Friday, 18 September - PUPIL FREE DAY

Tuesday, 6 October - Term 4 commences

Wednesday 7 to 31 October - Art is Escapsim - Art Show @ Gallery 107 Dalby

Tuesday, 13 October - P & F Meeting

Thursday, 15 October - Come and Try Day

Parent Student Teacher Conferences

Next week we are excited to ramp up student voice and ownership in discussions regarding their learning during our semesterly Parent Student Teacher Conferences. The deliberate intent is for parents, students and teachers to continue their work together to determine the best ways forward to progress in learning.  The focus of these meetings is learning and having the students in attendance is critical for the meeting to have any impact.  Of note, this is a conference rather than a teacher report. It’s a great chance for parents and students to have the time to ask questions and give feedback.

Technology Woes

Recently there have been some considerable issues that have arisen which cause us great concern in regards to technology use at the College. Please see below and consider what you can do in your home to support your child in developing healthy technology habits.

Student Laptops: It is evident from checks on the College laptops that many students are using devices in a very inappropriate manner when they are at home or away from the College’s network. You see, the limitations to what a student can access on the internet is controlled by the network they are connected to.  So at school we have a variety of measures in place to ensure that students cannot access inappropriate material, and instead, focus their energy on learning.  At home, their access is limited by the controls you have on your network.  If you do not have any controls on your network, or are unsure of this, it is likely that your child can access whatever they wish.  Over the holidays we will work with some providers to see what support we can offer families with this, such as the continuity of Family Zone.  We will continue individual laptop checks and inform parents of any inappropriate searches or content that is discovered on student devices.

Tik Tok: Over the past 48 hours there has been considerable concern regarding content on TikTok after a critical incident was live streamed, captured, and redistributed many times over across the world.  This is just another example of why families need to carefully consider the technology they allow their children to access.  At OLSCC we will not send out bulk communication every time an incident such as this occurs because we actively discourage any use of apps such as TikTok.

The summation of this is that the internet holds a pandora’s box of diverse information, much of it exploitive, secret and vile. Children will naturally (as with any behaviour) test boundaries until they find an acceptable limit. The issue with technology is that students use apps to keep information secret and therefore never find the boundaries that should be there. 

Getting the Basics Right

Last Friday we spent time working on our teaching practice at OLSCC as part of CTJ Day. We reviewed our work from earlier in the year, looked over our learning data and focussed on the work of Lyn Sharrat regarding clarity in learning for students.  Through our work we came to focus on “Good First Teaching and Classroom Practice”.  There many aspects of this which we see enacted in our College every day.  Most importantly, for this to take place we need classrooms that have limited interruptions to learning and are predictable in their nature, an ongoing area of aspiration for our College. 

One issue I raised with the staff was the volume of traffic we have out of classes to go to the toilet and/or get a drink.  I know this topic causes great conjecture whenever raised, though the reality is that far too many students are avoiding their work, missing core concepts, require reteaching and often lose continuity in their learning due to the amount of time they spend away from learning. As such you may have heard a much firmer stance on leaving the classroom is in place this week which has led to some considerable changes in the classroom.  The classes are more settled, more work is being done, learning is improving and task completion is much higher.  There is also far less disruption to the learning of other students and the general presence of students has significantly increased.  Contrary to some rumours, no rule has been enforced that students cannot go to the toilet during learning time.  No child will be denied the opportunity to use the toilet when required.  It is likely, however, that the student will be required to make up the missed learning time in their break time.  Additionally, students are being advised that they are to use their break and transition times better to minimise disruptions to their learning.  What is remarkable about the whole conversation is that students in Prep have been doing it for years!!

Pupil Free Days

It seems that there is a pupil free day every second week at the moment, though please be aware that the last day of this term, Friday 18 September, is the last pupil free day of 2020.

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

This week our focus virtue is 'wisdom' and the character strength is 'judgement'.  Time gives great experience in these two areas but we also need to be able to learn from our mistakes and each other to assist with good judgement.  So this week we pray: 

Dear Lord, 

We thank you for the opportunity to learn from one another today.   

May we use this opportunity to better know and appreciate each other.   

Guide us to continue using judgement to create the most supportive environment we can for our whole college community.   

May we face the end of this term and year with care and encouragement for one another.   

Amen 

Email Correspondence 

To reduce our carbon footprint and make life easier for families we are using email as our most frequent means of communicating letters home to families. If you have not received any emails from the College in the last two weeks, please contact College admin so we can update your details and ensure we have correct email addresses.  When a bulk email is sent home via our system, it automatically goes to the two primary parents as listed at enrolment, we are unable to change this.   As our new Parent Portal rolls out in 2021 these letters will be stored in this location for digital access.     

Parent Student Teacher Conferences 

A letter was emailed home to all parents on Friday 28 August 2020 outlining Term 3 interviews that are being offered both online and in person by our teachers.  Bookings can be made via Parent Portal until Sunday 13 September at midday.   

Parent Portal – change of use 

Our use of current Parent Portal will end at the end of 2020 as we move to our new system Sentral.  In preparation for this change, you may like to download your digital copies of student report cards before your access is removed.  Report cards from before 2020 will not be uploaded to the ‘new’ parent portal.  2020 Report Cards will be uploaded and be available in 2021 but will not be uploaded this year.   

Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum - Recognise  

Throughout this term we have been working on the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum.  It is important that the key safety messages of the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum: Recognise, React and Report are reinforced, both at school and home. I encourage you, wherever possible, to talk with your child about safety to help them stay safe now and in the future. 

Information about the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum can be found at www.education.qld.gov.au/child-safety-curriculum

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education
 

Preparations are in full swing across the College for our new format of Parent Student Teacher Conferences that will take place all the way from Prep through to Year 12. This format aligns with our Visible Learning goal of developing assessment capable learners. What does that mean? Simply, it means that students take greater ownership of their learning and can identify:

• What they are learning
• How they are going in their learning journey
• What they need to do next to continue their learning

Students across the Early Years are busy reflecting on their current learning and choosing evidence to share at the conference to show their ‘glow’ (what I already know) and ‘grow’ (what my next goals are). They have been busy preparing with teachers this week and are pumped to be able to share this with you next week. If you have not yet booked in a time for a Parent Teacher Student Conference, please do so now to share in the excitement. (Note: we are all on a very tight time frame so please be sure you are ready online or, if you chose the face to face option, you are signed in via the College Office.)

If you have a need to discuss something privately with the teacher, please arrange an alternative time to meet. The focus on these conferences is on students leading an explanation of their learning. We can’t wait to share this with you!

Katrina Walton

Assistant Principal Early Years

In recent weeks we have received reports about some students exercising extremely poor judgement when using their College issued laptop. Every report is taken seriously, and thorough investigations were undertaken in each case. Upon completion, the evidence gathered proved that a very small number of students had been engaging in highly inappropriate online activity on their College issued laptops, the vast majority of which was outside of school hours. This activity, whilst not on school grounds nor in school time, was still carried out on College laptops and as such, is in breach of the Responsible Use of ICT Agreement and contravenes College rules and the student Code of Conduct.

The College has commenced completing random checks of the College laptops to ensure student use is appropriate and in accordance with the Responsible Use of ICT Agreement and College rules.       

Accessing age-inappropriate games, pornography, child exploitation material and engaging in illegal online activity will not be tolerated in our College community. Any student engaging in inappropriate online activity on College issued laptops will receive serious consequences and any illegal activity will also be reported to the Queensland Police Service.

Warning to parents about unvetted internet access

Earlier this week yet another worrying news story was circulated by the mainstream media outlets. This is nothing new, not in 2020 anyway. This year we have seen a plethora of concerning news articles from the devastating bushfires in January, to the race riots and looting in America and then months of reports outlining the global state of Covid-19 and its horrendous impact on communities at home and abroad. This week it was a bit different. On Tuesday, reports circulated about a disturbing video that was being distributed via social media platforms, such as TikTok, where a man live streamed his ultimate demise. To make matters worse, the video was hidden among links to seemingly innocent content, which resulted in many children accidentally accessing the video. What has been seen cannot be unseen.

This story sent a chilling reminder to families about the need to be more vigilant in supervising the online presence and activity of children.

Messages for students and parents

1. Students need boundaries
   The same parenting guidelines apply in both real world and virtual environments. Set limits. Discuss the boundaries with your children. Kids need to know that boundaries do exist, and they expect them too. It is vital that parents know what apps, social media platforms, software, games, and websites their children are accessing.
2. Is there really any privacy on the internet?
   Once something is sent or uploaded, the sender loses all control over that information, statement, email, photo and or video. Publishing something to a personal wall, page, story, or board, via any social media platform, does not mean it is private. It’s out there, and the author doesn’t really know where it could end up. Choose wisely before you publish anything. Defamation actions involving social media platforms is on the rise. Australia courts are also demonstrating a willingness to award damages to the victims of online defamation in social media situations.
3. The digital world is the same as the real world
   In the real world when a person engages in illegal activity, we expect that they will be caught, and a suitable punishment will be applied by the necessary authority. In some cases that may involve a prison sentence. When a person commits a cyber-crime, they do not go to a cyber-prison. Illegal activity, whether it be in real life or in a digital space, has real world ramifications.
4. People you meet online are always strangers
   It doesn’t matter how long you have been conversing with someone online. If you met them online, and had never met them in person beforehand, then they are strangers and must always be treated as such for child safety reasons.
5. Technology should never be in a student’s bedroom
   Parents would no doubt baulk at the idea of a stranger sitting in their child’s bedroom, however, if your child accesses the internet in the seclusion of their bedroom then that is what is happening. It is extremely difficulty to adequately supervise your child’s online activity if they are not in a public place within the home, such as the kitchen table or in the lounge room. According to the article Kids are being kept awake by their phones even when they are not using them, over 72% of all children have at least one device in their bedroom. JAMA Paediatrics published a study where they found strong and consistent evidence of a link between mobile devices overuse and reduced sleep quality in children. A lack of sleep can have some serious consequences on our brain, health and it will impact productivity and success at school.

If parents/caregivers have any concerns regarding your child’s digital footprint or their use of the College issued laptop, please contact the relevant Assistant Principal to discuss.

Katrina Walton, Craig Cullen and Matt Hodge

Assistant Principals Early, Middle and Senior Years

This year we are very fortunate to have an Art Exhibition in the beautiful and professional space of Gallery107@ Dalby. We will be sharing the space with Dalby State High School where we will have the Ground Floor this year.

2020 has certainly been a disrupted year with COVID and remote learning and through all these trying times we realise that we have a driving internal desire to create artworks, something positive to offer to our world which is a timeless human pursuit. We only need to look back at what is left long after civilisations cease to be in existence and it is always the artworks that tell us so much. William James articulates this point as, “the great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it”.

The theme of our Art Exhibition is 'Art is Escapism'. This is due to the simple fact that Art, by its very nature, allows us to escape the realities of life and be surrounded by aesthetically pleasing imagery. It values the process undertaken by artists and the engagement of the audience in escaping for a while from the grind of daily life. It is imperative we all stop, reflect, think and wonder from time to time and Art allows us to do just this.

Picasso wisely told us that “every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up”. As our students grow, they too, are trying to hold on to the creative imaginative abilities of their intellect in a dominating sporting society of the Australian culture we live within. Our ever-changing world requires students possess the twenty-first century skills of creativity and critical thinking which THE ARTS are a vehicle for! Collectively, we must be called to a level of responsibility to ensure this endures against competing factors during the Middle and Senior Years.  

The Art Exhibition will run from Wednesday 7 October to 31 October. Gallery hours are 10 am – 4pm Monday to Friday, 9:30am – 12:30pm on Saturday and 12:30pm to 3:30pm on Sunday.

We will have a Virtual Opening/Tour of the Art Exhibition accessible online late Wednesday, 7 October with prize winners discussing their artworks.

Art workshops will be held at the College in our well-equipped Visual Art Studio. These will be held each Thursday for the length of the Art Exhibition (Thursday 8, 15, 22 and 29 October) from 3:30 – 4: 30pm. Bookings are essential through College Office on 4672 4111. It is advised students bring a paint shirt.

Schedule of Art Workshops:

Please support our talented artists and visit Gallery107 during our MY & SY Art Exhibition. Also keep looking at the College’s Facebook for more details.

Art is made to be shown,

Mrs McArthur

Senior Visual Art Teacher

These Awards for Excellence in Art Design are an annual competition and exhibition that our College participates in, with this year around 100 artworks being entered from our students.

This year the theme was 'Perfect Places'. Both Phoenix McArthur (Year 4) and Penelope Cartwright (Year 6) received Highly Commended for their age groups. As a Queensland and Northern Territory wide competition, these students have achieved very well in a competition of high quality works.

Congratulations to both artists for their artworks and success!

Darling Downs Rugby League Competition Semi Finals

It is a fantastic effort for the College to have all three teams qualify for the Semi Finals this year. Thanks to Mr Fraser, Mr Milford, Mr Gillespie, Mr Cuskelly and Mr Cullen for coaching our teams this season and to Debby Welsh for providing first aid at all games. A special mention goes to our amazing parents (Melissa Harms, Eliza Crothers, Megan James and Rebecca Gleeson) who drove to Year 10 Camp at Noosa to collect some players ensuring our Under 15 and Open teams had full numbers for this weeks games. Game results are listed below. Best of luck to the Under 15 Boys who have qualified for next week’s Grand Final.

Under 13

St Mary’s defeated OLSCC 100-4

Try – Eli Harth

Under 15

OLSCC defeated Harristown SHS 50-0

Tries – Brock Sankey 3, Dan O’Callaghan, Jacob Utz, Bailey Rathmell, Hayden Doherty, Hayden Taylor, Bailey Skinner

Conversions – Brock Sankey 7

Under 18

St Mary’s 2nds 22 defeated OLSCC 12

Tries – Jack Welsh, Sam Gillespie, Brayden Hughes

Under 15 Grand Final

Wednesday September 16

Brothers Rugby League Grounds Toowoomba 5.15pm

OLSCC vs Lockyer District SHS

Rugby League Tour

Thanks to Mr Gillespie for organising a fantastic Coastal Rugby League Tour last week. The Under 15 and Under 18 Boys Rugby League Teams had a most successful tour winning all games. The boys were fantastic on and off the field and were a credit to the College. Thanks also to Mr Cullen, Mr Cuskelly and Shaun and Debby Welsh for their assistance throughout the trip. Game results are listed below.

Day 1

Under 15

OLSCC defeated Xavier Catholic College Hervey Bay 22-14

Tries – Joe Gillett 3, Brock Sankey, Lyhkan King Togia

Conversions – Joe Gillett

Under 18

OLSCC defeated Xavier Catholic College Hervey Bay 28-20

Tries - Brayden Hughes 3, Michael MacDonald, Ryan Welsh

Conversions – Brayden Falvey 4

Day 2

Under 15

OLSCC defeated St Patrick’s College Gympie 22-0

Tries - Joe Gillett 2, Harry Cooper, Lyhkan King Togia

Conversions – Lyhkan King Togia 3

Under 18

OLSCC defeated St Patrick’s College Gympie 16-12

Tries – Brayden Hughes 2, Jack Welsh

Conversions – Brayden Falvey 2

Day 3

Under 15

OLSCC defeated Unity College Caloundra 18-6

Tries – Cody Wenham, Bailey Rathmell, Lyhkan King Togia

Conversions – Lyhkan King Togia 3

Under 18

OLSCC defeated Unity College Caloundra 22-4

Tries – Michael MacDonald, Brayden Hughes, Ryan Welsh, Cooper Woitowitz

Conversions – Hunter James 3

Primary Touch Football

The SWQ All Schools Touch Football Carnival will be held in Dalby on Sunday, 1 November. A bhoys and girls team have been nominated for this competition. Trials will be held next week and in the first week back after the holidays to finalise teams for this event. This is for students in Years 5/6. 

Secondary Touch Football

The QLD All Schools Carnival held at Whites Hill in Brisbane is going ahead as planned. No spectators will be permitted at the fields due to Covid restrictions. Version 4 of the Draw has been released and is published in this newsletter. A final information letter will be emailed to all players and families next week.  

Congratulations to all girls who played against Dalby SHS last Thursday afternoon. The Under 13 and Under 15 Team had victories with the Open girls having a narrow loss. Thanks to Mrs Wilkins, Mrs Appleton and Miss Belonogoff for coaching the girls on the day.

Volleyball

Next Thursday afternoon the Under 13 Girls and an Open Mixed Team will be playing Volleyball against Dalby SHS. Due to Covid 19 restrictions there will be no spectators allowed at the venue.

Cricket

Inner Downs Under 15 Cricket Trials will be held on Wednesday, 7 October at Highfields. Any boys interested in attending need to see Mr Lincoln.

Rugby Sevens

Last Saturday, the Under 15 Girls Rugby Sevens Team competed at the Scots Warwick Invitational Carnival. These were the girls' first games for the season and due to injury an illness we were without a few key players. The girls tried hard all day but were beaten by stronger opposition in all games. This carnival provided valuable match practice for the girls who can now aim to improve on these results in the SWQ Sevens Competition in Term 4. Thanks to Mr Dean Garside for coaching the girls.

Round 1 Loss to Scots Warwick (third overall) 40-0

Round 2 Loss to Fairholme College (Overall Winners) 46-0

Round 3 Loss to Toowoomba Anglican School 24-5 (Try Charlotte Roberts)

Round 4 Loss to Mt Alvernia College 32-0

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

On Friday 28 August, the Year 3 students enjoyed an evening ‘camp’ at school. We had an astronomer join us and bring his powerful telescope. We saw the moon and two planets called Saturn and Jupiter.  It was so amazing to see the moon up close. We even learnt that the craters on the moon were about the size of Queensland.

During our evening, we played some team building games, made some space art and enjoyed some delicious pizza and ice cream with mix ins!

It was so fun and we were all so excited to be at school at night time.

Thank you to Mrs Hemmings, Miss Smith, Mrs Bennie, Mrs Martin and Mrs Walton for making our night so great. A big thank you to Mr Peterson too for all his help in setting up.

We have made some wonderful memories and are continuing to learn more about the Earth, Sun, Moon and outer space in our science lessons.

Thank you! 

Year 3 students

Students were challenged to invent a device to assist them with caring for the Year 2 Praxis Project Gardens. They embarked on a journey through the design process and are currently completing prototypes of their creations.

Many an idea was had, dashed and adapted over the term with a lot of time spent in the muddy bottom of the Learning Pit.  Check out a sneak peek of the beginnings of their project in this mini movie trailer students have made to document their Invention Convention Journey in 2020!

On Wednesday,16 September in Week 10, LYF is running a competition to see which class can create the longest line of food donations. All food donations will then  be donated to the Dalby St Vincent De Paul Society. All students are asked to bring in a non-perishable food item to donate. 

Thursday, 10 September was RUOK? Day. The vision of the movement is a world where people are all connected and protected from suicide. They aim to:

• Boost our confidence to meaningfully connect and ask if someone is alright
• Nurture our sense of responsibility to regularly connect with and support others
• Strengthen our sense of belonging because we know people are there for us
• Be relevant, strong, and dynamic.

Suicide prevention is an enormously complex issue. A lack of connection (or a lack of belonging) is a factor that impacts someone who is at risk. If we take the time to ask, “Are you ok?” and listen, we can help people struggling with life feel connected long before they even think about suicide. It all comes down to regular, face-to-face, meaningful conversations about life. And asking, “Are you OK?” is a great place to start.

If you need someone to talk to, call:

• Lifelineon 13 11 14
• Kids Helplineon 1800 551 800
• MensLine Australiaon 1300 789 978
• Suicide Call Back Serviceon 1300 659 467
• Beyond Blueon 1300 22 46 36
• Headspaceon 1800 650 890
• QLifeon 1800 184 527

A fabulous day of fun and wackiness was had by students and staff as they donned their most colourful, weird and exciting outfits. Students showed overwhelming support of the day to raise $1154 which will help out our Dalby community. Mrs Rebecca Martin from the Head, Heart, Hands team was overjoyed to receive some financial support for their group of volunteers who have been cooking up a storm of delicious meals and baking over the past few months for local families and are looking forward to building the assistance they can provide families in the coming year. The SRC would like to thank everyone for supporting Wacky Wednesday both in coming along dressed up to have some fun and also for their donations of $2, $5, $10 showing the difference we can make when we work together.

Kristen Joyce

Early Years Teacher

We would love to hear from any of our College families who would be happy to share their favourite cultural recipes for a College Cookbook. The purpose of the Cookbook is to highlight favourite foods from the diverse cultures which make up the rich fabric in our school and provide a platform for discussion of our diversity.

We have included two more cultural recipes this week which will be used to make up part of our Cultural Cookbook. It's not too late to send in your favourite family recipe. Please email 

DALTanksB@twb.catholic.edu.au

There have been reports from the bus companies of some undesirable behaviour from students from our College in particular on the Branch Creek bus. Laying on seats with feet up on the windows in not only poor behaviour but it is unsafe. 

Can we please remind all students that there is to be no food consumed on the bus, students must be seated at all time with their seat belt on.

Check out the link below for the STEM Punks website to find out all about the exciting holiday classes on offer. From drones, to city designs, treasure maps and entrepeneurship, there's something for all age groups. All students were given a log in for STEM Punks during remote learning so, access to STEM Punks is free. 

https://www.stempunks.com/p/holiday-classes

Medication Collection

Any medications that are kept at the College Office for your child's use at school must be collected and signed for by a parent after 3.00pm on Friday, 4 December.

2021 Medications

Any students who require medication to be administered whilst at school will need to bring their child's medication, administration for medication forms and 2021 Medical Action Plans (e.g. Asthma, Anaphylaxis, and Diabetes) in to the College Office by Monday, 18 January 2021.

If you have any queries regarding this, please contact Tracey Boland at the Office on 4672 4111.