Sunday 11 - Friday 16 Sept - Year 6 Outback Tour

Tuesday 13 to Friday 16 - Year 9 Camp Noosa

Thursday 15 September - Year 2 Invention Convention

Friday 16 September - Term 3 concludes

Student Gallery

Staff Gallery

Wonderful Week in the Community

This week we had the joy of celebrating Book Week with a dress-up day!  The Early Years had an amazing assembly where everyone was able to celebrate each other’s efforts, and our favourite authors and stories.  It was also great to see many of the older students engaging in the theme for the day!  Thanks to Mrs Jenkinson for her continued efforts regarding Book Week.

On Saturday evening we also have the chance to engage in the Delicious and Delightful Festival Lantern Parade.  Many of our students have created lanterns for this, and I can’t wait to hear of the great evening had by all involved.  Please also check out the itinerary via Western Downs Regional Council for all the other associated events happening this weekend.

Year 12 Industrial Visit to Thomas’s Batching Plants and Arena Products

Mr Ben Twidale is working with the College to support our Year 12 Industrial Technology Skills students through the last phase of their course through intensive days.  He is bringing current industry experience into the classroom and aligning the program to suit the needs of industry.  So students could gain better insight into what is required in industry, they attended an excursion to Thomas’s Batching Plants and Arena Products on Wednesday.  This was an excellent experience where we witnessed developing a product from idea into a product.  A massive thanks to Errol Thomas and his team for giving up their time to welcome our students and show us the amazing work they do.  It was quite an insight to see the extensive impact that comes from a small yard in Dalby!

Control the Controllables

I spoke on assembly this morning about the idea of the 90/10 principle.  This principle is really quite simple.  It states that 90 percent of what happens in our life is completely outside of our control.  It is governed by the weather, the government, your employer, and other people or events around you.  The remaining 10 percent of what happens is controllable by us. This includes what time we get out of bed, whether we do our work in a timely manner, what we eat, how we exercise, how we talk to others, and how we react when other things happen to us that are beyond our control.  The challenge of this is to let go of the 90 percent and place as much energy as possible into the 10 percent that you can influence.  This way we can focus less on worry, regret, anxiety, complaining and blaming, and get our minds in the right place so that we can be successful. 

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.  It has been great throughout this term to see the return in earnest of camps, excursions and events with our community.  It has been a long two years for us always checking and rechecking guidelines to keep everyone healthy and safe.  Although COVID has not disappeared we have many measures in place and a deeper understanding of what we can do to protect our students and our community.  An email was sent to all families last week outlining some upcoming events at the College. The information is repeated below as these dates are also important for our wider community. 

Wednesday 31 August @ 12:15pm Blessing and Opening of facilities – All students from Year 1 to Year 12 must wear formal uniform for this occasion.  Bishop Robert McGuckin and Dr Patrick Coughlan will officiate this ceremony.  Families are welcome to join us in the MPC for this occasion.

Thursday 1 September - Our Lady of the Southern Cross Day – Students are encouraged to wear creative outfits in their house colours or College Sports uniform. Families are welcome to join us for all parts of this occasion celebrating the namesake of our College. 

          12:15pm OLSC Day Mass in MPC – includes announcement of 2023 Leaders.

At the conclusion of Mass and until 3:10pm – all students P-12 on oval for P-4 Ballgame events, Whole College Athletic Events – Primary and Secondary Relays, Tresillian and Gillespie Gift, All Age Relay, Staff and Student House Relay.

Friday 9 September Day for Daniel – As we conclude our work on the Daniel Morcombe Program at the end of Term 3 we will host 'Day for Daniel' on Friday 9 September.  Students are invited to wear red clothes on this day.  At the Whole College Assembly (8:50am in MPC) there will be a guest speaker presenting about personal safety.  Families are welcome to join us for all assemblies. 

Date Claimers for Term 4

14 October Grandparents Day 9:00am-12:00pm Prep – Year 6

14 October Under 13-Open Swimming Carnival

16 November College Awards Ceremony 9:15am MPC

18 November Year 12 Graduation Mass 10:00am St Joseph’s

25 November OLSCC Christmas Carols 6:00pm-8:00pm

28 November Colour Run

Regular events

Whole College Assemblies –in MPC – Week 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 (Odd Weeks) at 8:50am

Early Years Assemblies –in PAC – Week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 (Even Weeks) at 8:50am

Middle Years Assemblies –in Middle Years Plaza – Week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 (Even Weeks) at 8:50am

Senior Year Assemblies throughout the week (timetable dependant) Notification through the newsletter.

Families are welcome to join us for all assemblies. 

Student Leadership 2023

Congratulations to the 14 young men and women who presented themselves for leadership positions for 2023.  Over the past few weeks, they have written application letters, been interviewed and delivered speeches to our community about their suitability for the ‘job’.  On Friday, the Year 5-12 students listened to the speeches and cast their votes on the positions.  The positions of College Captain, Prefects and House Leaders, Prep – 12 positions, will be announced on OLSC Day on 1 September. 

The Catholic Church has a history of social teaching that goes back centuries and provides a compelling challenge for living responsibly and building a just society.  These social teachings are embedded into our curriculum from Prep to Year 12.

At Our Lady of the Southern Cross College, we focus on the Catholic Social Teachings of:

• Human Dignity
• Stewardship of Creation
• Community and Common Good
• Subsidiarity
• Solidarity

Each one aims to:

• Embody and promote leadership as service, based on critical reflection which promotes action for justice.
• Challenge and support each member of our community in an environment of collaboration and respect.
• Nurture and educate students of integrity to be increasingly independent, discerning, creative and resilient.

Loving God, send your Spirit to open our hearts to Jesus. Guide us to a deeper conversion. Grant us a greater appreciation of the beauty and truth of our faith. Give us the courage and confidence to joyfully share our faith with others. May your Church be a beacon of light for all who seek your loving presence. Be with us now as we explore the Catholic Social Teaching. Mary, faithful Mother of God, intercede for us. We make this prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Emotional Intelligence and our young people

Emotional intelligence is a key ingredient for forming strong relationships and developing one’s inter-personal skills. Research indicates that it acts as a strong predictor of long-term success. Helping our young people develop it while they transition through the turbulent period of adolescence involves both home and the College working together. The wellbeing of our students and staff is of great importance, and when discussing wellbeing in schools, resilience is a word that is the first to pass through our lips. It is safe to say that we can agree that building resilience is an important life skill for everyone and one that will support them not only through their schooling life but well into their future as well.

So how can we help our young students build resilience?

If you ask our students, they will say that the term resilience means the ability to continue even if there are set-backs along the way – to not give up. But there are many ways to define resilience and to build resilience we must look deeper. It is important that we consider how to develop the emotional intelligence of our students.

Emotional intelligence in very general terms means to understand oneself and others. A person could be considered emotionally intelligent if they can demonstrate a general awareness of different perspectives and the maintenance of healthy relationships with others. Looking deeper there are five basic components that encompass emotional intelligence (see the figure below).

How to build emotional intelligence?

Ideally, the best way is for parents and teachers to model it. Parents, carers, teachers, and role models should display calm, positive behaviour and help the child to unpack scenarios. It is critical to let them experience the emotion and not to try and fix what has caused the distress. For example, a child will become upset or possible angry when a toy or a phone breaks and/or is not working how it should. Often, parents will initially respond by trying to fix it or go to the shops to buy a replacement. When this happens, the parent has resolved the cause of the distress, but they have not addressed the emotions displayed by the child. The child’s mood will most likely improve, but it does not prompt them to practice emotional intelligence with these low-stakes scenarios. This is an opportunity missed.

The same often occurs when there are minor friendship disagreements or some friction among members of a social circle. It is important that students have the opportunity to feel their emotions and then begin to understand them from a young age when the stakes are low. This will better prepare them for bigger, much more involved scenarios later in life. Fixing these problems for students may help them in the short term but creates the risk of developing students will low emotional intelligence and limited resilience in the long term.    

Here are some simple steps parents and caregivers can use to turn an incident into an opportunity to coach emotional intelligence:

It is okay for a parent or teacher to be involved in repairing the situation, but it is essential to work with the young person to discuss and process their emotions beforehand. Supporting students in naming and processing incidents before finding a solution is critical. When discussion is encouraged, we help the young person to develop emotional intelligence and, ultimately, support them in regulating their emotions, build inter-personal skills, and develop and maintain healthy relationships.

Craig Cullen

Assistant Principal Middle Years

What an exciting few weeks we have had here in the Early Years. Students have been engaged in rich learning opportunities in and out of the classroom, as well as preparing for their upcoming student-led conferences which will be held in Week 9 of this term. Bookings for student-led conferences can now be made via Parent Portal (Sentral for Parents - Interviews).

At OLSCC, our goal is to build assessment capable learners who know:

• What they are learning
• How they are going
• What they need to do next to be successful learners

Students will prepare for these conferences in the same manner as they prepare their learning in the Early Years - by answering the dot points above. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to share this with you in a powerful and meaningful way.

How will this work?

• Students will take a lead role in the conference setting
• Teachers will support the students throughout the process as needed
• Students will share with you what they are currently learning
• This will look different from Prep through to Year 4 and may include showing you how they learn with concrete materials, a work sample to discuss, a focus on a particular subject area, or a personal-social goal they are working on.

Important things to remember

• Your child will run this conference--not you, not the teacher. As part of their regular learning, all students have been putting considerable time and energy into reflecting on their learning and preparing for this. If you cannot attend, please arrange for another significant adult in your child's life to come to the conference.
• The conference is about learning, not behaviour or social issues. If you or the teacher have concerns here, please make an appointment with the teacher at a different time.

We look forward to sharing our learning journey with you!

Shooting Stars begins!

Last week, our pre-Prep students began participating in our highly regarded transition program, Shooting Stars, with Mrs Morrison and Mrs Horshner. This forms the first part of a rigorous transition process for our students, allowing them to become familiar with the routines and physical environment of our College, as well as focusing on important early literacy and numeracy skills that give the children a great springboard into formal learning in Prep next year. It has been great to see so many smiling faces this week as they get set for Prep here at OLSCC!

Optiminds

Our Early and Middle Years Optiminds team are eagerly practicing each week with Miss Blair, Miss Willocks, and Mrs O’Brien to refine their critical and creative thinking skills in preparation for their challenge day in Toowoomba this Sunday, 28 August. The Opti-MINDS Challenge is an opportunity for all those with a passion for learning & problem solving to showcase their skills & talents in an exciting, vibrant, and public way. We wish them all the best for their challenge day on Sunday.

Year 3 Star Gazing Evening

Last night, Year 3 students participated in a star gazing evening on our school oval. The afternoon began with students viewing the sun through a solar telescope. We were fortunate to have Mr Jenkinson share his expertise and his two telescopes so we could view our beautiful night sky. Below are some images captured through the Interstellar app connected to the telescope. This experience was a great way to consolidate the students learning of Night and Day in their current Science unit.

Kristen Bennie

Acting Assistant Principal Early Years

Our lucky Year 7 students recently enjoyed a six day adventure to the Fraser Coast region staying four nights at Campialba and one night on K'Gari (Fraser Island). The weather could not have been better with warm days and plenty of sunshine and all the students were treated to a host of amazing activities. The first day was a visit to the most amazing beach side parkland with huge slides and climbing nets that kept the kids busy before they set off on a whale watching experience in Wine Glass Bay. The most inquisitive and friendly whale lingered around the boat for about 30 minutes giving all the students a very up close and personal encounter. On Day 2, the group travelled in to Maryborough to visit the Military Museum and War Memorials in Queen's Park. Maryborough is steeped in military history with the first soldier taking a step on the beach at Gallipoli being from Maryborough. The volunteers in the museum were very impressed by the great behaviour of our students and commented on their genuine interest in the amazing displays. On Day 3, the students joined Eco Tours leader Aaron for an Indigenous experience on Round Island which is a very small undeveloped island just outside of the Harvey Bay Marina. The students had the whole island to themselves to roam on and explore both on the land and in the rock pools. Aaron smoked oysters from the rocks and taught Indigenous ceremonial dancing and digeridoo playing. Everyone rose very early on Thursday to venture over to K'Gari for a full day of touring the world's largest sand island. Students visited Central Station in the satinay forest, Lake Mackenzie, Eli Creek and the wreck of the Maheno before enjoying a delicious buffet dinner at Eurong Resort. Friday was another huge day of travelling but the weary Year 7 students enjoyed the time to laugh, sing, watch movies and remember the amazing week they had on the Fraser Coast.

Year 5/6 Rugby League Gala Day

Thanks to Mr Paffey and Mr Cuskelly for taking the Year 5/6 Rugby League Team to a gala day in Toowoomba last Wednesday. Unfortunately, Mr Gillespie was unable to attend due to Year 7 Camp, however his efforts in training the team in the lead up to the carnival are appreciated. It has been a few years since an event like this has been run for primary school aged players. Whilst the team didn’t record any wins on the day, they were competitive in all games. Thanks to the large number of parents who came to support the team. All scores are listed below.

Loss to Mater Dei          4-16 (Pool B Winners)

Loss to St Mary’s B        4-12

Loss to Pittsworth SS     4-12

Loss to Glenvale SS      12-16

Darling Downs Independent Schools Girls Sevens

Week 4 Results

Under 13

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             20-15

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             15-10

Fairholme defeated OLSCC                    0-20

Under 15

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             35-10

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             20-15

Fairholme defeated OLSCC                    30-10

Under 18

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             22-10

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             24-10

Week 6 Results

Under 13

TAS defeated OLSCC

Glennie defeated OLSCC

Under 15

TAS defeated OLSCC                            25-15

Glennie defeated OLSCC

Under 18

OLSCC defeated TAS                            22-5

Glennie defeated OLSCC                       20-5

QCIS Girls Rugby Sevens Results

Under 13

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             30-10

OLSCC defeated TAS                            17-12

Downlands defeated OLSCC                  39-15

Final

OLSCC defeated Downlands                  32-17

Under 15

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             59-0

TAS defeated OLSCC                            33-19

OLSCC defeated Downlands                  27-7

Final

TAS defeated OLSCC                            29-14

Under 18

OLSCC defeated Scots Warwick             26-12

OLSCC defeated TAS                            20-10

Downlands defeated OLSCC                  30-0

Final

Downlands defeated OLSCC                  20-0

Sports Reps

Congratulations to Gemma Sullivan who was part of the Darling Downs Under 11 Netball Team that finished third at the State Championships. Gemma received the coaches award for the DD Team.

Tiffany Ham is currently attending the National Under 15 Volleyball Championships at Caloundra. The team has had wins against NSW, VIC, and the ACT.  

Athletics

The final events of the College Athletics Carnival will be held next Thursday afternoon as part of OLSCC Day celebrations. The order of events for the afternoon is as follows:

Prep-Year 4 Ball Games

Primary House Relay

Secondary House Relay

Primary Captains / Staff Relay

Secondary Captains / Staff Relay

Tresillian Gift

Gillespie Gift

All Age Relay

Presentations

Tresillian Gift Runners

Isabelle Manley, Lucy Reed, Laney Werth, Emmysen Crothers, Chloe Manteit, Karlie Falvey, Charlotte Roberts, Claudia Child, Mackenzie Wedrat.

Gillespie Gift Runners

Archie Stephens, Angus Paffey, Jasper Filewood, Kai Rush, Jack Hall, Cooper Wedrat, Jacob Utz, Bailey Skinner.

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

OLSCC Playgroup is in full swing and our numbers are growing. It’s been wonderful to hear about the children looking forward to Playgroup each week. We have been enjoying painting, play dough, craft, music, outside play in the Prep playground and finish our morning with a story. Meet some of our Playgroup regulars, Colt enjoying play dough, Amarni enjoying dress-ups and Harrison enjoying playing outside.
We meet in the Prep Green room each Friday during the term (except Student Free day on 2nd Sept), anytime between 9am - 11am. Spread the word. We love meeting new friends at OLSCC Little Stars Playgroup!

Nicole Horchner

Playgroup Facilitator

Please see the link below for the new College Uniform price list. This can also be found on the College Website along with details of opening hours etc.

There are a number of items of lost property currently sitting in the plaza in front of the MPC. If these items are not claimed and collected, they will be donated to St Vincent De Paul.

1 x Nolan Bucket Hat

11 lunch boxes

1 senior formal skirt

1 pair of sports shoes

1 right Nike sports shoe

4 x junior fleece jackets

1 steel water bottle

2 x red knitted formal jumpers

3 x senior sports jackets

Western Downs Regional Council is holding  a book mark competition. Click on the link here for all the detail and see the attached PDF flyer to download the templates.

http://www.westerndownslibraries.com/bookmark-comp

Friendly reminder to families that Term 3 fees are due for payment by Friday 02/09/2022.

Please contact the College Business Manager if you have any concerns regarding this matter.

sarah.hall@twb.catholic.edu.au