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Columba Catholic College Newsletter Volume 25 No. 13 - 25th August 2022

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Columba Families,

Pope Francis said that "education is above all a matter of love and responsibility handed down from one generation to another". For generations, families have chosen to send their children to Columba to receive a high quality Catholic education. This is a very important and integral part of the lives of our students and our partnership is central to the individual success of our learners. With this in mind, we each have a responsibility to work in partnership to educate the young people in our care. Learning is our core work and every day counts. At Columba we expect that each individual student has the opportunity to do their best and be their best. This starts with students arriving at school on time, ready to be on task for learning. We aim to foster life-long skills and to to grow them as individuals; spiritually, academically, socially and emotionally. Our students are achieving amazing personal goals. I strongly encourage you to speak with your child about this culture of expectation.

In 2022 we have been conducting a Review of Boarding. This is a means of ensuring we are continually improving the service and support we provide to our students and families. Thank you to those boarding families who have completed the surveys distributed by ABSA. Our students have also had the opportunity to do this and I have met with our boarding staff to gain valuable feedback and insights. Once we have collated all of the feedback I will present our findings to our community. Your ongoing support during this process is appreciated.

Last Monday we hosted a Year 10 Work Experience Appreciation Dinner at Mt Carmel Campus.Thanks to Mrs Kimberlee Lynch and Mrs Natalie Grant for organising Year 10 Work Experience. It was great to see so many of our Year 10 students, staff and members of our community and local businesses in attendance.

Special thanks to Mrs Paula Smith and the team for your efforts in leading a fantastic Book Week Parade at St Mary's Campus last Wednesday. This was also coupled with a week of fun activities for the students centred around the 2022 theme of Dreaming with Eyes Open. The students had a fabulous time! Students and staff on Mt Carmel Campus will be donning their best costumes tomorrow to celebrate the week. Thanks to Ms Megan Lucas for organsing activities and events for our students this week.

Thanks to Mrs Agnes Laffey and the staff at St Mary's Campus for another wonderful Under 8s Day last Friday. There were so many excited little people from within our own community and beyond enjoying a range of activities. Thanks for providing this opportunity for our students. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day!

Last week was also National Science Week. Special thanks to Maryann Ebsworth, Adonia Hedges and the amazing Science staff at Mt Carmel Campus for leading some great activities for the students throughout the week. This year’s focus and theme was “Glass”.

On the weekend we hosted a Mini-Handling and Showmanship School. Special thanks to Sonia Wood and Darky Abdy for their leadership and support of this experience for our students. Special thanks also to our families and community members for their ongoing commitment to our students.

This week students across the college have been showcasing their gifts and talents at the Annual Charters Towers Eisteddfod. Special thanks to Miss Kalinda Large, Mr Stuart Whitby, Mr Thomas Andersen, Mrs Jessica Simmons, Mrs Georgina Porter and our wonderful Primary staff for supporting the students in preparation for this year's performances. There have been some outstanding individual and group performances. Special thanks to our families for supporting our students across the week in the various sections they have been competing in.

A reminder that next Friday 2nd September is a Pupil Free Day. Staff will be engaging in a Staff Professional Learning day centered on Reflective Practice. Professional renewal is an important part of growing as life-long learners and benefits our entire school community. Thank you for your support.

All the best for the fortnight ahead.

Many blessings,

Melissa Turner
PRINCIPAL

FROM THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL - RELIGIOUS EDUCATION - SM CAMPUS

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Sacramental Program

It was a true delight to see ten of our students fully initiated into the Church family recently as they experienced the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion. Mrs Leanne Brandis and I thoroughly enjoyed working with the children and their families in preparation for their special day. Sessions were held after Mass each Sunday where students were able to gain a deeper understanding of what the sacraments really mean and what role they play in the life of the Church. The children particularly enjoyed learning about the parts of the mass and Bishop Tim emphasised this when he invited them up to the sanctuary during their Sacramental Mass to witness close up the mystery of the Eucharist. We were so proud with how the students engaged and are looking forward to continuing to walk with them in their faith journey.

Welcome Fr Sylvester

Recently, our Parish welcomed Fr Sylvester to join Fr Emmanuel as they include the North West regions of Hughenden and Richmond to their list of churches to serve. Fr Sylvester was straight into it visiting our Year 3 and 3/4 classes for a Q & A session on the life of a priest for their RE units. He tells me he was delighted at the depth of questions from the children and is looking forward to engaging more. He has also joined us for Mass and soccer training (he must have done something right to spur our boys onto victory in the final last week). We are excited to have Fr Sylvester with us and look forward to working more closely with him and Fr Emmanuel.

Chapel

I wanted to finish by giving you a quick introduction to our weekly Chapel visits. Classes come to the Chapel each week to learn more about the weekly Scripture passage and pray together. After the excitement of determining who will light our College Candle and saying our opening prayer, we have really enjoyed building our understanding of the meaning of the texts. Students are encouraged to ask questions and apply their own thinking and understanding to the text before we meditate together and sing a closing hymn. It has been a wonderful experience to pray and spend time together deepening our understanding of God's Word and our collective faith and I am heartened by everyone's engagement and contributions.

Ryan O'Connor
ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL - RELIGIOUS EDUCATION - SM CAMPUS

My New Gallery

YEAR FOUR NEWS

Term 3 has been especially busy in Year 4! Students have been engaging in rich learning experiences as well as involving themselves in the wider Columba community. Some of the highlights have included our Science unit, the Sacramental Program, and the Charters Towers Eisteddfod.

Year 4 students have been busy little bean growers this term! In Science, we have been investigating living things and ecosystems. Students were extremely excited to plant their own snow peas to observe their life cycle over several weeks. We were blown away with the tremendous growth of such little seeds! Students have been measuring the height of their stems very regularly and writing superb observations. There are definitely some aspiring young scientists amongst the group!

Seven students from Year 4 participated in the Sacramental Program with Mr O’Connor and Mrs Brandis. It was wonderful to watch these inspiring young leaders celebrate their Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion. They presented themselves with such pride. Their peers were also very proud of them. Congratulations again to Lane, Lincoln, Oscar, Jacob, Isabel, Evelyn and Charli.

Alongside all of our learning, the Year 4 class practised very hard for the Charters Towers Eisteddfod. They performed a poem titled My Mother Said to Do My Chores by Ken Nesbitt. It is a humorous poem that suited the class very well. They performed brilliantly on Monday night and received a ‘very highly commended’ award from the adjudicators.

Brooke Stevenson
YEAR FOUR TEACHER

My New Gallery

YEAR THREE/FOUR NEWS

What a wonderful start Year 3/4 have had to Term 3!

We participated in book week, the Charters Towers Eisteddfod, celebrated Catholic Education Week and invited Father Sylvester to talk about what it’s like to be a priest and Parish life. We also welcomed Ryley and Stevie into our class and Milton and Ryhen completed their Sacraments of Reconciliation, Communion, and Confirmation.

We have also continued our learning journey writing interesting informative reports in English and maps, money and measurement in Maths. We have also learnt about the early church and sacraments in Religious Education, all about animals in Science, Australia and neighbouring countries in HASS.

When asked about their favourite things this term the students told me:

“Learning about art and the different elements of visual art. My favourite art piece I’ve made is the abstract sun and moon to show the different colours of warm and cool colours”. Fletcher Scholes

“My favourite thing is sports and playing soccer and developing my skills”. Stevie Goodwin

“My Sacrament of Reconciliation, Communion and Confirmation and being welcomed into the church”. Ryhen Butler

“Book week and dressing up as my favourite character from how the birds got their colours”. Emily Wright

“Learning about the life cycles of animals and playing rabbits and snakes to learn the importance of animals in our environment”. Samantha Jackson Patino

“I’m excited about the upcoming swimming carnival. I’ve been practicing since the start of the year”. Ryley Brown

“Book week and book fair is my favourite thing so far in Term 3 because I had lots of fun making my costume and getting new books from the book fair”. Eden-Rose Naughton

“Book week has been my favourite as I was able to dress up as my favourite character”. Jessica Troung

“My favourite thing about school is having a caring teacher that helps me learn”. Noah Hermann

“Making the sun and moon to learn about the warm and cool colours in our environment”. Harriet Couper

“Sports carnival because we did lots of running around and lots of different activities”. Flynn Bailey

“The whole year because it’s been really fun and Miss Wienert makes learning fun”. Milton King

“Dressing up and making my amazing costume for book week! I was the folk of the Far Away Tree”. Clare Brady

“The Show, Eisteddfod and Father Sylvester coming to talk to us about being a priest and our wonderful parish”. Adeline McMahon

We are so grateful for the opportunities that we have had this term and look forward to more learning and fun in Year 3/4!

Emma Weinert
YEAR THREE/FOUR TEACHER

PRIMARY SOCCER REPORT

Charters Towers Primary Sport hasn't seen an Inter-School soccer season for a long time, until now. Our boys took on all other schools in 7-a-side games lasting 24 minutes each.

The boys season started with their first loss of the year, after going undefeated through T-Ball and Touch Football. Richmond Hill had their measure 4-0.

A much improved performance against All Souls saw us finish round 1 with 1 win and 1 loss. Due to the Taste of Secondary day, Year 5 had to step up in Round 2, and step up they did. The game against Millchester was 0-0 at half time and looked headed for a draw until Alex Thomas struck one through for a 1-0 victory. Bruno Bennetto then scored 4 against BTC as the boys won 5-0. That meant that if the boys could beat Central in the last round, they'd make the final. Liam Bartschat led the way up front and Robert Hando expertly controlled the back as the boys won handsomely and set up a shot at redemption.

The final against Richmond Hill was locked at 0-0 at half time and the girls came down after their netball win to cheer the boys on. With around 5 minutes to go Ryan Kime struck cleanly to score what would prove to be the match winner. The boys certainly learnt the value of quality training sessions and now look forward to sweeping the calendar year with a couple of games of league.

Ryan O'Connor
COACH

ST. MARY'S CAMPUS AWARDS

Term 3 Week 5 - Being organised and prepared for learning

Prep - Noah Webber
Year 1 - Dakodah Butler
Year 2 - Hamish Webb
Year 3 - Jessica Scharf
Year 3/4 - Reazon Adhikari
Year 4 - Emerson Yule
Year 5 - Pippa Spurdle
Year 6 - Kiandra Evans

Term 3 Week 6 - Actively participating in group and class discussions

Prep - Wyatt Neilsen
Year 1 - Madeline Boyden
Year 2 - Nate Williams
Year 3 - Jayce Risdale
Year 3/4 - Samantha Jackson Patino
Year 4 - Quade McMahon
Year 5 - Alex Thomas
Year 6 - Bella Grant

MT. CARMEL CAMPUS NOTABLE MENTIONS

Congratulations to the following students who received Notable Mentions on the MC Campus at Assembly recently.

Term 2 Week 4 - Respect for Learning: Punctual to class and brings all books and equipment required to class.

Year 7 - Jayden Thomas
Year 8 - Marcus Winterburn
Year 9 - Grace Kuhl
Year 10 - Ananya Pujar
Year 11 - Ashelly Grant
Year 12 - Sean Loudon

Term 2 Week 6 - Respect for College Traditions: Wears College uniforms correctly and with pride

Year 7 - Jayden Wright
Year 8 - Jet Ives
Year 9 - Michael Truong
Year 10 - Erin Day
Year 11 - Jessica Rose
Year 12 - Stephanie Murray

FROM THE ARTS DEPARTMENT - MC CAMPUS

Scene Project

This year a group of 9/10 Drama students took part in the 'Scene Project' with Queensland Theatre Company. The students co-created the script - using a stimulus script which was sent to all schools across Queensland. This script centred around citizens of a mining town - creating a lovely parity with Charters Towers for our students. The mineral being mined was fictional - named 'Chroma' - and when it was mined all colour was leached from the world. So, there was a pro-mining/pro-Greens debate about whether or not mining should continue.

Our students were inspired by this stimulus script and created a production which reflected the journey taken by the two main characters from toddler years to teens. The show charted the polarisation of their two viewpoints as they aged, ending in a shared celebration of all things colour - following the discovery of the last flowers with colour in the region.

The final show was performed at the World Theatre in Charters Towers on the 12th August - alongside BTC, All Souls, Bridge Project Students (from Townsville's pre-professional theatre company TheatreInc) and culminated with a viewing of a complete production of the original play by Queensland Theatre Company actors.

Congratulations to the following students for their commitment to the show and for their fabulous performance on the day:

Ananya Pujar
Aysia Kruger
Matthew Hewlett
Duncun Hewlett
Madi Jesberg
Connor Hermann
Sophie Hammann
Treselle Lavis
Jerremy Singleton
Angela Valenton

Charters Towers Short Film Showcase

We participated in the Charters Towers Short Film project this year - alongside other schools in the region. A group of 9/10 drama students co-created a show - entitled 'The Haunting of Kuhl House' - working with a local director Orvon Gough - from Charters Towers Council - to capture their unique story on film.

Congratulations to the following students for their hard work and dedication to this project: