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Columba Catholic College Newsletter Volume 25 No. 16 - 27th October 2022

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Columba Families,

Learning and teaching is our core business and at Columba we aim to ensure that the experience of education that is provided to our students is high quality, relevant, engaging and attends to the learning needs of each individual student. Successful learning is fostered through high expectations, best practice, relationships and mutual respect. Walking together on this journey of learning is central to our success and to the individual growth and development of each of the young people in our care.

There is not a day that goes by where I am not blessed with an opportunity to witness the academic strength, commitment to service and leadership capacity of the students and staff at Columba.

Special thanks to Gina Porter for working with members of our local and school community to arrange a special 2 day workshop for staff and families delivered by Griffith University's Autism Centre of Excellence. We are pleased that we could host this experience for all community members in attendance.

Thanks to Christine O'Sullivan and the staff and students involved in facilitating our Monster Bake Sale and Crazy Sock Day on Tuesday at Mt Carmel Campus. This was backed up with a game of soccer on the oval last Friday to raise funds and awareness for Mission Month. It was great to see Father Sylvester and Father Emmanuel on the field. Thanks to all involved.

Over the weekend our Optiminds State Finalists - Bridie Jenkins, Will Scholes, Mary Sproat, Renae Yeo and Alexander Zhao ventured off to Brisbane. Special thanks to Miss Jessica Allison and to Mrs Jo Andrews for all they have done to support our students. Congratulations to our students who received a Spirit Award for their commitment, teamwork and attitude. The team had a wonderful time and represented the college with great pride.

On Monday evening we hosted our Boarder’s Christmas Party. Special thanks to Mrs Caroline Jarmey, Mrs Michelle Burns and all of the Residential Staff for providing our students with these life-giving experiences. Thanks also to Father Emmanuel and to Father Sylvester for joining us. A big shout out to our Household staff who prepared an amazing Christmas feast for our students.

Please continue to pray for our Year 12 students who are currently engaging in their final External Examinations. Special thanks to Mrs Maria Peck, Mr Haydn Champion, Mrs Kim Lynch and Mr Dan Kyle for their efforts in this space. Special thanks to all of our families and to the staff for their support of our learners at this important time.

Special thanks to Mrs Tonya Burgoine, our senior Hospitality students and to all of our staff who assisted in hosting Pink it up on Friday 14th October. What a wonderful community event. It was clear to see that all who attended had a fabulous time and all for a very worthy cause. A very special thank you to our local sponsors who donated so many wonderful prizes for our raffles. Thanks to each of you for your contributions big and small.

Our Emerging Leaders participated in a Mental Health and Wellbeing Roadshow in the afternoon on Friday 14th October. Thanks to Mrs Evelyn Capewell and Mrs Natalie Grant for organising this experience for our students. They were fortunate to work with well known personalities such as Preston Campbell to hear of his experiences in life and to strategise different ways to make the best of the opportunities that come before them. Thanks to Mrs Jo Andrews for her assistance and to Ms Maryann Ebsworth and Ms Melanie Ecclestone for supporting our students at this time.

Today we celebrated our grandparents and special friends with a special Grandparents’ Day Liturgy at St Mary’s Campus. Thank you to the staff and students for being such great hosts. The liturgy was followed by activities and games led by the students and a beautiful morning tea. Thank you to our grandparents and special friends for joining us. You play an important role in the education, care and support of our students and we are grateful for your involvement in our community.

Good luck to all of our competitors tomorrow at the Primary Interhouse Swimming Carnival. A very special thank you to our staff for their preparation in advance. We look forward to a great day!

Tomorrow we recognise Day for Daniel. This day reminds us of the important role we each play in keeping our students safe and educating them about the importance of personal safety. Please find here a link to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation which provides students and families with a range of information suitable to support our young people.

Tomorrow is also World Teachers’ Day. This is a time where we give thanks for the gift of education. William Butler Yeats said that “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”. Happy World Teachers’ Day to our educators who bless our students with spiritual, academic, social and emotional learning that enriches their lives. We are blessed to be called to this life-giving vocation.

All the best for the fortnight ahead.

Many blessings,

Melissa Turner
PRINCIPAL

FROM THE DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - ST. MARY'S CAMPUS

Dear Parents/Caregivers

As we enter into Week 4 of Term 3, I am taking time to reflect on the past few weeks and the events and activities we have planned, welcomed and enjoyed. Last Friday was our final Prep Come and Try day. Over three mornings our 2023 Prep students have joined orientation sessions where they have met new friends, practiced new skills and familiarised themselves with their new classroom in preparation for starting school next year. We look forward to our 2023 Prep students joining our college next year.

Last term our Year 6 students took an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. The students enjoyed every aspect of their trip and even survived the very cold weather Canberra turned on for them that week. I thank Mr Webber, Mrs Pickering and Mrs Wood for the time they gave to our students to make this excursion an enjoyable and memorable experience. 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 contributed funding of $225.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. This rebate has been offset against the cost to families and is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Last week our Optiminds students travelled to Brisbane to compete in the state finals of the Optiminds Creative Sustainability challenge. Our team joined 60 schools from Brisbane, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Mt.Isa and Cairns. In preparation for the competition our students engaged in Team Building and Communication Skills and Creative Problem Solving strategies. The two day event included a Youth Forum on Saturday where the students were asked to pitch an idea that contributed in some way to creating better futures. Our team’s cyber safety app and alert system was well received by the other teams who then participated in a Q & A forum as a part of the shared experience. On Sunday the teams had 3 hours to prepare for an unseen challenge and then a 10 minute presentation. We were very proud of our team’s achievement in this challenge and their fantastic teamwork in making and presenting their ‘flexy machine’ to the audience and judges. We also took some time to explore Brisbane including a trip to the Queensland Museum’s Science Centre - Sparklab. I would like to thank Ms Allison for preparing the students and organising the excursion.

Over the last two weeks students in Years 2 - 10 have been sitting PAT (Progressive Achievement Tests) in Reading, Maths, Grammar and Punctuation. These tests establish what students are capable of, then challenge them at the appropriate level for effective learning. Teachers use the PAT diagnostic information to inform teaching and learning to ensure growth for all students irrespective of their age appropriate year level.

This week our Year 5 students participated in their leadership camp at Gumburu in the Paluma ranges. The students were involved in many team based activities and challenges, including a sensory trail, bush tucker track and exploring the rainforest. The students had been eagerly awaiting this camp and on return will now head into the 2023 student leadership process. We look forward to announcing the primary campus leaders in the coming weeks.

On Thursday we celebrated two events. At assembly we acknowledged the special role of grandparents in the lives of our students. Our Year 2 class led the liturgy and after, grandparents visited classrooms for activities and spent time with their grandchildren in their classes. This was followed by a lovely morning tea in our undercover area. In the afternoon, our students performed their Dance concert “Searching for our Dancing Feet” to families and friends. During the last term students have been working with Ms Burns and Ms Stevenson to choreograph and practice dance movements as a part of their learning in the Arts curriculum. The concert was a fantastic culminating activity to showcase to our staff, families and friends.

Our Inter-House Swimming Carnival is being held this Friday. Students should be at the pool by 8.15am. Prep students will return to school after their events at approximately 11.00am. The carnival for all other students will end at 3.00pm. The pool will run a canteen for the day. Students in Years 1-6 may order tuckshop (lunch will be a salad roll) but this must be ordered by Thursday 27th. Prep students may order Morning Tea but as they are bussed back to school, please do not order lunch. Students need to wear their sports uniform (swimmers underneath), college hat and joggers. Students may wear House dress up coloured props for eg wigs, tutus and sunglasses. Students are not to bring crepe paper or wear coloured zinc. Both these products cause problems with filtration and chlorination systems if they find their way into the pool. If you are taking your child from the carnival after their event please let their class teacher know prior to leaving.

Joanne Andrews
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - ST. MARY'S CAMPUS

FROM THE MATHS DEPARTMENT - MC CAMPUS

This is my first writing for our newsletter, and I can’t believe I’ve already been here for one term already! So many things have happened over the term so I will try to keep this short.

Firstly: I would like to thank the Columba Catholic College Community for their warm welcome. I did land in Australia on the 16^th of July from my previous teaching post in Bermuda, and hit the ground running straight into teaching on the 22^nd of July. People have been so kind and patient with me whilst I have been re-adjusting to Charters Towers life. I do appreciate this.

My team that I am now working with have such a wide variety of skills, that it has been joyful going into classes and talking about how we can best support all students. I particularly enjoyed going into the classroom and seeing what was happening in the maths classes. After weeks of going into the classrooms and discussions with staff, we have made the decision to go “back to basics” with our classrooms.

So…. what does that mean and what will it look like in the classrooms? It means that students will not be taking computers out in mathematics classes the moment they sit down. Don’t get me wrong, technology does have a place in the learning experience at times. However, my focus is to get students back to writing in the classroom and showing working in their notebooks. This “back to basics” focus was actually from a discussion with one of my Year 12 classes that had me thinking about how to improve the quality of notetaking for review for exams. It is my intention that bookwork will be part of portfolio assessment for Years 7-9 next year.

I encourage innovation in the classroom. I think one of the most engaged I have seen our Year 7 maths this term was definitely the algebra engagement organized and ran by Mrs Shaw, Ms Brumby and Miss Adcock. Seeing the very large battleship ground was quite a sight and every child that I saw was happy…. happy to be in maths? Absolutely!!

Leading up to the end of the year, I encourage parents and guardians to just double check that rulers, calculators, pens, etc have made it to the end of the year with their child and respectfully ask that if a top up of equipment is needed for the next assessments, that this could be organized in the next few weeks.

Thank you for your support, and I look forward to meeting more of the Columba Catholic College Community soon.

Sam Kelly
MIDDLE LEADER - MATHEMATICS

My New Gallery

YEAR THREE NEWS

Wow! We have had a fabulous year of learning, laughter and fun and we cannot believe that we are in our last few weeks of Year 3.

In Term 3, we enjoyed reading the novel Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. We read the story as a class and completed activities related to the text. Some of these included comprehension questions and amazing Art pieces. This term, we have begun reading Matilda by Roald Dahl and have really enjoyed the story so far.

We have also started our Oral Language unit in English, where we are presenting different tasks in front of the class each week. The students have made a great start to this and I am very proud of how well they speak in front of an audience. This is a skill that is important throughout our whole lives, but will especially help the Year 3s as we explore the world of Drama this term.

We can’t wait for the swimming carnival and our excursion, and will enjoy spending the last few weeks together as we near the end of a busy year.

Kia Carroll
YEAR THREE TEACHER

YEAR ONE NEWS

We have started the term with two new friends, Lachie from Ryan Catholic College in Townsville, and Harpar from Richmond Hill State School. Term Four is the time when we see the fruits of our labour in the form of beautiful academic progress. The Year One students returned from our September holidays a little bigger and wiser, making everything we do easier. We have enjoyed celebrating many reading, writing and Mathematics goals already this term as our learning comes together, it is very special to see the students’ confidence grow as this happens.

These past few weeks we have loved our swimming intensive as we swam three days a week. Thank you to Mr O’Connor and Mr Boyden who made this possible for us. It was wonderful to see the growth in their swimming strokes during this time. We look forward to our swimming carnival this Friday. Year One News has also made a comeback, allowing us to speak clearly and confidently in front of our peers about a variety of topics. In addition to this, we have been busy preparing for our Dance Spectacular on Thursday. A massive thank you must go out to Miss Burns and Miss Stevenson for providing us with many opportunities to move and groove this semester.

In the coming weeks, the students will complete their last assessments for the year. We will be working hard right up until the final week of Term. As this is our last newsletter article for the year, I would like to acknowledge the work of our specialist teachers Mr O’Connor, Miss Burns, Mrs Martell and Mr Andersen and our very supportive, kind and organised parents who have helped us come to school prepared and ready to learn. It takes a village to raise and educate a child, and I believe our children have been the luckiest this year. Thank you all for your many efforts in helping to shape our kids’ education, it’s been a great year for us and we have much to be thankful for.

Marisa O'Connor
YEAR ONE TEACHER

ST. MARY'S CAMPUS AWARDS

Term 4 Week 3 - Being well prepared for class each day

Prep - Liam Standfast
Year 1 - Lachlan Griffiths
Year 2 - Jaymee Gundersen
Year 3 - Kambelle McGuire
Year 3/4 - Jessica Truong
Year 4 - Hudson Brumby
Year 5 - Hunter Robins
Year 6 - Sam Flood

Term 4 Week 4- Presenting neat and careful work

Prep - Mercedes Lai
Year 1 - Lachlan Stanford
Year 2 - Emmi-belle Emerson
Year 3 - Georgia Stout
Year 3/4 - Flynn Bailey
Year 4 - Emerson Yule
Year 5 - Clayton Walsh
Year 6 - Mary Sproat

MT. CARMEL CAMPUS NOTABLE MENTIONS

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

Term 4 Week 4 - Respect for Self: Demonstrates determination and resilience when challenged in class.

Year 7: Anthony MacNamara
Year 8: Dale Beatty
Year 9: Shakarleah Hunter
Year 10: Becky-Maree Walton
Year 11: Jolee Gallagher

FROM THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT - MC CAMPUS

This term we are very excited to be trialling an innovative program and online educational writing tool called Writer’s Toolbox in all our English classes in Years 7 to 10. This research-based online writing tool has been created specifically to raise student ability level in writing. The program was designed by education innovator Dr Ian Hunter, who undertook extensive research to develop a tool that students of all ages could use to become more proficient in writing. The program uses easy-to-understand strategies to improve skills that can be used across all areas of the curriculum.

But one of the tool’s most helpful components is its ability to provide instant feedback. Artificial intelligence built into the tool reads student work and provides appraisal and advice on different aspects of writing including spelling, sentence construction, fluency and accuracy. This allows the students to know exactly what they need to work on to improve their overall writing strength.

As well as a writing focus, Toolbox also contains a collection of learning materials to help our students develop their capability as a writer, which centres on skills such as grammar, punctuation and other important language features. Students are now using Writer’s Toolbox at least three times each week, working on tasks and daily challenges specifically structured to help them improve.

This is an exciting time for all students and staff involved, and initial feedback from teachers and students is so far very positive. I strongly encourage you to ask your child to take you on a virtual tour of the Writer’s Toolbox to see the work they have produced, the online feedback or progress charts that their work has generated, and the strategies embedded in the program that will enable them to succeed.

Clare Stead
MIDDLE LEADER - ENGLISH

RESIDENTIAL NEWS

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,

This term has started off well and students have settled back into residences. We have several new male and female boarders joining the residential community this term and from what I have been able to ascertain thus far, they are settling in to school life reasonably well. Of course, there is homesickness which is felt by the majority of boarders when they first return to Boarding but, as they engage and involve themselves in the school’s curricular and extracurricular activities, these feelings of homesickness generally subside.

As mentioned in the previous residential newsletter we have introduced several changes to the residential routines. These changes included the girls now studying on the Mount Carmel campus from 6.30 pm to 8.00pm Monday to Thursday and from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm on Sundays. The other notable change to the Boarding routine is that the girls now eat breakfast in the residence. This new change to the breakfast routine seems to have been well received by the students. The College will review these changes to routines in the very near future and act on feedback obtained from students and staff.

The College Boarding community celebrated its annual Christmas Dinner in the Mount Carmel Campus Dining Hall on Monday 24th October. Mrs Burns, Mrs Jarmey and Mrs Naughton have been very busy preparing for this much anticipated event. I am in no doubt that the students, staff and invited guests had a wonderful time. A big thank you to the above-mentioned ladies for all your efforts.

Last weekend I had the good fortune of seeing many of our Boarding students participating in the TDRU Rugby 7s Carnival held in Townsville. The likes of Naqarne Oui and Imogen Ruyg had wonderful carnivals with both of their teams winning their respective divisions. While on the topic of sports, I would also like to mention Blake Bryan who jumped a massive 1.80m at the State Titles in High Jump. Congratulations to Blake - he certainly has some spring in his step for a 15-year-old.

This week the senior students commenced their final exams. The exam block will run for 3 weeks for those students completing external assessment. Time management, effort, and focus will be key tenets for the students to realise their academic objectives. There will also be a number of tutoring sessions on offer for our students and I strongly encourage them to take advantage of those tutorials. The students who are not involved in the External Assessment Block will be involved in an alternative program which includes activities such as work experience, school-based traineeships and short courses such as Food Handling, Responsible Service of Alcohol/Gambling, First Aid and the RACQ Docudrama.

Some key dates for upcoming events include: