Wednesday 30 March - Student Leaders Retreat

Thursday 31 March - Nolan Day

Friday 1 April - Dalby Show Holiday

Wednesday 20 April - Term 2 begins

Monday 25 April - ANZAC Day Public Holiday

The Current COVID Situation

As shared in the most recent update, we have been experiencing a considerable increase in COVID cases over the past 2 weeks.  Fortunately, we have seen the case numbers begin to decrease since Tuesday. While we have a return to a stabilisation of staff levels at the College, it is evident that more cases are impacting the Senior Years as well as Years 7 and 8.

It has been wonderful for the College to have the students from the initial spike returning this week, and I have personally enjoyed returning to work today to see all our amazing students focussing on their learning in classrooms.

I would like to remind everyone in our community that high standards of hygiene are very important right now to keep our most vulnerable in our community safe and minimise lost working and learning time to isolation and quarantine. 

Have A Peaceful Easter

In our ever-changing world full of crazy daily news of war, attrition, and disease, I ask everyone to take some time this Easter to value, cherish and give gratitude for the amazing lives we are allowed to live every day.  We often get caught in our own perspective, our negative perceptions of life, and this in turn challenges us to reflect negatively on who we are, what we do, where we are going in life, what the future holds.  The sad truth of the matter is that if you are not happy with what you have today, you will never be happy with what you have tomorrow.  Spread this message with your family and friends this Easter, and remember that life is good, others are good, and despite having challenges, we really have a prosperous life.

Have a wonderful end of term, and I look forward to seeing return with bundles of energy for Term 2!

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

“Is there anyone among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread?”  Matthew 7:9 

We are reminded in this reading to “treat others as you would like them to treat you”. It is not always easy to treat other people as we know that we should. We often put our own desires above the needs of others. We can behave in ways that are damaging and hurtful. 

So today, let us try harder to treat others as we would wish to be treated. Not only the people that we meet, but also those far away from us who nevertheless feel the impact of our choices and of the global systems in which we live and play our part. 

Let us remember that God who loves us is there to help and support us as we strive to be better and to create a fairer world in which all people can reach their full potential. 

Generous God, work through us we pray.  

As the tiny acorn becomes the mighty oak, may our small acts of love towards others grow, bringing hope of a world transformed.   

Amen. 

Well what a busy two weeks it has been since our last newsletter.  We have been navigating this latest peak in COVID cases extremely well as a College and I thank staff, students and parents for your patience, consideration and hard work during this time.  We have rescheduled multiple College events, worked from home, covered classes, completed work online via Canvas, navigated the Qld Government COVID rules, many have resumed the wearing of masks when indoors and looked after our health and the health of our families.  We talk about our College Learning Dispositions a lot and over these two weeks I have definitely seen creativity, motivation, persistence, resilience, independence and optimism in action both at the College and in our community.   

A special thanks to Toowoomba Catholic Schools staff who rescheduled their time to be available to teach in our College we have loved having these nine staff work with us to continue to provide quality teaching in our classrooms.    

NAPLAN Online 

Next week students in Year 3, 5, 7 & 9 will complete practice tests for NAPLAN Online which will be conducted in May.  The aim of these sessions is for students to interact with the NAP Browser online platform and experience the types of questions that will be asked.  This was postponed from Week 9 due to number of absences in these year levels, if numbers are still low in Week 10 we will conduct these in Week 1 of Term 2. 

To assist Parents to have the same experience I encourage you to check out the NAPLAN website, in particular the NAPLAN Online page https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment. 

There is a great short video (only 2m 11s) called Understanding NAPLAN Online that outlines the move to the online platform.  The other place I would highlight on this website is the Public Demonstration Site – here you can click on your child’s year level and explore what the online platform looks like, sounds like and how they can interact with it.  Perhaps dedicate some time with your child to explore this together – let them show you around.  If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online not answered by this site I am always happy to meet with parents to discuss it further. 

Each fortnight leading to NAPLAN we will include general NAPLAN information in the College Newsletter.  If you would like to discuss your child’s participation in NAPLAN please contact your child’s core teacher, Andrea Gormley or myself.  

STUDENT LEADERS RETREAT 

Our College Student Leaders Retreat will be held next Wednesday 30 March from 1:40-5:30pm.  We will gather all prefect, house leaders and SRC members to develop their leadership skills.  A letter was sent via email to student leaders in regards to this retreat on Wednesday 30 March.  Students need to wear sports uniform to school on this day to ensure they are dressed appropriately for the activities they will take part in. We will end the session with prayer in the chapel.  Parents are invited to meet us at the Chapel at 5:15pm to join us in prayer when picking up.   

Volunteers in our College  

Volunteers are welcome to assist in the classroom, on excursions and at our tuckshop upon completion of Volunteer Induction Module and return Declaration form.  All volunteers must be fully vaccinated, and proof must be provided with the Declaration form.  Declaration forms must be submitted before your day of volunteering to ensure approval is granted. 

Information regarding the Volunteer Induction Module can be found on Parent Portal or via the link: https://www.twb.catholic.edu.au/work-and-learn-with-us/volunteers-and-visiting-service-providers/ 

EASTER PRAYER CELEBRATIONS 

On the last weekend, of the holidays we celebrate Easter Weekend.  Our local parish holds a number of prayer celebrations from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.  Please see details later in our newsletter and on St Joseph’s Catholic Church Dalby’s Facebook page for days and times.  We will join as a College in prayer as we prepare for Easter on Thursday 31 March at 12:50pm in the MPC.  Parents are welcome to join us for this prayer celebration.   

Re-Creation 

Each Wednesday afternoon students in Year 9-12 are involved in Re-Creation.  Re-Creation allows students an opportunity to energise their spiritual potential through using their passions, gifts and talents for the betterment of the community.  This week the College rung out with the sounds of our Rock Band group rehearsing during this time.  Their passion and interest in music was evident and it was great to hear their talents at work. 

Spotted this week – Middle Years student, Kash, making the most of the wonderful shade, green grass and amazing space in our the Middle Years Plaza! 

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education

Why students should take drafting more seriously

Drafting is an important part of the writing process, however, I often hear students say “Well, it’s only the draft … that’ll do”. This is a dangerous mindset for students to possess.

Rarely does the first plan for anything end up being the best plan moving forward. Consequently, this may be the reason why some students feel like the draft of an assignment is of little value to the end product – how wrong hey are! Taking the drafting process seriously allows students to put their ideas on paper so they can rethink and rewrite them. By doing this they will be able to ask themselves whether the ideas they are presenting seem logical, whether their argument is clear, and where additional information and evidence is required.

Drafting is critical in terms of thinking the topic through; in fact, there are all sorts of questions students can ask themselves once they have written an initial draft. A draft also gives them something to show their teachers and to get vital feedback on.

Writing is a process that is made up of many steps. This process has been summarised in the diagram below. For some tasks, students will need to re-visit each step serval times as they refine their ideas and enhance the quality of their written work.

Before students start their work
The first step in writing is to get some ideas down without attempting to structure or order them. This process is often called free-writing. At this point students should not attempt to edit but rather keep the ideas flowing. Brainstorming and creating concept maps are examples of simply getting some ideas out of the brain and down onto paper.

Organising Ideas
Once the ideas are down, now it is time to evaluate those ideas and to decide which ones would be best to use moving forward. Students should always double check the assessment at this point to remain aligned with the task at hand. Box plans are one structured way of organising ideas that are commonly used in the Middle Years. I encourage students to continue this process until it becomes second nature.

The First Draft
At this point, students need to follow their plan and write the first edition of their work. It is important to focus on the main idea and ensure that these are highlighted to the reader in a clear and succinct way. This step should focus on ensuring that the writing flows and that the necessary evidence is supplied to support the student’s argument. The editing does not happen at this stage.

Reviewing
Feedback is vital. It is great to have another person’s perspective on your work … especially if that person is the one who will eventually mark the assessment item. Student’s should not fear feedback form their teachers. It’s gold!

Editing
All too often, students re-submit their draft without taking on-board any of the feedback from the teacher. There is no logic in that decision. Instead, it is one of sheer laziness. Just imagine if inventers never considered feedback or modified/edited their inventions. Remember the first version of the motor car, aeroplane and mobile phone?

How can parents help?
Parents have an important role to play in the development of their child’s work. Encourage them to see the draft as a vital step on the journey to success. Do not accept that an incomplete draft is satisfactory. Do not let them think that “near enough is good enough” and ask them to read their work out load. If you cannot understand it, or they cannot even read it smoothly, then there is a great chance that it needs to be adjusted. Due dates are also deadlines.

As controversial as this next point may seem, if you want more evidence that an edited version of a written piece of work is better than the original, then consider Jimi Hendrix’s version of All Along the Watchtower and Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah. They were both superior to that of the originals composed by Bob Dylan and the great Lenny Cohen respectively.  

Winter Uniform   
As of the start of Term 2, the College’s expectation is that boys wear ties with their formal uniform. For the younger students in the sector this may be for the first time and often their can be some anxiety around this.

Please review the image below with your son and being the process of practicing wearing a tie appropriately in preparation for Term 2.

Alternatively, there are a number of videos that can be watched which will allow students to follow the steps until they have mastered the art of tieing their tie.

One such video (see below) has been shared with the students via their student email.

Tackle football

The College takes great pride in our football teams. We have representative teams in multiple year levels for both Rugby League and Rugby 7s. I encourage any student who wished to be involved to sign up to a team and to regularly attend training. Please see Mr Lincoln for further information. It is important to note that tackle football is reserved for these activities and training sessions. It is never acceptable to be undertaken by students during lunch times or between classes. A number of Middle Years boys have been deliberately turning lunch time games of touch football into tackle football. This practice must cease immediately. Our main priority is student safety.

Craig Cullen

Assistant Principal Middle Years

Thankyou for your patience as we once again traverse these unknown paths! Student Led Conferences will be rescheduled for Week 3 in Term 2. Bookings for these will reopen at the beginning of Term 2.

In spite of the disruptions to normal life, we have managed to still have an awesome term. Our newest little friends in Prep have settled into school life and have even joined in the rest of the Early Years on their first school excursion to Words Out West. Added to this, across the sector we have managed an online assembly, more excursions to Pioneer Park, visits to our local parish church, St Joseph’s, an enthusiastic re-engagement of Early Years choir, 9-12 yrs of age swimming carnival, practise for our upcoming (postponed) cross country, and we still have a couple more events to look forward to next week. We welcome some visitors to our first Preppie for a Morning program on Tuesday and then, best of all (ok – I am a little biased….), NOLAN DAY will be celebrated for on Thursday for those students in Nolan House. They will gather on the oval with their lunch to play some fun games together. Nolan house students may wear yellow on the day.

Thankyou to the Year 5 students who are running the Easter Egg raffle for Mini Vinnies. There have been many enthusiastic Early Years customers! Tickets are 50c each so please send money along if your child wishes to make a purchase. You may find it easier for them to manage if you place the money in a ziplock bag. Our youngest students may even benefit from you writing on the front of the bag eg $2 for Easter Egg raffle tickets + name, to avoid any confusion.

Katrina Walton

Assistant Principal Early Years

Last Wednesday, Year 11 and 12 Geography and Year 12 Biology students embarked on a field study camp to Stradbroke Island lead by the team at Second Nature.

The students camped at a spectacular location on Point Lookout at the Surf Lifesaving Club which overlooks the ocean and the magnificent rocky point on the eastern side of the Island. Thursday saw all students hard at work collecting field data from a coastal heath land at Cylinder Beach, the rocky shores of Deadman's Beach and the undisturbed beach dunes on Main Beach. The students were rewarded for their hard work with a twilight swim at Cylinder Beach.

On Friday, the students had an opportunity to learn snorkelling at Amity Point inside the safety of the shark nets. We then swam again at Brown Lake which is classed as a perched lake and with so much recent rain it was full to the brim. The group then returned to Amity Point to visit the Museum where they were addressed by Melodie who gave an insightful presentation on the history of the Island.

Students are now hard at work collating their data and working towards their Term 2 assessments.

At our first College Assembly on Friday, 11 March, the College Dux for 2021 was announced as Jennifer Nothdurft who was present to accept her award and address the staff, students and special guests.

Jennifer earned at ATAR of 89.85 and was accepted into a Bachelor of Biomedical Science. In her speech, Jennifer reports that she is taking a gap year to work at Western Downs Regional Council and focus on her swimming career before she commences her studies at University. Jennifer gave inspiration to the students with advice, particularly to the Year 12 students encouraging them to strive to achieve their best and to ask for help from teachers when needed. Jennifer accepted the Dalby Friendly Society Dispensary bursary of $2000 from Mrs Helen Stagg, FSD Board Member as well as the WDRC financial bursary of $250 from Senior Years Assistant Principal, Mr Rodney Spain.

Also presenting awards at the assembly was Gary White, CEO of Goolburri Housing and Chairperson of Goondir Health Services.  

Gary presented the QATSIF Certificate Recipients with their awards including Riley Kingston and Jacob Utz and absent was Indiannah Patrick.

During the assembly, we also acknowledged our Senior cohort and presented them with their Senior badges. Each Senior student was led into the MPC hand in hand with a student from Prep who has just commenced their journey at OLSCC.

Senior Swimming Carnival

The Under 13 - Under 18 Inter House Swimming Carnival has been rescheduled until Friday 14 October (Term 4, Week 2).

Cross Country

The Under 5- Under 11 Inter House Cross Country will be held on Friday 22 April starting at 9.30am.

Darling Downs Touch Football

Congratulations to William and Joshua Barwick who have been selected in the Darling Downs Under 12 Touch Football Team for the State Championships in Brisbane later in the year.

Darling Downs Rugby League

Congratulations to Lyhkan King Togia, Wil Brady, Bailey Rathmell, Brayden Falvey and Joe Gillett who have been selected in the Darling Downs Under 18 Rugby League Team for the State Championships on the Gold Coast.

Bunya District Netball

Congratulations to the following girls selected in the Bunya District Netball Squads. Final Team selections will be made next week.

Under 11 – Ava Boland, Lexi Bruce, Lainey Geiger, Isabelle Manley, Matilda Ryan, Gemma Sullivan, Mila Barnett, Harriet Martin.

Under 12 – Sophie Taylor, Sophie Jeude, Abigail Zillman, Scarlett Woitowitz, Charlotte Bennie.

Bunya District Rugby League

Congratulations to the following boys selected in the Bunya District Rugby League Team for games again Inner Downs. A combined team will be selected to the Darling Downs Trials next term.

Under 11 – William Hemmings, Bobby Machin, Flynn Zillman, Archie Stephens

Under 12 - Innes Dellit, Talon Burton, Louie Machin, Austin Sinclair, Archie Martin, Mason Giesel, Kash Hunt, Noah Cook.

Bunya District / Inner Downs Rugby League

Congratulations to the following boys selected in the combined Bunya District / Inner Downs Rugby League Teams to attend the Darling Downs Trials in April.

Under 11 – Bobby Machin

Under 12 – Innes Dellit, Talon Burton, Archie Martin, Mason Giesel, Noah Cook

Laura Geitz Netball

Congratulations to the girls who competed at the Laura Geitz Netball Carnival in Toowoomba. The team played in Division one this year after winning Division two last year. The step up in grade didn’t affect our success rate with team finishing second after the round games and third overall. Thanks to Miss Nicholson and Miss Fry for caching the team. Game results are listed below.

Game 1 Win vs Roma 8-2

Game 2 Win vs Lockyer SHS 13-6

Game 3 Win vs St Ursula's 13-5

Game 4 Win vs Downlands 13-6

Game 5 Win vs St Joseph’s 10-7

Game 6 Loss vs v Fairholme 18-4

Game 7 Win vs Glennie 8-7

Game 8 Win vs St Mary’s 19-2

Semi Final

Loss vs Downlands College 10-7

Bronze Medal Playoff

Win vs St Joseph’s 9-7

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

The Early Years, Middle Years, and Senior Years Choirs have been working very hard for the last couple of weeks! You won’t want to miss their first performance next week at Dalby Show, Friday morning at 9.45am. The students are so excited to share all the skills they’ve been working on and celebrate some of the amazing talent we have here at OLSCC!

Children gain so much from being part of a choir. They develop skills in memory, concentration, singing, articulation, reading (words AND music notation), teamwork, confidence and many other skills! In fact, research tells us that students that study music, develop skills to assist them in all other academic areas at school. If you are interested in joining choir, it’s not too late, fill out this Microsoft Form.

While you’re at Dalby Show, be sure to check out the photography and art competitions to see some more great work from our very talented students!

As the term comes to a close, we’re also looking ahead to who will be joining us in our Culture Extra Curricular Program in Term 2. We still have some spots with our amazing piano tutor Mr Dore. If you’re interested be sure to contact Miss Creeley before all the spots fill up!

Tamara Creely

Middle Leader Culture

After outstanding success last year, winning two awards, including placing in the top 3 teams in the state, the College is gearing up to once again enter the Optiminds Challenge in 2022. Optiminds is a creative sustainability challenge which empowers participants to think, create and communicate through a problem-solving event for teams of 4-7 students. There are a variety of divisions for teams (determined by the year level of the oldest group member) who choose to solve open-ended challenges from one of the following categories:

• Language Literature
• Science Engineering
• Social Sciences
• Media Communication

When is it and what is my time commitment?

• Challenges open July 19
• Teams have 6 weeks to prepare
• Challenge Day – Sunday August 28, Toowoomba (either in person or virtual)
• Teams present their solution in a 10-minute presentation to a panel of judges
• Teams also participate in a spontaneous challenge
• Facilitators commit to meeting with their team on a weekly basis for this period at a time mutually suitable to participants and facilitator

At OLSCC, students from Years 2-10 are invited to participate.

In preparation for this, Mrs Walton will be offering Critical and Creative Thinking Club during Term 2 on Wednesday afternoons, 3.15-4:00pm. Whilst it is not compulsory to attend this club in Term 2, it is intended to provide experience and preparation of similar tasks as the Optiminds challenges and may help with team selections.

Parents and caregivers of students who wish to participate in either Critical and Creative Thinking Club and/or Optiminds should register their interest by completing this form online by Monday 28 March. An individual form entry is required for each child.

Optiminds / Critical and Creative Thinking Club

Team selections will be finalised late in Term 2. Thankyou to staff who have volunteered to manage teams during the challenge period. This has enabled us to offer this opportunity to our students.

This week our school student protection contact team (well most who were not impacted by covid) attended the 2022 Toowoomba Catholic Schools Student Protection Symposium. Our keynote speakers were simply extraordinary, upskilling our staff with current theoretical research, relevant data from the Royal Commission and Denise and Bruce Morcombe discussing the purpose and goals of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

An important message for our students, is for them to be able to identify the five key support adults they can turn to. It’s helpful to have some who are available at home and away from home. From a school perspective, our students need to know who is on the School Student Protection Contact team. It’s helpful to discuss that they can turn to these adults when they are not feeling safe, but they can also turn to any other teacher or student officer that they feel comfortable with.

Below is a child appropriate clip created by Toowoomba Catholic Schools about student safety that you can show your child/children.

Katrina Ballantyne

College Guidance Counsellor

The P & F Gold Day saw 120 golfers play in a 3 man ambrose, 7 prize categories, a multi draw raffle and a bbq. 

Thank you to the staff, members of the P & F and families wo helped to make the day a success. We look forward to the return of the golf day in 2023. 

Thank you to all of our sponsors…

The Country Club Hotel

Marissa’s Espresso Bar – Myall Health Precinct

The Criterion Hotel

Sunshine Mitre 10

Dalby General Steel

Dalby Home Hardware

Golders Dalby

The Windsor Hotel

Brackens Field Maintenance

Hair @ Dalby

Country Wide Saddlery

Diesel Care

Bella & Spice

WR Cranes

Dalby Engine Rebuilders

Walls Auto Electrical Services

Cleaning & Catering

Need-a-Wash - Chinchilla

A friendly reminder to all families that Term 1 Fees for the 2022 year were due on 24 March 2022.

Please ensure payment has been made.

Should you be experiencing any difficulty in meeting these fees, please contact the College Business Manager, Sarah Hall.

From the Uniform Shop