Congratulations to all students who attended the QLD Primary Schools Cup Volleyball Competition in Brisbane last Thursday. It was a massive day for all players, staff and parents with an early departure and late arrival home. The students were very excited to be the first group to go on an excursion on the new College Coach. Thanks to Mrs Lisa Lincoln for organising this event for our students. The following teams received medals in their division:

Silver Medal Year 5 Girls Blue  – Maleah Pattison, Charlie Coleman, Matilda Paffey, Heidi Reed, Ava Bruce (Coach – Luke Paffey)

Bronze Medal Year 6 Girls Blue – Monique Smith, Ella Price, Lara Hartwig, Shayla Nelson, Chloe Manteit, Kago Masako (Coach – Zoe Turner)

A special mention goes to the Year 6 Girls Division 1 team who finished in fourth place playing in the highest division and narrowly missed the Bronze Medal. This is the best result a Girls Division 1 Team has had at this competition before. The team was made up of Bella Buckley, Summer Buckley, Maddy Gater, Tiffany Ham, Gabby Banks, Chloe Wilkins, Carla Nobbs and Coach – Lisa Lincoln.

Visible Learning Study Tour

Mrs Walton, Mr Gillespie, Mrs Joyce, Mrs McArthur and I were fortunate enough to spend the first 3 days of this week observing and learning from some of the best Visible Learning Schools and Colleges in Auckland, New Zealand.  We spent a considerable amount of time at Stonefields School, the school that John Hattie uses to record the majority of the videos that support his work in Visible Learning.  In addition we visited Selwyn College (Years 9-13), Ormiston Senior College (Years 11-13), Clevedon Primary School (Year 0 – 6) and New Market School (Year 1-6).  To say that this visit was inspirational would be an understatement.  We saw great facilities, kids, teachers, ideas and principals, though most important of all, we saw exceptional learning and the structures that support this being consistently implemented across individual schools.  We also saw how students who have experienced both Stonefields and then Selwyn, could articulate their knowledge of the learning process, as well as identify their capacity to progress at a far greater rate than their peers, even though they had less content knowledge in comparison when they began their high schooling experience. This was because they knew how to learn – what to do when you don’t know what to do.

This leads to the real learning for our study tour – How can we organise and conceptualise our College so that maximum energy is invested in “causing learning” for our students whilst minimising the energy spent on other items? As an educational system we are constantly being bombarded with additional things to teach and do, though we were very reflective and identified that always prioritising what “causes learning”, although sounding obvious, is our number one take away.  In addition we have much discussion about the development of “The Learning Package”, which will outline both the learning dispositions and the learning process that students need when they are stuck.  We will also be continuing our work of refocusing our use of the curriculum, and the way in which we work to ensure we are best meeting the needs of individual students. In short, these are:

“Causing Learning”

• Delivering and implementing “The Learning Package” including the Learning Dispositions, the Learning Process and the Learning Pit.
• Uncomplicate the curriculum to clarify for teachers the priority areas and the “curriculum entitlement” for our students
• Changing our ways of working to best meet the learning needs of students in our classes

As discovered in our visit to Auckland to this week, we must be mindful that it takes considerable focus and time to deeply en-grain visible learning into the culture of the College.  The schools we visited have been on this journey for 8 years or longer, though we are well underway with the work that our staff are already doing in classrooms.  I must make a mention of thanks and recognition to the executive leadership team and Catherine Kimmorley from Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office who created the opportunity for this amazing learning experience which will have considerable impact on the learning of our students well into the future! There are more exciting times ahead as we continue on our journey of continual renewal.

NAPLAN Data Release

We have seen the next release of NAPLAN Data and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of individual student NAPLAN reports so that we may forward these to parents.  I will be collating some of the data to share, though we are impressed with much of our improvement in 2019.  We have met many of our long term NAPLAN goals, and are very pleased to report that over two thirds (yes that’s more than 2 out of every 3 students) of year 3 students have achieved in the upper 2 bands and no children in year 3 are under the National Minimum Standard (NMS) for Reading, Grammar and Punctuation, or Numeracy.  This is an excellent achievement which all of our students, parents and especially staff should be very proud of.  Well done everyone!

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

This Friday, we join as a College community to celebrate Our Lady of the Southern Cross Day.  We pray our College prayer this week: 

Lord, help us to do our best in all our challenges 

and learn to appreciate 

that by doing our best with the gifts you have given us 

we are serving you. 

Help us to build our community in your presence 

and give us the grace 

to follow the example of Our Lady 

in faithful service to Our Lord.  Amen 

Mini Vinnies 

We received a letter of thanks from St Vincent de Paul, Dalby last week that included the following statement which I would like to share. 

Frederic Ozanam, founder of St Vincent de Paul Society said, “Charity is the Samaritan who pours oil on the wounds of the traveller who has been attacked. But, it is justice’s role to prevent the attacks.” 

Daniel Morcombe Child Safety – Report  

This week, we are starting to implement the final key message of the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum: report. This means that when children or young people have been in a situation that is unsafe that they are taught to report what has happened to an adult. Even if a child has been able to make themselves safe, it is vital that they still report what has happened. Adults need to know about unsafe situations so that some action can be taken to help the child be safe again or ensure it doesn’t happen again.  

Students involved in the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum will be encouraged to make a list of adult safety helpers. These are adults the children and young people nominate whom they can talk to when they are feeling unsafe or have experienced an unsafe situation or feel they are at risk of something that may cause them harm. This list will include a selection of adults who live in and outside the home. 

Report also includes telling an adult about unsafe or inappropriate incidents which may occur when children or young people are online. This might occur when surfing the net or using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and can include cyberbullying, viewing or receiving inappropriate images or messages or communicating with unknown contacts. 

It is important that the key safety messages of the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum: Recognise, React and Report are reinforced, both at school and home. I encourage you, wherever possible, to talk with your child about safety to help them stay safe now and in the future. 

OLSC DAY plans  

Tomorrow as a College, we celebrate Our Lady of the Southern Cross Day.  The feast day for Mary is officially on Sunday, 1 September. We will run an alternate program from 11:00am onwards tomorrow. Students will take part in a lesson about Mary and the role model she is for us followed by activities in our House groups with students from Prep to Year 12 and we will conclude the day with Mass.  All families are welcome to join us for the celebration of Mass at 2:00pm in the MPC. 

Unbreakable Farmer 

Today, the Year 11/12 REE students had the privilege of listening to Warren Davies, 'The Unbreakable Farmer'.  We thank Dalby Rural Supplies – CRT for providing this opportunity for our students.  He spoke to our students about pressures we face in life and how we can learn from his story.  He is on a mission to create awareness about mental health and wellbeing and inspiring conversations around emotions and how we can support each other and the support that is out there for us.  'Love Me and Love You' is the organisation Warren is involved with – the aim of this organisation is to create awareness, a greater understanding of mental wellbeing and how to live a happy and fulfilling life with optimal wellbeing.  http://www.lovemeloveyou.org.au/ 

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education

Queensland Core Skills Test (QCS)

A group of our Year 12 students will be sitting the Queensland Core Skills Test next Tuesday and Wednesday. The test of core skills consists of two multiple choice papers, one short response paper and one writing task. The students have been participating in a number of preparatory activities throughout the last two years, including practice papers, intensive training days with a QCS consultant and specific skill activities in Year Level Connect lessons. Our thoughts are with our students as they ty their best across the two days. Best of luck students!

Drafting & Turnitin

All students in Years 9-12 were presented with a refresher on the College’s Drafting Guidelines and the use of the plagiarism-detector software, Turnitin.

The purpose of drafting is to maximise the given potential of the student. In saying this, our College’s guidelines have a direct focus on the development of the necessary editing skills for students to improve the quality of their writing. The following are key elements of the guidelines:

• Students in Years 7 to 12 will be provided with the opportunity to submit one draft per assessment task. In some subjects, students are required to submit at various checkpoints instead of one draft submission.
• The submission of a draft is compulsory for every assignment.
• Students are to submit drafts on the due date as stated by the class teacher by 3.30pm.
• The College has an edit line process in place whereby the teacher will indicate any errors and comment on areas in need of improvement (Edit Feedback) in a particular section of the draft (as nominated by the student). General feedback will be provided on the remainder of the draft outside of the editing section.
• The ultimate responsibility for the quality of the final submission rests with the student. This requires students to use the feedback from their draft and make any necessary adjustments.

Some teachers have already reported an improvement in the overall quality of drafts being submitted. Teachers will continue to support teachers in their use of Turnitin as a tool to improve academic writing.

Assessment Period

We are well and truly in the assessment period of Term 3. Students need to ensure that they have their assessment dates written in their dairies and are completing the necessary work and revision for their various forms of assessment.

A Head Start into University!

Congratulations to Breanna Tanks who has just graduated as part of the University of Southern Queensland’s Head Start program. Breanna’s completion of the Australian Legal System (a first year university subject) gains her guaranteed entry into USQ. Additionally, Breanna gains 2 credits towards her QCE. Well done Bree!

Any Year 10 and 11 students who are interested in completing a Head Start subject over the summer holidays are encouraged to see Mr Hodge as soon as possible.

Matt Hodge

Assistant Principal Senior Years

The Lifelong Learner -Learning is an action and making mistakes is ok.

I have been very fortunate to visit, during a whirl wind tour of Auckland New Zealand, a number of high performing schools. Each school has been on an 8 to 10-year journey developing the contextual fit that was allowing their students to achieve at or around their potential. The interesting thing was that the staff of these schools did not talk about students, they identified the young people in their care as learners. In exploring this idea further, there were two key points that I will look at in this article. The students had a clear understanding of what it meant to be a learner and they were encouraged to make mistakes rather than be shielded from them.

What does it mean to be a learner? In talking to students, it became clear that their understanding was that learning is a verb that you took individual control of for yourself. It was not a noun, some terribly difficult thing that was done to you by teachers. Selwyn College catered for students aged 12 to 18 and they believed, “it is of central importance to us that we build each student’s capacity to be an effective learner who achieves their personal best academically.” This control of one’s learning gives ownership to the students.

We are not talking about ability here, we are talking about behaviour and choices being made by individuals. A powerful behaviour model which is used often is the idea of “get out of bed and on the oars.” Move away from the behaviours of “blame, excuse and denial,” and move towards behaviours of “ownership, accountability and responsibility.” Our young people can take ownership, be accountable and be responsible if we give them the supportive environment needed to grow and learn. That supportive environment can not be developed if we don’t allow them to make mistakes and learn from them.

Adam Osborne was a writer who died in 2003.He supported the idea that “the most valuable thing you can make is a mistake. You can’t learn anything from being perfect.” It is interesting that Osborne died before the digital age hit full gear, yet he invented “the Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable computer.” The learner is the one who challenges themselves and looks for the difficult problem. The New Zealanders want their students in “the learning pit,” that challenging place where they are uncomfortable and struggling, making mistakes and finding solutions for themselves.

This is not to say that we leave our children floundering without help. However, jumping in and solving the problem for them, correcting their mistakes and shielding them from the challenge is not teaching them to succeed it is really teaching them to give up. “Creating something new involves making a lot of mistakes. One example is the bestselling Dyson vacuum cleaner. The inventor made 5,127 prototypes of the vacuum before getting it right. “There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That's how I came up with a solution. So I don't mind failure”. Parents can help children to learn that when you make a mistake, all it means is that you haven’t learned how to get it right yet.” 5 126 is a lot of times to pick yourself up and refocus on your goal.

Let’s create a growth mindset within our learning environment, a collaboration of learners, staff and families that encourages our students to throw themselves into “the learning pit” and claw their way out the other side by using the knowledge and skills they possess. It is through constant challenge and success that we build well being. When we have worked hard and achieved, we have learned.

Steve Gillespie

(acting) Assistant Principal Middle Years

Senior

Darling Downs Super Schools Cup Rugby

Round 5 Results

Under 13

OLSCC defeated Toowoomba Barbarians 17-15

Tries – Bailey Rathmell 3

Conversion – Lyucian King Togia

Under 15

OLSCC defeated Toowoomba Barbarians 17-5

Tries –Nathan Weir 2, Lyhkan King Togia

Conversion – Charlie Cooper

Opens

Dalby Barbarians defeated Toowoomba Barbarians 17-7

Tries–Nathan Miers 2 Brayden Hughes

Conversions – Lachlan Wilkins

Finals Wednesday 4 September at Highfields Sport and Recreation Park

Game times TBC.

Netball

Senior Vicki Wilson Cup Netball Results

Round Games

Game 1: 23-10 win against St Josephs College

Game 2: 16-4 win against Chinchilla SHS

Game 3: 6-33 loss against Fairholme College (overall winners)

Game 4: 22-6 win against Pittsworth SHS

This placed the girls second in Pool B and through to the Final 6 Play offs

Finals

Game 5: 12-22 loss against Glennie

Game 6: 8-14 loss against St Ursula’s College

Game 7: 12-16 loss against Lockyer District SHS

Thanks to Mrs Appleton and Miss Belonogoff for coaching the girls on the day. Best of the luck to the  two Junior Teams who will compete in the Under 15 Vicki Wilson Cup in Toowoomba on Sunday.

Rugby Sevens

An Under 14 and Under 16 Girls along with Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 Boys teams will compete at the Scots PGC Warwick Sevens Carnival on Saturday. 14 September. The Girls teams have a trial game against Mary MacKillop Highfields and St Ursula’s College on Friday 6 September at Highfields in the Under 13 and Under 15 age groups. Teams will also compete in the SWQ Sevens Series in Term 4 in Toowoomba. Girls will play on Tuesday afternoons starting 15 October and boys will play on Thursday afternoons from 17 October. Age groups for this competition are Under 13, Under 15 and Open.

Cricket

Any boys interested in trialing for the Inner Downs Under 14 Cricket Trials on Thursday, 19 September need to see Mr Lincoln for more information. Boys must be born in 2006, 2005 or after September 1 2004.

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

Kindness is the sincere and voluntary use of one’s time, talent, and resources to better the lives of others, one’s own life, and the world through genuine acts of love, compassion, generosity, and service. We show kindness in many different ways, when we express care, consideration and concern for ourselves and those around us. People can show kindness in many different ways including a supportive smile, a comfortable embrace, heartfelt words of encouragement or compassionate acts of generosity. Kindness is as simple as helping people out if they need it or encouraging them to try something new. 

In Rice we show kindness by encouraging our teammates to participate and do their best, by cooperating and working together to get a solution and creating a safe and comforting environment. We welcome new students into our team and listen to all ideas with an open mind. We always show respect and love towards each other as a house family. Kindness is a key component to our house spirit.

Last week, seven students competed at the Fraser Coast Inter-school Equestrian event at Maryborough Showgrounds. Dakota Barnett, Jorja Ellis, Lucy Reed, Emma Reed, Mia Marchant, Emily Griffiths and Anna Lilburne entered in numerous classes over the three days of the competition and all riders scored placings receiving ribbons and points towards their age group championship and the school total.

The Fraser Coast event is attended by students from a total of 63 schools and there was a huge number of 250 riders competing making this event the largest of it's kind in Queensland. Our riders represented themselves and the school to a very high standard and were very competitive across all disciplines.

This year, we were extremely excited to learn that Lucy Reed was the Reserve Champion in her Year 3 age group on her horse Mighty Boy. Lucy received ribbons in almost all of the events she entered and was only two points behind the Champion. Congratulations Lucy!

Penny Cartwright, who is in Year 5 has recently won the very prestigious award of Overall Grand Champion of the Dalby Speech and Drama Eisteddfod. Penny competed in four set events of Poem, Character Recital, Mime and Impromptu Reading and she won all four plus three others. This gave Penny the overall Championship Award and she was very excited to receive her trophy. Congratulations to Penny on such an amazing achievement in the field of Speech and Drama. 

This year over 100 artworks were sent in from the College to the Independent Education Union's 2019 Art Awards. This year's theme was Unity where students were to visually repond to this theme in any 2D media they wished. We are very pleased to acknowledge Sam Morgan who received a Highly Commended from Prep-Year 2 category. The Presentation and Exhibition Evening will be held at the Queensland Multicultural Centre, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane at 6:30pm on Wednesday, 4 September 2019. Well done, Sam.

Congratulations to the lucky winners of the Saint’s Race Day Raffle –

• Student Pack                        Melissa Hart
• Spring Home Décor             Jake Griffiths
• Pampers & Champers         Bill Goodlett
• Mens Pack                             Bec Martin
• Wine & Dine                          Julie Nimmo
• Tupperware Pack                 Bree Barnett
• Ladies Package                     Melissa Irwin
• Family Pack                           Tammlynn Kimpton