of other schools and colleges in the diocese to ensure that we are doing the best we can to make a greater impact on the learning and growth of our students. 

Parent testimonials

I may be biased, though I believe that we have a great College here at OLSCC and sometimes I wonder if everyone in our community is aware of just how fortunate we are! As a part of this I would like to welcome any parents who feel passionate about our College to send me a testimonial of what they love and value about OLSCC. It only needs to be one or two paragraphs, and we will use a variety of these testimonials in our prospectus, website, newsletter, marketing and advertising. I am really interested in hearing about all aspects of our community and value any input you may have.  Simply write, type or scribble your testimonial and send it to me at peter.cuskelly@twb.catholic.edu.au or drop it into the Office.

Prep Interviews this week

How exciting it has been to see many of our future Preppies meeting with Mrs Walton for their Prep interviews this week! While all kindy kids love the idea of coming to “big school”, the greatest aspect of seeing all the students before then is getting to see the real them, the individuality that each and every student brings to the College. Whilst the planning of classes and teachers for all year levels for 2021 is in the initial stages, we can confirm that Mrs Kathy Morgan and Mrs Sandra Gleeson will be the classroom teachers of Prep in 2021.  Mrs Walton’s gifts will be utilized in teaching across all Early Years classes in 2021. 

Most of our 2021 Preppies are also attending Shooting Stars on Mondays and Thursdays to assist them in their transition to school and is an absolute blast to say the least! Shooting Stars  currently has a full group of 25 students on Monday while there are still some vacancies on Thursdays. All students join Mrs Morrison for a fun day of ‘school’ focusing on important early literacy and numeracy skills which give the children a great springboard into formal learning in Prep next year. We are fortunate to be able to offer Shooting Stars as a valuable part of our transition as it enables our future students to become familiar with the routines and physical environment of our College, as well as commencing their learning.

End of Year Celebrations

We are currently trudging through the regulations and guidelines in order to confirm the details regarding the the College end of year celebrations for both Year 12 students and the rest of the College. Our plan is to have a schedule out to everyone early in Term 4.

Peter Cuskelly

Principal