Rice Day yesterday was a huge success. A big thankyou to our staff members, Junior House Leaders and our senior students for organising the activities. We had fun participating in the water balloon throwing, face painting and a jelly eating competition. We were treated with green jelly cups and Zooper Doopers to help us cool down from the hot weather. GO RICE!

Keeping Up-To-Date

Throughout the rest of the year we have much happening at our great College, and as such, I encourage all families to keep up-to-date with key events through both SchoolZine (including the newsletter) and Facebook.  We use SchoolZine to send newsletters, forms and keep families up to date with the most recent information, while we use Facebook to send reminders, updates, and celebrate student success. 

Student Leadership 2020

This week I have spoken to the Years 4-11 students regarding Student Leadership in 2020.  In 2020 we will have Student Representative Council (SRC) members, Junior House Leaders, House Leaders and College Prefects.  The College Captains will be selected from the successful College Prefects.  To support all students who wish to apply for this opportunity, the 2020 Application Package is available from the Office.

It is important to note that the requirements of the applications, including due dates (for any reasons) are mandatory.  Additionally, whilst the SRC and Junior House Leaders positions are elected democratically, the (Senior) House Leaders, Prefects and College Captains are appointed through the merit process, that is, application and interview with members of the College Leadership Team. I look forward to announcing the 2020 Student Leaders at the 2019 Excellence Awards and Year 12 Farewell.

Canberra

We wish all the Year 6 students attending Canberra the safest of trips and the greatest of learnings as they depart on Sunday.  Thanks to all the staff attending for their sacrifice of time in providing this opportunity for our students.  I’m sure we will hear all about it upon their return!

Technology Usage

Last week the College Leadership Team underwent training in Microsoft Teams so we can transition to working digitally as a whole staff into the future.  The capabilities of this platform means that we can work collaboratively on a variety of tasks simultaneously, without the need to email and send files over and over again.  This is the start of developing the ways which teachers can work to reduce their workload and as such we will be engaging more staff to engage with Teams.  Mr Hodge has been trialling Teams with some senior staff this semester and is having great success already!

In addition, after successfully introducing CANVAS for students at the start of the year, the staff finally have access to their work files 24/7 after our recent transition away from storage on local servers. 

College Chapel Update

Since the holidays there has been renovations to the old “Green Block” in the Senior Years area in order to reinstate a College Chapel.  Many of these spaces were either in little use or in disrepair, and as such this project was born with the LYF (Living Your Faith) program at the end of 2018.  Although the structure will be complete in a few weeks, the Chapel furniture, seating and signage won’t be in place until later in Term 1 2020. We will be arranging a date early in 2020 for the Bishop to open the new space for our community.

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

Last week as a College we focussed on the virtue of Wisdom and character strength: Love of Learning.  In our final term of the year we pray for God’s strength in all our learning endeavours.  

Eternal God 
Bless all schools, colleges, and universities, 
that they may be lively centres 
for sound learning, new discovery, 
and the pursuit of wisdom; 
and grant that those who teach 
and those who learn 
may find you to be 
the source of all truth; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

NAPLAN Online – Community engagement with NAPLAN Online resources 

Last week’s NAPLAN Online School Readiness Test went extremely well.  Students had a good time exploring the online platform and we will continue to expose them to this testing environment as we proceed towards Online testing in 2020.  There are several resources readily available online for teachers, students and parents to access in preparation for NAPLAN Online.  Those with specific focus for parents will regularly be promoted in in our College Newsletter. Some essential sites for parents to begin exploring are listed below. 

NAPLAN Online Parent information:

https://NAPLANonline.qld.edu.au/getting-ready/parent-information 

https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment 

Public demonstration site with demonstration tests

https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site 

Mini Vinnies Christmas Appeal 

We will again collect donations to support St Vincent de Paul’s Christmas Appeal.  We look forward to presenting St Vincent de Paul with amazing hamper supplies again in 2019.  Donations can be placed in the College Office or in Classrooms until Week 8. 

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education

The countdown is on!

Our Year 12 students have entered the home straight in their schooling journey. While they still have assessment to complete, anticipation is building towards the number of significant events that will be held in their last week. I commend this cohort for the diligence they have shown throughout the year. Year 12 is a challenging time for any young adult, and this group deserves the celebrations that will occur over the coming weeks.

Finishing Strong

On the first day back this term, I met with all Senior Years students to discuss the term ahead. I mentioned that Term 4 is my favourite term. Not because it is the shortest or that the Christmas holidays are imminent, it is because it is an opportunity for students to showcase and consolidate everything they have learnt and the new skills they have developed across the year. 'Finishing strong' is the key message for the term. In this, I mean that students continue to focus on their controllables. Examples include:

• Arriving at classes on time, with all required equipment
• Paying attention in class and completing all set tasks
• Getting a head start on assessment and not leaving it to the last minute
• Having a regular study and revision schedule
• Wearing the College uniform with pride
• Continuing to demonstrate the Senior Years Success Qualities of gratitude, respect, perseverance, independence and excellence

In the end it is all about being intentional with our actions, coming to school each day to be a better student and learner than the day before.

Assessment Calendars

The Term 4 assessment calendars are now available on the College website. These documents are provided to assist students and parents with mapping out busy periods throughout the term. The examination timetables will be released within the next fortnight. If students are struggling with their assessment loads, their first point of contact should be their teacher.

https://www.dalby.catholic.edu.au/assessment

Achievements

Our Year 9-12 students participate in a wide variety of College and community events and activities. I would love to recognise those students who achieve success in their various endeavours. Please email me at matthew.hodge@twb.catholic.edu.au if you have some news to share.

Matt Hodge

Assistant Principal Senior Years

The College would like to congratulate Ashley Dean on the completion of her Certificate II Salon Assistant. Ashley's mother Josie conveyed to us that Ash was the first student in her class to complete her Certificate. Her TAFE teachers, pictured with Ashley, were so proud of her and were very pleased that Ash had taken the time to travel to Toowoomba for her presentation night. Ashley intends to enrol in her Beauty course next year and then complete her Certificate III in Hairdressing. 2020 will be a very exciting and fulfilling time for Ashley and we wish her all the best for her future studies. 

Learning is in full swing across the Early Years as we speed on into Term 4. Please keep your eye on the many important dates we have coming up this term. The College calendar on SZapp App should be your first port of call to check dates for important College events.

Several essential notes will have gone home over the last two weeks for each class in the Early Years. All classes have sent information regarding the content that will be covered for each Key Learning Area for every class in the Early Years. If you have not seen this come home, please ask your child or follow up with their teacher. Year 3 students have been participating in swimming lessons for the last 2 weeks, and students in Prep-Year 2 will participate in weekly water awareness and water safety lessons in Weeks 3-6. Again, information has been sent home regarding timetables for these lessons. Our Early Years Choir have several exciting community events coming up this term and Mrs Garside sent a note home to all choir members yesterday with important dates.

We will continue to look at more of our College Learning Dispositions through our newsletter items this term. One of our key dispositions, or learner qualities, is optimism. Optimism involves learning to think positively about the future – even when things go wrong. It’s about looking objectively at a situation and making a conscious decision to focus on the good. Students need to recognise, and often, need to be explicitly taught, that self-talk assists in developing optimism and that thoughts which are negative can be overridden with positive thoughts. Renowned author, Martin Seligman, presents these ideas in his excellent book “The Optimistic Child”. He focuses on life skills that transform helplessness into mastery and bolster self-esteem. According to Seligman, learning the skills of optimism not only reduces the risk of depression but boosts school performance and improves physical health. The world of an optimistic child is a world full of more possibilities. This fabulous book is filled with practical advice and written in clear, helpful language and best of all, is on the shelf of our very own College library and parents are welcome to borrow it! Do yourself (and your child) a favour and take a closer look at this excellent text.

Over the last two days, several of our classes have had the opportunity to work with our Toowoomba Catholic Schools reading coach, Mrs Cath Kimmorley. We have been fortunate to have Cath visit our school and work with a number of classes over the last two terms and we will be continuing this across our College into the future. It has been so exciting to watch the engagement of our students during these sessions!

Katrina Walton

Assistant Principal Early Years

Last Friday, the students of Year 2 welcomed Father Jim, family, friends and fellow students in celebrating their gifts of creativity and innovation through prayer and their annual Invention Convention. Students prepared songs, prayers, bible readings and a special story sharing their thoughts and ideas with those who congregated for the special prayer gathering. They then excitedly presented their own inventions, each created to help people in their daily lives. A fantastic assortment of inventions from camping glasses to help you see in the dark while putting up your tent to shirt folding machines and Lego vacuums were to be admired.

Year 2 students and staff would like to thank Mrs Brennan, Mrs McArthur and Mr Petersen for their help in creating a very memorable afternoon for themselves and their families.

This week I have been walking around the classrooms and having a look at all the fantastic work that is happening in Arts and Culture this term. I have included some photos of our students at work preparing for the College Christmas Carols, as well as some gorgeous photos of our Year 3/4 class busily completing art work. This process has required the students to receive feedback from a fellow student before using colours to complete their work. This peer review process is very important for students to use as part of the Visible Learning process. It also allows students to engage with not only their own creative path, but those of their fellow students in a safe and constructive environment.

This week also sees us say goodbye to Mr Caine Wager who will be taking up a post in Kingaroy. Caine lives in Nanango so this will be a much shorter trip to work for him. As a creative community, we thank Mr Wager for his hard work since arriving at Our Lady. He jumped straight in to the College Musical, the Delicious and Delightful Festival as well as College prayer gatherings and masses. We will certainly miss him next week.

The Music classes and College Early Years and Senior Years Choir will continue to prepare for the College Christmas carols. I have included some photos and hopefully some short videos as of next week. I am hoping that the videos will give the College community a small insight to the fabulous night ahead as well as the Christmas pageant the following week.

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 25                     Reclaim the Night  (College Contemporary Vocal Group)

November 7                   Music Count Us In (Early Years Choir)

November 8                   Anglican Parish Dinner (College Contemporary Vocal Group)

November 15                Senior Graduation Mass (Senior Years Choir)

December 3                   The Lighting of the Christmas Tree (Early Years Choir)

December 4                   Early Years Nativity Play (Early Years Choir)

Libby Baxter

Middle Leader The Arts and Culture

Junior

Touch Football

Two Year 5 teams will compete in the SWQ Primary All Schools Touch Football Carnival in Dalby this Sunday October 20. Mrs Tresillian along with Lachie Wilkins and Sarah McQuaid will be coaching the boys team. Mrs Wilkins along with Claudia Child and Shawnee King will be with the girls team. Version 2 of the draw has been passed onto students. Any late draw changes will be available at www.swqtouch.com. Players must all register online for the carnival.

Aquathlon

Nine students will compete at the Darling Downs Aquathlon trials next Friday at the Dalby Aquatic Centre. An Aquathlon consists of a 1km run, 200m swim, followed by another 1km run. Mrs Karla Knight will be attending with our students on the day.

Senior

SWQ Rugby Sevens Series

Any late draw changes or wet weather information will be available via the SWQ Sevens Series Facebook page or at https://www.downsrugby.com.au/sevens-rugby

Round 1 Results

13 Girls

Loss to Downlands College

15 Girls

Win vs St Joseph’s College

Loss to Chinchilla SHS

15 Boys

Loss to St Mary’s College (try on the siren)

Win vs Lockyer District SHS

Week 2 Draw

Tuesday 22 October

• 13 Girls will travel via private transport leaving at 2.20pm
• College Coach will leave at 3.15pm and return at approximately 9.30pm
• Under 15 teams will be going to support the Under 13 Girls for their 4.40pm game

Thursday 24 October

• All teams will travel via private transport
• 13 Boys to leave at 2.30pm
• Open Girls to leave at 2.40pm
• Open Boys to leave at 3.10pm

Touch Football

Results from the Qld All Schools Touch Football Carnival held last weekend are listed below. Thanks to Mrs Gleeson and Lorelle Sankey for their assistance in coaching our teams and to the parents and past students who came to support the College

The Under 15 Boys team had a great carnival finishing with 4 Wins and 2 Losses and were very unlucky not to progress into the finals on Saturday. Both losses were by one try and the boys could have easily won both games and finished top of the pool.

Win vs Nudgee College                                    11-3

Win vs Clairvaux MacKillop                             8-0

Win vs Laidley SHS                                           7-0

Loss to Ignatius Park (Semi Finalists)             5-6

Loss to Southport SHS                                     4-5

Win vs Pine Rivers SHS                                    6-2

The Under 15 Girls had a young team this year with only two girls ineligible next year to play Under 15 Touch. The team was competitive in all games and will be looking to improve on these results in 2020.

Draw vs Emmaus College                                  2-2

Loss to Brisbane SHS                                        1-4

Loss to Clairvaux MacKillop                               3-5

Loss to Southport SHS                                      0-6

Loss to Unity College                                         1-4

Loss to Kingaroy SHS                                        1-4

The Under 18 Mixed Team had a sound carnival finishing with 3 wins, 3 losses and a draw. Similar to the Under 15 Girls the majority of the team are able to play in this division again in 2020. This was a tough pool to be placed in with very little separating all teams as the scores below suggest.

Loss to St Michael’s (Quarter Finalists)                 1-3

Loss to Sienna College                                              3-5

Draw with St Andrews                                               2-2

Loss to St Patrick’s Gympie (Quarter Finalists)    0-4

Win vs Runcorn SHS                                                 4-2

Win vs Victoria Point SHS                                          5-3

Win vs Forest Lake SHS                                             4-2

Changes for 2020 World All Schools Touch Football Carnival

Under 15 Boys and Under 15 Girls Teams will compete from Wednesday October 7 until Saturday October 10. Under 18 Mixed will compete from Friday October 9 until Sunday October 11. Trials will be held in February next year to select teams.

2020 Confraternity Shield Rugby League and Netball Training

The 2020 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 2020. The Netball Carnival is open to any girls in Years 9-12 in 2020. Training for both teams will start on Monday morning 28 October from 7.00am – 8.15am. Boys will be training on the College main oval and Girls Team will train at the PCYC indoor courts.

Water Polo

Congratulations to Bailey Martin who has been selected in the Darling Downs Water Polo Team for the 2020 State Championships.

Athletics

Best of luck to Michael MacDonald who will compete the State Athletics Championships in Cairns this weekend. Michael will participate in the 100m sprint and 4 x 100m relay.

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

Last Term, students from Year 3/4 joined together with Year 9B Praxis to focus on building teamwork and community skills within the College. The older students used various machines, adhesives and techniques to skillfully craft note holders made from timber and wooden pegs. They then worked together with the Year 3/4’s to bring these to life with colourful paint. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed fun games while waiting for the paint to dry.

We all began our schooling here in 2007. At the time, the school was recognised as St Columba’s and changed over to Our Lady of the Southern Cross College in our time here. What we are trying to say is, we are an original trio, students who began on these school grounds and never strayed far. As a result of our time at the College, we must recognise the drastic amount of change, both positive and negative.  However, we do not wish to reverse any of the changes as they have shaped us to who we are today. Our original group has been separated at times and that was to be expected, yet we have found our way back and appreciate the growth that has come from our various experiences. So as our reflection, we thank you; the school and students. Without you, we would never have grown the way we did.

Whilst reflecting on our time here, we decided to share some of our favourite memories:

In Prep, Ashley was obsessed with Harrison. She wanted desperately to marry him.

In Years 4 and 5 we built the Great Wall in the sandpit, complete with sand toads. As well as tree bases with acorn money. That’s where we learned the skill of stealing.

At Year 10 camp, Harrison ran down the hill at Lake Perseverance and fell face first.

Make memories and enjoy your time here.

Ariella Stephen, Harrison Gwynne, Ashley Dean

Our groundsmen Andrew and David have been hard at work once again. The area in between Blue and Orange block is nearly complete, with final gap filling and seating still to come. The area has had a full makeover and the children are very excited to have a new freshly grassed area to sit and play.

• 1 1/4 cup water, Luke warm
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast or 20g fresh yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons castor sugar
• 3 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Method

Place water, dry or fresh yeast and sugar in a jug and stir well.  Allow to stand for 15 mins.

Combine flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Add olive oil and yeast mixture and mix to combine using a butter knife.

Turn out contents of the bowl onto work bench using a generous amount of flour and knead for 10 mins.  Roll dough into a ball and place back in bowl and cover.  Put the bowl in a warm place to rise for 30 mins.

Divide into 4-6 portions, roll them out and fry in a pan until nice and golden (approx. a few mins per wrap).

Note:  There is a Thermomix version of the recipe on the Recipe Community Website.

Year 6 students from our school will soon be undertaking, an education tour of the national capital, Canberra. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion, the Australian Government is contributing funding of $60 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.