This weekend will see the Prep Playground tunnel secured into place to make ready for our working bee next weekend, Saturday 12 June at 1pm. Every family and every family member is welcome! Bring the neighbours too ?

Areas needing attention and jobs to be done are.... 

• Build soil up to the top of the tunnel, place soft fall bark at tunnel entrances
• Cubby house revamp - remove door, repair back wall, paint a blackboard section. General clean up and tidy.
• Paint hopscotch squares and other games on the undercover paved area.
• General tidy of grounds and sandpit.
• Garden tidy around the cubby and planting new plants. 

We are very open to more ideas and would greatly appreciate all assistance. Will need someone with some carpentry skills to work on the cubby please. If you have a trailer, wheelbarrow, shovel, secateurs, paint brushes etc, please bring them along.  

As you can see, this is going to be an exciting addition to our children's play time and we are extremely grateful to those families that have already offered to help both physically and financially.

Any queries or offers please email or call Peta on 0408 675 315 peta.spies13@gmail.com

Over recent weeks I have been very fortunate to enjoy some perspective of the amazing work and results of OLSCC.  It has been a great privilege to take the time to enjoy these occasions and truly value the opportunities that our community creates for our students every day.

To begin with, last week my supervisor, Mr John Coman, returned to the College for the first time in 18 months due to his secondment to another position.  He was very interested in our progress and accordingly we spent over 4 hours visiting every classroom across the College.  Being able to speak to the journey over the past 18 months was a moment of awakening to all the incredible goals we have achieved.  The teaching was both excellent and consistent, the students highly engaged and motivated, and the Visible Learning of the College was clearly evident in the teaching, learning, displays on walls and work of the students. Mr Coman also commented on the quality of facilities and recent upgrades which added even greater opportunities to our College, such as the College coach, the Chapel, The Paddock, the new drama space, Senior Years workroom, and the Prep-6 IT upgrades. 

On Monday afternoon, I was invited to attend the University of Southern Queensland Scholarship Ceremony where I was able to witness 3 of our 2020 graduates receive significant scholarships to USQ due to their academic performance at OLSCC.  A massive congratulations to Harry Coman, Matthew Cuskelly and Isaac Halling on their accolades, as well as Pat Boland, who turned down the scholarship after taking up the opportunity to join the QANTAS Academy in his pursuit to become a commercial airline pilot.

On Tuesday I was able to attend our first QCIS Cross Country Carnival at Scots College in Warwick with a packed coach of athletes.  Our team of athletes gave their absolute best, and I couldn’t have been prouder.  Of the 6 Colleges in attendance, the grit, determination, resilience and persistence of the OLSCC students was a standout for all. A huge thanks to all our mums, dads, aunties, uncles, cousins and grandparents for coming along and supporting our students!

This week I have also been doing some figure analysis of the College reading data, and the progress of the students continues to be excellent.  As always, we will utilise this information to inform our teaching practice so that each student is learning what they need, when they need it.  Mr Coman confirmed last week that OLSCC Reading Improvement Strategy data continues to lead the Diocese in many areas and he highly values the work of our teachers, school officers and students in the College’s progress.

And here I sit today on the College coach with 33 Year 3 students and 4 other dedicated staff on the way to Australia Zoo (after a very early start for many….Thanks Jack!).  We are on our way to do some hands on learning in Science as well as furthering our Learning Dispositions.  Over the course of the year we will be developing our Camps, Retreats, Excursions and Incursions Guide which will outline the co-curricular opportunities that OLSCC provides for our students as well as allowing parents to financially plan for their child’s participation in these amazing opportunities. 

What an honour it is to serve this community and College.  I encourage everyone to find 10 minutes this weekend and dedicate yourself to a quiet moment and the opportunity to reflect on what you are grateful for in your life, family and community.

Staffing Changes

I would like to welcome to our staff 3 new School Officers.  We are always blessed with the amazing staff at OLSCC, and the addition of Mrs Therese Feuerheerdt, Mrs Fee Turner and Miss Siobhan Houghton will only further add to this.  Mrs Feuerheerdt is replacing Mrs Sandy Biss, whilst Mrs Turner will provide further support for students in Prep Red, and Miss Houghton replacing Miss Amy Stevens will be working in a new administration position focussed on finance and College organisation.  This has resulted from a change of administration organisation which caters for the diverse needs of admin in a contemporary school setting.  In addition, you will now notice that when you call the school there are prompts to ensure you are directed to the correct person in the first instance.  This will be of great benefit to both those calling the College as well as the administration staff.

Over coming weeks we will be advertising further roles on Seek and the Toowomba Catholic Schools website regarding our facilities due to the retirement of Mr Kavney. From Semester 2, we will have a change of cleaner duties, a facilities manager, groundsperson and a janitor in place of the current arrangement of two groundspersons.  We look forward to this enhancing the environment in which our student learn and grow.

Enrolments 2022

We are in enrolment season and are making decisions regarding timetables and staffing in the next 3 weeks.  It is pertinent, particularly for students entering Year 7 and Prep, for enrolment application to be made now. We have some tough calls to make, and unfortunately some of these may mean that we will be unable to take on additional students in certain year levels.  If you have friends, family or neighbours interested in enjoying all that OLSCC has to offer, please tell them to contact the College Office this week.

Principal Summative Performance Appraisal

Early next term, I will be engaging in a Principal summative performance appraisal in line with Toowoomba Catholic School’s (TCS) focus on professional recognition and development. 

A Principal’s summative performance appraisal occurs in the final year of their contract and is based on outcomes of their annual performance reviews and school-based data. 

The appraisal will be conducted by a Panel consisting of the TCS Senior Education Leader, a peer principal and the TCS Director: Teaching and Learning. It will consist of a self-review, a 360-degree survey completed by College staff and parents along with individual or focus group interviews including discussion with the local parish/school priest.  

Based on the outcomes of these review tools, the Panel will produce a written report outlining their findings and providing feedback to the Principal for continued and future professional learning. These outcomes will also be communicated with the College community. 

To assist with my appraisal, I invite all College staff and parents to participate in the 360-degree survey. This survey is an externally validated perception survey that will be compiled to allow for anonymous feedback around the leadership dimensions of religion, education, organisational skills, strategic planning, staff and community engagement and general leadership capabilities. The survey will be emailed to all College staff and parents over the coming weeks. 

Interviews/focus groups with staff, Board, P&F or PEN representatives and myself will also occur as part of the appraisal. Requested interviewees will be contacted via email/telephone over the coming weeks to confirm their availability. If you would like to be part of these focus groups, please email nicole.bryers@twb.catholic.edu.au directly to arrange timings with the Panel. 

Once again, I encourage all College staff and parents to complete the 360-degree survey and provide open and honest feedback on my leadership as Principal in the College. I look forward to engaging in this process with you all, an opportunity for review and reflection to acknowledge and improve what I bring to our College. 

Have a great weekend!

Pete Cuskelly

Principal

National Reconciliation Week runs annually from 27 May – 3 June. These dates mark two milestones in Australia’s reconciliation journey; the 1967 referendum and the historic Mabo decision, respectively.  The theme for 2021 is “More than a word”   and challenges Australians to ‘not just talk about it, but to be about it’, we must take action to see real change.   

Father of all, 

You gave our Aboriginal People the Dreaming 

You have spoken to them through their beliefs, 

You then made your love clear to them in the person of Jesus. 

We thank you for your care of these people. 

You are their hope. Make them strong as they face the problems of change. 

We ask you to help us, the people of Australia, 

To listen to them and respect their culture. 

Make the knowledge of you grow strong in all people 

So that you can be at home in all of us, 

And so that we can make a home for everyone in our land. Amen.. 

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education

The Outback Tour

Our Year 6 cohort embarked on an Outback Queensland Tour that covered 2,700km and around 10 towns through the heart of the Queensland Outback. What a fantastic and rich learning experience it was for all involved. Overnight stays in Longreach, Tambo and Charleville afforded our students the ability to learn about a range of key learning areas as well as fostering growth in our Learning Dispositions, especially that of curiosity, independence and persistence. I am especially pleased to report that we received several compliments from members of the public outlining how well behaved and polite our students were. Now they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so with that in mind, here are some snaps from the Outback Tour. Enjoy.

Craig Cullen

Assistant Principal Middle Years

What a busy couple of weeks it has been in the Early Years! Last week we held the first of our reimagined celebrations for Under 8’s week. Our Prep-Year 2 students were offered a smorgasboard of activities every lunch time, including footy, dance, art and paper plane building. The week culminated in a wonderful festival of fun on Friday, facilitated by Praxis classes from Years 7-12. It was a terrific experience for our oldest and youngest alike, with cross sector input that builds relationships throughout the College.

Whilst this event specifically targeted our P-2 students, the other Early Years students won’t be missing out! All classes are competing in the Eisteddfod this week, and our Year 3’s have been eagerly counting down the sleeps until their amazing excursion to Australia Zoo, which takes place as this newsletter is going to print. In only a few more weeks, our Year 4’s experience their first “sleepover” camp, when we head to Jondaryan Woolshed. How lucky are we to have the College coach available to us to make it easier and more affordable to facilitate these experiences!

It is timely to remind all families that attendance matters. We know that once a student’s attendance drops below 93%, learning is affected. This equates to around ten days per year. Of course, if your child is sick, they should not come to school. However, if your child misses days  regularly for family holidays, gatherings or other social reasons, they have often used up their “bank” of days that can be missed before impacting on learning. Every day counts.

Katrina Walton

Assistant Principal Middle Years

Students from all year levels have been competing at the Dalby Eisteddfod this week and we have busy gathering some photos and results from the various sections, some of which only finished today. Miss Berwick had a number of vocal students compete as solo artists as well as a small group entry. Mrs Garside has also had solo vocalists competing along with the Junior Choir and class groups from Prep to Year 4. It has been a very busy and exciting week and we are pleased to share the results with you along with some gorgeous photos of our students performing at the Great Hall. We would like to thank our amazing teachers who put together all the various numbers but also a huge thank you goes to the parents who came along to support the students as they took to the stage, some of them for the very first time.

Wednesday Vocal Session Year 10 to 12

Sacred Solo - 2nd - Anna Lilburne, 3rd - Charlotte Wood and Highly Commended - Charlotte Kelly

Folk Song - 2nd Charlotte Kelly, Highly Commended Anna Lilburne and Claire Griffiths

Popular Song - 1st Claire Girffiths, 3rd Lachie Beaver and Highly Commended Charlotte Wood

Song from a Musical - 2nd Claire Griffiths, 3rd Charlotte Kelly and Highly Commended Claudia Henderson

Thusrday Vocal Session Year 7 to 9

Sacred Solo - 2nd Fallon Baxter and 2nd Nadine Garside

Song from a Musical - 1st Penelope Cartwright, 2nd Fallon Baxter, Highly Commended Nadine Garside

Folk Song - 2nd Fallon Baxter

Modern or Popular Song - 2nd Penelope Cartwright, 3rd Mia-Maree Kenealy

Small Choral Group

1st - Mishmash

Year 2 - 4 Choir

2nd - Allegro

Year 5 - 6 Class Concert Item

2nd - Lyrica

Friday Class Group Performances

Prep Section - Prep Red and Prep Blue tied for 1st Place

Year 1 and 2 Section - 1st Year 2M, 2nd Year 1D, 3rd Year 2J and Highly Commended Year 1B

Year 3 and 4 Section - 1st Year 4HT, 2nd Year 4C and 3rd Year 3 combined.

Both Prep classes have visited the Science Lab for another fun lesson which caps off their unit on how humans can affect the environment. The students watched a demonstration on how pollution can affect our rivers and oceans with rubbish like cans, plastic, wood and rope from fishing boats. The students were very engaged and knew all about the harm pollution can do to fish and other sea creatures. Some oil was then added into the 'ocean' and the students discovered how the oil doesn't mix with the water and it sits on the top making a horrible mess for birds and sea creatures who come up to the surface.

After the demonstration, the students were able to work in groups to make a lava lamp which also demonstrated that oil doesn't mix with water. They added a bit of food colouring and an alka seltzer tablet then watched lots of big colourful bubbles gloop back up through the oil. It was pretty cool!

QCIS Cross Country

Congratulations to all students who competed at the QCIS Cross Country in Warwick. The College finished fourth in the percentage points based on school size and fourth in the overall points. The College was only two points off finishing in third place overall and four points off finishing in second place overall. Unfortunately, we had many students who chose not to attend particularly in the Under 16 and Open age groups. Students who finished in the three places are listed below. A special mention to the Under 12 and Under 14 Girls and for winning their age groups and to Carla Nobbs for winning the Individual Under 13 Girls Race.

Under 10 Boys

Khoen Darr 3^rd

Under 10 Girls

Gemma Sullivan 2^nd, Isabelle Manley 3^rd

Under 11 Boys

Joshua Barwick 2^nd, William Barwick 3^rd

Under 11 Girls

Molly Gibson 2^nd

Under 12 Boys

Lachlan Fraser 2^nd

Under 13 Girls

Carla Nobbs 1^st

Under 14 Girls

Taylor Marshall 2^nd

Rugby League

Darling Downs Rugby League Competition Week 6 Results

Under 13

Lockyer District SHS defeated OLSCC 56-0

Under 15

OLSCC defeated St Joseph’s 28-10

Under 18

OLSCC defeated St Joseph’s 18-8 

Week 7 Results

Under 13

Faith Lutheran defeated OLSCC 30-22

Under 15

OLSCC defeated Highfields SSC 44-4

Under 18

Pittsworth SHS forfeit to OLSCC

Week 8 Wednesday 9 June

Under 13

OLSCC vs Wilsonton SHS 4pm at Wilsonton SHS Toowoomba (Private Transport)

Under 15 Quarter Final

2^nd Pool A *Faith Lutheran College vs 3^rd in Pool B OLSCC

Brothers Oval Toowoomba 4.00pm

Under 18

Week off after finishing first in Pool B

Semi Final to be held in Dalby Wednesday 16 June at 6pm against the winner of the Assumption Warwick / St Joseph’s College Quarter Final 

Netball

Best of luck to the Years 7-9 and Senior Netball Teams who will compete in the Vicki Wilson Cup Competition in Toowoomba this Friday.

QSSSC Squash

Two Middle Years students competed at the QSSSC Squash competition last weekend. Emma Cusack (7) and Max Brownhall (8) did the College proud by doing their best in the solid competition in Brisbane. Emma even finished 4^th in her pool which was a fantastic effort considering she was competing in the U15 category as a U13 student. Well done Max and Emma.

Volleyball

Congratulations to the Year 8 Volleyball Team who competed at the QLD Intermediate Schools Cup in Toowoomba last weekend. The girls have been training twice a week for most of 2021 so it was great for them to get some match experience against Year 9 girls. Results from the Carnival are listed below. The team will now prepare for the Junior Schools Cup Competition in October. Thanks to Mrs Lincoln for coaching the girls and to the staff who came to support them over the weekend.

Game 1

Citipointe CC defeated OLSCC 3-0 (26-24, 25-14, 21-6)

Game 2

OLSCC defeated Kedron SHS 2-0 (25-19, 25-19, 20-20)

Game 3

James Nash SHS defeated OLSCC 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 17-12)

Game 4

Calvary CC defeated OLSCC 2-1 (19-25, 25-21,12-25)

Game 5

Mansfield SHS defeated OLSCC 2-1 (25-19, 15-25, 6-15)

Bunya District Rugby Union

Congratulations to the following boys who will represent Bunya District at the Darling Downs Rugby Union Trials in Dalby this weekend- Harry Burton, Luke Elder, Ryan Elder, Jake Griffiths, Henry Stephens, Max Fleischfresser, Jack Twidale, Mac Stirling, Austin Sinclair, Toby Regan, Callum Bundy.

Athletics

1500m Races for the College Interhouse Athletics Carnival will be held on Wednesday 16 June from 1.30pm – 3.00pm for the Under 12 – Open Age Divisions.

State Rugby League

Congratulations to Lyhkan King-Togia, Will Brady and Lyucian King-Togia who represented Darling Downs at the State Rugby League recently.

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

Exciting News! We have added to our 'Little People, BIG DREAMS' collection and can now offer 22 of these titles for students to borrow. These include Alan Turing, Audrey Hepburn, Bob Dylan, Captain Tom Moore, Coco Chanel, David Attenborough, David Bowie, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ernest Shackleton, Frida Kahlo, Greta Thunberg, Jane Austen, Jane Goodall, Mahatma Gandhi, Malala Yousafzai, Marie Curie, Mary Anning, Muhammad Ali, Rudolf Nureyev, Stephen Hawking and Zaha Hadid. These have been so popular with students; we hope you are inspired by the new titles we have chosen, and we are excited for this collection to keep growing.

About Little People, BIG DREAMS

Discover the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. Told as a story, with a facts and photos section at the back, this sweet series for kids celebrates triumph over adversity through some of history’s favourite characters.

Now with more than 3.9 million copies sold worldwide, the series continues to grow and expand, introducing children around the world to artists, trailblazers, and dreamers who each made a big impact in the world around them.

'Little People, BIG DREAMS' - are the best-selling biography series for kids by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara. Maria Isabel likes to think the success of the series relies on the fact that children love to read real stories about other children achieving great things. It gives them the strength and the courage to believe in themselves and dream BIG. As The Independent once said: “What a cool way to drift off to sleep.”

This group has been meeting regularly on a Wednesday afternoon and have been building our skills to create and communicate responses to challenges in a number of different ways. Our end goal is to participate in the Optiminds Challenge in Term 3.

Mrs Crump would like to give a huge thank you to everyone for celebrating Canteen Week. Fishy Friday was by far the most popular menu item but all days were well supported with everyone enjoying the options available. If anyone is able to help in the canteen, even if it is only for an hour, Mrs Crump is DESPERATE for volunteers. If you think you can lend a hand, please pop your head into the tuck shop and let Mrs Crump know. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Our annual Team Colours day is upon us on Wednesday, 9 June. This is a day that students can show their support for their favourite team and come to school dressed in the colours of a team or sport that they are passionate about. The gold coin donation to participate goes directly to the College sports department. This year the money raised will be spent on purchasing team based equipment for class games and activities with a focus on the Early Years.  Show your support, passion and pride by getting behind your team. Normal College dress code is expected with closed in shoes, a broad brimmed hat and no singlets.

The Fraser Coast Interschool Equestrian competition hosted by Riverside Christian College is on again at Maryborough Showgrounds this year from 17 to 19 August. Please see the flyers below for all the details. This event falls in an exam week at school so permission will need to be sought for any students wanting to attend that may have an exam on that week. If you would like your child to attend, please let Sarah Lilburne know so we can register our interest. For any further information, please contact Sarah via email at Sarah.Lilburne@twb.catholic.edu.au

Mark this down in your calendar - Saturday, 18 September for Saints Races 2021. This is the first weekend of the September school holidaysso grab a ticket for a great way to start off the spring break.

Sponsorship packages to be released in the coming month.  If any families or businesses are interested in sponsorship or donations for the multi draw raffle, please contact:

Courtney Geiger - Courtney.Geiger@twb.catholic.edu.au or Hannah Gilliland - admin@glm.net.au