Thursday 10 November - Year 11 Study Skills

Wednesday 16 November - College Awards Assembly

Thursday 17 November - Brisbane Broncos Visit

Friday 18 November - Year 12 Graduation Mass and Valedictory Dinner

Friday 25 November - Year 10 and 11 academic year concludes

Friday 25 November - OLSCC Christmas Carols

Welcome back to Term 4 and with one week almost over, we have 8 weeks left for our Prep to Year 9 students, 7 weeks for Year 10 and 11 students and only two weeks of formal classes for Year 12s plus a three week exam block then graduation week. As we prepare for many events this term, I would like to remind all students of our College Expectations and ask that they remain committed to upholding these expectations right up to the last day of school. 

• Learn and allow others to learn
• Be safe
• Be respectful
• Be responsible

During the term break, two of our staff members Mrs Hayley Hayllor and Mrs Rachel Rockliff held their weddings so we congratulate them both and their husbands on their marriages. This term, we also welcome two Pre-Service teachers, Georgia Lindsay and Janie Creighton to our College. There is still much to learn in Term 4 so I encourage everyone to keep focussed and maintain a high standard of committment to every day, both in and out of the classroom.

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

Well, we were definitely ready for those holidays, and as mentioned in our last assembly, it was a time to recharge, relax and reconnect with our family. For anyone fortunate enough to have gone somewhere new or to their favourite holiday place, we can be thankful to God for giving us the opportunity to do so. We can also be thankful to God for watching over us and keeping us safe while we relaxed at home or afar or in the instance of our Year 12s, prepared ourselves for what was our final school holiday and an even more final last term of school. God gives us these opportunities away from our work and learning to rest and recharge and to put things back into perspective. Sometimes when we are deep in the term, or at the bottom of the Learning Pit, it can seem like such a long way out. Holidays give us an opportunity to catch up and have the courage to have another go. 

Dear Lord, we are forever grateful to You for our lives and for everyone you have put in our lives. We appreciate and love all that You have given us and understand that through these gifts, You love us so much. We ask that You guide us through our last term of 2022 and give us the courage and wisdom to stay on the path You have already planned for us. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen 

As we enter the last term of the year, many things begin to count down: 

11 weeks until Christmas  

8 weeks until the end of 2022 Academic Year for Prep – Year 9 students 

7 weeks until the end of 2022 Academic Year for Year 10 & 11 students 

6 weeks until Graduation for 2022 Year 12 students 

2 weeks until Year 12 External Exam Period begins 

We know that this term is filled with many events, milestones and celebrations.  It is important that these occasions do not become our only focus.  We need to finish strong! Strong in our efforts with learning, strong is our resilience and persistence.  We are not yet finished the year but when we do we want to be able to look back and be proud of finishing ‘strong’.   

Term 4 events 

Please spread the word with fellow family members and friends for these upcoming events 

Monday 10 October - Alice in Wonderland (performing Arts Students) 5:30pm PAC 

- Friday 14 October - P-6 Grandparents Day - MPC 

- Under 13-Open Swimming Carnival – Dalby Pool 

Wednesday 16 November – College Awards of Excellence 9:15am – MPC 

Friday 18 November – Year 12 Graduation Mass 10:00am St Joseph’s  

Friday 25 November – OLSCC Christmas Carols 6:00pm-8:00pm  

Monday 28 November – College Fun Run 

Thursday 1 December – Early Years Christmas Play 

NAPLAN  

In 2023 NAPLAN has been moved to March rather than the traditional May test period.  We will again conduct NAPLAN Online with our students in Year 3, 5, 7 & 9 at this time.  NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum.  NAPLAN is not a test that children can prepare for in the same way they might prepare for an end of unit test. NAPLAN tests skills that develop and improve over time. These are skills that should be continuously developed throughout the year and not just in the lead-up to NAPLAN. 

Keyboard skills are critical for NAPLAN online writing assessment. I encourage families to allow students time to type up stories/work on the computer.  Spend time with your child editing their work on the screen.  Discuss this process with your child and articulate your thinking.  Encourage the use of Write That Essay (WTE) with your students.  Classroom teachers work on digital literacy with our students which assist in their preparation for NAPLAN. 

I encourage Parents to learn more and see the types of questions and related functionalities available in the NAPLAN Online assessment at www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site.  If you would like to discuss NAPLAN further, please contact your child’s core teacher or myself.  Each fortnight leading to NAPLAN we will include general NAPLAN information in the College Newsletter.  If you would like to discuss your child’s participation in NAPLAN please contact your child’s core teacher, Andrea Gormley or myself.  

EdLead 23 

Four Year 11 students attended EdLead23 on the first weekend of the holidays.  This program has been developed by Edmund Rice Education Australia to focus students,  from Edmund Rice and associate schools, on the story of Edmund Rice, the founding brothers and how we can use this leadership example to enhance our own leadership capabilities.  The four students who attended, Charlie, Clare, Sam and Josh volunteered to go to this experience and this is their reflection on the experience. 

"On the first week of the holidays Clare Boland, Charlie Boland, Samuel Garside and I went to Nudgee College in Brisbane, and participated in EDLead with other Edmund Rice schools.  Thirteen Edmund Rice network schools from across the state were invited to learn and participate in multiple leadership, spiritual, and interpersonal connective activities. Activities included memorising everyone’s name, learning various leadership strategies and past leaders experience, playing wheelchair basketball, writing confessions, singing songs, attending mass, learning the schools founding stories, enjoying recreational time with other school members and browsing Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall. We wish to implement the leadership qualities that we have learnt. We are excited to see our progression and the schools through being the best me I can be." - Josh Nimmo

One of the facilitators of the retreat, Br Damien Price, has worked extensively with our staff over the past 4 years.  Br Damien visited our College this week and presented the students with a badge as a symbol of their experience and knowledge they gained.  He then toured the College with the students and was impressed with their pride and the community of Our Lady of the Southern Cross. 

2023 Preparations – staffing, class lists and so much more…. 

This is an exciting time in the administration of the College as we work hard to finish our current year strongly and look strategically towards 2023.  I am currently working alongside my colleagues on the staffing needs for 2023; our subject options across all year levels but in particular Year 9, 10, 11 & 12; and our timetable for 2023.  There are many layers to this work and we are dedicated to ensuring our students have the best opportunities to achieve their future pathways through their educational journey at our College.  This journey begins in Prep.  We have commenced interviewing staff candidates for 2023, to fill our College with staff who are passionate about their subject areas and about the success of their students. 

Class lists - All parents were emailed last term about the process will follow as a College to create our classlists.  The drafts of these are currently being developed by classroom teachers.  Parent input is invited via the Class Consideration form, details on the intention of this input and the link to the form is in the aforementioned email and on the newsfeed of Parent Portal. This form will close at 9am on Monday 10 October.   

So much forward planning goes into the functioning of our College each year and whilst at times it can be challenging it is rewarding to see our students thriving in their learning.  We often speak to our students about our learning dispositions as life skills and about the importance of being life long learners.  Term 4 is an exciting time in the College where as a leadership team, we get to flex, develop and grow our own ability in these learning dispositions. 

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education

Leading into assessment it is important to develop good habits as there are so many opportunities for distraction which can often lead to procrastination. Developing good habits is key in achieving well in work and study.

Top 10 Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

Procrastination is the act of putting off a task which you know you have to do, even though you know that putting it off will probably be worse for you in the long run.  For example, when you procrastinate about starting an assignment it doesn’t make the assignment go away, or the deadline change, it just gives you less time to get the work done. To manage this, try the following:

1. Become aware of the excuses you use - make a mental note when you procrastinate.  What excuses do you give yourself?  Too tired?  Too difficult?  Too boring?  Being aware is the first step in changing your behaviour.  Keep yourself honest by asking questions like “is this the best use of my time at the moment?” and “am I doing this as a way of avoiding what I really should be doing?”.
2. Reduce or eliminate distractions - creating a clear, uncluttered work environment which is free from distractions will help you avoid procrastinating.  Turn off your social media or WiFi, turn off your music or TV, close the door.  It’s easy to get distracted and lose focus on what you are trying to do, or to procrastinate by surfing websites that are barely related to the topic you are meant to be researching.  You can find out more in the Home Study Environment unit and Dealing with Distractions unit.
3. Make a prioritised list - before you start work (or procrastinating) take a few minutes to work out what your priorities for the session are, based on your deadlines.  Take into account all the time you have available and make a prioritised list.  Work on the most important thing first (see also tip 7 below). There is more information in the Time Management Skills unit on techniques for prioritising.
4. Break down projects into chunks - if you have a big task that you have to do, or something that you really don’t want to start, have a think about how it can be broken up into smaller parts.  A big assignment might need a plan, the purchase of resources, a trip to the library, internet based research, and then several days to write and edit each section.  If you just focus on doing one of these tasks it’s easier to commence.
5. Just start - stop focusing on getting it done perfectly, or even well, just make a start, even if it’s just for a few minutes.  Starting the task makes you realise it’s not as daunting as you originally thought and allows you to make a small amount of progress which encourages you to keep going.  Sometimes once you get started you can even do more than you originally thought you could or would.
6. Reward yourself - set yourself a small goal (to do with the task you are procrastinating about) and then reward yourself appropriately when you complete it.  For example, write an outline for your essay and then have afternoon tea.  You will be more motivated to complete the task to get the reward.  Note: for extreme procrastinators you may need to get someone else to check you’ve done the work and to give you the reward! Learn more about this in the Goal Setting unit.
7. “Twofer Concept” - when you are working on a difficult or boring task, break it up by having a more interesting or easy task that you work on in the same study block.  You get 2 lots of homework done, but when you are losing focus on the difficult one you can switch to the easier one for a bit of a break.
8. Create routines - establishing a routine can help you avoid procrastination as you get into the rhythm of working for a set time each day at a set time of the day.  Making this routine known to your family and friends also helps keep you accountable and stops them interrupting you during your work time.
9. Find a study buddy - perhaps starting that difficult work will be easier if you have someone to work with.  This could be a school friend or a sibling. You could share resources and help each other to get started with similar work.
10. Schedule in breaks - breaks give you time to think and process information that you have been working on and give you an opportunity to do the things you really enjoy.  Plan them as much as you plan your work.

Rodney Spain

Assistant Principal Senior Years

Year 6 Outback Tour

During the last week of Term 3 our Year 6 students departed on the much-anticipated Outback Tour. This learning activity had already been forced into postponement from Term 2 due to unseasonal weather events causing flooding up north and in the week leading into the new date some inclement weather threated to create more headaches and heartache. Fortunately, we were blessed with a fantastic week.

To support their learning in Science and HASS, the group covered over 2,500kms through the Queensland Outback visiting sites in Tambo, Blackall, Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton, Charleville. I am pleased to report the students were also excellent ambassadors for the College and we received a number of compliments from members of the public throughout the trip. We even had an opportunity to interact with students from Tambo State School, St Finbarr’s School (Quilpie), and St Mary’s School (Charleville).

I would like to thank the Blackall-Tambo Regional Council and the Mayor of the region, Andrew Martin, for their support of this tour and allowing us to use the facilities at the Blackall Showgrounds for the first two days of the itinerary.  

Year 5 Brisbane Camp

Not to be outdone by the Year 6 group, our Year 5 cohort departed this week on their camp to Brisbane. So far they have visited St Stephen’s Cathedral, the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, and today will spend the day investigating the ruins of the penal settlement on St Helena Island in Moreton Bay.     

Minecraft Masters

On Monday October 8 a group of students from the Middle Years will meet with members of the Western Downs Regional Council, including our Mayor to chat about their proposals for the Myall107 redevelopment. These students have already designed and built their proposals using the Minecraft platform and now have the opportunity to share their thoughts. Well done to the following students: Dylan Peach, Ethan Koehler, Hayden Koehler, Joel Hayward, Lochlann McNaughton, Tom Clarke, Luke Griffiths, Bella Bonnin, Matthew Brennan, Penny Cartwright, and Stella Cleary.   

Craig Cullen

Assistant Principal Middle Years

Thankyou to Mrs Kristen Bennie for facilitating the Early Years in my absence last term. It was so wonderful to be greeted so warmly by the students on Tuesday. They are certainly our greatest asset and I am always so grateful to run into groups of students when I tour the College with prospective families. Just this week, as I took several families from out of town through the learning areas, students were friendly, engaged and happy. Without exception, this is always noted and commented upon by our visitors. Our focus on the Learning Dispositions and the Learning Pit are clearly evident in these interactions both within and outside of the classroom setting. One of the Year 1 students gleefully told me how he had “been in the learning pit A LOT” over the holidays as he was learning to ride a two-wheeler – what a great transfer of knowledge and information! I thank all our families for supporting us in working together as a team to foster this development. 

This week you will have once again received the Term 4 outline of what your child is learning about in the classroom. I urge you to take some time to read this information, print it out if you find that easier, perhaps stick it on the fridge! In this way, you can engage in meaningful conversation about what your child’s day or week has been like. This gives a great base for the vital questions of  

• what are you learning?  
• how are you going with the learning? 

• what do you have to do to bump your learning up? 

It is with great excitement that we have begun preparations for the Annual Early Years Christmas Musical. Next week, each year level will receive notification of costume requirements. Some extra bits and pieces will be provided at school and we would love some parent assistance to help create these. To do so, we are planning a night of creativity in the form of a working bee on  

• THURSDAY OCTOBER 27 (week 4) 
• 6:30pm – 8:00pm  

This will involve simple things such as cutting out A LOT of stars, etc. Nibbles, good company and a few laughs provided! Keep your eye out for further information. 

Unfortunately some of our families are missing vital pieces of information due to not reading our newsletter on a regular basis. If you come across people who feel they have “not been told” something, please direct them towards the College newsletter and website. Whilst much of our information is emailed directly to parents, the newsletter remains an important and up to date source. If you are currently reading this, then you are the people I am relying on to get the word out to others! 

We were lucky enough to have Opera Queensland come to the College to present The Frog Prince to the Early Years – our first experience with operatic singing with a catchy story and excellent visuals!

Katrina Walton

Assistant Principal Early Years

Wow, what a term! Thank you so much to everyone who helped in the Culture department, especially in the lead-up to Enchanted Evening. The students did an amazing performance, and we could not be prouder of them!

Don’t worry, we’re not done for the year yet! This Monday 10 October the Performing Arts students will be performing their very own Musical, Alice in Wonderland. It will begin at 5.30pm in the PAC so please come along to support our younger thespians. They’ve been working incredibly hard on this for the past 6 months and I just know it’s going to be wonderful!

We’ve also begun preparations for our Early Years Nativity play which will be performed later on this term. I know the Early Years students look forward to this performance every year and I can’t wait to see it all come together!

Tamara Creeley

Middle Leader Culture

Swimming Carnival

The Under 13 - Under 18 (Born 2009 – 2004) inter-House Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday 14 October and at the Dalby Aquatic Centre. Students will travel on the College Coach leaving at 8.50am. Students will be back at school by 3.00pm. Students may wear their house colours on the day.

DD Triathlon

Any students wishing to be a part of the Darling Downs Triathlon Team for 2023 need to see Mr Lincoln for more information. Students must be born between 2004-2009.

DD Aquathlon

Any boys or girls turning 11 or 12 in 2023 (Born 2012 or 2011) who would like to participate in the Darling Downs Aquathlon Trials please see Mr Lincoln for more information. An Aquathlon consists of a 1km run, 200m swim, followed by another 1km run. These trials will be held at the Dalby Aquatic Centre on Friday 28 October. Students must be able to swim the 200m without stopping.

SW Rugby Sevens Competition

Term 4 Weeks 2-6

Under 13 Boys, Under 13 Girls and Under 18 Girls - Mondays at Highfields Sports Precinct

Under 15 Girls – Thursdays at Highfields Sports Precinct

First games to begin at 4.30pm.

The draw for next week is still being finalised. The College Coach will transport students to the games on a Monday night. Further details can be found at https://www.downsrugby.com.au/south-west-7s/ .

Primary Touch Football

The College has nominated a boys and a mixed team in the SWQ Swans Primary All Schools Touch Football Carnival in Dalby on Sunday 16 October. Further details will be passed onto students next week.

Secondary Touch Football

Day 1 of the QLD All Schools Touch Football Carnival began on the Gold Coast yesterday with the Under 15 Teams competing. The Under 18 Mixed team begin their carnival today. Full results will be available in the next newsletter.

QISSN Netball / QISSRL Rugby League 2023

The 2023 QISSRL and QISSN Carnivals will be held in Brisbane in the first week of the June/ July holidays. The Rugby League Carnival is open to any boys turning 16 or older in 2023. The Netball Carnival in open to any girls in Years 9-12 in 2023. Any students interested in playing will be invited to attend trainings this term. There will be a parent and student information meeting for both teams at 5.15pm on Tuesday 18 October in the PAC.

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

Today our Year 9 Ag students plus one student from Year 10 Ag had a very exciting day as it was finally time to plant out the much awaited grape vine root stock. With help from our mentor viticulturist Mr Peter Stewart from Lightening Tree Wines and our grounds staff, the students planted 300 vines in the Ag plot on Cooper Street. The vines are Montepulciano variety which is an Italian red wine grape from Tuscany. This variety is especially suited to the weather and conditions in Dalby and we should see some worthwhile fruit in approximately three years. Students will be involved with the care and upkeep of the vines from now until the first harvest and will work with our grounds staff to ensure they are kept healthy and free of pests. 

At the end of Term 3 Miss Creeley, Mrs Lilburne, Miss Nicholson, and Mr Fraser took the Year 9 Cohort away for 4 days of camp at QCCC Noosa. Camp is always such a great experience for both students and teachers. This year we had the pleasure of seeing the Year 9 students come together and work as amazing teams, full of motivation and curiosity. Despite sleeping in tents, every morning the students woke up with smiles on their faces ready to tackle whatever the day brought. They encouraged each other and helped their teammates at every opportunity. They built many skills including resilience and persistence. The students were so amazing that our experienced camp instructors couldn’t help but rave about them all week, one even saying this group was the best she’s ever had.

Thank you Year 9 for the amazing memories. We hope you cherish them as much as we teachers do! Penny, Ollie and Gabby have put together a short story on their camp experience.

Year 9 Camp from Gabby, Penny and Ollie

On 13September, the Year 9 cohort departed from Dalby to later arrive at QCCC at Noosa which is a great outdoors survival camp that taught us many skills for real life situations. When we arrived everyone met Kerry, the leader of an Aboriginal organization called Tribal Link.  He introduced us to the land on which we had the best time ever! We separated into our groups; Red Group was called Joe Dada lead by Miss Nicholson and camp leader Joe, Yellow Group were The VegeMIGHTS with Mrs. Lilburne and camp leader Millie and Orange Group, Tingling Tangerines were with Mr. Fraser and camp leader Amelia. Miss Creeley was a supervisor and spent time with each group. Day 2,  there were groups doing everything from one group doing rafting to another doing a find and rescue. The groups had been separated with very low contact with each other. As the Tingling Tangerines and Joe Dada would know the VegeMIGHTS would bark at anyone who walked past their campsite! That night we had tribal wars filled with war cries and fun activities which were all a competition for the grand prize of chocolate! In third place was the VegeMIGHTS, second was Tingling Tangerines and First was Joe Dada. On Day 3 everyone enjoyed some good meals that were well deserved by finding clues in the bush and working as a team. Day 4, the last day, we put our skills of fire making, naturally filtering water, search and rescue and teamwork to the test. This was a competition between all groups with Tingling Tangerines coming in third, Joe Dada second and in first place the VegeMIGHTS with the return home later that day. Throughout this camp we had amazing camp instructors and they taught us how to build a raft, fire, water filter, the skills for search and rescue with so much more. Thank you to the teachers that came who made this camp experience possible.   

In Week 9 of Term 3, our Year 4 students travelled to Columboola for an overnight camp. When we arrived we split into two groups and took part in a low ropes course and in recycled paper making. We also completed an orienteering course in the rain! After dinner, we learned about aboriginal astronomy and went on a bush walk to see what creatures we could spot at night. We slept the night in tents and were awakened by a big clap of thunder and storm early in the morning, causing some flooding which meant an early end to our exciting camp! We all had a wonderful time and learned a lot from our time at Columboola.

In a year when the country celebrates the success of our Australian’s Women’s Rugby Sevens success of a World Cup, World Championship and Commonwealth Gold Medal, it is important that we recognise success closer to home. The purpose of this article is to celebrate a young person who has represented the College in girls’ Rugby Sevens since 2017. Claudia Child started training with a group of Year 8 girls who approached me and wanted to start playing Rugby after the success of Australian Women’s Olympic Gold medal win in 2016. At the time, Claudia was in Year 7 and the youngest member of the team. Soon after, Claudia was promoted to captain and led the team with admirable leadership qualities. This year, we see Claudia and her cohort complete their last year at OLSCC. With this, we celebrate Claudia playing Rugby Sevens for 6 years, representing the College at the Southwest Sevens Series, Scots College Gala days and the Independent Schools Queensland Competition held in Toowoomba. During this time, Claudia has improved her knowledge and skills to become a highly accomplished and talented rugby player and team member. She is also a very popular team member and leader and has always been well respected by her team members, opposition teams and coaching staff. I have always found her a very effective listener, very coachable and willing to assist others with the game of rugby. As a rugby player and team member she has always been humble and graceful both in in victory and defeat and a role model for other young players. We would like to thank Claudia for her service to the sport but mostly we thank her for being a young person that other team members and younger players aspire to emulate.  

Open Rugby 7’s team 2022

Dean Garside

Rugby Sevens Coach

Mrs Francis has been busy working on new menu items for the tuckshop this term, one of which includes sushi!! The sushi will be made off site by a chef and so far, from the taste tests done this week, it gets the huge thumbs up. The range will be extensive including karaage chicken, teriyaki chicken, calamari, crab, chicken and avocado tuna. Sushi will only be available at Tuckshop on Fridays and will be made to order so you will need to place a Flexischools order by Thursday morning for the Friday lunches. Sushi will cost $3.50 per roll which is a generous size and comes with a small soy sauce.

There will also be some new items on the Spring Specials menu including Caesar Salad, nachos and a loaded hot dog so be sure to check this out on Flexischools.

As has been a tradition for some years, students From OLSCC go along to the Bexk Street Kindergarten to help with their annual Sports Day. This year Coleen Dimal, Khayden Hall, Milla Barnett, Lainey Geiger and Bobby Machin attended the Sports Day. The students were outstanding and represented our school beautifully.

We are running a School Colour Fun Run as a fundraiser on Monday, 28 November and we have launched this event already. For your child to be involved, please see the linked Parent Letter for all the details. 

A sincere thanks to the following Saints Race Day committee members who contributed to the success of our race day. Courtney Geiger, Hannah Gilliland, Clare Gibson, Cindy Ridge, Erin Fry, Sharnee Purcell, and Petrea Carmichael. Also thanks to the staff and parents who helped with the set up and clean up.  

If you are interested in being a member of the Saints Race Day committee in 2023 please contact the OLSCC P & F or attend one of the P & F meetings.