Staffing Update

We welcome Mr Aaron Aislabie to the College community as our new teacher of Chemistry, Year 7 Maths and Science as well as Year 9 Maths and Science.  He comes to us from Nerang SHS and Miami SHS at the Gold Coast, and we are very impressed with his work in his short time here.  We look forward to having Mr Aislabie in our community for many years to come. In addition we have recently confirmed the appointment of Miss Anastasia Belogonoff as our new Agricultural Science, Biology, Year 8 Maths and Science and Year 10 Science teacher, as well as Middle Leader – Senior Years.  Miss Belogonoff has come to us from Rockhampton and we are very excited for her commencement in Week 4 of Term 2. 

It is with great sadness that we farewell Mr Paffey from the staff at the end of this term as he focusses on his family and other commitments.  Mr Paffey will be dearly missed by staff and students alike, though we are sure he won’t be a stranger.  We are currently advertising for an English teacher to fill this position and hope to have an answer prior to the holidays.

Academic Reports

Our staff have again been very diligent in completing academic assessment, moderating and writing report cards for our 559 students from Prep to Year 12.  This is a critical document in many ways for us as a College, your child, and of course, you, the family.  It communicates your child’s social learnings, effort and academic achievement for the first semester and allows the College, students and families to make goals around student learning and wellbeing moving toward the end of the year.  Please take the time to sit down and discuss their report, no matter its contents, so that you may continue to support your child in their progress.  John Hattie’s research indicates that Parental Involvement (rated 51^st highest impact) actually has more impact on a child’s learning than the introduction of Writing Programs (rated 61^st) and the Principal (rated 73^rd)!

Reports for Early Years (Prep – Year 4) and Middle Years (Years 5-8) will be sent home with students early next week, whilst Senior Years will be posted home towards the end of the week.

School Renewal and Improvement Procedure – School Review next term!

As part of the Toowoomba Catholic Schools, our College will partake in a school review in Week 4 of Term 3 (August 5-9).  During this time, the panel will undertake approximately 100 interviews with staff, students and community members and listen for common themes regarding what is working well at the College and what needs improvement.  Thereafter the panel will document their findings and improvement strategies, which will inform our 4 year strategic plan and our future direction.

This process is very valuable, as our current direction was established based on the feedback of the 2017 review, which was conducted in much the same way.  If you are interested in being involved in the process, please contact the College office and add your name to the list.  Early next term I will schedule the interviews and you will be given a time and venue with plenty of notice. Linked below is the information for parents if you would like some more information.

Student Absences

In the reading of Academic Reports there are some very noticeable trends which are consistent with all previous reports I have read.  These are simply:

1. High results in Social Learnings are indicative of students with high results in Effort.
2. High results in Effort (over time) are indicative of high results in Achievement.
3. High levels of attendance (98-100% attendance) strongly correlate to High results in everything – Social Learnings, Effort and Achievement
4. Attendance under 90% is consistent with poor results in all areas

Essentially, students who arrive at the College prepared to learn with a positive mindset every day, tend to put in far greater effort, are better socially adapted and in the long run, achieve far greater results. Please be mindful that students missing the “odd day” may result in an accumulation of much missed learning.

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

This week’s Virtues focus is Temperance and the Character Strength is Prudence.  As we get towards the end of the Term and tire, as our patience may not be as strong, may we allow temperance and prudence into our lives.   

I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 

1 Corinthians 9:27 

We Pray – 

Jesus, you practised temperance; 

You were the Model of self-restraint, 

Never over-indulging in the temporal. 

My body being the Temple of the Lord, 

I must treat it with ongoing respect. 

Self-abuse destroys the body; 

Be it alcohol, drugs, or excess food. 

Lord Jesus, bestow fortitude upon me 

For my soul to control my body, 

To practice the virtue of temperance. 

Jesus, you are the source of my vigour. 

Through You, all is possible! 

Amen  

Grandparents Day 

We invite all grandparents to join us on the last school day of this term, 27 June to join us at the College.  A number of exciting events will be held on this day and we would love our Grandparents to join in the fun.  If you are able to join us please RSVP via the link or QR Code. 

Creating and keeping great relationships

We live in a world that is crowded with social media platforms. These are being accessed by young people constantly. At times teachers have information brought to their attention about the actions of students when using social media. The crucial information at a school level for further action is to ascertain; is the online behaviour impacting on the child’s education and life at school? An educational institution often is not able to come up with a solution or outcome. It therefore is important for us all to continue to promote positive relationships and interactions within the College and wider community.

The Middle Years Assembly recently was conducted as a Q and A. We had guest speakers who focused on the building of relationships and the importance of this in adolescence, however we also discussed the repercussions of deliberately creating negative interactions. Senior Constable Dan O’Hara from the Dalby Police talked about the social rights of people and how these can be undermined by the inappropriate use of social media. He also outlined that Australia’s laws take a very strong stance when it comes to harassing and intimidating behaviours online.

In further research as to how Australia’s laws have been reviewed, I accessed the ACORN (Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network) https://www.acorn.gov.au/ which made for very interesting reading. The divide between the idea that I can do something and then say, “I didn’t mean it” or “I was only joking,” and “Under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) it is an offence to use the internet, social media or a telephone to menace, harass or cause offence. The maximum penalty for this offence is three years imprisonment or a fine of more than $30,000.” (ACORN.gov.au) is quite remarkable.

Parents may at times see a change in their child. When they try to have a conversation, their child will often keep the problem to themselves for fear of retribution if action takes place. If the child does outline how they have been targeted on social media the dilemma is “what do we do?” Unfortunately, these types of behaviours often seem difficult to substantiate. However, as our IT expert Mr Alikutty outlined on Monday a person’s digital footprint can be traced if the need arises. Parents and children can take screen shots of offensive posts. The important thought here is to keep the data somehow. The evidence of the behaviour is the key to making it stop.

There have been a number of cases in the media recently where the use of digital platforms negatively, have ended up in the nations courts. People are starting to speak out and protect themselves from online harassment. The ultimate option for parents could be, “You can report serious cyber-bullying or stalking behaviour to the ACORN if the conduct is intended to make you (or the victim you are reporting on behalf of) feel fearful, uncomfortable, offended or harassed.” (ACORN.gov.au). If this happens, will we actually be aware of the way in which our children interact on social media? With the outcomes possible it is crucial that parents know the content that is housed on the likes of Facebook and Instagram on their children’s devices.

Mr Lincoln and Mrs Brennan discussed with the Middle Years students the importance of positive relationships as part of our ongoing development into our adult years. The active living of our Christian Values impacts on our whole community in a positive way. The place for harassment is no longer acceptable in our society. Behaviours that in our history have been overlooked are now front and centre in the community. We can no longer tolerate these types of antisocial relationships. It however is up to all of us to change the attitude of some to protect us all.

In a solutions based environment we will continue to monitor student interactions. Students will be asked to complete a survey which will focus on fostering positive relationships within the College and wider community. If we continue to make this a focus we will find that it will impact in many areas of College life. If you have any questions or would like further links to information please contact me at the College.

Steve Gillespie.

Assistant Principal Middle Years

Junior

Girls Rugby League

Due to the large number of girls keen to play Rugby League, we will be holding trials to select girls to attend the Bunya District Trials. We are planning to organise some inter school games for the girls next term so all interested girls have the opportunity to play.

Catholic Schools Netball and Touch Football Carnivals

Early next term, the annual Catholic Schools Netball and Touch Football Carnivals will be held in Toowoomba. Trials are being held this week for our Year 5 and Year 6 teams to attend these carnivals.

Senior

Rugby League

Under 15 Semi Final

OLSCC defeated Highfields SSC 34 - 12

Tries – Wil Brady 2, Hunter James 2, Bailey Skinner, Dylan Nobbs

Conversions – Will Herbert 5

The Boys will play Lockyer District SHS at 2.00pm next Wednesday in Toowoomba in the Grand Final.

1500m Races Athletics Carnival

The 1500m Races for the College Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday, 21 June starting at 1.50pm with the under 12 students. There will be six races in total with boys and girls running together in each age group.

Athletics

The timetable for the College Athletics Carnival is attached to the newsletter. Programs will be available at the College Office on Monday, 24 June. Urban Paddock Coffee will be available each day.

Tennis Championships

The College Secondary Tennis Championships will be held on Wednesday, 17 July at the Dalby Tennis Courts starting at 2.00pm. These championships will double as a selection trial to finalize a team to compete at the Darling Downs Schools Challenge Championships in Toowoomba on Monday, 19 August. Students interested in playing need to register interest with either Mrs Forbes or Mr Lincoln.

Touch Football

Three College Touch Football Teams have been playing in the Dalby Touch Association fixtures this season and all teams have advanced to next week’s Grand Final. The Under 15 Boys and Under 15 Girls Teams will play in the Men’s and Women’s B Grade Final on Wednesday night and the Open Mixed Team will play in the Mixed A Grade Final on Monday night. Best of luck to both teams.

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

The cast, crew and staff of the 2019 Musical, 'The Wiz' have been hard at work fine tuning their roles and with only 5 weeks to go until the show hits the stage, the excitement is beginning to build.

So far, our students and staff have put in around 140 hours of rehearsal time and there is still a long way to go including our bump in week at the Dalby Great Hall in Week 2. Mr Nott in INTAD has done an amazing job creating some of the stage props and Mrs McArthur and Year 9 Visual Art students have been working hard to add colour and life to the backdrops and props. Belinda Griffiths and the mums who are helping with costumes have also been putting in hours and hours to create costumes that will delight the audience. 

We have had an incredible response from some of our local businesses as well as Arrow Energy who have awarded us a grant via the Brighter Futures program. We acknowledge those sponsors and thank them for their support. 

Tickets are on sale now at

https://www.trybooking.com/BCRCO

In the meantime, enjoy a few photos our amazing cast and crew hard at work preparing 'The Wiz' for you enjoyment on 26 and 27 July at the Dalby Great Hall.

Readers Cup is organised by the Qld Branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia. It is a state wide competition for young readers. Teams of four students, together, read a set of books, and then compete with other school teams to answer quiz questions from the books. Readers Cup competitions challenge students to read widely, work collaboratively in a team and continue developing a love of reading. During this Readers Cup the team was assigned the following five novels to read; Marsh and me by Martine Murray, Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt by Rhiannon Williams, Sweet adversity by Sheryl Gwyther, Breaking news by Jaqueline Harvey and The Explorer by Katherine Randell. The students were then asked 8 questions from each book. The quiz master was the author of one of the books, Sheryl Gwyther.

The Darling Downs heat took place at The Glennie School on Tuesday 18 June. The team consisting of Year 5 and 6 students, Matilda Paffey, Charlise Conn, Loretta Carpenter and Olivia Burton, placed 9^th out of 20 teams which was a superb effort for the College’s first time in this competition. The novels used in the Readers Cup are available at the College library to borrow.

Miss Melinda Crow

Year 5/6 Teacher

It is that time again and Book Week is fast approaching. The Annual Book Week Dress-Up Parade is a huge highlight on the College Calendar and the effort of parents and students in creating amazing book character costumes is a sight to behold. Here's all the details for Book Week so get your thinking caps on and start creating.

Two students have recently completed their sign up for a school based traineeship including Charlotte Parviainen and Sarah McQuaid who are both in Year 11.

Charlotte has signed  up with Carol McDowell from Ningaga and is studying for a Certificate III in Individual Support. Sarah is taking on a Certificate III in Electrotechnology with MPC Contracting and is hoping to become and electrician.

Congratulations to both girls and thank you to MPC Contracting and Ningana for their support of our students.

Day 1 (Wednesday 26 June)

Day 2 (Thursday 27 June)

PLEASE USE TIMES AS A GUIDE ONLY

P&F Working bee this Sunday, 23 June from 10am till 1pm. Gather in front to the College Office building. 

Please bring shovel/crowbar, garden gloves and a wheelbarrow (if you can). Otherwise water bottle, hat and a good mood. 

Light lunch provided. 

See you there!

Chicken & Pasta Salad

Makes 6 Portions

2 chicken breasts

600ml chicken Stock

100g Pasta Bows cooked and cooled

100g canned or frozen corn

1 punnet cherry tomatoes

2 spring onions

1 small cos lettuce

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

½ tsp Dijon mustard (optional)

½ tsp sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp chicken stock from poaching liquid

Poach the chicken in the stock for about 10 minutes, then leave to cool completely.  Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and cut into bite-sized pieced (this can be prepared the night before).  Chicken can be substituted with Tuna.

To make the dressing, whisk together all of the ingredients.  Combine the rest of the ingredients for the salad with the chicken and toss in the dressing. 

Following on from the success of our Prep mornings will be our Come and Try Day for students in Yrs 1-12 on Friday, June 21. Families are asked to register at the office so that prospective students can be placed in appropriate year levels for the day. Parents will also have an opportunity to meet with the Leadership and Administration teams to tour the College and answer any questions. Students are welcome to stay for an hour, a session or a day – choose your own adventure! Please circulate this information to anyone you know may be interested in seeing OLSCC for themselves.