In Week 8, a letter was sent home to the youngest in the family regarding our transition from several different communications platforms to our new Schoolzine dashboard. Schoolzine will administer our website, newsletter and communications app all from one simple log in.

As of tomorrow, Skoolbag will no longer be used and therefore should be deleted from your mobile devices. SZapp is easy to use, has more convenient functions and will be enhanced over time with more click tiles for links and information. Click on the link button below for instructions on how to download SZapp now.

We are currently finalising class structure and teacher allocations for 2019 across the whole College. The numbers for enrolments in Prep for 2019 are reaching the maximum for 2 classes and we need to make decisions now on whether to cap our intake or open another class.

If you are considering enrolment for a Prep student in 2019 we would like to hear from you as soon as possible to ensure there will be a place available for them.

Thank You

This Term, we farewell 4 staff from the College including Dr Kym Ford, Miss April Strand, Mrs Rebecca Martin and Mrs Michelle Garside.  Dr Ford is finishing up at the College after starting back in 2013 and has been instrumental in the teaching of Middle School Mathematics and Science as well as Senior Chemistry throughout that time.  We wish Kym all the best as she moves onto bigger and brighter endeavours.  Miss April Strand has served our College community since May 2016 as our Lab Assistant, quietly assisting the teaching of Science in the College diligently.  She has started her employment in her scientific field recently and as such we wish her all the best in her new role in Oakey.  Mrs Rebecca Martin has been working tirelessly in 3B in Mrs Jensen’s absence and although she will be back as a supply teacher, her class will dearly miss her.  We also thank Mrs Garside who has stepped in on Mondays this term to support Mrs Martin in the education of the 3B team.  Thank you to Dr Ford, Miss Strand, Mrs Martin and Mrs Garside for your contributions to our great College!

Welcome Back

We welcome back Mrs Geraldine Jensen who will never ride a quad bike on ANZAC Day again as well as Mrs Tania Fraser. Mrs Jensen will resume teaching 3B and despite the absence, am sure that she will slot straight back in to where she left off. Mrs Fraser will be stepping in for Dr Ford in the Middle Years areas of Maths and Science.  We look forward to having you both on board!

Year 11 Leadership Camp

I attended Leadership Camp with 4 prefects last night and we were all impressed by the teamwork and leadership of the Year 11 group.  In their night walk, they set some of the fastest times that the instructor had seen and the way they worked together as a team was inspiring.  Their courageous and selfless approach to the challenges they faced are a credit to themselves and the journey they are on to become our leaders of the future.  I am looking forward to seeing what this amazing group can achieve over the coming 12 months!

Visible Learning in Melbourne

On Monday and Tuesday, I had the pleasure of working in Melbourne with Corwin (Educational Publishers and Consultants) seeing Visible Learning in schools that have been on the journey for a number of years.  We were fortunate enough to visit Sacred Heart in St Alban’s, St Vincent de Paul in Strathmore and also received a presentation from Kolbe Catholic College.  These schools were wide and varied, some rich, some poor, one had 98% of student with English as a second language, one was surrounded by multi-million dollar residences.  What I took from my visits through the classrooms and through meeting with the leadership team and seeing the improvement in learning data, was the consistency of language and teacher practice for the students that makes the difference.  It isn’t the programs, or the facilities or the text books, or the number of kids in the classroom, learning occurs best where every effort is focussed on the core intent of students learning.  Whilst there is an inundation of information that I am yet to process into an orderly fashion, I am working with peers from other schools on a similar journey to create clarity for our community and students about what learning is, what students are required to learn, how digital technology will support the attainment of mastery learning, what assessment looks like and the best ways that students learn. This will underpin our work going forward, and all strongly aligns to both Visible Learning, the Reading Improvement Strategy, and the underpinning expectations of the new QCE and ATAR systems in senior schooling.   

Pupil Free Day Tomorrow – Year 7-12 student only

Due to the planning for the implementation of the new syllabuses in 2019, tomorrow will be a pupil free day for all Year 7-12 students. All students in Years Prep-6 are expected to intend their regular program of instruction as always.   

Attendance

Students who attend less than 93% are disadvantaged in their learning.  Students who attend less than 80% are grossly disadvantaged and find it remarkably difficult to make connections in their learning.  We are currently analysis learning data against attendance and there is no surprise in guessing that many of our students who receive targeted intervention which is extremely costly for the Diocese and College, are attending at substandard levels.  Next term, make sure your child has 2 or less days away from College to ensure they can continue in their learning.  The idea that teachers can make a child “catch up” simply is fictitious – we don’t have the time or capacity to reteach whole lessons over and over again simply because a child is absent.   

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

Happy Holidays everyone, may you enjoy the break.  

Dear God, 

Please help me to have more self-control.  

Train me Lord, like an athlete to be strong and determined.  

Feed me with your truth in the scriptures to make me healthy.  

May I exercise muscles of forgiveness, patience and peacemaking.  

Lord, increase my stamina to give out to those in need.  

And may I be freed from past hurts and confusions so that I can run free.  

Come fill my life with your resurrection hope!  

Amen 

INTERESTING FACT ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

The Catholic Church is the largest non-Government welfare provider in Australia.  With 52 member organisations, 12600 employees, 500 different services and 1.1 million clients cared for in 2017. 

(facts compiled by Rev Dr Richard Leonard SJ)

2018 NATIONAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM 

Last Thursday and Friday I had the privilege to attend the National RE Symposium in Brisbane.  It was a great opportunity to network with other APRE and RE Leaders from schools throughout Australia and workshop with both Australian and International speakers about delivering meaningful RE curriculum in a ‘change of era’.  It was an inspiring few days where I learnt lots of new information but where I was also affirmed in the work our College staff are doing in this area.  As we plan the strategic direction of our College we need to ensure we cater for students in the learning of Religious Education and offer all our students' opportunities to engage with their faith and discover the work Christ does in and through us.   

WESTERN DOWNS REGIONAL COUNCIL LIBRARY DRONE VISIT 

On Wednesday, Scott, from the local Library visited the College with a Drone and 360° camera.  We had great fun taking video footage of the students moving onto the oval to make OLSCC.  We also took a cool 360° photo of all the students here on the day.  Technologies like this are going to be part of our students' futures as their capabilities stretch to many career areas as well as being just good fun!  This visit was part of the promotion of the Dalby Drone Industry Forum being held in Dalby next Monday.  All are welcome to attend the sessions at this free event and if your child or you have an interest in this area we encourage you to take a look.  The Forum flyer and schedule are included at the end of the newsletter or check out the details on their website. 

Cate Brennan

Assistant Principal Mission

Junior

Netball

Congratulations to the girls who attended the QLD Samsung Cup Netball Competition in Bundaberg last weekend. Thanks to Erin Pascoe for coaching the team and to Donna Smith for umpiring. Results are listed below. The team had 2 Wins, a Draw and 2 Losses on Saturday which ranked them 3rd in their pool out of 6 Teams. The Four games they played on Sunday were against other teams which had finished third in their pool games from Saturday. Overall the girls finished 34^th out of 80 Teams.

Aquathlon

Any students born in 2007/2008 who would like to attend Darling Downs Aquathlon Trials next term please see Mr Lincoln for more information. The aquathlon consists of a 1km run, 200m swim, followed by another 1km run. Students need to be able to comfortably swim the 200m to attend.

Senior

Futsal

Any students Born in 2006 or 2005 who wish to attend Darling Downs Futsal Trials please see Mr Lincoln for more information.

QLD All Schools Touch Football Carnival

Version 4 of the QLD All Schools Touch Football Draw has been released and placed on the Sports Notice Board. All games are on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (October 11-14) with finals only on Sunday. A final draw and letter will go home to all players in the first week back after the holidays.

Water Polo

Any Boys or Girls interested in attending Darling Downs Water Polo Trials for 2019 please see Mr Lincoln for more information. Students must be born between 2002 – 2006 and be enrolled at school next year.

Triathlon

Any Boys or Girls interested in attending Darling Downs Triathlon Trials for 2019 please see Mr Lincoln for more information. Students must be born between 2002 – 2006 and be enrolled at school next year.

Rugby Sevens

Last Saturday the College took 3 Teams to the Scots College Sevens Carnival in Warwick. Thanks to Mr Steve Routley and Mr Dean Garside for providing these opportunities to our students. Game results are listed below. All three teams finished in second place after pool games and in four place overall. Particular mention must go the Open Boys Team who played all games with no reserves.

The College has entered an Under 14 Boys, Under 14 Girls and Under 16 Boys in the South West Sevens Series to be played in Toowoomba next term. Girls games will be on Tuesday afternoons starting 16 October and Boys games on Thursday afternoons starting 18 October.

Netball

On Sunday 16th September, nine girls from Year 7 – 10 travelled to Nell E Robinson Park to compete in the Junior Vikki Wilson Netball Carnival. Toowoomba turned on a blustery day which made accurate shooting and passing challenging. The girls played exceptionally well, winning 2 games out of 5 with plenty of close games. Ebony Rathmell, Zoe Turner, Kasey Taylor and Bronte Kruger backed up after playing the Rugby 7s Carnival in Warwick the day before. Regardless, they pushed through the pain of aching muscles and exhaustion to commit to solid play. Claudia Child, Lily Schloss, Hannah Pattison, Claire Harth and Molly Hartwig completed the team with fast paced attack and consistent defensive. Sarah McQuaid, who was out injured, was missed

Big thanks to the parents who accompanied the girls, to Kate Carroll who was a great help to our manager Ms O’Reilly and to past student, Emma Walsh, and Amy Pattison for umpiring and coaching in Miss Crow’s absence.

Game 1 OLSCC 15 – Oakey SHS 1

Game 2 OLSCC 10 – Concordia 11

Game 3 OLSCC 14 – Pittsworth SHS 15

Game 4 OLSCC 6 – Toowoomba CC 10

Game 5 (Playoffs) OLSCC 5 – St Joseph’s Stanthorpe 4

Touch Football

Last Friday afternoon Chinchilla SHS travelled to Dalby to have practice games for the upcoming QLD All Schools Carnival. Results are listed below. Thanks to Kurtis Sankey for refereeing our games.

15 Girls

Chinchilla SHS 5 defeated OLSCC 4

Open Mixed

OLSCC 6 defeated Chinchilla SHS 1

Tim Lincoln

Sports Coordinator

Beck Street Kindy Athletics

Each year since 2011, the College Junior Leaders have assisted Mrs Neroli Farquharson and the staff at the Beck Street Kindy to conduct their annual Athletics Carnival.  This year was no exception. Our Junior Leaders – House Captains Sam Luck, Maddie Pascoe, Abbey Bradley, Kaity Harms, Jake Ogilvie, Olivia Koehler, Will Cook and Cameron Bee – and SRCs Amelia McNaughton, Allie Hobson and Travis Tia – travelled to Beck Street to assist in the running of the 2018 Beck Street Kindy Athletics.

There was much excitement on the ‘Kinja’ Warrior Course, with the long jump, hurdles and ball games. Our OLSCC students were on hand to lead and encourage, and hand out awards at the end. Thanks to Mr Cuskelly and Mrs Brennan for accompanying us.

For the second year, the students from both Prep classes have contributed to the Western Downs Outreach Soup Kitchen Project by donating ingredients for 70 litres of delicious pumpkin soup.

Each student provided some chopped pumpkin and onion and the Prep teachers then coordinated the massive task of cooking the soup in a collection of slow cookers. The Prep classroom smelled delicious as the soup slowly cooked in preparation for the delivery and distribution to needy families in Dalby.

Staff from the College will attend the Dalby Railway Station this evening where the soup will be handed out to hungry tummies and grateful recipients.

The soup kitchen project teaches the Prep students about the need for food for people who may not be able to cook for themselves or may not be able to buy food at the shops. The students also learned the gesture of helping others in need and how even little things can mean so much to people who are not as fortunate as them.

On Tuesday, both Prep classes visited the magical Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the Cobb and Co Museum in Toowoomba. This wonderful exhibition had an incredible array of interactive displays and activities that the Preps could participate in. There were links to almost all of our key learning areas, including Maths (patterning, counting, shape, measurement) Science (how things move, chemical sciences) Geography and English. This was one time when it was okay to fiddle with EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!! We finished up with lunch in beautiful Queens Park, which is full of colour ready for the Carnival of Flowers. The children of Prep all exhibited EXEMPLARY behaviour and charmed all members of the public they came in contact with.

On Sunday, 26 August, 2 groups of creatively talented students made the trek to UQ Campus, Gatton, to compete in the Toowoomba Regional Opti-MINDS event. The Mech-anics comprised of Tom Clarke (Yr 2), Marlee Carpenter, Lucas Galligan (Yr 3), Heidi Reed, Elsie Irwin (Yr 4), Kago Mosako and Loretta Carpenter (Yr 5). Their challenge was to create a machine, The Mech 30, that could move a tin of tuna, an AA battery and a pingpong ball to trigger a celebration. It was hard! This team worked every lunch hour and some after-school sessions to build the machine and create a story explaining the historical significance of each of the items.

The Matilda’s consisted of Vivi Vadasz, Ashleigh Hobson, Brooke Webb (Yr 10) and Laura May (Yr 11).  These girls worked diligently to present “Waltzing With Matilda – 30 Years On…”, an altered version of Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ that also addressed the issue of hard copy books versus digital copies. No easy task!

At Gatton, both groups were judged on a spontaneous performance before presenting their challenges.

The College is extremely proud of these students, especially as both teams came away with awards. The Mech-anics were recipients of The Spirit Of Opti-MINDS. There is a lengthy criterion for this award, based on the judges recommendations, but it includes “working consciously and with absolute integrity; working as a team showing effective communication; determining facts and eliminating assumptions.” When the variety of ages of the team members is considered, this achievement is something extra special.

The Matilda’s WON their division in the regional event! This means they are off to the Queensland Opti-MINDS Challenge Final in October at UQ in Brisbane. The event is a 2-day event where the team will present another spontaneous and long term challenge. The College wishes them all the best.

A big thanks to Mrs Morgan, Ms Rea, Mr Hobson and Ms O’Reilly for coordinating the teams, and Mrs Delitt and Mrs O’Brien who volunteered as judges for the whole day. Finally, thank you to the parents who enable extra practices and accompanied their children on the challenge day.

Opti-MINDS gives students a great opportunity to extend their learning. It is hoped that we’ll have many more participants of all ages next year.

Earlier in the year, several students from schools in the Western Downs area including eight students from the College attended the Brisbane Broncos Emerging Leaders Camp. Lachlan Sankey, Patrick Boland, Hugh Clarke, Ky Kirtley, Sam Gillespie, Hannah Nimmo, Vivi Vadasz and Bronte Kruger were amongst young students who were chosen as emerging leaders of their community to attend the three day camp in Brisbane taking in many of the sights of the city and visiting the Broncos home grounds at Red Hill. The camp provided an extraordinary experience for our students and the following Youtube clip has recently been forwarded to showcase all the highlights for those involved. Check it out!

CAPS FOR SALE

College Caps are available for $15 from the College Office. Students are able to wear these caps at certain sports events (eg Touch, Tennis, XC, Cricket). They are not to be worn instead of the College hat at lunchtime. Click on the link button to check out the desing from ZOO Sport.

UNIFORM SHOP NEWS

Please note, there has been an increase in the uniform prices which will be effective from 1 September 2018. Click on the link button for the new price list.

TUCKSHOP ROSTER

***Please Note*** Some minor changes have been made to the Flexischools online tuckshop menu. Thanks to all the families and students who are utilising this convenient tool for ordering daily tuckshop.