Friday 4 December - Term 4 concludes

Monday, 25 January - Student Free Day

Tuesday, 26 January - Australia Day

Wednesday, 27 January - Term 4 Commences

Tues/Wed, 2 - 3 February - College Photographs

Thursday, 4 February - 9 to 12 Swimming Carnival

Who would have known what 2020 was going to throw at us? We began 2020 by reinforcing our Learning Dispositions, as shown in the poster below.  What has been so incredible is the rapid rate we were able to strengthen student resilience, persistence, optimism and independence by suddenly changing to Remote Learning@OLSCC, as well as all the organizational structures required. We have exercised and stretched ourselves and emerged on the other side with greater skills and learnings than ever imagined in January. And what was most pleasing to see was what students are capable of when we stop creating barriers for them to be curious and creative.  This will be one of our overarching concepts for the 2021 school year – developing the future entrepreneurs through the use of the design thinking process.  This is all about identifying a need and then working out how to address it for the common good and it is applicable in all curriculum areas in all year levels.   

 OLSCC has also engaged with 2 Toowoomba Catholic Schools projects for 2021-2022.  The first is the Religious Education Strategy, guiding our teaching practice in RE, and the other is the Writing Improvement Strategy, following on from our great work in Write That Essay that we began this year.  Already we have experienced significant growth in both of these areas and we plan to continue to see improved student learning outcomes due to our involvement in these projects.

I am very pleased to announce that we have now filled all of teaching positions for 2021 after some very successful interviews this week.  The excitement of welcoming new staff always comes at the significant sadness of saying goodbye to others that are off to new experiences or to address other priorities in their lives.  We wish all of our departing staff all the best for the future and trust they know that they can always come back and visit. Mrs Brennan and Mr Hodge will be finalizing the 2021 timetable now that the staffing is finalised.  Please be sure to keep up to date with emails, SZApp and Facebook and information will be communicated via these means as it comes to hand.

What a brilliant year we’ve had at OLSCC.  It’s been hard, though all things worth doing are hard.  As Theodore Rossevelt famously stated:

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

I wish everyone in our community a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.  It’s imperative for us, as Jesus taught us, to focus less on ourselves and more on others throughout the festive season.  We can actively do this through daily service to help others.  A little bit of help and a little bit of gratitude goes a long way and keeps Christ’s message in Christmas.

Peter Cuskelly

Principal

What a great year we have had.  Through all that 2020 has thrown at us, we have supported each other as a community and our community is stronger because of it. 

At the end of this school year we give thanks to God:  

For all the teaching and learning that has taken place in our College,  

both in and out of the classroom,  

For the talents and gifts that have been shared and the challenges that have been faced;  

For the burdens that have been lifted and the hurts that have been healed;  

For the respect and care that has been given.  

We give thanks for the friendships that have just begun and for those that have grown.  

For the faith that has been lived in our daily struggles,  

For the hope that has lifted our hearts on the dark days  

And for the love that has kept us going.  

We give thanks for the community that we are, 

and we ask you Lord –  

Bless our families as we take our holidays,  

may our time together leave us with memories to cherish.  

Pour out your love on us that we may return renewed and refreshed to continue our journey together.  

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen 

Mini Vinnies Christmas Appeal 

A huge thanks to our community for their support of the annual Mini Vinnies Christmas Appeal.  A very full ute load of goodies was taken to be packed into hampers.  Thank you for the joy you have brought to others this Christmas through your generosity.   

Christmas Carols 

What a great evening our Christmas Carols was again this year.  The weather was fantastic with a cool breeze to take the heat away.  Thanks to our P & F and Mr Gillespie for the delicious burgers and sausages and the refreshing drinks. A huge thanks to staff for assisting with preparations in the lead up and on the night, especially our grounds staff for all their hard work.  Well done to our students, Mr Thacker and Mrs Garside for our entertainment. 

Christmas Eve Mass  

Due to COVID restrictions and the capacity of St Joseph’s Church Christmas Eve Mass will be held in the College MPC this year at 7:00pm on Christmas Eve. If your young people would like to assist on the night, email Cate Brennan for details.  We look forward to celebrating this season together as a parish community. 

Cate Brennan

Deputy Principal Religious Education

At the end of this challenging academic year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of our Senior Years community for their contribution and dedicated work over the course of the year. In particular, our Senior Years students have continued to prove themselves as trustworthy and respectful young adults who have each given of their best to uphold the values that underpin all that we do. Our College is a very special and unique community and I continually feel privileged to work with our young people.

I thank our Senior Years staff who always give so much of themselves for the benefit of our students. Thank you also to our supportive parent community. It is so vital that we all work together for the benefit of the young people under our care, and this will remain our priority in 2021.

Information regarding the 2021 academic year in the Senior Years will be shared in January.

I wish all Senior Years students, families, and staff a very safe and holy holiday period.

Matt Hodge

Assistant Principal Senior Years

And that’s a wrap on 2020!!

Thank-you to our magnificent Early Years families, who have embraced all the challenges 2020 has thrown at us head on. Together, we have achieved more than we could have imagined was possible. Your children have continued to be engaged in busy classrooms right up until the end of school, and I thank them for their dedication to finishing WELL. I do hope you all enjoy a restful and restorative break over the festive season and look forward to seeing the smiling faces back in January.

Kartina Walton

Assistant Principal Early Years

What a Year – 2020 sure threw us a number of hurdles………..how many challenges can you fit into a year, and it doesn’t end there?

Mrs Joan Chalmers has announced she will be retiring at the end of 2020.  Joan has worked tirelessly with dedication over 20 years with Catholic Education, commencing with St Columba’s in 1998 and then continuing with Our Lady of the Southern Cross College until now. 

We thank Joan and wish her well for the next chapter of her life.

In 2021 Mrs Kathy Crump will continue in the College Tuckshop but will now need your assistance more than ever.  Mrs Crump is already feeling lonely and would like to see as many volunteers (Mums, Dads, Aunts, Grandma’s) as possible to join her on a daily basis. 

The requirements to assist are as follows; must enjoy company of others, like to have a laugh and smile, prepare fresh food for our students, have input into the menu for 2021, friendly disposition, service of children, cash / EFTPOS handling and be willing to apply for a volunteer Blue Card.

If you have any or all of these attributes (training is available if required) please contact the College Office – dalby@twb.catholic.edu.au or Mrs Kathy Crump – kathy.crump@twb.catholic.edu.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Early Years Swimming Carnival

Age Champions

Under 6 – Gene Eggers / Ethan Dippenaar & Eve Henry

Under 7 –  Charles Sullivan & Pippa Smith

Under 8 – Tom Carter & Lainey Geiger

Runners Up

Under 6 – Willow Gilliland

Under 7- Walter Boland & Harriet Manley

Under 8 – Hugo Fraser / Archie Stephens & Isabelle Manley

Volleyball

Congratulations to the Year 7 Girls Volleyball Team who defeated the Dalby SHS Year 9 Girls Team on Wednesday afternoon 2 sets to 0 (26-24 and 25-16).

Water Polo

We also managed to track down a photo of some of our students at the Water Polo clinic with Nick Porter. It was fantastic to see lots of our students getting involved with the sport of Water Polo.

Touch Football

The 2020 Touch Football season has been highly successful for the Open Mixed Touch Football Team playing in the Dalby Touch Association Fixtures. The team went through the regular season of Mixed A Grade Competition undefeated, winning the grand final on Monday night 6-4. Planning has already started for 2021 with the Under 15 Girls and the Under 18 Mixed College Touch Football teams to compete in Season 1 of the Dalby Touch Association fixtures which will begin in early February. The required trials will be held early next year to select teams. Depending on numbers an Under 15 Boys team may be entered in Season 2 of the competition.

Sports Dates February 2021

Tim Lincoln

Middle Leader Sport

Careers Intensive Day for Year 9

On Wednesday, 2 December, the Year 9 students participated in a Careers Intensive Day. Students spent the morning and the afternoon session as a whole group focusing on looking at who they are and what their strengths are. This included geting them to think about how they best learn in the classroom and how what they learn connects to their career pathway. The students then completed five 30 minute rotations with our guest presenters. They completed a Money Matters session with Mr Craig Brennan from Findex, a Barista experience with Mrs Kristy Larson from the Mighty Bean, Trades Talk with Mr Dave Kavney, the agricultural life of the Big Mac with Mr Clinton McGrath (Clinton will be working with the students who are undertaking a  Certificate II In Production Horticulture next year) and finally resume writing and interview techniques with Ms Karen White from the Toowoomba Catholic Schools' School Based Apprenticeship Team. Mr Wayne Ziimmerman spoke to students in the afternoon about the importance of PPE and work place safety no matter what industry you work in. All Year 9 students will complete the Work Safety White Card in Semester 1 next year before they undertake work experience. The College would like to thank all our presenters for giving up their very valuable time especially at this time of the year when they are all very busy. We truly appreciate the connections that we are developing with the local community and we look forward to strengthening our ties with them in 2021.

Congratulations to Hugh Gleeson who has recently completed his sign up with Steph Smart of HeliSmart which is located at Cecil Plains. Hugh will be undertaking a Certificate IV in Aeroskills (Mechanical).

Libby Baxter

Careers Development Pratitioner

As Schoolzine is one of our main forms of communication, now is a good time to login to your app and make sure all the settings are up to date. As students may move from one sector to another, you will need to update your subscriptions so you will receive push notifications and emails for the correct sectors. We have three main groups, Early Years, Middle Years and Senior Years. To carry out these updates, go to the 'manage' tab at the top of your SZapp screen and slide the toggles for the correct sectors. If you haven't already downloaded SZapp, please do so now. The instructions are linked below.

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.