Pride in Our College

On Tuesday, I was blessed to be able to travel to Scots PGC College in Warwick with 50 students where they participated in the annual QCIS Cross Country Carnival.  Unfortunately, we had many late withdrawals and ended up with many late call-ups who wouldn’t normally call themselves long distance specialists.  In some age groups where points are given for the first 4 from each school, we only had one runner. Despite this, through effort and grit, our amazing students placed 2^nd in the average points, and 3^rd overall against some remarkable competition from Downlands, Concordia, Scots, Toowoomba Anglican School, and Mary Mackillop Catholic College. While we didn’t have an individual race winner on the day, we did take out the age group title for 2024 in 15 Girls, 11 girls (tie), 10 boys, 10 girls.

Likewise, I have witnessed hundreds of students attend and March at ANZAC Day, I have seen football teams get beaten by 70 points, but keep turning up and giving their all, and I have seen students struggle with concepts in learning, though continue to persist in order to achieve success.  Every time I witness such an event, I am so proud of the school, and the type of education that we provide for our students and families.  

Last week, our amazing FACE committee engaged Justin Coulson to come and present to our community again.  This was, again, a fantastic opportunity for those able to make it along, and gave me some great thinking points as both an educator and a dad.  My biggest takeaway from the session was that children of all ages must do hard things in order to lessen their anxiety in their life.  They must make mistakes, they must struggle, they have to work out how to do things by themselves.  They need to keep tackling even though they are losing 70-0.  They must get up at 3:30am to stand in the cold for the Dawn Service. They must run a hilly 4 kilometres against people two years older than them. They must fall over, scrape knees, crash bikes and be allowed to learn what is within their limits and what isn’t. 

Let’s just say that I have learned that, as a dad, I still have a long way to go.  Luckily, my boy is in Year 6, so he will get plenty of this type of learning on Outback Camp starting Sunday morning!!

2025 Enrolment

I know you’ve already received this information via other means, though I cannot communicate strongly enough that if you have friends or family that are interested in enrolling at OLSCC for 2025, the window of opportunity is limited.  Mrs Bennie is completing interviews for Prep on Monday mornings and there is already limited availability for the 3 classes of Prep for next year.  It is also unlikely that a third class will open for Year 7 next year and the demand is currently exceeding the positions we will have available.  Other classes are full, and some only have spaces remaining that we will keep available for families from Catholic schools that move to town.  We are continuing to refine our practices as a P-12 College, and this includes not seeing ourselves as a place that enrols students into “high school”.  The best time to start your education at OLSCC is the first day of Prep, or as soon as you move to Dalby.  Please pass this message on to ensure family and friends don’t miss out on enrolment.  Even if families already have students attending the College, they must be proactive and timely in submitting enrolment applications or they risk missing out.

Mothers

Don’t forget to spoil the mothers in your world this Sunday!  They are the rock of the family and the glue that holds us all together.  I know many of our mums will spend most of Sunday standing on a cold sporting field sideline instead of being spoiled with breakfast in bed, and that’s simply a testament to the selfless giving our mothers live every day.  Thank you to all the Mothers in our community – have an awesome day on Sunday!

Peter Cuskelly

Principal